Fwd: [AR-News] Updated Info On Artist Starving Dog

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DTanzer16 wrote: DTanzer16Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:40:31 EDT[AR-News] Updated Info On "Artist" Starving Dog I called the Latin America WSPA office, in Costa Rica, about the Biennale situation. Here is the information emailed to me after the call. It is not clear whether or not a dog will be involved ("apparently" no dog involved this time), but the current effort appears to bar the participation of this "artist" in any case. Additionally, although this email states that it was never clear whether the dog actually died, WSPA's official statement (see website below, which I have appended in Spanish, refers to

the death of the dog ( "causando la muerte del mismo"), as does the newpaper article cited within the statement ("El perro murió tras un día en la exposición"). Please keep signing the petition and sending the emails to the Dutch funder, as below. cramirezTo: DTanzer16Sent: 3/14/2008 6:03:44 P.M. Eastern Daylight TimeSubj: Re: information On Plan To Starve Dog In Biennale Dr. TenzerThis person, Guillermo Vargas, is Costa Rican, but the dog exhibit happened in a Nicaraguan art gallery approximately five months ago. While there is an animal cruelty law in Costa Rica,

there is no such legislation in Nicaragua, therefore, sadly, the artist did not break the law by mistreating this dog and thus, cannot be punished in those terms.Strangely, the news did not get to the Costa Rican press until about a month after it happened. Even then there was very little coverage. We contacted the journalist who wrote the article and her source was a Nicaraguan newspaper. It was never clear whether the dog actually died, how long it was there and why nobody did anything if it was suffering. After that, the mass emails began protesting against Vargas. It was then that we came out with a statement (http://www.wspa.or.cr/news.asp?newsID=94 & type=0). We have not modified or written a different statement since. A member society in Honduras (AHPRA) also took action and wrote a statement which

was sent to the competent authorities in Honduras.A official statement from the Ministry of Art and Culture from Costa Rica was received. The response was that since Vargas was participating at the Biennial with a different exhibit (apparently no dog involved this time), and that the invitation was made by a private party, they could not ban him from going. They were pretty apathetic about the whole issue. In the meantime, the mass emails have continued, as the biennial gets closer and apparently Vargas is still going to participate.WSPA continues analyzing, through its member societies in Nicaragua and Honduras, other ways to censure and punish this grotesque action. In the meanwhile, WSPA's member societies in Honduras will watch closely the biennial art exhibition's course to ensure that there will be no cruelty to animals.I will let you know for further information that we will present to the media next days.Regards--

Carmen Ramírez CortésSupport ServicesWSPA LatinoamericaTel:506- 260-3078On 3/14/08 3:55 PM, "DTanzer16" <DTanzer16 wrote: Hello Carmen,I am Dr. Deborah Tanzer In New York. I am a WSPA supporter. It was good to speak with you on the telephone just now about the upcoming Biennale in Honduras and the plans to starve a dog to death in the name of "art."Below are the emails which are circulating for people to protest this atrocity. I will await the updated information

that you will send to me.Thank you, Dr. Deborah Tanzer(212) 799-7699dtanzer16 *************************************************************************************************************************---------- Forwarded message ----------Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:28:41 -0700 Hi everyone,I just wanted to bring this to your attention. Please check out the forwarded message and decide for yourselves. There is a petition to sign if you feel that this artist should be exempted from the upcoming Biennale in Honduras.In 2007, Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, an alleged artist, took a street dog, tied him up with a very short rope to the wall of an art

gallery and left him there to die from thirst and starvation.http://www.marcaacme.com/blogs/media/blogs/laboratorio/navitividad4.JPG <http://www.marcaacme.com/blogs/media/blogs/laboratorio/navitividad4.JPG> For several days, the author of such cruel act as well as the visitors to the art gallery impassibly watched the long agony of this animal.http://www.marcaacme.com/blogs/media/blogs/laboratorio/perrito.jpg <http://www.marcaacme.com/blogs/media/blogs/laboratorio/perrito.jpg> http://alt1040.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/perro-habacuc-2.jpg <http://alt1040.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/perro-habacuc-2.jpg> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6vP8CgTonQ <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6vP8CgTonQ> The dog finally died of starvation, surely after having gone through painful, absurd and incomprehensible torture. What do you think about it?Well, this is not all: the prestigious Centroamerican Art Biennal decided that this horrible and cruel act this guy had just commited was art and therefore Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat this action at the Biennal in 2008.LET'S STOP THIS!!!!!Sign here:http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/ <http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/> Please, copy and paste this message in a

