JUMBO IS FREE!

Nov 272009
 

Victory!

It has taken over three decades of campaigning, determination and wishful thinking, but after 32 years of being cruelly confined inside the back of a truck, Jumbo is free.

SAFE began its campaign to free Jumbo soon after she began performing in New Zealand, however it has been the last 25 years of constantly challenging the circus and the law demanding that elephants have no place in circuses that has really made a difference.

Peaceful demonstrations have been a regular feature outside the circus and have reminded circus goers that away from the glitz and glamour of the arena there are animals that are suffering and frustrated.

JUMBO EFFORT!

SAFE is absolutely thrilled that Jumbo is now on her way to becoming a free elephant. SAFE has been working with the SPCA and Franklin Zoo in an effort to secure Jumbo, so is delighted that her transition from the circus to an elephant sanctuary has begun.

SAFE campaign director Hans Kriek says the release of Jumbo from the circus could not be a better Christmas gift.

“Jumbo has been a sad case of animal exploitation for over 30 years and SAFE has been committed to getting her out of the circus. It has been no small effort and with the aid of the SPCA Jumbo is now on her way to a more deserving life,” says Hans.

VGT Occupies Austrian Mayor’s Illegal Battery Farm

Nov 092009
 
Outlawed animal suffering is ignored while campaigning for animals is being criminalised!

The phase-out period for battery farms expired in January of this year (2009). But, Austrian conservative mayor Karl Latschenberger continues to operate a battery farm north of Austria’s capital Vienna! VGT has presented recent photos of the farm, which keeps around 50,000 laying hens. The photos show typical, now illegal, battery cages each housing 5 hens.

The farm was occupied by VGT activists for over six hours on 2nd November. Activists climbed onto the roof with banners highlighting the fact that the farm is illegal. Furious, the farm manager threatened the peaceful protesters with violence and opened a water hose on a 70 year old activist, soaking her from head to foot on a day with minus temperatures.

Martin Balluch from VGT commented:”We want to draw attention to the fact that a conservative mayor can break the law, allowing thousands of animals to suffer, while the animal protection work that goes into exposing these kind of scandals through actions such as this occupation and the research that led up to it are being criminalised. We are asking, who is the criminal organisation here – Producers of animal products with their political protection and their greed for profit who break the law and abuse animals or animal protection with its campaigners who, often at personal risk, bring the public’s attention to animal cruelty?”

After reassurance from from the regional authorities that charges would be made against the farm the peaceful occupation ended.

Industry Outed for More Pig Cruelty

Nov 092009
 

2 November 2009

New evidence reveals pig cruelty continues on New Zealand farms.
Animal advocates have commenced an unprecedented consumer-focussed assault on the nation’s pig industry following the Campbell Live programme [on 2 November 2009]. National animal advocacy group SAFE says new video footage reveals pig cruelty is still rife on New Zealand pig farms.

SAFE also claims the pig-farm audit and proposed labelling scheme announced by the pig industry, both intended to address pig welfare issues, are meaningless.

“The pig-farm audit is a waste of time since the pig code of welfare allows pig farmers to use cruel practices on their farms. The labelling of pig products suggested by the Pork Board will be a voluntary scheme that will not help consumers or pigs. No factory pig farmer is going to voluntarily tell consumers they use cruel pig crates,” says Hans Kriek, SAFE’s campaign director.

“The NZ Pork Industry Board has failed to convince us they have done anything meaningful to help pigs since the serious allegations of pig cruelty exposed by Mike King earlier this year. Those same pigs we saw on television in May are undoubtedly still inside those crates today,” says Mr Kriek.

An internal memo leaked to SAFE reveals the NZ Pork Industry Board wants to retain the use of sow and farrowing crates, a move that will see sows in crates for a total of 20 weeks per year.

“Any suggestion of phasing out the use of sow crates by the pig industry is rubbish. The NZ Pork Industry Board has no intention of supporting a ban on cruel confinement systems, and we can prove it,” says Mr Kriek.

SAFE says the public will also be bitterly disappointed to learn that the new pig code of welfare, as promised this year by the Minister of Agriculture, has also been delayed.

“SAFE understands the review of the pig code by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee is well behind schedule. We doubt we will see any sign of a draft code this year, which will mean over 20,000 pigs in crates will continue to suffer until next year, if not longer,” says Mr Kriek.

SAFE has released a series of consumer-focused television advertisements fronted by Mike King. The commercials have been produced with the assistance of top creative advertising agencies in Australia and New Zealand.

“Consumers are being encouraged to pressure supermarkets to stop selling factory farmed pork and to accurately label the pig meat that they sell in their stores,” says Mr Kriek.

For more information contact: Hans Kriek on 027 446 2711.

