Bleeding Dogs

URGENT: Ask Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation to Put an End to Dogsledder's Reported Cruelty!
In January, PETA began receiving complaints from outraged Russian and American citizens about French traveler Nicolas Vanier, who is reportedly crossing Russia in a dog-drawn sledge. According to news sources, Vanier's dogs have been seen "with legs covered in blood up to their knees." Three dogs have apparently given in to exhaustion, and residents of the city of Tomsk reported to Russian animal rights group VITA that the dogs were eating the hay that they were given as bedding.
If information reported in news sources is correct, Vanier may be in direct violation of Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which defines cruelty to animals as an act "that has involved their death or injury, if this deed has been conducted with malicious or mercenary motives, or the use of sadistic methods, or in the presence of minors …."
Please contact Russian Federation Minister of the Interior Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliyev and urge him to commission an investigation into the allegations against Nicolas Vanier. Ask him to ensure that Vanier, if he is found in violation of this law, is ordered to immediately call off the remainder of his voyage and seek immediate veterinary treatment for the animals in his custody.
Polite correspondence only, please.
The Honorable Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliyev
Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation
ul. Zhitnaya 16117049 Moscow Russia

Educate Yourself About Fur
Furriers and their cohorts in the fashion industry are doing everything that they can to promote fur, and they're even disguising the species of the animals the fur came from or mislabeling the fur as fake. When someone—anyone—asks you what's wrong with wearing fur, please tell them: PLENTY! For starters, there is not a single law protecting the millions of animals killed each year by the U.S. fur industry. This means that it's perfectly legal to cram minks, foxes, raccoons, and chinchillas into tiny, filthy wire cages—where they stay for months or years, covered in feces and parasites and without proper food, water, or shelter from the elements—and then kill them by poisoning, gassing, neck-breaking, or anal electrocution as the animals scream and writhe in pain. And it means that it's also perfectly legal to trap lynx, coyotes, and wolves in the wild and leave them to suffer, crying out in agony, for days or even weeks before stomping them to death or skinning them alive. What's more, even dogs and cats are killed for their fur. PETA's recent undercover investigation into the Chinese fur trade revealed unimaginable cruelty. Millions of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, boiled, strangled with wire nooses, and bled to death before they are skinned for their fur. Imagine if your animal companion were stolen, killed, and then made into fur trinkets or fur trim for American consumers. It's illegal to import dog and cat fur into the United States, but that apparently hasn't stopped the fur trade. The fur industry simply mislabels the fur, saying that it is from foxes, raccoons, or other species. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments that are sold in the United States. So if you buy anything with any fur whatsoever, you could be wearing someone's beloved dog or cat. With that in mind, when you're asked what's wrong with fur, please tell people that every fur coat, lining, or trim can represent the immense suffering of several dozen animals. That's right, several dozen—just for one garment! With so many alternatives available to consumers, why wear fur? Why perpetuate the cruel abuse and murder of millions of dogs, cats, foxes, minks, chinchillas, raccoons, and other creatures? That's the real question.