This section will contain writing from Dr. Vidt about current things that are important
for all Shar-Pei owners to know.
Check back often as new articles will be published.
Editorial Section
Posted By: Dr. Vidt - 06.18.07
The National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA)
Over the last several years there has been a subtle but aggressive attack on the companion animal fancy in this country by animal rights activists such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and others. These groups have learned confrontation, protests and violence are not the way to help their cause and have enlisted the help of politicians to further their agenda through anti-purebred dog legislation, dog control legislation, dog sterilization legislation and breed specific dog bans. They operate in the name of animal welfare but their purpose is completely animal anti-welfare. They have total disregard for the human-companion animal bond and want to separate you and your dog. What can you do?
- Monitor local government and when breed-specific or anti-dog legislation is being considered voice you opinion via E-mail, letters and attendance at meetings. Politicians do listen to their constituents. Ultimately you have the power because you vote and politicians know this. Consider writing your local government, county and state representatives before legislation is considered and express your opinion.
- Consider where your money goes. Check out animal welfare groups, charities, humane societies, shelters, etc. and be sure they are not receiving funding from animal rights groups.
- Consider not spending money in cities and towns with anti-dog laws on the books. Money talks and when tourist dollars drop off it draws attention from local businesses.
- Join and support groups which foster and protect the human-companion animal bond such as the National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA).
The NAIA is a group of individuals who interact with animals with regularity and in a wide variety of activities. It consists of pet owners, farmers, researchers, animal trainers, biologists, sportsmen, breeders, educators, animal caretakers, and entertainers. Basic principles which guide the NAIA are:
- "We are committed to the positive values of respect, kindness and responsibility reflected in the special bond that exists when people live and work with animals.
- We believe the animal rights campaign to limit and ultimately abolish human-animal interaction is unnatural, misguided and harmful to both humans and animals.
- We believe that the privilege of using animals for human benefit carries with it a clear obligation to treat animals humanely, responsibly and respectfully.
- We support and advocate reasonable, effective and enforceable laws that ensure the humane treatment of animals and provide penalties for animal abuse.
- We believe that others are entitled to disagree with our point of view, but not to break the law or use threats, intimidation, defamation, harassment or violence to force their views on others."
Consider joining the NAIA today and start fighting back!
NAIA Newsletter at www.naiaonline.org/library/newsletter.htm
NAIA Trust legislative alerts at: http://capwiz.com/naiatrust/mlm/verify/
NAIA Lobby Center: http://capwiz.comnaiatrust.home
NAIA Home at www.naiaonline.com
Posted By: Dr. Vidt - 03.12.07
The Attack On The
Human-Companion Animal Bond
With the recent
discussions on breed specific legislation (BSL) with the
Louisville animal control ordinance and the Denver Pit Bull ban as
examples dog owners have been forced to come face-to-face with a
powerful opponent - the animal rights movement. I haven't been
too concerned when their efforts were directed against laboratories
using laboratory animals, the veal calf industry and the foie gras
industry but the attack on companion animal owners has crossed a line
that has existed for thousands of years - the human-companion
animal bond. A good friend of mine, Alice Fix, has written an
excellent article which reveals the agenda and purpose of the animal
rights coalition. She stresses how real and serious this threat is
to us as pet owners and those of us who work with dogs in areas such
as veterinary medicine, search and rescue work, therapy work, etc.
By manipulation of the political system, the legislative system, the
media and the legal system the animal rights activists can get breed
specific legislation passed. Once in place this type of legislation
is difficult to get off the books. One advantage they've had on
their side up to now is the ignorance and apathy of the pet owning
public. It's time to stop the relentless push of the animal rights
activists and draw a line in the sand beyond which they cannot cross.
We need to wake up now!
Do
You Know the Real PETA and HumaneSociety of the United States?
An
Editorial by Alice Fix
You
will not often see negative articles in our newsletters, but every
now and again we are forced to make a stand, and to speak out about
what we know is for the better good for all involved. This is one
such instance. We can no longer stand back and watch to see what
will happen. I think that it is past time to publicly expose the
real agenda of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and
their cohorts in crime, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA), and the animal rights agenda.
For
many years we have all enjoyed the companionship of our dogs and
other animals. We have been busy playing with them, taking care of
them, finding fun things that we could do with them, and generally
just having a great time with all the animals that live in our
houses. While we have been enjoying the love and fun that our
animals provide to us, there have been groups out there organizing on
a grand scale trying to get our rights to own those animals taken
away. Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Make no mistake about it.
These people have organized on a large scale to infiltrate many major
city councils and governments in the country to spread their
propaganda. Their agenda is easily defined and simple. Their main
objective is to take away your right to own animals. They do not
want you to have the companionship of any animal, whether that is a
dog, cat, horse, mouse, frog, fish or any other animal that you can
think of. They are pooling their resources to get this accomplished,
and have millions of dollars in there war chest for this effort.
