He realised the only thing I couldn’t say no to was giving all the money away to animal rights organisations. The irony is the only way to get me on tour is to make sure I don’t make a penny from it.
Moby’s passion for animal rights is no secret as the star has even brand himself with his beliefs through tattoos.
His boldest are two arm tattoos which he debuted in 2019 and read ‘Animal Rights’, one word on each arm in thick black ink.
Regards Mark
Metro – London
27 September 2024
Four Paws
All across Europe, billions of animals endure unimaginable suffering every day, as current EU laws continue to fall short in providing them the protection they desperately need. NGOs Eurogroup for Animals and FOUR PAWS have teamed up to host the photo exhibition Silent Suffering which will expose the pain and distress endured by farmed, companion, wild, and aquatic animals.
The invite-only event will take place on 1 October at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels, bringing together MEPs and representatives of animal protection organisations from across Europe.
The photos, put forward by Eurogroup for Animals’ member and partner organisations are spread across nine categories: cage farming, transport, broiler chickens, aquatics, fur farming, animals in science, large carnivores, pets, and trade.
Why this exhibition matters now
As the European Commission prepares to enter a new term, FOUR PAWS and Eurogroup for Animals call for animal welfare to be a priority, and for a revision of the outdated animal welfare legislation to be put forward without further delay.
Regards Mark
Regards Mark
Photo – East Kent Sabs.
The bearskin hats worn by soldiers outside Buckingham Palace now cost more than £2,000 each, new figures show.
Animal rights activists trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards took aim at the cost of the ceremonial garb.
The price of the caps soared 30% in a year to more than £2,000 pounds apiece for the hats made of black bear fur, the Ministry of Defense said in response to a freedom of information request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Peta anger over soaring cost of bearskin caps worn by King’s Guard outside Buckingham Palace
Regards Mark
Tuesday 3rd September – LONDON.
Protests against the UK Badger cull; please open the following for all details and lots more Badger information:
https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/
Badger Trust and our allies are holding a National Day of Action against the badger cull on Tuesday, 3 September 2024.
Wildlife groups around the UK will come together in a powerful display of unity to call for the new government to end the cull as intensive badger killing begins again.
Regards Mark
1 August 2024
WAP
The ban on commercial seal products on the EU market should remain, EU citizens say, as the European Commission conducts an evaluation of the legislation adopted in 2009.
In 1983, the EU prohibited the import of products from seal pups and in 2009 the legislation was complemented with a prohibition on the placing of all seal products from commercial hunting on the market, based on moral concerns on seals being killed with inhumane methods. This legislation, referred to as the EU Seal Regime, includes an exemption for products derived from traditional hunts from indigenous communities.
The regulation was put forward after a long battle, and came through after EU citizens became aware of the cruelty involved in obtaining seal products. The legislation was challenged under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which confirmed, in a landmark decision, that animal welfare is a justifiable rationale for a trade restriction to protect public morals.
Since the legislation came into force, millions of seals have been spared a brutal and cruel death. Despite this, the EU is now, unexpectedly, running a fitness check, to assess whether this legislation should hold, with the risk of backtracking it.
A backtracking of this legislation would seriously undermine animal welfare and public morals since commercial hunting is extremely cruel and seals experience excruciating pain and slow deaths. Killing methods remain inhumane, involving the use of clubs and hakapik, and the shooting of seals from a distance resulting in severe injuries.
EU citizens continue to be against this practice. In a new survey conducted in 13 Member States, 80% of respondents said they support the EU ban on the trade of seal products derived from commercial hunting and 68% said it should not be weakened in any way. 80% also agree that the legislation remains important to protect ethical concerns of EU citizens and animal welfare.
A 2011 survey showed that 72% of citizens in 11 Member States supported the restriction on the trade in seal products, demonstrating growing support. It is therefore clear that EU citizens want this legislation to stay intact.
This survey clearly shows that the EU Seal Regime remains crucial to protect seals and address the concerns of Europeans. As demanded by its citizens, the EU should uphold efforts to protect the welfare of these animals on the continent and beyond, maintaining its leadership and driving positive change.
Léa Badoz, Wildlife Programme Officer, Eurogroup for Animals
In 2009, the EU banned the trade in commercial seal products in response to long-standing and serious public moral concerns about the welfare of seals being inhumanely slaughtered, primarily for their fur. These survey results clearly demonstrate that, since that time, EU citizens’ attitudes towards the cruel commercial sealing industry have not changed. It is vital that the EU Seal Regime is upheld.
Dr Joanna Swabi, Senior Director of Public Affairs, Humane Society International/Europe
This survey demonstrates that EU citizens are deeply concerned about the blatant and unnecessary cruelty inflicted in commercial seal hunts. Seals shouldn’t be treated as commodities for the sake of profit. They are of great significance to the wider ecosystem in which they live, and they deserve our protection. It is crucial that the EU Seal Regime is maintained.
