Armed officers at the scene but no reports of injuries, Metropolitan Police says
Rishi Sunak is being interviewed on ITV’s This Morning.
He says immigration levels are too high, but he rejects claims it is out of control. This is from the Daily Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan.
Continue reading...Motion to adopt Better Chicken Commitment carried by 96%, but directors cited need for low prices
Feathers are flying at the Co-operative Group after thousands of its members voted to improve welfare for chickens reared for meat at the annual meeting on Saturday – but were partly overruled by the company’s directors, who said they wanted to keep prices down.
A motion led by the Humane League UK campaign group asked the mutual to adopt the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) – a set of standards adopted by the likes of Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the Greggs bakery chain – and report on welfare improvements in a year’s time. It was supported by 96% of the 32,000 Co-op members who voted at the AGM.
Continue reading...Case of Noor Jehan in Karachi draws criticism of conditions and renewed accusations of neglect at country’s facilities
Pakistan’s zoos have faced criticism and calls for their closure after the death of a 17-year-old elephant in Karachi.
Noor Jehan, an African elephant, which have an average lifespan of 60 to 70 years, was already in poor health when she fell into a pond last month and was unable to get up. She later died.
Continue reading...Tributes pour in for Freeway, who was named after his rescue from a busy freeway last year
Freeway, the beloved Californian rescue sea lion that would roam around San Diego, has died, SeaWorld San Diego has announced.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share ‘Freeway’, the rescued sea lion, passed away yesterday – surrounded with love from his devoted care and rescue teams. His adventurous spirit won the hearts of all San Diegans and he will be remembered for that and so much more,” the park said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Continue reading...Emergency veterinarians in Philadelphia save dog’s life after suspected accidental drug overdose
A poodle in Pennsylvania called Toodles was successfully revived with Narcan after an apparent accidental drug overdose, local animal welfare experts said.
The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said they received a call last week from Blue Pearl Emergency Animal Hospital in Philadelphia saying a dog was brought to them showing symptoms of an overdose.
Continue reading...High-profile protests at the Grand National and the World Snooker Championships made headlines around the country; the London Marathon could be next. Sean Ingle and Damien Gayle report on what sporting stunts can achieve – and whether the authorities can stop them
It began with a protest at Britain’s biggest horse racing event. Members of the activist group Animal Rising scaled the fences at Aintree and attempted to stop the Grand National. As stewards and fans intervened, the protest managed only to delay the race for 14 minutes. As if to help prove the protesters’ point, one of the horses in the race was killed in a fall.
As chief sports reporter Sean Ingle tells Nosheen Iqbal, it was followed just days later by a stunt by another activist group. This time the target was the World Snooker Championship; play was postponed when a Just Stop Oil protester managed to clamber on to the the snooker table and launch an orange powder bomb over proceedings. This weekend, all eyes will be on the London Marathon.
Continue reading...Animal rights group Animal Aid says change needed after ‘brutal horrors’ at Aintree as three horses die during festival
Animal rights campaigners have called for jump racing to be banned and “much more stringent” safety measures put in place for the sport after three horses died at the 175th annual Grand National festival.
The third fatality, Hill Sixteen, is said to have suffered a broken neck at the first fence at the Aintree racecourse in Liverpool before being put down.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Everyone told me it would never work’, says professor of nanomedicine, but science needs alternatives to experimenting on animals
Professor of nanomedicine Wojciech Chrzanowski finds it “heartbreaking” to recall some of his early scientific work, where research involving animal testing was inevitable.
“The moment you start working in a lab, and have to start squeezing and cutting animals, you feel sorry for them,” Chrzanowski said.
Continue reading...Thai government rejects Peta’s claims, saying the practice of using monkeys to harvest is rarely used in industry
The meal kit provider HelloFresh has said it will no longer sell coconut milk sourced from Thailand, after campaigning by an animal rights group that accused coconut farms in the country of using monkey labour.
The company confirmed to Axios that it does not tolerate “any form of animal abuse in our supply chain” and “out of an abundance of caution” will not be placing orders for coconut milk from Thailand. HelloFresh has not yet responded to the Guardian’s request for comment.
Continue reading...Most voyages carrying livestock out of Australia sailed without an observer, with half of those ships claiming they had insufficient space for an extra person
Almost half the live export ships that sailed from Australia without an independent observer claimed there was “insufficient space” to allow them onboard last year, new data shows.
The independent monitoring scheme established in 2018 after 2,400 sheep died while being exported by Australian exporter Emanuel Exports has weakened considerably since its resumption from a Covid-related pause, data shows.
