Pigs Beaten To Death On “High-Welfare” UK Farm

Man Jailed After Dog Found Dead In Garden.
A man was jailed for 23 weeks after his dog was found dead in a garden, looking “like a skeleton”.
Police found the body of the large mastiff-type dog, called Patch, after chasing down a suspect, who was found in the garden in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, UK.
Officers then called the RSPCA to investigate.
Daryl Burgess, 31, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to Patch.
As well as his jail term, he has also been banned from keeping animals for life.
RSPCA inspector Emma Beynon said: “I was shocked and upset to see the condition he was in. Every single bone could be seen in his body, he looked like a skeleton. Patch would not have even been two years old”.
Police Inspector Beynon said: “This case was truly heartbreaking and this was a deliberate disregard for Patch which resulted in his sad death”.
( itvNEWS, 08.01.2024 )  ..  itv.com

Researchers Fear Highly Contagious Bird Flu Could Rip Through Penguin Colonies.
At least one king penguin is suspected to have died from bird flu in the Antarctic.
If confirmed, it will be the first of the species killed by the highly contagious H5N1 virus in the wild.
Researchers have previously raised alarm about “one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times” if bird flu reached remote Antarctic penguin populations.
The birds are currently clustering together for breeding season, meaning the disease could rip through entire colonies if it continues to spread through the region.
King penguins are the world’s second-largest penguin, at about 3ft tall, and can live for more than 20 years in the wild.
The suspected case was recorded on South Georgia island in the Antarctic region, according to the latest update from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (Scar).
A gentoo penguin was also suspected to have died from H5N1 at the same location.
Separately, at least one gentoo penguin has been confirmed to have died from H5N1 on the Falkland Islands – 900 miles (1,500km) west of South Georgia – with more than 20 chicks either dead or also showing symptoms.
Since H5N1 arrived in the Antarctic, there have been mass deaths of elephant seals as well as increased deaths of fur seals, kelp gulls and brown skua in the region.
Previous outbreaks in South Africa, Chile and Argentina show penguins are susceptible to the disease.
Since it arrived in South America, more than 500,000 seabirds have died of it, with penguins, pelicans and boobies among those most heavily affected.
( Phoebe Weston, 29.01.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

Bullfighting has returned to México City after an 18-month suspension.
Six bulls took part and all were killed as more than 40,000 fans packed Monumental Plaza de Toros México, the world’s largest bullring.
The resumption was met with angry protesters who chased workers and required riot police to be called.
( Adry Torres, 29.01.2024 )  ..  dailymail.co.uk

Pigs Beaten To Death On “High-Welfare” UK Farm.
Two farm workers have been sacked after a film revealed pigs being beaten to death on a free-range farm supplying Morrisons and Tesco supermarkets.
Other animals were sick or paralysed, but left untreated.
Secret filming over eight days at the “high-welfare” farm in Norfolk captured a worker bludgeoning a pig with an iron bar for 23 seconds while the animal screams.
The worker then leaves it alive for nearly two minutes before returning and again attacking it.
Four days later a female worker is filmed also using an iron bar to beat a pig, which is thought to have died as a result.
The video was shot in June 2023, but has only just emerged.
Using blunt trauma to kill pigs is illegal in England and Wales.
Most are killed in controversial carbon dioxide chambers.
A vet, who branded the beatings “illegal and inexcusable”, said the video footage also showed other pigs had respiratory disease.
The video showed many of the pigs were unwell or dying, suffering coughing and chronic diarrhoea.
The video also showed a paralysed pig and numerous others with large hernias.
The pigs were not seen by a vet during the filming, and 104 pigs died over two weeks.
Dead pigs were left out to rot for days and cannibalism was common.
( Jane Dalton and Claire Colley, 25.01.2024 )  ..  independent.co.uk

