In the capital of Albania, Tirana, a zoo in awful conditions has been the subject of indignation and dispute for many years. The zoo hosts various species of animals, such as a bear, a wolf, birds of prey, cats, rabbits and turkeys. Animals live in small, dirty and rusty cages, without proper food, medical treatments and natural elements remembering their natural habitats, such as grass and soil.
A recent video shows animals stressed and suffering. It is alleged that the zoo uses donkeys to feed carnivores. A single donkey is kept under appalling circumstances, often for many days, until it is fed live to the other animals.
Furthermore, recently a bull, that become increasingly aggressive and killed a lama too, attacked to death its companion of enclosure, a mate, despite the veterinary working at the zoo requested the displacement of the bull to another center time ago, without success.
Referring to what happened to the mate Kelment Fullani, veterinary working at the zoo, affirmed that the current situation of the zoo is awful because of lack of investments since long time, concerning prophylactic provisions such as vaccines, medicinals, ambience disinfection and detergents.
Jaarlijks sterven wereldwijd ongeveer 60.000 mensen aan hondsdolheid. Dat blijkt uit een studie die gepubliceerd werd in het wetenschappelijk vakblad "PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases". Nochtans kan de ziekte gemakkelijk uitgeroeid worden door honden te vaccineren.
Volgens de meta-analyse zijn er jaarlijks 59.000 sterfgevallen door hondsdolheid. Dat cijfer ligt beduidend hoger dan vorige schattingen op basis van gegevens van de autoriteiten. Ongeveer 95 procent van de infecties zijn het gevolg van een hondenbeet. De armere landen, waar honden het minst gevaccineerd zijn, zijn er het ergst aan toe: India alleen al telt een derde van de sterfgevallen.
De meeste geïndustrialiseerde landen zijn erin geslaagd de zieke te elimineren door honden te vaccineren. Ook de inenting na blootstelling werkt goed als behandeling, maar het probleem is dat dergelijke inenting in India al 70 dollar kost, een hoge kost in dat land.
De economische kost van hondsdolheid is ook groot, melden de wetenschappers: zij schatten dat die 7,8 miljard euro bedraagt, op basis van de sterfgevallen, afwezigheid op het werk, en behandelingskosten. "Een massale vaccinatiecampagne bij honden zou slechts 1,5 procent van dat bedrag kosten", luidt het.
De Morgen
Mede oorzaak is de puppyhandel uit het oostblok,waar ze het niet nauw nemen met de voorschriften
Dog meat on sale ahead of the dog-eating festival in Yulin. Animal welfare advocates have called for an end to the event.Credit China Network/Reuters
Animal rights advocates say they have seen signs that the southern city of Yulin is trying to lower the profile of its much-criticized dog-eating festival. The feasting is expected to go ahead as scheduled this weekend, but local officials have taken steps to deflect outside attention from the annual event, at which thousands of dogs are consumed.
The Yulin city government has declared that it is not a sponsor of the festival and that it will strictly enforce food safety regulations. “In recent years, a few people in Yulin would get together on the summer solstice to eat dog meat and lychees, to the extent that it’s gradually become a culinary tradition,” the government said in a somewhat dismissive statement on its website. “This so-called ‘Summer Solstice Lychee and Dog Meat Festival’ is just something individual businesses and people have come up with, and in fact this holiday doesn’t exist.”
Efforts to play down the event have even affected advertising in Yulin, which is near the Vietnam border in the Guangxi region. Animal welfare advocates and domestic media have reported that some restaurants and stalls selling dog meat have removed the character for dog — 狗 (pronounced “go”) — from their signs.
Photo
Cages at a dog slaughterhouse. China has a history of eating dog meat, particularly in far southern and northern regions.Credit Humane Society International
Peter Li, a political science professor at the University of Houston-Downtown and a China policy adviser for the Humane Society International, said that during a three-day visit to Yulin last week, preparations for the dog meat festival at local restaurants and slaughterhouses seemed muted. “The government is trying to suppress this because of mounting pressure from across the country, across the world and also pressure from the provincial government,” he said.
