Day: April 12, 2021

General News

Bulgaria: Close the Lovech Zoo!

#Close Cruel Cages: Six bears in concrete pits at Lovech Zoo!

Six bears, two tigers, and two lions are kept under terrible conditions at the Lovech Zoo in Bulgaria.

Image: Four Paws

The concrete and outdated enclosures are neither suitable for keeping animals in a species-appropriate manner nor for accommodating other animals.
The zoo must prevent the animals from reproducing and must not accept new bears.

Nevertheless, the brown bears continue to reproduce, the last cub was born in January 2020.

During a visit in January 2021, a FOUR PAWS team got a picture on site. We were particularly shocked by the concrete enclosure of three bears. It had no natural vegetation, no places to retreat or hide.

At the time of our visit, the floor was covered with feces.

Image: Four Paws

The enclosures for the bears, lions, and tigers as well as those for some of the other animal species in the zoo are far removed from species-appropriate housing conditions and we see no possibility of converting them into suitable enclosures.

We, therefore, demand an end to breeding and the relocation of animals for which no suitable facilities can be made available.

Image: Four Paws

Support our work for a better life for animals in Bulgarian zoos and sign the petition here: http://bit.ly/cages-bulgaria
© FOUR PAWS | Hristo Vladev

Additional information: The lion cubs Simba and Kossara are the youngest victims to be born in a cruel cage, this time in a small and aging public institution in the town of Blagoevgrad in southwestern Bulgaria.
Her birth in early July, which allegedly was the result of inbreeding, was kept secret, but a few days later the media found out about it and reported on the little weakened pups.

In response to public pressure, the local authorities in Blagoevgrad organized the puppies to be taken to a veterinary clinic in the capital Sofia.

FOUR PAWS offered advice from experienced game rangers and rescuers for the puppies to give them the best possible care and medical care they urgently needed.

But the responsible authorities avoided meeting FOUR PAWS and at the end of August arranged that the pups should be secretly taken to an equally horrific facility in Bulgaria.

As a result, Kossara and Simba have ended up in a cruel cage in Varna, in a similarly unsuitable and hopeless situation as they were when they were born.

It is the fourth time in three years that lion cubs have been born in Bulgaria under appalling conditions and with bleak prospects.

For years, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water has legalized unsuitable facilities where various species of wildlife are kept by granting them a zoo permit without ensuring that they meet standards of husbandry and education.
Even the still illegal facilities have been allowed to continue to keep and breed wildlife.

This suffering has to stop. We need your help to save Simba, Kossara, and other wildlife like them from living in these cruel cages, and we urge the Bulgarian Prime Minister and the European Commissioner for the Environment to see Bulgaria end the legalization of inappropriate wildlife management!
#CloseCruelCages

We have to try.
At the moment we cannot offer these victims any other alternative besides the petition and the mobilization of the media.
Therefore: Sign the petition and share

My best regards to all, Venus

Farm Animals, General News

USA: Abject Suffering and Cruelty Required In Dairy – DxE Investigates – Watch the Video.

WAV Comment – with thnks to Stacey as always; regards Mark.

Watch the video on ‘Our Compass’ here:

Abject suffering & cruelty required in dairy | Our Compass (our-compass.org)

Source Direct Action Everywhere Instagram

In 2017, I entered a Land O’ Lakes dairy farm in California with a team of DxE investigators and the horrors I saw sent me on an unexpected journey. Was this farm just an anomaly, or was this routine treatment of dairy cows and their babies? I couldn’t understand how the dairy industry gets away with such cruelty – especially a company like Land O’ Lakes that boasts about following strict animal welfare guidelines. 

I have now gone into 14 Land O’ Lakes farms in California and Wisconsin, the nation’s top dairy-producing states. With the help of more than 20 grassroots investigators, we now have footage proving that this company routinely violates its own welfare standards, as well as animal cruelty laws.  

We have a 2 minute video proving that Land O’Lakes is going out of its way to mislead customers. Please watch and share on Facebook or Instagram (or above).

We’re reporting this cruelty, reaching out to company representatives, and sharing our findings with journalists. The Fresno Bee just published a story about our investigation findings which you can read and share here (or see below).  

Don’t be fooled by false advertising about “happy cows” and “pure milk.” There is nothing happy nor pure about the dairy industry, and when we take direct action, we can expose that.

Many thanks to everyone who helped with this investigation on the ground, and to all of you supporting online. Together, we are shattering the “humane” myth and making real progress for animal rights. If you can support this work financially, please chip in here. 

