Posted on April 28, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The governing board of the Brotherhood of Almonte (Huelva) has decided to suspend the pilgrimage of El Rocío, scheduled between May 29 and June 1, 2020, due to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
As reported by the brotherhood in a statement, “due to responsibility” and due to the evolution of the scenario caused by the covid-19, the government board has decided to also suspend all previous acts scheduled in Almonte such as the procession of the Virgen del Rocío through its streets on the 17th or the return to the village of El Rocío on the 24th of the same month.
It is a decision that the governing board of the Matriz de Almonte brotherhood has taken “with pain but with strength” and above all “out of responsibility”, taking into account the recommendations of all the authorities and considering “the highest priority in these Moments should be the only reason for everyone’s attention and concern: health. ”
And I mean…More than 20,000 animals are used each year in the Romería del Rocío among horses, oxen and donkeys.
More than 20,000 animals know exhaustion, mistreatment, lack of water and rest, injuries, and also death every year.
This year, and thanks to Corona they won’t have to go through that.
Go Corona, Go!
My best regards to all, Venus
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 28, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Virginia Bans Public Contact with Captive Big Cats, Monkeys and Other Exotic Animals
Posted by Jane Wolfe | April 22, 2020
In a victory for animal welfare, the General Assembly of Virginia has passed a new law banning public contact with captive wild animals, including lions, tigers, bears and monkeys.
Signed into law on April 2 by Gov. Ralph Northam, Senate Bill 1030 makes it illegal for any animal “keeper” to provide or offer direct contact with a “dangerous captive animal” to any member of the public, whether in exchange for payment or not.
In effect, the new legislation will prevent people in Virginia from “petting” these captive animals or posing for photos at cruel roadside zoos and tourist attractions, helping to bring an end to the suffering of innocent animals carelessly used for human amusement.
The bill was passed before the airing of Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, which offers a glimpse into the big cat industry’s greed and exploitation. It will come into effect on July 1, 2021. Anyone violating the law will be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor and subject to a fine of up to $500.
The Commonwealth already has a ban on the private ownership of big cats, but shockingly, there are thousands still being kept as “pets” in the United States. To help save these lions, tigers and other wild felines from unnecessary suffering, please sign LFT’s petition urging House and Senate leaders to pass The Big Cat Public Safety Act (BCPSA).
SIGN: Save Tigers and Lions from Miserable Captivity As ‘Pets’
Petition Link –
PETITION TARGET: United States House and Senate Leaders
Thousands of big cats are wasting away as “pets” in the United States. These majestic animals are torn from their mothers while only babies and may spend their lives pacing miserably in tiny, cramped cages with no hope of a natural life.
Not only do these animals suffer mentally and physically, but they are also a threat to people, with hundreds of dangerous incidents involving big cats and humans occurring over the last 30 years.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act (BCPSA) seeks to ban private individuals from owning any big cat species and restrict direct contact between these animals and the general public.
“Big cats are powerful predators, not pets, and pose a particular threat to public safety,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senator Richard Blumenthal.
Only licensed facilities would be allowed to house big cats, effectively removing these animals from roadside zoos.
The BCPSA is currently moving through the Senate (S. 2561) and House of Representatives (H.R. 1380) and needs your support!
Sign this petition urging House and Senate leaders to pass this bill, saving thousands of big cats from suffering.
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 28, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Following Shenzhen’s historic ban in April, Zhuhai has now become the second city in China to introduce a law banning the consumption of cats and dogs.
This welcome legislation, originally reported by China News, comes shortly after a public statement from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recognizing dogs as companion animals and not “livestock.”
After May 1 — the date the law goes into effect — anyone selling or consuming dog or cat meat could face financial penalties of up to 20 times the value of that meat, according to a report from Xinhua.
“As the second city in China to ban dog and cat meat, Zhuhai is helping pave the way to a more compassionate future,” said Lady Freethinker founder Nina Jackel. “Activists in China and across the globe have fought so hard to end this cruel and needless industry, and it’s exciting to see true progress happening.”
Shenzhen was the first Chinese city to prohibit its residents from eating cat and dog meat, and this could be the beginning of a domino effect that will lead to a nationwide ban.
As encouraging as this ban is, there are still millions of dogs and cats slaughtered in China’s cruel dog and cat meat trade, which continues throughout other Chinese cities. Lady Freethinker (LFT) is doing everything possible to end this barbaric practice.
If you haven’t yet added your voice, please sign LFT’s petition to save these innocent animals.
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 28, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Germany has released an unscheduled 305 million euros for research funding for the new corona virus.
