News
The number of news found: 32.
01/31/2007 TURKEYS USED AS TARGETS!
MANHEIM, Pa. - Dozens of domestic turkeys were staked to bales of straw and used as live targets in an archery contest, and a sportsman's club was charged in what one investigator called 'the most gutless act of cruelty, authorities said. The contest at Elstonville Sportsman's Association featured the fowl secured at their feet, allowing them to flap their wings. Participants paid $12 for three attempts to hit one with an arrow, with those drawing blood winning the animal, prosecutor Christine Wilson said. About 40 turkeys were killed. 'It was unnecessary, unsportsmanlike and perhaps the most gutless act of cruelty I've seen,' said Keith Mohler, an officer authorized to enforce state animal cruelty laws. The association faces fines of as much as $4,000 for eight summary violations of laws against the cruel treatment of animals and offering live animals as prizes in a contest. (AP)
01/30/2007 EU REJECTS BAN ON CANADIAN SEAL PRODUCTS!
The European Union's executive commission rejected appeals Friday for an EU-wide ban on the import of seal fur products to force the closure of Canada's annual seal hunt. The EU head office said a 1983 EU law which imposes limited bans on the import of fur taken from young seal pups 'provides adequate response' to concerns presented by the European Parliament. The EU assembly voted last year demanding the European Commission introduce a total ban on seal products in protest of what EU lawmakers called cruel and inhumane hunting tactics used to kill seal pups for their skins. The Commission said the population of seals in Canada's Arctic and Atlantic regions 'has grown significantly' in the last three decades from just under 2 million to around 6 million harp seals alone, adding the seals were not listed as endangered species. Lawmakers said, however, that the inaction by the EU was hypocritical as it seeks to impose a separate ban on all imports of dog and cat fur into the 27-nation bloc.
01/29/2007 PYTHON STRANGLES CIRCUS EMPLOYEE!
A 18-foot python escaped from its cage at a traveling circus and strangled an employee, said police in the southern Russian city of Stavropol. The body of a woman who cares for animals at the small circus was found near the glass enclosure with signs of suffocation and remnants of snakeskin on her neck, the regional branch of the Interior Ministry said. The 220-pound snake was found nearby and returned to its cage. Authorities were conducting an autopsy on the body of the 62-year-old woman.
01/28/2007 BOYCOTT MAY LOOM OVER JAPAN MEETING ON WHALING!
Japan has called a special meeting of members of an international whaling group next month to help lift a global moratorium on hunting of whales, but several countries opposed to the practice may boycott the assembly. The absence of anti-whaling nations from the meeting of members of the International Whaling Commission could leave the future of the world body in doubt. Japan, which with other pro-whaling nations has long argued that the fractious IWC is no longer functional, offered last year to host a first-ever gathering to 'normalize' the group. The meeting, to be held from February 13 to 15 in Tokyo, was officially announced on Thursday, just a day before international environmental group Greenpeace will set sail from New Zealand to again confront Japanese ships in the Southern Ocean which are carrying out what it calls scientific whaling.
01/28/2007 FAITHFULL DOGS SASSY AND WATCH...
It's been three months since Sir Norman Frank Sisson died, but his two faithful companions are still guarding his Canning Garden home. Sassy and Watch have to rough it out, sleeping on the porch, but come rain or shine the two dogs patrol the garden of the semi-detached house and chase off strangers. Sassy, a seven-year-old Dachshund, and Watch, a five-year-old mongrel, sleep on one of the towels their late master used. Sir Norman died a bachelor on Sept 27 last year and ever since his death the house has been locked up. His wife died in 1984 while his three children live in Australia with their own families. The 75-year-old Australian's close friends and immediate neighbour feed the dogs in the mornings and take them for evening walks.
01/27/2007 BELGIUM BECOMES FIRST EU COUNTRY TO BAN ALL SEAL PRODUCT IMPORTS!
