A terrible darkness has fallen upon us, but we must not surrender to it. We shall lift lamps of courage and find our way through to the morning. - Anonymous member of the French Resistance, 1943

In this issue:

- Ariel washes bloodily!

- Murder for a coat
- To die for the animals
- Loudly against fur!
- Varans are coming home
- News and announcements

Ariel washes bloodily!

Plausibly exactly like the anonymous member of the French Resistance felt, so do the 38,000 animals in Europe and millions around the world who are each year exposed to intensive suffering in discussable experiments. Procter & Gamble, with more than 250 brands, is responsible for torture and death of thousands of animals per year on which it tests cosmetics, cleansers and pet food.

So as to 'lift our lamps' and shed light upon their suffering and what these animals are going through, on 20 January 2005 Animal Friends Croatia held a small 'exhibition' of P&G products in Zagreb, thus calling the citizens of Zagreb to boycott the products of this multinational company, which recently 'devoured' Gillette, as well as products of other companies that experiment on animals.

Passers-by looked at 'bloody' P&G products with great interest and wonder (the list of these products as well as b/w list of companies can be seen on Animal Friends Croatia's web site), but they also got the information about what anonymous animals in laboratories around the world had to endure before these products ended up on the shelves of our shops.

In order to prevent P&G from accumulating its wealth, which exceeds skyrocketing 44 millions Euros per year, over the carcasses of poisoned animals, we urge you to stop buying P&G products, but also the products of the companies that test their products on animals. Become involved in a worldwide boycott of these companies and reach for the products of the companies which 'do not wash bloodily'.

For more information on notorious tests such as LD50, Draize test and skin irritancy test look at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr and www.buav.org.

Murder for a coat

Wishing to point out the fact that each year tens of millions of animals are killed because of their fur, on 27 January Animal Friends 'lifted a lamp of their resistance' to this bloody industry by holding an impressive performance against fur in Zagreb.

Fashion industry was portrayed by a picturesque process of making a fur coat: animals crammed in cages which were, for this occasion, also chained; skinned while still being half-conscious; their bodies being thrown on the heap of naked corpses and, at the same time, their fur treated with chemicals ending up as a show piece of one's vanity and status.

How this looks in reality, you can see in the latest video recently shot in China www.furisdead.com/feat/ChineseFurFarms.

If this video clip shocked you, raise your voice against fur industry! Persuade your kith and kin - and strangers too - to stop wearing fur. Get more information at our web site on the process of making fur. There you can also find out why Animal Friends Croatia asks for the legal ban of breeding animals for fur, fur production and fur trade in Croatia and why some European countries like Austria and Great Britain already did that!

To die for the animals

How far is each and every one of us ready to go in our fight for animals? Nobody asks from us, of course, to sacrifice our lives because that way we won't be able to help animals much, will we? But what if it happens like it happened to Mike Hill, Tom Worby, Vicki Moore, Barry Horne, and Jill Phipps?

None of these animal rights activists wanted to end his or her fight for those who in this world dominated by man have no rights at all like this. Especially this was not the case with 31-year-old Jill Phipps, dedicated activist, wonderful person and mother of a girl who was on 1 February 1995 killed under the wheels of a truck when she tried, flailing her arms, to prevent it from taking veal calves into certain death from an airport in Coventry (Baginton). The truck driver didn't share her opinion, so he took to death not only the veal calves but also Jill Phipps.

On 5 February, AFC's activists held a memorial for Jill Phipps: With an info stand and a dignified march we marked the 10th anniversary of Jill's death, wearing purple ribbons – a symbol of animal rights movement activists – and attracting attention of the public to a strange face to them, but the face that is definitely making history of the animal rights movement.

Jill Phipps is dead, as are the veal calves that on that day went to their deaths, as are millions of pigs, veal calves, sheep, poultry, horses and other farm animals that are each year, regardless of the extreme weather conditions, being transported with no ventilation, no food, no water and no rest in trucks, trains, ships to the slaughterhouses often several days and thousands miles away. But the memory of them is what remains with us, together with the fight for abolition of this road to hell...

