The Pawz Cauze

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/34/please-help-us-save-our-dog

Please help us save our dog!!Target:To keep our Staffordshire Terrier in Brantford, ON.Sponsored by: Elizabeth and Scott WhittinghamHeira is a 7 year old Staffordshire terrier, who has been a loved member of our family for over 6 years. We got Heira from a local animal rescue organization. She had been saved from an abusive owner who was starving her, beating her, and breeding her (she had a litter of pups at around 6 months old). It has taken us years to get her health back up but there is some unfortunate internal damage. She does not always know when she needs the bathroom. Heira has a sad story to tell, and we, her loving family, do not want a sad ending.

On Friday Feb. 15 2008 I went to city hall to get Heira her 2008 dog license. There I am told that we did not get her a 2007 dog license, thus we have three options.

1) Find her a home out of Brantford, ON Canada
2) Kill her
3) Let the SPCA take her

This is all because of City of Brantford, ON Municipal Codes Chapter 206 (the pit-bull ban). She had been grandfathered in, but by not getting her 2007 license she forfeits that clause.

If Heira was any other breed of dog there would be no problem getting her a license. If she was any other breed of dog that had a history of biting and had been deemed a dangerous dog, we would have received a $130 fine. The problem is she is a pit-bull.

Heira is an extremely loving dog. She is an 80pds lap dog who loves to play with my two year old son Quenton. Heira is our child and a big sister. I know she would die to save any member of this family, and we will not lose her without a fight!

We are asking for your support to help us save our dog.Heira is a 7 year old Staffordshire terrier, who has been a loved member of our family for over 6 years. We got Heira from a local animal rescue organization. She had been saved from an abusive owner who was starving her, beating her, and breeding her (she had a litter of pups at around 6 months old). It has taken us years to get her health back up but there is some unfortunate internal damage. She does not always know when she needs the bathroom. Heira has a sad story to tell, and we, her loving family, do not want a sad ending.

On Friday Feb. 15 2008 I went to city hall to get Heira her 2008 dog license. There I am told that we did not get her a 2007 dog license, thus we have three options.

1) Find her a home out of Brantford, ON Canada
2) Kill her
3) Let the SPCA take her

This is all because of City of Brantford, ON Municipal Codes Chapter 206 (the pit-bull ban). She had been grandfathered in, but by not getting her 2007 license she forfeits that clause.

If Heira was any other breed of dog there would be no problem getting her a license. If she was any other breed of dog that had a history of biting and had been deemed a dangerous dog, we would have received a $130 fine. The problem is she is a pit-bull.

Heira is an extremely loving dog. She is an 80pds lap dog who loves to play with my two year old son Quenton. Heira is our child and a big sister. I know she would die to save any member of this family, and we will not lose her without a fight!

We are asking for your support to help us save our dog.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/Help-Hannah-Get-Justice

Please help us get justice for Hannah!!

Updates to the story will be posted at the bottom. Check back often. I look forward to your feedback and will keep you updated on developments.

Hannah, a four year old German Shepherd was formerly owned by a Tattnall County, GA, K-9 Handler and from a very young aged was used as a breeding machine, confined until her muscles atrophied, starved and neglected. When she was deemed no longer useful, she was surrendered to Animal Control facility in Reidsville, Georgia (about 75 miles southwest of Savannah - in Tattnall County) with orders to euthanize her.

At the time of her surrender, Hannah, known at the time as Haunna, was in horrific condition. She had been starved, was severely emaciated and weighted only 41 lbs. Her pads were so wounded that she walked on her haunches and her fur was rubbed off in many places due to confinement. She was also pregnant and gave birth to three stillborn puppies while at the animal control facility.

On February 7, 2007, she was rescued by the Southern Cross German Shepherd Rescue.

Hannah was taken to a vet and on the way she began to bleed, mostly from giving birth combined with her extremely poor physical condition. Following is a statement from the vet:

Today, I examined Haunna (now Hannah), an approximately four year old GSD. During the examination, it was noted Haunna is severely underweight. On a typical scoring scale, with 3/5 being a normal, healthy weight, Haunna is a low 1/5. This type of body condition is typically only noted in dogs suffering from long-term cancers or long term starvation. No signs of neoplasia (cancer) were noted in Haunna. Haunna had hair loss on her caudal thighs consistent with long term kenneling, skin disease, or both. If you have any questions, or other infomation I can provide, please don’t hesitate to call.

