Uk: Dr. Brian May (‘Queen’ Guitarist) Tells Why he Has to Speak for the Animals.

Queen guitarist Brian May on helping animals

 

WHY I HAVE TO SPEAK FOR THE ANIMALS

Sunday December 5,2010

By Dr Brian May

SOMEONE asked me recently what I wanted to be remembered for. We Will Rock You? Playing atop Buckingham Palace?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIE0vKQf6w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0kTblnz–Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji5DWSHRDdw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eCcldu9O_I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKpG2Laqd6Y&feature=related

I said, given the choice, I’d rather be remembered for hastening the end of cruelty to animals and sowing the seeds for true respect in the way we treat all creatures.

Seems like a radical change of career for me, doesn’t it? My love of music is unshakeable, along with a love of Astrophysics, Stereoscopy, and Photoshop, but my love of animals has led me to a place I would rather not have to be, where I put my guitar down, and try to give animals a voice.

So daily I make myself very unpopular with various people, who still believe animals were put on Earth to be used and abused at will by humans. 

Human is the name we give ourselves, and there is an adjective derived from it, implying compassion, sensibility, fairness: the word “humane”.

Throughout history man has tried to justify his behaviour towards fellow man and other animals. 

In the Age of Enlightenment, he was justifying burning women at the stake because they had the devil in them.

Writing the US constitution for the Land of the Free, he was justifying keeping slaves, because “they were not the same as us”, and society would collapse without slavery. Men have justified so many appalling behaviours: torturing political prisoners, degradation of women, abuse of children, victimisation of minorities, near eradication of native peoples.

These hideous abuses are looked back on with shame. How did we ever imagine that because a human looked different, he didn’t have feelings, the right to freedom, food, respect and equal opportunities?

Another revolution is happening now. We have begun to realise other creatures on this planet have just as much right to live, breathe and enjoy their time as we do.
But we are at the primitive beginnings of this realisation. 

As I write, millions of animals are suffering at the hands of humans. 
Animal farming (read “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer) involves the abuse of millions of creatures every day that have senses and feelings similar to ours.

Ian Redmond OBE, the world-famous zoologist, says that a generation ago, any biologist attributing “maternal feelings and behaviour” to a mother monkey cuddling her offspring would be accused of anthropomorphism and never taken seriously as a scientist again.

This is no longer the case. Recent mapping of genomes has revealed the uncanny similarity of the human make-up to that of primates and only a little less closely to mammals such as mice and rats.

It is now accepted that the idea “humans think and behave rationally, but animals act just on instinct” is unsupportable.
 
In 2004, after 100 years of work from animal-caring people, a Hunting Act was passed in this country banning the cowardly and despicable “sport” of fox-hunting along with hare-coursing, and stag hunting with packs of dogs.  Recently we saw public outrage at the senseless killing of just one magnificent stag simply for its antlers.

But this is merely the tip of a huge iceberg: millions of highly intelligent creatures, more intelligent than the cats and dogs this nation loves so much, are being abused in Britain at this minute.

Pigs, cows, lambs are bred purely as commodities, ready for the brutal slaughterhouse. 
Chickens are bred in appalling battery conditions without the mercy of a decent life or a decent death.

All farmed animals are now species that have been created by man to fulfill demand for more productivity and more more money with no regard for their welfare. 

Those turkeys, which will be slaughtered in their cartloads this Christmas, could never even walk. 

Other birds are bred in battery conditions, released for a pitifully short life, and shot at with shotguns, for fun. 

Millions of primates, who are our closest relatives, are experimented on, kept in pitiful cages in laboratories, the concentration camps we call “humane”.

And we have a government that wants to bring back fox-hunting (claiming it’s humane, calling for “proof” that foxes suffer pain).
It is also attempting to license farmers to kill badgers on their land in a futile attempt to control Bovine TB with a “science-based” cull, which all scientific evidence says will fail. 

Morally? It’s all utterly indefensible. And it’s still legal to use wild animals in circuses. It all needs to change.

Attitudes are changing, the light is dawning, but we need to call clearly for what we want.  For justice for animals.

To help, visit organisations dedicated to freeing animals from slavery: The Born Free Foundation, The Badger Trust, BUAV, LACS, IFAW, PETA, and our own www.Save-Me.org.uk.  Join the compassionate army. Together we will usher in a better world in which compassion and decency will never be mistaken for sentimentality, and all creatures will have a voice.

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/215447/Why-I-have-to-speak-for-the-animals/Why-I-have-to-speak-for-the-animals#ixzz17POMX4IG

A signed ‘Save Me’ poster by Brian May for SAV founder Mark Johnson

Serbia: A Letter Regarding Stray Animal Treatment From an Italian Campaigner.

The following is a letter which has been sent to Serbian officials especially regarding the treatment of strays in Nis.

It must be remembered that legislation to protect stray animals in NOT implemented throughout Serbia – avoiding the law and the killing of thousands of stray animals is a very profitable business for those who wish to look at no other alternatives.  There are corrupt local authorities supported by  corrupt republic authorities  who have no intention to implement the law. 

Instead, they continue to both dogcatchers and vets to  kill stray dogs and cats by their thousands all over Serbia, in at least 170  cities and villages, including:

Nis, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Vranje, Kosjeric, Negotin, Kragujevac, Krusevac , Uzice, Smederevo,Subotica, Sombor, Vrsac, Velika Plana, Bor, Zajecar, Loznica  ….etc……………….170 cities, and all villages  are places  for  the unlawful  catching and killing of stray dogs and cats  – paid for using public money; a dirty  neverending business of animal cruelty  in Serbia  due to non-implementation of nationally valid laws and inherrent corruption in the system.

