Uk (London): Landmark Donation To Transform Camden Animal Hospital

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

28th October 2010

Landmark Donation To Transform Camden Animal Hospital

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is pleased to announce the substantial donation of £1m from the Jean Sainsbury Animal Welfare Trust towards a £1.5m refurbishment of the Beaumont Animals’ Hospital which it operates in Camden, London.

The Hospital will be renamed as the Beaumont Sainsbury Animals’ Hospital in Jean Sainsbury’s honour, as a reflection of the matched values shared by Jean and the College.   The Hospital has remained open during the refurbishment, which is due to be completed in Spring 2011.

“This Landmark donation enables the College to create a 21st century veterinary primary care practice that is unrivalled in Central London,” said Graham Milligan, Clinical Services Director at the Royal Veterinary College. “We are delighted to be able to celebrate Jean’s life by renaming our Hospital in her honour, as she was dedicated to improving animal welfare and promoting responsible care of animals and sound primary veterinary care.”

Jean Sainsbury, who died in 2007, was a frequent visitor to the hospital and provided funds to assist clients in receipt of state benefit with essential care and treatment of their pets. Jean especially valued the work of the Beaumont Animals’ Hospital because it provides the highest quality first opinion services for pet owners in Camden, and that this service is based on the ethos that all treatments and procedures should be necessary and appropriate to the animal’s needs.

Colin Russell MBE, Chairman of the Jean Sainsbury Animal Welfare Trust said, “The Trustees feel it is a fitting tribute to Jean Sainsbury, who was dedicated to animal welfare, to have her name added to the Beaumont Animals’ Hospital which she supported so enthusiastically during her lifetime.” For many years Jean Sainsbury was a supporter of the Royal Veterinary College and its hospital for small animals in Camden.

Grants to the College helped to fund the first phase of the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals at the Hawkshead campus in Hertfordshire and grants were used at the Camden Town site to refurbish operating theatres and waiting and reception areas in the animals’ hospital.

Since 1994 the Trust has subsidised veterinary costs for those on low incomes. Jean Sainsbury’s support was formally recognised in 1994 by the award of an Honorary Fellowship of the College. The extensive £1.5 million refurbishment of the hospital includes improvements to the reception and waiting areas for clients, refitting of the five consultation rooms; major upgrades to the dispensary and treatment room, a complete refit of the radiography suite including updating to the latest digital standards, a refit of surgical facilities including the creation of a new dedicated dental suite, the expansion of ward facilities for exotics, an overhaul of the ward space for dogs including expansion of the isolation facilities (to minimise likelihood of spread of infectious diseases) as well as complete refurbishment of seminar room facilities for students, new office accommodation and major improvements to living quarters for the veterinary nursing team.

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China: Zoo Cruelty, Abuse Crackdown: Facilities Face Closure For Animal Performances, Wildlife Product Sales And Inadequate Food & Shelter

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

China Zoo Cruelty, Abuse Crackdown: Facilities Face Closure For Animal Performances, Wildlife Product Sales And Inadequate Food & Shelter

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/china-zoo-cruelty-crackdo_n_774588.html

BEIJING — China has urged zoos to stop serving wild animal products and holding wildlife performances in an attempt to improve the treatment of tigers, bears and other animals amid concerns over widespread abuse in zoos and wildlife parks.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development posted the suggestions on its website Tuesday and said inspections would be carried out to see if zoos were complying.

Animal welfare groups have documented widespread abuse in Chinese zoos and wildlife parks, including animal neglect, beatings, and the illegal sale of wine or soup made from the bones of endangered tigers.

The Hong Kong-based animal welfare group Animals Asia Foundation released a report in August that said bears in Chinese zoos were regularly whipped and beaten with sticks, while elephants were prodded with metal hooks, and tigers and lions were defanged and declawed, causing them chronic pain.

Earlier this year, 11 rare Siberian tigers died at a wildlife park in China’s frigid northeast and zookeepers there said they didn’t have enough funding to feed or take care of them properly. Rights groups said the zoo might have been selling the tiger skins and bones on the black market.

