AR-News: Fw: LIBERATE: Helpers / Lobsters / Bird Flu / Buried Alive / Chestnuts / New Mad Cow

Thu Feb 19 20:51:54 EST 2004

From:animal-lib-nsw at yahoogroups.com

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HELPERS NEEDED 

Dear all you activists out there. There are a couple of festival 
stalls coming up that will be needing a few helping hands..... 

If you are interested and you are DEFINITELY available on the 
dates to follow - no last-minute drop outs please - then email the 
dates you are able to help, to the following email address - 
oink at animal-lib.org.au 

These festivals usually only allow a certain number of helpers - 
usually two or three, so you should get in fast if you are really 
interested in being there to help out. 

The first stall is at the 'Two Tribes' Festival at the Sydney 
Showgrounds on Saturday the 6th March. Starting time is 
unknown as yet. Apparently this is an all-night festival so you will 
have to be prepared to go all night! These festivals are usually 
very exhausting as you are on the go all the time (make sure you 
bring a chair) talking to people, selling goods, getting people to 
sign petitions, and making sure the Animal Liberation stall is 
presentable and helpful. 

The second stall coming up is called 'Shoreshocked', it's on 
Saturday, March the 27th at St Leonards Park. Starting time is 
unknown as yet. This will be an all-day festival and will be just as 
exhausting as the all nighter above. You usually start early and 
finish very late. 

As mentioned above, if you are definitely available and willing to 
spend a whole day/night at an Animal Lib stall helping to spread 
the word of what we do, along with raising some much needed 
money. Please email Angie at oink at animal-lib.org.au and put 
your name down. 

If you don't get on the stall this time, your name will be kept for 
future stall dates, so only dedicated stall helpers need sign up. 

Thanks !!!

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LOBSTER CRUELTY'S CHILLING END
By Rachel Morris and Viva Goldner

IT MAY be a point of debate among scientists around the world, 
but the RSPCA is certain that lobsters and crabs feel pain and 
deserve a better death than to be boiled alive.

Under guidelines released yesterday, the RSPCA recommends 
that a crustacean die by first being put to sleep in a fridge or 
freezer, then spiked in the brain, before the final plunge into the 
bubbling pot.

The guidelines are intended for restaurants, caterers and home 
cooks.

However, the "new" guidelines have been common knowledge 
among anglers and chefs for years, with fishermen using the 
method to stop lobsters and crabs throwing off their claws when 
being boiled while conscious.

Sarah Langley, from Nick's Seafood Restaurant at Cockle Bay 
Wharf, said it was known throughout the restaurant trade that 
immersing the lobster in water affected the taste. 

"Our chefs have been putting them to sleep in the freezer forever 
- it is standard practice," Ms Langley said.

The RSPCA previously recommended that lobsters, crabs and 
other shelled sea creatures be immersed in a slurry - a mixture 
of ice and water - to chill them and make them oblivious to their 
fate.

Some restaurants skipped this, instead plunging the creatures 
straight into boiling water because some diners complained that 
dunking in a slurry detracted from the flavour.

According to the RSPCA, the slurry causes osmotic shock, which 
is when an animal's cells burst as they absorb too much water.

Under the new guidelines, crustaceans should be chilled in a 
refrigerator or freezer. They should then be killed by splitting, or 
spiking, the brain just before boiling.

RSPCA research scientist Caleb Gardner said recent studies 
had revealed that even crustaceans feel pain.

The guidelines were formulated by a National Scientific Advisory 
Panel and experts in marine zoology.

RSPCA Australia President Hugh Wirth said it was recognised 
that fish, lobsters and crabs could feel pain.

"If you chuck a live crustacean into a boiling pot of water, they feel 
that and you are killing them cruelly," he said. 

However, that question is still hotly debated by scientists, with 
some saying crustaceans and fish do not possess the brain and 
nerve structures to feel pain in any form recognisable to 
humans.

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&stor
yid=920415

At the bottom of this item you can "Have your say". Why don't 
you?!

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BIRD FLU TOLL RISES TO 22 

>From correspondents in Bangkok 

THE toll in Asia's bird flu crisis rose to 22 today with Vietnam and 
Thailand each announcing the death of a young boy, as several 
nations battled new outbreaks of the deadly virus.

A Thai health ministry spokeswoman said that tests showed a 
four-year-old boy from north-eastern Khon Kaen province who 
died on February 3 was the seventh person in the kingdom to be 
killed by the virus. 

And in Vietnam a doctor in Lam Dong province said a 
three-year-old boy who died early today had tested positive for 
the deadly H5N1 virus. 

The countries are the only ones to have confirmed human 
infections of the virus, which has been reported in poultry in eight 
other Asian nations. 

However, health authorities in Indonesia have launched an 
investigation into whether a 55-year-old man who died in 
hospital on Monday had eaten chicken infected with bird flu. 

As more cases broke out in Thailand, China and Japan this 
week, the United Nations warned Asia's bird flu crisis was far 
from over and that nations should not set timelines to declare 
themselves free of the virus. 

Japan's plans to announce this week that its bird flu woes were 
over were dashed yesterday when it confirmed a second 
outbreak, just before China reported two new confirmed cases in 
central Hunan province. 

