Hunting

UK: Anglers demand legal killing of otters

Hunting and pollution drove otters to the brink of extinction in the 1970s, but now they are back.

Their widespread return to our waterways is one of few recent successes for Britain’s beleaguered wildlife. Yet instead of celebrating the return of this beautiful animal, extremist anglers have launched a petition to have its legal protections removed.

Incredibly, the petition calls for the complete removal of all legal protections currently enjoyed by the otter.

Otter Cruelty

The petition is only the latest salvo in a long running anti-otter campaign by anglers who complain that otters take ‘their’ fish from waterways or fish farms.

In March 2020, for example, Dorset fishery owner Stuart Jones was jailed for two months after trapping and shooting an otter in front of horrified holiday makers.
Jones killed the otter rather than pay for otter-proof fencing.

No Laughing Matter

Anti-otter sentiment is rife in angling circles. Particularly unpleasant are the Predation Action Group, a lobby organisation composed of anglers and fish farmers.

Their hypocrisy is astounding: they breed fish – for ‘sport’ or ‘food’ – in filthy, cruel and cramped conditions and then complain when otters are attracted to this over-abundance of natural prey.

The PAG’s own ‘report’ reveals the grim nature of their activities:

“These are intensive operations involving huge numbers of fish, farmed in a relatively small area, being kept in concrete tanks or earth ponds.”

As if this was not bad enough …PAG’s patron is ‘comedian’ Jim Davidson!!!

Not funny: PAG patron Jim Davidson

Sound familiar?

This situation is analogous with what happens on grouse moors or pheasant shoots. An artificially high number of animals are bred to be killed and any potential predators are then ruthlessly snared, poisoned or beaten to death.

It is a certainty that anglers are already killing otters – just as gamekeepers continue to kill birds of prey.

Their petition just shows they want to do it with impunity.

Direct Action Against ALL Bloodsports

None of this surprises the HSA which has always opposed shooting and fishing, as well as hunting with hounds.

These activities are inherently cruel and cause huge environmental damage along the way.

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/anglers-target-otters/

And I mean…Instead of killing defenseless animals, which are very popular in England, the anglers should buy their meat and fish from the supermarket – if it absolutely has to be meat.
Angling fish although they don’t need it to survive is a bloody sport, the otter needs it to survive, otherwise it will starve to death.

The Barbel Society Officers have recently launched a petition on the government website calling for the removal of the current legal protected status of otters.
This follows on from their 2018 petition calling for ‘non-lethal controls’ which was comprehensively rejected by the government.

The petition organisers should be honest. Their petition is a doomed call to the government to remove legal protection for otters so that they can be culled- what the hunters have been doing illegally up to now anyway.

That’s what the organisers have been calling for on social media and elsewhere and that’s exactly how it’s already being perceived by the public.
That means: what they will achieve is that hundreds of thousands of people will stand against this bloody sport.

We are confident that the government will refuse the legal murder of otters this time even more violently than the last one

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Live Transport

UK: Historic Progress For Animals Announced – A View From Phil; CEO ‘Compassion In World Farming’.

WAV Comment – Good animal friend; long time live exports campaigner, and environmentalist / farm animal campaigner, Philip, CEO at Compassion In World Farming, shares his feelings about progress for animals and their welfare in the UK last week; re the Queens Speech on upcoming government actions to change legislation.

CIWF

Historic Progress For Animals Announced

This week has been an historic moment for animal welfare in the UK with plans for key reforms announced by government, including legal recognition of animal sentience and a ban on live exports. These, and a suite of other measures, were outlined first in the Queen’s Speech and then in a Defra Action Plan. In total, 40 measures have been unveiled covering farmed, wild and companion animals, which together add up to the biggest welfare shake-up in a generation.

Plans are only as good as the implementation, of course, and Compassion will press hard to ensure government intentions become law. The reforms will be introduced as a series of Bills, with the one recognising animal sentience already having been introduced to the House of Lords.

