Posted on February 17, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear Mark,
We’re thrilled to share the good news: Just this morning the New Mexico Senate Conservation Committe passed SB 268, a bill that would ban coyote killing contests throughout New Mexico.
Authored by New Mexico Senator Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) and Senator Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque), passage of this bill would stop the dozens of organized competitions held annually in New Mexico in which participants compete for prizes for killing the most coyotes or the largest. Project Coyote Science Advisory Board member Dave Parsons served as Senator Steinborn’s expert scientist at the committee hearing, and Project Coyote supporters showed up to testify and lend their support to the bill.
Read this article in the Associated Press about today’s hearing:
We want to thank all of our New Mexico supporters who wrote and testified on the bill. SB 268 will next be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We will keep our New Mexico supporters apprised as the bill moves forward, and let you know how you can take action.
The momentum building statewide gives us great hope that these heinous killing contests will be banned entirely. Prior to introduction of the bill, Project Coyote and our campaign partners helped raise New Mexicans’ awareness of the issue with a multi-city premiere screening of Project Coyote’s documentary film Unfair Game: Ending Wildlife Killing Contests. Read more here and here.
We are hopeful that with sustained grassroots momentum, continued public education with our new film, and the effective work of our New Mexico wildlife coalition, we can make history by banning coyote killing contests once and for all in the Land of Enchantment.
With gratitude for your steadfast support,
Camilla H. Fox Founder & Executive Director
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Posted on February 15, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Posted on February 14, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Target: Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General
Goal: Hold Enbridge accountable for a massive oil spill that has irreversibly polluted the environment.
A 600,000 gallon oil spill recently burst forth from the Seaway Pipeline in Blue Ridge, Texas — ominously following Donald Trump’s decision to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. Oil spills of this magnitude serve as an important reminder that fossil fuels, and the infrastructure that accompanies them, should no longer be considered a viable energy option. Demand that Enbridge, the company responsible, be punished for this terrible spill.
Sadly, this latest accident apparently marks the second oil spill from the Seaway Pipeline since it began operating just under a year ago. Enbridge, which is a half-owner of the Seaway Pipeline, also holds a share of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). One of the key points in the case against DAPL has been the risk of contamination to local water sources if the pipeline were to leak or malfunction — this recent event with Seaway Pipeline goes to show just how justified these concerns are.
The cause of the spill is still unknown. Despite this being the pipeline’s second spill, Enbridge said it will be conducting clean-up as fast as possible for operations to resume. It’s obvious that this pipeline is unsafe and poses a danger to the environment and nearby communities. Companies like Enbridge cannot continue to profit at the expense of our Earth.
Demand Enbridge be charged for this oil spill, and that the Seaway Pipeline be shut down immediately.
PETITON LETTER:
Dear Attorney General Paxton,
Oil pipelines have repeatedly proven to be a danger to the environment and the communities that surround them. A 600,000 gallon oil spill in your state, apparently the second in less than a year from Seaway Pipeline, will be devastating to the environment. The companies responsible for these catastrophic events must be held accountable.
Enbridge cannot continue to operate and build pipelines, in the name of short-term profits, when the accidents and environmental impacts will affect our planet for years to come. I demand that you penalize Enbridge for this spill, and order the immediate shutdown of Seaway Pipeline.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Take action – please sign the petition:
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Posted on February 14, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Them following has been issued by PETA:
Leading Animal-Protection Groups and Others Sue USDA Over Website Blackout
Written by PETA | February 13, 2017
A coalition of leading animal-protection groups—including PETA, Beagle Freedom Project, Born Free USA, and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals—along with public health advocacy group the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Harvard Animal Law & Policy Fellow Delcianna Winders—filed a lawsuit this morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to compel the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to return to its website all records related to puppy mills, laboratories, roadside zoos, traveling animal shows, and other enterprises that use and exploit animals. Such records are required to be publicly available.
“Our lawsuit seeks to compel the USDA to reinstate the records, which it had no right to remove from its website in the first place,” Winders says. “The government should not be in the business of hiding animal abusers and lawbreakers from public scrutiny.”
The lawsuit contends that the sudden February 3 removal of these documents was illegal because the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires agencies to post frequently requested records on their websites. The USDA itself has acknowledged that inspection reports were the most frequently requested records before they were made available online years ago.
These inspection reports, research facility reports, and other records, the complaint explains, are essential for the groups’ work to expose cruelty to animals and to monitor the USDA’s enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The removal of the records also jeopardizes state and local laws prohibiting sales of dogs by businesses with AWA violations.
The lawsuit refutes the USDA’s suggestion that it’s sufficient for the agency to provide records in response to FOIA requests, a process that can take months or even years. According to the USDA’s most recent annual FOIA report, it can take as long as 836 days—i.e., more than two years—to process a “simple” FOIA request and up to 157 days for an expedited one.
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Posted on February 14, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Posted on February 14, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Have you read news from Tibet on our website or taken action in one of our campaigns?
