Action Line Spring 2014

SPRING 2014

ACTION LINE

RAINFOREST REFUGEES AMERICA TAKES THE WILDNESS OUT OF ITS WILDERNESS 10 LIVES: AN INSPIRING STORY ABOUT HUMANE FERAL CAT MANAGEMENT ORGANIC LAWN CARE TAKES ROOT

Spring 2014 | 1

4 N EWS America Takes the Wildness out of its Wilderness 8 F EATURE 10 Lives: An Inspiring Story About Humane Feral Cat Management

12 NEWS #Animals for Sale 16 FEATURE Organic Lawn Care Takes Root 23 NEWS NYC’S First Mayor for Animal Rights 31 NEWS Crafted with Care: Palm Oil Free Soap 32 LETTERS 33 CHEERS & JEERS 34 FoA MERCHANDISE

WHO WE ARE Friends of Animals is an international non-profit animal-advocacy organization, incorporated in the state of New York in 1957. FoA works to cultivate a respectful view of nonhuman animals, free-living and domestic. Our goal is to free animals from cruelty and institutionalized exploitation around the world.

OUR TEAM

CONTACT US NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 777 Post Road Darien, Connecticut 06820 (203) 656-1522 contact@friendsofanimals.org

ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT Donna Thigpen [CT]

NEW YORK OFFICE 1841 Broadway, Suite 350 New York, NY 10023 212 (247)-8120 WESTERN OFFICE P.O. Box 102041 Denver, CO 80250-2041 (720) 949-7791 PRIMARILY PRIMATES SANCTUARY P.O. Box 207 San Antonio, TX 7891-02907 (830) 755-4646 primarilyprimates@ friendsofanimals.org VISIT US www.friendsofanimals.org www.primarilyprimates.org FOLLOW US facebook.com /friendsofanimals.org facebook.com /primarilyprimates.org MEMBERSHIP Annual membership includes a year’s subscription to Action Line. Students/ Senior membership, $15; Annual membership, $25; International member, $35; Sustaining membership, $50; Sponsor, $100; Patron, $1,000. All contributions, bequests and gifts are fully tax-deductible in accordance with current laws.

REPRODUCTION No prior permission for the reproduction of materials from Action Line is required provided the content is not altered and due credit is given as follows: “Reprinted from Action Line, the Friends of Animals’ magazine, 777 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820.”

Action Line is a quarterly publication Issue CLIX, Spring 2014 ISSN 1072-2068

2 | Friends of Animals

PRESIDENT Priscilla Feral [CT] feral@friendsofanimals.org www.twitter.com/pferal www.twitter.com/primate_refuge VICE PRESIDENT Dianne Forthman [CT]

IN MY VIEW

BY PRISCILLA FERAL, PRESIDENT

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Robert Orabona [CT]

SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT Shelly Scott [CT] SPAY/NEUTER PROJECT Paula Santo [CT] DIRECTOR, WILDLIFE LAW PROGRAM Michael Harris [CO] ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY Jenni Barnes [CO] NEW YORK DIRECTOR Edita Birnkrant [NY] www.twitter.com/EditaFoANYC CORRESPONDENT Nicole Rivard [CT] nrivard@friendsofanimals.org CANADIAN CORRESPONDENT Dave Shishkoff [BC—Canada] www.twitter.com/FoA_Victoria SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Meghan McIntire [CT] www.twitter.com/FoAorg WEB COORDINATOR Rudy Koszkul [CT] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PPI Brooke Chavez [TX] brooke@friendsofanimals.org COVER AND FEATURE ILLUSTRATIONS Marcus Pierno DESIGN MSLK Printed on Recycled Paper

EXPEDITION AFRICA REVEALS FoA’S TRANSFORMING WORK OVERSEAS In late December, we stepped into a small wooden boat in the village of Kuntaur in Gambia to travel a short distance to Baboon Island, also known as the River Gambia National Park in West Africa. The view was astonishingly beautiful: Lush, unspoiled gallery forests along the banks of the Gambia River, lots of birds and a few Nile crocodiles. Minutes later, we arrived at the camp for the island sanctuary, the unique Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project—home to chimpanzees, Guinea baboons, red colobus monkeys, hippopotamuses, more than 240 species of birds and an abundance of other wildlife.

We were greeted at the inviting water house that extends out over the river by the project director, Janis Carter, and several staff members from the local village. I hadn’t seen Janis in two years, so I was excited about spending two days with her at the camp to view chimpanzees on the islands, and to relish hearing her captivating stories. Two nice-looking patas monkeys were in temporary cages at the camp before their planned release, far from a nearby village where they get in trouble. Free-living greenish-olive vervet monkeys appeared frequently at the camp, which thrilled us.

We were warned not to feed them so they won’t rely on tourists for food.

The Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project was established on the islands in 1979 to care for orphaned and unwanted chimpanzees who live on the forested islands with freedom and protection. The water’s edge provides a barrier as chimpanzees cannot float well, and falling in deep water can mean drowning. Janis pays a staff of 24, and Friends of Animals has assisted with crucial funding for chimpanzee monitoring, supplementary food and other care for more than five years.

Today, there are 104 chimpanzees spanning three generations in four families who reside on three islands. These chimpanzees are the only ones to reside in Gambia, as wild chimpanzees disappeared in the early 1900s—likely for all the miserable reasons that accompany human disturbance around the globe.

During our guided boat tour we glided along the river and estuaries, getting an up-close view of chimpanzees who were identified by name. We even learned their rich—and sometimes comical—histories, like in the case of Melanie, the first chimpanzee I saw along the island’s edge enjoying melon, with her offspring and social group in sight. Many years ago, after the project was launched, Melanie located Janis’s row boat on the island, untied the rope that secured it, hopped inside and was seen floating down the river before she was swiftly returned to her home on the island.

Janis observed that Melanie was probably bewildered by what she had set in motion.

PHOTO BY JANE SEYMOUR

24 FEATURE Rainforest Refugees

As I set my eyes on the largest island, which holds Dash’s family on one end and Pooh’s on the other, raucous baboons appeared on tree branches, thrashing around to create enough of a disturbance that a chimpanzee might relinquish the fruit he or she found.

However, the chimpanzees seemed unfazed by the commotion.

Meanwhile, on the river’s opposite bank, a captivating scene unfolded—scores of rare red colobus monkeys used tree branches like trampolines, jumping up and down to lift-off, before swinging from tree to tree. They spend all of their time in trees eating the leaves that are increasingly scarce outside River Gambia National Park. Their survival is tied to specific trees that sustain them.

Our attention was then drawn to the water right in front of us, where the eyes and ears of several hippopotamuses peeked out from the river—watching us as our guide slowed the boat, and veered away from disturbing them. It was a treat to see them submerged in the river. At night hippos often venture on land to eat mostly grass. In areas outside the Gambia, hippos are not protected and are threatened by hunting, habitat loss and the ivory trade.

Leaving Gambia and Baboon Island was a bittersweet experience as we headed to Senegal to see dozens of protected scimitar-horned oryxes in northwest Guembeul’s Reserve—the site where Friends of Animals launched its successful reintroduction effort years ago. Today, 246 oryxes thrive within two expansive, fenced, fully-protected reserves, re-establishing a presence in their African homeland.

Experiencing the success of our efforts to protect imperiled animals in Gambia and Senegal was beyond rewarding. Your generous support of Friends of Animals will continue to make those efforts in Africa possible.

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AMERICA TAKES THE WILDNESS OUT OF ITS WILDERNESS 4 | Friends of Animals

A plan to kill off barred owls illustrates this country’s misguided wildlife policy

By Michael Harris, Wildlife Law Program Director

“In wildness is the hope of the world.”

