Author: Kristin Stone

Many thousands of animals are tormented and killed at local fiestas held across Spain every year. At fire bull fiestas, bulls have flaming torches attached to their horns and are goaded as they attempt to escape the flames licking above their heads. Watch a video of such an event.

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

El Toro Jubilo

Every November in the village of Medinaceli in the Castilla y León region of northern Spain, El Toro Jubilo, or the Jubilation Bull, festival takes place.

Late in the evening, a bull is roped to a post in the town square whilst flaming torches are attached to its horns.

Unshackled once the torches above its head are ablaze, the bull dashes about the square trying to avoid roaring bonfires, as spectators rush in, trying to goad it. The animal tosses its head again and again, as it turns in one direction then the next, trying desperately to escape the fire burning above its head. As the fire burns, drops of the flammable liquid fall on to the head and body of the animal and loud firecrackers explode above the square. These events can last for up to 40 minutes.

El Toro Jubilo is not the only fire bull event held across Spain. There is much support locally for an end to these brutal spectacles. According to Spanish group PACMA, 84 percent of people who took part in a recent poll rejected similar events, known as correbous, in Catalonia.

HSI is strongly opposed to captive swim-with-the-dolphins attractions and believes these programs, even if strictly regulated, pose an immediate threat to the safety of both human and dolphin participants.

Life in the wild

HSI opposes the capture of all marine mammals from the wild for any type of public display or entertainment. The very nature of these animals makes them uniquely unsuited to confinement. In the wild, dolphins live in large groups (called pods), often in tight family units. Social bonds often last for many years. In some species, they last for a lifetime.

Dolphins travel long distances each day, sometimes swimming in a straight line for a hundred miles, other times remaining in a certain area for hours or days, moving several miles along a coastline and then turning to retrace their path.

These marine mammals can dive up to several hundred feet and can stay underwater for 15 minutes or more. They spend only 10 to 2 percent of their time at the surface.

The sea is to dolphins much as the air is to birds—it is a three-dimensional environment, where they can move up and down and side to side. But dolphins don’t stop to perch. They never come to shore. Dolphins are always swimming, even when they “sleep.” They are always aware, and always moving. Understanding this, it is not difficult to imagine the tragedy of life in captivity for these ocean creatures.

Program profile

SWTD proponents claim educational, recreational and therapeutic motivations and benefits. Several offer “dolphin-assisted therapy” (DAT) for patients suffering from, among other conditions, Down’s Syndrome, cerebral palsy, cancer, head and spinal injuries, or autism. However, there is no evidence that interacting with dolphins has any greater therapeutic effect than interacting with domesticated animals, such as puppies, kittens, or farm animals.

SWTD attractions overseas are an even greater problem, because regulation is often absent and conditions poor. Regions that have seen an explosion in the growth of these programs include the Caribbean and the South Pacific. There are several attractions in tropical resort areas around the world.

Most facilities capture their dolphins directly from the wild. Capture is highly traumatic for wild dolphins and may cause an often fatal condition known as capture stress or capture myopathy. In addition, the status of the populations from which dolphins are captured is often unknown and the removal of even a few individuals may have negative impacts on the pod members left behind.

Safety concerns

Captive dolphins may exhibit an assimilation tendency, expecting humans to fulfill the natural social roles of their wild counterparts. They may become submissive or sexually aggressive when interacting with humans. SWTD programs have reported human injuries including lacerations, tooth rakes, internal injuries, broken bones, and shock. There is the potential for dolphins, meanwhile, to suffer from unnatural exposure to human bacterial and viral infections, and they have experienced stress-related conditions, including ulcers.

What you can do

Write or visit SWTD attractions and express your concerns. If they refuse to close, insist that only captive-born bottlenose dolphins be used, to limit as much as possible any increase in captures of wild dolphins to stock present and future attractions.

Question program safety records for both humans and dolphins. Demand adequate care and conditions for the dolphins, including feeding them restaurant-quality fish and requiring large pool size; insist on the provision of refuge areas, where dolphins can go at will if they do not want to interact with people; insist on limited working hours for the dolphins; and demand low swimmer-to-dolphin ratios (no more than two swimmers per dolphin).

Consider bypassing hotels, resorts, and cruise lines that offer SWTD attractions to tourists. Write to them and let them know tourism should not depend on the invasive exploitation of wildlife.

