EXCLUSIVE Locals say the hippo population in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley is under threat with claims government ‘cull’ is actually a trophy hunting package deal money-spinner
Read the full article from a UK newspaper at:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/river-runs-red-bloodthirsty-trophy-16163202
The Wakayama District Court began hearing arguments Friday over whether dolphin hunting violates animal cruelty laws.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to stop the permits from being issued.
Wakayama Gov. Yoshinobu Nisaka issues the permits for the town of Taiji, where the hunts have drawn protests. Taiji is also known for its centuries-old whaling traditions.
The 2009 Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” showed the town’s hunts, where dolphins were chased into a cove and bludgeoned to death, turning the waters blood red. In recent years, they changed their hunting method to suffocation.
The plaintiffs, a former Taiji resident and activist Ren Yabuki, and supporters of the case, say the killings remain traumatic and painful, despite the new method.
Wakayama conservation official Takashi Uede declined comment on the case but stressed that the prefecture believes the hunts follow the law.
The case does not demand monetary damages but could set a precedent in contesting the legality of the killings, according to Takashi Takano, the lawyer for the plaintiffs. “If these people can’t contest the permit, then who can,” he said.
Taiji officials and fishermen have defended the hunt as tradition and say eating dolphin meat is no different from eating beef or chicken. However, the hunts are also lucrative in that some dolphins are sold into captivity at aquariums and marine shows.
The government stands behind commercial whaling and is pulling out of the International Whaling Commission. Whalers are making plans to resume commercial hunting in July, for the first time in three decades.
Taiji is expected to be one of the Pacific coastal towns joining the whaling fleet.
I ask the men how baby elephants born in captivity are broken and trained.
When a baby is about two years old, they say, mahouts tie its mother to a tree and slowly drag the baby away. Once separated, the baby is confined. Using a bullhook on its ear, they teach the baby to move: left, right, turn, stop.
To teach an elephant to sit, Sala-ngam says, “we tie up the front legs. One mahout will use a bullhook at the back. The other will pull a rope on the front legs.” He adds: “To train the elephant, you need to use the bullhook so the elephant will know.”
Captive wild animal encounters are hugely popular, thanks partly to social media.
But our investigation shows many creatures lead dismal lives.
A must read – click on the following for an excellent report, with many pictures.
Snakes are the most hunted animals in private life.
Most people are afraid of snakes, most of us fight against them because we automatically feel threatened by them.
Since childhood, we’ve learned to compare sneakiness and malice with the behavior of a snake: “poisonous as a snake” or “he acts evil like a snake …”
I had a snake in my garden, she came every night and got leftovers from the cat food. I could hear she before I saw she and we were friends even though I did not even know if the animal was a she or a he …
That was not important, the friendship was important.
She explored the whole world with her tongue, often she touched from time to time my hand with it, and I knew that was a love sign.
One night she did not come anymore. And since then I have not seen her.
I can only guess that she was killed by someone who learned at school or at home that snakes are evil and devious.
The beautiful video is a little help against prejudice.
My best regards, Venus
The federal army carries out so-called “live tissue training“ every year – yes! read correctly! these are training sessions on live animals, in the case of the federal army on pigs. In these surgical courses, also called trauma training, operations of war wounds are practiced – for example, injuries with severe bleeding.
Although nearly 80% of NATO member states use non-veterinary training methods in the medical training of their military, the German Federal Armed Forces continue to stick to so-called live tissue trainings with pigs.
In order to simulate war wounds, live pigs should be subjected to severe puncture and cut injuries under severe anesthesia.
Soldiers and paramedics should then train the wound care on the defenseless animals. The pigs are cut open and mutilated, in the end they let them die.
Help us convince Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen not to abuse animals in military training anymore!
Here the text of the online petition
Please refrain from using animals in the training courses of the Federal Armed Forces
Dear Ms Federal Minister von der Leyen,
The Federal Armed Forces continues to use live pigs in the medical training of surgeons as part of so-called live tissue training.
