Category: Farm Animals

Farm Animals, General News, Vivisection

England: Musician Will Young Handcuffs Himself to the Gates of a Puppy Breeding Facility in a Protest Against Animal Testing.

Will Young Handcuffs Himself To Puppy Breeding Facility To Protest Animal Testing

The facility breeds around 2,000 beagle puppies a year for animal testing purposes

Yesterday (November 16), musician Will Young handcuffed himself to the gates of a puppy breeding facility in a protest against animal testing.

The British entertainer locked himself to the steel gates of the Marshall Bioresources (MBR) Acres research site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. 

There, thousands of beagle puppies are bred for biomedical research. MBR says these experiments help produce “life-saving” treatments for humans. It has been running such operations for more than 80 years. 

Raising awareness

But not everyone agrees that the testing is justified. Campaigners say the puppies, who are sent to animal testing laboratories at around 16 weeks old, suffer tremendously during the experiments. 

Grassroots anti-animal testing campaign Camp Beagle calls the industry “barbaric.” 

“These beagle puppies will be used in the most horrific and unnecessary experiments for toxicology testing, in which tubes will be rammed down their throats and masks forced over their faces to ingest and inhale lethal doses of toxins,” the group writes online.

“They will be given no pain relief, blood will be taken out of their tiny veins every hour, they will vomit, blood, excessively drool, shiver from changes in body temperature, and cower at the back of the cages.”

Many of the puppies are killed at six months old. 

Young joined Camp Beagle protesters at the MBR facility. He was photographed alongside the protesters with a sign that read: “Cambridgeshire. Famous for beagle torture. Thanks to MBR.”

The 42-year-old posted about the issue online. “I spent today at the gates of MBR Acres in protest of their testing on beagles. I wanted to raise awareness of animal testing and the fact that this is a puppy farm that farms over 2,000 beagle puppies a year to be sent out to their inevitable torture and death,” Young wrote.

“People do not know about it in this country and that is why I’ve handcuffed myself to the gates.”

Protestors at ‘Camp Beagle’

Wil Young

Sending a Message

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-59309603

————————————————-

Ricky Gervais Calls For Ban On ‘Terrifying’ Animal Testing In The UK

Ricky Gervais Calls For Ban On ‘Terrifying’ Animal Testing In The UK

Ricky Gervais has criticized animal testing on dogs, calling the practice ‘terrifying’

Ricky Gervais is calling on the government to help protect lab animals, especially beagles. The British comedian slammed animal experiments and launched a campaign to ban all animal testing in the UK.

Gervais – who often speaks about various animal rights issues – urged the government to include animals used for testing in the Animal Welfare Act. The Animal Welfare Act outlaws activities that cause ‘unnecessary suffering’ to an animal.

Animal testing on dogs

The campaign aligns with a protest held at Marshall BioResources (MBR) Acres in Cambridgeshire last month. MBR breeds around 2,000 puppies a year. They are sold at 16 weeks old for toxicology tests.

Protestors are demanding that the facility releases the dogs it is holding.

According to The Independent, toxicology testing typically involves force-feeding animals chemicals or making them inhale pesticides. This can occur every day for up to 90 days without pain relief. Eventually, the dogs are killed.

The publication points to data from the government, outlining that dogs were used in 4,340 procedures in the UK last year. A majority (4,270) of tests were on beagles, marking a 5.3 percent increase from the year prior.

Activists have monitored the breeding site for more than a year, claiming to have witnessed ‘harrowing’ scenes. They said they saw workers grabbing dogs by their necks and loading them into crowded trolleys. Dogs cried ‘pitifully’ from crates.

Ricky Gervais speaks out

Gervais commented: “I’m deeply shocked to learn that thousands of beautiful beagles are intensively bred, right here in the peace of the British countryside, for painful and terrifying toxicity experiments that are also now proven to entirely fail the search for human treatments and cures.”

Actor Peter Egan joins Gervais in the campaign. Egan shared a video online about the cause and urged the public to sign a petition. So far the petition has garnered more than 50,000 signatures. The government must respond to a petition that gets 10,00 signatures.

In the video, Gervais said: “A dog, they’re amazing. They’re magical. It’s the closest I get to spirituality, just watching a dog.”

“They’re beautiful, they’ve got soul. They’re amazing, they’re brilliant. I couldn’t invent a better thing. A dog – it’s 15 years of joy. What an amazing companion a dog is.”

Is animal testing effective?

