The Death of a Kitten Named Little Gertie

I had just knelt beside the feeding station in order to clean the feeding dishes and to put out some fresh food, milk, and water when I saw it. It was a tiny black and white female kitten lying prostrate in the leaves midpoint between the feeding station and the makeshift shelter that I had built for her and her four siblings a few weeks back. My heart sank to my feet and I cried out in anguish, "Oh, no!"

I looked away hoping against hope that what I had just seen was an aberration but when I looked down again the kitten was still lying motionless in the dry, brown leaves. When I scooped her up in my arms I noticed that she was still warm. I placed her against my chest inside my winter coat and for a minute I thought that I could feel something moving within her tiny body. It could have been the final contractions of her lungs, her last heartbeats, or even a soft purr. I tried to revive her by scratching her tiny head and by giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but all of my efforts were in vain.

I hurriedly completed my ministrations at the feeding station and left for home with the kitten still tucked inside my coat. As I was leaving I spotted the mother cat and another kitten waiting in the woods for me to leave so that they could visit the feeding station.

Home is about twenty minutes away by foot and all along the way I was praying that somehow against the odds the tiny kitten would revive and live. There were not any marks on her body so I assumed that she had succumbed to hyperthermia; the thermometer had been down to around twenty degrees overnight. Since she had collapsed only about a foot away from the shelter, it is even possible that she had been startled by my approach and had had a heart attack while attempting to flee. I do not know what actually happened.

Anyway, as I trudged homeward my hopes began to dissipate as the warm ball of fur resting against my chest first became lukewarm and then finally cold.

Once I got home I placed her on the carpet still hoping that the warmth of the house would revive her. It did not. After about an hour she grew even colder and rigor mortis started to warp her once agile limbs. I wanted to wait until sunset before burying her but since all of my hopes for her recovery were now gone I instead went out in the yard and excavated a shallow grave. I fashioned an impromptu coffin out of a handbag and placed her inside it. I then placed the handbag inside the pit and covered it over with humus.

Since it is so important that all animals have a name, I posthumously christened her as Little Gertie. It is a diminutive form of the old German Geretrudis from which the popular girl's name Gertrude is derived; more importantly, the suffix (trut) means beloved. I will prepare a grave marker with her name on it later. That will ensure that I never forget her.

To the best of my knowledge, Little Gertie was between eight and ten weeks old. It must have been late August or sometime in September when I first spotted her and her four siblings, all black and white like her and their mom, frolicking in the woods between the motels and the train tracks down the street. I have noticed her mother hunting in the tall grass for several years but Little Gertie and her siblings are her first offsprings as far as I know. With Little Gertie now gone I fear that only one kitten is still alive in that I have not seen the other three kittens in several weeks. In addition to the cold weather and passing trains, there is a busy six-lane highway on the far side of the motels and people, especially kids, are often cruel to cats. She also could have been intentionally or unintentionally poisoned; there is a lot of antifreeze on the ground and pavement this time of the year.

I feel bad that I was unable to do more for Little Gertie. I am not an advocate of TNR because trapping is not only traumatic for feral cats and kittens but it also greatly contributes to their distrust of humans. Moreover, shoddy sterilizations and unnecessary vaccinations kill tens of thousands of cats each year. Worst still, desexed cats are returned to the wild where they are still subject to human and animal predation as well as the elements. If Gertie and her mates would have permitted it, I would have gladly taken them home with me a long time ago, but they were far too fearful of me to ever allow that to happen.

I have always found it tragic that the only human caresses that feral kittens and cats ever receive come after they are dead. If only it were possible that they could somehow be made aware of the fact that loving homes are waiting for them... These were the thoughts that raced through my mind as I buried Little Gertie.

Her tousled black and white fur smelled of the forest which she called home and to which she has now returned forever. Sadly, she will never see the snow or ever feel the heat of summer again. Nor will she see adulthood, experience love, or become a mother. Worst of all, she died never knowing that she was loved.

She is with me now, just outside my front door, but this is not the homecoming that either of us ever wanted. Good-bye, Little Gertie. I will miss you.

