Category: Farm Animals

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

EU: The Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals is calling to replace live export with a trade in meat, carcasses and genetic material.

The Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals is calling to replace live export with a trade in meat, carcasses and genetic material

16 April 2021

In view of the announced revision of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 (Transport Regulation), Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) joined forces and set up the Animal Transport Working Group within the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

The working group has been very active recently, with its members joining NGOs missions in the field and taking steps when confronted with the two animal welfare crises involving the livestock vessels Karim Allah and Elbeik. 

There is a growing concern around the sustainability of live transport from animal health and welfare, environmental, societal and economic perspectives.

Taking stock of all the violations to the current animal transport legal framework, as well as the evidence about the unfitness of such a system, MEPs decided to publish a Manifesto to outline the main changes that should be translated into law. 

Among others, the MEPs are calling for:

  • Trading meat, carcasses and genetic material instead of live animals, with non-EU countries Setting up species specific journey times for the intra-EU trade, within a maximum journey time of 8 hours for adult mammals
  • Introducing species-specific requirements for the commercial movements of fish and invertebrates, laboratory animals, equidae, cats and dogs
  • Effective monitoring and enforcing mechanism to foster legal compliance

The Manifesto follows up on the recommendations made by Eurogroup for Animals in its White Paper on the revision of the Transport Regulation, published in January 2021.

Read the Manifesto here.

https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/intergroup-welfare-and-conservation-animals-calling-replace-live-export-trade-meat-carcasses

Regards Mark

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Vegan Recipes

USA: POTUS Joe Biden Urged To Shift To Plant-Centered Food System To Combat Climate Change.

POTUS Joe Biden Urged To Shift To Plant-Centered Food System To Combat Climate Change

The politician is under pressure to transform the US food system leading up to his first ever climate summit as President on Earth Day

POTUS Joe Biden Urged To Shift To Plant-Centered Food System | Plant Based News

POTUS Joe Biden is being urged to shift to a plant-centered food system to ‘combat climate change‘.

To mark Earth Day (April 22) the politician is hosting his first climate summit as President. There, he will discuss the ‘urgency of stringer climate action’ with 40 world leaders.

POTUS Joe Biden

Biden has also announced a $2 trillion proposal to ‘strengthen infrastructure while also tackling climate change’.

However, the plan does not include the promotion of animal-free food or support farmers in transitioning from traditional animal agriculture to plant-based production.

As a result, non-governmental organization ProVeg International has created a petition, calling on the politician to shift to a plant-centered food system.

At the time of writing, the petition has garnered more than 1,500 signatures already. 

‘A terrifying prospect in climate change’

Moreover, Michael Webermann is the US Executive Director of ProVeg International. In a statement sent to PBN, he said: “To discuss environmental crises without centering food production is to wilfully avoid the facts.

“What we eat affects not just climate change, but the biggest issues facing the planet, including pandemic risks, deforestation, antibiotic resistance, and food insecurity. 

“For instance, the FAO tells us that if 40 percent of all crops produced for feeding animals were used directly for human consumption, we could feed nine billion people by 2050. One has to ask when policy will reflect the urgency of this situation?”

Webermann then concluded: “We’re facing a terrifying prospect in climate change, but in diet change lies a real solution. 

“Plant-centered diets, if adopted by many, could be the key to this crisis. We have scientific consensus. Biden’s plans must reflect it.”

You can sign ProVeg International’s petition here

Regards Mark

Farm Animals

Donkey transport in Mauritania- the unbelievable tragedy in the shadow of the world public
Report of the Austrian association “Respect animals” (www.respektiere.at)

It is one of the least known tragedies in dealing with animals, which nevertheless happens every day and for that reason alone is all the more shocking – the transport of donkeys from Mauritanian villages in the south and east of the country to the capital! It goes over distances of up to 1200 kilometers, mostly on slopes and through deserts, mind you.Terrible things happen in each case, and very few people even know about it.

Photos: Donkey transport on the PickUp loading area – unbelievable!

