Years ago I was the investigator for Carla’s charity; and we were both devoted to stopping live animal transport.  I did a lot of investigation work into British hoses being exported for the meat trade; though their official paperwork; approved by Defra, was saying that they were being exported to mainland Europe for ‘Riding’.  Time, and a lot of work at the docks, combined with visiting horse sales markets gave us the proof we needed. I still have all the information in several files; information which took ages to gather, collate and write about ready for presentation.

Carla and I met with the Minister in London one day to present them with our investigation evidence.  Around the same time farmers dumped many dozens of baby calves at Carlas, expecting her to have them destroyed because of sheer numbers involved and the money needed to raise them – they wanted to be able to say that the veggie animal rights activist had killed calves.  NO WAY !

Carla kept every calf and raised them all into beautiful adult cattle.  One day, when they were still young, Carla asked me to name one of the calves.  I decided to call him ‘Hope’, as I hoped for a future free of live animal exports, and my own personal hope that there was a future with more hope and compassion for innocent beings.

Here is a photo of ‘Hope’

Above – ‘Hope’

Here my favorite photo of wonderful Carla:

Live export unfortunately still continues all these years later; but many of us gather evidence and footage which is presented to he powers that be – with a simple message ‘stop it’.  It will happen and I think and hope soon, in the near future,

I came across this video, and noted that this suffering dog was also named ‘Hope’ by the wonderful people that took him in and literally changed every aspect of his being; from mere existence and survival on the street to one of a loved and very cared for dog.  It is a video which tells a story which has not yet finished.  Every credit to all involved; especially the girl who saw him suffering on the street, and who initially took time off work to help and feed this sentient.

Enjoy he video; a story of ‘Hope’

Regards Mark

About Us. | Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

In the past, Mark worked with television comedy scriptwriter Carla Lane for many years; and had the position of being the investigator for her animal charity (Animaline) throughout the years of the horse export investigations.  Through undercover investigation work, port monitoring, visits to UK horse markets, and trails into Europe, it was shown that British horses were being exported from the UK whilst being declared as ‘going for riding’ to Europe.  In reality, the animals were being exported to Europe for their meat.  What was declared on the export licenses was a complete and utter lie to get around the complexities of exporting  sentient animals for one thing when they were actually going to their deaths !

After all the investigative work was completed and documented, which involved a lot of work, Carla and Mark teamed up in London one day and made formal presentations to the UK Government Ministry – DEFRA (previously  MAFF) about all the investigation work.

To this day, Mark will never forget what was witnessed in the investigations into beautiful, live horses being exported from the UK to Europe as a scam for the meat trade under the guise of ‘riding horses’.  This, combined with live farm animal export work over the last 27 years or so has meant that the export of live farm animals is a top ‘hate’ and will always be campaigned against – be it in the UK, Europe, Australia, South America, North Africa, Anywhere !

In the early hours of one morning, after investigating yet another consignment of UK horses being exported to the EU; declared as ‘going for riding’ but really destined for the meat trade; Mark returned home and decided that he just had to get something down on paper to express what he had experienced so many times, with the real knowledge (and proof) of what was happening to these beautiful animals despite what the (false) paperwork declarations said.  Gorgeous Jo was at home and supportive as always.  Unable to just go to bed and sleep for what was left of that night; something had to be recorded as a simple memory of what ‘official’ wrongs had been experienced so many times during these horses journey.

Mark penned the following to sum his immense anger and feelings of the scam events through an official government Ministry that allowed 14+ beautiful horses to be exported to Europe each week for meat; whilst passing and stamping the paperwork to say that they were ‘going for riding’.

The poem was called:

EXH6 – For Beautiful Horses Betrayed By The System

EXH6

‘EXH6’ is the official export license which is required for horse exports from the UK.

Mark says – ” eventually some time very late that night Jo and I climbed into bed; but despite being with her, my thoughts very much remained with those innocent animals – I was asking myself questions like: where were they now ?; what were they experiencing ?; were they suffering ? – and how was this being allowed to happen when Jo and I could easily see the wrongs on the paperwork, why cannot the Ministry officials !”

To all the guys at CIWF undercover investigations unit – we had some great times and we had very sad depressing times; Steve and I felt the bad arm of the law a few times; but in the end the evidence was gathered. You want to beat the shit out of these animal abusers, but evidence gathering and biting your tongue is more important.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ciwf+investigator

For John:

Photo – Val C.

