News
The number of news found: 27.
04/30/2006 CHINESE SCIENTISTS CLONE MAD COW-RESISTANT CALF!
Beijing - Chinese scientists have succeeded in cloning a cow with gene cells resistant to mad cow disease, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. The birth of the 55-kg (121-lb) calf in the eastern province of Shandong comes three years after a team led by now-disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk cloned cows with a protein structure resistant to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Gene-transplant technology was used to introduce the genes to the calf cloned from cells of an adult cow and further tests would be required on the calf as it grows to verify the effectiveness of the transplanted genes.
04/29/2006 CHICAGO BANS THE SALE OF FOI GRAS IN ITS RESTAURANTS!
Chicago has banned the sale of foie gras in its restaurants because city officials think the French delicacy is cruel to ducks and geese. Under a city ordinance the ban will be imposed by September. Fines will range from 250 to 500 dollars for every day that a restaurant is caught serving the dish.
04/28/2006 WORLD'S OLDEST PERSON TURNS 120!
The world's oldest living person celebrated her 120th birthday last Saturday in Leshan, Sichuan Province. Du Pinhua, listed in the Guinness World Records as the oldest living person, celebrated her birthday with dozens of relatives and locals. Du said she has been vegetarian for her whole life. Locals describe Du as a tolerant and happy lady, who never argues with others.
04/27/2006 FLORIDA MAN GETS PRISON FOR SELLING SKINS OD ENDANGERED ANIMALS!
Port ST. Lucie (AP) - A Port St. Lucie man will spend time in prison for selling a gorilla skull and tiger, snow leopard and jaguar skins through his Internet business.Kevin McCaster was sentenced for selling or offering to sell more than 200-thousand dollars worth of endangered species in violation of the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison and three years of supervised probation.
04/26/2006 MARCH ON OXFORD WORLD DAY OF LAB ANIMALS!
Animal rights campaigners are expected to march through the streets of Oxford on Saturday to mark World Day for Laboratory Animals. The demonstration will also protest against the building of a new £20m laboratory complex on South Parks Road by Oxford University. Hundreds of animal rights activists are expected to take part.
04/25/2006 MEAT-EATERS AIDING GLOBAL WARMING?
New Research Suggests : Your personal impact on global warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive. That surprising conclusion comes from a couple of scientists who have taken an unusual look at the production of greenhouse gases from an angle that not many folks have even thought about. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant professors of geophysics at the University of Chicago, have found that our consumption of red meat may be as bad for the planet as it is for our bodies. If you want to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, they conclude in a report to be published in the journal Earth Interactions, become a vegetarian.
04/24/2006 MELTING SEA ICE THREATENS WALRUSES!
Arctic researchers who discovered a surprising number of abandoned baby walruses say melting sea ice may be the culprit, according to a study in the April issue of Aquatic Mammals.
04/23/2006 EUROPEAN CHICKENS BROUGHT INDOORS BY U.S. FAST-FOOD GIANT!
Citing fears of avian influenza, McDonald's Corp. is having its European suppliers move free-range chickens indoors. The suppliers, which produce eggs and poultry meat for McDonald's, will be subject to the new standard for six to eight months.While the nation's largest QSR said it has had its American suppliers test for bird flu for the past six months, achieving such a goal is more difficult in Europe where, in some countries, testing is government-controlled.
04/22/2006 PINK BACKS PETA ON HER WEBSITE!
Pop sensation Pink has launched a global pro-PETA (People for the Ethical treatment of Animals) petition drive on her website. The Kick the Bucket campaign on the website PinksPage.com, asks Kentucky Fried Chicken to stop its "cruel breeding practices" and cruel killing methods in producing its chicken product. Celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, the Dalai Lama, the Black Eyed Peas, and the Reverend Al Sharpton have lodged similar complaints against KFC.
04/21/2006 EU DROPS MOUSE TESTS FOR SHELLFISH!
Brussels - The European Union has dropped a requirement that tissue from shellfish being tested for human consumption be injected into mice. Animal rights activists say mice injected with shellfish toxins die after a period of convulsions and paralysis.
04/20/2006 MCCARTNEY IN ANTI-VIVISECTION CAMPAIGN!
Sir Paul McCartney has launched a campaign against the use of animals in medical research. The former Beatle said animal testing was "a holdover from the dark age of medical science". More modern methods are available but many scientists are too unenlightened to use them, he said. Sir Paul has joined forces with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to spearhead an anti-vivisection campaign.
