Shots from my garden yesterday (28/4) and today; one of many vulpines (foxes) who come round and chill; get some scoff, and then vanish.
I love foxes; some (Limited numbers) folk still hate them; considering them pests; but I welcome them with open arms and some snacks to enjoy. Why persecute them ? – is finding food and daily survival not difficult enough for them ? – if I can help with a few food snacks and ensuring they are mange free then I will.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Activists who have disrupted three Minnesota Timberwolves games in two NBA arenas over the past two weeks are demanding that Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor relinquish his role as governor and contribute $11.3 million to various entities on behalf of animal welfare.
The activists, members of the organization Direct Action Everywhere, are targeting Taylor for his ownership of Rembrandt Farms, a large-scale factory farm that produces tens of millions of eggs each year. Rembrandt’s facility experienced an outbreak of bird influenza in March.
“To have Taylor and other extremely powerful factory farming businessmen getting these taxpayer bailouts flies in the face of the values of ordinary Americans,” Direct Action Everywhere media contact and activist Matt Johnson said. “Taylor should set a powerful example by stepping away from NBA ownership and refusing to take any subsidies related to the HPAI outbreak, and donate funds previously received to help repair some of the harm of the most destructive industry on the planet.”
To combat the highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic, the company killed more than 5 million birds with a method called ventilation shutdown plus at one of its primary facilities in Iowa. Under the method, air flow into the industrial sheds where the birds reside is closed off. Activists deem the practice inhumane.
Protester Alicia Saturio glued her hands to the court during live play in the Timberwolves’ play-in game against the LA Clippers on April 12 at Target Center in Minneapolis, the first of the three incidents. Security quickly lifted her from the court and ejected her.
“I was nervous,” Saturio told ESPN. “I had never super-glued myself to anything. I wasn’t sure how the fans were going to respond. I most certainly didn’t want any of the players to be hurt, so I made sure to do it when they were down at the other end of the court.”
In Game 1 of Minnesota’s first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, activist Zoe Rosenberg chained herself to a basket stanchion near Taylor’s seat during the game at FedExForum in Memphis. She was quickly unchained by police and carried out of the arena. Rosenberg faces charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Johnson attended Game 3 at Target Center with the intention of disrupting play. He was apprehended and tackled by security before he could reach the floor. He was placed under arrest and banned from Target Center for one year.
In Game 4 of the series in Minneapolis, activist Sasha Zemmel rushed the court just in front of Taylor, interrupting live play. She was dressed in an NBA official’s uniform. Her intention was to approach Taylor, whose net worth was estimated at $2.5 billion by Forbes magazine in 2020, and call a “technical foul” on the Timberwolves and Rembrandt Farms owner.
Security personnel immediately tackled her to the floor and removed her before she could make the gesture. The referee’s jersey number was 5.3 to represent the 5.3 million birds killed at Rembrandt. Zemmel faces charges of disorderly conduct and fifth-degree assault.
“I didn’t even know what that was,” Timberwolves young star Anthony Edwards said following Minnesota’s Game 4 win. “Y’all got to stop running on the floor in Minnesota. Do that in Memphis. We don’t need it.”
Direct Action Everywhere performs public acts of civil disobedience as well as what it calls rescue missions at farm factories. Though the recent actions are in response to the killings at Rembrandt, the group more broadly opposes factory farming.
The organization has filed a complaint to local and state authorities in Iowa alleging that Rembrandt’s conduct violated state law. It demands that Taylor expedite the pending sale of the team to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, who have agreed to terms. Direct Action Everywhere also is demanding that Taylor Corp., parent company of Rembrandt, donate the $11.3 million it received in federal funds to aid in a 2015 outbreak to public health and animal welfare organizations.
Neither the Timberwolves nor representatives of Taylor provided comments by the time of publication.
Protections for animals have been boosted this week as pieces of legislation banning the use of cruel glue traps and introducing fines for people who fail to provide the proper levels of care to their pets, zoo animals and livestock became law.
The Glue Traps (Offences) Act bans the use of inhumane glue traps which are a widely available method of rodent control but can cause immense suffering.
Animals can remain alive for 24 hours or more, eventually dying of stress, exhaustion, dehydration or self-inflicted injuries. Wildlife and domestic pets can also get stuck to the traps.
Under the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act people who fail to properly care for their pets, zoo animals and livestock could face fines of up to £5,000.
The measures in the Act will help drive up animal welfare standards closing the gap between warnings and criminal prosecution, and acting as an important deterrent alongside the current five-year maximum prison sentence for animal welfare offences, which was increased through the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act passed last year.
Under this new legislation, fines could be handed out by enforcement authorities to pet breeders who fail to microchip puppies before being rehomed, horse owners tethering their animal in a way that neglects their basic needs or a farmer transporting livestock that are not fit for travel.
In addition, the Government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill has this week also gained Royal Assent. This will create a new Animal Sentience Committee made up of experts from within the field.
Animal welfare minister Lord Zac Goldsmith said:
We are a nation of animal lovers and the passing of today’s legislation is a significant moment for the health and welfare of the country’s animals.
The UK, since leaving the EU, has been able to further strengthen its position as a global leader on animal rights. The penalty notice measures being introduced today will act as a powerful deterrent, building on measures we have already taken such as increasing prison sentences for cruelty offences. We will also be protecting wildlife and domestic pets from falling victim to inhumane glue traps, and we have delivered on our manifesto commitment to put animal sentience provisions into law.
