Animal rights
Meat Is Not Essential. Why Are We Killing for It?
For years, we have knowingly destroyed our planet for the sake of a protein preference. Now, we are sending humans to their deaths.
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Why is Animal Research So Seldom in the News?
If you are like most people, you know a lot more about how farm animals are treated on factory farms than dogs, primates and other animals are treated in U.S. labs. It is no coincidence.
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Dress Rehearsal for the Apocalypse
As we look out on silent, empty, streets, watching while statistics of the sick and the dead skyrocket out of control, and the sickening chill of fear clutches at our hearts for our loved ones whom we are powerless to protect, the question that hangs in the air is, ‘Why?’
Read More Who Hears the Fishes When They Cry? The Filthy Business of Fish Farming
On October 7th, 2019, animal protection organization Compassion Over Killing released footage from their new undercover investigation of a salmon factory farm.
Read More Thinking of Ducks
Ducks. As a child I used to love visiting duckponds. These memories linger, visions of a lost childhood when I thought the world was a place of beauty and wonder. Oblivious to the barbarity of my species, I had no clue what was really in store for the majority of ducks, and the world became a blacker and more sinister place for my knowing.
Read More Joaquin Phoenix’s Inspiring Oscar Speech: Love and Compassion for All Beings…
On perhaps one of the biggest nights of his life, PETA’s 2019 Person of the Year, Joaquin Phoenix, wasn’t thinking about himself. As he accepted the Oscar for Best Actor on Sunday, February 9, he was thinking about what else he could do to help end speciesism.
Read More The Issues with Eating Dairy, Eggs and Honey [Interview with Daniel Schmachtenberger]
In this interview with researcher and think-tank developer Daniel Schmachtenberger, we discuss some of the fundamental ethical questions and issues surrounding animal rights and veganism.
Read More Peter Singer on the Lives You Can Save
In Moral Philosopher Peter Singer’s hands, the questions that motivate a moral life are startlingly simple. But if you take them seriously, living morally can be both very rewarding and very challenging.
Read More Fishes, Sentience, And The Law
Despite recent increases in the interest towards bird and mammal protection, less attention is paid to the suffering experienced by fishes in the fishing industry. But without a morally relevant difference between aquatic and land animals, the same moral obligations should apply to fishes and other aquatic animals, too.
Read More Prime Ministers Urged to Take 30 Day Challenge to Help Climate Crisis
Four member organisations of the Vegan World Alliance are challenging the leaders of their countries to try vegan for a month, starting on 1 November, World Vegan Day. They want their leaders to commit to a low carbon way of life and to educate their government and the public about the huge negative impact animal agriculture has on the environment.
Read More Say ‘Cheese’ – But There’s Nothing to Smile About
How many nonvegans know the difference between 1) the kind of cheese we were all raised to think of as ‘normal’, 2) vegetarian cheese and 3) vegan cheese?
Read More The Complicated Reasons People Eat Meat
Why do people eat meat? The answer about our beliefs, habits, and ethics is more complicated than you might think.
Read More California to Become Third State to Ban Wild Animal Circuses
Animal-rights groups rejoice as the new legislation, which will effectively ban wild animal circuses statewide, heads to the governor’s desk.
Read More Thoughts About Diluting the Animal Rights Message
The victims of our food habits have no one but us to tell the truth about the grave injustice of the ordeal to which we routinely subject them. We owe that truth to them as they queue in the milking parlours and hatcheries and slaughterhouses; and we owe that truth to every single member of our own species.
Read More So What’s Wrong with Wool?
Despite the fact that farming sheep is at least as harmful to the environment as farming cows, many sheep raised for wool are treated very cruelly. This video reveals the very disturbing treatment of sheep on an Australian wool farm, which is unfortunately considered “treatment as usual” across Australia and much of the world.
Read More What Animals Are Thinking and Feeling, and Why It Should Matter | Carl Safina | TEDxMidAtlantic
Carl Safina takes us inside the lives and minds of animals around the world, witnessing their profound capacity for perception, thought and emotion. And yet, we are wiping out the very animals we should celebrate; we are the flood coming for Noah’s Ark. Carl leaves us with a difficult question: Do we have what it takes to let life on earth survive?
Read More California Becomes First State to Ban Fur Trapping
Written by Louis Sahagun and Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times SACRAMENTO — California has enacted a...
Read More Cruel Taiji Dolphin Drive Hunt Season Underway
Fishermen in the coastal town of Taiji, Japan have begun their controversial annual dolphin hunt. These hunts run from September to April, and involve the corralling of dolphins at sea by small boats and driving them into the confines of a cove where they are slaughtered for meat or kept alive for lucrative sale to marine parks and aquaria across the globe.
