News
The number of news found: 31.
06/30/2006 SPANISH PARLIAMENT TO DEMAND RIGHTS FOR APES!
Madrid - Spain's parliament is to declare its support for rights to life and freedom for great apes, in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has recognised such rights for non-humans. Parliament is to ask the government to adhere to the Great Ape Project, which would mean recognising that our closest genetic relatives should be part of a 'community of equals' with humans. The move in a country better known for bull-fighting would follow a string of social reforms which have converted Spain from one of Europe's most conservative nations into a liberal trailblazer.
06/29/2006 MOBY SPEAKS UP FOR ANIMALS!
The vegan artist filmed a clip for the Humane Society of the United States, addressing the state of factory farming in the U.S., which he calls 'an abomination.' Against shots of wide-eyed cows in pens, pigs stumbling in warehouses, and chickens writhing on dirty floors, Moby implores viewers to seek out ways to help reduce the suffering of animals raised for meat, eggs, and milk. 'I'm a vegan because I love animals,' Moby said. 'You have to make your own choices and I'm not going to tell you how to live, but could you look a cow in the eye and say that your appetite is more important than that cow's life?'
06/28/2006 BRUNO THE BEAR SHOT DEAD IN ALPS!
Hunters in the Bavarian Alps have shot dead a brown bear called Bruno after spending weeks trying to find it. Earlier the German authorities had said the bear could be shot because it posed a danger to humans. Bruno was the first wild bear to be sighted in Germany since 1835. The animal was part of an Italian programme to reintroduce bears to the Alps.
06/27/2006 BRIT GUARDS' BEARSKIN HATS MAY BE BANNED!
London - A British lawmaker is gathering support for his call to ban the towering bearskin hats worn for almost 200 years by the red-coated soldiers who guard the country's royal palaces. The motion, introduced by Labour party lawmaker Chris Mullin in March, declares the hats made from the fur of Canadian black bears 'have no military significance and involve unnecessary cruelty.' Conservative lawmaker Ann Widdecombe has now urged her party to support the motion aimed at replacing the bearskins with artificial substitutes.
06/26/2006 EU CONSIDERS LABELLING FOOD TO BOOST ANIMAL WELFARE!
Luxembourg - EU farm ministers mostly backed an idea on Monday to stamp meat and dairy products made from humanely treated animals with an EU 'welfare' label although warned of the potential higher costs to consumers. Such a label could make European exports more competitive but also ran the risk of putting off consumers in home markets due to extra costs to industry which would be passed down the retail chain. The ministers were debating a proposed five-year plan to improve treatment of animals and its suggestion of a label to help consumers choose between 'minimum' and 'higher' welfare standards for the meat, milk or eggs that they want to buy.
06/25/2006 HUMANE SOCIETY SEEKS FOIE GRAS PRODUCTION BAN!
New York (Reuters) - Animal rights groups on Wednesday sought to ban foi gras production in New York, one of the leading U.S. producing states, arguing that overfeeding birds to fatten their livers makes the animals sick. The Humane Society of the United States filed a formal action with the New York U.S. State the New York U.S. State Department of Agriculture and Markets to stop the practice under a state law that makes it illegal to produce food from diseased animals.
06/24/2006 EU TO DENY FUNDS TO OXFORD ANIMAL TEST LAB!
The European Commission has confirmed that no EU cash will be spent on the construction, maintenance or activities of a controversial animal testing lab being built in Oxford. Responding to a Parliamentary Question by Oxford's Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas, a spokesperson confirmed the proposed South Parks Road lab will not receive taxpayers' cash from the EU - which remains committed to the eventual elimination of all animal tests.
06/23/2006 WHOLE FOODS BANS SALE OF LIVE LOBSTERS!
Austin, Texas - Customers craving fresh crustaceans will have to look beyond Whole Foods Market Inc. after the natural-foods grocery chain decided last Thursday to stop selling live lobsters and crabs on the grounds that it's inhumane. The Austin-based grocer spent seven months studying the sale of live lobsters from ship to supermarket aisle, trying to determine whether the creatures suffer along the way. Ultimately, Whole Foods management decided to immediately stop selling live lobsters and soft-shell crabs, saying they could not ensure the creatures are treated with respect and compassion.
