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Horrible
planetary legacies of animals as human property
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1.
From The American Anti-Vivisection Society Magazine
2. Prominent
International Corporation Plans to Poison Over 2000
Animals
3. Live Export Eye Witness Account
4. Winnipeg Free Press
5. Iams
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Sierra
Club Picture
1.
In February, an egg farm was instructed to slaughter all
the hens housed on its grounds due to an outbreak of a
contagious avian virus. The birds were killed by being
thrown, while still alive, into a wood chipper. A San
Diego newspaper incorrectly reported that the American
Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) approved the use of
wood clippers to kill the birds. In response, the AVMA
vehemently denied this assertion: “It is absolutely
absurd and ludicrous to believe that any veterinary
medical association, especially an association that has
for more than 140 years been the leading voice for humane
and proper care of animals, could or would advocate
throwing live chickens into a wood chipper as an
appropriate method of euthanasia, ’said Dr. Bruce W.
Little, AVMA Executive Vice President. While this strong
statement may seem to imply that the AVMA is working on
behalf of animals, its official policies state otherwise.
For example, the AVMA recently disapproved of a
recommendation that would have revised its approval of ear
cropping and tail docking. It also opposes the American
Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which prohibits horses
from being killed for human consumption, stating “that
the processing of unwanted horses is currently a necessary
aspect of the equine industry.” The AVMA also supports a
public education campaign by the Foundation for Biomedical
Research (FBR) that promotes the role of animals in
biomedical research, claiming that animal testing also
advances veterinary medicine. AVMA calls FBR’s
“Survivors” campaign “highly commendable and eagerly
awaited by the veterinary medical research community.”
Although the AVMA touts itself as an entity that protects
the well-being of animals, its hypocritical policies
unveil the Association’s inhumane ideologies.
*
Prominent
international corporation plans to poison 2000 animals
2.
In conjunction with the Environmental protection
Agency’s (EPA) notorious High Production Volume (HPV)
chemical testing program, the Ferro Corporation, an
international producer of performance materials such as
enamel coatings and specialty plastic compounds, is
planning to poison at least 2,100 animals with
2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) and isodecyl
diphenyl phosphate, two chemicals used in plastics,
machine oils, and hydraulic fluids.
Ferro’s
testing plans violate a 1999 agreement between the EPA and
a coalition of animal advocacy groups that requires
companies to follow basic guidelines in order to reduce
the number of animals killed in the HPV chemical testing
program. While the agreement directs companies to fully
utilize already existing data, the EPA has failed to
enforce this provision, allowing companies such as Ferro
to ignore alternative research methods. Instead, the Ferro
Corporation is proposing to conduct animal research,
including acute fish and mammalian toxicity tests as well
as reproductive and developmental tests.
There
are at least 23 published studies investigating the
effects of EHDPP and isodecyl diphenyl phosphate, causing
the poisoning deaths of thousands of animals.
Additionally, another 97 studies are currently awaiting
review by the EPA. Despite the wealth of information that
is available regarding these two chemicals, the Ferro
Corporation is planning to kill more than 2,000 animals in
duplicative tests.
Through
its failure to acknowledge existing data, Ferro unmasks
its lack of concern for animal lives and minimizes the
biological differences between species that cause
chemicals to react differently in different species.
Because of this high interspecies variability, data
collected in non-human animal research studies cannot be
accurately and reliably extrapolated to humans. The Ferro
Corporation needs to be urged to use nonanimal
alternatives and existing data in its IIPV testing plan to
access the toxicity of EHDPP and isodecyl diphenyl
phosphate.
Please contact Ferro’s CEO and
ask that he implement policy that recognizes
the guidelines Lila I require companies to fully
review and utilize existing data regarding EJJDPP and
isodecyl dipheny/ phosphate. Hector K Ortino, Chair
& CEO, Eerro Corporation, 1000 Lakeside Ave.,
Cleveland, OH 44114-7000; phone:
(216)641-8580;
lax: (216)875-72(16; e-mail: gormley@ferro. coin
Change
of the moral and legal status of the animal kingdom
requires
that people act individually, and en masse on
their own initiative.
