Reports of Member Societies

Austria:

A report by FOR ANIMALS - Wild Animals in Zoos – Sad Slaves in Prisons

On the occasion of the first anniversary of elephant Abu, star of the Schoenbrunn Zoo, FOR ANIMALS, in cooperation with Verein gegen Tierfabriken (VgT) and Internationaler Bund der Tierversuchsgegner (IBT), organised a common press conference on 23 April 2002 in Vienna. Abu is not a “child of elephant love” but of artificial insemination. A plane from England delivered the semen of Pambo, the father little Abu will never meet.

A crew of “specialists” had forced Pambo by artificial stimulation to release the semen which was then, after weeks of strenuous examination and painful treatments, inserted into the womb of Abu’s mother Sabi. This method is perverse and not acceptable. Furthermore photos of the procedure were published on the website of the Schoenbrunn Zoo which is also absolutely despicable.

The habitat of elephants is the wilderness of Africa and India. Every other place means cruelty. The Director of the Zoo, Mr. Pechlaner, described by Austria’s media as an “animal protector”, defends this procedure as a way to preserve species. Why does he forget to mention the already existing overpopulation of elephants in Africa, thousands of whom are shot by farmers? Professor Dr. Julian Bauer, a wild animal ecologist living in Kenya, explains: “There can never be too many elephants, only too many newspaper reports about “pillaging” elephants.”

The organisations confirmed that the April events are only the beginning of an all-Austria campaign against the cruel confinement of wild animals; they demand freedom for zoo animals!

FOR ANIMALS
A-8026 Graz
POB 36
Tel&fax: 00 43 316 573779
www.for-animals.at

Verein gegen Tierfabriken
A-5053 Laaben
Am Hendlberg 112
Tel: 00 43 2774 8813
www.vgt.at

Fondation Franz Weber: Verdict of The International Court of Justice for Animals Rights

In Genève, Switzerland, a hearing took place on 11 March 2002 regarding the scandalous treatment of animals in European factory farms and slaughterhouses. Of special interest was also the question of ritual slaughtering without stunning. The following verdict was reached against politicians, civil servants, union representatives and industrialists belonging to the member countries of the European Union and Poland relating to the abuse and torture of animals, serious crimes against the dignity of animals and the disregard of animal protection rights.

I. Established Facts

The International Court of Justice for Animal Rights, consisting of an international jury of 11 members and 3 judges has established,

• that since the realisation of the European Community, now the European Union, the fate of animals for slaughter has, in general, deteriorated
• that those authorities responsible are seemingly incapable or else too indolent to protect these animals from man’s worst excesses of torture or to enforce the existing laws in place for animal protection
• that in many European slaughterhouses animals are butchered without sufficient or without any stunning and are dismembered when still fully conscious thus causing them untold suffering
• that those authorities responsible silently or willingly condone the inhumane and illegal activities of producers, dealers and carriers, whilst showing indifference to the untiring efforts of countless organisations working to attain a better fate for animals for slaughter
• that through their attitude towards animals for slaughter, the European authorities lend weight to the widening dehumanisation and growing brutality within society
• that the ritual slaughtering of animals in the name of religion and freedom of belief is spreading ever wider, even though the animals are submitted to unimaginable mental and physical suffering,
• that the agricultural policies of the European Union are hostile to animals: animals for slaughter are regarded as disposable goods, masses of them are forced into existence by unnatural methods using artificial insemination techniques, brutally force-fed, in crammed conditions, in animal factories – without considering the existing market demand – this results in millions of them being exported live into foreign countries or being destroyed inland.

II. Verdict-Guilty

Based on today’s verbal deliberations and the resulting hearing of evidence, the Court finds guilty:

1. Dr. Franz Fischler, Member of the European Commission, Commissioner for Agriculture. Mr. Fischler carries the main responsibility for the animal-hostile agricultural policies of the European Union. He was the one who instigated the destruction of millions of cattle to relieve market pressure. He is also responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of calves, some only a few days old, to achieve the ‘Herod premium’ (a premium paid for their destruction) as well as for the subsidising of live animals exported to other European countries. The Court calls upon Commissioner Fischler to resign and to hand back his responsibilities to the Commission.

