cruelty to any being is the same
the only difference is the victim
regards and good night, Venus
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put an end to speciesism
Posted on February 14, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
cruelty to any being is the same
Forgotten fish- a harrowing investigation
Posted on February 13, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Animal Equality’s undercover footage has revealed animals suffering from prolonged pain in a Scottish Salmon Company slaughterhouse. The investigation, showing fish-killing processes, is the first of its kind to be released in the UK.
The Scottish Salmon Company supplies major UK supermarkets Waitrose and Co-op, alongside premium retailers, hotels, and restaurants. The corporation also has a global reach, exporting its products to over 20 countries across the world.
In the UK, up to 77 million fish are raised and killed every single year – that’s over two per second.
Today, we released our latest investigation. As the first of its kind showing undercover footage from within a Scottish salmon slaughterhouse, it is truly groundbreaking.
Several extremely serious animal welfare cases of abuse were witnessed. A significant number of salmon were filmed fully conscious when killed; others were thrown to the ground and left to languish.
The company that owns and operates the slaughterhouse has been linked to Waitrose and the Co-op.
Scottish produce is often perceived by consumers as synonymous with ‘higher welfare’ and ‘higher quality’ practices, yet our investigation shows that even with stunning machinery in use, there is chaos, confusion, and unimaginable suffering.
Our investigation shows that fish need stronger protection.
Despite a stunning device being in place in this facility, numerous salmon displayed consciousness at the time of slaughter, evidenced by flapping, wriggling, and grasping motions.
Many salmon’s gills were cut when they were still conscious, causing them to be in agony for up to several minutes as a result.
Some salmon were stunned with a club after their gills were cut, causing their blood to spray out. In some instances, conscious animals were clubbed as many as seven times.
For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/13/forgotten-fish-a-harrowing-investigation/
And I mean…In the open sea, fish are caught in huge nets and squeezed together.
The animals’ bodies are ruthlessly crushed in the nets.
Fish lying further up in the nets suffocate in the air because they do not need anesthetic. Those that survived the transport from the water onboard are sometimes still processed alive.
Other fish are stored and prepared in a state somewhere between dead and alive.
Pulled on board, numerous fish are stabbed, trampled, and beaten to death or thrown alive into the freezer, where they slowly and painfully suffocate.
Many are still alive if their gills and stomach are cut open.
There is the saying … “If fish could scream, people would be much more sensitive to the suffering of fish.”
That’s not true!
We have learned to hear nothing, to see nothing, and consequently do nothing against the violence that is used on animals every day.
Even if the screaming becomes loud, we have learned not to feel anything, which in other words means not to feel responsible for the suffering that we ourselves cause.
Worse still, we consider it our right to cooperate with the system that makes us indifferent killers.
The human-animal is one of many living beings on this earth that has the same right to live here as other living beings.
And: Anyone who maltreats or tortures an animal devalues his own humanity.
My best regards to all, Venus
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“Tethering ”must not become a UNESCO World Heritage Site!
Posted on February 13, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The town of Garmisch in Bavaria (Germany) is located near the mountain “Zugspitze”, at 2,962 m the highest mountain in Germany.
The city consists of two places, the second is Partenkirchen, and both were united in 1935.
Garmisch is considered a more elegant district, Partenkirchen (with its cobblestone streets) exudes a traditional Bavarian ambiance.
This district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is planning to protect the cultural landscape there as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
That wouldn’t be bad either, because it is a beautiful natural area, one of the few still existing in Germany, which is endowed with wild natural beauty.
In this context, the “tethering” of cattle should also be classified as a cultural asset worthy of protection.
Animal Rights Watch sees it as an attempt to misuse the title “World Heritage Site” to legitimize traditional cruelty to animals.
Nationwide, around 1 million cows live in what is known as “tethered”. Every fourth cow in the dairy industry is affected, most of them in smaller farms – even with organic labels.
In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, more than 50 percent of all cows in the dairy industry are “tied up”.
The affected animals are tied to the neck with a short chain, rope, or iron rod.
The remaining freedom of movement is just enough for the cows to lie down and get up again. For months they stand practically motionless in one place without the slightest change.
You can write a protest letter or an objection against this project to the district administrator of Garmisch-Partenkirchen Peter Strohwasser until May 31, 2021
His e-mail address: (welterbe@lra-gap.de).
For more…at https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/13/tethering-must-not-become-a-unesco-world-heritage-site/
And I mean…In Bavaria over 190,000 animals are tethered all year round – without any grazing. Also in other EU countries, e.g. B. in Austria, Poland, Spain, the type of housing is still widespread.
All efforts to ban it have so far failed.
