Region: Global

Fur-free pledge follows Mytheresa’s 2021 exotic skins ban

Humane Society International / Europe

Mark Hicken, Alamy Stock photo

MUNICH—Luxury German online fashion retailer Mytheresa has announced it is going fur-free. The platform of more than 200 international designers will be phasing out existing fur inventory by the end of 2022. The ban will cover fur from factory-farmed animals such as mink, fox, chinchilla, muskrat, rabbit, raccoon dog, sable and karakul lamb, as well as fur from wild animals such as coyote and beaver.

The compassionate stance follows the retailer’s decision to ban exotic skins from species including but not limited to python, lizard, alligator, crocodile, ostrich, shark, kangaroo and stingray, since Spring/Summer this year. The pledge has been welcomed by the Germany director for Humane Society International, part of the Humane Society family of organisations, which helped negotiate the fur-free pledge with Mytheresa.

Michael Kliger, CEO of Mytheresa, said: “At Mytheresa, we believe that sustainability is an important part of our future strategy and this view is clearly shared by our customers, partners and employees. As we already stopped buying Exotic Skins in Spring/Summer 2021, it was clear that going fur-free is the natural next step for Mytheresa. We are proud to be making this change and thank the Humane Society of the United States, Four Paws and the Fur Free Alliance for supporting this policy.”

Mytheresa developed its animal welfare policy in collaboration with the Humane Society of the United States, and in accordance with the guidelines of the Fur Free Retailer program. The program is supported by the Fur Free Alliance, an international coalition of more than 50 leading animal welfare and environmental protection organisations. The retailer states that its new policy is in line with the changing needs and ethical choices of its customers, and that it will rely on innovation to continuously seek more sustainable alternatives.

Sylvie Kremerskothen Gleason, Germany director for Humane Society International/Europe, welcomed the pledge and said it’s time for Germany to also ban the sale of cruel fur: “We welcome Mytheresa’s compassionate pledge to go fur-free. This pledge reflects the ethical concerns and demands of consumers and puts the company shoulder to shoulder with some of the most respected names in luxury and designer fashion, such as HUGO BOSS, Canada Goose, Oscar de la Renta, Gucci, Prada, Chanel and Versace, in rejecting fur. We now need the German government to strongly advocate for a Europe-wide ban on fur production and to take appropriate action.”

Despite fur farming bans in many European Union countries, the EU still breeds and kills almost 38 million animals a year on fur farms, which causes immense animal suffering and poses a high public health risk, as many COVID-19 cases in fur farms across Europe have proven.

PJ Smith, director of fashion policy for the Humane Society of the United States, said: “We applaud Mytheresa for its decision to stop selling fur and exotic skins. Animal welfare policies like Mytheresa’s will help drive the demand for innovative materials that are better for animals and the planet and should be part of every company’s environmental, social and corporate governance strategy.”

Humane Society International is dedicated to working with all apparel companies to adopt fur-free policies because they have the capacity to save hundreds of thousands—perhaps millions—of animals from cruelty. HSI’s fur farm investigations show the unbearable existence that animals endure on fur farms before being brutally killed.

Fur facts:

  • More than 100 million animals are killed for their fur every year worldwide including mink, foxes, raccoon dogs, chinchillas and rabbits – that’s equal to three animals dying every second, just for their fur.
  • Germany introduced new animal welfare legislation in 2017, with a five-year transition period, that required stricter standards on fur farms such as increased cages sizes and swimming basins for mink. The new regulations meant that fur farming was no longer deemed profitable and this led to the closure of the last remaining mink farm in 2019, before the new measures came into force. Up to this day, the German government has not introduced an official fur production ban.
  • Mink on more than 420 mink fur farms across 12 countries (including 10 EU member states) have been found infected with COVID-19, leading to mass culls. The potential for zoonotic disease spread, and for mink fur farms in particular to act as reservoirs for coronaviruses, incubating pathogens transmissible to humans, is another compelling reason for governments around the world to call time on fur, by banning farming and sales. Download HSI’s white paper on fur farms and pandemic risks.
  • Fur farming has been banned and/or is in the process of being phased-out in numerous European nations such as Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. In late 2020 the government in Hungary declared a ban on the fur farming of animals including mink and foxes, and in June this year Ireland confirmed it is preparing legislation to end the practice. France, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland and Ukraine are considering fur farming bans.
  • Earlier this year Israel became the first country in the world to ban the sale of fur. In the United States, California became the first US state to ban fur sales in 2019 following similar bans in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood. The towns of Weston and Wellesley in Massachusetts and the city of Ann Arbor in Michigan have also recently banned fur sales, and more US cities and states are looking to follow suit in the future. In the United Kingdom, the government is also considering a fur sales ban and recently held a public consultation which received 30,000 responses.

