Author Archives: Eeyore

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

National Post: Racism in Islam, Pakistan and Bangladesh

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Tarek Fatah, National Post

Published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

chadian-woman
The following is an edited excerpt of a speech delivered last week at the Durban Review Conference (Durban II) in Geneva, Switzerland.

As I speak to you, I am deeply disappointed that my colleague Milly Nsekalije, a survivor of the 1994 massacre of Rwandan Tutsis, could not share her story with all of you. The reason: In the eyes of some, she cannot have been a victim of the genocide since she is not 100% Tutsi.

What does it say about the state of racism in our world when the victims of a genocide practise exclusion on the basis of the so-called purity of blood lines and ethnicity?

Worse than her exclusion from to-day’s event is the fact that it has happened at a conference meant to combat racism. As this shows, we have turned the concept of racism upside down.

Racism operates not just as a black/ white divide, but also as a cancer that affects relations between people of colour — people who often share the same religion, but have different shades of brown or black skin.

This internalized racism, which devours the people of the developing world in Asia and Africa from within, is too often left out of the discussion of racism.

This afternoon, I would like to shed some light on two genocides — one happened in 1970-71 in what is now Bangladesh; and the other that continues as I speak in the Darfur region of Sudan. In both instances, the root of the problem lay with one group of Muslims feeling they were racially superior to their victims, who also happened to be Muslim. In both cases, the doctrine of racial superiority and the practice of institutional racism went unchallenged, even after the horrible consequences of such racism were evident and for all to see.

In 1970, my country of birth, Pakistan, was divided in two: an eastern part that is today known as Bangladesh and the western rump, which survived a subsequent war with India as the state we now know as Pakistan.

East Pakistan was inhabited by the darker-skinned Bengali people who happened to be the majority community of Pakistan, but found themselves ruled by a lighter-skinned minority from what was known as West Pakistan.

In the first 25 years of the country’s history, the racist depiction of the darker-skinned Bengalis as an inferior and incapable people became the unquestioned dogma among the ruling minority. The darker-skinned Bengalis’ culture was portrayed as un-Islamic and influenced by Hinduism. Their music, cuisine and attire were mocked, and their language was banned, leading to widespread protests and deaths in 1952.

In 1970, after suffering under the minority rule of West Pakistan for 25 years, the people of East Pakistan voted to elect a party based in their region, and gained a clear majority in the country’s national parliament.

However, the racist view that Bengali people were incapable of ruling the country, or that they were traitors to the fair-skinned minority of West Pakistan, led to a military intervention and widespread massacres over a 10-month period.

The killing of the Bengali people by the West Pakistan army stopped only when India intervened and defeated the Pakistan Armed Forces, but not before hundreds of Bengali intellectuals, professors, poets, authors, musicians and painters were rounded up and massacred.

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US official Rose Gottemoeller calls for Israel to sign non-proliferation treaty

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From The Australian, supplied by our Ozzie friend, RR

A CALL by a US official for Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has raised fears in Jerusalem that the Obama administration may be seeking to block the Iranian nuclear threat by sacrificing Israel’s reported nuclear arsenal.

US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller said this week: “Universal adherence to the NPT, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea, remains a fundamental objective of the United States.”

The US has quietly accepted Israel’s nuclear ambitions over the years because the Jewish state’s perceived vulnerability in the Middle East lent legitimacy to its desire for a “doomsday” weapon that could deter its enemies.

“In the past, there was an informal agreement by which the Americans looked the other way (regarding Israel’s nuclear program),” said Uzi Even, a former Knesset member and a scientist who was involved in the program. “Now the US is breaching this agreement.”

A senior official in Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the ministry was “trying to verify” Ms Gottemoeller’s statement, apparently meaning it was attempting to determine whether it meant a departure by the new US administration from previous policy. “In any case, it’s baffling.”

Under the treaty, only five nations are allowed to hold nuclear weapons – the US, Russia, Britain, France and China. All other signatories are obliged not to develop nuclear weapons.

Those that already have nuclear weapons are required to gradually rid themselves of them.

The only non-signatories in the world are the four countries cited by Ms Gottemoeller. India, Pakistan and North Korea have tested nuclear devices. Israel has not but is reported to have up to 200 nuclear warheads.

Under a 40-year-old understanding reportedly achieved between then Israeli prime minister Golda Meir and then US president Richard Nixon, Washington has refrained from pressuring Israel to sign the NPT.

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10 killed in Casino blast in Ukraine

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2009-05-07 12:18:53 Print

From Xinhuanet:

An investigator walks through a gaming hall destroyed by fire in Dnepropetrovsk, May 7, 2009. A fire raced through a gaming hall full of slot machines early on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 11, the Emergency Ministry said.

