Month: January 2022

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

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

Farm Animals

Direct Action Everywhere uncovers crimes at Iowa Select Farms

New whistleblower footage shows piglets with their heads stuck between metal bars at this Iowa Select Farms facility. Activists visited the farm to demand a response from local authorities.

https://fb.watch/aNmVcs7QXQ/

Direct Action Everywhere – DxE posted a video to the Trial in Iowa playlist for Exposing “Ventilation Shutdown”.

 

Direct Action Everywhere
TAKE ACTION: Call the Grundy County Sheriff and ask them to help these pigs — (319) 824-6933

https://www.facebook.com/directactioneverywhere/

And I mean…Some people have responded and called the police.
Here is some messages on Facebook:

“1.Just called and was only told that it is an ongoing investigation and that they don’t provide updates on anything ongoing.
Hopefully if enough people keep calling, they will feel some need to do something.

2.I just called someone answered and they hung up on me once I said it was about this farm. More people need to call because being hung up on is really bad.

3. i just called. the officer said it’s ongoing. i said thank you for your attention he said ‘you bet’. I really want the suffering to end. how much more of this tragedy do we have to witness for it to end? no excuse for animal abuse. these are innocent babies.Just called and was only told that it is an ongoing investigation and that they don’t provide updates on anything ongoing.
Hopefully if enough people keep calling, they will feel some need to do something”

Big thanks to the brave activists of DxE!!

Actually this is a case for the veterinary office.
Which here in Germany and for similar crimes in farms repeatedly failed cracked.

We see animals being abused by professionals, animals eating each other and being horribly disfigured, animals dying helplessly and not even getting the minimal help they deserve…
And as if that weren’t an obvious crime on the part of the Iowa Select Farms, its faithful servants want to declare this place of horror as their personal domain, their high private property including living beings being tortured and massacred.

The police have become accustomed to violence, is nothing more than a necessary evil that goes with it.
We live in a society in which severe violence against animals is considered a trifle.

We must not make it easy for them.
Call and forcefully request the police officers to do their job.
Finally they are paid by us.

My best regards to all, Venus

Hunting

ALF: High seats destroyed – no more murder from there

From German Media (translation)

The sight of the destroyed, sawn-down hunting high seat, which lies on the ground on the country road between Rheinfelden and Möhlin, annoys Willy Itin, hunting supervisor in the Rheinfelden area.

“2000 francs are over,” he says and adds: “It’s a bottomless impudence – just destroying someone else’s property. (!!!)

” With red paint, the alleged perpetrator has sprayed her abbreviation on the high seat: “ALF” – Animal Liberation Front; to German: Animal Liberation Front.
Their goal is to prevent animal testing and killing of animals. This is done, for example, by attacks on laboratories and animal farms by means of sabotage or arson attacks.

Danger to life and a queasy feeling it is hard to imagine, according to Itin, what could have happened if the perpetrators had only sawn on the stilts or the ladder and a hunter in the seat had fallen as a result.

He says: “In the worst case, you can break your back – or a shot can come loose. In general, it would be anything but easy for hunting today to fulfill its mission of keeping game damage to a minimum (!!!). Animal rights activists don’t want us to hunt anymore and according to some farmers, we can’t hunt often enough,” says Itin.

Two more high seats destroyed it was not the only action against the hunting parties in the lower Fricktal in the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Also in the hunting ground Möhlin-Süd in the Röti area at the foot of the Sonnenberg tower, the ALF allegedly sawed a high seat, a third fell near the brewery Feldschlösschen in the hunting ground Olsberg.

In the past, the three hunting societies had no problems with the said animal liberation front. In principle, one could be against hunting, says Paul Mahrer, deputy supervisor in the Möhlin Süd district.
But: “You should then please collect signatures, but not commit a crime.”

“In the future, you have to check carefully whether the high seat is not manipulated before you climb on it”, warns Mahrer.
He hopes that the police can identify the perpetrators and that they will have to bear the costs on which the hunting party would otherwise remain seated.
The other hunting societies also hope for this in unison. Thus, the reassembly is not only associated with costs, but also with time and work.
Police have started the investigation yesterday afternoon, it was still unclear whether further high seats had been destroyed.

