UPDATE: Circus Malta: Petition Supporting Animal Circuses Gains 5,000 Signatures

Thursday 9 January 2014

Most animal charities & the public want to see a ban worldwide of wild animals being used in circuses. Now the owner of this circus is circulating his own petition to keep his Malta circus open. So please if you don’t agree with animals performing degrading tricks, kept behind bars & of course the cruelty that has been documented in circuses: PLEASE SIGN THE PETITIONS BELOW. We can’t let this circus continue, if it does through its petition, the flood gates for circuses using wild animals may open again; that would be tragic after all the hard work has been done to stop them!!

Circus promoter says 2013 could be last year for animal circuses in Malta due to the proposed ban.

But circus promoter Silvio Zammit has collected 5,000 signatures as part of a petition to overturn a proposal to ban animal circuses.

The circus has now moved to Ghajnsielem, Gozo, where Zammit hopes to continue collecting more signatures. The petition will then be passed on to the competent authorities.

Zammit, who has been bringing circuses to Malta for the past 16 years, said he could not allow the banning of animal circuses from Malta without taking any action.

“It was a personal initiative after finding out that the government had moved on to publish a White Paper proposing to ban animal circuses,” he said.

See all the animals, such as, Long horn cattle, Donkeys, Lama, Camels, Lions, Tigers, Zebra, Elephant, Giraffe, Baboon, Horses, Ponies, Donkeys performing pitiful & degrading acts; acts they would never do in the wild. The animal acts stop at 12 mins; then the human artists perform!I believe the only thing not seen is the Hippo; but is in a video below!!

Circo Orfei Floriana Malta 1st January 2012

Uploaded on 2 Jan 2012 – By levelone12

He argued that only 390 persons took part in the consultation process initiated by the government, of which 49% said they were against such a circus.

“We know that the majority of these were NGOs, and NGOs do not reflect popular opinion. I am doing this petition on my own. I know that there are many others who would like to sign it, but I have neither the time nor the manpower to go on a nation-wide petition,” Zammit said.

He said he was “very happy” with the number of signatures collected: “This shows that the Maltese do love the circus. They won’t flood the streets of Valletta with placards to support the circus.”

He also said that a number of MPs from both sides of the House visited Circo Orfei this winter. “Some came with their children while others accompanied their grandchildren. They thanked me for the level of the show and all said they had fun,” Zammit said.

He however refused to name them.

The debate as to whether Malta should ban animal circuses for good has been going on for a number of years, with animal rights NGOs insisting that circuses solely operate to maximise profits while completely disregarding the safety of the animals and the adverse effects they may impose.

Animal Rights Coalition said veterinarians only attend to the animal’s physical needs and as a result, the psychological issues brought about by the circuses are not being addressed.

With a number of countries moving to ban animal circuses for good, Zammit said in Italy alone there were 800 circuses. He said the UK was one of the countries which will stop animal circuses as from next year. “But this was the result of many circuses caught mistreating their animals,” he said, adding that the circus he brought to Malta did not see animals performing any tricks and only a minimal part of the show was dedicated to animals.

Zammit argued that the circus animals were born in captivity “and therefore they do not know otherwise. Their trainers threat them like their pets”.

He said Animal Welfare Department officials and veterinarians made regular checks to verify that the animals were well-kept.

Circo Orfei’s travelling team is made up of 60 people, whose living depends on the shows, Zammit said.

“This is their life. They are a community who live on the road and have been doing so for years on end. This is how they earn a living… their bread and butter,” he said.

The Animal Rights Coalition has also called for a full ban on dolphinaria and aquaria. The coalition has said it was unjust to deny dolphins the right to roam free in their natural habitat and called for the ban on dolphinariums as these restrict the creatures to a mere pool.

The Coalition also said that this should extend to aquaria as in this case, animals are likewise being “confined to cages and restricted from roaming in their natural habitat”.

Protesters outside circus. Image from http://www.timesofmalta.com –

But Zammit feels that two weights and two measures were being applied when talking about animal circuses and aquaria.

He also said that circuses gave people the opportunity to see animals which would otherwise require them to travel abroad to zoos or safaris.

He insisted that a proper discussion was required and said he agreed that animals like elephants, pandas and monkeys should be banned. “What we have in our circus are horses, ponies, donkeys and tigers,” he said, adding that tigers in captivity lived for an average of 25 years while those in the wild lived for 12 years.

Circo Orfei also has a hippo and an emu as part of their travelling repertoire. 

