Posted on June 6, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
David Cameron – British Prime Minister; has sadly bleated on for weeks now in the lead up to the UK / EU In / Out referendum being held on 23rd June; about how essential it is for the UK to remain in the EU.
Well here is yet another example of just how pathetic Mr Cameron’s EU is. Did we hear anything about animal welfare issues during the renegotiations which Cameron and the EU took place in a few months ago ? – No. He was only busy looking after business and his banker mates who work in the city – nothing else matters.
So we were annoyed, but not really surprised, (after all we have been campaigning for many years !), to see the latest from wonderful Lesley at ‘Eyes on Animals’ regarding the situation for EU animals being exported live to Turkey. As some of you will know, this has been an issue which we have been very actively involved with quite a lot over recent months.
The response to Lesley and the TSB/AWF from Bernard van Goethem (at the EU Commission) just shows everything that is continually WRONG WITH THE EU; and further supports why many people in the UK are in support of getting out completely. For many in the animal welfare camp, this abuse of evidence and the essential changes (from the EU) which are necessary but are not happening as a result of clear evidence just show how separated from the real world Mr Van Goethem and all his team are.
Here below is the post meeting statement from EoA with regard their meeting with the EU (Van Goethem) regarding live animals suffering at the EU / Turkish border for many days.
Mr van Goethem holds a meeting with his team.
You can read and check out more on the EoA website which is at
So lets recap a few of the main points associated with this.
The EU claims to have a Council Regulation, No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004, on the protection of animals during transport and related operations. This legislation is supposed to protect animals in transport – but it does nothing of the kind as we have shown with evidence for many years. The scope of the directive states – “This Regulation shall apply to the transport of live vertebrate animals carried out within the Community, including the specific checks to be carried out by officials on consignments entering or leaving the customs territory of the EU”.
In reality, what this means is the EU has, on paper only, some kind of pointless regulation, which hauliers do not comply with; which many EU member states do not comply with; and most worryingly, which the EU is utterly afraid to use as a pointer for any kind of prosecutions.
I am afraid that I have no more faith in Mr Van Goethem and his team than I do being able to ride a pushbike from the UK to Australia without a single stop !
Have a look at the terrible video made by EoA which shows EU animals destined for Turkey and the terrible conditions in which they are transported by some EU member states. Remember, this video evidence was made by EoA some 5 years ago, and has been presented to the EU as clear breaches of Regulations for as many years.
As you may remember, Mark made several phone calls to Marco Valletta at the EU about the suffering of EU animals destined for Turkey. Just like Mr van Goethem, Mr Valletta is a very well paid EU diplomat who in reality does very little. If they did do something, then we would not see the suffering at the Turkish border as is shown in the video from Lesley for example.
And yet, even with an alleged ‘Council Regulation’ to support them, our friends at EoA in the Netherlands had word back from the EU Commission that:
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“Mr Van Goethem and his team informed us that they cannot take any concrete steps to change the situation”;
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And that they “do not have the power to put an end to the way this trade being run despite it being in violation of their own EU legislation”.
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“they cannot forbid anything”
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“They also cannot insist that a stable be built at the border to unload the animals in urgent situations, nor insist on shade and more water pumps be placed there”.
“The EU Commission has so little power over the exporting Member States that routinely cause problems”.
So in summary, Mr van Goethem and his team at the EU, have EU legislation (in the form of a Regulation 1/2005) to ‘protect’ animals during transport. But in reality, and despite this EU Regulation, the EU cannot, or does not wish to give protection to EU animals which are being transported to Turkey !, or to many other locations within the EU. It would be a joke it was not so bad and involve so much suffering.
So, what is the point of a farce of an ‘EU Regulation’ to protect animals during transport ? when it is clear (and has been for many years) that regulations and rules do nothing and mean nothing to certain member states ? – are we not going to see the same when Serbia joins up ?
Also – What is the actual point of Mr Van Goethem and his ‘team’ when they cannot even enforce EU regulations that exist or take action to amend the blatantly clear animal abuse and suffering evidence which is presented to them ?
Maybe it would be best for the useless Van Goethem and his team to all take very early retirement; like this week ! – who wants to pay millions into an EU each week only then to witness gutless and pointless departments such as van Goethems come along and say “well there is not really anything we can do despite the regulations”.
Is that an EU – if it is, then it is crap; just like the majority who ‘work’ and take money from it.
So, where are we now ? – nowhere different to where we were last week or probably 5 years ago, as Lesley’s video makes clear. We fight on as always, against utterly useless bureaucrats like Mr Van Goethem, – the man with a nice pay cheque but a man who can not enforce the regulation.
