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An Irish Council Against Blood Sports Newsletter. May 2009 Edition
For more campaign news, updates and more action alerts, please visit our websites:
www.banbloodsports.com, www.youtube.com/icabs, www.myspace.com/banbloodsports,www.bebo.com/banbloodsports, www.twitter.com/banbloodsports
01. Defence Minister "fully supports" ICABS campaign
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has warmly welcomed a statement from the office ofthe Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, in which we were told that the Minister "fully supports"our campaign.
The heartening response came in reply to a fax sent by ICABS to Minister O'Dea in which weappealed for his help with our campaign against cruelty. We asked him to join our calls to the Ministerfor Agriculture to ban "cruel and barbaric digging out activities and the use of terriers and packs ofhounds to harass, attack, injure and/or kill animals".Our presentation to the Limerick East Fianna Fail TD included a photo of an injured and bleedingIrish fox being held up by a hunter after it was mercilessly dug out of its earth.Although similar to illegal badger baiting, fox baiting remains legal in this country. It is carried out bywhat can only be described as thugs and sadists who dig animals out with spades and take pleasurein seeing their dogs inflicting the most savage injuries on them.Digging out and terrierwork is also an integral part of foxhunting in Ireland. The foxhunters' so-calledcode of conduct states that "only one terrier at a time may be used to locate the fox except in rocks,stacks of bales or stick piles, etc...Digging shall only be conducted by a small number of experiencedpeople and assistants appointed by the Master or his nominee." It also highlights their desire to keepthis appalling act away from the public eye, stressing that "reasonable efforts shall be made to ensurethat digging out will not become a public spectacle."Badger baiting, dog fighting and cock fighting are already illegal in Ireland. Please join our appeal tothe government to urgently take the next step and outlaw the heinous practice of fox digging andbaiting and all forms of animal cruelty.
ACTION ALERT 1
Please send a message of thanks to Minister Willie O'Dea for confirming his support of the campaignagainst blood sports. Urge him to do everything in his power to secure protection for the animalsterrorised, injured and brutally killed in blood sports.Minister Willie O'DeaOffice of The Minister for Defence, Parkgate, Department of Defence, Infirmary Road, Dublin 7Email: minister@defence.irlgov.ie. Telephone: 01 8042105. Lo Call: 1890 251890. Fax: 01 8042805
 
ACTION ALERT 2 - SAMPLE LETTER
Minister Brendan SmithDepartment of Agriculture, Agriculture House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ieCC: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie (Taoiseach, Brian Cowen), dymphna.keogh@agriculture.gov.ie(Minister's Secretary) and AHWBill@agriculture.gov.ie;tsargent@greenparty.ie (Trevor Sargent, TD,Minister of State at Dept of Agriculture). Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510. Fax: 01-661 1013.Dear Minister Smith,I am one of the majority of Irish citizens opposed to blood sports. I support the Irish Council AgainstBlood Sports' call on you to ban terrier work, digging out and the use of terriers and packs of houndsto harass, attack, injure and/or kill animals. There is absolutely no excuse for this shameful animalabuse which is carried out by sadistic thugs and foxhunting groups.Please act urgently to protect animals from this cruelty.Thank you. I look forward to your positive response.Yours sincerely,[Name/Location]
Video: Digging Out and Terrierwork Cruelty in Ireland
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8hnku_stop-digging-out-cruelty-in-ireland_animals
02. Success: Paddy Power ceases cruel bullfight bets
After almost two years of campaigning by ICABS, Paddy Power has announced that it hasstopped taking bets on the number of ears cut from bulls following torture sessions inSpanish bullrings. ICABS welcomes Paddy Power's decision to finally dispense with thesegrotesque bets and we thank everyone in Ireland and around the world who helped achievethis success.