- John Muir It is not known when the first barred owl decided to make its home in the Pacific Northwest. Historically, the barred owl’s unique hooting call— “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?”—was a sound associated with the forests and treed swamps of the eastern United States. In the past century, human-caused landscape changes allowed barred owls to slowly expand their range into forests throughout most of the U.S. Today, thousands of barred owls reside in California, Oregon and Washington.

As is often the case when an animal or plant species migrates

into a new habitat, there are ecological ripple effects associated with the westward expansion of the barred owl. The appearance of barred owls in the Pacific Northwest is not good news, for instance, for a far more famous member of the Strigidae family—the northern spotted owl.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, barred owls are “larger, more aggressive and more adaptable than the northern spotted owl” and are known to displace spotted owls, disrupt their nesting and compete with them for food. In some instances, government researchers have even observed barred owls interbreeding with or killing spotted owls.

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Victory for Snowy Owls in NYC

By Edita Birnkrant, NY Director

When our New York office learned that three snowy owls had been shot to death at JFK airport in early December by the Port Authority and that the owls had officially been added to the airport’s wildlife kill list, we sprang into action, loudly opposing the deadly shoot-first mentality and generating calls and e-mails of outrage to those responsible. The intense pressure urging the airport to relocate the owls instead of shooting them, compounded by a CBS New York investigative news report featuring FoA’s New York Director Edita Birnkrant questioning the illegality of the shootings and threatening legal action from FoA’s lawyers, resulted in a victory. Within 24 hours of our efforts, the Port Authority reversed its kill decision and vowed to immediately implement a trap and relocate program, sparing the lives of countless snowy owls. Then, during Birnkrant’s interview on the Jane Velez Mitchell show on CNN’s Headline News, we announced the breaking news of our impending lawsuit.

FoA’s legal department filed the suit on Dec. 23 against the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in response to the shooting of the owls, for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the National Environmental Protection Act. Under federal law, government officials are required to fully consider and disclose all of the options to protect both the owls and airline safety. It is clear that officials chose to ignore this legal obligation, and instead focused only on shooting as an alternative. While we are very happy that indiscriminate killing of owls won’t be happening again, FoA intends to press forward to make sure the wildlife management program at JFK is more transparent in the future and brought into compliance with federal law. Stay tuned for updates on the progress of this ongoing lawsuit.

6 | Friends of Animals

The USFWS believes the barred owl poses such a threat to the long-term survival of the northern spotted owl that there is only one course of action—remove them from the Pacific Northwest. Last September, USFWS issued a permit under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act authorizing the shooting of some 3,600 barred owls over the next few years. Friends of Animals moved swiftly to challenge the issuance of this permit in court. The lawsuit asserts that in issuing a scientific collecting permit under the MBTA, USFWS is required to show that the take of the barred owl is necessary for the species’ own conservation.

Because the permit is really to allow indiscriminate killing of the barred owl under the guise of protecting another species, it is inconsistent with the intent of the MBTA to protect species like the barred owl.

A misguided approach That USFWS would intentionally violate the law and issue a permit to allow the shooting of barred owls is disgraceful in its own right. But it pales in comparison to what the issuance of the permit actually represents—an increasingly misguided approach to wildlife policy in the United States.

Indeed, the common thread among many recent decisions by wildlife agencies is the placing of the gun before science and ethics.

Orders to kill (or as wildlife officials prefer to call it, “cull”) animals as

a means to “manage” their populations or to “protect” native flora and fauna are abundant. In just the past few years, the government has overseen the slaughter of wolves, mountain lions, coyotes, elk, deer and numerous bird species, including both barred and snowy owls (see sidebar).

Shooting as a means of a wildlife management has become so prevalent for a rather simple reason: It allows wildlife officials to avoid having to make decisions that place ecological needs before economic wants.

The barred owl decision is reflective of this truth. It is well documented that the northern spotted owl population has been in decline for more than 40 years.

Habitat destruction, primarily due to logging of old growth forest was the primary reason the northern spotted owl was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. And while nearly 6.9 million acres of forest are designated as habitat critical to the recovery and survival of the northern spotted owl, as recently as 2012, USFWS issued new exclusions from the designation to allow additional logging.

Moving in the wrong direction Only a generation ago, Americans had a vastly different view of wildlife.

The Conservation Movement of the 20th century, often associated

with John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Edward Abbey, helped instill in many a philosophical appreciation of the natural world. Perhaps for the first time in human history, people began to see that our spirit is tied to the beauty and grace of the natural world, with all of its wildness.

In turn, these new sentiments gave popular support to the passage of laws intended to preserve and protect America’s wildlife and wild lands. These laws were intended to protect ecological resources from ever-expanding human activities.

It is difficult to believe, but not so long ago, the U.S. Supreme Court, in reviewing the application of the newly passed Endangered Species Act ESA to the construction of a massive hydroelectric project, concluded that it was clear that Congress’ intention in passing the ESA was “to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction— whatever the cost.”

The barred owl removal plan is just another sign that wildlife policy is moving in the wrong direction.

While human activities remain the primary threat to northern spotted owls and numerous other species, we have sunk so low as to scapegoat other animals. This must change— not merely for human salvation, but to ensure the innate rights of those animals being “taken.”

TAKE ACTION CONTACT THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Send a letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service telling them you oppose shooting the barred owls: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Region 911 NE 11th Ave Portland, Oregon 97232 CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE Send a letter to your congressional delegation telling them to support legislation to end indiscriminate killing of wildlife.

MAKE A DONATION Make a donation to FoA to support our work to end these practices.

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As many as 30 feral cats called Parliament Hill in Canada home.

PHOTO BY KLAUS GERKEN

STAN MINASIAN’S LATEST DOCUMENTARY CAPTURES THE SUCCESS OF TRAP, NEUTER, RETURN PROGRAMS ALL OVER THE WORLD, EVEN AT THE COLISEUM IN ROME.

10 Lives An inspiring story about humane feral cat management

BY NICOLE RIVARD

8 | Friends of Animals

There was once more than meets the eye at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. Home to politicians and government buildings, it also provided a sanctuary for a feral cat colony complete with kitty condos built by volunteers who embraced the felines.

As many as 30 strays at a time lived there since the 1950s after the government switched to a chemical-based rodent control program inside the Parliament Hill buildings, putting the cats out of work and rendering them homeless.

Spaying and neutering eventually reduced those numbers to just four in December 2012. By January 2013 volunteers had adopted them, and the sanctuary was dismantled.

This success story of humane feral cat management, which involves trapping, spaying/neutering, and returning of feral cats, is just one of several highlighted in a new documentary called, Ten Lives, written and directed by Stan Minasian, founder of the Animal Fund.

The film was funded by Friends of Animals and the Summerlee Foundation.

“It’s what we hope all feral cat colonies will end up being—that they will just evolve into no more cats,” said Minasian.

“The Parliament Hill situation was very special

because it became a tourist attraction. It was codified by the prime minister coming over and visiting the feral cats. The press went crazy. From that point on, the government practically gave the property to the Parliament Hill cats and to their caretakers. It wasn’t just a group of people trapping feral cats and spaying and neutering them and returning them. They built this humongous shelter to provide housing for the cats.

It was a really spectacular thing for everyone to visit.”

The seed for the documentary was planted more than 10 years ago when Minasian was hired by the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to produce a nine-part video series titled 9-Lives: The Humane Management of Feral Cats. Each of the nine titles is a textbook on how people can get involved to help control the population of feral cats while making their lives better. The videos show how to humanely trap, establish feral fix days, set up shelters, properly maintain a colony, care for kittens, deal with legal issues and gain community support.

