Madeira News Blog

Today’s Photo : Thanks to Sue … New Allotments. "I took this from Dr. Manual Manual Pestana Junior, watched them being installed and in no time already showing plants". 

I´m back after a short break (not that it seemed anyone noticed). I am back and a little irked (I am glad that word got through my spellchecker OK, as I wasn’t sure if it was a real word). The debate about animal welfare irked me, but what also irked me was a posting seemingly directed at UK readers, but this is not a UK blog. It is a blog for and about Madeira. It is a blog for anybody who is an English speaker, and not specifically English people. BTW It is also read by Madeirans who speak English. Nobody can tell me if I have a right to an opinion or not, they can only speak for themselves. I have opinions, and I express them … only limited by law, the fear of retribution, and sometimes the limits of my bizarre imagination. If I and other people think that too many animals are treated cruelly, we are probably right. If someone else thinks that is not the case then they are also right, albeit in their own opinion, and you are welcome to express those thoughts here. Of course they are all opinions based on personal attitudes, personal experience and the information available. Commenting on this issue or anything else regarding Madeira, has absolutely nothing to do with where you were born. If anyone thinks I, or anyone else for that matter, doesn’t have the right to express their opinions because they weren’t born on Madeira, you are definitely reading the wrong blog. Perhaps the Brit newspaper would be more suitable.

And … regarding the issue in point, under the general heading of ‘Animal Welfare’, the Diário has been well filled with readers letters since the article about abandoned dogs was published a week ago. There was even one from that cute wet bichinho on the front page on the day in question. I think I have read them all, and they all conclude pretty much the same thing … that the situation is a disgrace and an embarrassment for Madeira. I agree! So any animal abusers and those who think it is acceptable, stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Anyway, on that very same subject, Doris kindly dropped me a line yesterday …

Abandoned dogs on Paúl da Serra  – on the way to a happy? ending
Members of the animal protection organisation PATA together with the help of Vetmedis, the Vets’ in Caniço, collected the abandoned dogs from Rabaçal and Choupana. One very shy one remains. Ever since the story broke, a German couple went up daily with food for them and helped catching them. They are still persevering with the very shy one. A couple of  German tourists also picked up a female from Paúl and last week took it with them to Germany to give it a home.

The Vets at Vetmedis noticed that 2 females were in milk and with the help of PATA members, the females were taken back up to the mountains and promptly led their rescuers to their families. Now there are also puppies looking for a good home. A reader’s letter from the dogs in yesterday’s Diário tells that they are at the moment at the new branch of Vetmedis, which is to open shortly in Câmara de Lobos. If anybody can help, contact  pata@pata.pt , NIB: 003802460556441877117  or Vetmedis-Sociedade Veterinária Lda., Tel: 291 744 552. Doris

Bless those fine people, but how can we stop more abandonments? … many thanks for the update Doris.

Billy Lansdowne, ex pro footballer, and now TV pundit, writes on his blog about a trip to Madeira for a golfing event "I thought Madeira was flat. I was wrong … the highest point is 1861 m above sea level (some things do register) and the Golf Course we are playing tomorrow is over half way up". BILLY’S BLOG

UEFA, you know the European football people, have announced the details for their jolly very important meeting in Funchal next month. No mention of why Madeira was chosen or what’s to be discussed, but if I was in the government I would be out showing them some of the excellent training facilities here, like the sports complex at Ribeira Brava. UEFA XMAS BOOZE-UP

Many thanks to Elaine yet again for yesterday’s news stories :

Government increases current expenditure by 5.2%. The Government has made public the 2009 budget amendments introduced for the period covering the first nine months of the year. Current expenditure will rise by 5.2% or 55,2 million. The Government reduces by 7.6% or €31,4 million the amount needed for capital expenditure (investment). The Regional budget for 2009 will be the highest in recent years amounting to 1.528.790.366 Euros.

Environmental cleaning changes. The Department of the Environment of Funchal will create a separate section for cleaning urban streets and tunnels. They want to extend the hours and actions of  environmental teams to include nights and Sundays. The change is to stop rubbish bags being abandoned in public places, on land and in water courses. "There are fewer and fewer cases but it still happens, and in some places it is recurrent." The eight teams will work shifts so that one team is always active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will open abandoned bags to try to identify the offenders for prosecution. Fines vary between 50 and 500 Euros. The change in cleaning will involve 40 more staff and 4 new machines. The total investment will be 670,000 Euros. Funchal Council also want to extend the collection of organic waste.

