News
The number of news found: 56.
03/31/2008 THREE DEAD, ONE MAN MISSING DURING THE CANADIAN SEAL HUNT
A disabled fishing trawler under tow from a coast guard icebreaker slammed into a piece of ice and capsized in the dark early Saturday, sending six seal hunters into a mad scramble for survival that ended with at least three dead. Two hunters were rescued from the water while three bodies were recovered from the overturned L'Acadien II, a 12-metre boat based in Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Que. Other sealers from Iles-de-la-Madeleine were so overcome by the tragedy that they cancelled the rest of their season. Bruno-Pierre Bourque, one of two known survivors, says a combination of speed and inattention by the coast guard crew led to the accident. When the hunt opened on Friday, fishermen from the islands steamed toward a large herd of seals in the Cabot Strait between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In total, hunters are allowed to take up to 275,000 animals this season, virtually all of them young harp seals. About 70 per cent will be slaughtered next month in a vast area north of Newfoundland known as the Front. Animal rights activists blamed the deaths on Canadian government policy allowing the seal hunt.
03/31/2008 SCOTLAND'S PIG INDUSTRY COULD DISAPPEAR WITHIN A FEW MONTHS
Industry observers say that Scotland's pig industry could disappear within a few months - a report in the Scotsman, quotes a stark message from Jim McLaren, president of NFU Scotland. Official Statistics have tracked a marked decline in the breeding herd over the past decade and there is a real possibility that there will hardly be a pig left in Scotland. Although the industry is relatively small, he affirms that it is vitally important to Scotland's farming industry. He said that has been under immense pressure for many months, while last year's foot-and-mouth crisis did little to engender any sense of optimism for the longer-term. It is generally agreed that every pig leaving Scottish farms for slaughter is losing its producer at least £26. Higher feed costs are clearly a major influence, as the daily ration accounts for almost 80 per cent of total cost of production.
03/30/2008 TEENAGERS BAILED OVER SHEEP DEATH
Five youths arrested over the death of a heavily pregnant ewe who was kicked and stabbed with a pitchfork in Norfolk have been released on police bail. The sheep was taken from Polka Road, Wells-next-the-Sea, and dragged through the town before its body was dumped in a wheelie bin. Police arrested the five teenage boys in the early hours of Sunday after following a trail of blood. The boys have been released on bail pending further inquiries.
03/30/2008 FAO WARNS BIRD FLU CIRCLING INDONESIA COULD SPIRAL INTO HUMAN PANDEMIC
"The human mortality rate from bird flu in Indonesia is the highest in the world and there will be more human cases if we do not focus more on containing the disease at source in animals," said FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech. "Furthermore, I am deeply concerned that the high level of virus circulation in birds in the country could create conditions for the virus to mutate and to finally cause a human influenza pandemic," Domenech warned.
03/29/2008 RUSSIA TO ALLOW HUNTING OF BEAR CUBS
Russian authorities plan to change bear-hunting regulations to allow the killing of cubs in lairs during hibernation season, animal rights groups said Wednesday. Hunting for bears with young cubs is illegal in Russia, but the rule is not enforced for hibernating bears. The Agriculture Ministry refused to comment on the report, made by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The group said in a statement that, under the proposed new regulations, hunters will be permitted to shoot cubs if they discover they have killed the mother in the den. Proponents argue that hunting bears curbs threats to people living near bear habitat. But Maria Vorontsova, the International Fund forAnimal Welfare's director in Russia, said officials are portraying Russia's bear population as greater than it really is.
03/29/2008 SAFE IN ANIMALS BUT STOPS KIDS HEARTS
U.S. regulatory staff have recommended updating the prescribing instructions for a Baxter International anesthesia drug after three reports of cardiac arrest in children. Food and Drug Administration staff said it was possible the cases were associated with the Baxter drug Suprane. But they also said each of the patients was being treated with other drugs that may cause cardiac arrest. The label for Suprane, known generically as desflurane, already carries warnings about other cardiac problems including heart attacks, irregular heart beats and unstable blood pressure. The FDA reviewers said Suprane's label "should be revised to include cardiac arrest." Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said the company would review the FDA staff analysis.
03/28/2008 WILDEARTH GUARDIANS SUES FOR 681 SPECIES
Environmentalists filed suit last week against the U.S. Interior Department, seeking to force the agency to review and issue findings on the status of 681 species vulnerable to extinction. WildEarth Guardians, which filed the suit, contends that the Bush administration has deliberately stalled Endangered Species Act listing decisions to appease developers and other interests; the group wants to compel the agency to tackle its species-listing backlog. A recent Washington Post investigation shows just how much Interior has been stalling on the species front. Over the past seven years, the Bush administration has listed only 59 species total under the ESA; in contrast, Clinton listed an average of 62 each year, and Bush's father listed about 58 each year. More important, the Bush administration has made it much more difficult for imperiled species to get protection in the first place. At various times, it's disregarded scientific advisers, narrowed a species' protected range to areas where it is currently found instead of its historic range, and barred the use of information from agency files to support new listings, among other tactics.
