Category: pets

Birds, Farm Animals, Fish, Fur and Fur Farming, General News, Hunting, Live Transport, pets, Religion/Philosophy, Stray Animals, Uncategorized, Vivisection, Wildlife

(CH) SENTIENCE – Politics For Animals / Campaign “Invisible Animals”

https://sentience.ch/en/

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Campaign, “Invisible Animals”

https://sentience.ch/en/invisible-animals/

Invisible Animals

In Switzerland, animal welfare issues are mainly discussed with regard to wildlife, companion animals and so-called “farmed animals”. In doing so, we forget about the individual whose interests we neglect the most and who are hardly – if at all – protected by the law. We are talking about the “invisible” animals – pigeons, rats, bees and fish.

These animals are subjected to immense daily suffering. Pesticides strip bees of their navigational abilities; rats face an agonising death from rodenticides; sick pigeons lie lifeless on the streets of our cities; and fish are confined in aquaculture basins under conditions that would be deemed unacceptable even in factory farming.

Considering the capacity for suffering as a crucial moral criterion is the core concern of Sentience. Therefore, we believe that all these animals deserve more attention, consideration, and protection. To eradicate today’s injustices, we must, together with you, sharpen public awareness and advocate for animals’ interests in politics.

Even small changes – such as banning certain rodenticides or pesticides, maintaining pigeon lofts, and improving water quality in aquaculture – can improve the well-being of billions of animals. By signing our petitions today, you help bring political attention to the “invisible” animals.

Birds, Environmental, Farm Animals, Fish, Fur and Fur Farming, General News, Hunting, Live Transport, pets, Religion/Philosophy, Stray Animals, Uncategorized, Vivisection, Wildlife

Against human exceptionalism

https://aeon.co/essays/human-exceptionalism-is-a-danger-to-all-human-and-nonhuman

This January, a 57-year-old man in Baltimore received a heart transplant from a pig. Xenotransplantation involves using nonhuman animals as sources of organs for humans. While the idea of using nonhuman animals for this purpose might seem troubling, many humans think that the sacrifice is worth it, provided that we can improve the technology (the man died two months later). As the bioethicists Arthur Caplan and Brendan Parent put it last year: ‘Animal welfare certainly counts, but human lives carry more ethical weight.’

Of course, xenotransplantation is not the only practice through which humans impose burdens on other animals to derive benefits for ourselves. We kill more than 100 billion captive animals per year for food, clothing, research and other purposes, and we likely kill more than 1 trillion wild animals per year for similar purposes. We might not bother to defend these practices frequently. But when we do, we offer the same defence: Human lives carry more ethical weight.

But is this true?

Most humans take this idea of human exceptionalism for granted. …..

General News, pets, Stray Animals, Uncategorized, Vivisection

Inside the Secret Mental Health Crisis of People Who Kill Animals for Science

https://www.vice.com/en/article/science-researcher-mental-health-animal-killing/

May 7, 2021, 2:38am

Briana figures she’s probably killed more than 300,000 animals throughout her career. Most of them mice. The occasional rat. Sometimes a hamster. At the biomedical research facility where she used to work, at a university in the United Kingdom, the method of execution wasn’t always the same. Some test subjects were killed by an overdose of anaesthetics, others by a rising concentration of carbon dioxide that was slowly pumped into a sealed enclosure.

But the most common technique was something called cervical dislocation. Ten times a day, on average, for more than 10 years, Briana’s job involved taking a mouse by the tail in one hand, pinching its neck with the other, and yanking hard to dislocate its vertebrae.

“The last week before Christmas was always the worst; I’d spend an entire day just breaking necks,” she tells VICE World News over email. “Having to kill so many animals and be part of their suffering left me feeling like there wasn’t much point in my existence.”

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General News, pets, Stray Animals, Uncategorized

(US) An Act Of Dog

Louisville artist Mark Barone sets out to paint 5,500 portraits of euthanized dogs

https://www.pbs.org/video/an-act-of-dog-o1fr7v/

https://anactofdog.org

“Artists have a powerful medium for reporting on the consciousness of our current civilization and can paint visual records of the unpalatable realities of our time. The aim is to move the viewer to feel those realities and engage them in a dialogue towards recovering our lost humanity.” ~ Mark Barone

Mark Barone has paved the way for compassion by creating a stirring collection of 5500 portraits of shelter dogs, (illustrating the approximate number destroyed every day), and with his wife, Marina Barone, they run their charity (An Act of Dog); using the power of art for social change. PBS created a 30-minute documentary about The 5500 shelter dog project.

An Act of Dog uses art to educate for change and donates to Semper Fi Service Dogs because they save shelter pets with 72 hours left to live and train them to be service dogs to zero out the 22 Veterans who commit suicide every day.