Read More Zoos Are Outdated and Cruel – It’s Time to Make Them a Thing of the Past
Zoos do not play a significant role in the conservation of wildlife, their claims to educate are exaggerated and their research is compromised. Leading conservationist Damian Aspinall reckons it’s time to phase them out.
Read More Opinion: How New VR Experience Can Create Empathy for Farmed Animals
A new form of animal advocacy and outreach involves the use of virtual reality, providing people an immersive experience of what it’s like to be a farm animal on an industrialized farms.
Read More What Keeping Polar Bears in Zoos and Aquariums Does to These Animals Will Shock You
Animals in captivity are known to exhibit certain stereotypical behaviors, such as pacing, associated with environmental stress, but how can you tell what’s normal and what isn’t? A group of researchers set out to answer this question by conducting a study of 11 polar bears at seven different zoos.
Read More Germans Want a Meat Tax to Save the Planet
Germany is considering a meat tax for environmental reasons. As well as sustainability, some politicians are urging the tax for animal welfare reasons.
Read More Faunalytics Index – August 2019
Each month, our Faunalytics Index provides a round-up of data, statistics, and facts gleaned from the most recent research we’ve covered in our library. Our aim is to give you a quick overview of some of the most eye-catching and informative bits of data that could help you be more effective in your advocacy for animals.
Read More Animal Agriculture Is Major Threat to Koalas
Koalas in Australia are at risk of becoming extinct. The key threat to koala survival is land clearing, both past and continuing, and the key driver for tree-clearing is the production of animal products.
Read More Jane Goodall on Climate Change: ‘Something’s Got to Give’
At the age of 26, Dr Jane Goodall pioneered new ways of researching animals including by living with them. Now, aged 85 and a UN Messenger of Peace, she travels more than 300 days a year to share the urgency of taking action on climate change on behalf of all living things and the planet we share.
Read More UK Finally Bans Wild Animal Circuses After 20 Years of Protests
This week, the British Parliament passed the Wild Animals in Circus Bill, which effectively bans the use of wild animals in traveling circuses across the United Kingdom after January 2020.
Read More ‘Super Size Me 2’ Exposes the Truth About Fast Food Chicken
Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock takes on the fast food industry once again in “Super Size Me 2,” a spiritual sequel to 2004’s “Super Size Me.”
Read More Spain’s Cruel Bullfights Have No Place in the 21st Century
The annual running of the bulls at Pamplona has just come to a close in Spain. Tradition and tourism are not excuses for animal cruelty. Increasingly, consumers are also beginning to shy away from travel experiences that involve animal cruelty. It’s time for Spain’s politicians – and its travel industry — to wake up to modern sensibilities on this issue, listen to Spanish citizens and help foster respect for all sentient animals by ending cruel blood fiestas and bullfights once and for all.
Read More Animal Tracker 2019: Importance Of Animal Protection
Anyone who studies animal issues recognizes that there is a disparity between people’s attitudes on the one hand and behavior toward non-human animals on the other.
Read More Reducing Meat Consumption For The Environment: A Case Study From Norway
Most consumers don’t like being lectured to, and many see combating climate change as something beyond the capability of individuals. How can animal advocates overcome those obstacles?
Read More Yes, Animals Think and Feel. Here’s How We Know
Do animals feel empathy? Does an elephant have consciousness? Can a dog plan ahead? These are some of the questions that award-winning environmental writer Carl Safina teases out in his new book, Beyond Words: How Animals Think and Feel.
Read More Killing as a Government Service
The USDA’s Wildlife Services program slaughters millions of wild animals every year — including endangered species. It doesn’t have to.
Read More What Are Eggs For?
Apart from the fact that many birds are protected by law, why would it never occur to us to help ourselves to the eggs of a blue tit or a crow, a chaffinch or a jay, or any of the birds whose antics give us so much pleasure in our gardens or on our window sills? Well it’s obvious, isn’t it? These birds need their eggs. It would be unforgivable to take their eggs. We all know that and we’d never dream of it. So what’s different about hens?
Read More The Vegan Meat Revolution Could Help Save the Planet – And Fast-Food Chains Are Finally Taking Notice
A few years ago, convincing meat-free “meat” was nothing more than a distant dream for most consumers. Meat substitutes in supermarkets lacked variety and quality. Plant-based burgers were few and far between in major fast food outlets – and meaty they were not. But realistic alternatives to environmentally damaging meat are now big business – and global fast food chains are finally starting to take notice.
Read More Should Zoos Exist?
The idea that keeping animals in captivity is morally acceptable has long been questioned by those who argue that zoos infringe upon animals’ freedom. In recent years, an increase in research on the ethics of captivity has helped to dispel the misconception that critics of zoos are simply anthropomorphizing the animals they say they’re trying to help.
