Posted on February 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear Mark,
We’re hearing that the Trump administration will soon issue its final rule to roll back lifesaving clean car standards — which, if left in place, would help save drivers billions at the pump and eliminate billions of tons of carbon emissions.
Americans overwhelmingly support stronger vehicle emissions standards. Yet, three major automakers — GM, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler — recently sided with the Trump administration’s attacks on clean car standards.
We are facing a climate crisis, and transportation is the single largest source of climate-wrecking carbon pollution in the United States. Send a message to GM, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler, telling them that you won’t let them derail our climate progress.
NRDC and our allies are fighting back against these car companies’ attack on state safeguards — working hard to convince them to reverse course and support what’s best for our planet and our health, not their short-term profits.
NRDC’s attorneys are fighting this attempt to block state efforts — and stand ready to file a lawsuit against the broader rollback. Public pressure will help. The CEOs of GM, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler need to hear from you that their actions are unacceptable.
Act now: Help us reach our goal of generating 100,000 letters calling on these three automakers to support clean car standards.
Thanks for standing with us in this crucial fight.
Sincerely,
John Cross
Campaign Manager, NRDC
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Posted on February 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Animals neglected, abused, and killed at Colorado Pet Store. This is what you support when you buy animals.
And not just in Colorado, but all over the world!!
The demand for purebred puppies is causing people to misuse animals as parturients.
They are offered as puppies from a private source or from a loving breed, but in fact many of the animal babies advertised on the Internet come from dubious “breeding stations” from Eastern Europe and are brought and sold Europe-wide and also to Germany.
Usually much cheaper than by “breeders”, but there are also exceptions and puppies are sold for a lot of money. The problem is that the puppies are snatched from their mother far too early.
The result is that the puppies are often behaviorally disturbed. What is also bad: the puppies are not sufficiently medically cared for and are often already sick when they are handed over to the buyer.
It is not uncommon for them to die after a short time.
Trunk puppies, puppy rooms, hobby breeders, reputable breeders … What for? The animal shelters are full of wonderful animals waiting for a new home❤
With so much information about this criminal trade with racy animals, there should be no excuse for anyone buying a pet from a pet shop or from breeders.
Some don’t care that the shelters are full because there are many who are convinced that shelter animals have diseases or are problematic.
They are the ones who want to get a “pure” product with the purchase.
And with their purchase they kill the hope of an other animal that hopes for years for love, its own house and freedom in a home with its own family.
Don’t buy! never buy living beings, you wouldn’t do it with a human being either, right?
Adopt! save a life, make an animal happy and at the same time you act against the puppy mafia.
My best regards to all, Venus
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Posted on February 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
EU mafia: How crime bosses have abused the Brussels project to make billions!
THE European Union has allowed Mafia crime families to flourish by taking advantage of the bloc’s single market and lavish cash subsidies, an Italian MEP has claimed.
Sabrina Pignedoli, of the Five Star Movement, said crime bosses had capitalised on the EU’s expansion to Eastern Europe where they have invested vast sums of illicit cash in legitimate businesses.
Sabrina Pignedoli
During periods of economic crisis, Italian mafia-style groups – the Cosa Nostra, Camorra and Ndrangheta – have maintained a low profile in their home country while investing billions of euros into struggling firms across the Continent.
They use the legitimate business to launder cash from their large-scale drug trafficking, counterfeiting and toxic waste management enterprises.
Italian MEP Sabrina Pignedoli has called for a EU-wide approach to fighting Mafia activities (Image: GETTY)
Ms Pignedoli is calling for Brussels to adopt a bloc-wide approach to tackling the Mafia’s presence in Europe.
In Italy, specific laws have been introduced to tackle mobsters’ illicit and often violent activities after decades of crime syndicates profiting from lax rules.
The legislation clearly defines the activities of crime families – illegal or legal – and allows for their assets to be seized and confiscated.
It has allowed Italian authorities to target associates of organised crime gangs even if they have not broken the law themselves.
“This crackdown has led to the Mafia searching out new businesses opportunities elsewhere in Europe”, Ms Pignedoli said.
She added: “The fact that there are no barriers in Europe it makes it easier for the Mafia circulate goods and money.”
“The real problem is when they are money laundering they use banks, they use the legal economy, they buy restaurants and shopping malls – so they are invisible.
