Read more and see videos at:

Spain: Live Export Latest 1/3/21 – Animals Being Unloaded for Slaughter, Probably 2/3/21. – World Animals Voice

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England: Vegan Bites 1/3/21. – World Animals Voice

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..or maybe we got the wrong information at school…

regards and good night, Venus

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Received anonymously via Frentedeliberacionanimal-North American Animal Liberation Press Office

English:

This emotional footage shows only a couple of minutes of a dangerous rescue mission.
Our ALF member in Turkey, at a secret location, secretly goes into a shelter and rescues these 2 banned breed- dogs at night.

This mother and daughter have been abandoned at a shelter and they would have to spend their lives there due to the laws in Turkey.

Living on cold concrete, eating, sleeping, peeing, and pooping in the same 5-meter square cage.

And one day possibly being secretly put to sleep.
We have taken these girls onto a freedom ride and they are at a safe location now living happily with a family.

These dog breeds are the most abused, sold, pushed into fights, made pregnantly, ears and tails cut off.

WE WILL KEEP FIGHTING FOR PITBULLS, DOGOS, STAFFS, NO DOGS LEFT BEHIND !!!!

Turkish:
Bu duygusal görüntü, tehlikeli bir kurtarma görevinin yalnızca birkaç dakikasını gösteriyor.

Türkiye’deki ALF üyemiz gizli bir yerde gizlice bir barınağa giriyor vegece bu 2 ‘yasaklı cins’ köpeği kurtarıyor.

Bu anne ve kızı bir barınağa terk edildi ve Türkiye’deki yasalar nedeniyle hayatlarını orada geçirmek zorunda kalacaklardı.
Aynı 5 meterkarelik kafeste soğuk beton üzerinde yaşamak, yemek yemek, uyumak, işemek ve kaka yapmak. Ve bir gün muhtemelen gizlice uyutulmak.
Bu kızları bir özgürlük yolculuğuna çıkardık ve şimdi bir aileyle mutlu bir şekilde yaşıyorlar.

Bu köpek ırkları en çok istismara uğrayan, satılan, kavgaya itilen, hamile bırakılan, kulakları ve kuyrukları kesilen köpeklerdir.
PITBULLAR, DOGOLAR, STAFFLAR İÇİN SAVAŞIMIZ DEVAM EDECEK. HİÇBİR KÖPEĞİ ARKAMIZDA BIRAKMIYACAĞIZ !!!!

https://animalliberationpressoffice.org/NAALPO/2021/02/26/two-pitbulls-rescued-from-kill-shelter-turkey-2/

We can imagine how happy they both feel in their freedom.

We thank the Turkish activists, on behalf of the mother and her daughter.

My best regards to all, Venus

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With thanks as always to Stacey at ‘Our Compass’ – Our Compass | Because compassion directs us … (our-compass.org)

Regards Mark

Remember:

‘One mans terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’

“A particularly brutal process called “ventilation shutdown,” or VSD. Workers sealed off airways while pumping steam into the barns, intensifying the heat — over the course of many hours — to the point at which the pigs died from suffocation and/or hyperthermia”.

After pork giant was exposed for cruel killings, the FBI pursued its critics

MARCH 1, 2021

Source The Intercept: “…making it quite possible that some pigs survived, and are therefore buried alive or crushed by the bulldozers that haul away the corpses.”

Let’s be clear: all animal slaughter is inherently abusive and cruel and causes fear and suffering regardless of how humans, who will never be subjected to the same violent fate, define it. Those who are horrified by ventilation shutdown yet not “commonly accepted” forms of slaughter are actually just using one form of cruelty to justify another.

Please visit HERE to learn of the violence inherent in the animal exploitation industry regardless of how you define such, and before you reject footage as “the exception” (it’s not) or based on vegan “propaganda” (versus nothing provided by the animal exploiters) just remember: the “animal agriculture industry” relies on and actively pursues consumer ignorance, willful or not, and DO NOT release their own footage. Ask yourself why that is: if they are humane, they can prove it, but are unable to, and rather than use funds supporting “humane treatment” they use money to hide their deception, cruelty, greed, and intentional participation in abject suffering. That is why you will never see the an-ag industry actually demonstrate “humane treatment” before or during the killing; they instead hide the barbarism and focus on those who are exposing it.

Who’s the terrorist? SL

Source The Intercept

By Lee Fang

Last June, Noel Williams, the chief operations officer of Iowa Select Farms, a powerful pork company and the largest in Iowa, pulled into the parking lot of an empty housing complex typically used for the firm’s immigrant workforce.

He was there to transport Lucas Walker, a former truck driver for Iowa Select, to a meeting with Nick Potratz, an FBI agent from the Des Moines office of the bureau. That’s according to Walker, who had recently tried to report Iowa Select, his former employer, for mistreating animals. After The Intercept published leaked video of pigs being killed off en masse, Walker came under scrutiny.

Now, the FBI had a favor to ask: Would Walker become an informant? More specifically, they wanted him to help in an effort to investigate and undermine an activist group that had become a thorn in Iowa Select’s side. They even asked if he’d be willing to sell drugs.

The saga that brought him into contact with the FBI began when the 26-year-old grew frustrated with his former employer, Iowa Select, which is headquartered in his hometown of Iowa Falls. Walker thought the company was blatantly disregarding state “double stocking” rules, which limit the size and number of pigs that are held in an intensive animal feeding facility, letting overweight pigs crowd into pens far too small to hold them.

He was tired of what he saw as frequent rule-breaking and disregard for the well-being of the tens of thousands of hogs raised by Iowa Select. The company, in his view, seemed hellbent on expansion and profits, leading to rampant overcrowding and water pollution. That rapid expansion led to the annual production of 1.5 billion pounds of pork a year, a global leader before the pandemic. The novel coronavirus, however, closed regional slaughterhouses, creating a glut of pigs.

He decided to speak out and called state regulators.

Walker doesn’t fit the profile of an animal rights activist. The central Iowa-raised truck driver, who jokingly refers to himself as corn-fed with beer running through his veins, is a fervent Trump and NRA supporter who has spent years working in the state’s maze of hog production facilities. He describes himself as independent-minded with libertarian instincts, with a bit of a contrarian side suspicious of organized power.

“I’m not necessarily animal rights by any means,” said Walker in an interview with The Intercept. “I have a cattle herd — small calf herd — and my wife and myself have some free-range pigs ourselves.”

“It was a moral issue at the heart of it. … I’m the kind of person who knows right from wrong. It was a principled thing.”

Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources, the local farm regulator, Walker felt, did not seem to care about his concerns over the phone or show any interest in enforcement on a company like Iowa Select. Iowa, followed by North Carolina and Minnesota, is the largest pork-producing state in the country and infamously deferential to industry. Iowa officials have faced criticism for failing to regulate concentrated pork facilities for water pollution and poor animal welfare standards.

Jeff Hansen, the founder of Iowa Select, built the pork powerhouse first as a salesman, helping distribute modern farrowing crates, automatic feeders, and other livestock equipment to other pig farmers in the state. He built two companies at once: a turnkey construction firm known as Modern Hog Concepts, which helped farmers upgrade their barns into modern factory farms, and Iowa Select, which raised pigs for slaughter.

Along the way, as he grew his business empire, Hansen built close connections with Iowa’s political elite. In 1994, during a cycle in which Hansen was one of the largest campaign contributors to then-Gov. Terry Branstad, he had set aside employee money for campaign contributions to local Republicans. The resulting scandal forced lawmakers to return campaign funds to Iowa Select, but the company continued to grow.

The owners of Iowa Select, Jeff and his wife Debra Hansen, are still among the largest campaign contributors in the state, and close to Gov. Kim Reynolds. A recent donation of $50,000 brought the total the couple has donated to the governor to nearly $300,000.

The governor has maintained cozy ties to Iowa Select. Shortly after her election in 2018, Reynolds volunteered to auction off her time as a gift to the Hansen family foundation. In the early days of the pandemic, her administration arranged a Covid-19 testing site at a corporate office used by white-collar Iowa Select employees and foundation employees, raising concerns with one Polk County supervisor of special treatment for the campaign donor.

And Kayla Lyon, who Reynolds appointed to run the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which inspects hog farms for compliance with animal welfare and environmental rules, is a former dairy industry official and agribusiness lobbyist. Lyon, in her previous capacity as an influence peddler in Des Moines, had worked to pass the 2012 “ag gag” law that criminalized recording at farm facilities, according to lobbyist disclosures. Lyon lobbied at a time when Iowa Select’s lobbyists in Des Moines pushed for the bill, records show.

The impetus for that bill, which was designed to criminally prosecute whistleblowers at factory farming operations, also started in part with Iowa Select. The year before the bill was signed into law, an animal rights activist group, Mercy for Animals, released an undercover video that showed Iowa Select workers ripping the testicles from conscious piglets, removing tails with dull clippers, and scores of sows in small confinement cages, appearing to suffer from untreated sores and other wounds.

The law, though later overturned by a federal court, was the first of its kind and rapidly inspired copycat legislation across the country.

Walker’s failed attempts to reach regulators, to report overcrowding in Iowa Select facilities, didn’t surprise him. “The DNR wasn’t very interested in talking about it,” said Walker. “They’re too big to be regulated.”

“There have been no recent enforcement actions against Iowa Select Farms. Nor are we aware of any complaints or allegations made to the DNR,” Alex Murphy, a spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said in an email to The Intercept.

Walker, aware that he had few outlets for help, turned to the internet to research whistleblowing resources for factory farms. That’s how he found Direct Action Everywhere, the Berkeley, California-based group that has worked to expose the shocking treatment of animals in factory farms.

