Rally on animal rights at Jantar Mantar on Sunday | Pune News – Times of India (indiatimes.com)
PUNE: In commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary ..
Regards Mark
Category: General News
Our past posts relating to these subjects:
Search Results for “spain hunting dogs” – World Animals Voice
Search Results for “spain bullfights” – World Animals Voice
A new Spanish law strengthens animal rights but exempts bullfights and hunting with dogs
MADRID (AP) — A new animal welfare law that took effect Friday in Spain outlaws the use of animals for recreational activities that cause them pain and suffering but allows bullfights and hunting with dogs.
Spain’s first specific animal rights legislation is intended to crack down on abuses. The law particularly targets the mistreatment of domestic animals, introducing fines of up to 200,000 euros ($212,000).
It bans the buying of pets in stores or online, but gives stores a grace period to find homes for their animals. In the future, it only will be legal to purchase pets from registered breeders. The new rules allow pets into most establishments, including restaurants and bars.
The law bans the use of wild animals at circuses and gives owners six months to comply. It allows zoos to keep using the marine mammals in their dolphin shows until the animals die.
Bullfights are regarded as part of Spain’s cultural heritage. A proposal to include hunting dogs in the law prompted an outcry in some rural communities, and the government backed down.
Government statistics estimate some 29 million animals are kept as pets in Spain, most of them dogs. But around 300,000 are abandoned each year, and about one-third of those are put down.
The law also aims to introduce mandatory pet insurance and registration as well as training for owners. However, those requirements and some other legal aspects were delayed because detailed administrative procedures have not been drawn up in the absence of a sitting government.
Spain’s July general election proved inconclusive, and political parties are in coalition-building talks.
Regards Mark
A new Spanish law strengthens animal rights but exempts bullfights and hunting with dogs (yahoo.com)
More:
Spain Strengthens Animal Rights, But Exempts Bullfights (yahoo.com)
New Spanish law strengthens animal rights but exempts bullfights – ABC News (go.com)
Iceland admits to breaching EU law on horse blood farms
28 September 2023
AWF
See our past posts relating to this:
Search Results for “iceland blood mares” – World Animals Voice
Iceland has admitted collecting blood from pregnant mares to obtain the hormone PMSG is in breach of the EU legislation that it is supposed to comply with under the European Economic Area. As of November 2023, the country commits to correct this failure, bringing blood farms in Iceland one step closer to closure.
In March 2022, a number of animal protection organisations, including Eurogroup for Animals, lodged a complaint against Iceland to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Surveillance Authority (ESA). Our claim was that Iceland was not respecting the rules established by the European Economic Area, an agreement that brings together EU Member States and the three EFTA States: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The complaint concerned high volume blood extraction from pregnant mares for the production of the hormone Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG), also called Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin (eCG). This is a fertility hormone used in industrial animal breeding to increase the reproductive performance of farmed animals by synchronising their fertility cycles and increasing the number of offspring produced per year.
The complaint was accepted by ESA, who in May 2023 requested that Iceland respond on a clear breach of EU law, notably a breach of the Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.
On 15 September 2023, the Icelandic authorities replied to ESA accepting that the procedure of collecting blood from pregnant mares for the production of PMSG/eCG does fall under the scope of Directive 2010/63/EU; hence, Iceland admits having failed to fulfil many obligations arising from this Directive.
Notably, Iceland admits failing to comply with the 3Rs principles of replacement, reduction and refinement, whereby animal experiments must be replaced by alternative methods not using live animals when possible, principles that are at the core of Directive 2010/63/EU.
There are numerous alternatives to PMSG/eCG available with similar efficacy, such as simple exercise routines, optimal nutrition, lighting, contact between sows in oestrus, and contact with boars.
Effective from 1 November 2023, Iceland will revoke non-compliant regulations on blood collection from pregnant mares, making such collections subject to Regulation 460/2017 in full compliance with Directive 2010/63/EU.
The open acknowledgement that a country has been in breach of Directive 2010/63/EU paves the way to an EU-wide ban on eCG production, importation and use, which will certainly ease the adoption of similar measures worldwide.
More information and link:
Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin (eCG), also called Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG), is a hormone extracted from the blood of pregnant mares (female horses). It is used to increase and manage fertility in farmed animals such as pigs, sheep, goats and cattle.
Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin (eCG) production, import and use in the EU | Eurogroup for Animals
Regards Mark
Take action: ask President von der Leyen to deliver the animal welfare proposal
25 September 2023
The European Commission promised to publish a proposed revision of the EU’s animal welfare legislation this year. But we’re reaching the end of the year with no sign of this desperately needed update. The lives of billions of animals, and the wishes of millions of European citizens are being ignored.
