Genetically engineered pigs killed after funding ends

Canada‘s only herd of genetically engineered pigs has been killed, putting in jeopardy a plan to turn the technology into the first GE animal approved for human consumption.

The University of Guelph, which holds the patent for the so-called Enviropigs, quietly killed the remaining animals last month after failing to find an industry partner to continue to fund the project that began in 1999 with an ambitious commercialization plan.

There were 10 remaining animals in the herd from the 10th generation of the pigs, which were first created with a snippet of mouse DNA introduced into their chromosomes and engineered to produce low-phosphorus feces and reduce waste at large factory farms.

The project’s future was put into doubt earlier this spring, when industry association Ontario Pork decided to end its financial support.

The genetic information is being preserved in long-term safe storage at the Canadian Agricultural Genetics Repository Program operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, university spokeswoman Lori Bona Hunt told Postmedia News Thursday.

Still, the depopulation of the herd could torpedo the university’s applications with Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration in the United States for the Enviropig to become meat on kitchen tables.

In a statement, Bona Hunt said the applications “to assess the safety of Enviropigs for human food and animal feed are currently under review,” but raised the spectre of the university pulling the plug at some point, saying “they will remain active until a regulatory decision is made or until such time that the university no longer desires to obtain a final decision from the regulatory evaluators.”

Calling the deaths a “sad but necessary conclusion to an unwanted and unnecessary GE experiment,” Lucy Sharratt of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network said the regulatory review process should be aborted immediately because there is no longer the scientific capacity at the University of Guelph to answer any questions arising from Health Canada’s ongoing safety assessment of Enviropigs for human food and animal feed.

“The university has no business wasting public funds on a review for a technology that no one wants, that’s so commercially unviable,” said Sharratt, who also placed blame on the federal government.

“It’s unacceptable that Health Canada would continue spending time on this file when it’s obviously being packed away. There needs to be a clear process for shutting down review processes for GE products that are going nowhere.”

Health Canada has repeatedly said the government cannot comment on any applications to assess the safety of any GE animal for human food.

The pigs were euthanized on May 24.

It occurred just days after North America’s largest farm animal protection group launched a public campaign to save the lives of the swine. New York-based Farm Sanctuary offered to work with the university to find “loving homes for the Enviropigs” to “live out their unnatural lives as naturally as possible.”

Bona Hunt said that the university received “many generous and well-intentioned offers,” but there was “absolutely no opportunity for this to occur, as adoption, donation or transfer of the animals would represent a breach of protocols and Canadian policies.”

Added Bona Hunt: “Releasing the Enviropigs would also have violated Canadian regulations for the containment and use of transgenic animals, and possibly compromised consumer safety and market protection.”

The University of Guelph had previously filed an application with Environment Canada to permit the GE pig to be farmed commercially, and cleared an important hurdle in February 2010. At the time, the department determined the GE pig did not harm the environment under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and accepted the University of Guelph’s notice of significant new activity — meaning the GE pig could be farmed commercially.

News Link:-http://www.canada.com/technology/science/Genetically+engineered+pigs+killed+after+funding+ends/6819844/story.html

Richard “Kudo” Couto’s Undercover Slaughter Footage Gets Dissed In Tampa (Graphic Video)

Around these parts, everybody’s pretty well acquainted with the tactics of undercover animal activist Richard “Kudo” Couto.

The winner of this week’s Best of Miami award for “Best Citizen“, Couto goes to unlicensed slaughterhouses, secretly films brutal animal killings, and– here in Miami-Dade County, at least — gets press attention and results. His footage resulted in the dismantling of the C-9 Basin, an entire district of illegal slaughter, and in several felony charges against animal abusers.

After receiving a tip from a Tampa-area resident, Couto adopted the identity of Martin Silva, handyman, and infiltrated the illegal slaughterhouse community of that city. But the resulting footage– while pretty stunning to us– hasn’t exactly bowled over cops there.

Couto, along with a USDA investigator, bought horsemeat — an outlawed commodity — from a Citrus Park black marketeer. He also filmed unlicensed butchers bleeding out a pig and a goat in brutal and clearly unregulated fashion.

But the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has taken to Tampa news outlets to diminish Couto’s claims. Spokesperson Larry McKinnon told Fox-13:

We certainly don’t see the epidemic of selling meat for human consumption that he has asserted. We’ve been out on numerous occasions with him and never have been able to successfully buy horsemeat that he’s made the assertion they’re selling.

The problem with that, Couto says, is that he’s never been on a sting with anybody from the Hillsborough Sheriff’s office.

