Dino the Goat

Dino came from Brooklyn, New York, where he had been tied to a doghouse
for approximately five years.  He arrived emaciated and stunted,
looking more like a baby goat than the adult that he is.  Dino had been
extremely malnourished, and fed mostly rice, pasta and cracked corn.  Due to
this improper diet, most likely from the time he was young, Dino has
developed a condition called Osteodystrophia Fibrosa, which has left him
with permanent jaw and facial deformities. These deformities make it
difficult for Dino to keep food in his mouth, since his jaw is
underdeveloped and misshapen. Dino is now on a special diet and Farm Sanctuary
staff monitors his progress closely. Happily, Dino will have the time he
needs to recover, and soon enjoy his new life walking through the
pasture and eating healthy hay, grass and yummy goat feed.  If you would
like to see a picture and read more about Dino, please visit
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/adopt/rescue_dino.htm



"Live in peace with the animals. Animals bring love to our hearts, and warmth to
our souls."

        Colleen Klaum

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can
judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Immanuel Kant











---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Alert and letter by Maria Lopes marialopes@...  (2kat.net)
Edited by Barbara Biel bibiel@...  (yahoo.com)
Provided by Avantika Regmi
http://www.geocities.com/stopsacrifice/intro/intro.html


BACKGROUND
-------------------------------------------------------------
Till the later part of the twentieth century, Nepal was an isolated remote
country, due to the rugged terrain and the way Nepal had been ruled. From
1846 to 1950 Nepal was under the autocratic rule of the Rana prime
ministers and from 1950 to 1989 under the Shah kings except for some brief
periods of democracy in between. It suited the autocratic rulers of Nepal
to keep the country isolated and remote in order to perpetuate their own
rule.

Nepal's isolation has resulted in poverty- stricken, illiterate and
superstitious Nepalese who believe that the king is a reincarnation of
God, prepubescent girls are goddess and animal sacrifices will bring good
fortune. Even the Nepalese king believes in the superstition of animal
sacrifices and regularly gets innocent animals butchered.

The superstition of animal sacrifice is so deep-rooted in Nepal that many
temples across the country are resembling more and more like abattoirs
rather that temples. Hordes of Nepalese make a beeline to these 'abattoir
temples' to celebrate every major festival. In some, like the Dakshinkali
temple butchering animals is a weekly affair. Both the educated and the
illiterate, the rich and the poor, live up equally enthusiastically to get
some confused lamb or goat killed every thursday morning.

During the major Hindu festival, Dushera, which lasts for ten days
something totally unexpected happens. One hundred and four he-buffalo
calves and one hundred and four hundred he-goats are sacrificed in the
capital's Hanuman Dhoka Palace on the night of the eighth day and the
morning of the ninth day on Nepalese government expense! This is perhaps
no other government in the world today which finances animal sacrifices.
But this hardly surprising since this is a country without any animal
rights laws.

The Gadimai Mela takes place every five years in the Bara district of Bara
district of Nepal during the months of November-December. This fair
climaxes on a horrendous note, when more than seven thousand buffaloes are
sacrificed in less than an hour. Groups of sword wielding men, licensed to
kill butcher all the animals. In the end, the entire field becomes soggy
with the blood of the innocent animals, alive a couple of minutes ago.
with each passing year the number of animals being sacrificed is
increasing and the next fair is scheduled in the month of
November-December, 2003.




SEND TO:

*** Non-USA residents send to Nepal Embassy in your country ***


EMBASSY USA

Ambassador: H.E. Jaya Pratap Rana
2131 Leroy Place, NW, Washington D.C. 20008
Washington
Fax  202-6675534
Email ali@...   (erols.com)


Cc:


NEPAL TOURISM BOARD
Tourist Service Center, Bhrikuti Mandap,
Kathmandu, Nepal
fax: 977-1-256910
Email: info@...  (ntb.wlink.com.np)



SAMPLE LETTER
*** Don't forget to sign and include your city/state/country ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ali@...

Cc:

info@...

Please stop barbaric animal sacrifices in your country

Dear Ambassador H.E. Jaya Pratap Rana,

I am appalled to learn that there are no animal protection laws in Nepal
and defenseless animals are being sacrificed by the thousands everyday,
mostly by beheading or slowly bleeding them to death. Such barbarism
cannot be tolerated by civilized world. I urge Nepal to enact laws to stop
any further torture of innocent creatures.

I understand that the Gadimai Mela in the Bara district slaughters fifty
thousand animals in the name of religion. I request you to let your
government know that I am very distressed to learn about this mass
sacrifices which will again occur next year and would like nothing better
than to have such incidents from happening at that fair.

I will boycott Nepal's goods and tourism and will advise all my friends
and family members to do the same until Nepal ends this barbarism.

Sincerely,


Cc:
Tourist Service Center, Bhrikuti Mandap


"Live in peace with the animals. Animals bring love to our hearts, and warmth to
our souls."

        Colleen Klaum

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can
judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Immanuel Kant











---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive medley & videos from Greatest Hits CD

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I am trying to compile a photo montage of diffent goat
breeds, different goats, things you can do with goats
and such stuff. I was thinking that you might like the
chance to have your favorite goats promote the breed
or activity. If you would be interested please email
me off the board. My e-mail is jaggoatgal@... I
am only asking for copies not the original photograph(s).

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com

this month's (Jan 2003) National Geographic print edition has a great
collage of goats suspended by threads as part of their article about
textiles.
(GMO goats making spider silk in their milk)

no shortage of goat pix online.
try a few of the breeders sites.

...

GAEVLE, Sweden - Its predecessors have been burned with cigarette
lighters, leveled by a car and rocketed by fireworks. But this
holiday season, the giant straw Christmas goat built in this Swedish
city escaped destruction for the first time since 1997.

The merchants of Gaevle dismantled the huge straw display on
Thursday, a few days ahead of schedule, because of the cost of hiring
security guards to keep watch over it through the night.

"It's an issue of cost, the surveillance is expensive," Christmas
goat committee chairman Goeran Carlsson told the Gefle Dagblad
newspaper.

The Christmas goat tradition was started in 1966 by merchants in
Gaevle, 90 miles north of Stockholm. Since then, only 10 goats have
made it through Christmas and New Year's Day.

Most were burned — some just hours after being erected in the first
week of December.

The 1976 goat was hit by a car. In 1997, it was damaged by fireworks
and from 1998 to 2001 it was set ablaze before the end of December.

During Christmas 2001, the goat was torched on Dec. 23 by a 51-year-
old visitor from Cleveland. Lawrence Jones was convicted of
inflicting gross damage and spent 18 days in jail.

The goat was left alone this season except for an early December raid
when a vandal tried to set it on fire, causing only minor damage to
one of its legs.

...


cleveland.
yeah.

...

Tech Is Good but Goats Are Better

Thu May 15

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco, gateway to one of the most
technologically advanced areas of the world, is turning back the
clock and using an age-old method of clearing grass -- goats.

Dozens of goats were herded on to land close to San Francisco
International Airport on Wednesday to chomp on the grass and reduce
its potential as a fire hazard.

"We have some property just west of the airport here that is
environmentally very sensitive and very difficult to get equipment or
people in there," said Michael McCarron, director of community
affairs for the airport.

"So we bring the goats in and they eat the vegetation as a fire
prevention tool."

The airport is turning to a private company, Goats-R-Us, to provide
the goats and a shepherd for the swampy area over a period of two
weeks.

The airport is unlikely to take on the look of some developing
country landing strips where animals sometimes wander right up to and
even onto the tarmac. McCarron says the area patrolled by goats is
about a mile from the tarmac and separated by a highway.

...

KUNA, Idaho -- More than 1,000 sheep are chomping their way though
acres of cheatgrass in southwestern Idaho to protect homes from
potential range fires this summer.

The job is a demonstration project, funded by the Bureau of Land
Management, that puts a 100-yard swath of cleared land between
government-owned desert and suburban homes.

With this year's abundant spring rains, a thick carpet of bluish-
green cheatgrass stands knee-high among the taller rabbitbrush and
sagebrush.

But rather than trying to horse mowers over the rock-strewn, hilly
terrain, the agency hired Oregon sheep farmer Rusty Child and his
flock of 700 sheep and 300 goats.

"They're four-wheel-drive weed eaters with an attitude," said Child,
36.