03/27/2008 EU OFFICIALS CONSIDERING "MEASURES" TO PROTEST CANADIAN SEAL-HUNT
The European Union is considering measures against Canada to protest its annual seal hunt set to start later this week off its Atlantic coast, EU officials said Wednesday. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is "looking into the nature of the inhumane killing of seals," and is drafting a text to be presented before June, EU spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told reporters. She would not say if the measures could include an import ban on products derived from Canadian seals, or other economic or political sanctions. Animal rights campaigners and lawmakers are putting increasing pressure on the EU's executive office to take a tougher stand against the annual hunt, which has been criticized as cruel. The European Parliament last year called on the EU to impose a fur import ban.
03/26/2008 SEOUL MOVES TO CLASSIFY DOGS AS LIVESTOCK
Seoul City Administration recently decided to put dogs into the category of livestock. And for that it said it would recommend it to the central govermnent for the official approval, a local daily Chosun Ilbo reported on March 24, 2008. A Seoul city official was quoted as sayig "there are 528 dog meat restaurants in Seoul alone, and the number of dog meat restaurants increases to 600 on Dog Days during the summer."
03/25/2008 ANIMAL RIGHTS MP DEMANDS END TO RITUAL SLAUGHTER
A leading Dutch animal rights politician Thursday demanded that an end to be put to ritual slaughters of animals in The Netherlands, while cautioning that this stance is not meant as criticism of the Muslim and Jewish faiths. Marianne Thieme, leader of the Dutch Animal Party and a member of the Dutch parliament, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that ritual slaughtering was inhumane and caused unnecessary stress to animals. Instead, she advocates that animals be made unconscious by an electric shock before they are ritually slaughtered. Ritual slaughtering, performed by Muslims and Jews alike, involves cutting the animal's throat in a single strike. The arteries running from the brain to the spine are to be cut first. In addition, animals are kept out of the slaughtering site until it is their turn, a practice meant to ensure they do not witness the killing of other animals before their own death.
03/24/2008 SEA SHEPHERD ANNOUNCES SEAL DEFENSE CAMPAIGN 2008
For the first time since 2005, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will head north into the ice packs off Eastern Canada to defend baby harp seals from the ruthless clubs of Canadian sealers. The Sea Shepherd ship, Farley Mowat, currently docked in Bermuda is estimated to depart March 24, with an international crew of volunteers, into the ice packs of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to once again act as shepherds in defense of the harp seal pups. Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn has set this year's quota at 275,000 seals to be killed, 5,000 higher than last year, without any scientific justification and without any market justification. In announcing the new quota Hearn said that the seal slaughter has been improved with new rules to make the hunt more 'humane.' The new rules are being imposed in an attempt to convince the European Parliament to not ban seal products into Europe. Canada is spending a small fortune in sending delegations to Europe to plea for the right to continue to massacre seal pups. Sea Shepherd has been working to remove the markets for seal products as well as mounting dramatic confrontations on the ice to physically save the seals from the cruel clubs of the sealers. Captain Watson has been fighting the Canadian seal slaughter all his life. The commercial hunt was shut down in 1984 and resurrected in 1994.
03/24/2008 KNUT'S ZOO EMBROILED IN ANIMAL SLAUGHTER SCANDAL
The Berlin Zoo director who helped turn Germany's rejected polar bear, Knut, into an international celebrity has been put under pressure to resign amid allegations that he had bred and sold animals for slaughter. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, the director of two of Berlin's prestigious zoos, was accused by a Green Party politician and animal rights experts of selling a pygmy hippopotamus and a family of Asiatic black bears for slaughter in two separate deals conducted in the early 1990s. He also faced allegations that he had allowed the Berlin Zoo to cross-breed panthers with leopards and that nine tigers and jaguars were sold to China where they were slaughtered and their remains used as a cure for impotence. Mr. Blaszkiewitz categorically denied the charges which were lodged with Berlin state prosecutors late on Wednesday by Claudia Hämmerling, a Green Party MP in the city's parliament. Berlin state prosecutors said they were still examining Mrs. Hämmerling's allegations to assess whether there were grounds to bring charges against Mr Blaszkiewitz.
03/23/2008 VEGAN DIET "HELP" FOR ARTHRITIS
Rheumatoid arthritis patients may be able to reduce their high risk of heart attacks and strokes with a gluten-free, vegan diet, a study suggests. Heart attacks and strokes are among the leading causes of death for sufferers, as the inflammation caused by the disease impacts upon the arteries. But an Arthritis Research and Therapy study found those who pursued a vegan regime had less "bad" cholesterol. By clogging arteries, this is seen as a key risk factor for heart problems. Rheumatoid Arthritis affects around 350,000 people in the UK. But researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm say this risk could be reduced through a diet which excludes animal products and gluten - found in wheat, oats, rye and barley.
03/23/2008 DIOXIN SCANDAL TAINTS ITALY'S BEST MOZZARELLA
Makers of Italy's best mozzarella battled on Friday to save the reputation of their cheese after police found some of it was being made with milk contaminated with cancer-causing dioxin. Police near Naples are investigating whether feed given to buffalo herds, which produce the best milk for mozzarella, was tainted, possibly by gangsters involved in illegal waste disposal. The scandal is the latest blow to the cheese which used to be seen as by-word for fresh and natural Italian produce.
