SPANA (Head Office – London) – helping the working animals of the world who may otherwise not get any support. https://spana.org/
Established in 1923, SPANA’s goal is simple: to improve the welfare of working animals in the world’s poorest communities. Through three key areas – treating, training and teaching – we’re inspiring others to act in the best interests of working animals while also providing practical, professional and sustainable solutions today. We recognise that the fortunes of working animals and people go hand in hand: in the developing world, just one working animal can support an extended family of up to 30 people. SPANA’s work improves the lives of working animals while supporting the communities that depend on them. We rely entirely on our loyal supporters to help us in our huge but vital task.
WAV Comment – we are very happy to give a monthly donation to SPANA to help relieve the suffering a little of so many working animals. Please give a donation if you can – or better still; become a monthly donor. The working animals are sometimes all the owner has to help them make a living. All SPANA services are free of charge to owners; veterinary care and advice – medication, and rest if required.
Watching and listening to Fiete... one sees clearly only with the heart…
Fietehas been saved from slaughter three years ago.
These animals have been rescued from slaughter, starvation, or severe neglect.
The animals that live here do no longer need to serve a purpose, they can do what they are there for in this world instead: Live.
Fiete lives in “Hof Butenland”, Sanctuary
This is the most beautiful sound in the world: the satisfied voice of an animal. “Those who do not close their eyes, ears, and heart have to love animals more than people” (Helmut Kaplan)
Foxes are now part of the Berlin cityscape – but one fox has been attracting particular attention for months: the miner fox.
With thousands of followers on Instagram and various regional press reports, the miner fox is probably the best-known four-legged friend of its kind in the capital.
Now the red fox is also an ambassador for a campaign against the hunt for foxes. He is Berlin’s first fox with an Instagram account.The miner fox as an ambassador for PETA shows that hunting is not necessary
The trusting fox from Bergmannkiez in Berlin-Kreuzberg has his own Instagram profile.
For some time now, the fox has made Bergmannstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg his home: day and night he explores the area, observes what is happening, looks curiously into house entrances, and occasionally relaxes lazily in the midday sun.
Since May 2020, a resident (who wants to remain anonymous) has been taking pictures of him regularly on Instagram. When the animal sat under its balcony every night in the summer, the photographer decided to publish the photos.
The fox poses photogenic in the street, on sidewalks, and in house entrances. The miner fox shows – contrary to the claims of many hunters – that the animals can live peacefully next to us humans even without hunting, without the fox population getting out of control.
Since the first picture at the end of May, almost 2,700 users have subscribed to his account. The reactions to the photos were mostly positive – especially the restaurateurs in the Kiez liked the pictures.
The photographer also knows his neighborhood much better now!!
As great as the temptation is to lure and stroke the foxes in the city with snacks: Foxes are not cuddly toys, but wild animals that can get their own food. So if you are out and about on Bergmannstrasse, with a little luck you can spot, admire and take photos of the Berlin influencer – but petting or feeding him is not a good idea.
And I mean…Foxes are now sneaking undisturbed through parks and gardens. Wild rabbits hop over green areas. Beavers swim in lakes and canals. Squirrels do gymnastics and frolic through the trees.
Raccoons, martens, and wild boars unsettle and fascinate young and old alike. And first of all the many birds: Berlin is not only home to just under 3.8 million people and their pets, but also countless wild animals – more than in the surrounding area.
And the last ones now have all the freedom because of Corona!
The wild animals become real city animals; if you study them a little, you will learn and see with your own eyes the most amazing things:
Crows, which let crack their nuts in front of driving cars
wild boars, which lead their newborns across the street at intersections,
foxes, that steal eggs…
Animals experience as many exciting things as we humans do every day.
And the most exciting thing is that Corona taught us how to coexist.
The EU talks the talk; is very good at producing endless reams of reports and paperwork; charts etc; but the reality is it never enforces what is says it is going to enforce. Tell the young Dutch cattle exported to Lebanon and Libya that the EU is good at enforcing the rules.
