Posted on January 27, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Further to our very recent post and the damage to Australian wildlife due to the need for meat demands – https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/01/27/australia-do-people-care-about-the-other-crisis-killing-koalas-kangaroos-another-very-interesting-view/ – we now look further into a report undertaken by the UK ‘Independent’ newspaper (which we admire for being independent) in conjunction with Greenpeace; and the impact that British meat eaters are having on habitat loss in South America. Being English, I do not hesitate to show this as I feel the meat eating Brits are as much to blame for the destruction as anyone else, no matter where they live – Regards Mark
Illegal logging in Argentina, where forests are being replaced by soya plantations ( Nicolas Villalobos / Greenpeace )
Chicken from UK supermarkets and fast-food chains ‘fuelling mass forest loss in South America’
Greenpeace calls for meat-reduction targets by big stores that ‘fail to monitor suppliers’ but run promotions.
The production of chicken to be sold in UK supermarkets, restaurants and fast-food chains is destroying wildlife-rich forests in South America, Greenpeace investigators claim.
Swathes of forest are bulldozed each year to grow soya, which is used to feed poultry in the UK and the rest of the world, a report by the charity says. The land used partly includes the world’s most biodiverse savannah, the Brazilian Cerrado.
South America’s forests are home to rare wildlife species and are a major absorber of damaging greenhouse gases, so eradicating the trees accelerates the climate and biodiversity crises.
But in failing to monitor where their animal-feed crops come from, Britain’s high-street brands are “contributing to the deforestation“ – some of which is illegal, it’s claimed.
Consumers swapping red meat for chicken and other poultry are also fuelling the demand, and supermarkets and fast-food chains are pushing up sales with special offers on chicken, according to the study.
The UK imports more than 3 million tonnes of soya every year from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, official figures show, the bulk of it to feed factory-farmed animals, mostly chickens.
The report, called Winging it: How the UK’s Chicken Habit is Fuelling the Climate and Nature Emergency, says that meeting Britain’s annual demand for high-protein soya requires 1.4 million hectares of land – an area larger than Northern Ireland.
Greenpeace, which is calling on food giants to set meat-reduction targets, surveyed 23 UK supermarkets and fast-food and coffee chains about their chicken sales and soya usage. It says it found:
Some supermarkets are buying their soya from commodity giants including two that have been fined for trading in soya from illegally deforested areas in the Brazilian Cerrado
UK supermarkets account for two-thirds of the UK’s soya imports – the vast majority for chicken feed
Tesco alone admitted using a sixth of the UK’s soya – 99 per cent of it for animal feed
Some leading supermarkets claim to support production of sustainable soya – or have a plan to switch to no-deforestation sources – but this means buying credits to offset their soya use
None of the companies surveyed could guarantee the soya they used for meat production was deforestation-free. McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Nando’s and Subway refused to disclose their meat sales or soya use altogether
Supermarket promotions of chicken legs more than doubled last year, and price cuts trebled, according to market research by Kantar.
But a Roundtable on Sustainable Soya report, also last year, found that just 2 per cent of the UK’s imports come from zero-deforestation areas. And Greenpeace says not a single company it contacted was able to show it tracked the full amount or origin of the soya used as animal feed in its supply chain.
The Amazon is protected from further expansion for soya production by a 2006 ban but other areas with vital ecosystems such as the Cerrado and the Gran Chaco – South America’s second largest forest – are still being exploited, the report shows.
The Cerrado Manifesto, launched in 2017, calls on companies to voluntarily pledge to curb further deforestation.
Cattle ranching is also a big cause of forest loss but most Brazilian beef is consumed in the country, leaving soya “a more significant component of many countries’ deforestation footprint”.
Greenpeace UK forest campaigner Chiara Vitali said: “Consumers cutting red meat are clearly trying to do the right thing for the right reasons but supermarkets and fast-food restaurants are keeping them in the dark when it comes to the precious forests being destroyed.
“A straight swap from beef to chicken effectively amounts to outsourcing emissions of our meat consumption from the UK to South America.”
