Author: Kristin Stone

Now in its third year, an HSI/APOWA project to Save the Olive Ridleys off the coast of Odisha, India has achieved great success and attracted the attention and support of other NGOs, forest officials, and local and foreign volunteers. Read more about the project in its first and second years.

This season, in three locations south of the Gahirmatha sea turtle rookery and Devi river mouth (the world’s largest Olive Ridley nesting grounds), the team protected 756 females, collected and relocated 60,429 eggs, aided 12,029 disoriented hatchlings and in total, safely released 36,029 turtles into the sea.

Please, donate to help save turtles and other wildlife.

Hands-on rescue is only part of the mission. The project has trained 44 community members on such topics as protection of sea turtles and nests, hatchery management and handling of hatchlings. There has also been a very conscious drive to educate citizens and raise awareness about the conservation effort. Multiple programs did outreach to more than 2400 people, including 123 children and teachers from 11 schools who took part in “clean up the beach” activities while learning about these animals.

Patrols remain the most effective way to protect females and hatchlings. Currently, 10 guards from nearby villages watch over the beaches, warding off threats and recording data to help inform future efforts to save this endangered species. Give now to support our work.

In China to raise awareness about the Yulin Dog Meat Festival on June 21, HSI China Specialist Dr. Peter Li rescued two puppies from the butchers’ knives. An HSI partner group saved two more.

What were the circumstances of the rescue?

On June 13, I went to two slaughterhouses and one live dog trading market at about 4am with a Shanghai journalist, an activist from Xi’an and a local activist. When we arrived at the trading market, we could see cages of live dogs being brought in on the backs of motorcycles. Most were in bad shape—emaciated, depressed and in pain. Three with serious skin problems looked particularly miserable.

At about 7am, the manager began to shout at us in order to drive us away. Just as we were leaving, another motorcycle raced in. On the back of it was a cage with two lively puppies. I went to the cage. The bigger puppy stood up to try to touch my fingers. He was so energetic, not knowing that he was in the most disgusting place. The other puppy was shy and sat in the corner of the cage. Without any thought, I told the man that I wanted those two dogs. It was too hard to leave them behind for the restaurant owners.

Why did they catch your eye in particular?

They were so cute that they looked like polar bear cubs. Their innocent faces were unbelievably attractive. They were like furballs. I could not imagine that they were brought to the live dog market. How could we slaughter puppies and eat them? Once we held them in our arms, they were so quiet, as if they knew they were in good and loving hands.

What happened after you took them away from the market?

We placed them in a local dog boarding facility run by an animal lover and checked on their condition daily. When I went back to Yulin to pick them up, they seemed to remember me. They were so happy in the cage, jumping, tumbling and trying to lick my hand.

I had them examined by a local vet, who said that they were in perfect health. They were given their first shot and they were ready to say goodbye to Yulin.

Did you have any difficulties in getting them out of the city?

It was definitely not easy. When the boarding facility lady went to the Yulin Animal Control Office for a vaccination certificate, we were told that none would be issued that day because of the dog meat festival. The Office Head did not want any mistakes made that could lead to his dismissal.

I called a contact at the airport and asked if he had a solution. Eventually, he was able to arrange for documents to be issued from Nanning instead.

With the two puppies, I hailed a taxi. Just when I was celebrating the successful “escape,” the car broke down. The driver opened the hood and we saw a smoking engine on the verge of catching fire. “Ai yi,” I was murmuring in my mind. I guess the road to freedom and safety cannot be too smooth! Fortunately, I got another ride to Nanning.

The puppies were loaded onto a China South Airlines flight to Beijing and I managed to get on board the same plane. In Beijing, we stopped for a few hours at a relative’s apartment. The two young girls of this animal-loving family had great fun hugging the two puppies.

A colleague took one to the US on the 27th. I’ll take the other one on July 3.

What next?

I couldn’t resist, nor risk disappointing my daughters! I am adopting one of them and one has been adopted by an HSI board member — a very different fate from the one they had previously faced.

HSI’s Dr. Peter Li, along with The HSUS’s Karen Lange and colleagues from local partner groups, bore witness to the horrors of this year’s Yulin Dog Meat Festival in an effort to persuade officials to cancel it. Below are some of the scenes they encountered.

