Image by Janusz Walczak from Pixabay
1. Help Stop Pound Seizure Practices in Ontario
We are horrified by the practice of pound seizures that send animals from pound or shelter to research or educational facilities in Ontario and happy to share the change.org petition on the issue. Please read and sign. It only takes a moment!
We are residents of Kingston, ON, Canada and this issue is deeply personal to us. The practice of pound seizure – the selling or giving away of animals from a pound or shelter to research and educational facilities – has been causing immense suffering for both non-human animals and their caregivers. This outdated and cruel practice leads to non-human animal suffering on an unimaginable scale.
In Ontario alone, countless animals are subjected to this fate every year. These innocent non-human animals are taken from shelters and pounds where they should be safe, only to be used in experiments that often lead to pain and death. Not only does this cause immeasurable harm to the animals involved, but it also inflicts emotional trauma on caregivers who lose their companion animal to this practice.
The impact extends beyond just the immediate victims. It discourages companion animal caregivers from using shelters and pounds out of fear their pets could end up in research labs if they ever got lost. This subsequently puts more pressure on rescue organizations that are already stretched thin.
It’s time we put an end to pound seizure in Ontario once and for all. We need legislation that protects our companion animals from being sold into research without consent, ensuring they have a chance at finding loving homes instead of ending up as test subjects.
Please join us in calling upon our local government representatives here in Kingston as well as provincial leaders across Ontario; let’s urge them together to terminate these heart-wrenching practices immediately! Sign this petition today because every signature brings us one step closer towards ending animal suffering caused by pound seizure.
2. Stop Testing Sewer Water on Fish and Other Animals
Please stop the “acute lethality tests” on rainbow trout, three lined stickleback, and other fish species. These tests involve pumping effluents into fish tanks about once a month, and if more than half the fish die, the experiments are repeated.
There are animal free ways to test for pollution. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine suggests using rainbow trout cell lines instead (obtained without harming fish).
https://www.pcrm.org/news/good-science-digest/world-aquatic-animal-day
Any guardians of companion fish will test their tank using paper strips and test tubes. They do not deliberately expose the fish to effluents to see what happens. Bacteria and pollutants in swimming pools are also tested without animals.
Please also end the practice of sublethal toxicity testing of effluent on baby fathead minnows, rainbow trout, and other animals. These animals are killed, dried, weighed, and preserved.
Please stop putting up tree swallow nest boxes in order to kill and dissect the babies to test for toxins in and near the oil sands. And please stop catching, killing, and dissecting wood frogs for the same reasons. Please switch to the non lethal bio monitoring methods used in humans.
Cruelty free alternatives to toxicity testing involve using plants, phytobacteria, or cell cultures.
And stop working with scientists, trappers, hunters, and anglers to catch, kill, and cut up fish, frogs, mammals, birds, etc to weigh and test their organs for selenium, mercury, other pollutants, and reproductive issues. There are humane non lethal blood tests to examine if any wild animal is healthy and have not been exposed to toxins.
A city that wants to go cruelty free can not if they are mandated to test their sewer water on animals. Water used to cool nuclear power plants is also tested in fish for any radioactive effects. Pulp and paper mills that want to use only recycled paper and be ethical are forced to test on and kill animals. Mining companies and factories that want to be more ethical are also still forced to conduct harmful animal effluent testing. Canada is legally mandated to phase out animal toxicity testing, yet many agencies are legally mandated to conduct these cruel tests. Please put an end to all animal toxicity testing and go cruelty free.
3. Ontario’s Ag Gag Law Defeated in Court but More Work to Be Done: Take Action Against the Federal Ag Gag Bill
We have previously shared actions regarding Canadian ag gag laws. These laws make it illegal for whistleblowers to go undercover at a factory farm or slaughterhouse to expose hidden animal suffering. The laws are the result of lobbying by animal agriculture industries. Now, we are happy to share news about this victory in court: in Ontario it has been struck down as unconstitutional. Our thanks to Animal Justice for their work to make this happen! Unfortunately, there is still more work to be done. Ag gag laws have also passed in Alberta, Manitoba, and PEI, and there is a proposed federal ag gag law in the Senate. At the end of the post below, there is a button for an Animal Justice action that allows you to send a letter geared at stopping Canada’s federal ag gag bill.
