News Update
January 10, 2014
Times Square Billboard Calls Out Humane Society of the U.S. for Misleading the Public
As part of its ongoing campaign to expose the deceptive fundraising practices of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), on Jan.8 HumaneWatch.org, a project of the Center for Consumer Freedom, launched a billboard in Times Square calling attention to a little-known fact: Despite its commercials and fundraising materials featuring sad-looking puppies and kittens, HSUS gives only 1% of its $120 million budget to support local pet shelters.
The 1% figure was calculated after reviewing HSUS’s most recent Form 990 tax return from 2012. Unfortunately for shelter pets, the 1% total is no anomaly — it’s the norm.
“The Humane Society of the United States is making money by manipulating Americans, reeling in pet lovers with pictures of sad-looking puppies only to then funnel their donations to a radical agenda,” said Will Coggin, CCF’s senior research analyst. “Instead of spending its money where it is most desperately needed — saving lives at local shelters — in 2012 HSUS spent $50 million on fundraising expenses alone, bankrolled PETA-style propaganda campaigns, maintained a huge staff of lawyers and lobbyists, and rewarded its top brass with bloated salaries and benefits.”
Coggin concluded, “HSUS has $200 million in assets. Pet shelters are struggling day in and day out to help save the lives of pets, but it appears HSUS has other priorities. Animal lovers should demand better from this self-titled ‘humane society,’ and give to their local pet shelter instead.”
COOL Arguments Heard in Court
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson issued the following statement following the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hearing arguments in the ongoing country-of-origin labeling (COOL) lawsuit in which NFU is an intervener:
“Today’s argument presents to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit the question of whether the U.S. District Court’s denial of the preliminary injunction on the implementation of the May 2013 revised regulations on COOL on meat products should be upheld. The May decision was a victory for supporters of COOL. The USDA’s new COOL rules brought the United States into compliance with the World Trade Organization.
“This case is about the ability of consumers to make informed decisions on their purchases of meat products. At a time when consumers are asking for more information about the origins and content of their food, it is important that the court uphold its original decision. The USDA revised regulations provide consumers more information and should reduce confusion for consumers at retail.
“While the packer-producer groups and foreign competitors have sought to limit the consumer’s ability to know the origins of their food, NFU and our allies strongly supported the government position that a preliminary injunction wasn’t appropriate.
“We are hopeful that the D.C. Circuit’s decision will uphold the district court’s denial of the preliminary injunction.”
Kansas Ag Technologies Conference Set
for Jan. 23-24 in Salina
The high-tech nature of agriculture takes center stage at the Kansas Agricultural Technologies Conference, this year to take place Jan. 23-24 in Salina at the Ambassador Hotel and Conference Center (former Ramada Inn) at 1616 W. Crawford St, Salina, Kan.
The conference is co-sponsored by Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension and the Kansas Agricultural Research and Technology Association, whose members are producers, university researchers and industry professionals focused on learning about agricultural production, and technological and informational changes on today’s farms.
The Thursday, Jan. 23, session begins with registration and morning refreshments at 8 a.m., and the program starting at 8:45 a.m. The first day ends with the Kansas Ag Research & Technology Association (KARTA) annual business meeting at 4:45 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m., followed by a presentation and evening discussion among attendees on “Big Data — Farm Data Participation and Privacy from the Farm Gate to Open Source.” Terry Griffin of Griffin Consulting will give the presentation. Day 2, Friday, Jan. 24, begins with morning refreshments at 8 a.m. and the program at 8:30 a.m.
In addition, KARTA farmer-members will give presentations about research conducted on their farms. Commercial exhibits of sponsoring vendors will be available to attendees throughout the conference.
More information, including online registration, is available at www.KARTAonline.org. Information is also available by contacting K-State Research and Extension Northwest Area agronomy specialist Lucas Haag at 785-462-6281 or lhaag@ksu.edu.
For a full list of presentations and more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
MU Hosts Cover Crop and Soils Program Feb. 12 in Linn County
Four University of Missouri (MU) specialists will speak on “Cover Crops and Soil Health” at 6 p.m. Wed., Feb. 12, at MU’s Forage Systems Research Center in Linneus, Mo.
Kerry Clark, a research specialist at the MU Bradford Research and Extension Center in Columbia, will open the session with a discussion on soil health. Richard Hoorman, extension agronomist, will speak on how to build cover crops into a corn-soybean rotation.
Cover crop seeding methods will be discussed by Charles Ellis, extension natural resources engineer. Bill Wiebold, state agronomy specialist, will speak on the impacts of long-term no-till methods.
A chili supper begins at 6 p.m. and sessions start at 6:30 p.m. The event and meal are free. Contact the MU Extension Center in Linn County at 660-895-5123 for more information. For a complete list of Board-approved official ID, visit www.mn.gov/bah.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
Plan to Delist Gray Wolf Endangers
Other Threatened Species, Researchers Find
The federal government’s proposal to discontinue protection for the gray wolf across the United States could have the unintended consequence of endangering other species, researchers say.
As written, scientists assert, the proposed rule would set a precedent allowing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to declare habitat unsuitable for an endangered animal because a threat exists on the land — the exact opposite of the service’s mandate to impose regulations that reduce threats against imperiled species.
The FWS has “conflated threats with habitat suitability” by stating that U.S. land currently unoccupied by wolves — most of the country that historically served as wolf habitat — is now unsuitable because humans living in those regions won’t tolerate the animals, the lead scientist said. This claim runs counter to existing research, which the service did not cite in its explanation of the rule.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service is supposed to detail what the threats are and if they’re substantial enough, they’re supposed to list a species and put in place policies to mitigate the threats,” said Jeremy Bruskotter, a wildlife researcher in Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and lead author of the paper.
“Here, they’re saying that they recognize the threat of human intolerance and instead of mitigating the threat, they’re just going to say the land is unsuitable.”
Were this rule to stand, he said, “Anytime the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finds that something is in the way of a species’ recovery, they can just say the habitat is unsuitable for the species and disregard the threat altogether.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
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