BULLETIN ÉTÉ 2007

[Animal 0]

Vendredi 18 mai 2007

Cruauté : 101 animaux trouvés dans des conditions infectes

(INFO690)- Un récidiviste en matière de cruauté envers les animaux se retrouve de nouveau devant la justice.

La police de Thetford Mines a effectué cette semaine une perquisition à la suite d'informations provenant de citoyens.

Yves Simoneau, de la police de Thetford Mines, précise ce que les policiers ont trouvé...

Le suspect, un homme de 59 ans, était sous le coup d'une ordonnance de probation lui interdisant d'être en possession d'animaux. Il a deux antécédents en matière de cruauté envers les animaux.

Il n'a pas encore comparu, sa santé le retenant

http://www.info690.com/nouvelle-cruaute_101_animaux-227592-2.html

[Animal 0]

Du cheval au menu

laterre.ca 5 juin 2007

redaction@laterre.ca
Des défenseurs américains des droits des animaux veulent interdire l’abattage de chevaux aux fins de consommation.

Un sous-comité de la chambre des représentants du comité sur l’agriculture du Congrès américain s’est récemment penché sur le bien-être des animaux de ferme.

Hormis les conditions d’élevage des poules, des bovins et des porcs, un groupe d’activistes s’est notamment questionné sur la pertinence de l’industrie de la viande chevaline.

Un projet de loi de l’État de l’Illinois prohibant l’envoi, la possession, l’achat, la vente ou les dons de chevaux destinés à être abattus à des fins de consommation a même été déposé, nous apprend la National Meat Association. Il serait même interdit d’exporter les chevaux au Canada ou au Mexique pour les y faire abattre.

L’industrie chevaline américaine estime que l’exportation de viande chevaline injecte 30 M$ dans l’économie du pays. Pour l’Association américaine du Quarter Horse (AAQH), la récupération des bêtes est un aspect «nécessaire» de l’industrie équine.

D’autres s’inquiètent des effets que pourrait avoir l’interdiction d’abattre les chevaux sur… le bien-être des animaux. «Les éleveurs qui n’ont plus les moyens de s’occuper de leurs vieux chevaux pourraient être forcés de les abandonner ou de les laisser mourir de faim…», relève la représentante de l’AAQH.

[Animal 0]

ENVIRONNMENT:

01 juin 2007


Dans un souci de protection de l’environnement, le gouvernement de Dubaï a commencé à transformer les véhicules qui composent sa flotte de taxis en véhicules hybrides. Cela permet à Dubaï d’intégrer le petit groupe de pays développés ayant développé un système de transport publique durable et promouvant le développement durable et le respect de l’environnement.

[Animal 0]

June 2, 2007

Ban on sale of dog meat now a law
By Joyce Pangco Pañares

CONGRESS has passed a law banning the trading in dog meat and promoting the elimination of rabies through mandatory dog immunization.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed the law, the “Anti-Rabies Act of 2007,” and allocated P100 million to implement it.

“We have become more animal-conscious now,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

“Dogs are friends. They guard our homes, and we in return take care of them. Some of us even sleep beside our pets,” he said.

Republic Act 8845, passed in 1998, bans the trading in dog meat, but its implementation has been selective as most provinces in the north of the country hide behind “tradition” to justify eating dogs.

In Baguio alone, residents consume about 200 dogs a day, according to animal rights advocate Network for Animals.

Network representative Melchor Alipio said the P5,000 fine imposed in RA 8845 was too small compared with the P55 million that dog traders earned annually.

Section 11 of the new law imposes a P5,000 fine for every dog killed or traded for its meat and a jail term of one year to four years.

“If the violation is committed by an alien, he or she shall be immediately deported after service of sentence without any further proceedings,” the law says.

The law also requires dog owners to have their pets vaccinated regularly against rabies or face a fine of P2,000. Dog owners who let their dogs stray will be fined P500 for each stray.

The law tasks the agriculture department to give free anti-rabies shots in depressed areas, and the health department to stock cheap anti-rabies vaccines for humans.

Stray dogs will be impounded at government dog pounds.

“Impounded dogs not claimed after three days from the dog pound shall be placed for adoption to qualified persons with the assistance of an animal welfare non-government organization,” the law says.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news5_june1_2007


(Le Congrès Philippin vient de voter une loi interdisant le commerce de viandes de chien et prévenant les épidémies de rage par des vaccins préventifs. La loi 8845 votée en 1998 interdisant ce commerce ne ciblait que certaines provinces -pays, car les autres régions dans le Nord, prétextaient les "traditions" pour manger de la viande de chiens. Dans la seule ville de Bargio, les gens consomment jusqu'à 200 chiens PAR JOUR, selon la défense des Droits des Animaux aux Philippines.
La Présidente Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a signé la "Loi anti-rabique 2007", allouant P100millions pour la mettre en application cette loi.
Le Secrétaire d'Etat a déclaré : "nous avons fait plus de prise de conscience envers les animaux"..
La Loi sanctionnera quiconque participera à ce commerce (vente et consommation) à P5,000 d'amande et à 1 à 4 ans de prison ferme.

La Loi stipule que les propriétaires de chiens qui laisseront leurs animaux à l'abandon seront pénalisé. Les chiens abandonnés errant seront placés dans des chenils de l'état, et s'ils ne sont pas récupérés, ils seront donnés à l'adoption sous le controle des associations de défense animale. )

Traduction partielle trouvée dans le forum protectiondesanimaux

[Animal 0]

mardi 12 juin 2007
Discussions difficiles à La Haye sur l'éléphant et le commerce de l'ivoire



LA HAYE (AFP) - Les discussions sur le commerce de l'ivoire et la protection des éléphants à la CITES menaçaient mardi d'aboutir à une impasse, faute de pouvoir dégager un compromis entre les participants, selon des ONG.

Les pays africains sont toujours divisés entre les partisans d'un moratoire de 20 ans sur le commerce de l'ivoire destiné à protéger du braconnage leurs éléphants et ceux qui souhaitent des assouplissements dans la réglementation internationale, a indiqué à l'AFP un représentant d'une ONG ayant requis l'anonymat.


agrandir la photo

Le Kenya et le Mali avec une vingtaine d'autres Etats africains sont pour le moratoire, l'Afrique australe souhaite des assouplissements et le Botswana veut être autorisé à vendre ponctuellement 40 tonnes d'ivoire provenant de ses stocks existants et à avoir ensuite le droit d'exporter 8 tonnes par an.

Plusieurs propositions nouvelles sont en discussion, visant notamment à réduire la durée du moratoire, a indiqué le représentant de l'ONG.

Le Kenya et le Mali pourraient ainsi accepter de réduire leur demande d'un moratoire à 12 ans contre 20 ans initialement exigé, a-t-il ajouté.

Faute d'accord, les pays concernés pourraient retirer purement et simplement leurs propositions initiales, a-t-il ajouté.

Les pays africains avaient déjà tenté en vain de se mettre d'accord sur une position commune lors d'une réunion à huis clos juste avant l'ouverture de la conférence de la CITES. Une nouvelle tentative pour dégager un compromis au cours du week-end n'a pas non plus permis d'aboutir.
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/12062007/202/discussions-difficiles-la-haye-sur-l-elephant-et-le-commerce.html

[Animal 0]

Pays-Bas : nomination du premier sénateur d'un Parti des animaux au monde

LA HAYE (AFP) - Le Parti pour les animaux (PvdD) néerlandais s'est félicité mardi de la nomination officielle à la chambre haute d'un de ses élus, Niko Koffeman, qui devient ainsi le premier sénateur d'un parti de défense des droits des animaux au monde. Dans un communiqué, le petit parti néerlandais PvdD, créé en novembre 2006, et fort de plusieurs succès électoraux, se félicite de cette nomination. "Niko Koffeman devient le premier sénateur pour la défense des droits des animaux dans le monde", annonce-t-il.

C'est "une nouvelle étape dans la politique néerlandaise de défense des droits des animaux", poursuit le PvdD, qui a déjà "remporté deux sièges au parlement en novembre 2006 et neuf sièges dans des assemblées provinciales en mars 2007".

Fort de cette représentation nationale, le PvdD tente maintenant de persuader d'autres défenseurs des droits des animaux dans le monde de lancer leur propre formation politique. Ses dirigeants se sont notamment rendus à New York, Boston, ainsi qu'à Vienne, en avril, précise le communiqué.

"Les activistes étudient la possibilité de fonder un parti pour les animaux aux Etats-unis, comme ça a déjà été le cas en Grande-Bretagne, Allemagne, Espagne, France et au Canada, et comme cela se prépare en Autriche", précise PvdD, qui se définit comme un "pionnier".

Le parti estime que depuis son arrivée au parlement néerlandais, les animaux sont devenus un thème majeur du débat public.

"Lors du récent débat sur le budget agricole, 80% du temps de parole a été dominé par le thème des droits des animaux", se félicite-t-il.

Première mondiale, en novembre dernier, le parti avait totalisé près de 2% des voix, remportant deux sièges dans le parlement néerlandais, qui en compte 150.

Publié le: 12/06/2007 à 20:00:56 GM

[Animal 0]

Le vendredi 15 juin 2007


Le sort des espèces menacées




Moratoire de 9 ans sur le commerce de l'ivoire.
Photo AP




Agence France-Presse

La Haye

Voici les principales décisions de la 14e conférence de la Convention sur le commerce international des espèces de faune et de flore sauvages menacées d'extinction (CITES) qui s'est tenue du 3 au 15 juin à La Haye:



- Eléphants: moratoire de 9 ans sur le commerce de l'ivoire pour protéger l'éléphant du braconnage et du trafic illégal de l'ivoire. En même temps, quatre pays d'Afrique australe (Afrique du sud, Botswana, Namibie, Zimbabwe) ont été autorisés à vendre leurs stocks d'ivoire recensés au 31 janvier 2007, les pachydermes de cette région n'étant pas menacés.

- Tigres: adoption d'une résolution condamnant la pratique de l'élevage de tigres pour le commerce de produits dérivés de cet animal, visant la Chine, où vivent 5000 tigres dans des fermes d'élevage, susceptibles d'alimenter le marché des produits de médecine traditionnelle. Pékin a interdit en 1993 le commerce intérieur de ces produits, à base d'os de tigre notamment, mais envisage des assouplissements à la demande des éleveurs de tigres.

- Anguilles européennes: adoption d'une proposition visant à réglementer le commerce international de l'anguille européenne (inscription à l'annexe II de la CITES). Ce poisson, dont la chair est très prisée en Europe et en Asie, est menacé d'extinction par une pêche excessive, la pollution, la destruction de son habitat naturel et les barrages sur les rivières.

- Requins: rejet d'une proposition visant à réglementer le commerce international du requin taupe, victime du succès des restaurants fish and chips en Europe et de la soupe d'ailerons de requin en Asie.

- Poissons-scies: adoption d'une proposition visant à interdire le commerce international des poissons-scies (inscription à l'annexe I). Le poissons-scie, décimé par une exploitation commerciale intense, est très recherché pour son rostre et ses dents, objets de collection, mais également pour son aileron, sa chair, sa bile et son foie, utilisés par la médecine traditionnelle chinoise.

- Coraux: adoption d'une proposition visant à réglementer le commerce (inscription à l'annexe II) des coraux rouges et roses, très prisés dans la bijouterie, et dont la demande a explosé depuis 2005 en Europe et en Asie. Ces coraux sont particulièrement vulnérables du fait de leurs caractéristiques biologiques: maturité tardive, croissance lente et faible fécondité.

- Baleines: rejet d'une demande du Japon visant à faire le point sur la situation de 13 espèces de grands cétacés, et susceptible de permettre une éventuelle reprise de la chasse commerciale à la baleine.

- Cedrela: ce bois tropical, provenant d'un arbre originaire des régions tropicales et subtropicales du continent américain, ne bénéficiera pas de la protection de la CITES, l'Union européenne ayant renoncé à en demander le classement, sous la pression des pays d'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes, de certains États africains et du Canada.

Le Cedrela est utilisé pour la fabrication de meubles et les constructions légères.


http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070615/CPMONDE/70615089/6108/CPENVIRONNEMENT

[Animal 0]

Africa: Poachers kill one of last two white rhinos in Zambia
Jun 12, 2007

Poachers have shot the last two white rhinos in Zambia, killing one and wounding the other, in a night operation at the Mosi-Oa-Tunya national park in Livingstone, an official said on Tuesday.

Zambia's white rhinos were all killed by poachers but the government managed to acquire six from South Africa in 1993, of which the injured male is the last to survive.
-----------------

Poachers kill one of last two white rhinos in Zambia

LUSAKA, June 12 (AFP) Jun 12, 2007
Poachers have shot the last two white rhinos in Zambia, killing one and wounding the other, in a night operation at the Mosi-Oa-Tunya national park in Livingstone, an official said on Tuesday.

The shooting of the two endangered animals in a heavily-guarded zoological park near Victoria Falls in Zambia's tourist resort town of Livingstone took place last week.

"I can confirm that one of the white rhinos was shot dead by suspected poachers. The other one was wounded and is undergoing treatment," said Maureen Mwape, spokesperson of the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), which would be investigating the shooting.

The dead female rhino's horn was apparently removed.

Zambia's white rhinos were all killed by poachers but the government managed to acquire six from South Africa in 1993, of which the injured male is the last to survive.





http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070612124449.5lathgny.html

[Animal 0]

USA: Montana Spring 2007 Yellowstone Bison Slaughter

All the buffalo shown on the photos, including the newborn babies, were sentenced to slaughter on Tuesday, May 29 by the Montana Board of Livestock.

VOIR LES PHOTOS DES BISONS ET DE LEURS BÉBÉS AVANT LEUR ABATTAGE ... 300 ONT ÉTÉ TUÉS

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/media/photos/bisonphotos0607maycalves.html

----------------------


Montana Delays Slaughter of 300 Bison Amid Uproar



May 31, 2007 — By Laura Zuckerman, Reuters

SALMON, Idaho -- Public outrage prompted a temporary stay of execution Wednesday for 300 bison, including an estimated 100 calves, roaming in Montana outside the confines of Yellowstone National Park.

