News
The number of news found: 32.
04/30/2009 EU NATIONS AGREE SEAL PRODUCT BAN
European ambassadors approved a European Union plan to ban imports of furs and other products from culled seals on Friday, moving the 27-nation bloc one step closer to a trade clash with Norway and Canada. Both seal-hunting nations have warned the EU in recent weeks that they could challenge the EU ban at the World Trade Organisation, the global trade watchdog, if it takes shape as currently foreseen. "Nothing should now stand in the way of this ban being adopted," said an official from the EU's Czech presidency, which brokered a deal this week that will exclude hunts by the Inuit.
04/29/2009 MEXICO RE-TESTS SWINE FLU CASES
Stricter swine flu tests have cut the number of confirmed deaths in Mexico, where the virus was first reported, from 20 to seven, authorities say. But officials warned the number of deaths likely to have been caused by swine flu has risen to 159 with more than 1,300 patients under observation. The number of cases globally is rising though no-one outside Mexico has died. Germany has become the latest country to confirm its first case of the virus, in a patient in Bavaria. Spain and the UK earlier confirmed two cases each and six other EU states have been monitoring patients suspected of having the virus. At 64, the US has the greatest number of confirmed cases outside Mexico. The state of California has declared a state of emergency and President Barack Obama is asking Congress for an additional $1.5 bn dollars to bolster the US response. Canada, New Zealand and Israel have also detected the virus, and other states with suspected cases include Australia, South Korea and Peru.
04/28/2009 THAI MINISTRY ORDERS HALT TO ELEPHANT EXPORT
Elephant exports will be suspended for at least five years until a new registration process for the captive beasts is complete, says the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. Better records on elephants born on farms are needed, including new ID cards, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti said. The Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has estimated that there are 3,000 elephants living in the wild and another 3,000 on farms.
04/27/2009 BURNED MEAT LINKED TO PANCREATIC CANCER
People who regularly eat burned or charred red meat, like that cooked on a grill, have a 60 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer, U.S. researchers reported. The finding is one of the strongest yet linking very well-done meat, especially red meat, to cancer.
04/26/2009 MUCH-ABUSED MACAQUES MAY SOON FACE EXTINCTION
Humans are indebted to the long-tailed macaques, possibly familiar to locals as street entertainment topeng monyet, who are now endangered due to unmonitored exploitation. A recent investigation by UK-based pro-animal group, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), has raised concerns of the exploitation of Macaca fascicularis, as exports of the animal have not been in line with international trade regulations. The BUAV report stated while the long-tailed macaques were not necessarily threatened with extinction, they could soon be at risk unless their export was more strictly regulated.
04/25/2009 COMPANION ANIMALS MAY BECOME LATEST VICTIMS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Companion animals are normally sheltered from the harsh realities of wild living. But across Europe, increasing temperatures will expose companion animals to new infectious diseases spread by ticks, fleas and mosquitoes, according to new research.
04/24/2009 MORRISEY LEAVES STAGE BECAUSE OF THE SMELL OF COOKING MEAT
Morrissey was midway through Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others when he left the stage because of the aromas from nearby burger stalls, according to reports. "I can smell burning flesh and I hope to God it's human," he said. Returning to the stage, he explained: "The smell of burning animals is making me sick. I just couldn't bear it."
04/24/2009 DOLPHINS "PROTECT" CHINESE VESSEL FROM PIRATES
The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants. The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness befor the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while.
04/23/2009 US MILITARY USED PIGS IN BLASTS TO TEST ARMOR
Military researchers have dressed live pigs in body armor and strapped them into Humvee simulators that were then blown up with explosives to study the link between roadside bomb blasts and brain injury. For an 11-month period that ended in December, researchers subjected pigs and rats to about 200 blasts, according to Pentagon documents and interviews. The explosions have ranged in intensity, wounding some of the pigs and killing others. Roadside bombs are the top killer of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
04/21/2009 EUROPE FOR INCLUSION OF ANIMAL WELFARE IN WTO AGENDA
Animal rights activists across the world have a reason to smile as the European Union (EU) is pushing for the inclusion of animal welfare standards in the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) multilateral trade negotiations. Czech Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovic, the new chair of the EU Farm Council, was quoted in the release as saying that the next six months would see a strong focus on European animal welfare standards, including new slaughter rules.
