Day: January 27, 2022

Fashion giants Dolce & Gabbana and Moncler have ditched fur.

The fashion houses’ fur-free policies make ‘it abundantly clear: “fur is cruel, outdated, and ugly.”
Fashion giants Dolce & Gabbana and Moncler have ditched fur.

The two Italian luxury fashion houses are the latest amongst a slew of mega-retailers including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and H&M, that have committed to eliminating fur from their designs.
Canada Goose, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Balenciaga, have also announced fur-free policies.

Dolce & Gabbana
The fashion brand has even confirmed to In Defense of Animals (IDA) that it will ban angora from all future collections.

“Fur and angora cause extreme cruelty to animals, and we appreciate Dolce & Gabbana’s efforts to set the trend for compassion,” Fleur Dawes, Communications Director for In Defense of Animals said in a statement.

“Clothing and accessories needn’t harm animals. We urge all designers to follow suit by ditching all fabrics made from animal fur and skin.”

The IDA has been campaigning to end the fur trade since the 80’s. It has also helped create the longest-running animal protection demonstration in the world, known as Fur Free Friday.

According to the international animal protection organization, the fashion industry kills around 100 million animals for fur each year, including approximately 2 million dogs and cats.
More than 9,000 supporters signed IDA’s latest petition urging Dolce & Gabbana to ban fur.

“We wholeheartedly celebrate Dolce & Gabbana’s decision to eliminate animal fur and angora from its designs. Consumers have made it abundantly clear: fur is cruel, outdated, and ugly,” Julie Massa, Fur Campaigner for In Defense of Animals said.

Moncler
Earlier this week, Italian fashion house Moncler – also a renowned skiwear brand – committed to going fur-free as a reflection of the brand’s ‘dedication to protecting the planet and creating a better future for all’.

The luxury brand further announced that it “will stop sourcing fur this year and the last collection to feature fur will be Fall/Winter 2023.”

In a statement, the firm noted: “This decision is consistent with Moncler’s ongoing commitment to responsible business practises and builds on the brand’s constructive and long-term engagement with the Italian animal rights organisation LAV as a representative of the Fur Free Alliance.”

Moreover, it added that Moncler’s Sustainability Plan 2020-25 will focus on five strategic drivers: climate action, circular economy, fair sourcing, enhancing diversity, and giving back to local communities.

PJ Smith, Fashion Policy Director for the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, said: “We’re thrilled Moncler is committed to making the fashion industry more humane.”

Simone Pavesi, LAV Manager for the Animal Free Fashion Area, added: “LAV applauds Moncler for the responsible decision to permanently discontinue animal furs from its collections.

“Our commitment to Moncler and all fashion companies continues towards new goals for an increasingly sustainable fashion and for the protection of animals.”

Fur is dead, and the world knows it

Apart from fashion brands, fur bans have been enacted in San Francisco, West Hollywood, and Los Angeles within the last several years. In 2019 California became the first state in the country to ban fur sales and fur trapping.

Last year, Italy also added its name to the list of countries that have announced bans on fur farms.

The Italian Senate’s Budget Committee voted on the amendment following the Humane Society International/Europe (HSI Europe) strategy to close its remaining 10 mink fur farms by June and permanently ban fur farming nationwide.

“Italy has quickly become a hub for fur-free fashion now that the country banned fur farming last year and many of its renowned brands—including Armani, Prada, Versace, Valentino and Gucci–are fur-free,” Smith added.

https://www.totallyveganbuzz.com/news/two-top-italian-luxury-fashion-houses-ditch-fur/

And I mean…Fur is not a natural product, but is “produced” in cruel factory farming of wild animals.
After a life of deprivation and suffering, a horrible death by gassing follows.
Europe is still the second largest fur producer in the world after China.

We are thrilled about the decision of the two luxury fashions.
We’re sure fur’s time is up.
And those few fashion houses that are still lagging behind will sooner or later also stop offering animal suffering and death.

