Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL256586320080625  

25th June 2008
By Martin Roberts

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.

Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

Spain may be better known abroad for bull-fighting than animal rights but the new measures are the latest move turning once-conservative Spain into a liberal trailblazer.

Spain did not legalize divorce until the 1980s, but Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has legalized gay marriage, reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in education and set up an Equality Ministry.

The new resolutions have cross-party or majority support and are expected to become law and the government is now committed to update the statute book within a year to outlaw harmful experiments on apes in Spain.

"We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening," Pozas said.

Keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming will also be forbidden and breaking the new laws will become an offence under Spain's penal code.

Keeping an estimated 315 apes in Spanish zoos will not be illegal, but supporters of the bill say conditions will need to improve drastically in 70 percent of establishments to comply with the new law.

Philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, arguing that "non-human hominids" like chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured.

Activists Arrested in Austria

For updates, check: http://www.vgt.at  

http://at.indymedia.org/node/10336

On the 21st of May 2008 around 07:00 pm WEGA officers raided several appartments in Vienna. Some of the residents, who had been still asleep, were woken up in their beds at the point of the pistol. At least 14 people in Austria were affected by the raids. Most of them live in Vienna and Graz, one appartment was also searched in Tirol.

In several appartments the doors were kicked in by the WEGA officers. Just like in bad Hollywood movies the officers stormed into the appartments. Only after the residents had been intimidated, “securely” put against the wall, respectively handcuffed, the officers began the searchings.

The grounds for the searchings is the accusation of the formation of a criminal organisation according to §278a StGB. There are warrants of arrest concerning 12 people whose appartments were searched. They are based on danger of collusion, since the persons concerned for example communicated with the help of encoded e-mails, as well as the danger of them committing a crime, because the affected partly have been active in the animal rights scene for a long time. Both arguments directly contradict the presumption of innocence. A criminal organisation is being created absolutely arbitrarily and made responsible for all the unsolved felonies of the last years. The accusations are not backed up by any proof, on the contrary: the executive seemingly hopes to find hints to the affirmation of their suspicion. This suspicion of the formation of a criminal organisation could not and will not be backed up, either by evidence or by speculations.

The affected were directly transferred from their appartments to „Polzeianhaltezentrum“ Rossauer Straße await their arraignment during the next 48 hours. Most of the affected were denied a call to a confidant or a legal representative. Friends who wanted to check on them were denied any dialogue with the affected.

There was no commensurability of the legal act. The early storming of appartments must be characterised as completely overdrawn.

It remains open what the concrete cause for these operations. One should assume that time and manner of the operations have political backgorunds. All in all, disliked political action is being criminalised and made impossible. Should this wave of repression remain unquestioned it will also affect other forms of opposition and action.

The repression of left structures has reached a new peak with yesterday’s wave of raids and arrests. Raids with mummed WEGA officers, who kick in doors and wake sleeping people at the point of the pistol, had not been used against the radical left during the last years. The last time a similar raid was carried out was in 2001 after the “Opernball” demonstrations.

Such an appearance of the authorities does not only count on intimidating th affected. Friends and otherwise politically active people are supposed to be frightened as well. Overdrwan and partly brutal police operations are to convey that opposition does not worthwhile. We must not let ourselves be isolated. Together we can talk about our fears and develop strategies to deal with it.

Solidarity with those affected by the wave of arrests is in demand. No matter if you’re vegan, feminist, anti-Fascist, against observation, atomic power or police force – it addresses all of us even if only few were affected right now. Those people arrested need our support and solidarity. The legal aid is organizing lawyers and media work – get active too!

Organize solidarity parties, donate for legal aid, network, get informed about your rights concerning raids and refusal to give evidence!

Dun Laoghaire County Council to vote on Animal Circus Ban

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87809  

It has been brought to our attention that the motion to ban animal circuses (on council-owned land), in Dun Laoghaire, will be voted on next Monday.

Unfortunately though, it appears that a lot of the councillors will be voting against the motion. One reason in particular is that, although they have been receiving emails and letters urging them to vote in favour of the ban, they have only been hearing from either animal-rights activists or people living outside of Dun Laoghaire. As a result, they are not convinced that people living in the area don't want animal circuses.

So, we are asking everyone who lives in the area covered by the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, to please contact them again (without affiliating yourself to any animal rights/welfare group or political party), asking them to support the ban, and stating where you live. If you have any friends or family living in the area, please ask them to write in too!

