Day: June 6, 2021

Farm Animals

Spanien: They kill six wolves and obtain 60,000 euros pretending damage by the animal

A publication of the Fund for the Protection of Wild Animals (Fapas) uncovered a group of farmers who falsified the damage of the wolf in western Asturias.
The news collected by the entity on its website prompted an investigation by the Seprona de Vegadeo, attached to the Oviedo Command.

Tipo de lazo usado en Asturias

The operation took place under the orders of the Castropol Court of First Instance and Instruction, it took place for almost two years and culminated in the arrest of six Asturian farmers, accused of collecting more than 60,000 euros of public funds from the Asturian administration.

Likewise, it was shown that they had killed six wolves that were part of a pack shared between Asturias and Galicia.

In November 2020, a veterinarian from Asturias denounced in the Castropol court irregular practices of farmers who reported alleged attacks suffered by horses and whose cause, they pointed out, was the wolf.

However, the investigation showed that they were false and that the complainants had a very specific modus operandi: they separated the foals from their mothers and then abandoned them in the mountains, getting the canids to attack them and thus collect a subsidy that could reach 900 euros for each one.
This means a profit of between 600 and 700 per animal, since the price of it is between 150 and 300 euros.

From Fapas they assure that some of the animals left in the forest were bought in Galicia, as they are the cheapest specimens.

The Asturian veterinarian also denounced that the farmers fed the wolves so that they could approach the herds. This prompted the court to open an investigation by Seprona.

The proceeding of the defendants in the framework of this operation, baptized as White Fang, was to attract wolves to the area where the foals were located by means of feedlot.

In total, more than 170 horses were killed and linked to the cause between 2019 and 2020. In some cases, farmers falsified the documentation to collect a double subsidy, feigning the death of the same animal twice in six months.

Continue reading “Spanien: They kill six wolves and obtain 60,000 euros pretending damage by the animal” →

Environmental, General News, Uncategorized, Vegan Recipes

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu.

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu

The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit is fast approaching.

Urge the president of COP26 – Alok Sharma – to set a meaningful example during this time of climate emergency by serving a fully vegan menu at the event.

Eating Vegan Is Better for the Environment

The fishing, meat, dairy, and egg industries are not only cruel to animals but also cause catastrophic damage to the environment. For decades, the United Nations has identified animal agriculture as a leading cause of deforestation, pollution, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, species extinction, and zoonotic disease spread.

Plant-based foods have a far smaller carbon footprint than their animal-derived equivalents, even when comparing imported plant proteins to flesh from grass-fed, locally farmed animals. And a switch to vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Quite simply, eating meat and dairy is part of what got us into this mess.

The COP26 Climate Summit Should Set an Example

Given everything we now know about the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment, serving meat, dairy, or eggs at a climate change summit would be like distributing cigarettes at a health convention.

Plants are the way forward, and a vegan menu would not only allow attendees to dine with a clear conscience but also set an important example for the world to follow.

Take action and tell Alok Sharma, president of COP26, to set an example and only serve vegan food at the event:

ACTION:

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu | People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (peta.org.uk)

Regards Mark

Environmental, General News, Hunting, Uncategorized

Asia: Bear paws, pangolin scales: Wildlife trade flourishing in Mekong.
Pangolin scales for sale in a market in Mong La in Myanmar [Courtesy of Chris R Shepherd/TRAFFIC]
Pangolin scales for sale in a market in Mong La in Myanmar [Courtesy of Chris R Shepherd/TRAFFIC]

Bear paws, pangolin scales: Wildlife trade flourishing in Mekong

Investigation finds thousands of illegal animal parts and products at markets across five countries

A new study by TRAFFIC, a group that monitors the illegal trade in wildlife, has found thousands of animal parts and products – from pangolin scales to ivory and bear bile – for sale in five countries in mainland Southeast Asia, underlining the region’s struggle to address wildlife crime and the need to intensify anti-trafficking efforts.

The group says its researchers found close to 78,000 illegal wildlife parts and products for sale in more than 1,000 outlets in select towns and cities in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar throughout 2019 and 2020.

The parts and products originated from a wide array of animals including bears, big cats, helmeted hornbills and pangolins, but TRAFFIC said ivory products were among the most prominent.

Laotian Giant Flying Squirrel in a market in Muang Sing, Laos [Courtesy of Agkillah Maniam/TRAFFIC]

Individual species, many of them endangered, were found to have been used for multiple products. Researchers found pangolin scales both raw and ground for medicinal use, as well as made into jewellery or talismans. The pangolin is said to be the world’s most trafficked mammal.

“The variety and prevalence of illegal wildlife trade in several locations emphasised that the circumstances facilitating illegal trade have not only remained but, in some cases, proliferated,” Agkillah Maniam, a TRAFFIC consultant said in a statement.

The lower Mekong region has long been recognised as a hub for the illegal wildlife trade and has been a focus of efforts to improve enforcement and policy interventions, as well as providing officials with the tools to effectively combat such crimes.

In 2019, the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency found Vietnam’s “out-of-control, illegal wildlife trade” had helped drive demand globally, and that the Southeast Asian nation was now “the leading destination for illicit ivory”.

Poachers operating in Malaysia’s forests, often from Vietnam or Cambodia and working for buyers in China and elsewhere in the region, are blamed for helping push the Malayan tiger to the brink of extinction.

Wildlife parts for sale in Mong La market in Myanmar [Courtesy of Chris R Shepherd/TRAFFIC]

TRAFFIC’s research found that wildlife markets across the five Mekong countries continue to operate in the open, including in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that governments have set up to boost foreign investment and create jobs.

Although restrictions associated with COVID-19 did have some effect on the illegal trade, TRAFFIC says surveys carried out late last year showed illegal products remained easily available.

In December 2020, Vietnamese authorities seized 93kg of African rhino horns from a warehouse near Ho Chi Minh City’s international airport.

“It would be naïve to think that the pandemic alone will dampen wildlife crime in the long term,” said Kanitha Krishnasamy, director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia. “Monitoring and investigations must continue.

“There’s also a need for strengthening collaboration and public commitment from all governments in the region. The illicit wildlife trade problem here is not something countries can tackle on their own.”

Bear paws, pangolin scales: Wildlife trade flourishing in Mekong | Crime News | Al Jazeera

Regards to all

Mark