Without incurring any injuries, a cat falls six stories and punches a hole in a car's rear window

NEWS AND COMMENT-BANGKOK, THAILAND: A tabby-and-white male domestic cat weighing 8.5 kg living in a flat on the sixth floor of a high-rise building fell off that building and bounced off a balcony on the third floor before smashing into the rear window of a car parked underneath the building which entirely shattered the window but the cat walked free without a scratch.

 The MG car. Image: Facebook (Apiwat Toyothaka).

Shifu after the fall. He's fine. Image: Facebook (Apiwat Toyothaka).

That sums up the story in one sentence but I'll add a bit of detail. His name is Shifu. The owner of the car, Apiwat Toyothaka, shared his experience on Facebook on May 27. He said that he was surprised to discover the rear window of his car smashed to pieces at 7 AM. 

He told a news media that the cat had fallen from the sixth floor as described. He found Shifu hiding under his car after he had jumped out through the massive hole in the rear window that he had created.

For some reason which hasn't been explained, Shifu was hanging by his nails to the balcony of his sixth-floor apartment. It looks as though he was taking a risk that he shouldn't have been taking. You know what cats are like sometimes. And he fell. Some people think that cats are so good at climbing and their balance is so good that they never fall. They do sometimes.

Shifu was x-rayed and the scans showed no broken bones. It's not actually completely true that he didn't suffer any injuries because he lost to claws although that minor injury was not due to the fall but I presume due to the fact that he was hanging on by those to claws until they broke.

He is behaving entirely normally and eating and toileting in the usual way. He belongs to another resident in the condominium that the car owner apparently knows as he lives there as well.

Want to get rid of your cat? Throw it out of a high-rise window. No problem. Legal in China

Chongqing, China - opinion: Yes, once again, I'm going to be highly critical of China in respect of their lack of animal welfare laws and their lack of respect on too many occasions for the sentience of domestic cats and dogs. They deserve to be criticised because the kind of cruelty we see on Twitter perpetrated upon these innocent animals is truly shocking.

The tweet:

#China: May 22, Chongqing. Pet cat was thrown to death by the neighbor. The owner: What kind of person can do such a thing? There's no legislation on cruelty to #animals. Those crazy people cannot be sanctioned.

Comment: I take that tweet to mean that the cat's owner threw their cat out of a high-rise window. I could be wrong but they threw the cat with such force that death was instant on contact with the ground due to blunt force trauma and catastrophic injuries. This happened by the way during Covid when some cat owners in China were anxious about getting Covid from their cat.

Without animal welfare laws, cat owners in China can simply throw their cat out of their apartment window hundreds of feet from the ground below. Job done. No problem. Within the law. There is no law. It is madness. It looks so completely wrong. It is completely wrong. The problem is that the people who do it do not see it as wrong. They see it as normal. This is because there has never been animal welfare laws protecting the general population of cats and dogs in China.

Cat owners and dog owners in China grow up without any real concept of what is legal and illegal in terms of animal welfare. There's just no norms to guide them on this. And their morality about cat and dog welfare is based upon a tradition that cats and dogs should be utilitarian. They should be useful. When they can't entertain anymore, they should be eaten.

This ancient tradition is gradually being eroded by modern life and the Internet no doubt has changed the minds of many thousands of Chinese people living in China but the vast majority of Chinese in China, it seems to me, just don't get the concept of animal welfare or that cats and dogs are sentient creatures.

If you asked them about the concept of sentience, they probably wouldn't know what you're talking about.

China: Angel of Death dog snatcher arrives on a bike to fire a dart into a street dog

OPINION: This is another way that cruel men travel around a big conurbation in China (perhaps in the north somewhere) looking for street and domestic dogs to snatch. They take them to the south of China, to the dog meat markets by lorry in the most appalling conditions. In this instance, this man who I have described as the "Angel of Death" is a pillion passenger on a small bike. 

They are searching for stray dogs and one turns up. They stop and the Angel of Death fires a dart into the dog who immediately collapses and is then taken away speedily. See the video below.

RELATED: 25,000-30,000 dogs are being slaughtered DAILY for food in China.

China: Angel of Death dog snatcher arrives on a bike to fire a dart into a street dog. Image: MikeB.

I have decided that he is using a tranquilizing dart of some sort rather than simply shooting the dog in order to keep the animal alive for the journey to the south where they are brutally killed as fresh meat. The great brutality of all this is that they kill them in the most heinous and sadistic way. 

It's as if the dogs have gone to hell. This is hell on earth for a dog and the devils are killing them. And the journey to hell on earth for a dog starts as we see in the video on this page.

In another video I show a couple of Chinese guys jumping over the wall surrounding a front yard to snatch two more dogs this time using dog arresting poles to drag them over the wall and into a van. Once again it is extremely brutal. You can see that video if you want by clicking on this link.

I am writing quite a few articles about the cat and dog meat industry in China because it needs to be highlighted. There are some very brave people in China who are protesting about the lack of animal welfare laws in China. There needs to be protests as well about the dog and cat meat markets in China and one day, when the world is a better place, when it is more civilised, the international community will put pressure on China to ditch these horrendous traditions which go back perhaps 2,000 years and which are now so out of place in the modern world.

Diabolical Australian shooters killing as many 'diabolical' feral cats as possible.

It is blood lust war on an unwanted animal. Sod the philosophical issues. Just grab the rifle and bullets and get out there in the Aussie outback and start taking pot shots at cats as fast and as furiously as possible. I can't watch the video. To sick and irritating for me. But it may interest some people and provide an insight into their thinking. Did I say 'thinking'? Not much deep thinking going on.

The caption to the video reads:

"In Shooting Cats, VICE set out to explore the consequences of Australia's feral cat plague, and confront the uncomfortable and violent realities of dealing with it. Most suburban Australians give feral cats little thought. But for residents of the country’s rural fringes, they’re a diabolical pest and scourge on wildlife. Found in 99 percent of Australia, they’re estimated to kill more than two million native animals a day. That devastation has seen Kangaroo Island local Barry Green declare a personal war against cats; trapping and skinning them, before turning them into hats and fridge magnets."

You can see that the people who made the video detest the feral cat. They don't ask deeper questions other than believe that the feral cats kills too many natives species. It would be asking too much for these ignorant shooters (they look a bit thick, don't they?) to think a bit deeper about the origin of the feral cat. Why are they there on their continent?

Because of stupid people; that's why. People like you. The cat is not naturally in Australia. They were brought there by settlers who let their domestic cats run wild and become feral. The early Aussie were stupid too.

As people created the 'feral cat problem' they have an obligation now to sort the problem. And as they are sentient beings the problem needs to be sorted humanely. But that simple truth escapes them entirely.

