A Voice Against Yulin Dog Meat Festival

Photo: Yang Xiaoyun - a Chinese woman and a dog lover
An initiative post by AboutGermanShepherdDog.com

Please consider contributing to our initiative of raising a strong voice against Yulin Dog Meat festival by sharing this post and raise an awareness. This contribution doesn't involve any donation and crowfunding. 

Across the world wide web there have been talks on on the infamous Yulin Dog Meat festival, the 10 days annual celebration held in Yulin, Guangxi, China, during the summer solstice, where the festival goers eat dog meat. Several thousands of dogs that are rounded up to be eaten, include all types of dogs starting from poor strays to stolen house hold pets .

A festival cannot be an event of cruelty. Such events should be abolished completely.


It is immensely appreciable that in 2011, Jinhua Hutou Dog Meat Festival in Zhejiang, which was another popular festival, was completely banned by the local government. Good news is that the sale of dog meat in Yulin have come down by 60% in 2014 from the previous year. Several dog meat restaurants in some cities have closed down. But this needs to come to a complete end.

This appeal is not only in the interest animal welfare, but also in the interest of public health and food safety as the same time.

Our earnest request to Mr. Chen Wu, the Governor of Guangxi Autonomous Region and Mr. Peng Qinghua, the Guangxi Communist Party of China Chief to kindly consider putting a permanent end to this cruelty.


Note:

Yang Xiaoyun (photo above). She is different from all who visit Yulin Dog Meat festival. Xiaoyun stands out of the crowd and provides the dogs with unconditional love, food and water. More than that she also provides medical attention to he furry kids.We need more people like Xiaoyun in China and all across the globe.

Turkey Day Tips for Keeping Your Dog Safe

Thanksgiving is a holiday that’s all about food, family, and fun. However, the time leading up the big feast tends to be busy and stressful. There’s so much to think about and plan for, and it’s easy to forget things in the midst of it all. One thing you should never forget to consider is the safety of your beloved pets. If you have a dog, there are several things to watch out for during Thanksgiving. Utilizing the best dog fence to keep them contained, decorating with caution, and making sure your dog doesn’t get any turkey bones are just some of the things that can prevent unfortunate incidents. Let’s explore these tips and more in-depth.



Keep Your Dog Out of the Kitchen

When there is a lot of activity going on in the kitchen, accidents are more common. To keep everyone safe, it’s best if you don’t let your dog near you while prepping and cooking. Your dog’s sudden movements can cause someone to trip, for example, and sharp knives and hot foods can cause serious injuries. If possible, keep your dog in a closed room or crate. Another possibility is to block their access to the kitchen with a barrier. A baby gate would work, and a portable wireless dog fence is also an option. An invisible dog fence barrier has the added benefit of not blocking the path for you or your guests.


Be Wary of Hazards While Traveling

If you’re traveling this year and bringing your dog with you, take some extra precautions to ensure their safety on the road and in new places. For example, your dog should be wearing a special dog seat belt while in the car. At the very least, your dog should be contained in a crate, so that they can’t get into the front seat and risk distracting whoever is driving. At your relative’s house, keep an eye out for cleaning chemicals, fertilizer, medications, and other hazards that might be in reach of your dog. Always bring along the telephone number to your vet’s office, as well as your dog’s vaccination records and any medications they take, just in case.


Be Careful When Feeding Your Dog

The safest thing to do on Thanksgiving is not share any of your meal with your dog. While they may beg and whine because it smells so good, your dog doesn’t know what’s best for them. Turkey skin can actually cause pancreatitis, for example, and turkey bones can pierce your dog’s intestines, stomach, or throat. Chocolate is toxic to dogs, and so is the sugar substitute xylitol. Onions are also bad for dogs, and so are coffee, tea, and alcohol. Your dog could choke on small things like raisins, grapes, or nuts. If you want your dog to enjoy something special on Thanksgiving, purchase them some dog treats beforehand.


Know How to Recognize Signs of Stress

The hustle and bustle of the holidays can be particularly stressful for dogs, especially if they’re not accustomed to being around a lot of noise or people. When dogs get stressed out, their body language will tell you. Look out for signals such as hiding, cowering, shaking, freezing up, growling, panting, showing the whites of their eyes, and raised fur. If your dog starts exhibiting these signs, they need some quiet time away from the action. Either in a closed room or with an electric dog fence, create a “safe zone” for them with as little noise as possible, toys, food, and plenty of water, so they can de-stress.


