The French Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, announced on 29 September 2020 the gradual ban on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses and on mink farming. As well as the end of the captivity of dolphins and orcas in inadequate dolphinaria, and the implementation of support to improve the detention of wild animals in zoos.
These measures include a ban on the reproduction of wild animals and on the deliverance of authorisation for new travelling establishments with animals. For animals currently in circuses, estimated to be around 500, solutions will be found on a case by case basis.
Although more than 20 Member States have adopted bans or partial bans on all circuses involving wild animals, and more than 400 French cities have banned their presence, the measures announced will only apply to travelling circuses and not to other shows involving wild animals. The minister did not give a detailed timeline, explaining she prefers implementing a process to reach the objectives as quickly as possible.
Dolphinaria
The measures announced include immediate bans on the creation of new establishments with orcas or dolphins and on the reproduction of captive orcas and dolphins. The end of captivity of orcas is planned within two years and of captive dolphins within seven years. The minister even mentioned the idea of a sanctuary to welcome the current captive animals in the three existing parks. The government will invest 8 million euros in the reconversion of circuses and dolphinaria personnel.
Mink farming
The end of mink farming is planned within five years, giving a due date to the remaining four farms left in France. Brigitte Gothière, co-founder of L214 pays tribute to this measure, saying France finally catches up to other European countries, some of which were among the biggest fur producers.
Zoos
Regarding zoos, the measures provide for economical support for the improvement of the welfare of certain species, for instance polar bears. The minister also mentioned that in shows involving wild animals, the public will be prohibited from touching the animals.
5,000 pets found dead in boxes at Chinese shipping depot
At least 5,000 pets were found dead in cardboard shipping boxes last week at a logistics facility in Central China, likely casualties of a miscommunication in the supply chain of China’s thriving mass-breeding industry.
Only a couple hundred animals were saved, and authorities have launched an investigation into the grim discovery in Henan Province, a local animal rescue group told CBS News on Wednesday.
“The station was cluttered with express boxes with thousands of animals that had already died, and the entire place reeks of rotting bodies,” said Sister Hua, the founder of animal rescue group Utopia. She doesn’t use her real name, saying she prefers to keep attention on the animals rather than her personally.
“It was like a living hell,” she told CBS News in a phone interview on Wednesday.
The animals included rabbits, guinea pigs, cats and dogs, all held in plastic or metal cages wrapped in cardboard boxes with breathing holes. They had been left in the boxes without food or water for about a week before they were discovered at the Dongxing Logistics station in Henan’s Luohe city.
“It was obvious they died of suffocation, dehydration and starvation,” said Hua.
Chinese law prohibits the shipping of live animals in normal packaging. Hua said it was likely the animals were bought online as pets but left stranded at the logistics depot because of a delayed collection, as the logistics company involved may have refused to sign off on a shipment violating transport laws.
Through an undercover investigation, our Italian member Essere Animali revealed terrible violence on a pig farm supplying Beretta cured meats.
For 6 weeks, one of our investigators worked at a farm supplying the Fratelli Beretta brand, documenting terrible violence against pigs – even sick pigs – and extremely poor sanitary conditions. Some of the footage was broadcast on TG1 and handed over to the competent authorities in order to lodge a complaint against those responsible.
The images show a worker pulling out a pig’s teeth with pliers because he had been biting other pigs’ tails. A brutal and illegal operation, carried out without anaesthesia or subsequent treatment and which increases the possibility of having to resort to antibiotics. During transport, pigs are moved violently, kicked, hit with blunt objects, grabbed by the ears, lifted off the ground or thrown down by a tractor. As shown in the footage and confirmed by the words of the owner, whenever emergency kills on site are needed pigs are stunned using a captive bolt gun without immediately having their throats slit as required by law. This treatment causes pigs to endure interminable agony.
The sanitary conditions are also very worrying: the pigs are in constant contact with the wet floor that is covered with excrement. Their food is also contaminated with faeces, as the edges of the feeders are too low.
And I mean…In every factory farm in the world, cows are “artificially inseminated” so that milk is continuously produced from their bodies
“Artificially inseminated” is the definition of the milk mafia, that is their language.
In reality, they are raped!
It’s not the only crime against a cow.
After birth, the mother and child are separated immediately.
Milk is for human animals, this perverse habit of still breastfeeding strange milk has only been kept by human animals.
The rape of female animals is very little discussed in public.
Because the ruling species have denied their victims all abilities that are similar or even equal to those that human women would experience if they were raped.
How else would it be possible to exploit cows as milk machines for the rest of their lives, to rape them and still make it legal?
And now we’re back to the language!
So that we get unpunished for our daily murders of animals, we have developed the language of the perpetrators.
If we play down the brutal rape of female animals with “artificial insemination”, then we secure the freedom to treat animals as it suits us.
But animals know the same emotional states as we humans; Fear and pain shake them every time they are raped, and with this, we commit a crime that is not punished only because animals cannot defend themselves.
We want to smash this death machine in the next 10 years.
We have to act politically and put governments under pressure
We have to educate and do street work for the masses.
We remain loyal to the animals and want to stop animal abusers
Unpublished and shocking images inside the ships transporting live animals from Portugal to Israel
5 October 2020
The images were collected inside the ships that regularly transport cattle and sheep from Portugal to Israel.
