Example Action Letters

Live Animals in Medical Training

Pit Bull Discrimination

Farmed Animal Cruelty

The below are just a few examples of letters you can write to help animals. While our examples provide some in-depth information, please know that even a brief, personalized note from you has positive impact on decision-makers, be they CEOs or our nation’s political figures.

A Few Paragraphs

Banning Gas Chambers

As a pet owner and tax-paying citizen of [state], I am greatly troubled by the state’s use of gas chambers to kill surplus cats and dogs. Gas chambers cause immense suffering to the animals killed and are highly wasteful of our taxpayer’s dollars.

With this in mind, I strongly urge your support of [bill number] to ban gas chambers in [state]. This bill will ensure thousands of animals will not suffer cruel deaths, and will allocate public funds toward 1) increasing spay/neuter and pet adoption initiatives statewide, and 2) requiring euthanasia by lethal injection, a phenomenally less cruel form of death.

Urging Humane Education

As a father of two children and a caring, responsible citizen, I recognize the importance of teaching kindness and respect to our nation’s children. Many studies have shown that children who lack empathy education may grow to act cruel toward others—be it animals or humans—later in life. For this reason, I feel very strongly that humane education should be included in the state board of education’s curriculum standards. Please support [bill number] to require humane education in all of [state] public schools, and help ensure the creation of empathetic and responsible citizens.

Live Animals in Medical Training                                                           Back to Top

Your Street Address

City, State, Zip

Phone and/or Email

Month Date, Year

Jane Doe, Chancellor

University Department

Street Address

City, State, Zip

Dear Chancellor Doe,

I am urging you to curtail the use of live animals in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses taught at your university.

As a concerned citizen who views animal testing to be outdated and not cost-effective, I wish to see all animal testing curtailed. Since, across the United States, more than 90 percent of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses are taught using only human-based simulators, there seems to be little need to perpetuate the use of live animals in these classes. The American College of Surgeons, the ATLS oversight body, has approved non-animal models such as the TraumaMan System, SimMan, and cadavers for these courses.

According to Dr. John Pippin, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, “It's especially inhumane and especially indefensible [to use live animals] when there are alternatives in hand which not only would spare the animals the trauma of going through this but also would provide a better educational experience.”

Therefore, I urge your university to broaden its use of humane alternatives and to deter animal suffering by wholly adopting the use of non-animal models instead of live animals in ATLS courses.

I look forward to the day when animals will no longer be subjected to the pain and suffering associated with biomedical research and testing, which is often unnecessary and costly when compared with other non-animal techniques. I look forward to your university curtailing the use of live animals in ATLS courses in the very near future.

Sincerely,

Name

Concerned Citizen

Pit Bull Discrimination                                                                            Back to Top

Your Street Address

City, State, Zip

Phone and/or Email

Month Date, Year

State Representative John Doe

Government Building

Street Address

City, State, Zip

Dear Representative Doe,

I am writing to adamantly request your support of opposing [bill number], which seeks to ban pit bulls and require euthanasia of all pit bulls and pit mixes currently residing in our state.

As a compassionate person advocating on behalf of animals and a pit-bull owner, I think it is morally wrong to euthanize all pit bulls in [state] based on misinformation and assumptions. Please consider these national statistics, according to the Animal Law Coalition:

• There is not a single report of a fatal dog attack by a spayed or neutered pit bull.
• 90% of fatal dog attacks are by dogs that have not been spayed or neutered.
• 81% of dogs involved in bite incidents were not spayed or neutered.
• Chained dogs are 2.9 times more likely to bite than non-chained dogs.
• 82% of dog bites occur as a result of dogs who are running loose.

Based on these statistics, please consider these alternatives to euthanizing our state’s
pit bull population:

• Require that all pets be spayed and neutered.
• Enact and meaningfully enforce anti-chaining, anti animal cruelty laws.
• Pass legislation requiring all dogs outside of a fenced yard be on-leash.

I do not support the euthanasia of animals as a viable or humane solution to resolving conflict with humans; however, I do recognize that human well-being takes priority over animal welfare. Representative Doe, please oppose [bill number]. Further, I urge you to support allocating the funds that would be allotted for collecting and euthanizing our state’s pit bulls to instead create low-cost spay/neuter programs for these canines. Spay/neuter programs will both help reduce companion animal overpopulation and drastically lower the dog bite rates in [state].

In closing, I strongly urge your support of opposing [bill number] to prohibit pit bull ownership in [state]; please help ensure the humane and fair treatment of these deserving dogs. Thank you very much for your time and consideration regarding this matter. I look forward to your response.

For the animals,

Name

Concerned Citizen

Farmed Animal Cruelty                                                                           Back to Top

Your Street Address

City, State, Zip

Phone and/or Email

Month Date, Year

State Representative John Doe

Government Building

Street Address

City, State, Zip

Dear Representative Doe,

I am writing to urge your support of [bill number] to ban cruel factory farming practices in our state. As a citizen concerned about animal welfare and a conscientious consumer, I ask that you help improve the standards of care and treatment for millions of farmed animals in [state].

Specifically, [bill number] will ban veal crates, hen battery cages, and sow gestation crates. These various forms of farmed animal confinements contribute to unspeakable and unacceptable animal suffering. Some key considerations:

• Animals are prevented from moving about freely, be it turning around, standing up, stretching limbs and wings, and other physical movements.
• Animals are deprived of opportunities to participate in natural behaviors such as foraging, nest building, and herd or flock socialization.
• Animals are subjected to squalor living environments which include subsisting excrement, breathing toxic fumes (of concentrated excrement), enduring constant dark, extreme volumes of noise, and overcrowding.
• Animals endure extreme measures of boredom, distress, and aggression due to all of the above realities, and suffer greatly as a result.
• Animals endure outright cruel treatment by industry workers whom may become insensitive to the suffering of sentient beings in such an environment.

Clearly, the industrialized practice of confining farmed animals in veal crates, battery cages, and gestation crates contributes to aggravated and avoidable animal suffering. I strongly urge your support of [bill number] to ban these practices in our state and move typical factory farming treatment of animals away from systematic cruelty and toward more humane practices.

Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to your support of [bill number].

Yours Truly,

Name

Concerned Citizen

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