Category: Hunting

Overfishing with the blessing of the EU

Report by Martin BuschmannMEP

The short-finned mako is a shark that can be found in almost all seas on earth.

However, its widespread distribution does not prevent it from being extinguished. The stocks are showing strong signs of overfishing and the animal has long been on the red list.

Mako Shark, the fastest shark in the world : An Endangered Species

Most of the mako ends up as bycatch in the nets of the fishing industry. But it is also caught specifically to eat its meat, cut off its fins or just for pleasure. 3000 tons of the ocean shark are landed in the ports of the North Atlantic every year.

The EU is responsible for 55 to 76% of the landings, mostly Spanish ports.

Swift and drastic measures must be taken to keep short-fin mako populations from becoming extinct. An in-depth investigation was conducted in 2017, which found that a recovery would be possible in the coming decades – but only if shark trapping is immediately and completely stopped.

For four years, however, the EU has been putting its hands on its lap, nothing has happened.

In 2019 and 2020, the EU even voted against restricting mako fishing.

In the meantime, the forecasts have clearly deteriorated. Another meeting will take place in 2021 to vote on global fishing quotas. Is the EU finally coming to its senses?

Only the EU and the US are still against the moratorium on short-finned mako. All other states will vote in favor.

Shrtfin Mako Shark face forward

https://www.facebook.com/Tierschutzabgeordneter/

And I mean…Mako sharks grow and reproduce slowly.
Females are slow maturing at approximately 18 years, while males mature much sooner, at 8 years.
Similar to great white shark pups, once born these baby sharks are left to fend to for themselves.
That means: a female shortfin Mako shark is estimated to reach sexual maturity at around 18 years, giving birth to relatively small litters (4-25 pups every 3 years).
Let’s think about what this means for a moment.

A female Mako sharks reproducing and giving birth to a litter for the first time this year would have been born around the year 2003!
This life history characteristic makes these apex predators extremely vulnerable to over-exploitation.

We read in the report that in 2019 and 2020 the EU even voted against restricting mako fisheries.
Like USA too.

But what common economic interests does the EU have if it supports the USA in eradicating Mako sharks from the oceans?
Actually none.
It is only because the EU has only ever cooperated with the powerful, no matter whether it’s the USA, the auto industry or the meat mafia

At the next meeting we will not be surprised if the EU re-enters as a cooperation partner of the USA and represents the interests of criminals again.

My best regards to all, Venus

The trade in exotic animals – a profitable business for criminal people

PETA-Germany

Another case of cruel monkey trade and serious violation of the Animal Welfare Act: In a new research, PETA investigators were able to locate an exotic dealer who was offering baby monkeys a few days old on an exotic platform for self-rearing. Shortly after the birth, the baby monkeys were to be snatched away from their mother and then sold for € 1,000.

We at PETA Germany became aware of an exotic trader from Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Germany) via a relevant internet portal, who was offering “baby monkeys a few weeks old to continue feeding” on the internet.
Undercover, our investigators contacted the dealer and pretended to be interested in one of the monkey children.

Together with ARTE TV-Sender: we, PETA Germany uncovered this case.

During a visit by the investigators on site, the dealers reported that they had been selling baby monkeys in this way to customers around the world for several years. Only recently a monkey was sold to Latvia with an exotic courier.

The monkeys would be torn away from their mother 10-14 days after birth and then bottle-raised. In the case of triplet births, one of the children would be separated from the mother immediately after birth.

On-site research brings the cruel truth to light

In addition to the common marmosets, red-hand tamarins, marmosets from the Czech Republic and cites, protected list monkeys were kept in the dealers’ garden.

Other animals are housed with the dealer’s father for reasons of space.

Various exotic species of monkeys were found in the garden of the dealer.

The early separation of the common marmoset monkey children from their parents is a criminal offense according to §17 No. 1 of the Animal Welfare Act.

Continue reading “The trade in exotic animals – a profitable business for criminal people”

Lombardy and its right-wing populist hunters!