An investigator walks through a gaming hall destroyed by fire in Dnepropetrovsk, May 7, 2009. A fire raced through a gaming hall full of slot machines early on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 11, the Emergency Ministry said.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

KIEV, May 7 (Xinhua) — Ten people were killed and 11 others injured early on Thursday when a powerful explosion ripped through a casino in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

A police officer guards the entrance to a gaming hall destroyed by fire in Dnepropetrovsk, May 7, 2009. A fire raced through a gaming hall full of slot machines early on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 11, the Emergency Ministry said.

A police officer guards the entrance to a gaming hall destroyed by fire in Dnepropetrovsk, May 7, 2009. A fire raced through a gaming hall full of slot machines early on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring 11, the Emergency Ministry said.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

“The blast took place in a slot machine hall of the Metro-Jack-Pot, which is located on the first floor of a five-story apartment house in Dnipropetrovsk. Nine people were killed on the spot and another died in hospital,” an Emergency Ministry official was quoted as saying.

The injured were admitted to local hospitals, the report said.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion is being conducted.

Viktor Bondar, head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, has signed a decree to shut down all gambling halls, nightclubs and casinos in the area until the cause of the explosion is determined, Interfax-Ukraine said.

Doctors in Pakistan warned not to wear pants and shirts. Writ of state in Pakistan in doubt.

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TTP warns NWFP doctors over dress. From Paktribune

PESHAWAR: The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has allegedly warned doctors of the public sector hospitals in Peshawar to stop wearing shirts and trousers or face suicide bombing.

A senior doctor at the oldest public sector hospital of the NWFP ñ the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) — told our sources on condition of anonymity that they had received a letter from the TTP, asking doctors and all other medical staff to immediately stop wearing shirts and trousers or suicide bombers would target them at their institutions.

He said the chief executive of the LRH, after receiving the TTP letter on April 28, circulated the communication to the medical superintendent, deputy medical superintendents and other senior staff members of the hospital and directed them to take precautionary measures.

The doctor said the chief executive had mentioned in his circular that the TTP threat should be taken seriously, urging doctors and other staff members to stop wearing shirts and trousers. The staff member said the alleged TTP threat had sent a wave of shock among the doctors’ community.

Two other senior doctors at the Hayatabad Medical Complex and the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) also confirmed receiving similar threats from the TTP. They said chief executives of all the three teaching hospitals directed their staff members, particularly doctors, to stop wearing shirts and trousers so that they could be saved from suicide bombers.

When reached by telephone, NWFP Secretary for Health Dr Sohail Altaf confirmed the threatening letters that were received by the hospital executives from unknown people. He said he too had received a copy of the letter, which he had dispatched to the NWFP police chief, Malik Naveed Khan, for investigation. Sohail Altaf said he did not believe the Taliban would have sent the letter.

The secretary said it seemed that certain elements had started terrorising peaceful citizens in view of the situation the people were facing these days. A senior doctor at the LRH said the threatening letter had created extreme panic and many doctors had stopped wearing the dress after the warning from the Taliban.

“It shows there is no writ of the government and Pakistan has become a Taliban state. It is a serious issue as the Taliban have practically started interferering into the personal matters of citizens and affairs of the government departments,” said a senior doctor at the KTH.

Muslim dentist ‘refused to treat female patients unless they wore Islamic dress’

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This would bother me a lot more if this took place in a non Islamic nation.  Even so, it wasn’t all that long ago that England was a secular democratic non theological state so I suppose we should pay attention to this as it can and will happen here sooner or later. My money is on sooner. Hat tip GAR

Eeyore for Vlad.

From The Daily Mail

Muslim dentist ‘refused to treat female patients unless they wore Islamic dress’

By Tom Kelly
Last updated at 9:36 PM on 07th May 2009

Omer Butt allegedly said it was duty to ensure Muslim women wore the hijab at his NHS dental clinic in Bury, Lancashire

Strict: Omer Butt allegedly said it was duty to ensure Muslim women wore the hijab at his NHS dental clinic

A Muslim dentist refused to treat patients unless they wore traditional Islamic dress, it was alleged today.

Omer Butt, 32, ordered women to put on head scarves or he would not register them or their families at his NHS-funded clinic, it was claimed.

At least two patients were left in pain after they declined to follow his self-imposed rules, the General Dental Council heard.

It is the second time that the dentist – who is the brother of a former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun – has appeared before the council’s disciplinary panel on similar allegations.

Two years ago he was reprimanded for telling an Asian mother-of-two he would not register her unless she wore the Muslim hijab.

