A Dog is for Life

By Shannon McClurg

Pets are a great addition to the family for many reasons. What people don’t take into account is the care for an animal that is needed. Thousands of animals are abandoned every year, especially dogs. The ‘Dogs Trust’ logo “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas” has been about for 13 years yet people are still not grasping its meaning. People are too caught up on buying someone a cute puppy as present. Once the initial excitement has worn off they then realise that it is a lot of work.

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 outlines that owners and keepers are responsible for ensuring that the welfare needs of their animals are met. These include; a suitable environment to live, a suitable diet, to exhibit normal behaviour patterns, to be protected from pain, injury suffering and disease.

It also states that anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare needs, may be banned from owning animals for life, and fined up to £20,000 and/or sent to prison.

So the question is why are owners continually abandoning their pets of on the streets? Why are owners physically abusing their pet?

The excuses are endless. “Reasons” vary, but some that people give are ridiculous. “The dog doesn’t match my couch”, “It’s not as cute as it used to be”, and “It smells of ‘dog”.

This is a clear indication that people are not thinking about what owning a pet entails. They are also not thinking about the consequences to both the pet, and the dog.

The Animal Welfare Act came into force in England and Wales first.  It then came into force in Scotland in October 2006.

The Act also raised the legal age of buying a pet from 12 to 16 without parental supervision. It also banned the docking of animal’ tails for cosmetic reasons, with the exception of ‘working’ dogs like those in the police or armed forces.

Other acts of animal mutilation are also banned by the act. However, this excludes the practices including castrating, spaying cats and dogs and ear tagging.

The act was hailed a breakthrough in the fight against animal cruelty by the RSPCA.

Since the act has been put in place, animal cruelty figures have dropped significantly because it has made dog owners aware of what is involved in caring for a pet.

Before the act, high profile animal cruelty cases involved; a terrier that was abandoned in a house and was forced to eat her two dead companions t survive.  A Bichon Frise whose owner was caught on camera suspending it from its lead and kicking it, racing greyhounds being transported in cages that were too small for them to stand up straight or lie down, and a horse and sheep who had been left with terrible untreated crippling injuries that they had to be put down.

Unlike England and Wales, Scotland bans giving an animal as a prize altogether.

So why are people still buying pets before doing their research? ‘A dog is a mans best friend’, couldn’t be a truer phrase. A dog will love anyone who treats it right and gives it the love and affection it deserves.

Owners and buyers need to realise what a pet is. A pet is not a fashion accessory, it is not a toy, and it most certainly is not a Christmas present.

A pet is a long-life addition to the family.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e24AsCCTkPA]

Recycling Initiative Introduction

By Kimi Inglis

A new residual waste treatment project is being introduced by Glasgow City Council. The project is intended to cut the amount of waste produced by homes beginning in July 2013 for a nine month trial period.

The project named Glasgow Food Waste Initiative, will target 45,800 properties overall from three different housing groups throughout Glasgow during the pilot. The selected properties will allow the Council to evaluate the project and ensure the recycling is as efficient as possible.

Glasgow Food Waste Initiative will target 32,000 kerbside properties, two routes in the Polmadie area and one route in Dawsholm. It will also target multi-storey and tenement properties in the Easter Queenslie area.

The nine month trial period will be funded by Zero Waste Scotland; this will see two new bins being introduced. The five litre bin will be for indoor use for waste food products. The contents will then be transferred into a 25 litre bin which will be outdoors.

Information disclosed by Zero Waste Scotland shows that Scottish households throw away 566,000 tonnes of food each year. It also shows Scottish people could save £430 per household each year, £1 billion overall, if they did not waste food.
Director of Zero Waste Scotland, Iain Gullan, said: “Preventing the amount of waste we produce is about using the resources we have more efficiently. It’s great to see so many organisations and individuals across Scotland getting behind this initiative”.

Councillors have deemed the initiative as “the right thing to expand recycling opportunities in the city”.

The pilot will not only save individual’s money, but it will also create seven new jobs collecting food waste. This will help targeted communities prosper, thereby providing new opportunities.

All collected food waste will be recycled by local companies across the central belt of Scotland. Glasgow City Council believes the Glasgow Food Waste Initiative will “create a cleaner, safer city, a sustainable environment, improve health and wellbeing and sustain the environmental regeneration of Glasgow”.

Scots say yes to same-sex marriage

by Courtney Hendry 

After overwhelming support from the majority of Scottish people our government has finally announced that it will legalise same-sex marriage in Scotland. It’s a decision that’s been made following much debate and there seems to be no sign of the heated discussions slowing down.