Atlas of Birds. The project for the ‘First Atlas of Breeding Birds in the Archipelago of Madeira’ was started this year by the Natural Park of Madeira. The book will be presented at the Iberian Congress of Ornithology. The project is still ongoing and 60% of the territory of the region has been analyzed. All information collected is being made available in both Portuguese and English on the Internet  (atlas das aves). The database can be used for various activities from nature conservation to tourism in relation to nature. The Director of SPNM notes, "There is now a doctoral student at an English university who will use and interpret some information from ‘Atlas’ to prepare his thesis on the subject of the evolution of birds on islands and its relationship with the available habitat." On November 20th, a new book is out emphasising nature on Porto Santo, written in both Portuguese and English. ‘Looking at Porto Santo’ by Susana Fontinha and Jose Felisberto Almeida.

Free diabetes testing. There are more than 26,000 Madeirans with diabetes and estimates indicate that 56,840 others may also be pre-diabetic. Between 17 and 20 November, there will be free blood glucose testing as advertised on information posters around the island. World Diabetes Day on November 21st will be celebrated by a symbolic ring of people in the Largo de Municipio followed by  ‘Walking for Diabetes’ to Santa Catarina Park.

Cheque for 10,000 Euros went through contractor to Lobo. A cheque for 10,000 Euros issued by the Vale da Ribeira do Sol society, allegedly to repay the favour to approve a set of 29 apartments in Ribeira da Ponta do Sol as the Plano Director Municipal (PDM) was suspended, was passed to the contractor who did the work. The cheque was to finance the election campaign of the PSD but ended up in the personal account of ex-mayor António Lobo, who is being tried for serious fraud and bribery. A former secretary of the company Giestas said she filled in the cheque, which has the signature of the accused Emidio Correia (former member of the PSD and partner in Ribeira do Sol), and it was put into an envelope for delivery to the building contractor. This cheque for 10,000 Euros and two others for 5,000 Euros ended up in the personal account of António Lobo. It is thought partners of the Ribeira do Sol society were to receive apartments worth around 100,000 Euros as payment.

Marine Biology Station collects dozens of sharks. About a dozen Pata Roxa sharks, popularly known as ‘Canejas’, were yesterday collected from the ponds around the Vagras restaurant where they had been left by fishermen and the restaurant owner realized they would not survive in captivity. The fishermen do not like this type of fish and ether throw them back into the sea or into this area. Some will be taken to the Municipal Aquarium of Funchal, some to the Aquarium in Porto Moniz and others returned to the sea.

Merlin helicopter from Porto Santo participated in a rescue near the Azores. Search and rescue for two crew of a vessel that had issued a call for help off the Azores. The crew were eventually rescued by a Puma Helicopter of the Air Force stationed in the Azores. Also mobilized to the site were a scientific research vessel and another ship, which were both in the area, and an aircraft to co-ordinate the operation. The Co-ordinator of the Rescue Centre of Ponta Delgada said, "The initial problem was that the position of the distress call was out of the reach of the helicopter. The scientific research ship was already in place for some time but could not collect them because of weather and oceanographic conditions, which were very, very adverse."

Racism in sport discussed in parliament. The violence, racist and xenophobic attitudes and safety in sports grounds will be topics of discussion next week. A new law came into force in August for both amateur and professional sports. Placement of cheerleaders, segregation of fans, parking and video surveillance systems are some of the areas with rules that clubs and other sporting bodies are obliged to observe. Xenophobic and racist behaviours are severely penalized for both the perpetrators and the supporters clubs. Penalties for crimes of aggression, xenophobia, destruction of property and entering the area of the game range from 1 to 3 years imprisonment, and are worse when the victims are athletes, referees, coaches or members of the media. The penalties for clubs range from fines to bans on sporting venues.

Forum Madeira promotes collecting toys for disadvantaged children. More than a hundred children awaited the arrival of Santa Claus today. There is a ‘Brinquedao’ in Forum Madeira for the collection of used and new toys.

SESARAM and Social Security trying to contact families who leave elderly relatives in the Emergency Department. Last Wednesday, eight people were left there. The authorities are trying to contact families of 130 such patients who remain in hospitals in the region. These families often feel they cannot cope with the relatives, so the Social Services will try to find a solution as the relatives miss their homes and contact with their families.The problem will worsen when the influenza A epidemic reaches its peak and the relatives are at risk of catching the infection.

