News
The number of news found: 20.
12/31/2013 ITALIAN ARMY RESERVIST TO BE PROSECUTED FOR SAVING CAT'S LIFE IN KOSOVO
Lieutenant Barbara Balanzoni, a reservist who has since returned to her civilian job as an anaesthetist in Tuscany, is charged with gross insubordination. She committed the alleged offence while serving as medical officer at a Nato base in Kosovo. It is claimed that, by attending to the cat, Lt Balanzoni disregarded an order issued by her commanding officer in May 2012 forbidding troops at the base from "bringing in or having brought in wild, stray or unaccompanied animals". She faces a minimum sentence of one year in a military penitentiary. She said she found that the cat had been unable to deliver the last of her kittens, which was stillborn, and was certain to die. Lt Balanzoni's trial is due to open in Rome on Feb 7. Her case has been taken up by Italy's oldest animal defence association, the Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali and a question to the defence minister is due to be tabled in the Senate, the upper house of the Italian legislature, when parliament reassembles after the Christmas break.
12/31/2013 THE PERIL OF ANTIBIOTIC USE ON FARMS
After years of inaction, the Food and Drug Administration has finally taken an important step to reduce the use of medically important antibiotics in animal feed. The goal is to curb the rise of bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics used in both human and veterinary medicine. The rampant use of antibiotics in agriculture has been alarming. The drugs are given not just to treat sick animals, but added in low doses to animal feed or water to speed the growth of cattle, pigs and chickens, thus reducing costs for the producers. Such widespread use of antibiotics in healthy animals has stimulated the emergence of bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotics and capable of passing their resistance to human pathogens, many of which can no longer be treated by drugs that were once effective against them.
12/30/2013 HARVARD FINED $24,000 FOR VIOLATING ANIMAL WELFARE LAW IN CARE OF MONKEYS
Federal regulators have fined Harvard Medical School $24,036 for repeated animal welfare violations in its care of monkeys used in research, an unusual penalty for an academic institution. The fine, announced by the US Department of Agriculture covers 11 violations from February 2011 through July 2012, including four involving the death of an animal. The government’s decision to penalize Harvard for the violations, most of which had been previously disclosed, concludes a lengthy investigation of the medical school’s two animal facilities that led to changes in leadership and intense public scrutiny.
12/27/2013 MCDONALD'S WEBSITE ADVISES STAFF NOT TO EAT FAST FOOD
McDonald's doesn't think its employees should eat the food they serve. The fast food giant has advised employees to avoid meals with burgers and fries and to eat healthier options like salad and sandwiches. The advice was dispensed on the now-infamous McResource Line, the employees-only website that has told workers to sell their things and get second jobs to make ends meet. The advice is given with graphics depicting the "unhealthy choice" and the "healthier choice." McDonald's own food is in the former column. Despite featuring a vast array of deep fried delicacies, the Golden Arches reminds employees that "avoiding items that are deep fried are your best bet."
12/27/2013 ADORABLE SEAL PUPS ORPHANED IN ENGLAND
A record tidal surge that caused severe flooding and "war zone"-like damage in Norfolk, England has washed up and stranded 100 seal pups, many less than three weeks old. Staff at the the RSPCA's East Winch Wildlife Center says that each pup could require up to five months of rehabilitation. Fortunately, many generous souls have responded to an appeal for funds to help care for the orphaned pups. Those funds are surely, and sorely, needed. According to the RSPCA, it costs £22 (about $36) a week to feed each seal. Until they lose their white fur, the pups cannot swim or survive without their mothers' milk. Center workers have certainly never had to care for so many rescued young seals at a time.
12/20/2013 RESTAURANTS IN ITALY SECRETLY SERVING ENDANGERED DOLPHIN MEAT
A city near Rome, Italy called Civitavecchia is currently under investigation by Italian prosecutors because of a scandal regarding restaurants that have been serving endangered and illegal dolphin meat. According to the Guardian, a journalist secretly recorded a meal at a local restaurant where shaved dried dolphin fin was served atop a salad of fresh onions, celery, and tomato. The restaurant's owner was filmed stating, "You didn't eat this in my place, right?" Apparently certain restaurants in Civitavecchia have taken to using the English code word, "black," and that's what customers ask for when they want to order dolphin meat. The black market price per kilo of dried dolphin meat in Rome is around 900 euro.
12/19/2013 ICELAND SIGNS DEATH WARRANTS OF 77O ENDANGERED FIN WHALES
Last Friday the Icelandic government quietly signed off the quota of whales to be killed over the next five years. The total includes 770 endangered fin whales and 1145 minke whales. Despite Iceland’s only whaling company having increasing difficulty in finding a market for whale meat the government has decided to continue to issue annual quotas for the killing of whales. The quota which will run from next year will see the whaling company run by Kristjan Loftsson able to harpoon and kill 229 minke whales each year and 154 fin whales each year. The market for whale meat in Iceland is shrinking and new markets are having to be found for the whale meat including for use as dog food in Japan. Iceland's commitment to harpooning and killing whales is diplomatic problems and also public relations issues. The United States has threaten the country with diplomatic sanctions if it continues with commercial whale hunting. Ports in Europe have also taken direct action against the whalers by refusing to accept cargos that contain whale meat. Both Amsterdam and Hamburg have turn cargo ships away for carrying whale meat due to public pressure.
