Coming Soon – the Story of Tiger Trapa and the ex Dancing Bears.
Back in 2005 I was heavily involved in starting an organisation which focused on the Stray (Street) Dogs and Cats of Serbia. I set up SAV as a platform for them to get a voice – you can still visit it now at https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/ to see all the work we were involved with as well as our ‘fights for strays’ with the Serbian government.
It was here that Diana first made contact with me; and as well as fighting for strays in Serbia, we decided to take on the challenge of fighting the hunt(ers) in Germany; exposing their underbellies and how hunter killed wildlife was being disposed of.
Diana still works with me and together we have produced a lot of info and data on the dark web system that operates out of China regarding cat torture and killings.
During SAV operations relating to Serbia, I made many wonderful friends involved with helping animals. Two of them are Branka and Pavel; who are devoted to rescuing dancing bears; and providing sanctuary; as well as their story relating to the rescue of Tiger Trapa; which at the start was a very young Tiger being used by a Circus for photographs After just a few months the baby tiger had grown large and so the Circus Director decided there was no way he needed the animal; and so it could be destroyed.
This is where friends Braka and Pavel immediately stepped in to rescue the young tiger from certain death.
So, there are several stories to tell here; and over the last month or so I have been communicating with Branka and Pavel to do a lot more about Tiger Trapa and the ex dancing bears rescues. We are still working together to ‘make stories’ of these issues which we hope you will enjoy reading about in the near future.
In the meantime here a few photographs and a video link relating to the rescue of such beautiful animals by such very good people.
More to come soon;
Regards Mark
Branka with Tiger Trapa after rescue –
Ex Dancing bear Sanctuary video featuring Pavel and Branka) – note the size of the claws ! –
“The ‘stray’ ones are not the dogs, but the leaders who have burdened Turkey for years, polarizing society with hate politics; those who turn killing and rape into a country’s culture. Enough is enough! We will not vote for politicians who make our friends enemies, who undermine the culture of living together by promising to lock them in death camps under the name of ‘natural habitat.’ We will not bow to regressive and fascist hostility policies. Living is a right. We will not submit to the reactionary and fascist hostility policies. Living is a right. Freedom for animals, humans, and the earth!” (TY/VK)
SAV – In 2005 we formed ‘Serbian Animals Voice’ (SAV) to try and be vocal for the stray cats and dogs of Serbia. The site is archived now, but is still open for anyone wishing to have a look at all our campaign work.
We are proud to be part of this effort by “Feline Guardians” to bring the monsters to justice who torture and kill cats in China, as previously reported on.
Cat abuse is a serious issue in China that requires urgent attention. Since the “Cat in Blender” incident, Telegram communities that deliberately torture animals for fun have been operating “legally” within China, evading justice and promoting young people to harm animals.
The absence of effective measures and prolonged inaction by the authorities have allowed cat abuse to become rampant, to the extent that in recent days, stray cats in internet-face stations have been seen being abused on livestreams, causing shock and distress to animal lovers worldwide. This situation is unacceptable and must be stopped immediately!
Please join us for an X demo on Friday, February 23.
– New York: 5-6pm – Los Angeles: 2-3pm – London: 10-11pm – Paris: 11-12am – Rio de Janeiro: 7-8pm – Tokyo: 6-7am (next day) – Beijing: 5-6am (next day)
Use the hashtag #StopChinaCatTorture and #CatAbusersChina to express our collective disdain and demand immediate intervention. Every tweet can drive change!
I had a really nice e mail this morning from Michelle; who told me about her daughter Katie who is working throughout the month of February with her friends to achieve their ‘Voices for Animals’ badge.
Michelle says – This is a senior badge that explores the connection between humans and animals so they can make informed choices and help others make them too. The badge requires the girls to investigate animals used for science, take a look at animals used for sports and entertainment and dive deeper into animal rights issues.
“Your web page had all of the information we were looking for, so Katie requested I reach out and let you know how much you’ve helped us!”
Well we try to help; and it sounds like some of our posts have helped with your research – great !
Katie’s troop meet on Fridays after school; so in accordance with the request, I am putting this out days in advance.
Well done everyone in the troop for speaking up for the animals – they cannot speak to defend themselves, and so we have to be a voice for them all. I am sure you will all get your badge and pass with flying colours !
It was difficult, with many threats from the Serbian government. But, if you believe you are right then you stick with. What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
As a result of continuous “questioning” on the issue; they are now threatening to close the shelter “Alex” as some kind of revenge..