Antimicrobial resistance
AMR : Commission publishes its progress report on the EU’s Action Plan
Today, the European Commission published its 5th progress report on the implementation of the European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance, which was adopted in June 2017. The key objectives of this plan are built on three main pillars: making the EU a best practice region; boosting research, development and innovation as well as shaping the global agenda. Addressing AMR through a One Health approach is also a priority for this Commission, as flagged in Commissioner Kyriakides’ Mission letter in November 2019.
The progress report shows that a number of AMR initiatives have been continued or put in place in recent months. For example, the Commission has adopted in the EU Farm to Fork Strategy a target aiming to reduce by 50% the overall EU sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals and in aquaculture by 2030. This objective will be supported by the implementation of the recent Regulations on Veterinary Medicinal Products and on Medicated Feed for which implemented and delegated acts are currently being drafted.
Another of the main updates of the Action Plan includes the new Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1729 on the monitoring and reporting of AMR in zoonotic and commensal bacteria. The recently adopted Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe also flagged the fight against AMR as a key objective. The next progress report is planned to be published in mid 2021.
WAV Comment: The UK has now left the EU and is currently undertaking a consultation with overwhelming support to ban all live exports. EU member states are not allowed to ban the trade despite the wishes of most EU citizens. Does then dog wag the tail or the tail wag the dog ? – does anyone learn that all the time they continue to be in the EU, this abuse will go on ?
How many years have we sat and watched all this ? – that the EU is not enforcing its own regulations. And how many more years are Europeans still going to be shown and told this ? – the UK left the EU a year ago – now it is taking action for a ban. Learn European nations – learn !! – if the EU allows you to that is !
Dutch cattle documented going for slaughter in Lebanon and Libya
11 December 2020
Animals International
New investigation conducted by Eyes on Animals – in collaboration with Eurogroup for Animals’ members Animals International, Animal Welfare Foundation and Welfarm – exposes the fate of Dutch cattle exported out of the country’s territories.
Footage shows Dutch males bovines – born on dairy farms in Dwengeloo and Friesland – in a slaughterhouse in Beirut: animals were tied up, forced to fall down, and then had their necks sliced open, back and forth, with a knife. Moreover, this summer, Dutch cattle have been seen while loaded onto a vessel at the port of Cartagena (Spain) heading to Libya for slaughter.
Despite the good will of the Netherlands in not approving extra-EU export of its animals for slaughter, the export towards other Member States often means that these Dutch animals end up in non-EU abattoirs.
Slaughter conditions in Lebanon and Libya are known to be brutal. After having been transported for many days, very often animals arriving in the non-EU port, are in such bad condition that they cannot walk anymore. They clearly become unfit to continue their journey. However, instead of being euthanized, they are hoisted alive via a chain tied to one leg to be unloaded by the vessel. Once in the abattoirs, animals are chased, jumped on, have their tendons slit and eyes poked in order to keep them to the ground, chain them, and then cut their throats while fully conscious and fully sensitive to pain.
Eurogroup for Animals is urging the European Commission to ban any export of live animals from the EU to non-EU countries and to favour the slaughtering of animals close to the place where they are born.
WAV Comment: The fur industry has a lot of questions to answer regarding its abuses and what has resulted from this sick trade. Fur out now ! – globally.
First case of coronavirus detected in wild animal
By Helen Briggs BBC Environment correspondent
The first known case of coronavirus in a wild animal has been reported, leading to calls for widespread monitoring of wildlife.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said a wild mink had tested positive around an infected mink farm in Utah.
Coronavirus outbreaks at fur farms in the US and in Europe have killed thousands of the animals.
As a consequence, millions of farmed mink have had to be culled across Europe.
The USDA said it had found one positive case in “free-ranging, wild mink” in Utah as part of wildlife surveillance around infected farms.
Several animals from different wildlife species were sampled and all tested negative, the agency added.
It said it had notified the World Organisation for Animal Health, but there is no evidence the virus has been widespread in wild populations around infected mink farms.
The discovery raises concerns that the infection could spread between wild mink, said Dr Dan Horton, a veterinary expert at the University of Surrey, UK.
The case “reinforces the need to undertake surveillance in wildlife and remain vigilant”, he added.
Mink are known to escape from mink farms and become established in the wild. In the UK, a population of mink that escaped from fur farms many years ago is thought to exist, but they are sparsely distributed and rarely come into contact with people, Dr Horton added.