04/20/2009 BUS DRIVER SUSPENDED AFTER FROG RESCUE MISSION
A French bus driver working in Germany faced the sack after stopping her double decker to save a frog from being squashed under the wheels, press reports said Friday. Passengers on the already 20-minute delayed bus were hopping mad when Christina Pommerel, 46, leapt from behind the wheel, rescued the frog, put it in a box and released it on the side of the road. "I couldn't just squash it," Pommerel, who has been driving buses for 13 years in the southern German city of Regensburg , told daily Die Welt. "I did my job and saved a life," she added. But the irate passengers took a dim view of the rescue mission and one of them complained to the bus company, which suspended the driver. "If the bus was already late and the passengers were angry and I then picked up a frog, I would have to ask myself if I was in the wrong job," company representative Maximilian Jobst was quoted as saying by the local paper, Mittelbayerische Zeitung. But after a media uproar and outpouring of support for the driver, the company is beginning to row back. The frog-loving driver can resume her duties but only if she refrains from such mercy missions in future, company officials said.
04/19/2009 SMALL EUROPEAN BIRDS IN DANGER FROM FORCED MIGRATORY CHANGES
Some European birds will have to fly further as global warming shifts their breeding grounds northwards in the biggest challenge to the tiny migrants since the Ice Age, scientists said. Some types of warbler would have to add 400 kms (250 miles) to twice-yearly trips up to 6,000 kms to and from Africa, according to the report which said it was the first to examine the potential impact of climate change on avian migration. The report, adding to projected threats to animals and plants from global warming, said an estimated 500 million birds migrate from Africa to Europe and Asia every year. Some weigh just 9 grams (0.3 ounces). Nine of 17 warbler species studied would have to fly further under projected warming by 2071-2100, especially the whitethroat, the barred warbler or the Orphean warbler that cross the Sahara Desert, according to the study in the Journal of Biogeography.
04/19/2009 INDONESIA SAID TO ALLOW ILLEGAL MONKEY TRADE
An illegal trade in primates for laboratory tests is thriving in Indonesia despite local and international regulations designed to control such exports, a British animal welfare group said. The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) said Indonesia should be suspended from the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for allowing the "disturbing trade." It said Jakarta was "breaching its own wildlife legislation as well as failing to comply with CITES regulations and violating international animal welfare guidelines. The official Indonesian 'ban' on the export of wild-caught primates for research is a sham," the group said in a statement at the conclusion of an investigation into the primates trade.
04/18/2009 ANIMAL RESCUERS DISAPPOINTED OVER FIRST DOG CHOICE
Animal rescuers voiced disappointment that President Barack Obama and his family chose a purebred dog from a breeder over rescuing an unwanted animal from a shelter. Bo, the first family's new Portuguese Water Dog, is six-month-old puppy who was returned to his Texas breeder by a previous owner. "I think all of us who work trying to place homeless animals had hoped that they would choose a shelter dog," said Steve Gruber, spokesman for the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals in New York City. "His choosing to go to a breeder is a disappointment. Choosing a shelter dog, that would have been a really powerful message to the American people," he said. The Portuguese Water Dog was chosen in part because the breed is hypoallergenic and Malia Obama has allergies. However such a dog could have been found on any number of Internet rescue sites or through Portuguese Water Dog rescue groups, said Antonia Kwalick, adoption coordinator for the Infinite Hope rescue group in Brooklyn, New York.
04/17/2009 HUMAN NOISES CAUSE FISH STRESS AND TISSUE DAMAGE
A study published in the most recent issue of the journal Integrative Zoology reports that human-generated sound has detrimental effects on fish. The review by Arthur Popper and Mardi Hastings reports that fish suffer from effects ranging from loss of hearing, increased stress levels and even death due to anthropogenic noises, says PracticalFishkeeping. The sources of man-made sounds are varied, and include boats and ships, seismic exploration devices, construction activities, and active sonars.
04/16/2009 NEW DISEASE POSES BIG THREAT TO NORWEGIAN FARMS
Ruth Torill Kongtorp established during her doctorate that a new disease called heart- and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is a serious infectious disease of farmed Atlantic salmon, with a high potential for transmission. The increasing number of outbreaks of this disease in recent years indicates that it poses a significant threat to Norwegian salmon farming. HMSI was discovered in 1999, and has since been found in disease outbreaks at many fish farms along the entire Norwegian coastline. In her doctorate, Kongtorp described the disease and compared the pathological findings to those of a number of known diseases such as pancreas disease (PD) and cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS). Both field sampling and contact infection trials indicate that HMSI is a new disease caused by an unknown organism.
