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Obamas left devastated after beloved dog Bo dies from cancer

Barack Obama’s beloved dog Bo has died from cancer.

Mr Obama promised his daughters Malia and Sasha they could get a puppy on the night he was elected as president.

Bo spent much of his life at the White House as “first dog” and was almost 13 when he died.

The former president and his wife Michelle Obama both paid tribute to the Portuguese Water Dog on Saturday.

“Today our family lost a true friend and loyal companion,” the former president wrote.

Today our family lost a true friend and loyal companion. For more than a decade, Bo was a constant, gentle presence in our lives—happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and everyday in between. pic.twitter.com/qKMNojiu9V

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 8, 2021

“For more than a decade, Bo was a constant, gentle presence in our lives – happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and every day in between.”

“He tolerated all the fuss that came with being in the White House, had a big bark but no bite, loved to jump in the pool in the summer, was unflappable with children, lived for scraps around the dinner table, and had great hair.”

He added: “He was exactly what we needed and more than we ever expected. We will miss him dearly.”

There was much speculation over what breed of dog the Obamas would choose and if they would get a rescue dog.

This afternoon was a difficult one for our family. We said goodbye to our best friend—Bo—after a battle with cancer. We are grateful for the love you showed him over the years. Please hug the furry members of your family a little closer tonight—and give them a belly rub from us. pic.twitter.com/zOk3SPABsT

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 8, 2021

Bo came to the White House as a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy, who owned a dog from the same litter.

Michelle Obama also paid tribute to Bo.

Writing on Twitter she said: “This afternoon was a difficult one for our family. We said goodbye to our best friend—Bo—after a battle with cancer. We are grateful for the love you showed him over the years. Please hug the furry members of your family a little closer tonight—and give them a belly rub from us.” 

Protected osprey nest destroyed in 'horrendous' chainsaw attack

Police are investigating a "horrendous" wildlife crime on a protected osprey nest after vandals used a chainsaw to destroy the site. 

Conservationists have condemned the attack at Llyn Brenig Lake in Wales as “senseless, cruel and wanton”. 

The culprits are suspected to have arrived by boat on Friday evening before cutting down the artificial nesting platform.

In CCTV footage of the incident, a loud chainsaw can be clearly heard in the background as the nest shakes before toppling and crashing into the lake. 

The first egg of the breeding season, which had been laid in the nest just hours before the attack, was destroyed in the fall.

Destruction of an osprey site in this manner carries a six month prison sentence and a £5,000 fine, North Wales Rural Police said. 

Osprey Update

We are truly appalled by last nights disgraceful act at Llyn Brenig

Rob Taylor, Rural Crime Team manager explains and footage of the platform being felled

Can you help us

Call 101 or report online to North Wales Police

You can always use @Wales_CS anonymously pic.twitter.com/EYxTSQ93uL

— NWP Rural Crime Team /Tîm Troseddau Cefn Gwlad HGC (@NWPRuralCrime) May 1, 2021

There are just five pairs of ospreys in Wales with the birds and eggs protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act. 

Officers believe the criminals had a ‘strong motivation’ to drive the ospreys away from the area yet declined to provide further details. 

Sgt Rob Taylor, of North Wales Police Rural Crime Team, said a thorough investigation is underway to find those responsible for the "disgusting" act.

He said: "We really are pulling out all the stops to try and catch the person or persons responsible for this and believe me they will receive the full force of the law if we do catch them."

"The whole team is absolutely devastated by it and sure the whole community is as well.

Although motivations behind the attack remain unclear, theories posited online suggest it could have been carried out by fishermen attempting to permanently drive the birds of prey away from the site. 

The lake, which is home to rainbow trout, has hosted World, Commonwealth and International matches of competitive angling. 

However, officials at Welsh Water, which manages the site, and North Wales Wildlife Trust have vehemently denied any suggestion it could be related to fishing, describing it as "unthinkable".

1/2 Brenig Osprey Project partners woke up this morning to the worst possible news. Last night, at 21.42, someone took a chainsaw to the osprey nest and felled it – please, please be kind to staff this weekend as we work out how to respond to this horrific act of vandalism. pic.twitter.com/m2V52TWCyu

— North Wales Wildlife Trust (@North_Wales_WT) May 1, 2021

Graeme Cotterill, of North Wales Wildlife Trust, said: “This is a horrendous wildlife crime that's happened here at Llyn Brenig.

"We appeal to all members of the public if you know anything at all about what happened here please do report it to the police using the crime number on our website.

"These are the rarest birds in Wales and there are very few breeding nests.”

Two members of the public , Alan Davies and Brian Iddon are offering a £2,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution of the criminals that destroyed the nest. 

Reference: The Telegraph: Max Stephens  4 days ago

Liechtenstein prince accused of killing Romania's largest bear 

A prince in Liechtenstein blamed for shooting one of Europe's largest bears during a hunting expedition in Romania has "respect for nature" and shares his family's commitment to ecology, his household has insisted.

Environmental campaign group Agent Green suspect that Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein had a permit to shoot a female bear that had caused damage to farms.

But instead, he apparently shot Arthur, a 17-year-old brown bear who lived in a protected area and is believed to be Romania's largest bear.

A spokesperson for the Princely House in Liechtenstein told Sky News that it is unable to comment on the matter as it's personal to the prince.

But they added: "The Princely House would like to point out that respect for nature has been one of the fundamental concerns of the house and is a central element of the family's commitment to ecological and social sustainability."

