Save Rufus
Rufus is a young family dog who accidentally bit the child in the family. The family and child hold no grudge, but (Orange County, Florida) animal control has taken away Rufus and is planning to kill him for being “aggressive”. The family just wants them to allow Rufus to be adopted by the people (with no children) who are willing and ready to take responsibility for him.
The spotlight and funds driven by this campaign seem like they have a pretty good chance of saving this little guy’s life. It’s just one random dog in Florida, but still. You could help save his life. That’s not nothin’.
Petition on Change.org (125K+ signatures!)
Facebook Page (~24K likes)
Related: The Lexus Project (Legal Defense for Dogs)
UPDATE: Rufus was saved! Returned to his family, no less. They are now using their considerable social media presence to help find homes (and fight for the release of) other dogs. Total success story!
President Obama: Close Guantanamo
Presumably you’ve heard about this issue on the news. 100 of the 162 prisoners rotting away at Guantanamo have joined in a hunger strike to protest their detention without charges for most of the 2000s. WHINERS! Just kidding. We are an asshole of a country for allowing Guantanamo to exist at all, never mind stay open for more than a decade.
(Older) Petition at Amnesty International
Bonus petition: Stop seismic airgun testing off the U.S. East Coast
Seismic airgun testing (part of the process of exploring for offshore oil) involves making a noise approximately as loud as a nuclear bomb (seriously), repeated every ten seconds for months at a time–underwater, in the ocean. Where whales and dolphins (and others, I presume?) rely on their sensitive hearing systems to survive. You do the math. Oh, actually, you don’t have to–the government estimates that more than 138,000 of such animals will be injured or killed by these tests. NOW you do the math.
Petition at WhiteHouse.gov (35K of 100K sigs so far)
(It’s a bonus petition because it’s actually from a couple days ago rather than today. Not that airgun testing is a bonus.)