Alexandra

Source The Fresno Bee

By Joshua Tehee

The animal rights activist group Direct Action Everywhere is leveling claims of animal abuse at several Land O’Lakes dairy operations in the central San Joaquin Valley, including Zonneveld Dairy near Laton in Fresno County.

On Wednesday, Berkeley-based group released the findings of a three-year investigation it did at 14 of the company’s farms both in Wisconsin and in California.

Among the facilities were Zonneveld Dairy in Laton; Kasbergen Dairy, Curtimade Dairy, FernJo Farms, and Mancebo Holsteins in Tulare; Fern Oaks Dairy in Porterville; Giacomazzi Dairy and Grimmius Calf Ranch in Hanford; and Tony A Nunes in Visalia.

The investigation found dozens of violations of both Land O’Lakes company animal welfare policy and California law, according to the group, which said it has video footage showing newborn calves being dragged by their hind legs and dumped from a backhoe, among other things.

The group said it will file criminal complaints against the farms on Wednesday with letters of support from a veterinarian and a former federal prosecutor, both of whom have seen the videos, the group said.

A Land O’Lakes representative said the company was not aware of the allegations as of Tuesday afternoon, but that animal care is a top priority for the company and its member-owners.

“Participation in the National Milk Producers Federation’s National Dairy FARM Program is a mandatory condition of Land O’Lakes, Inc. dairy membership and we are committed to maintaining compliance with all aspects of the program and the science that guides its development,” the representative said in an email statement.

This is not the first time Direct Action Everywhere has taken action against a Land O’Lakes operation.

Members of the group, including former “Baywatch” actress Alexandra Paul, protested alleged abuse at Zonneveld Dairy farm in 2017. The group also removed a calf from the ranch, in what it called a night-time rescue operation.

It’s also not the first time the group has had sights on Valley farms.

In 2018, three women were arrested at a ranch north of Oakdale while trying to remove an apparently dying calf from the property.

And last month, the group protested outside Harris Ranch in Coalinga, after asking the Fresno County District Attorney’s office to investigate the company’s beef processing facility in Selma. Direct Action Everywhere claimed to have hidden camera video footage showing excessive suffering of animals at the slaughterhouse.

Joshua Tehee covers breaking news for The Fresno Bee, with a focus on entertainment and a heavy emphasis on the Central Valley music scene. You can see him share the area’s top entertainment options Friday mornings on KMPH’s “Great Day” and read more of his work here.

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Farm Animals

The film ‘The Scam’- poultry industry in Israel

Documentation of the disposal of laying hens – worldwide
As the chickens’ egg-laying yield decreases, the poultry industry rushes to dispose of them at a young age
The method used in Israel and around the world is to use an electric vehicle and to kill the animals with an electric shock.

In this video is the case in the Czech Republic

You can see workers simply filling trash cans in the barn with animals.
Most of them suffocate and from there spill into a large container.
This method is illegal in Israel

However, a few years ago we were able to document this violation twice.
In two different chicken coops in the Sharon area and most likely – according to the undercover worker video that nobody knows – it is proven that in most cases this method is also used here in Israel.
The industry wants to accelerate the destruction process.

It is very difficult to take over and dispose of a basket of hundreds of thousands of laying hens.
And if you take them out one by one, it can take days and that costs money and time, this cruel method saves both.
The tortured chickens pay the price to maximize profits

With cruelty and slow death, they will suffocate in the can along with the rest of their sisters.

You can find more information about the poultry industry in Israel in the film ‘The Scam’:

https://youtu.be/oLv64GyST

Glass Walls

And I mean…The video is of course linguistically inaccessible to most of us
But still, after the first five minutes, you have the feeling that you know these pictures. That this or similar pictures have been seen.

That is why this video speaks a universal language.

Every country in the world practices this fascist system of exploitation of the “other” animals.
Animals suffer from the violence of those who have rights, of people.
And that all over the world.

Even the very best animal protection law does not grant animals any rights, but only restricts the power of disposition of humans against animals.
The best that can happen to them is mercy or pity, and we know how slim those prospects are.
Every special video actually has the function of unveiling the injustice and making the invisible visible.
Because the animal industry relies on isolation and total secrecy.

There are many ways to give voice to the other species and to make their pain public and express it.
We have cleared up to their lawyers.

No method is better or worse than the other, each has its special moment when it can develop its power and effect.

Realizing this is the really more important basis of animal rights defense.

My best regards to all, Venus