Bravo, Belgium! Country on Track to Ban Circuses That Use Wild Animals

A victory for compassion in Belgium came this week, as the government ratified a law to ban the use of wild animals in circuses. This milestone for animals comes after a 10-year campaign by animal rights groups such as Global Action in the Interest of Animals (GAIA).

This excellent new law will save many animals in Belgium from the stress of constant travelling and transport in extremes of temperature, being kept in restricted living quarters, and being confined for their entire lives to an environment in which they cannot express natural behaviour but are instead forced to perform humiliating tricks.

GAIA’s investigations into circuses in Belgium found many animals exhibiting abnormal behaviour, a proven indicator of psychological stress and discomfort, and revealed how animals such as monkeys, elephants, bears, tigers, hippos and giraffes are made to suffer in the name of entertainment.

The Belgian ban follows close on the heels of a similar ban in Austria. In April of this year,the UK government also promised to ban all circuses that use wild animals, but an absurd select-committee report recently recommended that the ban should be limited to certain species – such as elephants and big cats – thereby failing to protect such animals who are still being exploited in English circuses as camels, zebra and reindeer.

The show must not go on for inhumane and archaic circuses that use wild animals – so please send a message to the UK government urging it not to water down the new ban but, like Belgium, to relieve the suffering of all animals who are used and abused under the big top.

News Link:-http://blog.peta.org.uk/2013/07/bravo-belgium-country-on-track-to-ban-circuses-that-use-wild-animals/

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

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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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A revealing report about the problems in the Belgian puppy farms

“Posted on behalf of my fellow animal warrior; @StrayWays on Twitter”

“Please do watch the video, it is very informative & educational but as one would expect, it has it’s sad moments too!. Like when a lady talks about a puppy mill bitch she rescued, who simply froze once out of the cage, she had never known the touch of a loving hand! Or the German Shepherd mix, so scared, forgotten what it’s like to walk, so he crawls along in the dirt, until he realizes he can actually stand tall & walk …I find that simply heartbreaking. These female dogs are denied the most basic of things, they are there for one thing only…the bitches are purely bred to death!

“I didn’t know there were so many puppy mills in Belgium & I’m guessing I’m not the only one! So please help by watching, or at the very least just clicking like & rating the video, then hopefully the Belgium TV networks will take notice. The more that watch, the more that are aware, the more likely we are to get these heinous puppy mills closed down…please, do it for the dogs!! Thank you.”

Just. Click. Play – You don’t have to watch, just press play – I’ll explain after the video.

I know you have seen videos like this before. I know you hate to look at it again. You don’t have to watch it. I only need you to press play.

Published on 13 Jul 2012 by Hondinzak

A revealing report about the problems in the Belgian puppy farms. The English version of “Een hond in een Zak”

You pressed play! Thank you!

Now I can explain. The video reveals more than 160 puppy mills and puppy trafficker operations in Belgium. One of the smaller countries in Europe about the size of New York. The thing is that Belgium TV networks refused to air this very well-researched documentary. The rescue group behind the video, Animal Trust, decided to go viral.

If they would score a high number of “views”, the rescue group can use those numbers to convince the Belgium TV networks to air it. If the quality of the documentary won’t help, maybe viewer ratings will. No network refuses good viewer ratings.

That’s why you pressing “play” in this case is so important.

People must know. People that don’t read blogs like this one. Normal Belgium’s that see television and don’t know this is going on in their country. They have a right to know. First when they know, change can start. Because they are the next generation of puppy buyers.

You probably also thought that Europe was far ahead in solving the issue with puppy mills and puppy trafficking; like a lot of Europeans actually also think.

The reality is unfortunately the opposite. And it is not only Belgium, it is a lot more expanded than that. If you would like to know more how Europe is really doing, read our guest blog over at Cindy Lu’s Muse about puppy mills in Europe: Wake-Up Call For Western Europe.

Today bloggers around the world unite for dog rescue and the rights of dogs. Visit the organizersBlog Catalog, Dog Rescue Success or Be The Change For Animals for more. Keep on reading and sharing!

You are not cheating me right? Please go back and press play. Alright then, I beg you. Officially.

Link:–http://kenzothehovawart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/how-to-rescue-dog-by-play.html

Twitter:-https://twitter.com/StrayWays

Update July 26:
For bloggers that would like to help getting the word out, I made a small video widget that you can show in your blog’s sidebar. An example of it is on the top-right of this blog. The widget contains the video, and a link to this page explaining the background of why it is important. To get it, grab the code below the widget, and copy/paste it as HTML on your blog’s sidebar.