An exotic species introduced in America from eastern Russia around
the turn of this century, cheatgrass thrives where native plants are
stressed. After the initial spring greening, it dries and turns pale
brown. Low nutrients and bad taste sends most wild animals on to
forage for other foods. And in the summertime, it ignites furiously
from lightning strikes.

Child's contract with BLM calls for removing the fuel build-up along
a strip of land 5 1/2 miles long. He clears about a tenth of an acre
at a time, following a string of temporary electric fences powered by
a solar battery.

The vegetation presents a smorgasbord for the animals. Idaho fescue,
wild alfalfa and crested wheat are first on the menu. Child said his
sheep and goats are no more fond of cheatgrass than wild animals, but
they will choke it down when everything else is gone.

"I give them all the ice cream they can eat during the day; but then
they also have to eat the box that it came in at night," Child said.

After the herd moves through, all the grassy vegetation has been
nibbled down to about 3 inches and the stubble is trampled into the
ground. It won't grow back again until next year.

Across the two-lane blacktop road, Marla Remmerden said she'll feel
safer with a firebreak in place this season. In previous summers,
fires have come perilously close to the home where she lives with her
husband and two daughters.

"When you leave on a trip, you always wonder if your house is going
to be there when you come back home," she said.

"This is cool because it's a natural way of doing things."

Thursday, May 15, 2003

Only ewes can prevent wildfires
More than 1,000 'weed-eaters' mow down cheatgrass in BLM project

By CHUCK OXLEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

...

due to the recurance of spam-type posts by the usual clueless spooks,
all msgs to GF will now queu for moderator approval to protect the
sanity of subscribing members.

and as usual, all posts by real members are guaranteed expedited
publishing, no matter how controversial, for at least a trial period
of 24 hours.

cheers, da imp

...

Husband Killed in Fight About Goats?
Fri Jun 13!

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Eldon, Oklahoma, woman has been charged
with shooting her husband dead after an argument over who should feed
the couple's goats, police said on Thursday.

Authorities charged Pearl Lynne Smith, 47, with first-degree murder
for the death of her husband, Thomas Smith, 51. Sheriff's deputies
responded to a domestic disturbance call at the couple's rural
eastern Oklahoma home on Tuesday and found the husband dead, shot
once through the chest.

"We were told that what prompted this disagreement was her failure to
feed the goats," Cherokee County Undersheriff Dan Garber said.

Garber said the wife pointed a 9 mm pistol at her husband and
demanded that he go feed the goats. Thomas Smith then dared his wife
to shoot him, Garber said. When he took a step toward Pearl, she
killed him with a single shot, Garber added.

The two had a history of domestic trouble, Garber said, and the
argument over feeding the goats was the breaking point.

"Something like that is the trigger that unlocks something deeper,"
Garber said.

Pearl Smith is in jail on $100,000 bail, pending her arraignment on
Friday, court officials said. She could face the death penalty if
convicted.

...

there is more to this story than meet the eye, thats for sure.
only an idjit would make a threatening move to a well-armed goat mama.
i guess this qualifies as a Darwin Award suicide then.

you listening guys?
when yer mama tells ya to feed the goats, ya better go feed the goats!

...

The Goat Star: A Strange Light in the Northeast

By Joe Rao
SPACE.com's Night Sky Columnist, SPACE.com

Recently I received an interesting inquiry from Professor Rob
Eisenson, Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Physics, Astronomy, and
Meteorology at Western Connecticut State University.

"In recent SPACE.com columns you have been advising people to look
for Mars low in the southeast sky after nightfall," Eisenson
writes. "Yet, I have also been seeing another unusually bright star-
like object, but low in the north-northeast sky soon after it gets
fully dark. It isnt so much that it is bright, it is just that I dont
recall ever seeing such a bright star located so far to the north. It
also sometimes seems to twinkle with the same kind of yellowish-
orange light that Mars shows now. Can you identify what I am seeing?"

What Professor Eisenson was looking at is indeed a brilliant star
with a distinct yellowish hue. In fact, its the sixth brightest in
the sky (magnitude 0.08) and as seen from mid-northern latitudes,
ranks number four behind Sirius, Arcturus and Vega.

It is Capella, in the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer.

Auriga is one of those star patterns whose exact origin is a hopeless
mix of antique conceptions. The Greek and Roman legends made Auriga a
famed trainer of horses and the inventor of the four-horse chariot.
But the most ancient legends also had Auriga as a goatherd and a
patron of shepherds. The brilliant golden-yellow Capella was known as
the "Goat Star," with a nearby triangle of fainter stars representing
her kids.

The confusion in concepts is reflected in the ancient allegorical
pictures and star names. Auriga is usually represented holding a whip
in one hand in deference to the Charioteer story, but in his other
arm he is holding a she-goat (Capella) and her three kids.

In his classic guidebook, "The Stars, A New Way to See Them"
(Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston), Hans A. Rey (1898-1977) drew
Auriga looking like a man with a tough expression, a jutting chin and
a pug nose, " . . . as befits the driver of a war cart."

Capella measures 16 times as large in diameter as our Sun, 174 times
as luminous, and is located 42 light-years away. It is part of a
multiple star system, interestingly containing at least four stellar
components.

As was noticed by Professor Eisenson, Capella appears to rise well to
the north of due east. In fact, it is the nearest to the North Pole
of the sky of all the first-magnitude stars, and across much of the
48-contiguous United States it is visible at some hour of the night
throughout the year.

From western Connecticut, for example, Capella is below the horizon
for only about 3 hours out of a 24-hour day. Lying 46 degrees north
of the celestial equator, Capella can pass directly overhead for
anyone living at that latitude north of the terrestrial Equator (say,
Houlton, Maine or Geneva, Switzerland). And for anyone at points
north of latitude 44 degrees (for example, Minneapolis, Minnesota or
Bologna, Italy), Capella will appear to graze the northern horizon,
but will not go below it.

Interestingly, the brilliant blue-white star Vega is only a trifle
brighter and lies almost diametrically opposite in the sky from
Capella and at about 39-degrees from the celestial equator, affords a
similar rising reference for northern sky watchers in the early
spring sky.

Rise times

In the table below, we have prepared the rise times for Capella for
three dates this week (Sept. 19, 22 and 25) as seen from 10 different
latitudes, each separated by 2-degree increments. Also provided for
each latitude is the azimuth the direction on the horizon where
Capella will first appear. As already noted, from latitude 44 degrees
and all points north, Capella is always above the horizon.

All times are given in civil or local daylight time (LDT), which
differs from ordinary clock time by many minutes at most locations.
Most civil time zones worldwide have been standardized on particular
longitudes at increments of 15. As an example, across Europe, 0 (the
Greenwich Meridian); 15 east; 30 east, etc. Across North America,
there is 60 west (Atlantic Time), 75 west (Eastern Time), 90 west
(Central Time), etc. If your longitude is very close to one of the
standard meridians, luck is with you and your correction is zero.

To get local standard time, add four minutes to the times listed for
each degree of longitude that you are west of your time zone
meridian. Or subtract four minutes for each degree you are east of it.

Your clinched fist, held at arms length will measure roughly 10
degrees. So 20 degrees would measure roughly "two fists" when making
an estimate of azimuth.

EXAMPLE: From Durham, North Carolina, on September 22, when and where
will Capella appear to rise? Durham is located near latitude 36 north
and longitude 79 west. Looking at the column under September 22, we
see a rise time of 8:51 p.m. for latitude 36. But since Durham is
located 4 west of the Standard meridian, we must add 16 minutes to
8:51 p.m. So Capella will actually rise at 9:07 p.m. From the
latitude of Durham, Capella will appear to rise 27 degrees east of
due north, or less than "three fists" to the east (right) of due
north.

For other dates and latitudes, you can interpolate.

...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Most blacklists are designed to intimidate.
But thousands of Americans are clamoring to join one drawn up by the
National Rifle Association (NRA).

Actor Dustin Hoffman was so dismayed to find his name missing from
the NRA's shadowy 19-page list of U.S. companies, celebrities, and
news organizations seen as lending support to anti-gun policies that
he wrote to the powerful pro-gun lobby group begging to be included.

"As a supporter of comprehensive gun safety measures, I was deeply
disappointed when I discovered my name was not on the list," Hoffman
wrote in a letter to the NRA that was released Tuesday.

