Posted on July 15, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
This is not an area that we usually go into; but having a leaflet on the subject arrive today with the post, we found that it was something worth informing people about; a UK charity which has been established and which uses a dogs natural abilities and specialities to detect early health problems (such as cancer) in human beings..
In their own words:
About Medical Detection Dogs
Medical Detection Dogs trains dogs to detect the odour of human disease. It is at the forefront of the research into the fight against cancer and helping people with life-threatening diseases.
Our bio detection dogs are trained to find the odour of diseases, such as cancer, in samples such as urine, breath and swabs. Our Medical Alert Assistance dogs are trained to detect minute changes in an individual’s personal odour triggered by their disease* and alert them to an impending medical event. We receive no Government funding for the work we do and rely entirely on the generosity of donations from trusts and the public.
Please visit their website and also learn more about their work and also their animal welfare policy at:
No animal abuse and testing, but using well trained dogs to use their natural specialities (and noses) to detect illness and disease in humans well before ‘normal’ medicine often can. To us this is a win-win all round.
Posted on July 14, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
As many of you will be aware, live animal transport is still probably our greatest campaign – you can read a bit more about our history in this field at ‘About Us’ – https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/ and which shows that live animal transport investigations were being undertaken at least 15 years before SAV was even founded !
The EU has a lot of legislation supposedly to protect the welfare of animals in transport. The main regulation is 1/2005 – which SHOULD be enforced by all member states of the EU.
Here is a link to the regulation (1/2005) to show just how detailed things should be; and which we have to know fully when undertaking animal transport investigation work.
We have recently shown that the EU fails miserably to enforce regulations which should protect animals in transport. Here are links to just a few of our recent posts which show where the EU is failing the animals:
Our good friend Lesley at ‘Eyes on Animals’ in the Netherlands has produced an excellent and very detailed presentation video relating to Regulation 1/2005 and how the EU is failing animals by not enforcing the legislation.
Here below you can read Lesley’s into to the video, and then have a look for yourself.
As we have said, the Regulation is very detailed and this is borne out by the length of this video. Over the years we have made contact with the EU very many times relating to live animal transport. The importance of access to livestock being carried is one of the most important factors when carrying live animals.
Dear EU and Member State authorities, highway police, livestock-transport companies and livestock-truck manufacturers and fellow colleagues of animal-welfare NGOs,
During our inspections of livestock-trucks we are often confronted with vehicles that have received a Certificate of Approval of Means of Transport by Road of Live Animals but that in reality are not appropriate. Sometimes the water system on board is not the correct design for the specie and age of the animals on board and yet this limitation is not indicated on the Certificate. For example, we continue to see adult cattle transport in livestock trucks with only metal nipples. Cattle needs large and deep troughs in the corners. This may seem like a small mistake, but as the Certificate is valid for 5 years, it results in many cattle suffering from thirst during transport and some even dying.
We also continue to see partitions that are poorly designed and cause animal injuries, such as when they are not solid to the ground. In the gap we find sheep, calves, adult cattle trapped underneath and as a consequence many become trampled to death. It is a horrible sight to see.
The good news is that these problems can easily be solved if the livestock trucks are correctly checked before handing out the certificate of approval. Design adjustments can be made on time, or limitations can be indicated in the Certificate of Approval, before live animals are loaded!
For this reason Eyes on Animals was invited by the Dutch authorities at the NVWA to give a presentation on this topic a few months ago. We gave this “course” together with our colleagues from TSB|AWF and it was a successful and also positive day.
I am writing to you now because Dr. Tea Dronjic and I have now made a video of this educational course so that everyone can watch it via youtube.
Please take a look and feel free to pass it on to any colleagues that could also benefit from watching it:
Should you have any questions, or should you wish to have us come in person to also give a live presentation to you and colleagues, do not hesitate to contact us.
The Prime Minister David Cameron is handing over to Home Secretary Theresa May – who was sat alongside him on the front bench during the half hour session – after announcing his resignation on 24 June, the day after Britain voted to quit the EU.
Mr Cameron told MPs he had clocked up 5,500 questions during his six years as prime minister, joking that he would leave it to others to decide how many he has answered.
We in animal welfare do not really have many good things to say about Mr Cameron at all. He is a hunter; wanted to overturn the hunting ban introduced in the UK over ten years ago; he is behind all the killing (culling) of badgers in several counties in the UK – the badger being a ‘protected species’ under UK law; unless you are the government that is, then you can kill them at your leisure !!
Despite many promises, including written ones from our very own Member of Parliament, there has never been any action to ban the use of animals in UK circuses; despite a public consultation over 10 years ago which saw more than 85% of the British public at the time calling for an immediate ban on the use of animals in circuses.
To cut a long story short, David Cameron has been no friend to the animals. We welcome his demise today (13/7/16) when he visits her majesty the queen to officially declare his resignation. He will be replaced by Theresa May, the current Home Secretary; who will become the new Prime Minister. We do not currently have much information on her and her views, but we hope that she will be better for the welfare of animals in the UK.