04/15/2009 EU TIGHTENS BLUEFIN TUNA FISHING RULES
European Union countries adopted new rules to help restore endangered bluefin tuna stocks in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, bringing the bloc into line with international standards. The rules introduce "significant cuts" in bluefin tun quotas by 2011 and shortens the period in which the species can be fished by four months. The season begins on April 15. They impose a freeze on fishing capacity to 2007-2008 levels and tighten laws on sport and recreational fishing. Imports and exports of fish caught outside the quota system will also be banned. Controls and inspections will be beefed up.
04/14/2009 SARAH BROWN DECLINES VEAL AND FOIE GRAS AT NATO SUMMIT BANQUET
The Prime Minister's wife refused to eat the veal and foie gras served at a banquet during the NATO summit in France last weekend. Foie gras canapes were served at a reception at the Rohan palace last Friday night, while roast veal was offered to delegates later that evening at a banquet. Sarah Brown's decision not to eat the foods, which have long been condemned by animal rights campaigners, has been praised by animal rights group PETA. A spokeswoman said: "By turning her nose up at two of the cruellest dishes ever dreamt up by the French... Sarah Brown deserves worldwide respect and admiration." Mrs Brown is believed to have long-standing views about animal welfare, but friends claim that she does not seek to impose them on others.
04/13/2009 BIRDS CAN "READ" HUMAN GAZE
We all know that people sometimes change their behavior when someone is looking their way. Now, a new study reported online on April 2 in Current Biology shows that jackdaws - birds related to crows and ravens with eyes that appear similar to human eyes - can do the same. "Jackdaws seem to recognize the eye's role in visual perception, or at the very least they are extremely sensitive to the way that human eyes are oriented," said Auguste von Bayern, formerly of the University of Cambridge and now at the University of Oxford.
04/11/2009 CANADA THREATENS ACTION IF EU BANS SEAL PRODUCTS
Canada threatened to take trade action against the European Union if it banned seal product imports. Trade Minister Stockwell Day said unless the EU allowed an exception for humanely harvested seal products, it would launch a World Trade Organization action against any ban on trade in seal products. "Despite scientific evidence that supports humane harvesting techniques, and testimony from Inuit communities as to the harmful effect of the proposed ban, the EU continues to push forward with a proposal that will damage the livelihood of coastal and Northern Canadians and their families," Day said. The seals are hunted for their fur, meat and oil, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. The European Union has been the main opponent of the seal hunt, with animal rights groups charging that the clubbing of the seals is inhumane.
04/10/2009 ARE THE LAB RAT'S DAYS NUMBERED?
Bioengineers are striving to topple a scientific icon: the lowly lab mouse. And to replace bunnies, beagles, and other warm-blooded animals with insentient but biologically sophisticated substitutes. At Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other research centers, new efforts to build complex living "microtissues" from cultured cells represent some of the most promising progress toward reducing the need for laboratory creatures. Numbers have been reduced in recent decades, but hundreds of thousands of mice, rats, chickens, and other creatures are still employed for medical experiments.
04/09/2009 AMERICAN BIRDS SENDING TROUBLING MESSAGE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT
A new report based on 40 years of data analysed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, state government wildlife agencies, and non-governmental organizations including Audubon, shows that birds are sending an important and troubling message about the state of the environment. The report also shows that investment in conservation works, exemplified by the remarkable recoveries of waterfowl after more than 30 million acres of wetlands were restored and managed. The U.S. State of the Birds report offers heartening evidence that strategic land management and conservation action can reverse declines of birds.
04/08/2009 SPANISH TOWN CANCELS BULLFIGHTING
The residents of a small town in central Spain have voted in a referendum to cancel their annual bullfighting festival because of the economic crisis, the BBC's Steve Kingstone reports. The move was proposed by the mayor of Manzanares el Real - on the grounds that the event would divert resources from other municipal services. But the result has caused an outcry among supporters of bullfighting. Fifty-two percent of those who voted agreed the bullfighting festival should be scrapped. Thirty-five percent voted to keep the event. And only 13% chose a compromise option - to maintain the festival, but scale down its cost.
04/08/2009 POISON TAKES TOL ON AFRICA'S LIONS
Cattle herders trying to protect their livelihoods from predators are carrying out the poisonings, which aside from lions also kill other animals, like hyenas and vultures. Mengistu Seketet explained. "[We kill lions] in a very silent way. Actually, we use the poisons very effective," says the herder. "We call it the 'blue stuff.'"
04/07/2009 PIGEON ADOPTS BABY BUNNIES
Three teeny bunnies, orphaned by a dog attack, were barely clinging to life in an animal rehab center when they were "adopted" by a homing pigeon in a neighboring cage. Noah, a one-legged homing pigeon who cannot be released back into the wild due to his injury, lives at the rehab center full time. He was immediately enthralled with the baby bunnies, continually looking in their cage and even sleeping in front of their door to keep watch.
04/07/2009 CRABS "SENSE AND REMEMBER PAIN"
Queen's University says new research it conducted shows crabs not only suffer pain but retain a memory of it. The study, which looked at the reactions of hermit crabs to small electric shocks, was carried out by Professor Bob Elwood and Mirjam Appel. The crabs reacted adversely to the shocks but also seemed to try to avoid future shocks, suggesting that they recalled the past ones. The research is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
04/06/2009 SALMONELLA EPIDEMIC ON PIG FARMS IN FINLAND
According to Finnish pig farmers, pork prodction may fall as the investigations concerning the spread of salmonella go on. Over five hundred pig farms have been closed in Finland for the time being while salmonella testing is being carried out. It is also possible the the salmonella epidemic will momentarily affect the image of domestic pork production. The situation is exceptional and temporary in Finland, however.
04/05/2009 OBAMA ADMIN ALLOWS WOLF SLAUGHTER
The Obama administration upheld a Bush-era decision to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and the western Great Lakes region from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said a review of the January decision found that scientists do support the conclusion then that gray wolf populations in those areas were healthy. Some environmental groups protested the ruling, and vowed to sue.
04/04/2009 FISH FARM NETS KILL THOUSAND OF BIRDS
The sight of birds getting caught in the nets covering fish hatcheries is becoming increasingly common. Thousands of birds die this way every year, says the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel. Environmental groups and fish farmers have tried various methods over the years to stop birds from diving into fish ponds for their prey, virtually everything short of killing them, says Zafrir Rinat of Haaretz.com. According to the news article, the latest effort of stretching nets over the ponds has also failed to produce satisfactory results. For now, farmers and environmental organizations have yet to reach a consensus on alternative measures to obviate the need for nets.
04/03/2009 CHICKEN DEATHS IN TRUCK ACCIDENT ANGERS RSPCA
The RSPCA wants tougher controls on livestock transporters, after the deaths of 4,000 chickens when a truck rolled over in South Australia's lower north. According to ABC, Aimee McKay, from the RSPCA, says there have been five similar incidents in the past eight months. Ms McKay says transport companies should minimise travelling distances wherever possible, and there's also room for more driver testing. "Very embryonic that suggestion, but I think that it's certainly that's worth looking into, given they have got a huge responsibility on their truck," she says. "They are transporting live animals most of the time, thousands of live animals."
04/02/2009 EUROPE SAYS NO TO FOOD FROM CLONED ANIMALS
On March 25 an overwhelming majority of Members of the European Parliament voted against the authorisation of food products from cloned animals and their offspring. This decision confirms the resolution adopted in the European Parliament last September. Voting on the proposed regulation for the authorisation of novel foods, MEPs made clear that they want products from cloned animals and their offspring not to be regulated by this legislation, but that they want a specific Commission proposal to prohibit cloning of animals for food and the import of such products. In July 2008, a report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed that animals suffer as a result of this new reproduction technique while emphasizing there are still too many uncertainties about the technology. According to EU law breeding techniques that cause animals to suffer are not allowed.
04/01/2009 STOP AUSTRALIA'S WILDLIFE SLAUGHTER
A new petition for wild animals in Australia and for a world wide change of attitude to animals was launched. The petition asks for the slaughter to stop. It also argues that the old "scientific" idea that animals do not feel, but are mere objects, to be consumed or enslaved be thrown out. Please sign it here.
The number of news found: 32.
