Photo – Mark (WAV)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33090043
Ornithologist David Lindo – who launched the campaign – said the robin was “entwined into our national psyche” as a “Christmas card pin-up”.
He now plans to ask the government to officially recognise the robin as the national bird.
Check our some of my other breakfast buddy photos by going here:
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/?s=breakfast+buddy
Regards Mark
26 October 2022
Until the end of October the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is inviting public participation in a consultation on the development of new fish welfare indicators. The indicators will become requirements in the ASC certification scheme, applied in the production of 10+ fish species in aquaculture all across the globe.
Knowledge and best practices on fish welfare have been developing at an exponential rate for twenty plus years. Major certifiers, including the ASC, taking up the topic offers a turning point for fish welfare in aquaculture. It should be a turning point in terms of improving the quality of life of fish, and a turning point in terms of tackling health and product quality challenges in a sector that is continually innovating on the intensive production of undomesticated animals.
The indicators that the ASC has out for consultation now aim at the widespread implementation of the immediate stunning of fish at slaughter. This would be a step change in the sector, pushing technologies that have become standard in the salmon sector from occasional use with other species to implementation widely across aquaculture. With most farmed fish currently killed either by asphyxiation or by simply processing them alive, the introduction of immediate stunning would go a long way towards ending the terrible suffering of fish slaughter.
Farmed fish live long lives on farms. A salmon is probably 3 years old before it is slaughtered, and many other species are reared for 1 to 2 years. It’s a very different scenario from chickens that are raised for a little over a month, or pigs for four to seven months. Unfortunately, the ASC has held back from introducing welfare standards during farming. Instead they propose a framework of monitoring and documentation around many aspects of welfare, but without the measurable specifics that would, a) guarantee consumers something about the standard of life experienced by the fish, b) give aquaculture workers tangible procedures that raise their attention on fish welfare while improving the lives of the fish, and c) provide the basis for the equal application of standards across certified farms.
Fish and their immune systems are especially vulnerable to stress, and will take several days to recover from an instance of routine handling. Aquaculture producers commonly have mortality rates around 20% and for the sake of the fish, and the feed and resources lost when farmed fish die, minimising stress during farming should be a priority for everybody. The RSPCA has been evolving its standards for salmon and trout for over 20 years, the Council of Europe published widely applicable guidelines in 2005, the World Organisation for Animal Health published standards in 2009, the EU Platform on Animal Welfare published guidelines in 2020, and other expert groups and producer organisations have developed many species-specific and regional guidelines. By leaving aside the best practices developed across so many projects, the ASC is passing up the chance to implement the knowledge meaningfully for the benefit of fish and fish farmers.
Aquaculture experts and scientists are now uncovering how to create variety and mental stimulation in fish’s lives. Certification schemes, including the ASC, should have moved further on the basics of avoiding suffering and be better positioned today to provide a good life for farmed fish.
Regards Mark
25 October 2022
Today the PETI Committee voted to call on the European Commission to regulate the exotic pet trade through an EU-wide Positive List of animals that can be kept as pets. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour, with 20 MEPs voting in favour of the motion, only one voting against or abstaining.
The issue
An enormous number of animals are traded in the EU for the purpose of being kept as companions in people’s households, but many of these species are not and cannot ever be suitable for life in captivity. The motion adopted today highlights the impact of the exotic pet trade on animal welfare, the potential of zoonotic disease risk, and the risk to biodiversity from animals being taken from the wild in their country of origin and also of being released or escaping and becoming invasive species.
The motion states that the current regulations in Member States and provision in the EU do not go far enough, are inefficient in ensuring the welfare of animals traded as pets in inappropriate conditions, and fail to account for the vast majority of species. The lack of sufficient data on the pet trade is mentioned, and Positive Lists already adopted in some countries were highlighted to solve these problems at Member State level, from which lessons can be learnt.