A Texas Newspaper Defends Pet Genocide by Publishing Graphic Photographs of Shelter Workers Exterminating a Dog

"Love the animals. God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Don't trouble it, don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent."
-- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Most newspapers do not publish photographs of cats and dogs being exterminated at shelters but The Austin Chronicle broke that taboo in its November 18th edition. Accompanying a lengthy story by Rachel Proctor May entitled "What Happened to the No-Kill Millennium? Austin's Plan to End Wholesale Euthanasia at Town Lake Shelter Remains a Distant Dream," were graphic photos of shelter workers Kara Montiel and Katie Marcel (See top photo above) killing a dog and two other unidentified workers (See bottom photo above) stuffing its lifeless body into a black plastic trash bag. The dog was later transported to a local landfill along with dozens of other murdered cats and dogs and unceremoniously dumped.

The photo below shows Town Lake Animal Center (TLAC) director Dorinda Pulliam (right) on the prowl for another victim. Fortunately, she decided to give the helpless cat, named Toby, a reprieve and to put him up for adoption. Although the capitalistic Austin Chronicle would never say so, this was probably done more out of monetary considerations than compassion. Most shelters charge patrons about $100 for each cat and dog that they adopt so consequently a good-looking, friendly cat or dog is worth considerably more to the money-grubbing murderers who run these centers than are the less attractive and less sociable ones.

May's long-winded spiel in defense of licensed animal annihilators trotted out all of the timeworn justifications for pet genocide: no room at the inn, a lack of funding, sickly, injured, and unsociable animals deserve to be killed, etc. She then went on to call for more sterilizations and high-priced licenses for pet owners who do not sterilize their cats and dogs, more programs to educate pet owners, and new and better shelters. Nowhere throughout her many pages of drivel did she evince an ounce of remorse for the 13,000 cats and dogs exterminated at TLAC last year. More startling, May never once broached the subject of the immorality of killing animals. Instead, she accepts unquestionably man's right to exterminate cats and dogs.

Although the sentiments of The Austin Chronicle are identical with those expressed earlier this fall by the Washington Post (See Morally Bankrupt Washington Post Pens a Love Letter to Shelter Workers Who Exterminate Cats and Dogs, Cat Defender, September 30, 2005), that certainly does not make them correct. Furthermore, May's concluding assertion that practitioners of pet genocide love animals would be laughable if it were not so tragic.

The Austin shelter has a kill rate of above fifty per cent and many shelters across the country have kill rates of ninety per cent or higher. PETA's shelter in Norfolk, Virginia, for instance, had a kill rate of 86.3 per cent during 2004. More alarmingly, the kill rate for feral cats and kittens is almost one-hundred per cent. More money and additional shelter space will not solve the problem. Man must first accept the moral imperative that all animals have an inalienable right to life, dignity, and freedom. In fact, it could be argued that animals have a greater entitlement to life than do humans in that they are incapable of perpetrating the types of hideous crimes against Mother Nature, other animals, and people that man commits every day. They are, in short, simply better citizens of this planet than man ever has been or ever will be.

In order to protect the sanctity of animal life, a necessary first step must include the outlawing of the killing of all homeless cats and dogs for whatever reason. Only after that has been done will alternatives be found to pet genocide. As long as shelters are allowed to continue to make money exterminating cats and dogs they are going to continue to do so. The monsters who operate and work in shelters should have their gravy trains immediately cut off.

A trap, a jab of sodium pentobarbital, a black trash bag, and a quick trip to the city dump make it all too easy for this society to dispose of its unwanted pets. Pet genocide is an out-of-sight, out-of-mind crime and this urgently needs to be changed. The words which Leo Tolstoy used to denounce vivisection apply equally to pet genocide: "... if people admit that they have the right to take or endanger the life of living beings for the benefit of many, there will be no limit for their cruelty... Man by violating his own feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to take life."

Photos: John Anderson, The Austin Chronicle.

A Chinese Farmer Gets His Just Deserts When He Is Killed and Eaten by the Moon Bears That He Tortured for Their Bile

In a grotesque example of what rocker Mick Jagger might call "Rough Justice," a Chinese man who tortured and exploited moon bears for their lucrative bile was killed and eaten by them early last month in the northern province of Jilin. Han Shigen was attacked by six of the black Asian bears as he was cleaning their pen and the police were forced to distract his attackers with raw meat in order to recover what was left of him.

