Month: January 2021

General News, Uncategorized

USA: Animal Outlook Demands Investigation of Bravo Packing.

Animal Outlook Demands Investigation of Bravo Packing

 DECEMBER 11, 2020 ANIMALS,  INVESTIGATIONS,  NEWS LEAVE A COMMENT

Pet food maker Bravo Packing has long, sordid past of filthy conditions, contaminated products

Animal Outlook’s legal team filed a complaint with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDH) regarding Bravo Packing. Bravo Packing (not affiliated with Bravo Pet Foods) produces and distributes food for dogs and exotic animals. The company has a long history of troubling animal abuse allegations and food safety concerns. Yet it has failed to resolve dangerous contamination issues despite complaints, FDA warnings and at least one recall. 

Past violations include exotic animal food made from horses that was contaminated with the euthanasia drug Pentobarbital as well as repeated instances of Salmonella contamination in the plant’s Performance Dog Diet food. Government inspection reports cite egregious violations of food safety protocol, threatening the health and welfare of thousands of people and animals exposed to Bravo’s tainted products. 

Evidence of Salmonella

In October 2020, Animal Outlook obtained a sample of Performance Dog Diet food from one of Bravo’s distributors in California. A laboratory test revealed evidence of Salmonella. This makes four times in as many years that Bravo products intended for animal food were found to contain dangerous contamination.

In addition to food safety issues like those discovered at Bravo Packing, many consumers are unaware that farmed animals suffer immeasurably within the loosely regulated pet food industry. One study found the DNA of eight different species of animals present in a selection of commercial pet foods, including cows, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, geese and turkeys. Many of these animals—often sick, injured, or unable to walk—were deemed unfit for human consumption and their bodies, including “blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, and stomach and rumen contents” make their way into pet food. 

For years, Bravo has used the bodies of horses and cows to produce food in filthy, squalid conditions with utter disregard for the safety of humans and animals alike. Animal Outlook’s complaint urges the FDA and the NJDH to penalize Bravo to the fullest extent of the law, including criminal charges, fines and a permanent suspension of operations. The agencies must act swiftly to protect consumers and their cherished animal family members from Bravo’s reckless disregard for health and safety. 

Animal Outlook Demands Investigation of Bravo Packing
Environmental, General News

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tells world leaders Coronavirus was triggered by ‘demented’ people who ‘grind up the scales of a pangolin’ in a bid to become more ‘potent’.

It's a mammal. It looks like an artichoke. And China is driving it toward extinction - Los Angeles Times

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson blames Chinese for coronavirus pandemic telling world leaders it was triggered by ‘demented’ people who ‘grind up the scales of a pangolin’ in a bid to become more ‘potent’

  • He made the remarks in a virtual speech to the One Planet Summit yesterday
  • Pangolins are heavily-trafficked scaly anteater-like creatures found across Asia
  • Endangered species blamed for transmitting the virus from bats to humans

Read the full article at:

Boris Johnson blames Chinese for Covid saying pandemic triggered by ‘demented’ traditional medicine | Daily Mail Online

Pakistan's pangolin threatened by Chinese demand |The Third Pole

Consider alternatives to pangolin scales, traditional Chinese medicine professors urge at conservation conference in Hong Kong | South China Morning Post

Pangolin scale medicines no longer covered by Chinese insurance | National Geographic

Regards Mark

Environmental, General News, Hunting

Japan: They Love Killing Whales – Campaigners condemn killing of minke whale trapped in nets in Japan.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/11/campaigners-condemn-killing-of-minke-whale-trapped-in-nets-in-japan

Campaigners condemn killing of minke whale trapped in nets in Japan

Animal killed with what appeared to be exploding harpoon, after one ‘half-hearted’ attempt to free it

Animal welfare campaigners have condemned the killing of a trapped minke whale off the coast of Taiji, a town in Japan best known for its annual dolphin cull.

The young whale, which had been trapped inside nets since 24 December, was killed early on Monday morning before being taken ashore wrapped in blue tarpaulin, according to the Humane Society International (HSI).

Ren Yabuki, an animal rights activist who filmed the whale throughout its 19-day ordeal, said fishermen tied a rope around its tail fin and forced its head beneath the water, where it took around 20 minutes to die.

Death in such situations usually occurs because the whale clamps its blowhole shut and suffocates.

https://08a329b999cc698168698249c8f9dd9c.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html “Oh, no! The fishermen have killed the minke whale now,” Yabuki can be heard saying as he continued to film. “I’m so sorry … oh, no.”

HSI said it was “devastated” and “horrified” by the whale’s death, days after it and other animal welfare groups had called for its release.

