The glittering world of the circuses disguises the inadequate animal husbandry conditions and the violence and coercion shaped dressage.
Wild animals do not belong in the circus and it is finally time for a wild animal ban in circuses!
Text: PETA
And I mean … a ban on the use of all animals in the circus business would be even better.
It is fundamentally impossible to keep wild animals in circuses in a species-appropriate manner and therefore cruelty to animals.
Numerous countries have got it and have already issued strict bans or restrictions on wild animals in circuses.
For example, Peru, a poor country is among them. Germany, the richest country in Europe, is not among them.
Some countries around the world also prohibit the keeping of all circus animals – not only wild animals such as tigers, lions, giraffes or elephants, but also domesticated species such as horses or dogs, which are also often used in animal training in the circus.
What a strong lobby must have circuses with wild animals in Germany!!
There is no other way to explain why a civilized country, the richest in Europe, still supports and maintains the wretched circus with wild animals in the 21st century.
This is a 3 page article – please click on page numbers at the end of post to select page – thank you.
Mother 1
As someone who researches the dairy industry regularly, I have observed over the last few years a distressing surge in pro-dairy messaging from an increasingly visible and vocal sector of animal agriculture: female dairy farmers, many of whom are also mothers. It is painful and disturbing, to say the least, to read these mothers righteously defending the reproductive subjugation of other mothers, and the destruction of other mothering relationships for profit. But I believe this growing trend is no coincidence; rather, in a climate of increased criticism of dairy farming practices, it represents a strategic industry shift to put more female faces on dairy farming, and to reframe this mother-exploiting industry as a maternal, nurturing one.
Fortunately, I am also frequently privy to comments and messages from mothers relating how the process of becoming a mother led them to see the dairy industry for what it truly is: an assault on motherhood and bodily sovereignty. The poignant insights these mothers relate articulate a uniquely powerful perspective that I believe deserves a larger audience. For this reason, I founded Mothers Against Dairy , a year-round campaign devoted to showcasing the stories of vegan mothers for whom motherhood influenced their decision to reject dairy and go vegan, as well as reflections from mothers who were already vegan before becoming a parent, but whose mothering relationship deeply reinforced for them the injustice of dairy farming.
In the nearly two years that have passed since first posting a call for statements, I have received hundreds of inspiring reflections from vegan mothers around the world. New stories are shared each month on our Facebook and Instagram accounts, which have a combined following of more than 30,000 readers. Submissions to be featured at Mothers Against Dairy are accepted on an ongoing basis and can be uploaded to our website or emailed to info@milkhurts.org. To keep up with new statements and other news about the campaign, follow our Facebook, Instagram, and our new Twitter account, and sign up at our website to be notified each time a new story is published.
Below are 10 heartfelt reflections that first launched the Mothers Against Dairy campaign on Mother’s Day of 2016.
WAV Comment – we are not publishing all the experiences here – please click on the link given to view them all.
Researchers at an Australian university have been granted thousands of dollars from the government to work on AI-based devices that would help identify individual koalas crossing the roads in the country.
A team of artificial intelligence specialists from Griffith University in South East Queensland have been working on high tech cameras they plan to install at koala crossings on the east coast of Australia.
Their aim is to train the equipment to use ‘facial recognition’ technology on the animals, to be able to better understand koalas’ patterns, if any, in crossing the roads.
The study plans to challenge their AI equipment to not only distinguish koalas from other animals, but to be “powerful enough” to determine individual koalas. To create recognition patterns, researchers will team up with koala conservation groups and sanctuaries in the area, who can describe certain koala appearances and movements.
The local government has allocated AUS$90,000for the project, which will see a network of devices with cameras, motion sensors, internet modules and solar panels placed on the roads.
As part of the pilot study, 20 cameras will be installed on roads near Brisbane by the end of July.
“Animal movement will trigger image capture, with images transferred to a server at Griffith University. Computer vision and machine learning systems will be used to process images, allowing for automatic detection and recognition of individual koalas,” said Jun Zhou, Associate Professor from Griffith’s School of Information and Communication Technology, who is leading the study.
