Michigan Bans Crates and Cages! October 13, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at October 13, 2009 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 6 ) | TrackBack

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Mother pigs don't want to be confined in crates so small they can't turn around or lie down comfortably, and chickens don't want to be forced into cages so tiny that they can never spread a single wing—and now in Michigan, they won't be. Governor Jennifer Granholm has just signed a bill into law that phases out veal crates, battery cages, and gestation crates on farms across the state!

Of course, we all know that animals aren't here to be abused, slaughtered and eaten. They have feelings, have families, and feel fear before they feel the blade, and we all know that no animal should be born only to be killed at all—so why are we celebrating this victory for animals?

I was born and raised in the city limits of Detroit, Michigan, one of the coldest, harshest cities in the country, where both compassion for animals and people can sometimes be hard to find. It is truly amazing to see these laws for animals spreading in all parts of the country, from California to Michigan. I am vegan, and I believe in animal rights, and I also believe that if the fight for animal rights is all or nothing, it will simply be nothing.

There are millions of animals in cages right now, and in crates or chains, waiting for freedom. We cannot only answer to those who we want to never suffer, but those who are suffering right now. Eliminating veal crates—the crates that baby cows are chained to by the neck for most of their lives before slaughter, and battery cages—the tiny cages chickens are crammed into that are too small for them to even spread a wing, will not be the end of the fight, nor is it the beginning of the fight—it is progress in the fight.

We are making a difference, but as much as we'd like it to, the whole world won't go vegan overnight, it's going to take time. For the millions of animals who are suffering in these devices of torture right now, the elimination of these cages and crates means less pain, and less suffering—how can anyone who cares about animals not support that?

Congratulations on helping to show people—including lawmakers—everywhere that animals matter. Keep up the good fight!

VICTORY: Michigan State Student Group Bans the Circus! April 5, 2009

Posted by Ryan at April 5, 2009 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

Written by Mitch Goldsmith, the Vice President of SPAR (Students Promoting Animal Rights) at Michigan State University

Students Promoting Animal Rights (SPAR) at Michigan State University has officially ended their year-long campaign to cancel the annual performance of the Royal Hanneford Circus at the MSU Jack Breslin Student Events Center.

A local organization had been bringing the circus to campus for over a decade which often came unchallenged and unquestioned by students and community members. The Royal Hanneford Circus has routinely failed to meet even minimal standards of care for their animals, and has been cited by the USDA dozens of times for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including for failing to provide animals with proper food, shelter and veterinary care. During the time of their scheduled performance, the Royal Hanneford Circus even employed Tim Frisco, a shamed former Carson & Barnes elephant trainer who was caught on tape savagely beating elephants and instructing others to follow suit.

SPAR took all of this information to the Jack Breslin Student Events Center staff and members of the local organization which brought the circus to campus, in January of 2008 (almost six months before the circus' scheduled performances) during two successive meetings. We requested they review the information provided and follow up with us the following week with assurance that in light of these facts, the circus would be cancelled.

Well, we did not get the answer we had hoped for, and — keep in mind profit is a high priority for the university — they decided to continue with the show, perhaps because they had already received a substantial amount of money for playing host. In the weeks leading up to the circus performance, SPAR attempted to meet with the university president in hopes she would intervene, but we were denied. So now we braced for a battle under the media spotlight instead of behind closed university doors. SPAR created an anti-circus campus Facebook group whose membership swelled to over 1,000 members, bombarded campus dorms and instructions halls with anti-circus leaflets we had made and overwhelmed the student papers with anti-circus editorials and letters to the editor. During all of this, we spoke and made connections with hundreds of students and encouraged them to join us in a picket of the Royal Hanneford's opening night.

With the circus performance underway inside the Events Center, there was another show going on outside the building that got the attention of the media and passerbys alike. Over 80 MSU students stretched out along the entryway to the events center with banners, signs, and enthusiastic slogans against the circus. Nervous Events Center employees and campus police scrambled to understand what was happening as news stations swarmed to interview eager students who had braved the cold to picket the event. While the animals were chained under a tent in the Events Center parking lot, SPAR was able to take a video which showed elephants exhibiting typical signs of severe distress from confinement and lack of enrichment. (This video was taken to university officials with the insistence that they provide the animals with an immediate medical examination — they refused.)