Sincerely,
Will Baldwin, DVM
Cornelia Veterinay Hospital
Cornelia, Ga. 706 778-6605
We have written documentaion from vets proving this abuse. We have results from lab testing, xrays etc.
Nothing could cause this kind of horrible condition, but starvation, long term kenneling, over breeding amoung other types of abuse.
When Hannah gained enough strength she was spayed. She also tested a very strong heartworm positive and is now undergoing Hw treatment.

Hannah,s case had to be turned over to the GBI - Georgia Bureau of Investigation, because the person that owned her was associated with the law enforcement in Tattnall county as a K-9 Handler.
Southern Cross and Hannah’s new owner are trying desperately to get justice for Hannah but it is beginning to look like they are trying to either sweep it under the carpet and hope it will go away or cover it up. They have also heard that her previous owner has acquired another dog to replace Hannah as his new breeding machine.
This case is being investigated by the GBI Region 5 Office in Statesboro, Georgia, Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney,s Office in Tattnall County. The District Attorney is Tom Durden. They will not release the name of the abuser, the K-9 handler with Tattnall County. No charges have been brought.
The DA will now not take or return calls regarding this case. Hannah,s new owner has tried to take this case to the media since law enforcement seems unwilling to do anything. She contacted WTOC and initially they were interested in the story, until DA Tom Durden told them that the only reason that Hannah was so emaciated was because she has cancer. Hannah does not have cancer.

Why is the law enforcement authorities so unwilling to bring charges against the abuser? Is it because he is a member of law enforcement? Are they trying to cover this up?
Hannah was neglected, abused then tossed away like worthless trash when her owner no longer deemed her useful, ie. able to breed so as to continue to fill his pockets. She still has a long road to recovery and is undergoing treatment for heatworm, a serious and life threatening condition.
Hannah deserves justice!! She is a living, breathing, feeling creature who deserved love and care, not to be thrown away like trash! And just what kind of life is her replacement going to have?

Please help us get justice for Hannah!!

What can you do?
Contact
District Attorney Tom Durden
Email - daajc@yahoo.com
945 E.G. Miles Pkwy
Hinesville GA 31313
(912) 876-4151
(912) 876-7991
Contact
WTOC - website (http://www.wtoc.com/Global/category.asp?C=18800)
Call and email - Tell them Hannah,s story, email it to them, ask them to investigate and find out why nothing is being done?

Read more about Hannah at Hannah,s New Life (http://hannahsnewlife.blogspot.com/)- a blog written by Hannah,s new owner from Hannah,s perspective and you can read some of the initial background on Hannah HERE (http://lakota-lakota.blogspot.com/).

Please help to get Hannah,s story out! Use the email link below and send this out to everyone you know, sent it to the media, to law enforcement, post it on your websites, blogs and anywhere people will see it and help to fight against this injustice!! ,Do not let this happen to another dog!

UPDATE - 4/23

An attempt was made to post this story to the Tattnall Journal to get some additional coverage and bring it to the public,s attention. This is the response:

From: Allison Cobb
Date: Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 4:13 PM
To: The Juninator
Well, I cannot post it online since the incident is
still under investigation and has not been finalized
yet. We know the K-9 handler personally and as usual,
the information out there is not the whole story.
We will run it in the paper when the investigation is
complete.
What I would like to know is, what is the rest of the story? No one seems to want to come forward with it not that I believe there is any way that anyone could possibly come up with a valid reason that a dog could wound up in Hannah,s condition aside from extreme neglect and abuse.

It also seems that the identity of the abuser isn’t a secret to everyone, just those trying to get justice done!

Please visit: http://petloverstips.com/ForTheLoveoftheDog/
for updates on this horrible abuse to such a sweet girl named Hannah!!

Please, we have yet a case of K-9 handler abuse. Please help bring justice for this handler’s abuse to his loyal friend:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/46/justice-for-k9-dogs-full-prosecution-for-sgt-charles-l-jones

 Also joining us will be Genea from Hooves and Paws Rescue.

Dear Activists and Concerned Citizens:

On Saturday, September 8th, 2007, the Washington State Indian tribe known as the “Makah”, brutally slaughtered a GENTLE & TRUSTING  resident Gray whale. This despicable act took place without the necessary permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service and in direct violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Makah Treaty of 1855, preserves the Indian tribe’s right to whale, however, after killing a female, juvenile Gray whale in 1999, the Makah have been in the midst of court challenges brought by animal rights groups. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals twice ruled the tribe must procure a “waiver” from MMPA, before being allowed to legally continue whaling. Permission was/is PENDING until the waiver is granted. The Makah broke U.S. federal laws by viciously attacking [harpooning and shooting] this whale without the necessary federal authority to do so. According to observers, it took 10 hours of agonizing suffering for this poor creature to die…its body has yet to be recovered.