06/22/2006 CAT ACTIVISTS STORM CHINESE RESTAURANT!
The incipient animal rights movement in China scored an unlikely victory last weekend when it invaded a restaurant advertising cat meatballs. About 40 activists stormed into the Fangji cat meatball restaurant, in Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong, and forced it to close. The owner of the Fangji restaurant said he would stop serving cat. Apparently he had warning of the attack, as no live animals were found on the premises. But a skinned cat was found in the fridge, causing some protesters to burst into tears.
06/21/2006 BEAGLE TO BE AWARDED FOR SAVING OWNER!
Orlando, Fla. - A 17-pound beagle named Belle is more than man's best friend. She's a lifesaver. Belle was in Washington, D.C., on Monday to receive an award for biting onto owner Kevin Weaver's cell phone to call 911 after the diabetic Ocoee man had a seizure and collapsed. 'There is no doubt in my mind that I'd be dead if I didn't have Belle,' said Weaver, 34, whose blood sugar had dropped dangerously low. Belle had been trained to summon help in just those circumstances.
06/21/2006 DEFIANT JAPAN VOWS TO CONTINUE CRUEL WHALE 'RESEARCH'!
Despite more than 25 separate International Whaling Commission (IWC) resolutions calling for an end to lethal research on whales over the past 19 years, Japan on June 18 announced it would press on with its controversial 'scientific' whaling programme - killing in excess of 1300 whales this year. Since 1987, Japan has killed almost 8,000 whales, which this year alone included more than 930 minke whales and 10 endangered fin whales. A further 220 minke, 50 Bryde's, 100 sei and 10 sperm whales will be targeted in the North Pacific this year, again for 'so called' research.
06/20/2006 MINISTER PRESSURED TO LABEL HEN CRUELTY!
Over 50,000 New Zealanders have signed a petition calling for mandatory labelling of cartons of cruelly produced eggs. Mandatory labelling will help consumers identify eggs produced by battery hens. Petition organisers will present the weighty pile of petitions to the Minister of Consumer Affairs tomorrow, surrounded by a half-dozen of cheerleading dancing eggs. National animal advocacy organisation SAFE has called for eggs produced by caged hens to be labelled as 'Eggs from Caged Hens'.
06/19/2006 MORE CHIMPS DIE AT TEXAS CENTER CARING FOR EX-OSU PRIMATES!
Three more chimpanzees have died at the Texas center where Ohio State University sent its primates in March. That brings the total to five chimp deaths at Primarily Primates in three months, including two from Ohio State. Wally Swett, president of Primarily Primates near San Antonio, confirmed the deaths of the three additional non-OSU animals, the latest one on June 3. One of the animals, Lynn, was euthanized. Swett said she suffered from a spinal infection.
06/18/2006 ANTI-FUR ACTIVISTS TARGET BEYONCE!
Two animal rights campaigners have been ejected from a restaurant in New York after confronting singer Beyonce Knowles about her love of fur coats. The members of People for the Ethical Treatment Animals secretly won an eBay auction offering dinner with the star. They spent several minutes asking a stunned Knowles why she wore fur and why it was used by her fashion label. Knowles remained silent as her mother and sister defended her, before the activists were asked to leave.
06/17/2006 JAPAN DEFEATED OVER CALLS FOR SECRET BALLOT!
Transparency was upheld at the 58th International Whaling Commission meeting in St Kitts as 30 countries voted in favour of Japan's calls for a secret ballot and 33 countries voted against. One country abstained. Speaking on behalf of the Whalewatch coalition, Leah Garcés, Campaigns Director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) said: 'We are still walking on egg shells but this second victory over Japan is a clear indication that in these critical times there remains hope for whales and their welfare. Governments need to fight fiercely if we are going to maintain the majority vote this year. We stand guarded in the days to come.'
06/16/2006 DOCTORS AGAINST ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS!
An educative action of Ärzte gegen Tierversuche association took place on July 13 at the University of Bielefeld (Germany). Beside various petitions and an abundance of informative material, the action included a remarkable didactic exhibition, which presented the horror of animal tests in a simple, yet powerful way and sought to destroy the myth of usefulness of such experiments for humanity or even for animals in the context of veterinary medicine. The association sporadically grants scholarships and awards for special achievements in scientific work that demonstrate the advantages of 'medicine without animal suffering'.
