Joaquin Phoenix joined Animal Equality on Tower Bridge in London this morning, in advance of the 73rd BAFTA ceremony, to draw attention to the link between animal agriculture and the climate emergency.
Phoenix and other activists dropped a 390 square-foot banner that read ‘Factory farming is destroying our planet. Go vegan’ from the iconic landmark, as a plea to the public to stop eating animal products.
Joaquin said “I think we have a personal responsibility to take action right now and one way that we can mitigate climate change is by adjusting our consumption and by going plant-based. And so I feel sometimes like it’s not being talked about enough. So I’m just encouraging people to learn more about eating plant-based and to make a difference to make whatever personal impact they can on the climate emergency.”
He added: “When you witness the horror that really happens behind closed doors and slaughterhouses to farm animals all over the world, it’s impossible not to be affected by it and to realise that we have to do something drastic to stop it. So I’m just doing my part and trying to amplify the voice of these activists that out every day, doing something, taking action, and the least I can do is take some time off today and come here to talk about this issue.”
Throughout the action, Joaquin and other Animal Equality activists held placards showing the suffering of animals in factory farms, as well as the devastating impacts of animal agriculture on the environment and climate.
President of Animal Equality, Sharon Núñez, said: “Joaquin’s dedication to animals and the environmental cause is extraordinary, he sees the absolute need for us to have serious conversations around the devastation that factory farming is having on animals, our planet, and our health.”
Factory farming is a major contributor to water and air pollution as well as deforestation. Animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of greenhouse emissions, according to The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN. As well as being a leading cause of climate change, animal farming is a major contributor to water and air pollution, deforestation, species extinction, and more. A vegan diet is one of the best ways to reduce our impact on the planet – by changing what we eat, we can change the course of our future.
Find out more about the devastating impacts animal agriculture has on animals and our planet here.
Purchase an Animal Equality hoodie, just like the one Joaquin wore when he joined us to protest, here.
Posted on March 5, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
An exclusive Glass Walls investigation inside Israel’s largest pig factory
“You took the pictures which – from your perspective – are the “sexiest” and “most painful” to watch and this is what you show”, says the manager of the horror slaughterhouse!
The factories that produce most of the meat that ends up on our plate, go to great lengths to keep their “business” secret.
And we make it them easy.
Most believe in happy cows that graze in the pasture with their calves, they believe that the neighbors’ pigs lose their miserable lives with a “humane” slaughter, we make it really easy for the meat mafia and therefore it can do undisturbed its criminal business with live animals
It is our participation, our approval wich does it possible.
No! this is not a private perspective, it is about making money, maximizing profit with torture, sadism, murder in accord.
And that is everyday life in slaughterhouses all over the world.
In some places worse, in some places it is better but that does not change the fact that all slaughterhouses in the world are places of horror.
Wherever the documents of this cruelty are sent to us, we will never tire of showing them.
Everyone needs to know who are the victims of this fascist system.
Posted on March 5, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
WAV Comment – So now the government are suddenly going to change their goalposts again. Big talk from the new Minister; who is known to most as ‘Useless Eustace’; about how effective the cull has been; but the reality is that the government has murdered thousands of animals for very little gain – and now they know that the British public hate them for what they are doing, suddenly, out of the hat; that no can do ‘vaccination’, which welfare groups have been calling for over many years; suddenly appears on the doorstep and is going to be introduced. Once again; the government (Conservatives) have now been pushed into a corner and have no way of getting out – other than to do what was asked years ago; and for which they said ‘never’.
Funny how things change when you get no results of your mass killings; and the public turns against you – that is the Conservatives and Mr Useless.
Badger culling to tackle TB in livestock to be phased out
The government also has plans to vaccinate more badgers, which can transmit TB to livestock.
Intensive badger culling to tackle TB in livestock will be gradually phased out and a cattle vaccine for the disease will be deployed, the government has announced.
The next phase of the government’s strategy to tackle bovine tuberculosis in cattle will involve field trials of a cattle vaccine – expected to be deployed within the next five years.