Report of the “Committee against Bird Murder”-19.05.

Right-wing populists in Lombardy kneel in front of the poacher lobby:
The right-wing “Lega”, which is in government in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, wants to soften the already hunting-friendly regulations for the protection of migratory birds with a draft law that has now been presented.

The main point of the amendment to the law is the abolition of controls on live decoys.
In migratory bird hunting – thrushes and skylarks can still be shot in Italy today – hunters are dependent on the use of live decoys.

Since bird trapping has been banned, hunters have theoretically had to resort to bred birds.
But the decoy traders often do not breed the animals, but instead catch them with nets or rob them from nests as chicks.

Tens of thousands of these birds then end up on the market with forged “breeding rings”a mafia-like, well-organized fraud.

So far, committee staff and police officers have spent a lot of time checking these rings.
According to the will of the “Lega”, these controls are now to be prohibited – a free ticket for bird trapping and poaching!
The Italian nature conservation associations – in addition to the Committee against Bird Murder, LAC, LAV and the WWF – announced yesterday 18.5.

Protest actions started calling on the Lombard MPs to reject the change in the law.

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

A few more things on this subject: In Italy, hunting is still a firmly rooted tradition, especially in the countryside.
A total of around 600,000 hunters are registered. Italy has a licensing system, which means that hunters can hunt almost anywhere in their region.
The hunters mainly hunt birds and primarily target migratory birds.

Brescia – a city in Lombardy – is the heart of the Italian hunting arms industry.
Here there is one arms and ammunition factory after the other.

The right-wing populistLega” – avowedly hunting-friendly – has provided the mayor in almost every municipality for decades. Making politics here means, above all, standing up for hunters and the arms industry.

According to the organization “caccia il cacciatore”, there are 10,000 of these permanent huts for bird hunting for every 30,000 hunters in Lombardy.

“The decoys are caught and kept permanently in tiny cages. Their feathers are torn out to start a spring change that is not appropriate for the season. When the feathers grow back, the bird, which is kept in a dark cellar during the summer, says it is spring and sends appropriate signals to its conspecifics.
A caught chaffinch can cost up to 100 euros on the black market. “(Source: caccia il cacciatore).

Of course, it is legally stipulated which species may be shot, how many birds the hunter can kill per day of the hunt and how many decoys he may use. But who really wants to rigorously control that with the enormous number of hunters?

Poaching has an ancient tradition in Italy and, although officially forbidden, is tolerated especially if the prey is “only” birds.
In accordance with local customs, slings, nets, stone traps or bows are used.
But the big problem in Italy is traditional silence.
Everyone knows that neighbor A is laying traps with live decoys, but nobody would report him for it, because if you let him poach in peace today, he will let you “dispose” of the old refrigerator in the creek on the edge of the field tomorrow.

One hand washes the other is the motto, and the authorities – and above all the police – have to fight against this mentality.

My best regards to all, Venus

UK: Anglers demand legal killing of otters

Hunting and pollution drove otters to the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but now they are back.

Their widespread return to our waterways is one of few recent successes for Britain’s beleaguered wildlife. Yet instead of celebrating the return of this beautiful animal, extremist anglers have launched a petition to have its legal protections removed.

Incredibly, the petition calls for the complete removal of all legal protections currently enjoyed by the otter.

Otter Cruelty

The petition is only the latest salvo in a long running anti-otter campaign by anglers who complain that otters take ‘their’ fish from waterways or fish farms.

In March 2020, for example, Dorset fishery owner Stuart Jones was jailed for two months after trapping and shooting an otter in front of horrified holiday makers.
Jones killed the otter rather than pay for otter-proof fencing.

No Laughing Matter

Anti-otter sentiment is rife in angling circles. Particularly unpleasant are the Predation Action Group, a lobby organisation composed of anglers and fish farmers.

Their hypocrisy is astounding: they breed fish – for ‘sport’ or ‘food’ – in filthy, cruel and cramped conditions and then complain when otters are attracted to this over-abundance of natural prey.

