Posted on January 9, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
President-elect Donald Trump is building only seems to get worse. As if white nationalists, climate deniers, and Wall Street billionaires weren’t enough, Trump added Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to his stable of deplorable Cabinet nominations.
Yes, that Exxon.
The same Exxon that knew about climate change as early as the 1970s and spent the next four decades spreading climate denial.
The same Exxon that has spent millions to block climate action so it can drill for oil all over the world.
The same Exxon that has routinely put its profits above people and the environment.
Tillerson as Secretary of State would be nothing short of a disaster — but it’s not set in stone yet.
If he becomes Secretary of State, Tillerson would have immense power to spread the fossil fuel industry’s polluting agenda as official U.S. foreign policy.
And as bad as that sounds, he’s far from the only dangerous choice Trump has made.
As of now, Trump’s team also includes:
–Scott Pruitt, the climate denier nominated for head of the Environmental Protection Agency (1).
–Jeff Sessions, the attorney general nominee who once joked about supporting the Ku Klux Klan (2).
–Steve Mnuchin, nominated for Treasury Secretary, who ran a company that foreclosed on an elderly woman’s home over a 27-cent payment error (3).
–Rick Perry, the fossil fuel-lover and Energy Secretary nominee who said he wanted to “abolish” that very department during his failed 2012 presidential run (4).
–Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary nominee who helped pass the law that led to the Flint water crisis (5).
All of these nominations have one thing in common — they can’t be trusted to protect people and the planet.
The Senate has taken a stand against Cabinet nominations who didn’t serve the interest of the people before. In fact, six nominees have had to drop out facing a Senate rejection since 1993 — and none of them were as dangerous as the crew Trump has presented us with. As a lawyer, I believe we have a good chance of stopping disastrous nominations like Rex Tillerson before it’s too late.
More than 200,000 people have already taken action
— but we’re missing you. When the Senate votes next week, they need to know that Trump’s choices do not represent the will of the people.
Posted on January 6, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Tilikum—the orca who was the subject of Blackfish, a documentary about SeaWorld—is dead following decades of loneliness, stress, and confinement at marine parks.
When Tilikum (aka “Tilly”) was just 2 years old, people abducted him from his family in the open waters off Iceland and forced him to live in cramped enclosures for the remainder of his life. He was unable to swim away, travel the oceans, hear or see his family, or do anything that was important to him.
His human captors tried to look better by calling Tilikum part of their “family,” but family doesn’t kidnap its members from their mothers, keep them in a barren enclosure for life, and force them to do tricks for money.
Since SeaWorld can no longer capture orcas from the wild, workers collected his sperm to make more orca performers—and more money—through artificial insemination. His children were brought into a miserable life that no one would ever willingly choose.
The constant stress of confinement drove Tilikum to kill three humans—including trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010—and to chew on the concrete and the bars of his prison, which wore down his teeth to nubs. It is no surprise that he suffered from mental illness under such conditions and, finally, died of an incurable physical illness.
Tilikum died in his concrete prison cell, but humans actually took his life away the day they stole him from the ocean over 30 years ago.
Eleven of Tilikum’s children died prematurely before him without ever seeing the ocean, and 10 more of his children continue to suffer in cramped tanks.PETA is calling on SeaWorld to do the right thing by moving the remaining orcas it holds captive to coastal sanctuaries, where they could enjoy a more natural life.
What You Can Do Help your friends and family understand that no orca—not now, not ever—should be living in tiny, barren tanks and forced to perform tricks while watching their children endure the same captive fates.
In memory of Tilikum, post a memorial picture from your bathtub on your Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. Get more information and share your memorial for Tilly with us here.
———————-
Tilikum—the ‘star’ of Blackfish, the damning documentary about SeaWorld’s miserable practice of ripping orca babies from their ocean families and then breeding them in captivity—is dead following decades of exploitation in the marine-mammal abusement industry. Tilikum died without ever again knowing freedom, along with 11 of his children who died prematurely before him and leaving 10 more who will continue to suffer in tiny concrete tanks. PETA is calling on SeaWorld to do the right thing and move the remaining orcas to coastal sanctuaries, where they could enjoy a more natural life, and on caring people to shun facilities that enslave animals for our “entertainment.”
China requires that almost all imported cosmetic and personal care products be tested on animals, which means that companies that sell beauty products in the country are paying for these cruel tests—even if they don’t pay for testing in the U.S. market.
One of these brands is Avon, which was cruelty-free but then decided to increase its profits at the expense of animals, which PETA uncovered in 2012.
Avon didn’t need to change its policy on animal testing—China is the one that needs to change. But instead of encouraging the country to rise above cruelty, the company sank to its level.
Let Avon know that it’s not dragging us down with it, because we won’t buy any of its products until it stops selling them in countries that require animal testing.
Target: John Pare, Chief of Police for London, Ontario
Goal: Track down and punish mass animal murderer in Ontario.
Within the last year, 17 animals have been found mutilated and murdered around the Southwestern Ontario area. Many of these animals have been decapitated, skinned, and placed in strange poses around the city. Recently a dog was found headless and missing organs, on top of a dumpster near a liquor store. A skinless goose was even dropped off at the humane society’s front door.
