Each year, the Animal Welfare Blog publishes one new post with multiple photographs and videos as well as updates throughout the year. In addition, please check out previous years' posts for ongoing animal welfare issues as well.

Horrendous! Gorillas and other endangered animals due to be captured from a national park and sold off to Chinese zoos! Also Oil Drilling approved to begin in two of the most biodiverse wildlife parks on Earth! Please read comment below and visit this link for more -  www.iflscience.com/environment/two-of-the-most-biodiverse-wildlife-parks-on-earth-are-now-open-to-oil-drilling/

The look of awe on this cat's face is just priceless! <3

Fur is worn by ugly humans and beautiful animals.

A Jewish philosopher speaks out against the inhumanity of the meat industry.

Humans are omnivores but that doesn't mean we need to eat meat. Being omnivores means we are opportunist eaters. Our ancestors would have eaten whatever they found, plant food and the remains of predator kills.  As omnivores, we can lead very healthy lives without animal products in our diet, and more importantly, we can lead very humane, compassionate lives.

How genetic engineering has changed the chicken, adversely affecting their health and ours.

A sweet little lamb smile to brighten your day.

Peace and dietary choices.

Darling baby fox or kit photograph.

A sweet photograph of a bear and his buddy.

"Slaughterhouse" by Gail A. Eisnitz. A thought-provoking book about the U.S. Meat Industry.

Monash University, Australia is performing cruel eye and brain experiments on marmosets. These painful experiments are funded by Australian citizens tax dollars without their knowledge or agreement.

On the 20th March 2018, the World's last male northern white rhino dies, and still, trophy hunters are given permission to kill rhinos because hunters pay the big bucks to slaughter endangered species. How much money is "enough" if it means a species is wiped off the face of the Earth? Also ignorant people still purchase rhino horn (which is simply the same substance as our own fingernails and hair) to enhance their "virility", encouraging ruthless poachers to continue killing these innocent creatures until rhinos are wiped off the face of our planet.

This image shows how recently, thousands of baby pigs and mama pigs were buried alive. There was a remedy for their suspected ailment, but instead of applying the known remedy for the disease, or at the very least, using humane ways of putting them down, these people chose the "cost-efficient" choice, bury them alive. I hope the spirits of these poor animals, haunt them in their sleep.

Humans fed hungry dogs beneath tanks so the dogs would equate a tank with being fed. The starved dog in this photograph is expecting a meal, but instead, once it reached the tank, the bomb on its back was exploded. Tell me again how humans are more evolved and compassionate than other species?

Donald Trump's son with the tail of the elephant he just slaughtered.

Welcome to the Animal Welfare Blog (Hope and Joy Network - Great Mystery Publishing) for 2017! This post will cover the whole of 2017, one enormous post we will keep adding to until 31st December  2017.
Please check out our posts for 2016 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 too which contain numerous current animal welfare issues,  photographs, videos, and articles.

Thank you for visiting our blog! As you have probably discovered, there are many blogs that promote themselves as "Animal Welfare" , but are actually fronts for organizations and companies who profit from cruelty and exploitation of animals; however our blog is genuine in its promotion of kindness and compassion to all animals. If you have any animal welfare related comments or suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below. We would love to read them!

Welcome to the Animal Welfare Blog (Hope and Joy Network - Great Mystery Publishing) for 2016! This post will cover the whole of 2016, one enormous post we will keep adding to until 31st December  2016.
Please check out our posts for 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 too which contain numerous current animal welfare issues,  photographs, videos, and articles.

Thank you for visiting our blog! As you have probably discovered, there are many blogs that promote themselves as "Animal Welfare" , but are actually fronts for organizations and companies who profit from cruelty and exploitation of animals; however our blog is genuine in its promotion of kindness and compassion to all animals. If you have any animal welfare related comments or suggestions, please leave them in the comment section below. We would love to read them!

LAUNCH OF WONDERFUL NEW WILD ANIMAL SANCTUARY!!
WILD PAWS ANIMAL SANCTUARY LAUNCH EVENT 20TH OCTOBER!!

“Cheers to Wild Paws!” A Special Launch Event to Introduce Wild Paws Midwest Animal Sanctuary on October 20th, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. Wild Paws Midwest Animal Sanctuary (Wild Paws) is excited to announce their launch event on Thursday, October 20, 2016, 6-9 pm, at Insight Brewing Company, one of Minneapolis’ premier craft breweries. Wild Paws’ mission is to rescue and provide a safe habitat for wild animals using sustainable resources; to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife; and to educate the public about the preservation of wild animals and their ecosystems.

Our team will be at the “Cheers to Wild Paws!” event to meet and greet attendees, as well as share a short presentation about our goals for the future of our organization. We are a collection of animal lovers passionate about protecting our Minnesota resources for today and beyond, and are excited about this opportunity to introduce Wild Paws to the public.

This special event is free and will be hosted at Insight Brewing Company, located in Northeast Minneapolis, 2821 East Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55413. Children are welcome to join as well, as long as they are being supervised. Limited edition pint glasses will be available for purchase, and Insight Brewing will graciously be donating $2 to Wild Paws for every pint sold. Sasquatch Sandwiches food truck will be on-site selling their Minnesota inspired monster sandwiches and sides!

Wild Paws is 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of wild animals as well as educate the public about the natural history of native species and focus on human-animal relationships and how we can coexist. Wild Paws will not breed, buy or sell animals and believes wild animals should not be kept as pets.

Contact: Julie Lillie
(763) 302-9319
http://www.wildpaws.org/
https://www.facebook.com/WildPawsMN/
Thank you to Julie for this post.

New Zealand's dairy industry exposed: days-old baby calves being ripped from their mothers, and treated with horrendous cruelty. This new undercover footage by Farmwatch & SAFE is just beyond words. Please share so people will know the truth.

Cows are pregnant for nine months, before enduring a difficult, painful labour to give birth to their little ones. Their babies are taken from their mothers a few hours after birth, sometimes a few days after delivery. Their babies are taken away so the mother cow's milk (and dairy products produced from their milk, such as cheese, butter, ice-cream, and yoghurt) can be consumed by humans. The babies are sent to slaughter for veal. The treatment of baby cows in this video is pretty commonplace in the dairy industry all over the world. In order to produce milk, and other dairy products for humans, cows must be continually pregnant or lactating. The mother cows are not allowed to keep their babies because the milk would then be used to feed their young ones, so the babies are killed and we get their milk. For things to change we must learn what is actually going on in our world, especially caused by our own choices and actions. Ignorance is not bliss if innocent animals suffer due to our ignorance. We need to take our blinkers off in order to create a kinder world.

Urge the Australian Government to Ban Scientific Research Experiments on Dogs

Thousands of dogs, particularly greyhounds and beagles, are dying in Australian laboratory research every year. Check out the details regarding a petition aimed at stopping this cruel and unnecessary practice on our petition page here. Please sign and share.

Taiji Dolphin fighting to jump net to avoid being slaughtered by divers 2015-12-21 9 15am

Above and below: What happens to Tajii dolphins. This needs to be stopped NOW!

This dolphin committed suicide because her family just got slaughtered.

A cow lead into the place of its own execution, sees another animal dead on the floor

The most sensible, as well as humane, use of available land resources.

Nearly all humankind's greatest thinkers were either vegetarians or vegans. So much for meat being brain food!

 The horror which is the fur industry!
No kind, humane, or civilized person would ever wear fur.