Specialists say they will be analyzing this data to try and understand how the cuddly creatures are moving across habitats and whether they need any assistance while crossing the roads in particular.
“The goal of this project is to set up an AI-based monitoring facility to monitor the koalas’ road crossing behaviors, so that we can analyze how many koalas are using the facilities to cross the road using underground pathways or the above-road crossings,” Zhou said.
Australia has been tracking its koalas for years, using various tags and GPS sensors, to help preserve the declining population. Mostly living along the country’s eastern coast, koalas have been vulnerable to road incidents and both man-made and natural habitat loss.
More than 60,000 koalas were killed or harmed in devastating bushfires in 2019, with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia having warned the species could be extinct there by 2050.
Australia, a member of the Five Eyes alliance, already boasts one of the most advanced mass surveillance networks, and Sydney has recently made it to the list of top 10 “most surveilled cities in the world”outside of China.
And I mean…Stop! Checkpoint. Papers. Can I see your Eucalyptus?
I can’t get rid of the stupid feeling that this is just an excuse for more private surveillance, and this koala watching story is how they sell it to the public.
We get lots of support for the site every day; and I thank everyone for making the effort to let us know they are with us on issues, – everywhere in the world.
Today, an e mail arrived which simply said the following – there was no ‘Hi’, or anything relating to friendly, nice advice – it simply said:
“You don’t carry much credibility when your article is full of grammatical errors”.
That’s fine – we always welcome negative comments for the site, as well as positive. I have the following to say in response; and that is:
This article was posted by Venus. She is a German citizen and operates out of Germany for WAV. English is not her mother tongue by any means; but I personally fully support everything she produces (in English); as her articles are always varied, interesting and informative.
Venus writes some fantastic articles for WAV in English; which as I say, is not her native tongue. Wherever possible; and if information (or articles) are from another source; we always attempt on the post to give a link or reference to the original source.
The e mail states ‘grammatical errors’ but fails to inform further on what they exactly are, or if applicable. Regardless; the person who commented obviously has a right to express their (her) feelings about the article. Myself; I fully support all the excellent work that Venus contributes to the site; and I very much appreciate that she is not writing anything in her own mother / native language. Regardless of this; I am sure you will all support me that there are very few criticisms to be targetted at anything which relates to her work. She is always professional with her approach, spending many hours of her time advancing the cause for animal rights; even though WAV is a volunteer run site and nobody takes any rewards for what they do. It exists because we care.
I finish by quoting the great Mick Ronson; who stated:
It is nice to be important; butit is much more important to be nice.
How very true;
Regards Mark – and please keep your comments arriving; however you feel about issues we cover.
A response comment from Jorge; one of our visitor friends; thanks Jorge:
Hi Daphne,
a grammar consists of formation and transformation rules that make it possible to build formally correct sentences from a given vocabulary (words). Grammars belong in the field of a science called syntactics.
Credibility, on the other hand, has to do with truth. That means, with the relation between formal systems and their models, or if you prefer, between language and reality. So it’s about whether what someone says is true or not. A science called semantics takes care of this problem.
So if you conclude a lack of credibility from incorrect grammar, you are making a so-called “category error”. So much for the brief introduction to semiotics.
As you have hopefully understood, mastering your mother tongue is not enough to understand anything about the world. For that you need a little more, something that you obviously don’t have.
By the way, English is not my mother tongue either, so if you prefer we can communicate in German, Spanish or Greek.
Self immolation is brning yourself to death in protest. As of July 2020, 156 monks, nuns, and ordinary peopleself-immolated in Tibet since 27 February 2009, when Tapey, a young monk from Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in the marketplace in Ngawa City, Ngawa County, Sichuan.[4] According to the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT),[5] “Chinese police have beaten, shot, isolated, and disappeared self-immolators who survived.”[
I (Mark) have been a supporter of ‘Free Tibet’ (London) for quite a while now. I am an animal rights campaigner; but am also a human rights campaigner when I feel it is right, and I feel the need to try and support oppressed peoples.
China invaded Tibet during the 1950’s, and now have total control over what happens there.
The Tibetan people have lost their rights due to the Chinese control; hence the fight, with my support to once again Free Tibet from China and the abusive government that has destroyed its people.
