Parents Warned Duck Shooting Too Dangerous

May 162011
 


Careless and reckless behaviour during the first day of duck shooting has resulted in a fatal shooting and the Armed Offenders Squad arresting a gun-wielding duck shooter in a bar. Police say they received about 15 complaints relating to unsafe behaviour involving firearms.

Animal advocacy group SAFE says these incidents highlight that duck shooting is far too dangerous to be promoted as ‘fun’ and ‘sporting’.

SAFE is issuing a strong warning to parents to reconsider allowing their children to use shotguns to kill animals in the wake of the fatal shooting and police complaints. Last year a ten-year-old boy suffered serious shotgun injuries to his right hand while shooting. SAFE says it is just a matter of time before a child is hurt or killed this season.

SAFE says it is particularly deplorable that Fish and Game is this year actively promoting their ‘sport’ as fun and exciting to young children when they are effectively putting children into a war zone.

“It is ludicrous that Fish and Game are encouraging young children, some of whom could barely write their name, to hold and fire a shotgun. To place children in what is tantamount to a war zone, where 40,000 shooters are blasting at whatever moves, is reckless and irresponsible. No matter how many rules are put in place, the sad fact remains that loaded guns in the hands of over-zealous amateurs is a recipe for disaster,” says SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor.

SAFE estimates the nations’ duck shooters were responsible for shooting over 200,000 ducks, geese and swans this weekend, with as many as one-third crippled and maimed.

“International research reveals 20-45 per cent of waterfowl shot by shooters are wounded and not retrieved, causing alarming levels of suffering. SAFE believes tens of thousands of ducks, geese and swans, including non-game and protected birds, would have been left crippled in fields and lakes to die a lingering death since Saturday,” says Mr Pryor.

“To call this ‘ethical’ hunting is an oxymoron and to encourage young people to join this bloodsport is sending the wrong message to the next generation,” he says.

Teenagers as young as fifteen can shoot on their own while those under twelve can buy a hunting licence online for $2 and fire a shotgun under the supervision of someone over the age of fifteen.

SAFE calls on families to seriously consider the risk of injury to their loved ones and encourages them not to participate in the cruel ‘sport’ of duck shooting.

For more information call SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor 021 189 9226.

‘Medical’ Abuse of Animals in the USA: a success story with more you can do

May 162011
 

After a long campaign by PCRM and its members, Massachusetts General Hospital has ended its lethal use of sheep in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses! Given the status and reputation of Mass General in the medical community this is a monumental achievement, and make no mistake about it, this would never have been possible without your dedication and commitment. This decision by one of the world’s most prominent hospitals supports the superiority of medical simulation—rather than live animals—for trauma training.

Since PCRM launched its public effort on Mass General in October 2009 with a peaceful demonstration in Boston, you and others have sent more than 38,000 e-mails to hospital leadership. Now we need to keep that momentum going. Please take a moment to ask the president of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., to end its use of pigs in ATLS training immediately.

Baystate is currently the only ATLS program in Massachusetts—and one of the last in all of the United States and Canada—that continues to use live animals. The American College of Surgeons, which oversees ATLS courses, has approved the use of human patient simulators such as the TraumaMan System to teach these courses, but at Baystate, trainees learn on live animals. After numerous invasive procedures are practiced on the animals, they are killed. Baystate continue to use pigs for this training despite the fact that it already owns the TraumaMan System simulator.

So far, the responsible faculty members and administrators have ignored our pleas to change their methods. Please contact the president of Baystate today.

Thank you for all of your help and for all that you do for animals.

Greggs Gelatine-Free Jelly Discontinued

Apr 282011
 
Gregg’s Jelly Time cold water jelly, which is a gelatin free
jelly, is no longer being made because it wasn’t selling enough.

We’ve just hear that Gregg’s Jelly Time cold water jelly, which is a gelatine free jelly, is no longer being made because it wasn’t selling enough. Did you ever see them market it to us? Many of us did know about it and it had been mentioned in our email list snippets when it first came out, but now that the conversation has started about it, we’ve heard that a lot of you didn’t  know, and would have bought it. I’d like to insert a plug here for companies to use the Vegetarian Trademark – that one tick on the product packaging says it all.

It may be too late for this jelly, but  do try contacting Gregg’s on 0800 765 765 or at csc@cerebusgreggs.co.nz.  We have to let companies know that we’re out here so get in touch with them! This has worked for us in the past.

Quorn & the Linda McCartney range in NZ!