Saving lives

Activists surround a truck in a Yulin dog meat market on June 20, bargaining for the lives of animals on their way to slaughter. At the city’s notorious dog meat festival, an event they had managed to shrink in size but not stop, activists searched for and bought as many such dogs as they could. All of the dogs in this truck were saved, along with as many as 400 others rescued from dog meat traders during a series of interceptions over three days.

Media attention

As activists descended on Yulin from around China for the June 21 festival, so too did media—radio and TV reporters from Shanghai, Zhejiang, Beijing, Hong Kong, and beyond brought the story to the rest of the nation. Overseas journalists brought it to the world. Streets that in past years had filled with people eating dog meat and lychee and drinking hard liquor to mark the summer solstice were instead crowded with activists, reporters, defenders of the dog meat trade, and bystanders drawn to the conflict.

Signs covered up

About a week before the official date of the June 21 dog meat festival, the city government banned the display of the word “dog” on restaurant signs. So around the city, restaurant owners covered up the Chinese character. It was not the only move that the government, under pressure from activists and concerned about its image, took to subdue the festival. Earlier, officials ordered an end to the public slaughter of dogs within the city and told employees not to eat dog meat in restaurants. They also tried to stop big transport trucks carrying dogs from entering the city.

Suffering in transport

Dogs being sold as meat arrived in Yulin crammed in narrow cages that can be stacked on big trucks during transports of as much as 700 miles that leave dogs sick, dehydrated, and sometimes dead. The cages can also be flipped on their slides to fit on the back of motorbikes. When Yulin blocked big trucks from entering the city, dog traders appeared to have unloaded their trucks and transported dogs the remaining distance on motorbikes and in pickups.

Slaughtered in the shadows

Dogs await slaughter behind a restaurant in Yulin. In past years, dogs were killed in the street, but this year, they were slaughtered in secret. “Now we have to do it as though we are thieves,” a restaurant owner told a Chinese TV station.

Processed with poison?

A woman uses a blowtorch to prepare the skin of a dog so that it can be displayed for sale in a restaurant. Because many dogs sold for meat are skinny, their flesh is soaked in water, where it swells and becomes plump and white.Then traders brown the outside to make the meat marketable. Eating dog is hazardous. City officials have not strictly enforced food safety laws. Dogs may carry rabies or other diseases, or may have been poisoned. Animal welfare advocates estimate that as many as one in 10 of the dogs traded for meat in China are stolen pets. Help put a stop to the suffering.

Speaking out for change

Protesters in front of Yulin’s city hall on June 13 briefly unfurled a banner about the health hazards of eating dog meat before being run off by police. A week later, on June 21, activists were back. HSI partner group members handed out leaflets that read, “Food safety is more important than dog traders’ profits.” Their audience: As before, the media and police.

Rescued from butchers’ knives

This year’s unprecedented campaign by Chinese animal welfare activists along with more than 100,000 signatures collected by HSI did not completely end the festival. But there was little celebration in this year’s event. “It was really not a festival anymore,” said Li. “It was just a reaction from the locals, saying, ‘We want to eat [dog meat].’ It was just shameful.”

In past years, as many as 10,000 dogs had been slaughtered. This year, according to the Xinhua News Agency, 17 of 69 restaurants in the city that served dog took the meat off their menu. Another four were shuttered by city authorities for food safety violations. Dog meat sales were down. No exact count can be made,¹ but hundreds, likely thousands, fewer dogs lost their lives.

Photo descriptions by Karen Lange.

¹ A likely reliable source, the Yulin Centre for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, later estimated the number of dogs killed to be around 2,000.

The annual event, organized by the city’s government, was originally intended for people emerging from the region’s brutal winter to enjoy as a public gathering of “walking for health,” but Chinese activists have taken advantage of the opportunity to publicize their causes. This year drew more than 100,000 people, representing 1,300 groups and NGOs from 16 countries.

Please, donate to help end the horrific dog meat trade and help animals worldwide.

Vshine Animal Protection Group, a local HSI partner organization, was represented by more than 1,000 supporters and dozens of dogs. They carried banners and handed out leaflets calling on Chinese authorities to shut down the internationally notorious Yulin Dog Meat Festival, set for June 21. In the evening, they held a candlelight vigil to draw further attention to the issue.

