Had history of engine failure AMAMI OSHIMA ISLAND, Japan––The Gulf Livestock 1, a Panamanian-flagged converted container ship carrying 5,867 two-year-old heifers and 43 human crew, capsized and sank on September 2, 2020 in the East China Sea, about 100 nautical miles west of Amami Oshima Island, Japan, the first survivor to be rescued told the Japanese […]
Pig transport truck kills animal advocate Regan Russell outside slaughterhouse
Accident reprises 1995 death of British protester Jill Phipps BURLINGTON, Ontario––Regan Russell, 65, of Hamilton, Ontario, was on June 19, 2020 crushed to death by an 18-wheel livestock transport truck delivering pigs to slaughter at Fearman’s Pork Inc., the largest and oldest slaughterhouse in Ontario. A local landmark since 1852, and the scene of […]
Why Europe will not eat U.S. & Australian wild horses
Dutch & Danish seizures of illegally trafficked German horse meat do not mean revived demand WASHINGTON D.C., BRUSSELS––Yes, the Bureau of Land Management under Donald Trump appointee William Perry Pendley is desperately eager to dispose of as many as 45,000 wild horses in holding pens, plus about 68,000 of the estimated 95,000 wild horses […]
Calf massacre looms in Ireland: dairy sales up, beef sales drop
“Every sperm is sacred,” as are profits, but calf welfare is not DUBLIN, Ireland––Irish dairy farmers, having bred an expected 800,000 more bull calves to be born in spring 2020 than they can profitably sell in a contracting global beef market, may resort to shooting hundreds of thousands at birth, Guardian newspapers reporters Sophie Kevany […]
Sperm-sorting comes to India through cow-loving Modi government
Slippery business may stop the bull calf surplus NEW DELHI, India––Cracking down hard against illegal cattle slaughter and exports to slaughter, while boosting milk production, the Hindi nationalist Nahendra Modi regime ruling India since 2014 caused the perennial Indian bull calf surplus to explode. Now, however, the Modi government has reportedly […]
Livestock shipment to Middle East goes sideways; to Hawaii, goes backward
Drowned sheep & asphixiated cattle result from opposite approaches to maximizing profit MILILANI, Hawaii––Compared to the drowning deaths of more than 14,350 sheep on November 24, 2019 aboard the capsized Queen Hind in the port of Midia, Romania, the deaths of 21 Angus heifers aboard a Young Brothers barge en route from Honolulu to Kauai, […]
Cruelty charges filed against Aussie live sheep shippers––a first!
Shipping company already lost live export license PERTH, Australia––Cruelty charges were on July 31, 2019 filed against two former directors of the live animal shipping company Emanuel Exports over the August 2017 deaths of more than 2,400 sheep from heat stress aboard the Awassi Express. The sheep were in transit to slaughter in […]
Will feral pigs eat Hong Kong before Hong Kong eats the pigs?
Feral pigs may be poached as African swine fever & trade war cut off pig imports HONG KONG––A three-way collision among African swine fever, feral pigs, and the global pork industry, U.S. interests included, may be only days away in Hong Kong. Whatever the outcome, pigs––both factory-farmed and living free––are already the big net […]
Live animal markets in New York City: a cut-throat business at best
Customs change with waves of immigration NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Escaping the Iranian Revolution with her parents at age 6, artist Sara Rahbar as an adult has produced an internationally recognized portfolio on themes often involving human and animal suffering. Yet Rahbar found herself wholly unprepared for the misery she met close to hand on […]
The poop on live transport, whaling, & Ramadan 2018
Old ships, ancient customs FREMANTLE, Australia––Seventy thousand Australian sheep aboard the 38-year-old livestock carrier Al Messilah, or anyhow those who survive the journey, are due to reach Kuwait on May 14, 2018, according to VesselFinder.com. The voyage continues a trade that Animals Australia likens to whaling in terms of cruelty and obsolescence, but which […]