The discovery prompted Japanese officials today to begin 
inspecting farms housing some 6.8 million birds near the 
southwestern prefecture where bird flu was detected in bantams 
raised as pets. 

A ban on shipment of poultry and eggs within a 30-kilometre 
radius of the infected site was also imposed, officials said. 

Thailand had also been on the brink of declaring its crisis over 
and beginning to rebuild its devastated $US1.2 billion ($1.51 
billion) poultry export business before announcing on Monday 
that bird flu had re-emerged in poultry in nine provinces. 

Thai officials have warned they expect more cases to be 
confirmed when the results of the latest round of testing are 
announced on Friday - after the close of the stock market which 
has been buffeted by the unfolding crisis. 

Deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob said revelations 
that bird flu had re-emerged in 14 zones were gleaned from 
2000 samples taken nationwide, and that the results of another 
8000 samples would bring more bad news. 

Newin blamed the new outbreaks on breeders of fighting cocks, 
whom he said fled infected regions with their valuable birds 
instead of slaughtering them. 

The World Health Organisation warned last week that Thailand 
risked triggering a second outbreak of bird flu by lifting 
quarantine zones too hastily. 

A cull of more than 80 million chickens has so far failed to 
contain the outbreak which has hit Cambodia, China, Indonesia, 
Japan, Laos and South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, with 
weaker strains in Taiwan and Pakistan. 

Singapore today carried out a practice cull of 5000 chickens at a 
privately owned farm which authorities said showed the city-state 
was prepared to deal with any outbreak of bird flu. 

The chickens - healthy hens which can no longer lay eggs - were 
stuffed in heavy-duty bags and suffocated with carbon dioxide 
before being disposed of in an incinerator. 

The United Arab Emirates meanwhile today became the latest of 
a host of countries to ban the import of live poultry and birds from 
China due to concerns over bird flu. 

The UAE, which acts as regional trade hub for goods flowing 
from Asia to the rest of the Middle East and Europe, has already 
slapped a similar ban on live birds and eggs from Cambodia 
and Laos. 

AFP
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&stor
yid=920543

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CONCERNS GROW OVER ANIMALS BURIED ALIVE ENMASS

Press Release: World Society for the Protection of Animals 

Concerns grow over animals buried alive in mass graves 

International charity the World Society for the Protection of 
Animals (WSPA) has received worrying reports from its Asian 
member societies and other sources about the inhumane ways 
in which poultry are killed during efforts to deal with the avian flu 
outbreak. 

These reports include chickens often buried alive in mass 
graves in countries across Asia; in South Korea and Vietnam, 
tens of thousands have been beaten with iron bars or sticks 
before being buried; chickens in China have been set on fire 
whilst still alive and, in Taiwan, chickens have been poisoned 
and then buried. 

Millions of poultry have already been handled and slaughtered 
with little regard for their welfare. The international bodies 
responsible for handling this outbreak, FAO (UN's Food & 
Agriculture Organisation), OIE (World Animal Health 
Organisation) and WHO (World Health Organisation), have so far 
neglected to address the issue of animal welfare.

full story:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0402/S00152.htm

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"CHESTNUTS IN THE MIST"

A CHESTNUT HARVEST SMORGASBORD featuring chestnuts 
collected at Mt Wilson, in the beautiful Blue Mountains!

Emphasis will be on locally-grown and organically-grown 
wherever possible. Catering provided by SID'S VEGETARIAN 
KITCHEN, the Mountains' premier caterer for gourmet 
plant-based cuisine!

WHEN: Saturday 3 April, 7 pm
VENUE: Historic CLOUDLANDS, right on Katoomba's 
escarpment (main house)
COST: $35 PER PERSON, BYO

Bookings Essential - Phone 0247827376/email 
cloudlands at hermes.net.au 

Arrive to the aroma of gently-roasting chestnuts and Sid's 
delicious chestnut pate
for you to savour, with more interesting dishes to follow in the 
CHESTNUT SMORGASBORD!

*DESSERT CAKES by Hominy Bakery *
CLOUDLANDS - committed to a sustainable Australia, provides 
elegant and spacious self-contained accommodation in a 
former writer's retreat, on Katoomba's escarpment, with private 
access to scenic bushwalking. Visit our website at: 
www.cloudlands.com.au

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NEW FORM OF 'MAD COW DISEASE'

>From correspondents in Washington 

ITALIAN researchers have discovered a new form of the prion 
believed to cause mad cow disease, according to a study just 
released.

Prior to this new study, only one prion had been found to cause 
the deadly bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) found in 
cows and the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) killing humans, 
according to the study published in the Proceedings of the 
National Academy of Sciences. 

An Italian team headed by Salvatore Monaco of the GB Rossi 
Polyclinic in Verona, Italy found the new prion variant in the 
brains of two of eight Italian cows that tested positive for BSE. 

The two cows' brains were not poked with holes as in typical 
BSE cases, however. 

The scientists found instead an accumulation of amyloid 
plaques and that different parts of the brain were affected. 

The new prion is similar to the one found "in many sporadic 
cases of the human disease (CJD)," according to the study's 
news release. 

AFP 

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&stor
yid=910692

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the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
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