‘Animals in the News’ Category

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Bodge-up and badger

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

The Badger Trust is seeking a judicial review of the Welsh assembly’s decision to begin a trial cull of badgers as part of an attempt to eradicate bovine TB in Wales. Among the supporters of the challenge is the Queen guitarist Brian May, who claimed the decision was based on a “clear misunderstanding” of the science, and said people did not have a right to kill “these beautiful creatures”.

The cull is planned for parts of mid and south-west Wales, and is part of a package of measures including more testing of cattle and stricter restrictions on cattle movement. A high court judge sitting in Swansea is hearing arguments from the trust in favour of a judicial review, which would take place at once if granted.

The trust argues that badgers may only be culled if:

• Such culling would eliminate or substantially reduce the incidence of TB in cattle

• There are no other satisfactory alternative ways of achieving that elimination/substantial reduction

• The cull complies with the international Bern convention, which promotes the protection and conservation of wildlife such as badgers.

Gwendolen Morgan, of Bindmans LLP, which represents the trust, said that the cull would cause a marked increase in bovine TB, as badgers tended to range more widely or to emigrate when their numbers were threatened.

To find out more about badgers and TB, please click here.

Source: BBC

Anna Claxton

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Animal Testing: more animals and more support than ever before

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

According to an article in Telegraph today, there is more support for animal testing than ever before and we can thank animal rights extremists for it!

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills released new figures that reveal how public opposition to scientific and medical research involving animals has fallen by 10 per cent in the past 10 years.

A survey conducted by Ipsos MORI shows that just a third of British adults would like a ban on animal experimentation, while the number of people who now unconditionally accept the need for animal research has increased by 28 per cent since 1999.

It comes at a time when the use of animals in experiments has reached an all-time high. Nearly 3.7 million experiments were performed on animals last year, a rise of 454,000, or 14 per cent, on the previous year.

It’s not all bad news though, Over the past five years, the Government has invested £80 million in research aimed at finding alternatives to animal testing through the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.

So are they right? Is this unfortunate rise in support due to the very people that wanted to end animal testing? Well, in part, yes- I think they are right. The public don’t like extremism and violence. Some animal rights extremists have done terrible things including threats against researchers families, digging up graves and physical attacks.

I am strongly opposed to animal testing on moral grounds. I think all animals are equal in that they can all suffer and have an equal interest in not doing so. I also think  that it is not morally acceptable to take one life to save a million or any other number. I don’t think you can weigh something as sacred as a life. If you take the life of one animal, you take everything from it. I just don’t think lives can be additive. If one life is 100% important – you can’t get greater  than that and by adding the worth of lives together it doesn’t increase the worth – it’s 100% whether it be one, two or ten million.

So, even coming from such a perspective,  I totally disagree with animal rights extremism for two reasons. Firstly, I don’t think extreme actions are going to win the hearts and minds of the public. If these people genuinely care about ending animal testing, then they need to think strategically. Sometimes we all want to scream and shout and cry but we understand and have done since our parents refused to respond to such tantrums since the age of three, that such behaviour is counter-productive. You will not win the sympathy of the public by setting yourself apart from them and by scaring them in to submission. I am also opposed extremism because people matter to me as much as animals. It is not right to subject them to a life of living in fear. It is not right to bully people in to doing what you want and it is not right that such people should get to play the victim card – we should not give them that power.

Like it or not, people rule the world and they make the decisions about what is right and wrong – therefore it is vitally important to stop targeting the researchers and start to try and win over society. I don’t believe you will win over the public by appealing to their better natures either. People are inherently selfish creatures. They don’t want to die and they on the whole value human life above all else, especially when it comes to prolonging it. Therefore in my opinion, if we want to win the war on animal testing, we must show the public that it is no longer neccessary. Alternatives to animal testing have been under development for some time now. We must show people that they work  just as well and ending animal testing doesn’t have to be a choice between their lives and animal life but a simple matter of progress.

If you are interested in finding out more about the alternatives to animal testing please visit the Dr Hadwin Trust Website.