“According to then-president Ed Sayres, the series was very well received by shelters and clinics across the country, with more than 500 sets distributed,” Minasian said. “But they were instructional videos and the public never got to see them. As I maintained the rights to all

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At Parliament Hill in Canada, volunteers created a sanctuary for a feral cat colony where food and shelter was provided.

PHOTO BY KLAUS GERKEN

“ AFTER SEEING A FILM LIKE OURS HOPEFULLY WHEN PEOPLE SEE A FERAL CAT ON THE STREET THEY WON’T TURN AWAY FROM IT.”

of the material I decided that I had enough to form the basis of a documentary for public consumption.

It just didn’t feel right to have it sitting on the shelf.”

Minasian’s other projects include the Emmyaward winning, Last Days of the Dolphins, the first film to reveal the killing of dolphins during tuna fishing operations and A Fall from Freedom, the first film to expose the controversial history of the captive whale and dolphin industry.

He points out that while his latest film covers trap, neuter and return TNR to a great extent, it also works to negate the claim by many bird groups that feral cats are a major cause of songbird decline worldwide.

“I am confident that the film disproves this claim, and in a big way,” he said. “The bird groups are adamantly against trapping and return. They are more in favor of trapping feral cats and putting them in shelters, which ultimately means that they will die because no one adopts feral cats. We found a number of people who have strong arguments that feral cat groups and bird people ought to be working in unison because it really is a positive thing.”

Individuals in the film talk about habitat loss, deforestation (for people, cattle, and coffee), global warming, massive city lights, pollution, wind power generators,

10 | Friends of Animals

pesticides and even intentional massive killing for human consumption as the real reasons for the decline of birds in general, and songbirds in particular.

The other critically important aspect of the film, Minasian says, is to show that feral cat spay/neuter clinics can be set up by anyone, anywhere and that veterinarians can be extremely cooperative, as well as veterinary students.

“They need the experience to do cat spay and neuters as part of their training. What better way to do it than a feral cat clinic,” Minasian said. “I think the public will go bonkers because they have never seen this kind of thing. You have 60 or 70 people working in unbelievable unison where in an eight-hour period they will spay and neuter 150 cats.

“So the public will get a real good idea that it’s not just, pardon the expression but I’ve heard it so many times I’m sick of it, ‘little old ladies in tennis shoes feeding feral cats.’”

Minasian points out people from all walks of life, men and women, are getting involved in trap, neuter and return programs.

“Once viewers see how prevalent it is around the world, especially in the United States, they won’t feel intimidated by starting it up themselves,” he said.

In addition to Canada, Ten Lives features footage from the United States; Havana, Cuba and even the Coliseum in Rome, Italy.

Minasian spent a day filming one of the most prevalent U.S. groups called Fix Our Ferals, a community-based, non-profit organization that promotes TNR in the San Francisco East Bay area. The groups Minasian features are unyielding about TNR and it being the only successful long-term strategy for humanely controlling the population of free roaming cats. A sterilized colony of feral cats will stabilize, and eventually decline in numbers through illness, accidents and old age.

They maintain that trap-and-kill programs do not work because of the territorial nature of feral cats. When all the resident cats are removed from an area, a “vacuum” is created, and un-neutered cats from nearby neighborhoods will move into the unclaimed territory.

In Rome, Minasian visited the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary, home to about 250 felines sheltered amongst the oldest temples in Rome. Seven days a week volunteers feed, clean and look after them. The shelter offers a comprehensive sterilization and adoption program, and it also cares for sick, handicapped or elderly cats that are difficult to place in homes.

Minasian also includes footage from Animal

Balance and its work in Cuba. Animal Balance works on islands where there is either a threat to biodiversity, human health, or the community is too impoverished to sterilize their escalating cat and dog populations. It currently does work on The Galapagos Islands, Samoan Islands, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Cuba and Cape Verde.

Minasian hopes people will use his film as a tool to make a case for the trap, neuter and return method to manage feral cats. If there is a feral cat colony on government land, he says, very often a governmental organization will trap them and take them to an animal shelter.

“If people who don’t want that to happen can watch a film that instructs them on an alternative method that’s proven, then they can go in and create a better argument for not doing it that way,” Minasian said.

“After seeing a film like ours hopefully when people see a feral cat on the street they won’t turn away from it.

They’ll know that there is something that they can do.”

To download the movie, visit: www.feralcatsusa.org

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nimals A # ale S For POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA SITE, INSTAGRAM, IS BECOMING AN UNREGULATED ANIMAL BLACK MARKET WHERE USERS CAN ADVERTISE AND BUY LIVE ANIMALS, FROM PUPPIES TO EXOTIC PETS, QUICKLY AND EASILY.

By Meghan McIntire

12 | Friends of Animals

Kittens in sweaters, dogs frolicking through snow, chipmunks on windowsills—if there is one thing that captures attention on social media, it’s a picture of a cute animal.

Entire fan bases form around certain animals, like Grumpy Cat or the dog Boo, and result in websites, book deals, television shows and more.

But when you combine social media’s cute-pet obsession with the speed and accessibility of the internet, you find a disturbing trend emerging: It’s becoming increasingly acceptable for people to use social media to advertise and purchase animals quickly and easily, particularly on Instagram.

Instagram, a service used primarily

on smartphones, allows users to take photographs, apply editing tools like filters and frames, hashtag their photos with descriptions (like #NewYorkCity or #Vacation) and then upload them for their followers to see.

With more than 100 million active users1 and a lack of community guidelines, it is the perfect platform for those wanting to be noticed—and those who want to make money.

Although it was never intended to act as an online marketplace, Instagram is rapidly becoming a site where users advertise things they’re looking to sell, be it clothing, cars, appliances or animals.

exotic animals is problematic since A quick search on the site using it lets users occasionally bypass the term #forsale, brings up more national and state laws that would than a million different results, and be enforced at shelters and pet scattered throughout them are a stores. Many states have their own wide variety of animals. Dogs, cats, rules about what exotic animals can exotic turtles, sheep—there’s a be kept and sold as pets in their area, virtual zoo right at the fingertips but Instagram has made it easy for of anyone looking to buy. people to circumvent these laws and As a site that is known for being contact the sellers of exotic pets all a place where people can document over the country. their daily activities and capture Some of the most disturbing photos of things as mundane as instances on Instagram involve what they ate for lunch or the accounts that sell animals that are traffic jam they’re stuck in, it’s a meant to be slaughtered during completely inappropriate place for religious rituals or other events. people to bargain over the price of One account, @Sheeps_sell, which a living creature. is located in Kuwait and has more Many individuals use their personal accounts to put up pictures than 2,000 followers, features dozens of pictures of rams and of pets they can no longer care sheep. One picture’s caption reads, for or kittens and puppies they’re “We have them all, sacrificial and selling after their pet had a litter. carcasses of all ages. We will bring Others, who are considered “backthem to you for all events and yard breeders,” conduct unregulated birthdays… We deliver to all the breeding of their animals for the sole purpose of making money. This neighborhoods of Kuwait.”2 type of breeding potentially results What makes this issue even in animal suffering and neglect more problematic is the fact that since the owners aren’t held to a Instagram is one of the only social minimum standard of care, and networking sites that does not neither are those who purchase outwardly prohibit the selling of them. At the moment, Instagram animals. Facebook, Amazon, Craigserves as a perfect place for backyard slist and eBay all have rules against breeders to use as a virtual showroom selling live animals in their terms for the animals they have for sale and and conditions and do not tolerto contact interested buyers. ate it for most instances on their Other accounts specialize in sites. Instagram, on the other hand, exotic pets and feature pictures does not include anything in their of each animal that is available community guidelines3 about the for purchase. One account, sale of items, let alone animals. @SuziesZooPets, shows dozens In a somewhat ironic twist, Instaof different species—from rodents gram does have rules about what to African dwarf frogs—all of them words users can put in their photo with a dollar price in their descriptions. descriptions and bans words like Allowing people to post ads for “sexy” and certain profanity.4

But there is no rule prohibiting photos with captions about the sale of live animals.

