The police in Cyprus put one of the most notorious poaching gangs on the island to a halt in November.

 

Equipped with house search warrants, they found three people with a total of five nets and 366 dead protected songbirds – mostly warblers.
The total fine for the criminal bird catcher known for many years is € 11,660.

It was the biggest blow to organized poaching in Cyprus in years. The police action was preceded by months of research by the Committee against Bird Murder and its partner BirdLife Cyprus, which led to the submission of numerous pieces of evidence.

https://www.facebook.com/Komitee.CABS

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EU Backs Campaign Encouraging Public To Become ‘Beefatarians’

The EU has financed more than €3.5 million to help the Proud of European Beef initiative to run for three years

 

Acampaign encouraging the public to become a ‘beefatarian’ has been backed by the EU.

The Proud of European Beef initiative is spearheaded by corporations Provacuno and APAQ-W. It is a three-year-long campaign that aims to makes consumers ‘confident’ about their decision to eat red meat.

The campaign is set to cost €4.5 million (approximately $5.39 million) – with ads running across countries such as France, Belgium and Spain. It will receive 80 percent (€3.6 million) of its funding from the European Commission.

‘A refusal to eat meat’

“The scope of the project is not only to highlighting the benefits of the product but to make the consumer feel identified and supported in its choice regarding it,” the campaign’s site states.

“Consumer behavior may lead to a refusal to eat meat due to the multiple types of information presented nowadays.

“But even so, those consumers who choose to eat red meat should feel at ease should they wish to reaffirm their choice for this product.”

Should the EU promote red meat?

Despite the campaign, The World Health Organization classifies red meat as a Group 2A carcinogen.

This means products such as pork, beef, and lamb ‘probably cause cancer’.

Moreover, the WHO says the strongest evidence for an association with eating red meat is for colorectal cancer. However, there is also evidence of links with pancreatic and prostate cancer.

EU Backs ‘Bizzare’ Campaign Urging Public To Become ‘Beefatarians’ (plantbasednews.org)

We say:

Food thoughts.

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Award-Winning Vegan Kebab Joint To Open Fifth U.K Location In Manchester

‘To finally open during what we hope is the tail end of this pandemic fills us with optimism for the future’

Vegan kebab joint What The Pitta has announced it is opening a fifth store in the U.K.

The award-winning eatery will open its ‘biggest site yet’ in Manchester at the beginning of next year. 

‘Fills us with optimism’

Cem Yildiz is the co-founder of What The Pitta. He said the expansion feels like a ‘huge step forward’ for the company. 

According to Bdaily News, Yildiz said: “The site will be our biggest brick and mortar site yet… To finally open during what we hope is the tail end of this pandemic fills us with optimism for the future. Not just us, but hospitality as a whole.

“Manchester is my favourite city outside of London, with such an incredible food scene. We can’t wait to be a part of that. [We] hope the city welcomes us with open arms ready for their vegan kebabs.”

Award-winning vegan kebabs

Earlier this year, What The Pitta picked up the prize for Best Takeaway in London at the British Kebab Awards. 

The awards, which are held each year, were founded in 2013. Moreover, they are sponsored by Just Eat and ‘seek to celebrate kebab restaurants across the U.K’.

Yildiz told Plant Based News: “To win at the kebab awards is a huge statement for veganism…

“We were laughed at when we decided to create London’s first exclusively vegan kebab shop just over three years ago… Now, we’ve taken centre stage with our vegan spin on the British classic kebab.”

Award-Winning Vegan Kebab Joint To Open Fifth U.K Location (plantbasednews.org)

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Video shows mink pulled from cages and thrown ‘like rubbish’ into gas chambers on Dutch fur farms

23 November 2020

Mink were pulled from cages by their tails or hind legs and hurled into mobile gas chambers on fur farms in the Netherlands, video footage has revealed. The rough handling of the animals breaks EU animal-welfare regulations.

Animal rights campaigners said the video shows a behind-the-scenes view of the cruelty of the Dutch industry, which is closing next year. It also highlights the need for the UK to stop sales of real fur, they added.

The footage, secretly shot on two farms last week by Dutch group Animal Rights, shows the animals being pulled roughly from cages and thrown one after the other towards mobile gas chambers, sometimes from a great distance.

In one clip, the mink are heard screeching with alarm or pain.  

And workers are seen with their anti-coronavirus masks below their noses.

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK said: “Live mink are seen being yanked from their cage by the tail or hind leg, in clear breach of EU regulations, and tossed like trash into the mobile gas chamber one after the other in quick succession.  

The speed with which these sentient animals are thrown in together means they will almost certainly be dying in front of each other, again in breach of the rules.”

Read more at source

Independent

Video shows mink pulled from cages and thrown ‘like rubbish’ into gas chambers on Dutch fur farms | The Independent

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Germany, Stuttgart, November 30, 2020 –

After PETA published an undercover disclosure about the alpaca industry at the end of May, Tchibo, Columbia Sportswear, and the Ascena Retail Group have now announced, after talks with PETA and their international partner organizations, that they will discontinue the animal quality product.

PETA USA’s research on Mallkini, the world’s largest privately-owned Peruvian alpaca farm, revealed workers holding desperate screaming alpacas by the ears while roughly shaving the animals.
The material shows some alpacas spitting in fear.

Workers smashed the animals, some of them pregnant, onto tables and fixed them in devices that looked like the Middle Ages – pulling them so hard that their legs almost dislocated.

“We are very pleased that Tchibo has decided this year not to use alpaca wool in the future. Many alpacas are spared the agony of wool production and slaughter, ” says Frank Schmidt, Head of Corporate Affairs at PETA Germany.
“We appeal to all fashion and textile companies to follow this groundbreaking example and, for the sake of animals and the environment, to discontinue alpaca wool and to switch to vegan, sustainable fibers.”

The Ascena Retail Group will no longer use alpaca wool from the winter season of 2021.
Columbia Sportswear also announced in October after talks with PETA USA that it would no longer buy alpaca wool.

The fashion giants Uniqlo, Esprit, Tom Tailor, Valentino, and Marks & Spencer had previously decided to phase out the use of the material.

Gap Inc and the H&M Group with its eight brands have also already broken off all business relationships with Mallkini’s parent company – the Michell Group.
PETA points out that the production of alpaca wool causes extreme animal suffering and is also harmful to the environment.

In the “Higg Materials Sustainability Index”, alpaca wool is the second most harmful material for the environment, just behind the silk.

Alpaca wool is six times as harmful as polyester and more than four times as harmful as modal, viscose, rayon, lyocell, and other vegan materials.

PETA’s motto is in part: Animals are not there to be attracted to them or to be exploited in any other way. The organization works against speciesism – a worldview that classifies humans as superior to all other living beings.

https://www.peta.de/tchibo-verbannt-alpakawolle-nach-gespraechen-mit-peta-aus-dem-sortiment

And I mean…Do you remember our report on the cruel production of alpaca in Mallkini, the world’s largest privately-owned alpaca farm, near Muñani, Peru?

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/06/02/alpaca-fleece-of-the-gods-with-the-torture-of-animals/

The same video showed the horror conditions in the alpaca farms in Peru.

Perhaps we will soon no longer have to post this video, the list of companies that refrain from this product- and consequently from this cruelty to animals- is getting longer with every year.

We are very happy about it!

If the consumer can no longer find alpaca, fur, or leather in shops, then he’ll just buy something without animal suffering.
It’s that simple!

My best regards to all, Venus

 

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