The solution
The motion highlights that an EU-wide positive list is the solution to the plethora of problems caused by the exotic pet trade. A Positive List is a list of animals that are allowed to be traded, meaning that any animals not on the list are illegal to trade. This system is succinct, precautionary, and provides clarity on what species are allowed to be traded in the EU. The motion provides flexibility on the criteria on which the Positive List would be built to ensure the most effective and feasible criteria are used. Importantly, it calls for the strict and timely implementation of the revised EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking, set to be released at the end of this week. Following the success of the motion, the Parliament are calling on the European Commission to carry out an impact assessment of the added-value and feasibility of establishing such a list.
Eurogroup for Animals are thrilled that this strong motion has been adopted by the PETI Committee and calls on all MEPs to vote to adopt this important resolution in the Plenary.
Regards Mark
24 October 2022
The Federal and New South Wales governments are being accused of turning a blind eye to the commercial killing of kangaroos, while Europe considers a ban on kangaroo meat and skin imports.
A New South Wales parliamentary report into the Health and Wellbeing of Kangaroos and other macropods examined the way the NSW government manages the commercial kangaroo industry, with the inquiry recommending there be greater transparency of kangaroo management plans, programs and practices.
“There was unanimous agreement from the inquiry that there was an appalling inability from both the NSW government and representatives from the commercial kangaroo industry to answer basic questions about their methods,” Kangaroos Alive co-founder Mick McIntyre said.
“Despite the inquiry handing down 23 recommendations to the New South Wales government, only two were accepted in full,” he added.
McIntyre said the inquiry proves Australia has dropped the ball when it comes to monitoring the commercial killing of kangaroos, missing an opportunity to get on the front foot to try to fix issues raised by this New South Wales parliamentary inquiry.
“The government will be left red faced over its dismissive response to the inquiry into kangaroos which found evidence of an unsustainable animal welfare crisis in the commercial kangaroo industry.”
Both the NSW and Federal Government were forced to admit that no one is monitoring this commercial killing at the point of kill and that no records are kept on the number of baby joeys killed each year.
“It is Australia’s shame that we cannot tell our colleagues in Europe how many baby joeys are killed each year in Australia within the commercial kangaroo industry. Nor can we have any faith in the so-called ‘codes of practice’ on kangaroo killing if no-one is monitoring how the animals are actually killed in the field.”
New evidence presented to the parliamentary inquiry shows that up to 40% of kangaroos killed in the commercial kangaroo industry are mis-shot and forced to die slow deaths from secondary trauma.
“The fact is, Europe will act first by banning the import of products, which will in turn cripple this industry,” he said.
A European Parliamentary committee will hold a parliamentary debate in Brussels this month to discuss petitions submitted by three European animal welfare organisations: LAV, World Animal Protection and Eurogroup for Animals. The petitions highlight the numerous issues raised by the kangaroo trade for animal welfare, consumer protection and the environment and call for a ban on imports.
The NSW parliamentary inquiry heard new evidence shining a light on the number of areas in Australia that have declining kangaroo populations. Again the NSW government was unable to answer basic questions on why there were such big discrepancies in the kangaroo population numbers from one year to the next.
“Kangaroos are shot for their meat and the skins then exported, but it happens with little monitoring and now with new evidence that points to a massive loss of kangaroo bio-diversity, that’s going to be a problem for the European Union,” McIntyre said.
“Kangaroo body parts are sold across Europe and the US for pet food, sausages and soccer boots, but we are seeing push back against the inherently cruel slaughter.”
McIntyre says it is compelling that the European Parliament debate on the import of kangaroo products will coincide with World Kangaroo Day on October 24th.
“We are pleased this is happening on World Kangaroo Day, an international day of celebration. It’s sending a strong message that the EU cares about the future of our national icon.”
“EU countries are the largest importers of kangaroo products – for pet food, handbags and soccer boots.”
Australian export data shows the EU remains the first destination of Australian exports of kangaroo meat, with Belgium accounting for 775 tonnes or about a third of the total export.
“Supermarket giant Carrefour has already banned kangaroo meat from its stores, while luxury brands like Gucci, Prada and Versace have also stopped using kangaroo skins in their bags, belts and shoes because of the way the animals are killed.”
“English soccer icon David Beckham even stopped wearing Adidas shoes made from kangaroo skins after watching a video of a young joey and a mother being killed.”
McIntyre and other advocates from Kangaroos Alive and a coalition of 78 other animal welfare groups and NGOs from Europe will be observers at this important debate at the EU.
