Anyone wishing to make a stand against animal cruelty is very welcome to join us.
The following actions will be taking place in the next fortnight:

Monday 24th - Paul Smith fur demo in Nottingham. Meeting at main Paul Smith outlet at 12noon. People will be going from Derby city centre, or make your own way there. The Paul Smith shop is just outside the caves entrance to the Broadmarsh shopping centre.

Here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Low+Pavement,+Nottingham,+United+Kingdom&aq=0&sll=52.951805,-1.147052&sspn=0.003859,0.010772&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Low+Pavement,+Nottingham+NG1,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.951385,-1.147556&spn=0.003859,0.010772&z=17

Friday 28th - BUAV / animal testing stall in St Peters St, Derby - to support the EU ban on cosmetic testing. Starting 12:00. Just turn up to lend a hand!

Read more here: http://www.naturewatch.org/shoppingguide/cosmetics_testing.asp

And here: http://www.buav.org/article/461/buav-accuses-european-commission-of-weakening-cosmetic-animal-testing-marketing-ban

And even here: http://www.cosmeticsbusiness.com/news/article_page/RSPCA_and_BUAV_call_on_Europe_not_to_delay_2013_animal_testing_ban/58753

2nd of February - Next planning meeting. This is an easy way to say hello and get involved in the chilled out environment of the Flower Pot Pub in Derby city centre. Starting at 20:00.

Here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Flower+Pot+near+Derby,+United+Kingdom&aq=3&sll=52.951385,-1.147556&sspn=0.003859,0.010772&ie=UTF8&hq=Flower+Pot&hnear=Derby,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.926459,-1.479614&spn=0.007723,0.021544&z=16

4th February - Foston Mega Pig Factory planning decision has moved from the Regional council (Swadlincote) to the County Council (Matlock). Derby Animal Rights will be participating in a media friendly action to raise public awareness of the proposed huge fatory farm on our doorstep.

   Surrounded by barbed wire fences, the massive complex would imprison sows that would never go outside. An uncomfortable comparison with the neighbouring women's prison only a stone's throw away.

   Foston pig farm is due to be situated right next to the historic village of the same name (on a beautiful Greenfield site) and will produce a thousand pigs a week, which will be transported off-site to slaughter. That's 48,000 pigs a year. At any one time the farm will house around 26,000 animals trapped on a slow conveyor belt towards the abattoir. As far as we know, these plans are for the biggest factory farm of pigs so far in Britain. Unbelievably, there will be a picnic site overlooking it.

   The company behind this venture (Midland Pig Producers) has gone so far as to say that the countryside will be stripped of its animals within a decade - with MPP seemingly at the forefront of this move.

   It is impossible to provide high welfare on a farm this size. Pigs are rooting animals that can roam miles in the wild and enjoy total freedom in their interaction with their young. Today's factory farms deny almost all that is natural to these sensitive and intelligent animals.

   Then there's the impact on humans. Have we learnt nothing from swine flu, bird flu, SARS etc in the way we treat animals? Situating a massive intensive farm this close to people (the nearest house is just 20 metres away from the perimeter fence) is asking for trouble. Not least the use of a huge anaerobic digester to process around 15 million litres of slurry a year. These digesters are designed to produce energy and reduce smell, but can actually be a source of smell, noise and - in the worst case scenario - toxic gases and even fire and explosions.

   If Foston Pig Prison goes ahead this - like the proposed move to zero-grazing dairy cows in Lincolnshire - could be the thin end of the wedge. If the company gets its way, there will be no more animals left in the British countryside. We must stop this.