PETITION TARGET: Cambodian Ambassador to the United States Chum Sounry
The Phnom Penh Safari zoo in Cambodia showcases disturbing orangutan boxing matches, forcing innocent apes to fight each other in a boxing ring. The animals are also made to ride bikes, hula-hoop, and wear degrading outfits, as shown in numerous TripAdvisor photos.
Orangutans aren’t the only animals abused at this zoo: tigers jump through flaming hoops and cower in fear of trainers’ electric prods; crocodiles are hit with sticks and have their mouths taped shut for selfie opportunities; and elephants are controlled with bullhooks.
The animals appear neglected, too. The tigers are declawed and extremely thin, according toEARS Asia. And the drinking water is filthy, according to aKhmer Times article that has since been deleted.
Animals do not exist for human amusement. They deserve natural habitats and loving caretakers, not cruel zoos where they’re forced to perform for park-goers.
The abuse must stop. Sign this petition urging Cambodian Ambassador to the United States Chum Sounry to call for an end to all cruel animal performances at the zoo and push for a thorough investigation into the animals’ treatment.
Please support the campaign – sign the petition at:
Posted on November 15, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Is the climate crisis pushing the world towards a ‘point of no return’?
A new study claims we may have already reached a hypothetical ‘point of no return’, but other researchers say this is ‘at odds’ with what we know about climate science. Daisy Dunne examines the arguments
It’s a question with no simple answer. Even if humans quit polluting the world overnight, scientists say it would take many decades for the Earth’s climate to reach a new equilibrium. This is largely linked to how heat is stored in the world’s oceans, which can, in turn, have an influence on air temperatures.
Matters might be complicated further by potential “tipping points” in nature that might be triggered by global warming.
For example, rising temperatures are causing permafrost, frozen ground found in high northern latitudes that stores vast amounts of carbon, to thaw out. This thawing causes more carbon to be released into the atmosphere, which, in turn, is adding to rising temperatures. There is a worry that such positive “feedback loops” could ultimately lead to rapid heating, and limiting global warming is important for avoiding such feedbacks.
A new study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, makes the bold claim that, hypothetically speaking, we could “already [be] past a point of no return for global warming”.
Using a simplistic mathematical model, it simulates what would happen in a hypothetical world where greenhouse gas emissions were stopped in 2020. It finds that, in the simulations, the world continues to heat up for hundreds of years as a result of positive feedback loops such as permafrost thaw.
However, leading climate scientists from across the UK and beyond have urged people to take the results of the new study with extreme caution.
Prof Richard Betts MBE, chair of climate impacts of the University of Exeter and the Met Office, told The Independent: “Having talked to various colleagues, we don’t think there’s any credibility in the model.
“Feedbacks are important. The possibility of eventually becoming committed to long-term climate change is important. But there is no real evidence that this has already happened.”
Because the model used in the new study is simplistic, it does not well simulate important climate feedback loops, Prof Betts explains.
In addition to permafrost thaw, the melting of Arctic sea ice is also an important potential feedback. Warming of the world’s oceans and atmosphere is causing the ice to melt at an astonishing rate. Bright white ice reflects away sunlight, and, once it disappears, the exposed dark ocean begins to absorb more sunlight, heating the ocean further – leading to further ice melting.
Sea ice is melting at an alarming rate, says scientists
(AP)
Though this feedback is important to take into consideration, the model used in the new study does not well simulate how it works, says Prof Betts.
The results also stand in contradiction with the findings of the upcoming assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an independent group made up of the world’s leading climate scientists.
“The results presented in the paper are interesting but are really at odds with the science community’s understanding of how the climate is changing,” says Prof James Renwick, head of the school of geography, environment and earth sciences at the Victoria University of Wellington.
“The latest round of climate model simulations show that if greenhouse gas emissions were to stop immediately, there is likely to be very little further increase in temperatures and no sign of warming resuming in future.”
The models used by the IPCC are more advanced and better able to simulate the behaviour of the Earth’s feedback loops, says Prof Mark Maslin, a climate scientist at University College London.
