No exceptions to cosmetics animal testing ban: top EU court

Yahoo – AFP, September 21, 2016

The European Court of Justice said EU law bars any cosmetic product containing
 ingredients which have been tested on animals, wherever that may occur (AFP
Photo/Emmanuel Dunand)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court on Wednesday ruled that there can be no exceptions to a ban on animal testing by cosmetics manufacturers in the bloc.

The case arose in Britain after three companies sought to market cosmetics that were developed for sale in China and Japan using animal tests outside the European Union.

The European Court of Justice said EU law bars any cosmetic product containing ingredients which have been tested on animals, wherever that may occur.

"The Court states next that EU law makes no distinction depending on where the animal testing was carried out," the Luxembourg-based ECJ said in a statement.

The law aims to promote the use of alternative methods to meet consumer safety standards and that "objective would be seriously compromised if the prohibitions... could be circumvented by carrying out the animal testing in third countries," it said.

The European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients (EFCI), which brought the case, had argued that the companies did not break the law since the animal testing had been carried out to comply with regulations in third countries.

Dutch fur farm ban must go back to court, advocate general says

DutchNews, September 19, 2016

A legal case in which the Dutch fur farmers association took on the state to have an impending ban overturned must be heard again, the advocate general said on Monday. 

The appeal court which upheld the ban on fur farming last year did not take the financial impact on individual fur farmers sufficiently into account, Paul Vlas said in his recommendations. The advice of the advocate general is not binding but generally accepted by the Supreme Court. 

The ban on fur farming was introduced in the Netherlands in 2013 and included an 11-year changeover period. In 2014 a lower court  found in favour of fur farmers who are furious at being ordered to shut down their companies without compensation. 

The state appealed against that ruling and last year the appeal court said the new legislation does take the interest of fur farmers sufficiently into account because of the 11-year changeover period.

Financial damage

However, the advocate general said on Monday the appeal court ‘wrongly limited its reasoning to the question of whether the changeover period would limit the damage to fur farmers in general’. 

The Supreme Court will publish its ruling in December. 

The Netherlands has some 160 fur farms producing five million pelts a year. The sector employs some 1,400 people. The Netherlands is the third biggest fur farming nation in the world behind Denmark and China.

Related Article:

Dutch appeal court upholds fur farming ban

Legal eagles recruited to take down drones after successful police trial

DutchNews, September 12, 2016

Photo: politie.nl 

The Netherlands has become the first country to recruit police eagles to take out drones in mid-flight following a successful trial. 

Police began training the birds of prey in January, despite concerns from some animal welfare experts that the exercise could damage their claws. A spokesman told NRC there had been no injuries so far but protective gear could be introduced.

‘A common or garden drone has no impact on the claws of a bird of prey, but very large drones with powerful motors could cause lacerations,’ he said. ‘We are currently looking at protective measures such as a sort of clawed shoe for the birds’ feet.’ 

‘A lot of drones have perished [during the exercise],’ he added. 

The move is in response to concerns about the growing risk of drones being flown in unauthorised airspace, such as close to an airport, or interfering with other aircraft such as rescue helicopters. 

The birds which were trained in the trial are owned by a private company, but police will now recruit their own flying squad for active service.

‘Police have purchased four month-old American sea eagle chicks. From next summer they will go out hunting drones,’ the spokesman said.

Related Article:

Eagles v drones: Dutch police to take on rogue aircraft with flying squad

#NEWSGRAPHIC Eagle vs drone: Dutch police reveal new elite flying squad @AFP https://t.co/g9ZaYt2xdm pic.twitter.com/b2l3vDnyhV

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 13, 2016

World governments urge end to domestic ivory markets

Yahoo – AFP, Kerry Sheridan, September 11, 2016

After fierce debate, including opposition from Namibia and Japan, a motion was 
adopted at the IUCN World Conservation Congress to urge closure of all 
domestic ivory markets (AFP Photo/Tony Karumba)

Miami (AFP) - In a bid to stop the killing of elephants for their tusks, world governments voted at a major conservation conference to urge the closure of all domestic ivory markets.

After fierce debate -- including opposition from governments like Namibia and Japan -- the motion was adopted on the final day of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress, a 10-day meeting that drew 9,000 people to Honolulu, Hawaii this month.

"Today's vote by IUCN members is the first time that a major international body has called on every country in the world to close its legal markets for elephant ivory," said Andrew Wetzler, deputy chief program officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"It's truly a landmark moment, and a victory for elephants that will hopefully be repeated later this month at the next meeting of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Johannesburg."

