World Animal Protection

KANGAROO FOUND SAFE RAISES CONCERNS OVER SYSTEM OF WILDLIFE TRADE AND ROADSIDE ZOOS IN CANADA

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 4, 2023

"These recent incidents highlight the major gaps in laws and regulations of captive wildlife.

Key Points: 
  • "These recent incidents highlight the major gaps in laws and regulations of captive wildlife.
  • Whether it is about inter-provincial wildlife trade, which is federal jurisdiction, or the thousands of captive wild animals at Ontario's roadside zoos, animals are left unprotected" said Michèle Hamers, Wildlife Campaign Manager for World Animal Protection Canada.
  • The Oshawa Zoo is an unregulated facility and was one of the 11 zoos profiled in the 2022 World Animal Protection investigation Nothing New at the Zoo .
  • In Ontario, it's largely up to municipalities to regulate roadside zoos, with only half having regulations of any kind.

World Animal Protection Investigation reveals all Bali tourist venues exploit animals

Retrieved on: 
Friday, November 17, 2023

NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bali may be a dream destination for tourists, but a new investigation by World Animal Protection has revealed that every single wildlife venue in the country is a nightmare for the animals.

Key Points: 
  • The report, Paradise Lost , conducted by World Animal Protection, found that over 1,300 wild animals, including elephants, orangutans, and dolphins, are being exploited for tourist entertainment in inadequate conditions across Bali and Lombok.
  • The 2023 Paradise Lost report reveals:
    Wild animals are still suffering from inadequate conditions across all venues visited during the investigation.
  • "Bali might be a paradise for tourists, but wild animals are living in misery in venues across Bali.
  • World Animal Protection is warning US tourists that there is currently no ethical way to view wild animals at tourist venues in Bali and Lombok.

World Animal Protection troubled by news Canada is on track to miss 2030 targets

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, November 7, 2023

TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2023 /CNW/ - World Animal Protection is deeply concerned with the announcement from the Environment Commissioner that Canada is set to miss its 2030 emissions targets.

Key Points: 
  • TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2023 /CNW/ - World Animal Protection is deeply concerned with the announcement from the Environment Commissioner that Canada is set to miss its 2030 emissions targets.
  • The organization has been highlighting the significant impacts of animal agriculture towards emissions for years now and has been urging the federal government to take bold action to address climate change.
  • Last year, World Animal Protection issued a report with Navius research that showed if Canadians reduced meat consumption, it would get Canada back on track for meeting both its 2030 and 2050 climate targets.
  • World Animal Protection has spokespeople available to comment on the Environment Commissioner's findings and what Canada can do to get back on track.

Eight locations across the globe are named Wildlife Heritage Areas

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 25, 2023

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- World Animal Protection and World Cetacean Alliance have launched a new global program, working in coalition with responsible travel businesses and wildlife charities, to forever change the way people view and understand wildlife.

Key Points: 
  • One newly designated Wildlife Heritage area, the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area (SBCWHA), is located in the United States, less than a hundred miles outside Los Angeles.
  • Additional Wildlife Heritage areas have been launched in Peru/Colombia, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Portugal, and South Africa.
  • Wildlife Heritage Areas provide a clear solution for eliminating the exploitation of animals by the modern tourism sector.
  • The concept of Wildlife Heritage Areas was born out of the success of the Whale Heritage Sites programme.

Meat giant JBS linked to illegal deforestation and theft of indigenous land in Brazil

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new investigation conducted by Repórter Brasil in coordination with World Animal Protection reveals that JBS recently bought corn and soy crops from a farming operation that illegally exploits indigenous land, clearing and planting it in violation of Brazilian law.

Key Points: 
  • These illegal practices not only strip indigenous people of their ancestral lands but also contribute to environmental degradation and pose a severe threat to wildlife habitats.
  • This investigation is a stark reminder of JBS repeatedly failing to exercise due diligence over its grain supply chain.
  • Instead, the corporate giant operates as a global "meat machine" with a long history of covering up and greenwashing its harmful practices.
  • The company must be held accountable for this ecological disaster, the profound loss of wild animals, and the illegal exploitation of indigenous land and its people.

Global NGOs descend on Washington Square Park to call out Big Ag's role in the climate crisis

Retrieved on: 
Monday, September 18, 2023

NEW YORK, Sept. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Compassion in World Farming and World Animal Protection, partners in the coalition to end factory farming (END.IT), will host an art installation and animal-free protein food truck during Climate Week to draw attention to the devastating role industrial animal agriculture plays in the climate crisis.

