When you think of animals in circuses, what comes to mind? ... Elephants, lions, monkeys, goldfish ... hold up! ... goldfish?
Yes, you read right - goldfish. The Moscow circus was this week banned from performing an act in which a woman swallowed 3 live goldfish and then regurgitated them, after Animals Australia reported the act to the NSW Govt.
It's bad enough that elephants and other exotic animals suffer miserable cramped and inadequate lives in circuses, but how could anyone imagine that swallowing a live animal would make for wholesome family entertainment? Mind you, if you ask me, swallowing dead animals at the dinner table hardly makes for a wholesome family activity either.
Anyway, if you're thinking "But they're just goldfish, don't they have a 3 second memory?", then to dispell this myth I'll refer you to that amazing fountain of knowledge that is Japanese Novelty TV:
I bet you didn't expect to see synchronised swimming goldfish when you woke up this morning ;)
Some days it is just so exciting to be a part of the Animals Australia Unleashed team I can't even tell you!
After years of campaigning against factory farming, we were excited to hear Coles announce today that they are committed to having a completely sow stall free homebrand pork range by the end of 2014. What does this mean..?
Locking mother pigs inside 'sow stalls' is one of the cruellest things ever done to animals in Australia. The stalls themselves are not much bigger than the pigs' bodies, meaning they are stuck in one spot and can't even turn around for up to months on end.
Pigs are smart, curious individuals – much like dogs! – and it's shocking to think that for the sake of pork, bacon and ham, this type of cruelty is still legal in Australia. Fortunately, Coles has started to use their power to help end some of the worst abuse suffered by pigs on factory farms.
What's even more fortunate is that you don't have to be a massive company like Coles to make a big difference for animals… You can be a friend to pigs (and other animals) simply by taking them off your plate. It's easy! And -- you'll be saving the lives of 100 innocent animals every year. Now THAT's something worth celebrating :)
Anyone feel like celebrating?! We have every reason to! For the very first time in history one of Australia’s state governments has recognised that mother pigs imprisoned in sow stalls for months on end, don’t deserve to suffer. Sow stalls will be banned in Tassie!
Sow stalls are a seriously cruel business! They are literally tiny metal cages that are so small that mother pigs trapped inside can’t even turn around or walk more than one step. Thousands of pigs in Australia are forced to stand in these cruel cages, with nothing to do all day, often for months at a time.
Imagine if we were forced to endure this? No wonder most of the pigs are depressed and stressed out! They are after all one of the most intelligent species on the planet!
Tassie will phase out sow stalls and totally ban them by 2017. This sets the rest of Australia a great example as well as applying pressure for them to do the same.
We all know that the quickets and simplest way to help pigs is simply not to eat them ... but whilst we're waiting for the rest of the country to catch up and go vegetarian, today's decision will help alleviate some of the worst animal suffering caused by cruel meat industries.
I don’t believe this could have happened without the support of thousands of Unleashed/Animals Australia supporters who care about animals. It's their support that’s made it possible for Factory Farming TV and Radio Ads to air and to make a big impact.
So it seems that we do have the power to make a difference when it counts! It feels so good to be involved in directly helping animals, who without us would continue to suffer in silence, day in and day out. Now let's get every other state to follow!
Today marks the end of an 'era' in horse racing. Or should I say an error! Yes, definitely an error - forcing horses to jump over hurdles at full speed was always a bad idea. But the good news this morning is that Racing Victoria has announced they will cease to run jumps races at the end of the 2010 season! *sigh of relief*
This decision will spare horses the miserable fate of broken legs, broken necks, and other injuries from falls during jumps races. So after a brilliant campaign by the Coalition for the Protection of Race Horses, the racing industry has finally faced up to the fact that jumps racing is cruel (not that an industry that kills thousands of horses every year just for being too slow has much to be proud of!).
Hats off to the Coalition; hats off to all those who attended demonstrations; and hats off to you, if you're one of the nearly 8000 Animals Australia and Unleashed supporters who sent letters calling for an end to jumps racing!
If you've got a moment today, you might want to send Racing Victoria an email (information@racingvictoria.net.au) congratulating them for getting rid of cruel jumps races. For Victoria to end jumps racing is a huge milestone! They were the largest of only 2 Aussie states that still permitted this cruel 'sport'. And so onward and upward! Now it's time for South Australia to step up and ditch jumps racing!