The Montana Board of Livestock on Tuesday announced plans to capture and kill the bison, or buffalo, in the wake of news earlier this month that seven Montana cows had tested positive for brucellosis, a disease that can cause stillbirths in cows and infects some of the Yellowstone bison herd.

Bison advocates, including the Buffalo Field Campaign, launched an opposition campaign that caused an e-mail and telephone backlog at the state and federal agencies that manage Yellowstone's 3,900 bison.

"We've been getting the calls," said Christian Mackay, executive officer with the Montana Department of Livestock. But "capture and hauling to slaughter is by no means off the table."

The department said it would delay plans to round up and kill the bison until early next week.

The proposal comes as the tourist season is under way at Yellowstone, where bison draw hundreds of thousands of admirers. Under a controversial state-federal agreement, bison that leave the protection of Yellowstone are subject to hazing and to slaughter. The department had recently tried to encourage the wayward buffalo to return to the park.

While officials have yet to pinpoint the source of the brucellosis infection in the seven cows, and there is no documented case of brucellosis transmission from bison to cows in the wild, Montana's influential cattle industry is calling for a forced thinning of Yellowstone bison.

Cattle producers say the herd is an imminent threat to Montana's brucellosis-free status, which allows ranchers to ship cows across state lines without testing. The state has a $1 billion livestock industry.

Animal activists say a historic prejudice against the buffalo, which were hunted and killed to near extinction by the late 19th century, continues to threaten the nation's last wild herd of purebred bison.

Plans to forcibly thin the Yellowstone herd comes even as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed allowing hunters to kill more than half the bison in the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming -- reducing the herd from 1,100 to 500 animals -- because of overgrazing, concerns about brucellosis and federal budget cuts.

Source: Reuters

Contact Info:

Website :

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12872

[Animal 0]

FUR INDUSTRY

Virus hits Newfoundland mink farms
Wasting disease likely to require cull of female animals
OLIVER MOORE

June 20, 2007

The $70-million mink-farming industry in Newfoundland and Labrador has been
left reeling by evidence of a wasting disease whose presence in other areas
has prompted mass culls.

The province has responded by clamping down on the import and internal
shipment of live mink and has asked the industry to restrict the movement of
people and equipment between farms.

Aleutian disease has been found at only one farm so far, but industry
heavyweight Merv Wiseman said yesterday that animals from there had gone to
many of the province's two dozen mink operations.

"My expectation is that most of the farms, probably more than 90 per cent,
will be infected," said Mr. Wiseman, president of the Newfoundland and
Labrador Fur Breeders Association.

He said that while some farmers elsewhere in the world have tried to carry
on operations in spite of the presence of the disease, he sees no real
alternative to a cull.

"I should be cautious but, as an industry leader, it is the only option that
makes sense," he said.

The virus is specific to mink and cannot be passed to humans or other
animals outside the Mustilidae family, which includes ferrets and otters.
But Mr. Wiseman pointed out that it can live long enough to be carried
between farms in dirt on boots. It can also be transmitted by infected
equipment.

Hugh Whitney, the provincial veterinarian, said the province has sent out
protocols to minimize the transmission danger posed by those who can't avoid
visiting farms. Among them is the recommendation to disinfect boots and
tires with a product used in foot-and-mouth outbreaks.

"The virus is quite persistent ... there are so many ways this virus can
move," Dr. Whitney said.

Government officials will be testing all mink farms in the next few weeks
and deciding on a course of action only once the fuller picture has become
clear.

"We have the legal authority in this province to take whatever measures
needed," Dr. Whitney noted.

If necessary, a cull of the province's captive herd would affect
approximately 60,000 female animals. They would each cost between $200 and
$250 to replace, Mr. Wiseman said, quite apart from the tab for slaughter,
disposal and recertification of the farms.

"We're a small province. When we talk about millions of dollars it's very
disheartening."

The discovery is especially painful because the farmers on the island had
benefited until now from their status as one of the few Aleutian-free areas
in the world. That has allowed them to sell breeding stock to other areas
forced to cull.

"I can't state emphatically enough how important [disease-free status] is,"
Mr. Wiseman said.

Aleutian disease is caused by a virus that is part of the Parvoviridae
family. It was first described a half-century ago and is now known to strike
all types of mink and not only, as first thought, those with the Aleutian
coat colour gene.

Infected mink can take up to a year to show symptoms but are infectious
during that time. Once symptoms become obvious, according to a fact sheet
published by the Ontario government, "the death of the mink is certain."

That fact sheet lists symptoms including loss of appetite, decreased
activity, weight loss, tarry diarrhea and a rough coat. The disease reduces
the animals' ability to fight other infectious agents, causing a rise in
deaths due to secondary infections, and a mink population suffering the
disease has a higher rate of miscarriages and early death in young animals.

All mink brought into the province are supposed to be tested for the disease
and the government is trying to determine how it got to the island.

According to the provincial government, the mink industry employs over 320
people, mostly in rural areas, and is valued at roughly $70-million
annually. There are 24 ranches in the province.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

[Animal 0]

Tuesday » June 12 » 2007

Beagle shipments stopped
After protests from Air Canada passengers

The Gazette


Monday, June 11, 2007


Air Canada has stopped shipments of beagles for medical research to Europe
after protests from its passengers.

It turns out the airline's May 21 cargo of 70 to 100 beagles from Montreal
to Paris was the last of shipments that had been taking place for a number
of years.

That May 21 shipment led to complaints from passengers on the flight to The
Gazette. The passengers said they heard the dogs yelping in the cargo hold
during take-off and landing, and then saw them being unloaded in Paris.

They were told by flight attendants that the shipment of dogs from Montreal
to Paris for medical and scientific experiments happens regularly, the
passengers told The Gazette.

Air Canada spokesperson Isabelle Arthur confirmed yesterday that following
the publication of the story on May 29, the airline received a formal
complaint about the shipments.

"It's the first time we received formal complaints from passengers on any of
those flights," Arthur said .

The Gazette has learned that Marshall BioResources, a company that breeds
beagles for biomedical research in North Rose, N.Y. between Syracuse and
Rochester was supplying the dogs.

A retired Air Canada employee who worked for years on the cargo tarmac said
the dogs would arrive in clean, air-conditioned trucks before being unloaded
onto pallets, where they were weighed before boarding.

"If it was too hot we would turn them around and send them back down to the
U.S.," the former worker said.

Arthur explained that Air Canada policy permits it to stop any shipment if
the cargo disturbs passengers. .

As a result of the recent complaint, "We advised the shipper that we would
no longer be accepting their cargo."

An employee at Marshall BioResources which, according to its website, also
breeds mongrel dogs, ferrets and "mini-pigs" declined to comment on the
shipments to Montreal yesterday.

"The Marshall Beagle is known worldwide as a premier canine model for safety
assessment studies," the website says.

"Our proprietary socialization process yields a dog that is active and happy
while in the cage, comes willingly to the front when approached, and is calm
and pleasant when handled."

Beagles are flown to facilities in Europe and Asia to ensure genetic
consistency, the company says. "We now offer our European customers the
option of domestically produced beagles as well as importation from New
York."

Spokespeople for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service were mystified about why Marshall's dogs go to
Europe via Canada.

"We don't regulate domestic animals leaving the U.S.," said a representative
of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Only endangered animals and exotic animals
are controlled, she said.

As for Marshall's Canadian pipeline, it has only been re-routed, said
another source at Air Canada, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Marshall has already found another air carrier departing from another
Canadian city, possibly Toronto, the source said.

Alain Lajoie, a veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said
Marshall has had a permit from the agency for several years to bring beagles
through border points at Lacolle or Brockville, Ont., for transit to
Montreal and then shipment to a third country.

"They come from an approved kennel and they all have their rabies shots,"
Lajoie said.

The permit can be reassigned to another port of exit in Canada within five
working days, he said.

Caring about the dogs' ultimate purpose "is not in our mandate," he said.

Animal-rights activists said Air Canada's decision was not a victory for
them since the dogs will still end up in labs, part of a legal trade that is
beyond the reach of most animal-cruelty laws because it is for medical
research.

But "because it's legal doesn't mean it's not wrong," said Michael
O'Sullivan, executive director of the Humane Society of Canada.

Johanne Tass, a spokesperson for the Companion Animal Adoption Centers of
Quebec, a network of six animal shelters, said Air Canada's move was about
public relations.

"They got caught red-handed," she said. "They're the national carrier. They
bear the flag of our country. I'm quite embarrassed that this happened."

Tass, who said she is not strictly opposed to all research on animals, said
Canadians need to question how animals are used for research and why.

"We should be opening up the debate a little bit more."

mharrold@

thegazette.canwest.com

The Gazette 2007



(p.s.; on ne peut plus rayer des phrases )

[Animal 0]

Jun 12, 2007 10:14 ET
Illegal bear trade in Canada fueled by China's bear farms WSPA partners with
Environment Canada to help stem trafficking

Attention: Assignment Editor, Environment Editor, News Editor, Science
Editor, Government/Political Affairs Editor

TORONTO, ONTARIO, MEDIA RELEASE--(CCNMatthews - June 12, 2007) - Products
containing bear bile are being illegally imported and sold in Canada,
according to a new report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals
(WSPA). Investigations by WSPA show that bear farms in China are a primary
source, and WSPA has teamed up with Environment Canada's Wildlife
Enforcement Directorate to test detection kits that will help to stem this
illegal bear trade.
Cage to Consumer, a new WSPA report being released today, summarizes
findings from the undercover investigations conducted in 2006. The report
shows that Traditional Asian Medicine shops in eight countries - Canada,
USA, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand - offered
bear bile and bear gall products for sale and that most of these products
originated from China's bear farms.

"WSPA's investigations confirm what we suspected" says Peter Davies,
Director General of WSPA. "These results show that bear farms are giving
rise to illegal trade as well as being inherently cruel. In light of this
evidence we urge the Chinese Government to reconsider its position on bear
farming and instigate a phase-out of the bear farming industry in China."

As part of its on-going campaign to end the cruel practice of farming bears,
WSPA developed a unique kit to detect bear proteins in products.
The bear detection kits are being field-tested over a six to twelve-month
period by Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Directorate and will
help identify and stamp out the illegal trade in bear products.

"WSPA developed the detection kits to protect bears and help combat the
multi-billion dollar illegal trade in wildlife" says Pat Tohill, WSPA Canada
Programs Manager. "It's estimated that wildlife trade ranks behind arms and
drug trafficking, and trade in bear products directly causes suffering to
bears and threatens wild bears in Canada and abroad."

The kits fall into a wider effort to stem wildlife trafficking recently
launched by the Canadian government. In May 2007, Environment Minister John
Baird announced that Canada would join the Coalition Against Wildlife
Trafficking (CAWT), a US-led international alliance of government and
non-government organizations. The government says $22 million will be used
to hire about additional 100 enforcement officers to crack down on wildlife
trafficking and poaching.

WSPA released the Cage to Consumer report today at the 14th Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
conference in The Hague where international delegates are meeting on trade
in endangered species.
WSPA released the report at the CITES convention to highlight the importance
of CITES regulations to protect bears and other endangered species.

Bear bile and bear gall have long been used by consumers of Traditional
Asian Medicine. Since the 1980s bile has been extracted from live bears kept
on bear farms to create such products. Today, at least 12,000 bears in
China, Korea and Vietnam are kept in appalling conditions, in cages no
bigger than a telephone booth turned on its side, while subjected to painful
bile extraction procedures. The extraction of bile is unnecessary as there
are many effective alternatives that can be used in place of bear bile.

WSPA's campaign to end bear farming, which is supported by the Calvin Ayre
Foundation, will continue until the inherently cruel practice of bear
farming is brought to an end. To find out more visit bearbile.org.

/For further information: For interviews, information, contact:
Michelle Cliffe, Marketing and Public Relations Advisor
416 369 0044 x111
cliffe@...

Patrick Tohill, Program Manager, Canada
416 369 0044
416 898 9448
tohill@... /

http://new.marketwire.com/2.0/release.do?id=741386

[Animal 0]

Alberta grizzlies barely surviving, census shows


There are so few grizzly bears living in the Foothills that researchers fear
their future is in jeopardy GEOFF NIXON

From Monday's Globe and Mail June 11, 2007 at 4:14 AM EDT

A unique census of grizzly bears in the Foothills and lower slopes of the
Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta has found that the population is now
so small that some experts question whether they will still be there in 100
years.

The new report estimates the number of grizzly bears living west and south
of Calgary and south of Banff National Park, inside an approximately
7,600-square-kilometre stretch of land, at fewer than 100.

The estimate - backed by research techniques involving inventive DNA
sleuthing that employs razor wire and a mix of rancid cow blood and
liquefied fish - is the latest chapter in the continuing debate over the
stewardship of grizzly bears within the province. It is trying to decide how
to account for the grizzlies, how to accommodate industries that disrupt
their habitat and lives, and how to keep them alive well into the future.

Brian Horejsi, a Calgary-based researcher and bear expertwho has been
researching Alberta grizzlies since the early 1970s, said the latest
population count suggests the southwestern population is potentially on the
road to extinction.

"We're talking about a very, very limited number of bears that are keeping
this bear population alive this year," Mr. Horejsi told The Globe yesterday.

"When you have those minute numbers - and they are minute - a mortality
here, a bear hit by a train, a bear shot illegally or accidentally by an elk
hunter - you are dealing with an envelope that is very, very narrow."

Starting in 2003, the province began looking at ways of maintaining its
grizzly population, which also meant learning just how many there were
throughout the province, in part because there were conflicting estimates of
their numbers. Alberta also declared a three-year moratorium on grizzly
hunting in March, 2006, in an effort to stave off any interference while it
checked out the numbers.

The final numbers and their related report were released to the public last
week.

