” The idea of dressing up as a shepherd seemed more promising to the wolf than the one with the sheepskin.”

…an idea is as good as its implementation

Regards and good night, Venus

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Guest commentary by Daniela Schneider: (She is the campaign manager for animal transports at the animal rights organization “Four paws Germany” based in Hamburg).

“Eyes wide open in panic, cattle shivering with exhaustion, huddled together and carted for days without a break in high-risk states such as Uzbekistan, Morocco, or Algeria under animal welfare law: Everyday torment of animals – even on German roads.

But instead of ending this ordeal, Agriculture Minister Germany`s Klöckner is not only inactive in this country.

It also misses the chance of the German EU Council Presidency to stop cruel animal transports across the EU.

If animal transports are dispatched from Germany to these third countries, this is almost always done in disregard of the applicable animal protection regulations.

“Four Paws”  has therefore filed 21 criminal charges against those responsible on suspicion of aiding and abetting animal cruelty.

Although almost all federal states have ensured that far fewer third-country exports are approved, transporters unscrupulously circumvent the applicable requirements.

The animals are first brought to other EU countries such as Hungary and then shipped on to third countries.

Instead of leaving the federal states alone as before, the minister should create nationwide uniform legislation that ensures that animals can no longer enter third countries. That would be an important first step and a strong signal in the direction of the EU.

Because the problem is a European one.

Only through an EU-wide ban on third-country exports and a limitation of transports to eight hours will the cruel animal transports actually end.

Together with us, 150,000 citizens are calling for this in a letter of protest to the minister.

Alternatives to the senseless death drives must become standard. If at all, only meat and breeding seeds should be transported instead of living animals.

Against the background of blatant animal welfare problems and a worsening climate crisis, the question arises why animals are “produced” on a massive scale and transported across the world like goods”.

http://archive.is/HlMhX#selection-393.0-417.391

And I mean…Around 3.8 million animals are transported every day in the EU alone. That’s 1.4 billion animals a year.
As in all branches of the economy, animal transport is all about money: animals are transported to where the highest profits await.

In the agricultural industry, work steps are separated: breeding, keeping, and fattening are concentrated where feed and wage costs are low.

For example, animals are born in Denmark, fattened in Germany, and finally slaughtered in Italy.

An EU animal welfare transport regulation EC 1/2005 applies throughout the EU.

Why animal transport laws don’t protect animals?

First and foremost because there is no time limit for animal transport. The animals are often on the move for days, sometimes even weeks, because there is no time limit for the transports.

On the other hand, because the EU regulation contains a large number of imprecise provisions that are always interpreted to the detriment of animals in practice.

Not even the few regulations that exist are observed: Serious deficiencies are found in around a third of the controlled transports.

Basically, food, litter, and drinking water are saved, because additional weight means higher transport costs.

And there is also a third reason for the meat industry and its lobbyists in Brussels to stick to live animal transports: The transport of live animals is still cheaper than transporting meat, which has to be permanently refrigerated.

And that is why the cruelty to animals on Europe’s roads never ends.
For a decisive change in the problem, one can forget about the EU.

Only civil society can change something – and it is developing into a new historical subject that even functions without a party program.

My best regards to all, Venus

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The police in Cyprus put one of the most notorious poaching gangs on the island to a halt in November.

Equipped with house search warrants, they found three people with a total of five nets and 366 dead protected songbirds – mostly warblers.
The total fine for the criminal bird catcher known for many years is € 11,660.

It was the biggest blow to organized poaching in Cyprus in years. The police action was preceded by months of research by the Committee against Bird Murder and its partner BirdLife Cyprus, which led to the submission of numerous pieces of evidence.

https://www.facebook.com/Komitee.CABS

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EU Backs Campaign Encouraging Public To Become ‘Beefatarians’

The EU has financed more than €3.5 million to help the Proud of European Beef initiative to run for three years

Acampaign encouraging the public to become a ‘beefatarian’ has been backed by the EU.

The Proud of European Beef initiative is spearheaded by corporations Provacuno and APAQ-W. It is a three-year-long campaign that aims to makes consumers ‘confident’ about their decision to eat red meat.

The campaign is set to cost €4.5 million (approximately $5.39 million) – with ads running across countries such as France, Belgium and Spain. It will receive 80 percent (€3.6 million) of its funding from the European Commission.

‘A refusal to eat meat’

“The scope of the project is not only to highlighting the benefits of the product but to make the consumer feel identified and supported in its choice regarding it,” the campaign’s site states.

“Consumer behavior may lead to a refusal to eat meat due to the multiple types of information presented nowadays.

“But even so, those consumers who choose to eat red meat should feel at ease should they wish to reaffirm their choice for this product.”

Should the EU promote red meat?

Despite the campaign, The World Health Organization classifies red meat as a Group 2A carcinogen.

This means products such as pork, beef, and lamb ‘probably cause cancer’.

Moreover, the WHO says the strongest evidence for an association with eating red meat is for colorectal cancer. However, there is also evidence of links with pancreatic and prostate cancer.

EU Backs ‘Bizzare’ Campaign Urging Public To Become ‘Beefatarians’ (plantbasednews.org)

We say:

Food thoughts.

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Award-Winning Vegan Kebab Joint To Open Fifth U.K Location In Manchester

‘To finally open during what we hope is the tail end of this pandemic fills us with optimism for the future’

Vegan kebab joint What The Pitta has announced it is opening a fifth store in the U.K.