The world cannot continue to consume industrially produced meat at current levels, she said.
Analysis by the charity of EU figures suggests soya causes even more forest loss than palm oil.
Leah Riley Brown, of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “Retailers are working together to tackle deforestation and drive greater uptake of certified sustainable soya in their supply chains.
“The BRC has publicly called on the Brazilian government to stop Amazon deforestation for soy production and is working with other stakeholders to ensure soya sources meet customer expectations on sustainability.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “We agree with Greenpeace that more must be done to stop deforestation linked to food production. This is why we will source all the soya we use as animal feed from verified zero-deforestation areas by 2025 and are leading efforts to develop the Funding for Soy Farmers in the Cerrado initiative, which will protect biodiversity by preventing any new land being cleared for soya production.”
McDonald’s said it aimed to eliminate deforestation from supply chains by 2030. “We are prioritising by the end of 2020 the raw materials our suppliers buy in greatest volume and where we can have the biggest impact: beef, chicken (including soya in feed), palm oil, coffee and the fibre in packaging. We are committed to sourcing soya for chicken feed that does not contribute to deforestation, and have identified the regions with high deforestation risks. In 2018, approximately 74 per cent of the soya used in the feed of chickens supplied to our restaurants in Europe was covered by a combination of ProTerra and Roundtable on Responsible Soy certification,” a statement said. “In 2017, we became one of the first companies to sign the statement of support for the Cerrado Manifesto.”
A Nando’s spokesperson said: “We’re proud that for four years, all our soya has been responsibly sourced under the Round Table on Responsible Soy, ProTerra or equivalent standards. This is not just the soya we use as an ingredient but also in our supply chain, which means we buy credits to cover the volume of soya fed to our chickens. We’re always striving to do more. In 2017, we joined over 60 companies in signing a statement of support for the Cerrado Manifesto and we’re proud to be an active member of the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soya.”
A Burger King spokeswoman said most of itschicken was sourced from the UK and Europe, and only some from Brazil. “However, we hold supplier commitments that neither the poultry nor the feed it is raised on is former rainforest land. We are working with our suppliers on an ongoing basis to review the systems they have in place to ensure these accreditations can be upheld.”
A Subway spokeswoman said the chain had a sustainable soya policy. “We therefore require our franchise owners’ suppliers to comply with this policy and to continually increase the amount of RTRS-certified soya used in Subway products with the ultimate aim of achieving 100 per cent certified sustainably sourced soy by the end of 2020. The Subway brand has a zero-deforestation policy. Suppliers are required to source all raw materials from areas which haven’t been subject to deforestation, or from areas of high conservation value.”
A KFC spokesperson said it had been in touch previously with Greenpeace over the issue, and would welcome further discussion. “KFC UK and Ireland supports long-established policies against deforestation and a commitment to work with our supply chain partners to sustainably source key produce and commodities, including chicken and soya. We are actively engaged in this issue and looking at how we strengthen our policies to do all we can to eliminate deforestation risk, working with our global teams and partners such as WWF to ensure that any sourcing decisions we make are informed and sustainable ones.”
As Australia’s unprecedented bushfires continue to rage, heartbreaking images of scorched koalas and charred kangaroos have devastated viewers around the globe. An estimated 1 billion or more animals have died in the fires, but it’s the pitiful photos of flame-chewed koalas being carried from the blaze like bewildered, beat-up babies that have perhaps most captured our collective sympathy and despair; along with the images of beleaguered kangaroos, their normally genial silhouettes frozen in panic against a backdrop of roaring orange.
It is unbearable to witness.
Thankfully, these same images have also inspired millions of people to donate to rescue groups on the ground retrieving animals from the fires and tending to their injuries. But as the surge of combined sorrow and sympathy for these iconic animals swells around the world, I find myself wondering: What about the other crisis that is killing Australia’s koalas and kangaroos, and in even greater numbers?