Prudent
action is power
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Live
Export - Eye Witness  |
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3.
Animals Australia has undertaken a three year
investigation into the shipping, handling,
transport and slaughter practices endured by
Australian sheep and cattle exported to
Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
. 
These
investigations have been assisted by
veterinarian Dr Petra Sidhom in Egypt, and
in Israel and Jordan by attorney Yossi Wolfson
from Anonymous for Animal Rights (Israel).
Dr
Sidhom
and Mr Wolfson have worked
closely with Animals Australia's Executive
Director Glenys Oogjes.
Glenys has worked for over 20 years to expose
the cruelties involved in the live animal export
trade.
Petra
and Yossi have both travelled to Australia and
with Glenys have provided graphic eye-witness
accounts of the atrocious conditions in these
importing countries to the National Consultative
Committee on Animal Welfare (NCCAW), to the
Federal Agriculture Minister, Warren Truss and
his advisors, to each of the relevent Government
departments (Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry
Australia, Australian Quarantine Inspection
Service, and Australian Maritime Safety
Authority) and to Livecorp (representing live
exporters) - yet - no
effective changes have been made.
As
a result Australian animals continue to suffer
intolerably in these countries. Evidence
was then presented to the Australian media.
MEDIA:
For video footage, still photographs or further
comment contact
Animals Australia
Executive Director Glenys Oogjes on (03)
9329 6333
Egypt
Dr
Petra Sidhom MRCVS
Background
Dr Sidhom is a UK based
veterinarian who regularly travels to Egypt on
behalf of animal welfare organisations.
Dr Sidhom has been involved in negotiations in
Egypt with Government, religious leaders,
academics and veterinary colleagues seeking
improved conditions and treatment for imported
animals.
Dr.
Sidhom has been working with Animals Australia
since 1999. She has travelled to Australia
to personally express her concerns regarding
unloading facilities, handling, transportation,
holding and slaughter conditions to the live
export industry body, Livecorp and relevant
government authorities. In 2001 a
further report was provided by Dr. Sidhom on the
terrible conditions on board the MV Maysora on
its maiden voyage from Australia to Adibya
(Egypt).
. 
The 'sick pen' and faeces-caked
animals on the MV Maysora 2001
Dr.
Sidhom's eye-witness account of the terrible
conditions on the MV Maysora upon arrival in
Egypt and in the Bassatin slaughterhouse near
Cairo was featured in June in the Australian
Veterinary Journal (Vol 81, No 6, June 2003)
Following
are extracts of what occurs at Bassatin
slaughterhouse, just outside Cairo [N.B. Dr
Sidhom's reports were presented to industry and
government in 2001]:
‘A
group of four or five cattle is driven onto the
landing, where the slaughter men spread
themselves around the huddled animals and begin
to cut more tendons on the front and the hind
legs. …The affected animal then attempts to
hobble in the opposite direction where another
slaughterman waits to strike. The knee and elbow
joints are also targeted for destruction and the
eyes knocked or stabbed out’.
Dr
Petra Sidhom, the author of this eye-witness
account (Aust Vet J Vol 81, No 6, June 2003),
explains that the Egyptian slaughtermen are
afraid of the larger Australian cattle, and
strike out to disable the cattle prior to
forcing them to the slaughter hall.
Australian
cattle and sheep are exported live to Egypt (and
many other Middle East countries) and are killed
without prior stunning. Their throats are cut
while fully conscious.
The
Bassatin slaughterhouse (at the time of this
account) killed some 300 Australian cattle each
day. The slaughterhouse has 4 ‘restraint
boxes’ for large cattle, but they are rarely
used due to lack of maintenance and because
slaughtermen believe it slows the slaughter
rate. They are paid per animal killed.
‘I
have observed a slaughterman, cutting the tongue
from an animal and stuffing it into his shirt
directly after its throat was cut and while the
animal was still conscious and struggling with
its head raised above the ground. I was advised
that, for some of the assistant labourers, parts
of the body are the only reward they get for
their work.’
