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Relevant offers
People can be a bit 'iffy' about cruises, but when looking for a cost-effective holiday they are hard to go past.
Before baulking at the up-front cost - granted, they aren't cheap - it's helpful to remember that 90 per cent of your holiday is covered before you leave.
Flight Centre cruiseabout brand leader Jessica Allen said people were quickly coming round to the idea of a cruise holiday, but there were a few things holidaymakers should be aware of.
She said the key was knowing where crucial savings could be made.
"There is so much variety available in the cruising market these days with cruise lines travelling to an
increasing number of destinations and a huge variety of ships available to choose from.
"Remember that when you book an all-inclusive cruise, 90 per cent of your holiday has been paid for before you take off. This is a huge benefit to those travelling on a budget."
Here are some top tips to get the most out of a cruise:
1. Get in quick
Just the same as booking flights or accommodation, the best deals come to those who are organised. Book ahead as early as possible and reap the rewards.
Cruise lines quite often put together early bird sales and these are by far the best deals to take advantage of.
2. Wrap it in a package
Cruising is not always just a matter of hopping on a boat when it's time to leave. More often than not, at least one flight is involved to get yourself to the port on time. Booking the whole lot in one package can incur big savings as wholesale flights are generally made available for cruise packages.
3. Do you need the most palatial suite? Really?
A private balcony with a direct view onto the sea is always nice, but come on, you're on holiday. How much time are you really planning on spending in your room?
Internal cabins are much cheaper, particularly for families, but if you really had your heart set on a room with a red chaise and chandelier, there are ways to be crafty. Keep an
eye out for special offers that include a room upgrades at a fraction of the price that it would have been otherwise. But a word to the wise: If there is a specific cruise you want to travel on, don't wait for a last minute sale that does not guarantee your preferred ship.
4. Being easy on dates
Not that kind of easy, (although it depends on the cruise you're booking).
But, if you are flexible with the dates on which you can travel, some last minute sales are in fact worth it. If you can travel at short notice then it can pay off to hold out for a cabin that the cruise company just wants filled.
5. Go all-inclusive
All-inclusive cruises can include everything from airfares and transfers to meals, beverages, entertainment and gratuities. This means 90 per cent of your holiday is paid in the up-front cost, at the time of booking, allowing for fantastic budget control.
Extra bonuses are also a great way to increase the value of your trip without your pocket becoming lighter.
Whether these are in the form of onboard credits, room upgrades or airport and hotel transfers, these are often available and worth taking advantage of.
- Stuff
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Horse Auctions In America And Mexican Slaughterhouses
When America shut down it's horse slaughterhouses in 2007 it was supposed to be great news for horses. But in reality, it was better news for the city of Juarez, Mexico, which is home to many unregulated slaughterhouses steeped in animal cruelty. While commercial horse slaughter is no longer allowed in America, it is still accepted to transport tens of thousands of live horses in cattle trucks to Mexico or Canada. Most horses are sent to Juarez.
American horses destined for slaughter in Mexico are often transported across the country for more than 24 hours without rest, food or water to El Paso, Texas, where they are crossed into Juarez, a place where life is not highly valued. Juarez houses violent drug cartels and criminal gangs that engage in extortion and kidnapping and operate with near impunity. Until recently, less than five percent of human killings in Juarez result in criminal convictions, so animal lives are far from a priority.
Recently one of Mexico's most wanted men was finally arrested after the US government had set a $5 million reward for his arrest and Mexico had placed a $2.2 million bounty on his head. After a decade of smuggling monthly, multi-ton shipments of cocaine into America, two Juarez cartels clashed in 2008. Over a four-year period more than 10,000 people were reported killed in Ciudad Juarez, earning it the name of "Murder City."
Juraez is the destination for American horses to die.
This is what happens when horses are no longer wanted by their owners or carers and end up in Mexico's disgraceful slaughterhouses or markets.
Its not unusual for pet horses to live into their mid-30s. Shayne, one of the oldest recorded living horses, still enjoys galloping at 51 years old in his home paddock in Brentwood, Essex. The oldest horse ever recorded, Old Billy was 62 years old when he died. However, it is more unusual for a horse to remain with it's original owner than it is for it to live out it's natural life.
51 year old Shayne.
Before the last American slaughterhouse closed in 2007, the USDA documented rampant cruelty violations and severe injuries to horses, including broken bones protruding from their bodies, eyeballs hanging from threads of skin and gaping wounds.
Click here to read: Timeline of Horse Slaughter Legislation in the United States.
American Horse Auctions
Most horses begin their journey into hell at livestock auctions, where unsuspecting owners sell their animals to slaughterhouse middlemen known as "kill buyers." These auctions, where the general public is invited to bid and buy horses, are held all over America. Some owners may carefully braid their horse's mane hoping for a good home for that gentle pony their child has outgrown, never suspecting that the poor creature is probably destined for a slaughterhouse.
Horse rescue groups go to auctions literally to bid for the life of horses but are usually outbid by "kill buyers" who see each horse as meat for slaughter. The auctions are held all over America and the general public are invited to bid and buy horses. Most of the horses destined for slaughter at auctions are young or middle-aged and in the prime of their lives.
The USDA documented that 92.3 percent of horses sent to slaughter are in good condition and are able to live out a productive life. The number of U.S. horses sent to slaughter through auctions has not decreased since domestic slaughter ceased in 2007. Kill-buyers are ready to bid as little as $60 for a so-called "salvage" market horses.
Mike McBarron is a kill-buyer in Kaufman, Texas. He says, "every one of them is either crippled or crazy or don't ride at all," and claims it costs him about $100 to send each horse to Mexico, leaving his profit between $20 and $50 per horse. McBarron, 36, has been trading horses since he dropped out of ninth grade. He insists he's providing a service by saving unwanted horses from abandonment and providing instant payment to owners who would otherwise have to shell out a few hundred dollars to have their animals euthanized and buried.
The Long Journey Across America Into Mexico
In the United States, horses have never been raised for human consumption, yet for decades they have been bought and slaughtered by a foreign-owned industry for consumption in Europe and Asia.
From former pets to show horses and racehorses, all are dragged and whipped into trucks built for cattle, which consequently leaves many horses horrifically injured on their heads, necks and legs as workers cram as many horses as possible into the trucks.
"They mix stallions in with pregnant mares, foals and older horses, often leading to fights and injuries," says Valerie Pringle, Equine Protection Specialist for The Humane Society of the United States.
In transit, horses frequently fall and those that are unable to regain their footing are often trampled to death. Healthy, very young, injured, pregnant and even blind horses all endure the long, grueling journey with no food, water or any chance to rest or stretch, often in freezing cold or scorching heat.
Before entering Mexico, the horses are held at the Texas Department of Agriculture holding yards, usually only for hours -enough time to unload and reload – then crossed over the border through El Paso and Socorro, Texas as well as the Santa Teresa crossing in New Mexico. Once loaded into Mexican trucks, the horses become Mexican property and subject to their regulations, said one U.S. Department of Agriculture Official.
In 2012 ARM Investigations uncovered that American horses are also transported to the San Bernabe Livestock Market, around 700 miles from Juarez, just out of Mexico City. The American horses have already just travelled non-stop for over 24 hours without rest, food or water. Texas border crossings to Mexico have handled 400,267 slaughter-bound horses since 2007.
Read more: Number of Horses Shipped to Mexico and Canada. Wild horses are also slaughtered. To read more on wild horses: Wild Horses For Slaughter.
Arriving At The Slaughterhouse
Once horses arrive at the slaughter plant, their suffering intensifies. Particularly horifying is the practice of returning lame, sick, blind or injured horses with the shipper if they do not pass inspection by the Mexican plant veterinarian, Jose Cuellar who said 'Many horses arrive fractured, battered and bruised and some arrive dead."
The rejected horses are immediately reloaded onto the shipper's truck and between leaving the slaughter-yard and retuning to their origin, most of the rejected horses miraculously disappear without trace and are unaccounted for. No records are kept about the refusal of horses and no charges against the shipper are filed.
Horses in such condition should not be allowed to leave the export pens. Protection laws require veterinary care and possible euthanasia. 9 C.F.R. Sec. 88.3, .4
Arriving in cattle trucks, exhausted horses can be left for long periods in tightly packed trailers and subjected to further extremes of heat and cold. In hot weather, their thirst is acute. Downed animals unable to rise are trampled until the upright horses are offloaded, using excessive force.
When the horses are herded through the plant to slaughter, callous workers use fiberglass rods to poke and beat their faces, necks, backs and legs as the animals are shoved through the facility and into the kill box.
Subjected to overcrowding, deafening sounds and the stench of blood, the horses become increasingly desperate, exhibiting fear typical of "flight" behavior: pacing in prance-like movements with their ears pinned back against their heads, nostrils flared and eyes wide open in terror.
Mexican Slaughterhouses
In Mexican slaughterhouses a small "puntilla" knife is used to severe a horse's spine. As described by the plant's director: "It's like watching someone with an ice pick."
In 2007 the San Antonio News-Express released shocking undercover footage showing fully conscious horses being held two at a time in a horse crush and being repeatedly stabbed in the neck with puntilla knives as the frantic animals screamed and thrashed until dropping to the ground paralyzed, but still fully conscious!
"The American mare swung her head frantically when the door to the kill box shut, trapping her inside. A worker jabbed her in the back with a small knife seven, eight, nine times. Eyes wild, she lowered her head and raised it as the blade punctured her body around the withers, again and again. At the 10th jab, she fell to the floor of this Mexican slaughterhouse, bloodied and paralyzed, fully conscious and not dead. She would lie there for two minutes before being hoisted upside down from a chained rear leg so her throat could be slit and she could bleed to death," says the San Antonio News.
Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University who has researched ways to reduce stress on slaughter animals called the 'puntilla' technique employed in Mexico "horrific beyond belief and one of the absolute worst ways to kill an animal." Repeated jabs to the spinal cord, she said, would not kill the horse; it would just render it a quadriplegic, but still able to feel pain. Once a horse collapses, a worker attaches a chain to one of the horse's hind legs and it's hoisted up in the air by the hind leg and and fully conscious, it's throat is slit open.
Horses that die on the way to the plant are thrown out with the unused body parts of the other horses. At the Juarez plant, sick horses are dragged to the front of the line and slaughtered.
In 2011 ARM Investigations conducted a week long undercover mission inside Juarez's horse slaughterhouses, which they called "one of the world's most inhumane slaughterhouses." Their mission required extreme caution because of the degree of danger and corruption.
"The military guarded municipal slaughter plant is seated in the ungoverned hills outside of the city of Juarez, Mexico where drug cartels seek refuge. It is the most polluted area of Juarez and is extremely unsanitary. Managers of the unregulated slaughter plant have admitted to the brutality of slaughter methods in the plant," says ARM.
Europe bars the importation of meat from animals that have not been stunned prior to being bled. The European Convention also says large animals cannot be suspended or constrained before being stunned. Of all Mexico's horse slaughterhouses only two plants are EU regulated, the remainder are unregulated horse-killing factories. Two plants in Zacatecas serve the European Union, while much of the horsemeat from the unregulated slaughterhouses, including the plant in Juarez, is consumed in Mexico.
Unregulated means cruelty inflicted upon horses is not checked or cared about and horse butchers answer to no-one, with no watchdog agency governing their actions.
San Bernabe Livestock Market, Mexico
Sam Bernabe Market has been in existence for over 60 years without interference from authorities and it is estimated that the site has sold over 10, 000 different animals of various species. Animals are sold directly as either live animals for work or food, or for slaughter, called the "rastro." Horses for slaughter, rastro, are considered waste and are kicked and poked with electric barbs that are prohibited for horses.
AMERICAN HORSES ARE BEING SENT HERE (watch the video until the end):
San Bernabe Market is the largest unregulated livestock market in Mexico with the most sadistic and brutal animal cruelty imaginable toward horses, donkeys, mules, dogs, cows and other livestock. No water is available. Animals arrive and depart with missing limbs, fractured legs, missing eyes, bleeding open wounds and ulcers.
The market has no animal health control. There are no on/off loading ramps at the market, so exhausted horses regularly break legs when being unloaded from cattle trucks and are forced to hobble on fractured bones. At worst, corpses are left on the ground without being buried, with animal viscera strewn about.
Animals which are too sick or too weak to stand upright are slung with ropes. These suffering "animal waste" are kept alive just because a kilo of live meat costs twice that of a dead one. If an animal finally ends its agony and dies it is cut open right there and its vescera is extracted and thrown on the ground in the middle of the market. Gutted animal carcasses and live horses are often transported together to the slaughterhouse.
There is no animal inspection by the SAGARPA, monitoring of transport by the Federal Highway Police or the Ministry of Communications and Transport, or any oversight whatsoever. Federal local police sometimes ask for financial kickbacks to allow access to trucks rather than asking for documentation and health guidance.
In Conclusion
There is no humane way to slaughter horses for human consumption. Euthanasia means a gentle, painless death, but with slaughter there is nothing but terror, pain and suffering. The vast majority of horses that are sent to slaughter are fit and healthy animals that would make good candidates for re-homing.
Shutting down American horse slaughterhouses has not ended the illegal slaughter of stolen horses within the United States, either. Horse owners are recommended to microchip their horses to protect them from being sold at horse auctions, for slaughter.
Even some of the carriage horses that have spent their lives ferrying tourists through New York City traffic and pollution are sold for slaughter.
"Many of these horses served their owners for years and they deserve better. Horses have helped us settle this country, they've been our primary means of transportation, they've served us in battle and carried our mail, entertained us and been our companions," says the Humane Society of the United States.
Some owners sell their horse to slaughter because they think that euthanasia is too expensive. It costs approximately $225.00. Or they may not know what to do with the body. But in many states there are programs to help owners dispose of the remains or cover the cost of euthanasia. The American Humane Society can help you find a way to humanely euthanize your horse or dispose of his remains.
American horse owners need to educate themselves about horse auctions and what it means to "their own horse" before even considering sending a horse to an auction. In addition, horse breeders need to be more responsible by thinking carefully about the number of horses they breed and the ultimate outcome of those animals.
Horses are sensitive animals with highly tuned senses and a desire to please humans. It is unforgivable to betray such a loyal and majestic animal by selling them to be hacked to death by a puntill knife in a filthy Juarez slaughterhouse.
Please sign the following petitions and support the following organisations who are fighting hard on behalf of American horses.
Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue
Her group has helped save and find loving homes for some 600 horses since 2003. Deibel has even set up a special fund to assist horse owners who need help covering the costs of humanely euthanizing their horses.
ARM Investigations
The Animal Recovery Mission is dedicated to eliminating severe animal cruelty.
Petition: Help Close Sadistic San Bernabe Horse Market In Mexico
Petition: Americans Against Horse Slaughter
Petition: Ban Horse Slaughter & Transport
Petition: Stop Horse Transort To Canada
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
Litter In Wildlife National Parks
Appalling behaviour from tourists in wildlife national parks has resulted in catastrophic consequences for some people and animals. People everywhere must begin to be accountable for their litter and the damage it causes, especially tourists visiting the parks.
Utter Madness!
Kruger Park had to announce that rollerskating and skateboarding within it's wildlife park is banned. Who in their right mind would want to skateboard past a lion or roller-skate past a resting cheetah?
Day visitors at Kruger National Park are no longer allowed to get drunk either. Neither are they allowed to bring alcohol into the park or buy it from the shops, although they can have a drink at a restaurant.
Ladies – Pick Up Your Toilet Tissues! On safari there is no easy access to toilets therefore you have to stop your vehicle and squat behind the car door. Women, PLEASE pick up your soiled tissue and carry it back to your camp. Do not leave tissues everywhere because it can cause serious injury or death to animals who ingest it.
Do not get between a hippo and the water, an elephant or any animal and it's young and if they wish to cross in front of you then take a wide berth to give them room to do so; they have the right of way. Do not feed them either, they are wild animals, not zoo animals.
Wildlife Game-Viewing Etiquette
If you drive up behind someone and cannot pass please don't blow your car-horn and hang out your window shouting at them. True life example: cars were crossing the narrow Shingwedzi river bridge in Kruger, from both sides. A few cars would proceed from the north, stop take some pictures of the crocodiles then move on.
Then the cars from the south would proceed and so on – until a poor lady stopped to photograph the crocodiles and a taxi pulled up right behind her and the driver proceeded to honk his horn and yell at her to move on.
The taxi driver yelled at the Kruger park visitor while one of his passengers threw a beer bottle out the window into the river!
Cigarette butts are a constant problem in all national parks, not only because they are repulsive and can be ingested by animals, but also because of the obvious fire risk. If you smoke please dispose of your cigarette butts responsibly.
An impact of garbage is that some scavengers, such as hyenas, may change their natural feeding habits and became permanent garbage feeders. Most of the rubbish discarded by the tourists and local people is primarily concentrated at the road sites and much of it is very dangerous to the wildlife.
It doesn't seem to matter how many rubbish bins are provided, people are happy to still toss litter anywhere. SANParks Honorary Rangers assist the section rangers in Kruger National Parks, by doing structured litter patrols. Rangers are supposed to be tracking poachers and bringing them to justice, while protecting endangered animals under imminent threat of death by poachers.
Instead, these highly trained Rangers and their Honorary Rangers are tracking "plastic bags" because too many tourists are too selfish to care about the safety of the animals they are busy photographing. Have respect for the animals and have respect and consideration for other visitors
Tourist Problems In Masai Mara
Chinese tourists are flocking to the Masai Mara to witness the wildebeest migration but sadly, they leave behind a trail of litter and furious fellow tourists who claim their viewing of the migration was ruined because of the Chinese tourists bad behaviour. Some young Chinese tour guides think being loud is important.
On Chinese sites, fellow Chinese tourists were seen shouting at a hippo and when the animal ignored their yells they began throwing litter toward him to get his attention for a good photograph.
Working in Nairobi National Park Peter Kuluo Ba said some Chinese tourists throw things at birds and yell at them to move so they can get an action photograph. Despite being warned of hippo activity at night, many Chinese tourists still wander around by themselves at night, taking photos out of the range of hotel security cameras.
As well as taking close-up photos of Masai people without their permission, Chinese tourists are often frowned upon for chain-smoking and throwing cigarette butts everywhere, as well as spitting, including spitting in hotel lobbies (C.G.V.)
Not only Chinese tourists, but tourists from around the world find it increasingly acceptable to ignore game park safety rules, they blatantly lean our of their open car windows and many actually get out of their car and stroll around. Some ignorant people even walk into the bush to go to the toilet!
Many tourists have become so relaxed they feel comfortable tossing food wrappers and plastic bags and bottles our of their window as they drive along. Empty water bottles and plastic bags strewn through animal habitats are potentially catastrophic if animals eat them.
A tourist man named Anjili's relates his experience, watching the wilderbeast migration at Masai Mara: "Within 10 minutes a vehicle of Chinese tourists drove up, the tourists jumped out of the car to take closer photos and scared the animals who stopped crossing.
The litter is devastating! Look closely at the litter – it all has Chinese branding on it. After speaking to several guides and rangers, I have now come to realise that to save costs, some Chinese operators are using Matatu (city transport vehicles) drivers to take their clients to the Mara."