Couto says he’s been told that there will be no animal cruelty charges resulting from his footage, because of the undercover manner in which it was obtained. In an email shared with Riptide, Hillsborough Sheriff’s detective Larry Lingo warns Couto: “When you buy the meat it has to be under law enforcement supervision or you commit the same crime as the person selling it.”

Neither McKinnon or Lingo responded to Riptide’s requests for comment.

But in Couto’s mind, the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office is lashing out because his own investigation caught them flat-footed. “The problem is these are good ol’ boys,” says Couto, “and they do not want somebody coming into their county and showing what they’ve been neglecting for the last 40 years. I’m certainly not going to allow a police department to discredit me with lies.”

You can judge for yourself whether Couto’s findings should result in arrests. Here’s a video he put together showing slaughter by unlicensed butchers in the Tampa area. A warning: cops there might not be impressed, but we found it extraordinarily graphic.

“Viewer Discretion Is Advised – Very Graphic & distressing scenes! How no arrest were made for their heinous actions, is beyond me. It’s blatant animal abuse, if it took place in your back garden, you would certainly feel the full force of the law…whats the difference??”

The video is unlisted, which means only those with a link can see it!

 

Uploaded by kudo2020 on 29 May 2012

News Link:–http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/06/richard_kudo_coutos_undercover.php

Animal cruelty pair jailed after being caught stubbing out cigarettes on pigs’ faces and hitting them with baton

• One pig was beaten 30 times in just a minute
• Defendent claimed abuse was part of the slaughterhouse ‘culture’
• Animal rights groups say abuse is widespread

Two slaughtermen who were filmed beating pigs and stubbing cigarettes out their faces were today jailed.Piotr Andrzej Wasiuta, 30 and Kelly Smith, 40, were secretly filmed by animal rights group Animal Aid, who hid cameras in pig pens at Cheale Meats in Brentwood, Essex.

Kelly Smith

Members of the charity group wept today as the pair admitted cruelty charges and were sentenced to a total of 10 weeks behind bars at Westminster Magistrates Court.

In the distressing video, Wasiuta can be seen pushing a lit cigarette onto the forehead and snout of three different pigs and forcing hot ash into one of the animals’ faces as it squirms to get away.

Abuse: Wasiuta will spend six weeks behind bars after admitting stubbing cigarettes out in a number of pigs in his care

His actions earned him a six-week jail sentence.

In another clip, Smith, an experienced slaughterman of 14 years, is seen beating the animals with the edge of a ‘slapper’ used to move the pigs around the pens before slaughter.

He is later filmed hitting one pig 30 times in a minute – forcing the animal to sit down and pant heavily during the tirade of blows.

The 40-year-old father-of-three was jailed for four weeks.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny explained to the court how the footage was obtained by a contractor at the slaughterhouse who had ties to Animal Aid.

Stress: Smith claimed he was under intense pressure when he carried out the abuse

The filmed abuse took place in March and April 2011.

Describing abuse carried out by Smith, he said:’These acts were pointless, served no purpose and demonstrated to his colleagues his contempt for the animals he was dealing with

Jeremy Sirrell, defending Smith, said the beatings happened when he was under ‘extreme pressure’ at work.

‘They were expected to slaughter 1500 animals, or units as the company would call it,’ he said.

‘It is a matter of some irony, that this extreme pressure bore out of more animals being taken from another slaughter house in proximity having been closed down as a result, quite rightly, of activity by Animal Aid.’

Sundeep Pahkhania, defending Wasiuta, said he had been working in the slaughter house for under two months, and the abuse was part of a wider culture and couldn’t explain he behaviour.

‘In the CCTV, you can see another operative walking by, and he mentions nothing,’ he said.

WARNING: This film contains scenes that viewers may find disturbing.

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_slaughter/ALL/2525

‘I suggest there was an established culture of this kind of behaviour. ‘He walks into it as very much a newbie. ‘He realises now it was unacceptable, unlawful and is disgusted with himself.’

As he sentenced them both, Magistrate John Newgas told Wasiuta and Smith: ‘You have both seen the pictures of what took place. ‘They show clear animal cruelty no doubt about it.

‘You should have known what you were doing was wrong, and must have known it was wrong.’

Both men have since been sacked from their jobs at the slaughterhouse.

Animal Aid’s Head of Campaigns, Kate Fowler said the organisation was pleased with the result of the case – but urged the government to investigate two further slaughterhouses, claiming animals abuse is widespread across the industry.

She said: ‘We are satisfied that Wasiuta and Smith have now been brought to justice.

‘Their acts of cruelty were inexcusable and caused untold suffering to animals who were already scared and vulnerable.

‘However, many other slaughterhouse workers, who also caused serious and deliberate suffering to animals, have escaped justice because this government refused to act.

