News
The number of news found: 25.
07/31/2010 CHELSEA CLINTON - THE VEGAN BRIDE!
Every once in a while, a kooky celeb or an off-the-grid rockstar will have a vegan wedding. But a former first daughter? Or anyone, for that matter, associated with the White House? Not until now. Buzz about Chelsea Clinton's upcoming wedding is building, and the newest revelation to surface about this democratic darling's upcoming nuptials is that she will be having a "green" wedding, including vegetarian and vegan (and gluten-free) food. Just a few years ago it would have been unheard of for anyone with any type of presidential blood to be associated with veganism. But the tofu's out of the bag and Chelsea is a vegan, eating a totally plant-based diet. She's also allergic to gluten. Congratulations to Chelsea and her fiancé. And for an entire community of vegans who just learned a presidential princess is on their team.
07/30/2010 CATALONIA BANS BULLFIGHTING IN LANDMARK SPAIN VOTE
The parliament of Catalonia has voted to ban bullfighting - the first region of mainland Spain to do so. The vote took place as the result of a petition brought to parliament, signed by 180,000 people who say the practice is barbaric and outdated. Bullfight supporters insist that the corrida, as it is known, is an important tradition to preserve. They also fear the vote could be the first of many in the country. The ban takes effect in January 2012. In Wednesday's vote, 68 backed a ban, 55 voted against and nine abstained.
07/29/2010 ANIMALS GET A VOICE IN SWISS POLITICS
Swiss animal lovers founded a political party to represent the interests of their four-legged friends, Swiss news agency ATS reported Sunday. The Animal Party Switzerland was established Saturday with an economist, a lawyer and the head of the Swiss vegetarian union as founding members, said the agency, quoting Thomas Maerki, who heads the new party. The party, which plans to contest elections next year, set up a Facebook page with the slogan "because animals need a voice" and pledged to "represent the interests of animals in politics and the economy."
07/28/2010 A JORDANIAN ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTER CLAD IN LETTUCE LEAVES TAKEN TO A POLICE STATION
Amina Tariq, a member of PETA dressed in lettuce leaves as to promote vegetarianism, was taken to a police station in Jordanian capital Amman for not having a permission to protest. But the authorities were contacted a month ago and she was told she wouldn’t need a permission since only one person was involved. In dress-sensitive Amman, Jordanian-Muslim Ms Tariq was fully clothed beneath her outer salad dressing.
07/27/2010 LAB MACAQUES FIND NEW TEXAS HOME
Once used for medical experimentation, 55-monkeys now have a new home. The four to six- year-old Java macaque monkeys were packed up into crates on Thursday destined for the likes of New Castle, Oklahoma and South Texas. Saturday 25 of those long tailed monkeys arrived at the Primarily Primates reserve near Leon Springs. The monkeys had been housed in the Aniclin Preclinical Services lab owned by Azopharma until the lab went into receivership and a court ordered the monkeys released to sanctuaries. Next, 15 of the monkeys will be delivered to Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary in Dilley, Texas. A team of volunteers and vets checked out each monkey before releasing them into their new homes.
07/26/2010 ANIMAL TORTURE VIDEOS BANNED IN THE U.S.
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to halt the distribution of so-called "crush videos" in which small animals are killed by crushing or other cruel methods. A broader version of the law was passed in 1999 but was struck down by the Supreme Court which decided it had infringed on the US Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech.
07/23/2010 HUNDREADS OF DEAD PENGUINS DOT BRAZIL'S BEACHES
Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches of Brazil, worrying scientists who are still investigating what's causing them to die. About 500 of the black-and-white birds have been found just in the last 10 days on Peruibe, Praia Grande and Itanhaem beaches in Sao Paulo state, said Thiago do Nascimento, a biologist at the Peruibe Aquarium.
07/22/2010 CRUELTY PROBE FOR PARASAILING DONKEY STUNT
Authorities in Russia are opening an animal cruelty probe into a weekend stunt on a beach in southern Russia in which a donkey parasailed high over the surf. Amateur video footage showed men attaching a parasail harness to the trembling mule. The English-language Kremlin news channel Russia Today reported that sunbathers were distressed at the sight of the flying donkey, which brayed in fear as it glided above the bay for half an hour. Russia Today reported the donkey was shell-shocked but survived. Reports said the donkey flight was a promotional stunt. Employees of a leisure firm in the village of Golubitskaya on the Azov Sea could face two years in prison if they are charged and convicted of animal cruelty.
07/21/2010 DAY OF FIGHTING ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS
With today's action in Rijeka, Animal Friends activists will mark the Day of Fighting Animal Experiments, i.e. the anniversary of the liberation of 32 beagles from the Veterinary Faculty in Zagreb. At Rijeka Corso at 11 A.M. they will present a performance in which their faces are covered with botox injections in order to inform the public with the horrible experiments being conducted behind the walls of laboratories.
