Posted on April 14, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
‘They might as well be letting off atomic bombs’: Sir Paul McCartney blames ‘medieval’ Chinese wet markets for coronavirus
‘Whoever is responsible for this is at war with the world and itself,’ said the former Beatle
Speaking to Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show, the former Beatle said: “They might as well be letting off atomic bombs because it’s affecting the whole world.”
“Whoever is responsible for this is at war with the world and itself.”
Although no origin for the deadly virus has been officially determined, some have heaped blame for the pandemic on China’s wet markets, which sell freshly slaughtered animals.
Last week, more than 200 conservation groups across the world signed an open letter calling on the World Health Organisation to force the closure of markets where wild meat is sold for consumption.
Stern brought up the topic of the markets to McCartney, who has been a very public vegetarian and animal rights campaigner for decades.
“I really hope that this will mean the Chinese government says, ‘Ok guys, we have really got to get super hygienic around here,’” McCartney said. “Let’s face it, it is a little bit medieval eating bats.”
“They don’t need all the people dying. And what’s it for? All these medieval practices. They just need to clean up their act. This may lead to it. If this doesn’t, I don’t know what will.”
McCartney also praised the community spirit that has emerged during the pandemic, saying: “A lot of people are pulling together and it is a great thing. It is inspiring.”
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Posted on April 14, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Pro-Trophy Hunting Lawyer Appointed Key Role at US Fish and Wildlife Service
Posted by Jane Wolfe | April 6, 2020
In an unconscionable move, Anna Seidman — a former lawyer for the trophy hunting group Safari Club International (SCI) — has been appointed assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) International Affairs program.
Seidman has sued the FWS a number of times during her 20-year tenure as litigator for SCI, an organization which successfully lobbied to revoke the ban on importing elephant body parts as hunting “trophies” from Africa.
In her new role, Seidman, who replaced Eric Alvarez, will head a team focused on protecting endangered wildlife and enforcing conservation pacts worldwide. This is in sharp contrast to her lengthy employment at SCI, where, as Director of Legal Advocacy and International Affairs, Seidman fought against legislation aimed at protecting wildlife, including a 2015 regulation that banned aggressive methods of predator control in national preserves and refuges — specifically in Alaska.
A spokesperson from the FWS confirmed the engagement to HuffPost, citing Seidman as “an effective, innovative leader with 20 years of legal and policy experience, including expertise in international environment and natural resource management.”
This appointment could potentially have far-reaching negative implications for the protection of wildlife.
To voice your concern, contact Chief Officer of Public Affairs for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gavin Shire at Gavin_Shire@fws.gov.
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Posted on April 14, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Coronavirus closes meat plants in Canada and the United States as world’s largest pork producer warns of shortages.
CHICAGO — Major meat companies in the United States and Canada have closed plants temporarily due to cases of the new coronavirus and concerns about its spread.
Here are some facilities that have shut or reduced production:
• An Olymel pork plant in Yamachiche, Quebec, shut on March 29 for two weeks, after nine workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
• Maple Leaf Foods suspended operationson April 8 at its Brampton, Ontario poultry plant, following three COVID cases among workers at that facility.
• Harmony Beef in Alberta, Canada, shut its cattle slaughter operations on March 27 for two days, after a worker tested positive for the new coronavirus, prompting some federal inspectors to stay away from the site.
• Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, on Sunday said it is shutting a pork plant indefinitely and warned that plant shutdowns are pushing the United States “perilously close to the edge” in meat supplies for grocers.
• JBS USA shut a beef plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania, until April 16, after previously cutting production.
• JBS reduced production a beef plant in Greeley, Colorado, due to high absences among workers, according to the local United Food and Commercial Workers union.
The company said high absenteeism led slaughter rates to outpace the process of cutting carcasses into pieces.
• National Beef Packing Co suspended cattle slaughtering at a beef plant in Tama, Iowa, for a cleaning and planned to resume on April 13.
• Aurora Packing Company closed a beef plant in Aurora, Illinois, said Brad Lyle, chief financial officer for U.S. commodity firm Kerns and Associates. A security officer at the plant said it was closed due to the pandemic. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
• Cargill Inc closed a plant in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, that produces meat for U.S. grocery stores.
• Tyson Foods Inc shut a hog slaughterhouse in Columbus Junction, Iowa, the week of April 6 after more than 24 cases of COVID-19 involving employees at the facility.
• Sanderson Farms Inc reduced chicken production to 1 million birds a week from 1.3 million at a plant in Moultrie, Georgia.
My comment: The USA is the second largest pig producer in the world after China.
Germany comes third.
35 million chickens, 424,000 pigs, 130,000 cattle. So many animals are slaughtered, cut into pieces, packed in Tyson Foods companies every week (!!!) – and then offered for consumption in supermarkets such as Walmart or fast food outlets like McDonalds in over 100 countries.
Every second person in the world eats meat from Tyson Foods, a meat producer who is considered to be the world’s largest polluter.
We are particularly pleased with the consequences of coronavirus on Tyson’s businesses.
And we wish Tyson and the rest of the meat mafia around the world the biggest losses the economy has ever seen.
My best regards to all, Venus
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Posted on April 14, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Famous whistleblower Edward Snowden has a dire warning for everyone grappling with the coronavirus pandemic: don’t let authoritarians exploit the crisis to claim more power.
Snowden told Vice that he sees the rise of emergency laws, increased surveillance, and other ways that governments have suspended civil rights to combat the pandemic as a disturbing power grab.
And, he added, he doesn’t expect the leaders behind it to relinquish the newfound power when the coronavirus outbreak finally recedes.
Snowden argued that a global pandemic was readily predictable, and that scientists and intelligence agencies had long been sounding alarm bells. Imposing new emergency surveillance, he argues, is a particularly disturbing play.
“As authoritarianism spreads, as emergency laws proliferate, as we sacrifice our rights, we also sacrifice our capability to arrest the slide into a less liberal and less free world,” Snowden told Vice.
Ultimately, Snowden fears that the world leaders claiming new emergency authority will hold onto them well after the pandemic ends.
“Do you truly believe that when the first wave, this second wave, the 16th wave of the coronavirus is a long-forgotten memory, that these capabilities will not be kept?” Snowden said.
“That these datasets will not be kept? No matter how it is being used, what is being built is the architecture of oppression.”
England
And I mean … All governments, at least in Europe, continue to be tough on the Corona virus, and that’s right.
However, no one is willing to ban meat consumption – at least during the blackout period.
And no one talks about the main cause of virus formation.
Even the conservative media warn of viruses and bacteria in factory farming and point this out every day.
Nevertheless: The animal transports go beyond the borders with even looser regulations than before, hunting in Germany is allowed without restrictions, feeding pigeons remains forbidden, with a fine of 1000 euros for non-obedient citizens
The stupid government in Germany wants to introduce the app warning system in mobile phones that send a signal as soon as a registered corona infected person appears.
That’s not all.
The German government expects 40 to 50 million volunteers of the app system !!!
In the first place it is voluntary, then it is mandatory.
The majority of the population does not understand what is really happening. And it doesn’t even understand that it doesn’t understand.
This makes the surveillance system easier than ever.
Animal rights activists will not be spared the future harmful consequences of the current corona measures.
Animal transport, undercover investigations in slaughterhouses, demonstrations against animal exploitation … It seems that more and more means are right to end the fight for the animals.
Our struggle has long become a political issue. We have to stay on the side of animals and fight against systems and governments that want to prevent our fight.
Stay free, stay active! for the animals.
Best regards to all, Venus
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