(01/02/2004) Celebrities Rally to Oppose the Slaughter of Seals
Paris Hilton has become the latest celebrity to join the campaign to oppose the cruel and wasteful annual slaughter of harp and hood seals on the East Coast of Canada.
Paris wore an anti-sealing T-shirt to the Sundance Film Festival and called for Canada to end the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world.
Richard Dean Anderson, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Penn, Christian Bale, Rutger Hauer, Linda Blair, James Cromwell and Martin Sheen have joined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society campaign to oppose the seal hunt.
Martin Sheen has already taped Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. One of these PSA’s is presently featured on the Sea Shepherd website at
www.seashepherd.org
“In our modern media culture, celebrities have a great influence on society and politics. We did not make these rules – the media did. But it is important that we take advantage of this reality and the more celebrities speak out against the slaughter of wildlife on this planet, the better it will be for these persecuted creatures.” said Captain Paul Watson.
Captain Watson has taken celebrities to the ice in the past and each time it resulted in far more media coverage than campaigns without celebrities. In 1977, Captain Watson worked with Brigitte Bardot to reach the seal hunt where she posed on the ice with the seals, guaranteeing her the cover of Paris Match, Bunte and a host of international magazines. In 1975, Captain Watson and Martin Sheen were both physically attacked by an enraged mob of sealers in the Magdalen Islands. The presence of Martin Sheen resulted in worldwide media coverage.
Tina Fagan of the Canadian Sealing Association has ridiculed the participation of actors and other celebrities on the campaigns to oppose sealing.
According to Captain Watson, “This reflects Tina Fagan’s lack of understanding for what media is and how media shapes and directs Western culture. We have famous people championing a humane cause to stop the cruel and vicious killing of seals on the ice and she can only counter this with images of her blood smeared seal clubbers torturing baby seals with a pathetic defense that the seals eat fish and should be destroyed. It is a classic visual story of the forces protecting life speaking in the familiar voices of celebrities verses the forces that are intent upon the destruction of life reacting in an arrogant manner and speaking like strange thugs and hooligans.”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Farley Mowat is presently
under-going final preparations for departure from the Pacific Northwest
for the long voyage to the coast of Labrador to oppose the seal slaughter.
The ship and crew are expected to arrive in mid-March 2004.
Canada has authorized a kill quota of 350,000 seals for 2004, making
the Canadian seal hunt the largest mass slaughter of a marine mammal
species on the planet.
(02/02/2004) Science mapping Sars 'evolution'
The origins of Sars have been made clearer by a genetic study that traces it back to wild animals in China.
As scientists worry about the potential for bird flu to one day become a major killer, the study shows how Sars "jumped" to humans a year ago.
More than 800 deaths and 8,000 cases resulted from Sars outbreaks in Hong Kong, China and Canada...
[Link]
(03/02/2004) Whose catch?
As longlines rise with sablefish, sperm whales take a bite
Sperm whales have learned to pluck sablefish hauled from the black depths
of the Gulf of Alaska, showing a dexterity that belies their enormous size
and toothy, underslung jaws.
"They
somehow just pick them off like grapes," said Sitka longliner Dick
Curran...
[Link]
(04/02/2004) UK urged to ratify seabird treaty
Britain has been criticised by bird conservation groups for not
ratifying a global treaty to protect the albatross, which comes into force
on Sunday.
Under the accord, action will be taken against long fishing lines,
often used to catch tuna but which kill about 100,000 of the seabirds
every year.
Britain's participation is important because its overseas territories of the Falklands, South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha are breeding grounds
for the bird...
[Link]
(05/02/2004) Downed Cow
The truck carrying this cow was unloaded at Walton Stockyards in Kentucky on a September morning. After the other animals were removed from the truck, she was left behind, unable to move. The stockyard workers beat and kicked her in the face, ribs and back. They used the customary electric prods in her ear to try to get her out of the truck, but still she did not move. The workers then tied a rope around her neck, tied the other end to a post in the ground, and drove the truck away. The cow was dragged along the floor of the truck and fell to the ground, landing with both hind legs and her pelvis broken. She remained in this state until 7:30 that
evening...
[Pdf]
(06/02/2004) Held Captive: The "Sunny Summit" and the State of Cetacean Captivity
By Naomi Rose
The world of captive cetaceans would appear to be a zero-sum game. While the number of whale and dolphin facilities in the United States has fallen, the number of captive cetacean attractions in other parts of the world is growing, notably in the Caribbean and Asia.