INDUSTRY
RESPONSE
The
Australian live export industry body, Livecorp,
has admitted awareness of these slaughter
practices in Egypt, but planned technical
assistance and training for slaughtermen has not
occurred.
The
industry response to pending media exposure of
these horrific practices, was to pledge just
$100,000 for changes across the entire Middle
East and North Africa!
At
Bassatin, animals are slaughtered by independent
slaughter teams who are not answerable to
veterinary or other authorities. New equipment
is regularly stolen or disabled - therefore no
improvements in animal treatment can occur.
Dr
Sidhom is currently denied access to the
Bassatin slaughterhouse, but Egypt’s Chief
Veterinarian has recently (May 2003) advised
that the conditions have not altered since her
visit in October 2001.
Israel and Jordan
Yossi
Wolfson
Yossi
is an Israeli Attorney and committee member of
'Anonymous for Animal Rights'. He has met
shipments of Australian animals arriving in
Aqaba through Jordan and into Israel and
documented the journey and conditions animals
endure during transport and slaughter.
Following
is his graphic account of the slaughter of
cattle in an Israeli abbatoir:
"The
animal must be fully conscious when the throat
is cut. The process is long.
The
animal is pulled into a restraining box where
its legs are shackled. Then, pulled by the
shackles, it is thrown on its back and its legs
and body pulled upwards. The animal's screams as
it lies suspended by the legs on its back gives
some idea of their absolute fear. This shackling
process can
take
many minutes.
The
abattoir's workers arrange the screaming animal
for the slaughter man - pouring water on the
neck and into the mouth. They straighten
the shackles, restraining the head. The
sharp cut that comes then is not the end of it.
The animal continues to struggle and gasp for
air for some time while the blood is pouring and
the body is dragged upwards and moved to be
processed. At the same time another animal is
already watching the scene from the restraining
box."
Yossi
Wolfson describes the transfer of animals from
truck to truck at the border crossing between
Jordan and Israel.
"Plastic
pipes are use to beat the animals. No ramps are
used. Animals are forced to jump
from truck to truck or run over a gap. Legs that
get caught in the gap or between the rails are a
common sight. Sheep are picked up by their
horns, ears or fleece, or are physically thrown
from truck to truck. Unaware of their stupid
behaviour, workers stand in the way of animals,
frightening them from moving to the desired
direction, and then beat them or drag them so
they will obey. When concerned about being
photographed, the workers try to be less brutal
– but it is clear that they do not know any
better.
. 
The
heat can be unbearable. Temperature is
around 40. But still, there is no shade over the
animals' trucks, nor is there any water supply
for them. The lucky ones will go from here into
quarantine, where (after another brutal
unloading) they will finally be watered.
Animals can go without water for days during
transport. Others will stay the whole day and
night on the trucks to be transported to the
Palestinian Authority. There they will
experience another unloading (again – no ramps
available) and another loading to their final
destination.
It
is no coincidence that so many animals die. The
death and suffering are shocking even for people
who earn their living from the industry. It was
a driver who led us to see and photograph four
Australian calves thrown away at the quarantine.
Three were obviously dead and the fourth wasn't
moving. But there was blood in his nose, and the
blood was bubbling, hinting breath. Euthanasia
is clearly not practiced here: the calf was just
left to die. And when the people in charge saw
us taking pictures we had to run for our
lives."
.
Glenys Oogjes Executive
Director of Animals Australia
Glenys
is considered by the animal welfare movement in
Australia to be an authority on the welfare
issues relating to live animal export issues.
She has worked for over 20 years to expose the
cruelties involved in the live animal export
trade, giving evidence to the Senate Select
Committee on Animal Welfare which examined the
issue in the mid-1980's. Glenys since that
time has repeatedly provided dossiers of
suffering and deaths to Australian authorities
and the community.
Glenys
is currently a member of the National
Consultative Committee on Animals Welfare (NCCAW)
- which advises federal Minister for
Agriculture, Warren Truss.
