Posted on April 17, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
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Factory farms, like wet markets, provide the ideal conditions for diseases such as the Covid-19 coronavirus to mutate, multiply and spread. A number of different coronaviruses have decimated pig populations in recent years, and it has been shown that some of these viruses could have (or have already) made the jump to humans (see below). This is deeply concerning, particularly amidst this global pandemic we are currently facing.
In March, the campaign group Pause the System took to the streets in front of Downing Street urging the UK government to ban factory farming amongst a set of measures to prevent any future pandemic outbreaks. Since then, many newspapers, journalists and writers have been speaking out about the links between public health, epidemics, pandemics and factory farming. We have a responsibility to put a halt to all the broken systems that contribute to viral pathogens, to reduce the possibility of this happening again. We need to ban factory farming. However, last month we were met with the devastating news that, in the UK, pig and chicken factory farming is actually continuing to rise.
Please read and share widely our blog article that discusses the link between factory farming and viruses. We can all help bring factory farming to an end by only buying high welfare pork from small scale high welfare farms. Look for high welfare labels like RSPCA Assured, Free Range or best of all, Organic – Or go direct to your farmer via farmers markets, box schemes and online.
Read the full article here:
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Posted on April 17, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
WAV Comment – ‘The Guardian’ is a London based national UK newspaper. It is very good, and has a very good ‘Environmental’ section which includes animal welfare issues.
Here below is a link, and copy of one of their monthly roundup news articles relating to animal welfare issues.
Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the web
News from around the world
Pigs and poultry are likely to be safe from Covid-19, according to German scientists, whose study showed that while fruit bats and ferrets were susceptible to infection, pigs and chickens were not. Coronaviruses have devastated farm animals in the past. Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) killed nearly 25,000 piglets in China in 2016–17.
A new outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), a highly contagious virus fatal to pigs, has been reported on a farm in Poland close to the German border. The German states of Brandenburg and Saxony have both recently built fences along the border with Poland to keep out wild boars infected with ASF. Meanwhile, in China authorities have launched a 60-day campaign to crack down on improper or illegal transportation of pigs to reduce ASF transmission. The outbreak in the country has already wiped out 40% of its pig population.
MEPs and campaigners have called on the EU to ban live exports to reduce the spread of zoonotic disease. The European Food Safety Authority has said in the past that the live export trade is a potential risk to public health. It said stresses associated with handling and transport may cause latent infections to proceed to clinical disease. These animals may infect others and in many cases (such as salmonellosis) would also increase the risk to public health.
A group of 40 NGOs have also written to the EU to demand an overhaul of its food and farming system post Covid-19. The pandemic had “brought to light some of the dysfunctions of our current globalised and unsustainable food systems, including the link between the increased emergence of zoonoses and intensive animal farming”, they said. The letter also urged the EU not to delay the launch of its new Farm to Fork strategy any later than this month.
The US is to give billions in aid to farmers to help them cope with falls in commodity prices. Dairy farmers and processors in the US and Canada have been dumping milk after a collapse in demand following the closure of restaurants and schools, which are large buyers of dairy products, left them with a glut. The government has been asked to pay producers to cut milk output and buy up cheese, butter and other dairy products for food banks. Meanwhile, the closure of a number of US meat processing plants due to Covid-19 is leading to fears of disruption to food supplies and a lack of places for farmers to send animals.
News from the UK
The UK beef and lamb sectors say a decline in sales of prime cuts with the shutdown of the food service sector is leading to a collapse in the value of animals. Converting higher value cuts into mince is less profitable for farmers. Abattoirs and processing plants across the meat sector are also having to reduce production due to employees self-isolating with Covid-19 and the requirement for two-metre distancing in factories.
Dairy farmers and processors are already dumping milk after a collapse in milk prices. “Food service volume is not being replaced by supermarkets,” said one major processor. “There is nowhere left [to send it]”. Farming charities have called for the government to step in to buy or reimburse dairy farmers who are not insured for milk losses or are being affected by Covid-19 price cuts.