Mytheresa’s statement on fur can be found in detail here.

Download photos and video from HSI/UK’s latest Finland fur farm investigation.

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Media Contact: Wendy Higgins: whiggins@hsi.org

Climate change conference can no longer ignore climate impacts of industrialised animal agriculture

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

dhughes9/iStock.com Cattle awaiting slaughter in a feedlot.

LONDON—More than 50 animal protection, environmental and food justice organisations from around the globe have written to Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, president of the COP26 climate change conference organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), calling on the UNFCCC to publicly recognise the catastrophic impact animal agriculture has on the planet at this year’s conference.

In the animal agriculture industry, more than 88 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for food every year. This industry is responsible for an estimated 14.5%—16.5% of human induced greenhouse gas emissions globally, on par with emissions levels of the entire transport sector. Despite animal agriculture being one of the largest contributors to climate change, it is largely neglected by countries around the world in climate change mitigation strategies and commitments.

The letter, signed by Humane Society International, World Animal Protection, Brighter Green Compassion in World Farming, 50by40, Animal Equality, FOUR PAWS International, ProVeg International, RSPCA, The Humane League and others calls on the COP26 conference, taking place in Glasgow in November, to formally acknowledge animal agriculture’s climate impact. The groups hope that formal recognition at COP26 will encourage world leaders to commit to meat and dairy consumption reduction strategies to meet the Paris Agreement’s below 2°C target.

The letter reads: “Addressing these urgent areas in the UNFCCC COP26 meeting would help propel governments around the world to take action and would provide world leaders with another high impact option to add to their toolbox for tackling climate change. Working with farmers to support and catalyse a shift towards more plant-centric food production and consumption is a proactive step that must be taken to future-proof global food and agricultural industries… We call on the UNFCCC to formally and publicly recognise the role of animal agriculture as one of the largest contributors of climate change and to open a greater space for dialogue.”

In addition to significant greenhouse gas emissions, the farm animal production sector is also the single largest anthropogenic user of land, with meat, egg, dairy and aquaculture production systems using approximately 83% of the world’s farmland while providing just 37% of the world’s protein and 18% of calories. Animal agriculture is also a major driver of deforestation, species extinction, land degradation, exhaustion of water resources and pollution.

Reducing meat and dairy production and consumption is one of the most effective actions we can take to avoid catastrophic climate change. Scientists agree—including the 107 experts who prepared a report for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the more than 11,000 signatories from 153 countries to a recent paper in the journal BioScience —that global shifts towards more plant-based diets will be key in tackling climate change.

The UN’s latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report revealed that the climate crisis is poised to get worse if greenhouse gas emissions continue to surge, and that the future of the planet depends on the choices that humanity makes today. The report is a stark warning that if we want to win the ‘Race to Zero’, it’s imperative that we tackle every major driver of climate change, including intensive animal agriculture, collaboratively across all countries.

Julie Janovsky, Humane Society International’s vice president for farm animal welfare, says: “When it comes to the impacts of animal agriculture on climate change, we cannot continue to kick the can down the road.  While many governments and constituencies have recognized and taken action to address the impacts of the energy and transport sector, governments have yet to adopt policies to reduce the impact of large-scale, intensive animal agriculture on the environment. If we are serious about avoiding climate catastrophe, world leaders must acknowledge the science and implement strategies to change our global food system to one that significantly reduces industrial animal agriculture. Reducing the number of animals raised and slaughtered is a legitimate and essential component of tackling climate change, restoring biodiversity and ending the cruelty caused by factory farms. Ignoring the immense climate impact of industrial animal farming is no longer an option, and the COP26 climate change conference offers a vital opportunity for world leaders to take action.”