03/22/2008 INTERSEX TRAITS RAISE CONCERNS ABOUT RUN-OFF
Researchers at the National Fish Health Research Laboratory found an increased incidence of both male and female sexual characteristics in smallmouth (Micropterus dolomieu) bass in the Potomac River, Virginia. In other words, a study has found that male fish may develop female characteristics when exposed to run-off in areas of intensive agricultural production. The findings, which also support previous discoveries in Canada, could have implications for human health.
03/22/2008 SCOTLAND AND WESTMINSTER TOE TO TOE OVER DOLPHIN'S WELFARE
The Scottish Government is on a collision course with Westminster over the well-being of a pod of dolphins off the coast of Scotland. Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead said no decision should be made on gas and oil exploration in the inner Moray Firth before further investigations have been done to establish the possible danger to the dolphins, following a recommendation by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The bottlenose dolphins swim in the special area of conservation which was set up for their protection and is now under the spotlight as part of a study by Westminster.
03/21/2008 DOLPHIN THERAPY SMELLS FISHY
For some physically and mentally handicapped children, swimming with dolphins is a dream come true. That dream is shared by a multi-million dollar industry that provides so-called dolphin-assisted therapy for a few thousand dollars per session. For the dolphins, the interactions with humans tend to be a nightmare. Yet while laboratory animal are at least poked and prodded for some good for humankind, interacting with dolphins provides no long-term human health benefits and is largely an unproven therapy that can cheat patients out of real treatment, according to two recent studies.
03/21/2008 SANTA CATARINA AND ITALY SIGN A PROTOCOL TO EXPORT LIVE CATTLE
Governor and vice-governor of Santa Catarina, a Brasilian state, had an appointment Tuesday, March 4, with Italian entrepreneurs. The goal of the meeting was to sign a protocol with the intent of exporting live cattle from Brasil to Italy, starting in 2009. Italy was represented by Renzo Fossato, head of the Italian organisation Uniceb. In 2009 Brasil is expected to export 50 thousand animals, but the number could get up to 150 thousand per year.
03/20/2008 SPIDEY STAR TURNS PORTMAN OFF ANIMAL PRODUCTS
Spiderman star Tobey Maguire made Natalie Portman become a vegan. The Star Wars actress, who was already a strict vegetarian, was put under pressure by the actor on the set of their upcoming movie Brothers to take up a diet completely free of animal products. Natalie said: "I was around Tobey Maguire in rehearsals and he's vegan and I was eating this energy bar, which was really nice. I'm honest about caring about animals. You know, eggs and milk products, there's a lot of animal discomfort in that, too. I don't know if it's a permanent thing." Natalie, 26, says she first become a vegetarian because she didn't want to eat a kosher diet. The brunette beauty – who was brought up in a Jewish household and went to a Jewish school – told Marie Claire magazine: "I used to bring non-kosher food in my lunch bag and my mom would make me lie and say I had tuna when really it was non-kosher chicken salad. I hated that, so I said, 'I'm a vegetarian.' It was my out."
03/20/2008 INDIA CONDUCTS NIGHT RAIDS TO CONTAIN BIRD FLU
Authorities in India's east battling to contain a fresh outbreak of bird flu said they were raiding farms at night to catch chickens and ducks and counter unwilling villagers who have refused to hand over poultry. Only a month after authorities in West Bengal declared that bird flu was under control, a fresh outbreak was reported from the state's Murshidabad district, where 900 backyard poultry died over the last two weeks. Some villagers have also let their poultry loose during the day and hide them inside their homes at night, Subir Bhadra, a senior district official said from Murshidabad. "These are problems we are facing and therefore we have decided to surprise the villagers by conducting night-time raids," Bhadra said. "It is working, although villagers are superstitious and seem closely attached to their poultry, which also puts them at a health risk."
03/19/2008 DOG-MEAT RESTAURANT BAN "MASKS NATIONWIDE CRUELTY"
Restaurants serving dog meat in Beijing have been ordered to close for fear of upsetting thousands of western tourists arriving for this year's Olympic Games. But British environmental activists say the dog-meat ban is a cynical, cosmetic move while appalling animal cruelty continues throughout China. Investigation agency Ecostorm gained access to China's dog-meat industry and secured pictures of dogs being brutally killed with clubs and knives. The images show the animals taking up to seven minutes to die before they are boiled and skinned to be eaten. Posing as British businessmen, investigators spent several weeks visiting dog-restaurants and processing factories outside Beijing. They claim the video is one of the worst examples of animal-abuse they have seen.
03/19/2008 VEGAN STRIP CLUB OPENED!