More information about Jill Phipps and other activists who died fighting for animals and whose deaths should be encouragement for the rest of us and about the cruel transport of live animals please find at www.jillsday2005.co.uk and www.animals-angels.de.

Please, do not support the cruel live animals transport. Kick your meat habits and go vegetarian. This is how you can help animals already today. Also, that is the way you can show respect to the activists who were ready to pay the biggest price so they could help those who are not able to help themselves.

Loudly against fur!

After many actions, performances, lectures and info stands, this year AFC did the first anti-fur protest in Croatia in order to reveal the suffering and horrors hidden behind raising animals for fur! Protest was held on Saturday, 12 February, and the roaring protest march armed with drums, whistles, horns, banners in Croatian, German and Dutch, and vociferous activists marched for an hour and a half through the center of Zagreb.

Our guests from Austria, Germany and Holland, together with our activists and fellow townsmen, took part in the first anti-fur demo in Croatia. Let's see how Martin Balluch from Austrian organization Verein Gegen Tierfabriken (www.vgt.at) described his impressions:

The VGT took part in one of the most impressing demonstrations with 150 participants through the city of the capitol of Croatia. 150 animal rights activists collected in the center of Zagreb, to demonstrate against fur, for the first time in the history of this country with such force.

We were after our arrival in Zagreb surprised by the great number of participants that had showed up for that demo: 150! Although Zagreb isn’t much bigger than Salzburg or Innsbruck, we wouldn’t be able to motivate that many people for such a demo. Additionally there were two TV teams and some paper-press.

We from Austria were especially impressed by the positive acceptance of the message of that demo-march by the public. The masses mainly seemed to be on the side of the fur-opponents. And there were far less fur-wearers than in Vienna or Salzburg.

In the end we can only say thank you VGT, thank you PETA Deutschland and thanks Holland for your support! Especially we would like to thank all our members who responded in such a great number to our call, recognizing the importance of participating in this demo. Hopefully, our next protest march will be even bigger, because citizens of Croatia realize more and more that fur is a mentality of the stone age and that there is no place for such mentality in the 21st century!

Varans are coming home!

For the first time in history of Croatia (and Indonesia, too), on 15 February 2005 some of the smuggled animals started their way back home. The word is, namely, about Emerald Varans, exceptionally rare and endangered lizards which live in a small part of Indonesia. Those varans were on 28 November 2004 smuggled by the citizen of Zagreb from Jakarta through Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam with the Zagreb airport Pleso as the final destination for the purposes of selling and breeding.

Of the 50 lizards that arrived to Croatia, 43 remained alive. After the rehabilitation and care they received in AWAP (Association for Wild Animals Protection) rescue center and after they had finished their quarantine period, in the coordinated action of the Department for biological diversity at Croatian Ministry of culture, CITES Croatia, CITES Indonesia, Stichting AAP rescue centre from Holland, Indonesian Animal Rescue Center Network, Gibbon Foundation, ProAnimalia and Animal Friends Croatia the varans set on their trip home under the caring eye of Femke den Haas. Indonesian Animal Rescue Center Network (www.jaringanpps.org) will take care of them upon their arrival.

This successful international action is a strong signal that exotic animals trade, which includes about 350 millions live animals and which worth is over 20 billion USD, won't go so easily unnoticed and unpunished anymore. Therefore, Animal Friends Croatia invites everyone to decide not to buy and keep those animals. So as to put an end to this trade as soon as possible it is also necessary to implement legal acts, as well as educate customs officers and others who professionally deal with this issue, and introduce inspectors' control at critical places of entry and exit of the country, which would make smuggling of animals less possible.

News and announcements

- On 28 January 2005 in Vjekoslav Majer Guild in Zagreb promotion of the book Look For Me Under the Rainbow by Bernard Jan was held together with the presentation of AFC organization.

- Animal Friends Croatia finished their action of raising money for animal victims of tsunami. Donation of 560 USD was wire transferred to the French animal rights organization One Voice (www.onevoice-ear.org) which is helping their rescue teams in India, in the Andaman Islands, in Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

- Beside One Voice, Wetnose Animal Aid (www.wetnose-campaign.com) will also continue to raise money for the rest of the year for Animals Asia, Soi Dog Foundation in Phuket, Blue Cross in India and Wildlife SOS In India.

