Posted on January 18, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
BREAKING: TV Animal supplier ‘Amazing Animals’ exposed
A polar bear is brought out to a stage in front of a large crowd. Her handler makes her climb onto a podium on command. Two lions are made to stand in a line up on their back legs when ordered. A leopard is made to jump from a podium and balance on two ropes. A monkey is brought out on a lead, a sloth carried out hanging on a pole for crowds to stare at.
A white tiger pacing back and forth at a small window in their enclosure, a hippo walking in circles in their barren home, a hyena and meerkat pacing back and forth as visitors watched. See the full video of our findings here:
With your help CAPS has been campaigning against the use of animals in the TV and media for years, fighting for those animals who are exploited for entertainment.
As a nation which demands the banning of wild animals in circuses, we all recognise that forcing animals to perform in anyway is cruel and outdated. We are appealing to the BBC, film makers and companies to cease working with this company and instead, embrace animal-friendly methods like CGI. Technology is improving everyday so there is no excuse to use live animals.
We need your help! TAKE ACTION!
View and share our campaign videos showing the cruel treatment of lions, tigers, leopards, a polar bear and other animals
Boycott films which use live animals
Complain to companies you see using live animals in their promotions and let us know when you spot one
Amazing Animals is just one company out of many which uses animals in this way but these findings give us a glimpse of what life can be like for animals when away from the cameras and TV sets. Please speak out for these animals who are held captive by Amazing Animals. Please help us to open up this industry to scrutiny, by taking action today.
For the animals.
Nicola O’Brien
Campaigns Director
They need you to speak out. Thank you.
Our mailing address is:
Captive Animals Protection Society PO Box 591 Manchester M12 0DP
England UK.
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Posted on January 18, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear All,
Please see information below about a helpline number and guide to action that FIAPO has set up to help stop the illegal Jallikattu events that are being reported across the country.
I am asking for help from all the members of the group to share this within their networks and supporters so that we can reach as many people as possible and stop any such events.
Please forward this information widely!
Many thanks, Varda
Dear Members and Friends,
We know you care deeply about all animals, and bulls like Swami need you right now. In the next 5 days, hundreds of bulls will be punched, beaten, and mutilated to be “tamed” in medieval spectacles like Jallikattu across Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Going against a supreme court ban and its own policy, India’s Central Government passed a notification on 7 January 2015 sanctioning unspeakable abuse of these animals.
We have achieved a profoundly important victory towards overturning this shameful decision, but our work is not over yet. The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) teamed up with several other organisations and successfully challenged this move in the Supreme Court, and we have a stay order– for now.
But all is not well. Information is flooding in from all over the country about illegal bull races and Jallikattu events taking place.
Jallikattu is a barbaric activity in which it is simply impossible for bulls to escape torture.
Engulfed by screaming crowds, these terrified, gentle bulls are chased, punched, jumped on, goaded and poked with sharp sticks and dragged to the ground. In such “bull taming festivals” bulls have known to have their eyes gouged out, tails snapped and ears torn.
We have set up a helpline (09632129381) where people can whatsapp reports, photos and videos based on which we will file police complaints to prevent any such events taking place. We are also preparing for the long legal battle challenging the government permission to hold such events.
Here’s a handy guide to help you kick start work at the ground level in case of a possible event.
If you hear of it in advance – Approach the District collector and district police chief with information about the impending event along with a copy of the Supreme court order of 2014 as well as of 12 January 2015. – Submit a letter emphasising that it is the duty of the district collector to ensure that the SC’s orders are implemented, otherwise he will be liable for contempt of court.
– Send (whatsapp) a scan of the letter to 09632129381 so that we can follow it up. If you are unable to prevent it and have a chance to be present while the event happens
-Carefully video record the proceedings taking care to ensure that maximum people present at the event are recognisable in the video. Make sure you show the latest newspaper somewhere in the video to counter any arguments of it being old footage. -File an FIR against the organisers and include in it names of as many people as possible that can be seen in the video.
Also, in the video, include the owner of the land where the race takes place. If it is owned by village or Zila Panchayat then include the names of the chairman and secretary. If you can’t find names, designations will be enough. Find out the names of participants and include it. Insist that the police conducts a ‘Panchnama’ to establish the identity of all the people visible in your video. Include this request in your FIR. – Send the video and a scan of the FIR to 09632129381.