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Posted in Animals in the News, Lab Animals, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Sign of the times? Farmer gets ten-year animal ban

Friday, March 19th, 2010

A Stirlingshire farmer has been banned from keeping livestock until 2020 after 12 cows were discovered dead and chained together in a barn. Falkirk Sheriff court heard that another eight cattle were found barely alive, with no food, on 59-year-old Alan Reid’s farm near Bonnybridge. The court heard that one animal had a horn which had grown into its head because Reid had failed to get a vet. Reid, who admitted two charges, was also given 160 hours community service.

He claimed he had been overwhelmed by months of bad weather and had “nowhere to put” his animals’ excrement.

Source: BBC News

Anna Claxton

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Palm oil killing orangutans

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard

This week Green Peace launched a campaign to force Nestle to stop sourcing their palm oil from Sinar Mas – an unethical palm oil supplier which cuts down areas of prime rainforest without government permits for palm oil plantations.

Palm oil is the single biggest threat to the rainforests and the animals which live in them (including the orangutan). The United Nations Environment Programme says palm oil production is the main cause of deforestation, which is occurring at a rate of about 2% per year. The industry could drive the orangutan to extinction within 12 years.Vast tracts of forest are been cleared every year to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations. This kills many animals and displaces others from their homes. In Indonesia, the area of land occupied by palm oil plantations has doubled in the last 10 years. Over the past 60 years Indonesia has lost an area of rainforest three times the size of the UK.  Indonesia is also the world’s third largest carbon emitter, largely as a result of deforestation and the burning of peatlands.

Most UK supermarkets, importers and manufacturers have refused to take action to get their palm oil from less destructive sources.A Friends of the Earth survey showed that 84% of UK companies don’t even know where their palm oil comes from.

In late 2009, Greenpeace released a report alleging that Sinar Mas was clearing rainforest and peatland without permits from the government. Unilever and Kraft both suspended contracts with Sinar Mas subsidiaries as a result. At the time, Nestlé said it would make its own investigations into the matter.  This prompted Greenpeace to target their campaign action on Nestle this week. Nestle have responded by saying that they do not source their palm oil from sinar mas but they did admit to purchasing it from Cargil who source their oil from Sinar Mas. They said they will take corrective action if Sinar Mas don’t answer Greenpeace’s allegations by the end of April. It seems to me like they are  just stalling for more time. If you would like to take action and force Nestle’s hand please visit greenpeace’s website and send their letter to Nesle’s CEO and share on Facebook.

Although other companies have made more of an effort than Nestle; none appear to be blame free. A lot of top brands have made a commitment to source sustainable palm oil by 2015 – this is not really good enough! If  deforestation continues at current rate and doesn’t increase – another 10% of rainforest will have been destroyed by then!  Panarama recently conducted an investigation aptly named ‘dying for a biscuit’ – if you are interested in what they found out, including the results of surveys anwered by top companies click here.

My advice would be to boycott all products containing palm oil until you can be sure that the supply chain is ethical and sustainable!


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The sad truth behind the dolphins smile:

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Contributed by, Nicola Gothard, MSc

A world of animal cruelty and endangering wild dolphin populations belie the fun and frivolity of dolphinaria and swim-with-dolphin programs!

 The captive dolphin industry cannot sustain itself. This is because captive dolphins don’t live long and they are difficult to breed in captivity. This is due the inadequate living environment and subsequent poor welfare.

 Therefore, the only way to meet the demand for dolphinaria and swim with dolphin programs is to capture wild born dolphins. For example, In december 2009, the Soloman Islands exported nine dolphins to Malaysia, bringing the total number captured and exported in the past 26 months to 55 animals from the soloman islands alone. This is a lucrative business and dolphin-catching businesses are springing up all over the place.

 The Animal Welfare Institute have repeatedly asked CITES to intervene because the trade is unsustainable, a concern shared by the scientific community.  The international whaling commission have expressed concerns that the number of dolphins they allow to be exported every year is not supported by scientific evidence as being a sustainable number. The IUCN have even appealed against exports to Dubai but no action was taken by CITES. The captive-dolphin industry is a powerful force!  