The World Wildlife Fund reports an estimated 45 million animals are killed each year in the Australian state of Queensland alone just from bulldozing of their habitat, a crisis they note is “driven primarily by the livestock industry.” In just 4 years, between 2012 and 2016, bulldozing of trees killed at least 5,183 koalas in the state. Queensland RSPCA’s Mark Townend notes, “The mass suffering, injury and needless deaths of wild animals caused by the bulldozing of their forest homes is largely hidden but it is Queensland’s greatest animal welfare crisis.”
Queensland had the largest koala population on the continent in 1990, with an estimated 295,000; but in just 20 years that number decreased by more than 40%, while on the Koala Coast, 80% of these animals have been lost. Thousands of koalas continue to be killed each year as more forests are cleared for cattle grazing in response to consumer demand for beef. But it’s not just Queensland. In Australia as a whole, “beef cattle production is the major driver of tree-clearing.”
Millions of Kangaroos Killed for Burgers & Beef
The same industry is also terrorizing and destroying kangaroos en masse. Since the year 2000, an average of more than two million kangaroos per year have been shot by commercial shooters for the meat industry.
Posted on January 26, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
by Four Paws, Germany
Background
Sows that are used in ultra-modern pig breeding for piglet production spend about half of their lives in body-sized metal cages, which the industry calls a “crate”.
This box stall is so small that the sow cannot turn around. As a result, the natural needs of the domestic pig cannot be met in the least.
The industry justifies this form of keeping with the aim of keeping the piglet’s death rate low. But it’s all about economy: producing as many pigs as possible in the shortest possible time, in the smallest possible space.
You can see what the life of a breeding sow looks like in this video:
Fertilized at 7 months
The sow is inseminated for the first time at around seven months. To do this, it is locked in the box stall in the “Deck Center”. The “intoxication” (phase of receptivity) is brought about by hormone injection. This way the sow can be inseminated artificially.
After that, she stays in the crate for at least four weeks. The industry argues that pregnancy is more likely to be preserved.
The problem
Mother sows are treated like childbearing machines. Their life is an uninterrupted cycle of artificial insemination, pregnancy, birth, suckling time and renewed insemination, so that a sow gets piglets two to three times a year.
Giving birth and suckling in very tight spaces
The sow is brought to the “farrowing stall” about a week before the expected date of birth. There she is crammed into a metal cage for about 5 weeks (crate in the “farrowing pen”) in which she has to give birth to about ten to 20 piglets, which she sows there for about three to four weeks. The grid separates the mother from her piglets.
The piglets can reach the teats of the mother under the rods, but the mother cannot make loving contact with her piglets.
After the suckling phase, the sow is usually immediately brought back into the breeding center and into the pig cage again.
It is only during her pregnancy that she has to be kept in the group for a few weeks.
Piglets give birth until death
A sow goes through this “production cycle” until it no longer achieves the desired “rearing performance” of an average of about 30 piglets per year. Then she is slaughtered.
Most sows only survive this cycle for a few years. The natural life expectancy of pigs would be much higher.
The law situation
A ruling from 2015 states that the existing crate stands are much too small. They have not met the requirements of the husbandry regulation since 1992and are therefore illegal. The housing regulation states that “pigs lying on their side must be able to extend their limbs undisturbed.”
Instead of finally ensuring that this requirement is implemented, the federal government wants to keep the illegal box-type booths in place for another 17 years. (!!!).
This cruel form of animal husbandry should continue to be allowed after this. Only the time in which the sows can be fixed should be reduced.
Instead, legalize the crate
In order to make the illegal state legal, it is planned to simply delete the decisive sentence “that the pigs must be able to stretch their limbs in a lateral position without hindrance” from the regulation.
Thus, a spoken court judgment is simply overridden.
FOUR PAWS launched an online protest in November 2019 and asked the heads of government of the federal states to speak out against a planned ordinance by Federal Minister Julia Klöckner.