None of this would be possible without our research partner Tibet Watch.
From their field office in northern India, Tibet Watch researchers collate and corroborate testimonies and eye-witness accounts of human rights abuses in Tibet. With over a decade of experience, Tibet Watch is the most effective organisation in the world for sourcing news from Tibet.
Tibetans risk life imprisonment for speaking out about the lack of freedom, so Tibet Watch must have the resources to protect its sources by ensuring its communication systems aren’t vulnerable to intrusion.
Will you help Tibet Watch this February?
Every pound you donate between 12 noon (GMT) on Monday 13 February and 12 midnight (GMT) on Monday 20 February, will be doubled.
Funds raised during Tibet Match will directly support the Tibet Watch field office. It costs:
$15 to heat the office during cold Himalayan winters
$40 for travel to interviews with Tibetan refugees
$100 for secure communications with contacts inside Tibet
$300 to help pay for researchers’ salaries
I hope you can help Tibet Watch continue their important work
Thank you
Eleanor,
Director, Free Tibet & Tibet Watch
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Posted on February 13, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
SAV Comment:
As we said at the start of the ‘in / out’ EU elections in the UK in 2016; we have always felt that for animal welfare, the UK can continue to grow stronger on this issue when outside of the EU. It is very interesting to read the comment from Theresa which says:
“Live exports would probably have been banned long ago if Westminster not Brussels had been the decision-maker. It is time this cruel trade was stopped once and for all and I would like to see a ban come into force on the day we leave the EU”.
This is just one small issue in Europe (but a big campaign for us !) that the EU in Brussels is not really addressing, despite all the evidence provided to them showing the cruelty on a daily basis. The UK will hopefully take back control on this issue. As we said before, UK welfare groups can only grow stronger campaigning outside of the EU, and fight across all aspects for better welfare, INCLUDING (new) animal welfare negotiations with new nations when trade deals are established. For example, we could fight to ensure that Chinese fur products are never allowed into the UK; and we could use our campaigns to ensure that the UK government always puts animal welfare on its list of ‘to do’s’ when discussing new trade deals.
The Junker / Van Goethem ignorance and ‘EU do nothing’ attitude is about to change in the UK. We hope that other current EU member states see things from our angle and that by going it alone, they can take back control of their own regulations and set newer, higher standards; or in the case of the UK and animal welfare, fight to make thins even better than they currently are under EU rules.
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Theresa Villiers MP will seek assurances from the (UK) Government that animal standards will at least remain at current levels when the UK leaves the EU.
High standards of animal welfare is one of the hallmarks of a civilised society. We have a long tradition in this country (UK) of protecting animals, often many years before others follow.
Around 80% of animal welfare rules are part of EU law. Leaving the EU means we have the chance to reaffirm our support for the highest standards of animal welfare.
It also gives us the opportunity to strengthen protection for animals as we design a new system of farm support to replace the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
In the debate I have tabled in Parliament, I will call on the Government to ensure that the forthcoming Great Repeal Bill maintains animal welfare standards at a level at least as high as they are today.
That does not necessarily mean every dot and comma of EU law in this area needs to be set in stone. There may be legislative options which maintain prevailing standards, but deliver that outcome in a more flexible way that better suits our domestic circumstances.
But the end result should be retention, not dilution, of laws which safeguard farm animals in this country; and our goal for the future should be further strengthening of that protection.
Food and farming is one of the most important sectors in the UK economy. We should use the CAP replacement to incentivise a move away from intensive industrial farming methods such as zero-grazing for dairy herds. Not only can intensive farming lead to unnecessary animal suffering, it can also involve the over-use of antimicrobials contributing to antibiotic resistance problems.
Continued financial support for agriculture is vital if we are to maintain high animal welfare standards. Whilst methods of good animal husbandry are being developed to keep the costs of maintaining animal welfare standards at reasonable levels, humane forms of agriculture will often cost more than intensive industrial production.
So agricultural support payments will be needed to ensure food produced with high welfare standards is not priced out of the market by cheaper less compassionate alternatives.
It will also be important to ensure that animal welfare is a significant consideration in future trade talks. We should not be afraid to ask those countries who wish to sell into our market to commit to acceptable standards of animal welfare. This should be reconcilable with WTO obligations, so long as a consistent approach is taken to different countries.
And lastly I will ask Ministers to bring forward legislation to bring to an end the export of live animals for slaughter in mainland Europe (exports to Ireland across our land border don’t give rise to the same concerns and should continue).
The enforcement of rules protecting animals transported over long distances is patchy and great suffering can occur. Live exports would probably have been banned long ago if Westminster not Brussels had been the decision-maker.
It is time this cruel trade was stopped once and for all and I would like to see a ban come into force on the day we leave the EU.
Theresa Villiers is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet
Other related articles:
Brexit: UK vets to remain ‘outward looking’ in securing animal welfare standards:
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 