The appalling bets were available to punters on the Spanish section of the Paddy Power website. Inone of our letters of appeal to the company, ICABS stated: "We find it absolutely grotesque and in thepoorest of taste the Paddy Power company's acceptance of such bets. As people are placing bets onthe Paddy Power website, tortured bulls are stumbling around the bullrings with blood spurting fromtheir backs and spraying from their noses and mouths. How can your company justify making moneyfrom this disgusting animal abuse?"Paddy Power's response at the time was that it was "business" and commented: "We neither supportnor denounce bullfighting, we simply respect this Spanish custom and offer a choice to thosecustomers who wish to bet on it."As part of our sustained campaign, ICABS made impassioned pleas to all of the company's directorsto intervene to stop the bets. They were shown photos of matadors holding up severed ears while thevictims squirmed on the ground. Also brought to their attention were our campaign videos whichfeatured explicit footage of suffering bulls.After nearly two years of campaigning, ICABS welcomes Paddy Power's decision to finally dispensewith their bullring bets.
 
We thank every individual and group from here and abroad who responded to our action alerts andsent in our campaign postcards. A special thanks to Maria Lopes of the International MovementAgainst Bullfights - www.iwab.org - for originally bringing this issue to our attention in August 2007.While Paddy Power have stopped taking bets on bullring cruelty, we must not forget that the removalof ears and other violent abuse against bulls sadly continues in the bullrings. The campaign againstbullfighting cruelty continues and we urge you to please continue responding to our action alerts sothat together we can continue working steadily towards the day when this sickening blood sport is athing of the past.
03. Irish MEPs praised for supporting EU ban on seal products
ICABS is proud to report that a majority of Ireland's MEPs voted in favour of an EU trade banon seal products. All of our MEPs, with the exception of Sean O'Neachtain, were among the550 MEPs who supported the historic ban which is expected to come in to force next year.
We have thanked the Irish MEPs for siding with the seals who are cruelly clubbed, shot and hookedto death by hunters in what has been described as the largest slaughter of marine mammals in theworld. The hunt sadly continues in Canada but the EU trade ban represents a major blow to thoseinvolved."This good news comes amid fierce opposition from the Canadian Government who has beensending countless delegations to Europe in order to lobby Ministers and MEPs," stated the AnimalRights Action Network who led an Irish campaign against the seal hunt. "Their campaign has beenbuilt on lies and bullying tactics. This news will now mean that once the legislation comes into force, itwill be illegal to sell or trade in seal products from countries such as Canada where the cruelcommercial seal hunt takes place-thus cutting off a major market for seal skins.""From Mexico City to Milan and all the way to Moscow, the world is uniting in opposition tocommercial seal hunts," commented Lesley O'Donnell, a director of the International Fund for AnimalWelfare. "The European Parliament has hammered the final nail in the coffin of the sealing industry'smarket in the EU. A complete collapse of Canada's commercial seal hunt may now be inevitable."Please scroll down for some quotes from Irish MEPs...Kathy Sinnott, MEP: "I am always grateful to be able to act as a voice to all voiceless people andanimals and to support the right to life of the weakest and most vulnerable in our society and ourworld. I am very concerned about the issue of seal hunting and have signed a Written Declarationdemanding the ban of seal products in the European Union. In addition I have sent a WrittenQuestion to the Commission on this issue."Liam Aylward, MEP: "By an overwhelming majority we voted to take away any commercial gain fromthe seal hunt. There will be a ban on importing seal products in the Member States and on placingthem on the market. There will be a derogation for the placing on the market of seal products wherethese seal products result from hunts traditionally conducted by Inuit and other indigenouscommunities and which contribute to their subsistence. This derogation was included in recognition ofthe importance to protect minority communities and to preserve traditional ways of life that are underthreat."While I believe that this report would have been adopted in any case that there was such a largemajority can be attributed in no small way to the action and campaigning under taken by citizens andby interested groups. Such engagement in European policy-making by citizens is extremely welcomeand crucially important, and I thank you for your part in this."
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