With success: Over 100,000 protest emails prompted the federal states to submit numerous proposals for changes to the draft.
four paws demand:
-A ban on keeping sows in crates, both in the deck area and in the farrowing area
Free farrowing systems (with protection against piglet crush), in which the sow can build, move and turn around as well as establish social contact with her piglets
– Limitation of an individual fixation to an absolute minimum (by the hour), e.g. for treatment purposes
– Long straw always available as nesting material in the farrowing area before the days of birth
– Roughage available at all times to feed and keep sows busy (in the deck, waiting and farrowing area)
– Group keeping of sows, stable group composition
– Sufficient space for free movement and for structuring the bay
– Scattered, soft lying areas and delimited relaxation areas
– Exclusive use of sows that give birth to on average only as many piglets as they can suckle (average number of piglets per litter must not exceed the number of teats)
The widespread protest by over 20 animal and environmental protection organizations has led to the postponement of the vote in the Federal Council that was originally planned for December. The new schedule provides that the Federal Council will vote on February 14th.
Demand now to reject this regulation and to finally abolish crate stands!
Joint petition from:
Albert Schweitzer Foundation for Our Fellowship Animal Equality Germany e. V. Bundesverband Tierschutz e. V. Compassion in World Farming PROVIEH e. V. FOUR PAWS – Foundation for Animal Welfare
My comment: According to the draft in the crate, the maximum permissible fixation period for sows is to be reduced from the current 35 days to eight days in the breeding center and to five days in the farrowing area.
Both in the deck center and in the farrowing area, the minimum length of the crate should be 220 cm in the future instead of the previous 200 cm.
These are the changes in the so-called “box stands for sows”, which are supposed to happen in our banana republic in 17 years, and are accompanied by an outrageous lobby quote from a corrupt agriculture minister:
“With our draft regulation, we are creating more space and animal welfare in the barn. Implementing the measures at short notice would not be feasible, especially for small businesses. We want to keep production with us in Germany; only here can we influence the conditions,”(Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner).
I recently received a message from the Albert Schweizer Foundation saying: More than 160 other associations from the “End the Cage Age” alliance have now sent an open letter to the new head of the EU Commission. In it, the appellants appeal to Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides and Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski to take progress and listen to the concerns of Europeans. The EU must not lag behind in animal welfare issues, but must set the tone.
This also means: Abolish cage keeping “.
Does the EU have to set the tone?
And when did the EU do something good for animals?
And when did the EU respect a million citizens’ initiative?
Why do we still have animal transports for days or weeks?
Why do we still have chick shredders?
Piglet castrations without anesthesia?
And now we have the new horror plans of a corrupt minister for the extension of the sow boxes for another 17 years.
Is anyone who still believes in an EU decision to end cage ages?
Is anyone who still wants to keep and pay for this corrupt and useless EU gang?
Our hour started off really well with a visit by a Great Spotted Woodpecker – managed to grab a couple of quick, bad shots of him having a feast on the peanuts. Lots of visitors over the hour including:
Woodpecker
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Robin
House Sparrow
Starling
Collared Dove
Magpie and
Blackbird.
It started to rain about half way through, which did not help; but we have now completed the results paperwork and it will be posted over the next few days.
An enjoyable hour just watching all the birds in the garden – amd knowing that your own watch results contribute to helping with the national survey of birds in the country. Would very much recommend –
Posted on January 26, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Horrifying images inside live animal market feared ‘ground zero’ for Coronavirus
WARNING DISTRESSING IMAGES Dirt-encrusted floors and blood splattered on walls did not put off shoppers who visited the food emporium in Wuhan, China to stock up on illegally traded animals
Stomach-churning pictures have emerged of the live animal food market in China believed to be at the centre of the cornoavirus outbreak.
Rats, snakes, wolf pups and koalas are openly spotted illegally for sale at The Huanan Seafood Market in the central city of Wuhan.
Dirt-encrusted floors and walls splattered with blood did not put off shoppers who visited the filthy site to stock up on the contraband.
Wild, exotic and farmed animals are packed together, described as a breeding ground for disease and an incubator for a multitude of viruses to evolve and make the jump to humans.