The Bill provides legal recognition that vertebrate animals are sentient beings and intends assurance that their ability to suffer pain and experience joy, if we let them, will be taken into account in future government policies. Legal recognition of animals as sentient creatures has long been a cornerstone of our work at Compassion. Indeed, it was our founder, Peter Roberts, who first launched the idea in the 1980s. The battle was first won in the European Union in 1997 when legal recognition was attached as a protocol and then later an article in the EU treaty. As the recognition was in the EU treaty rather than a specific law, it wasn’t transposed into British legislation post-Brexit. The government’s new Bill proposes to rectify the situation.

Our story | Compassion in World Farming
All those years ago – Peter Roberts (foreground), Founder CIWF protests about intensive animal farming.

Another of our longstanding campaigns has been for a ban on the live export trade for slaughter and fattening. Always cruel and unnecessary, this trade has continued down the decades despite overwhelming public opposition. Quite why is a mystery, given the trade’s insignificance to the farming industry when set against overall meat exports.

It is a hugely welcome moment then that the UK government now proposes to end this indefensible trade once and for all. The proposal, of course, comes soon after our own Judicial Review of the Scottish Government over calf exports.

It is also tremendously important that these reforms are quickly followed with bans on other indefensible factory farm practices, including the keeping of mother pigs and chickens in cages.

Factory farming is finally being recognised more widely for what it is — a cruel and deeply damaging form of farming that only makes worse the climate, nature and pandemic emergencies now facing society.

What is crucial now is that Parliament and the UK government takes this opportunity to not only make these key reforms, but also to push on and end all forms of factory farming.

Thank you to everyone who has marched through the streets, written letters, signed petitions, switched their eating habits and got stories in the media calling for these reforms. It is testimony to your efforts over decades.

Whilst celebrating these hugely welcome plans, it is more important than ever before that we keep up the pressure until every last animal is free from the suffering of factory farming.

Philip Lymbery

Historic Progress For Animals Announced | by Philip Lymbery | May, 2021 | Medium

https://www.ciwf.org.uk/

Environmental, General News

England: ‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields

‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields

Andy Gray, Elston Farm, Devon.

Read the full article of someone who is anything but a fool:

‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields | Trees and forests | The Guardian

Andy Gray stands beside an enormous hill of bare red earth and smiles with a hint of mischief. This is his best field, its soils known as Crediton red land. The region was once known for producing swedes prized by Covent Garden market. Now, every six metres, planted in rows 14 metres apart, stands a tree guard shielding a young oak, aspen or alder.

“You can grow anything on it and I’m planting trees,” says Gray, a 16th-generation Devon farmer. “I’m seen as the fool on the hill. One neighbour said ‘you might as well concrete it over and build houses’. They could be right. Who knows?”

Andy Gray, Elston Farm, Devon
Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

UK: Company To Save 170,000 Pigs By Scaling Up Cell-Cultured Meat Production In The UK.
Ivy Farm Technologies plans to save 170,000 pigs by developing pioneering cell-cultured meat technology
The company claims it can produce cell-culture meat more efficiently than any other country in the world Credit: Supplied

Company To Save 170,000 Pigs By Scaling Up Cell-Cultured Meat Production In The UK

It comes after predictions that a staggering 60 percent of all meat consumed in 2040 will not come from dead animals

A company spawn from Oxford University is scaling up cell-cultured meat production in the UK – using technology developed in the same building as the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Ivy Farm Technologies plans to remove the equivalent of 170,000 pigs from the production line by producing over 12,000 tonnes of pork.

Ivy Farm Technologies

The process works by taking a small number of cells from a pig and placing them in a bioreactor. Once vitamins and nutrients are added, it is ready for harvest. This takes around three to four weeks.

Since developing the system, Ivy Farm is raising £16 million in order to build a pilot research and development production facility near the university.

It will mark the first step in the plan to become global industry leaders.

Moreover, the company says the ‘scaffold system’ it developed means it can produce cells more quickly and cheaply than any other technology currently available across the world.

It hopes to roll out slaughter-free sausages in supermarkets and restaurants by 2023.