YULIN – The annual dog meat “festival” in Yulin is scheduled for June 21st and animals need your voice as part of the effort to bring cruelty like this to an end. China, despite all its supposed chages to animal welfare policies recently, still do not appear to have control over something which causes immense and illegal animal suffering. China seems to have totalitarian rights in Tibet, but when dog suffering in XChina is invooved, they seem to turn the other way.
You can support the call to end the Yulin dog meat’festival’ by visiting
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games are going to be held in Beijing, China.
Olympianism is the coming together and celebration of cultures through acceptance. It has a philosophy of life which places sport in the service of humankind; its vision being to build a better world through sport. Its values and principles include respect, friendship, diversity and autonomy. By awarding the games to China for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the IOC – International Olympic Committee has shown that when it comes to China; it is willing to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses.
This is a betrayal of the olmpic movement and especially the people of Tibet; who now live under the crippling rule of the Chinese Communist Party – the CCP. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held freely in Beijing; but witout a demonstration of strength by groups and organisations opposing the regime. With no chance of improving the Chinese stance on human rights; or any prospect of the IOC changing its decision; it is left to groups, organisations and individuals to make a stand; hence the reason for me issuing this post in support of the people of Tibet; people who’s voices have been silenced for so long.
Prior to the 2008 Olympics, the CCP in China made a series of promises that China would become more open, and embrace human rights. These promises were quickly cast aside with a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters on the eve of the 2008 games. Over one hundred Tibetans were KILLED; many mnore were arrested, tortured and forcibly relocated.
For 13 years Beijing has been punishing Tibetans for protesting about the Beijing Olympics 2008. This year, 2021, Tibet was classified vy the think tank Freedom House as the worst place in the world for civil liberties. Meanwhile, the CCP is currently committing genocide against the Tibetan Uyghur peoples; with many of the tactics being used against the Uyghur people from contolling tactics developed by China in Tibet.
The IOC let the people of Tibet down by their actions in 2008. So now I want to kake you aware of the situation and why we say ‘NO Beijing 2022’ until the people of Tibet are free as an independent state (as they were before the Chinese invasion).
Animals rights, human rights; when things are wrong, you have to take action by being a voice. We are not afraid to take action.
When the outside temperature is 25 ° C or more, one encounters an astonishing natural phenomenon: cyclists with dogs.
They hide all year round, but from midsummer they crawl out of their holes.
Airily clad people who enjoy the fresh wind blowing around their noses while cycling.
Because when you go on foot you sweat too easily at the temperatures.
The whole thing with a dog, usually on a leash, panting alongside at a gallop, with its tongue hanging out to the asphalt.
Preferably on the collar.
What is going on in these people?
Do you think dogs perceive temperature differently?
Are these the people who let their dog roast in the car in the parking lot even in summer?
In your eyes, is that workload, the famous workout at any cost?
Saves the annoyance of moving the dog quickly?
Simply shorten the length of the “walkie-lap” by setting the pace?
Basically, please don’t exhaust a dog.
You work a dog to the full.
Just because we sit 10 hours a day in the office, which is against human nature, and we compensate for this by evening stress jogging or running on the treadmill, we don’t have to transfer this burn-out preparation to our dog.
A dog needs 18-20 hours of sleep a day.
If possible not in solitude, because this is not a restful sleep.
And what then do dogs in freedom, that is, street dogs, feral dogs?
They move leisurely from garbage dump to garbage dump and don’t run through the woods at a gallop. And especially not when it is hot, but when it has cooled down.
You rarely see animals running voluntarily for more than a few minutes, be it wild animals or domesticated animals.
If you feel the need to “work off” your dog in midsummer temperatures, then please run for half an hour through the blazing sun yourself.
But with a warm jacket, yes?
Action shot of a black female German Shepherd running in the park, connected with a rope to a bicycle behind her.
A dog does not have to be “exhausted”.
Utilizing capacity never has anything to do with km / h, but with experience, using your senses in peace, community, feeling nature, being a dog and letting your mind wander.
Everything else is counterproductive and, through the production of the hormone adrenaline, causes the dog to need more and more and to become more and more jittery instead of calmer and more balanced.