The point is that these guys love to shoot animals. It is a pleasure for them and the presence of the feral cat gives them a wonderful opportunity to satisfy their blood lust.

If it isn't the feral cat, it'd be the fox or the kangaroo. Just gotta shoot animals. Any animal will do but it has to be legal and it is legal to shoot feral cats in Australia.

What these guys are doing would be entirely illegal in the UK. They'd be in the criminal courts facing a year or more in jail for animal cruelty. Yes. Sounds weird right? But it is true.

The Australian animal welfare laws don't protect feral cats.

This is how Chinese thieves steal dogs for the dog meat market

The video is completely explanatory and horrific to any decent person. It shows a couple of men getting out of a van and climbing the wall surrounding a front yard in which are two pet dogs. They use dog catcher poles to capture the dogs and in the case of one of the dogs drag them over the wall with force by the steel collar around his neck. Horrendous. It could have killed the dog. Perhaps it did. 

Utterly, utterly brutal. By Western criminal standards these men are psychopathic bastards. They'd be in jail for several years if they did this in the UK and were caught and successful prosecuted.

The dogs are then driven in lorries in very cramped, rusty cages to China's south to the dog markets where their end will be shockingly brutal. My heart hurts for them. May they rest in peace. Bless them. As a wise person said, hell is empty. All the devils are stealing cats and dogs in China for dog meat and fur.

I won't say what I'd like to do to these men. It'd be as brutal as the abuse they mete out to the dogs.

China - cowcat's torture and 'murder' has sparked a mass movement for animal welfare laws

Animal advocates protest in China for animal welfare laws sparked by the sadistic murder of 'cowcat'. Screenshot. The cat's picture is on the placard in the picture.

NEWS AND OPINION: As I understand it, "cowcat" is the name given by animal rights protestors in China to a stray cat who was hideously tortured and then murdered after three days. And I believe that the person who did this is notorious now in China. He is a food vlogger (makes videos about food preparation). 

He is also a horrendously cruel animal torturer specifically against stray cats. He has created, I believe, a video game app in which the players have to kill domestic cats in food blenders and other disgusting ways. And I believe that he runs a gang of Chinese people living in China who enjoy cruelly abusing, torturing and then "murdering" cats in sadistic ways.

He has various names and these are some of them: Xu Zhihui - Xu Mouhui - Jack Hot Strip - Jack Spicey Strip. His photo is above.

I have a quite lengthy page on this man which you can read by clicking on this link. There was an allegation that he was beaten up by a gang of other men. But I'm not sure that is accurate. It does indicate, though, that he is notorious in China.

The legacy that this sadistically 'murdered' cat might leave China is that Beijing introduces some sort of umbrella animal welfare laws to protect cats in the future. I would very much doubt that that will happen but it just might eventually happen if enough people for long enough protest and make the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) sit up and think about what they're doing.

The CCP refuse to enter the 21st century in terms of animal welfare protection. They prefer to remain in the dark ages and stick with tradition. The tradition of China 2000 years ago amounted to cruelty to animals and that tradition has been brought forward to the 21st century. It is time for it to stop.

The culture has to change and one way to change culture is to introduce laws which force people to change their ways and develop new habits: habits in which animals are treated as sentient beings to be respected.

San Francisco a no-go because of mass crime. What affects us affects our cats.

I see a parallel between San Francisco, USA and UK. The end result is similar.  An opinion piece in The Times (author Rohan Silver) reports that the radical Left running San Francisco has basically decriminalised crime and underfunded the police. 

San Francisco is now lawless and crime-ridden thanks to policies that decriminalised theft and the push to defund police.

This was the Left's reaction to way that Republicans managed the city which resulted, arguably, in the police being too heavy-handed and too many people being prosecuted, convicted, and sent to jail. America has a very high jail population.

San Francisco a no-go because of mass crime. What affects us affects our cats. Image: MikeB.

The city administrators, started in 2014 with a radical law known as Proposition 47 which in effect decriminalised thefts up to $950. This meant that most robberies and shoplifting incidents weren't investigated.

My mind goes to the police in the UK about 10 years ago saying that they wouldn't bother to come out to investigate shop thefts of the value of £200. Same difference. When you decriminalise minor crime, you promote crime generally.

Also, legislation in America granted early parole to violent offenders which reduced the sentences for serious crimes. This also encourages crime. In the UK, imprisonment as a punishment for crime is underused and the sentences are too short. Same difference again.

"So many stores shuttered in downtown SF. Feels post-apocalyptic" - Elon Musk

San Francisco is becoming 'post-apocalyptic' according to Alan Musk. This is because so many stores are shuttered in downtown San Francisco. The city's population has fallen by a quarter of a million people since 2020. The current population of San Francisco is 830,000. This is the biggest percentage decline of any American city.

Affluent residents are leaving for the suburbs or other states. Those who are staying and who can afford it are paying for private security. There are lower tax revenues, "dead end streets and fewer jobs, all making life even harder for those at the bottom". The idea was to try and improve their lives.

It seems that the Left running San Francisco overreacted to heavy-handed law enforcement and police brutality combined with "appallingly high incarceration rates".

One shop owned by the business 'Target' which is located in downtown San Francisco is robbed at least 10 times a day! Many companies owning a number of retail outfits are closing those shops or planning to do so. This is due to incessant thieving.

Where I live, there is mass shoplifting in supermarkets when customers use self-checkout machines. I watch them do it as I am scanning and paying for my purchases. Same difference.

When you hollow out a beautiful city like San Francisco through bad management you affect people generally and you affect their domestic cat companions. That is the relevancy of this article to this website.

Duck down industry in China is unconscionably cruel. Listen to their cries.

This is a video from PETA. It is hard to watch as usual. They say you should listen to the soundtrack. I haven't. I can barely look at the first three seconds of the video. It is horrendous. And yet people in the West rely upon this when they buy their duck down duvets or clothing insulated with down. Nobody should be buying duck down duvets. They should buy synthetic insulation.

WARNING: take deep breath and steal yourself if you feel that you are up to watching this rank cruelty. Shame on these people.

PETA exposed so-called responsible down standards farms live plucking geese. Another scam in this world full of scams. In a world getting worse with more and more objectionable human behaviour.

This live geese feather plucking has been going on for donkeys years. It is a process known as "live plucking". Producers developed international standards claiming that they were more responsible which did not include live plucking. 

You can see a screenshot of the video by clicking on this link. It's on another page as there are advertisers on this page.

But when PETA and PETA Asia visited farms associated with these responsible companies, they uncovered this animal cruelty.

They also tell us that 80% of the world's down and feathers used in clothing, sleeping bags and duvets come from China.