News Link:–http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Petition-supporting-animal-circuses-gains-5-000-signatures-20140108

Petitions to ban wild animals in circuses:-We must get the ban in place before this circus succeeds with their petition to continue

• http://www.thepetitionsite.com/114/712/149/ban-animal-circuss-in-malta/
• http://www.thepetitionsite.com/971/361/878/ban-the-use-of-wild-animals-in-us-circuses/
• http://www.change.org/petitions/dolphins-don-t-belong-in-traveling-circus
• http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/animalslavery/
• http://www.thepetitionsite.com/112/127/279/stop-brian-boswells-circus/
• http://www.thepetitionsite.com/903/573/553/no-bears-at-the-bolshoi-circus/
• http://forcechange.com/91545/commend-ban-on-wild-animals-in-circuses/
• http://www.stopcircussuffering.com/ – Petition is within the link

Published on 7 Jan 2013 – This video shows the hippo in the ring, but its towards the end of the video, after the trapeze act! What the hell is a hippo doing in a circus? Bloody outrageous!! Search Circo Orfei on You Tube to see all the animals when not entertaining  :-http://youtu.be/GEMx3YVIRmg 

Published on 10 Jan 2013 – Tiger & Lion Act:-http://youtu.be/aHeMPaW_d20

Published on 6 Sep 2013 – This is about the lions & tigers in the outside enclosure plus RARE WHITE LIONS & TIGERS?? Are they interbreeding??:-http://youtu.be/K40RjOFsX4c

My previous posts on circus in Malta etc.:–

• https://preciousjules1985.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/last-two-animal-circuses-in-malta-before-ban-imposed-petitions-to-sign/
• https://preciousjules1985.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/animal-circuses-may-be-banned-in-malta-by-end-of-the-year-petitions-to-sign/

Part 2 of 2:Danger Drug In UK Horsemeat: Tests Reveal Health Hazard AFTER Meat Was Exported To Europe

“In my opinion, horses shouldn’t even be on any menu, to those that own horses as pleasure horses, they are our pets just as much as dogs or cats; therefore they should be given the same rights as pets….you wouldn’t eat your puppy or cat (unless you lived in Asia perhaps) Thank Christ I am vegetarian, virtually vegan! But if I did eat animals this would be something that would turn my stomach & make me go vegetarian…I couldn’t possibly eat any in case one of my friends is in it!!” 

‘Business as usual’ at plant watchdog said had been shut

A British factory accused of turning horses into burgers and kebabs continued to operate yesterday despite official claims it had been shut down.

The discovery concerning Farmbox Meats, based near Aberystwyth, was further evidence of the shambles surrounding the handling of the scandal.

Farmbox Meats Ltd business owner Dafydd Raw-Rees, pictured yesterday in Llandre near Aberystwyth, west Wales

On Tuesday, the Government’s Food Standards Agency announced that Farmbox Meats and a slaughterhouse in Yorkshire, which had allegedly supplied horse carcasses, had been closed.

The abattoir is owned and run by Peter Boddy of Todmorden, who has a licence to shoot and slaughter unwanted or injured racehorses.

The FSA issued a categorical statement, saying: ‘The FSA has suspended operations at both these plants.’ 
It went on to declare that it and the police had ‘detained all meat found and seized paperwork, including customer lists from the two companies’.

However, yesterday morning the owner of the Farmbox factory insisted it was ‘business as usual’ and accused the FSA of being ‘untruthful’. Staff wearing hair nets were busy de- boning and cutting horse carcasses ready for export to Belgium.

Outside the plant stood large blue crates of meat of unspecified origin, with no evidence of FSA officials or the police on the site. It is housed in an anonymous-looking white-walled concrete building down a narrow country lane in the Ceredigion hills.

The factory is owned by local businessman Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, a former turkey farmer who is president-elect of the local golf club. He was arrested in 2002 over an alleged offence of supplying meat from illegally slaughtered livestock but was never charged.

The manager of the Farmbox plant, Colin Patterson, was tried at Swansea Crown Court and later acquitted.

In a separate case, his co-defendant Carmello Gale was in 2004 jailed for six months for running an illegal abattoir near Llandysul, West Wales.

Andrew Rhodes, director of operations at the FSA, said its raid on Tuesday established that ‘horse meat had been used as though it were beef in kebabs and burgers at that premises’.

But last night Mr Raw-Rees said that while the plant did handle horse carcasses, it did not process any meat and hadn’t passed it off as beef.

Denying he had been ordered to suspend production, Mr Raw-Rees said he had only begun de-boning horse meat supplied from Ireland three weeks ago.“Only 3 weeks ago, bit suspicious??”

‘It is taken from here to Belgium and I get paid for doing the cutting up,’ he said. ‘I don’t do kebab meat, minced meat or beef burgers. There is absolutely no cross contamination.’

