Animal Welfare: What's Happening
I have come across some fantastic organisations this week, aswell as some great success stories - however there is of course some issues which it is important for people to be aware of, so we can make those changes and protect more and more animals each and every day from cruelty. For those of you who are interested in facts and figures regarding animals you can follow Animal Matters on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They have lots of very interesting posts which bring to light new scientific theories and things you may not know or may have forgotten. One in particular which intrigued me this week was regarding the intelligence of pigs:
I was astonished that pigs were more intelligent than dogs - a fact some of you may have known - however I believe this is a very powerful fact as it brings to light the idea around pets and food, why do people choose dogs as pets and pigs as food, or visa versa in some countries? We use dogs as an aid also and rely on their intelligence, maybe this is something pigs can do for us in the future also when we learn to show more compassion than we currently do.
World Animal Protection released the top ten cruelest animal attractions last week on World Responsible Tourism Day, this included some of the more well known activities however also highlighted tourist attractions I was unaware of. Having this awareness then allows me to research or start petitions regarding these to make a positive change for animals. Lets not forget Tripadvisor stopped selling tickets to these type of attractions and the pressure is on for Expedia to do the same, you can find the petition for this at the Care2 site. Here is the full list of activities to avoid: riding elephants, taking tiger selfies, walking with lions, visiting bear parks, holding sea turtles, performing dolphins, dancing monkeys, touring civet coffee plantations, snake and cobra pictures and farming crocodiles. All of these activities rely on the animals being abused during or beforehand, and their life is likely to be ended once their use to the company or individual is limited. Please read the full article for further details on these activities and why they are cruel.
A must see documentary at the moment is The Ivory Game, available on Netflix. This contains lots of facts around the illegal production of ivory and goes behind the scenes with those who are trying to capture the people killing the elephants, and also the shops buying the illegal ivory. Hong Kong have said they will end the trade of ivory completely however China has yet to comment on this issue. The amount of elephants killed for their ivory each year is astonishing and this is a very serious issue, last year alone over 150,000 elephants were poached. These are extremely intelligent animals who can pass memories down through generations, killed so their tusks can be carved and sold for a huge price to the wealthy Chinese. Absolutely disgusting. There is a petition with Care2 very much worth signing at the moment to stop South African Airways transporting ivory and hunting trophies.
Currently hot in the media is animal welfare with regards to clothing. Animal Matters posted a statistic last week stating that EIGHTEEN red foxes are killed to make one fox fur coat, and FIFTY-FIVE minks are killed to make one mink fur coat. In this day and age there is no need to kill or mutilate animals to stay warm as there are an abundance of materials we can use instead. Death is not fashion and everyone can make a huge difference by avoiding fur clothing which is not made of fake fur. People pay more for clothing which resulted in a life being taken, it is unethical and unnecessary, we must step up and say enough is enough.
The Positives: Success!
Firstly, Cruelty Free International highlighted that a laboratory in Ireland has closed it doors following their plea. 269 dogs have being killed here in the last year alone after being bred in captivity and used for cruel experiments to test medicines. Instead of the dogs being rehomed they were killed even though dogs can be successfully rehomed after being in laboratories.Cats Protection, Dogs Trust and ISPCA have stepped up to take on the 500 dogs and cats and work to build up their confidence and rehome them to the right people, hurray!
Last week also brought to us some fantastic news that Swedish millionaire Johan Eliasch purchased 400,000 acres of the Amazon Rainforest from a logging company for $14million purely for its preservation. Such great news and is also the starting point for more people, who are able, to buy parts of the rainforest in order to preserve it and it's inhabitants. Lovely!
It is also coming to light more often these days how dog racing has a cruel background and often dogs are treated horrendously during training, some dieing on the track, and the rest being euthanized once they are no longer useful to the company. Thankfully dog racing at the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium in London is to end by March 2017. This is brilliant news and is a very quick reaction as the doors will close in just under 5 months. This follows several other stadium closures which were successfully turned into retail parks which also support local business'.
Good to know: you can find a full list of the companies and brands that use less or 0 unsustainable palm oil in their products at rainforestfoundationuk.org. Help to save our rainforests and animals by reducing the demand for palm oil.
In future blog posts I will both have What's Happening updates aswell as posts regarding specific issues which go into more detail, and things you can do to help animals in need.
QOTW: ''When we domesticated animals - for our own benefit - we took away their ability to fend for themselves and thus took on the responsibility to care for them. When you consider the number of companion animals who are abused, neglected or euthanized each year and the way we treat farm animals, you can only conclude that we are failing to live up to our obligations'' - P.K. Barkur
Trophy Hunting vs Eating Meat: Are You A Hypocritical Bystander?
Trophy hunting is hugely opposed world wide, however many government officials accept huge cash sums in order for those looking for a successful kill of a majestic animal to enter conservation areas and safari parks. It is such an incredible shame that this is happening and that a certain amount of people think it is okay to do this. Whether the animal is used to feed a village afterwards, the hunters enjoyment comes from the kill rather than diminishing the hunger of a small tribe. Now, how does this relate to the people who choose to eat meat? Often they are wholly against trophy hunting and see a big difference between this than the food on their plate for the basis that 'they kill for fun' not for food. The point here is that meat is not needed for our survival, whether we have teeth or not supposedly shaped for eating meat, we do not need it to be healthy, strong and live a long life. So in essence the issue with trophy hunting is that it is done for fun, correctly said, they enjoy what they are doing. Unfortunately for people who eat meat, they choose to eat it because they enjoy it, many people saying they could not give up meat because it tastes too good, so how are these two things different? Besides from paying out to kill an animal in conservation, they are not. Being vegan I would never hunt and do not believe it is right to take any life away - be it human or animal - however animals hunted have a much better quality of life and have often lived for many years before they are killed whereas the meat on our plate comes from an 8 month old cow or 28 day old chicken bred purposely for food and kept in horrific conditions. With this said, it then means many of those against trophy hunting are a hypocritical bystander due to the relevance of enjoyment to both trophy hunting and eating meat, there is no denying this however other people may have other factors to add to this to free themselves of guilt from eating shop bought meat. I often think of a world where animals are no longer killed for food and in the history books our children read of how we once lived in a world where we bred millions or animals and slaughtered them before they even reached the age of one just for us to eat them, imagine what they would say. We are brought up in a world where this is happening and somehow kid ourselves that this is okay, it is not. Hopefully through further awareness and education compassion can resurface and this dastardly killing spree can end. It is sad to be in a world where that is highly unlikely to happen however I do believe the demand will reduce and on the road to this we can continue to fight for a high quality of life for both pets, wild and farm animals worldwide.
Jess
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