VIVA!CITY CAMPAIGNS UPDATE
Viva!
8 York Court, Wilder Street, Bristol BS2 8QH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 944 1000 Email: info@viva.org.uk
Web: www.viva.org.uk www.factoryfarming.org.uk www.savethekangaroo.com
Please do not reply to this email. Contact us at: info@viva.org.uk
In This Viva!City: Day of Action against the Co-op: Doing it for the Ducks!
Incredible Veggie Roadshow comes to Edinburgh and Cardiff
Viva! rubbishes dairy claims
Stamping out exotic meats
Protecting animals in democracy
Animal protectors attacked during seal hunt
Veggie and vegan mothers - help needed!
Vegan Families Unite!
Your Viva!City
Day of Action Against the Co-op: Doing it for the Ducks!
As you probably know, last year Viva! exposed the appalling conditions we found at the duck suppliers of Marks & Spencer and, after our Day of Action - which saw demos outside 200 of their stores, they withdrew factory-farmed whole duck from the shelves. But, as you probably know, Viva! is never content to rest on its laurels: there is simply too much animal abuse happening today to do that.
Once again, we’ve lifted the lid on the suppliers of duck meat to yet another major supermarket chain: the Co-op. Despite their claims to be an ethical trader, at their suppliers we found ducks crammed into dirty, stinking sheds in their thousands; countless dying birds thrashing around on their backs in distress, unable to right themselves; insufficient clean water to bathe or preen properly; a duckling trapped behind a pipe, left to die; and ducks incapable of walking, dragging themselves along by their wings.
We want to persuade the Co-op to clear their shelves of factory-farmed duck meat and prove that ‘ethics’ are more than just a marketing term – and that’s why we are holding a national Day of Action on Saturday May 21 2005. The more people who join us on the day, the louder the message will be – and the Co-op will have to sit up and take notice. To find out more about the day, how you can get involved and how to order our specially designed Co-op materials go here.
Find out more about our investigations into the duck suppliers to the Co-op here.
Complain to the Co-op and speak up for the ducks!:
Free phone customer services on 0800 0686 727
Send a virtual postcard here (it only takes a second and every single one counts!)
If you bank with the Co-op find out what you can do here.
Incredible Veggie Roadshow comes to Edinburgh and Cardiff!
Viva!’s Incredible Veggie Roadshow will be rolling into Edinburgh on Saturday 30 April 2005, and then on to Cardiff on Saturday 14 May. We will be visting both cities soon to entice the locals – as ever, headed by our fruity Carmen Miranda lookalike! The Bristol, Brighton and Solihull shows were a massive success – and this month’s show in Manchester continued to exceed all our expectations: over 1,300 people streamed through the doors, packing out the talks, cookery demos and food tastings! The Roadshows are designed to bring the vegetarian message to people right where they live - and the feedback is now rolling in, with many people telling us how the shows have helped them dump meat and ditch dairy!
Find out more about it and see the full list of shows here. If you can offer us help for any shows – we would especially like to hear from you if you can help publicise the event locally by putting up posters or handing out invites, or if you can help out on the day itself – please get in touch. It’s incredibly rewarding to see so many people interested in vegetarianism and the shows have proved so busy so far that we really need all the help we can get!
Viva! rubbishes dairy claims
Viva! labelled a new campaign launched today by the Milk Development Council (MDC), and funded by British taxpayers, which aims to increase dairy consumption amongst young women, as being irresponsible and dangerous. The media was quick to pick up on our response, and amongst many interviews, Juliet Gellatley, Viva!’s director, told Radio 4’s Farming Today that rather than promote ‘natural beauty’ to teenage girls, intake of dairy products is increasingly being linked to a whole range of avoidable illnesses.
Read Viva!’s special dairy press release here.
Stamping out the sale of Exotic Meats
As you may know, Viva! campaigns against the sale of so-called 'exotic meats' such as ostrich, emu and crocodile. In the past we have had major success, and our campaign has led to all the major supermarkets withdrawing kangaroo, ostrich and crocodile meats from sale. Recently we had more good news: The Ostrich Farming Corp Ltd of UK has gone into liquidation!