On 13 September 2023, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen held her annual State of the Union Address (SOTEU), outlining what the EC has achieved and what it will still do before the end of its political term in 2024. The animal welfare legislation was not mentioned, nor was it included in the 2024 letter of intent, contrary to the one published for 2023.
Over the past several years, millions of citizens have asked for better animal welfare laws to be delivered:
1.4 million citizens supported the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) End the Cage Age
1.5 million citizens supported the ECI Fur Free Europe
The overwhelming majority of respondents to the 2016 Eurobarometer on animal welfare voted in favour of stronger animal protection measures in several areas
The EC promised to deliver the proposals for a revision of the legislation by the end of 2023. After SOTEU, our fight for the delivery of the legislation during this term is far from over.
Over the coming weeks, the EC will finalise its work programme for 2024 in dialogue with the Council and Parliament. We must do everything we can to ensure this work goes ahead as planned, and is completed before the end of the current term.
If it matters to Europeans, it matters for Europe.
President Ursula von der Leyen, State of the Union Address
Take action
Help ensure the delivery of the desperately needed animal welfare legislation update by sending a message to President von der Leyen.
Regards Mark
Founder:
https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/
Above – Romania – EU member state.
Why trade agreements should not stop progress for animals
26 September 2023
Opinion
Written by Reineke Hameleers
As millions of citizens are waiting for the European Commission to deliver the proposals to revise the outdated EU animal welfare legislation, the EU seems to prioritise trade negotiations that are increasingly in a deadlock.
The current EU animal welfare legislation is obsolete and urgently needs to be reviewed, to take into account the latest scientific findings. As shown by the Commission’s own fitness check and the recent EFSA opinions, the current legislation is not fit for purpose. This revision is also a question of democracy: through different European Citizens Initiatives, Eurobarometer and petitions, EU citizens have vastly demonstrated their support for higher animal welfare.
The European Commission committed to publish the proposals by autumn of this year, although we remain on tenterhooks for this to see the light. It is high time that EU consumption stops fuelling cruel practices anywhere in the world. Yet, for this objective to be achieved, the new legislation will have to apply to all products placed on the EU market, including imported ones. This is something that the European Parliament, as well as many Member States, have already supported.
Evidently, this is likely to create discussions between the EU and its main trading partners, at a time when the President of the European Commission has committed to conclude important trade negotiations by the end of the year, notably with Mercosur countries. Should that stop the European Commission? Hopefully, the EU will not let its trade agenda freeze the path toward sustainable food systems, but if there were temptations to do so, it is important to remember key facts at play.
First, the EU-Mercosur negotiations are unlikely to make any significant progress during the remaining political term of this Commission. The EU-Mercosur deal has been greatly criticised over the negative consequences it could have not only for animals, but also for the planet and human rights. Already in October 2021, the European Parliament committed not to vote for it “as it stands”. The European Commission has thus put forward an “additional instrument” to be attached to the agreement, but the counteroffer recently made by Mercosur countries cast a significant shadow on the future of the talks.
South American countries are asking, among others, to create a mechanism that would allow them to be compensated, or to re-discuss trade concessions, if they feel that these concessions have been annulled or suspended by a measure adopted at the EU level. This would mean that even if the EU were to adopt a new legislation completely justified under the rules of the World Trade Organisation, the EU would still have to compensate Mercosur countries by granting further trade preferences on relevant products. This puts a price tag on every legitimate progress the EU wants to make: for animals, for the planet, for the people. This is unacceptable.
It is often argued that having more animal welfare-related import requirements would translate into a negative impact for small farmers in third countries. Yet, our recent report says just the opposite: most of the animal products imported into the EU originate from developed or middle-income countries. Lower-income countries are already prevented from exporting to the EU due to the sanitary and phytosanitary rules that need to be respected. In addition, exporters in these countries are mostly big multinational companies, sometimes already committed to achieve progress in the field of animal welfare. The EU might simply accelerate the change, rather than force it.
The European Union has been a pioneer in the field of animal welfare. The European Commission’s promise for a Green Deal cannot be complete without better animal welfare legislation. President von der Leyen must stick to her promise to publish the proposals before the end of this term.
It is now time to deliver.
25 September 2023
Policy Briefing
According to the most recent Eurobarometer on animal welfare, 93% of European citizens want imported animal products to respect the same animal welfare standards as those applied in the European Union (EU). EU citizens do not want their consumption to fuel inhumane and unsustainable models of production beyond the EU’s borders. This report describes, for each key species, the impact that imposing animal welfare import requirements could have on source countries. To do so, it looks at the share that the EU market represents for top source countries – from an amount and a value perspective – and compares animal welfare standards with those applied in the EU. As exporters are often large multinational companies, it also identifies the commitments these companies have already adopted in the field of animal welfare, often beyond the legislative requirements where they are based.