From Animal Justice:
A win for animals and free expression! Animal Justice lawyers have successfully defeated much of Ontario’s ag gag law in court—a law aimed at silencing whistleblowers and journalists who go undercover to investigate and expose animal suffering in the meat, dairy, egg, and fur farming industries.
In 2020, Ontario passed Bill 156, the Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, a dangerous law designed to shut down undercover investigations in farms and slaughterhouses, and limit peaceful protests where advocates bear witness to animals in transport trucks en route to slaughter. The animal agriculture industry lobbied heavily for the legislation to protect its profits, and to keep rampant animal cruelty hidden from public view.
Under Ontario’s ag gag law, it became illegal for a whistleblower to use a false pretense to get a job at a farm or slaughterhouse, meaning that if someone seeking a job at these facilities wasn’t transparent about their intentions to document conditions, or denied affiliation with an animal rights group, they could be hit with heavy fines.
Numerous Canadian undercover exposés have revealed a shocking pattern of abuse and illegal cruelty in the animal agriculture industry—including animals suffering in deplorable conditions, enduring painful mutilations, and being violently kicked, beaten, and killed with botched methods.
Shocking secretly-recorded footage has also received widespread media attention, showing the public heartbreaking standard practices on farms, including locking mother pigs in tiny metal cages, tearing newborn calves from their mother cows, and confining hens in wire cages that are so tiny, that they can’t even spread their wings.
Justice Markus Koehnen of the Superior Court found that the law and its regulation restrict undercover investigations, both in their intention and outcome. Justice Koehnen ruled that multiple provisions of the Regulation are unconstitutional as they violate the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The lawsuit also challenged restrictions on protests outside slaughterhouses where advocates photograph animals inside trucks on their way to be killed, but unfortunately the Court upheld restrictions on interacting with animals inside trucks bound for slaughter.
There are no proactive government inspections on farms, and farmed animal treatment is largely unregulated, which is why the court also recognized the importance of transparency and accountability in the agricultural sector.
The Importance of Undercover Exposés
Animal Justice was joined by two applicants in the case whose work on behalf of animals is jeopardized by Ontario’s ag gag laws: freelance journalist Jessica Scott-Reid, and animal advocate Louise Jorgensen with Toronto Cow Save. Intervenors in the case included Animal Alliance of Canada, the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, and The Regan Russell Foundation.
Over the last decade, more than a dozen Canadian investigations into factory farms and slaughterhouses have exposed the hidden practices of the animal agriculture industry, unveiling the disturbing truth of the suffering endured by cows, pigs, turkeys, and chickens in the food system.
These exposés are shocking and powerful, and have resulted in convictions and fines against farms for breaking animal cruelty laws. Animal Justice’s last undercover investigation in Ontario before the law came into effect was conducted at Paragon factory pig farm, and the farm later pleaded guilty to two animal cruelty offences for cutting the tails and testicles off of piglets without anesthesia, and performing an illegal c-section on a live, conscious pig.
First Court Win Against Canadian Ag Gag Laws
This is the first time in Canadian history that an ag gag law has been challenged in court, and this victory bodes well for the continued fight against these dangerous laws across the country. In recent years, ag gag laws have been passed in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, and PEI, and are being proposed at the federal level under Bill C-275.
In the US, ag gag laws have been struck down as unconstitutional by judges in six states, including Iowa, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and North Carolina.
Thank you to everyone who has been by our side for the last four years as our team has fought relentlessly to defeat ag gag laws. Our work is far from over—we will continue our efforts to challenge ag gag laws in court, and prevent new ones from passing.
