Category: General News

General News

how animal-friendly is Chiengora really?

More and more often you come across clothes, accessories, and blankets made of dog wool, also known as chiengora, on the Internet. The yarn from the combed-out undercoat of dogs should be sustainable and, above all, be produced without animal suffering.

Where does dog wool come from?

Manufacturers of products from Chiengora state that they receive combed dog wool from private individuals, breeders, animal shelters, and dog barbers for a fee. This is to ensure that the wool only comes from dogs raised in a species-appropriate manner.

However, the keeping of the animals is not controlled.
Many animals are also badly treated in private households and by breeders.

In addition, the fibers for products from Chiengora are currently mixed with the fur of agriculturally exploited merino sheep and alpacas in order to improve the quality.

With dog wool, as with any other product of animal origin, the following applies: sooner or later animal suffering is almost inevitable.

Danger: Animal suffering through mass breeding and production?

When clothing from Chiengora becomes a trend, many more people will want to get into the business model and breed dogs for wool production. As in many areas of the fashion industry, animals will then suffer for profit. In Asian countries, millions of dogs are already tortured and killed for leather and fur production.

Trading in dog wool could make the situation even worse.

The excruciating abuse to which animals are exposed in the wool industry around the world clearly shows that as soon as one can make money with animals, they will suffer.
Animals are not resources and are not there to be attracted by us.

Continue reading “how animal-friendly is Chiengora really?” →

General News

Sea Shepherd in Calapagos Archipelago

About 960 kilometers from the coast of Ecuador is the Galapagos Archipelago, world-famous for its unique flora and fauna.

Sea Shepherd has always considered the Galapagos Islands to be one of the last remaining untouched wilderness areas on earth. But even in this remote part of the world, human intervention is taking a heavy toll on this fragile ecosystem.

In this short film, which was produced in 2011, we introduce you to the work we have done so far to protect the Galapagos Marine Reserve and the life it contains.

This is the first time the film has been released online and we hope that the incredible work Sea Shepherd is doing is appreciated by all of our supporters.

Because this work is only possible thanks to your generous and ongoing support.

In South America, Sea Shepherd uses a variety of tactics to combat illegal fishing and poaching within the Galapagos National Park.
When the National Park Service first invited us in 1999 to help protect the Galapagos Marine Reserve, our presence had a powerful impact.

Among other things, we have helped arrest poachers, provided the local authorities with important equipment to improve their work, helped convict poachers and smugglers and set up the first specially trained dog squadron to discover illegal animal traffickers in Latin America.
Our work is an everlasting fight against the ever-changing techniques used by poachers and smugglers in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, where the aim is always to stay one step ahead of the criminals.

In Video you can see our work on site.

We thank the warriors of the seas and support them as we can

regards and good night, Venus

Environmental, General News

Google Earth time-lapse video shows the impact of humans and four decades of climate change on the planet.

Google Earth time-lapse video shows the impact of humans and four decades of climate change on the planet

A time-lapse video feature launched by Google Earth has drawn on nearly four decades of satellite imagery to vividly illustrate how the impact of humans and climate change have affected the planet.

The tool, unveiled on Thursday, shows how humans’ impact on the planet has changed glaciers, beaches and forests around the world.

Google says it undertook the complex project in partnership with several government agencies, including NASA and its European counterpart, in hopes that it will help a mass audience grasp the sometimes abstract concept of climate change in more tangible terms through its free Earth app.

The features, enabled by 24 million satellite photos compiled into a 4D experience, is the biggest update to Google Earth in five years.

Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald described the tool as “amazing” after watching a preview video of the feature.

“Trying to get people to understand the scope of the climate change and the land use problem is so difficult because of the long time and spatial scales,” she told the Associated Press.

“I would not be surprised if this one bit of software changes many people’s minds about the scale of the impact of humans on the environment.”

Most scientists agree that climate change is being driven by pollution primarily produced by humans.

But earlier images have mostly focused on melting glaciers and haven’t been widely available on an already popular app like Google Earth, which can be downloaded on most of the more than three billion smartphones now in use around the world

Google is promising that people will be able to see a time lapse presentation of just about anywhere they want to search.

The feature also includes a storytelling mode highlighting 800 different places on the planet in both 2D and 3D formats.

Those videos also will be available on Google’s YouTube video site, a service more widely used than the Earth app.

Google plans to update the time lapse imagery at least once a year.

Google Earth images of Dubai in 1985 (left) and 2020 (right).Credit: Google Earth

Aral Sea in Kazakhstan in 1984 and 2020.

