͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌To prevent cruelty to animals, we promote enacting and enforcing good public policies. To enact good laws, we must elect good lawmakers, and that’s why we remind voters which candidates care about our issues and which ones don’t. If you’d like to unsubscribe, click here. [[link removed]]

​# [#]Our Monthly Accomplishments and Update
Animal Wellness Action

March-April 2024

Summary

*
Sokito
[[link removed]]
,
a
soccer
brand
based
in
the
U.K.,
announced
an
immediate
end
to
sourcing
kangaroo
skins,
joining
Nike,
New
Balance,
and
Puma
and
adding
momentum
to
our
Kangaroos
Are
Not
Shoes
campaign.
Meanwhile,
protests
against
Adidas—the
outlier
among
big
athletic
shoe
brands
and
biggest
corporate
apologist
for
kangaroo
killing—are
spreading
across
the
globe.
*
After
witnesses
leaked
details
to
the
media,
we
stirred
global
outrage
against
Cody
Roberts
because
of
his
torture
of
a
young
female
wolf
in
Wyoming.
We
are
not
only
demanding
Roberts’
prosecution
but
also
meaningful
state
and
federal
policies
relating
to
wolves,
including
a
ban
on
running
down
wolves
and
other
wildlife
with
snowmobiles.
*
Animal
Wellness
Action
worked
to
oust
Stoney
Green
as
chairman
of
the
board
of
the
Wilkes
County
Board
of
Commissioners
in
North
Carolina
and
to
defeat
him
in
a
primary
race
for
a
seat
in
the
North
Carolina
House.
It
was
one
highlight
of
our
unrelenting
campaign
against
dogfighting
and
cockfighting
across
the
nation.
With
our
partner
organization
SHARK,
we’re
investigating
animal
fights,
working
with
law
enforcement
to
interrupt
their
derbies,
driving
arrests,
and
promoting
passage
of
the
FIGHT
Act.
*
After
pressure
from
us
and
from
lawmakers
in
North
Dakota,
the
National
Park
Service
relented
and
said
it
will
not
remove
200
wild
horses
from
Theodore
Roosevelt
National
Park,
a
critical
but
rare
win
for
wild
horses
in
the
West.
*
We’ve
thrust
into
the
spotlight
a
U.S.
Fish
and
Wildlife
Service
plan
to
kill
as
many
as
half
a
million
barred
owls
in
the
Pacific
Northwest.
The
government
agency
is
justifying
its
plan
by
saying
it
wants
to
tamp
down
interspecies
competition
between
the
barred
owls
and
4,000
or
so
rare
spotted
owls.
We’ve
organized
115
organizations
to
oppose
the
largest-ever
raptor
slaughter
planned
anywhere
in
the
world.
*
Our
campaign
against
the
EATS
Act
or
a
derivative
has
picked
up
more
momentum
after
we
organized
26
House
Republicans
to
oppose
the
effort
to
overturn
the
nation’s
most
important
farm
animal
protection
laws
(e.g.,
Prop
12
in
California).
We
are
organizing
opposition
in
the
Senate,
too,
as
a
battle
looms
over
the
provision
in
the
Farm
bill.

KANGAROOS ARE NOT SHOES
Sokito Joins Nike, Puma, New Balance in Stopping Use of Kangaroo Skin
Citing concerns over “kangaroo population management practices and population count discrepancies” in a commercial kill managed by the Australian government, soccer-cleat maker Sokito announced [[link removed]] it will no longer use kangaroo leather in the production of its soccer shoes. Australia’s Animal Justice Party made the first entreaty to the company, and together with the Center for a Humane Economy, Sokito CEO Jake Hardy announced, “the time is right to phase out kangaroo leather.”

Sokito joins [[link removed]] sportswear giants Nike, Puma, and New Balance, which each made 2023 pledges to end their sourcing of kangaroo skins for all shoes. Diadora, an Italy-based athletic shoe giant, dropped kangaroo-based shoes in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands-based ASN Bank [[link removed]] took Adidas off its list of recommended companies. Mariëtta Smid, senior manager of sustainability at ASN Impact Investors, told the Center, “We have indeed excluded Adidas from our investment universe because Adidas sources kangaroo leather and continues to do so.” We continue to work with groups in the United States and abroad who have held protests at Adidas corporate headquarters in Germany and stores throughout the world, with videos of the protests [[link removed]] viewed by over 6.7 million people. *
Take
action!
Use
this
form
[[link removed]]
to
add
your
support
to
federal
legislation
that
would
protect
kangaroos.