The investigators working undercover saw workers ripping geese's feathers out leaving bloody open wounds while the birds were fully conscious. Many of the bird struggled and cried in terror and pain they say. Other birds just froze; paralysed with fear.

To stop the birds from fleeing, the workers stepped on their delicate wings and necks and bound their feet together. They sometimes put them in choke holds while ripping out their feathers and swinging them about by their wings. When released, the geese cried out loudly and ran back to their flocks.

Any geese and chicks who are injured and sick are left to die a slow death. Dead birds were left decaying in crates and ponds or tossed around like trash according to PETA's report. This is China. This is duck down. This is bird hell.

When you are lying in your bed under your beautiful and expensive duck down high-quality duvet bought in Harrods, think about these ducks. You are sleeping under their pain.

China celebrates the domestic cat in huge cat wall murals and yet is simultaneously and culturally cruel to them

OPINION: China celebrates the domestic cat huge cat wall murals and yet is simultaneously and culturally cruel to them far too often with no laws to protect them.

The photos are on Twitter. The murals seem to me to show a schizophrenic attitude towards the domestic cat in China. China's culture states that companion animals need to be useful and if they can no longer be useful, you can eat them. Not good and a violation of the unwritten agreement between domestic cat and human.

And the simple fact that Beijing obstinately refuses to create animal welfare laws strongly indicates a lack of respect for the cat, dog and other sentient creatures.

What kind of developed country refuses to enact animal welfare legislation? A backward one. But China is not backward. They are very advanced in many respects.

The problem is that the CCP (中國共產黨) is rooted in the past in respect of attitudes towards animals. The culture is rooted in tradition and you can read about the Chinese tradition concerning animals by reading what Ai Weiwei says. He is the famous Chinese contemporary artist living in Portugal. He does not fit in with the Chinese way of life. Click here for his thoughts.

Tradition holds back the development of more advanced and enlightened thoughts on animal welfare. 2,000 years ago, the word was far crueller to animals than today. China in rooted in that era.

Ms Wang met a cat seller on the sidewalk in China

OPINION: Once again, I can't look at the video below. Here's an insight. If you write about China's relationship with domestic and street cats as portrayed on social media IT CAN HARM YOU. Yes, very much so. If you are sensitive to the sentience of animals. If you care about animal welfare as I do. And as many others do as well.

Ms Wang met a cat seller on the sidewalk in China. Screenshot.

I feel a duty to spread the word about what is happening in China. It is one of those countries which throws up some horror stories of animal cruelty. This can only happen under an attitude that in general disrespects animals. Pakistan is another country which is woefully out of step with the world in this respect and very backward.

This disrespect is SCREAMED out from China to the rest of the world by the stark and entirely unacceptable fact that they don't believe in animal welfare laws to protect animals. There are almost none and there no umbrella animal welfare law such as we see in every country in the West.

Animal protection through legislation is a staple of all developed countries. Not so for China, the country with world's second largest economy and destined to have the largest in the not-too-distant future. 

This is not an omission borne out of carelessness but a deliberate act by Beijing to allow the Chinese culture to thrive which includes cruelty to animals.

International pressure needs to be applied to the PRC (People's Republic of China) to change their ways. To upgrade themselves and drag their sorry asses into the 21st century.

The tweet

Animal lives don't seem to matter. They are often treated as commodities, without compassion. Right now, life for cats seems to be very dangerous. The story: Rescuer : I feel very pitiful. May 13, Changde, Hunan, China. Ms. Wang met a cat seller on the pedestrian street.

Location

The video

Photo of street cat in China should leave us feeling concerned

This is a straight forward photograph of a street cat in China, somewhere. It should not worry us but it concerns me because I've just been reading and writing about a monstrous individual who likes to torture and kill street cats in China. You can read about this man if you want to buy on this link but it's unpleasant although there are no photographs which might harm you psychologically.

Street cat in China. Image: What's on Weibo.

The picture that you see on this page accompanies an article written about 3 years ago which tells the story of a Chinese security guard pouring scalding water over a pregnant cat. another psychopathic individual who gets kicks from extreme violence against cats. 

The story went viral on social media and there was a call for animal welfare legislation in China which trended on Weibo.com.

It takes extreme animal cruelty to provoke Chinese citizens to demand animal welfare laws which should be entirely acceptable and which should have been in place donkey's years ago.

China is out on a limb in respect of animal welfare. All abandoned or homeless animals - almost always cats and dogs - are highly vulnerable to becoming the victim of extreme torture or turned into a meal in China.

There is no value in street cats or sensitivity towards their sentience in China. They are garbage. Rubbish. Trash. You can do what you like with them.

Although there must be many Chinese who love cats and care for them well. It's just that there are far too many who are the opposite. And no protection for them under the law.

Xu Zhihui - Xu Mouhui - Jack Hot Strip - Jack Spicey Strip leads a gang torturing/killing street cats in China

NEWS AND OPINION: Xu Zhihui - Xu Mouhui - Jack Hot Strip - Jack Spicey Strip leads a gang torturing street cats in China and he created a video game app in which cats are cruelly killed in kitchen blenders. These are ALLEGATIONS. He did it for real! He killed a cat in a blender and videoed it and uploaded the video to Chinese social media.

Update: I've been told by a reliable associate who knows more than I do about this evil gang of cat torturers that the man I've mentioned Xu Zhihui is not the true leader of this gang but a person living in America who funds them. I am confirming this because it sounds very strange to me.

The real leaders are in hiding and they use the name Xu Zhihui to post videos. I don't know whether this is a real person or a fictional person. Probably the latter. It is symptomatic of this story that it is shrouded in smoke and mirrors which what I'd expect.

Xu Zhihui - Xu Mouhui - Jack Hot Strip - Jack Spicey Strip. Gross and disgusting cat torturer and killer who needs to be stopped asap.

Gang? torturing and killing street cats

The story isn't clear but in my current opinion, Xu Zhihui is the leader of a gang (not sure if it's a gang or he kills alone) of Chinese men who like to torture and kill street cats in China. He is a food blogger/vlogger and he runs multiple accounts. He has a large following on a Chinese website called Bilibili with 400,000 followers and a Weibo account with over 20,000 fans. He posts videos of himself cooking (cats??). 

That seems to be his mainstream activity but I would allege that as a side activity to entertain himself and his gang of merry murderers, he commits the most heinous animal cruelty against street cats.

Cowcat was brutally tortured for 3 days by a famous food blogger. The Cowcat case kind of leads and symbolizes this "animal rights movement" in China.

I briefly saw a picture of one of the cats he horrendously tortured (I think the above tweet refers to it). He tied the cat up and cut off the cat's paws and then burnt the cat to death. And there is an uploaded image of this. It's something I shouldn't have seen but I just bumped into it. There is another below but I have pixelated it.

