The following programme; ‘Drowning In Plastic’; was made by, and shown on the BBC in the UK a few nights ago.
As with all BBC environmental productions; it was brilliant, and is a true insight into the plastic problems which cover the globe at this current time.
The video is in English, but for non English speakers; the footage alone just shown what a dire situation the world is in.
Here is the progamme – a ‘must watch’ wherever you live – the pictures say it all::
October 4th newsletter.
Click on the following for the full newsletter:
Posted by Carly Day | October 2, 2018
Image Credit: Mercy For Animals
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a new bill — SB 1017 — which will see the use of driftnets in the state phased out over the next four years.
The bill was authored by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) with 15 co-authors, and passed almost unanimously in the state senate and assembly. To assist fishermen who need to transition away from using driftnets, the law includes a transition program with incentives for those who choose to give up their previous permit.
“This hard-won victory was a long time coming,” said Senator Allen. “Finally we have found a way to phase out the use of these deadly and destructive nets without harming the commercial fishing industry in the process. I’m very pleased that we now can look forward to a time not far in the future when magnificent marine creatures will no longer be injured and killed by these nets.”
Drift nets are used in commercial fishing and are hugely destructive to marine life. Large driftnets may be over one mile in length and sink down into the sea for hundreds of feet. For every swordfish caught using driftnets, it is estimated that seven marine animals are trapped, injured or killed in the nets. Because these nets catch fish and marine mammals indiscriminately, air-breathing animals are often caught in the nets and drown — including turtles, dolphins, and sea lions.
In April this year, a group of advocacy organizations, including Turtle Island Restoration Network, Mercy For Animals, SeaLegacy and Sharkwater, released devastating footage from investigations into the use of these death nets — capturing shocking video of a huge array of marine life trapped and suffering. Undercover investigators filmed sharks and stingrays trapped in the nets, gasping for life as they were hacked apart or beaten with baseball bats, and dolphins, sea lions and seabirds trapped and killed.
Driftnet use has already been discontinued in all other U.S. states — as well as many countries worldwide — making California the last state to come into line with the rest of the nation.
“This is amazing news and goes to show that by working collaboratively and strategically, we can make a difference,” said Paul Nicklen, co-founder and expedition lead for SeaLegacy. “This legislation is long overdue and we are encouraged by Governor Brown’s action on the issue. Documenting what happens in the driftnets in the waters off the coast of California was one of the most devastating things I have witnessed in my career. The fact that there is now real progress toward an end to this barbaric practice is what motivates me every day.”
Posted by Katie Valentine | October 3, 2018
Over the weekend, two hunters in Alaska learned firsthand that big game hunting poses some serious safety risks.
Alaska’s Department of Public Safety reports that on Saturday, the pair were hunting near Carter Lake on the Kenai Peninsula, roughly 100 miles south of Anchorage. They spotted a black bear on a ridge above them and shot it. The injured bear then rolled down the slope and straight toward the men, dislodging rocks along the way.
DPS reports that one of the hunters, William McCormick, was struck by both the tumbling bear and a rock. The 28-year-old sustained life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. McCormick’s 19-year-old hunting partner, Zachary Tennyson, managed to walk away from the ordeal unscathed.
The 200-pound bear was killed, according to state officials.
The hunters are both in the military and are currently stationed near Anchorage at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a base that is shared by the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force.
At this time of year, bears in Alaska are preparing for hibernation and are therefore near their peak weight. Fully grown black bears reach up to 350 pounds, and grizzlies weigh up to 1,400 pounds.
This alarming incident highlights the very real risks that come along with big game hunting. Because of their size alone, bears are dangerous, as evidenced by the injuries caused to McCormick over the weekend. Bears are also known to become aggressive when provoked, and a human successfully outrunning or outclimbing one is practically unheard of.
In addition to presenting numerous safety hazards, bear hunting lacks practicality. Bear meat has a reputation for being unpalatable, and consuming undercooked bear meat can lead to a severe or fatal case of trichinosis. Therefore, it is rarely eaten, even by bear hunters.
Get involved – https://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/get_involved
Animals are also there on October 4, 2018 to be used.
The KZ-chickens as eggs producers in their wire cages, the turbo cows as dairy machines with 30 liters of udders per day, the mother sows lying in their 0.75 cm cell, the monkeys with the electrodes in the head as sadism objects for laboratory experimenters, the fur animals in electric shock chamber …
Also on this day the suffering does not stop.
