Cat breeder dumps FeLV positive tortie cats in a field to die

A Cats Protection volunteer was angered by what very much appears to be an informal cat breeder dumping FeLV positive cats in a field to die. FeLV positive cats are those that are suffering from the feline leukaemia virus which can't be cured in which usually is fatal within four years.

Fearful, dark tortie cats with FeLV dumped in a field in the UK to die. Two have been euthanised. Image: Breckland Cats Protection.

It's a killer and a lingering death and what happened is that the Cat Protection charity euthanised two of the cats because the disease was too advanced, they say, and a third is too ill to be blood tested at the moment. 

Feline leukaemia virus is transmitted through saliva, blood and other body fluids. The allegation is that there is an informal cat breeder out there (there are too many) near Didlington, near Mountford, in the UK, who bred what appears to be dark tortoiseshell cat informally and because of bad management the cats contracted this viral disease and then he or she decided to simply throw them away which they did by putting them in sealed crates secured with zip ties and placing those crates in a field in Dinnington.

Fortunately, the farmer found them on October 17th and they were taken into the care of Breckland Cats Protection.

The volunteer, Ms Lardner, who I refer to is urging anyone who has recently bought kittens from this breeder to take their cats to veterinarian for a checkup because it seems very plausible that other cats from this person have also contracted this fatal disease.

Lardner said: "I'm just so angry, I can't get over it. This is the result of breeding and the market being so saturated."

Yes, the last thing that British society needs is a person informally breeding cats to make a few quid and doing it in such a bad way that they cats are unadoptable and have to be put down. And even if the cats were healthy, it's wrong. There are too many cats in shelters needing homes for an irresponsible, unscrupulous person to create more.

Final point: I have referred to "an informal breeder" because there are non-purebred cats i.e. moggies. If there were purebred cats this would have been a formal breeder, normally registered with a cat association and they would then be complying with much higher standards. It is the ad hoc cat breeders trying to make a few quid who really are a problem. It is not illegal to do this but it should be.

The report comes from the Eastern Daily Press.

Location: Didlington, Thetford IP26 5AT, UK

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Greta Thunberg is persona non grata with the Israelis

Greta Thunberg's desire and motivation to be completely impartial and to walk the walk rather than simply talk the talk has tended to get her into hot water which, for me, deserves all the praise in the world. She would make a great politician and I hope that one day she goes into politics because politics needs cleaning up and she's the kind of person to do it.

Greta Thunberg with poster. She is now persona non grata with Israel. Image: Twitter.

On this occasion, she was not supporting climate change activists which is her forte and which has put her in jail on occasions; she bravely posted a pro-Palestinian message on social media last Friday. It featured a photograph of herself and three other campaigners.

One campaigner held a sign saying "Free Palestine". Another held a sign which said "This Jew stands with Palestine" and fourth called for "Climate justice now".

The caption on Thunberg's Twitter X post said: "Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and/or civilians affected."

In response, Israel's Foreign Ministry said: "Greta Thunberg, Hamas doesn't use sustainable materials for their rockets which have butchered innocent Israelis. The victims of the Hamas massacre could have been your friends. Speak up."

She replied: "It goes without saying - or so I thought - that I am against the horrific attacks by Hamas."

As I said, she is impartial and balanced. She just wants the truth and she wants things done right and she doesn't like to see injustice.

Israel's education ministry has announced that Thunberg is now disqualified from being portrayed as "an educational role models" in the Israeli school curriculum.

Officials described her position as outrageous and "[an] apparent inability to differentiate between good and evil".

They say that she is disqualified from representing "the forces that strive for positive change in the world. Her image cannot be a model for our students, many of whom saw her as [an] inspiration."

Dr Eli David posted on Twitter: "Today Israel Ministry of Education decided to remove Greta Thunberg from all climate studies. Shame on them to include her to begin with. When you endorse wokes, you wake up with terrorism supporters."