The PAG’s own ‘report’ reveals the grim nature of their activities:

“These are intensive operations involving huge numbers of fish, farmed in a relatively small area, being kept in concrete tanks or earth ponds.”

As if this was not bad enough …PAG’s patron is ‘comedian’ Jim Davidson!!!

Not funny: PAG patron Jim Davidson

Sound familiar?

This situation is analogous with what happens on grouse moors or pheasant shoots. An artificially high number of animals are bred to be killed and any potential predators are then ruthlessly snared, poisoned or beaten to death.

It is a certainty that anglers are already killing otters – just as gamekeepers continue to kill birds of prey.

Their petition just shows they want to do it with impunity.

Direct Action Against ALL Bloodsports

None of this surprises the HSA which has always opposed shooting and fishing, as well as hunting with hounds.

These activities are inherently cruel and cause huge environmental damage along the way.

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/anglers-target-otters/

And I mean…Instead of killing defenseless animals, which are very popular in England, the anglers should buy their meat and fish from the supermarket – if it absolutely has to be meat.
Angling fish although they don’t need it to survive is a bloody sport, the otter needs it to survive, otherwise it will starve to death.

The Barbel Society Officers have recently launched a petition on the government website calling for the removal of the current legal protected status of otters.
This follows on from their 2018 petition calling for ‘non-lethal controls’ which was comprehensively rejected by the government.

The petition organisers should be honest. Their petition is a doomed call to the government to remove legal protection for otters so that they can be culled- what the hunters have been doing illegally up to now anyway.

That’s what the organisers have been calling for on social media and elsewhere and that’s exactly how it’s already being perceived by the public.
That means: what they will achieve is that hundreds of thousands of people will stand against this bloody sport.

We are confident that the government will refuse the legal murder of otters this time even more violently than the last one

My best regards to all, Venus

“Poaching with state cover”: Austrian prince kills bear in Romania!

Statement by Martin Balluch (VGT, Austria)

Arthur was a big bear. It is said to be the largest in Romania and maybe even in the EU.
He was 17 years old for a bear in the wild. And very healthy!

How do we know? Because Arthur has been watched and looked after for years. Namely by the nature conservation organization Agent Green, which is also campaigning against the illegal logging of the last primeval forests in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

Arthur lived in the Natura 2000 reserve Oituz-Ojdula northeast of Brasov, formerly Kronstadt, away from human habitation.
A bear of his size has a fixed territory, so you know where to meet him. But Arthur’s whereabouts were not only known to Agent Green.
Another organization was targeting Arthur as well. Only was not a bear-friendly one, it was a hunting trip organizer.
They wanted a big bonus from a rich Western European snob for its kill.

Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein

The plan should have been something like this:

First, a farmer complains about a bear that is causing agricultural damage to him.
In fact, the mayor of Ojdula, which is on the edge of the Carpathian forests, says that in the summer of 2020 there were some complaints about a little she-bear with cubs.
Nothing exciting, and no compensation was ever paid. At the end of January 2021, a farmer from Ojdula demanded that this she-bear be shot because she was disturbing.
To do this, he writes a handwritten letter to the responsible ministry:

Agent Green visited this farmer. When his letter was presented to him, he said that he has written it.
In the further conversation it turned out, however, that he cannot read at all.
Was it just used as an excuse to get permission to shoot?
In fact, the ministry will issue one in mid-February 2021:

Emanuel Liechtenstein, who calls himself “Prince” and comes from the royal family of the Principality of Liechtenstein, but in  Austria lives in the Riegers Castle, receives this permit.
He is allowed to kill this “problem bear”, who even leads children, between March 12th and 16th, 2021.

The time has come on March 13th. Emanuel Liechtenstein shot a bear. Only it was Arthur:

Corpse of Bear Arthur

Continue reading ““Poaching with state cover”: Austrian prince kills bear in Romania!”