What might be the world's only vegan strip club opened last month in Portland. There are no leather or other animal products used in any of the on-stage costumes, and most of the strippers say they're vegan as well. Instead of the usual bar grub, the menu has vegan replicas of chicken nuggets and the like. As the owner has charmingly put it in interviews, "the only meat we have is up on stage." A long-time vegan himself, Johnny Diablo, seems a little defensive about his enterprise - or let's say he's gotten used to defending himself. As he said to a reporter from Maclean's, "Critics throw that word around a lot: exploitation. Let's look at it. How are we exploiting women? Are we hacking off their limbs? Peeling their skin away? Putting them on a barbecue? What we're doing to animals is not exploitation; we're murdering them. It's not apples to apples. Critics like to connect it and I wholeheartedly disagree with the people who are in that camp. I call them Feminazis, and I say, 'Hey, we're Femilibertarians: do whatever you want, as long as you don't step on somebody else's hooves.'"
03/18/2008 AUSTRALIAN MILITARY WILL KILL HUNDREDS OF KANGAROOS
Australia's military will cull up to 500 wild kangaroos on a military base in the capital city of Canberra after authorities determined that it would be too costly to relocate them. Officials say overgrazing 'roos are endangering native grassland, a local lizard, and the threatened golden sun moth. A plan to shoot the animals was abandoned after police warned that stray bullets could strike nearby residents or protesters, so the kangaroos will be tranquilized and then given lethal injections.
03/18/2008 NAKED PREGNANT MOTHER PIG PROTEST
A nude heavily pregnant mother protested naked in a farrowing crate in London's busy Covent garden to highlight the plight of mother pigs on Mother's day. Pigs are one of the most intelligent of all animals, more intelligent than dogs, and so like humans they have also been experimented on to provide replacements for human body parts, vital organs such as heart, kidneys, liver, etc. Organised by PETA to highlight the reality of bacon, ham, pork sausages, pork chops and the production of hotdogs and the issue of the mother pigs routinely trapped in a crate with no room to move.
03/17/2008 BEAR CONVICTED FOR THEFT OF HONEY
The taste of honey was just too tempting for a bear in Macedonia, which repeatedly raided a beekeeper's hives. Now it has a criminal record after a court found it guilty of theft and criminal damage. But there was an empty dock in the court in the city of Bitola and no handcuffed bear, which was convicted in its absence. The case was brought by the exasperated beekeeper after a year of trying vainly to protect his beehives. For a while, he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music. But when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent, the bear was back and the honey was gone once more. Because the animal had no owner and belonged to a protected species, the court ordered the state to pay for the damage to the hives - around $3,500 (£1,750; 2,238 euros). The bear, meanwhile, remains at large - somewhere in Macedonia.
03/17/2008 VEGETARIAN FAST FOOD CHAIN LAUNCHED IN THE US
US restaurant group Zen Burger aims to revolutionise the fast food world with a chain of vegetarian outlets. The first Zen Burger fast food restaurant has opened in New Yorks' Lexington Avenue. It specialises in meatless comfort foods that copy those sold in traditional fast-food chains, such as the ZenSausage breakfast sandwich, ZenBeef burgers, crispy ZenChicken sandwich, ZenTuna sandwich, ZenHotDog, ZenChicken tenders, ZenShrimp and French fries, as well as organic soups salads. Zen Burger founder, James Tu, plans to take the chain nationwide, with the next restaurant slated to open in Hollywood. While vegetarians make up a small but rapidly growing segment the US population, "flexitarians" - those who eat a vegetarian diet some of the time, but not always - are a much larger group and the company's real target.
03/16/2008 NEBRASKA MEAT WORKER GETS SICK
A former meatpacker in Nebraska has the same neurological condition that has struck workers at pork processing plants in Minnesota and Indiana, and that sparked a nationwide disease investigation in November. The Nebraska case is the first in that state. Like the other workers, the Nebraska meatpacker, who has not been identified, worked at a processing plant that uses a high pressure air system to remove brains from pigs, Nebraska health officials said. The newest case brings the total number of workers known to be affected to 14. Officials say that as the investigation continues to look into past workers at all three plants, they expect to find more cases. Those affected have reported fatigue, numbness and tingling in their arms and legs with a wide range of severity. Some have recovered and returned to work, while others are severely disabled. Officials are calling the condition progressive inflammatory neuropathy, or PIN.
03/16/2008 DOLPHIN SAVES TWO WHALES STUCK ON NEW ZEALAND BEACH
The case of two stranded whales saved by a dolphin off the coast of New Zealand could be the first such case in the world, a conservation worker said on Thursday. Moko the dolphin, a regular visitor to the coast of Mahia on the east Coast of New Zealand's North Island, became an instant hero after leading two pygmy whales that had repeatedly stranded into deep water on Monday. "As far as I know it's the only documented instance of this happening," said local Department of Conservation officer Malcolm Smith, adding he had checked with whale stranding specialists who were also unaware of any similar dolphin rescues. Moko, who had been visiting the beach at Mahia on and off over the summer, arrived at the beach in the nick of time, Smith said. The disoriented mother and calf had resisted attempts to herd them out to sea, and kept restranding on the beach, to the point where Smith said the pair would likely have to be killed. Then Moko appeared, and came right up to the whales before leading them out to sea.
