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National Anti Snaring Campaign

SHAC

SPEAK CAMPAIGN

HUNTWATCH

ARAN

BRIGHTON ANIMAL ACTION

Campaign for the Abolition of Animal Slavery

Anchor: vegetarian
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'The human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future: deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilisation of communities and the spread of disease,' the Worldwatch Institute has warned.  Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Served (Portobello Books) believes growing food for animals is a waste of resources in an overcrowded world. That's because animals are hungry and the grain they eat takes energy, usually fossil fuels, to produce,' he says. The world's fertiliser industry uses natural gas as a basic ingredient and therefore contributes to global warming when it uses fossil fuel to manufacture the extra fertilisers needed to ensure cattle and other animals have sufficient food. it takes even more plant protein to make animal protein. It requires four calories of plant protein to make one of chicken protein, while the ratio for pork is 17:1; for lamb, 50:1; and for beef, a staggering 54:1. 'That is a lot of energy and a lot of grain diverted,' adds Patel. In 2006, farmers produced an estimated 276 million tonnes of chicken, pork, beef and other meat: four times as much as they did in 1961, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

Kent police force has offered £40,000 in compensation to animal rights campaigners after they were prevented from joining a protest against livestock exports. The group of London-based protesters accused Kent police of heavy-handed tactics after their coach was stopped as it entered Dover in July 2006 en route to a demonstration against the shipping of live animals to the Continent. The campaigners, who included a disabled boy and several elderly people, claimed they were threatened with arrest after leaving the vehicle to plead their case with police. They were photographed before being escorted back to London by 2 police cars and 2 motorcycles. Now lawyers for Kent police have offered each of the 32 protesters £1,250 in an out-of-court settlement following a claim brought against the force alleging that the group was unlawfully denied the right to protest. The case was brought by the law firm Irwin Mitchell, which has brought several previous prominent human rights cases. The animal rights proceedings are the latest in a catalogue of legal complaints about the policing of demonstrations, including the May Day protests in central London and the decision to prosecute Maya Evans, a vegan cook who was arrested in 2005 for reading out a list of Britain's dead from the Iraq war underneath the Cenotaph. One of the campaigners said: 'The way in which we were treated was disgraceful. The police pulled us over by claiming the coach was not roadworthy but it rapidly became clear that they did not want to let us reach the protest. At first we were told that we could demonstrate for half an hour. But 10 minutes later we were all told to get back on the coach and anyone refusing to do so would be arrested. The police started filming everyone on board the coach and when one of our group tried to get off he was forcibly prevented from doing so. We were then escorted all the way back up the motorway to London and told that we could not turn off the motorway at any point for water or toilet breaks on one of the hottest days of the year. It was a ridiculous situation – most of us were middle-aged or elderly and we had all come to exercise our democratic right to stage a peaceful protest.' Edited from The Independent. 25 Sept

Over the last 2 years we have been submitting regular official complaints to the Legal Affairs department (DG SANCO) of the EU Health and Consumers Directorate-General, Brussels, in relation to issues of concern about animal exports which we have witnessed departing from Dover, including possible non-adherence to current (EU) animal welfare legislation Data for these complaints resulted in 17 formal KALE submission documents, comprising of in excess of 200 A4 pages of information, being provided as evidence to the legal affairs team in Brussels.  In February this year, Brussels sent to the UK a team of investigators from their Food and Veterinary department (the FVO), tasked with a mission of evaluating the EU ‘System of Control in Relation to Animal Welfare During Transport’.  KALE have now obtained access to the Final Report produced by the FVO on this same mission.  The inspection number was 2008/7690 and a pdf copy can be viewed by visiting http://ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/ir_search_en.cfm and clicking on the ‘en’ box for English language, should anyone wish to read it in entirety. The main points of the EU report from the FVO Uk visit and investigation include: (Note – all bold and underline by KALE)

So, reading the above, I hope you agree, the efforts over the last few years to let the EU legal people know the real situation(s) at Dover has verified a lot of our concerns about the entire industry.  Defra may think the system works, but we know and have provided evidence that it does not completely in reality.  Has it all been worth it ? – Yes, for sure it has; would we do it again ? – we will if the need arises.  More details to come in future editions of KALE News. Best Regards –   Mark  KALE EU Correspondent – 1^st Oct 2008