"We halted the grizzly bear hunt and we are doing this analysis basically,
to establish, accurately, as accurate as we possibly can, how many grizzly
bears are actually in Alberta," said Darcy Whiteside, a spokesman for the
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development.

In order to get the numbers they needed, the researchers used a smelly treat
- a two-to-one mixture of cow blood and fish - to lure the grizzlies.

The bait was surrounded by a thin layer of barbed wire mounted about a
half-metre off the ground. When interested bears went to check out the
enticing scent, the wire would scrape a few hairs off the backs of their fur
coats. And since the bears' individual hairs contain valuable DNA, the
researchers could then collect the hairs and very accurately count the
number of unique bears that had visited the site.

Mr. Horejsi believes the numbers are accurate and has concluded that the
southwestern population could potentially be gone in as soon as 50 to 100
years. He said that in typical bear populations, only about 15 per cent are
capable of breeding in any particular year leaving very few bears available
for reproducing in such a small population.

He also pointed out that while DNA testing can determine the number of
bears, it cannot be used to find their age, meaning it is impossible to tell
how big or small the local population of breeding-age grizzly bears may be.

Citing human interference and industrialization as the two big factors in
holding back the grizzly population, Mr. Horejsi says he thinks protecting
their wild habitat, perhaps reclaiming some human developments and
maintaining the ban on hunting would be their best bet for survival.

"All of these things essentially are making what is fundamentally or
innately good habitat, virtually insecure and unusable for bears and that is
the crux of the matter," said Mr. Horejsi.

"It's a massive failure of management and worse yet, it's got the bears
hanging on the edge of the rope."

Others agree that simply cutting back on hunting will not sufficiently
improve the grizzly bears' survival prospects.

Bob Richards, a big-game outfitter who leads tours through parts of
northwestern Alberta, said he thinks that despite the immediate effects of a
moratorium on hunting, it is not a long-term solution for protecting the
local population.

"The No. 1 impact to grizzly bear populations is [vehicle] access," said Mr.
Richards, who lives in Airdrie, just north of Calgary.

"I don't mind, from an outfitting perspective, if the government were to
shut down all vehicle access, all motorized access and that would probably
be the No. 1 benefit to the grizzly bear population."

"I don't think it's a good long-term management plan," said Mr. Richards, of
the hunting ban that comes without any efforts to roll back human access to
the bears.

"I think it's more like a real quick Band-Aid, and everyone will feel
comfortable with that, but, in the long-term, the grizzly bear population is
still going to suffer."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

[Animal 0]

Le vendredi 29 juin 2007


Les éléphants de plus en plus menacés pour leur viande




La viande d'éléphant est extrêmement prisée en Afrique.
Photo AP




Chris Tomlinson

Associated Press

Nairobi

Les éléphants ne sont pas seulement chassés par les braconniers pour leurs défenses en ivoire. Objet d'un commerce lucratif, la viande de ces grands mammifères est elle aussi extrêmement prisée en Afrique, où la demande va croissant, au rythme de la hausse démographique.


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À consulter aussi
Lisez d'autres articles sur ces sujets :

Ressources naturelles (100%)


Forêts (99%)


Wildlife Conservation Society (63%)


Karl Amman (59%)


À consulter aussi

L'espèce la plus menacée est peut-être l'éléphant de forêt, dont l'habitat s'étend de la Guinée à l'Ouganda, avec une concentration des pachydermes dans le Bassin du Congo, où la pauvreté et la guerre sont fréquentes.

L'animal est plus petit que ses cousins vivant -pour la plupart sous la protection des gardes forestiers- dans les savanes de l'est et du sud du continent noir. Son épiderme est plus sombre, ses défenses sont plus droites, et ses oreilles plus ovales. Les connaissances sont minces sur les éléphants de forêt car ils vivent en petits groupes dans les denses forêts pluviales. En 1989, des biologistes avaient estimé leur nombre à 172 000 dans le Bassin du Congo.

Aucune étude globale n'a été menée depuis, mais une enquête de la Wildlife Conservation Society dans six zones où vivent les éléphants dans des parcs nationaux, qui a été diffusée en avril, a mis en lumière un «impact profond» de «tueries illégales et d'autres perturbations humaines» sur cette population d'éléphants de forêt.

Un spécimen de cette espèce pèse en moyenne entre 2,5 et 2,7 tonnes et produit plus de 450 kilos de viande bonne à manger: il peut rapporter au braconnier jusqu'à 180 dollars pour l'ivoire et jusqu'à 6000 dollars pour la viande.

«Ces éléphants (de forêt) se font braconner beaucoup plus que les éléphants de l'est et du sud de l'Afrique», souligne Karl Amman, un photographe enquêtant sur le commerce illégal des animaux. «Je suis convaincu que le braconnage d'éléphants de forêt dans la région d'Afrique centrale» a lieu «pour la viande, et que l'ivoire est devenu un à-côté».

Dans la forêt, les populations vivent dans une telle pauvreté qu'elles n'ont pas le temps de songer à la préservation de l'environnement, explique pour sa part Andrea Turkalo, une chercheuse travaillant pour le compte de la Wildlife Conservation Society dans le parc national de Dzangha-Sangha en Centrafrique. À ses yeux, «les gens tuent toujours pour l'ivoire mais un basculement se fait vers le commerce de la viande en raison de la démographie. Il y a beaucoup plus d'habitants ici», observe-t-elle.

«Quand on tue un éléphant dont les défenses ne pèsent pas plus de 500 grammes, ce n'est pas pour l'ivoire. C'est surtout pour la viande», renchérit Omer Kokamenko, un garde du parc national de Dzangha-Sangha. «En dehors de cette région, la viande d'éléphant est chère».

Tant que les gouvernements n'agiront pas, la population des éléphants restera menacée, estime Karl Amman. Des deux côtés de la frontière entre le Centrafrique et le Congo-Brazzaville, des autorités locales prélèvent des taxes sur le commerce de viande, en dépit de son caractère illégal. D'après Désiré Loa, ancien garde forestier devenu braconnier, le commerce est devenu si rentable que des responsables gouvernementaux sont derrière la plupart des actes de braconnage, embauchant des Pygmées et leur fournissant des fusils pour tuer les éléphants.

[Animal 0]

Le jeudi 28 juin 2007


La Terre presque entièrement domestiquée




Photo AP




Agence France-Presse

San Francisco

La Terre est à ce point domestiquée par l'Homme que les écologistes devraient se concentrer sur les moyens de gérer ce phénomène plutôt que de se concentrer sur la protection des rares zones encores vierges, selon une étude publiée jeudi aux États-Unis.


«Une nature préservée des humains cela n'existe plus», affirme sans détour Peter Kareivi, le scientifique en chef de Nature Conservancy, une ONG américaine, dans un article publié par la revue Science.

«Faire face à cette réalité signifierait un changement des priorités scientifiques de l'écologie», ajoute t-il.

Des observations faites par satellites ont permis d'établir qu'en 1995, seulement 17% de la surface des terres émergées restait sauvage, à savoir qu'elles étaient inhabitées par l'Homme, dépourvues de cultures et de routes d'accès et qu'aucune lumière n'y était détectable la nuit.

La moitié de la surface du globe est utilisée pour les cultures ou le pâturage. Les mers et les océans eux-mêmes sont traversés en tous sens par des lignes maritimes. Nombre d'écosystèmes ont été détruits ou modifiés.

Les zones protégées ou dites sauvages sont davantage des zones de régulation plutôt que des endroits sans marque humaine. Ainsi, le parc naturel et préservé Fuji-Hakone-Izu au Japon accueille plus de 100 millions de visiteurs par an et abrite des hôtels, des parcours de golf...

Plutôt que de s'attacher à la préservation d'une nature sauvage qui n'existe plus, les écologistes devraient s'intéresser davantage aux questions de développement, suggèrent les auteurs de l'étude.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Le vendredi 29 juin 2007


Argentine: les forêts reculent, les champs de soja progressent

Agence France-Presse

Buenos Aires

Les forêts en Argentine disparaissent à un rythme six fois plus élevé que dans le reste du monde, victimes en grande partie de la conquête de terres pour la culture du soja, l'or vert national, indique un rapport officiel.



La Direction nationale des Forêts à Buenos Aires a tiré la sonnette d'alarme cette semaine en soulignant que quelque 1 108 669 hectares de bois avaient été détruits de 2002 à 2006, soit presque deux fois de plus que sur les quatre années précédentes, à un rythme de 821 hectares par jour.

L'Argentine fait ainsi figure de mauvais élève, la déforestation ayant tendance à se stabiliser dans les autres régions du monde, selon un rapport de l'Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO).

Outre les conséquences pour la bio-diversité, cette déforestation brutale engendre aussi des déséquilibres climatiques. Les forêts permettent la régulation des pluies, et avec leur disparition, les inondations se multiplient, souligne ainsi l'organisation écologiste Greenpeace sur son site internet.

Les destructions de forêts se situent principalement dans le nord et l'est, où la terre est souvent défrichée pour laisser la place a des champs de soja. Dans la province de Salta (nord-ouest), non loin de la frontière bolivienne, le gouvernement régional a lancé une procédure pour faire arracher à des fins agricoles près de 200 000 hectares de forêts, selon Greenpeace.

Pourtant, un projet de loi visant à mieux protéger les forêts existe, mais «il dort dans les tiroirs», a encore souligné l'association, dénonçant le lobby des cultivateurs de soja sur les députés provinciaux.

L'Argentine n'est pourtant pas le pays ou ce phénomène est le plus grave. Le continent sud américain voit chaque année disparaître 4,3 millions d'hectares de forêts, principalement détruits par l'exploitation systématique de l'Amazonie au Brésil et au Pérou.

[Animal 0]

( The Dutch agri- and horticultural organisation LTO Nederland is not amused: "Anaesthetics do not solve piglet castration issue".

.... But vegetarianism does!)


----------------------------------------------------

Anaesthetics do not solve piglet castration issue
// 21 Jun 2007


Dutch supermarkets are reasoning too simply when they say that they will not sell any meat that is from male piglets that have been castrated without the use of anaesthetics.


This is the opinion of the Dutch agri- and horticultural organisation LTO Nederland, after the supermarkets jointly revealed they will phase out sales of this kind of meat as from 2009.


LTO says that not selling is not a real solution for the problem – apart from the question whether it is possible in practice to castrate without the use of anaesthetics.


No castration
Annechien ten Have, an LTO spokeswoman for the pig industry, says that the producers rather had not castrated at all.


Ten Have has doubts whether European pig producers will be able to meet the supermarkets' specific requirements in the year 2009. As up to now, only in Norway, male piglets are castrated with sedation.


Detecting boar taint
She referred to a current European research, to investigate the possibility to detect boar taint in carcasses at the slaughterline.


However, in Denmark, already €70 million has been spent in the development of a production line having an electronic nose for boar taint detection. German supermarkets abandoned the initiative when they found out that consumers stayed away because they were not satisfied.


Old-fashioned
Last week, the organisation of supermarkets CBL said that it was old-fashioned to make piglets suffer like this.


There is also still ongoing research to the possibility of the use of anaesthetics before castration. Ten Have says that there is a danger that sedating is only easing the consumers' conscience without providing a real solution.


Many big companies, like HEMA and Unilever, and certified butchers have announced to join the supermarkets' initiative.


Related news items:
• Sedated castration: €0.012/kg cost rise (19 June 2007)
• End to sale of pigs castrated without sedation (15 June 2007)




http://www.pigprogress.net/news/id1602-20511/anaesthetics_do_not_solve_piglet_castration_issue.html

[Animal 0]

Last update - 07:31 22/06/2007


Israel taking steps to get in line with Europe on animal testing

By Ronny Linder-Ganz, Haaretz Correspondent

Pharmacy aisles as we know them are about to change. Many brands stocked today are likely to disappear over the next year or two because of two bills on animal testing in the cosmetics industry.

One of them, which prohibits animal testing in the development of detergents and cosmetics in Israel, was unanimously approved by the Knesset in second and third readings about three weeks ago. The other - a more radical one that seeks to forbid the import and distribution of animal-tested cosmetics - was unanimously approved by the Knesset's Education Committee before its first reading in the plenum.

MK Gideon Sa'ar is pushing the two bills which would remove animal-tested products from the shelves, or force companies to switch to alternative and more advanced methods.




Advertisement

The bill dealing with imports and distribution adopts the 2004 European directive prohibiting the distribution and sale of nearly all animal-tested products from March 2009.

"This means that in less than two years it will be forbidden to sell animal-tested products in Europe, which will completely stop testing in the field," says Anat Refua, the head of the Laboratory Animals Protection Division at the nonprofit organization Let the Animals Live.

Ilan Levy, marketing vice president for the Roots brand, agrees: "We assume that most companies will fall into line with the law and stop experimenting on animals." According to Refua, although there is still no such law in the United States, most major companies rely on the European market which they cannot ignore.

In Israel, as in Europe, the new regulations will gradually take effect once they are approved to allow importers to start preparing from March 2008. In 2009 the law will take full effect, except for several products in a special category to be banned in 2013.

Opponents of the legislation say the bills will introduce huge expenses (see box), but MK Sa'ar says the intention is "to pass a responsible and balanced bill designed to prevent future animal testing because today's market has testing methods that are better and more scientifically effective."

Cosmetics companies started testing ingredients on animals several decades ago. "The development of a new shampoo may cost the lives of up to 10,000 animals," Refua says. "Every new ingredient put into a product is tested on some 2,000 to 3,000 animals, and sometimes there are also experiments with the finished product, so the numbers are appalling." Every experiment uses two types of animals: rodents such as guinea pigs, rats, mice and rabbits, and mammals during experiments' second phase, including cats, dogs, pigs and monkeys.

According to Refua, "about 60 percent of all detergents and cosmetics sold in Israel are produced by companies that practice testing on animals." She says that "the biggest distributor of these products in Israel is the U.S. firm Procter & Gamble, which still uses animal testing." Procter & Gamble's response: "The company stopped testing its cosmetic products on animals in 1999. In addition, the company does not ask its suppliers to perform tests on its behalf. Moreover, the company does not test the ingredients of its cosmetic products on animals, except for extremely rare cases when it needs to do so in order to meet regulatory or safety demands."