Sales of tiger bone, penis, pelts and other parts are illegal in China but persist because some consumers believe the products increase potency or can cure ailments from convulsions to skin disease.

The housing ministry said zoos should provide adequate food and shelter for their animals, halt all sales of wildlife products in zoo restaurants or stores and stop staging animal performances.

It said zoos could be shut down or receive a citation if they disobey the guidelines during the three-month inspection period that began Oct. 18. But it did not say whether the requirements would eventually be made permanent.

The Animals Asia Foundation said black bears are the most popular animal performers in China, typically forced to ride bicycles, tricycles and even horses, and regularly whipped or beaten with sticks by their trainers.

Sun Quanhui, a Wildlife Conservation Society researcher based in northeast China’s Hunchun city, said Wednesday that the suggestions from the housing ministry were “very welcome news,” but that they did not amount to a long-term solution to China’s animal abuse problems.

China has been working on a draft animal protection law, but it has yet to be finalized and it’s unclear when it will be passed.

“We feel that these new guidelines are a good thing because they could improve the welfare of animals in zoos and help standardize the conduct at zoos,” Sun said. “We hope that in the future we will be able to have an actual animal welfare law that helps guarantee the basic needs of animals in zoos and elsewhere.”

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Urgent: 58 dogs in France to be euthanized in the next days.

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

Urgent:  58 dogs in France to be euthanized in the next days.

There are currently 58 dogs which are looking for a new home; can you help ?

Please visit the following for more information and photographs:

http://www.rescuedogseurope.eu/

Filed under: Animals Requiring Adoption or Homes - Worldwide, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »

USA: Video of Country Singer (and ‘Canned Hunter’) Troy Gentry Killing Tame Bear With Dental Troubles in a One Acre Enclosure.

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

Press Release:
 
 SHARK WINS FEDERAL LAWSUIT TO HAVE
TROY GENTRY TAME BEAR KILLING VIDEO RELEASED COUNTRY MUSICIAN’S DISGRACE AND COWARDICE NOW
ON YOUTUBE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE 

 

When Troy Gentry, of the country music duo Montgomery Gentry, pled guilty to a crime resulting from the horrendous slaughter of a tame bear inside a one-acre electrified enclosure, he probably thought that everyone would soon forget about his cowardly and dishonorable act. He was wrong.  Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) waged and won a three-year battle (including a victorious lawsuit) against the US Fish and Wildlife Service that forced the federal government to turn over the videotape of Gentry’s canned hunt killing. This morning, SHARK released that video on YouTube so that Gentry’s killing of an innocent bear can be seen by everyone.

“Once you watch this video, you will see proof of how loathsome and revolting a human being can be,” states Steve Hindi, President of SHARK. “Troy Gentry’s actions are vile; he is a coward and a liar and he mercilessly slaughtered a beautiful animal who’s only fault was that he was worth more dead to his owner than alive.“Backstory:In 2004, Gentry bought a tame named “Cubby” from Lee Marvin Greenly, the owner of “Minnesota Wildlife Connection,” where people can photograph wild animals that have been domesticated.  He paid Greenly $4,650 – and then filmed himself shooting an arrow into the poor animal, all the while pretending the bear was wild and even dangerous.Gentry was charged with a felony, but plead guilty to a misdemeanor and received a minor slap on the wrist.

Though Greenly pled guilty to two felony charges, he received only probation.“They literally got away with murder,” states Hindi. “But now the Court of Public Opinion is in session. We believe that anyone who watches this video will judge them guilty and condemn them as we do. Troy Gentry should never appear on a stage without a massive cry of “shame” blasting toward him.”In the video, Gentry claims with glee that he shot Cubby in the lungs.

While this brought Gentry much pleasure, as his glowing smile attests to, the reality is that when an animal is shot in the lungs they literally drown in their own blood (note how when Gentry is holding Cubby’s dead body, the bear’s mouth is filled with blood).