03/15/2008 ARCHANGEL BLOODY SEAL PUP CULL HALTED!
The slaughter of thousands of seals, many only a few days old, during the traditional cull in the Archangel region of northern Russia each March has been halted this year amid protests by celebrities and environmental groups, and calls for hunting to be outlawed. Officials in Archangel insisted that the cull had been cancelled to protect the hunters, not the seals, because ice sheets close to the White Sea were too thin to walk on. The decision, however, came at a time of heightened protests by animal rights groups. About 335,000 people have signed a petition against the hunting of baby seals. Annual quotas allow up to 35,000 baby seals to be killed in the White Sea during ten days in March.
03/15/2008 "SECRET PLAN" TO LET JAPAN RESUME WHALING
Controversial plans to lift the worldwide ban on whaling were presented to a secret meeting of more than 70 governments in London. The plans, which have alarmed environmentalists, have been welcomed by both pro- and anti-whaling governments and seek to lift a long stalemate over hunting, enabling Japan officially to resume commercial whaling for the first time in more than 20 years. The plans would permit the world's main whaling nation to carry out a limited hunt in waters close to its shores. In return, Japan would have to stop exploiting a loophole in international law, through which it kills hundreds of whales around Antarctica each year under the guise of "scientific research".
03/14/2008 LOGGERS INVADED BUTTERFLY HAVEN
Illegal loggers have chopped their way deep into unique forest reserves in a mountain range in central Mexico where millions of monarch butterflies from eastern North America roost for the winter, according to researchers who posted satellite photographs of the area on a NASA Web site. Forests of oyamel fir trees in Michoacán and Mexico States have for thousands of years been a winter haven for the resplendent orange and black butterflies, the most famous "charismatic megafauna" of the insect world, said Lincoln P. Brower, a professor emeritus of biology at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, who has studied the butterflies and their shrinking winter habitat for decades. The images, posted online at earthobservatory.nasa.gov, show fresh clear-cutting in an area that held large butterfly colonies last year. The images were taken by the commercial Ikonos satellite for the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary Foundation, a group with which Dr. Brower is associated. The photographs show that cutting is taking place inside a protected "core zone" established by presidential decree in November 2000.
03/14/2008 INDIAN KASMIR AUTHORITIES CANCEL PLANS TO POISON MORE THAN 100,000 STRAY DOGS
Faced with protests from animal rights groups, authorities in the main city of Indian Kashmir have canceled plans to poison its nearly 100,000 stray dogs as part of an anti-rabies program, an official said last Friday. Local officials would instead work with animal welfare groups and a team from the federal Environment Ministry to chart out a plan to sterilize the strays, said Syed Haq Nawaz, commissioner of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation. "We're not going ahead with this poisoning. Not at all," Nawaz said. India has the world's highest rabies fatality rate and has struggled with ways to control the millions of stray dogs that live on its streets, a problem exacerbated by its rapidly growing cities and slums. A senior health officer in Srinagar had said that the city planned to poison its nearly 100,000 stray dogs with strychnine.
03/13/2008 PREMIER WILL BLOCK WESTERN PROVINCES CAPTURE AND EXPORT OF LIVE DOLPHINS IN SOLOMON ISLANDS
The International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute is thanking the Premier of the Western Provinces of the Solomon Islands for rejecting the capture and export of live dolphins. Mr. Alex Lokopio, Premiere, stated that no dolphins would be caught and no dolphins would be exported; instead, he said, the dolphins of the Western Provinces of the Solomon Islands would remain free. Premiere Lokopio was responding to concerns that Earth Island would not allow global companies to catch and export tuna from the Solomons if the government allowed exploitation of wild dolphins for captivity, a violation of the international standards for Dolphin Safe tuna. Trafficking in live dolphins has become a lucrative source of funds for international operators who sell such dolphins to aquariums and "swim-with-dolphins" programs that are popular in tourist spots. But the wild dolphins involved often die during the capture and transport process, and have shortened life spans in captivity.
03/13/2008 USDA COULD INSTALL CAMERAS IN SLAUGHTERHOUSES
Cameras could be placed in about 800 U.S. slaughterhouses to watch for improper procedures and inhumane handling of cattle. A Senate committee recommended installing the cameras three years ago, but the proposal is getting new consideration in the wake of a massive recall of beef last month, Agriculture Undersecretary Richard Raymond told a House committee past Thursday. "It is really the inhumane handling issue," Raymond told CNN. "I can't see putting these in a plant that makes jerky, in a processing plant." Raymond said that logistical issues still exist, including figuring out who would watch the cameras and how they would be controlled. The recall was initiated after the release of videotape taken by a Humane Society of the United States employee with a hidden camera over a six-week period while employed at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Co. in Chino, California. The video, which was released to the news media on January 30, showed "downer" cows being chained, dragged, rolled, kicked and jabbed in an effort to make them stand and be led into a chute for slaughter. Workers prodded the animals with forklifts and shot powerful streams of water into their nostrils to induce them to move.