New fishing port at Câmara de Lobos. The work should start at Easter 2011 and all infrastructure relating to fisheries will be transferred there from Funchal.

Youth arrested with drugs in his shoes. The Customs Services of Madeira Airport picked up a 23 year old carrying drugs inside his shoes. He had 250 grams of cocaine, equivalent to 2,500 doses, which could yield an income of more than 50,000 Euros. The cocaine was in between the insole and base of the shoes. He had flown in from Lisbon and thought nobody would be there to order him to remove his shoes.

A quarter of the demand for homes is for rental. Between the months of August and September, a quarter of the residential demand was for rental homes. 63% of the property supply is apartments and 29% houses. 47% of enquiries were for apartments and 39% for houses. 61.6% of enquiries were for T2 and T3 properties. 50% of the enquiries were in the region of Funchal and 13% Santa Cruz. Ranges of purchase varied from 120,000 Euros for a T2 to 270,000 Euros for a T5.

300 art works from museums at an exhibition in Lisbon. From November 2009 to February 2010, the Painting Gallery of King Louis 1 in the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon will host an exhibition of art works from museums in Madeira. These reflect the main phases in history from the fifteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. The exhibition brings together  a set of symbolic parts of the collections of sculpture, painting, jewellery, furniture, ceramics and photography among others. The aim is to show the strategic importance of the archipelago in the context of expansion into Portugal and then Europe, in relation to the sugar, wine and tourist trades. The exhibition will promote the region as a cultural destination of great quality.

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It’s back to me now (Der), so the top story of today has to be the 1 – 0 victory of Portugal over Bosnia last night in the World Cup Play-off game, and I know that without even looking at the newspaper. It was a tough game for sure, those Bosnian players were so big compared to our lads. I was quite confident about a home victory yesterday, but after what I saw yesterday I am not at all confident for the away leg on Wednesday. So much at stake, and with Bosnia hitting the woodwork 3 times yesterday, they must have felt really unlucky. I tried to use the line ‘Portugal were saved by the madeira’ last night, but no one understood what I was on about. Perhaps goalposts here are made of plastic? More luck than judgement.  Was the headline. Portugal won 1 – 0 but Bosnia sent the ball to the post three times.

Today’s main news headline in the Diário : Authority builds 13 churches - The Government has invested millions of Euros in the construction of Catholic churches. The participation generates criticism.

Privates ‘help out’ CMF – Funchal council pockets 48% of the revenue from the parking meters of SEP. It is the local authority in Portugal that earns  the most with its franchise. The company that manages the parking meters of Funchal ensures that its master is well rewarded, according to research carried out by the Diário. In fact rewarded to the tune of €635,121 in 2008. On average each parking space generates around €965 of charges per annum. Funchal council not only benefits from it 48% slice of the cake, it also gains more because it charges car owners 60% more than the going rate.

Bad weather takes away €250 thousand – The ‘Independence of the Seas’, with four thousand tourists on board, cancelled its stop-off today in the port of Funchal.

‘Pit of Death’ in Ponta do Sol. The Christmas fun is back. This year the ‘Gigapark’ moves west. After previous Xmas visits to Água de Pena, Porto Novo, Cancela and Ribeira Brava, the ‘Gigapark’ Xmas fair is to ‘erect its tent’ in Ponta do Sol. Close to the main road, and with 3 thousand parking spaces, this years event is expected to be a real winner. It will be in place from the beginning of December, located in the development area of the town, and will stay there until the middle of January. One of the attractions will be a circus of sea animals, including sharks and penguins, that will perform for the public. Perhaps the new laws covering the use of animals in circuses didn’t extend to sea creatures then?

One further story from yesterday that I spotted, that rang alarm bells. Jardim cancels construction in Porto Moniz. The president of Madeira’s government cancelled the construction of a road between Porto Moniz and Fajã das Achadas da Cruz in the programme of the Madeira executive. He said it was too costly and wouldn’t benefit anyone. This is from the blog of 12th October, following the local elections : "Surprises In Juntas de Freguesia. The PSD had already said that their aim was to take all 54 of the the Juntas de Freguesia, or town / parish councils, and were already the holders of 52(?), but things didn’t quite go as planned, with just 49 remaining ‘orange’ at the end of the night. The PS socialists managed to retain Água de Pena and Achadas da Cruz, and gain Porto Moniz". Coincidence or punishment?

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