You might also like to let the Racing Minister for SA, Michael Wright (minister.wright@saugov.sa.gov.au), know that they're letting down the team and should ban jumps racing too!
And if you live in Adelaide, next Tuesday (1st December) is your chance to join a demonstration to put the heat on SA to end jumps racing! There will be a peaceful protest happening on the steps of Parliament House to coincide with the submission of a petition, signed by 4,000 SA residents, calling for an end to jumps racing. Here are the details:
Where: Steps of Parliament House North Terrace Adelaide When: Tuesday December 1 from 12.30pm to 1.30pm Wear: Smart/casual (preferably black/dark colour)
Don't you just love culture! It brings the best out of humans. Bullfighting, horse racing, rodeos, fox hunting, pig wrestling, bear baiting, anything goes as long as it is 'culture'!
Another well preserved cultural form of animal cruelty is the animal circus. Ever been to one? I have many times (for work) and it breaks my heart every time to see the animals living in such disgraceful conditions. Elephants chained by two legs most of the day, standing in their own excrement; lions, tigers, monkeys locked in cages where they can do nothing more than walk a few steps.
But this cruel excuse for 'entertainment' is increasingly becoming banned around the world and the latest country to show some progressive thinking is ... Portugal. ... huh? The same Portugal where they still love their bullfights? Yes, that Portugal! After long running campaigns such as this brilliant advertising campaign (see bottom this blog for more of the ads), the Portuguese Prime Minister last week signed a law which immediately bans the use of great apes in circuses and makes it illegal for circuses to breed their exotic animals or acquire new ones. This in effect means that exotic animals in circuses will soon be history in Portugal. Way to go Premiero Ministro!
That might leave you wondering: What's happening in Australia? Well, some councils have finally introduced bans on exotic animal circuses. But state and federal governments are still stuck in the middle ages. In fact, they even promote them on their website, saying: "Australia is a world leader in the care of circus animals". I can assure you the world would be in a pretty sad state if all animals were treated as 'well' as Australian circus animals!
If you've got a moment to spare, you might like to write to your local council, or your local MP to urge them to follow Portugal's compassionate lead and ban animal circuses.
*Ehem!* Well just like the many Australians who like to pretend that Russell Crowe and Crowded House are "fully Oz", today I'm liking the idea that I'm "fully Irish". Alright, alright... so I haven't been there in a while, and I probably can't tell you who the current President of Ireland is*, but the truth is I was born in Ireland — and today I'm going to (soy)milk that for all it's worth. :-) Why..?
'Cause this month the Green party in Ireland has achieved a huuuuge victory for our furry friends — they banned fur farming! Yep, you heard right: Ireland has banned fur farming!! But that's not all — campaigners in Ireland are now setting their sights on banning imports of cruel fur products! Noice Wan!
Fur factory farms are a special type of hell for animals like foxes, raccoons and minks. These and other animals are locked in tiny cages and are often driven insane from the stress and frustration of unnatural confinement. These traumatised animals have been known to gnaw at their own flesh and even cannibalise their cagemates. Those that survive the 'farm' are destined to be anally or vaginally electrocuted, gassed or drowned before having their skin ripped from their small bodies.
Unfortunately almost all fur in Australia is imported from Europe, the U.S. and Asia, where animals are treated just like this. Pretty sickening huh. We hope that other countries wake up and follow Ireland's compassionate lead in realising that animals need their fur more than ugly people do!
Meanwhile, you can help these little guys by signing the pledge to wear your own skin, and don't hesitate to remind any fur wearers where their coat or 'trim' really came from!
Jumps racing is BIG news down here in Vic at the moment. It has been splashed across newspapers and evening news bulletins throughout the year, with some pro-jumps people threatening to cut off their horses' heads if the sport is banned! Talk about losing your cool, butchy.
Just a quick rundown on the issue:
13 horses have already died in jumps racing this season, many more have fallen and been seriously injured.
Despite a review and yet more 'safety' measures, this jumps racing season has had the highest death rate on record.
3 out of 4 horses that raced in 2008 have not reappeared in 2009 and are presumed dead.
