VIVA! EMAIL NEWS ALERT



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www.savethekangaroo.com <http://www.savethekangaroo.com/>





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In This Viva!City: Day of Action against the Co-op: Doing it for the
Ducks!

Incredible Veggie Roadshow comes to Edinburgh
and Cardiff

Viva! rubbishes dairy claims

Stamping out exotic meats

Protecting animals in democracy

Animal protectors attacked during seal hunt

Veggie and vegan mothers - help needed!

Vegan Families Unite!

Your Viva!City





Day of Action Against the Co-op: Doing it for the Ducks!



As you probably know, last year Viva! exposed the appalling conditions
we found at the duck suppliers of Marks & Spencer and, after our Day of
Action - which saw demos outside 200 of their stores, they withdrew
factory-farmed whole duck from the shelves. But, as you probably know,
Viva! is never content to rest on its laurels: there is simply too much
animal abuse happening today to do that.



Once again, we've lifted the lid on the suppliers of duck meat to yet
another major supermarket chain: the Co-op. Despite their claims to be
an ethical trader, at their suppliers we found ducks crammed into dirty,
stinking sheds in their thousands; countless dying birds thrashing
around on their backs in distress, unable to right themselves;
insufficient clean water to bathe or preen properly; a duckling trapped
behind a pipe, left to die; and ducks incapable of walking, dragging
themselves along by their wings.



We want to persuade the Co-op to clear their shelves of factory-farmed
duck meat and prove that 'ethics' are more than just a marketing term -
and that's why we are holding a national Day of Action on Saturday May
21 2005. The more people who join us on the day, the louder the message
will be - and the Co-op will have to sit up and take notice. To find out
more about the day, how you can get involved and how to order our
specially designed Co-op materials go here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/ducks/coopdoa.html> .



Find out more about our investigations into the duck suppliers to the
Co-op here <http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/ducks/coop.html> .



Complain to the Co-op and speak up for the ducks!:



Free phone customer services on 0800 0686 727



Send a virtual postcard here <http://66.175.52.253/coop/postcard01.php>
(it only takes a second and every single one counts!)



If you bank with the Co-op find out what you can do here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/ducks/coopbank.html> .





Incredible Veggie Roadshow comes to Edinburgh and Cardiff!



Viva!'s Incredible Veggie Roadshow will be rolling into Edinburgh on
Saturday 30 April 2005, and then on to Cardiff on Saturday 14 May. We
will be visting both cities soon to entice the locals - as ever, headed
by our fruity Carmen Miranda lookalike! The Bristol, Brighton and
Solihull shows were a massive success - and this month's show in
Manchester continued to exceed all our expectations: over 1,300 people
streamed through the doors, packing out the talks, cookery demos and
food tastings! The Roadshows are designed to bring the vegetarian
message to people right where they live - and the feedback is now
rolling in, with many people telling us how the shows have helped them
dump meat and ditch dairy!



Find out more about it and see the full list of shows here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/roadshows/edinburgh.html> . If you can offer us
help for any shows - we would especially like to hear from you if you
can help publicise the event locally by putting up posters or handing
out invites, or if you can help out on the day itself - please get in
touch <mailto:angie@...> . It's incredibly rewarding to see so
many people interested in vegetarianism and the shows have proved so
busy so far that we really need all the help we can get!





Viva! rubbishes dairy claims



Viva! labelled a new campaign launched today by the Milk Development
Council (MDC), and funded by British taxpayers, which aims to increase
dairy consumption amongst young women, as being irresponsible and
dangerous. The media was quick to pick up on our response, and amongst
many interviews, Juliet Gellatley, Viva!'s director, told Radio 4's
Farming Today that rather than promote 'natural beauty' to teenage
girls, intake of dairy products is increasingly being linked to a whole
range of avoidable illnesses.



Read Viva!'s special dairy press release here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/mediareleases/pr2005/05-18milk.htm> .





Stamping out the sale of Exotic Meats



As you may know, Viva! campaigns against the sale of so-called 'exotic
meats' such as ostrich, emu and crocodile. In the past we have had major
success, and our campaign has led to all the major supermarkets
withdrawing kangaroo, ostrich and crocodile meats from sale. Recently we
had more good news: The Ostrich Farming Corp Ltd of UK has gone into
liquidation!