If you haven’t already done so, please use the button below to send a letter asking senators to reject Canada’s Ag Gag bill:
4. Make Grocery Stores Stop Selling Live Animals
Recent science has demonstrated that lobsters, fish and other sea creatures are as sensitive to pain and stress as mammals. In the U.K. Crustaceans have been recognized as sentient beings in an amendment to the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill. A review of the research to back up recognition of their sentience is available from the London School of Economics and Political Science and can be seen here.
This post contains two actions that you can take: a letter writing action from ADAV and a petition from Animal Justice that you can sign. Please note that in a response to one letter writer, Thriftys claims to take good care of its lobsters and crabs. However, the store knows full well that they are destined to be boiled alive – the most common way of cooking them.
Letter Writing:
Please consider sending a letter to the following grocery stores and any others where you see live animals being sold. Most grocery stores also have contact info up on their websites that allow for electronic letters as well.
- Sobeys Inc (own Thriftys). CEO. Michael B. Midline
115 King Street. Stellarton. Nova Scotia. B0K 1S0 - Loblaws Companies Ltd. CEO. Per Bank
1 President’s Choice Circle, Brampton. Ontario. L6Y 5S5 - T&T Supermarket Inc. CEO Tina Bank
21500 Gordon Way. Richmond. BC. V6W 1J8
Sample letter text:
Dear Manager,
We urge you to end the presence of live crabs and lobsters in your store.
The UK government has declared that lobsters, crabs, octopuses and related species will be included under the new Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill. This paves the way for legal protection from practices like being boiled alive and having the tendons of their pincers cut.
The government ruling is based on a recent report on the likelihood of sentience in cephalopods and decapod crustaceans and came from the London School of Economic.
“Sentience is the ability to have feelings, such as pain, distress, or comfort. Scientific evidence about the complex behaviour and nervous systems of these animals has been accumulating over recent decades, and it has led us to conclude that there is a strong likelihood of these species being sentient.”
“We are really pleased that the government has decided to protect cephalopods and decapods following our report. Nothing will change immediately, but it means that there is now a legal mechanism to allow them to be protected from unnecessary suffering in the future.”
– Dr. Charlotte Burn, a co-author on the report
As a loyal customer, I would be so pleased to see my local store carry the banner of compassion for our fellow beings. We will still be seeing meat and seafood in your store, but the presence of live beings whose welfare cannot be safeguarded nor their deaths be ensured to be humane is unendurable to a caring customer.
Petition from Animal Justice:
Note: We are told the petition should say lobsters travel up to 100 miles year, not 100 meters per year. That would be 160 kilometers! We’ve asked the person who mentioned this to contact the petition creator directly. We are unable to change a petition we didn’t create.
Text from Petition (button to sign appears below it):
At supermarkets across Canada, lobsters are crammed into tiny barren tanks. This is cruel to lobster as they are complex animals who feel pain and can experience distress from being in crowded environments. They are solitary animals that prefer to spend much of their time in the dark. They move around the ocean and can travel up to 100 meters in a year. Lobsters in the wild can also live past 100 years of age!
Researcher Michael Kuba says that lobsters are “quite amazingly smart animals”, and Neurobiologist Tom Abrams says that lobsters have “a full array of senses”.
At grocery stores, the lobster tanks are overcrowded, the stores are very bright, the lobsters can’t move around, and they are forced to live like that day after day. Studies confirm that lobsters kept in tanks suffer from stress associated with confinement, low oxygen levels, overcrowding, and starvation.
Lobsters lead complex social lives. They recognize other lobsters as individuals, and they know where they live. Lobsters and fish are recognized by experts as being capable of experiencing great suffering and distress. Scientists in the European Union classify lobsters as “category I” – that is, animals who experience pain. Also in this category are dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, and humans.
