King Juan Carlos of Spain Tossed by World Wildlife Fund

What is it about the over privileged, or royalty for that matter, that they embrace the killing of wild animals with a passion that simply appalls the rest of us?

Being a Brit, I'm more than well aware of our own historical record, where the privileged and invariably chinless turned Africa into their own personal shooting gallery. Slaughtering as they did, by the tens of, if not hundreds of thousands, some of the most beautiful and magnificent creatures ever to grace this planet.

But for the most part, the part apart that is, from our present day over privileged chinless wonders, the Windsor-Saxe-Coburg-Gothas, who continue to blast feathered creatures from the sky, that shameful period in our history, is just that, history.

But the same can't be said however for Spain's own over privileged equivalent Saxe-Coburg-Gothas, King Juan Carlos is still indulging his own personal inadequacies by slaughtering God's* creatures every chance he gets. And let us be honest here, nothing highlights a persons' inadequacies and flaws of character, as does that of wanting to kill an animal for 'sport.'

But it is not just a flawed character that plays a role here, the 'over privileged' aspect is not to be ignored. Were, King Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon, not paid out of the public purse, and was just plain old Juan Carlos and scratched a living by the sweat of his brow, I wonder where he would find the $30,000 requirement to enable him to shoot an Elephant?

Yes, can you imagine it, this insidious piece of shit, this pathetic example of humanity, this King. forked out thirty thousand dollars to shoot a fucking Jumbo. How very fucking Regal is that?

I won't list the rest of his 'bag,' that you can find in the second article below, the petition, the one calling for Juan Carlos to be tossed from, and no, I'm not making this up, his position as the Honorary President of the Spanish branch of the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

What part the petition played in the outcome I have no idea, I never sign such things, they are a perfect waste of time in my opinion. But whatever pressures were exerted and from whichever direction, Juan Carlos is toast, tossed, gone, he is no more vis a vis his role at the WWF.

Spain's king loses WWF title over elephant hunt

Conservation group's Spanish chapter strips him of honorary presidency
by Harold Heckle
21 July 2012

MADRID — The World Wildlife Fund's branch in Spain has ousted King Juan Carlos as its honorary president — a title he'd held since 1968 — after deciding his recent elephant hunting safari was incompatible with its goal of conserving endangered species.

The announcement Saturday was the latest in a string of bad news for Spain's royal family, which has been embarrassed by legal and other scandals.

The fund said in a statement that "although such hunting is legal and regulated" it had "received many expressions of distress from its members and society in general." It said members voted at a meeting Saturday in Madrid to "to get rid of the honorary President" by a substantial majority of 226 votes to 13.

The Royal Palace declined immediate comment on the announcement.

Many Spaniards were dumbfounded when news broke in April that the king had made a secret journey to hunt elephants in Botswana even though it was widely known he was president of the Spanish branch of the fund.

Such an opulent indulgence also angered Spaniards at a time when national unemployment hovers around 25 percent, the economy is contracting and there are fears the country may need an international financial bailout.

The Spanish public learned of the safari only after the king had to fly back in a private jet to receive emergency medical attention for a broken hip suffered during the trip.

In an unprecedented act of royal contrition, a sheepish Juan Carlos apologized, saying as he left the hospital: "I am very sorry. I made a mistake. It won't happen again."

It was a poignant moment because the royal family had been under intense media scrutiny for all the wrong reasons.

The king's son-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin, is a suspect in a corruption case, accused of having used his position to embezzle several million euros in public contracts through a supposedly not-for-profit foundation he'd set up.

Over Easter, the king's 13-year-old grandson, Felipe Juan Froilan, shot himself in the foot with a shotgun, even though Spanish law dictates you must be 14 to handle a gun.

The king on Tuesday decided to take a pay cut in solidarity with civil servants who are to lose their traditional Christmas bonuses as part of the government's most recent austerity drive.

The salaries of Juan Carlos and Crown Prince Felipe will be reduced about 7 percent — to about 272,000 euros ($334,000) and 131,000 euros ($160,000) respectively — in line with government policy, the Royal Palace said.

The king and prince acted voluntarily in cutting their salaries, the palace said. MSNBC





Spain’s King Juan Carlos: (call to) resign as Honorary President WWF (World Wildlife Fund)

Undated, sometime in 2012
Petition now closed

King Juan Carlos of Spain is the Honorary President of the Spanish branch of the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). The WWF is an international environmental organization advocating, amongst others, the protection of the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) because the conservation status of this animal is considered vulnerable!

Recently Spain’s King Juan Carlos went for a private hunting trip to Botswana where he killed an African elephant, a species which conservation status is deemed “vulnerable”!

"He had a hunting permit for hunting elephant," said Jeff Ramsay (Botswana government spokesman). King Juan Carlos is well known to be an enthusiastic hunter, which is his favorite pursuit!

Across Africa last year, some 12,000 elephants are shot illegally, mostly by poachers. Spain's King Juan Carlos paid 30.000$ for his hunting liscense, to get a trophy of a killed elephant and therefor got the permit to kill an African Elephant!

Spain’s King Juan Carlos is also a great fan and supporter of bullfights, in which bulls get tortured for hours and finally stabbed to death! The king reportedly killed a Russian bear which had been made drunk with "vodka and honey"!

