A bear named Bean (shown) fractured his leg, but a supervisor told workers to withhold his prescription pain medication.
From Peta;
A breaking PETA undercover investigation into Yellowstone Bear World, a bear-breeding operation in Rexburg, Idaho, found that workers used traumatized cubs desperate for their mothers in public feeding “encounters,” threatened to beat bears with a stick, denied pain medication to a cub with a fractured leg, and more.
Seeking comfort, this cub tried to suckle while being held in an unnatural position and forced to endure touching and handling by a crowd of visitors at an event at Yellowstone Bear World. (Photo taken by a member of the public in April 2022).
Frantic cubs—who, according to guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are too big, too fast, and too strong to be handled by the public—routinely bit, scratched, and bruised workers. PETA’s investigator witnessed a supervisor lash out when a cub named Tootsie bit her, threatening to “throw” Tootsie across the room and rip out her teeth “one by one.”
After they become too large to use in profit-driven public encounters, cubs are moved to a drive-through enclosure. There, visitors in tour trucks toss them bread, which is not good for them in excess. They often have nothing to do but beg for food and pace back and forth, a sign of psychological distress.
When the bears are no longer used for public “encounters,” they are confined to a drive-through enclosure where they have nothing to do but beg for scraps of unhealthy bread visitors toss to them from tour trucks.
Help end this exploitation now.
Please ask Yellowstone Bear World to stop tearing families apart and end its cruel breeding operation and stressful public “encounters” now.
Eurogroup for Animals welcomes the European Commission’s proposal on the revision of the geographical indications scheme for agricultural products, which identified that consumer concerns about animal welfare and sustainability are not adequately protected at present.
In March, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal on revising the EU geographical indications (GIs) scheme and quality schemes for agricultural products. This followed a commitment in the Farm to Fork strategy to revise the framework to improve its contribution to sustainable production and to strengthen the position of farmers and producers.
Eurogroup for Animals provided feedback on the proposed revision during a recent public consultation, in which we welcomed the proposal’s identification of the lack of sustainability and animal welfare considerations in the existing framework. This is an important recognition, as the current GI scheme’s exclusion of animal welfare standards means it does not cohere with the EU’s animal welfare or sustainability ambitions.
The proposal aims to lay down requirements on animal welfare and environmental concerns in light of the growing integration of these issues in GI value chains, validating those producers who have already integrated sustainability actions into their product specifications. As the GI system has been promoted globally through EU trade policy, this could also lead to GI producers around the world incorporating animal welfare dimensions.
Increased attention to animal welfare can also help to protect the quality of GI products. Although GIs are commonly viewed as high quality by consumers, many producers do not even respect the EU minimum animal welfare standards.
Going forward, the references to animal welfare in the Commission proposal must remain. This includes a mention in the introduction and in the preamble, as well as the statement in Article 12 that producer groups can choose to adhere to sustainability undertakings higher than EU requirements. Crucially, the delegated acts that will have to be adopted to define the sustainability standards must include animal welfare requirements based on appropriate animal welfare schemes.
At a minimum, this should include enriched indoor conditions, no cages or restrictions, access to fresh air, lower than standard stocking densities, and an end to mutilations and forced early weaning. Where GIs do adopt animal welfare criteria, pressure must be applied to ensure that they are respected, and assistance should be provided to farmers to support this transition.
Cats tread softly and gently. They can steal up on you without a sound. Before you know it, your feline friend is on your lap – wonderful. However, you may well not have noticed that sometimes it’s their fur which could be keeping your head or neck warm as hat, collar or hood trimmings, creeping up on the unwary consumer without the slightest hint of a meow. It is much less friendly.
Now, anything containing real cat or dog fur is already banned in the EU, or maybe it is better to say ‘officially it should be’. If you say ‘it is’ there will always be proof somewhere that ‘it is not’; so I tend to shy away from such statements usually. But regardless, products with fur from farmed mink, foxes, chinchillas and raccoon dogs are still ON the market. These additions are not necessarily advertised as such. Instead, they can be used by manufacturers to give low-cost garments a ‘high-end’ feel.
Please remember – It takes up to 40 dumb animals to die in making of a fur coat; but only one even dumber one to wear it for the sake of vanity.
Faux fur can be faking it
As activists and campaigners, you no doubt wouldn’t choose anything made of animal fur; it belongs on their back, not yours. But, while the price tag of a coat clearly indicates whether it’s a mink or a fink, it may well not alert you that the decoration on the bobble hat or hooded coat you’re looking at is not faux fur, but real fur.
This is why Fur Free Europe is not just seeking a ban on keeping and killing animals on fur farms, but also pushing for legislation to make it illegal for any farmed fur to be sold throughout the EU. That way, whenever a product takes your fancy, you’ll be sure it won’t contain anything that looked a lot fancier and in the right place – on its original owner.
You will also be sure that you won’t be inadvertently supporting the abjectly cruel practice of forcing inherently wild species to spend their lives in cramped battery cages, unable to enjoy any natural behaviours.
But there are also other issues which could arise from this . If Europe does the bans, then for sure, we can see the Chinese attempting to flood the euro market with fur products which are produced using real fur and which have been produced under the most disgusting actions. The importation of real fur from outside the EU, to be sold as faux within the EU is one issue that really has to be observed and monitored very closely. Years ago I personally became involved with the EU when Russian seal pup fur was illegally making its way into the EU – dressed up and coloured to make the consumer think that it may not be ‘real fur’ that they were purchasing; but it was; fur of baby seals slaughtered in Russia. (But the good news is after a lot of work, we stopped the Russian seal pup slaughter – so, job done).
A seal pup ‘farm’ in Russia – fortunately, no longer used. (WAV)
A netted Russian seal pup destined for the farms – no longer – archive photo.
Bringing the Russian seal issue to Downing St, London. Mark (WAV) dressed as Sealer – on left.
Think what we say about China fur cruelty is over the top ? – then watch this
Click on ‘Watch on You Tube’ for both below.
Now want more ?
Herding the EU cats
Despite widespread ethical concerns – a sensible majority of people in every EU country consider breeding animals for fur unacceptable, let alone the associated public health risks, many Member States still allow fur farming to continue. This time last year, twelve Member States called on the European Commission “to undertake appropriate action leading to the end of fur farming in Europe”. There has been some progress, but far more is needed. You could say a global ban on fur production is needed; this probably will not happen (when we talk China), but real fur product imports from China for example into the EU under the guise of fake fur can be tested, controlled, and closely monitored before they even get here. This is where ‘eurolegislators’ need to come out of their cages, AND ACT. The Chinese need to be held to account for their abuses in the fur trade.
The European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe is working hard to obtain the backing of a million EU citizens. If this goal is reached, the European Commission will be obliged to respond and take action.
If you too want to “Leave Fur Behind” and see a ban on fur farms and farmed fur products, then add your signature to the campaign.
Let’s make sure there is only ever friendly faux fur on that hat or hood. No doubt the cat will purr too.
World Animals Voice 