Now that Peta have taken this up, hopefully we will see some action.
There is a petition to the Irish Minister regarding the exports to Libya – we hope you can sign and pass on to all your contacts.
Update 2/8/20: Irish cattle to Libya – take action and send message to the Irish Minister.
Right now, about 2,000 bulls are being shipped from Ireland to Libya on a harrowing nine-day journey. When they arrive, they’ll endure slaughter so gruesome it would be illegal in their home country.
This misery must end. Let’s join forces to stop the cruel live-export industry:
During live export, frightened animals are forced onto crowded lorries or ships and transported for days or even weeks to foreign abattoirs.
When they reach these facilities, they’re often killed in gruesome ways that would be illegal in their home country.
In 2019, over 200,000 cows were forced to make the long, harrowing journey from Ireland to continental Europe, sometimes in temperatures of up to 41.5 degrees. Close to 8,000 more were sent on even longer, tortuous journeys to destinations with vastly different or non-existent animal welfare laws, including Kazakhstan, Libya, and Turkey. This figure has increased by over 50% in 2020.
New film The End of Medicine—created by award-winning British filmmaker Alex Lockwood and What the Health co-director Keegan Kuhn—aims to spotlight the role of animal agriculture in the rise of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.
Vegan actors and couple Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have signed on as executive producers of new vegan documentary The End of Medicine. The new documentary, which began filming pre-COVID-19 in October 2019, is directed by Alex Lockwood (the award-winning British director behind 73 Cows and Test Subjects) and is produced by Keegan Kuhn (co-director of vegan documentaries What the Health and Cowspiracy).
Through poignant interviews with world-renowned scientists, The End of Medicine aims to expose the culpability of the animal agriculture in creating massive public health threats such as antibiotic resistance, swine and bird flu, food-borne illness, MRSA, and, the current pandemic COVID-19, which is thought to have started at a wet animal market in Wuhan, China late last year.
“We hope that The End of Medicine is an eye-opening call to action and ignites a spark of willingness to change our habits. The science is irrefutable,” Phoenix and Mara said in a joint statement. “Modern animal agriculture will continue to make us sick if we don’t radically change our patterns of consumption.”
The feature-length documentary is expected to wrap production by the end of 2020.
Rather than concentrate on one vessel sailing with live suffering animals for WEEKS on end; this time we have picked a relatively shorter journey. It is from EU Ireland to War torn Libya, North Africa. The particular sailing we have picked is sadly just one of dozens which are taking place the world over at this very moment – live animals being abused by being forced to undertake journeys which usually result in a terrible death for them; and we see no alternative in this for the Irish bulls currently sailing to Libya.
We have chosen this sailing as it has achieved a little more attention in the past few weeks; before it commenced. Basically, in summary, this shipment of 2,000 bulls could contravene EU welfare regulations, campaigners and others say.
Animal welfare groups have warned that a shipment of young bulls from Ireland to Libya could contravene live export laws.
The shipment, which consists of around 2,000 bulls, would be the fourth this year from Ireland. The vessel in question very recently left from the port of Cork in south-west Ireland, destined for the Libyan port of Misurata.
The news of the sailing came as a European parliament committee of inquiry, announced last month, and began to look into alleged failures to enforce EU rules on protecting transported animals across the EU and beyond, and “to act upon the evidence that EU rules on moving live animals across the EU and to third countries are being seriously and systematically infringed”. Libya is not an EU member state and is thus a ‘third country’.
Here is a link which you can read relating to an Irish agriculture bulletin regarding this actual latest shipment:
Note that there are heaps of praise (as the Irish ag industry would expect) for the Irish ministry who supervised the loading of the animals at Cork; but nothing is said whatsoever about the circumstances the animals will endure when they arrive in Libya; or the way in which they will be slaughtered. Very much a one side of the fence report as we have expected and seen from the European ag industry over the years.
Here below we are giving out a few extra links which we have / currently use at WAV to enable us to track livestock shipments at sea anywhere in the world. You may want to learn from us how to be a ‘livestock ship detective’ which may help with your complaints etc to authority should you make them.
First; here are some photos of the vessel o this consignment, named the ‘Sarah M’.
and here is a link which provides much more about the vessel (Sarah M) and the particular sailing: Lots of info here – arrival date, port, ship MO / MMSI etc.