Continue reading on page 2

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Last year it was revealed that the partially existing bans on high-risk animal transports were deliberately circumvented because individual authorities and veterinarians nonetheless issued permits and specific bypass trips were taking place within Germany.

Knowing that the animals will be transported to Central Asia or North Africa under horrible conditions!

These regions are defined as “animal welfare high-risk states” because there are no EU standards for handling animals. Several federal states reacted at the time and initially prohibited all transports.

Because if a country does not comply with EU standards, no transports are allowed there.

Now the editors of Panorama, Mittagsmagazin, and RBB report that even after the discoveries at the time, the transports to non-EU countries, which are regarded as illegal, continue to take place.
Animal welfare standards are apparently deliberately not implemented!

The requirements are thus deliberately disregarded and the governments deliberately left regulatory patchwork carpets – some speak of “loopholes”, but many states that there are corrupt and illegal machinations here.

The requirements are thus deliberately disregarded and the governments deliberately left regulatory patchwork carpets – some speak of “loopholes”, but many states that there are corrupt and illegal machinations here.

Continue reading →

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Opinions differ on the ethical and, in our eyes, clearly cruel background to showjumping.

However, the fact is that only recently in January of this year a horse was brazenly and cold-heartedly beaten with a whip by the German showjumping professional Kevin Lemke in front of an audience.

And this is proven by a horrific video of evidence that any doubters can watch under the following link (be careful: not for the faint of heart !!!): https://vimeo.com/516459284

During a show jumping competition in California, the horror scenes occurred after the horse “Good Luck” refused to jump over an obstacle.

PETA Germany immediately demanded legal action against the alleged animal abuser, PETA USA has already filed a criminal complaint.

The “Desert International Horse Park” was the scene of this cruelty to animals.
“Good Luck” refused to jump over an obstacle and in a probably uncontrolled, massive outburst of aggression you can see Kevin Lemke hitting the poor animal like crazy.

The showjumper proceeds with incredible rigor so that the whip whips can not only be seen clearly on the evidence video but can also be heard.
This earned the German disqualification.
But the torture continued.

Disqualified show jumpers are still allowed to take part in the so-called correction jump after they have been eliminated.
When riding a combination, the battered horse stumbled over the first obstacle due to the extremely stressful situation in which it was and refused the following.

Kevin Lemke with “Good Luck” – This is about more than a mere rule violation – it’s about cruelty to animals.

Continue reading →

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Reality would ruin our life if we didn’t have the illusion.
Illusions work better than pills

regards and good night, Venus

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A new investigation from Animal Equality exposes the abuses and crimes of India’s fishery and aquaculture sector and shows the inefficient use of precious resources, like water and land.

THE DETAILS: Animal Equality investigated several Indian fish and shrimp farms, hatcheries, and fish markets from Feb 2019 to May 2020 in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, which are known for their fish production.

The cycle of cruelty seems to never end, with our team witnessing fish suffering in a variety of ways.

One particularly brutal practice is “fish milking,” an extremely painful process in which the eggs from a female fish are squeezed out by hand.

In another, farmed fish are killed by asphyxiation as workers pull them from the water and put them on ice to slowly and agonizingly suffocate to death. Our investigators also found:

-Thousands of fish bred in small, overcrowded ponds, which are prone to disease spread.

-Many fish crushed to death by the weight of other fish when they’re caught in nets and dumped into containers.

-Workers cutting the gills of fish without prior stunning, resulting in the animals bleeding to death.

-Some species of fish, like catfish, are slaughtered and sold at unsanitary markets.

-Conscious catfish clubbed several times in an effort to slaughter them.

-Children were seen slaughtering fish, which violates child-employment laws.

WASTED RESOURCES: Fish farms need an exorbitant amount of water for operation and pump out large quantities of groundwater, which comes from nearby rivers, leading to drastic reductions in the region’s water table. In addition, fishery and aquaculture farms require large tracts of land in areas with an abundance of water, reducing the agricultural yield from these sectors.

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In 2016, the New Zealand government passed a law amending its constitution: henceforth, all animals are recognized as sentient beings. This is accompanied by groundbreaking changes for the animal world within the country’s borders.

Mankind has always argued whether animals are capable of feeling emotions just like us.

Anyone who has already had an intimate relationship with an animal friend would undoubtedly answer this question in the affirmative.

The complex social behavior that animals display cannot possibly be based on instincts alone.

Image: pixabay.com

Research confirms the emotional world of many animal species

In the meantime, research has advanced to the point where many animal species have feelings.
Laboratory mice are used not least to test antidepressants because it has been discovered that they can suffer from depression.

It is well known that elephants mourn their deceased family members.
New Zealand serves as a model for all states!

By ensuring that all animals are recognized as sentient beings in New Zealand’s constitution, the government is following not only common sense but also what is scientifically proven.

This change in the law will mean groundbreaking changes for all wildlife within New Zealand’s state borders.
The change in the law will facilitate the criminal prosecution of animal abusers and the ban on animal testing in research.

Animal rights activists celebrated the decision that went into effect in February 2016!

Continue reading →

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Animals’ Angels e.V.

ANDA and Animals ‘Angels report animal welfare violations during the transport of ‘slaughter’ horses in Spain

On February 23, ANDA and Animals’ Angels filed a complaint against Spain because the regulations for the protection of horses during transport are regularly not observed there.
The complaint initially relates to the transport route from Spain to Italy.

The NGOs have been monitoring the conditions of horse transport on this route since 2007.

In 14 years we have noticed the same violations again and again.
To this day, the responsible regional and national authorities in Spain are not doing anything to stop them sustainably.

The EU Animal Welfare Transport Regulation stipulates that horses that are not used to a halter may not be transported for more than eight hours.
Still, the vast majority of horses transported from Spain to Italian slaughterhouses have never worn a halter in their short life.

In addition, the regulation stipulates that horses must be transported in individual boxes on long journeys. This rule is not observed when transporting horses between Spain and Italy, as they are almost always transported in groups.

Continue reading →

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In our latest investigation, Animal Equality has brought to light distressing scenes from a “farm of horrors” located in Catalonia, Spain, where the highest concentration of intensive pig farms is located.

THE DETAILS: The investigation’s footage shows the farm’s non-compliance with Spanish regulations for the protection of pigs in the country, with evidence found of sanitation irregularities, animal abuse, and possible environmental crimes.

https://youtu.be/rcA9rWf-hJA

Our investigative team filmed:

-Pigs living amongst excrement, as well as eating food and drinking water contaminated with feces.

-Overcrowded living conditions that lacked natural stimuli, causing the pigs to stress and compelled them to bite each other’s tails and ears.

-Injured pigs, with some only able to crawl, while others who didn’t have the strength to move were left to die without veterinary attention.

-Pigs living with the rotting carcass of one of their companions, risking potential disease transmission to the rest of the animals.

The illegal dumping of slurry, which is a possible environmental crime.

For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/25/spain-catalonia-pig-farm-of-horrors/

And I mean...In July 2020 the German Animal Welfare Office also documented the horror conditions in a pig farm in Germany, which is the supplier of the German pig baron Tönnies.

The video shows a similarly serious violation

The strategy of governments, vet offices, authorities, ministers … is always the same: first of all, close the farm until the public has calmed down.
Then it goes on as before.

Several such cases, like the one in Catalonia, were reported years ago in Germany, and everywhere the perpetrators were hardly or not at all molested by the authorities.

There will probably never be a trial in Catalonia, too. The perpetrators will live on without punishment and as innocent citizens.
And they will continue to torture animals.

And the stupid consumer still believes the jubilant nonsense that such crimes in factory farming are only “isolated cases”.

With the governments and all these amateurish EU officials with whom we are “blessed”, the worst crime in human history, the animal holocaust, will continue.

My best regards to all, Venus

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A sellout crowd lined up outside Rudy’s Vegan Butcher for the plant-based meat’ shop’s grand opening on World Vegan Day!

Hundreds of eager customers wrapped around the block, leaving them sold out a day after opening their doors! Rudy’s offers mouth-watering, plant-based barbecue staples and meatless charcuterie cuts of smoked ham, salami, pepperoni, and pastrami.

The London scene just got WAY more sustainable, and we’re so here for it!

@rudysdvd via IG

And I mean…Wow! Who would have thought 30 years ago that they would still experience all of this … everyone thought… utopia!

The next step will follow, of that we are sure, and several branches of the vegan butcher shop will be opened across the UK.
Because demand determines the supply

My best regards to all, Venus

 

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The cattle ship Karim Allah docked in Tarragona, Spain, 2020. Photograph: Animal Welfare Foundation/Tier Schutz Bund Zurich

WAV Comment – BIG thanks to ‘The Guardian’ (London) for sticking with, and reporting on this incident so very well over the last few months.  Click on our live export tag  Live Transport – World Animals Voice to read all the previous news from the Guardian (and more) about this most disgusting business in sentient beings.

Cattle stranded at sea for two months are likely dead or ‘suffering hell’ | Environment | The Guardian

Cattle stranded at sea for two months are likely dead or ‘suffering hell’

Two livestock ships have been refused entry to multiple countries on health grounds since leaving Spain in December

One of two livestock ships at sea since mid-December with thousands of cattle on board is now at the Spanish port of Cartagena, but the fate of its cargo is unclear.

The two vessels left from different ports in Spain before Christmas to deliver their cargoes of animals, but were each refused entry by various countries including Turkey and Libya, owing to suspected outbreaks onboard both ships of the bovine disease bluetongue.

Spain’s government and the country’s largest association of beef producers, Asoprovac, have both said the cattle came from areas free of bluetongue.

