Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

EU: The Message Is Clear – More than 1.5 million citizens ask for a Fur Free Europe – So Do It Now !

14 June 2023

Press Release

1,502,319 signatures were officially submitted to the European Commission (EC), calling on the EU to ban fur farming and the placement of farmed fur products on the market once and for all.

Fur Free Europe was launched in May 2022 and received the support of more than eighty organisations from all around Europe. It closed on March 1st, earlier than its official deadline, thanks to a record number of signatures collected: 1,701,892 in less than ten months. The ECI also successfully reached the signatures threshold in eighteen Member States. The signatures were submitted to the relevant Member State for validation. 

On all fronts, the existence of fur farming holds no reasonable grounds. In fur farms wild animals such as minks, foxes and racoon dogs are kept in tiny cages, hindered from displaying natural behaviour and killed solely because of the value of their fur. 

In addition, the farms pose a significant risk on animal and human health, as proven during the COVID-19 pandemic, when outbreaks caused variants to be transmitted from animals to humans. From an environmental perspective, the use of toxic chemicals in the production of fur makes it one of the most polluting industries. The fur industry also poses serious threats to biodiversity, with some farmed species escaped from fur farms now considered Invasive Alien Species (IAS), causing significant adverse impacts on European native wildlife.

The ECI organisers will now meet with the European Commission and then attend a public hearing at the European Parliament, after which the European Commission has to publicly respond to the initiative, before the end of the year.

This marks the 10th successful European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) since the tool was launched, and 7 out of 10 ECIs were dedicated to animal issues. Fur Free Europe represents the most successful ECI for animal welfare, and the third most successful overall.

The overwhelming public support to this initiative has made one thing clear: fur must become a thing of the past. We are so proud to have achieved yet another step towards ending this cruel and unnecessary practice and now we call on the EC to use the new animal welfare legislation to make the wish of 1.5 million European citizens come true.

Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals

Notes

The Fur Free Europe campaign page

Regards Mark

General News, Stray Animals, Uncategorized

China: Yulin Dog Meat ‘Festival’ Just Weeks Away. Could Be Biggest In Years.

I am attempting to get more about this years Yulin dog meat festival; Julia de Cadenet, founder of NoToDogMeat, said the controversial Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China could be the biggest for years as organisers try to make a spectacle for tourists.

We are expecting this year’s festival to be even bigger than in the pandemic years, as covid restrictions have now been lifted.

Lychee and Dog Meat Festival – Wikipedia

Read a lot more here:

Chinese dog meat festival to be biggest for years as organisers ‘put on show’ for tourists | UK | News | Express.co.uk

Appeal – we need a war chest – TotalGiving™ – Yulin 2023, We Need A ‘War Chest’ – NoToDogMeat Foundation – Fundraising Page

Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2023 in China – Dates (rove.me)

More to be published as info is obtained.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Uncategorized

USA: Hey, Non Vegans; What You Are ……..

With thanks as always to Stacey at Our Compass for sending this over

Regards Mark

Our Compass – Hey, nonvegans, what you’re really saying is … | Our Compass (our-compass.org)

Hey, nonvegans, what you’re really saying is …

MAY 29, 2023

by Stacey

Source Feelin’ Vegan Instagram & Feelin’ Vegan Facebook

Veganism is a call to renounce the core practice of our culture—reducing beings to mere harvestable and abuseable commodities—and to practice, in every aspect of our lives, its opposite: mindfulness, inclusiveness, equality, and respect. – Dr. Will Tuttle

Download Your FREE Vegan PDF HERE

Order a FREE vegan kit HERE

Dairy-Free Info HERE

Take the Dairy-Free Challenge HERE

Click HERE for more Dairy-Free

Fish alternatives can be found HERE

Learn about eggs HERE

Find bacon alternatives HERE and HERE

Take PETA’s Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide along with you next time you head to the store! The handy guide will help you find humane products at a glance. Order a FREE copy HERE

Searching for Cruelty-Free Cosmetics, Personal-Care Products, Vegan Products, or more?
Click HERE to search.

Free PDF of Vegan & Cruelty-Free Products/Companies HERE

Click HERE to find out How to Wear Vegan

Want to do more than go vegan? Help others to do so! Click below for nominal, or no, fees to vegan literature that you can use to convince others that veganism is the only compassionate route to being an animal friend:

PETA HERE

Vegan Outreach HERE

Get your FREE Anti-Speciesism Activist Kit from PETA HERE

Environmental, General News, Uncategorized

Cambodia: Elephant with a missing foot is given a prosthetic so he can walk again.

