News
The number of news found: 27.
02/28/2007 NO MORE FOIE GRAS AT GIANT EAGLE!
After receiving nearly 250,000 e-mails and countless phone calls from concerned shoppers, grocery store chain Giant Eagle announced on Feb 23 that it will no longer sell foie gras-a 'delicacy' which is made by force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers swell up and become diseased-in any of its more than 200 stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio.
02/27/2007 VEGETARIAN LONGEVITY!
The National Geographic reported in Jan of 73 that the longest lived people in the world were vegetarian centenarians... they were the Villcabamba of Ecuador, Azerbaijans of the Caucasus, Hunzas of Tibet Other centenarians are Hindu yogi vegetarians. Conversely the shortest lived are the Inuit of several countries whose diet is mostly animal protein. Inuit living on high animal protein diets live to late 50's. A 7 year US govt. study comparing 7th Day Adventist vegetarians to nonvegetarian Mormons (selected since neither smoke nor drink) found that Adventists live 7 years longer. Recent articles have indicated that Okinawan longevity has plummeted since the islanders adopted the flesheating habits of American soldiers on bases there.
02/26/2007 AUSSIES SQUEEZE INTO HUMAN BATTERY CAGES!
Fifteen Australians squeezed themselves into three tiny metal cages on Thursday in Sydney to highlight what they said was the inhuman practice of chicken battery farming. Under a hot summer sun, Australian model Imogen Bailey crouched inside a 'Human Battery Cage' as hundreds of tourists viewing the luxury ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 looked on curiously. The protesters called on Australian lawmakers and the poultry industry to follow countries such as Switzerland and Sweden and end battery farming. 'People expect Australia to be leading the world in animal welfare. There is no excuse for the way they are treated, there are always
alternatives,' Bailey said.
02/25/2007 LEGAL CHICKEN LIBERATION!
In April 2007 Brighton Animal Action has been given permission to spend six days legally liberating 13,500 chickens. At the end of day six the slaughter vans will arrive. They need homes, boxes, drivers and vehicles.
02/24/2007 SQUID FISHERY KILLS 15 ENDANGERED SEA LIONS!
New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries figures obtained by Forest & Bird show an estimated 15 sea lions were killed in the first two weeks after the southern squid fishing season opened on February 1. Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says the figures show the fishery is well on its way to reaching the limit of 93 sea lions deaths imposed by Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton. 'The kill quota set by the minister is so high that it risks pushing this threatened New Zealand marine mammal towards extinction. The number of observed deaths clearly shows that sea lion exclusion devices, mitigation tools voluntarily used by all vessels to prevent sea lion deaths, are not working effectively.'
02/23/2007 SOUTH AFRICA FINALIZES LION HUNTING LAWS!
South Africa's environment minister announced long-awaited restrictions on hunting Tuesday, declaring he was sickened by wealthy tourists shooting tame lions from the back of a truck and felling rhinos with a bow and arrow. Dismissing threats of legal action by the hunting industry, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said the new law would ban 'canned' hunting of big predators and rhinos in small enclosures that offer them no means of escape. In addition, lions bred in captivity would have to be released into the open for at least two years before they could be hunted. Van Schalkwyk said a previously proposed six-month delay would not give lions enough time to develop self-defense instincts.
02/22/2007 PROTECTION GRANTED FOR MOUNTAIN CARIBOU!
Idaho - The last remaining mountain caribou in the lower 48 states received an extra measure of protection from the Eastern District Court in Washington. The court issued a February 14 ruling that will allow the endangered caribou to migrate from the northern areas to the southern areas of their habitat, while still permitting snowmobiles in much of the Priest Lake region.
02/21/2007 AIRLINE IS FLYING BEAGLE DOGS FOR EXPERIMENTATION!
Every week frightened animals are flown through Manchester International Airport (MIA) destined for a life of hell. Vivisection breeders and laboratories alike ship animals in the cargoholds of aeroplanes amongst everyday items, unbeknown to the passengers above. Pakistan International Airlines have cornered the market in flying beagle dogs through MIA and know about the fate of the animals they fly to their deaths.
02/20/2007 EU DELAY ON SEAL FUR BAN WILL MEAN 200,000 DEATHS!
Delays to a ban on the import of seal fur will mean over 200,000 seals are needlessly butchered, Green MEP Caroline Lucas has warned. Demanding an immediate moratorium on the trade, Dr Lucas said proposals for a further study into killing methods used by sealers would mean rules
wouldn't be in force before this year's annual seal slaughter, due to begin in a matter of weeks. The MEP, who is also a Vice President of the RSPCA, made her comments after it emerged that the Commission intends to investigate killing methods - a study which will delay action and waste EU taxpayers' cash. Last year a Written Declaration calling for the ban on the import of seal products into the EU proposed by Dr Lucas broke all records for parliamentary support, attracting the backing of 425 Euro-MPs from a range of political groups and EU member states.
