We immediately wrote to DG Sante at the EU Commission; Animal Transport Guidelines Project and the Eurogroup for animals;
We said in our post of 20/2 – We will publish their responses if we get one.
We asked a simple question – that being
– why then if everything is so good, are we witnessing so many EU animals suffering in transport on the journey to Turkey ?
Under Regulation 1/2005, the EU regulation allegedly ‘protecting’ animals during transport; all livestock drives have to pass a competence test and be ‘certified’ to ensure the ‘welfare’ of animals they transport in their vehicles. Seems they have gone off track when it comes to care for EU animals being transported to Turkey, as the video shows. So then the EU should be prosecuting those who do not comply – yes ? – not making new cartoons about drivers taking care !
So we have given our requests a few weeks; and true to form, nobody has bothered to come back to us and express their reasons and support for the new video put out by the Animal Transport Guides Project.
And so now we are waiting on our UK MEP’s to see if they can obtain any response from the authorities as to why around 70% of livestock vehicles inspected at the Bulgarian / Turkish border were seen to be non compliant with the Regulation 1/2005 which the EU thinks will ‘protect’ animals during transport.
So, why has nobody responded to us ? – maybe they are finding it really difficult to answer the question of a 70% failure rate when their EU certified drivers should know all the rules and be fully compliant with Reg 1/2005. Remember, as part of 1/2005, all livestock drivers are supposed to be fully certified so that they know the law about transporting live animals.
This lack of responses by ALL parties just goes to show that as we have said before, the EU wants it all to look good on paper and in videos, like this new one intended for ‘competent drivers’ who should already know the law. The sad fact for the animals involved is that all the time, the EU and its associates such as the ATGP and the Eurogroup, simply turn in the other direction when pushed hard with real questions relating to real experiences and encounters at borders. Such is the real reality of EU live animal transport.
All the time the EU turns its head away from the reality and fails to prosecute hard for offences; the sad reality is that things will not change, no matter how the EU wishes to ‘dress it all up’ to look good with new videos and guidelines.
As always, the EU has, does, and will continue to fail live animals in transport.
And with no responses from anyone; is it any wonder that people say the animal Mafia is at work within the EU to ensure the trade continues despite the irregularities and non compliances with the regulations.
Posted on March 3, 2018 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
I always enjoy watching the excellent videos from AAU; yes they always start off badly showing animals suffering so much; but you know you are always going to get a wonderful finish (and really happy animals) thanks to the teamwork and dedication of the superb crew at AAU India.
Here are a few more videos of their amazing work. Please give anything you can to help support their work – Thanks – Mark – SAV.
Dog starving from broken jaw makes an incredible recovery!
She would never have eaten again without surgery after a vehicle hit her and broke several of her teeth and fractured her lower jaw. Locals from the village saw her laying in the same place for more than a day and realised something was wrong. Our rescuers found her curled up in a ball, disoriented and unable to stand. She probably hadn’t eaten or had water in many days. We brought the sad little girl back to Animal Aid where we treated her for dehydration and pain. We then placed a wire in her jaw to heal the fracture. And so began the new adventure of Dory’s life to come. Watch the transformation of a dying dog into a playful angel.
Watch Olivia’s amazing transformation! This sweetheart was suffering from a painful and life-threatening condition and needed urgent help. Her head was massively swollen and pus and blood drained from her eye almost continuously. A cytology revealed it to be malignant cancer-a transmissible venereal tumour in the mucous membranes surrounding her eye that was so extensive it had begun to damage her skull as well. Luckily this kind of tumour can be cured with chemotherapy treatment and we immediately began a six-week course. She was quite the fighter and responded amazingly to her treatment. Meet beautiful Olivia today–our street dog cancer survivor.
Although Jupiter, a street dog, was hiding underneath the stairs of a house of strangers, his trusting response to his rescuers made us wonder if on some level he was just waiting for help. His sorrowful eyes told us everything we needed to know about his pain. We hurried him back to the hospital and onto the treatment table where we discovered that the wound on his neck–probably a dog bite infested with maggots–was actually even bigger than we had suspected. Debriding the wound, flushing, removing maggots and wrapping it snuggly with padded bandages would be the first of many days of treatment. But Jupiter seemed to know he was on the path of healing from the first touch by the rescue team. Meet Jupiter after six weeks of wound care. He’s definitely a new boy–and an angel through and through.
Protest was held in Vranje, Serbia , against unlawful tender, given to notorious Avenija MB, dogcatchers , tender worth more than 37.000 euros , to „ACCOMMODATE“ dogs, read KILL THEM.
Many local Serbian Animal Welfare Org supported this Protest, together with many from the region and the world. It was organised by Borba za zivot Vranje(Fight for Life Vranje) and Koalicija za zivot Belgrade. (Coalition for Life). We would like to thank all for their support. This is just the beginning. We don’t expect fast changes, because this is just the part of horrible corruption which rules. But, we won’t give up.
