Category: Farm Animals
All photos (except last) supplied by Reuters. More News to come later, but these pictures say it all really.
Denmark resorts to dumping 17million culled animals in mass graves amid mutant Covid fears
Q) How much was your fur coat ? – A) only 17 million mink !
Oops; nearly forgot our pictures from the Faroe Islands – they are also a part of Denmark:
ALDI to join European Chicken Commitment in Germany and Spain
9 November 2020
Supermarket giant ALDI has taken a far-reaching decision to improve animal welfare. ALDI is the first major food retailer in Germany to join the European Chicken Commitment and thereby increases its commitment to sustainable retail practices by telling suppliers to treat chickens better.
Aldi has pledged to end the worst abuses suffered by tens of millions of chickens in their supply chains. The company will also work toward improving conditions for its locations in the US and elsewhere by continuing negotiations with The Humane League, an international nonprofit based in Philadelphia that advocates against animal abuse.
According to that group, “by 2026, a chicken raised for Aldi in one of these regions will be less likely to struggle to stand and walk, because they won’t be bred to reach market weight at just five weeks old. They won’t live their entire lives suffering in perpetual darkness. And they won’t be violently flipped upside-down and electrocuted, then have their throats slashed while potentially still conscious.”
Read more at source
Please check out all our old posts on the Danish Mink issue by going to https://worldanimalsvoice.com/?s=denmark
WAV Comment – Naturally as we so often see; animal welfare comes a poor second to the financier driven governments. We now hear that the abusive fur trade and untold suffering of millions of sentient animals plays a second fiddle to the ‘more than’ €1bn in annual exports gained by the fur trade for Denmark.
Now, the price of a fur coat is (fortunately) coming back to hit the Danish government in a multitude of ways – the mink cull has descended into ‘political chaos’ by its actions. We, as a group, have no time for animal abusers; and that includes the Danish government who put their own financial gain up above the welfare of sentient beings suffering in the farms.
To say ‘Karma’ or ‘just desserts’ seems quite an apt statement at present. Denmark is now putting itself on the map as the ‘Second Wuhan’; due to its ignorance of the suffering caused by the fur trade. We have no sympathy for the Danish government who are now reaping what they sowed over many years.
Only with a complete and utter fur ban throughout Denmark which should be permanent; will the Danish government ever gain any respect from civilized people of the world. But then they still kill whales in the Faroe islands don’t they ? – Denmark; out of touch with reality and the wishes of the majority of decent people of this world.
Regards Mark
Visit Mark and the crew at ‘Respect for Animals’ to get all the news on fighting the fur industry and the latest on the Danish situation at:
Danish mink cull descends into political chaos over legality
Government lacks backing for bill to kill 17m animals to stem coronavirus mutation
Denmark’s plan to cull its entire mink population to stop the spread of a mutated form of coronavirus has sparked political chaos following revelations that the government lacks the legal basis for the order.
The Social Democrat-led minority government in Copenhagen plans to introduce emergency legislation on Tuesday to kill up to 17m mink, including those that are healthy. But it lacks parliamentary backing to pass the measure after the country’s centre-right contingent said it would not vote in favour.
Mette Frederiksen, prime minister, announced last Wednesday that a mutated form of coronavirus had passed from mink to 12 people in Denmark and could threaten the effectiveness of a future vaccine against Covid-19.But some international scientists have questioned that claim, and, with more than 2m mink already culled, opposition politicians and mink farmers are now sounding the alarm.
“The government is gambling with Danish democracy and they must stop,” Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, head of the largest centre-right opposition group the Liberals, told broadcaster TV2 as he said his party would not back the emergency law. The government’s website still calls for all mink in the country to be killed. But Mogens Jensen, minister for food, agriculture and fisheries, apologised late on Monday for the confusion and said the government should have been clearer on which actions had a legal basis and which did not.
Under Danish law, any infected mink and those within an 8km security zone can be killed, but not healthy mink outside these limits. Due to a lack of capacity at incineration plants, mass graves for the animals have been dug on land belonging to the Danish military.
Emergency legislation requires a two-thirds majority in Denmark’s parliament, which the government does not have in support of the measure. The law could still pass with more time for debate or if the government introduces normal legislation, which requires only a simple majority. Mr Jensen insisted that there had been “no time to waste” after health authorities warned of a risk to public health. “We are in a global health crisis, and therefore the government chose to take a resolute decision,” he said.