12/18/2013 DOMINO'S NOW OFFERS VEGAN PIZZA IN ISRAEL
Vegans in Israel are no doubt pretty excited that Domino's pizza eateries in their country now offer vegan pizza! They are the first country in the world where the chain pizza joint is offering the vegan pie. The latest change in their menu comes after a great response via a Facebook page called Vegan Friendly, where many Facebook users chimed in that they'd like to see a vegan option (complete with vegan cheese) offered at Domino's. The page works to promote and encourage more vegan options in more places. The vegan pizza comes with a soy-based cheesy topping and veggies. It sells for 69.90 shekels ($19.91). Domino's Pizza has 50 branches in Israel. Yossi Elbaz, the CEO of the Israeli franchise, said it took six months to develop and taste-test the vegan version. "We've notified Domino's Pizza's world headquarters and they're very pleased," Elbaz said. "They're waiting to see the results."
12/17/2013 SAVAGE GARDEN PLUCKS MUSIC FROM SEAWORLD, SUPPORTS "BLACKFISH"
Darren Hayes of pop duo Savage Garden tweeted his disappointment upon learning that Savage Garden songs were used at SeaWorld marine parks. Hayes wrote on Twitter: "I've been a vocal advocate for the movie 'Blackfish.' Had no idea my song was used in the parks. Have written to my publisher." Hayes clearly feels truly, madly, deeply for the orcas confined at SeaWorld. The Blackfish Effect plows on!
12/16/2013 SEAWORLD LOSES TRISHA YEARWOOD TO "BLACKFISH" INFLUENCE
Proving that online petitions and social media can truly make a difference, country singer Trisha Yearwood cancels her appearance at SeaWorld's upcoming music event. According to TMZ.com's sources, Yearwood hasn't actually seen the documentary, "Blackfish" (the impetus for four other bands cancelling the same SeaWorld event), but that all the hullabaloo online - petitions, social media actions, etc. - was enough for her to pull the plug.
12/13/2013 BAYER ACCUSED OF HARMING BEES
Bayer cares about the bees. Or at least that's what they tell you at the company's Bee Care Center on its sprawling campus here between Düsseldorf and Cologne. Outside the cozy two-story building that houses the center is a whimsical yellow sculpture of a bee. Inside, the same image is fashioned into paper clips, or printed on napkins and mugs. "Bayer is strictly committed to bee health," said Gillian Mansfield, an official specializing in strategic messaging at the company's Bayer CropScience division. There is, of course, a slight caveat to all this buzzy good will. Bayer is one of the major producers of a type of pesticide that the European Union has linked to the large-scale die-offs of honey bee populations in North America and Western Europe. They are known as neonicotinoids, a relatively new nicotine-derived class of pesticide. The pesticide was banned this year for use on many flowering crops in Europe that attract honey bees. Bayer and two competitors, Syngenta and BASF, have disagreed vociferously with the ban, and are fighting in the European courts to overturn it - leading one advocacy group, Corporate Europe Observatory, to call the three companies "the bee killers."
12/12/2013 REPORT SLAMS UNIVERSITY'S ANIMAL RESEARCH
The treatment of laboratory animals at one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious universities came under severe criticism today from an independent review set up in the wake of allegations of malpractice. Imperial College London's animal-research facilities are understaffed, under-resourced and operating without adequate systems for training, supervision, management and ethical review, according to the report. The university has accepted all of the recommendations of the review, and said in a statement that "there is significant scope for improvement." Imperial appointed Brown after an undercover investigation by London-based campaign group BUAV, which in April alleged that many animals at the university's facilities were subjected to severe suffering. The BUAV's exposé included graphic imagery and reported incidents such as a researcher leaving a clamp inside an animal after surgery and animals being left in distress in short-staffed laboratories over a weekend. The UK government's Home Office launched an official investigation into these specific allegations, but Brown's group was appointed in parallel to look at animal care and welfare across the whole university.
12/11/2013 IAN SOMERHALDER: HOW THE PUBLIC CAN "FIGHT" ANIMAL CRUELTY
"The Vampire Diaries" star Ian Somerhalder recently spoke to the Huffington Post about animal rights and how youth can generate social change. In the interview, he succinctly lists ways we can all participate in improving animal welfare. Says Somerhalder, "Animal cruelty is one of the most unfortunate and barbaric demonstrations of human beings manipulating ill conceived notions of 'power' over other species. There is a lot we can do to fight this. We need to support companies that we know do NOT test on animals, work with local shelters and rescues who aid many of our abused, neglected and abandoned creatures, refuse to support factory farms, fight for anti-cruelty laws on all levels of government, and even keep a watchful eye on our neighborhoods looking for reportable signs of animal cruelty. A lot of influence can be made too by setting a good example of what reverence for life should look like."
