Man Jailed in UK for Fox Hunting

Critics of the law banning hunting with dogs in Britain said it would not be enforced. They were wrong.

Richard Atkins jailed after admitting nine charges of animal cruelty. RSPCA say it was 'incredibly malicious and sadistic cruelty to animals.'

Caught by his own camera: The sickening photograph of grinning thug who used his dog to hunt and kill foxes and badgers

California Bans the Sale of Pate de Foie Gras

For once California has done something right, showing the way to the rest of the world, banning the sale of pate de foie gras, produced by force-feeding and making ill geese and ducks.

California bans sale of fatty gourmet treat

KATE WINSLET: Foie gras is sold as an expensive delicacy in some restaurants and shops, but no-one pays a higher price for foie gras than the ducks and geese who are abused and killed to make it.

To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed enormous amounts of grain and fat which causes their livers to swell to many times the normal size.

Human Health and Animal Ethics New Website

A new website has been started, called Human Health and Animal Ethics, which is specifically devoted to the subject of how protecting human health, far from being incompatible with defending animal interests in certain areas, is actually perfectly compatible with it.

This is because the main areas of animal exploitation, i.e. animal experimentation and animal farming for food, are those in which human health also suffers from those forms of abuse of animals.

Meat is generally bad for human health, whereas a vegetarian nutrition is the healthiest, as medical bodies and health authorities will tell you.

Similarly, the method of testing drugs and other substances for human use on other animals and of studying human diseases on animals has been consistently proven throughout the decades to be lacking of predictive value, extremely unreliable and therefore highly dangerous for human health, when its results are transferred to human beings.

This is why the tagline of Human Health and Animal Ethics is Ending animal abuse can seriously benefit your health.

Abruzzo earthquake forgotten victims

The earthquake in the Abruzzo region of central Italy of a few days ago has affected animals too. Animals suffering from natural disasters have to rely primarily on the efforts of volunteers for their survival.

Italy’s largest organization for dogs protection, Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane, is helping through its local section of L’Aquila in the distribution of food to the dog pound, to the only kennel of the area and to private individuals who need food for their own dogs or for strays they are looking after.

Through its website, aptly and hopefully named Cuccefelici (Happy Doghouses), the Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane reports that its kennel in L’Aquila, holding 400 dogs, has been left intact by the earthquake because it has no brickwork buildings and all the dogs in it are safe.

Thanks to its volunteers and to the part of the staff capable of getting to work, the dogs have been looked after, fed and given water every day. Elderly and sick dogs are receiving all the necessary treatments as usual.

Whoever needs dog food can contact them by phone. They are also working in close cooperation with the local Veterinary Authority, who people can contact to report any lost, injured or trapped dog.

Even before the earthquake L'Aquila and its area had approximately 4,000 to 6,000 stray dogs, and this is the only public kennel of the district.

L’Aquila dogs protection people, together with the firefighters of the town of Paganica, have saved four female boxers that had been without food or water for days, trapped in a garden surrounded by rubble. The dogs, after being fed, will be returned to their human companion who has evacuated in a hotel on the Adriatic coast.

The local Veterinary Authority has also found many dogs who have been immediately transferred to the Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane kennel in L’Aquila, where they are now still taken care of.

Despite that, in the region there is a real emergency of dogs and cats still locked inside homes or wandering alone after the death of their human companion, sometimes badly injured.

L'Aquila’s dog pound, the private kennel of the area and members of the public all rely on the dogs protection organization’s help.

Both food and medical supplies are insufficient. The dog food is now necessary in greater amounts, because the organization not only must feed the dogs in its kennel but is also donating dogs food to whoever needs it. Large quantities of dog food have been ordered from the usual supplier and already delivered but are still unpaid for.

So, what the dogs protection organization needs most at this moment is funds.


They need your help.

If you can help, you can send them money through Paypal from their website: Cuccefelici

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No Meat World Day

World Day for the Abolition of Meat

The 31 January 2009 will be the first World Day for the Abolition of Meat ever declared.

What does it mean and what will happen?

Local groups of activists will stage various events, with information stands, street leafletting, conferences, vegan dinners in restaurants, presentations, “mourning” demonstrations, photo exhibitions and nutrition pyramids in several cities in Europe and the rest of the world, in particular in France (Paris, Montpellier, Lille, Marseille, Besançon, Rennes, Millau - Aveyron, Metz, Mens, Die, and others), Italy (Milan and Florence), Switzerland, Germany, the Bahamas.

The purpose is to inform the public of how much suffering meat eating causes to non-human animals and how unnecessary it is to human beings.