The virus has also been found in zoo tigers, lions and snow leopards in the US, and in a small number of household cats and dogs.
Introducing our brand new Large Animal Ambulance equipped with a hydraulic lift!
We sometimes find that bandaging a wound is the easier part of treatment. Often, what’s most difficult is moving the injured angel from the street to our hospital,especially when they are a 400 pound bull with a fracture.
We’ve been so lucky that our staff have had the strength and ability to work together in lifting really heavy animals even without an automatic lift. But it is amazing to lighten all their loads and most of all it makes rescue safer and stress-free for all.
Happiest thank you to the wonderful donors who made this possible!
Watch what happened when Penelope’s fractured pelvis healed!
The blood on her face was what alarmed our rescue team. But that wasn’t this beautiful girl’s worst problem.
Hit by a passing vehicle, Penelopehad alsosustained a fracture to her pelvis.Her facial laceration, although it caused a permanent droop to her eye, healed within just a few weeks. But her pelvis injury required 6 weeks of bed rest in order to heal.
Restricting her movement was necessary for healing, but boy was she glad when she was able to run again for the first time.Watch thisgorgeous wobbly whirlwind take the world by storm!
Jason’s wound was massive. All the skin of his front forelimb was pulled off when a vehicle tire caught the skin in its tread. His pain was hard to imagine, and we watched his face stilled with worry when we gently flushed his wound. But this little wonder-boy’s fear melted as soon as his wound was bandaged.
Rescuing him was so important. Because the world without Jason would be a little less beautiful.
For Someone “out there,” tomorrow will come because of you. Please donate
Delightful Jakeis a perfect family dog. He’sloving, playful, intelligent and friendly. A Labrador who was abandoned by his previous owners – possibly because of an old injury that has left him missing the toes on his hind leg. To his old owners he might have been less than perfect but we couldn’t disagree more!
Jake’s favourite thing to do is play – he carries his beloved bone toy over to every person who enters his area in the hope that they will engage in a game of tug-o-war, or even better, fetch! His damaged foot doesn’t slow him down at all. He’s a “people person” who also loves other dogs, and if you’re lucky enough to adopt him, your whole family will have an angel guarding your hearts for the rest of your lives.
Above – Would you allow your cats and dogs to be confined in such manner for weeks on end? Of course not, it would be shockingly cruel AND illegal. So why are you condemning these innocent creatures to such horrific fates? Source CTV News
When referring to unacceptable animal cruelty, please remember that pigs, cows, chickens, and mink do not enjoy the social status of other animals, such as dogs and cats, and their abuses are accepted under a moniker of “welfare” and “humane”, both terms compromised by humans to categorize animals whose own bodies are controlled, violated, mutilated sans pain relief, separated from family, and violently, terrifyingly killed.
In the United States, all ten billion land animals exploited for food each year are specifically exempt from the Animal Welfare Act, and nine billion poultry are additionally denied any (oxymoronic) coverage under the Humane Slaughter Act, a meaningless regulation that requires animals be violently killed.
To die prematurely, exploitatively, fearfully, unwillingly is ABUSE, those nice human-created labels and laws are not meant to protect animals, they are meant to protect humans from moral discomfort causing the needless and violent death of trillions of animals killed globally each year.
For the “small, local, organic farm” preachers, the animals don’t care where you live, and providing food for an animal before you kill him or her doesn’t mitigate your contribution to their loss of body autonomy and forced and fearful death in an industrial slaughterhouse. And the global demand for animal “products” require they be confined in predominantly extremely intensive conditions, forced to endure diseases, pain, abnormal genetic variations, squalor, bodily violations and intrusions, and violent death.
Protecting animals, considering their welfare and well-being, and practicing humane approaches all PRECLUDE exploiting/killing them. Anything you do to a pig would be an illegal violation if done against cats, dogs, and humans. That you can pretend otherwise does not nullify the animal’s hellish experience so you can enjoy a five-minute tasty snack: no meal should require suffering.