Vesselfinder.com is a good site which is open to use for the public. Knowing how to use it for maximum information obtain is something which can only be gained by use / experience.
What a surprise we don’t think – the vessel is registered in Panama and carries the
IMO / MMSI
7808463 / 352548000
For information:
The International Maritime Organization(IMO) number is a unique identifier for ships, registered ship owners and management companies. IMO numbers were introduced to improve maritime safety and security and to reduce maritime fraud. They consist of the three letters “IMO” followed by unique seven-digit numbers, assigned under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).[1][2]
The IMO number scheme has been mandatory for all ships since 1996. The number identifies a ship and does not change when the ship’s owner, country of registry or name changes. The ship’s certificates must also bear the IMO number. Since 1 July 2004, passenger ships are also required to carry the marking on a horizontal surface visible from the air.
Digital radio identification code for marine stations
A Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) is a series of nine digits which are sent in digital form over a radio frequency channel in order to uniquely identify ship stations, ship earth stations, coast stations, coast earth stations, and group calls. These identities are formed in such a way that the identity or part thereof can be used by telephone and telex subscribers connected to the general telecommunications network to call ships automatically.
The Irish do not publish this info in magazines; rusty old ships registered in god knows where; and crewed by a group of delinquents who know as much about animal welfare as the grass in my garden !
I hope the links give you an insight into our investigation world and you can even start tracking the vessel given the links and info we have provided.
And I mean…There are many who would say … “this is not how we solve the problem with fur farms, we have to abolish fur farms by law”.
Yes! We all know that! ALF too.
But we know even more that laws are made by criminal, corrupt politicians, most of whom have a private economic interest in preserving fur farms.
These actions not only release the animals DIRECTLY from their suffering but also cause great financial damage to the fur mafia.
If ten of these actions were to take place each month, especially in countries such as Finland, Denmark, Poland, Russia, and above all in China, we would have damaged this mafia-like business faster and more effectively than waiting for the law.
Not all will probably survive, however for thousands of animals, it means they are spared death by gassing or electrocution.
They get a free life, what they deserve, they don’t end up on the shelves as cheap fur.
WAV Comment: Great man, good news. 45 million followers – that will get a message across !
Leonardo DiCaprio Calls For Wildlife Trade To End – Says Animals Are ‘Worth More Alive’
The actor praised Vietnam’s decision to ban all imports of wild animals to his 45.1 million Instagram followers
Celebrity actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has called for an end to the wildlife trade, saying animals are ‘worth more alive’.
The star made the comment after reposting a breaking news story from WildAid on how Vietnam has banned all imports of wild animals, dead or alive, to reduce further pandemic risk.Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has also called for tougher action against people involved in illegal hunting, killing, or advertising of wild animals in a new directive with immediate effect.
‘This is huge’
DiCaprio, who often uses his platform to raise awareness of meat’s environmental impact, said to his 45.1 million Instagram followers: “This is huge for both the protection of wildlife and ourselves.
“We must end the trade. #EndTheTrade #WhenTheBuyingStopsTheKillingCanToo #WorthMoreAlive.”Is Leonardo DiCaprio Vegan?
Whilst DiCaprio has invested in plant-based brand Beyond Meat, and executively produced the environmental documentary Cowspiracy – he is not vegan himself.
However, it was reported that the celeb requested a plant-based meal for the 2020 Governors Ball earlier this year.
Chef Wolfgang Puck told Hollywood Life: “I did the SAG Awards and Leo said, ‘What can you give me, something vegan?’. He wanted vegan. We made a vegan pizza. He ate it so fast. He said, ‘Oh, can you bring another one?’.”
Sorry folks but with Venus away I was hoping to keep things under some kind of control. But over the last few days I have personally had a really bad hit with my Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – and what with the heat this week in Europe, it just shut me down completely. But things are a little better today and so I will try and publish a few things. This story is just one of thousands which relate to animals being kept and abused for their fur.
Then you get crass statements from the BFTA stating that there are individual cases like this; but with rigorous checks cases are dealt with swiftly. A typical response from an industry which supports animal abuse.
This incident was in Finland, but we fully support Claire Bass of the Humane Society International/UK, when she says “As long as the UK sells fur from overseas, we are complicit in this horrendous cruelty.
“We need a UK fur sales ban now.”
Fully agree Claire, and we will continue (with most people) to fight to get one.