04/19/2006 AUSTRALIAN ACTIVISTS FREE BATTERY HENS!
Activists opposed to the battery farming of hens have broken into an animal enclosure on the NSW Central Coast and released dozens of chickens. About 20 members of Animal Liberation NSW snuck into chicken sheds on the Morisset property on April 16 and released 40 hens from their small wire cages.
04/18/2006 ITALY URGES EU TO FIGHT SEALING!
Rome - Italy on Friday urged the European Union to take action to discourage seal-hunting as a national ban on the import of seal skins came into effect. A government decree, approved this year after a petition by Italian animal rights activists, outlaws the import of seal pelts. The ban also covers products like seal-skin handbags and purses. "Italy is leading the way in this action against the barbarous killing of animals and now we ask Europe to take action against all countries that permit this practice," said Deputy Industry Minister Adolfo Urso.
04/17/2006 CONSERVATIONISTS SLAM JAPAN'S DOLPHIN DRIVE HUNTS!
London - The practice of dolphin drive hunts in Japan is cruel and is being fueled by the high prices that aquarium owners are willing to pay for the animals, says the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Britain, adding it is demand from aquariums, both in and outside Japan, which "has now become the primary motivation for the hunts to continue." According to WDCS, more than 6,000 dolphins and small whales were killed in drive hunts in Japan between 2000 and 2004. Nearly 250 dolphins were taken alive from the hunts in Futo, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture.
04/14/2006 HSUS SEAL WATCH TEAM UNDER SIEGE IN CANADA!
Blanc Sablon, Quebec - The Humane Society of the United States and the Franz Weber Foundation seal hunt observation team, along with a member of the European Parliament and several independent journalists, are under threat of physical violence and have taken refuge in their rooms at the Four Seasons Inn. A growing mob estimated at nearly 60 people has gathered outside the hotel and is refusing to let the team leave in an attempt to prevent them from documenting the cruelty of the seal hunt. HSUS officials have placed calls to the American State Department, the American Embassy and the local police.
04/13/2006 BOLLYWOOD ACTOR GETS FIVE YEARS IN JAIL FOR POACHING DEER!
New Delhi - Bollywood star Salman Khan, 40, was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for poaching an endangered blackbuck deer, media reports said. A court in India's north-western Rajasthan state found the popular actor guilty under the Wildlife Act and also fined him 25,000 rupees (557 dollars) in the 1998 incident, the PTI news agency reported.
04/11/2006 FIRE RAGES IN BULGARIAN TOWN AND KILLS LIVE-STOCK!
Blazes in the southern town of Pliska have consumed a farm building of over 700 square meters and killed many domesticated animals, media reported. Firefighters managed to stop the flames before they reached a nearby farm. However they failed to save the livestock from the burning building. Investigators are yet to determine what caused the inferno.
04/10/2006 ITALY ENACTS TEMPORARY BAN IN SEAL PRODUCTS!
Demonstrating the growing momentum in Europe to shut down the markets for seal products, Italy has temporarily suspended the import of seal skins and seal derived products on February 13, 2006. According to the Italian Vice-Minister for Trade and Industrial Affairs, no new import licences will be granted in the coming months. This is a critical step towards putting an end to the cruel and unjustifiable massacre of seals in Canada's commercial seal hunt.
04/09/2006 DAY 12 OF HUNGER STRIKE AND IMPRISONMENT FOR ANTI-SEALING ACTIVIST!
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Eastern Canada -Dr. Jerry Vlasak - one of three Press Officers with the North American Animal Liberation Press Office (NAALPO) - remains in jail on his 12th day of a hunger strike in Charlottetown, PEI. Vlasak surrendered to authorities Monday, March 27th, and began a hunger strike in protest of his unjust conviction stemming from last year's seal slaughter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Dr. Vlasak said from jail last week: "Three-fourths of all newborn seals may have already perished in the Gulf of St. Lawrence due to record warm weather's melting the ice from beneath them. Meanwhile, the violent barbarians are bludgeoning the survivors to death at this very moment. The pathetic murderers of Newfoundland must be stopped."The "first phase" of the seal slaughter ended last week in the Gulf of St. Lawrence having killed ninety-thousand baby seals. The "second phase" of the massacre in the Labrador Front, Newfoundland started three days ago and is going to kill 234,000 baby seals.