Furthermore, Ag-Gag laws are pretentious violations of constitutional rights, no person or entity should be granted the lawful ability to hide illegal activity, including cruelty and gross negligence, from the public to whom they “market” animals and from whom they derive profit. To all who champion such egregiously abusive laws, I ask, “What are you hiding?” To match your claims of “welfare” and “humane” (which have been consistently proven false), where is the transparency? The public has a right to and an interest in your business; that you profit from social ignorance and intentional suffering as inflicted on vulnerable, defenseless animals, and then take herculean steps including more time, money, and resources to conceal abuse rather than fight abuse is a disgustingly greedy, inhuman, utterly shameless, and appalling market strategy. SL
For seven weeks, a man, who asked to be identified only as Elijah, worked at a farming facility in Putnam, Ont., 30 km east of London.
His job as a hog farm technician at the Arnold Barn, which is managed by Paragon Farms, included tasks like feeding, moving and vaccinating pigs. W5 has agreed to protect Elijah’s true identity.
However, Elijah had another motive for working at the barn. Using a hidden camera, he recorded hours of video footage at the facility.
“It’s not necessarily the safest job that I could be working, but I did it because I see that these animals are suffering,” he told W5’s Sandie Rinaldo.
Animal Justice, a Canadian animal law advocacy organization, hired Elijah to go undercover, and shared some of the video he recorded with W5.
The footage documents what Elijah claims are instances of animal abuse and neglect, including disturbing images of farm workers forcefully slapping and hitting pigs with plastic boards, and jabbing them with pens.
Other filmed incidents include workers discussing how pregnant sows had been deprived of drinking water for several days, workers castrating male piglets without the use of painkillers and filthy conditions in the barn.
W5 offered to show the video to the general manager of Paragon Farms, with an opportunity to comment afterward. A lawyer acting for Paragon sent W5 a written statement indicating, in part, that “Paragon Farms immediately inspected the barn in question” and “welcomed an inspection by … the Animal Welfare Services branch (of the provincial government) within hours of being notified of the allegations. No material concerns were identified.”
The statement added that a veterinarian “with expert certification” inspected the animals and “has not identified incidents of abuse or neglect.”
THE END OF UNDERCOVER WHISTLEBLOWERS?
Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, believes that because there is no proactive provincial monitoring or inspection of farm facilities, neglect and abuse of livestock remains hidden and free of scrutiny. Only a complaint can trigger an investigation of a farm by provincial authorities.
“We urgently need more transparency in the food system because the meat industry keeps animals behind closed doors without any government oversight or inspection,” Labchuk said.
“There’s no way for Canadians to learn the truth unless a brave whistleblower goes in there and films this footage and exposes it to the public.”
Hidden camera video filmed by animal rights groups and shared with journalists have helped raise public awareness of conditions and animal mistreatment in farms and slaughterhouses.But undercover filming by employee activists at livestock facilities may soon become outlawed in Ontario.
This past June, the Ontario government partially proclaimed the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, known initially as Bill 156.
Promoted by Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ernie Hardeman as a way to improve the protection of farms, farmers and their livestock from trespassers and biosecurity risks, the act may soon make it illegal for undercover activists like Elijah to work and film at farm facilities under “false pretenses.”
A similar law, initially known as Bill 27, was passed in Alberta late last year and Manitoba is looking to follow suit.
Critics call them “ag-gag” or agricultural gag laws. Modelled on U.S. laws that have been introduced in 29 U.S. states since 1990, only six states still have these laws on the books. The rest have been defeated or deemed unconstitutional.
Professor Samuel Trosow, who teaches law at Western University in London, believes these types of laws are problematic.
“The way that Bill 156 has been written, same thing for the Alberta law, does violate Section 2(b) of the Constitution that guarantees everyone freedom of expression,” Trosow told W5’s Sandie Rinaldo in an interview.
“I don’t think this is about protecting farmers in their homes. I think this is about protecting large corporate producers and their factory farms from the public scrutiny that results when people come in and take films.”
While a section of Ontario’s Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act currently prevents people from interfering with animal transport vehicles, the provision regarding false pretenses, which may prevent employee whistleblowers from filming inside farm facilities, has yet to be proclaimed.
Labchuk intends to challenge the law if and when that happens.
“If you ask ordinary Canadians what they think, they’re appalled when they hear that the government’s trying to shut down transparency on farms and hide from them where their food comes from.”