The videos reveal the shocking reality of live export by showing animals huddled together, without space, injured and sick. The videos also show serious and repeated violations of national and international legislation.
The images are starting to be released within the framework of the newly created European Parliament’s commission of inquiry, which will investigate violations of European legislation that regulates the transport of live animals. Additional images will be delivered to the European Commission, the media and the national authorities that requested them.
These images are unpublished and were captured on several trips throughout 2019. The videos show the animals’ ear tags, confirming their Portuguese origin. The responsibility of the Portuguese State for compliance with the applicable legislation only ends at the moment of disembarkation, no inspection is foreseen on board.
The listing was from a non-profit looking for an undercover investigator. I found it while searching for animal-related positions on a job site that catered to non-profits. The ad said they were looking for someone to work and film inside factory farms and slaughterhouses. Truthfully, I felt a bit out of my depth even before applying. I hadn’t had much exposure to the animal rights movement, besides attending a couple of events during college with a friend. I certainly didn’t have experience working undercover. But I was interested. I had studied Ecology in school because I wanted a job protecting animals. I was newly vegan, so I had some knowledge of the inherent cruelty in animal agriculture. Perhaps most importantly, I read a lot of comic books and was obsessed with being a hero. It looked like this job was everything I was looking for. It would also be the hardest job I’ve ever done.
Despite my enthusiasm, the application process did give me pause. Everything, from the job listing up until you’re actually put into the field, is designed to convince you not to do this type of work. I was warned about stress so intense it made people break down. I was warned about lifelong injuries sustained on the job. I learned that most potential investigators quit before completing their first investigation. I also learned that I wouldn’t fully understand these warnings until I actually experienced fieldwork myself.
They weren’t exaggerating. Everything about the job was hard. I investigated three slaughterhouses during my time in the field—a chicken slaughterhouse, a pig processing plant, and the largest lamb slaughterhouse in the U.S. It never got any easier. When I talk about it now, most think of how horrible it must be to bear witness to cruelty on a daily basis. Investigators, many of whom took this job because of their empathy, have to keep a straight face while animals are beaten, neglected, and slaughtered. They have to pretend everything is fine to maintain their cover, as blood flows freely from the cutthroats of animals just as sentient as your dog or cat at home. Work in slaughterhouses is so devastating that it’s been linked to PTSD and other disorders. To protect and support our investigators, we offer to pay for any mental health services they want.
Maintaining cover also means being able to respond to questioning at a moment’s notice. This is something that was always nerve-wracking for me. Every time I spoke to my coworkers, I was paranoid that they could see right through me. I thought everything I was doing was awkward and at any minute they would surround me and accuse me of being an undercover agent. It’s something that was constantly in the back of my mind, so much so that I still have nightmares about it, and I’ve been out of the field for three years now.
One of the things I was most afraid of was not being able to keep up with the work. As an undercover investigator, you spend months doing tough physical work at high speeds. When I worked in “live hang” at a chicken plant, my coworkers and I had to wedge the bony legs of live chickens into shackles that zoomed by at eye level. The requirement was shackling 24 birds per minute, a ludicrous speed both for the animals and the workers. I remember my joints swelling and constant pain in my hands and back. My coworkers would tell me that’s just how it was to work there. In addition to the injuries from the repetitive movements, meat packing facilities are notoriously dangerous, with workers frequently suffering amputations due to working in close proximity to heavy machinery. This danger is omnipresent during the long, grueling work hours. I frequently worked 12-hour shifts and interviewed for jobs that only gave workers every other weekend off. Investigators work long hours and have to do more investigations-related work when their shifts are done. They can work in a factory farm or slaughterhouse for months.
Though investigators go through stressful experiences, they can’t really talk with many people about them. They’re sent off alone, potentially thousands of miles from home, and are basically barred from telling friends and family what they’re going through. They keep quiet until they’re completely retired from fieldwork. It’s isolating and you often feel very much alone out in the field. I turned to journal writing just to get some of my thoughts out, even though no one would ever see them.
It was really only after I completed an investigation that most of the weight lifted from my shoulders. The stress I was constantly under was replaced by a feeling of accomplishment unlike anything else I’ve experienced. I remember walking out of the pig slaughterhouse on my last day and going straight past my car to a nearby park next to a river. I sat on a bench and just stared out at the river. It’s a feeling like you’ve regained control over your life.
Investigators get a break after finishing work in a facility when they can spend much deserved time at home with the people closest to them. After they’ve had some rest, the investigator serves as an expert, ensuring the accuracy of the investigation release materials produced by the organization. They do interviews and get to see their work released to the general public, often in major media outlets like the Washington Post or The New York Times. We’ve also had footage in documentaries including Eating Animals and What the Health. Letters of support pour in.
We often send investigators a trophy or framed picture to commemorate their accomplishments. Though local law enforcement is often reluctant to prosecute animal cruelty in rural areas, sometimes criminal charges are pressed. We’ve had facilities settle lawsuits with the Department of Justice and companies change their standard practices as a result of our investigations. Each time I saw the impact of my investigations, a second wave of accomplishment washed over me.
Though I struggled in the field, it was worth it to see my footage released to the public. Investigators pride themselves in knowing their work has been seen by thousands or millions of people, some of whom have changed their eating habits as a result of what they were shown. I know the footage is hard to watch, but please do, and share it with others. We’re trying to change the world and we need your help to do it.
World Animals Voice 