Explosive investigation exposes brutal slaughter of thousands of healthy racehorses
Warning: Graphic. One of the biggest names in horse racing has responded with disgust at hidden camera footage of racehorse abuse.
If you need to watch the 0:48min VIDEO:WATCH AT SOURCE
Thousands of healthy thoroughbred racehorses are being shipped to their brutal deaths at abattoirs where many are mistreated before being inhumanely killed for meat for human consumption.
An explosive report on ABC program 7.30 last night blew the lid on the “industrial scale” destruction of an enormous number of animals from Australia’s $1 billion horse racing industry.
It’s a practice that regulation should prevent, and which NSW Racing insists doesn’t occur, but secretly captured vision tells a very different and horrific story.
Strong Elephant and an Eland antelope bull in the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem that streches on both sides of the colonial boundary between Kenya and Tanzania. - the tusker is known as "Fred".
Photo credit: Fran Duthie
By VF/ET - 17. October 2019
Today, 30 years ago, on 17. October 1989 in Ottawa/Canada - during the Conference of the Parties to the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) - the 10 year moratorium and the global ban of ivory trade was adopted, since in the 1970s and 1980s, Elephant poaching triggered by the rush for ivory was at a dramatic high.
It was estimated in 1980 that Africa still boasted over a million Elephants (1979 estimate 1.5 million), but by the end of the decade the estimate was that only 400,000 remained.
The African Elephant was first listed by Ghana in CITES Appendix III in 1976. The following year, 1977, at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP1) to this United Nations species protection convention, African Elephants were moved to Appendix II. Under Appendix II rules, species are not necessarily seen as threatened by extinction but their trade requires control to avoid use that would be detrimental with their survival as a species.
Zimbabwe activists bid to stop alleged plan to export 35 baby elephants
The elephants are reportedly being held in Hwange National Park, pictured here in a photo from November 2012.
By Jack Guy, Columbus S. Mavhunga, CNN - 16. October 2019
Harare (CNN) - Wildlife activists in Zimbabwe are pushing to halt an alleged plan to sell 35 baby elephants to China and Pakistan as part of an ongoing row over wildlife exports.
The sale has been in the works since last year, according toAdvocates4Earth, an environmental lobby group that is suing the government over the alleged plan.
Activists claim the shipment of the baby animals has only been delayed because of a High Court application filed in May this year.
Zimbabwean wildlife authorities, meanwhile, deny they plan to sell the elephants.
The greatest shame is the South African canned killing of lions behind fence by bloodthirsty, rich psychopaths collecting trophies for sport. (Photo: EMS Foundation)
By Don Pinnock - DM - 16 October 2019
By the stroke of a legislative pen, a list of iconic and in some cases endangered wild animals can now be manipulated as farming stock. What happens next is anyone’s guess.
The shocking state in which many captive-bred lions have been found also raises concerns about the ability of the newly formed Ministry of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the departments under its watch to ensure the welfare of wild species now legally defined as farm animals, says the writer.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME South Africa ! We will start the boycott of South Africa again for this, for the opposition to the ivory ban, for the ongoing genocide against the San/Bushmen and for still being a corrupt and brutal Apartheid state.
Rio. An artistic ‘Earth Demonstration’ on Ipanema Beach
A fire they can’t put out
By Extinction Rebellion - 15. October 2019
Change takes time: even at the rate we’re going – and need to be going – it’s never going to happen all at once.
But things are changing. The past week has been a moment in history: to simply list the thousands of arrests, the many tens of thousands undertaking civil disobedience, would not do it justice. We have proven to the world that this rebellion is a truly global movement, growing rapidly within and between nations, and comprised of people with the selflessness, the creativity and the courage to resist the madness of this ecocidal system.
In each country, we’re only beginning to see the political and cultural ramifications. For all the actions we report here (even these are just some of many), it’s impossible to do justice to the hard work and love that goes into them, and the creativity, joy and community which result. There is little space to convey the significance of that action, and the impact it leaves on media discourse and national dialogue.
