Posted on April 3, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
3/4/17. Today we have received the following letter from the EU regarding one of our petitions and the question of stray animals in Serbia as well as the long distance transportation of live animals within the EU and to Turkey.
You can see a full copy of the EU response here:
We are disappointed but not at all surprised by the wording of the EU letter. Basically, it does very little apart from pass the blame onto everyone else apart from the EU. As we have always said, the EU is very good at talking the talk; but when it comes to enforcing its own legislation, then the EU is very much outside the enforcement envelope.
On sheets 2 and 3 of the letter you can see we have identified a few statements in the margin using Orange.
Sheet 2 – Notice To Members.
“Most of the issues raised in the petition with regard the management of stray dog populations are not under EU competence”.
Serbia is currently an EU ‘Candidate Country’; getting ready to become an EU member state. In order to become an EU member state; any hopeful nation has to show it is in full compliance of the EU requirement of showing that it is enforcing the ‘rule of law’ – that it is enforcing its own national legislation within its nation. As we have shown for the past 10 years or more, Serbia is NOT applying the rule of law as written in existing Serbian legislation when it comes to the welfare of (mainly stray) dogs and cats.
We wanted to make this issue of great importance to the EU Enlargement Commission when considering Serbia’s application to join the EU. You can see further information about Serbian legislation for stray animals by visiting https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-serbian-animals/
But we are disappointed to simply be given the statement that “stray dog populations are not under EU competence”. We feel that this is action by the EU to simply pass the monitoring game back to individual member states as it always does; who as we have seen in other work (live transport); cannot enforce the EU regulations within their own country. Why will the EU not introduce stray animal legislation ? – because stray animals do not earn money for member states the same way as meat / live animals do when they are transported to other nations for slaughter. I guess you could say it is all a question of economics and finance – and stray animals come second !
Effectively; this EU letter gives the green light to Serbia to continue killing stray animals in whatever way it wants even thought they should be given protection under existing Serbian national legislation, as decreed by the Serbian Constitutional Court many years ago (2005). Put simply, the EU will be happy to take Serbia in as a new EU member state; whilst at the same time ignoring the fact that it does not comply with the EU member state rules of adhering to national law; whilst at the same time continuing to kill animals in the most barbaric and illegal ways.
Moving on to sheet 3 and the issue of the live transport of animals. Conclusion – Here we read that the EU ‘has launched a 3 year pilot project to develop and disseminate the best practices for animal transport’. We are extremely disappointed to read that the EU Commission does not envisage revising the current EU legislation on animal transport but will continue to assist member states in their efforts for its better enforcement. The words in reality mean nothing.
Please read the excellent report by Animals Angels below – ‘The Myth of Enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport’.
As we have said so many times in the past; we have ‘head in the sand’ people like Mr Van Goethem and associated EU Commissioners; who should be changing the regulations regularly to better animal welfare and move away form the continual abuses which has been provided to them in so many forms over so many years. Here are just a few examples:
So in conclusion, we have a ‘system’ called the EU – it brags; talks loud and posts so much on its internet service to make anyone in the world think that the system is fantastic. The reality is, as shown by activists out on the road; and when they / we try to relate failing and their non enforcement to EU legislation, the EU authorities turn the other way and put their heads deep down into the sand. The EU dopes not want to be shown that anything is wrong in its ‘perfect, paper system’.
Last week the UK triggered Article 50 – we are going to get out and away from these people who are paid big salaries to do things; but whom in reality do nothing. By leaving and going it alone, the UK will show the world (and the EU) that things are much better when you take back control. It is the UK against 27 other member states – so we shall see exactly how much control the EU masters have on all their members when Brexit negotiations actually get under way.
I feel that Venus raises a very important point in the following – that being why cannot animals be raised and (unfortunately) slaughtered in their country of origin ?; thus eliminating the need for shipping live animals all over the EU. We know that it is all to do with subsidies and national export statistics etc, but with the EU currently under a huge amount of pressure on this subject at the moment, maybe we need to take it further.
With Brexit, I am certain that UK groups and campaigners will ensure that the UK government has a ban on live animal exports in place on the day that the UK formally walks away from Europe. This will be just the start, but will set a precedent in Europe. What will the rest of the EU do ? – continue to give evidence after evidence to the likes of Mr Van Goethem etc; with nothing done as a reward !
