Children's feral cat killing competition in New Zealand axed after backlash.
After receiving intense backlash, the organisers of a hunting tournament that included a contentious feral cat-hunting category have withdrawn it.
The North Canterbury Hunting Competition, the annual fundraiser for Rotherham School and pool, yesterday unveiled a new younger division for hunters 14 years and under.
It included a category for the children to kill as many feral cats as they could by the end of June, with whoever kills the most winning $250. This prompted major concern from animal rights organisations who feared the children did not have the ability to discern feral cats from domestic ones.
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New Scottish fox hunting bill passes 20 years after ban.
Twenty years on from the fox hunting ban, MSPs have backed new legislation which limits hunts involving packs of dogs. The Scottish government says its Hunting with Dogs Bill will end illegal hunts by closing a loophole in the law.
But animal welfare campaigners have warned that a licensing scheme will create a new loophole which could be exploited by hunters.Land managers have argued the bill is unnecessary and impracticable.
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Madras High Court calls for policy to prohibit future ownership of Elephants by private individuals and temples.
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directed the Secretary of Government, Environment and Forest department to make sure there would take place no new acquisition of elephants by either temples/religious institution in Tamil Nadu.
The court also directed the Secretaries to conduct inspection of all temples and privately-owned elephants in an effort to prevent cruelty to elephants.
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Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talk.
Nations have reached a historic agreement to protect the world's oceans following 10 years of negotiations.
The High Seas Treaty aims to place 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030, to safeguard and recuperate marine nature.
The agreement was reached on Saturday evening, after 38 hours of talks, at UN headquarters in New York. The negotiations had been held up for years over disagreements on funding and fishing rights.
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Women arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of butchering cat for food.
Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of butchering a cat for food after its bloodstained carcass was found at a Hong Kong public housing flat on Wednesday.
Police said the woman was detained on suspicion of slaughtering a cat for food, an offence which is punishable by up to six months in jail and a HK$5,000 fine.
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Vietnam jails pangolin, rhino parts smuggler for 13 years.
A court in Vietnam has sentenced a man to 13 years in jail for trafficking nearly 10 tons of rhino horns, pangolin scales, and other banned wildlife products.
Environmentalists hailed Tuesday's verdict as a "rare success" in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.
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Chinese food blogger fined for eating a Great White Shark
A Chinese food blogger has been fined $18,500 (HK$21,100) for cooking and eating a great white shark in a video posted online. The blogger, who goes by the name Tizi was identified by officials as Jin, who said she had bought the shark on an Alibaba-owned shopping site Taobao for 7,700 yuan (HK$8,700).
Authorities said in a statement that Jin had bought the shark in April 2022 and posted the video on the social media platform Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) and Kuaishou. The videos quickly went viral, showing Jin cooking the 2-meter-long great white shark in a spicy broth and eating its meat.
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Cat meat destined for human consumption seized in raid on Hong Kong store
Staff at a Hong Kong store are to be prosecuted after a raid by government agencies discovered cat DNA in meat samples seized from the premises.
The news report said the shop sold packaged meat at HK$100 (US$12.7) for about 600 grams, with testing confirming that the meat was of both cat and dog origin.
Main Source: SCMP
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Glue traps for rats to be curtailed in Hong Kong.
Glue traps for rats will only be placed at spots with serious rodent infestations such as wet markets and refuse collection points, the Environment and Ecology Bureau said, as Kadoorie Farm has called on the government to stop using glue boards after it found that at least 25 wild animals have been hurt by the traps.
The farm hoped people will stop using glue boards as it called on the government to ban the use of such traps, citing that countries like Ireland and New Zealand have already prohibited its use.
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France Bans Collars that Cause Pain to Companion Animals
On 16th January 2023, the French Parliament banned the use of dog and cat collars that cut into, electrify or otherwise “strangle” the animal for training purposes.
The collars could be electrified devices designed to stop barking or escaping, or collars that slightly dig into the animal’s neck to dissuade them from pulling or running. Anyone in breach of the ban could pay a fine between €750 and €3,750.
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Man jailed in Hong Kong for smuggling eggs of endangered parrot species.
A man who smuggled 62 eggs and hatchlings of endangered parrot species was convicted at the District Court for violating the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance (Cap. 586), and sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment.