Fur farmers and traders – dealers in animal abuse and untold suffering; we will expose them whenever we can.
All photographs are reproduced courtesy of the Mirror newspaper.
Foxes and mink have been found in appalling conditions on fur farms in Finland, which exports millions of pounds of fur products to the UK.
Investigators found animals in tiny cages suffering from ear infections and damaged eyes, and with ears and limbs bitten off.
One raccoon dog had even been impaled through the eye and head by a protruding part of his cage.
Kristo Muurimaa is an investigator for the Finish charity Oikeutta Elaimille, who visited farms undercover.
He said: “I have got used to seeing animals unable to move more than a few feet, the stench, the continuous screaming and the rattling sound of wire cages under thousands of tiny paws.
“But this raccoon dog pierced through the eye, hanging there unable to move, was something I’ve never seen before.
“This industry needs to stop.”
Finland is Europe’s biggest producer of fox fur.
It electrocutes 1.9 million foxes, 1.04 million mink and 153,000 raccoon dogs every year.
Since 2000, when Britain banned fur farming, we have imported more than £14million of Finnish fur.
Claire Bass, of the Humane Society International/UK, said: “As long as the UK sells fur from overseas, we are complicit in this horrendous cruelty.
“We need a UK fur sales ban now.”
This month, the Daily Mirror launched its Fur Free Britain campaign.
The British Fur Trade Association said: “There will be individual cases where animals become ill or injured.
“Thanks to the rigorous checks in place, these cases will be dealt with swiftly.”
The government ordered the last UK fur farm to close its doors back in 2000, but now the UK is importing fur cruelty from overseas. The unnecessary suffering of animals for fur fashion is deplorable, whether the animal involved is a cat, a dog or a seal, whose fur is already banned from UK trade by EU regulations, or a coyote, a fox or a raccoon dog, whose fur is currently still allowed.
Opinion polls show continually high levels of public disapproval of fur, regardless of species – more than 80% believe that it’s unacceptable to buy and sell animal fur in the UK. We want to see an end to the cruel, unnecessary, outdated fur trade, and for Britain to lead the way as the world’s first fur-free nation!
Please add your name to our letter calling on the government not only to retain a UK import ban on cat, dog and seal, but also establish a sales ban to cover the pelts of all animals killed for their fur.
The six sad bears that you helped bring home have come along in leaps and bounds. James, Alice and Bân have all taken their first steps out onto the cool grass of their exciting new enclosure. Florence and Clara have moved from quarantine to their cosy den and are getting ready to go outside. And our most recent rescue, our very calm Cotton Blossom, is fast approaching the end of her 45-day quarantine period with all of the above to look forward to. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to heal these six broken bears.
On 29 May, after decades of work by Animals Asia and other animal welfare organisations, we celebrated the removal of dogs from China’s Catalogue of Livestock. This monumental decision reflects the growing concern for animal welfare in China and means that all restaurants, markets, and slaughterhouses countrywide selling dogs for food are now illegal. This incredible breakthrough couldn’t have happened without your dedication. Thank you for helping to improve the lives of millions of companion animals across China.
Our amazing team transferred 34 bears in just one morning at our Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre. Why? Well… as we continue to rescue bears from bile farms we need to create more space for new arrivals. But it’s also an exciting opportunity for the bears to get a change of scenery and have new adventures. Of course, we caught it all on camera for you to enjoy…
A safari park in China that featured live performances from trained bears, macaques, tigers, lions, and other animals, announced on 23 April that the shows would end with immediate effect. The park has been an active participant in workshops co-hosted by Animals Asia and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens. And we welcome this fantastic step in the right direction, which wouldn’t be possible without your support. Thank you!
We were devastated to have to cancel our 2020 vegan BearBQ in London due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But we’re pleased to announce we already have a date secured for 2021! So add 19 June to your diary and look forward to lots of scrumptious food, fundraising games & great company, including special guest, our founder and CEO, Jill Robinson. Tickets will go on sale again in January and we’ll be in touch to remind you nearer the time
Who says you need to leave the comfort of your own home to support Asia’s animals in need? We’ve seen some incredible online fundraisers over the last few months, from online yoga classes and virtual quizzes to Facebook fundraisers and online auctions. There are so many ways that you can fundraise for the bears without even having to go outside. And we’re here to help you every step of the way!