A Honorary President of the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) can NOT be a passionate hunter, someone who kills animals for fun. That is a catastrophe, an insult to all animal rights activists and absolutely revolting!

We the undersigned petition you, Spain’s King Juan Carlos, to resign as a Honorary President WWF (World Wildlife Fund). Show some final respect to the animals and give up your Spanish WWF presidency.

We call everybody NOT to donate any money to WWF, until the animal killer Spain's King Juan Carlos finally resigns or the WWF makes an clear statement to this scandal!

update: the real proof of hypocrisy: "Spanish king apologizes for Botswana hunting trip". King Juan Carlos is a trophy hunter since more then 20 years! Now he should apologize for shooting Mitrofan, the tame Russian bear.
He should also apologize for shooting something like nine bears in a row in Romania, including a pregnant she-bear. And while he's at it, he should apologize for his support of bullfighting.

How can the WWF accept him as a Honorary President?? The WWF knew about his passion for hunting and still does not find it necessary to exclude Juan Carlos from their organization! Is it only about collecting LOTS and LOTS of donations??! Please rethink your WWF membership if WWF does NOT react on this scandal!

Please share this petition with friends! change.org

Bullfighter Jose Padilla - Twat

I suppose it must have been playing on my mind, after all, a comment left on a blog defending bullfighting, is a pretty rare thing. In fact I would go as far as to say it's unique; where it concerns bullfighter, Juan Jose Padilla it is. Consequently, and as much on auto-pilot as anything else, I set to first thing this morning and knocked these few pics out.

Every comment on every post that I have read, concerning Padilla getting his, has. as you may well imagine, been a tad short in sympathy department. The sentiments more in keeping with my first graphic in this little gallery, which of course is my own core sentiment.

O fucking le, you twat.

Juan Jose Padilla My Heart Bleeds For You Not: Re-Up

Update: Re-upped to include video in living gory colour. I normally have a severe aversion to gore, but on this occasion I'm quite delighted to make an exception.

Big tip of the hat to video compiler and uploader, meanstreak1977

As you might well imagine, the comments section is dripping with sympathy.

That must have hurt, all those barbs in the back. Poor bull, at least he took half the matadors face with him.
face off!
Nice shoes
haha...awesome. take that you wanker

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I normally reserve my little saying: Isn't it nice, when the twats of this world get theirs? for fallen public figures. But I shall allow myself a little divergence today and say, in the case of Juan Jose Padilla, bullfighter, isn't it nice, when the twats of this world get theirs?

Shame the bull didn't poke your other eye out, you twat.

Juan Jose Padilla, Spain Bullfighter, Suffers Terrifying Face Goring
by Harold Heckle
Oct 8, 2011

MADRID -- A Spanish bullfighter is likely to suffer facial paralysis and lose the sight in one eye after a terrifying goring, the hospital treating him said Saturday.

Television images showed the moment when the bull's left horn ripped into Juan Jose Padilla's lower jaw to emerge beside his protruding eyeball as spectators in the northeastern city of Zaragoza screamed in horror.

Padilla is in a stable condition and recovering from a five-hour operation to repair his face, the statement from the Miguel Servet Hospital said.

It said Padilla, 39, suffered eye, bone, muscle and skin damage when the bull pinned him to the ground and gored him. Surgeons had not been able to repair a severed facial nerve.




TV footage also showed Padilla getting up from the ring, his face gushing blood, as the bull was distracted by bullring assistants.

"I can't see, I can't see anything," the matador shouted as he was rushed to emergency facilities at Zaragoza's Misericordia bullring before being driven to the hospital.

The bull, named Marques, weighed 508 kilograms (1,120 pounds) and was the second fighting beast Padilla had faced late Friday, during the second day of the annual Virgen del Pilar festivities in Zaragoza.

Surgeons used titanium plates and mesh to reconstruct parts of Padilla's facial bone structure and eye socket, doctors Simon Sanz and Nadal Cristobal said in a very detailed, signed statement.

Padilla was lucky the horn did not penetrate his brain, said Vicente Yesteras, one of Padilla's retinue of bullring helpers. huffpo

Previous: A Whale and Bull Story

Juan Jose Padilla My Heart Bleeds For You Not

Updated here.

I normally reserve my little saying: Isn't it nice, when the twats of this world get theirs? for fallen public figures. But I shall allow myself a little divergence today and say, in the case of Juan Jose Padilla, bullfighter, isn't it nice, when the twats of this world get theirs?

Shame the bull didn't poke your other eye out, you twat.

Juan Jose Padilla, Spain Bullfighter, Suffers Terrifying Face Goring
by Harold Heckle
Oct 8, 2011

MADRID -- A Spanish bullfighter is likely to suffer facial paralysis and lose the sight in one eye after a terrifying goring, the hospital treating him said Saturday.

Television images showed the moment when the bull's left horn ripped into Juan Jose Padilla's lower jaw to emerge beside his protruding eyeball as spectators in the northeastern city of Zaragoza screamed in horror.

Padilla is in a stable condition and recovering from a five-hour operation to repair his face, the statement from the Miguel Servet Hospital said.

It said Padilla, 39, suffered eye, bone, muscle and skin damage when the bull pinned him to the ground and gored him. Surgeons had not been able to repair a severed facial nerve.




TV footage also showed Padilla getting up from the ring, his face gushing blood, as the bull was distracted by bullring assistants.

