Newsletter

ANIMAL RIGHTS

People talk with great authority about animal rights & how people who care don't understand that animals have no rights. We have given this some thought & with regards to animal rights & responsibilities, some say they cannot have the former without the latter.

HUMANS have made themselves responsible for animals, from conception to slaughter every aspect is controlled by man. How they reproduce, what they eat, how they are kept & how they die.

THEREFORE it is humans who being responsible for these animals must give them the rights they have removed. The right to the best WELFARE in the most NATURAL way for whatever species.

Left to themselves animals control their lives without interferance from man. Wild animals have no problem with feeding, reproduction, herding etc.they were doing it long before humans evolved. Only human interferance has removed their right & opportunity to do this & humans need to restore some of these rights instead of thinking only of profit.

The right not to be artificialy inseminated, the right not to be taildocked, the right not to eat like a carnivore when being a herbivore, the right to humane slaughter & the right not to travel thousands of miles to that slaughter

JULY 2008 UPDATE ON EXPORTS

The exporters, Agri Shipping, continue to use the Pentalina B after resuming trade at the begining of the year following the lifting of the ban caused by FMD. The trade has now another disease to cope with in the form of Bluetongue, which was probably brought in by the Lygra, a ship no longer used due to lack of trade. The first case of this new disease was diagnosed just outside Ipswich and the Lygra had been moored in a heavily infected Bluetongue area, Dunkirque, during August last year as she waiting for the first FMD restrictions to be lifted thus enabling her to use Ipswich for her one and only shipment during the 2 weeks between the two outbreaks of FMD. That was the last time we saw her carrying animals from the UK to mainland Europe!!!

A vaccine is being used to control Bluetongue as it has spread over most of the country. As each area is vaccinated then the 'Protection Zone' is extended to cover that area until the whole of the country will become a 'Protection Zone'. This will ease any movement restrictions and allow exports, as you can export from one 'Protection Zone' to another and most of Northern Europe is a 'Protection Zone'.

However, the exporters have now more bad news to contend with as during May 12 calves exported from a farm in Worcestershire tested positive for Bovine TB and the Dutch farms to which they were exported have been put under restrictions. Holland has been free of TB since 1999 and was demanding an export ban on the UK. The European vets have refused to support this ban but the Dutch and Belgians are refusing to buy our calves so the trade has once again ground to a halt. Behind the scenes the government advisors are working hard to reverse this position but prices for export calves have fallen away to between £10 and £30, an unsustainable position for the exporters. In the mean time moves to develop a home market for these unwanted bull calves are increasing and the price for calves going to be home reared is holding up making more farmers look towards this alternative.

During 2007 64,000 calves were exported to the veal systems of Europe, systems classed as illegal in the UK!!

SEPTEMBER 20007 UPDATE ON EXPORTS

The Pentalina B had been doing two shipments a week and the Lygra one since May and it seemed as though this would continue for ever,even though the number of trucks was not increasing, when suddenly on Friday 3rd August late in the evening we heard that once again we had FMD in our country at a farm in Surrey. All movement of animals was immediately stopped and this, of course, stopped exports. One other farm in the exclusion zone, set up by DEFRA around the infected farm, was confirmed and it was decided that the outbreak had come from the governmental research laboratory Pirbright, which does research on FMD with a view to finding cures and ways of stopping the disease.

The farmers have been outraged that they should suffer because of the government and were relieved that after no more cases and a break of nearly five weeks it was decided that the country was once again free of the disease. It then emerged that berth one, the only berth at Dover that these ships can use, was out of action due to repairs. The exporters approached Ipswich, once again, and because they were to use their own ships the port felt that they had no grounds to refuse them. The local community was outraged and the port was put under tremendous pressure, but, in spite of protests and much media coverage on the night of 3rd September the Pentalina berthed at Ipswich, loaded 6 transporters and sailed to Dunkerque.

Animal Health, the new name for the SVS, was contacted due to the breaking of the time rules as Ipswich to Dunkerque takes much longer than from Dover. They had a special meeting and decided to use a dispensation for the time being as this port was only to be used as a temporary measure. The Lygra and the Pentalina arrived on the Wednesday night along with a large demonstration of protesters and the locals had their first experience of what could happen should these sailing's stay at their port. Some even joined the protest! Lygra sailed first with 12 transporters and the Pentalina with 6 transporters the following morning. The Pentalina returned late that night and sailed once again on the Friday morning with 4 transporters.