On January 25, 2007 the Belgian Parliament voted unanimously to implement a national ban on the import of all seal products, making Belgium the first nation in the European Union to do so. The ban closes the Belgian market for the commercial seal trade, sending an important message to the Canadian government that Belgium wants no part of Canada's cruel commercial seal hunt. The Belgian Parliament's vote demonstrates to the Canadian Government that markets for all seal products in Europe can be closed. Throughout the past year, there have been strong steps to stop the trade of seal products in Europe. The German Parliament voted unanimously on a motion urging the government to ban seal products, just one month after the EU Parliament passed a Written Declaration in support of an EU-wide trade ban.
01/27/2007 POM PROMISES TO END DEADLY ANIMAL TESTS!
Last year, PETA discovered that POM was funding outrageous experiments on animals in order to make health claims about its products. In one experiment, balloons were inflated into live rabbits to study erectile dysfunction. In another experiment, baby mice were suffocated to the point of brain damage and then had their heads cut off. Those are just a couple of the tests that POM was funding. After enduring just a few months of PETA's public education campaign about POM's deadly tests, POM has decided to stop funding and conducting animal tests. In a letter to PETA, Matt Tupper, POM president and CEO, stated: 'Neither POM Wonderful nor its related entities provide funding for ongoing animal testing on POM Juice (or POM Tea). Moreover, there are no plans to do so in the future.'
01/26/2007 BULLFIGHTER BEATEN BY HIS BULL!
Jesus Martinez, better known as 'Morenito de Aranda,' was close to slaying his second bull when the animal pierced his neck with one of his horns. The bullfighter had stabbed the animal twelve times when the bull made what experts called a 'mysterious' recovery. Valdivio Cepeda, bullfighting announcer said the attack was unexpected as the bull had been stabbed so many times. 'He (the bull) managed to lift the matador twice and left him with injuries to his neck and back,' he said. Doctors told the 21-year-old matador that he required a gland removal. Another man was also injured by the bull but was able to rise promptly to his feet before suffering major damage. The bull was killed after several attempts, once arena workers managed to sedate it and cut its cervical vein.
01/25/2007 SWAIN REVEALS MEATY SECRET!
Lolita star Dominique Swain is keen to distance herself from a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) anti-fur campaign, which she posed naked for - because she doesn't want people to think she's meat-free. The actress feels terrible when she has to explain to animal lovers she isn't a vegetarian - but doesn't see why she should feel bad about eating meat. Swain insists she agreed to appear in the provocative PETA ads because she believes fur farming is cruel and unnecessary.
01/24/2007 ANTI-MEAT AD CAMPAIGN HINTS AT PIG FARM HORRORS!
The animal rights group PETA is stirring anger and horror with a recently unveiled anti-meat campaign that appears to exploit the murders of women in B.C. The new billboards for the U.S.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals shows the face of a young woman on one side and a pig's face on the other. In between is the slogan: 'Neither Of Us Is Meat.'
01/23/2007 MILK MIGHT TRANSMIT MAD COW DISEASE!
Mad Cow Disease, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), affects the central nervous system of the cows. The brain loses control and the animal ultimately dies. Prion proteins are believed to cause the disease. A mad cow's milk may contain these prion proteins and the disease might be transmitted from the mad cow to humans who happen to drink its milk, according to a new study.
01/22/2007 COURT RULES HORSE SLAUGHTER ILLEGAL IN TEXAS!
A federal appeals court has ruled that horse slaughter is illegal in Texas, home to two of the nation's three processing plants. 'This is the most important court action ever on the issue of horse slaughter,' Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society of the United States president and chief executive, said in a statement. 'When this ruling is enforced, a single plant in Illinois will stand alone in conducting this grisly business.'
01/20/2007 LEOPARDS BRUTALLY KILLED IN KASHMIR!
