Letter Writing Campaigns

_{Marian Hussenbux – International Campaigns Secretary}

In addition to AIA’s proactive advocacy work, outlined in its five year strategy 2022-2026, we also react to current situations of animal cruelty .

AIA’s International Campaigns Secretary, Marian Hussenbux is responsible for AIA’s global animal advocacy work. This involves writing to people of influence about animal suffering and cruelty around the world, often in support of campaigns run by other organisations.

AIA’S CAMPAIGNING ACTIVITY

May 2026 – August 2026

UNITED KINGDOM

The killing of gugas (young gannets ) on the small island Sula Sgeir in North West Scotland: we repeated our request to the NatureScot Board to discuss public concerns about the Guga hunt licence as a matter of urgency at their meeting in May.

At a time when seabird populations face mounting pressures from avian influenza, climate change, and declining marine ecosystems, allowing this annual “hunt “to continue sends the wrong message.

A transparent review into ending the licensing of the hunt permanently is needed, especially as in July, additional details were revealed showing the callousness and disrespect of this slaughter.

UPDATE: on August 3, NatureScot refused to issue the licence. This is excellent, but does not mean the hunters will not apply in future years, so Protect the Wild, the main campaigner on this issue, is lobbying the Scottish Parliament to make the practice illegal – and we of course will lobby to support them.

A recently installed flue pipe at the Pound Road swift colony in Surrey was obstructing access to a long-established swift nesting site. The loss of nesting sites is recognised as one of the primary causes of their decline.

The pipe was promptly re-positioned, but other works are still making it difficult for swifts to access their nest holes.

More seriously, we wrote to ask the Police & Crime Commissioner to hold Surrey Police to account for their failure to act on warnings about a wildlife crime in Dorking.

Surrey Police Wildlife Officers were alerted in May that Common Swifts — a red-listed species fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 — were actively nesting in Regent House near Dorking station, and that demolition was imminent. Despite these warnings, Surrey Police took no action to prevent the demolition from proceeding during peak nesting season and between 17 and 22 active swift nests were subsequently destroyed. A crime reference number has been issued — 45260062539 — but at the time of writing, no enforcement action has been announced.

We asked the PCC to:

– Formally ask Surrey Police to explain why no preventative action was taken despite warnings from residents in early May – ensure Surrey Police’s Wildlife Crime Officers treat this case as a priority – use your office to push for enforcement action against those responsible for authorising the demolition.

REPLY from PCC:

… “As Police and Crime Commissioner, I must be clear that it is not my role to direct Surrey Police on any operational matters or to get involved in any live investigations. That is not my remit and the responsibility for operational policing should, and always must, remain with the Chief Constable.

“I do have a role to hold the Force to account on behalf of the county’s residents. My office has made enquiries with Surrey Police regarding this case and I am aware that the Force has received several reports of wildlife crime. Those reports are currently being reviewed and the Force has said they are seeking to obtain any relevant evidence that may assist their enquiries.

“With any allegation of criminality, clear evidence is required in order for the relevant action to be taken, including any prosecution.

“Surrey Police have encouraged anyone with concerns about potential wildlife offences to report them and, where possible, to provide any relevant evidence to assist enquiries…”

We asked London Mayor Sadiq Khan to reject Arada’s planning application for the Great North Leisure Park in Finchley.

Our members are particularly concerned about the impact this development would have on the protected great crested newt population at the neighbouring Glebelands Nature Reserve. Great crested newts are a European Protected Species.

Barnet Council’s Strategic Planning Committee unanimously rejected the scheme on grounds of over-development and harm to the local environment.

The Glebelands Nature Reserve provides essential habitat that supports not only great crested newts but a wider range of protected species. A development of this scale and density — 1,485 homes in 20 buildings rising to 25 storeys — on the boundary of this reserve poses a serious and unquantified risk to that habitat.