As Corina Winkler, spokeswoman for the cantonal police, says, the police have started the investigation and secured the first traces.Call for witnesses persons who have noticed suspicious persons in the vicinity of the crime scenes from Saturday to Sunday are asked to report for information by telephone…

https://animalliberationpressoffice.org/NAALPO/2022/01/24/alf-topples-hunting-towers-germany-2/

And I mean…In principle, anyone with a license to hunt can set up such high seats.
This makes a high seat one of the very few structures that do not require a permit in Germany, which means that anyone can build wildly.
Where and as much as anyone wants.

Even on someone else’s property, and if the owner on whose property such a building stands does not agree to the construction, he has to calculate with a long process, with costs for lawyer, trouble..etc.
Even though it’s his property.

Most of the time, in front of such murder seats there are feeding barrels for the animals that will soon be executed.
By feeding them, with which they literally fatten up some wild animals and bring them through the winter, they just want to shoot a deer quickly and not sit in their seats for hours and wait for one to run by.
Hunter Willy Ittin claims “hunting today fulfills its mission of keeping game damage to a minimum”.

Hunting is not wildlife management – genocide is not humanitarian aid.
Mentally, morally, socially sane people with decency don’t need the disgusting, murderous hunt.
Thanks to the activists of ALF

My best regards to all, Venus

Vivisection

Monkey on loose in Pennsylvania after crash on way to laboratory

The last of the monkeys that escaped from a truck after it had crashed on a Pennsylvanian highway have been accounted for and three have been euthanised.

Several monkeys had escaped following Friday’s collision between the pickup truck transporting them and a dump truck, but only one had remained unaccounted for as of Saturday morning, prompting the Pennsylvania Game Commission and other agencies to launch a search for it in frigid weather.

Officials later released the photo of one of the primates perched in a tree in the freezing cold night.

The macaques, originally from Mauritius, were brought to New York by plane on Friday, according to the WNEP television station.

They were to be transported by truck to a laboratory in Florida. Long-tailed macaques, also known as cynomolgus monkeys, can cost up to $10,000, according to a New York Times report, and are in high demand for vaccine research.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an email on Saturday evening that all 100 of the cynomolgus macaques had since been accounted for and three were euthanised.

The email did not elaborate on why the three were euthanised or how all came to be accounted for. But Nordlund said those euthanised were done so humanely (??)

The shipment of monkeys was en route to a quarantine facility after arriving on Friday morning at New York’s Kennedy airport from Mauritius, police said.

The location of the quarantine facility and the type of research for which the monkeys were apparently destined weren’t clear, but cynomolgus monkeys are often used in medical studies.

A 2015 paper posted on the website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information referred to them as the most widely used primate in preclinical toxicology studies.

Earlier, police had earlier urged people not to look for or capture any monkey.

State trooper Lauren Lesher had said the concern was “due to it not being a domesticated animal and them being in an unknown territory. It is hard to say how they would react to a human approaching them.”(!!!)

Crates of live monkeys lie after an accident on State Route 54 at the Interstate 80 intersection while police search for more monkeys. Image: dpa

The collision occurred on Friday afternoon near Danville, in Montour county, on a state highway near an Interstate 80 exit.

The drivers of the trucks weren’t harmed and a passenger was transported to a medical centre for treatment of suspected minor injuries, according to the state police’s crash report.

Crates littered the road as troopers searched for the monkeys, rifles in hand. Firefighters used thermal imaging to try to locate the animals and a helicopter also assisted.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/23/last-of-escaped-monkeys-accounted-for-and-three-euthanised-after-crash-in-pennsylvania

And I mean…We want to correct the language of the reports´: There are no “laboratory monkeys”.
There are only captive animals that are abused by unscrupulous people for senseless laboratory experiments.

Solidarity with the escaped torture victim!!

If you see him, don’t call anyone, the death penalty awaits him for breaking their fascist rules when he tried to exercise his right to freedom.
We hope and wish that he can live a good life now.

My best regards to all, Venus

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

EU: EP (Euro Parliament) Plenary: Disappointing Vote on Live Animal Transport.

WAV Comment: The EU never has, does not wow, and never will act in defence of animals in transport – they are instead at the control of the mafia meat industry. The EU talks big on ‘farm to fork’ strategies; but they are just simple words from simple folk that mean nothing. If the EU cared; it would have acted a long time ago; instead the EU citizen is bullshitted to with all the talks, reports and votes which basically result in nothing. The UK left the EU a few years ago; now it has legislation going through Parliament to stop ALL live animal transport. Spot the link ? – NO EU, nations take back control and make their own laws; if you stay in the EU, and you must obey, Commissioners say; regardless of your own national views or consequences.