NGOs call for clarity on timeline to deliver Kept Animals and Slaughter Regulations

4 October 2023

Press Release

The news that the European Commission will publish one of four promised proposals on animal welfare, while failing to provide a timeline for the rest, is unacceptable and leaves millions of animals unprotected and citizens’ voices widely ignored.

European Commission’s Executive Vice-President (EVP) Maroš Šefčovič, nominated to oversee the Green Deal, has confirmed that the European Commission intends to deliver the proposal on the protection of animals during transport by December 2023. Yet, he failed to provide clarity on the timeline for the other three regulations, namely Kept Animals, Slaughter and Labelling.

See https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2023/10/03/typical-eu-maros-sefcovic-promises-to-deliver-on-animal-welfare-but-fails-to-commit-to-timeline/

During yesterday’s hearing at the European Parliament, Šefčovič repeated that the animal welfare proposals remain a priority for the upcoming months, but when questioned by a number of MEPs from several groups, he commented that the work on the full legislation requires more assessment and dialogues, despite the fact that numerous consultations and dialogues have already taken place under the EU Platform on Animal Welfare.

Delivering only one of the four proposals will not meet the millions of citizens’ demands for better animal welfare. The latest ECIs End the Cage Age and Fur Free Europe, which collected 1.4 and 1.5 million signatures respectively, show that Europeans demand better protection for animals now.  Following the ECI End the Cage Age, the EC committed to ban cages in animal farming as part of the Kept Animals Regulation to be adopted in Q3 2023. 

Only updating the live transport rules will leave billions of animals at the mercy of outdated legislation, or without any welfare-related legislation. Numerous EFSA opinions have demonstrated the urgent need to update the existing rules. 

While we welcome the publication of a proposal to revise the Transport Regulation, delivering only part of the expected legislation does not align to the wishes of the citizens, and to the scientific opinions that have highlighted the urgent need to update regulations impacting the welfare of kept animals. We also trust that the transport regulation will aim higher than what has transpired from the impact assessment finalised in July.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

Eurogroup for Animals continues to call for the publication of the full proposals, as committed by the EC as part of the Farm to Fork Strategy.

Regards Mark

Enjoy:

and the ‘Cure’ (English band) original:

Maroš Šefčovič promises to deliver on animal welfare, but fails to commit to timeline

3 October 2023

During today’s hearing at the European Parliament, European Commission’s Executive Vice-President (EVP) Maroš Šefčovič, nominated to oversee the Green Deal, repeated that the animal welfare proposals remain a priority for the upcoming months, yet failed to provide a timeline for their publication.

A number of MEPs, including Tilly Metz (Greens/Efa), Emma Weisner (Renew), Beatrice Covassi (S&D/PD) and Herbert Dorfmann (EPP), specifically questioned the EVP-designate on the animal welfare proposals, reiterating the importance of sticking to the promised timeline and delivering by the end of the year, to honour the demands of millions of European citizens.

We are pleased that animal welfare has been mentioned among the priorities for the coming months. Yet, we are disappointed that no concrete action or timeline has been provided, despite the many requests made by MEPs of various groups. We want to reiterate the importance for the EU to fulfil its commitments under the “End the Cage Age” ECI, which gathered more than 1.4 million signatures. Further delaying the publication of the proposals to the next term would be a democratic failure. As President von der Leyen recently said during her SOTEU address ”If it matters to Europeans it matters to Europe”, and we could not agree more, now though, we need to see it happen for the millions of Europeans who’ve been asking the European Commission to improve the lives of billions of animals

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

The EC initially committed to deliver the proposals for a revised animal welfare legislation, as part of the Farm to Fork Strategy, by the end of this year. With the EC expected to finalise its working programme in the upcoming weeks, the timeline for publishing them within the current term is becoming increasingly tight. The EVP-designate mentioned several times the need for more assessments and dialogues to be carried out, even if the impact assessment on the legislation has been finalised and despite the numerous opportunities all stakeholders had to contribute over the past years.

During the hearing, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Šefčovič also mentioned that the EC is finalising the Transport Regulation proposal. Having a finally renewed text on transport would be much welcome, however, delivering only one of the four proposals won’t meet the millions of citizens’ demands for better animal welfare. Indeed, the latest European Citizens’ Initiatives End the Cage Age and Fur Free Europe which collected 1.4 and 1.5 million signatures respectively, show that Europeans demand better protection for animals now. Only updating the live transport rules would leave billions of animals at the mercy of outdated legislation.

The European Commission can still fulfil the promise it made in June 2021 to millions of citizens, and millions of animals, to go cage free by 2027, but now is the time to act. 

Regards Mark