Key Points: 
  • Inspiration for the display comes from the findings of the group's recent report, "More Money More Meat, "which details how meat consumption needs to be substantially reduced in the United States to stay within healthy planetary boundaries.
  • The drawing will be exhibited all week, weather permitting.
  • Annette Manusevich, Farming Campaign Manager, World Animal Protection said, "In today's world, the growing accessibility of innovative animal-free proteins signals a culinary and environmental revolution.
  • This shift is necessary to shape a healthier planet and a brighter future for future generations."

Online travel company Klook throws cold water on Miami Seaquarium with new animal welfare policy

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 16, 2023

NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Klook, a global online travel company, published a new animal welfare policy, immediately removing its offerings to Miami Seaquarium and Sea Life Park Hawaii. World Animal Protection, US celebrates the creation of this new policy. Klook's new stance on animals also ends its sale of circus-style performances involving elephants, dolphins, and tigers, animal shows performances, and animal-photo experiences. The policy will go into effect by the end of October 2023, ramping up pressure for more travel companies to follow suit as travellers seek more cruelty-free options.

Key Points: 
  • The company's new policy will end the sales to many exploitative wildlife attractions, although some unethical elephant encounters remain
    NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Klook, a global online travel company, published a new animal welfare policy , immediately removing its offerings to Miami Seaquarium and Sea Life Park Hawaii.
  • "We applaud Klook's new animal welfare policy for taking a meaningful first step in helping to end wildlife cruelty and exploitation in the tourism industry.
  • The score, criteria, and final report were shared directly with the company along with clear guidance on meaningful language for an animal welfare policy.
  • Klook was also named in this boycott but has been removed following the publication of its new policy.

Lion farming in South Africa: fresh evidence adds weight to fears of link with illegal bone trade

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 10, 2023

By contrast, the export of lion bones, claws, skulls, and teeth originating from lion farms is currently illegal.

Key Points: 
  • By contrast, the export of lion bones, claws, skulls, and teeth originating from lion farms is currently illegal.
  • This follows a high court declaration in 2019 in which the lion bone export quota was declared unconstitutional.
  • This finding adds more weight to various reports about the illegal trade in lion bones over the years.

A nexus of legal and illegal trade

    • Recent studies carried out in this way include those focused on the illegal killing, processing, and trade of jaguar parts in South America.
    • The South African sources told us about the involvement of captive lion facilities in the international big cat bone trade.
    • Essentially, there’s a well-established and effective legal operation which is plugged into an illicit trade network.
    • Whereas after a canned trophy hunt the skin, paws, and skull of lions are prized trophies by hunters, the lion’s bones are coveted by illegal wildlife traffickers.

A way forward

    • This raised serious questions about whether the government was wavering in its stated intention to shut down the commercial captive lion breeding.
    • Instead, there should be a strategy which includes a mandatory time bound termination of the lion farming industry in its entirety.
    • Neil D’Cruze works for an international NGO, World Animal Protection as the Global Head of Wildlife Research.

'ANYONE CAN OWN A ZOO IN ONTARIO' HIGHLIGHTING WHY ONTARIO RANKS DEAD LAST IN ZOO REGULATIONS REPORT CARD

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 18, 2023

The report card looks at the quality of regulations around:

Key Points: 
  • The report card looks at the quality of regulations around:
    Ontario ranks dead last for not having any provincial zoo licencing system, permit system for non-native species, public safety and security standards nor a requirement for liability insurance for zoo operators.
  • "This is why Ontario ranks dead last and why we are working with the government to get this done for once and for all.
  • We want to see a mandatory province-wide zoo licensing system and meaningful and enforceable standards to safeguard animal welfare and public health and safety."
  • "At your Toronto Zoo, our commitment to wildlife care extends beyond the Zoo site" says Dolf DeJong, CEO, Toronto Zoo.

Wildlife Photographer Joel Sartore Earns Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 18, 2023

INDIANAPOLIS, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildlife photographer Joel Sartore will be honored this fall with the Indianapolis Prize Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award. Sartore is best known for his iconic, portrait photography of vanishing animal species as seen through his talks, lectures and published in a signature book, The Photo Ark: One Man's Quest to Document the World's Animals.

Key Points: 
  • INDIANAPOLIS, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildlife photographer Joel Sartore will be honored this fall with the Indianapolis Prize Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award.
  • Since that time, Sartore has captured over 46,777 images and videos featuring more than 14,000 animal species (and counting).
  • The Indianapolis Prize recognizes Sartore with this award because of his vision and commitment to conservation.
  • The Global Wildlife Ambassador Award was named in honor of actress, conservationist, and humanities advocate Jane Alexander who was the inaugural recipient of the award in 2012.