Pets get Rights in the UK

[/ dave /]

Kevin Robert Dean posted:

> LONDON (Reuters) - Less than two years after European
> human rights were incorporated into British law, steps
> are under way to give pets their own "bill of rights"
> aimed at guaranteeing them a minimum quality of life.


[Good Luck!]

Spain under fire for hanging dogs
Monday, 29 April, 2002, 00:34 GMT 01:34 UK

By Flora Botsford
BBC correspondent in Madrid

Animal rights campaigners have criticised Spain for what it says is the 
widespread practice of killing hunting dogs. The World Society for the 
Protection of Animals says tens of thousands of Spanish racing dogs, 
known as galgos, are hanged every year following the end of the hunting 
season. The WSPA says it found dead dogs with nooses around their necks 
dumped in shallow graves or their corpses left hanging from trees. 
According to the charity, dogs that did badly in the hunting season were 
hanged with a low noose.

Faster death

The practice was known as the "piano player" because the dogs would 
frantically scrabble their legs in an effort to reach the ground. Dogs 
which had hunted well were given a faster death by being hanged higher 
up. A spokesman for the charity said it was scandalous that Spain, which 
holds the current presidency of the European Union, should allow such 
cruelty and abuse of animals. The WSPA has written to the Spanish 
Government, calling on it to finally adopt an animal welfare law that 
would outlaw such cruelty.

Mutilated dogs

Just last week a group of MPs and animal rights campaigners managed to 
win a debate in parliament on the issue but they lost the vote on 
changing the penal code to make cruelty to animals a crime punishable by 
a prison sentence. The campaign was prompted by the discovery of 15 
mutilated dogs in the district of Tarragona in November last year. A 
Spanish animal welfare organisation, Altarriba Foundation, collected 
600,000 signatures supporting a change in the law. But in Spain the 
whole concept of animal rights has yet to make an impact on society. For 
example, the national fiesta or bullfighting remains popular, although 
there is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that younger people are less 
in favour.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1956000/1956951.stm


[the BBC radio report late last night described campfires and scores of 
empty beer bottles surrounding the "execution sites", implying that the 
hunters probably sat around and made merry while the dogs struggled and 
died]


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/  dave  /