Vshine is working with HSI’s Companion Animals & Engagement department to encourage the Chinese government to end the Yulin Festival—which in the past has resulted in the slaughter, often openly in the streets, of thousands of live dogs —with the ultimate objective of turning Chinese public opinion against the dog meat trade.

More than 35 groups from 24 cities in China are participating in the campaign.

They are hopeful of success, as pressure from advocates and bad publicity have already persuaded authorities to cancel similar events elsewhere. Please donate to support our work.

橘高 ルイーズ・ジョージ

THE JAPAN TIMES特別記事

日本において、化粧品は一大産業である。消費者は、テレビ、インターネット、雑誌、街頭広告やさらには車内広告において、常に最新の商品に関する宣伝にさらされている状態である。日本が世界で二番目の規模を誇る化粧品市場を有することに、誰も驚きはしないであろう。

日本の消費者は肌をより滑らかにし、髪の毛により艶を出す製品を求めてやまないが、自分たちの化粧品ポーチに入っている製品の裏で行われている恐ろしいことについて知っている消費者は比較的少ない。化粧品の原料の試験が未だに生きた動物に実施されているという事実は、日本では、最近まではうわべだけの関心ごとであった。しかし、昨年ヨーロッパにおいて動物実験の規制が変わったことにより、日本でも規制当局や化粧品企業らが、後に続くために取り組みを強化している。

先月、化粧品の動物実験の禁止に関連した世界的動向に関する情報と日本の今後の方向性を共有するために、国会議員、科学者や動物保護団体の関係者の集まりが開催された。この勉強会における演者の一人はヒューメイン・ソサイエティー・インターナショナル(Humane Society International, HSI)の研究・毒性学部門のディレクターであるトロイ・サイドル氏であった。動物を使用しない試験方法の普及に取り組んでいる世界最大規模のNGOとして、HSIは政府、立法者、企業及び消費者とこの問題に取り組むにあたって、鍵となる役割を果たしている。

サイドル氏によると、昨年3月、ヨーロッパが「化粧品に関してはcruelty-free(動物に苦痛を与えない)」になったことにより、これが世界の基準となった。

サイドル氏の説明によると、「ヨーロッパの化粧品の動物実験禁止には、二つの段階がある。欧州経済共同体では、動物実験の実施自体が禁止されている。さらに、2013年3月以降、新たに動物実験が実施された化粧品及びその原料の輸入・販売も禁止されている。」

イスラエル、インド及びブラジルのサンパウロ州は、ヨーロッパの後に続いた。アメリカ、ニュージーランド及びオーストラリアにおいても、似たような法案が提出されている。

日本の主要な化粧品企業の一つは既に取り組みを開始している。ヨーロッパの規制改正に伴い、資生堂は2013年3月に原則動物実験を廃止したことを発表した（海外から輸入された化粧品に対して動物実験が義務付けられている中国への輸入を除く）。

資生堂の広報部の廣田智氏は、「グローバルな企業として、これが化粧品産業の将来の姿であると思う」とコメントしている。「動物実験の代替法の進歩と、動物の権利に対する意識向上が、cruelty-freeに向けた運動に拍車をかけた。」

動物実験を終わらせることを発表した際、日本の消費者の反応は「驚くほどポジティブなものであった」と廣田氏は付け加える。

ミス・アプリコット、ディーフィット、生活の木等、中小規模の国内企業にはすでにcruelty-freeなものもいくつかあり、またラッシュやザ・ボディショップ等、日本で人気のある海外企業にもcruelty-freeなものがある。

1990年代中盤に英国で設立されたラッシュは、1999年に日本に初出店し、今では日本全国でカラフルな手作りの入浴剤、ヘア・ケア製品やスキン・ケア製品を販売している。2012年には、HSIと共同で、動物実験に対する消費者の意識向上を目指すBe Cruelty-Free思いやりのある美しさキャンペーンを世界中の12か所の市場で開始させた。

