News
The number of news found: 20.
04/30/2005 AUSTRALIA TO CULL WILD CAMEL POPULATION!
SYDNEY, Australia - Authorities in Australia's Outback said Tuesday they plan to shoot wild camels from helicopters because the rapidly expanding population is encroaching on ranch land - an idea that outraged animal welfare groups.
04/29/2005 MORE SWEDISH ACTIONS OF ANIMAL LIBERATION!
1400 minks was released from a fur farm outside Svenljunga in western Sweden on 27 April. A group that calls themself Djurrättsmilisen (translates: Animal rights militia - but do not adopt same sort of tactics. The group name was used in the end of the nineties when activists raided several vivisection breeders) has according to media claimed responsability for the release. Same media reports that at least 400 minks have been recaptured by the farmer.
04/28/2005 PAM VS. JEN: THE BATTLE OVER FASHIONABLE FURS!
LOS ANGELES (AHN) - Pamela Anderson publicly denounces Jennifer Lopez for wearing fur - calling the Latin diva an "idiot". In an interview with women's magazine Jane, the former Baywatch Babe didn't bother to hide her disgust for fur-donning celebs, saying people who wear fur lookfat and gross and smell like a wet dog. "They look really immature and unenlightened. Every season the furriers put propaganda everywhere that fur is takingoff again and they give free coats to idiots like Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy," she said before adding it made her feel "nauseous." Anderson is a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who say they will step up their campaign against the J-Lo specifically. Last month she was targeted at the launch of her new album when PETA campaigners surrounded her. Now, according to the New York Post, the animal rights group say they will sabotage her appearance on The Tonight Show where they plan to hold up a sign saying "Fur? Leave it to Beaver".
04/27/2005 BATTLE FOR THE HEART OF BORNEO!
Scientists have discovered many new species in the rainforests but illegal logging could condemn even well-known animals such as the orang-utan to extinction. The mighty rainforests of Borneo teem with rare wildlife such as the famed orang-utan, the focus of energetic environmental campaigns. Scientists have discovered hundreds of other species deep in the wilds of the jungle, including tiny crabs and a gigantic cockroach, believed to be the largest in the world.But their elation is tempered by the knowledge that these newly documented creatures are living in a land under threat. The forests of Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island, are being logged at an alarming rate, habitats are being destroyed and endangered wildlife is being driven to the brink of extinction.The discovery of 361 previously unknown species of insects, fish, frogs and lizards - detailed in a report by the conservation organisation WWF - has given added urgency to calls for a crackdown on deforestation and illegal logging.
04/26/2005 A LAW DOGS WOULD WRITE, IF THEY WERE LAWYERS!
Rome - Dog owners in Turin will be fined up to 500 euros ($650) if they don't walk their pets at least three times a day, under a new law from the city's council. People will also be banned from dyeing their pets' fur or "any form of animal mutilation" for merely aesthetic motives such as docking dogs' tails, under the law about to be passed in the northern Italian city. "In Turin it will be illegal to turn one's dog into a ridiculous fluffy toy," the city's La Stampa daily reported. Italians can already be fined up to 10,000 euros and spend a year in prison if found guilty of torturing or abandoning their pets, but Turin's new rules go into much greater detail. Dogs may be led for walks by people on bicycles, the rules say, "but not in a way that would tire the animal too much." Italy considers itself an animal-loving nation and in many cities stray cats are protected by law. Still some 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats are abandoned in Italy every year, according to animal rights groups. To enforce the law, Turin police would rely largely on the help of tipsters spotting cruel treatment by their neighbors, La Stampa reported. It said the 20-page rulebook gives Turin the most stringent animal protection rules in the country. It even bans fairgrounds from giving away goldfish in plastic bags.
04/23/2005 AUSTRALIA'S WOOL INDUSTRY IN MELTDOWN!