"I was particularly surprised by the omission given my opposition to
the loophole that makes it legal for 18- to 20-year-olds to buy
handguns at gun shows," he added.

Hoffman's name has now been added to the list which reads like a
Who's Who of American business, culture and religion and which ranges
from the American Jewish Congress to A&M Records, ABC News and talk
show queen Oprah Winfrey.

An NRA spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The list was found deep in the official NRA Web site by a group of
grass-roots anti-gun campaigners and publicized by them two weeks ago
to garner support for two pieces of gun control legislation going
through Congress.

The campaigners set up their own Web site
(http://www.NRAblacklist.com) and urged Americans to voluntarily put
their names there. A full-page ad Tuesday in Daily Variety -- the
Hollywood trade magazine -- urged movie and music artists to sign up.

"What the site tries to do is turn it into a badge of honor to get on
the blacklist by saying 'Hey Julia Roberts is on the blacklist. Why
don't you join it?.' It's been incredibly successful. Since we have
launched, 25,000 people have signed on to ask to be put on the
blacklist," said Wendy Katz, spokesperson for the group.

The NRA initially denied compiling a blacklist as such, saying it was
merely responding to members wanting to know which individuals and
corporations opposed the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment on the
right to bear arms.

But National Rifle Association Executive Vice-President Wayne
LaPierre said of the list last week; "Our members don't want to buy
their songs, don't want to go to their movies, don't want to support
their careers."

Katz said the campaigners hoped to expose the NRA's influence in
Washington, D.C., spur opposition to a bill that would grant immunity
in civil cases for gun manufacturers and dealers, and gather support
for renewal of a 1994 ban on the sale of military assault weapons.

Americans Flock to Get on NRA Blacklist
Wed Oct 29
Oddly Enough - Reuters

...

To:  VH1

This petition will be forwarded to VH1, to let them know that we will
not give up until the barbaric, cruel and evil ignorant that is Ted
Nugent, is taken off the air.

VH1 regularly airs the `Ted Nugent' show in which animals are
brutally and callously slaughtered, all in the name
of `entertainment'. In a time when we call ourselves `civilised'
and `intelligent' beings, it is a travesty that such acts can be
accepted.
Ted Nugent publicly boasts of his torture, slaughter, cruelty, and
violation of animal life. He publicly takes sadistic pleasure in the
extreme suffering of others. The world needs less people like this.
For VH1 to show such horrific and barbaric scenes is unacceptable.

"...unethical," says Mr. Caires, who was angered after he took Nugent
out on a hunt in April. "He shoots at anything," Mr. Cairnes
claims. "You should kill what you can use. He just likes to kill a
lot of animals." (Cairnes is a hunting guide who takes people out to
stab wild pigs in Hawaii) - The Wall Street Journal , July 25,
1995, 'Why Sit on the Beach When You Could Stab a Wild Pig?

These are quotes from Ted Nugent himself:

"... First thing I slayed...I was nine years old. It was a squirrel,
these ladies were feeding it, you know, and I said, 'excuse me, bam.'
No it wasn't a pet squirrel. I had it stuffed and petted it for years
after that." - WRIF-FM, Detroit, Ted Nugent as guest D.J., September
26, 1991

Whacking is a term Nugent uses to describe what he does to his prey
with bow and arrow. Whack 'em and stack 'em,' he says. - Detroit Free
Press Magazine , July 15, 1990

Participants pay the Renegade Ranch (a fenced in, 300-acre canned
hunting recreation area) for the animals they kill - anywhere from
$500 for a wild boar to $5,500 for a six-point elk. Nugent tacks on a
$250 fee for serving as celebrity guide. - Detroit Free Press
Magazine , July 15, 1990

"I don't hunt for sport, I don't hunt for recreation, I don't hunt
for meat, I hunt to hunt ..." - Detroit Free Press , p. 12D, April
17, 1989

Ted Nugent's Down to Earth, promises raw, unedited footage of
America's no. 1 rock 'n' roll bowhunter as he whacks 'em and
stacks 'em. Nor was it hyperbole. In the first 10 minutes, viewers
got bird's-eye of broadheads fatally piercing such fearsome creatures
as an armadillo, a squirrel perched in a tree, some pigs and a
goat. 'I love that part,' said the glinty-eyed Nugent after running
death scenes in sequence. 'Let's see it again.' And the appalling
whack 'em and stack 'em compendium ran all over in slow-motion
replay. - The Washington Post , Recreation Section, September 23,
1990

Nobody hunts just to put meat on the table because it's too
expensive, time consuming and extremely inconsistent. - Ted Nugent's
World Bowhunters Magazine , Volume 1/ Number 3, March/April 1990, p.7

"On my first bowhunt on the property a few years back, I was on my
own for twenty-two days and killed an amazing thirty-three head of
big game. I'm surprised I even came home. I was in heaven." - Ted
Nugent's World Bowhunters Magazine , Volume 1/ Number 3, March/April
1990, p.15

"... My deer were put here on the earth. God even said, 'Hey Ted,
whack 'em.' He said this, right in the bible, Genesis, 'Dear Ted,
whack me a buck ...'" - WRIF-FM, Detroit, Ted Nugent as guest D.J.,
Sept. 24, 1991

"I contribute to the dead of winter and the moans of silence, blood
trails are music to my ears ... I'm a gut pile addict ... The pig
didn't know I was there ... it's my kick ... I love shafting
animals ... it's rock 'n' roll power." - Ted Nugent's World
Bowhunters Magazine , Volume 1/Number 4, May 1990, p.12

ON SKULL PAINTING

"The first thing I do is be sure to cut the entire head off the
animal I wish to bleach and/or paint Most butchers saw the skull
plate off at the base of the antlers, thus eliminating the major
skull section that we desire. Since I butcher most of my own deer and
big game, I take special pride in the personal handling of all the
precious by-products of my kills. I cut the head off at the base of
the skull and begin the meticulous task of skinning and fleshing the
entire skull down to the minimal meat and bare bone. I will actually
scrape the remaining flesh from the skull bone with the edge of my
knife blade, but stop short of taking any actual skull material. ...
Hunt on. Kill on. Eat on. Paint on. Live on."


We need to let VH1 know that we will not tolerate such evil, and that
we do not wish them to allow Ted Nugent to brainwash our children
with his Neanderthal-like primitive sadism.


Sincerely,

The Undersigned
  --@--
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?noabuse4


682 Total Signatures



View Signatures : 682   632   582   532   482   432   382   332
282   232   182   132   82   32


PetitionOnline.com has temporarily disabled the display of email
addresses for signatories who chose to make their address public.We
have done this to reduce the spread of the SirCam virus which
harvests email addresses from the web cache of infected computers.To
learn more about the SirCam virus and download a free tool for
removing the virus, visit Symantec's virus definition page at:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sircam.worm@mm.html

...

as an ironic post-script to the ghoulish gossip of the Halloween
holiday, ponder this macabre story from the Y Odd News roundup...
i'll leave it to you to decide how "charitable" you want to be in
judging this culture, starving and bored and destitute as they
obviously are...

...

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Hundreds of Tanzanians have flocked to the
country's annual goat races, a charity event pitting 60 of the beasts
in a series of heats before they are slaughtered.

Most of the goats end up in the abattoir after the competition to
raise money for water and farming projects, but winners get the
chance to decide their goat's fate.

"I am incredibly happy because my goat won the race," owner Joerg
Sonne said after the second race in the national stadium in the
commercial capital Dar-es-Salaam. "We will try to enter this one on
another race, or take it home."

Roasted goat meat is a popular food in Tanzania, where many people
scratch a living as peasant farmers in one of the world's poorest
countries.

Oddly Enough - UK Reuters

Tanzanian goats race for survival
Sat Nov 1

...

ALF SAVE GOATS FROM DEATH!
Posted by: Anonymous on Friday, December 19, 2003 - 09:21 EST

  The following report was received anonymously by above ground
activists in the UK:

"In the early hours of Sunday 14th of December the ALF entered Water
Farm Goat Centre near Bridgewater, Somerset.

Water Farm Goat Centre breed goats and supply them to laboratories.
Earlier on in the year it was reported that 43 goats were liberated
from this establishment. Judging by the filthy conditions inside the
farm the time for a return visit was well overdue.

This time twenty one beautiful goats, many of them pregnant, were
carefully removed from the hell hole and ferried away to awaiting
vehicles. These animals will now be able to live out their lives in
caring homes free from the fear and pain of the vivisectors scalpel.