We now need to think further on the way forward and what actions we can take regarding transport and slaughter within the producing member state only.
Mark.
I also read the really excellent report of the Animals Angels.
According to this report, you ask yourself: what else can we do to ensure that the 8 hours of transportation is in force?
The organization has documented innumerable demented states through protocols, and shocking photos are also available.
The EU Commission does not want to know anything, not even of the 8 hours transport limit.
– we have submitted 1.2 million signatures
– a written statement in support of the European Parliament is also available
– the EU Petitions Committee has been working on this issue since 2012.
The Commission does not want to go a step further; the topic does not interest them at all.
And this confirms once more that it is a money-making machinery.
The EU has no longer any right to exist, it is clear, and we know it.
But, in spite of all this, we have for the time being only this authority to do something for the animals.
I find the petition of the English a very good initiative in this direction.
Perhaps a kind of pressure on the part of the UK will be generated.
If it works out, it would be a good perspective for the 8 hour limit.
However, the crime and terrorism against the animals in the EU area still remain.
I believe that we should focus on slaughter at the national level.
Because the EU Commission has not yet accepted the 8hours transport limit, we should demand that slaughter of the animals be allowed only in slaughterhouses of the country where the animals are kept.
No transport of live animals to slaughterhouses of foreign countries.
Then the shipments would be off.
The transports to Turkey would also be off.
Then we would no longer have the criminal situation that piglets are born in Holland, fattened in Spain and slaughtered in Italy.
Sure, that is much more than the 8 hour debate.
How the EU could create this would be its problem.
For this, the gentlemen are paid to think and find solutions where there are problems.
In the animal sector, the issue is not only about problems, it is about a criminal meat mafia, which operates with the thick EU subsidies undisturbed their criminal work.
I think we have to put more pressure and demand more than we have done so far.
Posted on March 15, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
I guess that in reality I should be labelled as ‘a typical, mainstream European’.
I have spent many happy times in mainland Europe, and have many friends there.I campaigned right across the Netherlands with CIWF calling for drastic improvements to farm animal welfare conditions.
Above – Campaigning in the Netherlands – 1997.
Until I finished ‘the day job’ to go further into animal welfare, I had some 25 years being involved a great deal / primarily with Panavia ‘Tornado’; a military aircraft project made by a consortium of European nations – UK, Germany and Italy.At the height of its service, it was the best.It still is in service with all these air forces, and others including Saudi Arabia.
So, a career on the (European) Tornado; a British European, someone who has great love and respect for the peoples and places of Europe; it was obvious, when we had the UK referendum on continued membership of the EU, I would vote in the ‘Remain’ camp – lets stay as UK members of the EU – Right.
Wrong; big wrong ! – and here is why; what influenced me to vote ‘Leave’ – to get out of the EU; to vote in favour of the UK packing its bags and opting to go it alone.
Ever since I was a young kid of probably 8 or 9, I sadly witnessed truckloads of live animals heading down to South East Kent ports (Dover etc) for their onward trip into Europe and eventual slaughter. I lived and grew up in Kent county; on the South East corner of England –‘The Gateway to Europe’; the closest and most direct route into Europe.I knew nothing of the live export trade at the time; apart from the fact that I knew even then that it was wrong to make animals suffer; crammed into trucks for many hours; maybe days; going to their deaths. I asked questions with family and friends about what I was witnessing as a youngster; but nobody could really give me satisfactory answers to the questions I asked.I don’t blame any of them; it happened and most people accepted it; but for me, it caused a real problem; and the big question – why should it be allowed to go on ?
In life, with most issues you often have 2 options; you either turn your back and run away to hide from the ‘problem’, or you stand up and ‘front it’ as we say in the UK.For me, from a young kid onwards, the live animal exports campaign was going to be a ‘front it’ issue – I wanted more – I wanted to be a voice for the suffering animals.So, one cold and snowy Winter day in 1988 I think it was, I was in the car listening to my local county radio station – ‘Radio Kent’; when they announced that a girl was attempting a demo at Dover port that day against the live trade in exported farm animals.For me that was it; a ‘front it’ moment for what I so detested.Despite the snow and rather bad road conditions, I headed off to Dover to take part.Her name was Trudi and we became very close friends.We still keep in contact today – what, 30 years on.
