This is HORRIBLE!!!! Teaching kids to kill for a fundraiser. Please tell the organizers and sponsors of the First Annual Marin Wine Auction that animal abuse is not a charity!

[Guest guest]

Please tell the organizers and sponsors of the First Annual Marin Wine Auction that animal abuse is not a charity!

Your emails and calls are needed NOW!

TIME SENSITIVE!

Teaching kids to kill is simply not a worthy charitable cause. Speak up for compassion and kindness for children! We just learned that Devil's Gulch rabbit, pig, sheep and poultry meat producers and processors is a beneficiary of the First Annual Marin Wine Auction being held on September 13 at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross, Marin County. Even if you are not a resident of Marin County, the animals need your voice NOW. The Marin Wine Auction is being billed as a charitable fundraiser celebrating "Giving and Living in Marin. Devil's Gulch Ranch "educational services" teaches kids to raise, slaughter and process domestic rabbits (along with pigs, sheep and other animals) to provide luxury meat to restaurants. Under the

trendy guise of "sustainable agriculture" these gentle, highly intelligent companion animals, who are readily available for adoption just like cats and dogs, are killed for their meat and fur. It's a betrayal of trust, pure and simple.Nurturing a child's natural love of four-legged creatures, animal butchering programs like those offered by Devil's Gulch Ranch educate kids in one of life's cruelest hypocrisies. Children come to Devil's Gulch Ranch eager to interact with animals in a summer camp environment. Then these animals are killed, their flesh sold to local restaurants and, in the case of the rabbits, their fur used for camp crafts. Imagine the impression this has on a child, who regarded a sensitive bunny as a playful friend one moment, and then was left only with his skin the next. The Marin Wine auction is supposed to support worthy causes,

including the Marin Art and Garden Center and the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County. But supporting a facility for teaching children to kill hardly seems worthy. Because they are not covered under the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, rabbits killed at Devil's Gulch Ranch may suffer the most terrifying deaths imaginable; indeed, rabbits may be fully conscious while being slaughtered. Animal-killing courses taught by FFA, 4H and Devil's Gulch Ranch are of special concern today, when educators and school administrators cite campus violence as a paramount concern. Indeed, according to a fact sheet from the Humane Society of the United States, "Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the last 25 years have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently have

childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty."that message are we giving kids when we encourage them to care for a helpless being and then slaughter the animal? How can we possibly teach these same children that violence is wrong? Please contact the Keiretsu Forum, the "angel investment" corporation hosting the auction, and let them know you don't believe teaching children violence is appropriate for a charitable event. The auction begins this Saturday, so please contact them today--- even if you do not live in the area, please speak up for the animals!

Elizabeth MayEvent Director, Marin Wine Auctionelizabeth@keiretsuf orum.com

Tel: (415) 244-9890

Tom DowdChair, Keiretsu Forum Charitable Foundation tom (AT) dowdandguild (DOT) com