Mr Raw-Rees claimed he had only had three deliveries of cattle from the Todmorden slaughterhouse. 

Locals described Mr Raw-Rees as a ‘colourful character’ who had told them work at the plant – which employs 14 people – had ‘taken off’ after it started handling horse meat.

Later the FSA said: ‘All meat on site was detained yesterday. This morning we confirmed in writing their licence to operate is suspended.’

Government accused of ‘catastrophic complacency’

Published on 14 Feb 2013

no description available

News Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2278342/Danger-drug-UK-horsemeat-Tests-reveal-health-hazard-AFTER-meat-exported-Europe.html#ixzz2Ku1dfB00

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Spain Moves To Give Bullfighting Special Cultural Status: Petitions to sign against Bullfighting

“This is bad news my friends! Please sign petitions below & share widely, only our voices collectively joined, can help stop this heinous brutality; a bloody sport, disguised as tradition!”

Spanish MPs have voted to consider giving bullfighting special cultural status – a move that could overturn regional bans on the age-old tradition

The number of bullfights each year is falling in Spain

In a 180-40 vote, the parliament backed a petition signed by 590,000 people.

If the idea becomes law, it may roll back the ban in Spain’s regions of Catalonia and the Canary Islands.

It may also provide tax breaks for promoters of bullfighting (corrida). Opponents describe the tradition of killing animals as barbaric.

‘Barbaric’ tradition

• Those taking part in the a bullfight are called toreros, while the person in charge of killing the bull is the matador de toros – killer of bulls
• Fighters can be awarded the bull’s ears, tail or hooves as a trophy
• Author Ernest Hemingway was an admirer of Spanish bullfighting and wrote about its rituals in 1932 in Death in the Afternoon
• The tradition dates back at least 4,000 years and is thought to have been popularised by the Romans
• It remains popular in southern France, Portugal and some South American countries

On Tuesday, the popular petition was easily backed in parliament, where the governing conservative Popular Party (PP) has a majority.

Under the proposal, bullfighting would be promoted by the authorities who would also push the UN to recognise it as part of Spain’s cultural heritage.

A parliamentary commission is now expected to fine-tune proposed legislation and the vote could take place later this year.

The parliamentary vote is an attempt by pro-bullfighting conservatives to keep this controversial tradition alive, the BBC’s Tom Burridge reports.

About 2,000 fights are still held every year in Spain, but the numbers are falling.

Bullfighting was banned last year in Catalonia, in the north-east, with supporters of the measure describing the blood-soaked pageants as barbaric.

The ban in Catalonia was also seen by many Spaniards as an attempt by Catalan nationalists to distinguish the region from the rest of Spain and its traditions.

Bullfighting was also banned in the Canary Islands in 1991.

News Link:-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21437314

From the moment the bull enters the ring, he is destined to die. His death will be slow and painful, and the last moments of his life will be full of terror and confusion as he hears the sounds of a jeering crowd. For the bull, bullfighting is no “competition”. It is simply slaughter for human entertainment.

Some links & Petitions to sign against Bullfighting:-

• http://www.stopbullfighting.org.uk/
  
• http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-bullfighting-festivals-in-france
• http://www.wspa.org.uk/helping/action/Bullfighting/bullfighting.aspx
• http://www.league.org.uk/content/338/What-Can-You-Do-
• http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=1861
• Please there are many more on the web & Face Book, sign & share them all

“I think this picture show’s bullfighting at it’s best, when the bull actually gets a chance at the supposed fair fight!”

British Woman Sees Dog Beaten To Death On Her Own Drive

“I can’t believe the women who witnessed the attack on the dog, has been asked to withdraw her claim, because the guy (who beat his dog to death); has children!! WTF… alarm bells should be ringing for the safety of those children…the psychological literature available to all, is replete with major studies that have identified the animal/human violence link.  What they should be doing is giving his name to animal control & police; asking them to seize all his other animals! He should then be forced to undergo some kind of anger management course; then the police should keep a close eye on him.  I doubt very much this person will be prosecuted for his heinous crime. People should be concerned for those that have to live with a person, capable of breaking a dogs spine, in temper; not helping him to get away with it because he has children!” 

A BRITISH expat witnessed a dog ‘brutally beaten and killed’ outside her home in Almogia, Malaga.

Susie Murdoch, 55, saw a man trying to retrieve a male mastin from the top of her drive before launching a vicious attack on the animal.

“I saw the mastin, then a man following it and shouting as it tried to hide behind a tree.

“He picked up a very large stick from the ground and began beating the dog so I ran up the drive shouting,” said Murdoch.

