Posted on August 18, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
From ‘Free Tibet’ – London.
Imagine being snatched from the street or even your home. You are loaded into a police car and driven to an unknown location. Your friends, colleagues and family don’t know where you are. Nor do you. It is like you have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Enforced disappearances are designed to punish Tibetans who resist or fall foul of the occupation, and to scare other Tibetans away from opposing the occupation or freely expressing their culture. Today Free Tibet is launching our new In The Dark campaign by highlighting six of these enforced disappearances. For each, we have listed some important strategic actions that you can complete online right now, in order to pressure the authorities into releasing them.
Click below to learn about their cases and see how you can help.
These six prisoners are just the first stage of our new campaign to bring public attention to this cruel and oppressive practice. To learn more about enforced disappearances, Tibet’s hidden prisoners and our campaign, visit our website. The Chinese authorities want to hide these prisoners from the world. We are determined to find them, shine a light on their cases and push for their release. We hope that you will join us in making a stand for Tibet’s hidden prisoners.
Posted on August 16, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Sales of shark fin in China drop by up to 70%
Traditionally a symbol of wealth and luxury, public attitudes towards shark fin are changing in China, according to a new report
A popular dish at weddings and banquets in China, shark fin soup is increasingly off the menu due to a government frugality drive and awareness campaigns and by conservationists, according to a new report.
The trade in shark fins, a symbol of wealth in China and other parts of Asia, has led to the decline in some shark populations by up to 98% in the last 15 years. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed each year with up to 73 million used for their fins.
China became the world’s largest market for shark fin due to its rising wealth and desire for luxury goods. However, sales of shark fin have fallen from 50-70%, according to a report by WildAid, a US-based organisation focusing on reducing demand for wildlife products.
According to data collected by WildAid, sales of shark fin in Guangzhou, considered to be the centre of the shark fin trade in China, have dropped by 82%. The report complied data from a number of different sources including news reports, online surveys, undercover interviews with traders in China and trade statistics from Hong Kong, once considered to be the global hub for trade in shark fin.
According to the report, wholesale shark fin traders in Guangzhou are complaining that sales are decreasing and prices are falling. One wholesaler quoted in the report said that “shark fin is a dying business” with others reporting that medium-sized shark fins are only selling for half the price.
An anti-corruption drive by the Chinese government is thought to be one of the main factors behind the decrease in sales. Considered a luxurious delicacy, shark fin was often a feature on the menu at official functions. But under the government’s austerity campaign, it was banned from being served at state events in 2012.
Peter Knights, Executive Director of WildAid said that while the government ban has played a role there has been “no magic bullet, it’s been a combination of factors”.
WildAid say that a change in public attitudes towards the consumption of shark fin in China, particularly among younger generations, is having a big impact too. According to the report, 85% of Chinese consumers surveyed online said they gave up shark fin soup within the past 3 years. They credit a large awareness campaign of the impact of the shark fin trade, headed by former basketball star Yao Ming, a popular figure in China. “The more people learn about the consequences of eating shark fin soup, the less they want to participate in the trade,” said Knights.
Pressure from conservationists has also influenced big businesses. A number of large hotel chains have stopped serving shark fin soup and more than 20 airlines have agreed not to transport it.
Posted on August 16, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Factory Farming in Asia Creating Health Risks.
Growth of intensive units has potential to increase antibiotic resistance and could result in spread of bird flu beyond region.
The use of antibiotics in factory farms in Asia is set to more than double in just over a decade, with potentially damaging effects on antibiotic resistance around the world.
Factory farming of poultry in Asia is also increasing the threat of bird flu spreading beyond the region, with more deadly strains taking hold, according to a new report from a network of financial investors.
Half of all antibiotics globally are now consumed in China alone. The Chinese meat and animal feed producers New Hope Group and Wen’s Group are now among the 10 biggest animal feed manufacturers in the world.
Read the rest of this very interesting article at:
Recently, Chinese companies have been buying farms in the United States and Australia to provide feed for their country’s dairy and beef industries.
In late 2013 a Chinese company, (Shenghui), purchased the largest US pork producer, named ‘Smithfield Foods’, to help keep up with demand.
China’s demand for meat could potentially continue to grow and support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US meat industry.
Sounds good for the USA;
but also think; from a climate perspective, the methane produced by the animals will still continue to be created, but it will be shifted to the United States rather than remain in China.
Posted on August 13, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
On July 8, 2017, a dead wolf was retrieved from the lake Schluchsee in southern Germany, near my village.
He was shot. It is the 24th wolf shot illegally since the resettlement of the wolves in Germany in the year 2000. Of these 24 murders, there were only three convictions up to now – in all cases, the perpetrators had posed themselves.
After each murder there are always the same discussions:
“These are the poachers,” say the hunters, “we are very sorry,” say the friends of the hunters, the politicians, and the peasants who have nothing against wolves but want to protect their flocks.
As soon as the cruel battle of the whales and dolphins in Denmark begins, the German press hasten to report about it and tries to harass a reader-friendly readership against the “criminals”.
It is always the other countries that are criminally dealing with animals, there are always the others who are corrupt and proficient, it is the Chinese who massacre the dogs, and the rich safari hunters who cull our elephants.
It is terrible to exterminate animals, you have to do something!!!
Petitions are signed, donations flow without end to the protection of the threatened animals !!!
And so the German citizen always points to other people who illegally kill wild animals because their governments are corrupt.
Always the others!
The Green Minister of the Environment, Franz Untersteller, has taken a ridiculous position on the subject:
“Shooting a wolf is a criminal offense. I very much regret that a man has extinguished the life of this rare creature by force. “
Thus an incapable politician wants us to declare that the 24th murder of a strictly protected animal provokes only his sadness, and he even reminds us that it is a crime. They are the politicians who will continue their co-operation with hunters, the meat mafia, the circus industry, laboratory labs directors, etc … in the coming elections of Germany with the blessing of a dumbed people and want to persuade us that they do it all for our benefit!
I have absolutely no hope that in Germany that any government can work for my good – and I am a German citizen; a citizen of the gutless EU !
But if I at least knew that a (political) party wants to take the welfare of the animals into account and improve it where they can, then I would go to the elections.
So far, however, I am not aware of this political animal saviour, and the German animal protection party plays no essential role in the political scene.
With Angela Merkel and now also Martin Schultz (President of the European Parliament from 2012 to 2017) as 2 of the main political contenders, it is very unlikely that the ‘animal welfare voice’ will start to be listened to in Germany.
Merkel does not listen, and Schultz, ex EU Parliament President – what more does one need to say; he is ex EU – and the EU policy ‘is what we have experienced with live animal exports to Turkey, for example, “there is nothing we can do”.
What faith in politicians to make the world a better place for all !
