Dedicated to a very special German girl who works tirelessly with very little help and support, and yet desepite this continues to be one massive voice for animals with the evidence she obtains.

She knows what a special person she is in my eyes – Thank You !

Love and respect for you always – M x

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As we are now into early February, I think a little more time should be given on this site to the current situation regarding the ‘Fox week’ in Germany; and the subject of hunting in general. Although the current situation in Germany is described simply as a ‘Fox week’, the relentless killing of beautiful foxes by hunters who have nothing better to do continues over an actual period of about three weeks during February.

On this site we have recently covered many issues relating to the German hunting scene; and at the end of this post you will find a complete listing of the articles which we (SAV) have produced, including many, many photographs of the needless barbarity which falls under the name of ‘Fox week’.

An attempt is going to be made here to outline the basics behind the reasons for the existence of the Fox week and also to present an insight into the kind of people, namely hunters, that we in the animal welfare / protection movement are up against. Any issue choices for individuals of what to support and what not to support are down to them; that should be the way of an open liberal society. From the links which will be provided below, we hope that you will be able to get an insight into the hunters mind; their fascination with killing and their adoration of the construction of bullets and guns – killing devices.  Yes they even have websites in praise of them and the destructive capabilities upon impacting innocent animal flesh.   Below are a few pictures from these kill sites which detail how wonderful yhey consider the impacts are on an innocent animal body. 

They even get a kick out of photographing the blood left on the grass !!!

From solely a personal perspective, I am unable to get my head around sites such as these, in which so-called men, dressed in fancy camouflage outfits and equipped with high-power guns, can even start to declare themselves as ‘hunters’.  There appears to be a sick fettish behind the objectives of showing the destructive capabilities of a bullet when it impacts animal flesh.  But they do it; and further, they even provide photographs showing the destructive capabilities of their equipment.

Views to get excited about ? – Yes, if you hunt !

To me, a real hunter was a person from days gone by who had to kill animals such as boar in order to eat, feed their families, use skins for clothing and generally survive. I can see the reasons behind explorers of the past needing to hunt in order to survive themselves.  Yes, animals died; but the lives were taken for a reason.

Today’s hunters encounter nothing in the way of having to do any of this; they now dress up and go out and kill wild animals quite simply because they have a blood lust fettish. I find this attitude and their pleasure in having to kill something every week very concerning, as I consider that the people who undertake these activities are a little off the mental ‘normality’ track. They have veered onto the hard shoulder.  They justify their continual bloodlust by taking their vengeance out on animals and wildlife, simply because it the easiest way and it is more ‘politically correct’ to kill animals under the name of ‘hunting’ than it is to kill other species in order to observe the faith which constitutes their bent and depraved ‘kicks’.

‘Hunters’ who undertake to kill other species besides animals are often found locked up on a death row or serving long penal sentences within national prison ‘systems’. ‘Hunters’ who kill wildlife are always at liberty to venture daily into the forests and woods, killing with high-powered, telescopic sight equipped rifles, whilst at the same time attempting to justify their bloodlust as some kind of ‘service’ they are providing to the community. This ‘service’ which is being provided, in this case of the German (Fox week) hunting community, is one which saves all humanity throughout Germany from being infested with mankillers such as the Fox tapeworm.

And so we need to take the opportunity now to look a little more at the details relating to the Fox tapeworm; and to justify why in our opinion; hunters are simply hell bent on killing any living animal species whilst attempting to justify their activities by being the saviours of all mankind.

The fox tapeworm (scientific name Echinococcus multilocularis) is a parasite present in foxes in much of the northern hemisphere, although not in foxes of the British Isles. Foxes are one of the potential definitive hosts for this parasite and where fox populations have increased, there has been a parallel increase of the prevalence of the fox tapeworm in fox populations. When household pets come into contact with fox faeces (droppings), pets and their owners are at risk of contracting echinococcosis, a disease caused by the fox tapeworm.

To be infected, humans as well as pets need to INGEST the parasite eggs, for instance by eating berries contaminated with fox faeces containing fox tapeworm eggs. In mainland Europe, the disease prevalence has increased due to the increase in fox numbers, but baiting campaigns with anti-parasitic drugs have been successful in REDUCING the prevalence of fox tapeworm in foxes.

It is domestic pets that are most likely to transmit infection to humans.

There are a number of ways to control fox tapeworm infection in foxes. Several studies have used anti-helminthic (anti-parasite) drugs to DECREASE prevalence locally, but as yet no wide scale solution has been devised, or probably more to the point, has wanted to be devised and implemented by the German authorities !.   It is easier to let the hunters have their fun for the benefit of human medicine and kill as many foxes as they are able, rather than devise a nationwide program using anti-helminthic drugs.

