Humans Without Conscience Or Compassion

Millions Of Pigs Killed Due To African Swine Fever.
It is being described as the biggest animal disease outbreak the world has ever seen.
Its impacts are already profound in Asia and beyond.
The virus has spread across the whole of China since it was first discovered in August 2018.
Official figures from China show the national pig herd had declined by 32% year-on-year by July 2019, with an estimated 100 million pigs lost already.
While some of the losses will be directly or indirectly linked to the disease itself, the reduction is also being heavily driven by vast numbers of producers choosing to slaughter their herds and get out of pigs before the virus gets to them.
Rabobank is forecasting that, by the end of the year, China’s pig herd will have halved.
Given that it numbered 700 million and accounted for half the world’s pigs before African Swine Fever struck in August 2018, the damage the virus is causing is plain for all to see. And that is just China.
African Swine Fever is continuing to spread across Asia at a worrying rate, confirmed in September for the first time in South Korea, where six cases were confirmed within two weeks, and the Philippines, where 12 cases were recorded in one area in a short time.
In Vietnam, infected soon after China, the virus has reached all 63 provinces and around 5 million pigs have been killed.
African Swine Fever has also been recorded in North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Myanmar.
So far.
( Alistair Driver, 10.10.2019 )

Cruel And Appalling Treatment Of Animals In Thailand Zoo.
Harrowing footage captured inside an infamous Thai zoo has exposed the cruelty that its animals are forced to endure.
Traumatised elephants are shown rocking their heads from side to side in a sign of ‘psychological distress’ while tethered to short chains, crocodiles swim in dirty rubbish-strewn pools, and agitated tigers are fed by guests using meat on a stick.
Campaigners are urging tour companies to stop taking visitors to the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo, south of Bangkok, after animals were repeatedly recorded in poor conditions.
Ctrip, China’s biggest online booking agency which owns the likes of Skyscanner, officially cut ties with the zoo after an investigation by charity PETA.
National Geographic also investigated the same facility, and found a four-year-old elephant Gluay Hom which they said was emaciated, had a limp leg that he was refusing to stand on, and a large sore on the side of his head, and an ageing tiger named Khai Khem was seen with a dental abscess so severe that it was eating through his jaw.
Despite the growing pressure from activists, the zoo continues to operate and animals are still in appalling conditions.
( Chris Pleasance, 06.08.2019 )  ..  dailymail.co.uk

The Suffering Of Wild Animals At Tourist Destinations Across South Asia.
Photographs taken by photojournalist Aaron Gekosi, show shocking images which mark the launch of wildlife charity Born Free’s Raise the Red Flag campaign.
The heartbreaking images show the suffering of wild animals at tourist destinations across South Asia.
Photographs show monkeys, tigers, and elephants chained in captivity and made to perform for paying tourists.
The campaign will allow tourists to report instances of captive animal suffering around the world.
Dr. Chris Draper, Head of Animal Welfare & Captivity at Born Free, said: “Captivity can never recreate the complex environment that animals have evolved to encounter in the wild. Many animals suffer in captivity as a result. Countless wild animals are kept in captive situations for human entertainment, in circuses and animals shows, as photo props for tourists, for animal encounters, for film and TV, or as pets. There are tens of thousands of zoos worldwide, holding millions of wild animals in captivity. All these activities can have serious animal welfare implications and pose real risks to both animal and public health and safety.”
( James Billot, 07.08.2019 )  ..  dailymail.co.uk

The Cruel, Unnecessary, Slaughter Of Badgers.
The culls have expanded to unimaginable scales, covering an area larger than Israel.
I cannot understand why the government has permitted this massive expansion of badger culling, when it has not yet responded to the Godfray Review it commissioned and received nearly a year ago.
The review concluded the government and farming industry were paying far too much attention to badger management, and far too little attention to cattle-to-cattle transmission, which is responsible for the majority of TB incidents in cattle.
The review also called upon government to properly evaluate badger vaccination as a non-lethal alternative to culling.
Ministers regularly call for the conservation of wildlife in other countries, but refuse to invest in helping their own farmers to coexist with wildlife.
( Professor Rosie Woodroffe, Ecologist, Zoological Society of London, September 2019 )