SAV.
Below – Hetty the fox shows her appreciation to friends at the UK press:
Posted on July 13, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Cruelty Conviction
A Foster Farms slaughterhouse employee caught torturing chickens has been convicted of criminal animal cruelty. The conviction stems from a recent Mercy For Animals hidden-camera investigation.
by Lina Cohen – July 6, 2016
Yesterday, Gabriel Cevallos, a Foster Farms employee, was convicted for criminal animal abuse after being caught on hidden camera ripping out fistfuls of feathers from live birds, repeatedly hitting a bird with a severed chicken leg, and tossing live birds around like basketballs. Cevallos pled no contest to one count of criminal animal cruelty. His conviction stems from a 2015 Mercy For Animals undercover investigation at a Foster Farms chicken slaughterhouse in Fresno, California, which revealed birds scalded alive and several Foster Farms employees punching, throwing, and slamming birds.
Cevallos was sentenced by the Fresno County Superior Court to three years of probation and a fine of $600, and is required to attend 12 sessions of mental health counseling.
Although animal abuse is pervasive in Foster Farms’ poultry supply chain, American Humane Association has certified Foster Farms—one of the largest poultry producers in the country—as “humane.” AHA’s standards, which cover more than 1 billion animals, are far less stringent than those of virtually every other humane certification program. In fact, AHA standards barely exceed the minimal standards set by the factory farming industry itself. In other words, these standards are essentially meaningless.
MFA is calling on Foster Farms and AHA to stop misleading the public and implement meaningful animal welfare requirements, including replacing live-shackle slaughter methods with less cruel systems that eliminate the appalling suffering caused by dumping, shackling, shocking, and slitting the throats of conscious animals. Additionally, birds should be provided with more space, clean litter, access to adequate light, and environmental enrichments. Video monitoring systems that live stream to the internet should also be installed to deter future violence against animals.
Last week, Perdue Foods, one of the nation’s largest poultry producers, announced a precedent-setting animal welfare policy. MFA is calling on AHA and Foster Farms to stop paying lip service to animal welfare and do the same.
Convictions send an important message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated. The best way to protect animals, however, is not to eat them. Visit ChooseVeg.com to get started with some tips and recipes.
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Washington Post – Meat Is Horrible
by Joe Loria – July 5, 2016
“Meat is horrible,” a new article in The Washington Post, highlights the negative impacts of a Western diet.
Author Rachel Premack discusses the environmental, ecological, and health reasons Americans must give up or cut back on meat. Featuring multiple graphs, her compelling argument destroys common myths and seems to support a meat tax.
Premack writes:
By 2050, scientists forecast that emissions from agriculture alone will account for how much carbon dioxide the world can use to avoid catastrophic global warming. It already accounts for one-third of emissions today — and half of that comes from livestock.
She also notes that it takes “48 times as many liters of water to produce the same amount of beef as veggies” and we could save “a collective $730 billion in health care by reducing meat consumption.”
The debate over climate change and animal agriculture’s role in it is over. We know how raising animals for food damages our planet, and it’s time world leaders took action.
In the meantime, you can help protect the planet, your health, and animals by switching to a plant-based diet.
Click here to order your FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide
Posted on July 12, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
It’s common for elephants used in the tourism industry to be separated from their mothers as babies, tied down with ropes, beaten mercilessly, and gouged with sharp weapons.
These intelligent, complex, sensitive animals are forced to spend their entire lives shackled in chains and give rides to people, even in extreme heat.
Travel companies Classic Journeys, Goway Travel, and SITA World Tours know this, but they still offer elephant rides as part of some of their tours.
When people go to Thailand and ride on an elephant, most of them have no idea that elephants are often separated from their mothers when they’re babies, tied down with ropes, beaten mercilessly, and gouged with sharp weapons. If they knew, they probably wouldn’t do it.
But travel companies Classic Journeys, Goway Travel, and SITA World Tours can’t say that they didn’t know, because PETA told them about the industry-standard abuse, but they still offer elephant rides as part of their tours.
Life for these elephants is hell: Trainers at some camps wave flaming sticks in baby elephants’ faces, just to terrify them. The animals are often deprived of food and water during training, which can last for days and leave them injured and traumatized. Some don’t even survive.
The survivors will spend the rest of their lives like slaves, chained up and forced to carry tourists on their backs through sweltering heat and exhaustion, all while being jabbed and pulled with weapons such as bullhooks or other sharp objects.
If this makes you mad, think about how the elephants feel—then you might be able to understand why they sometimes lash out. Earlier this year, a man vacationing in Thailand was gored to death in front of his daughter. In March, captive elephants killed at least four trainers in Thailand alone. Plus, elephants throughout Asia are known to carry tuberculosis, a deadly disease that can be spread between elephants and humans.
Riding elephants hurts animals and humans, and there’s no reason for it. Animals are not ours to capture, beat, enslave, and ride.
ACTION
Tell Classic Journeys, Goway Travel, and SITA World Tours to stop supporting the abuse of intelligent, sensitive elephants.