Tourist John Hunt wrote: "It's not all Asian tourists. At one of the main migration crossing points on the Mara River there is a favourite lunch spot for bus travellers and jeeps that has a tissue behind every bush. Thousands of them. Thanks ladies. Truly disgusting. How hard can it be to give all passengers a paper bag?
Also we witnessed on the Mara, several outrageous displays by drivers concerning the disregard of the welfare of animals. Like 10 jeeps in a line on the savannah chasing a leopard chasing a gazelle, – at 50mph. Then fighting like dodgem cars for a position around the terrified beast trying to eat its meal. Seriously, how long do you think these animals will be able to tolerate such stress?"asks Hunt.
Tourists and Some Wildebeest, 2014
James Cusick says "It looked like a spectators' car park at a busy Nevada rodeo, where the best way to get up close to the animals is simply to stand on the roof of your SUV and whip out a camera lens the size of a drain pipe. And when the kids get too excited and venture too close to the crazy critters, why you just holler and pull them back.
I could see them all. A hundred or so people, surrounding a couple of dozen 4x4s. They were perched on the roofs of their vehicles; or standing outside them, trampling the grass; or edging towards the open dirt space where the action was taking place. This was the Mara River in south-west Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve.
The daily spectacle is a reminder that survival of the many often comes with the bloody death of the few. In the Mara, crocodiles pick off wildebeest and turn the river red with blood at "crossing" times and they call it tourism. To read the Mara Triangle Rules, click here.
Two reasons to let animals have the right of way: the elephant was itchy and scratched himself on this car, which ended up with four blown tires and smashed windows.
Saving Animals One Plastic Bag At A Time
Although not filmed in a national park, this beautiful video poignantly shows the effects of plastic and litter on birdlife and animals.
In eastern Africa thousands of plastic bags are thrown away every day, killing grazing goats and cows which eat the bags and die. Discarded bags also collect stagnant water which is known to breed mosquitoes – and malaria. American born Lori Anderson discovered a perfect solution: replace plastic bags with durable canvas bags!
Flying to the Jane Goodall Institute in Africa twice a year, Anderson exchanges a free durable canvas bag (which can be reused many times), in exchange for 25 plastic bags. "These women are ridding their entire community of plastic bags," says Robinson. "The simplicity of this project is what makes it so effective."
Christmas Holiday Bad Behaviour At KNP Camp
A few Christmases ago, the "day-visitor" area of Kruger National Park was filled to capacity with "day-visitors" celebrating Christmas at the Shingwedzi Camp. People became drunk and were staggering around while some people took off all their clothes and were swimming completely naked in the resident-guest's pool.
Worst of all, because so many "visitors" were drunk, they forgot the time and a lot of people arrived at the gates late, after driving well above the 50km speed limit to the closing gates, hitting, maiming and killing many of the parks wildlife!
When all the "visitors" had gone the Kruger National Park Shingwedzi Camp was trashed. Soiled nappies, empty food containers, leftovers, empty cans and bottles and lots of plastic bags were strewn everywhere. Even areas of grass were still smouldering where "visitors" had illegally lit fires
To see how you can help combat the war against plastic bags and the damage plastic does to wild animals and birdlife, please visit Lori Anderson's site: click here.
Author:I have spent time in Africa on numerous occasions and its wildlife reserves are truly breathtaking. If you have the opportunity to visit a national wildlife reserve, breathe in the experience of standing where wild animals roam at will, without bars. It is an inheritance to all of us sharing the planet, which we all need to respect and protect.
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
Boto Poaching – Amazon River Dolphin Threatened – Killed for Bait.
At the start of the 2000 deep within the Amazon Jungles the massacre began, even the baby dolphins were not spared nor the gestating females that had their young sliced out of womb hung up like a piece of dead flesh in a butchers shop. Without hesitation or even a shred of remorse these barbaric monsters pictured [August 2014] here sliced the baby out off the mothers womb flinging it to one side. Brazil has since laid down a hunting ban however poachers are not stopping and already in Peru, Boto's are mercifully slaughtered just for bait.
Pink River Dolphins or the Amazon River Dolphin as its commonly known scientifically identified as Inia geoffrensis aren't hunted to eat, oh no, no. Like many fisherman in the west catch smaller fish to catch the bigger species River Dolphins are caught simply for this reason of which they are butchered up into slabs of meat then thrown back into crates just to catch smaller species of fish commonly known as the piracatinga that feasts on rotten flesh of dead animals – in this case the Dolphin.
You've probably by now become quite used to the all to familiar sites of Japans Dolphin massacres – but what about the killing fields within the Amazon?, Some conservationists seem non-to-bothered to print about this, as these bastards rip the hearts and souls out of aquatic life – At the start of this year some two thousand Amazon River Dolphins were slaughtered as can be seen in the pictures below. However European and South and North American Conservation Groups are taking a stand and have since handed in a 50,000 signature petition in. While it may stop hunting in Brazil will it stop the poaching? Furthermore will the illegal hunting in Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and French Guinea stop too.
No one stopped these killings, many people outside off the Amazon are completely oblivious to the fact this horrifying atrocity actually exists. Now you'll know though, were not going to stick for this anymore. International Animal Rescue Foundation Brazil plus many smaller conservation groups has known of this slaughter for the past several years. When the Federal government imposed a [temporary ban] five years ago all seemed quiet, unfortunately the hunting ban was lifted with many killed by August, its a wonder if the species will actually recover within this year alone before hunting ends. Since the start of August though Brazil has imposed a new [complete ban] but this hasn't as explained stopped poachers and hunters that are now working their way down the rivers of the Amazon.
By the second half of the year [2014] over three and a half thousand River Dolphins were expected to be slaughtered. The number could even be higher as were now in November. what's angered us even more is this – its completely ILLEGAL!
Sixty percent of the Amazon rain-forest is within Brazil and so Brazil is home to more Amazon River Dolphins commonly known as [Botos] than any other South American country. Botos live in the rivers and lakes of the Amazon and enter the flooded forest during high water season. The Amazon, and particularly the flooded forest, are threatened habitats. Since the 1980s the rate of deforestation and exploitation of the Amazon Rain-forest for mining, logging, human settlement and cattle ranching has increased significantly. These commercial activities pose a severe threat to the region's indigenous people and wildlife.
"Every year, we see in the region Sustainable Development Reserve Mamirauá , the harbor porpoise population decrease by 7.5% per cent. That is not sustainable", he says. According to Vera, the aggravating factor is that fishermen prefer young River Dolphins, which hardly ever reach reproductive age. A male dolphin takes 10 years to reach reproductive age and the female between 6 and 7 years. Gestation takes between 11 and 13 months, furthermore, the young mother feeds little ones for two years. The slaughtering of the young is having a massive impact on the Amazon River Dolphin species of which even with a ban in place will see the entire species wiped out should the world not come together now to enforce a complete in Venezuela, Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and French Guinea.
The Amazon River Dolphin's diet mainly consists of piracatinga which is a carnivorous catfish eaten by the locals and indigenous tribes. However humans in the Amazon require 4,500 [Boto's] to harvest every year piracatinga.
So why is this slaughter not being seen among the western conservation world? Well basically this method of harvesting piracatinga which is [only illegal in Brazil August 2014] only began back in 2000. And despite the entire practice being 100% [illegal] governments and law enforcement agencies are doing little to stop it.
When the fisherman capture the Amazon River Dolphins slaughtering of the dead animal is usually done there and then so that the carcass doesn't rot to quickly. the carcass is then placed into wooden crates of which the fishermen use to capture the piracatinga fish. The crates of carved up Dolphin meat inside the crate is then lowered into the water. Fisherman await and the piracatinga fish move in feasting of the dead dolphin rotting carcass. From there its easy pickings for the fishermen.
Its been widely reported in some magazines, articles and media that Brazil has indeed banned this practice which from July [2014] they did. However these media and press reporters [even science based ones] may want to visit the jungles of the Amazon of which this practice is STILL ongoing and has been since 2000. Conservationists were delighted at hearing the ban announced by the government of Brazil which owns the largest part of the Amazon Rain Forest. "It's the biggest fisheries ban since 1967 when Brazil's original faunal protection laws were made," says Jone César of the Friends of the Manatee Association, a conservation group based in Manaus, Brazil.
Just because Brazil has banned the practice though doesn't mean for one minute in the rivers of Eqador or Peru for example from which the River Dolphin also inhabits and is not within [Brazilian territory] that fishermen will continue the trade. Furthermore until the Brazilian ban is [completely enforced] its expected that fishermen will kill thousands more Boto's to store for later fishing. Then of course we have poachers that can and will still flout this ban, and sadly this has already been seen.
And before we all start jumping up arms in the air celebrating the soon to be enforced Brazilian ban – Killing Botos for this purpose is spreading all over the Amazon and has been already been reported in Peru. It is a threat to the future of Botos. Should the governments of Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia, Peru, Guyana, Surinam and French Guinea not follow suite more River Dolphins will be slaughtered just for a bait. While its also illegal to hunt Boto's in Brazil by the start of [2015] its not illegal for hunters or poachers to pass up the river to Brazilian fishermen dead River Dolphin Carcasses. Dr Jose Depre – International Animal Rescue Foundation's Chief Environmental Officer picked holes in this law and sadly this does need amending now to ensure that even the dead flesh of Amazon River Dolphins is not sold onto fishermen upstream.
"Its highly unlikely that the ban within Brazil is actually going to have any affect what-so-ever as policing such a massive area of rain-forest is about as easy as policing mangrove jungles the size of America" said Dr Josa Depre. Furthermore Dr Williamson Environmental CEO for I.A.R.F Europea stated "While the Killing of River Dolphins is 100% illegal within Brazil coming this new year it will not under any circumstances deter poachers elsewhere, we have much work to do rather than just focusing ones attention on Brazil, we need to push for the same laws in Venezuela, Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and French Guinea immediately, however don't think for one moment this is going to be an easy ride".
