Author: Kristin Stone

As today the Home Office publishes its annual UK statistics on scientific procedures using animals – revealing animal use has reached a shocking 4.11million procedures – Humane Society International/UK calls for a substantial increase in government funding for the development of non-animal replacement methods. For 2011/2012, the government gave just £5.46million to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, with roughly one-third spent on research to replace animals. This is compared to an overall annual UK science budget of £4.6 billion.

In a new HSI video, biomedical researchers from Imperial College, London, The Blizzard Institute and Aston University, explain why replacing animals in cancer, gastrointestinal, respiratory and neurological research will reap significant rewards for human health.

Troy Seidle, Director of Research & Toxicology for HSI, said, “Despite a government pledge to reduce animal experiments and repeated claims that animals are only used when absolutely necessary, millions of mice, monkeys, rabbits, fish, dogs and other animals still suffer in UK laboratories. The excuse that this level of animal use benefits medical research is wearing thin. Increasingly, scientists are questioning the human-relevance of animal models, pointing to the need to invest in advanced, non-animal techniques to improve medical progress. Britain should be a world leader in developing this cutting-edge research, yet government spending on 21st century, non-animal replacement research remains woefully inadequate at 66p per animal in a UK laboratory. For human health and animal protection, we must do better than that.”

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“The government may prefer to talk about animals in laboratories as mere percentages because they belie the shocking scale of animal use. But the truth is, behind closed doors thousands of dogs and cats just like our beloved pets at home, are subjected to distressing and often terminal procedures; hundreds of highly intelligent monkeys endure physical and mental pain; and more than a million rabbits, guinea-pigs, hamsters and other rodents go through painful and invasive testing. These animals are not just statistics.”

In 2012, 4.11million procedures began on 4.03million animals including rabbits, fish, monkeys, rodents, dogs and horses—the highest level since the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act was introduced in 1986.

In May 2010, the government pledged a national reduction strategy “to reduce the use of animals in scientific research” in its publication ‘The Coalition: Our Programme for Government‘. Some 182 cross-party MPs signed EDM 435 in support of the reduction pledge.

Read the official Home Office statistics [pdf].

by Dr. Peter Li

Last month, HSI staff traveled to China with the mission of improving animal welfare in zoos and protection in the wild.

Reaching zoo directors

HSI invited world-renowned elephant researcher Dr. Joyce Poole and Vice Director of Houston Zoo David Brady to speak to 48 Chinese zoo directors, who also heard from three experts sent by Animals Asia.

HSI discussed the case of a young elephant who died last year not long after arriving in China from Africa, warning that the decision to import of animals for zoos must take their needs and behavior fully into consideration.

Dr. Poole, co-founder of Elephant Voices, shared her experiences from three decades in Kenya studying the behavior and communication of elephants. She presented captivating photos of the animals roaming freely and did an amazing imitation of elephant sounds. She stated that importing elephants is a bad idea because no captive setting can replicate the natural and social settings that they require.

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Finally, David Brady spoke on marketing strategies for zoos, emphasizing the importance of diversified but sensitive and humane approaches to attracting visitors. Indirectly, he rejected practices such as animal performances and photo-ops with drugged or chained animals as tactics to be avoided.

Reaching young conservationists

Meanwhile, HSI President & CEO Dr. Andrew Rowan visited Northeast China University of Forestry to lecture 60 graduate and undergraduate students on wildlife protection.

He discussed the causes of global wildlife loss—from habitat destruction to illegal wildlife trade—and the integral role that China has to play in addressing them. He suggested that public education and suspension of wildlife import were important steps for China to take. The students responded well with intelligent, enthusiastic questions.

In both cases, it was satisfying to know that sharing expertise with a receptive audience made up of people working at the forefront of wildlife issues in China could help to effect positive changes for the country’s animals.

Learn more and help

Learn more about HSI’s initiatives for wildlife protection, including stopping illegal wildlife trade and other wildlife crime, supporting rehabilitation of seized animals, stopping rhino poaching and promoting immunocontraception as a humane means of elephant population control.

Check out our interactive wildlife trade infographic; then sign our Don’t Buy Wild pledge and donate to support our work. 

Dr. Peter Li is HSI’s China Specialist.

As the number of visitors to bullfights falls, Spain’s politicians are considering a new law to sustain the cruel spectacles by declaring them cultural heritage, a move that would ensure additional public funds are spent on promoting and protecting the bloodsport across the country.

We’ve teamed up with other UK and international organisations, including the League Against Cruel Sports, PETA UK, the World Society for the Protection of Animals and CAS International, to raise awareness of the cruelty involved and to work with Spanish organisations, including La Tortura no es Cultura Platform, who are opposed to bullfighting and their government’s backing of it.

Our “Love Spain, Hate Bullfighting” campaign is gathering support from compassionate citizens all around the world.

Join us in speaking out against this terrible cruelty:
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Political discussions

The proposed legislation is now progressing through the Spanish parliament. Once the Culture Committee has discussed the details, the draft law will be debated and voted on. If approved, it could bring into question legislation approved by autonomous communities in Spain, such as the established ban on bullfighting in Catalonia (agreed in 2010).

Neither culture nor entertainment justify suffering

According to ex-matador D. Alvaro Múnera, bullfighting is “a cruel tradition, where the victim first off is innocent and where it is savagely tortured and massacred… it is ethically inconceivable.”

The torment and death of animals for amusement can never be acceptable and in the 21st century wanton animal cruelty can no longer hide behind cultural excuses. Bullfighting is brutal and outdated, and has no place in a modern society.