That is why we wanted to accompany such a mode of transport as early as 2019, but this could not take place for various reasons; Postponed to 2020, the pandemic intervened and once again made it impossible to act.

Now we sincerely hope that the project can finally be implemented in 2021 …

Our team watches the arrival of the donkey again and again – incredibly sad moments are the order of the day, death is a constant companion of them. Squeezed in almost to the point of immobility, many of the animals are unable to cope with the ordeal of the up to 2-day journey at temperatures often well over 40 degrees.

Again and again, the dying is unloaded or already rescued dead. They are the unmourned creatures of the planet, their demise is a hardly registered, hardly recorded one.

‘Highway to hell’, at least from the donkey’s point of view, this is how one would have to rename the famous ‘Road of Peace’ to the east – to where many of the youngsters come from …

Continue reading “Donkey transport in Mauritania- the unbelievable tragedy in the shadow of the world public” →
Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

Canada / Japan: Tell Atlas Air to Stop Shipping Horses From Canada to Japan to Be Slaughtered.

Tell Atlas Air to Stop Shipping Horses From Canada to Japan to Be Slaughtered

It seems almost too preposterous to be true: Every year, more than 6,000 live horses in Canada are packed into transport crates and sent on harrowing flights halfway around the world to be slaughtered in Japan.

PETA’s video investigation reveals what happens in Japan to horses who are no longer wanted.

PETA went inside Japan’s largest horse slaughterhouse and captured footage of the horrifying final minutes of a horse formerly used for racing. PETA’s eyewitnesses watched as he was doused with water before being moved onto the kill floor. The terrified horse panicked, slipping out of his halter and escaping, only to be caught—and killed—minutes later.

Now, a recent exposé by Canada’s Global News shows that live horses are crammed into wooden shipping crates before being loaded onto cargo planes destined for Japan. Horses are often deprived of food and water and packed so tightly that they’re unable to stand naturally for the duration of the 16- to 18-hour flight. Numerous horses have died during landing accidents or “due to a combination of a substantial delay, the large size of the horses, and significant stress levels in the animals.” One horse, on a flight out of Calgary, was discovered dead and upside down in a crate.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is supposed to ensure that horses are segregated based on height and compatibility. But Dr. Maureen Harper, a former veterinarian with the CFIA, revealed a different reality: “They’re being shipped unsegregated. I was just horrified. They’re basically stuffing them in like a can of sardines.” She further explained that it’s impossible for any veterinarian to separate the horses adequately, stating, “The CFIA is knowingly not enforcing their own regulations. No veterinarian, on the ground, on the spot, can decide which horse is compatible with which horse at the time of loading. There’s no way.”

Some of these horses may come from the U.S. In 2012, PETA eyewitnesses followed a trailer from a meat buyer’s property in Iowa to a slaughterhouse in Québec and observed that the 33 horses onboard endured this 36-hour ordeal in subfreezing conditions and were never given food, water, or a chance to unload.

Your voice is needed today. Join us in urging Atlas Air, Inc., a New York-based company, to stop shipping horses to Japan, where they’ll be slaughtered.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Atlas Air to Stop Shipping Horses From Canada to Japan to Be Slaughtered | PETA

Regards Mark

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

EU: The EU-Mercosur trade agreement will fuel intensive farming.

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement will fuel intensive farming

14 April 2021

WAV Comment – find out more about the agreement by clicking on this link:

https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-mercosur-association-agreement/index_en.htm

The European Union and Mercosur states – Argentina, Brazil Paraguay and Uruguay – reached a political agreement for an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive trade agreement.

Nearly two years after the end of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations, the European Commission finally published the related final Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA), which confirms the findings of the draft SIA published in July 2020: if ratified as it stands, the agreement will fuel intensive farming, which is detrimental to animals, people, and the environment.

This SIA was released as the ratification of the EU-Mercosur agreement is for now uncertain due to the various concerns raised by civil society organisations. The European Parliament and several Member States, including Austria and France, have pledged not to ratify the deal “as it stands”, mainly because of the significant negative impact the deal will have on deforestation. 