But rest assured, every act of disobedience sends ripples, big or small.
Barcelona protests: Hundreds of thousands to join rally after Catalan separatist leaders jailed
Students wave a Catalan pro-independence flag as they protest during a demonstration in front of the police headquarters in Barcelona ( AFP via Getty Images )
Major roads blocked off across Catalonia and main streets in Barcelona closed to traffic in anticipation of marches
Thousands of pro-independence supporters from Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia are pouring into Barcelona for what will be the fifth day of protests.
Local unions have also called for a general strike on Friday and thousands from around the region took part in the cross-country march arriving in the Catalan capital today.
Many can be seen waving pro-independence flags and carrying signs and banners as they march towards Barcelona.
The recent unrest in the capital of the Catalan region was sparked by the Spanish Supreme Court’s decision on Monday to jail nine separatist leaders for their role in a failed 2017 independence referendum.
Intact forests provide diverse and irreplaceable ecosystem services that are critical to human well-being, such as carbon storage to mitigate climate change. However, the ecosystem functions that underpin these services are highly dependent on the woody vegetation-animal interactions occurring within forests. While vertebrate defaunation is of growing policy concern, the effects of vertebrate loss on natural forest regeneration have yet to be quantified globally. Here we conduct a meta-analysis to assess the direction and magnitude of defaunation impacts on forests.
Scientists endorse mass civil disobedience to force climate action
Julia Steinberger, an ecology-economist at Britain's University of Leeds, endorses mass civil disobedience to pressure governments to tackle climate change at a protest at London's Science Museum, Britain October 12, 2019. Louise Jasper/Handout via REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters) - Almost 400 scientists have endorsed a civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle climate change, warning that failure could inflict “incalculable human suffering.”
In a joint declaration, climate scientists, physicists, biologists, engineers and others from at least 20 countries broke with the caution traditionally associated with academia to side with peaceful protesters courting arrest from Amsterdam to Melbourne.
Wearing white laboratory coats to symbolize their research credentials, a group of about 20 of the signatories gathered on Saturday to read out the text outside London’s century-old Science Museum in the city’s upmarket Kensington district.
“We believe that the continued governmental inaction over the climate and ecological crisis now justifies peaceful and non-violent protest and direct action, even if this goes beyond the bounds of the current law,” said Emily Grossman, a science broadcaster with a PhD in molecular biology. She read the declaration on behalf of the group.
UPDATE 17. October 2019: Under serious international and U.S.American pressure a 5 days ceasefire has been agreed and Turkey will stop its inhuman onslaught in Kurdistan for that period in the core zone along the border with and inside Syria.
Syrian jihadis in Trump-greenlit invasion just murdered a Kurdish women’s rights leader
Hevrin Khalaf, the Secretary-General of the Kurdish Future Syria Party was allegedly brutally raped and confirmed murdered in execution style just after Trump abandoned his Kudish allies. Video evidence shows that even after she had been killed her body was abused by her excited killers.
The catastrophic consequences of Donald Trump’s sickening betrayal of America’s Kurdish allies in Syria are becoming clearer by the minute as Turkish forces invade the Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.
The danger to the long-time fighting partners of American forces in the Middle East is coming from more than just the invading Turks, however, as reports of atrocities by Turkish-backed Arab militias in the area raise fears of an ethnic cleansing campaign and a resurgence of ISIS and Al-Qaeda in a region where they had largely been contained by Kurdish forces.
The most disturbing report today came from the news that a senior female Kurdish political leader —Hevrin Khalaf, the Secretary-General of the Kurdish Future Syria Party — was dragged from her car and executed by “Turkish backed mercenary factions” while traveling in a highway convoy on the road to the city of Qamishlo.
BREAKING: Historic Day for Animals-California Passes Multiple Animal Protection Laws!
Selling of fur or skins of exotic animals banned, no bobcat hunting, and protections for horses signed into bills in California.
