Ok. Been a while since I last blogged, with the past few days being extremely busy. My campaign “The Seals of Nam” has taken off quite nicely and much positive feedback from the website. News articles and blogs are starting to publish the horrors of the Namibian seal massacre (the largest slaughter of wildlife on earth) and many are joining me in the call to BOYCOTT NAMIBIA.
I am absolutely thrilled with the support I have got and need to make special mention of and thanks to BITE BACK in Belgium for staging protests outside the Namibian embassy, FUR FREE SA as well as well as BEAUTY WITHOUT CRUELTY and SASSI for all the tremendous effort they put in. The media campaign has turned into a major success with local South African celebritieslending their voices to the campaign.
Bite Back protest in Brussels
ANIMALS AUSTRALIA will be demonstrating in Brisbane and although Sea Shepherd are not a protest organization, our CEO Steve Roest has granted the South African chapter to stage protests later in the year. These will take place in Cape Town and Pretoria. I also hope to involve other international chapters so as to increase awareness to the plight of the Cape Fur Seals and add additional pressure on the Namibian government to end the slaughter. I would also like to thank Sea Shepherd in particular for publishing my article on their website and Facebook pages. The amount of awareness this has generated has been phenomenal. If you would like to know more about the campaign and how you can help, with links to petitions and who you can write to etc CLICK HERE If you represent an organization and would like to join us in an official capacity, you can send us an email by clicking HERE
This baby seal was savagely beaten. It then had its throat slit while it was still alive
1) Less than 2% of human illnesses (1.16%) are ever seen in animals. Over 98% never affect animals.
2) According to the former scientific executive of Huntingdon Life Sciences, animal tests and human results agree “5%-25% of the time.”
3) Among the hundreds of techniques available instead of animal experiments, cell culture toxicology methods give accuracy rates of 80-85%
4) 92% of drugs passed by animal tests immediately fail when first tried on humans because they’re useless, dangerous or both.
5) The two most common illnesses in the Western world are lung cancer from smoking and heart disease. Neither can be reproduced in lab animals.
6) A 2004 survey of doctors in the UK showed that 83% wanted a independent scientific evaluation of whether animal experiments had relevance to human patients. Less than 1 in 4 (21%) had more confidence in animal tests than in non-animal methods.
7) Rats are 37% effective in identifying what causes cancer to humans — less use than guessing. The experimenters said: “we would have been better off to have tossed a coin.”
8) Rodents are the animals almost always used in cancer research. They never get carcinomas, the human form of cancer, which affects membranes (eg lung cancer). Their sarcomas affect bone and connective tissue: the two are completely different.
9) The results from animal tests are routinely altered radically by diet, light, noise, temperature, lab staff and bedding. Bedding differences caused cancer rates of over 90% and almost zero in the same strain of mice at different labs.
10)Sex differences among lab animals can cause contradictory results. This does not correspond with humans.
11) 75% of side effects identified in animals never occur.
12) Over half of side effects cannot be detected in lab animals.
13) Vioxx was shown to protect the heart of mice, dogs, monkeys and other lab animals. It was linked to heart attacks and strokes in up to 139,000 humans.
14) Genetically modified animals are not like humans. The mdx mouse is supposed to have muscular dystrophy, but the muscles regenerate with no treatment.
15) GM animal the CF- mouse never gets fluid infections in the lungs — the cause of death for 95% of human cystic fibrosis patients.
16) In America, 106,000 deaths a year are attributed to reactions to medical drugs.
17) Each year 2.1 million Americans are hospitalised by medical treatment.
18) In the UK an estimated 70,000 people are killed or severely disabled every year by unexpected reactions to drugs. All these drugs have passed animal tests.
19) In the UKs House Of Lords questions have been asked regarding why unexpected reactions to drugs (which passed animal tests) kill more people than cancer.
20) A German doctors’ congress concluded that 6% of fatal illnesses and 25% of organic illness are caused by medicines. All have been animal tested.
21) According to a thorough study, 88% of stillbirths are caused by drugs which passed animal tests.
22) 61% of birth defects were found to have the same cause.
23) 70% of drugs which cause human birth defects are safe in pregnant monkeys.
24) 78% of foetus-damaging chemicals can be detected by one non-animal test.
25) Thousands of safe products cause birth defects in lab animals — including water, several vitamins, vegetable oils, oxygen and drinking waters. Of more than 1000 substances dangerous in lab animals, over 97% are safe in humans.