This incident has focused attention -- if ever so briefly -- on the Chinese's barbaric treatment of bears. In China, more than 7,000 bears are held captive on two-hundred farms so that their bile can be forcibly taken from them; in Vietnam, 3,000 additional bears are held under similar circumstances and still more bears are likewise victimized in Korea. The conditions under which the bears are kept are appalling. They are confined to cages so small that they do not even have space enough to move and they are outfitted with full metal jackets so as to prevent them from putting up any resistance. (See photo above of a caged moon bear named Saskia.) The bile is extracted by means of either catheters surgically implanted in their gall bladders or through holes drilled in their abdomens. These crude operations are extremely painful and often lead to serious infections.

The bear farmers' inhumane treatment does not end with the injections, however. They often cut off the bears' entire toes rather than declawing them and patches of missing fur attest to the near-starvation conditions under which the animals are kept. These unfortunate animals also often sustain head and oral injuries in their futile attempts to escape. (See photo below of Rupert who suffered brain damage from holes drilled into his stomach which became infected.)

The raison d'etre behind all of this is, of course, money. Bear bile has been used in Chinese folk medicine for centuries and it is used to treat inflammation, heart disease, impotence, Parkinson's disease, and liver ailments. Two grams of bear bile powder, for instance, can sell for up to as much as $100! The bile is consumed primarily by the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese of Asia and elsewhere. It can even be purchased openly in San Francisco's Chinatown despite a state law banning its sale. Worst still, the killing of bears for their bile has spread to the national parks of the United States. In its October 24th edition, the Washington Post reported that black bears living along the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia were being killed for their gall bladders which can fetch up to as much as $1,000 in Asia. At this rate, a bear's gall bladder is worth more than an ounce of cocaine. Moreover, the bear bile farmers in China are so proficient -- and ruthless! -- that they have flooded the market and the excess bile is now being used in the manufacture of shampoo, wine, and health teas.

The moon bears, so called because of the yellow crescent of fur splashed on their chests, do not have much going for them but they do have a tireless defender and rescuer in their corner by the name of Jill Robinson. (See photo on the right.) As founder of the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), this English woman has established a twenty-five acre refuge in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, for moon bears which her organization has rescued. So far she has saved one-hundred-eighty-five bears and is pressing the Chinese authorities to close all bear farms before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In February of this year Vietnam agreed to phase out its bear farms but it is not known when -- and if -- this will become a reality.

Once rescued the bears require surgery to remove their catheters and to repair various other wounds. Moreover, since they have lived their entire lives in cages, they cannot be released into the wild. Rehabilitation does not come cheap, however, and it costs AAF $80,000 a month to operate the sanctuary.

All of the hell that the Chinese and others put these poor bears through is not only barbaric but senseless as well. Synthetic bear bile (ursodeoxycholic acid or UDCA) is just as effective as the real thing and costs considerably less also. It goes without saying, however, that a switch to UDCA would put all of these capitalistic monsters out of business and the Chinese communists, despite their many notable achievements, have never shown much concern for either the animals or the environment.

Elsewhere in the world, the brown bear (ursus arctos arctos) is making a comeback in Europe thanks to reintroduction efforts in Austria, Italy, and France. Unfortunately, the bear and its supporters suffered a damaging setback on November 1, 2004 when a hunter in the French Pyrenees shot and killed a fifteen-year-old bear named Cannelle who was the last remaining female brown bear of pure Pyrenean stock.

In America, both the grizzly and black bear populations were dealt major blows this week. First of all, the media have been reporting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to remove the grizzlies living in and around Yellowstone National Park (but not those living inside the park) from the protections of the Endangered Species Act. This is expected to occur in early 2007 and Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming have already drafted legislation to allow the bears to be hunted once this occurs. The disreputable National Wildlife Federation (NWF) supports delisting of the grizzly while the National Resources Defense Council opposes the move. This distressing news comes on the heels of a November 13th report in the Washington Post that at least twenty-one grizzlies living north of Yellowstone in northwest Montana have been either shot or poisoned in the last two years. (See photo below of three grizzlies playing in the snow in Montana.)

Finally, in the armpit of America, officials in New Jersey this week announced that they are going to allow black bears to be hunted in the northwestern part of the state for six days next month. During the last hunt, held in 2003, three-hundred-twenty-eight bears were mercilessly gunned down. In the Garden State, the capitalists and the bourgeoisie continue to destroy the bears' habitat through their unchecked greed and then turn around and use reports of bear sightings in their new developments as a pretext for exterminating these animals. New Jerseyans are surpassed in their greed, bloodlust, and hypocrisy by only their bigotry, corruption, and general baseness.

