The collapse of the Amazon rainforest is inevitable if Jair Bolsonaro remains president of Brazil, academics and environmental activists have warned amid a fresh government assault on protections for the forest.
Despite evidence that fire, drought and land clearance are pushing the Amazon towards a point of no return, they say the far-right leader is more interested in placating the powerful agribusiness lobby and tapping global markets that reward destructive behaviour.
The onslaught on forest safeguards has picked up pace. On Wednesday the lower house was due to vote on legislation that would reward land grabbers by legalising ownership of property that had been illegally invaded and cleared before 2014.
The previous day, the government shifted responsibility for forest fire satellite monitoring away from the National Institute for Space Research, a scientifically-robust organisation that had carried out the task for decades. Control has been given to the National Institute of Meteorology, which is under the influence of the agriculture ministry and the farming sector.
In the past few months, Congress has also diluted standards for environmental impact assessments and a committee has approved a bill – PL 490 – that has been described as the greatest assault on indigenous rights since the launch of the Brazilian constitution in 1988.
From a distance, the beach at Winterton-on-sea in Norfolk looks like the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, with hundreds of grey bodies lying motionless across the sand. On closer inspection, it becomes clear they are not fallen soldiers but a huge colony of seals taken to the land for pupping season.
It’s an amazing annual sight that draws tourists and nature-lovers from across the country, but another process is taking place that is pushing people back – the growing threat of coastal erosion. Just along from where the armies of grey seals lay with their white pups, there used to stand the Dunes Cafe, a much-loved beach facility with a large and loyal clientele.
A year ago it was demolished to prevent its imminent collapse as a result of land lost to sea and storms. The ground where it stood is, like the cafe itself, no longer there. It’s a story of disappearance taking place all along the eastern coast of England, but particularly in East Anglia, that bulbous protrusion jutting into the North Sea.
That climate change and rising sea levels take their toll on the landscape is an old story, but one with an urgent new twist. “The sea level’s been rising since the last ice age, 20,000 years ago or so,” says Jim Hall, professor of climate and environmental risk at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute. “And it’s going faster. We’re probably not seeing its effect very much yet on the coast, though we will in the future.”
Chalets teeter on the edge after tidal surges in Hemsby in 2013. Photograph: Nature Photographers Ltd/Alamy
In an exclusive new interview, Dame Jane Goodall sat down with Plant Based News’ own Robbie Lockie to discuss her new book. The renowned ethologist – referring to the study of animals in their natural habitat – delved into the food system, animal suffering, and hope.
Goodall penned the new release, called The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, alongside Douglas Abrams, the internationally bestselling co-author of The Book of Joy. In The Book of Hope, the pair take an intimate look at humankind’s complex relationship with planet Earth. This includes the ways in which humans have wronged the planet, but also, and importantly, the ways in which we can start making amends.
Animals have no voice. They can’t ask for help.
They cannot ask for their right to freedom and self-determination.
They can’t ask for protection.
We have to be their voice.
All animals feel and think.
They feel fear and pain, joy and hope, lead a conscious life and want to grow old with their feelings and thoughts.
They have a natural right to their life and to protection from exploitation
Because Animal welfare laws determine human rights to animals, not animal rights….
…therefore, we have decided to be loyal advocates for the other animals and with the best of our knowledge and belief to stand up for their interests and only for their interests.
If you’re reading this and you support what we stand for then please consider subscribing to our channel. We seek to educate the public about what really goes on in the British countryside. Keep The Ban
And I mean…Every year in Germany around half a million foxes die a senseless death by the hunter’s hand.
Now this is usually not great science, but rather common knowledge:
The hunt is impossible without intentional killing.
Hunting without murder of defenseless animals is a term that cancels itself.
Everything that hunters do, no matter what they say and what they actually do, serves only ONE goal: to keep the hunt alive!
The hunters in Germany justify fox hunting with four main arguments:
a) The fox also transmits diseases that are dangerous for humans, such as rabies and fox tapeworm,
b) the fox is by no means endangered because of its high population and
c) would have to be hunted because otherwise – at least regionally – it threatens to exterminate ground-nesting birds that have become rare.
d) The evil fox should be hunted to protect the lovely brown hare!
But science speaks a different language:
-The rabies is eradicated,
-The probability of being infected by the fox tapeworm is far lower than a 6 in the lottery and
– Hunting favors high fox populations and has no or only a marginal influence on the population of ground breeders.
-The evil fox should be hunted to protect the lovely brown hare! Serious? Is that why 400,000 brown hares are hunted in Germany every year?
A hunt with – as usual – 181 hunters, 100 drivers and 60 dogs is a perverse outgrowth of the hunt that can no longer be called hunting but massacre.
Then what are the real reasons for fox hunting?
The relevant hunting magazines and hunter forums on the Internet provide quick information here: They talk about “lust for stalking and capturing”,
of the “hunter’s joy in letting a fox roll in a shotgun”,
from the “charm of winter fox hunting”,
about the “hunting instinct”,
the “hunting fever” and the “kick” that the hunter experiences with a fatal shot.
The daily reports about alleged band fox danger and rabies control are pure hunter’s invention!
They are cheap and dirty hunter propaganda!
Hunters do not regulate … Hunters like to slaughter …… Hunters are slope perpetrators … Consciously and deliberately crue.
Everything else is propaganda.
2021 was a BIG year for animal protection, seeing significant progress made in Europe and further afield.
To celebrate the year coming to a close, we are looking back on the top moments for animals in the past 12 months.
Together, we are advancing the conversation on animal protection in Europe and creating a better world for all – pet, farm, wild and animals used in science.
We saw many breakthroughs, let’s look back to some of the top moments:
The European Commission promised to phase out caged farming for animals following the successful ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens Initiative.
