Category: Hunting

Hunting

The end of bird trapping in France?

Committee against Bird Murder e.V.-Report

Just a few months ago, the French Supreme Court banned the use of liming rods, which were still allowed in Provence despite the ban by the EU bird protection directive.

In June the court upheld the verdict in the second instance – catching birds with limesticks is finally over.
Now the same court has followed up and has made a truly unbelievable decision: the judges have classified all bird trapping permits in the country as non-EU-compliant and banned them.

This applies to the brutal stone crush traps in the Massif Central as well as the horsehair snares in the Ardennes, as well as the nets for lapwing in the Champagne and skylark in the Bay of Biscay.

For all of these fishing methods, which have been banned throughout the EU for decades, France had issued generous exemptions.

Now these “old hunting traditions” are facing their final end.

It is still too early to celebrate, however, because it remains to be seen how the government in Paris will deal with the ruling by the Supreme Court.
It is now up to President Macron whether he finally takes migratory bird protection seriously or kneels in front of the hunting lobby.

So far, bird trapping permits have always been renewed in early autumn. So the next few weeks will be crucial.

Time enough to put the champagne in the cold!

https://www.facebook.com/Komitee.CABS/

And I mean…French President Macron is seen as a proponent of hunting.
1.1 million hunters are registered in France. Just for comparison: The German Hunting Association currently has 383,828 hunting licenses.

Macron’s bows to the hunters are sometimes tangible, sometimes symbolic.
For example, he halved the price of the hunting license from 400 to 200 euros.

But Emmanuel Macron’s throne is wobbling at the moment.
The “yellow vest” movement, the massive protests in the country with 200,000 protesters against Green Pass are not good indicators for his re-election.
Therefore Macron should not think about the hunters at all, but about the majority of the population of France who are against hunting, and thus he has to protect the people’s desire for animal welfare and not serve a specific clientele or lobby.

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, Hunting

Sea Shepherd: eleven ghost nets in just four weeks destroyed!

Campaign start a complete success: eleven ghost nets in just four weeks

A Sea Shepherd report

The BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN 2021 started with great success.

During the first four weeks of the campaign on Fehmarn and Rügen (which are among the largest islands in Germany), eleven ghost nets with a salvage weight of more than 900 kilograms and hundreds of fishing lures were recovered from the Baltic Sea. These nets, fish hooks and lines will no longer kill marine animals.

The team spent the first two weeks of the campaign on the island of Fehmarn.

Patrols were carried out almost every day to locate possible ghost nets and finally to lift them. Because even though ghost nets are obviously causing massive damage, finding them and removing them from the ocean is a major challenge.

It takes a lot of preparation, the use of technical equipment and ultimately perseverance as well as great efforts on the part of the crew to eliminate such death traps.

With combined forces, the net is pulled on board. Photo: Robert May / Sea Shepherd

More than 200 kilograms of ghost net

The largest ghost network on Fehmarn was recovered in the lake area in the direction of Puttgarden (District of the island of Fehmarn)
On June 14th, volunteers aboard the EMANUEL BRONNER examined some gillnets that had been deployed in the area.
Gillnets are often used near wrecks to catch cod that find shelter there.

With the help of the underwater robot and a structure scan, the area was examined more closely and various wrecks found.
So the diving team decided to do an exploration dive.
At a depth of 24 meters, the team discovered a massive trawl net about 40 meters long that had become entangled in a wreck.
There were many dead marine animals in the net, including cod in particular, but also starfish and crabs.
What was particularly treacherous about this net were the torn openings through which more and more fish got into the net.
But not all marine animals found their way out again.
“The net was like a prison under water,” explained mission diver Antonia Kirner (Sea Shepherd Germany) after her exploratory dive.

Continue reading “Sea Shepherd: eleven ghost nets in just four weeks destroyed!” →

Environmental, General News, Hunting

Scientists create embryos to save northern white rhino.

