Animal

Mercier, près de Châteauguay Charnier découvert Gabrielle Duchaine Le Journal de Montréal 27/12/2007 06h43 Un véritable charnier d'une cinquantaine d'animaux a été découvert à Mercier, près de Châteauguay, hier. Les carcasses auraient servi à un type de chasse dont les techniques sont pour le moins barbares. C'est une jeune femme qui se promenait à cheval qui a fait la macabre découverte: une cinquantaine de porcelets, trois cochons adultes, un renard et trois coyotes, tous morts. Un peu partout sur la neige, des traces de sang. Malgré le froid, l'odeur levait le coeur. Selon les policiers, les cadavres de porcs, qui portaient des traces de balles, auraient servi à attirer les coyotes, alors que des chasseurs attendaient dans les fourrés pour les tuer. Ils leur ont ensuite coupé la tête, arraché la peau et les ont abandonnés là où ils les avaient attrapés, soit à à peine un kilomètre de maisons et de fermes. Même si la technique de chasse est légale, ces gestes contreviennent à plusieurs règlements municipaux. Il est notamment illégal d'abandonner des carcasses d'animaux et de chasser sur le territoire d'une ville. L'affaire a été confiée au ministère de l'Environnement. Un problème «Il y a souvent des chasseurs derrière chez nous, raconte un résidant découragé. On les entend, on en a même déjà vu.» «C'est dangereux, car plusieurs personnes se promènent sur ce terrain à cheval ou en quatre roues», croit-il. «Ça fait au moins 30 ans que ça dure, raconte l'homme, qui n'a pas voulu donner son nom. À l'époque, une femme qui faisait de l'équitation avait reçu une balle dans le casque.» Impossible de savoir d'où venaient les porcs qui ont servi d'appât. Vu le nombre de porcelets et leur âge, les policiers soupçonnent qu'ils ont été élevés en porcherie. http://www.canoe.com/infos/societe/archives/2007/12/20071227-064300.html -------------------------- Dozens of carcasses discovered at Quebec quarry Last Updated: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 | 6:32 PM ET CBC News Police and wildlife officers are trying to determine who killed and dumped dozens of animals at a Quebec gravel quarry. A woman horseback rider in Mercier, a town southeast of Montreal, found the carcasses in the snow Monday morning. The dead animals included a fox, three coyotes, two large pigs and about 40 piglets. Chateauguay community officer Tony Sciullo told CBCNews.ca that the fox and coyotes appeared to have been shot. The coyotes had their heads removed and had been skinned. But the fox's skin was intact, he said. Sciullo said the piglets and remains of piglets had been stacked in three piles. He did not know where the pigs came from, but noted there are farms and a slaughterhouse in the area. "The way we can figure it, the small pigs were used as bait to attract the other animals," he said. Sciullo said real hunters respect wildlife and would not leave the remains of the animals they hunt. "It's totally immoral. It showed a total disrespect for wildlife," Sciullo said. "I was surprised and I was trying to figure out a logical explanation for it," said Sciullo, who was at the scene. Sciullo said it is hunting season for coyotes, but the area where it is believed they were shot is private property and not a hunting area. He said they discovered snowmobile tracks about 180 metres away from where the carcasses were found. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/12/26/animal-carcasses.html

Mercier, près de Châteauguay Charnier découvert Gabrielle Duchaine Le Journal de Montréal 27/12/2007 06h43 Un véritable charnier d'une cinquantaine d'animaux a été découvert à Mercier, près de Châteauguay, hier. Les carcasses auraient servi à un type de chasse dont les techniques sont pour le moins barbares. C'est une jeune femme qui se promenait à cheval qui a fait la macabre découverte: une cinquantaine de porcelets, trois cochons adultes, un renard et trois coyotes, tous morts. Un peu partout sur la neige, des traces de sang. Malgré le froid, l'odeur levait le coeur. Selon les policiers, les cadavres de porcs, qui portaient des traces de balles, auraient servi à attirer les coyotes, alors que des chasseurs attendaient dans les fourrés pour les tuer. Ils leur ont ensuite coupé la tête, arraché la peau et les ont abandonnés là où ils les avaient attrapés, soit à à peine un kilomètre de maisons et de fermes. Même si la technique de chasse est légale, ces gestes contreviennent à plusieurs règlements municipaux. Il est notamment illégal d'abandonner des carcasses d'animaux et de chasser sur le territoire d'une ville. L'affaire a été confiée au ministère de l'Environnement. Un problème «Il y a souvent des chasseurs derrière chez nous, raconte un résidant découragé. On les entend, on en a même déjà vu.» «C'est dangereux, car plusieurs personnes se promènent sur ce terrain à cheval ou en quatre roues», croit-il. «Ça fait au moins 30 ans que ça dure, raconte l'homme, qui n'a pas voulu donner son nom. À l'époque, une femme qui faisait de l'équitation avait reçu une balle dans le casque.» Impossible de savoir d'où venaient les porcs qui ont servi d'appât. Vu le nombre de porcelets et leur âge, les policiers soupçonnent qu'ils ont été élevés en porcherie. http://www.canoe.com/infos/societe/archives/2007/12/20071227-064300.html

Dans le journal de Montréal d'aujourd'hui, avec cet article, se trouve la photo d'un ours qui fait du vélo et c'est écrit en dessous: «Les plus jeunes ont apprécié le numéro des ours» LE CIRQUE DES FÊTES Des animaux enchanteurs, les clowns, moins 27-12-2007 Quoi de mieux qu'un éléphant, quelques zèbres, ours, chameaux et une panthère pour un spectacle spécial des fêtes? C'est exactement ce que propose Le Cirque des fêtes avec son spectacle traditionnel, mais tout de même captivant. ... Les moments forts du spectacle sont bien entendu les numéros mettant en vedette des animaux. Ours, chiens, panthère et éléphant sont tout simplement adorables, personne ne peut s'empêcher de sourire devant leur savoir-faire. http://www.canoe.com/divertissement/arts-scene/nouvelles/2007/12/27/4741556-jdm.html

