Species of Australian parrot have exhibited an average increase in bill size of around 4–10 per cent since 1871 — a growth correlated with shifts in average summer temperatures
WAV Comment: Animals ‘get wise’ and adapt to needs. Man ?, well he just plods on in the same way, Mr invincible; master of all ! – (so he thinks).
Climate change is causing animals to SHAPESHIFT: Warm-blooded creatures are evolving to have larger beaks, legs and ears to better regulate their body temperatures as Earth gets hotter, study finds
The okapi game reserve is home to a sizeable population of endangered okapis.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the only country where this species still exists. But rampant gold mining in the Unesco World Heritage area – namely by the Chinese company Kimia – is a major concern.
Only 30,000 okapis still live in the wild – and their habitat is inexorably shrinking.
5,000 of the remaining animals are at home in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, where many other endangered species such as chimpanzees and 376 species of birds can be observed.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the countries with the highest biodiversity and therefore has a special responsibility to protect its forests, which are essential in the fight against the climate crisis.
Unfortunately, the illegal mining of gold is rampant there, destroying forests, damaging the natural habitats of numerous animal and plant species, polluting water bodies with toxic substances such as mercury, and impairing the health of local and indigenous peoples.
The open pit mines attract people in search of a livelihood, which increases the hunt for the meat of wild animals.
At the center of the current development is the Chinese company Kimia Mining, based in Bunia, which has received illegitimate permits from the mining ministry and is working in the semi-industrial style within the reserve.
According to a United Nations report, senior officers in the Congolese army, FARDC,are involved in illegal mining activities.
Because militias also earn money from the extraction of raw materials, it is closely linked to violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Basically, it would be easy to protect nature: mining violates environmental laws and the Mining Act, which prohibit environmentally harmful activities. Article 53 of the Constitution also gives everyone the right and duty to defend the environment.
We therefore ask President Tshisekedi and the government to implement the laws and end mining in the Okapi Game Reserve and other protected areas.
Backgrounds
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve is not the only protected area in the Congo that is threatened by mining and the exploitation of raw materials: In the Virunga National Park, gorilla habitat may be destroyed by the search for oil; in the Itombwe Nature Reserve gold mining will also lead to this.
Four of the five world heritage areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are therefore on the list “World Heritage in Danger”, the fifth has only just been removed from the list because the government abandoned plans for oil production in Salonga National Park after international pressure.
Men work at Makala gold mine camp near the town of Mongbwalu in Ituri province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 7, 2018. Picture taken April 7, 2018. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
The greed for gold – it is the danger in which the gorillas hover in the east of the Congo Basin.
The primate habitat has been shrinking for years.
The human population is growing and contesting their habitat*,hunters kill the great apes for their meat, militias make effective protection more difficult and keep tourists away who would bring some money.
Gray gorillas, a subspecies of the eastern gorilla, are now threatened with extinction.
The Canadian company Banro apparently entered the Itombwe reserve in June 2018, one of the last refuges for gray gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reason – again the gold! Locals secretly photographed the company’s helicopters and informed the authorities.
Banro has secured mining concessions for more than 2,600 square kilometers in the Congo since the mid-1990s and has been operating two gold mines in Twangiza and Namoya for several years.
The population complains about land grabbing and displacement.
For the protection of Virunga and Itombwe, the organization “Save the rainforest “ campaigns with two petitions:
Please sign“No primate blood for oil” and “Gold threatens gorillas”.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the second largest state in Africa by area, as large as two thirds of the country
European Union and a little more than six times larger than Germany.
Due to its wealth of natural resources, the country could be one of the richest in Africa, but it is one of the poorest in the world.
The majority of the estimated 94 million inhabitants live in extreme poverty.
Around half of all children under the age of five are malnourished.
Political instability, wars, violence and corruption characterize everyday life.
There are more than 70 armed groups operating in the east of the country;
A country that is so rich in mineral resources, water and fertile soil would have every chance of securely supplying its population and preserving its natural and animal populations.
Peace and political stability are urgently needed to curb corruption, violence, poverty and hunger
*P.S: I have something to correct in the article: “The human population is growing and contesting their habitat …” that is not correct.
If Congo is six times bigger than Germany and has “only” 94 million inhabitants, (Germany has 83 million) then it is not the growth of the Congo population that is the problem.
Overpopulation exists in Europe, but this is (not yet) a problem because Europe is plundering and exploiting Africa.
We don’t need to give anything to Africa.
We just have to stop robbing the continent.
The FOI also reveals that FLS have been unable to stop ongoing wildlife crime which has been taking place on Scotland’s public lands since 2016, and is suspected to be gamekeeper-led.
