Author: Kristin Stone

Findings reveal the need for a local law in the District

Humane Society International / United States

WASHINGTON – Today the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International released findings of an undercover investigation revealing a lucrative ivory trade in the nation’s capital, where ivory dealers take advantage of the lack of local laws banning the sale of ivory. Legislation has been introduced in the Council of the District of Columbia that would prohibit sales of certain ivory products as well as those made from rhino horn within the District.

From April to July 2019, investigators found ivory products for sale at L’Enfant Gallery, Capital Antiques, Frank Milwee Antiques, Mercedes Bien Vintage and by two vendors at the Georgetown Flea Market. Most of the ivory sellers were unable to produce documentation verifying the age or origin of the ivory when asked by the investigator. Without documentation, it is impossible to know whether items were imported in violation of federal law, which prohibits imports or interstate sales of ivory from recently killed elephants. Under federal law, sellers are responsible for demonstrating through documentation that items were lawfully imported.

An investigator observed that L’Enfant Gallery displayed the most elaborate and expensive ivory pieces the investigator had seen in years of investigating ivory sales across the United States.

Among the ivory items found for sale during this investigation: a full elephant tusk, $600,000; a multi-figurine game board, $48,000; carved horse-drawn chariots, $12,000; and various figurines and jewelries, ranging from $150 to $18,000.

Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and president of Humane Society International, said, “The trade in ivory contributes to a devastating decline in elephant populations. It is distressing that ivory sales are occurring right here in my hometown of Washington, D.C., where our federal government has unequivocally condemned the international trade in ivory from recently poached elephants. The Council of the District of Columbia must act to pass legislation that will protect imperiled elephants and rhinos by removing the financial incentives to kill them and trade in their parts. Washington D.C. should no longer condone a trade that decimates Earth’s iconic species.”

Councilmember Mary M. Cheh said: “I have introduced the Elephant Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Trafficking Prohibition Act on three separate occasions. Perhaps if an earlier iteration of this legislation had passed back in 2015 when it was first introduced, the ivory market would not have moved to the District of Columbia at all. Nevertheless, we must not sit passively while the ivory market thrives in the District. Limiting the demand for ivory and horns is key to stopping the unnecessary and inhumane slaughter of these animals —and we cannot wait.”

Facts

  • The illegal wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar global industry that affects millions of animals and communities around the world. Wild animals such as elephants and rhinos are killed in massive numbers and suffer from horrific cruelty. Poachers brutally kill elephants and harvest their tusks, sometimes while the animal is still alive.
  • The African savanna elephant population has declined by 144,000 – 30% of the population – since 2007, primarily because of poaching. More than 1,000 rhinos were poached in Africa in 2018, out of 29,0000 rhinos remaining worldwide.
  • The legal market for ivory products provides a cover for illegal ivory products to flourish because of the ease of mixing the two. Enforcement efforts are often hampered by a lack of resources or the difficulty of visually distinguishing illegal ivory from legally acquired ivory.
  • The greater Washington, D.C., area is likely the largest remaining metropolitan market for ivory products in the United States, according to a 2017 report by the wildlife trade monitoring organization, TRAFFIC.
  • A 2015 report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare of the U.S. ivory market that surveyed Craigslist listings identified Washington, D.C., as one of the top five markets among all locations surveyed.
  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service instituted a near-total ban on importing or engaging in the interstate sale of African elephant ivory in 2016. However, federal regulations do not address intrastate trade in African elephant ivory. U.S. states and the District of Columbia must do their part to ensure that their laws sufficiently protect at-risk animals.
  • California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, New Hampshire, Illinois and Minnesota have passed anti-wildlife trafficking laws that are similar to the legislation that the HSUS and HSI support in Washington, D.C. Voters in Oregon and Washington approved statewide ballot measures on the issue by 70-30 margins in both states.
  • Last Council Period, the Council of the District of Columbia’s Judiciary and Public Safety committee chaired by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen heard public testimony on a previous version of this legislation but failed to advance the bill out of committee before the end of the Council Period.

Full investigation report.

Photos and video of the investigation.

Media contact: Rodi Rosensweig, 203/270-8929, RRosensweig@humanesociety.org

Humane Society International / Global

WASHINGTON—The Board of Directors of Humane Society International announced today that it has selected Jeffrey Flocken as its new president. Flocken, who has been the organization’s senior vice president for programs and policy since February 2018, succeeds Kitty Block, who became president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States earlier this year.

“I’m so pleased that Humane Society International will be led by my colleague Jeffrey Flocken,” said Block. “HSI’s work is so vital to the protection of animals around the globe, and we are fortunate to have Jeff leading the way.”

