This *multi-billion dollar corporation, now owned by Mars
(Mars, Inc. is an American global manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 3rd largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporatedFairfax County, Virginia, US, the company is entirely owned by the secretive Mars family.
Mars operates in six business segments in the US: Chocolate (Hackettstown, New Jersey), Petcare (Franklin, Tennessee), Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (Chicago, Illinois), Food (Los Angeles, California), Drinks (West Chester, Pennsylvania), and Symbioscience (Germantown, Maryland)
and needs to know that people who care about what food their dogs/cats eat, also care about senseless suffering inflicted on other animal species.
They are also in bed with “breeders”(see below)…talk about a bad news company!
From: Anti-Fur Society
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 10:34 AM
ROYAL CANIN IS SUPPORTING BEAR BAITING IN THE UKRAINE…are YOU supporting Royal Canin?
video & actual news link..
ROYAL CANIN (supposedly catering for animals) IS SUPPORTING THIS MOST BARBARIC ACT AGAINST BEARS. PLS PROTEST, BOYCOTT THEM & SPREAD THE WORD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN6a8PR-jZg
http://dora-vp.m3plus.net/bulgaria/bg/news-press/news/page-7654/
Subject: ROYAL CANIN IS SUPPORTING IS SUPPORTING BEAR BAITING IN UKRAINE
ROYAL CANIN IS SUPPORTING THIS HORROR WITHOUT EVEN A DISGUISE.
PLEASE EVERYONE, CONTACT R.C. MONSTERS DISGUISED AS ANIMAL LOVERS! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLY DISGUSTING!!!!
**PETITION – Please Sign** –
https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-bear-baiting-in-ukraine
You’ve probably heard of the pet food brand Royal Canin, but what you definitely won’t have heard of is that in recent months, Royal Canin has sponsored dog shows in Ukraine which have featured the barbaric practice of bear baiting.
We find it hypocritical that a pet food producer who claims to put “dogs and cats first” enables this cruel activity, where hunting dogs in training are let loose on a chained up bear, who is left almost defenceless to the onslaught.
Based on our information, around 15 to 20 bears are exposed to bear baiting in Ukraine. We have brought this information to the attention of the Ukrainian authorities and hope to be able to act quickly.
We have also asked Royal Canin for a meeting to constructively discuss this situation and provide sanctuary for these abused bears, but they chose to ignore our solution.
This is outrageous and unacceptable. We need you to call on Royal Canin to take responsibility!
Please send your protest mail now. Thank you.
Brief Company History: It was founded in 1967 in a village of Gard, France, by the French veterinary surgeon, Jean Cathary. Its headquarters are now located in Aimargues, France.
In March 1972, Royal Canin was acquired by Guyomarc’h.
In 1990, French bank, Paribas, bought out the Guyomarc’h Group.
In July 2001, Paribas sold Royal Canin to Mars for more than 1.5 billion euros. Approximately 93% of the purchase price consisted of goodwill paid. Mars paid 22.3 times its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation).[2][3] In March 2004, Royal Canin acquired the veterinary grade manufacturers/service providers, in the U.S. and Canada, the IVD, Medi-Cal and Techni-Cal brands from Del Monte Foods for $82.5 million.[4]
Veterinary Expertise and Breeder Relationships: In each country veterinary delegate teams, which sometimes number over 70 people, are specifically dedicated to professionals. In Europe, Royal Canin sponsors or is active in 3,500 dog shows and 400 cat shows each year. In France, for instance, 35 cynotechnicians work with 4,000 dog breeders and 400 clubs. A “Feline Club” is open to more than 2,000 breeders.
Veterinary and Peer-Reviewed Journal Research
The company is most known for researching the clinical formulation, testing, manufacturing and marketing of a range of breed-specific and symptom-specific diets for dogs and cats. In addition to food production, Royal Canin also issues numerous books with the support of world-class academics from veterinary departments: comprehensive encyclopedias on pets (4 million copies and published in 15 languages), guidebooks on canine and feline breeding, nutrient guides, academic and professional publications for veterinarians and breeders, and deluxe technical brochures on each breed targeted by a specific diet. Publications also include FOCUS, a scientific quarterly that appears in 11 languages and reaches over 70,000 veterinarians around the world, and 1,450 Waltham-Royal Canin veterinary publications (compared with almost 400 publications from the company’s closest competitor).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN6a8PR-jZg
http://dora-vp.m3plus.net/bulgaria/bg/news-press/news/page-7654/
Factories
In 2008, Royal Canin had a revenue of over 1.5 billion euros – 80% outside of France – with approximately 4,500 employees worldwide.
Royal Canin has twelve production operations:
Aimargues, southern France
Cambrai, northern France
González Catán near Buenos Aires, Argentina
Castle Cary near Bristol, UK
North Sioux City, South Dakota, USA
From May 1, 2007, many Mars products made in the UK became unsuitable for vegetarians. The company announced that it would be using whey made with animal rennet (material from a calf’s stomach lining, and a byproduct of veal), instead of using rennet made by microorganisms, in products including Mars, Twix, Snickers, Maltesers, Bounty, Minstrels and Milky Way.[37] The response from many thousands of consumers, particularly the Vegetarian Society‘s request for UK vegetarians to register their protests with Mars, generated a lot of press, and caused the company to abandon these plans shortly thereafter.[38] It has reportedly decided to switch to all-vegetarian sources in the near future in the UK.[39][40] On 18-Sep-2012, the 15-Jan-2010 press release could not be found in the “Press Releases” section of the Mars website; in Canada, the URL [1] redirected to the webpage, [2]. In January 2008, the Metro newspaper reported that Mars had allegedly begun to incorporate animal-derived rennet.[41]
Mars has come under criticism by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for funding animal tests which the group alleges are inhumane.[42] One study was conducted in collaboration with the Salk Institute regarding angiogenesis and spatial memory in which mice were given an ad libitum diet that included epicatechin, plant-derived flavonoid. One of the experiments involved groups of control and experimental animals, the latter of which were housed in a cage that included a running wheel for optional exercise for two hours a day, the former did not have access to a running wheel. Another experiment was the classical spacial memory assay, the Morris water maze. The study showed that the inclusion of epicatechin in the diet improved memory and angiogenesis, and more so if coupled with exercise.[43][44]
Mars has been criticized for buying cocoa beans from West African farmers who reportedly use unpaid or poorly paid child laborers. In 2009, Mars announced that, as of 2010, the company would only purchase cocoa from suppliers who meet environmental, labour and production standards. TransFair USA, an organization which certifies products as Fair Trade, applauded the move and expressed hope that it would include a provision for fair wages for laborers and farmers.[45] In 2010, Mars Inc. received the U.S. Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence.[46] In April 2010, Mars launched the MyCocoaPaper initiative, which claims to provide economic opportunities to women and families in Indonesia by making paper products out of cocoa bark and recycled office paper.[47]
In 2011, Mars and Fairtrade International announced an agreement to introduce the first Fairtrade labeled Mars product and to work together to enable farmers to have sustainable livelihoods and substantially increased productivity. The first Mars product to carry the Fairtrade mark will be Maltesers, to appear in stores in 2012 in the UK and Ireland.[48]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN6a8PR-jZg
http://dora-vp.m3plus.net/bulgaria/bg/news-press/news/page-7654/
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