Fatu, right, and her mother Najin are the only two remaining northern white rhinos
Fatu, right, and her mother Najin are the only two remaining northern white rhinos

Scientists create embryos to save northern white rhino

Scientists working to bring back the functionally extinct northern white rhino announced they had successfully created three additional embryos of the subspecies, bringing the total to 12.

One of world’s two remaining live specimens—female Fatu who lives with her mother Najin on Kenya’s 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta wildlife conservancy—provided the eggs for the project, while the sperm used was from two different deceased males.

Scientific consortium Biorescue described in a press release late Thursday how the eggs were collected from Fatu in early July before being airlifted to a lab in Italy for fertilisation, development and preservation.

Neither Fatu nor Najin is capable of carrying a calf to term, so surrogate mothers for the embryos will be selected from a population of southern white rhinos.

Ol Pejeta director Richard Vigne told AFP on Friday that he believed in the project’s chances of success, while emphasising the high stakes.

“No one is going to pretend that this is going to be easy,” he said.

“We are doing things which are cutting-edge from a scientific perspective and we a dealing with genetics, with the two last northen white rhinos left on the planet,” said Vigne.

“There are many, many things that could go wrong,” he said. “I think everybody understand the challenges that remain.”

Since 2019 Biorescue has collected 80 eggs from Najin and Fatu, but the 12 viable embryos all hail from the younger rhino.

The project is a multi-national effort with scientists from the German Leibniz Institute backing the Kenya Wildlife Service and Ol Pejeta, and the Italian Avantea laboratory providing fertilisation support.

Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala welcomed the news.

“It is very encouraging to note that the project has continued to make good progress in its ambitious attempts to save an iconic species from extinction,” he said in the press release.

Rhinoceroses have very few natural predators but their numbers have been decimated by poaching since the 1970s.

Modern rhinos have roamed the planet for 26 million years and it is estimated that more than a million still lived in the wild in the middle of the 19th century.

Scientists create embryos to save northern white rhino (phys.org)

Regards Mark

Environmental, General News, Hunting

Setting The Record Straight on the Dolphin “Smile”. Also The ‘Taiji Dolphin Hunt’ (Japan).

Our Head of Wildlife, Dr. Jan Schmidt-Burbach Sets the Record Straight on the Dolphin Smile

This month, we’re releasing a new video titled Breaking the Myths narrated by Dr. Jan Schmidt-Burbach, our Global Head of Wildlife Research and Animal Welfare.  

Jan is an expert on the captive dolphin industry and the author of our report, Behind The Smile. In the video, Jan addresses a common misconception that dolphins smile. We don’t want to give too much away so watch now!

Sincerely,

Nicole Barrantes  

Wildlife Campaign Manager

World Animal Protection

PS Looking for more information? Read our Behind the Smile report published in 2019 

Additional

With the Summer Olympics currently taking place in Japan; is it not time to remember what Japan does to dolphins each year, re thee Taiji Hunt ?

Here are a few past links (all under one heading – take your picks to view) of ours (WAV) relating to this massive disgraceful abuse of very intelligent animals.:

Search Results for “Taiji” – World Animals Voice

Regards Mark

Pictures: the Taiji Hunt, Japan.

Environmental, General News, Hunting, Uncategorized

Denmark: New Footage Emerges Of 2021 Pilot Whale Murders. 175 Whales Killed This Year; Nothing Changes !

Well, the Danes are not showing themselves as an animal caring nation.  Very recently we had the mass Mink murders associated with fur farming and Covid; – and yes, we have never had a response to our letter – Denmark: Still No Response From The Danes Regarding Our Letter of 12/11/20. That’s Life – Or Death, If You Are Danish Mink ! – World Animals Voice

Go here  About Us. | Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) and scroll down until you see the pictures of the pilot whale murders.  Around 1991 Joanne, myself and Trev took to the streets in England demanding that supermarkets boycotted fish products from the Faroes because of this slaughter.  You can see a picture below of us taken by the press / media.

Tesco terrors

So here we are in 2021, some 30+ years later, and the murder is still taking place.  This year it has been 175 innocent, wonderful, intelligent pilot whales.  One could say whales that are much more intelligent than the brain dead human murderers who hack them to bits for what ?

