University of Amsterdam offers puppy love to stressed students

DutchNews, October 16, 2018, By Senay Boztas

JennyC via wikimedia commons

The University of Amsterdam is offering over-stressed students the chance to cuddle up with puppies to relieve exam stress next week, it has confirmed to DutchNews.nl. 

It will have a puppy room available with 750 seats for two afternoons in its library, saying that research demonstrates that a quarter hour of puppy love can lower blood levels of cortisol, and therefore reduce stress during exam week. 

The puppies are being introduced to the students, too, apparently as a vital part of their socialisation training. 

The idea, reportedly, comes from British universities including Bristol and Nottingham. The puppies are provided by agency Catvertise and are costing the university some €400. A total of 160 students will be able to benefit and are being asked to sign up on social media. 

According to the sign up page, the event is already sold out.

Fruitful breeding programme produces the Netherlands’ first kiwi

DutchNews, October 11, 2018

Avifauna bird zoo, one of 16 zoos in the world to have a breeding programme for the kiwi, has announced the birth of the Netherlands’ first chick.

‘The birth of a baby kiwi is very special, especially since there are only 60 kiwis in zoos outside New Zealand,’ zoo worker Dennis Appels told public broadcaster NOS. 

The North Island brown kiwi is on the threatened species list because people have introduced other species to the island, for which the flightless kiwi is an easy prey. 

Avifauna is the only zoo to have produced a kiwi chick this year. ‘The secret is a solicitous father and peace and quiet,’ Appels said. 

It is not yet known what sex the kiwi is. This will be determined by a dna test on the animal’s feathers in a few weeks’ time. 

The new kiwi will be named on Thursday afternoon in the presence of the New Zealand ambassador Lyndal Walker. ‘It will be a Maori name to honour its New Zealand origins and to show how grateful we are for getting to keep it,’ Appels said. 

The kiwi, which was born on September 18 and is now some three weeks old, will be weighed and measured at 2pm each day for the public to see from Saturday October 13.

Dutch dog supplier ‘to make payment’ to injured Palestinian boy: NRC

DutchNews, October 5, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

A Dutch dog supplier is going to pay compensation to a Palestinian boy bitten by one of its animals on the command of the Israeli army, reports the NRC. 

‘Four Winds Policedog Center’ in Geffen has reportedly reached a financial settlement with the boy because it sold the dog to the army. 

The company reportedly said in a statement that it ‘regrets the incident’ in 2014 and its physical and psychological consequences on the young man, Hamzeh Hashem. 

The NRC claims that the firm does not admit legal liability, stating that the dog was trained by the Israeli army, but was paying Hashem ‘as a contribution to his recovery’ and as a gesture of goodwill. 

Four Winds’ website claims that it trains dogs ‘to a high level to help reduce terrorism and crime’ but it has now reportedly stopped supplying the Israeli army. 

Hashem had sued the company through Dutch lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, who told NRC that this is ‘the first time a Dutch firm has paid for violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.’ 

DutchNews.nl has contacted Four Winds K9 – the current business name of the company which has an identical website to Four Winds Policedogs Center – and Liesbeth Zegveld to confirm the report.

Dogs must have passports by 2020: AD

DutchNews, October 4, 2018

Every Dutch dog will have to have a passport from 2020, according to new rules expected to be announced by environment minister Carola Schouten on Thursday. 

The AD reports that in an attempt to muzzle the illegal dog trade, the government will fine breeders without the proper doggie passports in future. The documents will contain information about each dog’s origin, former owners and medical needs. 

‘Someone who buys a puppy should be able to know exactly where the animal comes from,’ Shouten told the AD. ‘A passport will help.’ 

Each year, around 150,000 dogs are bought in the Netherlands, a third of them from abroad. There are concerns that imported dogs can carry rabies and also have health problems if puppies are transported when they are too young. 

Last summer 150 puppies were discovered dehydrated, neglected and without papers, and confiscated from a breeder in Woerden. It is currently mandatory to chip and register dogs but the new system is intended to be even stricter and a guarantee for buyers. 

The passports, to be announced on ‘animal day’ (October 4), were welcomed by Dik Nagtegaal of animal protection society De Dierenbescherming. ‘This makes it harder for people with bad motives to commit fraud with dogs,’ he reportedly told the AD. ‘If there’s no passport, then you know for sure that something’s up. Don’t buy!’ 

It is not known whether the Dutch dog passport will offer European rights of free movement or require a strictly-posed photograph.

Aegon Nederland pulls out of palm oil investments

DutchNews, October 2, 2018

Palm oil plantations often involve illegal deforestation. Photo: Depositphotos.com

Aegon Nederland has sold its interests in palm oil after 15 years, stating that the sector ‘is unable to implement improvements, keep to existing rules and bring in sanctions.’ 

Palm oil production is highly controversial and the sector is regularly linked to land grabbing, deforestation and human rights violations as well as climate change. 

The insurance company said in a statement that ‘these negative factors’ had led to the decision to sell its interests in palm oil. According to the Financieele Dagblad, the investments amounted to €7m and were spread through several funds. 

Fourteen companies, including Bunge, IOI and Indofood are now on the Aegon blacklist, the paper said. 

Environmental campaign group Milieudefensie said in a statement that Aegon is ‘hero of the day’ for pulling out of palm oil. ‘We are now calling on ABN Amro, Rabobank and ING to stop with palm oil,’ the organisation said. 

The organisation published a report in July highlighting the links between the big three Dutch banks and the palm oil industry.

Related Article:

EU palm oil ban sows bitter seeds for Southeast Asian farmers

Pyongyang gifts dogs to S.Korea's Moon

Yahoo – AFP, September 30, 2018

Two dogs, aged around one year old, were given as a gift to the South
Korean President Moon Jae-in (AFP Photo/Handout)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in received a pair of North Korean indigenous hunting dogs from Pyongyang, his office said Sunday, the latest token of the rapidly blossoming friendship on the peninsula.

"Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office) was offered a pair of Pungsan dogs from the North as a gift at the North-South summit and received them Thursday," the South's presidential office said in a statement.

The canines, both aged around one, were handed over via the truce village of Panmunjom with three kilograms of dog food to "help with their adaptation", it added.

Known for its loyalty and cleverness, the Pungsan breed -- a hunting dog with thick, creamy white coat, pointy ears and hazel eyes -- is one of the National Treasures of North Korea.

Relations between North and South Korea have been improving after

 three summits this year (AFP Photo)

The canine gifts come after a September meeting between Moon and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, at which Kim agreed plans to shutter a missile-testing site and visit Seoul.

North and South Korea also announced that they would jointly bid for the 2032 Olympics.

Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had also received a pair of Pungsan pups after his landmark summit in Pyongyang with then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.

The dogs were kept at the Seoul Grand Park and both died of natural causes in 2013 after giving birth to 21 puppies.

The newly arrived pooches will reside at the presidential office with Moon -- an animal lover who already owns a Pungsan dog named Maru, a former shelter cat called Jjing-Jjing, and Tory, a black mutt he adopted after taking office.