Category: General News

Environmental, General News, Hunting

USA: ‘Boycott Wyoming’ – The Call After 100,000 Signature Petition Re Wild Wolf Torture Video.

Roberts’ (above) social media accounts show how he is an avid hunter who frequently hunts wild animals alongside his kids. – What a way to raise kids !!!

Upset animal lovers descend on Wyoming over wild wolf torture video – claiming the footage has left them with ‘nightmares’ and calling for a boycott of the state

Latest:

Upset animal lovers descend on Wyoming over wild wolf torture video – claiming the footage has left them with ‘nightmares’ and calling for a boycott of the state | Daily Mail Online

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13305103/wolf-wyoming-cody-roberts-green-reiver-bar-disturbing-video-kissing.html

Old post on this issue:

USA: JUSTICE FOR WOLF RUN DOWN BY SNOWMOBILE, TORTURED, AND KILLED AT WYOMING BAR – Petition. – World Animals Voice

Video filmed by witnesses showed him kissing the barely conscious wolf and laughing at its distress as it lay on the floor of the Green River Bar

Roberts dragged the wolf into the bar over protests from the owner, and left it there for hours while he drank.

‘He was a jokester about it, while it was just sitting there bleeding to death… He was drunk and rambling mostly. A guy who thinks highly of himself.‘

The owner and many of the other patrons in the bar were unhappy with the situation, but no one challenged Roberts and the bar staff didn’t tell him to leave.

Environmental, General News, Hunting

Germany: Another Wolf Run Over At The Schluchsee: Animal Was Pregnant. WE SAY It Was Shot By Hunters And The Body Thrown Onto The Road To Be Hit By A Car.

The only female wolf in Baden-Württemberg was probably run over by a car near Schluchsee on Wednesday. Exactly where a wolf pup was fatally captured in December.

WAV Comment – Does not look that ‘damaged’ if it was ‘run over’ by a car. Where is the driver ? – A hunters bullet does not cause massive damage !

Wounds and traces of blood in the fur: A photo shows the dead wolf that was run over on the B500 between the Windgfällweiher and the municipality of Schluchsee (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district).

It is not the first dead wolf in the Black Forest. Back in December last year, there was a collision between a car and an eight-month-old wolf pup.

WAV Comment – “Exactly where a wolf pup was fatally captured in December”  We have contacts who reside in this very area.  Hunters are not supposed to kill wolves; but … many of them ignore the rules – it is exactly the same with the protected Lynx.   The body of a shot (hunted) animal will be thrown onto the road, without failure, after the bullet has been removed, and then left to be run over by a vehicle to make the incident look like a road kill, thus making it all look like a terrible accident – being hit by a car, when in fact the animal was actually shot by hunters.

Female killed in accident: wolf was pregnant

According to police, the collision occurred early Wednesday morning. Around seven o’clock, the animal is said to have crossed the road and was fatally hit by a motorist. The Forest Research Institute (FVA) in Freiburg has now seized the animal. Micha Herdtfelder, head of the Wildlife Institute at the FVA, has confirmed to SWR that it is a female wolf – most likely the female from the wolf pack at Schluchsee. In addition, the animal was pregnant.

The carcass is taken to the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin for further examination. The aim is to obtain nationwide uniform data on the health and nutritional status of killed wolves.

Ministry of the Environment: Formation of packs in BW off the table for the time being

After the only female wolf in Baden-Württemberg was run over, the rebuilding of a pack may have moved into the distant future. “The formation of packs is now off the table in Baden-Württemberg,” said Claudia Hailfinger, press spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Environment.

As the only reproducing female wolf, the female wolf played an important role in the return of the once native predator. After their presumed death, only male wolves are now settled in Baden-Württemberg. According to the Ministry of the Environment, offspring depend on immigrant ferries. It is unclear whether this will happen next year or again in ten years.

Puppy run over a few months ago

Already last December, the only wolf pup in Baden-Württemberg had died on the B500 near Schluchsee. Now it is very likely that his mother died there as well. The puppy was about eight months old and weighed 20 kilograms.

He also had mange, a contagious skin disease. The puppy had been detected in July 2023 by photo trap of the Forest Research Institute (FVA). It was the first known wolf offspring in about 150 years. Since 1866, the wolf was considered extinct in Baden-Württemberg.

In 2015, the first wolf was detected in the country, the animal came from Switzerland. It was run over in the same year on the A5 in Lahr (Ortenaukreis). It was not until 2017 that the first male resettled permanently in the Black Forest.

In 2023, the first pack formed in the municipality of Schluchsee. However, Baden-Württemberg is still a long way from a stable population. Nevertheless, the number of specimens is increasing.

