​www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/mayor-contact.page

I recently shared a story with you guys about a horse that collapsed in new York city pulling a carriage. In the clips, the horse is seen laying on the ground as concerned onlookers attempted to get it back on its feet. Revisit the story here -- happyveggie.weebly.com/animal-news/nyc-horse-collapses-pulling-carriage

​Good morning!
 
My name is Jonathan Charbonneau and I am writing to you in regards to a story that was recently shared regarding a horse that collapsed while pulling a carriage in your fine city. The horse likely collapsed due to exhaustion and in the videos shared, concerned citizens flocked around to try and get the horse back on its feet to no avail. It was disturbing and saddening to watch which is why I feel compelled to write to you.
 
Although horse drawn carriages play an important role in the world's history, they simply have no place in today's society. Means of travel have improved with cars, trains, and public transit widely available to us leaving the horse drawn carriage outdated and unnecessary. These horses face a multitude of challenges that are unnatural to them that puts them at risk everyday.
 
Horses pulling carriages are forced to work in deplorable weather conditions including heatwaves, snowstorms, and downpours, not to mention the danger of heavily populated areas and traffic. They are subjected to toxic fumes from the vehicles surrounding them that inevitably affects their health and leaves them subject to illnesses that as I mentioned are unnatural to them. These beautiful animals deserve better than this and as a global community, we need to acknowledge all that they've done for us and retire them.
 
As I stated, horse drawn carriages played a vital role in transportation history but they simply have no place on the streets today. I am begging you to consider abandoning the horse drawn carriage in favour of other means of transportation allowing these intelligent, wonderful animals to retire from the streets to live their lives the way they were intended, on a sanctuary. You have the opportunity to demonstrate compassion and send a message to other leaders across the globe that horse drawn carriages are outdated and no longer belong on our streets. I implore you to make the right decision and allow these animals to retire before more horses collapse under the pressures of working carriages.
 
Thank you in advance for your consideration and time regarding this very important matter of animal welfare.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jonathan Charbonneau

​Good evening,

My name is Jonathan Charbonneau and I am writing to you in regards to a recent story I read involving a Television huntress who slaughtered wild goats, deer, and sheep in your fine country and documented it on social media. In the story, it suggested that the government was reviewing its culling laws after finding the photographs unnerving and I wanted to propose why your country should abolish trophy hunting.

Scotland is widely recognized as a country that is vegetarian and vegan friendly and was recently reported to be in the top 10 spots in the world to visit as a vegetarian / vegan. With that being said, it is evident that your country feels strongly about animal rights / welfare and allowing activities like trophy hunting work against that very positive message of compassion. As a country with a reputation as positive as yours in the animal rights community, it's important to maintain certain levels of compassion and empathy to stay in line with what your country wants and feels regarding animal welfare. Please allow me to explain why trophy hunting has no place in a country as recognizably vegan friendly as yours.

Trophy hunting is one of the leading causes of animal endangerment in the world. In the United States, they are currently being sued for their lack of protections involving giraffes with elephants, lions, leopards, and other sea and land animals suffering at the hands of trophy hunting. Trophy hunters often use conservation as their reasoning behind trophy hunting and will pay significant amounts of money towards conservation efforts when in fact, they are simply paying money to take lives. One cannot argue that there is something devious and concerning about someone who gets their thrills and pleasures out of stalking animals and slaughtering them in the name of fun. It's a twisted and disturbing activity that encourages people to kill and ingrains in their minds that this sort of activity is normal and acceptable when in fact, it is tremendously wrong. 

The pictures I saw of Larysa Switlyk proudly smiling behind a beautiful wild goat she stalked for two days before shooting are eerie and disturbing. Trophy hunting promotes murder of animals in the name of fun and there is so many reasons my conscious would never allow me to do something like that and that's why I must reach out to you to express my discontent. As I mentioned, your country is widely regarded as one of the best in terms of vegetarian and vegan offerings and trophy hunting simply does not sit in line with the morals and merits of the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle.

