Animals Count is contesting the European Parliament elections on 4th June in the Eastern region where we are fielding three candidates.

Following our successful first party conference on World Animal Day on 4th October 2008 in Birmingham, our second party conference will take place today, on 9th May in London and will start at 3pm and end at 6pm.

The conference will officially kick off our EU election campaign. Three weeks ago we already received an endorsement from Eastenders actor Nicholas Ball, when we launched our campaign during the Incredible Veggie Show in London.

You can help Animals Count by distributing leaflets, campaigning online, telling your mates we are constesting the Eastern region (Herts, Beds, Cambs, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk) and donations are still very much appreciated too (democracy does not come cheap).

For more information, please visit www.animalscount.org

Dear friends,

First, mark the date: public launch of Animals Count’s EU election campaign on 18^th April 2009, at 5.15pm during the Incredible Veggie Show, the Royal Horticultural Halls, Lawrence Hall & Conference Centre, Greycoat Street, London. SW1P 2QD.

Please join us to show your support for real action for animals at the EU political level.

As part of the EU election regulations, we will have a free mail-out of our election leaflet. We can reach one household per penny; for £10 we can print an extra 1,000 leaflets. This is a one-off opportunity to reach so many people so cheaply. We're looking to raise another £1500 –or more– in order to print 150,000 more leaflets. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to print 500,000 leaflets? The Vegan Three Peaks Challenge aims to help raise the required funds.

During a single 24 hour period from 2-3 May, an all-vegan team will attempt to successively scale the three highest mountains within Wales, England.. and Scotland – the famous ‘3 Peaks’ Challenge.

By doing so, we aim to very publicly demonstrate that vegans can achieve impressive feats of fitness, whilst also having a lot of fun, thereby overcoming certain misperceptions about the vegan lifestyle. Given that animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global warming – as well as being frequently cruel to animals, and bad for human health – we feel it is important to demonstrate how incorrect such misperceptions are.

We also aim to raise money to help fund the electoral campaign of Animals Count, during the June 4^th European Parliamentary elections. Animals Count (www.AnimalsCount.org) is a UK political party for people and animals, and will be contesting these elections with the aim of increasing the consideration given to animal issues, by all political parties. This will be the first time a UK political party for the animals has contested the EP elections.

We are taking a journalist and will be producing a short video about this challenging adventure. We are also producing some very cool T-shirts, which can be viewed and ordered at www.vegan3peaks.info.

A major factor that will help us survive and complete this horribly punishing challenge will be knowing that we have the support of our sponsors. So please do consider sponsoring us at www.vegan3peaks.info. 100% of all funds raised will go to Animals Count – we and our partners will cover all event costs separately. We would also appreciate your help in publicising this event as much as you can. Additionally, to minimise our substantial vehicle hire costs, we are also seeking the loan of a reliable minibus or large car in the London area.

Thank you for your consideration!

Andrew Knight

Founder, Extreme Vegan Sporting Association: extremely good fun!....

London, UK.

www.extremevegansports.org

www.vegan3peaks.info

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Finally, it’s the first of April, but it’s no joke: you can vote again for Animals Count this month in the annual Vegan Environmental Awards 009.

Please go to: http://bristol.veganfayre.co.uk/awards-vote/, scroll down; tick the box for Animals Count. Please also ask your friends to vote for Animals Count.

Thank you very much!

Best wishes,

Jasmijn de Boo

Chair, Animals Count.

Animals Count - a political party for people and animals....

PO BOX 51250
London SE11 4UN

Email: info@animalscount.org

Web: www.animalscount.org 
Animals Count; they count on you!....

Jasmijn de Boo received 1,828 votes (1.12% of the total votes) in the London Assembly elections for Lambeth and Southwark. This was more than the Socialist Party had received.

Jasmijn de Boo commented: "I am proud of our result. We are a new party and there were nine other candidates people could choose from. We had a small campaign with an even smaller budget. In a sense we are comparable to independent candidates in other constituencies, which typically received around 700 votes."

"Under the first-past-the-post-system people tend to vote more strategically rather than intuitively. Our result demonstrates that nearly 2,000 people in this constituency alone care so much about animal issues that they overcame their wish to vote strategically. I am confident we will grow and that the European Parliament elections in 2009 offer a real opportunity for Animals Count."

The London Elections have been a learning experience, it brought our members closer together and inspired many others. We will start preparing for the European Parliament elections soon.

Thanks again to everyone who helped during the election campaign! It was worth it!

If you are interested in helping, please contact us or come to our next meeting.

Five charged for animal cruelty to 125 animals

Following an investigation from the RSPCA five people have been charged with animal cruelty over the discovery of scores of neglected horses, ponies and donkeys on a Buckinghamshire farm.

The family aged between 15 and 44 face a total of 12 charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 as they caused unnecessary suffering to 125 animals and failed to meet their needs. It seems that Animal Welfare Act is starting to be enforced and getting offenders prosecuted. It is sad, however, that the situation had to spiral out of control until 125 animals were suffering or in danger of suffering, before any action was taken.

The BBC reports that Mr. Gray "appeared in court last month charged with three offences related to alleged offences at the time of the visit by animal welfare representatives. He denied charges of assault and obstructing a police officer." Animals Count would not be surprised at all if it were true that Mr. Gray had displayed ’obstructive’ behaviour towards the law enforcers. There is a link between violence towards people and animal cruelty and it is about time that legislators start taking this more seriously.

Animals Count believes that the Animal Welfare Act is:

• Too narrow in scope
• Lacking adequate enforcement
• Open to wide interpretation, resulting in unnecessary suffering and deaths of countless individual animals.

Help!

We need your help. We are looking for a Secretary and a website manager. Please contact us if you are interested in supporting us and getting involved in this unique opportunity to make a real difference for animals.