07/20/2010 RHINO KILLED IN KRUGERSDORP PARK
A female rhino was stabbed to death and had her horn removed in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve on Wednesday, said West Rand police. "A rhino was found dead just after 10:00 A.M. and her horn had been cut off," said Warrant Officer Solomon Sibiya. The rhino, which was found by employees of the game reserve, left a nine-month old calf behind, who would be cared for by game reserve staff. "We are investigating some positive leads in the matter," said Sibiya. This followed the arrest of four men on Saturday after they were found with two freshly chopped rhino horns in the Kruger National Park. Rangers found a newly-killed rhino carcass with both horns missing. Last week SA National Parks (SANParks) said 124 rhino had been poached so far this year.
07/19/2010 NAMIBIAN FISHERIES MINISTER ANNOUNCES SEAL CULL
The controversial annual culling of 86,000 Cape fur seals along Namibia's coast, which started a few days ago, was important for the Namibian economy, Fisheries Minister Bernard Esau said. "The sealing sector is important in terms of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment and investment contributions," Esau told Parliament. He said seal oil could be used in the industrial sector, while higher-grade oil could be used to produce margarine, soaps, cosmetics and paints. The annual cull lasts from July 1 to November 15. The seal pups are usually clobbered to death with wooden clubs and the bulls are shot with rifles. Namibia and Canada are the only two countries in the world that are still harvesting seals.
07/19/2010 NAMIBIAN FISHERIES MINISTER ANNOUNCES SEAL CULL
The controversial annual culling of 86,000 Cape fur seals along Namibia's coast, which started a few days ago, was important for the Namibian economy, Fisheries Minister Bernard Esau said. "The sealing sector is important in terms of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment and investment contributions," Esau told Parliament. He said seal oil could be used in the industrial sector, while higher-grade oil could be used to produce margarine, soaps, cosmetics and paints. The annual cull lasts from July 1 to November 15. The seal pups are usually clobbered to death with wooden clubs and the bulls are shot with rifles. Namibia and Canada are the only two countries in the world that are still harvesting seals.
07/16/2010 NM CHIMPS MAY UNDERGO TESTING IN TEXAS
A controversial primate facility in Alamogordo is again under the scrutiny of animal rights activists. The federal government wants to move more than 200 chimps out of the facility to a lab in Texas where they will undergo testing for medical research. However, those chimps were supposed to head to Florida to be retired. Primate research at Holloman Air Force Base has a long history that dates back to the early days of space flight.
07/16/2010 BAGHDAD TAKES AIM AT STRAY DOGS
Baghdad officials say 58,000 stray dogs have been killed in and around the Iraqi capital over the past three months as part of a campaign to combat dog attacks. A statement Saturday from the Baghdad provincial government said 20 teams, made up of police shooters and veterinarians, had been moving around the capital every day looking for the strays. The statement said the teams either poisoned or shot the dogs.
07/15/2010 MONKEYS USE TREES TO CATAPULT THEMSELVES OUT OF JAPANESE LABORATORY
A group of 15 monkeys at Kyoto University's primate research institute in Aichi Prefecture, which are the focus of a string of high-profile scientific studies, escaped from their forest home which is encased by a 17ft high electric fence. The monkeys made their bid for freedom by using tree branches to fling themselves one by one over the high voltage electric fence located nearly three metres away. However, despite the intelligence shown in their great escape, the primates appeared unsure as to what to do with their newfound freedom: the monkeys remained by the gates of the research centre and were lured back into captivity by scientists armed with peanuts.
07/14/2010 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PUSHES FOR CLONING BAN
Eurogroup for Animals welcomes overwhelming vote in favor of a ban for cloning animals for food production by the European Parliament. This clearly represents the views of Europe's citizens that they do not want Frankenstein foods on their plates. It also puts immense pressure on the European Commission to come forward with clear legislation to enforce such a ban and ensure that no products from cloned animals or their offspring are put on the European market. The European Parliament has maintained its objection to animal cloning since it first passed a resolution on the subject in 2008.
07/14/2010 CATALONIA PREPARES TO VOTE ON BULLFIGHT BAN
The Catalan parliament in northeast Spain said last Tuesday it would decide this month whether to ban bullfighting in the region, as the country's most famous bull run festival got underway. The motion to outlaw bullfighting in Catalonia "will be debated and voted" on July 28, the regional parliament said in a statement. The vote had been planned for mid-July, but the date was pushed back after the right-wing People's Party requested a public consultation. The Prou (Enough) anti-bullfighting campaign spearheaded calls for the proposed ban, collecting 180,000 signatures in favour of outlawing the practice in Catalonia. If passed, the motion would change Catalonia's current animal protection law that forbids the killing or mistreatment of animals in public, with the exception of bull runs. It would also make Catalonia, home to Spain's second largest city Barcelona, the first region other than the Canary Islands to ban the bullfighting.
07/13/2010 DEPUTIES REQUEST VEGETARIAN CANTEEN IN PARLIAMENT
Four deputies of the majority and the opposition request one vegetarian day per week in the restaurants of the French National Assembly, or at least a vegetarian menu. In their letter to the President of the National Assembly, Yves Cochet (Green), Geneviève Gaillard et Gérard Bapt (PS) and François Grosdidier (UMP) ask Bernard Accoyer to lead the way by launching a meatless day per week as soon as possible. In May these deputies had already voiced their concern about excessive meat over-consumption and its impact on health and the environment, thus endorsing the campaigns by the ex-Beatle Paul Mc Cartney and the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Rajendra Pachauri.