But Refua calls this an evasive answer. "There are no regulatory demands or any law that compel them to test on animals. Everything can be tested using alternative methods that do not harm animals, and as long as they fail to do so they will remain classified as a company that practices animal testing and shunned by the public."

Procter & Gamble: "The company is a world leader in searching for alternatives to animal testing, and as a result some 50 alternative testing methods have been developed, which were described in over 300 scientific publications. The company's policy, together with the law, obligates us to ensure that our products are safe for the consumers, our employees and the environment. In Israel, as in the rest of the world, Procter & Gamble follows and will continue to follow the letter of the law."

And what should a conscientious shopper do until the new laws take effect? At the moment, it's not that simple. The Israeli consumer will find it hard to distinguish between an animal-tested product and one that was not developed using such methods.

In most of the world it's a very simple matter: products carrying the "leaping bunny" logo have not been tested on animals. The procedure for obtaining the logo is clear; the Coalition for Consumer Information in Cosmetics (CCIC), which operates in Canada, the U.S. and the European Union, has set criteria. A product imported to Israel from one of these areas will carry the bunny logo if it meets the requirements.

The situation is much more complicated regarding Israeli detergents and cosmetics, and consumers will find various bunny symbols in different sizes and poses, none of them the CCIC bunny. The reason is simple: Israel is not a CCIC member, so Israeli companies may not use the logo.

"There is no legislation in Israel that regulates the marking of products that were not tested on animals, and there is also no voluntary body supervising the matter," says Dr. Shmuel Becher, a consumer law expert at the Peres Academic Center in Rehovot. "Therefore there is no supervision - not by the state nor by a third party. All there is, is a declaration by the company claiming that the products or the ingredients contained in them have not been tested on animals, without any external supervision or control."

According to Becher, this may mislead consumers twice. They may wrongly assume there is a controlling body behind the logo, and they might confuse an independent manufacturer's bunny with the CCIC bunny.

Can one trust the Israeli companies that stamp their products with their own bunnies? There is no definite answer, although according to the Israeli Society for the Abolition of Vivisection: "We believe the absolute majority of companies that distribute their products in Israel and carry the bunny logo do meet the appropriate criteria."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/874010.html

[Animal 0]

L'Opération Raton lancée dans le Val-St-François

Voir l'article dans Nouvelles

[Animal 0]

Le jeudi 05 juillet 2007


La rage du raton laveur prend de l'ampleur




Vingt-sept cas d'animaux atteints de la rage ont été détectés en Montérégie pour le seul mois de juin 2007, comparativement à quatre pour toute l'année 2006. «On veut stopper la progression de la rage vers les grands centres urbains», dit Pierre Canac-Marquis , du ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune.
photo Alain Dion




Claudia Timmons

La Voix de l'Est

Frelighsburg

La rage du raton laveur est bel et bien installée dans le sud de la Montérégie. Quelque 27 nouveaux cas de rage ont été identifiés pour le seul mois de juin, comparativement à quatre pour toute l'année 2006. Une situation jugée inquiétante par les spécialistes.


C'est ce que révèlent les conclusions, dévoilées hier, de la première phase de l'Opération raton menée du 10 au 24 juin dans les régions de Saint-Armand et de Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge, dans la MRC de Brome-Missisquoi.

Le déploiement d'une quarantaine d'équipes du ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune (MRNF) a permis la capture d'environ 7000 ratons laveurs, moufettes et renards. De ce nombre, près de 4500 animaux ont été vaccinés puis relâchés.


Le ton monte



Après la découverte du premier cas québécois de rage, l'année dernière, le MRNF et l'Agence de santé et des services sociaux de la Montérégie avaient mené une campagne de sensibilisation auprès de la population. Le ton a maintenant changé. Les spécialistes parlent maintenant d'épizootie, un synonyme d'épidémie mais appliqué aux animaux.

«On ne veut pas être alarmistes, mais la rage circule en Montérégie. C'est une maladie grave qui, si elle n'est pas prévenue, entraîne la mort. Près de 600 000 personnes en meurent à travers le monde à chaque année. La population doit être très vigilante», a indiqué la Dre Jocelyne Sauvé, directrice de la santé publique de la Montérégie.

La suite dans La Voix de l'Est de jeudi.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070705/CPVOIXEST/707050671/-1/CPVOIXEST

[Animal 0]

In dogged pursuit of relief for tied-up canines

Woman chains herself to pole for 13 hours to protest treatment of dogs



Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, June 30, 2007



It's been a busy week in the zany world of doggy politics.



It opened with news of vigilante dog snatchers targeting allegedly
irresponsible dog owners across the Lower Mainland and ended with Marion
Hewko standing with a chain around her neck at a busy Chilliwack
intersection.



Hewko described her Friday vigil -- chained for 13 hours to a post at the
intersection of Lickman Road and Luckakuck Way under the Maple Leaf and the
banner Dogs Deserve Better -- as an act of solidarity with abused and
chained dogs everywhere.



It bemused many passing motorists, as the intersection is a busy local route
and lies close to a turnoff from Highway 1.



"Some people give me the thumbs-up. Some others looked disgusted, but
they're probably the guilty ones who keep their dogs tied up. I just hope
they go away and think about it," Hewko said seven hours into her protest,
which began at 5 a.m. and was planned to last until 6 p.m.



"If just one dog is untied and treated properly because of this, it's worth
it," she said.



B.C. is chock-a-block with advocacy groups, societies and organizations
concerned with the welfare of dogs.



Now there's apparently a direct action gang whose members brazenly pose as
animal welfare officials as they steal supposedly abused animals. On Monday,
a man and a woman drove up to a Burnaby home and presented phony papers to
the owners of Tommy, an American Labrador puppy, before snatching the dog.



While guerrilla tactics appeal to some in the dog welfare movement, Hewko
has no time for them.



"I really want to stress that we don't believe in stealing dogs. Hell, no,
that's wrong," she said at the end of a 30-foot tether.



Hewko organized the B.C. and national branches of Dogs Deserve Better in
January, after searching for a way to better the lot of man's oldest
companion. The organization was founded in the U.S. to end the suffering
endured by dogs kept on chains or penned for life. This weekend marks the
beginning of the society's annual "chain-off" week, when members will chain
themselves to doghouses across the U.S. to make their point.



"I just love dogs, but it used to irk me seeing people with dogs loose in
the back of pickup trucks in real danger of getting hurt and seeing dogs
tied up," said Hewko, who works for the Chilliwack Society for Community
Living.



By noon Friday, she was hungry and cold -- and bored.



"Now I know just how a dog feels being tied up like this. They get bored and
they will get angry. I got myself tangled up with the post just moving
around but I could undo it. A dog who gets caught around a tree can't.



"Dogs are social animals who want to belong to a pack.



"Keeping them alone, ostracizing them from family and friends, that's just
cruel," she said.



Most municipalities have bylaws forbidding the chaining of dogs, but Hewko
says many people living in the rural areas of the Fraser Valley don't care.



"You can drive by farms and see dogs chained up all the time or kept in
pens. You'll find German shepherds kept chained in the yard outside and a
little Chihuahua kept inside as a pet. Why is that? I just hope people will
think about what they are doing and stop abusing their animals."



The group raises money -- not huge amounts, she admits, but enough to help
with rescue work.



A donations jar by her side only had $5 in it by noon.



"That was from a co-worker," Hewko admitted.



"But I did take pledges and so far I've raised $140."



While Hewko tried to stay comfortable for 13 hours with a chain round her
neck, her own pet, Maggie, a two-year-old golden Labrador, was at home in
comfort.



"She's probably asleep on my bed," she said.



gbellett@...



C The Vancouver Sun 2007

[Animal 0]

Tuesday » July 3 » 2007

Halal Sizzles

A booming market for food that meets Muslim dietary requirements has more
and more meat processors converting to halal

ALLISON LAMPERT
The Gazette


Saturday, June 30, 2007



CREDIT: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER, THE GAZETTE
Badran Mohamad, sharpening his knife before cutting beef at Viandes en Gros
Metropolitain, a joint venture company that slaughters, processes and
wholesales halal meat.

In 2001, Ecolait Ltd. converted a small part of its veal production to
halal, after hearing about a booming demand for meat in the Middle East.

At the time, the St. Hyacinthe veal company saw potential in several Arab
countries, which were refusing to import European meats because of incidents
of mad cow disease.

"In North America, consumption of veal was somewhat limited," recalled
Arthur Batista, Ecolait's director of sales and marketing.

"Our strategy was to go into the international market."

So Ecolait - North America's largest veal company with annual revenues of
$200 million - began slaughtering 300 head a week according to Muslim
religious standards, or halal.

In less than two years, Ecolait was selling 80 per cent of the veal consumed
in Saudi Arabia.

While in Quebec, Muslims' dietary requirements have triggered headlines this
year in the reasonable accommodation debate, booming demand for halal food
is sparking global interest among wholesalers and retailers alike.

According to a 2006 report by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, the Canadian
halal food market is estimated at $214 million a year and growing - the
country's Muslim population is expected to surpass one million by the end of
the decade, up from 579,000 in the 2001 census.

And Canada has a small fraction of the global market for halal products,
which was estimated at $560 billion U.S., according to research presented at
the 2007 World Halal Forum, an industry conference.

For a food to be halal, which means lawful, or permitted, in Arabic, it
cannot come into contact with swine or alcohol, among other rules. These
requirements make halal foods - especially meats and poultry - slightly more
expensive to produce, but customers are willing to pay the added cost,
Batista said.

As a result, Ecolait has converted nearly its entire 100,000-head-a-year
production to halal, with the exception of a small line of kosher veal. Like
halal, kosher food - which complies with the more complex Jewish religious
requirements - is in high demand.

But while kosher has long been in the mainstream, halal products - which
include everything from yogurt to bottled water to beef - are just now
shifting from the specialty shops to supermarkets and even Wal-Mart stores
en masse.
Canadian companies are taking advantage of the trend; for example,
Ontario-based Maple Lodge Farms - the nation's largest poultry producer -
has a line of halal products.

But this rapid shift from the butcher shop to the local Wal-Mart is raising
tough questions over the norms used in large-scale halal meat and poultry
plants: with no uniform standards, slaughtering guidelines can vary from
factory to factory, depending on the religious certifying body.

Halal meat is being hailed as a way to open new markets to an industry still
reeling from the mad cow scare.

According to Statistics Canada, the industry has lost $9 billion in cash
receipts since Canadian beef exports were banned in 2003 after the discovery
of an Alberta cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

With 90 per cent of Canadian beef exports destined for the U.S. market, the
cattle industry had no real alternatives during the crisis.

"We saw the result of mad cow. Our goal is to have these companies diversify
their exports," said Nawal Ben-Zaid, an analyst with Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada's Quebec division.

"Halal certification is a way to help send our products to other countries."

To inform companies about demand for halal, the agency is planning a one-day
conference on the products in Quebec this fall, following a similar event
held in Toronto last month.

"It's important that the food-producing community realizes that the
opportunity is there," said Richard Seguin, deputy director of Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada's regional office in Ontario. "Halal is still a niche
market, but it's an important niche. It's one we can access, and it's
growing."

It's working for Ecolait. Today, Ecolait sells about 40 per cent of its
products in Canada and another 45 per cent to U.S. customers. The remaining
15 per cent of its veal is destined for markets abroad, and sales director
Batista wants to increase that proportion.

The goal is to decrease his company's dependency on exports to the U.S.
Relying on the u.s. market was what decimated Ecolait's sales during the mad
cow crisis.

"I think the whole meat industry relied on the States," Batista said. "The
BSE scare is not something we want to go through ever again. But it was a
good learning experience.

"It gave us a good kick in the rear."

Currently, about 15 per cent of cows and 32 per cent of calves slaughtered
in Canada's federally inspected abattoirs are slain according to Islamic
rules. About 12 of the 36 abattoirs licensed by the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency for halal slaughter are in Quebec.

That's up from eight licensed facilities last summer.

Quebec's halal market has grown considerably from when Hussein Hoballah
began selling halal cold cuts in the early 1990s. At the time, Hoballah
recalls, Muslim customers were so unaccustomed to seeing halal cold cuts
that they doubted the meats were really halal.

Now Hoballah and partners jointly own Viandes en gros Metropolitain, a halal
meat and chicken processing company that does about $5 million annually in
gross sales. They supply packaged food to Montreal restaurants and specialty
stores like Marche Adonis.

Despite receiving requests from potential clients abroad, Hoballah and his
partners say they don't have the facilities to handle any additional demand.

Similarly, David Muller, CEO of Cambridge, Ont.'s Al-Safa Halal, said he's
too busy trying to find more Muslim slaughterhouse workers just to meet
demand for the company's poultry, meat and vegetarian products in North
America.

About 80 per cent of Al-Safa's food is exported to the United States.

"There are 8 million Muslims in North America and they're clamouring for
food," he said. "We have a long, long way to go here - long before we would
consider going overseas."



The Gazette (Montreal) 2007


Copyright 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks
Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

[Animal 0]

Réseau action globale

Industrie : Services professionnels - Sans but lucratif
Sujet : Lois/juridique

Réseau action globale a découvert des activités illégales à la ferme Foie Gras et réclame des poursuites judiciaires
LE 9 JUILLET 2007 - 03:13:07 PM

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(CCNMatthews - 9 juillet 2007) - Lors d'une conférence de presse qui se tiendra le 11 juillet 2007, le Réseau Action Globale, organisme établi au Québec, publiera des séquences vidéo et des photographies scandaleuses d'agissements illégaux et cruels qui ont été obtenues grâce à une opération d'infiltration réalisée aux installations du plus grand producteur de foie gras du Québec, Elevages Périgord. L'enquête prolongée a été réalisée en partenariat avec l'organisme Farm Sanctuary, établi aux Etats-Unis. Les séquences, filmées à plusieurs installations dont Elevages Périgord est propriétaire, montrent des actes répétés d'extrême cruauté commis envers des canards et dont un grand nombre violent les lois fédérales en matière de bien-être animal, notamment :


- Arracher la tête de canards vivants
- Donner des coups de pied aux canards, les jeter par terre ou
leur donner des coups de poing
- Abandonner des canetons dans des poubelles pour y mourir
d'hypothermie et d'asphyxie
- Frapper des canards vivants contre les murs et le plancher
- Faire suffoquer et écraser des canetons vivants
- Gaver des canards
- Abattre des canards pleinement conscients

Des représentants du Réseau Action Globale projetteront les séquences vidéo clandestines, présenteront les détails de l'enquête ainsi que des témoignages de vétérinaires, et demanderont aux consommateurs et aux détaillants de cesser d'acheter tous les produits de foie gras.


