|
|
VOICELESS EUREKA PRIZE CLOSING SOON
Just a reminder that entries for the Voiceless Eureka Prize for Research which Replaces the Use of Animals or Animal Products are due no later than 13th May.
The prize which forms part of the Australian Museum’s 2005 Eureka prizes, will seek to encourage research into the development, testing, application and validation of alternatives to the use of animals or animal products for scientific or teaching purposes.
For further information about the Eureka prizes, please visit http://www.amonline.net.au/eureka/ |
|
MEDIA COVERAGE
A number of new media articles have been added to the Voiceless website since our last update including coverage in The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and CO Magazine. These can be viewed on the Voiceless media page - please follow this link
Katrina Sharman will be presenting a paper entitled 'Community Perceptions of Animals and the Law' as part of the Welfare and Ethics program at the 2005 annual conference of the Australian Veterinary Association. For further details about the Conference, which is to be held on the Gold Coast this month, please visit the AVA's website
DawnWatch
Voiceless would also like to draw your attention to DawnWatch - an animal news watch run by Karen Dawn, an animal advocate and spokesperson for the animal protection movement in the US. DawnWatch encourages animal advocates to be in contact with the media, writing letters to the editor and sending positive feedback to media that shine the spotlight on animal protection issues.
If you would like to receive DawnWatch alerts, go to the DawnWatch website at www.DawnWatch.com, read the Introduction and the page on Email Etiquette, and click on subscribe.
Karen Dawn' service focuses mainly on US media, though almost everything she alerts subscribers to is available on the web. Karen does have an Australian list, on which she offers less commentary but sends Australian articles and links for letters to the editor. If you sign up for DawnWatch and live in Australia you will automatically be added to the Australian list; you can ask to be added only to the Australian list if you prefer not to receive US stories. However sometimes the US coverage is relevant in Australia - for example Karen might cover a TV drama that we also get in Australia, so she encourages people to also receive the general list. But if you try the whole package and find the general list does not work for you, you can later ask to receive only the Australian alerts. |
|
VOICELESS LAW TALK IS THE TALK OF THE TOWN
It is now more than two months since Voiceless Law Talk was launched. During that time, Australia’s first on-line animal law think-tank has received media coverage from some of the country’s leading newspapers and legal publications including the Sydney Morning Herald, the West Australian, the NSW Law Society Journal and Lawyers Weekly.
News of Voiceless Law Talk has hit the airwaves on programs hosted by the ABC, 2UE and 2GB (in New South Wales) and word of animal law has, possibly for the first time, reached the halls of Australian law schools due to the support received from a number of Deans and student law associations. In short, we think that animal law in Australia has officially arrived!
Last months’ special guest was once described by USA Today as "America's best-known animal lawyer", author of Rattling the Cage – Toward Legal Rights for Animals and Drawing the Line – Science and the Case for Animals - Steven M. Wise. Our special guest for May is Professor Gary L. Francione, author of books including Animals, Property, and the Law, Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement and Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog?
If you are a lawyer, law student, law graduate or legal academic, you can sign up to Voiceless Law Talk now, by completing the registration form on the Voiceless Legal webpage. Register now! |
|
VOICELESS VISITS THE VOICELESS
Last month, Brian Sherman, Katrina Sharman and others accompanied Mark Pearson and Sally Dingle-Wall of Animal Liberation on a visit to two battery hen farms in New South Wales. The visit was made possible due to the willingness of certain egg producers in the area to lift the veil of secrecy, which ordinarily prevents members of the public (and media) from examining the conditions in which layer hens are raised.
 | | Brian Sherman at one of the farms visited last month |
For those of us who had never visited a layer hen farm before, the inspection was confronting, distressing and somewhat surreal. We observed thousands and thousands of debeaked hens, all confined in wire cages. In some sheds the cages, which held 3 to 5 hens, stretched from floor to ceiling. Other larger cages held more. Most hens had less than an A4 size piece of paper each to move around in. This of course, is what the law allows.
