Justice For Buttons
This spring, the lifeless body of Buttons, a young mare, was discovered nearly a mile from her barn. She had been chained to a vehicle and dragged to death. Evidence of her struggle, including her hair, skin, blood and hooves, was found along the paved road.

In her battle against death, her desperate efforts to stay on her feet left scraped gouges in the pavement.

From what we have been able to determine, there may have been an attempt to sexually molest Buttons and another mare. We believe that Buttons, in an effort to protect herself, kicked one of the assailants...likely the reason she was so brutally killed.

Unfortunately, abuse and cruelty to animals is often not taken seriously by law enforcement agencies. As a result the criminals who so brutally killed Buttons may go unpunished.

It is only through the participation and support of thousands of caring people that we will see that the perpetrators of this heinous crime, and others like it, brought to justice.

Here is what you can do today.
Using this sample letter, please write to Mike Moore, Mississippi's State Attorney General demanding an immediate inquiry into what is either a badly-bungled investigation or an outright cover-up to protect the men suspected of dragging Buttons to death. Demand that Button's murderers be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

MSU vs. IDA-NGAN
National Greyhound Adoption Network contacted IDA in 1997 to ask for our involvement in freeing greyhounds from Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine research and blood donor programs.

It was learned that defunct Eutaw, Alabama Greenetrack racing facility employees had donated numbers of dogs to MSU without the knowledge of their owners. Some of these dogs were already subjects of a Howmedica / Pfizer -sponsored human hip-replacement study.

Initial contact with the University gave promises that the dogs would be released to IDA for adoption if IDA presented notarized affidavits from the dogs' "legal owners" surrendering their custody and rights into IDA's care. The agreement came to a dramatic halt, and IDA and NGAN filed suit against MSU. The Oktibbaha Chancellory Court Judge then ruled that MSU could not be sued for replevin because, as a State Institution, they enjoy the status of sovereign immunity.

IDA-NGAN appealed the ruling to the State Supreme Court. In April, 1999, the court ruled that the lower court ruling was erroneous. The lawsuit has been re-instated and the Supreme Court victory is immeasurable. Currently, we are seeking court-awarded information as to the status of the greyhounds, whether alive or "sacrificed".

For more details about the this case and Project Hope,
please contact Doll Stanley-Branscum
Phone: 662 237 0233 Fax: 309 276 0494
Email: doll@project-hope.net