Wordlog 7 March 2016 - Hoofdinhoud

A lot has happened recently. Dutch producers have made an undercover documentary about the course of events in Dolphinarium Harderwijk in the Netherlands. The documentary clearly shows that the dolphins in Harderwijk are not provided with an area of natural habitat, which is, after all, impossible in a dolphinarium! The animals are kept in basins filled with chlorinated water that are far too small, while dolphins by nature live in salt water and swim up to 50 miles per day together with many others of their kind.

Because of its zoo permit, the Dolphinarium is legally permitted to keep wild animals. The TV documentary reveals that the animals in the dolphinarium are forced to do tricks and perform shows, which demonstrates once again that a dolphinarium is nothing more than a circus. Fortunately, making wild animals perform tricks in circus acts was banned in September 2015, after a long battle. The same ban should be imposed on the Dolphinarium. I have requested a debate on this issue, which will take place on 28 April. So, to be continued!

A European mandatory registration system for dogs, cats and other pets in Europe seems to be on its way. European Parliament has supported a proposal by the Party for the Animals to enhance the complementarity between the existing databases of the various EU countries. One European system will make it more difficult for criminals to falsify documents and it will facilitate the detection of illegal pet trade. Without a system, criminals today are left to act freely. The European Commission has indicated to be in favour of the proposal.

Today, the European Commission in Brussels will decide whether it will give the agricultural pesticide glyphosate (which is contained in Monsanto’s Roundup among others) a new 15-year lease. Glyphosate was deemed “probably carcinogenic” by the WHO’s IARC and researchers worldwide have shown that this chemical has a hormone disrupting effect. At the moment, our water and food contain high levels of glyphosate. Although I naturally asked our government to vote against this lease, it initially had no intention of doing so. However, it will now have to, because this was requested in a motion by a majority of the Lower House.

Last week, after repeated requests, the government announced that it will amend the legal penal system, thus making it possible to ban animal abusers from keeping animals. A highly important amendment, because presently animal abusers are still free to keep animals and fall into old habits.

Kind regards,

Marianne