"I can't see, I can't see anything," the matador shouted as he was rushed to emergency facilities at Zaragoza's Misericordia bullring before being driven to the hospital.

The bull, named Marques, weighed 508 kilograms (1,120 pounds) and was the second fighting beast Padilla had faced late Friday, during the second day of the annual Virgen del Pilar festivities in Zaragoza.

Surgeons used titanium plates and mesh to reconstruct parts of Padilla's facial bone structure and eye socket, doctors Simon Sanz and Nadal Cristobal said in a very detailed, signed statement.

Padilla was lucky the horn did not penetrate his brain, said Vicente Yesteras, one of Padilla's retinue of bullring helpers. huffpo

Previous: A Whale and Bull Story

It's Not Just Whalers That I could Kick In The Bollocks

How every family in Britain is paying to keep alive the barbarism that is bullfighting

Santanero the fighting bull fell to his knees. Blood poured from his mouth, pooling in the dust. Vicious stab wounds scarred his chest and every breath only caused him more agony.

The bull was close to death but refused to die. He stared defiantly at his opponent, Javier Cortes. He slowly raised himself off the ground and prepared to charge the matador one final time.

Javier laughed and taunted the bull with his cape as the animal stumbled forward. This was the part Javier loved most of all, a time when a matador is allowed to practice his 'art' by plunging a sword deep into the heart of the bull before twisting it viciously in the shape of a cross.

The matador had already sunk his 2ft long sword three times into Santanero's body. The bull had also been stabbed eight times with barbed knives and his lungs had been punctured with spears by men on horseback - but still the animal refused to die.

The crowd waited with bated breath for the matador's coup de grace. But then, just as he was poised to stab Santanero, a tiny voice rang out from behind me in Madrid's Las Ventas bullring.

'Leave the bull alone!' screamed a five-year-old American girl who had been taken to the bullfight by her parents. 'Why are you hurting him? You're so cruel!' She stamped her feet and screamed even louder as the crowd looked at her in shock. As far as they were concerned, the girl had disturbed an artist at work.

Her pleas were worthless. The matador plunged his sword into the back of Santanero's neck and then repeated the thrust twice more. The animal bellowed in pain before falling onto his side gasping. He was finished.

All that remained now was the final indignity to be delivered by a man in a blue and pink suit covered in sequins. He sauntered over and sliced off Santanero's ears and tail before holding them aloft in tribute to the crowd.

Such shocking brutality is, of course, well known in Spain's bullrings. But what is not known is that our money is being used to finance this ritual slaughter. For I can reveal that the European Union is spending £30million a year to support Spanish bullfights, which this year will kill at least 40,000 bulls. more

H/T http://twitter.com/#!/BANBULLFIGHTUSA

Previous: A Whale and Bull Story

A Whale and Bull Story

Re-worked and polished up a tad, I thought it worthy enough to launch a new tag, Mankind is a Bollocks. And ain't he just.

~

All Warm and Fuzzy

Everybody gets them, well most everybody.You know what I'm talking about, the animal moments, the ones that make you go ahhh, and you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Pictures of small furry animals, "dog risks all" stories. "Fearless dog snatches new born twins and confused granny from the jaws of death as runaway train/car/boat/plane..... those kind of moments.

I get them too, and never more so than when someone has captured it on film for posterity. Those lovely ahhhh moments, when the bull gets it just right and the matador gets it all wrong.

Those lovely moments, captured for all time, allowing us to replay ad infinitum that precise moment when the deadly horn of that much tormented, bloodied and weakened bull, enters the soft vulnerable flesh of it's tormentor.

Those lovely but fleeting moments as the horn takes it's upward and sweeping path on it's way to gore and disembowel, wishing and hoping, that as the deadly spike follows such a curve, it has been fortuitous and removed certain appendages, appendages that would more commonly be described as manhood, but alas, a misnomer in cases such.

Those ahhh moments that give way to moments of excitement, moments that are not unlike those to be found at, shall we say, a football game. It's the last minute of the last quarter, your team has possession and it's all to play for, and as the play commences you find yourself screaming unrestrained at the TV set, shouting words of advice and encouragement, giving little thought that such words go unheard and are entirely irrational; the blood is up and the moment is at hand.
Though not I, it must be said, I use the football game purely as an analogy, truth be told I think I would sooner find myself aground on a lee shore that suffer a football game; but that's another matter.

But for myself I have always found these moments, these moments of advantage, occur at the beginning of a match, before one side has even made an opening gambit.Whilst still strong and not yet bloodied, the less fancied of the contenders in this uneven match, takes the initiative of surprise and leaps headlong into the fray, and instantly the game's afoot

As the bull shakes off it's confines, and with charge and a mighty leap, clears the barricade into the crowd of unsuspecting but much surprised specimens of failure, that I will not honour with terms normally associated with our species. And how more failed could specimens be than these wretches who have sunk to a level below the gutter, so low as to part with gold in order to sit in comfort to watch such a spectacle of depravity and label it entertainment.

Now as the maddened bull deviates from the planned program and I watch as peerless and priceless masks of horror sets the faces of these collective failures. I, like the football supporter, irrationally scream my instructions, and as such my support, "Left, go left, that's it, oh what a wonderful connection. Straight on now, two with one stone, yes trample that sonofabitch, and yes the bitch herself, a quick flick of the head that's it, oh doesn't she look good on the end of that horn, onward onward, there's plenty more to be had, what joy, what justice."