Although the motion is non-binding, it "urges the governments of countries with domestic ivory markets to take all necessary legislative and regulatory efforts to close them," according to the IUCN.

Experts say that domestic ivory markets help fuel poaching by allowing traffickers a cover for their illegal imports and exports.

The United States and China, among the biggest consumers of ivory, have already agreed to enact near-total bans on their domestic markets.

Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) rangers prepare a pyre in preparation for a burning 

of tonnes of ivory, rhino-horn and other confiscated wildlife trophies (AFP Photo/

Tony Karumba)

At the IUCN meeting, Japan and Namibia -- which also have thriving domestic ivory markets -- sought to soften the language of the motion by making 20 different amendments, but those efforts were rejected.

"The global conservation community is stepping up," said Wildlife Conservation Society President and CEO Cristian Samper.

"No more domestic ivory sales. Elephants have had enough of the ivory trade and so has the world."

Poaching persists

CITES banned the international commercial trade in African elephant ivory in 1989.

But illegal poaching of endangered elephants for their tusks persists at dangerous levels, according to research released at the start of the September 1-10 conference, the largest of its kind in the conservation community.

Savanna elephants have declined at a rate of 27,000 -- or eight percent -- per year, with a total of 144,000 lost in less than a decade, said the findings.

Poaching hotspots identified include Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania, where "staggering population declines" were found, said the study funded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen.

The US and China, among the biggest consumers of ivory, have already agreed

to enact near-total bans on their domestic markets (AFP Photo/Tony Karumba)

Other populations face "local extinction" in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Cameroon and southwest Zambia.

Wildlife groups hailed the IUCN move and called for more action at the CITES talks in Johannesburg later this month.

"There, we remain hopeful the delegates will be emboldened by the IUCN vote to adopt a resolution submitted by African governments that also calls for closure of domestic ivory markets," said Samper.

"The shutting down of domestic ivory markets will send a clear signal to traffickers and organized criminal syndicates that ivory is worthless and will no longer support their criminal activities causing security problems in local communities and wiping out wildlife."

Related Article:

US, China join climate deal in 'turning point' for planet

Three arrested with suitcases full of reptiles at Schipol

DutchNews, September 6, 2016

One of the suitcases. Photo: NVWA.nl 

Three Spanish nationals have been arrested at Schiphol airport after customs officials found 259 reptiles stuffed into four suitcases they were carrying. 

The haul included snakes, lizards and tortoises, 10 of which had died during the journey. If they had been traded on the open market, the reptiles would have had a value of some €80,000, officials said. 

The three men were on their way from Mexico to Spain when they were stopped at Schiphol. Many of the reptiles in their bags were protected species, including 14 chucawallas, a lizard found only on the Mexican island of San Esteban. 

Last month, a German man was arrested at Schiphol airport after customs officials found dozens of snakes, lizards and other reptiles hidden in his suitcase. 

The man was on his way from South Africa to Germany to sell the animals at a reptile fair. Some 40 reptiles were stuffed in a plastic box in the suitcase and several had not survived the journey. 

And at the end of August, police and customs officers  seized a record haul of illegal animal products, including swordfish horns, mounted crocodiles and coral from five storage units in North Brabant, together with €500,000 in cash and gold.

Related Article:

Lizard skins, swordfish horns and two tonnes of coral recovered in police raid

Stray dogs find shelter in battered Gaza

Yahoo – AFP, Adel Zaanoun, September 4, 2016

A Palestinian volunteer trains a stray dog at the Al-Soulala Association for
Protection, Rehabilitation and Training, dog shelter in central Gaza Strip (AFP
Photo/Mohammed Abed)

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - In an impoverished and war-battered territory suffering food shortages and a scarcity of jobs, Saeed al-Ar knew it was a tall order opening a dog shelter in Gaza.

The Palestinian coastal enclave crammed with 1.9 million people has been devastated by three wars against Israel since 2008, and it remains under blockade by the Jewish state and Egypt.

The fate of hundreds of stray dogs outside towns or near the Israeli security fence have been anything but a priority.

"How can we create a shelter for strays when we need shelter ourselves?" is the typical view, as expressed by a 27-year-old unemployed Gazan, Jasser al-Sheikh.

"We must first feed our children and find jobs for thousands of unemployed graduates."

But Ar, a 45-year-old father of seven, has taken it upon himself to intervene, spending his own money to rescue the strays.

Last month, he opened the territory's first dog sanctuary in a relatively well-off suburb south of Gaza City.