A concerted effort of organizing events of the same kind in various parts of the globe is an effective way to draw the public attention to the subject.

The organizers’ intention is twofold: firstly to encourage vegetarianism and veganism as forms of boycotting the products of the animal farming industry, thus decreasing the demand for these products and as a consequence, as the market laws dictate, their supply; and secondly to explicitly request the abolition of meat production.

So the stress is both on the economic forces that are at the root of animal farming through the powerful means of consumers choice pressure and on the political and legal change.

The public are invited to reflect on this both as consumers and as citizens.

Soya and cancer

A soya milk and tofu diet reduces the risk of breast cancer, according to research. In an epidemiological study, women who were eating a lot of soy and soy products were 60% less likely than women who ate the least soya to have the "dense" tissue associated with breast cancer.

The following are also types of foods and drinks that protect against cancer by minimising the risk of developing tumors.

Tomatoes. Studies conducted in USA have shown that 3 servings per day greatly cut the risk of prostate cancer. Not only fresh tomatoes have this beneficial effect, but even pizza toppings, pasta sauce and tomato ketchup.

Brazil nuts and grains. They are all rich in the trace element selenium. Trials have found that selenium supplements help cut the risk of prostate cancer.

Broccoli and cabbage. They are rich in glucosinolates, which some studies have shown to reduce the risk of cancer by 50%. They appear to be particularly effective against both breast and colon cancer.

Strawberries. They contain antioxidant chemicals called coumarins. Antioxidants protect against cancer-causing agents. Other kinds of fruits and berries, including raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, raisins and prunes, also destroy in the blood free radicals which promote cancer.

Green tea. It is rich in antioxidants, which are substances effective against carcinogens (cancer-causing agents). Only one cup per day is recommended.

Garlic. Studies in the USA have shown that people who eat garlic more than twice a week are only half as likely to develop colon cancer as those who do not eat garlic.

Water. Drinking lots of water helps reduce the risk of bladder cancer, because it dilutes the concentration of cancer-causing agents and cuts the time that they are in contact with the bladder lining. A minimum of 8 cups per day are recommended.

Italian Animal Rights Party forms a new alliance

In preparation for the next European Parliament elections in June 2009, the Partito Animalista Italiano, Italian Party for Animal Rights, has formed an alliance with two other Italian parties: the Environmentalist Party and the Eurosceptics Party.

The new alliance will contest the European elections, which are now only a few months away, and has just joined the EUDemocrats, a Europe-wide, transnational party which has 6 members of the European Parliament in its midst and focuses on the issue of democracy in the European Union.

The new Italian coalition, called “Euro Scettici-Animalisti-Ambientalista”, has begun to get ready for the forthcoming European election and hopes to secure 1 or 2 seats in the European Parliament.

Does it sound ambitious?

"It’s entirely possible” replies Cristiano Ceriello of the Italian Animal Rights Party. “If the European election law, as it seems certain, remains the same, a party only needs 0.7 % of the national votes to elect a member of the European Parliament.

“According to the polls commissioned by us, our new alliance Euro Scettici-Animalisti-Ambientalisti should get 1.5% of the votes, which would allow us to gain 2 seats."

Vegetarian easy

Easy vegetarian

Becoming vegetarian is one of the choices you can make that are most beneficial for your health.

And, believe me, it is easy to be vegetarian.

Many people are worried that it can be difficult to give up their favourite foods.

But in reality food is an “acquired taste” literally. Mostly, we like what we are used to. That, for instance, explains why people of different cultures and culinary traditions have diverse palate and appreciate widely dissimilar dishes.

Most emphatically, the idea that meat and fish are tastier than vegetarian meals is a myth. In many cases it is the herbs, spices and vegetables that give flavour to meat-based dishes.

Have you ever wondered why we humans can eat many vegetables raw, but very few, if any, kinds of animal flesh without first cooking them? Does that not point to a certain instinctive difficulty for our digestive system in dealing with meat and fish?

I have been a vegetarian for almost all my adult life. If I now should have meat in any form, very likely I would feel sick. This (which would probably apply to the generality of vegetarians and vegans) shows that it is not something inherent in a vegetarian diet which makes it difficult to introduce, but rather a general principle of our eating patterns: sudden change is disruptive at first and needs time to adjust.

This is often the case in matters of the senses. Think of music. How many times, upon hearing it the first time, did you have an immediate rejection for a pop song or a classical piece of music which later became a joy for your ears?

It may take time to love good music, and it may take time to love good food.