The Criminal Code of Canada contains language that criminalizes the causing of unnecessary pain, suffering, or injury to animals. Yet, this is what is occurring at Canadian grocery stores.
The Aquatic Animal Alliance recommends that sea life should have access to appropriate environments that enable their wellbeing, in conditions that promote good psychological health, and with sufficient space and materials required to let them express their natural behaviours.
After hearing from concerned customers, some grocery chains have discontinued the sale of live lobsters! We can send a message to all other grocery stores that this cruelty will not be tolerated.
5. Ask Canadian Government to Improve Companion Animal Status in Law
We are pleased to share this important petition from Concerns for Animals Collective (CFAC). In January of BC changes to BC Family Law Act and Provincial Court Family Rules meant that companion animals are no longer treated like inanimate property in situations like divorce. As CFAC says, we can almost say that in BC pets are not treated like furniture anymore. Unless we look at the Canadian Criminal Code where they are still treated like inanimate property. If your dog is stolen or tortured, it is treated like inanimate property. Please review the information below and sign the petition. It not only has implications for animals in BC but across Canada.
From CFAC:
In January 2024, changes to British Columbia’s Family Law Act and the Provincial Court Family Rules improved the status of companion animals in the province. In situations like divorce or separation, animals kept primarily for the purpose of companionship are no longer treated like property in the same sense that a car, computer or chair is. Now his or her ability to suffer is recognized along with his or her history and relationships with family members – and his or her best interests are to be taken into account in the event of a breakup of the family home. This may seem a small change, but it is actually a momentous first step. Animals are being recognized as more than inanimate property, something that has been a long time coming in Canadian law.
We can almost say that in BC pets are not treated like furniture. Unless we look at the Canadian Criminal Code. Under the Criminal Code all animals are treated like property in the same sense as the coffee table. If your dog is stolen in BC or anywhere else in Canada, it is treated like inanimate property. If your dog is tortured, it is treated like inanimate property.
We are urging the Federal government to follow BC’s example and recognize companion animals as being more than inanimate property. We ask that the government recognize their ability to suffer, their need to be protected from cruelty and their inherent right to protections under the law that are beyond what is applicable to inanimate objects.
This kind of thing is happening elsewhere in the world. In Spain animals are no longer considered “objects” under the law and their well being and protection are considered in cases of divorce or separation, much as is happening in BC. Wild animals are included in Spain’s law, but the focus is primarily on greater legal protections for domesticated animals, particularly in family disputes. This is part of a trend. There are actually more than 30 other countries that recognize animals as sentient including France, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Tanzania.
We call on the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of Canada to amend the Criminal Code Sections 444 – 447 to provide for the welfare and protection of domestic companion animals.
If BC and other countries can recognize our companion animals as living beings with a status elevated over inanimate property under law, so can the Government of Canada.
6. Ask the Government to Recognize Animal Abuse in Coercive Control Legislation
Please review the information below from the BC SPCA and take a moment to send a quick letter to help protect animals from abuse by those involving them in the coercive control of others. It is a time sensitive action, but at the time of this posting, the federal government’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is still considering Bill C-332 to amend the criminal code with regard to coercive control.
From the BC SPCA:
This is a time-sensitive request! The federal government’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is currently considering Bill C-332 to amend the Criminal Code with regard to coercive control.
Coercive control is a pattern of behaviours intended to isolate, humiliate, exploit or dominate a person. These behaviours can extend beyond intimate partner and family violence, but that is where they are most often seen.
We are grateful that Bill C-332 seeks to criminalize coercive and controlling behaviour; however, it does not explicitly mention animals being used as tools of coercive control in its initial draft.
Please join the BC SPCA and our partners at Humane Canada as we call on the federal government to recognize that the love a victim has for their pet can be used to control them. Perpetrators commonly use threats of violence against an animal, actual violence to an animal and withholding food or veterinary care to force their victims to stay silent, submit to further abuse, prevent them from leaving or force them to return to an unsafe home.
