Every day that we eat animals and their products, we break the tender and devoted bond between a mother and her children with all our might.
365 days a year, including this Mother’s Day, I think of all the mothers who have to eke out their miserable existence in the extermination camps of the meat, egg and dairy industry.
Their infinite grief, their screams, whose lamentation only very few people hear
For every newborn and every child, whether human or non-human, the mother is the whole world.
It is outrageous hypocrisy to celebrate Mother’s Day as if it were a day only to honor human mothers, and it makes me sad because it ignores the pain and despair, powerlessness and death of billions of other mothers.
We stand in solidarity on the side of the animals and we reject speciesism; so this day is for us the day of the non-human mothers.
Horse and human can go through thick and thin together as friends.
The intelligent animals build close bonds with their caregivers when all contact is based on respect and understanding.
Many people would like to ride and visit one of the around 6,100 riding schools nationwide in order to learn to ride on one of the 65,000 so-called school horses.
According to a study, 2.32 million people in Germanycall themselves riders – Germany is one of the countries where equestrian sport is very popular.
But: Do people have to ride horses “to do something with horses”?
And is it even okay to ride horses?
Problems dealing with horses
Hundreds of thousands of horses are ridden every day, not only in tournaments, but also in recreational sports.
Around 600,000 households in Germany have their own horse, 920,000 households have a so-called riding participation.
There are also countless other professional and tournament riders, riding students, leisure and occasional riders.
Anyone interested in horses goes horse riding – and that is exactly the problem.
Riding is not the answer to “doing something with horses”, because riding can be physically and psychologically harmful to the horse.
Many horses are exploited by us humans and abused as sports equipment, and not only in tournament sports.
In the leisure sector, too, some so-called horse lovers often put their own interests above those of the horse.
The needs of the animals should be the focus.
Wrong strain has painful consequences
Riding means that a person chooses to get on the back of a horse or pony.
As with all vertebrates, it consists of a complex and sensitive structure of vertebrae, intervertebral discs, ligaments, tendons and muscles. If you do not know the individual needs of a horse, you cannot respond to them and cause great damage to your horse.
Disney is developing a live-action film based on the book Aloha Rodeo, which follows three Hawaiian cowboys who in 1908 traveled to Wyoming to compete in a steer roping competition at what’s still one of the most brutal and deadly rodeos in the world. Please join us in urging Disney to cancel this dangerous project, which will injure and potentially kill animal “actors” while glamorizing one of the cruelest events in rodeo.
The activity at the center of Aloha Rodeo is steer roping. This is the famous event whereby a cowboy on horseback chases down a terrified steer, lassos him with a rope noose, and stops short so the steer is knocked to the ground with incredible force, before the cowboy dismounts and runs to bind the steer’s legs together. Steer roping is so excessively violent that it is not part of the annual National Finals Rodeo, and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) has largely removed the event from its website.
This event can result in serious injuries and deaths, and it’s also considered so cruel and dangerous that it’s been banned in several states. The following video filmed by Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) shows how rodeo roping can paralyze calves and adult animals by breaking their necks.
The rodeo in the book takes place in Wyoming and still exists as one of the world’s largest. More animals will unquestionably suffer and die there in steer roping and other cruel rodeo events.
This is not Disney’s first rodeo; the company should be well aware of the risks its fictional films pose to real-life animals. In 1955, when Disney released Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, the film inspired a raccoon skin cap craze that decimated the U.S. raccoon population. Each time 101 Dalmatians or its sequels are released, it spurs a surge in the demand for Dalmatians, which perpetuates puppy mills and leads to an increase in the number being dumped on already overburdened rescues and shelters.
Disney’s live action film will glorify this inherently violent industry which encourages kids to harm animals for fun and inflicts lethal injuries on bulls for entertainment. It will also sugarcoat the serious animal welfare concerns of a scandalous industry that shocked and beat a horse and attacked a bull with dogs.
This film will be a disaster for animals and risks reviving the entire sagging rodeo industry by sanitizing animal cruelty.
Join us in urging Disney to cancel the planned live-action film Aloha Rodeo, which will put animals at risk of harm and glamorize an inherently violent and brutal entertainment.