Cities and countries are beginning to acknowledge and make an effort to reduce meat consumption as a climate change mitigation strategy. Earlier this year, France announced that its climate and resilience bill encourages a more plant-based diet to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions. The bill includes that by 2023, all school cafeterias will have to feature one compulsory vegetarian menu once a week, and that at least one daily vegetarian option should be offered in all state-run canteens. Shortly after, the City Council of Berkeley in the United States also passed a resolution to divert half of the city’s spending money from animal-based foods to plant-based foods by 2024. Further, the Council will also look to adopt a long-term goal of replacing 100% of animal products with plant-based products to combat climate change.

The open NGO-led letter is signed by:

  • 50by40
  • A Well-Fed World
  • AbibiNsroma Foundation
  • Albert Schweitzer Stiftung für unsere Mitwelt
  • Alianima
  • Animal Equality
  • Animal Legal Defense Fund
  • Animals Aotearoa
  • Aquatic Life Institute
  • Bank Information Center
  • Brighter Green
  • Center for Biological Diversity
  • Coalition for Sustainable Food Practices
  • Compassion in World Farming
  • Creature Kind
  • Default Veg
  • Djurens Rätt
  • Earthjustice
  • Eat for the Earth
  • Eurogroup for Animals
  • EuroVeg
  • Factory Farming Awareness Coalition
  • Farm Forward
  • Farm Sanctuary
  • Feedback
  • Fish Welfare Initiative
  • Foundation for Advice and Action in the Defence of Animals (FAADA)
  • FOUR PAWS International
  • Fundación Vegetarianos Hoy
  • Green REV Institute
  • Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program
  • Humane Society International
  • Humane Society of the United States
  • Jem pre Zem
  • LAV
  • Nourish Scotland
  • One Kind
  • Phoenix Zones Initiatives
  • Plant Based Health Professionals UK
  • ProVeg International
  • RSPCA
  • Science and Environmental Health Network
  • Sinergia Animal
  • Song Thuan Chay
  • The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries
  • The Humane League
  • The Humane League UK
  • The Raven Corps
  • True Animal Protein Price Coalition
  • True Health Initiative
  • Vegan Society
  • Veganuary
  • VegeProject Japan (VPJ)

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Media Contact: Leozette Roode, HSI/UK: +27 (0)713601104; LRoode@hsi.org

Humane Society International

unoL/iStock.com

SANTIAGO DE CHILE—A federal cruelty-free cosmetics bill championed by Humane Society International and Te Protejo passed the first stage of review by the Health Commission within the Chilean Chamber of Deputies with bipartisan political support, regulatory backing and the support of cosmetics companies. The Health Commission unanimously supported Bulletin 13.966-11 to ban animal testing for cosmetics, as well as the import or sale of beauty products developed with reliance on new animal testing carried out anywhere in the world after the law comes into force. The commission voted to move forward to study the bill in further detail.

“We are delighted to see that this bill has widespread support, and commend members of the Health Commission, the Chilean Cosmetic Chamber and the Institute of Public Health for their support in moving this groundbreaking legislation to the next stage in the legislative process. We are looking forward to seeing Chile become the next country to be cruelty-free,” said Daniela Sanchez, HSI country director for Chile.

The bill is supported by industry leaders like Lush, Unilever, P&G, L’Oréal and Avon, which are working with HSI to secure meaningful animal testing bans in many of the world’s most influential beauty markets, including Chile. In addition to pursuing legislative bans, HSI and its partners are collaborating to develop a training program under the Animal-Free Safety Assessment to support smaller companies and government authorities transition from animal testing to state-of-the-art non-animal methods, which are readily available and better at assuring human safety than the animal tests they replace.

“Te Protejo has been working for nine years to raise awareness and consciousness among citizens in relation to the cruelty that testing on animals involves. Recent polling illustrates that 72% of Chileans support the ban on animal testing. The support from deputies from the Health Commission could propel Chile to become the 41st country to ban animal testing in cosmetics in the world,” Nicole Valdebenito, director of communication and corporate affairs of NGO Te Protejo said.