04/07/2006 PINK: I'M LUCKY HEATHER IS MY FRIEND!
Pink has become great pals with Heather Mills McCartney after they bonded over a shared passion for fighting fur. "I think she's amazing," says the singer. "She's so smart and beautiful and sweet and caring and she's opened my eyes about a lot of issues."The activist wife of Sir Paul first talked to Pink at the 25th anniversary of Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). "I've been into animal rights since school and Heather has really made me think about things I hadn't considered before," she says.
04/06/2006 ADI STEPS UP INTERNATIONAL CIRCUS CAMPAIGN IN GREECE!
One of the biggest animal protection campaigns Greece has ever seen is being launched this week by Animal Defenders International (ADI) with 50 Greek-based animal welfare groups in Crete, Thessaloniki, Athens, and Halkidiki. The campaign aims to end the use of animals in Greek circuses. The Greek launch follows circus campaigns in the UK, Norway, Ireland, Portugal, and South America. Video evidence collected by ADI has secured bans on animal circuses in Costa Rica and Singapore. This month both the UK and Scottish Parliaments have also committed to ban wild animals in travelling circuses.
04/05/2006 COOP SWITZERLAND DEVELOPS NEW VEGETARIAN PRODUCT LINE!
The no. 2 in the Swiss food market is developing a new product line for vegetarians under the Délicorn label. The basic ingredients are soya/wheat, tofu/wheat and organic corn. All products are certified by the Swiss Association of Vegetarianism (SVV) and eight of them carry the organic bud. The sale of vegetarian food has increased by some 50 % in the last five years and the trend is still upwards, reports Lebensmittel Praxis. Délicorn products are obtainable in minced or chopped form, or as pepper grilling steak, organic vegetable burger or yasoya curry. The products include information on cooking or a recipe idea. The Coop restaurants are currently supplementing their meals with Délicorn products.
04/04/2006 NEW EU TESTING ALTERNATIVES SAVE ANIMALS!
The Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) has approved six new alternative testing methods that will reduce the need for certain drugs and chemicals to be tested on animals. The new tests use cell cultures rather than animals to establish the toxicity of cancer drugs and identify contaminated drugs. The tests will not only reduce the number of animals needed for testing, but will also increase the accuracy of the tests, thereby making the products concerned safer. The role of ECVAM, which is based at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, is to replace, refine and reduce methods of animal testing for cosmetics, drugs and chemicals. Tests validated by ECVAM must be approved by its Scientific Advisory Committee, composed of representatives of the 25 member states, academia, industry and animal welfare organizations before they can be used in labs across Europe.
04/03/2006 COSTCO MAKES BUSINESS DECISION!
After discussions with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Costco's senior management team have decided to remove seal oil capsules from the shelves of their St. John's location, their only store in Canada where the capsules were available. Canada has spent millions of dollars searching for and creating new products and markets for seals. Most have been impractical and all have involved the inflicting of incredible cruelty and death to hundreds of thousands of young seal pups every year.
04/02/2006 INDIA'S VULTURES FALL PREY TO A DRUG IN THE CATTLE THEY FEED ON!
New Delhi - Until recently the vulture was an integral part of the Indian landscape. Vultures were so abundant that ornithologists never even thought to monitor their population. But conservationists are now warning that a drug used to treat sick cows in South Asia is killing the scavenging vultures by the millions. They say the drug is responsible for a 97 percent decline in the species in India during the past decade.Wildlife experts have criticized what they call the government's lethargic approach to a promised ban on the drug, diclofenac, a cheap painkiller for cattle that is poisonous to vultures.
04/02/2006 MADRAS HIGH COURT ORDERS END TO BULLFIGHTS!
The Madras High Court has directed the state police not to grant permission for holding Jallikattu, the famous bullfights, and other sports inflicting cruelty on animals. The ancient bullfights have often been criticised as thousands of bulls are subjected to various forms of torture from assault to intoxication.
04/01/2006 SWEDEN FINDS MINK INFECTED WITH BIRD FLU VIRUS!
Stockholm - Swedish veterinarians have found a mink with an aggressive form of the H5 bird flu virus and had the mammal put down, the National Veterinary Institute said on Monday. The animal was found in the Blekinge region of south Sweden, an area where several bird flu cases have been found. What is initially described as an aggressive form of H5 bird flu is often later confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. The mink probably got the disease from eating wild birds which were already infected, the Institute said in a statement.
The number of news found: 27.