For Voiceless, the visit served as confirmation that Old MacDonald’s style of farming has been largely consigned to the dustbin of history. Gone are the days of nesting, dust bathing and experiencing natural light and sun. Caged layer hens live out their lives in multi tiered steel cages with virtually all aspects of their existence regulated - from feed to ventilation to temperature, all in the name of economies of scale. One cannot help thinking that these beings have been transformed into mere egg-laying machines. Surely there is a better life?
Voiceless intends to visit an organic pig farm later this year and we will provide a report of our impressions then. |
|
THE 2005 VOICELESS GRANTS PROGRAM
Voiceless' 2005 grants program will be launched on 4th July 2005, at which time full details of the grants criteria and our improved application process will be posted on the grants page of the Voiceless website (http://www.voiceless.org.au/grants.html)
The Voiceless judging panel recognises the enormous amount of time and energy applicants invested in their submission in 2004. We are hoping that our new two-step application process for 2005 will mean less work for applicants while still providing us with the information we need to judge and award the grants. Your feedback is always appreciated.
At the time of the launch, an online application form will be made available for the submission of an Expression of Interest (1st round of our new application process) to be received no later than 1st August 2005.
Once these Expressions of Interest have been processed, Voiceless will invite a number of selected applicants to submit detailed applications for the 2nd round to be received no later than 30th September 2005.
Please feel free to contact us prior to 4th July to make enquiries about the grants program, but note that submissions will not be accepted until that time. |
|
INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT - each issue of Voiceless' e-update will now include an 'international spotlight' on an animal protection issue from around the world. Voiceless' work currently focuses on animals in Australia. However, animals are suffering greatly in all parts of the world and there are so many important and urgent issues to address. Voiceless receives many requests to pass on information about international issues - please keep them coming - we will endeavour to spotlight them when we can!
VOTE FOR GLOBAL ANIMAL WELFARE STANDARDS AT THE WORLD ORGANISATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH (OIE)
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is campaigning worldwide to secure adoption of global animal welfare standards by the OIE’s 167 member countries when delegates meet in Paris from 22nd to 27th May, 2005.
The draft standards apply to animals during land and sea transport and at slaughter. There is little awareness of animal welfare needs in many of the OIE’s 167 member countries with little, if any legislation to help them. Adopted standards have the potential to secure large-scale animal welfare improvements, particularly in these countries.
Please write to Dr Gardner Murray, our Australian delegate, thanking him for his positive stance on standards and asking him to do all he can to promote their adoption.
Write to:
Dr J. Gardner Murray
Australian Delegate to the OIE
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia (AFFA)
GPO Box 858
Canberra, ACT 2601
Alternatively, if you would like to sign and send a CIWF postcard to Dr. Murray asking him to vote for the standards, please email animaux@alphalink.com.au stating your name, address and the number of blank postcards you wish to be sent.
As time is short, please act now to ensure your correspondence is received before the conference!
Links:
http://www.ciwf.org/home/news_oie3.shtml - CIWF's animal welfare standards initiative
http://www.oie.int/eng/bien_etre/en_introduction.htm - animal welfare and the OIE |
|
CONTACT US
Voiceless is always glad to hear from you and appreciates your emails and calls - please do keep them coming.
For general and/or grant related enquiries, please contact:
Elaine Morris - Communications Manager
elaine@voiceless.org.au
ph: 02 9357 0723
fax: 02 9357 0711
(Elaine is in the office from Mondays to Thursdays - for urgent matters on Fridays, please contact Katrina Sharman).
For media and sponsorship enquiries, please contact:
Ondine Sherman - Director
ondine@voiceless.org.au
ph: 02 9357 0703
fax: 02 9357 0711
(Ondine is in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays - for urgent matters on other days, please contact an alternate).
For enquiries about our legal arm, please contact:
Katrina Sharman - Corporate Counsel
ksharman@voiceless.org.au
ph: 02 9357 0713
fax: 02 9357 0711
(For other urgent matters, Katrina can be contacted as an alternate on Fridays)
If you or a friend would like to subscribe to the Voiceless e-update, please click here |
|
about us 