Sanne Kuijpers, campaign manager Wildlife, World Animal Protection Netherlands
The survey shows that EU citizens are still very concerned about animal welfare. They are happy that seal products from commercial hunts are no longer sold on EU markets. The EU should stand up for the values of its citizens. The EU Seal Regime is a milestone that should be celebrated, not evaluated.
Barbara Slee, Senior Programme Manager – International Policy, the International Fund for Animal Welfare
Regards Mark
JULY 23, 2024
I’ve been unsure how animal activists should orient themselves in the coming American presidential election. Obviously, in the United States’ two-party system we should vote for the Democratic nominee. But should we do more than simply cast a ballot for the candidate, whoever that ends up being?
I typically argue we should prioritize nonhuman interests to the greatest extent possible, as there are so few people who do. For me, that means picketing legislators and writing letters to newspapers in the hope of using the political process to accelerate the development of cultivated meat.
But, as the election approaches, I wonder if the threat Donald Trump poses to animals and our movement is so extreme we should pause our usual work and temporarily focus on helping to defeat him. I put this question and others to a group of animal advocates who were kind enough to share their time with me.
Merritt Clifton is editor of the Animals 24-7 website. Previously, he was news editor for Animals’ Agenda magazine, as well as the editor of the Animal People newspaper. When asked what a second Trump presidency might look like, Clifton referred to his coverage of the Republican’s first term.
Continue reading this article – see link at top.
Regards Mark
We have a new Labour government in the UK.
Like all politicians after your vote, they promise the world. Once elected, then we see the reality.
Labour’s animal-welfare and environmental policies may be better than the Tories’ – but they contain disappointing gaps, experts say.
** In a YouGov poll last year, a third of voters said animal welfare was one of their top three issues. **
So new environment secretary Steve Reed will come under pressure from lobby groups – and in some cases, from opposing countryside and farming factions.
The party’s manifesto promised to improve animal welfare, with bans on trail hunting and the import of hunting trophies, an end to puppy smuggling and farming, and to “work towards the phasing out of animal testing”.
It pledged a Labour government would “champion British farming whilst protecting the environment”.
Alongside environmental land-management schemes, the manifesto promised steps to eradicate bovine TB to end the “ineffective” badger cull. And there was a pledge to ban snares.
Mr Reed said Labour would introduce “the biggest boost in animal welfare in a generation”.
Many of the policies have been broadly welcomed by commentators – but already others are facing controversy, including:
Badger cull
Before the election, Labour damned the badger cull as “ineffective”, holding up the prospect of ending it.
But Mr Reed confirmed last week the government would allow existing cull licences to continue until 2026, saying an immediate end to the cull would send “sudden shocks into the system”.
Meanwhile, the Badger Trust and Wild Justice, a campaign group jointly run by Chris Packham, have sent a legal warning letter over Natural England’s decision before the election to grant nine new supplementary cull licences and to authorise 17 existing licences – contrary to the advice of Natural England’s own head of science.
Wild Justice said if the response was unsatisfactory it may seek a judicial review.
Dominic Dyer, ex-head of the Badger Trust and a defeated Lib Dem election candidate, said: “Never in the history of wildlife protection has there been such a betrayal of trust. After 13 years of waiting for a Labour government to stop this cruel madness, they are now planning to kill at least 30,000 more badgers.”
Industrial farming
Labour’s manifesto has been criticised for not mentioning factory farm animal welfare.
Alick Simmons, a former government deputy chief vet, writing for Wild Justice, said: “A pledge to address puppy farming while ignoring industrial pig and poultry farming does not strike me as a balanced manifesto.”
Compassion in World Farming (CiWF) has lobbied all parties for a ban on cages, saying around 8 million farmed animals are kept in them each year in the UK. “The previous government said they’d prepared consultations on this issue, and we want to see them published,” it said.
The Liberal Democrats had pledged to ban cages for hens, while Labour did not.
CiWF also called for method-of-production food labelling, following a consultation earlier this year.
The Lib Dems were praised for a promise to crack down on antibiotic misuse for farm animals, and the new government will face calls to do so.
Wildlife and nature recovery
Green Party former co-leader Caroline Lucas said she was shocked by the lack of manifesto detail on restoring the natural world.
“As the bare minimum, where’s the increased budget for arms-length bodies like Natural England and the Environment Agency?” she asked. “Or the funding to enable landowners to return land to nature? Or the pay rise to help farmers shift to nature-friendly farming and tackle our broken agriculture system which is driving biodiversity loss?”