Date : Le mercredi 11 juillet 2007
Heure : 10 h
Place : Centre Saint-Pierre, 1212, rue Panet, bureau 204

Andrew Plumbly, directeur du Réseau Action Globale, a déclaré : "Notre vidéo prouve que l'industrie du foie gras est intrinsèquement cruelle. Cette industrie n'a pas de place dans une société civilisée et nous demandons aux gouvernements provincial et fédéral d'interdire immédiatement la production de foie gras. Nous exhortons également tous les consommateurs et les distributeurs d'aliments de prendre une décision empreinte de compassion et de cesser immédiatement d'acheter du foie gras".

POUR PLUS D'INFORMATIONS, COMMUNIQUEZ AVEC:


Réseau action globale
Andrew Plumbly
514-939-5525
Téléphone : andrew@gan.ca


Communiqué provenant de CCN
http://biz.branchez-vous.com/communiques/detail/communiques_75505.html

[Animal 0]

Le mercredi 11 juillet 2007


Maladie de la vache folle : nouvelles normes coûteuses

Annie Morin

Le Soleil

Québec

Aux grands maux, les grands moyens. Dans le but d’éradiquer la maladie de la vache folle et de redorer son image internationale, le Canada expérimente, dès demain, une nouvelle réglementation qui interdit la récupération de tissus bovins potentiellement dangereux dans la nourriture animale et les engrais. Les producteurs bovins craignent une augmentation de leurs coûts de production et ils n’ont pas tort.



L’Agence canadienne d’inspection des aliments (ACIA) a décidé ,l’an dernier, de retirer de la circulation les matières à risques spécifiées (MRS), potentiellement porteuses de prions, qui pouvaient encore se trouver dans des farines animales destinées aux porcs, aux poulets et aux animaux de compagnie ou encore dans des engrais. Ces MRS comprennent l’iléon distal (une partie des intestins) des bovins de tout âge ainsi que le crâne, le cerveau, les ganglions, les yeux, les amygdales et la moelle épinière des bovins de 30 mois et plus.

Les producteurs agricoles, les abattoirs et les entreprises de récupération ont eu un an pour se conformer aux nouvelles restrictions.

Hausse

À la Fédération des producteurs de bovins du Québec, on craint maintenant que les coûts de ramassage des restes à l’abattoir et des carcasses d’animaux morts à la ferme n’augmentent dramatiquement. Les farines animales certifiées sans MRS pourraient également subir une hausse de prix.

Sanimax, principal équarrisseur du Québec, autrefois connu sous le nom d’Alex Couture, augmentera effectivement ses tarifs dès la fin de la semaine. Mario Couture, vice-président aux approvisionnements et au transport, précise qu’il en coûtera désormais 115 $ au lieu de 65 $ pour la récupération d’un bovin mort à la ferme. Cela parce qu’il faut deux camions pour ramasser les restes, un pour les MRS et un pour les autres rebuts, et parce que l’usine de Charny a dû être modifiée pour éviter toute contamination croisée. L’investissement dépasse les 15 millions $.

« Il faut imposer des frais additionnels parce qu’on subit une perte de valeur des produits récupérés », ajoute M. Couture, qui enverra maintenant l’équivalent de huit camions de MRS par semaine au site d’enfouissement. Les graisses animales continueront d’être extraites et revendues aux meuneries, aux savonneries et aux fabricants de cosmétiques. Auparavant, absolument tout était récupéré.

Daniel Tremblay, directeur au Centre québécois d’inspection des aliments, estime que ces secousses financières ne devraient pas durer longtemps. Les fonctionnaires et les industriels cherchent de nouveaux moyens de valoriser les MRS afin de ramener les prix à la baisse. Ces dernières pourraient par exemple servir de carburant aux cimenteries.

À ceux qui se plaignent que la réglementation canadienne est bien plus sévère que celle des États-Unis, Dr Christiane Allard, vétérinaire au programme de la santé des animaux de l’ACIA, réplique que « ce n’est qu’une question de temps » avant que nos voisins du Sud emboîtent le pas. Elle rapporte que des études ont été commandées pour examiner l’impact des nouvelles mesures sur l’économie et qu’à moyen terme, les producteurs canadiens seront gagnants, car les marchés accessibles au bœuf canadien seront plus nombreux.

Selon les calculs des experts, la gestion serrée des MRS élimine 99 % des riques de propagation de la maladie de la vache folle. Elle devrait être éradiquée en d’ici 10 ans.


http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070711/CPSOLEIL/70710235/6585/CPSOLEIL

[Animal 0]

Chasse à la marmotte en Saskatchewan

13 juillet 2007
Canoe.ca
By JENNIFER GRAHAM

REGINA (CP) - On the one hand, it's a beloved mascot for
Saskatchewan's football team, but on the other, farmers decry the
gopher as a pesky rodent that is eating them out of house and home.

That's why producers in the province's southwest have come up with a
way to rid their land of the populous burrowers and boost tourism at
the same time - through gopher hunting.

"We can put (hunters) out on a piece of grass, or somewhere where the
grass is short, and away they go at her," said Les Jordet, who farms
in Hazenmore, Sask., just southeast of Swift Current.

"You don't have to hunt very far," noted Jordet, who said the gopher
population is so large the tiny animals frequently run over his feet.

Gophers, which are properly called Richardson's ground squirrels, are
among the most common pests destroying crops in Saskatchewan.
Thousands of their holes have also wrecked harvesting equipment and
injured cattle.

"They're eating us out of our livelihood down here is what they're
doing," said Jordet.

"On my farm alone here in the last week, I surveyed it out - we got
over 400 acres of cropland that is wrote off and just completely
gone. My hay land is destroyed; my pastures are ate out."

Researchers looking for ways to control the gopher population have
estimated there are about 7,000 holes on one 32-hectare section of
Jordet's farm. That's about the size of a small city subdivision.

Strychnine, a harsh poison, is no longer allowed and farmers have
complained that other bait doesn't work.

For a couple of years in the early 2000s, the Saskatoon Wildlife
Federation held a gopher derby in an attempt to control the pests.
Prize money was handed out for those collecting the most gopher
tails, but the derby attracted tremendous criticism from animal
rights groups in Canada and the United States.

Some farmers turned to technology for a while in the form of the
Gophinator, a machine designed and built in Saskatchewan that pumped
clouds of toxic ammonia gas into burrows.

But shooting the gophers is "the only effective solution" right now,
said Jordet.

Word of the problem has spread.

People from Manitoba and as far away as British Columbia have asked
Jordet if they can gopher hunt on his property. Some even set up
campers in his yard and stay for days.

"We had a fella come in and he spent a week with us, him and his
wife, and he shot 12, 14 hours a day," said Jordet.

"He slowed 'em down but, you know, that was a month ago or a month
and a half ago, and they're back."

Jordet's phone isn't the only one ringing off the hook.

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, a Moose-Jaw-based group with
more than 25,000 members across the province, says a lot of people
have called to ask where they can gopher hunt.

Darrell Crabbe, the federation's executive director, said gopher
hunting is "somewhat of a Saskatchewan tradition."

"Gopher hunting has been entrenched in many dad-and-son or -daughter
(relationships) for decades," said Crabbe. "I have two teenaged sons
and we've been going gopher hunting since they were eight years old."

He agrees hunting the varmints could develop into a tourist attraction.

"It can be a very fruitful little economic generator for small-town
Saskatchewan," said Crabbe, who noted that hunting more traditional
game already generates about $176 million revenue in Saskatchewan
each year.

Crabbe knows of some Quebec men who recently travelled to
Saskatchewan for a meeting, but arrived three days early just to go
gopher hunting.

Saskatchewan Agriculture says hunters have long gone to the southwest
to find gophers, but the tourism idea is relatively new.

"It came to light just a couple of days ago, this gopher tourism kind
of initiative," said Cam Wilk of Saskatchewan Agriculture.

"If it works for them down in that country to help manage that
problem, it's a good thing."

Hunters have to respect the landowner's rights, get permission to
hunt and be properly licensed for firearms. If all those things are
followed, Wilk doesn't see any concerns.

However, there is one gopher who won't be in the line of fire.

In an ironic twist, Gainer the Gopher, the beloved Saskatchewan
Roughriders mascot, draws wild cheers from fans at football games
even as he represents perhaps the most hated animal in the province.

But Rider fans can rest easy.

"Gainer's pretty safe within the walls of Taylor Field," said Crabbe
with a laugh. "He's the chosen one."

[animo-aequoanimo 0]

salopard !

[Animal 0]

13 juillet 2007-

Traduit par hop...


Environ 400 000 phoques à fourrure du Cap meurent chaque année. La faim, due à la surpêche, est la cause principale de leur mortalité, la chasse qui dure de juillet à novembre (quota pour 2007 : 86 000, dont 80 000 petits - agés de 7 à 11 mois) et la noyade : des milliers périssent capturés "accidentellement" (façon de parler) dans des filets de pêche et d'autres encore abattus pas "accidentellement" cette fois, par les pêcheurs qui leur mènent une guerre acharnée.

Ces phoques ont été bannis par les hommes des îles plus grandes (en fait, il sont été bannis de 99 % de leur territoire initial), réservées aux oiseaux nicheurs et surtout...à la récolte du guano ! Les îles sur lesquelles ils sont condamnés a vivre sont petites, et donc surpeuplées, et offrent peu ou pas de hauteur pour que les petits, qui ne savent pas encore nagés, puissent être protégés quand ces îles retrouvent inondées, ce qui est fréquent.


Seal Alert a été fondée en Afrique du Sud par Francois Hugo. Cette organisation, avec l'aide de la Sea Shepherd Society, mène des campagnes en faveur des phoques et s'occupe aussi de sauvetage et de réhabilitation.




Learn about the serious challenges they face
www.seashepherd.org/seal-alert/cape_fur_seals.html

About Seal Alert
www.seashepherd.org/seal-alert/about.html

[Animal 0]

Infiltration des Élevages Périgord par le Réseau action globale

Montréal (Québec), 9 juillet 2007 - Il y a quelques mois, le Réseau action globale a entrepris une enquête approfondie par infiltration sur la plus grande ferme de foie gras du Canada, Élevages Périgord.

L'enquêteur a travaillé chez Élevages Périgord tous les jours pendant plus de douze semaines et a pu documenter toutes les facettes de cette exploitation intégrée verticalement et qui compte un couvoir, des salles d'engraissement, des salles d'alimentation forcée, un abattoir et des installations pour la reproduction.

À l'aide de caméras cachées, l'enquêteur a recueilli près de 100 heures d'images vidéo et de très nombreuses photographies.

Les preuves sur vidéo révèlent un nombre important d'infractions aux clauses portant sur le bien-être des animaux dans le Code criminel du Canada et à la Loi sur l'inspection des viandes de 1990. L'enquêteur a filmé alors que du personnel de l'abattoir arrachait la tête de canards vivants, écrasait des canards sur les murs et les planchers ou coupait la gorge de canards tout à fait conscients. Des cannetons ont été écrasés ou étouffés à mort dans des sacs à ordures. D'autre cannetons ont été abandonnés pour geler à mort dans des poubelles métalliques par des froids de moins 20 degrés.
http://www.lebulletin.com/informations/actualite/article.jsp?content=20070713_151550_5700

[Animal 0]

Je suis tombée par hasard sur cette nouvelle. Elle n'était pas assez importante pour la publier dans les journaux: il ne s'agissait que de cochons !

11 juillet 2007-

Près de 200 cochons ont péri dans l'incendie d'une porcherie à St-Honoré de Shenley (Québec). La foudre pourrait être en cause

http://www.zone911.com/

[Animal 0]

Le dimanche 15 juillet 2007


Le sénateur qui veut sauver nos ours blancs


Jack Reed, avec le sénateur démocrate Carl Levin.
Photo Reuters




Richard Hétu

La Presse

Collaboration spéciale

New York

Les phoques du Canada ont Brigitte Bardot et Paul McCartney. Les ours polaires, eux, ont Jack Reed, un sénateur américain peu connu et encore moins sexy. Mais nos grands mammifères blancs ne perdent peut-être rien au change.


Le sénateur démocrate du Rhode Island est l'auteur d'un amendement qui interdira aux chasseurs de trophées américains de tuer des ours polaires au Canada et d'importer leur tête et leur peau aux États-Unis. La mesure, qui suscite une vive opposition chez les associations de chasseurs et de propriétaires d'armes à feu, doit être adoptée dans les prochaines semaines par le Congrès américain.

C'est un combat un peu bizarre que celui de Jack Reed, dont les adversaires, y compris le puissant lobby américain des armes à feu, la National Rifle Association (NRA), défendent leur position en citant les écolos d'Environnement Canada.

Mais d'abord, une précision importante : la chasse sportive aux ours blancs est interdite aux États-Unis, où le U.S. Fish et Wildlife Service envisage de classer les plus grands prédateurs de l'Arctique parmi les espèces menacées. Un quart des quelque 30 000 ours polaires se trouvent en Alaska, le reste vivant au Canada, au Groenland, en Norvège et en Russie.