This perpetually balancing equation also plays out with the animals involved. When U.S. facilities close, the operators can't just release their former charges back into the wild. They must find a place for them, and that place is often in those foreign countries that harbor less-than-ideal captive facilities...
[Link]
(07/02/2004) Shark Species Threatened in Gulf of Mexico
NEW ORLEANS - The population of oceanic whitetip shark, once among the world's most common tropical sharks, has plummeted by 99 percent since the 1950s and the species is nearly extinct in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists reported Wednesday...
[Link]
(08/02/2004) Secret of Homing Pigeons Revealed
LONDON (Reuters) - The secret of carrier pigeons' uncanny ability to find their way home has been discovered by British scientists: the feathered navigators follow the roads just like we do.
Researchers at Oxford University spent 10 years studying homing pigeons using global positioning satellite (GPS) and were stunned to find the birds often don't navigate by taking bearing from the sun...
[Link]
(09/02/2004) AVIAN FLU, SARS - AND THE ANIMAL VICTIMS
The spread of avian flu in Asia, has seen the slaughter of tens of millions of birds - who have either been infected with the virus, or who have been slaughtered to prevent its spread. The current methods have apparently been implemented not only to slaughter the massive number of birds, but to consider operator safety and protect workers who are performing the slaughter from being infected, whilst handling infected birds.
However, according to Animals Asia Veterinary Director, Dr. Gail Cochrane, the slaughter methods are both cruel and unacceptable - with no excuses even for those countries lacking regulations on animal welfare. "The most humane method, under the circumstances, would be carbon dioxide gassing, which was carried out in Hong Kong during the first outbreak of avian flu in 1997. However, this method, which is recognised in most developed countries as a humane method of mass euthanasia, is probably being ignored, due to a lack of technology, expertise or trained staff."
Humane euthanasia is often the last of food animal problems in Asia.
With China and the rest of Asia demanding meat as never before, squalid
farms are now keeping thousands of animals in appalling conditions and the
future looks even more bleak, as these countries are expected to double
their demand for meat by 2020. Industrial scale commercial farming in Asia
is taking its toll on both human and animal lives - and cruel live wild
animal markets across the region are mushrooming and providing a breeding
ground for bacteria and disease.
The rapid expansion in the consumption of wild and domesticated species, with little or no regulations governing their capture, breeding, confinement or slaughter has resulted in new and unexpected impacts on human health and pressure on an already fragile environment.
Today, Animals Asia continues to call for a permanent change to a system which is now strongly implicated with the spread of diseases such as SARS and bird flu - and a system which has ridden roughshod over the plight of the animals themselves.
The Animals Asia team has been documenting the appalling conditions at live animal markets in Asia for many years, repeatedly calling in vain for their closure. Still today, despite the warnings of SARS and despite the Chinese Government banning the sale of wild animals for food, Animals Asia investigators recently found deer and wild boar with broken leg bones and missing limbs (having been obviously trapped in the wild), in markets in southern China. Dogs and cats and other domestic species in these markets continue to be cruelly caged and slaughtered in the most gruesome and disgusting way.
Animals Asia once again appeals to the Governments of Asia to close all live animal markets, to end the trade and consumption of wild animals and dogs and cats and to urgently address the appalling conditions which millions of livestock animals are forced to endure.
With China still reeling from SARS, the latest study of the deadly virus by Hong Kong scientists in December 2003 concluded that the "growth of wildlife in markets in Guangdong [over] the past 15 years has provided an ideal platform to facilitate inter species virus transmission from animals to humans. Such factors could even directly trigger a zoonotic disease outbreak."
World Health Organisation spokesperson, Peter Cordingly, also recently offered food for thought: "It might be time, although this is none of WHO's business really, but the bottom line is that humans have to think about how they treat their animals and how they farm them, how they market them - basically the whole relationship between the animal kingdom and the human kingdom is coming under stress".
Jill Robinson MBE, Founder and CEO of Animals Asia said: "Intensively farming animals in their own excrement, ignoring the illegal trapping and transportation of wild species from region to region, cruelly confining and slaughtering wild and domestic animals without any thought for their welfare or suffering, is an unconscionable way for any Government in Asia to behave today. Something's got to give - and there cannot be a more salient message that something is going horribly wrong, than when people are dying as a result of the way in which their country's animals are being treated."
