Please visit ARFF's blog for more ways to help animals!

An ugly side of the Miss Florida USA/Miss Florida Teen USA Pageants
May 15, 2009

On July 18, 2009 contestants from around the state will gather to compete for the title of Miss Florida USA, and ARFF will be there to greet them. What will the lucky winners of the pageant be entitled to? The skins of a dead animal.

The Fur Information Council of America (FICA) is a long-time sponsor of Miss Florida USA and its sister pageant, Miss Florida Teen USA.* The Miss Florida USA website features contestants modeling fur coats designed by FICA, who claim fur is “the fabric of choice.” 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 more than enough warm and beautiful alternatives available, the fur industry’s brutal slaughter of millions of animals each year is needless. Furthermore, Miss Florida USA’s continued support of this barbaric trade is unacceptable and brings shame to the pageant as well as the participants.

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:
Grant & Mary Lou Gravitt, Pageant Producers
Miss Florida USA / Miss Florida Teen USA
2040 Sherman Street
Hollywood, FL 33020
Phone: (954) 924-4949
Fax: (954) 924-4980
E -mail: telair@aol.com

Mark your calendars!
Please plan to join us outside the pageant finals on Saturday, July 18 at Broward Community College's Bailey Hall in Davie.

*Fur is not included in rival pageants, such as Miss Florida and Miss Florida Outstanding Teen, or the Miss Florida US International and Miss Teen Florida World pageants.

Illegal in Florida since 1972 — on sale at Gander Mountain in 2009
March 12, 2009

Leghold traps are cruel devices that have changed little since they were invented in the 1800s. An animal stepping on the trap activates a steel spring which triggers the jaws to close and remain closed, cutting through skin, muscles and tendons. Even when used by the most diligent trapper, animals are left to suffer for hours as they frantically struggle to escape. Leghold traps commonly capture unintended animals, such as dogs, cats or birds. Even if released, these animals often suffer crippling injuries.

Eight states have banned or severely restricted the use of leghold traps, but they are still widely used by trappers in other states to catch raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, otters and other fur-bearing animals.

Leghold traps banned in Florida
In 1972, Florida banned the use of leghold traps without a special permit issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Even with a permit, only padded-jaw/rubber-jawed traps may be used. The mere possession of leghold traps where wildlife might be found is a crime in Florida.

Leghold traps on sale at Gander Mountain
Gander Mountain is a hunting, fishing, "outdoor lifestyle" superstore with five locations in Florida (Jacksonville, Lake Mary, Ocala, St. Augustine and Palm Beach Gardens). Leghold traps are available for purchase at these Gander Mountain stores (the traps on sale are not padded). The traps are sold next to Havahart live traps, owl decoys and other "pest" control products.

Although the sale of these traps is technically not illegal, by offering the traps for sale alongside other, legal wildlife control products, Gander Mountain is sending a message that they are acceptable to use. Customers unaware of Florida law may purchase these traps and use them, therefore committing a crime–and harming wildlife.

You Can Help
Contact Gander Mountain and ask that leghold traps be removed from store shelves in Florida. Although our aim is to prevent the suffering of animals, when you write please focus on the fact that the sale of leghold traps in Florida encourages illegal activity.

Contact:
David C. Pratt, Chief Executive Officer
Gander Mountain Company
180 East Fifth Street, Suite 1300
St. Paul, MN 55101
Phone: 888-9GANDER
Online comment form.

Traps are not sold at Gander Mountain's competitors, such as Dick's Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops or Sports Authority.

Be a good neighbor to iguanas
January 2, 2009

Several communities in South Florida, including Marco Island and the Town of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, have begun programs to trap and kill Green iguanas. The programs are in response to complaints from residents. Almost without exception, the complaints were based on false information or are in relation to problems that do not warrant a lethal response (such as iguanas damaging landscaping or defecating on boats).

Marco Island
In November 2008, a trapper hired by the City of Marco Island began catching iguanas. The trapper is killing the iguanas by freezing*. In May 2009, city officials will discuss whether or not to extend the six-month contract. Please contact the Marco Island City Council and ask them not to continue the iguana-trapping program.