The award-winning eatery will open its ‘biggest site yet’ in Manchester at the beginning of next year. 

‘Fills us with optimism’

Cem Yildiz is the co-founder of What The Pitta. He said the expansion feels like a ‘huge step forward’ for the company. 

According to Bdaily News, Yildiz said: “The site will be our biggest brick and mortar site yet… To finally open during what we hope is the tail end of this pandemic fills us with optimism for the future. Not just us, but hospitality as a whole.

“Manchester is my favourite city outside of London, with such an incredible food scene. We can’t wait to be a part of that. [We] hope the city welcomes us with open arms ready for their vegan kebabs.”

Award-winning vegan kebabs

Earlier this year, What The Pitta picked up the prize for Best Takeaway in London at the British Kebab Awards. 

The awards, which are held each year, were founded in 2013. Moreover, they are sponsored by Just Eat and ‘seek to celebrate kebab restaurants across the U.K’.

Yildiz told Plant Based News: “To win at the kebab awards is a huge statement for veganism…

“We were laughed at when we decided to create London’s first exclusively vegan kebab shop just over three years ago… Now, we’ve taken centre stage with our vegan spin on the British classic kebab.”

Award-Winning Vegan Kebab Joint To Open Fifth U.K Location (plantbasednews.org)

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Video shows mink pulled from cages and thrown ‘like rubbish’ into gas chambers on Dutch fur farms

23 November 2020

Mink were pulled from cages by their tails or hind legs and hurled into mobile gas chambers on fur farms in the Netherlands, video footage has revealed. The rough handling of the animals breaks EU animal-welfare regulations.

Animal rights campaigners said the video shows a behind-the-scenes view of the cruelty of the Dutch industry, which is closing next year. It also highlights the need for the UK to stop sales of real fur, they added.

The footage, secretly shot on two farms last week by Dutch group Animal Rights, shows the animals being pulled roughly from cages and thrown one after the other towards mobile gas chambers, sometimes from a great distance.

In one clip, the mink are heard screeching with alarm or pain.  

And workers are seen with their anti-coronavirus masks below their noses.

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK said: “Live mink are seen being yanked from their cage by the tail or hind leg, in clear breach of EU regulations, and tossed like trash into the mobile gas chamber one after the other in quick succession.  

The speed with which these sentient animals are thrown in together means they will almost certainly be dying in front of each other, again in breach of the rules.”

Read more at source

Independent

Video shows mink pulled from cages and thrown ‘like rubbish’ into gas chambers on Dutch fur farms | The Independent

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Germany, Stuttgart, November 30, 2020 –

After PETA published an undercover disclosure about the alpaca industry at the end of May, Tchibo, Columbia Sportswear, and the Ascena Retail Group have now announced, after talks with PETA and their international partner organizations, that they will discontinue the animal quality product.

PETA USA’s research on Mallkini, the world’s largest privately-owned Peruvian alpaca farm, revealed workers holding desperate screaming alpacas by the ears while roughly shaving the animals.
The material shows some alpacas spitting in fear.

Workers smashed the animals, some of them pregnant, onto tables and fixed them in devices that looked like the Middle Ages – pulling them so hard that their legs almost dislocated.

“We are very pleased that Tchibo has decided this year not to use alpaca wool in the future. Many alpacas are spared the agony of wool production and slaughter, ” says Frank Schmidt, Head of Corporate Affairs at PETA Germany.
“We appeal to all fashion and textile companies to follow this groundbreaking example and, for the sake of animals and the environment, to discontinue alpaca wool and to switch to vegan, sustainable fibers.”

The Ascena Retail Group will no longer use alpaca wool from the winter season of 2021.
Columbia Sportswear also announced in October after talks with PETA USA that it would no longer buy alpaca wool.

The fashion giants Uniqlo, Esprit, Tom Tailor, Valentino, and Marks & Spencer had previously decided to phase out the use of the material.

Gap Inc and the H&M Group with its eight brands have also already broken off all business relationships with Mallkini’s parent company – the Michell Group.
PETA points out that the production of alpaca wool causes extreme animal suffering and is also harmful to the environment.

In the “Higg Materials Sustainability Index”, alpaca wool is the second most harmful material for the environment, just behind the silk.

Alpaca wool is six times as harmful as polyester and more than four times as harmful as modal, viscose, rayon, lyocell, and other vegan materials.

PETA’s motto is in part: Animals are not there to be attracted to them or to be exploited in any other way. The organization works against speciesism – a worldview that classifies humans as superior to all other living beings.

https://www.peta.de/tchibo-verbannt-alpakawolle-nach-gespraechen-mit-peta-aus-dem-sortiment

And I mean…Do you remember our report on the cruel production of alpaca in Mallkini, the world’s largest privately-owned alpaca farm, near Muñani, Peru?

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/06/02/alpaca-fleece-of-the-gods-with-the-torture-of-animals/

The same video showed the horror conditions in the alpaca farms in Peru.

Perhaps we will soon no longer have to post this video, the list of companies that refrain from this product- and consequently from this cruelty to animals- is getting longer with every year.

We are very happy about it!

If the consumer can no longer find alpaca, fur, or leather in shops, then he’ll just buy something without animal suffering.
It’s that simple!

My best regards to all, Venus

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