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Chinese woman faces Court after dumping 12.5 tonnes of catfish into lake for good luck.
A Chinese woman spent more than 90,000 yuan (US$13,000) buying 12.5 tonnes of exotic catfish and released them into a lake for a Buddhist ritual to bring herself good luck, then left them to die.
The case, which is being heard at a court in Changzhou city, has put a spotlight on the 2000-year-old ritual of life release, the freeing of captive animals into the wild to create good karma but which often leads to animal cruelty and poses environmental risks.
Hoping to improve the luck of her family and friends, Xu bought 12.5 tonnes of Clarias, a genus of catfish, from a fish retailer, surnamed Liu, and then covertly released them into a major lake in the city in December 2021, local prosecutors said.
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HK scientists excited by thriving rare leopard cats in Kadoorie Farm reforested area.
Hong Kong conservationists who were thrilled to discover a group of rare leopard cats in the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden have said their presence is testimony to decades of reforestation efforts there.
A year-long survey found nine cats, including two juveniles, in the 148-hectare conservation area next to Lam Kam Road, which connects Tai Po in the New Territories East and Yuen Long district in the west.
The leopard cat is the only feline species native to Hong Kong surviving in the wild, following the extinction of tigers and leopards over the past century. People are not allowed to keep leopard cats in Hong Kong, and face a penalty of up to HK$1 million (US$128,050) and seven years in jail if found possessing a cat without permission.
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HK welcomes back hamsters a year after ban and mass culling over Covid fears.
Hong Kong is lifting an import ban on hamsters around mid-January, nearly one year after more than 2,000 of the small mammals were culled in an attempt to contain animal-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
More than 2,300 hamsters, including over 100 surrendered by pet owners, had been culled since last January as a precaution against animal-to-human transmission of the coronavirus, according to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
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Kurdistan Parliament passes first-ever Animal Protection Law
Kurdistan Region, for the first time, now has a law that legally protects both wild and domesticated animals from abuse.
Kurdish lawmakers have recently passed a bill, which was presented by a number of members of parliament to protect the rights of animals in Iraq’s Kurdish region that previously lacked such legislation.
Among other “forbidden practices,” all forms of animal fighting are outlawed, per the legislation.
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New York Bans Pet Stores From Selling Dogs, Cats and Rabbits
Pet stores in New York State will soon be prohibited from selling dogs, cats and rabbits under a legislative ban meant to stem the sale of animals from breeding facilities that animal rights groups say subject pets to inhumane conditions.
By forbidding the sale of animals at New York’s shrinking collection of about 80 or so pet stores, officials are hoping to stop the pipeline of animals from commercial breeders that opponents argue raise animals that are often abused or ill, and then sold to consumers, saddling them with unforeseen veterinary bills.
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Three chimpanzees shot dead after escaping from Swedish zoo.
Three chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure in a Swedish zoo for several hours before being shot dead, according to Swedish media, while a fourth was wounded and a fifth was believed to have returned unharmed to the zoo of its own accord.
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US Senate Passes Big Cat Public Safety Act To Close Out Abuse.
A decade after it was first introduced, the U.S. Senate has passed the Big Cat Public Safety Act, sending it to President Joe Biden's desk for a signature.
The act, once in place, prohibits private individuals from possessing lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars or any hybrid of these species.
This prohibition applies to big cats being kept as pets — sanctuaries, universities and zoos would be exempt. Current big cat owners would be grandfathered in but will be required to register their animals.
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Musk’s Neuralink faces federal inquiry after killing 1,500 animals in testing
Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to sources familiar with the investigation and company operations.
In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018. Current and former Neuralink employees say the number of animal deaths is higher than it needs to be for reasons related to Musk’s demands to speed research.
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Alleged macaque smuggling ring exposed as USA indicts Cambodian officials.
Eight people, including two Cambodian Forestry Administration officials and members of a Hong Kong business, have been charged by U.S. federal prosecutors for their alleged involvement in an international monkey smuggling ring.
One of the officials charged, Kry Masphal, was arrested at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, en route to Panama, where he was to have represented Cambodia at the CITES CoP19 international conference on the global wildlife trade.
Also charged were James Man Sang Lau, founder and owner of both Hong Kong-headquartered Vanny Resources Holdings and Vanny Bio Research’s Cambodian operation and other Hong Kong employees.
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