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.

REMINDER! 8 Hours Campaign

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) reports that millions of farm animals suffer from heat stress, disease and overcrowding whilst enduring transportation across long distances in Europe in hot, cramped and soiled cages with little food, water or rest.  Once they reach the end of their journey they are slaughtered.

Please sign this petition to support the 8 Hours campaign and ask the European Commission to enforce legalisation preventing any farm animal from enduring more than 8 hours of transportation. 

Deadline for signatures is: 5th January 2012.

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.

Nothing Super about ITVs Tiny Animal show

{Source}

I am glad that I stopped by the coldwetnose blog to see this post about an ITV show entitled Super Tiny Animals.  

Super Tiny Animals was billed as being about the trend for micro pets throughout the UK and US in recent years.  The time ITV chose to air the show (Wednesday, 30th November from 7.30pm - 8.30pm) was a cause for concern due to its close proximity to Christmas and early broadcast time meaning children would more than likely watch the show.  The concern was mainly that the show would glorify "handbag dogs" and had the potential to encourage viewers into want to buy a "handbag dog" or perhaps a micro pig for Christmas, without considering the responsibility and commitment of pet ownership.  This could lead to the animal ending up in a rescue centre in the New Year.  

The Blue Cross said in a statement that they had seen the number of so-called "handbag dogs" coming into the charity TRIPLE in the past five years.

Despite the concerned e-mails from organisations such as the Kennel Club, the Blue Cross, the Dogs Trust and the BVA sent to ITV they chosen not to respond and to air the show regardless.  In addition, ITV also chose to edit out TV vet Marc Abraham's segment on puppy farming which would have provided some much needed balance to the show.

As shown here on coldwetnose ITV did respond to one complaint from a concerned dog lover, with a vague message not really addressing the questions asked.  


Back in October there was an interesting article on "handbag dogs" in the Telegraph newspaper which you may want to check out.

In order for ITV to take our concerns seriously more of us need to make complaints.  If you want to watch Super Tiny Animals before sending a complaint you can do so for a short amount of time here at ITV Player.

Please direct your complaint to viewerservices@itv.com and make a complaint on the Ofcom website too.  Please remember to be polite and to the point and please let myself or the coldwetnose blog know if you receive a response!  (I will add the wording of my e-mail here at some point should you wish to refer to it as a guide).


Don't forget to tell your friends, the more the merrier!

Fluffy Friday #38

Have you ever gone away on holiday and fallen in love with an animal?  

A few years back, when Suki was a mere twinkle in our eyes, myself and my other half were in Greece when we stumbled across two dogs kept outside in a cage, they were left there day and night as far as we were aware.  We both fell in love with the dogs and visited them with food and water regularly, at the time it seemed all we could do as the animal laws and language barrier seemed to prove a hindrance in taking any action.  It was difficult for us to leave them and come home, I'll never forget them.

The couple in this story fell in love with a dog whilst on holiday in the Caribbean and after paying £2,000, completing vet checks and a six month quarantine have now been reunited with their dog, who they have named Weber.  Read the full story here.

Happy Fluffy Friday!

Joining forces for people and dogs

The

Happy December!

The RSPCA have joined forces with 19 organisations all in agreement that the UK government must do something about the irresponsible owners of dogs who are considered dangerous.  This 20-strong partnership including organisations such as the Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the Police Federation and the Royal Mail Group are urging the government to consider the following laws:

·   Ensure dog owners take responsibility for their pet’s behaviour

·   Improve both public safety and animal welfare

·   Require micro-chipping for all dogs

·   Increase education and engagement to prevent problems.

The measures listed about are aiming to protect people and dogs and could save the country around £75 million a year in health costs.

Please sign this petition on Prime Minister David Cameron’s official website which could ignite a debate in the House of Commons.  

The RSPCA are aiming for 100,000 signatures so please share this with your friends on Facebook and Twitter as much as you can.

Thank you.

November in Review

Baby it's cold outside and definitely time to snuggle down indoors, put on some Christmas songs, maybe pour yourself a cup of mulled wine whilst waving goodbye to November and catch up on The Animal News November Review.