Imagine someone shooting you with a razor sharp arrow and you crawl away, blood pouring from your mouth until hours later you finally die.

That was Cubby’s fate, and how millions of other animals that are victims to bowhunters die.  

 

Watch the video here:

 Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDsUx4PH5Aw

 

Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNcBaLzVuBQ

 

 Visit SHARK – SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness; at:

http://www.sharkonline.org/

 

 

 

 

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »

International: Please Make Sure You ‘Freeclick’ Every Day to Save Animals and the Environment. It Simply Takes Seconds to Make a Huge Difference.

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

Please try to make sure that you contribute every day to the Care2 ‘free click’ campaigns.

Each task takes just a matter of seconds to complete but can make such a difference to the animals in need – and if your free click is undertaken every day you can greatly, over time, contribute to helping animals in need around the world in so many different ways.

There are a selection of specific issues which you can contribute to including: helping seals, pets in need, protecting and feeding wolves, protecting and feeding primates, feeding big cats, protecting a small section of the worlds oceans and saving the rainforests. 

For example, your daily (free) click to ‘save the rainforest’, will contribute in a small way to these efforts. If you freeclick every day or on a very regular basis, then over a matter of time, you will make a great difference in protecting a vital section of the world’s rainforests.

You may not feel that 7.4 ft.² of rainforest per day is much to protect via your daily click. But when you look at the facts and see that 8,925 acres of rainforest have been saved by freeclick contributions, it shows that you really can make a difference by giving just a few regular seconds of time at your computer.

We urge everybody to contribute as much as you can to these free click donation campaigns. Please try to remember that you are free to click every single day on what ever issue or issues concern you most.

Below and as a starter, you will find eight of the major animal and environmental links to each of these specific issues. As we have said, to contribute takes simply a matter of seconds.

Please try to remember to access each of these donation sites every day to give your contribution to protecting both animals and the environment for a better future.

Thank you.

SAV.

A few links are as follows: 

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/seals/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/pets/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/wolves/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/primates/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/oceans/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/big-cats/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/rainforest/

http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/global-warming/

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere ! | Leave a comment »

Nepal: Pathetic and Government Approved Mass Animal Killings in the Pathetic Name of a ‘Festival’. Civilised ? – No; Living in the Past ? – For Sure.

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

It hardly seems that a year has passed since we published our posts and photographs relating to the festival of Dashain mass animal killings in Nepal.

Religious ‘festivals’ – does any civilized person want to be part of one ?

Obviously the government of Nepal does not have control over the situation; with thousands of animals being slaughtered as a result.

Boycott Nepal !

Links to SAV posts from last year associated with this mass killing:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/nepal-now-the-nepalese-government-climbs-above-the-chinese-as-the-worlds-no-1-animal-abusing-nation/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/nepal-warning-more-exclusive-images-of-the-religious-animal-killing-frenzy/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/gadhimai-animal-massacre-visit-animalrightsbook-ning-com-to-support-animalnepal-org/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/nepal-take-action-now-to-stop-the-killing-of-thousands-of-animals-next-week-november-24-25/

Nepal prepares for annual mass animal sacrifice

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/features/article_1591651.php/Nepal-prepares-for-annual-mass-animal-sacrifice-Feature

Monsters and Critics. 15 October 2010.
Nepal prepares for annual mass animal sacrifice.
By Pratibha Tuladhar

Kathmandu – Celebrations were in full flow across Nepal this week for the festival of Dashain, with widespread animal sacrifices planned for the Friday and Saturday despite objections of animal rights activists.  Workers have the week off, and most can count on a 50-per-cent bonuses for the month in honour of Hindu goddess of power Durga, and her slaying of a particularly vicious demon. 

An annual 15-day celebration of the victory of good over evil, Dashain means new clothes, lots of meat and general merrymaking for the Nepalese.  But it is a less festive affair for the animals involved, who are ritually slaughtered in their hundreds of thousands every year. 