03/12/2008 CANADA SAYS 275,000 SEALS CAN BE KILLED THIS YEAR
Hunters will be allowed to kill 275,000 young harp seals on the ice floes off eastern Canada this year, the government said on Monday, a number that animal rights activists said was totally unsustainable. The quota is slightly more than last year's 270,000, when ice conditions were poor, but considerably below the 335,000 set in 2006. The animals are either shot or clubbed to death in a hunt that takes place in March and April each year. The furs are turned into clothes and there is a growing market for seal oil. Activists complain the hunt is cruel and say they often catch sealers killing animals in an inhumane way. Ottawa says that from this year hunters will be obliged to take extra steps to ensure the seals die humanely. The government's official plan calls for the herd to be kept at 4.1 million animals or above. Activists, who since 2005 have been urging U.S. restaurant chains to boycott Canadian seafood until the seal hunt is stopped, say they are optimistic the European Union will soon impose a ban on the import of all seal products from Canada.
03/12/2008 SWISS TO BAN CAT FUR TRADE AFTER ANIMALS VANISH
Switzerland is to ban the trade in cat fur following an outcry in France over the disappearance of hundreds of domestic cats allegedly poached for their soft coats. Under Swiss law, it is permitted to kill stray cats and sell their fur for £3 a piece to tanneries. Cat fur products in clothes and belts are believed to ease rheumatism. However, the Swiss have come under intense pressure to end the practice after hundreds of domestic cats vanished over the French border. The cat activist group SOS Chat accused poachers of stealing cats and selling them to tanners in violation of Swiss law which bans the import of cat fur but allows domestic production and sale. According to local animal rights groups, dozens of cats were reported missing in one day in several border villages, and their collars left behind. In response, the Swiss police set up a special cat unit called Félin 74, but found no organised cat ring.
03/11/2008 INDIA TO KILL 100,000 DOGS TO FIGHT RABIES
Authorities in Indian Kashmir have begun poisoning stray dogs in an anti-rabies drive that aims to kill some 100,000 dogs in the region's main city, officials said Thursday. Animal rights activists vowed to go to court to stop the slaughter planned by Srinagar city, saying it is an illegal and cruel solution to a problem that could be better addressed with other methods. With the world's highest rabies fatality rate, India has grappled with ways to control the millions of stray dogs that live on its streets. In Srinagar, city officials vowed to press ahead with the plan already under way to poison strays with strychnine.
03/11/2008 JENNA JAMESON PETA AD "PLEATHER YOURSELF"
Former porn princess Jenna Jameson is set to unveil a PETA campaign this week during Los Angeles Fashion Week. The itty-bitty blonde dons a barely there bikini and black wig to evoke screen siren/bondage legend Bettie Page in the sin-tastic and pro-synthetic PETA ad "Pleather Yourself: Discover the Pleasure of Pleather." "I've worn a lot of pleather in my life," Jameson told via a rep from the animal-rights organization. "Anybody who knows me knows that I've kind of lived half my life in it. I love the idea of having choices outside of leather. The outfit that I'm wearing in the ad is so sexy that I suggest if people want to have a better time in the bedroom - then please explore the pleather side."
03/10/2008 SEA SHEPHERD CAPTAIN SHOT BY JAPANESE WHALERS
The Captain of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship, the Steve Irwin, claims he has been shot by Japanese whalers during a confrontation in the Southern Ocean. Paul Watson says members of his crew threw stink bombs aboard the whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, and the Japanese responded by returning flash grenades. He says one of his crew was hit by a grenade and received minor injuries. Mr Watson says he then felt a thud in his chest and found a bullet lodged in his bullet-proof vest. He says even before shots were fired, the Japanese whalers were acting recklessly in their confrontation. Mr Watson says there is no justification for the whalers opening fire.
03/10/2008 LA TEACHER ENCOURAGES CHILDREN NOT TO KILL INSECTS
An L.A. school teacher Melodie Conrad at Eagle Rock Elementary School & Magnet Center created student "bug monitors" to rescue insects and return them to the outdoors. If any insect wanders into her classroom, the student bug monitor swoops in with a paper towel or napkin, scoops up the animal and shepherds it outside. To get her students to start thinking about this issue, she asks her students why some want to kill bugs. And it's instilled a sense of respect for life among her students. Ms. Conrad's bug-monitor bid comes amid a growing shift in consciousness toward more social responsibility, from recycling to caring about endangered species. An Internet search shows several bug-advocate sites including Insect Rights Activists, an organization that "lobbies for the humane treatment of insects."
03/09/2008 ANIMAL EXPERIMENT CONFERENCE PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON SCOTLAND AS VIVISECTION CENTER OF GREAT BRITAIN
As animal experimenters from the UK and beyond gathered in Scotland for the Institute of Animal Technology 2008 congress (Aviemore, 4-6 March), animal welfare campaigners released shocking new figures showing that Scotland is the center of Great Britain for experimenting on non-human primates. Even more disturbing is that more primates are used in experiments per head of population in Scotland than anywhere else in the EU. A staggering 10,000 primates are still used in experiments in European laboratories each year. Around one third of these experiments are conducted in Britain - and nearly one in 10 takes place in Scotland. Latest figures show that per capita, a disproportionately high 1,266 (30%) of the 4,204 experiments conducted on primates in GB in 2006 were undertaken in Scottish laboratories.
