Posted on December 5, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
8/12 is the anniversary of the death of my beloved ‘Golda’.
Despite her loss for several years now it is not really any easier; I came to the conclusion many years ago that no matter how hard you try to improve things, money is the most evil thing on the planet; or maybe the second worst, after all the human shit we have that get a kick out of animal and human abuse for the gain of making a few pennies more.
Today, Tuesday 5/12, there has been a major meeting in Africa regarding the huge amount of plastic that is being dumped into the sea – and killing marine life as a result. The equivalent of one loaded garbage truck of plastic dumped into the sea EVERY SINGLE MINUTE so they are saying on the BBC.
Man alone is doing a fine and productive job of fucking up the whole planet – be it Trump and his anti environment protecting policies; the Chinese and there continual abuse of both animals and the planet – they (as a nation) dump around 25% of all plastics into the oceans according to info I have this week; the Bear Bile issues which the wonderful Jill is working so hard to stop; the killing of donkeys with sledgehammers etc – it just goes on.
We have a wonderful one off planet – so why do some dickheads just want to trash it all ?
The fight goes on but very often it can be very depressing with all the bad news and negativity which arrives at the ‘Inbox’ every single day.
Many world leaders are in a position to make a real change to animal welfare and environment. Many of them don’t really give a toss – their personal positions are far more important than saving the planet. ‘Tin Gods’ I think they call them. Boy the EU alone is full of them; we have seen this for so long; they have names like Junker and Tusk and Van Goethem; persons who ignore the evidence presented to them but who also dance to the blinkered tune of financial gain.
They make me want to puke – all over their so very well cut suits !
I am gonna get down off my soapbox now – and as I say, the fight goes on for better or worse.
There is a wonderful North American Cree Indian Prophecy that reads:
Only when the last tree has been cut down, Only when the last river has been poisoned, Only when the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
I guess you could update that now to include people that pull out of Paris climate agreements, the dumping of plastic in the oceans, the use of ‘clean’ coal; etc.
‘Money cannot be eaten’ – oh if the worlds pig shit thick politicians were to even get a partial grip of this, then we and the animals may be in a much better place.
Posted on December 5, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
We’ve just received an urgent call about six moon bears in desperate need of rescue from a bear bile farm in Vietnam.
We don’t have any pictures of the poor bears, but when we went to the farm in 2011 on another rescue mission, the scenes we were met with would have broken your heart…
Bears missing limbs, and with deep wounds, pacing manically backwards and forwards in their tiny cages. Or else lying on the bars of their cages, broken and defeated after years of confinement and abuse.
We have to get these six desperate moon bears out of this place.
We know precious little about bears, they don’t even have names. All we know is that they are three girls, and three boys. And that right now, they have nobody.
They’ve been suffering for many years in this hellhole. Repeatedly stabbed with a four-inch needle to harvest their gallbladder bile. And that the farmer has agreed to hand them over, they could be in very poor condition, or suffering with serious disease.
Jill Robinson MBE, Dr med vet hc, Hon LLD
Founder and CEO
PS These six abused bears deserve so much better! A gift from you today could help send emergency rescue teams to the sides of these suffering bears. Please send help.
PPS ‘Like’ our Facebook page.for updates about these desperate moon bears. With your help we will do everything we can to bring them home. Thank you in advance.
Any funds raised beyond the cost of the rescue, quarantine and vet care will be used to care for all the bears living in our sanctuaries.
Posted on December 3, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
SAV Comment
This gets to me more than a lot of other things.
In the next few weeks there is going to be yet another meeting of all the EU nations; apart from the UK, who will decide whether they accept anything the UK has offered them so far with regard it (UK) leaving the EU.
Croatia, Romania and Lithuania – nations that cannot even keep control of their own animal export industry, let alone dictate to the EU how bloody important they think they are when it comes to Brexit – or the UK leaving the EU.
How typical EU – they have only one concern and nothing else; and that is the financial state of themselves. Romania and Croatia screw the EU for everything they can get out of them for their own benefit, whilst contributing and doing very little in accordance with the so called EU regulations. Britain, Sweden, etc, try to adhere to all the rules, whilst these cowboy nations are in it simply to get out of it what they can for themselves. As many have said before – why is the EU demanding so much money from the UK in a divorce settlement ? – probably because the EU knows these kind of nations do NOT adhere to EU rules and the EU is going to find it very difficult to get increased payments from them once the UK does the wisest thing and closes the door on the EU.
If Romania, Lithuania and Croatia are so good at ‘EU’ – then why are we not seeing them enforce EU Regulation 1/2005 on the welfare of animal during transport ?
