All Species Kinship (ASK) Action Alerts

ASK  is a 501 (c)(3) direct-outreach animal advocacy organization that assists all species of animals. All animals deserve to live free from exploitation. ASK offers programs for both wildlife and domestic animals.

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*ASK STATS

*Tabling at KCC

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In just the last 6 months, ASK has distributed, free of charge: 32 bags of pet food, 23 cables (instead of heavy chains), 52 dog houses and 364 bales of straw to animals that would otherwise be starving, freezing and without a warm nest of straw to cuddle in.

So how did ASK locate all of the animals we helped? ASK is unique in that we take a direct action approach to operating all of our programs. ASK supporters load bales of straw and supplies into trucks every single week and drive throughout neighborhoods seeking out animals in need. When we spot animals that are outside, we approach the home and offer educational advice and assistance because we want to make an impact in the life of the animal. ASK developed this program because you cannot depend on people to call and ask for help. Animals have no voice and need to be sought out-

Unlike most nonprofit organizations, 100% of all proceeds directly benefit animals in need-donations don't go to salaries and office supplies!

ASK's next endeavor is an All Species Sanctuary. Over 100 acres of rural land has already been secured for this purpose. Construction planning of heated buildings has already begun. What's unique about ASK's sanctuary is that it will be home to animals who would never find placement at humane societies, shelters or rescues. ASK will be focusing on dogs that have been badly neglected, trained to fight or left on chains 24/7. Each animal will have indoor, heated access, along with outdoor access. All animals will receive life long health care.

Other species of  rescued animals that will call the sanctuary home include, domestic waterfowl, birds, reptiles, tortoises, cats, and select farm animals.

The costs of maintaining and operating a sanctuary are immense (fencing alone will cost in excess of $20,000) and ASK will also continue to operate outreach programs. Please consider making a donation to ASK. 100% will assist a needy animal and your donation is tax-deductible.

Please contact ASK with questions or concerns.

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ASK will be tabling free animal rights literature at KCC March 13th. Stop by the cafeteria area and say "hi" and get free materials!

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*Kalamazoo Circus Demo-Action Alert

*MI Representative Needs to Hear From YOU-Action Alert

*Update: SHAC 7

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Circus Demo

Please join ASK in educating the public about circus animal cruelty! Signs and leaflets provided! Carpooling may be available upon request!

Date: March 13th

Demo Starts Time: 6:30pm

Location: Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds

What? Jordan World Circus (fundraiser for the Kalamazoo Shrine Club)

Why? Check out the list of animal welfare violations at www.circuses.com.

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MI Representative Needs to Hear From YOU

Responding to overwhelming public opposition to the cruel horse industry, Congress voted last year to temporarily halt the practice this March. Yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture looks poised to circumvent the ban, and tens of thousands of horses will die as a result. DDAL has filed a lawsuit against the USDA, but even if the temporary ban holds, the only real solution is a permanent end to horse slaughter. This will be achieved by passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

Please Call Today

We need Rep. Rogers' support. Despite strong Congressional support, the House version of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503) has languished in the House Energy & Commerce Committee, on which Rep. Michael Rogers (R-MI) serves. Please take a moment to contact Rep. Rogers today.

• Tell him "Thank You" for voting for the Sweeney Horse Slaughter Amendment. Now please cosponsor H.R.503.

• Tell him that more than 90,000 horses were slaughtered at three foreign owned slaughter plants last year.

• Tell him that you strongly oppose the slaughter of horses for human consumption abroad.

Call Rep. Rogers in Washington DC at (202) 2254872, or 

email him at: http://capwiz.com/ddal/dbq/officials/

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SHAC 7 VERDICT: GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS
HLS enjoys immunity while its key opponents sit in jail.

A report from Kinship Circle

On March 2 my friends and colleagues of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
(SHAC-USA) were found guilty on all counts in a case that tested the
validity of First Amendment rights and our freedom, as activists, to utilize
the internet as a platform for dissent.

As I write, five of the defendants are in jail, with a possible 1-10 year
sentence to be determined on June 7. Personally, I had made travel
arrangements to testify at the New Jersey trial. As many of you know, I have
spoken at SHAC conferences and Kinship Circle strongly supports legal
protest against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Unfortunately, the trial
concluded earlier than anticipated and I was unable to attend. However, if I
am called to testify when the verdict is appealed, I will make every effort
to do so. Brenda Shoss, Kinship Circle

THE "CRIME"
May 2004: At dawn, U.S. Air Marshals circled the sky in a helicopter over
the home of Kevin Kjonaas, Lauren Gazzola, and Jacob Conroy. Assorted Secret
Service personnel and 15 gun-toting FBI agents arrested the activists on
"animal enterprise terrorism" charges.

Their crime? Operating a website that reports civil disobedience, laboratory
animal rescue, vandalism and similar tactics of OTHER animal rights
activists. Kjonaas, Gazzola, Conroy, Darius Fullmer, John McGee, Andrew
Stepanian, and Joshua Harper--all linked with the non-profit organization
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC-USA)--were not accused of these crimes..
They were arrested on ties to a website that "conspires" to close Huntingdon
Life Sciences, an animal testing laboratory cited for research fraud and
hundreds of animal welfare violations.

At the time of the arrests, conspiracy to terrorize Huntingdon, a
London-based company with a lab in New Jersey, carried a 3-year jail term
and $250,000 fine. The activists also faced a 5-year jail sentence and
$250,000 fine, per count, for conspiracy to engage in interstate stalking
plus three more counts of interstate stalking. (Kinship Circle)


FIRST AMMENDMENT TRASHED
Under the Patriot Act, domestic terrorism includes "intimidation" and
"coercion" used to influence the government or civilians. "Indeed, nearly
any protest group can fit the definition of terrorists," argues Dr. Steven
Best, associate professor/chair of philosophy at the University of Texas-El
Paso. "Protests often are intimidating and their entire point is to
‘influence' policy.’”