Monday 10th September saw a further sailing, with 6 trucks, of the Pentalina and again on the Tuesday night with 6 trucks, all accompanied by protesters. We were expecting the Lygra on the Wednesday night when, once again, FMD struck another farm in Surrey. WE BELIEVE THAT THE GOVERNMENT GAVE THE ALL CLEAR TOO SOON and this has resulted in the exports, once again, being banned by Europe. Since then a further two farms have proved positive resulting in the slaughter of the animals on these premises.

WE AS A GROUP WANT EXPORTS TO STOP BUT NOT THIS WAY!!!

MAY 2007 UPDATE ON EXPORTS

We are now well into the new year but the great increase in calf exports hasn't happened yet. We have had two ship changes with the Claymore being replaced by the Pentalina B, a sister ship to the Claymore from the same company and the Fast Navigator being replaced by the Lygra. This ship is of Egyptian origin and is probably cheaper than the Fast Navigator to run hence the change. Some weeks ago David Owens AEFC decided that they could no longer run the operation and charter the ship so the charter of the Lygra was taken over by a Dutchman, Van Nuyssenborgh, who still has Glen Dudley as his agent. The reports in the Farmers Guardian stated that they would be sailing three times a week but at the moment the Lygra only sails once, usually on a Wednesday night, with between 8 to 12 transporters and the Pentalina B only sails on a Tuesday night with 6 transporters. Both companies blame each other for the lack of interest in the trade, however, we feel there are many other reasons for so few transporters.

For the last few weeks certain markets have started selling calves for export on designated days whereas before the exporters were buying straight from the farms. Being able to take their calves to market has increased competition for the farmers and as a result the prices have risen. Good for the farmers bad for the exporters. AEFC talked about going into receivership but lack of funds to reimburse the farmers who backed them in the first place has led to them still trading but without control of the whole operation. Hence the Dutchman! We feel they are carrying on in the hope that the trade will increase but in the last few weeks there have been moves by the NFU working with certain welfare organisations such as CIWF and RSPCA to push for calves to be reared here to fill the beef shortage that is very evident at the moment. The consumers are beginning to take a dislike to the imported beef and Waitrose supermarket has already started a calf rearing scheme for their supermarkets.

All good news for us and the animals. We must encourage these initiatives as much as possible because the less animals there is to export the less profits for the exporters and they will find it increasingly difficult to carry on.

DECEMBER 2006 UPDATE ON EXPORTS

Since our last update the Fast Navigator has settled into two shipments a week, Wednesday night and Friday night. The Claymore had two unfortunate incidents, the first on 11th October was when they tried to do two sailing's in one night. The ship failed to return at its allotted time and as a result six transporters were stuck on the lorry park inside the dock for 14 hours. When at last they were able to load many of the calves were very distressed and one had to be shot in the dock because it could go no further. David Owen , of AEFC, at once distanced himself from the Claymore saying his operation was perfect!! The next incident was when the captain of the Claymore refused to sail in a force 7 gale on 1st November and five transporters had to return to place of origin (good for him). Whether this had any bearing on the situation we don't know but on the 9th November the Claymore returned to Aberdeen, its home port, and we heard that the two competitors were both to use the Fast Navigator in the future after negotiations.

This state of affairs lasted for just two weeks when on the morning of Thursday 23rd November the Fast Navigator sailed in a force 8/9 gale for Dunkerque and one of the transporters it was carrying turned over in the hold due to the heavy seas. This resulted on arrival at Dunkerque in three bulls dead, one seriously injured and several more with more minor injuries. Now it was the turn of Albert Hall Farms to distance themselves from AEFC and as a result they have brought the sister ship of the Claymore down from Aberdeen so once again we are to have two operators using Dover with two separate ships. The State Veterinary Service did not realise this had happened and KALE had to alert them to the accident after a tip off. The SVS is supposedly investigating and we believe the industry is bracing itself for the next catastrophe to embarrass the trade!!! In Farmers Guardian the incident was played down with reports from AEFC stating that they had sailed in such conditions before without any problems. No thought for the suffering and distress caused to the animals.

SEPTEMBER 2006 UPDATE ON EXPORTS

Since calf exports resumed in May the exporters have worked very hard to establish a successful trade. The consortium started by David Owen, AEFC, replaced it's first ship the MV Toucan with a cheaper Egyptian vessel called the Fast Navigator one month into the operation and since then this ship has settled down to a weekly shipment carrying approx. 10+ transporters full of calves usually on a Wednesday or Thursday night. This ship can carry up to 30 vehicles so since the beginning of August they have also started to carry sheep for slaughter to help pay the cost of the ship. Up to now the most vehicles we have seen has been 19 transporters, 13 calves and 6 sheep.

