Political talk dominated the event’s opening weekend, but NewsFeed knows what’s really important: the delicious new snacks introduced this year.
Continue reading …
WFP says thousands of sacks stolen and sold in markets but suspending aid programme would cause more deaths Thousands of sacks of food aid meant for famine victims are being stolen and sold at markets in neighbourhoods where children in refugee camps do not have enough to eat. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) acknowledged it had been investigating food theft in Somalia for two months. WFP officials said the “scale and intensity” of the famine crisis did not allow for a suspension of assistance, which would lead to “many unnecessary deaths”. And the aid is not even safe once it has been distributed to families huddled in the makeshift camps popping up around the capital. Families at the government-run Badbado camp said they were often forced to hand back aid after journalists had taken photos of them with it. Ali Said Nur said he received two sacks of maize twice, but each time was forced to give one to the camp leader. “You don’t have a choice. You have to simply give without an argument to be able to stay here,” he said. The UN says more than 3.2 million Somalis – nearly half the population – need food aid after a severe drought that has been complicated by Somalia’s long-running war. More than 450,000 Somalis live in famine zones controlled by militants linked to al-Qaida, where aid is difficult to deliver. The US says 29,000 Somali children under the age of five have already died. Officials have expected some of the food aid pouring into Somalia to go missing. But the sheer scale of the theft taking place calls into question aid groups’ ability to reach starving people. It also raises concerns about the willingness of aid agencies and the Somali government to fight corruption, and whether diverted aid is fuelling the country’s 20-year-civil war. “While helping starving people, you are also feeding the power groups that make a business out of the disaster,” said Joakim Gundel, head of Katuni Consult, a Nairobi-based company that evaluates international aid efforts in Somalia. “You’re saving people’s lives today so they can die tomorrow.” The WFP Somalia director, Stefano Porretti, said the agency’s system of independent, third-party monitors uncovered allegations of possible food diversion. But he underscored how dangerous the work is: WFP has had 14 employees killed in Somalia since 2008. “Monitoring food assistance in Somalia is a particularly dangerous process.” In Mogadishu markets, vast piles of food sacks are for sale with stamps on them from the WFP, the US government aid arm USAID and the Japanese government. AP found eight sites where aid food was being sold in bulk and in numerous smaller stores. Among the items being sold were corn, grain and Plumpy’nut – a specially fortified peanutbutter designed for starving children. An official in Mogadishu with extensive knowledge of the food trade said he believed a massive amount of aid was being stolen – perhaps up to half of aid deliveries – by unscrupulous businessmen. The percentage had been lower, he said, but the flood of aid into the capital in recent weeks with little or no controls had created a bonanza for businessmen. At one of the sites for stolen food aid, about a dozen corrugated iron sheds are stacked with sacks. Outside, women sell food from 50kg (110lb) sacks, and traders load the food on to carts or vehicles in full view of local officials. Africa United Nations Somalia guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
As rebels seem close to controlling supply routes, and a senior minister leaves the country, opposition forces are optimistic Muammar Gaddafi’s regime has shown fresh signs of buckling as rebels have come close to cutting off supply routes and the Libyan interior minister arrived in Egypt in what appeared to be the highest-ranking defection for many months. The Libyan leader broadcast a defiant appeal to his supporters to rid the country of “traitors”, telling them: “The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battle.” But the call was issued over a poor telephone line to state television, and most was inaudible – the result of what officials said was a technical breakdown. Gaddafi’s rallying call came as rebel fighters moved into Zawiyah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, straddling a critical road supply route from the Tunisian border. Rebel forces claimed to have near total control of the town, but government troops still held its oil refinery, the regime’s last homegrown supply of fuel. Reuters reported that pro-government snipers in Zawiyah were firing on any civilians who ventured out of doors. The anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council (NTC) also claimed to have