EU: New Legislation Now Passed – The Labelling of Ritually Slaughtered/ Non-Stunned Meat IS Compulsory

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

 

 

 

For immediate release

Today (16th June) Amendment 205 of the Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, which will make the labelling of ritually slaughtered/ non-stunned meat compulsory was adopted with 326 votes in favour of the amendment, 270 against and 68 abstentions.

For over two years Scotland for Animals have been campaigning and lobbying for ritual slaughter products to be labelled by law in order to give consumers the right to boycott these goods and premises stocking them.

Scotland for Animals’ Spokesman John Patrick said today “We’re delighted that MEP’s have at last decided to take action on this issue.”

“Scotland for Animals have campaigned and lobbied vigorously in order to get these products labelled by law.”

“In the course of our work we have found bodies such as Local Authorities, the Food Standards Agency and others responsible for labelling/ consumer law completely disinterested and at times downright obstructive regarding the current situation with regards to the sale of ritually slaughtered meat. Finally people can look forward to no longer having this cruelly produced meat forced upon them without their knowledge.”

“The public have been strongly supportive of our proposals. The sale of ritually slaughtered meat in Scotland has risen dramatically in recent years, people have been appalled to learn the slaughter methods behind these products. This is a victory for consumers and for the rights of those who want to see animals killed with as much dignity and as little pain as possible.”

We are disappointed that this legislation will not apply to restaurants or canteens however we congratulate MEP’s for a momentous step in the right direction. Scotland for Animals will continue to campaign for an extension to these areas and for a complete end to religious slaughter in general.

For more visit http://www.scotlandforanimals.org/religiousslaughter.html

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SAV Comment

A very welcome move to give EU consumers more information, and more importantly, the option to boycott ritually slaughtered meat, which until nowe they may not even have been aware they were purchasing.

Better still – go veggie or vegan, then you can be sure of what you eat, and save animals lives in the process !

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

Macedonia: New Skopje Pound Poster to Print and Display

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Please feel free to print and display this poster in support of the animals at Vardarishte holding facility, Skopje.

TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE SUFFERING OF ANIMALS WHO GO THERE.

Just click on the link below to get access to the poster; then print and display !!

Note – this poster is in A4 size format.

SKOPJE POSTER A4 Size

MORE POSTERS ABOUT OTHER CAMPAIGN ISSUES TO BE PRODUCED IN THE COMING WEEKS.

 

 

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

Macedonia: Vardarishte Animal Holding Facility – New Letter to Mail – Please ACT NOW !

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Vard21

In order that we keep up pressure on the authorities of Macedonia with regard the situation at the Vardarishte animal holding facility, Skopje; we ask please that you copy the following sample letter and send to all contacts given in the block listing below.

This is being undertaken to support the work of our animal buddies at:

People for the End of Animal Cruelty and Exploitation – PEACE

New York, NY

USA,

Who are also asking supporters to do the same.

For the animals in the Vardarishte pound we ask you to please act with us and send your copy of the letter.

Note –  the SAV links at the end of this post contain many photographs and descriptions of the hell hole which is known as Vardarishte holding facility, Skopje.

Thanks – SAV.

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SAMPLE LETTER

Send mails to ALL of the following please:

koha@koha.com.mk,  spic@spic.com.mk,  vecer@vecer.com.mk,  vreme@vreme.com.mk,  vest@vest.com.mk,  vesnik@utrinski.com.mk,   dnevnik@dnevnik.com.mk,   khs@khigiena.com.mk,   dterzievski@idvet.gov.mk,  tkirandziski@veterina.gov.mk,  druntevski@veterina.gov.mk,  gradonacalnik@skopje.gov.mk,  

Honorable Officials, Gentlemen, Ladies,

Citizens all around the world are shocked and appalled.  We have heard of the horrors committed against stray animals in Macedonia and are shocked by the violence and killing of animals that happen on a daily basis in Macedonia, mainly in Skopje, in the holding facility Vardarishte.

We are shocked by the cruelty of your institutions, which are paid to deal humanely with the problem of homeless animals, to engage and to conduct the CNR program, the only successful program in the world that is appropriate for a normal and civilized country. But instead, dogs are persistently killed, neutered dogs have been caught and never released, for which there is no justification.

Thanks to the internet, the whole world already knows the stories about the concentration camp Vardarishte, a holding facility that is open only six hours a week, on Friday and Saturday from 9-12h, the whole world knows that the dog catchers, until recently, were hunters and delinquents. That they used to kill dogs on the streets, with guns and received a financial reward. They now do the same, hidden in the rooms of Vardarishte.