Please add your voice to our ongoing efforts to protect all animals. We must continue to strengthen existing laws around the world that protect marine mammals and to change practices that harm them.

At this time, we are no longer offering trips to SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa. 

Please still consider donating to help the animals at SanWild. 

If you are interested in Humane Travels with HSI, please email us at humanetravels@hsi.org.

Read about a recent trip we offered to Ecuador

 

Illegal wildlife trade generates more than USD $10 billion annually, third behind only the illegal drug and arms trades. While many people knowingly contribute to such trade, unsuspecting customers can easily buy items like ivory trinkets and turtle shell products in stores or online, thereby becoming unintentional participants. Sometimes, wildlife and wildlife products are sold legally at tourist destinations, but bringing these items home may be unlawful or require special permits.

The trade in wildlife parts and products includes items made with exotic leathers and fur, ornamental objects, food items, and traditional medicines. In addition, live animals are traded as pets, for biomedical research and testing, for game farms and hunting ranches, and for captive display in zoos, aquariums and circuses.

As a compassionate consumer, it is important to look out for the consumptive use of wildlife when traveling, shopping and dining. Avoid patronizing any establishment that is involved in such use. Always assume that wildlife products for sale are illegal and inhumane. Laws protecting animals from trade are often confusing, weak, and poorly enforced. If you see information in newspapers or magazines that supports wildlife use, send a letter to the editor. If you witness abuse or illegal activity involving wild animals, report it to law enforcement. And help educate others on how to avoid supporting the wildlife trade, too.

The number one way you can protect animals is by harnessing the power of your pocketbook. When you support animal-friendly services and avoid those that exploit animals, you use economics to your advantage. As a compassionate traveler, you’ll want to keep your travel funds from harming animals. This includes wildlife volunteer opportunities as well.

Check out our Don’t Buy Wild guide for more information

Working with communities

HSI works to create economic incentives for communities to conserve local wildlife through ecotourism and sustainable income-generating activities instead of poaching and illegal wildlife trade. These programs create a strong link between protection of natural resources and increased community income, motivating residents to take a more proactive role in the protection of local species and their habitat.

Reaching the public

In order to prevent unwitting collusion in the illegal wildlife trade, information must be readily available as to what constitutes “legal” and “illegal” trade, and what can be done to protect wildlife. To that end, HSI works with local partners to create advertisements and other materials in order to get the message across: Don’t Buy Wild!

Inevitably, many wildlife products and wildlife-related activities are marketed to tourists all over the world. Many are harmful to wildlife and may even be illegal. Check out our Don’t Buy Wild guide. Sign our Don’t Buy Wild pledge and share it with your friends and family! Join the HSI online community to receive action alerts on current issues, including the exploitation of wild animals for profit.

The global trade in wildlife parts and products is hugely detrimental and many travelers unknowingly participate in this trade. Wildlife and wildlife products may be legal to sell in certain countries, but bringing these items home with you may be illegal or require special permits. If you suspect it is an animal product, even though you were told otherwise, play it safe and do not buy it!

The following is a guide to help you learn about what activities and products you should avoid. Follow the links to learn more.

Products

• Coral (jewelry, decor, shells)
• Feathers (from wild bird or mounted birds)
• Fur (tigers, spotted cats, seals, polar bears, sea otters, foxes)
• Ivory (elephant, narwhal and walrus tusks; raw and carved)
• Leathers and skins (caiman, crocodile, lizard, kangaroo, snake, shark)
• Live animals for sale as exotic pets (birds, primates, carnivores, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, saltwater fish)
• Medicines (bear gall bladders, tiger bones and penises, rhino horns, dried seahorses and shark cartilage)
• Shark teeth
• Tortoise/turtle shell (bracelets, sunglasses, hair clips and other trinkets)
• Wools made from wild animals (Shahtoosh from the Tibetan antelope)

Food

• Bushmeat
• Frog legs
• Sea turtle meat
• Shark fin soup
• Whale and dolphin meat

Tourist activities

• Camel rides
• Circuses
• Marine mammal shows & displays
• Dolphinariums
• Elephant rides
• Lion walks
• Photo opportunities with wildlife
• Roadside zoos
• Sea turtle farms
• Swim-with-the-dolphins
• Trophy hunting
• Tiger temples
• Volunteer with wildlife programs

To download a simplified and portable version of our Don’t Buy Wild Guide, click here. [PDF]

by Toby Bloom

Did your summer getaway leave you feeling unfulfilled? Do all of the days of your trip seem to blend together in your memory? If you go on your next trip with a community ecotourism operator, you won’t have the same problem! Ecotourism is defined by The International Ecotourism Society as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” Community ecotourism operators go one step further, since they are actually owned and/or operated by the local community.