The GDC heard how Butt believed it was his duty to stop Muslim patients committing what he believed was Al-Kaba’ir, a religious sin.

He even put a laminated sign on the wall of his waiting room telling patients they would have to adhere to his strict dress code or find another dentist.

John Snell, for the GDC, said: ‘He sought to impose a dress code on patients attending his practice.

‘He required that women cover their hair with a head scarf, or hijab, and that male patients remove any gold jewellery.

‘If he had simply expressed a preference, without imposing any compulsion to adhere to this dress code, there may be no cause for complaint.

‘However, he insisted – and those who did not comply were refused treatment.

‘He made compliance with Islamic dress code a condition of treatment, which is entirely inappropriate under the auspices of the National Health Service.

‘Patients should have access to NHS treatment regardless of their religious observance, or otherwise.’

One patient,  referred to only as Mrs F, told how she went with her husband and three children to register as patients at the Unsworth Smile Clinic, in Bury, Lancashire, in 2006.

While they were waiting to be seen, Butt called her husband into an office and told him he would have to tell his wife to wear a head scarf or the family would not be seen.
They promptly left and made a formal complaint to the NHS.

The kind of Islamic outfit dentist Omer Butt is said to demand female patients wore

Traditional: The kind of Islamic outfit Butt is said to demand female patients wore

Mrs F told the panel: ‘I was extremely annoyed. It’s my choice if I wear a Hijab or not. But he told my husband he wouldn’t treat any of us until I did.

‘He even offered to provide one for me to use, but I didn’t want to wear it. I shouldn’t have to wear it to get treatment.

‘I had great pain in my tooth at the time, but I wasn’t going to stand for that so we left.’

Another patient and her family had to leave the clinic in June 2007 because she would not wear the religious headdress after spending a year looking for a dentist in the area, the hearing was told.

The woman’s husband, known as Mr C, was also called into a private room at the surgery where Butt asked him to impose a dress code on his wife.

His wife said: ‘My husband came out and he looked quite angry and his face was red. He said ‘let’s go’.

‘He shouldn’t say to me that he can’t treat me unless I wear the hijab. He said he could provide one for us, but I didn’t want to wear one. I was in pain that day.’

Butt, of Prestwich, Manchester,  denies charges of misconduct for his treatment of two patients at the clinic.

If found guilty he faces being removed the dental register.

In September 2007 Butt was formally reprimanded by the GDC for similar behaviour and found guilty of serious professional misconduct.

The hearing, being held in London, continues.

Hawaii creates ‘Honor Islam’ day.

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I wonder if the Baha’i or Zoroastrians killed a few tens of thousands of people around the world in terrorist attacks and then maybe flew giant jetliners into US buildings if Hawaii would grant them a special day to celebrate their wonderful accomplishments. The really has gone crazy. Mind you Canada is as bad. We have Islamic history month here but if anyone actually speaks on actual Islamic history, they are in serious danger of losing their jobs.

From CBS News:

(AP) Hawaii’s state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate “Islam Day” _ over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn’t want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

The Senate’s two Republicans argued that a minority of Islamic extremists have killed many innocents in terrorist attacks.

“I recall radical Islamists around the world cheering the horrors of 9/11. That is the day all civilized people of all religions should remember,” said Republican Sen. Fred Hemmings to the applause of more than 100 people gathered in the Senate to oppose a separate issue _ same-sex civil unions.

The resolution to proclaim Sept. 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. It had previously passed the House.

The bill seeks to recognize “the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions” that Islam and the Islamic world have made. It does not call for any spending or organized celebration of Islam Day.

“We are a state of tolerance. We understand that people have different beliefs,” said Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat. “We may not all agree on every single item and issue out there, but to say and highlight the negativity of the Islamic people is an insult to the majority” of believers “who are good law-abiding citizens of the world.”

But Republican Sen. Sam Slom argued that the United States has become too sympathetic toward Islamic extremists.

“I don’t think there’s any country in the history of the world that has been more tolerant than the United States of America, and because of that tolerance, we’ve looked the other way a lot of times, and many thousands of our citizens have been killed by terrorists,” said Slom, a Republican.

The lone Democrat voting against the bill opposed it on church-state separation fears.

UK teachers admit they delete vast swaths of history from curicula to avoid offending people, notably Islam

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When this blog first began there was a contentious story that many UK schools had stopped teaching the Holocaust as it offended Muslims in the class in some way. I looked into it to the best of my ability at the time and it appeared that this was the case but there was some denial and at the same time, some justification for it in that ‘Clay pot’ logical fallacy way. The fallacy works thusly:

“I never borrowed your clay pot and it was broken when you loaned it to me”

Even so, that story was denied and dismissed. Then, we have this story from May 2 2007 on BBC:
Schools ‘avoid Holocaust lessons’

Auschwitz
The Holocaust will be protected in the new curriculum

Some schools avoid teaching the Holocaust and other controversial history subjects as they do not want to cause offence, research has claimed.