—————————-

From: xxx

To:kancelarijan@narodnakancelarija.rs ; izivanovic@predsednik.rs ; jzivanovic@predsednik.rs ; kontakt.predsednik@predsednik.rs ; omr@srbija.gov.rs ; press@gov.rs ; predsednikvladesrbije@gov.rs ; kabinet.zpv@gov.rs ; kabinet.potpredsednika@gov.rs ; kabinet@merr.gov.rs ; msp@mfa.rs ; info@mod.gov.rs ; info@mup.gov.rs ; press@mfin.gov.rs ; kabinet@mpravde.gov.rs ; office@minpolj.gov.rs ; press@merr.gov.rs ; kabinet@mre.gov.rs ; mrkonjicm@mi.gov.rs ; kabinet@mduls.gov.rs ; info@mduls.gov.rs ; trgovina@mtu.gov.rs ; info@nauka.gov.rs ; kabinet@mp.gov.rs ; office@mos.gov.rs ; kabinet@mtid.gov.rs ; ministar@minrzs.gov.rs ; pr_sluzba@minrzs.gov.rs ; info@ekoplan.gov.rs ; kabinet@kultura.gov.rs ; kabinet@kim.gov.rs ; kabinet.mv@mv.gov.rs ; info@mzd.gov.rs ; kabinet@ljudskaprava.gov.rs ; pr@ljudskaprava.gov.rs ; kabinet@mbp.gov.rs ; kancelarija@kornrp.gov.rs

Cc:gktoronto@rogers.com ; genkon@idirect.com ; rjtdz@bitszyu.net ; mayor.ni@Eunet.rs ; radio@b92.net ; redakcija@glas-javnosti.co.rs ; redakcija@kurir-info.co.rs ; subnovine@tippnet.co.rs ; telegraf@eunet.rs ; internet@novosti.rs ; redakcija@politika.rs ; redakcija@blic.rs ; redakcija@vreme.com ; rebalkan@verat.net ; tvpitanja@b92.net ; redakcija@novosti.rs ; tanja.vojtehovski@rtvpink.com ; kontaktcentar@rts.rs ; dejan.stanisic@kontiki.rs ; demir.beciroski@kontiki.rs ; info@argus.rs ; contact@argus.rs ; andrea.scrosati@skytv.it ; gianluca.rumori@skytv.it ; gaude.paez@fox.com ; serbian-service@voanews.com ; ambassador@serbiaembusa.org ; info@serbiaembusa.org ; consular@serbiaembusa.org ; info@scgchicago.org ; info@yuembusa.org ; consulategeneralserbia@verizon.net ; bstefanovic@serbiaembusa.org ; mstojcevic@serbiaembusa.org ; msestovic@serbiaembusa.org ; dradulovic@serbiaembusa.org ; jcukic@serbiaembusa.org ; pvico@serbiaembusa.org ; oobradovic@serbiaembusa.org ; ljpostic@serbiaembusa.org ; imilosevic@serbiaembusa.org ; cveze@serbiaembusa.org ; lpetrovic@serbiaembusa.org ; diplomat@serbianembassy.ca ; diplomat@embscg.ca

Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2010 11:10 AM

Subject:BOYCOTT SERBIAN TOURISM AS LONG AS THERE’S KILLING OF THE STRAY ANIMALS ON THEIR STREETS

Honorable Officials:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am very outraged and saddened to see the many cruelties and abuses against stray animals in Serbia. I use to love Serbia (ex-Yugoslavia), but now my love for your country had diminished because of your cruel and inhumane treatment of the all too many strays in your country. I am very disgusted by your lack of compassion and disregard for the lives of the animals in your country.

What happened with your country, the Serbia that I once loved!? I know there are caring, good and sensitive people who loved animals living in Serbia, but the authorities committing mass killings of strays as well as the euthanasia of strays makes me very angry.

Please STOP killing of the innocent stray dogs in the City of Nis, BUILD a new asulym and ANNOUNCE a new tender!

I am sending you an application against re-capture stray dogs in the city of Nis, which is not based on Animal Welfare Act, under the pretext of sterilization. The dogs are cached Anarchic and Brutally. They’re captured at random, stuffed into cages one over other, they sleep in their faeces and the question is whether they use to feed them or not — it says that there are a large number of them in one cage without food or water and the cages are very dirty.

Many dogs that are caught use to not be at the pound. They’re experiencing the death sentence by dog-catcher executioners on the road of no return (they use to be killed by the dog catchers on their way to the pound), which would be a gross violation of the Animal Welfare Act, and for which is the maximum penalty prescribed. 

Tender for the sterilization was illegal (has been <span>furnished)</span> and won a man who is not a vet and expert who is previously well known by the killing of stray dogs (killer of stray dogs). Even if a dog survives sterilization, it has a big risk of mortality of sepsis in the harsh conditions in a cage, because its life on the street should be released only after recovery from sterilization.

That ‘s why I demand to let all dogs out of pound, do not catch and kill them any more, make a new asylum according to international standards, abolish illegal tender and announce another vet where expert and moral person will beat.