“I’m honored to have been selected to lead this tremendous organization and I look forward to the opportunity to continue working with our talented and dedicated team both at our headquarters in Washington and our country offices around the globe,” said Flocken. “The need to protect animals in a fast-changing world is a moral imperative, and the threats are only increasing. But while the work can be daunting, growing public awareness, concern and action give us all reason to be hopeful that we can meet these challenges head on. And HSI is the right organization for tackling these challenges.”

Prior to coming to HSI, Flocken was the head of North America for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, he worked on international wildlife conservation at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and he served as a director at Conservation International. In 2005, Flocken co-founded Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders, a training program for young conservation professionals around the world. He also co-authored the award-winning book Wildlife Heroes, and he is an active board member for EWCL, the Jaguar Conservation Fund of Brazil, GRACE Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center, and the IUCN Tapir Specialist Group.

A native of Michigan, Flocken graduated from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School. He lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife Mary Crimmings, their daughter Collette, and rescue cat Dasher.

END

3.52 million mice, dogs, monkeys, rabbits suffered and died in UK labs in 2018

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

Andrei Tchernov/iStockphoto

LONDON—Home Office statistics published today[1] reveal a shockingly high number of dogs, mice, cats, rabbits and other animals are still suffering in invasive, painful and sometimes lethal experiments in British laboratories despite unprecedented availability of high-tech and often more human-predictive non-animal approaches.

The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2018 show that a total of 3.52 million procedures were completed in the UK in 2018, including tests on mice (1.1 million), rats (170,665), birds (146,860), rabbits (11,159), guinea pigs (6,445), monkeys (3,207), dogs (4, 481), cats (159), horses (10,424) and fish (300,811). A total of 87,557 animals were subjected to severe suffering, the highest category allowed under the law.

Humane Society International Senior Scientist Dr Lindsay Marshall, who for 12 years managed a laboratory dedicated to animal-free research into respiratory diseases, said: “As a scientist myself, I know all too well the drawbacks of relying on animals to study and treat human disease. The fact is that animal models fail far more often than they succeed, so it’s hugely frustrating and worrying to see the UK, year after year, failing to move away from outdated animal experiments. It’s high time UK research funding bodies stopped squandering British taxpayer money and charitable donations on dead-end research, and made a serious investment in human organoids, organs-on-a-chip, computerised systems biology models, and other advanced, non-animal technologies that are the true future of modern medical research.” 

The government made a commitment in 2010 to reduce animals used in scientific research, but almost 10 years after this declaration of intent[2], the UK remains one of the highest lab animal users in Europe. In those same years, non-animal technologies that can produce faster, cheaper and more human-relevant results, have advanced enormously:

  • Computers are much better than animals at predicting possible toxic effects of chemicals and drugs[3].
  • The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells has helped to remove the ethical barriers to stem cell use[4].
  • Scientists have created human-mimetic systems of almost every organ in the body. There is a human-on-a-chip for drug testing[5], a patient-on-a-chip is not far away[6] and chips have travelled to space to investigate the impact of ageing on the human body[7].

Dr Marshall is not alone in her opinion. A raft of academic reviews from expert scientists in a range of fields reach the same conclusion for conditions as diverse as autism, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease[8] and they call for more investment in human-relevant methods.

Dr Marshall continues: “Despite staggering advances in scientific technology, medical research in Britain remains irrationally wedded to broken animal models. If our government is truly committed to advancing medical progress for its citizens, and to reducing the use of animals in laboratories, significant funding must be redirected from animals to human-mimetic approaches, rather than the paltry 3% of the UK annual research spend that non-animal methods receive at present.”

The recent closure of two mouse breeding facilities[9] illustrates the growing recognition within the scientific community that a paradigm shift away from animal use is essential for medical progress. Recognition that fewer animals are required due to a “rise in the use of alternative technologies”[10] is a step in the right direction, yet the Home Office animal use statistics indicate that there is much more work required to reduce the body count.

Facts:

  • Despite the ever-increasing growth in animal procedures, there is no corresponding increase in the number of human medicines making it to the clinic. In recent years, both the European Medicines Agency and US Food and Drug Administration approved fewer new drugs than they had been approving earlier in the decade.
  • Most animal models are poor predictors of human response, with over 90% of new candidate drugs never making it to patients. That’s because pharmaceutical compounds that appear ‘safe’ and ‘effective’ in animal trials fail to deliver the same result when given to people; 55% do not effectively treat the condition for which they are intended, and almost 30% show signs of toxicity that were not seen in animal tests[11].
  • Advances in gene sequencing and phenotypic analysis in humans is ushering in the era of precision medicine, and focused funding and efforts on human-relevant technologies like these are more likely to provide disease understanding and much-needed new treatments.
  • Nearly 560,000 experiments in 2018 were deemed to have caused moderate or severe suffering to animals. Moderate suffering is described by the Home Office as causing short term moderate pain or distress to animals while severe suffering causes long-lasting extreme pain or distress.