There is a current movement in China for animal welfare laws due to the hideous torture of this cat. If Beijing does create laws because of this cat's torture it would be the best legacy any cat has given to the world ever.

Different names

The problem with this man is that he has various names and personas and therefore is very difficult to know where the truth lies. For example, another name is Xu Mouhui (online name @jack spicy strip).

And I've written about this man before firstly in respect of a video game which I think he created. I don't know for sure but I think he did. It's a video game in which the player kills cats by putting them in blenders and in other cruel ways.

Beaten up

It fits in very nicely with his general modus operandi (MO) which is to torture cats and kill them. And I've seen on Twitter allegations that he killed cats by putting them in microwaves or one of his gang did. And also, I have a page on another website in which I have a video showing him allegedly being beaten up on the streets of China. Note: this video may show a gang beating up someone else in Holland! See what I mean. It is all smoke and mirrors.

It appears that he became well-known enough to be recognised and he wasn't just known for his cooking but also for his cat killing and torture.

No animal welfare laws China

The great difficulty with this man is stopping him. This is because in China they have very weak animal welfare laws. There is no umbrella animal welfare law which protects animals in general. This is shocking in itself. In fact, it is as shocking to know this as it is to know that this disgusting man allegedly tortures and kills cats.

But perhaps he does it because he knows he can get away with it. It is just not illegal to do it. However, my research on a Chinese website, Weibo.com tells me that the police are involved (but in what way?) and although there is no penalty for abusing stray cats and dogs 'without owners' (as they say) it may be against the law to upload videos of animal abuse because it is a breach of the peace. It disturbs society and undermines the cohesion of society. That, as I understand it, maybe why his activities could be illegal in China.

Apology

He apologised but can we believe that he is sincere? He asked to be given another chance. And he said that he was willing to bear all the consequences of his actions. He posted this apology on April 27 on his Weibo channel. 

On that channel he writes:

I am "Jack Hot Strip" Xu Zhihui, and I feel very ashamed, remorseful and sorry for my behavior of abusing cats and taking videos, grafting videos of online cat abuse and sharing in QQ groups.

You can read the apology and see a disgusting video (click here) in which I believe his apology is written out but, in the background, out of focus, is a video of a cat being abused. Thankfully it is out of focus but even then, it is horrifying and shocking.

Weibo post

On Weibo below this post (poor translation from Chinese) is the picture below which I have partly pixelated.

Jack Spicy Strip only admits to abusing cats, without mentioning the industrial chain formed by shooting cat-abuse videos, have these audiences investigated? Nearly a thousand demons in the group are quick to enjoy the abuse and mutilation of weak lives, and dare not imagine how twisted and ugly souls are covered under human skin, this is only the tip of the iceberg that has been exposed, there is no cost of crime, there will always be abuse and mutilation in the dark places!!!

That link also takes you to his channel on Weibo.com. If you are a Chinese speaker then you will be much more able than me to understand what is going on.

The trouble is that Weibo.com translates the Chinese into English and it is very poor English. In fact, it is unintelligible. But the general drift is that people don't believe his apology is genuine.

My thanks to whatsonweibo.com and Twitter.

Cats don't want to gender transition

This is a discussion. The title sounds mad. It might be. But I don't think it is. The point of the title is that there are no signs in behavior to tell us that some domestic cats think they are in the wrong body and want to transition from male to female or female to male. Gender transitioning is big human news. But it is exclusively about humans. It is a human condition. The desire to gender transition can only come from a higher non-instinctive intelligence. 

Cats don't want to gender transition. Image: MikeB

Animals behave instinctively. Instinctive behavior does not provide an avenue in which thoughts about gender transitioning emerge.

Thoughts about gender transitioning requires the intelligence and social pressures that only humans enjoy or submit themselves to.

Instinct is natural. It is a part of nature's way. But we should all respect people's thoughts and desires. If a woman wants to be a man and human society can help, we should help. 

But human society should make damned sure beforehand that the woman genuinely wants to transition because the transitioning process is irreversible in truth and young people pass through phases when their thoughts change frequently.

They are in the process of finding their character and ideas. They can be influenced by others and society's pressures.

I'm not against gender transitioning. I'm just for doing it with extreme care. That means doing it when the person is more mature and emotionally settled. What age might that be? Not sure. Thirty maybe. Yes, much older than is currently the case. And there must be neutral, unbiased advice available.

Bethany

Bethany feels that she was rushed into taking testosterone and having a double mastectomy. She is now in the process of 'detransitioning'. She said:

I do regret the loss of time. I am 26 and think 'what have I done?' I wish someone had advised me to properly explore my feelings when I was 19. I was offered no psychotherapy. It is only now, at the age of 26, that I feel I am a mature adult, and it is no coincidence that it is now I am realising that transitioning is no solution.

She now knows that she is gay and not meant to be a man.

She is one example of a number of individuals who are detransitioning. Not good. Too rushed. Too many societal pressures and 'experts' with their own agenda to push onto others.

Human minds can be fragile and fraught; more so in the 21st century with tons of stuff on the internet.

Humans are more intelligent than cats. They are more vulnerable to misleading thoughts that are not instinctive. Cats rely on nature's instinct. It is rock solid.

Carbon footprint equivalent (CO2e) of a pet cat and dog

We should all at least be interested in global warming. Better still be concerned if not greatly concerned - as many youngsters are as they'll be facing the consequences in years to come.

In that vein, it is useful to look at the carbon footprint of pets. They do contribute to global warming just like humans as the food they eat and the products that we buy for them have an underlying carbon footprint.

Overall, the carbon footprint of pets is enormous.

UCLA researchers calculated that meat-eating by dogs and cats creates the equivalent of about 64 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, which has about the same climate impact as a year’s worth of driving from 13.6 million cars. - Zero Smart

Here is an infographic on the topic:

Carbon footprint equivalent (CO2e) of a pet cat and dog. Infographic by MikeB

Suppressing our carbon footprint

What can we do to contribute to suppressing global warming as pet owners? We can buy pet products which are not made from plastic which is made from petroleum.  There is an added benefit in not buying plastic toys for cats. Cats can't destroy plastic toys that are meant to substitute prey animals. This leads to boredom. Environmentally beneficial cat toys made from sustainable materials will normally be more prey-like as they can be damaged. This might be more engaging for the domestic cat.

Carbon offset is one thing we can do such as doing other things which minimises our carbon footprint. You can plant a tree in your backyard for instance. If you have a backyard.

Get rid of the car! If you live in the UK, the government wants us to dump our cars because of extensive 20 mph speed limits. Use Uber instead or bike to the shops or get a bus. That would be a form of carbon offset to counteract your pets contribution to global warming.

