And if the cell phone has no reception up there… bad luck for the animal lover!!
By the way: the tires on my car were also slit in one night.
But that wasn’t the ALF!
I live among farmers, hunters, farm owners … it couldn’t have turned out otherwise, I disturb all professional groups that have to do with animal cruelty, animal exploitation, and animal murder.
From the Facebook page of “Committee against Bird Murder e.V.
Back to the Stone Age – bird catchers threaten hikers: In Malta, catching birds was allowed again – yesterday’s animal tormented became “scientists” overnight.
They are supposed to “only” catch the birds that they have otherwise locked in small cages and sold on the black market for a lot of money, check for any known bird rings and immediately release them again.
Effective control is not provided and with thousands of approved fishing facilities not even possible. The video of a team from the “Committee Against Bird Murder”, recorded on Malta’s neighboring island of Gozo, shows how the new “scientists” behave in the field.
The bird-catcher threatens a walker with a stone because she comes too close to his trap!!
And I mean…When Malta joined the EU in 2004, the state was given five years to phase out the practice of bird trapping, which is illegal under the Birds Directive.
But the Maltese government, including hunters and poachers, was apparently trained enough in corruption and fraud to outsmart the EU and its laws, and that is why illegal trapping has continued unabated since 2009.
And that happens in the “civilized” EU …
And then we blame the Africans for not respecting their tigers and for corrupting trophies.
And we ask the Indians to save their elephants and stop hunting them.
Although we ourselves are not able to clean up our own stable of “scientists” type Malta.
British hunters have killed at least 60 lions since Cecil shot, as ministers delay trophy imports ban again
Experts warn big cat heading for extinction as gunmen from EU slaughter more than those from any country in the world
British hunters have killed at least 60lions – and probably more – since the shooting of Cecil in 2015, as a promised government ban on trophy imports has been delayed again.
Official figures reveal dozens of bodies, skins and other parts of the endangered animal have been brought into the UK from Africa in the past five years.
The data also show the European Union imports more lion trophies than any country, allowing the species to be driven dangerously towards extinction, experts say.
After the killing – exactly five years ago – of Cecil in Zimbabwe by a US dentist prompted an international outcry, ministers promised to ban imports of lion trophies by 2017. The promise was also included in last year’s Tory election manifesto, and in February, Boris Johnson told Parliament he would deliver a ban.
Numbers of wild lions have tumbled from about 450,000 in the 1950s to 20,000 in 2015 to an estimated 15,000 now.
It’s feared there could be as few as 13,000.
Wild lions face the threat of extinction within three decades if populations continue to fall, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has previously warned. Conservationists have described the decline as “heartbreaking”.
Ministers last year announced a public consultation on a ban, which ended in February, but officials say the outcome has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The consultation included the option of stricter requirements or a ban on parts of only certain species.
But analysis of numbers from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which regulates trade, reveals lion bodies, as well as skins, skulls, claws and feet, have been legally brought into the UK. A conservative reading of the database suggests that represents between 53 and 77 dead lions.
But if the body parts were listed not as trophies but for personal, educational or commercial trade, the number of imports to the UK is 154.
Eduardo Goncalves, author of a new book on trophy hunting and founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: “The government promised to ban lion trophies after the killing of Cecil. Then it changed its mind. As a result, British hunters shot another 50 or more ‘Cecils’.
“Now it’s saying again that it wants to ban hunting trophies. We cannot have any more dithering or delay. Nine out of 10 voters want this stopped.
“Wildlife is on the brink. There is now a real prospect of lions becoming extinct in the wild.”
Other Cites data reveal the EU is the world’s largest importer of lion trophies compared with non-EU countries. The EU imported 406 lion trophies in 2017 and 2018, including 18 trophies of wild lions in Zimbabwe like Cecil.
Within the EU, Spain imported the most lion trophies – 84 – in the two years.
Claire Bass, Humane Society International/UK’s executive director, said: “Cecil’s senseless killing exposed trophy hunting as immensely cruel, completely unnecessary and morally bankrupt. And yet, five years on from his tragic death, Britain and the European Union are still providing a market for this horrific hobby.”