The ban within Brazil as explained will be enforced at the end of the year. Fisherman catch on average a year 140 tons of piracatinga fish so in all due respects its highly unlikely cruel and barbaric killing of our Amazon River Dolphin is actually going to stop.
You can help by signing this petition below as soon as possible.
Read more here on the petition that was delivered this August: http://www.ale.am.gov.br/2014/08/21/comissao-do-meio-ambiente-recebe-ativistas-do-alerta-vermelho/
With thanks to Dr Josa C. Depre Chief Environmental Officer and Dr J. Williamson CEO Europa IARFE
Corruption – Poverty – Relocation – Shoot to Kill
Corruption-Poverty-Relocation-Shoot to Kill Policy!
In Central Africa approximately 80% of rangers are, on some level, involved in trafficking. Because communities are small, some rangers and poachers know each other directly and others, occasionally, are bribed. Luc Mathot of Conservation Justice has organized the arrest of 4 rangers in the Congo in 2012 and 3 from Gabon in 2013. Ranger involvement is less common in South Africa. Strict laws are enforced to curtail such actions and rangers found conspiring with poachers are relived from duty. However corruption is more widespread and larger than you could possibly imagine. Within SANParks for instance evidence has yet again emerged of five ranger involved in poaching activities. When this information is passed onto SANParks their response is "silent". Back in 2013 we advised SANParks that they must routinely undertake polygraph testing of all rangers and staff involved with wildlife duties. Again they fail to acknowledge our concerns.
Illicit wildlife trade is the fourth largest illegal activity worldwide and is worth $23 billion US dollars per year. In order to understand what is happening in illegal trade, the prices that wildlife products yield must be monitored. Scarcity of a product reflects higher prices whereas low prices reflect abundance. High profit and turn over are the driving factor and poachers have a very small window to work in. If the probability of being caught and punished (i.e. imprisonment or death) is high, this will alter the expected price tag. Many reserve barriers are not deterrents for poachers, as they are minimal (i.e. barbed wire and sparse fencing). Moreover, legislation and borders between subsistence hunting and poaching are blurred. The majority of rhino populated countries have low penalty policies. However, Botswana has the lowest poaching rate due to its 'zero tolerance-shoot to kill' policy. The Defense Force treats apprehended poachers as aggressive military threats if they do not surrender their weapons immediately they are shot dead on site – International Animal Rescue Foundation supports this regardless of some public outcry we have to show poachers that killing our wildlife will most certainly involve rangers taking poachers out. Other factors that keeps poaching minimal is the country's remoteness and low populace. Conservationists were looking to relocate South African rhinos via helicopter to Botswana for these reasons (Carrington, 2014). However, due to high cost and inhumane transportation complications this option has been rejected.
What's more inhumane though? the transportation of rhinos and so called costs or the killing of rhinos? Personally we'd like to see a 50% score of rhinos moved from the Kruger to Botswana were breeding can take place securely and a shoot to kill policy is fair game. Poachers see South Africa as easy pickings. Until an immediate shoot to kill policy is given our rhinos will be in danger.
Poverty and poaching go hand-in-hand. Impoverished communities are more likely to engage in illegal activities so long as there is a demand for goods. Poaching organizations turn to disadvantaged communities to recruit new personnel. The sole source of income for these remote areas is farming, however, because of its remoteness and lack of transportation, selling produce and livestock is limited. If communities had ways of traveling further into more populated areas, they would have a better chance at sales. However, due to word of mouth, some consumers will travel to the farms to purchase goods, which allows farmers to raise their prices. These methods are sill no match for payouts from rhino horns and ivory. Because poachers are well financed and wildlife products can easily be turned into cash, the decision to poach becomes alluring to those in need. Factors such as social, political, and environmental status are also considered.
Those who begin as poachers have the opportunity to get promoted to better paying, less conspicuous positions. A simple poacher can move up to a chief position and organize trafficking for poachers. One could also sell his own ivory and become a trafficker. The 'middle-man' position takes product to the richer barons within cities. These people have an actual chance at moving up after accumulating enough money that allows them to work in less conspicuous ranks. According to TRAFFIC-ASIA, there is a direct link between the rise in regional incomes and illegal wildlife trading. Poachers who enter protected areas are more prone to be risk takers. Some are bribed with cigarettes, beer, money, or other items not so commonly found in local communities.
Poverty is not the only driving force in poaching. Illegal trade has become war-like with a complex network of violent militias, terrorists, government corruption, and organized crime, fueled by demand predominantly from Asia and the rising economic status in Vietnam. In 2012, a 10 kg rhino horn would bring in $20,000 per kg on the African-based Asian-run market. Today, prosperous consumers in China and Vietnam have driven the price up to $65,000 per kg and can fetch as much as $100,000 on the black market, making horns more valuable than platinum, gold, or cocaine. Because of its' increasing prosperity, Vietnam holds the chief market on rhino horns, yet it has little to do with medicinal ailments. They are sold as recreational drugs for partygoers, aphrodisiacs, for detoxification from excessive food and/or alcohol consumption for the more affluent, décor, gifts such as horn bracelets, and necklaces, as well as a deceptive 'miracle drug' to cheat cancer patients out of cash. In 2008, the Vietnamese Embassy was found to be a participant in illegal rhino horn trade.
South African government must implement a shoot to kill policy as soon as arms are not dropped. poverty must be tackled within "all African wildlife organisations" as this is one primary reason our wildlife is being slaughtered. Corruption must be tackled head on and NOW. Relocation of South African Rhinos to Botswana where a more policed approach is seen must be on the agenda.
Dr J. C. Depre and Ambassador S. Farthing
Rhino Welfare Africa.
International Animal Rescue Foundation
Anonymous. (2014, September). Former poacher. (O. Gasaya, & L. Jorgensen, Interviewers)
Burton, J. (2014, September). CEO at World Land Trust. (L. Jorgensen, Interviewer)
Carrington, D. (2014, September). Inside Africa. Retrieved September 2014, from CNN World:http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/11/world/africa/rhinos-on-a-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_c4
Coghlan, A. (2014, January). Record poaching pushes rhinos towards extinction. Retrieved September 2014, from New Scientist-Life: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24894-record-poaching-pushes-rhinos-towards-extinction.html#.VAuOJWSwJZ8
Duffy, R., & St. John, D. (2013, June). Poverty, Poaching, and Trafficking; What are the Links? Retrieved September 2014, from Rhino Owners: http://www.rhinoowners.org/WYSI/assets/Documents/EoD_HD059_Jun2013_Poverty_Poaching.pdf
Hill, G. (2014, September). Director of Risk and Intellegence at Africa.cx. (L. Jorgensen, Interviewer)
Mathot, L. (2014, October). Founder and Director of Conservation Justice. (L. Jorgensen, Interviewer)
Montesh, M. (2012). Rhino Poaching: A New Form of Organised Crime. Retrieved September 2014, from University of Soutb Africa: http://www.unisa.ac.za/claw/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/rhion-poaching-for-profit.pdf
Pandolfi, A. (2014). Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge Supporters. Retrieved October 2014, from Kashmir World Foundation:www.kashmirworldfoundation.org
Peace Parks Foundation. (2014). COMBATTING WILDLIFE CRIME. Retrieved September 2014, from Peace Parks Foundation: http://www.peaceparks.org/programme.php?pid=24&mid=1021
Sandram, S. (2014, September). Wildlife Officer at Gonarezhou National Park. (L. Jorgensen, Interviewer)
Sas-Rolfes, M. '. (2012, February). THE RHINO POACHING CRISIS: A MARKET ANALYSIS. Retrieved September 2014, from Save The Rhino Trust: http://savetherhinotrust.org/programmes/84-the-rhino-poaching-crisis-a-market-analysis
Thomas, R. (2012, August). "Loose horns", surging demand and easy money create "perfect storm" for rhino poaching. Retrieved September 2014, from TRAFFIC: http://www.traffic.org/home/2012/8/21/loose-horns-surging-demand-and-easy-money-create-perfect-sto.html
TRAFFIC. (2008). TRAFFIC's engagement on African rhinoceros conservation and the global trade in rhinoceros horn. Retrieved September 2014, from TRAFFIC: http://www.traffic.org/rhinos/
Yale Environment360. (2014, January). e360 Digest. Retrieved September 2014, from Environment 360:http://e360.yale.edu/digest/more_than_1000_rhinos_poached_in_2013_south_african_officials_say/4051/
Read more here on the very people trying to stop us from undertaking our work – Liz Bradly from the UK a serial stalker and known sociopath has indulged in countless hours of trying to report the very articles that help save animals just to hide behind a veil of CELLULAR DEVICES. This time she again was caught red handed completely forgetting that the site she had just reported too was only to make her message a cowardly one public.
Now we know whom the animal hater is – we're going to deal with that animal hater in the same manner as we do dog fighters.
Sudanese Badger Bat – Niumbaha superba
Every month there is an estimated twenty species of new flora and fauna located on Planet Earth. However back in 2013 scientists from the University of Bucknell University and Fauna & Flora International located deep in the heart of South Sudan a new bat species commonly named as the Pied Bat or Badger bat. And what a stunningly beautiful bat this is too which oddly does look identical to the markings of our Chinese Panda.
The scientific name related to this species of bat was thought to be related to the Glauconycteris superba which for now thankfully is listed as [least concern] on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List identified back in 1939 Dr Haymen whom was the first to discover this particular species of bat. However the new "genera" pictured was discovered in 2013 DeeAnn Reeder, an Associate Professor of Biology at Bucknell.
This species of Pied bat (Glauconycteris superba) was bordering endangerment back in the mid 1990's of which from 1996-2004 was listed as [vulnerable], to date though its population trend or how many Pied bats actually exist is currently unknown.