An estimated 56million people are on lockdown in China to stop coronavirus spreading, according to reports.
In addition public transport has also been closed across 18 cities in the country after the death toll jumped to 41 on Saturday from 26 a day earlier.
Gao Fu, director of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, blamed the site for the killer illness, saying: “The origin of the new coronavirus is the wildlife sold illegally in a Wuhan seafood market.”
It is believed a number of the early sufferers of the coronavirus were employees of the wet market.
In one image two workers wearing pink gloves can be seen skinning rodents next to a “prepared” mountain.
Another shows a smiling worker holding up an animal by the scruff of the neck which looks in distress.
The market advertised a plethora of live animals for sale including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, peacocks, porcupines and game meats.
“Freshly slaughtered, frozen and delivered to your door,” said the price list for the vendor called Wild Game Animal Husbandry for the Massesm, which also listed a price of 70 RMB (£7.70) for koala meat.
While other sellers sold unusual parts of animals such as a deer penis for £44 or the penis of a crocodile for under £5.
Another distressing picture shows frustrated koalas trapped in a tiny cage to fester until they are bought and killed to use for food.
While snakes are seen crammed into a small cage in another photograph.
The disturbing images were taken before the site was closed by Chinese officials in December
They graphically show the insanitary conditions the live animals were living in while the food emporium has now been dubbed “ground zero”.
Other images shows caged porcupines on sale, alongside endangered pangolins.
Sellers saying trade in wildlife took place up until the market was shut for disinfection after the outbreak began.
It has put China’s poorly regulated wild animal trade, driven by demand for exotic delicacies and ingredients for traditional medicine, under the spotlight.
Conservationists have long denounced the trade in wildlife for its impact on biodiversity and the potential for spreading disease.
However government medical adviser, Zhong Nanshan, has said badgers and rats could be the original source.
Hu Xingdou, an independent political economist, said Chinese people’s love for eating wildlife had deep cultural, economic and political roots.
He said: “While the West values freedom and other human rights, Chinese people view food as their primary need because starving is a big threat and an unforgettable part of the national memory.”
The Cultural Revolution, lasting from 1966 to 1976, a period of political and social chaos caused by Chairman Mao, saw two million people die and millions more left battling starvation.
It followed a widespread famine between 1959 and 1961 estimated to have killed tens of millions of people.
A large Chinese city can have a few hundred wet markets, the main outlets for poultry and meat.
Many cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing have banned sales of live poultry and animals in their downtown area.
But the markets are still common across the country.
Joseph Maldonado-Passage was found guilty in April of attempting to hire someone to murder Carole Baskin, a prominent animal rights activist, according to the U.S. District Court for the Western District Court of Oklahoma.
Baskin founded Big Cat Rescue, a popular animal sanctuary based in Tampa, Florida, dedicated to abused and abandoned animals such as lions, tigers, bobcats, and cougars. Baskin was an open critic of Maldonado-Passage and secured a million-dollar judgment against him and his business in 2011, according to the indictment.
Maldonado-Passage, who owned an exotic animal park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, posted numerous threats against her beginning in 2012 on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. He then promised in November 2017 to pay $3,000 for Baskin’s death and promised thousands more after her death, according to the indictment. The person he promised to pay was an undercover FBI agent.
Baskin read a statement in court, posted to the Big Cat Rescue website and her YouTube page, that said she has spent most of the last 10 years “seeing every bystander as a potential threat” due to the barrage of threats Maldonado-Passage sent.
She asked that the court consider what would happen to her family if “this vicious, obsessed man is ever released from jail.”
“If he completes his sentence and is released, we will end up spending the rest of our lives, constantly looking over our shoulders, for a threat to our lives,” Baskin said. “I hope you will give us as many years free of that threat as you can.”
Maldonado-Passage was also found guilty of nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act after he killed five tigers in October 2017 because he “needed empty cages” to house big cats that were going to be boarded at his park.
He was convicted on another eight counts of violations to the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records for “interstate” transactions.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 