LACS: YOUR taxes are subsidising bullfightsSTOP THE SUBSIDIES!
League Against Cruel Sports
6 August 2010 Bullfighting has been banned in the UK since 1835 and is illegal
in many other European Union countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands. However, the European Commission is using our
tax money to subsidise the breeding of bulls for bullfights. It is estimated that bull breeders
who provide bulls for bullfighting receive around 30 million Euros a year in subsidies through the EU. These subsidies are
dispensed through the Common Agricultural Policy, to which the UK contributes billions of pounds each year. . . . Bullfighting is an appallingly cruel and totally outdated ‘sport.’ Bullfighting is a dying industry,
but these subsidies are helping to keep it alive. And it’s YOUR money that’s keeping it alive. We need your help to send a strong message to European decision-makers that bullfighting has no place in a modern,
civilised society. Please join campaigners across Europe and take action now. Email Dacian Ciolo?, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, and tell him to stop the subsidies. Catalonia’s recent decision to ban
bullfighting is further evidence that this ‘sport’ lies in the past. The European Union must respect the wishes
of its citizens and stop subsidising cruelty. Thank you so much for your support. Yours,
Liam Raftery
Campaigner
Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 9:43 AM Wesley J. Smith  Bull fighting is like dog fighting, it seems to me. It is cruelty for sport. True, there is also the spectacle
and the tradition, etc. But it is the last remaining vestige of the Roman games in which humans and animals were set
upon each other to satisfy the blood lust of the crowd.
Now Catalonia,may have had enough. From the story: Bullfighting in Spain could suffer its biggest setback to date on Wednesday when the local parliament in Catalonia votes on whether to ban the practice in the separatist-minded northeastern region. The assembly is scheduled
to vote on the issue on Wednesday morning after animal rights activists campaigning under the platform “Prou!” or “Enough!” in the Catalan language, collected 180,000 signatures in Catalonia on a petition calling for the motion to be debated and voted on by the assembly. The most recent indications are that a majority
of the 135 lawmakers in the regional assembly are in favour of the motion to tighten Catalonia’s animal protection law to remove an exception for bullfights from a ban on the killing or mistreating animals in shows.
If approved Catalonia, home to Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city, would become the first region in the country outside of the Canary Islands to ban the practice and it could inspire other regions to follow its example.
Not
animal rights: Animal welfare. This measure doesn’t elevate the bulls to moral equivalence with people. It is
people exercising human exceptionalism by recognizing their duty not to treat animals cruelly. I hope it passes PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY - WRITE TO THE SPANISH EMBASSY IN YOUR COUNTRY ABOUT THE ABUSES OF ANIMALS LIKE ANGEL
IN SPAIN PLEASE, IF YOU CAN, SEND A DONATION TO PILAR TO HELP WITH ANGEL’S
VET. FEES. THANK YOU 27 July, 2010
I have just finished reading Pilar's last message about Ángel, the doggie she and her colleagues
at the shelter rescued last week, and he is a little better. He was found in the street of one of the blackest spots of Spain
as far as cruelty to animals is concerned: Extremadura. Here they often go one step up from cruelty, they are true sadists and
what they can do to the animals there is unimaginable, only monsters that look like humans but are not, cannot be, would devise
the different kinds of hell they put the animals in. The names of their unspeakable places of torture and slow deaths:
pudrideros (places to rot in), el tranco (the step), ahorcaderas (places to hang them in ) still exist and are used in this
part of Spain, no matter what the Spanish government says! Angel escaped from one of such places. In his case they had
put a piece of wood in his mouth in a way to cause a very slow and dreadful death, mostly done to greyhounds we
are told.
Angel's mouth was totally infected by the splinters
that got embedded when he desperately fought to get the wood out of his mouth but his body was also badly dehydrated, anaemic,
wounded and infected and the worst part perhaps, when the ladies got close to him he lifted his head that was hanging to the
ground while he dragged one of his legs, and cried and screamed in sheer terror that would not stop, pitifully fighting
to get away. A man, perhaps his tormentor, laughed at them with great amusement and said "he´s only an old and
mangy dog!" It makes one wonder what people like that would to do to their own grandparents if they could, as they
believe that being old and sick is a good reason to being sadistically tortured to death.