If this is not the best example of why the UK should get out of the EU, then he and his team are a wonderful example. It is a typical example of the people who take fat salaries, sit in the corridors of Brussels, and then tell us that in reality, they are powerless to do anything for the better. Do we want to be in an EU run by Van Goethems and the rest ? – NO.
As an existing EU citizen, I should be able to rely on the EU, my EU, to take action when it is obviously clear (in evidence) that things are wrong. The evidence is clear, but the Van Goethems of this world do not, cannot and will not take action against those who break the rules. That is a sad situation; I guess when a situation like that arises, you get up and walk away, and take action and campaign from the outside.
Hopefully, come 23rd June, that is what the people of the UK will do. As for the EU; well it can fester in its own uselessness whilst giving welcoming kisses and hugs to new corrupt member states such as Serbia; or ‘Romania 2’ as it is now called.
Our petition for animals exported to Turkey is still open.
Send an e mail to the utterly useless EU team using this address – cab-andriukaitis-webpage@ec.europa.eu
Lesley has produced a sample letter which you can send to the useless Commission at the above e mail. Copy and send or use it as the basis for your own.
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Commissioner Andriukaitis,
The suffering of farm animals trucked along the route from Europe to Turkey is well known. Your authorities at the EU Commission and all exporting Member States have received photos, video footage and detailed reports about the reality on the ground there since 2010. These problems are not incidences, but routine violations of the EU animal-transport legislation and to the dignity of sentient beings. Society has evolved, and transporting live animals in ways that are known to cause, or seriously risk causing suffering and pain, is no longer acceptable. I am a resident of Europe and I would like to kindly insist that the European Commission puts its foot down on this trade route and finally puts an end to the misery. I am particularly appalled at the fact that Europe is planning on exporting over 5000 cattle this month to Turkey, right when the summer heat peaks and suffering is known to be the most unbearable.
Please let the Commission know you are an EU citizen if you reside within an EU member state.
Other past posts we have written on the EU / Turkish exports issue:
You ask yourself – what is the point of giving millions of pounds to the EU each week when they disregard your evidence and are as useless as what they are ?
Vote out – and we say that to all EU member states.
Above – June 23rd – just as useless as EU politicians
– one thing and one thing only of interest to them – self survival !
Problem ? – what problem ? – we say no problem.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere !, LETTERS, PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering), The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 5, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
For the second time I got an automatic reply mail to the petition ” Quail farming in the EU: End the Cage Age”.
Since December 2014 every EU citizen must be registered in the Transparency Register, before his case sees the desk of some MEPs.
Justification: “Transparency also makes a decisive contribution to encourage European citizens to be more actively involved in the democratic life of the EU”.
My participation in this petition never entered to Mr. Andriukaitis.
My concern, to protection of some animals which still live in the concentration camp was not important for Mr. Andriukaitis.
Him and the EU are interested only and primarily in registering my person in the archives of the EU.
Animal welfare has been archived before it was practice.
And Mr. Andriukaitis and the EU AG (where he belongs) call it participation of citizens in democratic life.
I call that an impertinence.
In reality, it is about a hidden surveillance.
Since the establishment of the register in 2014 only 8,000 entities have been entered!
From about 300 million inhabits of the EU zone!
And the rest?
It’s very simple: individuals are sorted out and powerful lobby organizations have access.
This is meant by “register ID number”!!
Every day the EU adopt EU bureaucrats anything without my permission and without my knowledge.
Any attempt to get into dialogue with MEPs lands in monologue.
Under dialogue the EU understands an automatic reply mail, confirming me every time that animal rights cannot exist if human Duties don’t!
And the first (and minimum) requirement of an EU parliamentarian, who earned more than 20,000 euros per month, is the direct contact with his voters.
Otherwise, the 8,000 registered entities of the Transparency Register should by themselves pay the salary of MEPs. And we can spare ourselves the elections.
Especially true for Mr. Andriukaitis: if he actually writes highly transparency, he should first ensure transparency in his office.
The transparency, of which he speaks, looks good only on paper.
Because, since October 2012, after the corruption scandal of John Dalli, the Office for Health and Consumer Protection is under absolute distrust.
We have not forgotten this affair!
Hopefully neither Mr. Andriukaitis!
Venus
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 5, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Gathering in Paris against slaughterhouses / Marche pour la fermeture des abattoirs à Paris
Next Sunday, June 12, in Brussels.
PETITION LINKS ON OUR WEBSITE :
UK
IRELAND
SPAIN
FACEBOOK LINKS with translations of the petition text in over 25 European languages also on our website
Please support our europe-wide petition, sign and share with all your contacts be it family, friends, acquaintances or colleagues. Thank you.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 5, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The World’s Loneliest Killer Whale Dealt Setback on Road to Freedom
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/06/03/lolita-killer-whale-loses-court?cmpid=tpanimals-eml-2016-06-04
Lolita posing pre-show at the Miami Seaquarium. (Photo: Ines Hegedus-Garcia/Flickr)
A judge rules that the harassment and harm Lolita faces in her tiny tank at Miami Seaquarium aren’t reason enough to call for her release.