FALLING international demand for wool, a stagnant price and a shift by farmers into grain growing have plunged the $2.5 billion wool export industry into crisis.Already under pressure after an unrelenting campaign by radical US animal rights group PETA over the "mulesing" of young lambs, the industry faces further heat when Animal Liberation groups launch a campaign in Hobart against the practice of "shedded sheep".Timed to coincide with the national wool sale, the campaign will draw attention to the conditions in which merino sheep are kept to grow ultra-fine wool.The chairman of market intelligence for the International Wool Textiles Organisation, Chris Wilcox, said the industry was unquestionably in crisis. "When you look at the figures from key markets, wool is clearly losing value share," he said.
04/22/2005 PAMELA BLASTS J-LO!
Pamela Anderson says people who wear fur "like Jennifer Lopez... smell like a wet dog and they look fat and gross." Anderson, a strong animal rights activist, told Jane magazine it makes her "nauseous" to see people wearing fur. "Every season the furriers put propaganda everywhere that fur is taking off again and they give free coats to idiots like Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy. It makes me nauseous," Ananova.com reports the star said.Meanwhile, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a US lobby group whose members include the former Baywatch star, is planning to step up its campaign against Lopez as she prepares to promote her movie Monster-in-Law.Its vice-president Dan Mathews tells the New York Post that later this month when Lopez appears on NBC's The Tonight Show they plan to take a 30-foot inflatable beaver to the Los Angeles studio with a banner reading, "Fur...Leave it to Beaver."
04/20/2005 DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE CANADIAN SEAL SLAUGHTER!
Monday, 11 April, at 11.00 am, protestors of the Canada seal slaughter, gathered outside Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London. Around 50 supporters showed their disgust at the massacre that is happening on the ice floes of Canada. Joan Court, an ardent supporter of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and a crew member of their flagship the Farley Mowat in 2004, organised this demo and contacted Peta (People for the ethical treatment of animals) for their support. The outcome was an amazingly striking, strong visual centrepiece. Several protestors had spent the previous hour turning themselves into live images of skinned seals. Literally stripped to the skin, they covered themselves in red body paint and laid motionless on the stairs of Canada House.After being on concrete, in the blazing hot sun, for 45 minutes, the 'skinned seals' departed: they received a well deserved round of applause. With the stairs now clear, the demonstrators moved quickly onto them. Placards were held high, banners stretched across and the megaphone in use throughout the demo, highlighting the cruelty involved in the biggest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet.
04/17/2005 WIS. GOVERNOR REJECTS CAT-HUNTING IDEA!
MADISON, Wis. - A proposal to legalize the killing of feral cats is not going to succeed, Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday. "I don't think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats," said Doyle, a Democrat who neither hunts nor owns a cat. "What it does is sort of hold us up as a state that everybody is kind of laughing at right now."He told reporters his office had received calls from around the country denouncing a proposal adopted Monday at meetings of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a public advisory group, that would classify wild, free-roaming cats as an unprotected species that kills song birds and other wildlife.Doyle said he respects the Conservation Congress but "on this one I think everybody recognizes it's not going anywhere."Some experts estimate that 2 million wild cats roam Wisconsin, and the state says studies show feral cats kill 47 million to 139 million songbirds a year.
04/16/2005 MEPs DEMAND END TO SUBSIDISED CATTLE CRUELTY!
EURO-MPs in Strasbourg have called for an end to subsidies of more than £50 million a year to exporters of live cattle from the EU to Africa and the Middle East.More than 200,000 cattle are exported annually from the EU to Lebanon and Egypt, enduring journeys of up to ten days - and conditions already outlawed in the EU to prevent animal suffering.Green MEP Caroline Lucas, who launched the bid, said: "Animal welfare is a core concern of the European Parliament and MEPs have worked hard to improve minimum welfare standards and reduce the suffering and cruelty inflicted by the international trade in livestock."The South-East England MEP and Vice-President of the RSPCA added: "It is absolutely outrageous that taxpayers' money is being used to fund a cruel long-distance trade in animals that causes such suffering."
04/15/2005 CAT HUNTING CONSIDERED IN WISCONSIN!