MBR addressed the controversy, claiming that the animals are ‘raised to be healthy, content, and comfortable in a lab environment’. The company added it is ‘proud’ of the work it does.

“We can comment that there is no such thing as an ‘animal experimentation industry’ as such experiments form a small but crucial part of a wide range of applications from ecology work to investigations into human and animal diseases including those that led directly to the vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, cancer drugs, pet medicines and products labelled as safe for pets,” it said.

But research suggests animal testing is not always effective.

In 2006, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said: “Currently, nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies.”

Dr Ray Greek is the president of Americans and Europeans for Medical Advancement. Speaking to Gervais, Greek confirmed the statistic. “Yes, that’s exactly right. The drugs that we have that work really, really well today, we got those despite animal testing.”

Gervais responded: “It will be the greatest scientific discovery in the world, that animal testing doesn’t work. Let’s stop it and put all this money into something that works better. This seems to be a no brainer.”

Will Young Handcuffs Himself To Puppy Breeding Facility To Protest Animal Testing – Plant Based News

Regards Mark

Farm Animals

The story of the young goose Fibi

When the young goose Fibi on the morning of December 24th wakes up, she has no idea what is in store for her. 💔 While the world around her is full of anticipation for the Christmas holidays, Fibi has to embark on her most dangerous journey yet … 😨

The Most Violent Time Of The Year

 

Even though I’m only a few weeks old, I’ve been through so many terrible things:
Again and again I am kicked, beaten or grabbed by the neck and simply thrown through the hall.
Again and again I have to eat huge amounts.
I don’t want to anymore and I can’t anymore.

My life is hell
I only know this dark, filthy hall.
There are countless other geese around me, and they are no better either.
Nobody knows why we are here, but we all want to get out of here. My mom has to be somewhere too, I call for her day and night, but she doesn’t answer.
I miss her so much. Sometimes people pick up those of us who can no longer get up.
I also find it difficult to get up.
My legs hurt so much.
There must be something else out there.
It just can’t be that this is my whole life!
I just want to be loved and be free.
I overheard the people who come with the food in the morning.
They say they’ll all pick us up next week to turn our necks.
I’m so scared!

https://www.tierschutzbuero.de/

…If, after a long period of blindness and denial, one has managed to turn one’s back on these unworthy “traditions” and to eat and live as vegan as possible, then it is almost unbearable to endure the nonsense that is told by the “traditionalists” to justify the millions of crimes against animals, especially on the festival of love.

One often hears the argument, “But it is tradition, it has been practiced this way for centuries, the St. Martin’s goose is part of Christmas”

Most of the time tradition is associated with the greatest injustice and the fact that this injustice is legalized is not a valid criterion for judging acts and perpetrators.

We leave all animals out of the plate!
Also in Christmas as every day!

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Vegan Recipes

UK: UK Government Asks Chefs for Vegan Recipes to Replace Foie Gras Ahead of Expected Ban.

Alexis Gauthier's ‘faux gras’
Alexis Gauthier says he has emulated the buttery taste of the original in his ‘faux gras’ recipe. Photograph: Gauthier

UK government asks chefs for vegan recipes to replace foie gras

Restaurateurs invited to discuss plant-based ‘faux gras’ ahead of expected ban on liver-based spread

It is prized for its rich flavour and exclusive image by top restaurants and gourmands, but now foie gras is going vegan as the government meets chefs to discuss how to make alternatives out of nuts and mushrooms.

Vegan restaurateurs have been invited to meet UK government advisers to discuss how to create plant-based “faux gras” in the event of an upcoming ban, the Guardian has learned. Sources said the government hoped to show that a gap in the market left by a restriction on the trade of the controversial product could be filled by high-end chefs who are willing to produce alternatives.

MPs have vowed to ban trade in foie gras, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is consulting on legislation to outlaw the sale and import of the liver-based spread.

Foie gras production is illegal in the UK on animal cruelty grounds, as the ducks and geese whose livers are harvested are force-fed to make it. However, top restaurants still import and sell from countries such as France.

The force-feeding process is known as gavage, where grain is poured into a funnel or tube that has been thrust down the bird’s neck. After two weeks, the liver has swollen to many times its normal size.

Photo – WAV Archive

The French chef Alexis Gauthier, who runs fine-dining restaurant Gauthier Soho and plant-based restaurant 123V in Bond Street, both in London, decided to stop serving foie gras in his establishments after activists from Peta demonstrated outside and he read up on the meat and dairy trade.