One of the ways animals are killed for fur. This fox struggles to try to save its life; it dies being electrocuted via its anus.

Animals raised for fur, suffer unspeakable cruelty during their lives, then finally suffer the most horrendously barbaric methods of death, simply so some humans may wrap themselves up in vanity, believing their viciously stolen skins show they have "made it", when it simply tells the world, this is a cruel and callous person, who has no fashion sense beyond the cavemen.

Above, a poor animal, violently and tragically murdered via electrocution for its fur.
How can anyone be proud to wear something that was gained by such immense horror and cruelty?!

The hardship and abuse suffered by the working animal, like these poor mine donkeys working in hazardous conditions until their subsequent deaths.

Baby pig kissing her mother, comforting her through the bars.

Whether you are an atheist or a member of a religion, we can all agree the above sign is a great one! :)

Nothing is as beautiful as compassion.

Barbaric animal cruelty masquerading as science. Why animal testing is NOT the way to advancing humanity..More about animal testing here.and here.

Baby polar bear just chillin' with mama. What a gorgeous photograph!

Humanity's current food choices are not only killing billions of "food" animals every year, but wild animals, the environment, and humans too. It brings to mind the saying "If you live by the sword, you die by the sword." If we are to save ourselves, our planet, and all other creatures with which we share our small world, we need to make more compassionate and sensible food choices, each and every day.

Welcome to the Animal Welfare Blog (Hope and Joy Network - Great Mystery Publishing) for 2014! This post will cover the whole of 2014, one enormous post we will keep adding to until 31st December  2014.Please check out our posts for 2015, 2013 and 2012 too which contain numerous current animal welfare issues,  photographs, videos, and articles.

Koalas Threatened With Extinction Due to Habitat Destruction

Australia has one of the highest land clearing rates in the world. 80 percent of koala habitat has already disappeared.

Although koalas themselves are protected by law, around 80 percent of any remaining habitat occurs on privately owned land and almost none of that is protected by legislation.

The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that as a result of the loss of their habitat, around 4,000 koalas are killed each year by dogs and cars alone.

New government approved land clearing and development in the Byron Bay area threatens the extermination of a colony of 240 koalas. A Byron Residents’ Group is trying to stop this development, but the government remains firm in their resolve to create an enormous housing development which will see the deaths of these animals. To stop the development from moving forward, the Byron Residents’ Group members, together with animal welfare activists, came up with a creative delivery strategy to make sure the Save the Koala petition receives the attention it deserves and lands into the hands of its intended target, the NSW Planning Minister, Pru Goward.

Please follow this link to read the full article and sign the petition to help save these koalas from death.

Australia's Government and Prime Minister Tony Abbott plans to reintroduce live animal export to Iran after a 40 year ban.
The ban was introduced due to the rampant animal abuse and cruelty suffered by animals in this region, and these abhorrent conditions have not improved. Read the complete article by The Guardian here.

Lovely Feel-good Animal Video

Help protect animals from horrendous abuse! Please sign this important petition (just click on this link to the website to sign petition) to help protect animals such as elephants, lions and other "exotic" animals from a lifetime of cruelty.

In order to "train" wild animals to perform, they're abused, and reactions are attained using negative reinforcement from humans physically striking them using their hands, whips, and bullhooks; often electric shock prods are also used. Animals that are forced to perform during entertainment shows are housed in small, temporary facilities and/or also restricted via chains to minimize mobility. Also, during arduous journeys between performance locations, they're again housed in cramped areas and elephants are also chained. During travel, the creatures are forced to live in their feces and urine.

All of this abuse, living conditions, and overall inhumane treatment of wild animals leads to physical ailments, stress, trauma and often leads to death. There have been several documented cases of circus animals having physical injuries from bullhooks, diseases, lack of veterinary care, and mental stress that is portrayed by the body pacing, rocking, swaying heads; all of this leads to animals "snapping" and posing threat to the public, which leads to animals being gunned down in cities.

Almost 30 countries have taken action to end animal cruelty that stems from traveling circuses and it's time for the U.S. to do so as well. I understand circuses have been a part of our culture, but we shouldn't subject animals to a lifetime of trauma and a grueling death for the sake of entertainment.

Please sign this petition and share.

Brave little pig, Leon Trotsky! Check him out in the lovely video below, and read about his story so far here.

OUTRAGE OVER VIDEO SHOWING MISTREATMENT OF PIG TOO DISABLED TO ENTER GAS CHAMBER
The Corowa Abattoir in NSW Australia kills up to one million pigs per year, using carbon dioxide gas (CO2) to render the pigs unconscious before their throats are slit. Complete article from Daily Telegraph here. View the full footage plus photos and more info at www.aussiepigs.com

"These pigs are terrified. As they're moved from the holding pens up through the different sections of the race, they can hear the screams from inside the gas chamber up ahead."

If you are interested in animal welfare, please check out  - The Animal Co-operative Community - an application created to help those involved in animal welfare to connect with each other. It is really simple to add yourself, and you can find other animal lovers by location. Excellent way for people interested/involved in animal welfare to coordinate rescues, sterilizations, and arrange meet ups. Thank you to Joellen and friend for designing this important site, and thank you to Joellen's small animal welfare group and animal lovers in their community for volunteering their time and effort to provide animal neutering in West Delhi. To check out and join The Animal Co-operative Community just click here .

How amazing! Ambam, the Silverback Gorilla walks like a man and stands 6 feet tall!

A little animal humour to lighten the mood. :)

Exquisite! A bouquet for you...

Demand Justice for Spanish Hunting Dogs
When they have "outlived their"usefulness" or displeased their owners, Spanish hunting dogs are often subjected to unbelievably inhumane deaths. Please sign this petition to help stop the cruelty.

Absolutely beautiful video! Man reunited with a gorilla he raised, after five years. You can feel the love!

Volunteer at the Tiger Temple Raises Concerns About Possible Wrong-Doing and Tiger Abuse - Read the full article by Turner Barrclick here.

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Faulty Pet Toys Can Kill Your Pet!
Alisha's beautiful little puppy was killed by a pet toy!.
A nylon string pet toy was the cause of her poor little puppy's death. To read more about this real danger to pets, and sign her petition to ensure these unsafe pet toys are removed from sale here .

Current plans for the Pacific Highway upgrade in NSW, Australia endangers the survival a critical koala colony in Ballina. Please sign this petition and share.

Update: This petition has now closed, but keep in mind the plight of Tania and other animals suffering a similar existence, and be their voice, so they may be saved and live a happier life.

Tania the elephant has been stuck in solitary confinement in a Romanian zoo called Tirgu Mures for more than 35 years. She is ill, mistreated and desperately lonely. Please sign this petition and share.

CONCERT IN AID OF ANIMAL WELFARE CHARITIES
Sunday 23 March 2014, 6.30pm
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Ingrid Fuzjko Hemming Piano Recital 2014
With special guest Vasko Vassilev

Cardogan Hall - Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat venue two minutes walk from Sloane Square tube station in the heart of Chelsea, (London, UK)
Concert includes: Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven,  Ravel, Brahms

Ingrid Fuzjko Hemming piano - Vasko Vassilev violin

Ingrid Fuzjko Hemming returns to Cadogan Hall for a special one off performance. Japan’s legendary and best loved concert pianist is performing with special guest Vasko Vassilev, the Concertmaster of the Royal Opera House and Bulgaria’s most popular violinist.

