Kent is the nearest county to Europe. During the second world war it was one of the major areas that was attacked by German bombers – and those heading to bomb London. Kent was the main county over which the Battle of Britain was fought. Because of this, and the fact that Kent has the ‘English Channel’ (one of the busiest sea lanes in the World) to the East and South, many aircrew were lost during the war on an area known as the ‘Goodwin Sands’ which lies a few miles off the coast. It has also been the location of many shipwrecks over the centuries which has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives.
Thus, we are supporting a campaign to stop the Goodwin Sands from being dredged for its aggregate.
The Goodwin Sands are a string of sandbanks some 25 square nautical miles in size lying 3 miles off the Kent coast in the English Channel. They are a unique marine environment with an underwater cultural heritage to match.
But this precious habitat is under threat and time is not on our side!
Dover Harbour Board want to extract 2.75 million cubic meters of marine aggregate from the Goodwins (as they are known locally) because it is their cheapest option. The purchase price from the Crown Estate who own the seabed is less than from commercial sites, but they are further away. DHB cite the carbon footprint as a reason to take the aggregate from the Goodwins but in reality this is a smoke screen which can be mitigated in other ways.
DHB applied for their licence from the Marine Management Organisation in 2016. However, concerns about their proposal have been so great that we are now preparing for an unprecedented third six-week public consultation period, which will start sometime in late summer. A decision whether or not to grant the licence will be made any time after this, depending on the reactions received.
Save our Military Remains and Shipwrecks
A Spitfire flies off the Kent Coast
According to the Kent Battle of Britain Museum, there are at least 60 military air crash sites and the final resting places of 80 aircrew from 1940 alone lying buried in the Goodwin Sands area. There are 11 more Dornier 17 German bombers also lying buried somewhere on the Goodwins, identical to the one which was found by a local diver in 2008 and recovered with international press coverage in 2013.
The Goodwin Sands are known hold about 2,000 shipwrecks, many which were lost with all hands. These wrecks have the reputation for being extremely well preserved. The wreck of the Admiral Gardner lies close to the proposed dredging zone. She was an East Indiaman, built in 1797, which was stranded on the sands during a gale in 1809. Although there is a 300m exclusion zone around her, the impact and vibration caused by nearby dredging could still disturb or damage her.
Four other ships – also Protected Wrecks Sites – Northumberland, Restoration, Mary and Stirling Castle were all wrecked on the night of the Great Storm, 19th November 1703, with the loss of 1201 lives. They lie on the seabed adjacent to the proposed dredging zone.
Save our Sealife
The Goodwins are home to a colony of 500 grey and harbour seals. They are also the spawning and nursery grounds of a variety of local fish and shellfish, with many shipwrecks providing a semi natural habitat. The Thornback Ray which is listed as ‘near threatened’ under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 has frequently been sighted there.
The colony of seals use areas adjacent to the proposed dredging zone as their ‘haul out’ sites i.e. where they rest on land at low tide. The noise and vibration from the huge dredgers will disturb them in their natural habitat; there is also the possibility of them being injured by collision with the dredgers and propellors as they are naturally inquisitive creatures.
The sands provide shelter to ships in bad weather (in an anchorage known as The Downs) and to the Kent coastline by absorbing the waves’ energy as they pound in from the North Sea. At low tide a large proportion of the sands are exposed and waves can be seen crashing onto them from the shore.
For the airmen and mariners who are at rest on the Goodwin sands, please help save the Goodwin Sands and their neighbouring environment from the destruction of dredging by signing and sharing this petition today.
Posted on February 25, 2018 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
In the USA there would be attempts under ‘Ag Gag’ to punish those who obtain such evidence really hard. Fortunately the German judicial system knows that the video footage obtained is for the good of the public, and should not be allowed to continue behind closed doors, as the industry wish.
22.02.2018 Naumburg, Germany: In the fully occupied courtroom of the Higher Regional Court Naumburg and in front of the doors, the verdict was greeted by animal welfare supporters with applause storms.
Earlier, the presiding judge of the 2nd Criminal Senate Gerd Henss had pointed out clearly that only the illegal filming had made public what conditions prevailed in the pig farm of the “van Gennip Tierzuchtanlagen” in the north of Saxony-Anhalt.
And: The animal rights activists had exposed a scandal and received as a receipt criminal proceedings. The animal welfare is in the present case to be valued higher than that of the house, which is why the lower court, the three animal rights activists of Animal Rights Watch acquitted legally, said court spokesman Henning Haberland.
“The Senate has considered the accused acts justified and stated in very clear terms that animal welfare is a legal matter superior to the injured home.”
Only because of trespassing revealed the grievances
The three animal rights activists – two men and one woman – had made it clear again in short statements that they only wanted to draw attention to the animal rights violations. Relieved, the Hamburg Jürgen Foss showed that he says he has been involved in animal welfare for 25 years.