A leopard was brutally killed by villagers in the Chak Chotipora village of Shopian in south Kashmir. The leopard, which strayed into the village, had injured a child. The residents chased the animal and bludgeoned it with stones and sticks. In another incident, a leopard caused panic for several hours in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Wednesday. The leopard was first spotted at a bungalow that was under construction and soon a curious crowd gathered. For the next seven hours, forest officials and police efforts to sedate the predator proved futile. The locals finally cornered the leopard and hit the animal with sticks after which the forest department tranquilised it. But the leopard died later and the post mortem report said the animal died of fear.
01/19/2007 ANIMAL PARTY BANS MOUSE POISON IN PARLIAMENT!
The Dutch Party for Animals, which entered parliament for the first time last November, has forbidden the laying of poison to deal with a mouse infestation in its offices, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The party, which campaigns for animal rights and compassionate farming, will only allow humane traps in the parliament wing where its offices are housed, allowing trapped mice to be released unharmed, the daily De Telegraaf reported.
01/18/2007 CLONING OPENS DOOR TO 'FARMYARD FREAKS'!
Moves to clone and genetically modify farm livestock have opened the door to the creation of 'Farmyard Freaks', experts have warned. Professor Ben Mepham, of Nottingham University, said the impact of bio-engineering, creating GM and cloned animals, is huge. Factory farming techniques, most commonly used with pigs and chicken, often involve keeping animals confined in cramped conditions. For pigs, who are highly intelligent, these conditions can lead to stress and aggression. However, GM scientists are actively investigating ways to remove the stress and aggression gene from animals, effectively turning them into complacent zombies.
01/16/2007 EU TIGHTENS ANIMALS TRANSPORT RULE!
The stress suffered by animals as they are transported across Europe will be lessened as new laws come into force. Lorries used to carry cattle for eight hours or more must be licensed to ensure they are equipped with drinking systems and temperature monitors. New lorries must also have satellite navigation, to make it easier to check compliance with travel and rest times. The rules comes into force days after another EU law banned veal crates, in which calves have no room to turn. Animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) said the new regulations on animal transport were an improvement, but regretted that nothing had been done to restrict the length of journeys.
01/15/2007 EU BANNED ALL WILL BIRD IMPORTS!
European Union has decided to permanently ban all wild bird imports. The temporary ban on all live bird imports has been extended until June 2007, and the new regulation takes effect on 1 July 2007. This ban will spare about four million wild birds a year.
01/14/2007 COLUMBIAN NURSES ANIMALS BACK TO HEALTH!
Through the bars of his cage, an African lion named Jupiter stretches his giant paws around the neck of Ana Julia Torres and plants a kiss on her puckered lips. It could be a kiss of gratitude: Since Jupiter was rescued six years ago from a life of abuse and malnutrition in a traveling circus, Torres has fed and nursed him back to health at her Villa Lorena shelter for injured and mistreated animals. Torres said her work rehabilitating animals began more than a decade ago when a friend gave her an owl that had been kept as a pet. Later, when she asked her students to bring their pets to school, she realized many families illegally kept wild fauna from Colombia's biologically diverse jungles in their homes.
01/13/2007 CRITICISM OF BULLFIGHTS GROWS IN SPAIN!
A critical attitude towards bullfights is on the rise in Spain, where nearly half of the population would like the bull to be killed out of sight rather than by the bullfighter, according to a poll published Wednesday by the daily El Mundo. Nearly 44 per cent of those interviewed did not want to see the matador kill the bull with his sword at the end of the bullfight, while almost 47 per cent did. Environment Minister Cristina Narbona recently proposed Portuguese-style bullfights, in which the bull is finished off in a slaughterhouse. Her proposal sparked protests from politicians, including members of her own Socialist Party, and bullfighting professionals. Fifty-eight per cent of Spaniards remain favourable to bullfights, while 33 per cent would ban them, according to the poll.
01/12/2007 CHINA HERALDS YEAR OF THE FLUORESCENT GREEN PIG!