Therefore I request to help us, to immediately:

– all dogs to get released from the dog pound and to stop catching and killling them,

– to grant land to build a new asylum as soon as possible and to build the asylum by all international standards as well,

– to annul the illegal tender for the sterilization of dogs and launch a new race, which will get the one that does not trample ethics, and who will certainly and professionally conducts and performs its job.

Otherwise, I strongly protest your way of thinking and of handling the animals in Serbia, especially your cruel treatment of stray animals in the City of Nis. I will NOT visit Serbia UNTIL AND UNLESS these atrocities and your way of thinking of animals and stray animals change drastically. Until the authorities change the way they view and how they deal with animals and strays, not only will I not visit your country, but I will tell others of your crimes against innocent animals and urge them to BOYCOTT SERBIA TOURISM as well..

It is your duty to be aware of the situation and to care for all of the animals of Serbia properly and with compassion. The world is watching you. The time for change is now.

Sincerely,

Carmen

Italy

 

Uk: Captive Bolt Guns To Kill Dogs – Why They Should Never Be Used

 

 

 

 

CAPTIVE BOLT GUNS HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR 21ST CENTURY SOCIETY

The use of the captive bolt pistol in dogs by vet- Andre Menache BSc(Hons) BVSc MRCVS

As a veterinary surgeon in animal welfare for almost 30 years, and having witnessed first-hand the effects of captive bolt stunning in dogs, I feel somewhat competent to express my view on this subject (1). Although this practice may be considered as acceptable in those parts of the world where veterinary resources are very limited, or where there is little concern for animal welfare, neither of these factors apply to 21st century UK.

The concussion caused by the captive bolt leads to destruction of parts of  the brain as well as massive bleeding and an increase in intracranial pressure, all of which cause the animal to lose consciousness. Occasionally, an animal may regain consciousness after the initial concussion. This is especially likely if an animal moves its head at the instant the pistol is discharged. Worse still, the operator may inflict a serious wound, without hitting the brain at all, and be faced with a completely conscious animal in agony.

In a successful stun, although brain matter may have been destroyed, the brain stem is often left intact, which explains why the heart will continue to beat. Although this may be desirable in a slaughterhouse context, in the case of dogs, it necessitates the need for a supplementary agent, such as lethal injection with barbiturates, to ensure swift euthansia.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation,  

“Captive-bolt pistols are an acceptable alternative to firearms where animals are sufficiently restrained, provided that the team understands that animals may be stunned rather than killed. They must be competent to know when an animal is only stunned and trained and equipped to kill such an animal immediately after stunning”(2).

This view is echoed by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) guidelines on euthanasia (June 2007), which state that “death may not occur if equipment is not maintained and used properly” (3).

In a letter addressed to me by the Chief Veterinary Officer of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), dated 12th January 2009, Mr S.E. Chetham writes: “we would have serious concerns over the use of the captive bolt only by lay persons because the captive bolt, in itself, does not guarantee death, merely stunning is a possibility. Secondly all our operatives who have captive bolts have pentobarbitone sodium at their disposal. I hope this clarifies our position”. 

From the above, we can conclude that the use of the captive bolt pistol on its own is not an acceptable means of euthanasia in dogs. The use of a supplementary agent to ensure euthanasia, such as lethal injection with a controlled substance, is permissible only to highly trained and registered personnel. A lay person using a captive bolt pistol to kill dogs would need to ensure death either by pithing or by exsanguination, both of which raise further animal welfare concerns, assuming they were performed at all.

Therefore, in the interests of animal welfare, the use of the captive bolt pistol in dogs by lay persons should no longer be allowed in the UK.  

Andre Menache BSc(Hons) BVSc MRCVS

London, 17 June 2009.

Refs.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article648731.ece

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/Y0660E/Y0660E01.htm

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:4-YmFfnYIfMJ:www.avma.org/resources/euthanasia.pdf+avma+captive+bolt&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Romania: Stray Dogs Campaign Update 23/09/10 – Authorities Delay Decisions for Another 2 Weeks. Please Keep Up the Pressure Internationally.

Our post of 18th September refers:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/romania-like-so-many-authorities-the-romanians-ignore-the-evidence-and-continue-to-try-and-go-for-a-kill-strays-policy-issue-to-be-debated-on-2309-please-act-by-2109/

Firstly, the meeting which was scheduled for Thursday 23rd September was actually moved to the earlier date of Wednesday 22nd.

Many of you who sent e mails on this campaign issue probably had the following message sent through to you:

raspuns engl[1]catei

Well the latest news that we have (23/09/10) is as follows:

There were only 12 persons present out of the 18 necessary for the committee to make a decision. So they postponed the decision for a further two weeks.
The representatives of animal welfare organisations put onto the table a few petitions signed by thousands of people abroad, as well as an explanation of their plans and costs.

The head of the committee, a woman named Sulfina Barbu, avoided to give her actual opinion, but she had to admit the sterilisation is extremely important.

Ideas from opponents were suggested such as impounding and killing the dogs if they are aggressive or form packs – which effectively still leaves the door open to mass killing, which happens at the moment because there is no control and proper reduction in numbers planning.

And of course, animals which are not spayed mean that they normally form packs !

So there was no result from the meeting on 22nd

Carmen made a very good presentation stating that Turkey and Italy have solved many of their street dog problems by spaying animals and not by killing them.

It is necessary to keep up the pressure on this issue and support our welfare friends in Romania.  So please, continue to send in your sample letters as per the information detailed in our campaign link above.

The authorities have had a wide international response about this issue and they know that they are being watched internationally.  Lets keep reminding them up until the next meeting in 2 weeks time that there is only one solution to this issue; and that is to sterilise animals and not to kill them.