In HSI’s Wildlife Ecotourism section, we work with local NGOs in developing countries to help communities create ecotourism products that are unique, exciting, and beneficial for people, animals, and the environment. To find out the five most compelling reasons to try this unique kind of tourism, read on:

5. You’ll have unique stories to tell all of your friends when you get home. Community ecotourism can offer you lots of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities! While thousands of vacationers at traditional mass tourism resorts are offered the same old excursions, food and lodging, the savvy ecotourist opens up a whole world of adventure by using local tourism operators. Locals in any city or village are often better at helping you search for rare and beautiful wildlife, navigating lesser-known trails, and suggesting restaurant or entertainment options that virtually guarantee that you’ll have unforgettable vacation stories.

4. Your money goes to people who really need it. Even though you may take your vacation in a developing country, chances are the majority of the money you spend on traditional tourism ends up outside of the country you visited. Because of international hotel chains, tour operators, and the importation of food and souvenirs, it is estimated that as little as five percent and at most half of the profits from traditional tourism stay in the host country. By working with community ecotourism operators, you greatly increase the amount of profit from your trip that can be used for food, social programs, and infrastructure within the local community and the host country.

3. Ecotourism is good for you and the rest of the planet. Ideally, ecotourism operators and their products aim to have minimal negative impacts on the environment and contribute to conservation programs in the area. However, another vital part of ecotourism is to help tourists understand the environmental issues that affect the places they visit and the rest of the world.  Seeing the effects of our actions in high biodiversity areas (yes, your actions have an effect on the other side of the planet) often motivates tourists to be better stewards of the environment, even when they return home.

2. You’ll have a more personalized and authentic vacation.  Many of us have had the experience of being herded like cattle through lines at a buffet, or while checking into a big hotel or resort. Since community ecotourism operators typically cater to smaller groups of tourists, you will most likely receive more individual attention. Community ecotourism opens the door for a deeper understanding of local culture, and more interaction with the people and animals who live in the place you visit. Also, locals are usually the best source of information about their respective area’s nature, history and folklore, and traditional customs. Observing or helping out with the preparation of local cuisine, participating in holidays and festivals, and making lifelong connections with people in faraway lands are among the many ways to more fully appreciate the richness that your vacation destination has to offer.

1. You can enjoy your vacation and protect wildlife at the same time! All of the community ecotourism operators that HSI works with are in or near high biodiversity areas, as is the case for a great majority of community ecotourism operators worldwide. When you book a trip or activity with a community ecotourism operator, you help reinforce the link created between protecting the local environment and increased economic income. Your money ensures that local communities can provide for their families without having to resort to illegal hunting, or selling endangered species into the illegal pet trade. Ecotourism helps both tourists and local communities celebrate the amazing animals and landscapes that surround them.

For more information about booking a trip or activity with a community ecotourism operator, you can contact HSI’s local partners through the following websites:

Costa Rica: Foundacion Corcovado

Dominican Republic: FUNDEMAR; Bayahibe 

El Salvador: SalvaNATURA

Guatemala: FUNDAECO

Honduras: Cayos Cochinos

Nicaragua: Tortugas Nicas;  asoc.tierrayvida@gmail.com

Peru: ProNaturaleza

Toby Bloom is Director of Wildlife Ecotourism for HSI.

In September 2010, the European Union voted to adopt a new law for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, which replaces its nearly 25-year-old predecessor. Humane Society International has been at the forefront of the animal welfare lobbying effort throughout political negotiations, calling for the EU to establish a world-leading Centre of Excellence in non-animal research to accelerate the development of more ethical and reliable research methods.

European Parliament event with Dr. Jane Goodall

In May 2008, HSI co-hosted an event in the European Parliament with the Dr. Hadwen Trust and world-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. During the event, HSI and other animal protection organisations presented the Parliament with a petition signed by 150,000 EU citizens, together with the joint HSI-DHT report, Towards a European Science Without Animal Experiments.