England: Hunter’s band seriously injured hunt saboteur

A member of Manchester Hunt Saboteurs was nearly killed by badger baiters in the Little Lever area of Bolton last night.
The sab was checking on badgers when he disturbed a gang of five thugs digging out a known badger sett.
He was then set upon, viciously beaten, and left for dead.

It is believed that spades and other digging implements were used in the attack. When he came to, he was thankfully able to make his way back to the road and call friendly locals who rushed to his aid.

The sab is in good spirits but has sustained very serious injuries that will require plastic surgery and dozens of stitches to the head.

Badger baiting – which has been illegal since 1835 – involves badgers being torn apart by multiple dogs.

Typically, terriers are sent into a sett to attack the badger underground, while the baiters use spades and crowbars to dig down to the fighting animals. Once the badger is exposed, it is pulled out and set upon by larger dogs.
The badger suffers an agonising fight to the death and the dogs, too, frequently sustain terrible injuries.

Manchester Hunt Sabs commented:

“To say we are angry would be an understatement, but we are incredibly proud of the bravery shown by our sab last night. Thanks to him the baiters abandoned their plans and fled the area. This sett will be watched closely from now on.”

HSA Press Officer Lee Moon added:

“As hunt sabs we get used to violence from animal abusers but the savagery of this attack has shocked us. These baiters clearly intended to kill this brave man and he’s extremely lucky to survive. He has our admiration for his bravery and we’re frankly in awe that he was willing to put himself in such a dangerous position to protect these badgers.

Fox hunters, hare coursers and badger baiters are all cut from the same cloth. They’re people who daily commit acts of violence against wildlife and are equally happy to use violence against those who try and stop them.

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/hunt-saboteur-left-for-dead-by-badger-baiters/

And I mean…The gangs are mostly working-class guys in their twenties. They use social media like Snapchat to organise digs and share pictures.

These people are very brutaly and guarded.
They don’t care if the animals they kill suffer; they’re just killing them for sport and fun.

What they are doing is just horrific.
To these people, killing animals is a sport – the more brutal, the better.

Generally badger baiters don’t take their dogs to vets with their injuries because that would be recorded and reported; so they stitch up their wounds themselves.
They are valuable dogs for hunting and breeding so they’re a commodity to them and they’ll protect the commodity but they don’t have any concern about the feelings of the animal.

And they’re quite happy to dispose of them once they’re no longer a useful commodity.

Those who are not afraid to brutally massacre animals also lose the feeling of humanity.
Hunting leads to bestiality and dehumanization

My best regards to all, Venus

Burkina Faso: Animal rights activists murdered

Report by Martin Bussmann- MEP

Irish animal rights activist Rory Young was murdered last week in Burkina Faso.

Irish citizen killed in Burkina Faso was working in anti-poaching operations

Rory was leading a wildlife protection patrol in Arly National Park, Burkina Faso on 26th April 2021 when they were attacked by terrorists which resulted in his death and that of two Spanish journalists, the 44-year-old David Beriáin, a reporter, and 47-year-old Roberto Fraile, a photographer, who were capturing his efforts to protect precious wildlife.

He was there with the two journalists, to make a documentary about the protection of the national parks.

5-2021 — Hot Topics: Sustainable Fashion, Elephants, Climate

Poaching is a big problem in this country.
The convoy was ambushed, Rory Young kidnapped and then executed.
The perpetrators belong to a local terrorist group that makes a lot of money from poaching

Botswana: Gewilderter Afrikanischer Elefant

Again and again you read about the death of people who stand up for the climate, the environment, nature and animals.
Hundreds are killed every year, and more are killed every year.

In 2019, 212 official activists were killed, compared to at least 331 in 2020.
In 2018 there were 164 people who had to pay with their lives for their work.
So the murders have doubled in just two years. The increasing violence comes from those who make good money from destroying our planet.

Some murders are downright commissioned by corporations or even governments, which of course don’t want to get their hands dirty.