Above – Trudi with friend.
Over many years that followed, I continued to join with many other campaigners who had decided to front it for the animals.There were good times, but there were a lot of bad – we laughed when there was something good, but often we witnessed huge amounts of animal suffering – and we cried together; regularly.In the early days, I was wrongly led along the garden path in a wonderland direction that informed me that was called EU legislation for the ‘protection’ of all animals in transport – a kind of Dick Whittington situation – all roads leading to London are paved with gold as the story has it.So why ‘front it’ ? – our wonderful EU are ensuring all is ok, and the bad in the animal transport industry would be hit.Well, the more I became involved with live export work, the more I learned; and very quickly I learned that existing EU legislation on the protection of animals in transport was about as hard as a marshmallow.Some would say that knowledge can be a bad thing – but for me it really shone the light on the abuses and ignorance of EU political powers to make things better.
In South East England we campaigned and fought hard – fronting it – for the animals at Dover docks and other SE ports attempting to be used by the animal exporters over the years:The trade was stopped for a while at Dover; we had won; but then high court action by a haulier forced Dover to take the trade back.In the meantime; exporters tried anything they could to get their animals into Europe.
Dover exports – from Mark’s own collection.
Flying calves from Coventry airport in an old busted up plane was one attempt.It was here that Jill; campaigner and still hero to many; lost her life under the wheels of a calf truck she was trying to stop getting to the airport –
In the following you can see some ‘front it’footage from our campaigns to stop live exports over the years.– go to 1 min 23 / 24 seconds and 2 mins 18 / 19, 3 mins 28 /29 etc you can see ‘Seal man Robert’ – white jacket with horizontal stripes – who Mark campaigned with on Russian seals; see other articles in ‘About Us’.https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/
Campaigning against live animal exports in Southern England:
So where are today ? – 25 / 30 years on we all ask ? – the EU must have gotten better in its efforts for live animal export enforcement – right ?
Wrong; the EU has deteriorated from gutter crawling at best on this issue, to a point now where it and its reputation have gone entirely down the drain.As an Englishman, I considered the issue of the UK leaving the EU long and hard over many months.Having been a voice at SAV for the last 10 or 11 years also; and having penned some 30 export investigation reports to the EU ‘masters’over the years; knowing the continual suffering involved in this trade; I had, over time, learned a few things about the EU and its attitude to animal welfare.
And so, last June, I decided to put my vote on the paper and get out of the EU; away from the utterly useless dummies that they have the helm. Those who can very adequately ‘talk the talk’, but who do very little when reality comes along and asks for enforcement of the (EU) legislation, in the form of prosecutions against member states and / or people involved, to be taken.
The final issued which swayed my vote was the complete and utter uselessness of people such as Bernard Van Goethem at the EU.Here we have a Veterinary (I thought they helped suffering animals ! ) working at the EU in Brussels which shows the reality of the way in which Brussels really sees animal suffering and welfare issues.Have a look at a few of our links to see what Mr ‘I can do nothing’ Van Goethem has said about our live export cause over the last few years.
No, maybe first I should get you to see the excellent video made by the even better friend Lesley at ‘Eyes on Animals’ http://www.eyesonanimals.com/in the Netherlands.This video (one of many) shows the conditions and suffering endured by EU ANIMALS being exported live to Turkey; for slaughter:
“We want to know if the EU Regulations and the treaty of Lisbon are being complied with. After 5 years of sending endless complaints and inspections reports to the responsible authorities, the only conclusion to draw is that animals exported top third counties are NOT protected at all. This trade is a systematic violation of Article 13 of the Treaty of Lisbon. Behind the statistics and legislative promises there has only been suffering”.
There is an answer – to get OUT of the EU.Donald Tusk and all his merry men, the un elected Commissioners; sit like tin pot gods in their crumbling ivory tower.They have no interest or cares for the issues and the citizens of Europe; only themselves and their mighty powers at the top of the outdated institution called the ‘EU’.
