Author: Kristin Stone

In September 2011, HSI Canada, in partnership with the Ministere de l’Agriculture, des Pecheries et de l’Alimentation du Quebec and local law enforcement, rescued more than 500 dogs and puppies from a large-scale commercial breeding facility in Outaouais, Quebec.

Here, we present a slideshow of the dogs recovering at the emergency shelter where they were taken for treatment before being made available for adoption into loving new homes. And, watch our video.

 

by Rebecca Aldworth

As I look around the emergency shelter HSI helped to build, I am overwhelmed by the ability of dogs to forgive. For I’ve seen firsthand in the past few days what they have endured. And these are images I will never get out of my mind.

We’ve brought more than 500 dogs here, following the largest rescue of its kind in Quebec history. It took us two days to remove all of the animals from the facility where they were living, and our team is emotionally drained and physically exhausted. But we are overjoyed at the outcome of this operation. To have played such a central role in this rescue is something the HSI Animal Rescue Team will never forget.

Give now to support our efforts to help dogs in need.

I lifted one tiny Yorkshire terrier we named “Hope” out of her cage. She is a breeding female, several years old. She likely endured the substandard conditions of the breeding facility for a very long time. As I held her close, I vowed that we would do all we could to give her a brighter future.

One small dog that we named Sentry is really taking to his new home. At the seizure, he watched us all from his enclosure, jumping up every time we walked by as if to say, “It’s my turn!” But we had to bring the animals in most urgent need of attention to the shelter first, leaving him for the next load. My heart broke as we left the building and his sad gaze followed us. Soon though, we were back, and when we finally brought him outside, he was overcome with excitement. I am so glad our team was able to bring him to safety.

Today, the dogs have been receiving veterinary care, food, water and love. It is an amazing experience to see how the lives of animals can change in such a dramatic way so quickly. It is your support that made this rescue possible, and that keeps us going in our efforts to put a stop to this kind of suffering. Donate to help.

Rebecca Aldworth is executive director of HSI Canada.

Since 2004, HSI Latin America has been working on the ground in Costa Rica on farm animal issues. Our efforts have been aimed at influencing industry and government and promoting higher farm animal welfare standards (specifically for cattle raised for beef).  Our goal is to encourage practices that diminish the amount of stress and suffering that cattle experience prior to and during slaughter. In 2011, we also began researching and addressing issues around the extreme confinement of egg-laying hens and breeding sows in the country’s industrial animal agriculture sector.

Partnering to make a difference

HSI Latin America collaborates closely with Costa Rica’s Livestock Development Corporation, (CORFOGA for its acronym in Spanish). CORFOGA is a national organization representing all Costa Rican cattle producers. That collaboration has generated research about better animal handling practices prior to and during slaughter, and has produced several trainings aimed at improving conditions for animals throughout the production chain. 

In collaboration with CORFOGA, HSI Latin America has conducted trainings for target audiences including cattle producers, livestock auction staff, government representatives and students of the veterinary and agricultural sciences. HSI Latin America and CORFOGA also worked together to implement a “training of trainers” program for 25 people, given by Bristol AWT (Animal Welfare Training). These trainees continue to train additional animal handlers throughout Costa Rica.

Looking toward the future

Over the next few years, HSI Latin America will devote special attention to secure the involvement of key government stakeholders in a set of standards that ensure improved welfare for animals on the farm, during transport, and during slaughter. In the meantime, we continue to collaborate closely on farm animal welfare and sustainable agriculture issues with other animal protection organizations (such as the World Society for the Protection of Animals) and with higher learning institutions focused on agricultural sciences (such as CATIE, a regionally-renowned agricultural sciences institution that trains young agronomists and produces cutting-edge research).

A model for best practices

HSI Latin America ultimately aims to demonstrate that higher animal welfare standards can, and indeed do translate into benefits for both industry and consumers. These efforts are fueled by the global and local increases in demand for meat, eggs, and milk products produced with higher animal welfare standards (e.g. organic, free-range). Costa Rica continues to strive to be at the forefront of sustainable development in Latin America and around the world. HSI Latin America hopes that this country can also adopt a welfare-friendly animal agriculture model that pioneers best practices for the care and handling of farm animals throughout the region.