Instagram’s tolerance of the selling of live animals leads to a sense of casualness about animal’s lives and downplays the serious decision of purchasing a pet. The fact that animals are considered things one can purchase quickly and informally puts them on the same level as any other object people are selling, like iPads or DVDs, and is resulting in a total disrespect for the lives of the animals for sale.

1. http://nitrogr.am/instagram-statistics/ 2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385474/ Instagram-allowing-selling-live-animals-website-app.html 3. http://help.instagram.com/477434105621119/ 4. http://thedatapack.com/banned-hashtags-instagram/

TAKE ACTION ALWAYS ADOPT FROM A SHELTER Reject the buying and selling of animals online and from breeders.

Always consider adopting from a shelter.

CONTACT INSTAGRAM Tell Instagram to change its regulations to include a ban on selling animals. You can contact them on Twitter or Facebook: https://twitter.com/instagram https://www.facebook.com/InstagramEnglish?brand_redir=1

Spring 2014 | 13

Chef Miyoko Schinner’s vegan butter recipe MAKES 1 POUND

• ½ cup rich soy milk, almond milk, oat milk or commercial non-dairy milk • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar • ½ teaspoon sea salt

Palm oil production is a leading cause of rainforest destruction. See story on page 24. Help combat the industry and save orangutans by cooking with vegan butter instead of palm oil.

• 1 - ½ cups refined coconut oil (don’t use extra virgin, or it will taste like coconuts), measured after melting • ¼ cup liquid oil-canola, grapeseed or olive • 2 teaspoons liquid lecithin

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process at a medium speed for about one minute. Pour into a container of your choice—something made of silicon is great, as it will pop out easily, but any storage container will do (line it with wax paper first for easy removal). Set it in refrigerator for a few hours until hard.

This recipe and other vegan staples will be in Miyoko’s new book The Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples.

IN MEMORIAM Friends of Animals has received kind donations in memory of the following individuals:

JANET PATRICIA KERRUISH

CINDY LEE DUNLAP

THEIA POCZABUT

ETHEL WEGODSKY

JAY WESCOTT

PAUL

MARJORIE HOPE SAMS

BEAR

MOLLY

MR. & MRS. WILLIAM MAUR

CATHERINE COSTANZA

BLACKPAW BUDDY RUGBURN

GERALD YANDLE, JR.

JANET FLEMING

ELLIN DAWSON

KATIE

BUD

KALUHA & BLACK BEAR

ANDREW GROSSER

BUSTER MOORE

SPARKY

CODY

STINKY PUDDING

CALVIN W. HARVEY

DANDY

ROSIE

ORSON

CINDY SMITH DWYER

SAMANTHA

DOROTHY CUOMO

MIDGE DAY

MOJO

BUSTER

DONNA PAWLOWSKI

JAMES R. CREIGHTON

PECKY THE PIGEON

BOO

SOPHIE

DUKE

14 | Friends of Animals 14 | Friends of Animals

Animals Need Primarily Primates Since our founding three decades ago, San Antonio’s Primarily Primates has provided animals a way out of institutionalized lives and deaths.

Today, Primarily Primates has a renovated infrastructure, beautifully expanded living and sleeping spaces for primates and birds, and on-site veterinary care. We are devoted to assuring the most comfortable and stimulating environments for our 470 animals and birds.

Here at Primarily Primates, close to 48 chimpanzees and gibbons have a space where their dignity matters. So do members of 32 species of other primates, including squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, capuchins, langurs, lemurs, macaques, marmosets, tamarins and baboons.

Without private sanctuaries to offer security for animals formerly owned as pets, as unwilling actors, Neytiri, a Spider monkey at Primarily Primates: Photo by Jane Seymour or testing specimens, they remain trapped for life. While we work, through our advocacy, for the day that ownership is a thing of the past, please invest in Primarily Primates, and ensure the safety and care for those who need you now.

One Lemur at Primarily Primates: Photo by Jane Seymour

Yes! I want to help.

Enclosed is my donation of $____________ Check or money order payable to Primarily Primates enclosed Charge my

MasterCard

Visa

Account number exp. date

signature

name

address

City / State / zip

AL

Primarily Primates, Inc. P.O. Box 207 • San Antonio, TX 78291-0207 Phone: 830-755-4616 Online donations: www.primarilyprimates.org

Spring 2014 | 15

ORGANIC LAWN CARE TAKES ROOT Aesthetically pleasing and no longer cost prohibitive, organic lawn care goes mainstream as evidence of the health risks of pesticides—to human and non-human animals—piles up.

BY NICOLE RIVARD

16 | Friends of Animals

Spring 2014 | 17

Beyond Pesticides offers “pesticidefree zone” lawn signs for people who have joined the organic lawn care movement.

The town of Marblehead, Mass., has become a model for pesticide-free turf grass management. Ironically, the man that led the charge to go organic, Charles “Chip” Osborne, Jr., was once a self-described “big pesticide user until the mid-1990s.”

The defining moment that made him switch to organic was the death of his beloved English Springer Spaniel Jessie.

Every day, Jessie accompanied Osborne to the commercial garden center he bought with his dad back in 1974. As a commercial greenhouse grower, Osborne held a pesticide applicator’s license for almost 25 years.

“What we were taught in the greenhouse business was that you sprayed a cocktail mix of materials every seven to 10 days eradicating anything that could cause economic or aesthetic injury to our horticultural crops,” said Osborne, who now helms Osborne Organics, LLC. When Jessie developed cancer in her mammary glands and in her stomach and died at the young age of 9½, it was a wake-up call.

“When she died I knew it was at my hand because she used to sleep under the greenhouse benches, in the cool soil down there, during the warmer months of the year,” Osborne said. “But it was the same soil where all the pesticides I was using dripped through my plants and through the bench and onto the floor. Her daughter Sadie died under the age of 10, too. They were show dogs with no predisposition to cancers, so it was clear to me what had happened.”

So Osborne decided to learn organic alternatives to pesticides, eventually having his greenhouse certified organic as a vegetable starter and herb production house.

He also switched his horticultural specialty to include turf grass management.

Then he teamed up with a local woman and formed the Marblehead Pesticide Awareness Committee. They gave workshops for homeowners to show them that they could do the same thing Osborne did at this business and still maintain the aesthetics they wanted.

“We also began a dialogue with our Board of Health, and in 1999, it declared pesticides as a public health

18 | Friends of Animals

issue with a position paper and a flyer to homes,” Osborne said. “In 2001, the town passed the Organic Pest Management Policy.”

Osborne explained that the policy states that all town-owned land needs to be maintained with materials approved by the Organic Materials Review Institute.

“There was a point back in the 90s when we were on the fringe. We are no longer on the fringe. Organic lawn care is definitely mainstream,” Osborne said, adding that he travels all over the country as a consultant for organic turf and lawn care management now.

“What a lot of people have heard about organic lawn care is it is prohibitively expensive and it doesn’t work. Neither of those things is true anymore. Organic lawn care is not just done on a whim. It’s truly science based—and as a result, it’s affordable and doable.

Organic does not mean weeds and insects all the time.”

ORGANIC LAWN CARE IS NOT JUST DONE ON A WHIM. IT’S TRULY SCIENCE BASED — AND AS A RESULT IT’S AFFORDABLE DOABLE AND EFFECTIVE.

Considering the reasonable cost of organic lawn care, compounded by research piling up about the health risks of pesticides, it’s no wonder a pesticide-free movement is underway.