Photos: Animals Asia Foundation (Saskia and Jill Robinson), Kathleen McLaughlin, San Francisco Chronicle (Rupert), and Dierdre Eitel, Bozeman Daily Chronicle (Montana grizzlies).

Westchester Cat Show to Celebrate the Life of a Dog Who Rescued Hundreds of Cats on Long Island

At 3 p.m. this Saturday the thirtieth annual Westchester Cat Show will pause to hold a memorial service for a dog. With more than three-hundred cats and their handlers looking on, a schnauzer-Siberian husky mix named Ginny from Long Beach, Long Island will be remembered for rescuing an estimated eight-hundred abandoned and injured cats during her seventeen years on this earth. The beautiful dog (See photo on the left and the one below taken in 1996 with a cat named Blondie.) was killed by her owner, Philip Gonzalez, on August 25th after she had become incontinent, arthritic, and had stopped eating. (See Ginny, a Dog Who Rescued Cats, Is Killed Off By Her Owner on Long Island, Cat Defender, September 2, 2005.)

This will be the second time that the Show has honored Ginny. Back in 1998 she had the dubious distinction of being named Cat of the Year. Although she is now sadly gone, her memory and exploits live on in a myriad of ways. Most notably, Gonzalez has written and published two books about her: The Dog Who Rescues Cats. The True Story of Ginny (1995) and The Blessing of the Animals (1996). She also has her own fan club and web site at www.ginnyfanclub.com and the Ginny Fund raises money for the care of feral cats on Long Island's South Shore.

Immediately following the memorial service, Zoe, an eight-year-old ragdoll from Larchmont, New York will be honored as this year's Cat of the Year for saving her guardian from carbon monoxide poisoning. Past honorees have included a cat with a cleft palate who taught herself to hold a feeding tube and a cat who campaigned against rules barring pets from senior housing projects.

The show, which is being held at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, runs through Sunday.

Photos: Sydney Morning Herald and Associated Press.

Israeli Colonialists in Gaza and the West Bank Leave Behind Thousands of Cats to Die of Thirst, Hunger, and Predation

When the Israeli colonialists abandoned twenty-one colonies in Gaza and four more in the West Bank (northern Sumaria) back in August they left behind thousands of cats to die of thirst, hunger, and predation in the desert heat. An estimated seventy dogs were also abandoned as well as a few parrots. Numerous baby pigeons later plunged to their deaths when the buildings in which they were nesting were leveled by the colonialists.

The Cat Welfare Society of Israel (CWSI) was able to rescue approximately two-hundred cats from the West Bank colonies of Ganin, Kadim, Sa-Nur, and Homesh plus one-hundred more from Gaza. (See photo above of a kitten named Smadar being rescued from the rubble of Homesh.) The group was also successful in rescuing a few dogs and some pigeons and parrots. The rescued cats were then sterilized and vaccinated before being taken to CWSI's sanctuary in Hadera, Israel.

Since the web sites of CWSI, Alley Cat Allies, and Best Friends have not been updated since the end of August, the fate of the other cats is unknown. The Palestinian Authority has been equally unforthcoming. In an e-mail one of its spokesmen wrote simply, "... we do not have any information on this subject." It is known, however, that the Israeli government exterminated some of them through its trap and kill policy and it is likely that many more have died of thirst and hunger. Others have no doubt been killed by either marauding packs of dogs or died when the colonies were bulldozed. (See photo below of an injured white cat eating off the pavement.)

CWSI, Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI), Noah, Let Animals Live, and the Animal Rescue Society have been severely hampered in their rescue efforts by a lack of funds, manpower, equipment, and inadequate shelter space. The Israeli military authorities have also greatly limited their access to the former colonies. On August 18th the Middle East Times reported that CHAI and the Israeli SPCA submitted plans to rescue the cats as early as last year to the head of Veterinary Services but were rebuffed. CWSI has also reported that the Israeli government reneged on assurances it gave to provide financial assistance for the rescue.