I was angry about it 30 years ago; and I still am.  Nothing has changed, apart from the reputation of Denmark sinking even lower into the mud than it was already

Here is footage I have just had through about the 2021 murder:

I wanted to show this to you; with the news that nothing has changed for a very long time !

Regards Mark

Hunting

Hunting dogs

It would be enough to look at their eyes to grasp SUFFERING and LONELINESS!
Like in a real farm, they are kept in series and linked in a chain!

Foto: Gabriella Dimastrodonato-Italia

A condition of perennial slavery that does not allow them to live life except in those few hours of hunting in which they will do everything to please their tormentor.

They will be trained in every abuse and deprivation because they are considered real objects to be disposed of without scruples …
And when they are no longer suitable for hunting, they will be mercilessly killed in the most disparate ways.

These are the hunters who love nature and the dogs they have!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1lesliensutiles1/

And I mean…Even the pure-bred dog with pedigree bought for 500 – 600 euros is “disposed of” in the event of “failure” without great conscience.
The hounds are particularly hard hit.
The wild boar hunters in particular persistently hold on to the old wisdom that a “segugio” is born as a useful hunting dog.

If the young dog still does not show good disposition in the second winter, the risk of not being taken home again becomes very real for him.

Animal rights activists never tired of pointing out the grievances.

“The Italian hunter uses the hunting dog as an extension of his arm, but the able assistant is in no way rewarded for this work.

While the game bird hunter keeps an average of one or two four-legged friends (mostly Setter or Epagneul Breton), the wild boar hunter often owns up to 17 dogs, the majority of which are small mixed breeds, which are more or less fortuitously sent to the hunt, so that many of them die in the first few days of the season.

Many dogs are seriously or fatally injured during the three-month wild boar hunt.
But how could a dog that was chained for nine months or lived in some hole in its own excrement suddenly hunt well?
A dog that may be completely worried, thanks to the diet of dry bread and leftover food and the lack of exercise, was unable to develop muscles. “
(Source: cane in toscana)

Here in Germany it’s not much better either.
It is said that “the hunters are the Vatican of Germany”.
Hunting is a hobby for psychopaths everywhere, mostly practiced by the higher strata of society

A civilized, empathic person can hardly imagine that today’s society, in the 21st century, allows this wretched minority to do what they want in the forest.

My best regards to all, Venus

Farm Animals, Hunting

Austria: Minister of Agriculture wants wolves to be shot

Austria’s Minister of Agriculture, Elisabeth Köstinger, in a broadcast called for the “removal”, i.e. killing, of wolves that keep killing sheep and goats.

This is legally possible (!!)

Elisabeth Köstinger

The wolf debate also reached the federal capital.
Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) took a political stand on Friday against the demands of the green coalition partner and behind those of the farmers who are calling for problem wolves to be shot down.

“If no action is taken now and problem wolves are removed, the local alpine pastures will soon no longer be able to be cultivated,” the minister said in a broadcast (!!!)

Across Austria, wolves had killed around 200 animals in the past few weeks.
In Salzburg, three wolves killed at least 75 sheep – around 25 are still missing.
The alpine farmers see it as “cruelty to animals such as would not have happened in the past hundred years” (!!!)

On Thursday they vented their anger at a rally in Salzburg’s old town.
Again and again they speak of the fact that the wolf falls into a “blood frenzy” when it rips off their animals.

Hubert Stock, the state’s wolf commissioner, describes this as a natural hunting behavior.
“It seems irrational, but as long as something is moving, the wolf hunts.”

In order to protect their animals, many farmers have not driven their sheep and goats up to the alpine pastures this year – or have already driven them down again.

Instead of in the heights, the animals are now housed on the fenced winter pasture near their farms.

ÖVP Provincial Councilor Josef Schwaiger points out the consequences for tourism: If animals no longer graze on the alpine pastures, the hiking trails would be covered with bushes.

Minister Köstinger also emphasizes the possible consequences of wolf cracks for the tourist use of alpine pastures and hiking trails.

