This is an important decision: Denmark is extending the ban on mink breeding for another year to protect against the corona virus, i.e. until 2023.
This was announced by Agriculture Minister Prehn in Copenhagen.
The mink is the only animal in which it has so far been established with certainty that it can both become infected and infect humans.
The current ban should only apply until 2022.
It was imposed after the coronavirus spread to nearly 300 mink farms in Denmark and prematurely killing all 15 million animals in the country.
The Danish government believes that mink farming could still pose a public health risk next year – hence the extension.
Because mink farms are not only an absolute horror for the animals, which are kept in tiny cages until their painful death.
Fur farms also represent a potential reservoir of disease, because viruses can spread quickly in the crowded confines.
And I mean…Denmark was once the world’s largest exporter of mink – that’s over now.
When the country ordered the unnecessary mass murder of 15 million minks in 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the mink industry would now de facto be shut down for several years, but not be banned.
The breeders could actually be very satisfied: Because around 1,000 companies with a total of 2,700 jobs were able to receive the equivalent of up to 3 billion euros in 2020.
The compensation does not exclude a subsequent resumption of breeding. Only in this case would the breeders not be entitled to the total compensation, which is intended for a loss of earnings until 2030.
In other words: the industry was showered with money, although none of the companies had been profitable since 2019 and one in four was even about to go bankrupt.
All fur farming must be banned forever!!!
Not to prevent the next pandemic (because it did not come from the mink farms), but to end this unspeakable animal suffering.
“Committee against Bird Murder” e.V.-Report of September 24th
Waterfowl hunting in France: In the past few days, a team from the “Committee against Bird Murder” has been monitoring ducks, geese and waders in north-western France.
Our first exploration trip to this region on the Atlantic coast was sobering: Migratory bird hunting is a popular sport here, the entire landscape is optimized for hunting – almost all river meadows and salt marshes have been destroyed by artificial shooting ponds.
In addition to countless plastic decoys, thousands of live decoys are also kept – some in tiny cages – to lure their conspecifics in front of the professionally developed shooting range.
Although almost everything the hunter could wish for is allowed – hunting during the night, for example, or the hunting permission for practically all wading and water bird species that pass through – we have nevertheless observed illegalities.
Grana Padano: documents from new investigation reveal shocking conditions on another farm
28 September 2021
Essere Animali
News
Two months after the release of an initial investigation, Essere Animali is releasing today a new video filmed on another dairy farm producing Grana Padano, the most widely consumed PDO cheese in the world. The footage shows dead calves, and exposes serious hygienic and sanitary neglect by the farm management, with animals forced to live and give birth among their own excrements.
Bologna, 29 September – After the release of an initial investigation on a dairy farm producing Grana Padano, which documented unacceptable living conditions for calves and violence by workers towards the animals, Essere Animali is publishing a new video filmed on another farm.
By releasing this second investigation, Essere Animali wishes to respond to the objections of the Grana Padano Protection Consortium, which previously dismissed the documented problems as isolated cases.
The new investigation exposes conditions on a farm located in the province of Brescia (Italy). The dairy production site is located next to the sheds which house some 1,000 animals, including cows and calves.
The undercover video by Essere Animali reveals:
• The presence of many dead calves, who died on the farm;
• Obvious hygienic and sanitary shortcomings, which indicate general neglect in the management of the farm;
• The birth of calves and ensuing separation from their mothers;
• The sheltering of calves in individual pens.
“With the first investigation on a farm in the province of Bergamo, we documented violence and insulting behaviour towards animals, while this new video of a farm in the province of Brescia shows inconceivable conditions of neglect, with animals forced to live in enclosures that are flooded or covered with excrement to the point that they struggle to move. Calves are also born in an unsanitary environment, conditions that presumably contribute to the high mortality rate found on the farm. With our investigations, we have unfortunately demonstrated that irregularities on factory farms are not isolated cases,” commented Simone Montuschi, President of Essere Animali.
