Day: May 17, 2021

Hunting

UK: Anglers demand legal killing of otters

Hunting and pollution drove otters to the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but now they are back.

Their widespread return to our waterways is one of few recent successes for Britain’s beleaguered wildlife. Yet instead of celebrating the return of this beautiful animal, extremist anglers have launched a petition to have its legal protections removed.

Incredibly, the petition calls for the complete removal of all legal protections currently enjoyed by the otter.

Otter Cruelty

The petition is only the latest salvo in a long running anti-otter campaign by anglers who complain that otters take ‘their’ fish from waterways or fish farms.

In March 2020, for example, Dorset fishery owner Stuart Jones was jailed for two months after trapping and shooting an otter in front of horrified holiday makers.
Jones killed the otter rather than pay for otter-proof fencing.

No Laughing Matter

Anti-otter sentiment is rife in angling circles. Particularly unpleasant are the Predation Action Group, a lobby organisation composed of anglers and fish farmers.

Their hypocrisy is astounding: they breed fish – for ‘sport’ or ‘food’ – in filthy, cruel and cramped conditions and then complain when otters are attracted to this over-abundance of natural prey.

The PAG’s own ‘report’ reveals the grim nature of their activities:

“These are intensive operations involving huge numbers of fish, farmed in a relatively small area, being kept in concrete tanks or earth ponds.”

As if this was not bad enough …PAG’s patron is ‘comedian’ Jim Davidson!!!

Not funny: PAG patron Jim Davidson

Sound familiar?

This situation is analogous with what happens on grouse moors or pheasant shoots. An artificially high number of animals are bred to be killed and any potential predators are then ruthlessly snared, poisoned or beaten to death.

It is a certainty that anglers are already killing otters – just as gamekeepers continue to kill birds of prey.

Their petition just shows they want to do it with impunity.

Direct Action Against ALL Bloodsports

None of this surprises the HSA which has always opposed shooting and fishing, as well as hunting with hounds.

These activities are inherently cruel and cause huge environmental damage along the way.

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/anglers-target-otters/

And I mean…Instead of killing defenseless animals, which are very popular in England, the anglers should buy their meat and fish from the supermarket – if it absolutely has to be meat.
Angling fish although they don’t need it to survive is a bloody sport, the otter needs it to survive, otherwise it will starve to death.

The Barbel Society Officers have recently launched a petition on the government website calling for the removal of the current legal protected status of otters.
This follows on from their 2018 petition calling for ‘non-lethal controls’ which was comprehensively rejected by the government.

The petition organisers should be honest. Their petition is a doomed call to the government to remove legal protection for otters so that they can be culled- what the hunters have been doing illegally up to now anyway.

That’s what the organisers have been calling for on social media and elsewhere and that’s exactly how it’s already being perceived by the public.
That means: what they will achieve is that hundreds of thousands of people will stand against this bloody sport.

We are confident that the government will refuse the legal murder of otters this time even more violently than the last one

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

UK: Historic Progress For Animals Announced – A View From Phil; CEO ‘Compassion In World Farming’.

WAV Comment – Good animal friend; long time live exports campaigner, and environmentalist / farm animal campaigner, Philip, CEO at Compassion In World Farming, shares his feelings about progress for animals and their welfare in the UK last week; re the Queens Speech on upcoming government actions to change legislation.

CIWF

Historic Progress For Animals Announced

This week has been an historic moment for animal welfare in the UK with plans for key reforms announced by government, including legal recognition of animal sentience and a ban on live exports. These, and a suite of other measures, were outlined first in the Queen’s Speech and then in a Defra Action Plan. In total, 40 measures have been unveiled covering farmed, wild and companion animals, which together add up to the biggest welfare shake-up in a generation.

Plans are only as good as the implementation, of course, and Compassion will press hard to ensure government intentions become law. The reforms will be introduced as a series of Bills, with the one recognising animal sentience already having been introduced to the House of Lords.

The Bill provides legal recognition that vertebrate animals are sentient beings and intends assurance that their ability to suffer pain and experience joy, if we let them, will be taken into account in future government policies. Legal recognition of animals as sentient creatures has long been a cornerstone of our work at Compassion. Indeed, it was our founder, Peter Roberts, who first launched the idea in the 1980s. The battle was first won in the European Union in 1997 when legal recognition was attached as a protocol and then later an article in the EU treaty. As the recognition was in the EU treaty rather than a specific law, it wasn’t transposed into British legislation post-Brexit. The government’s new Bill proposes to rectify the situation.

Our story | Compassion in World Farming
All those years ago – Peter Roberts (foreground), Founder CIWF protests about intensive animal farming.

Another of our longstanding campaigns has been for a ban on the live export trade for slaughter and fattening. Always cruel and unnecessary, this trade has continued down the decades despite overwhelming public opposition. Quite why is a mystery, given the trade’s insignificance to the farming industry when set against overall meat exports.

It is a hugely welcome moment then that the UK government now proposes to end this indefensible trade once and for all. The proposal, of course, comes soon after our own Judicial Review of the Scottish Government over calf exports.

It is also tremendously important that these reforms are quickly followed with bans on other indefensible factory farm practices, including the keeping of mother pigs and chickens in cages.

Factory farming is finally being recognised more widely for what it is — a cruel and deeply damaging form of farming that only makes worse the climate, nature and pandemic emergencies now facing society.

What is crucial now is that Parliament and the UK government takes this opportunity to not only make these key reforms, but also to push on and end all forms of factory farming.

