Month: April 2019

The bees dying means people die

 

Bienen

In October 2018, more than 72 million bees died – in just one day. Three months after the mass extinction the cause was confirmed.
A pesticide sprayed on a nearby field is responsible.
In Argentina, near the city of La Paz, south of the Traslasierra Valley, 920 beehives were ruined in just one day.

Bienen6

On the other side of the world another beekeeper lost a million of his bees. Now the Australian beekeeper also received confirmation from a lab that the bees had died of fipronil poisoning, an insecticide commonly used to kill termites.
The beehives were about 5 kilometers away from another beekeeper, where about 120 beehives previously died from the same insecticide.
In Europe, an Austrian fruit-grower was even sentenced to jail for illegally spreading an insecticide. Dozens of neighboring bee colonies were destroyed.

massensterben von Bienenjpg

For a 450 gram jar of honey 1152 bees are needed, covering 180,246 km and visiting 4.5 million flowers !!!
That’s 156 km per bee!

bienen-auf blumejpg

It is a dying that is watched with concern worldwide.
Scientists have found that honeybees in Europe are killed by 57 different pesticides.
The vast majority of them are approved for use in the European Union.
The pesticide Thiacloprid from Bayer will continue to be used without restriction.
The most industrious of all animals, which reliably fly from flower to flower, disappears slowly.

biene-startbild
A life without the bee is unthinkable. She is the big breadwinners of the people. The worldwide demand for natural products rests on their delicate wings.

The causes of the dramatic decline in insects are in industrial agriculture. In view of Monsanto’s “giant wedding” with its German rival Bayer, the criminal power of agriculture will increase worldwide in the coming years.  Pesticides, notably neonicotinoids and the insecticide fipronil, are threatening not only bees, but also other animals such as butterflies, birds, fish and earthworms, and threaten the foundations of global food production. This is proven by a study in which 29 researchers from all continents and different disciplines evaluated around 800 individual studies over the past two decades.

wiese sprüher jpg

If bee mortality does not end soon, it could have serious consequences for food supplies worldwide, because not only in Europe, but also in other parts of the world there is a mass extinction of bees.
Bees not only produce honey, they pollinate more than 90 vegetables and fruits. Apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, pumpkins and cucumbers are likely to be rare without bees.
Sweet things like citrus fruits, peaches, kiwis, cherries, blueberries and strawberries and a variety of melon varieties depend on the fertilization of the flying workers.

bienen-auf Blumen

 

https://netzfrauen.org/2019/04/27/bienen-3

My comment: Now Monsanto also wants to fight bee pests – using genetic engineering.
Monsanto’s focus is on the Varroa mite, a parasite that makes it difficult for honey bees worldwide.

Varroa Milbejpg
In addition to bee pests, he will fight off weeds and insects in the future.
Monsanto sees bright prospects for its new “BioDirect” products – the market is already worth $ 1.7 billion a year. So it’s not about saving the bees. So it’s all about huge profits again.

And so Monsanto is omnipresent to each one of us. Whether in the glass of milk, in the Schnitzel, in the chicken leg… which animal is not fed with the cheapest, ie gene manipulated cereals?

We have t-shirts made of GM cotton, eat honey that could be contaminated, we fry our broccoli patties in GM corn oil. Whether we like it or not, for most consumers, especially in the US, Monsanto is a daily guest. Who only causes catastrophes. For humans, animals and nature.

My best regards, Venus

England: Tv Wildlife Expert and Bird Campaigner Has Death Threats After Recently Winning Campaigns To Protect Birds From Being Shot.

England

Image result for chris packham

Chris Packham, who is a well known animal advocate and tv wildlife presenter; especially relating to all aspects of British wildlife; and also the hunting of migratory birds in Europe, has now had a “very calculated” death threat against him and his family after he campaigned for measures to protect birds from being shot.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-48108157/chris-packham-they-threatened-to-organise-a-car-crash

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48105287

Dead Crows were hung on his home gate:

Image result for chris packham

Here are links to a couple of issues relating to Chris which were posted on our other site, Serbian Animals Voice; and also the BBC:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2018/01/30/uk-bbc-winterwatch-a-daily-visit-to-british-wildlife/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2018/01/29/england-in-search-of-the-lost-girl-chris-returns-to-sumatra-to-find-the-little-girl-that-haunts-him-from-a-photo-he-took-20-years-ago/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05vqwhk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05vq7qf

 

Chris said the  threats would not stop him from continuing his conservation work.

“People like myself are very dogged and determined,” he said.

“I cannot allow these things to sway me.

There are too few people standing up and fighting to protect our environment, our landscape, our wildlife.”

 

‘Major Progress’ As China Greenlights 2 Non-Animal Methods For Some Cosmetic Testing.