Another sedentary wolf detected in the northern Black Forest

In mid-February, a male wolf was genetically identified in the northern Black Forest. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the animal originally comes from a pack in the Gutenbrunn area of Lower Austria. The male dog is probably three or four years old. According to the ministry, his new “Hornisgrinde Territory” in the northern Black Forest is located in the already existing Wolf Prevention Black Forest funding area. The area encompasses the entire natural area of the Black Forest. It has a size of about 8,800 square kilometers.

So far, comparatively few specimens live in the country. By way of comparison, in the 2022/2023 monitoring year, a total of 184 wolf packs, 47 pairs of wolves and 22 sedentary lone wolves were counted nationwide by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Federal Documentation and Advice Centre on the Subject of Wolves (DBBW). Nationwide, the wolf focus is also more likely to be in Lower Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Nevertheless, incidents on the pastures always cause a stir in the southwest.

Farm Animals, General News, Stray Animals, Uncategorized

Croatia: Excellent ! – Increased Penalties For Animal Abuse in Croatia: Abandonment Now A Crime.

17 April 2024

Prijatelji životinja

Over 10,000 animals are abandoned each year in Croatia.

It’s not only a problem for domestic animals like dogs and cats, but also farmed animals.

An amendment of the country’s Penal Code has now made abandoning an animal a criminal offence punishable by up to 2 years in prison, as well as increasing penalties for causing unnecessary pain or suffering, killing or abusing animals.

Amendments to the Croatian Penal Code came into effect on 2 April, bringing with them the long-awaited positive changes in animal protection.

Under the new legislation, individuals who abandon any animal they are responsible for will face imprisonment for up to one year. If the abandonment results in the death of an animal or involves the abandonment of multiple animals, the perpetrator could be sentenced to up to two years in prison. 

This significant victory for animal welfare is the culmination of extensive efforts by Animal Friends Croatia, which initiated a petition in 2021 urging for animal abandonment to be treated as a criminal offence. Notably, 80% of the population supported this campaign.

Animal abandonment can now be directly reported to the police or municipal prosecutor’s office, rather than to veterinary inspectors. This streamlined process aims to expedite responses and facilitate the prosecution of offenders. It also serves as a deterrent against animal abandonment, as individuals are now aware that they risk imprisonment and may take the long-term care of animals into consideration before acquiring one. 

The penalties for causing unnecessary pain or suffering to animals, and for killing or severely abusing animals, have been increased from a maximum of one year to two years. In cases where these offences are committed for financial gain, perpetrators may now face imprisonment for up to three years instead of two.

Another new measure allows courts to impose restrictions on individuals who have committed animal-related offences if there is a risk of reoffending; a ban on owning or acquiring animals for a period of one to five years.

Animal Friends Croatia is now urging citizens with information about law violations to promptly report any instances of animal abandonment and abuse to the police.

Regards Mark

Excellent, and we congratulate our friends at Animal Friends Croatia for getting this fantastic result.

We have experienced similar issues in the past in Serbia – another Balkans nation.

Check out all of our past work at https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-serbian-animals/

General News, Vivisection

EU: More Comprehensive Update Of Annexes Of Animals In Science Directive Needed.

11 April 2024

In a move to update requirements for the appropriate accommodation, care, and killing of animals used for scientific purposes, the European Commission recently adopted a delegated directive with additional requirements for a number of species; but should more be done?

Article 50 of Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes empowers the Commission to adapt the Annexes in order to ensure that they reflect technical and scientific progress. 

At the time of adoption of the Directive, there was insufficient scientific evidence on the appropriate housing, care and killing methods for certain species, so species-specific requirements for these species were not included.

Since the adoption of the Directive, new scientific knowledge has become available on the welfare requirements of cephalopods, zebrafish and passerine birds used for scientific purposes, and on the killing of cephalopods and zebrafish in a manner causing least pain, suffering and distress. New scientific evidence has also emerged on the inappropriateness of using inert gases to kill rodents. In the light of this evidence, the Commission decided to revise the relevant Annexes (i.e. Annexes III and IV) to the Directive. 

In early 2023, the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) was requested by the Commission to provide a scientific opinion in support of the revision of Annexes III and IV. A call for information was launched by SCHEER to invite all interested parties to submit scientific information on the specific questions on which SCHEER was asked to provide a scientific opinion. Eurogroup for Animals actively engaged with some of its member organisations to provide feedback. The scientific opinion was published in October 2023. Taking into account the opinion issued by SCHEER, the Commission drafted a Delegated directive and initiated a public consultation earlier this year, with Eurogroup for Animals contributing input to the draft. Subsequently, the Delegated directive concerning the revision of Annexes III and IV was officially adopted on 13 March 2024.

We welcome the efforts to establish new standards for cephalopods, zebra fish and passerine birds previously overlooked. However, we also express regret that the revision has missed the opportunity to update existing provisions for other species.

