Posted on August 3, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Hi all;
Well things on the site have been quiet for the past week or so, but we have been working behind the scenes on a new project.
We cannot say that much about it at the moment, but it does involve the EU Enlargement Commission; Serbia’s current attempts to join the EU at present, and the fact that Serbia is NOT enforcing it own rules of law – or laws / legislation; which is what a nation seeking EU accession has to show and prove it is doing to the EU Enlargement Commission PRIOR to EU membership.
We are working with both Serbian and Austrian campaigners to take the issues of animal welfare; or the lack of, a lot further now. Via all of our contacts, as well as those of our Austrian colleagues; we will have the ability to make massive contacts with both the EU and its Parliament, as well as giving the reports we are producing to our Serbian campaigner friends who will then be able to approach the Serbian government directly also to ask what we know will be some very embarrassing questions for the government.
Combined with the fact that we know that the EU has authorised over the period 2014-2020 that it provides Serbia with over 1.5 BILLION Euros to get it s house in shape, we are asking, as UK and Austrian (EU) taxpayers providing contributions to this funding; what are we getting back from the Serbian government with regard animal welfare improvements within Serbia.
Over the last week we have now produced the almost final draft of our first report to the EU. There will be several more over the coming months which will target specific issues in particular. This first report is best described as an ‘overview; which outlines the situation for Serbian animals; the lack of legislation implementation by the serbian government; as well as the huge financial incentives that the EU is giving to Serbia in order that it enforces application of the ‘rule of, law’ – something which we know is NOT being implemented at the moment regarding Serbian animal welfare law.
The documents we hope will cause problems with the EU and Serbian governments. As the EU is providing over 1.5 BILLION Euros to Serbia for pre EU accession, we have the right to ask questions and to ask exactly where our EU money is going and what it is being spent on.
At the moment, not on animal welfare. We hope that via our reports and the massive links we have across the EU, we can make a difference. We will probably be publishing each report on this site as we produce it; so you can get an idea of what we are doing.
We hope that this will be a positive move for Serbian animal welfare. The EU must enforce what it preaches on its europa website. We aim to question lots about the whole system and its apparent current failures.
Regards Mark.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, DOCUMENTS, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 3, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
A Minnesota dentist’s killing of the famous lion has sparked outrage, but it remains to be seen whether it will spur a crackdown on big game hunting.
With one shot of his bow, Walter Palmer went from being a Minneapolis dentist to the world’s most reviled big game hunter.
The public outcry following his hunt of Zimbabwe’s famous tourist attraction, Cecil the Lion, has not only led to the closure of his dental office but could be a galvanizing force in altering the trophy hunting industry in the United States that’s fueling wildlife loss in Africa, according to conservationists.
Killing rare animals is nothing new for the dentist, who has crossbow records for killing a menagerie’s worth of wildlife, including rhino, warthogs, buffalo, and more. But none of his kills brought a spotlight on the contentious issue of trophy hunting until he and his hired Zimbabwean hunters lured the black-maned Cecil out from the protection of national park boundaries with bait.
The heavily studied lion—he had a GPS collar on when he was shot—wandered wounded for 40 hours before finally being tracked down and shot with a gun by the hunters.
“I’ve never seen any sort of animal issue resonate like this before,” said Beth Allgood, campaigns director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare. When she first heard the reports about Cecil’s death at the hands of a Spaniard, Allgood was a little surprised, but then it was revealed the hunter was an American—a story line Allgood with her 20 years in conservation work is familiar with.
“Americans don’t like to accept the role we play in wildlife trade,” Allgood said.
“We like to look at China fueling demand and Africa not doing enough to protect these animals, but when it comes to lions, we have a big part in it.”
Americans travelling to Africa make up more than 60 percent of the foreign-participated lion trophy hunts carried out each year, according to John Jackson, president of the lobbying group Conservation Force. About 15,000 hunters make the trek annually, and a majority of them want to bring back a trophy, Jackson said. The group argues that lion hunts are integral to the species’ conservation, and the big game industry—worth $675 million in South Africa alone—brings in money for habitat expansion and species conservation efforts.
But those efforts haven’t stemmed the rate at which lions are dying off. Across the continent, there has been a 60 percent decline in lions over the past 30 years. Habitat loss and poaching have contributed to the demise, but hunting also plays a role, said Allgood.
Oxford University (UK) professors have also been studying the effects of big game hunting on lion populations in Zimbabwe. Of the 62 lions they tagged in the region, 24 have been shot and killed by sport hunters. Ten have died from other causes.
There were once 200,000 lions roaming Africa. Today, there are fewer than 32,000.
That has prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider listing African lions as a threatened species.
The move could potentially limit the countries from which big game hunters can bring back lion trophies. Eleven countries currently allow lion hunt safaris, but new regulations would require these countries to show FWS officials that their lion populations are healthy and managed properly, and that plans are in place to conserve the species.
But listing the lion only puts a Band-Aid on a bigger issue, argues Eric Jensen, a University of Warwick professor who studies public engagement in wildlife issues.
“The problem is a long-standing association between hunting large animals and masculinity,” Jensen said. “While most Americans don’t support the activity, it still resonates with key ideas like Davy Crockett and Theodore Roosevelt. The fact that in 2015 people are still travelling thousands of miles to kill exotic animals and bring back trophies shows that there are deep-seated cultural problems in Western societies, where such behavior should be unthinkable.”
Pro-hunting advocates argue that removing the older lions like 13-year old Cecil, who are less prone to breed, is actually beneficial for species populations because it allows more vigorous and youthful cats to mate more successfully.