On Tuesday, the Spanish news agency EFE reported that although Turkey had originally agreed to take the cattle, satisfied they were bluetongue free, the animals were rejected on arrival because of disease fears.

A Spanish government source confirmed that the Karim Allah, carrying a reported 895 calves, was anchored just outside the Spanish port of Cartagena. The other ship, Elbeik, carrying 1,776 animals, continues to sit at anchor in Turkish waters off the coast of Cyprus.

Silvia Barquero, the director of Animal Equality Spain, said she understood that many animals were already dead and any still alive would be “suffering a real hell”.

Official veterinary inspections of both ships had been due to take place late last week in Cyprus and Sardinia, but neither ship approached shore to allow vets on board.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Spain’s agriculture ministry described the ships’ plight as a “failed operation by a Spanish exporter, who was going to sell the animals in Turkey, then tried unsuccessfully to sell them in Libya”. The spokesperson did not respond to questions about animal numbers, conditions on the ships or possible next steps.

The spokesperson added that the Karim Allah, “now arriving in Cartagena, left Spain with animals that had the corresponding health certificates and which were from areas free of bluetongue. The animals therefore left the port of Cartagena in good health.”

Last week, the ministry said the Elbeik, which left from the Spanish port of Tarragona, was also carrying cattle from bluetongue-free areas.

Maria Boada Saña, a vet with NGO Animal Welfare Foundation, said she feared that at least 100 animals on the Karim Allah were already dead.

“The Karim Allah arrived Sunday night at Cartagena, sailing away from a planned veterinary inspection Saturday morning in Sardinia,” she said.

She added that a Spanish agriculture ministry source said that although the ship was in Spanish waters, it had not yet requested entry to Cartagena port.

“That means we have no idea right now if animals are alive or dead,” said Boada Saña. “Other sources, though, have told me the Karim Allah has not asked for animal feed. To me, the way it sailed away from an inspection, the way it is waiting and not asking for food probably means most of the animals are dead.”

Dead animals would have to be removed from the ship by hoist and the operation could take at least a day, or much longer, depending on numbers, said Genoa-based lawyer Manuela Giacomini.

In a related development, a Spanish government source confirmed that Cartagena port had temporarily suspended the departure of livestock ships until the Karim Allah docks. The vessel continues to be anchored in front of the harbour and the decision to enter the port was up to the owner of the ship, the source added.

Prof Kristen Stilt, director of Harvard’s animal law and policy programme, who is writing a book about the transport of live animals, said it was an inherent risk with live transport that the animals would be rejected at their destination port.

Once labelled as rejected, Stilt said it was “very likely that no other country [would] accept them, as we are now seeing with the two vessels at sea with calves from Spain”.

Another problem for crew and livestock, she said, was the absence of an international arbiter that could assess claims of disease and make a binding determination. The result, she said, was “usually catastrophic in terms of loss of animal lives”.

Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp said “the only way to stop animal cruelty related to animal transport” was to introduce a total ban on the export of live animals outside the EU.

“Both vessels concerned have EU certificate approvals, which means that they can load European animals and send them to third countries, such as Libya, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia,” she said. “In total there are around 80 vessels with such a certificate.”

Sign up for the Animals farmed monthly update to get a roundup of the best farming and food stories across the world and keep up with our investigations. And you can send us your stories and thoughts at animalsfarmed@theguardian.com.

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Read the full story at:

Spain: Cartagena Port suspends exports of livestock following Bluetongue disease incident. – World Animals Voice

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From:

FRIENDS OF THE WISCONSIN WOLF & WILDLIFE

URGENT! WI WOLF HUNT OPENS TODAY: HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO

URGENT! WI WOLF HUNT OPENS TODAY: HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO – Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf & Wildlife (wordpress.com)

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South Korean Meat Dogs.

View the latest newsletter and actions to take via the following links.  \Please watch the video as it shows the reality of what a disgusting animal abuse situation this is.

Dogs left to starve and freeze to death on dog farm in Yeoju, South Korea – Stop the Dog and Cat Consumption in S. Korea! (koreandogs.org)

https://r.newsletter.koreandogs.org/ajc350odtht7e.html?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=_Dogs_left_to_starve_and_freeze_to_death_on_dog_farm_in_Yeoju_Take_action_to_stop_the_unimaginable_cruelty_TODAY!_&utm_medium=email https://r.newsletter.koreandogs.org/ajcsf8odtht7e.html?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=_Daegu_Chilseong_Dog_Meat_Market_slaughters_dogs_while_you_wait__Help_stop_the_cruelty_to_our_loving_friends!_&utm_medium=email

Below – ‘Mr Do Nothing – but give False Promises’

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From our campaigner friends at Animals Australia.

People power stops new live export business in its tracks

A plan to begin exporting live animals from Namibia to Kuwait has been quashed thanks to a united, global effort drawing attention to the suffering caused by the trade.

The idea that when one door closes another opens, is mostly reassuring. But when it comes to the global live export trade, this universal truth is the reason we need to remain ever vigilant. You see, as countries have become clued-up to the cruelty inherent to live export — and widespread opposition to it — live exporters have found it harder to shore up business.

When Australia restricted sheep exports during the dangerous northern summer months, exporters knocked on Romania’s door. And Animals Australia was there. When Romania began questioning the trade, they went to South Africa. Again, we were already there. When South Africa’s NSPCA took the battle to stop the trade all the way to the High Court, it was abundantly clear: this global trade in animal cruelty is well and truly matched by a global effort to stop it.

From Australia to New Zealand to Brazil to South Africa and to dozens of countries throughout Europe — there is a powerful, international collaboration of groups and individuals working together to save animals from this ruthless industry.

And it’s a compassionate effort that has just paid off in Namibia, with new plans to begin live export from the Southern African nation put on hold indefinitely.

The business plan put forward by Tradeport Namibia proposed to import 70,000 live sheep, 50,000 goats and 5,000 cattle from South Africa and Botswana for live export from Namibia to Kuwait.

As exposé after exposé has revealed — it’s a sea journey fraught with risk for the animals who would be confined in cramped and stressful conditions for weeks before facing terrifying fully conscious slaughter upon arrival.

A rapid-fire public and media education campaign was launched in Namibia to highlight the reality of live export for the animals. In its submission objecting to the business plan, Namibia’s SPCA noted that the trade undermines Namibian laws and standards and that allowing live export would:

And the warnings have been heeded. In announcing that plans to export live animals would be ‘put on ice’, Tradeport Namibia noted the strong opposition, locally and internationally, to the export of live animals and that the company did not want to be involved in a business that will attract widespread outrage.

A united global front is turning the tide on live export. We don’t always win, but we are always there. And every action you take to support these efforts takes us another step towards shutting the door on this industry, for good.

Check it out in full via:

People power stops new live export business in its tracks | Animals Australia

Regards Mark

Power to all the good people !

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WAV Comment – we are covering a lot at the moment re live exports.  This is not current news but goes back to November 2019 when the ‘Queen Hind’ sank shortly after leaving the port of Midia in Romania; allegedly carrying 14,600 destined for slaughter in Saudi Arabia.

For information; it would appear that several secret decks were found on the vessel during attempts at salvage; and that in fact, many more sheep had been carried to those declared officially.  Naturally, Romania has denied this, and the EU being the EU, has dragged its heels in every respect with regard to getting official information about this.

The only information to emerge since the sinking has been the discovery of secret compartments onboard with dead animals inside, by the company hired to remove the ship from the water.

Read more at:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/27/romania-accused-of-silence-over-ship-that-capsized-killing-14000-sheep

We have no faith in the Romanian system or what its government says.  They are certainly not the best animal welfare nation on the planet.  With our experience in live animal transport, we would have no surprise whatsoever that additional (secret) decks were fitted into the vessel; simply to increase numbers and to obtain more profit.  Was overloading due to the secret decks the reason that the Queen Hind capsized shortly after leaving Midia, we ask ?

Have a read of the information and links to that we have supplied below.  If we ever witness the EU taking action against Romania regarding this incident then it could be considered progress.  When everyone keeps quiet and ‘below deck’ about the realities, it could be said that there is a cover up.  Please read the info and make your own decisions.

Despite promises from the Romanian government that the results of the capsize will be published on the Ministry website; our search today (24/2/21) has still revealed nothing.

Regards Mark

Secret decks found on ship that capsized killing thousands of sheep

Discovery by salvage divers off Romania raises new questions over EU exports of live animals

Secret decks for extra animals have been found in a livestock carrier that sank off the Romanian port of Midia in November drowning thousands of sheep, according to the company carrying out the massive salvage operation.

Only 180 sheep survived out of the 14,600 initially believed to have been onboard the Queen Hind, which was carrying them from Romania, the EU’s biggest exporter of the animal, to Saudi Arabia.

But the revelations about secret decks are likely to increase the death toll by several thousands, and raise fresh questions on whether overloading was to blame for the capsize.

The vessel was left on its side in the water as it sank not far from port, with sheep corpses piling up around it. Images of the tragedy made headlines worldwide and led to renewed calls by animal activists to impose a ban on live exports from Europe to non-EU countries, particularly the Middle East and north Africa.

The Romanian national daily Adevărul reported on Sunday that the firm that won the auction to bring the vessel to shore, Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP Offshore), made its first attempt on Saturday but operations were halted after the crane’s cables were unable to bear the load.

Gabriel Comănescu, GSP’s president, was quoted by Adevărul as saying that “during the operation, the divers entered the water, [and] found additional decks.

These additional decks also have animals on board”.

Comănescu added: “There are decks not included in the cargo plan, they are undeclared. It is the problem of the authorities to find out why they were loaded and why they were not included in the cargo plan. It’s a big question. There is a much larger load than over 14,000 sheep.”