Chinese scientists have successfully bred partially green fluorescent pigs which they hope will boost stem cell research, Xinhua news agency said. A research team at the Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin managed to breed three transgenic pigs by injecting fluorescent green protein into embryonic pigs, Xinhua quoted Professor Liu Zhonghua as saying. 'The mouth, trotters and tongue of the pigs are green under ultraviolet light,' said Liu. Genetic material from jellyfish was injected into the womb of a sow which gave birth to the three pigs 114 days later in Harbin, he said. China celebrates the start of the Year of the Pig in February.
01/12/2007 UK AD REGULATIONS LABEL CHEESE AS JUNK FOOD!
In the UK, Ofcom's guidelines for food advertising classify cheese as junk food, as well as several other foods that wouldn't necessarily be perceived as junk food by the average consumer, because it is 'high in fat, salt and[/or] sugar.' This means that cheese cannot be advertised on TV programs made for children or where a high proportion of the viewers are under 16.
01/11/2007 SERVICEMAN DISCHARGED AFTER CRUELTY CASE!
Animal rights campaigners welcomed news that a former Iraq medic who slashed open his dog's throat with a military knife has been kicked out of the American air force. Senior Airman Dustin Yandell, 22, originally from Maryland and based at RAF Lakenheath, has been discharged from service at the base after admitting killing his golden retriever Goldie in March 2006. He had returned to service after serving just over half of the 18-week prison sentence he was handed in September for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. Magistrates banned Yandell from keeping pets for life after hearing how he put the dog in a bath before slitting its throat from one side to the other following a row with his estranged wife, who was in the U.S. at the time.
01/10/2007 STUNNED PIGS KILLED BY CARDIAC ARREST IN 'A CONSCIOUS STATE'!
Pigs slaughtered at the government slaughter house were observed dying 'of cardiac arrest, blood loss whilst being electro-immobilised in a conscious state.' A report about the state of the government's slaughter house is being kept hidden by the environment ministry, despite maltastar.com revealing details contained in the report. The report was handed to government in September by a number of international experts. It exposes shocking details which reveal appalling animal welfare practices at the government-run abattoir. The way pigs are being treated, from the offloading at the reception bay to the actual stunning procedures, were found to be in direct contravention to a number of European Union rules, namely the Slaughter and Killing Regulations 2003 and Animal Transport Regulations 2003.
01/09/2007 DEAD AND DISABLED CATTLE AFTER TWO BLIZZARDS!
While those of us in Eastern climes have been enjoying unseasonably balmy weather, the fallout from heavy snows in several Western states may well leave some residents without power for weeks. Tens of thousands of cattle are also roughing out the bad weather. National Guard troops in Colorado used helicopters and a C-130 cargo plane to make emergency drops of 900 'heavy hay bales' to wandering, snowbound herds - sacked by back-to-back holiday blizzards. New Mexico and Kansas ranchers have also been attempting to get hay to cattle spread thin over snow-covered ranges. 'We think there are probably 30,000 head out there that are at risk that we’re having to make sure we feed,' Maj. Gen. Mason Whitney of the Colorado Guard told The Associated Press.
01/08/2007 MILD WINTER KEEPS BEARS IN BULGARIA AWAKE!
Five inhabitants at the bears' Belitsa reserve in Bulgaria welcomed the New Year awake due to the mild weather and lack of snow. The animals in Belitsa have been given shelter in the Belitsa mountain park, after a miserable 'career' as street dancers. The bears were forced by their owners to dance and amuse tourists. But over the last several years animal rights activists from 'Four Paws' bought freedom for dozens of misfortunate dancers. Their new home is a 30-acre mountainous park 110 miles south of Sofia. The park - the largest of its kind in Europe - was set up by the Four Paws Foundation with the financial help of the animal protection fund run by former French actress Brigitte Bardot.
01/07/2007 PHARMACOLOGIST PLANS TO SET UP ANIMAL TESTING LAB IN TAIWAN!
