BREAKIN' THE LAW!

Sometimes you just have to break the rules :-)

*Photo courtesy of Fabulous Animals

Good donkey!

Donkey eating poster of Egyptian dictator Sisi

 :-)

Environment minister to export crocodiles for hard currency

Mada Masr
Egypt’s environment minister proposes breeding crocodiles for export to boost economy

Wednesday November 30, 2016

Jano Charbel

Amid the dollar crisis and a shortage of hard currency, Egypt’s environment minister proposed the creation of crocodile farms on Lake Nasser in the country’s far south to breed the reptiles for export, estimating each crocodile could fetch up to $US400.

Khaled Fahmy’s proposal followed calls from parliamentarians, including the head of the parliamentary committee for energy and the environment Talaat al-Swedy, for tighter regulation of the illegal hunting and trade of crocodiles in Egypt.

The Nile crocodile was previously endangered, and categorized as an Appendix 1 animal, meaning it could not be legally traded, Fahmy explained in a televised interview with the privately owned Al-Hayah satellite channel on Sunday. But, in 2010 this was lifted, categorizing Nile crocodiles as a threatened species that can be bred and traded with permission from authorities, in keeping with the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which Egypt is a signatory, Fahmy added.

In order for Egypt to obtain permission and an export quota from CITES for the trade, farms for the breeding of Nile crocodiles must be established and approved.

A timeline for developing the farms and commercial export plans are to be established in coordination with an unnamed “national company,” which Fahmy said is due to present to CITES representatives soon. The ministry is also planning to bring in experts from Zambia and South Africa to act as supervisors for the initiative.

Egypt does not require parliamentary approval for the export of crocodiles, according to the minister, as regulations are included within the CITES protocol, which Egypt ratified in 1978. If approval is not given from convention officials, however, the trade is considered illegal.

A representative from the Environment Ministry, Loay Sayed, told the privately owned Youm7 news portal on Sunday there are currently around 3,000 crocodiles in Lake Nasser.

After news spread that the Nile crocodile is no longer classified as an endangered species, a number of fishermen began to illegally hunt them in Lake Nasser, selling them for around US$8. If breeding is regulated, they are likely to have higher quality skins that could fetch significantly more, Fahmy speculated.

The minister informed the parliamentary environment committee that he plans to have the crocodile farms ready for global exports within four years.

The first stage of the initiative will involve breeding the reptiles, Sayed said. After that, by 2018, the eggs will be transferred from the nurseries, before the crocodiles are exported, around 2020.

The Nile crocodile is the second largest living reptile on earth, after the saltwater crocodile. On average, adult Nile crocodiles measure between three and five meters long, and can weigh between 200 to 750 kilos.

Although they are mostly found in Lake Nasser, there have been individual crocodiles sighted in the Nile as far north as Cairo.

In the 1950s the species was almost extinct, but after the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, and their subsequent isolation in Lake Nasser, Nile crocodiles started to make a comeback.

 

The Nile crocodile was revered in ancient Egypt, depicted in images of the crocodile-headed deity Sobek.

Slaughtered & skinned, carcasses of 250 donkeys hazardously dumped without burial in Sohag

Mada Masr
250 skinned donkeys dumped without burial in Sohag

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Officials in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag are conducting investigations to identify those involved in dumping the carcasses of 250 skinned donkeys disposed of on a desert road near the town of Akhmim.

Local media outlets reported that investigations began on Monday, following the discovery of the donkeys the previous day. Graphic photos circulating on social media revealed how the animals were dumped in the open, after being slaughtered and skinned for their hides, which are increasingly being marketed as cattle leather and sold at marked-up prices in domestic markets.

The 250 carcasses were found in one concentrated area along a small desert road near the village of Kola without a safe or hygienic burial, in close proximity to agricultural and residential areas.

Sohag Governor Ayman Abdel Moneim has mobilized a team of veterinarians and environmental specialists from the governorate to safely dispose of the decomposing bodies at a safe distance away from any inhabited areas, reported the privately owned Youm7 news portal.  

The veterinarians noted that the donkeys had not been slaughtered for their meat, but had only been skinned for their hides, a recurring phenomenon in Egypt.

Less than one month ago, three men in Old Cairo were jailed after being apprehended in a tannery with the carcasses of four donkeys. Another three donkeys were found alive in the tannery.

The men reportedly confessed to selling the donkey hides for substantially marked-up prices at local leather shops and tanneries, which market them as being leather from cattle. Jailed pending investigations, they added that they were not slaughtering or selling the donkeys for their meat.