This
is a statement made by Ingrid Newkirk, the
President of PETA: "I don't use the word 'pet.' I think its
speciesist language. I prefer 'companion animal.'
For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could
not create different breeds. There
would be no pet shops. If people had
companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be
refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would
have a protective relationship with them just as you would with
an orphaned child. But as the surplus of cats and dogs
(artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined,
eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would
return to a more symbiotic relationship - enjoyment at a distance."
The Harper's Forum Book, Jack
Hitt, ed., 1989, p.223.
It
is interesting that Ms. Newkirk used the word "speciesist".
Allwords.com defines that word as follows:
1. The discrimination against, and exploitation of, animals by
humans in the belief that humans are superior
to all other species of animals and can therefore justify
putting them to their own
use.
One
of the animal rights mantras is that all animals are created to be
equal to all humans, and should have the same rights as humans.
Just
in case it still isn't clear to you what their agenda is, here are
a few more quotes from Ingrid Newkirk:
"One
day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals.
[Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild ... they would
have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the
evening and pet them and then sit there and watch TV."
-
The
Chicago Daily Herald, 3/1/90
"In
the end, I think it would be lovely if we stopped this whole notion
of pets altogether."
Newsday, 2/21/88
Who
is Ingrid Newkirk, and why should we care what she has to say about
anything? In the 1970s, Newkirk worked for Montgomery County
(Maryland), and then for the District of Columbia, as an animal
protection officer and deputy sheriff, before becoming DC's first
female Poundmaster in 1978. She co-founded PETA in 1980 with
established animal-rights activist Alex Pacheco. (1)
PETA stands for People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, but in my opinion, there is nothing ethical in
what they do.
Ms.
Newkirk has very close ties with several groups identified by the FBI
as known terrorists groups, such as Animal
Liberation Front (ALF). The animal rights groups are very well
organized, and when you check closely, you will see many of the same
names sitting on the boards of these radical groups. They are
intertwined and closely linked through their finances, and the work
that they do.
PETA
operates on an annual budget of $ 29,000,000. Most of this is from
donations made by ordinary citizens that don't know the real work
of PETA. Many people think that they are out to save the lives of
animals after seeing all of their ads on TV and in the newspapers.
That is why millions are donated to them each year.
In
Virginia, the home state of PETA, in 2004, PETA adopted out 361
animals, and euthanized 2,278, according to their records. (2)
Those figures aren't good. That means that they euthanized 86.3%
of their animals and only adopted out 13.7%. These figures come
directly from PETA's Annual Report and from their 2004 Tax Return.
It doesn't seem like they used that $29 million for the betterment
of the majority of the animals that they came in contact with. So
where is the money going? It is being spent for publicity to raise
more money for one thing. It is also being used for legislative
purposes. They have placed key people in city governments all over
the country to try to influence legislation to take your pet
ownership rights away. And they are having a lot of success with it.
You
need to understand the basic difference between the "animal
welfare" groups and "animal rights" groups.
Although the names might sound like they have the same objectives,
there is a big difference. Animal welfare groups are working to see
that all animals are treated humanely. Animal rights groups are
working to see that all ownership of animals comes to an end.
As
I said, PETA has close ties with many other organizations. One of
those organizations is the Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS). People donate millions to the HSUS each year, thinking that
their money is going to save the lives of millions of animals.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The HSUS does not own a
single animal shelter anywhere in the country. Although many
shelters have the words Humane Society in their names, they are not
associated in any way with the HSUS. The HSUS does not sponsor any
spay or neuter clinic anywhere in the country. They do donate a very
small percent of the annual budget to a few local humane societies,
around $2 million annually, which just happens to be less than the
amount that they spend in travel each year. Their major money is sent
on fund raising and legislative activity. In 2005 they spent $28
million for public mailings, $6 million in vegan education, $10
million in legislative campaigns and litigation. Their income for
that year was close to $125 million.
The
HSUS was founded in 1954 as an animal welfare organization. But in
the early 1980's, just about the same time as PETA was founded,
they began to change to an animal rights organization. In the 1990's
the personnel began to change to better fit with their new purpose,
and today many of the personnel at HSUS have ties to PETA, including
the current President, Wayne Pacelle.
This
is an interested quote from Wayne Pacelle: "We
have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of
livestock produced through selective breeding ...One generation and
out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals.
They are creations of human selective breeding." -
Animal People News (May 1, 1993) (3)
When you
combine other statements that he has made, with the above statement,
in my opinion the meaning of this statement is that if we could spay
and neuter all animals, we could eliminate pet ownership within one
generation. "One generation and out" would mean to me that they
are gone and are eliminated in only one generation.
Quietly
sitting back and maybe not being aware, we are now allowing the HSUS
to make presentations at our local schools, with the definite purpose
to education our children about how bad pet ownership is, to
indoctrinate children to the thought that animals should be free and
not kept as pets. They are doing this in the same way that they have
infiltrated city councils and local governments all across the
country, quietly and matter-of-factly.