Gabriel Paun, of Animals International, said the revelation “confirms our initial suspicion that the vessel capsized because of overloading”. He added: “We are outraged that this came out from the company bringing the vessel back to the shore and not from the Romanian government itself.”

Animals International said it will file complaints to the EU commission and the Romanian prosecutor’s anti-corruption department.

“[GSP] came with the right equipment last week and they tried to lift it up with a crane and bring it to the shore,” Paun said. “They had calculated that the ship was full of water and animals, so they were prepared to lift more [weight] but still the cables broke.”

He had been told that the head of the company had sent down divers to investigate, and discovered secret decks loaded with thousands of animals.

Brian da Cal, UK director at the animal welfare organisation Four Paws, said he feared that the death of thousands of sheep could have been avoided.

“The allegations regarding hidden decks on the ship are of huge concern and strengthens our calls for an outright ban of long-distance transports of live animals and a maximum of eight hours transportation duration. No matter how strict the rules may be and how tragic this accident is, mass deaths like this are becoming more common.”

He said Four Paws was able to rescue 254 sheep from the half-sunken ship but several died later of exhaustion and injuries – 180 survived and are now being kept in a location north of Bucharest.

Paun said: “We’re saying that Romanian authorities are not to be trusted because this vessel has been inspected by the Romanian government [and] they’ve missed the extra decks which were not in the cargo plan.”

Paun said Romania exports about 3 million sheep annually. European live animal exports rose from a value of $1bn (£800m) in 2000 to $3.3bn in 2018.

An official from the Romanian national veterinary and food safety authority, in comments carried by Adevărul, appeared to dismiss the allegations and said the vessel was heavier because “dead sheep do not have the same weight as the live ones”.

A border police spokesman also dismissed the story as speculation.

The Guardian has contacted MGM Marine Shipping, the management company behind the Queen Hind, for comment. The Romanian embassy was also approached.

Secret decks found on ship that capsized killing thousands of sheep | Romania | The Guardian

More…

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/extra-decks-found-on-capsized-livestock-carrier

Extra Decks Found on Capsized Livestock Carrier

Salvors working on the capsized livestock carrier Queen Hind claim they have found extra decks on the vessel.

The Palau-flagged Queen Hind capsized shortly after departing the Port of Midia in Romania on November 24 last year. While the crew escaped safely, only 180 of 14,600 sheep were saved. Salvors Grup Servizi Petroliere (GSP) claim that there could have been more sheep lost, as divers found that the extra decks had animals on board.

Divers were sent to investigate after cranes were unable to lift the vessel as planned. Cables snapped under the extra weight which could mean that several thousand more sheep were onboard than previously reported. The salvors claim the extra decks were not documented on the cargo loading plan.

The claim that extra sheep were on board has been disputed. Local media reports cite an official saying that the salvors may not have accounted for the extra weight of water-logged sheep; the salvors dispute this. Additionally, it has been noted that exact counts of sheep are not made at boarding.

The Guardian reports Gabriel Paun, a spokesperson for Animals International, saying the vessel was suspected to have capsized due to overloading. Animals International plans to make a formal complaint to the European Commission about the case.

https://safety4sea.com/secret-decks-found-on-capsized-livestock-carrier-off-romania/

Secret decks found on capsized livestock carrier off Romania

More than two months after the livestock carrier ‘Queen Hind’ capsized and sank off Romania taking down over 14,o00 sheep, the company tasked with the ship salvage has discovered secret decks that could accommodate a higher number of animals. This has created allegations that the sheep death toll was higher than thought.

Casualties | 05/02/20

The livestock carrier was heading from Romania to Saudi Arabia, when it overturned just off Midia Port, Romania, on 24 November, with approximately 14,600 sheep and 22 crew members onboard. The crew was saved but only 180 sheep survived.

However, the recent revelations by the salvage company on extra decks are likely to increase the death toll by several thousands, and raise fresh questions on whether overloading was to blame for the capsize, The Guardian reports.

In particular, the salvage firm Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP Offshore), halted operations Saturday, after the crane’s cables were unable to bear the load, the Romanian national daily Adevărul reported.

As such, the divers entered the water and found additional decks, which also had animals onboard, Gabriel Comănescu, GSP’s president, was quoted as saying.

There are decks not included in the cargo plan, they are undeclared. It is the problem of the authorities to find out why they were loaded and why they were not included in the cargo plan. It’s a big question. There is a much larger load than over 14,000 sheep,

…he stressed.

Meanwhile, this news re-surges initial suspicions that the incident occurred due to overloading.

In light of this, animal welfare organization Animals International said it will file complaints to the EU commission and the Romanian prosecutor’s anti-corruption department.

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One of the secrets of happiness is being able to share.
Human animals have yet to learn

regards and good night, Venus

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4000 turtles could be saved from freezing to death!

On an island in southern Texas, more than 4000 sea turtles have been rescued from the cooled water in the Gulf of Mexico in the past few days and temporarily housed in a conference center to warm up there.

Foto: Miguel Roberts/dpa

The severe onset of winter in the US state of Texas triggered a large-scale rescue operation for thousands of sea turtles.

The organization Sea Turtle Inc, which cares for the protection of sea turtles in the region, started the rescue operation.
The animals were spread out on plastic sheets in rooms and corridors of the congress center.

Sea Turtle’s Sanjuana Zavala told the German Press Agency on Thursday that the turtles were in a kind of rigidity in which they could not move, eat and drink until they were warmed up again.

This state lasted for several days. “We just have to wait and see now.”

There are real heavyweights among the turtles

The animals don’t necessarily have to be in the water in this state, emphasized Zavala.
In the beginning, they used the children’s paddling pool for some of the rescued turtles. But given a large number of animals, there weren’t enough such tanks.

As soon as the water temperature in the sea rises above 12 degrees Celsius again, the animals could be brought back there. The rescued turtles would have a weight of up to 180 kilograms.

A severe onset of winter is currently plaguing large parts of the United States and has led to massive power outages. The state of Texas in the south of the country is the hardest hit.

South Padre Island is near the US border with Mexico.
Zavala said that in the past few years her organization had occasionally had to rescue turtles from the sea in winter.
But it was never more than 200 at a time.
“We have never had it to this extent.”

Therefore one had to switch to the congress center. There, too, there were temporary problems with the electricity in view of the snowstorm.
But in the building, the turtles are protected from wind and weather and protected from the cold water in the sea.

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/usa-tierschutz-wintersturm-schildkroeten-1.5210678

Thanks to the helpers from Sea Turtle, Inc. and all of the volunteers

My best regards to all, Venus

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❄️ It was -21 degrees that day.

Then suddenly, a passerby saw a goose stuck to a post.
Troubling, the passerby wanted to help him but a detail irritated him.

As he approaches, he notices that the goose was covering a puppy under its wings to keep him warm 🐶

A pretty scene full of love and tenderness 😍

Again, we have a lot to learn from our animal friends.

My best regards to all, Venus

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Again it is the “death trap” Farewell Spit in New Zealand, where several pilot whales ran aground within one day. Volunteers formed a human chain to drive the whales into deeper water.

More than 20 pilot whales have been returned to deeper waters after a second stranding off New Zealand.
“The whales are currently swimming freely off the coast and are monitored by a boat from the nature conservation authority,” said the organization Project Jonah on Tuesday.

Project Jonah volunteers tried to pull the pilot whales back into the water on Monday Source: AFP / HANDOUT

Volunteers formed a human chain to drive the whales into deeper water.

On Monday, February 22nd, around 50 animals were stranded on the Farewell Spit headland. Many of them died, but about 28 survived the night.

Numerous helpers were on duty to cool the whales until the tide set in, as the broadcaster Radio New Zealand reported.

Why the marine mammals were stranded was still unclear. For the group it seemed to be the first time, the animals showed no abrasions, the station quoted the ranger Amanda Harvey

The scientists suspect that the animals have orientation problems as a reason for stranding or that animals want to come to the aid of their previously stranded conspecifics. Source: dpa / New Zealand Doc, Matt Nalder

Scientists are still trying to find out why such incidents are more common at Farewell Spit, it said.
In February 2017 alone, between 600 and 700 whales were stranded there, 250 of them died.

Whales are repeatedly stranded on the coasts of New Zealand.
Why marine mammals lose their bearings is unclear.

Presumably, they follow a stray or sick animal into shallow water. The animals may have responded to calls from their conspecifics who were stranded on Friday, as Daren Grover of the animal welfare group Project Jonah involved in the rescue said.

The largest mass stranding of pilot whales in New Zealand occurred in 1918 when a thousand mammals landed on the remote island of Chatham.

In 1985, 450 pilot whales stranded in Auckland.
At the Farewell Spit headland, which is around 150 kilometers west of the tourist town of Nelson, there have been at least nine mass strandings in the past ten years.

https://theworldnews.net/de-news/mehr-als-20-grindwale-nach-erneuter-strandung-vor-neuseeland-befreit

https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/neuseeland-wieder-200-wale-gestrandet/246.012.472

And I mean … Scientists don’t know, nor do we know why the animals were stranded.
We can only be happy about the survivors and would like to thank the people from the bottom of our hearts who have contributed with all their might to the rescue

My best regards to all, Venus

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Those who have such prejudices are not mature enough…

regards and good night, Venus

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“Stop putting ideology on our children’s plates,” French minister says after major city removes meat from school lunches
French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie has argued against injecting “ideology” into school lunches after the city of Lyon removed the meat from the menus.

Local officials said it would help them follow Covid-19 protocols.