“The peaceful coexistence of wolves and alpine farming is an illusion. Wolves are predators that often strike indiscriminately and kill alpine cattle.” (!!)

The Minister of Agriculture also points out that the “removal” – that is, killing – of individual problem wolves is legally “entirely possible”.

Even if the wolf is strictly protected according to the EU nature protection directive, the fauna-flora-habitat directive.
It says that all “deliberate forms of capture and killing” are banned in the EU.
Exceptions to this guideline are possible, however, if individual wolves would lead to “damage in particular to crops and animal husbandry as well as to forests”.

The State Council now wants to define conditions and areas of action by ordinance.
However, he should not get the necessary approval from the Greens. They spoke out against the regulation in advance.
The nature conservation organization WWF also criticized the demands of Agriculture Minister Köstinger.

“The wolf is a strictly protected species and an important part of intact nature,” says the WWF.
Instead of discussing the shooting of problem wolves, there should be nationwide coordinated herd protection programs as well as “a revival of shepherd life based on the Swiss model”.

https://www.sn.at/salzburg/politik/friedliche-koexistenz-ist-eine-illusion-ministerin-ist-fuer-den-abschuss-des-wolfes-106352221

And I mean…Shepherds howl when wolves, bears or eagles steal a sheep from them, but I have never seen a shepherd cry in front of a three-story truck that carries sheep hundreds of miles on top of each other through a heat of 35 ° or even 40 °.
They are the same animals that the farmer gives for slaughter anyway.
Because the farmers keep animals for economic reasons.

Grazing animals are also ultimately brutally killed in slaughterhouses without any control and carted into the mobile coffins on all the highways of the world.
And that is also subsidized.

Wolves make grazing animals impossible?
Whta an outrageous lie!
Wild animals make up just 3% of the total biomass of terrestrial vertebrates on earth!
The rest is “useful” animals + people!

According to the Federal Statistical Office, an average of more than two million animals are slaughtered in Germany every day.
Per day!

So … not even whole wild animals around the world would be able to do that in a hundred years !!

Wolves do not practice brutal mass animal husbandry, they either eat what is there or starve to death.

But the farmer’s knitting pattern is always the same: dissemination of incorrect or incomplete information, coupled with targeted scaremongering.

Köstinger is Vice President of the Austrian Farmers’ Union.
That can explain some of the reasons why she calls for the “removal” of the wolf.
To date, no Minister of Agriculture in Austria has supported farmers and hunters as outrageously as Köstinger.

Perhaps the Minister’s “removal” would be the best choice for humans and animals.

My best regards to all, Venus

Hunting

Hunting is murder

“Turning children into soldiers is deeply perverse, but don’t think we’re lagging behind Africa in anything.
We let these killers break their own children and even promote their deeds in elementary schools”.

If you want to become a serial offender in the future, you practice early!

My best regards to all, Venus

 

Hunting

Catching with limesticks for birds is now banned in all EU countries.

It has now become a reality, what animal welfare organizations have been fighting for for years.
The catching of limesticks for birds is now banned in all EU countries. France was the last country to classify the fishing method as illegal!

It’s a breakthrough in bird conservation.
Since June 28, 2021, the controversial hunt for limed birds has been banned throughout the European Union. As the last country in the EU, France has now declared the fishing practice illegal. The French Supreme Administrative Court announced last Monday that the trapping technique for blackbirds and thrushes could not be approved in their current condition.

Eric Neuling, bird protection consultant at the German Nature Conservation Union (NABU), welcomes the verdict: “At NABU, we have been fighting against the hunting of limedrods for years. The verdict is a groundbreaking success for bird protection across Europe.”

Illegal bird trapping in Cyprus with liming rods and nets

Up until the end of the day, liming was still practiced in some areas of the south of France. Every year around 40,000 birds – including protected species – were painfully caught in France. The decision of the French administrative court now followed a ruling by the European Court of Justice in March, according to which the technology fundamentally violates EU law.