Pigs are highly intelligent, very social creatures who, like us, feel anxiety and pain. We consider it ethically unacceptable to wantonly inflict injuries on pigs and abuse them as living practice objects.
Nearly 80% of NATO member states do not rely on animals in their military medical training. We ask you once again to reconsider and stop the mutilation of pigs. Many medical interventions can now be practiced on simulators of human patients who correctly and lifelike readjust the anatomical situation.
Non-animal methods are not only didactically superior but also more economical.
Please show compassion for all living things and decide for the end of these cruel exercises!
Regards…
( please sign all: https://www.peta.de/bundeswehr-op-kurse-petition)
My comment: In 2013, this message came to the media:: “In accordance with the German Animal Welfare Act, the Federal Armed Forces relies on advanced, animal-free testing methods,” says an official confirmation by Captain Waldemar Boczek.
“During training projects, the soldiers are trained on very good models and the physicians do not need animal experiments.
The German animal protection law requires the use of animal-free teaching methods, if they are available. In addition to Germany, 21 other NATO countries work exclusively with simulation exercises”.
Now, in 2019, we read that the training methods on pigs continue to be performed in the federal army!
If we did not have the investigative work of some organizations, we would continue to sleep with a quiet head that the federal army not only with France new killing systems developed, but also performs an innovative animal experiment-free trauma training!
My best regards to all, Venus
Foto: Magnus Neuhaus
“Krefeld: Farewell to a monkey personality: Gorilla female Tumba has surprisingly died at the age of 45 years. Their deaths are particularly hard on the housemates in their seniors’ monkey flat in the Krefeld Zoo”.
With this outrageous message the german media announce the death of Tumba to the public.
And it goes on…
“At the age of 45, Tumba was one of the old gorillas in Krefeld Zoo. In 1975 she moved into the monkey house and lived there together with silverback Massa (48) and another gorilla lady: Boma (46). The three were in the 1980s / 1990s, a successful breeding group: Tumba and Massa were 1985 and 1995 offspring. Daughter Kira now lives in the Moscow Zoo and already has children herself”.
The strategy of distraction is to divert public attention from important issues. One way is to flood a message with trivial details. That requires sentimentality.
The goal is to distract people from concentrating on the essentials and to direct their thoughts and feelings to the unimportant. So they should not wonder if Tumba was illegally snatched from her mother as a baby and illegally dragged from her home in Africa to the Krefeld Zoo “open air prison”, where she led a miserable life. They should not ask why the media does not talk about the miserable life of zoo animals and hide the real issues.
“And in the Facebook comments express several zoo visitors from their sympathy: “She always radiates a kind of superior boredom! just as if she was above things, “writes one user. Another reader adds, “Rest in peace, big girl, we wish you a good last trip. My granddaughter will miss you. “
“But especially mourn Massa and Boma for their mate, with whom they shared the enclosure for years. They could no longer say goodbye to her: Deceased members of the group are usually left in the enclosure for some time, so that all animals can convince themselves of their deaths.
In the tropical temperatures in the monkey house but that was not possible, reports the zoo.
Everyone now hopes that he and Boma females will cope with the death of Tumba in the circumstances”.
The more the media wants to manipulate the public, the more they will talk to the public as if they were exclusively children. Then sugar sweet arguments, signs, and intonations are used, as if people were too weak or immature to handle the truth.
The goal is to produce a submissive, docile response, to prevent critical thinking.
The media knows that and therefore addresses the emotions of the public. So here they try to keep people from thinking of the core problem, namely: why Tumba and their conspecifics have lived in captivity for 45 years – almost her entire life. That with the misery and the slavery of these personalities a zoo merchant has felt his cash. And that anyone who visits the zoo to show his children what it means to have fun with animals is a stupid accomplice.
Now Tumba is gone.