The British countryside is littered with establishments like Water
Farm Goat Centre and the suffering animals imprisoned inside them are
there for the taking. All it takes is careful planning, determination
and the will to save lives NOW."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ALFEarth/message/7

...

"Once while cycling through an isolated area of Greece, we saw a herd
of goats with their little kids. I skidded to an abrubt halt. They
were friendly, and we spent a fair amount of time interacting with
them.

A half-hour later, we stopped for lunch at an outdoor roadside
cafe. There were three huge covered pots cooking on the open fire.
One pot was goat's head soup, complete with the head.

I was 24 years old and it finally dawned on me where meat came from.

I went vegetarian on the spot."

-Patty Mark
Australian Activist Known as the Pioneer of the Global "Open Rescue"
Movement

...

here is a sad story of someone who evidently had good intentions, but
allowed his initialy-admirable pacifist principles to engender
rampant over-crowding and subsequent misfortunes.

its a grim example of what can happen to well-meaning individuals
(and their caprine charges) who are isolated from Goat-Friends-type
community resources and basic care information...

caveat:

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Vermont man could face animal cruelty charges if
state authorities find that he failed to care properly for 130 goats
he moved into his house during the bitter New England winter, police
said on Monday.

Chris Weathersbee said he took the goats, mostly nursing mothers and
their young, from his 300-strong herd into his farmhouse to shelter
them from the cold last month. But authorities say there could be a
case for animal cruelty.

Police and members of the Central Vermont Humane Society seized 44
goats deemed too sick to remain in Weathersbee's care. Some were
inside the house and others were in a nearby barn.

During the February raid, Vermont State Police officer Walter Goodell
said he also saw the frozen bodies of several goats strewn on the
farmhouse's front lawn.

Weathersbee, 63, of Corinth in central Vermont, said he refused to
get rid of his goats for fear they would be slaughtered, something
that his observance of certain Buddhist principles does not allow.

"I am not permitted to kill things," he said.

"We are considering criminal charges but are waiting for a report by
the state certified veterinarian," Goodall said.

"We are not professionals at dealing with goats so we need an
objective, professional opinion on the condition of the animals,
which is our primary concern," he added.

A decade ago Weathersbee said he planned to start a goat cheese farm
with three goats. Since then the herd has exploded to 300 and while
he said he fed them all well, some contracted diseases.

Representatives of the humane society could not be reached for
comment but the group's Web site said it is "exploring the
possibility of adopting out some of the goats into homes which do not
already have goats."

Weathersbee said he would go on a hunger strike if the state took
more of his goats away.

Goat Farmer May Face Cruelty Charges
Tue Mar 30,2004

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=583&e=8&u=/nm/20040330/od_nm/goats_dc

...

Subject:  Ohio: ghouls to gear up for airport expansion deer-kill

On the heels of the expose of the Akron area deer slaughter in the
Summit County Metro Parks, SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect & Kindness)
President Steve Hindi received a call from a concerned employee of the
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The employee stated that the
airport plans to kill numerous deer living on property destined for
runway expansion.

Yesterday, Hindi visited the airport area with the employee. Hindi
the called Airport Commissioner Fred Szabo and suggested that the
deer could be easily pushed off the property and onto adjacent Metro
Parks property. All that is required are some volunteers and a
couple days. SHARK offered to supply volunteers, or they could likely
be found within the ranks of the airport employees, according to the
airport employee working with SHARK.

Calls to the following authorities went out: John Mok / Airport
Director, Fred Szabo / Airport Commissioner, Andy Montoney / State
Director of Wildlife Services and Mayor Jane Campbell. As usual,
everyone wanted to point to someone else, but ultimately, the
consensus was that Airport Commissioner Fred Szabo is where the buck
stops and sadly ... probably the does as well.

When asked to consider simply allowing caring people to move the
animals
across a road to Metro Parks property, Commissioner Szabo told Steve,
"It is now up to the USDA. I will do whatever they decide."

Unfortunately, the USDA does not make decisions in the best interests
of animals. The USDA has a long established history of ignoring
animal abuse and also employs people to mass kill animals.

"The USDA considers all animals to be either a burden or an
exploitable resource, and the USDA will not hesitate to eliminate
these 20+ innocent and beautiful white-tailed deer," says SHARK
president Steve Hindi. "So far, our experiences in Ohio show the
authorities to be as kill-happy as any we have found around the
country."

For more information on SHARK, please visit
http://www.sharkonline.org.

Please contact the following individuals, and urge them to allow SHARK
to help humanely relocate the deer. Please also let us know of their
responses - Thanks!


Fred Szabo, Airport Commissioner
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
5300 Riverside Dr.
Cleveland, OH 44135
Phone: 216-265-6100
fszabo @ clevelandairport.com


John Mok, Airport Director
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
5300 Riverside Dr.
Cleveland, OH 44135
Phone: (216) 265-6022
jmok @ clevelandairport.com


Andrew J. Montoney, Ohio Wildlife Services State Director United
States
Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
6929 Americana Parkway Reynoldsburg, OH 43068-4116
Phone: 614-892-2514 and/or 419-625-9093
Fax: 614-892-2519
andrew.j.montoney @ aphis.usda.gov

and

Mayor Jane Campbell
Cleveland City Hall
Mayor's Office
601 Lakeside Avenue, Room 202
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Phone: 216-664-2900 and/or 216-664-2220
mayorsactioncenter @ city.cleveland.oh.us
and/or
Mayorcampbell @ city.cleveland.oh.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 31, 2004

Contact Steve Hindi at 630-640-1889 cell.

THE CLEVELAND SHUFFLE - A FAMILIAR, UGLY AND DEADLY TUNE

...

Ravenous bruin kills 5 goats in White Twp.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
BY MIKE FRASSINELLI
Star-Ledger Staff

A hungry bear awakening from a winter slumber killed five goats and
a rabbit over a 24-hour period in a Warren County neighborhood,
leaving behind a trail of giant paw prints, half-eaten carcasses and
angry residents vowing to take matters into their own hands.

The four incidents on three different streets in a scenic White
Township neighborhood yesterday and Tuesday reignited the debate
over whether a New Jersey bear hunt should be allowed this year.

JoAnn DeLucca, owner of a pregnant goat, vowed to send a photo of
the dead animal to Gov. James E. McGreevey. The McGreevey
administration is opposed to a hunt this year, following a
controversial hunt late last year -- the first in the state in 33
years -- that attracted national attention.

"He's going to get a nice little graphic picture here," said
DeLucca, who owns 10 goats on Tamarack Road.

But Lynda Smith, director of the West Milford-based Bear Education
And Resource group, said homeowners who live in bear country must
take precautions of their own, such as putting in electric fences.

"If you are not going to protect your animals, you can't blame a
bear for being a bear," Smith said. "The bears are just coming out
of their dens now. They are very hungry. They need to put on weight."

The bear scaled a 5-foot fence behind DeLucca's home and entered an
open barn to drag out the pregnant goat early yesterday morning.

Ken DeLucca, JoAnn's husband, acknowledged that, living in bear
country, "stuff like this happens." But he is worried about a
possible confrontation between a bear and his daughters, saying the
bears seem to show no fear around people.

Next door, the bear swiped two of Glenn Cowley's goats and knocked
over a sheep yesterday morning.

Early Tuesday, the bear killed Brenda Astrab's two pet pygmy goats
on nearby Beechwood Road and a pet rabbit on nearby Free Union Road.

Seeking to lure the bear humanely, the state Department of
Environmental Protection set traps on the Astrab and DeLucca
properties.

So far this month, about 15 bear incidents have been reported in New
Jersey -- about the same number as this time last year, said DEP
spokeswoman Elaine Makatura.

She said homeowners need to be aware that with the warmer weather,
bears are awakening from hibernation in search of food or mates.

She recommended that homeowners refrain from feeding black bears,
invest in bear-proof garbage containers, leave garbage out the day
of pickup and not the night before, wash garbage containers with
disinfectant and suspend bird feeders at least 10 feet off the
ground.

After losing her two pet goats, 7-month old Phoebe, and 6-month-old
Trixie, a distraught Astrab planned on getting an electric fence --
if she ever decides to get pet goats again.

i used soap made from goats milk and i find it to be very gentle for
sensitive skin. also, it is extremely moisturising. i used the
handmade type, not the processed soap. i highly recommend the
handmade goat milk soap. it is natural and good for the skin.