“Let’s stop putting ideology on our children’s plates,” Denormandie tweeted on Sunday.

“Let’s just give them what they need to grow well. Meat is part of it,” he wrote, adding that he had asked the region’s perfect, a state-appointed official, to overrule the move.

Officials in Lyon, France’s third-largest city, said schools would have a meat-free menu starting on Monday.

They argued that the change would help to “streamline” the work of cafeterias while they followed the requirements on social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stephanie Leger, the city’s top education official, told AFP the new menu “will allow us to speed up the service and, thus, allow us to cater to all children.”

“To match the tastes of the largest number [of students], we have decided to remove meat,” Leger said. She added that the menu could not be considered vegan because the cafeterias would continue to serve fish and eggs, and that meat would return once the “sanitary situation allows it.”

Nevertheless, the idea to exclude meat from school lunches immediately caused a backlash from right-wing politicians. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin labeled it an “unacceptable insult to French farmers and butchers.” (!!!)

“We can see that the moralizing and elitist policy of the Greens excludes the popular classes. Many children often only get to eat meat at the school canteen,” he tweeted, calling it a “scandalous ideology.” (!!!)

For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/23/a-french-minister-and-his-carnist-ideology/

And I mean...For God’s sake, Monsieur Denormandie! those are adventurous arguments that you bring!
Animal fats are the leading cause of diabetes, obesity, and heart attacks. More and more children are suffering from it!
And do you recommend that?

Is it really an “extreme ideology” for you to refuse to actively participate in an ecological catastrophe?
When one refuses to ignore the barely comprehensible suffering of pigs, chickens, and cattle, etc.?

You should know that veganism is a very promising way to soon be able to feed 10 billion people adequately without completely destroying the earth.
If you are interested in saving our planet, of course.

To dismiss that as “scandalous ideology” is cheap, belittling, and simply idiotic!

And by the way: Meat eaters are really militant, there are a lot more of them than militant vegans, and they are also much more aggressive: because they have no argument against non-meat eaters, except that they want to support their “French farmers and butchers”!

My best regards to all, Venus

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A walker sent PETA images showing numerous foxes hung up on the Doimahof in Alxing, Bavaria.

The dead animals were tied to wooden pegs there.

PETA filed a complaint about harassment of the general public under Section 118 of the Administrative Offenses Act.

In addition, PETA calls on the people in charge of the Doimahof – which also runs a hotel and restaurant trade – to stop making their property available for such life-threatening activities.

And I mean…The German hunters, the best of all people, show the stupid world once again how to properly do and show mass murder.

A law always helps because the worst part is that it is legal.

Willingness to use violence and the protection of the law, that is all that hunters need for an animal massacre

The village society is obviously outraged by the “indecent” souvenirs on the tree, which give the village a bad reputation, but not for the annual mass murder of 500,000 foxes in Germany by hunters

These are unbearable images for a civilized country

regards and good night, Venus

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Report- Committee Against Bird Murder (CABS)

Employees of the Committee against Bird Murder (CABS) and a special unit of the Italian police have jointly taken action against illegal hunting and the trade on migratory birds in the Veneto region over the past 10 days.

The main focus of the controls was the lagoons south of Venice, in which hundreds of thousands of waterbirds from northern and central Europe are currently wintering.
As reported by the Committee against Bird Murder, 22 hunters were caught red-handed shooting down protected species or hunting with prohibited bait systems.

In addition, 21 shotguns, 6,400 rounds of ammunition, nine prohibited electronic decoys, and three professional poultry plucking machines were seized.

In a butcher’s shop in Padua supplied by the poachers, 961 frozen wild birds were seized during a search, including gadfly, pochard, teal pintail, shoveler, and white-fronted geese.

Criminal proceedings were initiated against the suspects for poaching, possession of unregistered firearms, and violating the marketing bans.

In the weeks leading up to the action, experts from the committee (CABS) had spent days collecting evidence against poachers from rubber dinghies, and then leading Carabinieri officials to their shooting huts.

The action is the largest campaign to date against poaching in the difficult-to-access lagoon landscape, which is of international importance for nature conservation as a resting and wintering area.

Committee chairman Heinz Schwarze thanked the authorities involved for the good cooperation and announced further assignments in Venice.

https://wildbeimwild.com/law-order/schlag-gegen-illegale-vogeljagd-in-venezien/43074/2021/02/09/

And I mean…Many of the animals were freshly shot, says the committee, and had just been handed in by hunters, while others were already plucked and frozen in sacks.

All species are strictly prohibited from marketing in Italy.

The birds – almost all of them endangered throughout Europe – were intended for restaurants in Venice.

Excellent job in all respects!
We thank and congratulate the courageous activists of the CABS

My best regards to all, Venus

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At the end of January 2021, a raccoon was shot in Appenzell Innerhodischen Wasserauen.

He stayed “illegally” on Swiss soil and looked for food in a house. The raccoon was healthy.

He was peaceful and did not attack or put anyone in danger.

The federal law on hunting and the protection of wild mammals and birds allows raccoons to be shot all year round.

They are not at home in Switzerland and could unbalance the ecological balance that has been devised and prescribed by humans.

In “specialist circles” they are listed as neo-zones, that is to say, “introduced and alien animal species” or clearly expressed as “animal non grata”.

Speciesism versus the raccoon

All over the world people are still discriminated against, humiliated, and often persecuted because of their origin and skin color.
In Switzerland, the racist criminal norm rightly prohibits discrimination against people on the basis of their ethnicity, skin color, and religion.

Because no one is better than the other.

We all have the right to life and to be treated with respect and decency, no matter where we come from and what skin color or religion we have.

With animals, however, it looks different.

No protection is granted to non-resident animals: they are undesirable and “worthless”, although they too are no longer considered a thing.

Their right to life is denied to them by law because of their origin and in the name of the ecological balance dictated by humans.
This is lived “speciesism”, which means: the human being shows with his attitude towards alien animals once again that he is convinced that he is superior to all other species due to his nature and can therefore treat them as he wants.

This attitude is more than reprehensible and can no longer be accepted.

Together for the protection of raccoons on Swiss soil

The PETITION aims to protect raccoons in Switzerland.

Raccoons should no longer be hunted and killed because of their origin. The right to life should apply to them too.
In order to prevent an overpopulation of raccoons and to protect the local biodiversity, the possibility of an oral contraceptive for the female raccoons should be examined.

https://wildbeimwild.com/medienmitteilungen/auch-waschbaeren-haben-ein-recht-auf-leben/

Petition: https://www.openpetition.eu/ch/petition/unterzeichner/schluss-mit-dem-abschuss-von-waschbaeren-in-der-schweiz

And I mean...” On the basis of being human” everyone has the right to life, to freedom, to integrity, to protection from discrimination, torture, and much more.

When it comes to animal rights, things get more difficult.
Humans are brought up with the principle of Suprematism, which says that humans are a very special animal that must by no means be mentioned in the same breath as the others.

Therefore the favored species is always the human.
Humans have rights, all other animal species have no rights.

The best thing that could happen to the raccoon would be a grace, which however would not belong to his rights, but is subject to the goodwill of the perpetrator.

We are a society of perpetrators who decide about the life and death of the weaker and also show solidarity with the perpetrator.

Those who belong to the privileged class do not know how it feels to be constantly under the power and violence of the ruler.

Therefore: we fight for the rights of those who have none, the rights of animals.
We stay on the right side

My best regards to all, Venus

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“When all the animals that have suffered in vain
would scream at the same moment
an incredible catastrophe would devastate the world
and the few surviving people would become deaf
and wander around in madness. “
(unknown)

regards and good night, Venus

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From the Facebook page “Animals want life”

(Text under the Foto) : “We pay tribute to the brave and selfless women and men who take it upon themselves to make the films and pictures in animal factories and slaughterhouses that we can then use to educate the world about these terrible conditions”

“Being an animal rights activist is a tough job
We should show respect to these people
for their commitment, instead of complaining:
Why do you just film instead of helping?

The fact is: animal rights activists help the animals,
by documenting and forwarding them to the responsible authorities or media.
Often animal rights activists on site can do nothing more than a document, as they often put themselves in danger.

Received charges of assault and theft, in addition to the offense: trespassing
I myself document the animal suffering in stables in order to report violations to the responsible veterinary office, with luck the animals will be confiscated
And yes, it breaks my heart every time I can’t save the animals.
Try to save e.g. 10,000 turkeys from the next fattening facility yourself, right?

200 piglets, or 36 cattle, in which the latter – among other things – I have already succeeded

So please, don’t blame animal rights activists who put themselves in danger to help animals

Please help us by sharing the posts and drawing the attention of as many people as possible to animal cruelty.

Thank you very much”
💓
“Animals want life”

The undercover investigators have our full respect.
And our heartfelt thanks
Weeks, or even months in animal farms or animal research laboratories, are confronted with incredible suffering and live permanently under the risk of being discovered.

They should be an example for all of us

My best regards to all, Venus

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Last week the Dutch House of Representatives approved a motion to remove both the brown hare and the rabbit from the “Wildlife List”.
This means that it would no longer be possible to hunt these species in the Netherlands in the future.

The Dutch Hunters Association criticizes the application as “unnecessary and legally unfeasible”.They say: Rabbits and brown hares would still be common and widespread in the Netherlands.

The “Partij voor de Dieren” (Party for Animal Welfare) recently tried to change the National Wildlife List in a parliamentary debate.

At the time, the party demanded that game species that are on the “Red List” be automatically removed from the list of huntable species.
Since a majority was not foreseeable at the time, the party withdrew its proposal.

Even then it was unclear whether a change in the “Wildlife List” could be legally enforced at all since the “Red List” has no legal status.