ENDS

Contact: Dr Lindsay Marshall, 07719 531 675, lmarshall@hsi.org

Notes to editors:

  1. 2018 Home Office statistics: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/818578/annual-statistics-scientific-procedures-living-animals-2018.pdf
  2. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110718/wmstext/110718m0001.htm
  3. Passini, et al. 2017 Human In Silico Drug Trials Demonstrate Higher Accuracy than Animal Models in Predicting Clinical Pro-Arrhythmic Cardiotoxicity. Front Physiol.8:668.
    Luechtefeld et al. 2018 Machine learning of toxicological big data enables read-across structure activity relationships (RASAR) outperforming animal test reproducibility. Toxicological Sciences. 165 1, 1 September 2018: 198-212
  4. https://www.eurostemcell.org/ips-cells-and-reprogramming-turn-any-cell-body-stem-cell
  5. https://hesperosinc.com
  6. Edington et al. (2018) Interconnected Microphysiological Systems for Quantitative Biology and Pharmacology Studies. Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 14;8(1):4530. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-22749-0
  7. https://ncats.nih.gov/tissuechip/projects/space
  8. Savoji, et al. 2018 Cardiovascular Disease Models: A Game Changing Paradigm in Drug Discovery and Screening. Biomaterials. 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.09.036
    Boeckmans et al. 2018. Human-based systems: Mechanistic NASH modelling just around the corner? Pharmacol Res. 134:257-267. 10.1016/j.phrs.2018.06.029
    Muotri, A. R. 2016. The Human Model: Changing Focus on Autism Research. Biol Psychiatry. 79;8:  642-9.
    Bowman, et al. 2018. Future Roadmaps for Precision Medicine Applied to Diabetes: Rising to the Challenge of Heterogeneity. Journal of Diabetes Research. 10.1155/2018/3061620
    Clerc, et al. 2016. A look into the future of ALS research. Drug Discov Today. 21;6: 939-49
  9. https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news/view/sanger-institute-animal-research-facility-close
    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02002-y
  10. https://chemicalwatch.com/77872/sanger-institute-announces-closure-of-animal-research-facility
  11. https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/iccvam/meetings/iccvam-forum-2019/06-lee-ncats_508.pdf

Troubling news on former giraffe stronghold shows need for global protection

Humane Society International / Global

Donna Gadomski/HSI Giraffe in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, March 2019

WASHINGTON—Highlighting the need for global action to fight giraffes’ silent extinction, a body of scientific experts today declared giraffes in Kenya and Tanzania — called Masai giraffes — endangered.

Masai giraffes, one of nine giraffe subspecies, had long been considered a key population for the species. But today’s assessment by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature finds that these majestic animals are profoundly threatened by illegal hunting and land-use changes. The subspecies’ population has fallen by an estimated 49 percent to 51 percent in the past 30 years.

Adam Peyman, wildlife programs and operations manager for Humane Society International, said, “Masai giraffes have long had a robust wild population. An endangered assessment is an eye opener that signals the critical need for giraffe protections.”

Africa’s overall giraffe population has declined by up to 40 percent over the past 30 years. The species was assessed as “vulnerable” to extinction by the IUCN in 2016. That assessment was confirmed in 2018, and Masai giraffe now join reticulated giraffes as endangered; two other giraffe subspecies are critically endangered.

A proposal by several African nations to regulate giraffe trade will be discussed at a meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, next month in Geneva. The proposal has been put forward by the Central African Republic, Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger and Senegal, and is supported by the 32 African nation members of the African Elephant Coalition.

Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said, “This shocking news about Masai giraffes is a call to action from prominent scientists. The international community needs to give giraffes the protection from exploitation that they so desperately need. We have to regulate the international giraffe trade or risk losing one of our planet’s most remarkable animals.”

While giraffe populations continue to wane, the species has become common in the wildlife trade. A Humane Society International report shows that the United States imported nearly 40,000 giraffe specimens between 2006 and 2015, in the form of hunting trophies, decoration items and knife handles, in addition to large shipments of live animals. The European Union is also a key consumer of giraffe products; online research detailed in the proposal records over 300 giraffe products for sale by sellers based in seven EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The CITES listing proposal would regulate the giraffe trade for the first time.

With a recent international report having found that one million species face extinction due to human activity, it is critical to ensure that exploitation does not contribute to further declines, including that of giraffes.

END

Media contacts:

 

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Humane Society International and its partner organizations together constitute one of the world’s largest animal protection organizations. For more than 25 years, HSI has been working for the protection of all animals through the use of science, advocacy, education and hands on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide — on the Web at hsi.org.