‘Great for meat-lovers’

Co-founder Russ Tucker is eyeing putting the UK on the map in the cell-cultured meat sector.

In a statement sent to PBN, he said: “If you look at the world around us, the way we currently produce and consume food is unsustainable. “Cultured meat is the silver bullet – through cutting-edge technology, we can provide real, high-quality meat while saving the planet.”

Russ Tucker, Ivy Farm Technologies“Already nearly half the worldwide harvest is required to feed livestock and that’s only going to go up.

“Cultured meat is the silver bullet – through cutting-edge technology, we can provide real, high-quality meat while saving the planet.“Ivy Farm will be great for the environment, great for meat lovers, and great for animals as there’s no slaughter.”

Slaughter-free

People are becoming more interested in trying cell-cultured meat. According to Ivy Farm, more than 50 percent are willing to buy it.

It comes after the predictions claim a staggering 60 percent of all meat consumed in 2040 will not come from dead animals.

Rich Dillon, Ivy Farm Chief Executive, said: “Make no mistake, cultured meat is here to stay. It’s a compelling proposition – real meat, guilt-free.“We believe our technology is among the best in the world and that we can fly the flag for Britain.”

Currently, the company is in talks with the Food Standards Agency. They will have to authorize the products before they can be sold. 

Company To Save 170,000 Pigs Through Cell-Cultured Meat Production (plantbasednews.org)

Good news to stop a lot of abuse like this below;

Regards Mark

General News, Stray Animals, Uncategorized

Greece: Article and Support Link for the Stray Dogs of Loutraki Landfill.

The Tragic Story of Greece’s Loutraki Landfill Dogs

the Loutraki Landfill’s Garbage Dogs
The Loutraki Landfill dogs. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs

Julie from Manchester, England, has been in contact with us.

Julie’s message was bout animal welfare in Greece, especially the stray dogs lving off the Loutraki Landfill.

Julie has written a story about these dogs, which has been published in different magazines and newspapers.  Here is a link to one of those:

The Tragic Story of Greece’s Loutraki Landfill Dogs

Loutraki Landfill’s Garbage Dogs
One of the Loutraki Landfill dogs is seen trying to find something to eat in the garbage. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs

Please check this excellent article out, which has many pictures of the strays and individuals who are devoted to helping them.  Aphrodite Tsoulaka, the Greek volunteer who has taken on the mammoth task of helping the dogs at the landfill, does not expect anything in return other than the gratification of seeing them living in better conditions.

If you want to make a donation to help the dogs or to visit the Facebook page dedicated to help and support for the dogs; all the information is given in the article.

The Tragic Story of Greece’s Loutraki Landfill Dogs

Check out an additional article (including video) by clicking here:

Takis’ Shelter: The Greek Man Who Devotes His Life to Animals (video) (greekreporter.com)

Regards Mark

A dog drinking water from puddles on the landfill
A dog drinking water from a filthy puddle at the landfill. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs
landfill dogs

Animal Saviour – Tsoulaka feeding her landfill dogs. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/LoutrakiLandfillDogs

Farm Animals, General News

USA: N.J. celebrities want ban on crates that confine pigs and calves. Christie vetoed it twice.

N.J. celebrities want ban on crates that confine pigs and calves. Christie vetoed it twice.

Updated May 10, 2021; Posted May 10, 2021

Seven years after similar efforts hit a wall under former Gov. Chris Christie, a group of 16 New Jersey celebrities are calling on state leaders to ban the farm practice of using gestation crates to confine pregnant pigs and veal crates to confine calves.

The celebrities — including Steven Van Zandt, Debbie Harry, Chelsea Handler, and Ethan Hawke — joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund in penning the open letter urging the state Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy to enact a new bill that would criminalize the use of such crates in New Jersey, calling the practice “indefensible.”

“Gestation crates and veal crates are inherently cruel,” the celebrities wrote in the letter, according to a copy obtained by NJ Advance Media. “Both include severely restricting the animal’s movement, to the point of virtual immobilization, which leads to highly stressful conditions that induces physical and psychological illness — and great suffering.”