27 décembre 2007 Tigre meurtrier dans un zoo: l'attitude des victimes étudiée par la police Agence France-Presse San Francisco Le comportement des victimes d'une tigresse de Sibérie, abattue dans un zoo de San Francisco après avoir tué un jeune et en avoir blessé deux autres, était étudié de près par la police qui suspecte que l'animal ait été aidé à sortir de son enclos, rapporte jeudi la presse locale. Selon le San Francisco Chronicle, les enquêteurs ont trouvé des traces de sang et une chaussure au delà d'une barrière que le public n'est pas censé franchir l'enclos et examinait la possibilité qu'une des trois victimes soit entrée dans le fossé séparant le public et l'espace de vie de l'animal. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20071227/CPMONDE/71227120/1014/CPMONDE

26 décembre 2007 La famille de Steve Irwin en campagne contre la chasse aux baleines La famille du célèbre «chasseur de crocodiles» australien Steve Irwin, décédé l'an dernier, va lancer une campagne visant à battre en brèche les raisons scientifiques invoquées par le Japon pour chasser la baleine, a annoncé jeudi sa veuve, Terri Irwin. «Il est tout à fait possible de parvenir à savoir tout ce que les Japonais apprennent sur les baleines sans avoir besoin de les tuer», a-t-elle déclaré à la télévision Channel 9. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20071226/CPENVIRONNEMENT/71226169/6108/CPENVIRONNEMENT

Il est cute l'avatar de ton petit chou avec son joujou jaune

Une maman ourse accompagnée de ses deux petits est tuée à l'arc par un chasseur américain. Chez-nous et en Amérique, les ours sont appâtés à la chaudière http://www.weshow.com/fr/p/17591/chasse_a_lours_anglais Toutes les vidéos de chasse www.WeShow.com imineo.com/Chasse Dada.net/Video

Une balle perdue. ( mais voyons !!!) Ils ne respectent pas les consignes de sécurité, tout simplement. ------------------------------------------ Un jeune homme de 20 ans qui se trouvait dans son véhicule à l'arrêt avec sa petite amie, en bordure de forêt, près d'Andelot, en Haute-Marne a été tué par un chasseur. Il a reçu une balle dans la tête, dimanche après-midi 23 décembre.(2007) Selon les enquêteurs, la balle, tirée par un chasseur à la poursuite d'un renard, a sans doute ricoché sur le sol ou sur les arbres gelés. Le tireur présumé, qui faisait partie d'un groupe de chasseurs, aurait tenté de faire feu sur un renard Originaire de la région comme sa victime, le chasseur a été interrogé par les gendarmes et laissé en liberté. Une reconstitution de l'accident doit être organisée lundi. http://www.antichasse.com ------------------ Un automobiliste de 20 ans a été tué accidentellement d'une balle dans la tête en Haute-Marne par un chasseur alors qu'il se trouvait dans son véhicule à l'arrêt avec sa petite amie, a-t-on appris auprès des gendarmes. Le drame s'est produit aujourd'hui vers 15 h 30 en bordure d'une forêt, près d'Andelot (Haute-Marne), selon les enquêteurs qui invoquent l'hypothèse d'un possible ricochet d'une balle sur le sol ou sur les arbres gelés. De source proche de l'enquête, le tireur présumé faisait partie d'un groupe de chasseurs à la poursuite d'un renard. Il aurait tenté de faire feu sur une de ces bêtes qui s'est enfuie en direction d'un talus dissimulant le véhicule du jeune couple. Le tireur, originaire de la région comme sa victime, a été interrogé par les gendarmes et laissé en liberté. Le procureur de Chaumont a été informé du drame. Une reconstitution de l'accident devrait être organisée lundi, selon cette source proche de l'enquête. http://www.leparisien.fr/home/info/faitsdivers/articles.htm?articleid=291634869

Oui exactement ! Je sais que c'est un pays plutôt pauvre, mais il n'y a aucune raison pour tant de cruautés !

Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! C'EST SUPER LINDA !!!!!!!!!!! Merci beaucoup d'avoir fait circuler cete vidéo !!!!!!!!!!!

Horrible et honteux pour la Roumanie !!!

en trois jours seulement, au Pakistan ! Incroyable !!!! 25 décembre 2007- 5.5m animal sacrifices on Eid may boost leather exports * Buyers from European Union and Far East prefer skin and hides of Pakistani animals By Razi Syed KARACHI: Around 5.5 million sacrificial animals were slaughtered in three days of the Eid ul Azha in the country, former chief of Pakistan Tanneries Association said here on Monday. “Around 20 percent of the skin and hides are damaged due to mishandling by novices resulting in loss of millions of dollars to the national exchequer,” Gulzar Feroze said while talking to Daily Times. He said some two million cows and calves, more than 3.5 million goats besides nearly one million sheep were sacrificed this year. International buyers prefer to buy the finished leather especially made from skins and hides of sacrificial animals, as they have much stretching quality, healthy and fresh material, he said adding that European buyers give premium to Pakistani exporters. He said the buyers of European Union and Far East prefer skin and hides of Pakistan animals besides leather garments. “PTA rejects the allegations of some quarters that Pakistan is exporting vet leather, which is denting the export potential of the finished goods,” he said adding that there is 20 percent duty on vet leather export whose export is only 5 percent.” Former PTA President said the leather garment share is around 65 percent in our total exports and it is the second largest export of the country after textiles, which stand around $1,125 million during 2005-06. “We had some 24 percent decline in our exports during 2006-07 due to various reasons including low grade raw material and demand and supply mechanism.” He said our material meets international standards at par excellence but there is need to bring mechanised slaughtering to boost our exports. “Once our exports were in a billion dollar club but due to lack of concentration from the industry as well as government we see a decline,” he added. Mr Feroz suggested resuscitating two slaughterhouses (abattoirs) at Cattle Colony Landhi, which were lying closed for over 25 years. The slaughterers are forced to sacrifice animals in a makeshift slaughterhouse, which has also been damaging the quality of skins and hides. At present, the building structure of the abattoir, spread over one-acre is in an acceptable condition and needs little renovation work, however, the rust has almost destroyed the costly machinery imported from Yugoslavia in the past. The highest increase of 115 percent was recorded in export of leather gloves ($152 million) sub sector during 2004-2005 by 64 percent increase in leather goods export ($22 million), 22 percent increase in leather footwear ($96 million) and 18 percent increase in leather export ($296 million) over the corresponding period of 2003-2004. “Export of leather products could jump to one billion dollars again as it is a time to improve our leather products so that we could achieve certain targets and share in the international market,” Mr Feroz added. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C12%5C25%5Cstory_25-12-2007_pg5_4