Take PETA’s Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide along with you next time you head to the store! The handy guide will help you find humane products at a glance. Order a FREE copyHERE
Searching for Cruelty-Free Cosmetics, Personal-Care Products, Vegan Products, or more? Click HERE to search.
Free PDF of Vegan & Cruelty-Free Products/Companies HERE
Want to do more than go vegan? Help others to do so! Click below for nominal, or no, fees to vegan literature that you can use to convince others that veganism is the only compassionate route to being an animal friend:
It is said that some animals “only lack language”, and this must certainly be true in the case of many dogs and cats who delight our days with their presence in the house, and also with regard to the protagonist of this story:
A 500 kg cow fled the slaughterhouse and took refuge in the next church. Was she looking for a way to shout, “Help save me!”
We may not know, but from the way the news sounds, it actually seems that the great beast has entered the church as if it were almost going to “pray” for its life.
Needless to say, the slaughterhouse staff tracked it down and took it back.
In order to escape her tragic fate, the cow fled, which was now aware of what to expect after the staff of the slaughterhouse had pulled her out of her stable with ropes until she took refuge in the church“Signore della Misericordia” in Mexico, took place in the city of Tampico Alto.
It remained hidden for several minutes without anyone being able to track it down.
In the end, the slaughterhouse staff arrived at the church and recaptured the animal that in those few minutes had perhaps hoped to save its life.
The photo immediately went viral on Twitter, where many users expressed their regret over the fate of the cow.
Some even wrote that the poor animal was in the process of “asking God for help” at that moment, while others wanted to let it be known that they had adopted it just to avoid such a sacrifice.
A certain user wrote that the cow should absolutely not have been killed because it was clearly “a sign from God”.
Whether or not it was a divine sign, there is no doubt about the regret for the poor cow.
And I mean…“Lord of Mercy” was the name of the church?
Then this Lord should appear in person and teach the cretins from the slaughterhouse a lesson on how someone has to behave in his house
Churches are places where the message of peace and compassion is preached. Getting in there by force is sacrilege.
The church asylum grants temporary admission to refugees who are threatened with torture, death, or inhumane hardship.
And meanwhile, it has become a certain humanitarian tradition.
For human animals!
Already in ancient times, there was a tradition of protecting people in holy places such as temples, tombs, or holy groves, especially when it was not clear whether they were guilty or not.
In the case of the Mexican cow, it was absolutely clear that she was innocent.
Her only “crime” was that she didn’t belong to the ruling species, which means she had no right to protection in the church.
And the Lord of Mercy does not deal with individuals without rights.
PLANS to ban the export of live animals from England and Wales for slaughter and fattening, which have been strongly supported by West Dorset MP Chris Loder, have been unveiled.
The plans were revealed by the UK’s environment secretary, George Eustice, in the start of a renewed push by the Government to strengthen the UK’s position as a world leader on animal welfare.
An estimated 6,400 animals were sent to Europe for slaughter in 2018, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Mr Loder has worked closely with the RSPCA and the British Veterinary Association among others to (enable this to happen) and is urging as many people as possible to support his campaign by responding to the Government consultation.
In his speech in the House of Commons on October 23, during the second reading of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill, the MP demanded the house support and deliver the government’s pledge to end live animal exports – claiming that it was disgraceful that well cared for farm animals could be loaded on to a lorry and sent thousands of miles by land and sea to destinations as far as Libya and Lebanon.
Mr Loder said: “Today’s announcement is a victory for animal welfare. It is a direct benefit of Britain leaving the EU. It is the EU’s trading rules on the movement of animals, along with the lobby from the National Farmers’ union to continue live exports for slaughter and fattening, that has enabled this cruel practice for so long.
“Bringing an end to the unnecessary suffering of animals during transport is long overdue. Through my Animal Welfare Bill, which reaches the Committee Stage early next year, I hope not only to achieve tougher custodial sentences for those who inflict the worst kinds of cruelty on innocent animals; but also to deal with the cruelty that has been happening on a mass scale, such as with live animal exports.”
Live animals commonly have to endure excessively long journeys during exports, causing distress and injury.
The trusting fox from Bergmannkiez in Berlin-Kreuzberg has his own Instagram profile.
World Animals Voice 