“We feel saddened by this dreadful outcome. It is soul-destroying to think that by merely lifting the net three weeks ago, this poor animal could have been swimming free instead of being trapped in prolonged distress only to be harpooned and butchered for commercial sale in local markets,” HSI’s animal welfare programme manager, Georgie Dolphin, said in a statement.

The local fishing cooperative said last week it would attempt to free the whale, which measured about four or five metres in length, but added that the animal’s size and strong tidal currents could make that impossible.

Yabuki, the director of the Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency, said he had witnessed fishers make only one half-hearted attempt to free the animal soon after it became trapped.

Japan abandoned its “scientific” whaling programme in the Antarctic after years of international pressure, but resumed commercial whaling in its own waters in July 2019. This year Japanese whalers will be permitted to catch up to 383 large whales, including 171 minkes, HSI said.

“While we mourn the tragic passing of this animal, we know that a similar brutal end comes to many more whales off the coast of Japan every year. They are the silent victims of Japan’s continued commercial whaling” Dolphin said. “What was rare was for it to be witnessed.”

Taiji, located in a remote part of the Pacific coast, attracted global attention after the 2009 release of the award-winning documentary The Cove, which followed fishers as they pursued dolphins in the town’s annual “drive hunts”.

Some of the animals are spared and sold to aquariums and marine parks for huge sums, while others are slaughtered for their meat.

Taiji’s fishers have defended the dolphin cull, telling the Guardian that hunting cetaceans was part of the town’s heritage and a vital source of income for the local economy.

  • This article was updated on 12 January to correct the description of how the whale was killed.

Regards Mark

Great article by The Guardian as always !

Hunting

Six gorilla rangers murdered in Congo’s Virunga national park

Virunga National Park, Africa’s most biodiverse protected area, exists to protect 1/3 of the world’s wild mountain gorillas, over one thousand species of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian, and provide a brighter future to more than four million people affected by conflict.

 

It is with immense sadness that Virunga National Park confirms the deaths of 6 Park Rangers in an attack by armed assailants on the morning of Sunday 10th January 2021. 1 other Ranger was seriously wounded in the assault.

The Ranger has been evacuated to a hospital in Goma and his injuries are no longer considered life-threatening.

At approximately 07.30am local time, the Rangers were ambushed while on foot patrol inside the Park. The attack took place near Kabuendo, which is located near the border of the Park, in the Central sector, between Nyamilima and Niamitwitwi.

Virunga Park-Ranger and his friend-gorilla

Preliminary investigations indicate that the Rangers were taken by surprise and had no opportunity to defend themselves and that those responsible for the attack are local Mai-Mai groups.

The identities of the Rangers who lost their lives are:

-BURHANI ABDOU Surumwe, aged 30 years
-KAMATE MUNDUNAENDA Alexis, aged 25 years
-MANENO KATAGHALIRWA Reagan, aged 27 years
-KIBANJA BASHEKERE Eric, aged 28 years
-PALUKU BUDOYI Innocent, aged 28 years
-NZABONIMPA NTAMAKIRIRO Prince, aged 27 years

Virunga National Park deeply regrets the tragic loss of life among its Rangers, who work tirelessly and with the dedication to protect both the Park and the neighboring communities from the tyranny of armed groups.

Their sacrifice will not be forgotten nor be in vain.

The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Virunga National Park are with the families and friends of all the victims, as well as the injured Ranger.

The Rangers of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature are agents of the Congolese State. They do not have military status and their actions do not fall under the law of conflict. All efforts will be undertaken to bring the perpetrators to justice and sustain the rule of law within the Park.

Virunga National Park remains committed to delivering development initiatives that benefit local people and the wider region, and to working in partnership with local communities to bring peace and prosperity to many millions of people whose lives have for too long been blighted by conflict and the activities of armed groups.

The Virunga National Park (Parc National des Virunga), in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is 7,800-square-kilometres (3,000 sq mi) stretching from the Virunga Mountains in the South, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the North, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and the Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.

The park was established in 1925 as Africa’s first national park and is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site since 1979.

In recent years poaching and the Congo Civil War have seriously damaged its wildlife population.

Virunga National Park-Rangers

The park is managed by the Congolese National Park Authorities, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), and its partner the Virunga Foundation.

The Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) is a Congolese governmental partner tasked with the protection and conservation of the Virunga National Park and Kahuzi-Biega National Park, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Members of the ICCN are charged with the overall protection of the parks and the endangered Mountain Gorilla.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55611203

Sechs Gorilla-Ranger im Hinterhalt im Virunga-Nationalpark getötet – Six gorilla rangers killed in ambush at DR Congo’s Virunga national park

And I mean…“Every day when the patrols set out, we know that they may come under fire. We know we may lose someone or we may be killed ourselves. This is not an easy profession. Losing your friends and colleagues is very painful. But we chose to do this, and we know the risks,” said Innocent Mburanumwe, the deputy director of Virunga national park.