“These results do need to be confirmed by more complex climate models used in the IPCC reports, because these results come from one model which has not undergone the rigorous cross checking and testing that is usual for climate models,” he says.
In their paper, the authors note the simplicity of their model by saying that they “encourage other model builders to explore our discovery in their [bigger] models, and report on their findings”.
It is important to understand that it is not too late to take actions to address the climate crisis, says Prof Betts: “I really wouldn’t want people to take [the research paper] seriously and start getting worried that the climate catastrophe is now unavoidable.”
Claims that the world is “doomed” to suffer extremely high levels of warming can be detrimental to global efforts to tackle the climate crisis, explains Leo Barasi, author of the Climate Majority.
“Claims the world is irreversibly doomed to runaway warming, and no amount of emission cuts can help us, can always find an audience, just like claims that climate change is nothing to worry about,” he told The Independent.
“But these assertions usually rest on outlying studies or data that’s been taken out of context and ignore all the opposing evidence.
“Telling the world that we’re doomed, when that’s not backed up by the evidence, is irresponsible and unlikely to motivate the urgent action that can still prevent disastrous warming.”
Posted on November 14, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The online magazine “Reef Reporter” reports in detail on the crane massacre in Lebanon.
The Committee against Bird Murder had spread the incredible pictures and reports in October on social media – as a result, the police caught three of the perpetrators.
The drug at the “Reef Reporters” is already two weeks old.
A hunter proudly poses with the killed cranes
Here is the article: Crane massacre in Lebanon
These days we are again receiving shocking images from Lebanon. This time by cranes.
Dozens of individual hunters pose with the killed animals that they have hung on wire fences or draped on the hoods of their cars.
Even children can be seen in photos posing with the birds that are revered as “birds of happiness” in many countries.
In a report by a colleague from the ABCL bird protection association, it says: “These massacres are carried out every day across the country.”
Videos also show that was recorded for the different parts of the country, not only in the Lebanon Mountains in the north but also from the region around Tire in the far south.
We only hear about individual incidents in a flash. For example, last week near Ouyoun, east of Beirut, a group of pelicans were shot down with automatic M16 assault rifles.
We only know that more than a dozen birds were killed, and the weapon of war incident occurred less than 200 meters away from a military checkpoint.
During our research, we came across other similar incidents in the south and this crane massacre in the area around Tire on the coast.
Because of the corona pandemic, no international team from the bird protection organization can be on site this year.
Apparently a great number of cranes were lured to rest at an estuary with the help of sound dummies, i.e. crane calls played on tape, and then slaughtered from military rifles and shotguns as soon as they started to land.
Many birds died instantly, others were able to fly away injured.
An eyewitness put it this way: “It rained blood from the sky”.
And I mean…The explosion in Lebanon killed more than 160 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. The detonation of huge amounts of ammonium nitrate in the middle of the capital Beirut also shook the already fragile political situation in the country.
Only a total state failure as a result of nepotism and corruption makes such a catastrophe possible.
People are suffering from Corona and a devastating economic crisis. The money is no longer worth anything. People lose their jobs and then something like that happens.
Is that one reason why we “understand” the massacre that hunters and poachers carry out on migratory birds on their way to their winter quarters?
Should we also believe that poverty forces them to throw dozens of birds from the sky with hailstones?
If one really has nothing to bite and then catches birds to survive, then one could say that for the needy, morality or animal welfare is a luxury
But to shoot down the thousands of swallows that fly by in Lebanon on their journey, birds that are not eaten and are only massacred as a hobby and target exercise, then all understanding and tolerance come to an end.
Because that`s murder!
This also applies to Lebanon, but not only: we abhor the murderers who kill defenseless animals for fun or for a perverse hobby.
No matter which country they come from.
