25/3 – sorry nothing from me today; I have been doing computer housework and major review of our photos – there are lots; so busy in another way.
Here are a few shots of some felines who used to come round (not ours but welcome visitors !) for some food, attention and a chill out sleep ! The white one had his own old Amazon cardborad box and a blanket as you can see.
I have loads of fox photos I have taken also, so will put some of these on the site soon.
Regards for now
Mark
One of my favourite British bands – ‘The Cure’: Enjoy !
Shark alarm in Mallorca: two meters long animal washed up on the beach!!
March 22, 2021 –
Shock for locals and holidaymakers: a dead shark washed up on a beach in western Mallorca (!!!)
The animal was about two meters long and had a large wound on the head, as reported by the “Diario de Mallorca” portal.
Hai must have been dead for a few days
Presumably, it is a blue shark or gray shark, it says in the report.
He was found on the beach of the former fishing village of Sant Elm (municipality of Andratx) and has probably been dead for several days.
Strong waves could have washed the animal ashore.
Now we want to investigate what the shark died of.
Blue sharks are not uncommon in the Mediterranean
Adult blue sharks can grow to be around three and a half meters long. They are not uncommon in the Mediterranean and live at a depth of around 350 meters. However, they usually do not swim close to the shore – only when they are sick or disoriented.
The animals are also dangerous to humans but are not considered aggressive.
According to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) conservation organization, blue sharks are critically endangered in the Mediterranean.
They died en masse on bait lines for swordfish and tuna or in trawls.
Great white shark caused a stir in Mallorca in 2018 (!!!)
Almost three years ago, a great white shark caused a stir in the Balearic Islands. A five-meter-long animal was sighted near the island of Cabrera (south of Mallorca) – for the first time in decades in this Mediterranean region.
And I mean…The desired attention is already generated in the first few lines: Shark Alarm in Mallorca (!)
Dead the shark is certainly very dangerous.
An alarm would be if 50 living sharks around the beach were disoriented and not if you were on land and photographed the carcass with others (by the way – what a bleak motif!)
If the alarm bells have not rung for some … the great white shark comes from 2018 and then … even the most animal-friendly holidaymaker should change his mind about the “Beast shark” and classify these otherwise harmless mammals as an ultra-risk for swimmers. And above all, because he was in his living space!
This is how the press works: with falsehoods, psychological tricks, and opinion control, today’s citizen comes to a conviction that fits the system of the respective country.
WAV Comment: I really wish I had an ounce of faith that all these Euro Yukspeak words actually meant something; but I completely lost faith in the Eurojargon about better animal welfare many years ago. For me, over 30 years of live animal transportation investigations and experiences may have had something to do with the loss of faith in ‘the EU systems’ that ‘protect’ animals, in this case, during transport – EU Reg 1/2005 for the ‘protection of animals during transport’: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/621853/EPRS_STU(2018)621853_EN.pdf
So now ‘the countdown is officially on’ ?
Now they talk about 7 key demands – and for so long over the years we have heard from the very same people about we the ‘five freedoms’ which should have applied to all animals within the EU:
The Five Freedoms include:
Freedom from Hunger and Thirst. By ready access to fresh water and diet to maintain health and vigour.
Freedom from Discomfort. …
Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease. …
Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour. …
Freedom from Fear and Distress.
These Five Freedoms are globally recognized as the gold standard in animal welfare, encompassing both the mental and physical well-being of animals; and the five freedoms have existed within EU strategy (on paper anyway) for quite a long time.
With so much undercover footage being presented to the EU over the years from farms, slaughterhouses, animals in transport, etc, by welfare organisations, showing failures across all the 5 freedoms, I guess we can say that the EU does not practice what it preaches.
Yet here we are being told that there will be 7 key demands that will ‘shed light on the failures and poor enforcement of the current animal welfare legislation and call on the European Commission to commit to revising the entire legislation, leaving no animal behind’.
The EU lost the plot on all this ‘animal welfare stuff’ many, many years ago; and I think the very recent incidents relating to the livestock carriers ‘Karim Allah’ and the ‘Elbeik’; where live animals were shipped around the Med for over 3 months, just shows what a complete and utter farce the whole EU ‘animal welfare’ thing is. And I mean; have a look at just 2 of our past posts:
Do not have any trust in the EU and its yukspeak, because that is exactly what it is – Yukspeak; or to put it another way; a means to further investigate, delay any action and produce yet more endless reports on what is the bloody obvious, and which everyone in the animal welfare lobby has known about and has been shouting about, and providing substantial evidence on for decades.