EP Plenary: disappointing vote on live animal transport

20 January 2022

Press Release

Today the European Parliament voted on the Recommendation of the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport (ANIT), watering down an already weak text which won’t stop the suffering of billions of animals.

Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, opened and closed the debate reminding the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) that animal welfare is a priority within the Farm to Fork Strategy and, at the same time, a priority of her mandate and personally for her. 

The European Commission (EC) is due to revise the Transport Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005) and will do it “based on the latest scientific evidence, creating a European database for official controls and auditing livestock vessels in Member States”, alongside making sure that the existing rules will be implemented. As such, a new legislative proposal is expected in the autumn of 2023, whilst executive acts relating to controls on sea transport (under provisions in existing law) will also arrive before the end of this year. 

Some MEPs were quite vocal during the lengthy debate, calling on the EC to act now and put an end to the suffering of billions of animals, as reported in the Committee of Inquiry’s findings. 

The December vote didn’t address several key issues linked to the live transport of animals, within and outside the EU, and today the Plenary missed the opportunity to strengthen the text approved by the ANIT Committee. 

We hoped that the European Parliament would step up the ANIT Report’s ambition and reflect citizens’ views by banning any long-distance transport, and refining, replacing and reducing intra-EU transport.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

After decades of campaigning to stop the suffering of animals during transport, we are disappointed in seeing more failings from the vote.

Photo – Val C. – the white box trailer pictured is full of LIVE SHEEP.

The EP recommends that, in future legislation, journey time for domestic animals going to slaughter should, in principle, not exceed eight hours except transport by sea, which is deplorable (§ 87).

Unfortunately, the EP also voted against amendments that would have called for a definition of journey time as the entire time of movement including the time of loading and unloading (§ 91), against the European Commission interpretation that “time spent for loading and unloading should be included as to establish maximum journey time”(1), thus potentially watering down the impact such a 8h journey time limit could have.

The EP also rejected amendments which would have forbidden the transport of pregnant animals at 40% of the gestation stage, and the call to ban the transport of very young animals (ovine, caprine or porcine, and domestic equidae) below the age of 35 days disappeared (§ 104). The limit of 4 weeks to allow transport remains only for calves.

We believe that the EP missed the chance to support systemic changes and failed in delivering citizens’ demands. Now our hopes lie with the EC and we entrust it to enable the replacement of live transport by a meat, carcasses and genetic material trade only. Not “as much as possible”, as in the EP text.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

WAV Related:

England: Is A Change In Campaigning Now Needed After the Massive EU (ANIT) Failures In Live Animal Transport This Week ? – By Mark (WAV). – World Animals Voice

ANIT Committee vote: An ANTI – animal welfare work – World Animals Voice 

Regards Mark

General News, Hunting

Effective Alternatives to Hunting Exist to Tackle Disease Spread, While Ensuring Animal Welfare.

25 January 2022

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and deadly viral disease affecting both domestic and feral swine. However, It is seen by some as an excuse to hunt huge numbers of wild boar, which proponents of hunting claim will reduce the spread of the disease. Of course, there is more to the story, than human whims and humane alternatives to hunting are likely more effective, ethical and scientifically justified.

The often lethal, rapidly spreading virus is transmitted largely through direct contact with infected swine, as well as through indirect contact with pigs, equipment and feed. The disease causes widespread suffering and important economic losses. Originating in Lithuania it has already spread to nine countries in between 2014 and 2021 alone.

As a result, thousands of wild boar are hunted every year in Europe in an attempt to contain their number and halt virus spreading. Yet, in addition to the pain and suffering caused to the animals, science shows that hunting boars to reduce the spread of ASF is not effective. The virus occurs in both high- and low- density populations, therefore reducing the population density is unlikely to be effective, expounded by the fact that hunting could not realistically reduce the population by the 67% necessary to stabilise wild boar populations and they have been shown to bounce back anyway. More hunting equates to much more suffering and represents a biosecurity threat.

DG SANTE reports that despite widespread awareness campaigns directed at hunters, biosecurity measures are not always respected during hunting. As a result, direct contact with blood and indirect contact with contaminated equipment, tools and clothing occur and need to be taken seriously. We mustn’t forget the additional spreading power of current intensive farming practices.

What are the alternatives?