External reports of ‘out of control’ hounds in the FOI also highlight just how weak Scotland’s fox hunting legislation is and why reform is urgently needed.
The majority of the Scottish public are opposed to fox hunting, and so, as the public body responsible for promoting Scotland’s land, we believe that FLS should amend its fox control policy to reflect public opinion. Fox hunting in any form should not be permitted on Scotland’s public lands.
Read the expose here:
Revealed: Fox hunting foot packs & wildlife crime on Scotland’s public land
The Scottish Government has also committed to reforming Scotland’s fox hunting legislation in this parliamentary session to make it more effective and enforceable. We will be urging the government not to license any packs of dogs and to end fox hunting for good.
Source SAFE (Save Animals from Exploitation) Campaign “The Dark Side of the New Zealand Dairy Industry”
If animal farmers and industry executives weren’t so grossly deceptive, violent, and cowardly, they would just be embarrassing: people often attempt to validate abusing animals as being “intellectually superior” humans; the same people then claim thathumans are incapable of telling the difference between plant milks and cows’ milk.
And their cruel rhetoric also includes the belief that killing can be humane, that harming an animal is better for an animal than not harming an animal.
Intellectual superiority? No. Just entitled, privileged human supremacy.
WAV Comment – I want to touch on this ‘superiority’ issue here with the video to Oxford Uni by Dr Brain May – ‘Queen’ guitarist and doctor of astrophysics – see the video at or watch it below:
Too, the USDA has included soy milk as a nutritionally-equivalent, healthy dairy alternative (for the plant activists, soy is predominantly grown for animals, who humans eat, a unarguably inefficient and immoral use of resources and lives), and that in the USA, most cows’ milk is fortified, meaning vitamin is added, it is NOT naturally present. Nevertheless, I am personally unconcerned with the nutrition provided by plant milks because it is for certain 100% healthier for the animals to not use and kill them. As such, why would ANYONE choose suffering over not suffering? More than 500,000 calves and greater than 3 million of their mothers are butchered yearly, just in the USA, so that a different species, beyond infancy and with teeth, can drink the calves’ naturally- and biologically-intended milk instead. That’s an ethical fail, not a demonstration of decency. Or intellect. SL
On August 11, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of Miyoko’s Creamery in its lawsuit against the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), upholding the company’s First Amendment right to use terms like butter and cheese in marketing its vegan products.
Based in Sonoma County, California, Miyoko’s Creamery produces artisanal vegan alternatives to traditional dairy products. In just over five years, its popularity has exploded with distribution in Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and other major supermarket chains.
The company is known for its popular vegan butter made from cashews, coconut oil, and sunflower oil, as well as other high-end alternative products like vegan mozzarella, cream cheese, and cheese wheels—all of which I can attest are very good.
Last year, the company received a threatening letter from the CDFA demanding it alter its marketing in the state. Although its labels clearly read “cultured vegan butter,” the department requested the creamery stop using dairy-related terms on its packaging altogether, claiming Miyoko’s marketing was in violation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s labeling regulations.
California ordered the company to remove the terms butter and cheese and cease to refer to its products as “lactose-free,” “hormone-free,” or “cruelty-free.” Instead, the state suggested that Miyoko market its vegan butter as oh-so-appetizing “cashew cream fermented from live cultures.” To do so would require an inordinate investment to produce custom packaging for sale of the product in California.
The letter doubled down by also ordering the company to scrap its mission statement, “Revolutionizing Dairy with Plants,” and to remove an image of a woman hugging a cow from its website. The photo in question is that of a volunteer at a nonprofit refuge for farm animals, Rancho Compasión, which was started by the creamery’s founder Miyoko Schinner.
No Animal Left Behind: Why every animal deserves protection and care
6 September 2021
News
Today, we are releasing our last demand as part of our campaign “No Animal Left Behind” focusing on the billions of animals left unprotected by our current EU legislation:
Fish, turkeys, dairy and beef cattle, sheep and goats, ducks and geese, quails and farmed rabbits… the list seems endless. The review of our animal welfare laws is long overdue, and we need to make sure that this time, no animal is left behind in the process.
Europe’s animal welfare laws were introduced piece by piece over the last 40 years, but they are rarely enforced correctly, and there are serious gaps that leave billions of animals unprotected. In the context of our campaign “No Animal Left Behind”, we are calling on the European Commission to make sure a full-scale review of the legislation takes place, that our demands for the best possible welfare standards are heard, and that no animal is left behind.