Getting a job as a ranger in the Virunga National Park is not easy.

First are the challenges of brute force: running several miles while carrying a heavy pack, and climbing 14,000-foot mountains in less than a day.
There are tests of survival skills and orienteering through one of the densest forests on the planet.
Then come the more nuanced abilities: marksmanship, spotting small camouflaged objects through binoculars, and an exam to identify and describe various animals and plants.

And finally, there’s the interview, where the selection panel tries to get to the root of the most important question: how much do you really care?

Is this just a job to you, or something more, something for which you’re willing to risk your life?

When spending time with the animals, the battle-tested, elite Virunga rangers soften, smiling reflexively beneath the surgical masks required to minimize the chances of disease transmission.

“These animals are so amazing,” one ranger says. “It was a switch in my mind – after seeing them, I knew I had to do everything possible to protect them.”

Virunga National Park has always been dangerous!
On December 27, 1985, a staff member found Dian Fossey’s half-naked body in her cabin in Virunga National Park.
The murder was never solved.

It is a shame for humanity that armed guards are needed to protect the last specimens of the mountain gorillas.

We mourn the death of the gangers very much. It is a crime of the worst kind that must be punished as severely as possible

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

UK: New Viva! Research: 9 in 10 Britons Want Intensive Farming Methods BANNED.

End Factory Farming Logo

New Viva! Research: 9 in 10 Britons want intensive farming methods BANNED
 

Our new poll reveals that an astounding 85 percent of people want to introduce an immediate ban on intensive factory farming.

We also found that some 31 percent of Britons are set to slash their meat consumption or go vegan in 2021 amid Covid-19 concerns. Londoners are set to make the biggest change to their diets – with around 44 percent vowing to avoid animal products.

Additional links:

Viva! poll – 9 in 10 Britons want intensive farming methods banned amid virus fears | Markets Insider (businessinsider.com)v

European Business Cision Daily News – European Business Magazine

Viva! poll – 9 in 10 Britons want intensive farming methods banned amid virus fears (yahoo.com)

ACTION

Open letter to UK government – please sign:

End factory farming – Go Vegan Now! | Viva! – The Vegan Charity

It’s time to go vegan

As you know, 3 in 4 of the world’s new or emerging infectious diseases such as coronavirus come from animals – mainly from factory farming and the trade in wildlife. This means that 57 zoonotic diseases were responsible for an estimated 2.6 billion cases of human illness and 4.4 million deaths in 2020.

But the good news is, experts agree a vegan diet can help people lose weight, reverse diabetes, lower their blood pressure and cholesterol, reducing their risk of severe Covid-19

We must go vegan now to prevent future pandemics!

Flat house factory video investigation:

The Flat House Factory | End Factory Farming Before It Ends Us – YouTube

General News, Stray Animals

SAV and SAV Facebook. Animal Sites.

WAV Comment – Other sites founded by us in the past.

Please check them out if you have time.

SAV Facebook – shows tons relating to rescued animals in need of homes and veterinary care.

(17) Serbian Animals Voice | Facebook

and

SAV – founded in 2005 for Serbian stray animal protection.

Learn a lot here about Serbian Stray animals.

Click on the following for the site:

Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) | a voice for the voiceless

Check them out if you have time.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

When animals need you, you have to take action

How to push a sheep!

 

These sheep in video need help.

If a sheep lies on its back in the pasture…then it needs your help
It can no longer get back on its own.
If nobody helps it, it will die relatively quickly
Reason: gases collect in the stomach and the animal bursts internally
Quick help is required, as follows:

1) regardless of whether the sheep is kicking or lying motionless … go to the pasture and check the situation

2) if the sheep is alive, stand behind its back and …
reaches into his wool with courage

3) roll it back to its feet with momentum
The sheep will not harm you and you cannot do anything wrong

By the way, you save not just one life … but usually two
Many of the sheep are pregnant or suckling lambs

https://www.facebook.com/watch/tieresuchen/

And I can say: I did it too, and very often, because I live in the Black Forest and am surrounded by “farm”- animals.
It’s very easy.
The only thing to overcome is the feeling that you might hurt the sheep a bit if you pull its wool.
No problem! Sheep have a lot of space under their wool.
But even if it does … it will soon forget that as soon as it returns to its comrades.

regards and have a good night, Venus

General News, Stray Animals

Great News – A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS: “PROTECTION AND CARE FOR OUR ANIMALS” THANKS TO OIPA SIERRA LEONE.

OIPA is an Italian animal welfare organisation. See link below.

