Great to see our money is going to good use when we give to charity.
Right to the front line.




Dear Supporter

We thought you would like to know that just before Christmas Hillside
gave sanctuary to five donkeys 
rescued from France who were destined for an Italian slaughterhouse.

To see our new arrivals, please click on the link below:

http://www.hillside.org.uk/RescueddonkeysfromFrance.htm

On arrival at Hillside - mare and foal - Dancer and Prancer - two of
five donkeys who were
rescued in France. They had been destined for an Italian
slaughterhouse from where they 
would have been processed for human consumption.
(20th December 2007) 








--

My greatest speech to the peasants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7LWuP0T7Q

pam the SPAMMERS send an email to enquires@urfreesim.co.uk



England / Angelic Upstarts 

The red in the flag is the blood that was spilt
In the way that your forefathers tell
And never a country has been so great
The stories Britannia could tell 

I never want to live my life
Away from the golden shores
There's never a country in the world
With the scent of an English rose 

England oh England a country so great
A land that's so fair and so true
There'll never be any colours like
The red the white and the blue 

Whenever you go to a far off land
There's something goes with you
The pride and the joy and the love that comes
For your mother of red white and blue 

You could never be born under a flag that's like
The one of the Union Jack
St.Georges spirit has never died
It all keeps coming back

League exposes 'battery' game birds
http://www.league.org.uk/
The Guardian newspaper has previewed a League exposé, which reveals in
shocking detail, cruel and barbaric conditions under which many game
birds experience life before the pot. 

The full page feature, presented on page 3 on Saturday 22 December
2007, focused on quail, which, though not reared for game, were found
in appalling conditions during The League's investigation. The full
investigation is titled 'The Great Game Hoax' and is due for release
this January.  

The Guardian's website presented secretly filmed footage of breeding
conditions. 

Read the full story and watch the shocking footage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,2231410,00.html

Cramped, filthy and featherless - the 'battery' game birds sold as
delicacy


· Campaign group video 'shows quails mistreated' 
· Harrods and Selfridges remove firm's produce

Discuss the story on our blog 

Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
Saturday December 22, 2007
The Guardian 



They are sold in luxury stores and appear on the menus of top
restaurants, with customers assured that the birds are reared on
specialist farms with the highest welfare standards.
But the gourmet packaging in which thousands of quail are shipped each
week belies the cramped and grubby conditions in which many birds are
kept, according to investigators working for the League Against Cruel
Sports.

Footage recorded in the poultry farms of Britain's biggest quail and
quail egg producer, Fayre Game, and seen by the Guardian, shows
hundreds of birds packed in filthy, multi-level wire cages in dim
lighting. Many have virtually no feathers left on their bodies. Dead
birds lie among living and dying birds, with eggs falling on to trays
below. Mesh netting alongside is encrusted with dirt and feathers.

The revelations have caused such concern at Harrods and Selfridges
that they have taken quail and quail eggs from the Lancashire company
off their shelves.
Fayre Game, which produces pheasants, partridges, guinea fowl, quail
and other game birds as well as exotic meats including ostrich, can
produce as many as 65,000 quail and 150,000 quail eggs every week. The
company says it supplies UK supermarkets and food halls as well as
large wholesale markets such as London's Smithfield, which in turn
supplies the catering industry, including many top restaurants. Quail
eggs are a particular delicacy for canapes and sell well in the run-up
to Christmas.

Mike Haines, commercial director of Fayre Game, said last night that
the League Against Cruel Sports had not approached him directly over
the allegations. "I don't know if the footage is of our farm or not,"
he said. "I haven't seen any film. The League Against Cruel Sports has
not shown anything to me."

Segregation

He confirmed that about 20% of Fayre Game's quail production was in
battery conditions, with birds segregated for genetic reasons and when
the sexes were separated. "That proportion has been gradually reducing
as we have put more birds outside," he said.