02/19/2007 ELEPHANT ATTACKS CAR!
It was supposed to be a fun elephant polo match, but at some point one elephant stopped playing nice. Abey threw off her handler and her American rider and began bashing a Spanish team's minibus. The sixth annual elephant polo tournament stopped as workers and handlers tried to control Abey, but she was having none of it. She charged handlers and bashed the minibus again. At last word, a veterinarian was preparing a sedative to calm Abey down.
02/18/2007 CARNIVAL ANTI-FUR DEMO IN SLOVENIA!
Thirty-seven Animal Friends Croatia's activists, along with the activists from Slovenia, Austria and Italy participated on the first international anti-fur demo in Slovenia. The Carnival protest happened on February 17, 2007 in Slovenian capitol Ljubljana. More than 150 protesters gathered on this historical protest which was, as the closing part of the Carnival parade, watched by more than a thousand Ljubljana people and got a huge media coverage.
02/17/2007 STRICKEN OIL-LADEN WHALING SHIP DRIFTING TOWARDS PENGUIN BREEDING!
Officials warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after fire erupted Thursday on a Japanese whaling ship, as the search continued for a missing crewmen from the crippled ship. Japanese officials said the blaze that broke out in the below-decks area of the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru where whale carcasses are processed had been brought under control. The accident on board the ship - which was crippled and drifting near penguin breeding grounds along the Antarctic coast - aroused concerns of a potential environmental disaster.
02/16/2007 THE U.S. NAVY MAY DEPLOY ANTI-TERRORISM DOLPHINS!
Dozens of dolphins and sea lions trained to detect and apprehend waterborne attackers could be sent to patrol a military base in Washington state, the Navy said Monday. In a notice published in this week's Federal Register, the Navy said it needs to bolster security at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, on the Puget Sound close to Seattle.
02/15/2007 400 CATS RESCUED FROM FUR TRADE!
China's nascent animal rights movement claimed a rare and bloody victory after rescuing more than 400 cats that were about to be slaughtered for their fur and meat. The felines were saved from a market in Tianjin after a standoff last week between 100 pet lovers and police that left one protester hospitalised. Until recent years, respect for animal rights was almost non-existent in China, where dogs, cats, birds, lizards and turtles are often displayed in cramped market cages, before being slaughtered - sometimes by being beaten to death.
02/14/2007 GREEN MEP JEAN LAMBERT CALLS ON EU TO REPLACE ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS!
Green MEP for London, Jean Lambert, has joined animal protection groups across Europe in calling on the EU to increase action to replace animal experiments. As Europe's 20 year old law governing animal experiments undergoes a much needed review, campaigners are calling for
greater action and urgency in replacing animal experiments with more ethical and scientifically reliable non-animal research techniques. Jean Lambert, a Member of the European Parliament for the Green Party, which is against testing on animals, has added her name to a Europe-wide petition being collected in 11 European languages and supported by animal groups across the EU such as Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The petition was launched by the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, the UK's leading non-animal medical research charity.
02/13/2007 BRITAIN BLASTED FOR BACKING SEAL BAN!
Canada has attacked Britain's 'moral' decision to support a Europe-wide boycott of all seal products, as hunters prepare for the annual cull of around 300,000 baby seals. At present Europe bans only products made from seals under 12 days old, known as 'whitecoats', but the UK is putting pressure on the rest of the EU to join Belgium and Italy, as well as the United States and Mexico, in introducing a blanket rejection of the industry, which is worth £22m to Canada. The Canadian government is frustrated that the British position is based on 'public morality concerns' rather than scientific evidence. The Canadian High Commissioner in London, James Wright, has written to Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, and David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, complaining that the Whitehall decision is 'unfounded and unhelpful' and urging them to approach the issue in 'an objective and constructive manner'.
02/12/2007 SEA SHEPHERD CREWMEN RESCUED AFTER CONFRONTING WHALERS!
Two crewmembers from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship the Farley Mowat were found and safely rescued eight hours after being lost at sea following a confrontation with the Japanese whaling fleet. Sea Shepherd is in Antarctic waters to protect endangered whales from the Japanese fleet which has plans to kill over 900 whales in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary this year. They are mainly targeting minke whales, but have stated their intention to take up to 10 endangered fin whales. The Zodiac inflatable carrying 2nd Officer Karl Neilsen, 29, of Australia, and Engineer John Gravois, 24, of the United States, fell back from the other two Sea Shepherd ships after its fiberglass hull cracked and filled with water.
02/11/2007 HORSE GENOME PUBLISHED!
The leaders of the international Horse Genome Sequencing Project announced that the first draft of the horse genome sequence has been deposited in public databases and is freely available for use by biomedical and veterinary researchers around the globe. The $15 million effort to sequence the approximately 2.7 billion DNA base pairs in the genome of the horse (Equus caballus) was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Sequencing of the domestic horse genome began in 2006, building upon a 10-year collaborative effort among an international group of scientists to use genomics to address important health issues for equines, known as the Horse Genome Project.