No, the EU talks the talk; but the reality is over paid MEPs, Commissioners and the rest actually do very little for the benefit of anyone apart from themselves.
We have been saying this too the dimwits at the EU for dozens of years. Junker (photo above) is trying to claim as much money for the EU as he can as a result of Brexit; saying we have to meet obligations etc, and yet at the same time he and all the others around him at the EU are doing nothing to address this problem.
We look forward to the UK leaving the EU. Nobody there is worth a light; from the MEP’s right up to the Commissioners. They simply talk the EU talk; which in reality means absolutely nothing.
—————————
“We might deem that the transports shown in the footage are all in breach of the [EU] Regulation EC No 1/2005 [on the protection of animals in transport].
“Moreover, we could also state that, according to the ruling of the European court of justice and to the interpretation of the regulation EC No 1/2005, the competent authorities of the member states of departure shouldn’t even have authorised these transports as they couldn’t ensure that provisions would be met,”
Revealed: exported EU animals subject to abuse and illegal conditions
Undercover videos show EU cattle and sheep being beaten, given electric shocks, and inhumanely slaughtered at destinations in Turkey and Middle East
Animalsexported live from EU countries are routinely being subjected to abuse, illegal transportation conditions and inhumane slaughter, an investigation has found.
Dozens of undercover videos and photographs obtained by the Guardian show live cattle and sheep from EU countries being beaten, shocked with electric prods, held for days in overcrowded pens and covered head to toe in faeces as they are transported from Europe to their final destinations in Turkey and the Middle East in conditions that breach European law.
At their destination, at least some of the animals are slaughtered in appalling conditions. The footage shows cattle and sheep from France, Romania and Lithuania kicking and flailing violently as their throats are crudely cut or sawed at repeatedly, often in crowded street markets and run-down abattoirs.
The footage was collected over eight months by campaigners from the Australian animal rights charity Animals International, who worked undercover in Croatia and six Middle Eastern countries to follow animals from their departure at European ports through to destination.
The evidence they collected shows clear breaches of a number of European laws in almost every country the campaigners visited. European legislation maintains that export livestock must receive certain standards of care throughout the entire journey, including any stages that occur entirely in third countries. The standards dictate that animal handlers must carry out their task without violence or any method likely to cause unnecessary fear, injury or suffering; that transport and loading equipment must be designed, maintained and operated so as to avoid injury and suffering, and that transport is carried out without delay and at the minimum possible length.
The Guardian asked Conte & Giacomini, an Italian law firm specialising in animal rights and shipping and transport law, to review the evidence. They responded: “We might deem that the transports shown in the footage are all in breach of the [EU] Regulation EC No 1/2005 [on the protection of animals in transport].
“Moreover, we could also state that, according to the ruling of the European court of justice and to the interpretation of the regulation EC No 1/2005, the competent authorities of the member states of departure shouldn’t even have authorised these transports as they couldn’t ensure that provisions would be met,” they said.
In an EU port in Croatia, the video shows animals from at least five European countries, including Germany, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovenia, waiting to be loaded on to a vessel headed to Beirut. Cattle and sheep are seen being kicked, beaten and shocked with electric prods to the anus while being loaded on to the ship. A sheep is shown being picked up by an animal handler and thrown on to the boat; cows slide backwards on to each other while trying to climb steep loading ramps.
At a port in Turkey, footage shows cattle being unloaded from a vessel that has arrived from Ireland after a voyage of almost two weeks. Their hair is thick with faeces from the journey as they are crammed on to a small and open-topped truck to be transported along the next leg of the journey. In Palestine, Romanian cattle travelling unharnessed in the back of an overcrowded truck are shown being thrown violently against the railings, causing clear distress to the animals.
While European legislation covers EU export livestock up until they are unloaded at their final destination, it does not apply to the final stages of the animal’s life. The footage shows repeated instances in multiple countries of animals being brutally slaughtered. In a street market in Jordan, a Romanian sheep spasms violently across the blood-soaked pavement after its throat is cut. In an abattoir in Turkey, French cattle hang by one leg from the ceiling, kicking and twisting violently as their throats are repeatedly cut at.
Exports of livestock from the EU to the Middle East have grown rapidly in the past two years, with exports of cattle doubling since 2014 to 650,000 last year, while sheep exports rose by a quarter to 2.5 million, mostly to Libya, Lebanon and Jordan.
The increase in exports coincided with a landmark legal case at the European court of justice in 2015, in which the judge ruled that any transport provider carrying livestock from the EU to third countries must take steps to prove that they have complied with EU legislation throughout all stages of the journey.
Transport providers are required to submit a log detailing their journey to the national authorities in the country of departure.