Poison for our pets One of the more recent studies, published in the journal Environmental Research in January of 2012, reveals that the use of professionally applied pesticides was associated with a significant 70 percent higher risk of canine malignant lymphoma. Risk was also higher in those reporting use of self-applied insect growth regulators.

Another study by the Purdue Comparative Oncology Program, which appeared in Science of the Total Environment in July of 2013, was done as a follow-up to an earlier study that showed a significant association between lawn chemical exposure and increased bladder cancer risk in dogs with a strong genetic risk for the cancer. Three different herbicides, 2,4-D, MCPP and dithiopyr, were measured in the urine of dogs and on the surface of grass in 25 households that had planned to apply lawn chemicals and in eight households that were not going to apply lawn chemicals.

At least one of the three chemicals was present in the urine of dogs in the majority of the 25 households after lawn chemicals were applied. “Untreated” grass also contained lawn chemicals, presumably from drift from nearby treated areas. Half of the dogs living on untreated grass had chemicals in their urine. The bottom line, the study says, is that dogs can internalize lawn chemicals from exposure to their treated lawn, exposure to their untreated but contaminated lawn and from other treated areas such as parks.

Lead the movement in your community Whether you want to switch to organic in your own backyard or rally your entire community, Osborne suggests visiting the website of Beyond Pesticides, www.beyondpesticides.org, a national advocacy group for the elimination of pesticides of which he is a board member.

The group provides information on everything from colony collapse disorder in the pollinator community to research on pesticides such as Round Up (active ingredient glyphosate) and 2,4-D. “Beyond Pesticides works closely with local activists

Spring 2014 | 19

in communities who in turn work with local officials to enact organic lawn care policies that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous pesticides,” said Drew Toher, public education associate at Beyond Pesticides.

“The most salient ordinance in my mind is the recent law enacted by the City of Takoma Park, MD., that restricts the use of cosmetic lawn care pesticides on public and private property. Unlike 43 other states across the country, Maryland state pesticide law does not ‘preempt’ individual localities from enacting pesticide laws stricter than the state’s.”

DOGS CAN INTERNALIZE LAWN CHEMICALS FROM EXPOSURE TO TREATED LAWNS, EXPOSURE TO THEIR UNTREATED BUT CONTAMINATED LAWNS, AND FROM OTHER TREATED AREAS SUCH AS PARKS.

20 | Friends of Animals

Inspire, one lawn at a time As Micaela Porta and Heather Lauver walked through their New Canaan, Conn., neighborhood on the way to pick their children up at school back in 2011, they were struck by the number of yellow pesticide application flags that they saw. The flags depict a parent, child and dog with a black line through them indicating, “Keep off the grass.”

“I had this ‘a-ha’ moment. I really looked at the flag and it depicted 99 percent of everybody who was within a three-mile radius of where we were standing, and I was like, ‘What are we all doing?’” Porta said.

So the moms founded Pesticide-Free New Canaan as a non-profit initiative supported by a local nature center. They make public presentations about the health risks of pesticides and the need to switch to organic lawn care.

“We started researching these chemicals and then we couldn’t not do something,” Porta said. “A lot of these chemicals were created as biological agents meant to kill living things.”

One of the really popular ingredients, 2,4-D, found in more than a thousand products sold in the United States, is actually derived from Agent Orange, Lauver said, adding that the Environmental Protection Agency has no testing program for human health effects of pesticides.

“Is it really worth increasing the rates of leukemia and lymphoma?” Porta said. “We are talking about allergies and asthma and depression and fertility issues. Is it worth it for crab grass?

“I am really proud of our approach—one lawn at a time. If we were sitting around hoping that 100 people would switch in a month or in a year we would probably be very discouraged,” Porta added. “But every time we speak in public we do get a fair amount of people, in some cases half the people, who switch.”

In nearby Rowayton, Conn., the women’s presentation inspired the Rowayton Gardeners, with the help of Friends of Animals, to reach out to their elected officials about making the switch from using a chemical called

quinclorac to a pesticide-free program at a popular community park that sits alongside a river.

The park’s transition started with a simple soil test, a crucial first step in any organic lawn care program, to see if the soil was acidic.

“The main concept of organic lawn care is to optimize the conditions for the grass by building up the soil so that it can outcompete the pests and weeds,” said Paul Saltanis, owner of Country Green in Monroe, Conn., who was hired by the town to make the transition.

“Grass plants like a neutral pH to grow.

“You want living soil, microbes in there to offset the bad guys, so you can grow grass without the need for chemicals. And if the soil is too acidic you don’t have any microbes. You can correct the acidity with lime. The second thing is to put out some food for the microbes, organic fertilizers to encourage them. A step further is to add some organic material, compost, which stimulates and gives a good base for the seed.”

Saltanis is encouraged by the numbers of people joining the pesticide-free movement. “We are not necessarily changing the minds of people set in their ways, we are replacing them with the young, environmentally minded,” Saltanis said.

“I think pet owners are great because I think they understand their pets are walking in these chemicals and licking their paws. I found that one of the main reasons that people decide to give organic a try is they got a new puppy… they feel that they really have to protect the new puppy from harmful chemicals.

TAKE ACTION While there are more lawn care providers offering organic services these days, Chip Osborne suggests a few basic steps to follow to go organic on your own.

TEST YOUR SOIL Before you do anything you must test your soil to learn what needs to be added, if anything, to it. You can do it through the Cooperative Extension Service of a state university or soil lab. Since laboratories tend to give recommendations for fertilizer in the chemical based form, ask for recommendations for organic fertilizer.

PROPER PRACTICES Cultural practices like maintaining healthy soil, using at least two native turf grasses, proper watering and mowing high so the grass blade is three inches afterward are key to weed management.

WAR ON WEEDS Buy grass seed and fill up any bare spots, otherwise a weed might get there. Apply corn gluten meal as a pre-emergent to weed prone areas. Use a flame weeding machine which uses a targeted flame to kill weeds. For really pesky weeds, spray them with horticultural vinegar, or acetic acid.

GRUB CONTROL Apply milky spore (bacillus papillae), a naturally occurring bacteria that has been mass-produced for grub control, with 1 teaspoon in rows every four or five feet, creating checkerboard pattern, then water the lawn. (A spreader mix is also available.) Or you can mix one cup of mouthwash or liquid dish soap, with one cup water and two cups lemon juice and spray over the lawn.

Spring 2014 | 21

By Edita Birnkrant, NY Director

NYC’S First Mayor for Animal Rights BILL DE BLASIO IS READY TO GO TO WAR FOR THE RIGHTS OF ANIMALS. HIS FIRST BATTLE IS TO MAKE THE HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE INDUSTRY SURRENDER AND FIND HOMES FOR THE EQUINES WHO WILL BE SET FREE AS A RESULT.

By the time this article reaches you, New York City will have its first mayor to pledge to create a humane city for animals—starting with banning horse-drawn carriages. We look forward to working closely with Mayor Bill de Blasio and his administration in transforming policies for other animals also, including Canada geese and urban wildlife who have long been under assault, as well as shelter animals.

Our mayor understands that animal rights is more than just a special interest: It is an essential component of social justice. In a rousing and inspiring speech to animal advocates I attended weeks before he took office, Mayor de Blasio said: “Your time has come. Whether you’ve been fighting for animal rights and a more humane society, or if you’ve been fighting for social and economic justice, you have probably felt that you were in the political wilderness. Well, if we define the mainstream by our senior elected officials, then allow me to say as the Mayor-Elect of the largest city in the United States of America, that I am honored to be a part of your

22 | Friends of Animals

movement. I am honored to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in common cause.”

cruel industry. Finally, after years of being ignored and mocked by the Bloomberg administration, the issue was getting the attention it deserved...