1. Please call Disney Studios to let the company know that you are not okay with its making a spectacle of animal cruelty in the upcoming live-action film Aloha Rodeo.
818-560-1000 Press 1
Some talking points you can mention:
Steer roping is so excessively violent that it is not part of the annual National Finals Rodeo, and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has largely removed it from its website.
Severe injuries are expected, and death is not uncommon in the rodeo. Animals forced to “act” in Aloha Rodeo are at serious risk of being injured and killed, causing a PR disaster before the film even airs.
These baby animals are taken from their moms at just four or five months old to endure the dangerous torment of roping. After they are too broken to exploit, the rodeo sends them to the slaughterhouse.
When Disney released Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier in 1955, the film inspired a raccoon skin cap craze that decimated the U.S. raccoon population.
Disney should not associate with an industry that harms animals for entertainment. This cruel and violent industry deserves to be left in the past, especially at a time where public respect for animals is growing.
Rodeo is animal cruelty, which is not a suitable topic for a family film. Associating with rodeo can only harm the Disney brand.
@Disney @DisneyStudios @DisneyPlus #AnimalCruelty isn’t entertainment. Cancel your plans to make #AlohaRodeo, a film centered around a rodeo event so cruel and dangerous it’s been banned in several states. #RodeoCruelty
4. Please fill out the form on this page to submit our emails asking Alan Bergman – Chairman and Alan F. Horn – Chief Creative Officer at Disney and Disney’s Corporate Social Responsibility Department to cancel production of this dangerous film.
Sign our alert to immediately deliver your comments to:
Alan Bergman – Chairman
Alan F. Horn – Chief Creative Officer
Disney’s Corporate Social Responsibility Department
March 1979 – The Sea Shepherd was the first ship to go to the ice fields off the Eastern Coast of Canada for the sole purpose of protecting seals.
Before being arrested for approaching a seal hunt without permission of the government, Sea Shepherd crewmembers saved over a thousand baby seals by spraying their white pelts with an indelible organic dye to render them commercially worthless.
In March 1980, Captain Paul Watson was banned from the ice fields and the sealing areas for three years.
In March 1981 Captain Watson lead a crew with three ocean kayaks to the Gulf of St. Lawrence despite his parole order. Hundreds of seals were sprayed with harmless blue dye effectively saving their lives.
Captain Paul Watson’s conviction of 1980 was later overturned on appeal.
These and later interventions, plus high profile supporters helped start the demise of the Canadian fur seal hunt.
With recent moves by the EU to ban seal imports and major fashion houses across the globe to stop the use of any kind of fur in their designs, the end of a 40-year battle may finally be in sight.
And I mean…When I see how many fashion designers have banned fur from their creations in recent years, how many countries have closed their fur farms and how many department stores in Germany and throughout Europe have said goodbye to fur, then our fight has already had a positive result that strengthens us and we will continue to fight this fight.
WAV Comment – Donkeys are abused in so many places. Below are a few interesting facts about them. The use of and unnecessary need for donkey skins are having a a massive impact on these gentle animals. They also suffer terribly carrying overweight tourists up dangerous terrain, and they are worked to death carrying huge amounts of bricks and other loads which are far beyond their capabilities. Take action for donkeys today – World Donkey Day – Thank you.
From Peta – Today is World Donkey Day, and what better way to celebrate them than to share a few of the things that make these intelligent, curious animals who they are?
If you challenge a donkey to a memory game, chances are you’ll lose. These gentle animals are able to remember places they’ve been to before and recognise donkey pals they haven’t seen for 25 years.
Donkeys are safety-conscious. If they fear a situation might be dangerous, they do their very best to stay away from it. This is often mistaken for stubbornness when, really, they’re just careful and cautious.
Like humans and our fellow primates, donkeys love to clean and groom each other. These herd animals are all about looking good.
They are nothing if not hygienic and refuse to drink water if they deem it too dirty.
Donkeys like to be in dry, warm places. Their natural habitats are deserts and savannahs.
If someone they love is moved or taken away from them, they become extremely upset. They’re social animals who get lonely when they’re by themselves because of the deep bonds they form with their friends and family.
The world is home to over 44 million donkeys, and they come in all shapes and sizes – there are over 186 breeds of donkey!