The UK has decided to do the wise thing and get out – several other EU nations are looking at what happens on this before they have the guts to act and follow.By being independent, the UK will ensure that, though the endless work and campaigns of groups and citizens, that animal welfare is put higher up the tree than it already is under so called ‘EU legislation’.The UK WILL STOP all live animal exports – we can guarantee that; currently only the UK and its EU membership has stopped it (UK) from taking independent action. The UK government will listen to its citizens when it goes it alone – we will ensure that as part of the ‘front it’ campaigns; for animals, human rights, whatever !
Now we read that self glorified Donald Tusk is trying to act the hard man for the EU.
What a pity he could not act the hard man when it came to making sure the EU enforced existing EU Regulations and rules.HIS LACK OF ACTION is the very reason why nations such as the UK are now going to go it alone.
The Tusk Junker Ivory Tower called the EU has had its first brick now removed..There will be others, we can be sure of that.Lack of decent EU management has commenced the crumbling of the EU.But then what else can you expect with the Junkers, Tusks and Van Goethems doing nothing with regard to listening the the citizens of Europe ! – they are the ones to blame.
Time will tell; but by remaining in the EU and witnessing its crap legislation, which exists only on paper, but not in reality, current member states will continue to submit endless reports and evidence – only for it to be utterly ignored by the hieracrchy of the EU – the Commissioners and such like.We know this because of the evidence we have presented for the last 11 years on the situation for stray animals in Serbia.Despite presenting untold evidence to Commissioner Hahn and his staff at the ‘EU Enlargement Commission’ on non compliances of the rule of law by Serbia; we have been utterly ignored; just like Lesley and the situation in Turkey.
Above – Serbian sheep being exported – compliance with EU Regulation 1/2005 ?
Given to the EU Enlargement Commission as Evidence of Non Compliance – Result : Evidence Ignored.
Now Serbia is going through the phase of ‘Candidate Country’ to become a member of the EU.No doubt the EU will be all hugs and kisses if Serbia joins, and to hell with the enforcement of rules and regulations – they don’t enforce now; so why do it in the future ! – much the same could also be said for the EU and its paper legislation.
The reality is very different to what is documented !
Remember – brick No 1 (UK) of the EU has now been removed.There will be many more. ? Finland next ?
Like the Phoenix, will the EU rise again from its ashes ? – only when the blinkered fools at the top are replaced and the citizens of Europe, and their wishes, are actually listened to and followed up with hard, formal actions.
I voted for the UK to leave the dying tower called the EU – probably the best move I have made in a very long time.
Now we watch to see if others in Europe actually front it, or do they simply walk away – Status Quo and all that.
Mark.
EU – Listen, Act and Enforce – or Face the Consequences !
Posted on March 12, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The ARD-Wirtschaftsmagazin (economic TV show in the German channel 1) has made a study about the fur purchase.
The following results were obtained:
“76 percent of the customers who consciously opt for real fur know the media reports about animal suffering on the farms.
More than 60 percent of the genuine fur carriers surveyed bought fur from the animal on purpose. The main reasons are appearance, wearing comfort, how it feels, and value for money.
But animal protection plays hardly a part in the purchase decision “.
So we are dealing with a moral bankruptcy.
I guess the results of a survey on meat consumption would be even more tragic.
Such results bring our faith, our struggle, our morality into despair. They force us to think about our strategy.
How should we continue?
Was our strategy perhaps wrong?
Was it one-sided, or weak?
I believe we have focused our strategy far too much on changing this society from below, we have believed in a change that would come from demand.
I am firmly convinced that we should intensify political pressure and make alternative offers for consumers.
I still remember how the ban on smoking came.
Over one night it became the outlet model, the tobacco industry was under enormous pressure and money losses.
How did it happen?
I do not know, but I know for sure: the tobacco industry was just as powerful as the meat industry; no one expected such a ban.
It was a purely political pressure, and it worked.
The smoking consumption has declined, the cigarette prices have skyrocketed.
So a change with the help of the policy I can imagine also with the meat consumption.
High tax due to environmental disruption, which goes to the account of the meat production, increase of health insurance contributions for meat eaters, class action lawsuits against fast food chains, etc.