In this context, the SIA tries to defuse some of these concerns by downplaying the impact the deal will have on the expansion of agriculture, and therefore on deforestation. Indeed, the SIA recognises that, in the beef sector, “EU  imports  from  Mercosur  will  increase  in  both  scenarios  (…) but that most of  the deforested  area  is  used  for  low-efficiency  cattle ranching”. Hence,  the SIA suggests that “there  is  great scope  for  expanding  production  by  intensifying  beef  production  in  these  areas  without  inducing deforestation”. However, fuelling the intensification of animal farming is extremely detrimental to animal welfare, but also to people and to the environment as intensive farms often not only rely on crop-based feed, whose production fuels deforestation, but also generates high levels of air, ground and water pollution.  Furthermore, the SIA seems to ignore that, according to a research by Global Forest Watch, the impact of the beef sector on deforestation is five times higher than any other industry, and deforestation rates are increasing worldwide. For instance, in Brazil alone, over half of the country’s deforestation over the last twenty years came from the beef sector, mainly due to the conversion of forests into cattle pasture. As a reminder, the Ambec report – the impact study commissioned by the French government – concluded that, as it stands, the EU-Mercosur agreement would generate an extra 25% of deforestation in the six years following its entry into force. 

The SIA also draws worrying conclusions concerning the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter. It recognises that the potential  impact of  TSD provisions are uncertain,  “insofar  as  they  remain  contingent upon  implementation  in  good  faith  of  all  parties”. The decentralisation  of  environmental  regulation in  key countries like Brazil  can  increase this uncertainty. Hence, the environmental concerns are not likely to be addressed unless there is unilateral EU legislation guaranteeing imported products are deforestation-free, or that EU standards, including  animal welfare standards, apply to imported products.   

We regret the late publication of this SIA, which according to the Commission’s own policy, should have contributed to discussions during the negotiations of the agreement. It is worth noting that the European Ombudsman found that:

“the failure of the European Commission to ensure the finalisation of the sustainability impact assessment before the end of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations constitutes maladministration” and “risks weakening European and national parliaments’ ability to comprehensively debate the trade agreement”

The European Commission also published a Position Paper commenting on the main findings of the SIA report, but it does not not mention any strategy to address the underlined shortcomings or any next step to be taken. For instance, on the beef sector, it supports intensification of the production, regardless of the very negative impact it would have on animal welfare, public health and the environment. Instead of endorsing intensive farming, which is the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon forest, the European Commission should acknowledge that addressing deforestation cannot depend solely on the political will of EU and Mercosur countries, given the economic weight of the beef sector in Mercosur, and the constant imports of beef and soy from the EU.

We  thus call on the EU to uphold the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy, which are to use trade policy “to obtain ambitious commitments” from partners in key areas such as animal welfare, and to take this opportunity to negotiate the adoption by Mercosur countries of EU-equivalent legal standards in key sectors (cattle, broiler chicken, laying hens), as well as in terms of transport, or to agree on conditions on animal welfare and sustainability to access tariff-rate quotas or liberalisation in animal products, including the respect of EU-equivalent animal welfare standards. 

https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/eu-mercosur-trade-agreement-will-fuel-intensive-farming

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

CIWF London: 15/4/21 – Time to End the Cage Age – a ban on cages for farmed animals receives overwhelming support at EU Parliament hearing.

Photos – CIWF.

Time to End the Cage Age – a ban on cages for farmed animals receives overwhelming support at EU Parliament hearing

15 April 2021

CIWF

Press Release

Today (15th April 2021), the European Parliament held a three-hour public hearing on the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which was warmly welcomed by the three European Commissioners present during the debate. A large number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) made interventions and, overall, the ECI received overwhelming support.

The End the Cage Age ECI calls on the EU to phase out the use of cages in animal farming. Today’s public hearing was a milestone for the ECI in the run-up to the official response from the European Commission, expected in the next few months.

