News
The number of news found: 21.
12/31/2009 COURT RULING STOPS CONSTRUCTION OF MONKEY BREEDING FARM IN PUERTO RICO
The BUAV has welcomed a judge's ruling for an immediate halt to the construction of the Bioculture facility to breed and supply primates for research in the town of Guayama. The decision by Guayama's Superior Court, which cites irregularities in the permitting process, is the latest development in a lawsuit filed against Bioculture by Puerto Rico residents who say the company did not submit a full environmental impact statement or hold public hearings. A recent investigation carried out by the Puerto Rico Senate also raised concerns that inadequate consideration had been given to the impact that the construction would have on local citizens, their land and water supplies. An international coalition of groups, including the BUAV, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Bar Association of Puerto Rico and the International Primate Protection League (IPPL), formed to oppose the construction of the Bioculture facility. Opposition to the project has also been widespread in Puerto Rico itself.
12/28/2009 ORCA TRAINER KILLED AT LORO PARQUE
A Loro Parque trainer has been accidentally killed by one of the killer whales during a training session. The trainer was 29-year-old Alexis Martínez, and the accident occurred at 10.30 A.M. on December 24 during the first training session for the Christmas Special planned for the New Year. The other 7 trainers were also present in the training session. As far as can be determined right now, Alexis was hit by the whale, and his death was caused by drowning because he was under the water for several minutes before he could be rescued. He was immediately assisted by the specialist personnel at Loro Parque and Emergency Services were called immediately. Amidst resuscitation attempts, he was transferred to the Bell Vue Clinic by ambulance, where he was admitted with cardiac arrest. The news has distressed Loro Parque staff immensely, and the planned Orca show has been suspended for the moment.
12/24/2009 CIRCUS TIGERS AND LIONESS FOUND DEAD AFTER LORRY JOURNEY
Eight circus tigers and a lioness died during a 20-hour journey in an enclosed and heated lorry across Siberia, and Russian police are investigating whether they might have been suffocated by exhaust fumes or sickened with food poisoning. The animals were dead when they arrived in the city of Yakutsk, where they had been due to perform in holiday shows, a police spokesman said. A third possible cause of death may have been overheating in the truck, the Mechta circus administrator Yevgeny Kudashkin said. Another circus employee said the lorry should have been opened every two hours for ventilation, but was not. A doberman dog travelling in the same truck survived. More dogs and a bear travelling in a second truck arrived healthy.
12/23/2009 INDIA'S LAST "DANCING" ENDANGERED BEAR SET FREE
Bangalore, Dec 21 - Raju the bear will never have to smoke cigarettes or dance on his hind legs under the hot sun again thanks to a multinational project to save an endangered species and end a cruel centuries-old tradition in India. Raju was the last endangered sloth bear that had to work for a living, but who now can roam free at the Bannerghatta bear sanctuary on the outskirts of the southern city of Bangalore. The bear's freedom is the outcome of lengthy efforts by animal rescue organisations and the government that have taken the "dancing" bears off India's streets, where the animals were once as ubiquitous as snake charmers and their cobras.
12/22/2009 30,000 ANIMALS PERISH AS "CARGO SHIP" SINKS OFF LEBANON
The sinking of the Panamanian-flagged ship Danny F II has served as a harsh reminder of why the long distance transport of animals for slaughter is risky business. Several crew members from the ship are still missing, and rescue teams have described how they pulled "shocked, distraught and cold" survivors from the sea. Although the tragic loss to human life will naturally remain in focus in reports on this tragedy, we ask people to spare a thought for the nearly 30,000 cattle that have also perished, and whose suffering – both during the journey and with the accident – could have been avoided entirely.
12/21/2009 SPAIN'S CATALANS MULL BILL TO BAN BULLFIGHTING
A bill to ban bullfighting in the Spanish region of Catalonia cleared its first hurdle Friday as legislators mulled a measure to reject a cultural pillar of traditional Spain. Catalans and their regional capital, Barcelona, consider themselves a country within a country, with their own language and substantial self-rule. Analysts agree that the bill to ban bullfighting is winning support, in part, because of the appeal of outlawing an iconic Spanish sport. The bill began as a petition by grassroots activists who collected 180,000 signatures against the bloodshed and killing of bullfighting. Lawmakers in the Catalan regional parliament voted 67-59 Friday to elevate the bill for debate in few months' time. If approved, Catalonia would become the second Spanish region to ban bullfighting. The Canary Islands, off Morocco's coast, did so in 1991.
