Posted on December 10, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Today is the day of human rights.
I read that on the first page of a local newspaper.
Since 1948, the Human Rights Day is celebrated annually on the 10th of December. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” says the UN Human Rights Charter.
Article 3 says: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”
Article 4 says: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
As I was leafing through the newspaper, I came across three advertisements about animals, under the category “Agricultural Products”:
The first was: “Fresh offspring to sell directly from the farm. Please pre-order, our slaughter animals are limited because of holidays “!
Then: “turkeys – half or whole, from free-range, ready to roast dismantled directly from farm”.
And the third ad: “Slaughter rabbits, especially low priced, as well as one lamb slaughtered fresh on order to sell”.
And then I thought of the animals I fight for.
I thought of their rights, for which there is no charter.
Why should human beings alone have the right to life, freedom and security, and deny the same rights to other beings capable of suffering?
Who gives us the right to still keep animals as slaves, to torture them and thus to decide that animals have no right to life, freedom and happiness?
And if human rights oppose slavery, torture, discrimination and violence, under what law may this injustice be the daily routine for billions of chickens, pigs, cattle, fish and innumerable other non-human animals?
But even if all of this is not totally abolished with respect to people, and massive human rights violations are condemned, the criminal treatment of animals is taken for granted.
I refuse to put human rights first.
People are not more important, they are not better, and they do not deserve to live privileged in relation to animals.
And I hate people who turn my holidays into mourning days, because no matter what kind of animal, these days mean massive killing days for the animals.
People celebrate by taking animals’ lives. In the midst of the misery, suffering and unhappiness of animals, people are happy and exuberant, do not waste a second of their thoughts on life, what they have taken – whether the Christmas goose in Germany, the carp in Austria, the turkey in the US.
No! I reject the dictatorship of human rights.
I am against the hypocrisy of equal rights, based only on human superiority.
Posted on December 6, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Society and Truth.
Sunday 3/12 there was an action from “anonymous for the voiceless” in my town.
Two people wear the Guy Fawkes mask on their faces and a poster in their hands with the word “truth”.
So nobody could see the person and recognize him.
But as soon as a passerby reads the word, he will be curious about the people next door.
These two other people standing next door carry two laptops in their hands and show pictures from the slaughterhouse.
And they also wear masks on their faces.
I also participated in this action, I was the person with the mask and the poster.
Many people were shocked at the cruel pictures.
But most tried to avoid the place of action.
I could hear some “arguments” coming from people who have come to dialogue but just to justify their meat consumption:
1. My conscience is pure, because I buy my meat from the farmer next door.
2. You can actually slaughter animals in small farms, painless, and my neighbor does that.
3. I am also pet-friendly, I also have two dogs myself.
4. Actually, animals have been always slaughtered, that’s natural.
5. If anything was useful to that stupid vegan diet, it would have prevailed.
6. Although I have no idea about animal rights and animal ethics, all this is argumentatively totally weak. 7. It’s just like that, we cannot change anything.
It was already cold and I could not see much effect on this action.
That’s why I went home after two hours.
On the way home, I thought: our problem is Civil Obedience.
Our problem is that people around the world unconditionally obey the propaganda of the meat mafia, and with their obedience they allow the agonizing death of billions of beings.
Our problem is that we remain obedient, even if we look at these pictures, those of today, when we see crime, sadism, violence, we still remain obedient to a system that would not exist without this obedience.
When I came home and restarted my PC, I read some very good news that healed my frustration with the Anonymous campaign: the signatures against our Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt are over one million already.
This minister voted in favor of glyphosate, now more than a million people demand his resignation.
It was good news which gave me hope again, that the next Minister of Agriculture in Germany will have less criminal energy against animals than Schmidt.
The simple fact is, that if the EU actually enforced its own regulations and laws, then the UK may have voted to stay in the EU.
Now, JC Junker – ‘Sir Lampshade’ – is doing what he does best; pretending that the EU is ‘oh so wonderful’ whilst at the same time trying to threaten the UK in order that other member states in the EU don’t even dare consider leaving !
The UK is (currently – until it shuts the door) the SECOND biggest financial contributor to the EU. And so, when the UK walks out the EU door for the last time, the EU can guarantee that it will not be getting financial contributions from the nation that pays in almost more than anyone else – the UK.
So the EU then has to make up this large financial shortfall by going round to all the other member states and asking; or is that demanding ? – yes demanding, that they all contribute more money to make up for the blank void now left by the UK leaving. That will go down well across the EU we dont think; especially with some member states who currently appear to want to take everything they can from the EU, whilst contributing (financially) very little in return.
The EU has already given Billions of Euros to Serbia. The EU is by far the biggest donor to Serbia with more than €2.6 billion (as of January 2014 – https://europa.rs/eu-assistance-to-serbia/?lang=en ) for example as a ‘softener’ for when it becomes an EU member state.