It is these national authorities who are responsible for enforcing European regulations.
However, EU officials, member states and animal rights groups have repeatedly claimed that enforcement is poor across much of the continent. In November 2016, a paper presented by several member states to the European agriculture council called on the European commission to address the problem. It stated: “The continuing shortcomings in enforcement [of animal welfare in export laws] is simply not acceptable. Since the entry in to force of Regulation 1/2005 [on the protection of animals during transport], there have been numerous examples of infringements and lack of enforcement. Both member states and commission have to intensify their efforts to put an end to transports that are in obvious breach of the regulation”.
Animal rights groups including the Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF) and Tierschutzbund Zürich believe that financial motives drive many export and transport enterprises to breach European animal protection regulations, as it reduces costs and administrative charges. As a result, enterprises are encouraged to operate in member states with poorer enforcement of EU law.
This view appears to be supported by the European commission’s own Animal Welfare Strategy 2012-2015, in which the commission notes that “a diverging interpretation of [protection of animals in transport] rules may result in market distortions which, combined with reduced profit margins and different administrative costs, could put a transport business operator in a difficult situation. Furthermore, a lack of vigour in enforcement may put compliant transporters at disadvantage”.
After watching the footage, MEPs from Germany, France, Lithuania and Finland said they are calling on the European commission for stronger enforcement of existing laws and an extension of legislation to cover the slaughter of European-bred animals in third countries.
Sirpa Pietikäinen, a Finnish MEP and president of the European parliament’s Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, said: “These shocking revelations should be the final frontier for the European commission to take this seriously. We need EU strategy on this issue. Better law enforcement, agreement with supervision on slaughtering practices, with the goal of ending the transportation of living animals for slaughter to third countries.”
The MEPs join a growing movement that is calling for reform of Europe’s animal transport regulations. The Eurogroup for Animals, the EU umbrella group for animal advocacy organisations, has collected more than 700,000 signatures urging the EU to put an end to long distance transport of live animals.
“Europe is to all effects exporting massive animal cruelty, which is largely invisible for EU citizens”, says Reineke Hameleers, Eurogroup’s director. “It is crystal clear that the transport regulation is not fit for purpose and that we should move towards a food system where animals are reared and slaughtered as close as possible to the place where they are born. This is not only paramount for animal welfare but also essential for food security, the environment and to protect public health.”
A European commission spokesman told the Guardian “The level of enforcement of existing EU legislation on animal welfare during transport has improved over the last years and has been considered one of the key priorities of the directorate general for health and food safety. Although the responsibility for the enforcement lies primarily with the member states, the commission has made considerable efforts to improve the enforcement and provides active assistance to member states.”
The spokesman said: “The EU has limited power to enforce the union legislation on animal transport within the territory of non-EU countries. The commission will continue supporting training activities on animal welfare during transport and at slaughter, including for non-EU countries.”
The European commission has failed to respond to pressure on the protection of animals in transport before.
In early 2016, animal rights groups Tierschutzbund Zürich, the AWF and Eyes on Animals presented the commission with a 1,000 page report detailing hundreds of cases of illegal treatment of animals being transported over land between Europe and Turkey in the hot summer months. The NGOs claim the commission ignored all their requests, including an appeal for transport of live animals to Turkey in the hottest summer months to be halted.
Lots of video links in the following showing how the people of the UK have campaigned to stop the live animal trade for so many years.
If we were not walking from the EU, we would still have to enforce their crap rules on animal transport; whilst at the same time it appears that Romania, Lithuania and Croatia do exactly what they want to do, despite being members of the EU club !
Such is the hatred of the British public in witnessing animals being abused in circuses. What a pity the UK government does not have the same views as its citizens, and ban animals in circuses for good.
Here below is a message from Nicola at CAPS – note you can still make donations and make the total even better !
——————————-
You are amazing!
Together, we reached our target in less than 24 hours – but the animals still need you…
Hello Mark.
Since I wrote to you last, I am so pleased to announce that CAPS have reached our target for The Big Give matched funding campaign in less than 24 hours!
Thanks to the incredible support of animal lovers like you, we have raised an amazing £4965 to help animals exploited in Christmas events.
I am sure that you will be just as excited as I am by this fantastic news! Thank you SO much to everyone who has given so far – this is the quickest we have ever reached our target through The Big Give. I am totally awed by your compassion, dedication and generosity – it is an encouraging reminder that we are not alone in the fight for animals’ freedom.
If you haven’t had a chance to give yet, don’t worry – you can still make a difference!
Your gift won’t be doubled but every penny you give will still make a big difference for animals. There is so much more suffering to tackle, so many more hearts and minds to change until we can see a world where animals are free.
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,
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 