SAVING WOLVES
Wolf Killing in Wyoming Sparks Global Furor
Wyoming’s Board of Tourism pulled its national advertising [[link removed]] promoting wildlife watching within the state. It did so as global protests mounted over hateful state policies that gave license to rancher and trophy hunter Cody Roberts to run down a wolf with a snowmobile and then parade the grievously wounded adolescent female around a bar before killing her. We were among the first to condemn the serial acts of cruelty and to call for his prosecution, with our legal team producing a memorandum detailing how the state’s anti-cruelty statute [[link removed]] should be applied to Cody Roberts in this case.

The story has been covered from across the globe, with strong reporting throughout Wyoming [[link removed]] and Montana [[link removed]] , from Washington Post columnist [[link removed]] Kathleen Parker, and outlets such as The Guardian [[link removed]] , The Daily Mail, New York Post [[link removed]] , and the Sun [[link removed]] . Cases have been opened at the state and federal level, but no serious charges have yet been filed.

We’ve offered a $15,000 reward for information [[link removed]] that leads to the prosecution and then the incarceration [[link removed]] of the perpetrator, and that reward fund will grow. We’ve also sent a letter announcing our intent to sue [[link removed]] the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its failure to impose federal protections after seeing that Wyoming has allowed the killing of wolves across 85% of the state with no limits and by any means, including running animals down with snowmobiles and crushing them. We’re also demanding changes to state policies.

Addendum: In a separate revelation of canine cruelty in the interior West, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem wrote in a new memoir about her decision to shoot an adolescent female dog named Crickett that she’d come to “hate” [[link removed]] and behaved in ways that triggered the governor to shoot the dog [[link removed]] , named Cricket, and dump her in a gravel pit. Our condemnation of this cruel act from someone seeking to become Donald Trump’s pick for vice president was included in stories across the world, from National Public Radio [[link removed]] to the Daily Beast [[link removed]] to the Mirror [[link removed]] to the Washington Examiner [[link removed]] . We’ve noted Gov. Noem’s awful record on animal welfare during her four terms in the U.S. House.

*
Take
action!
We’ve
made
it
easy
to
add
your
name
to
a
letter
to
Sec.
of
Interior
Deb
Haaland,
asking
her
to
restore
protections
for
wolves
across
the
lower
48
states.
Get
on
board
here.
[[link removed]]

ANIMAL FIGHTING IS THE PITS
Animal Wellness Action Defeats North Carolina Politician with Dogfighting Record
As more arrests rack up [[link removed]] across the nation for dogfighting and cockfighting—so many of them resulting from our campaign to crack down on the practices—we worked to defeat Stoney Greene [[link removed]] , the chairman of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, in his run for the Republican nomination for a North Carolina House seat. Then the board of commissioners more recently called on him to resign his seat altogether and it endorsed the FIGHT Act [[link removed]] in Congress. We now have more than 520 agencies, organizations, and local jurisdictions endorsing the strongest-ever upgrade of the national animal fighting law—energized by local busts from Pennsylvania [[link removed]] to Oklahoma [[link removed]] to Louisiana [[link removed]] . The FIGHT Act has more Republican cosponsors than any other animal welfare bill [[link removed]] in Congress and creates a private right of action against animal fighters, enhances forfeiture of property for convicted animal fighters, and bans shipping roosters through the U.S. mail.

*
Take
action!
Use
our
easy
and
fast
tool
[[link removed]]
to
tell
your
U.S.
representative
to
support
the
FIGHT
Act
today.

IN THE STABLE, NOT ON THE TABLE
U.S. Scuttles Plan to Eliminate 200 Wild Horses at Theodore Roosevelt NP
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy celebrated news that wild horses will not be rounded up and removed [[link removed]] from Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). U.S. Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., secured a commitment from the National Park Service to maintain—rather than remove—wild horses inside the park after a drawn-out battle between wild horse advocates and the federal government. There are fewer than 200 wild horses in the 70,000-acre park in the western part of the state.