Easy steps to vegetarianism

My first piece of advice, therefore, is: take it easy, make the change gradually. Let your taste buds get acquainted with and used to the new flavours.

My second piece of advice: do not think in terms of renunciations, but of replacements. Next time you are thinking of having a burger, choose a vegeburger instead. Or have a delicious fresh sandwich with plenty of fresh salad vegetables and succulent but not fat sauces like those sold by Subway, for instance. You don’t have to do this every time at first, but you can start by opting for a healthier alternative, say, half of the times, and then gradually increase the frequency.

Just to realize how alien meat-eating is to our nature, and we believe that it is natural only because we have become accustomed to it, think of how food poisoning is almost invariably associated with meat or, more infrequently, with other animal products but extremely rarely with foods of vegetable origin.

Even touching raw meat, poultry or fish without washing your hands can spread bacteria and lead to food poisoning. And even reusing the same utensils, plates, dishcloths, teatowels and sponges that have come into contact with raw meat, fish or poultry (even indirectly, for instance by cleaning a surface which has touched them) is dangerous, because bacteria from the raw juices will contaminate other food.

This could help explain why meat workers, people involved in the meat industry, are the unhealthiest workers: in the USA about 25 percent of all employees of meatpacking plants have job-related injuries or illnesses, that is as many as 4 times the national average for all private industry sectors.

Candidates on animal rights

The 2008 US presidential candidates should be assessed for their positions on animal issues as well.

Animal welfare has grown in importance in American politics in general and presidential elections in particular. Both candidates seem to have strong views on animal issues, albeit with some limitations.

Barack Obama and animal rights

The candidate for the Democratic Party, Senator Barack Obama, has been praised for his answer to a woman who asked him "What about animal rights?" during Obama's town hall meeting outside Las Vegas a few months ago.

Obama replied that he cares about animal rights very much, "not only because I have a 9-year-old and 6-year-old who want a dog." He said that he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and that he has been repeatedly endorsed by the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States).

"I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other," he added. "And it's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals."

Good, diplomatic, generic way to answer a specific question; maybe Time's headline for this story, "Obama Pledges Support for Animal Rights", was a bit over-optimistic.

Still, he is considered a strong candidate on animal rights issues. He has co-sponsored new legislation to stop horse slaughter and export of
horses for human consumption, to upgrade federal penalties for dogfighting and cockfighting, to ban possession of fighting dogs and being a spectator at
a dogfight. He also signed a letter requesting increased funds for enforcement of
the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and federal
animal fighting law. Sent letter to National Zoo expressing concern for
the care of Toni the elephant.

In his response to a questionnaire by the Humane Society Legislative Fund (which tries to pass animal protection laws at state and federal levels), Obama pledges support for nearly every animal protection bill currently pending in Congress, and says he will work with executive agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make their policies more humane.

He believes that there is a link between cruelty to animals and violence in society: "I've repeatedly voted to increase penalties for animal cruelty and violence... In addition to being unacceptable in its own stead, violence towards animals is linked with violent behavior in general... Strong [animal cruelty] penalties are important and I support them... As president, I'd continue to make sure that we treat animal cruelty like the serious crime it is and address its connection to broader patterns of violence."

But... he has not yet co-sponsored important animal welfare bills, like the Pet Safety and Protection Act.

Besides, I do not see how Obama can reconcile the position that he professes on cruelty to animals and his support for the right to hunt wild game.

In April 2007 he said: "I don't hunt myself, but I respect hunters and sportsmen". And: "I'm a strong believer in the rights of hunters and sportsmen to have firearms".

Am I too cynical if I suspect a little insincerity in his proclaimed love for animals here?

John McCain and animal rights

His opponent, Republican Party's candidate Senator John McCain, is also strong on animal rights issues, uncharacteristically for a Republican candidate.

McCain co-sponsored new legislation to stop horse slaughter, backed a bill to stop the shipment of live birds between states for the only purpose of cockfighting, supported a bill to stop the killing of bears by ending trade in their gall bladders and other viscera and organs.

Senator McCain also took a position against the fur industry, by voting to eliminate a $2 million subsidy for the mink industry. And he voted against allowing drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saving the thousands of animals who lived there.

He earned scores of up to 75 percent on the Humane Scorecard.

But... he voted in support of an amendment to the California Desert Protection Act allowing hunting for sport in the Mojave National Park, and apparently he is a supporter of hunting in general.

Looks like both candidates are weaker on hunting grounds.

Besides, neither of them really seems to have said anything or taken positions on the major areas of animal abuse, i.e. animal experimentation and factory farming.