The Glue Traps (Offences) Act will ensure licences to use glue traps are only issued to professional pest controllers on an exceptional basis, to preserve public health or safety where there is no suitable alternative. Licence holders would then need to follow conditions set out in the licence to ensure the welfare of any rodents is upheld, such as regular monitoring of set traps. This means those found to have used a trap without a licence could face up to six months in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
RSPCA Director of Advocacy and Policy Emma Slawinski said:
It’s a good week for animal welfare; the RSPCA has been campaigning on these issues for a long time. Glue traps inflict awful injuries on wildlife, pets and other animals; it’s high time they were banned.
Recognising that animals experience feelings and emotions is vital to help protect them and Fixed Penalty Notices will help to bridge the gap between advice and prosecution.
Battersea Dogs and Cats Home’s Head of Policy & Public Affairs, Michael Webb, said:
As a leading animal welfare organisation, we welcome the steps made today to further protect all animals. We hope that the new Penalty Notices Act will be an effective tool in clamping down on minor offences, including breaching microchipping regulations, alongside the continued use of the Animal Welfare Act to punish those who commit an offence that harms animals.
We look forward to working with Defra to establish in greater detail which offences will be subject to the use of Fixed Penalty Notices, to ensure the Act is as effective as possible.
A statement from the Government says these three acts will help build on their “commitment to provide leadership on animal welfare and revolutionise the treatment of animals in the UK and introduce measures to protect the health and welfare of animals at home and abroad, as set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare.”
Enjoy a non Abba Waterloo; I saw the doctor back in 1981 – featuring the Anadin brothers (2 girls) who sing here – I am sure that 1-03 ‘So What’ is Lemmy from ‘Motorhead’ ? – and Roy Wood (Wizard) on sax ?
Joaquin Phoenix has optioned ‘Free the Animals’ by PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk. PHOENIX: ROBERT SUD/COURTESY OF SUBJECT. FREE: COURTESY OF LANTERN PUBLISHING.
Phoenix also penned the foreword for the 30th anniversary paperback edition, out May 5, for PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk.
Oscar winner and longtime vegan Joaquin Phoenix could soon be taking his animal activism to the big screen.
The actor has acquired film rights to Free the Animals, the 1992 book by PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk, about the militant group Animal Liberation Front. Phoenix also penned the foreword for the 30th anniversary paperback edition, out May 5.
The tome’s full title is Free the Animals: The Amazing, True Story of the Animal Liberation Front in North America. It follows “Valerie,” a young police officer whose world is turned upside down when she comes face to face with a group of monkeys removed from an animal testing laboratory. Along the way, she encounters people who are willing to risk freedom for the cause, and she joins them in living on the run from the law that she swore to uphold.
In a bid to inspire the next generation of activists, Phoenix writes, “Yes, Free the Animals is about the balaclava-wearing heroes who break windows and laws to save animals, but it’s also about everyone. It’s a call to us all to take action. Whether it’s wielding crowbars and bolt-cutters or picking up a pen or a protest sign, every one of us can and must fight injustice and push for animal liberation every chance we get.”
Phoenix’s foreword adds more context to a high-profile stop he made during his awards season run for his Oscar-winning turn in Joker. After picking up a Screen Actors Guild prize, Phoenix, still in his tuxedo, accompanied activists from LA Animal Save for a vigil outside a slaughterhouse in Vernon, California. “We offered a sip of water, comforting words and a gentle touch to the pigs on the transport trucks that stopped before passing through the gates,” he writes. “It’s heartbreaking to look into these individuals’ eyes and imagine what they must be feeling, to realize that we were likely offering them the only kindness they’d ever known, and that in a few moments, their lives would come to a violent end.”
Phoenix continues by addressing a question that he’s asked about why he attends such vigils and why he doesn’t buy animal products. The answer is simple, he writes. “I’ve seen the torture and killing that occurs when someone takes — steals — what rightly belongs to another living being. Strips what’s theirs right off their back or kills them so that parts of their body can be eaten or worn. I’ve seen what horror and fear animals in laboratories live in simply because they aren’t protected from human curiosity and there’s money in caging them to test things, like how they will react when frightened by a rubber snake or when their babies are torn away from them. Knowing all that, I have a moral obligation to act. And I know that’s how the heroes of this book, Free the Animals, felt, too.”
THR checked in with the author, Newkirk, for her response to Phoenix acquiring the feature film rights, and she said that she fielded “considerable interest” from two other stars. But she went with Phoenix in the hope that he not only directs the film but also stars in it. Newkirk has even zeroed in on the role he could play.
“I’m convinced he would win another Oscar for playing Josh, the Navy whistleblower who risked a court-martial to get help for a little dog about to die in a deep-sea diving experiment and who then went on to lead the West Coast Animal Liberation Front teams that freed many more animals who faced certain death,” she says. “Joaquin understands what animals go through and lives and breathes animal rights — it’s part of his very being. I also have his word that he would never allow the use of real animals, who often spend their lives in cages and are shipped to Hollywood sets to perform what to them are stressful, nonsensical, repetitious acts. Instead, he would use computer-generated imagery or domestic animals who live as companions — and of course, he would have access to PETA’s photo and video vaults, which contain footage from the raids described in the book.”
Phoenix, who last starred in Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon, next toplines Ari Aster’s Disappointment Blvd. and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.
World Animals Voice 