Donkeys have big ears so they can hear each other from long distances. They communicate by braying, grunting, squealing, whiffling, snorting, and even growling.
In their desert homes, they dig their hooves into the ground to access water, in turn providing birds, chipmunks, and other small animals with life-saving hydration.
Right now, millions of donkeys are being exploited or killed around the world, but you can help stop this! Choose to avoid products and tourist traps they’re harmed for – and take action for them by calling for change.
The umbrella organization of the European Hunting Associations (FACE = European Federation for Hunting and Conservation) has reacted to our press release on the subject of lovebird hunting and never tires of justifying the shooting down of millions of threatened migratory birds.
In a letter to the British magazine “Independent”, which reported last week about our campaign against lovebird hunting in Italy, FACE PresidentTorbjörn Larssoncomplained about what he believed to be “reputational reporting” and justified the shooting of lovebirds by saying that Hunters reportedly created “thousands of acres” of protected areas for the species.
We have summarized in an open letter to FACE why this claim is nonsense and why lovebirds must be protected from hunters across Europe.
And I mean…The president of this EU hunting association and of the Nordic Hunters Alliance, the Swede Larsson said in an interview: “Is it not usually the Hunters’ Association’s attitude that there should be as liberal rules as possible for hunting and then each hunter must decide for himself or herself whether he or she wants to hunt?”
No, it is not!
In today’s civilized society, there is no place for hunting.
Hunting is a hobby for psychopaths.
Because … what state of mind can I expect in someone who cowardly shoots an animal while eating or flying its flight routes, although he does not need its flesh and skin for life and then calles this as a “hobby”, “nature conservation”, “Species protection”, “epidemic protection” or “tradition”?
So .. and now the 7 million members of the EU Hunter Association must have something to shoot, so let’s go for lovebirds this time
The only reason hunting even exists is because a strong and ruthless political lobby supports them, who are hunters themselves.
Wherever you are in the world, that your bigger problem is the hunter law that makes it legal carry a weapon with no purpose.
In addition: If you like shooting defenseless animals, nobody can damage your reputation. There is simply no more good reputation to lose.
It is always difficult to say goodbye to a blog that you associate with a lot of commitment and hard work.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/has been a very informative source of news and information as long as active animal rights activists like our unforgettable Slavica Mazak Beslic could provide the necessary know-how and information ‘from the ground up’. We were a great and effective team – Slavica provided the news (from Serbia) and we then created posts on the site for the world to read and view. We also took our campaigns to the heart of the EU in Brussels, and opened and banged on as many doors as we could.
Our dear friend Slavica tragically passed in 2020, and both of us, have tried to keep the SAV blog going by reproducing the (non Serbian animal) news that also appeared on our primary World Animals Voice (WAV) blog World Animals Voice – Animal news from around the world..
After much deliberation, we realized that this global approach is no longer the original purpose of the founding of SAV, so we have decided not to write special postings for SAV and instead offer simple links to current WAV topics.
SAV Facebook (20+) Serbian Animals Voice | Facebook was also created by us back around 2005 as a ‘talking shop’ for animal rescuers and wonderful ‘animal people’ throughout Serbia. Now, with more than 1,300 members from the animal community, it still maintains that ‘animal protection’ policy on the whole, but we have also noticed recently that it is now being hijacked by others who are interested in anything but animals and their welfare. This attitude goes against all the principles that SAV Facebook for Serbian animals was founded for all those years ago.
So, with immediate effect, we are thus withdrawing our involvement for SAV Facebook; and will have no further involvement with any control / input into the site. It is sad when a few non animal people are spoiling things for the vast majority of brilliant animal welfare people in the Balkans by their actions.
World Animals Voice (WAV) World Animals Voice – Animal news from around the world. will very much continue to be the prime site for the posting of information, actions, and discussion topics involving animals the world over. Many of you; our friends and supporters, have been involved with us on this long and traumatic journey to date; we have always welcomed your support and kind comments, and we trust that you will stay with us on this new journey we are taking now down a different path.
SAV will remain as a site and will NOT be closed down. It has over 16 years worth of very informative archive material associated with the fight for justice for stray animals in the Balkans states. All of this information will be retained and is available to anyone who wishes to visit for information and view photographs and / or videos. Simply go to Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) | a voice for the voiceless and select from the ‘Categories’ on the right side, or from the ‘Archive’ on the left.