While part of the funding is spent on animal testing, it is not clear whether and to what extent the development and application of modern animal testing-free in vitro methods such as human organoids are being funded.
The nationwide association Doctors Against Animal Experiments asked about the distribution of the funds and received only unsatisfactory answers. The association criticizes the lack of transparency and the flow of public funds in expensive and lengthy animal experiments as ethically and economically irresponsible for humans and animals.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has announced that, in view of the current COVID-19 emergency situation, it will provide additional funding both for research into the SARS-CoV-2 virus and for the development and testing of medicines and vaccines .
The corona virus cannot infect the usual “laboratory animals”, nor can it cause a severe course of disease in other animal species as in humans. Nevertheless, there is strong evidence that a large part of this special funding is used in animal experiments.
The international vaccine initiative CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) provides a large portion of this special funding, namely EUR 145 million.
CEPI is a public-private partnership that works with government sponsors as well as private foundations and companies. It coordinates and supports a wide range of projects for the development of various vaccines and vaccine technologies.
At the request of doctors against animal testing, CEPI was unable to provide any information about the proportion of the COVID-19 funding used for animal testing or for animal testing-free procedures. Since animal testing is generally much more expensive than the human-relevant in-vitro methods, it can be assumed that a lot of money will be invested in animal testing.
The strategic COVID-19 plan, which was developed by the international funding network GLOPID-R (Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness), of which the German Ministry of Education and Economy is a sponsoring member, together with the World Health Organization, is also unsettling.
In this plan, various animal experiments, especially those with mice and monkeys, are provided and described as milestones that should be encouraged and supported.
The German Ministry of Education and Economy supports projects from basic research with a total of up to 10 million euros – in addition to the 145 million for CEPI.
The following are listed as funding points for financing:
– Research into the genesis of the virus and its transmission between animals and humans
– Approaches to testing the transferability of existing animal models to CoV-2 and ”
-Development of new clinically relevant animal models and human cell models “(for example, lung infection model).
All three points are based on animal experiments.
In contrast to this, the human-based animal-free methods with the exception of the briefly mentioned “human cell models” are not listed as funding points.
We asked the German Ministry of Education and Economy what the distribution of these special funds between projects with and without animal experiments looks like, but our request has not yet been answered.
This is an indication that more funding can be invested in carrying out cruel and fruitless animal experiments with a wide variety of animal species than in the development of in-vitro high-tech technologies with human tissue.
The German Ministry of Education and Economy is investing 150 million in the establishment of a scientific network from German university clinics.
Although the focus should be on clinical work with patients, there are indications in the report that this money is partly also attributed to preclinical research, including animal experiments.
My comment: CEPI was founded in 2017 by several governmental and non-governmental donors in response to the 2014 Ebola crisis.
The German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports CEPI for up to 90 million euros for five years.
Other supporters so far have been Norway, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Belgium and Australia, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust (!!!)
With a bit of bad luck, a (compulsory) vaccination that is already being planned will not save us from the swamp.
This could be because we will be suffering from the next patented virus in about 18 months, when the Bill-Gates vaccine is available, so that we can no longer get out of this quarantine spiral.
But “good propaganda” protects us fairly reliably from “unhealthy information”, and all Corona stressed citizens can hardly wait for a vaccine, which is reliably tested on animals.
The rescue comes from a substance that has been tested just on these animals that are not infected by the virus.
Dead safe vaccination!
So the question remains whether there can be such a thing as learning resistance in medicine?
Yes, this question does indeed arise. And we can assume that it is so.
Or worse: the mafia-like structures from the laboratory – pharmaceutical industry inclusive – are highly motivated to make money again.
It is again about billions, with the suffering and senseless massacre of sentient beings.
This is how the laboratory mafia has always worked; now it’s “business with the fear”.
My best regards to all, Venus
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 28, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
USDA inspector describes filth and mistreatment at “MODEL” high -speed- slaughterhouse
Inspector files sworn statement in support oflLegal challenge to pig slaughter deregulation.
Press release
Rochester, NY: A New Trump administration rule that largely deregulates pig slaughter operations will increase fecal contamination; diseased pigs being allowed for human consumption; toenails, hair and abscesses allowed into meat; and animal mistreatment, according to a new sworn statement by a federal slaughterhouse inspector.
The statement was filed in federal court late last Friday, April 10, in support of a lawsuit brought by seven animal and environmental protection organizations to challenge a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule, and comes as slaughterhouses across the country shutter due to COVID-19 outbreaks, including Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls, South Dakota plant that is slated to increase line speeds and reduce federal oversight under the challenged rule.