When Owen started he had high ideals and announced that they would only carry people who had signed up to the consortium and paid the joining fees, 1£ plus £3 for every head of cattle in their herd, but he wasn't getting enough transporters so now he carries anyone who will pay the passage fee. We believe that two other companies, Calfco and Eurocalf, are also shipping on his ship to boost profits. At the beginning AEFC also announced that their people would only carry to Northern Europe but once again they lied and some vehicles have gone as far as Italy and Spain.

Along with this weekly shipment we have another ship, the Claymore, that has been chartered by Albert Hall Farms, Yorkshire. This vessel sails twice a week on a Tuesday and Friday night but is a tiny ship that can just carry 6 transporters a time and then only with difficulty. These two companies seem to be in competition with each other and it is obvious that the Claymore is a thorn in the side of the Fast Navigator!!

When they started to ship sheep we were led to believe that they had to be kept apart from the calves. On the Fast Navigator this is easy because the sheep go on deck and the calves down below but with the Claymore everything has to go on the deck so they are cheek by jowl. We have been assured by the SVS that a directive is in the pipeline stating that there has to be at least 2 meters between the different species but, as usual, it's taking so long to come through that we'll probably all be old and grey before it comes into being.

The M N Toucan, a Ro-Ro ferry registered Port Aux Francaise, arrived off Dover in the late evening of Wednesday 3rd May and berthed on the outer berth Eastern arm at 22.30 hrs. During the morning of the 4th she had her MCA inspection and laid there until 22.30 that night when she moved onto berth one.

At 01.00 a Belgium MAES transporter and a Dutch DV KAMP exporter, full of calves arrived, entered the dock, were inspected by the SVS and parked near the ship waiting for the loading. A further MAES arrived at 01.25 followed at 02.42 by another MAES. All were greeted by protesters, upward of 70, keen on expressing their disgust at the resumption of the calf trade. We had thought there would be many more vehicles by the amount of publicity that has been used to promote the restart but at 02.48 the ship opened its bow door and loaded these four transporters. It then sailed at 03.50 bound for Boulogne.

This ship can hold at least 21 transporters so on this showing we feel this was a poor start. Time will tell if they can build the momentum into what this trade was 10 years ago. We, of course, hope not.

We are monitoring every sailing and acquiring as much detail as possible for our reports which are sent to scores of influential people. As a result of the information gathered Mark has done a 37 page thesis on the trade which as gone to the European Commission as a formal complaint from KALE. Caroline Lucas, MEP for Brighton and Hove, has also lodged a formal complaint in the European courts and Suzie Gale, wife of Roger the conservative MP, has formed a Conservative Animal Welfare Group that is also using our information to lobby the government and Brussels. We are still awaiting DEFRA's response to the European Commission's questions that have originated from Mark's dossier.

Due to our constant complaints P&O ferries have decided to clamp down on the shipments of breeding animals because they feel this concession was being abused by the exporters and some shipments were carrying false papers. From 9am Monday 18th September they will only carry small vehicles, not 3 tiers etc, with proper, checkable, breeding papers so this has closed another loophole being used by the exporters. They have also said that this new rule will include pigs and horses and we feel this is a major step forward. Of course it will mean that more exporters will want to use the two animal ships but breeders are never checked by the SVS so these exporters will find themselves liable to more scrutiny than they've been used to in the past.

Since January there have been no more sailing's, however, we are expecting there to be a resumption of live exports with the lifting of the beef ban. A new consortium of farmers/exporters led by David Owen of Farmers Ferry is negotiating with veal producers on the continent for the export of live calves, something that hasn't been seen since 1996. We understand that there will be collection points throughout the UK and franchises are being offered to start new businesses collecting calves from the farms and delivering them to these collection centres.

The exporters are looking for a new? ship to carry these exports to Dunkirk from Dover but final plans are not yet in place. The NFU insists that welfare will be paramount and that there are now no veal crates just the new stall system. This system, however, gives little space, no bedding, no light and only milk substitute for food. Many animals collapse at six months old on their way to slaughter because their diet has not allowed their bones to develop properly. We will update when more news of the start-up becomes available.

Wednesday/Thursday 22nd/23rd November 2006. The Fast Navigator, the designated livestock carrier for Anglo European Farmers Co-operative, chairman David Owen, sailed in a force 8/9 gale carrying 14 transporters for Dunkerque. One of the transporters turned over in the hold resulting in 3 dead bulls, 1 seriously injured and several others with minor injuries. AEFC refused any blame stating they had sailed in such conditions before without any mishaps but of course no reference was made to the terror the animals must have sustained during this crossing!!!

