Tried But Failed – Thanks To The Serbian Government And The EU.

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

We are currently producing very little on this site.

For the last 11 years we have campaigned to improve the welfare of Serbian animals; mainly strays; urging the Serbian government to adopt a policy of ‘no  kill’ sterilisation to reduce numbers over time.  The government have ignored our every wish and suggestion, as they have with that of many other international animal organisations; including those from Germany and Austria.

You get to a point when you ask yourself if there is any real reason to continue with a campaign which has been ignored by the government for the last 11 years plus.

We have now reached that point.

In recent years we have seen many excellent German organisations – those who have undertaken sterilisations and treatment; pack up and get out of the country; betrayed by a pathetic government which still kills animals which have been sterilised and fitted with red button ear tags to say the same.  Organisations have put time and money into making an effort to reduce stray numbers.  Thanks to the thickheads in the Serbian government; all these efforts have been in vain; the killing continues; and despite some very good laws for animals in Serbia; nothing is complied with legally to enforce the ‘rule of law’.

Showing that you are applying ‘the rule of law’ is a fundamental requirement of any new state wishing to become a member of the EU.  As you can see from many posts on this site, we have written to, and made contact with the EU Enlargement Commission on several occasions asking them to get Serbia to enforce its own rules of law if it ever wishes to become an EU member state.  The EU Enlargement Commission Has not acted for us or with us – it has ignored us in its feeble attempts to get Serbia into the EU come what may.  We feel betrayed by both the Serbian government and the EU Enlargement Commission; both full of self important’s who in reality are not listening to the people on the ground but are simply doing their own thing regardless of what the rules and regulations say.

We are now questioning if we should join with the German organisations of the past and simply get out to leave the thickheads in the Serbian government and the EU to wander on ignoring their own allegedly so important ‘rules of law’.  This is a sad situation, but we ask why we should try to get governments to enforce the rules of law when nobody else, including the EU Commission, turns a blind eye to what is happening – ignoring all the evidence we present to them.

It is the same with the EU and the issue of live animals being shipped to Turkey, Israel and Gaza from the EU.  We have often shown the flag of ‘the EU Must Ensure Animal Welfare’.  Make no doubt, by allowing live animals to be shipped under such long and terrible conditions; the EU is DOING NOTHING to ensure that animal welfare is being enforced.  People called ‘Members of the European Parliament’ (MEP’s) should be constantly taking action to ensure that animal welfare legislation is enforced throughout the EU.  They are failing, and they are failing dramatically ! – over a week and a half ago we wrote to many UK MEP’s regarding live animals being shipped from Lithuania to Israel; and calves being shipped from France to Turkey.  None of those contacted have even bothered to respond to us on the issue – so what exactly are the doing ? – these so called representatives of the EU people who were elected by the people of the EU ?

If they cannot even respond over the issue of live animals from the EU being transported to non EU nations; then it is obvious that they are not interested in animal welfare in future EU accession states such as Serbia.

So this week we are now considering our future.  What is the point of giving endless evidence to Serbian and EU authorities when they simply ignore you and basically carry on in their world of self appreciation and very little else ? – MEP’s are not and do not represent the wishes of the EU citizen – they do not ensure that EU regulations are enforced within the EU; and so you get to a point when you have to ask why we are contributing to the keep of such people ! – they certainly do not represent us and they certainly do not listen and look at the evidence we present to them.  As a good investigator friend from the Netherlands said this last weekend; why does the EU allow the wrongs to continue in long distance animal transport until people like us have to come up with the proof of the wrongdoing ! – governments and EU authorities should be investigating in advance and taking actions when necessary to stop the wrongdoings; not waiting until welfare groups have to come forward and show that the rules are being broken !

By next weekend we will probably have decided on the future of us and this site.  Who knows; MEP’s may even break the habit of a lifetime and actually get in contact with us about live calves being shipped from France to Turkey; but then ……………..

Is 11 years of no progress in Serbia worth it ? – NO.

Is the EU and its ‘self important’s worth it ? – not if they continue to ignore the people they should be representing – US – EU citizens !

Do we simply say that we have tried and failed, thanks to a mass of no support from the Serbian government and the EU ? – probably yes.

Will our actions help Serbian animals ? – no; but then there are supposed to be laws in place in Serbia to make sure things are undertaken correctly; and the EU should; yes the EU, should be ensuring this happens before Serbia becomes a member state.

Do you hold your hands up and say to yourself that with such incompetents doing nothing to help your cause; there will never be any progress ? – probably.

What would you do in our position of Serbia and the EU utterly ignoring your evidence and proposals for reform ? – walk away !

We may do just that!

Do you want to hear a joke ?

EU AW LOGO

 

Ask the calves going from France to Turkey; the calves going from Lithuania to Gaza, and the dogs being killed under the ‘rule of law’ by the EU in Serbia.  We dont think they would shout that the EU is enforcing any animal welfare !

There has been just one MEP; Mr Keith Taylor (Greens) who has helped and supported us.  We thank him for that.  But the support of just one MEP is not enough; and constantly hearing nothing from the EU Enlargement Commission really shows how importantly they actually consider their basic principles of new accession states making sure they enforce the rule of law.

