Hunting, ie the killing of wild animals, has been officially banned in Brazil since 1967.But lobbyists now want to legalize the hunt in Brazil – even in nature reserves.
Furthermore, the new law will allow private hunting areas: for sports, for commercial purposes as well as the commercial trade and commercial breeding of wild animals.
brazilian jaguar
Brazilian environmentalists sharply criticize the bill. Hunting and killing animals call them cruel, immoral and medieval rituals. The hunt is really just for the pleasure of the hunters, the fun of killing and the trade in endangered species.
Tukan
The fauna, which is already massively decimated, must be protected and must not be destroyed, writes the organisationAPREMAVI.
Behind the bill are also the interests of the Brazilian arms industry and arms exporters, especially from the USA.
Scientists reject the proposed law because hunting affects the stability of ecosystems and agricultural land and their own quality of life. Animals are irreplaceable for ecosystems and agricultural crops: they regenerate the forests by spreading seeds, keeping stocks in balance and healthy by controlling pests and diseases.
Ants bear
Loss of environmental benefits from wildlife would have fatal ecological consequences, including high financial costs for us humans. Hunting also increases the risk of endangered species, many of which are endemic to Brazil (i.e., nowhere else in the world) extinct.
lion monkeys, live only in the south of Brasil
The legislative initiative weakens the protection of the fauna and the preservation of biodiversity. It undermines existing environmental laws protecting wildlife (No 5.197 / 67), the Environmental Crime Law (No 9.605 / 98) and international treaties signed by Brazil such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Please support the petition to the Brazilian Parliament. It should protect the wildlife and reject the hunting law!
New set of figures highlight shocking scale of illegal fox hunting that’s taking place in the British countryside in spite of ban.
The League Against Cruel Sports has gathered 284 reports of illegal hunting activity and 43 reports of fox kills by hunts, from November when the season opened, to now, at its close.
Hunting an animal welfare remain key political issues in Westminster, with the focus now on the need to strengthen the Hunting Act.
Chris Luffingham, director of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “These figures sadly show the scale of the killing still taking place in the British countryside by fox hunts.
Turning the tide
“We know these reports are just the tip of the iceberg, with fox hunts killing indiscriminately across the UK and lying about their bloodthirsty activities to cover up their crimes.
“However, I believe the tide is turning, and political parties are now recognising the need to take animal welfare much more seriously and put in place stronger legislation to protect British wildlife.”
Separately, 129 cases of fox cub hunting were received by the League between the beginning of August and the end of October, which is when they are typically targeted. This is a practice where the hunts’ hounds are trained to kill in the run-up to the fox hunting season – by being let loose in woodland to target fox cubs and literally tear them to pieces.
The figures were compiled from the League’s Animal Crimewatch service, which consists of reports from members of the public and from the League’s professional investigators, as well as from evidence gathered from photos and videos shared on social media.
Strengthening laws
Concerns over the fact that fox hunting is still taking place are getting a lot more exposure in Parliament.
A parliamentary debate on wildlife crime in mid-March led to calls by cross-party MPs for the Hunting Act to be strengthened.
It followed a recent review of the policing of illegal fox hunting arranged by Cheshire’s Police and Crime commissioner David Keane, late last year, which highlighted the challenges posed by the current legislation, and proposed strengthening it.
Elsewhere, the Scottish Government announced plans in 2018 to strengthen hunting laws in Scotland, reducing the number of hounds in a pack to two, and introducing measures that would prevent hunts using the ‘trail’ hunting deception used in England and Wales.
Animal welfare
The National Trust has also come under pressure recently to stop issuing licences allowing the hunts to access its land.
The number of hunts issued licenses in the 2018/19 hunting season was down to 24 compared with 67 in 2016/17, due to pressure from the League. This fell to 20 after four hunts had their licences withdrawn this season following allegations of illegal hunting.
Chris Luffingham said: “The issue of animal welfare has never been such an important issue for the public and political parties and it is becoming vital to electoral success.
“We are calling for the hunting ban to be strengthened with the introduction of prison sentences for those caught illegally hunting.
“We need a proper deterrent to stop the barbaric activities of the hunts and we also need to close down the loop holes that allow hunts to get around the law.”
This Author
Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from the League Against Cruel Sports. Any suspected illegal hunting activity can be reported to the League’s Animal Crimewatch service. Alternatively, phone in confidence on 01483 361 108 or email LACS Crimewatch.