But environmental campaigners welcomed a pledge in the party’s pre-manifesto nature policies stating: “We will help coordinate nature’s recovery with bodies responsible for public land and major landowners.”
Guy Shrubsole said in a blog: “This may sound anodyne, but in fact could be one of the most significant policies – the first inklings of a Public Nature Estate: an idea that Wildlife and Countryside Link [a coalition of 82 organisations] have been calling for.”
Forest ranger Samuel Lindsay added: “Although the talk of habitat expansion is positive, this is a very vague statement. There are no clear targets or areas identified for this to be carried out.”
The manifesto promised to plant millions of trees, create new woodlands and expand wetlands, peat bogs and forests.
Mr Simmons said: “Sure, let’s get rid of snares but what about the numerous unaccountable and untested methods of killing wildlife such as Larsen traps, mole traps, Fenn traps and poisons that are on free sale for use by anyone?”
Trail hunting
Opponents and monitors say hunts break the law by fox hunting while claiming to be trail hunting – that is, following a scent without chasing wild animals.
The claims were lent weight by a hunt chief advising others to create a “smokescreen” by laying several trails. His words, during a leaked private Zoom meeting, were interpreted as an admission that foxhunting took place.
Mr Reed said in February that a Labour government would ban trail hunting in its first term, and the manifesto included a promise to ban trail hunting – but it did not promise to close loopholes in the Hunting Act 2004, which bans hunting wild animals with dogs.
A former head of the League Against Cruel Sports, Andy Knott, has cast doubt on achieving a ban through the Hunting Act.
“People have seen the images of packs of hounds getting into private back gardens, killing cats, ripping flocks apart. There’s not a majority in any part of the country that wants to see that continue,” Mr Reed told The Times before the election.
But Oliver Hughes, of governing body the British Hound Sports Association, told Horse & Hound that about 12,000 days of trail hunting took place in England and Wales each year, “with the vast majority taking place without any problems”.
Sewage scandal
Ms Lucas said: “Although Labour’s manifesto commits to tackling the sewage scandal, it fails to get to the heart of the matter – the unmitigated disaster that is our privatised water system. Water is a public good, so the Green Party would bring it back into public ownership.”
Mr Shrubsole criticised the plans for not mentioning agricultural river pollution.
“Farming’s significant contribution to the state of our rivers seems to be a taboo subject for nearly all parties competing in this election – with the notable exception of the Green Party,” he said.
Trade deals
Mr Dyer said a government priority should be suspending the UK’s £970m trade deal with the Faroe Islands to force the authorities to end the mass slaughter of whales and dolphins.
Ciwf said animal welfare should be protected in trade deals by refusing imports of food produced in ways that are illegal in the UK. Labour has said it will do this.
British farmers complained that deals for cheap food imports under the Conservatives undermined their standards.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The government set out its plans in the manifesto to introduce the most ambitious boost in animal-welfare rights in a generation.
“This includes banning trail hunting and the importing of hunting trophies, while also ending the badger cull, puppy smuggling and farming, and the use of snare traps.”
Regards Mark
UK lection.
Labour vows to outlaw trail hunting in crackdown on animal cruelty – while also pledging an end to illegal pet smuggling and puppy farming
Read in full here:
Mark
Dear Friend,
We are delighted to welcome the Pet Abduction Act 2024. Under this new law – which was a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by our Patron Anna Firth and Lord Black of Brentwood and supported by the Government – anyone found guilty of stealing a pet in England or Northern Ireland will face up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.
The new law recognises that cats and dogs are not inanimate objects but sentient beings capable of experiencing distress and other emotional trauma when they are stolen from their owners or keepers.
Evidence from the Pet Theft Taskforce suggests around 2,000 dog and over 400 cat theft crimes were reported to police in 2020, causing considerable distress for owners and their pets alike. With an estimated 28% of UK adults owning a dog and 24% owning a cat, pet theft is a major concern to the public.
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Anna Firth, Lord Black
Support for the Act builds upon wider action to protect pets from theft, including making the microchipping of cats compulsory from 10 June 2024. This makes it easier for lost, stray or stolen pets to be reunited with their owners and returned home safely.
Anna Firth commented: “As a nation of pet-lovers, it is vital that the law recognises the emotional impact the theft of a pet can have and brings the perpetrators to justice in a way that correctly reflects this. Pets are not merely items in our lives, they are sentient beings, and it is not right that the law does not distinguish this. My thanks to Lord Black, Debbie Matthews, Dr Dan Allen, Pet Theft Alliance, Tilly’s Angels, the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation and Cats Protection, the Dogs Trust, Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, Refuge and Pet Theft Awareness, all of whom have provided invaluable insight on my Bill.”