Rhino horn is a highly valued commodity, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine in East Asian communities around the world.

Made of keratin, the same substance in human hair and nails, the horn has no proven medicinal value. However, it has been used for centuries as a treatment for various ailments, including headaches, fevers, rheumatism and gout.

Increased demand

A recent, unsubstantiated claim that a high-ranking Vietnamese government official was cured of cancer by using rhino horn has resulted in a massive increase in demand in Vietnam and China, and the price has skyrocketed. Prices as high as US $60,000 per kg for powdered horn have been reported, which makes rhino horn, kilo for kilo, more expensive than street cocaine in the UK. As a result, rhinos are being threatened across their range.

The last wild northern white rhinos, a subspecies distinct from the southern white rhino, disappeared a few years ago, and if the problem is not addressed, more species will undoubtedly follow.

Calves left to starve

Reports of rhinos being killed, their horns sawn off, and calves left to starve, are an almost daily occurrence. Some animals are sedated, and recover from the poachers’ butchery only to suffer a prolonged and painful death through blood loss and infection. Poachers and park rangers are often involved in shoot-outs, with fatalities on both sides. It’s nothing short of a war.

Enforcement

Authorities in range states have been stepping up their efforts to protect their rhinos. South African authorities have deployed the army to patrol parts of Kruger National Park where poaching is most rife. They have also arrested veterinarians, safari operators and other high-profile citizens in association with rhino poaching.

Information sharing within South Africa and between countries has also improved, and international enforcement bodies including Interpol and customs authorities have come together under the banner of the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime, the Rhino Task Force, the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (of which HSI is a member) and others.

However, with such large amounts of money at stake, heavily armed poachers financed by well-resourced criminal syndicates have been employing increasingly sophisticated technology to obtain the precious horn, including helicopters, night-vision equipment, and highly sophisticated veterinary drugs. Corruption in some parts of Africa and Asia is reportedly commonplace among enforcement and government officials. Faced with this, beleaguered authorities are struggling.

Antique trade

With rhino horn so valuable in the Traditional Chinese Medicine markets, the number of thefts of rhino horn exhibits from museums and private premises has increased dramatically in recent years. Between April 2008 and September 2011, at least 41 rhino horns, some dating back to the 19th century, were stolen from displays in Europe, South Africa and the United States.

European law enforcement agency Europol uncovered a European organised crime syndicate behind many of these thefts.

Auction houses

A rise in the number of antique rhino horn objects and trophies sold through auction houses has also raised concerns about the final destination of the items.

In 2010 alone, it is understood that six UK auction houses sold antique rhino horns for an accumulated value of USD $2,180,000.

In many cases, there was a significant discrepancy between the advertised guide price and the price eventually realized at auction. In one case, a rhino horn mounted on a shield that was expected to reach £20-30,000 was sold for £60,000. A carved 17th century libation cup expected to reach £30-50,000 sold for £280,000.

There are concerns that traders may be buying antiques and legally exporting them, only for them to be ground down and sold as powdered horn in the Far East.

In September 2010, the British government placed severe domestic restrictions on the re-export of antique rhino horn objects and trophies amid reports that high prices were being paid for such items at auctions. Germany introduced similar restrictions a month later and in February 2011, the EU enacted similar regulations.

The U.S. is also a major trader in antique rhino horn objects. HSI has documented the problem and requested [PDF] that the U.S. government urgently adopt stricter measures as the EU has done. HSI has also contacted [PDF] the major auction houses to ask that they voluntarily stop offering sales of rhino horn objects.

Although habitat loss is an important consideration when evaluating the decline in rhino populations, the main threat comes from poaching.

Rhino horn is a highly valuable commodity, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, Vietnam and other parts of East Asia.

Recent years have been disastrous for rhino conservation, with the number of rhinos poached adding up to 200-300 or more per year in South Africa alone; this is 30 times the poaching levels seen in the 1990s. And the poaching shows no signs of abating.

Rhinos face an uncertain future

Populations of rhinos in other countries are also being severely affected by poaching.

Asian rhinos are at enormous risk from this problem. The Javan and Sumatran rhinos of Southeast Asia are already on the brink of extinction. Around 300 Sumatran rhinos live in Indonesia and Malaysia, and a population of around 50 Javan rhinos clings on in Indonesia.

