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Please sign the following petition asking the United Nations to establish an Animal Rights Bill

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/petition-for-animal-rights.html

 

Circus wild animal ban upheld in Austria
The Austrian Constitutional Court in Vienna announced that it had thrown out the application by Circus Krone to overturn Austria’s ban on wild animals in circuses. This decision clears the way for a UK ban on the use of wild animals and ADI is now calling on the Government to take immediate action to enact a ban. The Government claimed earlier this year that there were legal impediments to a ban, and cited the upcoming Krone case – even before it had been lodged. Now, the Government’s last so-called ‘impediment’ has gone. The Government will probably use another excuse now!

No cull of badgers in Wales during scientific review

Controversial plans for a badger cull in west Wales have been put on hold while a review is carried out.  The Labour-run Welsh Government says an independent panel of experts will examine the science involved.  The cull had been part of an attempt by the previous Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition government to combat bovine TB.  But Environment Minister John Griffiths said there would be no cull while the panel carried out its work.  The Labour-Plaid coalition had planned the cull alongside other measures to control TB in cattle in an area of north Pembrokeshire - the so-called Intensive Action Area.  The cull was revived in March, 8 months after the coalition was forced to shelve the proposal following a legal challenge by the Badger Trust.  Labour, which is now governing alone, promised a "science-led" approach towards bovine TB in its manifesto for May's assembly election.  As a government we are committed to the eradication of bovine TB in Wales”  In a statement to AMs, Mr Griffiths said an independent panel of experts will be appointed by chief scientific adviser Professor John Harries to review the evidence for eradicating bovine TB. A report is expected in the autumn.  The minister's announcement will please wildlife groups who have opposed the cull, but will disappoint farming unions who urged Mr Griffiths to stick to the policy of his Plaid predecessor, former Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones.  Mr Griffiths denied a claim from Plaid that he was kicking the issue into the long grass. He said the Welsh Government was "fully committed to eradicating bovine TB" and recognised the impact of the disease on farming.  He added: "What happens after the review will depend on what report is delivered and what the verdict is."  By effectively shelving the pilot cull, the Welsh Labour Government has cruelly betrayed the farming industry right across Wales”  More than £12m was paid in compensation to farmers last year and about 10% of cattle farms in Wales are under movement restrictions because of TB.  "This impact should not and can not be sustained and so as a government we are committed to the eradication of bovine TB in Wales," Mr Griffiths said.  A regime of cattle surveillance and controls will continue during the review, including additional controls introduced in the action area in May last year.  Mr Griffiths told AMs it was too early to say whether positive signs of a reduction in bovine TB in recent months were part of a long-term trend.  Plaid AM Ms Jones said his statement was a "slap in the face" for farmers, adding: "In your first act you've let farmers down."  Conservative rural affairs spokeswoman Antoinette Sandbach said: "There is no question that this is a miserable day for our farmers.  "By effectively shelving the pilot cull, the Welsh Labour Government has cruelly betrayed the farming industry right across Wales."  The Badger Trust said it maintained that the evidence behind the original decision to cull was "legally flawed and was likely to have been quashed by the High Court on judicial review".  But the trust welcomed a "rigorous review" of the cull and said it was "determined to take whatever legal steps are required to safeguard this protected species against unjustified slaughter". It said it hoped a judicial review of the cull could now be avoided.  Farmers' Union of Wales TB spokesman Brian Walters said culling was the only tried and tested way of reducing TB in cattle in places where the disease is present in badgers.  "We cannot keep stalling matters in order to avoid difficult decisions in relation to culling badgers," he said.  The RSPCA said it hoped the announcement was the first step towards the Welsh Government reversing the plans altogether.  Colin Booty, senior scientist for the charity, said: "Our position on this is extremely clear - we are firmly opposed to any plans for a widespread cull."  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-13858560

Wild animal circus ban succeeds 

MPs at the House of Commons overwhelmingly voted in favour of a ban on wild animals in circuses. In a highly charged one sided Commons Debate and free vote the Government has been left in absolutely no doubt that the nation now demands an outright ban on the use of wild animals in circuses rather than a system of licensing. In a historic victory for animal welfare and protection, over 50 MP’s from all the major parties voted unanimously for an outright ban on the use of wild animals in circuses, proving that there is an overwhelming political will for the ban. Three quarters of the British public have already backed a ban. Last year, a survey by Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) resulted in a huge 94.5% public support for a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses. A recent independent parliamentary poll conducted by ADI found that 63% of MPs would like to see a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses and only 14% disagreed. Politically there is cross-party support for a ban, with 199 MPs from all parties having signed EDM 403 calling for a ban, making this the 7^th most signed EDM in Parliament out of 1790 motions tabled. Mark Pritchard MP secured the debate and vote which had cross party support from Bob Russell, Jim Fitzpatrick and Caroline Lucas.  Mr Pritchard’s motion for debate was: that this House directs the Government to use its powers under Section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce a regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses to take effect by 1 July 2012. Prior to the debate reports were circulating claiming that the Government has issued a strict instruction for their members to attend and vote against a ban this evening. It has also been suggested that the Prime Minister has become personally involved in the initiative.