Fri 5^th to Sat 6^th Sept - Friday night did nothing to dispel the gloom of the week continuing on with high winds, lashing rain and rough seas. Frequent and heavy squalls, ferocious at times, whipped the water into a frenzy with white topped waves rolling in and crashing into the beaches & the quays. The main direction was SSE turning to SSW with wind speeds of up to force 9 in the gusts at times and with a rising tide this did not alter all night. Between the squalls the wind did drop to almost stand- up-able strength but rose again swiftly as the next squall hit and in the glare of the arc lights we could see the rain sweeping across the docks in an almost horizontal curtain, Into this chaos and severity of weather "agri shipping" decided to export sheep across the channel, making it blatantly obvious they care nothing for the welfare of the animals just in making a fast euro. Write and complain to your M.P. about this sailing, which should not have taken place. Kale registered an official complaint to Animal Health in the docks. The usual 4 Kale members braved the night - to the bitter end - and monitored this travesty of non compliance with regulations. Our watch began at 21.00 hrs.  21.30 hrs Pentalina B berthed at Dover Eastern Docks. After berthing it rolled and pitched in the berth as the tide rose but did not lower her stern door. So we waited, while squall after squall roared across . Even the ferries were having trouble maintaining their berthing positions.

Lorry arrivals: 00.27 hrs Dutch Van Veen double trailers each carrying 3 tiers sheep. 01.05 hrs Dutch, no name, articulated lorry with grey trailer, 3 tiers carrying sheep. This and the following 2 lorries are identical in appearance and must all come from the same company as their registration numbers are mixed and matched. 01.05 hrs Dutch, no name, articulated trailer, 3 tiers carrying sheep. 02.07 hrs Dutch, no name, 3 tiered articulated trailer carrying sheep. This one was inspected and when it loaded last onto the ship it drove on cab first, which left all the trailer sticking out on the open part of the deck and the driver then opened wide all the vents. Then the driver in white T shirt went forward, no doubt to the dry, comfy saloon to sit out the voyage . By this time Kale knew that further protest at sailing in such adverse conditions was futile. Animal Health were on the dockside letting it all happen - yet again - so we just watched as the ship shut up the stern door and prepared to sail. 02.50 hrs with extreme difficulty getting off the quay- the wind kept her stern pinned - but eventually Pentalina B made it off and sailed. We then watched, open mouthed , as she left the harbour , at the violent rolling and pitching , she is a very small ship and was being tossed about like a cork in a maelstrom. Tally for this disaster of a shipment = 4 Dutch all with sheep.

Fri 12^th - Sat 13^th Sept - 4 KALE monitors present.  Pentalina B berthed at 21.45 hrs. 23.10 hrs Dutch, Van Veen, double grey and red trailers carrying 3 tiers of sheep. 23.11hrs Dutch, Klaas Swter, black cab /double trailers each carrying 3 tiers of sheep, speeding in past a lorry stopped by police on the offside lane.  23.11 hrs Dutch, Dirk Aantjies cab with Gebr Gizzell double trailers with GG logos, carrying 3 tiers of sheep.  23.50 hrs Dutch, no name white cab articulated trailer carrying sheep in 3 tiers. O1.OOhrs Dutch, the twin of the previous carrier, drove directly on to the ship, which promptly shut the stern door and prepared to leave. 01.25 hrs Pentalina B sailed, bound for Dunkerque West.

Sat 20^th Sept - The usual 4 Kale members plus a welcome visitor presented themselves at the Eastern Docks entrance at 02.45 hrs to monitor the shipment. Pentalina B berthed in Dover at 04.15 hrs.  02.50 hrs Dutch, name not legible, articulated trailer carrying 3 tiers of sheep. Not inspected. 03.25 hrs Dutch, Van Veen articulated trailer with 3 tiers of small sheep. 03.25 hrs Dutch, Van Veen, the twin of no2, both inspected for a short time. 03.35 hrs Peter Z, agent for Agri Shipping and Pentalina B into the docks in his white van. 03.40 hrs Dutch, 3 tiered articulated trailer with the words on a small metal plate ‘Vevoer Van Vieron’', carrying sheep. 03.48 hrs Dutch, Dirk Aantjies, double trailers each with 3 tiers with name GEBR GIZELL and sheep logo, carrying sheep. Not inspected.  04.05 hrs all the transporters parked north of the locked gate and within 15 minutes loading began as soon as Pentalina B docked and lowered her stern door. 05.25 hrs Pentalina B sailed bound for Dunkerque West carrying 5 Dutch transporters.