Every dog has his day, on occasion the bull his glory, and me, a warm fuzzy moment.

But unfortunately the same cannot be said for that most magnificent of creatures, the whale. Born and bred, and some to die in horrific circumstances long before their time. Born and bred in that element that is their own, their natural habitat, which should afford them the safety and sanctuary that is their right, for the oceans of this planet are not the habitat of man.

For these much to be pitied, poor defenseless creatures, no dog day for them, no warm and fuzzy feeling will they experience. No Captain Ahab moments for them as they dive the ocean depths with their tormentor, entangled in his own tools of death, strapped to their backs; the same tools that would have in turn, visited death upon them, their families and their companions.

No Ahab moments alas, only moments of respite as this race of despicable failures hound you to your deaths in the name of "Scientific Research"

I hope your fucking boat sinks and takes every man jack of you with it.






The bull his glory. And a few warm and fuzzy clips below.

A Short Conversation With Paul Watson or, Mankind Is a Bollocks

The more I get to know this fellow, the more he is my kind of bloke. I particularly like his take on the Jesoids, if they worried about this life a bit more and not the next, the world might be a better place.
And the auld feller ain't too far behind the door either.

And Teddy is back.

A short conversation between Farley Mowat and Paul Watson at Cape Breton Island Nona Scotia.
From the documentary A Pirate For The Sea.


FM: I’ll tell you what I think is going to happen, I’m convinced of this. I don’t like to be convinced of it because I’m a living organism, I’m full of optimism of life, but I see the next great extinction which will then be the sixth in line since life appeared on this planet. We will be the cause and the recipient of this extinction. But in the process of course, everything else is probably going to get screwed up. How do you feel?

PW: No, I agree with that completely, that we are the last surviving species of hominid and we haven’t done too well so far, and now we are about to take down hundreds of thousands of species with us. We have created this mythology where everything revolves around us. That we are the centre of creation, that it doesn’t really matter what we do to the rest of the world. The other problem of course is, a large percentage of humanity is living this pie in the sky fantasy where they believe real life begins when they die and they go to some afterlife somewhere so that….

FM: It doesn’t matter a hell of a lot what you do here.

PW: Yeah, the planet’s expendable.

FM: Yep yep.

PW: In fact I’ve actually had some Christians come to me and say, you know you’re interfering with God’s plan. That God has ordained that these resources are here to be used while we’re here, and Jesus is going to be upset if we don’t use these resources he’s provided for us.









FM: Individuals must be relatively selfish, err in order that their species will survive, and the species must be selfish, but these things are very very relative and must be coordinated, must be taken into context with all other forms of life. If you separate them out as we have done and say, we are the only animal, the only form of life that is entitled to this self interest, we may pursue it as far as we choose, we must pursue it as far as we choose, then that is the recipe for suicide.

PW: As a species we are insane we’ve…

FM: We’re not insane a political? sense, we are out of control; in my opinion. Our whole structure is out of control, we don’t know what the hell we’re doing but we’re doing it as fast as we bloody well can.

PW: Right.

FM: Ah well, perhaps there’s hope for us in heaven.

PW: Laughs

Now That's What I Call Blogging

Blogging with attitude, blogging with a fuck you attitude, and unapologetic with it.

I've been wanting to up a link to this site for a few days now, particularly after availing myself of a link or two that I found there. But I knew if I upped the thing without first putting my hand in my pocket, then the odds of Sea Shepherd Org. actually seeing a donation might have got a bit longer. (See new banner)

When you take a look at this site and read yer man's words, in truth I couldn't for shame not have sent a few bob, to what is after all, a cause close to my heart.

This is a mighty resource for anyone with a social conscience, and undoubtedly the result of an equally mighty effort. Activism on this scale makes me feel quite humble, my hat off to you Sir.

Click to open.

Radical Video Library

(EN) Radical Video Library is a non-profit D.I.Y. project, that has put as its goal to spread the word in form of "the video". We will try to bring here various genres from different perspectives and subcultures. We try to focus especially on anarchy, protests, riots, ecology, animal liberation, peak oil, antifascist struggle, human rights and other liberation struggles - in the form of film, documentaries, music, presentations, pictures, zines,...for Download.

Do you like something you downloaded from this library? It can happen that the DLL links get deleted so I encourage you to UPLOAD these films or documentaries to other servers, so it will be available for download as long as possible.

Remember! The main purpose of this library is not to keep you in front of the computer screen!! The struggle is out there in the streets and forests of this lovely Earth!!!

Hey folks, write me if you have something on your heart:)
E-mail: anticopyright@moose-mail.com

http://www.fuckcopyright.blogspot.com/

And how could you not admire a man who names his blog such.

Click to open and then click image for full size.

An Interview With Captain Paul Watson

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And I saw something else in that eye – it was pity and not for himself but for us – that we could kill so thoughtlessly and so mercilessly and I realized that the reason the Soviets were killing Sperm whales was for spermaceti oil used for lubricating machinery and one of the uses was in the construction on inter-continental ballistic missiles for the purpose of exterminating mass numbers of human beings and that is when it struck me that we, the human species are insane. So from that day on I have chosen to serve whalekind and the species in the sea – they are our clients – not people.