I am begging you to strongly consider banning trophy hunting in your fine country. You have the opportunity to demonstrate that you are deserving of this recognition from vegetarians and vegans worldwide and this opportunity should not be overlooked. Trophy hunting is sick and simply has no place in a world where so many animals are facing extinction because of it. I implore you to please ban trophy hunting and send a clear message not only to trophy hunters, but to all global leaders that trophy hunting is wrong and and your country will no longer stand for it. By taking this step, you will solidify your reputation as a country that is empathetic, compassionate, and aware of the concerns of your country.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,

Jonathan Charbonneau
Dublin, Ireland

If you're interested in taking 5 minutes to join this fight and send them an email as well, here's the contact information I have. The email will be sent to the appropriate party by emailing this particular contact.
[email protected]

Thanks guys <3

HAPPY VEG

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-conservation-groups-file-new-lawsuit-against-the-trump-administration-for-failing-to-protect-giraffes/

Conservation groups are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for failing to protect giraffes properly despite knowing how grave their situation is. Over 19 months ago, several conservation and animal rights groups filed a motion to allow the U.S Fish and Wildlife Services to grant giraffes protections under the Endangered Species Act but the Trump administration failed to acknowledge the motion leaving giraffes to move into the vulnerable status.

Giraffes face several dangers in the wild that can hinder their existence such as civil unrest, habitat loss, and illegal poaching for meat and trophies. Their numbers have dropped 40% in only 3 decades which is extremely alarming and deserving of better protections under the ESA but Trump's administration is once again demonstrating its complete lack of empathy towards animals. As the article suggests, he'd rather allow his generous and wealthy donors to import giraffe trophies to mount on their walls than protect these beautiful creatures from going extinct.

By allowing giraffes endangered species protection, it would allow imports of bones, carvings, and trophies to be tracked and dealt with and would also allow more money to go towards conservation. Without their approval to list them, giraffes will move closer and closer to extinction. Currently, the United States imports approximately one giraffe related trophy / carving per day which means that 365 giraffes are slaughtered for novelties and imported every year. It's utterly ridiculous to think that this government is still allowing these trophies to come into the country when you consider how few giraffes there are left. Once again, money proves to be the motivating factor in this obvious oversight.

​worldanimalnews.com/signatures-needed-to-urge-scotland-to-ban-trophy-hunting-after-photos-of-professional-huntress-received-worldwide-backlash/

Photos of professional huntress and television hunter Larysa Switlyk have caused an uproar among activists and even those within the Scottish government when they were posted to social media last week. In the photos, Larysa is seen posing behind her kills which included a stag, ram, and sheep. In the photos she is seen smiling with the caption, "Such a fun hunt" where she details the two days it took for her to take out one of the wild goats shes described as great hiders as they live among the cliffs and are difficult to spot. 

The photos were widely panned as being despicable and activists and officials alike began urging the Scottish government to review their trophy hunting rules. Currently, it is legal to hunt deer and goats as part of a "Land Management" deal that is not being reviewed by parliament as to whether it should continue or not. 

Every time I read a story about trophy hunting or see the photos of these assholes smiling proudly behind animals they stalked like perverts until they were able to shoot them with high powered weapons, I get fired up. There's something so enraging about looking at someone who is smiling proudly behind a corpse. You know, the fact that they'e "just animals" is the only reason that these pictures is acceptable. Can you imagine if these same people were posting behind human corpses they "took out" during a hunt? There'd be worldwide outrage, that's why this stigma that trophy hunting is somehow o.k needs to come to an end. There is absolutely nothing o.k with perversely stalking an unsuspecting animal and shooting it dead. How is that people still can't wrap their heads around this?

Look, I won't get into hunting for food because frankly, I feel like that's an argument that most people who are pro-hunt will refuse to even acknowledge but trophy hunting? There's no argument that is reasonable for pro-trophy hunting, absolutely none. You cannot argue about necessity, you cannot argue about conservation, none of that. What it is is a bunch of pigs who get their sick pleasure out of stalking and abolishing animals for their own desires. What do we as a global population see that's positive in this? We allow these people to entertain their sick fantasies while more and more animals drop dead in the name of fun. It's absolutely despicable and I think anyone who participates in these sorts of activities needs to be put in a mental institution.

Look guys, if you wouldn't mind taking the time to follow the link at the top of the page to the original story and quickly sign the petition urging the Scottish Government to ban trophy hunting, it would be greatly appreciated. 

HAPPY VEG

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-trump-administration-approves-seismic-testing-in-the-atlantic-ocean-shockingly-issuing-5-new-permits/

Another day, another blow from the Trump administration that will most assuredly hurt animals. The Trump administration has approved seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean which looks for oil, gas, and other minerals under the ocean. Air guns are used to discover these substances and in using these air guns, marine life will inevitably be affected by this.