China

 

‘Major Progress’ As China Greenlights 2 Non-Animal Methods For Some Cosmetic Testing

 

The new methods pertain to tests for eye and skin irritation, and according to vegan charity PETA, they will ‘will spare countless animals the agony of having substances dripped into their eyes and rubbed onto their skin’

China‘s National Medical Products Administration has accepted two non-animal (alternative) test methods for the regulation of cosmetics.

While the new methods won’t replace animal testing, according to vegan charity PETA, they will ‘spare countless animals’ from certain tests.

The new methods, which will go into effect January 1, 2020, are for eye and skin irritation tests.

 

Animal testing

Non-animal testing methods

PETA credited the The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) for its ‘groundbreaking work’ in ‘training Chinese scientists and educating officials in modern non-animal methods’, helping to bring alternative test methods to China.

“We have seen first-hand how the partnership with NIFDC and our training program have built capacity and proficiency in alternatives,” Erin Hill, President of IIVS, said in a statement.

“The opening of the alternatives laboratory at the Zhejiang Institute for Food and Drug Control (ZJIFDC) is a wonderful example of how laboratories can expand to offer training and testing services in alternative test methods.”

‘Huge step forward’

“The approval of these two modern and humane tests is a huge step forward for China,” PETA US Senior Vice President, Kathy Guillermo, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.

“No animal should be poisoned or blinded for a consumer product – or any other reason.”

‘Major progress’

“After years of pushing from PETA, the Chinese government has approved two more non-animal methods for testing cosmetics products in China,” PETA said in a blog post.

“The two newly approved tests, the direct peptide reaction assay for skin sensitization and the short time exposure assay for eye irritation, will spare countless animals the agony of having substances dripped into their eyes and rubbed onto their skin.

“This major progress is thanks to the groundbreaking work of the expert scientists and regulatory specialists at the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), with whom PETA provided initial funding to train Chinese scientists and educate officials in modern non-animal methods.”

Cruelty-free is the best option

It added: “In 2014, the Chinese government announced that it would accept the results from non-animal test methods but only for non–special use cosmetics manufactured in China.

“Tests on animals are still required for all imported cosmetics and all special-use cosmetics, regardless of where they were manufactured.

“By purchasing only cruelty-free products, you can spare sensitive rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, and other animals from excruciating tests, a lifetime of suffering, and death.”

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Source – https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/major-progress-china-greenlights-2-non-animal-methods-cosmetic-testing

gratitude…

Image: Jane Goodall and her team

 

That’s what you do with your friends. You say goodbye lovingly and give your sincere gratitude to the one who, after years of imprisonment, allows you to live in freedom.
Before going home, a final hug that no one will ever forget.
Gratitude is an exclusive trait of nonhuman animals.

 

Best regards to all, Venus

The abuse of female reproductive systems is the lynchpin of animal use by humans.

schweine werden geschlagen_n

veal crate

 

Read a lot more at:

https://theveganfeministlawyer.home.blog/2019/03/29/why-is-veganism-a-feminist-issue/

The abuse of female reproductive systems is the lynchpin of animal use by humans

The institutional abuse of female reproductive systems is critical to sustaining all current human use of animals.  Not only does abusing the reproductive systems of female animals maintain a constant supply of animals for human use, females also often have additional roles relating to their reproductive systems which result in prolonged pain and suffering.

South Korea: Dog Meat Trade – Calls for Action – Very Disturbing Videos. Read the Newsletter.

South Kores

 

Click here to read the newsletter in full – complete with actions !

http://koreandogs.org/newsletter-april-30-2019/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Massive_dog_farms_in_Yongin_and_Gimpo__Help_shut_them_down!&utm_medium=email

 

 

http://koreandogs.org/horrible-reality-of-meat-dog-farms-you-did-not-know/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Massive_dog_farms_in_Yongin_and_Gimpo__Help_shut_them_down!&utm_medium=email

New Calls for Action
Campaigns to urge Township Governments
to end the dog and cat meat cruelty!

The Korean internet searches resulted in 282 Health Food Shops and 184 dog meat restaurants in and around Yongin; 137 Health Food Shops and 121 dog meat restaurants in and around Gimpo. Yongin and Gimpo have massive dog meat industry and we must take actions to speak out against this horrific industry, profiting from the suffering and slaughter of companion animals. Click each of the towns to take actions now. Thank you!

1. Gimpo Yangchon-eup
2. Gimpo Tongjin-eup
3. Yongin Suji-gu
4. Yongin Giheung-gu
5. Yongin Cheoin-gu

 

 

 
 
 
 

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Crime in everyday life

 

kuh hängt ausserhalb eines LKW`s_n

Picture taken near Quillacollo in the outskirts of Cochabamba – Bolivia
It seemed as if the animals were on their way to the slaughterhouse and there was no more space in the truck for the last cow. They hanged him outside the truck.
He was alive and visibly suffering. No authority did anything and the person who made the pic viral has since been threatened.