The inspector, Jill Mauer, works inside Quality Pork Processors, a large Minnesota slaughterhouse that has served as a model for the USDA’s controversial move to reduce oversight of pig slaughter nationwide.
In December, the Animal Law Litigation Clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School filed a lawsuit challenging the rule in federal district court for the Western District of New York in Rochester.
The plaintiffs are Farm Sanctuary, Animal Equality, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animal Outlook, Center for Biological Diversity, Mercy For Animals, and North Carolina Farmed Animal Save.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Earthrise Law Center at Lewis & Clark Law School serve as co-counsel in the case.
The USDA recently asked the court to dismiss the challenge, arguing that the rule’s harms are speculative—even though the agency itself determined that slaughterhouses responsible for 93% of pigs killed for food in the United States will take advantage of the rule, and will slaughter about 11.5 million more pigs annually.
In response, the plaintiffs on Friday fired back with a legal brief detailing why these harms are imminent. The brief was supported by a declaration from veteran USDA inspector Jill Mauer, which was obtained with the help of the whistleblower advocacy organization Government Accountability Project Food Integrity Campaign.
Mauer, who has worked under both the traditional inspection system and the deregulated system notes that under the deregulated system:
-Line speed increases consistently resulted in a greater number of hogs slaughtered daily and annually.
-Citations for fecal contamination have increased, exacerbating food safety concerns.
-Defects including toenails, hair, and abscesses are routinely allowed in meat intended for human consumption.
-Diseased pigs, including those with conditions that can trigger serious health problems in humans, have been allowed for human consumption.
She has regularly observed pigs who were “driven to move faster than a normal walking speed, workers who have raised their paddles over their heads to strike the hogs, hogs vocalizing (a sign of stress) while moving, and heavy crowding of hogs.”
She has seen an increase in pig carcasses with scalding tank water in their lungs—an indication that they may have still been breathing when dropped in the tank.
The concerns set forth in her statement go beyond those that she expressed when featured on NBC late last year.
“The conditions Ms. Mauer observed are straight out of a nightmare,” says Sarah Hanneken, legal counsel for plaintiff Animal Equality.
“But it isn’t a nightmare, it’s reality—a living nightmare for the animals and workers exploited at these facilities.”
As Delcianna Winders, who directs the Animal Law Litigation Clinic and, with her students, represents the plaintiffs, notes, “This inspector’s statement makes clear that this deregulatory rule sentences untold numbers of pigs to being beaten in an effort to keep pace with ever-increasing kill lines, and to have their throats slit and possibly even be boiled while still fully conscious. It also ensures that the number of potentially life-threatening pork products on the market will increase.”
“Ms. Mauer’s chilling observations of the increased harms to hogs and risks to human health drives home why this rule must be reversed,” said Hannah Connor, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity representing the plaintiffs. “Increasing slaughter line-speeds at these dangerous facilities will cause more animal suffering and pollution, degrade ecosystems, and speed the extinction crisis.”
Mauer’s attorney, Amanda Hitt of the Government Accountability Food Integrity campaign, added, “Jill is just the tip of the iceberg. Many more meat inspectors have reached out to my office echoing the same and more concerns about the new inspection system.”
The USDA has until April 24 to respond to this new filing.
My comment: Across the U.S., more than two-thirds of the water is contaminated with agricultural pollutants. Pig breeding in particular has skyrocketed in the past 25 years.
Female pigs are at their limit in the United States. On average, they have to give birth to 23 piglets a year. Their body can no longer withstand this. Sows mortality is increasing rapidly. It has almost doubled in the past three years!
Germany is the world’s third largest producer of pork – with 57 milion pigs in the year – after China and the USA.
As long as politics deliberately refuses to ban the production and trade of animal cruelty in factory farming, only the consumer can initiate change.
Those who boycott animal products and, instead of these, buy animal-friendly products damage the bloody business of traders and producers in the animal industry.
If no meat, milk and egg-containing products are eaten, the fewer animals are tortured (at least in the long term).
This is not even difficult, because today there is a wide range of animal-friendly and delicious plant-based products. They are now available in every supermarket.
This picture is from 2007 and belongs to a report about a mysterious pig death in southern China:
“An unknown disease had killed hundreds of pigs at the time, the cages are indeed transport cages, probably to minimize contact”.
This is not how we, human animals, have been treated to minimize the risk of corona transmission.
Wherever in the world, animals have no rights and if epidemics like Corona break out among them, they are treated like a piece of shit.
My best regards to all, Venus
Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 