Hunting tradition is no longer placed above animal welfare

When catching limescences, bird trappers set sticky traps for birds by smearing sticky glue on branches.
If the birds perch on the prepared rods or fly close by, the animals stick to the sticky paste. As the birds attempt to escape, they begin to flutter in panic, which causes the feathers and wings to stick together even more.
Often the only thing left for the animals is painful death.

Ramifications for Cyprus after European court rules on bird trapping | Cyprus Mail

Continue reading “Catching with limesticks for birds is now banned in all EU countries.” →

Environmental, General News, Hunting

USA: Minnesota DNR calls off wolf hunt this year despite support from farmers, hunters.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday that there will be no wolf hunting or trapping season in Minnesota in 2021. Agency officials said they will wait until a new state wolf management plan is in place early in 2022 before deciding on any wolf harvest options. (Photo by iStock/AB Photography courtesy of the Wisconsin DNR)
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday that there will be no wolf hunting or trapping season in Minnesota in 2021. Agency officials said they will wait until a new state wolf management plan is in place early in 2022 before deciding on any wolf harvest options. (Photo by iStock/AB Photography courtesy of the Wisconsin DNR) 

Minnesota DNR calls off wolf hunt this year despite support from farmers, hunters

Agency officials made the annoucement during a video meeting of the state wolf advisory committee.

Minnesota DNR calls off wolf hunt this year despite support from farmers, hunters | Park Rapids Enterprise

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday, July 7, said there will be no wolf hunting and trapping season in Minnesota in 2021 as the agency continues to develop a new long-term wolf management plan.

DNR officials made the announcement during a video meeting of the agency’s wolf plan advisory committee that is helping plot the future of wolf management in the state.

Agency biologists say they won’t authorize a hunt until after a new wolf management plan is in place which they said likely won’t happen until early 2022, but no later than March.

“This morning we reiterated to the (committee) that there would be no decision on a wolf season prior to the completion of the wolf plan update,” Dan Stark, the DNR’s large-carnivore specialist, said Wednesday. “We anticipate the completion of the wolf plan process in early 2022.”

Minnesota could hold a wolf hunting and trapping season this year because the animal has been taken off the federal endangered species list, as of January, with management now in the hands of state and tribal resource agencies.

Current state law says the DNR “may’’ hold a wolf hunt when federal protections are removed. Legislation to force the DNR to hold a wolf hunt, and another bill to prevent them from holding a wolf hunt, both failed to pass the 2021 Minnesota Legislature, leaving the decision up to the agency.

Many farmers and deer hunters have pushed for a wolf season, saying the big canines are killing livestock, threatening pets and people, depleting deer numbers and need to be culled.

But wolf supporters say the animals should remain protected. Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity and a member of the state’s wolf plan advisory committee, said the DNR is making the right decision.

“Minnesota’s wildlife managers have wisely prioritized first updating the management plan to reflect new science and the values of all Minnesotans,’’ she said. “That’s a welcome contrast to what happened just next door in Wisconsin, which rushed to hold a winter hunt and decimated their wolf population earlier this year.”

Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board, pressed by legal action and state lawmakers, ordered a wolf hunt in February which led to 216 wolves being killed in just 72 hours, 82% more than the state goal. Supporters said the culling was long overdue. But critics said the wolf season was too much, too soon after federal delisting. Wisconsin officials are debating another wolf hunt set for November.

In June 2020, the Minnesota DNR released a report that found 87% of Minnesota residents agree that maintaining the state’s wolf population is important. That agency last summer also formed its Wolf Advisory Committee with the goal of evaluating and updating the current 20-year-old Minnesota Wolf Management Plan. Committee members include representatives of local governments, wolf advocacy groups, environmental protection organizations, hunters and trappers and livestock operators.

The DNR estimates that there are about 2,500 wolves in Minnesota currently, by far the most of any state outside Alaska.

Nationally, the Biden administration says it is reconsidering all moves by the Trump administration regarding the Endangered Species Act. Wildlife groups also have moved to sue the federal government over the decision to delist wolves in the western Great Lakes region — Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Regards Mark