Regards Mark
Founder – WAV and SAV – https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/
Above – click on ‘Watch on YouTube’
Link to all of our past South Korean dog meat links / actions : https://worldanimalsvoice.com/?s=south+korea
Merck Life Science:
Tell your Partner, South Korea, you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.
The Korea Herald reported on 5/3/2023, “Merck, a leading science and technology company based in Germany, said Wednesday it plans to build a bioprocessing unit in Daejeon, South Korea. Under a three-way memorandum of understanding signed by the firm with Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the government of Daejeon, they will discuss detailed plans for building the international pharmaceutical company’s new bioprocessing unit that can produce raw materials for drugs.”
In South Korea, there are numerous dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, and restaurants where the dogs, who have been tortured their entire lives, end up being slaughtered in the most inhumane ways, such as by electrocution, hanging, or beating, and then thrown into boiling water – sometimes while they are still alive. In many places, dogs are being killed in full view of other terrified, caged dogs, and this takes place in broad daylight.
Therefore, we are asking that Merck Life Science reconsider any affiliation with South Korea and that they cancel plans to build a bioprocessing unit in Daejeon.
👉 Click HERE to take action.
👉 Click HERE to sign and share the petition.
Photo: The Korea Observer. Documentary: The Dog Meat Professionals: South Korea.https://koreandogs.org/dmp/
Chuncheon arrested CARE activists working to shut down illegal dog slaughterhouses
While working to shut down multiple dog slaughterhouses in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE) activists have been unjustly arrested by the Chuncheon Police. We have sent emails to Chuncheon’s Friendship city, Vejle, Denmark, and Gangwon province’s Sister State, Colorado, asking for their help in releasing the activists immediately and shutting down the massive illegal dog meat industry in Gangwon province.
Read more:
Donate to Care:
(사) 동물권단체 케어 – 언제나 동물들의 편으로 남겠습니다 (careanimalrights.or.kr)
| 📣 We still need a volunteer to translate our “Suggested Message” into Estonian for our campaign. Please contact me if you can help. 📧 KoreanDogs.org@gmail.com 📣 Click HERE to continue taking action and share our urgent campaign: No World Expo 2030 in South Korea, the nation of horrific cruelty and mass murder of millions of dogs and cats! 📣 Animal Rights Korea (ARK) Shelter needs your help today. Click HERE to learn more. Thank you! 🐶🙏👍 |
Regards Mark
Chickens on a factory farm. Photo: Depositphotos.com
Too many chickens often kept in small area: animal rights group
Animal rights organisation Wakker Dier is taking legal action against food and product safety board NVWA in an effort to get more space for chickens raised on factory farms.
The organisation says the Netherlands has been breaking EU rules for more than 10 years and has also asked the European Commission to intervene.
Since 2007 no more than 33 kilos of broiler chickens (chickens being raised to be eaten) can be raised within a square kilometre – the equivalent of roughly 16 chickens. However, farmers can deviate from this if they adhere to minimum welfare standards and the death rate on chicken farms is low.
Wakker Dier says Dutch factory farms have been able to profit from the exemption, allowing them up to 21 chickens a square metre, because the NVWA does not monitor whether farms are meeting all the rules.
And, says the aid group, national figures show many farmers who make use of the exemption do have a higher death rate than permitted.
Although Dutch supermarkets have virtually stopped selling the very cheapest, fast-growing chickens, known as plofkip, they do still produce the meat for export.
The European food safety body EFSA recently recommended a further reduction in the number of chickens barns can hold. Its research suggests that health problems begin when more than five or six birds are kept per square metre.
The NVWA and farm ministry are now in talks about the regulations, Wakker Dier said. Nevertheless, legal action and Brussels intervention are merited because “the NVWA is very slow at dealing with these sorts of issues,” Wakker Dier’s Anne Hilhorst said.
Regards Mark
Too many chickens often kept in small area: animal rights group – DutchNews.nl
Animal rights activists outraged over euthanasia at Memphis Animal Services
Animal rights activists outraged over euthanasia at Memphis Animal Services (msn.com)
Memphis Animal Services is in the hot seat after more and more people speak out on issues with the location’s policies. Some animal rights advocates said they’re planning to take legal action.
There has been outrage as the number of dogs MAS euthanizes sparked community concern. MAS takes in thousands fewer animals than a Knoxville shelter, but more than 300 animals died in MAS custody in 2022. This is an issue rescuers said is common at the Memphis shelter.
In August alone, MAS euthanized 167 animals, even as some kennels remain open. Michelle Craig, a volunteer at another dog shelter, said the time of day the shelter is open impacts the ability for potential new pet owners to foster and adopt.
