Posted on March 24, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Press release: -Systematic shafts uncovered /
-German slaughterhouse tortures animals to death /
-North Rhine-Westphalia authorities fail to protect animals
SOKO animal welfare investigators can use current images from the last few weeks to prove that animals were systematically slaughtered in full consciousness at the Prott meat center in Selm North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on every slaughter day.
“The sheep were brutally slashed and thrown into a heap, cattle fought for their lives bleeding and dangling from chains and roared in pain,” says SOKOanimal welfare investigator Friedrich Mülln, describing the situation.
The authorities had been warned for almost 20 years and failed to stop the shafts.
(The video is in German, but a detailed explanation of what you see is already in the report)
The shaft of animals is illegal in Germany and only possible under very strict conditions in exceptional cases.
However, there are no special permits in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Prott slaughterhouse, which is run by Germans, on the other hand, has specializedin slaughtering without anesthesia (!!!)
Posted on March 23, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
We all know what a rattlesnake’s “rattle” means — run.
Whether you learned about it from TV or movies, or from real-life experience, you know that this rattle is the precursor to a strike.
But of course, like all wild animals, rattlesnakes lash out at people out of fear — if you leave them alone, they’ll do you the same kindness, and you’ll both be a lot less afraid.
Following this line of thought, a rattlesnake’s “rattle” is really the closest thing it has to a scream.
And at this bloody event in Sweetwater, Texas, the screams are ear-splitting.
Sign the petition imploring the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to cancel the yearly Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup!
This horrific event, which has been going on for over 60 years, is utterly gruesome from start to finish. First, rattlesnake hunters flush poor, solitary snakes out of their dens by pouring gasoline into them, forcing them to flee or suffocate.
Gassing obviously takes its toll on the snakes, their first of many traumas to come, but it also poisons the land and nearby plants and wildlife. It’s such an environmental hazard that it’s been totally banned in 29 U.S. states.
And I mean…Is this barbarism real? In the 21st century?
Yes! It is real!
It’s not just real, it’s legal!
For the past 60 years, tens of thousands of visitors have come to the small town for the annual rattlesnake tour every March.
Organized by the Sweetwater Junior Chamber of Commerce, or “Jaycees,” the rattlesnake roundup began as a way to curb rattlesnake populations during the late 1950s.
But what began as a giant, community-wide rattlesnake cull eventually grew into a kind of county fair which especially delights sadists and psychopaths.
Over the course of four days, thousands of snakes are put on display in snake pits, brutally butchered for meat, and sold to bidders who will turn their skins into everything from boots to belts to watch bands.
Even the venom is collected and sold for research.
Snakes are pinned down and decapitated on a woodblock, which does not immediately kill the animal.
Many times it takes them 3 or 4 whacks to completely sever the head, however, this animal still feels pain long after decapitation.
Snakes have a very sensitive nervous system, and can absolutely feel pain.
It’s about money!
It’s become such a tradition, and it brings in a tremendous amount of money to the community. That’s the biggest issue; it’s not more about population control, and it’s not about safety.
It’s about money, and it is a spectacle for sadists and psychopaths!
Posted on March 23, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The last blast – Biggest shake-up in 500 years for game shooting as ban looms on ‘toxic’ ammunition.
The pellets inside shotgun cartridges are toxic for animals, nature activists say
Lead ammunition has been used to shoot birds in the UK since the 1500s
Shooting organisations say the ban could take eight years to come into force
It’s the biggest shake up for the British hunters in over 500 years as the British government now considers a ban on the use of lead shot.
Lead pellets are inside of the cartridges used in shotguns. They are toxic and can be fatal if they are eaten by other birds, animals and all wildlife.
Under consultation is the phasing out of lead ammunition across all environments in England, Scotland and Wales. But shooting organisations are also saying that the ban could take up to 8 years before it comes into force. It is expected that some in the shooting fraternity are not happy and have become quite reactionary.
Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance; the main pro hunt organisation in the UK, has declared that the phase out can be done on their time scale, or it will be imposed on them. He also accepted that there are now alternatives to lead shot.
The UK government has requested an official review of the evidence; followed by a public consultation to aim at a proposed ban on the ammunition.
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow has stated that addressing the impacts of lead ammunition will mark a significant step forward in helping to protect wildlife, people and the environment.
Officials pointed to research by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust which shows that between 50,000 and 100,000 wildfowl die each year after ingesting lead from spent pellets which they mistake for food. Mr Bonner stated that such estimates were ‘a bit on the high side’; but then as a shooter and huntsman, he would.