In Germany, too, the tone is getting rougher and the repression of progressive forces is increasing. Anyone who stands up for nature and animals in this country is constantly being attacked by the lobby organizations from industry and agriculture.

Animal rights activists who uncover crimes and thus prevent a lot of suffering are sometimes criminalized.
It is said that the activists are militant.
Those who themselves continuously use violence when it comes to animals accuse people who give animals a voice of being violent.

What nonsense! those who are actually prepared to use violence are on the other side.
Fortunately, there has not yet been a murder in Germany. Because when it comes to willingness to use violence, the international death statistics speak a clear language.
Let’s be on guard.

https://www.facebook.com/Tierschutzabgeordneter/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/27/spanish-journalists-irish-citizen-killed-by-jihadists-burkina-faso

And I mean…“No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on a road leading to the vast forested reserve of Pama. The government said it had not identified the assailants, whom it described as “terrorists”, it says in the IrishCentral newspaper

Some media suspect that the al-Qaeda organization is behind it, but what benefit would such an organization get from the kidnapping and murder of an animal rights activist and two journalists, who do a documentary about wildlife?

Of course, one could suspect that extremist groups are partially financed by kidnapping foreign nationals.
But in this case there was no ransom
There was kidnapping and murder.
And so acts only the mafia.
Or highly paid poachers who acted under the order to destroy the documentation.

By the way: Terrorists also include members of the government of a country who work closely with the poaching mafia out of private interests.
A common business model in Africa.

On the Chengeta Wildlife website, Young was described as...”Rory is an expert tracker with amazing knowledge, skills, and highly developed intuition to become one of the best in his field. He has dedicated his life to wildlife protection and he co-authored, “A Field Manual For Anti-Poaching Activities”, a guide that provides workable solutions to poaching”.

We are infinitely sad and angry about the death of the three men and especially of Rory.

My best regards to all, Venus

USA: Petition – Cancel Lottery for Hunters to Slaughter Grand Canyon Bison.

 

Cancel Lottery for Hunters to Slaughter Grand Canyon Bison

 

 

Petition Link – Cancel Lottery for Hunters to Slaughter Grand Canyon Bison – ForceChange

 

Target: Shawn Benge, US National Parks Service Deputy Director

Goal: Stop lottery to hunt Grand Canyon bison.

The National Parks Service (NPS) recently held a lottery that allowed anyone to enter for the chance to hunt bison in the Grand Canyon. More than 45,000 people entered the lottery, which is part of an initiative to limit the population of bison, whose growing numbers are negatively impacting resources in the Grand Canyon area. The NPS will ultimately only select twelve skilled shooters.

While the NPS has defended their decision for the cull, stating that a fast growing bison population has been ravaging water, vegetation, soils, and archaeological sites within the national park, the excitement around the opportunity to hunt this majestic animal is concerning. Hunting at national parks is forbidden, but the NPS does have the jurisdiction to allow park staff or volunteers to kill animals that are damaging the natural spaces. This normalization and “viral” attention that the search for bison-hunting volunteers has drawn could potentially lead to unauthorized hunting or attack on wild animals.

Sign this petition to urge the NPS to stop the public lottery to hunt Grand Canyon bison.

PETITION LETTER:

To Mr. Benge,

The publication of the culling of bison in the Grand Canyon and the ability for anyone to simply enter a lottery to hunt these animals sends the wrong message to the public. The NPS should be focused on conservation and respect for nature. This lottery has, instead, created “viral” excitement around the possibility of shooting a majestic animal that is native to the United States. The fact that 45,000 people registered for a lottery reveals a strange and gruesome desire of many individuals to kill wild animals.

I urge you to stop the lottery to hunt Grand Canyon bison and leave conservation efforts of all kinds to NPS staff.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Kewing

 

 

 

UK: 11/5/21 – The State Opening Of Parliament – Good News For The Environment and Animals.