The public were outraged when Walter Palmer shot Cecil, a protected lion and one of Zimbabwe’s most loved animals, on 1 July 2015. It led to calls for his extradition to Zimbabwe, and he became the target of threats and protests. A professional hunter was cleared over the death.
In answer to MPs who have questioned the delay, minister Victoria Prentis said the government was continuing to work on the issue and would publish its response as soon as it was practical. “The outcome of the consultation, and the accompanying call for evidence, will inform our next steps,” she added.
Normal Defra Bullshit (WAV Addition)
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “There is a clear manifesto commitment to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered animals and we continue to work to end this shocking trade.”
WAV Comment – So the hunters have to use ‘non toxic shot’ as part of the rules. Non toxic or not; the swans will be killed by the hunter psyxhos – so why is this one of the ‘rules’ ? – we must not harm the hunters with toxins must we. And they have to be trained to identify the bird !! – sounds really pathetic.
In August, 50 tags were issued first-come, first-serve for Idaho’s first ever swan hunting season; those who were early to the draw will get to participate when the season opens October 19.
Swan hunting will only be available in Benewah, Bonner, Boundary and Kootenai counties, and runs until December 1.
Hunters will be limited to one swan bagged per day and one swan possession per day; they are also encouraged to take the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s swan orientation course to get familiar with identifying the bird.
Hunters also have to follow these rules:
Have a swan tag
Have a migratory bird permit
Have a federal migratory bird stamp
Have a shotgun that holds no more than three shells
Sea Shepherd is currently back in action in Italian waters to protect the Mediterranean Sea. OPERATION SISO is a campaign by Sea Shepherd Italy to protect the Aeolian Islands from illegal, unregulated, and undocumented fishing (IUU), in particular the illegal use of fish aggregating devices(FADs).
The Aeolian Islands were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 and form an archipelago of seven inhabited islands. They are located in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, north of Sicily – only 12 nautical miles from Cape Milazzo.
They are all volcanic in origin, and their rich biodiversity provides the perfect environment for breeding grounds for many migratory species and for sperm whales, common dolphins, beaked whales, striped dolphins, round-headed dolphins, and pilot whales.
The illegal decoy buoys, referred to as “cannizzi” by the locals, pose a threat to life in the Mediterranean and to local, legal fishing. They are illegal in Aeolian waters at this time of year and must be used at the beginning of the season regulated by the local management plan of the Aeolian Islands.
What is decoy buoys?
Decoy buoys are anchored hollow plastic bodies floating on the surface of the water, to which palm branches or similar materials are attached, which act as a magnet for deep-sea fish, as they serve as a refuge for them.
Each buoy consists of 4-6 plastic canisters with palm leaves as a floating part and a line up to 3000 meters long with a diameter of approx. 3.5 mm, which is anchored to the seabed.
FADs not only help catch target fish species but also lead, among other things, also to the death of loggerhead turtles, which are already on the verge of extinction in Italian waters.
Illegal FADs also represent the largest amount of plastic pollution in the area, with industrial fleets deploying hundreds of plastic FADs in violation of biodegradability rules and local regulations that allowa maximum of 20 FADs.
It is estimated that more than 1,500 decoy buoys are illegally anchored each year, which is a significant proportion of the plastic waste pollution of the Italian sea and is fatal for marine animals such as loggerhead turtles that can become entangled in them as they migrate.
The pictures were taken at the beginning of October and show the dramatic consequences of IUU fishing.
That is why it is so important that we are there.
Photos: Laura Machini / Sea Shepherd, Monica von Blasi / Filicudi Wildlife Conservation
#seashepherditalia #operazionesiso #seashepherd #mittelmeer #conservationinaction #fortheoceans #seashepherdgermany
And I mean…There is only one thing to do here to get the illegal fishing under control: high fines from the EU to Italy. And not only in Italy!
But the EU is currently busy with more important issues.
Not with the abolition of animal cages
Not with the cruel animal transports from the EU to third countries
Not with the advancing climate catastrophe on our planet
rather…
The EU is currently working on the new name of the vegan “burger”, “sausage” or “schnitzel” because that has bothered the meat mafia for a long time.
It even goes very quickly with the meeting of the officials in the EU Parliament to convert the godless child “Veggie Meat” with a new name into the new religion of the carnivores
For such trivial matters, the EU is always very quick.