De Blasio’s previous tenure as a New York City Council member and Public Advocate did not distinguish him as a supporter of the carriage horse ban or other pro-animal policies. He’s since evolved his thinking, and said in his speech to animal rights advocates before he took office,

placed in a sanctuary once the ban goes into effect. We’ve spent years protesting, educating tourists with our flyers, holding rallies and press conferences, and lobbying politicians to pass this critical legislation.

The new administration has a lot on its plate, and the carriage horse ban will take some time to implement. But de Blasio’s words in his recent speech about following through on his vow to institute a ban reassure us:

Evolving Politically for Animals Mayor Bill de Blasio’s rise from barely being noticed among the pack of mayoral candidates to winning the election was electric.

His outspoken stance on animal rights issues, and his firm promise to get carriage horses off the streets and into sanctuaries, made the “We’re going to end it! …Someday soon, candidate shine among animal advocates. His commitment to his ideals “I didn’t start with a full understanding we will stand together on the steps of City Hall to celebrate the victory of the of these issues. I had some positions showed in a CBS mayoral debate legislation passing.” that were probably, forgive the phrase, when de Blasio, questioned about a little more traditional, a little more his support for a ban on carriage narrow-minded. But the more I learned, horses, responded: the more I needed to demand change “I have said very clearly we are ending in our society.” horse carriages in New York City.

Mayor de Blasio also credits his two There’s no place anymore for horse CONTACT ELECTED OFFICIALS teenage children, both vegetarians carriages in New York City, and by the Residents in other cities that utilize and animal rights supporters, for way, major cities all around the world horse-drawn carriages such as San Antonio, Texas, and Victoria, British have been ending this because it’s cruel, advancing his thinking on the issues.

Columbia, where FoA is also because it’s inhumane and horses don’t We applaud de Blasio for rethinking supporting bans, can contact their his stance, for challenging himself belong in the middle of the busiest city elected officials and urge them to and embracing animal rights as a in the world. So we will get this done end the practice of horse-drawn carriages like New York City. progressive issue. and we will get it done quickly. I’m moving forward with this plan.”

MAKE A DONATION Freedom for Carriage Make a donation to FoA to support Horses on the Way His campaign brandished itself our work to end these practices.

Friends of Animals has led the as the progressive choice winning movement to ban the heartless him a landslide victory with more carriage horse industry, making it than 73 percent of the vote. an issue that demanded attention.

The carriage horse issue became We helped draft New York state Sen. an improbably hot topic during Tony Avella’s ban legislation, still the election—for the first time ever in New York City politics both candi- pending in the legislature, and we made sure that it included a crucial dates for mayor were vocal about provision for each horse to be planning to end the dangerous,

TAKE ACTION

Spring 2014 | 23

Rainforest refugees PALM OIL INDUSTRY PUSHES ORANGUTANS TOWARDS EXTINCTION FEATURE BY NICOLE RIVARD • Illustrations by marcus pierno

Spring 2014 | 25

The way some palm oil is produced is contributing to massive rainforest destruction, orangutan extinction and climate change. It’s in 50 percent of the goods we use every day, and snuck into snacks of all kinds, so put down that Oreo cookie and pass on that bowl of Frosted Flakes.

The power to save orangutans from extinction and prevent tropical deforestation and degradation of carbon rich peat lands—a byproduct of palm oil production—is literally in the palm of our hands now.

The El Paso Zoo in Texas has launched a mobile application for smartphones designed to alert people to products that contain palm oil so they can boycott them when shopping for groceries and personal care products, and instead choose palmoil free options.

“The current palm oil crisis is a consumer-driven problem,” zoo officials said in a statement describing the purpose of the app.

“We want to tell every American that when you go to the grocery

26 | Friends of Animals

store, you get to make a choice. If they purchase a product containing palm oil, the way it was grown very likely could have killed orangutans,” said LeAnn Fox, co-founder of Palm Oil Consumers Action and docent at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. The name “orangutan” is of Malayan origin and means “person” of the forest. Orangutans live only in the rainforests of Southeast Asia on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, mostly in Indonesia, but also in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. A 2007 United Nations Environment Program report identified palm oil plantations as the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia.

As their homes are being cleared

to make way for palm oil plantations, orangutans often die from starvation or fires used to clear the forest, or they are killed deliberately by farmers when they steal fruit crops at the forest edge because they have no other food source, according to Dr. Ian Singleton, director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program SOCP in Indonesia, which is home to approximately 50 orphan orangutans.

Orangutans also become trapped and isolated in any small fragments or stands of just a few trees that remain, making them easier to catch and vulnerable to poachers who want to supply the illegal exotic pet trade.

That’s what happened to Gokong, who arrived at SOCP in February of

2013 after being confiscated from contain palm oil because it has the the RSPO “sustainable palm oil the home of an Indonesian palm highest yield of any oil crop and is standards”) rather than buying oil plantation worker. He had been the cheapest vegetable oil to produce segregated RSPO-certified palm oil snatched from his mother by a fishand refine. (sourced from a known RSPO-certierman who then sold him as a pet.

But the “Snack Food 20,” the fied producer from a plantation not Virtually all of the orangutans companies the Rainforest Action associated with deforestation and confiscated by SOCP are illegal pets, Network exposed in its report not mixed with controversial sources Singleton explained. Part of SOCP’s “Conflict Palm Oil,” in the fall of at any point in the supply chain). mission is to release them back in 2013, gross a total of more than $432 “What they say is that they are to the wild, which it started doing billion in revenue annually. Surely buying this conflict palm oil now in Jantho, near the northern tip they can afford more expensive but in the future they will make sure of Aceh, the northern province of oil that is not driving orangutans they buy certified palm oil,” Fox said.

Sumatra, back in 2011 with the five toward extinction.

“I understand that it can take a few orangutans, Kis kis, Pibi, Coconut, In December of 2013, Singayears to switch a supply chain, but Sangir and Mongki. pore-listed Agribusiness Wilmar if they’ve been members of RSPO No orangutan mother will give International, which supplies palm eight years and they still aren’t up her offspring without a fight. She oil to Unilvever for its Dove soap doing a better job at managing will defend her infant to the death, and Flora margarine, announced their supply chain after eight years, and that is usually what happens— that its entire operations worldwide then they are not green… so they the mothers frequently being will commit to a ‘no deforestation, shouldn’t be saying that they are.” clubbed and beaten unconscious no peat, no exploitation’ policy. with sticks, stones and machetes While Wilmar’s verbal commituntil the infant can be snatched ment shows the palm oil industry is from their bodies. There are even admitting it has major issues, and cases of adult orangutans being while it sounds like good news for burned alive, according to SOCP. orangutans, actions speak louder “If consumers don’t know they than words. FoA doesn’t believe the have a choice, they will keep doing companies will be able to enforce whatever it is they are doing,” Fox such policies. said. “We want to make sure that the The Roundtable for Sustainable American people are aware of what Palm, which was formed in 2004 palm oil is, and that they are driving to address the problems associated deforestation by purchasing it and with production of palm oil, has don’t know it. I think Americans will failed to step up to the plate. The do better when they know better.”

RSPO’s credibility has been diluted Friends of Animals also wants by association with the weak certificompanies to do better and stop cation standards of the organization. using palm oil in their products.

It has been further diluted by the About 50 percent of the goods many companies that buy GreenPalm we use every day including food certificates (which provide monetary products, cosmetics and detergents, support to producers following

Spring 2014 | 27

TAKE ACTION

So when you go to the grocery store or buy Girl Scout cookies, it may say on the products’ packaging that they are members of the RSPO, it means absolutely nothing. The only solution to the palm oil crisis is for companies to ban palm oil from their products altogether. The orangutans don’t have time to wait for an industry to clean up its act.

