Postcards from Endangered Pets - May 3

May 3 is National Hug Your Cat Day, a perfect day for ALL kitties and other pets to protest the lack of safeguards in the pet food industry and the lack of news coverage about this important issue. We urge all kitties and woofies and their humans to join the May 3 Postcards from Endangered Pets blitz!

Be sure to send postcards, not letters, since envelopes will probably not be opened due to security issues. And mail your postcards on May 3, so they'll all arrive at about the same time.

1) Write a polite postcard to your government officials about how the pet food recall has affected you and your humans, and how worried you are about pet food -- and human food, too! As Zippy, Sadie and Speedy suggested, your humans can also say something like, "We agonize about what to feed our cat/dog because of the lack of regulation in the pet food industry. The lives of our companions should not be put at risk for greed." If you've had vet expenses because of the recall, mention that as well. Send your postcards to these addresses:

Marcia K. Larkins, D.V.M.
FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine
Ombudsman
7519 Standish Place HFV-7
Rockville, MD 20855

Senator Richard Durbin
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Your state senators: you can find their addresses here

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

2) Write to the national media asking them why there has been so little news coverage about this major issue. You might mention that pet care is a $40 billion industry and there are more than 70 million homes with pets in the US -- that's a lot of interested viewers! Send your postcards "ATTN: News Director" to these addresses:

NBC News and MSNBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112

CBS News
Use their web site contact form

CNN
Use their web site contact form

FOX Broadcasting Co.
P.O. Box 900
Beverly Hills, CA 90213

ABC News
7 WEST 66th Street
New York, NY 10023

Newsweek Magazine
251 W. 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

Time Magazine
Email: Letters@Time.com

US News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson Street NW
Washington, DC 20007

And don't forget to SPREAD THE NEWS! If everyone announces this postcard blitz to every pet web site (Catster, Dogster etc.) and in every pet mailing group, message board etc. you can think of, we'll bombard the recipients with thousands of messages! Maybe then they'll take action so that we can feel safer in the future.