The message of this Protest was- Avenija MB go away from our backyard. We will do everything we can, for these concentration camp in Novo Selo, to be closed for ever.
Posted on February 26, 2018 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
As you can read in ‘About Us’ – https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/ we do volunteering for the Forestry Commission England. All our work is for a huge woodland park named ‘Jeskyns’ which is about 1 mile from home.
At Jeskyns there is a ‘Fairy’ woodland area which is aimed at very young children. The ‘fairy’ theme is used to try and encourage them into thinking that fairies live in the park and they should try to follow what the fairies do by looking after trees; wildlife and good things in general.
Lots of fairy homes have been made and are located in the fairy garden area for the children to find. ‘Mushroom Manor’ is a favourite.
As you can see, many of the children leave little presents – sweets, toys, and even a few coins; plus many notes and letters for the fairies.
Over the past few weeks we have been constructing some Hedgehog Houses with the hope that we can encourage more hedgehogs into the area and hopefully get them to breed in the Spring. The houses are strong and secure and allow the hedgehogs to take in leaves and bracken etc so that they can ‘fit out’ their secure homes to their liking.
One hedgehog house has been located in the Fairy Garden area with the hope that it will encourage the children visitors to follow the fairies advice and find out more about helping the hedgehogs. As you can see from the photo; a few labels have been added – ‘Hedgehogs need homes too’ – with the hope that the children will learn more about helping our native hedgehogs.
As we say, the park does a lot to encourage dog visits; supported by links to dog welfare organisations. In addition, as you would expect from the Forestry Commission of England; woodland habitat protection and preserving the wildlife which lives in it is paramount. This also includes keeping the many lakes on the site clean and free from invading weed growth. You can see some weed clearing photos on the above link.
There is regular pruning of the fruit trees to make sure we get as many apples as possible for sale and give away at the Jeskyns café. The Jeskyns orchards have an amazing 756 different varieties of apple trees ! – and with our bee hotels (also on site) we encourage new pollinator bees to breed on site and then go forth and pollinate all the fruit trees.
We try to work with nature to help nature – and the positive results are beneficial to both humans and wildlife.
Here are a few links to past post relating to Jeskyns:
Kent is the nearest county to Europe. During the second world war it was one of the major areas that was attacked by German bombers – and those heading to bomb London. Kent was the main county over which the Battle of Britain was fought. Because of this, and the fact that Kent has the ‘English Channel’ (one of the busiest sea lanes in the World) to the East and South, many aircrew were lost during the war on an area known as the ‘Goodwin Sands’ which lies a few miles off the coast. It has also been the location of many shipwrecks over the centuries which has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives.
Thus, we are supporting a campaign to stop the Goodwin Sands from being dredged for its aggregate.
The Goodwin Sands are a string of sandbanks some 25 square nautical miles in size lying 3 miles off the Kent coast in the English Channel. They are a unique marine environment with an underwater cultural heritage to match.
But this precious habitat is under threat and time is not on our side!
Dover Harbour Board want to extract 2.75 million cubic meters of marine aggregate from the Goodwins (as they are known locally) because it is their cheapest option. The purchase price from the Crown Estate who own the seabed is less than from commercial sites, but they are further away. DHB cite the carbon footprint as a reason to take the aggregate from the Goodwins but in reality this is a smoke screen which can be mitigated in other ways.
DHB applied for their licence from the Marine Management Organisation in 2016. However, concerns about their proposal have been so great that we are now preparing for an unprecedented third six-week public consultation period, which will start sometime in late summer. A decision whether or not to grant the licence will be made any time after this, depending on the reactions received.
Save our Military Remains and Shipwrecks
A Spitfire flies off the Kent Coast
According to the Kent Battle of Britain Museum, there are at least 60 military air crash sites and the final resting places of 80 aircrew from 1940 alone lying buried in the Goodwin Sands area. There are 11 more Dornier 17 German bombers also lying buried somewhere on the Goodwins, identical to the one which was found by a local diver in 2008 and recovered with international press coverage in 2013.
The Goodwin Sands are known hold about 2,000 shipwrecks, many which were lost with all hands. These wrecks have the reputation for being extremely well preserved. The wreck of the Admiral Gardner lies close to the proposed dredging zone. She was an East Indiaman, built in 1797, which was stranded on the sands during a gale in 1809. Although there is a 300m exclusion zone around her, the impact and vibration caused by nearby dredging could still disturb or damage her.
Four other ships – also Protected Wrecks Sites – Northumberland, Restoration, Mary and Stirling Castle were all wrecked on the night of the Great Storm, 19th November 1703, with the loss of 1201 lives. They lie on the seabed adjacent to the proposed dredging zone.
Save our Sealife
The Goodwins are home to a colony of 500 grey and harbour seals. They are also the spawning and nursery grounds of a variety of local fish and shellfish, with many shipwrecks providing a semi natural habitat. The Thornback Ray which is listed as ‘near threatened’ under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 has frequently been sighted there.