taken the city of Surman and said it was close to gaining control of Sabratha, along the same coastal road. A rebel spokesman said that talks were under way with government forces over their surrender. There were clashes near the Ras Ajdir border crossing with Tunisia, and opposition forces were reported to be pushing towards Tripoli from the south having taken the strategic crossroads of Garyan over the weekend. Control of Garyan, in the Nafusah highlands, cuts off Tripoli from the Gaddafi stronghold of Sabha in the south. The multi-pronged offensive was an attempt by rebel commanders to cut off Tripoli’s supply lines and regain the initiative after the killing of their military leader, General Abdul Fattah Younes. With the pressure now on Gaddafi’s forces, rebels in the formerly besieged stronghold of Misrata were able to relax for the first time in months. “We feel good, things are moving,” said Mohammed Elfeturi, 35, of the Faisal (Sword) brigade, alternately sipping his first coffee of the day and puffing his first cigarette. “We paid for it in blood.” Traffic was heavy on the intersection outside the makeshift coffee bar, no more than a small shop with some plastic tables and chairs arranged on the concrete outside. A few months ago, the area was a free-fire zone where rebels fought for their lives against government troops. Gaddafi’s Grad rockets no longer fall on Misrata, and the talk everywhere is of impending victory as news comes of advances in the west at Zawiyah, and in the east at Brega. Rebels pushed east from Misrata at the weekend, meeting light resistance, and say all that holds them back is fear of being hit by mistake by Nato jets. Fighting continues on the other side of the pocket, where rebels say government units, said to be commanded by Gaddafi’s son Khamis, hold the town of Zlitan on the highway to Tripoli. But the fighters say the fight has gone out of their adversary. “I think Nato did its job,” said 20-year-old Farouk Mohammed, a veteran of five months’ fighting. “They bombed his [Gaddafi's] weapons day after day.” British defence officials have also claimed that four months of relentless air strikes had fatally damaged the ability Gaddafi’s forces to mount operations. They indicated that the rebel seizure of Zawiyah signalled the beginning of the end in Libya. More than 7,000 Nato air strike sorties, some 700 of them British, had finally destroyed Libya’s military machine, with Gaddafi’s troops having to resort to pickup trucks, officials added. In another blow to the regime’s morale, the interior minister and a longstanding Gaddafi security aide, Nasser al-Mabrouk Abdullah, arrived in Cairo via Tunisia in a private plane with nine family members. The minister reportedly told officials he was on holiday, and the Egyptian government said the minister had entered on a tourist visa. According to the Associated Press, there were no Libyan diplomats at the airport to greet Abdullah and the embassy in Cairo had not been informed of his visit. A Whitehall source said: “He has a reputation as a hardline Gaddafi loyalist with a long history in the security and intelligence agencies. If he is confirmed to have abandoned Gaddafi now, it is significant.” The UN special envoy for Libya, Abdel-Elah al-Khatib, was in Tunis on Monday where a Tunisian government spokesman said he would meet “all the Libyan parties”. But both Tripoli and the rebel council denied reports that their delegations were talking to each other in the Tunisian coastal town of Djerba. “Why would we be talking to Gaddafi?” said Guma al-Gamaty, an NTC spokesman in London. “Right now, we have reached a tipping point, and he will probably fall in the next couple of weeks.” He said NTC forces would be careful to minimise the impact of their near siege of Tripoli on the citizen population, but he added: “The people know that whatever suffering there is in the short term will be worth it if it squeezes Gaddafi out.” A NTC statement issued on Monday called on people in Gaddafi-controlled area to organise themselves into “local committees to maintain security on the eve of the regime’s downfall, and to raise awareness about the need for safeguarding public property, including universities, schools, hospitals, petrol stations, facilities and buildings, as they are the people’s property, built with our own effort, sweat, money and sacrifice.” Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Nato Julian Borger Chris Stephen Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Cases which usually would be dealt with by magistrates courts could now be referred to crown court for tougher sentences Magistrates are being advised by the courts service to disregard normal sentencing guidelines when dealing with those convicted of offences committed in the context of last week’s riots. The advice, given in open court by justices’ clerks, will result in cases that would usually be disposed of in magistrates courts being referred to the crown court for more severe punishment. It may explain why some of those convicted have received punitive sentences for offences that might normally attract a far shorter term. In Manchester, a mother of two, Ursula Nevin, was jailed for five months for receiving a pair of shorts given to her after they had been looted from a city centre store. In Brixton, south London, a 23-year-old student was jailed for six months for stealing £3.50 worth of water bottles from a supermarket. The Crown Prosecution Service also issued guidance to prosecutors on Monday, effectively calling for juveniles found guilty of riot-related crimes to be named and shamed. Those dealt with in youth courts are normally not identified. The youngest suspects bought before the courts last week in connection with the riots were an 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. The sentencing advice from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service came to light after the chair of Camberwell Green magistrates court, Novello Noades, claimed that the court had been given a government “directive” that anyone involved in the rioting be given a custodial sentence. She later retracted her statement and said she was mortified to have used the term “directive”. Clarifying what had occurred, HMCTS explained that a senior clerk had circulated instructions to court clerks that they should advise magistrates to consider disregarding normal sentencing guidelines. “Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary,” it said. “Under the Criminal Procedure Rules justices’ clerks and legal advisers in magistrates courts have a responsibility to give advice to magistrates on sentencing guidelines. “All advice is given in open court and the parties are entitled to comment. Accordingly magistrates in London are being advised by their legal advisers to consider whether their powers of punishment are sufficient in dealing with some cases arising from the recent disorder. “Magistrates are independent and not subject to direction from their legal advisers.” The advice was issued last week in the aftermath of the riots. It was given, it is said, to ensure consistency of sentencing across the country. Courts can therefore consider the riots as an aggravating factor in any offence, making stealing from looted shops more serious than conventional shoplifting. Last week, David Cameron told the recalled House of Commons that anyone involved in violent disorder should expect to go to prison. The Ministry of Justice denied that it had asked the HMCTS to issue the advice. The Judicial Communications Office, which issues statements on behalf of judges, also dismissed suggestions it had been involved. “The senior judiciary has given no directive in relation to sentencing for offences committed during the recent widespread public disorder,” it said. “When passing sentences judges consider many factors, including the punishment of offenders, the reduction of crime by deterrence, and the need to protect the public.” Magistrates can only sentence offenders to up to six months in prison for a single offence. The chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, John Thornhill, has been pressing the government to raise the maximum sentencing power of magistrates to 12 months. “Many of these cases would have been dealt with more expeditiously and cheaper if we had the 12 month sentencing powers,” Thornhill said. “They would not have needed to be sent to the crown courts.” In its advice on identifying youths, the CPS said: “We have issued guidance to prosecutors that states they should ask the court to lift the anonymity of a youth defendant when they believe it is required in the public interest that the youth be identified. Legislation permits the court to do so after conviction. These representations will be made on a case-by-case basis.” Among the criteria the court should consider when identifying any juvenile is whether the move is “necessary, proportionate and there must be a pressing social need for it”. Among those appearing before City of Westminster magistrates court on Monday was Wilson Unses Garcia, 42, of Walworth, south London. He was jailed for six months for receiving stolen property: two tennis racquets worth £340 looted from a sports shop in south London. When police searched his property, they found the racquets still in wrapping and with price labels on them. Garcia said he had had the racquets for some time. Police said he later told them: “I knew it was not right the minute they put them into my hand.” His solicitor told the court that Garcia, who pleaded guilty, had not participated in looting, did not agree with the rioting and had accepted the racquets from a man he knew only from his first name as payment