A delicate, blue-hued insect has re-appeared in the UK after an interval of more than half a century.

The dainty damselfly, a smaller relative of dragonflies, was washed away from its single East Anglian pond in the severe coastal floods of 1952/3.

Now, a few individuals have been found at a site in north Kent.

Conservationists believe the insects were blown on the wind from France or Belgium where they have become more common, probably due to climate change.

“These young monkeys would have been subjected to decades behind bars in cramped stainless steel cages, forced to endure painful toxicology tests,” said IDA president Scotlund Haisley. “Now they will have a life filled with fresh air, friends and freedom from harm.”

SOURCE

Congratulations to our friend Anthony Marr who wins Grassroots Activist of the Year!

Anthony Marr’s CARE-7 tour blog #25

2010-07-22 – Anthony Marr’s CARE-7 tour blog #25 – AR2010

2010-07-22

The Animal Rights National Conference 2010 in DC.

The much anticipated AR2010 conference has come and gone, and when it came to going, it was all too fast, and all too soon. What it did leave, however, is a very tangible and vivid memory, bolstered by a set of photographic images detailing every occurrence and nuance and impression and emotion. I have since uploaded almost 150 pictures into my Facebook site (Anthony Marr), of my personal friends and myself at the conference . These and what they represent I will cherish past my dying day.

World PeaceDiet.com

TAKEN FROM ANTHONY MARR’S CARE 7 TOUR BLOG 24 – NEW JERSEY

[Hope, Anthony and Baby Declan]

July 10, Saturday

I got up at 3:45 a.m. to drive from Steve E.’s house in Middlesex, New Jersey, to the Philadelphia Int’l Airport (PHL) to pick up Catherine Garneau who took a red-eye flight from Long Beach, California, around 6:30 a.m. We will spend a week together at and around Middlesex, then drive to DC on July 15, Thursday, to attend the Animal Rights Conference (see www.ARConference.org). It was, and still is, a joyous reunion since we bade each other farewell on May 3, when I left for Las Vegas.

[Catherine at the PHL]

Saturday evening, Steve, Catherine and I returned to Carol Davis’ place for a small intimate dinner attended also by Kevin, Anna and a man from Peru, named “Wolf” who spoke at length about the Inca culture. Michael prepared for us an exquisite multi-course dinner, after which we showed them Catherine’s Tigress Sita painting, which received its due applause.

July 11, Sunday, was the day we visited For The Animals Sanctuary. We spent the first two hours with the animals, which comprised cows, pigs, goats and chickens. They were mostly escapees from their respective concentration camps and torture chambers – freedom fighters in their own right. Of course, in the scale of things they were less than drops in an ocean, but they also signify hope for the millions that otherwise would end up in slaughterhouses without exception.

Speaking of “Hope”, there is a cow there by that name. Here is Debbie’s own comment about her. “Hope the cow was destined to be slaughtered in December 2009. She lived on a local PA dairy farm and became infertile. If they don’t have babies they don’t produce milk and would therefore be sent off to slaughter. She was lucky to be saved by For The Animals sanctuary She is starting to trust people now she seems to know she will not be violated here. Its awesome to see her love again Such a sweet cow.”

I was forewarned that Hope especially did not trust men, but when I approached her, not without some trepidation, she remained calm and serene, and allowed me to touch her. After a while, when I was stroking her face, her long, sand-paper tongue came out, and began licking my hand. All witnessing this were enthralled, not the least of all myself, and little baby Declan, son of guests Dana and Steve Read.

Afterward, I delivered to the small gathering my anti-hunting and global warming speech, dedicated to Baby Declan, and all were equally enthralled, not least of all myself at their enthrallment.

Debbie and a few others will be attending the Animal Right Conference, and we gleefully discussed strategies for dealing with any disruptions should they occur (see blog #23).

[Steve Kowalski and Anthony]

A few days ago, Dr. Alex Hershaft mentioned the possibility of me performing on my electronic keyboard for the opening ceremony of the Animal Rights Conference on Thursday evening, as I had done twice before. I have some practicing and derusting to do. Catherine loves my chosen piece, mistakes and all.

As it happens, at this very moment, Catherine is on the phone with the Cincinnati Earthsave chapter, whose organizer is calling to inquire, among other things, about the libelous email “Beware of Anthony Marr” she has received from Anthony Damiano, which has caused several potential event hosts and lodging hosts associated with Earthsave Cincinnati to withhold their offerings. She describes the email as being “disgusting”. And the damage continues.