Mar 142011
 

Many of you have been enquiring for years whether is is possible to purchase these foods in New Zealand – and now it is! The English Corner Shop in Onehunga, The English Pantry in Pukekohe and the Best Before Outlet Store in Takanini are both importing quorn and the frozen range of Linda McCartney food. Check their websites for details and watch our Food Links page for more developments.

We are as excited as you that our campaigns have paid off. It’s numbers that count and the importers don’t know we’re out here unless we show them. Businesses often ring us for our membership statistics so make your voice count – join us. You can make a difference :-)

Christchurch Animal Aid – We Need You!

Feb 282011
 

SAFE is assisting with the Christchurch relief effort for people and animals who are separated and to support animal welfare groups on the ground. We have set up the Animal Aid facebook site which lists all the resources for those who have lost animals and those who have found them, in an attempt to link everybody up.


This Animal Aid site is for Christchurch people who have lost or found animals following the catastrophic earthquake. Please BECOME A FAN too, then SHARE with friends to help us unite people with their beloved animals. Let’s help lessen their worry and suffering.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Aid-Christchurch-Earthquake/128399143899998#!/pages/Animal-Aid-Christchurch-Earthquake/128399143899998

Silo Occupation Exposes Hen Cruelty

Feb 282011
 

MEDIA RELEASE 20 February 2011

The plight of New Zealand’s three million battery hens has prompted a daring lock-on demonstration on top of two silos at a battery hen farm in Tuakau, south of Auckland, at first light this morning.

Two activists, who are chained to two seven-metre high metal fixtures, say the sound of tens of thousands of battery hens in the sheds below is keeping them motivated and determined to stay overnight. One of the chained activists, Deirdre Sims, says while their occupation is unlawful they are prepared to be arrested in the interest of helping caged hens in New Zealand.

Local SAFE campaigners have joined a crowd of 20 demonstrators protesting outside the farm along the roadside. The national animal advocacy group says it wholeheartedly supports this peaceful demonstration as it coincides with its own NoCages campaign launched last week, calling for a ban of battery cages.

“We totally understand their frustration and conviction, given the scale of animal abuse happening inside factory farms like the one they are occupying. It should be the battery hen farmers being challenged by the law, not those advocating for the better treatment of battery hens,” says SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor.

“The New Zealand public is growing ever frustrated that two decades of Government inaction and failures to adequately amend animal welfare legislation still has the majority of layer hens in cruel cages. New Zealand claims to be a world leader in animal welfare but three million hens suffering inside cages is nothing to be proud of,” says Mr Pryor.

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), which reports to the Minister of Agriculture, issued the draft welfare code for layer hens on 8 February for public consultation.

“NAWAC is foolishly recommending simply replacing existing battery hen cages with another cruel system called colony cages. This is a totally ridiculous position for NAWAC to take, which is why SAFE is calling on the public to make submissions calling for a total ban on all cage systems. Over 3000 e-card submissions have been sent to the Government since the code review process began,” says Mr Pryor.

For more information contact SAFE campaign director, Eliot Pryor, on 021 1899 226.

Hen Code Proposes Cruel New Cage System

Feb 092011
 

MEDIA RELEASE

8 February 2011
The draft welfare code for layer hens, released for public consultation today, has left animal advocates outraged and questioning the logic of the Agriculture Minister’s animal welfare advisors. The code proposes to ban existing battery cages on the basis that they fail to comply with welfare standards, yet allows their replacement with equally cruel cages.

National animal advocacy organisation SAFE says that the draft code, developed by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC), intends to phase out existing battery cages over a yet to be determined period but possibly not until 2030. The group is at a loss to understand why NAWAC would allow so-called ‘enriched’ cages (also referred to as colony systems) that do not provide the animals with adequate living conditions.

“These modified battery cages provide largely illusory improvements for the hens. The enrichment features, a nest box, perch and scratch pad, are of such minimalist design that the cages still do not meet the hens’ behavioural and welfare needs,” says SAFE director Hans Kriek.

”Enriched cages provide each hen only 600 square centimetres of usable space, this is smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, nowhere near enough for the animals to lead a normal life. As a result, these cages are condemned by international animal welfare agencies and are already banned in Germany and Austria. It is ludicrous to introduce a cage system that is already banned overseas on the grounds of cruelty,” says Mr Kriek.

“NAWAC would have us believe that these new, modified battery cages provide significant animal welfare benefits and that New Zealand egg producers should invest millions of dollars in these cages. These modified cages, with their token accessories, will not be accepted by the New Zealand public as a humane alternative,” says Mr Kriek.