Read More Good News From Iceland: No Whaling This Season
Good news in our work means animals thrive and we therefore celebrate it. That’s how it was for me this morning when I woke up to the report that there will be no whaling in Iceland this summer. Something my colleagues at Humane Society International and I have fought since Iceland resumed whaling in 2003.
Read More Ireland Will Ban Fur Farms, Saving Thousands of Minks!
Minks are the most common animals to be farmed for fur. Unfortunately, they are subjected to terrifying lives of misery. But fortunately, people are realizing that such cruelty cannot go on. The Czech Republic banned fur farms, Los Angeles banned fur, and big fashion houses like Coach and Chanel have also gone fur free! Other places that have put fur bans into place include San Francisco, India, Sao Paolo, and more. Now, Ireland is joining the list!
Read More Bees Kept for Honey Are Killing Wild Species by Spreading Disease, Study Suggests
Land degradation and the proliferation of pesticides on crops is already known have a catastrophic effect on global bee populations, but the spread of disease from commercial beehives could be the third key driver of decline
Read More Why Isn’t Honey Vegan?
As you journey into adopting a vegan lifestyle or continue your plant-based lifestyle, you may have come across another vegan that has chosen to not eat honey. This may have made you think, “Isn’t honey OK for humans to eat, as it is not hurting a bee?” Well, we have some facts about bees, their honey, and the important role they play on our earth.
Read More How Going to Harvard May Turn You Vegan
Vegan Harvard University philosophy professor Christine Korsgaard explores animals’ value in a new book and activist Earthling Ed asks students on campus to ask the same question
Read MoreHow Social Media Supports Animal Cruelty and the Illegal Pet Trade
Images of chimpanzees and other species appear cute, but they may actually depict animals in dangerous situations. Here’s how to tell what’s safe to share — and how that helps conservation.
Read MoreTalking About Weather, Fruit and Vegetables
Reading the daily litany of the disasters that we humans are wreaking on our dying planet through our irresponsible actions, my attention was snagged by news of the storm-wrought crop failure and the resulting declaration of a ‘natural emergency’ in parts of France. In sawing off the branch our species is sitting on, we must never forget that our victims, our fellow species, are sitting on it alongside us, helpless passengers on our self-driven journey to ruin. And so it was that I found my thoughts wandering on the subject of crops.
Read More Why Is Veganism on the Rise?
If you asked for vegan food 20, 10, or even five years ago, you’d be met with surprise or even an eye-roll. Vegans were once stereotypically thought of as hippies, pictured sitting around eating nothing but lettuce in flower crowns. Fast forward to 2019, and times have changed. Times have really, really changed.
Read MoreIndian High Court Declares Animals Legal Persons Entitled to Justice
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has ordered that animals are now to be considered legal persons in the Indian state of Haryana. This means that animals in the state may no longer be treated as “objects” or “property” and are “entitled to justice.”
Read MoreCanada Just Banned Whale and Dolphin Captivity
Landmark legislation – bill S-203 – passed through Canada’s Senate banning all whale and dolphin captivity for entertainment.
Read More Meet the Animal Rights Activists Facing Prison Time for Rescuing Ducks, Piglets from Factory Farms
Nearly 100 animal rights activists were freed today, after being arrested by police in riot gear for carrying out a rescue mission and protest at the Reichardt Duck Farm in Petaluma, California, which they accuse of engaging in animal torture.
Read MoreHow Green Party Gains Could Make Europe a Leader Again on Climate
In recent years, Europe’s role as a global environmental leader has been jeopardized by rising nationalism and populism. But spurred by young climate activists, the Green Party fared well in the latest European Union elections and is now well-positioned to advance bold climate initiatives.
Read MoreAnimals Granted Same Rights as People, Indian Court Rules
Animals living in the North Indian state now have the “corresponding rights, duties, and liabilities of a living person” thanks to the new animal protection law.
Read More10 States Now Encourage Adoption of Research Dogs into Loving Homes
It is a bleak life for the approximately 60,000 dogs and 20,000 cats used in testing and research in U.S. laboratories each year. In March, we revealed the sad plight of some of these animals when we did an undercover investigation at a contract laboratory in Michigan that was testing pesticides, drugs, dental implants and more on beagles and hounds.
Read MoreIs Honey Vegan? Why Bees Need It More Than We Do
Is honey vegan? Here’s why bees make it and need it way more than humans do – and how to sweeten your life with honey alternatives.
Read MoreThe Reality of Zoos Is Even Worse Than You Think
At best, the zoo is a fun day for humans who will laugh and point and stare at captive animals who did nothing to deserve their confinement. At worst, it’s a prison that indoctrinates future generations with the shameful belief that animals should be subjugated, abused, and killed simply because we can. Much like the circus freak show, it’s an antiquated, cruel relic that should be banished to the annals of history.