Farmer Sentenced For Cruelty And Causing Extreme Suffering To A Dog.
A farmer who admitted dragging his family dog along a road by a rope attached to his car was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 300 hours’ unpaid work.
Kim Rendall, from High Littleton near Bath, UK, admitted two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to the nine-year-old female husky-type named Daisy.
Rendall was also banned from keeping animals, apart from cattle and koi fish, for 20 years and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.
When confronted by witnesses after he’d stopped the car, Rendall was said to have told them: “I will do what I want. It’s my dog”.
Bristol Crown Court heard when police arrested 65-year-old Rendall at his mother’s home, he was having a haircut and drinking a cup of tea.
He refused to tell officers where the dog was being kept.
A search involving 18 officers and a drone eventually tracked the dog to a cow barn, tethered by its neck.
The poor dog had suffered severe injuries and was put down 10 days after the incident.
( itvNEWS, 12.12.2023 )  ..  itv.com

Dead Pheasants And Ducks Found Dumped In Scottish Car Park.
Shooting remains a popular sport on many estates around the Scottish Borders.
Dog walkers and ramblers made a grim discovery at a moorland car park.
About 20 pheasants and the carcasses of a number of ducks had been discarded at the rural viewpoint.
The birds were found around a week after the shooting season, which runs from August to January, had officially ended.
( David Knox, 08.02.2024 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

Australia’s Greyhounds Are Being Sent To The U.S. To Be Adopted As Pets.
At least 500 greyhounds have been sent to the U.S. for rehoming as the Australian racing industry continues to breed far more dogs than are needed.
Greyhound racing takes place lawfully in 10 countries, four of those being UK nations.
It remains legal in Australia, England, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, United States, Vietnam, and Wales.
Australia’s greyhounds are increasingly being sent to the U.S. to be adopted as pets not just because of demand but due to a shortage of homes and overbreeding, according to animal welfare advocates.
Greyhounds are a rare breed in the U.S. due to the racing industry slowly dwindling.
Only two greyhound racetracks remain in use, both are in West Virginia.
In 2024, there have already been seven nationwide greyhound track deaths and 1,149 track injuries, with the most – 444 injuries – occurring in NSW.
The state was responsible for the most deaths in 2023, with 42 dogs dying, and for the most injuries at 4,212.
( Claire Keenan, 10.02.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

Official figures from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) revealed that between 2018 and 2022, a total of 22,284 injuries were recorded and 2,718 greyhounds died, from a variety of causes.

The Greyhound Racing Industry Treats Dogs Like Machines.
For the few minutes that they spend on a track during a race, they spend up to 23 hours a day confined to a cramped cage or kennel.
According to GREY2K USA Worldwide, an average of between 500 and 1,000 dogs are required in order to operate a racetrack.
They start racing at 18 months old, and many don’t make it to the nominal “retirement” age of 4 or 5.
Although they’re extremely sensitive to heat and cold, likely because of their lack of body fat and their thin coats, greyhounds are forced to race in extreme conditions, ranging from sub-zero temperatures to sweltering heat of more than 100 degrees.
Greyhounds may be drugged in an attempt to improve their performance, and females are often injected with steroids in order to prevent them from going into heat.
Cocaine has even been found at greyhound racetracks.
( PETA )  ..  peta.org

Increasing Global Temperatures Is The Biggest Threat For Polar Bears.
Some polar bears face starvation as the Arctic sea ice melts because they are unable to adapt their diets to living on land, scientists have found.
The iconic Arctic species normally feed on ringed seals that they catch on ice floes offshore.
But as the ice disappears in a warming world, many bears are spending greater amounts of time on shore, eating bird’s eggs, berries and grass.
The animals rapidly lose weight on land, increasing the risk of death.
The polar bear has become the poster child for the growing threat of climate change in the Arctic, but the reality of the impact on this species is complicated.
While the number of bears plummeted up to the 1980s this was mainly due to unsustainable hunting.
With greater legal protection, polar bear numbers have risen.
But increasing global temperatures are now seen as their biggest threat.
That’s because the frozen Arctic seas are key to their survival.
( Matt McGrath, 13.02.2024 )  ..  bbc.co.uk