“The hours are only 12-4 and for people like us that work all day, it is hard to get over there,” Craig said. “They will still put a dog down when there are empty kennels available.”
MAS responded to dogs being put down while there are still empty kennels, with this statement: “Even when there are open kennels (which are necessary for us to operate, so that our animal services officers have somewhere to put incoming animals), there will be some animals that are euthanized regardless.”
This left animal rights advocates and volunteers upset.
“I cried all passionate about it but they are – they are just turning into an awful place,” one person said.
But, ABC24 spoke with volunteers off camera who said they’re scared to go public with their concerns because other volunteers weren’t allowed back after speaking out, rescuer Jessica Gotera said.
“There are good volunteers but they don’t stay for long or they’re very distraught,” Gotera said. “They’re falling apart because they’re emotionally distraught by what they’re going through.”
She voiced her concerns about half of a bonded pair, like moms and puppies, being separated and euthanized.
MAS provided this response: “This can happen when one of the two pets is doing well behaviorally or medically, and one of them is suffering or struggling behaviorally or medically.”
But Gotera doesn’t think the shelter’s reasoning for putting down one half of a pair is enough.
“What they consider as behavioral is if they’re being rowdy or if they’re being complacent in their kennels,” Gotera said. “Even if they’re being complacent and not moving or nothing, they’re still gonna kill the dog.”
As animal rights activists and other volunteers across the state work to decrease the number of animals euthanized at MAS and other shelters, they did tell ABC24 they’re working to get a lawsuit together against the city-run shelter.
Regards Mark
A European Rabbit on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland (Stephen Bridger / Alamy Stock Photo)
A cull of wild rabbits at Derrynane National Park will turn the landscape into a “bloodbath,” an animal rights activist has said.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) is to commission a cull of wild rabbits on Derrynane House National Park in County Kerry after a dramatic increase in the population has had a negative impact on other wildlife and rare plants.
The European Rabbit was introduced to Ireland by the Normans over 800 years ago, and are designated a medium impact invasive species by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
Specialists will be hired to shoot the rabbits and lay more than 100 traps near the former home of political leader Daniel O’Connell, Derrynane House.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, animal rights activist John Carmody said he is “dishearted” by the lastest cull.
“I mean, I’ve been working on these campaigns for years and you know, we’ve had targets on deer, we’ve had targets on seals and now we’re hearing about the rabbits population in Derrynane,” he said.
“I’m kind of scratching my head since, asking myself, ‘What has went on in the last couple of months with [the rabbits] down there, that went on in the last number of years?
“As the saying goes, you breed like rabbits and there is no way a cull is going to stop those animals breeding down there – it’s totally unscientific.”
Local Fianna Fáil Councillor Norma Moriarty rejected Mr Carmody’s claim that the decision was “shortsighted”.
“It’s being done with a view to the future and the protection of the biodiversity down there and a very, very, very sensitive ecosystem, in terms of the dune system that’s there at Derrynane,” she said.
“It’s also very scientifically based because it’s the results of surveys that have been carried out and also very visible erosion.”
Councillor Moriarty said the size of the rabbits has led to “overgrazing” – while a lack of natural predators has increased their population significantly.
“There’s a serious imbalance taking place, because of the overgrazing we don’t have that very important grassland that effectively knits the dunes together and protects the area from further erosion,” she said.
“They also pose a threat to the natterjack toad, the choughs and the whorl snails.”
Mr Carmody said a lot of the rabbits will end up being maimed.
“Quite essentially, that beautiful National Park is going to turn into a bloodbath,” he said.
“I get it – we can’t exactly go down there and hand out each individual rabbit a pack of condoms and say, ‘Off you go lads’.
“So why don’t the Office of Public Works come and sit down with campaigners and wildlife biologists and come up with a solution?”
Councillor Moriarty said a “plethora” of actions had been considered by the OPW.
“When you’re talking about ecosystems and balance, it’s basically about the order of beings and their natural predators, and the absence of that natural predator has meant an unnatural explosion of the rabbit population,” she said.
“Part of this plan is the introduction of ferrets as part of [introducing natural predators], as much possible, to be in sync with what nature would want, but it does need a helping hand.”
Mr Carmody said “interfering” in nature is what human beings do best.
“We definitely know how to wreck the place and destroy the place and ransack environments,” he said.
“This is almost like going back to the Flintstone eras where we’re sending in ferrets in the hope that we’d be able to get some of the rabbits taken out so that we can, in some way, shape or form, protect the other species.
“Stop right now, stop this tender and let’s go back to the table and come up with a more humane and kinder solution for all.”
Regards Mark
‘The National Park will be a bloodbath’: Animal rights activist slams rabbit cull | Newstalk
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