RMAD Weekly Announcement - October 19, 2003
Introduction:
Greetings! You are getting this notice because you are on the RMAD members or announce email list. You're on this list because you asked to be on it. You can find more information about the RMAD email lists, and how to remove yourself from the lists by looking at this page:http://rmad.org/resource.html
Previous weekly announcements are available at: http://rmad.org/weekly
Announcements:
- Cat Trappers Needed
- Full Page Ad In Boulder Camera!
- TAKE ACTION for Boulder's Birds, Prairie Wildlife
- Sanctuary Blanket Drive!
- Nalgene Boycott Information!
- Companion Animal Doorknob Flyer Now Online!
- Wish List
- Please Help our HEALTH Website with your favorite recipes
Events:
Ongoing:
- RMAD Store Open for Business!
- ECO-ISP - Please Sign Up!
- HEALTH Recipe of the Week - Meatless Meatballs
Announcements
[From our Friends at the Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance - http://www.rmaca.com/]
Hi everyone!
Due to the wonderful newspaper article that came out a couple weeks ago,
RMACA is getting a huge amount of calls! This is really great, as it means
we are now able to help more people than ever before. However, the mobile
clinic is also now completely booked Mon.-Wed. till mid December.
Thus, we are more
than ever in need of people willing to volunteer trap for the mobile clinic.
The following is a list of dates when trappers are needed for the clinic.
If you think you might be interested, and/or want to know where we'll
be on a certain date, please let me know. If you've never done this before,
no problem, it is very easy to learn! We are usually out from 9-3, but
we usually stop trapping by 1:00 at the latest. Even if you just want
to work for a couple of hours, we would be ever so grateful for your help!
October 20, 21
22, 27, 28, 29
November 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18
December 2, 3, 8, 9, 10
If you know of
any other people who might like to do this, please forward this on to
them.
Please Contact Jen at Sdsjdo@aol.com
Full Page Ad In Boulder Camera!
Check out the
last page of the local section of the Boulder Sunday Camera (yesterday).
Wild Places (prairie dog rescue/relocation) is sponsoring a full-page
color ad to bring attention to the crisis of prairie dogs and wild birds
since Boulder City Council suspended our wildlife ordinances. The ad features
compelling photos by RMAD of prairie dogs who've been poisoned and others
who are bleeding and suffering from severed toes as a direct result of
Dog Gone's reckless handling October 6 in Boulder. Readers are urged to
contact city council members and to come to the Boulder City Council meeting
Tuesday.
The ad cost $3,761 and was paid for by Wild Places. Contributions to this
ad are very, very welcome! If you can make any donation, please send it
to Wild Places at 2602 Baseline Rd., #207, Boulder, CO, 80305.
THANKS to Wild
Places!
TAKE ACTION for Boulder's Birds, Prairie Wildlife
The Boulder City Council let down the public and its wildlife August 19 when it suspended Boulder’s ordinances protecting prairie wildlife and wild birds. Please speak up for our birds and prairie dogs by attending the City Council Meeting tomorrow (see below).
Already, the killers are at work. The number of poisoned birds being brought
into Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary from Boulder is on the
rise. Prairie wildlife has already been poisoned within Boulder city limits,
at the property on the northwest corner of Spine and Gunbarrel, owned
by Valley Lab.
Plans are being made to kill 100 prairie dogs (and other wildlife inhabiting their burrows, such as cottontail rabbits) at East Boulder Business Park at Vexcel Corporation at 38th and Arapahoe. Vexcel plans to build a barrier and then hire the notorious Gay Balfour of Doggone to “foam” (flush out) the prairie dogs, who will then likely be fed to ferrets in the ferret reintroduction program.
Vexcel claims it wants to get rid of the prairie dogs because of fears of fleas that spread the plague, but the Colorado Department of Health advises against poisoning prairie dogs because poisoning releases fleas to the environment, causing additional risk to people and domestic pets. RMAD and Wild Places agree that these prairie dogs do not belong in this concrete jungle and they should be removed, but they should be relocated by an ethical relocator such as Wild Places. In fact, the city was supposed to relocate the animals in 1999 and failed to do so.
Please call the decision makers and ask them not to hire prairie dog killer Gay Balfour to have these animals destroyed. Ask them to wait until the city accepts responsibility for the animals by allowing them to be relocated to Boulder Open Space. Ask that they provide financial incentives to the city for this relocation.
Call those who plan to have
prairie dogs killed:
Vexcel President John Curlander: (303) 444-0094
Stan Arnold, Eastpark Associates: (303) 447-2655 (Stan has not notified
his tenants of his plans.)