Farming groups have protested after retailers started stocking Polish mince in UK stores. Red meat processor ABP said panic buying had forced it to source Polish beef because it did not have the processing capacity to meet the surge in demand.
MPs from the environment, food and rural affairs committee are launching an inquiry into how the food supply chain has been disrupted by the Covid-19 crisis and what steps are needed to manage consumer access to healthy food. The public have been asked to submit their views to the committee via an online survey.
News from Animals Farmed
Animal welfare campaigners have expressed concern after China included wildlife such as deer, game birds, mink and foxes on a list of animals that it plans to allow to be farmed. “Rebranding wildlife as livestock doesn’t alter the fact that there are insurmountable challenges to keeping these species in farm environments … some of these species can act as intermediate hosts of viruses, such as Covid-19,” said Peter Li, China policy specialist with Humane Society International, who welcomed additional plans to ban the eating of dogs.
The number of large-scale intensive pig and poultry farms continues to rise in the UK, according to new analysis. There are now more than 1,700 farms with upwards of 40,000 birds or 2,000 pigs, up 7% between 2017–18. The increase has caused a backlash in Powys, known as the “poultry capital of Wales” with 60 times as many chickens as people in the county. Intensive farms have been linked to local biodiversity damage from ammonia emissions, as well as potentially harmful bacteria, viruses and air pollutants.
Irish calves have been filmed apparently being beaten and kicked by workers at a French feeding station. One calf was put down by a vet. Ireland’s dairy sector, which earned the country €4.4bn (£3.9bn) in export revenues last year, relies heavily on veal farms in mainland Europe to buy unwanted male dairy calves. Just under 250,000 were exported in 2018.
Boris Johnson was personally thanked by the Brazilian government after refusing to criticise the Amazon fires and sharp rise in deforestation in Brazil last summer. Opposition parties in the UK have called for guarantees that any future UK-Brazil trade deal would not contribute to the destruction of the Amazon.
Lastly, a micro-tannery owner has spoken out about his quest to help create a value for thousands of male “billy” dairy goats that would otherwise be killed at birth through producing luxury bags, wallets and made-to-order shoes.
Quote of the month
Camilla Saunders, from Sustainable Food Knighton, a group of local residents campaigning against a broiler unit in the town of Knighton in Powys, contacted us last week in response the article: Life in the ‘poultry capital’ of Wales: enough is enough, say overwhelmed residents. She said:
What is happening in Powys is a microcosm of all that is bad about global food production… [We] have come to the depressing conclusion that in the case of intensive farming, planning departments routinely ignore laws and recommendations that try to protect animals, humans, and ecosystems, locally and globally.
More previous Guardian articles – unchanged – link only provided to original article:
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Posted on April 17, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
We remember the KUNLUN: The poacher ship expires in Dakar.
Monday, December 23, 2019: Nine months after the THUNDER sank in the Gulf of Guinea, the KUNLUN in Senegal was arrested when its crew tried to unload illegally caught Antarctic cod. The decaying ship is a monument to the worldwide efforts to smash the “Bandit 6” poaching fleet.
Commentary by Captain Peter Hammarstedt.
I felt the greasy layer of rust and dirt crunch under my feet as I stepped onto the deck of the ASIAN WARRIOR, known to me by its former name KUNLUN, in the port of Dakar in West Africa.
In 2014 the KUNLUN was part of the “Bandit 6”. Together with the now infamous trawl ship THUNDER, these six poacher ships looted the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica.
Nine months after the THUNDER sank in the Gulf of Guinea, the KUNLUN in Senegal was arrested when its crew tried to unload illegally caught Antarctic cod. The decaying ship is a monument to the worldwide efforts to smash the “Bandit 6” poaching fleet.
While my crew and I were chasing the THUNDER from Antarctica through the dangerous waters of the Southern Ocean to the north on BOB BARKER, Captain Siddharth Chakravarty and his crew took care of the KUNLUN hundreds of miles to the southeast on the SAM SIMON.
The SAM SIMON crew led KUNLUN out of the Antarctic fishing grounds and then handed over evidence-relevant documents to Interpol and the New Zealand authorities.
