To everyone who does, be safe.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1287202/south-africa-news-animal-meat-safety-act-food-plan-law-all-wildlife-wild-animals-menu-spt

SOUTH AFRICA is deliberating over a radical review of their Meat Safety Act that wildlife activists fear could "pave the way" for elephants, rhinos, giraffes and every animal listed for human consumption.

The South African government first announced the proposed amendment to Schedule 1 of the Meat Safety Act 2000 back in February, which is yet to be implemented. Wildlife campaigners and officials fear the law change could enable animals to be eaten by humans in the future. Some speculate it may be part of a broader plan to add more creatures to the menu and to launch a rare meat industry for international markets. The proposed amendment has been put out to the public for comment, a phase of the process that is due to close at the end of June. There are additional concerns that the suggested alterations could put endangered species at greater risk, cause additional problems for anti-poachers and in a worst case scenario potentially increase the risk of zoonotic transmissions.

Questions have been raised about new proposals made for The Meat Safety Act due to potentially troubling wording that appears to suggest all animals – including endangered and threatened species – could be fit for human and animal consumption. While the act presides over the “safety of animal products” with respect to abattoirs, import and exportation, and safety schemes, government officials and wildlife campaigners fear the worst.

They are concerned by the inclusion of 33 wild species – including rhinos, giraffes, elephants and hippopotamuses – that appears to make it “legal” for animal “slaughter, consumption, import, export and sale”.

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Source: Market Watch

A man was shot dead outside of a Minneapolis pawn shop Wednesday night as violent protests over the death of George Floyd rattled the city, authorities said.

Minneapolis cops are investigating reports that the victim was a looter shot dead by an owner of the business, police department spokesman John Elder said at press briefing early Thursday.

The man was found with a gunshot wound outside of Cadillac Pawn and Jewelry on East Lake Street near Bloomington Avenue at about 9:25 p.m. local time, Elder said.

“That is one of the theories that we’re working into,” Elder said in response to a reporter questioning if there’s any credence to the narrative that the owner shot dead a looter trying to break into his store.

Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/man-shot-dead-amid-violent-george-floyd-protests-in-minneapolis-2020-05-28

https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-mask-sight-thousands-flock-180123775.html

On Monday, thousands of visitors from across the country descended on Yellowstone national park, which opened for the first time since its closure in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have been cooped up for weeks,” Jacob Willis told the Guardian near a crowd of onlookers at the Old Faithful Geyser. “When the parks opened, we jumped at the opportunity to travel,” said Willis, who had arrived from Florida.

Yellowstone, America’s oldest national park, and the nearby Grand Teton national park are the most recent to have partially reopened with the support of the Trump administration.

“I hope everybody is listening,” Donald Trump announced earlier in May. “The parks are opening, and rapidly, actually.”

While many have celebrated the reopening of the revered landscapes, others have raised health concerns about large, possibly maskless, groups of out-of-state visitors arriving and potentially skirting social distancing guidelines.

“We checked the webcam at Old Faithful at about 3.30pm yesterday,” said Kristin Brengel, the senior vice-president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association. “Not much physical distancing happening and not a single mask in sight.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2020/may/18/police-fail-in-attempt-to-tase-ahmaud-arbery-during-2017-incident-video



Police attempted to use a Taser on Ahmaud Arbery, the slain Georgia jogger, after questioning why he was sitting alone in his car in a park one morning in November 2017, according to records and a police video first obtained by the Guardian.

The video comes to light as law enforcement in the area faces scrutiny after Arbery was shot dead by two white men while out for a run in February. Police did not initially arrest Gregory and Travis McMichael, who chased down and killed the unarmed Arbery, and a prosecutor assigned to the case wrote a lengthy memo explaining why the killing was legally justified.

In a joint statement to the Guardian, lawyers working for the Arbery family described the video as a clear depiction of 'a situation where Ahmaud was harassed by Glynn county police officers'