Saturday, March 08, 2008

Military Animal Abuse

Most of you are undoubtedly already aware of the furor over the video of the Marine throwing a puppy off a cliff. (We are not including a link to the video.) The response to this, according to one source, has overwhelmed the email systems of several Marine offices. We're not sure whether their systems are overwhelmed or merely shut down so they don't have to deal with the mass of angry emails.

We say this because our Jan obtained four email addresses and sent out four messages. Immediately - we repeat, immediately -she received this automated response from a Brigadier General Robert E. Milstead, Jr.: I will be out of the office for the remainder of the week but will continue to monitor email on my Blackberry. For those emailing me concerning the video of a Marine mistreating a puppy, I can tell you that this video is both shocking and deplorable - these actions are contrary to the high standards we expect from our Marines. The Marine Corps has initiated an investigation; we do not tolerate this type of behavior and will take appropriate action.

Now, this didn't make a big impression because immediately - again repeat, immediately - on its heels was an undeliverable message for all four addresses, including the BGen, a General, a Colonel and the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Public Affairs Office. Kind of hard to monitor email that's been returned to sender, we would think. But then, we're just "dumb" animals.

On the blog of Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO, of the Humane Society United States, we learned Pacelle sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates requesting support in including an "explicit prohibition" against cruelty to all animals in the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).

"In his letter today, Pacelle urged Gates to take agency-wide steps to raise awareness of the relationship between cruelty to animals and socially maladapted behavior.

"Such instances of cruelty are objectionable in their own right, but take on special urgency as we welcome American military personnel home from the war zone,” Pacelle wrote. “While only a few incidents of this kind have come to light, we worry about the psychological stability of those who could perpetrate such vicious acts against the most vulnerable of creatures."

If your humans are interested in actively helping in this campaign, they can click on the link in the blog story (or click here to go directly to the letter page) and send a message to Judge Effron, Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and ask him to to include cruelty to all animals in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

There is a section where you can edit the letter and write your own comments.

Jan wrote this: I have viewed the video of the Marine deliberately throwing the puppy off a cliff - and laughing about it. I have viewed the video of two servicemen torturing a dog with 2 broken rear legs - and laughing about it. I have viewed the video of military hooligans tossing some type of explosive devices into - I believe it was a group of sheep at the side of the road - and laughing about it. There are undoubtedly other such videos circulating the web, as well as many acts that are not documented on a cell phone. Any act of cruelty to animals is abhorrent and should be punished.

And we agree. If you agree, ask your human to click on the link and send a letter to Judge Effron.

PS - We have been asked whether any who live outside the US can send a letter. We checked and there is a drop down menu for you to choose your country, so the answer would be yes. And it might help the animals for the judge to hear from other countries. So, to anyone from another country who signs - thanks from your furry friends at JFF and elsewhere in the United States.

27 comments:

  1. Jan thanks for the information on how more can be done. I have not viewed the video because just the thought of causes a fierce anger inside me, that anyone could find such abuse even remotely entertaining or funny. Thank you for bringing attention to the site where more can be done.

    blessings,
    carri ann
    aka archi's mum

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  2. Wow I hadn't heard about this. Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention!

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  3. It's sad to hear that kind of story, btw I wonder if writing that letter you suggested is it only available for US residents? Or, can outside US residents send this letter too?

    Thx furr the mews,


    felinesopher & her gank at meaouwy troops
    Musings in the myriad of feline, human & philosophy

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  4. Sending a letter now...

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  5. Mommy will send a letter. She said she thought a human had better do the sending as they would probably ignore us cats (how rude).

    Thank you for telling us what we could do to help. We want to do our part to end animal abuse.

    We are purring for the poor abused animals. We hope they have found peace, and that the people who hurt them will be haunted by what they did for a very long time and that they are suitably PUNISHED. Honestly we think someone should do the same thing to them they did to the poor animals. But Mommy said that wasn't nice................

    Scylla, Charybdis & Socks

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  6. it seems to be that we can't go anywhere without the possibility of being abused. Its sad... there are WAY to many cruel beans out there. But, we on the blogosphere are pretty lucky, as it seems we're all being well taken care of. HURRAY FOR OUR BEANS!

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  7. Felinesophy asked whether this is only for US residents. Since the question has been asked, we will admit we don't know the answer, but if anyone from another country wants to try to send a letter with their comments - who knows, it might help to have some input and interest from outside the US. The video has gone round the world. Let the military know the outrage is worldwide too.

