2.15.06

Hello!

RMAD staff and volunteers have been busy investigating prairie dog issues throughout the Boulder area. It seems that some people just don’t realize the importance of our native wildlife, as well as their rights as beings to live free from suffering and a cruel death. In one recent incident, Boulder police parked a weigh station on protected prairie dog burrows. Boulder City Manager Frank Bruno assures us this will not happen again. However, there is much to be done in the fight for prairie wildlife. Occupying less than 2% of its historical habitat, the prairie dog is in grave danger. As a keystone species, the importance of these animals cannot be emphasized enough.

RMAD is entering Phase II of our innovative and interactive online prairie watchdog site. We’re making it more intuitive, a bit more streamlined, and will be launching the tool soon. You might occasionally see the RMAD homepage in different phases of redesign as well, so please bear with us as we make some changes. We’ve got some other really cool stuff in store for 2006, including lots of vegetarian work, so please stay tuned.

Do you read the newspaper everyday, either online or in print? We are looking for a volunteer to help scan the day’s media in search of recent animal-related news. This information is compiled in an email and distributed to the members@rmad.org list. This keeps us informed of local and national events, lets us know how we as advocates are viewed by the media and the public, and shows us when our work is acknowledged. If you are interested, please contact me.

As always, we’re looking for volunteers to help with our projects. If you have some spare time to dedicate to the animals, please contact Operations Director and Volunteer Coordinator Donna Marino at donnam@rmad.org.

- Chris

1.9.06 HAPPY BIRTHDAY RMAD

Happy Birthday !!
To us, you, and all advocates
who make RMAD what it is.

Rocky Mountain Animal Defense turns 12 this Saturday, but since we’re animal advocates, we use dog years to calculate RMAD’s age to be a wise and worldly 84. It was twelve years ago that David Crawford and a troop of concerned citizens exposed conditions inside a local factory egg farm. The footage taken by Dave was edited into a groundbreaking 12-minute film that documents the factory's violations of Colorado state anti-cruelty laws and details the inherent cruelty of intensive egg production. "Raw Footage, Raw Pain" has aired on cable stations across the United States, and was the first nationally distributed video within the U.S. to expose the abhorrent conditions inside these intensive egg farms.

Please check out the calendar, below. There are a few new events posted.

RMAD continues to expand its vegetarian program. In the works for 2006 are the final details for our printed vegetarian starter kit, the debut of VegColorado.com, a youth-oriented Colorado-based vegetarian publication, and the hosting of a Great American Meat Out event. We’re revamping some of our websites that debuted last year, so we’ll keep you posted on our progress.

I have been told that it is not too late to submit comments regarding the proposal for the new St. Anthony Hospital’s at the Denver Federal Center. The impact statement can be seen at www.gsa.gov/r8 under News and Notices. Please take the time to comment on the EA, requesting that the utmost care be taken to relocate the prairie dogs and to ensure minimal damage to the dependent wildlife and surrounding environment. You may mail (or e-mail) comments to the name and address below. If you want your name and/or address withheld from public viewing, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment.

Ms. Shelly Clubb
Regional Environmental Manager
U.S. General Services Administration
Public Building Service
Denver Federal Center, 8PD
P.O. Box 25546
Building 41, Room 240
Denver, CO 80225-0546

e-mail: shelly.clubb@gsa.gov

Spokes person for St. Anthony:
stanthonyfuture@centura.org


Again, thank you for all your contributions to RMAD. You ARE RMAD, and the animals are much better off for your dedication, passion, and hard work.

Take care —

- Chris

2.2.06

*Good Morning*

A great big thanks to all the supporters who came out to fill Watercourse Foods for the 3rd Annual Dining Out Day, to shop at the neighboring business (who also gave us a portion of the day’s proceeds), and to support Colorado’s leading animal advocates. This event always helps RMAD get the year off to a great start. Huge thanks also to Dan Hanley for organizing the event once again!

Dining Out Day also marks the end of a long stretch of rigorous work organizing protests and events. We now have a chance to settle deeply into our programmatic tasks, of which there are many. We are always looking for volunteers to help with these crucial projects. Among the positions we are currently seeking are local letter writers and grant opportunity researchers, but there are always many others. If you are interested in volunteering, please email Donna at donnam@rmad.org.

Tom Hess of Xcel Energy stopped by recently to award RMAD with a token of their thanks for saving thousands of aquatic animals during the winter of 2004-2005. Tom was very appreciative of our dedication, hard work, and diplomacy. We are appreciative of their willingness to let us save the animals, and their kind offering.

The fur protests are still going! More info is below.

Don’t forget about this month’s potluck, on Sunday the 5th.

Please don’t hesitate to ask us any questions or let us know about anything else going on.

Take care —

- Chris