In search of that special kick, hobby killers like to travel to South Africa to murder animals like cowards. Almost 50,000 Germans travel abroad every year to hunt big game.
Big game hunting in Africa, formerly the domain of the British and Americans, is now booming in German-speaking countries as well!
The militant hobby hunters even go so far that they praise trophy hunting as a contribution to “species protection” and development aid.
To justify the hunt with all the cruelty to animals as a contribution to species protection is a sign of madness.
Violence and lies go hand in hand.
The providers of hunting trips are numerous and leave nothing to be desired for their financially strong customers because even shooting permits for lions threatened with extinction can be acquired for a lot of money.
Often the animals are then hunted for days, shot, and flee with the most severe injuries, while they run for their lives in complete fear of death, the animals are still shot at by the insane assassins and hunted through the wilderness.
After the obligatory trophy photo, on which the serial perpetrators present themselves with the murdered bodies of the animals, the animal corpses are then mutilated.
Heads are cut off or the fur is peeled off so that the serial perpetrators can take their victims home as hunting trophies. Import bans are circumvented by giving them small change.
The trophies are then stuffed and hung in the living room. And not always legally.
A whole industry lives from this grueling business.
Our time is increasingly shaped by brutality and violence, and the hunters and their pseudo-science are heavily involved in this.
These negative energies of the culture of violence, terror, disrespect, destruction, exploitation, and discomfort, which the hunters leave behind in nature, is undignified and even a great danger for civilized cultural landscapes.
Here is a nice comment on the photo above (from Animal Peace):
“Would it be a criminal offense if we expose € 10,000 to grabbing the head of the guy?
if not, then bring us his head, also because the rest seems very immobile”
62 bears killed on 1st day of N.J. bear hunt; opponents plan new lawsuit
New Jersey’s controversial bear hunt opened 30 minutes before sunrise on Monday, with hunters heading into the woods on a dreary October day as the remnants of Hurricane Delta drenched the Garden State.
Those hunters killed 62 black bears, down from the 108 bears were killed on the first day of bear season last year.
Sussex County saw the most bears bagged on Monday, with 29. Elsewhere, 17 bears were killed in Morris County, 11 bears in Warren County, three bears in Passaic County, and one bear each in Bergen and Hunterdon counties.
Hunters killed 315 black bears in the state during the entire 2019 season. New Jersey’s highest bear hunt totals were recorded in the 2016 season, when hunters killed 636 of the animals.
The bear hunt is open for bowhunting only through Wednesday. Muzzleloaders will also be allowed Thursday through Saturday. A second segment of bear season, for firearms only, will open Dec. 7.
Though black bears are found throughout the state, the hunt is restricted to Sussex, Warren, Passaic, Morris, Bergen, Hunterdon, Somerset and Mercer counties. Bear hunting is prohibited on state lands thanks to an executive order issued by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018.
The coronavirus has had one major impact on this year’s bear hunt: In an effort to promote social distancing, the state’s traditional weigh stations are not being used. Instead, successful hunters must call and report their kills to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. A state biologist will then contact the hunter to legally check the bear and collect biological data.
New Jersey’s bear hunt was restarted in 2003 and being dormant for decades, following a crash in bear numbers in the 1970s. Advocates for the hunt say it is the most effective method of controlling the bear population and preventing threats to human safety and property.
A 2018 report from state wildlife officials warned that ending the bear hunt could cause New Jersey’s bear population to double by 2022.
Murphy, who campaigned on a promise to close bear season, announced a plan last week to stop any future bear hunts under his watch. That plan calls for an amendment to the state’s game code that removes the current bear management policy from the regulations.
While hunters spent the day in forests and fields, animal rights activists went online to voice their displeasure.
Raymond Lesniak, the former Democratic state senator from Union County, used a Zoom press conference to announce that a coalition of animal rights activists plans to sue the state over the statutory makeup of the state fish and game council.
Brian Hackett, the state director of the Humane Society of the United States’s New Jersey branch, argued its unfair that a council with such a make-up gets to decide how wildlife is managed in the Garden State.
“Nobody is allowed on this fish and game council except for pro-hunting hunters, and pro-hunting farmers and some mysterious person who needs to know about soil,” Hackett said.