Anyway, the threat of disruption from Damiano et al not withstanding, Washington DC, here we come!

Anthony Marr, Founder and President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Global Anti-Hunting Coalition (GAHC)
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.myspace.com/Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.facebook.com/Anthony.Marr.001
www.facebook.com/Global_Anti-Hunting_Coalition
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com (search for “Anthony Marr Heal Our Planet Earth”)
www.ARConference.org

SOURCE

SOURCE

From: http://www.farmersguardian.com/

Queen guitarist Brian May was in Wales again last week to give his support to the legal battle to prevent the Welsh badger cull. He tells Alistair Driver why his intervention is no ‘cynical publicity stunt’.

Brian May is on a mission to prevent our countryside being ‘drenched in blood’ – and he is deadly serious about it.

The legendary Queen guitarist was in courtroom number five in Cardiff last week to again witness proceedings as the Badger Trust’s latest legal attempt to halt the Welsh badger cull was heard.

“I can claim no credit whatever for the successful delivery of today’s arguments in court,” he wrote on his ‘Bri’s Soapbox’ website on the first day of the Judicial Review appeal hearing.

“I was merely a supporter, like a fan at a football match, who feels that by being there he helped to score the winning goal.”

It is fair to say many farmers have not taken kindly to the rock star’s support for the cause. His appearance at the initial judicial review hearing in Swansea in March succeeded in generating massive publicity for those fighting the cull, with quotes comparing the proposed cull to ‘genocide’ plastered across the media. He denied ever using the word.

‘Publicity stunt’

Farmers Union of Wales vice-president Brian Walters dismissed his intervention as a ‘cynical publicity stunt’ of a ‘millionaire rock star dropping in’ to talk about something he had ‘no idea’ about.

The accusation hurt Dr May, who was a scientist before his musical career took off. He went on to complete a PhD in astrophysics in 2007.

He questioned on his website if Farmers Guardian would be ‘brave enough’ to allow him to respond when he read Mr Walters’ comments on www.farmersguardian.com.

His lengthy response to our subsequent emailed queries, stretching to more than 3,000 words, will infuriate many of our readers. But what they do show is an unremitting commitment to the cause.

Dr May has been campaigning to ‘save animals from various kinds of abuse’ for many years, culminating in his current ‘SAVE-ME’ campaign – named, of course, after a Queen song.

“I started the SAVE-ME campaign to give wild animals a voice, but our aim is to improve the way humans interact with all animals, including farm and laboratory animals,” he says.

He insists he is ‘not just beating a drum’, but is prepared to ‘stake my reputation on what I believe, based on the evidence I’ve seen’ – that culling badgers would be ‘morally wrong, scientifically unproven, at best, ineffective and even counter-productive at worst, and economically disastrous’.

“The fact we are even debating wiping out a whole species which had a home in these islands before we did, on the grounds of science or economics is to me a sign we as a race, or as a country, are beyond hope,” he says.

He describes Mr Walters’ comments as a ‘cheap shot’ against ‘someone who has spent much of his life studying issues like these’.

To illustrate his willingness to engage with farmers, he says he subsequently spent a day with NFU Cymru deputy president, Stephen James, during which they ‘disagreed on many points, but had a very healthy debate’.

“We realised our dreams for the world our grandchildren will inhabit were, in fact, very close – a healthy and well-treated population of farm animals in the fields, and a healthy population of our native wild animals in the woods outside,” he says.

But Dr May insists farmers have ‘no proof’ badgers are to blame for their bovine TB breakdowns.

Cattle-to-cattle spread

He says scientific studies have shown ‘time and again’ that cattle-to-cattle transmission is the ‘major factor’ in the spread of bTB. He suggests intensive farming methods ‘known to increase stress’ in cattle are making them ‘more vulnerable to developing symptoms’.

Outbreaks in herds ‘locked up in enclosed spaces where badgers cannot reach them’ and cases where bTB symptoms have ‘suddenly spread hundreds of miles across the UK’ cast further doubt on the role of the badger as the ‘villain’, he says.

“It has never been proved a badger has caused a real-life breakdown. A farmer may see a badger, and think: ‘There’s the villain’ – and feel anger towards it, but it’s a knee-jerk reaction. The cause of his breakdown may well not be due to a badger.

