Hi all;
Trying to be a world animals voice;
New month therefore a new visitor map;
Go here to see all our wonderful global visitors – a good start to the month:
Visitor Traffic for Worldanimalsvoice.com (clustrmaps.com)
Regards Mark
Tommy was a legend in the UK – enjoy his Karate class,
Sarah Palin (Republican) fails to win Congress seat for Alaska.
Sarah Palin fails to win Congress seat as Alaskan native makes history (msn.com)
Sarah Palin kills a caribou on her TV show (but misses target five times) | Daily Mail Online
Sarah Palin hunting pictures:
Sarah Palin Hunting and Fishing Pics | Field & Stream (fieldandstream.com)
Regards Mark
Dear Mark,
We’re so thrilled to start this month off by sharing the wonderful news that the T&S rabbit farm in Nottinghamshire is finished for good, after the farmer announced he is retiring from fur farming due to the pressures from animal activists! When asked about his decision by local media, he replied “I made the decision to give into their demands. We couldn’t fight them anymore because they are too strong.”
This success brought together Animal Aid’s undercover investigations and planning expertise with amazing local teams on the ground, including Shut Down T&S Rabbits and Rabbit Farm Resistance – an inspiring reminder that campaigning does make a real difference to the lives of animals!
See our recent WAV post on this victory:
We have a late but urgent request for people to please object to plans for a new reindeer farm in the UK – and we only have until tomorrow to make our objections! Reindeer are herd animals, adapted to live in a cold climate. These sensitive animals should not be confined to a reindeer farm in the UK. Please submit your objections today!
Last year our petition to help ban snares reached over 100,000 signatures – and now it’s time once again to put pressure on Ministers. The wonderful group, OneKind are holding a demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament on Saturday the 17th September from 11:30am-1pm, calling on the Scottish Government to make history and ban snares. Whether or not you’re able to attend the demonstration, you can still use this opportunity to apply pressure – either by writing to your local MP, or by contacting Scottish ministers via email or social media. Don’t forget to use the #BanSnares hashtag!
VegFestUK London, one of the largest vegan lifestyle fairs in Europe, is back! Our Head of Campaigns is speaking at the event, and you can also chat to the campaigners at our stall, where you can help make a positive change for animals! VegFestUK are launching a buy-one-get-one-free offer on tickets from today, so be sure to come along and say hi to us!
Thanks for helping us help animals.
With kindness,
The Animal Aid Team x
Regards Mark
More than a million European citizens demand an end to animal testing
31 August 2022
Press Release
The ECI Cruelty Free Cosmetics closed last night with a blast: 1.413.383 signatures collected in one year. Twice in less than a decade, over one million people across Europe have clearly said that animal testing must end.
Over ten million animals – cats, dogs, rabbits, mice and others – are harmed every year in research and testing in laboratories around Europe.
Now European citizens are demanding an end to the harmful use of animals in cosmetics and other chemical tests, as well as an ambitious plan to bring all experiments on animals to an end.
The European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics closed on Wednesday 31st August with 1.413.383 signatures collected in one year. It’s an unprecedented milestone since this is the second ECI on this issue that has surpassed the one million signature mark, the first was Stop Vivisection in 2015.
This overwhelming support of EU citizens to end animal testing echoes the position taken last year by the European Parliament, which lead to a resolution calling on the European Commission to coordinate, together with Member States, a concrete plan to accelerate the transtion to non-animal testing.
Considering the health, environmental and political challenges that Europe and the world are currently facing, the huge public support sends a very clear signal to Europe’s lawmakers about the continued strong demands on this issue. We hope that this time the European Commission, and national governments, respect the positions of the public and the European Parliament and act now to put forward an ambitious and urgent plan to transition to an animal-free science, delivering better protection of humans, other animals, and the environment alike.
Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals
The Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics ECI was launched in August 2021 by animal protection organisations Cruelty Free Europe, PETA, Eurogroup for Animals, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments, and HSI/Europe with the support of global beauty and personal care companies The Body Shop and Dove, and was actively promoted by a coalition of groups and campaigners from every corner of Europe.
