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An ugly side of the Miss Florida USA pageant
The Fur Information Council of America (FICA), an industry group that claims fur is “the fabric of choice," is a long-time sponsor of Miss Florida USA and its sister pageant, Miss Florida Teen USA.* Those who wear fur trim and fur coats are certainly making a choice—to have the blood of mink, foxes and other animals on their hands. With many warm and beautiful alternatives available, the fur industry’s brutal slaughter of millions of animals each year is needless. Miss Florida USA’s continued support of this barbaric trade is unacceptable and brings shame to the pageant as well as the participants. You Can Help • Contact Miss Florida USA/Miss Florida Teen USA and let them know that you are disappointed that the Fur Information Council of America is a sponsor of the pageants. Ask them not to include fur in future pageants. Contact: *Fur is not included in rival pageants, such as Miss Florida and Miss Florida Outstanding Teen, Miss Earth Florida and Miss Teen Earth Florida, or the Miss Florida US International and Miss Teen Florida World pageants. |
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Maude the elephant deserves a happy retirement Mary, one of two elephants at the Central Florida Zoo, died in March at age 63. Mary’s death left her companion of 27 years, Maude, facing an uncertain future. Because the Association of Zoos & Aquariums strongly discourages keeping female elephants alone, the Central Florida Zoo has started looking for a new home for Maude. Instead of relocating Maude to another zoo, where she could be stuck in another small and unnatural exhibit, ARFF feels that Maude deserves retirement to a large, natural-habitat elephant sanctuary, such as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, or the PAWS sanctuary in California, where she could enjoy natural conditions and elephant companions of her choosing. You Can Help Joe Montisano, CEO |
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Coyote and fox penning Update: On June 23, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted unanimously in support of a draft rule prohibiting the chasing of foxes and coyote in enclosures! During this horrific "sport," coyotes and foxes taken from the wild are released into fenced enclosures to be pursued by dogs in staged competitions. Many of the foxes and coyotes are killed by the dogs. Click here and here to learn more about coyote/fox penning.
Photo: coyote cornered by dogs at a pen in Holt, Florida You Can Help |
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Your help needed to enact federal/state bans on trade in pythons! Legislation has been introduced in Washington, D.C. that would halt the import and commercial trade in pythons. Senate Bill 373, sponsored by Florida Senator Bill Nelson and House Resolution 2811, sponsored by U.S. Representative Kendrick Meek (17th District of Florida), would add pythons to the federal list of "Injurious Wildlife," making it illegal to import pythons or ship or sell the snakes across state lines (the list of injurious species currently includes animals such as the fruit bat, mongoose and Zebra mussel). Burmese pythons, native to Southeast Asia, are fast-growing snakes that reach average lengths of 14 to 18 feet and can weigh more than 200 pounds. In recent months, pythons have been captured in residential neighborhoods across Florida, and hundreds of the snakes have been removed from the Everglades and surrounding areas. It is clear that exotic snakes are a threat to Florida's ecosystem. It is also clear that the pet trade is at the root of the problem. It remains easy to purchase exotic reptiles in Florida. Many of these animals end up doomed to live in deplorable conditions, or are abandoned after they become too expensive to care for.
The issue gained more attention after a tragic incident on July 1 in Sumter County when a Burmese python kept inside a home as a pet escaped from a glass aquarium and strangled to death a 2-year-old girl.
• Contact U.S. Senator George LeMieux and urge him to support S.373. Contact: • Contact U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and thank him for his leadership on this important issue. Urge him to stand firm against lobbying by the pet industry to water-down S.373.
(Reptile breeders are lobbying Sen. Nelson to weaken the bill to allow the interstate commerce/transport of pythons.) Contact: • Contact your U.S. Representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 2811. To find your U.S. Representative, go to www.house.gov and fill in your nine-digit zip code in the box at the top left corner. If you are a resident of Rep. Kendrick Meek's district (17th District), please thank him for introducing this bill. Reps. Thomas Rooney (16th District), Ted Deutch (19th District), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (20th District), Alcee Hastings (23rd District) and Bill Posey (15th District) have already signed-on as cosponsors, and also deserve thanks. |
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In
July 2010 contestants from around the state competed
for the title of Miss Florida USA. What was the lucky winner of the pageant entitled
to? The skins of a dead animal. (photo: Miss Florida USA 2011 Lissette Garcia, in a full-length mink coat, and Keith Kaplan, Executive Director, Fur Information Council of America)
• Join ARFF for a protest at the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant. Please help us send a message to pageant organizers that the ugliness of fur has no place in a pageant.
1431 N. Federal Highway • Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304 • (954) 727-ARFF