Je te comprends Linda !

quand on voit les cages dans lesquelles ces animaux sauvages sont forcées de végéter toute leur vie, il ne faut pas s'étonner qu'ils deviennent «fous» !

Le mercredi 26 décembre 2007 Un tigre s'échappe d’un zoo et tue une personne La tigresse Tatiana, sur une photo datant de septembre dernier. Photo AP Agence France-Presse San Francisco Une tigresse sibérienne qui s'est échappée de sa cage du zoo de San Francisco a tué mardi un visiteur et blessé deux autres avant d'être abattue, rapporte le San Francisco Chronicle citant le porte-parole des pompiers de la ville, Ken Smith. Les circonstances exactes de ce «tragique» incident qui intervient une année après que le même félin, Tatiana, ait blessé son gardien pendant qu'il lui donnait à manger ne sont pas encore tout à fait établies mais on pense que l'animal a pu s'échapper en sautant par dessus la grille fortifiée et la douve qui le séparaient de l'espace public. Selon Robert Jenkins, l'un des directeurs du zoo, la tigresse, une fois dehors, a immédiatement attaqué un jeune homme qui se trouvait devant les grilles et l'a tué sur le coup. Tatiana s'est ensuite dirigée vers un café proche de sa cage et s'en est prise à deux clients qu'elle a grièvement blessés. Alors que les policiers arrivaient au secours d'une des victimes que Tatiana était en train de mutiler, le félin a lâché sa victime et s'est retourné contre les policiers qui ont dû ouvrir le feu et l'abattre. Aucun des deux blessés n'a été officiellement identifié mais il s'agirait selon les médias de deux frères. Le jeune homme tué serait un de leurs amis. Les autorités ont craint un instant que les trois autres tigres du zoo ne se soient également échappé, avant de s'apercevoir qu'ils n'avaient jamais quitté leur cage. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20071226/CPINSOLITE/71226007/6730/CPACTUALITES