Humane Society International / Brazil

Cage-free chicken in Brazil
HSI

SÃO PAULO—Humane Society International, a leading global animal protection organization, urges the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) to reverse its administrative decision to limit the use of the term “cage-free” on labelling of eggs.  The label allows producers to meet consumers’ constitutional right to be informed about how their food was produced and enables them to choose the product that best meets their needs.  However, MAPA’s new interpretation of labelling requirements could prevent egg producers who use more humane cage-free systems from using the term “cage-free” on their packaging.

HSI submitted a technical legal note to MAPA, arguing that current legislation on inspection and labelling of eggs does not prevent eggs to be labelled “cage-free”, as long as the producer can demonstrate that a cage-free system was used. HSI’s submission also underscores the important role that accurate and complete label information plays in enabling conscious consumers to make informed choices.

Maria Fernanda Martin, HSI/Brazil’s corporate program and policy manager for farm animal welfare, said, “We have received numerous calls from stakeholders concerned with MAPA’s decision. We strongly believe that, on both technical and legal grounds, MAPA should revoke the decision.”

In the last several years, the cage-free movement has grown substantially in Brazil, with more than 100 leading food and hospitality companies having made commitments to use and sell exclusively cage-free eggs in all their operations and products by 2028, 2025 or earlier. Several Brazilian producers have already started cage-free egg production in at least 10 states (Amazonas, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul). In 2018 alone, three new egg producers started cage-free production with over 220,000 hens each. Other cage-free producers have expanded their production to meet the demand, and some traditional egg producers have begun to transition their systems to cage-free.

HSI will remain vigilant regarding MAPA’s decision and will continue to work with producers and the industry to transition to cage-free egg production systems.

END

Media contact: Maria Fernanda Martin, mfmartin@hsi.org

Humane Society International / Global

Claire Bass, Executive Director of HSI/United Kingdom, accepts the Global Animalis Edition Brand of the Year - Animal Protection award at the 2019 World Branding Awards by the World Branding Forum
World Branding Forum/Michael Seirer Claire Bass, Executive Director of HSI/United Kingdom, accepts the Global Animalis Edition Brand of the Year – Animal Protection award at the 2019 World Branding Awards by the World Branding Forum.

VIENNA–Global animal charity Humane Society International has been declared “Brand of the Year” at this year’s Animalis Edition of the prestigious World Branding Awards 2019, in recognition of its leading contribution to the protection of animals around the world. With programs in more than 50 countries, HSI challenges animal cruelty across the globe including Asia’s dog meat trade, trophy hunting in Africa, as well as factory farming, the fur trade, puppy farming and animal testing worldwide.

HSI was selected as the Animalis winner out of more than 800 nominated brands from 35 countries following a rigorous brand assessment including voting by 95,000 members of the public from around the world.

HSI’s UK director Claire Bass attended the ceremony held at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna to receive the award on behalf of the global HSI family. Bass said: “HSI is immensely proud to win Brand of the Year at the prestigious World Branding Awards in acknowledgement of our global campaigns to protect animals from cruelty and suffering. For the Animalis category to stand alongside awards for some of the biggest brands, demonstrates that campaigning for a humane world is now a mainstream endeavour and that our advocacy for animals, through legislative and corporate reform, consumer education and direct animal rescue, is something that people across the globe are supporting.”

Active on nearly every continent, Humane Society International is one of the few global animal protection organisations working to protect all animals—including animals in laboratories, animals on farms, companion animals and wildlife. HSI campaigns to help the greatest possible number of animals and to save those who are suffering from the most severe abuse, investing our time, effort and resources in ways that will make a real difference. With hundreds of thousands of supporters, HSI is a voice for all animals through public education, undercover investigations, animal advocacy, and working to prevent cruelty and promote compassion.

The World Branding Awards is the premier awards programme of the World Branding Forum, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing branding standards for the good of the branding community as well as consumers. The Awards recognise and celebrate some of the best global, regional and national brands for their work and achievements. There are three tiers of awards. The Global Award is presented to truly international brands that have a presence in 10 or more countries, on three or more continents.

The Animalis Edition, which HSI has been awarded, focuses on pet and animal-related brands, and sees the world’s best brands, organisations and charities recognised for their work and achievements in conservation, education, protection and welfare of animals. Previous winners of the Animalis Edition include the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the Jane Goodall Institute and The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Richard Rowles, Chairman, World Branding Forum, said: “This is a celebration of the continuous efforts that is vital to building outstanding brands. These brands have established strong brand recall, top-of-mind awareness and trust among their consumers. The Animalis Edition of the Awards are an acknowledgement to the tireless effort of the teams that build and maintain their brand presence in an ever-changing market in the pet and animal industry.”