According to authorities, the crimes seem to be escalating. Before, it was mostly animals that would be considered wild, but more recently there have been pets slaughtered. All together, 6 dead coyotes, two of which were skinned and headless, a decapitated bunny, a mutilated cat and dog, the goose, and 6 snakes have all been found laid out in poses.
These crimes define the word horrific, and must be stopped. Animals are conscious, sentient, living beings that do not deserve to be tortured and killed in this way.
If these were the bodies of humans there would be a much greater sense of urgency in finding and punishing the perpetrator. These crimes must be handled the same way one would handle the murder of a person.
Sign this petition to ensure the Ontario animal murders are treated as terrible, real crimes that need to be stopped.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Police Chief Pare,
In your city, 17 animals have been found over the past year tortured, mutilated and killed. These crimes are absolutely horrendous and must be stopped. If these were crimes related to humans being murdered, there would be more effort put forward in finding the criminal, or criminals responsible.
These animals deserve the same kind of justice we as humans do. Please, use your power as police chief to set aside the resources necessary for finding and prosecuting those responsible. Almost 20 animals is far too many to be found in such a way. This problem has existed for over a year and still has yet to be solved.
Do the right thing and find this murderer, before they can torture or kill any more beloved animals or pets.
Posted on December 26, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
In 2014, SeaWorld lost 1 million visitors. And in 2015, SeaWorld San Diego was officially the worst-performing major theme park in the world. You could say that SeaWorld isn’t doing great.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi—the capital of the United Arab Emirates—has the world’s fastest roller coaster and skyscrapers that would make your jaw drop. It’s not too shabby.
Now, SeaWorld is trying to set up shop in Abu Dhabi in order to take advantage of its thriving economy. But we just don’t understand why officials plan to allow the repulsive park to plague the city.
We were all celebrating when world-renowned luxury brand Armani agreed to officially go fur free.
We were delighted that such an influential brand in the fashion industry as Armani decided to end the use of real fur- what a blow to the fur trade!
Mink farming ended in Japan!
The breeding of mink for their fur in Japan is over after the country’s last remaining fur farm shut down.
We were celebrating a few weeks ago as the Dutch Supreme Court upheld the ban on fur farming.
The Court ruled that the ban on fur farming is NOT in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The fur trade was desperate to overturn the ban and this victory was a win for animal lovers everywhere.
One day fur farming will be banned everywhere.
The fur trade took a hit with a big drop in global mink fur production.
One of the largest fur auction houses, Kopenhagen Fur, reported that the production of mink pelts had fallen by 25%- from 72 million to 54 million year on year.
This was largely due to the collapse in the price of pelts, which followed high levels of over production as many new fur farms opened in order to cash in on a big rise in demand for fur several years ago (particularly in China).
International experts discussed fur farming ban legislation
Respect for Animals attended and co-organised an international seminar in Prague to discuss legislation that could lead to a ban on fur farming in the Czech Republic and elsewhere across Europe.
Among the speakers was the globally recognised expert on foxes Professor Stephen Harris, who co-authored Respect for Animals’ recent comprehensive scientific report into the welfare of mink and foxes on fur farms (read it here). Also in attendance was the Labour MP Maria Eagle, who introduced the Private Members Bill to ban fur farming in the UK, backing Respect for Animals’ national campaign.
Ricky Gervais backed Respect for Animals’ #SayNoToFur online campaign. Our #SayNoToFur social media storm was launched by cricketing legend Jason Gillespie who was soon joined by many of our social media supporters, who dowloaded our anti-fur poster and sent us your picture. Celebrities Ricky Gervais and Jane Fallon got in on the act too!
As many of you are aware, we at SAV have had a real gripe with the EU for many years now, and for not enforcing its OWN Regulation, 1/2005 of 22nd December 2004 on the subject of the Protection of Animals During Transport.
Animals Angels have produced an excellent report regarding the complete myths of enforcement of Regulation 1/2005, which is the EU’s own rules on alleged animal protection during transport.AA have kindly permitted us to show their report; and we include the link here for you to click and review.
During 2016, AA met with all the Chief Veterinary Officers of all EU member states; trying to convince them to get the EU Commission to take the initiative because there was a refusal to change the law. Even if we ever get to the point that a new law is drafted, there is risk that some worse provisions will be introduced in favor of the meat industry. They are too close to the EU Commission and animal welfare comes a poor second, as we have exposed with EU animal exports to Turkey for example.
Please have a look at the excellent report on the myths of Regulation 1/2005 by clicking on:
There is a lot of data and information for anyone who wishes to write further on the subject. We would also encourage people to send the link to their MEP’s; who despite being mainly supportive of modification, are not able to get changes due to inaction by the EU Commission.
Here are some links to some of our recent posts on the subject. We are also providing the links to the videos of EU – Turkish live exports; for which the EU inform us they can do nothing despite the Regulation supposedly ‘protecting’ animals during transport.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 