Spain: EU Funds Supporting Animal Abuse – Uk Reporter / Journalist Excellent Article on the Tordesillas Bull Slaughter.

Our recent post on the events in Tordesillas, including action and campaign information:

https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/sadistic-spain-toro-de-la-vega-update-150910-mayor-maria-del-milagro-zarzuelo-tells-the-world-the-town-hall-had-made-attempts-in-recent-years-to-make-the-fiesta-less-barbaric-in-previous/

Uk journalist and animal welfare campaigner Danny send his report on the events of last week.

An excellent article – please read this before you visit our action link above.

EU citizens – please copy this article / post to your MEP’s, and ask them to give you their stance on Spanish ‘fiesta’s’;

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry.do?language=EN

Who knows where Danny will be investigating animal abuse issues next ?

SAV.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313480/Spains-blood-fiestas-make-bullfights-tame-youre-paying-them.html

Daily Mail. 20 September 2010.

Spain’s sickening ‘blood fiestas’ make bullfights seem tame – but the most shocking thing about them is YOU’RE paying for them.

By Danny Penman In Tordesillas

Marcos held aloft the bloodsoaked bull’s ears and bowed deeply to the crowd. Moments earlier he’d sliced them off the young bull, which now lay on one side, blood pooling beneath him.  But the poor creature wasn’t quite finished yet. In a pitiful act of defiance, he mustered just enough energy to raise his
head a few inches off the ground and tried to stare down his attackers. 

Marcos responded by unsheathing a vicious looking knife and stabbing him in the back of the neck for a second time. The bull’s head flopped back into the dust — he was finished and Marcos, the amateur matador, yelled in triumph.  As the official killer of the bull, he had won the right to parade the animal’s coveted ears, tail and testicles around town on a ceremonial spear. He had also been granted permission to eat the bull’s testicles – widely regarded in Spain as the choicest of all cuts of meat and a rare honour indeed. In the eyes of many, Marcos Rodríguez San José was truly king for the day.

Casual brutality towards animals is,of course, well known in Spanish bullrings, but the sights I witnessed last Tuesday, during the annual Toro de la Vega ‘blood fiesta’ in Tordesillas, were as sickening as they were brutal.

What is more, such blood fiestas are far more common than the more famous and well-known sport of bullfighting.  Blood fiestas are not performed for the entertainment of tourists.  They are gruesome traditions that kill thousands more animals than bullfighting — often in the most barbaric ways imaginable. Yet millions of the Britons who visit Spain every year will be unaware of their existence.
The Toro de la Vega is a case in point. It’s a centuries-old tradition in which a bull is chased through the streets by thousands of men who beat it with sticks and pelt it with stones. Although this is chilling to watch, it is only when the bull reaches the meadows outside Tordesillas that the spectacle begins in earnest.  The bull whose brutal death I witnessed had been given the name Platanito (meaning ‘little banana’) by animal welfare officers. I watched as men on horseback tried to skewer it with their eight-foot long spears. Spear after spear sliced open his back. Once his strength began to ebb, the men became increasingly bold and moved in closer. This was the bit they clearly loved most of all — a time when they could begin to play with the bull without serious risk of injury to themselves.

I watched as one horseman impaled the creature and twisted and turned his spear deeper and deeper into him.  This seemed to fatally weaken the animal and he fell onto his front knees snorting and bellowing — his distress apparent.  Within moments, several more spears had pierced his body.  Finally, Marcos stepped forward to deliver the fatal blows to the bull’s heart and neck. It was, mercifully, the end of Platanito’s suffering.  Although the Toro de la Vega is undoubtedly horrifying to witness, what is equally shocking is the fact that we are all helping to pay for it. The European Union spends £37 million a year directly subsidising blood fiestas like the Toro de la Vega and other sports, such as bullfighting. It also ploughs tens of millions of pounds into the towns that host them and has begun renovating dilapidated bullrings.  As if that weren’t bad enough, now some MEPs are campaigning to have bullfighting and blood fiestas officially recognised as part of Europe’s cultural heritage. 

If this should succeed, then not only will the Toro de la Vega be given an official veneer of respectability, it may eventually become eligible for European arts and cultural funding.  ‘We’re all tightening our belts in Britain and yet our money continues to flow into bullfights and blood fiestas across Spain,’ says Jaqueline Foster, Conservative MEP and vice-president of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

‘The Spanish can support these fiestas with their own money, if they want to, but there’s absolutely no way they should be using ours to do so. I have been unable to find a single good reason why we are being forced to pay for these horrible sports.’

I decided to delve into the EU’s Byzantine bureaucracy to find out why it is spending so much of our money supporting blood fiestas and why it appears resolutely determined to carry on doing so. And, perhaps predictably, it turned into a tale of bungling, patronage and, some might say, corruption. The trail begins 100 miles west of Madrid at Finca Valdeolivas, the farm that bred Platanito. It’s a lavish estate set in beautiful countryside owned by the Gil family.  Judging by the number of expensive cars and pick-up trucks parked in their driveway, they must be one of the richest families in the area. Finca Valdeolivas is in the heart of Spain’s fighting bull country and it’s clear the Gils are taking full advantage of it.  Hundreds of the animals graze contentedly in the long shadows cast by cork and oak trees. Sleek Andalusian thoroughbred horses, raised as the mounts for bullfighting picadores, lie in nearby sun-drenched fields. It is a rural idyll — and one largely funded by northern European taxpayers. 