Thank you to everyone who has marched through the streets, written letters, signed petitions, switched their eating habits and got stories in the media calling for these reforms. It is testimony to your efforts over decades.

Whilst celebrating these hugely welcome plans, it is more important than ever before that we keep up the pressure until every last animal is free from the suffering of factory farming.

Philip Lymbery

Historic Progress For Animals Announced | by Philip Lymbery | May, 2021 | Medium

https://www.ciwf.org.uk/

Environmental, General News

England: ‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields

‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields

Andy Gray, Elston Farm, Devon.

Read the full article of someone who is anything but a fool:

‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields | Trees and forests | The Guardian

Andy Gray stands beside an enormous hill of bare red earth and smiles with a hint of mischief. This is his best field, its soils known as Crediton red land. The region was once known for producing swedes prized by Covent Garden market. Now, every six metres, planted in rows 14 metres apart, stands a tree guard shielding a young oak, aspen or alder.

“You can grow anything on it and I’m planting trees,” says Gray, a 16th-generation Devon farmer. “I’m seen as the fool on the hill. One neighbour said ‘you might as well concrete it over and build houses’. They could be right. Who knows?”

Andy Gray, Elston Farm, Devon
Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

UK: Company To Save 170,000 Pigs By Scaling Up Cell-Cultured Meat Production In The UK.
Ivy Farm Technologies plans to save 170,000 pigs by developing pioneering cell-cultured meat technology
The company claims it can produce cell-culture meat more efficiently than any other country in the world Credit: Supplied

Company To Save 170,000 Pigs By Scaling Up Cell-Cultured Meat Production In The UK

It comes after predictions that a staggering 60 percent of all meat consumed in 2040 will not come from dead animals

A company spawn from Oxford University is scaling up cell-cultured meat production in the UK – using technology developed in the same building as the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Ivy Farm Technologies plans to remove the equivalent of 170,000 pigs from the production line by producing over 12,000 tonnes of pork.

Ivy Farm Technologies

The process works by taking a small number of cells from a pig and placing them in a bioreactor. Once vitamins and nutrients are added, it is ready for harvest. This takes around three to four weeks.

Since developing the system, Ivy Farm is raising £16 million in order to build a pilot research and development production facility near the university.

It will mark the first step in the plan to become global industry leaders.

Moreover, the company says the ‘scaffold system’ it developed means it can produce cells more quickly and cheaply than any other technology currently available across the world.

It hopes to roll out slaughter-free sausages in supermarkets and restaurants by 2023.

‘Great for meat-lovers’

Co-founder Russ Tucker is eyeing putting the UK on the map in the cell-cultured meat sector.

In a statement sent to PBN, he said: “If you look at the world around us, the way we currently produce and consume food is unsustainable. “Cultured meat is the silver bullet – through cutting-edge technology, we can provide real, high-quality meat while saving the planet.”

Russ Tucker, Ivy Farm Technologies“Already nearly half the worldwide harvest is required to feed livestock and that’s only going to go up.

“Cultured meat is the silver bullet – through cutting-edge technology, we can provide real, high-quality meat while saving the planet.“Ivy Farm will be great for the environment, great for meat lovers, and great for animals as there’s no slaughter.”

Slaughter-free

People are becoming more interested in trying cell-cultured meat. According to Ivy Farm, more than 50 percent are willing to buy it.

It comes after the predictions claim a staggering 60 percent of all meat consumed in 2040 will not come from dead animals.

Rich Dillon, Ivy Farm Chief Executive, said: “Make no mistake, cultured meat is here to stay. It’s a compelling proposition – real meat, guilt-free.“We believe our technology is among the best in the world and that we can fly the flag for Britain.”

Currently, the company is in talks with the Food Standards Agency. They will have to authorize the products before they can be sold. 

Company To Save 170,000 Pigs Through Cell-Cultured Meat Production (plantbasednews.org)

Good news to stop a lot of abuse like this below;

Regards Mark

General News, Stray Animals, Uncategorized

Greece: Article and Support Link for the Stray Dogs of Loutraki Landfill.

The Tragic Story of Greece’s Loutraki Landfill Dogs

the Loutraki Landfill’s Garbage Dogs
The Loutraki Landfill dogs. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs

Julie from Manchester, England, has been in contact with us.

Julie’s message was bout animal welfare in Greece, especially the stray dogs lving off the Loutraki Landfill.

Julie has written a story about these dogs, which has been published in different magazines and newspapers.  Here is a link to one of those:

The Tragic Story of Greece’s Loutraki Landfill Dogs

Loutraki Landfill’s Garbage Dogs
One of the Loutraki Landfill dogs is seen trying to find something to eat in the garbage. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs

Please check this excellent article out, which has many pictures of the strays and individuals who are devoted to helping them.  Aphrodite Tsoulaka, the Greek volunteer who has taken on the mammoth task of helping the dogs at the landfill, does not expect anything in return other than the gratification of seeing them living in better conditions.

If you want to make a donation to help the dogs or to visit the Facebook page dedicated to help and support for the dogs; all the information is given in the article.

The Tragic Story of Greece’s Loutraki Landfill Dogs

Check out an additional article (including video) by clicking here:

Takis’ Shelter: The Greek Man Who Devotes His Life to Animals (video) (greekreporter.com)

Regards Mark

A dog drinking water from puddles on the landfill
A dog drinking water from a filthy puddle at the landfill. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs
landfill dogs

Animal Saviour – Tsoulaka feeding her landfill dogs. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs