Year: 2009

Every year, in Denmark, specifically the Faroe Islands, innocent and helpless Calderon Dolphins are slaughtered brutally by the Danes. Why you may ask, simply because. A pointless and stupid right of passage to manhood.

What points is there in killing another living being just to prove you have “evolved”, you have transcended. There is simply no need.

This poor dolphins are stabbed a number of times, but as if that weren’t enough, they bleed to death, probably in excruciating pain while the whole town watches.

Needles to say, that killing a defenseless animal is no prove of anybody’s manhood.

So, I urge, as I am sure many more have, to stop this nonsense. And take action.

Never, ever, killing an other creature, another living being, with whom we share this world, has done any good, to anyone. So let’s stop it.

TPS – please visit this site to sign petition.
Commentary:
This protest message decries the killing of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands and includes a series of photographs that graphically depict this bloody slaughter. The message calls on Denmark, of which the Faroe Islands is a part, to stop the slaughter and urges recipients to pass on the message in order to raise awareness of the issue.

The claims in the email are true. Such whale hunts do indeed occur in the Faroe Islands, usually during the summer months. The Faroe Islands are made up of a number of small inhabited islands. Every year, hundreds of Long-finned Pilot Whales are killed in such slaughters. The hunts are non-commercial and anyone in the island communities can join in at will. When a school of whales is spotted close to shore, messengers are dispatched to inform local inhabitants of the particular island involved. A formation of small boats is then used to drive the whales ashore, where they beach themselves in the shallow water and are killed by waiting islanders. A special whaling knife is used to sever the animal’s spine near the dorsal fin. Information on a Faroe Islands website about whaling in the province describes the killing process:

Men gather on the shore to kill the beached whales. Ideally, most of the whales will strand far enough up on shore that it is unnecessary to secure them. However, those remaining in the shallows must be secured and hauled closer. Traditionally, this is done by driving a steel hook, or gaff, with a rope attached to it into the back of the whale. A new blunt hook inserted into an airsac in the whale’s blowhole has now been widely tested in practice and it is hoped that this new equipment may eventually replace the traditional gaff as the standard method for securing whales. The whale is killed using a sharp knife to cut down to sever the spinal cord, which also severs the major blood supply to the brain, ensuring both the loss of consciousness and death within seconds.

These whale kills have occurred in the Faroe Islands for hundreds of years and are considered by Islanders to be an important part of their social culture. It is generally only Faroese men who take part in the killings while female islanders look on. The whale hunts have caused international outrage and have been roundly condemned as unnecessary and barbaric by conservation and animal rights groups around the world. However, Faroe Islanders vigorously defend their right to engage in the hunts. A Wikipedia entry on the subject notes:

Most Faroese maintain that it is their right to catch pilot whales given that they have done so for centuries. The Faroese whalers defend their actions before international organizations like Greenpeace with three arguments: one, that grindadráp is not a hunt as such, but a dráp meaning a kill (ie that they do not regularly take to sea just to hunt for pilot whales, but only kill those which are sighted swimming to close at land); two, that the pilot whale hunt does not exist for commercial reasons, but for internal food distribution among households; and three, they do not believe the pilot whale to be an endangered species.

They further argue that most people in the modern world have become so far removed from the harsh realities of animal food production that they have formulated unrealistic notions of how food actually gets to their tables.

However, conservation organisations do not consider these factors to be valid arguments for the continuation of the slaughters. They argue that modern day Faroe Islanders have ample food and do not require whale meat to survive as in earlier centuries. Moreover, they point out that Pilot Whales in the region are known to have high levels of mercury, PCBs and environmental poisons and excessive consumption of whale meat could be detrimental to the health of Islanders.

In spite of its cultural significance, the continuation of the practise is very difficult to convincingly defend and even some Faroe Islanders have began opposing it.

It should be noted that, although the Faroe Islands are indeed a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, they are largely an autonomous entity. A home-rule law was brought into effect in 1948 which gave the Faroe Islands a considerable degree of political independence from Denmark. The Faroese are self governing in most matters other than foreign affairs, the legal system and defence. Furthermore, although Denmark is certainly part of the European Union, the Faroe Islands are not. Information about the Faroe Islands on theUK Trade & Investment website notes:

Denmark granted the Faroe Islands a measure of Home Rule as a self-governing populace in 1948. Over the years the ties to Denmark have gradually relaxed so that, whilst being part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the islands have their own parliament and flag and issue their own bank notes and stamps. The special status of the Faroe Islands means that their policies and tax regimes do not always coincide, indeed some differ greatly, with those of Denmark. For example, the Faroe Islands are not a member of the European Union and all trade is governed by special treaties with the EU. In November 2003 the Faroe Islands agreed with the EU and acceeded to membership of the Pan-European System of Cumulation of Origin. In principle this is a mutual free-trade agreement.

Thus, demanding that Denmark put a stop to the slaughter may not be the most effective approach. The continuation of international condemnation and pressure to stop the whale kills might be more effectively aimed directly to the Faroe Islanders themselves.
This is not a hoax – click here for details

TPS – please visit this site to sign petition.

(Submitted by reader)

A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation takes you behind the closed doors of one of California’s largest egg factory farms, exposing the hidden cost of egg production – cruelty to animals.