Lesniak echoed that sentiment, and said the council should include scientists, hikers, bird watchers and other people who use New Jersey’s outdoors for activities beyond hunting. He also argued the state’s bear population belongs to all residents, and should be protected by the public trust doctrine in the same way that access to waterways and beaches is protected.
Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, supported those points.
“It really has to be a council that manages public lands for the public benefit,” Tittel said.
That effort failed, with the state Supreme Court issuing a 6-1 ruling in favor of the state.
“The governmental interest in establishing regulations to ensure a plentiful supply of game animals for consumption and sport is suitably furthered by placing a degree of regulatory control in the hands of a Fish and Game Council composed of sportsmen, farmers, and commercial fishermen,” Associate Justice Robert Clifford wrote in the majority opinion. “Opening the Council’s membership to persons with differing philosophies might reflect the art of public relations, but it is not a constitutional necessity.”
Clifford’s decision acknowledges the council’s make-up is may be “less than ideal” to the general public, but left it to state lawmakers to handle any changes to who sits on the council.
Associate Justice Morris Pashman was the one dissenter in the 1976 case. He argued there was no good reason why membership to the fish and game council should be tied to sportsmen’s clubs and the agriculture convention.
“I especially cannot sanction this practice where its practical effect will deprive an organization, whose interests are intimately affected by the decisions of the Fish and Game Council, of any chance to achieve the representation which it needs to protect those interests,” Pashman wrote in his dissent, referring to groups like the Humane Society and the Sierra Club.
Lesniak said the planned lawsuit will rely on Pashman’s dissent, and “additional evidence” that was not presented in 1976.
“It’s an old case,” Lesniak said. “A lot of things that need to be presented to the court were not presented at that time.”
Lesniak said he expects the lawsuit to be filed early next year. Until then, he said he and his fellow activists are working to persuade Murphy to halt the bear hunt that is currently underway.
“We don’t have many options,” Lesniak acknowledged. He said that bear hunt opponents had urged Murphy to cancel this year’s hunt out of COVID-19 concerns — he noted a concern about hunters traveling to New Jersey from hotspot states — but the governor declined to do so.
Lesniak also called on hunters to just go home, and not participate in the bear hunt.
“Be content that you have made a positive contribution to the moral fabric of our society by not contributing to the slaughter of our bear population,” Lesniak said.
In search of the last bow trap: The province of Brescia in northern Italy is the last place in the world where bow traps are still used today.
The trap is used to catch robins; wrens rarely get into it.
It is particularly brutal – the animals’ legs are broken alive, fatally injured, they hang upside down in the fishing gear for hours until they finally die.
Since 1985 the committee against bird murder in the mountains of Brescia has been working against this cruel “tradition” – in some years (e.g. 2001) we collected over 10,000 bow traps.
In 2012 it was less than 1,000 for the first time, last year only 224.
During the current bird protection camp in Brescia, we were unable to find a SINGLE bow trap within the first week of operation.
It is still too early to be happy about the extinction of the bow traps (our mission will run until November), but it won’t be long before we really find the last one!
Committee against Bird Murder e.V.
And I mean…it is really hard to believe and yet a reality – that traditions like this still take place in the middle of Europe in the 21st century!
Where animals are painfully killed, traditions are forbidden.
There is nothing to discuss either.
A supposedly progressive society must also manage to apply its concept of ethics to animals.
This is a huge omission and affects all animal welfare.
A trapped little bird, helplessly at the mercy of “tradition”, is one of the most primitive things a human can do.
As a politician, I would never allow the cultural tradition of my country to be in the hands of animal abusers.