Fuzjko is a staunch animal lover and this concert is in aid of animal welfare charities.

The performance features the works of Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven. Fuzjko uses her unique talent on their works and breathes new life into them.

She has her own style and with Vasko, this will make for an enthralling musical experience!

Tickets: £35, £25, £15

To book your ticket, click here

900 Dead Piglets Fed to Their Mothers at Horrific Kentucky Farm
An undercover investigation at Iron Maiden Hog Farm in Owensboro, Ky., recently exposed not only the horrific conditions pigs endure at factory farms, but also the disgusting lengths to which operators will go to save a buck.

Secret film footage (view the footage below) taken earlier this year by an investigator working for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) reveals that after 900 piglets died from diarrheal disease in a 2 day period, their intestines were ground up into “a smoothie” and fed to their mothers and other sows. Kentucky state law prohibits the feeding of dead pigs to pigs, and for health and hygiene reasons. Read of complete storyhere.

Why FUR reveals the ugly side of humanity!
The video below shows how animals are killed for fur (and human vanity) using anal electrocution. All methods used to murder animals killed for fur, ensure the pelt is relatively unmarked and the animal suffers an extraordinarily painful death. Aside from electrocution, popular methods for executing animals used for fur include hanging, throat cutting, bleeding to death, and hot poker thrust into the anus. If you care about animal welfare, do not wear fur and avoid most items labelled "faux fur" too, as up to 80% of faux fur is (intentionally) mislabeled, and actually real fur (usually raccoon dog, or cat or dog fur mostly from China).

Another clip showing the horror that results from humans wanting to drape themselves in dead animals ie fur. "Over seven months, 30 fur farms, seven hours of footage and one and a half thousand photographs, Animal Defenders International investigated a random sample of Finnish fur farms. This investigation exposes the terrible suffering that is part and parcel of the fur industry. Foxes and mink are wild animals but in fur farms, they cannot cope with the unnatural environment they find themselves in. Worse still, the conditions in these farms are awful: their short, miserable lives are spent in squalid surroundings full of fear and distress, suffering injuries, infection and deformities. All for an unnecessary product for which a variety of alternatives are available. It is time for designers who use fur, and the people who wear it, to take responsibility for the way that the product they are wearing has been produced."

Living, feeling creatures, the same as any swan, eagle or hummingbird, treated as inanimate products to be thrown, shoved, stuffed and cut These birds feel pain and suffering like any other creature, like our pets and nature's wild-life. What gives us the right to treat any feeling creature, capable of great suffering and misery with such distrain, lack of respect, downright cruelty?  Our choices, on how we live and what companies we choose to fund with our buyer dollars has led to the inhumanity and lack of compassion we see above.  If we can live a healthy, happy life without harming others, why wouldn't we?

THE HORROR AND INHUMANITY THAT IS "CANNED" LION HUNTING

The photos above show a glimpse of the shocking treatment and environment that captive lions endure on lion farms in South Africa for "Canned Hunting" purposes.The image of the lion being dragged out in preparation for being drugged and put in a restricted area so a human can shoot it (like shooting a fish in a barrel) was posted yesterday by a South African reporter on Twitter. The photo was taken at a Canned Lion Farm.
Thank you to the Anti-Fur Society for this informative, disturbing share.
    What is wrong with any human being that they could think killing a "battery lion" is a way to prove their "manliness"? We humans often declare our superior nature, that we are the most intelligent, most compassionate, most civilized. We are the only animal (humans are primates) that kills for the fun, aims to profit from the suffering of others - other humans and non-human animals, and lives out of harmony with the balance of nature. To be worthy of the title human, we must first be humane.

Marius, healthy 18 month old baby giraffe, one day before his scheduled
execution by Copenhagen Zoo

Marius, a healthy, adorable 18 month old giraffe is to be killed tomorrow by Copenhagen Zoo and fed to their lions and other meat-eating display animals. The C.Zoo says that it is because they have not found another place for Marius and they cannot keep him due to possible inbreeding. But TWO zoos (one in Sweden and the other in Yorkshire) HAVE offered to take Marius but they receive no reply to their requests to Copenhagen Zoo; Secondly, when this giraffe was conceived, why didn't the zoo vets remove the fetus before it was born if inbreeding was an issue? Thirdly, why did the zoo wait until Marius was large enough to feed a significant group of meat-eating 'exhibits" to schedule his death? If Marius is killed,many people will not forget!!

Click here to sign the petition before it is too late.

Update on Marius

The above photo shows Marius after a bolt gun was used on his head. He was executed in front of a crowd, including small children. This public execution of Marius was nothing short of disgusting, and not only did they kill him for an audience (seems like some humans have not moved far from the vicious rabble of 2000 years ago who enjoyed the public spectacle of animal deaths in the Collessium?!) but they proceeded to dissect his young body into portions to feed to the lions. Marius was labelled surplus and the excuse for killing him was that the zoo feared inbreeding, but we have all been lied to. If they feared inbreeding, the fetus that was to become Marius would have been removed by vets before his poor giraffe mother went through the long and difficult pregnancy which lasts between 13 to 15 months, and even more difficult and dangerous birth. The zoo WANTED Marius to be born, as baby animals are a real crowd draw card so more cash in their zoo coffers. They also wanted him to grow to a large size before announcing his pending execution because they ALWAYS intended to slaughter him to feed to the lions to save one weeks lion feeding budget. That is why Marius was not given to either of the two zoos that were eager to adopt him. That is why they didn't bother to have him desexed to avoid "inbreeding". The fear is that if Copenhagen Zoo got away with this once, they will try again, not necessarily with another giraffe but any animal born in that zoo is in danger.

Thank you to Marina La Placenta and the Anti-fur Society for the following information.

Please take action for Marius who was murdered this morning at Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark and butchered in front of a crowd  His brutal execution was turned into a public spectacle. This perfectly healthy young giraffe had many offers to be rehomed but they just went ahead and murdered him anyway. They can't be allowed to get away with this. 

Please take these actions to demand justice:

1) Sign these 3 online petitions: 
http://www.yousign.org/en/copenhagen-zoo
http://www.change.org/petitions/bengt-holst-the-resignation-bengt-holst-the-zoo-s-scientific-director-copenhagen-zoo-in-denmark http://www.thepetitionsite.com/923/331/674/marius-the-giraffe-slaughtered-boycott-close-down-copenhagen-zoo/?taf_id=10616447&cid=fb_na

2) Write a 1 star review and leave a message on their page https://www.facebook.com/zoo They won't want the bad publicity!

3) Email them to express your disgust zoo@zoo.dk & mst@zoo.dk

4) Contact the Embassy of Denmark to make a complaint: 
Embassy of Denmark
3200 Whitehaven St. NW
Washington, DC 20008

Tel.: +1 (202) 234-4300
Fax: +1 (202) 328-1470
Email: wasamb@um.dk 

5) BOYCOTT ALL ANIMAL ATTRACTIONS. Urge your friends and family to do the same. These places only exist as visitors fund them. Murdering animals like Marius because they are no longer required is common practice in all zoos. Animals are not entertainment, they are not fashion, they are not food, they do not exist to serve us. Want to stop animal cruelty? GO VEGAN and help end ALL animal abuse. Marius was not the only one who was murdered today. BILLIONS of innocent animals were murdered. If you are not Vegan please watch these: http://youtu.be/oDdlDYWG7nohttp://youtu.be/9TCJGz-v5zg and http://youtu.be/GzS8p727gvM 

For more information see this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2555079/Danish-zoo-kills-young-giraffe-deemed-surplus-feeds-lions.html 

Please take action and share.