03/09/2008 FARMERS AND SCIENTISTS JOIN FIGHT AGAINST CLONING
A monster coalition of farmers, scientists, consumers, environmentalists and animal welfare campaigners has written an open letter to the European Commission to call for an immediate ban on the cloning of animals for food production, and on the import and sale of imported food products from cloned animals and their offspring. Signatories from 20 different organisations point out that cloning is inefficient, would greatly reduce genetic diversity within livestock populations, and would encourage people to view farm animals as commodities rather than sentient beings. The participation of such diverse organisations indicates how widespread concerns about cloning are and how strong opposition against it is. The coalition includes organisations such as European Farmers Coordination, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Friends of the Earth, and European Public Health Alliance.
03/08/2008 CAT RESCUED FROM 30 FEET DEEP WELL
Nani, a three-month-old kitten, was rescued by fire brigade officials and animal lovers in Kalyan, 16 days after it fell and got trapped inside a 30-feet deep dry well. The residents ensured that the kitten survived and then looked for help from professional animal rescuers. Nani had been living with the family of Suryakant Mistry, a resident of Kalyan's Agra Road since her birth. On February 18 Nani did not return home after her evening stroll. She had slipped inside a well. On February 19, fire brigade officers were called. Though they entered the well, they could not rescue Nani. For the next few days, the residents kept looking for professional help. Meanwhile, Shilpa Harkare, a resident of the same building, ensured that the kitten survived. "I used to soak bread in milk, put it in a bucket and lower it into the well. Then we found the contact number of Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), who came to our rescue."
03/08/2008 PAKISTANIAN GOVERNMENT URGED TO STOP ANIMAL KILLING IN PIROWAL
Animals Safety Organisation (ASO) has demanded the higher authorities to immediately stop the killing of animals which was started by the Department of Wildlife in Pirowal (Khanewal). For fifteen days the Department has allowed hunters to shoot precious and unique animals, including bulls - neel gai, black bucks, mouflon sheep, and hog deer, in the forest of Pirowal at very low cost. ASO strongly condemns the killing of the animals as a means of income and demands that the responsible authorities sell these animals instead of letting hunters shoot them against payment. This would not only save the lives of the individual animal but at the same time reinforce the strength of species.
03/07/2008 CALL TO ALTER LABELS FOR ANIMALS' SAKE
Food labels should be overhauled to include information on the treatment of animals, says the country's chief law reform commissioner, David Weisbrot, who believes a push for animal rights could be the next great progressive movement in Australia. Professor Weisbrot said labelling laws have not kept up with demand for organic and free-range products and could include a "trustmark" logo to show animals had been treated ethically. "To date, the focus of food standards has been on human health, with no additional consideration of the treatment of animals in the farming and food process," Professor Weisbrot writes in the Australian Law Reform Commission's journal, Reform, whose latest issue is devoted to animal rights.
03/07/2008 USA MARINES PROBE PUPPY-THROWING VIDEO
Military officials are investigating an Internet video that purports to show a Marine throwing a puppy off a rocky cliff. Maj. Chris Perrine of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii says it appears the man is based with a unit in the islands. Marine officials are calling the YouTube video "shocking and deplorable" and say it violates "the high standard we expect of every Marine." The low-quality video shows two Marines joking as one holds up what appears to be a motionless black and white puppy, which he then hurls into a rocky gully. A yelping sound is heard as it flies through the air.
03/06/2008 CIRCUS LION BITES OFF BOY'S ARM IN EAST CHINA
A lion attacked a 10-year-old boy visiting a circus in eastern China, biting off his arm through the bars of its cage, state media said. The boy was looking at the lion at Wanfota Park in Mengcheng, a county in Anhui province, on Saturday when the feline lunged and grabbed the boy with its paws, the Xinhua News Agency said. The reason behind the attack was not immediately clear. Doctors at the No. 1 People's Hospital operated on the boy, Xinhua said. Mengcheng police said the space between the cage's iron bars were too large, and failed to properly contain the lion, according to Xinhua. Police were questioning the park owners and circus organizers. Last year, a 9-year-old boy was eaten by a crocodile in the southern region of Guangxi.
03/06/2008 LONDON'S WILDLIFE CRIME UNIT SAVED FROM THE AXE
The Metropolitan Police has responded to public pressure and reversed a decision to make cuts to London's Wildlife Crime Unit. In March the Metropolitan Police confirmed that they were intending to cut core funding for two of the four posts within the wildlife crime unit due to police budget constraints. However, after receiving 6,000 letters and emails from members of the public urging them not to make the cuts, the Met has reversed the decision. The potential budget shortfall for the Wildlife Crime Unit - which has successfully seized over 30,000 endangered species products illegally traded in London in the past 10 years - was £80,000 a year, a drop in the ocean compared to the overall Metropolitan Police Authority budget of £2.5 billion.