Posted on November 13, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Kopenhagen Fur to close
Kopenhagen Fur, the world’s largest fur auction house and owned by Danish fur breeders, has announced plans to close. This follows the news last week that Denmark announced plansto cull all its mink – as many as 17 million – after a mutated form of coronavirus that can spread to humans and threatens the efficacy of potential vaccines was found on mink factory farms.
Jesper Lauge, CEO at Kopenhagen Fur said: “the loss of the Danish mink production means that the ownership base disappears and therefore, the company’s management has decided to gradually downsize the company and make a controlled shutdown over a period of 2-3 years, “
The devastating impact of fur factory farming is now exposed as unsustainable, unprofitable and cruel. The coronavirus mink outbreaks have made news around the world. It is upsetting to see so many innocent animals killed in such high numbers and worrying to contemplate the potential threat to human health.
Fur farming is a disaster for animal welfare and a risk to human health. It is now important for governments to ban this cruelty once and for all.
A number of outrageous failings in the animal welfare of mink have been reported in Denmark over recent days, including:
A viral video showing a still alive mink surrounded by dead carcasses in a killing box. The animal, which is half gassed, is struggling to breath through an open gap in the box as workers attempt to roughly push the animal’s head back inside.
Numerous accounts report that thousands of mink bodies have been strewn across a motorway in Denmark.
Denmark’s animal welfare group, Dyrenes Beskyttelse, has reported the Danish state to the police amid accusations of cruelty.
The bombshell announcement from Kopenhagen Fur comes as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Thursday, 12 November, that the virus mutation found in Danish mink “could potentially affect the level of overall vaccine effectiveness of vaccines under development.”
Respect for Animals Campaign’s Director, Mark Glover, said:
“I have devoted decades of my life to campaigning against the fur industry. The amount of animal cruelty I have seen during these years has stayed with me. The fur trade is a morally repugnant industry, relying on terrible animal suffering for a product no one really needs.
We have come a long way in the 20 years since the UK fur farming ban passed into law, which was a bitter fight.
The demise of Kopenhagen Fur is welcome but we should not forget the countless millions of suffering animals this company has profited from for around 90 years.
We now need to shut down the morally bankrupt fur industry everywhere. We won’t stop until we succeed.”
Kopenhagen Fur, the world’s largest fur auction house and owned by Danish fur breeders, has announced plans to close. This follows the news last week that Denmark announced plansto cull all its mink – as many as 17 million – after a mutated form of coronavirus that can spread to humans and threatens the efficacy of potential vaccines was found on mink factory farms.
The 90-year-old company says it has enough pelts to hold auctions next year and possibly further into the future, but will start liquidating the business after that, according to a statement on its website.
Jesper Lauge, CEO at Kopenhagen Fur said: “the loss of the Danish mink production means that the ownership base disappears and therefore, the company’s management has decided to gradually downsize the company and make a controlled shutdown over a period of 2-3 years, “
The devastating impact of fur factory farming is now exposed as unsustainable, unprofitable and cruel. The coronavirus mink outbreaks have made news around the world. It is upsetting to see so many innocent animals killed in such high numbers and worrying to contemplate the potential threat to human health.
Fur farming is a disaster for animal welfare and a risk to human health. It is now important for governments to ban this cruelty once and for all.
A number of outrageous failings in the animal welfare of mink have been reported in Denmark over recent days, including:
A viral video showing a still alive mink surrounded by dead carcasses in a killing box. The animal, which is half gassed, is struggling to breath through an open gap in the box as workers attempt to roughly push the animal’s head back inside.
Numerous accounts report that thousands of mink bodies have been strewn across a motorway in Denmark.
Denmark’s animal welfare group, Dyrenes Beskyttelse, has reported the Danish state to the police amid accusations of cruelty.
The bombshell announcement from Kopenhagen Fur comes as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Thursday, 12 November, that the virus mutation found in Danish mink “could potentially affect the level of overall vaccine effectiveness of vaccines under development.”
The UK has imposed an immediate ban on all visitors from Denmark amid concerns about the new strain.