More than 80 per cent of Australians oppose the shark cull. So why has Western Australian, remier Colin Barnett began the massacre? Please sign this petition to help stop this madness and brutality.

Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in Chicago
Collapsing while pulling carriages during summer heat waves, being forced to stand stationary in the sub-freezing, bitter cold while awaiting the next fare, being tethered to a carriage while being forced to inhale the exhaust fumes of the automobile just inches in front of them - Carriage horses are overworked in the harshest weather and most polluted conditions. 

There is nothing charming about this.

Built for soft ground and pastures, these horses are suffering from early lameness, respiratory disease, heat prostration and spooking (which can lead to accidents and injury).

Watch a trailer for the 2008 NYC based documentary "Blinders" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31GgmMsFzOM

Many cities in the United States and around the world have already banned the use of carriage horses. And as both major candidates for mayor of New York City support legislation banning this, it's about time Mayor Emanuel get's on board too. Let's demonstrate our compassion by supporting the ban of horse-drawn carriages in our city. Cruelty to animals does not belong in the streets of Chicago.

Please sign this important petition here - http://www.change.org/petitions/ban-horse-drawn-carriages-in-chicago?share_id=FdRnyCfuJl&utm_campaign=mailto_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

Thank you to Michael Spencer for this petition.

Two wild Orcas have just been captured by Russian hunters to be kept for display at the Sochi Olympics (Update - Due to the public outcry regarding displaying these animals at the Olympics, these two orcas will not be put on display at the Olympics, HOWEVER authorities say they will NOT return them to the wild. They are to be sold to an "entertainment venue" like Seaworld for maximum profit. Horrendous! These two poor, highly intelligent animals, stolen from the wild. and ripped from their close knit families, will be sold into captivity and entertainment slavery, living in tiny enclosures for the rest of their natural lives and made to perform tricks to "entertain humans".) - petition here - http://action.sumofus.org/a/sochi-orca-whales/4/156/?sub=fb …

Documentary "The Cove" (2009)
(The horror seen in this important film continues today. We need to stop this immediately!
Buy the DVD: http://amzn.to/SWMTN1

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, The Cove follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taiji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

Genre: Documentary
Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Director: Louie Psihoyos
Writer: Mark Monroe
Producer: Fisher Stevens
Co-Producers: Olivia Ahnemann
Executive Producers: Jim Clark
Awards & Nominations: Academy Award® winner for Best Documentary Feature

Sign the petition to help save Japan's dolphins: http://bit.ly/Rv5Hzp

"Blackfish" Killer Whales Documentary (complete film)
Film about the abuse and stress suffered by whales in captivity. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite investigates what happens behind the scenes, and why, if most people knew the truth, we would no longer be amused by the antics these poor animals are forced to perform, or accept how these animals are kept in small confined areas for the duration of their natural life.

"Blackfish - Many of us have experienced the excitement and awe of watching 8,000 pound orcas, or "killer whales," soar out of the water and fly through the air at sea parks, as if in perfect harmony with their trainers. Yet this mighty black and white mammal has many sides -- a majestic, friendly giant, seemingly eager to take trainers for a ride around the pool, yet shockingly -- and unpredictably -- able to turn on them at a moment's notice. BLACKFISH unravels the complexities of this dichotomy, employing the story of notorious performing whale Tilikum, who -- unlike any orca in the wild -- has taken the lives of several people while in captivity. So what went wrong?"

"Shocking, never before seen footage and riveting interviews with trainers and experts manifest the orca's extraordinary nature, the species' cruel treatment in captivity over the last four decades and the growing disillusionment of workers who were misled and endangered by the highly profitable sea-park industry. This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans truly know about these highly intelligent, and surprisingly sentient, fellow mammals that we only think we can control."

Please sign the petition at this link to help save and protect Orcas.

Welcome to the Animal Welfare Blog (Hope and Joy Network - Great Mystery Publishing) for 2013! This post will cover the whole of 2013, one enormous post we will keep adding to until 31st December  2013! Please check out our 2012 post too, for lots of animal-related photographs, videos, and articles. After checking out this very long and important post, please check our 2014's Animal Welfare Blog post.

Wild Swans Enjoying a Surf on Australia's Gold Coast! (video)
Four playful black swans decided surfing looked like fun and decided to give it a go...repeatedly! Certainly shows these birds are smart and well as know how to have a good time!

The Animal Welfare Party UK is looking for your support. If you care about animal welfare you can assist this new party make a real difference by either voting for this party (if you live in London, England) share their information to help build up their support basis, and/or send AWP a donation (large or small donations will be gratefully accepted) to help achieve the AWP goal to assist animals.

The Animal Welfare Party UK needs around 140,000 votes in London (target constituency) in order to win a seat. With a huge number of pet owners, wildlife and animal enthusiasts, plus an estimated half a million people following some kind of vegetarian diet in the electorate of London, the required number of votes is highly possible.

The Animal Welfare Party's vision is of a fairer, more equitable and sustainable society for all and some of their key policies are to:
Redirect subsidies from livestock and fisheries farming to plant-based agriculture
Phase out the failed practice of animal experimentation with binding
targets for reduction and funding and support for alternatives
Phase out farming practices with poor welfare consequences for animals
Increased penalties for those convicted of animal cruelty

AWP is aiming to raise around £85,000 for the EU Election Campaign by the end of 2013, for more info on fundraising click here

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Please sign the following petition to help stop the horror and inhumanity that is animal testing - http://www.thepetitionsite.com/287/409/935/stop-all-animal-testing-in-the-uk/

Petition to stop cruelty to bears as pictured above - http://www.change.org/petitions/ministry-of-environment-and-forests-director-ministry-of-finance-we-ask-the-indian-government-to-end-this-cruel-and-barbaric-practice?share_id=dPpzROWhMh&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

Every day enormous tree harvesters are cutting down around a thousand eucalyptus trees in Australia. Each tree is cut down within seconds, trimmed and then piled up. No plant biodiversity can be found in the mono-cultures of the Australian eucalyptus plantations. Please sign the petition here and share.

The natural habitats of the koalas are vanishing which forces many koalas to live on eucalyptus plantations. The endangered animals are slow and cannot escape the approaching harvesters. They hold on to the trees until their painful death.

Loggers have recently informed Australian television broadcasting services about the slow and horrible deaths of the innocent koalas. If the animals are badly injured, they will just be left on the plantations until they die.

“How often does it happen?” the journalist asks the logger. “Sometimes two koalas per hour are killed, sometimes it’s only one koala a day. And the injured animals are left out here to die”, the man answers.

“We have found the animals in horrible condition. Broken limbs, impact wounds, broken backs, dead mothers with babies that are still alive and trying to survive”, says animal rights activist Tracey Wilson. Animal rescue centres are treating some of the injured koalas, but it is very rare for a company to call for help for injured animals. They do not want to be associated with dying koalas.

Instead, they refer to the certification label of the ‘Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)’. In 2006 the plantations were recognised as ‘responsible forest management’. The painful death of large numbers of koalas does not seem to be as important as the profits the industry makes, says the journalist.

The logs are chipped and exported to China and Japan, where they are processed in pulp and paper mills.