Contact:
Marco Island City Council
E-mail: citycouncil@cityofmarcoisland.com

*A common method of killing iguanas is to place the animals into a freezer and then lowering the temperature. ARFF believes that freezing is cruel, and that trappers should be required to use only methods that have been found to consistently produce a humane death, such as chemical injection.

Town of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea
In October 2008, the Town of Lauderdale-By-The-Sea allocated $5000 for iguana "control." During an animated, but misinformed discussion by the Town Commission, one commissioner spoke of residents afraid for their safety and the safety of their pets due to the iguanas, another commissioner suggested that iguanas posed a health hazard "because of the droppings," and Vice Mayor Jerry McIntee called iguanas "dangerous," "life-threatening" and "disease carriers"?! (click here to learn more about misinformation about iguanas). Mayor Roseann Minnet was the sole voice of reason when she told the commission that iguanas do not attack people, and reminded the commission that trapping programs in other Florida communities have not decreased resident complaints (Mayor Minnet cast the only vote against funding the iguana killingl program). Please contact the Town Commission and ask them to stop killing iguanas and to instead consider long-term solutions to discourage iguanas, such as promoting habitat modification or exclusion methods.

Contact:
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Town Commission
Mayor Roseann Minnet, e-mail: roseannminnet@lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov
Vice Mayor Jerry McIntee, e-mail: jmcintee@aol.com
Commissioner Birute Ann Clottey, e-mail: biruteannclottey@lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov
Commissioner Stuard Dodd, e-mail: stuartdodd@lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov
Commissioner Jim Silvertone, e-mail: jimsilverstone@lauderdalebythesea-fl.gov

If your community is considering a program to trap and kill iguanas, please get involved. Contact ARFF; we can help!

Santa’s Disenchanted Forest
December 8, 2008

With over 3,000,000 lights, over one hundred rides, and many holiday-themed displays, ARFF is unsure why Santa's Enchanted Forest (SEF) sees the need to exploit animals by including elephant and sea lion acts, a petting zoo and pony rides. The exploitation of animals turns this otherwise festive arena into an environment of fear and suffering for the animals it abuses.

Affection for animals leads many well-meaning people to visit circuses and places like SEF. However, behind the colorful shows these places provide lies a world of hidden cruelty.

Unlike human performers, the animals used in shows at SEF do not have a choice. They are forced to perform after enduring rigorous training sessions. Such sessions within the animal entertainment industry have been known to include violent beatings, deprivation of food and water, intense confinement and many other forms of cruel intimidation.

Animals Suffer in Entertainment
Dondi the elephant has suffered a life of abuse in entertainment. Violently stolen from her parents in Thailand as an infant in 1974, Dondi was shipped to the USA to perform. She lives alone in a small trailer when not “in use”.

Forced to perform tricks and live behind the trapped walls of a confinement tank, the sea lions at SEF are stripped of their rights to exist naturally. Chlorine, copper and other harsh chemicals are used to disinfect their waste and keep the water clear. These sea lions likely suffer burning eyes, peeling skin and could even die from fluctuating or excessive chemicals.

Frequent handling and human contact often compromise the physical and psychological well-being of animals used in petting zoos and for pony rides. Tethered tightly and forced to walk in endless circles, the ponies used for rides often suffer hoof disorders, saddle sores, and mouth & tooth ailments because of ill-fitting equipment. Children learn nothing about animals' natural intelligence or behavior by seeing them in such displays and, in fact, are likely to be miseducated. These activities not only frighten the captive animals and make them vulnerable to harassment; they also create an unsafe environment for people. Bacterial infections that are transmissible to humans can breakout. The scared animals with no means of escape can also lash-out at people in self-defense.

What Can You Do?
1. Contact SEF’s managers as well as Miami-Dade and Park officials to let them know that while you appreciate SEF’s festive contribution to our community, by including animal acts they are helping to promote a cruel industry. A growing number of cities— including the Florida cities of Hollywood, Lauderdale Lakes and Pompano Beach— have restricted or banned circuses and other exotic animal acts. Tell SEF that you will not be attending until they stop using animals, or if you are still inclined to visit, tell SEF that you will make a point of avoiding the animal shows and rides; and encourage SEF to discontinue the use of all animals in future years.

