Regards Mark
Category: General News
The bearskin hats worn by soldiers outside Buckingham Palace now cost more than £2,000 each, new figures show.
Animal rights activists trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards took aim at the cost of the ceremonial garb.
The price of the caps soared 30% in a year to more than £2,000 pounds apiece for the hats made of black bear fur, the Ministry of Defense said in response to a freedom of information request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Peta anger over soaring cost of bearskin caps worn by King’s Guard outside Buckingham Palace
Regards Mark
12 September 2024
“Fact-finding” visits to fur farms in Poland are being conducted this week by auditors of the European Commission, as part of the process in which an EU-wide ban on such farms is being considered.
This visit by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety comes as a result of the European Citizens’ Initiative Fur Free Europe, in which 1.5 million European citizens called for a ban on fur farms and the sale of farmed fur products in the EU.
On fur farms, animals such as mink, foxes, chinchillas and racoon dogs are kept in tiny cages, hindered from displaying natural behaviour and killed solely for an unnecessary fashion product: fur.
Under no circumstances, can the welfare of animals on fur farms be protected and a ban should be the only way forward. As a highly polluting industry, fur farming and processing also pose serious threats to biodiversity and public health. 20 member states have already implemented total bans, partial bans or other legislative measures on fur farming, however the EU is still set to give its final decision on an EU-wide ban.
During the visit, the auditors will be primarily focusing on the public health and zoonotic disease risks posed by such farms, after several fur farms in Europe were affected by Covid-19 and avian influenza in recent years, including Poland. Besides evaluating the implementation of the One Health mechanism on Polish fur farms, the audits may also include an evaluation of the welfare of farmed animals.
Although the auditors’ visits from the European Commission are announced, I am confident that the evaluation of fur farms in Poland will be negative. The welfare of foxes and minks is shockingly poor and will not go unnoticed by the visitors. As for public health risks, this issue has been ignored by the fur industry and disregarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, so we also expect a negative assessment from the auditors.
Paweł Rawicki, President, Otwarte Klatki
Apart from the undeniable animal welfare issues inherent to fur farms, the fact-finding visits conducted by the European Commission to fur farms in certain Member States are highly relevant. The connection between fur farming and the spread of zoonotic diseases must not be overlooked, especially in the context of preventing future pandemics. Given the non-essential nature of fur products, and in line with the One Health approach — essential for anticipating, preventing, detecting, and controlling diseases that transmit between animals and humans — it is unlikely that proportionate justifications can be found to continue legitimising this industry in the EU.
Bethania Malmberg, Programme Officer Fur Animals, Eurogroup for Animals
With over 300 farms keeping 3.4 million animals, Poland is currently the largest fur producer in the EU. Earlier this year, a bill was presented by a Polish MP for a national ban, yet this is still set to be deliberated in Parliament.
Regards Mark
10 September 2024
Feedback from a public consultation on amendments to the live animal transport regulation has just been published. The results reveal that citizens are very concerned about how animals are treated in this sector.
Read the summary results of the public consultation here.
In 2023, the European Commission announced it would update the Transport Regulation as part of its full revision to the animal welfare legislation. Soon after, it published its initial proposal for the update, which it invited European citizens to feed back on through a public consultation.
The response level was very high. The public consultation, which was open for a period of over four months (between 8 December 2023 and 12 April 2024) gathered over 5,000 contributions for analysis.
Within this number, a lot of the key input came from Spain, Germany, France and Italy, highlighting significant public interest for this topic in these Member States.
The results showed citizens overwhelmingly support stricter regulations to protect animal welfare in this industry, including by:
- Banning certain types of transport and exports. Including banning long-distance and sea transport, and the export of live animals to third countries;
- Improving transport conditions. Calling for adequate space, ventilation, food and water, as well as for reduced transport times;
- Protecting vulnerable animals. Calling to ban the transport of unweaned and vulnerable animals, along with enforcing strict temperature controls;
- Supporting stricter weather protection. Incorporating recommendations for stricter measures to safeguard animals from extreme weather;
- Condemning harmful methods. Opposing the use of electric prods;
- Addressing transition periods. Issues were raised about the length of transition periods to implement new welfare rules;
- Helping poultry and rabbits. With suggestions to further limit transport times for these animals, based on their specific needs and natures;
- Possibly transitioning to a different type of trade entirely. There is widespread support for shifting to the transport of meat and carcasses instead of live animals, which is viewed as a more humane alternative that could significantly reduce suffering.
Stakeholders from various fields, including agriculture, public authorities, and NGOs, also provided feedback on different areas of the proposal, such as its current scope and what it says about journey times and temperature controls. These results were mixed, with some differences of opinion arising between the groups. For instance, industry voices and farmers raised concerns about limiting journey times during transport, whereas NGOs posited that journey times should be reduced significantly, for the wellbeing of the animals subjected to them.