of a £20 debt.A pregnant woman accused of hoarding £10,000 of electronic equipment looted during the London riots has been remanded in custody ahead of her trial. Alicia Wilkinson, 22, was discovered with a vast amount of stolen guitars, televisions and hair braiding equipment when police raided her home in Outram Road, Croydon, at the weekend. The Gatwick airport worker, who is due to give birth in four months, was denied bail after pleading not guilty to handling stolen goods at Croydon magistrates court. Robert Simpson, prosecuting, told the court the flat was “noticeably packed” with the equipment, much of which had been looted from Croydon electronics store Richer Sounds at the peak of the chaos on 8 August. Wilkinson claims she returned from housesitting for her mother to find the flat she shares with boyfriend Nick Cuffy and his brother Neil was full of the haul, the court heard. Her defence solicitor told district judge Robert Hunter she was a “highly unlikely defendant”, adding it had “played on her mind ever since then about the right course of action to take”. UK riots UK criminal justice Owen Bowcott Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …And Then There Were Three Republican Candidates — And Two Of Them Are Dominionists
August 15, 2011 No CommentI’ve been reading about the Dominionists (in this case, Seven Mountains Dominionists and Christian Reconstruction) for more than ten years, and the more I learn, the scarier it gets. The most important thing you should learn is that they believe in lying and cheating their way into power because it’s to do “God’s will.” The second is that there is no room for non-believers in their vision of America: With Tim Pawlenty out of the presidential race, it is now fairly clear that the GOP candidate will either be Mitt Romney or someone who makes George W. Bush look like Tom Paine. Of the three most plausible candidates for the Republican nomination, two are deeply associated with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism known as Dominionism . If you want to understand Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, understanding Dominionism isn’t optional. Put simply, Dominionism means that Christians have a God-given right to rule all earthly institutions. Originating among some of America’s most radical theocrats, it’s long had an influence on religious-right education and political organizing. But because it seems so outré, getting ordinary people to take it seriously can be difficult. Most writers, myself included, who explore it have been called paranoid . In a contemptuous 2006 First Things review of several books, including Kevin Phillips’ American Theocracy, and my own Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, conservative columnist Ross Douthat wrote, “the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era.” Now, however, we have the most theocratic Republican field in American history, and suddenly, the concept of Dominionism is reaching mainstream audiences. Writing about Bachmann in The New Yorker this month, Ryan Lizza spent several paragraphs explaining how the premise fit into the Minnesota congresswoman’s intellectual and theological development. And a recent Texas Observer cover story on Rick Perry examined his relationship with the New Apostolic Reformation, a Dominionist variant of Pentecostalism that coalesced about a decade ago. “[W]hat makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government,” wrote Forrest Wilder. Its members “believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take ‘dominion’ over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the ‘Seven Mountains’ of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world.” In many ways, Dominionism is more a political phenomenon than a theological one. It cuts across Christian denominations, from stern, austere sects to the signs-and-wonders culture of modern megachurches. Think of it like political Islamism, which shapes the activism of a number of antagonistic fundamentalist movements, from Sunni Wahabis in the Arab world to Shiite fundamentalists in Iran. Yep, and what they have in mind is the Christian fundamentalist version of sharia law. It’s important that we learn about this, but even more important that members of the media educate themselves.
Continue reading …NY Times Reporter Suggests ‘Cuts in Spending and Services’ by Conservatives Led to London Riots
August 15, 2011 No Comment
Ravi Somaiya, reporter for the New York Times London bureau, suggested “deep cuts in social services” on the part of the Conservative-led coalition government and “social deprivation” (whatever that means) bore some blame for the riots and looting that wrecked neighborhoods in London. Shops and flats were stormed and burned in the wake of a police shooting of a gang suspect in the London neighborhood of Tottentham.