The political fallout in Denmark has been complicated. The PM’s decision to wipe out Denmark’s entire mink population lacked a legal mandate, forcing the government to regroup and draft an emergency bill. That failed to win the three-quarters parliamentary support needed to pass, and the legislative process is now in limbo.
The government currently expects a standard bill to pass with a simple majority of more than 50%, and wants all Danish mink farming to be banned until 2022. That means breeding animals will be wiped out, meaning the scale of Denmark’s mink industry will be unrecognisable for the foreseeable future and may never recover.
Posted on November 13, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
WAV Comment:
The killing of pigs using CO2 is barbaric, as you can read and see in the video below. We are not friends of the EU; but we do welcome the new Parliament approval of funding to move away from the cruel and disgusting practice.
Information:
Pigs are stunned using a 70% to 90% carbon dioxide concentrate. … Once the animals have been stunned, they must be bled within 15 seconds to avoid the risk of them regaining consciousness.
The slaughter method in question involves lowering pigs into a gas chamber containing CO2, causing them to gasp for breath and hyperventilate, causing pain and panic amongst the terrified animals. This often goes on for 30-60 seconds or more.
UK – Now, at least half of Britain’s pigs are killed this way.
Instead of being discarded as some terrible anachronism, CO2 stunning has instead become industry standard. The convenient way of killing pigs. Yet, it’s not only major supermarkets and industry assurance schemes like Red Tractor that are allowing it: even some organic pigs can be killed this way.
As it stands, consumers have no way of knowing whether meat comes from pigs gassed or stunned by any other method. There’s nothing on the label. There’s no obvious way of choosing one supermarket over another, in this case, as most if not all have gone down this route. You can’t even tell by choosing higher welfare labels like ‘outdoor bred’, ‘outdoor reared’ or ‘organic’. Consumers are left with the very real assumption that if you’re buying pork or bacon, then it may well be from an animal killed in a gas chamber.
High-concentration CO2 stunning of pigs: the European Parliament approves funding to move away from the cruel practice
12 November 2020
Press Release
Research project to find alternatives to high-concentration CO2 stunning or killing of pigs receives budget approval from the EP. Now the European Commission will invest 2 million euro in applied research in an effort to move away from the inhumane procedure.
For immediate release: Brussels 12/11/2020
On November 12, the European Parliament (EP) voted in favour of a preparatory action, initially tabled by MEP Fredrick Federley (RE, SE), aimed at finding alternatives to high-concentration CO2 stunning or killing of pigs. The EC will then invest in applied research to move away from this method, which, in spite of being inherently inhumane, is the most frequently used in all major EU pig slaughterhouses.
Already in 2019, Eurogroup for Animals published a position paper urging the European Commission to fund research into alternatives, with a view to phasing out this method by 1 January 2025. The use of high-concentration CO2 for the stunning or killing of pigs is allowed by EU Regulation 1099/2009 (the Slaughter Regulation). However, exposure to CO2 is highly aversive for the animals and causes acute pain and severe distress from first exposure to the gas to loss of consciousness.
This was recently confirmed by the latest EFSA opinion on the welfare of pigs at slaughter, which concluded that “There are no preventive or corrective measures to the pain, fear and respiratory distress caused by the exposure to high CO2 concentrations as this is inherent to the stunning method. The only way to prevent the hazard related to exposure to high CO2 concentrations is to use other gas mixtures like inert gasses or mixture of inert gases containing low CO2 concentrations”.
By voting in favour of this research project, the European Parliament sent a strong signal on the importance of EU-funded research into animal welfare friendly alternatives to CO2 stunning of pigs. For the first time, a substantial sum will be invested by the EC in an applied research project to find painless alternatives for pig stunning. The outcome of the study should lead to a prohibition of CO2 stunning of pigs through the updating of the legislation.
The European Commission is going to propose a revision of the current animal welfare acquis as part of the EU Farm to Fork strategy, and the rules on slaughter will be updated in the light of the latest scientific evidence. It is expected that the findings of this preparatory action will contribute to guiding this revision process.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 