Please help to protect the beautiful koalas with your signature.

Petition provided by The Rainforest Rescue

Tiger Protection Petition - Tigers threatened by Deutsche Bank Only 1.800 Bengal tigers can be found in India today. Their last habitats are threatened by Coal India. The biggest coal miner in the world plans the establishment of new coal mines right next to the last tiger reserves. - Sign petition here and please share.

Deutsche Bank is helping Coal India to finance the construction of these coal mines. Please sign our letter of protest and ask Deutsche Bank to cut ties with Coal India.

Petition shared by Klaus Schenck - Rainforest Rescue (Rettet den Regenwald e.V.

The Indian state-controlled coal mining company Coal India needs money to persue the construction of new coal mines. The company has mandated Deutsche Bank to organise the increase of capital in return for stock worth a total of US $ 1 billion. Coal India is not only the largest company in the world in terms of coal production, it is also one of the worst. It has forcibly displaced forest communities, destroyed critical tiger habitat and even used child labour.

In Central India, thirteen new coal mines and numerous coal-fired power plants are about to be constructed. Greenpeace India has researched the effects of these construction projects on the tigers. About 1.1 million hectares of tropical rainforest and at least ten tiger sanctuaries are at stake.

The environmental officer of a subsidiary of Coal India, Mr. Shinde, makes it simple: “We have to choose if we want electricity or we want tigers.” Environmentalists and locals strongly oppose the project due to its negative impact on the tigers.

Deutsche Bank, however, has made a decision against the tigers. They have hoped that helping to finance environmental destruction would go unnoticed. The bank’s support for Coal India can only be stopped by public backlash.

Please help us to change Deutsche Bank’s view on this issue. Sign our letter of protest and force Deutsche Bank to rethink their decision and to cut ties with Coal India.

More on above story here www.AnimalsAustralia.org/election

Click here to read story relating the picture above- www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/12/la-deputies-shot-dog_n_3586993.html

Support Adoption For Pets Adoption Centres 

Support Adoption For Pets have increased their fundraising efforts year-on-year and have so far raised £608,636 for rescue and rehoming centres across the UK this year. But how is this money used? Here we look at a couple of rehoming centres from different parts of the UK to discover how this money can benefit pets in need of help!

The first of these is the Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter, which cares for more than 3,000 lost or unwanted animals every year, and has been working for the benefit of animals since 1896. Whilst it is named a Dogs and Cats shelter, it has also provided refuge, care and love for a number of extra animals who have graced its doorstep in recent years; including guinea pigs, chickens, donkeys and even pigs! The annual costs for the shelter are close to £800,000; £50,000 of which are spent on vet’s bills which is a necessity when looking after around 250 dogs and 100-150 cats at once. Help from Support Adoption For Pets is therefore vital to the continued success of this great animal charity.

A more specialised rescue centre can be found in the west of England. Greyhound Rescue West Of England (GRWE) cares for up to 80 of these wonderful pets each year, taking care of dogs of all ages. They literally go the extra mile to help greyhounds in need, just last year rescuing two Lurchers and their 9 puppies from being put to sleep at a pound in West Sussex.

Their 100 volunteers also hold regular collections at Pets At Home stores and have also received a number of grant awards from Support Adoption For Pets to help them continue their valuable work caring for the dogs and their puppies. They are also running their own emergency appeal this summer, hoping to raise £10,000 for animals in need of their help.

These are just two of the hundreds of rescue centres that Support Adoption For Pets help every year. Their animal fundraising events and charity drives help Pets At Home staff and their customers to support their local animal rescue centres, giving unwanted or abandoned pets across the nation a second chance at happiness.
More here: www.supportadoptionforpets.co.uk

Look into the eyes of sadness and pain. This poor goose, suffering the daily injury of having food forcefully jammed down its throat, until its liver is ill and swollen, and this dejected bird's life of suffering is ended violently so some human can enjoy their (cruel) "delicacy" of  foie gras.

Please sign the petition at the following link and share, to help stop this gross cruelty to these sad creatures.- http://www.thepetitionsite.com/10/we-the-undersigned/

Man helps save thousands of animals from cruel and unnecessary deaths and sentenced to prison!

Peter Young, at his sentencing before the court

"This is the customary time when the defendant expresses regret for the crimes they committed, so let me do that because I am not without my regrets. I am here today to be sentenced for my participation in releasing mink from 6 fur farms. I regret it was only 6. I'm also here today to be sentenced for my participation in the freeing of 8,000 mink from those farms. I regret it was only 8,000. It is my understanding of those 6 farms, only 2 of them have since shut down. I regret it was only 2.

More than anything, I regret my restraint, because whatever damage we did to those businesses, if those farms were left standing, and if one animal was left behind, then it wasn't enough.

I don't wish to validate this proceeding by begging for mercy or appealing to the conscience of the court, because I ...know if this system had a conscience I would not be here, and in my place would be all the butchers, vivisectors, and fur farmers of the world.

Just as I will remain unbowed before this court- who would see me imprisoned for an act of conscience- I will also deny the fur farmers in the room the pleasure of seeing me bow down before them. To those people here whose sheds I may have visited in 1997, let me tell you directly for the first time, it was a pleasure to raid your farms, and to free those animals you held captive. It is to those animals I answer to, not you or this court. I will forever mark those nights on your property as the most rewarding experience of my life.

And to those farmers or other savages who may read my words in the future and smile at my fate, just remember: We have put more of you in bankruptcy than you have put liberators in prison. Don't forget that.

Let me thank everyone in the courtroom who came to support me today. It is my last wish before prison that each of you drive to a nearby fur farm tonight, tear down its fence and open every cage.

That's all."

~Peter Young

Please help us find this soldier's dog?!!!
Soldier on deployment,while he was gone, the person who was watching his dog sold it or gave it away on Craigslist...(nice friend grrrr)...have you seen this dog?? Please help this soldier reunite with his pup!

LAKEWOOD– A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier was devastated when he returned home from deployment to find his dog was missing — and possibly sold on Craigslist.

Brandon Harker returned last week after an 8-month deployment to Afghanistan. He was excited to see Oakley, his 2-year-old purebred yellow Labrador retriever.

Harker had asked a friend to take care of Oakley while he was deployed. When he contacted the friend to pick him up, he was told the dog had been given away.

He turned to social media to find his dog and was contacted by numerous people who said they’d seen Oakley listed for sale in February on Craigslist. Harker has been calling local veterinarians and shelters, hoping for word on his dog since Oakley is micro-chipped and registered.

“I am just trying to get him back since he was wrongfully given away or sold without my permission while I was deployed,” Harker said.

To see the Craigslist ad or to contact Harker, click here:http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pet/3956713351.html

Save free-range in Queensland (Australia)! Don't let the Queensland government increase stocking densities by 66.7% to 10,000 birds per hectare!! 10,000 birds per hectare is not free-range! It's wall-to-wall birds without a roof! Please sign the petition (plus more information)here.

Due to a 'loophole' in the laws on exporting live animals, Australia was able to send thousands of pregnant dairy cows to die in Qatar. Photos and reports from two whistleblowers reveal that within one week, one in four of the animals died of thirst or malnutrition. Mothers watched as their baby cows died in agony.

Despite these photos and eye witness accounts, the Australian Government didn't investigate this incident because breeding animals are excluded from live export regulations. The dairy cows were pregnant when they were shipped, so they weren't part of any Government-sanctioned 'supply chain.' When breeding animals are shipped out of Australia, no one knows where they'll end up or what suffering they'll face.