As early as 2016, the Federal Council classified the year-round “connection” as a violation of animal welfare.
A ban failed at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
I have prepared a letter for the district administrator of Garmisch-Partenkirchen Peter Strohwasser.
For the Germans is the German text.
But if non-Germans also want to protest against this project, the translation follows, anyone can copy and send it.
(German) Sehr geehrter Herr Strohwasser,
Anbindehaltung hat weder mit Kultur noch mit Tierwohl etwas zu tun!
Mit dem von Ihnen erstellten Anspruch, diese überholte und qualvolle Tierhaltung als schützenwertes Kulturerbe einzustufen, zeigen Sie wie primitiv und empathielos Menschen Mitten in Europa am 21. Jahrhundert sein können.
Ihr Vorhaben, die Anbindehaltung als schützenwertes Kulturerbe anerkennen zu wollen, kann gebildete Menschen nur anwidern und abschrecken und verstoßt gegen jede Ethik moderner zivilisierter Länder und Gesellschaften.
Damit würde die Gemeinde nur beweisen, dass sie bildungstechnisch ganz hinten angesiedelt ist.
Ob ganzjährig oder nicht, ob erlaubt oder verboten: Die „Anbindehaltung“ zählt zu den leidvollsten Praktiken der Milchindustrie, und Sie wissen es.
Ihr weltgewandtes Garmisch-Partenkirchen, mit noch unberührtem und prachtvollem Naturleben, eignet sich am besten für eine artgerechte, leidfreie Tier Haltung, die auch die Mehrheit der zahlreichen Besucher und Touristen zweifelsohne befürworten würden, denn die meisten Menschen, wie wir erfreulicherweise erkennen können, verabscheuen diese widerliche und archaische Tierhaltungsform. Auch diejenigen, die selbst tierische Produkte konsumieren.
Stehen Sie bitte auf der richtigen Seite und erstreben Sie die Abschaffung der Anbindehaltung, statt diesen Folter auch noch als schützenwertes zu bewerben.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Name, Nationalität
(English) Dear Mr. Strohwasser,
Tethering has nothing to do with culture or animal welfare!
With your claim to classify this outdated and agonizing animal husbandry as a cultural heritage worthy of protection, you show how primitive and empathetic people can be in the middle of Europe in the 21st century.
Their intention to recognize the tethering as a cultural heritage worthy of protection can only disgust and deter educated people and offends against all ethics of modern civilized countries and societies.
This would only prove to the community that it is at the very bottom in terms of education.
Year-round or not, allowed or prohibited: “tethering” is one of the most painful practices in the dairy industry, and you know it.
Your cosmopolitan Garmisch-Partenkirchen, with still untouched and magnificent natural life, is best suited for species-appropriate, suffering-free animal husbandry, which the majority of the numerous visitors and tourists would undoubtedly support, because most people, as we happily can see, abhor this disgusting and archaic form of animal husbandry.
Even those who consume animal products themselves.
Please stand on the right side and strive for the abolition of tethering, instead of promoting this torture as something worth protecting.
With best regards
Name, nationality
My best regards to all, Venus
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Will Bolsonaro be on trial for ecocide?
Posted on February 12, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Slash and burn in the Amazon rainforest increased under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
But is that a crime against humanity? Bolsonaro is now being accused of that.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague could open an investigation.
The leaders of two indigenous peoples in Brazil have filed a complaint against the President of their country, Jair Bolsonaro, at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Now the court must decide whether to open a formal investigation.
Bolsonaro is charged with crimes against humanity. He is systematically destroying the Amazon rainforest, is responsible for the murder of environmental activists and indigenous people, and undermines the work of the authorities to protect the environment and the indigenous people.
The complaint against Bolsonaro was filed by arguably France’s most famous human rights lawyer, William Bourdon.
For more…athttps://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/02/12/will-bolsonaro-be-on-trial-for-ecocide/
And I mean…Since Bolsonaro took office in 2019, the Amazon fires and deforestation rate have increased noticeably.
Environmental authorities have been systematically rebuilt.
Employees with technical or environmental policy expertise had to leave, in many protected areas authorities are now understaffed or without management.
Officials have been fired for opposing deforestation.
“We believe the government will continue to use the pandemic to relax environmental guidelines,” said Rita Portela.
She is a biologist and ecology professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
A few days ago, the government also presented its plans for 2021. This includes several controversial projects – like legalizing mining projects in indigenous areas.
This catastrophic policy threatened not only species with being lost, more greenhouse gases being produced and indigenous communities being wiped out.
The loss of shelters also harbors another risk: zoonotic infections and thus the risk of new pandemics.
