‘Watch what you eat – it’s driving elephants, jaguar, bees and bison to extinction’

New book claims modern diets to blame for disappearance of Earth’s species as farmers lobby to use toxic herbicide

JUST about every meal people eat is contributing to an alarming decline in the world’s wildlife species, experts have warned.

The claim comes in a new book, backed by Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley, that predicts two-thirds of species will be extinct within three years thanks to modern farming.

British farmers are lobbying to be allowed to continue using herbicides suspected of being linked to cancer, but have dismissed concerns that they are contributing to the worldwide crisis.

Use Brexit to ban live exports, say UK activists in global protest over animal transport

Worldwide campaign calls for end to long-distance live-export trade

TWENTY years ago this week, nearly 70,000 sheep perished when a ship carrying them caught fire in the Indian Ocean, in the world’s worst live exports disaster.

Since then, little has changed for the millions of animals worldwide sent on grim journeys overseas – prompting thousands of people in at least 70 countries to lobby their governments, demanding a ban on the trade.

In the first ever global drive against long-distance live transport, campaigners from Canada to Kazakhstan, Israel to Argentina and Sierra Leone to Australia, called on their governments to halt animal exports and instead ship out carcasses.

In London, hundreds of people marched on Westminster to tell MPs the vote for Brexit means the UK can and must introduce a ban.

Tesco reported to watchdog over ‘grossly misleading’ claim that buying milk helps cows

Thousands object to supermarket giant’s slogan, saying taking calves from mothers is cruel

The Tesco signs that caused upset

SHOPPERS concerned about animal welfare are fighting Tesco over advertising that claims every pint of milk bought helps care for dairy cows.

More than 7,000 people have signed a petition calling on Britain’s biggest supermarket to drop the in-store signs, saying they are misleading because the chain does nothing out of the ordinary to aid cow welfare.

And campaigners have reported Tesco to the Advertising Standards Authority, saying the slogan “seeks to create an image of Tesco dairy products that simply doesn’t reflect reality”.

‘Scandalous’: EU ‘turns a blind eye to illegal death trucks in Turkey

Mass suffering and neglect in heatwave exposed by major investigation into live-export trade – and crisis is due to worsen after Ireland signs new deal

A COW licks at the metal bars of the lorry, desperate for any precious drops of water; behind her, another sits helpless with painful skin sores, too sick and helpless to even stand. Some animals are foaming at the mouth from dehydration and hunger. A heifer shakes from heat exhaustion.

They are among the hundreds of thousands of animals exported each year from Europe and abandoned for days on end in sordid, illegal conditions just inside Turkey.

While the world’s attention is on migrants using Turkey to get into Europe, a five-year investigation has revealed how bureaucracy and neglect at the country’s border leave large numbers of live sheep, cattle and goats suffering in overcrowded lorries parked in soaring heatwave temperatures for a week or more.

European Union chiefs are being accused of turning a blind eye – and British campaigners on both sides of the EU debate claimed the crisis proved their case.

Superstars of screen and science battle to save endangered lions

Virginia McKenna and Stephen Hawking call on David Cameron to ban importation of body parts

Virginia McKenna led the march on Downing Street

VIRGINIA McKENNA OBE, the iconic Born Free star, Braveheart actor James Cosmo and Professor Stephen Hawking have joined forces to call on Britain’s Prime Minister to ban the importation of lion “trophies” — in an effort to save the world’s last big cats from being wiped out by hunters.

McKenna said: “I refuse to believe our Government will not act,” as she led a rally of up to 1,000 people at Downing Street.

The veteran actress and campaigner, who with her husband Bill Travers founded the charity Born Free, handed in a letter to David Cameron, also signed by Professor Hawking, Cosmo and a host of other celebrities, politicians and charity leaders.

Pressure on auction houses for ivory sales ban

Campaigners staged a protest outside Christie’s auctioneers in London

LEADING auction houses are coming under pressure to end sales of ivory, as conservationists are stepping up the battle to have the trade outlawed in Britain.

Dozens of campaigners staged a protest outside Christie’s auctioneers in London, calling for an end to all ivory trade, which they say is speeding the extinction of elephants.

Supporters of the Action for Elephants group rallied, waved placards and handed out leaflets to publicise the role that ivory sales in the UK play in allowing poaching to continue.

Battle as Yorkshire chicken farm accused of ‘illegal cruelty’ aims to expand

A typical densely stocked chicken shed

FARMERS running two poultry businesses where evidence was found of widespread suffering and risks to human health are aiming to open a third – giant – chicken farm, prompting angry objections.

Undercover investigators at one unit found birds showing signs of serious welfare problems.

At both businesses, the investigators also saw dead chickens piled up, exposed to the open air, which they said was illegal and posed a hazard to human and wildlife health. Birds were also seen collapsing under their own body weight.

But the bosses of the firm now want to build a third centre, which would rear more than a million-and-a-half birds each year.

The one word doing the greatest harm of all to animal welfare

Leather jackets and bags aren’t necessary but nobody’s perfect

I HAVE a friend who recently gave up all animal products, including consuming dairy and eggs and wearing leather, after watching the Cowspiracy film and reading about how these products support the entrenched cruelty of modern factory farming.

She had long before that been vegetarian, but had shied away from making the leap to being vegan because she had an enormous fondness of and nostalgia about a much-loved “cool” leather jacket and a favourite pair of well broken-in leather shoes. Given that my friend wasn’t going to ditch these possessions, surely, she reasoned, adopting a vegan diet would make her a huge hypocrite.

Luna Lovegood gets mad: Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch acts against live export trade

Evanna Lynch stands up for farm animals

WHAT would Luna Lovegood make of it? Her Hogwarts classmates would most certainly have raised an eyebrow, being more familiar with dragons, hippogriffs and unicorns than farm animals.

But Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch took a stand for tens of thousands of Europe’s calves, as she launched a campaign against their export to “shocking and brutal” fates.

Miss Lynch – famous for playing the blonde Ravenclaw pupil with “a permanently surprised look” in the wizard-school films – was acting on behalf of the real-life animals sent beyond EU borders and subjected to “horrendously cruel” handling and slaughter.

The day the world united in defence of superior species (and humanity)

Protesters in London spoke passionately of the need to prevent elephants’ extinction

EVERY now and then, the world has a unifying moment. A moment of a mass, shared sense of joy and inspiration, of determination and hope. The fall of the Berlin Wall was one; the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony was one. This, a weekend in 2015, might just have been another.

In cities around the globe, tens of thousands of people took to the streets with one shared aim – to save two of the planet’s largest and most awe-inspiring species from extinction.

Many had travelled long distances to be there, had booked hotel rooms and cancelled social events for a march that they said it was a privilege to attend.