So whats the news on the "Panda bat" as its commonly named?
This is a special bat, and not just because of its strikingly beautiful spots and stripes. This is a rare specimen, whose discovery in South Sudan led researchers to identify a new genus of bat. The bat is just the fifth specimen of its kind ever collected. DeeAnn Reeder, an Associate Professor of Biology at Bucknell and first author of the paper announcing the new bat genus, recognized the bat as the same species as a specimen captured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1939. That specimen was classified as Glauconycteris superba, but after detailed analyses she and her colleagues determined it did not belong in the genus Glauconycteris.
It was so unique that they needed to create a new genus for it. Reeder and her colleagues named the new genus Niumbaha, which means "rare" or "unusual" in Zande, the language spoken in Western Equatoria State, where the bat was captured. The bat's full scientific name is Niumbaha superba, reflecting both the rarity and the magnificence of this creature.
"Our discovery of this new genus of bat is an indicator of how diverse the area is and how much work remains," Reeder said in a press release.
So what's the news on this species of bat?
Well firstly we can state that this species of bat (Niumbaha superba) although not the same genera was primarily located by Dr Haymen in 1939 Niumbaha superba oddly is not listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Natures Red List of (threatened species) as this newly discovered genera is listed as [vulnerable] wheres its relative Glauconycteris superba is listed as least concern.
The pied (panda bat) is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana and South Sudan, the genus Niumbaha was identified by Reeder, Helgen, Vodzak, Lunde & Ejotre, in 2013. The species lives in natural habitats, tropical or sub-tropical rain-forests or tropical moist lowland forests.
To date we are only aware that the current threats surrounding this species is habitat loss. However this soon could change of which threats from hunters hunting for the bush meat trade could see the species pushed into extinction. Habitat loss or habitat fragmentation is playing quite a pivotal role with regards to many species of bats declining worldwide. However other species of bat that normally roost in caves seem to be less threatened by such habitat human disturbances.
Bats make up a quarter of the mammalian diversity on the planet, and they are the only mammal that can fly. The African continent and Madagascar and its associated islands contain about 258 extant species of bats, which comprises about 25% of the global bat diversity. Bats are an important component in ecosystem health and condition. They occupy a critical niche, the insectivorous species being primary nocturnal predators and are susceptible to increased levels of pesticides, while frugivorous species are critical for forest regeneration. Many plants are dependent on these night time visitors (e.g. Baobab), for both pollination and seed dispersal.
Both groups of bats are also greatly susceptible to environmental change especially Niumbaha superba. The effects of habitat and climate change on these species are unknown, and if so, there is much speculation as to the impacts, both positive and negative. These impacts on bats have a direct impact on food security and human related zoonotic diseases. What is of primary concern is that we know very little about the distribution, abundance or the biology of the various species. Also from a cultural perspective, bats are perceived by most African cultures as associated with dark and evil magic, and are persecuted.
Within western, north and the Central African Republic (bats) are hunted and eaten of which this year has been linked again to the worlds most deadliest virus – Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF). While hunting though plays a threat to the decline of bat species habitat fragmentation is most certainly the largest threat to the all species/genera.
Because bats have low reproductive rates, populations are very susceptible to elevated mortality or depressed recruitment. There is scientific concern about the conservation status of bats as many species of bats are increasingly affected by multiple actions of humans such as ignorance, suspicion, pesticide poisoning, roost destruction and closure, habitat loss, over-exploitation, and extermination as pests. Avoid disturbance of bats in caves, including the lighting or use of fires in caves. Some bats have moved into residential areas because human expansion has resulted in loss of habitat, forcing bats to look for alternative roosts in which to live and raise their young.
And of course while we know habitat loss is currently a threat to this species of Niumbaha superba other threats could/will also play a role in its decline that could evidently see this new genera of bat killed off. These these threats are as you may have guessed "human made up myths"..
An uncontrollable, irrepressible fear of bats may exist, but it is often the result of centuries of prejudice, misinformation and ignorance about bats. Dracula and other horror stories have contributed greatly to these misconceptions causing people to fear them and therefore be unconcerned about their conservation. Such as;
- The incidence of rabies is rare.
- Bat droppings in buildings usually are not a source of Histoplasmosis.
- Bats are not filthy and will not infest homes with dangerous parasites.
- Bats are not aggressive and will not normally attack people or pets.
- South African bats do not feed on blood. (Vampire bats, which do feed on blood, live in Latin America) and the feasting on blood is mainly of cattle or other large mammalians – although there has been some very small isolated rare cases of Vampire bats attacking humans and feeding of them. Again this is (extremely rare).
So what else do we know about Niumbaha superba other than the threats currently facing the species, future threats and habitat degradation?
OK firstly the Niumbaha superba is really more stripped like a badger but does have we suppose some type of identical markings to that of the Chinese Panda. Niumbaha superba has some pretty amazing spots and stripes with around one and a half centimeters of fur covering most of its body manly on the back and undersides. Its cranial characters, its wing characters, its size, the ears literally everything you look at doesn't fit that of the previous species located back in 1939 by Dr Haymen stated Reeder. You can read more on Reeder's discovery here
Niumbaha superba is an insectivorous bat meaning it feeds primarily on just insects, insectivorous bats are critically important to the environment as they help keep pests in control that would otherwise if not controlled damage vast swathes of crops, trees, plants and invade human populated areas. Insectivorous bats are also very important to humans as they help keep mosquitoes in check that endanger human life by the spread of Malaria which is known to be one of the Africa's largest human killing viruses in.
So if ever your in South Sudan do keep a lookout for this stunning and most beautiful bat commonly named as the (pied bat, little badger bat, badger bat or panda bat).
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Annual Baby Seal Slaughter In Namibia
Every year between July and November the Namibian government permits 85,000 baby fur seals who are still dependent on their mothers to be forcibly separated, herded into large groups and bludgeoned as their distraught mothers scream out and leap around in blind panic, helpless to save their screaming pups.
This horror is followed by 7,000 large bull seals being shot, purely to cut out their genitals, which are sold to Asian markets for false medicine. The enormous and once-magnificent bull seals are left laying in pools of their own blood along the coastline, which is transformed into killing fields. In 2012 it was found that Namibia also uses the penises from the baby seals as well, for fake Chinese aphrodisiacs.
Namibia says seals are "not animals" and consequently 'not' protected by Namibian Animal Protection laws prohibiting "animals" being beaten to death. Clubbing seals to death is not unlawful in Namibia, which is now responsible for the largest marine mammal slaughter on earth and the only country in the southern hemisphere still commercially slaughtering seals.
Sealers bludgeon baby seals with clubs and "hakapiks," which are clubs with metal hooks on the end, then drag the conscious baby seals across the sand with boat hooks and toss dead and dying animals into heaps. Shocked pups vomit up their mothers' milk onto the sand, as their clubbed and left alive, groaning in agony until some time later being stabbed in the chest. They are later skinned and their genitals cut out.
The Man Who Funds Seal Killings: Hatem Yavuz
Hatem Yavuz funds the Namibian seal "harvests" and the Canadian seal "harvests and is the Namibian Honorary Consul to Turkey, which has little to do with his fur trade but it shows his standing with the Namibian government.
Born in Turkey, his family moved to Australia and he holds residency between the 2 countries. Yavuz was instrumental in developing a market for Australian kangaroo skins, and as a result many soccer players are now wearing boots made from kangaroo skin. To read how Yavuz has decimated the Australian Kangaroo gene pool by slaughtering them faster than they can breed: Kangaroos: Hundreds Of Thousands Annually Slaughtered
Despite the current problematic scenario in Namibia , Yavuz is of the opinion that the market for local seal products can be expanded. Yavuz does not trade only in seal, but his factory also processes and sells various other boutique skins and furs as fashion items. He has recently received an offer to take over the American mink and otter trade as well.
Yavuz is considered and recognised as the number one boutique furrier in the world. He estimates his market share at about 85% of the segment. The amount of value added to seal skins as a fur product, is beyond belief. Seal skins come from seals harvested from the colonies along the Namibian coastline where the seal trade removes some 90,000 animals annually.
Animals Australia asks for help to pressure the Australian-based fur and skins company, Hatem Yavuz, that has been financially supporting this annual slaughter. As of 2008, Australian-based HATEM YAVUZ IS THE LAST REMAINING BUYER of these dead seal pup skins to make them into fur coats.
"Cape Fur Seals are directly related to the protected Fur Seals living on the southeast Australian coast and the Namibian Government has allowed 85,000 of these animals to be killed each year."
"The market for Namibian Cape Fur Seal skins has collapsed over recent years due to lack of demand and import bans in the European Union, the United States, Mexico and South Africa because of the cruelty involved in the sealing methods."
"There is international pressure on Hatem Yavuz to stop funding this cull. Please add your voice and express your outrage to Hatem Yavuz for their culpability in animal cruelty, and call on them to commit to never again buying Namibian Cape Fur Seal skins," says Animal Australia. Click here for: Petition to Stop Seal Killing
Please feel free to email Hatem Yavuz at his Australian or Turkish companies.
Cape Fur seals are under threat from mass harvesting by government approved sealers, mass die-offs, continual deaths from entanglement in fishing gear, illegal shooting by fisherman, and bad fisheries management leading to scarcity of food.
Namibia's Ministry of Fisheries says "seal harvesting" is necessary to protect fish stocks, even though local fisherman have exhausted the waters of fish, forcing many fishing companies to close their businesses. Protecting fish stocks is the same excuse used in Japan to justify killing dolphins in Taiji. The seal industry falsely claims a constant demand for more fur, of all types, makes sealing necessary.