The hunters’ association claims that the animal welfare party had already tried in the past to abuse the corona crisis or the outbreak of bird flu for hunting bans.

In a renewed attempt to change the huntable species, the party was now successful.
With the support of the “Democrats 66”, the required majority for the “Partij voor de Dieren” proposal was now available.

The “Hunters` Association” accuses the “Democrats 66” of having cheated voters with the 180-degree turn shortly before the elections.
In December, the “D66” was still critical of the change to the “game list”.

As a result of the re-evaluation of the brown hare and rabbit on the basis of the updated “Red List” in 2020, both wild species were classified as “endangered”.

The hunters’ association does not want to accept the change in the game list without a fight and, if necessary, take it to the European Court of Justice (!!!)

https://www.jagderleben.de/news/hasen-kaninchenjagd-niederlanden-bald-verboten-712502

And I mean... one thing in advance: The European Court of Justice will not work, they have other worries
They are particularly busy with the naughtiness of the Germans, as we reported yesterday.
And in this case, it’s about bigger “rabbits”!

We welcome the correct decision of the Dutch Parliament!

The great pleasure of the Dutch hunters (like all hunters), to shoot defenseless animals cowardly from ambush while looking for food, – although no one needs their flesh and skin to survive- is now over.
As murderous as they are, they will try to fight this morally very progressive decision of the Dutch parliament by all means.

But the days of hunter dominance in media, politics, and society are finally over.

There is no such thing as a hunter ideology, and the majority of society regards hunters as militant, harmful weirdos.

My best regards to all, Venus

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From ‘The Guardian’, London – brilliant as always.

Our (WAV) recent posts on this:

EU sends sick cattle to Libya – World Animals Voice

Togo: ‘Elbeik’ Livestock Carrier – 2 Months at Sea. Currently Moored Off Cyprus – Why ? – World Animals Voice

Thanks to Jane for the latest.

Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December

Concern mounts for welfare of more than 2,500 livestock on two vessels off Italy and Cyprus after bluetongue outbreak

Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December | Animal welfare | The Guardian

Thousands of cattle remain stranded at sea on two livestock ships that left Spain in mid-December, as campaigners desperately seek veterinary support for the animals.

The two vessels were bound for Libya but owing to an onboard outbreak of the bovine disease bluetongue were refused entry at multiple ports, said Maria Boada Saña, a vet with Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), which has been tracking the ships via maritime websites.

On 19 February the website myshiptracking.com showed one of the ships, the Elbeik, anchored off the coast of Cyprus, and the other, Karim Allah, off the coast of Sardinia. The vessels left the Spanish ports of Tarragona and Cartagena on 18 December respectively.

A spokesperson for Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said the ships’ situation had “nothing to do with the actions of the Spanish administration” and had left the country with health certificates and had come from areas free of bluetongue.

They added that officials were monitoring the vessels’ movements and were in contact with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the European commission “to find a solution to the situation”. A spokesperson for the commission said the Spanish authorities were willing to receive both ships back.

Boada Saña said marine traffic websites indicated that the Elbeik had about 1,700 cattle on board and the Karim Allah almost 900. The Spanish authorities did not respond to questions about animal numbers.

Given the Karim Allah’s proximity to Italy, Manuela Giacomini, a Genoa-based lawyer who works with AWF, said she filed a request with the Italian health ministry asking it to perform an urgent veterinary inspection of the ship in collaboration with Sardinia’s port state authority in Cagliari.

Olga Kikou, the head of Compassion in World Farming EU, lodged a similar request that asked the Cypriot authorities to arrange an urgent inspection of the Elbeik.

Cyprus’s chief veterinary officer said the Elbeik was being monitored, adding that when the vessel approached Cypriot waters, the country’s authorities would “proceed accordingly with checking this case”.

Kikou, who is in Greece, said the most immediate priority was that veterinary services boarded the ships to “check the animals and euthanatise any that are suffering. The conditions inside the ship cannot be good after two months. And then a solution needs to be found between the different authorities to determine next steps for any animals that can be saved.”

An email from the the International Maritime Organization said its seafarer crisis action team was aware of the situation and that it was concerned for the “wellbeing of seafarers and the safety of navigation [and] in this case also the livestock”.

Asked for comment on the two ships, the OIE said in an email that it was “in contact with the concerned member countries and also with our regional offices” to “minimise negative impact on animal welfare during transport operations and emphasise the joint responsibility of all people involved in the different stages of the transport”.

Tilly Metz, the Luxembourg MEP who chairs the European parliament’s animal transport inquiry committee, said this was “yet another live animal transport scandal involving ships. After the 2019 tragedy of the [Queen Hind] ship, which capsized with 14,000 sheep on board, now allegedly over 2,600 bovines [are] stuck on two vessels wandering from port to port in search of help. How can it be that there is no contingency plan in case of diseases or other unforeseen events?”

Metz said a key animal transport problem was that time spent on the ship was considered “resting time” and not “transport time”.

“This means there is no limit as to how many hours animals can be on these ships: days, weeks, even months. Many consider this to be a legal anomaly and a loophole in the rules on the protection of animals during transport,” she added.

This case, she said, “proves again a ship is not a floating stable. It is an unnatural, often stressful, overloaded and understaffed environment, with inherent risks such as disease outbreaks, feed shortages and refusals to unload”.

Attempts to contact the ships owners and operators by phone were unsuccessful.

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The EU Commission is suing Germany before the European Court of Justice for violations of current nature conservation law for years.

One infringement proceeding remained unsuccessful.

The EU Commission, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen (left), sees deficiencies in the implementation of the nature conservation directive and the European arrest warrant by the German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Photo: Johanna Geron / AP)

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Sea Shepherd Germany

This day of honor for the large marine mammals was initiated by animal rights activists on the island of Maui and has been celebrated there since 1980.

It coincides with the time when a large number of humpback whales roam the coast of Hawaii to give birth and raise their young.
The day is meant to indicate the threat posed by these majestic giants.

https://fb.watch/3N5e8NeMeO/

🐋 They are mysterious, intelligent, and breathe oxygen through their lungs – just like us, humans!

But the gentle giants of the oceans are in danger: illegal fishing, noise, traffic, and environmental pollution threaten the fascinating mammals.

Whales around the world need intensive protection so that we don’t lose them forever!

We keep fighting to save these animals from extinction!

Sea Shepherd Germany

when the ocean dies we die too! we all have to help to save our oceans and their residents.

My best regards to all, Venus

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Mink farms a continuing Covid risk to humans and wildlife, warn EU experts

Health experts call for regular testing of staff and animals after coronavirus found at 400 breeding units across Europe

All mink farms are at risk of becoming infected with Covid-19 and spreading the virus, and staff and animals should be regularly tested, EU disease and food safety experts said on Thursday.

Mink are highly susceptible to coronavirus, which spreads rapidly in intensive farms that often breed thousands of animals in open housing caged systems (outdoor wire cages covered with a roof). Humans are the most likely initial source of infection.

Denmark, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, announced that it would cull up to 15 million mink in November, after discovering a mutated variant of the virus that scientists feared might have jeopardised the effectiveness of future vaccines.

As of January 2021, the virus had been found at 400 mink farms in at least eight countries in the EU and European Economic Area – 290 in Denmark, 69 in the Netherlands, 17 in Greece, 13 in Sweden, three in Spain, two in Lithuania and one each in France and Italy.

While mink-related variant viruses were a risk to human health, experts from the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) concluded in a new report that, “so far these have not shown to be more transmissible or causing more severe impact compared to other circulating Sars-CoV-2”.

The World Health Organization warned this week that the risk of Covid-19 spreading from fur farms to humans and wildlife remained high.

EU experts have now called for weekly testing of animals at all mink farms and frequent testing of everyone in contact with the creatures to ensure the early detection of infection and reduce the risk of disease spread. As mink are usually farmed in open housing systems, the close contact between the animals may help spread infectious diseases.

A number of countries, including Denmark and Sweden, have suspended mink farming after outbreaks of Covid-19. And in the US, officials have recommended workers on US mink farms be given a Covid vaccine as a priority. Breeders expect that a vaccine, currently in development, will be available to use on mink in April or May.

Mark Oaten, CEO of the International Fur Federation, said he supported the testing of workers and mink, “as long as it is reasonable”, but he opposed weekly testing. “It might be that you do more regular testing in areas where Sars-CoV-2 has been detected, and less in areas with no infection. It is not a one-size-fits-all. It would depend on the density of farms in the area too.”

Mink producers said the price of pelts was rising despite fears around Covid-19 and calls for a ban on fur farming to reduce the risk of disease spread.

“We don’t see any further threat to the fur industry from Covid-19 and the price of pelts is rising. It is at about $30 (£21) per pelt and we expect it to be about $40 by this time next year. We are beginning to feel there may have been an overreaction in Denmark [in terms of the Covid related cull],” said Finnish fur auctioneer Magnus Ljung, the CEO of Saga Furs.

Mink farms a continuing Covid risk to humans and wildlife, warn EU experts | Environment | The Guardian

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Februdairy: A Desperate Attempt To Promote The Declining Dairy Industry

Demand for cow’s milk is declining and plant-alternatives sales have surged…

As public opinion continues to shift, increasing numbers of people are falling out of love with dairy products. Enter Februdairy…

Recent years have seen a significant shift in consumer attitude towards dairy, as more people understand the environmental, health and animal welfare issues associated with the industry. 

The UK is now drinking 50 percent less milk than they were in 1974, according to a report by Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

Dairy on the decline

The UK’s leading vegan campaigning charity, Viva!, has investigated countless British dairy farms and exposed the brutal reality of the industry – helping many people make the switch to dairy-free.