Fewer than 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos remain in Nepal and northeastern India. Reports from India suggest that beleaguered populations of one-horned rhinos in Assam are being poached, with horns smuggled across the poorly protected border with Myanmar. Since 2008, there have been more than 60 known rhino poaching incidents in India and Nepal.

In Africa, Kenya’s black rhinos have been reduced in number from around 20,000 animals in the 1970s to approximately 500 today. Zimbabwe’s populations of white and black rhinos are being heavily targeted. Swaziland officials have expressed concern that poaching could threaten the future of rhinos in their tiny country.

South Africa is home to 70 percent of the world’s remaining rhinos, thanks mainly to the successful repopulation of southern white rhinos from a few individuals at the turn of the 20th century that has grown to some 20,000 animals today.

The far less numerous black rhinos number no more than 5,000 animals, with the biggest populations located in Namibia, South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Legal protection

Most rhino populations have had legal protection from the impacts of international trade since the 1970s through their listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

However, the populations of white rhinos in South Africa and Swaziland were downlisted to Appendix II in 1994 and 2004 respectively, specifically to allow the export of live rhinos and hunting trophies.

Saving the rhino

If rhino populations are to be saved from extinction at the hands of poachers, several actions must be undertaken:

• The remaining rhino populations need better protection.
• More and better trained and equipped park staff are urgently required.
• Border security needs to be tightened up to stop horns from being moved between countries.
• Loopholes in national and international regulations should be closed to prevent poachers from posing as trophy hunters and exporting ”trophy” horns for sale into the lucrative traditional medicine markets.
• Exports of live rhinos from South African ranches to China, Vietnam and other Asian destinations need to be stopped.
• Horn stockpiles that are currently in private hands need to be managed by governments in a transparent way, and preferably destroyed.

In addition, and perhaps most importantly, every effort needs to be made to reduce demand for rhino horn in China, Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, through engagement of the Traditional Chinese Medicine community, and through education, awareness-raising and rigorous law enforcement.

Innovative disincentives

Other innovative, if controversial, attempts to reduce rhino poaching have included dehorning rhinos and infusing rhino horns with poison to discourage potential users of rhino horn products.

What is HSI doing?

Humane Society International works closely with CITES authorities in rhino range and consumer states, the U.S. and other influential countries such as the European nations [PDF] including the UK, pushing the case for greater enforcement and the closing of loopholes.

We sent a letter [PDF] to the South African government urging a moratorium on rhino hunting (along with tighter legislation concerning rhino horn trade) and asked our advocates to do the same.

HSI also commissions research on the trade in rhinos and rhino horn products in Vietnam, China and elsewhere, in order to inform the relevant authorities and the public of the current status of the trade.

Ultimately, the incentive to poach rhinos will only disappear when demand is reduced and prices drop.

Otherwise, these magnificent herbivores may become a thing of the past.

Update, December 15, 2016: The Spanish Constitutional Court unanimously confirmed the prohibition of the public killing of El Toro de la Vega (and all bulls used fiestas apart bullfights). The Court rejected the City Council’s challenge of the ban on the basis that the Region had allegedly exceeded its powers and overstepped the City Council’s competences.

Hundreds of fiestas involving the use of bulls take place across Spain every year.

The bulls used in fiestas are frequently supplied by the same farmers who breed these animals for bullfighting, providing more income for supporters of the bullfighting industry.

Toro de la Vega

The Toro de la Vega fiesta takes place in Tordesillas, in the Castilla y León region of Spain, each September.

During the event, spear-wielding men on horseback chase a bull out of the town and into the surrounding countryside.  Pursued and stuck with spears until he is cornered, the bull is then stabbed to death.

In May 2011, local politicians voted to classify this event, along with bullfighting, as cultural heritage.

HSI is working with PACMA in Spain and CAS International to bring an end to cruel bull fiestas.

The European Union is often regarded as a world leader in animal protection issues, and is also one of the largest players in global trade in the world. The EU incorporates provisions on animal welfare, sustainable development, and environmental protection into its trade agreements.

HSI sees this increased focus on trade policy and trade agreements as an opportunity to strengthen the link between animal protection and trade in the EU by building on existing provisions.