The EU claims to be a leader in animal welfare, yet every year it condemns more than 300 million farmed animals to lives of misery in cramped cages. This medieval practice is cruel and completely unnecessary since viable cage-free systems not only exist but are also in use in some parts of the EU. A number of pioneering Member States and businesses have led the way in ditching cages. Now it is time for the rest of the EU to catch up. In line with the ambitions of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy, we call on the European Commission to propose a phase-out of cages in farming through a revision of the 1998 Directive on the protection of farmed animals.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

MEP Norbert Lins, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (Group of the European People’s Party, Germany) concluded at the hearing that “most speakers welcomed this initiative” and noted that “the ball is now in the Commission’s court.”

Before the hearing, on 13th April, EU citizens and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) rallied behind the End the Cage Age ECI Initiative on Twitter, encouraging MEPs to support the ECI during the public hearing. A total of 35.000 tweets were sent, reaching a potential number of more than 3,7 million views, making public support for the ECI undeniable.

The End the Cage Age ECI launched on 11th September 2018 and closed exactly a year later. With 1.4 million verified signatures from citizens across the EU, it became the first successful ECI in farmed animal welfare.

Bo Algers, Professor Emeritus at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, said: “EU law for farmed animals is incredibly outdated. Since 1998, when the EU adopted its Directive on the protection of farmed animals, the output from the animal welfare science has on average been tenfold. Today, we have a much better understanding of how physical, physiological and psychological factors relate to animal welfare. A wide range of species-specific ethological needs are not, or cannot be, provided in a cage, whether enriched or not. It is now crystal clear that cages, due to their inherent physical and behavioural restrictions, cannot provide good welfare, no matter how good the management.”

MEP Eleonora Evi, Vice-President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup and co-chair of its cage-free working group, said: “Today’s public hearing marked another fundamental step towards the objective of a cage-free Europe. Together with many like-minded MEPs, we gave a voice to the over 300 million animals that every year, in the EU alone, spend all, or a significant part, of their lives imprisoned in cages. The enormous support received by this European Citizens’ Initiative throughout Europe cannot be ignored by the European Commission, which needs to come forward with a legislative proposal to end the unnecessary cruelty of caged farming as soon as possible, bringing EU farming practices closer to our citizens’ expectations and more aligned with nature and the protection of public health.”

MEP Anja Hazekamp, President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup and co-chair of its cage-free working group, said: “Hundreds of millions of animals in Europe are locked up in cages for farming purposes. These animals have no chance to exercise their natural behaviours and the conditions in which these animals are kept are so bad that their lives become one big agony. Cages are cruel, but also outdated and unnecessary. It’s a milestone that more than 1.4 million citizens have stood up for these animals to put an end to the ‘Cage Age’. We are now looking at the European Commission and the Member States to prove that they take their call seriously, and that they take the European Citizens’ Initiative as a democratic instrument seriously. A legislative proposal to ban the use of cages in agriculture must be put forward without delay.”

Věra Jourovà, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Values and Transparency, said during the hearing: “The Initiative is fighting for a cause that is topical in the current public debate to improve animal welfare for farmed animals and to invest in sustainable farming. These are valid objectives, which the Commission has embraced in its political ambitions to design fair, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food systems and which have found their way in the Farm to Fork Strategy adopted in May last year.”

Stella Kyriakides, Health and Food Safety Commissioner, said during the hearing: “We are taking steps to tangible action because, as I have repeatedly stated, animal welfare and animal health are very high on our agenda.” She added: “We are very much aware that we need to do more, and we need to strive for better. And we are absolutely determined to do so. The European Citizens’ Initiative is a timely reminder of that. It is a heartful example also of democracy at its best.”

Janusz Wojciechowski, Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner, said during the hearing that EU farm subsidies and recovery funds “can also be used in part to phase out caged farming and implement alternative methods”, and added “you have the full support from the European Commission to implement this transformation.”