Cyber-rally to ‘Make Animal Testing History’

As the lobbying campaign on the new EU law escalated, FOUR PAWS joined forces with HSI and DHT in launching the world’s first rally in cyber-space, the Make Animal Testing History Virtual March on Brussels. Signatories to our online petition were invited to design an online avatar of themselves to participate in our “cyber rally” to demonstrate the extent of public support for increased protections for animals in laboratories. Our cyber-rally garnered the support of more than 100,000 European and global citizens, including rockers Chrissie Hynde and Brian May, funny man Ricky Gervais, and actress Joanna Lumley.

Donate to support HSI’s campaign to end animal testing around the world.

Positive outcomes 

• A ban on the use of great apes such as chimpanzees (with prohibitive limitations on opportunities to deviate from the ban; no great apes currently used in EU labs).
• Ethical and scientific review before animal experiments are authorised.
• The requirement for all breeders, suppliers and users of animals to demonstrate compliance, including through choice of equipment and animal housing, and training of personnel.
• Increased action at EU- and Member State-level to develop and promote non-animal methods in all areas including medical research and education.

Negative outcomes

• Many thousands of animals will still be permitted to endure “severe suffering,” the highest severity classification in law. Examples of severe suffering in the law include toxicity testing to death; tumours causing progressive lethal disease and long-lasting pain; unstable fractures or trauma to produce multiple organ failure; inescapable electric shock or complete isolation of social animals for prolonged periods.
• Animals can still be subjected to repeated painful experiments with few limitations.
• No significant restrictions on the use of non-human primates (other than symbolic ban on great apes).
• No commitment to a targeted EU strategy to reduce and replace animal experiments over time.

Of all the Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas, Mexico has by far the greatest number of animal welfare organizations actively seeking the support of the government and the community to pass stricter laws against animal cruelty.

The current state of affairs in Mexico reflects various degrees of civil unrest. Young teenagers torture animals to seek attention, while unknown killers throw poison on their neighborhood streets, sickening dozens of strays.

Animal control issues

In addition to addressing animal cruelty, HSI is collaborating with local groups to monitor government methods of stray overpopulation control. Since pentobarbital—a main component for humane euthanasia—was taken off the market and made inaccessible to both the public and licensed veterinarians, municipal pounds are once again using electrocution as the fastest and cheapest way to eliminate homeless animals.

Lucky is one pup our team encountered at a municipal perrera (dog pound) in Cancun. He was picked up by the city pound truck and taken to the outskirts of the city to join other street dogs like him. This perrera used to destroy street dogs using electrocution and risks returning to this archaic method now that more drugs for euthanasia have become difficult to obtain. We named him Lucky because he was one of the first dogs to be neutered as part of an HSI training for local vets. He recovered like a champ and was put up for adoption. Lucky was given a second chance in a place where not many street dogs are fortunate as he.

What we’re doing

As part of pursuing a more humane means of animal control, HSI strongly supports spay/neuter campaigns in Mexico as elsewhere. We have also organized veterinary trainings and capacity-building workshops to strengthen and encourage the work that is done at a governmental level and by the non-profit sector, for example, by training government-appointed veterinarians who direct municipal dog pounds.

HSI collaborates with various local partner organizations on a regular basis and we have become a source of guidance, support and information for many along the way. We have also drafted a petition for stronger legislation against animal cruelty in hopes that the Mexican government understands the escalating threat [PDF] that lies behind an act of cruelty committed against a street dog.

HSI will continue to support the efforts of local groups to help animals, in particular companion animals who roam the streets, in hopes of offering them a brighter future.

Do you know where the eggs that you consume come from?  Although we tend to believe that animals raised for food roam freely on pastures or on small outdoor farms, this is far from reality for most farm animals. The majority of eggs in Brazil are produced by birds who spend almost their entire lives confined in small battery cages.

These cages are so overcrowded that the birds cannot walk, exercise, or even stretch their wings.  There are more than 70 million hens living in these conditions in Brazil at any given time.

They live in these conditions for approximately one and a half years, at which point egg productivity begins to decline and birds are sent to slaughter. 

Pigs also suffer in intensive confinement production systems. In Brazil, almost 1.5 million breeding sows are housed in gestation crates, individual metal stalls, which are so small that they cannot even turn around.