I tried to talk to Don Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, head of the family that owns the Finca, but he declined to answer my questions. I was, however, able to examine the EU’s accounts and discover that Finca Valdeolivas received at least £139,000 in subsidies last year. It is impossible to say what proportion of this money directly supported the rearing of bulls for blood fiestas, but the farm certainly seems to specialise in breeding them. The majority of the money flowing into Finca Valdeolivas is from the Common Agricultural Policy’s Single Farm Payment scheme.  This pays landowners a fee for managing the land, leaving them free to farm it in any way they choose.

The idea is to reward landowners for farming less intensively and to cut back on the type of over-production that led to the infamous wine lakes and butter mountains.  This scheme encouraged landowners in Britain to progressively switch to more environmentally friendly farming practices such as organic and freerange. In Spain, farmers are using the money to rear animals for blood fiestas and bullfights.  In effect, every bull they rear for a blood fiesta earns them £183 for every year of its life. The EU rewarded Finca Valdeolivas with £915 for breeding Platanito for the Toro de la Vega.
Given that Spain sacrifices at least 40,000 bulls a year, the EU’s annual subsidy to the industry totals almost £37 million.  Since the new subsidy scheme was introduced in 2005, the EU has spent £185 million supporting blood fiestas and bullfighting.

By the end of next year, the total will likely top a quarter of a billion pounds. But even this is likely to be the tip of an iceberg, as the exact subsidy figures are disguised within the EU’s maze of bureaucracy.
Spain receives £4.3 billion in agricultural support every year. Campaigners fear that a significant proportion of this is siphoned off to provide more animals for fiestas across the country.  Spanish towns and cities also receive an array of grants to help them preserve their cultural heritage. The country now
receives £1.1 billion a year from the EU’s Rural Development  Programme, for example, a proportion of which is being used to renovate bullrings. In the towns of Haro, in the province of Rioja, and Toro, in Zamora, the EU is so proud of its support that it has erected big signs outside the bullrings highlighting its contribution. 

It’s virtually impossible to find out exactly how much is funnelled into bloodsports through such grants because the EU cannot, or will not, divulge how it spends its money. Northern European taxpayers are not just helping pay for bulls for blood fiestas but also for cows, goats, chickens and geese,
too.  Up to 15,000 towns and villages sacrifice animals as centrepieces of their fiestas — often out of the gaze of tourists and the media. Some involve hanging chickens upside down by their feet on washing lines while townfolk ride underneath and pull their heads off to win prizes.  Another involves placing chickens in boxes with their heads poking out of the top. Local men and boys then chop off as many heads as possible while blindfolded. In yet another fiesta, birds are sealed inside clay pots and stoned to death.

Although such cruel games are now theoretically banned, they are still common throughout Spain. This may be because the country’s animal welfare laws have one curious exemption: animals may be mistreated so long as it’s necessary for the smooth running of a fiesta. Even if a blood fiesta does not
involve the immediate death of an animal, it can still inflict grotesque cruelty.  Next month, for example, Spain’s fire-bull festivals begin. In these, burning balls of wax and paraffin are attached to a bull’s horns and the terrified animal is chased through the streets. Most survive, but they often suffer horrific injuries. For its part, the European Commission (the executive body of the EU) says it genuinely does not know how much money it is pumping into Spanish blood fiestas.  ‘The member states and our cultural partners are responsible for selecting the projects that we fund,’ said a spokesman for the European Commission.  ‘We do not know, for example, if a bullring that has been renovated with our help is being used to host bullfights or not.’ Perhaps this attitude is not surprising, as the EU’s accounts are notoriously opaque.

Independent auditors have thrown out the EU’s accounts for 13 out of the past 15 years because they failed to provide ‘a true and fair account’ of its spending.  Auditors generally use such phrases to signal either incompetence or corruption — or both.  ‘It’s impossible to say how much money is being siphoned off,’ says Tony Moore, director of the British charity Fight Against Animal Cruelty In Europe.  ‘Blood fiesta organisers certainly think it’s a lot. They tell me that in the past they could only afford to sacrifice one or two animals whereas now they can torture and kill ten.’ He notes that support for the fiestas and bullfighting exists throughout the upper reaches of the EU. 

The Portuguese President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso is a keen supporter. He overturned Portugal’s 76-year-old ban on ‘death bullfighting’ when he was the country’s prime minister.

Animal welfare campaigners fear that if the blood fiestas gain the official European seal of approval then the EU will start pouring even more money into them.  Ironically, just as MEPs are calling for enhanced support for bullfighting and blood fiestas, the Spanish are increasingly turning against them. One recent poll found that 60 per cent of people opposed bullfighting.  Another suggested that only a quarter had any interest in it and that such support is largely confined to older generations. This gradual shift in attitudes came to the fore in July when Catalonia’s regional parliament voted to ban bullfighting.  The ban has shocked many old school Spaniards who are keen to dismiss it as no more than a bid by the independent-minded region to carve out its own distinct identity. They insist that bullfighting and blood fiestas such as the Toro de la Vega are not cruel.  Instead, they claim that it’s a beautiful form of art that is central to Spanish culture.

When I watched Platanito die last week I saw no evidence of the beautiful art and rich culture that Spain is famous for. 

What I saw was a celebration of mob rule, of cruelty, of wickedness, even.

As I watched Platanito’s eyes close for the last time, I felt sick to my stomach to know that I had helped pay for his death with my taxes — just as you had too.