They are herded from remote districts and neighbouring India into Nepal’s cities, where goats being dragged home behind shoppers and commuters become a common sight.  Parts of the capital Kathmandu are congested with goats, chickens, ducks and the people buying or selling them.  The animals are intended as sacrifices to the protective but fearsome Durga.  Not everyone slaughters their own offerings, as eating the meat alone can be enough to honour the goddess. Dashain is also a time of brisk business for Nepalese butchers.  ‘With the start of the Dashain festival, I’ve been slaughtering about 25 goats a day,’ says Anish Bahadur Basnet, who runs a small slaughterhouse in Kathmandu. The rest of the year, he averages two a day, and has to hire additional hands during the festive season.

Saturday is main day of the sacrifices, when 54 buffaloes and 54 billy-goats are to be beheaded at the Taleju temple in the heart of the city.  The Nepal Army are also scheduled to make their own offering of 108 buffalo calves to the goddess.  The goddess’ favour is believed to protect against accidental or violent death, and in the same spirit, some sacrifices are dedicated to individual vehicles or weapons. 

But in recent years, the more than 1,000-year-old custom has offended the modern sensibilities of animal rights organizations, who have spoken out in public against the state-subsidized sacrifices.  Over 1 million animals were sacrificed last year in Nepal, according to Animal Welfare Network Nepal, which has launched the Stop Animal Sacrifice Campaign.  ‘Nepal is the world’s key implementer of animal sacrifice, a practice that promotes superstition and violence, drains the poor and prevents Nepal from becoming a truly advanced country,’ the group said in a letter to the government. 

Decapitating a bleating buffalo or goat should not be the symbol of the Nepali civilization,‘ it added in its appeal to have the state support for sacrifices cut.  The animal rights campaigners have also targeted the five-yearly festival of Gadhimai in the plains district of Bara.  Last year 16,000 water buffaloes were slaughtered at the festival, where people make sacrifices of any animal they can afford, including rats, pigs, chicken, goats or pigeons.

Despite the campaigns, there appears to be little shift away from the practice by the public.  ‘People share a very tight attachment with their culture and religion, which makes it very difficult to discourage animal sacrifices during festivals,’ filmmaker Aman Adhikari said.  His film ‘In God’s Pond’ shows how inhabitants of Khokna, 10 kilometres south of Kathmandu, drown baby goats in the local pond to protect their own newborn children from a similar fate. 

‘There are some young people who would like to break away from the tradition,’ Adhikari explained. ‘But they can’t get away because it’s something they have grown up with and the local belief is very strong.’  Attempts by the government to withdraw support for the rituals have not been popular. In 2008, a proposed cut of the budget for sacrifice animals met with strong protests from local communities.

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering) | 1 Comment »

USA: www.disabledanimal.com – The Web Site Specifically For All Types of DISABLED Animals – Please Support It.

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

We really support the fantastic work that Celine is doing in getting this  web site specifically for disabled animals up and running.  Please visit it via the link given below; and if you can do even more to help, then please do it.

Great site Celine – good luck with all your work !

SAV.

————————————————————

Hello, 

My name is Celine and I’m a third year student at UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine. I found that there needs to be a better system to connect disabled animals online because I had the hardest time looking for a precious wheelchair dog.

Therefore, I am in the process of making      www.disabledanimal.com 

This is a classification system to where people can list their animals for free and it is completely dedicated to disabilities. If you do, please take the time to list your wonderful disabled animals on the automated site. I was so frustrated at petfinder because you can’t classify all of them as “special needs” and expect people to sort through 1,000 + hits. It’s bare bones right now but I’m going to do my best to make it well-established.

You have full control over the listings just like in petfinder. 

Please help me to spread the word! Please disregard this e-mail if you have already received it before. I’m trying to tell as many people as possible 🙂

Celine Higgins

University of Georgia

College of Veterinary Medicine

DVM Class of 2012

disabledanimal@gmail.com

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »

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