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 […]
Beyond sentience: will Brexit halt live animal exports from the U.K.?
Minister for Agriculture & Rural Affairs confirms her government is “considering options to control live animal exports” LONDON, U.K.––British cabinet ministers, after the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, called “Brexit” for short, “must have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings in formulating and implementing government policy,” according to draft […]
Are politicians sentient? British animal advocates wonder
Nothing yet on animal sentience in U.K. law LONDON, U.K.–– “Sentient,” a word seldom used by mass media and little recognized by the public before a much decried vote of the British Parliament on November 15, 2017, is overnight at the center of debate raging throughout the United Kingdom. Who is sentient? What is sentience? […]
How phantoms spooked agribusiness into failed Krajnc case against watering pigs
Slaughter industry remains haunted by ghosts of vegan campaigns past BURLINGTON, Ontario––Winning the May 4, 2017 acquittal of Toronto Pig Save cofounder Anita Krajnc on charges of criminal mischief originating from giving bottled water to pigs through the slats on a livestock truck, defense attorney Gary Grill likened her actions and prosecution to those of […]
Thumbing nose at lawsuits, USDA-APHIS hides more info
Deletes documents posted in response to Freedom of Information Act requests WASHINGTON D.C.––Hit with a second lawsuit, draft legislation, and letters from 119 members of Congress demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture restore web sites including Animal Welfare Act enforcement information, the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service has instead thumbed its collective […]
Under the Skin: How ejiao threatens the common ass
The Donkey Sanctuary saddles up Free download from https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/under-the-skin/full-report Reviewed by Merritt Clifton BEIJING––Can demand for a commodity that constitutes only one ten-thousandth of the global market for traditional Chinese medicine really pose what Donkey Rescue World blogger David C. Duncan calls “an existential threat” to barnyard animals as abundant worldwide as donkeys? This is […]
Farmed animals & money talks
U.K. farmed animal welfare laws older & weaker than many voters believe Part III of a five-part series. See also Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?, Farmed animals & the Brexit “diet plan.”, What Brexit means for “pet passports” & lab animals and Back to the Jungle Book: U.K. wildlife law post-Brexit.) While residents of the […]
Farmed animals & the Brexit “diet plan”
Part II of a 5-part series (See also Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?, Farmed animals & money talks, What Brexit means for “pet passports” & lab animals and Back to the Jungle Book: U.K. wildlife law post-Brexit.) LONDON, U.K.––Quipsters have it that Brexit, as the June 23, 2016 choice of United Kingdom […]