‘I believe that, as long as man tortures and kills animals, he will torture and kill humans as well – and wars will be waged – for killing must be practiced and learned in a small scale, inwardly and outwardly.' – Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz, Animal Brothers

In this issue:
- Welcome to Croatia – the Dolphin Friendly Country
- Tourists are Also Vegetarians
- Spaying/Neutering Saves Animals
- Mickey Mouse Promotes Meat
- With Microchipping Against Abandoning
- Antun Brkic Goes Unpunished!
- Various

Welcome to Croatia – the Dolphin Friendly Country

Continuing the campaign for a legal ban of dolphin captivation in Croatia, which is supported by WSPA, near the town of Rijeka and Split Welcome to Croatia – the Dolphin Friendly Country billboards were placed. The same billboards are also placed in Zagreb and will be placed in Dubrovnik during the ACCOBAMS meeting in October.

We expect that, besides introduction of the reservation at Mali Losinj, Croatia also comes forward with the legal ban of dolphin captivation and thus the title dolphin friendly country.

Tourists are Also Vegetarians

In order to highlight the issue of lack of vegetarian offer for tourists who are coming to Croatia, on August 18 and 19 we organized vegan tastings in Pula, Porec and Krk and appealed to the Croatian National Tourist Board about this issue.

According to an independent survey of SPEM Communication Group Zagreb, as many as 73,2% of the Croatian citizens believe that the offer of vegetarian food should be improved and that it is very far behind such offer in the European Union. It is important to notice that in Croatia there are over 160,000 vegetarians (3,7%).

Spaying/Neutering Saves Animals

Organizing an event in Croatian’s capital city Zagreb on August 25, we informed the citizens on the necessity of spaying and neutering of companion animals. Dogs from the City shelter for abandoned animals of the City Zagreb also visited our stall and the shelter manager Tatjana Zajec, DVM presented the dogs.

Mickey Mouse Promotes Meat

We have launched a campaign with an aim of ending the cooperation between Disney and PIK Vrbovec, since we believe it is unacceptable that Disney’s cartoon character Mickey Mouse should advertise meat pâtés, hot dogs, sausages, and hamburgers.

Regarding this we sent an official letter to the Disney corporation with several video clips and photographs from PIK's pig farm, requesting Disney to withdraw its license to PIK for using the Mickey Mouse character. This is meant in order to stop participating in the manipulation of children and having its name connected with unhealthy meat products and suffering of pigs and cows. On our web portal you can find an open letter, and we kindly ask you to support this campaign by sending the same letter to Disney.

This campaign also joined and is publicly supported by the European Vegetarian Union, which Animal Friends Croatia is a member of, Vegan Society Austria and the writer Jeffrey Masson.

With Microchipping Against Abandoning

Since in Croatia there is a major problem with abandoned animals and their settlement, and only 20% of all dogs are microchipped, Animal Friends Croatia demands an urgent change of the regulations on the identification of dogs. In other words, we demand legal obligation for microchipping of all dogs, not just puppies. For this reason we organized a public gathering in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management which also dogs joined in, in order to represent the animals themselves which are supposed to be protected with microchips against suffering and death as consequences of abandoning. The petition is also launched and it can be signed at our info stalls.

Antun Brkic Goes Unpunished!

Two years and two months have passed since the 'beagle affair' when Animal Friends Croatia with the help of other groups and media saved 32 dogs from certain death at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, but the District Attorney’s Office dropped charges against Antun Brkic who was prosecuted by the Zagreb Association of Animal Welfare Organizations (SUZA), which filed charges against Brkic for the crime of torturing animals. In a letter from the District Attorney’s Office in Zagreb all charges against the vivisector are dropped as unfounded.

In the meantime Brkic pressed charges against the president of Animal Friends Croatia, Luka Oman, for the statement that the police had warned the activists about the possible presence of 'anti-protestants' and for disturbing the public, even though the protest was duly registered. The District Attorney's Office and later also the District Court dropped the charges as unfounded, but Brkic's lawyer managed to prolong the process by filing a complaint.

