Category: Farm Animals

Farm Animals, General News, Uncategorized

Animal Equality investigates Mexican backyard lamb slaughterhouses

Animal Equality Mexico’s investigation revealed the cruel treatment and slaughter of lambs and sheep in illegal slaughterhouses in states with high populations of these animals.

November 5, 2019 Updated: February 22, 2024

Animal Equality in Mexico has released its second investigation of 2019, focusing on the country’s illegal slaughterhouses and bringing to light the cruel treatment and slaughter of lambs and sheep within states that have the largest number of these animals in the country.

Released through the renowned news outlet Aristegui Noticias, Animal Equality investigators documented the horrible killings of lambs and sheep in backyard pens and underground slaughterhouses in the States of Hidalgo and Mexico, where the animals were destined to be used for the popular barbecue dish Barbacoa de Borrego. Our footage shows the brutality with which these sensitive animals are killed, and documented:

  • Animals dragged by their limbs and violently slaughtered 
  • Lambs are fully conscious as they are tied up and decapitated
  • Workers violently transporting lambs
  • Workers killing more than three lambs at the same time, one next to the other
  • Minors witnessing the killings and, in some cases, carrying out the slaughter of the animals
  • The animals were mortally injured and left to bleed to death.
  • No veterinarian present

Through the evidence our team gathered, the investigation documents numerous violations of Mexican Official Standards and reveals systematic violence in the handling of animals killed for Barbacoa de Borrego. The footage also shows the failure to abide by the methods of animal slaughter set forth by the government, as well as the guidelines for humane treatment during the animals’ transport. 

In response, we have launched a petition to demand that Mexican officials act on our complaints, while also asking lawmakers to strengthen penalties and consider the non‑compliance of welfare standards in the country an animal cruelty crime. We have also filed a complaint with Mexican authorities. We will continue to encourage legislation in Mexico so that these acts are considered punishable crimes of animal cruelty, as we have previously done with Jalisco State Reform.

To ensure this cruelty becomes a thing of the past, please join us in leaving animals off your plate. Plant‑based options replacing animal products are readily available, taste great, and ensure living beings are not suffering for your meal. Sharing this post can help us spread the word about these terrible abuses. 

https://animalequality.org/news/animal-equality-investigates-mexican-backyard-lamb-slaughterhouses/

Farm Animals, General News

England: PETA Christmas advert filmed at Norwich animal sanctuary. Hillside; A Wonderland for Rescued Animals.

https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/24724762.peta-christmas-advert-filmed-norwich-animal-sanctuary/

PETA said: “People may never hear jingle bells the same way again”. (Image: PETA)

Animal rights organisation PETA has created a short feature focusing on what happens to animals during the festive period, filmed at Norwich’s Hillside Animal Sanctuary on Hall Lane.

The advert, set to air in cinemas next month, depicts a young schoolgirl stopping to practice Jingle Bells on her trumpet, near a farm she passes on her walk home. There she meets a cow who always comes to the fence to listen.

But when the girl brings her mother to meet her new friend, the cow is missing and being loaded onto a lorry bound for the abattoir.

Hillside is now home to over 4000 animals 

and is one of the UK’s most successful campaigning organisations for the animals’ cause.  We have always known that one of the main reasons animals are left to suffer in factory farms is because people have little or no idea about the immense cruelty involved in their food production. Although most of our rescued animals have been saved from the farming industry,

Hillside is home to over 2500 horses, ponies, donkeys and mules.

Hillside Link: If you support welfare, then Hillside is a must and be well worth supporting with any size donation,

https://www.hillside.org.uk/

A great sanctuary – we support regularly.

I could watch this every day !

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Vivisection

USA: 40 Monkeys Escape From Lab – UPDATE.

See our other recent post about this: https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2024/11/08/usa-40-monkeys-escape-from-yemassee-monkey-farm-in-beaufort-hampton-co-heres-what-we-know/

New reference – additional data:

The monkeys that science has experimented on for over a century.

“The U.S. Army and NASA have rhesus macaques too,” wrote the book’s author, Dario Maestripieri, a behavioural scientist at the University of Chicago, “and for years they trained them to play computer video games to see whether the monkeys could learn to pilot planes and launch missiles.”