Government’s animal rights betrayal

In a series of little-noticed moves, the Coalition has scrapped or stalled Labour initiatives to improve animal welfare some weeks before they were due to come into force.  The Agriculture minister James Paice, who part-owns a farm in Cambridgeshire, has been behind most of the moves - which have infuriated welfare groups. In the latest of a series of controversial decisions, Mr Paice this week delayed by 5 years a ban on beak mutilations of laying hens due to come into force in January. Millions of hens have part of their beaks sliced off to stop them pecking at each other in confined units, but campaigners say there is no need for this if flocks are well managed.  The RSPCA said it was "extremely disappointed" by the decision, describing beak trimming as "an insult to hens' welfare".  Another policy reversal, affecting hundreds of thousands of game birds, was taken following lobbying from the Countryside Alliance and other shooting groups. Mr Paice rewrote the new game-bird farming welfare code to remove a ban on keeping them in cages. The proposed game-bird cage ban would have improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of the 40m game birds bred annually for shooting.  In an additional move, Defra halted a series of prosecutions of abattoir operators based on secret footage which showed animals being kicked, slapped, stamped, and picked up by fleeces and ears and thrown into stunning pens. Some sheep had their throats cut while not properly stunned.  Tim Smith, head of the Food Standards Agency, which enforces slaughterhouse standards, said of the images: "The cruelty on show is the worst I have seen." Defra said the prosecutions would have failed because the footage had been obtained by trespass. Animal Aid, which shot the film, described the decision as "political". Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid said “Our footage was obtained through common trespass, which is a civil matter, not a criminal one. We do not break into properties, we cause no damage and we leave unnoticed with our evidence. There are cases that come to court using covert surveillance, but Jim Paice's department chose not to take the risk and pulled the plug before a judge or magistrate could decide. Furthermore, the Government is reducing the presence of official veterinarians at livestock markets, to the concern of the British Veterinary Association. According to the BVA, Mr Paice has also expressed doubt over plans compulsorily to label kosher and halal meat from animals killed without being stunned.  Defra has been stalling on a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses, which Labour indicated in March it would introduce (after research showed that 94% of the public supported a ban), keeping 40 tigers, elephants, zebras and other animals performing tricks. 4 British circuses use wild animals: the Great British Circus, which has tigers, lions, camels and zebras; Peter Jolly's Circus (camels, zebras, snakes and crocodiles); Circus Mondao (camels and zebras); and Bobby Roberts Circus (camels and elephant). Defra says it will announce its plans "later in the autumn".  Mr Paice again pleased farmers and angered welfare groups by overturning Labour's opposition to a badger cull and proposing farmers trap or shoot the protected mammal in order to curb the spread of bovine TB, which can be spread by badgers. He downgraded a research programme into vaccination, an alternative method of controlling the disease that killed 25,000 cattle last year. A cull is likely to provoke widespread protests.  Another Conservative proposal - to hold a free vote on overturning the ban on fox hunting - will be fiercely opposed.  Tabling plans to limit the keeping of broiler chickens to 39kg per square metre, a more crowded level than the industry's basic standard of 38kg, Defra revealed it would ban trimming by hot blades but allow the less brutal but still painful infra-red method.  The Government's vets on the Farm Animal Welfare Council had recommended allowing infra-red trimming because of the egg industry's failure to prepare for the ban, which had been scheduled for 8 years.  Compassion in World Farming was "deeply disappointed" by the decision. Its chief policy adviser, Peter Stevenson, said: "It is frustrating that the egg industry has not managed to meet the 2011 deadline. At the same time as the British industry has been failing to phase out beak trimming, the Austrian industry has successfully reduced the practice so that now less than 2% of hens are beak trimmed."  Animal Aid's campaign manager Kate Fowler said: "The Coalition Government has wasted no time in removing a raft of popular measures that provided important protection for farmed and wild animals.  "It seems the Lib Dems can't or won't rein in the Tories. The commitment to repealing the Hunting Act is the most high profile part of the Government's anti-animal welfare package. But badgers, animals at markets, game birds and animals in circuses are also under threat. As for slaughterhouse cruelty, if this Government's vets can't or won't take action and the Government won't prosecute, then there is no one to stop slaughterhouses becoming a free-for-all."  Mr Paice said: "These comments are surprising and disappointing. Cutting bureaucracy doesn't equate to poorer welfare for animals - we listen to expert groups and always base decisions on robust scientific evidence, including that of the Farm Animal Welfare Council. As far as bovine TB is concerned, these groups appear to ignore the welfare of cattle." Edited from Independent Sat 13^th Nov