By the end of 2017 the UK is supposed to have a referendum on staying in or leaving the EU.  At present, polls show more support for getting out of Europe – we wonder why !!!

eu uk 4

EOA Turkey 1

EOA Turkey 2

Above:  Livestock transporters full of EU animals on the EU – Turkish border – waiting several days to clear customs.  Then what awaits them ? – ritual slaughter in a Turkish slaughterhouse.

https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2015/08/25/netherlands-eoa-information-regarding-investigations-into-eu-cattle-being-transported-to-turkey-for-slaughter/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2014/01/02/eoa-nl-reports-of-december-2013-inspections-at-turkish-slaughterhouses-also-links-to-campaign-for-all-eu-slaughterhoses-to-ensure-cctv-is-installed-petition-links-included-for-this-also/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, LETTERS, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | Leave a comment »

USA: U.S. Hunter Tied To Killing Of Cecil The Lion Headed Back To Work

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

USA1

Palmer

 

SAV Comment: Somehow we do not think that Mr Palmer will return to work and everything will be as was – we hope not.  We think he is in for a bad time at his dental practice.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-hunter-tied-to-killing-of-cecil-the-lion-headed-back-to-work_55ed00bae4b002d5c0764c0f

U.S. Hunter Tied To Killing Of Cecil The Lion Headed Back To Work

“If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study obviously I wouldn’t have taken it.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota dentist whose killing of Cecil the lion sparked a global backlash emerged for an interview in which he disputed some accounts of the hunt, expressed agitation at the animosity directed at those close to him and said he would be back at work within days.

Walter Palmer, who has spent more than a month out of sight after becoming the target of protests and threats, intends to return to his suburban Minneapolis dental practice Tuesday. In an interview Sunday evening conducted jointly by The Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune that advisers said would be the only one granted, Palmer said again that he believes he acted legally and that he was stunned to find out his hunting party had killed one of Zimbabwe’s treasured animals.

“If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study obviously I wouldn’t have taken it,” Palmer said. “Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.”

Cecil was a fixture in the vast Hwange National Park and had been fitted with a GPS collar as part of Oxford University lion research. Palmer said he shot the big cat with the black mane using an arrow from his compound bow outside the park’s borders but it didn’t die immediately. He disputed conservationist accounts that the wounded lion wandered for 40 hours and was finished off with a gun, saying it was tracked down the next day and killed with an arrow.

An avid sportsman, Palmer shut off several lines of inquiry about the hunt, including how much he paid for it or others he has undertaken. No videotaping or photographing of the interview was allowed. During the 25-minute interview, Palmer gazed intensely at his questioners, often fiddling with his hands and turning occasionally to an adviser, Joe Friedberg, to field questions about the fallout and his legal situation.

Some high-level Zimbabwean officials have called for Palmer’s extradition, but no formal steps toward getting the dentist to return to Zimbabwe have been publicly disclosed. Friedberg, a Minneapolis attorney who said he is acting as an unpaid consultant to Palmer, said he has heard nothing from authorities about domestic or international investigations since early August.

Friedberg said he offered to have Palmer take questions from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorities on the condition the session be recorded. He said he never heard back.

“I’m not Walter’s lawyer in this situation because Walter doesn’t need a lawyer in this situation,” said Friedberg, who said he knew Palmer through previous matters. “If some governmental agency or investigative unit would make a claim that he violated some law then we’d talk about it.”

Ben Petok, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, declined comment about conversations with Friedberg and referred questions to Fish and Wildlife. An agency spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call or an email Sunday evening.

After Palmer was named in late July as the hunter who killed Cecil, his Bloomington clinic and Eden Prairie home became protest sites, and a vacation property he owns in Florida was vandalized. Palmer has been vilified across social media, with some posts suggesting violence against him. He described himself as “heartbroken” for causing disruptions for staff at his clinic, which was shuttered for weeks until reopening in late August without him on the premises. And he said the ordeal has been especially hard on his wife and adult daughter, who both felt threatened.

“I don’t understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all,” Palmer said.

As for himself, he said he feels safe enough to return to work — “My staff and my patients support me and they want me back” — but declined to say where he’s spent the last six weeks or describe security steps he has taken.

“I’ve been out of the public eye. That doesn’t mean I’m in hiding,” Palmer said. “I’ve been among people, family and friends. Location is really not that important.”

Palmer, who has several big-game kills to his name, reportedly paid thousands of dollars for the guided hunt but wouldn’t talk money on Sunday.

Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter who helped Palmer, has been charged with “failure to prevent an illegal hunt.” Honest Ndlovu, whose property is near the park in western Zimbabwe, faces a charge of allowing the lion hunt to occur on his farm without proper authority.

Asked whether he would return to Zimbabwe for future hunts, Palmer said, “I don’t know about the future.” He estimated he had been there four times and said, “Zimbabwe has been a wonderful country for me to hunt in, and I have always followed the laws.”

In addition to the Cecil furor, Palmer pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he fatally shot in western Wisconsin outside of the authorized hunting zone. He was given one year probation and fined nearly $3,000 as part of a plea agreement.

Cecil’s killing set off a fierce debate over trophy hunting in Africa. Zimbabwe tightened regulations for lion, elephant and leopard hunting after the incident, and three major U.S. airlines changed policies to ban shipment of the trophies.

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