This is not going to stop us – we eagerly await a response from the EU which should definitely give us confirmation that export consignments took place.
Scientists report first live birth of ‘chimeric’ monkey
Scientists have reported the first live birth of a “chimeric” monkey with stem cells taken from two embryos.
The embryos come from the same species of monkey – a crab-eating macaque – but are genetically distinct, the researchers said.
Chimeras are animals which contain groups of cells from two or more organisms with distinct types of DNA.
The baby monkey was born with “a high proportion” of donor cells – an average of 67% across the 26 different types of tissue, the scientists said.
This work could help us to generate more precise monkey models for studying neurological diseases as well as for other biomedicine studies
Zhen Liu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The team in China, which has reported its work in the journal Cell, said its work has vast implications – from understanding more about devastating conditions such as motor neurone disease to finding ways to help conserve threatened species.
Senior author Zhen Liu, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: “This is a long-sought goal in the field.”
He added: “This work could help us to generate more precise monkey models for studying neurological diseases as well as for other biomedicine studies.”
Chimeras are important for studying embryonic development, but research has largely been restricted to mice.
While monkeys have previously been created in the lab using donor cells, the researchers said these creatures had a much lower contribution of cells from embryos “so you cannot really call them chimeric animals”.
Professor Mu-Ming Poo, scientific director of the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: “Just having several cells (that) are partially distributed all over the monkey body with no real formation or clear structures – you cannot really say that is chimera, strictly speaking.
“So the difference here is that now we have a very high level of contribution, with the donor cells forming a big part of the tissues (and) complex structures all over the monkey body.”
Stem cells are the body’s raw materials from which all other cells with specialised functions are generated.
For the study, the researchers used stem cell lines – a group of cells grown in a lab from a single stem cell – taken from a seven-day-old embryo.
These cells were then injected into embryos that were four to five days old.
The embryos were implanted into female macaques, resulting in 12 pregnancies and six live births.
Of the six, one baby monkey was born alive and managed to survive for 10 days.
Analysis showed this male newborn had donor stem cells in 26 different types of tissue, ranging from 21% to up to 92%.
Meanwhile, a foetus that was miscarried was also “substantially chimeric”, the researchers said, with stem cell-derived cells observed in the brain, heart, kidney, liver, and parts of the digestive system.
The researchers said that their work complied with the national ethical regulations in China. (which mean nothing !)
The health of the monkey is still a problem. If we want to produce a monkey model, we have to have a better chimera that can live longer
Professor Mu-Ming Poo, Chinese Academy of Sciences
They said that as of next steps, they want to explore “mechanisms that underlie the survival of the embryos in the host animals”.
Prof Poo said: “The health of the monkey is still a problem.
“If we want to produce a monkey model, we have to have a better chimera that can live longer.”
WAV Comment – I (Mark) have had Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for the last 25 years, and it causes me now one hell of a lot of problems. MS is a ‘neurological illness’ that happens, but which cannot be explained as to why in only some.
Animals DO NOT get MS.As a sufferer I have always campaigned against the use of animals in MS research. You don’t test Boeing 777 engines on a Spitfire; so if animals do not get MS, then why artificially ‘create’ it in animals and then test on them in them in some pathetic attempt to find a cure ? – for me, proper research would be to find out why animals don’t, and we do – and then move on from there.
Why test on animals when there are hundreds of human MS suffers waiting in line to put themselves forward as research tools in understanding more about this ? – surely they are better for the purpose.
20 years ago, 5 years after my diagnosis; I was informed that within the next 5 years the MS issue would be solved with the wonder cure. 20 further years on I / we are still waiting.
The reality is that this all comes down to money and funding research, whatever that really is. Prof. Poo and his chums just want to exhaust the funding pot whilst never really achieving ‘that cure’; sufferers live in daily hope that a cure will be found for their illness. The problem is that universities and departments like the national ethical regulations in China; ie probably a back street wet market type thing (where did they read Covid from ?) just keep on trying to justify animal research models without ever really making much progress. I guess if animals die or are killed in ‘research’, they they can just chuck them in a bin and continue; probably a bit harder with proper human MS sufferers who really do have MS which is not artificially created in them as it is with non MS suffering with animals.
It really gets my goat that money is endlessly paid out for often pointless ‘research’ using animals. I want to see positive, NON ANIMAL research; research that will provide real answers and hope fully which will lead to real cures.
This is what I mean; something positive without animal cruelty:
World Animals Voice 