It is hard to reduce a pet's carbon footprint in terms of food, I feel. There is one controversial thing: buy vegan cat food. Sounds mad but it works. DON'T FEED YOUR CAT VEGAN FOOD! But commercially made dry, vegan cat food contains all the nutrients needed. Plant protein substitutes animal protein. Nutrients are added in.  That would reduce a pet's carbon footprint. Check it out.

A vegetarian cat? No. But manufactured vegetarian cat food containing all the necessary nutrients. Yes.

Carbon dioxide equivalent - CO2e

CO2e stands for carbon dioxide equivalent. It is a metric used to measure the global warming potential (GWP) of different greenhouse gases relative to carbon dioxide (CO2). The concept of CO2e allows for the comparison of the warming effects of various greenhouse gases based on their ability to trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere over a specific time frame, typically over 100 years.

Different greenhouse gases have different heat-trapping abilities and lifetimes in the atmosphere. For instance, methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas that has a higher heat-trapping capacity than carbon dioxide but has a shorter lifespan. CO2e provides a standardized measure that converts the warming potential of all greenhouse gases into the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same warming effect over a given period.

By expressing emissions in CO2e, it becomes easier to compare and aggregate the total greenhouse gas emissions from different sources, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and others. This metric is commonly used in climate change research, environmental assessments, and carbon footprint calculations to quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

The Age of Stupid

This is a film on Amazon Prime about the stupidity of humankind in allowing global warming to take place. It is hosted by Pete Postlethwaite.

And here is Pete on making the film. He was a great actor. Much admired.

Interspecies allogrooming

Interspecies allogrooming occurs when animals of two different species groom each other. This is mutual grooming. It may be the case that one member of the couple grooms the other more often than the other grooms them. So, it might not be entirely mutual.

In all cases it is an altruistic animal behaviour in which one animal grooms the other without expecting or demanding anything in return (unconditionally). They give it to them voluntarily and with pleasure. But it can be entirely mutual most often when the same species engages in allogrooming such as between two domestic or feral cats who are friendly with each other.

The unconditional nature of allogrooming must seem special to humans as we nearly always give conditionally even if it is not said but simply in the mind of the donor.

In this instance we see a group of cows frantically allogrooming a ginger tabby cat who must be very familiar to them because he lives in and around their barn. It's probable that the cat sometimes grooms the cows but because of size difference the effectiveness of a cat grooming a cow is going to be far less than a cow grooming a cat!

This cat has pretty well been licked all over within about 15 seconds thanks to the attention of their cow friends. I wonder how a cat feels when they are receiving the saliva of another species? They seem to accept it entirely which I find slightly strange because domestic cats are fastidious auto-groomers (self-grooming). They are very concerned about their personal hygiene.

You would have thought that they might only want their own saliva on their fur coats but apparently not. You see lots of dogs licking cats, normally in a home where there are cats and dogs as family members.

Perhaps the bigger animal takes on the bigger role in allogrooming simply because it is more effective if they do it.

I have seen some amazing interspecies relationships even with dolphins befriending domestic cats. Under those circumstances it is obviously impractical for the marine animals to groom a domestic cat but they can kiss each other! I've seen that.

The same would apply to birds such as crows befriending domestic cats, which I have also seen. You might see crows nibbling a domestic cat's fur as their form of allogrooming. This would possibly be effective in getting rid of ectoparasites such as ticks and fleas on their skin.

There is almost nothing better than a beautiful interspecies friendship. We should remind ourselves that this is exactly the relationship we have with our cat companions.

Criticising Patrick Gower for advocating shooting feral cats in New Zealand

Paddy Gower - I'm told on a news website - has 'issues' with feral cats. He thinks that they are dangerous pests and that they should be shot dead ('hunted'). They should be hunted to extirpation. I can't read the article on their website because I live in a region of the world where it is not published. I have no idea why they restrict publication of this site to certain countries. That seems bizarre to me.

Patrick Gower. Image: Twitter. His face is as unattractive as his attitude towards feral cats.

Paddy Gower's attitude towards feral cats is also bizarre. Actually, it's more ignorant than bizarre. But then again, it should be added that a lot of New Zealanders (Kiwis) dislike feral cats to the point where they think they should be shot. 

Simply do away with them. It doesn't matter whether it's cruel or whether they are euthanised humanely. They actually prefer the former method because it's quicker and cheaper. The objective after all is, as mentioned, extirpation of the entire species from their country.

This is along the lines of Australians. It's a cultural problem. They ignore the central aspect of their inhumane attitude which is that they, New Zealanders, put the feral cats there in the first place. They are the creators of the so-called "feral cat problem".

When a person creates a problem, they have a duty to clear up the problem. And when the problem concerns sentient creatures, they have a parallel duty to clear up the problem humanely. That is the moral obligation. They entirely miss this critical point. That's why I have called them ignorant and which is why Paddy Gower is ignorant. Yes, strong words but my words are very much in line with his words. I chose my words carefully. He didn't.

You do not advocate the hunting of feral cats. If you do that you are advocating animal cruelty. And perhaps more importantly, you are encouraging people to take pot shots at a cat at a distance. Some of them will be indoor/outdoor domestic cats and therefore owned by a New Zealander. That would be a crime. The crime of criminal damage as well as a crime under the country's animal welfare laws.

You cannot advocate shooting feral cats. Period. It is an entirely unacceptable behaviour.

Paddy Gower is advocating potential criminality in his shoddy statement.

Patrick Gower (born 1976/1977) is a New Zealand political journalist and National Correspondent for Newshub (formerly called 3 News). Prior to his current role he was Newshub's political editor. - Wikipedia.

Beautiful Bengal cats kept in ugly and cruel conditions

NEWS AND OPINION: This picture in the news today caught my eye for the simple reason that we have a couple of beautiful Bengal cats struggling to extricate themselves from ugly conditions under which they were kept by a man who has been prosecuted under animal welfare legislation in Scotland. 

It always astonishes me how people can be so cruel to domestic cats and dogs. And this behaviour is highlighted (but no worse for this reason) when the animal concerned is a beautiful Bengal cat. It is the juxtaposition of beauty and ugliness which makes the point.

Beautiful Bengal cats kept in ugly and cruel conditions. Image: Crown Office.

The cats that you see were kept captive at a farm in Perthshire, Scotland. The man involved is Daanyaal Chowdhury, 30. He ran a chaotic and hazardous kennels for dogs and cats. The police attended his kennels in October 2020. They found a diseased German Shepherd dog called Sophie and the general conditions were wet and filthy. The animals were dirty with urine and faeces covering them. A veterinarian examine 32 dogs, 17 kittens and 16 cats at this shabby property. One of the kittens had to be euthanised. 