Romania: Like So Many Authorities; the Romanians Ignore the Evidence and Continue to Try and Go for a ‘Kill Strays’ Policy. Issue to be Debated on 23/09 – Please Act by 21/09.

 

Please find below information which has been supplied by Carmen in Romania.

A debate regarding the legislation associated with stray dog control will be discussed on Thursday 23rd September.

How very disappointing to see that despite the evidence presented so many times throughout the world, some authorities still consider that mass killings of stray animals is the answer to their stray ‘problem’.  As Carmen correctly says below, thousands of animals have been killed in a futile authority attempt to control the situation.  After 10 years, the issue of stray animals is being discussed again.

Does this not tell the authorities that they have no idea about the correct way of addressing this issue, and that simply continually killing stray animals does not work; and IT WILL NEVER WORK in REDUCING STRAY ANIMAL NUMBERS !.

We need to make it clear to the Romanian authorities, and any other authority; that irresponsible PET animal ownership is very often the cause of large stray animal numbers.  Until authorities address the situation of responsible pet ownership, which would include animal sterilisation, the fitting of an identification microchip; to identify the owner, and vaccination of all animals, the ‘stray problem’, as they love to call it, will never go away.

Irresponsible pet owners who do not have their animals sterilised usually let these same animals out onto the streets.  They mate with real stray animals – the result being litters of new ‘strays’ born onto the streets.

Until the authorities accept that responsible pet ownership; AND THAT INCLUDES HAVING YOUR PET STERILISED, is undertaken by owners; in addition to keeping their animals off the streets; then there will NEVER be any reduction in stray animal numbers in any countries which have this situation – be it Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, anywhere there is this issue.

What do we have to do to get the unintelligent authorities to see this ?

People in charge for the welfare of the towns and cities; yet they cannot grasp a simple thing such as what continues to produce yet more strays !

Authoritaries are paid public money for what ? – to make very illogical, incorrect decisions it wouls appear; if this below is anything to go by !

The very sensible and only really effective for the future, as proposed by Carmen, is that under their project, there is an obligation on animal owners to sterilise and microchip identify all of their cats and dogs.

There is an alternative.  If owners do not want to sterilise their animals, then they will have to pay a financial amount to the authorities every year.  This money could be invested into further sterilisation and microchip programmes; thereby reducing costs further for pet owners.

As Carmen rightly declares, strays originate from irresponsibly owned pet animals, and so it is vital – the very first step in the process, that owned animals are sterilised in order to reduce animal numbers for the future.

SAV.

The tax/year it’s about 4 times more than a sterilization costs.

So the people will prefer to sterilize.

Sincerely
Carmen

 —– Original Message —–

From: Carmen Arsene

Sent: Friday, September 17, 2010 10:24 PM

Subject: URGENT! Debating the dog management on Thursday

Dear all,  

Very unexpected; the Committee for Public Administration within the Chamber of Deputies decided to debate the legislative project no. 912 for managing the stray dogs on Thursday (September 23).

Just to have a connection with the following, I mention the form adopted by Senate is (the main line) Sterilization & Return.

There are 4 sets of amendments (main ideas):

1 – mass killing, no control of NGOs – made by prefect of Bucharest (sustained by the president of Committee and other PDL party)

 2 – mass killing – made and sustained by Hungarian party

 3 – amendments that does not affect our project – made and sustained by a deputy from PSD party

 4 – our amendments – sustained by Mr. deputy Sorin Buta (PDL party)

In the final form that was prepared for debating our amendments are not. This means they want to take into consideration only the amendments of killing.

About this and about including our amendments; Mr. dep. Buta will discuss with the president of Committee (Mrs. Sulfina Barbu) on Monday (but this does not mean it will bring so much “plus”.

Therefore please, concentrate as much as you can by sending faxes (till maximum on Tuesday) to the Committee. Tell them on short:

the sterilization project will bring a lot of help from outside but a killing project will bring an immensity of protests and discussing in European Parliament the cruel and ineffective attitude of Romanian authorities etc.

the importance of sterilization; the euthanasia has been applied for 10 years did not have result, the same situation is now, after killing of tens of thousands of dogs

etc.

*** SAMPLE LETTER ***

 

Dear Sir / Madam;

 

As someone who continually monitors the situation regarding national authority stray animal management policy across the world, I am very concerned to see that you are still proposing the mass killing of stray animals within Romania in a futile attempt to reduce numbers.

 

I will be very closely watching the debate on legislative project no. 912 for managing stray dogs being held on Thursday (September 23).

 

After witnessing the last 10 years of Romania killing thousands of stray animals; with a result of no reduction in their overall numbers, can I suggest to you that this supports the now global view of welfare organisations and many positive thinking authorities that killing stray animals never makes any difference on their population numbers.  But effective sterilisation DOES however.

 

Can I ask you to dismiss the proposals of certain parties who wish to continue with the mass killing of animals, and instead support the views of the PSD and PDL parties who look towards effective, humane and much more realistic approaches to stray animal population numbers.

 

 I fully support calls to the project proposed by Romanian animal welfare organisations, that there is an obligation on all animal owners to sterilise and microchip their cats and dogs.  As an alternative;  if owners do not want to sterilise their own pet animals, then they must have to pay a financial subsidy to the authorities every year as a form of compensation; because their un-sterilised animals, when allowed access to the streets, are continually contributing to the production of more strays.