The transport proposal needs some changes to truly work for animal welfare
As the responses to the public consultation show, the current transport proposal should be further revised. Our white paper details several measures that can be used by policy-makers to draft the strongest policies possible in this area: addressing both the needs of the animals in this sector, as well as the concerns of European citizens who have voiced support for protecting their welfare.
It’s great to see that, yet again, the public is so engaged in the topic of live animal transport, and that European citizens in particular want to see more being done for animal welfare. This sector is very complex and causes suffering for millions of animals each year, both in the EU and beyond. The current transport proposal needs to be much stronger if it is really going to have an impact on the wellbeing of animals, and a lot of the conflicts of opinion expressed within the consultation could be addressed to a wider transition to a ‘meat and carcasses’ trade, in which no live animals would have to be subjected to these long and difficult journeys anymore.
Inês Grenho Ajuda, Farm Animals Programme Leader, Eurogroup for Animals
https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/library/live-animal-transport-due-time-change-rules
Regards Mark
better images to come when I get sorted !
Mark
Aperson in Missouri has become the first American to be diagnosed with H5N1 bird flu without coming into contact with animals, in a potentially worrying development.
They are the 14th person to become infected in the US since the strain hit livestock earlier this year – but the first not to have been directly exposed to an infected bird or cow.
It is still unclear how the Missourian was infected, but experts have been warning for months against drinking raw milk because of fears the virus can spread to people via this route.
Mark
Here we go again – World, get prepared for another lockdown. The Utterly Cruel Chinese Are At It Yet Again.
Researchers scoured for viruses in the lungs, intestines and other tissues of 461 individual fur animals that were found dead due to disease across China. They identified 125 virus species, including 36 that were novel and 39 at potentially-high risk of crossing the species barrier, including spilling over to infect humans.
Raccoon dogs and mink, valued for their soft pelts, carried the highest number of potentially dangerous viruses, according to the research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
China dominates the trade, accounting for over 80% of global fur production, with pelts from around 27 million animals turned into high-end garments in 2021.
Notably, 19 potentially high-risk viruses were detected in the northeastern province of Shandong, which contains many fur animal farms. The findings revealed potential virus transmission between farmed animals and wild animals, and from humans to farmed animals, indicating that fur farming represents an important transmission hub for viruses that risk causing disease in people.
Lots More Reading About This:
Dozens of new viruses are emerging from Chinese fur farms (msn.com)
Pandemic Fears as Dozens of ‘High Risk’ Viruses Found in China’s Fur Farms (msn.com)
Fears fresh pandemic outbreak could spark in China’s fur farms (msn.com)
Potential Outbreak-Causing Viruses Found in China’s Fur Animals – BNN Bloomberg
Viruses detected in China’s fur farm animals, including seven types of coronaviruses (alarabiya.net)
Regards Mark
Dozens of viruses – some of which have the potential to spill over into humans – have been detected mixing in animals at fur farms in China, sparking news fears of a fresh pandemic outbreak, researchers have said.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists have been warning that farming mammals such as minks for their fur could make it easier for new viruses to cross over from the wild and spark fresh outbreaks.
Virologist Edward Holmes, who has led research into Covid-19, told AFP he felt that the global fur farming industry ‘is one most likely ways by which a new pandemic will start’.
Regards Mark
Dozens of viruses – some of which have the potential to spill over into humans – have been detected mixing at fur farms in China. Pictured: foxes and mink on a fur farm in China
A WHALE suspected of being a spy for Vladimir Putin before it “defected” from Russia may have been shot dead, animal rights activists claim.
The infamous white beluga Hvaldmir was found dead this weekend after unsuspecting fisherman saw his carcass floating off the coast of Norway.
Suspicious animal rights groups are now looking into if the 14ft whale was actually a victim of foul play and “senselessly murdered”.
Concerned organisations, OneWhale and NOAH (National Office of Animal Health), say they believe all signs point towards the animal being gunned down.
A police report, both groups claim to have seen, reportedly says Hvaldmir suffered “intentional human-inflicted injury”.
They also say bullet wounds were found on the 1,200kg whale’s corpse.
Continue reading (with video and photos) at:
Very, very sad world when such a magnificent animal is accused of ‘defecting’ and then being hunted down and murdered by humans because of this farce. Does a whale ‘defect’ ? – no, it has more intelligence than that. It simply wants to live its life as a marine animal, enjoying the norms that hopefully would come with it; not being accused of being a a traitor in some East / West ‘sided’ ‘human’ trained spy machine that in the end is terminated because of what the humans think. I find this such a pathetically sad story which shows how some of the human species regard those in the animal kingdom. Sad that the Putins, Netinyahu’s, and Trump do not consider the wonders that exist outside of their pathetic little (and I mean little) power grab personal races to maintain being at the ‘top’ (top of what ?). Pathetic, and a danger to normal compassionate people, all of them.
Regards Mark
World Animals Voice 