The EU is expected to ban imports of game shot with lead – a major concern because around 60 per cent of British game is exported to Europe. Fears have been expressed by manufacturers as to whether they will be able to meet demand for new types of ammunition.
Last year several leading cartridge makers said that they thought that developing ‘high performance ammunition’ without lead in a short time frame, ‘without significant support’ from the Government, would be impossible.
Jonathan Young, editor of countryside sports magazine The Field, has voiced his doubts about the ability of steel pellets to kill game ‘efficiently and cleanly’.
But Dr Julia Newth of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust said: ‘Conservationists, shooting organisations and game meat retailers have recognised the toxic risks from lead ammunition.’
Posted on March 22, 2021 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
WAV Comment – Today, 22nd March 2021, is the United Nations ‘World Water Day’. Philip is a friend and fellow campaigner who we have worked with for around 30 years. Here he describes entering the ‘Dead Zone’.
Today, 22nd March 2021, is the United Nations World Water Day. It’s about raising awareness of the value of water and the importance of protecting this vital resource on which we all depend.
For me World Water Day brings back memories of my investigations in the USA whilst writing Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were, where I witnessed for myself how intensive livestock production fuels water pollution around the globe.
I had travelled about 15 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico and was looking at something resembling a construction site. All around me were oil rigs. I’d heard a lot about this place in the middle of nowhere from the media. A place out at sea where nothing lives. Called the ‘dead zone’. An expanse of water so polluted that nearly all the oxygen has gone. A liquid symbol of what happens when efforts to prevent, mitigate or contain environmental damage fail and the water represents worst-case scenario; the marine ‘end of days’. The gathering body of oxygen-depleted – hypoxic – water forms a barrier to life, killing just about everything that can’t flee.
My plan had been to see the dead zone for myself – and not from the comfort of a boat. So snorkel fixed, I slipped into the water. At surface level the pea-green sea looked nothing out of the ordinary. As I peered into the gloom below, I could see fish and the water around me looked very much alive. Had there been some mistake? I ducked down again and held my breath this time, swimming down. Now things began to grow clearer – or rather not. A few metres beneath the surface, everything changed. The water was cooler, saltier and far more murky. I could see very little and without diving kit, I could go no further. I wouldn’t reach the dead zone myself, for it was far, far below, coating the bottom half of the water in a suffocating blanket.
Sadly, the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is not unique – they exist all over the world but among biologists, marine scientists and conservationists, it is among the most notorious. It now boasts the world’s second-largest area of oxygen-depleted water (the Baltic is the biggest). It’s a squalid claim to fame. The zone emerges every year, without fail, from February to October, stretching all the way from the shores of Louisiana to the upper Texan coast.
And the main culprit? Fertiliser. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the source of the problem is the ‘flowing green oceans’ of corn in the Midwest of America. It is an area of intensive corn and soybean production, where large amounts of nitrogen from fertiliser and manure are applied to the soils every year. Excess nitrate is washed into rivers and streams and ends up in the Gulf. One would think the corn and soya would be feeding the world, but you’d be wrong, it’s feeding factory farmed animals. The problems in the Gulf are squarely linked to the food on our plates.
The reality of all this was brought home to me when I took to the air in a tiny Cessna plane. I was expecting various warehouses with impressive pallet-stacks of fertiliser bags, but we flew over a small town of sprawling industry, one of many perched on the banks of the Mississippi and to my horror, they were all fertiliser factories. But the term ‘fertiliser factory’ entirely failed to convey the sheer scale of this hidden part of the industrial farming jigsaw.
Dead zones are emerging around the world. Industrial agriculture systems, with their high dependence on artificial fertilisers and chemicals, are a major source of pollution of our precious water. Quite simply our hunger for ‘cheap’ meat from animals fed on cheap corn grown on chemical-laced fields is poisoning and driving out precious species and damaging ecosystems on land, rivers and sea. But it’s not too late to reverse the situation – a reduction in meat, dairy and egg consumption especially from factory farms, can reduce the water impact of our diets and greatly improve the welfare of farm animals.
This is why we need to seize the opportunity of this year’s United Nations Food Systems Summit to move toward a global agreement to end factory farming. To reset our food system towards regenerative, restorative, nature-friendly ways of producing food. The UN summit presents an incredible opportunity to focus this debate in one place and form the catalyst for change on a global basis.
And we will do everything we can to abolish it.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 