Day: October 13, 2021

General News

Crash tests on killed animals by FORD.

Decades after banning all crash tests on animals—following a PETA campaign—Ford has dirtied its hands once again.
In a study titled “Side Impact Assessment and Comparison of Appropriate Size and Age Equivalent Porcine Surrogates to Scaled Human Side Impact Response Biofidelity Corridors,” at least 27 pigs were killed and their bodies were hung by wires through their spines and slammed by a high-impact pendulum.

The study’s authors state the following:

“We would like to acknowledge and thank Ford Motor Company for its funding and support of the current research project. Funding for this study was provided by Ford Motor Company through its University Research Program” [Emphasis added.]

No other car company is known to have performed such abominably cruel tests in many, many years, and it’s time for Ford to get back in its lane and commit to helping drivers and animals by renewing its ban on car crash tests on other species.

The world has moved on to crash test dummies and high-speed computers from cruel and archaic tests on animals who feel pain and value their lives just as much as we do.

A pig’s anatomy is very different from that of humans, so the data obtained from these horrific animal experiments are not applicable to human car-crash victims.

Ford assured PETA in 2009 that the company did “not directly conduct or fund development of products that involve live animal testing, and is unaware of directing any such testing in the past three decades.”

If Ford is going back on that commitment now, PETA will ensure that the public is fully aware so that car buyers can make informed decisions about which automakers to support and which to drop.

https://www.peta.org/blog/ford-crash-tests-animals-27-pigs-killed/

And I mean…The fact that FORD is pulling down the tests on dead pigs is of course better for the animals.
But they have to be killed for it.

Why doesn’t FORD do the same test on dead people?
After all, these tests makes the company for the safety of its customers, and these are human animals.

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, General News, Hunting

USA: Wolf Pups ‘Adopted’ by Idaho High Schoolers Killed by Trigger Happy (? Obsessed ?) USDA Federal Agents.

Grey wolf pups
Grey Wolf Pups – Getty Images

Wolf pups ‘adopted’ by Idaho high schoolers killed by federal agents

Wolf pups ‘adopted’ by Idaho high schoolers killed by federal agents – BBC News

Conservation groups have expressed outrage after the US Department of Agriculture revealed it killed eight young wolves in an Idaho forest.

The pups were part of the Timberline pack, a group of wild wolves tracked and studied since 2003 by students at the local high school in Boise.

Federal officials have defended their actions as a “necessary” measure in reducing the predators’ population.

But local wildlife groups say wolves are “under attack” in the region.

Earlier this year, lobbied by the livestock ranching community, Republican-dominated legislatures in Idaho and Montana passed measures that made it easier to hunt and kill wolves.

Idaho’s version of the law allows hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves each year, up from a 15-wolf annual limit, and triples the budget for population control efforts.

Under the terms of the legislation, wolves can be baited into snares, aerially gunned down via aircraft and even mowed over by hunters in ATVs or other motorised vehicles.

Environmental groups have warned the aggressive tactics will whittle down Idaho’s wolf population by 90%, from roughly 1,500 to 150, which is the minimum limit enshrined by a 2002 conservation law.

The Timberline wolf pack – unofficially “adopted” by students at Boise’s Timberline High School over the past 18 years – appears to have been among the targets. Their den, on public lands in Boise National Forest, was found empty this spring.

An official from the Agriculture Department confirmed federal agents had killed the animals in order to force the adult wolves to relocate.

Grey wolves were once nearly wiped out across the contiguous US.

The Endangered Species Act of 1974 created federal protections that saved the species from extinction and led to sustained population recovery efforts.

But the animals were delisted by the Trump administration last October and management of the species has since fallen to the states.

Supporter of the Idaho wolf-culling law have said wolves pose a threat to wildlife, particularly cows, sheep and other livestock.

Van Burtenshaw, the state senator and livestock dealer who introduced the bill, said reducing the wolf population would benefit “our cattlemen, our woolgrowers and outfitters”, as well as the big game hunters forced to compete with the wolves.

But environmental groups have slammed the culling tactics as inhumane. A spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States called it “a death warrant for hundreds of Idaho’s iconic and beloved wolves”.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering relisting grey wolves on the Endangered Species List.

Students at Timberline High have told US media they are penning a letter to President Biden over the pup deaths, a sign of the renewed urgency many Idahoans feel to see federal protections reinstated.

“Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are in an all-out frontal assault on wolves,” Dick Jordan, a former science teacher at the school, told the local Idaho Statesman.

“Something has to be done. It’s inhumane, it’s unethical and it’s not ecologically sound.”

Regards Mark

Please read some of the Comments associated with this – lots of sad;

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

Beef Industry ‘Nervous’ At Growth Of Plant-Based Proteins, Claims Think Tank.