Fri 3^rd Oct  - The usual 4 Kale members turned out for this shipment starting their watch at 02.30 hrs. It was with disappointment, upon checking, that 3 transporters had already turned up and were parked in Hammond's Yard by their cargo sheds. Not having an arrival time for these nor their index plates we only had appearance to go on for identifying them. All 3 were Dutch and carrying sheep. 03.40 hrs another un-named Dutch lorry with 3 tiers of sheep.  Pentalina B berthed at 04.05 hrs and quickly lowered her stern door. Ship sailed at 04.35hrs.

Sat 4^th Oct - The usual, by now bleary eyed, 4 Kale members turned out for this shipment plus a very welcome visitor. Watch started at 01.00 hrs. At 02.10hrs an Irish transporter, Fahey, exited the docks coming from a regular ferry and probably returning from a Rosslaire/Cherbourg run. At 02.30hrs Dutch, Sleegers arrived with 3 tiers of sheep; 02.50hrs Dutch, Rinus van Beers also with sheep. Ship berthed at 03.25hrs. 03.59hrs a British artic with 3 tiers of sheep followed immediately by a Dutch one also with sheep.  All loaded and sailed away by 04.45hrs.  A total of 3½  trailers.

Animal Welfare is top concern
Animal welfare and fair trade are far bigger concerns to UK consumers than climate change, according to a huge new poll of UK shoppers. Only 4% rate climate change as their top ethical priority, compared with 21% who think animal welfare is the most important issue and 14% who rate fair trade as their key concern. The findings come from a survey conducted by the Co-op that has been used to draw up a "responsible retailing" policy, designed to reflect shoppers' concerns. The Co-op claims the survey is the biggest poll of consumer ethics ever undertaken. The supermarket group analysed responses to a detailed, 4-page questionnaire from more than 100,000 members and customers. It intends to use their responses to guide changes to the way it does business. As a result of the survey the Co-op is halting the sale and use of eggs from caged hens with immediate effect. The 2,700-strong supermarket chain is also ensuring all its own-brand tea - including its 99 brand - becomes fair trade. The customer-owned business, which made all of its coffee fair trade 5 years ago, intends to absorb the extra costs so that prices do not go up.  3 main categories emerged from the survey as the key areas of concern: ethical trading (27%), animal welfare (25%) and environmental impact (22%).  Some 4% pinpointed animal testing as the ethical issue they believe is the most important facing consumers - the same proportion as want more attention paid to climate change.

Meat free preferred to vegetarian
According to a report in The Grocer, shoppers are put off by the word vegetarian as it has connotations with the 1970s often tasteless and limited food so ‘meat-free’ is being used instead. The vegetarian food market is now worth £254 million. It recorded a 5.5% increase in value last year compared with the previous year. The magazine says that innovation is playing a major role in the vegetarian market. Almost 1/3 of products on sale this year are new, indicating the desire of manufacturers to expand the horizons of their brands. The report shows that 40% of British households bought meat-free meals last year - up from 38% on the previous year. David Humphreys, of TNS Worldpanel, which carried out the survey for the magazine, said vegetarian ingredients, including meat substitute pieces and mince, was the main sector driving growth. Its value had risen by 12%.