HSI is working in Brazil to put an end to the intensive confinement of farm animals, educating consumers and asking them to say NO to battery-cage eggs and pork from factory farms that confine pigs in gestation crates. Furthermore, we are working with producers, government officials, and food retailers, asking them to adopt higher animal welfare standard

You can help

• Say NO to battery cages
• Enjoy humane eating
• Learn more about HSI
• Join our online community

Learn more

• Egg Production Using Battery Cages
• Pork Production Using Gestation and Farrowing Crates
• The Welfare of Intensively Confined Animals in Battery Cages, Gestation Crates, and Veal Crates
• Animal Agriculture and Climate Change

The implementation of sustainable spay and neuter programs is one of the critical elements in addressing canine and feline populations that have exceeded the capacity of the local community to adequately care for them.

Reasons to spay/neuter animals

Spay/neuter benefits animals and the communities in which they live.

Spay/neuter slows population growth

Without spay and neuter initiatives, homeless animals are often euthanized, neglected or die of disease. Sterilization is critical for management of free-roaming dogs and cats and related disease control concerns.

When effectively delivered and combined with vaccinations, spay/neuter provides a humane and effective way to reduce the number of animals living on the streets, and improves the health of those remaining. Sterilizing community dogs and returning them to their territories on the streets allows for a natural reduction in their population over time and leaves the most socialized dogs on the streets. We have found that the public views these sterilized and vaccinated dogs (identifiable via an ear notch or other marking) more favorably and the human-dog interaction improves

Sterilizing pets prevents them from contributing to the problem of homeless or abandoned dogs and cats.

Spay/neuter curbs undesirable hormone-related behaviors

Females no longer have a heat cycle; this eliminates the attraction and approach of unwanted attention by male dogs.

Roaming is greatly reduced; male dogs, especially those used for security, are less likely to wander off an owner’s property if they do not have the hormone drive to pursue a female in heat. This way, they can better serve as watchdogs, may not need to be tied up, and are less likely to contract disease or suffer injury. Neutered dogs may actually be more protective, as they no longer are distracted by the temptations of breeding with females or fighting with other males.

Spraying and marking in males is reduced.

Spay/neuter reduces health risks for the animals themselves

There are a number of potentially fatal health conditions and transmissible diseases that animals can contract or develop as a result of being intact and breeding; for example, pyometra, TVT, and reproductive cancers. These risks are eliminated when the animal is spayed or neutered.

On the whole, animals who have been sterilized at an early age tend to live longer, healthier lives, potentially increasing their lifespans by an average of one to three years for dogs, and three to five years for cats.

Spay/neuter is cost effective

By spaying or neutering your pet, you save the cost of caring for future litters and reduce the likelihood of your pet needing veterinary treatment for injuries occurring when roaming or fighting.

Myths

Myth: An animal needs to have a litter/one heat before sterilization.

Fact: Medical evidence indicates just the opposite. In fact, the evidence shows that females spayed before their first heat are typically healthier.

Myth: It’s not natural to spay/neuter and will upset my dog or cat.

Fact: The domestication of animals removed them from the “natural order” and placed responsibility for their care with humans. Applying human emotions to animals is neither realistic nor applicable when it comes to identifying a need for sterilization.

Myth: I want my dog to be protective.

Fact: It is a dog’s natural instinct to protect home and family. A dog’s personality is formed more by genetics and environment than by sex hormones.

Myth: I do not want my male dog or cat to feel like less of a male.

Fact: Pets do not have any concept of sexual identity or ego. Neutering will not change a pet’s basic personality. He does not suffer any kind of emotional reaction or identity crisis when neutered.

Myth: My pet will get fat and lazy.

Fact: The truth is that most pets get fat and lazy because their owners feed them too much and do not give them enough exercise.

Myth: But my dog (or cat) is so special, I want a puppy (or kitten) just like her.

Fact: Your pet’s puppies or kittens have little chance of being an exact copy of your pet. Even professional breeders cannot make this guarantee. There are homeless pets waiting for homes who are just as cute, smart, sweet, and loving as your own.

More facts

Euthanasia rates increase exponentially in areas where there are no viable spay/neuter programs readily available.

Dogs are 15 times, and cats are 45 times, as prolific as humans.

Dogs and cats enjoy many behavioral and health benefits from surgical sterilization.

Read more myths and facts about spay/neuter