«Les ours polaires sont rapidement en train de devenir une espèce menacée», a déclaré le sénateur Reed dans un communiqué diffusé après le passage de son amendement, le 21 juin. «La chasse sportive à l'ours polaire est illégale aux États-Unis. Les chasseurs de trophées ne devraient pas pouvoir contourner l'esprit de la loi américaine en tuant des ours polaires à l'étranger et en ramenant leur tête à l'intérieur de nos frontières.»

«Nous ne pouvons pas réguler la chasse dans les autres pays, a-t-il ajouté, mais nous ne pouvons mettre fin au massacre de ces animaux en ne permettant pas que leurs parties soient importées aux États-Unis. Avec la menace grandissante du réchauffement climatique, il est essentiel d'agir pour protéger ces animaux.»

La mesure du sénateur Reed pourrait entrer en vigueur dès le 1er octobre, compromettant nombre de voyages organisés par des chasseurs de trophées américains au Canada. Ceux-ci paient jusqu'à 35 000 $ pour tuer des ours polaires dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, au Nunavut ou au Québec. Au cours des 10 dernières années, ils ont importé aux États-Unis plus de 800 têtes et peaux d'ours polaires tués au Canada.

Le Safari Club International fait partie des associations qui luttent contre l'amendement Reed. Chaque année, l'organisme remet un trophée appelé «Bears of the World» aux chasseurs qui ont tué quatre des huit espèces d'ours dans le monde. Ce trophée contribue à la popularité de la chasse à l'ours polaire.

Avec sa subtilité habituelle, la NRA a réagi à l'amendement Reed en le qualifiant de «pas vers l'interdiction de toute chasse» aux États-Unis. Le lobby des armes à feu s'est joint à une coalition qui combat le sénateur Reed en citant la position d'Environnement Canada. Cette position se résume ainsi : bien régulées, les chasses traditionnelle et sportive ne constituent pas une menace pour la population canadienne d'ours polaires.

Dans le cadre du système actuel, des quotas sont accordés à chaque village inuit pour la chasse à l'ours polaire. Les chasseurs ou pourvoyeurs autochtones ont ensuite le droit d'attribuer un certain nombre de permis à des chasseurs sportifs non-résidents, à qui ils servent de guide. Pour les petits villages du Nord, les chasseurs de trophées américains et leurs dizaines de milliers de billets verts constituent une source de revenus importante.

«Le U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a offert un ferme appui à la position canadienne», déclare Michele Brenning, directrice générale du Service canadien de la faune, lors d'une entrevue téléphonique. «Ils comprennent que nous avons des quotas qui assurent le renouvellement de la population d'ours polaires.»

Mais la position canadienne pourrait changer. En 2008, le gouvernement fédéral doit recevoir un nouveau rapport de situation sur la population canadienne d'ours blancs. L'examen en cours est réalisé par le Comité sur la situation des espèces en péril au Canada (COSEPAC).

Le rapport fournira notamment des données importantes sur l'impact du réchauffement climatique sur nos ours polaires. Ces données pourraient conduire le gouvernement à classer ces animaux parmi la liste des espèces menacées.

C'est alors que la position canadienne pourrait rejoindre celle de Jack Reed. En attendant, le sénateur américain est seul, ou presque, à faire face à la NRA et à ses alliés.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070715/CPMONDE/707150400/6730/CPACTUALITES

[animo-aequoanimo 0]

Citation :

...cette nouvelle. Elle n'était pas assez importante pour la publier dans les journaux: il ne s'agissait que de cochons !

Bien entendu !

[Animal 0]

Two horses killed after chucks wreck
2 chevaux tués lors d'une course de chariots au Stampede de Calgary

Driver taken to hospital after being thrown


John Down and Kim Guttormson, Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, July 15, 2007


A violent chuckwagon crash Saturday at the Calgary Stampede's GMC Rangeland Derby led to the deaths of two horses and the hospitalization of one driver.

Tyler Helmig, a 45-year-old driver from Leduc, was ejected from his chuckwagon after it ran into the downed lead team of horses of Gary Gorst as they rounded the first turn of the seventh heat.

EMS spokesman Mike Plato said Helmig was taken to Foothills Hospital with a possible broken arm and hip injuries. His injuries were considered non life-threatening. Gorst was not injured.



Font: ****Calgary Humane Society peace officer Joan Treich said one horse died at the scene when its broken pelvis severed an artery and "death would have been fairly rapid" she said.

The horse died before the vet arrived. The second horse suffered a leg fracture and was euthanized in the barn, Treich said.

The Humane Society has determined the horses received the care required. They will submit a report after Stampede and will review the particulars of the accident.

"We'll see what we're dealing with, whether it was interference, or what led up to it. If it was an accident or some kind of error" Treich said.

Helmig's wife Cindy, his son and brother went to the hospital with him where he was undergoing X-rays. Friend John Lee said all Helmig's horses had been vet checked and were fine.

Lee said everyone was concerned. "We new it was Tyler because of the yellow jacket," he said. "All the horses came back and are fine.

"It's Tyler first and horses second. We'll deal with the rest in the morning."

Head barn girl Laura Malcher said many have offered to help in today's race.

"We'll wait until morning and see what Tyler says," she said.

A distraught Gorst didn't want to comment.

The crash was triggered when Gorst and Ray Mitsuing's outfits bumped together just moments before.

Outrider Chanse Vigen was able to jump from his horse onto the pole of Helmig's wagon and, with assistance from other outriders, bring it to a stop without incident.

Helmig is a former finalist making his 12th appearance in the sport's richest show. His rig finished the race.

These are the first horse deaths of 2007 Stampede.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/index.html

voir http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-0-10-742-4536/vie_societe/stampede/clip4

[Animal 0]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070715/stampede_crash_0707\
15/20070715?hub=TopStories
Stampede horse deaths anger animal activists
Updated Sun. Jul. 15 2007 8:35 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A chuckwagon racing crash that led to the deaths of three horses at the Calgary
Stampede has animal rights activists calling for an end to the event.

"Anybody who sees this as sport or entertainment is living on another planet,"
Ken Erickson of the Calgary Animal Rights Coalition on Sunday.

"I mean, animals are killed and injured almost every year at the Stampede and
the only way to stoop it is to ban the chuckwagons and rodeo."

His group had about 12 protesters outside the annual event's grounds.

However, the Calgary Stampede's management said that's not even up for
discussion.

The activists have little support amongst cowboys and Stampede visitors.

"Well, that pretty much puts and end to the Stampede doesn't it?" said spectator
Joan Kirwan about the group's demands.

"I mean, that's the whole purpose of coming down here."

David Ryan, another Stampede-goer, said: "I think it's part of our heritage and
part of being out in the west. It's what we do."

Racer Wayne Knight said: "We work 12 months to race three months and everyday we
feed those horses and look after them just like kids. If they get a cut we get a
doctor."

The Calgary Stampede -- which is synonymous with Alberta's largest, richest city
-- dates back to 1912, with chuckwagon racing starting in 1923. The Rangeland
Derby event, which has four horses pulling a chuckwagon around a track,
currently has prize money of $1 million.

The chuckwagon races -- often called the half-mile of hell -- are the final
event of the night for the rodeo portion of the Stampede. There had been nine
days of racing and 79 races without incident in the 2007 Stampede before the
disaster happened.

Saturday night's accident occurred as the racers were heading into the first
curve. Two wagons bumped, setting off a chain reaction.

One horse died instantly, another had to be euthanized on the track and a third
was put down overnight.

One driver was injured, suffering a broken arm. One outrider possibly saved even
more injuries and chaos when he jumped into a wagon where the driver had been
ejected.

Veteran drivers admit this doesn't make their sport look good.

"It's the worst aspect of the sport that any driver wants to see. You have guys
that get hurt, you have horses that get euthanized," said racer Kelly
Sutherland.

Since 2000, 11 chuckwagon racing horses have died at the Stampede.

Just before the 2005 Stampede, a group of rodeo bucking horses to be used in the
rodeo got spooked as they were being herded across a bridge over Calgary's Bow
River. Nine of them plunged to their deaths.

With a report from CTV's Kevin Green

[Animal 0]

Le mardi 17 juillet 2007


Ferme ravagée par les flammes à Saint-Maurice




Mario Toupin devant les décombres de son étable à Saint-Maurice. L’entreprise avait jusqu’alors traversé trois générations et le fils de M. Toupin souhaitait reprendre le flambeau de la ferme qui appartenait à la famille depuis plus de 75 ans.


Marjolaine Arcand

Le Nouvelliste

Trois-Rivières

Un producteur laitier de Saint-Maurice a vu son gagne-pain s'envoler en fumée dimanche, alors qu'un incendie a lourdement endommagé son étable. Mario Toupin a perdu sa bâtisse, ses équipements ainsi que 35 vaches laitières.

C'est aux petites heures du matin que la fille du fermier a vu le brasier dans la cour arrière et a crié au feu. "Nous nous sommes levés à toute vitesse", raconte Mario Toupin. Mais les flammes léchaient déjà la ferme, rénovée il y a moins de cinq ans.

Les pompiers ont été appelés sur les lieux et ont combattu l'incendie, qui a fait rage pendant près de 16 heures.

Un des hommes a été blessé en évacuant les bêtes. "Il a été coincé et s'est cassé la cheville. Il va être dans le plâtre durant un mois", explique le chef des pompiers de Saint-Maurice, Pierre Montreuil.

La ferme ainsi que la machinerie qui se trouvait à l'intérieur, sont déclarés perte totale. Des pertes qui sont évaluées à plus d'un demi-million de dollars. "C'est le travail de toute une vie qui vient de s'effondrer, du jour au lendemain", se désole le producteur laitier.

Selon lui, le feu aurait pris naissance à la suite d'une défectuosité électrique. Un avis que partage Pierre Montreuil. "Mais pour l'instant, ce n'est pas confirmé", précise le chef des pompiers, qui attend le rapport des experts.

La ferme, qui avait jusqu'alors traversé trois générations de Toupin, comptait, au total, 75 têtes. Les quelque 40 bêtes toujours en vie ont été envoyées en pension chez d'autres cultivateurs de Saint-Maurice et Saint-Narcisse.

"Il y a eu une bonne collaboration des cultivateurs environnants", souligne le chef des pompiers. "Le transport s'est fait rapidement afin d'éviter les dommages."



Vacances forcées



Pour l'instant, Mario Toupin et sa femme attendent les constats des assurances. "C'est des vacances forcées dont je me serais bien passé", assure l'homme, chagriné. Il ne sait pas encore ce qu'il adviendra de sa ferme et entend prendre un temps de réflexion avant de tout rebâtir. Maigre consolation, le couple pourra louer ses quotas de lait en attendant de pouvoir traire les vaches à nouveau.

"Un incendie comme ça, on pense que ça n'arrive qu'aux autres. Ça désorganise un plan de vie", souligne Mario Toupin, surtout que son fils de 16 ans souhaitait reprendre le flambeau de l'entreprise, qui appartenait à la famille depuis plus de 75 ans.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070717/CPNOUVELLISTE/707170699/5409/CPNOUVELLISTE

[Animal 0]

Poachers kill 3 bears near Nanaimo (COLOMBIE-BRITANNIQUE)
Judith Lavoie, Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Three dead bears with gallbladders and paws removed have been found near Nanaimo and conservation officers are appealing for people to come forward to help catch the poachers.

The mutilated black bears were found over a three-day period earlier this month. All had been shot and the carcasses left to rot.

Two of the young bears were found near Cedar and the body of a one-year-old bear was found in the Mount Benson area.


It is probable they were killed nearby and their bodies dumped, said Ron Heusen, provincial conservation officer.

"This is poaching for trafficking. It's a commercialization of the whole process," he said. "Hunting in B.C. is a privilege and traffickers threaten that by viewing wildlife as a source of revenue."

The poachers apparently removed the gall bladders looking for bile, which is sold as a traditional Asian medicine cure-all in countries such as Korea, Heusen said. Bile is excreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, from which it is released into the stomach to help digest food. Bear bile is marketed as a treatment for a staggering array of human maladies, from cardiac illness to impotence to sore eyes

"The Asian market also has bear paw soup, which is considered a delicacy, and the claws show up in jewelry. They can be a First Nations ceremonial component," he said.

Ironically, the person who killed the bears will probably receive only $50 to $100 for the parts, Heusen said.

"But in Korea, the bile value is greater than gold."

Intermittently, bears are poached on Vancouver Island and there are always more incidents on the north Island, where bears tend to be more accessible, sometimes grazing on the side of the road when they are shot, Heusen said.


These incidents are different.


"Three bears over a three-day time frame really alarmed us. These are three that we know about and there may be others," he said.

Although there is forensic evidence, conservation officers do not yet have any suspects and Heusen is hoping someone will develop a conscience and come forward with information.

"When these things go on out there, there are no witnesses. The wildlife that sees it can't talk about it and there's no way we can cover the whole area, so success often comes down to the public saying something," he said.

"We're hoping someone close to this will step up. It's the moral thing to do."

Courts in B.C. tend to frown on those illegally killing wildlife for profit and the offences could bring fines of up to $50,000, up to six months in jail and seizure of any vehicle or equipment used to commit the crime, Heusen said.

Anyone who has information is asked to call the 24-hour tip line at 1-877-952-7277. Anonymity is guaranteed for anyone calling in.

The B.C. Wildlife Federation also offers rewards of up to $2,000 for information leading to arrests.

There is currently no open hunting season on bears, so anyone seen with a bear carcass should be reported, Heusen said.
jlavoietc.canwest.com

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=14dadd2b-fa7e-49bb-81bb-ac49a47b94c5&k=9733

[Animal 0]

Outrage after black bear and cub killed in Whistler

By Kate Webb, The Province, Wednesday, July 18, 2007

A bear-conservation group is fuming after a black bear and her
seven-month-old cub were shot in Whistler this month.

The bears were killed after the three-year-old mother entered a home through
an open window. Conservation officers said the cub was conditioned to
associate humans with food and would grow up to be a conflict bear like mom.

"The cub was destroyed based on the rationale that the entry into buildings
is a learned behaviour," said Lance Sunquist of the Conservation Officer
Service.

