Posted on August 6, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
WAV SAV Comment – the EU always has been a complete and utter joke when it comes to live animal transport legislation enforcement. That is just one reason why the UK walked out. ‘Do Nothings except talk’ – all of them. Useless.
European Commission Accused of “Gross Cynicism” Toward Farmed Animal Welfare
Advocates are calling for a ban on live animal exports to war-torn Libya, where missile fire threatens animals arriving on cargo ships from Ireland. But welfare officials continue to drag their feet.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have accused the European Commission of “gross cynicism” and questioned its refusal to ban the export of live animals to war-torn Libya, thousands of which come from Ireland.
Last week, Ireland’s fourth shipment this year left the southern Irish port of Cork, headed for the Libyan port of Misratah, with about 2,000 bulls on board.
The shipment puts the total number of Irish animals exported to Libya this year at about 7,600. In 2019, according to emailed data from Ireland’s Department of Food, Agriculture and the Marine (DAFM), cattle exports to Libya totaled 13,122 animals.
Two of the companies known to ship cattle from Ireland to Libya are Purcell Brothers and Curzon Livestock. Neither responded to calls, texts, or emails asking for comment. No comment was provided either by the European Commission.
In May this year, a letter from over 30 welfare organizations to EU Agriculture Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, and EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, called for a ban on animal exports to Libya. Commissioner Kyriakides is charged with enforcing animal welfare laws.
Libya has been in chaos since 2011. The NGO letter argues that animals in Libya risk missile fire, the potential use of chemical weapons, and the possibility of COVID-19-related quarantines at anchorage, potentially adding an extra 14 days to any journey. From Ireland, livestock ships take about nine days to reach Libya. The animals’ eventual slaughter, the letter said, likely entails “extreme and prolonged pain and fear.”
The Commission’s response to the NGOs, which came in a letter last week, has sparked outrage. “The Commission’s reply is a disgrace,” says Compassion in World Farming lawyer, Peter Stevenson. The letter, he said, shows “gross cynicism” and is surprising and disappointing given Commissioner Kyriakides’ “personal commitment to animal welfare.”
“Her letter says exports to Libya are taking place in a context of private operations and that the Commission cannot prevent such operations as long as they are carried out in accordance with EU legislation. With respect to the Commissioner, this is nonsense,” Stevenson said.
“One of the key roles of the Commission and the EU member states is to regulate what private operators do, either through legislation or policy frameworks,” Stevenson said. Sending animals on long sea journeys to a war zone is “clearly at odds” with Article 13 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union which stipulates the Commission and member states pay full regard to animal welfare, he said.
Records from three previous Irish shipments this year show animals have died en route to Libya. In May, during a shipment by Purcell Brothers onboard the Atlantic M, four animals died, with the ship’s records showing the cause of death as “(POOR AND SKINNY) PNEUMONIA [sic].” The ships’ records were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
In March, during a shipment by Curzon Livestock on the Sarah M (also known as the Sarah), animals began to die mid-voyage due to a “respiratory problem.” Six died in total. During a January shipment, again by Curzon Livestock on the Sarah M, one animal died from a respiratory problem. Records indicate the bull was sick from the start of the journey. Sick animals are not supposed to travel.
Asked about the deaths, Stevenson said it was likely “many more animals may well have suffered from respiratory disease even though they did not die. Respiratory problems are likely to arise from poor conditions on board ship—a combination of high ammonia levels and inadequate ventilation.”
“It is disheartening to see that for the sake of profit, EU member states continue to send animals to war zones and the European Commission feels that they cannot put an end to this cruel trade,” says Olga Kikou, Head of Compassion in World Farming EU. “What is taking place in regions of conflict, such as Libya, constitutes systematic and continued cruelty against EU farmed animals. These are not some unfortunate events, they are not the exception but, rather, the rule.”
Caroline Rowley, founder of Irish welfare organization Ethical Farming Ireland, voiced similar skepticism about the Commission’s reply. “It’s not possible for the Commissioner to claim that live export to Libya is ‘carried out in accordance with EU legislation’ because, for one thing, as soon as cattle are unloaded at the port [in Libya], nobody knows what happens to them.”
Rowley said she saw irony too in the Commission’s reply, coming as it does in the run-up to a European Parliamentary inquiry into the “alleged failure of the Commission to act upon the evidence of serious and systematic infringements” of EU animal welfare regulations during transport “across the Union and to third countries.” The inquiry was launched this summer and begins work in September.
Rowley pointed as well to issues with one of the livestock ships used by Ireland. “There are questions hanging over the Sarah M because it is approved by two EU member states, Romania and Ireland, when it should only be approved by one.”