WAV Comment: I (Mark) have worked with Sir Roger in the past re live animal transport in ‘our’ home county of Kent. He is the MP (Member of Parliament) for North Thanet (Kent). The other constituency of South Thanet, which includes Ramsgate port; through which all live animal exports currently take place by convicted criminal (in a UK court of law – animal welfare offences) Dutchman Onderwater –
At the end of the day all animal issues are really about governments getting votes; nothing else. I have been campaigning long enough against live exports; hunting, badger culling etc to have experience of that attitude. For example; take New York in the USA; I did a very recent post re Covid, in New York and wet markets. As it was Yom Kippur; the general concerns about Covid and animal wet markets – the proven source of the virus – in New York, were thrown out of the window in favour of obtaining votes – please read more about this in the article: https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/09/22/usa-the-priority-reducing-covid-or-getting-votes-seems-getting-votes-win/
Here in England where I live; ‘protected’ Badgers – Under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, in England and Wales (the law is different in Scotland) it is an offence to: Wilfully kill, injure or take a badger (or attempt to do so). … Dig for a badger. Intentionally or recklessly damage or destroy a badger sett, or obstruct access to – that it unless you are the government, then you can kill whatever badgers you wish ! – are being culled in vast numbers to present an ‘action face’ by the government to dairy farmers.
As a rule; those same farmers are also land owners; and thus are more Conservative in their votes than Labour Party supporters. So the Conservative government has to be seen taking action for them, and this is done currently through the badger cull. Badger killing = farmers votes = government power.
The Badgers, as a result of this action, are the ones who really pay the price with their lives.
Votes are the No. 1 issue; real issues such as animal welfare, come a very poor second.
So back to Roger Gale MP and the article below. Under current Covid regulations (the rule of 6 persons maximum) introduced by the Conservative government; little children are prevented from visiting their grandparents in other households. People are expected to comply with this ruling in order to reduce Covid transmission. But; and it is a big but; if you are a hunter and you wish to go out on the moors killing wildlife; then you ARE allowed to go out in bigger parties of more than 6; you get a special ‘exemption’ which allows this.
How do I and Roger (Gale) read this ? – one rule for ‘normal’ people who cannot visit family in large numbers; but (government) ‘exemptions for larger groups’ if they want to go out together and blast away in a blood frenzy; killing as much wildlife as they can. Oh yes; these people are often landowners who usually vote Conservative (like the badger killers); so as I have said; votes are the priority over protecting animal welfare; despite what the government says.
Please read the article below as it will probably make more sense than my blurb !
Regards Mark
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Tory MP denounces ‘absurd’ government rule exempting hunters and shooters from coronavirus rule of six
Exclusive: ‘It is apparently in order to assemble in large groups to hunt and to shoot mostly hand-reared birds,’ says party grandee
A veteran Conservative MP has slated Boris Johnson’s exemption of hunting and shooting from the coronavirus “rule of six”.
Sir Roger Gale said: “I find it absurd that while restrictions are placed upon public gatherings including most sporting events, including horseracing, and that while gatherings of more than six people even within a family are prohibited, it is apparently in order to assemble in large groups to hunt and to go out to shoot mostly hand-reared ‘wild’ birds.
“Do hunters and shooters not catch or transmit Covid 19?”
The UK population has been told it is illegal for people to meet in groups of more than six, in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.
But the government has exemptedshooting and hunting from the restrictions, a move which has prompted uproar among many people.
The pheasant-shooting season began last week. Up to 20 million pheasants are shot a year of the roughly 50 million that are bred.
Hunters have regularly been seen in the countryside in groups of more than six since the rule was introduced last month, and in once case were filmed at an event mixing with police officers.
The government regulations forbid mixing in groups of more than six before or after sporting events.
Days after large gatherings were banned, about 130 people met for a stag hunt, almost all not wearing masks, in scenes that critics said “made a mockery of the social sacrifices” of others to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The government was accused of hypocrisy in creating exemptions for “friends” and other people deemed as being more inclined to vote Conservative while introducing fines for the rest of the population.
Sir Roger, a long-time animal-welfare supporter, voted against the internal market bill, which breaches international law, saying: “An Englishman’s word used to be his bond. Under Johnson that is not so.”
One animal lover wrote: “One cannot visit family members who may be physically or mentally ill or really struggling if it means there would be seven or more, and one cannot visit loved ones in hospital, but if one wants to go out in huge numbers and kill animals, it is allowed.”
A government spokesperson said: “We have exempted over 30 types of sport, exercise and physical activity such as football, rugby and other outdoor pursuits. Outdoor activity is safer from a transmission perspective, and it is often easier to social distance. Where such activities take place, safety measures must be taken including conducting a risk assessment and compliance with Covid-19 secure guidance.”
World Animals Voice 