Continue reading …
President Barack Obama accused Congress of putting politics ahead of the country and called on voters to tell lawmakers to cut it out, as he kicked off a three-day Midwestern bus tour in Cannon Falls, Minnesota on Monday. (Aug. 15)
Continue reading …
Click here to view this media [h/t Heather ] It’s easy to write Rep. Steve King (R-JBS) off as being completely whacko. But he’s just so out there, so bizarre, and sells it like a country auctioneer with the fattest steer on the market that it actually sticks sometimes. This speech of his made me wonder if he was high on deep-fried butter . It also caused me to ask why the Affordable Care Act is viewed by the far right as such an abomination. To hear Steve King talk about it, you’d think Satan himself had decreed from the ninth circle of hell that all Americans should have access to health insurance and so he felt compelled to call all good Christian warriors with the “Repeal Obamacare!” battle cry. Here’s the transcript: KING: Now, [Obama] also makes Hugo Chavez look like a piker when it comes to nationalizing American business. Three large investment banks, AIG, taken over by the federal government. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, Chrysler, the student loan program, all of that nationalized. The federal takeover of private sector businesses managed by the White House. And now what else did he have the audacity to do? He likes that word audacity. The single most sovereign thing we have is our soul and we protect it with everything we have and we nurture our children to have the same core faith so that they can protect their sovereign soul as well. But the second most sovereign thing we have is our health. Our bodies, our health, the management of it has been nationalized by President Obama in Obamacare. He nationalized your skin and everything inside it and he put a 10 percent tax on the outside if you go to the tanning salon. Obamacare has got to be ripped out by the roots. [applause] Obamacare is a malignant tumor in our culture, our society, and our civilization. It’s got to be ripped out by the roots so there’s no vestige of it left behind, not one particle of DNA of Obamacare left behind because if we leave it, it will grow, it will regenerate, it will metastasize as this tumor is now. And it feeds on your freedom and liberty. Obamacare has got to go. [applause] Now I want that repeal — the repeal of Obamacare — to be plank number one in every Presidential campaign so that the next President of the United States, when he stands on the podium in the west portico of the Capitol of the United States January 20, 2013, I want that next President — he or she — to swear into office with hand on Bible, pen in hand, and swear “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States so help me God.” And before the next president shakes hands with Chief Justice Roberts, they’re going to sign the repeal of Obamacare right there at the inauguration ceremony January 20, 2013. Thank you very much, God bless you all. We got socialism, my friends. Right here in River City. But King’s campaign against it has so many bizarre accusations. A tumor? Metastasis? The idea of an ever-regenerating Obamacare scourge is just apocalyptic gobbledegook. Or, maybe it’s John Birch Society emerging from the undercurrents of Republican politics into the mainstream. It’s no secret that the JBS loathes the idea of universal health care. Have a look at their calls to action here during the debate in March, 2010. Recently a report came out studying the correlation between FreedomWorks and the John Birch Society. As much as Dick Armey denies it, there are official ties between the two . Since the launch of the site, FreedomWorks staff and the FreedomConnector web team have posted at least fifty-nine different announcements that advertised John Birch Society events across the country. (See list in Appendix). Even a cursory look at this list of meetings, forums and protests demonstrates quite clearly that this is not an isolated incident or simple mistake that can be easily dismissed. FreedomWorks staff and the web team have posted an average of ten Birch events a month since the launch of this site. They have advertised Birch events in California, Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas. In addition to the fifty-nine added by FreedomWorks team members, another twenty-two Bircher happenings have been posted by FreedomConnector members like Dawn Epson, the Tucson facilitator for the John Birch Society. Epson even has been allowed to create a Tucson Bircher “group”–a hub for area Birchers to gather on the FreedomConnector site. In total, 80 different JBS events were advertised on the FreedomWorks FreedomConnector site between the site launch and June 1, 2011. Tonya Woodruff, a Michigan activist, provided a perfect example of the problem of the missing firewall when she posted a question on FreedomConnector to a participant in the Ludington Area tea party: “I was at the John Birch Society Meeting last night and the Birchers wanted to know if the tea party was still interested in a presentation? I will send you an e-mail today about this topic.” Opposition to the JBS presence inside the FreedomWorks social network has been virtually non-existent. Instead, these posts have received a warm reception. Saturday’s Iowa straw poll was a victory for the John Birch Society. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul are poster children for their paranoia. Mix in a little Steve King, some deep-fried butter, and more toxic politics and it’s a big win for what appears to now be the mainstream Republican party. No Republican candidate will be able to run for President without wrapping their arms around the Birchers, and letting the Bircher tentacles enfold them. Steve King just articulated it in more stark terms than most.