WHY ????

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-monkeys-that-science-has-experimented-on-for-over-a-century/ar-AA1tPyOl?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=932cbdacbe97447ab25f8ceaecb360a3&ei=16

Regards Mark

About Us, Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

England: Live Animal Cruelty Investigations – Part 1 – The Start, By Knowing ‘It Was Wrong’.

Well, where did it all start with me and that wonderful world of animals; defending and speaking for their rights; Veggie and veganism, and yes, the darker world of cruelty investigation work.

When I was a young lad; aged 8 years, I had owned my own dog for about 3 years – a beautiful Shetland Sheepdog (see picture) named ‘Sheba’.  She was a gift from my parents; and having her taught me primarily respect for other living things, as well as taking responsibility for ensuring she was at her best at all times, fed, kept safe and illness free, and loved incredibly.

I was also a bit of a Deisel head even at that age – trucks were my thing, and every weekend I was out on my bike witnessing all the heavy freight heading down to Dover (a major port in SE England) ready for their mass departure from Calais (France) at Sunday midnight which allowed the start of another working week for British hauliers in mainland Europe.  In France in those days (70’s), they were banned from roads at weekends; unlike the UK.

I lived near to a major road route down to the Kent Channel ports; and for a young boy, it was heaven; trucks from all over the UK heading down to Dover all day every Sunday.  Then, one Sunday ‘it’ happened.  My world changed and has never been the same since.

In those days, Transport Ministry inspectors often secured a lay by near to my home, where they (with the police) would pull over heavy freight to ensure they were compliant with paperwork, road taxes and all the necessary for their trip across the Channel and a new working week in Europe.

As I say, I was 8 years old, but I spent many hours up close and dirty as the heavy freight was pulled over by the police so that the Ministry men could undertake their checks.  Scania’s were, and still are, my favourite; https://youtu.be/1lBoP0Qwaeg  – that sound !!

Anyway, one Sunday it was raining a bit, but I was still out; (school all week so you needed something interesting !) watching the big rigs get pulled over.  I watched a lot, and enjoyed massively; friendly truckers always willing to give me a wave, or better still, a blast from their air horns. And then; out of the blue, the police decided to pull over something which I had never experienced before – a livestock transporter.

I went over towards it as it stayed at the checkpoint; but immediately there was something different.  It was stacked high with live sheep.  In those days, it was legal for livestock trailers to not have to be fitted with an upper deck roof; hence the poor unfortunates on the top deck continually suffered throughout the journey in the wind and full exposure to any driving rain.  I could also see through lower deck slats at those cramped together and suffering at lower levels; packed in like sardines in a tin. I knew immediately that what I was witnessing was wrong; simple; animals should not suffer or be suffering as they did.  After a while the transporter must have been given the all clear, and it lumbered back onto the highway destined for the port (Dover) and a final destination somewhere in Europe where ‘something would be done’ to the sheep.  I knew nothing about it or them, but I knew that it (what I had witnessed) was wrong. No ‘if’s’ or ‘buts’.

So that Sunday afternoon, saddened and shocked that this was being allowed; I headed back home on my bike; but, that same afternoon I made myself a simple promise; that if and when I got older to a point that someday I would be a voice for those suffering animals and all others being transported; then I would be !

Cut to Summer 2024; finally my dream of ‘that kid’ aged 8 years, of doing something; and the resultant live export ban on all British farm animals from the UK to overseas destinations became a reality.  But, there had been a great deal of work in between.

I really got deeply involved again when I was around 18 years old; I could drive, had my own car and had started a pretty stable job working as a trainee Technical Author in Military Aerospace Flight Controls; Autopilots and all that jazz.  Every day whilst on my drive to work; using ‘that’ same highway, I continued to witness, pass, shout, and give the finger to livestock drivers headed down to the ports.  Their cargoes were always the same; the silence of the lambs and sheep, the quietness from the intelligent pigs, and what got to me most of all, the bellowing of the baby calves.  Mere babies themselves in need, but deprived of, the milk from the mothers they would never see again.  In my days at the ports protesting against the trade; you could always hear the calf transporters before you saw them; it was heartbreaking because you knew what they were going to – even worse at that time, you could really do little about it.

