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September 27, 2001 September 27, 2001 - Updates

One week ago, Friday, September 21st, the US Senate passed Bill S.1397. This bill was attached to the Treasury Postal Appropriations Act and co-sponsored by Senators Grassley of Iowa and Feingold of Wisconsin. It was a bi-partisan bill and supported very successfully by the Senate.

The bill now goes to committee where three things can happen:
1. They can change the language of the bill.
2. They can throw the bill out
3. They can accept the bill as it is written

We feel we have a very good chance of getting this bill through the committee as it is written. After approval by the committee the bill will go back to both the House and the Senate for a final vote and then to the President for his signature.


Our success in getting this far, this quickly is a direct result of you folks and your belief in the grass-roots approach to American politics. Without the thousands of letters, email, and phone calls, this issue would have been pushed to the back burner and ignored. Because of your participation in exercising your democratic rights, we are close to our goals.


Our battle is still not complete and we will be asking, once again, for more help in the future to give this bill the final push we'll need to get it passed. We wish to thank all of you who have made this progress possible. On behalf of the Birds Shippers of America, "Thank you."

Murray McMurray, Chairman
Bird Shippers of America

Posted by mcmurray at 08:37 AM

September 5, 2001 - Update

Things are going well with new members and contributions coming in everyday. We thank all of you who have recognized the need for this organization and taken the lead by becoming a member.

We have hired a lobbyist, Stephen Boynton, an attorney in Washington, DC. Steve is actively pursuing legislative action using language that will meet the needs of our industry.

The grassroots support from around the country has been very influential in gaining the attention of our senators and congressional representatives. Your faxes, phone calls, and letters have had a great impact on both the congress and the Post Office. Mr. Paul Vogel, V.P. of Transportation of the USPS stated that there had not been this much attention to a postal issue in several years. Thank you.

It is obvious that the animal rights coalitions will become more active in our fight. It is very important to recognize their strength but also realize that these folks are at best, less than 3% of the population and rather radical in their beliefs and actions. Respect them but do not be afraid of them. Our grassroots support for legislation regarding live animal air shipments far exceeds any influence the animal rights folks may have in trying to influence Congress.

As of Friday August 30th, through a conference call with the USPS, it was confirmed that Northwest Air would not continue to take day-old poultry as of September 1st. In addition to this, the post office issued a list of cities from which birds could not be shipped. The Post Office letter and list is printed below:

TEMPORARY EMBARGO ON ACCEPTANCE OF LIVE ANIMALS FOR MAILING, INCLUDING DAY-OLD POULTRY

Pursuant to DMM C022.3.11, the USPS does not accept any shipment of live animals that the USPS reasonably believes cannot reach its destination in a viable condition.

Northwest Airlines has announced that effective Saturday, September 1, 2001, it will no longer carry live animals as mail. Consequently, shipments of live animals, including day-old poultry, should not be accepted for mailing in areas which relied upon Northwest for air transportation of such shipments.

The following airports are temporarily unavailable for live animal shipments. Therefore, acceptance personnel that use these airports as primary dispatch points are temporarily embargoed from accepting live animals. If a shipper is entering mail at an AMF/AMC serviced by an airport on this list, AMF/AMC management is authorized to accept live animals to the extent airlift capacity is available.

ALBANY AMF
ANCHORAGE AMF
BIRMINGHAM AMF
BOISE AMF
CEDAR RAPIDS AMF
COLUMBUS AMF
DALLAS AMC
DENVER AMC
DES MOINES AMF
DETROIT AMC
GRAND RAPIDS AMF
HONOLULU AMF
KANSAS CITY AMC
LAS VEGAS AMC
LITTLE ROCK AMF
MEMPHIS AMC
MILWAUKEE AMC
NEW ORLEANS AMC
NORFOLK AMF

(ALB)
(ANC)
(BHM)
(BOI)
(CID)
(CMH)
(DFW)
(DEN)
(DSM)
(DTW)
(GRR)
(HNL)
(MCI)
(LAS)
(LIT)
(MEM)
(MKE)
(MSY)
(ORF)
   OAKLAND AMF
OKLA. CITY AMF
OMAHA AMF
ONTARIO AMF
PHOENIX AMC
RENO AMF
SACRAMENTO AMF
SAN ANTONIO AMF
SAN DIEGO AMF
SAN FRAN. AMC
SAN JUAN AMF
SEATTLE AMC
SPOKANE AMF
ST LOUIS AMC
TULSA AMF
TWIN CITIES AMC
W. PALM BCH. AMF
WICHITA AMF
WORLDWAY AMC
(OAK)
(OKC)
(OMA)
(ONT)
(PHX)
(RNO)
(SMF)
(SAT)
(SAN)
(SFO)
(SJU)
(SEA)
(GEG)
(STL)
(TUL)
(MSP)
(PBI)
(ICT)
(LAX)

Posted by mcmurray at 08:51 AM