But the Get Bear Smart Society said research shows cubs of problem bears are
not destined to follow in their parents' footsteps.

"It was just a tiny little thing, and it's nursing from its mother, so of
course it's going to be by its mother," said Sylvia Dolson, the society's
executive-director, comparing the size of the 10-pound cub to that of a
house cat.

"She paid for her mother's behaviour with her own life."

A study soon to be published in the Journal of Mammalogy, entitled "Using
genetic relatedness to investigate how conflict behaviour is acquired in
black bears," says there is no proof a cub will follow in its mother's
footsteps.

"To say that it was preordained that this cub was going to become a conflict
animal, there's simply no basis for that statement," said John Beecham, one
of the authors.

Beecham, an American PhD bear specialist, said the paper is based on
research in California's Yosemite National Park, and near Lake Tahoe.
Similar to Whistler, both areas are known for lots of tourists and lots of
bears.

"There was no way that you could predict, based on the behaviour of the
female, what the outcome would be for the cub," said Beecham. "We had to
reject our hypothesis. Our hypothesis was that we could tell, but we in fact
couldn't. We couldn't predict whether they would become problem animals."

Beecham said the assumption that bear cubs learn problem behaviour from
their mothers is intuitive, but based on bad science.

He said the environment ministry should stop killing cubs.

"I wouldn't describe the opinion of the B.C. officials as unusual," he said.
"I would say it's probably pretty well accepted, but it's not based on
science."

Tony Hamilton, the ministry's large-predator expert, is reading Beecham's
report.

"I can tell you that it runs contrary to my knowledge and experience," he
said.

"It only makes sense to me that a cub learns from its mother. That's why
they spend so much time together. But I respect Beecham's work and I'm going
to have a careful look at the paper."

He described Beecham as a long-time friend and colleague, adding that,
"John's gradually winning me over with new information."

He said the ministry is reviewing its policies and if Beecham's study proves
convincing, a new, cub-friendly policy could be in place in six months.


_______________________________

Group upset at cub killings

Get Bear Smart Society claims a dozen little bears have been destroyed
recently by conservation officers


Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun, Wednesday, July 18, 2007



A Whistler-based society is calling for an investigation into the number of
black bear cubs being killed by provincial conservation officers.

The Get Bear Smart Society claims a dozen cubs have been killed in recent
months, including one whose mother crawled through the open window of a
Whistler house.

The society has sent a letter to Environment Minister Barry Penner, claiming
too many orphaned cubs are being destroyed by B.C. conservation officers
when they should be placed in rehabilitation facilities.

"There's certainly an alarming number happening now," society executive
director Sylvia Dolson said. "If [the ministry's] policy is to shoot these
cubs then they need to be more honest with the public."

She noted although the mother bear in Whistler was known for visiting
residential neighbourhoods and was caught pawing through a golf bag, the
seven-month-old cub should have been saved.

Others killed include triplets in Prince George and one cub each in Kamloops
and Manning Park, she said.

Kate Thompson, spokeswoman for the environment ministry, said Tuesday she
hadn't seen the letter from the society but noted that not all bears meet
the criteria for rehabilitation. The Whistler cub had to die, she said,
because it was "living exclusively out of garbage cans."

She warned that other bears will be destroyed if people continue to leave
out their garbage out or "attractants" like bird feeders and scraps in the
barbecue.

In Sooke and Nanaimo, conservation officers are being called out four to
five times more than usual to deal with bear-related complaints, she said.

"Some of our bear numbers are way up in some areas because people keep
leaving stuff out for them," she said.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service spends more than $1 million each year
responding to bear complaints and relocating or destroying bears.

Ministry carnivore specialist Tony Hamilton said he's worried about this
fall, given the late spring and the heavy snowpack, which may lead to a
berry crisis for bears.

[Animal 0]

20-07-2007-

Après la Belgique, les Pays-Bas interdisent le commerce de produits dérivés de phoques

Nouvelle victoire sur la cruelle chasse aux phoques


Après la Belgique, l'interdiction sur la commercialisation de produits dérivés de phoques du Groenland et de phoques à capuchon est désormais un fait aux Pays-Bas. A partir de septembre, les frontières resteront inlassablement closes pour les produits de phoques -comme les peaux et l'huile- issus de la chasse commerciale aux phoques canadienne. Cette interdiction est un signal fort qu'envoient les Pays-Bas au gouvernement canadien pour signaler qu'il ne faudra plus compter sur son pays dans ce commerce. Rien que dans ces dernières années, des millions de bébés phoques ont été abattus à seulement 3 mois et ce, d'une horrible façon. Il y a peu, la Belgique a également interdit la commercialisation de peaux et de produits dérivés de toutes espèces de phoque et cela suite aux actions de GAIA et de l'IFAW (Fonds international pour la protection des animaux).

GAIA ayant mené avec succès une campagne visant à interdire ce commerce, félicite ses collègues néerlandais d'IFAW et de Bont voor Dieren qui ont obtenu une victoire face à cette chasse canadienne barbare des phoques.

Les interdictions néerlandaises et belges sont un signal fort pour faire savoir au gouvernement canadien que les marchés européens continuent de se fermer aux produits de phoque.Ces dernières années, beaucoup de progrès ont été enregistrés en Europe pour faire cesser ce commerce. Le Parlement européen a soutenu il y a peu une déclaration écrite pour interdire ce commerce dans toute l'UE.

L'IFAW et GAIA sont convaincus qu'une interdiction au niveau européen va suivre. En effet, après la Belgique et les Pays-Bas, ce sont également la Croatie, l'Allemagne, l'Italie, la France et le Royaume-Uni qui ont ouvertement indiqué que le commerce, résultant de cette chasse, devait absolument être arrêté.

http://www.gaia.be/fra/control.php?&topgroupname=&groupname=cp49

[animo-aequoanimo 0]

BRAVO!!!!

[Animal 0]

Mon 9 Jul 2007

Malaysia seizes 900 monkeys from poachers


KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has smashed a ring of wildlife smugglers and seized more than 900 poached monkeys destined for China or the Netherlands in what officials called their biggest seizure involving the animals so far, media said.

Wildlife officials arrested four men after finding the long-tailed macaques confined in cages and sacks during a raid on a plantation in the southern state of Johor, the state news agency Bernama said on Monday.

"We believe the monkeys would end up as food in China, where they are said to be an aphrodisiac, and for laboratory studies in Holland," wildlife official Celescoriano Razond, who led the raid, told reporters.

A heap of more than 100 dead monkeys was also found nearby. All belonged to the Macaca fascicularis species, which is native to southeast Asia, and prefers forested areas near water, where it lives off fruit and small animals such as frogs or crabs.

Males are taller and heavier than females, with larger canine teeth, but both sexes have tails ranging between about 1 foot (0.3 m) and 2 ft (0.7 m) and usually exceeding the length of their bodies, says the Web site of the National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Some of the starving animals in Malaysia had started eating their newborn offspring in desperation or had hurt each other in fights.

"This is highly unusual behaviour among monkeys because they are very protective of each other," Razond, who led Saturday's raid, was quoted by the Star newspaper as saying.

The confiscated monkeys, which are worth about 50,000 ringgit (7,217 pounds) on the black market, would be released in stages in protected forest reserves across the nation in order to prevent them being recaptured, Razond added.

Three of the four men arrested face charges under wildlife protection laws but the fourth, an Indonesian whose visa had expired, was handed over to immigration authorities.

(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest_international.cfm?id=1070822007

Last updated: 09-Jul-07 14:00 BST

[Animal 0]

Le lundi 23 juillet 2007


Alerte pour les requins des Galapagos




Photo Reuters




Agence France-Presse

Quito

Les requins des îles Galapagos, une des espèces les plus menacées, sont en grand danger après un décret présidentiel en Equateur qui autorise la commercialisation des ailerons à la suite de prises accidentelles, a averti lundi une organisation de défense de l'environnement.

«En théorie, n'importe quel type de pêche est interdit dans les Galapagos mais il est difficile de contrôler la capture d'espèces et aujourd'hui, ce décret va générer davantage de pêches illégales dans la zone», a déclaré à l'AFP Ricardo Buitron, coordinateur de projet de l'organisation non gouvernementale équatorienne Accion Ecologica.

Au contraire, selon la ministre équatorienne des Affaires étrangères Maria Fernanda Espinosa, le nouveau texte «aidera à la transparence du commerce des ailerons, à éviter le marché noir et à établir des mécanismes de contrôles efficaces».

De plus, «les bénéfices que peut générer la vente des ailerons iront directement aux pêcheurs (...) et non aux intermédiaires et aux contrebandiers», a souligné la ministre sur la chaîne de télévision Teleamazonas.

Pour Sean O'Hearn, directeur de Sea Shepherd, une ONG de contrôle et de vigilance de l'archipel, le secteur industriel sera le grand bénéficiaire du décret.

«Plus de 70 millions de requins sont pris chaque année dans le monde. Avec cette décision, beaucoup se réjouissent et parlent de pêche libre. Les pêcheurs artisans proposeront le produit (l'aileron) aux industriels qui le réintroduiront sur le continent», a déclaré M. O'Hearn au journal El Comercio.
Situées dans l'océan Pacifique, à environ 1 000 km de l'Equateur, les dix-neuf îles des Galapagos et la réserve marine qui les entoure constituent un musée et un laboratoire vivants de l'évolution uniques au monde.

Les îles Galapagos sont inscrites par l'Unesco (organisation des Nations unies pour l'éducation, la science, et la culture) au patrimoine mondial depuis 1978 et depuis le 26 juin dernier, elles figurent sur sa liste du patrimoine mondial en péril.


http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070723/CPENVIRONNEMENT/70723157/6108/CPENVIRONNEMENT

[Animal 0]

AFP - Jeudi 19 juillet, 13h17SEOUL (AFP) - La soupe de chien est la "meilleure cuisine" qui puisse se déguster durant les fortes chaleurs estivales, a décrété jeudi l'agence officielle nord-coréenne KCNA.


La "boshintang" (littéralement "soupe de santé") fait la joie des "ouvriers en sueur dans les restaurants traditionnels de la capitale Pyongyang", assure le porte-parole du régime communiste.

La soupe de chien, dégustée quasi-clandestinement en Corée du Sud capitaliste voisine, a pignon sur rue en Corée du Nord. Selon les transfuges, elle est même devenue un mets de luxe dans le pays en proie à une pénurie alimentaire chronique.

Egalement appelée "dangogi" ("viande exquise"), la soupe de chien avait été popularisée par le fondateur de la Corée du Nord, Kim Il-sung, père de l'actuel dirigeant Kim Jong-il.


http://fr.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070719/tod-coreenord-gastronomie-animaux-insoli-7f81b96_1.html

[Animal 0]

20-7-2007


Un incendie a éclaté dans une ferme du rang de l'Hétrière Ouest à St-Charles de Bellechasse. Plus d'une centaine de vaches laitières ont péri dans cet incendie dont l'origine serait accidentelle


On n'en a pas du tout parlé dans les journaux...

Trouvé sur le site 911
http://www.zone911.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2287&Itemid=1

-----------------------

Et en voici une autre dont on n'a pas non plus parlé dans les journaux:


17-07-2007

Un conducteur de semi-remorque a perdu le contrôle de son camion sur la route 235 à St-Pie près de St-Hyacinthe. L'accident est survenu dans une courbe près du rang Double. Des dizaines de cochons étaient à l'intérieur de la remorque et une dizaine ont péri alors que les autres ont été sauvés et embarqués dans un autre camion. Le conducteur s'en est tiré avec quelques égratignures...

Trouvé dans Zone 911
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

17-07-2007

Une violente collision est survenue vers 22 heures sur la route 173, route du Président Kennedy à St-Henri/Québec. Deux véhicules ont percuté 2 chevaux qui se trouvaient en plein milieu de la route, sans surveillance. Sur le coup, l'un des deux chevaux est décédé, alors que l'autre, blessé a été retrouvé un peu plus tard non loin des lieux.

zone 911

[Animal 0]

11-07-2007

Les pompiers de la municipalité de St-Honoré de Shenley ont du combattre un incendie dans une porcherie. Près de 200 cochons ont péri dans les décombres. La foudre serait en cause...(J'ai peut-être déjà posté cette nouvelle dans cette rubrique- à vérifier)

[Animal 0]

Trois baleines prises au piège

24 juillet 2007


Trois signalements de baleines prises dans des engins de pêche ont été reçus par le Réseau québécois d'urgences pour les mammifères marins. Au Labrador, un rorqual a finalement été retrouvé mort, empêtré dans des filins.


Au large de Blanc-Sablon, un petit rorqual a réussi à se libérer seul des filets dans lesquels il s'était emmêlé. Selon les témoignages, la baleine s'est blessée à la bouche.

Enfin, au sud de l'île d'Anticosti, des pêcheurs ont repéré une baleine prise dans les câbles des casiers à homard. Quand les pêcheurs sont revenus sur les lieux, la bête avait disparu. Personne ne sait si la bête a réussi à se libérer ou si elle s'est noyée.

Le Réseau québécois d'urgences tente de trouver des solutions pour réduire ce type d'accidents tant au profit des baleines que pour celui des pêcheurs dont le matériel est perdu ou endommagé.

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/est-quebec/2007/07/24/006-baleines-prises.asp

[Animal 0]

Most slaughtered whales 'pregnant'


July 24, 2007 -


More than half the whales killed by Japanese whalers in the Antarctic last summer were pregnant, the Humane Society International (HSI) said today.

The group said that of the 505 Antarctic minke whales killed, 262 of them were pregnant females, while one of the three giant fin whales killed was also pregnant.

The findings came from a review of Japanese reports from their most recent 2006-07 whale hunt in Antarctic waters and were released ahead of the resumption of a Federal Court case the HSI is taking against Japanese whaling company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd.

Japanese whalers take hundreds of whales each year in Antarctic waters for so-called scientific study purposes.

"These are gruesome statistics that the Japanese government dresses up as science", HSI spokeswoman Nicola Beynon said in a statement.