Aral Sea in Kazakhstan in 1984 and 2020.Credit: Google Earth

Worrying !

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

EU: The Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals is calling to replace live export with a trade in meat, carcasses and genetic material.

The Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals is calling to replace live export with a trade in meat, carcasses and genetic material

16 April 2021

In view of the announced revision of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 (Transport Regulation), Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) joined forces and set up the Animal Transport Working Group within the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

The working group has been very active recently, with its members joining NGOs missions in the field and taking steps when confronted with the two animal welfare crises involving the livestock vessels Karim Allah and Elbeik. 

There is a growing concern around the sustainability of live transport from animal health and welfare, environmental, societal and economic perspectives.

Taking stock of all the violations to the current animal transport legal framework, as well as the evidence about the unfitness of such a system, MEPs decided to publish a Manifesto to outline the main changes that should be translated into law. 

Among others, the MEPs are calling for:

  • Trading meat, carcasses and genetic material instead of live animals, with non-EU countries Setting up species specific journey times for the intra-EU trade, within a maximum journey time of 8 hours for adult mammals
  • Introducing species-specific requirements for the commercial movements of fish and invertebrates, laboratory animals, equidae, cats and dogs
  • Effective monitoring and enforcing mechanism to foster legal compliance

The Manifesto follows up on the recommendations made by Eurogroup for Animals in its White Paper on the revision of the Transport Regulation, published in January 2021.

Read the Manifesto here.

https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/intergroup-welfare-and-conservation-animals-calling-replace-live-export-trade-meat-carcasses

Regards Mark

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Vegan Recipes

USA: POTUS Joe Biden Urged To Shift To Plant-Centered Food System To Combat Climate Change.

POTUS Joe Biden Urged To Shift To Plant-Centered Food System To Combat Climate Change

The politician is under pressure to transform the US food system leading up to his first ever climate summit as President on Earth Day

POTUS Joe Biden Urged To Shift To Plant-Centered Food System | Plant Based News

POTUS Joe Biden is being urged to shift to a plant-centered food system to ‘combat climate change‘.

To mark Earth Day (April 22) the politician is hosting his first climate summit as President. There, he will discuss the ‘urgency of stringer climate action’ with 40 world leaders.

POTUS Joe Biden

Biden has also announced a $2 trillion proposal to ‘strengthen infrastructure while also tackling climate change’.

However, the plan does not include the promotion of animal-free food or support farmers in transitioning from traditional animal agriculture to plant-based production.

As a result, non-governmental organization ProVeg International has created a petition, calling on the politician to shift to a plant-centered food system.

At the time of writing, the petition has garnered more than 1,500 signatures already. 

‘A terrifying prospect in climate change’

Moreover, Michael Webermann is the US Executive Director of ProVeg International. In a statement sent to PBN, he said: “To discuss environmental crises without centering food production is to wilfully avoid the facts.

“What we eat affects not just climate change, but the biggest issues facing the planet, including pandemic risks, deforestation, antibiotic resistance, and food insecurity. 

“For instance, the FAO tells us that if 40 percent of all crops produced for feeding animals were used directly for human consumption, we could feed nine billion people by 2050. One has to ask when policy will reflect the urgency of this situation?”

Webermann then concluded: “We’re facing a terrifying prospect in climate change, but in diet change lies a real solution. 

“Plant-centered diets, if adopted by many, could be the key to this crisis. We have scientific consensus. Biden’s plans must reflect it.”

You can sign ProVeg International’s petition here

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

Canada / Japan: Tell Atlas Air to Stop Shipping Horses From Canada to Japan to Be Slaughtered.

Tell Atlas Air to Stop Shipping Horses From Canada to Japan to Be Slaughtered

It seems almost too preposterous to be true: Every year, more than 6,000 live horses in Canada are packed into transport crates and sent on harrowing flights halfway around the world to be slaughtered in Japan.

PETA’s video investigation reveals what happens in Japan to horses who are no longer wanted.

PETA went inside Japan’s largest horse slaughterhouse and captured footage of the horrifying final minutes of a horse formerly used for racing. PETA’s eyewitnesses watched as he was doused with water before being moved onto the kill floor. The terrified horse panicked, slipping out of his halter and escaping, only to be caught—and killed—minutes later.