Everyone has a strong opinion on the issue. An Ipos Morri survey showed that 61% of all Scots support the legalisation of same-sex marriage and many of these people have no qualms about publicly supporting the new legislation.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Scotland Organisation (LGBT) have fully supported the Scottish Government in their aim to create a fairer and equal Scotland. After campaigning for same-sex marriage for the past three years LGBT Scotland said: ” The right to marry the person you love, either through a civil marriage or a religious marriage is a fundamental right and we welcome the Scottish Government’s plans to make this a legal right for all of Scotland’s people.”

However there are some people in Scotland who are strongly against allowing the plans to go ahead, particularly the Catholic Church who want the world to know that they do not support the Scottish Government’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage.

Leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has said: “The Church’s teaching on marriage is unequivocal, it is uniquely, the union of a man and a woman and it is wrong that governments, politicians or parliaments should seek to alter or destroy that reality”.  He also added that gay marriage is, “a gross subversion of a universally accepted human right.”

In a statement made by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon it was made clear that the Scottish Government recognises that people of religion may object the idea of same-sex marriage and that the Government will ensure that their personal beliefs be respected: ”The Scottish Government has already made clear that no religious body will be compelled to conduct same sex marriages and we reiterate that.”

No one is trying to force a priest to conduct a same-sex marriage; the legislation simply allows gay couples who want a religious ceremony to be offered that opportunity. Currently no mention is made of religion in a civil partnership, and the Scottish Government has said:  ”We intend to proceed with plans to allow same sex marriage and religious ceremonies for civil partnerships. We believe that this is the right thing to do.”

Many welcome the new legislation but as great as it is, much still needs to be achieved to ensure equality in Scotland. Whether it’s the pay gap between genders, age discrimination, race and religion quality issues, there is still someway to go in creating a fairer Scotland.

Our Government recognises this and it is evident that it is striving towards a better place to live, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Scotland is by no means the first and will not be the last country to legalise same sex marriage. However, as we proceed towards legislation, our overriding concern will be to respect the variety of views that exist on this issue and do whatever we can to address those concerns that have been expressed, while ensuring that Scotland lives up to its aspiration to be an equal and tolerant society.”

Minimum pricing debate rages on

By Michele Kennedy                                                                                                            

Cheap alcohol, student discounts and free entry into clubs are a few reasons for the nation’s disturbing binge drinking culture. A half bottle of Glen’s vodka costing under £5, means more and more people indulge in pre-pub drinks before hitting the town resulting in more drink related accidents. With the new minimum price, the government hopes to reduce the amount of accidents caused by binge drinking.

The Scottish government have again renounced plans to set a minimum price for alcohol. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has been trying to put their plan into action since 2009 in order to curb the country’s pressing drinking culture.

Research suggests that Scottish adults consume the equivalent of a standard bottle of vodka or 10 pints of beer every week, a fifth more than the average in England and Wales. The set price per unit of alcohol will be 50p, which would see the cost of the strongest ciders more than double in supermarkets and shops, while a bottle of whisky would cost at least £14 and wine a minimum of £4.50.

Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent for the Guardian,  writes today that: “Recent studies published by the Scottish government said endemic alcohol abuse in some parts of Scotland led directly to the deaths of 3,000 Scots each year and cost the economy £3.5bn a year in hospital admissions and lost productivity”

The policy was voted down in September 2009 by opposition MSPs when the SNP was a minority government. Now that they are re-elected with a majority in the Holyrood elections last year, the SNP re-introduced the policy and on 24 May the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 was passed. Even though royal consent has been given, the policy is still not in force as two more steps must be completed before it is put into action.

The policy has been denounced by several European Union Nations such as Italy and Spain stating that ‘it breaches EU law on free trade’. The European Commission (EC) revealed: “we have a problem with the compatibility of minimum pricing plans under community law”.

When questioned on what effect this might have, members of the public say that setting a minimum price would not affect the amount that people drink: “people who binge drink on a regular basis won’t be put off by the price, they’ll just search out ways of getting cheap alcohol. Drinking on a regular basis has some grounds in that it’s only one factor amongst many. It’ll just be one more reason to dislike the government.”

Many believe that by doing this it will only make the country poorer: “It’s just going to make the Scottish poor even poorer. We’re a low wage and high tax socio-economic dump where the rich tax dodge like the maniacs they are and we can’t even get hammered for cheap”