As a species of beings that reflexively and unequivocally identifies itself as “superior,” we human animals have taken self-deception to a level of inimitable brilliance. And we Americans who have self-servingly cast ourselves in the role of moral beacon to the world (while engaging in industrialized wholesale violence against humans, animals, and the Earth on a breath-taking scale) are the living embodiments of the word hypocrisy.

Need proof of the systemic rot eroding the very cores of our souls? Look no further than the meteoric rise of the grossly under-qualified, hyper-ambitious, morally retarded narcissist who still has a realistic chance to be one heart-beat away from ostensibly ruling the most powerful nation in the world. Palinesque tendencies to “drill, drill, drill,” exploit obscene technological advantages to “cull predatory species,” employ our “justice” system to accelerate the extinction of yet another species (to advance the interests of Big Oil no less), and perpetuate the murderous “sport” of hunting with the intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt justifications of “necessity” and “cultural tradition” serve to shred our ridiculously thin façade of humanity and reveal the truly barbarous nature of Western “civilization” and the “American Way of Life.”

While the speciesism and capitalist obsessions with property, growth, and profit that contaminate nearly all aspects of our cultural and social modes of being are not unique to Western industrialized nations or the US, we wield the most power in the world, and hence inflict the most pain on other species. And while our economic and technological advantages endow us with the potential to shift the paradigm and significantly reduce the unnecessary suffering our non-human animal brethren experience as a result of reification, greed, and exploitation, we choose to fight tooth and nail to preserve our “right” to dominate, torture, and slaughter for profit and pleasure, while portraying those who dare to take direct action against our murderous system as ‘eco-terrorists.’

Frightening and dangerous as it may be, let’s get inside the head of a leading member of the radical environmental defense and animal liberation movements, which the FBI continues to target as America’s “number one domestic terror threat.”

Here is the back and forth between Captain Paul Watson (animal defender extraordinaire, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and courageous practitioner of extensional self defense on behalf of marine animals) and Jason Miller (associate editor of Cyrano’s Journal Online and founding editor of Thomas Paine’s Corner): more

Plenty more in the sidebar.
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China: Incredible Animal Cruelty

I glanced this article this afternoon in a newspaper that was lying about at my mothers, this is one gruesome tale if ever there was.
Well the same story is online, equally disturbing and equally graphic.


There are certain races of people on this planet that are known for their cruelty and total disregard for the plight of animals, be it the Japanese restaurateurs (and the twats who eat it) taking a slice off a live fish and returning it to the tank, or the same despicable race of fucks who hunt whales.

We could include the Vietnamese, with their live animal markets and the ghastly goings on in those places but then we have the Chinese, another despicable race of fucks, who don't give a fuck about anything or anybody.

And it is the Chinese that this story is all about. The Chinese that have taken cruelty and perfected it into an art form, and this art is presented every day to a paying public, a public that includes children.

I shall put up a set of four photographs, they are in actual fact no more bloody than you would witness in any wildlife film, but this isn't a story set in the wild, this is a story set in a zoo, and because of the setting and deliberate nature of what is taking place there, makes the whole thing an affront to decency and an affront to the very word, civilised, let alone to anybody that would like to be thought in the least way, a civilised person.

I could give the opinion that there is no reason on earth that animals that are thrown to the lions could not be humanely killed beforehand, and to be fed as dead carcases to the beasts, but to do just that, would take the entertainment value out of this very sorry and sordid spectacle. As one animal welfare person says.

"In China, if you love animals you want to kill yourself every day out of despair."

It's pretty harrowing read. No, it's more than that, it is a catalogue of horrors.

Animals torn to pieces by lions in front of baying crowds: the spectator sport China DOESN'T want you to see

The smiling children giggled as they patted the young goat on its head and tickled it behind the ears.

Some of the more boisterous ones tried to clamber onto the animal's back but were soon shaken off with a quick wiggle of its bottom.

It could have been a happy scene from a family zoo anywhere in the world but for what happened next.

A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over a wall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to run for its life, but it didn't stand a chance. The lions quickly surrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.

"Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as the children watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some started to clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes.

The scenes witnessed at Badaltearing Safari Park in China are rapidly becoming a normal day out for many Chinese families.

Baying crowds now gather in zoos across the country to watch animals being torn to pieces by lions and tigers.

Just an hour's drive from the main Olympic attractions in Beijing, Badaling is in many ways a typical Chinese zoo.

Next to the main slaughter arena is a restaurant where families can dine on braised dog while watching cows and goats being disembowelled by lions.

The zoo also encourages visitors to "fish" for lions using live chickens as bait. For just £2, giggling visitors tie terrified chickens onto bamboo rods and dangle them in front of the lions, just as a cat owner might tease their pet with a toy.

During one visit, a woman managed to taunt the big cats with a petrified chicken for five minutes before a lion managed to grab the bird in its jaws.

The crowd then applauded as the bird flapped its wings pathetically in a futile bid to escape. The lion eventually grew bored and crushed the terrified creature to death.

The tourists were then herded onto buses and driven through the lions' compound to watch an equally cruel spectacle. The buses have specially designed chutes down which you can push live chickens and watch as they are torn to shreds.

Once again, children are encouraged to take part in the slaughter.