Ruud Zanders, co-founder of the high animal welfare poultry farm, Kipster, said: “I grew up on my parents’ intensive poultry farm, which ended up going bankrupt in 2007. This made me rethink the model of production we were using. With Kipster, we set off to create the most animal, environment and people-friendly poultry farm on this planet. It turned out to be a golden egg for us, as our business is both profitable and scalable. We do not only want to respond to consumer demands but anticipate change and even set an example in the world that better ways of farming are possible.”

The hearing was organised by the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in association with the Committee on Petitions.

The hearing’s programme can be found here. 

The hearing’s recording can be accessed here.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

EU: Banning Caged Farming in the EU: Hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative.
Image – Unsplash

Banning caged farming in the EU: Hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative – The European Sting – Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology – europeansting.com

Banning caged farming in the EU: Hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

The public hearing, organised jointly by Parliament’s Agriculture and Petitions Committees, on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “End the Cage Age will be opened by Committee Chairs Norbert Lins (EPP, DE) and Dolors Montserrat (EPP, ES) alongside Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová.

ECI organisers Olga Kikou and Leopoldine Charbonneaux will present the initiative’s objectives, after which, a scientist and a farmer will share their views. They will be followed by statements from Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, and by Kerli Ats and Guillaume Cros, respectively representatives of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions.

A debate between MEPs, the ECI organisers and the Commission will follow, before remarks from Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and final statements by the ECI organisers.

WHEN: Thursday, 15 April, at around 09.00 CET

WHERE: European Parliament, Paul-Henri Spaak building, room 03C050, Brussels (remotely)

The draft programme of the hearing is available here.

The hearing will be web-streamed here (Parliament’s Multimedia Centre).

Background

The European Citizens’ Initiative allows 1 million citizens from at least a quarter of EU member states to ask the European Commission to propose legislation in areas that fall within its competence. Organisers of successful initiatives are invited by the EU to present their initiative at a public hearing in the European Parliament, in front of the committee responsible for the subject matter.

The “End the Cage Age” ECI was registered with the EU Commission on 5 September 2018. By the time of submission, the initiative gathered support of almost 1.4m signatories from across the EU, with the required threshold for signatures met in 18 member states.

The initiative calls on the Commission to “end (…) inhumane treatment” of “hundreds of millions of EU farm animals (…) kept in cages for most of their lives” and for an EU law to ban the use of: cages for laying hens, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese; farrowing crates for sows; sow stalls, where not already prohibited; and individual calf pens, where not already prohibited.

Information to the media

In an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Parliament is reducing the need for physical meetings on its premises, without compromising its role of democratic scrutiny and its ability to approve the necessary legislative measures to combat the virus and support the public, consumers, businesses and emergency services.

The meeting will be web-streamed and can be followed by the media without requiring their physical presence on EP premises. Journalists wishing to enter Parliament’s premises must wear either a surgical mask or an FFP2 respiratory mask (without valves) and respect the standard recommended guidelines on social distancing and hygiene.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

New Zealand: 14/4/21 – Victory In the Live Animal Exports Campaign. Thank You Everyone. Your Victory !

14/4/21 – WAV Comment:  We have some great news to share with you all today, and that is that New Zealand ‘s government has announced that they will END ALL live exports by sea; including the export of mother cows from the dairy industry.  I personally want to thank everyone who supported our efforts to get the NZ government to stop this abusive business – now you have achieved that;  Success !

Regards Mark

From Animals Australia:

Animals Australia - Thank you



This is an incredible win for animals. New Zealand’s government has just announced that they will end all live animal exports by sea, including the export of mother cows from the dairy industry. When I heard this breaking news, I immediately thought of you.

It’s because of you all taking action to contact New Zealand’s decision-makers that they have heard that animals deserve so much better. And it’s thanks to people like you — including the tireless advocates at SAFE For Animals NZ — that hundreds of thousands of cows and their unborn calves will be spared the terror of the live export industry.

New Zealand hasn’t exported live animals for ‘meat’ for many years, since the Cormo Express disaster in 2003. But a legal loophole meant that hundreds of thousands of vulnerable pregnant dairy cows could still be exported — condemning them to lives of deprivation and suffering in destination countries and subjecting them to the unavoidable risks of sea transport. These dangers made global headlines last year with the tragic sinking of the Gulf Livestock 1, which saw thousands of dairy cows and 41 human crew members perish at sea.