An increasing number of dairy-alternatives are widely available including cheeses, yogurts, milks, and chocolates. Most supermarkets have their own ranges of vegan food – proving these products are big business.

Although the milk market is much bigger, valued at over £3 billion, demand for cow’s milk is declining and plant-alternative sales have surged 10 percent over the past two years. 

It’s undeniable, dairy-free sales are booming and show no signs of slowing down. Considering these factors, it comes as no surprise that the dairy industry is desperately trying to claw its way back into public favor.

So what on earth is Februdairy?

Februdairy is a social media campaign created by the dairy industry in a desperate attempt to boost sales and portray dairy in a more favorable light. This is the industry’s fourth annual campaign and is pitched as a direct response to Veganuary.

This year Veganuary announced a record number of sign-ups with a whopping 400,000 people going vegan for a month. Milk producers, pro-dairy consumers, and industry experts, are encouraged to create and share pro-dairy content during the month of February on social media using the hashtag #Februdairy.

Social media Vs Februdairy

When the campaign launched in February 2017, the vegan community commandeered the hashtag to highlight the darker side of the dairy industry, where pain and suffering is an everyday occurrence.

Social media has played an instrumental role in the rise of veganism. It’s clear vegans are well versed in using it as a platform to educate and inform others.

A slew of animal rights advocates and groups such as Viva!, Animal Equality, and Animal Aid, use Februdairy as an opportunity to expose the cold-hard facts surrounding dairy production .

This doesn’t go down well with the dairy industry….

Februdairy: A Desperate Attempt To Promote The Declining Dairy Industry (plantbasednews.org)

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This is Norbert

Norbert is hunter

Norbert says: I’m a wildlife manager

He now shoots the four-legged family members of others.
He controls and instructs others in the forest
He pays no dog tax and is a dog expert
He gets a 25% new car discount
He tells other epidemiological tales of rabies, owls, and fox tapeworms
He rescues fawns and shoots them four months later
He is suing photographers who use telephoto lenses to disrupt wildlife

Norbert is a nature and animal rights activist

Norbert is a specialist. Because actually, Norbert is a lawyer

My best regards to all, Venus

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10 February 2021, CAS International (Comité Anti Stierenvechten)
Mexican state Sinaloa prohibits bullfighting

The government of the Mexican state of Sinaloa has agreed to prohibit bullfighting. Sinaloa is the fifth state in Mexico with a recent ban on bullfighting, after Sonora, Guerrero, Coahuila, and Quintana Roo.

Dog fights are also prohibited.

In parliament, a unanimous vote was taken in favor of an extension of the current animal protection law. In addition to the ban on bull and dog fights, wild animals must be better protected. Unfortunately, cockfights are yet allowed to take place in Sinaloa.

Bullfights

Bullfights take place in the city of Mazatlán every year, during Carnival.

This is the only town in Sinaloa where bullfights are held.
Mexico is one of the most violent countries in the world and within society, there is increasing support for a ban on bloody spectacles with animals because they would stop a development towards a peaceful society.

Animal suffering is also an important argument to prohibit this type of cruel event. 7 out of 10 Mexicans are in favor of a ban on bullfighting.

Animal Protection Law

Some other new points have been included in the amended animal protection law.

For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/19/mexico-sinaloa-bans-bullfighting-super/

And I mean…During a bullfight in Puebla (Mexico) in May 2019, a 500-kilo bull runs at the little murderer, impaling her face with his horns.
Blood shoots from her face, as it also sheds from his deep wounds.

She falls motionless on the floor, is operated on for hours, and is not allowed to enter the arena for six months. Unfortunately only for six months!

One of the toreros was killed in a bullfight in southern Mexico in 2015.
A bull victim took the bull killer Eduardo del Villar by the horns in the arena of Seybaplaya in the state of Campeche and tore open the artery in his thigh.

Juan José Padilla (39), unfortunately, had a lot of luck in Zaragoza, Spain, in 2011, he only lost one eye when the robust bull victim managed to defend himself against his killer.

He returned, he can’t stop killing and continues to kill in Mexico

An eleven-year-old mini-killer massacred six bulls in a bullfight in his native Mérida, Mexico, in 2009.

Unfortunately, he got away with no injuries, instead, he got the two ears of the dead animals as a trophy, and his dream is to get into the Guinness Book of Records as a super potent bull killer!

Unfortunately, the “accidents” with the human killers were too few compared to the 250,000 bulls (in Spain) that are brutally murdered annually.

This perversity, which in Mexico – as well as in Spain – is sold as something “festive”, “artistic” and a “fair competition” for stupid tourists and can only inspire a few dull, mentally weak proles, is now banned in one more city of Mexico!

We are happy about this decision, very happy in fact!
Countries that maintain these medieval spectacles are tarnishing their country’s reputation.

My best regards to all, Venus

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The inhabitants of Mwingi and Bolesa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo need our help: Local activists were jailed after a protest against PHC, a palm oil company.

The inhabitants of more than 100 villages are being impacted by the PHC oil palm plantations (© RIAO-RDC)

Call to action

To: the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“We demand the release of the activists and an end to violence and land grabbing. Local people must finally get their land rights and the right to free consent.”
Read letter

Communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have suffered under palm oil companies for decades, and violence has erupted time and again: In 2015, a couple accused of stealing palm oil fruits was killed, and in 2019, the villager Joel Imbangola was beaten to death.

In February 2021, following a protest march against the palm oil company PHC, villagers, including local members of RIAO-RDC, were beaten and jailed.
Two reportedly received death threats, and women were sexually assaulted.
The occasion for the protest march was an anticipated visit by Kalaa Mpinga, the new CEO of Feronia-PHC. His Mauritius-registered corporation took over the plantations in 2020.

The villagers are accused of “inciting revolt”. Their taking photos of the protest march and giving interviews to journalists is also being held against them.

The roots of the conflict go back 110 years when the first plantations were established.

The local people were never consulted but were simply robbed of their ancestral land and thus their livelihood.

Please sign the Petition:

https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/petitions/1233/drc-release-the-palm-oil-protesters-jailed-in-mwingi

For more… at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/18/congo-criminal-oligarchs-against-indigenous-people-and-nature/#more-38712

And I mean…Where previously there was a dense jungle, now only cut tree trunks lie on top of each other.
Criminal oligarchs from the palm oil mafia are to blame for this.

25,000 hectares of forest have already fallen victim to the company’s operations. The concessions are vast: They extend over 107,000 hectares – an area roughly the size of New York City.

The oil palms are originally native to Africa, but Malaysia and Indonesia are the largest producers in the world.

According to statistics, the Democratic Republic of the Congo produced 300,000 tons of palm oil in 2013, which puts it in twelfth place, behind other African countries such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

Indonesia

But because the area for palm oil is slowly running out in Southeast Asia and the demand for it continues to grow on the world market, more is now to be cultivated in Africa.

That was always the fascist principle of domination of the Europeans against Africa.

The people in Africa don’t want anything for free
They just want us to stop stealing their resources.

Maybe we can help them, we owe it to them. Please sign and share.

My best regards to all, Venus

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Plant-based diets will be essential to the planet’s future, report says

• A new report explores the role of the global food system and its role in accelerating biodiversity loss.
• The quest for ever cheaper food prices leads many farmers to adopt unsustainable practices, the paper from UK think tank Chatham House says.
• These practices harm biodiversity and exploit valuable resources like land and water.
• Switching to a primarily plant-based diet could prevent the loss of thousands of wildlife species.
• Setting aside and protecting more land for nature and farming in a more nature-friendly way are also recommended.

Read it all here:

Report: We urgently need to move to plant-based diets | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

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New Film Details Animals’ Harrowing Journey to Slaughter

• Hannah Bugga
• February 12, 2021

The new short film Moving Animals documents the excruciating journey animals face in their transport from factory farms to slaughterhouses.

Produced by We Animals Media, the film follows the work of award-winning photojournalist and author Jo-Anne McArthur. McArthur has spent over a decade documenting the horrors animals endure around the globe. She welcomes viewers into her world:

Join me as I climb transport trucks, and stay quietly and diligently with animals as they go to slaughter. Join me in the dusty roads and at my little hotel room editing desk, as Miguel and I discuss animals, animal photojournalism, and ultimately, kindness.

Animals suffer long, grueling journeys to slaughter, up to 28 hours in the United States, with no food or water. And transport trucks are not built to protect animals from harsh weather. During summer, temperatures in the trucks rise to well over 100°F. Many animals suffer heat stress, asphyxiation, and heart attacks.

In winter, farmed animals endure below-freezing conditions and are exposed to snow, rain, and frigid winds. Some die from hypothermia, and others even freeze to the floors or sides of truck beds. McArthur stated:

We have enough photos in the world of beautiful wildlife. We get it. It’s time to show the harsh reality of how the rest are living.

Shot and produced by filmmaker Miguel Endara, Moving Animals focuses on the plight of cows. The film documents cows so weak from long journeys that they can’t even lift their heads. McArthur captures heartbreaking images of desperate cows sticking their tongues through the bars of a truck in an attempt to eat the leaves off a nearby tree.

According to McArthur, when she started documenting farmed animals 10 to 15 years ago, no one was interested in her stories. Now, she is seeing concern for animals making its way into mainstream newspapers around the world.

We can all help spread awareness of animal suffering. Share this powerful film with your friends and family, and follow We Animals on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Of course, the best thing we can do for animals is choose plant-based food. Download our free Vegetarian Starter Guide to learn how.