This email was sent by: FIAPO
A 64 2nd Floor
East of Kailash,
New Delhi 110065
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Posted on January 17, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
SAV Comment:
If anyone wishes to make independent gripes to the dolphin and whale murderers of Japan, then please use the following link to find your own national contacts:
We are sticking with the Taiji issue this weekend.
Here is a link below on the London demo yesterday, with several photos and also a video of the speech by Dom Dwyer – just scroll down on this link until you come to the video.
SAV Comment – We have put together a sample letter which you can copy and send to the Japanese authorities across the world.
Click on the following links to find many Japanese ‘national’ contacts:
SAMPLE LETTER – copy and send, or copy and personalise as you wish.
Use the above links to select where you send copies of your letter.
Each year in Taiji, Japan; dolphins are chased into a small cove and butchered in the most horrific and cruel way imaginable. These hunts are subsidized by the dolphin captivity industry, which pays top money for a few “show quality” dolphins that are ripped from their families and sold on to aquatic centres in order to perform stupid tricks for a brain dead audience, whilst the rest of the captured pod is killed for meat. This dolphin meat has been proven to be laden with mercury and PCBs, all of which are very harmful to Japanese citizens who eat the meat.
Due to a major attempt to cover up the hunt by the Japanese government (which drastically fails in the rest of the world); most Japanese citizens don’t even know that the hunts exist in their land. The Japanese government very much supports the dolphin killers, whilst denying any public health issues. Both issues are now being widely publicised to the world through international campaign networks, the internet and film such as ‘The Cove’.
The Japanese government are still attempting to resist worldwide actions taken against them for both dolphin and for whale slaughter; which takes place each year under the false guise of ‘Scientific research’. The Japanese government may believe there are no public health issues for its own citizens regarding the dolphin slaughter, and may kid itself that it needs to undertake ‘research’ in whales as it falsely claimed for many years; but thanks to global communication processes nowdays, the rest of the world instantly knows the real truth; this is why Japan (as a nation) is hated internationally by the environmental movement and also why so many protests are taking place outside its embassies located around the world.
There is a simple way to resolve this – that is for Japan to stop the killing of both dolphins and whales now. Animal welfare campaigners who speak out against the dolphin murders are now being directly targeted – the latest being Mr Ric O’Barry who has been held at Tokyo’s Narita airport since Monday 18th January.
Mr O’Barry is a longtime leader in opposition to the annual Taiji (town) dolphin hunt, which has gained a negative worldwide reputation since the release and viewing of the film ‘The Cove’. ‘The Cove’ has shown the teal cruelty of Japan to the rest of the world; which has led to a worldwide hatred for the actions of Japan on whales and dolphins ever since.
There is no reason whatsoever why Mr O’Barry should be held by Japan. He has always been very careful not to violate any laws, whilst at the same time working within the legal system of Japan. If Japan thinks their actions will result in bad publicity for the organisation named ‘Sea Shepherd’, which is most probably why Mr O’Barry is now being held; then Japan is very wrong.
The world largely supports the actions of Sea Shepherd whilst undertaking a national hatred of the Japanese people and what they do in murdering the natural wonders of our oceans.
It is time for Japan to change, and change now – immediately. For only when Japan does take actions to ban both the dolphin murders and whale murders which it undertakes at present; only then will it be accepted back into the international community as a nation which has respect of others for attempts to preserve the wonderful creatures of our oceans. All the time the Japanese led killings continue, Japan will continue to be singled out and targeted for what it is – simply murderers of the wonderful wildlife of the world’s oceans; nothing more, nothing less.
Japan needs to take action and to take it immediately – ban the killing of dolphins and whales now, today.
Yours truly,
YOUR Name and nationality.
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Posted on January 16, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
UPDATE 16/1 – London Calling – Latest – Huge numbers outside the Japanese embassy – protesting at the dolphin slaughter.
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David Bowie Is a Hero to Activists Fighting the Dolphin Slaughter in Japan
16/1/16 – latest from London – BIG march for the dolphins TODAY.
The rock star made sure his anthem ‘Heroes’ was licensed to the documentary ‘The Cove’ for a pittance so it could help stop the killing of dolphins and whales.
David Bowie is being remembered as a musical genius, a gifted artist, and a fashion icon. But to whale and dolphin activists, he was nothing short of a hero.
Bowie’s hauntingly moving song “Heroes,” the title track of his 1977 album, has become a rallying cry for people around the world working to end the killing and capture of whales and dolphins at the cove in Taiji, Japan.
The song, which includes the lyrics “I, I wish you could swim / Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim,” accompanies the closing credits of the 2009 documentary The Cove, which brought global attention to the annual slaughter in Taiji.
Most people don’t know that Bowie, a quiet but generous supporter of animal welfare causes who died on Sunday at 69, personally intervened to make sure the song could be licensed for a minimal fee.
Cove director Louie Psihoyos said the movie’s producer, Fisher Stevens, knew Bowie’s wife, Iman. “That’s how we got through to him,” he said. “If we’d had to go through record-company channels, it never would’ve happened.”
According to Psihoyos, the cost of licensing a rock song for commercial films starts at about $25,000 and can reach six figures. After hearing about the film, Bowie insisted that RCA Records make “Heroes” available for $3,000.
“They had to charge something so they weren’t giving it away,” Psihoyos said. “It was hardly worth the time for the record label to write up the contract.”
A licensing employee for Sony Music Entertainment, which owns RCA Records, confirmed that the fee was reduced but said the amount paid “is confidential.”
The song, reportedly about an East German and West German couple who meet at the Berlin Wall—“I, I can remember (I remember) / Standing, by the wall (by the wall) / And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads)”—became a powerful anthem for the anti-whaling movement.
I didn’t know at the time about his support for animal rights,” Psihoyos said of Bowie. “But it turns out he had a huge heart.”
Ric O’Barry, star of The Cove and founder of Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, said that during the film’s closing credits, “people jump out of their seats and want to do something.
That song reenergizes people and helps keep the issue alive. Sometimes I meet people, and when they recognize me, they start singing ‘Heroes.’ ”
“There is nothing to galvanize a community around a movement like a movie, and with every social movement, you always needed songs,” Psihoyos said. “This was a song for that moment.”
The moment lives on.
This Saturday in London, thousands of people are expected to march to the Japanese Embassy to protest the dolphin drives, which run every September to March.
Bowie and his hit single will be featured prominently during the day.
“We’re going to make it a massive tribute to Bowie,” said protest organizer Nicole Venter, founder of MEOKO, a platform for electronic music.
Venter said some protesters will be wearing Bowie masks and brandishing banners bearing his image. Meanwhile, a vintage car will lead the march, blasting sounds of dolphins being killed at the cove—and, of course, “Heroes.”
“We will probably play it several times, and people will sing along,” Venter said. “Still, this won’t become a circus. We’re there for the dolphins, but we also want to pay tribute to Bowie.”
The singer, who later sported a dolphin tattoo, was working to save dolphins and whales as early as 1972, when Bowie and the Spiders From Mars headlined the Friends of the Earth Save the Whale Benefit Concert in London.
O’Barry will not be at the protest. He leaves Sunday for Taiji, where police briefly detained him last August. On Tuesday, his Dolphin Project said 35 to 40 striped dolphins were killed at the cove.
“I think London is one of the keys of stopping the slaughter,” O’Barry said.
“ ‘Heroes’ is our theme song, and they’re going to play it loud,” he added. “The Japanese government will have a very difficult time dealing with that PR nightmare.
Thank you, David Bowie.”
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Posted on January 15, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Further tributes to the legend David Bowie who died this week.
Keyboard wizard and animal rights campaigner,
Rick Wakeman, tells of his work with David Bowie.
Nursery rhymes – can you tell in what style ?
(From the above, and for non UK residents – Les Dawson was a very well known comedian who could never get things quite right on the piano).
Rick at his awesome best:
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Posted on January 15, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear Mark,
I’ve had enough, and tonight I’m hitting the road — departing for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was illegally taken over on Jan. 2 by armed fanatics who want to seize millions of acres of publicly owned lands.
These yahoos may have become a national joke, but their movement is dead serious — it’s part of a committed campaign to rob us of our wild heritage.
