Vegetarianism, as an ethical, ecological and non-violent life-style, is a life-style we are unstoppably heading to, and the sooner we embrace it as our inevitable future instead of collectively opposing it, there will be less victims of our insensitive and nihilistic way of live. The first paragraph of this e-newsletter is linked to the latest offer on Croatian's menu: bird flu, Mad Cow Disease and trichinosis.

In this issue:
- Loudly for the ban on breeding animals for fur!
- Europe's 'Sexiest Vegetarian' Contest
- Birds in Croatia don't die while singing
- Croatian towns continue to ban circuses!
- Announcing the protest against seal-slaughter
- Miscellaneous

Loudly for the ban on breeding animals for fur!

In order to point out the necessity and show the will of the public for the ban on breeding animals for fur in Croatia, which, according to the Proposal of the new Animal Protection Act of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, should come into force this year while the very Proposal will be presented to the public soon, more than 200 protesters from Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany gathered on February 4 for the loud protest in Zagreb. Croatian and Slovenian celebrities - Maja Vucic, Igor Hajdarhodzic, Ela Dvornik, Nina Vodopivec, and Jadranka Juras – gave support to the protesters and this initiative by attending the protest.

With this ban Croatia would enter an elitist circle of ethically aware countries, thus becoming one of the countries that with their legislation stand behind the protection of animals bred for their fur.

To see what the protest-march in Zagreb looked like feel free watch our short video clip from the protest or a report from the prime time news on the Croatian National Television.

Europe's 'Sexiest Vegetarian' Contest

In the last issue of the AnimaList we invited you to vote for our candidate Ozren Cuk who was chosen as one of the 16 male finalists in PETA's 'Sexiest Vegetarian Alive' contest, so we would like to use this opportunity to thank everyone who voted for Ozren. In extremely tough competition of almost 400 female and male competitors, Stéphanie Rebato from Paris became Europe's most scrumptious veggie vixen whilst Ross Minett from Edinburgh was elected Europe's most superb soya boy. Although Ozren wasn't elected as Europe's sexiest vegetarian alive, he attracted huge media attention and gave interviews for TV and radio stations, daily newspapers and Internet portals day in-day out, stressing out that by going vegan he chose to lead a life without cruelty and kicked killing and death out of his diet and everyday life in general.

Birds in Croatia don't die while singing

If more people in Croatia and in the world chose life without cruelty, we wouldn't be so shocked by images and the ways birds in Croatia have been dying these days. Disgusted by the methods 'wring the neck – hit with a stick over the head', which veterinarians in Croatia used in so called fighting bird flu around Trogir. Urged by numerous calls of individuals and support of other associations, Animal Friends Croatia held a protest in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management on March 1 in order to condemn the unnecessary killing of healthy birds with barbaric methods called euthanasia, lying to the media and the public, and also to demand urgent changes in decisions and actions the Ministry takes in fighting against spreading of the bird flu.

Not debating over who is more crazy in this country – cows or humans – Animal Friends for the umpteenth time already offer practical solution to the Mad Cow Disease, bird flu, trichinosis and similar diseases, warning about the real causes of these diseases, which could easily escalate in a disaster of unthinkable proportions.

Deeds are better than words, so on February 25 on our info stand in the center of Zagreb we handed out vegan donuts for free and thus showed that we can eat good without fear that animals will one day ask us to pay the bill for all the wrongs we did to them during our lifetime.

Croatian towns continue to ban circuses!

This time again we have good news for you, at least when ban on circuses which exploit animals in their acts are in question! Namely, Lepoglava and Vukovar are the two next towns that banned circuses with animals and thus joined 22 towns in Croatia that already banned circuses with animals during the last year and January this year.