We know and we have seen that the animals there have hideous living conditions, we have seen that official statistical data indicates 60% dog killing, but the real bloody number is hidden.

We know and we have seen that veterinarians are engaged to kill, not to sterilize – your people are not blind and you cannot deceive the rest of the world!

The Mayor of Skopje has proven himself, like nobody before, to be cruel, brutal, blind to the sufferings of animals, deaf to the calls of its citizens.

You cannot deceive us, nor the Macedonian population, that he is not behind the killings, because he is the one who closed the facility to the public, he is the one who hired new dog catchers and killers, forbad volunteers taking pictures in Vardarishte. Let’s not lie to each other, we know it all. Shame on the Mayor! Shame on the Macedonian officials who allow these inhumane conditions and treatment of animals!

We are urgently asking for this to be stopped and that the holding facility of death to be closed, because it is a bloody stain on your city, your country, your face!

You cannot hide the truth – it is everywhere, and here we are, the advocates for animal rights, to testify in order that these unfortunate, poor souls not be forgotten!

We demand that veterinary authorities respond and close these shelters of fear, despair, disease and death. 

There can be no justification whatsoever for ignoring these facts!  There can be no justification for remaining silent!

I urge to take immediate action to put an end to these horrors.

Yours truly,

 ***Your name and nationality***

 

 

The Mayor of Skopje – Responsible for Vardarishte animal holding facility

 

 Vard21

Past SAV Links to Macedonian animal issues:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/macedonia-public-company-komunalna-higiena-%e2%80%93-skopje-who-have-attempted-to-cover-up-pound-killings-for-years-are-now-informed-by-the-commission-that-they-have-to-provide-data-on-dogs-ta/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/macedonia-160210-update-still-no-change-your-massive-action-and-support-now-needed-please-read-on/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/macedonia-dogs-being-hunted-with-baseball-bats-killed-and-dumped-on-local-landfill/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/macedonia-actions-for-vardariste-pound-skopje-campaign-%e2%80%93-part-3-of-3/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/macedonia-vardariste-pound-skopje-campaign-%e2%80%93-part-2-of-3/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/macedonia-vardariste-pound-skopje-campaign-part-1-of-3/ 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/macedonia-important-new-campaign-launch-save-the-dogs-at-vardariste-pound-skopje/

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, MACEDONIA (Capital - Skopje), PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering), SHELTER - Information | Leave a comment »

Serbia: Loznica Again – Female Dog Saved From Being Buried Alive – Proof of the Killings Done by the City Shinters – Bodies Dumped Openly on the City Dump Adjacent to the Animal Pound

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

New pictures in from Loznica show the brutal killing of a dog which has been done by local shinters.

The pictures are from the local animal protection group – ‘Lunja’.

The first photo shows a little female dog which was wrapped up in a closed sack.  Shinters told the member of ‘Lunja’ animal welfare that the dog was dead and that is why she was in the sack.

But Rada from ‘Lunja’ managed to get the sack and open it, only to find a live little dog inside, as you can see.

It was clear to Rada that the shinters had wrapped the little dog in the sack and that they were intending to go and bury her alive.  This is  typical of the mindless thugs that are employed by the authorities and who are commonly known as shinters.

The other pictures below which are also sent by ‘Lunja’ are of a dog which was not so fortunate and was again killed in a terrible way by shinters.  One cannot imagine what a terrible death this dog must have had at the hands of the shinters.

Finally, this picture shows a male dog who died at the Loznica city pound.  Inspection has shown that there was no veterinary care undertaken on the animal before it died.

The picture shows that the animal has been thrown onto the city dump which is adjacent to the city pound.  We have exposed conditions at the dump in our articles before –

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/serbia-180510-new-photographs-of-loznica-pound-animal-killings-and-conditions-at-city-dump-no-wonder-stray-animals-are-attracted/ 

This is Loznica city pound and this is the work of Loznica city shinters !