Our protest was a tremendous success, and with the support of the student body and local media, SPAR made an impassioned presentation at the Michigan State University Board of Trustees meeting following the circus' last performance, detailing their cruelty and our efforts to ensure that their 2008 show be their last.

After many successive phone calls, emails and conversations with university representatives, administrators and board members, the animals scored a victory when the university Board of Trustees disallowed animal circuses from performing on campus! As far as we know, MSU is the only campus in the nation to ever institute such a progressive policy!

The local organization pushing the circus onto the university has vowed to bring the Royal Hanneford to another venue in 2010, but we too have vowed to do all we can to make this ban expand to surrounding areas to ensure mid-Michigan stands firm against horrific animal exploitation.

MSU’s SPAR Protests the Circus on Campus! April 5, 2009

Posted by Ryan at April 5, 2009 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

Written by Drew Winter, president of "Students Promoting Animal Rights" at Michigan State University.

SPAR's circus demonstration was an excellent success with no major problems, mostly because we knew our rights and were peaceful and positive, while making our statement clear to the public. Authorities will not bother you if you don't break the law, but just in case they want to make a fuss, it's best to know what you can and cannot do. This mostly becomes an issue when attempting to get footage of the animals who are chained up before shows. One clown (who wasn't funny anyway) threatened one of our photographers, but we knew he couldn't catch us wearing those big shoes.

 

 

We stayed out of the way of circus patrons and did not yell or chant at them, instead remaining silent and holding our banners and signs high. We were reminded of why we were there when a dog trainer ran up to us and pleaded that "it's not ALL bad," saying he tries to set an example so that other trainers will treat their animals better.

 

The demonstration received coverage from two news stations and three newspapers, and the MSU Board of Trustees definitely took notice. After 15 years of the circus coming to MSU, the trustees and SPAR are working together to form a policy to ban circuses at MSU for good.

MSU Student Group Takes On The Circus! April 5, 2009

Posted by Ryan at April 5, 2009 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

This entry was written by Drew Winter, President of Students Promoting Animal Rights (SPAR) at Michigan State University.

Students Promoting Animal Rights (SPAR), led by PETA’s 2007 Sexiest Vegetarian Boy Next Door, is protesting the Royal Hanneford Circus, scheduled to perform at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center this April 11-13. Royal Hanneford employs Tim Frisco, who was famously caught on tape encouraging his peers to seriously harm elephants in training.

To raise awareness on our campus and in our community, SPAR members obtained over 500 signatures from Lansing residents on Valentine’s Day. We asked people to sign valentines entitled “cruelty is not entertainment,” and presented the total stack at our meeting with Breslin officials. Virtually everyone was enthusiastic to sign, so it was easy to get all the letters signed in six hours with just a couple petitioners at a time walking around campus.

Group members also wrote letters to the student newspaper, and President Drew Winter wrote an opinion column illustrating Royal Hanneford’s violations, why circuses abuse animals, and the Breslin’s lack of action. We have contacted all the local media outlets and will be featured in the Lansing City Pulse next week. Perhaps the most effective outreach tool yet has been our Facebook.com group, which has accrued over 1,100 members at Michigan State! We are also using the networking site to plan a poster-making party and a protest on the day of the circus, so stay tuned!

Party Fowl September 24, 2008

Posted by Marta at September 24, 2008 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBack

This week the Road Warriors stepped outside of the concert scene to hit up some colleges in Michigan to help some local animal rights groups accomplish their goals.

At Eastern Michigan University we were helping to ban KFC from campus; yea they're still up to their dirty business. And this AR group already got a veg Bistro added to their dining hall—how sweet is that?

At The University of Michigan we were petitioning to stop primate testing on campus!! No joke. These poor primates are being injected with cocaine and alcohol! Makes you wonder what's going on on YOUR campus, doesn't it?

We even got to hit up an amazing veg restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI, called Seva. We got to chow down on vegan nachos with soy cheese, a chocolate shake, and a Tofurky Melt with roasted red peppers—mmmmmmmmmmm!




Want to make some noise on your campus? I thought so. Get to it!

I'll be in touch. Stay Brutal.

Paige