Now, a recent exposé by Canada’s Global News shows that live horses are crammed into wooden shipping crates before being loaded onto cargo planes destined for Japan. Horses are often deprived of food and water and packed so tightly that they’re unable to stand naturally for the duration of the 16- to 18-hour flight. Numerous horses have died during landing accidents or “due to a combination of a substantial delay, the large size of the horses, and significant stress levels in the animals.” One horse, on a flight out of Calgary, was discovered dead and upside down in a crate.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is supposed to ensure that horses are segregated based on height and compatibility. But Dr. Maureen Harper, a former veterinarian with the CFIA, revealed a different reality: “They’re being shipped unsegregated. I was just horrified. They’re basically stuffing them in like a can of sardines.” She further explained that it’s impossible for any veterinarian to separate the horses adequately, stating, “The CFIA is knowingly not enforcing their own regulations. No veterinarian, on the ground, on the spot, can decide which horse is compatible with which horse at the time of loading. There’s no way.”

Some of these horses may come from the U.S. In 2012, PETA eyewitnesses followed a trailer from a meat buyer’s property in Iowa to a slaughterhouse in Québec and observed that the 33 horses onboard endured this 36-hour ordeal in subfreezing conditions and were never given food, water, or a chance to unload.

Your voice is needed today. Join us in urging Atlas Air, Inc., a New York-based company, to stop shipping horses to Japan, where they’ll be slaughtered.

TAKE ACTION

Tell Atlas Air to Stop Shipping Horses From Canada to Japan to Be Slaughtered | PETA

Regards Mark

General News

“Compassion is the basis of all morals” (A. Schopenhauer)

Speciesism demands a strict separation between humans and animals. He demands special solidarity with all members of our species.

He assumes that all people have the same value (egalitarianism).

In our society, this is even called a humanistic attitude.
The result is the categorical devaluation of all non-human living beings.

This violent ideology is arbitrary and unfounded like the attitude of a despot who believes that his special power over other living beings also gives him special rights.

All species must have the right to life, freedom, integrity, and protection. Only then is it a right and not a privilege of the ruler.

Fight for basic rights for all feeling, thinking individuals.

regards and good night, Venus

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

EU: The EU-Mercosur trade agreement will fuel intensive farming.

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement will fuel intensive farming

14 April 2021

WAV Comment – find out more about the agreement by clicking on this link:

https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/eu-mercosur-association-agreement/index_en.htm

The European Union and Mercosur states – Argentina, Brazil Paraguay and Uruguay – reached a political agreement for an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive trade agreement.

Nearly two years after the end of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations, the European Commission finally published the related final Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA), which confirms the findings of the draft SIA published in July 2020: if ratified as it stands, the agreement will fuel intensive farming, which is detrimental to animals, people, and the environment.

This SIA was released as the ratification of the EU-Mercosur agreement is for now uncertain due to the various concerns raised by civil society organisations. The European Parliament and several Member States, including Austria and France, have pledged not to ratify the deal “as it stands”, mainly because of the significant negative impact the deal will have on deforestation. 

In this context, the SIA tries to defuse some of these concerns by downplaying the impact the deal will have on the expansion of agriculture, and therefore on deforestation. Indeed, the SIA recognises that, in the beef sector, “EU  imports  from  Mercosur  will  increase  in  both  scenarios  (…) but that most of  the deforested  area  is  used  for  low-efficiency  cattle ranching”. Hence,  the SIA suggests that “there  is  great scope  for  expanding  production  by  intensifying  beef  production  in  these  areas  without  inducing deforestation”. However, fuelling the intensification of animal farming is extremely detrimental to animal welfare, but also to people and to the environment as intensive farms often not only rely on crop-based feed, whose production fuels deforestation, but also generates high levels of air, ground and water pollution.  Furthermore, the SIA seems to ignore that, according to a research by Global Forest Watch, the impact of the beef sector on deforestation is five times higher than any other industry, and deforestation rates are increasing worldwide. For instance, 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. As a reminder, the Ambec report – the impact study commissioned by the French government – concluded that, as it stands, the EU-Mercosur agreement would generate an extra 25% of deforestation in the six years following its entry into force. 

The SIA also draws worrying conclusions concerning the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter. It recognises that the potential  impact of  TSD provisions are uncertain,  “insofar  as  they  remain  contingent upon  implementation  in  good  faith  of  all  parties”. The decentralisation  of  environmental  regulation in  key countries like Brazil  can  increase this uncertainty. Hence, the environmental concerns are not likely to be addressed unless there is unilateral EU legislation guaranteeing imported products are deforestation-free, or that EU standards, including  animal welfare standards, apply to imported products.   