Troels Mylenberg, political editor of TV2, called the admission that the cull has no legal basis “a tremendous scandal, and quite simply sensational”. The UK has closed its borders to non-British citizens from Denmark, while Norway toughened its quarantine rules for Danish arrivals following news of the virus mutation. Danish health authorities said the mutated virus could already have died out.
Tage Pedersen, head of the Danish mink breeders’ association, said he was “shaken” by the “completely insane handling” of the affair for an industry that accounts for more than €1bn in annual exports for Denmark. Amid reports of mink farmers halting the cull, Mr Pedersen added that they should continue as “it will still eventually result in the closure of the entire industry”.
First – a must watch:
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/11/09/there-was-a-killing/
‘Mutant coronavirus’ seen before on mink farms, say scientists – BBC News
Photo- Getty Images.
Denmark Mink Murders – WAV posts:
‘Mutant coronavirus’ seen before on mink farms, say scientists – BBC News
Photo – Getty Images.
Further news 09/11/20.
‘Mutant coronavirus’ seen before on mink farms, say scientists
A mutant form of coronavirus found in Danish mink has arisen before, scientists have revealed.
The mutated virus, which appears to have spread from animals to humans in Denmark, has been detected retrospectively at a mink farm in the Netherlands, according to a leading Dutch expert.
The mink were culled and the mutation did not infect humans there, he said.
Six countries have reported coronavirus outbreaks at mink farms.
They include the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US.
Mink are known to be susceptible to Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, which can spread rapidly from animal to animal in mink farms.
- What’s the science behind mink and coronavirus?
- Denmark to cull up to 17 million mink amid coronavirus fears
- Coronavirus: Hauliers included in Denmark restrictions.
Animals have become infected by farm workers during the pandemic, and have occasionally passed the virus on to humans, raising the risk of the virus acquiring mutations.
Danish scientists are worried that genetic changes in a mink-related form of the virus, infecting a dozen people, has the potential to make future vaccines less effective.
‘Mutant coronavirus’ seen before on mink farms, say scientists – BBC News
Getty Images.
The genetic change is in the spike protein of the virus, which is important in the body’s immune response, and a key target for vaccines.
The Danish genome sequences were recently released on a public database, allowing scientists in other countries to look for evidence of the mutation.
Go to Sheet 2 to read more on this.
Continue reading “Denmark: ‘Mutant coronavirus’ seen before on mink farms, say scientists. The Price of a Fur Coat !”
Thanks Stacey – regards Mark
The Absolute Worst of Cognitive Dissonance
NOVEMBER 9, 2020
by Stacey
Please note that if you consume or use animals in any way, you should watch this video; there are a few brief, graphic parts, but they come with a warning so you can literally look away as you currently do. SL
Source Cosmic Skeptic YouTube
Cognitive Dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change. There is one particular area in which this is especially present, and in which it constitutes the norm, rather than the exception.
Links:
‘Why It’s Time To Go Vegan’: https://youtu.be/gcVR2OVxPYw
‘A Meat Eater’s Case For Veganism’: https://youtu.be/C1vW9iSpLLk
Sources
[1] 7 billion male chicks killed each year: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119310636?via%3Dihub
[2] British male chicks ‘humanely gassed’: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/hatched-discarded-gassed-what-happens-male-chicks-uk-10088509.html?
[3] Treatment of UK dairy cows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9sSDTbJ8WI
[4] Most pigs slaughtered in UK killed by gas chamber (page 6): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/778588/slaughter-method-survey-2018.pdf
[5] Around six million calves killed per year in the EU for veal: https://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/cows/veal-calves/
[6] Animal slaughter counter: https://thevegancalculator.com/animal-slaughter/
Additional Links:
Download Your FREE Vegan PDF HERE
Order a FREE vegan kit HERE
Download Your FREE Dairy-Free PDF HERE
Take the Dairy-Free Challenge HERE
Click HERE for more Dairy-Free
Fish alternatives can be found HERE
Learn about eggs HERE
Find bacon alternatives HERE
Take PETA’s Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide along with you next time you head to the store! The handy guide will help you find humane products at a glance. Order a FREE copy HERE
Searching for Cruelty-Free Cosmetics, Personal-Care Products, Vegan Products, or more?
Click HERE to search.
Free PDF of Vegan & Cruelty-Free Products/Companies HERE
Click HERE to find out How to Wear Vegan!
Want to do more than go vegan? Help others to do so! Click below for nominal, or no, fees to vegan literature that you can use to convince others that veganism is the only compassionate route to being an animal friend:
PETA HERE
Vegan Outreach HERE
Get your FREE Activist Kit from PETA, including stickers, leaflets, and guide HERE
Have questions? Click HERE
From Lesley; activist campaigner and friend at ‘Eyes on Animals’ in the Netherlands.