“They’re giving money to the economy and helping the economy but this money is being laundered from the profits of drug trafficking.”
Ms Pignedoli said the Mafia’s presence is often undetected, or even a blind eye turned to it, because of the growth in the struggling economies that are targeted by crime bosses.
The Ndrangheta, an Italian crime family from Calabria, was named in the investigation into the murder of Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak in 2018.
He and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, both 27, were found shot dead at close range at their home in the village of Vel’ka Macs outside the capital, Bratislava.
His story unearthed a series of Italian businesses, with ties to the Ndrangheta, that had obtained access to hefty EU subsidies from the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy, amounting to around £58 million over a 14-year stretch between 2004 and 2018 !!!.
The Ndrangheta crime gang also has ties to the UK, with corrupt allies in the City of London helping them to launder their cash, accounting for a surge in growth in the illicit industry that the National Crime Agency, in 2017, said was worth “hundreds of billions” of pounds a year.
And with the EU’s proposed enlargement into North Macedonia and Albania, Ms Pignedoli believes now is the time for Brussels to find a “one definition for the Mafia and organised crime”.
She said: “Now is the right time to reinforce anti-Mafia legislation in Europe.
We must have the law to fight the mafia and then we can open up towards other member states without problems”.
Express.co.uk has contacted the European Commission for comment.
My comment: As if we didn’t know! There’s no accounting for the money. Nobody knows what happens to it once we’ve paid it. It goes “into the system” and much of it vanishes without a trace via schemes and back handers and grants and loans etc. all lost in an accounting tangle that works like a bottomless pit, a scandal that has been going on for years.
Looks like the EU have become a Mafia as well, it’s become a partnership… ‘The Ndrangheta crime family was siphoning off billions in EU agricultural subsidies’!!
How could that happen without the EU knowing about it?
Or is that also part of the “family”?
The same old story – the EU chiefs have no interest in stopping this illegal activity because they are all on the payroll. Secondly, they are responsible for running the greatest protection racket that world has ever seen, all done in plain sight.
My best regards to all, Venus
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Posted on February 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
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Posted on February 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Yesterday, 15/2 was World Pangolin Day.
Here we want to share a little more about these wonderful animals who, thanks to man; are either listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
World Pangolin Day is an opportunity for pangolin enthusiasts to join together in raising awareness about these unique mammals — and their plight. Pangolin numbers are rapidly declining in Asia and Africa.
The demand for pangolins comes mostly from China, where pangolin scales are unfortunately believed to be a cure-all of sorts and pangolin flesh is considered a delicacy. In Vietnam, pangolins are frequently offered at restaurants catering to wealthy patrons who want to eat rare and endangered wildlife. There is no evidence to support claims regarding medicinal properties of pangolin scales or any other part of the pangolin.
Connect, get updates and share ideas for #worldpangolinday at facebook.com/WorldPangolinDay
Pangolins or scaly anteaters[2] are mammals of the order Pholidota (from the Greek word φολῐ́ς, “horny scale”). The one extant family, Manidae, has three genera: Manis, which comprises four species living in Asia; Phataginus, which comprises two species living in Africa; and Smutsia, which comprises two species also living in Africa.[3] These species range in size from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in). A number of extinct pangolin species are also known.
Pangolins have large, protective keratin scales covering their skin; they are the only known mammals with this feature. They live in hollow trees or burrows, depending on the species. Pangolins are nocturnal, and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites, which they capture using their long tongues. They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate and produce a litter of one to three offspring, which are raised for about two years.
The physical appearance of a pangolin is marked by large hardened overlapping plate-like scales, which are soft on newborn pangolins, but harden as the animal matures. They are made of keratin, the same material from which human fingernails and tetrapod claws are made, and are structurally and compositionally very different from the scales of reptiles. The pangolin’s scaled body is comparable in appearance to a pine cone. It can curl up into a ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armor, while it protects its face by tucking it under its tail. The scales are sharp, providing extra defense from predators.[17]
Pangolins can emit a noxious-smelling chemical from glands near the anus, similar to the spray of a skunk. They have short legs, with sharp claws which they use for burrowing into ant and termite mounds and for climbing.