Red meat and cancer – government hiding the truth

A major new scientific report has produced ‘convincing’ evidence that eating red meat increases the risk of bowel cancer. But instead of alerting consumers to the risks, the government is helping to fund propaganda offensives by meat industry bodies aimed at concealing the bad news. The Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) and the red meat promotional body north of the border – Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) – both expressed alarm ahead of the publication of the World Cancer Research Fund’s new report.  In June, the MLC revealed that it was involved in a propaganda offensive aimed at doctors to discourage them from giving out advice based on the new scientific evidence. Richard Lowe, chief executive of the MLC, told a conference of meat processors:  ‘Our guess is that meat and meat products will be presented [in the WCRF report] as having convincing evidence of links to cancer. Meat bodies now are lobbying on a combined response and targeting the healthcare profession because the danger is from doctors giving advice based on this.’ More recently, the QMS declared:  ‘There are considerable industry fears that a report from the World Cancer Research Fund due out in Nov 07 will again use epidemiological research to raise concerns over the role of red meat and may go so far as to move it into a category of "probably linked with bowel cancer" from its current position with the charity of "possibly linked with bowel cancer".’ The admission came in what turned out to be a successful application by QMS to Scottish Enterprise for a grant to promote the consumption of red meat. The WCRF report is a follow-up to its highly influential 600-page dossier published 10 years ago. The 1997 report was itself bad news for the public image of meat, eggs and milk. Animal Aid Director Andrew Tyler said: ‘The tobacco industry fought for years to suppress the evidence that smoking causes cancer. They put their profits before public health and, as a result, are responsible for the sickness and deaths of millions of people. And now, the meat industry – when faced with accumulating evidence of serious human disease caused by their products – is resorting to the same dirty tricks. It seems that their strategy is to bombard not just consumers but doctors and health workers with misleading information about the cancer risks associated with animal products. Even more extraordinary is that public money is being used to fund this propaganda.’

Meat and global warming

In early July several newspapers reported that methane emissions from both ends of cows and sheep purposefully bred and used for meat are causing so much concern in government that it is spending tens of thousands of pounds on research to find ways to cut down on the emissions from the animals, which account for about a quarter of the methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful at driving global warming than carbon dioxide – pumped into the atmosphere in Britain. Each day, every one of Britain’s 10 million cows pumps out an estimated 100-200 litres of methane. Researchers are attempting to find a diet for cattle that will result in less flatulence, when the government would be better served fighting global warming by advocating veganism.

Foie Gras

The UK Wide list of outlets that are currently selling foie gras is now on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/foiegrasaction Please bookmark this page for the current list of outlets selling foie gras plus updates re new additions and subtractions to the list. Please continue to email ban_foie_gras@reincarnate.com with your own updates for the myspace website.  

Green Party councillor Ben Duncan has demanded a ban on the sale of ‘foie gras’ in Brighton & Hove. Foie Gras has been widely condemned as cruel by animal welfare campaigners including Brighton MP hopeful Caroline Lucas MEP, who is a Vice-President of the RSPCA.  It has already been banned by councils in York, Norwich and Bolton – and its production outlawed in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Israel. Now Cllr Duncan has asked Brighton and Hove’s powerful Policy and Resources Committee to ban the pate from council premises, to ask the Government to impose a national ban – and to write to all food outlets in the city asking them to take it off the menu too. “The production of Foie Gras is inherently cruel and makes an abomination of animal welfare standards as most people understand them,” said Councillor Duncan. “Though it remains lawful, foie gras is produced by force-feeding geese directly into their stomachs using a tube. A foie gras bird is typically compelled to eat the equivalent of an adult human consuming 10kg of spaghetti a day. “After two to three weeks, when they are ready for slaughter, their livers will have swollen to about 10 times their normal size. The swollen liver expands the abdomen and can make movement and breathing difficult, as well as causing other health problems. This is nothing short of barbaric - and its sale sends out all the wrong signals of what Brighton and Hove is like in the 21st Century. Brighton and Hove has a tremendous reputation for hospitality and this move to limit the sale of Foie Gras in the city is about maintaining that reputation in the face of increasing public revulsion at the complete disregard of modern animal welfare standards its production entails. "This isn't just about protecting animal welfare though, it's about keeping Brighton and Hove one step ahead of the game and bringing the city in line with the expectations of the majority of its residents, visitors, and, hopefully, its directly-elected councillors."

INTERESTING FACT: Bovine TB is a problem on the UK mainland - it is also a problem on the Isle of Mann - Badgers don't live on The Isle of Mann.