It can be a little confusing to non Brits, but the United Kingdom is literally what it says, ‘United Kingdoms’; formed by the (kingdom) nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each has its own government; Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom

United Kingdon.

WAV Comment – there is a lot of talk going around that the UK Ministry Defra will aim to get legislation for a ban on live animal exports intorduced by the end of this year.  They are currently going through all the submissions submitted to them; including a large proposal by ourselves.  The UK government promised that once the UK had left the EU, it would be able to introduce legislation to ban all live animal exports, which it was unable to do as an EU member state.  The consultation (now being reviewed by government) is part of that objective; and we are hopeful for good news in the coming months.

England: Full Info on the UK Ban Live Exports Consultation. Finishes End of Jan 2021. – World Animals Voice

Scotland: Live Animal Exports – Scottish Government Joins England and Wales In Undertaking Consultation For Possible Ban. All Relevant Links and Advice Below. – World Animals Voice

The State Opening Of Parliament – Good news for the environment and animals.

The StateOpening of Parliament is an event which formally marks the beginning of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It includes a speech from the throne known as the Queen’s Speech (or the King’s Speech if the UK has a male monrch).

It takes place in the House of Lords chamber on the first day of a new session, which is usually in May or June, and traditionally in November, but can occur at any time of year depending on the timing of General Elections and parliamentary session start dates.

It takes place in front of both Houses of Parliament. The monarch, wearing the Imperial State Crown, reads a speech that has been prepared by his or her government outlining its plans for that parliamentary year.

Basically, it outlines the major legislation that the government intends to introduce into UK law in the coming Parliamentary session.

This next session is going to see some positive legislation for both animals and the environment being passed into law, including:

Environment Bill

Another confirmed commitment is to new, legally binding environmental targets in the form of the much-delayed Environment Bill, which was was first launched in July 2018. The Government said it will pass the legislation in the run-up to the international Cop26 climate change summit in Glasgow at the end of year.

Animal Sentience Bill 

The Queen’s Speech will also ensure animals with a backbone will have a legal right to feel happiness and suffering. According to the Sunday Telegraph, an Animal Sentience Bill will enshrine in law that animals are aware of their feelings and emotions in order to make the UK a world leader in animal welfare.

Animals Abroad Bill

A new Animals Abroad bill is also expected to ban imports of hunting trophies, while a Kept Animals bill will ban families from keeping primates as pets.

Here is a further review of some other issues not related to animals or the environment:

Queen’s Speech 2021: The 13 new laws expected to be announced today | Metro News

Regards Mark

Sea Shepherd: There are many ways to save animals

#ThrowbackThursday# – Sea Shepherd

March 1979 – The Sea Shepherd was the first ship to go to the ice fields off the Eastern Coast of Canada for the sole purpose of protecting seals.

Before being arrested for approaching a seal hunt without permission of the government, Sea Shepherd crewmembers saved over a thousand baby seals by spraying their white pelts with an indelible organic dye to render them commercially worthless.

In March 1980, Captain Paul Watson was banned from the ice fields and the sealing areas for three years.

In March 1981 Captain Watson lead a crew with three ocean kayaks to the Gulf of St. Lawrence despite his parole order. Hundreds of seals were sprayed with harmless blue dye effectively saving their lives.

Captain Paul Watson’s conviction of 1980 was later overturned on appeal.
These and later interventions, plus high profile supporters helped start the demise of the Canadian fur seal hunt.

With recent moves by the EU to ban seal imports and major fashion houses across the globe to stop the use of any kind of fur in their designs, the end of a 40-year battle may finally be in sight.

Learn more about our history: https://bit.ly/2ifJ2wO
Support our efforts: https://bit.ly/2fz7okb

#Canada #TBT #Seal

And I mean…When I see how many fashion designers have banned fur from their creations in recent years, how many countries have closed their fur farms and how many department stores in Germany and throughout Europe have said goodbye to fur, then our fight has already had a positive result that strengthens us and we will continue to fight this fight.

My best regards to all, Venus