Dear donors and friends,
Carola Schouten, the Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, wants a ban on the long-distance transport of unweaned calves. She is committed to a European ban and will therefore urge the EU Agriculture Council to amend the European Transport Regulation. She also wants the ban to apply to animals destined for slaughter.
A ban would mean, among other things, that The Netherlands can no longer import unweaned calves from Ireland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states. There are tens of thousands of them on the roads every year.
The Minister is of the opinion that the welfare of unweaned calves suffers when they are transported over long journeys because they cannot be properly fed. At this age their diet consists only of milk, something that cannot be offered to them on board.
We can only agree with her. Eyes on Animals has trailed many trucks carrying unweaned calves from Ireland, Latvia and Lithuania in the past 10 years. Our investigations proved that animal-welfare laws were structurally violated: calves were on the road for too long and were not given any milk.
We also exposed, in collaboration with the French organization L214, serious physical abuse of young calves at a frequently used control post in France where Irish calves on their way to the Netherlands were unloaded to rest.
Eyes on Animals also revealed the poor condition Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian calves were in once they arrived at veal farms in The Netherlands, many of which were too weak and dehydrated to walk out of the trucks on their own and were instead dragged.
The footage from our inspections made it on the major international news channels and sites, such as Swedish news, The Times, Le Parisien, BBC, Hart van Nederland, RTE Prime Time (Ireland), and The Guardian. After each inspection, we also sent an extensive report of our observations and the violations documented by our teams to the responsible authorities, including the Dutch minister of Agriculture.
We are very pleased that the Minister is insisting that long-journeys for unweaned calves and animals destined for slaughter be phased out and wish her every success. We will continue to carry out our inspections unabated so that the authorities of other countries also push for an EU-wide ban.
Lesley Moffat
director Eyes on Animals
In the past, we also presented a big report to the EU regarding the live transportation of live calves between Ireland and mainland Europe; which as expected and proven, documented that calves were not being given the rest times and food required of them by EU laws.
Please read more on this by visiting https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/ and the scrolling down to the photos of the calves as shown in the above.
Thank you
Regards Mark
Many claims that the Danes, and after the new virus attack from the mink factories, will finally learn something.
Do we expect the Danes to learn something?
They are the champion of fur production worldwide.
That means professional animal abusers, professional animal killers, business people who view the massacre as a work process.
Danes are gonna learn a shit!
And now we come to the point:
Why is the media only now interested in the fact that Denmark should execute 17 million innocent animals?
The Danes would do that anyway, they do that every year to 19 million mink that are locked in tiny, dirty cages on over 1,500 fur farms, where they have to lead a miserable life under unbearable conditions and are ultimately gassed.
The only difference is that it has now also caught the so-called breeding animals, which are usually killed and replaced every few years.
The fur industry means torment, misery, and slavery! And it carries a high risk of infection and other diseases!
We, the animal rights activists, have presented factory farming as an acute threat to viruses, as a virus factory, right from the start of Corona.
The fur industry is also factory farming.
Now the press is suddenly interested in the massacre to make headlines.
The reports justify the massacre in the name of the safety of those who caused the problem.
In the past the subject of fur factories was unsavory, nobody cared about how many fur animals were to leave their lives in Dachau around the world.
Now everything is different just because WE are in danger.
It’s about us, not the animals.
No fundamental debate, why are there still fur farms at all?
Why are we still doing industrial factory farming and massive animal exploitation despite Corona?
The Minister of Agriculture of Denmark Mette Frederiksen emphasized that there is now no ban on mink breeding.
Although actually now and immediately, Cina, Denmark, and Poland should ban mink breeding and production.
The Danes will learn nothing from it.
The farm owners are well compensated, and in two years the same concentration camps as mushrooms will arise overnight.
We have ALL learned nothing of the life-threatening dangers that our fascist behavior causes the “other” animals for the most part.
Instead of learning from our mistakes, we compensate for this inability with executions.
My best regards to all, Venus
WAV Comment – I stumbled across this today; it is from UK press back in April 2020, and is by Juliet – founder of Viva!
Regards Mark
If more of us were vegan, there would be less chance of a pandemic in the future
As our excessive demand for meat and animal products grows, we destroy ever more wildernesses for animal fodder and grazing, bringing wildlife into closer contact with people. And we put ourselves at greater risk
30 April 2020
Animals transmit infections. Who knew? We did, a long time ago.