By IDA - 12. October 2019
Historic Day for Animals! California Governor Signs Raft of Animal Protection Laws
Governor Gavin Newsom has made it illegal to sell or produce fur, hunt bobcats, use wild animals in circuses, sell the skins of exotic animals, and strengthened protections for California’s horses facing slaughter!
SACRAMENTO, CA – In Defense of Animals is thrilled to welcome news that California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a package of historic laws to protect animals.
“This is an unprecedented day in the history of animal rights,” said Fleur Dawes, Communications Director of In Defense of Animals. “Bobcats, elephants, caiman, horses, rabbits, and river otters have just won ground-breaking protections that will protect many thousands of animals.
Tim Buckley, Larry Fink and Ron O'Hanley are the three on top of the global pollution pyramid.
The CEOs of BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street together oversee assets worth more than China’s entire GDP.
Data reveals crucial role of BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard in climate crisis. World's top three asset managers oversee $300bn fossil fuel investments.
The world’s three largest money managers have built a combined $300bn fossil fuel investment portfolio using money from people’s private savings and pension contributions, the Guardian can reveal.
BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, which together oversee assets worth more than China’s entire GDP, have continued to grow billion-dollar stakes in some of the most carbon-intensive companies since the Paris agreement, financial data shows.
As the end of the first week of Rebellion draws near, it is humbling and inspiring to see that rebels show no sign of slowing down.
Berlin. Bubbles at Brandenburg Gate
By XR - 12. Oct. 2019
In fact, day 5 was marked by a series of exciting milestones: XR Dublin had their first arrests; XR Israel reached a new level of direct action, as rebels glued themselves to the National Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv; and Aussie rebels pioneered the delightful new concept of ‘Civil Disco-bedience’ [careful: this is Facebook].
Activist and celebrity Jane Fonda was arrested during climate change protest in Washington.
Award-winning actress Jane Fonda has woken up to how bad climate change is after listening to Swedish teen Greta Thunberg. She came to Washington to protest on the steps of the Capitol, and promptly got arrested.
“I’ve been a climate scientist for decades and decades," Fonda, 81, told ABC News – but it was apparently Thunberg holding a sign in from of the Swedish parliament that inspired her to actually take to the streets. So the 81-year-old actress decided to get out of her "comfort zone,"leaving her $5.45 million Los Angeles mansion to move across the country to Washington, DC for the purpose of protesting every Friday, just like Greta.
The ecological disaster is taking its toll on scientists’ mental health, with top researchers saying those working in the field must be supported and “allowed to cry”.
Leading researchers have published a letter saying many scientists experience “strong grief responses” to the ecological crisis and there are profound risks of ignoring this emotional trauma.
The letter, published in the journalScience, calls on academic institutions to support scientists and allow them to address their ecological grief professionally.
Professor Andy Radford from the University of Bristol, and co-writer, said: “The emotional burden of this kind of research should not be underestimated. Grief, when unaddressed, can cloud judgement, inhibit creativity and engender a sense that there is no way forward,” he said.
Meet the primate species that are among the most endangered on the planet, and the most in need of conservation measures.
In 2017, the Tapanuli orangutan was discovered in the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. The rust-colored beauties made headlines for becoming the eighth known species of great ape in the world (including us humans). Their discovery was also notable for being the first great ape species to be described to science since the bonobo was discovered in 1929.
Now, just two years later, the Tapanuli orangutan has been bestowed with a much more grim distinction: A spot in the new report, "Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates, 2018-2020." With fewer than 800 of these new-to-science orangutans left in the wild, it's going to have to be all hands on deck to keep them from slipping away altogether.
At the 2019 Labour Conference, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s speech was remarkable for a number of reasons. It outlined the most radical fiscal policy proposals of a major political party in the Global North for decades, including a four-day working week, workers’ right to company shares and new universal basic services programmes. His most radical statement was however identifying the urgency and importance of the fight against climate change.
