animal rights

How to eat a fish alive

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:29:48 +0100

This video has been viewed over 120,000 times in the past week, drawing attention from animal rights activists and the food-curious alike. The fish is supposedly fried just to the point when it can remain alive, and until served, has its head wrapped in a wet cloth so that it can breathe. The video was filmed in a restaurant in China and posted to YouTube.

Charal slaughterhouses are awful... But no more than others

Team Observers — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:41:46 +0200

France's No.1 meat producer's slogan, "With us, you'll always love meat", doesn't go down well with animal-rights group L214. They have accused Charal of cruelty to animals and not respecting bovine slaughter regulations. To prove their point, one of its members penetrated a Charal slaughterhouse undercover and filmed what he saw.

Warning! These videos may be found disturbing

According to the association, Charal waits too long between the moment the cows are stunned and when they are bled to death. This gives the animal time to regain consciousness before its throat is slit, causing it unnecessary suffering.

Nevertheless, French veterinary services have never found a problem with Charal's slaughter practices. Their reports do not convince L214, who accuse sanitary authorities of favouring meat companies.

Grinding up live chicks – “not as bad as suffocating them”

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:12:59 +0200

Candid camera footage of male chicks being ground up alive in a factory in Iowa has become one of today's most talked-about subjects on the Web. It's not such an outrageous way of getting rid of the birds however, a US farmer explains to us.

The video, filmed in May and June of this year by an employee of animal rights group "Mercy for Animals", was released on Saturday. It reveals the disposal methods of male chicks - useless for egg-producing companies - in a factory owned by the biggest egg-laying chicken producer in the US, Hy-Line. The factory in question is in Iowa but the group says it was chosen at random to illustrate the "standard procedure" of the company, which disposes of 200 million male chicks per year.

Factory farming poultry has become commonplace in developed countries in the past 30 years. In the UK, 99% of chickens are factory farmed, while in France, the number is lower, at 70%.

The circus: paradise for children, hell for animals

Ségolène Team Observers — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:39:38 +0200

Animal rights association Peta has released candid camera footage filmed behind the scenes at the biggest circus in the United States, the Ringling Brothers Circus. The video proves that, behind the glitter, the animals are in for a rough ride.

With its dancing zebras, horses, tigers and elephants, the Ringling Brothers Circus describes itself as "The Greatest Show on Earth" and insists that its animals are well treated : "In all aspects of animal care and safety, Ringling Bros. exceeds all federal animal welfare standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Animal Welfare Act."

These images however, seem to suggest otherwise. Filmed by a Peta member who spent six months working undercover at the circus, the footage shows the use of bullhooks - batons with a sharp steel hook at one end which are used to punish or control elephants by penetrating their skin.

Ringling Brothers responded to the video by saying that "In the past six months, including the time period allegedly covered by PETA's video, this circus unit has been inspected by 12 different state, local and federal inspection authorities and was in compliance with animal welfare laws and regulations".

Peta however says that one of the elephants, Tonka, shows obvious signs of anxiety by constantly swaying back and forth.

Tracked down online for abusing a cat

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:37:30 +0100

When two US teenagers posted a video of themselves abusing the family cat on YouTube, outraged Web users took it upon themselves to track down the culprits and bring them to justice, resulting in the subsequent arrest of the pair. Warning, you might find these images upsetting.

This is one of the two videos posted on YouTube by "glennspam1" last weekend. Just a few later, the main perpetrator had been identified as Kerry Glenn from Lawton, Oklahoma.

The plight of Moscow's stray dogs

Team Observers — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:55:41 +0100

There are tens of thousands of stray dogs on the streets of Moscow. Hanging around building sites and subways, they're rarely aggressive, although attacks don't go unheard of. No doubt it's pretty scary when you walk down an empty street at night and suddenly a pack of dogs appears around the corner.

These homeless hounds are considered a problem by the Moscow authorities, who have promised to sterilise and tag them, and say they have even built a number of dog shelters. On paper it looks quite good. But animal rights activists claim that the reality is much gloomier.

Anti-whaling activists attack hunters with butyric acid

Julien — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:18:57 +0100

Whale hunting for commercial use has been banned since 1986, but Japan continues to slaughter up to 1000 animals a year for what it insists are research purposes. Attracting worldwide criticism, whalers are a popular target for animal rights activists. Yesterday a group that has been hounding Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research threw butyric acid (rotten butter) and Methocel (a slippery liquid normally used to coat tablets) on to the vessel’s deck. Three crew members say they were injured in the attack. The activists however refuse to give up. They say their work has prevented the ship from killing any whales for four and half weeks. But what happens next will depend on delegates from the International Whaling Commission, who are meeting in London to discuss the controversy this week.