News
The number of news found: 21.
01/29/2010 CHINA FLAGS SCRAPPING DOG MEAT FROM MENUS
Dog and cat meat - age-old delicacies in China - could be off the menu in the food-loving nation under its first law against animal abuse, state press has reported. People who eat either animal, both of which are viewed as promoting bodily warmth, would face fines of up to 5,000 yuan ($813) and up to 15 days in jail if the law is passed, the Chongqing Evening News said. It says organizations involved in the practice would be fined from 10,000 to 500,000 yuan. The law has been at the drafting stage over the past year and the report did not make clear when the legislation was expected to become law. China's rubber-stamp legislature meets in March but draft legislation can often take years to be approved.
01/28/2010 NINETEEN BEARS RESCUED IN VIETNAM
Tan Uyen, Vietnam - The three tractor-trailer containers sat in a row, divided with metal partitions into 19 tiny, sweltering cells. Massive claws and furry black noses poked between the iron bars: 19 rare Asiatic moon bears awaiting their next gall bladder milking. Their bile is a coveted traditional medicine ingredient used to treat everything from haemorrhoids to epilepsy. Some paced nervously inside the cages, panting and foaming at the mouth with wild bloodshot eyes. Others laid in their urine and faeces, resting on the cool concrete floor. They devoured the bananas and chunks of watermelon - including the rinds - offered to them, a welcome treat from their usual diet of rice gruel. The bears were found at an illegal Taiwanese-owned operation in southern Vietnam. On Friday, four days after being hoisted onto tractor trailers and driven 2,000 kilometres north, they reached a new home with grass and tire swings at a rescue centre about two hours outside of Hanoi, the capital. The government had deemed their previous living conditions unsuitable. Bear bile has been used for thousands of years in Asia to treat fevers, pain, inflammation and many other ailments.
01/27/2010 CIWF: ILLEGAL PIG FARMING CONDITIONS EXPOSED IN NEW EU INVESTIGATION
An undercover investigation - together with a report by the European Food Safety Authority - suggests that the vast majority of the 250 million pigs reared each year in the EU are being farmed in illegal conditions. The investigation's findings - including a film - were launched at a Press Conference at 10:00 on Thursday January 21 at the Residence Palace in Brussels organized by the investigators - Compassion in World Farming (Compassion) and the European Coalition for Farm Animals (ECFA). During an 18 month undercover investigation starting in 2008 Compassion and ECFA visited 74 pig farms in six Member States: Denmark, Hungary, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK. The study, coupled with the EFSA report, provides a snapshot of pig farming across Europe.
01/26/2010 HUMAN CONTACT SPREADS MALARIA TO GORILLAS
The parasite which causes malignant malaria in humans has been identified in gorillas for the first time. Researchers analysed faeces from wild gorillas in Cameroon and blood samples from a captive animal from Gabon. The study says increasing contact between humans and primates due to logging and deforestation raises the risk of transmission of new pathogens. The research findings are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
01/25/2010 LIVE PIGS BLASTED IN TERROR ATTACK EXPERIMENTS
Live pigs are being blown up with explosives at Porton Down, the government's secret military research laboratory, to simulate the effect of terrorist attacks on civilian targets. In a series of tests at the biological and chemical research centre in Wiltshire, 18 large pigs were wrapped in protective blankets before bombs were detonated a few feet away. The scientists allowed the pigs to bleed until almost a third of their blood was gone to see how long they could be kept alive. MPs and animal welfare groups have questioned the use of live animals in the explosions, even though the pigs were anaesthetised throughout. None survived the experiments. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, said: "These are revolting and unnecessary experiments. Sadly, we are too familiar with the effects of terrorism. It is perfectly possible to find out things we don't know without blowing up pigs to find out."
01/23/2010 FLORIDA GREYHOUND RACING IN DECLINE
The continuing decline of the greyhound racing industry in Florida has forced the state's Naples-Fort Myers track to operate only 6 months of the year. "Greyhound racing handles have fallen in recent years across the state. In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the races at Naples-Fort Myers pulled $32.2 million, a 13-percent drop from the previous year and a 23-percent decline from the $42 million handle of 2005-2006. The speed of the decline may be increasing in the current economy. Racing money from November 2009 was down 22 percent from the previous year at Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track. At Flagler, the drop was nearly 19 percent."