A declining industry

A recently commissioned opinion poll showed that 76 per cent of Spanish citizens are opposed to the use of public funds to support bullfighting and only 29 per cent support the practice. Just 13 percent support it “strongly.”

According to the country’s Culture Ministry, the annual attendance figure at bullfights is just 8.5 per cent of the population [1]. The number of bullfights held between 2007 and 2011 dropped from 3,650 a year to 2,290, a figure that is thought to have decreased further during 2012.

Learn more about the bullfighting issue.

1. Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain 2010-2011.

by Keren Nazareth

The Sri Dorabji Tata Trust will invest USD $1 million over the next three years to make Jamshedpur, India an animal-friendly city. HSI is the lead implementing agency and has begun work on a project to raise community awareness.

“HSI will build a model for humane animal birth control practices in India. Our motive in seeking this collaboration was to be able to demonstrate success for a humane dog management plan—from monitoring and gathering information to humane handling and community participation,” says Rahul Sehgal, Director, Asia for HSI.

The program has so far undertaken scientific surveys, based on which the ABC project will be planned. The University of Glasgow will set up a database to help with data collection/analysis, a significant part of this model and a learning process.

Creating a team

HSI will employ Animal Welfare Officers to involve the community in the project by asking residents to observe dogs after (spay/neuter) surgery and phone a helpline if they see any who seem unwell. A dedicated team with a van will follow up as needed.

Support our efforts by becoming a Street Dog Defender.

The AWOs will also set an example for human-dog contact. According to HSI consultant Joy Lee, “We heard anecdotal evidence that people like friendly dogs and will even try to take them home, although the dogs usually escape and find a way back to their territories. We hope that positive interactions will lead to more sociable animals, which in turn will lead to good human-dog relationships and ultimately to more adoptions.”

HSI will train the AWOs in human behavior change, community engagement techniques and innovative dog trapping methods. Meanwhile, a holding facility managed by HSI will be crucial to increasing efficiency and hygiene and decreasing the stress of the animals during the post-op period.

Demonstrating, then replicating

This project is unique in its phased approach and clear focus on generating evidence-based lessons for others to follow. Innovation in both process and technology will be key to improving the ABC model, first in Jamshedpur and then hopefully throughout India and other Asian countries facing similar challenges. Give now to help street dogs worldwide.

In April 2013, more than 2,000 dogs were intercepted and seized as smugglers attempted to ship them out of Thailand via Laos. They were bound for Vietnamese restaurants, victims of the illegal dog meat trade.

Overwhelmed and at risk

Our local partner organization, Soi Dog Foundation, put out a call for help after the shelter that took in the dogs—already caring for more than 1,000 animals—in swelled to overcapacity and disease began to spread.

Led by Dr. Rey del Napoles, our team worked with volunteers from other animal welfare organizations and the shelter’s own staff to treat sick and wounded dogs as well as improve overall conditions and thus the likelihood of longer-term survival.

Support our efforts to fight the dog meat trade and keep all animals safe.

Lifesaving changes

We were able to have a significant impact on the situation, instituting new policies and procedures that quickly reduced the suffering and mortality rate that the shelter had been experiencing prior to our vets’ arrival.

Overall, we trained local staff, including vets, in best practices for care of animals in shelters and improved animal welfare standards for dogs who will arrive at this shelter and others now being built to accommodate those confiscated in the future. Some changes we made:

• We moved the most adoptable dogs to locations with more exposure to the public.
• We introduced feeding troughs so the weaker, smaller dogs would have broader access to food.
• We instituted vital disease control measures.
• We assisted with a mass spay/neuter campaign.

The amazing generosity from supporters like you makes our lifesaving work possible.

Each dog has a story

Every day, Dr. del Napoles and the other vets treated dog after dog selected from the pens full of animals in need of attention. Three in particular stood out.

Sweet Krapro

Krapro (pronounced “ka-pow,” meaning “hot basil”) is a Thai Ridgeback and Spitz mix dog. She roams freely around the facility, as she refused to be kept in a cage. She is very sweet and smart, exhibiting the sort of exemplary social skills sometimes found in cherished pets.

Brave Lilly

During transport, dogs are often placed in either rusty metal cages or plastic chicken coops. They can barely stand or move around. Piled onto each other, some sustain serious injuries.

Lilly suffered this misfortune. She arrived at the shelter with severe damage to her hind legs, dragging them around due to paralysis of the pelvic region. After being treated for illness, she was fitted with a wheelchair that allows her to romp the hospital premises.

The friendliness of Kraprow and Lilly suggests that they were likely people’s companions, snatched from their homes by pitiless dealers interested only in profit.

Lucky Honeyboo

When Kate Hodal, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Guardian, visited the Nakhon Phanom Shelter to do an in-depth article on the dog meat trade, she noticed a scrawny brown dog she later named Honeyboo. In the course of the day, she started to ask more and more about the condition of the dog. Eventually, she decided to keep her as her companion in her rented apartment in Bangkok.

Honeyboo will have to stay at the shelter for a few more weeks to recover from poor nutrition and an infected wound, but then Kate will take her home and shower her with the love she deserves.

Urgent need

It was heartbreaking to see how much trust Krapro, Lilly and Honeyboo still had in humans after the way they were treated. We hope that the recommendations we made will allow more dogs like them a second chance at life after their initial rescue. At the same time, we’re doing all we can to stop this brutal trade for good.

Please give now to help stop animal cruelty.