EU MUST USE TAXPAYERS’ MONEY WISELY AND PROMOTE PLANT-RICH DIETS
Today, we submitted feedback to the EU’s food marketing campaign, currently under review. We call on the EU to use taxpayers’ money wisely and promote plant-rich diets in order to reduce animal suffering, improve our health and save our planet.
Every year, the EU Commission gives away around €200 million of public funds to promote agricultural products in order to enhance the competitiveness of EU agriculture. Instead of tackling our over-consumption of animal products by promoting plant-based products only, the EU gives out subsidies to promote meat and dairy consumption.
This policy is outdated and not in line with the needs of the 21st century. EU funding used for the promotion of animal products should eventually cease. During the transition period and till it is actually stopped, any funding should be limited and made conditional on meeting higher animal welfare standards using certain eligibility criteria.
Compassion in World Farming and other NGOs call for a minimum 50% reduction in land animal and fish products by 2030, with a concomitant rise in plant-rich nutrition.
The EU’s commitment to meat, dairy and fish production may have overshadowed the opportunities for growth in its horticultural sector. Promotion budgets should be directed to production and consumption of organic, healthy, minimally processed wholegrains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and other plant nutrition.
Promotion policy should, therefore, be used to help create changes in demand to provide producers with market incentives that are consistent with a transition towards a healthy, nutrition minded agriculture, and environmentally, socially and animal welfare friendly food systems.
The EU should also shift focus away from promoting exports to the internal market instead and support a sustainable food systems transition. The use of public money should be fully aligned with a sustainable food policy within and outside the EU.
The EU Commission’s public consultation on the topic is open until 11 September 2020.
Cows gruesomely mutilated and abused on filthy dairy farms
It’s like in the worst science fiction films, images that are unbearable even for strong nerves.
Australia is well known for its lack of environmental and animal welfare.
The corrupt government of Morrison is repeatedly asked to do something to protect animals and the environment, especially since Australia is also hardest hit by the consequences of climate change.
So far with little success.
Australia has over 160 million sheep and 24 million cattle – it doesn’t take much imagination what damage these million animals can do to the fragile ecosystem of the dry soil.
In addition, there is an enormous cultivation of sugar cane. Large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides are washed from the sugar cane cultivation areas over streams and rivers into the sea and pose a serious threat to the Great Barrier Reef.
The agricultural lobby is very strong in Australia because the first pillar of Australian agriculture is sheep farming, followed by cattle breeding. That is why factory farming in Australia has developed into a law-free area.
TODAY we know more about nutrition than ever before, which is why there are no longer any arguments in developed industrial countries why animals and their hormone products MUST be part of a diet.
Only Indifference and the fascist law of the stronger allow us to act like this.
If all consumers had all the information about slaughterhouses and factory farming from the beginning of their lives, then the majority would definitely make different decisions.
But we don’t get any more information, we get propaganda.
The media are the servants of governments, journalists who report the truth lose their jobs.
This is why the farmer and the meat mafia invented pink piglets and purple cows on the sunny meadow.
This is how the animal cruelty business model flourishes in the billions.
They are all called Mengele.
Those who commit murder on behalf (meat mafia)
but also those who committed the murder (carnivore society)
Are slaughterhouses as bad as we imagine?
No! they are even worse.
And nobody can say today that they don’t know anything about the Dachau of animals.
Look at the photo, people have no empathy, are not afraid of torturing other beings, humanity has developed in a Mengele society.
With what perfidious, ice-cold cynicism is an animal massacred … as a matter of course, according to legal regulations, millions of times, every minute ……
The largest corpse producers are:
In 4th place is Germany, 3rd place is Brazil, 2nd place is the USA and 1st place is China!
By the way, Germany produces around 8 million tons of meat – in just a short time Germany was transformed into a country which benefits from factory farming, animal suffering, and animal torture, including!
It is said that animal rights activists are not welcome in China.
Animal rights activists are also undesirable in Germany!