So now for some good news: After writing to self-noted animal lover Livinia Nixon about owning a jumps horse, she has withdrawn her support of the controversial sport. The channel 9 weather presenter (who has also been the face of a host of programs such as Getaway and Temptation) relinquished her share in a jumps horse after I wrote a letter to her alerting her that the horse fell during a trial. Her withdrawal of support for this so-called 'sport' is yet more proof that jumps racing has no future – and will send a strong message to those responsible. Good onya Liv!
So my message to you: Speak up! You just never know how much weight one letter can carry. Hell, you might even get a celebrity to withdraw their support from jumps racing ;)
And if you live in Vic and want to see jumps racing 'put down' as much as I do, then you will want to keep yourself free this Sunday (August 30th) for the biggest day in jumps racing for the whole year. It's the Grand National (ie. The 'Melbourne Cup' of jumps racing) and you can be sure we won't let this one go by quietly. A huge crowd of demonstrators will be outside the event to send a strong message that jumps racing must be banned - it's gonna be mammoth. If there is one rally you go to this year, this is it – this will be a day you will look back to and tell your grandchildren about it! :P
This just in! After receiving thousands and thousands of emails from outraged Animals Australia and Unleashed members, Broome Shire Council held an emergency meeting where they agreed to suspend their sister-city ties with the Japanese town of Taiji, where next month thousands of dolphins will be brutally butchered as part of an unspeakably cruel mass annual dolphin slaughter.
During the slaughter, which every year kills 23,000 dolphins, authorities erect barricades and prohibit photography and videotaping of the brutal event. Not even the Japanese public are aware of the scale or cruelty that goes on in Taiji, or that dolphin meat is often mislabelled and consumed by unknowing Japanese citizens!
This move by Broome sends a strong message to Japan that the international community will not tolerate this dark, bloody secret. With more pressure, we hope that the Japanese government will soon wake up and realise that along with the dolphins, Japan's reputation and appeal as a tourist destination is being bludgeoned to death by callous Japanese fishermen!
Thanks to everyone who took action recently by writing Broome and asking them to sever ties with Taiji! Please also take a moment to write to the Ambassador of Japan to Australia and express your disgust at Japan's annual mass slaughter of dolphins. Let them know that you will not consider visiting Japan whilst this gruesome slaughter continues!
Some great news came out of Ipswich this week. Ipswich City Council voted to ban exotic animals from being used in circuses on council land. That makes Ipswich the first council in Queensland to take a stand against cruel animal circuses. Woot!
And it's about time! The lives of wild animals in circuses is the pits. They are tormented and abused to instill fear, so they will perform tricks for the audience. (Have you notice that it's a whip not a reward that they use?) Elephant 'trainers' often use a bullhook (a stick with a sharp metal hook on one end) to control or punish elephants. This hook is dug into senstitive parts of their body such as behind their ears, in their mouth or the bottoms of their feet.
When not performing, these animals, who might wander tens, if not hundreds of kilometers in a day in the wild, are confined in tiny barren cages. They spend months on the road carted from town to town, to be brought out on stage to perform in bright, loud tents for onlookers.
So a big hoorah to Ispwich Council for taking a stand against animal cruelty. Here's hoping a few more councils follow suit. If you have a moment, please write to Ipswich to congratulate them on the ban (council@ipswich.qld.gov.au). And you might even like to write to your own local council and encourage them to ban exotic animal circuses too!
While I'm at it, I thought I'd also share these brilliant campaign posters from a collaboration between two portuguese animal advocacy groups, Acção Animal and Liga Portuguesa dos Direitos do Animal. They really sum it up well:
"Roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls for the crack of the whip against the animal's stinging wounds. A big round of applause for the flaming hoops, the injuries and the electric shocks. Come and see the famed number of cages and tightly binding chains allowing no escape from endless training sessions. Laugh, applaud and join in with the repetitive choreographed routines typical of depressed animals under great stress. All the fun of the circus travelling from city to city exhibiting animals as human caricatures. Clowning around that's no fun at all. Animal circuses, don't be part of the show."
(If you're keen to check out some other clever NGO campaigns, I found these at: osocio.org)
Disclaimer:
We’re supposed to let you know that the ideas expressed here are the views of the individual authors, and may not necessarily reflect the views of Animals Australia or Animals Australia Unleashed. So now you know.
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