So far, it looks like no one will be held accountable for the deaths of these animals, and nothing is stopping this from happening again -- unless we speak out! Sign thepetition here.
If you are an Australian Citizen phone or email your local MP to close the loophole on exporting breeding animals!

Read more about the above story at this link.

Please sign and share this petition to help this poor tiny baby! The terrible fate of Raja the baby elephant, chained and held hostage by an angry mob: An image that will haunt you and a story that will enrage you. In this shocking expose the Duchess of Cornwall's brother reveals how baby elephant Raja was shockingly mistreated as he was kept captive in Sumatra. Following the deforestation of the land to produce palm oil, elephants have been forced to live with humans, destroying farms, flattening houses and sometimes killing people. Villagers took Raja, and demanded compensation after his family ruined crops in the area.
Article and petitions courtesy of Andres.Grijalva.Vi

In all the 30 years I have been working in Asian elephant conservation, I thought I had seen it all – blatant corruption, the rape and total disregard of our beautiful planet and sickening wildlife atrocities, to name but a few. All due to the most dangerous animal of all: homo sapiens.

Not much shocks me any more, but something happened in recent weeks that shook me to the core when the charity Elephant Family and the Ecologist Film Unit set out to document the environmental genocide that is out of control on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Sumatra is special to me because I spent a lot of time there on expeditions when I was younger. It was a paradise – vast pristine forests, intact coral reefs and abundant wildlife.

All this has changed now and their elephants are the most endangered on the planet. In a single generation, the population has been cut in half, with countless other animals disappearing at breakneck speed.

During the filming, a helpless, emaciated baby male elephant called Raja, who was barely a year old, was found in a village, shackled with heavy chains to a tree. He had been taken hostage by the villagers, who were demanding compensation from the Sumatran government for the damage his family had done to their crops.

Can you believe that we are now living in a world where people are actually holding baby elephants to ransom? It is almost unthinkable. But just look at the photographs – look at Raja, as he strains against his chains, waving his little trunk for food and reassurance. He is bellowing in desperation for his mother.

I have heard that sound of distressed calves many times in my life. It never fails to haunt me. But it is his eyes that haunt me more than anything – pleading for help – innocent, desperate and helpless.

A war is being waged across Asia. In the face of relentless deforestation, elephants are being forced out of their natural habitats and they have no choice but to share their living space with humans. As the elephants’ forest home is destroyed, stressed and starving herds flee from the chainsaws straight into villages.

They demolish everything in sight, trampling crops, flattening houses and often killing people. Frankly, you really cannot blame the villagers for taking such drastic steps in the sheer desperation to survive and feed their own families.

Capturing a baby elephant and holding it to ransom is grisly and depressing, but it is reality as humans and elephants fight for space.
People need to know why this is happening. They need to understand what is driving this madness.

The cause is an innocently named product called palm oil. It’s a constituent part of almost everything that we use and consume – biscuits, margarine, ice cream, soap, shampoo. The list is endless.

And the blame lies firmly with the greed of the large corporations in the East that produce it as a cash crop to fuel the insatiable consumerism of the Western world.

The thirst for palm oil is apparently unquenchable and its cultivation is ripping out the last great rainforests.

Although forest destruction and its lethal impact on endangered species are plain to see, palm oil is practically an invisible ingredient, listed under the generic term ‘vegetable oil’.

April, Duta Palma, Sinar Mas and Sime Darby may not be household names, but these are just some of the companies producing palm oil in Indonesia and selling it on to the market for about £500 per ton.

L’Occitane, Ferrero, Cadbury, Ginster’s pasties, Clover margarine, Pringles, Kellogg’s, Haribo, Nestlé and Mars are just a few of the more familiar names of those that use palm oil.

All the major supermarkets use palm oil in their own-brand products. Some are better than others in getting palm oil from responsible sources, but the point is that it is everywhere and in everything. It is a silent assassin. Not until 2014 will there be a legal requirement for manufacturers to label palm oil on their products.

And, to make matters worse, the only certification body to monitor the production of so-called ‘sustainable’ palm oil is immensely flawed. Consumer industries are hiding behind a fallacy.

The verdant rainforest of Aceh in North Sumatra is one of the largest left in South-East Asia. It is the only place in the world where elephants, tigers, orangutans and rhinos all still live together – a real life Jungle Book.

But, right now, the Aceh government is close to adopting a plan that would see hundreds of thousands of hectares of this forest opened up for the cultivation of palm oil. This ironically titled ‘Spatial Plan’ is nothing more than a deforestation plan – an extinction plan, seeking to legitimise the illegal felling that is already happening.

They will become unrelenting and vast areas of land will flood.
Wildlife will be forced into ever greater conflict with people, and elephants like Raja won’t stand a chance.

Sadly for him, it is too late. He died alone, still chained to that tree, though Elephant Family worked tirelessly for a week to negotiate his release.

Already we’ve discovered that another calf, this one just a month old, has been captured and held to ransom by local farmers. Everyone is working around the clock to make sure that this little calf survives. I am doubtful.
But in the grander scheme of things there is hope. If there wasn’t hope, I would have packed up my bags a long time ago.

If we can protect these forests and stop the new plan in Aceh from going ahead, then we’re taking a giant step in the right direction.

Hundreds of supporters have already written to the Aceh government urging them to stop destroying their forests. But we need help. We need everyone to write.

Increased knowledge of palm oil and compulsory labelling will finally allow shoppers to make informed choices about what they buy. We need to push food manufacturers and retailers to support a transformation of the industry towards genuine sustainable palm oil, and we need to do it quickly.

The most useful thing we can do to help is educate ourselves and avoid buying products that contain palm oil whilst urging companies to stop destroying the rain forests.

More information about palm oil and the products to avoid: http://a-z-animals.com/palm-oil/products/

Petition: http://www.change.org/saveAceh

You will also find more ways to help at: http://www.elephantfamily.org/
Read the full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2351609/The-terrible-fate-Raja-baby-elephant-chained-held-hostage-angry-mob-An-image-haunt-story-enrage-you.html#ixzz2XeMYaH00

Anti-Fur Petition
"Fur is Green" is greenwash - a petition to counteract pro-fur propaganda by the Canadian government, and help protect animals from the gross cruelty and death the fur industry inflicts upon defenseless animals. Please follow the link here to read more and sign. Canadian tours to bludgeon baby fur seals to death, then sell the fur to the wealthy with no conscience, are getting a boost from the Canadian Government's pro-fur stance.

How sad does this poor baby look? What a terrible life...and terrible death...:((

      Sadistic trapper, proud of his cruelty... Such a sad indictment on human society...

     Real men are kind to animals...

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SHE'S SO LONELY SHE HOLDS HER OWN TAIL! Heartbreaking...

To help Mali, follow these links:
1. Free Mali PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/FreeMali
2. Free Mali the Elephant:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Mali-the-Elephant/264127640360151 — with Ana Carolina Vigo León.

Mother Bear Kills Cub and Self to Escape Life of Bile "Milking" Article by Piper Hoffman (original post here.)
A mother killed her baby and herself to end the torture of life on a bear bile farm. She hugged her cub until it suffocated, then drove her own head into a wall.