The port of Ipswich in East Anglia was tempted by Thomas Lomas to export live animals on their ferry service Ferryways during the month of September. The first we heard about exports resuming was on the 21st of September but at that time we were unable to find out the port. DEFRA refused to give us information so a frantic search and an appeal to all our friends resulted in the information that it was Ipswich being passed to us on the 23rd.

We alerted all our supporters who immediately began a telephone campaign against the port originally and then against Ferryways the roll on roll off ferry company. The usual excuses were forthcoming. It's a legal trade, the animals are for breeding etc. Our media secretary/spokesperson alerted the press and BBC radio Suffolk arranged an interview for the following morning. We understood that a transporter was due to go that night but Ferryways rang to say they had 'suspended' sailing's and this load was returned to place of origin, confirmed by DEFRA.

We did not like the word suspended but for the time being had to be satisfied, however, the planned interview went ahead.

On the 1st of October at approx. 6.15pm we received information that Ferryways had resumed exports on the previous Wednesday and that a load was to sail that night. Again we alerted supporters and managed to arrange for several observers to be at the port entrance from midnight onwards. Four transporters arrived their number being Sheepexpress 356ATT59, BF JL 98, E 689 FJW and BNG 301. We fought long and hard to stop them sailing , even to speaking to the state veterinary service first in Dover and then at Bury St. Edmunds but at 3am they sailed for Ostend. Ferryways expressed regret but said they had been persuaded that it was kinder for the animals to sail than to wait 9 hours in the port for the drivers to have their rest and then to return to the place of origin. For the following two days we continued pressure on the company and they announced that they would come to a decision on Monday 4th October. When the decision came it was a further postponement. No good to us as we felt this to be merely a delaying tactic.

On our information line we gave the number of the port the number of Ferryways and the number of IKEA the furniture magnet who use Ferryways to import into the UK. As the ferry company's chief customer we felt they had a right to know that they were now supporting live exports.

We understand that all three had many phonecalls and as a result on Tuesday afternoon Ferryways announced that they were pulling out of the live export business. We demanded the announcement in writing and a press release stating their position. This duly was given and we wish to thank them for banning this cruel trade.

Well he made his next move! He contacted the chairman of KALE and asked for a meeting. This was arranged for Friday evening the 19th November at a public house situated close to the Eastern dock. Two members of the committee attended and were met with a proposition from Mr. Lomas. For as much information as we wanted on other exporters plus information on horse exporters as well all we had to do was stop informing Ferryways customers and ringing Ferryways themselves, in other ways turn a blind eye to his operation out of Ipswich. He wanted us to leave him alone because his operation was the best of the best and was very animal welfare friendly. It was pointed out about his past and he said he had changed and we would find him very co-operative! We even believe we could have asked for money to bribe us to help him export through Ipswich.

We told him we would put his proposals to the rest of the committee and after consultation rejected his overtures. He was very angry and his next move was to threaten us with legal action. We sought legal advice and found that everything we had done was within the law. We informed him as such and he misunderstood and thought we were no longer going to inform Ferryways customers! We disabused him of this and suddenly he removed his legal action threat but informed us he would take us to court if we interfered again. Our answer was 'go ahead' as we will never step back and turn a blind eye to exports.

The media printed the story and approached Ferryways for their reaction. They stated that unless there was no chance at all of protest they would refuse live exports. If we could guarantee that all protest would stop then they would ship animals as any other cargo! Fat chance! So that's how things stand with Mr. Lomas.

On Wednesday 11th February 2004 we received information that the Irish sheep dealer and exporter Thomas Lomas was intending to link up with Dartline, a freight shipping company that uses the Dartford terminal in the Thames estuary, to export live sheep on a regular basis. We immediately informed our supporters by text, telephone and information line and we contacted CIWF and Carla with a view to contacting the company. Every phone call was greeted at first with assurances then with sympathy and statements that they would consider their position and put the facts about the trade in front of their board of directors. They insisted that they would not ship animals until they came to an informed decision and had let us know. THEY LIED and we found today that they have already done a trial shipment. There is some confusion as to when the shipment took place but DEFRA have stated that it was in the early hours of Wednesday the 18th February morning and a total of 409 animals left the Thames bound for Germany and slaughter. The company are still saying to people ringing their number that they are still deciding.

A South African called Captain R.Herman seems to be the M.D. and in charge of the operation. His commercial director is a Ronny Daelman and they can be reached on 01322 281122 fax 01322 293366. We have obtained media coverage today and are now drawing up a campaign against this company. They say they need the trade as the company was becoming insolvent so we suggest if you have any ideas for them to improve their trade please let them know.