07/12/2010 EUROPEAN COMISSION LAUNCHES NEWSLETTER ON ANIMAL WELFARE
The European Commission launched on July 5 the first issue of the biannual Animal Welfare Newsletter in order to raise awareness about its initiatives and work in the field of Animal Welfare among stakeholders, professionals, NGOs and members of the public. The first issue of the newsletter is noting the importance of the Lisbon Treaty's recognition of animals as "sentient beings" (Article 13). It also emphasises Commission's recent process of evaluation of its policy on animal welfare towards the elaboration of a new European strategy on animal welfare. The main objective of the newsletter is to present the latest initiatives, news and trends on animal welfare within the European Union. The Commission is determined to create an active dialog in order to raise public awareness and common understanding by receiving feedback and comments that can be sent to sanco-animal-welfare@ec.europa.eu
07/09/2010 VEGETARIAN DIET KEY TO LIVING PAST 100?
If you're a meat-loving, beer-swigging atheist, this may be bad news for you. The BBC shared the results of a new study by U.S. scientists who have been trying to find out what factors lead people to live more than 100 years. Their research is based on the largest study of centenarians thus far, according to the news outlet. Apparently only one in 6,000 people in the industrialized world actually reaches 100. For those who do hit the milestone, they're usually in pretty good health: Ninety percent of them are "disability free" when they hit 93. So what's the secret to their success? A combination of factors including a vegetarian diet, religion and skipping the drink play big into the equation.
07/08/2010 NEW EU ORGANIC LOGO CAME INTO FORCE
New EU rules on organic food labelling including the requirement to display the new EU organic logo, entered into force on July 1, 2010. The so-called "Euro-Leaf" will now be obligatory on pre-packaged organic food products that have been produced in any of EU Member States and meet the necessary standards. Other private, regional or national logos will continue to appear alongside the EU label. The logo stays optional for non-packed and imported organic products. In addition to the logo, the new labelling rules also include the compulsory indications of place of farming of the products' ingredients and code number of the body that had been in charge of the controls. Operators have a two-year transition period to comply with these new labeling rules. Another change is the introduction of EU rules for organic aquaculture for the first time.
07/06/2010 BIONIC FEET FOR AMPUTEE CAT
A cat that had its back feet severed by a combine harvester has been given two prosthetic limbs in a pioneering operation by a UK vet. The new feet are custom-made implants that "peg" the ankle to the foot. They are bioengineered to mimic the way deer antler bone grows through the skin. The operation - a world first - was carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon based in Surrey. His work is explored in a BBC documentary called The Bionic Vet. The cat, named Oscar, was referred to Mr. Fitzpatrick by his local vet in Jersey, following the accident last October. Oscar was struck by the combine harvester whilst dozing in the sun.
07/05/2010 NORTHERN IRELAND BANS HARE COURSING
Northern Irish politicians have voted to ban hare coursing under the new Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill. The decision comes at a time when the UK government is giving MPs the opportunity to vote to bring back the barbaric sport in England and Wales by offering a free vote on repeal of the Hunting Act. An overwhelming 85% of the British public are opposed to hare coursing and hare hunting. MLAs voted 23 to 18 in favour of a ban on hare coursing following hours of debating amendments to the new Bill in Stormont.
07/02/2010 RUSSIA PUTS OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT BEFORE WHALES
At the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting, Russia refused to comply with repeated calls to postpone a planned seismic survey in the feeding grounds of the critically endangered Western North Pacific Gray Whale. With just 26 known breeding females of the Western Gray Whale population remaining, seismic blasts in the Russian Far East where females and their calves are trying to feed led the IWC's Scientific Committee to express "serious concerns about the potential impact on Western Gray Whales" and to "strongly recommend" that a seismic survey by petroleum company Rosneft be postponed. Countries that took the floor to support the Scientific Committee recommendation that the survey be postponed included the United Kingdon, the United States, Mexico and Monaco.
07/01/2010 CANBERRA CULL WILL KILL 1000 JOEYS
As the Canberra government prepares to kill another 1900 kangaroos in its nature reserves as part of their annual massacre, the real death toll from this slaughter may reach 3000. "Due to recent good seasons in Canberra, many female kangaroos have been observed with two joeys in their care: one in the pouch and one at foot. So for every female killed in coming weeks by the ACT government, two joeys will also die, pushing the death toll closer to 3000," said Nikki Sutterby, CoOrdinator, Australian Society for Kangaroos. "In good conditions like we have now, female kangaroos can have two joeys who are dependent on her; one in the pouch, and an out-of-pouch joey. These 'at foot' joeys are still drinking their mothers' milk and reliant on her for protection and love. They move like grease lightning and will not be 'humanely' dispatched as the RSPCA has been pontificating hourly on the news bulletins. They will run off in terror, and be left to die terrified and alone from exposure, stress, starvation or predation," said Ms TIga Williams, local kangaroo carer.
The number of news found: 25.
