In the last issue of this year's AnimaList first of all we would like to thank everyone who followed our work, supported and encouraged us in these past twelve months. To all of you we owe our achievements and gratitude and we hope that, in the next year as well, you will stay with us. We wish you all the best and lots of compassion to every living creature.

In this issue:

- Protest against the beagles' torturer – the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine does (not) wash its hands clean
- Protest against the Gärtner circus in Osijek
- Croatian towns continue to ban circuses with animals!
- Do they also have a merry Xmas?
- News and announcement
- The best of: our greatest achievements in 2005!

Protest against the beagles' torturer – the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine does (not) wash its hands clean

On November, 26, in almost impossible weather conditions (it was raining cats and dogs) Animal Friends Croatia's (AFC) activists, the people who gave the beagles a new home and felllow townsmen held a protest in front of the building of the beagles' torturer Mr Antun Brkic, demanding that all those who were responsible for the beagle affair finally be punished and that Antun Brkic immediately be suspended from his teaching position at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and expelled from the academic and scientific community. The rescued dogs were also at the protest, whilst Vivo – the first dog to be liberated – was also the first dog who came to the protest!

Brkic's friends and colleagues from the Faculty all the time obstructed the protest by shouting insults and provocations in front of the police. The culmination was reached when one of the tenants poured muddy water on the protesters from her window. AFC coordination wants to use this opportunity to thank all activists and other protesters who remained calm and did not respond to provocations.

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine took its stand concerning this protest by giving support to the 'scientist' whom four months ago they almost disowned. The AFC reaction about the whole beagle affair can be seen at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/htmlen/0812052.html.

Protest against the Gärtner circus in Osijek

After protests against the Gärtner circus our activists held in numerous Croatian towns, with the support of the new-founded branch in Slavonski Brod and a big engagement of societies Life and Osjecki zeleni we held a protest in Osijek too, in spite of the fact that a group from Zagreb in the last minute and running all the way to the railway station caught a train before departure!

Inspection of Nature Protection during the new supervision of Gärtner Circus on December 12 concluded that the circus, one year after the first supervision, still does not have the necessary permits for keeping and exploitation of strictly protected wild animal species. The Inspection issued a warning to the circus that it won't be able to continue to perform unless it does not obtain the necessary permits in 90 days.

Croatian towns continue to ban circuses with animals!

The positive momentum of Croatian towns that are banning circuses with animal acts continues, so after Mursko Sredisce, Varazdin, Velika Gorica, Rovinj, Split, Donji Miholjac, Delnice, Gospic, Kraljevica, Cakovec, Prelog, Ploce, Pozega, and Ozalj, Bjelovar, Klanjec, Zabok, Novi Marof, Nin, and Varazdinske Toplice now also do not allow circuses which expolit animals to come in their towns!

With congratulations to the mayors and town governments of these new six towns, we invite you to send them a thank-you note with a few words of support to their e-mail addresses:

- Mrs Djurdja Adlesic, the mayores of Bjelovar, gradonacelnica@bjelovar.hr
- Mr Zarko Broz, the mayor of Klanjec, grad-klanjec@kr.htnet.hr
- Mr Ivan Hanzek, the mayor of Zabok, zabok@zabok.hr
- Mr Stjepan Pazur, the mayor of Novi Marof, novi-marof@novi-marof.hr
- Mr Emil Curko, the mayor of Nin, opcina-nin@zd.t-com.hr
- Mr Dragutin Kranjcec, the mayor of Varazdinske Toplice, grad.varazdinske.toplice@vz.t-com.hr.

Do they also have a merry Xmas?

On Thursday, December 22, we again invited our fellow townsmen to be compassionate towards those whom the following days will be the last days on earth and to those whose days will be filled with sadness and loneliness. On our info stand in the center of the city we had an exhibition about the connection between the meat industry and hunger in the world and exploitation of natural resources, whilst the visitors on our stand could taste excellent vegan cookies and warm themselves up with hot tea.

Afterwards, our activists with the singer Minea visited the rehabilitation center 'St. Vinko Paulski' for the children with special needs, whose protégés wished to meet a famous singer who opposes to wearing fur, and treated them with sweet donations of Croatian companies Encian and Kras. How thrilled they were by this visit, the children expressed by singing, dancing, hugging, and taking pictures.

Also, the Stumme Brüder Stiftung foundation from Lichtenstein that for years already connects animal rights organizations and centers and homes for children worldwide joined this action so as to show that the fight for animal rights does not exclude care for humans. On behalf of Stumme Brüder Stiftung AFC will donate necessary medical equipment to the rehabilitiation center 'St. Vinko Paulski'.

News and announcements

- Veterinary inspector Mr Stjepan Cukulin from Vrbovec on December 14 gave an order to a villager to shoot with a gun two vaccinated dogs in the absence of their guardian. His illegal and unprofessional action he justified by doubt that dogs might have rabbies, since a rabid fox was before in this backyard. Following this practice, the villagers started to kill their dogs and cats.

- The members of the equestrian club Varazdin 95 with the support of our branch in Varazdin saved a 2,5 years old horse, whose owner wanted to send him to slaughter. A sick and very thin horse, caked with sweat and dust, was held in a wooden shed in a field. 740 Euro was borrowed for repurchase of the horse and temporary accomodation was provided in the equestrian club.

- The first Croatian reggae band Brain Holidays joined AFC's campaign for teenagers by educating them through a new leaflet for the youths. The Croatian version of the leaflet can be seen at www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/jpg/letakmladi.jpg.

- On December 13, AFC held a lecture about advantages of vegetarianism for animals, environment and health with a 'Meet Your Meat' video projection in XVI gymnasium in Zagreb.

- For the next year again we invite you to a big international protest against fur which will take place on February 4, 2006 in the Croatian capitol Zagreb! More about the protest as well as its route at our web site www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/htmlen/040206.html.

- Wishing that you celebrate these holidays without animals on your plate, we invite you to try some of the recipes from the following links: www.veganmania.com, www.vegcooking.com/searchRecipes.asp, or www.vegan-food.net.

The best of: our greatest achievements in 2005!

February: Over 150 protesters gathered at a loud international protest in Zagreb.
March: In cooperation with Genesis Croatian edition of the book Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust by Charles Patterson was published.
March: Nine Croatian towns took part in the Meatout Croatia 2005, thus marking the 20th anniversary of the Meatout Day.
March: In cooperation with PETA demos against Benetton in order to convince the retail chain to ban garments made with Australian wool held in Pula, Rijeka, Sarajevo, Budapest, Belgrade, Ljubljana, and Maribor.
June/July: At the beginning of the campaign 'Don't leave me' supported by Croatian celebrities Maja Vucic, Nikolina Pisek, and Nokia Cro-a-porter homed some forty dogs from the City Shelter in Dumovec.
July: The coach full of activists from Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Hungary, and Bulgaria headed from Zagreb on the Human Race in Pamplona so as to join over 600 protesters against the bullfights and bullrun from all over Europe.
July: 32 beagles rescued from illegal experiments at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb.
October: At a concert on the World Vegetarian Day in the Boogaloo Club in Zagreb, Scroll, Fraktura mozga, Flyer, Brain Holidays, Antenat, Stillness, and Hakoona Matata played in front of 2,000 visitors.
October: Pamela Anderson's letter to Croatian designers to go fur-free attracted huge media attention.
October-December: 20 Croatian towns banned circuses with animal acts as a result of four years of campaigning.