Any dead birds would routinely be removed, he said. Feathers came off
when breeding birds had been mating. He could not, however, explain
the dirty conditions: "We maintain the highest welfare standards." The
birds were on wire netting "so they are not treading in their faeces"
and to allow eggs to roll through to the front of the cage. If they
were agitated, it was because they were wild birds which were not used
to being disturbed by people.

Although quail is not hunted for sport in the UK, it remains a popular
game meat and is often sold alongside pheasant, partridge and other
shot game birds throughout the shooting season. Like other game birds,
quail are marketed as wild, natural and ethically produced, although
they are killed in slaughterhouses rather than being shot.

Fayre Game is owned by the Lancashire-based Tom Barron group, which
also operates in the poultry, dairy and organic food sectors.

The claims are made by the League Against Cruel Sports in a report,
The Great Game Hoax, due to be published next month. Cerys Roberts of
the League said: "'Our investigations have revealed the shocking
mistreatment of battery reared quail. The League has also found
incidents of pheasants and partridges subjected to similar abuse and
will be naming the companies involved in the New Year.

"Any supermarket or store stocking these products should remove them
immediately. Shoppers are increasingly refusing to buy battery
chickens and will be distressed to discover that gamebirds, heavily
marketed as an organic, natural food are often anything but."

The investigation has also uncovered a complex supply chain, where it
is difficult to find out exactly who supplied products to which
outlets. It reveals that the British shooting industry has become
heavily dependent upon imports of eggs and chicks from countries such
as France, in order to meet growing demand for game.

Rebranding

In recent years game meat has been rebranded as an ethical and healthy
food and is likely to feature in many family meals over the festive
season. It has attracted numerous celebrity endorsements from chefs
such as Jamie Oliver and the Guardian's own food writer Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall. The Countryside Alliance started its
Game-to-Eat campaign in 2002, and now claims to be one of the main
factors driving the 133% increase in game sales in recent years.

The report says: "Although there is no evidence any of the retailers
identified as selling Fayre Game products are aware of the appalling
conditions inside one of its farms, consumers will demand that such
practices are immediately investigated and stamped out."

Waitrose said in a statement: "We have not sold any birds from Fayre
Game since March 2005. All Waitrose game is from a small number of
carefully selected shoots on British country estates."

But Harrods and Selfridges said they had stopped supplies from the
company as a result of the revelations. Harrods said it had stopped
selling the products (boneless quail and eggs) last Tuesday and that
it would launch an investigation: "This has come at a difficult time
of year because of the Christmas season. We have suspended all orders.
We also sell quail eggs from another supplier (the Cornwall-based
specialist free range egg producer) Clarence Court, so will continue
to offer those."

Selfridges said: "We are grateful that these revelations were brought
to our attention and we are happy to confirm that we have stopped
stocking Fayre Game products. We will be stocking eggs from Clarence
Court."

Haines said Fayre Game took animal welfare "extremely seriously". It
was working towards gaining formal recognition through RSPCA's farm
assurance and food labelling scheme, Freedom Food.

He said the company had already introduced "free to fly" aviaries, or
outdoor verandas, to give the birds greater freedom outdoors. He
claimed the filming had been carried out on a day of heavy rain, when
he had been forced to divert his staff to attend to the birds outside.

"It was unfortunate that dead birds were there in the cages but we had
to take the decision to use our staff to help save the birds
outdoors," he said. He would not confirm which retailers the company
supplied, although he said a large volume of quail products were sold
directly to Smithfield market.

Watch clips of the secret filming in a quail breeding farm at
guardian.co.uk/video









--

My greatest speech to the peasants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7LWuP0T7Q

pam the SPAMMERS send an email to enquires@urfreesim.co.uk



England / Angelic Upstarts 

The red in the flag is the blood that was spilt
In the way that your forefathers tell
And never a country has been so great
The stories Britannia could tell 

I never want to live my life
Away from the golden shores
There's never a country in the world
With the scent of an English rose 

England oh England a country so great
A land that's so fair and so true
There'll never be any colours like
The red the white and the blue 

Whenever you go to a far off land
There's something goes with you
The pride and the joy and the love that comes
For your mother of red white and blue 

You could never be born under a flag that's like
The one of the Union Jack
St.Georges spirit has never died
It all keeps coming back

naaaaaaaaa that's a wind up.