Here are the councillors' email addresses again:

jbailey@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, mbailey@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, mbaker@cllr.dlrcoco.ie,
jbyrne@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, bconway@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, louisecosg@cllr.dlrcoco.ie,
Gareth.Crowe@oireachtas.ie, aculhane@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, cdevlin@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, jdbyrne@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, cfallon@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, genefeighery@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, tonyfox@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, phand@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, ghorkan@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, tjoyce@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, tkivlehan@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, dmarren@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, tmatthews@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, lmccarthy@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, mmoconnor@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, denisoc@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, tohiggins@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, gokeeffe@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, joleary@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, carriesmyth@cllr.dlrcoco.ie, nbhreathna@cllr.dlrcoco.ie

Many Thanks,

Laura Broxson

National Animal Rights Association

Animal welfare group opposes election poster

The Irish Times
20-05-08


THEY'VE BEEN used to sell everything from PG Tips to Pepsi - but using chimpanzees to sell a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty is stirring up controversy.

The eye-catching poster by the Dublin-based group Cóir features three chimpanzees with the slogan: "if you say Yes to Lison, you'll see nothing, hear nothing and have no one to speak for you". However, it has drawn sharp criticism from the Captive Animals Protection Society.

"The political posters featuring chimps in different poses are of animals in captivity, likely kept and trained specifically for use in commercials," says Craig Redmond, the society's campaigns manager.

"Their use not only helps continue the use of animals for commercial purposes but also diminishes their status as an endangered species requiring protection."

But Cóir was unrepentant yesterday. Its spokesman Richard Greene defended the poster, saying the campaign was trying to make a serious point about the effects of the Treaty.

"I'm against animal cruelty. In fact, I'm a former Green Party councillor," Greene said. "If anything, these chimpanzees are helping to save democracy, which is a lot more than can be said for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the others."

'Dog rescuer' guilty of animal cruelty

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/dog-rescuer-guilty-of-animal-cruelty-1369366.html  

By Dara deFaoite
Thursday May 08 2008


A WOMAN who ran a dog rescue centre has been found guilty of cruelty to more than 40 animals under her care.

Cassidy Sinclair (50) appeared before Portlaoise District Court yesterday on two charges of cruelty to animals.

The court heard that the dogs were living in a 12-inch deep "slurry mixture" of their own excrement and urine and that many of them had open wounds requiring immediate surgery.

Sergeant John Malone, of Abbeyleix Garda Station, told the court that on entering Ms Sinclair's house he "had to go back out a few times on point of vomiting due to the smell of faeces and dog urine."

He said there was a pile of dog faeces in the kitchen measuring two-foot high by four-foot wide and that there were "animal bones scattered on the floor".

Brendan Hughes, animal welfare inspector with the ISPCA said he called to Ms Sinclair's house on March 12 this year.

Mr Hughes said he found 20 dogs living in a compound measuring 20ft by 30ft and a small garden shed.

He said there were also many dogs living in horrific conditions inside Ms Sinclair's house.

Many of the dogs had bite wounds caused through fighting over the bones and that there was no fresh water left out for the animals, he said.

Mr Hughes returned to Ms Sinclair's house the following day accompanied by gardai and a vet and seized 27 dogs.

The ISPCA subsequently seized a further 19 dogs from Ms Sinclair in follow-up searches.

David Fagan, the vet who attended the scene, told the court that 12 of the dogs needed urgent treatment to wounds and that eight required stitches and five required antibiotic treatment for infections.

Mr Fagan said the dogs had been "living in fear and distress" and they had been allowed to "suffer unnecessarily".

Ms Sinclair told the court she had been "running a dog rescue of sorts" and that from January to March of this year "things went berserk".

Help

She said she sought help from rescue groups including the ISPCA but that she did not receive any.

She told the court she "was going nuts" and that people were leaving dogs tied to her gateposts.

Judge Haughton said he had never seen anything like this in his 17-years on the bench and said there was evidence of long-term neglect of the dogs in Ms Sinclair's care.

Hefined Ms Sinclair €500 and prohibited her from keeping any dog again for the rest of her life.

http://www.dublinpeople.com/content/view/421/55/  

Councillor proposes ban on circus animals

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

A councillor on the Southside is proposing that her local authority should follow the example of other councils around the country and ban the use of circus animals in public areas.

Cllr Nessa Childers (GP) will table a motion at next month's Dun Laoghaire Rathdown council meeting to ban the use of circus animals in live shows on council owned land.

Last October Fingal County Council became the first local authority in the country to pass a motion recommending a ban on circuses using wild animals on public land. Councillors in Cork city also backed the same motion two weeks ago.

Cllr Childers represents an area of Dublin that is synonymous with circuses. Circus Field in Booterstown has hosted shows by leading companies for the last 50 years.