As NZ Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said in his announcement of this decision this morning, “The fact is, once animals leave New Zealand by sea we have very limited ability to ensure their wellbeing before they reach their destination … that is an unacceptable risk to New Zealand’s reputation. We must stay ahead of the curve in a world where animal welfare is under increasing scrutiny.”This is the inherent risk of live export for any animal, from any country. And it’s why we will continue as fervently as ever to convince our government and others around the world to replicate the NZ decision and prioritise the wellbeing of animals over commercial interests.

Thanks to this courageous and compassionate leadership, New Zealand’s legacy for animals has again set a precedent for the rest of the world to live up to.

The New Zealand government would not have made this decision had they not recognised that human consciousness is shifting. That old traditions that have seen cattle and sheep as food and commodities are being replaced by a deep understanding of their sentience and the desire from an ever-growing collective of people to also protect them from harm.

Thank you for being one of those leaders, Mark, and for being one of the key people propelling this shift in human thinking.

Today is a good day. Thank you for caring so deeply, for your commitment to living and being the change and for helping to inspire the NZ government to reach this historic decision.

For the animals,

Lyn White AM
Animals Australia

From PETA Australia:

It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for: New Zealand will finally end its live export trade

The country, which currently sends around 3 million live farmed animals every year on horrific voyages around the world to be used as “breeding stock”, will phase out the industry over the next two years, the government announced on Wednesday. 

Of course, we wish the ban was immediate, but it’s nice to have a confirmed end date to this ghastly business which tosses animals about on rough seas, sees them trampled by their shipmates, suffocated by their own faeces, and dying of dehydration, starvation, and illness. 

The New Zealand government has made a historic and compassionate move. 

Now, all eyes are on Australia to follow suit. 

Please join us in calling on Agriculture Minister David Littleproud to end this disgusting, dangerous trade at last:

TAKE ACTION – demand the Australian government do the same:

Demand an End to Cruel Live Export | PETA Australia

Thank you for your compassion for animals.

Sincerely,

PETA Australia

And finally from SAFE in New Zealand, who have worked so hard to get this victory:

Kia ora Mark

We did it! Together we have once again made history for animals.
 
This morning the New Zealand Government announced a ban on all livestock export by sea.This is a huge win for animals and sets an international precedent for other countries to follow.

It is your tireless commitment to animals that has made our decision-makers take positive action to uphold the spirit of the Animal Welfare Act.

You took action for animals, and it mattered.
More than 57,000 people directly pleaded with our Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture, asking them both for a ban on cruel live export. They have heard your voice.

 Thank you.

Thank the government for taking this action by clicking on:

Government moves to ban live export – SAFE | For Animals

We’re hopeful that today’s decision to ban livestock export by sea is the beginning of more positive change for animals in New Zealand. While this is a historic step forward, we are concerned about the tens of thousands of animals that will continue to suffer for the next two years during phase-out, as well as the animals that continue to be exported by air.
 
SAFE will continue to call for an immediate ban on all live animal export, and we need your help.

Today’s victory for animals is yours.
 
You were with us in 2019 when an ABC News exposé revealed the shocking reality that faced New Zealand cows exported to Sri Lanka.

More than 30,000 caring New Zealanders signed SAFE’s petition demanding government accountability and forcing an official review of cruel live export.

For more than a year we waited together for the Government review to be released. In September last year we watched in horror as the Gulf Livestock 1 disaster unfolded, and appalling footage from the ship came to light. Our Government was silent as 5,867 cows and 41 crew members, including two New Zealanders lost their lives.

You refused to remain silent. We know you will continue to take action for animals until our Government announces a complete and immediate ban on all live export.

Your voice and actions have made a difference again today. We know you’ll stand with us as we continue to be a voice for all animals and demand an immediate ban on all live export.

For the animals,

Debra Ashton
Chief Executive Officer

Farm Animals, General News

England: The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?