2. Mr David Byrne, Member of the European Commission. Mr Byrne is the person mainly responsible for the destruction of millions of healthy animals during the breakout of foot and mouth disease in 2001, only because some were diseased and the European F+MDregulations did not allow inoculations against F+MD.

3. Agricultural ministers of the member states of the European Union, because they did not enforce their own national regulations valid within the framework of the EU covering the protection rights of animals. Insufficient staffing, the reason given by the ministers and their subordinate authorities, is not an excuse for permitting animals to be so brutally treated.

4. Mr Gerd Sonnleitner, the president of the German Farmers’ Union and chairman of the European Farmers’ Union. As the leading union official, Mr. Sonnleitner carries the brunt of the responsibilities concerning the development of the main structures of European agriculture, these are not only hostile to animals but are also hostile to farmers and have been responsible for the ruin of hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized farms.

5. The owners of animal mass production plants, in which cattle, pigs and chickens lead an existence of horror and despair, and especially the owners of those batteryhen farms where the animals have to suffer untold misery and young chicks are destroyed by the millions as waste.

Further, the Court declares guilty:

6. Former Minister of Agriculture Jean Glavany and Mr Daniel Canepa, prefect of the Var District. Under their auspices arenas used for bullfighting have been turned into public slaughterhouses where blood-thirsty voyeurs can satisfy their lusts watching animals being tortured to death.

7. Magistrate Herbert Haupt, as well as Government Minister Josef Pühringer, and Minister of Agriculture Wilhelm Molterer (Austria). They carry the responsibility for the horrible tortures taking place in Austrian animal production plants and in slaughterhouses, the perpetrators of which are protected from prosecution.

8. The Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State, Great Britain. She is responsible for the re-introduction of the notorious British live-exports to the Middle East , where the animals suffer a cruel death. She is answerable for the continuation of animal suffering in the battery farms for pigs and poultry in Great Britain.

9. Polish and EU officials who are active in the systematic forging of documents, so allowing cattle exported from Poland to EU countries to be falsely identified as EU produce, and so presenting a serious danger to the health of the consumers.

10. Ms Annemie Neyts, Belgium’s Minister for Agriculture. She tolerates bestial atrocities in Belgian slaughter markets and tolerates the protection of those criminally responsible against legal prosecution.

11. Mr Miguel Arias Canete, the Spanish Minister for Agriculture. He is responsible for the scandalous conditions under which live animals are transported in Spain. He is also in part responsible that the catastrophic subsidisation policies are being continued within the EU in spite of widespread protests.

III. Conclusion and Recommendations

1. The Court requests that the European Commission and the European Parliament ensure that Animal Protection Rights are introduced and ensured as independent and common aims in the EU treaty and that the necessary competence for their conception is created.

2. Further, the Court requests that Animal Rights are seen as being an independent aim of State in the future European Constitution, and that animals are given a constitutional and legally defendable right to counsel, to their own dignity, to a life appropriate to their species and to a death free of anxiety and pain.

Finally, the Court requests that the European Commission sets up its own departmental Commission for Animal Protection Rights consisting of representatives from European Animal Protection Societies.

3. The Court requests more unannounced, official control visits to all animal production plants and slaughterhouses as well as intensifying the supervision of animal transportation. In order to gain transparency, the Court requests the installation of video or webcam surveillance, this would allow any transgressions against the rights of animals to be provable.

4. The Court requests for the third time since 1993, the immediate prohibition throughout Europe of transporting live animals across country borders and, to that effect the abolition of the ominous export subsidies.

5. The Court insists on the principle that animals for slaughter are to be transported no further than the nearest slaughterhouse. If there is no slaughterhouse near-at-hand, mobile slaughter units are to be used and approved by the EU at the highest level.