He now serves a faux gras at his Soho venue made of mushrooms, lentils, walnuts and cognac, and says the concoction has emulated the buttery taste sought after by foie gras fans. Since this year, all the food served at his restaurants is plant-based.

The government has asked him for his recipe and invited him for talks with policy advisers to see if a gap in the market caused by a ban could be filled by his creation.

An email to vegan chefs, seen by the Guardian, says: “I understand your restaurant serves an alternative to foie gras. We would appreciate the chance to arrange a virtual meeting with the chef or someone else from the team to discuss a few questions in this area. These would be questions about your views on foie gras and the challenges and opportunities associated with ‘ethical’ alternatives.”

Gauthier says foie gras was once a bestselling item on his menu and that he used to sell 20kg of it a week, but claims people are now travelling from around the country to try his faux gras. He said it took patience and precision to emulate the texture, appearance and depth of the delicacy in a vegan version.

Many luxury shops and restaurants are turning their back on foie gras, including Fortnum & Mason, which stopped selling it earlier this year.

A government spokesperson confirmed officials were seeking meetings with those involved in creating faux gras to inform their decision on how the effects of a ban could be mitigated.

Photo – WAV Archive

Alexis Gauthier’s vegan faux gras recipe

Ingredients

1 shallot, peeled and diced
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 tsp chopped thyme
2 tsp chopped sage
24 button mushrooms, roughly sliced
2 tbsp cognac
2 tbsp soy sauce
400g cooked lentils
150g toasted walnuts
2 tbsp beetroot puree
Black pepper, to taste

Method

In a heavy pan, sauté the shallot in two tablespoonfuls of the olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic, chopped herbs, and mushrooms. Add the cognac and turn up the heat.

Add the soy sauce, reduce the heat, and cook over low heat for six minutes. Remove the pan from heat and let cool.

In a food processor, process the mushroom mixture, the remaining olive oil, the lentils, walnuts, beetroot puree and black pepper until almost smooth. Add an optional extra splash of cognac to give it that je ne sais quoi.

Place in a small glass jar and refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Serve alongside toasted slices of sourdough or other bread.

UK government asks chefs for vegan recipes to replace foie gras | Food | The Guardian

Regards Mark

Picture – WAV Archive

Photo – WAV Archive

Farm Animals, General News

Denmark: Danish industry gather about solutions for laying hens.

Danish industry gather about solutions for laying hens

11 November 2021

Dyrenes Beskyttelse

Together with The National Organic Association, Eurogroup for Animals’ member Animal Protection Denmark hosted a major industry meeting in the egg and poultry industry on sternum fractures in laying hens in Denmark. This was the first time that the whole industry is meeting, and that underlines the seriousness of this matter. The focus was on new initiatives and actions to bring the serious problem to life.

For the first time, the Eurogroup for Animals’ member Animal Protection Denmark and the National Organic Association brought together the entire Danish egg and poultry industry as well as the Danish Minister of Food, Agriculture & Fisheries, Rasmus Prehn. The purpose was to discuss sternal fractures and come up with a number of concrete initiatives and actions that the industry itself can initiate, and which Danish politicians and other stakeholders can support through their work. In the autumn of 2021, the Danish egg and poultry industry got a breather, after the University of Copenhagen published the report “Keel bone fractures in Danish laying hens: Prevalence and risk factors”. suffers from sternal fractures due to ovulation.

At Animal Protection, we are of course appalled at how widespread fractures of the sternum of laying hens are. It is completely and utterly unacceptable that this is more the rule than the exception for hens in all branches of egg production. At the same time, it is a difficult and very unfortunate situation for the profession. The support for today’s meeting shows how seriously the problem is viewed by everyone with responsibility for and influence on both the problem and the solutions.

Britta Riis, Director of Animal Protection Denmark

The meeting was also attended by the retail industry, which is met every day by consumers who want to buy eggs with a clear conscience. That is why the meeting has been particularly important.

We have had a joint discussion, which has given an overview and an understanding of the challenges in all parts of the food system, which unfortunately pushes the farm animals beyond any reasonable limit. We, therefore, look forward to both the Minister and the producers taking the task further from the action-oriented discussion today. We are pleased with the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Rasmus Prehn’s call for everyone to put pressure on the European regulation of breeding, and that the Minister himself promised to raise the matter with his European colleagues since the problem is by no means only Danish. We ourselves are putting pressure on via the animal welfare organisations’ European association, Eurogroup for Animals.