Cllr Childers urged people to think about the welfare of the animals when a circus comes to their area. "I would like them to think about what is really happening to the animals inside," she said. "With the very best intentions, travelling act circuses simply cannot provide for the animals in their care.

"Circuses say they love their animals, but it's a business for them. Animals in circuses are not volunteers, they have been deprived of their precious freedom for a lifetime of cheap tricks."

She said that two investigations into Irish circuses from 2000 and 2003 and as recently as 2006 raised serious concerns for the animals. Cllr Childers claimed the investigations uncovered cramped, dirty conditions and miserable, unhealthy looking animals while public safety was also highlighted.

A spokesperson for the National Animal Rights Association (NARA), Laura Broxsin, said it would be a great victory for animal rights if the motion was passed. "The animals are not trained with sugar lumps and treats," she said.

"They are beaten into submission and only perform through fear. A lot of the times these animals hurt themselves because they are driven mad. They are also forced to live out the rest of their lives in torture and misery just for the entertainment of people. We think people should know better."

Blackrock based Progressive Democrats activist and former councillor, Victor Boyhan, has also called on the council to rethink its policy. In January 2000, he led a campaign within the council for a similar ban and a motion he tabled was defeated by just one vote. "Animals kept in travel trucks suffer as such restricted confinement contributes to mental torture," he said. "We share our planet with a wide range of creatures. I believe it is our responsibility to treat them humanely."

However, another councillor from Blackrock, Niamh Breathnach, said she would not support the motion and remarked that many people had fond childhood memories of circuses.

"I have attended circuses all my life," she said. "We have a visiting vet and we have animals that have very close relationships with their trainers. It is a way of life. "As long as I am satisfied that the animals are inspected and in good condition, I just wish the circuses well."

Duffy's Circus, who recently ended a two week run of shows at Booterstown, also proudly defended its track record in relation to animal welfare. The owner of the circus, David Duffy, said no allegations of abuse were ever made against his company.

"We look after these animals," he insisted. "They are in our care and yes we earn our living with them but likewise they earn their living with us. They are well looked after, they are well treated and well fed. If they get any sort of ailments we look after them.

"I would say that there has never been an allegation of mistreatment or abuse against anybody at Duffy's Circus and I would welcome anybody that wants to come down and talk to us about the issue."

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/navy-sonar-blamed-for-death-of-beaked-whales-found-washed-up-in-the-hebrides-805399.html

Navy sonar blamed for death of beaked whales found washed up in the Hebrides 

INDEPENDENT GRAPHICS

Anti-submarine sonar may have killed a group of whales found dead in the Hebrides in one of Britain's most unusual strandings, scientists believe.

Five Cuvier's beaked whales, a species rarely seen in British waters, were discovered on beaches in the Western Isles on succeeding days in February. Another animal from a related species was discovered at the same time.

Experts consider such a multiple stranding to be highly abnormal. They calculate, from the state of the carcasses inspected that the whales died in the same incident out in the Atlantic to the south and west of Britain, and then drifted towards the Scottish coast over two or three weeks.

The main suspect in the case is sonar, as it is known that beaked whales are highly sensitive to the powerful sound waves used by all the world's navies to locate underwater objects such as submarines.

Groups of beaked whales have been killed, with sonar suspected as the direct cause, several times in recent years; well-documented incidents include anti-submarine exercises in Greece in 1996, the Bahamas in 2000 and the Canary Islands in 2002. In 2003, an American judge banned the US Navy from testing a new sonar after a court case brought by environmentalists to protect marine life.

Britain's Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has now submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence over the Hebridean strandings, with the aim of finding out if any Royal Navy activity coincided with the possible location and timing of the whales' deaths. So far, the MoD has provided no answers, but it is possible that other navies might have been involved.

The 21 species of beaked whale include some of the world's most rarely seen mammals; they are also the deepest-diving air-breathing animals. A Cuvier's beaked whale set the record for a deep dive two years ago: 1,899 metres, or 6,230ft, beneath the surface, holding its breath for an astonishing 85 minutes.

The animals use these deep dives to forage, but when sonar gets involved, their remarkable habit may be their undoing. One theory is that the whales are so distressed by the intensely loud sound waves that they return too quickly to the surface, and in doing so, fatally suffer "the bends" – the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the blood which can kill human divers.

The Hebridean strandings began when a Cuvier's beaked whale was found dead on the beach at Saligo Bay, Islay, on 2 February; three days later another washed up on nearby Machair beach. On 7 February a third was found further north, on the island of Tiree, and the following day a fourth carcass, probably a beaked whale but washed away before it was identified, was found on neighbouring Mull. On 12 February a fifth animal was found further north at Gobhaig on Lewis. A Sowerby's beaked whale was also found, at Benbecula, to the south of Lewis, the day before.

