Category Archives: Animal welfare

Horse slaughter: irresponsibility and hypocrisy on all sides have brought us here

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The public recoils, although sheep and cows are killed in identical fashion. But the racing industry has a serious case to answer too

The biggest trucks at any horse sale belong to the meat dealers. At the end of the day, once those awarded a second chance have been led away, the dealers open the remaining pens and run their unlucky purchases through the saleyard to the loading ramp.

Young, well-fed, well-muscled horses – such as thoroughbreds or standardbreds that have recently left the racing industries – are sent to export abattoirs in Peterborough, South Australia, or the Meramist abattoir in Caboolture, Queensland. The latter is currently being investigated for animal cruelty offences after footage aired on the ABC’s 7.30 program showed horses being shocked with electric prods, hit and kicked before slaughter.

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African swine fever: the deadly virus that has landed on Australia’s doorstep

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The deadly virus wreaking havoc in Asia has been detected in Timor-Leste, just 680km north of Darwin

One month ago a particularly virulent strain of African swine fever – which has been wreaking havoc in Asia since it was detected in China last year and could potentially kill up to 25% of the world’s pig population – landed on Australia’s doorstep.

The disease was detected just 680km north of Darwin, in Timor-Leste. Australian biosecurity agencies which had been screening major airports and mail distributors for illegally imported pork products redoubled their efforts.

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RSPCA accuses government of backflip on welfare for live exports from Australia

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Heat stress guidelines would ‘prohibit or substantially reduce’ live export during northern summer says new policy document

The RSPCA has accused the federal government of making a “backflip on animal welfare safeguards” with the release of a policy document outlining options for the live export of sheep to the Middle East.

The discussion paper, released on Friday, outlines four possible options to govern the live sheep export trade from Australia to the Middle East from 2020 onwards.

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Outrage in China as giant panda on loan to Thailand zoo dies

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Chuang Chuang reportedly collapsed after eating bamboo in Chiang Mai Zoo

The sudden death of a giant panda on loan to a zoo in Thailand has sparked outrage in China and calls for no more of the bears to be lent to the country.

Chuang Chuang, a 19-year-old male, reportedly collapsed on Monday afternoon after eating bamboo in Chiang Mai zoo in northern Thailand, according to Thai media.

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Hong and Kong? Berlin’s panda cubs at centre of Chinese human rights row

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Competition to name Meng Meng’s twins intensifies pressure on German government

They may have captured the public’s imagination, but the tiny, pink panda cubs born at Berlin zoo a few days ago have also spurred a national debate about whether panda diplomacy is blinding Germany to the Chinese government’s human rights record.

As visitors and journalists queue around the block to catch a glimpse of Meng Meng’s cubs, a competition to name them has increased pressure on the government of Angela Merkel, who kicked off a trip to Beijing with a large economic delegation on Thursday.

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‘It’s scary’: wildlife selfies harming animals, experts warn

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Concern in New Zealand that trend of taking photographs with penguins and other creatures is having impact on feeding, breeding and birth rates

At the International Penguin Conference in New Zealand, the experts were worried. Among sobering discussions about the perils of the climate crisis and habitat loss, the unlikely issue of wildlife selfies photobombed the agenda, with increasing concern that the celebrity-fuelled search for that perfect shot is affecting animal behaviour.

Professor Philip Seddon, the director of Otago University’s wildlife management programme, said: ‘We’re losing respect for wildlife, we don’t understand the wild at all.”

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Jaipur protest demands end to use of elephants to carry tourists

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About 100 animals transport visitors along kilometre-long cobbled path to the city’s iconic Amber Fort

Animal rights protesters took to the streets on bicycles in the Indian city of Jaipur on Sunday, demanding an end to elephants being used to carry tourists to one of the country’s top attractions, the iconic Amber Fort.

Related: Celebrity elephant Ramu opens Kerala festival after ban lifted

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Big cats and exotic birds: Colombia’s rescued animals – in pictures

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Most of the animals at the Santa Cruz Foundation in San Antonio, Colombia, have been rescued from traffickers and circuses. The multimillion-dollar illegal wildlife trade is the fourth-largest in the country after drugs, guns and human trafficking

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Pamplona bull-run festival steps up protection for women

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More police on duty as tourists descend on Spanish town to watch bulls and party

One man was gored and two sustained head injuries during the first run of the week-long San Fermín running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Saturday. The injuries were not life-threatening.

During the festival the population of the small city in Navarra swells tenfold as more than a million people come from around the world. Only about 20,000 over the course of the week dress up in the traditional red and white to pursue and be pursued by the bulls along Pamplona’s cobbled streets.

