Yuma Sun : Connection seen between animal abuse, human violence

A very good article in the Yuma Sun on the presentation given by Director of Field Services for the HSUS, Arnold Baer was published on Wednesday.

Baer told The Sun that the Animal Defenders of Yuma brought him to speak at Arizona Western College Tuesday night to reach audiences of different professionals to stress the importance of paying attention to animal abuse and pooling resources to ensure kids hurting animals are given counseling, so they do not grow up to commit criminal violence against people.
Yuma Sun : Connection seen between animal abuse, human violence

Animal Defenders of Yuma now on Myspace!

Are you on Myspace? Help promote ADY by joining Animal Defenders of Yuma on Myspace!

http://groups.myspace.com/yumaanimals

ADY joins 2007 "Make Mine Chocolate!" campaign for second year

The Make Mine Chocolate campaign to dissuade the "gifting" of live rabbits during the Easter season has been kicked off. ADY has joined the campaign.
From the Make Mine Chocolate! website:

Each year, unwanted, former Easter rabbits fill local rabbit rescues and humane societies. The goal of the “Make Mine Chocolate!™” campaign is to break the cycle of acquisition and relinquishment by educating the public about the responsibilities involved in keeping a companion rabbit before a rabbit is brought home.

Make Mine Chocolate!

HSUS's First Strike coming to Yuma

On Tuesday, Feb. 27th, at 7 PM in the AWC theatre, Arnold Baer, Director of Field Services for the Humane Society of the United States, will be in town to give a presentation about the HSUS's First Strike program. The HSUS defines the goal of their First Strike campaign as the following: "to raise public and professional awareness about the connection between animal cruelty and human violence and to help communities identify some of the origins of violence, predict its patterns, and prevent its escalation."

Animal abuse is often not taken as seriously as human violence, and as such is more likely to not be hidden from public view or knowledge by the perpetrators. As a community, it is our responsibility to recongnize the connection between animal and human violence and to act on the animal abuse we see. During this public presentation, Baer will discuss how an awareness of the connection can help law enforcement, educators, social service workers, and government officials combat violent crime.

No charges filed in cockfighting case

Although evidence against two men arrested on cockfighting charges last week were overwhelming, The Yuma County Attorney has refused to press charges.

Arizona voters approved a proposition in 1998 that declared cockfighting to be a Class 5 Felony and determined one to be guilty of cockfighting by

1. OWNING, POSSESSING, KEEPING OR TRAINING ANY COCK WITH THE INTENT THAT SUCH COCK ENGAGE IN AN EXHIBITION OF FIGHTING WITH ANOTHER COCK.

2. FOR AMUSEMENT OR GAIN, CAUSING ANY COCK TO FIGHT WITH ANOTHER COCK OR CAUSING ANY COCKS TO INJURE EACH OTHER.

3. PERMITTING ANY ACT IN VIOLATION OF PARAGRAPH 1 OR 2 TO BE DONE ON ANY PREMISES UNDER HIS CHARGE OR CONTROL.

Prop 201 continued

Apparently, however, the County Attorney's Office is not interested in such voter-approved legal definitions.

According to Chief Criminal Deputy County Attorney Roger Nelson, his office declined to file felony charges against the two men, who were both in the country illegally, saying he felt the crime could be best handled as a misdemeanor.\

"We aren't saying a crime didn't happen, we are just saying we aren't going to file it as afelony," Nelson said.

Read entire article

With all the votes counted, Prop 204 wins in Yuma County

Nearly two weeks after the election, the Yuma County's final vote count put Prop 204 over the top in a surprising victory. While Prop 204 won statewide by large margins (62-38), it wasn't looking good on election night with the No vote over the Yes 48% to 52%.

But thousands of ballots were yet to be counted and it just so happened that these voters (early ballots turned two days or less before the Election and provisional ballots) were strongly pro-Prop 204, taking the Yes vote over the top by 16 votes (13,616-13,600).

That may seem like a narrow margin, but for a county whose only daily paper was the largest paper to oppose Prop 204 (the major dailies in the state all lined up behind Prop 204) and whose Farm Bureau has so much supposed clout that all of state legislators and nearly all the state legislature candidates endorsed the Opposition, this is a major victory for the humane treatment of animals and for the future of pro-animal issues in Yuma County.

Thank you Yuma County for voting Yes on Prop 204!

While state's three largest papers endorse 204, Yuma Sun opposes

With Proposition 204 being endorsed by the state's three largest daily papers (Arizona Republic, Tucson Daily Star and East Valley Tribune)and a number of smaller papers, the Yuma Sun became the lone voice of editorial opposition among the state's daily newspapers.

The Sun’s editorial was little more than a reprint of the opposition’s talking points, talking points that other papers across the state have dismissed as hogwash.

We hope that Yuma residents dismiss the Sun’s editorial for what it really was: a one-sided misrepresentation to further its ideological opposition to any regulation of any kind.