Teachers fear meeting anti-Semitic sentiment, particularly from Muslim pupils, the government-funded study by the Historical Association said.

It also said the way the slave trade was taught could leave both white and black children feeling alienated.

Ministers in England had asked for guidance on teaching emotive subjects.

Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes

Historical Association report

When he commissioned the report last year, schools minister Lord Adonis said the national curriculum encouraged teachers to choose content “likely to resonate in their multicultural classrooms” – but some found it difficult to do that.

The Historical Association report claimed: “Teachers and schools avoid emotive and controversial history for a variety of reasons, some of which are well-intentioned.

“Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes.

“In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship.”

The report gave the example of a history department in a northern city which decided not to teach the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE coursework.

‘Worrying picture’

It cited another school which taught the Holocaust, but then avoided teaching the Crusades because “balanced treatment” of the topic would have challenged what some local mosques were teaching.

Emotive issues such as the slave trade can be taught too blandly, portraying Afro-Caribbeans as victims and isolating black children, the report said.

But when teachers downplay the role of the white authorities in abolishing the slave trade, white children can become alienated.

The report called for resources, which were scarce at present, to be made available to teach controversial and emotional history subjects.

Initial teacher training should include more attention on how to teach these subjects and a better research base should be made available to teachers, it said.

Alan Johnson made clear in January there are certain subjects which will be protected in the new curriculum and that includes the Holocaust

DfES spokesman

And further research into the issue, particularly the attitudes of different groups, families and individuals’ to difficult subjects, needed to be carried out.

A government review of citizenship education recommended that all pupils should learn about issues such as slavery and the legacy of the British Empire.

A Department of Education and Skills spokesman said there was scope for schools to make their own decision on what to teach within the national curriculum

But he added: “Teaching of the Holocaust is already compulsory in schools at Key Stage 3 [age 11-14].

“It will remain so in the new Key Stage 3 curriculum from September 2008.

“As Alan Johnson made clear in January there are certain subjects which will be protected in the new curriculum and that includes the Holocaust.”

The department and Understanding Slavery have launched a citizenship resource and a national competition, debate and showcase for Key Stage 3 students to explore the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade.

A Commission for Racial Equality spokesman said the Historical Association report painted a “worrying picture”.

“The teaching of history provides the perfect forum for stimulating the development of shared values that are essential if everyone is to contribute and play a full part in an integrated British society.”

It was essential that teachers were supported in developing the confidence and expertise to discuss all historical periods and events in a balanced and sensitive way, the spokesman said.

One has to wonder at this point how much has changed now in the UK curriculum and what isn’t being reported in order not to offend the British Government, its schools or it’s dhimmi teachers. That is to say, if the BBC reported such an utterly stunning story 2 years ago, one in which they admit they flagrantly ignore the facts of history so as not to offend or contradict utterly fictitious versions being taught in some cultural communities within the UK, what is it we do not know now about how information is being handled in Britain?

KFC converts eight London restaurants to halal-only menu

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This article is of questionable importance. One could easily say this is merely a free market adaptation to demographic reality. I post it however for a few reasons. One, is that I created some time ago, the unlikely category ‘war on chicken outlets’ and how often do I get to use that? On the other hand, let’s look at why I created that category and how often I did in fact use it.

Here, we did an article about attacks on a KFC in Indonesia. The caption, I believed coined by the good people at The Religion of Peace.com was “Muslims demand their chicken extra crispy”

Indonesian Muslims demand extra crispy!

By Eeyore | January 8, 2009

Muslims turn their wrath on a KFC in Palu Indonesia on behalf of Gazanians.

Earthtimes (press release), UK January 8 2009

Jakarta. Protesters in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province on Thursday stormed an outlet of the US fast food chain KFC during a demonstration against Israel’s raids on the Gaza Strip, police and a restaurant employee said.

About 200 protesters rallied outside the popular chicken restaurant in the provincial capital Palu to condemn Israel’s attacks on Gaza and US support for the Jewish state, burning American and Israeli flags, police said.

