800 parakeets: an unexpected 'Christmas gift' to US rescue group

 Yahoo – AFP, December 27, 2021

The Detroit Animal Welfare Group, based in the northern US state of Michigan, r
eceived more than 800 parakeets over the Christmas weekend (AFP/Prakash MATHEMA)

A US animal shelter was "in shock" after receiving over 800 parakeets during the holiday weekend -- delivered in two batches by the son of their owner who had kept them all enclosed in one room. 

The Detroit Animal Welfare Group, based in the northern state of Michigan, posted on Facebook about a "Christmas present we were not expecting" -- saying the "birds came from a very unhealthy situation." 

It said a first group of 497 birds were dropped off on December 23 -- crammed into seven cages. The owner's son then returned on Sunday with an additional 339. 

"The irresponsibility of the owner is infuriating," the group wrote on Facebook, saying the birds were "smothering each other and needed immediate help." 

"We were in shock," it said, "but could not turn them away." 

Working with other local organizations, the group was able to find temporary housing for the parakeets. 

"It truly takes a village to help these animals," it said. 

Kelly LeBonty, the rescue group's director, told local newspaper the Detroit Free Press the birds "were very very stressed." 

"They were barely moving. We had to get them out and into different cages." 

The son told Lebonty that he believed his father had only planned to breed a few birds, but it got out of hand, and he was now spending $1,200 a month to feed them all. 

The parakeets, some visibly injured or malnourished in photos posted by the group, will be available for adoption after they are evaluated by a veterinarian. 

The Detroit Animal Welfare Group cautioned that "owning a parakeet is a 6-15 year commitment." 

"They require not only food, water and daily cage cleaning but also daily interaction, enrichment and flight time." 

In Michigan, owners can be prosecuted for not providing adequate care to their animals. 

Lebonty said the group had not contacted authorities, noting that she's happy the family took a "step in the right direction," by reaching out for help.

Elle says will drop fur from magazines worldwide

 Yahoo – AFP, Anna CUENCA, December 2, 2021

Elle will soon be fur-free in terms of both editorial content and advertising
(AFP/JOEL SAGET)

Elle magazine announced on Thursday it will stop using fur in all its editorial and advertising content worldwide, becoming the first major publication to do so. 

The monthly lifestyle magazine, which originated in France and is owned by French media group Lagardere, comes out in 45 different editions around the world. 

It has about 33 million readers from Mexico to Japan, with 100 million monthly online visitors. 

But Elle's international director Valeria Bessolo Llopiz told an annual two-day fashion industry conference starting on Thursday in Britain that fur was no longer acceptable. 

"The presence of animal fur in our pages and on our digital media is no longer in line with our values, nor our readers," she said. 

"It is time for Elle to make a statement... rejecting animal cruelty," Bessolo Llopiz told delegates at The Business of Fashion Voices 2021 event in Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire, southern England. 

Instead, she said the magazine wanted to "increase awareness for animal welfare" and "foster a more humane fashion industry". 

The magazine has already dropped fur from 13 of its editions. Twenty more will drop fur from January 1, 2022 and the rest will start a year later. 

'Old-fashioned' 

The move reflects the changing nature of consumer demand, Bessolo Llopiz told AFP. 

"Fur has become old-fashioned," she said, noting many brands had gone "fur-free" years ago. 

"We are in a new era and the Gen Z (born in the late 1990s to early 2010s), which is the golden target for fashion and luxury, has huge expectations in terms of sustainability and ethics," she added. 

Welcoming Elle's decision, PJ Smith, director of fashion policy for the Humane Society of the United States, said he looked forward to other fashion magazines following suit. 

"This announcement will ignite positive change throughout the entire fashion industry and has the potential to save countless animals from a life of suffering and a cruel death," he told the conference. 

"Fur promotions belong only in the back copies of fashion magazines from days gone by," Elisa Allen, the UK director of animal rights organisation PETA, told AFP. 

She welcomed decisions by publications -- including British Vogue, InStyle USA, Cosmopolitan UK, and the newly launched Vogue Scandinavia -- rejecting fur on their editorial pages and expects the move to soon extend to advertising. 

Consumer pressure 

The decision comes as the fashion industry has faced pressure from animal rights activists to stop the use of real fur on humane grounds and mounting public opposition. 

Smaller fashion weeks held in cities such as Amsterdam, Oslo, Melbourne and Helsinki have all banned fur but larger ones in Paris, Milan and New York leave it up to designers. 

Many big names have already chosen to no longer use fur. 

They include Gucci, Versace and Prada, Burberry, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, Donna Karan, DKNY and Michael Kors, as well as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Balenciaga. 

A 2020 YouGov survey found that 93 percent of British people refuse to wear natural fur while another by Research Co suggested that in the US, 71 percent opposed killing animals for their fur. 

In Europe, an FOP poll indicated that 90 percent of French opposed the fur trade, while 86 percent of Italians expressed opposition in a 2019 survey by Eurispes. 

In a German poll by Kantar in 2020, 84 percent said cruelty towards animals and killing them for their fur was unacceptable. 

Israel in June became the world's first country to ban selling fur to the fashion industry. 

The fur industry itself argues that its natural product is being replaced with synthetic fur made with plastics that damage the environment. 