A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS: “PROTECTION AND CARE FOR OUR ANIMALS” THANKS TO OIPA SIERRA LEONE

A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS: “PROTECTION AND CARE FOR OUR ANIMALS” THANKS TO OIPA SIERRA LEONE

See loads of photos at A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS: “PROTECTION AND CARE FOR OUR ANIMALS” THANKS TO OIPA SIERRA LEONE | OIPA

It is always a pleasure when we have to announce a new OIPA delegation, especially when the love and commitment for animals comes from countries that, despite the heavy difficulties faced daily by the local population, are still willing to dedicate precious time to the care and protection of animals.

Our International Representative organized a 3 Days Volunteers Recruitment Training session from 22 to 24 of December 2020 to involve people and manage at the end to engage 8 enthusiastic volunteers. The first day of the training was focused on the theme: “The Rights and Protection of Animals “; the second day, held in Kenema city, concerned on “How to Advocate for Animals Protection and Rights” and the third one was based on the topic “The Importance of Animals in Society“.

After the three days of the Volunteer Recruitment session, the team was already on site carrying on a three days session to raise community awareness on animal protection and rights in five communities of Kenema city, one of these was Nyadiama community, covering several households.

The first reaction of dwellers was at first suspicious and hesitant but they gradually became assertive and interested in the awareness process. The topic discussed was “Stop the Cruelty against Animals and Care for them” aimed to educate over the proper treatments and care of animals.

During the awareness sessions, the entire team has been directly involved in rescue operations as many homeless and street animals were found roaming around the communities and some of them clearly in need of help.

A dog, but it was not the only one as the volunteers have met many others along the way, and a sheep has been found homeless looking for food in the spoiled wasted garbage.

The team rescued them and found a home where good-hearted people decided to foster and take care of these lonely animals and thankfully the same has happened for a cat and a dog both with disabilities that were rescued by volunteers finding finally a new home.

Moreover, some other projects of the delegation include:

  • creation of a professional system aimed at serving as advocacy and advisory body to local and state government in laws and policies regulation concerning the rights and protection of animals
  • a research for data collection and evaluation with analysis to develop contents to present to the state government as educational tools helping the authorities to advance effective laws and policies regulation in the best interest of Animals’ rights and protection, included wildlife
  • conduct a mass national operation which intends to foster homeless animals,  removing the most problematic and with health diseases from the streets, and create shelters to care for them

Challenges for OIPA Sierra Leone’s team are many and tough, but volunteers have a great desire to operate on behalf of animal care and protection.

OIPA SIERRA LEONE IS READY TO WRITE A NEW CHAPTER FOR ANIMALS,

but the team needs your help and support.

         EVERY SMALL HELP CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE FOR ANIMALS

             If you want to make a donation, you can specify “OIPA Sierra Leone”

Environmental, General News

USA: Stop Trump’s Last-Ditch Environmental Attacks. On Line Petition – Please Support.

WAV Comment – The USA has never been more divided than under Trump. A final attempt now by the loser that the world hates – “I am going to take my stumps home and sulk” as we say in UK; ‘stumps’ being cricket stumps; to attempt to ruin everyone’s game when you do not get exactly what you want; and sod everyone else.

This president (very soon not to be) is a loser and has spent millions trying to keep himself as the ‘Caligula’ that dominated ancient Rome.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula – “There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, though he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant“

Now, as he always has done in his endless deranged approach to environmental issues; NRDC inform us that he is making a last ditch attempt with environmental attacks; or taking his stumps home yet again !

Please use the ‘Take Action’ link below to add your name to putting this soon to be ex president where he belongs – far away in the deepest wild on his own; so that he can think back to why he lost the second term.  Maybe animal welfare and the environment just has a little bit to do with this ?

 

 

From NRDC:

Stop Trump’s Last-Ditch Environmental Attacks

In the final stretch of his presidency, Donald Trump and his administration are working furiously to sell off our public lands and waters, wreaking havoc on the climate and communities across the country. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Tongass National Forest, and thousands of acres of wildlands have all been put on the auction block for the highest bidder to dig, drill, and mine, which would extensively damage the environment and displace countless Indigenous communities. Demand that Trump and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt immediately halt these desperate, reckless attacks on our planet.

TAKE ACTION

Stop Trump’s Last-Ditch Attacks on the Environment | NRDC

Take Action Wording:

In the final days of his presidency, Donald Trump is still wreaking havoc on our environment and communities — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling for the first time in history, removing protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, allowing more logging and drilling in National Forests, opening hundreds of thousands of acres of land across the west for oil and gas drilling, gutting essential safeguards for millions of birds, and more.

Tell Trump and Interior Secretary Bernhardt that you oppose their final desperate attempts to allow their big polluter allies to pillage public lands and waters and wipe out imperiled wildlife with impunity — and that you support President-elect Biden’s commitments to undo Trump’s reckless actions as soon as he’s sworn in.

Please sign the petition to shut this madmans actions up.