  • Human-mediated virus spread must be primarily addressed through awareness campaigns and other methods prioritising animal welfare. Behaviour change and compliance with biosecurity measures are among the most important factors.
  • The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) highlights that compliance with on-farm biosecurity measures and refraining from hunting activities, which can lead to spread, are key to reducing the risk of spread of ASF.
  • Promising population control measures include the use of immunological contraception (GnRH GONACON), which has demonstrated promising results to reduce the fertility of feral swine kept under experimental conditions with one single injection.
  • Preliminary research is promising for an effective vaccine in the future.

Given that hunting is not an effective solution, but has potential to increase risk and certainly causes suffering of animals; we call on the EU to invest in research to obtain effective methods for fertility control of wild boar, and to find a safe and effective vaccine against the virus.

For more details and recommendations, read our African Swine Fever Position Paper.

Effective alternatives to hunting exist to tackle disease spread, while ensuring animal welfare | Eurogroup for Animals

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

Mosa Meat Cultivates Beef Without Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS).

21 January 2022

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is commonly used in cultivated meat production as a supplement for cell feed due to its richness in nutrients and growth factors. But reliance on FBS, taken from the fetuses of pregnant cows during slaughter, is not an ethically viable option for a product positioned as the “environmentally friendly alternative to conventional meat”.

In a new paper published in the journal Nature Food, leading cultivated meat brand Mosa Meat reveals how they managed to replace FBS and achieve muscle differentiation without genetically modifying the cells in any way. 

This is really a milestone for us and for the cultivated meat field, because there’s no method out there that describes the differentiation of primary satellite cells if you don’t want to use FBS or genetically modify your cells.”

Dr. Joshua Flack, Mosa Meat scientist

The document includes descriptions of the processes and ingredients of the differentiation medium that worked well for Mosa Meat. The muscle cells that differentiate into fibres are responsible for the structure and chewing of the meat, and it is in the muscle fibres that the protein and rich colour of the meat are produced. 

To learn more, read the full article.

Read more at source

Mosa Meat

Regards Mark

Hunting

Switzerland: harmless wolf executed

A wolf followed a person for a long time and then stopped at a distance of two meters. Since the animal could have been potentially dangerous to humans, it was killed (!!!).

That’s what it’s about:
-A male wolf recently came very close to a person in Surselva.
-In order to avoid the risk of endangering people, the canton decided to shoot the animal.
-It is probably a lone wolf.
-Attempts to scare the wolf away had previously failed.
-Wolves are generally not dangerous to humans. They generally avoid people.

In the past few weeks, there have been a number of worrying encounters between a solitary wolf and humans in settlements in the upper Surselva, which can be classified as problematic behavior (!!!) of a wolf with a potential threat to humans.
This was announced by the Office for Hunting and Fisheries on Friday.

“The canton has therefore decided to shoot the problem animal using the general police clause.
The wolf was killed by the game guard in the night of January 20, 2022,” says the communiqué.

Harassment without success

The game warden had been closely following developments regarding the encounters of the lone wolf with humans for some time and was in contact with the community authorities.
Several attempts to equip the animal with a telemetry transmitter and scare it away with rubber bullets were unsuccessful.

At the same time, encounters within the settlement area had increased sharply in the past few weeks, with the wolf increasingly attracting attention with problematic behavior that potentially endangered humans.
So there was an encounter last Sunday morning at 6.15 a.m., in which the wolf followed a person unnoticed and finally stayed close to the person at a distance of two meters for a longer period of time, before continuing to run in the direction of the village.
The apparently increasing habituation of this wolf to humans and the resulting increased risk of endangerment for humans were alarming.
The male wolf that has been killed in the meantime is very likely a solitary wolf.

Application of the general police clause

In order to avoid the risk of increasing danger to people, (!!!) the canton decided to shoot the problem animal (?) using the general police clause. The wolf was killed in the night of January 20, 2022 in the immediate vicinity of a settlement and transferred to the Fiwi Center for Fish and Wildlife Medicine in Bern for further examinations.
The genetic analysis will be carried out at the Laboratoire de Biology de la Conservation, Université de Lausanne.

https://www.20min.ch/story/wolf-kam-menschen-zu-nahe-ruede-erlegt-724496050570

And I mean…Quite perverse: a non-aggressive wolf is shot down because it behaves like a dog towards humans!
So…problem wolf because he got too close?
So getting close is already a problem?
Is it really the wolf that comes too close to us, or is it not rather we who are spreading more and more and depriving the animals of their last place of refuge?

What outrageous nonsense!!!
Absolutely no Mernsch has been attacked by a wolf in Switzerland since 1995, where native wolves have returned.
Absolutely nobody at all.