For further information, please contact:
Jill Robinson MBE - Founder & CEO, Animals Asia Foundation, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2719 3340
Tel: (852) 2791 2225
Mobile: (852) 9095 8405
Email:
jrobinson@animalsasia.org
Dr. Gail Cochrane - Veterinary Director, Animals Asia Foundation, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2791 2225
Mobile (852) 9197 9720
Email:
gcochrane@animalsasia.org
For stills please contact:
Annie Mather - Media Director, Animals Asia Foundation, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2521 0982
Mobile: (852) 9425 7429 or
Email:
amather@animalsasia.org
Annie Mather
Media Director
Animals Asia Foundation
Hong Kong
Find out more about the historic China Bear Rescue by visiting the Animals Asia Foundation website at:www.animalsasia.org
(10/02/2004) Sharks in the soup
Slaughter 10 million or so bison on the Great Plains, and people tend to notice. But do the same thing way out in the ocean, and apparently no one bats an eye. In the 1960s, scientists estimated that oceanic whitetip sharks--350-pound predators with distinctive white markings on their fins--were Earth's most abundant large animals. Just four decades later, researchers Ransom Myers and Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, report in the current Ecology Letters, whitetips are all but gone from the Gulf of Mexico...
[Link]
(11/02/2004) Dog May Be a Tot's Best Friend, Allergy-Wise
NEW YORK - Kids who spend their first year of life around dogs may have a lower risk of developing allergies, researchers have found. Having a cat, however, appears to have no effect on allergy risk.
Study author Dr. James E. Gern warned that the study did not measure whether dog-loving infants had an actual lower rate of allergies, just whether they had fewer signs indicating their risk of
allergies...
[Link]
(12/02/2004) Vietnam Reports Outbreak of Foot-And-Mouth Disease
HANOI - Vietnam, already grappling with bird flu that has wiped out millions of its poultry and killed 18 people in Asia, has detected a lethal outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in one province, a health official said this week.
"The disease has hit us very hard," said an official at the animal
health department of the central province of Quang Nam, about 465 miles
south of the capital Hanoi.
She said the disease had killed more than 1,000 cattle and 200 pigs from six districts in the province...
[Link]
(15/02/2004) Don't moo-ve! There's a cow in the bank
BERLIN - A Friesian cow took a detour from a wedding where she was meant to be a guest of honour, wandering into a German bank where she was caught on security cameras sidling up to the
tellers...
[Link]
(16/02/2004) PETA India Kids Superstar: Sarang Dev Murthy
Thousands of kids all over the planet are joining PETA’s army of animal advocates – and here is where we shine the spotlight on their hard work. We know you do it because you care about animals, but it is OK to brag a little about the ways you are making the world a better place for our animal friends. Tell us how YOU help animals, and you could be our featured Superstar of the Month!
If you think one person can’t make a difference, you haven’t met this month’s animal hero! Eight-year-old Sarang Dev Murthy has come to the aid of all sorts of animals – from parakeets to puppy dogs. Sarang once saved a small snake who was trapped in an electrical fuse box, he helped his father rescue an injured crow, and he cared for a litter of homeless puppies who were born in his backyard. Two of Sarang’s best friends have four legs: Princess and Blacky, stray dogs who follow him to the school bus stop. The dogs are very protective of their pal, and he looks after them in return. Sarang also volunteers at local animal rehabilitation centers and at the environmental group EcoHealers, where his father works.
But that’s not all for this busy boy! When he is not involved in hands-on animal rescues, the young animal ‘writes’ activist uses the power of the pen to protect his furry and feathered friends. With the help of his father, he wrote a book about a boy’s compassion for a little lost puppy. Sarang, who says he just cannot imagine why anyone would eat animals, has also written about the lonely lives of chickens raised for food. We think animals are lucky to have such a dedicated defender!
[Link]
(17/02/2004) Bird Flu Kills Thai Leopard in Rare Case
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Asia's rampaging bird flu has killed a rare
leopard in Thailand, making the leap into exotic animals after killing at
least 20 people and afflicting millions of chickens, Thai officials said
Monday.
Tests confirmed the clouded leopard kept in a zoo near Bangkok had died of
the same virulent H5N1 avian virus that has hit eight Asian countries.
"The
test on the dead leopard showed that it had been infected with H5N1. We
believe it might have eaten some unhealthy chickens," Environment
Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa said after officials had reviewed tests on
the animal.
The
leopard died on January 27 at Kaokiew Zoo, 60 km (40 miles) east of
Bangkok, several days after suffering from respiratory problems...