And I mean…It is also about the safety of the dog and the cyclist.
And of course the dangers of road traffic.
Just because it went well 100 times does not mean that the dog is not suddenly distracted the 101st time by another dog, car honking, screeching tires, screaming children, … and it reacts unpredictably.
The dog does not react the way you want, it sprints off, you fall, you injure yourself, a car slams on the brakes because of your dog or tries to evade, it comes to an accident, to a very stupid accident.
None of this is theoretical.
I witnessed such an accident for this reason, and not just once.
Biotech giant Amgen has confirmed that it no longer conducts near-drowning experiments on small animals!
This follows PETA scientists’ outreach to the company about the forced swim test, in which small animals are often dosed with a test substance, put in beakers of water, and forced to paddle desperately out of fear of drowning.
Now we have the wonderful news we have all been waiting for – Congratulations Estonia.
Estonia Becomes 14th European Nation to Ban Fur Farming
Estonia is the latest European nation to ban fur farming, and the first-ever Baltic state to do so. The amendments follow a decade of campaigning by animal welfare groups.
Estonia just became the first Baltic state to ban fur farming.
The Riigikogu (Estonia’s parliament) passed amendments to the existing Animal Protection Act and Nature Conservation Act on Wednesday.
The act will now prohibit the breeding and keeping of animals solely or primarily for the purpose of fur farming, thereby excepting sheep and rabbit breeders. According toERR News, 56 MPs voted in favor and 19 voted against the amendments.
“It’s a great day for the thousands of animals who will be saved from a life of suffering thanks to Estonia passing this law,” said Connor Jackson, CEO of Open Cages, in a statement sent to LIVEKINDLY.
According to a 2020 survey carried out by data and business insight company Kantar Emor, 75 percent of those living in Estonia are opposed to fur farming.
Why Has Estonia Banned Fur Farming?
According to the Fur Free Alliance, current European fur farming practices are incompatible with even the most basic animal welfare standards, as well as EU law. Animals typically live in cramped, oppressive conditions and often experience both injury and disease.
Within the context of increasing global environmental efforts, the enormous negative impact of factory fur farms is both unnecessary and incongruous. The industry as a whole creates pollution, reduces biodiversity, and emits greenhouse gases.
Estonia has been discussing a potential ban since 2009, and the overall number of fur farms has significantly decreased since then. Today, the number of animals farmed has fallen from around 200,000 to just under 1,000, as per data from Open Cages.
At the beginning of 2021, the largest fur farm in Estonia (with a peak occupancy of 170,000 animals) announced that it is now empty. The government will issue no new permits for keeping mink and raccoon dogs after July 1, 2021, and will completely prohibit this style of fur farming after January 1, 2026.
The new amendments make Estonia the 14th European nation to ban fur farming. This includes the UK, which has prohibited fur farming for over 20 years but is no longer a member of the EU.
Will the UK Finally Update Its Own Legislation?
The UK government has banned farming itself but not yet restricted the import and sale of fur (neither has Estonia). But as an early adopter of fur farm bans, the UK faces pressure to lead the global shift away from fur. Also, Britain has imported £434,817 worth of fur from Estonia in the past five years, bypassing existing restrictions.
However, the current Conservative government recently published a “call for evidence” that could support more comprehensive legislation on import and sales.
Humane Society International/UK (HSI/UK), the founding organization behind the #FurFreeBritian campaign and coalition, recently revealed that 72 percent of Brits would support further restrictions on fur. Just three percent of the public actually wear animal fur.
“The majority of Brits want nothing to do with the cruelty of fur farming and trapping and support a ban on fur being imported and sold here,” said Claire Bass, executive director of HSI/UK, in a statement sent to LIVEKINDLY. “This is an important opportunity for both individual consumers and fashion businesses to let the government know that fur is firmly out of fashion in the UK.”
Open Cages is also a member of the #FurFreeBritian coalition. Jackson added: “As the latest country [Estonia] to rid themselves of this cruel industry, it’s more clear than ever that the UK must ban fur imports and finish what we started two decades ago.”