An unnamed veterinarian from the Ministry of Agriculture told local media outlets last month that the average price of an adult donkey may exceed LE200, yet some farmers and vendors of donkeys – who have traditionally supplied local zoos and circuses, to feed lions and tigers – are currently demanding nearly 10 times that price per animal.

He pointed out the sale of donkey hides is far more profitable than the sale of their meat, particularly amid market indicators of a growing overseas demand for donkey hides. Among the countries with the largest demand for donkey hides is China, where they are increasingly used to manufacture gelatin, glue and medicines.

2015: A Year of Animal Headlines in Egypt

Mada Masr

A year of animals making headlines

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Jano Charbel 

Animals proved to be veritable news-makers in Egypt in 2015: From monkey antics on the streets of Nasr City to aggressive airport cats, and from calls to give up meat in protest at rising prices to calls to take up camel meat as an alternative, animals made headlines throughout the year.

Local residents chasing monkeys in the streets in Cairo’s eastern district of Nasr City came to public attention in March. Over a dozen moneys escaped from a veterinary hospital, wreaking havoc, jumping onto ledges of buildings, windowsills, and into trees.

Some outlets reported that 14 monkeys – with others reporting 18 – escaped together from a clinic into a highly populated urban landscape.

Some residents of Nasr City reported that these monkeys rampaged through their urban gardens, eating and destroying some vegetation.

Some users of social networking sites in Nasr City called for poisoning the monkeys while others proposed non-lethal ways of capturing them, such as luring them into cages.

A local resident tweeted: “We should welcome the monkeys and let them live among us like the street dogs do.”

How these monkeys were ultimately captured or apprehended was not subsequently reported on.

Then there was the donkey who made his way to Cairo International Airport on April 27. After breaching fences and several lines of security, the donkey reportedly found its way to Terminal 3. For two days, the donkey lingered around the parking lot as talk-show hosts discussed the issue.

 
“The donkey was chased out by the police and security personnel at the airport,” a statement by the airport police force's general directorate read, adding that the donkey is believed to belong to one of the garbage collectors who frequent the area surrounding the airport.

A source at the airport described the incident at the time to privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm as an “unprecedented scandal,” that can only be an indication of “serious flaws in the performance of the Ministries of Interior and Civil Aviation.”

According to the anonymous source, it was not the first time this donkey had breached security surrounding the airport.

Photos and videos of the donkey wandering through the parking lot at the airport were widely circulated on social media platforms. Several users suggested that even donkeys want to leave the country. “Donkey emigration … The donkey headed to Terminal 3 in hopes of leaving Egypt and its problems behind.”

In a separate incident in Terminal 3 of Cairo Airport, the chief quarantine officer there told media outlets that four EgyptAir employees were injured when a male cat violently attacked them on September 30. This cat had been sheltering in a storage room, and reportedly pounced upon the employees as they were attempting to remove some items from storage. Scratching and biting them, this aggressive kitty left his mark on the four employees.

Associated Press reported that authorities and staff were trying to capture a “rebellious feline” running around through the airport – ahead of a visit by representatives of the International Civil Aviation Organization. AP reported that as of October 28, airport staff were still chasing the cat around, unable to catch it. Passengers and airport staff had reportedly been feeding it.
AP added that airport authorities had declared the cat to be “persona non grata.”

Camels also captured headlines this year. An escaped camel ran loose through the new campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC) in May after jumping out a vehicle and then running through the campus gates.

When American porn actress Carmen De Luz posted a photo of herself in skimpy underwear on a camel during a visit to the Giza Pyramids, local media outlets reported that she was shooting an erotic film by the historic site.

 
An investigation ensued and De Luz apologized on her Twitter account for any inconvenience that her actions may have caused.

In other news, camel meat — which is not widely consumed as a source of protein in Egypt — is being promoted as an alternative to beef and other red meats, which is growing increasingly costly and beyond the means of many Egyptians. The state-owned Al-Gomhuriyya has recently been encouraging the expansion of the camel meat industry, indicating it currently represents just 2 percent of domestic meat consumption.

Some nutrition specialists have even been questioning the use of donkey meat as a source of protein. Speaking on a talk-show broadcast on Al-Assema satellite channel in June, Hussein Mansour, president of Egypt’s National Food Safety Agency, commented that donkey meat is indeed mixed-in among other meats and sold at some markets and restaurants in order to cut their expenses.