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Tigers kill Italian tamer as parliament mulls ban on circus animals

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All eight of the circus’s tigers were impounded by police after tamer Ettore Weber was mauled to death

Four tigers have mauled to death their tamer in southern Italy, fuelling calls for a ban on the use of animals in circuses as parliament debates the issue.

Police said the 61-year-old tamer, Ettore Weber, was attacked by the tigers on Thursday during a training session in Triggiano, a small town in the Puglia region.

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Death by clubbing: the brutality of Thailand’s pig slaughterhouses

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Humane killing practices are virtually unknown in the majority of Thailand’s abattoirs, say campaigners, with millions of pigs dying in pain

All photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

Warning: this article includes some graphic images that some readers may find distressing

Photos of shirtless workers clubbing pigs with bats in a Thai slaughterhouse have prompted campaigners to call for wider training and monitoring of humane welfare practices.

Undercover images taken in the central Thailand abattoir and shared with the Guardian also shows workers stunning the animals on their eyes with what appear to be homemade stunning machines, contrary to equipment recommendations.

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Africa’s elephant poaching is in decline, analysis suggests

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Researchers still fearful as approximately 10,000 to 15,000 are killed every year

Elephant poaching rates in Africa are declining, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

The annual poaching mortality rate fell from a high of more than 10% in 2011 to less than 4% in 2017, but the researchers warned that current levels were still unsustainable and could spell trouble for the future of the animals on the continent.

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Japanese man prepares for landmark case against dolphin hunts

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Taiji resident will testify in attempt to ban activity as part of charity’s legal challenge

A man from Taiji, the Japanese fishing town whose annual slaughter of dolphins has drawn widespread condemnation, will appear in court on Friday in an unprecedented legal challenge to the hunts.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the plaintiff, who has asked not to be named until the hearing has concluded, said he had been been ostracised in Taiji, where he was born and raised but decided to speak out against the hunts.

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Doris Day, celebrated actor and singer, dies aged 97

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The star of a string of successful film musicals was also known for her work as an animal welfare activist

Doris Day, the actor, singer and animal welfare activist, has died at the age of 97. The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed the news.

Born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio, Day was known for a string of successful musicals and romantic comedies, including Pillow Talk, as well as a singing career that encompassed 29 studio albums.

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Anti-bullfighting party set for Spanish election breakthrough

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As the right enlists bullfighters as candidates, animal welfare champions are polling well

If the polls and pundits are correct, Spain’s Vox party will achieve its much-prophesied breakthrough in Sunday’s general election, becoming the first far-right grouping to win more than a single seat in parliament since the country embarked on its post-Franco return to democracy.

Although Vox’s chances of attracting about 11% of the vote have hogged the headlines, another small party – and one with a markedly different worldview – is also gearing up for a historic day at the ballot box.

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Founder of zoo where 500 animals died drops horse ranch plans

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David Gill abandons Lake District retreat application after flood of complaints

The founder of a zoo where nearly 500 animals died in less than three years, many in cruel conditions, has abandoned plans to open a horse-riding ranch, following a flood of complaints.

David Gill, the former owner of South Lakes Safari zoo in Cumbria, angered animal welfare groups when he applied to open an American-style ranch in the hills of the Lake District.

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Drugged orangutan found in Russian’s airline luggage

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Police at Indonesian airport also found two live geckos and five lizards in suitcase

A Russian tourist attempting to smuggle a drugged orangutan out of Indonesia in his suitcase to bring home and keep as a pet has been arrested in Bali, police said on Saturday.

Andrei Zhestkov was detained in Denpasar airport late on Friday while passing through a security screening before a planned flight back to Russia.

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Planned wild boar cull in Poland angers conservationists

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Mikołaj Golachowski describes plan as ‘evil’ and warns of environmental consequences

Conservationists have branded plans by the Polish government to cull almost the entire wild boar population of the country as “pointless, counterproductive and evil”.

In a move to tackle an epidemic of African swine fever, the Polish government has ordered a series of hunts, beginning this weekend, with the aim of killing the vast majority of the country’s population of around 200,000 wild boar.

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Extinct mammoths could be given protected status in bid to save elephants

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Proposal is intended to protect African elephants from being poached for their tusks

The long-extinct woolly mammoth could gain protected status in an unprecedented attempt to save the African elephant from the global ivory trade.

If approved, the protection of the mammoth under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) could prove vital in saving its modern relatives. The proposal by Israel would close a loophole that enables the trafficking of illegal elephant ivory under the guise of legal mammoth ivory, which is almost identical in appearance.

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