Journalism has affected great changes on behalf of animals. In the 1960%u2019s, the Animal Welfare Act became legislation after Life Magazine presented a photographic essay called %u2018Concentration Camp for Lost and Stolen Pets%u2019 about unregulated dealers who provided animals to laboratories for medical experiments and testing. The story generated such mass outrage among the American Public that this bill, which had been previously defeated, was finally enacted.
We, in the Animal Rights Community, are constantly reading about the horrors inflicted on China%u2019s animals where not a single Animal Protection Law is in place. These atrocities are especially heinous and prevalent in the fur trade. Dogs and cats are strangled, bludgeoned, electrocuted and even skinned alive and their fur is used in trim, accessories and toys that are sold to markets abroad. Although many news outlets, including yours, are incessantly focussed on China as an emerging superpower and the world%u2019s largest creditor nation, you have not presented a single story or essay about the extreme carnage visited on animals in that country, particularly in the fur trade. American stores are now flooded with products from China and U.S. consumers have a right to know about this gruesome and unthinkable aspect of Chinese commerce. As a news channel committed to investigative journalism, we feel it is urgent for you to bring this to the attention of your viewers. Untold suffering may be alleviated and millions of lives may be saved.