They found many animals with dermatological, respiratory, ophthalmic and ear-related diseases. Mr Chowdhury was sentenced after being found guilty last Thursday. He admitted causing the animals unnecessary suffering. He's been banned from keeping animals and placed under a supervision order for a year and ordered to undertake 90 hours of unpaid work.

Just another example of a negligent and abusive breeder who sold animals for profit and exploited and abused them. He probably presented himself to the world as a successful businessman. But behind-the-scenes was this neglectful and harmful set of kennels containing distressed animals. He sold working dogs for security purposes. No doubt he also sold purebred cats.

Note: the story does not tell me that these cats are Bengal cats but I am convinced that they are. And the man was a breeder of purebred animals for profit. It all stacks up. This is an opinion piece based upon the news. I wish to stress that point.

My cats mouth is "spotty" and looks strange to me. I'm concerned.

The picture comes from Reddit.com again - a good source of questions about cat appearance and behavior. The problem stated in the title is one which crops up from time to time on the Internet. It can look a little concerning because cat owners expect the inside of their cat's mouth to be pink because the mucous membrane there is normally evenly pink. 

Pigmentation in the mucous membrane of a cat's mouth. Image: Reddit.com

But sometimes the cells of the mucous membrane can be black because of the production of melanin which is the same pigment which colours the hair strands. It's all perfectly normal. They look a bit like freckles inside the mouth. This is not a health problem in any shape or form. Sometimes there are large blotches of black mucous membrane and sometimes you might see little dots of pigmentation along the gum line. No problem.

It is nice that the owner of this cat who posted the picture on the Reddit.com website is asking if other people are concerned about the appearance of her cat which she must love and care for well.

On a slightly different topic, it seems that the interior of his mouth is pretty healthy too! Sometimes you see some quite bad inflammation of the gums due to gum disease which in turn is due to calculus building up around the gum line. 

Tragedy as female cat suffers catastrophic reaction to general anesthetic.

This contains bacteria which causes the inflammation. It is very hard, as we all know, to clean a cat's teeth! That's why they end up going to the veterinarian for teeth cleaning which, you might already know, carries a health risk because they have to anaesthetise the cat and there is an approx. 1 in 400 chance of the anaesthetic damaging the cat's brain which can render them blind and even kill them (click the link above for a tragic example).

What is this strange looking cat with odd ears?

This picture is on the Reddit.com website and the person who posted it said that this is a 'very rare and strange cat'. It is a strange-looking cat (but not very rare) because the photograph captures nicely, almost in silhouette, the curled-back ears. It looks like everything is against what we normally associate with the domestic cat appearance with their ever-alert ears pointing forwards to collect the sound waves heading towards them.

What is this strange looking cat with odd ears? Image: Reddit.com

Domestic cats have really good hearing, better than human hearing. Their large ear flaps which can rotate around the head thanks to the 30+ muscles controlling the them, help in picking up the soundwaves.

So, when the ears fold back like this it must affect their hearing and it is due to a genetic mutation. It does look very strange and a bit disturbing to be honest. But this is an American Curl purebred cat (probably) and if he is not a pedigree cat, he'll be a random bred version. The purebreds are deliberately created by breeders to be sold to the public.

It's quite a rare purebred cat and not that popular compared, for example, to the Persian or Maine Coon cat breeds.

It gives the cat a kind of devilish look and they come in shorthaired and longhaired varieties. Essentially this cat is a standard random bred cat with curly ears. There is nothing extreme about the cat's appearance.

American Curl cats are born with straight ears and the ear flaps do not curl back as you see in the photograph until the kittens are 2 to 10 days old. The kittens enter a transitional phase that lasts until about 16 weeks of age and during this time the ears begin to change. They may even 'uncurl' or curl more tightly.

The cat in the photograph has particularly curly ears and would be of show cat quality.

RELATED: American Curl Cat: 12 facts.

I've seen American curl ears that don't curl quite so much. The genetic mutation causes the cartilage in the ear flaps to take up this peculiar shape. The mutated gene is dominant.

As mentioned, the ears curl to different degrees and in the 1st° curl version of this cat, only the tips of the ears curl back. These cats are considered to be pet quality which means that they are not going to be show cats. The 2nd° curl of the ears is an arc ranging from 45° to less than 90°. Cats with secondary degree curled may be considered for breeding purposes but they are not of show quality.

Finally, the third-degree curl of the ears is the curliest. The ears curl from 90 to 180° with the tips not touching the back of the ear or the head and pointing towards the center of the base of the skull. Cats with third-degree curl combined with the correct overall look of the cat as per breed standard would be of show quality.

The cat breed was commenced when in June 1981 in Lakewood, California a longhaired silky black female kitten with these strange ears wandered up to the home of Joe and Grace Ruga. They named the stray cat Shulamith. This cat was the foundation cat for the entire breed and they set about creating the breed from thereon.

Six years later The International Cat Association accepted the American Curl longhair for championship status. They are now recognised for championship status in most organisations in North America.

Here is a calico American Curl. Photo by Helmi Flick. The ears are not as impressive.

Gen Z are trading marriage, homes and babies for cats and dogs

Since Covid (and continuing after Covid) Gen Z - those born between 1997-2012 - have traded all the usual milestones such as getting married, buying a home and having kids for a much simpler goal which is having a cat or dog or even two of them.

Image: MikeB

The trend started during Covid because they were allowed to work from home and it continues because a lot of them are still allowed to work from home although there is a backlash building from employers who often don't like it. Elon Musk says that it is a bad idea for productivity and creativity.

But the cost of living in the UK and perhaps elsewhere has encouraged Gen Z young people to downsize their traditional objectives.

A lot of people in Britain can no longer afford to buy a home because of the high cost of the deposit. It takes years to save the money or your parents step in if you are lucky. So, there are many more people renting.

Rental prices have gone up as a result. Covid started off the trend for adopting pets because of lockdowns. People had no work as they were on furlough and many, I presume, became a bit lonely and they had the time on their hands to look after a dog or cat.

The problem is that it was a temporary situation. There's not much planning going on here. If these people are forced to return to the office they can no longer look after their companion animal properly. There will be many distressed cats and dogs too. There are already reports of dogs being poorly socialised because of poor breeding and poor caregiving.

In addition, they often adopted companion animals without proper preparation in terms of learning about what is needed and in respect of dog and cat behaviour. And of course, the budgetary requirements are very important. A lot of people are sure have found out that they can't really afford to look after a companion animal successfully.

