Month: March 2020

Environmental

Sea-Shepherd: why a quiet day on patrol is a good day

 

From the archive: December 20, 2018: Report by the captain of SAM SIMON, Alistair Allan

liberia Flag tinted horizontal texture

Liberia, West Africa – It’s a cloudless day again, and the blue water shimmers under the relentless sun. Only rarely does a light breeze blow through the endless, turquoise expanse that I look through my porthole.

The internal phone in my cabin starts ringing. At the other end of the line an excited voice calls out: “Orcas! Orcas are outside! ”

Killer whale group

I quickly climb the steps to the bridge and look out from the starboard side. When I look over the water, a huge dorsal fin appears right next to the ship. It is the largest of the school, the matriarch. I can see that they swim on all sides next to our ship, a family of about 12 animals! The crew is thrilled by the sight of the young members of the orca family jumping and splashing around.

-Orca_Alaska

The SAM SIMON has been on patrol in Liberia for a month now, and during this special meeting we were far away, on the eastern border between Liberia and the Ivory Coast. Here the Cavalla River flows into the sea and the area is known for its richness in species.

orca pg

Before the OPERATION SOLA STELLA started in 2016, the local small-scale fishermen complained that foreign industrial trawl vessels enter this area every day. They came across the border night after night, flattening the nets of the small fishermen, rolling over their canoes and stealing the fish with which they made a living.

Today, almost three years later, the Liberian coast guard, in cooperation with Sea Shepherds SAM SIMON and BOB BARKER, has completely stopped these nighttime ideas … continue on our website: https://sea-shepherd.de/2566

 

Some information about orcas: Orcas are the largest dolphins in the world. The males are 10 m long and 10 tons heavy. The females are somewhat smaller. They have pointed, conical teeth that are 7 cm long. The body is strong and the jaw is exceptionally strong.

Orcas are quick hunters. The broad tail fin gives the animal the necessary acceleration. They always hunt together and also live in a group. There are 6 to 40 animals in a family. They often stay together for a lifetime.

orcinus_orca-_4

An orca baby stays close to the mother. It also has to learn to speak. Orcas communicate through chants and a series of tones: they growl, hum, screech, whistle, scream and click. The orca mother speaks the words to her boy until she can pronounce them correctly. Orcas have the second largest brain of any living thing on the planet.

Orcas eat herring, salmon, penguins, seals, sea leopards, sea lions, rays, whales and sharks. They always came up with very special techniques for hunting.
The massive animals cover long distances in the wild, on average 65 kilometers a day. They don’t just do it because they can, but because they have to – to find varied food and to keep fit.
They dive several times a day at a depth of 30 to 150 meters.

The killer whales are becoming increasingly rare – and their survival is uncertain.

On the one hand, it is due to the perverse desire of humans to put these intelligent animals in a pool that is 45 x 28 x 9 meters in size, so that they serve as entertainment for stupid tourists. Most of them die in captivity after a few years and do not give birth to a calf for years.

orca-schwertwal-1280x600

On the other hand, the king salmon is becoming increasingly rare. This very high-fat type of salmon is the main food source of the orcas. The fish swims up the Tazer River, which flows into the sea off the Seattle coast. Here the killer whales usually grab their prey.

But the number of salmon in the Pacific Northwest has been declining for decades. Overfishing, dams, cutting down coastal forests and, last but not least, climate change are reducing the population.

Maybe we, we human beings, can save these intelligent sea creatures.
Animal protection is education to humanity.
The only person who is truly moral is those who respect and save all life.

Captain Watson Zitat jpg

My best regrads to all, Venus

Environmental, General News

Australia: Great Barrier Reef suffers third mass bleaching in five years.

australia pg

 

Great Barrier Reef suffers third mass bleaching in five years

 

Image result for barrier reef mass bleaching

Image result for barrier reef mass bleaching

 

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has suffered another mass bleaching event – the third in just five years.

Warmer sea temperatures – particularly in February – are feared to have caused huge coral loss across the world’s largest reef system.

Scientists say they have detected widespread bleaching, including extensive patches of severe damage. But they have also found healthy pockets.