Finally; we wish all of our animal friends who we have worked with in the Balkans over the years all the very best with their continuing work for animals in need. You are all fantastic people and have our utmost respect for what you do; many of you have become our personal campaigner friends; and we wish you all every success with your future endeavours to put the wrongs right. Animal people around the world must unite and continue to work together in order to achieve success. We, through World Animals Voice, will continue with our work and our long term goal of giving voices to our voiceless animals friends.
We hope that you will remain loyal to us and continue to support us in our work, even after this new order.
best regards to you all,
Mark and Venus.
Above – Slavica – a wonderful person and campaigner friend.
Below – The fight for Serbian strays. This dog has been sterilised and wears a red ear tag to prove it and make this clear. Balaclava clad Shinters (dog catchers) take no notice of this tag, and dart him with drugs which are now taking effect. They wait as you can see, on the street, to take him and then kill him. How do you fight actions like this ? – you try, and try, and try …… and keep on..
Thanks to Maria and Paul for making Serbia No. 1 in their song ‘Unite’:
In July of last year, the the state TV channel of Germany(ARD) reported under the title “Animal transports mercilessly” about our operations in Central Asia and Morocco.
This causes consternation nationwide and prompts several federal states to stop exports to non-EU countries by decree.
At the federal level, despite the increasing public pressure – including from the official veterinary profession – there has been no Germany-wide export ban to this day.
Our on-site research in Morocco is shocking: ‘Dairy’ cows that were imported from Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands can be found under catastrophic conditions in local markets and in slaughterhouses.
In autumn 2020 an Animals’ Angels team discovered the German cow Erika at a market near Rabat. At the age of four, she’s ‘obsolete’ – too sick to give milk.
Erika
That is why she has to die – the sad fate of every ‘dairy cow’, regardless of whether it is in Germany or Morocco.
Even if business representatives always claim that exports of ‘breeding’ animals should be valued differently than of ‘slaughter’ animals, we can prove with our operations in Moroccan markets:
Regardless of what an animal is ‘destined’ for, there are no controls whatsoever as to what ultimately happens to it in the exporting country.
And so the concern is justified that it will be resold, transported and slaughtered in cruel conditions.
Some important things on the subject...Agriculture, and especially animal husbandry, is one of the most important economic pillars of Morocco.
Dairy cows are traditionally kept on small farms, 95% of cattle breeders have fewer than 10 cows per farm. Often both milk and meat are produced on these farms.
Bad times for animal abusers in England: A law passed on April 29 extends the range of sentences from a maximum of six months in prison to up to five years’ imprisonment.
As early as 2017, the British government committed to reform the maximum penalty for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
It took almost four years for the law to be passed, but it has been fixed since Thursday:
people who cause animals in England unnecessary suffering will face significantly higher penalties in the future.
The sentence from a maximum of six months in prison has been extended to up to five years imprisonment for the most serious offenses.
With the reform, England is following the example of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Convicted animal abusers can already be imprisoned there for up to five years.
As the last part of the United Kingdom, Wales is expected to follow shortly.
Milestone for animal welfare
Animal rights activists celebrate the new regulation as a great success and a milestone in the history of animal welfare. “We are pleased that the animals are finally being given justice. Harsher penalties will be more of a deterrent and will help us put an end to abuse of animals once and for all, ”said Chris Sherwood, chairman of the UK’s largest animal welfare organization, the RSPCA.
The law is expected to come into force this year.
Lighter sentences in Germany and Austria
In Austria and Germany, too, torturous acts against animals can lead to imprisonment – but the maximum punishment is well below that which threatens in the UK in the future: In Germany the maximum sentence is three years, in Austria it is two years.
And I mean…Five years for someone who has an animal tortured to death is not a just punishment either.
But we have to start somewhere.
Psychopaths and staunch animal haters will now think twice about draining their perverse instincts on defenseless ones.
Germany, which claims it has the best animal welfare law in Europe, must imitate this.
And German society, in its majority a perpetrator-friendly society, must finally develop and not justify its cowardice as “tolerance”.
Erika
World Animals Voice 