The EU is an over inflated no good – if it had any intentions of promoting animal welfare, then it would have acted a damn site more on animal transport legislation alone when we first saw the 1/2005 of that year come into force. They failed then, they fail now, and they will continue to fail in the future. Sadly, as always; it is the innocent animals that are the pawns, and who suffer as a result.
I had this sent to me on world water day (22/3); but it was late and I did not have time to post; so here it is now:
Regards Mark
Message:
Dear Mark,
“Water has material benefits– children can bathe in it, for example. But for us Siekopai, water is significant beyond its material use. Water embodies another world entirely; it has a spiritual identity.” – Siekopai Leader Justino Piaguaje
Today, on World Water Day, we’re excited to share a video in which Siekopai leader and water protector Justino Piaguaje explains the importance of water for his people.
In this video, Justino tells us that for the Siekopai, as well as for other Indigenous peoples, water has a spiritual significance that goes far beyond its material value. This spiritual connection is part of the reason why Indigenous peoples from Standing Rock to the Amazon are risking their lives to defend Earth’s most precious resource.
And yet, while Indigenous peoples have been fighting to protect our planet for centuries, only a fraction of the less than two percent of all global philanthropy that is directed to stopping climate change is invested in them! Amazon Frontlines launched the Frontlines Challenge alongside our Indigenous partners to help change this. By becoming a monthly sustainer of the Frontlines Challenge today, you can help us mobilize critical and urgent resourcesto Indigenous peoples on the frontlines throughout the year.
Justino explains that in order to truly understand the importance of the natural world we must learn to see it with different eyes. Let’s support Justino and all the Indigenous water protectors showing us a pathway towards greater respect and balance with our planet.
For our water and all the añapëkë (water dwellers),
Chantelle, Nico, Sophie, Alex, Ylenia, Jerónimo and the rest of the Amazon Frontlines team
-German slaughterhouse tortures animals to death /
-North Rhine-Westphalia authorities fail to protect animals
SOKO animal welfare investigators can use current images from the last few weeks to prove that animals were systematically slaughtered in full consciousness at the Prott meat center in Selm North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on every slaughter day.
“The sheep were brutally slashed and thrown into a heap, cattle fought for their lives bleeding and dangling from chains and roared in pain,” says SOKOanimal welfare investigator Friedrich Mülln, describing the situation.
The authorities had been warned for almost 20 years and failed to stop the shafts.
(The video is in German, but a detailed explanation of what you see is already in the report)
The shaft of animals is illegal in Germany and only possible under very strict conditions in exceptional cases.
However, there are no special permits in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Prott slaughterhouse, which is run by Germans, on the other hand, has specializedin slaughtering without anesthesia (!!!)
The last blast – Biggest shake-up in 500 years for game shooting as ban looms on ‘toxic’ ammunition.
The pellets inside shotgun cartridges are toxic for animals, nature activists say
Lead ammunition has been used to shoot birds in the UK since the 1500s
Shooting organisations say the ban could take eight years to come into force
It’s the biggest shake up for the British hunters in over 500 years as the British government now considers a ban on the use of lead shot.
Lead pellets are inside of the cartridges used in shotguns. They are toxic and can be fatal if they are eaten by other birds, animals and all wildlife.
Under consultation is the phasing out of lead ammunition across all environments in England, Scotland and Wales. But shooting organisations are also saying that the ban could take up to 8 years before it comes into force. It is expected that some in the shooting fraternity are not happy and have become quite reactionary.
Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance; the main pro hunt organisation in the UK, has declared that the phase out can be done on their time scale, or it will be imposed on them. He also accepted that there are now alternatives to lead shot.
The UK government has requested an official review of the evidence; followed by a public consultation to aim at a proposed ban on the ammunition.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow has stated that addressing the impacts of lead ammunition will mark a significant step forward in helping to protect wildlife, people and the environment.
Officials pointed to research by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust which shows that between 50,000 and 100,000 wildfowl die each year after ingesting lead from spent pellets which they mistake for food. Mr Bonner stated that such estimates were ‘a bit on the high side’; but then as a shooter and huntsman, he would.