New Film Details Animals’ Harrowing Journey to Slaughter (chooseveg.com)

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Help the elephants! Public consultation on new EU measures to ban trade in ivory

16 February 2021

On January 28th the European Commission published draft measures aimed to effectively ban EU trade in ivory.

The draft Commission regulation and guidance are now open for final public feedback before being adopted by the Commission. The period of public feedback will last until 25 February 2021.  

Across Europe, ivory continues to be traded online, in auction houses and markets. The EU and Japan are among the last countries with large, legal domestic ivory markets, while other major markets in the USA, China and the UK are now closed or in the process of closing. 

Luckily, there is wide support in the EU for the closure of domestic elephant ivory markets, from the EU Council to the European Parliament, and among EU citizens and civil society. 

Help the elephants and take part in the EC public consultation. 

You have time until February 25th

The European Commission has the mandate to introduce comprehensive measures aimed at closing the EU domestic ivory market, thereby showing global leadership. Only by so doing, the EU will remove any financial value from ivory, reduce the opportunity for new ivory to be laundered through legal markets, and send a clear message to the rest of the world that the EU no longer considers ivory a commodity.

We therefore welcome the European Commission’s draft measures to ban the ivory trade in the European Union (EU) and urge the EU and its Member States to support and implement them without further delays.

We would nevertheless like to highlight the following recommendations for the European Commission’s public consultation:

• We strongly recommend that the EC assess within the next few years the real effectiveness of both the implementing Regulation and the Guidance.
•  We ask that the changes made to the guidance document on the EU regime governing trade in ivory is integrated into the EU Commission Regulation, in order to ensure that the guidance becomes legally binding and a consistent language in both the Guidance and the proposed Regulation is used.
• We fully support the proposed measures which provide that antique worked ivory may only be traded within the EU with a certificate. However, only independent approved/recognised experts should be authorised to assess whether an item has been legally acquired or not in order to avoid conflict of interests.

Read more about Wildlife trade and trafficking.

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don’t follow everything blindly
just because tradition dictates it for generations…
some traditions have expired
and above all those that involve violence and human supremacy

regards and good night, Venus

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In collaboration with Italian television, Animal Equality has released a new investigation that reveals the cruel reality for pigs bred for meat in Northern Italy—a region that markets its products with the stamp of the “excellence of Made in Italy.”

THE DETAILS: In September 2020, Animal Equality and Italian journalist Roberta Spinelli visited a pig farm in Brescia, Italy, and documented terrible abuse and suffering—images in stark contrast from the idyllic picture of contented animals on green pastures often painted by the region’s producers.

The investigative team found:

-Pigs abandoned and left to die in corridors
-Bodies of dead pigs amongst the living
-Workers dragging pigs by their legs with ropes
-Animals with cysts and sores, unable to walk because of their open wounds
-Animals crammed together and forced to live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions
-Pigs covered with feces and urine
-Cockroach, rat, and worm infestations
-Sewage not properly disposed of in a ditch adjacent to the farm and fields

WHAT WE’RE SAYING: “Thanks to this investigation, the horrors of Bascia’s pig farms are clearly revealed.

We can no longer turn our heads from the suffering to which these sentient beings are forced to endure—mistreatment that happens behind the closed doors of these polluting farms which are often beneficiaries of public funds.

We need more checks and balances for these places, and we need them now,” says Alice Trombetta, Executive Director of Animal Equality Italy.

For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/17/animal-suffering-made-in-italy/

And I mean…The horror situation in the farms is not new – from our experience, we can say that the situation has been this way for over 20 years – maybe it has gotten even worse.
Incidentally, and of course, all of this applies not only to pigs but also to cattle, etc., and an even greater “mess” can be observed with poultry.

In addition,  the (dismantling) personnel in a slaughterhouse, called dismantling columns (!), mostly from third countries, are usually housed in a way that could well be described as ‘barracked’!
What is shameful about this is that ‘politicians’ are surprised today and pretend that none of this was known!

Meat producers are simply criminals, nothing more and nothing less.
Are the beneficiaries of a corrupt system.

But the good fact is: each of us has a conscience, a large brain, empathy, and the ability to make decisions

If we use these wonderful properties, we can decide against animal exploitation, animal cruelty, and animal mass extermination.
Mentally, morally, socially healthy people with decency do not need such disgusting, fascist system structures.

My best regards to all, Venus

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Las Palmas: On Monday morning, residents of the island’s capital, Gran Canaria, noticed an unusual, strong smell of stables in the streets.
The cause: a freighter that is supposed to transport more than 16,000 cattle to Turkey.

As reported by the broadcaster Canarias7, among others, the freighter Bader III, which is supposed to bring the cattle from Uruguay to Turkey (!!!) made a planned stopover in the port of Las Palmas.

The ship, which sails under the flag of the Bahamas, has been sailing for several days.
The animals had to be supplied with feed and freshwater, and fuel had to be refueled. The wind from the south-east ensured that the smell of the stable spread through the city.
In the afternoon, Bader III, a ship around 200 meters long and 27 meters wide continued its voyage towards Iskenderun.

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Over A Third Of Brits Now Avoid Animal Products After Watching David Attenborough’s Latest Film & Other Eco Docs

App development and digital product company, 3 SIDED CUBE recently conducted a survey with over 2,000 people to provide insights into the public’s opinions and motivations with respect to sustainability and the data found that six in 10 Brits are thinking of switching to sustainability due to David Attenborough and over a third of Brits are avoiding animal products due to his recent film ‘A Life On Our Planet‘ as well as other documentaries like James The Game Changers, famously backed by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Premiering on Netflix late last year, the WWF and Silverback Films co-produced documentary presents an important message from nonagenarian broadcaster and natural historian Attenborough that humans must make drastic changes to their diets in order to save the planet. 

In the trailer for ‘A Life On Our Planet’, Attenborough explains that the films aims to raise awareness among people about the rate at which global warming is happening and press upon the message that the time to act is now. “I had the most extraordinary life. It’s only now I appreciate how extraordinary. The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel. Yet, the way we humans live on earth is sending it into a decline. Human needs have overrun the world.”

Findings from the survey show that Attenborough is right at the top (59%) when it comes to encouraging consumers to be sustainable and shift to a plant-based diet. Over half of British consumers (51%) also feel pressure from wider society and four in 10 (40%) give young Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg credit for helping them switch to sustainable choices in their personal life.

Apart from Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet documentary, data found that the 2018 documentary film about the benefits of plant-based eating for athletes, The Game Changersbacked by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger was also responsible for people in the U.K. to avoid animal products.

According to a report by the WWF, stopping animal meat consumption by 50% would not only reduce carbon emissions but also save 12,000 species per year as well as 1.72 million square miles of land. 

A majority of Brits (77%) understand the importance of changing their lifestyle to become greener with 73% of consumers agreeing that businesses too have a responsibility to minimize their environmental impact and 64% urging the government to frame a new legislation that will ensure that businesses give details about their environmental footprint on the products they’re offering.

In an interview with Plant Based News, 3 SIDED CUBE managing director Richard Strachan mentioned that with influential figures coming ahead to talk about sustainability, the general public is motivated to follow in their footsteps. “Thanks to influential public figures such as David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, Brits are taking the climate crisis much more seriously now. Now is the time to come together and tackle the crisis wholeheartedly. It is not just up to governments; it is up to businesses and consumers as well.”

Data from the poll further found that 61% would like an app to help them make more sustainable buying decisions and 50% call for an app to calculate and understand their personal carbon footprint with more than half of respondents agreeing that technology can be vital for living a sustainable life.

Discussing how this new data will help them in the Ignite program, Strachan added: “These findings show a clear case for the use of technology, specifically apps, to boost sustainable behaviour change and environmental protection initiatives. The technological tools to help consumers be greener are available to us, we just need to start developing and using them as soon as possible. This is why we have launched Ignite. Through this technology, we can empower consumers, businesses and NGOs to help protect ecosystems, be smarter with energy usage, and reduce our carbon footprints. The Ignite program is wholly dedicated to bringing organisations together on these issues and making these apps a reality.”

Attenborough also released another documentary, Extinction: The Factsthat talks about mass biodiversity loss and the consequences that the world will face as a result. Over the course of the one-hour program, Attenborough takes viewers on a journey through scenes of destruction due to activities conducted by humans on Earth.

Another noteworthy mention in a list of sustainable films to watch is Craig Leeson’s documentary A Plastic Ocean and his upcoming The Last Glaciers, and you can check out his interview here where he shares his journey from writing to filmmaking as well as throwing light on the world’s most pressing issues and what can be done to protect the planet, and ultimately, save humankind. 

If you’re looking for an app to track your personal carbon footprint, you can check out Singapore-based startup Capture that has created an app that helps users keep track of their climate footprint from their everyday transportation choices, and offsetting their impact through forestry planting projects across the globe. 

And if you need an easier way to buy plant-based alternative products, check out this new mobile app FoodForage, which is developed to help vegans and individuals looking to buy plant-based alternative products and offers a feature where you can share your findings with the community.

Over A Third Of Brits Now Avoid Animal Products After Watching David Attenborough’s Latest Film & Other Eco Docs (greenqueen.com.hk)

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Pholk Beauty Is The Black-Owned Vegan Skincare Line Dubbed As “Soul Food For The Skin”

When it comes to skincare, you deserve the absolute best. From facials and lotions, to washes, mists, and everything in between, your skin is meant to feel soft, healthy, and glowy all the time. There are so many different skincare products out there claiming to offer these results but feature ingredients that you’ve never heard of, can’t pronounce or have no idea if they actually work. There has to be an easier way to figure out which product is right for your skin needs, right?

Read it all at:

Pholk Beauty Black-Owned Skincare | HelloBeautiful

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