China does not have animal cruelty laws, and there is a history of eating dog meat, particularly in far southern and northern regions. The dish is not commonplace, though. The country also has a growing and increasingly vocal population of pet owners, who have spoken out about heavy-handed restrictions on dog ownership and sometimes brutal and arbitrary enforcement of the rules.
The dog meat trade has become a key target for Chinese animal rights advocates. In 2011, a group blocked a truck transporting nearly 500 dogs to a slaughterhouse and paid $18,000 to free them. That same year another dog meat festival in eastern China was canceled because of public pressure. On Tuesday, a group of about 30 people, mostly older women, held banners condemning the festival outside the Yulin city representative office in Beijing. The group also submitted petitions signed by about 40,000 people, mostly overseas Chinese, calling for an end to the festival, an organizer said.
In their campaign, animal rights advocates have emphasized food safety threats stemming from the unregulated nature of the trade in dogs and cats for meat in China. Because formal breeding for food is limited, strays and pets are nabbed to fill the demand in places like Yulin. Slaughterhouses are not closely inspected, and dog traffickers sometimes use poison to kill their quarry, posing a risk to the eventual consumer.
Although festival-related activity in Yulin has been relatively subdued, consumption of dog meat has by no means stopped. Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported that some residents held a dog meat banquet a week early to avoid activists and journalists. And Mr. Li said that he and his colleagues found a site outside the city center where dogs were being moved from trucks into small cages on motorcycles so they could be transported into town less conspicuously. They also visited a slaughterhouse where dogs were being butchered in the middle of the night.
“We got very close to the gate, but we couldn’t go inside,” he said. “We could see dogs being selected, we could see the butcher with the knife and of course the hair-removal machine running all the time. Every few minutes we heard a dog wailing in a very sad way.”
Budi the baby orangutan who is critically video Nederlands
Budi the baby orangutan who is critically ill at IAR's Orangutan Rescue Centre
Our team in Indonesia is providing intensive care for a baby orangutan that is seriously ill after suffering months of neglect. For the first year of his life little Budi was kept as a pet in a chicken cage and fed entirely on condensed milk.
Budi arrived at IAR’s Orangutan Rescue Centre in Ketapang in December. A local from Kubing in Ketapang had informed the authorities that she was willing to hand over a small baby orangutan that she had been keeping as a pet. She also admitted that the baby was very sick. The rescue team, Rudi from the Agency for Natural Resources Conservation in Ketapang (BKSDA), Andi from the Gunung Palung National Park, and Dr Ayu Handayani and Riyan from IAR, responded to the call immediately. After a journey of more than 10 hours by boat and by road, Budi arrived safely at the centre.
Budi's condition was extremely critical during the journey and on arrival at the centre. "Budi had spent more than 10 months in a chicken cage, drinking only condensed milk," said Dr Ayu Handayani. Ever since Budi was captured while still a small baby, until he was rescued by IAR and BKSDA, this infant had been given no solid food. "The owner said that she was afraid to give Budi any fruits and thought that giving condensed milk would be sufficient.”
Inevitably Budi presented signs of severe malnutrition. His body was swollen up with fluid owing to the lack of protein. Initial reports from Dr Ayu state that Budi was extremely weak, unable to move and also suffering from severe anaemia. Budi is being monitored and observed round the clock by IAR’s team of vets.
"We cannot even imagine how much pain this small baby has suffered", says Dr Karmele L Sanchez, IAR’s Programme Director in Indonesia. "His eyes fill with tears every time he's moved by the doctors and he screams in pain. It's really amazing that Budi has been able to survive this long."
Budi is now making a slow recovery in the International Animal Rescue clinic. At first he didn’t have the strength even to sit up on his own but can now sit unsupported for short periods of time. He is also being treated for a severe metabolic disease affecting his bones. His limbs are malformed because malnutrition has prevented them from developing properly. Budi has a very long way to go on the road to recovery and it is still too early to know whether he has sustained any permanent damage.
Karmele adds:"At the moment we are still worried for his life and trying to minimise his pain. But Budi is a very strong little baby and he is fighting very hard to survive."