Elephant with a missing foot is given a prosthetic so he can walk again

Elephant with a missing foot is given a prosthetic so he can walk again (msn.com)

An elephant who lost his foot to a snare when he was only a year old can walk, run and swim again now he’s been fitted with a prosthetic.

Chhouk, an 11-year-old Asian elephant, was taken in by the Wildlife Alliance, a conservation organisation in Cambodia.

The organisation is partnered with Paradise Wildlife Park, a UK-based group which helped to fund the prosthetic foot, which is made out of old tyres and other recycled materials.

Cam Whitnall runs Paradise Wildlife Park and Big Cat Sanctuary and, along with his family, supports animal welfare causes worldwide.

Cam, 27, said: ‘It’s amazing – you can’t help but smile.

‘It’s a really special moment, to see what we’re helping to conserve and help, not just Chhouk but all over the world.

‘It’s the best feeling in the world to help animals.

‘The level of care that he gets is brilliant and he has a great life now. There’s no better feeling.’

Click on the top link to see video footage;

Regards Mark

About Us, General News, Uncategorized

England: It started With The Witnessing of a Sheep Transporter.

Y’ know, ever since I was a little boy, I had something inside of me in which wanted to help animals and their welfare.

When I was 8 years old I was out on my bike one Sunday and saw a 3 tier livestock transporter loaded to the max with sheep, heading down to the Kent ports and a Channel cross where they would be slaughtered in Europe (something I did not know at the time). 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=543&q=kent+england&oq=kent+england&gs_l=img.3..0l7j0i5l3.5391.9629.0.15898.12.12.0.0.0.0.67.621.12.12.0….0…1ac.1.30.img..0.12.621.2HMLYuXgprU

It was raining, it was cold, and I could see all the sheep were suffering a lot; there was little space for them and they were unable to move around. 

There and then that day; I made a pledge with myself that when I grew up; if I could, I would do something to try and stop the suffering of those innocent, sentient beings.

Decades and decades later I am still fighting the fight against live animal transport.  I became very involved when I was around 17 to follow up that pledge I had set myself earlier to do something – over the years I worked as a volunteer with several animal organisations; doing legal work, investigation work, and becoming the EU rep associated with live transport for one organisation.  It became an obsession really, crazy busy; and only after 35 + years of campaigning have we now stopped all live animal shipments to Europe for either slaughter or further fattening.  The little kid made the pledge when he was 8 and only now has the dream become fruition and worked for better for hundreds of thousands of farm animals. 

My (proper) work took me to many places – as I say

“I had a bloody good time doing military fast jets for 24 years; ‘down and dirty’ with the best – ‘RAF Tornado’. 

.. but to be honest, the animal rights / welfare person in me has always been just as strong as the ‘proper’ day job Marky ever since I was 15 or 16 years old, and the creation of SAV and WAV is a kind of ultimate destination for me really; there is nothing quite like the satisfaction to be gained by anyone, anywhere, helping to save the lives of, and improving the welfare of animals in need; no matter how big or small their dedication, contribution or effort; everyone simply does what they can to make things better – and slowly they win !

– I am delighted to be an animals voice; one of many, in this crazy, cruel, (and unfortunately) money-driven world”

Today, nothing has changed – the animal rights / welfare person in me has never drifted.  I say that because I know the bloke quite well !

In 2005 I set up ‘Serbian Animals Voice’  to try and fight for the stray animals against the government of Serbia; and the rest of the Balkans.  You can visit the site here to see what was taken on:

About Serbian Animals  About Serbian Animals. | Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

The biggest win was for Serbian animals in the fur trade rather than strays which we fought for.  Working with buddy Mark Glover at ‘Respect for Animals’ here in England, we finally achieved the aim of getting Serbia to impose a fur ban which commenced on 1st January 2019 – check it out:  serbia | Search Results | Respect for Animals

Home  Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) | a voice for the voiceless

And here is a link which tells you a bit more about me and my campaigning.

About Us. | Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

If you are a bit of a fast jet head like me then there are several good videos of the military.

Oh yeah, we managed to stop the baby seal slaughter in Russia many years ago – check it out via this ‘about us’ link also.

I have full respect for, and like animals immensely; it is most humans that I don’t really want to be associated with – many humans humans are dangerous, as current global situations clearly show !

If you feel that you are right, and something is worth fighting for, then get out there and do it !

Time Out – I have to finish with some Wild Fly !

Regards Mark

(Hope the links work !)

About Us, General News, Uncategorized

England: May Photos From Pauline – and A Quick Trip Round Our Home County (Kent).

26/5/23 – here are the latest photos sent over by animal buddy Pauline.  Enjoy !