Two-thirds of the reef was damaged by similar events in 2016 and 2017.

The reef system, which covers over 2,300km (1,400 miles), is a World Heritage site recognised for its “enormous scientific and intrinsic importance”.

Last year, Australia was forced to downgrade its five-year reef outlook from poor to very poor due to the impact of human-induced climate change.

On Thursday, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said its latest aerial surveys had shown that the severity of bleaching varied across the reef.

But it said more areas had been damaged than in previous events.

“The reef had only just begun recovering from impacts in 2016 and 2017 and now we have a third event,” chief scientist David Wachenfeld told the BBC.

“Climate change is making the extreme events that drive those impacts both more severe and more frequent, so the damage in an event is worse.”

The earlier events hit two-thirds of the reef system, wiping out coral populations and destroying habitats for other sea life.

But Dr Wachenfeld said some key reefs for tourism – in the northern and central regions – had been only “moderately bleached” this year. This meant coral there would probably recover, he added.

“The reef is still a vibrant, dynamic system but overall, with every one of these successive events, the reef is more damaged than previously,” he said.

“We need to take these events as global calls for the strongest possible action in climate change,” he said.

Global temperatures have already risen about 1C since pre-industrial times.

The UN has warned that if temperatures rise by 1.5C, 90% of the world’s corals will be wiped out.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-52043554

Farm Animals, General News

Germany: Executioners complain

 

banane rep deutschlandpg

The corona crisis doesn’t stop at butcher shops either. “Our sales are no longer enough to keep the company alive,” says Richard Mischau, managing director of the traditional Berlin company of the Mischau sausage factory.

On Facebook, his sister Britta Mischau (49) therefore made a moving appeal to the Berliners: “Buy from your trusted butcher. Help us and all medium-sized companies to survive. ” (!!!)

fleischatlas-fleichkonsum-deutschland-bild

With its sausage and meat products, the company (known for its curry sausages) supplies many caterers and canteens, the university and the parliament.

But they’re all closed now. “Last Monday alone, we had 35 percent less sales.” A lot more has been closed since then. Mischau sent their 72 employees on short-time work. The production works only half a day.

But there are also difficulties. Britta Mischau to the Berliner Zeitung: ” The raw material Meat is becoming scarce.” The slaughterhouses mainly work with foreign columns from Romania, Bulgaria or Poland. “They are head over heels back to their countries,” says Britta Mischau.

schlachter mit kuh

The goods they ordered for further processing were not delivered on Friday. “We don’t slaughter ourselves. Nobody in Berlin does that. We mainly process already dismantled and prepared goods. Now we have to buy large pieces (!!!) and disassemble them ourselves, ” says Britta Mischau.
More work with less staff.

Hängende Kuh im Schlachthof_o

To compensate for the slump in sales, they keep their factory outlet in Spandau, Berlin, open – in the hope that customers will come to them.

slogan anonymouspg

https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/corona-krise-auch-bei-fleischereien-berliner-metzger-rohstoff-fleisch-wird-knapp

 

And I mean…When the French Revolution occurred on August 4, 1789, about 200 executioners became unemployed.
At the time, they wrote a letter to the then revolutionary government.

In this letter they brought up the argument that their entire profession is facing the economic abyss, a disaster! because the executioners had to feed several thousand people with their families. So … the impossibility of executing more people would make many people hungry.
After more than 200 years, the executioners of animals claim that they are facing the economic abyss.

Viruses spread at lightning speed in slaughterhouses and factory farming.

Right now, in the Corona Krisis, where governments have paralyzed everything, endangered the existence of millions of people and face disobedience, the slaughter industry, including animal transports, is now unaffected and everything is running as before.
Cruelty to animals in slaughterhouses, animal transports, animal breeding, factory farming, dairy industry … is still tolerated.

kuh in tiertransportjpg

This system has to be shut down just like everything else currently. Nobody needs it to survive.
It is sick, dangerous and bad for the earth, humans and animals.

The modern execusioters should stop whining and learn a new, decent profession.

My best regards to all, Venus

General News

Respect for Russians!