RELATED: Digging out a young cat from a bombed out building in Gaza

Comment: Israel is so defensive emotionally about what they are doing. They just cannot take any criticism whatsoever. Thunberg is being fair and honest in my view. Israel should be prepared to accept criticism when deserved. Hamas have been barbaric. Israel's response has been too destructive.

Another high-profile person to criticise Israel indirectly in an effort to assess the current war fairly is UN chief Antonio Guterres who has put the war into context as he sees it. 

He said that the Hamas raid "didn't happen in a vacuum". In a rapid response to that, Israel has called for the UN's Secretary General to resign or be sacked. Once again, a very defensive response to a respected person trying to discuss this horrible war in a balanced way.

Antonio Guterres also said that: "The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."

Eli Cohen, the Israeli Foreign Minister cancelled a meeting with him and asked: "Mr Secretary-General, in what world do you live?"

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Animal Armageddon in China when 1000 cats were destined to be slaughtered and sold as pork or mutton

NEWS AND OPINION: I have used the phrase "animal Armageddon" for a good reason because that is what it looks like to me, an outsider, looking in at both the cat and dog meat market in China. In this story - and it is not exceptional - we have Chinese police aided by animal activists rescuing about 1,000 cats from a truck en route to a slaughterhouse (reports CNN).

Image in public domain.

If the slaughter of these cats had taken place - and it is likely that some were feral/stray and some were domestic cats (pets) - their meat would have been marketed as pork and/or mutton in order to maximise the profit margins that these unscrupulous traders hoped to have achieved in this obscene business.

There appears to be a massive amount of illicit trade in cats and dogs for their meat and fur in China. There is simply no way to control or monitor it properly particularly as there are no general animal welfare laws in China. There simply isn't. There's no desire or motivation to protect animals in China in a general sense by the local authorities. 

This rescue is probably an exception and thanks to animal activists. They are brave and committed. This is a fairly new and welcome trend by the way. For many years there was no concern for these animals.

After a tipoff by the activists, a lorry containing 1,000 cats was intercepted by the police from Zhangjiagang, in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.

The animals were destined to be taken south which is the area where, to my knowledge, most cat and dog meat markets are situated. There'd be slaughtered in the south to be served up on skewers as pork and lamb as well as in sausages.

The rescued cats have been taken to a nearby shelter. It is estimated that the fraud would have netted as much as $20,000 for the unscrupulous traders.

We don't know if any arrests have been made. The activists first noticed nailed wooden boxes with many cats inside near a cemetery. The activists then patrolled the streets for several days and noticed that a truck arrived to ferry the cats to a slaughterhouse. They intervened and called the police.

An animal activist in China said that the traders in cat meat can sell a pound of cat meat for around four dollars by passing them offers pork or mutton.

The seizure of trucks by animal activists destined for the South in the cat and dog meat markets is not uncommon. You will see videos and pictures online of brave animal activists stopping and offloading trucks carrying a large number of cats or dogs in rusty old crates or boxes. The animals are rescued but the illicit trade continues in Guangdong, a southern Chinese province, and, to the best of my knowledge, the home of the cat and dog meat market.

There is a complete lack of will by the Chinese government to do anything about the obscene and barbaric dog and cat meat markets in the south. They are left alone by the authorities because they are regarded as a cultural phenomenon and not to be disturbed as I understand the situation. President Xi Jinping supports this animal cruelty. 

There is no recognition by the Chinese authorities of the cruelty that occurs in these marketplaces. It appears to be incidental and of no importance.

For people who support the cat and dog meat markets in China because they don't see any difference in these meat markets to the abattoirs and slaughterhouses in the West, I would like to inform them that cats and dogs are not killed under regulated conditions, relatively humanely, but there are simply bludgeoned to death or thrust into boiling water alive. They are skinned alive. The whole thing is something out of Dante's Inferno. It is remarkable that it still happens today in a country which has the second largest economy in the world.