Due to their long history of violations of fishing laws and their connection to the well-known Spanish crime syndicate, Vidal Armadores, to whom the ship belonged, they also searched for KUNLUN.
Like the THUNDER, Interpol searched the KUNLUN with a purple alarm, a wanted list that alerted the police authorities worldwide. This has been requested by New Zealand, Australian and Norwegian authorities.
The sister ships of the KUNLUN named YONGDING and SONGHUA were later seized on Cape Verde.
During a routine visit to Mindelo, I reported to Interpol, the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industry and the Cape Verde judicial authorities that they were in port.
Almost four years later, the two ships still remain in Cape Verde.
To get to the KUNLUN bridge, I had to climb over a mattress belonging to the Senegalese security guard, the lonely guardian of the ship. The console on the bridge has long been an empty case.
All the electronic equipment for navigation was torn out, including the radar on which KUNLUN was able to track the position of the SAM SIMON.
Captain Peter Hammarstedt.
If you look ahead, the ship has a slight flip to the port, as opposed to the starboard tilt that the THUNDER accepted before sinking. The THUNDER was deliberately sunk by its own captain Luis Alfonso Rubio Cataldo, who made this unfortunate decision to destroy evidence.
The captain from Chile, Luis Alfonso Rubio Cataldo, the leading engineer Agustin Dosil Rey from Spain and the second mechanic Luis Miguel Perez Fernandez, also from Spain, were sentenced to two years and eleven months in prison and to a fine of 15 million euros for forging documents, pollution and damage, and for neglectful conduct.
Nobody appiered to request the KUNLUN. The ship remains in the custody of the Senegalese government, whose use in fixing the ship was commendable.
In its decay, the former phantom now appears very real. Everything mystical that once surrounded the ship disappears with the actual decay.
If we ever have doubts that civil society, in cooperation with governments, is capable of stopping illegal fishing, all we have to do is look at this sad, dilapidated steel block that was once KUNLUN in Dakar.
And we remember the depths of the Gulf of Guinea, where the THUNDER lies 3,800 meters below sea level, at the same depth that the TITANIC sank.
„The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a conservative organization.
I am a conservative. You can’t get more conservative than being a conservationist. Our entire raison de être is to conserve and protect.
The radicals of the world are destroying our oceans and our forests, our wildlife and our freedom.“ (Captain Paul Watson)
My best regards to all, Venus
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Posted on April 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
..protect
..respect
Care for the weaker
Help them live
Regards and good night from Venus
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Posted on April 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Imagine that you want to go shopping and are referred to the store entrance because you may be infected with the corona virus. The reason for the assumption: A thermal imaging camera that measures the body temperature of all entering customers wants to have determined that you are feverish and therefore pose a danger.
This is exactly how a branch from the supermarket chain EDEKA in Saarbrücken, Germany, is said to have operated until yesterday – before the Saarland State Commissioner for Data Protection, Monika Grethel, has initiated an administrative procedure.
The Luxembourg online portal “L’Essentiel” first reported about it.
Camera measures body temperature
“Lonsdorfer” has therefore installed a thermal imager at the entrance to the branch which scans the body temperatures of customers in real time. If it is too high, an employee speaks to the passers-by. If there is no explanation for the increased temperature, the customer must leave the shop.
Does camera contradict GDPR?
The system contradicts the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), says Marco Schömer, who works for the Saarland data protection authority, about “L’essentiel”.
The right to informational self-determination of the customers is violated. You could complain because the camera is against personal rights, Schömer continues.
Security company defends camera
According to the media report, “Lonsdorfer” has not yet commented on the allegation. The Saarbrücken company that installed the security system defends it. Customers and employees would feel more secure. On the other hand, the procedure had been agreed with a lawyer: the thermal imager complies with the GDPR because it does not store the data, according to the managing director of Company “MATEC Sicherheitssysteme”.
Schömer replies in “L’essentiel”: “When someone – sick or in good health – is questioned by the eyes of other customers, there is clearly a risk of stigmatization.”