 

One hundred Russian military medics and disease specialists were airlifted to Italy over the weekend, landing at Pratica di Mare Air Base 30km (18.6 miles) from Rome. The team, deployed to help Italy in its fight against coronavirus, brought mobile laboratories, disinfection vehicles, coronavirus test kits, and other equipment to battle the disease.

Italy is the hardest coronavirus-hit European country – the total number of cases has approached 70,000, while the death toll is already twice as large as China’s.

Northern Italy has been affected the worst, with around a half of the nation’s cases originating there.

https://www.rt.com/news/484054-russian-military-italy-coronavirus/

 

Thank you Russia!

Good to know who can help you in difficult moments.

Here is one of the nicest comments: “I have many relatives in Italy, I would like to say “thank you” to Russia. Did you notice that the BBC says nothing? why? because it’s a State Broadcaster and very biased, if you want the news don’t look at the BBC”.

 

Regards and a good night from Venus

General News

The Chinese Wild-Animal Industry and Wet Markets Must Go.

 

A civet cat is inspected on 10 November 2004 at a farm in Lu’an, China

 

 

Is it any wonder why they have infected the planet – watch these !!

 

 

The Chinese Wild-Animal Industry and Wet Markets Must Go.

 

March 19, 2020 2:36 PM

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/the-chinese-wild-animal-industry-and-wet-markets-must-go/

 

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, in effect the executive committee of the Chinese Communist Party, in late February issued an edict banning the country’s “wet markets,” including those in Wuhan, the source of the current COVID-19 outbreak.

The statement notes that “it is necessary to strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade, and control major public health risks from the source.” The Straits Times of Singapore has reported that eight laws have been passed in the last week. We have no details on the contents of the legislation. It’s too soon to know, though, whether we have been down this road before.

After the SARS outbreak in 2003, which was traced to a wet market in the southern Guangdong Province, a temporary ban on wet markets and the wild-animal industry were put in place. In July of that year, the World Health Organization declared the SARS virus contained, and in August the Chinese government lifted the ban.

Wet markets are found the world over, typically open-air sites selling fresh meat, seafood, and produce. The meats often are butchered and trimmed on-site. Markets in China have come in for justifiable condemnation because of the way they’ve evolved, commingling traditional livestock with a wide variety of wild animals, including exotic and endangered species.

 

Live peacocks wrapped up in plastic bags, in Xiangyang, China

 

Many are quite unsanitary, with blood, entrails, excrement, and other waste creating the conditions for disease that migrates from animals to people through virus, bacteria, and other forms of transmission. Such “zoonotic diseases” that have emerged from China and other regions of the world include Ebola, HIV, bird flu, swine flu, and SARS.

The wild animals that mix with more common livestock — poultry, swine, and seafood — form a deadly combination.

 

Image result for pangolin chinese market food

And, as has been well reported by Vox and others, wild-animal farming has a long history in China, emerging after disastrous decades of state control of rural production under Mao Zedong. By the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, tens of millions of Chinese citizens had died of starvation under a system that could not produce enough food for China’s population.

Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, in the late 1970s lifted state controls on rural farming to allow peasant farmers to provide for their own sustenance. Rats, bats, civet cats, pangolins, and other wild animals became staples of rural farming. To acknowledge and even encourage this, the government enacted laws that protected “the lawful rights of those engaged in the development or utilization of wildlife resources.”

Over time, this led to the breeding and distribution of these animals, and small rural outposts developed into larger-scale operations.

Add to this the use of wild animals not only for consumption but as the supposedly magic ingredients in tonics and alternative medicines, and it is obvious that what began as subsistence farming for the rural poor has developed into a substantial industry.

Wuhan, a city most Americans had never heard of before this year, is larger than New York City.

So far, we may just be seeing a repeat of the “crackdown” after the SARS epidemic, which was quickly and quietly lifted.

We do not know the nature of the current ban.

And can we even trust Beijing to keep such bans in place, particularly with a slowing economy and persistent rural poverty? Also, what exactly is banned? It should be all aspects of the wild-animal trade — breeding, transporting, and marketing.

There should be permanent closure of the wet markets, given the government’s obvious inability or unwillingness to regulate them.