12/10/2013 CHINA TO FINALLY CRIMINALIZE POACHING
Many never thought they'd see the day come, but it finally has – China, one of the world's largest importers of ivory, has announced, that it, along with 29 other nations, will help protect the world's elephants by criminalizing poaching. For the past year, it seemed that poaching was reaching a whole new level, with poachers resorting to tactics like cyanide poisoning to hack off precious elephant tusks and a death toll skyrocketing to 22,000 dead elephants across Africa in 2012 – a number that a new report by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) recently revealed. The same report estimates that if poaching continues at around the same rate it is now for the next 10 years, 20 percent of Africa's elephants will be wiped out. At a summit last week in Bostswana's capital Gaborone, 30 nations, including China, Germany, Zambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the United States, signed an agreement to adopt 14 measures to protect wildlife crime victims.
12/09/2013 TEN BEACHED WHALES DIE IN FLORIDA EVERGLADES, DOZENS IN DANGER
Ten beached whales have died and rescuers were trying to save dozens more that were swimming in dangerously shallow waters near shore in Everglades National Park in southwest Florida, park and wildlife officials said on Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, said wildlife officers euthanized four whales because they could not be saved, and rescuers tried with little success to coax another 41 whales out into deeper water. NOAA said via Twitter that survival rates were typically low in such instances.
12/06/2013 GILLIAN ANDERSON GOES TOPLESS WITH EEL FOR FISH CHARITY
Lending her voice and face (and other body parts) to the fight against destructive deep-sea fishing is actress, Gillian Anderson, best known for her role as Scully on the TV show, "The X-Files." Anderson has teamed up with organizations, BLOOM Association and Fishlove to phase out deep ocean fishing in the Northeast Atlantic. Anderson is promoting a petition directed to the leaders of European Parliament, encouraging them to vote to ban the ocean destruction on December 10th. Anderson has been promoting the petition (which currently has more than half of the 10,000 signatures they seek) on Twitter, and she's also promoting the cause in an attention-grabbing new ad campaign. With her hair up, top down, and an eel draped across her chest, Anderson's image is certain to have people eely curious about the cause.
12/05/2013 JAY Z GOES VEGAN FOR HIS 44TH BIRTHDAY
Jay Z is celebrating his 44th birthday by changing his diet: the rapper and wife Beyoncé are going vegan until Christmas, Hova wrote on his Life + Times blog. "On December 3rd, one day before my 44th birthday I will embark on a 22 Days challenge to go completely vegan, or as I prefer to call it, plant-based!!" Jay Z wrote, citing a theory of psychology that it takes someone 21 days to form or break a habit. "This all began a few months back when a good friend and vegan challenged me to embrace a 'plant-based breakfast' everyday. It was surprisingly easier on me than I thought." The hip-hop mogul found a symmetry that he liked about starting the challenge now. "There's something spiritual to me about it being my 44th birthday and the serendipity behind the number of days in this challenge; 22 (2+2=4) coupled with the fact that the challenge ends on Christmas day," Jay Z wrote. "It just feels right!"Jay Z promised updates on his progress, and he asked "any professional vegans" for tips on places to eat.
12/04/2013 A WHALE IN THE FOREST
Imagine if whales roamed the land - if when we walked through our neighborhood forest, we saw them - majestic 40 foot long beings swimming among the trees, ruffling the leaves. The short yet powerful video by Gentleman Scholar brings this dream to life. Created for Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), the video quietly conveys a message to us all - that if whales and other marine animals called land their home, then maybe they'd receive the attention and protection they deserve. But because marine animals remain mostly unseen like the atrocities that affect them, such as pollution, overfishing, overhunting, and climate change, their widespread protection is nearly nonexistent.
12/03/2013 RUSSIA USING CAPTIVE ORCAS AT SOCHI 2014 WINTER OLYMPICS
According to a petition posted on Care2, the Russian city of Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, is in the process of procuring two orcas to display during the games. It appears the orcas will be used to drive profits at a time when tourists will flood the city to watch athletes compete. Activists say captive orcas should not be among the attractions during the games in Sochi. Orcas do not adapt well to captivity and can endanger humans. In the U.S., SeaWorld has been criticized for multiple incidents in which captive orcas have become pscyhotic, resulting in the deaths of three trainers.
12/02/2013 CASEY AFFLECK, SARAH SILVERMAN GET PETA'S STAMP OF APPROVAL
Not everyone sits down to a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, and PETA and the US Postal Service are honoring a few of them with a "Vegetarian Icons" stamp sheet. There are a couple of non-meat-eating New Englanders among the VIP veggies, including New Hampshire-bred comedian Sarah Silverman and former Cambridge kid Casey Affleck. In her book, "The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee," Silverman says she stopped eating meat at the age of 6 after seeing a turkey killed for food. "[I]t was horrifying," she writes. "And though I'm probably projecting, I don't think it was in the turkey's top-five favorite moments, either." Others featured on the new stamps include Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson, Ricky Martin, and Joaquin Phoenix.
The number of news found: 20.