Sadly, however, meat from these wild animals is still on sale in small
chains of pubs and in some restaurants and shops. Please let Viva! know
of any outlet selling 'exotic meat', so we can contact them, by emailing
us <mailto:justin@...> their details and what 'exotic meats'
they are selling. This approach really does work, as many retailers have
no idea of the misery behind this industry and they often respond to the
truth. We have had several major successes recently, with local
businesses dumping 'exotic meats' after we contacted them. Please help
us stamp this barbaric trade out once and for all.



To find out more about our campaign against 'exotic meats', and to see
how you can help, click here
<http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/exoticmeat/index.htm> .





Protecting Animals in Democracy



The next five weeks leading up to the election are a crucial time for
animal rights campaigners, providing us with rare opportunity to get
animal protection on to the election agenda while politicians are
desperate for votes. Viva! supports Uncaged's electoral campaign -
Protecting Animals in Democracy - and its new website is now live. Find
out how to make your vote count at http://www.vote4animals.org.uk
<http://www.vote4animals.org.uk/>





Animal protectors attacked during seal hunt



Members of the Sea Shepherd Crew, which is currently trying to film and
document the seal hunt in Canada, were seriously attacked recently by
sealers. There are as of this moment six crew members who have been
injured and their blood was seen on the ice.



As the crew tried to get back to the ship (the crew were ALL unarmed
except for video cameras) the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen got
between the crew and the Farley Mowat preventing many of the crew from
getting back to the Farley Mowat. As the eleven tried to get back to
their ship, a helicopter landed and arrested them. They have since been
released.



The massacre of countless seals in Canada is for one reason and one
reason only: to protect that country's dwindling and over-fished stocks.
You can help end the bloodshed: if you do eat fish please stop, without
the demand there would be no reason to launch this annual butchery.
Also, let the Canadian embassy in the UK know that you, your family and
friends will be boycotting ALL exports from Canada and you will never
travel on Canadian airlines until they stop this brutal slaughter of the
seals.



Canadian High Commission

Macdonald House, 1 Grosvenor Square,

London W1X 0AB.



Telephone: 020 7258 6600

Fax: 020 7258 6333

E-mail: mldn@...



For more information go here
<http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050331_3.html> .





Vegan Families Unite!



If you are a vegan family and would like to be put in touch with other
vegan families, you can now join an informal list. Email Lesley at
Lesley@... to join the list and / or to find out more
information. If you wish to join the list please confirm where you live.
She doesn't need your full address if you don't wish to give it; just
the town or county is fine for the purpose of helping put vegan families
in contact with one another.





Veggie and vegan mothers - help needed!



Dr. Gary Steinman of the Einstein College of Medicine in New York is
doing a study of the possible effect of diet on conception. He needs to
know if women on strict vegan diets gave birth to singletons or
twins/triplets, without the aid of fertility drugs or artificial
methods. The data you supply will not be identified with you directly
if a publication results, but will be used for statistical purposes
only. Please e-mail him directly at DAV4601@....





Your Viva!City



This email alert reaches thousands of people but we'd like your help to
make it even better. At the moment, we have just one list of addresses
which means that we have to send the same email to everyone. From time
to time we'd like to let people know about things happening in their
area or get in contact with our younger supporters but we don't want to
fill everyone else's mailboxes with information that isn't relevant to
them. What we'd like to do is compile email lists separated into
different regions so that if we do have something we'd like to tell
people in Scotland or Yorkshire about, we can send them the information
without bothering anyone else.



The simplest way for us to identify which area you live in is to know
your postcode and so we'd be grateful if you could take a minute to fill
in our online questionnaire
<http://www.timetogoveggie.com/emailconfirm01.php> . We'd also really
like to know your age if you're under 18 - you can fill in your date of
birth on the form. You won't receive any postal mailings (unless you
want them and fill in your other details) and the information will be
used only to sort your email addresses. You don't even have to give us
your name if you don't want to.



As ever, if you would like any more information about any of our
campaigns, check out our website www.viva.org.uk
<http://www.viva.org.uk/> or get in touch with us directly - contact
details at the top of this email. Please don't click "reply", however -
your email won't be seen at that address.



Thanks again for all your support.





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