pbFriends of Animals Protests “Squirrel Slam” Killing Contest at Holley Fire House, Saturday, Feb 16th 3 pm-6 pm /b/p
pbContact: Edita Birnkrant, FoA NY Directorbr /
cell: 917-940-2725br /a href=”mailto:edita@friendsofanimals.org”email/a/b/p
pNew York-Friends of Animals is holding a protest outside the Holley Fire House, 7 Thomas Street, from 3 pm-6 pm, on Saturday, Feb. 16, to oppose the town’s annual “Squirrel Slam,”-a squirrel-shooting contest for children and adults sponsored by the Holley Fire Department. /p
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img src=”https://friendsofanimals.org/img/Demo/squirrel-demo.jpg” alt=”squirrel demo sign” width=”250″ height=”148″ //div
pDoes the NRA run the village of Holley, NY?,” asks Edita Birnkrant, NY Director of Friends of Animals. “Their agenda is to push guns into the hands of younger and younger children — indoctrinating them into a culture of violence, which starts with monstrous killing-contests like “Squirrel Slams” – rewarding sixth-graders with cash prizes for shooting lots of innocent animals.” /p
p”Guns, including an AR/22 Semi and other rifles will be raffled at the Fire House as rewards for killing squirrels while dead squirrels are weighed and prizes are distributed,” Birnkrant adds. “The NRA is desperate to increase numbers of hunters, since numbers have declined for decades, as a recent NY Times cover story “Selling a New Generation on Guns” details.”/p
pNew York State Senator Tony Avella held a a href=”https://friendsofanimals.org/news/2013/february/squirrel-slam-fundra.html”press conference in Albany on Monday, Feb 11/a, condemning the “Squirrel Slam.” Senator Avella described the killing contest as “insane,” and said, “I can’t tell you how disgusted I am at this event.” The organizers of this event are sending the wrong message and should be ashamed of themselves. I urge them to cancel this mass squirrel-killing contest as soon as possible. What kind of message are we sending to our youth, especially in light of all the increasing gun violence in this country,” Avella concluded./p
pAnimal Rights Advocates of Upstate NY, Animal Allies of Western New York, New York residents, and Friends of Animals’ members will join the demonstration to raise awareness of those inside and outside the Holley community, FoA reports./p
blockquotep”The national conversation on gun violence should include condemnation of animal-killing contests such as Holley’s bloody, mean-spirited “Squirrel Slam,” which subverts a civilized culture-brainwashing children to think guns are cool, and that terrorizing animals — making them dead — is a fun, rewarded activity,” FoA’s president Priscilla Feral says. “We’re putting our boots on the ground in Holley on Saturday, Feb. 16, to defend the interests of squirrels not to be viewed as shooting targets,” Feral adds./p/blockquote