01/22/2010 OFFICIALS KILL 800 MONKEYS IN PUERTO RICO
Patas monkeys in Kenya Puerto Rican officials have killed 800 monkeys for allegedly damaging crops and natural resources. Most of the monkeys killed were patas monkeys, who are native to Africa. Also, approximately 200 rhesus monkeys were captured and sent to laboratories. According to an article in the New York Times, the monkeys escaped from research labs in the 1960s and 70s, but that isn't the whole story. The monkeys were not just escapees. They were intentionally released, or "introduced," to two penninsulas on the island, and: In 1974, the (Caribbean Primate Research Center), through a contract with the Food and Drug Administration, began to increase the number of breeding female rhesus monkeys to supply animals for the Sabin Poliomyelitis Virus Vaccine Program. The monkeys were bred for their kidney epithelial cells, to make the polio vaccine.
01/21/2010 18 MILLION EURO FOR THE PROMOTION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS
The European Commission has approved 13 programs in 11 Member States to promote milk and milk products in the European Union. The total budget of the programs, running for a period of three years, is 35.8 million euro of which the EU contributes 17.9 million euro. This was one of a set of measures proposed by the Commission in July 2009 to address the difficult market situation faced by the dairy sector (IP/09/1172 ). The Commission committed itself to adopt an additional round of dairy product promotion programs on the internal market.
01/20/2010 SCIENTISTS TURN STEM CELLS INTO PORK
Call it "pork in a petri dish" - a technique to turn pig stem cells into strips of meat that scientists say could one day offer a green alternative to raising livestock, help alleviate world hunger, and save some pigs their "bacon." Dutch scientists have been growing pork in the laboratory since 2006, and while they admit they haven't gotten the texture quite right or even tasted the engineered meat, they say the technology promises to have widespread implications for our food supply. "If we took the stem cells from one pig and multiplied it by a factor of a million, we would need one million fewer pigs to get the same amount of meat," said Mark Post, a biologist at Maastricht University involved in the In-vitro Meat Consortium, a network of publicly funded Dutch research institutions that is carrying out the experiments.
01/19/2010 OIL WORKERS KILL REMAINING MALE REEDBUCK IN KABWOYA
The only male reedbuck, a type of antelope, which is at risk of extinction in Kabwoya wildlife reserve, Uganda, has been killed. According to Honey Malinga, the commissioner for oil petroleum in the energy ministry, workers of Busitema Mining Services, a company contracted by Tullow Oil, killed the reedbuck recently. He said six workers had been arrested and remanded at Hoima Police Station over the incident. "We are concerned about the issue of poaching and it is good that the suspects have been arrested," Malinga said. "There is a lot of goodwill from the parties working on oil, but the poaching of animals cannot be ignored." In a separate interview, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) director, Moses Mapesa, said the male reedbuck was relocated from Lake Mburo National Park to help the four females breed. "The survival of the reedbuck was in the male that was killed," said Mapesa. "Poaching of the only male has taken us many steps backwards." He said the authority would take drastic measures to check poaching.
01/18/2010 CHINA GIVES CANADA ITS APPROVAL OF SEAL
The Canadian seal and fur industry brought its fashion designs to a premier Beijing fashion show on January 12, winning warm applause. Had this been Europe there might have been cans of red paint hurled, incendiary banners held aloft, and outraged protest. But this is China. Here, where protests are banned and fur is popular, the show was a success – part of a larger strategy by the Harper government to work hand-in-hand with the Canadian seal industry to rebuild its challenged markets. Canada has set about to woo the Chinese to open its gates to Canadian seal meat. Shunned by Brussels, Ottawa believes China will do nicely as a replacement market and has tremendous potential, especially with its 1.3 billion people. China already buys seal oil and fur from Canada. Meat would seem the next natural step.
01/16/2010 MINISTER DECLARES CIRCUS ANIMALS ILLEGAL IN LEBANON
After a two week investigation, Minister of Agriculture Dr. Hajj Hassan declares the circus animals entered Lebanon illegally. The Ministers decision, issued last Friday, gave the circus owners 48 hours from the time of notification for the circus organizers to move all nine lions and tigers from Lebanon. The deadline passed on Monday morning and the animals should have left Lebanon then, but the circus organizer were able to get a 48 hour extension. The Minister made a landmark decision and took a strong stance against animal smuggling.
01/15/2010 UN LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF BIODIVERSITY
The UN has launched the International Year of Biodiversity, warning that the ongoing loss of species around the world is affecting human well-being. Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but the pledge will not be met. The expansion of human cities, farming and infrastructure is the main reason. Speaking at the launch in Berlin, German premier Angela Merkel urged the establishment of a new panel to collate scientific findings on the issue. Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), urged governments and their leaders to renew their commitment to curbing biodiversity loss even though the 2010 goal will be missed.