Israel is not a poor country. It receives $15 million a day in welfare money from taxpayers in the United States so it could have easily spared the rather miniscule $111,000 requested by Noah and other rescue groups. (Pictured above are two more banged-up cats rescued from Gaza.) Nor are the colonialists themselves poor. Each family received from the United States government an average of $350,000 to relocate, a new house in the West Bank, and two years free rent at a transitional abode should it be needed. This excessive generosity stands is marked contrast to the paltry $2,000 that most victims of Katrina received before they were hustled off to far-flung homeless shelters and left to rot.

The colonialists' abandonment of these cats is reprehensible and unforgivable. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the Israelis have been guilty of such egregious behavior. Back in the early 1980s when they pulled out of the Sinai they rewarded their faithful cats and dogs with the same shabby and inhumane treatment; in fact, they even left dogs chained in their yards! The Israelis do not, however, stand alone in their barbaric treatment of animals. The Greek authorities poisoned tens of thousands of dogs, cats, and birds in the run-up to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Israeli animal rights groups are also to be faulted for their lack of preparation and funding. They were informed of the planned pullout more than a year ahead of time and should have used this time in order to assemble the manpower and funding beforehand. By contrast, the evacuation of hundreds of snakes, birds, and other animals from the ten-acre Katifari Zoo in Gaza was accomplished well before the pullout. (See Reuters, "Israeli Zoo in Gaza Poised to Evacuate Animals," 2 August 2005.)

Moreover, the Israeli animal rights establishment's incessant online begging is unbecoming. For instance, Let Animals Live even tried to put the bite on the pope! They have money and they should have spent it instead of begging. There is an undeniable welfare mentality which exists among some Jews in both Israel and in the United States. This is evident in the conduct of Russian immigrants in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania who live on welfare and in government housing while American citizens sleep in the street and eat at soup kitchens. It is also plain to see in the actions of the welfare bums and thieves of New Square (Rockland County, New York) who helped Rodham win her senate seat and in turn received pardons from Clinton for the hundreds of millions of welfare dollars that they stole. The same holds true for those Jews who monopolize public housing specifically set aside for the poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn while at the same time owning estates in Westchester County, New York and condominiums in Miami Beach.

The Israelis' total disregard for the sanctity of animal life extends far beyond their atrocities associated with the Sinai and Gaza withdrawals. In May of last year, Israel used armor-plated bulldozers from Caterpillar to demolish the Rafah Zoo in Gaza. Writing for London's Guardian, Chris McGreal described the carnage as follows: "The butchered ostrich, the petrified kangaroo cowering in the basement corner, the tortoises crushed under the tank treads -- all were held up as evidence of the pitiless nature of the Israeli occupation." (In the photograph above a Palestinian youth holds up a raccoon injured by the Israelis at the Rafah Zoo.) A little further along in the article he adds, "One of the ostriches lay half-buried in the rubble. Guinea fowl and ducks were laid out in a row. Goats and deer struggled with broken legs." According to the zoo's co-owner, the Israelis were even so villainous as to steal several valuable African parrots.

The Israelis' treatment of the cats in Gaza and the West Bank is monstrous enough in its own right but it pales in comparision to how they treat felines within Israel itself. During the past six years, for instance, the authorities have senselessly killed hundreds --if not thousands -- of cats suspected of carrying rabies. (In the picture above an official with a control pole collects a poisoned cat off the pavement.) On January 25, 1999, officials in Arad, near the Dead Sea, poisoned fifty-five cats after they were attacked by a rabid fox. In 2004, scores of cats were exterminated in Kfar Saba, Avihayl, and Natanya despite the fact that only one cat was diagnosed with rabies. In Israel, most cases of rabies are spread by foxes and, occasionally, by dogs.

The cats were either trapped and killed or poisoned with food baited with a narcotic called alpha-chloralose which puts them to sleep but does not kill them. (See photo on the right of a gray cat overcome by poison.) The cats are later killed by either injections of sodium pentobarbital or by suffocation in plastic bags or due to being buried alive. In addition to inducing drowsiness and sleep, the drug causes convulsions, agitation, trembling, excessive salivation, weakness in the legs, and hypothermia. Since the bait is indiscriminately tossed out in the streets non-target species such as dogs, who are sometimes blinded by the drug, and birds are also poisoned. (The photo below shows three poisoned cats lying in the back of a truck.)
If all of that were not draconian enough, veterinarians have been known to confiscate and kill cats brought in to be vaccinated simply because the animals either had not been previously inoculated or because their rabies booster shots were overdue. Cats have also been confiscated from homes and killed.