 

It is a simple equation:

 

Unsterilised animal + Unsterilised animal = more stray animals.

 

sterilised animal + sterilised animal = NO more stray animals.

 

Stray animals directly originate from irresponsibly owned pet animals, nothing else.

 

So it is vital – the very first step in the process, and one which you should be supporting, is that owned animals are sterilised in order to reduce stray numbers for the future.

 

I will be watching the results of your actions with interest in this coming week.  Through various international animal welfare NGO’s, the result of your actions will be distributed globally.

 

In the name of Romania and positive animal welfare in accordance with EU legal standards; I urge you to leave mass stray animal killing and instead move towards a national owned pet sterilisation and public education programme.

 

Yours;

 

Name:  ***

Nationality:  ***

 

***PLEASE NOTE – MAILS AND LETTERS OF COMPLAINT NEED TO BE SENT BY END OF TUESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER***

Block e mail address contacts to send your protest:

Committee for Public Administration Territorial Planning and Ecological Balance

cp06@cdep.ro,sulfina.barbu@cdep.rocalin.chira@amrbruxelles.eu,office@ansvsa.rosrp@cdep.ro,presa@cdep.ropetitii@mai.gov.ro,amr@amr.roaor@aor.ro,  CJD@bucurestiprimaria.ro ,  procetatean@presidency.ro, prefect@mira.gov.ro,ion.calin@cdep.roioncalin@yahoo.comionel.palar@cdep.romapostolache@cdep.roandras.edler@cdep.roedler.andras@yahoo.commarin.bobes@cdep.rovictor.boiangiu@cdep.roboiangiuvictor@yahoo.comdan.bordeianu@cdep.rocristian.buican@cdep.rosorin.buta@cdep.robogdan.cantaragiu@cdep.rogheorghe.ciocan@cdep.rodusa_mircea@cdep.rorelu.fenechiu@cdep.rovasile.gherasim@cdep.rozmb.gherasim@gmail.comzanfir.iorgus@cdep.roghervazen.longher@cdep.rocostica.macaleti@cdep.roantonella_barbu@yahoo.comantonella.marinescu@cdep.rodan.nica@cdep.roioan.oltean@cdep.rocornel.pieptea@cdep.roneculai.ratoi@cdep.rodenes.seres@cdep.roszilagy@rmdsz.rov_soporan@yahoo.comsoporan.vasile@cdep.roclaudiu.taga@cdep.roclaudiu.taga@gauss.roradu.timpau@cdep.roradub_t@yahoo.comeugen.uricec@cdep.roecu777@yahoo.comlucia.varga@cdep.rovarga.lucia@yahoo.comaurel.vladoiu@cdep.ro, deputat_vladoiu@yahoo.comsorin.zamfirescu@cdep.rozgonea@cdep.ro

Romanian mass media

oradefoc@realitatea.net, monica@mediafactory.ro, martorocular@realitatea.net, andrei.udisteanu@evz.ro, stiri@antena3.ro, crp@pressclub.ro, redactie.online@mediafax.ro, office@rompres.ro, rador@srr.ro, roalertnews@gmail.com, stiri@agerpres.ro, promptmedia@gmail.com, promptmedia@hotmail.com, centrale@agerpres.ro, amos@kappa.ro, redactia@romanialibera.ro, sasevinepresa@b1tv.ro, mihaela@protv.ro, mihaela.gradinaru@tvr.ro, alexandru.cristorian@catavencu.ro, daniel.ruse@radioromania.ro, nasul@b1tv.ro, claudiuruse@yahoo.com, cojocarivitalie@yahoo.com, sergiu.voicu@primatv.ro,

You can fax to:

Committee for Public Administration Territorial Planning and Ecological Balance  

In attention to:           

President Mrs. Sulfina Barbu  

Vicepresident Mr. Calin Ion  

Vicepresident Ionel Palar  

Mrs and Mr. Deputies members  

Fax:  00 40 21 3146934

Parliament of Romania – Chamber of Deputies  

In attention to: President Mrs. Roberta Anastase  

Fax: 00 40 21 3134931

Thank you.

Sincerely  

Carmen Arsene

Dr.chem. CARMEN ARSENE

Scientific Researcher

—————————————–

Institute for Nuclear Research Pitesti

str. Campului no.1

PO Box 78, 115400 Mioveni

jud. Arges, Romania

tel.: + 40 248 213400 ext 590

email: carmen.arsene@nuclear.ro

cmarsene@yahoo.com

www.nuclear.ro

Sadistic Spain: “Toro de la Vega” Update 15/09/10. Mayor María del Milagro Zarzuelo Tells the World – “the town hall had made attempts in recent years to make the fiesta less barbaric. In previous years the bull’s testicles were cut off”.

Spanish town spears bull for festival
September 14, 2010

AFP

Townspeople in central Spain joined in a centuries-old festival on Tuesday to spear a bull to the death, prompting an outcry from animal rights activists.

Carrying lances on horseback and on foot, hundreds of residents of Tordesillas commemorated the “Toro de la Vega” festival, held every second Tuesday of September since at least 1453.

The bull, named Platanito, charged through the streets of the fortified town, across a bridge over the River Duero and into a lightly forested plain (vega, in Spanish) where it was lanced to the death.

The spectacle lasted about half an hour.

“Spectacles like the Toro de Tordesillas should no longer exist. A country like Spain should not maintain such cruel traditions,” said Nacho Paunero, president of the animal rights group El Refugio.