My best regards to all, Venus

England: Archive: Live Animal Exports From Kent, England. By Mark (WAV).

All photos shown here were taken by Val C.

Recent Past  – Live animal exports to Europe from Ramsgate port, Kent, England.

As many of you will know, live animal transport has been a major part of my life for decades:

About Us – New Category (As Requested). – World Animals Voice

I am from Kent County; which lies directly to the SE of London and is the nearest English county to mainland Europe – you can see it’s position here and read about much of past history: Kent – Wikipedia

Being the nearest county to Europe; Kent has several ports which operate ship ferry services across the English Channel.  Dover is the one we probably all hear about most, but there is another – Ramsgate; which was quite an important port until recently but is not used much now. This appealed to live exporters, who did not have to comply with the very tight arrival and departure schedules if they operated from Dover – it was kind of more relaxed for them.

For years I was involved with an English group (as the EU Correspondent) dealing specifically with live animal shipments from SE England ports which included Dover and Ramsgate.  I want to share here just for the record / interest; some (now archive; but recent until a year or two ago) photographs taken by our official group photographer Val C, who was a member of the official journalists union; hence the excellent quality of her work.

These pictures deal mainly with a vessel operated by a (trader / exported / haulier) Dutchman named ‘Onderwater’; who owns and operates a vessel named the ‘Joline’. 

The ‘Joline’

This vessel was originally constructed as a Soviet battle tank carrier to be used only on rivers; not across the English Channel with loaded livestock transporters full of live animals.  As a vessel it has a low draft (draft in the American spelling, draught in the British) which is defined in technical terms as the distance between the ships keel and the waterline of the vessel.

A battle tank carrier for use on rivers should not carry livestock transporters across the English Channel.
Note the low draught – sides of the vessel – not suitable for Channel waves.

Loaded transporters on the Joline
.. and more.

Continued on next page

Spain: “Ethically and Environmentally” Disastrous; Plans to FARM Octopus in Spain Advance.

26 January 2022

Experts and animal welfare campaigners are appalled as Spanish seafood company Nueva Pescanova announced plans to open the world’s first octopus farm despite multiple ethical and ecological concerns.

Nueva Pescanova hopes to begin marketing farmed octopus this summer, before selling 3,000 tonnes of octopus a year from 2023 onwards. The commercial farm will be based close to the port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. As of yet, the conditions in which the octopus will be held captive – the size of the tanks, the food they will eat and how they will be killed – have not been disclosed by the company. 

Experts have been ringing alarm bells about the ethics and sustainability of octopus farms for many years. The London School of Economics concluded in a landmark report last year: “We are convinced that high-welfare octopus farming is impossible.” Compassion in World Farming released a report in 2021 warning that octopus farming is a “recipe for disaster”. In 2019, researchers concluded that “for ethical and environmental reasons, raising octopuses in captivity for food is a bad idea”. 

Cephalopods are solitary animals that are highly inquisitive, intelligent, and carry out complex behaviours and interactions with their environment. They are territorial animals and could easily be damaged with no skeletons to protect them. The barren and confined conditions of farming systems therefore create a high risk of poor welfare, including aggression and even cannibalism. Aquatic animals are the least protected of all farmed species and at present, there are no scientifically validated methods for their humane slaughter. 

Farming octopuses would also add to the growing pressure on wild fish stocks. Octopuses are carnivores and need to eat two-to-three times their own weight in food over their short lifetime. Currently, around a third of the fish caught worldwide is turned into feed for other animals – and roughly half of that amount goes into aquaculture. So farmed octopus are likely to be fed on fish products from stocks already overfished and at the expense of the food security of coastal communities.

PACMA, the Spanish political party for the animals, is organising a demonstration against the farm on the 5th February 2022. PACMA invites any organisations willing to support their demonstration to email laspalmas@pacma.es providing the logo of your organisation.

This issue would seriously undermine the values of a society that is moving towards empathy and compassion towards other species, and an entire scientific community from all over the world is speaking out against the atrocity of opening this farm

PACMA

Regards Mark