http://refugestam.free.fr/frame.php Essaies celle-là Linda

Tuesday, December 25, 2007News Extreme Torture of Animals — and Humans: A Thanksgiving Prayer for Mercy Suki Falconberg Suki Falconberg Ph.D. November 18, 2007 I have seen it all before but it still shocks me. The Humane Farming Association recently shot undercover video at an Ohio pig farm which shows animals living and dying in conditions far more horrifying than one finds in any torture camp. And what I am about to describe in this article is typical of the lives of the 10 billion 'food' animals raised for slaughter in America each year. Pigs with broken legs and broken backs; pigs with prolapsed vaginas and abscessed tumors; pigs crowded so closely together they cannot move or turn around, living in their own excrement; pigs bashed with hammers and shocked with electric prods. At this Ohio farm, the pigs are killed through strangulation. We see a worker kicking and then beating a pig with a metal bar. The pig cannot walk either due to broken legs or partial paralysis, and so the man relentlessly bashes and bashes and bashes her to make her crawl down a corridor until he kicks her off a four-foot ledge onto a muddy yard. She is then chained around the neck and hoisted by a fork-lift. It takes her about five minutes to die as she struggles desperately. During her last few seconds of life, you see one of her feet waving feebly in the air. While this is happening, the men are joking around, as if it is all good fun. A few feet away, a group of pigs are huddled together, waiting their turn. Some are lying on top of others, forming a pile of animals too weak to move. They are covered with excrement; one has a broken leg sticking out at an odd angle; they look near death already, from the conditions of torture they were raised in. Like all other animals, pigs feel. Pigs are extremely aware, intelligent, conscious of their surroundings. They experience a range of emotions equal to that of the human animal. This pile of what humans would call ‘near dead meat’ has watched what the men just did to one of their kind. In a mock gesture of affection, a worker embraces the body of the dead pig hanging in the air. There is also footage of the torture of piglets. One man picks up a piglet and pretends to stroke her with affection. He then hands the animal to another man who slams her against a metal wall by one leg and then tosses her into a metal bucket. In the background, we hear the rough language of men at play—lots of joking around, lots of ‘f**ks’ uttered in fun and a “Bulls**t, you did it in one hit.” The murderer looks in the bucket where the piglet is lying in blood, paralyzed, except for one rear leg twitching wildly. The man says, “Kinda, almost did it in one hit.” It is a game and contest, seemingly, of virility, to almost kill her with one slam. There is footage of piglets grabbed by one ear and flung into shoots and metal crates and trucks. The men handle the animals as if they were insensate sacks of flour. All the while they are laughing and joking—business as usual. Meanwhile the piglets are screaming in fear. Out of Iraq comes recent video on YouTube of a group of American soldiers shooting a dog for fun. The dog drags her injured hindquarters on the ground as the men look on indifferently. The dog collapses, still alive and suffering. An Iraqi man, in despair, tries to help the animal. He cries as he gestures at her and at the soldiers. They are still indifferent. Finally, the Iraqi man simply leaves the animal to die, with a shrug. That shrug was perhaps the most painful item in the video. What can I do? I give up. The torture is too great. Tolstoy said that as long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields. I feel compassion for animals that we treat without mercy. It breaks not just my heart but the soul and spirit inside me to see pigs and dogs so helpless before us. A Christian nation? So America says it is. A nation of Christians without mercy for animals. Of the pig torturers in Ohio, one received a $200 fine and a year’s probation. And an admoni-tion to not torture pigs anymore. Who is going to oversee this farm, to stop the suffering? Will there be vast numbers of judges and lawyers and policemen, maybe even the National Guard out there, tomorrow, taking these pigs out of captivity? Will there be thousands of ‘concerned citizens’ at this farm tomorrow, all of them having given up their morning bacon, now that they know where it comes from? And will all these good people find these worthy pigs a sanctuary, where they can live out there days peacefully on green grass? The other cause that touches my heart—one that I have written on extensively—is the sexual enslavement of women. What happens to these tortured women bears a terrible resemblance to what we do to animals. Brothels in the immigrant district of Paris, where women are raped 80 times a day (and perhaps up to 160 times a day on weekends), are called abattoirs—slaughterhouses. Allied soldiers during the last world war called Pigalle, an area of Paris where prostitutes congregated, Pig Alley. Prostitutes are referred to as ‘f**k meat.’ After her ordeal under 80 men a day (160 on weekends) this prostitute will be ‘dead meat.’ And she’ll be worth a lot less than the dead pig since, typically, women ‘dishonored’ to this extent are marginalized and disposable. I have written a long article on how brothels are identical to factory farms. I will share it with you at another time since my focus here is the misery of the animals who will be adorning your holiday table. I want to end this piece with another undercover video, this one shot by Mercy for Animals in a North Carolina turkey slaughterhouse. On the way to the killing blade, the animals are shackled upside down by their feet. We see workers using them as punching bags. One worker is ‘raping’ a line of turkeys by reaching into them, deeply, with his hands, and extracting eggs, which he throws playfully at his co-workers. He never seems to tire of this game as he rapes turkey after turkey after turkey—the birds writhe in pain as his hand ‘plays’ around inside them. From the unbearable condition under which they were raised, we see turkeys arriving at the slaughterhouse with bloody open wounds and huge infected tumors. Most don’t even look like turkeys, but like grotesque monsters since they have been genetically engineered to grow too fast. There is no resemblance to the beautiful bird with her golden brown plumage and impressive carriage that is the wild cousin of this pathetic Frankenstein bird we have created. Some of the birds have broken feet and wings and they desperately thrash around in blood on the floor. The workers ignore them, except when they step on them, and even stand on them, for long periods of time, for fun. Injured birds are the norm--since they are pulled so roughly from their cages, the workers break their bones. We see one worker ripping off a turkey’s head with a metal pole--for fun, I guess. The turkeys make sounds like screams; and when they are upside down, heading toward the blade that will slice off their heads, they struggle and struggle, for one last breath of life. No where in the slaughterhouse is there a moment of kindness, or a gentle touch, for these birds who feel so much as they die. What you can do to answer my prayer for mercy: First, become aware. Numerous groups on the internet carry information, videos, and activist suggestions for those who want to end the torture of animals: PETA, Humane Farming Association, Mercy for Animals, Compassion Over Killing, Farm Sanctuary, United Poultry Concerns, and Viva! are just among a few that are out there. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=43247

250 Muslim Families Killing Lambs At Farm Is A Health Risk, State Says By Mandy Locke SMITHFIELD (NewsObserver) Dec. 15, 2007 - At the state's urging, a Johnston County judge on Friday told a farmer he couldn't open his farm next week to Muslim families planning to slaughter lambs as part of an annual religious celebration. The order means that about 250 Muslim families in Wake County will have to make other arrangements for slaughtering lambs they bought in advance of the three-day festival known as Eid al-Adha, or Festival of the Sacrifice, which begins Wednesday. Eddie Rowe left the courtroom Friday afternoon carrying a black book full of names of people who bought a lamb and the right to kill it on his farm next week. His father, Kenneth Rowe, shook his head, saying, "They just can't mess with religion like that. It ain't right. The Bible says so." The Rowes have long been in a tangle with the state over the mass slaughter of lambs on their 300-acre Princeton farm. State agriculture officials say the Rowes must build a custom slaughter facility, which the family says would cost $740,000. State officials say mass slaughters conducted any other way are unsanitary and threaten an outbreak of disease. "When engineers, lawyers and students who have limited contact with animals come down from suburban centers to slaughter an animal, that's exactly the kind of high risk of spreading disease we're talking about," Barry Bloch, a lawyer with the state Attorney General's office, told Johnston County Superior Court Judge Tom Lock, who issued a 10-day injunction against the slaughters. The two sides have been in court before, and in 2005, the Rowes preserved their right to carry on the tradition. The state Department of Agriculture fined them $10,000 for the practice the same year, though. The Rowes have yet to pay. Despite the feud, the state's request for a restraining order took the Rowes by surprise Friday. Department of Agriculture representatives showed up at their farm late Friday morning and alerted the Rowes they planned to ask a judge to put an emergency stop to the slaughter planned for the festival. The Rowes' customers paid $160 a lamb for Eid al-Adha, a holiday in which Muslims thank God for their blessings and their ability to share them with others. As part of the rituals of Eid al-Adha, many Muslims go to a local farm or slaughterhouse and buy a lamb or other animal to be slaughtered and shared among family, friends and charity. Some Muslims, including those doing business with the Rowes, kill the animal themselves, in accordance with Muslim dietary laws. To be "halal," or permitted, the animal must be killed with a sharp knife across the throat. Both carotid arteries must be cut at once so that the animal bleeds quickly and dies quietly. A prayer is said before the knife is drawn. The state can't stop the Rowes' customers from taking their lambs back to subdivisions in Cary and Raleigh and slaughtering them in the privacy of their own yard. The state law exempts people who kill animals of their own raising that they don't intend to sell. But Glenn Barfield, the Rowes' attorney, said that being forced to kill the animals in their backyards will prevent customers from slaughtering the animals altogether, denying them their right to practice their religion. Subdivision slaughter Barfield also argued it was less sanitary to do it at a home. "Once you've accepted home slaughter is OK, you must ask, is it better to do it one by one at a home or at a farm out in the country?" Barfield asked. MAS Freedom, a national organization with a branch in Raleigh, offers an alternative Eid al-Adha observance, according to local director Khalilah Sabra. Muslims pool their money, and the foundation arranges for cows to be killed at licensed slaughterhouses. The meat is delivered to a market, where it is cut and distributed by the society's service corps to charities. "I think it would be better, more spiritually worthwhile, to utilize what's been arranged in the various Muslim communities, and let it benefit all of the community and not just the Muslims," Sabra said Friday night. "I think there's more of a spirit of giving." As for the Rowes' operation, Barfield said the only way to undo the judge's halt on the slaughters would be to have some of the Rowes' customers challenge the order next week. Arguing that the order impedes their religious freedoms might have more sway with the judge, Barfield said. Still, the state said it means to keep the Rowes from hosting these mass slaughters for good and will soon ask the judge to make the block permanent. (Staff writer Orla Swift contributed to this report.) mandy.locke@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-8927 http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=4624 Muslim American Society