Three of the five tribesmen perpetrating this cowardly act, were members of the Makah’s own WHALING COMMISSION.
Yet, Makah Elders [who sit on the same board] maintain they had no prior knowledge of this planned atrocity.

This killing was a contemptuous, inflammatory act carried out by individuals who enjoy HIGH RANKING POSITIONS within the Makah tribe. As such, the tribe’s whaling rights under Article 4 of the 1855 Makah Treaty should, and MUST be permanently REVOKED.

Much is at stake here. If the Makah are granted their waiver under the Marine Mammal Protection Act it means they will be allowed to continue whaling forever–TORTURING & KILLING up to 5 Gray whales each year!!

We are petitioning NOAA; asking that the agency permanently STRIP Makah whaling rights for the following reasons:

A)   The Makah Treaty of 1855; [specifically Article 4, which allows the tribe to whale], is a 152 year old document; one which pre-dates the AMERICAN CIVIL WAR BY 6 YEARS, and is therefore no longer relevant; anymore than the past ‘traditions’ of slavery, cannibalism or the ritualistic murders of innocents as offerings to the “Gods”. 

 
B)   The Makah claim of ’subsistence’ whaling [under the International Whaling Commission’s criteria] is obviously false. You can not “subsist” on whales that your tribe has not hunted for over 70 years.

C)   The Makah right to whaling on a ‘cultural’ basis is no longer true or applicable. In the hunt of 1999 the tribe availed itself of speed boats; cell phones; Coast Guard cutters; “spotters” from helicopters; high powered rifles and machine guns to bring down their prey.  The traditional long boats and spears used by their ancestors played a minor and incidental role in the kill. From a “traditional” standpoint, the methods employed were solidly 21st century…and a complete travesty of Makah ancient whaling practices. [It should also be noted that when the 1999 “hunt” was complete, the Makah people (other than a few elders who tasted one or two strips of flesh) left 99.9% of this whale’s body to ROT on the beach].

D)   Whale populations are being depleted at an alarming rate. Pollution, global warming, dwindling food sources, ship strikes, disease, sonar disturbances and rogue whaling worldwide, have all taken a devastating toll on a species capable of producing only one calf, per adult female, per year. No ONE group should be exempt from the global responsibility we ALL share for ensuring the continued survival of our whales. Scientists have recently admitted to miscalculating the ’success’ of the Gray whales’ return from the brink of extinction. They have observed several ’skinny’ Gray whales and conclude that their food sources may be rapidly declining due to global warming.

E)   The Makah’s cousins, members of the Maa-nulth First Nations, who reside on the Western shores of Vancouver Island have signed an agreement with the Canadian government in which they will honor a 25 year moratorium of their whaling rights. In return, they were given generous concessions of land and cash. If the Makah are genuinely interested in “honoring” whales, they must be committed to allowing them to live in peace and safety; while helping improve the quality of life for all Makah by increasing financial and educational opportunities for their people.

At a time when the world is faced with multiple species extinction; pollution; global warming and rapidly dwindling natural resources, eliminating ALL whaling is the only ethical, moral and ecologically responsible decision to uphold.
 

Please SIGN THE PETITION [and contact the individuals listed below] Demand permanent revocation of Makah whaling rights, now! These whales belong to ALL OF US, and we must not sit back and watch as a privileged few destroy them!

NOAA ADMINISTRATOR:
Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher
Email: conrad.c.lautenbacher@noaa.gov

ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:
[National Marine Fisheries Service]
Bill Hogarth
Email: bill.hogarth@noaa.gov

Secretary of Commerce
Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230
Email:  cgutierrez@doc.gov
Phone: (202) 482-2000
NMFS:  Northwest Region

 
Bob Lohn
Northwest Regional Administrator
Office of Protected Resources
National Marine Fisheries Service
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115-0070
Email: bob.lohn@noaa.gov
Phone: (206) 526-6150

WANT TO HELP STOP WHALING COMPLETELY? PLEASE GO TO:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/194508729
BUT, FIRST…ARM YOURSELF WITH KNOWLEDGE AND READ ON!

MAKAH WHALING FACTS:

A) A petition by the Makah Tribe successfully REMOVED the Gray Whale from the U.S. Endangered Species list in 1994. [Scientists studying Gray whales, today, report their numbers as increasingly endangered.]

B) The Clinton Administration chose to SUPPORT Makah whaling instead of the U.S. backed international treaty banning hunting; of which America is a signatory. Through the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and others, Clinton gave the Makah tribe $335,000 [taxpayer money] to create their own TRIBAL WHALING COMMISSION. We, the U.S. taxpayers, [via the Clinton Administration] also hired the public relations firm of Miller and Associates; as well as flew Makah to France, New Zealand, Oman, and Alaska to plead their case to the International Whaling Commission. [The IWC rejected the Makah whaling request saying they did not meet the requirements under the ‘cultural’ OR ’subsistence’ criteria set forth by the IWC].

C) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], part of the Dept. of Commerce, has given the Makah tribe several hundred thousand dollars. The then head of NOAA, D. James Baker, traveled to International Whaling Commission meetings in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1996, and to Monte Carlo, Monaco in 1997, to argue the Makah case for their resumption of whaling. When it became apparent that the IWC was not going to approve the Makah request in 1997, it was Baker who ultimately helped broker a back-room deal with Russia, which allowed the Makah to take a portion of the Russian Gray whale subsistence quota. [The IWC, to this day, has NEVER given permission to the Makah to whale…international law supercedes Makah’s U.S. treaty rights].

D) The Makah tribe’s TRUE interest in whaling has nothing to do with culture or tradition. They are attempting to use their whaling right under the 1855 Treaty, to leverage themselves into a lucrative commercial whaling deal with the Japanese.
Makah leaders have been quoted widely as saying that they either intend to sell Gray whale meat to Japan, or at least  reserve the right to sell the meat. [A clear violation of the IWC moratorium].

E) Makah have met with [and have ties to] Japan’s Maruha Co., [Maruha is one of three massive fishing conglomerates
 (including Nissui & Kyokuyo); who own 7 fish processing plants in the Pacific Northwest region alone…and several hundred more globally]. Maruha, Nissui and Kyokuyo ARE the whaling industry in Japan. Together they have killed over 1/2 million whales since WWII. Recently these companies (under pressure from threatened seafood boycotts) ‘divested’ their whaling stock; to appease growing outrage at Japan’s continued refusal to abide by international law and honor the ongoing whaling moratorium. However, their whaling stock was simply transferred to the “Institute of Cetacean Research”…a “front” organization owned by the Japanese government; who has long claimed their whaling is for ’scientific research’…yet the whale meat is sold throughout Japan. Kyokuyo reaps millions from this slaughter as it provides the whaling ships AND manufactures/packages and distributes the meat as well. [ Initiating consumer seafood boycotts against Maruha, Nissui and Kyokuyo COULD QUICKLY, EFFECTIVELY AND PERMANENTLY BRING AN END TO JAPANESE WHALING!…it would also, almost certainly, dry up any serious opportunity for the Makah dream of successfully selling whale meat].

F) The Makah tribe’s low-profile meetings/relationship with Maruha does INDEED signal the future intent for the tribe to process and sell whale meat to Maruha, who [as stated before] already has established processing plants in the Seattle area. [Both the processing and selling of whale meat outside of the Makah reservation is a DIRECT VIOLATION of their 1855 Treaty].
 
G) To date, over 5 MILLION U.S. TAX DOLLARS have been spent on subsidizing the Makah Tribe’s “right” to hunt whales.

NOTE: The Makah continue to petition U.S. Fisheries to subsidize their whaling. Their latest request? A ship which would cost taxpayers ONE MILLION DOLLARS. The request was denied. It is believed that the tribe intended to use it for ILLEGAL whaling, outside of their territorial waters and out of view of state & federal officials.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP WHALING, WORLDWIDE–RIGHT NOW:

1) Stop buying seafood–immediately and permanently. The global slaughter of marine mammals is driven, and carried out by the COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY. Every whaler, sealer and dolphin killer around the world, makes their living from the sale of SEAFOOD. Dropping ALL seafood products from your diet means you will no longer be supporting their bloody, barbarous trades.

2) Notify the top whaling countries [Japan, Norway and Iceland] that  family, friends, groups, etc. are dumping seafood from their diet. A BOYCOTT IS NOT EFFECTIVE UNLESS THE TARGETS KNOW THEY ARE BEING BOYCOTTED. Each of these countries depends heavily on seafood exports for their survival. Japan’s Maruha, Nissui & Kyokuyo depend nearly exclusively on seafood sales. [They have killed more whales, than any ONE group on planet Earth!]

Please take time to email each one of these butchers…let them know you will NOT be supporting their blood-splattered industries by eliminating ALL seafood and choosing other vacation destinations.

*** JAPAN ***

Orca Bay Seafoods   [MARUHA]
info@orcabayfoods.com