In the mid-19th century German pathologist Rudolf Virchow was the first to discover that infectious diseases can be transmitted between animals and humans – coining the term “zoonoses” in 1855.
A century later, in August 1958, the World Health Organisation Expert Committee on Zoonoses met at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The outcome of the meeting was a stark warning: the prevention, control and eradication of these diseases were “responsibilities of considerable magnitude in every country”.
Fast forward to today and the world is in the grips of the worst global pandemic for generations. Covid-19 – like SARS, bird flu, swine flu and Ebola – originated in animals.
Three in four of the world’s new or emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. These diseases are responsible for some 2.7 million deaths per year and are largely transmitted through the wildlife trade and factory farming. Despite knowing the dangers for over 150 years, we continue to put ourselves at risk of devastating outbreaks.
Cramming animals together in markets and subjecting them to intensive farming practices creates a breeding ground for disease. Today some two thirds of all farm animals are kept in factory farms where infections can spread with ease between animals, mutate and become infectious to humans.
As our excessive demand for meat and animal products grows, we destroy ever more wildernesses for animal fodder and grazing, bringing wildlife into closer contact with people. And we put ourselves at greater risk. This is no longer just a matter of animal welfare, it’s a global public health crisis too.
The coronavirus pandemic has inspired thousands to speak up against the unregulated movement of wild animals, ignited calls for stricter controls at airports and brought global attention to the barbaric cruelty of wet markets, all in a bid to prevent future outbreaks. But the most impactful solution is to stop the spread of these diseases at their source by putting an end to our consumption of meat and dairy.
Cramming animals together in markets and subjecting them to intensive farming practices creates a breeding ground for disease. Today some two thirds of all farm animals are kept in factory farms where infections can spread with ease between animals, mutate and become infectious to humans.
As our excessive demand for meat and animal products grows, we destroy ever more wildernesses for animal fodder and grazing, bringing wildlife into closer contact with people. And we put ourselves at greater risk. This is no longer just a matter of animal welfare, it’s a global public health crisis too.
The coronavirus pandemic has inspired thousands to speak up against the unregulated movement of wild animals, ignited calls for stricter controls at airports and brought global attention to the barbaric cruelty of wet markets, all in a bid to prevent future outbreaks. But the most impactful solution is to stop the spread of these diseases at their source by putting an end to our consumption of meat and dairy.
But the most important lesson doesn’t stem from this outbreak alone. It’s the culmination of our history, which has been blighted by preventable outbreaks of lethal diseases spread from animals to humans, and our collective decision not to act.
We’ve known the risks for almost two centuries. Too many lives have been lost. The solution is at our fingertips: it’s time to go vegan now.
Juliet Gellatley is director of Viva! a charity campaigning for a vegan world
Old WAV posts:
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/07/25/obituary-regan-russell/
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/06/23/the-murder-of-regan-russell/
NEW DOC SHINES A LIGHT ON THE KILLING OF ANIMAL ACTIVIST REGAN RUSSELL
Award-winning vegan filmmaker Shaun Monson’s new film, There Was A Killing, tells the story of Canadian animal rights activist Regan Russell, who was struck and killed by a pig transport truck while attending a Toronto Pig Save vigil in June. But the documentary is about more than just this tragedy; it’s about starting a conversation.
Russell, a decades-long fighter for animal rights, spent her last moments giving compassion to baby pigs on their way to slaughter. Footage from that day shows her—full head of white hair, black shirt, and blue jeans—carrying a spray bottle, which she used to give water to the pigs.
More than a month after Russell’s death, the police cited the truck driver with a non-criminal charge of Careless Driving Causing Death. The charge drew outrage among the animal rights community. “I just felt there was this cover-up. Or they were brushing it aside or dismissing it. And that began to nag at me,” Monson tells LIVEKINDLY about his initial desire to make the film.
After watching the cell phone footage, taken by activists attending the vigil, Monson says he was left feeling even more confused. “I’m thinking, how do we only have four minutes from this event? There was very little footage from the day,” he explains. “And it just felt like this haunting mystery. There’s something off. And I felt a little bit like a detective and I had to explore.”
Making Impact-Driven Films
Monson’s no stranger to making these kinds of documentaries. He wrote, produced, and directed 2005’s Earthlings and 2015’s Unity, among others. The former goes in-depth into the day-to-day practices of industrial factory farms around the world. The latter analyzes the destructive relationships humans have with each other, animals, and the planet.