The EU is expected to ban imports of game shot with lead – a major concern because around 60 per cent of British game is exported to Europe. Fears have been expressed by manufacturers as to whether they will be able to meet demand for new types of ammunition.
Last year several leading cartridge makers said that they thought that developing ‘high performance ammunition’ without lead in a short time frame, ‘without significant support’ from the Government, would be impossible.
Jonathan Young, editor of countryside sports magazine The Field, has voiced his doubts about the ability of steel pellets to kill game ‘efficiently and cleanly’.
But Dr Julia Newth of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust said: ‘Conservationists, shooting organisations and game meat retailers have recognised the toxic risks from lead ammunition.’
WAV Comment – Today, 22nd March 2021, is the United Nations ‘World Water Day’. Philip is a personal friend and fellow campaigner, CEO of Compassion In World Farming (England) who we have worked with for around 30 years. Here he describes entering the ‘Dead Zone’.
Today, 22nd March 2021, is the United Nations World Water Day. It’s about raising awareness of the value of water and the importance of protecting this vital resource on which we all depend.
For me World Water Day brings back memories of my investigations in the USA whilst writing Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were, where I witnessed for myself how intensive livestock production fuels water pollution around the globe.
I had travelled about 15 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico and was looking at something resembling a construction site. All around me were oil rigs. I’d heard a lot about this place in the middle of nowhere from the media. A place out at sea where nothing lives. Called the ‘dead zone’. An expanse of water so polluted that nearly all the oxygen has gone. A liquid symbol of what happens when efforts to prevent, mitigate or contain environmental damage fail and the water represents worst-case scenario; the marine ‘end of days’. The gathering body of oxygen-depleted – hypoxic – water forms a barrier to life, killing just about everything that can’t flee.
My plan had been to see the dead zone for myself – and not from the comfort of a boat. So snorkel fixed, I slipped into the water. At surface level the pea-green sea looked nothing out of the ordinary. As I peered into the gloom below, I could see fish and the water around me looked very much alive. Had there been some mistake? I ducked down again and held my breath this time, swimming down. Now things began to grow clearer – or rather not. A few metres beneath the surface, everything changed. The water was cooler, saltier and far more murky. I could see very little and without diving kit, I could go no further. I wouldn’t reach the dead zone myself, for it was far, far below, coating the bottom half of the water in a suffocating blanket.
Sadly, the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is not unique – they exist all over the world but among biologists, marine scientists and conservationists, it is among the most notorious. It now boasts the world’s second-largest area of oxygen-depleted water (the Baltic is the biggest). It’s a squalid claim to fame. The zone emerges every year, without fail, from February to October, stretching all the way from the shores of Louisiana to the upper Texan coast.
And the main culprit? Fertiliser.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the source of the problem is the ‘flowing green oceans’ of corn in the Midwest of America. It is an area of intensive corn and soybean production, where large amounts of nitrogen from fertiliser and manure are applied to the soils every year. Excess nitrate is washed into rivers and streams and ends up in the Gulf. One would think the corn and soya would be feeding the world, but you’d be wrong, it’s feeding factory farmed animals. The problems in the Gulf are squarely linked to the food on our plates.
The reality of all this was brought home to me when I took to the air in a tiny Cessna plane. I was expecting various warehouses with impressive pallet-stacks of fertiliser bags, but we flew over a small town of sprawling industry, one of many perched on the banks of the Mississippi and to my horror, they were all fertiliser factories. But the term ‘fertiliser factory’ entirely failed to convey the sheer scale of this hidden part of the industrial farming jigsaw.
Dead zones are emerging around the world. Industrial agriculture systems, with their high dependence on artificial fertilisers and chemicals, are a major source of pollution of our precious water. Quite simply our hunger for ‘cheap’ meat from animals fed on cheap corn grown on chemical-laced fields is poisoning and driving out precious species and damaging ecosystems on land, rivers and sea. But it’s not too late to reverse the situation – a reduction in meat, dairy and egg consumption especially from factory farms, can reduce the water impact of our diets and greatly improve the welfare of farm animals.
This is why we need to seize the opportunity of this year’s United Nations Food Systems Summit to move toward a global agreement to end factory farming. To reset our food system towards regenerative, restorative, nature-friendly ways of producing food. The UN summit presents an incredible opportunity to focus this debate in one place and form the catalyst for change on a global basis.
So that we stay informed of the real facts
World Animals Voice 