Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Above – Kew, London

Globally important conservation and science under threat at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew due to government cuts – £5M deficit will lead to loss of over 120 posts

Please sign the petition at:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/globally-important-conservation-and-science-under-threat-at-royal-botanic-gardens-kew-due-to-uk-government-cuts-5m-deficit-will-lead-to-loss-of-over-120-posts?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=54978&alert_id=cvLdThlNWp_vDYFFYdrvp

The UK Government need to urgently reverse the existing cuts to Kew’s annual operating grant in aid funding, and to cancel the proposed and any further future cuts.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with sites at Kew Gardens, London and Wakehurst Place, Sussex is a world-leader in conservation and botanical science, with over 250 years of historical excellence in these fields.

Never before has Kew faced such a significant threat to its future. It now needs your help to ensure its globally-important plant and fungal collections can continue to be used to support plant and fungal science and conservation around the world.

In 1983, 90 per cent of Kew’s funding came from the UK Government as grant in aid. The current amount has dropped to below 40 per cent as of this year. Funding was reduced by £0.9M in 2009-10, £1M in 2010-11, and by an extra £0.5M year-on-year thereafter (see here).

Kew has now been told to expect further cuts of at least another £1.5M before the end of 2016.

Under the 1983 National Heritage Act, the UK Government committed to ensure that Kew is adequately resourced to fulfil its statutory obligations, which include: research; providing advice and education; plant-related services including quarantine; caring for world-renowned scientific collections, as national reference collections available for study; and as a resource for the public to gain knowledge and enjoy. The UK Government is no longer fulfilling its role to allow Kew to meet these obligations.

Kew has been dramatically increasing income from non-government funding streams through the work of their partner charity Kew Foundation, and via commercially-generated income, consultancy work, and research funding. Although there are plans to extend these efforts, they are no longer able to keep up with the rate of cuts in government funding and many areas of Kew’s work are not easily resourced externally.

Due to the cuts, Kew has announced that with a £5M deficit for this year, over 120 posts will be axed. The majority of posts will be lost in the areas of science and public engagement (report here.) In specialist careers measured in decades of experience, Kewwill lose dedicated, expert staff, and whole areas of work are likely to be halted.

As Sir David Attenborough was recently quoted as saying:

“Kew has an absolutely crucial role in looking after our botanical heritage and our botanical future. The important thing to remember is that it is the premiere botanical gardens in the world scientifically. People who think it is just a place to go to look at pretty flowers and flower beds are mistaking the importance of Kew Gardens. The Seed Bank is of world importance and it should be supported by the Government like a proper institution or university and the continuing idea that Kew Gardens is merely a playground and that you just put up the prices to look after it is a misguided assessment of the value of Kew. The Government and the scientific departments should recognise that and support it properly.” 

Please show your support for Kew, and their continuing work for future generations, by signing this petition, and please encourage others to do the same.

Please sign the petition at:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/globally-important-conservation-and-science-under-threat-at-royal-botanic-gardens-kew-due-to-uk-government-cuts-5m-deficit-will-lead-to-loss-of-over-120-posts?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=54978&alert_id=cvLdThlNWp_vDYFFYdrvp

SAV Comment:

As an Englishman and a plant and tree person; I have had the pleasure of visiting Kew and Wakehurst several times.  I was privileged to have helped donate to the formation of the seed bank at Wakehurst.

To see what the UK government are now trying to do just for the sake of saving a few pounds is something which I would simply call a global, ecological and environmental disaster.  Cameron and his lap dog cronies care not a toss for animal, environmental and other issues that many of us put at the top of our list.  Cameron and his cronies are driven by just one thing – money – all the rest of the worlds issues can go to hell as far as he is concerned.  The man is a prime fool.

Visit the Kew website at  http://www.kew.org/

Watch a year at Kew – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUooTA9T8Vo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHQPnkm0VJM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXsekz0eJeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6DDwXHW9qY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzrkiqBcOHI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EbzcPRhShU

and more sub issues by clicking on the links on the right side of the video footage.