WAV Comment – for as long as I can personally remember, The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? – has been something that has run through the British animal rights movement; a statement on which so many campaigns and offensives have been based.  It has appeared on everything over the years; the words of an English animal rights campaigner as far back as the 1700’s – one Jeremy Bentham.

Yes, animals can suffer and do STILL suffer; little changes – unfortunately; some centuries later, man still decides to make animals suffer by presenting and incarcerating them into the cage age system.  The man was a visionary; sadly mankind has not progressed in some areas that well.

Regards Mark

Jeremy Bentham on Cruelty to Animals | Robin Saikia

Jeremy Bentham on Cruelty to Animals

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was an English philosopher, jurist and social reformer. He was the founding father of modern utilitarianism, a doctrine founded on his belief that “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong”. Bentham is also remembered for his lifelong commitment to prison reform and for his views on animal rights. As regards animals, Bentham strongly opposed the widespread view, advanced by Descartes and others, that animals were mere automata, complex but soulless machines, incapable of suffering. The following brief passage, from Bentham’s The Principles of Morals and Legislation, can be fairly described as a cornerstone of the modern animal rights movement.

The day may come when the rest of animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may one day come to be recognized that the number of legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate. What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day or a week or even a month old. But suppose they were otherwise, what would it avail? 

The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

No Animal Left Behind: Why no animal should be kept in a cage. But Will the EU Listen to Its Citizens ?

WAV Comment – we wait to see exactly how the EU takes note of its citizens; As part of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “End The Cage Age”, 1.4 million citizens across Europe have called on the EU to put an end to the use of cages in animal farming and were most recently also joined by over 140 scientists and leading food companies.

What is more important to the EU ? – the ‘business’ of meat and animal production, or going cage free for animals ?

We monitor with great interest.

No Animal Left Behind: Why no animal should be kept in a cage

The EU recognizes that animals are sentient beings. However, over 300 million farm animals, including hens, quail, rabbits, sows and ducks, are being confined in cages on EU farms each year. It severely limits their ability to meet essential behavioural, physical and psychological needs:

Despite the EU banning barren cages for laying hens, billions of hens are still kept in tiny cages where they cannot move freely or perform natural behaviours. In these so-called enriched cages, there is not enough litter on the ground for them to dust bathe in, which is a natural and important behaviour for hens. Their nesting area is limited and consists of plastic sheets to give them some privacy, whereas naturally, hens would take themselves off, away from others to lay their eggs in peace. Despite the name, enriched cages are grossly inadequate and do not offer hens the environment they need. 

Instead, hens should be reared in cage-free systems with access to outdoors that allow them to move freely from indoors to outdoors. Their outdoor space should have plenty of cover, as hens like to forage under trees. In good cage-free systems with access to outdoors, hens have multiple perches where they can fulfil their roosting behaviours, and escape unwanted attention from others. They also allow hens to nest properly, giving them the privacy and nesting materials they desire. 

In intensive systems, rabbits who are farmed for meat or fur are crammed into tiny cages with no room to move. Each rabbit has less than the area of an A4 piece of paper. They cannot stretch out, stand with their ears erect, dig, or hop about as they were born to do. The floor is often made of bare wire which can cause sores on the rabbit’s footpads and hocks, leading to chronic pain and infections.  Some rabbits are housed in pairs or groups, but the close proximity and the inability to move away from one another often leads to high levels of aggression and stress. 

This lifetime confinement in severely restricted and unsuitable housing is cruel and unnecessary. Rabbits can be reared in higher welfare systems, giving them space to hop, dig, jump and socialise properly. These systems may be free-range extensive systems or open indoor pens where the rabbits stay in stable groups and are given enrichment to relieve boredom and encourage natural behaviours. 

As part of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “End The Cage Age”, 1.4 million citizens across Europe have called on the EU to put an end to the use of cages in animal farming and were most recently also joined by over 140 scientists and leading food companies.

The truth is out there ! – EU: Cage or No Cage ?

Regards Mark