As fur becomes increasingly unpopular, many mainstream brands have been quick to distance themselves from the industry. Valentino, Saks Fifth Avenue, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, and Adidas are just some of the most recent brands to announce a move away from fur.
Chicken carcasses at a wholesale poultry market in Shanghai. Many strains of avian flu are present in China and some sporadically infect people. Photograph: AP
China confirms first human case of H10N3 bird flu strain
Man, 41, in Jiangsu, diagnosed on 28 May but risk of avian virus spread is low, says state health agency
A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu, although health officials in China said the risk of large-scale spread remained low.
The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, went to hospital on 28 April after developing a fever and other symptoms, China’s national health commission said.
He was diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus on 28 May, the commission said though it did not give details about how the man had been infected with the virus. The man was stable and ready to be discharged from hospital. Medical observation of his close contacts had not found any other cases.
H10N3 is a low pathogenic, or relatively less severe, strain of the virus found in poultry, and the risk of it spreading on a large scale is very low, the commission added.
The strain was “not a very common virus”, said Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases, at the Asia and Pacific regional office. Only about 160 isolates of the virus were reported in the 40 years to 2018, mostly in wild birds or waterfowl in Asia and in some limited areas of North America, and none had been detected in chickens so far, Claes said.
Analysing the genetic data of the virus would be necessary to determine whether it resembled older viruses or if it was a novel mix of different viruses, he added.
Many different strains of avian influenza are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry. There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed about 300 people during 2016-2017.
No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have previously been reported globally, the commission said.
The world’s largest meat processing corporation, JBS, was hit by a cyberattack which disrupted meat production in the US, Canada and Australia, and forced many workers to stay home.
The intrusion on Sunday has targeted the company’s servers in North America and Australia, JBS USA said in a statement.
The company clarified that its “backup servers were not affected,” and specialists were working to restore operations as soon as possible.
It added that there was no evidence that any customer, supplier or employee data had been compromised.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation(ABC) reported that numerous deliveries of cattle were canceled in the state of Queensland, forcing cow trucks to turn around.
Grazier Colin Baker told the broadcaster he had to send the cattle back because “the meatworks was going to be shutting for an indefinite amount of time.”
ABC cited Andrew Foden, the head of the Australian Meat Industry Employees’ Union in Tasmania, saying that thousands of meat workers across the country were sent home as a result of the hack.
JBS runs 47 facilities and employs around 11,000 people in Australia, according to AP.
JBS Australia CEO Brent Eastwood told Australian beef industry news website Beef Central on Sunday that he could not say how long the stoppage on the company’s operations would last.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said on Tuesday that although JBS makes up for around 20% of Australia’s processing production, he was expecting “significant impacts on exports so long as this isn’t a protracted shutdown.”
Littleproud told ABC Radio that the government was working closely with JBS and it is “too early” to say if the meat packing company was hit by a ransomware attack.
Damage was also done to JBS operations in the US and Canada.
A beef plant in Brooks, Alberta, which processes over 4,000 heads of cattle a day, had to be effectively shut down, according to Scott Payne from United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), who speaks for the Local 401 union branch in Canada.
In the US, two shifts at a JBS plant in Greeley, Colorado had been canceled, according to the UFCW Local 7 union.
Cyberattacks on large corporations have become more frequent in recent years.
Last month, the operator of Colonial Pipeline, the largest oil pipeline system in the US, paid a ransom of $4.4 million to hackers who targeted the company.
In exchange for the payment, the criminals provided a decryption tool to unlock the hacked systems.
Colonial Pipeline temporarily shut down operations as a result of the hack, sparking price hikes at gas stations due to the fears of fuel shortages.
And I mean...This is known as “ethical hacking”.
We need more of this ethical hack to stop these wicked murders of innocent animals.
It doesn’t really matter what you think about hacking at the moment and whether you like it, but it is important to realize that any nonviolent means is right against the meat industry which has only one goal:
Make More Money From Animal Suffering!
Everything else are just side effects!
Thank you to the hackers, you guys are great!
I find it legitimate to attack mass extermination camps.
FILE PHOTO. © Reuters / David Gray
World Animals Voice 