As we have shown on this very site for many years, Serbia is not even enforicng the ‘rule of law’ within (its own nation) Serbia; which we are all told is a requirement for nations to show if thy want EU membership – ‘enforcement of the rule of law’ – a fundamental for EU membership:
If Serbia WERE to enforce its own rules of law, then we would actually be witnessing animal shelters throughout Serbia being constructed, maintained and operated to standards that would give the best of welfare to animals taken from the streets. See more about this at:
But we don’t. The enforcement of the ‘rule of law’ is one of the common values upon which the European Union is founded. It is enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union – check it out:
As Serbia is NOT enforcing the rule of law; one tends to think that Serbia should not become an EU member state. If this is the case, then should the EU be throwing billions of Euros its way as a softener for membership ?
The next big question is, now the UK is leaving the EU and taking its financial contributions with it; other EU states will have to contribute more financially into the EU ‘club’ – fact. That means Serbia effectively would have a larger membership ‘bill’ than that currently being thrown around. Will Serbia pay this ? – or does Serbia leave the EU even before it has become a member ? – “thanks EU, we have taken your billions in financial support, but now we are staying out of the club” !
Jean Claude Junker (above) is trying to screw as much money from the UK before it leaves as he can; so that he can then carry a smaller begging bowl to all ‘his’ other contributor member states when he has to ask them for more cash. I
n the article at the top of this post, the UK has, via the Bank of England, this last month; undertaken extensive research into the UK financial position when it leaves the EU. All the doom and gloom ‘project fear’ predictions made by those (David Cameron and others) who waned to scare us all into an ‘essential to stay as an EU member’ has now been proven wrong – as this same article shows.
It is the EU who is in crisis, not the UK. Germany and its powerhouse leader ‘Mrs Merkel’ does not even seem to be able to form a government post very recent elections. There may be another election in Germany as a result in the coming months. We have seen that some other member states have serious concerns about the way the EU is going; there is even talk of them leaving, but Sir Junker will ensure, with his hard talk and threats o the UK, that o other EU member state dares to leave him in Ivory Tower. “Look what will happen and how you will suffer like the UK from EU punishment if you do”; are his fumbled words.
Why are we here ? – because the EU cannot enforce its own rules and regulations.
Ask the EU animals being transported to Turkey every single day if they are being protected, even when passing through the EU by animals in transport (EU) Regulation 1/2005 ? – we think the answer from them would be a 100% ‘NO’.
So why pay money into a club that has the inability to enforce its own regulations ?
The EU is doomed – we all know this; even Sir Lampshade.
Martin Schultz and JC Junker
Will others join the UK by leaving ? – we will have to wait and see. Maybe Junker and Tusk will get their way and threaten other member states so much that they dare even think of leaving the EU club.
Meanwhile, in our opinion, the UK should jut pack its bags; go over to WTO legislation and then simply walk away. If Mr Junker and Tusk are so good, lets see them find the solution.
The EU enforcing EU Regulations would be a good start, but we doubt this will ever happen.
Posted on November 28, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The European Commission has called on the public to participate in a consultation to gather views on the ivory trade in Europe and what actions should be taken against the illegal ivory trade.
Global elephant populations are rapidly declining, with 20,000-30,000 elephants killed every year. Meanwhile, the ivory trade has grown and demand fuels both the legal and illegal trades. The EU is the single largest exporter of ivory items, acting as a main transit route for ivory coming out of Africa; the products mainly destined for Asian markets.
The EU is lagging behind, which undermines international efforts to ban the trade. This stokes global demand and increases the pressure elephant populations.
The elephants need you to speak up for them and before Friday 8th December!
It will take about 10 minutes to complete and you can save a draft of your response until you are ready to submit. ADI will also be submitting a full response to the consultation.
Thank you for taking action for the elephants.
A similar consultation process is being carried out in the UK and we will be in touch soon to ask for your help once again. If we don’t stand up for the elephants now, they will be gone.
To support our campaigns to protect elephants and other threatened wildlife,
Adopt dogs rescued from dog meat industry by SaveKoreanDogs.org
Dogs rescued from dog meat industry in South Korea by Nami Kim and her team are waiting for their loving and caring forever homes. Click the below button to learn about how you can adopt them. Thank you for opening your heart and your home to these angels!
DOGS LOOKING FOR ‘FOREVER’ HOMES
Click here to see all the dogs looking for adoption and new forever homes:
See the many videos below to see the horrendous conditions in which many of the dogs were kept before they were rescued. You may find many of the videos disturbing, but this is the reality of the dog meat trade. Everything done on the cheap by those who really do not give a damn about the suffering they cause to animals. The only good thing to remember is that despite what is shown in the following videos; the situation for all ha moved on and all the dogs kept in thee hell holes have now been rescued and are up for adoption, you can see in the adoption link which we provide directly above.
Posted on November 24, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Photo – EoA (Netherlands)
There has been a lot of scaremongering here in England in recent weeks that the UK is not going to recognise animals as ‘sentient beings’ once the UK leaves the EU.