In accordance with Article 50 of the Directive, we call for a more comprehensive revision of Annexes III and IV to amend the provisions for these limited species, aligning them with the latest technical and scientific progress.

Regards Mark

General News, Uncategorized

Italy: New Tool Allows Citizens To Report Abuse Of Crustaceans.

New tool allows citizens to report abuse of crustaceans

15 April 2024

ALI

Decapod crustaceans, such as lobsters, crabs, shrimps and scampi, are frequently kept alive throughout their journey through the seafood supply chain. A new tool allows anyone to report mistreatment whenever these animals are found suffering due to being stocked at high densities, tied, iced, or kept out of water.

Italian citizens can now directly report instances of cruelty towards decapod crustaceans, with the aim of pursuing legal action where possible, thanks to the newly launched SOS Crustaceans project, part of the On behalf of crustaceans campaign, by organisation Animal Law Italia. Through this campaign, the organisation’s team of legal experts will initiate a series of ground-breaking legal actions, so that the need for businesses to follow the latest scientific evidence is definitively recognised.

Something had to be done to actively protect these sentient animals from the many acts of mistreatment that they frequently experience in the seafood supply chain. We hope that through this project, at least some of the practices that the industry routinely exposes these animals to, such as detention on ice and stocking at high densities, will no longer be permitted.

Dr Lorenzo Fruscella, Campaign Lead

Decapod crustaceans would never experience temperatures close to zero in their natural habitats, but in the seafood supply chain they are often kept alive in cold storage, out of water, laid on beds of ice. In many cases their claws are tied, they are not fed, often for weeks, and are forced to live in barren tanks in close proximity with other individuals, despite the fact that most of them are solitary and highly territorial species, at times exposed to direct light sources. Their use within the industry also subjects them to repeated manipulations by inadequately trained personnel, to ultimately be killed with methods that cause prolonged suffering.

Although there are no laws at national level that protect these animals in Italy, there have already been multiple convictions for detention on ice. In Florence, a restaurant manager received a fine of €5,000 for having detained live decapod crustaceans in a cold room and with their claws tied. In 2019, a live lobster with its claws tied on an ice tray was found in the refrigerator of a restaurant near Milan. The public prosecutor requested a fine of €2,000 via criminal decree, which was later reduced to three months of community service. 

Animal Law Italia hopes that obtaining further pioneering criminal convictions will be the first step towards changing the law to ensure that decapod crustaceans are adequately protected. 

Regards Mark

General News, Uncategorized

(CN) They are hung, they are bludgeoned, they are microwaved …

CHINA Allows It

Please take action by supporting the petitions; thank you. Things (not always pleasant) are getting through to us now, that maybe the perverted abusers are now starting to feel the heat a bit more; we must keep on with the pressure regardless until the Chinese authorities take action to close these networks down.

This afternoon, 1515hrs GMT (15/4/24) , 16,097 people have signed the UK petition. 9,624 have signed the German petition. That is around 25,000 people who have supported.

Also, same time and date – there have been 143,315 Views of the UK petition, and it has been further shared and passed on by 12,790 people. Thus, just with the UK petition alone, around 145,000 people have now been informed, and are briefed on the cat abuses going on via the Chinese network sites.

The petitions continue;

Thank You.

PETITIONS:

https://www.change.org/p/chinese-cat-torture-time-for-action-to-stop-it

https://www.change.org/p/china-katzen-folter-ring-cat-torture-ring



Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

Spain: Octopus farm must be stopped, say campaigners, as new documents reveal plans were reckless and threatened environment, wildlife and public health.

Octopus farm must be stopped, say campaigners, as new documents reveal plans were reckless and threatened environment, wildlife and public health

8 April 2024

CIWF

Press Release

Campaigners are calling on a seafood company to scrap plans to build the world’s first octopus farm in Spain as new documents reveal that – as well as ignoring animal cruelty concerns – it failed to consider the significant threats the farm would pose to wildlife, the environment and public health.

Environment report was insufficient & exposes ‘hypocrisy’ of Nueva Pescanova’s sustainability claims

NGOs Eurogroup for Animals, Compassion in World Farming and AnimaNaturalis are urging company Nueva Pescanova to immediately stop the project on the grounds that, as well as causing cruelty to octopuses, the farm contradicts its own corporate sustainability claims. Among the concerns is that the farm could threaten dolphins and turtles near the site, and its discharges could add to local water pollution and CO2 emissions. The probability of these impacts was considered to be ‘significantly high’ by the Canary Islands Government.