How The Beef Industry Is Fighting The Plant-Based Protein Boom (plantbasednews.org)

Beef Industry ‘Nervous’ At Growth Of Plant-Based Proteins, Claims Think Tank

Across four key areas, beef companies are working to battle the growing plant-based market to protect their pockets…

The beef industry is becoming increasingly desperate to clutch onto its market position amid the plant-based protein boom. But Faunalytics, a research company specializing in animal advocacy, has examined the industry’s marketing tactics and claims it’s ‘nervous’ of the growth of alternative proteins.

Beef industry

The think tank examined a 2021 report funded by the Beef Checkoff, a US marketing firm that works to promote animal agriculture. In the Impacts of New Plant-Based Protein Alternatives on US Beef Demand report, extensive strategies are outlined to maintain popularity amid increasing concerns about animal rights and the environment.

The report includes a survey on 3,000 US citizens with varying diets and a restaurant and grocery store experiment to assess consumer habits.

Faunalytics looked at the report with a view to ‘gain an advantage’ on what the plant-based industry can do in response. 

What they found is that consumer demand for beef decreases more when prices go up, over when plant-based protein prices decrease.

Furthermore, in a grocery store experiment, consistent beef eaters were more willing to switch to other options if the beef was more expensive.

However, the average customer is more willing to pay a higher price for beef than its actual price. And, a lower price for plant-based proteins than their retail price.

Study takeaways 

“The really fascinating thing about this report,” Faunalytics says, “is what it can tell us about the industry’s strategy.”

The four main tactics it identifies are:

1. Consumers believe beef tastes better and is more ‘natural’

As ever, the beef industry plans to focus on the ‘naturalness’ of beef over plant-based alternatives.

This is carried out by claiming plant-based meat can’t mimic the taste of the real thing, and highlighting long ingredient lists.

Faunalytics also claims that it will continue to focus on how the industry is good for farmers and rural communities.

2. Price is vital

The price parity of plant-based alternatives has long been a hot topic. It is subsidies that make cow meat particularly easy to produce at low costs.

And, according to the report, the beef industry will continue to drive down prices where it can.

‘We should work to amplify the voices of workers and communities harmed by the beef industry’ to fight against this, according to Faunalytics.

3. Beef market share remains high despite growing alt protein

Despite the staggering predictions for the ongoing boom of plant-based protein alternatives, the think tank says the beef industry isn’t worrying ‘too much’ about it denting the market share.

While beef contains more protein than many plant-based alternatives, advocates can respond by painting a better picture of health. This can be done by educating about consumer ‘obsession’ with protein.

4. Partnerships with retailers are important

Beef companies aim to establish relationships with retailers. This means stores and restaurants will have vested interests in the future of animal agriculture, Faunalytics says.

However, it’s a tactic vegan companies can easily follow suit on. And, something the likes of Beyond Meat is already doing with chains like Burger King, McDonald’s, and KFC.

Faunalytics’ concluding statement on the study is: “Even as the beef industry continues to enjoy a large market share, it can see the writing on the wall.

“The industry knows it doesn’t measure up on health, environmental friendliness, or animal welfare. All of which are values important to the younger generation.”

Regards Mark

General News

Nigeria: rapists will be castrated in the future in Kaduna.

Rapists will be surgically castrated and anyone who rapes a child will face the death penalty under new laws in Nigerian state

Anyone raping a child under age 14 will face the death penalty in state of Kaduna
Men convicted of rape will face surgical castration under the new legislation
Reported cases of rape in Nigeria have risen dramatically during months of coronavirus restrictions
The governor of Nigeria’s Kaduna state has signed a law saying men convicted of rape will face surgical castration.

Anyone raping a child under age 14 will face the death penalty under the new legislation.

It follows public anger over a recent increase of rapes amid Covid-19 restrictions, which prompted the nation’s state governors to declare a state of emergency.

The governor of Nigeria’s Kaduna state Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai (pictured above) has signed a law saying men convicted of rape will face surgical castration

Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai said the ‘drastic penalties are required to help further protect children from a serious crime’.
Women’s groups have called for tougher action against rapists, including the death penalty.

Kaduna state’s new law is the strictest against rape in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

The state’s newly amended penal code also says a person convicted of raping someone over age 14 will face life imprisonment.

The previous law carried a maximum penalty of 21 years‘ imprisonment for the rape of an adult and life imprisonment for the rape of a child.

A woman convicted of rape of a child under 14 faces the removal of her fallopian tubes.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8744261/Rapists-surgically-castrated-new-laws-Nigerian-state.html

And I mean… Excellent idea, the best I have ever heard!
Can we do that here for the same criminals and expand it to include butchers, slaughterhouse and fur farm owners, experimenters, hunters, animal torturers of all kinds?

My best regards to all, Venus