Ondervoede baby oerang-oetang na tien maanden bevrijd uit kippenhok
Een baby orang-oetang, die de eerste tien maanden van zijn leven in een klein kippenhok doorbracht en enkel overleefde op gecondenseerde melk, heeft eindelijk de zorg gekregen die hij nodig heeft. Toen Budi overhandigd werd aan de International Animal Rescue (IAR) was het jonge dier verschrikkelijk ondervoed en werd gevreesd voor zijn overlevingskansen. Ondanks alles blijft hij vechten.
Budi arriveerde in december van vorig jaar in een opvangcentrum van IAR, nadat zijn eigenaar hem overhandigd had. De vrouw gaf toe dat het dier heel erg ziek was en bijna een jaar in een kooi had gezeten. "Zijn eigenaar zegt dat ze bang was om Budi fruit te geven en dacht dat de gecondenseerde melk voldoende zou zijn", verklaart IAR-dierenarts Ayu Handayani.
Bij zijn aankomst was zijn kleine lijfje helemaal opgezwollen door het voedingstekort en waren ook zijn gewrichten gezwollen en misvormd. "Geen enkel levend wezen zou gedwongen mogen worden om maandenlang verschrikkelijke pijn en ellende te moeten doorstaan - zeker niet een hulpeloze baby orang-oetang zonder moeder om hem te troosten", voegt CEO Alan Knight eraan toe.
Helse pijn De schattige orang-oetang wordt intussen de klok rond verzorgd in Indonesië. "We kunnen ons niet voorstellen hoeveel pijn deze baby heeft doorstaan", aldus Karmele L. Sanchez, een van de dierenartsen in Indonesië. "Zijn ogen beginnen te tranen telkens hij wordt verlegd en hij schreeuwt dan van de pijn. Het is ongelooflijk dat Budi dit zo lang heeft volgehouden."
Budi zou niet langer in levensgevaar zijn, maar is nog steeds heel zwak. Volgens zijn dierenartsen is het verder ook nog te vroeg om te zeggen wat mogelijk de permanente schade is van zijn behandeling. "Maar Budi is een erg sterke baby en hij is heel hard aan het vechten om te overleven."
Jammer genoeg is het verhaal van Budi niet uniek. Volgens berichten van het WWF, worden de vrouwtjes vaak gevangen genomen en gedood zodat hun jongen verkocht kunnen worden. En zonder hun moeder, overleven de baby's niet lang.HLN
Corporations are buying palm oil from destroyed forests and driving animals to extinction while using GreenPalm certificates to claim their palm oil is "sustainable."
Ben Jenkins from ABC Australia says using Greenpalm Certificates is like saying
We demand the RSPO stop endorsing these fraudulent certificates. They are a sham and allow companies to greenwash the actual palm oil in their products which leaves a trail of destruction behind it. We're not buying it!
top_right Charlie Hebdo Dog Survives Paris Attack and more story's
In an interview with France’s Le Monde newspaper, a survivor of the shootings at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo described how the office dog, Lila, was there as the Kouachi brothers killed 12 of her colleagues.
Crime reporter Sigolène Vinson said the Cocker Spaniel, who wears a Charlie Hebdo collar, had greeted the staff members she loved as they arrived at the office after the holidays. Vinson said the sound of Lila running from room to room during the Jan. 7 attack helped her get through the terrible situation.
One of the gunmen told Vinson he wouldn’t kill her because she was a woman, and she kept still behind an office wall until she heard them flee. “As I lay there, not sure if they were really gone, shots rang out in the distance, in the street. And then I heard Lila with her tiny steps,” Vinson said. She thought Lila was searching for her favorite cartoonist, Jean Cabut, who was killed.