- The US government is again ready to see American wild horses killed and eaten as was the case 35 years ago! Thousands of wild horses will be taken from holding facilities or the range and sent directly to auction, where they are likely to be bought for slaughter for human consumption in Europe and Asia. While more information about the destiny of wild horses you can find at The American Horse Defense Fund's web site www.ahdf.org we ask you once again to reconsider vegetarian diet and thus directly contribute to reducing the suffering of those with whom we share this planet. A gallery of horse slaughterhouses you can see at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr.

- Some are destroying horses and others cannot give up on their practice of poisoning cats. On 27 January we got an e-mail about the cat poisoning in Ivanja Reka. Two cats poisoned with rat poison died in horrible pain bleeding from all orifices of the body. We demand from those who have the power to throw the book at such evil deeds.

- In February there was a lot of publicity in Croatian media about the vegetarian pets. While this is not something new in most countries, it is rather a new issue in Croatia. With ever growing offer of complete menus of vegetarian pet food, we hope to see these products in Croatia soon as well.

- In Croatia recently a storm was raised over Iams' action of donating of 8 tons of food to organizations for dog protection in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek, and Dubrovnik. Even though we do not condemn the organizations that accepted this donation, Animal Friends Croatia warned the public about the marketing deception of this company which refuses to stop experiments on dogs and cats. So far about a hundred organizations from all over the world refused Iams' donations. More about this on our web site as well as www.iamscruelty.com.

- Beside the incident, because of which the notorious circus Gärtner filled the newspapers almost on a daily basis and earned another veterinary inspection report during its Istrian tour, for the first time one town in Croatia refused the circus because of its cruelty to animals! Namely, town Vrsar refused Gärtner circus for the reasons of their inappropriate treatment of animals and ill-treating of elephants from Brijuni! We truly hope that other Croatian towns will also soon follow this civilized example of condemnation of animal torturing in the name of 'entertainment'.

- On 28 February the controversial book Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust by Charles Patterson was published in Croatia! In February, this groundbreaking book was chosen by a jury of 30 of Germany's leading scholars and media among the country's ten most important non-fiction books for Sachbücher des Monats!

- On Saturday, 12 March, Animal Friends Croatia will hold a lecture with a movie projection With Ethical Choice Against Vivisection as part of this year’s TEST (6th International Festival of Student Theater). Afterwards, an interesting performance of AFC's active member Robert Franciszty On Justice or Black&White World/List can be seen.

- On Tuesday, 15 March, Animal Friends Croatia will participate in the Worldwide Protest Against the Canadian Slaughter of Seals. The protest will start at noon and it will take place in front of the Canadian Embassy in Zagreb. At this moment 40 protests are registered all over the world! Online petitions and more information at www.seashepherd.org and www.harpseals.org.

- On 19 March, Animal Friends Croatia will in cities all over Croatia mark the 20th anniversary of the global Meatout Day (www.meatout.org) organized and coordinated by FARM USA. More than 25 countries all over the world registered to mark it.

- On 22 March, World Water Protection Day will be marked with a lecture 'Meat VERSUS Water' as a part of Meatout 2005.

- March is the month of the worldwide boycott of Benetton because of the Australian abuse of sheep. Animal Friends Croatia will also join this campaign so we invite you to join us too! To send a letter of protest or for more information, please visit www.UnitedCrueltyofBenetton.com.

- Animal Friends Croatia needs your help. Because of increased amount of work and activities we also have bigger costs. Therefore we kindly ask everyone who can afford it to help us with a donation, not only in money, but also in printing paper, envelopes, empty CDs, old fax machines, etc. etc. Thanks in advance!

We invite you to join us with your ethical lifestyle choices and everyday activism in revealing the truth about the cruelty to animals. Let us be encouraged by the bright examples of devotion of those who persevere in their fight for animals!

Always 4 the animals,

Your eager AFC activists