Modern face of Feast of the Sacrifice Saturday, December 15, 2007 If you are interested in ‘Islamic Reform,’ watch out for the new ways of ritual sacrifice in Turkey. Even Mozart and Beethoven have entered the scene to comfort the animals before their end. In the past, most practicing Muslims in Turkey used to slaughter the animals in their gardens. But urbanization has changed everything. MUSTAFA AKYOL ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News As the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice approaches, the companies that are offering a more practical and modern way for this old practice are increasing their advertisements. All a devout Muslim needs to do in this "sacrifice via mandate" system is to transfer a sum of about YTL 200 to a company that runs a professional slaughterhouse. It is much easier than trying to slaughter sheep or cows, near streets, or even highways, of big cities like Istanbul. The Hanafi school of Islam, which is predominant in Turkey, requires that all Muslim adults who have a certain amount of wealth sacrifice an animal in the four-day feast, and share its meat with neighbors and especially the poor. It is a tradition whose roots go back to the sacrifice of Abraham, the spiritual father of all Jews, Christians, and Muslims. In the past, most practicing Muslims in Turkey used to perform this ritual in their gardens or in some vacant spot in the neighborhood. Yet problems arose with the onset of urbanization. It might be a normal thing to slaughter an animal in an Anatolian village, but it looks quite bizarre when done in the middle of a city like Istanbul. Hence since the early ‘90s, many people, including some religious scholars and intellectuals, started to criticize the "bloody scenes" that occur in Turkish cities every year. Secularists said this tarnished the "image of Turkey." Islamic modernists said it harmed the "image of Islam." Thus, in recent years, municipalities have taken measures to prevent "illegal slaughtering," which refers to sacrifice practiced in areas other than the ones designated by the authorities. Today, there are several designated areas in Istanbul, to which people are supposed to drive their sheep – or perhaps cow and even camel – and butcher them in order to praise God. Just pay YTL 200: Yet a better solution seems to have been created by the companies that offer "sacrifice via mandate." Here, the only thing a believer needs to do is to transfer money to a bank and give his home address. On the first or second day of the feast, the company butchers the animal, packs the meat and sends most of it to charities. A few kilograms of meat are also sent back to the customer, who, according to Islamic tradition, needs to share it with family and neighbors. There are several companies that offer this service. Deniz Feneri Derneği (Light House Association) and İnsani Yardım Vakfı (Humanitarian Aid Foundation) are nongovernmental organizations that work as charity organizations. Kızılay Derneği (Red Crescent Society), Türk Hava Kurumu (Turkish Aviation Institute), and Mehmetçik Vakfı (a foundation for injured conscripts) are official ones, and the last two support the Turkish military and its veterans. Kimse Yok Mu Derneği, another NGO, is offering a global service. It promises not just to perform the slaughter, but also to cook the meat, pack it in vacuum-sealed bags and send it to far away places such as Africa. Last year, the same charity had sent some of the sacrifice meat to the victims of the tsunami in the Pacific. Slaughtering to tunes by Mozart: Another contender that has entered the market with a high bid is the Municipality of Bayrampaşa. Its new and stylish "Sacrifice Plaza," looks like one of Istanbul's many modern office complexes, but is indeed a place for "hygienic and scientific ritual slaughter.” Customers are offered a parking lot, a cafeteria, and a hassle-free ritual. The plaza's advertisements are proud to mention, “95 percent of the slaughtering and packing process is carried out by machines, which work on a monorail system.” Another striking novelty is that the animals will be comforted with classic music before their tragic end. Dr. Bülent Nazlı, a veterinarian at the University of Istanbul, said that music has been found effective in countries like the United States and Holland in order to calm animals in slaughterhouses. “We will play Mozart and Beethoven,” said another veterinarian, Fatma Turunç, who is also the director of the Sacrifice Plaza. “It will make the animals more comfortable.” Another service being provided by the Bayrampaşa Municipality is the call center named “Hello, My Sacrifice Ran Away.” Those who accidentally let their sheep or cow loose can call this 24/7 line by dialing 153 and ask for urgent help. But the suggested solution of the municipality is to use the Sacrifice Plaza. Here no animal runs away and everything proceeds smoothly. Everything is done in the name of God, and with the blessings of technology. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=91399