06/15/2006 YERKES PRIMATE CENTER: A HOUSE OF HORRORS FOR PRIMATES!
Arlington, VA - Self-mutilation, fight wounds, and severe emaciation are cited as reasons for death in necropsy reports from Yerkes National Primate Research Center, where severe crowding and neglect have driven mortality rates for sooty mangabeys to more than 34 percent. Yerkes currently has 229 sooty mangabeys-an endangered species of African monkeys. Federal law prohibits invasive research on endangered animals, but this has not protected the mangabeys at Yerkes from harm. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report details necropsy findings for 79 mangabeys who died at Yerkes between 2001 and 2005.
06/14/2006 POLO RALPH LAUREN GOES FUR-FREE!
Polo Ralph Lauren - one of the most widely recognized consumer brands in the world - has publicly announced that it will eliminate the use of fur in all its merchandise and home collections, starting with its holiday collection, in all its stores around the world. As a result of PETA's behind-the-scenes pressure and eye-opening anti-fur investigations that have struck a chord with ethical consumers, Ralph Lauren joins an ever-increasing number of retailers that are turning their backs on fur.
06/13/2006 ACTIVISTS PLEA FOR HUMANE CULLING OF BIRDS!
Los Angeles (Reuters) - Horrified by reports from Asia of chickens being set on fire or buried alive in plastic bags, U.S. animal welfare groups are gearing up with trepidation for the arrival of bird flu and the probability of mass killings to contain it. Animal rights activists have campaigned for years against the cramped conditions for billions of chickens, turkeys and ducks on U.S. factory farms. Now, as experts suspect the deadly H5N1 virus could find its way from Asia to Alaska this summer, they are lobbying the food industry and U.S. state veterinarians to conduct the expected slaughter of millions of poultry humanely.
06/12/2006 RIO DE JANEIRO TO OUTLAW VIVISECTION?!
A law is being argued in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro that would completely outlaw vivisection-not just product testing, but all animal experimentation. This would be the first such law passed anywhere in the world. The law was authored by City Counselor Claudio Cavalcanti. Remarkably, the law was approved by the council earlier this year, but then vetoed by the mayor. A hearing is set for June 20 to argue the law and attempt to overturn the veto.
06/11/2006 DUBROVNIK BECOMES 29TH TOWN TO BAN CIRCUSES WITH ANIMALS!
On June 2, Dubrovnik became 29th Croatian town to ban circuses with animal acts and thus joined the growing family of ethicaly aware towns that have already banned circuses with animal acts in Croatia: Mursko Sredisce, Varazdin, Donji Miholjac, Velika Gorica, Rovinj, Split, Delnice, Gospic, Cakovec, Kraljevica, Prelog, Ploce, Bjelovar, Ozalj, Klanjec, Zabok, Pozega, Novi Marof, Nin, Varazdinske Toplice, Dugo Selo, Krizevci, Lepoglava, Vukovar, Sisak, Karlovac, Novigrad, and Senj.
06/10/2006 FIRST MAD COW CASE REPORTED IN AUSTRIA!
Vienna - Health authorities confirmed a case of mad cow disease in the west Austrian province of Tirol after a 13-year-old cow tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), Austrian media reported here on Wednesday. It was the first case of the disease in Tirol and the country's fifth since 2001.
06/09/2006 'PRO-WHALERS' MAY DOMINATE COMMISSION!
For the first time since a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling was passed twenty years ago, pro-whaling nations are expected to dominate the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) later this month. The IWC is holding its plenary session from June 16 to 20 in the Caribbean island state of St Kitts and Nevis. In the past month, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands and Cambodia have joined the commission, bringing its total membership to 69. Whaling experts contacted by The Scientist said the Marshall Islands and Cambodia were likely to support the pro-whaling stance of Japan at the meeting. The expected outcome is that countries in favor of the practice will slightly outnumber those countries opposed to the practice, including the USA, Britain and Australia.
06/08/2006 BULLFIGHTING FACING THE FINAL BLOW!