It's been a very busy month and here is what you may have missed:

Did you take Ripley for a walk in honour of the Pedigree Adoption Drive?

How about contacting the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to request an emergency ban on keeping wild and exotic animals?  Template message can be found here.

A lengthy post and slightly time consuming action here, but animals in Japan need our help so if you have time to do this whilst you're snuggled up in the warm I think they would really appreciate it.

Animals dying for fashion, find out how you can help.

Check out the One Way Ticket and 8 Hours campaigns against long animal transportation here.

We talked about the disgraceful business of Puppy Farming, here's how you can help.


Did you celebrate Fur Free Friday?


I posted about the cruel and unnecessary poisoning of dogs in Ukraine, all for the sake of football.

And finally, are you a good egg?

Happy almost December everyone...

Lunch Time Links #5

2 million people in the UK are on strike today, whether you are at work or at home have a break and check out these lunch time links...

Ask farmers in the US to stop farm animal cruelty

Stop unnecessary Sea Lion deaths

Thank you ~ enjoy your lunch!

Dogs being killed in Ukraine for the sake of football

{Image from HSI}

Humane Society International report that dogs who live on the streets of Ukraine are unfortunately being poisoned in a misguided effort to remove them from the streets in time for the Euro 2012 football tournament. Meat laced with poison is left out for the dogs resulting in a prolonged and painful death for thousands of dogs.

For over 20 years HSI has helped provide successful and life saving solutions to end the overpopulation of dogs throughout the world.  Although HIS has contacted Ukranian officials suggesting they work together in a humane approach to controlling the street dog population, no response has been received.

The overpopulation of dogs around the world can be humanely managed through spay & neuter campaigns, as well as the provision of rabies vaccinations, veterinary training and the education of communities in order to help change attitudes and behaviour towards vulnerable animals.

Please spare a moment of your time to click on this link and contact the President of Ukraine what poisoning the dogs is not the answer and this suffering must stop now.  

It is more likely that your message will be read if you amend it slightly as if they keep receiving the same message that HSI has prepared it is likely they will ignore or delete it.  If you don’t have time to change the message then amending the subject title works too.  In my message I have added, quite truthfully, that during Euro 2012 I shall be thinking of the dogs instead of football.

Good Egg - Update

Following this post, I e-mailed my MP.  I am pleased to say that I received a speedy response, as follows:

"Thank you for contacting me about the potential importation of illegal eggs into the UK from Europe.

I understand your concerns and let me take this opportunity to assure you that the UK has already implemented EU Directive 99/74/EC, which bans the use of battery cages for hens. From 2012 British farmers will only be able to use, as a minimum, better welfare cages that provide laying hens more space to move about. Free range, barn and organic systems will also be permitted.

The Government wants to ensure that UK producers who have made significant investments to comply with the legislation are not disadvantaged if other countries do not meet the 2012 deadline. Ministers are therefore pressing hard on the European Commission to ensure that the 2012 deadline is met by all Member States. The Government has told the European Commission that there must be no derogation for those Member States who have not yet implemented the ban.

Within the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has stated it will be illegal to market eggs as "Grade A" eggs (which nearly all imports are) if they do not comply with the Directive, and will be taking additional measures to enforce this.

The Department also intends to take firm action against any UK producer still keeping hens in conventional cages after 1 January 2012."

Although this may sound good, it isn't.  My MP was telling me about the new and improved cages which in actual fact aren't much better than the original battery cages.  Hence, I felt compelled to write the following response:

"Thank you very much for your speedy response.  I am relieved that in 2012 British farmers must use better welfare cages, however, slightly bigger or so called "enriched" cages are still not enough unfortunately and not much improvement on battery cages.  As hens are naturally inquisitive animals that like to perch, exercise, preen, dustbathe, forage and nest it is of great concern that hens will not be able to carry out these natural behaviours very easily whilst in cages.

Ideally, all laying hens would be kept in well-managed, free-range or barn systems and I hope this is something that the government will consider."

I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, let me know what your MP says and how you responded.  Please feel free to use the text above which I took from the RSPCA's website and amended slightly.

Thank you!