Simply disgusting the human species … … garbage … that doesn’t even have recycling use.
Hundreds of thousands of chickens to be culled after Covid disruption
About half of staff at poultry plant in Norfolk have had to self-isolate after 75 tested positive for coronavirus
At least 400,000 chickens are being culled in the UK as Covid-19 infections disrupt slaughterhouse routines. About 300,000 birds are due to be culled in England and 110,000 have been culled in Scotland.
Chickens that cannot be slaughtered for food are usually gassed with CO2 and their bodies rendered for fat and other animal byproducts. They do not enter the food chain.
The UK rears and slaughters about 20 million birds a week, according to the British Poultry Council (BPC). About 95% are chickens and the majority are processed through a few large slaughterhouses, each with a capacity of about 2 million birds a week. Production loss at even one large slaughterhouse can have significant impacts along the food chain and create welfare problems, the BPC said.
Millions of US farm animals were culled on-farm earlier this summer after the closure of meat plants because of coronavirus outbreaks among staff that cut the country’s slaughtering capacity for cows and pigs by 25% and 40% respectively.
Millions of US farm animals to be culled by suffocation, drowning and shooting
Asked about the risk of further culls, Rensburg said: “Given we don’t know how long this current situation will last, we won’t be speculating on how many others will need to be humanely culled.”
Rensburg denied earlier reports that Banham had culled about 7,000 birds. “No birds have been culled at our site to date,” he said. “We are already diverting a quarter of a million birds to other suppliers and will continue to do so where possible.”
In Scotland, a statement from poultry slaughterer Coupar Angus, which is owned by the 2 Sisters Food Group, confirmed that 110,000 birds had been culled. The slaughterhouse kills “almost one million chickens a week and is the only facility of its type in Scotland,” it said.
There are two standard methods for gas poultry culls in the UK: whole house gassing and containerised gassing. The first involves filling the sheds where chickens live with CO2. The second involves putting the birds in specialised containers that are brought to the farm. The containers are filled with CO2 and sometimes other gasses such as argon.
“Whole house slaughter is very rare, the sheds are not designed for it,” said Penny Middleton, the poultry policy manager at the National Farmers Union Scotland. “The containerised option is more controllable and would be done by someone like Livetec Systems, an approved depopulator, according to welfare regulations,” she said.
No one interviewed would comment on how long gassed chickens take to die, other than to say it was legal and humane.
The Coupar Angus statement said the chickens were “humanely dispatched in line with legislation” and that culls were supervised by the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency and an independent veterinary officer.
The statement said that although last week’s Covid-19 related decision to “cease production has brought many upsetting consequences” it managed “to successfully process the large majority of birds from Scotland” by sending them to other slaughterhouses in its UK network. The factory was due to reopen on Monday and no further culls are expected, it said.
Middleton said the Coupar Angus plant reopening might take a while to get up to full speed, but that she was not expecting any further culls in Scotland.
UK has ‘little spare’ slaughtering capacity
Peter Stevenson, a policy advisor with UK welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming, said the culls highlighted a food system failure. “Today’s chickens have been bred to grow so quickly that if they are left to continue growing after reaching their slaughter weight, many will become so lame they can barely walk, while others will die of heart disease.”
The BPC’s chief executive, Richard Griffiths, said in a statement that because UK poultry processing was so efficient, with little spare capacity, losing a large slaughterhouse “will not only interrupt our national food supply, create shortages and job losses at a time when we can least afford it, but also result in bird welfare challenges on a significant scale”/
He said coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants demonstrated “that no amount of preparation and vigilance can guarantee complete protection against Covid-19. We have to prioritise the health of people in our community, but we also need to safeguard food supply and the welfare of our animals”.
The BPC was working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) “and other relevant authorities to ensure reasonable steps are put in place to minimise welfare issues and maintain food supply”, he said. “We must ensure that poultry meat plants compromised by a Covid-19 outbreak are able to maintain throughput where possible, even if it means having skeleton staff onsite.”
