Read the Onekind Manifesto for Animals for the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections here.

Our friends at STAE, fighting hard to curb the awful abuse of Asian elephants in tourism, so much of it generated in the UK market, have two important petitions afoot, on change.org at: http://bit.ly/STAEpetition demanding new UK law to ban such adverts and sales, and to allow ads for genuine sanctuaries only (which has nearly 1 million signatures of support).

Also a Parliamentary petition at https://bit.ly/ParliamentaryPetition. On this latter one STAE is striving to get 600 more signatures in just 5 days to reach 10,000 signatures, which is the threshold needed to obtain a formal response from Govt. That petition closes on 27 Sept.

Please can we ask you to sign and share these petitions immediately, thanks so much. AIA.

Shambhu’s award-winning ethically-conscious catering service provides wholesome food at a wide range of events and needs:

• Conferences, AGMs, etc
• Special occasions
• Business seminars
• Company or departmental functions
• Yoga & meditation workshops
• Home get-togethers / parties
• Home delivery, including the option of individually packed portions e.g. for home-freezer storage
• and so on…

Further information at their website

Time is running out to protect the UK’s farm animal welfare. Please sign the RSPCA’s petition to call on the UK Government to legally guarantee, as part of the Agriculture Bill, that imports produced to lower animal welfare standards than our own will not enter the UK.

Say no to imports farmed to lower animal welfare standards than our own

Most news coverage has focused on the imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef cattle, but what’s of most concern is the farming systems these animals are raised in.

Countries such as the US, who we could be trading with in the future, have lower welfare systems that are banned in the UK, such as barren battery cages for hens and sow stalls for pigs which severely compromise animal welfare.

Cheaper imports risk UK farmers being undercut

It’s vital that the UK government safeguards our animal welfare standards in future trade deals, we cannot risk lower welfare, cheaper-to-produce products entering the UK market.

This could mean a race to the bottom for animal welfare and undercutting farmers in the UK at a time when we should be striving for properly funded, higher animal welfare practices which go beyond legal requirements.

And, it’s not just about the USA, many other countries we’ll be negotiating with will have lower standards than the UK too.

Imports the UK is at risk of accepting

The RSPCA’s new video highlights the stark realities of lower farm animal welfare.

UK Jains launch historic Payushan and Das Lakshan with global programme – Saturday 15^th August 2020 at 09.45am UK time

The 32 UK Jain Organisations, who are united under the ‘OneJAIN’ banner, are to launch this year’s Paryushan and Das Lakshan 2020 programme with an online Zoom/Youtube event featuring major political leaders, prominent Jain saints, and other faith leaders from the Vatican and India.

This year, for the first time in living memory, COVID19 has ensured that Paryushan and Das Lakshan will be celebrated online via Zoom. In order to ensure that Jains at home receive the maximum possible opportunity to participate in religious and spiritual activities, OneJAIN is coordinating the Zoom events of all Jain organisations to create a unified Jain calendar of events. 

To launch this year’s Paryushan and Das Lakshan programme with blessings and good wishes from political and religious leaders, OneJAIN has organised a programme on 15th August at 9.45 am UK time. 

Please circulate this event widely to your members, relatives, friends and colleagues. The event link is at http://www.jainology.org/onejain-paryushan-daslakshan-2020/

For more details please see;

(i). Details on the Paryushan and Das Lakshan

http://www.jainpedia.org/themes/practices/festivals/paryusan.html

(ii). Details on the Institute of Jainology and OneJAIN

OneJAIN

Best wishes

Nemu Chandaria OBE

Chair – Board of Directors

Institute of Jainology

Coordinator: OneJAIN

The Animal Interfaith Alliance, an alliance of 17 faith-based animal welfare organisations, representing all the world’s major faiths, fully supports STAE in urgently calling on the UK government to legislate to ban UK tour companies from promoting the brutally cruel Asian elephant tourist resorts and attractions.

The horrific practices to break baby elephants’ spirits and subject them to a lifetime of torture is totally unacceptable, as is the tourist industry’s failure to self-regulate itself, and must be banned right now.

Our endangered Asian elephants are a most precious part of Creation whom we should honour and protect – in practice and in law.

Further information on the brutal treatment of Asian elephants for the tourist trade and on STAE’s remarkable work can be found here: https://stae.org/

AIA is pleased that stunning is now considered to be acceptable for Halal meat by some butchers and religious leaders in Turkey and that the suffering of some animals will therefore be reduced. We are very grateful to the animal rights campaigners in Turkey who demonstrated that stunning is acceptable in Islamic law and we hope that many others will follow their example.

Further information can be found in this Guardian report.

AIA believes in a peaceful, vegan world where we respect all animals and treat them with love and compassion. We honour the Creation by treating all its creatures with love and kindness. However, we acknowledge and are very grateful for the work being done here to reduce the suffering of animals.

Scientist and veterinarian Dr Andre Menache explains why animal experimentation is bad, outdated science and how other methods provide better, more effective alternatives. This short video equips those campaigning against animal experimentation with latest the scientific arguments.

AIA were honoured to host a most informative webinar presented by Dr Andre Menache on the Corona Virus Pandemic which examines its causes and effects with particular focus on why animal research will not serve us well in finding a swift and effective vaccine for this virus and why the pandemic should force us to look to 21st century alternatives to testing methods.

The webinar was introduced by AIA’s President Dr Richard Ryder.

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He has been President of Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine (UK) and General Manager of The Federation of Animal Protection Societies in Israel.  He is a patron of Quaker Concern for Animals and provides scientific support to several grass roots organisations.

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Dr Menache has also written the following articles on this topic:

Corona Virus and Animal Testing

https://animal-interfaith-alliance.com/2020/04/04/corona-virus-and-animal-testing-by-dr-andre-menache/

Which is More Dangerous: Wildlife Markets or Animal Research?

https://animal-interfaith-alliance.com/2020/05/29/which-is-more-dangerous-wildlife-markets-or-animal-research-by-dr-andre-menache/