We will consider organizing a large demo at Dartford terminal in the not too distant future but need a few days to find out if the company intends to continue supporting live exports or if this trial was unsuccessful.

Thomas Lomas has tried, unsuccessfully in the last few years to run his own ship through Dover. In 1999 he chartered the Wardi but this was banned after it was found the plimsoll line had been repainted to accommodate the cargo, in late 2002 early 2003 he linked up with Richard Otley to run the Alda-k out of Dover but that ended up confiscated by the French. Prior to this he's had a string of convictions for falsifying documents, ear tags etc. and 1993 he was jailed for 15 months for export fraud involving thousands of sheep. He has also run a company as an undischarged bankrupt and been banned from being a director for ten years. We also he has links with the IRA and the Italian Mafia.

Over the last five weeks we have been working to stop Dartline becoming willing partners with Lomas in the export trade.

We held our March 6th monthly demo outside Thames Europort, where Dartline operate from and about 150 people attended.

There have also been spontaneous demos at different times resulting in Dartline having to employ extra security.

Ian Birchall, chairman of KALE, Joyce D'Silva, director of CIWF and Kerry Burgess, Campaigns director of CIWF met Dartline managing director, other directors and members of their management team on Monday 8th of March in their board room when a very comprehensive presentation of the Live Export trade was put before them.

They appeared unmoved about the plight of the animals but were influenced by the economic implications involved. This trade has been offered to them and they believe they can make extra revenue out of it. The company is actively seeking ways to increase their trade. They were left with various copies of reports from both KALE, CIWF and Animal Angels which they were to examine over the following two weeks before making their decision.

On Thursday 18th March Carla rang them to find if they were any nearer a public statement. They said they were not so she tactfully pointed out how much they had to loose from their existing customers if they continued to carry animals. She felt that they had never considered other peoples feelings in this issue and seemed genuinely shocked that they could loose existing trade because of all the controversy.

On Friday 19th March they hinted over the phone to Compassion that they intended to pull out after two more shipments.

On Saturday 20th March 28 like minded people demonstrated outside the port and sat down in the road. The police were called as this stopped lorries, trying to load on one of Dartline's ships, entering the port and also interfered with lorries trying to get to Asda's main South East warehouse that is on the same road. The Kent police decided that the road was private property and as a result could not interfere as long as the protesters were peaceful. Dartline security staff decided that they would have to clear the road but the police would not allow them to use force on the protesters, As a result the road was blocked for two hours and it was made clear that this could happen at any time, night or day. An irate Captain Sheridan, Dartline's head captain, tried to open the road by stating that a press release had been issued declaring Dartline's intention to stop the export trade. As no such communication had been received the protest continued until the people felt their point had been made.

On Tuesday 23rd March Dartline issued a press release distancing themselves form any further animal exports. However they had said that two pre-booked lorries would be going this week before they could stop. People were planing further protest and when Dartline found out they immediately rang Ian Birchall and declared their intention to refuse these last two loads. As a result the protest were called off.

Congratulations to all who joined in this short but bloody fight which has resulted in total victory for the animals.

Sheep exporters are warning that moves by DEFRA to clamp down on rules governing live lamb exports could result in the end of the trade. The enforcement of EU transit rules on movements prior to export could mean vast reductions in the number of animals crossing the channel. These rules state that sheep can only be exported from their place of origin or an approved assembly center and may not go to markets prior to being collected at the assembly center or to the assembly center from other holdings used for ' unofficial assemblies'. For the last few months, since exports resumed, exporters have been buying sheep at store markets, mixing them for a short time on holdings and then moving them to an Approved Assembly Center thus breaking the above rules.

The exporters are looking at ways that they can overturn these rules legally as they regard them as an unjustified restraint on trade!!

Moves by DEFRA which involve tightening even further through Brussels the rules on the Live Export trade appear to have angered the exporters and farmers even more than the ones enforced at the beginning of December. This new initiative involves making slaughter sheep obey the same rules as breeding sheep. At the moment slaughter animals are being laundered through certain holdings or Assembly Centers from the surrounding areas and then sent immediately for export. DEFRA are asking Brussels to change that to the animals being on the same holding of origin for at least 30 days.

Number of sailings ......................................................................18

Number of sheep ............................................................... 139,622

Number of documentary enquires .............................................. 5

Number of sailings in force 7 or greater .................................... 1

97 removed to reduce stocking densities- non in December which we find strange!

10 sailings cancelled due to bad weather - 11 discussions on sea conditions & weather resulting in a sailing

Number of sheep ............................................................. 63,508

Number of sailings in over force 7 ........................................... 1

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