“Animals are a part of the family. It’s time to stop telling families who shouldn’t be a part of it. Families are created with love and mutual bonding and let every family decide whom they will include in their community.” – Luka Oman, Animal Friends president
Allow Cities to Ban Firecrackers!
Veterinarians from Virovitica started the petition to ban the use of firecrackers, which we supported on a press conference held on January 19th, 2018 in the city of Virovitica. Mayor Ivica Kirin also supported the initiative regarding the
ban on the use of pyrotechnics as well. We encourage everybody to sign the petition for an urgent change of the Law on explosive substances, which would forbid the use of loud pyrotechnics all year round or at least allow local communities to introduce the ban in their own area for the safety of people and animals.
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Croatian Bull in a Lebanese Slaughterhouse
Please watch two videos by Animals International organization from last year which result from an
investigation on the cruelty of live animals transport. The first disturbing video shows
unloading of the bull with a Croatian ear tag in the slaughterhouse in Lebanon. The terrified animal’s hind leg was tied to the ceiling by a rope, and its front leg to the truck in which it was transported. One worker is holding the crucified bull by his head, and the other one is slitting his throat while the bull is fully conscious. The second video displays the arrival and transfer of animals from Austria, Lithuania and Slovakia in the Croatian harbor Raša from which they were then transported to Turkey. Among them is
the young bull who breaks free and flees but the workers catch him and return him among other animals for a further five-day trip by ship, from which they will never return. This cruelty can be stopped by going vegan!
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Accept the Challenge and Dare to Be a Vegan
A famous company for food market and restaurants research predicted the year 2018 as the year in which veganism will become the leading dietary trend. One of the most positive decisions that anyone can make at the beginning of the year is to
accept the Veggie Challenge. Through the Veggie Challenge, the interested person will receive an e-mail for 30 days every day with recipes and interesting information about veganism. January has proved to be the best month for decision making, thus the world campaign
Veganuary has been launched. Join it!
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Adopt!
Brothers Filip and Luka Vidović, collaborating with us in the
campaign “Adopt!” appeared in front of the cameras to join forces for abandoned animals and to call for adoption. The charming duo, accompanied by a dancer Sara Ugrinic, a breakdancer Juraj Horvat and an illusionist Aryan Ivankovic, switched roles with the shelter dogs in this
video and by doing so encouraged the viewers to envision themselves in place of the abandoned dogs and their harsh journey to a new home. Aside from the video, the Vidovic brothers and the dog named Lola posed for
photographs for the
billboards in Zagreb, Osijek and other cities. We offered free visuals for printing and distribution to all units of local government in their local communities.
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Fur Farming Ban in Bosnia and Herzegovina
On January 1st, 2018, after a long transition period, ban on fur farming finally came into force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Enforcing this important prohibition, with the transition period ending at the end of 2017, was enacted by the Animal Welfare Law from 2009. The breeders attempted to abolish the ban or to prolong the transition period. The last attempt to prolong the transition period is still in procedure although now that the ban has already come into force makes it absurd.
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Norwegian Wolves won’t Die Alone!
We gave our support to the NOAH organization which started a
campaign to end the mass cull of wolves in Norway. During the
gathering in front of the Norwegian Embassy in Zagreb, we handed out a protest letter to the embassy representative in which we stated our opposition to such politics, emphasizing that the wolves are under protection.
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News Flash
- On several occasions we reacted in public against the killing of 1,198 protected cormorants for the purpose of saving the profit of the ponds’ owners.
- We gave a statement for the media regarding the sales of monkeys through ads sections and their use in music videos. During the draft of the new Animal Protectio Act the ministry in charge overruled our suggestion to regulate this black market by law and to introduce the so called Positive List as necessary minimum to regulate the animal trade.
- We commented on the case of veterinary malpractice on the dog and the raise of an accusation against the veterinarian Igor Mioč from Split who is facing a fine and up to a year in prison.
- We have condemned the “drowning” of the dog in nitrogen-free fluid during the experiment conducted by Russian scientists in front of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, also condemned by the world public.
- We condemned the case of an American bragging about killing a chamois on the Biokovo mountain and organizing such bloody practices because listing the killing of wild animals in the tourist offer is not only disgraceful for Croatia but harms it’s tourist reputation which should be founded on natural beauties and the conservation of nature and animals.
- On January 23, 2018, in the European Parliament in Bruxelles, the parliament representatives and the interested visitors attended the opening of the Make Fur History exhibition which presented the reasons for which the fur industry belongs to the past.
- We continue intense activities toward enforcing the Animal Protection Act.
With the ratification of the new Animal Protection Act, there is plenty of persistent work on its implementation ahead of us. You can help by donating and paying the annual membership. More information about the ways in which you can contribute is available here.
Yours,
Animal Friends Croatia
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