6. The Court of Justice categorically condemns the barbaric methods of ritual slaughter without stunning and requests these to be banned in every civilised country. The arguments brought in the name of religion and freedom of belief have to be ethically sound, they cannot be based on the torture of helpless fellow creatures.

Finally the Court postulates the basic principle that the methods of industrial mass production cannot be applied to sentient living beings, the same as conveyor belt work and piecework can have no place in the process of killing animals for consumption.

The breeding of every single animal places responsibility on man, each and every slaughter is a grave and serious act which has to be carried out individually, with care and respect.

The current methods of animal handling have not even the slightest ethical basis, they are highly abnormal and therefore dangerous to the health of humanity and destructive to our natural environment. That is why the EU and all the other countries of Europe are being called upon to reconstruct their attitudes toward domestic animals taking the above points as guidelines.

As the relationship of humans to animals is part of the fundamental principles of morality the Court insists that the meat industry be subjected to the control of a Commission for Ethics which is close to national education.

The complete and substantiated court decision will be sent within a conductive period to those parties having been found guilty. In addition copies will be forwarded to the EU Commission, the European Council, the UNO, the UNESCO, to the parliamentary meetings of the accused countries as well as to numerous nature and animal protection organisations and societies.

Viva! Announces National March and Rally Against Factory Farming With Launch of new Guide.

Viva! is linking up with major animal and environmental groups to stage a massive rally, march and festival against factory farming in London on Saturday 13 July. To mark this announcement, the animal welfare group is launching a new guide, Stop Bugging Me, which reveals how almost all food poisoning originates from animal agriculture and foods. It shows how problems have worsened since the advent of intensive factory farming and explains how meat eaters are at risk of contracting a catalogue of disorders from diarrhoea, abdominal pain and exhaustion to stillbirths, enteritis and meningitis.

According to the government, a staggering 9.5 million people in the UK get food poisoning each year, at a cost of £750 million to the National Health Service. A massive 95% of all food poisoning cases are caused by eating animal products. Food poisoning bacteria include; Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogens, E. coli, Bacillus cereus, Slostridium butolinum, Clostridium perfringens and Staphylococcus aureus.

Says Viva! Campaigner Kat Macmillan, “Meat is the main culprit for food poisoning because bugs love it! Bacteria can multiply extremely rapidly given the opportunity and meat, cheese, eggs and milk all provide the ideal environment for bacterial growth. Infection can occur in the food the animals eat, on the farms where they live, at the slaughterhouse, at the butchers, in the restaurant and even in the home”.

Factory farming is at the root of the problem of food poisoning. Intensive farming involves crowding as many animals as possible into a limited space - making infection unavoidable. Bacteria and viruses thrive in this environment and can infect large numbers of animals within a very short time. Also, poor ventilation in buildings means that airborne bacteria spread easily. Antibiotics have been overused by farmers to try to combat disease and to promote the growth of animals. This has lead to bacteria becoming resistant to the drugs so that when the same drugs are used to treat humans, they no longer work.

Ms Macmillan concludes, “Dangerous diseases are spreading like wildfire on factory farms. Over the past decade, we’ve seen BSE, swine fever, the creation of antibiotic-resistant strains of salmonella and E.Coli and foot-and-mouth. If we don’t act now to end factory farming, it may well end us. In the face of political apathy, it’s up to individuals to take action. Our 13 July march and rally will create a force for change that cannot be ignored”.

For more information contact Kat Macmillan or Tony Wardle at Viva! on: 00 44 1273

On Saturday 13 July campaigners will be meeting at Kennington Park at noon for speeches and will then march to Trafalger Square. The event is sponsored by Viva!, CIWF, FAWN, PETA and the Green Party and supported by Animal Aid, Advocates for Animals, Care for the Wild Defense Fund, the Jewish Vegetarian Society, the League against Cruel Sports, the Vegan Society, Uncaged Campaigns and the Young Indian Vegetarians.

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