01/14/2010 NAKED BEAR AS THE FIRST ATHLETE IN ANIMAL FRIENDS' CAMPAIGN!
After activists and supporters of Animal Friends gave their support to the Ice Hockey Club Medvescak Zagreb during numerous home games of the regional league EBEL, the Bears payed them back for their support by undressing their representative! Luka Novosel, the 26-year-old defender of Medvescak, undressed exclusively for this occasion for the new Animal Friends' campaign in order to draw attention and point out the suffering of animals for their fur. After model and journalist Fani Stipkovic and singer Luka Nizetic, the hockey player Luka Novosel thus joined the 'For Croatia without Fur' campaign and became the first athlete in Croatia who went naked for animals. It should be noted that in the international version of this campaign organized by PETA only a few of world athletes took part.
01/13/2010 AVATAR LABELED "RECRUITING FILM FOR ECO-TERRORISTS"
Avatar earned $1 billion in two weeks, already making it the fourth-biggest-grossing movie to date. James Cameron said it has been a dream of his for more than a decade. According to industry groups and right wing pundits, though, the film really has a more sinister motive: recruiting "eco-terrorists." Avatar has a similar archetypal narrative to countless other sci-fi films. The Na'vi are an indigenous race on a far-off planet, Pandora. Humans want to mine Pandora. The Na'vi fight back. Give "em some fur, and it sounds a little Return of the Jedi-ish. But the usual corporate cheerleaders have been warning audiences that Avatar is actually pushing a radical environmentalist message, because the Na'vi are, um, defending their utopian planet against complete annihilation.
01/12/2010 SEAWORLD DOLPHIN TRAINER INJURED
A trainer has been injured on Queensland's Gold Coast by a falling dolphin. Ambulance officers were called to the Sea World theme park about 3.15 P.M. (AEST) to find a trainer had sustained neck and back injuries after a dolphin fell on him, a Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said. The injuries were minor, the spokeswoman said.
01/11/2010 ROMANIA MULLS JUNK FOOD TAX
Romania is planning to introduce a tax on junk food in order to finance its crisis-hit health system and to fight obesity, Health Minister Attila Cseke said Tuesday. "We intend to introduce a tax on fast food, soft drinks and candies in order to support national health programs," Cseke said during a press conference in Bucharest.
01/09/2010 ANIMALS FREEZING TO DEATH ON SCOTTISH FARMS
Thousands of farm animals face being frozen to death as Scotland experiences its worst winter weather in almost 50 years, farmers have warned. As heavy snow brought more chaos to Scotland, upland sheep farmers in particular feared that their flocks could be killed as a result of the longest cold spell to hit Scotland's agricultural industry for decades. The prolonged Arctic blast is now the worst seen in Scotland since 1963, according to First Minister Alex Salmond, who praised workers for keeping key roads open, despite widespread anger that many roads and pavements remain ungritted. The cold spell is now threatening the lives of thousands of farm animals across the country.
01/08/2010 SCIENTISTS SAY DOLPHINS SHOULD BE TREATED AS "NON-HUMAN PERSONS"
Dolphins have been declared the world's second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as "non-human persons." Studies into dolphin behavior have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence.
01/07/2010 JAPANESE SHIP SINKS WHALE PROTEST BOAT ADY GIL
The Sea Shepherd's high-tech stealth boat Ady Gil was cut in half and sunk by a Japanese security vessel in Antarctic waters yesterday, dramatically upping the stakes in the annual struggle between whalers and protesters. Sea Shepherd group leader Paul Watson told Fairfax Media the $1.5 million Ady Gil was sinking, but its six-man crew had been rescued and was uninjured. Captain Watson said the Ady Gil was idling in waters near Commonwealth Bay, south of Hobart, when it was suddenly approached and rammed by the Japanese ship Shonan Maru, which has been detailed to provide security to the fleet.
01/02/2010 RESCUERS SAVE 3 WHALES ON NEW ZEALAND BEACHES
Two mass strandings a day apart left 126 whales dead on New Zealand beaches, though rescuers and volunteers managed to save 43 others. On the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island, Maoris buried 21 pilot whales beneath a headland they consider sacred. The rest of the pod was coaxed back out to sea after rescue workers, helped by hundreds of holidaymakers, kept the mammals wet on the sands, then re-floated them at high tide. A day earlier, 105 long-finned pilot whales had been spotted on a beach near Nelson, on the South Island, by the pilot of a tourist plane. A local wildlife manager, Hans Stoffregen, said only 30 whales were alive when conservation officers arrived.
The number of news found: 21.