This mass mobilisation of citizens proves once again that there’s no room for animal experiments in the EU. The ECI results and the EP Resolution set the way forward for Europe as the time is right for an ambitious phase-out plan, with clear milestones and achievable objectives.
Tilly Metz MEP (Greens/EFA, LU), Chairwoman of the Animals in Science Working Group of the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals
Our movement has once again raised the voices of citizens and of animals in laboratories, we are incredibly proud of this collaborative landmark and we look forward to a successful validation of the signatures.
Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals
Notes
1. The End Animal Testing European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has brought together a network of NGOs across Europe. This is the first time in history that this number of European organisations has come together for animals in laboratories.
2. For more information on European Citizens’ Initiatives see the ECI Factsheet on the European Parliament website.
Regards Mark
WAV Comment – congratulations to our friends and fellow campaigners at Equalia for their tireless work in establishing legislation that will require cctv to be installed in all Spanish slaughterhouses. Wins such as this don’t come easy and they don’t arrive overnight; you have to show tenacity and have it in you to continue the fight until you win. This has happened here – congratulations all you guys.
Spain becomes the first EU country to legislate the installation of video surveillance cameras in all slaughterhouses
31 August 2022
Equalia
Equalia has been pushing since the end of 2018 for better regulation in Spanish slaughterhouses, which was ratified last week with the approval of the royal decree in the Congress of Deputies.
Three years ago, the NGO Equalia started the campaign “Ley de Cámaras de Videovigilancia en Mataderos” (Law on Video Surveillance Cameras in Slaughterhouses), to call for the mandatory installation of video surveillance cameras in all Spanish slaughterhouses, with the aim of effectively and rigorously guaranteeing compliance with animal welfare and food safety regulations.
This royal decree makes Spain the first country in the European Union to establish a law for the protection of animal welfare and food safety in slaughterhouses.
All abattoirs regardless of size will have to abide by the law. Large slaughterhouses will have one year to implement the change while smaller facilities will have two.
The NGO Equalia drew up an action protocol together with the veterinary services of the meat sector, which was presented to and adopted by several of the most important companies. It specified the three basic measures of the proposal: the placement of cameras in all areas where live animals are handled, the storage of the images for one month, in strict compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act, and access to the images by the Official Veterinary Service of the autonomous community in order to review them, apart from the operator.
In parallel, an initial law proposal, presented by Equalia, was approved through non-legislative propositions in the parliaments of the Balearic Islands, Navarre, La Rioja, Community of Madrid, Community of Valencia and the Canary Islands.
This work with institutions, entities and companies in the sector was accompanied by the publication of six investigative reports in Spanish slaughterhouses. In them, Equalia highlighted the need for a more exhaustive control of the practices carried out in these facilities. Following the publication of images of serious irregularities in animal welfare in a slaughterhouse in Ávila, where operators were seen cutting the legs off cows while they were still conscious, the meat sector, through ANICE, took a stand in favour of the installation of cameras in slaughterhouses. The same happened with other interest groups such as trade unions (Comisiones Obreras) and consumer associations (Facua).
The national and international repercussions of the images of the investigative report provoked the reaction of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which, through AESAN (Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition), initiated a draft royal decree establishing measures for the control of animal welfare in slaughterhouses through the installation of video surveillance systems. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, on which AESAN depends, submitted the text for public consultation on 20 October 2020. After studying the allegations received from the interest groups that participated, the royal decree that has been approved today in Congress was drawn up.
In 2018, we started the debate on the need for video surveillance in slaughterhouses in Spain. Today, after positioning the meat sector, government, trade unions and consumer associations in favour of the proposal, this royal decree makes Spain the first country in the EU to require video surveillance systems in slaughterhouses.
Even though it is only a first step, we have to recognise that this royal decree has some weak points such as the viewing of the images. The treatment of the viewing will fall mainly on the operator (slaughterhouse), and not on the official veterinary service of the autonomous community, in addition to not specifying an exhaustive procedure for reviewing images in terms of the periodicity and time of viewing them.
Guillermo Moreno, Director of Equalia
Regards Mark
World Animals Voice 