Julian Andersen, Managing Director, World Branding Forum, said: “The world is full of brands, but a truly exceptional brand has to ensure that people know what they stand for. Being a winner at the Awards is very competitive. Brands that do win show that they have set the standard for what is expected of other brands to be at the top of their game. To be a winner at the Awards, a brand has shown that they have built themselves up to such a degree that they are placed amongst the best brands in the world.”

ENDS

Media contacts:

Download images from the Awards here: https://newsroom.humanesociety.org/fetcher/index.php?searchMerlin=1&searchBrightcove=1&submitted=1&mw=d&q=BrandingAwards0719

About Humane Society International
Humane Society International and its partner organisations together constitute one of the world’s largest animal protection organisations. For more than 20 years, HSI has been working for the protection of all animals through the use of science, advocacy, education and hands on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide – on the Web at hsi.org. With a presence in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latin America, Liberia, Mauritius, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United States and Viet Nam, HSI is continuing to expand its operations to help animals worldwide.

About the World Branding Forum
The World Branding Forum (WBF) is a global, non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing branding standards for the good of the branding community as well as consumers. This includes those who work in the branding, design, marketing, advertising, public relations and communications disciplines worldwide. The WBF produces, manages and supports a wide range of programmes covering research, development, education, recognition, networking and outreach. For more information, visit brandingforum.org.

About the World Branding Awards
The World Branding Awards is the premier awards of the World Branding Forum. The Awards recognises the achievements of the best brands in the world. Winners are selected based on brand valuation, market research, and online public voting. For more information, visit awards.brandingforum.org.

Humane Society International / Europe

Rhino and baby

Brussels – Humane Society International/Europe and Humane Society International/Vietnam have cautiously welcomed the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in Hanoi on Sunday 30 June. While this trade deal offers little beyond cooperation, technical assistance and capacity building with respect to advancing animal welfare, it does have significant potential to protect wildlife, if resourced adequately.

Dr Joanna Swabe, HSI/Europe’s senior director of public affairs said:

“It is encouraging that the EU has succeeded in negotiating a trade deal that goes beyond the usual boilerplate commitments from the Parties to properly implement and enforce multilateral environmental agreements. The inclusion of provisions that require both the EU and Vietnam to actively take effective measures to reduce illegal wildlife trade, such as awareness raising campaigns, monitoring and enforcement measures, is an incredibly helpful tool to aid the global fight against wildlife trafficking. Likewise, we welcome the explicit commitment in the agreement to enhance cooperation between the Parties to increase species protection through proposing new listings on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) appendices. This move could help protect a variety of species from over-exploitation to supply, for example, the exotic pet trade. In this regard, we applaud the EU and Vietnam for already starting this cooperation by submitting proposals to list various salamander, gecko and newt species on CITES Appendix II at the upcoming COP18 meeting that will be held in Geneva this August.”

Phuong Tham, executive director of HSI/Vietnam added:

“Vietnam used to be one of the top countries rich in biological diversity. Unfortunately,  Vietnam is facing “empty/silence forests” due to habitat loss, massive poaching and illegal wildlife trade   originating from within or outside of our borders. Recent research indicates that Vietnam continues to serve as a source, consumer and transit country for the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). Limited enforcement capacity, equipment, resources and lack of cooperation among enforcement agencies are some of the key reasons why much wildlife trade goes unregulated and laws enforcement is not strong enough to combat wildlife crime. HSI/Vietnam hopes that, as a result of this trade agreement, the EU can help provide financial support for our government’s efforts to help curb the trade in wildlife products and to assist with demand reduction and enforcement by providing Vietnam with the training and tools it needs through development cooperation.”

Once the EU-Viet Nam trade agreement provisionally enters into force, both HSI/Europe and HSI/Vietnam intend to apply to join the respective Domestic Advisory Groups that will be established to allow civil society representatives to monitor the implementation of this free trade agreement.