Mark has been an Artist for over 40 years, with his work featured in top art publications, awarded, and exhibited throughout America, with much of his work hanging in private and corporation collections around the world.  https://artofsobriety.org

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https://anactofdog.org/a/press-kit

General News, Hunting, pets, Uncategorized, Wildlife

(Germany – Thuringia) Hunter sets Dog on Pet Cat
Hobby-Jäger lässt Katze mit Jagdhund zerfetzen

Hobby hunter has cat torn to pieces by hunting dog

In Triebes in the Free State of Thuringia, a hobby hunter was filmed committing a serious offense.

Disgusting scenes in a video from the everyday life of hobby hunters were leaked to IG Wild beim Wild by a whistleblower.

This hobby hunter, too, is completely numb and internally crippled. Typical symptoms of years of hunting. A hunting license always gives you two things: a license to kill and a license to become stupid. The faces, eyes, and activities of these older hobby hunters speak volumes.

Video on Page

As is so often the case, the hobby hunter has absolutely no control over his dog. Time and again, we receive videos of hobby hunters setting their dogs on defenseless animals. It’s hard to imagine what happens in the forests, where wild animals are defenselessly at the mercy of these sadists. These are not isolated cases, so hobby hunting must finally be banned, and the children of hobby hunters must be protected.

The person who recorded the video is an old man who can only move with pain using a walker and therefore could not intervene.

Little Luna was unfortunately the victim of this cruel act. She was a very special and trusting kitten. However, because of this act, she never even lived to be two years old.

The cat’s owner is shocked. The community is wondering how sick the alleged former managing director of the German Hunting Terrier Club (name withheld from the editors) is to give his hunting dog such commands, or even to watch.

The cat presumably suffered for a few more minutes before succumbing to her injuries. Her body has not yet been returned to her owner. This suggests that the hobby hunter later disposed of little Luna after her death.

Legal action has been initiated and the local animal welfare association is providing support.

The hobby hunter—the police have no doubt about this—is a 64-year-old local man. Officials are now investigating him on suspicion of violating the Animal Welfare Act.

Dogs are abused for hunting

The abuse of dogs for recreational hunting is systematic. For their “training,” they are forced into obedience with electric shock devices, spiked collars, kicks on the paws, pinches in the ears, and sometimes even beatings.

The wild animals that hobby hunters set their four-legged friends on also pose a great danger: When dogs are forced to chase foxes or badgers out of their dens, bloody life-and-death fights often ensue. It’s not uncommon for the four-legged friends to be bitten by the terrified wild animals. Because the animals are sent headfirst into the den, they often suffer injuries to their eyes, lips, jaws, and necks. However, most dogs are injured by wild boar. Training dogs on live foxes in dens or on ducks is common practice.

Birds, Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Hunting, Live Transport, pets, Stray Animals, Uncategorized, Wildlife

(UK) Chris Packham is no saint. He’s an environmental extremist to us country folk

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/16/chris-packham-is-an-environmental-extremist/

(It was only a matter of time when the backlash would come …)

The Springwatch host saw no issue being likened to St Francis of Assisi, making his holier-than-thou attitude worse than ever this week

Vanity is a bewitching drug for some of the BBC’s biggest stars. Jostling for most luminous position in the media firmament this week, next to Gary Lineker (who completely by mistake, and in the knowledge that the media watches his every social media move, managed to post to Instagram the suggestion that Jews were rats) was Chris Packham. …..

Please ref. to previous post:

(UK) Chris Packham poses as St Francis of Assisi in new portrait

General News, pets, Uncategorized

(UK) Pictured: The Queen’s new dog

New eight-week-old Jack Russell called Moley will be featured at the Chelsea Flower Show

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/05/18/pictured-the-queens-new-dog/

Queen Camilla is the patron of the Battersea Dogs and Cats home Credit: Instagram

The Queen has shared a picture of her new rescue dog.

The image of Moley, who was adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats home, shows the animal perched on a wooden chair.

The King and Queen are expected to see the names of their dogs featured in a Chelsea Flower Show garden when they visit the attraction on Monday.

Monty Don, of BBC Gardeners’ World, is behind a dog-friendly garden which aims to celebrate the UK’s reputation as a nation of dog lovers and garden enthusiasts, opening to the public on Tuesday.

The Queen, who is the patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats home, took the step of adopting an eight-week-old puppy after the death of her beloved rescue terrier Beth.

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Environmental, General News, pets, Stray Animals

EU: The EU Could Save Member States Billions Of Euros With Mandatory Registration Of ALL Cats And Dogs Throughout ALL Member States – Here Is Our Evidence For MEP’s.

Microchipping and registering animals is not only essential for improving the welfare of cats and dogs; as well as ensuring public health; it could also save EU stated up to 25 BILLION euros per year.

As the European Commission’s proposal on the welfare of dogs and cats; including their traceability; makes its way though Parliament; the mandatory identification and registration of all companion animals remains a crucial element of the legislation.