KA will also meet representatives of the Netherlands Government, as they are a country considering a national ban of kangaroo products.
The US could also follow suit. A bill presented to Congress has already proposed a ban on the sale of kangaroo products. It would mean major manufacturers of football boots, who are believed to buy hundreds of thousands of kangaroo skins a year, would need to find another way of making them.
Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinctions in the world, with 54 native animals becoming extinct and an additional 400 listed as threatened.
“Many Australians are appalled by Japan’s slaughter of whales and dolphins or Canada’s killing of fur seals, but what we are doing to our kangaroos is far worse than that,” McIntyre said.
“We need to learn to value these international icons and acknowledge that they are worth much more to Australia alive. Our tourist industry relies on them and World Kangaroo Day highlights this.
“It invites us all to stop and celebrate this magnificent icon alive.”
About World Kangaroo Day
Monday, 24 October 2022 is World Kangaroo Day. A day to celebrate one of the world’s great icons and recognise the importance of kangaroos to our nation. Despite the kangaroo being such an integral part of Australian culture they are also victims of the largest terrestrial wildlife slaughter in the world. Kangaroos Alive, the not-for-profit organisation behind World Kangaroo Day aims to rally support from around the world for a moratorium on the commercial killing of kangaroos.
Legendary Australian Test Cricketer Jason “Dizzy” Gillespie is lending his support as an ambassador.
The World Kangaroo Day Photo Competition has attracted hundreds entries. Professional and amateur photographers from across Australia have sent in photographs. Wildlife photographers Robert Irwin and Steve Parrish will judge the competition. The winner will be announced on WKD.
World Kangaroo Day is supported by Animals Australia, World Animal Protection, Australia Zoo, Animal Welfare Institute, IFAW, Eurogroup for Animals, among other wildlife warriors.
About Kangaroos Alive
Kangaroos Alive is a global movement for the ethical treatment of kangaroos. It is the brainchild of the producers of the award-winning film Kangaroo: A love hate story.
They joined forces with Diane Smith and Greg Keightley to create Kangaroos Alive, who provides funds for; emergency response and ongoing care for kangaroos injured from commercial shooters, fires, road and fence accidents. They have launched World Kangaroo Day to lobby for a moratorium on commercial kangaroo killing.
Read more at source
Regards Mark
20 October 2022
World Animal Day was celebrated on 4 October, a day to reflect on the incredible animal kingdom and all of the unique species we share our planet with. Mink, foxes and chinchillas, species typically found on fur farms in Europe, are inherently wild animals that have fascinating lives in their natural habitats.
This month, we are delving deeper into how these species live in the wild, and how their natural instincts are stifled on fur farms.
A dog’s life for foxes
Red foxes mainly live in pairs or in family groups of up to ten adults and pups, digging dens with many tunnels. Their Arctic cousins roam for dozens of kilometres. But on fur farms, both species are condemned to solitary confinement in wire-mesh battery cages measuring 0.8-1.2m2.
Mink are restricted to even smaller cages, whereas in the wild they climb and jump between trees across a territory of up to 3km2 a day – that is when they’re not diving to depths of up to six metres and swimming underwater for over thirty.
Even the humble chinchilla can jump up to four times the 50cm height of the cages where they are imprisoned on farms. Used to living in colonies of over 100 yet forming breeding pairs, they find themselves constrained to small groups.
The failure to satisfy the most essential needs for the animals’ physical and mental wellbeing leads to distressed behaviour, such as pacing and circling, fur-chewing and tail-biting. Self-inflicted injuries, infected wounds, missing limbs and even cannibalism are recurrent on fur farms, as are high levels of reproductive failure and infant mortality.
Being wild animals, they are naturally fearful of humans. When heavy gloves do not provide adequate protection, handlers resort to metal neck or body tongs, and even traps placed in the cage.
No animal fares well on fur farms
The WelFur programme claims to assess animal welfare on fur farms in Europe. But as its protocols were developed to apply to housing in cages, this means the results of their studies only tell us that all fur farms are basically the same, not that the animals live in adequate conditions.
