Gubernatorial Candidate Stormy Dean Opposes Nebraska's Large Pig Farms
The Sierra Club has endorsed Stormy Dean's candidacy for governor. Dean announced Tuesday he has received the environmental organization's support and said he shares the Sierra Club's concerns about giant hog farms in Nebraska. "Massive hog farms not only pollute valuable groundwater, but they also threaten ... the quality of life for residents in rural towns," the Democratic nominee said. "Quality of life is more important to the survival of rural economies than are the few additional jobs offered by large hog lots," he said.

Nebraska Humane Society offers reward for information on dead horse
The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,000 reward for information on who killed and mutilated a horse in northeast Nebraska. The 8-year-old quarter horse was found Sept. 11 by its owner, Dan McCarthy of rural Jackson in Dakota County. "The killing and deliberate dismemberment of this horse is very disturbing. You don't have to be Freud to realize that the person who did this has some very serious problems," said Arnold Baer, interim director of the national Humane Society's Midwest regional office. The person responsible is a threat to other animals, Baer said. The Humane Society of the United States routinely offers $2,000 to $2,500 awards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for animal cruelty, said spokeswoman Kate Luse. The Siouxland Humane Society and concerned citizens also have matched the national organization's reward to offer a total of $4,000 to help solve the Nebraska horse death. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Dakota County Sheriff's Office.

Help Stop the Trade in Exotic Animals on the Web
Exotic animals like monkeys, tigers, and dangerous reptiles are almost as easy to acquire on the Internet as a trinket off eBay or an appliance through a newspaper ad. One Web site, Wild Animal World, operated by Randy Davies, advertises animals ranging from capuchin monkeys to chimpanzees to lions to kinkajous. Because the Internet is virtually unregulated, it is a medium to which many animal dealers are flocking.

As the court commission surely knows, the life that so-called “exotic pets” lead is far removed from that which they would experience in their natural habitat. Big cats, primates, and reptiles, for example, are not domestic animals, and their instincts remain very much intact in captivity. A life in a backyard, basement, or garage cage cannot even begin to meet these animals’ instinctual needs and desires, such as seeking a mate, raising young, hunting, basking in the sun, and resolving territorial disputes. Even simple but essential pleasures, like freedom of movement and the ability to socialize with others of their own kind, are often denied them altogether. Many exotic animals kept as pets develop psychotic behaviors resulting from a life of confinement, such as self-mutilation, head-bobbing, pacing, and coprophagia, or (playing with and eating excrement). For more information, please visit www.wildlifepimps.com.

Most of these animals end up being shuffled from one facility or home to the next and often end up being sold to laboratories, where they undergo painful and invasive tests, or are forced to live in horrendous conditions in roadside zoos or curiosity displays. In fact, Davies aided in getting two squirrel monkeys, who were destined to live in a glass enclosure, to a bar in Hawaii. One of the monkeys, who was only 3 months old, died during shipment. Click here to learn how to help the monkey stuck in this bar.

Please ask Qwest Communications, which hosts Wild Animal World at two different locations, to drop the sites and set a policy against hosting sites that are used to sell animals:
Richard C. Notebaert, Chair and CEO
Qwest Communications International, Inc.
1801 California St.
Denver, CO 80202
Tel.: 800-899-7780
Fax: 303-992-1724