April 12, 2005 -- Cat lovers might be outraged by the idea of allowing hunters to stalk their furry friends, but some naturalists say pet owners ought to take the proposal as a wake-up call to be more responsible.The issue of whether to make feral cats an unprotected species, meaning they could be hunted and killed, was put before the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, an independent organization created by the state 70 years ago to take public input on conservation issues, last night. Representatives from 72 counties listened to residents' concerns about the issue. If most of the counties approve the proposal, the Conservation Congress could decide to recommend to the state Natural Resources Board that cats be listed as an unprotected species. If the board agrees, it would make the suggestion to the state legislature, which would have the final say in the matter.
04/14/2005 FOX FARM RAIDED BY ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT!
Bluffs, IL- The underground Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has taken credit for releasing dozens of silver fox from Kerry Littig's fox farm on April 1, 2005. According to a communiqui sent out by the ALF, Littig's farm is the biggest silver fox farm breeder inthe US.While reports from the fur industry have surfaced that the liberations were harmful to the animals, the ALF has a long history of successfully releasing animals into the wild from fur farms. In addition to liberating the wild animals destined to a painful and agonizing death at the hands of Littig, another goal of the ALF is to cause economic harm to fur farms, which was achieved in this case by destroying breeding information, impossible to replace.'While some of the wild fox may be recaptured or killed in their escape, at least they have been given a chance at what everyone deserves, a chance to live free', stated a volunteer with the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT), an organization that has researched the history of freeing fur-bearing animals in the US over the last decade.
04/13/2005 EU TO BLOCK SWEDISH LAW AGAINST BATTERY HENS!
An EU Commission has ruled that Sweden's law against battery hens, also known as Astrid Lindgren's law, is not valid. The commission now intends to use the European courts to force Sweden to drop the law."The EU commission has begun a legal process since they consider that Sweden has hindered free movement between member states," said Martin Erling, the lawyer representing egg producers who want to get rid of the cages. According to the commission, The Swedish Board of Agriculture, The Swedish Animal Welfare Agent and The National Food Administration have all violated EU laws.When the Swedish law banning the cages was approved, there was only one company in Sweden that manufactured them. Foreign companies were prevented from selling their cages in Sweden. Sweden has also, according to the commission, "neglected to fulfil her duties" in accordance with the 98/34/EG directive. Both objections apply to technical specifications of the EU-approved cages and how they are approved.The Swedish government has two months to answer the commission's objections.
04/12/2005 21 ANIMALS KILLED IN CIRCUS!
Mumbai, April 4: Twenty-one animals were charred to death in a fire inside a Russian circus tent. Four sea lions, 10 Eskimo dogs and seven mixed-breed cats died when they could not escape the blaze in the tent at the Chitrakoot grounds in Andheri in the western suburbs.The fire was reported around 3 pm in the tent of the Russian State Circus Company Rosgoscirk, which had performed at Calcutta's Netaji indoor stadium in November 2004. Fire-fighters could rescue only three Eskimo dogs with burn injuries and the condition of one was said to be serious. They were taken to a welfare centre run by the animal rights organisation Karuna.Amitabh Gupta, the deputy commissioner of police of Zone VIII, said: "The fire brigade authorities told us that short circuit could be one of the likely reasons. Though we have registered a case of accidental fire, we will do a full investigation into the case."
04/11/2005 BID TO BAN BULLFIGHTS!
Barcelona - More than 120 international animal rights associations on April 6 demanded an end to bullfights in Catalonia, a northeastern Spanish region of 6.8 million residents.Campaigners handed regional parliament president Ernest Benach the appeal whose 453,000 signatories included people from Catalonia, elsewhere in Spain and celebrities such as ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. Animal rights campaigners say more than 70% of Catalans would support a ban on bullfights.
04/11/2005 RESEARCHES TO STUDY APES, FORGIVENESS!