26) One of the most common lifesaving operation (for ectopic pregnancies) was delayed 40 years by vivisection.
27) The great Dr Hadwen noted “had animal experiments been relied upon…humanity would have been robbed of this great blessing of anaesthesia.”
28) Aspirin fails animal tests, as do digitalis (heart drug), cancer drugs, insulin (which causes animal birth defects), penicillin and other safe medicines. They would be banned if vivisection were believed.
29) Blood transfusions were delayed 200 years by animal studies.
30) The polio vaccine was delayed 40 years by monkey tests.
31) 30 HIV vaccines, 33 spinal cord damage drugs, and over 700 treatments for stroke have been developed in animals. None work in humans.
32) Despite many Nobel prizes going to vivisectors, only 45% agree that animal experiments are crucial.
33) The Director of Research Defence Society, (which serves only to defend vivisection) was asked if medical progress could have been achieved without animal use. His written reply was “I am sure it could be.”
This article first appeared in 2007. Investigations are still underway.
Very much alive. Not a hoax.
Neal Rodgers of Vinemont, Alabama had two beagles and after hunting the previous weekend he allowed them to run loose in a rural part of Vinemont located on County Road 1428.
Sunday morning, when he went to feed his dogs, an alarming sight greeted him. His three year old beagle, Anne, showed up bleeding.
Initially he thought she may have been hit by a car but it only took a moment to realize the truth, someone had actually skinned her!
“I can’t imagine who would do this. I have had bird dogs for years and never had anything like this happen,” Neal said describing the skinning as the way a hunter would skin a deer.
Anne had her coat removed from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail and down to the nipple line, all of which was done while she was alive.
“It is inhumane and I just can’t imagine anyone doing that to a living creature. I am just flabbergasted. I think whoever did this should be tied up and skinned,” said Janet Rodgers, Neal’s wife.
Their second beagle, Buttercup, was also injured but thankfully escaped with just some minor lacerations around the neck and shoulders.
Reward offered for arrest and conviction.
The Rodgers took both of their dogs to Bruce Lee’s veterinary clinic. Lee said in his more then 21 years as a vet, he’s never seen anything more gruesome.
“By far this is the most extreme case [of animal cruelty] I have ever seen,” Lee said. “I was not prepared for what I had to see. This was a totally awful sight.”
Due to the lack of skin available for grafts, Anne had to be euthanized.
“How can this be OK?” Lee said. “The only reason someone would do this is out of extreme torture. The amount of torture involved is incomprehensible. It is a brutal and hideous crime, and I hope I never have to see anything like it again.”
Janet Rodgers asked anyone with information to call the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office at 734-0342.
Sheriff Tyler Roden said the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case and said more details will be made available when the investigation concludes. Roden said the act is a Class C Felony charge and carries a fine up to $5,000 and up to 10 years in prison.
To say that this story appalls me does not even begin to describe how I feel. Someone who could do something like this to an innocent and defenseless animal is a serious danger!!
MAJURO — Escalating worry about illegal shark fin and sea cucumber exports prompted the Marshall Islands to ban trade in both marine products on Wednesday this week.
Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority Director Glen Joseph announced Wednesday a moratorium on the trade in and export of shark fins and sea cucumbers following reports of expanding illegal export operations in the Marshall Islands.
The fisheries department’s board of directors voted to place a moratorium on the trade of these two marine products until new procedures are in place to regulate them effectively, Joseph said.
“No one is registered and authorized to fish for sharks, but there are substantive reports that it is happening,” Joseph said.
Sea Cucumbers drying out
The same situation is occurring with sea cucumbers, he said. “Any company involved is required to register and get authorization from the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority to export sea cucumbers,” Joseph said. But MIMRA officials recently discovered a half-full container loaded with sea cucumbers waiting for export. “We fined the company $10,000 for violating the law,” Joseph said.
In the mid-2000s, the Marshall Islands licensed shark fishing, but after two years, the company fishing for sharks called it quits. According to fisheries officials, many local fishermen sell shark fins to Majuro-based companies for export to Asia. But Joseph said he hopes the new moratorium will shut this down.
The problem with Marshall Islands law relating to marine products is that there are no specifics for regulating the harvest of sea cucumbers, Joseph said. Key issues such as the size that can be harvested and periods during which harvesting is allowed are not spelled out.
“So MIMRA has instituted a moratorium on sea cucumber trade until we develop a management plan,” Joseph said.
Experts from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community are visiting Majuro next week to work with MIMRA on developing a national sea cucumber plan.
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