02/10/2007 MANY NETHERLANDS FOODS CONTAIN HORSE!
Netherlands animal rights group Wakker Dier said Thursday many hamburgers, frikandels and krokets in the country contain horsemeat. The Wageningen University study of 286 food items found 32 percent contained meat from horses, Expatica reported Thursday.
02/09/2007 ORANGUTANS FACE 'GREATER THREAT'!
Illegal logging is destroying forests in South-East Asia quicker than had been feared, with dire implications for orangutans, a UN report has said. The practice threatens many other species in the region, the United Nations Environment Programme says. If no action is taken, the report says, 98% of forests on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo may be gone by 2022. This would have serious consequences for local people and wildlife including rhinos, tigers and elephants. The rate of loss has accelerated in the past five years. The present projection of 2022 for the disappearance of most suitable orangutan habitat outstrips a Unep report which came up with an estimate of 2032.
02/08/2007 ENDING BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH ON NONHUMAN APES!
The HSUS is calling on the United States government to end the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research and testing and to permanently relocate chimpanzees from laboratories to suitable sanctuaries. Recent events and opportunities have propelled this effort into action. The HSUS will use various approaches to reach our goal, including pressuring the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
02/07/2007 FACTORY FARMING A MAJOR THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH!
The animal campaign group Viva has today issued a stark warning that factory farming promotes conditions that ensure that H5N1 bird flu virus will never be detected until the virus is well established. For three years in succession, the group has carried out undercover investigations at Bernard Matthews intensive turkey sheds in Norfolk. Viva has issued the warning as 159,000 turkeys are being slaughtered on a Bernard Matthews factory farm in Suffolk due to the fact that a number of birds have died from H5N1 bird flu virus. The practice of selectively breeding one type of bird for weight gain has produced genetically weakened animals. Viva claim that the
overcrowded, windowless sheds in which they are forced to live ensures any new pathogen spreads like wildfire.
02/06/2007 CIGARETTE AND SMOKE TESTING ON ANIMALS!
Even though U.S. federal law does not require that tobacco products be tested on animals, thousands of animals are still kept in restraints like smoke masks and body holders and subjected to horrific experiments every year. Experimenters have taken large grants from cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris; from government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health; and even from the March of Dimes, to inject animals with nicotine, force them to inhale smoke and addict them to tobaccoo.
02/05/2007 HUNTERS OPPOSE LISTING POLAR BEARS AS THREATENED!
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is on its hind legs after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed to list polar bears, including populations in Canada that are stable and increasing, as a federally threatened species. If approved, the listing will stop American sportsmen from hunting polar bears in Canada. On Dec. 27, 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed that the polar bear be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Instead of limiting threatened status to only the distinct population segments that are decreasing, FWS's recommendation will put all of the bears, including healthy, hunting populations, under the same restrictions. 'There are 19 distinct polar bear populations, and the healthy ones, well-managed by Canada, provide exciting hunting opportunities,' said U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Director of Federal Affairs William Horn. 'The unwarranted, blanket listing sought by the Fish and Wildlife Service will bring an immediate end to the hunts that help the populations remain stable.'
02/04/2007 DEADLY BIRD FLU VIRUS FOUND IN BRITAIN!
Officials confirmed Saturday that the H5N1 strain of bird flu had been found in turkeys on a commercial farm - Britain's first mass outbreak of the disease that has ravaged Asia's poultry stocks and killed more than 160 people worldwide. The virus strain that killed about 2,500 turkeys on the British poultry farm was identified as the highly pathogenic Asian strain, similar to a virus found in Hungary in January, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. It was the first time the deadly H5N1 strain was found on a British farm.
02/02/2007 EUROPEANS AGAINST EXPERIMENTS ON PRIMATES!
According to the results of the European Commission's public consultation on the 'Protection of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes', 50% of respondents believe that the level of welfare and protection of animals used in experiments within the EU is very poor. Over 70% of respondents belive the use of non-human primate sin experiments is 'certainly not' acceptable. Almost 50% (48.9) of respondents belive there is 'certainly not' enough public funding at European level into the development and validation of alternative methods to replace animal experiments. This sends a clear message from the people of the European Union to the Commission that they wish to see a ban on non-human primate experiments, a strong tightening up of laboratory animal protection and a major increase in funding of non-animal alternative test methods in the forthcoming revision of Directive 86/609.
02/01/2007 UK GOVERNMENT RECCOMMENDS VEGAN DIET!
Britain may need to ration animal products such as meat, chicken and dairy products such as milk and cheese if climate change runs out of control, suggests environment minister Ben Bradshaw. Mr Bradshaw pointed out that livestock based food production did just as much damage as private transport and housing. He spoke out as a new government website advised shoppers to help the planet by avoiding meat and cheese.
The number of news found: 27.