Hi RMAD members,
It's the season again to start collecting blankets, sleeping bags, quilts,
etc., to help provide warmth to the pot-bellied pigs at Peaceful Prairie
Farm Sanctuary.
They're predicting a harsh winter this year, so please check your closets,
basements, garages; ask your neighbors, co-workers, and family members
for donations. If you are unable to donate a blanket or sleeping bag but
still want to contribute, please check out their wish list at their new
website http://peacefulprairie.org/.
Peaceful Prairie farm sanctuary has grown significantly this past summer.
They've extended their family to include ten rescued pigs,three goats
(Sylvie, Amanda, and Jeffrey Thomas), a rooster named Jody, and just last
weekend ten sheep and thirty former battery-caged hens from Ohio.
Donations are a vital part of any non-profit organization. It helps to
alleviate some of the expenses incurred and allows this organization to
expand it's facilities and accept yet another farm animal(s) in need of
a caring home. All donations are tax deductible.
Please contact Tamyra via e-mail (TJC1BC@aol.com)
or call (303) 661-3954 if you have an items to donate, she will arrange
for their pick-up and delivery.
Thank you , Tamyra Conley
P.S. Chelsea, Junior, Ponza, Jelly Bean, Cinder and Elmer also thank you
for your helpful donations.
RMAD has been involved with educating people about the animal restraint devices that the manufacturer of the Nalgene bottle also makes.
Please see: http://rmad.org/nalgene.html for more information and suggestions on cruelty-free alternatives!
[Editors note: I just picked up a couple of the GSI bottles at REI and I LOVE EM! They rock! ]
Companion Animal Doorknob Flyer Now Online!
Our doorknob flyer that was distributed to thousands of houses in Denver last month is now available online at: http://rmad.org/comp_animal_flyer.html
Please feel free to download it and pass it around!
RMAD and the Sanctuaries we assist rely on your help! If you can't donate money, please consider donating some no longer needed goods! We have an extensive list of items that we can put to good use.
Please see: http://rmad.org/wishlist.html and consider donating something that you no longer need.
Please Help our HEALTH Website with your favorite recipes
Our HEALTH webweaver extraordinaire, Laura Patrick, needs your help!
If you have any recipes you'd like to share with the world, please send them to Laura at laurap@rmad.org. Desserts, smoothies, entrees, soups... whatever!
She'll make her best effort to make your recipe the HEALTH Recipe of the Week! (To see recipes of the week, visit http://www.health.rmad.org/recipes.htm.)
I know from firsthand experience that many of you have amazing recipes to share. Let us shine a light on them! Thanks!
Events
The RMAD Calendar (http://rmad.org/calendar.html) is full of great events coming up and all summer long! Work parties, fairs, meetings, and more. These events are great ways to get involved with RMAD and helping animals in your community.
Boulder City Council Meeting - TOMORROW NIGHT!
Tuesday October
21
1777 Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Canyon, upstairs
Dear Friends of Wildlife:
Please stand up for Boulder’s prairie wildlife and birds by contacting members of Boulder City Council or by attending the council meeting Tuesday (details at end of this e-mail). You don’t need to live in Boulder to address these issues.
As you may know, the city of Boulder has been a national leader on animal protection issues. Recently, however, the city council suspended its ordinances protecting wild birds and prairie wildlife.
The suspension was allegedly in response to the State of Colorado's assertion that the ordinances were in conflict with state law. Interestingly, though, the suspension came at a time when the city's open space department (which at the time was responsible for relocating the city's imperiled prairie dogs to safety) was claiming it had no more land available for relocation. The ordinances were to be "fixed" and back on the books within 60 days.
We have received and reviewed
the proposed revisions to the ordinances. These changes are *unacceptable*
as currently written. The proposed draft is a good start, but meaningful
protections are lacking. The bird ordinance, for
instance, no longer protects many of the birds it was originally created
to
protect.
The prairie dog ordinance lacks any meaningful safeguards, and the proposed revisions appear to release the city open space department from its obligation to provide homes to relocated prairie dogs. Whereas Boulder's original prairie dog ordinance was the strongest in the nation, it is now very weak and essentially leaves all prairie dogs within city limits extremely vulnerable to injury and death.
While these changes are being discussed, the suspension remains in place, and birds and prairie dogs are suffering heinous deaths from poisons. During the week of October 6, prairie dogs at East Boulder Business Park were cruelly taken from their homes and transported to their deaths. The fate of other animals occupying the burrows at that site was sealed when the exterminators buried them alive.
