This is a bit more on the issue of Australian crocodile farming that was originally covered by Venus on 12/11/20 – https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/11/12/australia-the-crocodile-mafia-expands/

More from ‘The Guardian’, London/

Australian farm to hold 50,000 crocodiles for luxury Hermès goods questioned by animal welfare groups | Environment | The Guardian

Australian farm to hold 50,000 crocodiles for luxury Hermès goods questioned by animal welfare groups

Farm to supply skins to make handbags and shoes would be one of the biggest in Australia under plan approved by Northern Territory government

The high-end French fashion brand Hermès wants to build one of Australia’s biggest crocodile farms in the Northern Territory that would hold up to 50,000 saltwater crocodiles to be turned into luxury goods such as handbags and shoes.

But the proposal has come under fire from animal welfare groups, who say other fashion brands have moved away from using exotic animal skins on cruelty grounds. Advocates told Guardian Australia they had concerns about the welfare of the crocodiles, and that farming animals for luxury goods was “no longer fashionable.”

The territory, a significant global supplier of crocodile skins, is already home to several crocodile farms owned by major fashion brands.

Northern Territory crocodile industry figure Mick Burns is leading the proposal on a former fruit farm near Darwin purchased earlier this year by the company PRI Farming, of which he is a director.

The NT government has already granted development approval for the project, with documents showing the farm would include an egg incubator laboratory, a hatchery, and growing pens, as well as wastewater treatment plants and a solar farm.

According to documents submitted to the territory’s Environmental Protection Authority, the farm would employ 30 people and build from an initial 4,000 crocodiles to 50,000, which the ABC has reported would make it one of the biggest crocodile farms in Australia.

An EPA statement to the Guardian said the project had been granted environmental approval, and that PRI had also indicated it would apply for a wildlife trade permit.

Dr Jed Goodfellow, a senior policy officer at RSPCA Australia, said the society remained opposed to killing of any animal “where the purpose of their death is primarily to produce a non-essential luxury item like fur or skin”.

Read more on Page 2:

Vegan Groups Pledge To Provide 2,000 Plant-Based Meals To Those In Need Amid COVID-19

Million Dollar Vegan and Viva! will distribute the vegan meals to charities and foodbanks across the city of Bristol

Million Dollar Vegan and Viva! have pledged to provide 2,000 vegan meals to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campaigners from both groups say their generosity will also help ‘highlight the risks of animal agriculture to public health’. 

Vegan meals

Hot vegan meals will be distributed to charities such as FareShare and Bristol Soup Run Trust, as well as food banks across Bristol, throughout November.Both organizations have been praised by local politicians including Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East.

‘The impacts of climate change’

In a statement sent to PBN, McCarthy said: “Already, we’re seeing the impacts of climate change – forest fires, droughts, floods, storms, and heatwaves. These will only worsen over the coming years. 

“Especially, if companies and governments continue with deforestation linked to the production of food and other commodities. “Thankfully, none of this is inevitable. But, to prevent it, we must make some changes in how we live – and eat – right now. 

“I’m really pleased to see this support for Bristol organisations. [They] have done a brilliant job in responding to food poverty in the city, especially during the recent pandemic.”

‘Veganism is empowering’

Kate Fowler is the Director of Communications at Million Dollar Vegan.

She said: “What we choose to buy and eat has profound consequences. It goes way beyond our taste buds and waistlines.

“It affects our own health, the health of our planet, how long we will have workable antibiotics, when another pandemic will come and whether we will be able to slow down climate change. “

Will Sorflaten, Campaigner at Viva!, added: “Veganism is empowering. It’s the most beneficial change any individual can make on the climate crisis, food hunger, our health.”

Soflaten added that a vegan lifestyle can ‘massively reduce’ the risk of another pandemic.

Please keep it going !

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/11/13/england-ramp-it-up-e-mail-tescos-new-ceo-and-tell-him-to-stop-destroying-the-beautiful-amazon-for-meat-products-in-his-stores/

Greenpeace tell us that he has had over 24,00 messages sent to his inbox.

If he does not get the message now then what hope for him ?

Click on the link above and tell him to stop destroying the Amazon.