    Jan's Funny Farm

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  8. Sorry. Should have just checked the letter site before the last comment. There is a drop down menu for you to choose your country. So if you live outside the US and want to send a letter, GO FOR IT! And to any of you outside the states who send a letter, THANK YOU, from all of us.

    Jan's Funny Farm

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  9. Thanks for the link. This is an important issue.

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  10. Thanks JFF for the PS. Just dropping in to say hi. SS is still beezzzy but lets me visit from time to time.

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  11. Jan
    Thank you so much fow bwinging this impowtant issue to ouw attention.we will go and wite them..it's been pwoven that hoomans who awe cwuel to animals awe socially unfit and cwuel eventually to evewyone and become sociopafs and stuff..Mommi wead it to me..I get vewy sad about all this
    smoochie kisses,Asta
    pee ess..about Buddy, I bet he has lots of tewwiew somewhewe in his past to be so stubbown hehehe

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  12. Dear Jan,

    Da momee sayz tank you. Dis abuse makes us sick to our stomax. It makes me wants to toss up da chix-hen dat I ate. But we HAS to get behind what iz makin' peoplez act so cruel to helpless anymalz. What IZ it? Dis iz not right behavyour. It sayz dat sumpin' iz really wrong wit a culture dat allowz dis to happen. Okeedokee, I will gets off my soapboz & do sumpin'.

    Love,
    Dr Tweety

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  13. Hi Critters. This makes me feel sick to my stomach. How horrible!!! My Mom is very upset just hearing 'bout this. She doesn't want to see the movies. She's gonna go to that page and send a letter, even though we live in Canada.

    Anyway, the reason I came here was to say "Thank You". Mom (Alice @ I Was Born2Cree8) and I are traveling the Blogesphere, visiting all those nice critters and their hoomans that visited us at my bloggy Reba’s Run to give us nice words cuz my lil brover, Shadow cat, died the other day. It made us feel better that so many that we don't even know came and said nice things to us. This is hard stuff fur us.

    Bless you all.

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  14. Too horrible to even think about. Will let the mom of the house know and she can send a letter. This just makes me sick to my stomach!

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  15. This is beyond belief and we do expect more from marines of all nations. This gives good marines a bad name. So shocking. FAZ

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  16. Thx furr you kind help, and we would like to receive The Golden paw Award from all of us here:)

    felinesopher & meaouwy troops

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  17. ooopppss, sorry furr the typo error, what we meant, we'd like to give you the Golden Paw Award from us:)

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  18. Mama and her coworkers saw the video at work the other night. They were all mortified. She'll be sending a letter....

    peace + paws,

    Halo

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  19. Like humans everywhere there are bad ones in the service also. Just remember that a vast majority of service members would never ever do those things to an animal. The marines will make sure that these people are punished.

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  20. ok Jan, we finally decided to turn off the music from "Pinyi casual day", coz we couldnt find the button to minimize the sound;)

    'meaouwy troops'

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  21. This makes me crazy. During WWII and the Vietnam war, the army and marines both used dogs to sniff out bombs and other things. At the end of both wars, they euthanized all the service dogs. When will we learn?

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  22. Hi Jan,

    My bean says she will write a letter as well! Once again thanks for bringing this to our attention.

    Purrs and Headbutts,
    Moki

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  23. Thanks for the info. I hope they sit up and listen to what we have to say.

    ~ Girl girl

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  24. Thanks for the info - we'll go check it out. When I saw the video, I hoped it was doctored somehow and just someone's stupid idea of a joke. I hated to think any of our marines would engage in such a horrible act. Mistreatment of animals if terrible enough, but it is also a stepping stone to mistreatment of humans and needs to be taken very seriously. Keep up the great work keeping this in front of people so it's not forgotten.
    Chris and the animals

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  25. We didn't know about this either but thanks for bringing it to our attention..

    Big Sloppy Kisses
    Gus and Louie

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  26. Stopped back to check on all of you. Miss you while I am in Ireland. We will be home soon. You will have to stop on over on St. Pats day because I have two surprised for all of my visitors. Everyone is a little Irish on St. Pats day, cool huh?

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  27. I agree wholeheartedly in the need to clarify the situation with respect to effective control of military forces in terms of animal abuse. As a retired Marine judge advocate, however, I need to correct your recommendation that people contact the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to effect a change in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This court cannot change the UCMJ. The UCMJ is a statute enacted by Congress. Thus the only way it can be changed is through Congress so everyone should pressure their Senators and Representatives to add such despicable conduct to the criminal provisions of the UCMJ. Additional pressure should also be brought on the Pentagon to propose and push for such a change in Congress.

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