In emailed replies, Ireland’s DAFM said it was “working with other MS’s [member states] to resolve the [double approvals] issue as soon as possible which is of an administrative nature.” The DAFM said the double approval did not affect its ability to “regulate, enforce national and EU legislation” or its ability to check, inspect and monitor livestock vessels. Nor, it said, would the double approval impact animal welfare.
In July, the French department of agriculture (Ministère de l’Alimentation, de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche) confirmed that a similar double approval by France and Spain for livestock carrier, Shua Queen II, was recently resolved by France canceling its approval.
Asked about the deaths during the voyage to Libya, DAFM said: “The Department has a continuous and strong interest in the welfare of animals and engages with the livestock industries with the objective of improving animal health and welfare and thus reducing the mortality rate of animals. Whilst some deaths do unfortunately occur during transport, the mortality rate across the three shipments you mention was 0.19 percent, which is significantly less than the comparable cohort that remains on [the] farm.”
The DAFM added that the “export of animals is a critical part of Ireland’s livestock industry … [and] … plays a significant role in stimulating price competition and providing an alternative market outlet for farmers.”
“The EU must realize that unless to stop such immense animal suffering, we cannot be calling ourselves leaders in animal welfare,” says Kikou.
Posted on August 5, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
A herd of eight European bison has just arrived in the Southern Carpathians rewilding area and will soon join the 57 bison that are already roaming free here.
A keystone species, the animals are part of a rewilding initiative that is benefitting local communities.
Record-breaking rewilding
A herd of eight European bison (two males, six females) arrived in the Southern Carpathians rewilding area in Romania yesterday evening, and will soon join the 57 animals that are already roaming free here.
Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania have been reintroducing bison into the Țarcu Mountains (part of the Southern Carpathians) since 2014, with this record-breaking initiative creating the largest wild bison population in Romania for 200 years.
The European bison is a keystone species that have a large impact on the landscape, allowing many other species of flora and fauna to thrive through their grazing, browsing, and other interactions with their habitat.
Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania are also using the return of the bison to the Țarcu Mountains as a way to support local communities, by developing the area as a nature tourism destination, and through community-based and educational initiatives, scientific research and technological innovation.
“Every bison reintroduction and every birth in the wild is a success for the conservation of these vulnerable animals,” says Southern Carpathians rewilding team leader Marina Drugă.
“Going beyond this, they can benefit local wild nature and people in so many different ways. In this regard, they are more than a keystone species here.”
The journey to freedom
The two males and six females began their long journey to the wild from five reservations in Germany (Wisentgehege Springe, Wisentgehege Donaumoos, Nationalpark Kellerwald-Edersee, Nationalparkverwaltung Bayerischer Wald and Wisentgehege Hardehausen).
The Springe reservation hosted the females for several months in order to form a compact herd, a method that ensures the group has a smoother transition to its new environment.
“The transport required extensive preparation,” explains Florin Hălăștăuan, a project officer attached to the Rewilding Southern Carpathians team.
“From the bison selection process, which is important for genetic diversity, right through to the fitting of GPS collars, we always focus on the wellbeing and successful reintroduction of the animals.”
The European bison is a keystone species that have a large impact on the landscape, allowing many other species of flora and fauna to thrive through their grazing, browsing, and other interactions with their habitat.
And I mean…With this, the Romanian prove that they want to protect and care for their wildlife.
Unlike many other European countries, they understood that both the ecosystem and humans need wildlife.
We will follow the offspring of the bison in Romania with great interest!
Posted on August 5, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Spain, Portugal, and France reopen their squares to continue the torture of bulls!
Spain,Portugal, and France have reopened their squares to continue the torture of bulls.
The images are unfortunate. Fans applauding the suffering of innocent animals. Terrified bulls that penetrate the torso of horses that are unable to flee.
Blood covering the sand.
Death. Only death from beginning to end.
When the show ends, only the wicked smile of the bullfighters remains as they drag the body of their victim out of the plaza.
Un toro acomete contra el caballo hasta tumbarlo, después de ser herido por el picador.
España, Portugal y Francia han reabierto sus plazas para continuar la tortura de toros.
The Toledo town of Torrijos was the first to carry out the first bullfight of the “New Spanish Normality” on July 12, thus resuming a season that was suspended on March 8.
Other cities such as Huelva, El Puerto de Santa María, Málaga, Mérida, Beziers … already have their posters programmed in the Covid-19 era, to which belong towns such as: Estepona, Osuna, Lodosa, Plasencia, Miraflores de la Sierra, El Espinar, Herrera del Duque, Santisteban del Puerto, Andújar, El Rocío, Astorga, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Priego de Córdoba, Valdetorres del Jarama, etc.
