Cruelty Free International

Today we are delighted to announce that Lidl GB has become the latest addition to our Leaping Bunny approved family! 🎉
All Lidl GB own brand household and cosmetic products now have our gold standard stamp of approval 🐰

Our CEO, Michelle Thew, said:
“Lidl is a much-loved high street brand, known for its affordable products which don’t compromise on quality.
So, we’re thrilled to be able to grant the Lidl GB ’s household and cosmetics ranges Leaping Bunny approval, making cruelty free Veganuary swaps this January both affordable and accessible across the country.

“Leaping Bunny approval is rigorous and take many months, and it’s no mean feat to do this for both cosmetics and household products at the same time!
Congratulations to Lidl GB and welcome to the growing Leaping Bunny family.”
Find your next “cruelty free” favourite via our quick and easy Leaping Bunny Search tool. https://bit.ly/3ngxJH7

https://crueltyfreeinternational.org/leapingbunny

And I mean…While the news is encouraging, it must be treated with caution.

They’re two separate things: The term “cruelty-free” has long been associated with ending animal testing. So the Leaping Bunny logo and approval means that these are products which are not tested on animals.

However, that does not mean that the products are vegan, meaning that they do not contain any animal ingredients.

Of course, for some it is incomprehensible how a product can be presented as cruelty free if it contains parts of an animal or its products (like milk, honey…)

Furthermore, Cruelty Free International hasn’t enjoyed the same level of trust it once did for a long time, and with good reason:

For example, they have Garnier listed on their website as one of their trusted brands even though they are owned by L’Oreal. They also declare Body Shop as one of their Trusted Brands, which was one of the first vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics companies, but on March 17, 2006 was sold on L’Oreal, a deal that many animal rights activists saw as a betrayal by the company to customers and animals and a breach of trust.

Because L’Oreal certainly conducts animal testing.

For several years, Cruelty Free International has dropped the standards. This is wrong not only for animal welfare, but for all the amazing companies that have been “cruelty free” for years and have done the right thing.

Conclusion: A vegan product is not automatically cruelty-free and vice versa. If you’re vegan then your best bet is to find products that are certified cruelty-free and vegan.

As the first municipality in Germany, Rodgau will no longer allocate urban areas to circuses or organizers who display animals of any kind.
In December, the city council had approved a motion by the parliamentary group of the Animal Welfare Party by a majority.

In a letter to Mayor Jürgen Hoffmann and the factions of the local council, PETA thanked them for this forward-looking and animal-friendly decision.
Because even domesticated animals such as horses, alpacas or goats suffer from the much too small cages and enclosures, the constant transport and the unnatural tricks that they are forced to do in the presence of bright headlights and loud music.

The animal rights organization hopes more cities and towns will follow suit, and is also campaigning at the federal level with a petition for a regulation that includes all animal species.

“With this groundbreaking decision, Rodgau paves the way for a society in which the needs of animals are respected and they are no longer locked up to entertain paying visitors and involuntarily have to serve as circus clowns,” says biologist Dr. Yvonne Würz, PETA’s specialist for animals in the entertainment industry.

“A nationwide ban, at least on wild animals, is long overdue. Ultimately, all animal training must be banned in order to end animal suffering in the manege and circus wagons.”

Poor animal husbandry in the circus

A species-appropriate accommodation of animals in circuses is not possible due to the system.

In 2016, the Federal Council called for wild animals such as elephants, giraffes and hippos to be banned from circuses.
In his motion for a resolution, he reasoned that these animal species are subject to considerable suffering, regardless of the circus company.
Animal welfare violations are also common in farms that do not keep wild animals.

Again and again, PETA has to ask the veterinary authorities to enforce the applicable guidelines there as well.
The animal rights organization calls for a general ban on animals in circuses.
The accommodation in small enclosures and an often inadequate supply, the constant transport and the training characterized by violence and coercion also lead to behavioral disorders, illnesses and often to an early death in animals such as camels, horses or ponies.

Germany should follow the example of other countries in this regard: Greece, Malta and Cyprus have already completely banned the keeping of animals in circuses.
According to a representative opinion poll, the majority of Germans (62 percent) are of the opinion that animals should not be kept and presented in mobile circuses at all.

“With this groundbreaking decision, Rodgau paves the way for a society in which the needs of animals are respected and they are no longer locked up to entertain paying visitors and involuntarily have to serve as circus clowns,” says biologist Dr. Yvonne Würz, PETA’s specialist for animals in the entertainment industry.
“A nationwide ban, at least on wild animals, is long overdue. Ultimately, all animal training must be banned in order to end animal suffering in the manege and circus wagons.”

Future without animal training

Successful circus greats prove that animal-free shows inspire spectators: Circus Roncalli, for example, said goodbye to wild animal training in the 1990s, took horses out of the program in 2018 and is now completely animal-free.
The company’s concept and future-oriented hologram technology are popular around the world.

PETA’s motto, in part, is: Animals aren’t there to entertain us.