Animal welfare can only be looked at properly through the prism of the Five Domains, which assesses the balance between positive and negative experiences and feelings – a paradigm shift from the previous Five Freedoms model focused on the elimination of negative experiences. Using this animal-centric approach, fur farming is clearly an utterly unacceptable cruelty. It needs to be stopped.
If you agree that no animals should be punished for having fur, but that instead keeping animals on farms to be killed for their fur should be illegal, don’t hesitate before signing our Fur Free Europe European Citizens’ Initiative to ban fur farms and farmed fur products on the European market.
“Fur Free Europe”, our latest report, goes into more detail about the ethological needs of species farmed for their fur, and how the conditions these wild animals are subjected to make it impossible for their behavioural needs to be met.
Regards Mark
Animal rights groups in China found more than 1,400 dogs and cats on a “death truck.”
Around 370 of the dogs and cats had died by the time they were discovered, said activists.
The animals were being transported to Yulin county, where the dog and cat meat trade is prevalent.
More than 1,400 dead or dying dogs and cats were discovered on a truck headed for slaughterhouses in Yulin, south China, said animal rights activists who intercepted the vehicle last week.
Out of the 1,408 animals found, 378 dogs and cats were already dead by the time the truck was stopped, Humane Society International, or HSI, said on October 10.
The rescuers, comprising local animal groups and anti-dog meat trade campaigners, said they saved the remaining 1,000 or so dogs and cats from what they called the “death truck.”
Some of these animals had to be given emergency treatment on the roadside, and many suffered open wounds, broken bones, respiratory disease, and severe dehydration, HSI said.
They’re now being treated and cared for by staff at local shelters, the organization added.
“The smell of death, diarrhea and vomit was overwhelming,” said Hao Dayue, an activist with the Capital Animal Welfare Association, speaking to HSI.
“I saw a number of dogs and cats die on the roadside despite desperate attempts to help them, there was nothing that could be done but hold them as they passed away,” Hao said.
Hao estimated that most of the 718 dogs on the truck were stolen pets, and that the 690 cats were likely strays.
Police stopped the “death truck” on a highway in Hubei province, about halfway along the transport’s 745-mile journey from Fucheng county to Yulin county, HSI said.
The truck’s two drivers were detained by police and reported to officials at Xiantao, a city in Hubei province, per HSI.
The trader who hired them and acquired the dogs and cats also faces investigation by China’s Agriculture Bureau on charges of transporting sick animals across provinces without the proper documentation, the organization said.
The Ministry of Agriculture did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
China does not have nationwide animal protection laws that prohibit cruel treatment of animals. Beijing banned the trade and consumption of wildlife in February 2020, following speculation that COVID-19 may have spread to humans from live animals at Chinese wet markets.
However, only two cities in mainland China, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have banned the dog and cat meat trade.
The eating of dogs and cats is typically only found in a select few places in China, but the practice can be prevalent in those limited locations.
The Yulin Dog Meat Festival is one of China’s best-known events that involves the consumption of dog meat, and it often faces opposition from animal rights groups in the region.
HSI estimated that 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are killed for human consumption each year in China.
Regards Mark
While the fight to create sweeping change on the justice issues we care about can sometimes seem hopeless, California’s Prop 12, which prevents animals from being held in “a cruel manner” has been a source of optimism in the realm of animal rights.
“Prop 12 is the strongest farm animal protection law in the United States and possibly in the world,” according to The Human League. “When it goes into full effect on January 1, 2022, it outlaws the use of cages — and stands to free millions of animals from the cruelest forms of confinement.”
However, big agriculture — in this case the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation — has been fighting this law, bringing a case to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming Prop 12 “overstepped its bounds by placing regulations on other states over how they raise their animals.”
For those concerned about animal welfare, there is a great deal at stake with this court case as the battle between impactful lawmaking and the big-agriculture lobby comes to a head.
For me, the matter of preventing animal cruelty is a moral and religious one. Even the Mishnah, the earliest rabbinic text, articulates how badly confined animals want freedom of movement.