Lord Black of Brentwood commented; “I am delighted that the Pet Abduction Act is now on the statute book. We have seen a great deal of important animal welfare legislation in this Parliament – and it seems fitting that it should end with this vital step forward. It will make a real difference to millions of families, like my own, who love their pets. I am so grateful to the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, as well as all the other charities in the sector, who have given such strong support. This is a victory for all of you.”
Lorraine Platt, Co-Founder of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, commented: “We are delighted our Patron Anna Firth’s Pet Abduction Act which will tackle the growing issue of pet theft has become law. This Act delivers a key component of Defra’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare (2021) and address an issue close to the hearts of the British public. Our pets are members of the family, often providing much-needed companionship and stability throughout our lives. That the theft of a treasured pet was treated no more severely under the law than that of a mobile phone was simply unacceptable, and we look forward to seeing this new legislation provide an effective deterrent against such offences. We would like to thank Anna Firth and Lord Black for the hard work and time they have spent on this important new law and our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Secretary of State Steve Barclay for their strong support for the new legislation to protect animals.”
Live Exports Ban
We are thrilled that the Animal Welfare( Livestock Exports) Act is now law after receiving Royal Assent- it has been an important time for animal welfare! This new historical law bans exports of live cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and horses for slaughter and fattening abroad and is the first in Europe to do so.
These two new laws follow other notable Conservative Party achievements for animals since 2019 and include; the Animal Welfare (Sentience Act) including crustaceans and cephalopods, the Animal Welfare (Sentencing Act), the Glue Traps (Offences) Act, the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act, The Ivory Act, the Animal Welfare (Service Animals Act), the Animals (Penalty Notices) Act 2019, a ban on keeping primates as pets, a ban on third-party puppy and kitten sales, a ban on wild animals travelling in circuses, a ban on microbeads to protect marine life, mandatory CCTV in slaughterhouses, mandatory microchipping of cats, the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act, and the Shark Fins Act.
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Politicians and CAWF team:( left to right top to bottom). Giles Watling, Damian Green, Rebecca Harris, Sir Roger Gale, Louie French, Mark Francois, Kevin Foster, Theresa Villiers, Sir Roger Gale, Selaine Saxby, Sir Roger Gale, Louie French, Dame Tracey Crouch, Theresa Villiers, Rebecca Harris, Kevin Foster, Peter Gibson, Paul Howell, Chris Platt( CAWF) Baroness Hodgson, Baroness Fookes, Lorraine Platt and Jenny Lewis( CAWF) Theresa Villiers, Chris Platt( CAWF) Rebecca Harris, George Eustice, Lorraine Platt, Chris Platt and Dame Andrea Jenkyns
The General Election
Now, with the 2024 General Election underway, it is crucial the Conservative Party continues to build on the positive momentum gained thus far in its upcoming manifesto. We like to call ourselves a nation of animal lovers, and we know that animal welfare is an important focus for the public. It is essential that the Conservative manifesto contains pledges on issues that the voting public care about. We know that there is increasing concern on the lives of billions of farm animals on intensive industrial farms. Our campaigns focus on ending cruel systems where farm animals are confined to small cages and crates, unable to exhibit any of their natural behaviours or see natural daylight or even feel a blade of grass under their feet for their entire lives.
Our Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation 2024 Manifesto for Animals <https://conservativeanimalwelfarefoundation.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=39260baecf6044e1f26ef4f9d&id=fb4815b4c4&e=57f5095601> outlines the following primary asks, which are critical for the advancement of animal welfare.
1. Commit to a fixed and fair phase out period of the use of farrowing crates for sows and gilts in the UK with ongoing transitional support for farmers during the phase out period.
2. Commit to a fixed and fair phase out period for enriched cages for laying hens in the UK with ongoing transitional support for farmers during the phase out period.
3. Introduce mandatory animal welfare labelling on all meat products for human consumption.
4. Legislate to ensure that farmed fish have the equivalent legal protection to that of terrestrial farmed animals, including at time of slaughter.
Additionally, our Manifesto includes asks to ban the commercial importation of foie gras, ban fur imports, trophy hunting imports, prohibit the remote sale and shipping of live animals for food to non-commercial customers, ban the importation of cats or dogs that have been mutilated in ways that are illegal in the UK (such as tail docking, ear cropping or de-clawing), ban the use of snares and introduce a close season for brown hares in England and Wales to align with existing legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It’s important to enshrine core standards for animal welfare in all future trade agreements, in order to safeguard the UK’s existing animal welfare standards and to protect British farmers.
We know that animals matter to the public and we hope that our proposals are considered for the General Election Manifesto.
Thank you for your kind support
Best wishes
Lorraine, Chris and the Team
Regards Mark
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
World Animals Voice 