Ensure Your Dog’s Environment is Safe

There are several environmental hazards that you might not automatically think about during the holidays, particularly when you’re decorating your house. Corn stalks and pumpkins look festive, and they may also smell tasty to dogs. However, chunks of raw corn and pumpkins are hard to digest. They can cause your dog to choke, or they can lead to dangerous blockages in the intestines. Keep them out-of-reach, along with any lit candles your dog could knock over. Also be careful with cooking items like aluminum foil, plastic wrap, twine, and cheesecloth. Make sure all trash from your meal is put in the garbage outside immediately.


Tell Relatives to Be Cautious, Too

It’s smart to talk to your relatives about dog safety during the holidays, too. They should be told, for example, not to feed your dog anything off their plates, and not to leave their plates or drinks unattended. Don’t forget to talk to young children, too, and remind them not to hug or kiss dogs. If you’re using an electronic dog fence as a barrier for your kitchen, make sure your relatives know it’s in place, so they don’t try to bring your dog across it. Ask your relatives to inform you if they notice any weird behavior from your dog, or if they see your dog eating table food.


As long as you observe these simple tips, you’ll greatly reduce the chances that your dog will experience any injury or illness during the holiday. Thanksgiving should be enjoyed, not stressed over, and keeping all of your loved ones in mind - including your pets - will ensure everyone has a fulfilling, safe holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

Chimpanzees Spontaneously Exhibits Cooperative Behavior In Their community

Wondering... If chimpanzees can why can't humans?

Researchers have spent years studying the unique behavior in chimpanzee,and have come up with a conclusion that chimpanzees have tendencies to cooperate with others within their community. This was for the first time ever, that this group of researchers have discovered that chimpanzees that have been captivated in a socially complex set up have shown spontaneous cooperation with their partners of their own choices, and that too without any training and socialization. However, the researchers, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, had created no constraints for the chimpanzees to choose their own partner(s).

The team leader Malini Suchak, PhD said, "Cooperation among primates has attracted considerable research because of the evolutionary implications that such research has for human behavior and the ubiquity of cooperation among wild primates". She also said: "Cooperation is often regarded as less puzzling than altruistic behavior, but only in an evolutionary sense. In the moment, cooperation often consists of a series of potentially complex decisions involving a choice of partners. When multiple partners are available, an individual must consider with whom to cooperate, if that individual has been a good partner previously, how much to invest in the partner, what to expect in return and if the cooperation will yield more benefits than solitary effort".

During the study, Suchak's team discovered that the chimpanzees cooperated around 3565 time over the course of 94 on-hour study sessions, where chimpanzees were critically observed while they mingle with each other, and especially with their chosen partners. Most interestingly, according to the researchers, the frequency, efficiency and the rate of success of cooperation were found to have been enhanced eventually over time. Alongside the cooperation tendencies, the team also discovered that that frequency of pulling incedences in the absence of a partner had gradually diminished. This concluded that the chimpanzees had eventually understood that they a partner is always needed for success.


Suchak's study was initiated with 11 members of a chimpanzee social group, her team mates Frans de Waal, PhD, Matt Campbell, PhD, and Tim Eppley and the chimpanzees, being well looked after and captivated in a huge alfresco enclosure, creating a socially complex environment for those animals that could move around without any barrier. The specialty of the outcome of this study is that it typically explored various levels of female cooperation, all of which, according to the researchers, will aid by offering better insight on the evolution of cooperative behavior.

As a conclusion Sichak stated that since the previous research that she and her team had carried out could only elicit cooperation in a restricted setting, they thought that "more complex and cooperative behavior might have uniquely evolved in humans". Suchak concluded: "This study demonstrates chimpanzees are more cooperative than we realized, and we've yet to fully explore the extent of the similarities between chimpanzee and human behavior in this regard".

India Outlaws Captive Dolphin Shows and Importing Them For Entertainment

India is the world's fourth nation that banned catching and importing cetaceans for commercial entertainment. Other countries are Costa Rica, Hungary and Chile. India Government has been influenced by the outcome of the research on dolphins that established that these creature are highly intelligent and very sensitive. The government has taken a decision to close all dolphin parks in India.

Puja Mitra from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO) in this context said, "the scientific evidence we provided during the campaign talked about cetacean intelligence and introduced the concept of non-human persons," she added, "the majority of dolphins and whales in captivity have been sourced through wild captures in Japan, in Taiji, in the Caribbean, in the Solomon Islands and parts of Russia. These captures are very violent"

It is really a great news that India's Government has given dolphins a status of “non-human personhood”, making the country unique in the way the people there thinks about the endangered species like dolphins. The decision of granting dolphins the status of “non-human personhood” was officially announced by India’s Minister of the Environment and Forests. The government outlawed captive dolphin shows and the ministry said that dolphins “should have their own specific rights.”