To this end, HSI is working to influence European trade policy in a number of ways. HSI regularly meets with representatives from the relevant Directorate-General offices, such as DG Trade, DG Environment and DG SANCO, to advocate for the inclusion of strong animal protection provisions in trade agreements and to influence trade negotiations.

HSI also regularly meets with members of the Parliament’s International Trade Committee, routinely follows Parliamentary debates and hearings relevant to trade policy, provides background briefings to MEPs and suggests possible amendments to Parliamentary reports and resolutions.

In addition, HSI actively participates in the DG Trade Civil Society Dialogue, which provides an important source of information on trade policy to NGOs and allows HSI to establish and further develop a good line of communication with Commission officials. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

In recent years, the EU has sought to create additional market opportunities by negotiating bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements. For example, the EU has concluded FTAs with the following countries: Chile, South Korea, Mexico, and South Africa. FTAs are still under negotiation with Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, India, and Ukraine. However, the largest and most prominent ongoing negotiations are with the United States.

In July 2013, the EU started its negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States largely intended to spur economic growth and create new jobs for both countries. Working on both sides of the Atlantic, TTIP has become a top priority for HSI.

TTIP and farm animals

TTIP is highly likely to increase trade — or at least increase the opportunity for trade — in agricultural products, including beef, pork, poultry and eggs. Statutory farm animal welfare standards covering issues, such as housing, transport and slaughter, are currently much higher in the EU.

For example, the EU has bans and restrictions on the most extreme animal confinement systems, such as sow stalls, battery cages and veal crates, which undoubtedly compromise the welfare of animals. At the federal level, the U.S. has only one regulation that includes some protections at the time of slaughter, and only a few states have banned extreme confinement systems. Our briefing highlights these and other differences with respect to animal welfare.

We believe it is vital that in the pursuit of trade and regulatory cooperation, EU animal welfare measures not be downgraded and the TTIP must not stand in the way of future EU regulatory advancement.

Animal testing and research

Our second TTIP area of interest is the protection of animals used in laboratories . Millions of animals are used in laboratory research and product testing throughout the world. HSI’s focus is to ensure that outdated animal tests are replaced with cutting-edge non-animal techniques.

The EU has made great progress, passing legislation that substantially reduces animal testing, prohibiting the sale of cosmetics newly tested on animals, introducing non-animal methods of vaccine batch testing, and reducing use of animals involved in chemical safety assessments as part of the REACH regulation.

Regulatory cooperation proposed in TTIP must not dismantle or diminish existing EU measures on animal testing and research, nor restrict future regulations. Instead, we campaign for regulatory alignment of 3R best practice to increase testing efficiency, reduce costs and above all, reduce the need for animal use.

Wildlife trade

The illegal wildlife trade is a global black market activity threatening not just the survival of targeted wildlife species and wildlife habitat, but also security, good governance and economic development.

Rhinos and elephants, for example, are experiencing a poaching epidemic controlled by organised criminal networks, and proceeds from the illegal trade fund terrorist and other illegal activities. In the marine environment, many species are in danger of extinction as a result of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and fishing subsidies that result in overfishing and depletion of stocks.

The sustainable development chapter of TTIP can serve as an opportunity for the EU and US to show global leadership in combating wildlife trafficking and preserving the earth’s natural resources. TTIP must include strong measures to protect threatened wildlife from trade, to implement and enforce critical multilateral environmental agreements, and to require strong penalties for those engaging in this illegal trade.

The seal slaughter in Namibia is one of the world’s largest remaining commercial seal hunts.

In recent years, the annual hunting quota has been set at 85,000 pups and 7,000 adult bulls. However, the Namibian authorities are notoriously secretive about the hunt and have consistently discouraged independent observation and recording, so no one really knows exactly how many seals are killed each year.

The seals are hunted for their skins, which are marketed to international fur markets, and for their organs, which are traded as aphrodisiacs.

Cape fur seal pups are killed between July and November each year when they are less than a year old. According to Namibian regulations, pups must be clubbed on the head, and then their hearts pierced with a knife to bleed them out.