2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, outlining how SEF would be much more fun without the exploitation of animals, and encouraging others to write letters to SEF expressing this concern.

3. Sign ARFF’s online petition (click here) encouraging SEF to discontinue the use of animals.

4. Spread the word to people you know about the cruel nature of animals used in entertainment at SEF, and forward them this information about what they can do to help.

Contact:

Santa’s Enchanted Forest
7900 SW 40th Street
Miami, FL 33155
Phone: (305) 559-9689
Email: info@santasenchantedforest.com

Mayor Carlos Alvarez
Miami-Dade County
Stephen P. Clark Center
111 NW 1st Street, 29th Floor
Miami, FL 33128
Phone: (305) 375-5071
Email: mayor@miamidade.gov

Director Jack Kardys
Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation
275 NW 2nd Street
Miami, FL 33128
Phone: (305) 755-7800
Email: Kardys@miamidade.gov

Please contact ARFF if you would like more information about this or other animal rights campaigns, or if you need tips on letter writing or addresses for your local newspaper.

Walt Disney World has announced that it has dropped foie gras from its menus. Foie gras at Disney? Actually, four restaurants at Walt Disney World— including Victoria and Albert's, the restaurant at Disney's flagship Grand Floridian Resort— served foie gras, a product made from the diseased liver of force-fed ducks and geese.

Birds raised for foie gras are force-fed enormous quantities of food through a long metal pipe several times a day. This process of deliberate overfeeding continues for weeks. By the end of the force-feeding process, ducks are physically debilitated with livers five to ten times normal size and many are unable to stand or walk.

Disney's wide-ranging influence makes its decision particularly exciting.

Please contact Walt Disney World and thank them for their compassionate decision:

Online comment form.
Phone: (407) WDW-DINE (939-3463)

Unfortunately, there are still restaurants in the Orlando area and elsewhere in Florida that still have foie gras on their menu (click here for a list). By serving foie gras, these restaurants contribute to the suffering of ducks and geese. Please contact these restaurants and urge them to join the growing number of establishments that have stopped serving the cruel product.

With the help of dedicated members like you, ARFF's circus awareness campaign is one of our largest year-round efforts. Although crowd numbers at circuses such as Ringling Brothers, Cole Bros. and the Shriners have continually dwindled, one of the most critical audiences still needs to be addressed proactively and on a collective level.

Every year schools around the state are approached by animal circuses offering free or discounted tickets to be distributed to families or to be used for field trips. As it becomes increasingly difficult for circuses to attract substantial audiences, they rely on field trips and free ticket giveaways to keep their shows on the road.

Far from educational
What you witness during the circus are broken-spirited animals, robbed of their freedom and intimidated into performing stressful stunts. Not only are animal circuses an inappropriate outing for school children, they are a dangerous environment due to the threat of rampages and disease.

These cruel and archaic events teach children that animals are property, to be used as we please with no concern for the physical and psychological impact. Children should be encouraged to enjoy animals behaving true to their nature, rather than performing for human amusement.

You Can Help
Please contact ARFF for information about contacting your local school district to voice your disapproval of animal circus promotions.

We need your help to stop Orlando's plans to import non-native birds to be used as decorations
May 13, 2008

Last month, a pair of Whooper Swans (the national bird of Finland) arrived at the Orlando airport in the cargo hold of a Delta jet. The birds are destined for a park in downtown Orlando, and could be joined over the next few months by many others. As part of a plan hatched by Orlando's Parks Division and a local group of swan fanciers, by the end of the year individuals from every species of swans— including trumpeter swans, the Black-necked Swan (native to South America), the Bewick's Swan (found in Russia and China), and the Tundra Swan— will be purchased and flown into Orlando for display. We think this is a horrible idea.

Our concerns about plans to import additional swans to Lake Eola include:

• Swans native to Europe, South America and Russia will be introduced into the Florida ecosystem. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission considers at least two of the swan species to be exotic species potentially harmful to native waterfowl.

• Swans at urban lakes often suffer from an inadequate diet. Despite educational efforts to the contrary, it is common for swans to be fed food that is unhealthy. At Lake Eola, we have witnessed people swans everything from white bread to Cheetos. (Lake Eola has had a small population of swans for years.)