Skeleton Coast, Namibia
Along the windswept coastline of Namibia, cape fur seals bask on the sand as tens of thousands of female seals give birth to their pups. Pups are unable to swim for their first 2 months of life and are dependant on suckling milk from their mother. Within days of giving birth, mother seals swim out into the ocean, sometimes for days before returning with food for their hungry pups.
While the mothers are searching for food, pups congregate together in large creche groups along the shore line. Because tens of thousands of pups are born in a short period of time, mother seals must quickly learn to identify their pups voice, to know which pup to feed.
The recent colonisation of discarded fishing vessels, proves once again what a man-made shame it is, to force 80% of the seals to pup (give birth), on the mainland so that they can be slaughtered. Even where there is ample dry land seals prefer something resting on islands offshore.
"Seals Are Not Animals" Says Namibia Law
Namibia is one of the few countries within Africa which has conservation and environmental protection written into its constitution. Namibia's own Animal Protection Act expressly forbids beating an animal to death. The authorities circumvent this by 'not' classifying seals as animals, therefore clubbing seals to death is not unlawful.
It is not about conservation, since there is solid scientific evidence that the Cape fur seal is being threatened by extinction (see CITES list of endangered species app II). The quota of pups to be 'harvested' now exceeds the number of pups alive on the first day of the 'cull'.
Independent research has found that the seals do not adversely affect Namibia's fisheries, and that fish numbers have declined due to human over fishing and bad management practices. South Africa stopped its seal culling in 1990 for the above reasons, and Namibia was advised by the Commission on Sealing to follow suit.
The Namibian Government has ignored all pleas, stating that it will not be prescribed to by anyone. Those employed hardly benefit, since they cannot even support their families. We are advocating the promotion of community-based, sustainable seal-viewing eco-tourism, which already yields 10 times the revenue generated by the sealing industry.
No Filming, No Photographs
The Ministry of Fisheries is strongly opposed to Namibia's seal "harvest" beatings being filmed or photographed.
"Such a project constitutes a hostile and provocative act that we would not take lightly," said Alfred Mbanga, spokesman of the Ministry to the General Newspaper. "Namibia has appropriate laws and institutions that will establish law and order again for this case."
Mbanga recalls a meeting with Seal Alert and refuted the allegations and suspicions. "There is absolutely no reason for [animal protest organisations] to take lawless action against a country in the eye, which has all the reasons to harvest seals explained rationally," said Mbanga. He reiterated that the seal hunting in Namibia would be carried out under existing laws for the sustainable use of resources.
Animal protest organisations considers beating the seals as "brutal, senseless and idiotic". The Ministry of Fisheries set a quota of 85,000 pups and 6,000 bulls.
The assumption that clubbing several hundred baby seals is similar to hunting single independent seal's from their mothers is incorrect. Canada, US, EU and Russia used in support of the Ombudsman's findings banned the hunting of baby seals dependent on their mothers in the mid-1980s.
Overfished Waters
When firmly established large fishing companies are going out of business and selling their fleet vessels due to lack of availability of fish, how are seals expected to find fish to survive? If fishermen using advanced technology cannot locate enough fish to stay in business then seals are in trouble.
Fishing companies reduced the size of their holes in nets, and now catch anchovy instead, which are the building blocks of the entire marine food chain, when it collapses, and its already down to its last 1/4. Every marine creature dies.
Govts, Ministers and fishermen can go onto other careers and never be held responsible, whilst life in the seas vanishes. For seals its crisis, and endless struggle just to try and survive, even being forced to eat seabirds, even though they cant digest feathers. Penguins which eat the same fish as seals and are not harvested, have declined 90%.
Does Eating Seal Penises Boost A Man's Libido?
In 1998 Susan Scott researched the use of seal penises. She uncovered shops in Toronto, Canada which specialised in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), were selling seal penises for $500.00 each. Each penis came with the tantalising promise "Seal penises will improve sexual function in men."
Traditionally, a man is supposed to mix seal penis powder in wine and drink it. Some convenient potions come with seal penis already mixed in wine.
Alternate choices are to buy the bone (seal penises have a bone inside them) with preserved tissue on it or buy crosswise slices of the organ and grind up your own concoction. One recipe, named Three-Penis Wine, calls for dog, deer and seal penises.
When buying this product, people don't know what they're really getting. A team of Canadian scientists analysed DNA from supposed seal penises sold in Canada, the U.S and Asia. They found the real thing but also found penises of cattle, dogs, water buffalo and some protected species.
One DNA sample had an alarmingly close match to the African wild dog, a critically endangered species. Another from Hong Kong resembled the DNA of the protected Australian fur seal. Researchers found no scientific evidence that any species of penis boosts a man's libido, in any way at all.
Bow Hunters
AfricaHunting.com is offering Namibian Seal Bow-Hunting packages where hunters get to kill seals with cross bows, even though seals are not on the official list of huntable game species in Namibia. Accompanied by a Park Ranger, the hunt takes place on the shore, where the ranger helps you make sure the bull will die on land.
When it comes to hunting a big bull Cape Fur Seal, AfricaHunting says it's all in the timing. Fully grown bulls can weigh up to 360 kg (794 lb) at the beginning of the breeding season. They recommend killing big bull seals for a solid month, from the end of October to the end of November.
AfricaHunting says: "One thing no one can escape from is the overwhelming stench that impregnates every part of you, skin, hair, clothing, peoples eye tear and some even vomit, it is not an experience that is easily forgotten. Resulting from a combination of thousands of dead rotting seals, mostly newborn pups that have been crushed and excrement. The combination of heat, wind and the humidity coming off the sea blows the putrid smell straight into your soul."
With the hunting permit in hand, hunters can export the Seal as a trophy, even though a CITES permit is required. This species is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
Seals Enjoy Human Company
Instead of bludgeoning baby seals and stabbing them to death, animal protestors are urging Namibia's government to embrace it's tourist market, utilising tourism and the natural acceptance fur seals have of humans (unless they are being threatened with violence) and the tourists enjoyment of photographing and filming up-close-and-personal encounters with wild seals.
The first video in not filmed in Namibia, but the antarctic seals in the video are closely related to the cape seal species and shows how naturally friendly and welcoming seals can be when treated with respect.
There are many recorded instances where wild cape seals jump into people's boats and are happy to interact with humans, especially if the human has a fish for them.
This phenomenon has become a tourist attraction for thousands of tourists, as they gaze in amazement at the huge bull seal sitting quietly in-front of them, on the deck of the boat
You Can Help By Signing Petitions
Petition to Stop Seal Killings by Animals Australia, home of Australian-based seal slaughterer Hatem Yavuz.
Petitioning Versace, to stop Hatem Yavuz, seal slaughterer.
To read more how you can help the plight of Namibia's seal crisis: Seal Alert-SA.
There is no excuse for anyone to buy fur clothing or fur products. Todays market has huge choices of magnificent man-made-fibre fabrics, which not only look good but are equally as warm for wear in cold climates. The world is moving toward 2015 and it is time for Namibia to take it's blinders off and accept that Cape fur seals "are animals" and are therefore protected by Namibia's already existing Wildlife Laws.
Please sign and share the petitions (above) for fur seals. They cannot keep being "harvested" at a rate faster than they breed without irreparable damage. Hatem Yavuz has already decimated the Australian Kangaroo's gene pool; do not allow him to do the same to Africa's bird and animal life.
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
To read more of how Hatem Yavuz has damaged Australia's Kangaroo population: Kangaroos: Hundreds Of Thousands Annually Slaughtered.
For more information about the use of dogs in traditional Chinese medicine: The Dog Meat Trade: Sex, Lies and Brutality and also SayNoToDogMeat.Net.
South Africa: President Says Dogs Should Not Be Mans Best Friend
According to the South African president Jacob Zuma, owning a pet is part of 'white culture' and people should focus on family welfare instead. He says a dog should not be man's best friend. The president's statement, which was made a little over a year ago was met by anger from many pet lovers.
His presidential office tried to smooth things over by telling Star news he was encouraging "the previously oppressed African majority" to uphold its own culture.
"Will I become 'more African' if I kick my dog, President Zuma," asked an angry pet owner.
One humorist wrote: "Well, that pretty much rules out that photo opportunity with Zuma, the Obamas and their pet dog, Bo, in the White House."
During his speech to an appreciative crowd in his home province KwaZulu-Natal, the president said people who love dogs more than people have a "lack of humanity" and that some people are trying in vain to "emulate whiteness."
"Even if you apply any kind of lotion and straighten your hair, you will never be white," said the president.
Star news said he gave examples of people loving animals more than other human beings — letting a dog sit in the cab of a truck while a worker has to sit in the back in the rain, or rushing an animal to the veterinarian while ignoring sick relatives or workers.
Saynotodogmeat.Net is pleased to announce South Africa is participating in our Global March For Dogs and Cats In The Meat Trade!
We invite all South African pet lovers to join our march and bring your family and pets too, April 4th, 2015.
Africa hosts a lucrative dog and cat meat trade which has been kept in the shadows for too long. We are fighting to end the cruel pet meat trade in Africa and Asia. People from many nations will be marching with us, as one collective voice and we hope you will join us too. Please go ahead and mark your calendar. Join us and become the voice of the voiceless.
For information on our global march or how you can help us, please email us: email@example.com.
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
Saturday April 4th, 2015 Saynotodogmeat.Net is hosting a Global March for dogs and cats in the live meat trade. Please march with us, in your country. It will be an orderly and peaceful march but we need more 'demonstration leaders.' If you can help us, PLEASE EMAIL: firstname.lastname@example.com
Bring your family, children, pets and banners; we need as many people as possible, worldwide. Please mark your calendar and join our march. If you haven't already done so, please click the box to let us know you are coming: https://www.facebook.com/events/294347744053559/
Saynotodogmeat.Net is now accepting donations: PLEASE MARK ALL DONATIONS "SAY NO TO DOG MEAT.NET" https://www.facebook.com/SayNoToDogMeat/app_117708921611213
No donation is too small and we are very appreciative of your help and support. Very soon we will be writing a full article outlining where donations will be used. You will receive an electronic receipt and we will too, which we will keep for historical data purposes. NO DONATION will be used to produce clothing with logos on, badges or banners. Donations are NOT for the directors. ALL MEMBERS FUND THEMSELVES.