In PortugalEstremoz also resumed its bullfighting season in mid-July, and there are runs scheduled in Cartaxo, Vila Nova Da Barquinha, or Coruche.
Also in France, they have joined the bloody nonsense in Beziers, Beaucaire, Istres, Saint-Martin-de-Crau, or Garlin.
We want to go one step further and abolish bullfighting forever. That has always been our goal, and we have taken leaps and bounds in recent years with the ban in Catalonia and the progress in Mallorca.
We do not want to take a step back, nor to gain momentum. The moment is now.
If not now when? If not you, who? Animals cannot wait any longer, nor deserve less.
And I mean.. In all football stadiums, the game takes place without an audience, so it is strictly forbidden for the audience to enter.
Don’t the corona precautions apply to bull murder in Arenas?
It is obviously a special approval of the “progressive” coalition government, to which the left party “Podemos” belongs, especially as financial support for the bull killers.
The bullfighting mafia has managed to get the government to recognize bullfighting as an “artist industry” and has thus received a large part of the Spanish government’s corona bailout package as a “cultural sector”.
In the earlier, non-corona years, it was about 130 million euros annually from an EU fund intended for the production of high-quality meat, but the industry, in reality, breeds animals not for meat production but for bullfighting. Here the laws are abused.
Bullfighting is held up as a tradition that has been proven to have been invented by Jitanos and during the darkest time on earth, namely during the Inquisition.
Bullfighting and bull festivals violate any ethics of modern civilized countries and societies.
Only a few dull, mentally weak proletarians in society can get excited about something that repels civilized people.
I am sure we will soon be able to end this shame wherever it takes place.
Posted on August 5, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The wild shark immediately recognizes her human best friend and asks for belly scratches 💙
Around 100 million sharks are murdered by us humans every year.
According to the “Statista” source, 64 shark attacks to human animals took place worldwide in 2019, two of which were fatal.
We can easily imagine who is the killer here.
Most of the animals die because of their dorsal fin.
In so-called “finning”, the dorsal fin is usually cut off while sharks are still alive. The mutilated animals are then thrown overboard into the sea, where they die in agony.
Their fins are mainly processed into shark fin soup on the Asian market, which tastes of nothing.
In addition, numerous sharks are caught in the oceans and locked up in large aquariums, such as the planned Shark City shark prison, until the end of their lives.
In these facilities, the animals are deprived of everything they need to lead a life appropriate to the species.
Anyone who has been afraid of sharks and rated them as the killer of the sea has read the wrong fairy tales in their childhood or watched the wrong films as adults.
There is no other animal that attacks, tortures, and kills other animals for no reason.
That is just human animals, the crowning glory of idiocy.
At 6:00 pm yesterday afternoon a major explosion at the port rocked all of Beirut.
Initial reports of over 100 dead and 4,000 injured.
Beirut has been declared a disaster city.
Entire buildings and homes were destroyed, and significant damage throughout the whole city.
What happened is absolutely shocking.
Animals Lebanon’s office was damaged and windows blew out. Animals were injured from the glass and there were bloody prints everywhere by the time we could make it to the office.
We rushed some animals to the vet for urgent care from the cuts
We have repairs to make at the office, emergency vet bills for our own animals, and now putting all our effort into helping others with their injured or lost animals.
We will share more updates but still trying to understand this new reality everyone is dealing with.
If you need help with an animal, email your phone number and location and any details to contact@animalslebanon.org
The bravest ape: Orangutan who lost both his arms on an electric fence while trying to escape from captivity learns how to climb and find food using only his legs as he prepares to return to the jungle
Orangutan Kopral was electrocuted when trying to flee cage where his captors kept him in Indonesia
The young animal’s horrifying injuries were so bad that both of his arms had to be removed
He was rescued and brought under care of Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation who taught him key skills
He now lives in an island complex in Samboja Lestari which resembles a natural environment
A brave orangutan who lost both his arms trying to escape captors has finally ‘graduated’ from ‘Forest School’ after learning the skills he needs to survive.
Kopral was electrocuted when he climbed an electricity pylon in a bid to escape captors who had been keeping him in a cage in Indonesia as a pet since he was a baby.
The youngster was brought to the East Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction Program by taxi, but his arms were severely burnt and nothing could be done to save them.
Despite his horrific start in life, Kopral has excelled in his ‘Forest School’ – a rehabilitation programme designed to teach orangutans how to build nests, climb trees, select appropriate natural foods and recognise natural predators.
Click on this link to read more and see some amazing photos:
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 