Victims of intimate partner and family violence and the pets they love need your support, and government needs to criminalize using animals as tools of coercive control.
Please sign the pre-written letter to your MP and the members of The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
7. Don’t Let the U.S. Government Shoot 500,000 Barred Owls in Massive Cull
The U.S. government is proposing a plan to shoot 500,000 barred owls dead as part of a massive cull in the Pacific Northwest.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is suggesting this horrible cull in order to restore balance between barred owls and northern spotted owls in Washington, Oregon, and California. In order to carry out the plan, it would grant landowners or land managers permits to shoot or otherwise euthanize the animals.
Sign the petition to urge the U.S. government to consider alternative options now!
The reason behind this proposed slaughter is that, sadly, northern spotted owls and barred owls seem to be in competition for territory, food, and nesting. While barred owls’ numbers have been increasing, spotted owls’ populations are in decline.
But surely there must be other options besides shooting innocent wildlife in cold blood. These owls are just doing what they evolved to do: survive. They’re not evil, or malicious, or aware of the ecological balance issues. So why should they be slaughtered?
One expert, biologist and ecological consultant Jared Hobbs, emphasized that the government must also take stronger steps to protect spotted owls’ habitats. Specifically, authorities must increase regulation of logging and forest destruction.
Sign the petition to demand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service find another way to restore balance in the owl ecosystem, other than massacring half a million barred owls! It must implement stronger habitat protections now!
8. New Action & Update: Piglets Used in Military Training
We are pleased to pass on the update and call to action below from Animal Alliance of Canada whose campaign against the cruel use of live piglets in Canada’s military training has entered a new phase.
From Animal Alliance of Canada:
I am writing to you with an update on our “Defenceless” campaign, calling on the Minister of National Defence to bring an end to the Department of National Defence (DND)’s use of live piglets in military medical training. This training involves poisoning piglets with chemical weapons, exposing them to radiation, stabbing, maiming and, finally, killing them – all to provide Canadian medics with training that could be better achieved by using human patient simulators, as do more than 70% of other NATO nations.
On Monday, November 6th, NDP Defence Critic Lindsay Mathyssen presented our e-petition in the House of Commons. We are so grateful to MP Mathyssen for sponsoring and presenting this petition. The government has 45 calendar days from November 6th to provide its response. Of course, we’ll share that with you as soon as it’s released.
Now, we’re moving onto the next phase of our campaign, which involves you. Please write your own Member of Parliament (MP) and ask them to urge the Minister of National Defence to end the DND’s use of animals in military medical training. Most of Canada’s NATO allies have moved on from archaic and ineffective methods. Minister Blair needs to explain Canada’s continued use of substandard teaching models to train our soldiers, at taxpayers’ expense.
We’ve created a pre-written letter you can use by clicking ‘Email Your MP Today’ below. Just fill in your postal code and your letter will be sent to your MP.
Please note that your own personal letter could have even more impact. If you have the time, please consider drafting your own letter to your MP. Here are some possibly persuasive talking points:
• Over the past 10 years, more than 1,800 piglets have been exposed to toxic nerve agents, radiation and severe trauma for military medical training.
• Inadequately sedated piglets have revived during military trauma training, including one piglet “vocalizing loudly” and another “attempting to jump off the table”, according to the DND’s own records.
• The DND’s Animal Care Committee, which is responsible for ensuring the piglets do not suffer, knew piglets were reviving, yet concealed the information by altering documents.
• The DND acknowledges that using pigs may interfere with effective training by producing “training scars” (for instance, in trainees who learn how to correctly position a breathing tube in a pig, but which would constitute incorrect placement in a human).
• The continued use of piglets for military medical training puts Canadian soldiers’ lives at risk by employing obsolete teaching methods and inapplicable animal models.
• Over 70% of NATO nations no longer use animals for military medical training, having replaced them with more advanced, human-relevant human patient simulators.