Last year SAFE successfully convinced the Government to ban cruel sow crates. Eight out of ten New Zealanders are opposed to battery hen cages and SAFE believes that it is time for the Government to listen to the public’s concern and introduce a complete ban on the caging of all commercial laying hens.

This week SAFE launches its NoCages campaign, urging New Zealanders to make a submission calling for an immediate ban on cages for hens.

For more information, contact SAFE director, Hans Kriek: 027 446 2711.

For information on the campaign and to sign a submission visit http://www.nocages.org.nz

Animal Testing Ban Successes

Feb 012011
 

Together, we continue to save lives and stop cruel training practices! We recently learned that PCRM was successful in ending the use of rabbits and pigs in trauma training courses at two Canadian medical facilities.

In a pediatric trauma training course in Hamilton, Ontario, trainees made an incision between live rabbits’ ribs and inserted a plastic tube into the animals’ chest cavities. In another course at Hamilton Health Sciences, up to 91 pigs per year were used in a course in which needles were inserted into the animals’ chest cavities and the sacs around their hearts. Pigs were also used in a trauma training course at Saint John Hospital in New Brunswick. Both hospitals now teach these crucial lifesaving procedures with medical simulators modeled on the human body.

PCRM urged course directors and administrators at both medical centers to adopt nonanimal training methods. We also filed a federal complaint against Hamilton Health Sciences with the Canadian Council on Animal Care before the hospital confirmed that it had replaced animal use.

These victories are part of PCRM’s highly successful United States- and Canada-wide effort to replace the use of animals in Advanced Trauma Life Support courses. With your help we have saved thousands of animals from being used in these courses and advanced medical training at dozens of facilities across North America. Please help us make Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., the next program to replace animal use by e-mailing its CEO and chief of trauma.

Thank you for your continued work on this important effort and your support of PCRM.

Very truly yours,

Ryan Merkley
Manager of Research and Education Programs

USA: Study Indicates Meat Demand Affected by Media Coverage of Animal Welfare

Dec 202010
 
Dec 10, 2010
MANHATTAN , Kan. – U.S. consumers are increasingly interested in how their food is grown, and a recent study shows that media coverage of animal welfare issues does have an impact on demand for meat.
The study, that involved a search of U.S. newspapers and magazines from 1982 to 2008, suggested that media attention to animal welfare issues has not directly impacted beef demand. It did, however, reduce pork and poultry demand(…)
The research found that increased media attention caused a reallocation of consumers’ expenditures to nonmeat food rather than a reallocation of expenditures across competing meat products…

Sow Stall Ban First Important Step

Dec 062010
 

The government has taken the first crucial step to improve pig welfare in New Zealand by announcing it will ban the use of sow stalls from 2016.

SAFE, which has fiercely campaigned for three-years to end sow stalls and farrowing crates, says it welcomes the announcement, although it is disappointed that the ban excludes farrowing crates – an equally cruel confinement system.

“SAFE is delighted the government has finally accepted that sow stalls are cruel and in breach of welfare legislation. The five-year phase-out period, however, still means that over 15,000 sows will continue to suffer in sow stalls until 2016. It is great to know sow stalls are finally going after so much lobbying and campaigning but we remain mindful that pigs are not yet free,” says SAFE director Hans Kriek.

“With a ban on sow stalls now in place, SAFE will focus its attention on farrowing crates, which are used by over 60 per cent of the pig industry.. The organisation will continue to lobby for a ban on farrowing crates, as research shows these confinement systems are just as cruel as sow stalls,” says Mr Kriek.

Since the government is unlikely to take further action in the short term, SAFE is stepping up its consumer focus and beginning to encourage supermarkets to take meaningful animal welfare initiatives by not stocking pork products from suppliers who continue to use sow stalls.

“It is up to consumers to get the pigs out of their cruel crates sooner than 2016,” says Mr Kriek. “Eight out of ten New Zealanders are opposed to sow stalls and farrowing crates. SAFE plans to urge New Zealand supermarkets to follow the example of Coles, Australia’s second largest supermarket chain, by refusing to buy pork from farms that still use sow stalls.”

“Supermarkets must start taking some responsibility for how animals are being raised on factory farms. Consumers don’t want pork products produced on factory farms and it is time supermarkets heeded the wishes of the New Zealand public,” says Mr Kriek.

“It is encouraging to see New Zealand following the lead of the UK, which banned sow stalls over a decade ago, but there is a long way to go before we see an end to pig cruelty in New Zealand,” says Mr Kriek.

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