The day the tanks arrived at Rafah zoo -

Among ruined houses, a haven for Gaza's children lies in rubble

Chris McGreal in al-Brazil, Rafah
Saturday May 22, 2004
The Guardian

Ask to be directed to the latest wave of Israeli destruction in
Rafah's al-Brazil neighbourhood and many fingers point towards the
zoo.
Amid the rubble of dozens of homes that the Israeli army continued
yesterday to deny demolishing, the wrecking of the tiny, but only,
zoo in the Gaza Strip took on potent symbolism for many of the newly
homeless.

The butchered ostrich, the petrified kangaroo cowering in a basement
corner, the tortoises crushed under the tank treads - all were held
up as evidence of the pitiless nature of the Israeli occupation.

"People are more important than animals," said the zoo's co-owner
Mohammed Ahmed Juma, whose house was also demolished. "But the zoo is
the only place in Rafah that children could escape the tense
atmosphere. There were slides and games for children. We had a small
swimming pool. I know it's hard to believe, looking at it now, but it
was beautiful. Why would they destroy that? Because they want to
destroy everything about us."

The systematic demolition of homes was revealed yesterday as Israeli
forces partially pulled out of al-Brazil on the fifth day of an
operation officially to hunt down Palestinian fighters and weapons-
smuggling tunnels running under the border from Egypt.

More than 40 people have been killed in the assault, about a third of
them civilians, besides targets of the operation such as the Hamas
military commander in al-Brazil who was hit by a missile.

About 45 buildings were razed by the army in the area it pulled back
from yesterday, some of them two or three storeys high and housing
several families.

The military says the houses were wrecked by Palestinian bombs
planted to attack Israeli forces, or accidentally by tanks turning in
the street. But Palestinians consistently gave similar accounts of
armoured bulldozers arriving at the door and giving the residents
just minutes to get out, at best.

"The bulldozer started hitting the house," said Juma Abu Hammad
sitting on the remains of his eight-bed-roomed home that housed two
families with 15 children. "I grabbed the children. We did not take a
single thing with us, even very important documents like birth
certificates. I was just worried about the lives of the children."

Aziza Monsour, 54, pointed to the remains of a yellow taxi tossed by
a bulldozer on the top of what remained of a neighbouring
house. "That taxi was our only living," she said. "My husband drove
it. It provided for everyone who lived in this house."

But there is no house any more.

"The blade of the bulldozer hit the room we were sitting in," said
Mrs Monsour. "I waved my white headscarf at the soldiers as we
pleaded with them to let us go. We were running between the tanks and
the shooting and counting the children as we went to make sure they
were all still with us. This is revenge, absolute revenge, for the
seven Israeli soldiers killed in Rafah."

None of the homes left destroyed yesterday is close to
the "Philadelphi road" security strip under Israeli control along the
Egyptian border, and is therefore un-likely to have been used to dig
weapons-smuggling tunnels.

It is unclear whether other homes, next to the border, have also
been demolished as Israeli forces retain control of that part of al-
Brazil.

The army said that after five days of searching, "the beginnings of a
tunnel" had been found, although not in the area of the mass
demolitions. The military also denied it had deliberately destroyed
homes.

"We did not destroy any houses in al-Brazil," said a spokeswoman who
identified herself as Eli. "There was damage to buildings from
fighting. The terrorists activate explosive devices under the road or
next to the buildings. These bombs that destroy tanks can easily
destroy a house."

But, aside from the accounts of Palestinians who fled their homes,
the destruction is not consistent with individual explosions. Off al-
Imam road, nearly 20 houses in a row were wrecked. There was no sign
of a massive explosion, such as a crater in the road or damage to
houses standing next to the wrecked buildings.

Opposite, bulldozers had torn up an olive grove belonging to a well-
known family in the area, the Qishtas.

The demolitions in al-Brazil are the third time the Israeli army has
misrepresented its actions in Rafah this week.

On Tuesday the military dismissed accusations that an Israeli sniper
shot two children in the head, claiming they were blown up by a
Palestinian bomb. But the bodies of both children were later shown to
each have only a single bullet wound to the head.

On Wednesday the army said armed men made up the majority of 10
people killed when an Israeli tank fired into a peaceful
demonstration. In fact half of the victims were children and
television footage showed no weapons among the demonstrators.

The army also initially denied that soldiers deliberately wrecked the
zoo that provided Rafah's children with virtually their only contact
with live animals, even ordinary ones such as squirrels, goats and
tortoises.

Among the zoo's more popular exhibits were kangaroos, monkeys and
ostriches, which children could sit on.

The destruction was comprehensive. The fountain and its tiles were a
jumble of rubble in one corner. There was no sign of the swimming
pool.

One of the ostriches lay half buried in the rubble. Guinea fowl and
ducks were laid out in a row. Goats and a deer struggled with broken
legs.

Some of the animals were still on the loose, if not buried under the
debris. One of the two kangaroos was missing; the other was cowering
in the basement. A snake and three monkeys were unaccounted for. Mr
Juma accused Israeli soldiers of stealing valuable African parrots.

The army's explanation evolved through the day. At first it said it
had not destroyed the zoo, then it said a tank may have accidentally
reversed into it.

By the end of yesterday, the military said its soldiers had been
forced to drive through the zoo because an alternative route was
booby-trapped by Palestinian explosives.

Finally a spokesman said the soldiers had released the animals from
their cages in a compassionate gesture to prevent them being harmed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1222187,00.html

...

oh Lord, spare me such Zionist "compassion".

...

Subject:  Jehovah'sRednecks: more on the IDF's Rafah zoo destruction

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teensforanimalrightsclub/message/11807

...

MOLALLA -- A Molalla woman who shot two dogs for attacking her
livestock is seeking compensation for a potentially prize-winning
dairy goat that was killed.

A Clackamas County hearings officer is scheduled to conduct a hearing
this month to decide whether the dogs' owner should be held
responsible and whether he should compensate Marilyn Goodridge. The
hearing date had not been set.

Two other goats were injured in the attack just outside Molalla city
limits. State law says anyone can immediately kill a dog that injures
or maims livestock if the dog is off its owner's property.

Kerry Baillie, who owned the dogs, Max and Lakota, said he
understands why the law is needed to protect livestock.

But he said he's angry that his dogs were shot and can't imagine them
attacking the goats. The dogs dug under the fence around his yard and
escaped while he was at work, he said.

Dog attacks on chickens, sheep, goats, horses, cows and other farm
animals are fairly common in Clackamas County, said Diana Hallmark,
dog control manager. In 2003, the agency received 44 calls for
assistance involving dogs and livestock.

"There's an enormous amount of area in the county that is rural and
is livestock oriented," Hallmark said.

Most complaints to the county are about dogs killing chickens and
sheep. Horses and other large animals are more likely to be chased
than killed, Hallmark said.

Any time farm animals are killed, the case goes before a county
hearings officer for review.

Woman says dogs ran at her

The Molalla attack was close to town. The dogs lived within city
limits and roamed to the farm several blocks away.

While many livestock owners will fire at a stray dog, not many hit
their targets, Hallmark said.

"Not everybody's as good a shot as Mrs. Goodridge," she said.

Goodridge, 58, was on her way to the barn for afternoon chores on May
10 when she heard the dogs barking.

Inside the barn, she found one goat missing from its pen and two more
wounded and bloody. She slipped through a small door used by the
goats to go from their pen to a fenced pasture. She said she saw the
dogs -- Lakota the husky and Max the Labrador retriever -- chewing on
the missing goat in the pasture.

The dogs ran at her, and she backed away to return to the house, call
police and summon the veterinarian, she said.

Goodridge came back out with a .22-caliber revolver. She said when
the dogs ran at her a second time, she shot both between the eyes.

"I'm sorry for the pet owners," Goodridge said. "I don't know what
anybody else would have done in my situation. I know what I did."

Goat worth at least $1,800

Goodridge found Autumn, her most prized goat, dead in the pasture.

The Toggenburg goat had been appraised at $1,800 to $5,000 by a
certified American Dairy Goat Association judge and was expected to
be a national prize-winning animal, Goodridge said.