Past links relating to Loznica city animal abuses:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/serbia-loznica-city-shelter-captured-stray-dogs-used-for-target-practice-by-local-hunters/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/serbia-sample-letter-to-send-to-the-government-the-eu-commission-and-to-the-world-organisation-for-animal-health-the-oie-serbia-must-change-its-attitude-towards-stray-animals-and-willingless-to/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/serbia-loznica-city-pound-3-million-dinars-for-what-certainly-not-for-animal-welfare-politicians-maybe/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/serbia-many-cases-of-rabies-throughout-the-country-but-is-the-serbian-government-reporting-this-to-the-oie-world-organisation-for-animal-health-as-they-should-maybe-not/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/serbia-loznica-city-pound-death-camp-why-does-the-government-not-act-re-leskovac-city-policy-and-why-not-the-european-union-with-a-policy-for-stray-animal-welfare/

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering), SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia, SHINTERS (Dog catchers) | Leave a comment »

Sweden: Congratulations to Carl Schlyter (MEP) – New President of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAV would like to send congratulations to Swedish Carl Schlyter (MEP) on his election as the new President of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

Carl Schlyter Profile Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schlyter 

Animals Intergroup link:  http://www.animalwelfareintergroup.eu/ 

We also offer our thanks and very best wishes to Dr. Caroline Lucas, former President of the European Parliament Intergroup and Uk Green Party MEP / Green Party leader, who has now progressed to being the very first elected Green Party politician in the Uk Parliament.  Caroline has always been so very active in her work and support for promoting good and better animal welfare issues in Europe.  We know that she will continue this within the Uk by being a real voice for animal welfare in the Uk parliament.

Dr. Caroline Lucas link: http://www.bing.com/reference/semhtml/?title=Caroline_Lucas&src=abop&qpvt=caroline+lucas&fwd=1&q=caroline+lucas

Goodbye and thanks to Caroline, and hello and welcome to Carl.

We know that Carl will be an excellent advocate for animal welfare issues both within and outside of the EU, and we at SAV very much look forward to providing him with regular updates on the situation for animals in Balkans states.  We hope that through this new cooperation, Carl will become even more aware of the terrible suffering illegally inflicted on animals (in Serbia) by the municipal authorities and the shinter community.

We also send our congratulations to Jacqueline Foster who has been elected as British vice-president of the Eurogroup.

Link:  http://www.jacquelinefostermep.com/    

Jacqueline has been a strong supporter of animal welfare and has been an active member of the Intergroup since becoming an MEP.

Jacqueline is Vice President of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Animal Welfare and is pictured here (on the left) with the Campaign to stop Puppy Farming. 

 

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Carl Schlyter MEP acclaimed as new Intergroup President 

21 May 2010

During its 261st session the Intergroup elected by acclamation Carl Schyter MEP as its new President and he takes over the role with immediate effect.

His predecessor, Caroline Lucas, resigned following her election to the UK Parliament as the country’s first green party MP, after leading the Intergroup since the start of the current parliamentary session.

“It is a great privilege to follow in the footsteps of Caroline and carry on the work she has so confidently promoted. I am extremely pleased to be able to take the leadership of one of the most active groups within the Parliament and look forward to working with my fellow MEPs to develop the Intergroup further,” said Mr Schlyter following his adoption.

“I hope that during my tenure as president we can work together to raise the issues surrounding the welfare and conservation of animals further. It is vital that we ensure that any future legislation presented by the Commission reflects the desires of Europe’s citizens and protects and defends the interests of all animals,”  he concluded.

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

Serbia: Subotica City Public Tender – Update 09/06/10.

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

As many of you will be aware, the application by public competition for the control of stray animals in Subotica City will be opening on 12/06/10.

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/serbia-subotica-city-now-stray-animal-control-is-opened-up-to-public-competition-including-welfare-organisations-suddenly-the-budget-for-same-is-drastically-reduced-the-closed-shop-big-money-w/

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/serbia-now-that-stray-animal-control-programmes-go-to-public-tender-authorites-cut-budget-by-two-thirds-to-ensure-animal-welfare-proposals-fail/

The main reason that this site has not been updated for days now is that we have been attempting to gather support to our ‘no kill’ programme for Subotica city from other major animal welfare organisations.

Until now, a lot of time and effort has been put into this.  This is not a ‘visible’ effort to those who visit the SAV site, but it is something which has taken a massive amount of our time during the past week especially.

Soon we will be providing more of an update on the situation as it currently stands; but as a generalisation, we could say that now that things could be looking better !

Tonight – 09/06/10, we have been dealt some rather negative news about all of this.  At the moment, we are unsure what to do next and if there is any further way forward without the major support of a large animal welfare organisation to support us in putting in a bid.

On 12/07/10 the public competition for Subotica strays will close, and so we have one month in which to find a supporter to our programme and in which to work with Serbian campaigners to prepare a bid pack / proposal for this competition.