Britta Riis, Director of Animal Protection Denmark

Read more at source

Dyrenes Beskyttelse

Regards Mark

Environmental, Farm Animals, Fur and Fur Farming, General News

Sweden: Big Disappointment in Sweden: the Board of Agriculture Decided Today to Lift the Mink Ban.

Big disappointment in Sweden: the Board of Agriculture decided today to lift the mink ban

10 November 2021

Djurens Rätt

At the end of this year, the temporary ban on breeding mink for fur production will expire and the Swedish Board of Agriculture has just announced that it will not be extended. The decision means that 2022 may mean that half a million minks will once again be staying in cramped grid cages, with risks to animal welfare and continued spread of infection. Animal Rights are deeply disappointed with the decision.

In January 2021, the positive news came that the mink farms would be closed again for 2021 to reduce the risks of spreading the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The breeding animals remained on the farms, almost as a promise to the companies that they would be allowed to start up again. It has now happened.

With today’s decision, the mink farms will be allowed to start their operations again on 9 November.

This is in contrast to Denmark, which recently decided that their ban on keeping minks will be extended for 2022. Other countries have also taken a different path than Sweden: the Netherlands imposed a permanent ban on fur farms following the pandemic, and during the week British Columbia in Canada decided on a plan to close down mink farms due to the spread of infection.

In order for the Swedish mink farms to be able to breed mink again, certain specific restrictions have instead been extended, such as a ban on the movement of live mink and isolation of the farms. But this is clearly not sufficient.

“I am deeply disappointed with today’s message. There are many reasons to stop mink farms from breeding minks in cramped lattice cages, the risk of infection spreading is just one of them. When the authorities made this decision today, they also took a stand for the mink industry to continue to conduct unethical activities in Sweden. I now urge politicians to take a new approach to the issue and introduce a permanent ban” says Camilla Bergvall, national chair of Animal Rights Sweden.

Minks have proven to be extra susceptible to the coronavirus, which also affects humans. The majority of Sweden’s approximately 28 mink farms have had outbreaks of infection, with consequences such as increased mortality and respiratory symptoms. Despite the breeding ban in 2021, the infection came on a farm during this summer.

Investigation in Sweden is ongoing

The Government has commissioned the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the Swedish Veterinary Institute to investigate the risks of the spread of infection between animals and humans in Sweden. That assignment will be presented in February 2022, and may involve other proposals for restrictions than the current announcement. However, there are few indications that a breeding ban will be introduced again. It will be up to politicians, especially in government, to implement other legislative proposals to protect minks from suffering and disease.

Animal Rights, with the support of at least 76% of the population, is not alone in proposing the decommissioning of mink farms for infection control and animal welfare reasons. Other examples are the Swedish Veterinary Association and several farmers.

Read more at source

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

Portugal: 14 animals die during sea transport from Portugal to Israel.

14 animals die during sea transport from Portugal to Israel

10 November 2021

AWF

Live animal transport from Portugal to Israel: livestock vessel stuck off the Italian coast for two days, 14 animals died during the trip.

NGOs call on the ANIT Committee to ask for a ban of live animal transport at sea.

The vessel Phoenix III, heading to Israel with a cargo of 1,200 young bulls and 5,644 sheep, was dangerously stuck for two days at sea near Mazara del Vallo, Italy. 

Portuguese authorities were informed by PATAV (a Portuguese civic movement) that the vessel had stopped for 48 hours. The ship, which left Sines (Portugal) on October 22nd and stopped on 27th near Italy, then left again after two days and reached its destination port in Israel on November 4th. 

A coalition of NGOs, which followed the ship and filmed the animals while they were unloaded in the port of Haifa, wrote to the ANIT Committee (Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport) urging to support a ban of live export.

The images taken during the unloading process show stuck and exhausted animals in high overcrowded conditions, with animals on top of each other, and very dirty bulls with broken horns. Some of the animals also showed heat stress symptoms. The animals were quickly loaded again on trucks. They will spend eight days in quarantine in the region of Mehola (90 km from the port), and then they will be transported again to different feedlots in Israel for 4-8 months before slaughter.

This case, as in the well-known cases of Karim Allah and Elbeik at the beginning of 2021, shows again how dangerous sea journeys can be for the animals.

In this incident, 14 animals were reported dead, but if the vessel were stuck for more days, we could have witnessed another tragedy.

In the letter to the ANIT committee, the NGOs referred to the importance of contingency plans and the need, by competent authorities and organisers, to take into account the forecast weather conditions until final destination when authorising a transport. Lack of feasible contingency plans and lack of weather verification have the potential to negatively affect animal welfare when unexpected situations arise.