This is one of the many stories I received from Spain in just one day, by the way, and most of them
would make the news in other countries; in Spain no-one is interested. Among all the other horror from last week another comes
to mind about a small dog burnt alive in Seville. Seville is in Andalusia, not Extremadura but close and with a similar
culture of extreme cruelty to animals. In what it probably was a dispute among gypsies they burned down a horse carriage.
The small dog that was tied to it suffered burns in half her body. Two other dogs bit the ropes and escaped. The horse
was knifed many times. According to a witness this happened FIVE days before the animals were found by animal rescuers! The
dog is in very serious condition at a clinic. The horse had to be put down. I will spare you the graphic material but
I can send it to you on request.
My point is, I keep hearing from visitors to Spain
that "things are better now" in regards to animal welfare and many actually believe the standard statements
the government sends out to anyone complaining. As someone that has been working in the Spanish animal protection area for
many years and who has contacts all over Spain I can inform you that things are NOT getting better in that country. The animal
defenders in Spain need us desperately, please write to the Spanish embassy in your country and ask for the strenghening of
the penal code and for more protection and respect for animals everywhere in the nation through school programs. Below a sample
letter in Spanish that you can use if you wish. Thank you.
Kind
Regards,
Iris Gallegos
THIS pic shows a Spanish matador being gored by a bull. Veteran
bullfighter Julio Aparicio stumbles and falls to the ground, then the bull charges him.
The bull's horn enters
Aparicio's throat and protrudes through his mouth, during the fight at Plaza de Toros las Ventas bullring as
part of the San Isidro Festival in Madrid. Apricio
is in hospital in a critical condition.
WAAC says - I think it's called
karma!! Hard to have sympathy for a man who tortures animals to death for some kind of glory. This poor animal would have
been tortured and weakened before this cruel thug entered the ring to deliver the fatal stabbing. Disgusting beyond
belief!.
Judi
16 year old matador kills 6 bulls in one
afternoonTarget: Spanish Government and Embassy in South Africa, Anti-bull fighting Lobby 16
YEAR OLD MATADOR HOLDING UP THE BULL'S EAR AFTER KILLING BULL NO 5 - AWARDED TO HIM FOR HIS 'GREAT ACHIEVEMENT'
Caceres, Spain
A 16-year-old Spanish matador has killed six bulls in one afternoon. A tall and slender
boy he 'showed off his stuff' in an arena called Plaza Era de los Martires, or Time of the Martyrs. The bullfighter,
who goes by the stage name of Jairo Miguel, turned in his 'best performance' with bull No 5, a hulking black specimen
that weighed 435kg. He finished off the bull with a single deathblow from his sword, sliding it into a spot where it
severed the beast's spinal chord. With the rest of the bulls he needed around three stabs.
"I brought
out the best in myself that I could," he told The Associated Press. "It was a good afternoon of bullfighting, and
people were not bored."
HELP US DEAL WITH THIS BARBARISM AND INSANITY PROFFERED AS 'BRAVERY'
AND A 'GREAT ACHIEVEMENT' - A CORNERED BULL WITH NO ESCAPE AND THIS IS
BRAVERY!
16 YEAR
OLD MATADOR HOLDING UP THE BULL'S EAR AFTER KILLING BULL NO 5 - AWARDED TO HIM FOR HIS 'GREAT ACHIEVEMENT'
Caceres, Spain
A 16-year-old Spanish matador has killed six bulls in one afternoon. A tall and slender
boy he 'showed off his stuff' in an arena called Plaza Era de los Martires, or Time of the Martyrs. The bullfighter,
who goes by the stage name of Jairo Miguel, turned in his 'best performance' with bull No 5, a hulking black specimen
that weighed 435kg. He finished off the bull with a single deathblow from his sword, sliding it into a spot where it
severed the beast's spinal chord. With the rest of the bulls he needed around three stabs.
"I brought
out the best in myself that I could," he told The Associated Press. "It was a good afternoon of bullfighting, and
people were not bored."
HELP US DEAL WITH THIS BARBARISM AND INSANITY PROFFERED AS 'BRAVERY'
AND A 'GREAT ACHIEVEMENT' - A CORNERED BULL WITH NO ESCAPE AND THEY
CALL THIS BEING BRAVE?
