In South Korea, not only are many Catholic priests fans of dog meat, they often encourage their congregation to go out and eat dog meat and even sell dog meat at their church bazaars. Fed up with their hypocrisy, members of several animal rights groups in South Korea protested on August 18, 2014 when […]
“Stamping out” fails again to stop bird flu in South Korea
Birds throughout the nation may be at risk DAEGU, South Korea––Less than six months after South Korea killed 13.8 million poultry to try to stop the spread of the H5N8 avian flu, cases have reappeared in three central and southern provinces, whetting fears that farmed birds throughout the nation may be at risk. The […]
Threat to dogs from newly discovered rabies strain?
Taiwan ferret badger rabies is new to science TAIPEI, Taiwan––Can dogs incubate and transmit Taiwan ferret badger rabies? Would a mutant form of ferret badger rabies specific to dogs have the exceptionally long latency time that it apparently has in ferret badgers? If so, this could exponentially increase the threat of rabies from dogs. […]
Indictment recommended in South Korean dog meat case
Could bring precedent-setting prosecution BUSAN, South Korea––A potentially precedent-setting criminal prosecution of a South Korean dog meat vendor may be imminent, Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals translator April Kim posted to the Asia Animal Protection Network on April 13, 2014. On February 9, 2014, Kim recounted, translating from KAPCA statements originally […]
Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity, by Lester R. Brown
Earth Policy Institute (1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036), 2012. 141 pages, paperback. $15.00. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Publicity materials for Full Planet, Empty Plates credit Lester R. Brown with producing more than 50 books, including the annual Worldwatch reports he edited for 30 years as founder of the Worldwatch Institute. Leaving the Worldwatch Institute in […]
International Court of Justice rules against Japanese “research” whaling
Judgment stipulates that it is “final, without appeal and binding” DEN HAAG, Nederlands––The 16-member International Court of Justice, the chief judicial organ of the United Nations, on March 31, 2014 ruled by a vote of 12-4 that Japan “shall revoke any extant authorization, permit or licence granted” to allow whaling in the Antarctic region, “and […]
Police respond––slowly––to complaints about dog slaughter in South Korea
Police presence temporarily interrupted business BUSAN, South Korea––Attempting to invoke lightly enforced existing laws to try to close the Gupo and Nopodong live markets in Busan, South Korea, the Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was on February 9, 2014 disappointed by a purportedly slow […]
Newly found ferret badger rabies strain raises concern about dogs
First recognized in July 2013 TAIPEI, Taiwan––A new rabies strain identified in Taiwanese ferret badgers may have the potential to exponentially increase the risk of rabies transmission by dogs. But even if the new rabies strain does not behave in dogs as it does among ferret badgers, it has ignited unprecedented public controversy in Taiwan […]
Food Security & Farm Animal Welfare by Sofia Parente [WSPA] and Heleen van de Weerd [CIWF]
Free 20-page download from ciwf.org/foodsecurity Based on: The Impact of Industrial Grain Fed Livestock Production on Food Security: an extended literature review, by Karl-Heinz Erb, Andreas Mayer, Thomas Kastner, Kristine-Elena Sallet, and Helmut Haberl, Institute of Social Ecology, Vienna; free 90-page download from: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/1818.htm Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Having commissioned a 90-page analysis of The Impact […]
South Korea kills 1.6 million pigs, cattle, & dogs in fight against foot and mouth disease
Water taps spat blood SEOUL––Water taps spat blood on New Year’s Day 2011 in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, “just one day after some of nearly 1,000 pigs within a 500-meter radius of a foot-and-mouth-hit livestock farm were buried alive to prevent further spread of the disease,” reported Park Si-soo of […]