We regret the late publication of this SIA, which according to the Commission’s own policy, should have contributed to discussions during the negotiations of the agreement. It is worth noting that the European Ombudsman found that:

“the failure of the European Commission to ensure the finalisation of the sustainability impact assessment before the end of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations constitutes maladministration” and “risks weakening European and national parliaments’ ability to comprehensively debate the trade agreement”

The European Commission also published a Position Paper commenting on the main findings of the SIA report, but it does not not mention any strategy to address the underlined shortcomings or any next step to be taken. For instance, on the beef sector, it supports intensification of the production, regardless of the very negative impact it would have on animal welfare, public health and the environment. Instead of endorsing intensive farming, which is the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon forest, the European Commission should acknowledge that addressing deforestation cannot depend solely on the political will of EU and Mercosur countries, given the economic weight of the beef sector in Mercosur, and the constant imports of beef and soy from the EU.

We  thus call on the EU to uphold the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy, which are to use trade policy “to obtain ambitious commitments” from partners in key areas such as animal welfare, and to take this opportunity to negotiate the adoption by Mercosur countries of EU-equivalent legal standards in key sectors (cattle, broiler chicken, laying hens), as well as in terms of transport, or to agree on conditions on animal welfare and sustainability to access tariff-rate quotas or liberalisation in animal products, including the respect of EU-equivalent animal welfare standards. 

https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/eu-mercosur-trade-agreement-will-fuel-intensive-farming

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

CIWF London: 15/4/21 – Time to End the Cage Age – a ban on cages for farmed animals receives overwhelming support at EU Parliament hearing.

Photos – CIWF.

Time to End the Cage Age – a ban on cages for farmed animals receives overwhelming support at EU Parliament hearing

15 April 2021

CIWF

Press Release

Today (15th April 2021), the European Parliament held a three-hour public hearing on the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which was warmly welcomed by the three European Commissioners present during the debate. A large number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) made interventions and, overall, the ECI received overwhelming support.

The End the Cage Age ECI calls on the EU to phase out the use of cages in animal farming. Today’s public hearing was a milestone for the ECI in the run-up to the official response from the European Commission, expected in the next few months.

The EU claims to be a leader in animal welfare, yet every year it condemns more than 300 million farmed animals to lives of misery in cramped cages. This medieval practice is cruel and completely unnecessary since viable cage-free systems not only exist but are also in use in some parts of the EU. A number of pioneering Member States and businesses have led the way in ditching cages. Now it is time for the rest of the EU to catch up. In line with the ambitions of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy, we call on the European Commission to propose a phase-out of cages in farming through a revision of the 1998 Directive on the protection of farmed animals.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

MEP Norbert Lins, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (Group of the European People’s Party, Germany) concluded at the hearing that “most speakers welcomed this initiative” and noted that “the ball is now in the Commission’s court.”

Before the hearing, on 13th April, EU citizens and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) rallied behind the End the Cage Age ECI Initiative on Twitter, encouraging MEPs to support the ECI during the public hearing. A total of 35.000 tweets were sent, reaching a potential number of more than 3,7 million views, making public support for the ECI undeniable.

The End the Cage Age ECI launched on 11th September 2018 and closed exactly a year later. With 1.4 million verified signatures from citizens across the EU, it became the first successful ECI in farmed animal welfare.

Bo Algers, Professor Emeritus at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, said: “EU law for farmed animals is incredibly outdated. Since 1998, when the EU adopted its Directive on the protection of farmed animals, the output from the animal welfare science has on average been tenfold. Today, we have a much better understanding of how physical, physiological and psychological factors relate to animal welfare. A wide range of species-specific ethological needs are not, or cannot be, provided in a cage, whether enriched or not. It is now crystal clear that cages, due to their inherent physical and behavioural restrictions, cannot provide good welfare, no matter how good the management.”

MEP Eleonora Evi, Vice-President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup and co-chair of its cage-free working group, said: “Today’s public hearing marked another fundamental step towards the objective of a cage-free Europe. Together with many like-minded MEPs, we gave a voice to the over 300 million animals that every year, in the EU alone, spend all, or a significant part, of their lives imprisoned in cages. The enormous support received by this European Citizens’ Initiative throughout Europe cannot be ignored by the European Commission, which needs to come forward with a legislative proposal to end the unnecessary cruelty of caged farming as soon as possible, bringing EU farming practices closer to our citizens’ expectations and more aligned with nature and the protection of public health.”

