About fifty or more cows and bulls have been left to die of starvation at a farm in Salazie, Mauritius. Here is a link to the newspaper article dated 23rd Dec 2011:http://www.defimedia.info/live-news/item/3255-des-b%C5%93ufs-meurent-de-faim-%C3%A0-salazie-leurs-carcasses-laiss%C3%A9es-%C3%A0-l%E2%80%99abandon.html

The farm was abandoned and the innocent animals condemned to an extremely slow and painful death. We are calling upon you to see to it that those who have committed such atrocious cruelty are duly prosecuted and rightly punished for extreme animal cruelty.

There is a pressing need for strict and rigorous animal welfare laws in Mauritius.

We call upon you to:

1) Make sure those responsible for such a barbaric act of cruelty against the animals are duly prosecuted and punished. There is a great need for animal welfare laws, which do not simply attribute meagre fines to those guilty of animal cruelty but also provide for longer prison sentences and re-education. Cows are sentient beings capable of feeling great pain; one cannot begin to imagine the agony these creatures must have gone through.

2) To bring in place more strict regulations and laws concerning farms and to whom permits are given. A country which aims to be self-sufficient must make sure the animals which help it to achieve this aim are treated with the greatest care possible and in accordance with international animal welfare standards. Permits where animals are involved cannot be given to just anyone. It must be made sure the person knows the very basics of animal welfare.

3) There should be more strict regulations in place about farm inspections and their frequency thereof. Health and sanitary inspectors must conduct regular and thorough visits to farms across the island, and see whether animals are being treated with care: that is, to make sure that the animals are being properly fed, are healthy, have clean and adequate space to move/sit or rest. Nightmarish and unthinkably cruel acts against animals such as this one must not be given a chance to occur again.

4) To put in place animal welfare legislations. All animals in Mauritius urgently deserve to be protected against cruelty, and those who commit cruelty against them must be harshly punished. Animal welfare campaigns and education of children and adults about animal welfare are extremely important and desperately required.

"Show me the enforced laws of a state for the prevention of cruelty to animals and I in turn will give you a correct estimate of the refinement, enlightenment, integrity and equity of that commonwealth's people." - L.T. Danshiell

"We have enslaved the rest of animal creation and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form." - William Ralph Inge, (British Author)