Continue reading …
First million users enrol at digital Hogwarts, learning from new content by JK Rowling From flying letters to a 4,500 word-discourse on wand woods, early access to JK Rowling’s move into the digital arena , Pottermore , reveals a richly-imagined, elaborately realised behind-the-scenes peek into the world of Harry Potter. Pottermore does not open to wider use until October, but has already been inundated by Harry Potter fans. There have been more than 22m views of the webpage, peaking at some 50,000 requests per second on 3 August, as readers rushed to become one of the million users chosen to receive early access and a chance to shape the website’s development. The site is free to use – Rowling has said that she wanted to “give back to the Harry Potter readership”, who number in their hundreds of millions worldwide – but it will be the only sales outlet for ebook versions of the seven Potter titles. On entering the site, users begin to travel through the world of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, following in the footsteps of Harry and learning new facts about his world as they open an account at the goblin bank Gringotts, travel up and down Diagon Alley shopping for equipment for school and choosing a wand. Unlocking new content as they progress through the storyline, they can click on and collect items for their “trunk”, build and evolve their profiles, adding their own drawings, collecting books and chocolate frog cards, learning spells and brewing potions. A Pottermore account can also be connected to a Facebook account, with users able to make friends – and even take part in wizarding duels once they reach a certain point on the website. Comments from early users are already positive: “This is amaazing,” writes IceDragon, while another user praised the “Beautiful artwork!” “This is very cool. Very unique website. I love the extra content,” said CrimsonDream55, but NoxThorn88 “would have expected a little more action”. “I think Pottermore has the potential to be a lasting focal point for the Harry Potter brand – The Leaky Cauldron for the fans. I think the fact that it incorporates new content, a social networking element, and is also the only place people will be able to buy the ebooks will prove to be quite a potent combination … Having the ebooks there exclusively is a bit of a masterstroke in terms of ensuring people visit the site and engage with it, as is the way they are going to stagger the release of the content,” said Charlotte Williams from the Bookseller, an early user of the site. “It’ll be interesting to see whether it can act as a first port of call and draw new readers to the books, or whether it’ll more be used by existing diehard Potterites.” Rowling has written reams of new material – 18,000 words at the last count, but still growing – for Pottermore, as well as mining her archives to share notes she made when writing the novels. Nuggets unearthed on an early trawl through the site include the news that Rowling unconsciously based the Dursleys’ gloomy home on Privet Drive on a childhood home of her own in Winterbourne, near Bristol. “I first became conscious of this when I entered the number four Privet Drive that had been built at Leavesden Studios, and found myself in an exact replica of my old house, down to the position of the cupboard under the stairs and the precise location of each room,” the author writes. “As I had never described my old home to the set designer, director or producer, this was yet another of the unsettling experiences that filming the Potter books has brought me.” She also gives humorous background to the long-running animosity between Harry’s parents and the Dursleys – “Vernon tried to patronise James, asking what car he drove. James described his racing broom” – and explains why wizards don’t need the metric system. “Witches and wizards are not averse to laborious calculations, which they can, after all, do magically, so they do not find it inconvenient to weigh in ounces, pounds and stones; measure in inches, feet and miles; or pay for goods in Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons,” she writes. The site is currently based on the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with further books in the series to be added in the new year. Williams said that other authors would be watching the site’s development with interest. “I think other big-name brands will look very carefully to see what success it has, and if a high level of interest and excitement can be maintained,” said Williams. “By retaining the digital rights to her books, and