The footage also highlights the maltreatment of calves on dairy farms, in particular the separation of calves from their mothers – which takes place immediately after birth – and their subsequent solitary confinement in small individual pens.
These practices are permitted by law and are carried out on almost all dairy farms, including those producing milk for ‘premium’ Italian products such as Grana Padano, but various studies demonstrate that such practices subject animals to social deprivation, stress, and suffering.
With the release of this investigation, Essere Animali is relaunching the No Animal Left Behind campaign, coordinated by Eurogroup for Animals, an organisation that brings together 79 animal protection NGOs in 24 EU member states, as well as the UK, Switzerland, Serbia, Norway, Australia, and the US.
These organisations are calling on the European Commission – which is committed to the Farm to Fork strategy, an initiative aimed at making the European food system fairer, healthier and more environmentally friendly – to revise the legislation on the protection of farm animals, which is currently considered grossly inadequate to guarantee them a life free from avoidable suffering.
With regard to the conditions of calves, Essere Animali and Eurogroup for Animals are calling for a revision of the current EU animal welfare laws to:
• Allow contact between the calf and the mother for at least eight weeks after birth, during which the animals must be kept in a system that provides for contact for at least half the day, with suckling permitted;
• Provide shelter that meets the behavioural needs of calves, which should be raised in groups and have access to outdoor areas
“This latest investigation proves for the upteenth time that most dairy farms don’t respect basic animal welfare rules but on the contrary, that calves and cows are treated as mere commodities. The revision of the legislation on farm animals is the opportunity for the European Commission to change once and for all this situation without leaving a single animal behind”, commented Reinke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals.
HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene is an unflinching book of photography documenting our relationship with non-human animals in the 21st century, as depicted through the lenses of 40 award-winning photojournalists.
It focuses on the invisible animals in our lives: those with whom we have a close relationship and yet fail to see. They are the animals we eat and the animals we wear. They are the animals used in research and for entertainment, as well as the animals we sacrifice in the name of tradition and religion.
The stories within its pages are revelatory and brutal.
The Anthropocene is the proposed name for the current geological epoch. In this era, human activity is the dominant influence on climate, the environment, and all life on earth. As we enter a new decade, an estimated 80 billion land animals continue to be used and consumed by humans each year. The majority of these animals are raised and killed within industrial agricultural systems. Fish and other marine life are measured by tonnes.
HIDDEN adopts an unashamedly pro-animal perspective, yet also understands the important role community leaders, educators, policy makers and activists play in determining a future relationship with animals based upon a compassionate and humane co-existence.
In opposition to the vast majority of the British (UK) public, disgusted by this unnecessary annual murder of intelligent marine mammals, the UK government has still refused to take action regarding the trade deal between the UK and Faroe Islands;
So now, things are cranking up a gear; Brits are a little bummed off with the way ‘their’ government is acting in putting money before the welfare of marine mammals..
Campaigner Dominic Dyer has launched a petition calling for the Government to put its trade deal with the North Atlantic archipelago on hold following an outcry over the killing of 1,428 white-sided dolphins earlier this month. The slaughter was part of the tradition known as the grind which has been practised by the islands for hundreds of years.
We took to the streets about this massacre 30 years ago:
Here is the wording of the petition:
Petition
Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end
In 2019 UK Government finalised a free trade agreement (FTA) with Faroe Islands which allows for £100 million of exports of wild caught and farmed fish to Britain per annum (20% of the Faroe Islands global trade). This FTA should be suspended until all whale & dolphin hunts on Faroe Islands end
The Free Trade Agreement with the Faroe Islands gives the UK Government significant leverage when it comes to ending the mass slaughter of pilot whales and dolphins on the Faroe Islands which causes huge anger and revulsion around the world. If the UK is to be considered a world leader in the protection of marine mammals it must use this leverage now
Only British citizens are allowed to sign.
If you are a UK citizen, then you can add your name to the petition – here is the link:
Currently there are 32,129 signatures on this petition. Lets get it past 100k, as then it would be debated in the UK Parliament.
Please take a look at all the photos of the murders in the links provided above; and then ask yourself, what is more important; money or saving lives ?
Please add your name to the petition now; you can signinitially, but will then be sent back a link from the UK government in your e mails which you have to click on in order to get your name officially added to the petition.
WAV Comment – over many decades campaigning for the rights of animals, I have seen my fair share of disturbing things. Sadly, this expose by PeTA at one of the Nippon Ham facilities in Japan is just another very disturbing investigation which has revealed the horrendous suffering of pigs.
I am providing information and links below; including video footage.
This is disgusting, the human filth that undertakes this cruelty on a daily basis cannot be classified as ‘normal’ human beings; they are the kind that dominated in prisoner camps in the past. This campaign needs your full support and actions. Please do it.
Crosspost please to as many contacts as you can;
Regards Mark
Piglets Slammed Into Concrete, Left to Die at Nippon Ham Farm in Japan
A new PETA video exposé of Japan’s leading pork producer, Nippon Ham, reveals that piglets and their mothers endure horrific abuse. While the company claims to care about human happiness and the “joy of eating,” it’s obviously not concerned about animal welfare. Pigs who are raised and killed for food don’t experience joy or anything else that would make their lives worth living.
Their lives are full of pain and suffering. See for yourself:
Very disturbing Video footage – But Must Be Watched:
Workers at Nippon Ham grab piglets by their sensitive ears and toss them around like inanimate objects.
Those who aren’t considered “profitable,” because they’re too small or sick, are thrown out like garbage.
Workers typically kill unwanted piglets by swinging them in the air and bashing their heads on the concrete floor or by injecting them in the heart with disinfectant. One piglet writhed in agony for five minutes after a worker poisoned him this way.
Another languished for an hour and finally died after a worker bashed his head against the concrete floor.
Piglets at Nippon Ham are taken away from their mothers when they’re as young as 22 days old, just as they are on most pig farms. Workers castrate them and chop their tails off without any pain relievers. A worker was caught on camera cutting into a young pig’s scrotum and yanking out his testicles with his fingers.
Suffering and Nowhere to Turn
Mother pigs, or sows, are forced to spend most of their miserable lives crammed inside metal crates that are so small they can’t even turn around. Their muscles atrophy and they’re constantly stiff and sore. They have no choice but to urinate, defecate, eat, and sleep all in the same cramped crate. Workers were even seen beating them with a heavy piece of the metal frame.
The traumatized sows had to endure the sight of their own piglets’ suffering right in front of them. Their babies squealed and thrashed violently while workers crudely castrated them or cut off their tails, and there was nothing that the mother pigs could do.
Born Into a Life of Abuse
Thousands of sows are confined and repeatedly raped via artificial insemination. They deliver litter after litter of piglets, who are always torn away from them to be raised for meat or breeding. When sows who aren’t forced to live on filthy factory farms are about to give birth, they make a nest in the dirt and cover it with soft grass and leaves. But at Nippon Ham, pregnant pigs have to stand on uncomfortable metal grates. After several years of round-the-clock imprisonment and frequent inseminations and pregnancies, they become exhausted and they’re sent to slaughter.
You Can Help Stop Cruelty to Pigs
Cruelty is pervasive in the meat industry, which treats animals as commodities rather than as living, feeling beings. There’s no need for anyone to eat ham, bacon, sausage, or any other animal-based foods—tasty vegan options are available at most restaurants, stores, and cafeterias today. It’s easier than ever to leave pigs and other animals off your plate.
Will you help pigs by refusing to buy pork and other animal-derived foods?
I watched the PETA video and it truly made me sick to my stomach. If it is within my power, I WILL NOT buy any Nippon Ham product. The people treating those poor pigs like that should be fired.
Thank you for your comment. – yes, disgusting ! – WAV
The Danish government believes that mink farming could still pose a public health risk next year – hence the extension.
In other words: the industry was showered with money, although none of the companies had been profitable since 2019 and one in four was even about to go bankrupt.
World Animals Voice 