The money crazy Conservatives are the fools who are behind this campaign to destroy a world class centre which houses one of the greatest botanical research centres on the planet.

Owen Paterson and David Cameron –

Destroyers of the wonderful services provided by Kew and Wakehurst

For non-UK visitors,

Kew Gadens comprises two fabulous centres – the main botanical gardens in central London and also its sister offshoot – named Wakehurst Place, which is located out of London in the South East of England.  Wakehurst is home to the world famous seed bank where thousands upon thousands of plant seeds are stored in perfect conditions for the future, should those plants ever become extinct in their natural environment.  The seed bank at Wakehurst; part of Kew gardens, is one of the greatest treasures that this planet can hold.

Above: Wakehurst – the ‘other’ part of Kew.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj2_ESj9b7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a8NaQK3gXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNEOVlqils

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NQ-BJ6z66I

The seed bank at Wakehurst

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

http://www.kew.org/visit-wakehurst/explore/attractions

Save Kew – please sign this petition.

Thanks

Mark

SAV Founder.

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

SAV Comment:

Maria has written to us about this important issue and the life of a man which now hangs in the balance because of what was done to his pet dog many years ago. 

Please ensure you give your support to this petition – Thank You.

—————————————

Name: Maria M Oldland

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Emperor_of_Japan_Justice_forTakeshi_Koizumi_a_man_who_killed_to_avenge_his_dog/?mKNWFeb 

Message: Please help us to publicize this campaign. A man’s life is at stake. It is a man who killed the officials whose policies led to the cruel killing of his beloved pet dog when he was a boy of 12. He has undoubtedly been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder throughout his life due to the trauma of losing his dog. He has not received a proper psychiatric evaluation and has been sentenced to death by a Japanese court. He is a man who committed murder in the full knowledge of the consequences i.e. that he would be hanged. Nevertheless, he did it FOR THE SAKE of the animal he lost and for all the other animals brutally sacrificed in his country.
Why is it important to save this man? First of all, I do not condone murder or any other kind of violence inflicted on humans or animals. But should capital punishment be applied to a person who is not mentally competent? Most importantly, should Japan, a modern, wealthy democracy use capital punishment, despite the lack of evidence of being an effective deterrent to violent crime? And should retribution be the sole means of deterrence?  What is wrong with compassion, rehabilitation, reintegration, common denominators of our humanity?
Takeshi Koizumi succeeded in raising awareness of the holocaust of millions of cats and dogs put down in Japan in gas chambers, suffering an agonizing and undignified death. It is imperative to persuade the Japanese government to launch a campaign of re-education of its consumer society  towards responsible ownership of companion animals. The current trend of regarding pets as mere fashion accessories, quickly discarded as a new fad emerges, should be addressed and owners should be made aware of the brutal fate their rejected pets will be subjected to. The brutal, draconian laws governing the disposal of unwanted or stray animals need urgently to be replaced  by more humane ones using euthanasia. Furthermore, efforts to find adoptive families should be introduced in a rich country which could well afford to keep all its unwanted pets.
Please help us to save this man, whose appeal to the Supreme Court is on the 25th April. His life hangs in the balance, should his death sentence be upheld. If his life is spared, his contribution to the cause of animal rights and animal welfare could be invaluable.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Emperor_of_Japan_Justice_forTakeshi_Koizumi_a_man_who_killed_to_avenge_his_dog/?mKNWFeb  

Maria M Oldland

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

Submit your Official Comment in Support of Wolves!

Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally proposed to remove federal Endangered Species Act protection for nearly all gray wolves throughout the United States. But after an independent peer review board unanimously decided that the best available science doesn’t support the plan to delist, wolves have been given a second chance at maintaining federal protection.

Now that it’s been confirmed that this proposed delisting is clearly not based on the best available science, we are left wondering why FWS wants to turn its back on wolves.

Demand that this proposal be stopped in its tracks!

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2707

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