WAV Comment – I (Mark) have been involved with work against the live animal trade for nearly 30 years now. I think that I have seen a lot of the abuses associated with this business over those years. Got the T shirt and all that !
At the moment in England; we really only have the live trade going out of Ramsgate, which is a port here in my home county of Kent. Kent is the nearest county to mainland Europe, with very regular ferry services to the continent. Fortunately, due to excellent and very long, hard campaigning over many years; we managed to get all the major ferry operators (sailing from UK to Europe) to stop carrying live animals (for slaughter) on their ships. The only service which really operates sporadically now is from Ramsgate port by the Dutchman named Onderwater. He has been operating for a few weeks now; taking British sheep into Europe for ritual slaughter in relation to Eid. See the message below from Lyn at Animals Australia about this also.
See these links for more info /history relating to Onderwater:
Mr Onderwater runs a Dutch registered company called Onderwater Agneaux BV. He pleaded guilty on behalf of his company at Folkestone magistrates’ court on 5 July 2010 to six offences of not displaying any sign on his vehicles indicating the presence of live animals contrary to article 6(c) of the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 and article 6(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport. The prosecutor was the trading standards department of Kent county council.
And here we are in 2020 with a convicted criminal still taking live British sheep into Europe for ritual slaughter. As with all politicians; the CAWG bleats on about how terrible things are for sheep to be exported from Ramsgate; and yet they are the political party with a big majority in government who could act to stop the trade and change it now. Instead they do nothing and continually go on about how terrible it all is. Yes it is terrible; so CAWG, get off your butts and do something to get your party, the Conservatives; to stop the trade. If they don’t take action and instead just simply bleat on; then you have to ask what they really exists for ?
Here below is the message from Lyn; it is happening in England right now due to an ineffective CAWG and a useless Conservative government and animal ‘welfare’ group. Boris Johnson specialises in talking the talk; but fails when it comes to doing anything. Once out of Europe blah blah blah; nothing changes thanks to him.
eid sheep slaughter – Google Search
eid sheep slaughter – Google Search
Mark,
Tomorrow is the start of Eid al-Adha, the annual ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ — one of the most lucrative times of the year for the global live export industry and, sadly, one of the peak times of suffering for animals.
Animals from Australia, Europe and South America have been exported to the Festival. It is the companies and countries that supplied these animals that bear the weight of moral responsibility for what lies ahead for them in coming days.
For some 15 years now, Animals Australia has had investigators on the ground during the Festival to document the final moments of animals, so that we have evidence to call these countries and companies to account. This year will be no different.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19 border closures, we will have investigators working across eight countries in South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Our in-country work over many years has enabled us to forge invaluable relationships and friendships with local advocates and investigators who share our desire to see an end to the live export trade. They will be actively operating under our coordination during the Festival.
Already our investigators’ work has paid ‘dividends’, with the lodging of evidence to the Australian regulator revealing Australian sheep being sold outside of approved supply chains in Kuwait. We know all too well what this blatant breach of exporters’ responsibilities would have meant for these animals — transport in car boots in suffocating heat and a prolonged and painful death.
This complaint reveals once again that without independent oversight, Australian live export regulations can be easily circumvented. And once again, without our investigators being active, the Department of Agriculture would be none the wiser that breaches of their regulations were occurring.
Having witnessed the treatment of animals during so many Festivals of Sacrifice, I can report that the one small mercy we will see this year, is reduced suffering. This is because COVID-19 restrictions are dramatically reducing street sales and slaughter across all affected countries. As a result, we don’t know exactly what our teams will find, but thanks to you they will be there.
As you can imagine, investigation work is highly risky for those who must live and work in the same regions, but these advocates’ bravery is driven by their collective desire to see all animals treated humanely and with compassion.
I wish you could have come to know these advocates and investigators as I have. I am so very grateful to these incredible men and women who care so deeply for animals. They are the agents for change in their countries. Their desire for kindness and compassion to be extended to all beings is no different to our own.
And of course, I’m so grateful for your support that means these investigators can be where they need to be, equipped and ready. We speak to them of the critical support that you provide that enables these investigations. Please know that they draw strength from you, and other caring people, who they know will be with them in spirit in coming days.
Thank you, as always, for making our work possible — this year more than ever.
World Animals Voice 