The ACT has officially become the first state/territory to ban three of the worst practices of factory farming. For good!
Woo hoo! I have often wondered, if we had a chance to do it all over again, would we do it differently? The ACT Government is standing up and making sure that animals in the ACT are protected from having to endure some of the worst cruelty of factory farming ever again. Its last battery egg facility has shut down and no pigs are currently factory farmed there. Now a Bill has just been passed to make sure that it stays that way! They've outlawed three of the cruellest factory farming practices ever inflicted on animals:
Pig crates – Imagine living your whole life in your bathtub. Every day countless pigs suffer in this level of confinement, unable to even turn around. ACT SAYS NO WAY!
Battery cages – A battery hen in Australia lives in a space smaller than an A4 piece of paper, crammed into a wire cage with several others. ACT SAYS NO MORE!
Debeaking – Factory farmed hens often have the tips of their beaks cut off, to stop them from pecking at other birds. (You would too if you were suffering from severe stress.) NEVER AGAIN IN ACT!
This is a MAJOR WIN in the campaign to make a world without factory farming possible. And if it weren’t for caring people like you speaking up for animals, their voices may not have been heard in parliament :)
The best news is that we don't need to wait for other states to catch up. We can help end animal cruelty by simply showing that there's no demand for factory farmed products with the choices we make. Find out more at www.MakeitPossible.com.
Which state/territory do you hope will be next to ban the cage?
Maybe you've already heard… A few days ago, a healthy 2-year-old giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo, named Marius, was killed. The zoo decided they didn't have space for him. So he was shot in the head and his body was fed to the lions - in front of a crowd of spectators.
Marius's death has shocked people all around the world and has raised some big questions: Is the real reason Marius was killed that he was no longer cute enough to attract visitors to the zoo? Do zoos really have a role to play in conservation or do they just profit from confined animals? (There are some thought provoking answers to these questions here and here.)
But the question that jumped out at me when I heard about Marius's death was this: Who were the lions eating yesterday?
It's always tragic to see a young healthy animal, like Marius, killed. He deserved to live a full happy life, just as we all do. But like Marius, the pigs, chickens or cows who were fed to the lions yesterday would have also been young and healthy. They may not have been as exotic, and they probably didn't have a name, but does that make them any less deserving of our concern?
With people the world over understandably saddened and outraged by what happened to Marius, I hope this is an opportunity for us to reconsider how we view all animals - to recognise that they all have the ability to feel joy and seek pleasure, just as they all have the ability to suffer.
So why, as a society, do we seem to care more about the well-being of some animals than others? I don't know anyone who can answer that question better than Melanie Joy. If you haven't seen her presentation 'Carnism: The Psychology of Eating Meat' it's certainly worth a watch:
I would love to hear your thoughts about Marius's death and Melanie Joy's talk in the comments below :)
"I HATED being in a cage (for barely an hour) to make my new song-video ..." says Vegan Smythe.
Imagine living your entire life like this:
Billions of animals are living like this every day around the world – sleeping on concrete surrounded by bars. BUT, we can fix this! Here's the solution, in 2 mins:
Already helping to Make it Possible? Click here to share this video to your Facebook wall to help inspire others to do the same :)
There's some real charmers in the animal kingdom. And these 11 smooth talkers have got you covered for whatever it is you'd like to say to a loved one this Valentine's Day :)
Seventeen year old Cianah (Unleashed member freehorses) has been a horse lover for as long as she can remember. When she discovered what happened to racehorses who aren't 'good enough' she had to make a stand. "I realised I couldn’t just sit back," says Cianah. "I want everyone to know what really happens." What she did next is why she is our latest Activist Challenge Winner. :)
If you're anything like me, the thought of speaking in front of a bunch of people in high school is enough to make you pull the doona up over your head and throw a sickie. Not Cianah! She recently got up in front of the WHOLE senior assembly on a mission to reveal the truth about the racing industry. "I realised that so many of my class mates and even family members liked horse racing," Cianah says, "so I became determined to do something about it."
Her speech included everything from excessive whipping to the premature training of young horses and concluded with the unnecessary slaughter of thousands of horses every year. :( You can see for yourself by watching the video below, but please be aware that the content is graphic:
The best news is that several students came up to Cianah after the speech and said that they never knew about the cruelty in the racing industry and pledged to never bet on horse races. (Click here to make the pledge yourself.)
Cianah is now looking to find some horse-loving, musically talented buddies to create a group dedicated to helping more horses. What a great idea!
Have you been getting up to something awesome to help animals? If so, we want to hear about it. Click here to read about our other Activist Challenge Winners and to enter for yourself. You could win an awesome prize pack like Cianah. :)
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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