MEP Anja Hazekamp, President of the Animal Welfare Intergroup and co-chair of its cage-free working group, said: “Hundreds of millions of animals in Europe are locked up in cages for farming purposes. These animals have no chance to exercise their natural behaviours and the conditions in which these animals are kept are so bad that their lives become one big agony. Cages are cruel, but also outdated and unnecessary. It’s a milestone that more than 1.4 million citizens have stood up for these animals to put an end to the ‘Cage Age’. We are now looking at the European Commission and the Member States to prove that they take their call seriously, and that they take the European Citizens’ Initiative as a democratic instrument seriously. A legislative proposal to ban the use of cages in agriculture must be put forward without delay.”

Věra Jourovà, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Values and Transparency, said during the hearing: “The Initiative is fighting for a cause that is topical in the current public debate to improve animal welfare for farmed animals and to invest in sustainable farming. These are valid objectives, which the Commission has embraced in its political ambitions to design fair, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food systems and which have found their way in the Farm to Fork Strategy adopted in May last year.”

Stella Kyriakides, Health and Food Safety Commissioner, said during the hearing: “We are taking steps to tangible action because, as I have repeatedly stated, animal welfare and animal health are very high on our agenda.” She added: “We are very much aware that we need to do more, and we need to strive for better. And we are absolutely determined to do so. The European Citizens’ Initiative is a timely reminder of that. It is a heartful example also of democracy at its best.”

Janusz Wojciechowski, Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner, said during the hearing that EU farm subsidies and recovery funds “can also be used in part to phase out caged farming and implement alternative methods”, and added “you have the full support from the European Commission to implement this transformation.”

Ruud Zanders, co-founder of the high animal welfare poultry farm, Kipster, said: “I grew up on my parents’ intensive poultry farm, which ended up going bankrupt in 2007. This made me rethink the model of production we were using. With Kipster, we set off to create the most animal, environment and people-friendly poultry farm on this planet. It turned out to be a golden egg for us, as our business is both profitable and scalable. We do not only want to respond to consumer demands but anticipate change and even set an example in the world that better ways of farming are possible.”

The hearing was organised by the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in association with the Committee on Petitions.

The hearing’s programme can be found here. 

The hearing’s recording can be accessed here.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News

EU: Banning Caged Farming in the EU: Hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative.
Image – Unsplash

Banning caged farming in the EU: Hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative – The European Sting – Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology – europeansting.com

Banning caged farming in the EU: Hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative

This article is brought to you in association with the European Parliament.

The public hearing, organised jointly by Parliament’s Agriculture and Petitions Committees, on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “End the Cage Age will be opened by Committee Chairs Norbert Lins (EPP, DE) and Dolors Montserrat (EPP, ES) alongside Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová.

ECI organisers Olga Kikou and Leopoldine Charbonneaux will present the initiative’s objectives, after which, a scientist and a farmer will share their views. They will be followed by statements from Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, and by Kerli Ats and Guillaume Cros, respectively representatives of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions.

A debate between MEPs, the ECI organisers and the Commission will follow, before remarks from Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and final statements by the ECI organisers.

WHEN: Thursday, 15 April, at around 09.00 CET

WHERE: European Parliament, Paul-Henri Spaak building, room 03C050, Brussels (remotely)

The draft programme of the hearing is available here.

The hearing will be web-streamed here (Parliament’s Multimedia Centre).

Background

The European Citizens’ Initiative allows 1 million citizens from at least a quarter of EU member states to ask the European Commission to propose legislation in areas that fall within its competence. Organisers of successful initiatives are invited by the EU to present their initiative at a public hearing in the European Parliament, in front of the committee responsible for the subject matter.

The “End the Cage Age” ECI was registered with the EU Commission on 5 September 2018. By the time of submission, the initiative gathered support of almost 1.4m signatories from across the EU, with the required threshold for signatures met in 18 member states.

The initiative calls on the Commission to “end (…) inhumane treatment” of “hundreds of millions of EU farm animals (…) kept in cages for most of their lives” and for an EU law to ban the use of: cages for laying hens, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese; farrowing crates for sows; sow stalls, where not already prohibited; and individual calf pens, where not already prohibited.

Information to the media

In an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Parliament is reducing the need for physical meetings on its premises, without compromising its role of democratic scrutiny and its ability to approve the necessary legislative measures to combat the virus and support the public, consumers, businesses and emergency services.

The meeting will be web-streamed and can be followed by the media without requiring their physical presence on EP premises. Journalists wishing to enter Parliament’s premises must wear either a surgical mask or an FFP2 respiratory mask (without valves) and respect the standard recommended guidelines on social distancing and hygiene.

Regards Mark

Animal news from around the world.