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News & Press
Welcome to all the latest news and press from Animal Aid.
'Badgers Spared’ - Thank you Mr Benn!
The BBC today reports that DEFRA Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, will announce on Monday that he has decided against a cull of badgers in England to control TB in cattle.
Wendy Turner-Webster presents young artists and poets with awards
The talented young winners of Animal Aid's art and poetry competition will be travelling to London on Saturday 12th July to attend a prize-giving ceremony, hosted by Animal Aid and TV presenter, Wendy Turner-Webster.
Animal Suffering Exposed on ‘Freedom Food’ Farm
An RSPCA spokesman told Channel 5 News today (July 2) that ‘the Society’s reputation is, to some extent, at stake’, following an Animal Aid undercover investigation of an RSPCA-approved Freedom Food (FF) chicken farm in Somerset. The farm in question was immediately suspended from the FF Scheme and the Society has announced ‘a full-scale review’ of its ‘high-welfare’ initiative.
Support Austrian Campaigners Imprisoned Without Charge
Austria: On 21 May 2008, it is reported that ten animal rights campaigners were arrested in a series of raids on homes and offices belonging to animal protection groups. As far as we are aware, none of the prisoners have been formally charged. Messages of support for the prisoners and complaints to the relevant authorities have been sent from all round the world, and there is to be a demonstration in support of the prisoners in London, this Friday.
Cheating The Public - How The Game Shooting Industry Misuses The Organic Label
Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have trumpeted pheasant meat as an ethical and natural alternative. However, they could not be more wrong. Animal Aid has produced a new factsheet dispelling the myths surrounding the production of pheasants.
McKelvey - A Victim of a Callous Code
'Any one of us in the animal rights movement will confess that much of the time we feel marooned on a planet inhabited by aliens that seem to walk like us, talk like us, but don’t feel like us. Our greatest hope, however, is that almost all of us were plucked from ignorance and into the burdensome world of compassion, by those who got there before us – by a leaflet, a lecture, a photograph, a conversation that awakened us.'
Read the latest contribution – by John Bryant – to our ongoing debate about Animal Liberation.
Tears Of A Clown Killed at Royal Ascot 2008
Tears Of A Clown became the first horse victim at the 2008 Royal Ascot meeting. The five-year-old gelding pulled up injured during the two-and-a-half mile Ascot Stakes race. Out of sight of Queen and thousands of other race-goers, the horse was silently destroyed.
Best Welfare Standards in the World? The British Pig Industry Exposed
The British pig farming industry makes repeated claims that it has some of the highest welfare standards in the world. Its promotional message – which recently featured in a number of prominent national newspaper advertisements – bolsters this claim by showing healthy-looking pigs on thick straw or out in the fields with plenty of space to roam.
In March and April 2008, as part of a major investigation, Animal Aid visited 10 English pig farms spanning five counties. Instead of idyllic images of straw-filled pens amidst leafy trees and bathed in sunlight, we found squalor, filth, death and disease.
Ascot 2008: Horse death and suffering behind the glamour
As the glamour and opulence of Royal Ascot take centre stage in the British racing year, it is well to remember that the lesser lights of the racing game - the horses - are still, as ever, vulnerable to death and injury.
Could you care for rescued hens?
Egg-laying hens, like dairy cows, are treated like machines. They are pushed to their biological limits and forced - through selective breeding and constant lighting combined with a high protein diet - to produce up to 30 times more eggs than they would naturally in the wild. Inevitably their bodies can only cope with such high production for a short period, after which, they can no longer produce the amount of eggs required by the industry. At around 72 weeks of age they are no longer profitable and known in the industry as 'spent hens'. Their worn-out bodies are worth as little as two pence and go into cheap meat products such as pies, soups and pet food. But some lucky girls are given a chance to live out the rest of their lives in peace, thanks to rescue groups such as Brighton Animal Action and North London Hen Rescue.
Jailing of animal activist has 'serious implications for freedom of speech'
A law 'enacted under the pretext of protecting the public from terrorists is now being used to silence non-violent protesters'. That's the verdict of grassroots news agency Indymedia, after the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act was used to jail for 4.5 years the operator of a website that was critical of Ledbury-based animal testing company Sequani.
Circuses under attack
Once again the so-called Great British Circus met with passionate and articulate opposition to its cruel use of animals when it visited Animal Aid's home town of Tonbridge, Kent from June 4th to 8th.
Thank you to walkers and sponsors!
Thank you to everyone who took part in Animal Aid’s 5th annual sponsored walk on Saturday (June 7th) at Hampstead Heath, and to everyone else who sent in sponsor money. Special guests included comedian, actor and author, Alexei Sayle, and scientist, Dr Jarrod Bailey.
Join the National Rally for Badgers - Cardiff, 28 June 2008
A rally and photo call will be held outside the Welsh Assembly Building (Debating Rooms) from 1pm on 28 June 2008 to protest against the Welsh Assembly’s decision to allow a badger cull to go ahead later this year. Please come along and make your voice heard.
Kick the meat habit on World Environment Day
June 5th is UN World Environment Day and this year’s slogan is 'Kick the habit! Towards a low carbon economy'. The focus will be on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Given the findings of a recent UN report stating that animal farming is responsible for 18 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions - more than road and air travel combined - kicking the meat habit will go a long way to reducing your carbon footprint.
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