On the other hand, not only the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro should appear before the International Tribunal for killing the world’s green lungs every day, but also the investment giant BlackRock.
The world’s largest investor in deforestation finances companies responsible for the destruction of the Amazon.
Despite all the criticism of right-wing extremist President Jair Bolsonaro, the EU and Mercosur member states, including Brazil, have reached an agreement after more than two decades.
This creates the largest free trade area in the world.
Many criminals, except Bolsonaro, are responsible for the destruction of the Amazon.
My best regards to all, Venus
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European Court of Justice prevents tests on rabbits
Posted on February 11, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Success in REACH chemical animal testing
In a groundbreaking ruling, the European Court of Justice ruled Esso Raffinage not to have to carry out a series of tests on rabbits.
The oil company went to the highest European court because the authority ECHA wanted to force him to do the animal tests, even though the company had submitted other safety data.
As part of the REACH= (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals) chemicals regulation, the chemical industry has to submit extensive data on its chemicals.
Oftentimes these involve animal testing. In one case, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) asked ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Raffinage to conduct a developmental toxicity study on hundreds of rabbits.
The company presented evidence from other sources of the safety of its chemical in an attempt to avoid the rabbit tests.
The ECHA – represented by the member state Germany – insisted on the animal tests and Esso brought the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Our European umbrella organization, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), submitted detailed arguments against carrying out the test.
The ECJ ruled in favor of the oil company.
The judges emphasized that according to the REACH guideline, animal experiments can only be carried out as a “last resort”.
The obligation of companies to adhere to this principle also applies if the ECHA has initially decided that animal experiments must be carried out.
ECHA is obliged to take into account the non-animal testing data proposed by the company.
A milestone in jurisprudence!
If Esso had lost, it would have opened the door to countless other REACH animal tests.
The positive verdict will hopefully encourage other chemical companies to refuse animal testing.
Dr. med. vet. Corina Gericke (Doctors Against Animal Testing)
And I mean...ExxonMobil, known in Europe as Esso, is the world’s largest oil company with an annual turnover of 228 billion US dollars, roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of Sweden.
Exxon is making billions of dollars in oil sales.
At the same time, the group has been vehemently denying for years that burning oil has anything to do with climate change
ExxonMobil (Esso) fought with all means against the introduction of the first, binding international climate protection agreement (Kyoto Protocol), refused compensation for the damage to the Exxon Valdez, ignores human rights to this day, and is the only oil company to invest hardly a cent in the development of renewable energies.
The real business of the oil giant is “extract oil, process oil, sell oil” at any price.
Because oil means power.
And yet suddenly the company derives from its power a certain responsibility against senseless animal testing.
Esso sues in order not to have to conduct animal tests, wins, and hundreds of animals are spared a cruel fate.
We are amazed!
And we wonder what went wrong this time in the deal with their loyal german friends “ECHA”!
Which, fortunately, led to a very positive result.
And that is what always counts, the result!
My best regards to all, Venus
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England: Celebrate the Campaigning by the Late Sir Roger – Finally, Fortnum and Mason Stop Foie Gras !
Posted on February 11, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
WAV Comment –Lady Moore, widow of Sir Roger Moore, said the James Bond star would have been “delighted” that his campaign finally bore fruit.
She said: “My late husband, Sir Roger Moore, was a staunch advocate for animal rights, and foie gras production was one of the many issues he took a stand against.
This is really brilliant news. We know that despite being ‘James Bond’ and everything that went with it; the real Roger Moore was a staunch animal rights advocate; and for years campaigned hard with regard Foie Gras and the use o animals in British circuses. Very sadly, Sir Roger is no longer with us to celebrate this wonderful news; but we will always remember his respect for, and his involvement in the animal rights movement.
Celebrate today and respect the work on this campaign by Sir Roger.
Regards Mark
Some of our past posts:
Exclusive: Fortnum & Mason to stop selling foie gras after campaign by celebrities
This news comes as the government considers a ban on the product now we have left the EU
For over a decade, Fortnum & Mason has stood against the pressure to stop selling “torture in a tin” as it remained one of the last great department stores to sell foie gras.
It has long been a contentious issue between those who see the product as a traditional luxury, and those who balk at the idea of force-feeding a duck or goose for human consumption. But now, the landmark London shop has given into campaigners and is phasing it out.
Celebrities including the late Sir Roger Moore, Twiggy, Joanna Lumley, Bill Oddie and Ricky Gervais have for years been part of a campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) to picket the shop.
Lady Moore, widow of Sir Roger Moore, said the James Bond star would have been “delighted” that his campaign finally bore fruit.