Spain's three hundred year love affair with bullfights is on the wane, none more so than in the country's autonomous community of Catalonia, where the bloody spectacle could soon be banned. Later this month (June 22) politicians from the Catalan parliament are set to vote on changing their law on cruelty to animals that would abolish las corridas de toros in the autonomous community. The campaign to ban bullfights in Catalonia has intensified in recent years. Barcelona declared itself anti-bullfighting in 2004 and another 22 Catalan municipalities have since followed suit.
06/07/2006 FRENCH RETAIL GIANT ETAM JOINS INTERNATIONAL BOYCOTT OF AUSTRALIAN WOOL!
After viewing video footage of mulesing mutilations and meeting with a PETA representative, international fashion retailer Etam Développement declared that it will not knowingly sell products containing Australian merino wool until mulesing and live exports end. With annual sales of well over a billion dollars; a network of more than 2,200 outlets under its trademarks and subsidiaries across Europe, the Middle East, China, Japan, and New Zealand Etam truly is a global giant in the fashion world.
06/06/2006 IRELAND PLANS TO BOOST LAMB PRODUCTION!
Maintaining the national sheep flock, at least at its current level, is fundamental to the success of the sheep sector in the future according to a major strategy report published this week in Ireland. The Sheep Industry Development Strategy Report contains 37 recommendations designed to increase output of the sector, currently worth more than Euro 300 million annually. The report calls for government support and grant aid to improve production and better breeding.
06/05/2006 JAPAN 'RESEARCH' KILLING 60 MINKE WHALES!
A Japanese whaling expedition has butchered 60 minke whales under a research program to make the discovery that whales eat fish. The toll was the maximum allowed under a research program critics said was commercial whaling in disguise. The 43-day expedition, conducted 500km northeast of Tokyo, ended on Wednesday. Japan's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said the research program had found the minkes fed on sand eels and sardines. As much as 106 kg of fish was found in one whale's stomach, the ministry said.
06/04/2006 BIRD FLU SPURS PETA'S CHICKEN CAMPAIGN!
Los Angeles - Animal welfare groups are using the expected arrival of bird flu in the United States to step up long-running campaigns against large chicken and egg factory farms and persuade more Americans to stop eating meat. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said on Thursday it will launch a billboard next week in Arkansas, home of poultry giant Tyson Foods, featuring a person dressed in a chicken costume and brandishing a machine gun with the slogan 'Payback Time! Birdflu Kills. Go Vegetarian.'
06/03/2006 PHILIPPINES SHUTS DOWN KFC OUTLET FOR POLLUTION!
Manila - A Philippine state agency on Tuesday ordered the closure of a branch of US-based fast-food chain KFC and a local restaurant for discharging untreated waste water into a lake supplying water to Manila, officials said. The Laguna Lake Development Authority also ordered the KFC outlet to pay a fine of 1,000 pesos (US$18.94) per day, backdated to April 11, 2005. 'KFC continuously failed to conform to effluent standards since April 2005,' the agency said in a statement. 'Laboratory tests show that all parameters used by the agency have been exceeded a hundredfold.'
06/02/2006 AUSTRALIA LOBBIES PACIFIC NATIONS AGAINST WHALING!
Canberra - Australia began a last-ditch attempt to lobby small Pacific Island nations to support whale conservation on Tuesday, warning that every vote at next month's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting would be crucial. Environment Minister Ian Campbell is leading a delegation to Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu to lobby against any move by Japan to try to overturn a moratorium on commercial whaling at the IWC meeting in the Caribbean. Australia is a staunch opponent of whaling and has led international diplomatic efforts to urge Japan to stop whaling in the South Pacific and Southern Ocean.
06/01/2006 'WE'LL GET YOU' MORRISSEY WARNS ANIMAL LAB WORKERS!
Singer Morrissey has waded into the controversy over the new Oxford animal research laboratory by warning those working on the site 'we'll get you'. The singer used a concert at the city's New Theatre on Thursday night to hit out at the £20 million biomedical research laboratory site currently under construction in South Parks Road. He branded Oxford 'the shame of England' for allowing the laboratory and told fans: 'If you agree with vivisection, go and be vivisected upon yourself.'
The number of news found: 31.