Apart from that- the reference to the “police general clause” is shameful.
A shooting is still “intra legem” ( within the law) , to a certain extent a state emergency, and not to be compared with the factual freedom of the wolf to approach humans.
Ultimately, it was no different than the right to kill with impunity.

My best regards to all, Venus

General News, Stray Animals, Uncategorized

India: Some Of The Latest Amazing Rescues By The Top Team At ‘Animal Aid Unlimited’ – January 2022.

Dear Mark,

Rajasthani nights are very cold–it doesn’t snow, but with night temperatures down to 5°C(40°F) the slightest breeze bringsa deep chill. We’re so grateful to all of you whose help enables us to bundle the animals up with jackets and blankets, provide hot water bottles and run space heaters throughout the night to all puppies, cats and frail animals.

Your kindness warms their hearts year round.

Bouncy was hit by a car, but she wasn’t about to give in!

Too much playing to do!

This little angel was curled up and trembling when her neighbours called to report the accident.

She’d been hit in the face by a passing vehicle and her mouth was bleeding. We feared the worst–a complicated jaw fracture or a head injury–but our fears were calmed when we examined her. We found no signs of fracture andher bright button eyes and perky ears assured us that she had not suffered an injury to her brain. She needed rest, however she wasn’t much interested in it–she was too busy playing. She bounced back within days, and inspired us to call her Bouncy! What a pleasure to see her thriving.

Help us heal darlings like Bouncy. Donate today

Penny lost half her vision, but kept 100% of her love for life!

As we approached this dog from behind, she looked perfectly fine.

But as we neared we understood why she was keeping completely still. Her eye had ruptured from the blow of a passing vehicleand the pain must have been unbearable. She was traumatized and seemed too scared to move a muscle.

Once back in our hospital our medical team found thather eye was damaged and would need to be surgically removed.When she recovered from surgery and her pain was gone, the light of her love shimmered from her entire face.

Meet Penny, a magnificent and oh so sweet accident survivor. Please donate today!

Welcome to the world, little Peanut!

Peanut is a teenie tiny orphan who, in her 3 weeks of life, has already fought through several bouts of illness–a common problem with orphan babies. In addition to keeping their babies clean, warm, safe and loved, mothers provide them with colostrum, a nutrient rich fluid produced by all mammals immediately after giving birth that helps build the immunity of the newborn.

We’re surrounding Peanut with love and doing all we can to help her grow, one day at a time.

Give yourself a valentine that gives help to animals.

Go shopping here:

Animal Aid Unlimited Shop

We thank you deeply for all you do, are, and inspire for animals

Founding family Erika, Claire and Jim, and the Animal Aid Unlimited team

Regards Mark.

Farm Animals, General News

New South Wales wants to criminalize undercover activists

Laws criminalising the use of secretly recorded vision of animal cruelty and abuse are posing “too great a burden on speech”, animal rights activists have told the high court.

The Farm Transparency Project, an Australian animal advocacy group, launched a case earlier this year arguing New South Wales laws restricting the use of covert footage were an unfair burden on freedom of political communication.

The state’s Surveillance Devices Act criminalises the use of footage or audio that was obtained using a listening device or hidden camera, but, unlike other states, gives no public-interest exemption.

Those investigations have revealed countless atrocities in Victoria alone that would otherwise still be an industry secret:

• Live-baiting in the greyhound racing industry
• The maceration (blending) of live male chicks in the egg industry, because they won’t ever be able to lay eggs
• The slaughter of five-day-old male calves in the dairy industry because they won’t ever be able to produce milk, and female calves who are in excess of the farm’s needs
• The use of excruciating carbon dioxide gas chambers in all major pig slaughterhouses, previously touted by the industry as ‘humane’, and also for the killing of ‘unviable’ chicks in the broiler (meat) chicken industry, and ‘spent’ hens in the egg industry whose egg-laying has slowed
• Repeated failure of stunning methods at numerous slaughterhouses
• The routine killing of newborn male goats by the notorious ‘Gippy Goat’ farmer, as they are unable to produce milk and therefore useless to the goat dairy industry
• The routine ‘disbudding’ of newborn female goats at Meredith Dairy, using hot irons to painfully burn off the young goats’ budding horns
• Dogs confined, exploited and abused in puppy mills
• Routine mutilation of young animals without anaesthetic
• … and much more.

Continue reading “New South Wales wants to criminalize undercover activists” →