She said: “My late husband, Sir Roger Moore, was a staunch advocate for animal rights, and foie gras production was one of the many issues he took a stand against. For years, he joined Peta in urging Fortnum & Mason to stop selling this product of horrific cruelty. I know he would have been delighted to hear that the retailer has finally made the compassionate decision to remove foie gras from its shelves.”
Defra minister Lord Goldsmith has joined campaigners in the crusade against the goose liver product, and the government is now considering a ban on the product.
A spokesperson said: “The Government has made clear that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese using force feeding raises serious welfare concerns, and the practice is rightly banned in the UK.
“The Government is considering the further steps it could take in relation to foie gras.”
Fortnum & Mason confirmed to this newspaper that they have stopped buying in the product and are now selling off the rest of their stock. Once it runs out, foie gras will no longer be on the department store’s shelves.
A spokesperson said: “This decision was made last year as part of an ongoing focus on the way we do business.”
The last few tins are still being sold on its website, which reads: “Our foie gras is produced by just two farms carefully selected for their excellent welfare standards; smooth and creamy, it is the simplest way to transform a meal into a banquet.”
This has often been a contentious issue for department stores which wish to cater to their more well-heeled clientele without sparking mass protest by animal rights activists. Selfridges stopped selling foie gras in 2009 – but customers were so keen to get their hands on the luxury item that the butcher sold it “under the counter”. In 2012, he was caught and swiftly fired. Harrods still sells the product.
Joanna Lumley has long campaigned against foie gras CREDIT: Heathcliff O’Malley
Fortnum & Mason previously maintained that it would not bow to pressure from activists, arguing that demand for it was “very strong”. He and the store had “many thousands of customers” who wanted to buy “what is essentially a very traditional product”.
Campaigners celebrated the news.
BBC presenter Chris Packham said: “The world is changing, every more rapidly, in its regard to the way we treat animals. They are not there for us, they and we are part of a world that should support them. And we are waking up not the fact that what was acceptable yesterday is no longer tolerable today. Hats off to Fortnums, this is a timely signal that time are changing, and for the poor abused geese in France, they will be changing for the better.”
Lorraine Platt, the co-founder of the Conservative Animal Welfare Network, the influential network of which Prime Minister’s fiancée Carrie Symonds is a member has been part of the protests.
She said: “I campaigned for Peta outside Fortnums just before we launched Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation to protest against the sale of foie gras in the store wearing a mask of Sir Roger Moore- who was leading the campaign for Peta back then. I was fortunate enough to be invited to a very private dinner with Sir Roger Moore and his family and had the opportunity to thank him face to face for all he was doing at the time to press Fortnums to stop selling the grotesque product.”
Peta Vice President Mimi Bekhechi added: “From boardroom meetings to being force-fed outside the doors of the famous store by Steven Berkoff, our campaigning activities ran the gamut.
“Although it took far too long, we’re thrilled that the penny has finally dropped and Fortnum & Mason is joining the extensive list of iconic British institutions that reject this torture in a tin.”
To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed several times a day until their livers become diseased and swollen. By the end of their lives, many birds have trouble breathing because their enlarged livers compress their lungs, which is why the EU’s Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare recommends “that force-feeding of ducks and geese should stop and this could be best achieved by the prohibition of the production, importation, distribution and sale of foie gras.”
Exclusive: Fortnum & Mason to stop selling foie gras after campaign by celebrities (telegraph.co.uk)
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Animal News from Around the World
Posted on February 11, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
News from around the world
French president Emmanuel Macron has said Europe should grow its own soy and that to depend on Brazilian soy “would be to condone deforestation of the Amazon”. The EU is the second largest importer of Brazil’s agricultural products after China, and Brazil is seeking to expand exports with a trade deal with the EU. More than 1m tonnes of soya used by UK livestock farmers to produce chicken and other food could be linked to deforestation, according to Guardian reports last year.
Outbreaks of bird flu continue to be reported across Europe, with hundreds of cases in poultry in France, Germany and Poland. Sweden was reported to be planning to cull about 1.3 million chickens after bird flu was found on a farm. There have been more than 20 bird flu cases on commercial poultry farms in the UK with all birds, including free-range ones, now required to be housed indoors. In Asia, South Korea is reported to be culling 19 million poultry to control bird flu outbreaks in the country.
Denmark is offering more than £2bn in compensation to mink farmers following its decision to cull millions of animals over fears that a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines. Denmark had been the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, but has now suspended farming of the animals until 2022. Sweden has also paused mink fur farming for a year, and there have been calls to ban the practice in Spain. A Covid-19 vaccine for mink could, however, soon be available to breeders. In the US, officials have recommended workers on US mink farms to be given the vaccine as a priority.