Phoenix III is a 43 years old livestock vessel (Ex-reefer converted in 2011 at the age of 33 when it should have been already scrapped). Most of the livestock vessels operating in the EU are under similar age and conversion situation, andsince 2017, they are the No. 1 category for the number of detentions worldwide, and considered as a high risk in Paris MoU risk profiling. 

Furthermore, according to a recent study published in 2021, 36%of EU-approved livestock vessels have suffered major incidents, failures, or loss.

Besides that, there are concerns regarding the Phoenix III authorisation: according to the Romanian central authority Phoenix III had been transporting live animals without authorisation from April to August 2021 when it made 8 journeys exporting animals from Croatia, Portugal and Romania to Israel. On August 18 the vessel was re-authorised to export animals by Croatia.

Aside from the reason for the stopping, this episode is again a good example of how the welfare of exported animals remains largely unknown during the sea part of the journey, and during transport in third countries to the final destination.

The many tragedies already happened in the past (the Queen Hind, Karim Allah, Elbeik vessels among others) show that the protection of animals during transport at sea is not possible for various reasons: bad weather and technical failures can cause delays, most ports are not able to shelter the animals, and conditions at sea can deteriorate suddenly with no possibility to escape putting both animals and crew at great risk.

Given the comprehensive work that the ANIT did on transport via sea, the NGOs are now asking for the Committee to recommend a phase out of extra-EU sea transport and to urge stricter and refined rules on intra-EU sea transport.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

The Dairy Industry In 60 Seconds Flat.

Thanks to Stacey at ‘Our Compass’ as always;

Stacey | Our Compass (our-compass.org)

Regards Mark

PETA LAMBS

Source Plant Based News

By Switch4Good

Why do adults still drink milk? Why do we obtain it from an entirely different species, let alone a being who is not our mother? Why do we continue to guzzle down a drink that leaves us bloated and uncomfortable hours later? It simply does not make sense.

According to evolutionary history and fossil records, the modern human being has inhabited this earth for the past 200,000 years (1). 

Historians date the practice of drinking cows’ milk back to the past 8,000 to 10,000 years. (2).

What this tells us is that consuming the milk of another species isn’t instinctual, and our bodies don’t naturally ‘crave’ it. So the question is – which one of our brilliant ancestors looked at a cow’s udder, licked their lips, and started sucking? Perhaps more importantly, why did others join in? 

‘A short but riveting history’

Relative to human existence, the history of milk is considerably short – yet it is truly riveting. Power, corruption, greed, mass manipulation—all are present in the evolution of milk in our modern-day society. 

Thanks to the bizarre thinking of that early human, most of us are guzzling down a substance not meant for human consumption. It’s time to leave cow’s milk to the textbooks, and of course, to baby cows

Dairy farms organize

Fast-forward through the evolution of lactase persistence in European regions (yes, all early humans were lactose intolerant past their toddler stage), domestication of dairy cows, the invention of cheesemaking, millions of people who died from milk-borne illnesses prior to the invention of pasteurization (a fourth of all food-borne illnesses in the US were attributed to cows’ milk prior to the early 1900s), and the invention of the glass milk bottle, and we find ourselves in 1922 with the seminal passing of the Capper-Volstead Act (3). 

This bill gave agricultural industries permission to act together, form organizations, and market their product. While the industry was very much reliant on small farms back in the day, this bill paved the way for the enormous dairy conglomerates and massive milk marketing campaigns of today. Without it, the American people would have never known the phrase: “Got Milk?”.

The popularization of skim milk

Before pressing further, a note on skim milk. Prior to the 1930s, most of it was literally sent downriver. Families who drank milk had one option – whole – but skim milk still existed as a byproduct of the butter-making process. 

This ‘waste’ was commonly disposed of by dumping it into rivers throughout the 1920s until the government was forced to put a stop to it due to the horrific odor of spoiled milk that permeated the surrounding areas. 

Skim milk powder

It wasn’t until the 1950s that skim milk received some commercial attention, though this was in the form of a dry, powdered, ‘just add water!’ mix (4). As awful as instant milk powder sounds today, we can’t blame our grandparents – instant was all the rage back then. 

The industry also had plenty of skim milk to get rid of, as much of it was leftover from WWII when dry milk powder was used as a relief food. To chisel down this surplus, the industry employed skilled marketers to position skim milk as a weight-loss food. 