In the EU, over 90% of turkeys are reared in overcrowded, intensive, indoor farms that cause numerous welfare issues. When these birds are packed together in large numbers with no enrichment, they quickly become stressed and bored. As a result, they start to feather peck, pulling out feathers on each other, which quickly leads to cannibalism. Farmers try to stop this by keeping the turkeys in low light, and by trimming their beaks. The pain from beak trimming causes further suffering and is performed without anaesthesia. The continuous low light also causes eye problems, such as blindness. Turkeys are also bred to grow very fast, and they do so at a rate that causes high incidences of lameness and heart failure. Turkeys do not need to be farmed like this.
Over a billion fish are being farmed in the EU at any one time. These are undomesticated animals being raised in often intensive systems without a basic understanding of their needs, and commonly without implementing the best practices and knowledge generated especially in the last decade. Aquaculture production systems are typically barren environments and always involve a range of stressful and harmful practices including crowding and handling. There is little transparency on the welfare outcomes, but in the few cases where mortalities are reported we see mortality rates of 15% to 20%. The humane slaughter equipment developed for the sector has been adopted by only a few sectors and producers, and typically farmed fish today are being asphyxiated slowly to death. Aquatic invertebrates including decapod crustaceans are also finding themselves without protection, notably in terms of their live transport and slaughter.
The more we discover about animals and their complex, intriguing lives, the more shocked we should be at how we have treated them in the past. And the more determined we should be to ensure they live a good life. Our laws need to do more than protect the welfare of all farmed animals. They should promote health, wellbeing and compassion. Because animals deserve no less. Let’s leave none behind.
Little changes – In this video, Filmed on Wednesday 27th March 2013, Dr Brian May, ex ‘Queen’ guitarist and Doctor of Astrophysics, talks at Oxford University about the UK government badger cull and why it must be abandoned. All these years later, still nothing changes.
Brian May talks about the UK government badger cull and why it must be abandoned.
Brian May begins by saying that his talk was supposed to be a debate on the culling of Badgers in the UK. The opposition, lead by Owen Paterson (A Conservative MP who is Secretary of State for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs), didn’t show up highlighting that his argument for the killing of Badgers does not hold any ground.
Bovine TB is a disease typically endemic to cows and can spread to any lactating mammal. The strain of the virus that has been passed on to Badgers cannot easily infect humans, it’s typically a respiratory disease however in it’s advanced form it can cause legions and is a terrible way for the animal to die. The witch-hunt against badgers started when a single badger was found in 1971 to be ill and dying and from that people blamed all the badgers for the spread of TB among cattle.
This is where the stigma placed on Badgers was founded; however the badger that was found was never tested for the disease so there is no evidence for all this blame. The government plans to kills thousands of badgers this summer in West Gloucestershire, Somerset and part of Dorset. There is a skin test on cows to show TB and in one case the skin test has failed 5 times over and the disease was only discovered in the cow at the abattoir.
Over 40% of Bovine TB casesare discovered in the abattoir. It is argued that the badger cull will have an adverse affect on the spread of TB.
The issue of vaccinating cows has not been addressed. A scientific study was undertaken on badgers that were seemingly killed by the roadside and 80% of them were discovered to have died somewhere else and conveniently placed there. Brian concludes that the vaccination of cattle is the only way to go.
He uses the ban on fox hunting as an example of how the media subliminally sways public opinion in their favour but suddenly coming out with stories of foxes biting and attacking people.
Filmed on Wednesday 27th March 2013 ABOUT BRIAN MAY: Brian May, musician and astrophysicist, is most widely known as the guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen. He was appointed a CBE in 2005 for services to the music industry and for his charity work. He earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College in 2007 and is currently serving as the 4th Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. Planet Rock voted May the 7th greatest guitarist of all time, and he was ranked at No. 26 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2012, May was ranked the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time by a Guitar World magazine readers poll.
ABOUT THE OXFORD UNION SOCIETY: The Union is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.
Regards Mark
Dr Bri plays guitar with Robert Plant (ex Led Zeppelin) at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert – London.
Germany again! Place names: Düdenbüttel / Stade in Lower Saxony
This time no cattle are tortured, but a pig is buried alive.
Passers-by discover live pigs among a pile of dead animals.
People like to accuse us of informing the authorities too late and practicing vigilante justice.
Therefore: 5 minutes after receipt of the video of the courageous passers-by, SOKO Animal Welfare Associationcalls the Stade police,10 minutes later the written criminal complaint was issued.
Police Stade just doesn’t do anything!
It was a terrible sight.
Dead pigs pile up in the blazing sun in front of the door of a pig fattening facility.
Birds peck the eyes out of the animals. Some of the carcasses are heavily decayed, one animal is apparently alive, the movements of the animal between the dead conspecifics can be clearly seen. The second case of this kind in Lower Saxony is in a few days.
This is a particularly disgusting violation of the Animal Welfare Act. What could be worse than being buried alive?