Bear bile is prized in traditional Chinese medicine, and the demand for it has led to mass production. Bear farmers lock moon bears into “crush cages,” so small the bears can’t move. Then farmers puncture their gall bladders to siphon off their bile.

The resulting wound stays open because farmers force needles or shunts into it so often. It becomes “susceptible to infections and diseases which can cause the animals unbearable pain,” according to the Daily Mail. Also common are broken teeth from biting on the bars of cages, painful foot conditions and even malignant tumors.

This can go on for 20 years, until the bear stops producing bile and is killed. More than 12,000 bears are caged on bile farms.


What A Mother Bear Knows

Moon bears have large vocabularies and lots of smarts. They know what is going on.

This mother reacted immediately when her cub cried of distress because farmers were puncturing its gall bladder for the first time. She broke out of her own cage and into her cub’s cage and did the only thing she could to save her baby from suffering.

This story is heartbreaking, but it is also an illustration of moon bears’ intelligence. Consider what this bear had to understand to do what she did: that what the farmers were doing felt the same way to someone else as it did when they did it to her; that the farmers would keep on doing this to her baby again and again; and the nature of death — namely, that it would end everything.

Consider also the depth of her devotion to her cub: she broke out of her cage, which she must have been able to do before but never did — or else she had one of those moments of super-adrenaline that allow mothers to lift cars off their children; and after she hugged her baby to death, she killed herself. The Daily Mail says she killed herself to end her torture, but she could have done that before. I think that may have been part of it, but mostly she killed herself because she had killed her cub.

This moon bear isn’t the only mother trapped in a factory farm who has gone to extremes to protect her young. Veterinarian Holly Cheever tells the tale of a dairy cow she treated who had given birth four times, and had her newborn confiscated every time. The fifth time, out in pasture at night and without humans around (obviously this happened a while ago, before factory farming had adopted near-constant restraints), she had twins. This cow understood that the farmer knew she had been pregnant, that he was expecting a calf, and that he would take her calves away as he had all her previous babies. So she hatched a plan.

In the morning she brought one of her calves to the farmer, so that he would be satisfied. She hid the other calf in the woods at the edge of the pasture. “Every day and every night, she stayed with her baby — the first she had been able to nurture FINALLY — and her calf nursed her dry with gusto,” Cheever relates.

That gusto led to a glitch the poor mother had not anticipated. Her udder was empty every time the farmer tried to milk her. Eventually he figured things out, found the bull calf, and stole him away for a short, miserable life in a veal crate. His mother’s efforts may not have bought him that much time, but they did reveal how smart she was and how capable of love.

Moon Bears and Their Bile

CITES lists moon bears as one of the most critically endangered species in the world. Any trade in them or their parts is illegal. Estimates of their population vary; some estimate that in all of Asia there are only 16,000 moon bears in the wild.

Many experts, including some practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, say that there are herbal or synthetic alternatives that have the same effects as bear bile and its active ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA).

Bile farmers are producing too much bile. The market is saturated. Rather than scale down their operations, they keep the bears caged and keep suctioning fluids out of live bears’ bellies, then sell the result in the form of non-therapeutic products like shampoo. Those non-medicinal products account for half of the bile farmers sell.

Please watch the above video from advocacy group Animals Asia for more information on the plight of moon bears.

The following video contains some disturbing images - Video credit: Animals Asia

The following article explains how our use of palm oil is causing the cruel killing of the gentle orangutan and other forest animals. http://www.saynotopalmoil.com

A couple of very cute hug bunnies!

The horror and cruelty that is the Live Animal Export Industry needs to stop!
The picture above, shows that this industry is today's equivalent of being hung,
drawn and quartered. For anyone who has watched the end of "Braveheart" will know how painful and barbaric this truly is!

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Take action here - www.AnimalsAustralia.org/rodeo

Meet Billy! Saved from a puppy mill in Carolina, this sweet dog had a terrible start in life, but thanks to some very compassionate people, he is now safe and loved. Please help support these wonderful people and organizations that do such worthy work, and do not buy animals in shops, markets, or online (which supports puppy mills) adopt shelter animals. Support shelters, animal welfare organizations, and stores that only supply shelter animals.

Translation of post above by Bing - Lucki, the elephant in the Zoo of Maracay, died. He was 80 yrs old, he spent all of them in prison. For them and for all the animals that are still trapped, we are too late. The whole world should kneel down & apologize. :(((

Another huge reason why the live export of animals for slaughter overseas is so very wrong! If this was a shipment of dogs or cats, how would we react? These sheep have the same capacity, as any cat or dog, to feel pain and fear, endure the same type of suffering when subjected to cruel conditions. These animals, whether we eat meat or not, deserve the same respect we afford native animals, entertainment and companion animals. No living, feeling creature should be treated with such barbarism in our so-called civillized, modern world.
Find out more about the above situation, and how YOU can help put an end to this inhumane treatment of these poor, gentle animals here - http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/pakistan-live-export-disaster.php

The "canned lion hunt industry" is the equivalent to the puppy mill industry but with people feeling "proud" that they have mercilessly slaughtered a majestic animal that has suffered from birth to death. Who is the wild beast, the ruthless beast, here? It certainly is NOT the lion! Their pride is killing, bestows shame on humanity...

Photo:A.E.L.L.A https://www.facebook.com/AELLA.ORG

Animals SOS Sri Lanka does a wonderful job helping help neglected, sick, and abused animals. The sad dog on death's door pictured beneath is now in their care. Donations to this worthwhile cause is always appreciated. Just contact them via their facebook page.

Originally, this Animal Blog "lived" in Great Mystery Publishing's - The Gallery, so with the launching of this new part of the GMP not-for-profit, community service venture, it seemed highly appropriate to move the Animal Blog to the Hope and Joy Network.

Since our Animal Blog, in its' previous incarnation, had some wonderful posts, we thought it was important to move a selection of the old posts across to get things started on this site. You can see these posts below.

12.3.2011

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and private physicians are asking local prosecutors to stop animal abuse at Johns Hopkins University and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland.

PCRM, along with Martin Wasserman, a pediatrician, and his wife Barbara, an internist, who are both graduates of Johns Hopkins’ medical school, are arguing that the use of live animals at both schools to practice surgery and other techniques not only causes unnecessary suffering, but is in violation of the state’s animal cruelty laws.

The two schools are among a very small number of programs that still use live animals to teach students, as most have made the switch to simulators. According to PCRM, Johns Hopkins already has one and USUHS could use of the National Capital Area Medical Simulation Center.

“Simulation is not just an alternative but better training" as well as "an opportunity to teach medical students about compassion," said Wasserman.

Wasserman, who also happens to have a law degree, points out that while animals used in research are exempt from state law, it does not exempt animals who are used in surgery or who are used for students to practice on.

Animals, such as pigs and gerbils, are used to teach students surgical, suturing and intubation techniques, among other things.

For some reason, these schools are sticking with tradition instead of joining the majority of accredited medical school programs in the use of alternatives, while clutching the thin argument that they’re following applicable laws and guidelines.

A spokesman for the state attorney's office said they received the request for an investigation and will determine what to do after they review it.

Take Action

Send a letter to Dean Edward D. Miller, M.D., and Chair of the Department of Surgery, Julie A. Freischlag, M.D., at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine asking them to stop letting students practice on live animals.

Alice Graef

15/3/2011 Sharon Seltzer

Japan Rescuers Pull Together To Save Pets

While international relief organizations are pouring into Japan to help people after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, a handful of animal welfare groups are pulling together to take care of the nation’s displaced pets.