The product of careful breeding, the fawn-colored goat had just begun
producing its first milk and was too young to have established a show
career. The goat's mother had been ranked among the top in the nation
for milk production.

Treatment for a second goat has cost more than $1,000, Goodridge
said. The goat won't be able to produce milk because of its injuries,
she said. A third goat's injuries were less serious.

Baillie said he learned of the attack from county dog control
officials. He said the dogs spent time with his young nephews, who
were at his house regularly.

"My whole thing is I just can't see those dogs doing that," Baillie
said.

Sarah Hunsberger: 503-294-5922 shunsberger @ news.oregonian.com

When dogs attack
Monday, June 07, 2004
SARAH HUNSBERGER

http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/metro_south_news/1086
60950876490.xml?oregonian?sn

...

yup, that be a redneck... caint see a dam thing.


...

Book `em!
L.A. activists tailed, arrested on way to Liberation Weekend
conference
By Will Potter

Seven police cars lined the street, a helicopter circled overhead and
seven people stood in handcuffs looking like a scene from "America's
Most Wanted."

The "outlaws" were a group of activists who didn't buckle up. They
claim they were targets of a law enforcement harassment campaign
surrounding Liberation Weekend, a conference of grassroots activists
at the University of West Los Angeles School of Law. The conference,
May 15-16, drew activists to discuss "building a revolutionary
movement in the United States."

Since 9/11, Bush's war on terrorism has led to an increasingly harsh
crackdown on civil liberties, largely targeted at grassroots groups.
Houses have been raided, activists have been followed, and, as
happened last month, they have been arrested and accused
of "terrorism." The arrests in California, activists say, are part of
a larger, coordinated effort to silence dissent.

Melissa Rodriguez, a co-organizer of the conference, received a phone
call from friends on Sunday who said they were being followed by
unmarked police cars. She and a group of activists arranged to meet
them. On the way, Rodriguez was pulled over by a Costa Mesa police
officer accompanied by six cars and a helicopter hovering overhead.

Citing seatbelt violations, police handcuffed the bunch and led them
to separate cars for interrogation.

Police searched Rodriguez's car without her consent and confiscated a
guitar. They took the group to the police station, where, she
says, "I kept asking for the cuffs to be taken off, and they
said, `No you're still under arrest and there's still an
investigation.'" The activists were booked, fingerprinted and
questioned about Rodriguez and the conference. A representative for
the Costa Mesa Police Department did not return telephone calls
seeking comment on the arrests.

Several police cars followed Rodriguez as she left the station to
drop off the activists at their homes. At the final house, she was
pulled over by an FBI agent, who questioned her about her plans for
the weekend, and the political posters and propane tank police had
earlier found in her car.

"I just kept asking if I was detained, and he said `no,' and he said
they would just follow me wherever I went," she says. The small
propane tank in the trunk was from a recent camping trip. The agents
remained parked outside the house all night.

The seatbelt crackdown wasn't the only questionable law enforcement
act during the weekend. On Saturday, Brook Hunter and a group of
activists were pulled over on the way to the conference for a faulty
brake light. Police asked if they were going to the conference in Los
Angeles and detained them when one passenger couldn't provide
identification.

David Agranoff, an organizer with Compassion for Farm Animals, says
the FBI visited his home while he was at work but his wife did not
answer the door when she recognized one of the agents.

"To me this is all kind of indicative of how much they're worried
about what we have to say, and how much they want to squash out
dissent," he says. "That's what it's all about. They may say these
are traffic violations or whatever, but it's no accident they chose
to do it all that weekend."

With guns drawn, L.A. police stopped Nik Hensey on his way to the
conference, and told him to put his hands in the air and step out of
the car. They said his vehicle "matched a description," says
Hensey. "A subordinate later indicated that I was being watched and
they were told to engage me."

Hensey was taken into custody and his car was impounded and
ransacked. Police opened his mail, dumped out the contents of his
backpack and picked the lock on his laptop, he says.

He was followed by police to and from the conference. When he
approached one of the cars that had been following him, the driver
told him that he "knew my politics and that they wanted to keep me
from breaking the law," Hensey says.

"I felt guilty that we might have to invade another country to
sustain the fuel consumption required for seven units to tail me
throughout L.A, so I encouraged them to return tomorrow with hybrid
vehicles," Hensey says. "Officer Doug said he'd work on it."

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/book_em

...

Army Training Exercise That Injures Goats Causing Controversy


Animal Welfare Group Wants Practice To Stop

POSTED: 7:01 am MDT September 8, 2004
UPDATED: 5:08 pm MDT September 8, 2004
FORT CARSON, Colo. -- A training exercise planned at Fort Carson later
this month is creating some controversy.
The Army said an undisclosed number of goats will be sedated and then
injured to simulate combat wounds so medics can practice treating them.
Officials said the exercise will help save the lives of soldiers in Iraq
and Afghanistan.



File photo


"It's very important training," said Ben Abel, a spokesman for Army
Special Forces Command in Fort Bragg, N.C., which is responsible for the
training exercise at Fort Carson.
Abel characterized the number of goats that will be wounded and
eventually killed at Fort Carson this month as "a small amount," but he
wouldn't provide a number. He said the training is in compliance with
federal animal cruelty laws.



   SURVEY

Do you think the U.S. Army should injure goats to give medics simulated
battlefield training?

  Yes. If it can save the life of a soldier.
  No. Hurting animals for any reason is wrong.
  I'm not sure on this one.


  <http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3713463/detail.html##> Results |
<http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3713463/detail.html##> Disclaimer
The Washington-based Humane Society sent a formal protest to Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week asking him to block the exercise,
said Martin Stephens, the society's vice president for animal research
issues.
"We wouldn't be much of a Humane Society if we didn't oppose the
shooting of goats for training purposes," he said. "There clearly has to
be a better way."
The Army has made some concessions, discontinuing similar training using
dogs and switching to goats, Stephens said.
An informant told the Humane Society that at least one goat will be
pushed off a cliff.
Animals have long been used in training exercises throughout Army
history. Dogs were once used before being replaced by goats in medic
training.
"If medics didn't get this training, their first interaction with
serious wounds would be on the battlefield," said Abel.
"I wouldn't want to be treated by a physician whose last patient was a
goat," countered Dan Hanley, with People For the Ethical Treatment of
Animals.
After the goats are treated by Army medics, they will be killed and
cremated.
The medics also spend time at trauma care hospitals in major cities
nationwide to gain experience, Abel said.

Copyright 2004 by TheDenverChannel.com
<mailto:dennews@...> . The Associated Press contributed
to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Army set to injure goats for training
  - National Humane Society outraged

By TOM ROEDER - THE GAZETTE
The Colorado Springs Gazette

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5942820

USA - A planned training exercise at Fort Carson has drawn fire from
animal welfare groups because it involves soldiers injuring an
undisclosed number of goats.

Later this month, medics from the 10th Special Forces Group will
learn battlefield medical techniques at the post by treating the
goats, which will be sedated and then injured to simulate combat
wounds, the Army confirmed Tuesday.

The Army is unapologetic about the nature of the training, saying the
goats will be sacrificed to save the lives of soldiers fighting in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It's very important training," said Ben Abel, a spokesman for Army
Special Forces Command in Fort Bragg, N.C., which is responsible for
the training exercise at Fort Carson.

That's not good enough for the Washington-based Humane Society of the
United States, which last week sent a letter of protest to Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calling on him to spare the Fort Carson
goats.

"We wouldn't be much of a Humane Society if we didn't oppose the
shooting of goats for training purposes," said Martin Stephens, the
organization's vice president for animal research issues.

Stephens said his organiza- tion was tipped off to the upcoming
training by an informant at the post.

The informant said plans call for pushing at least one goat off a
cliff, Stephens said.

Abel declined to provide details of how the goats will be injured.

The Army and animal welfare advocates have been at odds since the
1970s over similar training exercises.

At bases around the country, goats are used to simulate wounded
soldiers so medics can hone skills before heading to war.

Medics and doctors have trained using animals throughout Army
history.

"The animals are put under general anesthesia, and they are wounded
so that our medics can train in a realistic scenario that allows them
to get hands-on experiences with live tissue," Abel said.

Abel said the training complies with federal animal cruelty laws.

After the animals are treated by Army medics, they are killed and
cremated.

The Army has made concessions in the past, Stephens said,
discontinuing similar training using dogs and switching to goats.