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Continue reading...Animal spotted in the desert of southern Nevada likely to have been abandoned as a puppy, rescuers say
For the last few months, a ghost has roamed the desert of southern Nevada near Las Vegas with a pack of coyotes. The apparent phantom is actually a white dog named Ghost, who observers say the animals accepted as one of their own.
Residents in Henderson spotted the dog running through their neighborhood at night, sometimes with the coyotes as they played together, for at least six months, according to a fundraiser for the animal. But neighbors, who documented his movements on social media, grew concerned about an injury on Ghost’s leg that was causing a severe limp and tried unsuccessfully to catch him.
Continue reading...Supreme court said bullfighting was part of Spain’s ‘cultural heritage’ but opponents see ruling as backwards step
The debate over bullfighting’s place in Spanish culture and society has been reignited after the country’s supreme court ruled that the Socialist-led government had been wrong to exclude bullfights from a list of events available to young people through a free culture voucher scheme.
Introduced last year, the bono cultural joven (youth culture voucher) entitles Spaniards turning 18 to a €400 (£355) allowance – half of which can be spent on attending cultural events such as festivals, concerts, plays, exhibitions and films.
Continue reading...Animal welfare groups in Malaysia and Singapore have urged consumers to not buy rabbits on an ‘impulse’ and to look into what it takes to care for them
Pet welfare groups in Malaysia and Singapore have warned consumers not to buy rabbits to mark lunar new year, fearing a plethora of abandoned animals could follow.
High demand for the small mammals is expected as 22 January marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit. Mohideen Abdul Kader, president of the Consumers’ Association of Penang in Malaysia, said it was inevitable considering “the belief that it will bring good luck”.
Continue reading...‘Horrific’ technique which involves removing the uterus is unnecessary and outdated, animal welfare activists say
Vets want an invasive and painful greyhound breeding technique, which involves removing the uterus, banned across Australia.
About 80% of racing greyhounds in NSW are bred using surgical artificial insemination. The Australian Veterinary Association has released a new policy declaring SAI “must not be performed in dogs”.
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Continue reading...SSPCA says circumstances of incident suspicious as its launches appeal for information about the snakes
An animal rights charity is appealing for information after the bodies of three snakes were found at a fly-tipping spot near Glasgow.
The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) said the boa constrictors were discovered by a member of the public at a site near Carbeth Loch in Blanefield.
Continue reading...‘Interspecies communicator’ consulted to track down cat lost in transit, prompting criticism of country’s state companies
Bolivia’s state airline has enlisted an “interspecies communicator” – or animal psychic – to track down a lost cat, after a passenger’s pet went missing in transit.
The incident has prompted pointed questions over the performance of Bolivia’s many state companies, a continual source of debate between the leftist government and its opposition.
Continue reading...Firms such as Animals at Home offer range of care services and can step in when pets are in trouble
The day did not begin as expected for Verity Hope. She had been due to spend a wet November morning making a trip to a vet with a reactive dog, but the client phoned in sick. Then another job cropped up: taking a dead rabbit to a pet crematorium.
It may seem an eclectic set of requests, but for Verity and her animal ambulance it is the norm. Since the start of the pandemic, 4.7m households have acquired a new pet. Changes in work patterns and everyday pressures mean many need support.
Continue reading...Campaigners urge government to stop ‘cruel trade’ as documents show highly pathogenic agents entered the US with monkeys
US authorities are continuing to allow imports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia, despite revelations that deadly pathogenic agents, including one deemed to be a bioterrorism risk, are entering the country with primates and recent charges of illegal trafficking of wild macaques falsely labeled as captive-bred into the US biomedical industry from Cambodia.
Animal rights campaigners are urging the US government to stop the “cruel trade”, saying it’s impossible to prove provenance and that the risk of disease is significant.
Continue reading...Colony cages are larger but animal welfare campaigners say the birds are still not able to behave naturally
Battery cages for layer hens will become illegal in New Zealand from 2023 but animal welfare campaigners are urging the government to scrap the replacement colony cages, which they say are just as bad.
The plan to ban battery cages has been 10 years in the making – in 2012, the previous National party government committed to phasing them out by 1 January 2023.
Continue reading...The legislation aims to end the ‘puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline’ for abusive breeders of dogs, cats and rabbits
Animal welfare advocates in New York are heralding the recent approval of a statewide law that prohibits the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at retail pet stores to “end the puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline and stop abusive breeders” and help more stray and abandoned pets find homes.
The law, which goes into effect in 2024, will not outright bar pet shops from having four-legged friends on display as retailers may charge rescue organizations rent to present ready-to-adopt companion animals. But it has been hailed as a major achievement for animal welfare by its backers.
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