CRISIS MODE Singleton fears conflict palm oil production has the potential to wipe out orangutans in his lifetime.

When asked if it was an emergency situation for the orangutans, he replied via e-mail, “Very much so.”

The explosive growth in demand

28 | Friends of Animals

for palm oil has been partly driven by changes in U.S. food labeling laws for trans fats, according to the RAN report. This has caused U.S. companies to shift to palm oil with its lower trans fat content, despite growing evidence that palm oil’s high saturated fat content is unhealthy.

IUCN’s Red List categorizes the Sumatran orangutan as critically endangered, with the Borneo orangutan classified as endangered.

There are fewer than 6,600 Sumatran orangutans, and approximately 54,000 Borneo orangutans left in the wild. Nearly 20 percent of their remaining habitat is due to be cleared for palm oil plantations.

The Sumatran tiger is also in jeopardy, with estimates of only 300 to 500 left in the wild; as well as the Sumatran elephant (only several thousand estimated to remain in the wild) and the pygmy elephant (with less than 1,500 left.)

“Whether or not we still have viable wild orangutan populations in Sumatra in 20 years largely depends on decisions made in the next few weeks,” Singleton wrote in November. “The same goes for the Sumatran elephant, tiger and rhino.”

Singleton was referring to a land use plan that was proposed in Aceh where the Tripa rainforest is located, under which current protected forests could be rezoned

as production forests, including much of the Leuser Ecosystem, a legally protected area in Indonesia.

While the decision had not been made by press time, FoA learned that it doesn’t really matter if activities are legal or not since, “corruption is everywhere,” Singleton says, referring to permits being issued by local Aceh officials without approval at the national level.

“Many permits are illegal and bend the rules, using corruption, but are seldom challenged legally, as the courts are also corrupt and the chances of success are small,” Singleton said.

Palm oil producers choose to destroy rainforests and peat lands because “it’s cheaper and easier as long as you don’t get prosecuted,” says Singleton. “And that can be avoided using corruption to falsify environmental impact assessments.

Environmental impact assessments simply cut and paste for whatever company needs one with hardly any real visits to the actual site.”

No rainforest is safe Although most of the world’s palm oil is produced in Southeast Asia, now strong economic incentives are encouraging agribusiness to lease land in the African tropical forest zone. In the fall of 2013, Joshua Linder, Ph.D, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at James Madison University, wrote an article for the journal African Primates focusing on the impacts of palm oil expansion in Africa by a controversial

development in Cameroon by American agribusiness company Herakles Farms.

“Systemic line transect surveys of the Herakles Farm plantation area conducted by Cameroonian and German university researchers in 2013 found evidence for the presence of all eight diurnal primate species that are also found in the adjacent Korup National Park,” Linder wrote. “The synergistic effects of commercial bush meat hunting with large-scale clearing of forest for palm oil production may overwhelm conservation efforts to forestall primate extinctions in the African forest zone in the coming decades.”

Like New York-based Herakles Farms causing destruction in Africa, a lot of the companies destroying Indonesia are not Indonesian.

“Cargill is a huge American company and among the biggest producers and sellers of palm oil globally,” Singleton said.

“It is Americans and Europeans and Australians doing most of the damage here. But they are good at hiding behind shell companies.

American consumers should be asking their own government, ‘What are you doing about this fact?’”

FoA couldn’t agree more. It’s time for consumers, companies and the government to close our borders to palm oil.

LEARN WHICH PRODUCTS TO BOYCOTT Visit the El Paso Zoo website at www.elpasozoo.org and download the free palm oil guide and scanner mobile app so you can learn which products to boycott.

If you don’t have a smartphone, download the printed shopping guide.

SEND A PETITION TO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS Visit www.palmoilconsumer.com and send a petition to government officials to introduce legislation that will shut our borders down to palm oil.

SEND A LETTER TO THE SNACK FOOD 20 Visit the Rainforest Action Network website to send a letter to the Snack Food 20— companies that control some of the bestknown snack food brands in the world— to stop using palm oil. Until they do, avoid products by these brands, including: • Campbell Soup Company • ConAgra Foods, Inc. • General Mills, Inc. • Grupo Bimbo • H.J. Heinz Company • Hormel Foods Corporation • Kellogg Company • Kraft Food Group, Inc. • Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Corp.

• Nestle. S.A. • PepsiCo, Inc. • The Hershey Company • Unilever WRITE TO EARTH BALANCE AND TOFUTTI Write to vegan companies Earth Balance and Tofutti and tell them to remove palm oil from their products. Contact Earth Balance at 201.421.3970 or send an email to sales@boulderbrands.com. Tofutti: 908.272.2400. info@tofutti.com COOK WITH VEGAN BUTTER INSTEAD Substitute vegan butter for palm oil.

Check out Miyoko Schinner’s recipe on page 14.

By Nicole Rivard

Crafted with Care: Palm Oil Free Soap PETS CAN’T FIX THEMSELVES.

Affordable Breeding Control • Visit friendsofanimals.org

THE FANCIFUL FOX SOAPERIE HAND-CRAFTS VEGAN, PALMOIL FREE BATH AND BODY PRODUCTS, USING NATURAL INGREDIENTS, IN SMALL BATCHES WITH LOVE. Kathie Fox’s daughter Amanda decided to become a vegetarian when she was in sixth grade. She had read Charlotte’s Web and cried to her mom about how Wilbur didn’t want to die.

“She said, ‘Mom, I’m a vegetarian,” recalled Fox. “So we went to the store that same day and bought vegetarian cookbooks.”

Kathie shortly followed suit. Then the duo went to a vegetarian festival and heard a discussion about the horrors of the dairy industry, and they became vegans.

That was about 8½ years ago, and since then they have become a mother/daughter manufacturing team that hand-crafts natural vegan bath and body products that are environmentally responsible. They opened their Fanciful Fox store in 2008

in Scranton, Penn., after teaching themselves the art of soap-making.

While their products have always been free of animal products, they are now also palm oil free since Kathie found out that conflict palm oil production is causing massive rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia, pushing orangutans and other species toward extinction.

“When I learned how to make soap, I learned that the only way to duplicate the properties you get with animal oil soap is to use palm oil.

I wasn’t even aware there was a problem with palm oil,” Fox said.

When she became aware of the issue, she bought only “sustainable” palm oil from the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm producers.

“But then I started doing a little more research and I realized no one is able to police all of the palm plantations and buying something that has that stamp of approval on it is pretty useless,” Fox said. “There is no such thing as sustainable palm right now in my opinion.”

Like a scientist, she experimented with other plant oils and found a combination that does not endanger the planet, yet makes an excellent cold process soap that she cures for four to six weeks.

The mother-daughter team named the first three palm oil-free soaps after animals threatened by conflict oil production—the Sumatran tiger, orangutan and elephant.

“We just have to educate people,” Fox said. “When I realized that palm oil is actually hurting people and animals and the planet, I had to stop. I think most people would have that opinion too if they just knew.”

Speaking of people’s opinions, Fox said that bestselling items are her bar soaps, flavored lip balms and deodorant. Customers tell her that the Dead Sea soap is the “best soap they have ever used in their life.”

“It makes me feel so good that we can make a product that people really enjoy,” she said.

It also makes Fox’s day to see people find refuge in her

shop, where they can watch her work at her craft.

“I am passionate about a peaceful environment where no exploitation of any kind is allowed,” she said. “Nothing comes from animals. Nothing in our store comes from human exploitation or sweat shops. You can feel it when you walk through the door.”

Never in a million years could Fox, a former part-time special-education teaching assistant, have predicted becoming a soap maker, she says. It was rainy day boredom that changed her life.