In Wednesday’s new, sold-out edition of Charlie Hebdo, Vinson wrote an ode to Lila. It read in part, “At Charlie Hebdo, we have a dog, a red Cocker Spaniel who signals to us that it’s OK, that we can get up now, that (the terrorists) have gone.” — Read it at the U.K.’s Telegraph
Honden neer-geknuppeld-en-gedood-in-leerindustrieEnglish and video
U zult waarschijnlijk nooit meer leer kopen na het bekijken van deze video
Een ontzettend verontrustend undercover onderzoek door PETA Azië onthult de manier waarop honden worden neer geknuppeld en gedood zodat hun huid gebruikt kan worden voor leren handschoenen, riemen, bontkragen, kattenspeeltjes en andere accessoires. Een onderzoeker legde vast hoe medewerkers de ene na de andere hond bij de nek greep met een metalen tang en op hun hoofd inslaat met een houten paal. Sommige honden raakten bewusteloos terwijl anderen het uitschreeuwden en huiverden van de pijn. Sommigen ademden met moeite door, nadat hun kelen waren doorgesneden, voordat de huid van hun lijf werd getrokken. De daarop volgende honden die in de rij stonden om geslacht te worden huilden en blaften terwijl een medewerker ze sloeg in een poging ze langzamer te laten lopen. Een medewerker vertelde de onderzoeker dat dit bedrijf ongeveer 100 tot 200 honden per dag neer knuppelt en vilt. Tijdens de opname van deze video waren 300 levende honden in het gebouw aanwezig die geslacht zouden worden.
Het merendeel van het leer in de wereld komt uit China waar geen straffen bestaan voor het mishandelen van dieren die gedood worden voor hun huid.
Producten die gemaakt zijn van leer worden geëxporteerd en overal in wereld verkocht aan nietsvermoedende consumenten. Onthoud dus als u leer koopt,: er is geen gemakkelijke manier om te zien van wie u de huid daadwerkelijk draagt.
A deeply disturbing PETA Asia undercover investigation reveals that dogs are bludgeoned and killed so that their skin can be turned into leather gloves, belts, jacket collar trim, cat toys, and other accessories. At the slaughterhouse, the investigator filmed workers as they grabbed one dog after another around the neck with metal pinchers and bashed them over the head with a wooden pole. Some dogs fell unconscious, while others cried out and writhed in agony. Some still struggled to breathe after their throatswere cut before their skins were ripped off their bodies. Dogs who were next in line for slaughter wailed and barked as a worker hit them in an effort to get them to walk more slowly. One employee told the investigator that this facility bludgeons and skins 100 to 200 dogs a day. When this video was shot, there were about 300 live dogs in the compound slated for slaughter.
Success! Another Country Moves to BAN ANIMAL TESTING FOR COSMETICS Petition
In a victory for lab animals and those advocating on their behalf to make beauty and personal care products cruelty-free around the world, another country has announced plans to end animal testing for cosmetics.
This week South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the issue of animal testing will be part of its Five Year Plan for Animal Welfare. Under the new plan, testing finished products on animals will be banned, and further consideration will go into a ban on testing ingredients.
The plan follows the strategy the European Union used for its ban, first banning finished product testing and then ingredients, and has thrilled animal advocates who have been campaigning to see the needless suffering of animals who are still being used unnecessarily to test cosmetics come to an end.
According to Cruelty Free International (CFI), nine alternative methods to animal tests have already been validated in Korea and two more are in the works. Once those are validated, official guidelines on the full set of alternatives will be published.
“We very much welcome this important breakthrough and we are grateful to the members of the National Assembly who helped us press the case. We will now be urging implementation as soon as possible so that the full ban can be achieved at the earliest possible date, bringing Korea into line with Europe and India. We hope to see this echoed in 2015 by other Asian countries where we are active. This is a great start to the New Year,” said Michelle Thew, Chief Executive of CFI.
South Korea’s compassionate change will make it the second country in Asia to take steps to ban animal testing for cosmetics and follows an ever growing list of countries around the globe that have already made huge strides in this area, including India, Israel, Brazil, the European Union and China, which recently removed a huge barrier when it officially announced it would end its mandatory requirement for animal testing.
While the U.S. is still lagging embarrassingly behind on this issue, it is on legislative radar here. Last year Rep. Jim Moran introduced the Humane Cosmetics Act, which would make it illegal to conduct or commission animal testing for cosmetics after a one year phase in, which will be followed by a ban on the interstate sale of products and ingredients that were made using animal testing after three years.
Not only will this legislation end the suffering of animals used in cruel and painful tests, but it will also help keep us safe and healthy by encouraging the development and validation of more alternatives that are cheaper, faster and more reliable. It will also be good for business, by helping cosmetics companies in the U.S. stay competitive in a global market that continues to move towards mandating cruelty-free alternatives.