David Kirby has been a professional journalist for 25 years. His third book, Death at Seaworld, was published in 2012.
Bio
Lolita, the captive killer whale at the Miami Seaquarium, had her day in court—and she lost.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Miami dismissed a lawsuit filed on Lolita’s behalf by a coalition of animal rights groups claiming that the subpar conditions in Lolita’s tiny tank were a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The groups filing the suit included the Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Orca Network.
“We were definitely surprised by this decision, based on an incredibly narrow and, we believe, flawed interpretation of the ESA,” said PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman. Goodman said the judge in the case, Ursula Ungaro, “interpreted the act to not protect captive endangered animals from anything but imminent death, and there is simply no basis for that in the law.”
“It’s an unprecedented opinion,” he said.
Miami Seaquarium officials were not immediately available for comment.
Lolita was yanked from her family in Puget Sound in 1970 at around age four and has spent the past 46 years performing for tourists in Miami. She is a member of the Southern Resident killer whale population, which was listed as endangered in 2005. But that designation was not extended to Lolita until 2015, after PETA and other animal welfare groups successfully sued the federal government to include her in the listing.
That ruling, which gave Lolita endangered species protection, brought new hope to thousands of people around the world who have fought to return her to her native waters and perhaps reunite her with her family.
Why? Because the ESA prohibits the “take” of an endangered animal. “Take” typically means killing or capturing an animal, but it also includes harassment and harm. Under the ESA, “harassment” is defined as any act that might damage wildlife by “annoying it to such an extent as to significantly disrupt normal behavioral patterns.”
The lawsuit alleged that Lolita is being harassed and harmed at the Miami Seaquarium and asked the judge to order the orca’s retirement to a netted-off sea pen.
Animal rights groups argued that the size of Lolita’s tank, at 80 feet long and 20 feet deep, constitutes harassment because “Lolita is unable to engage in natural behaviors,” Goodman said. “She can’t swim any meaningful distance, and she can’t dive, because her tank at its deepest point is the same length as her body.”
The lawsuit also alleged Lolita is being harassed by the Pacific white-sided dolphins she shares her tank with. Under the Animal Welfare Act, captive marine mammals must have “at least one compatible animal of the same or biologically related species…unless it is not in the best interest of the marine mammal’s health or well-being.” The dolphins routinely rake Lolita’s skin with their teeth and engage in inappropriate sexual behavior with her, causing distress, the plaintiffs said.
But Ungaro ruled that “harm” and “harassment” under the ESA are different for captive endangered animals like Lolita from what they are for those in the wild.
“A licensed exhibitor ‘takes’ a captive animal in violation of the ESA…only when its conduct gravely threatens or has the potential to gravely threaten the animal’s survival,” Ungaro wrote. Otherwise, she said, AWA regulations take precedent over the ESA, adding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the AWA, has found the Miami Seaquarium to be in compliance with the law.
“There is simply no evidence…that these conditions gravely threaten Lolita’s existence,” Ungaro wrote.
“It’s a somewhat tortured analysis,” Goodman said. People have been prosecuted for a take of wild marine mammals simply by feeding them, which doesn’t “gravely threaten their survival,” he added.
“The ESA provides greater protection than the AWA, and we believe that an animal can still be taken even in AWA-compliant conditions,” Goodman said, adding that plaintiffs will appeal the ruling.
“This decision puts Lolita in a catch-22,” said Orca Network Director Howard Garrett. “She has to be almost dead to show the court that she’s in grave danger. We have to double down on the park owners to do the only morally respectable thing and let her retire.”
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 3, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Well done everyone who wrote, petitioned etc
– you have won !
Hi Mark, You did it!
Betty Crocker has ditched dirty palm oil!
I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible that my colleagues in the US spoke to parent company General Mills this afternoon.
They confirmed they will stop buying from palm oil giant IOI.
Thanks for all your help,
Jamie
Greenpeace
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 3, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
URGENT HELP NEEDED!
Unfortunately Ian is a lot sicker than we thought. Other than a hairline fracture of the lumbar spine and an air rifle pellet close to the lungs, he also has severe hemoplasma and feline herpes virus.
We’re supposing the recent injury to his spine was the trigger to the weakening of his immune system and all of the health issues he’s currently experiencing are just a consequence. He’s been receiving IV fluids for hours every single day, the vet is giving him two different antibiotics, vitamins, minerals and amino acids and only now, after almost a week of aggressive treatment, is he beginning to show some improvement.
He is FIV positive, thus not expected to make a speedy recovery, but we hope he is finally on the mend even though the vet refuses to give any prognosis.