A survey conducted for the group found 76 percent of those polled agreed that such festivals should be banned, Paunero said in a statement.

Paunero said he had sent a request to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero demanding that a draft animal protection law forbid spectacles such as the Toro de La Vega.

The Socialist Party government had promised in its electoral program to draw up a draft animal protection law, and any such legislation would have to ban events such as the “Toro de La Vega,” he said.

Each region of Spain has responsibility for its own animal protection laws, usually with exceptions for bullfighting. The festival in Tordesillas is allowed under the laws of the Castilla y Leon region.

Protests by anti-bullfighting groups have mounted in Spain since the northeastern regional parliament of Catalonia agreed in July to ban bullfighting from 2012.

Another anti-bullfighting and animal rights group, PACMA, had rallied hundreds of protesters on Sunday to decry the festival, which predates the introduction of the classic bullfight at the end of the 17th century.

While calling for the festival to be scrapped, PACMA also demanded that it no longer be promoted as an event of National Tourism Interest.

Link / story:  http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/spanish-town-spears-bull-for-festival-20100914-15av3.html

ACTIONS – PROTESTS  

Poor Platanito is now dead after his toment at the hands of man; but his plight and suffering will never be forgotten; it will just make us all stronger to stop this even more quickly. 

Despite his death, actions to show disgust at this animal abuse can and will continue.  Spain needs to be informed that it exists in a 21st century Europe, not still in the 1600’s when this barbaric ritual started.

There has been widespread global condemnation of this event, even from some major Spanish newspapers – El Pais:

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/pop_up.asp?fpVname=SPA_PAIS&ref_pge=map&tfp_map=Europe 

Please use the following links to access directly with e mail complaints:

Tordesillas Official website:

http://www.toroayto.es/

http://www.tordesillas.net/webs/inicio.php?cont=8

Tourism office of Tordesillas:

–          obviously think that lancing a bull to death with 12 foot long lances is a good tourism drive !

–          – let them know otherwise by leaving a mail message.

http://www.tordesillas.net/webs/inicio.php?cont=1&id=62&lang=eng&cat=10

 

Complain to the Spanish embassy in your own country by using the links below:

http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-of/Spain

http://embassy-finder.com/spain_embassies

Dear animal friends

Last Sunday we were at the demonstration against the brutal torture and killing of a bull in Tordesillas, Spain. We were NOT allowed to enter the city. It was too dangerous and we were escorted on the “killing field” where Platanito will be murdered today.

Please write your feelings about this to the Town Hall of Tordesillas:

http://www.torrecilladelaabadesa.ayuntamientosdevalladolid.es/?q=contact

Su nombre = your name

Su direccion de correo-e = your email

Asunto = object

Mensaje = message

Also I am asking everybody to memorize this poor animal today with one minute of silence.

Thank you so much.

Wietse

—————

Protests grow over annual lancing of bull

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/13/spain.gilestremlett 

Pursued across open countryside, jabbed at with spears and finally fatally stabbed by a man wielding a lance, a bull called Enrejado suffered a long, frightening and sadistic death in front of an eager crowd at Tordesillas, northern Spain.

Pictures of the wounded, blood-drenched animal being stabbed with the lance were published on the front page of El País, Spain’s biggest-selling daily newspaper, as it denounced the survival of this primitive, medieval spectacle.

Enrejado, a wide-horned, shiny black animal weighing 520kg, (82 st), took more than an hour to die during the annual festival, known as the Toro de la Vega.

The regional government of Castilla y León, run by the conservative People’s party, has formally declared the festival to be “of interest to tourists“.

Local people, however, shooed photographers and journalists away so they could not witness or capture the final moment of death, which the town hall later claimed had been completed with two deep thrusts of a lance. The right to finish off the animal after an hour of pursuit by men on horseback and on foot belonged to a horse-riding farmer from Salamanca, José Angel Gonzaléz.

Mr Gonzaléz had won the right by being the first man to land a lance on the animal as it fled across country. He was awarded the bull’s tail as trophy and ushered on to a balcony in the main square to be cheered by the crowd.

Mr Gonzaléz later declared himself honoured to have been allowed to perform the killing and promised to be back again next year.

The chase and killing of the bull in Tordesillas, a town of 8,400 people, is said to date back to the beginning of the 16th century.

“It has always been this way,” one local woman told El País. “If it seems so brutal to people, then why don’t they ban bullfighting completely?”

Those who criticise it should come and watch,” said the People’s party mayor of Tordesillas, María del Milagro Zarzuelo.

That invitation, however, does not seem to be extended to journalists.

“They allow the bull to be traversed by spears but do not want critics to cast their eyes on it,” wrote El País journalist Carmen Morán. “This event gives off a powerful odour of poorly interpreted manliness.”

The El País report on Tordesillas came as Spain’s anti-bullfighting lobby becomes increasingly bold and vociferous.

Spanish animal rights activists had visited the mayor of Tordesillas before the most recent bull-baiting to protest at the cruelty of local traditions.

All she was able to tell them was that the town hall had made attempts in recent years to make the fiesta less barbaric. In previous years the bull’s testicles were cut off.

Protesters are regularly to be seen at the bull-runs that are held every July in Pamplona.

Barcelona city council declared itself to be against bull-fighting three years ago. It steered shy of a ban, however, and fights are still held in the city’s Monumental bull-ring.

BOYCOTT SPAIN

BOYCOTT SPAIN

BOYCOTT SPAIN

BOYCOTT SPAIN