According to information … the supermarket suspended the camera again until further notice on Wednesday afternoon. However, it should not have been the only one who uses or plans to use such a camera from the Saarbrücken company ” Matec Sicherheitssysteme “– the company is even said to be on 100 other orders from Saarland are working.
And I mean…One wonders whether the government has the new version of the Covid-20 ready. The old version will soon no longer work and the carefully prepared surveillance system is on the ass!
My best regards to all, Venus
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Posted on April 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Today is a great day.
We broke the 100,000 visitor mark in our blog World Animals Voice!
Yes! we are grateful for your support.
It is the recognition of our work.
We try to report on the suffering of our mandates every day, we want to raise awareness and mobilize as many as possible. We know that we are not alone there!
Our message is simple: we are loyal to animals, we stay and fight on the side of the victims of this system, on the side of animals and loathe every form of betrayal of our fellow creatures.
We will continue to work to the best of our ability for a just animal world with the aim of abolishing these destruction machines – constructed by system and society.
Together we can do it, together we are strong and effective.
Thanks to you all,
Venus and Mark
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Posted on April 16, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
‘Thrilling news’: Second Chinese city bans consumption of dog and cat meat
Stop the Wildlife Trade: ‘This isn’t just good news for animal protection, it’s also very good news for public health,’ says leading charity
A second city in China has banned the consumption of dogs, cats and some wild animals – a move campaigners hope could signal an end to the trade of all wildlife at “wet markets” across the country.
The ban in Zhuhai follows a decision made by authorities in Shenzhen earlier this month to prohibit dog and cat meat. The new rules come into force in Zhuhai on 1 May, according to state-run China News.
A spokesperson for the animal charity Humane Society International described it as “thrilling news”, and said it could be the start of a domino effect of animal protection legislation across China.
It comes as The Independent’s Stop the Wildlife Trade campaign calls for an international effort to tighten restrictions on wet markets to reduce the risk of future pandemics.
The coronavirus outbreak is believed to have originated at a wet market in Wuhan where exotic animals were sold – making the jump to humans from animals kept in close proximity.
Yet in the absence of a national ban, other cities in mainland China are believed to be considering their own legislation to stop the consumption of dogs and cats.
“Zhuhai’s ban on dog and cat meat eating is thrilling news for all those in China and around the world who have campaigned for so long to end this brutal trade,” said Wendy Higgins, Humane Society International’s director of international media.
“Coming so soon after Shenzhen’s ban and the government’s historic statement classifying dogs as pets, we hope this is the start of a domino effect of progressive legislation across China, with other cities following suit.”
She added: “This isn’t just good news for animal protection, it’s also very good news for public health.”
The Zhuhai authorities said the consumption of some wild animals will also be banned, based on the guidance given by the ministry of agriculture and rural affairs. However, animals such as alpaca, ostrich, silver fox, blue fox and raccoon dog – considered “special livestock” – will still be allowed to be traded as meat.
Dr Teresa Telecky, vice president of wildlife at Humane Society International, said: “Listing wild animals, including foxes and raccoon dogs, as ‘special livestock’ is concerning.
“Rebranding wildlife as livestock doesn’t alter the fact that there are insurmountable challenges to keeping these species in commercial captive breeding environments, and that their welfare needs simply can’t be met.”
Dr Jane Goodall DBE has backed The Independent’s campaign calling on governments to work together to impose stricter controls on the trade, sale and consumption of wild animals.
The renowned conservationist said: “If we go on treating animals the way we are that is going to hit back on us, as it has.”
Writing for The Independent, the United Nations’ biological diversity chief, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, said: “Global wildlife trade and live animal markets, where live fish, meat and wild animals are sold, are important risk factors for zoonotic disease spillover.
An estimated 10 million dogs a year are killed for China’s dog meat trade, which is thought to be consumed infrequently by less than 20 per cent of the population, according to Humane Society International.
A nationwide survey in 2016 suggested a majority of Chinese citizens think the dog meat trade should be completely banned.
Ms Higgins said: “It would seem that in the absence of a national ban, cities are taking matters into their own hands and reflecting the mood of the people.”
Source – Independent – London
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