The 'beagle affair' is not an isolated case of this 'legal state' turning its back on animal welfare. There are numerous other cases of abused animals every day in which the perpetrators pass unpunished because of the inert and disinterested judicial institutions.

Various

- In June we joined an international campaign against selling of fur in GUESS shops. GUESS reacted to this campaign by making a decision to continue selling fur during the autumn/winter 2007 season, but also to stop stocking new fur from September 2007, and to stop selling fur in all of its 800 outlets by April 2008. We have sent a public letter of commendation to GUESS with the request to act upon their decision as soon as possible.

- We contacted the European Commission because we find it inexcusable that the Lipizzaner horses on the farm in Novo Naselje are still exposed to starvation and neglect, and that their return is still not in sight. Freedom for Animals reported that Serbia Canceled the Inspection by Croatian and Serbian Veterinary and Genetic experts and that the horses are still in danger.

- On September 2 we participated in the vegetarian picnic in Mostec in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and we thank the The society for the rights and liberation of animals Slovenia for the invitation and the splendid organization of this veggie-picnic. We also use this opportunity to thank the organisation ‘Animal Friends dr. Ivan Rastos’ from Vinkovci, Croatia, for enabling us to participate on ‘Vinkovacke jeseni’ on September 16.

- Upon the reports of citizens we reported the breeder of dogs raised and used in dog fights. The matter is under police investigation.

- Three new companies on the Croatian White List are Aubrey Organics, Too Faced Cosmetics and Wala, while the whole list of cruelty-free companies can be seen at http://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/index.en.php?id=335.

- With regret we pass the news about the death of Felix, who has been tormented and killed at Oxford Univesity after almost one year of torturing in a five year project which started last year and during which two macaque monkeys are supposed to be killed every year. You can sign the petition for the ban on primate experimentation in Croatia at http://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/index.en.php?id=810.

- We would kindly ask you to support the efforts of ‘Animal’, the only authentic animal rights association in Portugal, and sign an important document which our colleagues from Portugal will try to bring in as bill in order to protect the Portuguese animals. You can sign the ‘Manifesto ANIMAL’ at http://www.manifestoanimal.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=41.

- Please help the Nevzorovs in their fight for banning the equestrian sports, which is cruel and pointless human entertainment. Nevzorovs prove that a man and a horse can interact without having a master-and-a-slave relationship and you can help them by voting for their photo on the Canon Photo Contest at http://konkurs.photonews.ru/work/show/60 (unfortunately only in Russian).

- After publishing The Livewire Guide To Going, Being and Staying Veggie by Juliet Gellatley in Croatian, last month we also published the second Croatian edition of Animal Brothers by Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz. We also would like to recommend you From Dusk 'till Dawn by Keith Mann.

- We have to leave our current office and from October 1 we will be at a new adress: Prijatelji zivotinja (Animal Friends Croatia), Gajeva 47, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. This will be the address of our new office while we wait for the City of Zagreb to decide about giving us a permanent office place.

- In order to be more effective in reporting animal abuse and fighting for animal rights at court, we need expert help and would ask everyone familiar with the Croatian law to get in touch with us.

- It is the third year in a row that we organize a concert on the World Vegetarian Day. We are happy to announce this year’s concert that will take place on October 1 in Zagreb Boogaloo Club, which’s theme will be ‘With Vegetarianism against Global Warming’. The following Croatian bands will play on the concert: Hakuna matata, Davorin i Bogovici, S.o.M, Things Fall Apart, Dead by Mistake, Plan B, and October Light.

Finally we would like to thank every one of you for your support and interest in the work of Animal Friends Croatia and our fight for a better tomorrow of our planet. We would also like to invite those of you that stay in or near Zagreb, to join us in and help in the preparations for the Animal Friends Days.

Yours Animal Friends Croatia