Under current legislation proposals, certain animals are at risk of being excluded from the mandate to microchip and register pets. Leaving gaps in the legislation will allow the illegal pet trade to continue unabated, resulting in lost revenues for tax authorities and a continued burden on the public sector related to the maintenance of unwanted and abandoned animals.

With almost 6 MILLION dogs in demand across the EU each year; a staggering 79% come from unverified sources. With a conservative purchase price of around 800 Euros per puppy, dogs coming from un verified sources constitute up to 3.8 BILLIONG in lost revenues and VAT annually. With around 78 million cats in EU households, and some purebred prices reaching a disgusting 50,000 Euros; cats are a vital element of this proposal.

The uncontrolled trade and breeding of dogs and cats leads to striking costs of managing free roaming populations. Feral and abandoned pets constitute 30% of all cats and dogs worldwide, with the number of abandoned, homeless cats and dogs in EUROPE most likely underestimated to be 100 MILLION animals. In Italy alone it costs 180 – 200 million Euros of public funds to keep ABANDONED DOGS in shelters, If we look at the numbers throughout the EU, then the numbers and prices become staggering.

The lack of EU wide requirements could be costing EU member states, municipalities and EU citizens up to 25 BILLION Euros per year, an equivalent of 0.15% of total EU GDP. However, this money could be saved if the European Parliament acts responsibly when handling the current legislative proposals.

Currently, 24 EU member states require the mandatory of dogs; and 7 EU member states require it for cats; with more countries anticipated in coming years.

The obligation is especially important for stray and street animals – we campaigned for them when we were fighting the government in Serbia from 2005 onwards under ‘Serbian Animals Voice’ or SAV – – https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-serbian-animals/ and https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/

An EU wide system needs to be implemented to ensure that animals are traceable and that information on ownership, health and any disease history is fully recorded on an EU database.

The average annual ownership costs amount to approximately 1,129 Euros for cats and 1,305 Euros for a dog. THE ONE OFF COST OF MICROCHIPPING works out at around 40 Euros per animal – just 3-4 % of the annual ownership for a dog or a cat. Therefore making microchipping mandatory feasible for all EU animals throughout all EU member states. With adapted transition periods and local solutions in place; this highly practical solution is within reach.

In the development of a sound and reliable identification and registration system throughout ALL EU member states, the costs related to the acquisition of animals from unknown sources as well as the management of ‘unwanted animals’ will reduce over time; and thus leading to more responsible breeding and keeping of animals throughout ALL EU member states.

Thus this our evidence – we hope it is enough for EU citizens to this site to be able to ask their MEP’s to fully support this legislation.

Regards; Mark and Diana.

Asia, Birds, Environmental, Farm Animals, Fish, Fur and Fur Farming, General News, Hunting, Live Transport, pets, Stray Animals, Uncategorized, Vivisection, Wildlife

(UK) Chris Packham poses as St Francis of Assisi in new portrait

Well, novel certainly … not sure we may hope for Chris, CBE, being sainted by the Vatican any time soon … even with the link to S. Francis.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/14/chris-packham-poses-saint-francis-of-assisi-new-portrait/

14 May 2025 7:39pm BST

Chris Packham with his portrait, which it is said depicts him as “a living saint”, in the Fitzrovia Chapel Credit: Richard Ansett/Radio Times

Chris Packham has posed as St Francis of Assisi in a portrait celebrating him as a “living saint”.

The portrait of the presenter and environmental campaigner is now on show on the altar of the Fitzrovia Chapel, central London.

Originally commissioned by Radio Times magazine to mark Earth Day, it is the work of photographic artist Richard Ansett.

Packham is surrounded by images of some of the UK’s most endangered species. Mr Ansett said it also made reference to Packham’s neurodiversity – the presenter was diagnosed with autism in his 40s.

“I hope that every pixel of this portrait offers a safe space for anyone challenged by neurodiversity. Packham’s remarkable connection to the natural world drives him relentlessly to save us from ourselves,” Mr Ansett said.

The portrait of Packham is available to view until May 21 at the former chapel, where it is described as a work “elevating him to the status of living saint”.

Chris Packham is surrounded by some of the UK’s most endangered species in the artwork Credit: Richard Ansett/Radio Times

Packham said: “This photo is about a fundamental level of engagement, an engagement of equals. It conveys the importance of nature to heal us, provide us with a sanctuary in times of terrible trouble.

“But the species featured are also rare or declining so it serves to remind us that our one and only home, our Earth, is on a brink too many are refusing to see and act to protect and repair.

“This is a photograph about love, a love of life, all life.”

The featured species include the red squirrel, the house martin, the woodcock and the hedgehog.

Mr Ansett, an award-winning photographer whose previous works include Sir Grayson Perry in the style of the Madonna and Child, added that the Packham portrait “recognises the difficulties that he has prevailed over to become a success in his career and a positive light for so many people”.

It is “a personal tribute to Packham’s humanity in challenging the worst parts of ours, in our ambivalence to the destruction created in the wake of our own needs”, the photographer said.