INDIAN RUNNER DUCK ASSOCIATION

News on Welfare

See Professor Marion Stamp Dawkins', Professor of Animal Behaviour of Oxford University, research into commercial duck welfare
Full article on the Poultry Site.
"So how did the ducks rank a shower (more hygienic and economical) against actual bathing in a pond? Pretty highly, it turned out. Their health was good and they spend even more time with showers than with the ponds when given the choice. We found no evidence of them being deprived of anything if they just had showers. On the contrary, showers were, from their point of view and ours, a very good substitute."


Duvets: a nightmare for geese - see the WSPA website
A shocking documentary series has revealed that many duvets are stuffed with down plucked from live geese, a practice that causes acute suffering. WSPA is extremely disturbed by this fresh evidence about the global down industry. The first programme, shown on Swedish television channel TV4 on 1 February, revealed that millions of birds are plucked alive every year in Europe alone. The figure is even higher in China, the world’s largest producer of down and other feathers. China exports to a number of European countries where the down is used in duvets, pillows and jackets. Regardless of the origin of the feathers, the consequences for the geese are clear: they are tormented and badly stressed during the plucking process. WSPA is strongly opposed to the plucking of live birds
The footage – which is extremely distressing – can be viewed on the TV4 website

There is a European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes which recommends the plucking of feathers and down from live birds be prohibited -so why does it continue? Support the Four Paws petition
liveplucking

While the European Union, represented by the scientific committee EFSA, is considering goose combing and brushing, the EU goose-meat producers are pointing the way towards reason. Combing and brushing are methods described by goose industry experts as uneconomical nonsense.


Pressure from Four Paws halts fattened goose production in Hungary
http://www.thepoultrysite.com

HUNGARY - Hungerit, one of the country's biggest poultry companies, has halted production of fattened goose products under pressure from Austrian animal rights organisation, Four Paws

"During the 2 weeks of force-feeding the animals become ill. The death rate in this period is 20 times higher than conventional duck meat production factories (source: EC commission). They die of heart attacks, internal bleeding or asphyxia. Also they suffer from injuries, getting cut on their beaks, wings and faces. Most of them see the world through pus covered, infected eyes, caused by the ammonia (NH3) gases that are emitted by the liquid manure under their cages. At the end of this life span the halls are dead silent. The animals can't move and can hardly breathe – because of their pathologically enlarged liver . They desperately try to get some oxygen by shallow breathing through their open beaks. Each movement or pressure can cause death now."


Chief Veterinary Officers from across the world are backing the move towards a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare which is supported by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and is being recognized by a growing number of government authorities and international organisations.

Members of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) gave overwhelming backing to the initiative at their annual meeting in Paris on Friday 25 May. The WSPA-supported initiative for a Universal Declaration for Animal Welfare working with HSI, RSPCA, CIWF, IFAW and the ASPCA to be adopted by the UN is currently gaining momentum around the world:

• A global petition is close to achieving 500,000 signatures from members of the public all over the world
• Government authorities in Kenya, India, the Philippines, Costa Rica and the Czech Republic are officially backing the Declaration

To find out more about the Universal Declaration for Animal Welfare visit
the Animals Matter website http://www.animalsmatter.org/
Site managed by the World Society For the Protection of Animals - WSPA

Article Points to Human and Animal Welfare Costs of Long- Distance Farm Animal Transport

Press release (Oct. 26, 2009) - A chapter in the upcoming book Handbook of Disease Outbreaks: Prevention, Detection and Control implicates the long-distance transport of farm animals in the spread of human and animal diseases.The chapter, “Disease and transport: a costly ticket around the world,” was co-authored by Michael Greger, M.D., Humane Society International’s director of public health and animal agriculture, along with Sofia Parente, Michael Appleby and Jennifer Lanier of The World Society for the Protection of Animals. It examines the animal and human health implications of transporting animals over long distances and explores measures to limit long-distance transport of animals for slaughter.

The paper concludes that replacement of long-distance, live farm animal transport with a carcass-only trade is “not only necessary but urgent.”
Facts
- More than 60 billion animals are reared for meat, eggs and milk annually worldwide. Most are transported for slaughter, often over long distances, both within and between countries.
- According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “[t]ransport of livestock is undoubtedly the most stressful and injurious stage in the chain of operations between farm and slaughterhouse.”
- The FAO describes live animal transport as “ideally suited for spreading disease.”
- Given the associated “serious animal and public health problems,” the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe has called for the replacement of the long-distance transportation of live animals for slaughter as much as possible by a carcass-only trade.

Media Contact: Kristen Eastman, 301-721-6440, keastman@humanesociety.org

See also http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/force_fed_animals/

Avian Influenza FAO Report March 2010 "Unfortunately, H5N1 may have slipped off the radar screen for some people but it continues to be a major problem, especially in Egypt and parts of Asia, where it is having a huge impact on food security and the livelihoods of farmers and local communities," said Juan Lubroth, FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer. H5N1 HPAI has not been restricted to Asia alone, he added, having also occurred in Europe, Central Asia and parts of Africa.

Club news in Newsletters

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BIRD WELFARE STRATEGY - CONSULTATION DOCUMENT is at www.birdwelfarestrategy.org.uk  (click for link)
The welfare discussion document, Avian Strategy For Hobbyist Livestock and Pet Birds, has been eight months in the making. It was put together by the National Committee for Bird Strategy, a group of eight specialist societies: the British Waterfowl Association, Hawk Board, National Council for Aviculture, National Pigeon Association of Great Britain, Parrot Society UK , Pet Care Trust, PCGB and World Pheasant Association.

In its final form it will become England's Health and Welfare Strategy for Birds - the basis for official best-practice guidelines to be followed by fanciers.


The draft strategy has four main aims:
. To bring all hobbyist birdkeepers together and develop a national strategy pro­gram under one umbrella;
. To maintain participation in birdkeeping;
. To raise birdkeeping skills, training and standards; and
. To improve the quality and breeding of birds under hobbyist control.
The document also reviews issues such as medicine needs, bird welfare standards, health surveillance arrangements and companion bird research.