The tongues of pangolins are extremely long and – like those of the giant anteater and the tube-lipped nectar bat – the root of the tongue is not attached to the hyoid bone, but is in the thorax between the sternum and the trachea. Large pangolins can extend their tongues as much as 40 cm (16 in), with a diameter of only 0.5 cm (0.20 inches.
Most pangolins are nocturnal animals which use their well-developed sense of smell to find insects. The long-tailed pangolin is also active by day, while other species of pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball.
Arboreal pangolins live in hollow trees, whereas the ground-dwelling species dig tunnels to a depth of 3.5 m (11 ft).
Some pangolins walk with their front claws bent under the foot pad, although they use the entire foot pad on their rear limbs. Furthermore, some exhibit a bipedal stance for some behaviour and may walk a few steps bipedally. Pangolins are also good swimmers.
Pangolins are insectivorous. Most of their diet consists of various species of ants and termites and may be supplemented by other insects, especially larvae. They are somewhat particular and tend to consume only one or two species of insects, even when many species are available to them. A pangolin can consume 140 to 200 g (4.9 to 7.1 oz) of insects per day. Pangolins are an important regulator of termite populations in their natural habitats.
Pangolins have very poor vision, so they rely heavily on smell and hearing. Pangolins also lack teeth; therefore they have evolved other physical characteristics to help them eat ants and termites. Their skeletal structure is sturdy and they have strong front legs that are useful for tearing into termite mounds. They use their powerful front claws to dig into trees, ground, and vegetation to find prey, then proceed to use their long tongues to probe inside the insect tunnels and to retrieve their prey.
The structure of their tongue and stomach is key to aiding pangolins in obtaining and digesting insects. Their saliva is sticky, causing ants and termites to stick to their long tongues when they are hunting through insect tunnels. Without teeth, pangolins also lack the ability to chew; however, while foraging, they ingest small stones (gastroliths) which accumulate in their stomachs to help to grind up ants. This part of their stomach is called the gizzard, and it is also covered in keratinous spines. These spines further aid in the grinding up and digestion of the pangolin’s prey.
Some species, such as the tree pangolin, use their strong, prehensile tails to hang from tree branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing insect nests inside.
Threats to this wonderful little animal
Pangolins are in high demand for Chinese traditional medicine in southern China and Vietnam because their scales are Pangolins are in high demand for Chinese traditional medicine in southern China and Vietnam because their scales are believed to have medicinal properties. Their meat is also considered a delicacy. 100,000 are estimated to be trafficked a year to China and Vietnam, amounting to over one million over the past decade. This makes it the most trafficked animal in the world.[41][43] This, coupled with deforestation, has led to a large decrease in the numbers of pangolins. Some species, such as Manis pentadactyla have become commercially extinct in certain ranges as a result of overhunting In November 2010, pangolins were added to the Zoological Society of London‘s list of evolutionarily distinct and endangered mammals.[45] All eight species of pangolin are assessed as threatened by the IUCN, while three are classified as critically endangered.[5] All pangolin species are currently listed under Appendix I of CITES which prohibits international trade, except when the product is intended for non-commercial purposes and a permit has been granted.[1]
Pangolins are also hunted and eaten in many parts of Africa and are one of the more popular types of bush meat, while local healers use the pangolin as a source of traditional medicine.[46]
Though pangolins are protected by an international ban on their trade, populations have suffered from illegal trafficking due to beliefs in East Asia that their ground-up scales can stimulate lactation or cure cancer or asthma.[48] In the past decade, numerous seizures of illegally trafficked pangolin and pangolin meat have taken place in Asia.[49][50][51][52] In one such incident in April 2013, 10,000 kg (11 short tons) of pangolin meat were seized from a Chinese vessel that ran aground in the Philippines.[53][54] In another case in August 2016, an Indonesian man was arrested after police raided his home and found over 650 pangolins in freezers on his property.[55] The same threat is reported in many countries in Africa, especially Nigeria, where the animal is on the verge of extinction due to overexploitation.[56] The overexploitation comes from hunting pangolins for game meat and the reduction of their forest habitats due to deforestation caused by timber harvesting.[57] The pangolin are hunted as game meat for both medicinal purposes and food consumption.[57]
Man, as with everything; the ‘intelligent’ destroyer of everything that lives in this world !
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 