• Studies have found that human patient simulators, which accurately mimic human anatomy and physiology, are more applicable and cost-effective training tools for military medical training.
• According to an Abacus poll commissioned by the Animal Alliance of Canada Fund in January 2023, fewer than 1 in 10 Canadians support the use of piglets for military medical training.
Please contact your MP today to demand an end to the use of animals in military medical training. And, of course, please share with us any responses you receive!
Thank you for speaking up for piglets.
9. Protect Wildlife Habitat: Stop the Destruction of Lemay Forest by Tochal Developments
One of our supporters reached out to us asking us to share this important and time sensitive petition. Few “forests”/natural habitats are left in the area of St. Norbert. Please help protect this one that is under threat from development.
For seven years, Tochal Developments has held control over a +22 acre greenfield and forested area adjacent to the southwest shores of the Red River. This land, located east of 35 De La Digue Avenue, west of 100 Villa Maria Place, and north of the homes at 819 – 915 Lemay Avenue is a vital part of our community in St. Norbert. The proposed development threatens to destroy Lemay Forest, an irreplaceable natural habitat that contributes significantly to our local biodiversity.
10. Make Sure Animals are Included in British Columbia’s Emergency Management
We are pleased to share the information below from the BC SPCA about tabled legislation that would include animals in risk assessments, emergency management and evacuation plans. The BC Government is giving British Columbians the opportunity to provide input for new regulations to implement in the proposed Emergency Management and Disaster Act by the end of the year. If you live in BC, the BC SPCA has set up a pre-written letter that you can modify along with a request that you try to incorporate a personal story. It only takes a moment.
Four years ago, over 23,000 British Columbians joined the BC SPCA as we called on the provincial government to include companion animals, animals in captivity and all farmed animals in new emergency management legislation. And they listened!
The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness recently tabled Bill 31 – 2023, the Emergency and Disaster Management Act, to modernize British Columbia’s approach to mitigating hazards and preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergencies. As we requested, the proposed legislation mandates that local governments include animals in risk assessments, emergency management and evacuation plans.
The B.C. government is once again giving British Columbians the opportunity to provide input by the end of the year for new regulations to implement the proposed Emergency Management and Disaster Act.
Please add your voice to show your support for including all animals in emergency management, ensuring that animal welfare organizations can help in times of crisis, and to share your personal experience to help improve all phases of emergency management.
We’ll consolidate the input we receive by December 15, 2023 and send it to the province. Sharing your own story will have a greater impact!
11. Take Action: Save the Sidney Island Deer
We are passing on this important action alert information from The Animal Alliance of Canada. We modified the original note slightly and added the petition previously posted about on this issue. For additional actions, information, and other resources please also visit our friends at Towards Freedom by clicking here.
You may have already heard that Parks Canada is planning a massive cull of all the deer on Sidney Island, BC. Sidney Island is located just off Vancouver Island.
The plan involves sharp shooters killing deer from helicopters and hunters and dogs on the ground shooting both wounded deer and healthy deer. Parks Canada’s plan is to eliminate ALL deer from the island.
You can visit the Sidney Island Deer Management Society website for more information: https://sidmsociety.com/
There are three actions you can take to help:
1) Contact George Heyman, BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. The Minister can be emailed at ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca. Ask him not to issue Parks Canada the kill permits they are requesting.
2) Contact the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, the federal Minister responsible for Parks Canada and their actions. The Minister can be contacted at Steven.Guilbeault@parl.gc.ca or 613-992-6779. Ask him to direct Parks Canada to use only non-lethal methods to manage the park on Sidney Island.
There is also a petition:
12. Urgent: Help Return Racoons Snatched from a Wildlife Rehabilitation Shelter
he information below is from Animal Justice. Please read and then click the button to send a letter about racoons snatched from a wildlife shelter in Ontario. When the Ministry of Natural Resources did this in the past, it was learned through a freedom of information request that the racoons had ended up in a research lab. We don’t know where the racoons snatched recently are being held, but there is fear it is a research lab.