Some of the protesters entered the restaurant, overturning tables and chairs and smashing the signboard, said an employee of (…)

This is actually not the first attack on a KFC by the religion of peace. 2005 6 are burned to death in Karachi

By Faisal Aziz KARACHI, May 31 (Reuters) – Six employees of American fast-food franchise KFC were burned to death in Karachi during a riot that followed a suicide attack on a mosque in the southern Pakistani city, rescue workers said on Tuesday. Angry Shi’ites set fire to the restaurant after the mosque attack in which five people died on Monday night, but the bodies of those burned were only found on Tuesday morning, said Rizwan Edhi of the Edhi Foundation, a private emergency service. “We recovered the bodies of the six people from the debris of the KFC early this morning.All the dead were employees of KFC,” he said.

And then again in 2007 also Karachi:

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) – Hundreds of residents angered over a 16-hour power outage rioted in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi overnight, ransacking a KFC restaurant and two banks, police said Thursday.At least six people were hurt as youths burned tires on roads, stoned passing cars and caused extensive damage to commercial property in the south of the city during two hours of unrest.

So what is it? the secret ingredient? Is it finger cutting bad? Is this the super sized jihad? Did they want fries with that? Is Islam really just the militant wing of PETA?

It must be the lack of a salad bar.

All of this bringing us to the present and KFC’s submission to Islamic demands to have someone yell ‘Allahu Snackbar’ as the chickens are slaughtered. Could this be mere demographic reality and free markets? Certainly. But could it also be submission to fear of more violence directed at KFC’s world wide?

Fast food chain KFC converts eight London restaurants to halal-only menu

By Debra Killalea
Last updated at 11:17 PM on 06th May 2009

Fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken is to launch a halal-only menu in eight of its London stores in a move which could be extended to other areas of the UK.

The menu, which will form part of a trial, will see the stores selling chicken products which have been fully approved by the Halal Food Authority for the first time.

KFC has 720 stores across the UK, and bosses said the move was designed to ensure the company was catering to a broader range of customers, following a growing demand for halal products.

It is the latest fast food chain to introduce a halal-only menu after Domino’s launched one at a Birmingham store in February.

From this week, KFC bargain buckets, crispy strips and family feasts bought in certain outlets serving high Muslim populations will all have the halal-approved stamp.

The fast-food chain has so far converted eight of its London restaurants to sell the meat,  in areas including Forest Gate, West Ham, Tottenham and Bethnal Green.

The chosen branches, which also include those in Beckton, Leyton, Edmonton and Hounslow, will have a logo on the door telling visitors that all food served has been fully approved by the Halal Food Authority (HFA).

As Muslims cannot eat pork, the Halal branches have removed the Big Daddy burger from the menu as it contains bacon.

KFC’s scheme will be trialled over the summer, but if it proves a success dozens more branches across the country are expected to follow suit and become halal-only.

The company said halal menus could be launched in other stores  where large numbers of Muslim customers are based and ‘where there is demand’.

Over the next few months it will closely monitor customer feedback in the chosen outlets and if it is good they will be permanently converted to 100 per cent halal.

The move follows a similar decision made by Dominos Pizza, which launched a halal only menu at its Hall Green store in Birmingham earlier this year amid a storm of controversy.

Domino’s said the change has improved business despite an initial backlash from non-halal customers who complained they were not able to order pizzas such as the Meteor which contains pepperoni, sausage, meatballs and bacon.

But KFC insists that the taste of its chicken will remain ‘finger-lickin good’ and that it has only converted branches where there are other non-halal ones within a two-mile radius.

KFC vice-president of marketing Jennelle Tilling said: ‘We want to see how customers respond to the trial, to see if this is something that allows us to make our great tasting food available to a broader range of customers.’

A spokesman for KFC said the food would still taste the same as it ever had and that the fast food giant will use existing suppliers to provide the stores with halal meat.

‘This is taking place in areas where there is a high demand for halal and where they is another KFC outlet within two miles for those who do not want it,’ he said.

‘It is just a chance for us to see if it is something our customers really want or not.’

Halal means any item on the menu which may contain bacon, ham or pork must be removed and all the chicken must by halal-approved.

Under the rules, the animal should be killed by having its throat cut by a Muslim and any flowing blood of the carcass should be completely drained.

Animals cannot be eaten if they have died of natural causes and have to have been killed.

The chain has also moved to assure customers that its halal certified chicken would meet the rigorous animal welfare standards used across the UK.

Masood Khawaja, President of the Halal Food Authority, welcomed the trial and said it was good news for the Muslim community.

‘Having worked with KFC closely, Halal Food Authority is delighted to accredit the usage of the HFA logo and symbol of approval on endorsed products,’ Mr Khawaja said.

‘The Muslim community can now enjoy all the products in this trial in eight participating halal-approved restaurants, as these have been procured with full adherence to both Islamic dietary rules and relevant EU hygiene, food safety and animal welfare regulations.’