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

The meat industry is one of the most destructive ecological industries on the planet. The raising and slaughtering of pigs, cows, sheep, turkeys and chickens not only utilizes vast areas of land and vast quantities of water, but it is a greater contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than the automobile industry. The seafood industry is literally plundering the ocean of life and some 50% of fish caught from the oceans is fed to cows, pigs, sheep, chickens etc in the form of fish meal. It also takes about 50 fish caught from the sea to raise one farm raised salmon. We have turned the domestic cow into the largest marine predator on the planet. The hundreds of millions of cows grazing the land and farting methane consume more tonnage of fish than all the world's sharks, dolphins and seals combined. Domestic housecats consume more fish, especially tuna, than all the world's seals. So why is it that all the world's large environmental and conservation groups are not campaigning against the meat industry? Why did Al Gore's film Inconvenient Truth not mention the inconvenient truth that the slaughter industry creates more greenhouse gases than the automobile industry? Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is the only conservation organization in the world that endorses and practises vegetarianism. My ships do not serve meat or fish ever, nor do we serve dairy products. We've had a strictly vegan menu for years and no one has died of scurvy or malnutrition. There is not enough fish in the world's oceans to feed 6.6 billion human beings and another 10 billion domestic animals. That is why all the world's commercial fisheries are collapsing. That is why whales, seals, dolphins and seabirds are starving. The sand eel for example, the primary source of food for the comical and beautiful puffin is being wiped out by Danish fishermen solely to provide fish meal to Danish factory farmed chickens. This is a solid conservation connection between eating meat and the destruction of life in our oceans. In a world fast losing resources of fresh water, it is sheer lunacy to have hundreds of millions of cows consuming over 1,000 gallons of water for every pound of beef produced. And the pig farms in North Carolina produce so much waste that it has contaminated the entire ground water reserves of the entire state. North Carolinians drink pig shit with their water but its okay they say, they just neutralize it with chemicals like chlorine. Most people don't want to see where their meat comes from. They also don't want to know what the impact of their meat has on the ecology. I did not set the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society up as an animal rights organization and we have never promoted animal rights in the organization. What we have promoted and what we do is oceanic wildlife and habitat conservation work. And the truth is that you can't practise solid and constructive conservation work without promoting veganism and/or vegetarianism as something that promotes the conservation of resources. The problem is that people………… just refuse to accept that their eating habits may be just as much a part of the problem as all those things they are trying to oppose. That one 16oz cut of prime rib is equal to 1,000 gallons of fresh water, a few acres of grass, a few fish, a quarter acre of corn etc. What's the point of taking a shorter shower to conserve water as Greenpeace is preaching if you can sit down and consume 1000 gallons of water at a single meal?  And that single cut of meat would have cost as much in vegetable resources equivalent to what could be fed to an entire African village for a week. The bottom line is that to be a conservationist and an environmentalist, you must practise and promote vegetarianism or better yet veganism. It is the lifestyle that leaves the shallowest ecological footprint, uses fewer resources and produces less greenhouse gas emissions, it's healthier and it means you're not a hypocrite. In fact a vegan driving a hummer would be contributing less greenhouse gas carbon emissions than a meat eater riding a bicycle.

Going vegetarian helps Earth more than conserving water Many people consider themselves environmentally friendly and do their best to make an extra effort on that day. Sadly, many people are unaware of the devastating effect that factory farming has on the environment. A major 2006 report by the United Nations said raising animals for food is "one of the top 2 or 3 most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than by not showering for an entire year. Nearly half the water consumed in the US is used for livestock. It's not just water you can help conserve either. Think about all the land and energy you can save, too: Every minute, an area of rain forest the size of 7 football fields is destroyed to make room for grazing cattle, and more than one-third of all raw materials and fossil fuels currently used in the U.S. go to raising animals for food. Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as all the humans in the U.S., and are a major contributor to global warming. Visit www.goveg.com for more information.

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The Shoreham Protester, 7 Stoneham Road, Hove, BN3 5HJ, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1273 885750. Email: shoreham.protester@ntlworld.com

Last Updated 19 October 2008