The same prisons remain in Krefeld and all over the world, reminding us that the only animal on this planet that captures other animals for fun is the human species!
What the human species can never be ashamed of enough.
My best regards to all, Venus
900,000 Voices Demand Continued Wolf Protections
Wow. We just delivered nearly a million comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opposing Trump’s plan to end federal protections for almost all gray wolves in the lower 48.
This is the most comments the feds have ever received on an Endangered Species Act issue in the law’s 45-year history. They include 35,000 handwritten notes delivered in person to the Interior Department in Washington, D.C. The Center for Biological Diversity says thank you to everyone who submitted a comment, shared a social post about our wolf campaigns, canvassed their neighbourhood for comments, or in any other way raised their voice for the voiceless.
And we’re not done yet. At the last minute the Interior Department extended its comment deadline to July 15, so we and our allies have a new goal: 1.5 million voices raised for wolves.
Learn how you can help in our upcoming call. And consider supporting our campaign to save wolves with a donation to our Predator Defense Fund.
England: Viva ! City – May Newsletter
https://mailchi.mp/viva.org.uk/vivacity-may?e=26c03356b8
Includes:
Moo Free May
First Vegan You Tube Ad
End the Cage Age
Veganism 25 years on –
Viva’s ! 25 Anniversary
Free the Bears – Petition link –
These three caged bears are used by the owner of Ashtaraki Dzor restaurant in Armenia to attract visitors and tourists to the venue.
In spite of complaints from local animal lovers, he refuses to let us rescue them . He is fighting hard to hold on to the bears who have been robbed of their dignity, their freedom and their ability to express all natural wild bear behaviour. They should be roaming in the Armenian mountains, not locked in a cage so that visitors to the restaurant can laugh and poke fun at them.
Our petition aims to raise awareness of the miserable plight of these poor animals and put pressure on the owner to surrender them. Your signature really will make a difference.
Please help us set these helpless bears free. They are suffering mentally and physically from their imprisonment. The sight of their misery is heart-breaking. But once we have the go-ahead to rescue them, we can move them to our purpose-built rescue centre where they will be treated with compassion and respect. The expert team at our centre has a wealth of experience in the rehabilitation of rescued bears and will give them all the treatment and care they need to recover from their years in captivity.
These three beautiful bears are relying on the kindness of animal lovers like you to stand up and fight for them. Please don’t let them down.
Please sign the petition urging the owner of Ashtaraki Dzor Restaurant to surrender the bears to International Animal Rescue.
Thank you
International Animal Rescue launched its Great Bear Rescue campaign in November 2017 and has since rescued 23 caged bears from lives of mind-numbing boredom and frustration behind bars. Some of these bears will be candidates for reintroduction into protected areas of the Armenian countryside, while those that can no longer fend for themselves will be given lifelong care.
Support our Great Bear Rescue campaign here.
Hi Mark,
I wanted to take this opportunity to convey a very personal and heartfelt thank you. It’s because of you: your compassion, your commitment, your resilience, your heart-fuelled dedication to giving a voice to the millions of victims of the live sheep trade, that its end is now in sight this election.
Our work to end the entire live export trade is far from over. But ending the sheep trade will not only save millions of sheep from the cruelty of live export, it will represent a historic shift in political thinking towards dismantling the regulatory system that underpins all legalised animal cruelty.
While I have great hope that we’ll have reason to celebrate on behalf of animals after the weekend, I know that our greater journey together will also continue. That, regardless of the outcome of the election, we won’t stop until we have an end to all animal cruelty; that we all share an unquenchable thirst for a kinder world and an unshakeable belief in our capacity to make it so.
Thank you so much for your magnificent advocacy on behalf of all animals and for leading the way to a kinder world.
I feel absolutely honoured to be sharing this journey with you.
For the animals,
Lyn
Lyn White AM
Director of Strategy
——————————————————————————————
Remembering Jill, and what she died for:
Regards Mark.