Rodent glue traps which are inhumane, indiscriminate and indefensible, condemn animals to agonising and drawn-out deaths. In 2024 following campaigning from Humane World for Animals, the Glue Traps (Offences) Act banned the use of glue traps by the general public. But this ban is not widely known about, and Humane World for Animals has shown that glue traps are still being sold both online and in hundreds of shops in England for as little as £1.

The Scottish Government has banned the sale of rodent glue traps, the Welsh Government has completely banned the use of rodent glue traps, and Humane World for Animals and the Animal Sentience Committee are all calling for a coordinated sales ban to be applied across the UK.

Amazon are selling glue traps. We asked them to take immediate action to end the sale of glue traps to customers across England, Wales and Scotland.

Under the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022, it is a criminal offence in England to use glue traps for rodents except under a tightly controlled licensing system, limited to professional pest controllers operating in exceptional circumstances.

The use of these devices on rodents is increasingly restricted due to the appalling animal welfare concerns they raise. The RSPCA has also raised concerns, urging members of the public to report the use of glue traps to the police via 101.

We asked for the immediate and safe release of the 47+ jackdaws currently trapped behind bird netting at B&Q Clacton-on-Sea store. Trapped behind netting, they face starvation, dehydration, injury and a slow, distressing death.

All wild birds, their eggs and their active nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. If birds are nesting, one cannot legally move, destroy, damage or interfere with those nests or eggs, or kill or injure the birds.

We asked them to: Remove the netting and safely release all trapped birds by tomorrow, using competent, humane, non-lethal professionals – confirm that no active nests, eggs or dependent young will be touched, moved or destroyed, in line with the law – commit to not reinstalling netting at this site, as it has demonstrably failed.

Instant reply on this, part of which is: “Thank you for your email about the jackdaws congregating on the roof of our Clacton store.

Firstly, I want to reassure you that the jackdaws are freely flying in and out of the netted area. None are trapped or caught in the netting. Of the 47 first counted, there were only 20 this morning.

Our expert partners EcoLab attended the Clacton store this morning to ensure that the net is fitted correctly. As a precautionary measure, given the number of jackdaws congregating on the roof of the store, they have also created a larger opening.

Where required, and as a last resort, netting is installed at our stores by our expert partners Ecolab, as an approved method to deter gulls from nesting on roofs, due to the potential public health issues. You’ll be aware that there is a risk of nesting gulls attacking customers and colleagues while in open areas such as our garden centre and of the gulls fouling, not only items for sale, but also customers and colleagues. EcoLab ensure the net is appropriate for each location and the RSPCA, who has been to some of our other sites, has also said that the netting is fit for purpose.

Kingsley Mack | Director of Property”

I can’t understand this – if birds are flying in and out how is netting a deterrent?

We urged Defra to publish, without further delay, the promised Consultation on phasing out the use of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in pig slaughter.

The Animal Welfare Strategy for England made a clear commitment to consult on ending this practice, but, months on, there is still no timetable and no visible progress. Meanwhile, nine million pigs continue to be exposed to CO₂ gas each year, experiencing extreme pain, distress and suffering.

According to reporting on recently leaked documents from the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA), there are reasons to be concerned that drag hunting could be presented as a solution while, in practice, being used to delay or weaken meaningful reform.

The Times has reported that a note written by BHSA chairman proposed that hunts offer to convert to drag hunting by 2028. According to the newspaper, the note stated that this would allow the minister to claim victory without the immediate need for legislation and that, by the time any bill was produced, the country would be close to the next general election.

The Times also reported that leaked minutes show the BHSA engaged lobbying firm CT Group, which identified around 100 Labour MPs in rural marginal seats as key targets, with the aim of making support for a ban politically more difficult.

Defra’s consultation press release stated that drag hunting and clean-boot hunting should continue to thrive. In light of the reported BHSA documents, we very much hope the Government will carefully consider whether any future legislation is robust enough to prevent alternative forms of hunting from being used to undermine Parliament’s intentions.

We wrote to the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs, Gillian Martin, about her preparation to set out the Programme for Government; the decisions made now will shape the lives of millions in the years ahead, including animals.

Animal welfare is a key concern to Scots – but the SNP’s recent manifesto did not include a single animal welfare commitment.