“If a man brought his flock into a pen and shut it in properly and it went out and caused damage, he is exempt,” it says in Tractate Bava Kamma, 6:1. “If he had not shut it in properly and it went out and caused damage, he is liable. If the pen was broken through at night, or bandits broke through it, and the flock came out and caused damage, he is not liable. If the bandits brought out the flock, the bandits are liable.”
The assumption here is that animals inherently don’t want to be kept locked up. It goes against their natural state of being. All life yearns for freedom.
Further, according to Karen M. Morin of Bucknell University, the confinement of animals, while a morally distinct problem from human incarceration, shares commonalities with the inhumanity involved in the imprisonment of people. These include:
Emotional and physical harm
Tightly restricted movement
Removal of dignity
Disregard for life
Despite all of the challenges to the protections we try to enact for the liberation of animals and human beings, we must continue to stand up for the abused among us. While I certainly don’t advocate for the end of all prisons, which are sometimes necessary to keep society safe from those who have a history of violence, the mass incarceration prison system absolutely must at least be seriously reformed, through the elimination of a level of confinement that strips people of mobility and is a form of physical and psychological torture.
Central to Kabbalah is the notion that the sparks of God are confined. A particularly grotesque instance of this is the way human souls and animal spirits are often literally trapped in human-made cages. A key takeaway we must learn from the Jewish tradition is our obligation to help free those in need of liberation from narrow places. We are called by Torah values to fight modern-day Pharoah in whatever form he takes.
The Maharal of Prague taught: “Love of all creatures is also love of God; for whoever loves the One, loves all the works that He has made.”
We must work to create a country in which big agriculture does not have the power to overturn animal protections. In the near term, we should educate others on Prop 12 and how much is at stake, so that, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, we’ll be prepared to respond with clarity and action.
Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Founder & President of Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy and is the author of 23 books on Jewish Ethics.
Regards Mark
Hidden camera footage captured workers shocking pigs in the face with electric prods and repeatedly hitting and kicking the animals
Two animal rights activists have been given 30-day jail sentences after exposing animal cruelty at a Canadian hog farm.
Amy Soranno and Nick Schafer entered Excelsior Hog Farm in 2019. They were convicted on one count of break-and-enter and mischief.
Along with activists Roy Sasano and Geoff Regier, Soranna and Schafer were arrested after a mass protest at the farm. Together, they were known as the Excelsior 4, but Regier and Sasano were cleared of their charges.
Speaking to Plant Based News (PBN), Soranno said that they found pregnant pigs crammed inside metal cages unable to move. They also found dead pigs rotting in pens with other live pigs who were eating their bodies. The dumpsters were full of dead pigs and piglets.
Cruelty at the farm
The hidden camera footage also captured workers shocking pigs in the face with electric prods, repeatedly hitting and kicking the animals, and cutting off the tails and testicles of screaming piglets with no pain relief.
At the trial, the defense was blocked from showing footage of the animal cruelty at the farm. They were also prevented by the judge from arguing that the hog farm had engaged in unlawful animal abuse.
“This case shows in stark terms the utter failure of the animal agriculture industry and law enforcement to protect farmed animals from abuse,” said acquitted Excelsior 4 defendant Roy Sasano.
“The Crown is more interested in criminalizing and jailing nonviolent activists than holding animal abusers accountable. Excelsior Hog Farm has never had to answer for its well-documented criminal animal cruelty.”
A hidden industry
Despite the fact that the majority of the public buys animal products, most are unaware of how they are produced.
“As it stands right now, the public does not have the right to know what the conditions inside any animal farm in British Columbia looks like,” Schafer told PBN.
“There is a severe lack of transparency within the animal agriculture industry, and they continue to propagate misinformation of quaint, happy, clean farms. We hope that this case has shed some light on exactly what these farms look like and how animals are housed and treated within this industry.
Ag-gag laws, which make it illegal to expose conditions in farms, are being passed in a number of provinces in Canada. British Columbia, where this protest took place, doesn’t have any such legislation, but the activists were prosecuted nevertheless.
“This demonstrates just how much the animal agriculture industry has to hide, which should be of concern to everyone,” said Sorrano.
Soranno and Schafter’s sentence will begin on October 21 at the Okanagan Corrections Centre. They are both appealing their convictions.