Earlier this year HSI launched #SaveRalph, a stop-motion animated short film to raise awareness and secure support to end cosmetic animal testing in key beauty markets around the world. #SaveRalph generated awareness for cosmetic animal testing with over 4.5 million signatures worldwide and in 300,000 in Chile alone. The film has since been viewed over 150 million times and has caught the attention of policy makers around the world.

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Media Contacts:

  • Aviva Vetter, the Humane Society of the United States: 514-975-9720; avetter@hsi.org
  • Nicole Valdebenito, Te Protejo: +52 1 55 83944794; nicole@ongteprotejo.org

Humane Society International

Dog Meat Free Indonesia Coalition

KULON PROGO, Indonesia—Indonesia’s first ever prosecution of dog meat traders under animal health laws is set to go ahead, officials have confirmed, in what the country’s animal campaigners hope will be a major turning point in the demise of the brutal trade. Kulon Progo District Police intercepted the gang in May this year when they were illegally transporting 78 dogs bound and gagged in the back of a truck. The dogs were headed for slaughter for human consumption throughout Central Java. This was the first ever such interception in Indonesia, and followed discussions with the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition which campaigns for a nationwide ban on the brutal trade.

The Kulon Progo District Attorney’s Office confirmed in a statement its intention to prosecute the traders who are considered to have violated Article 89 of Law No. 18/ 2009 concerning Livestock and Animal Health, with a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment or a maximum fine of 1.5 billion IDR (over $100,000 USD); as well as Article 140 of Law No. 18/ 2021 on Food, with a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment or a maximum fine of 4 billion IDR (over $275,000 USD).

The dogs in this case had all been stolen from the streets where pet dogs freely roam. Many were still wearing collars whilst bound on the truck to be transported from West Java on a gruelling journey lasting more than 10 hours. The traders illegally crossed provincial borders with the dogs, with no record of the animals’ disease or vaccination status. For example, Solo is an epicentre for much of Java’s dog meat trade, with 85 street stalls selling dog meat, brutally slaughtering an estimated 13,700 dogs each month in filthy makeshift slaughterhouses with no way of ensuring the meat is safe for consumers.

The Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition has conducted numerous investigations over the past several years, exposing the brutal reality of the trade in dogs destined for human consumption. Every month, tens of thousands of these dogs are taken from the streets and illegally transported in many parts of Indonesia. Many die during this horrific journey from heatstroke, dehydration or injuries inflicted during capture and transport. Those who survive are taken to slaughterhouses where they are beaten and strung upside down to bleed out while still conscious or beaten to death in public markets in some parts of the country, in full view of other terrified dogs who await their turn.

Lola Webber, Humane Society International’s dog meat campaign director, who is based in Indonesia, says: “There are thousands of dog trucks across Indonesia just like this one, illegally transporting terrified and disease-vulnerable dogs across provincial borders to slaughterhouses and markets. We have documented first-hand dogs being slaughtered in public alongside myriad wild and domestic species in markets in North Sulawesi. It is easy to see how this trade is not only utterly brutal, but also the perfect breeding ground for the next serious public health disaster. New pathogens could jump to humans in a number of ways – a dog trader wounded during the day’s slaughter, a local consumer eating cross-contaminated dog meat bought at a nearby stall, or a tourist breathing in microscopic blood droplets as they sight-see the markets. So in the face of such an obvious public health and animal welfare risk, it is good to see what we hope to be the first of many interceptions and prosecutions. We cannot allow the dog meat trade to thrive across Asia if we hope to protect the public from future pandemics.”

“We commend Kulon Progo District Police for setting such a good example for the rest of the country by taking direct action, and we congratulate Karanganyar and Sukoharjo Regencies and Salatiga City for explicitly prohibiting the trade in their jurisdictions on the grounds of public and animal health and welfare. We now need to see the same level of activity across Indonesia to stamp out this cruel, dangerous and unwelcome trade.”

