Articles tagged with: animal welfare
Articles
My message of support to campaigners
Peter Skinner & Kent animal welfare activist Reg Bell
Peter Skinner MEP has contacted Defra and the European Commission to demand that the transport license of Johannes Onderwater be suspended.
Onderwater is the biggest exporter of live calves from Britain, using an old soviet tank carrier to ship thousands of young animals abroad.
An investigation by the Sunday Times has revealed that Johannes Onderwater is transporting animals despite being convicted of a serious animal welfare offense in 2009 at Dover Magistrate Court. European Regulations mean that conviction should prevent him from holding a license but Read the rest of this article »
James West, Peter Skinner and Reg Bell
“Ban live exports” was the strong message from South East Euro MP Peter Skinner and local campaigners after a meeting with national animal welfare charity Compassion in World Farming.
After years of falling live exports numbers are on the rise again. Last year the number of animals exported from Great Britain had dropped to 4000 sheep and no calves. But this year over 10,000 sheep, calves, pigs and goats calves had been exported already. Read the rest of this article »
Last week I hosted a seminar in the European Parliament on the topic of bear bile farming in China (and elsewhere across Asia) that sees bears caged in horrific conditions and ‘farmed’ for their bile (see photo, right) – an utterly inhumane process whereby metal catheters are implanted in the abdomens of bears to extract bile for use in traditional medicines.
The seminar heard from representatives for a number of animal welfare charities, MEPs and the Head of Unit responsible for animal welfare in the European Commission, and ended with a call from participants – including myself – to step up pressure on the Chinese to outlaw the practice.
Such a move from the Chinese authorities cannot come soon enough. At the moment some 10,000 bears being farmed, sometimes for up to 30 years, to produce a product for which there are over 50 recognised herbal and synthetic alternatives!
This is not the first time I have been involved in campaigning on this issue; I was proud to be one of the original MEPs calling for an end to bear farming in 2006. Since then some progress has been made, but nowhere near enough.
I am determined to keep the pressure up on the Chinese authorities to do more, and to support those charities looking to make a difference on the ground. You can too: visit the Animals Asia website to find out how http://www.animalsasia.org/