 Besides the sustainability issue, there are serious animal welfare implications involved with confining wild animals to captivity and forcing them to perform for and interact with people all day. Wild animals are naturally fearful of humans and become frustrated when they cannot perform their natural behavioural repertoire. This leads to many abnormal behaviours which develop in response the stress imposed by captivity, these may involve repetitive swimming patterns, self harming or even aggression. A fellow traveller on my parents’ vacation was bitten by a dolphin in a swim-with program just the other day. Who knows how many other cases occur around the world every year?

 Wild caught dolphins will not eat dead fish at first and they starve until they are willing to do so. The trainers then train them by withholding food until the dolphins perform. Captive dolphins are confined to tanks 1 millionth of the size of their home-range in the wild. Dolphins use echolocation to explore their environment and catch fish; this has no use in captivity because the environment is barren and the fish are dead. Beside the physical torment imposed by captivity – the emotional is just as bad. Dolphins are social creatures forming tight bonds with other members of their family pod. When we take dolphins from the wild we take this away from them – all for your entertainment. So tell me, was it worth it?

 

Would you rather see dolphins like this?

Or this?......... I know which one they would choose!

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Chinese zoo in spotlight for starving tigers

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

The Year of the Tiger has got off to a tragic start for the endangered big cat in China. At least 11 Siberian tigers starved to death in a zoo in northeastern China after its owners ran out of money and fed the predators just one or two chicken carcasses a day over the past few weeks. Six of the tigers died recently on a single day at the privately owned Iceberg Animal Zoo in Shenyang, the Liaoshen Evening News reported. The animals had been confined in small, wet cages, it said.

It is not the first time the zoo has been in the news for leaving its tigers to go hungry. Two tigers at the zoo were shot by police in November last year after the hungry animals mauled a zoo worker as he was clearing snow from a path. One newspaper reported at the time that the tigers being starving.

A zoo official said: “The zoo is in a financial crisis and we haven’t been able to provide the tigers with sufficient food for the last two years. An adult tiger eats about 20lb of meat a day, but the tigers here can barely get a chicken to quench their hunger every one or two days.”

The tragedy comes just days after a wild tiger cub – the first to be seen in China for at least 60 years – was found trapped in a forestry worker’s woodpile in a neighbouring province to the north. The cub was tranquillised and captured but died two days later.

Only about 20 of rare endangered Siberian, or Amur, tigers are believed to survive in the wild along China’s border with Russia. The South China tiger is believed to be close to extinct. About 5,000 tigers live on farms in northeastern China and in the southwest where they are bred in the hope that a ban on trade in tiger parts may one day be lifted, unleashing demand among Chinese for bones for use in traditional medicine and aphrodisiac tonics.

Find out how you can help save the wild tigers here.

Source: The Times

Anna Claxton

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Bear-faced fight over polar trophy hunting

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Despite recently imposing new quotas on the number of polar bears allowed to be killed, a cross-border dispute is looming between Canada and USA over proposed measures to protect polar bears. The U.S. wants to ban the trade in polar-bear body parts, a proposal that will be considered at a meeting beginning next week of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Canada is currently the only country allowing the sale of bear skins and trophy hunting of the animals, but has sought to improve their record on conservation with more strict quotas and a banning of exports from the Baffin Bay area, which was recognised as an area where hunting was especially prevalent.

Trophy hunting was developed in the 1980s by local governments to promote tourist revenue, and bears were not widely taken by Inuit before the arrival of Europeans. A study by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Humane Society International suggests that trophy hunting nets Nunavut Inuit communities only about $1.5-million, or less than 0.1 per cent of the economy. The U.S.-based groups also said only a few dozen people, “at most,” benefit from the hunt.