Defra did not confirm chicken cull numbers but said birds “would be culled using gas … in line with the rules on protecting animal welfare at the time of killing.”
WAV Comment: Another major nail in the coffin for the fur business. We warmly welcome the progressive move by the Netherlands (Dutch) parliament to close down all mink farms in 2021 rather than 2024. A dying trade; literally; which has now witnessed many major clothing manufacturers actually absorb their past links with an abusive industry – and now quite rightly put them into the history books where they belong.
Well done Dutch government !
Regards Mark
Mink Fur Farms In The Netherlands To Permanently Close In 2021 After COVID-19 Outbreaks
‘There has never been a more compelling time for the Netherlands to shut down this industry for good’
The country originally planned to phase mink farms out by 2024 but has fast-tracked the closure after 41 covid-19 farm infections.
In a statement sent to Plant Based News, senior director of public affairs for Humane Society International/Europe Dr. Joanna Swabe commended the government on its decision, which it says ends a ‘completely unnecessary industry and protects citizens’.
‘Virus reservoirs’
“With 41 fur farms and an estimated two million mink now having been infected, the risk of keeping these virus reservoirs operating, is far too great,” Dr. Swabe said.
“Without this early termination of fur farming, up to 13.5 million more animals would be forced to suffer short and miserable lives solely to supply the fickle fashion industry.
“It is a sick industry both literally and figuratively. There has never been a more compelling time for the Netherlands to shut down this industry for good.”
The announcement will not require mink on the 120 remaining fur farms to be preventatively culled unless new infections occur.
Mink on unaffected farms will be slaughtered for their pelts in November this year – but breeders are not permitted to restock.
Following her rescue and vital 45 day quarantine period she’s now moved to her new den and is meeting the neighbours.
She’s also having her first health check so our vet team can assess the damage two decades in a metal cage has done to Cottom Blossom’s body.
Her spirit appears undaunted as Cotton Blossom is a perfectly calm and endearing bear. Now begins her new life, and we hope you’ll join us in watching her blossom.
Watch the latest of Cherry Blossom by clicking on this video link:
For several years ago, since 2012., swiss animal welfare organizations –Tierschutzbund Zürich (TSB) and Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF)-have been targeting the conditions in an Australian export slaughterhouse called Meramist, where horse meat is “produced” for Europe. The pictures are shocking!
Now politicians are called upon to act.
New investigations in Australia show the poor conditions during transport, at auctions, assembly centers, and the EU-approved abattoir Meramist.
Horses are transported over long distances in cattle trucks which are completely inappropriate for them. They are brutally mistreated with sticks and electric shocks. Feed, weather protection, and veterinary care are insufficient or completely lacking.
A large number of horses are not stunned correctly and are bolted up to five times. Some horses still show signs of consciousness when being hoisted and bled out.
The investigations, carried out over a period of more than two years, clearly show that these are not individual cases – this is systematic torture.
The European importers, among them the Belgian company Multimeatand the Swiss import association VPI, have long claimed to have animal welfare issues in overseas slaughterhouses under control with manuals and audits. How much more evidence do they need?
Furthermore, Australian horsemeat poses a health risk for European consumers. More than 50% of the slaughtered horses are former racehorses, called “wastage” in Australia, and the risk of drug residues in their meat is particularly high.
WAV Comment – I (Mark) have campaigned against the export of live farm animals now for around 30 years. In the past I have campaigned a lot with Phil L (see Comment in article). At the end of 2020 the UK should be free from the shuackles of the EU – taking back control; which will then allow us (as a nation) to stop live animal exports – something we have not been able to do all the time a member state of the EU. I just hope other EU membvber states follow the UK in getting out of this dinosaur which ignores all the evidence as far as live animal transport is concerned.
Ottawa, Canada — The International Vegan Film Festival will be doing something entirely new for its third annual event. It’s going virtual.