There is a lot of instability in the pet marketplace in the UK. But Gen Z think that animals are relatively cheap compared with the unaffordable traditional milestones. I would not call caring for a cat or dog cheap. If you have a couple of pets to care for it is going to be quite expensive. There is probably some misplaced expectations here.

Pets at Home (pet products chain in the UK) said that Gen Z are adopting pets earlier than previous generations because they are perhaps delaying child-rearing, marriage and getting a flat. They are using all their energy and resources to look after "fur babies" especially in urban areas.

RELATED: Pope Francis says that cats go to heaven.

I can remember the current Pope saying that he was concerned for the reasons mentioned. Italy needs young couples to marry and have children in order to raise kids who can contribute to the economy. And the Pope doesn't like people channelling all their family emotions into pets. He wants people to love other people rather than cats. I think he is out of touch!

What is a red tiger? A mystery cat.

Throughout history, there have been many mystery cats. These are terrifying creatures often created through superstitions, myths and legends handed down to generations probably for thousands of years. One of these mystery cats is the "Red Tiger". What does it mean? You will not find a lot about the red tiger on the internet. You will have to read the book Mystery Cats of the World by KPM Shuker to find out more.

However, I can rely upon a couple of experts, Dr. Desmond Morris in his book Cat World and Sarah Hartwell on her website messybeasts.com

Dr. Desmond Morris

He states that the plain red tiger was reported in 1936. It is a tiger with the usual background colour but no stripes according to him. This is a uniformly reddish-brown animal which was said to inhabit a region of open sandy tracts hence the colour of the coat which evolved. It provided better camouflage. Dr. Morris said that its existence has never been scientifically verified.

Sarah Hartwell

As usual, she has the best information on this topic as she is very good on weird and wonderful big cats, myths and legends and mutants!

On a webpage about mutant big cats and golden tigers, she has a reference to the red tiger. She refers to naturalist brothers, the Van Ingens. They apparently described the red tiger as a golden tabby tiger containing an excessive amount of red pigmentation. Or it might refer to a dark orange tiger.

The red tiger appears to be a modified variety of the standard Bengal tiger on my understanding. If so, it would have been due to a genetic mutation. She also refers to the 'Red Caspian tiger'. The picture on this page shows one.

The Caspian tiger is extinct. Rewilding the Caspian Tiger.

The stripes of the Caspian tiger are not the normal black colour but a little darker than the background colour. RI Pocock writing in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society believed that this tiger variation from the normal pattern is a partial suppression of the black stripes and white areas which approaches the "uniform tint of the lion and showing that the differences between the two species in this particular and not of fundamental importance".

That's not very clear but it was written a long time ago (1929). Pocock adds that:

"The red tiger, illustrated in our coloured plate….is a unique type with all the black pigment abstracted from the stripes, leaving them reddish-brown and only a little darker than the ground colour…The dressed skin of a tigress ticketed ‘Northern slopes of Mount Elburz’ and presented by Col. R.L. Kennion who told me it was presented to him by a native chief. This tiger, represented in the coloured plate, is of extreme interest. The ground colour and the pattern are as in the Afghan specimen; but there is not a trace of black on the skin, all the stripes being brown and indistinctly defined owing to their approximation to the general hue of the coat.” 

Sarah Hartwell's comment on that is that he might be referring to a golden tabby tiger. She also states that in Assam in 1929, two light-coloured red tigers which would now be called golden tabby tigers were shot. What a shame! Back in the day they thought nothing of it. Hartwell states that "according to the Van Ingen brothers who provided the photograph to the journal:

"The red tigress in the foreground was shot some years ago in Assam by the late Mr W G Forbes. The skin was white with the pale tan background and marked with fine stripes in a darker shade of tan. Curiously the three last stripes at the tip of the tail were black. The white tiger shown in comparison was pure white and marked with chocolate stripes. This tiger was shot by the Ruling Chief of Korea [i.e. Koriya princedom] also some years ago.” “Variation in Colour of Tigers and Panthers” by Van Ingen & Van Ingen, in JBNHS v.42:pt.3-4 (1942). J.C.Daniel provided further information on the skins in his 2001 book “The Tiger in India”: The two light-coloured tigers shot by W.G. Forbes of Hathikuli Tea estate in 1929 were described at the time of curing by Messrs. Van Ingen as ‘red tigers’."

I am grateful to Sarah Hartwell for this information. You can read more if you like by clicking on this link. The conclusion as I understand it, is that the red tiger was a colour morph and not as you might imagine a bright red tiger! It was a variation and the description of "red tiger" is perhaps misleading in this respect.

Horrible cruelty in China against a working donkey

The background music is obviously highly inappropriate but probably significantly in line with the attitude of the person that we see beating this donkey because they can't pull a weight which apparently is far too heavy for them (I can't watch it). This is a very difficult topic because it means we have to talk about cultural attitudes which are clearly in general completely different in China compared to the UK for instance.

The tweet accompanying the video from 'We Are Not Food' states:

Does this reflect China's attitude towards animals? Or would it be high time to start protecting these most vulnerable members of society? The choice of background music tells a lot - no respect for the suffering of a sentient being.

I have a nice article which I wrote some time ago which helps to explain these cultural differences and which you can read by clicking on this link if you wish. I think that it is a very enlightening article because it does mystify a lot of people in the West as to how people in China - I'm referring to some people in China - can be so brutally cruel to animals without any sensitivity towards their sentience.

It is a tradition. Culture is a tradition. And that is one of the great problems with relying on cultural attitudes to guide one. These cultures originate in a bygone era perhaps 2-3000 years ago. Attitudes then were far less sophisticated than they are now. A country's culture and attitudes must evolve with changes in modern life. This certainly applies to animal welfare.

Improvements in animal welfare are being made but too slowly. Traditional cultures are holding back improvement in animal welfare. It's time for change in that respect. It is time for a greater enlightenment about hanging on to old-fashioned cultures which foster animal abuse as we see in this distressing video.

Global warming news - having three dogs is as bad for the environment as taking a private jet

Everybody should be as aware as possible about their contribution to global warming because it will affect both us and more importantly our children and generations to come. Companion dogs and cats (as do other pets) contribute to global warming. They don't directly contribute to it. They might in a very small way such as flatulence (carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane)! But this is a reference to the food and products we give them.

Global warming news - having three dogs is as bad for the environment as taking a private jet. Image: MikeB

Farming beef is bad for the environment. Pet food contains meats from livestock albeit wasted livestock that would not be used to feed humans. And as wet cat food contains more protein i.e. more meat than dry cat food it is said to have seven times the carbon emissions of dry food.

We know that private jets contribute to global warming. There is a backlash against their use by people who are concerned about climate change. There are protests at airports for example.