An atrocity, right? But is it really so different from being packed with all the others inside the truck? After all, they’re headed to the same place … your plate.

Earthlings

Repost @shaunmonson

My comment: We often see such pictures on the internet.
However, they run the risk of being misunderstood. Because most readers fall victim to their sentimentality and believe that this criminal act happens because animals end up on our plate.
This logic is very dangerous.
Because for these people it is not crucial if the hanging cow has to survive a long transport or is transported in trucks, standing, with the others.
Is it really the same?
No! It is a fundamentally wrong interpretation!

Eating these animals is legal. Transporting an animal in this way is illegal.

That’s what we’ve been fighting for, and we’re still struggling every day, so that not every criminal, anywhere in the world, does what he wants with the animals.
One speaks of laws.
One speaks of punishments, if these laws are not kept.

Otherwise, any unscrupulous slaughterer would allow himself to torture animals, with the practical excuse: “They end up on your plate anyway.”
And under the same logic we could also say that people could be tortured if they end up under the earth anyway !!

My best regards, Venus

USA: Orcas Have No Food Due To Human Overfishing.

USA-Flagge

 

By Joe Loria September 6, 2018

According to a recent article from Komo News, some of Seattle’s most popular restaurants are ditching chinook (king) salmon in an effort to help save critically endangered orcas.

Chinook will not be served at Vine and Spoon or Alchemy in West Seattle. The restaurant owners joined others in taking a stand after a concerned customer brought up the plight of the orcas and shared images of a mother orca grieving her dead calf and another orca struggling to survive.

Matt Mead, marketing director for Vine and Spoon, said:

The plight of the orcas right now is so tragic so important to maintain their food resource it was very simple and no-brainer to take off the king salmon from our menu to help our environment.

Declared endangered in 2005, the Southern Resident orca population has seen little recovery. In fact, more than two-thirds of these whales’ pregnancies fail, and a recent study suggests the orcas are starving because of human activity.

Overfishing of chinook salmon is believed to be the main cause of the orca population’s decline. Chinook salmon, who compose roughly 80 percent of the whales’ diet, are a critically endangered species, and overfishing is the primary reason. Popular wild-caught fish, chinook salmon were added to the list of overfished species in 2015.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a report in 2013 warning about the impact of salmon fishing on Southern Resident orca populations. Although the report expresses uncertainty about the long-term effects, it states that ending or reducing salmon fishing would have an immediate positive impact.

Our oceans are extremely complex ecosystems, so when one species declines, others suffer. For instance, Atlantic puffins on the Shetland Islands depend on sand eels to survive. Once sand eels were overfished, puffin numbers dramatically declined. When herring is overfished, cod populations fall. Many fish species and their predators are now endangered or face extinction because of overfishing.

The best thing we can do for all marine animals is to refuse to support an industry that disrupts the balance of nature’s ecosystems and puts species at risk for extinction.

But eating seafood doesn’t just hurt orcas and other “cute” marine mammals many people value; it’s also unspeakably cruel for the innocent fish killed for food. Fish are similar to dogs and cats in their experience of pain and pleasure.

In 2011 Mercy For Animals conducted an undercover investigation at a fish slaughter facility and exposed fish being skinned alive. They thrashed and fought to escape the workers’ knives. As the fish gasped for oxygen, workers ripped off their skin with pliers.

 

Sounds horrifying, right? See for yourself.

 

Remember, the best way to protect fish and other marine animals is to leave them off your plate. Learn more about switching to a humane plant-based diet to prevent cruelty to all animals used for food. Then check out Gardein’s fishless filets and crabless cakes, and click here for compassionate sea-inspired recipes

From Our Compass – I’m Scared and Don’t Want To Die.

We want to share this video which has been sent to us by Stacey at:

https://our-compass.org/

Our Compass incorporates the philosophy of non-human and human animals to be free from exploitation, speciesism, and suffering.

Our Compass is a non-violent group for advancing and aspiring vegans. We espouse the abolition of speciesism and protection of the Earth. Anyone who embraces these ideals along with veganism, and who also rejects homophobia, racism, patriarchy, and sexism is invited to participate.

Our Compass will publish alerts, articles, essays, and information – including letters and petitions.

Stacey says – Please note that this video is not “visually” graphic; it depicts the moments before a cow is killed. He waits for his death in fear, sadness, and terror, not knowing or understanding what he did to deserve such a painful existence and indifferent death. I wonder that, too.

Ecuador: Waorani’s victory against oil companies!