The only way to ensure that donkey meat — or that of cats or dogs — was not being mixed into minced beef was to conduct DNA tests on samples, he said.

With the cost of beef ranging between LE35 per kilo (for lower grade meat) and LE100, a popular campaign emerged in August to boycott red meats altogether.

The campaign dubbed ‘Balaha Lahma,’ which loosely translates as “Let’s forget about meat,” encouraged consumers to refrain from purchasing meat with the aim of forcing the meat industry to bring down its prices to affordable levels. While this campaign picked up steam prior to the Eid al-Adha holiday when sheep are traditionally slaughtered, and even received mainstream media attention, it does not appear to have made much of an impact on the market prices of meat, or the population’s dietary habits.

Also related to the Eid al-Adha holiday and the consumption of livestock, poet Fatima Naoot stood trial this year on charges of blasphemy due to her critical online postings regarding the ritual slaughter of animals on this Islamic festival commemorating Abraham’s sacrifice of a sheep rather than his son.

Naoot’s trial began in January, after a lawsuit was filed against her by a conservative lawyer. In late 2014, Naoot had written, “Millions of innocent creatures have been driven to the most horrible massacres committed by humans for ten and a half centuries,” Naoot wrote. “A massacre that is repeated every year because of the nightmare of a righteous man about his good son.”

The blasphemy charges leveled against Naoot were subsequently referred to another court - for which she could face up to three years imprisonment.

During the last week of this year, the appointment of a new governor in Alexandria has reportedly led to a policy of killing street dogs after complaints from residents about the dogs’ growing numbers and their barking.

The governor denied these allegations while municipal veterinary employees also denied their involvement claiming that they had stopped the practice of killing street animals with shotguns since the year 2011.

A hashtag emerged on social networking sites denouncing the new governor, “The Governor of Alexandria is a Butcher.”

Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that some animal rights activists even sent photos of these dead dogs to Vladimir Putin’s Facebook page as the Russian president is apparently a major dog-lover.

In March, a rare verdict against an act of animal cruelty was issued, in which the Shobra al-Kheima Criminal Court sentenced four men to three years imprisonment in association with the brutal killing of a street dog.

Another act of animal cruelty — resulting in the deaths of several cats — was not referred to trial. In November, cats that had previously roamed throughout the grounds of Cairo’s Ahly Sporting Club were found dead at the entrance.

The club’s media spokesperson initially denied the incident, claiming that a contracted company had only drugged the cats, but protests by club members and animal rights activists against Al-Ahly Club’s management ensued.

According to media reports, after samples from two of the dead cats were sent for veterinary forensic analysis, the results revealed that poison had been put in their food. An official complaint was filed at the local police station, and the Qasr al-Nil District Prosecutor was notified of the vet’s findings, but the incident has not been referred to trial.

Cat killings, reportedly on a larger scale, have also taken place at Cairo’s Gezira Sporting Club in previous years. Similarly, this has resulted in outrage and protests, but no trials.

However, a cartoon animal – Mickey Mouse — did result in a trial and sentencing this year. In October, a military court sentenced 22-year-old army conscript Amr Nohan to three years imprisonment after he digitally altered an image of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, putting Mickey Mouse ears atop his head, and posted it on his Facebook account.

Nohan was then charged and reportedly found guilty of defaming the president and conspiring to overthrow the ruling regime.

1 year in prison for dressing donkey like General Sisi

Daily Mail

The law is an ass! Farmer is jailed for a year in Egypt after naming his donkey after country's former military chief

April 1, 2014

Simon Tomlinson

An Egyptian farmer has been jailed for a year for naming his donkey after the country's former military chief who is running for president.

Omar Abul Maged was accused of 'humiliating the military' for calling his animal Sisi after Abdel Fatah al-Sisi who led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Maged, 31, put a military-style cap on his donkey, covered it with a poster of al-Sisi and rode it through his village in protest against the decision to oust Morsi last summer.

Andalus Center for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies told the Egypt Independent that it 'raises doubts about the fairness of the judiciary system in Egypt'.

The conviction comes after the judiciary last week sentenced 529 pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood defendants to death in a massive crackdown on government dissenters.

The electoral commission announced on Sunday that Egypt's presidential election will be held in late May, finally setting dates for the crucial vote widely expected to be won by al-Sisi.

The commission set the first round of voting for May 26 and 27, with results expected by June 5.
If a second round is necessary it will be held by mid-month with results announced no later than June 26, the commission said.

