News for Florida animal advocates

On Wednesday, Florida Congressman Tom Rooney introduced legislation that would halt the import and commercial trade in Burmese pythons, African rock pythons, anaconda, boa constrictors and several other large, potentially dangerous snakes. (Congressman Rooney was a co-sponsor of a similar bill that failed to pass during the 111th Congress.)
House Resolution 511 would add these species […]

After four weeks in Florida, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has left the state. Again this year there were protests at each stop, beginning in West Palm Beach in late December and ending last weekend in Jacksonville.
ARFF’s protest on opening night in Miami this year was one of the largest we’ve ever […]

The wise words of British activist Ruth Harrison, from her groundbreaking book Animal Machines. Cruelty to an individual animal is often the subject of community outrage and news coverage, but large-scale cruelty is ignored.
Earlier this month, two boys in Pasco County broke into their neighbor’s pigeon loft and stabbed to death 18 racing/homing pigeons. The […]

A recent article in the Miami Herald titled “A vanishing sport” was the latest confirmation that dog racing in Florida is doomed. The reporter visited Miami’s Flagler Dog Track, where she found “fewer than 100 people” in the grandstand that used to hold thousands. The slot machines in the adjoining Magic City Casino is where […]

This week the Orlando Sentinel produced a video about the arrival of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The video (view here) covers the march of the elephants from the circus train to the new Amway Center. Ringling was most likely happy to receive the free publicity… until about 45 seconds into the […]

This week ARFF received a disappointing response from Amerijet International to our letter urging the company to reconsider transporting monkeys for the research industry. In the letter (download here), Amerijet CEO David Bassett writes, “To refuse to provide transportation services requested of us does not respect our customers’ right to engage in lawful pursuits and […]

Tonight is opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Miami. The American Airlines Arena provides animal activists a unique opportunity to have meaningful one-on-one conversations with circus-goers, who park in nearby lots and walk to the arena. In previous years in Miami, ARFF distributed thousands of pieces of literature about […]

Today’s Florida Times-Union featured an article about the growing popularity of soy/almond/rice milks and other “nutritious, tasty, convenient” alternatives to dairy products. The newspaper spoke to Darryl Register, who runs the D & D Dairy farm west of Jacksonville. Mr. Register was adamant that, “Not only shouldn’t these beverages be called milk, they shouldn’t be […]