Despite
Animals Australia providing graphic eye-witness
accounts of the atrocious conditions in these
importing countries to NCCAW, to the Minister
and his advisors, to each of the relevent
Government departments (Agriculture Fisheries
and Forestry Australia, Australian Quarantine
Inspection Service, and Australian Maritime
Safety Authority) and to Livecorp (representing
live exporters) over many years, and
particularly in the past 3 years, no effective
changes have been made.
MEDIA:
For video footage, still photographs or further
comment contact
Animals Australia
Executive Director Glenys Oogjes on (03)
9329 6333
For
a further comprehensive report (including
mortality figures involved in live export)
read "The
Death Files".
Help
Animals Australia end live export! |
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Winnipeg FreePress
On Line Edition
Friday, August 22nd, 2003
Cattle kill gets closer
Province seeks burial sites for up to 55,000 head due to
mad cow crisis
Friday, August 22nd, 2003
By Helen Fallding
4.THE province is looking for burial sites for up to
55,000 healthy cattle that may have to be killed starting
next month as hope dwindles that the U.S. will relax its
mad cow restrictions.
"The odds are there is going to have to be
destruction of some animals this fall," said Dr.
Allan Preston, Manitoba Agriculture's chief veterinarian.
"The market for adult cattle to the U.S. is not going
to open this fall for sure -- maybe not for quite some
time."
The worst-case scenario would see the disposal of 700,000
Canadian animals past their prime because they can no
longer be shipped to U.S. slaughterhouses to be turned
into hamburger.
Animals that normally bring ranchers profit would suddenly
become a major liability since few farmers could afford to
feed them without government assistance.
And Canada's poor, who might welcome the extra meat, could
be out of luck because the country does not have enough
slaughterhouses or rendering plants to handle the extra
load.
To make matters worse,
slaughterhouses that ship boxed meat to the U.S. may no
longer be allowed to handle the older animals that are
vulnerable to the disease.
Preston said an alternative to burial is burning cattle to
ash with a travelling incinerator that burns at 2,500 C.
"There's not much left."
He said there will be no open-air burning pyres like those
in Britain during the foot-and-mouth disease crisis in
2001.
Rob McNabb of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, who
was aware there would be a public outcry over wasting
meat, said the industry will explore every possible option
for turning excess cattle into feed or fertilizer.
He said he has not yet conceded that culling is
inevitable, but decisions will need to be made within
weeks.
Manitoba is in a particularly difficult position because
it has no major cattle slaughterhouses, Preston
acknowledged.
Many of Manitoba's landfills are already licensed to
accept animal carcasses, but local governments would have
to agree to take much more of the waste.
When the Canadian Food Inspection Agency went looking last
year for six to eight pieces of Crown land where animals
could be buried in the event of an outbreak, it met with
resistance from local councils.
However, Preston said preliminary discussions suggest
communities will now recognize they have a stake in the
mad cow issue and an obligation to provide a service to
their ratepayers.
About 55,000 cattle -- 10 per cent of Manitoba's herd --
are typically sent to the U.S. each fall to be turned into
hamburger because they are past their productive years for
breeding or milking.
But live cattle can no longer cross the U.S. border after
a single Alberta cow was found in May to have mad cow
disease.
Preston said the cull normally starts in mid-September and
continues until Christmas, so the industry has only a few
weeks to get a plan in place and arrange funding. It will
likely be an extension of the almost $500-million
federal-provincial compensation package for Canadian
ranchers devastated by mad cow.
Experience in Britain shows it can cost about $200 to
dispose of each animal, Preston said. That could bring the
bill to more than $100 million across Canada.
Older cattle used for lower-grade meat are usually worth
about $700 each, but are selling for about $120 since
Canada was branded a mad cow country.
Even if Canada could develop enough slaughter capacity to
take care of the older cattle, every Canadian would have
to eat an extra six kilograms of hamburger a year to use
up the meat, Preston's colleagues have calculated.
"We can't eat that much hamburger," he said.
Cull options were discussed yesterday at a national
meeting of the livestock industry, scientists and
government officials at the Canadian Science Centre for
Human and Animal Health on Arlington Street.
Preston said cattle would be killed the same way they are
in slaughterhouses -- with a bolt gun that stuns them and
makes them brain-dead before they are bled. That might be
done at abattoirs or auction marts or the province might
have to construct a new facility, he said.