"It's almost a form of child abuse," says Carol McKenna of the OneVoice animal welfare group. "The cruelty of Chinese zoos is disgusting, but think of the impact on the children watching it. What kind of future is there for China if its children think this kind of cruelty is normal?

"In China, if you love animals you want to kill yourself every day out of despair."

But the cruelty of Badaling doesn't stop with animals apart. For those who can still stomach it, the zoo has numerous traumatised animals to gawp at.

A pair of endangered moon bears with rusting steel nose rings are chained up in cages so small that they cannot even turn around.

One has clearly gone mad and spends most of its time shaking its head and bashing into the walls of its prison.

There are numerous other creatures, including tigers, which also appear to have been driven insane by captivity. Predictably, they are kept in cramped, filthy conditions.

!Zoos like this make me want to boycott everything Chinese," says Emma Milne, star of the BBC's Vets In Practice.

"I'd like to rip out everything in my house that's made in China. I have big problems with their culture.

"If you enjoy watching an animal die then that's a sad and disgusting reflection on you.

"Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by their behaviour towards animals, as the value of human life is so low in China."

East of Badaling lies the equally horrific Qingdao zoo. Here, visitors can take part in China's latest craze ? tortoise baiting.

Simply put, Chinese families now gather in zoos to hurl coins at tortoises.

Legend has it that if you hit a tortoise on the head with a coin and make a wish, then your heart's desire will come true. It's the Chinese equivalent of a village wishing well.

To feed this craze, tortoises are kept in barbaric conditions inside small bare rooms.

When giggling tourists begin hurling coins at them, they desperately try to protect themselves by withdrawing into their shells.

But Chinese zoo keepers have discovered a way round this: they wrap elastic bands around the animals' necks to stop them retracting their heads.

"Tortoises aren't exactly fleet of foot and can't run away," says Carol McKenna.

"It's monstrous that people hurl coins at the tortoises, but strapping their heads down with elastic bands so they can't hide is even more disgusting.

"Because tortoises can't scream, people assume they don't suffer. But they do. I can't bear to think what it must be like to live in a tiny cell and have people hurl coins at you all day long."

Even worse is in store for the animals of Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village near Guilin in south-east China.

Here, live cows are fed to tigers to amuse cheering crowds. During a recent visit, I watched in horror as a young cow was stalked and caught. Its screams and cries filled the air as it struggled to escape.

A wild tiger would dispatch its prey within moments, but these beasts' natural killing skills have been blunted by years of living in tiny cages.

The tiger tried to kill ? tearing and biting at the cow's body in a pathetic looking frenzy ? but it simply didn't know how.

Eventually, the keepers broke up the contest and slaughtered the cow themselves, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

Although the live killing exhibition was undoubtedly depressing, an equally disturbing sight lay around the corner: the "animal parade".

Judging by the rest of the operation, the unseen training methods are unlikely to be humane, but what visitors view is bad enough.

Tigers, bears and monkeys perform in a degrading "entertainment". Bears wear dresses, balance on balls and not only ride bicycles but mount horses too.

The showpiece is a bear riding a bike on a high wire above a parade of tigers, monkeys and trumpet-playing bears.

Astonishingly, the zoo also sells tiger meat and wine produced from big cats kept in battery-style cages.

Tiger meat is eaten widely in China and the wine, made from the crushed bones of the animals, is a popular drink.

Although it is illegal, the zoo is quite open about its activities. In fact, it boasts of having 140 dead tigers in freezers ready for the plate.

In the restaurant, visitors can dine on strips of stir-fried tiger with ginger and Chinese vegetables. Also on the menu are tiger soup and a spicy red curry made with tenderised strips of big cat.

And if all that isn't enough, you can dine on lion steaks, bear's paw, crocodile and several different species of snake.

"Discerning" visitors can wash it all down with a glass or two of vintage wine made from the bones of Siberian tigers.

The wine is made from the 1,300 or so tigers reared on the premises. The restaurant is a favourite with Chinese Communist Party officials who often pop down from Beijing for the weekend.

China's zoos claim to be centres for education and conservation. Without them, they say, many species would become extinct.

This is clearly a fig leaf and some would call it a simple lie. Many are no better than "freak shows" from the middle ages and some are no different to the bloody tournaments of ancient Rome.

"It's farcical to claim that these zoos are educational," says Emma Milne.

"How can you learn anything about wild animals by watching them pace up and down inside a cage? You could learn far more from a David Attenborough documentary."

However pitiful the conditions might be in China's zoos, there are a few glimmers of hope.

It is now becoming fashionable to own pets in China. The hope is that a love for pets will translate into a desire to help animals in general. This does appear to be happening, albeit slowly.

One recent MORI opinion poll discovered that 90 per cent of Chinese people thought they had "a moral duty to minimise animal suffering". Around 75 per cent felt that the law should be changed to minimise animal suffering as much as possible.

In 2004, Beijing proposed animal welfare legislation which stipulated that "no one should harass, mistreat or hurt animals". It would also have banned animal fights and live feeding shows.

The laws would have been a huge step forward. But the proposals were scrapped following stiff opposition from vested interests and those who felt China had more pressing concerns.

And this is the central problem for animal welfare in China: its ruling elite is brutally repressive and cares little for animals.

Centuries of rule by tyrannical emperors and bloody dictators have all but eradicated the Buddhist and Confucian respect for life and nature.