An international team of researchers will study social interaction at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa this spring to learn more about human forgiveness and the process of culture, officials with the research center said.Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, lead scientist, said the four-month project studying bonobos will be funded by a $125,000 grant from the Richmond, Va.-based Campaign for Forgiveness Research. 'By looking at how apes learn to channel certain abilities such as forgiveness, ourunderstanding of these processes becomes infinitely deeper,' she said. 'We cannot gain this depth of understanding by only looking at humans because we are too close to these processes in ourselves to objectify them.'
04/07/2005 SEAFOOD BOYCOTT WORRIES FISHERIES MINISTER!
HALIFAX - The province's fisheries minister, Chris d'Entremont, is worried that a U.S. campaign urging a boycott of Canadian seafood will hurt Nova Scotia.The U.S. Humane Society, an animal-rights group, has called on restaurants and other businesses to stop importing seafood from Canada as a way to protest the East Coast seal hunt. About $3 billion worth of Canadian seafood products are exported to the U.S. every year. So far at least one major distributor, DownEast Seafood, has agreed to halt the importing of Canadian fish.D'Entremont said a boycott causes "some concern," so Nova Scotia will step up its public relations campaign in the U.S. He's urging Ottawa and the other Atlantic provinces to do the same. "We're really going to have to mount up more of a campaign to try to dispell some of the myths that are maybe pushing this one along," d'Entremont said.His counterpart in Newfoundland and Labrador, Fisheries Minister Trevor Taylor, said it's still too early to determine what kind of effect a boycott would have on the industry. But Taylor accuses the animal-rights group of trying to ruin the livelihoods of fishermen across the region, saying sealing may only bring in one-quarter of a fisherman's $40,000-a-year income.
04/04/2005 FARLEY MOWAT CREWMEMBERS ARE FREE!
The eleven members of the Farley Mowat crew arrested on March 31 on the charge of allegedly approaching a seal killer on the ice without a permit have been freed.The prosecutor had demanded a $1,000 bail for each person but Sea Shepherd director Dr. Jerry Vlasak, (one of the arrested crewmembers), argued that if bail was set, none of the crew would post it. They would stay in jail and hunger strike until released. Jerry also argued that Sea Shepherd had every intention of challenging the absurd regulations in court.Several of the crewmembers who were assaulted have laid complaints with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The complaints filed include claims of assault, battery, and assault with a deadly weapon. The police have questioned the sealers, and Rendell Genge, the Captain of the Brady Mariner admitted to attacking Farley Mowat crewmembers but said it was self defense. He claimed he was attacked first. Unfortunately, for Captain Genge, the entire assault was fully documented on two different video cameras. Captain Genge can lie to the media and get away with it but he will have a more difficult time lying to the court with documentation as evidence to disprove his lies. Meanwhile back on the ice the other sealers assaulted a film crew from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Shots were fired in the air by a sealer and so the Mounties began a second investigation.
04/03/2005 SEAL HUNT PROTESTERS ARRESTED ON GULF ICE FLOES!
CHARLOTTETOWN - Hostility between sealers and seal hunt protesters turned to violence Thursday as a scuffle led to several arrests on the ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.Animal rights activist Paul Watson, captain of the protest ship Farley Mowat, said 11 members of his crew were taken into custody by the RCMP after they attempted to photograph sealers taking part in the annual hunt near the Magdalen Islands.Watson and other animal rights activists describe the hunt as barbaric.
04/01/2005 THE STATE OF ANIMAL AFFAIRS IN THE US!
Who knew the Terminator would wind up a duck's best friend? Governor Arnold Schwazzanegger signed a Californian bill into law that prohibits the force feeding of birds for the purpose of enlarging a bird's liver and thus producing foie gras, the French term for "fatty liver". In the barbaric practice of force feeding large amounts of food to confined ducks and geese each day, many birds die in the process from throat damage and suffocating on their own vomit. Once the birds livers expand to ten times their normal size, they are slaughtered and their livers sold as foie gras. This monumental law in California is a major step forward in the fight against animal cruelty. Similar legislation has been introduced in New York, the only other state that has foie gras production operations; please support this important legislature by visiting www.nofoiegras.com.
The number of news found: 20.