PETITION FOR VIETNAM and THAILAND ANTI-SMUGGLING
EMAIL THE GOVERNOR OF NIGERIA: New Address: email@example.com
JOIN HERE https://www.facebook.com/events/294347744053559/ SHARE EVERYWHERE WILDLY
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Dog Meat Is Big Business in Nigeria
In a city where animal activists are almost invisible, dogs are crammed into small cages and trucked into Calabar from North Nigeria, to the waiting hands of dog butchers who hack them to death for dog meat.
Nigeria has a booming dog meat trade and the city of Calabar is one of it's biggest hot-spots, where dog meat is openly sold on street corners and eaten by a broad spectrum of people who refer to it as '4o4.' Chunks of dog meat can sell for as little as a hundred naira (less than a dollar), while a whole pot of dog meat can sell for as much as N14,000 or $87.00.
In Calabar, eating dog meat is seen a way of relaxing for some people and they can't see whats wrong with it. However, people in Calabar who are against eating dog meat say "It is inhuman to eat up a pet, especially a dog which can become a family member." Dog eaters reply "It is something as old as our culture. Our forefathers ate dog meat and we grew up learning to eat dog meat and by all standards, it is ok".
Dog eaters far outnumber non-dog eaters in Calabar where its pet meat trade is lucrative and no matter how many dogs they kill, there's always buyers waiting to eat them.
Weekends are the busiest time for slaughtering and eating dogs, especially Sundays when people in Calabar like to get together with family and loved ones and relax and eat dog meat.
Interestingly, women in Calabar eat just as much dog meat as men. Throughout Asia, dog meat is eaten mainly by men and women are shunned from eating it for a variety of reasons, mainly because men believe dog meat boots a man's virility and is therefore dangerous for women to indulge in.
Dog meat used to be restricted to certain areas in Calabar and was mainly served with palm wine. Due to clever marketing, dog meat in Calabar is now a mainstream food which is served like any other restaurant food, with multiple choices of side dishes and beverages.
Just like in Asia a few decades ago, dog meat has gone from being eaten secretly to chic restaurant food that's accepted everywhere, thanks to some clever marketing by dog traders, dog butchers and dog meat cooks.
In the same way Saynotodogmeat.Net are fighting Asia's dog and cat meat trade, we will continue to fight Africa's cruel pet meat trade too. We won't stop until the dog and cat meat trade is brought to an END in Africa and Asia.
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
Saturday April 4th, 2015 Saynotodogmeat.Net is hosting a Global March for dogs and cats in the live meat trade. Please march with us, in your country. It will be an orderly and peaceful march but we need more 'demonstration leaders.' If you can help us, PLEASE EMAIL: email@example.com
Bring your family, children, pets and banners; we need as many people as possible, worldwide. Please mark your calendar and join our march. If you haven't already done so, please click the box to let us know you are coming: https://www.facebook.com/events/294347744053559/
Saynotodogmeat.Net is now accepting donations: PLEASE MARK ALL DONATIONS "SAY NO TO DOG MEAT.NET" https://www.facebook.com/SayNoToDogMeat/app_117708921611213
No donation is too small and we are very appreciative of your help and support. Very soon we will be writing a full article outlining where donations will be used. You will receive an electronic receipt and we will too, which we will keep for historical data purposes. NO DONATION will be used to produce clothing with logos on, badges or banners. Donations are NOT for the directors. ALL MEMBERS FUND THEMSELVES.
PETITION FOR VIETNAM and THAILAND ANTI-SMUGGLING
EMAIL THE GOVERNOR OF NIGERIA: New Address: firstname.lastname@example.com
JOIN HERE https://www.facebook.com/events/294347744053559/ SHARE EVERYWHERE WILDLY
SayNoToDogMeat.Net FACEBOOK and TWITTER
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Smuggling Snakes Is Big Business, Part 2.
Endangered snakes on the black market are highly sought after commodities that sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Live animal smuggling is a £6bn illegal trade. Smugglers don't care about the welfare of snakes being trafficked and as a result, many perish from cruel treatment. Snakes are seen as aphrodisiacs and are thus in demand, which places them in peril in the hands of snake traffickers.
Many people falsely believe that snakes can impart special powers and magic through either eating them, drinking their blood, eating their beating heart or turning them into an elixir.
King cobras are the world's longest venomous snake and grow up to 5.5 meters (18 feet). They are also the number one snake used in traditional Chinese medicine, specifically for Snake Wine.
Snake Venom: Rave Party Recreation Drug
Snake venom has joined morphine and cocaine as exotic stimulants. According to Indian police, venom and snakebites are the intoxicants of choice for drug addicts at raves these days. Delhi police recently busted some snake smugglers who were keeping serpents in order to sell off their venom. Authorities recovered four cobras and half a litre of venom, which was to be sold at Valentine's Day rave parties. Nothing screams "day of romance" like ingesting reptile toxins!
Police suspected that the four cobras were being smuggled to bite junkies. "Cobras are killed in large numbers and their venom is smuggled to Delhi and to be used in rave parties for doping purposes," they said.
King Cobra's In Vietnam
Hunting and trading king cobras for commercial purposes is banned in Vietnam, where people consider cobra meat a delicacy. But Vietnam's big illegal market for king cobras is using them for snake wine.
Nguyen Van Hai was driving in Hanoi, Vietnam when he was pulled over for a traffic violation after driving erratically. Upon inspection police found 53 live cobras in his car, packaged in green sacks.
Thirty-year-old Hai told authorities he was paid $47 US to deliver the venomous reptiles to the northern province of Vinh Phuc. Hai's passenger in the vehicle fled the scene while police were reading Hai's paperwork. The cobras were taken to a wildlife rescue centre for health assessment before they were eventually released back into the wild, after regaining their health (TNN.)
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society's Vietnam program, over 90 percent of all animal and non-animal products (both legal and illegal) traded in Mong Cai between Vietnam and China are passing through illegal crossings. In just those three months they witnessed close to 17,000 vehicles, making nearly 34,000 shipments to and from China.
They discovered that the most commonly smuggled animals are pangolins (live, frozen, and de-scaled), freshwater hard-shell and soft-shell turtles, snakes (cobra, rat snakes, python), elephant ivory, crocodiles, civets, bears (live and paws), macaques, tokay geckos, rhino horn, and a number of bird species.
The list includes a number of species that are protected nationally (in China and Vietnam) and those that are prohibited from international trade under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Some are also considered Endangered and Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. The trade in wildlife in Vietnam is vast and is driving species to extinction.
The criminal brokers facilitating human and drug trafficking across the border also play critical roles in the illegal wildlife trade – they act as middlemen between Chinese buyers and Vietnamese traders and maintain close, corrupt relationships with law enforcement agencies to evade arrest, prosecution and punishment.
The Vietnamese government enforced action against a major wildlife smuggling group in Mong Cai, including the capture and arrest of 20 members of "Steel-face" Dung's syndicate, the most notorious and violent kingpin of wildlife (and other illegal) trade on the Vietnam-China border.
There are numerous repeat offenders who operate throughout Vietnam's provinces but the largest fine that Vietnamese smugglers can be charged is up to 500,000,000 Vietnamese dong, or about $24,000. Smugglers usually pay tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to officials when shipping illegal wildlife over the border.
Forestry officials in central Myanmar seized nearly 10,000 snakes in 400 crates intended to be smuggled to China. Fifty cobras were among the 9,176 snakes seized in Pyin Oo Lwin district near Mandalay.
The report did not say how many people were arrested but said those involved would be charged under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas law, which carries a five-year prison sentence.
It said the 7,000 non-poisonous snakes were released into a wildlife reserve, while the vipers and cobras were sent to the state pharmaceutical company for their venom.
Thailand An International Hub For Illegal Trade in Wildlife
Wildlife can be openly sold every weekend at Chatuchak Market, which is just down the road from the Wildlife Protection and Nature Crime Police Offices. This makes no sense when Thailand claims to be effectively addressing the illegal wildlife trade.
An Iranian man was stopped by customs officials trying to smuggle 50 live snakes onto a plane in Bangkok by hiding them in rolled-up socks in his hand luggage.
With rare native creatures, a large international airport and long land borders with its southeast Asian neighbours, Thailand is an attractive hub for both the import and export of rare animals. Live lizards, snakes and big mammals are increasingly in demand in the Middle East as exotic pets, while tiger bones and bear gallbladders are exported to China, Hong Kong and Singapore for use in Chinese medicine.
Corruption and insufficient sentencing deterrents also make regulation difficult. Freeland Foundation, an international conservation and human rights organisation based in Bangkok, has described official corruption as the biggest problem it faces in tackling the trade.
Freeland Foundation director Steven Galster remarked: "Over the past six years we've seen only one trafficker go to prison. And that was because the prosecutor […] happened to be an animal lover."
While police may make low-level arrests, those ultimately controlling the trade have repeatedly gone unpunished.
In another incident, more than 2,000 cobras and rat snakes, packed in blue mesh bags that were in turn hidden in over 200 polystyrene boxes, were part of a shipment declared as fresh fruit at Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport. The shipment had been flown to Hong Kong, where it was rejected by Hong Kong Customs and returned to Thailand because it lacked documentation.
Thailand's CITES officials and Airport of Thailand officers cooperated to access the shipment upon its arrival in Bangkok. The boxes were then inspected by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and found to contain the snakes.