But, according to Monson, making an impact-driven film that resonates with the audience isn’t easy. And a chance meeting with Academy Award-winning director James Cameron fueled Monson to tell harrowing stories like Russell’s in a way that makes people want to see them.
“I met him a couple of years ago here in L.A. at Crossroads—a vegan restaurant. I had on a t-shirt that said “Eat What Elephants Eat,” Monson explains. The shirt caught the attention of Cameron, who’s been plant-based for nearly a decade. “He says, ‘Hey, I like your shirt.’ And so we start talking,” Monson says.
He was blown away when Cameron told him he had seen Earthlings. Monson jokingly asked: “You saw it all the way through?” (The footage shown in the film of how factory farmed animals are treated is gruesome, to say the least.)
“He kind of puts his arm around me. And for a moment I thought: ‘Wow, I’m about to get the secrets of Hollywood filmmaking.’ He says: ‘Let me tell you something. Whenever I make a movie, I do two things. One: I make a movie that people want to see. Two: I put a message in it,” Monson recalls. “And then he pays me this really high praise. He says ‘The message in your film is probably one of the best messages I’ve ever seen.’ And then he leans in close and he goes: ‘But nobody wants to see it.’”
Monson continues: “And he’s right because it’s not like people are running out to get a bucket of popcorn to watch this kind of stuff. They just aren’t, you know?”
After spending more than 20 years making documentaries, Monson says he started to consider how to reach a larger audience. “I just had one of the biggest filmmakers in the world lean over and spend 20 minutes talking about how to reach more people.”
Gaining An Audience
So, how do you make a film about a tough topic that people actually want to see? According to the filmmaker, you’ve got to make it in a way that will get viewers emotionally invested.
“A film is such a powerful medium. Why can’t a film change something?” Monson continues: “It’s a classic statement of a picture’s worth 1,000 words. If you look at what happened with George Floyd, unlike other unjust, corrupt deaths, they weren’t being documented. But when someone films for 8.5 minutes straight—just films the whole thing, it creates this visceral emotional reality. It’s almost like it’s not secondhand information.”
And There Was A Killing certainly provides a wealth of information: It interweaves video evidence along with eyewitness testimony. It provides interviews with attorneys Robert Monson, Lisa Bloom, and David Simon. And it features a former animal truck driver’s perspective on the day’s tragic events. For all intents and purposes, the film appears to accomplish its goal: It makes people think.
Monson hopes his new film will help bring Russell’s case to the court of public opinion. | Provided by Shaun Monson
Raising Awareness For Animals
Monson explains that he believes people are, overall, basically decent—even though there are exceptions to this rule. “They’re just not informed,” he says. “And so it’s almost like you have people that are asleep. And then you have people whose eyes are sort of fluttering open a little. And then you have people that are sort of sleepwalking. And then you have awake people. And the idea is for all of us to be awake—not to be sleepwalking, not to be eyes fluttering, and certainly not to be asleep.”
Through his films, Monson wants to awaken people to the impact they have on animals and the planet.
And Monson hopes There Was A Killing will help bring Russell’s case to the court of public opinion. He also wants the film to raise awareness for ag-gag laws—which seek to silence whistleblowers from exposing the horrors of the animal agriculture industry.
On the day of her death, Russell had been protesting Canadian ag-gag Bill 156—which the government enacted into law just one day before she was killed. Monson says he thinks her case will be a case of first impression—one that has never been decided by a governing jurisdiction.
“It’ll be the first time that law is now being put to trial to see if it’s eventually constitutional. And so attorneys later study case laws. That’s why in the States we have Roe v. Wade,” he explains. “Roe v. Wade is a case study. It isn’t a statute. It’s a case study. Both are very important. So that’s the power of a documentary is that it might challenge a law statute. And then a case can come out of that. And then a case law may change the law.”
Monson also hopes the film will inspire others to be more compassionate.
“And that’s my hope: That more people will maybe see these kinds of messages. And they can have a positive effect. Because I don’t know how to write books. I don’t start organizations. I don’t have a sanctuary. I don’t know what else I have to offer except films,” Monson continues. “Ultimately, all you can do is provide the information to people, hope that they watch it, hope that they actually press play and look at it. And then it’s really up to them.”
“I always say we’re like gardeners, and we’re just casting seeds,” Monson says. “And sometimes those seeds fall in rich soil. And sometimes it’s stony ground. But we keep casting seeds out just to have a positive effect in this world.”
There Was A Killing is now available to stream here. To learn more about Regan Russell visit www.JusticeForReganRussell.org.
World Animals Voice 