Abel characterized the number of goats that will be wounded and
eventually killed at Fort Carson this month as "a small amount," but
he wouldn't provide a number.

The goat-based training augments a variety of schooling given to
Special Forces medics.

The medics also spend time at trauma care hospitals in major cities
nationwide to gain experience that they can use on the battlefield,
Abel said.

Stephens, a biologist, said there are better ways to learn
battlefield medicine.

He said the goats could be spared if the Army went hightech, using
electronic simulations to replace the animal training.

"There clearly has to be a better way," Stephens said.

Abel said the goats save human lives.

"If medics didn't get this training, their first interaction with
serious wounds would be on the battlefield," he said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0240 or

troeder @ gazette.com

...

yup, welcome to the GhoulNation's Army - be all the asshole you can
be, get $$ for skool, see da woild,
provide fresh cannon fodder for Herr Buche & Co, and last but not
least, you might get the chance to push a goat off a cliff or blow
holes into it's drugged-out body.

yuppers, its a brave new woild, aint it.

tnx to Pat of FoD
  - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/friendsofdeer/
and Lore of All_Goat_Rescue_RR
  - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_Goat_rescue_railroad/message/571
for posting this.

...

Fayetteville, NC--U.S. Rep. George Miller, of California's 7th
Congressional District, has sent a letter, on behalf of PETA, to the
U.S. Army Special Operations Command in Ft. Bragg, N.C., urging the
agency to reconsider using goats to train medics in advanced trauma
life support (ATLS) exercises. Rep. Miller agrees with PETA and
leading medical educators that using patient simulators and human
cadavers is instructionally superior and far more humane than cutting
into animals' chests and inserting catheters into their veins.

Writes Rep. Miller, "If [the goats] are intended for use in ATLS
training exercises, I ask that this decision be reconsidered in favor
of the more humane and effective alternatives that are currently
available."

Numerous ATLS programs have eliminated the use of animals in training
exercises. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services
Systems (MIEMSS) has reported that 95 percent of MIEMSS students rate
the cadaver lab superior to animal labs. Philip Militello, M.D., an
instructor at MIEMSS, has taught approximately 100 trauma training
courses, both with dogs and with the innovative program using human
cadavers and simulators. Because of significant anatomical
differences between humans and other animals, he considers using
cadavers a big advantage and explains, "It mirrors the clinical
scenario and is very well received."

  - - - - -

U.S. Rep. George Miller's e-mail to the Army Special Operations
Command follows.

March 25, 2002


U.S. Army Special Operations Command
Fort Bragg, NC 28310

ATTN: Rowena Godaire, Contract Specialist

Dear Sir:

I am given to understand that the Army Special Operations Command at
Fort Bragg is in the process of acquiring goats for possible use in
medic training in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) exercises.

I understand that such ATLS exercises at military bases frequently
include the infliction of life-threatening wounds on animals in order
to train medics in trauma and life-saving techniques. However, many
other facilities have switched from using live animals in favor of
more humane and equally effective alternatives, such as patient
simulators and human cadavers. These alternatives have proven
superior in replicating more accurately a clinical scenario and in
advancing realistic trauma training for medics. Performing these
procedures on a human cadaver specimin has been well received by
students in trauma training courses. I would hope that these
advantages would be taken into consideration when planning the ATLS
exercises.

I would appreciate your confirmation as to the intended use of these
goats by the Special Operations Command. If indeed they are intended
for use in ATLS training exercises, I ask that this decision be
reconsidered in favor of the more humane and effective alternatives
that are currently available.

Thank you for taking my concerns on this matter into consideration. I
look forward to your prompt reply.

Sincerely,

GEORGE MILLER

Member of Congress, 7th District

Gretel K. Lauro

Office of Rep. George Miller

2205 Rayburn H.O.B.

Washington, D.C. 20515

(202) 225-2095 / fax: (202) 225-5609

Gretel.Lauro @ mail.house.gov

http://www.peta.org/news/NewsItem.asp?id=795

...

Military Testing: The Unseen War

  - http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=86

---

When news reports tally the casualties of war, or when monuments are
erected to honor soldiers, the other-than-human victims of war--the
animals whose bodies are shot, burned, poisoned, and otherwise
tortured in tests to create even more ways to kill people--are never
recognized, nor is their suffering well known. The 1987
movie "Project X" offered only a glimpse of the kind of experiments
that go on far from public view but at taxpayer expense.

Uncounted Casualties

The U.S. military inflicts the pains of war on hundreds of thousands
of animals each year in experiments. The Department of Defense (DOD)
and the Veterans Administration (VA) together are the federal
government's second largest user of animals (after the National
Institutes of Health). They account for nearly half the estimated
minimum of 1.6 million dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits,
primates, rats, mice, and "wild animals" used, as reported to
Congress in 1983, the last year for which government figures are
available.(1) Because these figures don't include experiments that
were contracted out to non-governmental laboratories, or the many
sheep, goats, and pigs often shot in wound experiments, the actual
total of animal victims is probably much higher.

The House Armed Services Committee voiced its concern "about the use
of animals in medical and other defense-related research" in its
report on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1995.
(2) At committee hearings, DOD revealed that its use of animals in
experiments has increased 36% in the past decade, but that it spent
$180 million on research using 553,000 animals in the last fiscal
year.(3)

Top Secret

Military testing is classified "Top Secret," and it is very hard to
get current information. From published research, we know that armed
forces facilities all over the United States test all manner of
weaponry on animals, from Soviet AK-47 rifles to biological and
chemical warfare agents to nuclear blasts. Military experiments can
be acutely painful, repetitive, costly, and unreliable, and they are
particularly wasteful because most of the effects they study can be,
or have already been, observed in humans, or the results cannot be
extrapolated to human experience.

Sample Experiments

Burns and Blasts: In 1946, near the Bikini Atoll in the South
Pacific, 4,000 sheep, goats, and other animals loaded onto a boat and
set adrift were killed or severely burned by an atomic blast
detonated above them. The military nicknamed the experiment "The
Atomic Ark."(4)

At the Army's Fort Sam Houston, live rats were immersed in boiling
water for 10 seconds, and a group of them were then infected on parts
of their burned bodies.(5)

In 1987, at the Naval Medical Institute in Maryland, rats' backs were
shaved, covered with ethanol, and then "flamed" for 10 seconds.(6)

In 1988, at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico, sheep were placed
in a loose net sling against a reflecting plate, and an explosive
device was detonated 19 meters away. In two of the experiments, 48
sheep were blasted: the first group to test the value of a vest worn
during the blast, and the second to see if chemical markers aided in
the diagnosis of blast injury (they did not).(7)

Radiation: At the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in
Maryland, nine rhesus monkeys were strapped in chairs and exposed to
total-body irradiation. Within two hours, six of the nine were
vomiting, hypersalivating, and chewing.(8) In another experiment, 17
beagles were exposed to total-body irradiation, studied for one to
seven days, and then killed. The experimenter concluded that
radiation affects the gallbladder.(9)

At Brooks Air Force Base in Texas, rhesus monkeys were strapped to a
B52 flight simulator (the "Primate Equilibrium Platform"). After
being prodded with painful electric shocks to learn to "fly" the
device, the monkeys were irradiated with gamma rays to see if they
could hold out "for the 10 hours it would take to bomb an imaginary
Moscow." Those hit with the heaviest doses vomited violently and
became extremely lethargic before being killed.(10)

Diseases: To evaluate the effect of temperature on the transmission
of the Dengue 2 virus, a mosquito-transmitted disease that causes
fever, muscle pain, and rash, experiments conducted by the U.S. Army
at Fort Detrick, Md., involved shaving the stomachs of adult rhesus
monkeys and then attaching cartons of mosquitoes to their bodies to
allow the mosquitoes to feed.(11)

Experimenters at Fort Detrick have also invented a rabbit restraining
device that consists of a small cage that pins the rabbits down with
steel rods while mosquitoes feast on their bodies.(12)

Wound Labs: The Department of Defense has operated "wound labs" since
1957. At these sites, conscious or semiconscious animals are
suspended from slings and shot with high-powered weapons to inflict
battlelike injuries for military surgical practice. In 1983, in
response to public pressure, Congress limited the use of dogs in
these labs, but countless goats, pigs, and sheep are still being
shot, and at least one laboratory continues to shoot cats. At the
Army's Fort Sam Houston "Goat Lab," goats are hung upside down and
shot in their hind legs. After physicians practice excising the
wounds, any goat who survives is killed.(13)

Other forms of military experiments include subjecting animals to
decompression sickness, weightlessness, drugs and alcohol, smoke
inhalation, and pure oxygen inhalation.