One man deeply concerned at the deaths is Professor Ian Boyd, the director of Britain's Sea Mammal Research Unit, based at the University of St Andrews. Professor Boyd is the chief scientist on an American project investigating beaked whales' sensitivity to underwater sound.

"The beaked whales have a problem with military sonar, and these strandings on the west coast of Scotland are very suspicious," he said. "The chances of them happening through natural causes are really quite small. It's likely that the animals died together in a single event, and also, it's quite likely that ... they were not the only ones which died." He added: "We don't yet have the evidence to make a direct connection with anti-submarine exercises, but there are enough examples of events like this to make it likely."

Professor Boyd asked the Proudman Oeceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool to model the whales' possible drift to find the location of the initial incident.

Secretive creatures

*The beaked whales, so-called because of their "snout", are the second- largest family of the cetaceans (whales and dolphins) but less is known about them than almost any other group of large mammals; some are known only from carcasses and have hardly ever been seen alive. They broke into the headlines in January 2006 when one of the 21 beaked whale species, a northern bottlenose whale, swam up the Thames into London. It died on the barge that was transporting it to possible freedom. The beaked whales are capable of deep vertical dives to 6,000ft and more to hunt for prey by echo-location.

Irish animal rights group calls for closure of fur farms

SEÁN Mac CONNELL, Agriculture Correspondent

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0326/1206144724814.html  

Leading high street retailer Marks and Spencer has adopted the strict fixed cut-off date policy on animal testing for beauty products, the benchmark for cruelty- free cosmetics and toiletries. 

http://www.naturewatch.org/news/M_and_S.asp  

-----------------------------PRESS RELEASE----------------------------------

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/86807

N.A.R.A. receives communique from ALF on Fur Farm Raid

Contact Spokesperson/Press Officer: Laura Broxson, 086 8729 444

The National Animal Rights Association has today received the official communique regarding the recent raid on Vasa Ltd. Fur Farm in Co. Laois (see below for the report). We were also told that there will be photos sent to us - which we will release as soon as we receive them.

"This is a great victory for animal rights in Ireland" Says spokesperson for N.A.R.A., Laura Broxson

"As a result of the action, 300 mink now actually have the chance to live out the rest of their lives - they're finally free.

The fur farming industry is Ireland's secret shame, we find it absolutely disgusting that there are such ''farms'' in this country.

The liberation that occurred has come at a great time too - the Government is currently drafting an Animal Welfare Bill, which could finally put an end to fur farming here, so what happened will certainly highlight the issue.

Our group doesn't encourage people to break the law or engage in any illegal activity whatsoever, but we fully support the ALF and those who are brave enough to risk their lives, and freedom, to help animals." she said.

"Animals are no different from people - they are living, breathing, sentient beings who deserve the right to life and freedom as much as we do. And I think a lot of the Irish public are finally starting to see this. There are a lot of compassionate people in this country, so we are not surprised at all by the action that took place" she added.


THE COMMUNIQUE:

Last weekend, the Irish Animal Liberation Front visited Ireland's largest fur farm - Vasa Ltd, in Co. Laois.

The ALF made their way through the locked gate in a matter of seconds, and then the real fun started...

A quick scan of the area showed that the sheds were enclosed in an area secured by corrugated steel. No problem - a huge hole was then cut into this, the wire mesh behind it snipped, and the hedgerow behind that was then cleared - to allow the Mink easy access to the river running beside this concentration camp.

Graffiti was sprayed all around the place, including the signature ''ALF'' calling card.

300 breeding cards were removed from one of the sheds, and then destroyed.

Moving onto the next shed, 300 Mink were liberated and were then guided to freedom, before the ALF disappeared into the darkness. It was unbearable to have to leave the others behind.

Una and Michael Heffernan are responsible for murdering over 45,000 Mink on this death camp every year. It's time to make them pay for this.

The ALF will be back, Una and Michael - and don't think that the cows and horses you keep locked up too were unnoticed.

Until all are free,
ALF Ireland

Sea Shepherd News:

Sea Shepherd Ship Steve Irwin Engages Japanese Factory Ship Nisshin Maru In Whale Sanctuary 

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080302_1.html  

The USPCA has moved against a man who allowed people to be photographed with his pet tiger at the dangerous animals pound he ran for the charity.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7265792.stm  

 

South Africa announces elephant cull 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7262951.stm  

Ireland's Ward Union wins right to hunt stags in High Court decision

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/181585.html  

Shark-fin soup trade threatens hammerheads 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sharkfin-soup-trade-threatens-hammerheads-783548.html