Facts

  • In August 2018, the EU and Vietnam agreed on final texts for the EU-Vietnam trade and investment agreements. The agreement has finally been signed following endorsement by the Council of the European Union. Once the European Parliament has given its consent to the agreement, it can fully enter into force.
  • The Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter of the EU-Vietnam agreement includes commitments to the proper implementation and enforcement of multilateral environmental agreements, as well as provisions aiming to protect biodiversity and reduce illegal wildlife trade through information exchange on strategies, policy initiatives, programmes, action plans and consumer awareness campaigns, plus a commitment to enhance cooperation to increase species protection through proposing new CITES listings.
  • The EU and Vietnam have already jointly submitted proposals for the upcoming CITES COP18 meeting to list the follow reptile and amphibian species on CITES Appendix II:
    • All 13 species of gecko (genus Goniurosaura) distributed in China and Vietnam, including three endemic to Vietnam: G. catbanensis, G. huulienensis and G lichtenfelderi;
    • 13 species of salamander (Paramesotriton) distributed in Vietnam and China, including a famous native species found primarily in Tam Dao national park, Paramesotriton deloustali;
    • Many species of newts, known as crocodile newts or knobby newts (Tylototriton) distributed in Southeast Asia and China, including one endemic to Vietnam, Tylototriton vietnamensis.
  • Rhino horn is valued in countries like China and Vietnam for purported medicinal benefits, although there is no scientific evidence to back these claims. Horn can be sold for high prices on the black market, but there are indications that the price has fallen recently in Vietnam, thanks in part to a campaign to reduce rhino horn demand launched in 2013 by HSI and the Vietnamese government.The multi-faceted campaign has reached an estimated 34 million people – approximately one third of the national population.
  • In 2016, HSI arranged the first-ever Pangolin Range States Meeting, co-hosted by the governments of Vietnam and the United States, and attended by over thirty pangolin range states in Vietnam. In September 2018, HSI in partnership with Forestry Administration of Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development conducted a national consultation to develop one National Action Plan on Pangolin Conservation.
  • Since early 2019, HSI, in partnership with Dong Nai Forest Protection Department and Department of Forest Protected Areas under Forestry Administration of Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been implementing a project in Dong Nai to prevent and mitigate Human Elephant Conflict in a humane manner.

Humane Society International/Korea says closures of Moran and Gupo dog meat markets mark end of a gruesome era

Humane Society International

SEOUL – South Korean authorities have shut down Gupo dog meat market in Busan, notorious for being one of the country’s largest markets selling chilled dog meat as well as live dogs killed to order. More than 80 live but terrified dogs were rescued as part of a negotiated closure with the dog meat vendors who will be offered compensation to set up alternative businesses as part of a remodelling project to regenerate the area.

The dogs are now in the care of animal charities Humane Society International/Korea, Korean Animal Welfare Association, Korea Animal Rights Advocates and Busan Korean Alliance for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who worked with the authorities to close Gupo market. Busan’s Mayor Geodon Oh and the Head of Gu office, Myung Hee Chung, worked together with the dog traders to find a solution.

The closure of Gupo is the latest in a series of crack downs by officials on the cruel trade. In November last year, Seongnam city demolished Taepyeong, the country’s largest dog slaughterhouse, and closed down most of the related dog meat vendors. However, the closure of Gupo market is the first such closure where complete agreement has been reached between the vendors and local authorities.

Photos and video of the dog market and slaughterhouse closure and rescue are available for download here: https://newsroom.humanesociety.org/fetcher/index.php?searchMerlin=1&searchBrightcove=1&submitted=1&mw=d&q=MarketRescue0719

Nara Kim, dog meat campaigner for Humane Society International/Korea (휴메인 소사이어티 인터내셔널) who attended the closure and rescue, says: “I cannot express enough my joy at helping to close down the dog meat shops and slaughterhouse at Gupo market. For decades they have stood as a very public symbol of the immense cruelty of the dog meat trade, with live dogs displayed in cages on the street for shoppers to select for slaughter by electrocution. The closure of Gupo’s dog meat market means the end of a gruesome era in South Korea’s dog meat history, and a sign of the times that law enforcement and local authorities are cracking down on this increasingly unpopular industry that most Koreans want nothing to do with. I know we have a long way to go to end the dog meat trade here, but even two years ago I would never have believed we would see such progress. It has been a pleasure to work with the Busan authorities, and especially in being able to save the last remaining dogs we found alive.”

At the height of business at Gupo in the 1970s and 1980s, the market housed around 60 dog meat shops but after the Seoul Olympic in 1988 it started to decrease. Just 17 dog meat vendors and two dog tonic (gaesoju) shops remained before today’s closure.

Humane Society International/Korea’s rescue team was on site to assist the closure and rescue with partners KARA, KAWA and Busan KAPCA. They found more than 80 mainly jindo mix dogs cowering in their cages, just a handful of the estimated 2 million dogs bred on thousands of dog meat farms across the country. HSI/Korea specialises in working with dog meat farmers to close down these farms and transition farmers to alternative, humane livelihoods. Increasingly, dog farmers are keen to exit the controversial trade due to societal shame, family pressure and decreasing profits.