Blair sabotaged Hunting Act (as if we didn’t realise)

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said introducing legislation to ban fox hunting was one of the measures he most regrets from his time in power. In his memoir, A Journey, Mr Blair said he deliberately sabotaged the 2004 Hunting Act to ensure there were enough loopholes to allow hunting to continue. Describing the act as a "masterly British compromise", Mr Blair said it left people able to hunt foxes "provided certain steps were taken to avoid cruelty when the fox was killed. He also told then-Home Office minister Hazel Blears to steer police away from enforcing the law. In the book, Blair said he had not realised how passionate the hunting community was about the ban, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of hunt supporters marching through London in 2002. "The passions aroused by the issue were primeval," he said.  "If I'd proposed solving the pension problem by compulsory euthanasia for every 5^th pensioner I'd have got less trouble. By the end of it, I felt like the damn fox."  Blair said he also had a bet with Prince Charles that fox hunting would continue "He thought the ban was absurd and raised the issue with me in a slightly pained way.  "The wager was that after I left office, people would still be hunting." The former Prime Minister said he initially agreed to a ban without properly understanding the issue. During a trip to Italy he spoke to the mistress of a hunt near Oxford and realised banning hunting was the wrong thing to do. "She took me calmly and persuasively through what they did, the jobs that were dependent on it, the social contribution of keeping the hunt and the social consequence of banning it and did it with an effect that completely convinced me," Blair said. This disgusting, self-seeking man was prepared to sabotage the wishes of the vast majority of the population and treat them with disdain. No wonder the arrogant hunting fraternity have continued hunting with impunity whilst lying about trail hunting.

The mysterious ‘mistress of the hunt’ who persuaded Tony Blair to water down moves to ban fox hunting was Chrissie Down who met him during a Mediterranean holiday in 1999, at a time when demonstrations by countryside campaigners against a ban were at their height. She was Master of the N. Cotswold Hunt for 5 years until 2003. When he discovered what she did “his face hit the floor. He paused, got a bit uptight and said, “I can’t get away from you people. Is that really what you do? I had no idea that there were women who did that.”  Which just shows how much he knows about hunting.  

Animal Welfare Advisory Committee disbanded

The BUAV has condemned the announcement by Mr Peter Luff, the Minister for Defence Equipment Support & Technology, that the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, has been immediately dissolved. The committee was set up to provide independent scientific advice on the care and welfare of animals used in military research at the top secret Porton Down military laboratory in Wiltshire. Recent animal tests at Porton Down uncovered by the BUAV have caused a public outcry, in particular horrific experiments in which live pigs were blown up with explosives and subjected to massive mutilation and injury. In 2009, it was reported that over 8,000 animals were used in tests by the MoD, including mice, non-human primates and pigs. Animals have been largely used in research into preventing and treating diseases used as weapons. Many of these experiments involved substantial suffering and resulted in the death of the animals. In some tests, there were no reports of treatment or pain relief given. Examples of other animal tests include: Research into inhalational tularaemia, a disease caused by a bacterium used as a biological weapon, 10 monkeys were exposed to various doses of the bacterium in order to determine the LD50 (the dose causing 50% of the animals to die) while their heads were restrained in an exposure chamber. The animals suffered severe effects including fever, abnormal breathing and internal bleeding. Some died; all survivors were killed. None of the animals survived or were kept alive for longer than 13 days.  In research into inhalational anthrax infection and to determine the LD50, 12 monkeys were exposed to an aerosol containing anthrax spores while their heads were restrained in an exposure chambers. The animals developed shortness of breath, partial paralysis, disorientation and lethargy. 6 animals died and those still alive after 10 days were killed. The infection has painful and debilitating effects and the monkeys must have suffered immensely before experiencing a painful death. There were no reports that pain relief or other supportive measures were provided. Guinea-pigs were poisoned with a nerve agent, exceeding the lethal dose by 5 times. Various combinations of therapy drugs were then injected into their muscles. The animals were observed for signs of nerve agent poisoning. These included incapacitation, abnormal body temperature, and intestinal intussusception (an extremely painful condition where part of the intestine telescopes on itself causing blockage of blood vessels – thus causing gangrene or internal bleeding). Animals in poor condition were killed 24 hours after the poisoning. As nerve agents cause damage to many vital organs resulting in convulsions, internal bleeding, breathing problems (and eventually inability to breathe), the animals would have suffered severely before they died or were killed. BUAV’s Chief Executive, Michelle Thew states: “It is unacceptable and inexplicable that at a time of growing public concern regarding the use of animals in these controversial warfare tests, that an advisory body providing an independent overview on the care and welfare of animals should be disbanded.”