Dog meat trade facts:

  • Opinion polls show that only a small minority of Indonesia’s population (4.5%) consume dog meat and only a very small number of those involved in the trade rely on dog meat as their main source of income.
  • Rabies is a grave concern in Indonesia, with just eight out of 34 provinces declared rabies-free. Provinces such as Central Java are jeopardising their rabies-free status by allowing dogs of unknown disease and vaccination status to be imported from surrounding provinces to supply dog meat, despite opinion polls showing just 3% of Central Javans consume it.
  • The illegal movement of large numbers of dogs of unknown disease status into densely populated areas contravenes rabies control recommendations by leading human and animal health experts including the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as well as national disease prevention legislation.
  • There are widely publicised reports directly linking the dog meat trade to rabies transmission in many parts of Asia where the dog meat trade operates, including Indonesia. Scientific reports have documented rabies-positive dogs being sold and slaughtered in markets in Indonesia, as well as in restaurants and slaughterhouses in China and Viet Nam.
  • Dog theft for the meat trade is a serious problem in Indonesia. Dog Meat Free Indonesia has interviewed many residents who have described their terrifying ordeal with armed traders stealing their pets at night. Despite the obvious law-breaking, thefts are rarely taken seriously by law enforcement, so the thieves go unpunished.
  • Across Asia, opposition to the dog and cat meat trades is increasing, with an ever-growing number of countries and territories (Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand and two major cities in mainland China) banning the trade in and slaughter, sale and consumption of dogs.
  • The Dog Meat Free Indonesia campaign has received support from global and Indonesian superstars including a letter to President Joko Widodo in 2018 calling for action to end the country’s dog and cat meat trades signed by Simon Cowell, Sophia Latjuba, Yeslin Wang, Nadia Mulya, Lawrence Enzela, Cameron Diaz, Chelsea Islan, Ellen DeGeneres and Pierce Brosnan.

Download Videos of Solo Investigations

Download Photos of Solo Investigations

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Media Contacts:

  • Lola Webber, Humane Society International: +6281337408768; E-mail: Lwebber@hsi.org
  • Karin Franken, national coordinator Dog Meat Free Indonesia CoalitionTel: +628212287794 E-mail: jaan_adopt@yahoo.com

The death of Mopane is reminiscent of Cecil’s demise

Humane Society International / Africa

Chris Upton/Alamy Stock Photo Lion in the wild.

WASHINGTON—A majestic lion named Mopane was allegedly killed by an American hunter outside of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe last week. Mopane’s death has sparked international outcry with details surrounding his killing similar to those of Cecil the lion, slaughtered in 2015 in the same area. With his impressive mane, Mopane was well-known to local tour guides and international tourists visiting the area to catch a glimpse of him.

Just like 13-year-old Cecil who was lured with an elephant carcass as bait, it was reported that the approximately 12-year-old Mopane was possibly lured out of the Hwange National Park with bait and killed in in the same place that Cecil was killed on land adjacent to the Park. Like Cecil who headed up a lion pride, Mopane was known to have formed a coalition with another male lion named Sidhule, and the two males formed a pride with two adult females and six sub-adults of about 16 to 18 months old. Locals were concerned that Sidhule and Mopane would be targeted by trophy hunters and started a petition to protect them. Unfortunately, Sidhule fell victim to a trophy hunter and was killed two years ago this month in 2019.

Kitty Block, CEO of Humane Society International and president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, said, “Mopane was a father and played a significant role in his pride. Without him, his pride is now vulnerable to takeover by another male or group of males, which may lead to the killing of the cubs and females in his pride. Yet, as with Cecil six years ago, the perverse pleasure some people derive from killing iconic animals brought this noble lion’s life to a tragic end. Another trophy hunter spending tens of thousands of dollars on a globe-trotting thrill-to-kill escapade shows humanity at its worst. It is shameful that the U.S. has the distinction of being the world’s biggest importer of hunting trophies. Enough is enough.” 

Sara Amundson, president of Humane Society Legislative Fund said, “The individual depravity that underlies trophy hunting is self-evident. But the terrible truth is that our federal government systematically enables trophy hunting of threatened and endangered species by Americans through its failure to revise import policies that permit the bloodshed to continue. On the campaign trail President Biden expressed his concern for this issue and he can and should now direct the relevant federal agencies to halt the import of trophy parts from species listed under the Endangered Species Act. Until we have a properly implemented regulatory framework that upholds the conservation mandate in federal law, this is little more than lawless carnage.”