The city council must remember that this revision of the ordinances is for the purpose of complying with state law. It is strictly a legal matter. Any revision of the ordinance to handle issues such as the open space department's claim that relocation land is at capacity must be handled in a separate forum. (NOTE: In expressing our concern about this issue, we do not imply a lack of support for the City of Boulder's open space program.)
ACTION
Please attend the city council meeting on Tuesday, October 21, at 1777
Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Canyon, or contact the city council
members by e-mail or phone. It is not necessary to speak at the council
meeting, but if you’d like to speak, you must sign up before 6 p.m.
If you can attend the meeting and do not wish to speak, you do not need
to be there until after 7:30 p.m., because the issue is scheduled fourth
on the agenda for public hearings. If we have a lot of people, we'll ask
those who are there for the animals to raise their hands, and if we have
strength in numbers, it will have a positive impact on council.
Politely tell the council:
-The proposed changes to the ordinance are unacceptable.
-These revisions should uphold the same spirit and intent of the original
ordinance, and a rewriting of the ordinance should occur separately.
-Temporary protective measures should be implemented immediately.
When one considers not only the effect these poisonings have on a keystone
species, but also the toxins affecting humans and the environment as well,
there are tremendously good reasons to take the chance on a short-term
measure prohibiting the killing of prairie dogs and wild birds until a
good ordinance can be crafted with more time and input.
E-mail all city council members at council@ci.boulder.co.us or call:
Will Toor (Mayor) 303-544-0104
Thomas Eldridge 303-449-8419
Dan Corson 303-449-0844
Gordon Riggle 303-530-7181
Mark Ruzzin 303-417-9798
To see the proposed ordinance,
visit:
http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/cao/documents/documentsindexpage.htm
Letters to the editor would also be very helpful. For more information, contact RMAD at (303) 449-4422.
[It's not all bad news here, Ann Swissdorf is having her annual Halloween bash, and you're all invited! ;-) ]
We'll be lurking for you at the Swissdorf's 6th annual HALLOWEEN POTLUCK BASH, Saturday 10/25/03.
Missing this could bring an ancient curse upon you.
Please RSVP by Wednesday 10/22/02, 303-697-5024
Ghouls and Goblins will materialize around the cauldron at 530 PM, eating whatever materializes at 6 PM.
A DJ will play all of your favorites! Howl and dance if you dare! This should warm your old cold Carcass!
For the potluck, bring a plant-based dish (no meat, fish fowl, dairy, eggs, honey (the bee kind), or other animal derived products to serve at least 8 people. A plant-based dish can be as simple as, cut up fruits or veggies or a bottle of natural apple juice to share. Also bring a recipe card and some extras to share, specifically listing the ingredients in your dish, a serving utensil, your own place setting your and your own drink.
Chili and chocolate cake will be provided.
Children are very tasty, oh I mean welcome to attend! Goodie Bags for the unsuspecting little ones. RSVP for children a MUST!, so we have enough goodie bags.
Pumpkin Painting for all. Costume Contest For The Adults
See you at the INDIAN HILLS COMMUNITY CENTER if you dare!
Location: From C-470 Take 285 into the mountains 4 miles. Turn right on PARMALEE GULCH ROAD into INDIAN HILLS. Go 1/2 mile, The Community Center is on the left. From Evergreen, take Hwy 74 to Kittridge, turn right on Myer’s Gultch, go 4.6 miles, the Community Center will be on the right.
Costumes are not required, so you party poopers can come as you are which could be just as horrifying. For more info call: 303-697-5024
You are welcome to bring your own beer, wine, etc.
Your donations and purchases directly support our efforts to help the animals! You can purchase shirts, videos, toys, and books.
Please check it out and buy something today!
EcoISP is an award-winning Internet service that costs less than AOL, MSN, or Earthlink. Even better, EcoISP donates 50% of your subscription profits to RMAD each and every month!
Take only a short minute to join EcoISP and you'll personally help RMAD stop wildlife poisonings, farm animal suffering, and domestic animal abuse. Go to http://www.ecoisp.com/rmad and learn how you can make a difference.
RMAD Always Needs
Your Help! Please join or donate! Your tax deductible contribution allows
us to continue the work we do for the animals. You can join or donate
online with our secure order form!
We can't continue to send you these updates and fight for the animals without your help!
Our
mission is to help eliminate the human-imposed suffering of animals in
the Rocky Mountain region.