In 1946, Dr Harry Lillie, a ship's physician aboard an Antarctic whaling ship likened the killing of a whale to, 'a horse having two or three explosive spears stuck into its stomach and being made to pull a butcher’s truck through the streets of London while it pours blood in the gutter…'. He said that 'The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream the industry would stop, for nobody would be able to stand it.'

In this issue:
- World Health Day
- Demo 'A whole life in a cage'
- Goran Visnjic against whaling!
- Suffocation for profit
- New home for a new beginning
- News

World Health Day

By handing out 10,000 soy puddings and information materials in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Karlovac, Varazdin, Virovitica, and Osijek, and inviting the fellow townsmen to go vegetarian, Animal Friends Croatia (AFC) on April 7 and 8 marked World Health Day.
The day before this action, Animal Friends also were present with their information table on a concert of the band Hakuna Matata and the promotion of their album 'Antigravitacija' that took place in Zagreb’s club Tvornica kulture. On this occasion AFC activists also organized a vegan feast.

Demo 'A whole life in a cage'

In order to reveal the horrid truth of breeding and treatment of egg-laying hens and the slaughter of chickens, three AFC activists were locked up in Rijeka, Croatia on April 13 in a cage sized one square meter, thus trying to make the passers-by think about the suffering of hens in battery cages and to kick the habit of eating eggs. During the demo activists handed out leaflets about vegetarianism and showed a video footage on breeding of battery hens.

Goran Visnjic against whaling!

Supporting the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Goran Visnjic also joined the world campaign against whaling.
Croatian Whalewatch campaign officialy starts on May 11, and on that day AFC in collaboration with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) will bring a life size whale and information table to the Zagreb main square. Also, the petition for Croatia to join the IWC (International Whaling Commission) can be signed there from 12 noon to 6 p.m.

Suffocation for profit

As part of lobbying for the legal ban on breeding animals for fur in Croatia, on May 4 on the Ban Jelacic Square in Zagreb AFC sent a clear message on a 4x2 meters big billboard. With a symbolic presentation of suffocation by activists having palstic bags on their head, sitting in front of the billboard, the representatives of Croatian parliament were invited to listen to the voice of public and prevent the torture and killing of animals by legalizing a ban on breeding animals for fur in the new Animal Protection Act.

New home for a new beginning

AFC joined the action of the City Office for Agriculture and Forestry called 'New home for a new beginning' which took place on May 6 on Ban Jelacic Square in Zagreb. During the action eight homeless dogs found their new guardians while the whole action was supported by Croatian celebrities Minea, Boris Mirkovic, Lana Klingor, Maja Vucic, Tihana Harapin-Zalepugin, Lana Baneli, and the mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic.

News

- On the occasion of Earth Day (April 22) Pucko otvoreno uciliste Samobor and AFC organized an exhibition about the human treatment of animals exploited for food, fashion, sport, entertainment and medical experiments. AFC also took part in a two days event about the real price of water which was organized by Green Action on the main Zagreb.

- As part of the Festival of science in Osijek, on April 25 a public discussion ‘How does mascara open your eyes?’ about animal experiments was held. At the public discussion organized by the graduates of chemistry and biology from the University J. J. Strossmayer also AFC representative participated.

- Senj became the 28th Croatian town to ban circuses with animal acts. Please send a thank you note to the mayor of Senj Mr Zlatko Modric to his e-mail address grad.senj@gs.t-com.hr.

- After reporting Cabana pub in Velika Gorica for keeping two caymans, inspectors of the Nature Protection Division confirmed that caymans do not have space to sunbath, necessary firm ground and UV lamps, so the owner of the pub must find another space for them, isolated from noise and smoke, and assure the neccessary accomodation for them.

- The Slovenian president Janez Drnovsek, an ethical vegan, on the portal of his association Movement for the Right and Development accused the meat industry for keeping animals in concentration camps in which they are exposed to horrible torture and suffering prior to the very slaughter.

- A booklet Doctors Against Animal Experimentation was published in Croatian with the help of Biomedis. This booklet about vivisection tells why animal experiments are harmful to humans through quotes of doctors and scientists.

- AFC sent a proposal to the City of Zagreb about the regulation of the animal transportation in Zagreb’s public transporation. That way, the guardians of dogs would at any time of the day be able to go by bus or tram with their animals.

- After receiving a call from the tennants of two buildings on Ban Jelacic Square 4 and 5, AFC reported to the authorized institutions about nets that were set up on the rooftops between the buildings in which animals got entangled and died. The last victims were a couple of months old kitten and two pigeons that were dying in agony during more than 12 hours.

- On May 9, AFC took part on the conference of the Committee for Agriculture and Forestry of Croatian parliament, which sent a Proposal for the Animal Protection Act to the representatives of the parliament. AFC gave its proposals both to members of the Committee and to all the representatives of the parliament.

We thank you for your attention and support and we hope that you will stay with us in our future actions and activities for the animals.

Animal Friends Croatia