The African lion is protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. However, trophy hunters continue to be authorized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to import trophy-hunted lions and other species threatened with extinction under a permitting scheme that HSUS and HSI have challenged as violating federal law. The Humane Society Legislative Fund is currently working with the Administration and Congress to address this dangerous and broken import permit system.

Neither Cecil’s nor Mopane’s killings are anomalies. Between 2009 and 2018, 7,667 lion trophies were traded internationally, including into the U.S. and the European Union. In addition to advocating to eliminate the import of lion trophies into the U.S., HSI is working in South Africa to prohibit the export of lion trophies and in the U.K. and European Union to prohibit the import of imperiled species trophies.

Additional information:

  • An estimated 20,000 mature lions remain in the wild in Africa.
  • Lions are infanticidal species. Infanticide occurs when adult males take over a new territory and kills the dependent cubs in order to increase mating opportunities with resident females that have dependent offspring.
  • Human-induced removal of lions, such as trophy hunting, disrupts social group and results in infanticide. More information on African lions can be found
  • While the U.S. is the largest importer of hunting trophies, the EU has surpassed the U.S. as the largest importer of lion trophies between 2016 and 2018 according to a new report by HSI/Europe.

ENDS

Media Contacts:

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

Stand Up for Animals

HSI/UK’s hugely popular #StandUpForAnimals comedy night is back for another year! Join us for an evening of laughter at The Comedy Store in London on Monday 7th October 2024.

Be entertained by a fantastic line-up of comedians, enjoy some delicious vegan food from The Comedy Store’s kitchen, and try your luck at winning an amazing animal-friendly prize in our cruelty-free raffle. This event always sells out fast, so don’t miss out —make sure you book your tickets today!

Here’s our wonderful line-up of comedians:

    • Carl Donnelly (MC): “Observational genius” – The Guardian.
    • Alasdair Beckett-King: “Massively entertaining” – Chortle.
    • Adele Cliff: “Delicious one-liners and well-turned puns” – The Scotsman.
    • Jessie Cave: “Original, charming and engaging” – Fringe Review.
    • Katie Green: “Witty word play and quick punch lines” – Funny Women.
    • Lou Sanders: “Chaotic gold” – Fest Mag. As seen on Taskmaster.
    • Tom Ward: “Staggeringly impressive” – The Herald. As seen on Live at the Apollo.
    • Rich Hall: “A brilliant comedian, musician and writer” – Left Lion

Tickets: £20 standard seating / £25 premium seating
Date/Time: Monday 7th October 2024 at 8pm (bar and diner open from 7pm)
Venue: The Comedy Store, 1A Oxendon Street, London, SW1Y 4EE

BOOK NOW

All proceeds help fund HSI’s animal protection campaigns and projects on the ground in the UK and around the world, including our efforts to end the cruel dog meat trade, trophy hunting, and the killing of animals for their fur, as well as provide lifesaving emergency rescue and relief in disaster situations.

Please support our work by buying tickets and sharing this event with your animal-loving friends. We look forward to seeing you there!

*Final line-up subject to change.

Humane Society International / Global

Overview

Scientific consensus shows that animal agriculture is responsible for at least 16.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and causes significant environmental degradation, from biodiversity loss to deforestation. Shifting to a plant-rich diet is one of the most effective climate-mitigation measures and provides multiple benefits from health and environmental perspectives.

Building a sustainable and resilient future for all requires comprehensive policy reform, financial incentives, and widespread collaboration among policymakers, financial institutions, businesses, communities and other stakeholders of the global food system. It is also critically important for each of us to take action where we can, since we are all in this together!

Humane Society International / Africa

Sam Delaney/ Elephant Reintegration Trust From Left to Right: Tenisha Roos (Elephant Researcher), Tammy Eggeling (Principle Elephant Researcher, ERT), Brett Mitchell (Chairman, ERT), Dr Audrey Delsink (Wildlife Director, HSI/Africa) and JJ van Altena (Global Supplies/HSI/Africa Project Implementation Specialist) with immobilised elephant bull fitted with a satellite tracking collar to facilitate remote monitoring.

CAPE TOWN—Humane Society International/Africa (HSI/Africa) and the Elephant Reintegration Trust (ERT) have joined forces in a research project that could change the way that elephants are managed in South Africa in the future.