Such a comprehensive approach would be a reversal of decades of government policy and market practice, but when we get through this crisis and the toll it will take on the world, we will owe it to the memory of those we lose that there be a global, sustained push to see these practices ended, everywhere.

 

 

 

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

EU: Over 35 NGO’s Across Europe Add Their Voice to Those of MEP’s Calling For Action On Live Animal Transports.

EOA Turkey 1

Photo – Eyes on Animals (NL)

 

Further to the post by Venus on the issue of live animal transports being delayed for hours at EU borders; https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/03/25/eu-if-you-do-nothing-to-solve-a-problem-you-are-part-of-the-problem-yourself/ , then we can provide you with additional information as reported in the ‘Brussels Times’ on Monday 23/3/20.

As well as important input from 42 MEP’s, we have witnessed an open letter from no less than 35 animal welfare NGO’s writing to the EU Commission calling (on the EU) to ban the transport of farm animals to non-EU countries, as well as intra EU journeys that last over 8 hours.

As Venus says in her article; Europe, if you do not act to solve the problem, then you are part of the problem yourself.

Below is a copy of the article from Monday’s Brussels Times.

 

https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/eu-affairs/102190/coronavirus-humans-suffer-but-also-animals-in-transport-over-borders/

 

Coronavirus: Humans suffer but also animals in transport over borders

 

Monday, 23 March 2020

Animal welfare organisations protested on Friday against a European Commission decision to allow transport of livestock between member states and to non-EU countries despite the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Compassion in World Farming and over 35 animal welfare NGOs across Europe wrote in an open letter (20 March) to agriculture Ministers and animal transport contact points of all EU member states that the Commission decision disregard the problems imposed on the health and welfare of farm animals being transported, especially those transported between EU and non-EU countries.

An EU regulation prohibits transport to be carried out in a way that is likely to cause undue suffering to the animals involved. In addition, the regulation states that all necessary arrangements should be made in advance to minimise the length of the journey and meet animals’ needs during the journey

In their letter, the NGOs raised problems at different borders last week. Vehicles with farm animals are being refused entry to Croatia. There have been long traffic queues at the border between Lithuania and Poland and queues on the German side of the border with Poland leading to waiting times of several hours.

Vehicles with farm animals are also getting caught up in very long queues at the exit point between Bulgaria and Turkey – drivers transporting farm animals have reported that they needed three hours to move 300 m inside the border.

Queues at borders risk stopping medical supplies and health professionals from getting through. It is even less likely that it will be possible to attend to the welfare of animals caught up in these queues.

The animal welfare organization call on the EU to ban the transport of farm animals to non-EU countries, as well as journeys that last over 8 hours.

“The trade in live animals threatens not only the health and well-being of the animals, but it also threatens our health,” said Olga Kikou, Compassion in World Farming’s Head of EU Office.

“The drivers, animal handlers, vets, civil servants and their families can easily get infected. Unlike others who enter and exit the EU, they are not required to be in quarantine. We are putting them and ourselves at risk.”

The European Commission did not reply in time to requests for a response to the letter.

 

 

Update:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday afternoon (23 March) that the measures introduced to slow down the spread of the virus have also slowed down and sometimes paralysed transport.

In a communication today on “Green Lanes”, the Commission requested from the member states to designate, without delay, all the relevant internal border-crossing points on the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) as “green lane” border crossings. The communication does not address the issue of animal transports but can speed up all transports.

The crossings should be open to all freight vehicles, whatever goods they are carrying. Crossing the border, including any checks and health screening, should not take more than 15 minutes.

All freight vehicles and drivers should be treated in a non-discriminatory manner, irrespective of the origin, destination, or country of registration of the vehicle, or of the nationality of the driver. Member states should not distinguish between vehicles carrying goods for use in their territory and those merely transiting.

The Brussels Times

 

Additional links (WAV):

 

We don’t need another consultation from the thickheads at the EU; we need action, and NOW !