Read MoreMeat Reduction And Vegan Promotion: A Report
A study with the “largest sample of meat reducers, pescatarians, vegetarians, and vegans in any research project to date” looks at the dynamics of meat reduction campaigns and campaigns promoting veganism.
Read MoreVegan Joaquin Phoenix To Lead Funeral Procession For Dead Farm Animals
Vegan celebrities including Joaquin Phoenix and David Navarro will lead a funeral procession for deceased farm animals next month. The event, which will commemorate the ninth National Animal Rights Day, will be attended by tens of thousands of people in 32 major cities around the world.
Read MoreRating Animals’ Quality Of Life
Animals in factory farms have the worst lives, that virtually no one would want for themselves. This report compares how their suffering may measure up to wild animals, and other humans.
Read MoreHow to Do Wildlife Tourism Right
Here are our guidelines for ethical animal encounters.
Read MoreWhy Sheep Matter: They’re Intelligent, Emotional, and Unique
An important new essay reviews sheep cognition, emotions, and personalities.
Read MoreThis 97-year-old Vegan Probably Goes to the Gym More Than You Do
If you’re 97-year-old Natasha Brenner, it was within the last 24 hours. The nonagenarian vegan and animal rights activist hits the gym every day as part of her longevity routine.
Read MoreProducts That Destroy Rainforests Could Be Banned in California
A new bill could aid rainforest preservation by banning services or products linked to rainforest deforestation. This would include beef, soy, palm oil, paper, and wood pulp amongst other products.
Read More Grass-fed Beef Debunked
Grass-fed beef is still touted as the gold standard for the environment, health, and viewed as an ethical practice. This video looks at the research to examine labels, environmental impact, and the nutrient profile of grass-fed cows.
Read MoreThe People Have Spoken: No More Puppy Mill Dogs in Pet Stores
To date, 300 local governments of all sizes and demographics across twenty-four states, have enacted policies to halt the sale of puppy mill puppies in retail settings. We hope to continue this trend as more state and local governments consider these ordinances.
Read MoreCanada Resumes Bloody Seal Slaughter Despite Crashing Demand for Seal Products
Canada this week once again turned its peaceful ice floes into an open-air slaughterhouse, with the reopening of the annual commercial seal hunt. Sealers are expected to club and shoot tens of thousands of harp seal pups in coming weeks, despite the fact that more than 37 countries have banned the commercial seal product trade.
Read MoreGenetically Modified Super-muscly Pork Could Hit Supermarket Shelves Soon
Changes to Australia’s Gene Technology Regulations will allow a raft of new genetically modified (GM) animals, plants and microbes to enter our environment and food chain with no safety assessment and potentially no labelling. These include super-muscly pigs, non-browning mushrooms, and wheat with powdery mildew-resistance.
Read MoreGreat News: Dolphin Marine Conservation Park Bans Breeding!
This is big! Dolphin Marine Conservation Park (formerly known as Dolphin Marine Magic) announced that it will end captive breeding yesterday.
Read More Calling for a Ban on Captive Dolphin Breeding at Sea World
These highly intelligent animals can live up to 50 years in captivity in small chlorinated pools – a world away from the wild where they range over hundreds of square kilometres. For these captive dolphins, it means 50 years of boredom and confinement, punctuated only by performing in shows and interacting with tourists.
Read MoreSave the Fish: Swimming Creatures Suffer from Our Nets and Hooks and Deserve Our Sympathy and Protection
Some ichthyologists believe that the pain of being hooked would be even worse for a fish than for you, me or the dog. Why is it that so many people feel comfortable terrorizing fish?
Read MoreInside the Bold New Animal Liberation Movement: No Masks, No Regrets, All the Risk
DxE is one of may animal rights groups whose members are risking prison time in order to expose the cruelties within the animal farming industry.
Read MoreThe Curtain Comes Down on Ringling
Circuses around the world that beat Ringling to the punch in making the decision to stop using animals are thriving. But Ringling stonewalled for decades, hoping that the mounting protests by people who care about animals’ welfare—PETA members and supporters, other animal rights organizations and grassroots groups that challenged the circus at every stop in every city—would somehow disappear. It was a terrible miscalculation.
Read More Gary Yourofsky – The Most Important Speech You Will Ever Hear
An inspirational life-changing speech by Gary Yourofsky, an animal liberation activist, national lecturer on animal rights and veganism, and founder of ADAPTT, a non-profit organization based in the US.
Read More James Wildman on Veganism & Animal Rights – The Food Matrix Presentation
A fascinating and entertaining presentation on the ethical solutions and health benefits of veganism by James Wildman of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida
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