"Adenoid Hynkel ."  wrote in message 
news:vj7sn31c49pkpjtjjgbalal48d70sakmf8@4ax.com...
> League exposes 'battery' game birds
> http://www.league.org.uk/
> The Guardian newspaper has previewed a League exposé, which reveals in
> shocking detail, cruel and barbaric conditions under which many game
> birds experience life before the pot.
>
> The full page feature, presented on page 3 on Saturday 22 December
> 2007, focused on quail, which, though not reared for game, were found
> in appalling conditions during The League's investigation. The full
> investigation is titled 'The Great Game Hoax' and is due for release
> this January.
>
> The Guardian's website presented secretly filmed footage of breeding
> conditions.
>
> Read the full story and watch the shocking footage
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,2231410,00.html
>
> Cramped, filthy and featherless - the 'battery' game birds sold as
> delicacy
>
>
> · Campaign group video 'shows quails mistreated'
> · Harrods and Selfridges remove firm's produce
>
> Discuss the story on our blog
>
> Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
> Saturday December 22, 2007
> The Guardian
>
>
>
> They are sold in luxury stores and appear on the menus of top
> restaurants, with customers assured that the birds are reared on
> specialist farms with the highest welfare standards.
> But the gourmet packaging in which thousands of quail are shipped each
> week belies the cramped and grubby conditions in which many birds are
> kept, according to investigators working for the League Against Cruel
> Sports.
>
> Footage recorded in the poultry farms of Britain's biggest quail and
> quail egg producer, Fayre Game, and seen by the Guardian, shows
> hundreds of birds packed in filthy, multi-level wire cages in dim
> lighting. Many have virtually no feathers left on their bodies. Dead
> birds lie among living and dying birds, with eggs falling on to trays
> below. Mesh netting alongside is encrusted with dirt and feathers.
>
> The revelations have caused such concern at Harrods and Selfridges
> that they have taken quail and quail eggs from the Lancashire company
> off their shelves.
> Fayre Game, which produces pheasants, partridges, guinea fowl, quail
> and other game birds as well as exotic meats including ostrich, can
> produce as many as 65,000 quail and 150,000 quail eggs every week. The
> company says it supplies UK supermarkets and food halls as well as
> large wholesale markets such as London's Smithfield, which in turn
> supplies the catering industry, including many top restaurants. Quail
> eggs are a particular delicacy for canapes and sell well in the run-up
> to Christmas.
>
> Mike Haines, commercial director of Fayre Game, said last night that
> the League Against Cruel Sports had not approached him directly over
> the allegations. "I don't know if the footage is of our farm or not,"
> he said. "I haven't seen any film. The League Against Cruel Sports has
> not shown anything to me."
>
> Segregation
>
> He confirmed that about 20% of Fayre Game's quail production was in
> battery conditions, with birds segregated for genetic reasons and when
> the sexes were separated. "That proportion has been gradually reducing
> as we have put more birds outside," he said.
>
> Any dead birds would routinely be removed, he said. Feathers came off
> when breeding birds had been mating. He could not, however, explain
> the dirty conditions: "We maintain the highest welfare standards." The
> birds were on wire netting "so they are not treading in their faeces"
> and to allow eggs to roll through to the front of the cage. If they
> were agitated, it was because they were wild birds which were not used
> to being disturbed by people.
>
> Although quail is not hunted for sport in the UK, it remains a popular
> game meat and is often sold alongside pheasant, partridge and other
> shot game birds throughout the shooting season. Like other game birds,
> quail are marketed as wild, natural and ethically produced, although
> they are killed in slaughterhouses rather than being shot.
>
> Fayre Game is owned by the Lancashire-based Tom Barron group, which
> also operates in the poultry, dairy and organic food sectors.
>
> The claims are made by the League Against Cruel Sports in a report,
> The Great Game Hoax, due to be published next month. Cerys Roberts of
> the League said: "'Our investigations have revealed the shocking