The colony of seals use areas adjacent to the proposed dredging zone as their ‘haul out’ sites i.e. where they rest on land at low tide. The noise and vibration from the huge dredgers will disturb them in their natural habitat; there is also the possibility of them being injured by collision with the dredgers and propellors as they are naturally inquisitive creatures.
The sands provide shelter to ships in bad weather (in an anchorage known as The Downs) and to the Kent coastline by absorbing the waves’ energy as they pound in from the North Sea. At low tide a large proportion of the sands are exposed and waves can be seen crashing onto them from the shore.
For the airmen and mariners who are at rest on the Goodwin sands, please help save the Goodwin Sands and their neighbouring environment from the destruction of dredging by signing and sharing this petition today.
Posted on February 25, 2018 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
In the USA there would be attempts under ‘Ag Gag’ to punish those who obtain such evidence really hard. Fortunately the German judicial system knows that the video footage obtained is for the good of the public, and should not be allowed to continue behind closed doors, as the industry wish.
22.02.2018 Naumburg, Germany: In the fully occupied courtroom of the Higher Regional Court Naumburg and in front of the doors, the verdict was greeted by animal welfare supporters with applause storms.
Earlier, the presiding judge of the 2nd Criminal Senate Gerd Henss had pointed out clearly that only the illegal filming had made public what conditions prevailed in the pig farm of the “van Gennip Tierzuchtanlagen” in the north of Saxony-Anhalt.
And: The animal rights activists had exposed a scandal and received as a receipt criminal proceedings. The animal welfare is in the present case to be valued higher than that of the house, which is why the lower court, the three animal rights activists of Animal Rights Watch acquitted legally, said court spokesman Henning Haberland.
“The Senate has considered the accused acts justified and stated in very clear terms that animal welfare is a legal matter superior to the injured home.”
Only because of trespassing revealed the grievances
The three animal rights activists – two men and one woman – had made it clear again in short statements that they only wanted to draw attention to the animal rights violations. Relieved, the Hamburg Jürgen Foss showed that he says he has been involved in animal welfare for 25 years.
“We were – I think I can speak for the three of us – very surprised, with which clarity the judge finally expressed our approach, which confirms that we are all on the right path, that is, bit by bit something moves, in the sense of the animals. ”
In 2013, Jürgen Foß and two other animal rights activists illegally invaded a pig farm with around 60,000 animals in Sandbeiendorf in northern Saxony-Anhalt and filmed grievances. In the pictures of the video you can see porked and fixed pigs. Apathetic, they lie in much too small metal bays in which the animals hardly move, not even their limbs can reach out. There’s no straw, instead the pigs live on bare concrete floors in filthy stables from GDR times.
Many of the over-bred piglets can not even stand, the legs slip over and over again.
We should all be happy, Judge Gerd Henss said literally, that the defendants had uncovered the grievances. Without the filming, Henss continued, it would never come to an investigation. It was the only way to force the authorities to act. Henss even speaks in this case of the fact that the veterinary authorities had covered up the grievances for a long time. However, it warns that the acquittal is not a license for – Quote – “self-proclaimed animal rights activists who break into stables illegally”.
“It requires certain knowledge that there are grievances there” ,so Hennig Haberland, the spokesman of the Naumburg Higher Regional Court.
So, only if animal rights activists had advance precise indications that would be violated against the animal welfare, only then one may penetrate into stables illegally and document the situation cinematically.
The acquittal of the animal rights activists is the first judgment, which was ever so pleased by a higher regional court in Germany, continued Haberland. Attorney-at-law Maria Ascheberg, on the other hand, accepted the verdict with a petrified expression, she had demanded a new trial.
The farmers are worried and dissatisfied with the verdict: “Now everyone could come in, break in and say they just want to work for animal welfare”, says a pet owner.
”The animal activists wanted to unsettle our industry. The verdict is a farce” says the spokesman for the farmers’ Saxony-Anhalt Farmers Association Christian Apprecht.
“So the rule of law turns out to be an indictment that it trusts its authorities so little and leaves so little responsibility, that he has to rely on third parties, that he does his job, that can not be.
Responsible for the pig farm in Sandbeiendorf in the Altmark, is the native of Utrecht family van Gennip, it is one of the largest pig farmers in Germany. She had sued the three animal rights activists for trespassing.
The prosecution had demanded fines between 300 and 800 euros.
But after the film shootings of the animal rights activists, the authorities were forced to act.
According to the Magdeburg Ministry of Agriculture, there have been several inspections since 2013 and conditions have been imposed.
For Saxony-Anhalt’s Agriculture Minister Claudia Dalbert of the Greens, the judgment of the Naumburg Higher Regional Court is groundbreaking.
The federal government is now called upon to ensure that!
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 