12/19/2009 EUROPEAN COURT UPHOLDS HUNTING BAN
The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday dismissed a double challenge to the law against hunting with hounds, ruling the ban did not breach rights legislation. The government outlawed many types of hunting in 2004 in the face of noisy opposition from some rural groups. Judges in Strasbourg dismissed applications from the Countryside Alliance campaign group and an individual, Brian Friend, that the hunting ban breached their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. They had argued the law infringed their right to private and family life and their right to protection of property. The court ruled unanimously that every one of the complaints was inadmissible.
12/18/2009 AUSSIE SCIENTISTS FIND COCONUT-CARRYING OCTOPUS
Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter - unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal. The scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two shells together to make a spherical hiding spot. Julian Finn and Mark Norman of Museum Victoria in Melbourne observed the odd activity in four of the creatures during a series of dive trips to North Sulawesi and Bali in Indonesia between 1998 and 2008. Their findings were published Tuesday in the journal Current Biology.
12/17/2009 ANIMAL FRIENDS SUPPORTED THE BEAR'S HUMANITARIAN EVENT
The Bears organized a humanitarian event on Wednesday, 16 December from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the Ledena dvorana ice rink in the Dom sportova hall when the players spent time and hang out with their guests and supporters. Animal Friends representatives also attended this event, supporting the project named THE BEARS AND THEIR FRIENDS FOR BRAVE HEARTED TEDDY BEARS by donating a teddy bear, a T-shirt, stickers, rulers and giving a donation for John Hecimovic's stick. During the event, the Bears collected money for the construction of the family center providing help for parents of severely ill children from all over Croatia. In order to get inside Dom sportova and spend time with Bears Mike Ouellette, Aaron Fox, John Hečimović, T. J. Guidarelli and the rest of the crew one needed to bring a teddy bear or 5 kunas. Club's partners will give 15 kunas for each teddy bear in the form of donation for the BRAVE HEART (HRABRO SRCE) Association and teddy bears will go to children's homes in Zagreb.
12/16/2009 ACIDIFYING OF OCEANS AFFECTS MARINE LIFE
Acidification of the oceans is a major threat to marine life and humanity's food supply, Hilary Benn has warned as the UN climate summit resumes. The UK environment secretary said that acidification provided a "powerful incentive" to cut carbon emissions. Ocean chemistry is changing because water absorbs extra CO2 from the air. Some believe this impact of rising CO2 levels could be as significant as climatic change, though it is rarely discussed at the UN climate convention.
12/15/2009 VEGETARIAN DIETS - EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUGS
Increasingly larger numbers of people confronted with abnormal blood cholesterol levels eventually require treatments with statins or other similar cholesterol-lowering pharmaceutical drugs. While such medications are considered to be effective in preventing and reducing high blood cholesterol levels, they don't produce dramatic results, generating less satisfactory effects in certain categories of people. In addition, most cholesterol-lowering drugs are known to cause serious side-effects. After accumulating and analyzing a vast amount of data regarding blood cholesterol and its risk factors, a team of Canadian medical researchers and nutritionists has come up with a very effective natural cure for high cholesterol: a special vegetarian diet. Although it may seem surprising, the food regimen established by the Canadian medical scientists has proved to be a very powerful and not to mention safe alternative to common cholesterol-lowering drugs.
12/14/2009 ANIMAL FRIENDS SUPPORTS THE BEARS AGAINST JESENICE
After supporting Zagreb's Ice-hockey club MEDVESCAK against the Austrian club KAC Klangefurt, Red Bull Salzburg, Vienna Capitals and Villach, we unfolded a huge several meters long banner "ANIMAL FRIENDS LOVES BEARS" on yesterday's game when Medvescak played Jesenice and won 7:2. With this Animal Friends and Zagreb Bears announced the upcoming collaboration and once more brought attention to the brutal exploitation, torture and killing of animals for "fashion trends!"
12/11/2009 SAMOBOR ALSO BANS CIRCUSES WITH ANIMAL ACTS
On November 25, Samobor became 32nd Croatian town to ban circuses with animal acts and thus joined the growing family of ethicaly aware towns that have already banned circuses with animal acts in Croatia: Mursko Sredisce, Varazdin, Donji Miholjac, Velika Gorica, Rovinj, Split, Delnice, Gospic, Cakovec, Kraljevica, Prelog, Ploce, Bjelovar, Ozalj, Klanjec, Zabok, Pozega, Novi Marof, Nin, Varazdinske Toplice, Dugo Selo, Krizevci, Lepoglava, Vukovar, Sisak, Karlovac, Novigrad, Senj, Dubrovnik, Ludbreg, and Mali Losinj.