The celebrities are musician and actor Steven Van Zandt (a Middletown native), actress Maureen Van Zandt, actor Paul Wesley (of Marlboro), comedian Michael Ian Black (of Hillsborough), actress Taissa Farmiga (of Whitehouse Station), television host Daisy Fuentes (of Harrison), comedian Chelsea Handler (of Livingston), musician Debbie Harry (of Hawthorne), actor Ethan Hawke (of West Windsor), YouTube Grace Helbig (of Woodbury), television personality Alison Haislip (of Tewksbury), comedian Myq Kaplan (of Livingston), comedian Bill Maher (of River Vale), actress Cristin Milioti (of Cherry Hill), actress Christina Ricci (of Montclair), and musician Karen O (of Englewood).

Gestation crates are used to confine pigs and calves during pregnancy. Proponents say the crates prevent the animals from fighting each other. Opponents say they prevent the animals from turning around and fully extending their limbs.

“Coupled with increasing demand by consumers for increased compassion and transparency in how farmed animals are raised, now is the time for New Jersey to ban the crates,” Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells said.

New Jersey’s bill (S3401), sponsored by Democrats, would make their use a crime and establish monetary fines. Ten other states, as well as Canada and the European Union, have banned gestation crates.

Christie, a Republican, vetoed measures banning pig gestation crates twice during his tenure as governor, first in 2013 and then in 2014.

Critics accused the then-governor of rejecting the bill because he was planning to run for president and didn’t want to upset pork producers in the key state of Iowa, where nearly one-third of the nation’s hogs are raised.

But it was also uncertain as to how much of an effect the measure would have had in New Jersey. The state is home to fewer than 10,000 pigs, and it’s unclear if any are kept in crates when pregnant.

Christie noted both the state Board of Agriculture and state Department fo Agriculture adopted humane standards in 1995 that cover the issue. He also accused sponsors of using the bill as a “political cudgel” against him.

“I will rely on our in-state experts rather than the partisan politicians who sponsor this bill,” Christie said at the time.

Both houses of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature would need to pass the new bill before Murphy, a Democrat, could decide whether to sign or veto it.

Former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak recently wrote an op-ed saying he had hope the measure would succeed this time now that Murphy is in charge.

“Help is on the way for the suffering pigs,” Lesniak, a Union County Democrat, wrote.

 

Pro-Palestinian protesters rally against Israeli strikes on Gaza — live updates | News | DW | 15.05.2021
Farm Animals, General News

USA: Approximately 10,000 hogs killed in fire at Pillen Family Farms, Nebraska.

See the video here:

Approximately 10,000 hogs killed in fire at Pillen Family Farms – PLATTE VALLEY – NEWS CHANNEL NEBRASKA

Approximately 10,000 hogs killed in fire at Pillen Family Farms

A large fire near Albion has claimed the lives of approximately 10,000 hogs, according to the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department.

ALBION, Neb. — A large fire near Albion has claimed the lives of approximately 10,000 hogs, according to the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department.

The department was training late in Tuesday night when, at 3:14 a.m., a call from Pillen Family Farm came in: one of their barns near Albion was ablaze. 

“The bells started ringing, and by the time we got west of town … it was just a glowing ball out there,” said Doug Koch, a volunteer firefighter. 

The 20-pound hogs were trapped under the collapsed, burning building; none salvageable.

“I kept thinking, you would have thought at least one pig would come walking out, that at least one would have survived […] It was the most destructive for losing livestock I’ve ever seen that large,” said Petersburg Fire Chief Neil Baumgartner. 

They eventually stopped it by tearing through the building around 11 a.m., but they were later called back onto the scene throughout Wednesday to fend off flames.   

“It is dry so a spark could go a long way… the guys are drinking coffee today,” Baumgartner said. 

The cause is still under investigation, but Baumgartner said there had been construction on-site previously.

While the whole building was a loss, no people were injured. 