Animal Activists Given 30-Day Jail Sentence After Exposing Pig Farm Cruelty (plantbasednews.org)
Regards Mark
Give me back my legions !
WAV Comment – On 5th September 2022 I posted the following: Liz Truss, very bad for animal welfare and bad for the environment.
Well today, 20/10/22, Liz Truss was forced to resign by members of her own Conservative Party.
She is officially the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history – resigning after just 44 days in office. With our dinner tonight we made a toast to the environment and animal welfare; 2 issues that have not passed her lips since she was elected. Is it me, or is the environment, global warming, the turmoil which results in so many nations at this very moment due to it, something which should really be at the forefront of political leaders in boxes ?
I am gonna have another drink later – I am so pleased to see her go; especially if she takes Rees Mogg with her, a foie gras production supporter (and no doubt eater) who hopefully will get his marching orders at the cabinet reshuffle which will take place as soon as the new PM is elected in just over a week.
For the Brits; and being English I am one of them; environmental and animal welfare issues are big (maybe massive ?) vote winners; but this woman refused to see that, or even start to get a grip on them and the issues. We carry on with our hardened battle campaigning for the badgers, live animals in transport, vivisection issues, factory farming and the rest. We don’t come and go in a matter of just a few weeks – we are in for the long fights; however long the victories take to achieve.
So, now, Conservative MP’s are trembling at the thought of what the British public will do to them at the next General Election. So now, more than ever, we have the opportunity to really turn up the gas with them on issues that we all care about – animal welfare and the environment.
THE Conservatives could face an electoral wipeout at the next general election, according to recent polling data.
A YouGov/Times poll published yesterday puts Labour some 33 points ahead of the Conservatives, understood to be the largest lead for Labour in any poll since 1998.
The poll puts Labour on 54 per cent, with the Conservatives down to just 21 per cent.
Another poll, by election forecaster Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now predicted that an imminent general election would see Labour win a majority of over 100 seats, while the Conservatives would be reduced to their lowest share of the national vote in history.
This is how the Conservatives could face a wipeout at next general election (yahoo.com)
So we battle on now after witnessing our opposition anti environment and anti animal welfare general fall on her own sword in London today.
I (Mark) personally have a great interest in (ancient) Roman military history. The romans lost 3 entire legions (Legio XVII, Legio XVIII and Legio XIX) under the control of Publius Quinctilius Varus in AD 9; ambushed by Arminius, the leader of the Germanic tribes, in Germany, at a battle known as that of ‘Teutoberg Forest’ which is near the modern German town of Kalkriese.
The Romans hated the forests of Northern Europe, as their excellent fighting machines always won best in the wide, open lands of Southern Europe. The North European forests were a haunted danger to them. The fight in the Teutoberg forest which included the slaughter of Varus and his legions, led to the abandonment of any plans to transform Germnmania Magna into a province and which also resulted in the river Rhine acting as a border between the roman world and the German tribes.
Roman casualties have been estimated at 15,000–20,000 dead, and many of the officers were said to have taken their own lives by falling on their swords in the approved manner. Tacitus wrote that many officers were sacrificed by the Germanic forces as part of their indigenous religious ceremonies, cooked in pots and their bones used for rituals.[37] Others were ransomed and some common soldiers appear to have been enslaved
Read more – Battle of the Teutoburg Forest – Wikipedia
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest | Summary, Facts, & Significance | Britannica
Finally, as the Germanic tribes sliced the tongues out of the Roman soldiers they had captured, they uttered the words:
‘At last, the viper has ceased to hiss’.
The animal rights / environmentalists gained a victory today, with the forced resignation of a viper – a ‘general’ of the Conservative armies that sit encamped in and around Downing Street, London. Waiting now for their massacre ? – time will tell.
Our battles have been long and drawn out for decades; our animal rights movement has tenacity, whilst politicians just come into senate and then go.
Today, one viper ceased to hiss any more; now the Conservatives must very seriously address the issues of animals and their rights and act to the positive; otherwise they will meet their own ‘Teutoberg’ massacre at the next UK general Election.
Regards Mark.
All photos – Mark (WAV)
Regards Mark
World Animals Voice 