Contact us          SHARK NEWSLETTER   January 27,  2012     Join our Email list     
IN THIS ISSUE
SHARK to Protest New Jersey Bear Hunter
Proposed legislation Would Ban Transport of Horses in Double Deck Trailers
PLEASE Boycott Liam Neeson's Movie "The Grey"!!!
The Power of Activism

 SHARK to Protest New Jersey Bear Hunter  


Remember Mark T. Hall, the New Jersey bear hunter who took this picture of himself and his daughter (picture below) after they had slaughtered a mother and her cub during New Jersey's recent bear hunt?


Hall, a lawyer, wrote the following about Doris Lin, the lawyer for the Bear Education and Resource Group (BEAR), who had filed a lawsuit to stop the hunt:

"I Promise to Shoot one of the following bears in Your Honor Doris Lin Be sure to check back for pics of the bruin in the back of my truck! Thanks for the Hunt Babe-and by the way you need a new wingman-the girls your hangining, man they just don't ...... well you know"  

Hall may have thought he was being funny when he followed that up by anonymously posting some nasty comments on our Facebook page, but all that did was give us some incentive to find out who he was, which we did.

We sent Hall and his bosses at the law firm of Morgan, Melhuish and Abrutyn a letter calling for Hall to publicly apologize for what he said about a fellow lawyer and for his sexist comments. Suddenly Hall wasn't so brave anymore. When we heard nothing from any of them, we resent our request. This time we got a response.

Elliot Abrutyn, Partner, replied to everyone on the email, including us, stating "Mark, Here we go again!" We don't know if this was an accident or if he was sending a message to Hall, but it was a fitting thing to say, as here we go again indeed!

On Thursday, February 2, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. SHARK will be holding a joint protest with the BEAR Group and the Animal Protection League of New Jersey at the law offices of Morgan, Melhuish and Abruty in Livingston, NJ.

We will publicly call on Hall to apologize for what he has done, and use this as an opportunity to expose the NJ bear hunt and bear hunters for being the brutal and disgusting people they are.

Address: 
Morgan, Melhuish and Abruty 
651 West Mt. Pleasant Ave., Suite 200
Livingston, NJ 07039
 
 
Contact [email protected] if you can make it.


Proposed legislation Would Ban Transport of Horses in Double Deck Trailers  


Before his stroke, Illinois Senator Mark Kirk introduced Legislation (SB 1950) prohibiting the transporting of horses in double deck trailers. Predictably, the rodeo industry is opposing this Legislation.

Cindy Schonholtz, PR hack for the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association (PRCA) wrote the following (in italics) about pending federal legislation to ban double deck trailers.

The welfare of the livestock we are transporting is our top priority and we must communicate this fact and not allow special interest groups to destroy our industries."

SHARK's response is in black: Does anyone really believe they care about the "livestock?" Bear in mind the PRCA has sat back while hundreds of animals have been brutalized, battered and even killed during their own sanctioned rodeos.

Does it look like Coca-Cola sponsors rodeos?
This is how rodeo cares about their horses?
 
 
Again from Schonholtz:          
  

"While transporting horses and all livestock, the main goal should always be the safety of the trailer (i.e. headroom, road worthiness, etc.). As with any form of transportation, accidents may happen and the focus of any potential Legislation should be on safe transport, rather than the banning one specialized form of transportation."

  

The safety of the trailer? What a telling statement. The main goal should always be the safety of the animals.

 

Check Mate killed at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo

 

Schonholtz:   

  

"* The average height of a horse is approximately 60 inches. Floor to ceiling clearance in most double level trailers used to haul bucking horses range from 71 to 75 inches. This leaves from 11 to 15 inches of headroom for the average horse in these modified trailers, more than adequate."    

    

The average height of a horse is 60 inches. That 60 inches means from floor to the highest part of the withers. However, the 11-15 inches she claims is so roomy for a horse is the height from that point of the withers up its neck to its ears. She's saying a horse's neck & head would be comfortable in a space the length of a ruler.  

  

From what Schonholtz is saying, an average horse cannot raise its head under that condition. To give visual scale: the standard doorway in a home is 80", five more inches than the trailers she is touting as headroomy. A full grown horse would have more 'headroom' in a house doorway (and still have to duck through it) than it would standing in a double-deck trailer for hours or days on end while traveling through questionable road & weather conditions.   

 

SHARK has received a statement from Day Dreams Farm Therapy and Rescue:

"so, if a horse is measured at the withers and is 15 hands [60 inches], does that mean it's head and neck is only 10" tall? What unbelievably and grossly uneducated person wrote THAT?"

We know exactly which person that is, and which organization she represents.

SHARK has addressed this issue in the following a video:
Rodeo Horses Transported in Dangerous Double-Decker Trailers
Rodeo Horses Transported in Dangerous
Double DeckTrailers

 Liam Neeson Is Not a Friend of Animals


Please do not see the new anti-wolf movie "The Grey" starring Liam Neeson and encourage others to join this boycott.

This movie not only falsely portrays wolves as killers of men, when in fact they are the victims of men, but according to THIS article, the producers paid a trapper to provide four dead wolves for the movie. Two were used as "props," and the other two were used as food for the actors.

"Just before filming started, director Carnahan wanted Neeson and the rest of the cast to sample wolf meat as a way of getting closer to the movie's story of wilderness survival."

Wolves have been demonized throughout history, and this is another shameful betrayal.

You can leave a comment on the movie's Facebook page HERE. You will need to add it as a comment to a preexisting post, as they do not allow you to create new posts.

Liam Neeson has also spoken out in support of the Carriage Horses in New York.  On January 14, 2009, the Irish Echo published an article titled "Hands Off" - Neeson slams animal rights 'extremists," by Peter McDermott. Liam Neeson, one of Ireland's best-known Hollywood stars, has defended New York's horse and carriage industry from its critics in a letter to members of the City Council. The actor writes that there's been a "coordinated attempt by animal activists and a certain Queens council member to ban the industry from the city." Neeson's letter continues: "As a horse lover and rider, I am deeply disturbed by the unnecessary and misguided political and extreme rhetoric against the horse-drawn carriage industry and feel obliged to counter this action." 

 The Power of Activism


Last year, Florida activists Margarita Cisne and Jason Nall took it upon themselves to get active and protest and leaflet the Championship Rodeo in Homestead, FL. According to them, they saw a marked decrease in attendance.

This year they went back. They started protesting three weeks before the start of the rodeo - an hour each weekday and even longer on the weekends. They even got their local media to cover their protests and are meeting with their town council to show them SHARK's video exposing rodeo cruelty.

Margarita and Jason aren't part of any animal organization, they are two people who want to make a difference for the victims of rodeo. They are the proof that anyone can speak out and make changes for the animals.

We hope that you will be inspired to take action in your own community and be that voice that the animals desperately need.

Margarita Cisne and Jason Nall protest the Homestead Championship Rodeo in Homestead, Florida

Kindest Regards,  

Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team

 
"Kindness and compassion towards all living beings is a mark of a civilized society.   Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are all cut from the same fabric: violence.   Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves."   - Cesar Chavez, civil rights and labor leader, founder of the United Farm Workers