We immediately filed a criminal complaint against the fattener with thousands of animals for violating §17 TschG. The Stade police announced that they would send a police car immediately (!!)
Unfortunately, when asked by the police, SOKO Animal Welfarehad to find out that no police officers had gone out to help the poor pig, no pig was rescued and the evidence must have been destroyed in the meantime at the carcass disposal.
Update: In the meantime the police have corrected their original statement from this morning and announced that a police car was on site.
However, one could not have met the owner of the facility, nor could a living animal have been found in the numerous dead pigs.
In addition, the police could not find our ad either (!!)
(Of course we have the confirmation of receipt)
The fattening facility has a history: The monster barn with over 5000 pigs was even illegally built. Animals have been illegally kept there for years since 2013, and operated illegally..
In the slaughterhouse in Düdenbüttel near Stade, illegally ill and injured cattle were systematically slaughtered and the meat traded across the EU.
The company’s animal transporters dragged the animals brutally and with full consciousness into the vehicles using a winch.
This failure of the authorities shows once again why the direct intervention of animal rights activists is necessary, because the police cannot be relied on for animal welfare.
The sad thing: if the animal rights activists had acted directly, they would now be on the run from the police.
And I mean…New, terrible news every few days … and again this ignorant, this good-for-nothing, the German authorities…
They are not even ashamed to pretend that they allegedly did not find the criminal complaint ?????
A shame!
The German Animal Welfare Act is not even worth the paper it is on.
This is a banana republic here. Of course, they couldn’t find the living animal, it was finally dead or an employee quickly brought it around the corner.
Germany … Why are we actually paying taxes for a civil servant apparatus that no longer works?
Why do we pay the corrupt official veterinarians when they are usually on the payroll of the animal exploiters who monitor them or, more precisely, to whom they sign that everything is great?
Many thanks to SOKO animal rights activists, they do the worst job for all of us.
Target: Chandler, Arizona City Prosecutor Elizabeth Herbert
Goal: Ensure man charged with cruelty to horses faces maximum punishment.
Three horses were reportedly neglected and starved until they became so malnourished that they needed immediate medical attention. Police reportedly found the unfortunate animals on a ranch belonging to Taha Hussain, after receiving a tip from a concerned neighbor. Hussain has since been arrested on six total counts of alleged animal cruelty offenses. After obtaining a proper search warrant, the police reportedly went back to seize the horses and examine the rest of the property. During this investigation, they claimed to have additionally found multiple animal remains and tools for slaughtering, leading them to believe that Hussain had been slaughtering animals for profit without a license.
The horses, all aged 17-20, are currently under the care of the Arizona Department of Agriculture, where they are being treated for their injuries and nursed back to health. They were apparently forced to live in dangerous and unsanitary conditions near other animal remains, creating multiple small wounds across their bodies and a breeding ground for possible infection. Hussain was taken by officers to the Maricopa County Jail for alleged animal cruelty crimes and slaughtering without a license.
The animals will be re-homed and allowed to live out the rest of their lives in peace. The same cannot be said for the other animals allegedly slaughtered, who’s improper disposal appears to be nothing short of cruel. Sign the petition below to demand that, if found guilty, Hussain will face the maximum penalty for the animal cruelty charges.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Prosecutor Herbert,
As prosecuting attorney in Chandler, you are in a unique position to help with an important case. Officers in your district recently arrested Taha Hussain on six counts of alleged animal cruelty, reportedly finding his property covered in animal remains and tools for slaughtering, for which Hussain reportedly does not possess an official license. They also seized three apparently neglected horses, transporting them to an animal hospital for immediate care.
While it is too late for any slaughtered animals to be saved, the three remaining deserve justice for what they apparently went through. They were reportedly found in unsafe conditions, covered in surface injuries, and emaciated from hunger. Please do everything in your power to ensure that Hussain receives the maximum penalty if found guilty and is banned from further animal ownership in the future.
At least 84% of the UK population are in favour of fox hunting being illegal and yet there were attempts to weaken the act. The Act needs strengthening to ensure people are discouraged from participating in illegal hunting and for those caught hunting, the penalty and arrest needs to be more severe.
We would like to see section 6 of the Act to be amended to add provision for a prison sentence of up to six months for illegal hunting. Additionally there should be a ‘reckless’ clause which will make it an offence for anyone to ’cause or permit’ one or more dogs to seek out, chase, injure or kill a wild mammal. The widespread flouting of the ban continues to this day and these measures along with several other reforms could ensure our wildlife is protected as it should be.
For more details on necessary amendments to strengthen the 2004 hunting Act, please follow this link which features a Hunting Act Amendment Bill.
World Animals Voice 