A wildlife sanctuary has been raided by Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), and 95 rescued raccoons have been seized.
Mally’s Third Chance Raccoon Rescue and Rehabilitation Sanctuary is a facility in Southern Ontario that cares for injured and orphaned raccoons, rehabilitates them, and releases the animals back into the wild. On September 26, 2023, over 50 MNRF officers arrived unannounced with vehicles and drones, and began removing every raccoon from their enclosure and forcing them into small cages in the back of pick-up trucks.
The officers seized phones from the staff at Mally’s and forced them to leave, preventing any footage from being taken of the incident. Witnesses of this brutal event reportedly watched with shock and horror as raccoons cried and struggled. Staff and volunteers at Mally’s fear that raccoons may be killed by the MNRF.
The MNRF says the charity violated the provincial Wildlife Conservation Act, a claim that Mally’s wholly denies.
According to a volunteer who spoke with the Canadian Press, Mally’s mostly works to rehabilitate orphaned baby raccoons, and helps them reach maturity so they can be released. Mally’s has said that almost all of the raccoons seized by the MNRF were set to be returned to the wild in the coming days or weeks.
Poor Use of Government Resources
The MNRF’s large-scale raid at Mally’s appears to be a disproportionate and unreasonable use of government resources. Ontario is already facing a shortage of wildlife rehabilitators, who receive little to no support from the government. Members of the public who find injured wild animals often have no place to take them for care.
The Ministry’s response is especially concerning considering they continue to refuse to enforce the law to stop cruel, inhumane, and illegal practices such as coyote hunting contests, despite countless calls from the public.
The Ministry is also expanding penned dog hunting in Ontario, where hunters let dogs chase and often rip apart live animals like foxes, coyotes, and rabbits in an enclosed area. The practice is widely condemned because of its inherent cruelty, and is banned in all other Canadian provinces. Cracking down on raccoon rehabilitators while giving the green light to violent penned dog hunts shows that the Ministry is failing to protect the health and well-being of wildlife.
If the MNRF has reason to be concerned about the care of wildlife, it should take steps to ensure animals are protected, including working with and supporting rehabilitators to bring them into compliance. But the scale and extent of the Ministry’s response to Mally’s is shocking when compared to its inaction against those who permit cruel practices by hosting contests and exhibitions.
Tell the MNRF to use its resources to enforce the law against those who illegally hunt, kill, and injure wild animals, rather than targeting wildlife rehabilitation facilities, like Mally’s!
13. Take Action with Petition & More: Stop Vancouver Restaurants from Serving Foie Gras Dish (Diseased Duck Liver)
The information below is from a change.org petition about the horrific practice of serving a dish called foie gras that is a result of a torturous process conducted on ducks. The petition page includes not only information and the option of signing but also other actions you can take to make a difference. There is also a list of high end Vancouver restaurants that serve the dish. Please check it out and take a few moments to do something.
We are asking Vancouverites to help us stop a dish served in our high-end restaurants across Vancouver, our kind City. As animal lovers we can not support restaurants that serve this dish when it’s production has been banned in many European countries due to animal cruelty concerns.
Foie gras is French for “fatty liver”. These waterfowl are force-fed several times a day. This intrusive and painful experience begins at 12 weeks of age and lasts three weeks until the animals are slaughtered. These birds are usually confined in tiny cages throughout their life to make it easier for the farmers and will never see water their whole life. The force feeding causes the birds’ liver to become diseased and fatty and swell up to 10 times their normal size.Some birds die from grain being forced into their lungs or when they choke on their own vomit. Other health problems include fungal infections, diarrhea, impaired liver function, heat stress, lesions, and fractures of the sternum.