Serve as a messy hors d'oeuvre or toss with pasta. SEARED KANGAROO LOIN FILET 1 sprig fresh rosemary Email to a friend Printer friendly Font:****2 teaspoons sea salt 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper Olive oil to form a paste 1 kilo kangaroo loin filet (four loins), thawed Pre-heat oven to 400 F. In a mortar and pestle, grind rosemary, salt and pepper with oil to form a paste. Smear the oil mixture over the loins and let stand for an hour until the meat is at room temperature. In a cast-iron skillet over high heat, sear the loins for about two minutes on each side. Place the skillet, loins and all, in a 400 F oven for 10 minutes for rare meat. Add a minute or two if you get a really fat loin. Remove from oven and wrap each loin with foil and let stand five to 10 minutes to let the juices settle. Cut into one-cm thick slices across the grain of the meat. Serve immediately. Serves six. LOW FAT AND DARN TASTY The Vancouver Sun's in-office taste test employed two typical beef preparations of kangaroo: Italian meat balls in roasted red pepper tomato sauce and pan-seared loin filet. The ground kangaroo was $3.84 for a 454-gram packet. The loin filet cost $26.05 for little over a kilo, which gave us four good-sized loins to feed six to eight adults. Kangaroo is naturally low in fat -- only one to two per cent -- leaner than most lean beef, lamb or chicken breast. Hills sells eight different cuts of Kangaroo, including tail for braising and pre-made burger patties seasoned with wild Australian pepperberry. The patties are 30 per cent organic beef fat, as pure kangaroo burgers dry out when thoroughly cooked. The verdict from our tasting panel: - Delicious and very similar to beef, but a little sweeter. It had a slight aftertaste that wasn't too strong. Very tender and didn't taste at all "gamy." I would definitely buy it. - Texture of the meat ball was very similar to ground beef, and superior to ground turkey, which tends to disintegrate when you cook it instead of staying in nice crumb-sized bits. Flavour of the loin cut was mild, kind of neutral, not at all gamy. I'd try a roo hamburger. - Tastes good ... similar to beef, but just different enough to make a nice change. Kind of in between beef and deer/moose. - At first taste of the meatballs, I enjoyed the kangaroo, but then I started thinking about Skippy and his cute little face. After eating the tenderloin, however, Skippy be damned. I'd eat this anytime, especially if it saves the planet. - Nice colour, looks like beef. Has that vaguely liver-ish taste you find in other game meat such as venison and moose, but it's quite faint in comparison to those critters. Not a detriment. Very tender. - First impressions of the seasoned ground kangaroo meat were pleasant, and were decidedly reminiscent of veal. But then, after swallowing, the tide of the back-palate taste came lapping in, and brought with it - halibut. Loin was a rich, solid meat that I thought similar to reindeer, which I used to eat in Norway, and also venison. The only company that imports kangaroo meat is Hills Foods, #1-130 Glacier St., Coquitlam, www.hillsfoods.com Hills distributes game meats to specialty retailers, health food stores, butchers and restaurants. Customers can also buy direct from Hills Foods. The Vancouver Sun DIGITAL The Vancouver Sun 2007 http://www.canada.com/vancouversun