Initiative to save Indian Elephants - London

London, Monday, May 27:

Two life-size Indian elephants statues have been installed in Sloane Street, London to flag the launch of the awareness program and the initiative to save India elephants. A charity - 'Elephant Family' founded by Mark Shand, the well known travel writer and conservationist collaborated with another London charity Habitat Humanity for the Animal Ark programme with a noble motive to raise funds that would be used to save Indian elephants.

Shand said that "the two beautiful floral elephants" in the Sloane Street of London indicated the huge "Animal Ark" that they are going to build the coming year - 2014. As a part of the Animal Ark program they will bring in 100 pairs of distinctive species of animals and each of them will be auctioned to raise the funds for protecting the endangered Asian elephants.

"We have cleared the Nilgiri corridor and are now moving to a smaller corridor in Assam. In India, a person kills an elephant and vice versa every single day now as the traditional migratory routes are blocked leading to conflict... Our project with Habitat for Humanity involves building homes for people to clear these corridors. It is a win-win situation for everybody...", said Shand. Over 2013 and 2014, the activities of Elephant Family and Habitat for Humanity include raising awareness about Indian elephants and helping communities to resettle beyond the danger area. Most interestingly the program also includes restoring the paths that have been in use by the Asian elephants for migration for millions of years.

One of the sponsors of the initiative Viscount Chelsea, chair of Cadogan Estates Limited said, "to see these life-size elephants decked out with flowers by (florists) Wild At Heart on an iconic fashion street of London like Sloane Street is a first".

Callous Act of Stabbing Staffordshire Bull Terrier To Death

Quite recently in February, 2013 the news of a man stabbing a pet bull terrier to death created a buzz amidst the dog lovers’ community across the globe.

The man - Terence Micheal Renton, 31, of showed his insanely wild behavior by killing a bull terrier – a pet dog after his mother complained that she had been given a bad scare by some dog of the same breed (Staffordshire Bull Terrier). Her son – Renton started looking for a dog of the same breed in the locality and went on asking people if they had seen a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in that region, and was told that a dog of the breed he was looking for was kept fenced in the nearby garden. Renton who was armed with a knife, went into the premise and stabbed the dog in the neck and the poor dog died from just a single fierce stab.
People who had witnessed the incidence were shocked and called the cops and the RSPCA. Hannah Bryer, the RSPCA inspector said, "To inflict any physical harm or violence on any animal is inexcusable but to intentionally go out with a view to harm an animal and cause its death is a cold, calculated and callous act of cruelty."

Sever Penal Action Taken Against Terence Micheal Renton

The man pleaded guilty to causing serious harm to an animal that had been kept protected. A severe penal action has been taken against Renton and he has been put behind the bar for 6 months. According to the magistrates his act has been described as "cruelty of the gravest gravity". Moreover, Renton has been banned from keeping any animal throughout his life. The criminal will not be allowed to appeal the order for 15 years. In this context Hannah Bryer of RSPCA said, "I am pleased the court has recognised the serious nature of this type of offending and has also imposed a lifelong disqualification order from keeping animals."

More Incidences Of Inhuman Acts On Dogs

Renton’s is not the only case of inhuman conduct to animals. There have been series of similar incidences that have been traced in the different parts of the world. Rescued by Scottish SPCA Sheila, a Staffordshire bull terrier, had been shot15 times by her owner with an airgun. Another incidence of a Staffordshire bull terrier being burned to death by his owner was reported in Peebles. One more incidence was reported in Brechin, Angus by Scottish SPCA, where a dog was fastened to a barbed wire fence and was made to starve till he was dead. Yet another incidence… the beloved dog (Lucky) of a Henderson man was firstly poisoned and secondly, was fed sewing needles along with the food with intent to kill him.

 

 Come Facts About Cruelty Towards Animals

• Many healthy Greyhounds are put to death each year because they lack potential for racing due to injury or for some genetic cause.
• Even today dog fighting are still reported the urban and suburban regions in many parts of the world.
• Wild animals are killed for their skin and bones
• Animals like rats, monkeys, felines, canines, birds, guinea pigs etc. are killed in mass in the laboratories for drug and cosmetic testing each year.
• Animals like bears, wild cats, wild boars etc. are used in hunting sports. 
• Lots of websites still offer the opportunities of buying tickets for the bullfights