Georgia Animal Rights and Protection

Through an open records request, GARP confirmed that Atlanta horse-drawn carriage companies have been operating without legally required permits. Additionally, one company owner has stated on renewal applications that he has no convictions for violations of the law, despite having been convicted of animal abuse in September 2018. Providing false information on a notarized government or city application is a serious offense.

Municipal vehicle-for-hire licenses expire annually and become void if they are not renewed by the expiration date. Yet Atlanta's horse-drawn carriage companies have continued operating without valid permits.

The Atlanta Police Department Mounted Patrol, which oversees the horse-drawn carriage companies, received GARP's open records request. Rather than stopping the carriage owner from operating, the department notified him of the issue and allowed him to renew his permits after the business operated without valid permits for more than a year and a half. GARP has discovered that a second carriage company continues to operate in Atlanta without required permits.

The Atlanta City Council must end decades of horse abuse and lawlessness!

Please call and email Atlanta City Council members TODAY and politely ask them to ban horse-drawn carriages! We need to flood their phones and inboxes!

For the City Council members’ email addresses and phone numbers, click this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1crqjFEeUTPaoeTOVJq0MgOwWvWIX5oKGlQQmguPl4Wo/edit?tab=t.0

The photo shows a critically injured carriage horse being dragged off the streets of Atlanta.

Two PETA protesters were assaulted by the CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, during a protest over wool on the COS runway. Kolb violently grabbed one protester, held her to the floor, wrapped a leg around her, and covered her mouth and nose with his hands. Kolb also shoved and grabbed a second PETA member who was filming the catwalk takeover and covered his face with his hand. “Today’s actions show how top people in fashion use violence to silence people who expose how sheep are beaten, bloodied, and violently killed for scarves and sweaters,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on H&M and COS to ban wool from its collections and is urging everyone to shop elsewhere until they do.” Click this link to sign a petition urging H&M to stop selling wool: https://investigations.peta.org/nativa-wool/?en_txn7=action-center::button%20sheep%20suffer%20and%20die%20for%20wool%20hm

Fashion CEO physically restrains PETA protestors during runway showr A confrontation between PETA activists and Steven Kolb, the head of...

Community members will gather outside the Polk County Courthouse on Friday, September 11th, at 8 a.m. to call for accountability and transparency after the police shooting of HeeHaw, a family’s beloved, gentle miniature donkey, demanding that local officials release all body-camera and drone footage of the shooting. Please sign a petition urging the Cedartown police department to release the footage: https://www.change.org/p/what-happened-to-heehaw-cedartown-release-the-bodycam-footage?utm_medium=custom_url&utm_source=share_petition&recruited_by_id=7d533820-a65e-11e4-b8d7-097175f67032&share_id=gCTcM2F5&fbclid=IwY2xjawUNH4JwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMVVOZjJzM091NW9uQjByaTlzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeN26TIs2LI8UNgJiTO_VFYw3x2TWbAKyZcpd0t2aRGXVgA2cXsIycur-FPdU_aem_691nCXhu5yXRxhXy7vQ-QA

Planned protest calls for accountability in ‘HeeHaw’ miniature donkey shooting They want officials to release body camera and drone footage from the shooting.

A Cedartown, GA, police officer tased and then shot and killed a beloved miniature donkey after police entered a family’s pasture at midnight without permission or warning. The little donkey approached the police, braying to warn of the intruders. A police officer who feels the need to use lethal force against a miniature donkey is not fit for the job. The donkey's family plans to take legal action and has a GoFundMe to raise money for attorney fees. The article includes the GoFundMe link.

Donkey shot, killed in Polk County; Cedartown police officer on leave A Cedartown police officer has been placed on administrative leave after a donkey was fatally shot in Polk County on Sunday.

TONIGHT! World-renowned cetacean expert, Dr. Lori Marino, will be on WRFG 89.3 FM at 6 PM (ET) streaming live at wrfg.org, to discuss the recent issues around the Georgia Aquarium and the beluga whales that have been shipped there. WE WILL BE TAKING CALL-IN QUESTIONS DURING THE SHOW FOR DR. MARINO AT: 404-523-8989.

2 beluga whales settling in at Georgia Aquarium after trip from Canada The Georgia Aquarium was part of a massive effort to relocate 30 beluga whales at a shuttered aquatic park near Niagara Falls, bringing two of them to Atlanta.

Investigators say evidence showed Monroe County animal control officer Carlos Santillan put four live puppies into the incinerator.

"Obviously, people can get away with a lot of things up until they don't, and this was a case where he felt comfortable doing it. It looked to me like there was no second thought — he just walked back there and did what he did, which was bad," Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman said.

The case will now be turned over to the district attorney's office, where it will go before a grand jury. If indicted, prosecutors will handle the case from there. Please contact the Monroe County District Attorney and the Chief Assistant District Attorney and urge that they prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.

District Attorney Dorothy V. Hull [email protected]

Chief Assistant District Attorney [email protected]

DA’s office phone: 478-994-7652

'Horrific': Georgia animal control officer arrested, accused of burning 4 dogs alive A Georgia animal control officer was arrested on suspicion that he burned four live puppies inside an incinerator.

Thank you to everyone who came out on Friday to speak up for Okha. There are more opportunities today (7/4) and Sunday (7/5) to come out and help

Who is Okha? She is an elderly elephant who was stolen from her home in India when she was a baby and has been forced to perform for decades. She is isolated and in poor health, yet they contine to use and abuse her.

Thank you to PETA for organizing the protests against the cruel Loomis Bros. Circus.

Please DO NOT park in the circus parking lot. Drive past the entrance to the circus and park in the residential neighborhood.

https://facebook.com/events/s/lawrenceville-ga-protest-for-a/870826576106781/

Huge thanks to Fulton County Solicitor Keith E. Gammage for his outstanding record of prosecuting crimes against animals. Carl Earl Jones, a serial dog abuser, has been convicted on 24 counts of animal cruelty and one count of violating the county’s dog limit ordinance. Charges were brought after surveillance videos surfaced showing Jones repeatedly punching, dragging, and body-slamming dogs in public and in his driveway. Police and Fulton County Animal Control executed a search warrant at his property and recovered 23 dogs living in deplorable, neglected conditions. Jones was sentenced to 24 years, 2 years served in prison, followed by 22 years of probation. Additionally, he may not own, keep, or care for any animals for the full 24 years, must complete a course on animal cruelty, and pay a $1,000 fine. The Solicitor General’s press release includes this quote and statement: "Immanuel Kant said, We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals, and today’s victory provides a clear statement that there is no place for animal abuse in Fulton County." Click the link below to read the entire release.

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An 18-year-old tourist visiting New York City with his family was killed when a Central Park carriage horse bolted and took off in the park on Wednesday afternoon, throwing him from the carriage. This has happened just one week after a carriage horse dropped dead in Central Park.

This is what happens when you sit on your hands and do nothing.
Horses have died and now a young man’s parents will never see him again. This was 100% preventable.

Ryder's Law was supposed to get a vote in December. It didn't. Now, after yet another preventable tragedy, we're joining NYCLASS in calling for an emergency stoppage of horse-drawn carriage operations immediately, until Ryder’s Law is passed.

Speaker Julie Menin, Lynn Schulman, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: pass Ryder’s Law NOW!