Using The Name Of God To Justify The Killing Of Animals.
Just for those religious people out there who seemed to have forgotten.
In the beginning, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they did not eat meat, for the lion would lay with the sheep and the man could approach the lion.
There was no killing, until they disobeyed God and the lion turned on the man and suffering came to be.
God said that when the end came and people were judged, those who were good would go to heaven, or a paradise land where again, man could approach the lion in a friendly manner, and the lion would lay next to the sheep in peace once again.
So for you to say God gave us animals for the benefit of eating is absolute bull-shit.
According to all the Abrahamic teachings, eating the flesh of another living creature is part of the punishment bestowed upon man for disobeying God, seeing as eating meat was not done in the Garden of Eden, making it a part of the Devil’s world, not God’s.
I am not a religious person at all, but I was brought up in a religious home and taught the teachings and it seems to me as though people who try to use the “God gave us animals for the purpose of eating them” argument, leave out the bit of important information that clearly states that animals were originally made by God for man as companions.
They seek to use the “God made animals for eating” argument to justify the cruelty inflicted on animals for our own selfish desires.
And the contradictions of religion continues.
( Kayla Soliman )

Badgers Are Being Pushed To The Verge Of Extinction.
This year will take the number of badgers killed since the cull started to over 130,000, pushing the species to the verge of local extinction in areas of England which it has inhabited since the ice age.
The public costs of the badger cull are estimated to exceed £60million by the end of 2019, yet the government has provided no evidence to prove this cruel slaughter is having any significant impact on lowering bovine TB.
( Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust, September 2019 )

Thanks To Boris Johnson’s Girlfriend, Derbyshire Badgers Won A Reprieve.
Farm leaders have slammed the government for rejecting a farmer-led application to cull badgers in Derbyshire, which is considered in the ‘edge area’ for bovine TB.
Bill Harper, National Beef Association TB committee chairman, said: “The application for Derbyshire was turned down at the last minute and we cannot understand why.
It met with all the protocols and criteria.
Natural England has not given us any explanation.
We believe this decision was taken purely on political and not scientific grounds.
I’m convinced that it is Derbyshire Wildlife Trust that has won the day.
Their representatives include Chris Packham and Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust.
It is almost like Boris Johnson is saying: ‘Oh, right darling, we will not allow that one’.
Nobody has ever got to this stage and been turned down.
There are no reasons why they should be turned down.
They had done everything they had been asked to do. It stinks.
The problem you have got is the signal it sends out to any other areas considering doing all the work.
It was one of the best applications we have seen.
Mr Harper was referring to suggestions that the prime minister’s girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, an opponent of the badger cull, had convinced him not to extend the policy to Derbyshire.
( Philip Case, 10.09.2019 )

A Hidden Camera Captured Sheep Being Mistreated.
The harrowing footage, captured by Animal Aid activists, also shows one sheep getting its head stuck in a conveyor belt while a second is grabbed and stunned when it makes an attempt to escape.
An investigation at the Farmers Fresh abattoir in Wrexham, Wales, has been launched by the Foods Standard Agency, which is responsible for monitoring how they treat animals.
It also comes as the Welsh government continues to refuse to make it compulsory for CCTV cameras to be installed in slaughterhouses, despite this already being a requirement in England and Scotland.
The disturbing footage shows sheep hiding in the corner as workers drag them by the legs and neck onto a conveyor belt to be slaughtered.
One is also shown being sat on to stop it escaping, while a second is hurled onto the conveyor belt upside down, and left struggling with its legs flailing in the air.
The rough treatment of the sheep moments before their death carries on even when a vet enters the room.
When they reach the top, footage showed the sheep being jabbed repeatedly on the head and legs by stunning prongs before their hind legs are attached to a second conveyor belt.
Improper stunning of sheep means that they may still be conscious when their throat is cut by the machine.
The farm sells slaughtered lambs to supermarkets in the UK and exports them to France.
( Luke Andrews, 02.09.2019 )  ..  dailymail.co.uk