pbFriends of Animals Protests at Holley Fire House/bbr /
Saturday, Feb. 16, 3 pm – 6 pm/p
pNew York — Friends of Animals (FoA), an international animal advocacy group founded in New York in 1957, is descending on Holley, NY on Saturday, Feb. 16, outside the Holley Fire Department from 3 pm – 6 pm to protest the town’s annual “Squirrel Slam,” — a squirrel-shooting contest for children and adults under the guise of raising money for the Holley Fire Department./p
p”Holley officials are dead wrong in proceeding with this obscene killing contest involving children as young as 12 — which offers cash and gun prizes to participants who kill the heaviest squirrels,” Edita Birnkrant, Friends of Animals’ New York Director says. “Firearms like an AR/22 Semi and other rifles will be raffled off as rewards after dead squirrels are weighed at the Holley Fire Hall, 7 Thomas Street in Holley, NY, starting at 5:00 pm on Feb. 16th,” Birnkrant adds. /p
blockquotep”Squirrels are not shooting targets, and the NRA’s brainwashing scheme to indoctrinate children to seize guns — and then to create a spectacle of dead animals for prize money and firearms is a disastrous, convoluted idea,” Friends of Animals’ President Priscilla Feral says./p/blockquote
pLocal groups, Animal Advocates of Western New York, and Animal Rights Advocates of Upstate New York will join the demonstration to raise the conscience of people inside and outside the Holley community, FoA reports./p
pA national conversation on gun violence is happening now in our country, and killing contests such as Holley’s “Squirrel Slam” subvert a civilized human culture — brainwashing children to think guns are cool and that terrorizing and killing animals is a fun, rewarded activity, FoA says./p
pBirnkrant said Friends of Animals asked Holley officials to cancel the squirrel-killing contest, while thousands of people across the country signed petitions, sent e-mail messages and called the Fire Chief and Mayor to object to the event./p
blockquotep”On February 16, Holley will be filled with animal advocates who believe that violent, regressive events like the ‘Squirrel Slam’ need to bite the dust,” Birnkrant says. “There are plenty of creative, entertaining ways to raise monies that don’t involve prompting children to kill animals with guns.”/p/blockquote