Authorities told a press conference that the shipment belonged to exporter AK International Co Ltd. The case is being investigated under the Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act (WARPA) and Thai Customs Laws. The snake species involved are protected under Thai laws and CITES legislation.
Snakes are traded in Thailand for their skins, meat, gall bladder, and venom. Large seizures of illegally traded snakes are common in the region.
In south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, police found 89 boxes of snakes and 24 boxes of tortoises in a truck, which was heading for Guangzhou, the capital of neighbouring Guangdong Province, from the city of Dongxing on the China-Vietnam border.
The truck driver, a man with the surname He, said he was hired by a man in Dongxing to transport the animals to Guangzhou. Neither He nor the owner of the animals, a man with the surname of Li, were able to produce legitimate certificates for transporting them. Police believe the reptiles had been smuggled into China.
The animals have been handed over to local forestry authorities, according to the police, who said they will release the healthy ones into the wild, while the others will be transferred to local animal rescue centres.
Malaysian King-Pin's Lenient Jail Sentence
A convicted Malaysian wildlife smuggler, who served 71 months jail time in the United States after he pleaded guilty to trafficking charges, was caught for the second time while trying to smuggle 95 endangered rear-fanged boa constrictors (snake species) at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. According to an official, Keng Liang Anson Wong was caught after the luggage conveyer belt that was carrying the large snakes snapped.
The former convict appeared in a district court where he was charged with exporting endangered animals without a permit, for which the maximum penalty is seven years and a fine. Officials say the animals were being transferred to Indonesia's capital of Jakarta.
Other species of snakes and turtles were also found in his luggage but Wong will only be charged for the boa constrictors because they were the only animals on the endangered list. Wong was first arrested in 1998 as the head of an illegal animal smuggling ring that imported, exported and sold hundreds of animals listed as endangered or protected.
Wong, who goes by the name "Lizard King" pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail for smuggling snakes, a penalty activists said was far too lenient and a "tragedy." He was sentenced under laws that prohibit the export of animals without a permit and was fined 190,000 ringgit ($61,000). An official from the Wildlife and National Parks Department confirmed the sentence but declined to comment.
"This is a tragedy," said Traffic Southeast Asia regional director William Schaedla in a statement. "It clearly tells wildlife traffickers that they have little to fear from Malaysian law.
"As the government was not successful in delivering a harsh, deterrent sentence to a long-time, globally known and convicted wildlife trafficker, it gives up little hope that other offenders will be penalised accordingly," Schaedla added. "It sends a clear message that Malaysia is not ready to stand up and battle wildlife crime."
WWF Malaysia described the fine as a "slap on the wrist" and urged the authorities to revoke Wong's licenses to trade in wildlife, including permits for the wildlife establishments he runs as well as those linked to his family.
In Australia a man was arrested for trying to sneak 44 snakes and lizards onto a flight from Australia to Bangkok. The smuggled animals, including the critically endangered Albino Carpet Python, were intended for sale on the black market for large amounts of money.
The haul included four snakes: three Black Headed Pythons, one critically endangered Albino Carpet Python, 24 Shingleback Lizards and 16 Bluetongue Lizards. Customs officials said the snakes would have black market price of around AU$20,000 each. The 24-year-old man from Sydney was charged with attempting to export native species without a permit.
Australian Customs officers have foiled two attempts to smuggle snakes and lizards concealed in ceramic figures, such as garden gnomes, into Australia by mail that had been sent from the UK and marked as gifts.
Seven snakes and eight lizards were detected in two packages at the Australia Post gateway facility at Clyde in western Sydney. Customs spokesman Richard Janeczko says the practice of animal smuggling is cruel.
"In this case, because the animals are a potential risk to our own wildlife, they had to be put down by quarantine officers," he said. "Apart from the quarantine risk, Australia is committed to international conventions that outlaw the trafficking of endangered and exotic species."
Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999, the maximum penalty for smuggling wildlife is up to ten years in prison, as well as fines of $100-$10,000. Investigations into the illegal trafficking are continuing.
Philippines – Snakes In Plastic Bottles
In the Philippines, Manilla Airport authorities show off a viper and other reptiles in plastic soda bottles that were seized from a Filipino passenger in Manila, Philippines. The passenger was trying to smuggle at least 134 reptiles onto a flight to Bangkok.
The reptiles included cobras, water skinks, pit vipers, iguanas and monitor lizards, which were spotted in the passenger's suitcase as it went through airport security x-ray machines. The animals were handed over to the Wildlife Management Council, part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines.
In Conclusion
Snake smuggling takes place in almost every country for a variety of different reasons. Officials in Norway say reptile smuggling in "not uncommon" because Norway prohibits people from having many of the reptile species as pets. While most snake fanciers obey all laws, some are tempted to purchase more exotic snakes than they have access to and unfortunately, there are always traffickers to try and tempt them.
Snakes are to be respected. These shy reptiles are powerfully strong and many can easily kill people. They do not have magical powers, so drinking their blood or cutting out and eating their beating hearts is nothing but horrific animal cruelty. Snakes are magnificent reptiles that have an important place in our world's delicate ecosystem. They are creatures that deserve to live out their lives undisturbed and free from human molestation.
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
To read Part 1: Snake Wine – Bizarre Sex Aid
Africa: Live Dogs Exchanged For Palm Oil
Danwaki Dog Market is one of the main dog markets in Nigeria where live dogs are bartered in exchange for palm oil. Thursday mornings are the main day, at the Plateau State Dog Market, Danwaki.
On the day before (Wednesday), Kanke dog vendors get their stalls ready to attract as many customers as possible. Most Nigerian markets traders arrive at dawn, but for Danwaki, many traders travel through the night in lorries because by 4.00am the market is already bustling with activity. By 5.00am business is well underway.
Dog traders and buyers travel all the way from states like Cross Rivers, AkwaIbom, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, and many other southern states. Dog traders from neighbouring countries of Cameroun and Ivory Coast also frequent this dog market. Traders bring goods from their home states, in exchange for live dogs.
Palm oil from Calabar is known as "red gold," giving Calabar traders an upper hand in doing business, as they exchange live dogs over for the equivalent value of palm oil.
A regualr dog buyer at Danwaki dog market, Mrs. Bassy Essien says she travels to the dog market twice a month to exchange palm oil for dogs because the business is "lucrative and rewarding," the only risk involved is having to travel through the night all the way from Calabar to Jos in a lorry."
She says once she gets the dogs back to Calabar they "sell like hot cakes" because their cooked as delicacies at local hot-beer joints like the Marina Beach spots, where politicians and foreign nationals sit outside in the cool of the evenings and enjoy eating dog meat.
She says:"With dog meat served together with hot local beer, an evening is made in Calabar!"
Another dog trader who calls himself Akpan said: "I have lived all my life in Calabar, but 12 years ago I started my dog business, that I discovered Marina Spot. When I see big politicians enjoy the delicacy dog meat I feel exceedingly fulfilled that I am a part of their joy."
Dogs are bred in Plateau State for dog meat. [ NOTE: Breeding dogs for consumption means DOG FARMS.]
In Kanke Local Government Area it is considered a great honour to welcome a visitor with dog meat delicacy. Dog meat has now become a trend in most famous "joints," even in Jos city. People joke that dogs which westerners call "man's best friend" has now been renamed "man's best taste."
Does Dog Meat Have Powers To Cure?
Many people who eat dog meat falsely believe the meat has medicinal properties, including the false belief that dog meat improves a man's sexual performance. This ties directly in with customers enjoying tough dog meat, which is brought about through cruel methods of slaughter which are done to deliberately flood the dog's body with as much adrenaline s possible – making the meat as tough as possible. This is falsely believed to enhance a man's libido. It will NOT.
Dog meat contains no magic, no power and no cures. If you're impotent then seek professional medical help or see a sex therapist, but do NOT expect to get relief from eating dogs or cats.
Some people believe dog meat cures a lot of disease such as malaria, typhoid, dysentery in children, and even protection against witchcraft. It is falsely believed by some dog meat eaters that if they eat enough dog meat they will be protected from evil. There is no scientific evidence proving dog meat does anything except cure hunger.
Veterinarian Dr. Pam Musa believes dogs are inherently emotional and friendly to humanity and that slaughtering dogs for food is excessively cruel.
Thank you for reading,
Michele Brown.
Saturday April 4th, 2015 Saynotodogmeat.Net is hosting a Global March for dogs and cats in the live meat trade. Please march with us, in your country. It will be an orderly and peaceful march but we need more 'demonstration leaders.' If you can help us, PLEASE EMAIL: email@example.com
Bring your family, children, pets and banners; we need as many people as possible, worldwide. Please mark your calendar and join our march. If you haven't already done so, please click the box to let us know you are coming: https://www.facebook.com/events/294347744053559/
Saynotodogmeat.Net is now accepting donations: PLEASE MARK ALL DONATIONS "SAY NO TO DOG MEAT.NET" https://www.facebook.com/SayNoToDogMeat/app_117708921611213
No donation is too small and we are very appreciative of your help and support. Very soon we will be writing a full article outlining where donations will be used. You will receive an electronic receipt and we will too, which we will keep for historical data purposes. NO DONATION will be used to produce clothing with logos on, badges or banners. Donations are NOT for the directors. ALL MEMBERS FUND THEMSELVES.
PETITION FOR VIETNAM and THAILAND ANTI-SMUGGLING
EMAIL THE GOVERNOR OF NIGERIA: New Address: firstname.lastname@example.com
JOIN HERE https://www.facebook.com/events/294347744053559/ SHARE EVERYWHERE WILDLY
SayNoToDogMeat.Net FACEBOOK and TWITTER
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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More than 64 million people are directly affected by drought in the Southwest and Southern Plains, and far more are indirectly affected because
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