HSI/Korea’s Nara Kim says: “The dog market scene was really upsetting, with dogs displayed in cages in front of each store. The smell was overwhelming.  HSI has closed down 14 dog meat farms in South Korea and rescued nearly 1,800 dogs, all of whom would have ended up in a terrible place just like this. All the dogs at Gupo have been removed and transported to a temporary shelter where they will recover from their ordeal. A few will remain in Korea to find new homes, but HSI will fly all the others overseas to Canada or the United States to get the love and care they deserve before being placed with shelter and rescue partners who will seek adoptive homes.”

Kim Ae-ra, president of Busan Korean Alliance for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said: “We started anti-dog meat protests in front of Gupo dog meat market for the first time in 2007 and so we are deeply moved that the market will be the first complete shutdown of its kind in Korea.”

Yim Soonrye of Korea Animal Rights Advocates, said: “Dog slaughterhouses are collapsing one by one, from Seongnam Moran Market to Taepyeong-dong and Busan Gupo Market, and in addition Gyeonggi Province has introduced its own judicial polices to crack down on illegal dog slaughterhouses. This all shows that the Korean dog meat industry is starting to fall. As local governments are moving forward, the Korean government must also take action by closing all illegal dog farms, by the Blue House keeping its promise to exclude dogs from the legal definition of ‘livestock’, and by the National Assembly passing the proposed bill to end the dog meat industry before the end of next year’s session. We welcome the decision made by Busan Metropolitan City and the merchants of Gupo, and believe that the shutdown of Gupo dog market will be a major stepping stone towards ending dog meat in Korea.”

Cho Hee-kyung, president of Korean Animal Welfare Association, said: “The permanent shutdown of Gupo dog meat market is a long-awaited victory against animal cruelty in our campaign to end the dog meat trade in South Korea. We will now step forward to call for the shutdown of Chil-seong market, another large dog meat market in Daegu.”

Facts

  • Dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, particularly among younger generations. A survey by Gallup Korea conducted in June 2018 shows that 70% of South Koreans say they will not eat dog meat in future.
  • Busan city has signed a closure contract with each dog meat vendor, contractually prevented from transitioning to other dog meat related businesses. The entire street of stores will be demolished.
  • The regeneration plan is due for completion by 2020 and will culminate in the launch of a community park.
  • Busan city veterinarians will give all the rescued dogs a health check, and further care and vaccinations will be performed by HSI and partnering local groups. Every dog will be tested for the presence of the H3N2 virus (dog flu), and vaccinated against rabies, DHPP, corona virus vaccines, distemper and parvo. The dogs will then be quarantined in Korea under the groups’ care before travel to Canada and the United States.
  • The decision by the Busan authorities to close the dog market at Gupo is the result of lots of factors, not least years of protests by local residents and Korean animal groups including CARE, and Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation.

 

Media contacts:

  • HSI/Korea휴메인 소사이어티 인터내셔널: Nara Kim김나라  nkim@hsi.org  010-2834-5703
  • HSI/United Kingdom: Wendy Higgins whiggins@hsi.org +44 (0)7989 972 423

Humane Society International / Japan

Dwarf minke whale

WASHINGTON – Responding to Japan’s announcement of a self-awarded commercial whaling quota of 227 whales for 2019, in defiance of the International Whaling Commission’s conservation authority, Humane Society International’s President Kitty Block said: “This is a monstrous violation of global norms. In direct violation of international standards and law, Japan has opened a new and infamous era of pirate whaling. Abandoning its decades-long charade of harpooning whales under the guise of science, it has revealed a terrible truth – that these gentle ocean giants are being slaughtered for no legitimate reason at all.”

Japan’s proposed take is for 150 Bryde’s whales, 52 minke whales, and 25 sei whales.

The international ban on commercial whaling imposed by the IWC, the recognized international authority governing commercial whaling, applies to both the high seas and countries’ territorial waters.

Japan claims to have developed the current whaling program using IWC-approved methods. However, if commercial whaling were ever to be approved by the IWC, it would require independent oversight, including observer regimes, to monitor the catch and assess the development of any quotas.

The new quota sizes approximate to Japan’s recent ‘research’ takes in the North Pacific. The latest figures published by the IWC show 153 whales from the same three species taken in 2016 and 263 in 2017.

Whaling is neither sustainable nor humane. As long-lived, slow breeding marine mammals, whales are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation. There is no guaranteed humane way to kill a whale at sea.

 

Media contact: Wendy Higgins, HSI Director of International Media: whiggins@hsi.org

Ricky Gervais, Stephen Fry, and Dr Jane Goodall, among stars urging G20 to act for whales

Humane Society International / Global

Sperm whale

LONDON — Celebrities and animal conservation and welfare NGOs from across the globe are calling for an ‘international whaling intervention’ to be staged at the G20 summit in Osaka as summit hosts Japan prepare to launch a renewed commercial whaling programme.[1] The programme will see Japan openly killing sei, Bryde’s and minke whales for consumption with no pretence of science. [2]

Letters have been sent to all G20 leaders calling on them to publicly object at the summit to Japan’s commercial whaling intentions, and to deliver a joint declaration calling for the end to all commercial whaling globally. See the full letter here.