The Israelis' total disregard for the rights of animals is not confined to pets. During March and April of this year, colonialists in the West Bank used a rodenticide called fluoroacetamide to poison Palestinian cows, sheep, and goats in southern Hebron. Not only have these poisonings led to the deaths of many farm animals, but they have forced the Palestinians to quarantine their flocks and to stop using the milk, cheese, and meat produced by them. An indeterminate number of birds and wildlife have also been killed by the poisonings. Amnesty International has condemned these killings and called upon the Israeli government to stop harboring the perpetrators of these crimes. (See Aljazeera, "Jewish Settler Crimes Probe Urged," 25 April 2005.)

The same flagrant disregard that the Israelis have for animals extends to the environment as well. In the September 24th edition of Counterpunch, Bill and Kathleen Christison reported that the colonialists in the West Bank routinely dump sewage, trash, construction debris, boulders, and junked automobiles on their Palestinian neighbors. Israeli manufacturers of pesticides, batteries, and fiberglass also pollute Palestinian farmland and streams with impunity. In its November 3rd edition, London's Independent reported that the Israelis have been traumatizing the residents of Gaza with low-flying fighter jets. The sonic booms from these aircraft have reportedly led to an increase in miscarriages in pregnant women and to emotional stress (panic, nightmares, etc.) in children.

As far as the long-suffering Palestinians are concerned, more than one-hundred years of English- and American-sponsored Israeli imperialism and colonialism has robbed them of more than seventy per cent of their land. Israeli bulldozers make a sport out of seeing how many Palestinian dwellings that they can level and Israeli death squads, not content with limiting their murderous rages to Gaza and the West Bank, instead span the globe in order to carry out political assassinations against their enemies. School children and other civilians are regularly machine-gunned in the face and on October 21st the Independent reported that Israeli colonialists had cut down and burned olive trees on seventy Palestinian farms in the town of Salem in the West Bank. Over the years, an estimated 500,000 Palestinian olive and fruit trees have been destroyed by the Israelis. In 2003, International Solidarity Movement (ISM) members Rachel Corrie from the United States and Tom Hurndall of England were brutally murdered by the Israeli military in Rafah as was English cameraman James Miller.

The Israelis' power grab in the Holy Land has also led to the corruption of American politics. Not only is an ungrateful Israel selling military technology and arms to China and other countries against the wishes of the Bush Administration, but the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has been caught once again spying on the Pentagon. The Zionist lobby has also left a negative imprint upon the mass media. Just as Watergate involved a Jewish cabal consisting of Woodward, Bernstein, and Felt, the Valerie Plame affairs centers around Miller, Libby, and Cheney. Far worse is the Jewish-dominated media's incessant campaign of lies and propaganda directed against the Palestinians. A good example of this are the recent radio advertisements of David Harris of the American Jewish Committee labeling the Palestinians as the world's biggest group of welfare bums when in reality that title belongs by a wide margin to the Jews.

The Jews's corruption extends far beyond the corridors of power and into the bedroom as the Clinton-Lewinsky, Condit-Levy, McGreevey-Cipel, and Corzine-Katz sex scandals demonstrate. Noted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff is involved in seemingly everything illegal; most recently he has been linked with the government's chief procurement officer, David H. Safavian, in a scam to steal government land in Northern Virginia for a Hebrew academy. While the hypocritical Jews do not hesitate to label the Palestinians as terrorists, the Jewish Defense League (JDL) has operated openly and with impunity for more than thirty years as the nation's number one domestic terrorist group. Although they constitute less than two per cent of the population it is an undeniable fact that American Jews not only control a disproportionate amount of the wealth and power in this country, but they are also involved in a disproportionate share of the criminality and scandalous behavior as well.

Crimes against animals and the environment do not always go hand-in-hand with crimes against humanity but with the Israelis that is indeed the case. No amount of lies and propaganda can cover up Israel's moral depravity and unless it mends its evil ways it is destined to remain like its sugar daddy, the United States, an international pariah.

Photos: CWSI (Gaza, West Bank, and poisoned cats) and Kevin Frayer, Associated Press (Rafah Zoo).