These air gun blasts put marine and coral life in danger and also, the discovery of any kind of mineral, gas, or oil will undoubtedly lead to offshore drilling which will also adversely affect the oceans wildlife. This move to begin seismic testing is strongly opposed by New Jersey congressman Frank Pallone Jr who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administrations decision. The seismic blasts not only affect marine life but the pressured air that reflects back to the surface can also affect migrations, kill eggs and larvae, deafen whales / dolphins, and disrupt mating. 

Unfortunately, money is once again trumping the ethics of this decision which as I've described, will have several negative outcomes for the marine life of these areas. President Trump's administration has repeatedly made it clear that they could care less about animals and at this rate will go down as the worst administration for animals in the United States history. His quest for more money and more resources powered by greed is destroying all of the work animal activists have put in for several years. He has demonstrated a complete lack of regard for animals or their needs and this further proves his lack of empathy for the plights of animals.

What I think is especially disturbing is that we already know that our oceans are struggling due to pollution. We already know that we are quickly depleting the world's population of fish and slowly putting whales and dolphins of several species at risk of extinction and yet they make a decision that will add to the ocean's problems. Much like trying to remove protections for endangered animals and allowing hunting trophies of endangered animals into the United States, it's quite obvious that President Trump and his administration will continue to put animals in danger at any cost.

Can someone just impeach him already?

Check out the original story by visiting the link at the top of the page!

HAPPY VEG

As I was trolling the internet this afternoon looking for a story or two to give my two cents on, I discovered several stories and found it difficult to choose which one to write about. What I did notice however was that each of these stories had something in common despite being completely different in every other way and that common factor was money. When it comes to animals and stories regarding them being exploited, money is always the common denominator in these situations. Our insatiable desire to have more money and at any cost motivates us to do horrible things to animals in hopes of monetary gain, allow me to explain further.

What sickens me the most about this is as I said, these creatures face the possibility of extinction in the wild. These people who go out and hunt them for their ivory are so money-driven that I'm not sure that they're even considered the impact they're having. I mean I'm sure they know they shouldn't be killing them but do they realize that their greed could wipe these animals off of the planet? I'm also curious if they're considered what their game plan would be once they actually do wipe them off the planet? Where will your illegal money come from if there are no elephants or rhinos left to kill? Have they even considered this? My thought is no because the money is what is driving them to make these decisions with absolutely no regard for their own futures or the future of an entire species' survival. Sickening isn't it?

This is another reason why I'm always promoting adopting over shopping for pets. Yes, the allure of a pure-bred puppy of some kind of breed is tempting but purchasing that pure-bred puppy comes with a lot of bag energy. The mother of those puppies has likely been forced to breed countless times and have her babies taken away. The cost of those puppies is usually in the 1000's of dollars which essentially goes right into the pockets of the breeders and their screening process for adoptions are not as strict as they are through an adoption agency. Adoption agencies charge their prices for the medical requirements of your adopted pet and for food and other necessities, they're not making money off of the animal and have only one goal in mind, to find good homes for rescue animals. By supporting puppy mills or breeders, you are lining the pockets of people who are exploiting their pets for money while animals in shelters are overlooked. It's a horrible cycle that leaves shelter animals abundant and in desperate need of homes.

Let's look at trophy hunting as well. Money is what motivates these people to go and do what they do. They pay these astronomical fees to these wildlife companies that claim the money goes to conservation efforts and they pay them to have the right to go out and hunt "trophy" animals. The main problem aside from the obvious who gets their kicks out of killing animals is that these animals are almost always endangered. Giraffes, lions, leopards, elephants etc., these animals are all at risk of going extinct in the wild but we still allow people to pay all  of this money to run around killing them for the sake of some stupid trophy they can mount on their wall. I ask the same question to these perverse people but what do you go out and hunt in the name of trophies when you've abolished an entire species? Where do you go when there's no elephants or leopards left? Have they even begun to consider this? Probably not because it all boils down to money and how money will push us to do just about anything.

hIn all of these situations, money is the motivating factor. Money is making us do horrible things to animals without any consideration of what effects our actions will have. It's absolutely sickening to think that there are so many people out there who are willing to risk their lives or put a species at risk of extinction for the sake of making some money. That's what makes my blog so important or any blog or activist site that draws attention to these issues.  We must continue to shine a light on the atrocities that are happening to animals all over the world because the more we speak out, the more of a chance these animals have at survival. The more attention we draw to these awful situations the better because it means that our voices are heard and governments will continue to take notice. Without speaking out, these animals don't stand a chance.

What do you guys think? Do you agree that money is the root of all evil here in these situations? I want to hear from you!

​HAPPY VEG