Reminder-DEFRA ANIMALS IN CIRCUSES
CONSULTATION Please
see below and action ASAP. Pass as widely as possible. Thanks
-------------------------- FROM ANIMAL AID WEBSITE Help Ban Animals
from CircusesDEFRA has launched a public survey aimed at testing opinion on the use of animals in circuses.
Although the consultation focuses on wild animals, it is still a valuable first step in working towards a total ban on the
confinement and use of all animals in circuses. It is important that you voice your opinion on this
issue – and please encourage friends and family to do likewise. The deadline
is 15 March 2010. There is a Question and Answer form for the consultation on DEFRA's website, and
filling it in should only take about 15 minutes. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=E3r7hM6ILmQPuq6ZvblaEmzux7Mrk8Yk2PWm1yiljMw%3d& To save you time, we have drawn up this list of suggested responses
to the questions. Q1 - no
Q2 - yes
Q3 - none
Q4 - other (Animals should not be
rehomed to zoos where they will endure confinement and public attention. All animals should be rehomed to sanctuaries that
can deal with their specific needs.)
Q5 - yes
Q6 - every location
Q7 - no change
Q8 - no (Please also
leave comment that the use of animals by the film industry is also inherently cruel, oppressive and abusive)
Q9 - no
(Please also comment that there are companies providing goods and services to circuses, but business and industry is in a
constant state of flux and all providers of such goods and services are required to be flexible and adaptable.)
Q10 -
no
Q11 - yes
Q12 - no
Q13 - every location (Please comment that the evidence clearly shows that circus operators
cannot be trusted to police themselves with regard to animal welfare. Therefore inspections should be frequent, thorough and
unannounced.)
Q14 - yes
Q15 - other (Please leave comment that the evidence shows that current laws in animal protection
are routinely flouted as has been captured on film by groups such as Animal Defenders International, so there is no chance
that a Code of Practice would prevent abuse. Nor does any Code deal with the inherent cruelty of trapping or breeding animals
for entertainment, their confinement and the lack of opportunity to display natural behaviour.)
Q16 - yes (Please also
call for an outright ban on the use of animals in circuses)
Q17 - no
Q18 - equivalent (Please leave comment that
you call for a ban on the use of animals but if DEFRA does decide to create a regulatory body, then it should be independent
of the government and of the industry.)
Q19 - yes (Please call for a total ban.)
Q20 - no ANIMAL CIRCUS.....YOUR FUN, THEIR HELL !
|
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| Anne with companion - who sadly died.... |
Despite much of the public being against the
use of animals in circuses - British politicians are still allowing this unacceptable form of abuse to go on
in the name of entertainment. Animals caught up in this industry live a life of near constant
touring and daily performances, with no stability only makeshift accommodation. WAAC's biggest concern is for elephants being used in the circus. Just last year we held nightly protests
outside the Bobby Roberts Circus being held in Towyn, near Abergele. This circus boasted that their elephant
Anne was retired, yet she was still used to attract paying punters. Anne now in her mid to late fifties,
was stolen from her herd in the forests of Sri Lanka, when she was just
five years old, and sold to Bobby Roberts Circus. As a wild animal she would have suffered abuse to make her perform.
And because she has been forced to perform unnatural acts for many decades, she is now severely arthritic - in
pain and unable to walk without a limp. This is why she no longer performs.The Born Free Foundation offered to find
Anne a beautiful sanctuary home to live out her remaining years in peace and tranquillity. But despite being offered £25,000
from Sunday Mirror readers, Bobby Roberts still refused to let her go. Anne may not perform anymore, but she is still dragged
around in a trailer and she is still used to attract the public by offers of having their photo’s taken with her, for
£6.00 per picture. Bobby Roberts also hires Anne out to advertising and film companies.This is why we are appealing to you the public to boycott this
circus wherever it goes. Without your help Anne will never be released from a circus that has used and in our view abused
her for over half a century.
Life in a trailer - is no life at all!
Please note, that due to the success of our campaign, Bobby Roberts did
not return this year - and was replaced by The American Circus - who do NOT use animals!
In contrast to the small
audiences at Roberts' animal circus, The American Circus was packed out every night!
It seems the public may have
got the message after all.
|
Bull fighting is like dog fighting, it seems to me. It is cruelty for sport. True, there is also the spectacle
and the tradition, etc. But it is the last remaining vestige of the Roman games in which humans and animals were set
upon each other to satisfy the blood lust of the crowd.