Pillen Family Farm has not commented on the issue yet to NCN. 

No human injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The Animal Welfare Institute said Thursday morning that the Wednesday fire was the deadliest barn fire in Nebraska this year.

“While we are relieved no humans were injured, the extreme suffering and fear these animals must have endured as they were trapped in a burning building cannot be ignored,” said Allie Granger, farm animal policy associate for the Animal Welfare Institute. “Producers and the industry as a whole must take this problem seriously and start prioritizing fire prevention.”

The institute says nearly 5.3 million farm animals have perished in barn fires since 2013. Nebraska reported the most animal deaths from barn fires last year with approximately 400,000 dying in three fires.

 

Protests held around the country in support of Palestine
General News

Germany: Police save duck family

Report from the Stuttgart police– Stuttgart

+++ 🦆 Duck good, everything is good – the duck family of ten has apparently got lost 👮‍♀👮‍♂ +++

A mother duck with her nine little ducklings apparently got lost on Sunday afternoon in the jungle of houses in the west of Stuttgart.
To Papa Erpel’s delight, our colleagues were able to help.

🔹 What happened?
The mother duck probably lost her orientation on Mother’s Day excursion and was heading in the completely wrong direction. After the duck excitedly “spoke to” several passers-by, they finally notified the police at around 3:30 pm.

👉 Our colleagues managed to show the mother duck the right way to the lake of fire at home, whereupon the ten-headed duck pack set off on the sidewalk.
Due to the high number of waddling duck feet, our colleagues accompanied the extended family to their destination for safety.

💦 Papa Drake was waiting longingly for his family at the “Fire-lake” (Feuersee).

Reunited, after all the excitement, they all took a refreshing bath together.

Your #police #Stuttgart

And I mean..Many thanks to the sensitive people who informed the police and also thanks to the police! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Maybe that was their cutest outing of the year.

This world would be a lot more bearable if everyone did their job conscientiously and competently..

My best regards to all, Venus

Hunting

“Poaching with state cover”: Austrian prince kills bear in Romania!

Statement by Martin Balluch (VGT, Austria)

Arthur was a big bear. It is said to be the largest in Romania and maybe even in the EU.
He was 17 years old for a bear in the wild. And very healthy!

How do we know? Because Arthur has been watched and looked after for years. Namely by the nature conservation organization Agent Green, which is also campaigning against the illegal logging of the last primeval forests in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

Arthur lived in the Natura 2000 reserve Oituz-Ojdula northeast of Brasov, formerly Kronstadt, away from human habitation.
A bear of his size has a fixed territory, so you know where to meet him. But Arthur’s whereabouts were not only known to Agent Green.
Another organization was targeting Arthur as well. Only was not a bear-friendly one, it was a hunting trip organizer.
They wanted a big bonus from a rich Western European snob for its kill.

Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein

The plan should have been something like this:

First, a farmer complains about a bear that is causing agricultural damage to him.
In fact, the mayor of Ojdula, which is on the edge of the Carpathian forests, says that in the summer of 2020 there were some complaints about a little she-bear with cubs.
Nothing exciting, and no compensation was ever paid. At the end of January 2021, a farmer from Ojdula demanded that this she-bear be shot because she was disturbing.
To do this, he writes a handwritten letter to the responsible ministry:

Agent Green visited this farmer. When his letter was presented to him, he said that he has written it.
In the further conversation it turned out, however, that he cannot read at all.
Was it just used as an excuse to get permission to shoot?
In fact, the ministry will issue one in mid-February 2021:

Emanuel Liechtenstein, who calls himself “Prince” and comes from the royal family of the Principality of Liechtenstein, but in  Austria lives in the Riegers Castle, receives this permit.
He is allowed to kill this “problem bear”, who even leads children, between March 12th and 16th, 2021.

The time has come on March 13th. Emanuel Liechtenstein shot a bear. Only it was Arthur:

Corpse of Bear Arthur

Continue reading ““Poaching with state cover”: Austrian prince kills bear in Romania!” →