As a result, welfare groups are urging people not to go to Chinese zoos if they should visit the Olympics, as virtually every single one inflicts terrible suffering on its animals

"They should tell the Chinese Embassy why they are refusing to visit these zoos,' says Carol McKenna of OneVoice.

"If a nation is great enough to host the Olympic Games then it is great enough to be able to protect its animals." The Wail

Nasty Nips Won't Target Humbacks (For Now)

'



I'm far from being xenophobic but I could make an exception for these pricks.

A controversial Japanese mission to hunt humpback whales in the Antarctic has been temporarily abandoned, a top government official says.

Nobutaka Machimura said the humpback hunt would not go ahead - although the fleet will still hunt about 1,000 other whales in the area.

The BBC's Chris Hogg, in Tokyo, says Japan is now unlikely to chase the humpbacks for at least a year.

The move comes after pressure from the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Japan is regularly condemned for its annual whaling missions.more

I will be posting this daily, or otherwise.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher is on a Greenpeace ship tracking the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. You can follow his travels for the next two months on the Ten O'clock News, and in this diary.

Japanese Resume Whaling, Slaughter To Include Humpbacks

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The evil little shits are at it again, I suppose it would be too much to ask for divine intervention or the wrath of Neptune to visit on the fleet the fires of hell, although with better timing than last year.
There is plenty in the archive, search whales in the nav bar.

A Japanese whaling fleet has set sail aiming to harpoon humpback whales for the first time in decades.

The fleet is conducting its largest hunt in the South Pacific - it has instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales, including 50 humpbacks.

The humpback hunt is the first since a mid-1960s global ban and has drawn strong protests from environmentalists.

Commercial whaling was stopped in 1986 but Japan is permitted whaling in the name of scientific research.

Four whaling ships, including the lead craft Nisshin Maru, set off from the southern port of Shimonoseki on Sunday.

The 239-man mission plans to kill more than 900 minke whales as well as fin whales and humpbacks, in a South Pacific whale hunt that will run until mid-April. more

------------------------------------------

Founder and President of Sea Shepherd, Captain Paul Watson, will soon embark with an international crew on the ship, the Robert Hunter, to enforce international conservation law and prevent the illegal slaughter of endangered species by an outlaw whaling fleet. As the relentless Japanese whalers seek to hunt down and kill Migaloo and his family, Sea Shepherd will be hunting the whalers with the firm objective of intervention against their illegal activities.

"I did not establish the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as a protest organization," said Captain Watson. "I have not gone to sea over all these years to simply bear witness to the atrocities that whalers continue to inflict upon the most gentle and intelligent beings in the seas. We are sea cops-operating legally under the guidelines of the United Nation's World Charter for Nature, which allow for the enforcement of international conservation law by non-governmental organizations in international jurisdictions."Sea Shepherd Operation Migaloo

Sea Shepherd home page, these lads do a great job, they really are front line warriors.



These two photo's in response to comment. And no, they're not photoshopped, in fact there is a better image of a "we are conducting research" but it must be in a movie clip linked somewhere in the archives. Photographs from Greenpeace photo gallery.
Google result Japanese whaling

Err, I think I'll Pass

I'll definitely pass on the whale and most definitely pass on the aperitif.




Horse meat I found delicious and I have no problem with snails or frogs legs but I think I might be pushing it to sit down with this
fellow.



Ethics and food culture around the world.

There is a "Bonus" audio in the right hand sidebar,
"From our own correspondent" discusses a meeting with former CIA Chief (Berlin) on the subject of rendition.


Not many of these rascals to the pound.

Post Number 100. I Shall Dedicate To Paul Watson. Sea Shepherd

To Paul Watson. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. And Activists Around The World.

And Not Least Those That Need Our Protection.

A clip giving a brief overview of Paul Wilson, co-founder of Greenpeace and the present day mission of Sea Shepherd.

A harrowing clip of a whale kill showing the horror of the reality of "Japanese Research."

Successive short clips Sea shepherds 06/07 campaign. I have strung them in order as best I can.

clip1 clip2 clip3 clip4 clip5 clip6 clip7

And to finish on a nice note what better than this previous featured video.
Coincidently this rascal is the one in the photo header although drawn from different sources and quite unintentional, what an effect it must have on a person's life to experience that, magic!
H/T to all video posters.

No More Whales Will Die This Season

The Death Star Returns To The Land Of The Rising Sun

Finally, the burnt-out hulk of the whale killing floating factory called the Nisshin Maru is limping out of the Antarctic treaty zone, the stench of rotten whale meat lingering in its wake. The whale-killing fleet is now slowly heading north to Japan. There will be no stopping in New Zealand for repairs. A stop there will result in legal issues that could tie the ship up for years and the whale meat onboard would be confiscated.

The whaling fleet has a long way to go to reach Tokyo. The crew will be
mourning the loss of one crewmember and remembering

the opposition by Sea Shepherd that left their decks reeking of rotten butter and awash with the blood of the whales caused by Sea Shepherd crew sealing the bloody flensing deck outlet drains. It is a ship that reeks of death, burnt flesh, gore, and blood. It looks and smells like the Death Star that it is.

Our message to the Japanese whalers: “We hope your damages are so severe you will not be back next year but if you are, we will be there waiting for you and we will not be as polite as we were this year,” said Captain Watson.

Well done and a big thank you to all concerned.

Other articles and links.