Celebrities Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais, Dr Jane Goodall, Liz Bonnin, Steve Backshall, Virginia McKenna and Nicky Campbell, alongside more than 100 conservation charities and champions[3] within almost all the countries in the G20,[4] are backing pleas for international anti-whaling pressure to be placed on Japan.

BAFTA-winning English naturalist, writer and TV presenter, Steve Backshall, said: ‘It has taken the combined efforts of every nation on earth to bring whale conservation to the fore. At the G20 summit, our leaders need to talk to our friends in Japan, and let them know that – on this issue – they are deeply at odds with the rest of the world.’

Kitty Block, president of Humane Society International, said: ‘This week while one part of the Japanese government is proudly facilitating international cooperation by hosting the G20 meeting, another is quietly extricating itself from the obligation for global collaboration on the protection and management of the world’s whales.

‘Japan leaving the IWC and defying international law to pursue its commercial whaling ambitions is renegade, retrograde and myopic, it is undermining its international reputation for an industry whose days are so clearly numbered, to produce a product for which demand has plummeted. The IWC is maintaining its ban on commercial whaling for very good reasons and world leaders meeting in Japan this week should not turn a blind eye to the cruel assault planned on whales of the North Pacific.’

Dominic Dyer of Born Free Foundation, said: ‘The fight to protect whales gave birth to the modern environment movement 50 years ago. Yet during a year where Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thurnberg and school children worldwide are challenging our leaders to tackle environmental decline, Japan is sending its whaling ships back to sea, within days of the hosting the G20 Summit.

‘There is no justification for whaling on scientific or economic grounds. World leaders should call on Japan to halt its commercial whaling plans and return to supporting global efforts to protect whales and their ocean habitats. If we fail to protect whales, the future for mankind and our planet will be very bleak indeed.’

There is no commercial or other pressing need for Japan to relaunch its whaling activity, with whale meat consumption in Japan down almost 99% from 1962 to 2017, when less than 4,000 tonnes were eaten.[5] But there is a huge need to prevent a further decline in whale numbers. The IWC international ban on commercial whaling, agreed in 1982, has helped great whale populations increase, saving several from extinction. Yet many whale populations remain low or endangered – and all whales face the huge threats of fishing-related deaths, ship collisions, climate change, and chemical, litter and noise pollution.[6]

With whales playing a key role in our marine ecosystems (including locking up carbon and providing nourishment for phytoplankton essential to ocean food chains) it is vital that Governments around the world help to protect them to keep our seas healthy.[7] G20 leaders have the ideal opportunity at the Osaka summit to echo public opinion on the need for Japan to end this cruel and unnecessary practice. Peaceful anti-whaling protest events will also be taking place in London, Edinburgh and other cities around the world on Saturday to draw attention to this issue.

 

 

Media contact:

Wendy Higgins, Humane Society International, Tel +44 (0)7989 972 423 whiggins@hsi.org

Emma Adler, Wildlife and Countryside Link, Tel + 44 (0) 20 7820 8600

 

Notes to editors:

 

  1. Japan is leaving the International Whaling Commission (IWC), effective 30th June 2019, and will be conducting commercial whaling in its own waters. It will take three species in its new hunts – sei, Bryde’s and minke whales.
  2. Japan claims that its previous whaling programmes were scientific research and allowed under the convention that established the IWC, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. In a landmark case at the International Court of Justice in 2014, Japan’s scientific whaling was put on trial and the court found that it was not in conformity with the convention. Therefore, Japan’s new whaling programme in the North Pacific can be seen as a continuation of its previous activities and not the start of new commercial hunts.
  3. Organisations supporting these calls in the UK include: Animal Defenders, Born Free Foundation, Campaign Whale, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Humane Society International, IFAW, Marine Conservation Society, MARINELife, ORCA, RSPCA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation
  4. For a full list of the more than 100 organisations supporting the letter to G20 leaders, see the letter here
  5. The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK, and USA.
  6. See p7-9 of IFAW’s 2017 Economics of Japanese Whaling Report
  7. Whale populations which have shown good signs of recovery since the moratorium has been in place include some of those of the humpback whale and the Southern Right whale. Whale species which have populations still severely at risk include the North Atlantic Right Whale and the North Pacific Right Whale. See the IWC Intersessional report 2016-2018 for more.
  8. More information about the positive and important roles that whales play in marine ecosystems can be found here.

 

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