I have always stated that the time has come for international intervention to stop this in China. China will argue that they should be left alone to do as they please because it's an internal matter. I disagree because when animal cruelty is on this scale, it becomes an international problem. The world cannot just look on and rub their hands and say it looks horrible. I want to see America and other countries adopt sanctions against China until they introduce animal welfare laws of a high quality and enforce those laws while simultaneously shutting down all the cat and dog meat markets and cat and dog fur trade in China. The whole lot should stop ASAP.

To animal advocates, and anyone with an ounce of sensitivity, the dog and cat meat markets of China are horrendous and obscene places which should have been banned decades if not centuries ago.

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Hockney cat sculpture created at art school in 1955 and given to a kind couple fetched £111,875 at auction

Sixty-eight years ago, David Hockney and his Bradford College of Art friend, Norman Stevens, were hitchhiking to London to visit exhibitions. It was raining and they were sheltering under the eaves of a house owned by Peter Richards and his wife alongside the A1 in Bedfordshire.

Mr Richards with the Hockney ceramic cat sculpture given to him by the artist for his kindness is providing shelter in the rain in 1955. Image: NationalWorld

The Richards felt bad for the guys and they invited them in to dry off and have a cup of tea. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and their kindness was not forgotten by David Hockney.

He gave them a sculpture of a ceramic domestic cat which was modelled on Mr and Mrs Richards' cat, it is believed. Hockney sculpted the cat in 1955 while still at art school. It is one of six created at college.

It measures 34.5 cm x 40 cm x 15.5 cm. The sculpture comes with drawings and plans for the artwork together with letters and cards sent to the Richards by the artist over the years. A friendship had been created.

Apparently, Hockney has always been interested in cats and they feature in some of his major works.

The cat sculpture was auctioned on October 24. It shattered the previous record of £100,000 set by similar David Hockney sculpture in June 2023.

Hockney cat sculpture and accompanying paperwork. Image: NationalWorld.

Mark Stacey of Stacey's Auctioneers & Valuers said that the artwork had exceeded all expectations.

He added that, "This was a fantastic result for the vendor who was present in the room and was auctioning the Hockney items to benefit his grandchildren. The cat exceeded all expectations and £111,875 is a record for a Hockney ceramic cat, superseding the previous price achieved at Christie's in June of this year. There was both online and telephone bidding from bidders in the UK and globally with it finally being sold to an anonymous UK buyer."

Hockney is one of Britain's most celebrated artists. He is 86 years of age as at the date of this post and he smokes. He dislikes the 'persecution' of smokers in the UK!

He says that when he is creating art, he feels like he is 30 years old. He is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. He's a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. He has used the iPad and Polaroid to create art.

Richards sold the sculpture to raise funds to give to their grandchildren. He is now in his 90s and lives in Thorpe Bay, Essex.

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Hamas massacres entire family leaving nervous puppy behind who was rescued (video)

NEWS AND OPINION: Fox News report of the plight of dogs on the Israel side of this war. The first is a sweet-looking and nervous puppy held by the journalist Trey Yingst. Hamas massacred his family. He was the only survivor. They lived near the Gaza/Israel border.  I have three feelings. First: great to see the news media focus on companion animals for a while although, secondly the Fox News anchor says that pets are less important than humans which is the conventional attitude but not for me!

Thirdly it is tremendously sad to see this traumatised puppy. One hopes that he gets over it in due course.

In the second part another rescued dog is presented to the camera by Barak Levi Segal. The dog is a survivor of a kibbutz that was invaded by the Hamas terrorists. He is very scared for obvious reasons. 

The dog is peaceful and small. He got lucky because he was fortunate to be found by a person sympathetic to dogs. The journalist rescued three dogs in all and the families of two were reunited with their dog after the rocket attacks. He also states that dogs were shot dead by Hamas.

The short video tells the story of the Hamas attacks on the villages near the border with Israel. It is a different perspective and I like to see it. Although as mentioned it is sad to see.

Dog rescued from the Hamas terrorist attacks on a village and Kibbutz in Israel near the Gaza border. This puppy was the sole survivor of an entire family massacred by Hamas terrorists.

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Note: please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.