The No Animal Left Behind campaign closed with almost 200,000 supporters standing up for a better future for all farm animals in Europe.
The European Parliament voted in favour of a comprehensive plan to phase-out experiments on animals.
During a Council meeting in June 2021, twelve Member States called on the European Commission to investigate the possibility for an EU ban on fur farming based on animal welfare, public health and ethical considerations.
The European Commission took a major leap towards the better protection of fish welfare with the publication of the Strategic Guidelines on Sustainable and Competitive Aquaculture and concrete objectives in the legislative review Inception Impact Assessment.
We’d like to thank everyone who visited our website, social media channels, signed our petitions and helped to support this progress. We’d also like to thank our colleagues in Brussels and around Europe, and our network of member organisations, for all their hard work to achieve this momentum for animals.
We would both like to take this opportunity to firstly thank you for your support in visiting the site; many of you very regularly; and also to wish you all a happy, cruelty free, and meat / dairy free new year in 2022
Covid has changed a lot for us all over the last few years, and we are still no nearer to finding the reality of how it emerged in the first place – shame on all in politics for not asking questions to China and demanding answers / evidence.
Please stick with us in 2022; we aim to continue bringing you animal news and actions from all around the world. If there is anything you would like us to cover more; or you have anything to ask or show us; then please send your message through the contact us link.
WAV Comment: They parade themselves through the villages trying to look squeaky clean; but this above is the other side reality of what hunts and its associates do.
Hidden camera shows man stab fox with pitchfork in ‘torture’ attack
Hidden camera video reveals a man repeatedly stabbing a fox with a pitchfork, leaving it writhing in agony.
The attack, which took place in east Essex, was described by a campaign group as “torture” and “some of the worst abuse” they had ever witnessed.
A man was later reported to have been arrested.
The man and a woman seen in the video visited Great Monks Wood near Braintree, according to the Hunt Saboteurs Association.
Hunts build artificial earths – an underground network of pipes and chambers – to encourage foxes into an area. The wild animals are then trapped, only to be released just before a hunt so they can be chased, it’s claimed.Activists say the artificial earth in the video was rebuilt last year, and they have been monitoring it since then with concealed cameras.
The North London Hunt Sabs said they filmed the man earlier this month arriving armed with a terrier, rods, a net and pitchfork.
The group reported the couple placed the net over one end of the earth then used the rods and terrier to force the trapped fox into the net.
The man then held the fox by its tail and repeatedly tried to stab it against a tree, including aiming at its head, before carrying it away by the tail.
The footage did not reveal whether the animal survived, but it would at least have been suffering acutely, the activists said.
A spokesperson for North London Hunt Sabs said hunting was “steeped in animal abuse” and that lawful “trail hunting” did not necessitate building artificial earths or capturing foxes.
Lee Moon, of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, said: “This is some of the worst abuse we have ever witnessed, and the wanton cruelty is hard to fathom.
“Whilst most people who watch the video will be horrified, the calm and methodical manner in which the two individuals go about catching and torturing this poor fox show how commonplace their actions are.”
He said people who carry out such violence would have been indoctrinated into such behaviour since birth.
“Cruel and psychopathic individuals who see wild animals as their playthings to be tortured for their own sick ends.
“Acts like this are sickeningly commonplace within the hunting community.”
Essex Police told ITV News it had arrested a 48-year-old man from the Bures area after receiving reports of animal cruelty, adding: “He was arrested on suspicion of offences under the Hunting Act 2004, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the Wild Mammal Protection Act 1996. He remains in custody at this time.”
The Independent has asked the Countryside Alliance, which supports hunting, to comment.
WAV Comment: England – Boxing Day (26/12) has always been a bit of a battleground every year. Hunts parade themselves through local towns or villages; and the anti’s (those against hunting) also turnout to try and give them a bad time. It can often erupt into violent scenes; especially as we know the hunt Terrier men like to try and give anti hunt campaigners a good kicking if they possibly can – after all; they dig out and torture foxes, so why also not abuse the anti hunt brigade also ? The following is a newspaper article on some events this year.
Footage from the event shows punches being thrown by apparent hunt supporters on foot and protesters carrying placards as the event began.
A member of the local hunt saboteur group who asked to be named as Dave, said the police presence at the event was “appalling”, with only two officers there to maintain peace between the two sides.
A local photographer told the Swindon Advertiser that the event had turned into a “nasty scene”.
“There must have been around 50 protesters and twice that number of hunt supporters and it all turned sour.”
A spokesperson for the Avon Vale Hunt said: “The hunt has been made aware of an incident that occurred just after the hounds had left the meet in Lacock today.
“We do not know the circumstances but we do not condone violence even in the case of extreme provocation by anti-hunting protestors whose sole purpose is to antagonise those supporting a lawful activity.
Most hunts in Wales were cancelled because of restrictions limiting gatherings to 50, while meets in Scotland were restricted to no more than 500 participants and attendees.
It has been illegal to hunt foxes with a pack of dogs since 2004 but the practice has been replaced with trail hunting, in which hounds follow a scent to replicate the traditional hunt without killing a fox.
The National Trust, which owns most of Lacock and Natural Resources Wales, both announced an end to trail hunting on their land earlier this year.
But groups that back the traditional hunt, including the Countryside Alliance, argue that it plays an irreplaceable role in British rural life.
Polly Portwin, director of the Campaign for Hunting at the Countryside Alliance said: “Festive meets are hugely popular and well attended by both hunt followers and local communities, for whom the event has become a cherished family tradition.
“While many meets have been smaller scale this year due to the restrictions, they have still provided a big boost both socially and economically across the countryside, as does trail hunting throughout the season.”
World Animals Voice 