Who knows what will happen ? – we certainly do not.  Today has not really given us the result we were hoping for and so things are once again all up in the air as regard a way forward.

A further update will be produced and issued soon once we have communicated with Serbian campaigners to clarify a few issues.

We will attempt to put a few posts relating to other things on the site over the coming days, but please stick with us and know that at the moment, we are giving our all in attempting to get something together that will make a difference for the animals in Subotica City.

Finally, many of you are leaving comments about the terrible situation at Loznica; thanks for all of those.  Today I have had a mail from a group in Loznica who are working very hard to expose what is happening there.  They have sent me their web site info and you can access it at the following, complete with a short video caption on the suffering at the city pound / shelter.

 The link to the site is:

http://www.netbre.info/animals/asc/shelterloznica.html

Loznica – a horror and scare house 

 

 

You can select English language under the ‘Home’ tab located at the top.

A site worth visiting ! – you can also leave messages of support on the guestbook.

More updates on our Subotica issue to come soon.

Thanks and regards

Mark – SAV (England) Uk.

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia | Leave a comment »

Serbia: Now That Stray Animal Control Programmes Go to Public Tender, Authorites Cut Budget By Two Thirds – To Ensure Animal Welfare Proposals Fail ???

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

We now have copies of the contracts between the Subotica government / authority and the public garbage firm ‘JKP Cistoca i zelenilo’ who have the contract to capture (and subsequently kill) the strays in the city.

In 2009 the city government awarded 5,400,000 dinars from the municipality budget, whilst an additional 5,800,000 dinars was given from the republic budget.

This closed shop system equals 11,200,000 dinars in just 2009 (12 months) alone to a public firm FOR THE CAPTURE AND KILLING OF STRAY ANIMALS.

Now that the contract for stray animals is open to public tender / competition, including proposals that can be presented by animal welfare organisations with a No kill policy;

the budget has now been reduced to 4,100,000 dinars for the first 12 months of the contract, followed by 6,100,000 over the next 18 month period.

This equals 10,200,000 dinars over a 30 month period (two and a half years) now that the contract has been put out for public competition !

This means that a closed shop city organised budget (NO PUBLIC COMPETITION) of 933,333 dinars each month for 2009

has now (FOR PUBLIC COMPETITION)

been REDUCED to 340,000 dinars per month.

*** We make that a CUT OF APPROXIMATELY TWO THIRDS ***.

As we have stated in our recent post:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/serbia-subotica-city-now-stray-animal-control-is-opened-up-to-public-competition-including-welfare-organisations-suddenly-the-budget-for-same-is-drastically-reduced-the-closed-shop-big-money-w/ 

“We consider that this immediately shows a fear factor in the depths of municipal authorities financial controllers – one which immediately shows that now that tendering is open to public competition, the vast fortunes of money which have been provided by authorities in the past, and which have been controlled by elicit groups and organisations within the authority, may now be lost by them when it has to be handed over to another party undertaking the work – such as the animal welfare organisations”.

“For example; up to this present time, many contracts for things such as the control of stray animals within cities has had what could only be classified as political support and leanings – namely that the Director of one of the Shinter firms engaged in the capture and killing of stray animals, one Vlada Dragin, also happens (by just pure chance !) to be the brother of the Serbian Minister for Agriculture, one Sasa Dragin. 

Keep contracts within ‘the family’ along with the millions of dinars financially involved each year and you have basically what could be referred to as a bit of a closed shop !

Now ‘outside parties’, including animal welfare organisations, who propose an alternative ‘No Kill’ way of addressing stray animal control, are immediately given advance information that this budget for such tasks will be greatly reduced in the coming years.

A fear factor concern that things in the dynasty type establishment will not be controlled from within the close knit community now that all future contracts for animal control will be going out to public competition, or just the way things are now days ? – lets leave the decision up to you all to see what you think”.

Strange what happens to money when it is no longer under the closed shop control of a few individuals and has to be put out to public tender – the amounts available fall so dramatically !!

It leads one to question if there was any corruption going on in the past ?

Just for the record, here are the official copies of all documents associated with these past and future budgets.

Now why should animal welfare No Kill stray control policies be under threat from the government and city authorities ? – after all, if they win the public competition to control stray animal numbers, animal welfare organisations suddenly (under public competition) now have only have one third of the past money available with which to undertake their programmes !

Strange that, isnt it ? – or is it ?

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia | Leave a comment »

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