New report presents key opportunities for the EU and China to partner up in driving animal welfare and prevent future pandemics

18 November 2020

Press Release

EU and Chinese experts meet to discuss sustainability, food systems and resilience. Animal welfare could be the key to prevent future pandemics, as explained in a new report.

For immediate release: Brussels 18/11/2020

On November 18th Eurogroup for Animals organised an event entitled What could the EU and China do for animal welfare?, hosted by MEP and member of the EP delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China Niels Fuglsang (S&D, DK). The first of its kind gathering was the opportunity for European and Chinese experts to discuss sustainability, a key topic for both partners, and its link with animal welfare.

COVID-19 demonstrated the human and economic costs of a zoonose pandemic and, while it emerged from wildlife, it has also reminded the world of the role played by intensive farming in spreading zoonoses. How we produce and consume food has an impact not only on animals but also on public health, the environment, people and climate. Working together on improving animal welfare can play a key role in finding solutions to many of the current global challenges we are facing: climate change, antimicrobial resistance, as well as the spread of pandemics. With all the developments in the EU, such as the Farm to Fork Strategy, which should see the improvement of our animal welfare standards, there has never been a better time for us to discuss this topic with China.

Stated Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, in its opening speech.

As analysed in the new Eurogroup for Animals Report What could the European Union and China achieve for animals?improving animal welfare standards can contribute to achieving several Sustainable Development Goals which are at the heart of EU and China’s future growth: 

• Building more resilience in the food production sector, SDG 2 – Zero Hunger
• Improving human health by helping to reduce the risk of zoonoses and lessen the use of antibiotics in animal productions, SDG 3 – Healthy Lives
• Contribute to fighting the climate crisis, SDG 13 – Climate Action
• Generate concrete economic benefits, SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

More positive effects could be achieved with moving towards more sustainable production and consumption systems, specifically reducing the production and consumption of meat and dairy products. 

This could benefit public health, lowering cases of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (SDG 3 – Healthy Lives), but also climate and environment, since the dairy and meat sector represents around 14.5% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions (SDG 13 – Climate Action) and it is a massive source of water pollution (SDG 6 – Water Quality, SDG 15 – Live on land; SDG 14 – Live under water). 

Animal welfare can play a key role in finding solutions to many of the current global challenges we are facing such as zoonoses and climate change. At the heart of many of these challenges lies an unsustainable food production system that lacks resilience. Improving animal welfare, as well as moving towards more sustainable production and consumption patterns that rely less on meat and dairy products, can help prevent these situations in the future. 

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

In the future, [China] will proactively promote animal welfare to meet the needs of sustainable socio-economic development. Firstly, [it] will carry out in-depth science-based animal welfare research with Chinese characteristics, to promote the safe, high-yielding, resource-saving and environment-friendly development of animal production in China. Secondly, [China] will participate proactively in the development of international standards on animal welfare, to coordinate and cooperate for a just and fair international trade in animal and animal products. 

Dr. Xiao Xiao, OIE animal welfare China liaison, Associate Researcher of China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

The innovative agricultural and technological practices developed in China and in the EU could serve as a basis to a fruitful cooperation. Eurogroup for Animals recommendations for this cooperation are the following:

• The European Union could improve its animal welfare standards, relying on the most recent animal welfare science. It could also develop standards for species which are currently left unprotected. China could also build up on the work led by authoritative organisations such as ICCAW and CAS to establish mandatory animal welfare standards.
• The EU and China could explicitly refer to animal welfare in the coming EU-China 2025 Cooperation Agenda, notably in the section related to cooperation around public health.
• Animal Welfare could be explicitly mentioned in the EU-China agricultural dialogue, as a dimension of sustainable farming. 
• The EU and China could establish a joint expert working group on future food policies including sustainable and higher welfare livestock production as well as animal welfare and humane and sustainable protein innovation. 
• In the future EU-China investment agreement, the Parties could require EU businesses to respect EU-equivalent standards when investing in animal agriculture in China. 
• The EU and China could aim at establishing a Memorandum of Understanding between DG SANTE and its counterparts in China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, to develop a more structured cooperation on animal welfare, possibly in the context of the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

ENDS

Download the report