Huntingdon Life Sciences flaunts 32 affirmed violations of the Animal
Welfare Act, 16 violations of Good Laboratory Practice in England, the
arrest of workers on animal cruelty charges, and a $50,000 payoff to the
USDA for research fraud. As many as 500 dogs, cats, rabbits, mice or
chimpanzees die each day for tests "only reliable 5-25% of the time," one
HLS record claims.

Five undercover investigations expose HLS technicians who shove naso-gastric
tubes into dogs' lungs, causing instant death as the animals drown in toxic
materials. Animals seen dangling from slings or cowering in cages are left
to seize, vomit and collapse with no veterinary care. In one video clip, a
tech grabs a beagle by the loose skin over his neck. As the puppy's legs
frantically peddle air, the man punches the dog in the face. During a
supposedly post-mortem dissection, another tech slices into the chest of a
convulsing monkey. (Kinship Circle)


THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2006
Edited for length. Full report at: http://www.shac7.com/updates.htm
Today the jury in the SHAC 7 case returned a guilty verdict on all counts as
to all defendants. Five of the six defendants were ordered into custody with
a possibility of bail pending. Some face a maximum 23 years, although it is
expected all defendants will receive sentences less than 10 years.

The six are being held at Monmouth County Jail and the judge has agreed to
order that the jail provide vegetarian meals. At this time, no calls to the
jail are needed and visiting spots are being reserved for family and close
friends of the defendants.

The defendants implore the activist community to not publicly comment on the
case, to keep their frustration with the outcome in check, and to remember
that the scrutiny on them and actions perceived to be on their behalf can do
nothing but hurt them at this point. (SHAC 7 Support Committee)

REFERENCE LINKS
Sign-up for updates on the SHAC 7:
http://shac7.com/mailman/listinfo/updates_shac7.com

SHAC 7 Support: http://www.shac7.com/

**FYI** SHAC-USA: http://www.shacamerica.net/
We apologize, but this site has been shut down for legal reasons.

SHAC-UK: http://www.shac.net/

Undercover video footage:
http://www.shac.net/MERCHANDISE/videos.html

INSIDE/OUT: Diary of Madness
Download/View PDF: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/fact_sheets/default.html
Hardcopy Inside/Out Booklets: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/kinshiplace/default.html#insideout

Who is Huntingdon Life Sciences?
http://www.kinshipcircle.org/fact_sheets/default.html

W.A.R., Win Animal Rights
http://www.war-online.org/aboutus.htm


For Immediate Release
March 2, 2006
From: Animal Liberation Press Office, press@animalliberationpressoffice.org
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2006 16:38:58 -0800

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) Activists Convicted in Federal Court
of Violating Animal Enterprise Protection Act For Their Efforts to Close
Cruel Laboratory, Six Campaigners Each Face From 1 to 6 Years in Prison

Trenton, NJ: A jury today returned guilty verdicts for six activists who
have tirelessly campaigned against the cruelty at Huntingdon Life Sciences
(HLS), a product-testing facility that kills 500 animals daily testing
pesticides, household products, and pharmaceuticals. Five undercover
investigations at the lab have documented such abuse by employees as
punching four-month-old puppies in the face, simulating sex with animals,
and dissecting a still-living non-human primate.

Kevin Kjonaas, Lauren Gazzola, Jake Conroy, Joshua Harper , Darius Fullmer,
and Andrew Stepanian will be sentenced on June 7 by Judge Anne Thompson.
They are facing from one to six years each for up to six separate charges
claiming that they conspired to shutter HLS--the unethical company which has
been brought to near-bankruptcy during a global campaign waged by animal
rights actiivists enraged at the suffering uncovered within its walls.

With a sinister message intended for all activists around the country
striving for social justice, the US government--via its lead prosecutor,
Charles B. McKenna, a sympathetic Judge Thompson and twelve ignorant
jurors--have now succeeded in criminalizing heretofore legal means of
protest. Press Officer Lindy Greene commented immediately after the verdict:
"Despite the government's shortsighted strategy of targeting effective but
legal activism, activists around the world will continue to expose and fight
to stop the atrocities at Huntingdon Labs. There is just absolutely no way
HLS will be allowed to continue torturing these beautiful, innocent
creatures behind closed doors."

Camille Hankins, a New York activists with Win Animal Rights stated: "The
verdicts today in Federal Court truly were the result of a conspiracy--a
conspiracy between those who torture animals at Huntingdon Life Sciences
like Brian Cass, Mark Bibi, Andrew Baker and their henchmen--and the US
Government which panders to businesses who can afford to line their pockets
with campaign donations and expensive gifts. Abridging activists' right to
free speech will not prolong for one minute the lifespan of HLS, whose moral
bankruptcy will result in their eventual financial ruin."

The verdicts are widely expected to be appealed. Five of the six defendants
were taken immediately into custody pending posting of a bond, but are
expected to be released soon.

In a related development, anonymous activists announced the launch of a new
website, http://www.hlscustomers.org containing 2,000 home addresses from
executives of HLS's top 30 customers.

Contact the North American Animal Liberation Press Office:
press@animalliberationpressoffice.org
818-932-9997

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."  - John F. Kennedy             

Sophia DiPietro
Executive Director
All Species Kinship (ASK)
P.O. Box 4055
Battle Creek, MI 49016
269-963-1637

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King