For more information on the campaign visit www.lovepigs.org.nz

Carcinogen Found in McDonald’s and Burger King’s Meals

Nov 092009
 

Burger King tells its customers, “Have it your way.” For a Connecticut breast cancer survivor, having it her way would mean the fast-food chain would post warnings in all its restaurants about the carcinogen in its grilled chicken. Last month, she joined another Connecticut resident in filing a class-action lawsuit against the restaurant—as well as McDonald’s and Friendly’s—for failing to warn customers about the known carcinogen.

The lawsuit, sponsored by the nonprofit Cancer Project, an affiliate of PCRM, states McDonald’s, Burger King, and Friendly’s are clearly in violation of Connecticut’s consumer protection law.

“At all times relevant hereto, Defendants knew or should have known that their grilled chicken products contain PhIP, a known carcinogen,” says the Cancer Project in its legal complaint. “Despite that knowledge, Defendants have elected to conceal that material fact from consumers.”

Coverage of the lawsuit included nationwide television and print stories, including ones in Bloomberg News and The Hartford Courant.

Independent laboratory tests commissioned by PCRM show that grilled chicken from Burger King and other fast-food chains contains PhIP, a chemical that can increase a person’s risk of developing cancer, even if consumed in very small amounts.

“Consumers deserve to know that grilled chicken from McDonald’s and other fast-food chains can increase your risk of cancer,” says Neal D. Barnard, M.D., president of the Cancer Project. “Even a grilled-chicken salad increases the risk of developing some cancers, including breast and prostate cancer.”

PhIP is one of a group of carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that are found in grilled meat. In 2005, the federal government officially added HCAs to its list of carcinogens, and PhIP has been on the California governor’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer for more than a decade. PhIP and other HCAs do not exist naturally in chicken; they form when animal muscle is cooked to high temperatures.

Other fast-food chains are also feeling the heat on PhIP. In September, PCRM filed a lawsuit in California against Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for violating California’s Proposition 65. KFC failed to warn consumers that the chain’s new grilled chicken product contains this dangerous carcinogen.

To learn more about the dangers of PhIP, visit CancerProject.org.

Support PCRM

PCRM Online, November 2009

Ask NASA to End Cruel Radiation Testing on Monkeys

Nov 092009
 

PCRM has learned that NASA is funding space radiation studies that will use live monkeys as subjects. Please contact NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., and ask him to put a stop to these cruel experiments.

The studies conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York will expose squirrel monkeys to repeated doses of radiation. Radiation experiments involving nonhuman primates commonly involve restraint and other cruel procedures. Monkeys, like other primates, are highly intelligent, have strong family bonds, demonstrate empathy, and, most importantly, suffer.

Genetic, physiological, and anatomical differences between humans and monkeys dramatically limit the conclusions that can be drawn from the planned studies. Ongoing studies, including those funded by NASA, already use nonanimal methods to determine the effects of low dose radiation on human tissues.

Administrator Bolden is in a position to stop these inhumane and pointless experiments, but he needs to hear from you. Please  e-mail his office today.

After contacting Administrator Bolden, forward this message to your friends.

If you have any questions, please contact Noah Gittell, research and education programs coordinator, at ngittell@pcrm.org.

Best regards,
Hope Ferdowsian, M.D., M.P.H.
Hope Ferdowsian, M.D., M.P.H.
Director of Research Policy

Vegan banquet at Windsor Castle

Nov 062009
 

By Emma Midgley
BBC Berkshire

When people from nine faiths with special dietary requirements visit for a banquet, what should be on the menu?

That is the dilemma facing the Royal Family as Windsor Castle hosts an international conference to celebrate different faiths and the environment.

The banquet will be held on Tuesday 4 November and hosted by Prince Philip and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Faiths will include Baha’ism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism and Sikhism.

Jewish conference visitors will require food which is kosher, whereas others will need halal meat. People from many faiths follow a vegetarian diet and daoists prohibit the use of ingredients from endangered animals and plants.

The result has been the first vegan banquet in Windsor Castle’s history. All the food will be free-range, and most organic, local and fair-trade. No bottled water will be provided.

The menu for the vegan banquet at Windsor Castle

STARTER

Salad of roasted English pear, steamed celeriac and oven roasted cobnuts

Frisee leaves tossed with a hazelnut oil and lemon oil dressing

Served with a red grape reduction

Ciabatta bread served with olive oil

MAIN COURSE

Portabello mushroom stuffed with artichoke, red onion and thyme, set on pearl barley and butternut squash risotto with gremolata oil

Roasted root vegetables to include carrots, parsnips and beetroot turned with baby chard

DRINKS

Cranberry and fresh orange cocktail

Jugs of iced tap water and lemon on the tables

(No dessert due to extremely tight schedule)

Thames Valley Vegans

Sophie Fenwick-Paul, vegetarian and environmental campaigner for Thames Valley Vegans, said she was happy that the Palace were turning vegan for the banquet.

“I think it’s a lovely idea,” she said. “Vegan food is suitable for everybody, whatever their religious diet or their food intolerances.

“A report that came out last week showed that 51% of global warming effect is caused by livestock farming, so if people just cut down on the meat and dairy they eat would have a huge effect on global warming.”

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