“I feel great sympathy for the farmer who feels powerless in the face of this hidden enemy. But even if the badger were the villain, he must be an innocent one, since he was infected because of our farming practices.”

He denies the suggestion he is implying badgers intrinsically have more right to be protected than cattle.

“This is a complete misunderstanding of what we are saying. We as humans have a duty to treat all animals in our care decently,” he says.

“There are many farmers who are very caring about their animals, but there are also many who turn a blind eye to farming practices which are inherently cruel, especially with regard to pigs and chickens. I’d like to see that change,” he says.

He argues science and history show badger culling does not work as a method for controlling bTB.

He cites the Independent Scientific Group’s (ISG) 2008 report and subsequent updates based on continuing monitoring of the cull areas as the scientific proof.

A paper advocating a cull by former Government chief scientist Sir David King is dismissed as a ‘disgraceful piece of bad science’, based on ‘a few days reading the ISG’s work, which took 10 years to do’.

He outlines in great detail why history also debunks the pro-badger culling argument, beginning with bTB’s arrival in Europe from Asia in the Middle Ages and its ‘spread as cattle trade increased’.

By the 1930s bTB was infecting 40 per cent of the national herd yet by the 1970s incidence was down to 1 per cent on the back of ‘strict’ cattle controls ‘without one badger being culled’, he says.

He blames the reversion to a system of ‘less bTB testing and fewer movement restrictions’ for the diseases subsequent re-emergence as a major problem.

“So much for history. How amazing all this is known, yet we are about to make the same tragic mistake again,” he says.

It is, he says, ‘ridiculous’ to suggest culling badgers could reduce the incidence of bTB in the badger population.

Simple equation

“There will not be a badger population in the end, because the only way to eradicate the disease in these animals, using the method about to be adopted, is to kill them all. This is without question. It is a simple equation.

“If you were going to trap the badgers, test to see if they had the disease or not, and release only the healthy ones, you would statistically be on to a good thing. But the current plan is to trap the animals, and kill them whether they are healthy or not. Do you begin to see the insanity of all this?

“As to whether culling will reduce the level of the disease in cows, I would bet a lot of money, and my reputation, this will never be proved.”

He insists that vaccination of badgers, ‘which have been infected by bTB from our cows’, and cattle themselves is the ‘sane, humane solution, and ultimately the only one which can work’.

He acknowledged the current barriers to both types of vaccination, but insists they can be resolved ‘in the near future’.

After the initial Swansea court case, he felt the system was stacked against the ‘innocent badger’ and that the battle was ‘essentially lost before any of us stepped into that court room,’.

“What next for Welsh badgers. I think I will pray, think, and look for an opportunity to halt the killing?” he wrote.

He told supporters on his website the arguments heard on the first day of last week’s appeal hearing gave him renewed hope.

Whatever happens in Wales, he vows to turn his attention to the coalition Government’s plans for curbing bTB in England.

He attacks Ministers’ plans to ‘smash’ the vaccination programme and introduce a cull which will see ‘the countryside being drenched in blood’.

“Okay – forgive me my moment of drama – after all, I’m probably just another rock star, who has no idea, cynically seeking publicity, right?” he concludes.

Brian May – rock star, astrophysicist and campaigner

Born: July 1947, in London.
Rock star: Guitarist with Queen from early 1970s. Wrote some of their most famous songs, including We Will Rock You, Fat Bottomed Girls, Hammer to Fall and Save Me. Iconic moments include playing ‘Live Aid’ with Queen in 1985 and performing the national anthem on the roof of Buckingham at 2002 Queen Jubilee celebrations. Still active as a musician and producer.
Astrophysicist: Studied physics at Imperial College London and was part way through this PhD programme, studying ‘reflected light from interplanetary sources’ when Queen became successful. Completed his PhD thesis in astrophysics in 2007. Has Asteroid 52665 Brianmay named after him.
Campaigner: Formed ‘Save Me’ campaign in 2010 for the protection of animals against ‘unnecessary, cruel and degrading treatment’. Fox hunting and badger culling are currently the main focus.
Honours: Awarded an OBE for services to music industry in 2005. Appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University in 2007.

Compiled by EVOLVE! Campaigns – http://www.evolvecampaigns.org.uk/

http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/livestock/badger-cull-immoral-insane-and-unproven-by-science/33013.article