However, as with the spread of rabies, culling which is undertaken through the process called ‘hunting’ is unlikely to be effective and, as it disrupts the social dynamics of fox groups, causing individuals to move out of their home areas, thereby being very counter-productive by facilitating the disease spread.

As we have said in SAV posts many times before on the issue of stray dogs and cats in a town or city; especially in the Balkans regions; by rounding up and killing all the animals within a town / city, a vacuum is then created which easily allows animals from the outlying city suburbs to move directly into the empty locations of the city, looking for prospects of more and better food and most probably, more animals to reproduce with. 

Diseases which may NOT have been present on the animals which did originally survive in the cities are now introduced INTO the city by potentially disease infected animals which migrate there from the suburbs.  This is ‘facilitating disease spread’ as detailed above.  In effect, hunting can cause more disease through both animal and human populations, not lessen it.  Killing large numbers of foxes produces exactly the same scenarios.

Foxes pick up the fox tapeworm from mice, one of their favorite field delicacies. Tapeworm eggs end up in fox feces, which are spread around gardens and cities by rodents and slugs. Humans, in turn, contract the tapeworm by unwittingly eating its eggs — from mouthing unwashed hands after doing garden and yard work, from touching seemingly benign sidewalk litter, or while munching on unwashed garden vegetables. Dogs and cats can also bring the worms indoors after playing outside.

Once inside a human host, the parasite is patient. It can take between 10 and 15 years from the initial infection for symptoms to appear. The first signs of echinococcosis resemble jaundice, as the worm’s larvae ravage the victim’s liver. Left untreated, the infestation can spread to other internal organs. It can only be slowed by chemotherapy. There is no permanent cure.

With foxes ‘now living so close to people’; or should that be because foxes have entered the towns more due to easy pickings left out in bags and bins by wasteful, untidy human vermin; or the other fact that humans have moved outwards and taken what was originally the land and homes of the country foxes ?; there has been an obvious rise in the transmission of fox tapeworm to humans.

Germany had 16 human (Fox) tapeworm cases in 2006, and König says the risk of contracting echinococcosis today is seven times greater than it was 20 years ago.

Rodent control and good hygiene are very important in preventing the spread of this disease to humans. As stated above, Tapeworm eggs end up in fox feces, which are spread around gardens and cities by rodents and slugs.

As another example, the Beef tapeworm is caught through the consumption of undercooked cattle meat (beef, steak, mince) which can include cow heart muscle, which bears the small cystic larval forms of the juvenile beef tapeworm.  This cyst-infested beef is sometimes called ‘measly beef’ because it has white spots all over it. Humans who like to indulge in raw or quick-seared undercooked beef are at high risk of catching tapeworms should the meat they are consuming be infected with juvenile tapeworm cysts.

But do the hunters go out and kill all the cattle to prevent Beef tapeworm from entering the human system ? – No.  So why only concentrate on the fox population ? – Because foxes are not protected and not a commercial commodity, thats why.

One therefore has to ask why such an intelligent predator (??) called the ‘German hunter’ (in their own opinion only) is really not turning his attention much more to shooting rodents and cattle rather than foxes ?  Surely the aim of eliminating any outbreak of potential disease is to target the issue at source rather than selecting the infected carrier half way up the chain !

If an outbreak of sickness and dysentery happens in a hospital ward, the authorities tackle cleanliness issues within the ward, they do not start their campaign to destroy the sickness outbreak by going to the homes of all the ward visitors from the last week whilst leaving the infected ward untouched ! – they tackle the problem at source, not from the middle up.  So why this attitude with foxes when we know that rodents are the initial source further down the chain ? – Beef tapeworm which can be harmful to humans is present in cattle; so Mr. Hunter, why not target cattle in your quest to save us all from infection ?

Send your excuses on a postcard to SAV.

Maybe the answer lies with the fact that human ‘hunters’ are not quite such sharp shooters when it comes to taking out rodents.  The middle ‘man’ in the ‘tapeworm’ chain, the foxes, are much bigger and much easier to kill than the rodents one would argue; so the foxes are killed off each year in this ‘Fox week’ hunt, when the cause of the problem, which is the carrying of the tapeworm eggs by rodents in the towns and cities, are left to their own devices – untouched by the mighty sharp shooting ‘hunter’. 

Consider –

In 2005, there were 399 deaths in Germany related to drink driving. 

Germany had 16 human (Fox) tapeworm cases (not deaths) in 2006. 

