Stop the illegal dog meat trade.

  
After digesting the shocking news and witnessing the horrific images of 505 dogs destined to be served up as food in Chinese restaurants rescued in China's Yunnan Province last month, I was alarmed to hear of smugglers in North Eastern Thailand exporting around 30,000 stray dogs to Vietnam each month charging $10 per dog.  Although eating dog meat is regarded as being uncivilized in Thailand, grilled dog meat sells for three times the price of pork in Vietnam.

Echoing the disturbing images from China, stray dogs are crammed into wire cages and smuggled through illegal river borders.  Most are sent to Vietnam but a minority are butchered and sold as "meat" in Thai open markets despite residents complaining about the disgusting practice.

Wit, the boss of a dog collecting crew, says "We have to pay the police to leave us alone."

Please sign this petition to encourage the authorities in Tae Rae to crack down on the dog meat trade.

Yupi the Polar Bear

Source: Care 2

Yupi the polar bear has lived in a small and barren holding pen in a Mexican Zoo for twenty years.  Polar bears need large spaces and natural terrain, they are not physically adapted to living in hot climates which means they can overheat easily, Mexico is home to a tropical climate which means that the Morelia Zoo is not a suitable place for Yupi to live.

Please join me in signing this petition contacting the Director of Morelia Zoo, the Municipal Mayor and the Governor of Michoacan expressing concern for Yupi's living conditions and requesting that she is relocated.  

Please help stray dogs in Romania

Not long ago I posted about dogs in Ukraine being poisoned in order to combat the overpopulation of stray dogs on the streets.  Ukraine isn’t the only country with a large number of stray animals, according to Care2, Romania also shares this concern.  

Luckily, there are some organisations in Romania that are attempting to help the stray animals but unfortunately their funding is limited which means they are also limited as to what they can do.

This means that change needs to come for the law.  Please spare a small amount of time to click on this link and sign the petition urging the Romanian government to update and enforce modern animal welfare laws in their country.

Please also share this action with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you.

Help give farm animals a voice

{Source: Care2}

Care2 states that those of us in the UK are paying £8 each month towards subsidies for European factory farms.  Altogether the citizens of Europe are paying over 45 billion pounds (over 55 billion euros) per year into the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).  With this money CAP does very little to protect our farm animals.  Now for the first time in 8 years these subsidies are up for review and it is our chance to give animals a voice and ensure that animal welfare takes precedent in the policy across Europe.

Click here to sign a petition addressing Caroline Spelman the Secretary of Sate for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs urging her to put animal welfare at the heart of European agricultural policy.  Once you have signed the petition you are able to share your action on Facebook and Twitter, if you have time please do this also.

Thank you.

Stop the Delay (Petition Bonanza!)

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My hiatus has been a lot longer than I anticipated, and I hope you will forgive me for this.  We have relocated again to the Big Smoke and this has been my first real chance to sit down and get cracking on The Animal News (and there is lots of it!) 

Back on 3rd August 2011 I posted about an EU Directive regarding lab animals being implemented into UK law threatening current standards, read it here.

Testing on animals for cosmetics is not only cruel and unnecessary but also selfish, is lipstick really worth the life of an animal?  

Back in 2003 it became illegal to test on animals for cosmetics within Europe.  Then in 2009 a ban on the sale of cosmetics that had been tested on animals came into effect.  By early 2013 every shop and Internet supplier must be free of and no longer market animal-tested cosmetics, the deadline for this is March 2013.  The bad news is that the EU is considering delaying this deadline for years.  This risks removing any motivation for companies to work on developing alternatives and condemning tens of thousands of animals to suffer and die.

Please can you spare some time to sign the petitions below calling for the European Parliament to adhere to the original 2013 deadline.  Members of the public are against animal testing in cosmetics on ethical grounds therefore it is important that the government listen to the overwhelming majority European citizens .

When you have signed each petition (it takes less than 2 minutes) please take advantage of the links provided and share the petitions on Facebook or Twitter, as well as e-mailing your friends.

To Do List

Please sign Peta's Petition here.

Please sign BUAV's Petition here.

Please sign HSI's Petition here.

Please sign Care2's Petition here.

P.S. Ladies, if you do wear make up I can recommend a good non animal testing brand in Urban Decay.

One Minute Action for Seals

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One of the things that I am most disappointed in about not having time to blog over the past few months has been that I haven't been able to share all the news with you about this years Canadian Seal Cull.  I have been inundated with campaign news about this yearly abhorrance but just have not had chance to do anything with it.  I have signed the petitions and sent the e-mails myself but it isn't the same if you aren't here to help!

It isn't too late though and if you can spare just one minute to sign this petition it would be lovely.

The petition is addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the hope of urging him to protect, not slaughter the beautiful wild seals of Canada.  

Don't forget to let your friends know too.

Thank you.

Elephants, and "the nasty men taking their tusks!"

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I have so much catching up to do!  I had a big sort out of my inbox and have got a list of campaigns to share with you, it is hard to know where to start.  So, I chose elephants! 

When I was two I watched Dumbo for the first time and it was that (and Bambi) that awakened my animal obsession.  I have always had a soft spot for elephants and one of the first campaigns I ever became involved with (at Primary School if I remember correctly) was against the ivory trade.  I remember writing a poem about "nasty men taking their tusks!".  It is painful to admit that the ivory trade is still booming, despite the partial ban.

The charity Care2 e-mailed me a few days back with some alarming news.  Back in April, 30 elephants were killed in one week in Chad for their ivory tusks, despite the partial ban.  In the last five years, Chad has lost 40% of its elephants and just 2,500 elephants are left in the entire country.  Elephants from all around Africa are at risk because the demand for ivory is outweighing the effort to protect them.  

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) was formed back in the Sixties and is an International agreement between Governments whose aim is to ensure International trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.  CITIES sought to protect elephants, however, restrictions on the ivory trade have been weakened and elephant ivory has been exported to Countries such as Japan and China which reignited the market.

How to help:


Please spare a minute to sign this petition telling our leaders to call for a FULL and PERMANENT ban on the International ivory trade.  Then if you have another minute to spare please share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or via E-mail.

Thank you.

Help Animals in Russia

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In Russia there is no law regarding animal protection.  After a recent video showing members of the Russian Army abusing a dog, concerned citizens of Russia have been inspired to take a stand.  Complaints about the abuse have been filed but justice has not been served due to lack of legislation.

How to Help

A petition has been created, addressing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, asking the Russian authorities to pass legislation to protect animals.  Please spare a moment to sign it here. (Warning, if you read the full description of the petition there is some disturbing accounts of abuse towards animals so you may want to skip this part - like I did - if you find it difficult)  The goal is 50,000 signatures and they are well on the way but need to reach that target to make a difference.  

Please tell your friends to sign this as well as it really will make a difference.