Al-Sisi sparked protests after announcing his bid for office, but is widely expected to win.
His victory would restore a tradition of presidents from military backgrounds that Egypt had for all but one year since 1952, when officers overthrew the monarchy and became the dominant force in politics.

Egyptian Arrested for Naming Donkey After General Sisi

Associated Press

Egyptian Arrested for Naming Donkey After General

 September 21, 2013

MARIAM RIZK

CAIRO (AP) - A farmer in southern Egypt was arrested Saturday after putting the military chief's name and an army-style cap on his donkey, and eight people were detained elsewhere in the country for spraying anti-military graffiti.

The arrests point to a long-standing taboo in Egypt against criticizing the country's powerful military, an offense magnified amid the ongoing crackdown on supporters of the country's ousted President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.

The farmer, Omar Abul-Magd, was arrested late Friday in Qena province for allegedly insulting Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi when he rode the donkey through town, reported the state MENA news agency.

El-Sissi led the military's popularly-backed ouster of Morsi in July and has been hailed by millions of Egyptians as an icon. His detractors, however, have called him a traitor and a murderer for overseeing the coup and the subsequent attacks on Morsi's mostly Islamist supporters, including an August raid on two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo that set off violence that killed hundreds nationwide.

At least one of the eight people arrested on Saturday for spraying graffiti against el-Sissi was detained in Cairo, said security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Earlier this week, a military court ordered five pro-Morsi protesters to serve from two to three years in prison for chanting against the army. Three of them were tried in absentia.

The court said the defendants spread hate speech and false rumors against the military through loud speakers.

Rights advocates fear Egypt's interim, military-backed authorities are using a state of emergency that grants police broad powers of arrest to silence critics.

For decades, any critical mention of the country's army or its top generals was unthinkable in Egypt.

After the popular uprising that ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, criticism of the military grew as Egypt's powerful generals took over. Activists began lashing out at the ruling generals for trying civilians in military courts and using violence against protesters.

In one case, former lawmaker and rights advocate Ziad el-Oleimi came under fire for referencing an Egyptian proverb that some saw as an insult to then-military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. El-Oleimi, who was earlier beaten by military police during a protest after he was elected to parliament, had referred to Tantawi as a donkey during a rally.

Foreign 'spy' arrested, slaughtered & eaten after his release

The Independent

Fowl play? Stork suspected of spying in Egypt was 'killed and eaten' by villagers 

An Egyptian wildlife organization claimed on its Facebook page that the unfortunate bird was 'killed and eaten by local villagers'

September 8, 2013 

Rob Williams

An innocent stork detained by police in Egypt on suspicion of spying has been found dead following its release amid reports it was killed and eaten by villagers.

Authorities in Egypt detained the bird after a man in Egypt’s Qena governorate, some 450 kilometers (280 miles) southeast of Cairo, spotted the animal - described by officials as a swan - among a group of four others.

Suspicions were raised after the man noticed an electronic device attached to the suspected winged infiltrator. The bird was captured and delivered to local police where experts investigated the electronic device and identified it as tracking equipment.

The stork, which was incorrectly referred to as a swan throughout its detention, had been tagged by zoologists to track its migration.

Officials said the device, which had been attached to the bird by French scientists, had stopped working when the bird crossed the French border.

The exonerated bird was released into a conservation area in southern Egypt. According to reports it flew onto an island in the Nile where it was subsequently killed and allegedly eaten by villagers.

Nature Conservation Egypt, who had worked to secure the release of the bird, claimed on it Facebook page that the bird was "eaten by local villagers."

Mahmoud Hassib, the head of Egypt's southern protected areas, denied that the bird had been eaten, though said he didn't know an exact cause of death.

This most recent unwarranted avian arrest follows an incident earlier this year in which an Egyptian security guard filed a police report after capturing a pigeon he said carried microfilm.

Amid continued unrest in Egypt conspiracy theories abound. In 2010 an Egyptian official said Israel-controlled sharks could be involved in a number of tourist attacks in the Red Sea.

Elsewhere, in December last year an eagle carrying an Israeli tag was touted as a Mossad spy in Sudan and just last month a Kestrel was held in Turkey on suspicion of working for the Israeli security services.

*Photo courtesy of the Associated Press

Teacher charged for insulting Morsi on 'sheep' question

Ahram Online
Egyptian teacher accused of insulting Morsi over 'sheep' question

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Ihab El-Islamboly, an English teacher in Alexandria, was questioned by police on Tuesday for setting a "politicised" exam question that "insulted" President Mohamed Morsi. 