Documents shared by Agent Green confirmed that Prince Emanuel, who lives in Austria, was granted a four-day hunting permit in March in Covasna County in Romania.

Gabriel Paun, the president of Agent Green, said: "I wonder how the prince could confuse a female with a chicken coming to the village with the largest male that existed in the depths of the forest.

"It is clear that the prince did not come to solve the problem of the locals but to kill the bear and take home the biggest trophy to hang it on the wall.

"We are dealing with a game of poaching since they shot the wrong bear."

Brown bears are protected animals under international law and in 2016 Romania outlawed trophy hunting.

However, exceptions have been granted by Romania's environment minister in extreme cases when a bear has caused damage or threatened people.

The mayor of Ojdula confirmed to Agent Green that locals had reported bear attacks, but all the attacks were executed by a female bear.

"Every farmer I spoke to said that nothing had changed since the male bear was shot and that the female continued to come to the household daily," Mr Paun said.

Ann-Kathrin Freude, the campaign co-ordinator at animal welfare charity, VGT, added: "It is a shame for Austria that Prince Emanuel abused a derogation to kill this beautiful bear."

A senior official from Romania's environmental ministry, Octavian Berceanu, told the Associated Press that an investigation into the case was launched on 29 April and that poaching is one of the suspicions in the case.

Reference: Sky News: 

Pigs hammered to death at ‘high-welfare’ farm, prompting Tesco to ditch supplier

A criminal investigation has been launched after pigs were brutally hammered to death at a meat farm endorsed as “high-welfare”.

Tesco says it ditched the pork supplier indefinitely and Lidl suspended it when the supermarkets were shown footage of the scenes. 

The secretly filmed video showed piglets deemed too small or too weak for the abattoir being hammered to death by farm workers or being swung against a concrete floor to be killed.

One animal-welfare expert described the clips as “some of the most disturbing footage” he had ever seen.

The Aberdeenshire farm is owned by the man who helped set Scotland’s pig welfare standards and was endorsed by the body of which he was chairman.

Those animals not killed on farm go to a slaughterhouse supplying Lidl, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, and many other major restaurants and retailers.

Animal-rights organisation Animal Equality UK filmed at P&G Sleigh Pig Unit, an intensive indoor farm, uncovering what it said were “a number of serious legal violations”.

Some pigs gasped and writhed after several blows to the head, it was claimed, with one showing signs of life for over four minutes.

A worker was caught on film saying that using a hammer to kill a pig was “as good as any bullet”. In fact, pigs are gassed to death with carbon dioxide in abattoirs.

Another was filmed standing on a pig’s neck as he killed it.

The investigators said they also saw:

• Piglets routinely being slammed by workers onto the concrete floor
• Mother pigs suffering from torn vulvas and severe prolapses, caused by forced impregnation, resulting in their uterus or internal organs painfully protruding outside their bodies
• Piglets having their tails cut off and teeth cut out with pliers, without anaesthetic, causing several to develop debilitating infections
• Pigs suffering from seizures caused by meningitis
• Animals forced to live in filthy conditions, flooded with faeces and water, with no access to dry bedding.

After the findings were revealed, the farmer, Philip Sleigh, a former chairman of the National Farmers Union Scotland pigs working group, quit as chairman of the pig standard-setting committee of the Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) assurance body.

Animal Equality said that in addition, as a result of its investigation, the farm was removed from QMS.

The body, which promotes the red meat sector and has in the past received grants from Holyrood, has launched an investigation into P&G.

The Scottish SPCA said it would submit a report to Scotland’s procurator fiscal, the nation’s prosecuting body.

Andrew Knight, veterinary professor of animal welfare and ethics at the University of Winchester, described the footage as “some of the most disturbing” he had ever seen, saying: “The suffering of these ill and injured pigs would have been very considerable, yet no signs of appropriate veterinary care were visible”.

Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: “Rubbing shoulders with government officials and accreditation reps, Philip Sleigh was entrusted with a position of power, yet his own farm breached the very standards he helped set.

“QMS boasts of being proud of its standards, yet it took Animal Equality to uncover these serious breaches on its board member’s farm.”

Animal Equality says it has investigated 10 UK pig farms in five years and on each one has exposed severe suffering and filthy conditions.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “The conditions shown on this farm are completely unacceptable. We require all farms in our supply chain to adhere to strict animal welfare standards and we delisted this supplier as soon as we were made aware of these allegations.”

A Lidl spokesperson said: “At Lidl GB we take the matter of animal welfare extremely seriously and are committed to maintaining high welfare and traceability standards throughout our supply chain. All of our fresh pork originating from Scotland is assured to QMS certified standards.” He said the farm had been suspended, pending an investigation by QMS.

Lidl does not source directly from the particular farm, but some pork products originating from it are used by the chain’s direct supplier.

In a statement on Mr Sleigh’s behalf, the National Pig Association said: “The UK pig sector takes allegations of the mistreatment of pigs incredibly seriously and as soon as aware will always encourage the relevant authorities to investigate as we did in this instance.

“As with all livestock farming however, pigs do sadly become ill or injured and when they do not respond to treatment, will need to be euthanised.  What matters is the skill, expertise and care exercised by the stockperson in identifying problems and dealing with them appropriately.

“In this instance, however, the footage does depict poor practice with regard to the method of euthanasia used and pig handling, which we do not condone and find totally unacceptable. We understand that the farm in question is now subject to a full investigation by both the relevant authorities and Quality Meat Scotland.”

M&S said the farm was not one of its suppliers, and the chain buys only outdoor-bred pork.

Reference: Independent: Jane Dalton: 9 hrs ago