That’s why I’ll be heading to Burns tomorrow, and with the Center’s partners we’ll be organizing rallies in Portland and Eugene on Tuesday to stand against the armed thugs seizing public land — land that we all own.
They even whined online for their supporters to send them snacks. Well we won’t send them any snacks, but we will speak out for those who value this land, and against these creeps who think they can take it by force.
I’m deeply concerned about this bullying behavior — still undeterred by federal law enforcement — and the support voiced by some lawmakers for the occupiers’ message. Although these anti-government fanatics operate on the fringes, this seizure is happening in a broader context: There’s a growing movement afoot to take away these lands and open them up to mining, logging, drilling and other profit-driven methods of destruction.
Whether it’s against the Bundy family or politicians in Congress, the Center for Biological Diversity will fight tooth and nail to protect these special places from seizure. We need you with us to support our work to protect America’s public lands with a contribution to our new Public Lands Defense Fund. This isn’t the first time we’ve faced down the Bundys and their gun-toting bullies. We’ve gone toe-to-toe with them over their illegal grazing operations in Nevada and their paranoid attempts to steal what belongs to all Americans.
This year will be an all-out fight against those who think our public forests, deserts and prairies exist to make money for a few, instead of as places that give us clean air, water, wildlife habitat and landscapes that inspire and rejuvenate.
Selling these places to the highest bidder — or giving in to the demands of armed lunatics — robs us all. The Center will be there to fight each and every time. It won’t be easy. The Utah legislature recently committed $12 million to hire lobbyists and lawyers in a coordinated campaign to seize control of millions of public acres that they intend to parcel off to the highest bidder. We can’t match the money of the cattle, mining, logging and fracking industries, so we’ll have to organize our nearly 1 million supporters and our lean, experienced team of lawyers, scientists and activists to take this struggle to the statehouses and the courthouses, from Congress to the streets.
I know what I’m getting into by heading to Oregon — I’ve been tracking the situation closely and have a clear sense of who these people are. But I’m heartened to know that you’re with me and that I’m carrying the message of all who can’t go in person to stand up for these special lands and what they mean.
Please join us at our protests across Oregon if you can, and please give to the Public Lands Defense Fund.
For the wild,
Kierán Suckling
Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity
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Posted on January 14, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
We have decided to group a selection of different issues together here rather than make individual posts of them – SAV.
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Win for Canada Lynx: Idaho Must Take Action on Trapping
In a decision that will save lynx from cruel trapping deaths, a federal district court found on Monday that the great snow cats living in the Panhandle and Clearwater regions of Idaho are in danger of incidental trapping — so restrictions on trapping in those areas are needed. Lynx are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the court found that trapping in northern Idaho is likely to illegally harm them. In 2014 the Center for Biological Diversity and allies sued Idaho for allowing trapping in lynx habitat. This week the court directed Idaho to alter its regulations to prevent future lynx deaths. It ordered the state to submit a plan to the court within 90 days, with terms that will truly protect lynx in the northern part of the state. “We’re relieved that the court has ordered Idaho to do more to protect lynx,” said the Center’s Andrea Santarsiere. “Four lynx have been incidentally trapped in Idaho in the past four years, and the court agreed with us today that the state cannot stand idly by and watch while indiscriminate traps harm these rare and federally protected cats.” Read more in The Spokesman-Review.
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Good News! African Lions Gain Protection Under the Endangered Species Act
Thank you for urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect lions under the Endangered Species Act and to prohibit the importation of lion trophies. Good news: As a result of global outrage following Cecil the lion’s death, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it will strengthen conservation efforts and crack down on trophy hunting by protecting two subspecies of African lions under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will list one lion subspecies native to India and Central and Western Africa as endangered and another native to Eastern and Southern Africa as threatened. USFWS Director Dan Ashe also issued an order that would make it more difficult for those accused of violating wildlife laws to acquire permits and licensing for importing sport-hunted trophies. All these decisions are huge steps forward in protecting African lions for generations to come. Inspired to do more to protect endangered species? Stand with the Endangered Species Coalition, and take the pledge to defend the Endangered Species Act from congressional attacks.
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Elephants Win: Hong Kong Moves to Crush Ivory Trade
Taylor Hill is an associate editor at TakePart covering environment and wildlife.
Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying announced Wednesday that his government will end its legal ivory trade.
That market is considered a facilitator of illegal ivory transport into mainland China, the world’s largest consumer of smuggled ivory.
“The government is very concerned about the illegal poaching of elephants in Africa,” Leung told Hong Kong’s legislative council on Wednesday. “It will kick-start legislative procedures as soon as possible to ban the import and export of elephant hunting trophies.” He added that the government will “explore other appropriate measures,” including a phaseout of the local ivory trade and stiffer penalties for smuggling and trading endangered species.
Wildlife conservation groups are hailing the announcement as a milestone in the movement to ban all ivory trade—a position the Chinese and U.S. presidents took in 2015.
“We expect action will be taken this year, but what we don’t know is what the timeline will look like,” said WildAid chief executive Peter Knights. “He announced a phaseout, so obviously the quicker the better. The most important thing is that they reveal a timeline this year.”
WildAid has been working in China and Hong Kong since 2011 to educate the public on how the country’s legal ivory trade fuels illegal poaching of Africa’s elephants.
“We’re losing 30,000 elephants a year in Africa, and we believe most of that ivory is being traded through legal channels,” Knights said.
In a report released last year, World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong showed the loopholes in the legal ivory trade that allow illegal tusks to infiltrate the market. Ivory from the city’s stockpile obtained prior to 1990 can be legally sold. But lax enforcement has allowed the 400 or so licensed traders to use legal ivory permits as a front to sell contraband tusks.
The practice has helped lead to the rapid decline of African elephants, whose population has fallen from between 3 million and 5 million in the early 1900s to around 470,000 today. If poaching keeps its current pace, scientists say the species could be extinct within two decades.
Hong Kong’s move comes as the price of elephant ivory plummets. In a report by conservation group Save the Elephants, the cost of raw ivory on the black market has fallen by almost half over the past 18 months. Ivory tripled in value in the four years leading up to 2014 but dropped from a high of $2,100 per kilogram to $1,100 per kilogram by November 2015.
Researchers Lucy Vigne and Esmond Martin of Save the Elephants said the price drop is a result of China’s growing public awareness about illegal ivory and the government’s intent to shut down the domestic ivory trade.
“Everybody in the ivory business in China is waiting and wondering what will happen next, and are gloomy that their centuries-long tradition of ivory carving may be coming to an end, hoping at least that it can be phased out gradually,” Vigne and Martin said in a statement.
“If the trade closes, the value of ivory as an investment depreciates,” Knights said. “We see Hong Kong prices going down because of the public backlash against ivory, and that should have an impact on poaching. Couple that with stepped-up efforts in Africa to deter poachers, and the ivory trade ends up getting squeezed at both ends.”
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Deer Tortured In Texas – Take Action.
Deer slaughtered?
Not if we can help it.
Here’s the scoop:
The Sun City Texas Community Association is AGAIN reportedly planning to trap deer and ship them to slaughterhouses to try to reduce their local populations.
Think of how completely terrifying it would be to get caught in a net, not knowing what would happen next. These traumatized deer try in vain to escape and can badly injure themselves in the process. Bucks are then held down while their antlers are sawed off with loud power tools. Bleeding and scared, the highly sensitive animals are then transported in noisy trucks to the slaughterhouse, where they’re unloaded and finally killed.
These cruel methods tear wild families apart, often leaving young and weak animals to starve. And for what? These methods don’t even work! Populations have been known to SPIKE because there’s more food to go around after these mass killings.
Please urge the Sun City Texas Community Association to commit to humane control methods that work, then forward this e-mail to everyone you can.
Please send POLITE comments to:
Steve Ashlock, President, Sun City Texas Homeowners Association Board stephen.ashlock@pultegroup.com
Please also e-mail the Sun City Texas Homeowners Association Board and Wildlife Management Committee by sending your message to the following list of addresses:
info@sctexas.org; cawildlife@sctexas.org; glynn.hatley@sctexas.org; gary.preston@sctexas.org; gary.sandercock@sctexas.org; bob.glandt@sctexas.org; sandy.goodman@sctexas.org
Please act NOW before it’s too late!
For all animals,
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 