McNabb said burial may not be an option in all provinces.
He said animals might be rendered first to reduce the
volume needing burial.
Preston said landfills would have extra costs for pit
maintenance and groundwater would need to be monitored for
contamination.
The veterinarian said any cull would be done over a number
of months.
In the meantime, ranchers are continuing to spend money
feeding the animals as they wait for a decision.
helen.fallding@freepress.mb.ca
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5.
Below are brief summaries of what
happens to some of the animals
used in studies supported by
Iams: All of which would not be
the norm if animals were not
classified and exploited as human
property.
1..
28 CATS' BELLIES WERE CUT TO SEE
THE EFFECT OF FEEDING THEM
FIBRE, THEN THE CATS WERE
KILLED - Bueno 24 YOUNG
DOGS WERE INTENTIONALLY PUT INTO
KIDNEY FAILURE; SUBJECTED
TO INVASIVE EXPERIMENTATION, THEN
KILLED - University of Georgia and
The Iams Company. (White, JV, et
al. Am J Vet Res 1991; Vol 52: No
8, pp 1357 - 1365)
2..
31 DOGS' KIDNEYS WERE REMOVED TO
INCREASE THE RISK OF KIDNEY
DISEASE, THEN THEY WERE KILLED
AND DISSECTED - University of
Georgia and The Iams Company. (Finco,
DR, et al. Am J Vet Res 1994; Vol
55: No 9, pp 1282-1290)
3..
BONES IN 18 DOGS' FRONT AND BACK
LEGS WERE CUT OUT AND
STRESSED UNTIL THEY BROKE -
University of Wisconsin and The
Iams Company. (Crenshaw TD.
et al. Proceeding of 1998 Iams
Nutrition Symposium)
4..
10 DOGS WERE KILLED TO STUDY THE
EFFECT OF FIBER IN DIETS -
Mississippi State University
and The Iams Company. (Buddington,
RK, et al. Am J Vet Res 1999; Vol
60: No 3, pp 354-358)
5..
18 MALE PUPPIES' KIDNEYS WERE
CHEMICALLY DAMAGED; EXPERIMENTAL
DIETS WERE FED; TUBES WERE
INSERTED IN THEIR PENISES, THEN
THE PUPPIES WERE KILLED - Colorado
State University and The Iams
Company. (Grauer, GF, et al. Am J
Vet Res 1996; Vol 57: No 6, pp
948-956)..
8 DOGS' KIDNEYS WERE REMOVED TO
STUDY THE EFFECT OF PROTEIN ON
RECOVERY FROM KIDNEY REMOVAL -
University of Georgia and The Iams
Company. (Journal of
Veterinary Internal Medicine, American
College of Veterinary Internal
Medicine)
6..
28 CATS WERE SURGICALLY FORCED
INTO KIDNEY FAILURE AND EITHER
DIED DURING THE EXPERIMENT OR
WERE KILLED TO STUDY THE EFFECTS
OF PROTEIN - University of
Georgia and The Iams Company.
(Proceedings of the 1998 Iams
Nutrition Symposium)
7..
15 DOGS' BELLIES WERE CUT OPEN;
TUBES WERE ATTACHED TO THEIR
INTESTINES, THE CONTENTS OF
WHICH WERE PUMPED OUT EVERY 10
MINUTES FOR TWO HOURS, THEN THE
DOGS WERE KILLED - University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and The Iams
Company. (Hallman, JE, et al.
Nutrition Research 1996; Vol 16:
No 2, pp 303-313)
8..
16 DOGS' BELLIES WERE CUT OPEN
AND PARTS OF THEIR INTESTINES TAKEN
- University of Alberta and The
Iams Company. (1998 Journal of the
American Society of Nutritional
Sciences)
9..
HEALTHY PUPPIES, CHICKS, AND RATS
HAD BONE AND CARTILAGE
REMOVED TO STUDY BONE AND JOINT
DEVELOPMENT - Purdue University
and The Iams Company. (Proceedings
of the 2000 Iams Nutrition
Symposium)
10..