During the hunt, several hundred pups may be herded together and killed within a rapid time frame (one to two hours). This usually takes place early in the morning. Ironically, later in the day tourists are often taken to the rookeries to see the seals as part of an ecotourism industry that generates far more revenue than hunting does for the local economy. The tourists are unaware that the seals they photograph may be brutally clubbed to death the next morning.

Cape fur seals

Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus), also known as South African fur seals, are members of the Otariid family of “eared seals.” The family also includes the closely related Australian fur seal and the various species of sea lion.

Cape fur seals live round the southern and southwestern coast of Africa, from Cape Cross in Nambia and around the Cape of Good Hope to Black Rocks of Cape Province in South Africa.

Adult males grow to around 2.3m in length and weigh up to 350kg; females are around half the size of the males. They spend much of their lives at sea, although they generally stay fairly close to shore, hauling out in large rookeries on rocky outcrops or sometimes on sandy beaches. Pups are born late in the year, and mating occurs soon after the pups are born.

Fluctuating population and environmental threats

The Cape fur seal has been commercially slaughtered off the coast of southern Africa since the early 17th century. By the late 1800s, twenty-three colonies had been wiped out.

Restrictions on hunting and protection measures have allowed total Cape fur seal numbers to recover to an estimated 2 million today, although numbers do fluctuate widely particularly in Namibia, where poor environmental conditions and pollution have impacted the availability of prey fish.

Although the Cape fur seal is classified as “Least Concern” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of endangered species, it is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which means that international trade in Cape fur seal products is restricted in order to protect the species from overexploitation.

South Africa banned seal hunting in 1990. Today, the Namibian slaughter is the only commercial hunt of Cape fur seals, and targets three mainland colonies in Cape Cross, Wolf Bay and Atlas Bay.

The Namibian authorities justify the hunt on the grounds that fur seals consume large amounts of commercially valuable fish species, although there is no scientific justification for this claim.

EU seal produce trade ban

The European Union prohibited trade in products of commercial seal slaughters in May 2009 and this has depressed commercial interest in seal products.

HSI believes the seal slaughter in Namibia is inherently cruel and commercially unsustainable, and is working to persuade the Namibian authorities to stop the hunt, as well as to persuade international markets to follow the EU’s example and ban the trade in the products of seal slaughter.

Bullfighting — a horrible spectacle of animal abuse that ends in the slow and tortuous death of an animal provoked and repeatedly gored with knives and swords — is justly in decline. The torment and stabbing to death of animals for amusement can never be acceptable.

In an unbelievable turn of events, however, with so much of the world opposed to the cruelty, bullfighting’s defenders are now seeking to claim their barbarism as a cultural asset under the terms of a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention (UNESCO).

Wanton cruelty

It ought to be obvious in the 21st century that such wanton animal cruelty can never be justified as a cultural privilege. The campaign to classify bullfighting as some kind of a cultural treasure is nothing more than a futile attempt to resuscitate a fading commercial industry that is being abandoned wholesale by both the public and politicians throughout the world. Over the last decade, scores of governments have voted to ban bullfighting, and many more are currently considering action to suppress it.

Support for blood sport waning

Even in the countries where bullfighting has traditionally thrived, support for the blood sport is waning, and sponsors are not making enough money to keep it alive. Increasingly, it is being subsidized by governments, a wholly inappropriate use of public funds. Subsidies are meant to address a common good and to help society. Bullfighting doesn’t fall into that category by any measure.

To great acclaim last year, politicians in Catalonia, Spain voted to outlaw bullfighting in that region. The last bullring in Barcelona will shut down this summer, while a popular shopping and entertainment complex has already spring up on the site of a former bullring in the city.

Animal cruelty erodes civil society

All of these developments make the initiative within UNESCO perplexing, to say the very least. An international body charged with honoring and safeguarding our global cultural heritage should not be asked to dignify a blood sport on any grounds, and it ought not consider such a proposition either, for a public spectacle that allows an animal to be tormented, taunted and cowed by men wielding barbed sticks, swords and knives can never be worthy of protection.

The presence of animal cruelty erodes the fabric of any civil society, with serious effects, most notably its tendency to desensitize children to violence. Bullfighting – a conspicuous form of animal cruelty — is no different from any other, and it is deserves no quarter within or outside of UNESCO as a manifestation of human culture.