The next time you witness the footage of Dolphin slaughter by the Japanese at Taiji; or you are told by a friend of someone’s experiences and ‘enjoyment’ watching dolphins perform in some little crappy tank at a ‘Sea life’ facility; here are a few chunks of in info that you can throw back at them in defence for these wonderful marine creatures.
Dolphins are ‘extra-terrestrials with fins’. Their brains are more complex than those of humans; their ‘language’ is more sophisticated and they belong to a society which practices the freedom of love and peace. Unlike humans; they don’t seek pleasure out of killing others; and yet despite imprisoning them for the pleasures of performing for some of our more uneducated kind, they have been recorded throughout Greek and Roman myth as saviours of humankind in distress. Do they still do it today ? – or is this past a reflection on the fact that at one such time, man allowed them freedom to range the oceans; did not hunt them, and did not expect them to provide so called ‘entertainment’ for us. Maybe they paid us back better in past times.
They have big, smiling faces. In some locations around the world, they work with man to herd shoals of fish into locations where local fishermen can easily catch them – in return for few treats thrown back to them of course !
They navigate in the wild by an echo location system; so precise that if one was to dribble just one teaspoon of water into a pool, they will be able to locate the source with pinpoint accuracy. They have the ability to discriminate between objects made of plastic, rubber or wax; and they can even tell the difference between identical -looking copper and brass discs !
Dolphins are known by us humans to ‘talk’ a great deal; but actually, they have no vocal chords. They communicate with each other by way of clicks, squeals, whistles, grunts and barks; which all originate from sacs located in their nasal passages at a rate of up to 1,200 per second. Each animal has a unique signal whistle which it uses constantly to inform others in the pod of who they are and where they are located at any specific time. They are also known to do exaggerated impressions of other dolphins both for fun or to get attention form the one they are imitating.
Their play is highly complex and they are very fats learners; as we see in the performance tanks at our pathetic sea life facilities, and sadly, they have the ability to follow complicated human demands. They can recognise themselves in a mirror; and are even known to use simple tools, such as a sponge, which they attach to their snouts when out hunting amongst sharp coral – a kind of dolphins ‘safety mask’ you could call it.
Dolphin therapy, such as swimming with same, may have some reported therapeutic benefits according to some reports; but we should also remember that these are beings of the oceans; and as such, more health benefits can also be gained by watching them in their natural environment via a pair of binoculars held on the deck of a ‘wildlife tourism’ boat.
As creatures of the wild, given the natural options, what right do we as less intelligent beings have to drive them in for mass killing and selection at places such as Taiji. Man the killer; one of his less favourable specialities; but undertaken for too much in all aspects of animal abuse.
Taiji; it will die and go down in the records as another example of mans immense suffering of intelligent animal species. I personally have ‘man watched’ in the past when holding welfare stalls in towns across the land. Oh to be with the dolphin given what can be seen regularly on the streets of modern towns and cities.
They are special and deserve our protection; not our abuses in the cove or performing for those who have a ‘money god’.
Fight for them – be their voice; but above all, fight – they deserve it.
Sealers will be killing tens of thousands of helpless young seals before they’re through, shooting them or slamming spiked clubs into their soft skulls, then tearing their skin off—often in full view of family members helpless to stop the killing. It’s up to kind people like you and me to make sure that this year’s massacre is the last.
The commercial slaughter of seals in Canada is on its last leg, yet despite the growing outcry against it both in Canada and around the world, the Canadian government is allowing it to take place again, leaving countless bloodied bodies in its wake. Many seal pups are so young they haven’t even learned how to swim before they’re violently killed.
Thanks to the activism of PETA members, there are few countries left that are willing to buy seals’ skins, their flesh, or seal oil—and it’s clear that this grisly trade is on life support. Without the millions of dollars in government subsidies it receives, it would have collapsed long ago—and with your help, we’re urging Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (below) to stop propping up the sealing industry with taxpayers’ dollars.
If you wish to make a donation to help this campaign and to try and make Canada stop the cull, then go to the following:
The Belgian parliament passed a national trade ban on ivory on the evening of 4 April.Exceptions, however, continue to apply to processed ivory, which was acquired before 1975.
The Belgian Ministry of the Environment has up to now spoken out against trade restrictions – but now supports a ban in Belgium and at EU level.
