Worldlog week 21 – 2014
We want a ban on keeping camels and dromedaries! I therefore asked Parliamentary questions about that last week. Animals on camel farms suffer from severe stress, one of the reasons being that the young are taken away from their mothers immediately after birth. Also, mother animals are milked by machines, which leads to severe physical problems.
In addition, holding camels and dromedaries is dangerous to public health, as the perilous MERS virus can be transferred via camel milk. An investigation will therefore have to be conducted into the MERS virus and its consequences on Dutch export and any risks of infection for other species or humans.
Last week, I was in Groningen with our converted cattle truck for the European campaign tour. It was a successful day! I heard loads of assenting responses. In last week’s Worldlog, I already told you that images or real animal transports can be seen in our cattle truck to make people aware of the suffering we inflict on animals just because slaughtering is a few cents cheaper elsewhere.
More news on cattle transports. State Secretary Dijksma will (at last) commit herself to GPS systems in all European cattle trucks. We want that cattle transporters who do not stick to the rules are fined and their trucks are put on a chain. Obligatory GPS will make that possible!
Since we find it very important that citizens who are slightly mentally challenged can also make an informed choice, we have published an election programme in simple wording. With every election, thousands of voting passes of voters who are mentally challenged are thrown in the dustbin, because family members or supervisors do not know how to best deal with this. That is a pity, because many people who are mentally challenged would absolutely like to translate their opinion into a political choice!
Our programme is also available in English. If you don’t speak Dutch but would like to learn more about our ideals, you can read our programme in English here.
My colleague Esther Ouwehand met with the Dalai Lama last week. I met him during an earlier visit to our country, in 2009. On that occasion, the spiritual leader said he would vote on a party for animals if he were Dutch 🙂 He said he found it encouraging that groups are standing up for the rights of animals.
In this talk with MPs, the Dalai Lama pointed out the consequences of climate change for the Tibetan people. According to him, Dutch politicians can contribute to the Tibetan battle by sending climate researchers to Tibet. We support the battle of the Dalai Lama for an independent Tibet!
At last, the Dutch government is going to appeal to the Romanian authorities with regard to the stray dog policy in Romania. A new Act is currently leading to the massive capture and killing of stray dogs. We have asked questions more often and spoke with the ambassador of Romania twice about this new Act, which allows stray dogs to be killed after they stayed in a shelter for 14 days if the shelter does not have enough room to keep the dogs, or if there are not enough funds for sufficient food or medical care.
In March, a Romanian dog clinic was looted by premium hunters hoping to receive rewards from the government. Such a cruel attitude towards stray dogs is intolerable in a Member State of the European Union. A proven effective method for dealing with stray dogs is to capture the animals, sterilise them and place them back again. I therefore expect the State Secretary to insist upon that with the Romanian authorities.
And this is a nice photo to start the week with: The Self-Timer, as always, via @Fascinatingpics.
Until next week,
Marianne