Clearly Ian is not out of the woods just yet. Please help us cover the rapidly increasing costs of his treatment! Ian is extraordinarily brave, cuddly and as sweet as they come. He definitely deserves every chance we can give him! https://www.youcaring.com/cat-shelter-felix-512392
Niki was operated on a couple of days ago and everything went well. She will have her stitches taken out in about two weeks’ time.
She’s wearing an Elizabethan collar right now (which she hates, of course) but she has a good appetite and behaves normally, although she’s maybe a little grumpier than usual 😉 https://www.youcaring.com/cat-shelter-felix-512392
Filed under: Animals Requiring Adoption or Homes - Worldwide, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia, SHELTER - Information, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | Leave a comment »
Posted on June 2, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
1944: A boy doing his school lessons watched by his pet squirrel. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Voting in? You have the blood of Spanish bulls on your hands
The fact is that we care more about animal welfare. And if we left the EU, we could act on that.
Camilla Swift
4 June 2016
We British have always had a strange relationship with animals.
We spend £5 billion a year on our pets and it is often said that we love our dogs more than our children (perfectly understandable, in my book). It makes sense, then, that we have some of the world’s highest animal welfare standards. Our European neighbours don’t always have quite the same attitude. If we could ask our four-legged friends how they’d vote in the EU referendum, I’m pretty sure they’d woof, miaow or moo for ‘out’.
Take the Maltese, for example, who enjoy shooting turtle doves as they migrate every spring (a banned sport for which Malta has been given special dispensation). The French prize gastronomy far above animal husbandry, so force-feed their geese to make foie gras. Bullfighting, meanwhile, is still a popular pastime for many Spaniards.
The fact is that Britain is better at animal welfare, with or without the EU. And in many ways, being in the EU holds British farmers back. Why? Because, as with all the other legislation handed down to us from Brussels, we stick to the rules, while many other countries treat them as no more than vague suggestions.
Take sow stalls — narrow metal cages in which female pigs are kept while breeding. The UK banned them in 1999; the EU finally followed suit in 2013. The trouble is, many countries simply ignore the EU ruling. More than two years after the legislation was put in place, six countries had still failed to officially comply, and the National Pig Association believes that other countries which claim to stick to the rules are also flouting them.
The continued use of sow stalls isn’t just an animal welfare concern. They cut costs — that’s why they were invented — so EU countries that tacitly allow them can produce cheaper pork and still sell it into the British market. Our farmers struggle to compete: they’re being punished for obeying the law.
Similar cases are not hard to find. In 2013 Italy ran into trouble with the European Court. The Italians had known for 13 years that a ban on battery cages for egg-laying hens would apply from 2012 — but claimed they hadn’t had enough time to ensure all farms complied. They lost that argument, but all they had to pay as a result was the legal costs of the case — no fine was levied.
Furthermore, as a member of the EU, the UK cannot prevent the transportation of live animals, which are subjected to needlessly long, stressful and cramped journeys to be slaughtered on the Continent. Banning the practice might hinder inter-EU trade, so tens of thousands of British lambs are exported live and bleating to be killed in abattoirs which wouldn’t meet our welfare standards.
EU rules also allow for the free movement of pets thanks to pet passports. Animal charities believe the system is being abused, with hundreds if not thousands of puppies brought here each year on fake papers. Bred in terrible conditions, they are crammed into lorries (or sometimes suitcases) and shipped across the Continent for up to 40 hours — at less than eight weeks old. Our own Defra should of course do more to stop this, but the sad fact is the EU doesn’t care about the breeding of dogs half as much as we do.
Another welfare issue is Boris Johnson’s favourite hobby horse: the funding of bullfighting. In 2013 it emerged that payments were being made under the Common Agricultural Policy to Spanish farmers rearing bulls for bullfights — more ‘oh no’ than ‘olé’. The practice might well be part of Spanish culture, but it’s hard to see how it doesn’t break all kinds of animal welfare codes. MEPs voted last year to stop EU money going to breeders of fighting bulls — but under CAP rules the vote was ‘not executable’. Unless those rules are changed, it will continue to fund bullfighting. One has to ask: why would animal lovers choose to stay in a union where we have no control over where our money goes — and it’s virtually impossible to change things?
If we left the EU, then we would of course have to comply with the regulations of any country to which we exported. But we would have the option of refusing to trade with countries that didn’t meet our welfare standards, thus encouraging a better standard of welfare everywhere, not just at home.
Leaving the EU would let us make the most of our reputation as animal lovers.
Rather than compromising our standards, we could brand ourselves as a beacon of higher-welfare farming — and set an example not just to Europe but to the world.
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, LETTERS, The "Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) ALLIANCE | Leave a comment »
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 