Thus, the pressure on other EU member states and the EU Commission to prohibit trade increases. Daniela Freyer of the animal and species protection organization Pro Wildlife comments:
“We hope that the turnaround in Belgium will help finally usher in the end of the ivory trade in Europe. Germany and the EU should not be in bottom position and should finally ban the ivory trade. “
In July 2018, the Federal Government, together with France, Great Britain and Luxembourg, demanded EU-wide restrictions on the ivory trade.
“Because of the inaction of the EU, all these countries have already acted at national level – only Germany so far not” so Daniela Freyer (ProWildlife)
The United Kingdom adopted the strictest ban in December 2018, Luxembourg in July 2018, Belgium on April 4, 2019. France has already imposed trade restrictions in 2016 and the Netherlands has at least prohibited the sale of tusks and other raw ivory since March 2019.
The EUhas been strongly criticized for years: despite numerous international resolutions and demands for a closure of the ivory markets and although the international ivory trade has been banned since 1990, it still allows the trade in ivory from alleged old stocks, sometimes even without permission and thus without control options.
Ivory poaching elephants can be traded through this loophole.
In addition, the EUis the largest exporter of supposedly “old” ivory to Asia, the largest market for ivory.
“The sale of ivory in the EU and exports to Asia undermine global efforts to control poaching and trafficking,” said the Pro Wildlife spokeswoman. The EU has already announced steps against the ivory trade three years ago, but has so far only banned the export of full tusks and other raw ivory. Export and trade of ivory carvings are still allowed.
China, formerly the largest market for legal and illegal ivory, had already closed its ivory shops and carving factories in early 2018. Demand and black market prices have fallen significantly since then. In the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, an ivory ban should come into force in 2021, in Taiwan in 2020. The vast majority of African states that have joined forces in the 32-member African Elephant Coalition, conservationists, scientists, the European Parliament and some traders demand a trade ban for a long time. The result of a public consultation of the EU Commission is also clear:92 percent of the almost 90,000 responses call for a consistent ban on ivory trade in the EU. In petitions by animal and species protection organizations, well over one million people have called for a ban.
“It is high time that the EU rejects bloody ivory trade once and for all, and that it no longer ignores international decisions, demands from African states, the European Parliament, scientists, animal rights activists and more than one million EU citizens”, so Daniela Freyer
The closing of the ivory markets will also be the focus of attention at the forthcoming CITES Species Protection Conference in Sri Lanka from the end of May.
Background of the story
So far in the EU the trade with ivory from allegedly legal old stock,which was acquired before 1990, is allowed.
For alleged antiquities acquired before 1947, not even approvals are required. Reliable age determination is almost impossible, checking the legality of “antiques” that are offered on the Internet, in auction houses, in shops and flea markets are rare. These exceptions therefore make it possible to infiltrate poached ivory into legal trade.
In addition, in recent years the EU has become the largest exporter of “legal” ivory to Asia: in 2015 alone, EU countries exported 10,000 pieces of ivory – mainly to China.
Currently, every year about 20,000 elephants are poached for the ivory trade.
My comment: Every day we get a new reason to be against the EU. The more informed one is, the greater is the anger, the rejection, but also the fear that nothing positive and ethical can arise for the animals under this oligarchic gang. Stefan B. Eck, the well-known MEP, has officially told the European Commission: “EU parliamentarians are no longer allowed to use the word ” morality ” in their mouths”!
And he was right!!
The EU (and that means above all Germany) is nothing more than a lobby for the exploitation of animals, regardless of the form in which it occurs: aggrar lobby, trophy hunting, meat mafia, animal experimentation, circus with wild animal…. The list is so long that you lose your courage, keep counting.
Thank you, Belgium! We need more courage, independence and resistance from the inner circle of the EU, because obviously, the will of EU citizens to abolish the suffering of animals interests the EU a shit.
New Mexico Bans Destructive Coyote-killing Contests
Governor Lujan Grisham Signs Bill Abolishing Organized Competition Killing of Coyotes for Prizes, Entertainment
SANTA FE, N.M.— New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham today signed bipartisan legislation that prohibits organizing, sponsoring or participating in coyote-killing contests in the state. Several conservation organizations praised the governor for signing the progressive, science-based legislation into law.
During these contests, participants compete to kill the greatest number, the largest or even the smallest coyotes for entertainment and prizes. At least 30 such contests are known to take place annually in New Mexico.
The bill, SB 76, was spearheaded by state senators Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque) and Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces). The bill was carried on the House floor by Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-Galisteo).