Much ado about Roo Kangaroo is low in fat and better for the planet than beef, according to a Greenpeace report Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 The market for kangaroo meat has a new bounce in its step since a scientist in Australia touted roo as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef. In a report commissioned by Greenpeace, Dr. Mark Diesendorf says cutting beef production in Australia by 20 per cent and substituting kangaroo meat would save 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years. Gripped by a crippling drought, Australia is taking note of anything that could slow climate change. Kangaroo is starting to turn up on menus at "white table cloth" establishments around Vancouver, says Mark Hills of Hills Foods, Canada's sole importer of roo. He names The Locus Cafe, La Belle Auberge and Aussie theme pub Moose's Down Under as regular buyers, but says he is just now in a position to maintain a regular supply for his customers -- an essential assurance for chefs considering regular menu items. "It shows up mainly in specials at the moment," Hills said. "Supply was a bit spotty before." Before Hills received an entire container load of kangaroo, that is. "I had hoped to get that container in August, then we would have seen kangaroo on fall menus," said Hills. As it is, roo seems like a natural for spring. With 15,750 kilograms of "australus" now on Canadian shores in Hills' warehouse, maintaining a steady supply will no longer be an issue. That will be good news to Locus chef Todd Boyer, who has used ground kangaroo meat for hamburgers and serves topside, a cut from high on the leg, as a special every few weeks. "We cut it into medallions, like a scallopini," Boyer said. "It is a very low fat meat, so we just sear it very quickly with a light seasoning." The flavour, he says, is gamy but "not overpowering." For hamburgers, Boyer adds a little pork fat so the patties don't dry out. Boyer sees the market for kangaroo picking up, now that the price is dropping, although to his customers, novelty may be more important than price. "Last week, we did a camel strip loin, we have some alligator on this week," said Boyer. "We like to use whatever new products [Hills] have in that the rest of the market isn't using yet." The opportunity to grow a market for roo in Canada only arrived with Hills' sea container a few weeks ago. It took Hills two decades to convince the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to allow him to import for sale. When the world came to Vancouver for Expo 86, Hills took note of some of the game meats sought by countries hosting the international pavilions. Hills was inspired to develop a game meat business and began sourcing obscure meats. He found Australia did in fact have a domestic kangaroo meat industry. He wrote a letter to the CFIA asking for permission to import roo. They were unmoved, he said. Hills was a bit ahead of his time. "Back then, we had a hard time selling bison and venison," he recalled. "It took 10 years for the business to really get going. "Until then, there were some lean years," he said. CFIA approval might have come sooner had he accepted the government's offer to send Canadian inspectors to Australia at his own expense. He didn't. Kangaroo is low in fat and better for the planet than beef, according to a Greenpeace report Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, December 14, 2007 The CFIA finally relented and inspected the Australian slaughter and packing facilities, piggybacking the inspection on a regular tour of cattle and sheep processing plants. That cleared the way for Hills' shipments, about 20 years after he wrote his first inquiry. Now, it seems, the timing is right. Even Greenpeace is on board with eating kangaroo, so long as it means raising fewer cattle, whose flatulence is a major source of greenhouse gases. Bacteria in the digestive tract of cattle is what produces the methane. So now scientists are looking into transferring the bacteria from kangaroo stomachs into sheep and cattle to see if they can build a cleaner cow. Until then, roo is the greener way to go. The red and grey species of kangaroo that make their way to our tables are taken from the wild by licensed hunters. About 30 million kg of kangaroo is harvested in Australia, although less than one-third of that is eaten by Australians. Russia imports more than 10 million kilos and significant markets exist in France, Belgium and Germany. The $200-million industry is dwarfed by beef exports, which bring Australia about $5 billion a year. Despite their symbolic status as Australia's national animal, kangaroos are considered a voracious and fast-breeding pest and numbered up to 50 million in 2005, before the current drought. rshore@png.canwest.com KANGAROO MEAT: LEAN, LOW-FAT, HIGH IN PROTEIN AND IRON Nutritional composition and comparison with other meats: Protein Fat Kilojoules Cholesterol Iron % % per 100g mg/100g mg/100g Kangaroo 24 1 - 2 500 56 2.6 Lean lamb 22 2 - 7 530 66 1.8 Lean beef 22 2 - 5 500 67 3.5 Lean pork 23 1 - 3 440 50 1.0 Lean chicken breast 23 2 470 50 0.6 Rabbit 22 2 - 4 520 70 1.0 Source: CSIRO Food Research Quarterly, 42, pp. 57-60 Vancouver Sun RECIPES ROO MEATBALLS IN ROASTED RED PEPPER TOMATO SAUCE The sauce 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 garlic clove, minced 1/2 medium onion, diced 2 red bell peppers, blackened, seeded and peeled (use jarred roasted red peppers to speed things up) 1 14-oz. can crushed tomatoes 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 tsp ground black pepper The meatballs 1 454-gram package ground kangaroo 1/4 cup fine bread crumbs 1/4 cup onion, minced 1 garlic clove, minced 1 large egg 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1 tablespoon water Method Sauce: Saute garlic and diced onion with olive oil in a large saucepan until soft. Dice roasted red peppers and add to the saucepan. As the veggies soften mash them with a spoon, or toss the mixture into a food processor if you like a smooth sauce. Add crushed tomatoes and salt and pepper and simmer until the tomatoes sweeten. (Just taste it every 15 minutes or so; you'll know when you're there.) Set aside. Meatballs: Mix all ingredients in a bowl just until combined. Form into balls as big around as a Loonie. In a large skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil and sear meatballs on two sides. Plop into the sauce to simmer for 20 minutes. ...

$80,000 offered for panda pelts December 18, 2007 ILLEGAL hunters are killing China's endangered giant pandas and selling their pelts for almost $80,000. China is investigating reports of illegal wildlife trading in the country's southwest, where locals were offered huge sums of cash for giant panda pelts. Local police have found cases of panda hunting in Baoxing county in Sichuan province, the State Forestry Administration said. It is believed 19 pandas have been killed for their skins in Baoxing over the past 20 years. "We have sent a working group to supervise the investigations and we will prosecute anyone involved," said spokesman Cao Qingyao. The giant panda is on China's list of most endangered species. Hunting the animal is strictly forbidden. The case came to light after reports said hunters were killing pandas after unidentified buyers had offered huge sums for their fur. The Southern Weekend weekly newspaper said the black and white pelts could fetch up to $79,000, tempting residents of Baoxing, where the average annual income is less than $470 a year. Baoxing, dubbed by Chinese media as the home of the pandas, estimates there are 143 pandas in the area. Scientists estimate there are 1590 pandas in the wild in China, and another 239 living in captivity. - AFP http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22939908-663,00.html

Une vidéo, filmée par caméras cachées par PETA dans l'un des plus grands élevages de cochons au monde (Smithfield Foods, en Caroline du Nord) Des employés traînent des truies blessées par leur museau, leurs oreilles ou leurs pattes avant de les tuer à l'aide d'un pistolet (Sur le dos de certaines, le mot KILL (MORT) a été peint. Des employés coupent les queues des porcelets (devant leurs mères) et leur arrachent leurs testicules sans aucun anesthésiant. Les porcelets crient de douleur. Deux employés et un superviseur frappent et piquent des truies avec de longues barres de métal, sur leur face et près de leurs oreilles Un employé arrache les yeux de 4 truies avec ses doigts. Les cochons souffrent de diverses blessures et maladies (kystes, abcès, etc. ) pour lesquelles ils n'ont reçu aucun traitement. Voir la vidéo et signer la pétition: http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/smithfield_investigation