> mistreatment of battery reared quail. The League has also found
> incidents of pheasants and partridges subjected to similar abuse and
> will be naming the companies involved in the New Year.
>
> "Any supermarket or store stocking these products should remove them
> immediately. Shoppers are increasingly refusing to buy battery
> chickens and will be distressed to discover that gamebirds, heavily
> marketed as an organic, natural food are often anything but."
>
> The investigation has also uncovered a complex supply chain, where it
> is difficult to find out exactly who supplied products to which
> outlets. It reveals that the British shooting industry has become
> heavily dependent upon imports of eggs and chicks from countries such
> as France, in order to meet growing demand for game.
>
> Rebranding
>
> In recent years game meat has been rebranded as an ethical and healthy
> food and is likely to feature in many family meals over the festive
> season. It has attracted numerous celebrity endorsements from chefs
> such as Jamie Oliver and the Guardian's own food writer Hugh
> Fearnley-Whittingstall. The Countryside Alliance started its
> Game-to-Eat campaign in 2002, and now claims to be one of the main
> factors driving the 133% increase in game sales in recent years.
>
> The report says: "Although there is no evidence any of the retailers
> identified as selling Fayre Game products are aware of the appalling
> conditions inside one of its farms, consumers will demand that such
> practices are immediately investigated and stamped out."
>
> Waitrose said in a statement: "We have not sold any birds from Fayre
> Game since March 2005. All Waitrose game is from a small number of
> carefully selected shoots on British country estates."
>
> But Harrods and Selfridges said they had stopped supplies from the
> company as a result of the revelations. Harrods said it had stopped
> selling the products (boneless quail and eggs) last Tuesday and that
> it would launch an investigation: "This has come at a difficult time
> of year because of the Christmas season. We have suspended all orders.
> We also sell quail eggs from another supplier (the Cornwall-based
> specialist free range egg producer) Clarence Court, so will continue
> to offer those."
>
> Selfridges said: "We are grateful that these revelations were brought
> to our attention and we are happy to confirm that we have stopped
> stocking Fayre Game products. We will be stocking eggs from Clarence
> Court."
>
> Haines said Fayre Game took animal welfare "extremely seriously". It
> was working towards gaining formal recognition through RSPCA's farm
> assurance and food labelling scheme, Freedom Food.
>
> He said the company had already introduced "free to fly" aviaries, or
> outdoor verandas, to give the birds greater freedom outdoors. He
> claimed the filming had been carried out on a day of heavy rain, when
> he had been forced to divert his staff to attend to the birds outside.
>
> "It was unfortunate that dead birds were there in the cages but we had
> to take the decision to use our staff to help save the birds
> outdoors," he said. He would not confirm which retailers the company
> supplied, although he said a large volume of quail products were sold
> directly to Smithfield market.
>
> Watch clips of the secret filming in a quail breeding farm at
> guardian.co.uk/video
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> My greatest speech to the peasants
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7LWuP0T7Q
>
> pam the SPAMMERS send an email to enquires@urfreesim.co.uk
>
>
>
> England / Angelic Upstarts
>
> The red in the flag is the blood that was spilt
> In the way that your forefathers tell
> And never a country has been so great
> The stories Britannia could tell
>
> I never want to live my life
> Away from the golden shores
> There's never a country in the world
> With the scent of an English rose
>
> England oh England a country so great
> A land that's so fair and so true
> There'll never be any colours like
> The red the white and the blue
>
> Whenever you go to a far off land
> There's something goes with you
> The pride and the joy and the love that comes
> For your mother of red white and blue
>
> You could never be born under a flag that's like
> The one of the Union Jack
> St.Georges spirit has never died
> It all keeps coming back