Geez.......These "Global Animal" Folks need to get a life!!!

U.S. Courts Rejects Hunters’ Elephant Corpses

While many of us care about wildlife and feel deeply connected with animals, some individuals, unfortunately, try to dominate animals for trade or sport. After obtaining their money or boosting their egos, such people think they can then display proof of their heroics by mounting them on their walls. Luckily, Chief U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rejected a lawsuit brought forth by elephant killers desiring to bring their elephant victims back to the United States as “trophies.” Although the Unites States cannot directly change the rights of animals in other countries, punishing Americans for acts of cruelty abroad is a good start. Read on for the more information on the legal precedent regarding endangered animals and just how checked out some individuals are that they sued for their right to bring endangered elephant corpses back to the states. — Global Animal

Courthouse News Service

Americans who hunted and killed endangered African elephants in Zambia cannot bring trophies of their prey back home, a federal judge ruled.

“Plaintiffs paid a princely sum for the opportunity to shoot African elephants in Zambia and then they wanted to import the animals’ corpses back to the United States,” Chief U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. “The trouble is that plaintiffs’ attempts at post-mortem importation run up against some complex law.”

Those laws are the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a multilateral treaty that protects wildlife vulnerable to trade.

The African elephant is listed in the first and most restrictive appendix of CITES, which entrusts the U.S. government to decide whether proposed importation of a species would hurt that species’ survival, Lamberth said.

Under the Endangered Species Act, importers must prove to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that killing such an animal for sport actually enhances its chances of survival.

Lamberth found that elephant populations do not meet such criteria. Zambian elephants have faced rapid decline since the 1970s amid escalating ivory hunting.

In 2002, a CITES panel declined an application filed by Zambia to drop the elephants down to appendix II of the treaty, which would facilitate sport hunting of the animals by foreign travelers.

The plaintiffs in the case, four men who each killed at least one elephant in Zambia, sued U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2009 after the service denied their requests for permits to import their trophies. They claimed that the denial was arbitrary and capricious, and violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

Lamberth denied their motion for summary judgment, instead granting the government’s crossmotion for the same.
“Plaintiff’s desire to keep these corporal mementos from their African adventures doesn’t trump the law, which the agency applied rationally in this case,” the 36-page decision states.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/09/01/39475.htm

FYI Global Animal: I don't believe the American's were "punished for act's of animal cruelty abroad." They simply failed, in this one case, to "prove to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that killing such an animal for sport actually enhances its chances of survival."

If you had a valid cause Global Animal, you wouldn't need to improvise or adlib the fact's. They would speak for themselves, and stand on their own merit.

Feather Hair Extensions: Fashion Without Compassion

By Elizabeth Neville, Global Animal

Feather “hair extensions,” are roosting upon manes across the nation. A trend popularized by celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, adding plumage to one’s coiffure is now such a coveted fashion statement that one internet company even sells feather extensions for dogs. But, where do these lovely feathers come from? Before feathering your own locks (or your dog’s!), please consider the thousands of innocent lives which are taken to produce these plumes.

If you know fly fishing paraphernalia, and thought that these silky bits in people’s’ hair seemed strangely familiar… well, you’re onto something. The feathers used for hair extensions, are the same ones used by fly fisherman as lures, and feather-craving fashionistas everywhere are now snatching them up at hundreds of dollars above the market price.

According to an article on Bloomberg Businessweek, “A package of the most popular fly tying hackle for hair extensions, a black and white striped feather called grizzly saddle, would normally retail anywhere from $40 to $60. It sold for $480 on eBay last month after 31 bids.” At the most, these feather hair extensions can be worn for three months.

Thousands of beautiful roosters are killed every week due to the increased demand for feather hair extensions.

So, why pay so much for these feathers? Well, the roosters in question have been specifically bred to produce unnaturally long and strikingly beautiful saddle feathers (the ones on the bird’s backside), which are considered more desirable for fly fishing — and now, for fashion.

Naturally, this price inflation has become a major annoyance to fly fishermen, but whether for bait or coiffure accessorizing, to take the lives of sentient beings for such fleeting and trivial purposes is troubling in itself.

Whiting Farms in western Colorado is the world’s largest producer of fly tying feathers. There, the roosters are given only a year to live while their saddle feathers grow as long as possible. (Research varies, but when they aren’t killed for their plumage, roosters can naturally live to be 10-15 years old.)

Once the feathers are deemed satisfactory, the rooster is slaughtered, and his feathers plucked. His lifeless body is then thrown out for compost; Thomas Whiting, the company founder (via the Orange County Register), claims that, ”They aren’t good for anything else.” The Whiting Farms website boasts that “over 125,000 total birds (were) harvested in 2000.”

According to the Orange County Register article, Whiting Farms now ships out 65,000 bird hides per week as it tries to meet the aggressive demands of salon owners and stylists, as well as its classic fly fishing clientele. Needless to say, that is quite a haunting increase in rooster death… all for a faddish, temporary hair accessory, produced in a manner that screams disconnect.

As “supply” (here, meaning animal slaughter) levels respond to demand, it is within our collective power as consumers to dictate what is worth buying. Do you want to feed your money and image into this bloody phenomenon? Fashion trends come and go, but compassion is always cool.

"Global Animal, your kidding right? It's a chicken. The Col. even has a special recipe for them. Have you ever been woke up at day break by a crowing rooster? No, I didn't think so, because if you had you would have wanted to kill the prick!!!! What are you supposed to do with the carcass's after a valiant cock fight? Bury them? What about the trout that are "tricked" into grabbing the fly, made out of the hackles and saddle feathers, that they think is an insect? They are hauled out of the water, stuffed in a creel to suffocate and die a horrible death before being fileted and cooked in butter, slowly so as not to char over a camp fire. What about them? Or is that your next "noble cause," you nit wits!!!! Liberate the Trout!!! Moron's come and go, but minding your own business is always cool. Let folks spend their money as they see fit. It's theirs honestly after all. It wasn't a handout, and nobody donated it to them."