December 22, 2007-Workers at a North Carolina slaughterhouse caught on hidden camera brutally abusing pigs have been fired. Several employees of Murphy Family Ventures, which owns pig-breeding farms that supply the country's largest pork producer Smithfield Foods, were filmed by an undercover investigator from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) dragging and beating swine, gouging out their eyes and castrating their babies without painkillers. Click here to see the video. WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT AND EXTREMELY FOUL LANGUAGE. http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/smithfield_investigation A supervisor was also taped admitting to violently mistreating the pigs. "Non-conformances to the company's animal welfare policy were found," Don Butler of Smithfield's livestock subsidiary Murphy-Brown LLC (a different company from Murphy Family Ventures) wrote in an e-mail to PETA that was supplied to FOXNews.com. "Appropriate actions have been taken, including termination of those who violated the policy." North Carolina Authorities Investigate Alleged Pig Abuse by Supplier for Largest U.S. Pork Producer All existing and future employees will also be forced to sign contracts promising not to abuse animals, according to PETA. It wasn't known how many workers were fired at the 2,200-pig farm. Murphy-Brown LLC didn't return calls seeking comment, and Murphy Family Ventures declined to offer details. "Appropriate disciplinary actions have been taken," said a Murphy Family Ventures representative. Earlier this month, the prosecutor's office in Sampson County, N.C., opened an investigation into allegations of animal cruelty after PETA lawyers turned over affidavits and videotapes of the reported abuse. The undercover PETA investigator, who worked at the slaughterhouse in Garland, N.C., for $7 an hour from Sept. 13 until Nov. 2 of this year, said he witnessed constant atrocities. "[The abuse of pigs] happened every day," the PETA employee told FOXNews.com on Dec. 12, speaking on condition of anonymity. "You can't even capture the full horror of what goes on there." In the grainy, black-and-white video, pigs with the word "KILL" spray-painted on their backs scream as they're yanked to slaughter with a heavy metal prodder attached to their legs, ears and snouts, and women laugh as they cut off the testicles of one piglet after another without anesthesia. In a different segment, a supervisor boasts about beating the animals. "I ain't going to lie to you; I've done it," he says. "I have knocked the s— out of them. Like that one bit me the other morning, that mother f—.... I cut the s— out of his G—d— nose with a f— gate rod." The PETA investigator said he also saw people cutting off the tails of baby pigs, as well as other horrors. Castration and tail-chopping without painkillers are general practice at swine slaughterhouses, according to the animal rights group. Smithfield's firing of the workers at Murphy Family Ventures Garland Sow Farm is "the very least they could have done," said PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. "Our hope is that they will implement a policy so PETA doesn't have to alert them when their workers are abusing animals." PETA wants all employees involved in the violent mistreatment of the pigs to be charged with animal cruelty, a criminal offense that is generally classified as a misdemeanor under North Carolina law — though some acts are considered felonies. Sampson County District Attorney G. Dewey Hudson and local law enforcement are still reviewing the case. "Our initial meeting and subsequent conversations with him have been very encouraging," Friedrich said of the prosecutor. Murphy Family Ventures pig-breeding farms and slaughterhouses are under contract with Smithfield Foods' Murphy-Brown as pork suppliers. PETA is calling on Smithfield Foods and its contractors to more aggressively enforce the humane treatment of the animals. The group wants surveillance cameras installed and regular undercover investigations to be conducted internally. It also wants a ban on the use of tiny gestation crates, where the pigs are kept and raised. Smithfield has come under fire before for human rights violations and the hiring of illegal workers. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317947,00.html

Les girafes africaines en grand danger Lundi 24 décembre, 12h10NAIROBI (AFP) - Au moins six espèces de girafe africaine se trouvent en grand danger et menacées d'extinction, ont averti des biologistes kenyans et américains. La population de 110.000 girafes africaines, dont on pensait à l'origine qu'elle ne constituait qu'une seule espèce dans toutes les savanes, s'est trouvée dispersée en raison de l'aridité croissante et des pressions humaines, selon ce document préparé avec le soutien de la Société de Conservation de la Faune et de la flore basée aux Etats-Unis. Au cours de la dernière décennie, "braconnage intensif et conflits armés en Somalie, en Ethiopie et au Kenya ont réduit le nombre de girafes réticulées, passé d'environ 27.000 dans les années 1990 à moins de 3.000 actuellement", affirme l'étude, rendue publique samedi. "Plusieurs de ces unités génétiques auparavant méconnues sont en grand danger, telle la girafe d'Afrique occidentale, qui ne compte plus que 100 individus dans une seule région du Niger", selon la même source. Au moins 160 girafes nigérianes se trouvent en Afrique de l'Ouest et en Afrique centrale, et quelques centaines de girafes Rothschild dans des secteurs protégés du Kenya et de l'Ouganda. Selon les chercheurs, la menace d'exinction est réelle puisque les girafes sont inscrites dans la catégorie de risque le plus bas sur la liste rouge de l'Union mondiale pour la nature (UCIN), les différentes espèces étant "considérées comme formant une seule et même espèce". Publiée dans la dernière édition du journal de biologie BMC, l'étude de la constitution génétique de ces animaux contredit la théorie d'une espèce unique. Le rapport appelle donc à mettre en place une conservation séparée des différentes populations de girafes. Un groupe international d'étude de la girafe (IGWG) travaille actuellement avec plusieurs directions de conservation de la faune et de la flore en Afrique pour effectuer un recensement des girafes, qui peuvent mesurer jusqu'à six mètres en hauteur et peser une à deux tonnes une fois adultes. Cette opération de recensement est en cours au Sud Soudan, où quatre espèces de girafe distinctes récemment découvertes ont survécu à plus de deux décennies de guerre civile. Deux espèces très différentes ont également été découvertes au Kenya. En septembre, le service kényan de la vie sauvage avait jugé que les animaux sauvages étaient menacés de disparition dans la plus ancienne réserve naturelle du Kenya, en constatant la destruction de l'habitat naturel à l'intérieur et autour du parc national de Nairobi. http://fr.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071224/tsc-afrique-environnement-animaux-girafe-c2ff8aa_1.html