ラッシュジャパンのチャリティー・キャンペーン　スーパーバイザーの秋山映美氏は、HSIの日本のコンサルタントと協働体制をとり、今年初め、日本におけるBe Cruelty-Free思いやりのある美しさキャンペーンの開始に携わった。化粧品の動物実験について、日本の一般消費者を教育することは難しいと指摘している。

「日本とは異なり、ヨーロッパでは、動物実験の法令を改正するための運動を先導したのは消費者であった」と秋山氏は言う。しかし、ラッシュのcruelty-freeな化粧品に対するコミットメントを支持してくれる消費者や入社希望者は徐々に増加している、と状況が好転していることも付け加えた。

欧米においては、動物が死ぬまで化粧品を強制的に喉に流し込んだり、化学物質を動物の目や毛を剃った皮膚に繰り返し付ける等の試験をやめさせるべく、動物好きの消費者がロビー活動を開始した1970代がcruelty-freeの運動のはじめとされている。ペットブームが沸き起こっており、多くの飼い主が自分のペットを大切な子どものように扱っている日本で、何故実験に使われる動物に対する声が上げられてこなかったのであろうか。

最近、ラッシュジャパンが資金提供をし、HSIが協力して実施された、化粧品の動物実験に関するオンラインのアンケート調査によると、化粧品の動物実験について聞いたことがあると回答した割合は30％で、代替法の開発を進めるべきであると回答した割合は85%であった。

HSIの日本コンサルタントの山﨑佐季子氏は、「一般的な市民が社会の変革を求めて活動するという機会があまりない日本においては、何事においても社会意識そのものが決して高くない」と指摘する。「日本社会で成功するためには、波風を立てずに長いものにはまかれるという考え方が強い。」

山﨑氏は、現状を変えるためには教育が鍵となると言っている。

「まずは、動物実験自体とグローバルなレベルでこの課題に対する意識が変化していることについて、消費者に知ってもらう必要がある。情報がなければ、自分の立場を表明し、製品を購入する際、意識的な選択もできない。」

サイドル氏も、消費者が一定の影響力を持つと考えている。

「消費者が動物実験されている製品を買うと、その企業に対して『よくできました、どうぞ製品を製造することを続けてください』と言っているようなものである」と単刀直入に説明している。しかし、消費者と化粧品企業は四つある側面の二つを構成するものにしか過ぎず、残りの二つの側面である規制当局と科学者も検討する必要がある。

「動物の苦しみを終わらせるために、一般消費者に訴えかけるというだけの作業ではない。政策立案者や研究機関と対話し、既に開発されている代替法について検討し、世界的動向に沿った国内政策に向けて取り組むことが求められる」とサイドル氏が言う。

EUの化粧品の動物実験禁止の副作用の一つとして、安全性試験において、動物を使わない方法を開発し評価するための公的及び企業の助成金が急激に増加したということが挙げられる。今日、このような研究により、1940年代に開発された動物を用いた方法を凌駕する、最先端のヒト生物学を基盤とした試験方法が開発されており、動物を用いた試験はこれらの最先端の方法に取って代わられることとなる。

例えば、現在は、皮膚刺激の試験のために、ウサギではなく再構築されたヒトの皮膚モデルを使うことができる。また、日光による光毒性の試験のためには、モルモットではなく高速の細胞試験を用いることができる。これらの方法は、有用性が科学的に評価され、世界中の健康関連の規制当局により、受け入れられている方法である。

あまり知られていないかもしれないが、日本にもこのような課題に対応するための機関が既に設立されている。日本動物実験代替法評価センター(JaCVAM)は、化学物質を評価するための動物実験において「3R」に焦点を当てた取り組みを実施することがその使命である：これらは、使用動物数を削減すること(reduction)、動物の苦痛軽減と動物福祉を促進すること(refinement)、動物を使用する試験を、動物を用いない代替法に置き換えること(replacement)である。

日本動物実験代替法評価センターは2005年に設立され、国立医薬品食品衛生研究所内で小島肇氏のもと運営されている。

「正直に言うと、今まで日本の化粧品業界は、代替法のcruelty-freeな側面にあまり関心を示さなかった。多くの企業が、ヨーロッパの化粧品の動物実験の禁止がこんなにも早く実現されると思っていなかった。しかし、今それが実現され、日本も新たな時代に参入することになる」と小島氏はコメントしている。