The other way would be to offer strong and realistic alternatives to the meat, with good advertising and persuasion from the media.
I must confess, the idea gave me the article in the magazine “Der Spiegel”, with the spectacular title “Most important is the smell of blood”!
In a few years, the American physician Pat Brawn wants to bring herbal meat onto the market. That’s not new.
What is new is the strong and effective campaign of persuasion that accompanies his concept: “We will only be successful if the consumer prefers our meat to the animal-made meat … We have made a firm commitment to produce the whole mince in the world this way. And we mean that completely seriously. If people eat a burger in 50 years, they will not be made of beef.
In the future, because of the enormous environmental risk from meat production, the “real” consumption of meat is taxed by the state very high until the meat consumption is forced to move on to plant meat.
A convincing alternative is already on offer. ”
Such a double strategy gives us hope for a radical change for the good of the animals.
Posted on March 12, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Are hunts spreading bovineTB?
Contact the government and ask them to suspend all hunting
SAV Comment – but badgers are paying the price – currently being killed by Defra in selected zones.
Bovine TB, the disease ravaging herds of cattle across England and Wales, has been discovered in a pack of hounds used for fox hunting. Between 25 and 40 hounds from this pack have already been put down.
However, we estimate that there are more than 3,000 hunting hounds in the bTb epidemic zone alone, which may be out in the countryside an average of two days a week during the six-month hunting season.
Hunting needs to be suspended indefinitely to ensure that the thousands of hounds used in the ‘sport’ cannot spread the disease.
If the hounds infected each other, they may have infected other packs when taken out to country shows. It is also possible that beagles or harrier packs, that may share the same fields, are also at risk of getting infected.
If other packs of hounds were invited as guests in the Kimblewick Hunt’s territory, those hounds could have been infected in the same way, and then taken the disease to their own territory when they returned home.
The ramifications of this are staggering not only for the British countryside, but those who live in it and those who enjoy it.
Please contact Defra and ask them to urgently suspend hunting to prevent further outbreak.
Posted on March 2, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
As you can see from our recent post (link below); yet again, a Conservative MP, Mr Christopher Chope, talked out a ban on the use of animals in UK circuses in Parliament last week.
We have now combined with Venus to produce a response; or you could call it ‘an appeal’ ?, to Mr Chope about the situation for all circus animals, wherever in the world they may be suffering.
This issue of UK circus animals is being discussed in UK Parliament again on 24th March. How will Mr Chope act then we have to ask ? – yet again defending animal abuse; or joining the vast majority of UK citizens who have been calling for a ban for well in excess of 11 years; as proven by the MAFF Public Consultation taken but never acted on, more than a decade ago.
We will watch with great interest the events of 24th March and the actions of Mr Chope. Naturally we will provide an update soon after.
In the meantime; here below is our simple letter to Mr Chope.
Will it make him think ? – the 24th of March will tell ! – we wait and see with interest – SAV.
Our letter to Mr. Chope – with hope for circus animals !
When a tiger and a bear are forced to ride on horseback in a circus show, these are things that only thrill a stupid audience and so-called ‘politician’ types such as Christopher Chope.
But in reality, all this performance really shows is forced animal suffering and torture, which the civilized, understanding people of this world call ‘animal cruelty’.
There are two categories of people who would advocate any circus that uses wild animals: One is the ignorant braindead who pays his entrance fee to watch suffering, the other is the politician, who benefits from it !
The fact that in nature, a tiger never lives together with a lion in the free wilderness should even provoke suspicion by the ignorant, that this abnormal coexistence is only possible under the power and control of the demon circus animal trainer.
The traces of torture on the backs of, or in the eyes of the animals, are proof of what these animals must suffer and endure constantly. Perhaps with the ignorant the suffering is overlooked; but as animal advocates,we see it, because they are visible scars on sentient beings.
These traces of torture on skin and in eyes are the real evidence of the circus life.
Circus animals are captive wild animals. They live in direct contact with humans. To control these wild animals and to show them as circus attractions, they are not given a life of sweetness and tender care, like most of the attending, hand clapping drag knuckles believe. The ‘control’ happens with abominable cruelty. Regular blows with sharp hooks and current surges make them pliable. These animal cruel rituals take place at night, when the office doctors sleep, or in dark corners of the circus tents, far from the eyes of the paying public.