TEXT: PETA

And I mean…The circus association wants to sue!!
The chairman of the Association of German Circus Companies, Ralf Huppertz, considers this ban to be unjustified and announces legal action.
According to Huppertz, daily training is healthy for the animals, body and mind are challenged. This also increases the general well-being of the animals.
According to Huppertz, lawsuits have already been successfully filed against many municipal bans on wild animals. This ban has no chance of enduring, he said.

Shall we bet, Mr. Hupertz?
That this time at least one German town, that of Rodgau does not give in to the pressure of the circus jugglers and circus animal tormentors?

My best regards to all, Venus

15th January 1964 -1st February 1995

January 15th would have been Jill’s birthday, and February 1st will be the 27th anniversary of her murder while trying to save animals. She died fighting for the rights of the oppressed. If you’ve not watched the film about her life do take a look-

A brief history

On that day there were only 33 protestors, yet there were 100 police officers.
Jill had no intention of deliberately putting herself in danger, she and the others had assumed that the police and the lorry driver would have a little more respect for human life than they had for animals lives.
This was not the case, the police were determined to keep the vehicles moving.
They had instructed the driver Stephen Yates only minutes before to keep going and not to stop, he only did so after Jill had been fatally injured beneath the wheels.

The cattle truck belonged a company called Phoenix Aviation and had already begun flying calves from Coventry Airport to Amsterdam in November 1994.  
The owner, Christopher Barrett-Jolley, was a known gunrunner who had flown arms to vulnerable developing countries including South Yemen and Sierra Leone, and was later jailed for smuggling 270 kg of cocaine into Southend.
He was a man completely without scruples who would seize any opportunity to make money regardless of the suffering and loss of life it caused.

​After Jills’ death, the veal flights continued for just 3 more months.
In the following weeks the tragedy became a huge focus of media attention.
Furthermore it acted as a catalyst throughout the country to further motivate and unite people to end this brutal trade wherever it was happening.

27 years after her tragic death, the struggle to end live animal exports continues and we are determined that she will never be forgotten.

regards, Venus

Additional info on this: more on B-J

Regards Mark

England: There Is More To The Jill Story When You Have the Facts. – World Animals Voice

England: There Is A Lot More Behind The Death of Jill – Read On. – World Animals Voice

Hong Kong: About 2000 small animals, including hamsters, will be killed after several tested positive for the coronavirus at a Hong Kong pet store where an employee was also infected.

Hong Kong will also stop the sale of hamsters and the import of small mammals, according to officials from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. The pet shop employee tested positive for the Delta variant on Monday, and several hamsters imported from the Netherlands at the store tested positive as well.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, animals do not appear to play a significant role in spreading the coronavirus. But Hong Kong authorities said they were not ruling out transmission between animals and humans.

“We cannot exclude the possibility that the shopkeeper was in fact actually infected from the hamsters,” said Edwin Tsui, a controller at the Centre for Health Protection.

“If you own a hamster, you should keep your hamsters at home, do not take them out,” department director Leung Siu-fai said at a news conference. “All pet owners should observe good personal hygiene, and after you have been in contact with animals and their food, you should wash your hands.

“Do not kiss your pets,” he added.

As a precautionary measure, customers who bought hamsters from the store after January 7 would be traced and be subject to mandatory quarantine and must hand over their hamsters to authorities to be put down, officials said.

They said all pet stores in Hong Kong must stop selling hamsters and that about 2000 small mammals, including hamsters and chinchillas, would be killed in a “humane manner” (!!)

“humane disposal” of the Minks in Denmark because of Corona

Customers who bought hamsters in Hong Kong from December 22 would be subject to mandatory testing and were urged not contact others until they recorded negatives tests. If their hamsters test positive, they will be subject to quarantine.

Hong Kong has been grappling with a local omicron outbreak traced to several Cathay Pacific crew members who dined at bars and restaurants across the city before testing positive for the Omicron variant.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/hong-kong-to-kill-2000-animals-after-hamsters-get-covid-19-20220118-p59pbs.html

And I mean…We suffer from mass hysteria and from a dictatorship.

We don’t need to look to Hong Kong, it’s a global dictatorship.
It’s no longer about the Corona virus, it’s about total control, about supremacy.

The dream of a few is to accumulate enough power to rule and exploit the rest of humanity.
An Omicron wave is very welcome there.

Because according to the will of leading billionaires and heads of government, this Corona dictatorship can be extended for years under the guise of pandemics.
Once people are conditioned like mice and rats, they’re just manipulative toys in the hands of those in power, whether it’s business or politics.
But the fact that defenseless animals are innocently dragged into this spiral of violence raises the suspicion of psychopathy.

By now, our entire “Banana Republic” has also become accustomed to the idea of ​​a second, third, fifth or nth wave of the COVID-19 mutations.
The thing can only work if scaremongering is created from above to keep the subjects in line, and then there is no way out of fascism or totalitarianism.

“When fascism returns it will not tell us: “Good morning, I am the Fascism”. He will tell us: “I am the new pandemic”, said a friend of mine.
I think he is right.

My best regards to all, Venus