There are also plans vaccinate more badgers – which can transmit TB to livestock – against the disease as well as a “gradual phasing out of intensive culling” of the wild animals, the Environment Department (Defra) said.
Badger culling in the UK is currently permitted under licence within a set area and timescale in a bid to reduce badger numbers to control the spread of bovine TB, which devastates with the beef and dairy industries.
The disease affects cattle and other farm animals including pigs, goats and sheep, as well as some species of wildlife including deer and a few domestic pets.
Badger culling, using “free shooting”, was trialled in two pilot areas in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset in 2013 with the aim of assessing its humaneness.
Despite wildlife and animal welfare groups arguing that culling is inhumane and ineffective, the badger cull has been rolled out to 40 areas of England.
The government said culling has led to a decline in TB cases in herds of 66% and 37% over the first four years in Gloucestershire and Somerset.
But its new strategy intends to phase out the intensive culling policy and replace it with badger vaccination schemes supported by the government.
Culling would remain an option where disease assessment indicated it was needed.
The move has been made possible by a breakthrough by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (Apha), allowing for field trials of a cattle vaccine to be deployed within a few years.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “The badger cull has led to a significant reduction in the disease as demonstrated by recent academic research and past studies.
“But no-one wants to continue the cull of this protected species indefinitely so, once the weight of disease in wildlife has been addressed, we will accelerate other elements of our strategy, including improved diagnostics and cattle vaccination to sustain the downward trajectory of the disease.”
UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss added: “Whilst there is no single way to combat this damaging and complex disease, cattle vaccination will be a new tool for our multi-pronged approach to tackle it and, importantly, prevent it, providing vital support to our farming communities.”
The government also has plans to improve the cattle testing regime to intercept the disease earlier and remove it from herds more quickly.
Previous culling methods included trapping badgers in cages before shooting them.
New Friendship City Campaigns:
Will Berlin and Odense, Denmark Speak for the Korean Dogs?
Sister and Friendship City Agreements are formed between two cities with the aim of being mutually beneficial (for trade, cultural exchanges, business links etc., and to foster friendship), and many cities throughout the United States and around the world have such ‘twin cities’ all over South Korea. We can bring the unacceptable practices of South Korea’s dog meat trades to the attention of the relevant City Mayors and their Offices, and to urge them, in the spirit of friendship and for the good of the Korean people, to reach out to their counterparts in South Korea, asking them to enforce their laws and to put an end to the cruel dog and cat meat trades. Click below buttons to take actions today.
The view of the dog farm where Dorae was caged is still vivid. There was a pile of tools and garbages. The freezer in the middle of the dog farm was full of dogs’ heads. It was even scarier because there were iron clubs and knives everywhere. We don’t know what kind of violence and death there was before, and how these dogs endured that fear. ⠀
Dorae sat still in the red cage. Volunteers gave straw groundings to make Dorae a bit more comfortable. Dorae looked around, and when our eyes met, she bent her backs strangely and bowed. ⠀
She would have known that in the dog farm once she is out of the cage, that’s her day of death. However, she didn’t even put any strong resistance. We moved her to the travel crates. Her fur was dirty and her eyes were very timid. It might have been natural since she was rescued from the end of life.
We rescued all the dogs on the dog farm, including Dorae, and drove them all the way from Beolgyo – where the dog farm was located – to Gyeonggi-do. Dorae vomited as she felt carsick and had to urinate because she couldn’t stand the long travel time. After a difficult travel Dorae was finally capable of stepping on the ground.
But she wasn’t in ease when she first went to the shelter. When she saw people, she stood still in an awkward position and looked far away, avoiding people’s eyes. We took her to the animal hospital because she was too inactive, but the vet said there were no special symptoms. We just fed her well, brought her some snacks and toys, and called her name a lot. For a long time, she did not make eye contact with people.
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It’s almost a year after the rescue, and finally Dorae is smiling. When a person comes, she goes round and round, not knowing what to do. She keeps on wagging her tail. We are so proud of Dorae. She has been gaining weight, getting muscles for a year.