Whaling fleets are equipped with sonar, helicopters and long-range explosive harpoons. The whale is killed by a 6ft long iron harpoon shot from a cannon. The harpoon head contains a time-fuse grenade which blows the whale's insides apart seconds after impact, though this does not usually kill it immediately.

Observer

Officials in Tokyo conceded that the premature end to the hunt was a blow to its so-called research activities in the Southern Ocean. "This is the first time in 20 years that we have had to cancel our research," Takahide Naruko of the fisheries agency told reporters. "We are very disappointed."

Wednesday February 28, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

Japanese Whale Hunt Ended Early

Japanese government officials said the fleet had caught 508 of this season's target of 860 whales. Story

Not a complete victory for the forces of good, (2006 campaign) but a valiant and worthwhile effort in earning a respite for 352 minkes. beautiful creatures.

I'm crying my eyes out here. Will finish this Later.

Nisshin Maru Gets Underway. Whaler Restarts Engines

And it is no more a "Cull" than it is "Research"

Japan is strongly opposed to the international ban on commercial whaling. It hunts whales every year under what it describes as a scientific research programme.

This year Japan says it plans to cull 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.

Whale I Never!

Whale I never thought I would be getting a warm fuzzy feeling from this story.

Divine intervention from Neptune perhaps? It seems the factory processing vessel Nisshin Maru has been having a spot of bother in Antarctic waters, or should I the "Research Vessel" Nisshin Maru.

The vessel was quoted to be "Dead in the water" just like the eight hundred and fifty Minke whales would have been as the Japanese hunted them for "Research purposes"

That sounds like an awful lot of research to me, whatever will the world do now that such important work has come to a grinding halt, perhaps join me as I shed a tear?

And how tearful the last paragraph in the story, how tearful indeed?

The score at half time then, Bastards 0 Whales 1

Right foot forward, a bend at the waist, and a sweeping flourish of the hat to the activists of Sea Shepherd.

All Warm And Fuzzy

.
Everybody gets them, well most everybody.You know what I'm talking about, the animal moments, the ones that make you go ahhh, and you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Pictures of small furry animals, "dog risks all" stories. "Fearless dog snatches new born twins and confused granny from the jaws of death as runaway train/car/boat/plane..... those kind of moments.

I get them too, and never more so than when someone has captured it on film for posterity. Those lovely ahhhh moments, when the bull gets it just right and the matador gets it all wrong.

Those lovely moments, captured for all time, allowing us to replay ad infinitum that precise moment when the deadly horn of that much tormented, bloodied and weakened bull, enters the soft vulnerable flesh of it's tormentor.

Those lovely but fleeting moments as the horn takes it's upward and sweeping path on it's way to gore and disembowel, wishing and hoping, that as the deadly spike follows such a curve, it has been fortuitous and removed certain appendages, appendages that would more commonly be described as manhood, but alas, a misnomer in cases such.

Those ahhh moments that give way to moments of excitement, moments that are not unlike those to be found at, shall we say, a football game. It's the last minute of the last quarter, your team has possession and it's all to play for, and as the play commences you find yourself screaming unrestrained at the TV set, shouting words of advice and encouragement, giving little thought that such words go unheard and are entirely irrational; the blood is up and the moment is at hand.
Though not I, it must be said, I use the football game purely as an analogy, truth be told I think I would sooner find myself aground on a lee shore that suffer a football game; but that's another matter.

But for myself I have always found these moments, these moments of advantage, occur at the beginning of a match, before one side has even made an opening gambit.Whilst still strong and not yet bloodied, the less fancied of the contenders in this uneven match, takes the initiative of surprise and leaps headlong into the fray, and instantly the game's afoot

As the bull shakes off it's confines, and with charge and a mighty leap, clears the barricade into the crowd of unsuspecting but much surprised specimens of failure, that I will not honour with terms normally associated with our species. And how more failed could specimens be than these wretches who have sunk to a level below the gutter, so low as to part with gold in order to sit in comfort to watch such a spectacle of depravity and label it entertainment.

Now as the maddened bull deviates from the planned program and I watch as peerless and priceless masks of horror sets the faces of these collective failures. I, like the football supporter, irrationally scream my instructions, and as such my support, "Left, go left, that's it, oh what a wonderful connection. Straight on now, two with one stone, yes trample that sonofabitch, and yes the bitch herself, a quick flick of the head that's it, oh doesn't she look good on the end of that horn, onward onward, there's plenty more to be had, what joy, what justice."

Every dog has his day, on occasion the bull his glory, and me, a warm fuzzy moment.

But unfortunately the same cannot be said for that most magnificent of of creatures, the whale. Born and bred, and some to die in horrific circumstances long before their time Born and bred in that element that is their own, their natural habitat, which should afford them the safety and sanctuary that is their right, for the oceans of this planet are not the habitat of man.

For these much to be pitied, poor defenceless creatures, no dog day for them, no warm and fuzzy feeling will they experience. No Captain Ahab moments for them as they dive the ocean depths with their tormentor, entangled in his own tools of death, strapped to their backs; the same tools that would have in turn, visited death upon them, their families and their companions.

No Ahab moments alas, only moments of respite as this race of despicable failures hound you to your deaths in the name of "Scientific Research"

I hope your fucking boat sinks and takes every man jack of you with it.



A few short clips. Yesssss.