 

ecuador flaggeng

 

The Ecuadorian Waoranis tribe is celebrating a court ruling that blocks access to oil companies that have been trying for years to oil in the Amazon.

chl-Yasuni4
The government of Ecuador had released about 180,000 hectares for oil drilling.
Although the state of Ecuador possessed the mineral wealth, it had to first discuss plans for a possible use of resources with indigenous groups, the court said after a two-week trial and there was a request by the Waorani.

Ecuador-Waorani 5

In their territory with an area of 180,000 hectares on the Amazon must not be drilled for oil.

Already in 2014, the CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) signaled interest in two oil blocs, one of which – as well as the neighboring ITT bloc – is home to the indigenous people of the Waorani, who live there in voluntary seclusion.
China’s economy and its global influence are growing at a rapid pace. Nowhere is this clearer than in Ecuador, a country to which Beijing lent $ 9 billion.

Rainforest against oil companies

The government of Ecuador reached an agreement with the Waorani on the search for oil in 2012, but the Waorani declared in court that they had been deceived.
As a result, the court ordered new talks to transpose the provisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CIDH) based in Costa Rican San José.
As already written, a historic victory, but against this decision the government of Ecuador can and will proceed.

“Our territory gives us life. We will not allow oil drilling to poison our streams and our fishing areas.
We will not allow explosives to be placed in our hunting grounds for earthquake testing.
The construction of railway tracks, pipelines or roads is not permitted. We do not realize what the government calls oilblock 22. Our woodland is not an oil block, it is our life “- said the Waorani in an open letter >>>

You can sign up to support the Waorani https://waoresist.amazonfrontlines.org/action/

In the northeastern part of the Amazon Basin in Ecuador is one of the last large jungle areas of the earth whose vast biodiversity has been largely preserved. Yasuní National Park has a single hectare of forest that is as diverse as the Mexican, US and Canadian communities. In 1989 the area was declared a Biosphere Reserve by Unesco.

ecuador-regenwald-153742460-680x380

Only 2.5 hectares of Yasuní contain more trees than the US and Canada together. The area is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane, indigenous communities that have decided to live in isolation. Contact with the outside world would endanger their cultures and their lives.

Ecuador Yasuni Biosphere Reserve

Precisely because large parts of the Amazonian landscape, especially on the Peruvian side, have been sacrificed to the oil industry, the ITT Yasuní initiative represents a reversal in current economic governance; that the world can do other things than destroy its most beautiful and valuable ecosystems.
But Ecuador is a poor country and still lives on oil today. To protect a natural park, Ecuador wanted to forego the exploitation of oil fields and be compensated for it by the international community. The money was missing – Germany was guilty!

The background of the story

The ITT initiative promised to leave the oil in the ground, thereby preventing more than 400m tonnes of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere, if half the $7.2bn value of the reserve could be raised by the international community by 2023.

2011 became known: The federal government of Germany blocked the funds for the Yasuní project, which was to protect a large rainforest area from oil drilling.

Non-governmental organizations and representatives of Ecuador at that time hoped for the mobilization of the public.

The Federal Goverment of Germany had welcomed the project in 2008 with the votes of all groups, but then came the change of government and with it Dirk Niebel (FDP = Liberal Party) as the head of the Development Ministry.

In the fall of 2010, Niebel wrote a letter that Yasuní will not support for reasons of principle, on the one hand, and because a number of questions remain unanswered, on the other hand. After public protests Niebel moved back a bit more from basic justifications, but the state was the same: there was no money for Yasuni!! The former Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa then announced the cooperation with Germany, and said the Yasuní initiative for failed.

Background of the dispute were cheeky statements by German government officials.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa scolded a television program about “third-rate officials” who have the “impudence” to “teach lessons” to the government in Quito !!
Correa said that it is easy to judge “with a well-filled belly” while there are countries in Latin America where poverty and misery still prevail.

“Do not fray, do not fetch anything from the ground, die of hunger, but as tourists we enjoy the jungle that you, the useful idiots, receive,” said the ex-president.

The ruling immediately suspends the possibility of selling the land to the community for oil exploration. It is also an important precedent for other rainforest communities in the southern Amazon region of Ecuador.

We are very happy and congratulate the brave fighters!!

https://netzfrauen.org/2019/04/28/waorani/

My comment: The ex- German Development Minister Dirk Niebel is known not only as a lobbyist of industry, but as a person with a strictly colonial view of the world. And not only that.
He belongs to a party known for its mean and corrupt behavior.

Correa himself had announced the initiative in 2007. “We want to protect biodiversity and the people living there,” Correa said in April 2013 during his visit to Germany. If the funding does not come from the world community, he has no choice but to promote oil.

“With deep sadness, but out of responsibility to our people and our history, I have to make one of the hardest decisions of my term,” Correa said afterwards. “The world has failed us.”

Seen in this way, one understands the decision of ex-president Rafael Correa at that time.

My best regards, Venus