All photos taken in our home county of Kent:

Water Vole

Avocet

Greylag Geese

Cows

(Eddie) Lizard

Marsh Frog

Sedge Warbler

Female Orange Tipped Butterfly

Young Blue Tit

Ratty

Regards Pauline and Mark

Cobham is about 4 miles up the road – check out the secret hidden college:

Environmental, General News, Uncategorized

Spain: Animal rights activists in Madrid protest against plans for a large-scale octopus farm.

Animal rights activists in Madrid protest against plans for a large-scale octopus farm

The Spanish activists said there are no regulations to guarantee the welfare of the captivated octopuses

Animal rights activists gathered Sunday in Madrid to protest plans for the construction of an octopus farm in Spain, saying there are no respective laws in the country and the European Union to guarantee the welfare of the animals in captivity.

The proposed farm, which aims to breed octopuses on a large scale in captivity, is scheduled to be built next year in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean.

A few dozen people showed up to express their concerns regarding a project that plans to confine 3 million octopuses in pools, despite these creatures being solitary predators in their natural habitat.

“It is similar to imprisoning tigers together. They will prey on one another and will also attempt to escape due to their high intelligence and adeptness,” said Jaime Posada, a spokesperson for the protest called by various animal welfare organizations.

Octopuses grown in captivity will behave differently from those in the wild, said Nova Pescanova, the seafood company promoting this farm. Since 2018, the company has run a pilot project in a research facility in northern Spain, where they have succeeded in breeding five captivity-born generations of the cephalopod.

“It is not possible to grow any (animal) species in the European Union without respecting their welfare conditions. It is the standard, and our group does nothing but comply with guidelines and legislations,” said Roberto Romero, the multinational’s aquaculture director.

Since the demand for octopus consumption has been on the rise, farming octopuses is being regarded as a first step towards ensuring sustainable food production.

Octopus is a staple in the Mediterranean diet, particularly popular in Spain and Italy, although both of them import most of the octopus they consume. Recently, the global demand for this delicacy has expanded, with countries like the United States witnessing a 23% increase in imports and China experiencing a 73% surge between 2016 and 2018, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Animal rights activists in Madrid protest against plans for a large-scale octopus farm | Fox News

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Uncategorized

India’s top court defends bull-fighting as part of nation’s ‘cultural heritage’ – waffle just like Spain !

India’s top court defends bull-fighting as part of nation’s ‘cultural heritage’ (msn.com)

India’s top court defends bull-fighting as part of nation’s ‘cultural heritage’

India’s Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of state laws allowing traditional bull taming sports of Jallikattu and Kambala, and bullock-cart racing.

On Thursday, a five-judge bench of the court, including justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar upheld the amendments made to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, by the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra where these sports are traditionally held.

The court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the amendments.

The court held that the amendments did not violate its 2014 order banning Jallikattu.

The centuries-old sport of Jallikattu is extremely popular in Tamil Nadu during the four-day Pongal harvest festival in January in which hundreds of bull vaulters compete in a carnival-like atmosphere.

On Thursday, the top court said that these laws remedy the defects pointed out by the judgment in 2014 and the effect of the laws is to minimise the pain and suffering caused to animals, reported legal news portal LiveLaw.

“In A Nagaraja [2014 judgment] the sport was held to attract the restrictions under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, because of the manner in which it was practiced. The amendment Act and rules substantially minimises pain and suffering to animals…”, Justice Aniruddha Bose was quoted as saying by the outlet.

The bench added: “We are satisfied on materials that Jallikattu is going on in Tamil Nadu for last one century.

“Whether this is integral part of Tamil culture requires greater detail, which exercise judiciary cannot undertake… When the legislature has declared that Jallikattu is part of the cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu state, the judiciary cannot take a different view. Legislature is best suited to decide that.”

The court added that its judgment would also apply to laws on Kambala and bull-cart racing in Maharashtra and Karnataka and directed that these laws be followed strictly.

The court order, however, has been criticised by animal rights activists.

“Since 2017, at least 104 men and children and 33 bulls have died. More deaths will occur,” Poorvi Joshipura, a spokesperson for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) India was quoted as saying to the Associated Press.

The global animal rights organisation was a complainant in the case in the country’s apex court.

Two years after the top court held that Jallikattu violated the rights of the animals and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the federal government carved out an exception for Jallikattu and bullock cart races from the scope of the law.

The move was challenged by animal rights organisations in the Supreme Court.

While the matter was pending, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017, was passed. Similar amendments were passed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The apex court’s order has upheld the constitutionality of the federal government’s action as well as the amendments passed by the states.

Regards Mark