As further studies are conducted into the possible effects of global warming, the need to get conservation policy relating to polar bears organised correctly becomes all the more apparent, with estimates by USA government biologists suggesting that populations could crash by two-thirds by 2050 because of declining sea ice.

Adopt a polar bear with WWF here.

Source: Goallover.org

Anna Claxton

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Let them eat seal

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Forget the Winter Olympics, nothing unites Canada’s officials like some bacon-wrapped seal loin. MPs and senators from across the partisan spectrum enjoyed a special luncheon Wednesday, brought together by a menu that featured Canada’s best known furry sea mammal. All the double-smoked bacon wrapping, port reductions and organic vegetable medleys couldn’t mask the meal’s true intention: telling animal rights groups and the European Union to get stuffed, following an EU-wide ban on seal imports, including their pelts, meat, organs and seal oil.

Eating seal meat – which isn’t even an occasional culinary curiosity on most Canadian dinner tables – has become politically fashionable in Canada since Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean sampled a slice of raw seal heart during an Inuit community feast last May in Rankin Inlet. The act set off a storm of protest in Europe while garnering largely positive reviews across Canada, guaranteeing it would be repeated in some form or other.

The Brussels-based International Fund for Animal Welfare dismissed it as a “media stunt” at which “desperate politicians trip over each other to eat seal meat. The fact that the meat is only being consumed for political purposes, and that it needs to be wrapped in double smoked bacon to kill the taste, clearly demonstrates that it is not particularly palatable,” the animal rights group said in a press release.

Source: The Canadian Press

Anna Claxton

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Law tightens on use of snares

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Rules designed to make animal snares less cruel will come into force today, despite a widespread campaign to have the devices banned outright. Used predominantly to trap foxes who may prey on farm animals, new laws set mean the traps will now have to be checked once a day. Nooses will no longer be allowed to tighten beyond a certain point and the traps will need to be fixed down to ensure they cannot be dragged by injured animals. The Scottish Government measures will also make it illegal for snares to be set to trap and suspend or drown creatures.

Supporters of the measures insist snares are a vital conservation tool and key for managing pests such as foxes. However, opponents say that they are a crude measure and should be banned outright.

Louise Robertson, from the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “These regulations are a complete whitewash and will go no way towards reducing the huge level of suffering caused by such a basic wire trap. The government based its decision purely on the financial gain to be made from commercial shooting and with complete lack of regard for animal welfare. As long as snares are legal, animals will continue to suffer horrific injuries and slow, agonising deaths.”

However, the government insists it has not stopped one step short. The Snares (Scotland) Order amends the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and MSPs say the changes were agreed following wide public consultation.

Source: STV

Anna Claxton

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Buying British? Make sure you are!

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

British food companies are selling products that contain meat from foreign countries, but labeling them “British” or “traditional”, according to research done by the British newspaper The Independent. Supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and the Co-op sell some processed meals with ingredients sourced from overseas in a way that has raised complaints with customers due to potential animal welfare concerns.

A shepherd’s pie sold by Sainsbury’s, as part of its British Classics range with a Union Jack on the packaging, is made with lamb from New Zealand, along with Marks & Spencer’s “traditional favourite” shepherd’s pie. Still, at least the meat’s country of origin is listed somewhere on the packaging – unlike Birds Eye’s chicken dinner meal from its “British Traditional” range. The product carries a picture of rolling green fields reminiscent of the English countryside, but is made in a factory in the Republic of Ireland and contains intensively produced chicken from Thailand, says the report. Birds Eye changed the product’s name from “Great British Menu” at the start of the year after complaints from members of the public. In small print on the back, the pack states the chicken comes from abroad but does not state its country of origin.

Rob Ward, founder of the Honest Food Labeling Campaign, said according to the Food Standards Agency, a food company cannot portray a product using words or images that misrepresent the food, so if they are using a scene of rolling countryside then that should imply those ingredients are from that scene.

Sainsbury’s insisted its labeling was “clear and transparent”.

Source: Meat International

Know your labels! Follow Compassion in World Farmings guide to good welfare eating here.

Anna Claxton

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