12/10/2009 THE ROMANIAN POLICE WILL PROTECT THE ANIMALS
The Romanian police has established an Animal Protection Unit (The General Police Inspectorate for Animal Protection, or IGPPA). IGPPA is an operational structure that undertakes actions and projects with the purpose of protecting the animals and wildlife cynegetic resources in Romania. The goals of IGPPA include protecting the rights of veterinarians and veterinary clinics, seen as legally formed entities, which might sustain abuse by authorized parties in charge with supervision and control. The IGPPA will function within the district inspectorates and local police sections of every town and city. Officers, chief officers, inspectors, commissars and chief commissars will all work within these units.
12/08/2009 ANGER AS NORWAY RAISES WHALE KILL
The Australian Government has condemned as provocative a decision by Norway to sharply escalate its whale kill while attempts are under way to hammer out an international peace deal over the controversial hunts. Oslo's Fisheries Minister, Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, told the Norwegian Minke Whalers Union at the weekend that next year's quota would be set at 1286 animals, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Conservation Society chief executive Chris Butler-Stroud said such a huge quota defied logic and any pretence of sound management. "Norwegian whalers haven't taken their full quota in years, as demand for whale meat has dropped and no one is buying," Mr Butler-Stroud said.
12/07/2009 MONKEYS RECOGNIZE THEIR PALS IN PHOTOS
Monkeys can recognize photographs of other monkeys they know, proving that they can both detect differences in faces and figure out if they've seen them before, researchers report. The study also shows that capuchin monkeys can decipher the two-dimensional nature of a photograph, the scientists authors noted. The findings, reported by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, are published the week of Dec 4 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
12/05/2009 VEGETARIAN LOW PROTEIN DIET COULD BE KEY TO LONG LIFE
Reducing consumption of a protein found in fish and meat could slow the ageing process and increase life expectancy, according to the research. Scientists have long believed that an ultra low calorie diet -aproximately 60 per cent of normal levels - can lead to greater longevity. But now a team of British researchers have discovered that the key to the effect is a reduction in a specific protein and not the total number of calories. That means that by reducing foods that contain the protein - such as meat, fish and certain nuts - people should live longer wiuthout the need to cut down on meals. Dr Matthew Piper, from the Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College London, said that a vegetarian diet could be one way to achieve the effect.
12/04/2009 AUSTRALIAN STATE OF VICTORIA BANS JUMP RACING
Steeplechase and hurdle racing in the Australian state of Victoria will be abolished in 2010, prompted by the deaths of 20 horses in two years. The decision follows a comprehensive review of the sport and has been welcomed by animal welfare groups. However, members of the racing industry have reacted with anger, calling it "unbelievable" and "appalling."
12/03/2009 MALI LOSINJ BECOMES 31ST TOWN TO BAN CIRCUSES WITH ANIMALS!
On November 16, Mali Losinj became 31st Croatian town to ban circuses with animal acts and thus joined the growing family of ethicaly aware towns that have already banned circuses with animal acts in Croatia: Mursko Sredisce, Varazdin, Donji Miholjac, Velika Gorica, Rovinj, Split, Delnice, Gospic, Cakovec, Kraljevica, Prelog, Ploce, Bjelovar, Ozalj, Klanjec, Zabok, Pozega, Novi Marof, Nin, Varazdinske Toplice, Dugo Selo, Krizevci, Lepoglava, Vukovar, Sisak, Karlovac, Novigrad, Senj, Dubrovnik, and Ludbreg.
12/02/2009 PETA THANKS SOCCER PLAYER FOR HELPING A CAT
Goal keeper Ivan Banovic was given the yellow card for catching a lost cat and carrying the animal off the pitch into safety when Sibenik played Medjimurje. Animal rights organization PETA considers this a compassionate and kind decision that does not at all deserve a yellow card. The organization now rewards the goal keepers' animal-friendly action with a certificate. PETA's Magdalena Scherk says: "Ivan Banovic is a Hero to Animals – we congratulate him on his compassionate decision!" By sending out the certificate, PETA also wants to encourage other people to follow Banovic's lead. The Croatian soccer star will receive the certificate by mail within the next few days; however, PETA has already informed him about his award. "Mr. Banovic is very happy about PETA's gesture and about the fact that people work to help animals," says Scherk. Animal Friends Croatia supports PETA's award to Banovic and has even made plans to invite the soccer player to join an event about the adoption of homeless and abused animals.
12/01/2009 EVA MENDES SPEAKS OUT AGAINST WEARING FUR
Eva Mendes epitomises glamour. She has starred in numerous films – including hits such as Hitch, Sin City, and Ghost Rider – and has modelled for clothing and cosmetics giants such as Calvin Klein and Revlon. Eva believes fashion should be fun, but there's nothing fun about the animal suffering caused by the fur industry. Eva says, "At a time when there is so much violence in the world, this is one type of violence that all of us can help stop – by being informed consumers."
The number of news found: 21.