[Link]
(18/02/2004) NEWS RELEASE
Shock survey shows 28% of supermarket chickens display burns through lying
in own excreta Survey and undercover investigation featured in BBC1's Food Police Programme
Weds 18th February at 20:00 reveal filthy conditions for UK chickens, in the
midst of avian 'flu epidemic in Far East
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has conducted a survey of the incidence
of hock burns on birds on sale in major UK supermarkets. Over 20,000 chickens were surveyed in 14 supermarket chains, revealing that an average
of 28% of whole, factory farmed chickens displayed hock burns. Certain supermarkets such as Aldi (33.5%) and Lidl (35.9%) showed even higher
incidences of hock burn.
Hock burns are the result of birds having to live in filthy conditions, in
their own urine and faeces, which accumulate in the sheds in which they are
kept. The litter on the floor is not cleaned out during their short, six-week lifespan. Due to overcrowding and lameness many chickens will spend
prolonged parts of their lives squatting on the urine-soaked floor. The build up of ammonia from the urine causes hock burns, breast blisters and
ulcerated feet, which often become infected. Hock burns are easily visible
on affected birds and usually appear as brown marks on the birds' legs around the 'knee' joint.
Kerry Burgess, CIWF's Campaigns Director said, 'The squalid conditions in which the birds featured in our investigation are kept, are conducive to the
spread of disease. In the light of the recent avian 'flu epidemic in the Far
East, and horror stories about the way the animals there are treated, consumers may not be aware that the living conditions in which the majority
of chickens are kept in the UK are equally horrific, terribly unhygienic and
cause immense suffering to the birds. Even the level of hock burns found in
the best supermarket, Kwik Save(15.7%) is completely unacceptable. It's high
time Britain's chicken producers took urgent action to remedy this appalling
situation.'
(19/02/2004) Concerns grow over animals buried alive enmass
Press Release: World Society for the Protection of Animals
Concerns grow over animals buried alive in mass graves International
charity the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has
received worrying reports from its Asian member societies and other
sources about the inhumane ways in which poultry are killed during efforts
to deal with the avian flu outbreak.
These reports include chickens often buried alive in mass graves in
countries across Asia; in South Korea and Vietnam, tens of thousands have
been beaten with iron bars or sticks before being buried; chickens in
China have been set on fire whilst still alive and, in Taiwan, chickens
have been poisoned and then buried.
Millions of poultry have already been handled and slaughtered with little regard for their welfare. The international bodies responsible for handling this outbreak, FAO (UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation), OIE (World Animal Health Organisation) and WHO (World Health Organisation), have so far neglected to address the issue of animal
welfare...
[Link]
(20/02/2004) Whale on the Menu as Japan Renews Call for Hunting
TOKYO - Scores of Japanese tucked into a feast of fried whale and whale kebabs Tuesday, renewing Tokyo's calls to lift a ban on hunting the giant mammals as they said eating whale was a proud national tradition.
"Whale is nutritious but expensive, I wish it were cheaper," said
Mitsuko Yamamoto, biting into a whale cutlet sandwich.
"People overseas say whales are cute, but cows and pigs look cute to
me too. It's a cultural difference."
Japan believes endangered whales should be protected but that others, such as the minke, are in no danger of dying out and hunting within limits should be allowed...
[Link]
(21/02/2004) New Eurogroup scientific report demonstrates links between Animal Health and Animal Welfare
PRESS INFORMATION
OIE’s International Conference on Animal Welfare
Paris 23-25 February 2004
The World Animal Health Organisation (O.I.E.) is next week bringing together stakeholders from all over the world to discuss animal welfare issues such as transport, slaughter and the killing of animals for disease control. Eurogroup for Animal welfare sees this conference and the decision of the OIE to develop an animal welfare strategy as a positive sign that animal welfare has become an internationally recognised policy issue.
Eurogroup calls on the OIE and the EU to pay more attention to how
animal diseases can be prevented by improving welfare especially in
livestock farming. A new study based on a report of Cambridge University
prepared for the conference “Links between Animal Health and Animal
welfare” summarizes scientific research which demonstrates the causal
links between poor welfare and poor health. In many intensive husbandry
systems the animals are unable to cope with the unnatural way in which
they are kept. This in turn results in vulnerability to disease and
injury. For instance:
- animals which cannot cope with their environment often have weaker
immune systems which means they are more likely to succumb to infectious
diseases such as avian influenza
- some animals develop abnormal behavior such as stereotypes, redirected behavior (tail biting in pigs or feather pecking of hens) and aggression which leads to injuries
- genetic selection and nutrition aimed at high productivity leads to metabolic diseases which are clearly illustrated in anemic calves for the production of white veal and the health problems of broiler chickens.