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TheBom Center is a place where alienated and abandoned animals get new life opportunities. Animals like Dorae. Animals that are sick or who don’t like people can also turn bright and loving just how Dorae became. Soon, entry to TheBom Center will begin, but the financial difficulties that we are going through are not yet over.
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We ask for your support for TheBom Center, which will be the home of animals for the next 100 years and the standard for animal shelters in Korea. Join us in the brick sponsor to present new lives to more animals. Click HERE to see more photos of Dorae.
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💝 The Brick Sponsor – Donate 10 dollars to stack a brick on TheBom Centre. 💙
Posted on March 4, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
These terrible places are everywhere.
It is estimated that we slaughter billions of innocent animals every week to eat their meat.
Their stories need to be told because similar stories happen to billions of other animals.
Isn’t that human fascism towards the “other” animals?
If not, what is it?
Anyone who consumes meat claims that he is against brutal slaughter, against violence, torture, murders, these are the pacifists who speak as if they were the good guys and we the crazy people, the fanatics of a new cult direction.
And ask us to explain, why we don’t eat animals!
We, who do not want to participate in this criminal system of slavery and exploitation, we are not the ones to explain why they do NOT torture animals.
Those, who do it, have to give an account of why they don’t see the animals as victims, but rather like as cell phones or their televisions.
And instead of realizing that they are hypocrites and racists, they advocate “humane” slaughter.
How do we define “human” in a place like slaughterhouse?
Except of torture, pain and murder, nothing else happens in a slaughterhouse.
It’s very easy to justify the worst atrocities when we are not the victims.
We have made violence and death to normal practice, we consume violence and death.
Nobody can or really wants to recognize that the pieces of meat on his plate come from beings who do not want to suffer, do not want to be murdered, do not want to die.
It is finally high time to expand our morals and compassion for other species and to view the daily massacre of animals as an unending, cruel Holocaust that can only be justified in a fascist system.
Baby bumblebees left with permanent brain damage by insecticide
The chemical studied is banned from use on field crops in the EU but not in other parts of the world.
Certain pesticides cause permanent brain damage in baby bumblebees and may threaten the future success of colonies, researchers from Imperial College London have found.
The study scanned the brains of bees exposed to imidacloprid, one of the neonicotinoid group of pesticides.
They found the key region of the brain that facilitates learning showed reduced growth and residues of the insecticide in flowers and plants caused permanent brain damage.
The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, involved exposing bumblebees to small amounts of imidacloprid during their development as larvae or very young adults.
The learning ability of the larvae was tested after three days and after 12 days once they emerged as adults.
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Bees that were fed imidacloprid when they were developing as larvae showed “significantly impaired learning ability” compared to those that were not, the researchers said.
The team then scanned the brains of nearly 100 bees from the different colonies.
They found that baby bees exposed to imidacloprid during larval development had a smaller volume of the brain region associated with learning.
Dr Richard Gill, from the department of life sciences at Imperial and the lead researcher on the study, said: “Bee colonies act as superorganisms, so when any toxins enter the colony, these have the potential to cause problems with the development of the baby bees within it.
“Worryingly in this case, when young bees are fed on pesticide-contaminated food, this caused parts of the brain to grow less, leading to older adult bees possessing smaller and functionally impaired brains; an effect that appeared to be permanent and irreversible.
“These findings reveal how colonies can be impacted by pesticides weeks after exposure, as their young grow into adults that may not be able to forage for food properly.”
Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide that acts on the central nervous system of insects. The chemical works by interfering with the transmission of stimuli in the insect nervous system and was created to mimic the effects of nicotine, which is naturally found in many plants and is toxic to insects.
It is one of three neonicotinoids banned from all field crops in the EU because of its impact on pollinators, but is used elsewhere around the world.
Lead author of the new study Dr Dylan Smith, from the Imperial College said: “There has been growing evidence that pesticides can build up inside bee colonies.
“Our study reveals the risks to individuals being reared in such an environment, and that a colony’s future workforce can be affected weeks after they are first exposed.”
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 