小島氏は、前進するためには、規制当局、研究者及び企業が情報交換をすることが必須であると指摘している。

「日本動物実験代替法センターでは、様々な関係者間での対話を促進している。代替法に対する関心が高まれば、企業と規制当局双方から、研究に使える資金がより多く提供されるようになる。こうなると、遅かれ早かれ、日本でもまずは化粧品の動物実験が禁止され、それから動物実験の規制が他の領域でも広がると考えている。」

同様に、サイドル氏も日本において、安全性を損なわずに化粧品の動物実験を終わらせることができるとコメントしている。「過去に試験が実施され、今後新たに動物実験を実施せずとも安全に使用できることがわかっている既存の原料が8,000以上もある。薬用を謳っていない化粧品においては、ほとんど新たな原料は開発されていない。日本においては、ほとんどの新たな原料は、日焼け止めや美白クリーム等、『医薬部外品』に分類されている製品のために開発されている。」

HSIの日本コンサルタントの山﨑氏は、最新の動向により、自国においても動物実験禁止の気運が高まることを願っている。

「動物福祉、国際貿易、科学技術の革新。関心を持つ理由は何でも良い。動物だけにプラスになることではなく、人間にとってもプラスになる課題である。」

HSI Be Cruelty-Free 思いやりのある美しさキャンペーン

キャンペーンについてはこちら：　www.hsi.org/issues/becrueltyfree/be_cruelty_free.html.

 ＊この記事は、2014年6月2日にThe Japan Timesに掲載されたものの非公式訳です。英文のオリジナルの記事は、下記のリンクからご覧になっていただけます。

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/06/02/issues/japan-urged-make-cosmetics-cruelty-free/#.U45wUHJ_vTo

記事についての感想等はこちらへ:　community@japantimes.co.jp

The World Trade Organization today issued a final decision in its ruling to the inhumane global seal trade, and gave a precedent-setting boost to our domestic and international efforts to prevent animal abuse. The international body that sets the rules of the road on global trade matters has upheld the European Union’s right to prohibit trade in the products of commercial seal hunts for public moral reasons based on animal welfare.

This is one of the most significant developments in the campaign to save seals, and a critically important validation of the United States’ and other countries’ right to crack down on the global trade in products of animal cruelty.

We’re making progress, with your help! Please donate and take action to help end the slaughter.

The EU ban on the sale of commercial seal products, instituted in 2009, had been challenged at the WTO by Canada and Norway as violating international trade rules. After a WTO panel in 2013 largely upheld the EU’s right to restrict trade in products of animal cruelty for public moral reasons, finding fault merely with certain exceptions to the ban, Canada and Norway appealed the panel’s findings. Today, the WTO Appellate Body — the final arbiter of international trade disputes — reaffirmed that the EU was justified in placing limitations on trade in seal products based on its citizens’ concerns over the animal welfare risks in seal hunting.

The WTO’S acceptance of the concept that a nation’s legislative decision that certain products are just too cruel to be sold within its borders bolsters animal protection legislation throughout the globe. It will also reassure any country considering a positive trade-related animal welfare measure that it has much less to fear from a WTO challenge than it did before. The ruling also means that hundreds of state and federal animal protection laws already in place can now be fully enforced and hopefully expanded and strengthened in the years to come.

Today’s WTO decision is a victory for the global animal protection movement, and specifically for the legal and political experts at Humane Society International and The HSUS who have worked tirelessly to push the WTO toward this acceptance of animal welfare as a legitimate moral rationale for restricting trade. The HSI/HSUS team made a significant contribution to this victory by providing video evidence during the WTO hearings of the inherent cruelty of commercial sealing and by co-authoring two amicus briefs submitted for consideration by the WTO.

This ruling also confirms that it is time for the Canadian government to stop wasting taxpayer dollars to preserve this cruel slaughter. Canada should take action to put an end to commercial seal slaughter and compensate sealers through a fair sealing industry buyout. Such a plan has broad support amongst sealers and would cost Canadians far less than continuing to prop up the commercial seal hunt with government subsidies. Join our call for a buyout and then please give to support our efforts.