Sonja Van Tichelen, Director of Eurogroup states:” The OIE’s resolution last year on including animal welfare in its workplan is a positive step towards acknowledging the connection between animal health and welfare. Eurogroup has long maintained that the two issues are inextricably linked. On the one hand, good welfare is a basic prerequisite for good health and on the other, poor health means poor welfare. It is time for Animal Health experts and governmental authorities to adopt this principle. Animal Welfare should no longer be sidelined as a fringe issue which is only a concern in developed countries”
Eurogroup is providing the OIE with scientific expertise and input relating to the political and ethical dimensions of animal welfare through its membership of the International Coalition of Farm Animal ICFAW which represents animal welfare organisations at the O.I.E.
Ends
Eurogroup, a federation of the leading animal welfare organisations in the European Union is working closely with the EU and EU governments on the introduction and implementation of animal welfare legislation.
For more information or copies of the document :
http://www.eurogroupanimalwelfare.org/pdf
Eurogroup Brussels : 0032.2.740.08.20
website:
www.eurogroupanimalwelfare.org
or at the conference:
Sonja Van Tichelen +32/477.246077 - Nederlandse Dierenbescherming: Bert van den Berg +31/06.53375789 – RSPCA: David Bowles +44 /771. 4717884 – Dyrenes Beskyttelse: Pernille Fraas Johnson +45/20.708328
(22/02/2004) Thailand reports bird flu in cats
Scientists in Thailand have confirmed the first cases of bird flu in cats.
The deadly H5N1 virus was found in at least two domestic cats and a white tiger, veterinarian Teeraphon Sirinauemit announced in Bangkok. The discovery is significant because every time the virus jumps from one species to another, it increases the risk of more cases occurring in humans. So far 22 people have died of bird flu, the most recent cases being a four-year-old Thai boy and a man in Vietnam...
[Link]
(25/02/2004) Seals and Dolphins Wash Up on Mexican Beach
MEXICO CITY - The corpses of 128 seals, nine dolphins and nine pelicans washed up on a beach in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico's government said on Monday.
The government environmental watchdog Profepa said the animals were found over the weekend in the San Jorge bay in the Sea of Cortez, about 60 miles south of the U.S. border. It launched an investigation of the deaths...
[Link]
(26/02/2004) Science Steps In as Romance Fails for Japan Panda
WTOKYO - Science took over after romance failed for a Japanese male giant panda whose three attempts to impregnate female pandas in Mexico ended without success.
Keepers at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo said they have now used artificial insemination in an attempt to breed from Shuan Shuan, a female giant panda from China, after several meetings with Tokyo stud panda Ling Ling failed to yield results...
[Link]
(27/02/2004) Bangladesh launches tiger census
Scientists are beginning a census of Royal Bengal tigers in the Bangladeshi part of the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.
It follows a similar study in the Indian part of the Sundarbans.
The census is part of an initiative to preserve the biodiversity of the forest, which lies on the border between the two countries.
Early indications from India suggest that the tigers, previously thought to be dying out, are increasing in number...
[Link]
(28/02/2004) Dog Is Found Alive Month After Boat Sinks
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A Labrador retriever has been found alive on an isolated cove of a Southeast Alaska island more than a month after its owner was given up for dead when his boat sank in rough seas.
Two local fishermen found the dog named Brick on Heceta Island several miles from the accident. The men had known the dog's owner, Greg Clark, who went down with his boat in late January.
Brick swam to the men's boat and was hauled aboard — underweight, with an injured leg, fur matted with tree sap, but wiggling with joy, according to friends of the fishermen...
[Link]
(29/02/2004) Pacific turtles 'gone in decade'
The steep decline of the Pacific Ocean leatherback turtle has gone so far the species could be extinct within no more than a decade, conservationists fear.
A report by the US group Conservation International says leatherback numbers there have fallen by 97% in 22 years.
Five of the six other species of sea turtle are also at risk of extinction, though not necessarily as acutely.
Threats include fishing practices and the poaching of the turtles' eggs, but scientists say they can still be saved...
[Link]
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