BCSPCA says: “One argument commonly put forward in defense of foie gras is that force feeding is an acceptable practice since ducks and geese will naturally gorge themselves in preparation for migration. This argument does not hold for the mulard, the strain of duck most commonly used in the production of foie gras. “ ( See BCSPCA’s Report- Scientific case against Foie Gras, 2009)
14. Support the Replacement of Fireworks with Light Displays and Make a Difference to Animals, Birds, the Environment and Others
Fireworks are a danger to the well-being of animals, including pets, farm animals, birds, and wildlife. Further they are a danger to vulnerable populations, including those suffering from PTSD, especially some veterans. They are a danger to the environment because they release dangerous toxic chemicals. And they are not cost effective.
Spectacular laser light displays and drone shows are a kinder, more exciting, and cost effective means of celebrating special events. Special thanks to Towards Freedom for their work on this issue.
For more information, action ideas and whom to contact, please click on the image below:
15. Take Action Against Monkeys Chained & Whipped for Coconut Milk
From PETA:
Whole Foods is supporting the abuse of monkeys who are chained, whipped, and forced to pick coconuts as long as it sells Thai coconut milk.
PETA Asia’s latest investigation into Thailand’s coconut industry has revealed that despite false claims by the Thai government and makers of coconut products, wild baby monkeys are still being kidnapped—many illegally—before being chained, whipped, and forced to spend long hours picking heavy coconuts. They can incur broken bones from harsh handling and get stung by hornets, which can be fatal. When they aren’t working, they’re kept in small cages or tethered on barren patches of dirt, often without food, water, or protection from the elements.
Whole Food’s 365 brand sources the coconuts in its coconut milk from Thailand, and one of its coconut milk suppliers was implicated in PETA Asia’s latest investigation into the trade. PETA has contacted Whole Foods, but the company has refused to stop selling Thai coconut milk via its 365 brand and third-party brands even though it already offers canned coconut milk from countries where monkey labor isn’t used.
Take a look at the latest investigation, then send an urgent message to Whole Foods urging it to stop selling Thai coconut milk—that’s the only way to end this cruelty.
16. Sign the Petition Against Dogs & Cats Being Sold Through LIVESTOCK Auctions in Canada
Whereas:
- Recently, the media has reported about the horrible condition in which dogs were sold via an online auction house in Manitoba. This case has raised concerns for Canadians;
- The federal government’s website states “The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits anyone from willfully causing animals to suffer from neglect, pain or injury”;
- Provinces and territories also have responsibility for a number of issues related to animal welfare;
- The CFIA has scope over regulating the humane transportation of animals, and they also work with provinces, territories and stakeholders on related issues;
- Canadian farmers and animal owners across the country make important efforts every day to keep their animals and livestock safe; and
- Canadians believe instances of potential animal abuse and neglect must be addressed.
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to always ensure they uphold their federal mandate with respect to animal welfare issues, and work with provinces, territories and stakeholders when needed on these issues.
17. Protect the Orcas’ Ocean Homes: Let’s Make Tertiary Sewage Treatment the Law
Please take a moment to sign the petition from Lifeforce to protect orcas who are facing extinction and living in increasingly polluted waters.
While we are trying to find ways to protect people and animals from the Covid-19 pandemic we can and must also control all environmental pollution! One of the ways to achieve a healthier world is government funding of the most effective Tertiary Sewage Treatment! We must protect the health of wildlife and people!
Orcas are facing extinction! Pollution is one of the three major threats to the Southern Resident Killer Whales! They have lived and died for decades in increasingly polluted waters!
In order to protect people, animals and ecosystems money must be spent now for the best available technology. Many governments are planning to upgrade aging sewer treatment systems to only Secondary Treatment. If they do, households and industries will continue polluting land and water habitats. Implementing the present most effective Tertiary Treatment can’t wait for another 10 to 30 years with the increasing human population wastes, future increased costs and more pollution related health care costs!
Thank you for all you do!