Animals are defined as being ‘sentient’ by EU legislation, although with live exports from the EU to Turkey for example, as we have exposed many times on this site, the EU does nothing to enforce its own regulations about animal welfare. As we have always said and often shown, EU laws really mean very little when it comes to protecting the rights of animals.
You may not believe us ? – so check these out for example:
Also, the UK has a very strong animal rights movement; and so it was (in our mind) unthinkable that animals would not be given protection once the UK leaves the EU. As we said, there has been a lot of scaremongering by certain groups in the last few months that animals were going to lose their protection. So we are very pleased to see that Minister Michael Gove MP has now clearly set out the governments position for animal welfare once the UK leaves the EU.
As we have said in past posts on this site, leaving the EU will actually allow the UK to strengthen its legislation on animal welfare – the UK will take back legislative control of regulations which have never been enforced by the oh so wonderful(?) EU – and this will allow the UK to strengthen animal protection as it sees fit; and as constantly pressurised by the excellent campaign organisations that exist in the UK.
Will leaving the EU and taking back control of our own laws be better for animals ? – we very much think so.
The EU has all the written legislation; it speaks the speak; but the reality is, when presented with the evidence by welfare organisations, the EU just turns the other way and says that there is nothing it can do; despite allegedly having all these rules in place in accordance with EU law !
When it comes to the EU protecting animals in accordance with EU Regulations; the whole thing is basically a joke. The rules are not worth the paper they are written on.
So, EU based animal welfare organisations who have constantly been ignored with their evidence of cruelty and abuse for many years now have to watch and see how things progress in the UK – which we will make sure they will.
Already there are movements in place to ban live animal exports from the UK on the very first day that the UK formally leaves the EU. EU member states have to decide if they want to continue presenting evidence to the EU – only then to be ignored – or do they follow the UK and get out – thereby taking back control of their own national laws law and making sure that they, as individual member states, enforce their own national legislation ?.
Time will tell; but the UK is leading the way on the issue of animal welfare.
(Minister) Michael Gove has set out the (UK) government’s position on animal sentience after we leave the EU in a Written Ministerial Statement
The sentience of animals WILL CONTINUE to be recognised and PROTECTIONS STRENGTHENED when we leave the EU, Environment Secretary Michael Gove confirmed today.
This Government is committed to the very highest standards of animal welfare. As the Prime Minister has set out, we will make the United Kingdom a world leader in the care and protection of animals.
It has been suggested that the vote last week on New Clause 30 of the EU Withdrawal Bill somehow signalled a weakening in the protection of animals – that is wrong.
Voting against the amendment was not a vote against the idea that animals are sentient and feel pain – that is a misconception.
Ministers explained on the floor of the house that this Government’s policies on animal welfare are driven by our recognition that animals are indeed sentient beings and we are acting energetically to reduce the risk of harm to animals – whether on farms or in the wild. The vote against New Clause 30 was the rejection of a faulty amendment, which would not have achieved its stated aims of providing appropriate protection for animals.
The Prime Minister has made clear that we will strengthen our animal welfare rules. This government will ensure that any necessary changes required to UK law are made in a rigorous and comprehensive way to ensure animal sentience is recognised after we leave the EU. The Withdrawal Bill is not the right place to address this, however we are considering the right legislative vehicle.
We are already proposing primary legislation to increase maximum sentences for animal cruelty from six months to five years, and the creation of a new statutory, independent body to uphold environmental standards.
The current EU instrument – Article 13 – has not delivered the progress we want to see. It does not have direct effect in law – in practice its effect is very unclear and it has failed to prevent practices across the EU which are cruel and painful to animals.
In contrast, here in the UK, we are improving animal welfare standards without EU input and beyond the scope of Article 13.
We are making CCTV mandatory in all slaughterhouses – a requirement which goes above and beyond any EU rule. We will consult on draft legislation to jail animal abusers for up to five years – more than almost every other European nation. We propose combatting elephant poaching with a ban on the ivory trade which is more comprehensive than anywhere else in Europe. Our ban on microbeads which harm marine animals has been welcomed by Greenpeace as “the strongest in the world”, and is certainly the strongest in Europe.
Once we have left the EU there is even more we could do. EU rules prevent us from restricting or banning the live export of animals for slaughter. EU rules also restrict us from cracking down on puppy smuggling or banning the import of puppies under 6 months. Article 13 has not stopped any of these practices – but leaving the EU gives us the chance to do much better. We hope to say more in these areas next year.
This government will continue to promote and enhance animal welfare, both now and after we have left the EU.
Above – Minister Michael Gove with Canine friend.
SAV Comment –
when we say ”the EU does nothing to enforce its own regulations about animal welfare” -this is evidence and proof of the situation, evidence and proof which the EU conveniently on its part, turns a blind eye to.
From our good friend Lesley at ‘Eyes on Animals’ in the Netherlands:
This week Eyes on Animals was on German TV!
The famous German filmmaker, Manfred Karreman, made a powerful documentary about our year-long inspections of live animal transports from the EU to third countries and of the slaughterhouses where the animals end up in.
You can view the footage here – **Warning** – animals suffering throughout.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 