Elephants are chained by the leg in a stable tent all their lives; whenever they are not used as a pathetic visual tool for drag knuckle eyes. Lions and tigers live a life imprisoned in cages surrounded by their own excrement, enduring a pitiful ‘life’ that is nothing but lonely and captive.
Their freedom ? – only when they die and the time comes for them to be released from their eternal torment and suffering; and the captivity of a travelling ‘beast wagon’.
And now once again, the politicians are in play.
Dragging out their speeches to prevent an end to the suffering, transportation and cruelty.
What do you personally get from all this, Mr.Chope?
Sure, morality and ethics are obviously not on your list of cultural achievements, but your personal dulling is not enough, as a reason, to advocate the cruel business of the wild animal circus.
Anyone who has a bit more empathy than you, would suspect, that possibly you have a personal interest in the conservation of this animal-trafficking business. An economic interest, I mean.From your web page, I quote:
“Chris is here to help, regardless of how you vote, so please feel free to get in touch”!
Absolutely ridiculous, Mr. Chope! –
The circus wildlife you have “helped” at the request of the British citizen – where are they now ?
In February 2017 your actions prevented any help for circus animals; and though your actions they continue to live in slavery and torture.
You have personally helped slavery continue to exist in the Circuses of England.
As long as circus animals are kept as slaves, are tortured, are abused with your personal consent, because you consider it ‘right’, no one will ever believe that you want to ‘help’.
And this ignorance of yours thus prevents us from having any further communication with you ‘the helper’, because we are the people with compassion, who don´t support the cruel business of the animal circus.
Prove to us you want to help as you declare, on March 24, 2017, and give your voice against the barbarism inflicted on the circus animal – show us real proof that you really want to help as your site declares.
Posted on March 1, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
… but you know what USA; you voted for him !!!
Mark,
Last night, President Trump made his first speech to the joint session of Congress — a speech in which he pledged to work with both parties to “promote clean air and clean water.”
But talk is cheap. Look at what he’s actually doing. Just hours before the speech, Trump issued a new executive order revoking President Obama’s landmark Clean Water Rule, which protects drinking water sources for 117 million Americans.
And his pledge to protect clean air?
His proposed 25% budget cut to the EPA would cripple the agency’s ability to monitor smog and other dangerous pollutants and enforce bedrock environmental laws.
What’s more, Trump affirmed his commitment to bulldoze ahead with the destructive Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines — dirty fossil fuel projects we know will jeopardize our clean air and water and drive more climate-wrecking carbon pollution.
NRDC is already fighting back on multiple fronts to defend our environment, our climate and our health. And more than ever, we need you to stand with us. Slashing critical funding for the EPA could force the agency to cut 1 in 5 of its employees and make it virtually impossible for the agency to do its job of standing up to industrial polluters, cutting climate pollution and enforcing fundamental laws that protect our air, water and health.
And it’s Trump’s new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — a climate denierwho filed 14 different lawsuits to undermine the very agency he is now leading — who’s in charge of our environmental future.
Vital EPA functions could be eliminated by Trump’s and Pruitt’s promised budget cuts, including:
Cleaning up oil spills
Monitoring and limiting climate-wrecking pollution from power plants and cars and trucks, smog and other air pollutants that threaten our health
Implementing energy efficiency programs for appliances, computers and other products
Ensuring the safety of chemicals in consumer products and pesticides in our food
Protecting our clean air and drinking water, lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands — programs which comprise some 40% of the EPA’s total budget
That’s why it’s up to people like you, me and our 2.6 million NRDC members and activists around the country and around the world to defend our planet and future generations of Americans.Support NRDC as a Monthly Partner and you become the backbone of our grassroots team. Every monthly gift you make is tax-deductible and goes directly toward helping NRDC fight the Trump administration’s anti-environment assault and defend our environment on all fronts.
Nobody voted in November for dirty water, polluted air, and climate chaos.
With your help, we’ll fight as hard as we can to protect our clean air and water, our climate and our health — in the courtroom, in Washington, and in town hall meetings, rallies and local government offices across the country. Please stand with us.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 