“Killing contests are just blood sports. All they are about is killing as many animals as you can, and not about protecting livestock or property,” said Sen Moores. “No one is trying to restrict landowners’ ability to kill offending coyotes, but celebrating mass killing is just not good wildlife management.”
“With the signing of this bill, New Mexico is sending a powerful message that we value our wildlife and humane treatment of them,” said Sen. Steinborn.
“This victory has been nearly two decades in the making, the culmination of a homegrown campaign waged by thousands of dedicated New Mexicans appalled that these gruesome blood sports are hosted in our state,” said Jessica Johnson, chief legislative officer for Animal Protection Voters. “Today, we as a state are taking a giant step toward thoughtful, humane wildlife management and basic human decency.”
“This law makes New Mexico a leader in following sound science in its treatment of wild carnivores,” said Michael Robinson, senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We celebrate for coyotes, for endangered wolves that might have been mistakenly killed and for our children learning that humane values are New Mexico values.”
“There is no documented scientific evidence that coyote killing contests serve any legitimate wildlife management purpose,” said Albuquerque-based Project Coyote Science Advisory Board member Dave Parsons, a retired career wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We applaud Gov. Lujan Grisham for taking a strong stance against these ethically and ecologically indefensible events.”
“Coyotes as a species don’t deserve to be vilified. They are important ecosystem managers that regulate populations of rodents and rabbits which are significant competitors for forage with other native herbivores and even livestock,” said Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chair of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter and long-time resident of rural Socorro county. “The random mass killing of coyotes that occurs with killing competitions is like targeting every cocker spaniel, a similarly sized canine, for death because one may have behaved problematically. The governor was right to sign the bill to stop this.”
“This is a huge victory for New Mexico’s wildlife and New Mexicans,” said Amanda Munro, communications director for the Southwest Environmental Center. “Our wildlife deserves management that reflects broad public opinion, respects all wildlife, and is informed by modern ecological understanding about the value of all species. This bill takes New Mexico a giant step in that direction.”
“These contests are abhorrent and unjustifiable — they are neither hunting nor wildlife management,” said Christopher Smith, southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Banning this activity is a step towards science-based and ethical wildlife management and we are grateful to the bill’s sponsors and supporters and the governor.”
In January, New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard signed an executive order prohibiting wildlife killing contests for unprotected species on State Trust Lands. California banned the awarding of prizes for killing furbearer and nongame species in 2014, and Vermont banned coyote killing contests in 2018. Cities and counties in Arizona, New Mexico, and Wisconsin have passed resolutions condemning wildlife killing contests.
Background
Wildlife-killing contests occur throughout the United States. The best available science indicates that indiscriminately killing coyotes disrupts pack social structures, which can lead to increased depredation and compensatory breeding.
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View a statement signed by more than 70 conservation scientists condemning coyote killing contests here.
In the following we are giving web site links to major animal welfare organisations from across the globe who are fighting a whole range of different animal welfare related issues. We are not specifically detailing what each group campaigns for as we would like to see them each get many visits and possibly ‘open up’ their work to new supporters.
There may be some that you have not heard of before ! – take a look at their sites.
These are the more major campaign groups who have web links. If we also listed smaller(national only) facilities in countries all over the world we would never finish.
Hunters in Canada want to be allowed to club to death tens of thousands more baby seals each year in an expansion of their annual cull.
Hunting groups are lobbying the country’s government to approve a wider slaughter of seals and sea lions for their fur – including in a nature reserve.
The proposals have prompted anger from animal lovers and fresh lobbying of prime minister Justin Trudeau – who already reportedly receives more correspondence on the subject than any other, even climate change.
But scientists dispute that culls help salmon and cod stocks, warning any fall in whales’ prey could lead to the giant mammals starving.
“Seals are being used as a scapegoat, just like whales were once blamed for fishery declines,” Hal Whitehead, a marine biologist from Halifax, Nova Scotia, told The Guardian.
Demand for the fur plummeted after the EU in 2009 banned imports following uproar over clubbing, and hunters are now trying to compensate for lost income.
About 6,000 fishermen, mostly from Newfoundland, join the annual hunt.
Experts say a small market for seal oil exists, and seal parts are sold in Asia as an aphrodisiac.
brazilian jaguar
Tukan
Ants bear
lion monkeys, live only in the south of Brasil
World Animals Voice 