Sadly, however, meat from these wild animals is still on sale in small chains of pubs and in some restaurants and shops. Please let Viva! know of any outlet selling 'exotic meat’, so we can contact them, by emailing us their details and what ‘exotic meats’ they are selling. This approach really does work, as many retailers have no idea of the misery behind this industry and they often respond to the truth. We have had several major successes recently, with local businesses dumping ‘exotic meats’ after we contacted them. Please help us stamp this barbaric trade out once and for all.
To find out more about our campaign against ‘exotic meats’, and to see how you can help, click here.
Protecting Animals in Democracy
The next five weeks leading up to the election are a crucial time for animal rights campaigners, providing us with rare opportunity to get animal protection on to the election agenda while politicians are desperate for votes. Viva! supports Uncaged’s electoral campaign - Protecting Animals in Democracy – and its new website is now live. Find out how to make your vote count at http://www.vote4animals.org.uk
Animal protectors attacked during seal hunt
Members of the Sea Shepherd Crew, which is currently trying to film and document the seal hunt in Canada, were seriously attacked recently by sealers. There are as of this moment six crew members who have been injured and their blood was seen on the ice.
As the crew tried to get back to the ship (the crew were ALL unarmed except for video cameras) the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen got between the crew and the Farley Mowat preventing many of the crew from getting back to the Farley Mowat. As the eleven tried to get back to their ship, a helicopter landed and arrested them. They have since been released.
The massacre of countless seals in Canada is for one reason and one reason only: to protect that country’s dwindling and over-fished stocks. You can help end the bloodshed: if you do eat fish please stop, without the demand there would be no reason to launch this annual butchery. Also, let the Canadian embassy in the UK know that you, your family and friends will be boycotting ALL exports from Canada and you will never travel on Canadian airlines until they stop this brutal slaughter of the seals.
Canadian High Commission
Macdonald House, 1 Grosvenor Square,
London W1X 0AB.
Telephone: 020 7258 6600
Fax: 020 7258 6333
E-mail: mldn@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
For more information go here.
Vegan Families Unite!
If you are a vegan family and would like to be put in touch with other vegan families, you can now join an informal list. Email Lesley at Lesley@vegan4life.org.uk to join the list and / or to find out more information. If you wish to join the list please confirm where you live. She doesn’t need your full address if you don't wish to give it; just the town or county is fine for the purpose of helping put vegan families in contact with one another.
Veggie and vegan mothers - help needed!
Dr. Gary Steinman of the Einstein College of Medicine in New York is doing a study of the possible effect of diet on conception. He needs to know if women on strict vegan diets gave birth to singletons or twins/triplets, without the aid of fertility drugs or artificial methods. The data you supply will not be identified with you directly if a publication results, but will be used for statistical purposes only. Please e-mail him directly at DAV4601@AOL.COM.
Your Viva!City
This email alert reaches thousands of people but we’d like your help to make it even better. At the moment, we have just one list of addresses which means that we have to send the same email to everyone. From time to time we’d like to let people know about things happening in their area or get in contact with our younger supporters but we don’t want to fill everyone else’s mailboxes with information that isn’t relevant to them. What we’d like to do is compile email lists separated into different regions so that if we do have something we’d like to tell people in Scotland or Yorkshire about, we can send them the information without bothering anyone else.
The simplest way for us to identify which area you live in is to know your postcode and so we’d be grateful if you could take a minute to fill in our online questionnaire. We’d also really like to know your age if you’re under 18 – you can fill in your date of birth on the form. You won’t receive any postal mailings (unless you want them and fill in your other details) and the information will be used only to sort your email addresses. You don’t even have to give us your name if you don’t want to.
As ever, if you would like any more information about any of our campaigns, check out our website www.viva.org.uk or get in touch with us directly – contact details at the top of this email. Please don’t click “reply”, however – your email won’t be seen at that address.
Thanks again for all your support.
As ever, if you would like any more information about any of our campaigns, check out our website www.viva.org.uk or get in touch with us directly – contact details at the top of this email. Please don’t click ”reply” though – your email won’t be seen by anyone if you do.
Thanks again for all your support.
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