The company’s website claims that it is committed to ‘maintaining biodiversity’, ‘protecting the ecosystem’ and ‘promoting the circular economy’. Yet its own environmental report for the farm at the Port of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, was considered insufficient by the Canary Islands Government due to concerns that the plans could:

threaten local wildlife, including protected cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises) and vulnerable sea turtles, through noise and water pollution due to its close proximity to a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

pose a public health risk by using nearby seawater which is not of a high enough quality to be used for human food production.

cause pollution including CO2 emissions, odour concerns, and discharges that could significantly contribute to the already highly contaminated harbour waters.

threaten a protected species of algae – cystoseira – which is present in the surroundings.

involve highly unsustainable practices such as the use of wild fish as feed and high energy consumption of the facility.

Speaking on behalf of the team of Legal Natura legal experts who examined the documents, lawyer, Maria Angeles López Lax, said: “Nueva Pescanova’s environmental report was inadequate, lacking basic information to allow the Government to assess the impact of the farm on the environment and public health. It’s up to the company to prove that the farm would not impact on protected species or risk public health before permission can be granted, yet the company has failed to address even the most basic of these concerns.”

Octopuses are unique, intelligent, naturally solitary creatures who are not suited to the overcrowded conditions that are typical of factory farms. This would increase aggression and can ultimately lead to cannibalism. They are also carnivorous, meaning they need to be fed wild fish in captivity, an unsustainable practice that would put extra pressure on already overexploited fish populations. 

Compassion in World Farming launched its report Octopus Farming: A Recipe for Disaster in 2021 revealing scientific evidence that octopus farming would be both cruel and environmentally damaging. A year ago, Compassion and Eurogroup for Animals launched Uncovering the Horrific Reality of Octopus Farming – its joint response to Nueva Pescanova’s plans to farm around one million of these intelligent, unique animals in an aquatic factory farm annually. 

On World Octopus Day last year (8 October), 75 NGOs, experts and public figures, led by Compassion and Eurogroup for Animals, wrote to the Canary Islands Government urging it to reject the plans. Thousands of supporters also took action, urging the President of the community to stop the octopus farm.

It is unjustifiable to introduce this new type of factory farming, as climate scientists warn of the urgent need to change our food systems and evolve our diets to become more sustainable. We deserve better than continued environmental devastation to fill corporate pockets, and these incredible animals deserve better than lives diminished to confinement and suffering.

Keri Tietge, Aquatic Animals Policy Officer, Eurogroup for Animals

 Not only would this octopus farm cause cruelty to these naturally solitary and intelligent animals and be environmentally unsustainable, it’s also hypocritical for Nueva Pescanova to push plans that contradict their own corporate sustainability claims.

Dr Elena Lara, a marine biologist and Senior Research Manager, Compassion in World Farming,

Our society should be in a moment of progress towards a more empathetic and compassionate treatment of animals. If this aberration continues, despite the rejection of the scientific community and a large part of society, we will be facing a serious rupture of these values.

Cristina Ibáñez, Campaign Coordinator, AnimaNaturalis

The NGOs are calling on supporters to tag Nueva Pescanova on social media urging them to immediately stop their plans to build the octopus farm. 

Regards Mark

China Cat Torture, General News

USDA: ‘TORTURE KING’ CHARGED WITH CREATING AND DISTRIBUTING VILE BABY MONKEY TORTURE VIDEOS.

‘TORTURE KING’ CHARGED WITH CREATING AND DISTRIBUTING VILE BABY MONKEY TORTURE VIDEOS

By Allison Hester | April 4, 2024

A man in Chesapeake, Virginia who called himself the “Torture King” has been charged for conspiring to create and distribute animal crush videos.

Michael Macartney, age 50, was arrested by federal prosecutors for allegedly funding and selling videos of baby and adult monkeys being harmed and killed for entertainment in online groups. Members of the monkey torture groups from across the globe would reportedly pool funds to have video makers in Indonesia inflict gruesome acts of violence on camera.

Macartney was featured in the BBC documentary “The Monkey Haters,” for which Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates provided information and intelligence.

Lady Freethinker applauds law enforcement for taking action against the disturbing trend of sickening monkey torture videos, which Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates have been investigating for more than two years.

Macartney allegedly collected nearly 2,300 videos of monkeys being tortured, mutilated, sexually violated, and killed, and worked with a global animal torture ring to fund, develop, watch, promote, and sell such videos online.

“Animal crushing” is a term used in federal criminal law to describe when live animals are “purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.”

Over the course of nine months, Macartney was paid over 300 times for the horrific videos, according to his charging documents.

Multiple suspects in Indonesia, the U.S., and the U.K. have been arrested and charged for participating in monkey torture rings, and others are currently under investigation.

Regards Mark

Please sign our Cat Torture Petitions – we need to get prosecutions and actions here also – Thanks Mark

https://www.change.org/p/chinese-cat-torture-time-for-action-to-stop-it

https://www.change.org/p/china-katzen-folter-ring-cat-torture-ring