Milk dealers received backing from physicians to pedal this product as a health food, and by the 1950s, skim milk had transformed from a waste byproduct to a trendy weight loss beverage mostly consumed by affluent society (15).

In reality, farmers just need a way to get rid of (and profit of off) the skim milk they had made during the war effort … which tends to be a theme in milk’s history: made too much? Turn to clever marketing.

Continued on next page

Pages: 1 2 3
Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

World leaders must address the impacts of animal farming on climate change.

World leaders must address the impacts of animal farming on climate change

8 November 2021

Eurogroup For Animals calls on world leaders to enhance pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to better uphold the obligations derived from the Paris Agreement. Linking animal protection, trade policies and sustainable food systems would be a first step in the right direction.

Six years after the Paris Agreement, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) is taking place in Glasgow. This conference is particularly important because it’s the first time the ‘ratchet mechanism’ foreseen in the Paris Agreement will be used. 

Indeed, each country is expected to submit enhanced “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) every five years to ratchet up ambition to mitigate climate change.  However, despite the fact that the 2020 conference was postponed due to the pandemic, dozens of countries still have not updated their pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the time of the 2021 conference.

The implications are serious. A global temperature rise of 2°C above pre-industrial levels delivers the probability of dangerous climate change. Hence, GHG emissions need to be drastically reduced but countries continue to do “business as usual”. 

Livestock farming represents a significant share of the planet’s emissions that cannot be ignored as they account for approximately 18% of global GHG emissions, which is more than all transports combined. 

As outlined in the recent IPCC report, we have no time to lose in cutting methane emissions. Reducing livestock numbers could contribute significantly to meet the Paris target, while failing to reduce them will put most of the UN SDGs out of reach. 

World leaders need to explicitly recognise the intrinsic link between animal protection and the UN SDGs, and the importance of animal protection in putting the world on a sustainable path to 2030. Changing the food system and how we treat animals is a major opportunity for climate change mitigation. Political leaders and governments can, for example:

  • Redirect subsidies from industrial animal production, the main receiver today, to plant-based ones. 
  • Put the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet at the basis for public procurement.
  • Invest in the development of plant-based proteins and cultivated meat.
  • Use the land differently, since deforestation is driven by animal feed production.


It is also high time to address the impact of trade on climate. Currently, trade agreements liberalise trade without any climate or animal welfare conditions. As a result, they fuel unsustainable production systems, harming people, animals and the planet. For instance, the EU-Mercosur trade deal, by granting significant market access to animal products, will fuel intensification of animal farming which highly contributes to deforestation, which in turn will contribute to climate change. In Brazil alone, over half of the country’s deforestation over the last twenty years came from the beef sector, mainly due to the conversion of forests into cattle pasture. 

Eurogroup for Animals’ contribution

To inform COP26 attendees about the environmental issues associated with animal-related sectors, as well as how improved animal welfare and transformed food systems can help build back better, Eurogroup for Animals have created a leaflet entitled “Protecting Animals to Protect the Planet”.

Download the leaflet

File

Protecting Animals to Protect the Planet

Regards Mark

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

New film shines light on the environmental impact of animal agriculture.

New film shines light on the environmental impact of animal agriculture

8 November 2021

Eating Our Way to Extinction is a new documentary exploring how our broken food system contributes to ecological collapse around the world. Narrated by Academy Award winner Kate Winslet, the film features undercover footage, shocking evidence from globally renowned figures and leading scientists, and firsthand accounts from Indigenous people directly affected by animal agriculture and climate change.

The film, Eating our Way to Extinction, spotlights the links between our food system and the unfolding ecological crisis – an important message as parties and world leaders gather at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). 

It calls for a switch to a plant-based diet due to unsustainable intensive livestock and fish farming that is leading to routine suffering, deforestation, ocean dead zones and species extinction.

At the COP26 climate summit this week, world leaders have pledged to end and reverse deforestation and lower global emissions of methane by 30 percent by 2030. The film explores both issues and finds that animal agriculture is the largest source of methane emissions and by far the greatest forest destroyer. 

Steep cuts to livestock production will greatly benefit the climate by slashing short-term emissions to give us the circuit-breaker desperately needed to stem global warming.

Eating our Way to Extinction trailer

To inform COP26 attendees about the environmental issues associated with animal-related sectors, as well as how improved animal welfare and transformed food systems can help build back better, Eurogroup for Animals have created a leaflet entitled “Protecting Animals to Protect the Planet”.

Download the leaflet

File

Protecting Animals to Protect the Planet

Regards Mark