She said the HSI was hoping the court would set a date for a full hearing of the case at today's directions hearing.

"The full hearing will be to determine whether Japanese whalers are in breach of Australian law when they hunt whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary in Antarctica and whether the court will issue an injunction for the hunt to be stopped," Ms Beynon said.

"HSI will ask for the final hearing to be held as soon as possible before the hunt starts up again this summer.

"It has been three years since HSI launched the case and many hurdles have been overcome to get to this point.

"It horrifies Australians to know that pregnant humpback whales breeding in the warm waters off Australia this winter will be targeted by the Japanese hunters in Antarctic waters this Christmas."

AAP

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/most-slaughtered-whales-pregnant/2007/07/24/1185043072017.html
-----------------------

http://www.hsi.org.au/

[Animal 0]

Barn fire kills 40,000 chickens

The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

A fire last night at a large egg farm in Lyn, Ontario, near Brockville,
destroyed a barn and left 40,000 chickens dead.

Leeds County OPP and the Elizabethtown-Kitley Fire Department were called
to Burnbrae Farms last night around 10:50 pm. Constable Wayne Scott of the
OPP said the barn lost in the fire was valued at $1.2 million and the
chickens around $200,000, bringing the total losses to an estimated $1.4
million range.

Because of the size of the fire and the dollar value of the losses, the
Fire Marshal's Office was called in to investigate. Causes of the fire are
still unknown, but police say it is not considered suspicious. The
investigation is ongoing.

[Animal 0]

Vancouver is First Cage-Free Olympic City

Vancouver city council passes resolution requesting removal of eggs from caged hens from city food services

(Vancouver)July 26, 2007 - This afternoon, the mayor and council of the
City of Vancouver, the host of the 2010 Olympics, voted to become the
first host city in the world to recommend the removal of eggs from caged
hens from all city-run facilities. Council also recommended residents,
including restaurants, caterers, retailers and wholesalers, choose
certified organic free-range eggs. The move follows a similar decision
by the neighbouring City of Richmond earlier this year.
“Council’s decision to recommend the removal of eggs produced by one
of the cruellest production methods in modern agriculture clearly
demonstrates that Vancouver is a city that cares about animals,” says
Debra Probert, the executive director of the Vancouver Humane Society
(VHS).

Approximately 98 percent of Canada’s 26 million egg-laying hens are
raised in small wire cages where they can barely move and are unable to
flap their wings, dust-bathe, nest or perch. Countries such as Sweden,
Switzerland and the Netherlands have banned the use of battery cages,
and the entire European Union will follow suit in 2012. Over 150
universities and colleges in North America have removed or reduced eggs
from caged hens from campus food services. In BC, Langara College, BC
Institute of Technology and Crofton House School have dropped eggs from
caged hens, and UBC and SFU are set to follow suit sometime this year.

“It’s about making more humane decisions,” says Probert. “And dropping
eggs from caged hens from your shopping list is a really easy way to
take action for animals.”

[Animal 0]

Packer sends horse meat to Europe

Veronica Rhodes, Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post

Published: Saturday, July 28, 2007

REGINA -- A southern Saskatchewan meat processor is bringing its workforce back up to 100 per cent by processing horse meat for sale in the European Union (EU).

Ken Piller, president of the producer-owned Natural Valley Farms, said the company will begin processing horses in a week or two for a custom contract for the EU. The horses will be slaughtered at Natural Valley's plant near Neudorf and processed at its Wolseley facility.

"We don't buy (the horses) or sell them or sell the meat, we just custom process it," said Piller, adding he did not know which European countries would be receiving the meat. (ELLE SERA PRINCIPALEMENT ENVOYÉE AU JAPON)

The new contract will mean Natural Valley's workforce will once again be at full force at around 150 employees.

In April, the company's operations were slowed as a number of employees were temporarily laid off due to a downturn in the feeding and processing industry. The company continued processing beef, but only operated two days a week.

"(The contract) is really good for our producers and our natural beef products and everything else to keep volume in here. We employ a lot of people and they want jobs," said Piller.

Natural Valley opened the Wolseley processing facility in June 2005 and followed up with the Neudorf plant a year later. The company has numerous producers that provide natural cattle raised without the use of hormone implants and antibiotics, which are then processed and the meat sold under the Natural Valley label.

After meeting several regulations, Natural Valley is now recognized as an EU processor. The company will continue to process beef and, while equipped to process a variety of species including elk and bison, processing horse meat will be a first.

"We are a European Union plant and . . . we built a multi-species plant. That certainly opens the doors for all kinds of processing that maybe is not that common here," said Piller.

Currently, horse slaughtering is a controversial issue in the United States, where the country's last horse slaughterhouse, located in Illinois, is challenging a state law that bans the practice. Two Texas-based plants were closed in May due to similar state legislation being enforced.

While he admitted people may have varying opinions on the slaughter and processing of horses, Piller said no concerns have been raised to him.

Mae Smith, executive director of the Saskatchewan Horse Federation, admitted it is an emotionally charged issue. The federation does not oppose the practice, but believes treating horses humanely and with respect is paramount.

"Our position in a sense is that we're not really in the business of making judgment calls as much as ensuring that the animals are well cared for, that they're properly handled," Smith said.

There are severe problems being created in the U.S. due to the closure of the horse slaughtering plants, Smith said. For example, the American racing industry has a large population of aging horses that are unable to race but have nowhere to go.

While the consumption of horse meat would be uncommon among many Saskatchewan residents, Smith said it is commonly found on restaurant menus in Quebec.

The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=90cd6e3e-f68e-4852-852e-786f27912976

----------------------------------------------------
message posté par Sinikka 28 juil. 07


Alert: Horse Slaughter in B.C.

Medallion Meats, a federally licensed abattoir in Kamloops, B.C., slaughters
horses and ships the flesh to Japan.
The secretary was not willing to give me numbers over the phone, but said that
they do mainly buffalo, some cattle, some horses. They are not a "retail"
outfit; just do "custom work". I asked where the horses come from (i.e. just
the Kamloops area?) and she replied, "From all over."
We can now add B.C. to provinces actively slaughtering horses in Canada--to join
Alberta, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
The cell phone area code below is based out of the Lower Mainland (coastal)
region rather than the interior.

KOUR HOLDINGS CORPORATION
Also Doing Business As Name :
MEDALLION MEATS CORPORATION
--------------------------------------------------
Location Address: :
6478 KAMLOOPS VERNON HWY, KAMLOOPS DIV.YALE DISTRICT, BC, V0E 3B0
Mailing Address: :
BOX 69, FALKLAND, BC, V0E 1W0
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tu as placé l'article qui suit dans vivisection. Je le reposte là


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Sealing ship rescue operation costs $3.4 million

Jack Branswell and Ken Meaney, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, July 27


A Canadian Coast Guard operation last spring to rescue 100 ice-stranded sealing ships off the coast of Newfoundland cost the federal government at least $3.4 million.

A Department of Fisheries report obtained by CanWest News Service details the month-long operation to free the vessels, which got stuck in thick ice and needed icebreakers and towing ships to move them into open waters.

The Coast Guard, which is part of Fisheries Department, had budgeted $528,000 for supporting sealing operations this year.


A fishing boat sits stuck in the ice off the coast of Newfoundland, April 18, 2007.
REUTERS/Canadian Coast Guard/Handout

Included in the price tag was the cost of having 10 of the Coast Guard ships involved in the rescue and helicopter support.

Close to half of the total amount came in fuel charges, which amounted to $1.9 million. The other major charge was for salary, which cost just over $1 million.

But Paul Watson from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which in the past has tried to block the hunt, disputed the government figures. He thinks they would have been considerably higher.

"It costs me a quarter of a million to fill up my ship, the Robert Hunter, with fuel and it would take a lot less than those icebreakers," he said.

"The Canadian government is spending an awful lot of money to defend the seal hunt," he added.

"If the government continues to allow those 65-foot wooden-hull longliners to go out (in the ice) it will be completely irresponsible. They are just lucky that no one died," this year he said. One of the sealing ships this year had its hull crushed by the ice and several others were damaged.

The Coast Guard's costs do not include figures for land staff or supplies that had to be flown into the ships, but the department says those were relatively minor.

The Coast Guard will not seek to recoup costs from the sealing ships because it has no mechanism to do that.

While some Canadians, who oppose the seal hunt, will balk at this expense, the Coast Guard says it was just doing its job.

"We don't subsidize the seal hunt, said Phil Jenkins, a Fisheries Department spokesman. "The coast guard is there to save anybody who is in distress. In fact, in 2005, we actually came to the aid of a vessel that was in distress that was run by a group that opposes the seal hunt," Jenkins said.

"The seal hunt is a legitimate activity just like any other fishery," and this was like other search and rescue operations, he added, albeit an extended and expensive one.

But John Williamson, the national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, agreed that despite this being a rescue of sealing ships, it was no less justified as a government expense.

"No, it shouldn't matter," he said. "We shouldn't be targeting one industry versus another. I know it (sealing) is a favourite whipping horse for some, but it shouldn't matter,'' in terms of justifying the rescue. "If you are going to do that then you need to do it across the board."

Williamson said it's the Coast Guard's responsibility is to keep the country's shipping lanes open and so long as it was just responding to ships in distress and not creating special paths to get them to their cull, there should be nothing wrong with that. He compared it to the evacuation of Canadians in Lebanon last year or municipal governments clearing snow in front of people's houses. It's a service to support the economy, he said.

There were approximately 500 Coast Guard personnel involved in the rescue this year, but not all at the same time because of crew changes, and some were only involved for a short time.

"In a normal year we would program four vessels into the mix - three medium icebreakers and one light icebreaker," said Gary Sidoc, director general of Coast Guard operations.

There were about 5,000 to 6,000 sealers involved in the hunt this year.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=7982193b-9b5e-4a4b-b676-70e0266a47a9&k=20358

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[Animal 0]

Touchée par la peste porcine, la Géorgie doit abattre 450 000 bêtes
LE MONDE | 28.07.07 | 14h15 • Mis à jour le 28.07.07 | 14h15


epuis la fin avril, la Géorgie est confrontée à une épizootie de peste porcine africaine, qui, faute d'avoir été identifiée et contrôlée à temps, réclame désormais la destruction en urgence de l'ensemble du cheptel porcin de ce pays. L'épizootie menace, en effet, de gagner les pays voisins, et notamment la Russie. Une première alerte sanitaire avait été lancée, fin juin, par l'Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO), qui qualifiait alors la situation d'"exceptionnellement difficile".




"Il est à craindre que la peste africaine, maladie dévastatrice du porc, se soit fortement propagée dans toute la Géorgie", annonçait alors la FAO, précisant que 52 des 65 districts du pays étaient "vraisemblablement touchés". Plus de 30 000 porcs étaient morts du fait de l'infection et 22 000 avaient été abattus à des fins préventives. Au terme d'une réunion qui s'est achevée, vendredi 27 juillet, à Paris, au siège de l'Organisation mondiale pour la santé animale (OIE), il apparaît que la situation n'est toujours pas sous contrôle et qu'il va falloir procéder à la destruction de l'ensemble du cheptel porcin géorgien, qui, avant l'émergence de l'épizootie, comprenait environ 500 000 bêtes, pour la plupart dans de petits élevages familiaux. Pour experts de l'OIE comme pour les responsables sanitaires des pays aujourd'hui menacés par cette épizootie, seule cette mesure permettra de prévenir une aggravation de la situation.

La peste porcine africaine est une maladie d'origine virale et non transmissible à l'homme. Il n'existe ni traitement ni vaccin préventif. La transmission peut se faire soit par contacts directs entre animaux infectés et sains ou, comme on le suspecte en Géorgie, par l'intermédiaire de déchets contenant de la viande contaminée. Cette maladie sévit sur un mode enzootique dans la plupart des pays de l'Afrique subsaharienne. En Europe, elle a parfois été signalée dans la péninsule Ibérique ainsi qu'en Sardaigne. Elle est aussi apparue ces dernières années dans quatre pays d'Amérique du Sud et des Caraïbes, où elle a pu être éradiquée.

Dans sa forme aiguë, le tableau clinique associe notamment une forte fièvre (40,5-42o C), des troubles sanguins, des rougeurs cutanées (chez les porcs à peau claire), des diarrhées, une anorexie, 24 à 48 heures avant la mort, des troubles de la coordination. Chez les porcs domestiques, la mortalité est souvent proche de 100 %. Dans sa forme subaiguë, les symptômes sont de moindre intensité. La maladie dure entre cinq et trente jours et la mortalité peut être comprise entre 30 % et 70 %.

"Dès que le diagnostic est porté, il est impératif d'abattre rapidement tous les porcs du foyer et de procéder à l'élimination correcte des cadavres et des litières, précise-t-on auprès de l'OIE. Il faut aussi procéder à un nettoyage soigneux et désinfection complète, contrôler le déplacement des porcs dans la zone infectée et mener une recherche épidémiologique approfondie pour rechercher les sources en amont et les contaminations possibles en aval."

Les experts de la FAO et de l'OIE observent que la situation est d'autant plus compliquée qu'il faut compter avec une population importante de sangliers. Ces derniers peuvent aisément être infectés au contact de porcs contaminés et contribuer à une progression de l'épizootie au-delà des frontières. On estime auprès de l'OIE que la gravité de la situation en Géorgie est la conséquence directe d'une forme de libéralisation, dans ce pays, des services vétérinaires qui n'ont pas eu les moyens de procéder à un diagnostic suffisamment rapide et aux mesures sanitaires qui s'imposaient.

Une extension de l'épizootie en Russie est à craindre. Les responsables vétérinaires russes assurent cependant disposer d'un vaccin mis au point dans le cadre de leurs recherches militaires contre le bioterrorisme. Ils ont offert une aide technique. La Géorgie, dont les relations avec Moscou sont difficiles, l'a refusée. Une aide a d'autre part été demandée auprès de la Commission européenne.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-939992@51-940072,0.html