selling the ebooks exclusively through this site, JK Rowling is bypassing not only her publishers but also retailers, so it’s a strategy that would only work with the biggest of brands. (And not many authors nowadays still retain the digital rights to their work.) This kind of re-wiring of publishing relationships – agents acting as publishers, publishers acting as agents, authors acting as publishers – is becoming more common, but I’d say this is the most high-profile experiment yet in digital disintermediation.” Harry Potter Children’s books: 8-12 years Children and teenagers Children’s books: 7 and under Teen books JK Rowling Alison Flood guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
€10,000 reward offered for Yvonne’s safe return as Zangberg mayor revels in animal’s wanderlust A €10,000 reward is being offered in Germany for the safe return of a cow called Yvonne who went on the run in May after apparently sensing she was about to be sent to the slaughterhouse. Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, has, in the words of one newspaper, become “a kind of freedom fighter for the animal loving German republic” since she escaped from her field in the village of Zangberg, 50 miles north-east of Munich, on 24 May. Having been fattened up, she was due to be dispatched when she managed to breach the electric fence surrounding her farm. For several months she led a quiet life grazing among the fir trees of nearby forests, until she nearly came a cropper crossing a road into the path of a passing police car. As word spread of this invincible cow, animal protection activists got involved, incensed that local hunters had been given permission to shoot Yvonne on sight. Gut Aiderbichl, an animal sanctuary over the Austrian border in Salzburg, agreed to buy Yvonne from the farm for €600 and has offered her a paddock with grass to graze on for the rest of her days. Now a fight is on as the bovine protectionists are pitted against the trigger-happy Bavarians, who shot and killed Bruno , the first bear to be seen on German soil for 170 years, in June 2006. Gut Aiderbichl are pulling out all the stops to catch Yvonne alive. Last week they enlisted the help of a bull called Ernst to try to lure her back home. Ernst has “a deep baritone moo that will appeal to Yvonne”, as well as a particularly manly musk, said the sanctuary’s founder Michael Aufhauser. “He is the George Clooney of bulls.” Sex is not on the agenda, however, as Ernst is castrated. Aufhauser also called on an animal psychic to communicate with Yvonne from afar. Franziska Matti, an animal communication expert from Berne in Switzerland, said she had managed to contact Yvonne using telepathy. “I spoke to her yesterday and she said that she was fine but didn’t feel ready to come out of hiding,” said Matti. “She said she knew that Ernst had been waiting for her but that she was scared. She said she thought that humans would lock her up and she would no longer be free.” After the German tabloid Bild offered a €10,000 reward for Yvonne’s safe capture on Saturday, the race to find her has heated up. In Monday’s Bild an 11-year-old boy called Sepp claimed to have discovered a fresh hoof print from Yvonne in the woods near his home. The boy had been tipped off by his grandmother, he said, who had spotted a cow while out collecting mushrooms two days previously. “I know that I will find her. My dad has 18 cows. I often have to help him feed them and take them out to pasture. I know what I’m doing,” he told Bild. On Monday Aufhauser said he had leased a helicopter to track down Yvonne. If that didn’t work, he had a secret weapon: Yvonne’s two-year-old son, Friesi, who was previously believed dead but turned up alive at a local farm. Friesi was offered by his owner to Aufhauser, and was on Monday undergoing “intensive training” to learn how best to call to his mother. “We know that the bond between mother cows and their sons is very strong. She will not be able to ignore him,” said Aufhauser. Franz Märkl, mayor of Zangberg, said he was delighted Yvonne had decided to go missing during the traditional summer news lull known in Britain as “silly season” and in Germany as “Sauregurkenzeit” – literally “sour cucumber time”, a reference to the days when good vegetables are scarce. “We trained the cow well for the summer [news] vacuum,” Märkl told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Now everyone in Germany has heard of our lovely village.” Germany Agriculture Switzerland Animal behaviour Animal welfare Food & drink industry Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …