12 January 2024

The breeding and trade of cats and dogs within the EU is a profitable economic sector; valued at over 1.3 billion € annually, it’s riddled with fraudulent activities that jeopardise the health and welfare of animals, compromise public health, undermine consumer protection and distort the internal market.

These risks have been given the attention they deserve at EU level through a coordinated Action Plan involving relevant stakeholders, among which are Directorate Generals of the European Commission, EU non-governmental organisations and Europol.

The sale of dogs and cats is increasingly growing through online platforms and social media, with an estimate of around 60% of dog and cat owners purchasing their pet through the Internet, representing 4,8 million dogs and 1,2 million cats. We expect the new Proposal for a Regulation on the welfare of dogs and cats and their traceability to address fraudulent operations via mandatory identification and registration of dogs and cats circulating on the internal market.

Lack of enforcement is a major issue due to lack of prioritisation of the illegal pet trade, in spite of it bearing all the hallmarks of organised crime. There is a compelling need for a deeper collective and structured cooperation at EU level between law enforcement, custom tax authorities, magistrates, European institutions and agencies and, where relevant, third countries, international organisations and the private sector.

The Action Plan has also discovered ineffective, disproportionate and non dissuasive penalties for fraudulent practices that underestimate the large amounts of money moving through the illegal pet trade.

Companion animals moved for commercial purposes from non-EU countries to the EU must be declared to customs authorities to prevent tax evasion. Commercial movement has been found to be largely disguised as private travel, hence undeclared for custom purposes, making the origin of the animals unverifiable.

Other disturbing findings pointed towards illegal trafficking of dogs through shelters, for example in Romania, without the necessary permits and incorrect data in health certificates of passports. This highlights the need to include animal shelters in the scope of the new Regulation.

The primary suppliers of illegally traded animals within the EU were Romania and Hungary, and from outside the EU were Turkey, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus with 45% of the Action Plan cases originating from non-EU countries. 

The insights from this EU Action Plan should be used to implement more targeted and effective controls, stronger penalties, effective law enforcement and the need for unified regulations in Member States. Special attention should be granted to the online side of the illegal pet trade, which would benefit from an enhanced collaboration between all relevant national authorities (veterinary, customs, police and judicial), as well as a larger focus on public awareness campaigns to empower consumers to make informed choices.

Regards Mark

Nigeria: Ram fighting continues without regulation despite animal rights concerns

In a stadium in Lagos people are preparing for a ram fighting tournament. The spectators here either own the animals or they are here by invitation. **The ram owners view the sparring between the animals as a sport on which they can gamble. Most of the owners are fully employed elsewhere and do this as a hobby.

Like boxing, the rams are categorised according to weight. Rams fight by locking horns in the wild in order to secure sexual dominance over a herd – here they’re encouraged to show dominance as part of the competition.

There is no official regulation of the sport, so the level of care given to the animals depends on the owners who are not members of any sporting body.

Continue reading at:

Nigeria: Ram fighting continues without regulation despite animal rights concerns (msn.com)

Regards Mark

In GAZA’s only zoo, destitute Palestinian families have been camping by the cages where starving animals have been crying out for food.

The scarcity of food across Gaza and increase in feed prices has led to a dire situation for animals and humans alike Credit: Getty

Several animals have already died, some animals are so weak that they cannot feed themselves whenever food becomes available, and dozens of displaced Palestinians have become forced onlookers.

“Living among the animals is more merciful than what we get from the war planes in the sky.”

It has been estimated that at least 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7.

Some of the animals in the zoo have already died from starvation Credit: Getty

Read on with video and pictures:

Shocking pics show painfully thin monkeys & emaciated lions at zoo in bombed-out Gaza as animals left starving to death | The Sun

Regards Mark

Our visitor map on left is making a fresh start for the new year.

https://clustrmaps.com/site/1a9kn

Regards Mark

From ‘The Independent’ London

Voices: Animal rights made big gains in 2023 – here are 10 of the year’s wins

In many respects, 2023 has been another tough year. From the cost of living crisis to ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world, the challenges of the past 12 months make it even more crucial to celebrate the good news stories – including wins for our fellow animals.

Mouthwatering new vegan food items continued to appear, with Premier Inn serving 2.5 million vegan sausages in a year and Asda selling a vegan “whole roast turkey” for Christmas. But fabulous food aside, there were many other animal victories to cheer about.

From South Korea’s plans to end the dog meat trade to Wales’s ban on selling snares and glue traps, it seems humankind is finally starting to realise that animals are individuals and not ours to cut up for food or clothing, torture in laboratories, confine to cages and tanks for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.

Read it all at:

Voices: Animal rights made big gains in 2023 – here are 10 of the year’s wins (msn.com)

Regards Mark

… we do not forget the suffering inflicted on the people and animals of Palestine and Gaza, the Ukraine, and countless other nations round the world.

Unfortunately, we can do very little; it is up to higher authorities to take the REAL actions necessary.