"Shortly
after taking office, Pacelle announced a merger with the Fund For
Animals which have assets of over $20 million, and the Doris Day
Animal League. The combined group estimated its 2005 budget at
"political organization," which will "allow for a more
substantial investment of resources in political and lobbying
activities." 4)
So
that is where we find ourselves today. With the HSUS and PETA
combined annual budgets of over $124 million for political and
lobbying efforts to take away our rights to own animals. And that
figure does not include the many splinter organizations that have
been formed from these two major organizations. We are in an uphill
battle now, and it will be the fight of our lives to keep our rights
to own pets.
They
are going at it from many different angles. One way is to get Breed
Specific Legislation (BSL) passed. The banning of Pit-Bulls all over
the country is a good example. That has caught on like wildfires.
The animal rights groups have said if they can just get one breed
banned, then it will be easy to add others to it at a later date,
until eventually all breeds are banned. Another way that they are
going about it is to have a mandatory spay and neuter law in place.
Just think about it, if all domestic animals are spayed and neutered,
when they die, there will be no more domestic animals. Those same
words have been said by Wayne Pacelle, the President of the HSUS.
They have a very well thought out and planned agenda, and they are
counting on the ignorance of the American people to get their agenda
accomplished. Well guess what: Ignorance can be overcome by
education. The American people may be ignorant about the facts, but
they are not stupid. They can be educated. We were ignorant before
9-11, and look what effect that had. It caused all Americans to
become educated and unite and fight to prevent that from happening
again. The difference here is that we are being attacked from within
our own country. We are under strong attack by the animal rights
groups, and I hope that we don't just stand by and allow it to
happen.
The
animal rights groups are publicly stating that we need to get laws
passed so that they can close down all the puppy mills and commercial
breeding facilities that have their animals living in inhumane
conditions. Just about everyone would agree with the idea that
animals should be treated humanely. But that is just the vehicle
that they are using to try to do away with all animal ownership,
period. And that is not a statement that they are being all that
public about.
You
can become active in this fight by telling your friends and neighbors
what is going on. You can be an instrument of education. You can
also fight this kind of legislation when it is presented in your
area. Go to the City Council meetings and make your voice heard.
Write letters to the state and federal government officials to offer
your services to be on any animal related committee. In short get
the word out to any and all of your friends that own pets. Let them
know what is going on. If enough people stop funding the animal
rights organizations, we can put them out of business. There is not
much that they can do without operating funds.
The
next time you think about making a donation to any of these
organizations, you had better think long and hard about whether you
really want your money being spent to take away your rights.
PETA
HUMANESOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES
FARM SANCTUARY
FUND FOR ANIMALS
DORIS
DAY ANIMAL LEAGUE
EARTH
SAVE
GREEN
PEACE
PHYSICIANS
FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE
ANIMAL
LIBERATION FRONT (ALF)
FRIENDS
OF ANIMALS
IN
DEFENSE OF ANIMALS
Right
now the HSUS has started their "First Strike Campaign". I find
that an interesting choice of names. At visualthesaurus.com they
define first strike as follows:
First
strike: An attack that is intended to seize or inflict
damage on or destroy an objective.
Most
people think that attack is on inhumane treatment of animals. They
still don't know it is an attack to take your animals away from
you. Last year over 10 million people donated money to the HSUS
because of their massive spending on advertising. Most of those 10
million people had no idea what their money was actually going to
support.
Better
places to donate your money that will fight for your rights to own
animals are listed below. These groups are working hard to protect
your right to own animals, and to expose the true agenda to much of
the animal legislation going on all over the country.
NATIONAL
ANIMAL INTEREST ALLIANCE
http://www.naiaonline.org/
SPORTSMEN'S
AND ANIMAL OWNERS' VOTING ALLIANCE
http://saova.org/
AMERICAN
DOG OWNERS ASSOCIATION
http://www.adoa.org/index.cfm
You
can either make your donations work for you or against you. That
decision is yours to make.
Footnotes
for Reference:
1)
http://www.activistcash.com/biography.cfm/bid/456
2)
www.nokillnow.comPetaDVACreporting.pdf
3)
http://www.animalscam.com/quotes.cfm
4)
http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136
This
article will first appear in the March, 2007 issue (Volume V Issue 2)
of the Rocky Mountain Wrinkle, the newsletter of the Centennial
Chinese Shar-Pei Club, Inc. Any reference to this article must give
full credit to Rocky Mountain Wrinkle, and the Centennial Chinese
Shar-Pei Club, Inc.
Permission
must be granted to use any articles from our newsletters, and we must
get a credit line for any article that is granted permission to use,
with a link to our website. Anyone wishing to reprint any of our
articles should contact Alice at Alleydoll3@aol.com
for written permission.
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