She and her daughter were looking for something to do at Michael’s craft store and bought a candle-making kit.

They were so successful they started selling them at local craft shows. Then they discovered the wholesale source they were purchasing supplies from also sold soap-making supplies and thought it would be another fun craft to try.

And they were right.

“I love my life. I get to go to work every day doing a job that I absolutely love,” said Fox. “And I get to be with my daughter every single day. We laugh every day.”

Visit Fanciful Fox’s brick and mortar at: 342 Adams Ave., Scranton, Penn., call Amanda and Kathie at 570-558-3001, visit them online at www.fancifulfox.com, or check them out on Facebook.

Spring 2014 | 31

BY DAVE SHISHKOFF

CHEERS

LETTERS CORRECTION: In the Winter issue of Action Line, we did not properly credit Don Barnes for his role in getting the Project X chimps released to Primarily Primates.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ABOUT PROJECT X CHIMPS I liked some of the winter Action Line, however I did not like the article “Animals in Entertainment,” specifically the reference to the movie Project X. Tell you why: Bob “the consummate egomaniac” Barker had nothing, nada, zilch, to do with those chimps coming to Primarily Primates PPI—that was entirely my doing.

As you may remember, I was the technical advisor for that movie (even listed in the credits). When I found out Twentieth Century Fox intended to sell those chimps back into the movie industry, I threw a fit. I managed to get them sent to PPI (along with a veterinarian) and a check for $25,000 made out to PPI to defray costs of upkeep.

I’m not looking for fame or prestige at this point in life, but I don’t want Barker getting any more credit than he deserves...and he does deserve a lot of credit for all the good work he’s done for other animals including those at PPI, I grant that.

Barker got involved in Project X only after a trainer

32 | Friends of Animals

stepped forward with information about how the chimps were treated. Twentieth Century Fox never allowed me on the set, and due to my extreme gullibility and naiveté, I trusted them. I was wrong to do so. Barker then implicated me in mistreating the animals and went on to proclaim, “Once a vivisector; always a vivisector.”

I still have a lot of good friends in the movement and would like to set the record straight rather than wonder whether I took credit in the past for something I didn’t do.

DON BARNES • VIA E-MAIL

NO SUCH THING AS A ‘LITTLE’ DAIRY I commend Denise Roa for moving toward a plantbased diet (thanks to FoA’s influence), but I am dismayed that she hasn’t taken the next step to give up that little bit of dairy (Action Line, Autumn, 2013). Adopting a vegan diet is clearly an effective way to reduce animal suffering, and this interview offered a golden opportunity to point out that consuming even a “little dairy” contributes to that suffering.

Dairy cows, after all, are repeatedly impregnated to get them to produce milk, and their offspring are either killed for their meat or put into replenishing the dairy cow population. Those that become dairy cows, like those

before them, will live confined until their milk production declines. Once that decline occurs, they will be killed with their remains going into the production of meat byproducts, fertilizer or glue.

The dairy industry, based as it is on female animal biology, also carries implications beyond animal rights— implications that reflect our society’s pernicious institutionalized sexism. A “little dairy,” therefore, goes a long way. I hope Ms. Roa comes to see this, and as a result, adopts a vegan diet.

JOY BUSH • VIA E-MAIL

COEXISTING WITH BEAVERS After reading your article on beavers in the Winter 2014 edition of Action Line I wondered if you were aware of Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife based in Dolgeville, NJ. I have been in contact with BW&W on several occasions when there have been conflicts between beavers and humans. This wonderful organization wants to save beavers, wetlands and wildlife in New York, across the U.S. and overseas.

BERYL W. DICKSON SCHENECTADY, NY

SEED OF LIFE Cheers to Seed of Life, a Victoria, British Columbia health food shop, for ceasing sales of seal oil capsules.

The new owner, Peter, made this decision shortly after taking over the store. FoA had been boycotting the location since April 2011 as part of our Canadian campaign to encouraging cities to locate, letter-write and boycott stores selling seal oil capsules, a product of the bloody annual seal slaughter off the East Coast. Thanks, Peter, for setting a great example, and hopefully more Canadian stores will follow suit.

Canadian readers, look in your local stores, and if you find seal oil capsules, please report back to Dave@FriendsofAnimals.org.

BARENAKED LADIES

LET’S HEAR FROM YOU! MAIL US: Editor, Action Line Friends of Animals 777 Post Road Darien, CT 06820 E-MAIL US: contact@friendsofanimals.org

An encore and Cheers to Barenaked Ladies, Heart, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick and other performers for cancelling their Sea World shows after watching Blackfish, which exposes the dark side of keeping killer whales in captivity and questions the safety record at marine parks. We first highlighted the cruelty of marine mammal captivity by supporting Stan Minasian’s documentary A Fall from Freedom.

It’s great to see bands acting responsibly, and doing the right thing. Let’s hope and encourage more follow suit, and watch the popularity of marine zoos decline.

JEERS AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION Jeers to the American Humane Association, which oversees animal safety on film sets and gives its “stamp of approval.” According to a One Green Planet report, films are approved but we find out afterwards animals were harmed while being trained on and off-set, which isn’t factored into the rating. Please write AHA and demand they strengthen their policies, expanding their programs to include what happens off-set and tracking animal trainer practices prior to filming as well. The vast majority of abuse occurs in the training prior to them being on set.

You can contact their offices here: American Humane Association Film and Television Unit 11530 Ventura Blvd.

Studio City, CA 91604 Fax: (818) 762-0908 Call: (818) 501-0123 Email: filmunit@americanhumane.org AHA President Robin R. Ganzert: robing@americanhumane.org

TIME MAGAZINE TIME Magazine receives a big Jeer for boldly declaring deer as “pests” on its Dec. 9, 2013 cover. Animals are never pests, they’re just doing the best they can amongst the ever-expanding human population. If populations are out of balance, it’s commonly due to our own actions—in the instance of deer, we’re killing off predators (like wolves), and providing food for them in our cities. We have no one to blame but ourselves, and instead need to learn to live in peace with wildlife.

Winter 2014 | 33

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Love Peace vegan shirt Men’s and women’s 100% preshrunk certified organic cotton in white. Men’s and women’s sizes: S, M, L, XL $22

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VEGAN T-SHIRT Men’s and women’s 100% certified organic cotton white.

Women’s run extremely narrow and fitted, so order larger size.

Men’s and women’s sizes: S, M, L, XL

SPARE AN ANIMAL EAT A VEGetable hooded sweatshirt Female: 80% cotton, 20% polyester in black. S, M, L, XL Male: 90% cotton, 10% polyester in black. S, M, L, XL

VEGAN ECO BAG TOTE In 100% recycled cotton. Fair-trade and fair-labor. This tote is 15" tall and 13" wide with 5" gussets on sides and bottom.

The shoulder strap is 24" long.

$22

$40

$15

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Spare an animal. Eat a vegetable. Notecards Keep in touch with your friends and family while promoting vegetarianism at the same time. Send a simple message that is both reasonable and compassionate. A box of ten 6" x 4 .5" note cards with matching envelopes. $12

NEW Royal Blue Out to Lunch bag Insulated bag with Velcro closure and a handle to carry your meat-free lunch. Measures 10"H x 7"W x 4 .5"L $14

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NEW T-SHIRTS!

WOLF SHIRT Show your support for wolves in this 100% certified organic T-shirt in white. (Women’s runs extremely small and fitted so order a larger size.) Men’s and women’s sizes: S, M, L, XL $22

SPIDER MONKEY SHIRT Men’s and women’s are 100% certified organic cotton. Women’s only come in Dijon and is fitted.

(It runs extremely small and fitted so order a larger size.) Men’s only come in Light Blue.

Men’s and women’s sizes: S, M, L, XL $22