INVASIVE PROCEDURES WERE USED
TO STUDY BACTERIA IN 16 DOGS' INTESTINES
- Texas A&M University and The
Iams Company. (Willard MD et al.
Am J Vet Res, Vol 55, No. 5, May
1994)
11..
24 CATS HAD THEIR FEMALE ORGANS
AND PARTS OF THEIR LIVERS REMOVED;
WERE MADE OBESE, THEN WERE STARVED
- University of Kentucky and The
Iams Company. (Ibrahim WH. et al.
AJVR, Vol 61, No. 5, May 2000)
12..
56 DOGS HAD THEIR FEMALE ORGANS
REMOVED TO STUDY BETA CAROTENE
- Washington State University and
The Iams Company. (Weng, BC, et
al. J.Anim.Sci.2000. 78:1284-1290)
13..
16 DOGS' BELLIES WERE
REPEATEDLY CUT TO TAKE PARTS OF
THEIR INTESTINES - Texas
A&M and The Iams Company.
(Willard, MD, et al. JAVMA 1994.
8:1201-1206)
14..
6 DOGS HAD TUBES IMPLANTED INTO
THEIR INTESTINES AND FLUID DRAINED
REPEATEDLY TO STUDY CEREAL FLOURS
- University of Illinois and The
Iams Company. (Murray, SM, et al.
J.Anim.Sci.1999. 77:2180-2186)
15..
30 DOGS WERE WOUNDED AND PATCHES
OF SKIN CONTAINING THE
WOUNDS REMOVED TO STUDY
WOUND-HEALING - Auburn University
and The Iams Company. (Mooney, MA,
et al. Am J Vet Res 1998; Vol 59:
No 7, pp 859-863)
16..
5 DOGS' BELLIES WERE CUT OPEN AND
TUBES WERE INSERTED FROM
THEIR INTESTINES TO THE OUTSIDE
OF THEIR BODIES TO STUDY THE
EFFECTS OF FIBER - University of
Illinois and The Iams Company.
(Muir, HE, et al. J.Anim.Sci.1996.
74:1641-1648)
17..
PARTS OF 28 DOGS' LARGE
INTESTINES WERE REMOVED TO STUDY
THE EFFECTS OF FIBER -
University of Missouri and The
Iams Company. (Howard, MD,
et al. J.Anim.Sci. 1997. 75(Suppl.
1); 136)
18..
PARTS OF 16 DOGS' INTESTINES
AND IMMUNE SYSTEM WERE CUT OUT
TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF FIBER -
University of Alberta and The Iams
Company. (Proceedings of
the 1998 Iams Nutrition Symposium)
19..
5 DOGS HAD TISSUE FROM LARGE
AND SMALL INTESTINES REMOVED TO
STUDY INTESTINAL TRACT NEEDS -
University of Illinois and The
Iams Company. (Proceedings
of the 1998 Iams Nutrition
Symposium)
20..
8 HEALTHY DOGS HAD TUBES INSERTED
THROUGH THEIR CHESTS TO
STUDY FAT ABSORPTION - The Ohio
State University and The Iams
Company. (Proceedings of
2000 Iams Nutrition Symposium)
21..
SECTIONS OF 36 DOGS' SKINS WERE
CUT OUT TO STUDY EFFECTS OF
DIET ON FUR - Texas A&M and
The Iams Company. (Proceedings
of 2000 Iams Nutrition Symposium)
22..
14 PUPPIES WERE INJECTED WITH
SUBSTANCES THAT GAVE THEM
LIFE-LONG ALLERGIES, MADE THEM
SICK, AND GAVE THEM DIARRHOEA -
University of Calgary and The Iams
Company. (Proceedings of 2000 Iams
Nutrition Symposium) Please
contact Iams to let them know your
disgust at these animal experiments.
Phone them on 0800 426 785 or
email customer.service@Iams.com.
<mailto:customer.service@Iams.com.>
<mailto://customer.service@Iams.com.>
This was from the Announcement
from Managers of sKy FlYeR
*
To
be continued
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