The French fur industry federation said in a statement on Thursday evening that it would "consider suing" the magazine's platform for "refusing to sell". The fur industry believes that the decisions of designers and consumers are being forced by "pressure from radical movements". 

While fake fur coats are often made from polyester, which takes hundreds of years to biodegrade, some designers such as Britain's Stella McCartney opt for plant-based materials. 

Others use natural fibres such as wool and feathers to mimic the appearance of fur.

France bans wild animals in circuses

France24 – AFP, 18 November 2021 

Consigned to history: The new law will ban use of lions such as these of
the Amar Circus in 1946 Paris

Paris (AFP) – French lawmakers voted on Thursday to end wild animals being used in live circus shows, spelling an end to performing tigers, lions or bears. 

Performances of wild animals will be prohibited in two years and owning them outlawed in seven years, under the wide-ranging animal rights legislation that has been under debate since 2020. 

The law, once signed by President Emmanuel Macron, will also ban live dolphin shows in the next five years and immediately end mink farming, meaning the country's last operator will close. 

Macron's centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) party called the legislation "a historic step in the animal rights combat". 

Circus owners denounced it, while some environmentalists said it did not go far enough. 

The foundation of France's most famous animal advocate, veteran actress Brigitte Bardot, welcomed "a major advance for the animal rights cause in France". 

As well as the measures targeting circuses, the new law will raise the maximum penality for mistreating animals to up to five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros ($85,000), and will tighten restrictions on the sale of pets. 

Loïc Dombreval, the LREM co-sponsor of the law, conceded that other controversial issues had not been included within the scope of the legislation, which won cross-party support in both houses of parliament. 

"There will inevitably come a day when... we will debate sensitive issues such as hunting, such as bull-fighting, or some animal-rearing practices," said the lawmaker, who is also a veterinarian. 

'Arbitrary law'

Environmentalists had called for measures to improve the conditions inside industrialised animal farms, which will require "a change in our agricultural model", Senator Daniel Salmon said on Thursday. 

Issues such as hunting and bull-fighting are especially sensitive because they are staunchly defended by supporters in rural areas as long-standing cultural practices. 

Farms that make foie gras pate in France -- which force-feed birds such as geese and ducks to artificially bloat their livers -- have also long been targeted by campaigners. 

The 120 circus owners in France are likely to protest against the restrictions placed on their livelihoods and have warned that some animals might end up abandoned. 

"It's an arbitrary law because there are not mistreated animals in our circuses," William Kerwich, head of the circus animal trainers' union, told AFP. 

He said there would be a reaction from his members on Monday, and a legal appeal. 

The new legislation also bans the use of wild animals in television shows, nightclubs and private parties. 

Polls show that a vast majority of French people support the law, and dozens of cities and towns around the country have already banned travelling circuses that use animals. 

The changes will bring France into step with more than 20 European countries that have either banned or heavily restricted the use of animals for entertainment.

France pledges to end chick culling in 2022

Yahoo – AFP, July 18, 2021

German animal rights activists throw toy chicks into a fake shredding machine
to protest the killing of male chicks

France will outlaw the culling of male chicks in the poultry industry in 2022 after years of protests from animal welfare activists, Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said Sunday. 

Millions of male chicks are killed after hatching every year, most often by being shredded or gassed with carbon dioxide, because they do not produce eggs and do not grow as large as females. 

Farmers say no practical and affordable ways exist to tell a chick's sex in the egg at mass production facilities, and an EU directive from 2009 authorises shredding as long as it causes "immediate" death for chicks less than 72 hours old. 

But opponents denounce unnecessary cruelty and point to improving techniques for finding males before they hatch. 

"As of January 1, 2022, all poultry hatcheries will have to have installed or ordered machines letting them learn a chick's sex in the egg," Denormandie told the daily Le Parisien. 

"2022 will be the year when shredding and gassing of male chicks ends in France," he said, saying the law would prevent the killing of 50 million male chicks every year. 

The state will provide a financial aid package of 10 million euros ($11.8 million) to help farmers buy the necessary equipment, he added. 

The move comes after Germany said in January that it would also ban the controversial practice next year. 

Switzerland banned the shredding of live chicks last year, but still allows them to be gassed.

Valentino joins growing band of fur-free designers

Yahoo – AFP, May 19, 2021, Rudolph Valentino 

Valentino's decision follows a growing number of big fashion names
renouncing the use of animal fur 

Valentino has became the latest fashion powerhouse to abandon real fur, in a move welcomed on Wednesday by Italian campaigners as a "nail in the coffin for the cruel fur trade". 

The iconic Italian house said it would cease production at its Milan-based fur company, Valentino Polar, at the end of this year and the last collection to include fur will be the fall/winter 2021-22 season. 

"The fur-free stance is perfectly in line with the values of our company," said Jacopo Venturini, CEO of Valentino, in a statement. 

"We are moving full-steam ahead in the research for alternative materials in view of a greater attention to the environment for the upcoming collections." 

The decision follows a growing number of big fashion names renouncing the use of animal fur, including Armani, Prada and Gucci. 

Martina Pluda, Italy director for campaign group Humane Society International, said Valentino's decision "is a major nail in the coffin for the cruel fur trade". 

"Like so many other designers, Valentino knows that using fur makes brands look outdated and out of touch, and fur industry certification schemes are little more than the hollow PR spin of an industry that kills 100 million animals for fur a year," she said.