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** Hunting NEWS **** Hunting NEWS **** Hunting NEWS ****  

Subject: Man sues tour operator for failing to let him shoot an elephant 

Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 10:19 AM

Subject: Man sues tour operator for failing to let him shoot an elephant

http://www.gadling.com/2011/02/02/man-sues-tour-operator-for-failing-to-let-him-shoot-an-elephant/?icid=main

A Polish hunter has taken a trip to court to file charges against his German tour operator. According to the hunter, the tour agency failed to help him fulfill his dream of shooting an elephant.

Feel free to read that last part again – he is suing the company, because he was not able to kill an elephant.

The company in question, German based Jaworski Jagdreisen specializes in hunting trips, allowing tourists to shoot wild boar, red stag, sheep, pheasant and more. Their trips are organized all around the world, but they claim Latvia is currently a “hot destination”.

In his complaint, the customer identified as Waldemar I. claims there were absolutely no elephants anywhere near his hunting location in Zimbabwe. The tour operator fired back saying:

“From what I know, (the hunter) should have seen elephant excrement there”

http://www.mz-web.de/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=ksta/page&atype=ksArtikel&aid=1296641404332

Critisism continues, but the responsible in the relevant ministry denies it all.

However, a statement speaks of a conservationist having approached the ministry last year on the issue, and having been told, “the fucking beasts need to be removed from the forest”.

Read our article on German forestry lobbyists at:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/very-important-please-read-hunting-and-timber-lobbyists-in-germany-may-influence-eu-wide-wildlife-protection-in-the-future-we-must-not-let-this-happen/ 

Its German carnival season again ..

 

.. and this is the mayor of Villingen-Schwenningen in his carnival attire – complete with a fox tail  hat.

The article below claims someone has ruined his carnival mood by publicly calling him a “Drecksack” – something similar to “dickhead”.  Poor dickhead !! ..

http://www.schwarzwaelder-bote.de/inhalt.villingen-schwenningen-kubon-als-drecksack-betitelt.1704d715-f154-4142-b736-f5f8aaddbecc.html

Predictably, the usual saliva-dripping articles about the (in some areas) completed fox weeks.

http://www.siegener-zeitung.de/a/424535/fuchswoche-endete-auf-dem-stuenzel-platz

(36 foxes) This article is pretty much a declaration of war to „Schonzeit fuer Fuechse“ (Closed Season for foxes). It ends saying the hunters have the law on their side.

http://www.swp.de/ulm/lokales/alb_donau/Fuchswoche-der-Sendener-Jagdpaechter;art4299,819379

http://www.schwarzwaelder-bote.de/inhalt.sulz-a-n-rekordergebnis-bei-der-fuchswoche.d77e2255-e258-4937-bee7-435ac97a70e1.html

Fox week yields record result !“ (38 foxes)

„Die meisten Tiere schoss dabei Dieter Hauser aus Sigmarswangen: Er erlegte allein neun Füchse und erhielt hierfür ein Geschenk.“

The largest number of foxes was shot by Dieter Hauser of Sigmarswangen. He killed 9 foxes and received a gift for it.

http://www.swp.de/bad_mergentheim/lokales/boxberg_assamstadt/art1167864,820815

(28 foxes)

http://www.fnweb.de/regionales/ta/region/20110131_mmm0000001176684.html

(28 foxes – same location as before, different newspaper)

The pictures speak for themselves.

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Jagd/Finnland-07-Jagd.htm (Finland 2007, Saturday)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Jagd/Finnland-07-Sonntag.htm   (Finland 2007, Sunday)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/KJG.html  (KJG – Copper hunting Projectiles)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Ballistik/KJG-wirken-anders.htm#Schwarze_Kappe  

(what shooting an animal with KJG looks like)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Jagdgeschichten.htm  (hunting stories – main page)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Wild/Baer.html (Bear hunt)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Wild/Katzen.htm (Cats)

Hunting „Raubzeug“ (Predators)

http://lutz-moeller-jagd.de/Jagd/Raubzeug-mit-5,6×50-Mag.htm

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Fox Tapeworm Links:

 http://www.hygiene.uni-wuerzburg.de/forschung/ag_brehm/fox-tapeworm_basics/

http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/disease/diseaseother.html

http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/disease/diseaserisks.html

http://www.tape-worm.info/

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,511825,00.html

http://www.vitaklenz.com/tapeworm.php

http://www.foxolutions.co.uk/index.php?main_page=fox_problems

Previous SAV ‘Fox Week’ German Hunting Links –  Including Many Photographs of What Exactly Happens:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/germany-280111-german-fox-week-latest-pics-links-and-even-a-message-from-jesus/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/germany-update-230111-eu-hunting-court-rulings-the-german-fox-week-and-more/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/germany-mass-slaughter-of-fox-week-to-start-by-february-international-appeal-for-aw-groups-to-join-the-german-protest-and-say-no-details-below/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/germany-international-animal-welfare-organisations-only-please-support-the-call-for-a-closed-season-on-fox-murder-currently-foxes-can-be-killed-all-year/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/germany-220210-update-fox-week-killings-go-on-and-on-for-weeks/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/germany-fox-week-update-080210-more-killings-animals-now-skinned/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/germany-fox-week-sees-hunters-killing-thousands-of-beautiful-animals-please-crosspost/