His Al-Soulala Association for Protection, Rehabilitation and Training covers 2,700 square metres (29,000 square feet), complete with kennels which currently house around 75 former strays.

Saeed al-Ar used his own money to set up the Al-Soulala Association for 

Protection, Rehabilitation and Training, dog shelter in central Gaza Strip (AFP

Photo/Mohammed Abed)

Behind beige tarpaulin on a vast sandy expanse, dogs are fed and given training to run and jump obstacles.

"This is the first kennel in Palestine that supports stray dogs and domesticates them," Ar told AFP.

He used to run a police unit for dogs specialising in the detection of explosives and drugs, and admits that canines have always been his passion.

When the Islamist movement Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, Ar found himself out of a job. But he still collects a salary and now dedicates all his time to the dogs.

Shot or poisoned

In the predominantly Muslim territory, religious authorities consider dogs to be unclean or impure.

Some Gazans even shoot at stray dogs that approach their children or orchards, while others find them scary and blame them for accidents.

The authorities lack the resources even if they were inclined to intervene.

In the past they even tried to poison strays, but stopped the culling over concerns that it was also dangerous to humans, a municipal official said on condition of anonymity.

The kennel aims to catch stray dogs, provide veterinary services and help domesticate them.

Since its opening, the kennel has attracted a growing number of visitors, many of them children. Some have asked to adopt a pet, a trend picking up in Gaza.

The phone rings constantly with people reporting strays in their neighbourhood.

In such cases, search teams are sent out, said Mohammed al-Hindi, 24, a recently graduated nurse and one of 25 volunteer helpers.

Every morning, the volunteers tour participating restaurants and stores to collect leftover meat and chicken for the dogs, in a sign of changing attitudes in Gaza.

But Ar said he has already spent $35,000 and cannot make ends meet on his own much longer.

The centre needs $5,000 a month to function properly, said Ar, who has launched an online appeal to animal protection groups and lovers across the world.

"We have to get help because at the moment we are doing this with our own money."

On a brighter note, he said local authorities have promised him a larger plot of land. He dreams of a giant kennel, "with a dog food factory and a veterinary clinic for all stray animals".

Study sounds alarm for Africa's slow-breeding forest elephants

Yahoo – AFP, August 31, 2016

The population of Central Africa's forest elephants has been decimated by illegal
hunting, with an estimated 65 percent decline between 2002 and 2013, researchers
say (AFP Photo/Laudes Martial Mbon)

Paris (AFP) - Even without poachers, Central Africa's forest elephants would need almost a century to get their numbers back up to 2002 levels, said a study Wednesday that pried into the elusive creatures' slow-breeding ways.

The population had been decimated by illegal hunting, with an estimated 65 percent decline between 2002 and 2013, said researchers.

Roaming the tropical forests of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo, the tusker sub-species is thought to have numbered about one to two million at its peak, study co-author George Wittemyer of Colorado State University told AFP.

In 1993, the rough estimate was 500,000, and in 2013 some 100,000.

"The forest populations are reproducing now, though at a very slow rate," Wittemyer said by email.

"The problem is that poaching is removing individuals at a rate that either drives the population to decline or negates any increases due to births."

Forest elephants are smaller than savannah elephants -- the other, much better studied, African sub-species.

Their ears are more oval-shaped, while their tusks are straighter and point downward, according to environmental group WWF.

Targeted by poachers for their meat and ivory-bearing tusks, the forest elephant is categorised as "vulnerable", which means "facing a high risk of extinction in the wild," the WWF website says.

African forest elephant (AFP Photo/Laurence Chu)

Wittemyer and a team analysed data obtained from decades-long, on-sight monitoring of the births and deaths of elephants at Dzanga Bai, a park in Central African Republic.

90 years to recover

In what is claimed to be the first-ever study of forest elephant demography, they concluded the creature was a much slower breeder than its open-air cousin.

Female forest elephants only start reproducing after the age of 20, and give birth once every five to six years, the team observed.

Their cousins from the savannah, by comparison, typically start breeding at 12 and produce a calf every three to four years.

"Their reported low birth rates mean that it will take forest elephants at least 90 years to recover" from poaching losses, the researchers said in a statement.

The data suggested that what are considered sustainable levels of trade in forest elephant ivory, were calculated on the basis of overestimated population growth rates, they added.

This should be kept in mind when ivory trade limits are next debated, said the team -- crucially at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species which opens in Johannesburg on September 24.

Forest elephants are crucial for their environment, and many tree species rely on the giants to disperse their seeds. The trees, in turn, absorb climate-altering greenhouse gases.