03/05/2008 EGG CORP DISMISSES CALL TO END TO BATTERY HEN FARMING
The Australian Egg Corporation has rejected calls for battery hen farming to be banned. The calls follow the release of disturbing footage of dead and dying hens allegedly taken by animal activists inside Pitt Poultry sheds at Oyster Cove in southern Tasmania last week. The RSPCA and the Greens are calling for intensive hen farming to be banned and the Primary Industries Minister, David Llewellyn, says he is working to end the practice nationally. But the Egg Corporation's Managing Director, James Kellaway, has defended the production method. Meanwhile the Minister for Primary Industries David Llewellyn says he will investigate allegations of breaches of animal health and welfare regulations at Pitt Poultry. Mr Llewellyn says the disturbing footage is at odds with recent official inspections of the farm. He stresssed he is working hard to bring an end to battery hen farming in Australia.
03/05/2008 1,200 BIRDS EUTHANIZED AFTER COCKFIGHTING BUST
More than a thousand birds have been euthanized after RCMP and the SPCA in British Columbia raided the largest cockfighting ring ever discovered in Canada. Officials from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals derided the country's animal cruelty laws, after destroying more than 1,200 birds seized last Wednesday in a cockfighting investigation. The Criminal Code provisions against animal cruelty are "ridiculous" and a "slap on the wrist," said Marcie Moriarty, after SPCA officers and RCMP raided three separate properties in the rural area of Cloverdale, southeast of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. "Our staff had to identify the roosters and then ... humanely destroy them," said Eileen Drever, trying to keep her emotions in check. She said it took 17 society members half a day to destroy the 1,270 seized birds. "Because of the (Criminal Code) legislation, we had no choice but to destroy the birds," she said. "It angers me that all these birds had to lose their lives in the name of sport."
03/04/2008 GOATS IN KASHMIR DYING FROM WEATHER
At least 600 rare Himalayan goats that provide the soft wool for Kashmir's prized Pashmina shawls have died of starvation, officials say. Thousands more goats face death after their desert habitat was blanketed with snow during the region's heaviest snowfall in 30 years. Winter stocks of fodder have reportedly run out, as have emergency supplies sent by the government.
03/03/2008 COMPANION ANIMALS STERILIZATION BECOMES LAW IN LA!
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday signed one of the nation's toughest laws on companion animals sterilization, requiring most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered by the time they are 4 months old. The ordinance is aimed at reducing and eventually eliminating the thousands of euthanizations conducted in Los Angeles' animal shelters every year. "We will, sooner rather than later, become a no-kill city and this is the greatest step in that direction," Councilman Tony Cardenas said as he held a kitten at a City Hall news conference.
03/03/2008 BUSH LEAGUE SCIENCE EXPOSED AS FRAUDULENT
More than 15,000 government scientists have endorsed a report to Congress protesting government cover-ups of scientific data. The report cites multiple examples of government manipulation of science for the sake of political gain, saying the current Administration has censored, suppressed and falsified important environmental and health research. "Although surely the worst, the Bush Administration is not the first, nor will it be the last administration to mistreat and misuse science and scientists," said Anthony Robbins, the former director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The interference has been directed at climate change research, new birth control drugs, species protection, consumer safety studies and agricultural research, the scientists said.
03/02/2008 JAPAN MOVES TO STRENGHTEN STANDING AT IWC
Japan, in a feud with Western nations over whaling, has said it will meet with 12 developing states in a bid to boost its clout in the deadlocked International Whaling Commission (IWC). The foreign ministry said it will hold a "seminar" on Monday for nations that recently joined or plan to join the IWC, which has long been divided between pro and anti-whaling forces. Japanese fisheries officials will also take part in the talks aimed at "obtaining understanding for Japan's position on sustainable whaling," a foreign ministry statement said. Japan, which kills up to 1,000 whales a year, says its whaling is legal and part of its culture, and accuses anti-whaling countries of insensitivity.
03/02/2008 SUSPENDED ZOOKEEPER DECAPITATED FOUR LINES BEFORE BURIAL
The bodies of four decapitated lions were discovered on Wednesday at a wildlife park in Northern Ireland where a zookeeper was this week evicted for allowing a child to stroke a tiger. The decapitated lions were discovered by the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) after officers moved in to regain control of the Old Causeway Safari Park from Norman Elder, who set up the attraction two years ago.
03/01/2008 AN ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP RECEIVED ROYAL SUPPORT FOR ITS CAMPAIGN AGAINST FRENCH DELICACY FOIE GRAS
The Househould of the The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall wrote to Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (Viva) after one of its campaigners contacted Prince Charles. Bristol-based Viva said activist Joyce Moss was appalled to find foie gras for sale in royally appointed shop House of Cheese, in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Mrs Moss wrote to the Prince of Wales to express concern over the way foie gras was produced. Mrs Moss and Viva said sale of the cuisine - a pate made from the liver of a specially fattened duck or a goose - endorses animal cruelty. Mrs Moss received correspondence from Andrew Farquharson, deputy master of the household, to assure her Prince Charles did not use foie gras in his residences and the House of Cheese's right to use the royal crest would be under review.
The number of news found: 56.