And if we no longer need these lawless slaves, if we have brutally exploited and abused them, we throw them away as disposable products and get into the bin.
The with acid dehorned calves,
The castrated piglets without anesthesia,
The cows pumped full of antibiotics or cortisone
the laboratory test objects, the circus and zoo inmates, the living skinned fur animals …
Also on this day that’s all standard.
Little has happened until now, we are still living in the 12th century!
Only that we do not move into the future, but back to the Stone Age.
Like underdeveloped great apes, we swing calf’s legs or pig’s ribs in the air and thank God “for our daily flesh”, for the privilege of killing animals, killing animals, eating animals, no matter how, meat, meat, meat filled with joy our life!
Also, on this day!
The mentality remained the same, the respect for the fellow creatures sunk. A life is worth nothing. If a human being is worth nothing, an animal life is worth nothing at all.
The quantity and quality of animal exploitation by humans is not immediately obvious. It happens on the distant oceans and behind high slaughterhouse walls with barbed wire, so that the clients, the consumer, does not lose the appetite for meat, fish, milk and eggs.
But a new generation is growing.
The old generation, the generation of our parents, grandparents, all those who a hundred years ago saw the tormenting, killing, exploitation as an unavoidable benefit, because it was supposedly convenient, “natural” for them, a self-evident thing , because it was already ” this was always the case “… this generation will be replaced by a new one.
And many of the young people no longer represent the same moral views of their parents: they make their own decisions, they are informed, they are the adolescent generation, that rejects the animal`s suffering.
These people need our enlightenment, our information, our actions.
These are our future campaigners for a new moral order in animal rights.
We believe that. And we hope.
My best regards to all, Venus
Best regards to all, Venus
Dear all;
We still have the old ‘Serbian Animals Voice’ site running; and we are cross posting all of the articles on this site (WAV) to old SAV also.
If you want to visit SAV, which is full of all our Serbian campaign work for over 13 years, and also learn a lot more about the Serbian animal situation, and how the (national) laws are failing to be implemented for the benefit of animals, then please go to:
SAV Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SerbianAnimalsVoice/
We hope that after all these years, which has involved some hard campaigning; the brilliant Serbian campaigners have now taken control and are pressing on hard with things. We have gone global via this site – WAV.
Only Serbian people can really make the changes for the better in Serbia. We wish them every success with their work; now and in the future.
Regards Mark
This year we’ve seen heartbreaking images of dead sea turtles and birds, their bellies bloated with plastic.
Scientists estimate that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans each year. And it won’t stop until the corporations who make the plastic products and packaging are forced to pay for their mess.
The European Parliament will soon vote on new rules to cut back on single-use plastics in Europe. 69 MEPs on the Environment Committee will vote on October 10, and that’s where we’ve got to beat the plastics lobby to win.
Last year, hundreds of thousands of incredible SumOfUs members like you told the European Commission to finally get tough on plastics. And they listened. The EU proposal is far from perfect, but with some improvements it could drastically reduce the consumption of single-use plastics, and make life a little better for all.
MEPs on the Environment Committee need to ensure that any changes they make before October 10 are legitimate improvements to the rules, and not compromises for corporations. One key part of the proposed EU rules that they should strengthen, for example, is called “extended producer responsibility”. It means that corporations have to pay for their plastic waste, instead of leaving the cleanup for everyone else to deal with. The risk now, Mark, is that pro-plastics MEPs will try to weaken the rules, especially the part about making the corporations pay.
On the other hand, people with mobility-related impairments or neurological conditions rely on plastic straws because of their flexible and temperature-resilient qualities, so it’s only right that MEPs take extra care on legislating for plastic straws.
Together, we can convince the EU to take game-changing action against plastic waste and make the world more accessible.
Hundreds of thousands of you signed and shared our EU plastics petition last year, tweeted at Commissioners and chipped in to fund huge billboards in Brussels calling on the European Commission to tackle the plastics crisis. We also exposed some of the world’s biggest brands for their throwaway plastic problem, forcing them to commit to voluntary action plans so we’d get off their backs.
But right now this is where we need to focus — and you can bet it’s where the plastics lobby is focussed too.
Thanks for all that you do,
Eoin, Anna and the team at SumOfUs
My best regards, Venus
