Category: Europe

German zoo staff convicted of cruelty for killing hybrid tigers

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:
MAGDEBURG, Germany–Magdeburg Zoo
director Kai Parret and three members of the zoo
staff were on June 17, 2010 convicted of cruelty
for killing three tiger cubs at birth in May 2008
because their father was found to be a hybrid of
the Siberian and Sumatran tiger subspecies. A
fine of 8,100 euros was suspended on condition
that the offense not be repeated.
The charges were brought at request of
the German pro-animal organizations Animal Public
and People for Animal Rights/ Germany.
The Magdeburg Zoo bought the tigers’
parents with the intention of breeding them,
believing them both to be purebred Siberian, but
found Sumatran genes in the father in February
2008, after the mother was already in advanced
pregnancy.

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Catalan bans bullfighting Lawmakers reject cultural defense

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:

 

BARCELONA–Voting 68-55 to ban
bullfighting after January 1, 2012, the Catalan
parliament on July 28, 2010 resoundingly and
deliberately rejected defenses of bullfighting as
central to Catalonian culture.
“Let us create a more humane, more
responsible society. This could be our
contribution to the next generation,” urged
Catalan separatist party leader Joan Puigcercos
in a speech to the assembly members just before
the vote.
The bullfighting ban took the form of a
motion removing from the Catalan animal
protection law an exemption for bullfighting and
similar “cultural” exhibitions.

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Animal Equality, of Spain, collects video from 172 pig farms in just three years

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2010:

 

MADRID–Sharon Nunez, founder of the
less-than-five-year-old organization Animal
Equality, on May 19, 2010 disclosed that 70
Animal Equality volunteers between August 2007
and May 2010 “physically entered a total of 172
pig farms in 11 regions of Spain,” documenting
their findings with 200 hours of video and 25,000
still photos.
Nunez released 50 minutes of the video and 2,600 photos.
“This intensive work comprises the
largest investigation into animal exploitation so
far carried out in Spain,” Nunez said.
In actuality the Animal Equality
investigation was larger by itself than all
previous undercover probes of farms and
slaughterhouses combined, worldwide.
The Animal Equality volunteers “recorded,
amongst other events, how workers routinely kill
pigs by slamming them against the floor,” Nunez
said, or “how pigs are hit, kicked or have
fingers thrust into their eyes to force them to
stand or walk,” and witnessed “countless scenes
of cannibalism–as much on organic or
‘free-range’ farms as on factory farms.”

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Irish Supreme Court in 2009 rejected attempt to use a “no warrant” defense

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2010:

DUBLIN–Globally, defenses based on alleged warrantless
search and seizure are usually considered a quirk of U.S. law, since
the U.S. Fourth Amendment protection against warrantless entry is
uniquely strong. The Irish Supreme Court on May 1, 2009 rejected a
rare non-U.S. attempt to use lack of a warrant as a defense.
Barrister and customs officer Donba Sfar, of St.
Bronagh’s, Lisdoo, Dundalk, contended that Irish SPCA inspector
Paul Mellon and the Louth SPCA improperly seized 17 dogs from the
yard and outbuildings of a house she owned in Oaklawns, Dundalk, in
December 1998. The dogs were allegedly starving and had cannibalized
another dog.
Sfar conducted her own defense and appeals. The Irish
Supreme Court ruled that while her home was on the Oaklawns property,
the places from which the dogs were seized were not part of her
actual dwelling, and were therefore not subject to a warrant
requirement.
U.S. law holds that all properties are subject to warrant
requirements, except under “exigent circumstances.”

Commissions to probe death of Kyiv Zoo elephant

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
KYIV–The Kiev city government on May 5, 2010 announced that
two separate commissions of senior personnel from other zoos in the
Ukraine and Russia would investigate the April 26, 2010 death of the
Kyiv Zoo elephant Boy, 39.
Kyiv Zoo director Svitlana Berzina claimed Boy had been
poisoned, but SOS Animals Ukraine founder Tamara Tarnawska produced
skeptical statements from British and German zoo experts. Tarnawska
has long campaigned against substandard conditions at the zoo, which
was considered particularly unsuitable for an elephant.
“In 2008, as part of a campaign to urge citizens to help
support the zoo, Kyiv mayor Leonid Chernovetsky said he personally
pays $6,000 a month for the feeding and care of Boy,” recalled
Svitlana Tuchynska of the Kyiv Post.

Royal SPCA of Great Britain “prioritizes” by declining to accept surrendered pets

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

 

LONDON–Non-Royal SPCA British animal
shelters and some RSPCA affiliates are still
assessing the impact of an RSPCA policy decision
to “prioritize” shelter admissions to
“RSPCA-generated” animals.
“The only change,” insisted RSPCA chief
superintendent Tim Wass to the Times of London,
“is that spaces in our own animal centres are
being prioritised for animals rescued by RSPCA
inspectors from cruelty and neglect. This means
that the abandoned, abused, sick or injured
animals who are most in need receive our care
before animals whom people simply don’t want any
longer. We will never turn away an animal in
need,” Wass said.

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EU General Affairs Council approves new draft rules on animal experiments

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
BRUSSELS–The European Union General Affairs Council on May
11, 2010 approved a new draft directive on animal experiments. The
present directive has been in effect since 1986. The new directive
is expected to be approved by the full European Parliament in
September 2010.
“Under the new provisions member states will be required to
ensure that experiments with animals are replaced, wherever
possible, by an alternative method; the number of animals used in
projects is reduced to a minimum without compromising the quality of
results; [and] the degree of pain and suffering caused to animals
is limited to the minimum,” the council said in a prepared statement.

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Undercover footage of horse slaughter shocks the world

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
FORT MacLEOD, Canada; FRANKFURT,
Germany–Undercover video of horse slaughter in
Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, and horse
transport for slaughter from the U.S. shocked the
world in April 2010, after broadcast by the
leading Canadian and European networks and
postings of graphic clips to YouTube.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
aired video obtained by the Canadian Horse
Defence Coalition three days after networks in
The Netherlands, France, and Belgium aired
video from Animals’ Angels, a 12-year-old
organization with offices in Germany, Britain,
and the U.S.

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Gyrocopter pilot acquitted of killing huntsman

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2010:

 

BIRMINGHAM, U.K.–A Birmingham Crown Court jury on March 17,
2010 acquitted anti-fox hunting gyrocopter pilot Bryan Griffiths of
alleged manslaughter by gross negligence in connection with the March
9, 2009 death of Warwickshire Hunt owl keeper Trevor Morse at Long
Marston airfield. Morse, 48, was killed when the gyrocopter
propeller vertically cleaved his head.
The Hunting Act of 2004 banned hunting with dogs, but with
many exemptions, including a provision allowing the use of dogs to
flush out prey for falconers. Traditional fox hunts have continued
since then by carrying raptors, including owls, who would not
normally hunt by daylight.

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