“He shouted something back at me in Spanish and then walked away.” As the owner left the premises, Murdoch went after the injured animal.

After nearly 30 minutes of searching, Murdoch saw the dog collapse in a nearby field through a pair of binoculars.

Murdoch, originally from Brighton, found the animal dead with what appeared to be a broken spine.

After reporting the attack to local police, Murdoch has been asked by some locals to withdraw her claims because ‘the man has a wife and children’.

“That is something I will not do,” she said.

“It’s absolutely disgusting, the dog was killed just because it wouldn’t go back to him,” added the expat.

It emerges that the man, who is thought to be in his mid-forties, also owns several other animals.

Mastins are commonly used throughout Spain to guard livestock due to their size and temperament.

The incident is just one of many recent reports of animal cruelty in Andalucia, with one man running over his own dog in Estepona.

The case has now been referred to the Guardia Civil.

News Link:-http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2013/01/28/british-woman-sees-dog-beaten-to-death-on-her-own-drive/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theolivepress%2FnZgG+%28The+Olive+Press%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

Compassionate Police Officer Stays By Side Of Dying Dog

“Yes, I’m writing through tears, why? well obviously because I’m saddened by this, but also; because I wish there were more people like this in the world. Why can’t all people have the compassion & empathy, this young police officer showed? It doesn’t cost anything to be kind…people around the world should remember that!”

Too frequently we see stories of police acting inappropriately – shooting innocent and friendly pet dogs, without so much as a whisper of remorse.  But there is always the other side of the coin, police acting heroically and showing compassion to our best friends.  We do not see this side often enough.

Be prepared to bust out the Kleenex for this video, accompanied by Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel,” which we know all too well from those heartbreaking ASPCA commercials.  The video shows a police officer in Spain making just a few simple gestures to show a dog he cares.  The dog was struck by a car, and Carlos Rosa stays with him on the side of the road, refusing to leave his side.

Sadly, the dog did not survive.  His internal injuries were too severe to repair, and he was euthanized at a veterinary clinic.  But before he departed this world, he was brought some comfort by being shown the kindness of a human who made sure this dog would not be alone when he died.

Link:-http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2013/01/compassionate-officer-stays-by-dying-dogs-side/

Guardia Civil Trafico socorre a un perro atropellado.wmv

Dog Rescued From Locked Suitcase Would Have Been Crushed In Garbage Truck

“OMG…I found this by chance on one of my many “who did it” trails… so please note the following, it has been translated & is….albeit a little disjointed, I have tried to make sense of it! I got the details from the blog below, but if anyone know’s anything please contact those below!”

“There are some really sick people out there, if you don’t want your dog take it to a pound, don’t shove it in a bloody suitcase to be thrown in the back of a garbage truck…I don’t know how anyone could live with themselves having done this…I hope my mate “Karma” makes a visit to the culprits house…very soon!!”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012

BITCH found inside a suitcase and thrown in a container

Dog put in case & left for garbage vehicle to come & crush!!

BITCH found inside a suitcase and pulled into a container to crush VIVA.EN THE SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, help with the dissemination, must be found who committed this despicable act.

Found in Mills Street SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE.

Please if anyone recognizes need more data to send complaint contact below.

BITCH ON RESCUED FROM A LOCKED CONTAINER IN A CASE THAT IS IN THE SHELTER VALLEY COLINO: (information by Olga ere) copy and paste your information:

First all staff and volunteers of the shelter wants to thank the people who warned this bitch and rescued from certain death.

Despite the atrocity, let’s stay with the positive aspect that people are increasingly aware and hopefully very pronto these cruelties thing of the past. Valle Colino’s veterinarian has examined the dog and has several bites all over her body, superficial character , but without gravity.

The health status of the dog seems to be good but still under observation. Already several people are organizing to file a subsequent complaint with all the data that have been collected and also the report accompanying veterinarian.

Finally we want to end this message with the good news that a person already have expressed interest in adopting the dog and hopefully soon make the necessary legal procedures to do so, since it falls within the breeds considered by law as potentially dangerous.

Anything new, keep reporting. Thank you! (Olga ere) ———– Added staff (Miguel Medina) is that this product is Argentina, when something this serious happens is important to spread, luckily story with readers bastos santa cruz Spain and Tenerife.

Especially Spanish readers or related to these please spread it, and those who are not of that country, please give due importance in rejection mode, this is serious and should not happen in any region.

SITE FOR ANIMALS, SUMATE migueanimal Miguel Medina

Twitter @ https://twitter.com/#/migueanimal (can’t make out the this)

Facebook:-https://www.facebook.com/dailos.capotemartin

Blog:-http://migueanimal.blogspot.com.ar/