new email and send it to everyone you know. ************************************************************************************************************************ PLEASE CROSS POST Forwarded Message: ---- Original Message ----- Sharon Hopkins <montalice Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:49 PM Fw: Dog starved in the name of art - Central America Please stop another dog being deliberately starved in the name of "art" - voice your protest to the organisation mentioned below ----- Original Message ----- Marian Hussenbux <mhussenbux

mhussenbux <mhussenbux Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:19 PM Dog starved in the name of art - Central America Do

you remember the man who staged an art installation last year in Central America by starving a stray dog to death? He has been asked to do it again this year. There is a petition to sign, but in view of what I found on the site http://www.animalsclubfreedom.blog.com/2304971 <http://www.animalsclubfreedom.blog.com/2304971> it would be better perhaps to do the following: UPDATE ON SO-CALLED ARTIST ( & ANIMAL ABUSER - Guillermo "Habacuc" Vargas )BAD NEWS FOLKS: PETITION HAS APPARENTLY FAILED TO BAN Guillermo "Habacuc" Vargas from the Bienarte 2008 art show, with VARGAS representing his country of Costa Rica even though he is an animal abuser!A new comment on the post "Artistic License":Blogsite : Gatica Gringa from Madrid, SpainUnfortunately the academy that hosts Bienarte 2008 has posted a disclaimer saying that the petition will not affect their consideration of Guillermo Vargas Habacuc.So best is to appeal to those that help fund the event.Have your readers contact the dutch organization that funds the

Bienarte 2008 event:HIVOS (Humanistisch Instituut voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking)at info <info (@hivos.nl)Tell them to stop supporting events that showcase artists that kill/hurt animals for art's sake. Best wishes, Marian Hussenbux.

************************************************************************************************ Comunicado de WSPA en relación a caso de crueldad animal 4 de octubre del 2007. Con relación al caso de crueldad animal, en el cual se reporta que un artista costarricense, de nombre Guillermo Vargas - conocido como Habacuc- utilizó a un perro callejero durante una de sus exhibiciones, causando la muerte del mismo, el cual fue publicado en el

diario La Nación, el día jueves 4 de Octubre de 2007 ( http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2007/octubre/04/aldea1263590.html) la Sociedad Mundial para la Protección Animal (WSPA por sus siglas en inglés), manifiesta lo siguiente. El acto de crueldad expuesto es totalmente inaceptable y nuestra organización repudia de manera absoluta el hecho acaecido. Que la crueldad animal, en cualquiera de sus formas e independientemente del fin último de la misma, es en sí un hecho repudiable y sancionado por el Código Penal de Costa Rica, así como por leyes de muchos otros países. Desde el punto de vista ético y asumiendo que la motivación del perpetrador de este acto fue realizar algún tipo de denuncia social, no es válido recrear "en vivo" el acto de crueldad que se pretende denunciar, y de ninguna forma se justifica el causar la muerte de un animal para lograrlo. La capacidad de sufrir de los animales

es un hecho demostrado científicamente, y es independiente del estatus moral o social de los animales en determinado contexto. Asimismo creemos que esta debe ser una oportunidad para instar a todas a aquellas personas que han reaccionado con indignación ante este hecho, a tomar acción en el ámbito del bienestar y la protección animal, no sólo denunciando los hechos de crueldad, sino apoyando la labor de múltiples organizaciones nacionales e internacionales que diariamente trabajan para mejorar las condiciones de vida de los animales en nuestro país y el mundo entero. http://www.wspa.or.cr/news.asp?newsID=94 & type=0 http://pets.Fortheanimals7/join