The bill has received widespread support from animal advocates and compassionate companies. This past November Moran’s successor, Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, took up the cause and is expected to bring it to Congress this month.
TAKE ACTION!
Please sign and share the petition urging your representatives to help bring the U.S. in line with countries that are taking the lead to end animal testing for cosmetics by supporting and co-sponsoring the Humane Cosmetics Act.
Success! Another Country Moves to BAN ANIMAL TESTING FOR COSMETICS Petition
In a victory for lab animals and those advocating on their behalf to make beauty and personal care products cruelty-free around the world, another country has announced plans to end animal testing for cosmetics.
This week South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the issue of animal testing will be part of its Five Year Plan for Animal Welfare. Under the new plan, testing finished products on animals will be banned, and further consideration will go into a ban on testing ingredients.
The plan follows the strategy the European Union used for its ban, first banning finished product testing and then ingredients, and has thrilled animal advocates who have been campaigning to see the needless suffering of animals who are still being used unnecessarily to test cosmetics come to an end.
According to Cruelty Free International (CFI), nine alternative methods to animal tests have already been validated in Korea and two more are in the works. Once those are validated, official guidelines on the full set of alternatives will be published.
“We very much welcome this important breakthrough and we are grateful to the members of the National Assembly who helped us press the case. We will now be urging implementation as soon as possible so that the full ban can be achieved at the earliest possible date, bringing Korea into line with Europe and India. We hope to see this echoed in 2015 by other Asian countries where we are active. This is a great start to the New Year,” said Michelle Thew, Chief Executive of CFI.
South Korea’s compassionate change will make it the second country in Asia to take steps to ban animal testing for cosmetics and follows an ever growing list of countries around the globe that have already made huge strides in this area, including India, Israel, Brazil, the European Union and China, which recently removed a huge barrier when it officially announced it would end its mandatory requirement for animal testing.
While the U.S. is still lagging embarrassingly behind on this issue, it is on legislative radar here. Last year Rep. Jim Moran introduced the Humane Cosmetics Act, which would make it illegal to conduct or commission animal testing for cosmetics after a one year phase in, which will be followed by a ban on the interstate sale of products and ingredients that were made using animal testing after three years.
Not only will this legislation end the suffering of animals used in cruel and painful tests, but it will also help keep us safe and healthy by encouraging the development and validation of more alternatives that are cheaper, faster and more reliable. It will also be good for business, by helping cosmetics companies in the U.S. stay competitive in a global market that continues to move towards mandating cruelty-free alternatives.
The bill has received widespread support from animal advocates and compassionate companies. This past November Moran’s successor, Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, took up the cause and is expected to bring it to Congress this month.
TAKE ACTION!
Please sign and share the petition urging your representatives to help bring the U.S. in line with countries that are taking the lead to end animal testing for cosmetics by supporting and co-sponsoring the Humane Cosmetics Act.
Charlie Hebdo Dog Survives Paris Attack and more story's
In an interview with France’s Le Monde newspaper, a survivor of the shootings at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo described how the office dog, Lila, was there as the Kouachi brothers killed 12 of her colleagues.
Crime reporter Sigolène Vinson said the Cocker Spaniel, who wears a Charlie Hebdo collar, had greeted the staff members she loved as they arrived at the office after the holidays. Vinson said the sound of Lila running from room to room during the Jan. 7 attack helped her get through the terrible situation.
One of the gunmen told Vinson he wouldn’t kill her because she was a woman, and she kept still behind an office wall until she heard them flee. “As I lay there, not sure if they were really gone, shots rang out in the distance, in the street. And then I heard Lila with her tiny steps,” Vinson said. She thought Lila was searching for her favorite cartoonist, Jean Cabut, who was killed.
In Wednesday’s new, sold-out edition of Charlie Hebdo, Vinson wrote an ode to Lila. It read in part, “At Charlie Hebdo, we have a dog, a red Cocker Spaniel who signals to us that it’s OK, that we can get up now, that (the terrorists) have gone.” — Read it at the U.K.’s Telegraph