Japan is a country that loves pets so it is no surprise that rescue groups have teamed up to help the estimated thousands of cats, dogs and other animals that were injured or left homeless after the quake.

Assisting pets after a natural disaster is nothing new for Animal Refuge Kansai (ARK.) The organization which has locations in Tokyo and Osaka took in 600 animals after the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995.

Elizabeth Oliver who chairs the group said, “Here at ARK we are preparing for what might be a huge influx of animals. We already have some facilities in place and a team of experienced staff able to deal with traumatised animals. We may have to build emergency shelters as well.”

Ms. Oliver explained that rescuing many of the animals will be more difficult than the previous earthquake.

“The logistics of getting animals from the Tohoku/Sendai area is immense since roads and other transport links have been cut and may take time to restore. Our only means to get animals down to Osaka may be by helicopter, which was one method we used after the Kobe earthquake.”

Three other rescue groups have joined together to save animals.

Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support is a collaboration of 3 No-Kill animal welfare organizations in Japan: HEART – Tokushima, Animal Friends Niigata and Japan Cat Network. The coalition quickly joined forces after the disaster struck.

Japan Cat Network posted on their website, “We are all greatly saddened and have been continually horrified by news of the devastation, following the recent earthquake here in Japan. We, the kitties at the JCN Kansai shelter, and the shelter itself, are all fine. However, we remain very concerned about the animals in the severely affected areas who may be overlooked in the midst of so much immediate need to address human concerns. We are working with two other no-kill organizations to coordinate plans for getting animals from these areas out to safety, and have already begun helping people with pets in crisis.”

Organizations outside of Japan are coming to the aid of injured and homeless pets. World Veterinary Association, a nonprofit organization that provides global veterinary care has sent a first-responder team to treat animals.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is sending their own team of veterinarians on Tuesday. Their goal is to help pets whose

families can't take care of them while they are being housed in temporary emergency shelters.

Dr. Ian Dacre and Dr. Damian Woodberry from WSPA are both veterans at saving animals after natural disasters.

The vets also have a meeting with the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to save wildlife caught in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami.

WSPA is coordinating their efforts with Kanagawa Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – another Japanese based organization.

And as with every disaster, heroes from the Search Dog Foundation are already on the ground with six Canine Disaster Search Teams locating people who are trapped in fallen buildings and other debris.

Melissa Breyer link (publisher@greatmysterypublishing.com)

16/03/2011

Ways to Help Japan's Animals-
So many of us want to do what we can to help the victims of Japan’s catastrophe, and fortunately there are numerous ways to do so that are being widely publicized. But what about the animals? They may not be first and foremost on many people’s minds, but I can’t stop thinking about them. The Conscious Cat has collected a group of places where you can give your support to the four-legged victims, here are the recommendations:

• World Vets is a non-government organization (NGO) providing veterinary aid around the globe in collaboration with animal advocacy groups, foreign governments, US and foreign military groups and veterinary professionals abroad. They are getting supplies and a first responder team ready to deploy to Japan.

• The American Humane Association’s Red Star Animal Emergency Services Team is monitoring the situation closely and is reaching out to its international partners in order to provide a joint response to this global emergency.

• The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation has deployed search and rescue teams to Japan.

• The Animal Refuge Kansai is an organization in Kansai, Japan, that is preparing for a huge influx of animals from the disaster areas.

• Japan Cat Network, together with Heart Tokushima and Animal Friends Niigata has formed Japan Animal Rescue and Support.

• The Animal Miracle Network Foundation is collecting cell phones to send to volunteers helping animals in Japan.

Many thanks to The Conscious Cat, and you can check back at their site for regular updates.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/help-japans-animals.html#ixzz1GlG0Sn8O

6/4/2011 Stephen Messenger

Although it has been well over three decades since Georgie Seccombe first met Sally, a baby chimpanzee that had been rejected by her mother at a nearby zoo -- the passing of time has done little to weaken the bond they formed back then. Their story begins in the 1970s, when Georgie's husband, the head-zookeeper, brought home orphaned Sally as a way to offer the animal a chance at life. Over the next two years, Georgie served as foster mother to the young chimp, hand-raising and doting on her with the affection she required. Eventually, Sally was relocated to be among her kind and the pair lost touch. Just recently, however, now 95-year-old Georgie and 38-year-old Sally had occasion to reunite -- and it seems in all that time they haven't missed a beat.

Georgie, now well into her Golden Years, recently made it to Sally's home for a visit with her former ward after decades apart. Despite the fact that Sally has been residing at New Zealand's Hamilton Zoo, among other chimps for most of her life, the memories of her earliest years with her foster mother have yet to escape her mind.

"She's just really lovely. She knew my voice straight away. She was up on a hill and I called out 'hey Sal' and she came bounding down," Georgie told The Waikato Times. "They are really intelligent," she added, as proud mothers are prone to do.

Sally's keeper at the facility, primate specialist John Ray, says that he was "blown away" by the chimpanzee's ability to recognize her foster mother after so many years. "[To] be part of this reunion has been an incredible experience."

Some might question to what extent the emotional experience of primates mirrors our own, but for those who work with chimps on a daily basis, their feelings are often as transparent as ours.

"She got very excited. When she gets excited she'll do a bit of a dance, put her hands in the air, reach out to people that she wants to get closer to ... It's her happy dance, which she did when she saw Georgie," Ray told The New Zealand Herald.

It could be said that the less-than-human status of primates like chimpanzees is what makes them subject to the less-than-humane treatment they experience in their ever-dwindling natural habitats -- or worse, in test labs throughout the world -- but both formal research and informal observations seem to challenge these notions of a profound difference between our species.

Such realizations aren't uncommon in folks like Georgie, who opened her heart and home to an orphaned chimpanzee decades ago, or Sally for that matter as the beneficiary of this uncommon-human bond.

Reflecting on the experience after being reunited with the chimp she raised for a time in the 1970s, for Georgie it seems the words and labels that divide human and animal emotions lose their footing in light of their bond -- a lesson so simply expressed by the oldest and wisest among us.

"It was pretty hard to give her back," says Georgie. "She's just like a human being."

Megan Drake  6/4/2011

Dog Washed out to sea for three weeks on rooftop by Tsunami reunited happily with owner! (clip posted on Animal Welfare and Info Page)

Out of the rubble of earthquake- and tsunami-devastated Japan comes a happy tale!

On Friday, April 1, while the search continued for survivors, a brown mixed breed dog was found floating on the roof of a house washed out to sea about one mile by the tsunami wave. It is believed the canine may have been surviving there for the past three weeks.

It took the Japanese Coast Guard--aided by U.S. rescuers on the scene--several hours to rescue the pup. Initially, a helicopter lowered a man to the rooftop, but he was unable to coax the shy dog into joining him. As the helicopter started running low on fuel, the project was turned over to coast guard personnel in a nearby boat. Mission successful!
The initial hope of the helicopter crew was that the dog would lead them to his humans, but none were found among the debris.

Local news reported on the amazing discovery and then the unexpected happened. The dog's owners saw the broadcast and delightfully claimed their beloved dog. His name is Ban and he is two years old. The owners wish to remain anonymous.
After the horrors of experiencing such a natural disaster, this story is giving hope to those searching for their loved ones. The expectation of finding many alive after three weeks is diminishing. Ban's special rescue warms the heart.

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