• Swans with little fear of humans are also susceptible to human cruelty. Elsewhere in Florida, swans have fallen prey to feral cats, dogs and alligators, and suffered injuries from fishing hooks and golf balls. At Lake Morton in Lakeland, a city well-known for its swans, swans have been killed by speeding cars, shot with pellet guns and attacked by drunken college students. Lake Eola’s current population of swans has not been immune to problems. Earlier this year, media reported on the disappearance of four baby swans at Lake Eola.

• Swans used for display are cruelly denied their natural behaviors. To keep the newly-arrived swans from leaving Lake Eola Park, their wings will be clipped, a permanent amputation that prevents them from flying. Birds that were born to fly great distances instead will remain flightless.

You Can Help
Fortunately, it may not be too late to stop this silly plan. Please contact the City of Orlando and urge them to halt plans to import additionals swans to Lake Eola.

Lisa Early, Director
Families, Parks & Recreation Department - City of Orlando
Phone: (407) 246-4320
E-Mail: lisa.early@cityoforlando.net

City Commissioner Patty Sheehan
 *Lake Eola is in Commissioner Sheehan's Distict
Phone: (407) 246-2004
E-mail: patty.sheehan@cityoforlando.net

Publix GreenWise could be a little "greener"
October 4, 2007

Last week, the first Publix GreenWise Market opened in Palm Beach Gardens. The new store features a produce section that is 50 percent organic, a cafe with organic coffee and teas, and a hot bar with vegetarian dishes.

The new GreenWise store is a short distance from a Whole Foods Market, its main competitor for customers interested in natural foods. But unlike Whole Foods, Publix GreenWise Market sells eggs produced by hens in “battery cages.”

In egg factory farms, hens are housed in rows of bare wire cages called “battery cages.” Four to six hens are crowded into each cage. They are unable to stretch their wings, lie down comfortably or engage in nesting, dust bathing or other natural behaviors.

ARFF believes that adopting a vegan diet, one free of eggs and other animal products, is the most important thing you can do to stop the suffering of animals in farms. Cage-free eggs are not cruelty-free, but removing chickens from battery cages helps to improve their lives. Unlike hens housed in battery cages, cage-free hens are at least able to walk, stand up straight and flap their wings.

The campaign against battery cage confinement of egg-laying hens is putting pressure on the egg industry, and sends a message that customers will not support cruel farming practices.

A second GreenWise store will open later this year in Boca Raton, and Publix plans to open additional GreenWise stores in 2008 in Vero Beach, Tampa and Coral Springs.

You Can Help
Please contact Publix and urge the company to ONLY sell eggs from cage-free hens in its new GreenWise Market stores.

Contact:
Online comment form.
Phone: (800) 242-1227

Mailing address:
Publix Super Markets
ATTN: Consumer Relations
PO Box 407
Lakeland, FL 33802

Important points to mention:
• Egg-laying hens are the most intensively confined animal in the U.S.; the birds suffer immensely in battery cages.
• There is a growing list of natural foods retailers that have agreed to stop selling eggs from caged birds. Whole Foods Market, the country’s largest natural foods chain, has pledged not to sell or use eggs produced by hens in battery cages. Wild Oats, Earth Fare and other retailers have adopted similar policies.
• Click here to learn more about Florida's egg industry.

Why we like Publix. Publix is known for predicting trends and adopting changes in response to consumer demand. When you contact Publix, thank them for these positive steps:
• Many conventional Publix stores already offer cage-free eggs. Publix's store-brand organic eggs are produced from chickens in a cage-free environment.
• In May, Publix announced it would no longer buy milk from cows treated with the synthetic growth hormone rBST (also referred to as rBGH). The substance is used to increase milk production, despite the fact that there is evidence linking rBST to health hazards for human consumers, and increased health problems in cows such as udder infections. In response to Publix's decision, the use of rBST in Florida dairy farms has almost entirely stopped.
• Publix's store-brand laundry detergents and household cleaners are produced by Huish Detergents, a "cruelty-free" company that does not conduct or commission animal tests on ingredients or finished products.