You can send your support and a thank-you note to the mayors of these towns to:
- Mr Tomislav Sota, the mayor of Vukovar, gradonacelnik@vukovar.hr
- Mr Marijan Skvaric, the mayor of Lepoglava, grad-lepoglava@vz.t-com.hr,
but also to a mayor of Mursko Sredisce, Mr Rudolf Klennert (grad-mursko-sredisce@ck.t-com.hr), for joining our initiative for the ban of circuses with animal acts in Croatia and sending an appeal to all those mayors of Croatian towns who still had not banned them.

Announcing the protest against seal-slaughter

Canada also this year plans the slaughter of seal pups for their fur. Animal Friends Croatia will also this year join international protests against the seal-slaughter by organizing a demo in front of the Canadian Embassy in Zagreb on March 15 at noon. We invite you to join the protesters in your towns and demand the permanent ban on seal hunt whose heads are being smashed with hakapiks and harpoons for their fur.

Miscellaneous

- After we reported Marija Bogojevic to the municipal workers and veterinary, stock, and sanitary inspection, because she in the middle of the inhibited built-up area of Novi Zagreb illegally bred pigs and chickens and kept a sick dog on a chain, the pig she kept was slaughtered in a slaughterhouse with the help of veterinary inspectors and returned to her in pieces, while the dog who guarded her was buried. In the meantime, the reported owner of the animals was 'rewarded' with a new dog she got from the veterinary inspection from a dog pound, to protect her other animals on 'her public area'. However, obviously this after not long ill and untreated pound-dog after a while vanished without trace under unexplained circumstances.

- On behalf of 100,000 citizens of Zagreb we sent a demand to the Zagreb City Council to modify the Act on Public Transportation of Passengers, which doesn’t allow guardians and their dogs to use the public transportation like busses and trams, thus forcing them, in case they do not have a car and need a veterinarian, to walk or pay a too expensive taxi.

- It was decided that no more new animals can be accepted and all non-domestic animals must be moved from the Zoo in Split. We hope that this decision will urge a prompt transformation of the Zoo in Split, which represents a torture-chamber for over 400 animals that are still being kept there. As regards the Zoo in Zagreb, we hope for its removal outside city limits, while in general we hope for all the Zoos one day to become a part of a primitive history.

- At the border crossing Bajakovo, the Inspection of Nature Protection within the Ministry of Culture prevented an attempt of illegal transit passage of 22 European tortoise on February 19, the highly protected wild animal species. A Macedonian citizen tried to smuggle them over Republic of Croatia to their final destination in Germany.

- The representatives of Animal Friends Croatia from February 22 through February 23 participated on the Animal Welfare Workshop in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, organized by TAIEX from Brussels. Representatives from Great Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and European Commission spoke about national legislations on animal welfare of old and new EU member countries.

- On February 13 in the secondary commercial school Inova in Zagreb we held a lecture about vegetarianism, including a projection of a short film about the reasons of switching to non-violent and healthy diet without torture and killing of animals.

- On the same day, Animal Friends Croatia's members joined a protest of the associations Life, Animal Liberation and Voice of Animals in front of the Chinese Embassy in Zagreb, protesting against the killing of dogs and cats for fur. This kind of protests were simultaneously held in front of Chinese embassies in thirty-odd cities all over the world, Tel Aviv, New York, Paris, London, Berlin, and Moscow included.

- At the Festival of Documentary Films in Zagreb an excellent film 'Our Daily Bred' ('Unser täglich Brot') made by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, was shown. The film that without comments shows the secret world of food processing industry, on the last year’s International Documentary Film Amsterdam won the special price of the jury. You can find out more about this film on its web site.

- Branches and members of Animal Friends all over Croatia do not sit still, while in this issue of our e-newsletter we would like to single out the rescuing of two dogs from the pit Jamurka in Zadar hinterland for which new homes must be found.

It is beyond doubt that as a society we stepped into a new age in which we reached a point of no return, the age older generations could not even dream of. And we are not talking about the nuclear arsenal here, Third World War, climate disturbances that could cause a new ice age, but about the age in which our stomachs will be the ones to decide about our fate. Therefore, choose vegetarianism and build a more humane and healthier world.

Animal Friends Croatia