The announcement [[link removed]] came after pressure [[link removed]] from Animal Wellness and the Center, along with a local organization in North Dakota, to halt the plans to remove the horses by inhumane round-up and send them to an uncertain fate. We worked to make the issue a national concern [[link removed]] after the North Dakota legislature, Governor Doug Bergum, and the state’s Congressional delegation made emphatic statements that the horses are a cultural and economic treasure and should be protected. The wild horses drive tens of thousands of people to travel to western North Dakota and are an economic engine for rural communities there. The horses are one of the top tourist attractions in the state.

Sen. Hoeven included report language in the Fiscal Year 2024 Interior Department spending bill. Animal Wellness Action had earlier sent a letter to Director Charles Sams [[link removed]] , demanding that the Park Service scuttle its roundup and removal. If future population control is a core NPS objective for wild horses, we argued, it can be achieved by the application of fertility control rather than physical removals.

*
Take
action!
Congress
needs
to
hear
about
your
opposition
to
horse
slaughter.
Let
them
know
today.
[[link removed]]

SPARING OWLS
We Are Standing in the Way of Federal Plan to Kill Half a Million Barred Owls
The Center and Animal Wellness Action are in the lead in working to quash a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) plan to kill nearly a half million barred owls [[link removed]] in the American Northwest as a Hail Mary pass to attempt to reduce competitive pressures adversely affecting spotted owls. The plan is unworkable on its face, and the FWS neither has the infrastructure nor the federal funding to conduct or manage such a massive wildlife control plan that covers more than 10 million acres from Marin County to the Canadian border. The kill-plan amounts to the largest raptor killing plan in global history.

We wrote a letter [[link removed]] , signed now by 115 organizations, including 17 local Audubon societies, opposing the measure, and it’s gained coverage from National Public Radio [[link removed]] to The Guardian [[link removed]] to the New York Times [[link removed]] to the Los Angeles Times [[link removed]] to the Sacramento Bee [[link removed]] . Both the LA Times [[link removed]] and the Vancouver Columbian [[link removed]] , in widely picked up editorials, have panned the idea and urged the FWS to nix the idea.

We’ve estimated the cost of the plan at nearly a quarter of a billion dollars—three times more than the annual FWS annual budget for endangered species recovery of $82 million per year. It’s an allocation of a major chunk of finite resources that does nothing for habitat preservation or restoration that all agree is the key to long-term protection of spotted owls.

Former FWS biologist Kent Livezey noted, in a peer-reviewed paper, that 111 other native birds species engaged in “recent” range expansion, and with 14 of them over an area larger than barred owls. With range expansion occurring so widely with birds and mammals, given human impacts on the environment, these kinds of movements of wildlife will be a never-ending feature of species interactions. Would USFWS, in the future, sign off on a plan to conduct mass shootings of North American owls if they were predating on a highly endangered salamander? Would they seek to massacre orcas if ocean temperature changes cause orcas to spend more time in Hawaii and they start feasting on endangered monk seals? The FWS is going down a dangerous path of managing social relationships and competition between North American species.

*
Take
action!
Dept.
of
Interior
Deb
Haaland
has
the
power
to
stop
this
massacre.
Ask
her
to
do
so
by
following
this
link
[[link removed]]
today.

CAGE-FREE FUTURE
Protecting Prop 12, Other State Farm Animal Laws from Congressional Attacks
We organized a letter from 10 conservative Republican [[link removed]] members of the U.S. House to House Agriculture Committee leaders. The letter urged them to exclude the EATS Act and any slimmed down version of it from the forthcoming Farm Bill. Led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., the lawmakers argued that the measure would override state farm-animal-welfare laws and further expand China’s enormous footprint within America’s pork industry.

Last month, we reported that Prop 12 in California and Question 3 in Massachusetts are already in effect with thousands of farmers supplying the state, with many of them having made investments in humane housing systems. This is the second major letter from Republicans we’ve organized against the EATS Act, with 16 lawmakers previously announcing [[link removed]] opposition last October.

*
Take
action!
Tell
your
U.S.
representative
and
senators
you
are
against
the
EATS
Act
by
using
our
simple
tool
[[link removed]]
today.

For the animals,

Wayne Pacelle [[link removed]] Wayne Pacelle
President
Animal Wellness Action
[[link removed]] DONATE NOW [[link removed]]
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