Above – Baby Calves Arrive at Dover. Photo – Mark

Crated Calves Neck Tethered.

Above – Crated Calves

But, things would slowly change.

To be continued.

Myself with ‘Golda’, another Sheltie.

Farm Animals, General News, Vivisection

USA: 40 monkeys escape from ‘Yemassee monkey farm’ in Beaufort, Hampton Co.: Here’s what we know.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2024/11/07/40-primates-escape-from-yemassee-monkey-farm-in-beaufort-hampton-counties/76107844007/

Regards Mark

Additional:

Anyone who sees or finds a monkey is asked to call 911, the Yemassee Police Department said.

“Just don’t try to take these things home or pet them,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said, per the Post and Courier. “We’re getting a lot of that on our social media. That’s a felony because they don’t belong to you.”

Alpha Genesis conducts research trials using the monkeys, and prides itself on being “one of the largest and most comprehensive nonhuman primate facilities, designed specifically for monkeys, in the United States.” According to federal data, the facility houses more than 6,000 monkeys.

Related video: Monkeys Spotted in Wooded Area in South Carolina After Escaping Research Facility (Storyful)

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Storyful

Monkeys Spotted in Wooded Area in South Carolina After Escaping Research FacilityUnmute

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The sheriff’s department did not confirm which species of monkey escaped the lab, but Alpha Genesis’s website says it primarily works with capuchin and macaques.

It’s unclear if the monkeys were part of an ongoing clinical trial, and if so, what kind of testing they had undergone before escaping.

Alpha Genesis maintains a colony of 3,500 monkeys on Morgan Island, in South Carolina — which has since been called Monkey Island — where it breeds monkeys for research purposes.

This isn’t the first time monkeys have escaped into Beaufort County, South Carolina; the region’s newspaper, the Post and Courier, reported that there have been several other escapes, including an incident in 2016 when 19 monkeys spent six hours on the run.

In addition to Alpha Genesis’s Monkey Island in South Carolina, there are at least three species of monkeys with breeding populations living in Florida — none native — including rhesus macaques that were intended to be a part of a tourist attraction in the 1930s. The descendants of those monkeys will roam parts of Florida to this day.

From news to politics, travel to sport, culture to climate – The Independent has a host of free newsletters to suit your interests. To find the stories you want to read, and more, in your inbox, click here.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/forty-lab-monkeys-escape-from-research-facility-and-lead-to-public-warning-don-t-take-these-things-home/ar-AA1tH4L6?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=DCTS&cvid=6262e97ee5f144b09e4c929b6e8710aa&ei=65

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

Investigation – Israel : Live Animal Exports to Israel Continue Despite Ongoing War.

28 October 2024

EFI

A large number of animals are still being exported to ports in Israel where they are at high risk. Vulnerable cows and sheep are being sent into the war zone from Member States including Ireland, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Lithuania, where they face rocket fire, air strikes, and mistreatment by distressed port workers and handlers.

The long journeys to Israel’s largest port, Haifa, have severe effects on the health of these sentient beings, causing respiratory illnesses, ulcers, leg injuries, motion sickness and heat stress. Their suffering is only magnified on arrival in Israel, as from Haifa port to the surrounding quarantine and fattening farms, they face daily barrages of rockets and continuous air raid sirens.

Reports have claimed that a number of dairy farms around Haifa have been hit by missiles in the last weeks, killing a large number of cows. In addition, the unsafe conditions around the port are causing workers to use electric prods to get the cattle off the ships as quickly as possible.

Since the war started, there have been over 100 shipments of cattle and sheep from Europe to Israel. Livestock has continued to be exported to Lebanon since the war expanded in that region.

10 NGOs, including Eurogroup for Animals and Ethical Farming Ireland, have now sent a letter to European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, urging her to suspend all live export to Israel and Lebanon with immediate effect.

Ethical Farming Ireland has also urged Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture Charlie McCanalogue to not authorise any more shipments to Israel until the conflict is over.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

European Animal Welfare Organisations Demand An Import Halt For Horsemeat.