‘We are now calling on the Food Standards Agency to look again at two other cases to see whether charges may be brought under the Animal Welfare Act.

‘Our detailed investigations have found illegality in eight of the nine slaughterhouses we visited, despite government-appointed vets being present in all of them.

‘The current regulatory system does not work.

‘It does not catch those who abuse animals. But this case proves that properly placed and independently-monitored cameras do work, and we renew our call for Defra to make CCTV mandatory to catch those who abuse animals and to act as a disincentive to those who might consider it.’

Cheale Meats have not commented on the case.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135083/Animal-cruelty-pair-jailed-caught-stubbing-cigarettes-pigs-faces-hitting-baton.html#ixzz1t9qB4c2G

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Cat tattoos – Chinese Pigs Get Tattooed

“OMG…The ultimate abuse, something an animal will never be rid of…a tatoo…how utterly ignorant, this guy should be charged with animal abuse! I found a video on a guy who likes tattooing pigs…yes pigs…& he says ‘it doesn’t hurt them’….sorry but I have seen big guys cry in pain whilst being tattooed, a pigs skin is very sensitive so they would definitely be in pain…What I can’t understand is why nobody has arrested & charged these idiots especially the one who is tattooing pigs, its ABUSE!”

Tattoo artist Timur Rimut, from Tatarsan, Russia, has inked a necklace design on the moggy with the words Carpe Diem, Latin for ‘seize the day’.

Cruel: Coco now has the same tattoo as its owner Timur Rimut
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102709/I-pet-cattooed-Vile-Russian-owner-brands-pet-matching-body-art.html#ixzz1qiZYyf5v

Rimut, 24, has an identical tattoo on his own chest and a tattoo portrait of the hairless sphinx on his arm.

But to add insult to injury, it appears he misspelled the famous phrase, scrawling ‘Carpe Deem’ on Coco’s chest instead.

‘We are shocked to see these images. As a charity that cares passionately about cats and seeks to inform the public about responsible pet ownership, we do not agree with people treating pets as fashion accessories in any way,’ a spokesman for UK charity Cats Protection said.

‘Animals should be anaesthetised for veterinary reasons only, not cosmetic purposes. We hope that people will realise that it is unacceptable to treat animals in this manner.’

The video is so graphic MailOnline has decided not to publish it.

Rimut also has a tattoo of his cat, showing the new tattoo, on his own forearm.

Close-up: The cruel artist also misspelled the Latin phrase Carpe Diem - writing Carpe Deem instead
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102709/I-pet-cattooed-Vile-Russian-owner-brands-pet-matching-body-art.html#ixzz1qiZLFS2d

Put to sleep … the poor cat is anaesthetised so that his owner can give him a tattoo

The unfortunate feline went under anaesthetic for the painful treatment – and video footage shows him passed out on a table while Rimut gets to work with the needle.

Seemingly unaware of his cruelty, Rimut then poses proudly for photos which show their matching tatts.

Animal rights activists are furious at the abuse of trust, with YouTube users queuing up to condemn the sick stunt.

NewLifestyleMentor posted: “This is the ultimate in animal cruelty. I can’t understand how an animal owner could do this to their pet. Totally sickening!”

HaileyIsAGoddess added: “The cat doesn’t give its consent to be tattooed. You rob it of its rights by forcing it asleep only so you can decorate it with what you want. Cats are not colouring books.”

This latest outrage is not the first time a sphinx cat has been tattooed in Russia.

Moscow woman Oksana Popova had her cat sedated for three hours so a tattoo of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen could be inked on its chest.

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• Stop Vanity Tattoos for Cats in Russia – Video Of Pets Tattooed…WTF (preciousjules1985.wordpress.com)

Walmart’s Pork Supplier Exposed – YouTube

Walmart’s Pork Supplier Exposed – YouTube.

Newly-released undercover video footage taken by The Humane Society of the United States at factory farms owned by Seaboard Foods and Prestage Farms—two of the nation’s largest pork producers—show appalling animal cruelty. Breeding pigs are locked inside tiny gestation crates, unable to even turn around for virtually their entire lives. Dead pigs were found inside these crates. Pigs were living amidst feces and urine with abscesses and injuries.

TAKE ACTION
You can help today by using the form below to send a brief, polite message to Seaboard and Prestage and urging them to end their use of gestation crates to confine breeding pigs. We encourage you to add your own thoughts or comments about this issue in the editable portion, so these companies know how important this is to you personally.

YouTube – FMD-Pigs Buried Alive in Korea.flv

How can people be so fxxxxxg cruel…my God!  IT is us humans that are the animals. I am so glad I am vegetarian, on the verge of being vegan, but I love my egg butties!