A Taiwanese clinical pharmacologist working with a leading American pharmaceutical company is planning to set up a pre-clinical trial animal testing lab in Taiwan to win out-sourcing contracts from international pharmaceutical companies. Tsang-Bin Tzeng, senior director of the Clinical Pharmacology Department of AstraZeneca, headquartered in Delaware, told Taiwanese investment and trade representatives in New York that the timing is right for Taiwan to have animal testing labs, as most of the international pharmaceutical firms are outsourcing clinical trial works overseas, especially in Asia.
01/06/2007 BECKHAM BACKS OFF FROM MAKING FOR COAT PURCHASE!
David Beckham changed his mind about purchasing a fur coat, fearing a backlash from animal rights protestors. The Real Madrid soccer star fell in love with a £12,000 Christian Dior fox fur jacket during a recent shopping trip to London's exclusive Harrods department store, but decided to keep his wallet in his pocket. A source told Britain's Daily Express newspaper: 'He really took to the coat and after he'd put it on he couldn't stop gazing at himself in the mirror. He liked the red colour but explained he couldn't buy it as he was concerned about the animal rights brigade. He also joked that his teammates at Real Madrid have no fashion sense and would probably make fun of him if he turned up wearing it.
01/05/2007 ANIMAL PROTESTERS TARGET AIRPORT!
Animal rights activists will be demonstrating outside Leeds Bradford Airport as they step up their campaign to stop an East Yorkshire firm breeding animals for use in medical research. The Northern Animal Rights Network (NARN) says it will begin a series of protests, with the demonstration on Saturday January 13, aimed at cutting off the foreign market for research animals from B&K Universal. But the airport insisted that it had no involvement with transporting live animals for vivisection.
01/04/2007 HALAL SLAUGHTERING DOESN'T NEED ANIMALS AWAKE!
Muslim religious law requires, among other things, that an animal must be drained of blood before it is halal - permissible for consumption. Ritual slaughter according to Jewish dietary law - shechita - has the same prescription. Most Muslim slaughterers believe that drainage will only be complete if the throat of the animal is slit without stunning it first, but now Haluk Anil of the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues have shown that the amount of blood drained from the animal, and the rate of blood loss, is the same regardless of whether or not it is stunned first. 'Stunning does not impede blood loss, therefore this objection cannot be used any more,' says Anil, who is coordinating a European Union project to examine legislation and welfare issues related to religious slaughter, both shechita and halal.
01/03/2007 ANIMAL SACRIFICES MAIM 1,400 IN TURKEY!
Over a thousand Turks spent the first day of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha in emergency wards on Sunday after stabbing themselves or suffering other injuries while sacrificing startled animals. At least 1,413 people - referred to as 'amateur butchers' by the Turkish media - were treated at hospitals across the country, most suffering cuts to their hands and legs, the Anatolia news agency reported. Four people were severely injured, crushed under the weight of large animals that fell on top of them. Another person was hurt when a crane used to lift an animal tumbled onto him. Three other people suffered heart attacks and died while trying to restrain animals, CNN-Turk television reported.
01/02/2007 HUMANS AND ANIMALS FIGHT FOR SUSTENANCE!
'Reports of baboons and hyeans attacking comunities in drought-stricken Somalia are becoming common,' states the Nairobi newspaper The East African. One fight over water left several baboons dead and some livestock raisers injured. Bands of monkeys are said to position themselves at 'strategic road intersections or on bridges' to raid trucks ferrying provisions to local markets. 'The sight of animals making off with bunches of bananas or watermelons is common,' adds the newspaper.
01/01/2007 300,000 AT BOXING DAY FOX HUNTS IN BRITAIN!
More than 300,000 people thronged the British countryside on Tuesday for the annual Boxing Day fox hunts, organizers said, two years after Parliament passed a law banning traditional fox hunting in which dogs chase and kill the prey. Under the Hunting Act, which took effect in February 2005, dogs can be used to locate a fox and drive it into open ground, but not to harm the animal, which is shot instead. Many hunts have since been reformed into trail or drag hunting, in which dogs track an animal scent that has been artificially laid out through the woods. (AP)
The number of news found: 32.