Photo – AWF/ TSB/ GAIA

15 October 2024

GAIA

Press Release

The German Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) and the Swiss Tierschutzbund Zürich (TSB) present a new film documentation on horsemeat from Argentina. The footage, taken between 2022 and 2024, shows cruelty and poor animal welfare in the handling of horses at Argentinian horse slaughterhouses and assembly centres and during transport on unsuitable cattle trucks.

Together with Eurogroup for Animals (Brussels), Welfarm (France) and GAIA (Belgium), AWF and TSB are calling on the European Commission to stop the import of horsemeat from Argentina. In a resolution in 2021, the European Parliament also spoke out in favour of an import suspension. The Belgian Meat Federation FEBEV and the Swiss importer Skin Packing, on the contrary, want to prevent reporting on the cruel conditions in Argentinian slaughterhouses by taking AWF and TSB to court. 

Since 2010, investigations carried out by AWF, TSB and GAIA have shown that horsemeat producers in Argentina do not comply with the EU’s import requirements. The animal welfare organisations criticise the EU Commission for not imposing the same measure against Argentina as that already imposed against Mexico and Brazil, from which horsemeat imports have been suspended. EU audits conducted in Argentina identified very similar issues regarding food safety and animal welfare, confirmed by EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, who said that “the specific issues raised, such as residues of veterinary medicines, animal welfare, illegal cross-border movement and traceability, were all identified during the audits the Commission services have conducted (…)”. Nevertheless, horsemeat from questionable sources continues to enter Europe. 

“Our investigations are disturbing the European importers. They want to prevent the publication of our findings by taking legal action against AWF and TSB. The EU audit reports, however, have repeatedly confirmed what is shown in our film documentaries”, explains Sabrina Gurtner, AWF|TSB project manager. 

Argentinian media regularly report on criminal organisations that abuse the horsemeat business, yet even horse traders who have been under police investigation for years and have been banned from the animal trade remain in the business illegally. They are known to use the uncontrollable network of slaughterhouses, assembly centres and horse suppliers for their criminal business. “From official sources, we have received a list of 2,600 addresses of horse assembly centres and suppliers. This network is an ideal hiding place for criminal gangs”, reports Sabrina Gurtner. 

For example, the Lamar slaughterhouse near Buenos Aires has repeatedly been the target of police investigations. The media reported a raid in 2022 at the Lamar slaughterhouse and its supplier in Ibicuy. The latter is being investigated by the police for forming a criminal organisation, money laundering, tax evasion, possession of weapons and animal cruelty.

The new film by AWF and TSB shows the state of horsemeat production in Argentina – with seriously injured and highly emaciated horses left unattended, driven limping from the transporters into pens. Foals born in the slaughterhouse wander unprotected between nervous, thirsty and hungry horses. The presence of foals also indicates that heavily pregnant horses continue to be transported, despite being unfit to do so. The film also shows workers beating the horses incessantly with sticks and brooms. The horses are not adequately supplied with food or water, nor do they have sufficient protection from the weather. These horrific animal welfare conditions are present despite the fact that the visited slaughterhouses participate in the European importers’ “Respectful Life” project. 

Several audits carried out by the EU as well as investigations of the animal welfare organisations show that the traceability of horses is not guaranteed. This leads to an increased risk to food safety and there is no information about where the horses actually come from. Stolen horses have frequently entered the slaughter pipeline.

A public petition calling on the EU Commission to stop horsemeat imports from overseas, has so far collected more than 213,000 signatures. “On behalf of several European animal welfare organisations, we are calling on the Commission to require equivalent animal welfare standards in exporting countries and to suspend any horsemeat imports from countries where no effective traceability system is in place”, explains Iza Arrieta, Programme Manager, Cats & Dogs and Equines, Eurogroup for Animals.

Sébastien de Jonge, COO GAIA, says: “The investigations carried out by the animal welfare organisations have led many supermarket chains to stop selling horsemeat from countries that violate animal rights. In Belgium, all supermarkets have ceased selling horsemeat from South America. It is now crucial for Europe to follow the example set by these private actors and close its borders to products resulting from the worst practices towards animals.” 

Ghislain Zuccolo, CEO WELFARM, says: “It is unacceptable that some supermarkets in France still sell horsemeat from South America. This situation is in total contradiction with the ambitions of these same distributors with regard to animal welfare. They can no longer ignore the sufferings involved with this trade.”

Mark.