The question that angered some members of the Alexandria Teachers' Syndicate which El-Islamboly says is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, included the quote, "In the animal kingdom, a sheep cannot be king."

"El-Islamboly told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that he had not intended to insult the president, who hails from the Brotherhood, and the quote is part of the curriculum.

"What part of this quote has anything to do with the president or politics?" asked El-Islamboly. Critics often accuse Muslim Brotherhood members of acting like sheep for slavishly following the orders of the group's supreme-guide.

On Saturday, the deputy education minister in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate ordered the punishment of an English teacher for including a question involving an imaginary dialogue between ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his successor Morsi.

Early last year, a teacher in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya was penalised for setting an exam that included a question equating protesters with criminals and another requesting an essay congratulating the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party for winning a majority in Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls.

Egypt police send pigeon to criminal investigation

Al Arabiya News

‘Stop the pigeon’: Egypt police sends bird to criminal investigation department

Monday, 14 January, 2013

In an incident that brings back old mailing tools, a pigeon was found Sunday in Egypt’s northeastern city of Qalyubia with a written message tied to one of its feet and a microfilm attached to the other, a local newspaper reported.

The Qalyubia Security Directorate said that a security guard called Saber Ibrahim filed a report (numbered 302) after he found “an injured homing pigeon carrying a message that reads "Islam Egypt" and a microfilm,” reported Ahram Online.

“The pigeon has been sent to the Criminal Investigation Department while the microfilm has been sent to the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) to be developed,” reported the website.

The pigeon was seized and taken by police, along with the letter and the film, to a criminal laboratory for investigation. No further details were announced until now.

However, the incident prompted some sarcastic responses among Egyptian Twitter users, who associated the letter to President Mohamed Mursi, who has always referred to his Freedom and Justice Party’s Renaissance Project as a bird that would fly Egypt’s obstacles.

Egyptian activist Samira Ibrahim tweeted saying: “Breaking: The Renaissance pigeon is now under custody and is held in Shubra police department.”


*Photo courtesy of AFP

PETA Campaign in Egypt Ends with Catfight

THE DAILY NEWS EGYPT
Animal rights campaign ends with catfight

July 18, 2010

Marine Weitzmann and Jon Jensen


CAIRO: A fistfight between two women broke out in Mohandessin Sunday, after two-dozen Egyptians scrambled to collect free vegetables given away by an animal rights group.

Two activists from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) group distributed free chili peppers near Moustafa Mahmoud Square to promote vegetarianism, in an event billed “Spice Up Your Life, Go Vegetarian.”

Female representatives from the American-run organization, wearing short-skirts and red leggings, distributed pamphlets in Arabic and English, which said that eating meat can lead to “environmental destruction, cruelty to animals, health risks, and poverty.”

Ashley Fruno, a Canadian employee of the Asia-Pacific branch of PETA, said the event was meant to be “a sexy and funny way to promote a serious subject.”

The onlookers, many of whom seemed more interested in free chilies, eventually dashed to fill their bags from a large pile of peppers PETA had placed on the ground.

The rush for chilies led to the scuffle between the two women, one of whom was knocked to the ground while both had their headscarves pulled off, angering several onlookers.

“It is shameful that they put food on the ground for us, as if we were animals. They are disrespecting Egyptians,” screamed one man, who only went by the name Mahmoud.

Imported red chili peppers sell for LE 7-10 per kilogram on average in Cairo.

Mohamed Hassan, 32, gathered three crates of peppers to use for cooking in his small street-side restaurant.

“Of course, I will not stop eating meat, however expensive it may be,” said Hassan. “But now I have a whole lot of peppers, which should last me at least three days.”

Despite the fight, PETA said they achieved what they had come for.

“We are used to getting negative reaction from some people,” said Nadia Montasser, a local PETA media representative. “As long as we get the message out, it's a success.”

Remember the Extermination of Egypt's Pigs

The Animal Welfare Examiner:

Shocking slaughter video lands Egypt in hot water, again


The killing of all these pigs is far more tragic than M. Alaa Mubarak's death.

None of these 300,000 helpless animals was infected with swine-flu.
This is mass murder; and it is mass theft - since the owners of these pigs are either inadequately compensated, or are not compensated at all.

Moreover, the World Health Organization has declared that these actions are "entirely unnecessary because the illness is being spread through humans."

These unwarranted actions display the utter stupidity, inhumanity, and brutality of the Egyptian government.

JC

Calling Cops "Pigs" is an Insult to Pigs

Why are the police called "pigs?"