New Scientist:

"An assessment of almost 940 kinds of Brazilian cat and dog food has found that producing wet food creates 690 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than making dry food"

Patrick Hansen

Patrick Hansen, the boss of Luxaviation has claimed that animals are as polluting as private jets. He is defending his industry. He was speaking at a Financial Times summit.

He claimed that one of his customers' jets emits just 2.1 tons of carbon dioxide a year which is about the same as the emissions of three pet dogs.

As mentioned, he is referring to the carbon footprint of pet food. He took his information, I believe, from consultant and writer Mike Berners-Lee who said that a Labrador has an annual carbon footprint of around 770 kg.

The major carbon footprint factor of keeping a dog or cat comes from their food but there are other aspects which contribute such as buying plastic toys and of course cat litter damages the environment.

Vegan pet food

Some climate change campaigners advocate that pet owners use vegan foods for their cats and dogs. This is a controversial area. For example, your average cat owner insists that their cat eats meat because they are obligate carnivores and therefore, they cannot be vegan.

However, there is a commercial vegan cat food manufacturer on the market right now doing quite well. They make it work by adding supplements to their food which ensures that it is balanced. Plants contain proteins therefore cats and dogs can obtain their protein requirement through plant-based foods to which you can add the required other nutrients to make the food balanced in terms of a domestic cat's nutritional requirements.

People who are anti-vegan cat food are not, in my opinion, thinking through the issue properly. Although, I don't feed my cat vegan cat food because I believe my cat needs wet cat food primarily with some dry. I also don't like the standard dry cat food because the pellets are too small. I always buy dental care dry cat food which is made up of much larger pellets.

Increase in dry foods?

The situation is a little bit worrying because dry cat food is popular as it's convenient. The general consensus is that it is not as good as wet cat food everything else being equal. It contains too many carbohydrates in order to make it. It's too unnatural. it is argued that it leaves cats permanently dehydrated. But global warming may drive people to purchasing it and the vegan pet food market is predicted to rise nearly 7% over the next decade according to consultancy Future Market Insights.

FYI - Joaquin Phoenix feeds his dogs a vegan diet because he is a staunch animal welfare advocate for which I admire him.

Wet food is worse for global warming than dry cat food?

The production and distribution of pet food, like any other food, can have an environmental impact. Factors such as ingredient sourcing, processing methods, packaging, and transportation contribute to the overall carbon emissions associated with pet food production.

Wet pet food generally contains a higher water content compared to dry food, which means it requires more resources for production and transportation. The manufacturing process of wet food involves additional energy for cooking, canning, and packaging. On the other hand, dry pet food generally has a longer shelf life and requires less packaging.

While it's difficult to determine an exact figure of how much more carbon emissions wet pet food has compared to dry food, it is plausible that wet food could have a higher carbon footprint due to the factors mentioned above. However, it's worth noting that individual brands and manufacturing processes can vary significantly, so it's essential to consider specific products and their environmental claims when making comparisons.

If you're concerned about the environmental impact of your pet's food, you can look for pet food brands that prioritize sustainability. Some companies strive to use responsibly sourced ingredients, implement eco-friendly packaging, or invest in renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprint. Additionally, considering alternative diets, such as homemade or raw diets, may also be an option for reducing the environmental impact, although it's essential to consult with a veterinarian to ensure your pet's nutritional needs are met.

For up-to-date and detailed information on the specific carbon emissions of different pet food types, I would recommend referring to scientific studies, industry reports, or consulting with experts in the field of pet food production and sustainability. - Source: Chat GPT.

Animal advocate Chris Packham has successfully sued Country Squire Magazine for defamation

Animal advocate Chris Packham has successfully sued Country Squire Magazine for defamation and was awarded £90,000 compensation plus more than £500,000 in an interim costs payment.

Update: Here he is:

Online hate and abuse ruins lives . . . we need better laws to protect us . A statement following my court case this week . . . and enormous thanks for all your support - it means a lot to myself , Charlotte and Megan . Thank you . Please RT pic.twitter.com/x9kkvzZzsh

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) May 27, 2023

Chris Packham. Photo Garry Knight from London, England - People's Walk for Wildlife 2018 - 04

Chris Packham is a well-known British animal advocate. He is high-profile. He fights for animal welfare. He claimed that he was libelled by a hunting publisher and he managed to crowd fund enough money to sue that publisher for defamation. He alleged that the publisher instigated a campaign of online abuse against him. He alleged that Fieldsports Channel created articles that he faked a death threat to himself.

He also sued the Country Squire Magazine. There appears to be a connection between Country Squire Magazine and the Fieldsports Channel. I can't find the connection on the Internet but it must exist. Are they one and the same legal entity? Update a few days later: I think it is because Mr Bean writes for this channel and he is a supporter of sport hunting. This in fact is why he hates Chris Packham so much. This is about Packham being against sport hunting and Bean and his co-defendant being pro-sport hunting.

As mentioned, he successfully sued Country Squire Magazine for defamation and the judge awarded him £90,000 in compensation plus more than £500,000 in costs. This was an interim costs order and therefore the overall award for legal costs is going to be higher than that.

As is not unusual, the judge's award for costs far exceeds the award for damages (compensation).

The compensation for libel damages (libel is a written form of deformation whereas slander is a verbal form of deformation) includes compensation for:

• Accusations that he lied in order to persuade people to donate money to a wildlife sanctuary
• Pursuing an agenda or campaign against Mr Packham and those who share his views which "focused on alleging fraud and dishonesty without any proper evidential basis".
• Accusations that he defrauded and manipulated people an attempt to raise funds for the Wildheart Trust which is a wildlife sanctuary on the Isle of Wight.
• Accusations that he lied when he said that gamekeepers on two Scottish estates were burning peat during the 2021 UM cup 26 a conference in Glasgow.
• Accusations that he acted fraudulently (was a fraud) and a "notorious liar" and as having an "obvious nastiness" and accusing him of playing the "Asperger's victim card".

Packham was successful in suing two defendants, Dominic Wightman and asset manager who is the editor of Country Squire Magazine and the writer Nigel Bean.

During litigation the defendants - the men named above - had indicated that they intended to put on the record in the litigation that Packham was a "rapist, a bully, and a pervert" despite there not being a shred of evidence to support this in order to try and scare Packham off from litigation. 

The judge said that this misbehaviour from the defendants is reflected in the damages awarded against them and that they will pay a higher proportion of Packham's costs than usual which are called indemnity costs.

The Country Squire Magazine has issued an apology on their website subsequent to this court judgement. They might struggle to pay these heavy costs combined with the damages. I don't know the resources of this magazine but if they going to have to pay more than £600,000 it's going to be painful at least and I wonder whether it might close the magazine.