The 2020 Festival will take place online with digital screenings, panels, filmmaker Q&As and more from October 10th – 17th. The event will take place on the Eventive platform with the full schedule of event and ticket information being released in mid-September on the Festival website.
Founded in 2018, The International Vegan Film Festival is the world’s premier vegan film festival, dedicated to celebrating the vegan ideal: a healthier, compassionate, environmentally-friendly lifestyle that can be achieved through the consumption of plants and animal-free alternatives.
“Like many other live events around the world, we’ve had to adapt to prioritize the safety, comfort and well-being of our community,” said Festival Executive Director, Shawn Stratton.
The full list of films playing in the festival will be available in late September. Below are a few of the films that will be included:
Regan Russell – A Short Documentary
On the morning of June 19, 2020, Regan Russell was outside Fearmans slaughterhouse in Burlington, Ontario for a special vigil to give water to thirsty, dehydrated pigs when a pig transport truck drove right into her and dragged her body for more than 15 meters. This documentary showcases Regan’s young life, her involvement in animal rights, her last day of activism, and the aftermath of her death.
Butenland
The story of a former dairy farmer, an animal rights activist and the first cow retirement home.
A farm that has become a farm for life – the former dairy farmer Jan Gerdes and the animal welfare activist Karin Mück have created a place with their project Hof Butenland where there are no more livestock: a peaceful coexistence that seems almost utopian.
INVISIBLE
INVISIBLE is a short film exploring a dangerous and secret world that has never before been documented. Following undercover investigators ‘Sarah’ and ‘Emily’ (their names have been changed to protect their identities) on an investigation at a pig farm in Europe, INVISIBLE grants the viewer unprecedented access to a world that is deliberately and painstakingly covert.
Stratton said that “this year has given us an opportunity to think creatively about how we can make the festival more accessible and innovative than ever before, and we are excited to deliver a memorable experience that honors all the reasons we’ve become known as the premier event for vegan-themed content creators and film enthusiasts.”
This year’s fest still promises to highlight more short and feature-length films than ever. The full program and lineup will be released next month. It’s also planning “virtual social opportunities” to facilitate discussions between filmmakers and audience members.
“One of the reasons I started the International Vegan Film Festival was to help people discover outstanding vegan-themed films they have not heard of before or may never had an opportunity to see. I also wanted to give vegan themed filmmakers another platform to highlight their work to more audiences. You can discover and re-discover the enormous positive impact becoming vegan can have on health, farmed animals, and the environment through the film festival. With the festival now going online, we are making it even easier for people to discover these outstanding films.”
Judges
The Festival judging panel includes a who’s-who of the vegan world, including Miyoko Schinner, the founder of Miyoko’s Creamery, Dale Vince, CEO of Ecotricity—the UK’s first and largest green energy provider—and owner of the all-vegan Forest Green Rovers football club, as well as David Flynn, one of the twin brothers behind Irelands vegan ‘foodie empire’ Happy Pear.
As well, Seth Tibbott, the founder and Chairman of The Tofurky Company and author of In Search of the Wild Tofurky, has recently agreed to join this year’s IVFFF Photo Essay Contest judging panel.
Vegan Photo Essay Contest – submissions close Aug 31, 2020
Aside from the film festival, they also put on other initiatives such as a virtual screening in partnership with We Animals, and a Photo Essay to showcase creativity amongst professional and amateur photographers. Until August 31, 2020, applicants can submit a series of 3-5 images depicting vegan lifestyle, health and nutrition, animal welfare, or environmental protection. Winners will be announced during the festival in October and will also receive a $250 CAD cash prize.The jury is seeking a sequence of images that conveys a compelling story or message – with each image strong enough to stand on its own while conveying a greater narrative when viewed in the photographer’s desired sequence.
Stratton says, “The Vegan Photo Essay Contest is a great way for anyone with a camera and a story, not just professionals, to be involved in the festival.” The contest even has a Youth category to encourage young people to become more involved in sharing vegan themed stories.
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