“We were – I think I can speak for the three of us – very surprised, with which clarity the judge finally expressed our approach, which confirms that we are all on the right path, that is, bit by bit something moves, in the sense of the animals. ”
In 2013, Jürgen Foß and two other animal rights activists illegally invaded a pig farm with around 60,000 animals in Sandbeiendorf in northern Saxony-Anhalt and filmed grievances. In the pictures of the video you can see porked and fixed pigs. Apathetic, they lie in much too small metal bays in which the animals hardly move, not even their limbs can reach out. There’s no straw, instead the pigs live on bare concrete floors in filthy stables from GDR times.
Many of the over-bred piglets can not even stand, the legs slip over and over again.
We should all be happy, Judge Gerd Henss said literally, that the defendants had uncovered the grievances. Without the filming, Henss continued, it would never come to an investigation. It was the only way to force the authorities to act. Henss even speaks in this case of the fact that the veterinary authorities had covered up the grievances for a long time. However, it warns that the acquittal is not a license for – Quote – “self-proclaimed animal rights activists who break into stables illegally”.
“It requires certain knowledge that there are grievances there” ,so Hennig Haberland, the spokesman of the Naumburg Higher Regional Court.
So, only if animal rights activists had advance precise indications that would be violated against the animal welfare, only then one may penetrate into stables illegally and document the situation cinematically.
The acquittal of the animal rights activists is the first judgment, which was ever so pleased by a higher regional court in Germany, continued Haberland. Attorney-at-law Maria Ascheberg, on the other hand, accepted the verdict with a petrified expression, she had demanded a new trial.
The farmers are worried and dissatisfied with the verdict: “Now everyone could come in, break in and say they just want to work for animal welfare”, says a pet owner.
”The animal activists wanted to unsettle our industry. The verdict is a farce” says the spokesman for the farmers’ Saxony-Anhalt Farmers Association Christian Apprecht.
“So the rule of law turns out to be an indictment that it trusts its authorities so little and leaves so little responsibility, that he has to rely on third parties, that he does his job, that can not be.
Responsible for the pig farm in Sandbeiendorf in the Altmark, is the native of Utrecht family van Gennip, it is one of the largest pig farmers in Germany. She had sued the three animal rights activists for trespassing.
The prosecution had demanded fines between 300 and 800 euros.
But after the film shootings of the animal rights activists, the authorities were forced to act.
According to the Magdeburg Ministry of Agriculture, there have been several inspections since 2013 and conditions have been imposed.
For Saxony-Anhalt’s Agriculture Minister Claudia Dalbert of the Greens, the judgment of the Naumburg Higher Regional Court is groundbreaking.
The federal government is now called upon to ensure that!
Posted on February 23, 2018 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
‘Hero cow’ escapes abattoir in Poland by swimming to island
A local politician is fighting to give the brave bovine a lengthy retirement after her show of determination.
05:10, UK, Sunday 18 February 2018
Pic: Kawel Kukiz
By Alix Culbertson, News Reporter
A plucky cow that was being taken to an abattoir in Poland managed to escape after swimming to safety on an island.
Keen to keep her life the bovine made a run for it as slaughterhouse workers tried to load her on to a lorry at the farm she was raised on.
Having ignored advice she would need to be tranquilised the workers were then sent running after the escaped animal, Polish news show Wiadomosci reported.
A farmworker suffered broken and bruised ribs after the cow rammed a metal fence during her escape.
She then ran into the nearby Lake Nysa in south Poland close to the border with the Czech Republic and appeared to dive underwater, before swimming over to an island, which has become her new home.
The farmer, known only as Mr Lukasz, tried for a week to get the cow back but has given up and is now caring for her on the island, where he makes sure she has enough food.
He eventually called the fire brigade to help him shift the stubborn cow but when firefighters approached her by boat she swam about 50 metres to a peninsula.
Pawel Gotowski, deputy commander of the Nysa fire brigade, said they could not get closer than 70 metres to the cow because she was so scared.
The farmer said he does not want to put the cow down as he can still make money by selling her.
Her story has captured the nation, with local politician and former singer Pawel Kukiz offering to save the “hero cow” from her death.
He said: “If all citizens could show such determination as this cow then Poland would be a much more prosperous country.
“I am not a vegetarian, but fortitude and the will to fight for this cow’s life is invaluable.
“Therefore, I have decided to do everything to get the cow delivered to a safe place and, as a reward for her attitude, guarantee her a long-term retirement and natural death.”
The UK does NOT produce Foie Gras thankfully. It imports it from mainland Europe.
So, now the UK is getting out of the EU (big sense !) we have the chance to take back control and be a voice in the UK for animal welfare.
We have every chance once again of the UK becoming much better than the EU when it comes to animal welfare. UK citizens will ensure that.
Minister Michael Gove is very close to enforcing a complete ban on all Foie Gras coming into the UK.
Please watch the video below and see what is involved in Foie Gras production – force feeding which causes the birds liver to swell up to 10 times its normal size. This liver is then sold on after slaughter to so called Gastronauts who take pride in eating this product which causes so much suffering for animals.
Now Disgusted ? – Please sign the petition after watching the video – and push to make the UK Foie Gras Free !
Petition Link – Please Sign and give support to Minister Gove.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 