Animal Intelligence

The Armed Forces conscript various animals into intelligence and
combat service, sending them on "missions" that endanger their lives
and well-being. The Marine Corps teaches dogs "mauling, snarling,
sniffing, and other suitable skills" needed to search for bombs and
drugs.(14)

Thousands of animals also fall victim to military operations and even
military fashion. A series of Navy tests of underwater explosives in
the Chesapeake Bay in 1987 killed more than 3,000 fish(15), and
habitats for hundreds of species have been destroyed by nuclear tests
in the South Pacific and the American Southwest.

And as if weapons tests didn't kill enough animals, the Air Force
recently awarded a New Jersey company $5.2 million to manufacture
53,000 leather flight jackets, in an effort to "enhance esprit" among
its pilots. At 3-1/2 goat skins per jacket, the result will be that
185,500 African goats will lose their lives so that U.S. pilots can
sport a World War II "look."(16)

References

"Alternatives to Animal Use in Research, Testing, and Education,"
U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, 1986, pp. 50-51.
Krizmanic, Judy, "Military Increases Animal Experiments," Vegetarian
Times, August 1994.
Ibid.
Tom Regan, "We Are All Noah," 1985.
Burleson, "Flow Cytometric Measurement of Rat Lymphocite
Subpopulations After Burn Injury and Injury With Infection," Archives
of Surgery, 122:216.
Wretland, et al., "Role of Exotoxin A and Elastase in the Pseudomonas
Aeruginosa Strain PAO Experimental Mouse Burn Infection," Microbial
Pathogenesis, 2:397, 1987.
Phillips, et al., "Cloth Ballistic Vest Alters Response to Blast,"
Journal of Trauma, Jan. 28, 1988.
Dubas, et al., "Effect of Ionizing Radiation on Prostaglandins and
Gastric Secretion in Rhesus Monkeys," Radiation Research, 110:289,
1987.
Durakovic, "Hepatobiliary Kinetics After Whole Body Irradiation,"
Military Medicine, 151(9):487.
"Obscure Office Drafts World War III Script," Washington Post, May
27, 1984.
Watts, et al., "Effect of Temperature on the Vector Efficiency of
Aedes Aegypti for Dengue 2 Virus," American Journal of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene, 36(1):143, 1987.
Dobson, et al., "A Device for Restraining Rabbits While Bloodfeeding
Mosquitoes," Laboratory Animal Science, 37(3):364, 1987.
"Goats Shot to Teach Army Doctors Skills," Williamsport Sun-Gazette,
March 5, 1986.
"Uncle Sam Wants You, Too, Fido," Time, June 18, 1984, p. 33.
"Fish Deaths Cancel Navy Blast Tests," Washington Post, October 1,
1987.
"Air Force Needs a Few Goat Jackets," San Francisco Chronicle, April
8, 1988.

...

At the Army's Fort Sam Houston "Goat Lab," goats are hung upside down
and shot in their hind legs. After physicians practice excising the
wounds, any goat who survives is killed.

"Goats Shot to Teach Army Doctors Skills," Williamsport Sun-Gazette,
March 5, 1986.

...

Goat lovers aghast over Army plan

By TOM ROEDER - THE GAZETTE

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?sid=1207416
(advise pop-up blocker)

Toni Shoop of Colorado Springs was angry with the Army on Wednesday.

She wasn't mad at the soldiers at Fort Carson, or even fired up about
the war in Iraq. She says she's pro-Army.

Shoop is a goat lover who said she was driven to rage by a planned
Special Forces training exercise at Fort Carson that includes
soldiers sedating, then wounding and treating injuries on goats.

She called Fort Carson and the Humane Society of the United States in
an attempt to stop the training, which the Army said is necessary to
save injured soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officials said by treating the goats, the 10th Special Forces Group
medics will learn how to handle the wounds they'll see on the
battlefield.

The goats are treated humanely, said Maj. Rob Gowan, spokesman for
Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., which is responsible
for training.

The Army has conducted similar training for decades.

Gowan, who said he was getting a lot of inquiries on the goat issue
Wednesday, wrote a lengthy e-mail that he's sending to the angry and
the curious explaining how the goats are treated.

For Shoop, who has loved goats since seeing them at the Colorado
State Fair as a child, nothing the Army says is likely to be good
enough.

"I just think it's terrible that they are putting a defenseless
animal out there and they are shooting at them," she said.

Gowan said the goats feel no pain.

"The animals are put under general anesthesia and only then are
combat wounds replicated," Gowan wrote in the e-mail.

"It is important to understand that mutilation or torture is not
practiced in this important training."

The goats, which are purchased on a federal contract through an Army
vendor, are put to sleep after the training and their remains are
cremated for disposal. It's all in accordance with federal rules,
Gowan said.

The animal class augments other schooling for the medics, who also
spend time working in hospital emergency rooms as on-the-job
training, he said.

No matter the good intentions of the training, goat fans remain
upset.

"They are almost like humans," said Karen Robinson, of Colorado
Springs, who raises goats.

"It upsets me so badly. I've always been against animals being used
like this," said Rosella Telles, of Colorado Springs, another pro-
Army animal lover.

"It's a waste of time and money and it's cruel."

An unscientific Internet poll of Gazette readers favored the goats
over the Army training 79-63.

Animal rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, have been asking the Army for years to stop the training.

PETA started a letter-writing campaign Wednesday in a bid to spare
the Carson goats.

"We do not believe that the use of animals is ethical or necessary,"
said Peter Wood, a PETA researcher who works in Washington D.C.

Gowan, though, said the training will go forward. He said it's
crucial because Green Berets often fight in remote areas where little
medical care is available. "This training saves lives."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0240 or troeder @ gazette.com

...

this is only a short synopse, full details to follow - County of
Prince William hath decided and decreed that all and certain goats
named William are no longer welcome nor allowed to exist in said
County as beloved pets or boon companions etc etc.
henceforth to be banished supposedly to some anonymous "farm"
where "presumably" he might "live out his days" in "kindness and
plenty" etc etc - ahh such pleasantly uninformed verbal buffoonery
these county vassals come up with.
anyway as previously hinted at in these archives, da imp is well past
fed up with the high-handed and imperious (in)civilities extant and
endemic to residence in the vastly-over-rated county of Prince
William, and prepares to proceed henceforth to higher ground.
(higher ground, in this case, being the Black Hills of SD.)

the fortunate few will avail themselves of future updates at this
site exclusively.

if all goes as planned, be sure to see the buss's webcams in
operation, from the Goat Friends "Links" page, where you are welcome
to take a peek at the passing scenic views, look in on Wm or the
others, or join our Goat-Friends-chatroom as we travel!
you might even get a glimpse of da imp himself brewing that eternal
cuppa joe...

...

as if the rest of this arcane circus wasnt enough to boggle the
hardiest of minds, attend to this tale: -

earlier this nite, da imp was coming back from giving somebody a ride
to the country and almost ran over a dark-colored dwarf doe-bunny
sitting in the exact middle of the lane - i fortunately braked to a
stop in time to avoid hitting her and she then casualy hopped off to
the side of the road - i put da impster truck in park right in the
middle of the (fortunately momentarily-deserted usually-quite-busy-on-
a-Saturday-nite) roadway, hit my 4 way flashers, took 3 steps out the
door and grabbed da bunette off the side of the road, took 3 more
steps back to the truck, slapped it in gear and drove off just as i
hear angry subhuman voices erupting from a nearby driveway/house - a
true full moon adventure - and now i have a sable dwarf doe bunny to
keep Jack Rabbit and Gringo (the 2 bucks) company heheheh ... named
Button-Nose because of the white spot on her nose, which is what
showed up in the darkness against the speeding oblivion of the hiway
and which  bright spot in the gloom saved her from being left for
roadkill on that dark and lonely hiway - now she is snoozing in a
safe "Pet Taxi" alfalfa-filled cubby near the rest of my critter
fambly in the old tin shed -

if NoahZark is gettin ready to set sail, the passengers are evidently
arriving, and i wonder where we'll end up, if @ all...

...