Hidden camera video recorded in early 2008 at Gemperle Enterprises in Merced County, California, a supplier to NuCal Foods Inc. – the largest distributor of shell eggs in the Western US – reveals:
http://www.mercyforanimals.org/CAEggs/

Cheers and protests as thousands of buffalo are decapitated at start of festival in Nepal honouring Hindu goddess Gadhimai

By Olivia Lang

Nepalese Hindus lead buffalo to the slaughter in Bariyapur. Photograph: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP

The world’s biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.

The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.

With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year’s fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. “It is the traditional way, ” explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver who has been attending the event since he was six, “If we want anything, and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all our dreams will be fulfilled.”

Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel, fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea and sugary snacks.

As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of “Long live Gadhimai” from spectators pushing against each other for a better view.

In the main event, 250 appointed residents with traditional kukri knives began their task of decapitating more than 10,000 buffalo in a dusty enclosure guarded by high walls and armed police.

Frightened calves galloped around in vain as the men, wearing red bandanas and armbands, pursued them and chopped off their heads. Banned from entering the animal pen, hundreds of visitors scrambled up the three-metre walls to catch a glimpse of the carnage.

The dead beasts will be sold to companies who will profit from the sale of the meat, bones and hide. Organisers will funnel the proceeds into development of the area, including the temple upkeep.

On the eve of the event, protesters made a final plea to organisers by cracking open coconuts in a nearby temple as a symbolic sacrifice. “It is cruel and inhumane. We’ve always been a superstitious country, but I don’t think sacrifice has to be part of the Hindu religion,” said the protest organiser, Pramada Shah.

Guardian for more

“Not a single holy word was said during this whole process… are we turning into a society of butchers!” (A reader)

The body of a black-tailed deer killed by traffic lies on the side of the Sea to Sky Highway. Lack of wildlife overpasses on upgraded highway raises concerns about roadkill of large mammals and safety to public.
Photo/John Buchanan

By Larry Pynn

Motorists killed more than 5,500 wild animals on provincial highways last year, the B.C. transportation ministry reports.

Highways maintenance contractors across the province had the thankless job of removing 5,663 carcasses, including 4,454 deer — almost 80 per cent of the total — 350 moose, 223 elk, 157 bears, 126 coyotes, and a variety of smaller animals.

The annual roadkill deer carnage compares with about 30,000 deer legally hunted in B.C.

Angela Buckingham, chief environmental officer for the transportation ministry, said in an interview from Victoria that dawn and dusk are risky times for collisions due to increased movements of animals.
Spring and fall are also peak periods due to wildlife migrations. Young animals are present in spring, too, and can be especially vulnerable. In winter, animals are attracted to salted roads.

The ministry puts up wildlife signs to warn motorists along key stretches of highway, cuts back vegetation to improve visibility, and sometimes installs wildlife fencing and culverts.

Buckingham said it is also important for motorists to exercise greater caution.

“The key thing is not to speed,” she said. “And be aware. Watch both sides of the road when travelling, not just the paved surface, but be aware of what’s going on adjacent to the paved surface.”

Vancouver Sun for more

This photo is the outcome of an Eid Al Adha street slaughter, and the appalling final minutes of this terrified young bull were documented. The treatment this animal received was one of the worst abuses of an animal investigators had documented. The bull was transported on a ute with its front legs tied together with rope. With no unloading ramp the bull was forced backwards from the ute falling on its side on the road. The terrorized animal then struggled against the slaughtermen trying to pull it to the slaughter area (outside the shopping centre). When the animal wouldn’t comply, one slaughterman slashed the rear left leg tendon of the bull. Slaughtermen then dragged the crippled bull with front legs tied and rear leg tendon slashed to a footpath continually twisting and bending its tail using the pain as leverage to get the animal to move. In front of a crowd of onlookers this poor animal which by this time had collapsed on the ground, was held down by four men whilst its head was twisted for the throat cut.

<< See all Live Export – Indefensible photos

Animalsaustralia for more

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

JEDDAH: Saudi national Umm Abdullah is an ardent animal lover. When she found out that a group of kittens whose mother had been poisoned were starving to death on the first floor of an empty building, she called Civil Defense and asked them to get a ladder and rescue them.

“I was told that they don’t rescue animals and that I should call the municipality,” she said.

When she called the municipality, she received news that disturbed her. “They told me that when the kittens die they would come and remove them!”

Umm Abdullah had come to face this situation after she had learned that the mother cat had been poisoned by a neighborhood resident. The man owned a watchdog and had become annoyed that the dog would bark each time it saw a stray cat. So the man decided to leave poisoned food next to the trash bins to kill off the alley cats.

“The man got rid of many cats in the area,” a local doorman had told Umm Abdullah. Dismayed by the response of government officials, Umm Abdullah paid the expatriate watchman to bring a ladder and get down the kittens.

Jeddah’s streets are filled with cats that forage from the open trash bins found on nearly every corner. This municipal waste-management strategy is a recipe for creating a huge population of stray felines, yet the city has no animal control strategy.

“It is a shame that there is no law for the protection of animals even though Islam has given animals their rights,” said Umm Abdullah

Arab News for more

Types of vertebrates used in animal testing in Europe in 2005: a total of 12.1 million animals were used