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/03/24/eu-consultation-on-animal-welfare-strategy-please-read-and-afterwards-get-involved-if-you-wish-taking-into-account-what-is-said-below/ 

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/03/20/eu-and-corona-totalitarianism-for-people-suffering-for-animals/ 

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/03/18/portugal-mobile-coffin-crashed-100-creatures-dead/ 

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/02/29/eu-to-uk-want-a-trade-deal-you-must-do-better-animal-welfare-like-us/ 

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/02/29/lithuania-poland-croatia-slovenia-israeljourney-to-death/ 

 

corona tiere in Staujpg

 

Environmental

from the life of the penguins

pinguine-mit kleinen

When talking about penguins, most people automatically have the image of the emperor penguin in their heads. They are so distinctive with their cream-white bellies, the shiny black head, back, tail and wings and the golden yellow pattern on the beak, head and chest.

kaiser Pinguin mit Kleinem

The emperor penguin is simply magnificent! At 1.15 m, it is also the largest of the 17 species of penguins and also the only bird that inhabits Antarctica all year round – even for rearing young animals, during which they wind in freezing temperatures of up to – 60 ° C and snow storms endured up to 200 km / h.

pinguinen koloniepg

In order not to cool down, they hug each other in large groups and keep themselves and the others warm. Alternately, they slide into the warm interior of the group and share the task of standing on the edge as a wind damper. This ensures the survival of the whole group.

In the sea, the emperor penguins can dive farther than any other bird up to 564 m and remain under water for 20 minutes.

When fleeing predators and hunting fish, octopus or krill, they can reach speeds of 3.4 m / s. Natural enemies are giant petrels, skua, sea leopards and orcas.

Man-made threats include climate change, overfishing, pollution of the oceans from microplastics, ghost nets, leaking oil, chemicals or radioactive material.

Most of the breeding colonies are on solid sea ice plates that freeze to the land mass in autumn and slowly break open in spring. We know of emperor penguins that have walked 280 km to reach the open sea.

However, the rising temperatures caused by global warming will shrink the available breeding areas and overfishing reduces the food supply.

Sea Shepherd Deutschland

 

Brief information on this …The miniature penguins (Eudyptula minor) live in New Zealand and Australia and as the name suggests, the miniature penguins are the smallest species among the penguins.
They have an average height of 33 centimeters.

zwerg_penguin

In return, they are among the penguin species that are easiest to observe, because they do not live far away in Antarctica, but close to New Zealand and Australian cities. For a long time, biologists had considered these two populations as a single species – and were wrong.
They found a very strong genetic pattern according to which the New Zealand penguins differed significantly from the Australian penguins.

My best regards to all, Venus

Live Transport

EU: “If you do nothing to solve a problem, you are part of the problem yourself”.

 

Tiertransport-Kaelber-AA`s pg

Last night, 42 MEPs sent a letter to the EU Commission. Many animal transports have been at the border for hours as a result of the border closure measures in the context of the Covid 19 virus across borders by drivers, zookeepers and border guards.

To stop animal suffering, we call on the Commission to:

-Suspension of all exports of live farm animals by land and sea to non-EU countries
-Suspension of all live livestock transports on journeys of more than 8 hours between Member States
-Ensure rapid communication between senior veterinarians and national contact points to help organizers of cattle breeding events, avoid long queues at border crossings or refuse entry through certain countries.

Click to access Covid-19-and-cross-border-transport-of-live-animals.pdf

Good news!
The 🚚🚚 traffic jams on the border with Poland have resolved and the handling of 🐮🐷 animal transports is, according to our information, running relatively smoothly again. Nevertheless, the long transport routes mean agony for the animals.

This suffering must finally end!
Support our petition: ✍️ https://help.four-paws.org/de-DE/stoppt-grausame-lebendtiertransporte

Polen Grenze

https://www.facebook.com/4PFOTEN/

And I mean…A MEP`s initiative that is very commendable.
The letter is important for the following reason: The pressure on the unsuitable commission comes from the own circles. That is the only reason why it can work!

As with animal transports, the EU has offered nothing in this crisis. To put it very clearly, it is totally “out” and it is nowhere in demand.

But now internal pressure is being used, now the EU has to react to save its internal status, and maybe the good news of the normalization of animal transport to Poland is thanks to this letter.

At least the risk of infection that could arise inside the trucks and the generation of new bacteria is something that should force the EU to act.

 

My best regards to all, Venus