Nine reserves are currently part of the research project, with more due to join as the project progresses.

“While we know a lot about elephants, there’s so much more to learn – especially the effects that human interventions and management have on their lives and welfare,” said HSI/Africa wildlife director, Dr Audrey Delsink.

HSI/Africa’s elephant immunocontraception programme is already successfully ensuring non-lethal population control amongst elephant cows, with > 1150 females already contracepted in South Africa.

“This prevents the need for lethal culling as it controls local population densities, helping to mitigate potential elephant-human conflict in communities alongside reserves. However, we need to examine the effects of decisions that have been taken particularly for bull elephants—because not all are favourable or biologically relevant,” added Delsink.

According to the ERT, many undesirable bull elephant behaviours may be due to lack of knowledge around the importance of elephant social dynamics which results in poor management practices such as unbalanced demographics, or the incorrect or prolonged use of treatments to suppress musth and aggression in bulls.

“Extensive observation, monitoring and tracking is showing us how elephants use their landscape. When bull elephants break out of reserves, show aggression or unwanted behaviour, this invariably points towards a lack of space or social stability in the system, often resulting due to previous uninformed management decisions. If not responsibly addressed such behaviours will likely escalate,” said ERT chairman, Brett Mitchell.

The research team aims to use their findings to guide the management of free ranging elephants and the reintegration of captive elephants back into wild systems.

“We’re also aiming to develop a meta-population management approach to assist reserves to monitor and manage their elephant populations more effectively so that potential problems can be mitigated before they arise,” added Delsink.

The ERT and HSI/Africa team were recently at the Khamab Kalahari Reserve in the North West province with partner Global Supplies and veterinarian Dr Zoe Glyphis to deploy additional satellite collars on elephant bulls. This will help the team to better understand the dynamics of the elephants’ movement ahead of an introduction of new, various aged bulls, selected with the intention of building up the current bull hierarchy.

Download Photos/Video

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Media Contact: Marisol Gutierrez: 072 358 9531; mgutierrez@hsi.org

Campaign launched in support of act to promote alternatives to animal testing

Humane Society International

Multiart/iStock.com

SEOUL—Animal protection organization Humane Society International/Korea (HSI/Korea), cosmetics brand Lush Korea and civic group People for Non-human Rights (PNR) have teamed up for laboratory animals by launching a petition to support the Act on the Promotion of Development, Dissemination and Use of Alternatives to Animal Testing Methods (PAAM Act).

According to a report on animal testing statistics published by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, the number of animals used for testing in South Korea was 4,141,433 in 2020. This figure is a 43.8% increase compared to five years ago, when 2,878,907 animals were subjected to testing in 2016. While animal testing is increasing, there is an effort to replace animal testing and introduce scientifically sound alternatives. In Europe and the United States, pharmaceutical companies are already starting to use organoids and organ-on-a-chip models. These technologies can emulate human physiology and are used to test substances instead of animal experiments.

The PAAM Act petition campaign aims to raise public awareness about the importance of promoting alternatives to animal testing both to reduce cruelty to animals and to improve human health. Citizens will be encouraged to participate in signing the petition that urges central government and lawmakers to pass the bill.

PAAM Act was introduced to the National Assembly in December 2020 and is sponsored by assembly member In-soon Nam. The bill is focused on supporting development of new methods that can mimic human biology or using computer-based approaches while moving away from relying on animal models. It also provides a legal ground for collaboration among central authorities to disseminate these developed methods through harmonized planning.

Along with the launch of the petition page, a mini webinar titled ‘Let’s learn about animal testing and alternatives’ will be released through Lush Korea’s YouTube channel in September. The webinar will feature HSI/Korea, Lush Korea, PNR and Jae-Sung Kwon, an assistant professor at the College of Dentistry at Younsei University. The panelists will discuss the status of animal testing, developing replacement approaches and why the PAAM Act is important.

Borami Seo, interim executive director and senior policy manager for HSI/Korea, said: “The PAAM Act took three years of preparation including consulting with relevant institutions and experts. The bill is important in that it stipulates unprecedented, but much needed, initiatives to bring central governments together to put Korea on track for the progress in health research based on more effective, science sounding approaches than animal testing.”