New strains of the deadly pig disease, African swine fever (ASF), have been discovered in China. The disease has destroyed a large chunk of the pork industry in the country since 2018, although it is reportedly recovering quickly. One beneficiary of the shortfall has been Spain, which reported a rise in pork exports to China in 2020. ASF has continued to spread in Europe, with 30,000 pigs culled after an outbreak on a farm in Romania.
Yellow mealworm, a maggot-like insect, has been approved as safe for human consumption by the EU food safety agency. Insects are seen as a source of protein with comparatively low associated greenhouse gas emissions. The biggest potential market is expected to be as animal feed for chickens, pigs and other livestock, rather than human food products.
Germany has approved a draft law banning the culling of male chicks from 2022. The government has been exploring the use of dual-purpose breeds of birds which can lay eggs and be reared for meat. It has also invested in technology to detect egg sex prior to hatching and dispose of male eggs earlier. Separately, an Israeli startup has announced that it is planning to go further and change the sex of poultry embryos as they develop, doing away with the need for disposal.
News from the UK
Non-stunned halal and kosher meat must be clearly labelled to give consumers the choice not to buy it, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) has said after a government review of slaughter regulations. More than 90 million cattle, sheep and poultry were slaughtered without being pre-stunned in England in 2018. There is no non-stun slaughter in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The BVA said animals not stunned before slaughter are “highly likely to suffer pain, suffering, and distress during the cut and bleeding”.
Egg producers have been left struggling after a collapse in wholesale trade during the pandemic. The difficulties in exporting post-Brexit have also added to a fall in wholesale prices despite positive retail sales. Some producers have warned the situation could lead to chickens being culled. One free-range producer has reported giving tens of thousands of eggs to food banks.
Pig farmers in Northern Ireland are to get more than £2m in government support after a Covid-19 outbreak among workers led to the closure of a food processing factory for two weeks last summer. The meat plant is reported to process about 10,000 animals a week. Some farmers faced additional penalties on overweight pigs. Production was also halted at Scotland’s biggest pork processing plant in Brechin in January after several workers tested positive for the virus.
The UK’s veterinary capacity is at risk post-Brexit, MPs from the environment, food and rural affairs select committee have warned. About 95% of official veterinarians, who undertake vital certification and supervision work in abattoirs, are EEA-qualified nationals. The sector faces an increased workload due to additional export checks, Covid and disease outbreaks such as bird flu.
New Zealand is backing the UK as it seeks to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose members also include Japan, Australia, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore and Mexico. The New Zealand meat industry has called for greater access to the UK market for its beef and lamb.
Finally, Kim, a 12-month-old Welsh-born sheepdog, has been sold for a world record £27,100. Although a Welsh speaker, the seller Dewi Jenkins said he trains his dogs in English to allow him to sell them across the world, including in the US, Norway, Belgium, France and Ireland.
From the Animals Farmed series
A decade after an outbreak of Q fever killed 95 people in the Netherlands, there are worries about human cases of pneumonia linked to goat farms. The Q fever outbreak followed a period of rapid growth in goat dairying in the Netherlands and its aftermath heightened tensions around zoonotic disease threats, especially in the south of the country where the highest numbers of goat farms and infection rates were found.
The EU has been revealed to be world’s biggest live animal exporter with more than 1.6 billion chickens, pigs, sheep, goats and cattle transported across a border in 2019.
In the UK, live farm animal exports to mainland Europe have come to a standstill post-Brexit. The UK government consultation on banning the export of animals for slaughter and fattening is due to end later this month.
Brazilian companies and slaughterhouses including the world’s largest meat producer, JBS, sourced cattle from supplier farms that made use of workers kept in slavery-like conditions, according to a new report. JBS said it had “a zero-tolerance approach to forced labour and also urge anyone who suspects or has evidence of individual or farm-level malpractice to report it”.
Outbreaks of African swine fever and Covid among workers in meat plants in Germany have raised questions over the consequences of the country’s fixation on “cheap meat”. In China, experts have questioned the effectiveness of new animal health rules in preventing another zoonotic disease outbreak. And news of plans to develop animal-only antibiotics has been criticised as a “techno-fix” for intensive farming practices.
A Welsh council has admitted it should not have granted planning permission for a 110,000-chicken farm in the “poultry capital of Wales” after campaigners crowdfunded a judicial review. Former free-roaming nomads in Tibet are facing a struggle for their identity, stuck between China’s push for more industrialised farms and Buddhist monks urging them to embrace vegetarianism. Finally, we’ve reported on the mounting death toll of people and animals in Nigeria as herders seeking dwindling reserves of pasture clash with farmers.
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 