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And finally;

Sarah Palin’s Safari Club Speech: ‘We Eat Organic — We Just Have To Shoot It First’ 

The Huffington Post  Joanna Zelman  First Posted: 02/ 2/11 05:01 PM Updated: 02/ 3/11 10:48 AM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/sarah-palins-safari-club-_n_817596.html

Sarah Palin loves animals… next to her mashed potatoes. This was just one of many revelatory proclamations that the former Republican vice-presidential candidate offered this past weekend at the Safari Club International (SCI) Convention in Reno.

SCI holds an annual convention where tens of thousands of hunters gather to discuss trophy rooms, rifles, and trips to Mozambique — past speakers have included George H.W. Bush and Tom Ridge. Newsweek recently release an article, originally reported by The Daily Beast, covering this year’s event.

The report reveals that this past Saturday, Palin addressed the eager crowd in a room filled with 315 deer, 87 elk, 11 moose, 132 other antlered species, 38 lions, 27 leopards, 15 wolves, and 48 bears. All stuffed.

Palin provided zinger after zinger to a cheering audience. Speaking about organic food, she proclaimed, “We eat organic–we just have to shoot it first. And it comes wrapped in fur, not cellophane.”

Regarding her TLC reality show, Palin admitted that her documented trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was politically motivated. She intended to show that the refuge is a “barren, desolate, less-than-pristine place.” Apparently, this “barren” place, home to polar bears, wolves, caribou, and sheep, is a place “desolate” enough to drill for oil. Yet, Palin also stated, “I personally understand the importance of protecting the environment.” Just not the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, apparently.

Palin continued by offering a bizarre suggestion: “If a caribou needs to be sacrificed for the sake of energy independence… I say, ‘Mr. Caribou, maybe you need to take one for the team.'” It seems highly unlikely that the Refuge’s 42 fish species, 37 land mammals, eight marine mammals, and over 200 bird species would want to take one for the team. This also seems unlikely for the caribou Palin killed on her reality show, in an act that prompted screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to state, “I can’t make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing.”

Palin pulled out the big guns to demonstrate her support for hunting — her children. In explaining the origin of her children’s names, she described: “Piper was named after Todd’s airplane, the Piper Cub, which gets us to the hunting grounds… Bristol, Bristol Bay fishing grounds. Willow, a local sport-fishing stream. Trig, I pull the TRIG-ger. Track… I remember when we told my dad that his grandson was named Track, he said, ‘Like TRACKing an elephant?'”

While Palin spoke largely about hunting and the wilderness, she also addressed recent current events, from the Tucson tragedy and second amendment rights to a proposed media boycott saving her from blame for Egypt protests.

Overall, reports show that Palin’s speech was met with praise at the convention – the crowd jumped to their feet before her name was even spoken, and a Fox News headline reads “Palin Knocks ’em Dead…” Dave Tofte, a speech attendee, told The Reno Gazette-Journal that he was impressed with Palin because “She’s very pro-American.” Carol Kjorstad, another speech attendee was reportedly impressed with Palin’s conservation focus, but for an unusual reason. Klorstad explained that she supports protecting animals because “Everyone knows that hunting won’t survive without animals being protected.”

But for those who prefer organic food without fur, value the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s terrain, or prefer to name their children after non-violent acts, Palin’s speech was perhaps not so impressive.

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SAV Comment;

Sarah, have you ever tried huntin and shootin with your allies in North Korea; or should that be allies in the South ? – or you could hunt with the African Army. 

Suggestion – Africa is a continent, not a country !

Please advise – you are so well up on global political issues.

Take me to my friends in North Korea; there is killing to do.

 

 

A World of Confusion ?

Make it a place worth living in – scrap the hunters !

A Land of Confusion ? – Genesis, Lodon.  Live Earth Concert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgIbM2hnHgo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZujuYiweht8

“and the nurse will tell you lies” – from ‘The Musical Box’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbniFGANrac

 

 

 

 

 

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