Protect Pets On Halloween!

Halloween brings lots of spooky, scary and sweet fun for our kids, but it can bring dangers for our pets. Chocolate is toxic for animals; trick-or-treating noise can be truly frightening for our furry friends.

For today's Daily Action, read these precautions we have gathered from animal shelters and veterinarians and keep your pets safe for Halloween!

The following is a list of precautions suggested and recommended by numerous animal shelters and veterinarians designed to keep pets safe on Halloween.

NOISES and STRANGE STRANGERS:
Trick or treaters can cause loud and excessive noise and frighten your pet, so try to keep your pets inside in a quiet room where they are insulated from the Halloween rukus. : )

Pets, especially dogs, that are easily excitable or threatened by strangers should be kept from the front door so they cannot bite anyone or run into the street. With many people visiting the home in strange attire, even normally calm pets might overreact.

Keep pets on a shorter-than-normal leash if you plan on walking outside on Halloween. Again, scary and weird looking trick-or-treaters could provoke aggression in even the nicest pet.

KISS OF DEATH
Candy, especially chocolate, is toxic for animals and can cause vomiting, restlessness, heart disturbances, and even death. Ask kids not to share candy with pets.

CANDLES
Be careful with lit pumpkins and candles because pets can knock them over and start a fire. Therefore ensure that all burning objects are out of pet’s reach. Remember that cats can jump high, and birds can fly, so try to confine a pet if it demonstrates an “unhealthy” interest in flames (e.g. it puts its paws in lit pumpkins or tries to play with candles).

PETS IN DISGUISE
Avoid costumes held in place by rubber bands, which can be uncomfortable and, more important, rubber bands mistakenly left on a pet can quickly burrow into the animal’s skin and cause injury. Additionally, rubber bands in the wrong place can choke a bird.

If a pet wears a costume, make sure it is not constricting, causing your pet to trip, or blocking its vision. Do not force a pet to wear a costume if it demonstrates discomfort. All of the above can cause undue stress and possibly cause aggression in even the nicest dog, goldfish, or iguana.

EVIL IN THE NIGHT
Don’t leave pets outside on Halloween. Many animals disappear as pranksters and those with darker intentions tease, abduct, torture, or even kill pets.

Be especially watchful of black cats, who which are frequent targets of cruel activities on Halloween. Try to keep black cats inside for the week of Halloween. Many animal shelters make black cats unavailable for adoption the week before Halloween because of black cat abuse.

Stop the Eleventh-Hour Assault on Endangered Species

Target: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Sponsored by: Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

It may be the eleventh hour of the Bush/Cheney Administration, but that's not stopping their efforts to undermine the Endangered Species Act.

The Administration wants to make serious changes to this landmark law that would eliminate some of the most important checks and balances that protect our polar bears, wolverines, whales and other imperiled wildlife. By striking at the very heart of this landmark conservation bill, these changes would severely limit interagency consultations and would prevent expert agencies from considering how greenhouse gas emissions affect endangered wildlife.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is only taking public comments on this proposal until October 15th – but we need to hear from you by Monday night so we can deliver your comments. Please speak out now for polar bears, wolves and the nearly 1,400 species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act!

'Happy' Halloween from the FDA

Dear Tara,

If the Wall Street bailout was hard to swallow, the government is preparing a Halloween trick that just may be impossible to stomach.

The Food and Drug Administration is opening the way for grocery stores to sell food made from genetically engineered animals. And the agency is proposing that these products, called “Frankenfoods” by some, be sold to you without your knowledge.

Sign our online petition demanding that food from genetically engineered animals be labeled. We have the right to know what we are eating!

Genetically engineered animals are not a far-off, exotic concept. It’s happening right now. Goats are engineered with spider genes to produce silk in their milk. And pigs carry mouse and bacterial DNA to improve their digestion.

The jury is still out on whether food from these animals is safe for humans or the environment. And the ethics of such changes have yet to be considered.
The FDA says they will conduct a safety review before these foods can be sold for human consumption. But consumers won’t know if they’re buying genetically engineered food, because the agency isn’t going to require a label.

We know what’s in the can of soup we buy because the label tells us. Shouldn’t we know if the meat we buy comes from a pig with another animal’s genes, or whether our milk has insect DNA in it?
Sign our petition and show the FDA that Americans want to know what’s in their food!
We have until Nov. 18 to collect signatures. Please forward this message on to others so they can sign too. Let’s stop this Halloween trick before it starts.

Sincerely,
Jean Halloran
NotInMyFood.org
A project of Consumers Union
101 Truman Ave.
Yonkers, NY 10703

Send an Ecard to Save a Pet

In less than two weeks, over 90,000 people have voted for their favorite local animal shelter or rescue group to win $10,000 in Care2's "America's Favorite Animal Shelter" contest. And each week for five weeks during the contest a random group will win $1,000 - to make sure that every group, no matter how small, has an equal chance of winning a much needed donation to save homeless pets' lives.

Since October is National Adopt A Dog Month, you can promote dog adoption and animal rescue by helping us spread the word about this contest!

For today's Daily Action, send a quick, cute Care2 eCard to tell your friends about our "America's Favorite Animal Shelter" contest and ask them to vote today!

I'm Taking Action!

Urge Moratorium on Everglades Development

Target: Florida Governor Charlie Crist
Sponsored by: Care2

Recognizing the environmental importance of the Everglades, the state of Florida is planning to purchase 187,000 acres of land to restore its waterways and estuaries. While this is a huge achievement in the fight for Everglades restoration, the state must go one step further.

Developers continue to submit proposals that would encroach on the Everglades, destroying many of the benefits that restoration promises. The Everglades are the home of hundreds of unique species of plants and animals, including 67 threatened or endangered species. A mere 10 percent of the former wading birds that once inhabited the Everglades still exist today.

Urge Florida Governor Charlie Crist to institute a moratorium on approving new development, mining or other changes in use that could impact the upcoming restoration project!

Sign the Petition!

Signature goal: 10,000
Current signatures: 2,066