Recognizing animal sentience is part of an “Action Plan for Animal Welfare” yet to be written into draft bills, let alone passed by Parliament LONDON, U.K.––A week-plus after the Conservative government of the United Kingdom introduced an “Action Plan for Animal Welfare,” much of the animal welfare sector worldwide has already declared “victory,” with the […]
New Zealand ends live sheep & cattle exports by sea––two years from now
Export directly to slaughter banned since 2008 WELLINGTON, NZ––New Zealand agriculture minister Damien O’Connor on April 14, 2021 announced a permanent halt to live animal exports by sea, effective in 2023. O’Connor, though his announcement was not a complete surprise, left New Zealand agribusiness, the international animal welfare community, and rival nations in the […]
Sheep & cattle stranded at sea by Suez Canal blockage are moving again
3,000-year-old livestock shipping route opened by Pharoahs is unblocked ISMAILIA, Egypt––Tens of thousands of sheep, cattle, and other live animals stranded for up to six days aboard more than 20 transport vessels are moving again through the Suez Canal, as of March 29, 2021. Egyptian Lieutenant General Osama Rabei, heading the Suez Canal Authority, […]
Ship down with 5,867 cows & 42 crew renews protest against live export
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 […]