That was not the case with Cecil, however. Hwange National Park officials said Cecil had been muscled out of his pride five years ago by a younger, stronger male. He subsequently mounted a comeback by forming a coalition with another older male lion named Jericho. For the past 18 months, Cecil had been back in charge of two prides—one of which consists of three lionesses and seven cubs under seven months old. Without Cecil to protect them, researchers who have been studying the animal expect a new lion to come in, take out Cecil’s cubs, and start his own bloodline.
“It’s called the ripple effect,” Allgood said. “You take out a pride leader like Cecil, and in the fight for dominance, the other males kill the young cubs.”
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the $54,000 Palmer spent to kill Cecil pales in comparison to the millions of dollars the big cat would have garnered in tourist dollars over the course of his life.
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, HUNTING - Primarily UK and Germany | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 3, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
1.5 BILLION Euros as sweetners for Serbia’s EU pre accession; and still the EU is doing very little about enforcing animal welfare legislation in Serbia – the ‘rule of law’. Is that not what all pre-accession states are supposed to prove to the EU prior to them becoming member states of the EU ?
For animal welfare, truckloads of EU cash going into Serbia from the EU taxpayer – but the Enlargement Commission doing very little in return to EU citizens and actually asking Serbia why it is NOT enforcing its own laws on animal welfare – the ‘rule of law’ as the EU spouts !!
The following was sent to use by Vesna in Serbia – it is un edited or modified. What you see is what you get.
————————————–
Dear all,
Money that Serbia received from the EU through the IPA funds, EUR 203 million, 2013. is not known where was spent because the situation in Serbia has not changed much since 2013. And still the executive power does not respect and does not apply the applicable law and not EU legislation in the field of nature, although the domestic Law on Nature Protection registered Article, to EU legislation has applied in domestic legislation. But this does not applies.
The latest debacle shows that the executive and legislative power have the greatest impact profiteers and tycoons, is passing amendments to the Regulations on closed hunting season.
In this case, it is for one month, from 28 June 2015 to 29 July 2015 changed 3 times.
To the end it turned out that despite the ban handed down turtle dove hunting, can be hunted, and this year, which is a kind of degraded Regulations, turtle dove Streptopelia turtur, which is located on the European Red list of endangered species will be killed this year in Serbia. This was done for the profiteers in the field of hunting, which have ravaged the fauna of Serbia.
In addition, the EU has long been banned all exports of meat of game from Serbia to the EU. (Council Regulalation No. 338/97 of 9.December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein) .
In the hunt for turtle doves and quail comes a lot of Italians who will defiance smuggle the corpses of birds in Italy.
One killed the turtle dove here costs 2.5 euros, and the moment arrive in Italy, Minimum cost is 25 euros, the resale for restaurants, the price reaches over 50 euros per bird. The same applies to quail, which the European Red List has the status of sparse species.
Quail and turtle doves are species of international importance and in the majority of European countries hunting both species is prohibited.
In Serbia hunt both species begins 01.08. and lasts until 30.09. and that the playing time, ie. raising cubs in August, and September is the time of peak migration of birds from northern Europe, where they are fully protected from hunting.
For Serbia fields falling exhausted from a grueling migration, to rest, feed and water, and then in moments of greatest exhaustion flocks, gathering hunters and kills everybody. None flock that was discovered by hunters, occurred on the territory of Serbia, no longer flew.
So protection pursued by the northern European countries and the money spent in conservation, here, on the territory of Serbia, everything is canceled, the mass killing of birds in migration.
I forgot to mention that over Serbia, from north to south migratory corridor for Africa, and for birds migrating in Central Asia.
In short, Serbia does not respect and do not apply the EU Directive on the conservation of wild birds in 2009 (Directive 2009/147 / EC, 30th November 2009). As Bern and the Bonn Convention on the conservation of wild fauna and its habitats.
Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of quail would not even discuss a turtle dove protect it for 1 month during the closed season or during the hunt is this decision reversed and allow hunting.
Today, 01.08. he began to hunt for turtle doves and quails, with a strong zeal of hunters, they are angry and want to kill as height can, I have no doubt that will happen. This is due to what was first hunting was banned, which led them to anger, and then a few days before the start of hunting, hunting is allowed, and now they will carry out revenge against the poor birds.
In short, the authorities in Serbia wants money from the EU but will not respect its own laws and even less EU legislation. Stakeholders and profiteers continue to tailor policies and legislation in Serbia and it is not, the debacle of turtle doves clearly visible for us.
Authorities in Serbia know that exports of meat of wild animals is prohibited in the EU and know that they will be smuggling corpses of birds in the EU, but do nothing to prevent it, but to make all help to carry out smuggling.
In short, we in Serbia, we can to deal with everything, what is written and Slavica, we need the help of the EU, which is funded and supported by our government.
If, and this can help to improve the text, asylums and abandoned animals is not the only problem, no local government does not apply the Law on Veterinary and Animal Welfare Act.
I apologize for the bad English, with the help of Google translator and dictionary. I hope you’ll understand.
P.S. Oral vaccination of wild animals is carried out, provided the information and photographs from some areas in Serbia, where people find a vaccine and photographed, the last thing I received photos of the vaccine in reserve Great Bustards/ North Serbia. There is no longer a local declaration of rabies as earlier worked to hunters killing cats and dogs in the streets or at the periphery of the village. As well as the massacres of foxes in nature, which they consider to vermin.We still have no evidence that vaccination conducted regularly throughout the territory of Serbia.
Kind Regards
Vesna
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, HUNTING - Primarily UK and Germany, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | Leave a comment »
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 