Won Jung Park, ethics director for Lush Korea said: “Considering an increasing interest in ethical consumerism in the 4th industrial revolution era where modern technologies are emerging, PAAM Act is what we need now. Lush Korea has long been supporting work around animal testing replacement. I hope that this PAAM Act petition campaign will contribute to speedy passage of the bill and bring an end to cruel and unnecessary animal testing.”

Anyone can show their support for the PAAM Act petition campaign by visiting Lush Korea stores or lush.co.kr/animalfreetesting.

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Media Contact: Borami Seo: bseo@hsi.org

Humane Society International / Global

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SEOUL—The annual statistics on laboratory animal use for 2020 revealed disappointing trends with regards to animal testing in South Korea. According to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, 4,141,433 animals were used for testing in 2020, up 11.5% compared to the previous year (3,712,380 in 2019). This figure is a 43.8% increase compared to five years ago, when 2,878,907 animals were subjected to testing.

Meanwhile, this week, the Ministry of Justice proposed an amendment to the Civil Law, adding a new clause on the legal status of animals stipulating that animals are not objects. While Humane Society International/Korea welcomes this proposal, the latest animal testing statistics illustrate how much there is still to do at a government level to reduce the use of animals in experiments through effective replacement and reduction policies.

The greatest share of animal experiments were conducted under the regulatory testing category, recording 1,795,709 animals used. In addition, 299,344 animals were used for efficacy testing. This is a 900% increase compared to 2019 when 29,876 animals were used. For industrial chemical testing, there was a 43% decrease in 2020, recording 29,810 animals. HSI/Korea actively defended amendments to prioritize alternative methods in the Korea chemical registration law, K-REACH, which came into effect in 2019.

While Korea is embracing technological advances in every aspect of society, when it comes to research and testing, outdated approaches using animals are favored despite the rapid emergence of innovative, non-animal approaches, including internationally validated methods for regulatory testing. In recent years, human mimetic models like organ-on-a-chip, organoids and computer-based approaches such as in silico have proven to be successful alternatives to animal models and have received attention from global pharmaceutical industries and regulators. These technologies have the potential to improve safety and efficacy assessments and reduce the failure rates of candidate drugs at the clinical stage.

However, running against these global trends, in 2020 the Ministry of Education secured 150 billion Korean Won to build new animal testing centers at nine national universities across South Korea. HSI/Korea has called for this funding to be redirected toward creation of alternative method infrastructures instead. The Ministry of Education denied HSI/Korea’s proposal.

According to the Ministry of Science, Information and Communications Technology’s response to the enquiry on the 2021 budget information for animal experiments and alternatives, 28.6% of the ministry’s budget is dedicated to funding and supplying animal models. This budget enquiry was requested by Member of National Assembly, Ik-pyo Hong, at the Science, Information and Communications Technology Committee. Only 1.36% of the budget was allocated for the development of state-of-the-art human-based technology instead of animal models.

Assembly member Ik-pyo Hong said: “The 2020 statistics show how little attention has been paid to advance research technologies without involving animal suffering. The objective of developing methods that emulate human physiology, is to find more accurate and effective ways for treating human diseases and conditions. In addition, it is our responsibility as a society to adopt more compassionate approaches for animals. I believe we can do more to support this modern science and move away from animal testing. Ultimately, it is better for humans and animals.”

Borami Seo, senior policy manager for HSI/Korea said: “While public interest in animal protection gathers unstoppable momentum, over 10,000 animals died every day in 2020 in Korean laboratories. The science community and central ministries need to move away from the outdated and unscientific notion that more animal experiments are better. We need to bring public and private stakeholders together around a consensus strategy to develop, disseminate and apply non-animal, cutting-edge technologies.”

Last December, Assembly member In-soon Nam introduced a new bill entitled ‘Act on the Promotion of Development, Dissemination and Use of Alternatives to Animal Testing Methods.’ It aims to bring central government ministries, research and testing stakeholders together for strategic planning to advance scientific research without animal testing. The bill is currently awaiting its review at the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee.

Read the official 2020 lab animal statistics in Korean

ENDS

Media Contact: Borami Seo: bseo@hsi.org

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