We urged her to commit to:

Ending the use of farrowing crates, which cause immense suffering to mother pigs caged in them – tackling the animal welfare crisis caused be the trade in and keeping of wild animals as ‘exotic pets’ – updating welfare and wildlife laws, which are not strong enough to prevent harm to wild animals, such as the guga hunt.

This year Scotland signed off on the Natural Environment Act, setting up a framework to create nature recovery targets. A champion needs to be at the Cabinet table to oversee the reintroduction of keystone species and ensure every government department is working toward a nature – positive Scotland, under a dedicated Nature Minister to tackle the nature emergency.

We wrote to the Welsh Government and the Senedd – asking them to reject badger culling in Wales, and, at the very least, to hold a full public consultation before any change to the current policy is even considered.

Following a Senedd debate this week, there is renewed pressure to introduce a badger cull to tackle bovine TB. This is very worrying.

Between 2013 and 2025, licensed culling in England killed 254,038 badgers – over half the estimated population – and the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory. Yet the UK government ultimately judged the cull “ineffective” and ended it in favour of vaccination.

Key questions remain:

How many badgers were actually infected with bovine TB?

What evidence shows that killing badgers reduced the disease in cattle?

What has been the impact on England’s badger population?

Wales is already succeeding without killing badgers. Since 2012, new herd incidents of bovine TB have more than halved, and almost 95% of Welsh herds are now TB-free. This has been achieved through cattle testing, movement controls, and biosecurity, with no lethal wildlife control. Around 94% of bovine TB transmission is cattle-to-cattle. Wales has spent fourteen years proving that bovine TB can be tackled humanely and effectively.

www.badgertrust.org.uk

FRANCE

Brown Bears Consultation – We made a formal Submission to a French government Consultation on the hunting of brown bears: – the bear is strictly protected in law – the Pyrenean population is fragile and cannot be described as sustainable -allowing inexperienced farmers to use powerful weapons is risky – shooting can separate mothers and cubs.

A second Consultation would allow hunting, shooting, trapping and even digging out of animals officially deemed “Harmful” – such as foxes, pine martens, weasels, corvids.

We objected both on moral grounds and also the fact that France is suffering wildfires and animals are already dying or being dispersed.

We contacted the Mayor and Councillor responsible for Animal Welfare in Nevers on plans to have a spectacle involving horses and pyrotechnics.

Once again, apart from the madness of allowing fireworks anywhere near horses, the risk of fire is greatly exacerbated now.

VERY GOOD NEWS received on Aug. 12:

“With immediate effect, France has stopped processing import permits for hunting trophies of threatened species and committed to a total ban on those imports. The decision comes from the French Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, dated 28 July 2026. On 31 July, Mathieu Lefèvre, the Minister Delegate for Ecological Transition, instructed France’s nature and CITES authorities to apply it at once, across the whole country, without waiting for every last regulation to be rewritten.

The official letter is short and clear. It covers hunting trophies of species listed under EU wildlife trade rules in Annex A, and further threatened species in Annex B (XIII) for which an import permit is already required. Competent services are told not to process those permit applications any longer. Until the full legal text is finished, the orientation is to be applied without delay and uniformly.

That is how serious policy looks when a government means it: one decision, one signature, and the permits stop.”

Why can’t we mean it and do it in the UK?

BELGIUM

With the organisation GAIA, we asked the Minister responsible for Animal Welfare M. Adrien Dolimont to close forthwith the abattoir of Ath, in which appallingly cruel procedures are being allowed to obtain.

We asked the Minister also to ensure that CCTV footage should be analysed by AI, with transmission to the authorities.

Once again, we wondered why the official vets present noticed nothing wrong. Each abattoir should also be inspected with no fore-warning and proper sanctions in place to prevent cruelty.

We received a comprehensive REPLY from M. Dolimont, who described the images as “unbearable”. He stated that an inspection would be made within hours and that CCTV for the past 14 days had been requested. If procedures were not correct, serious action would be taken.

However, this was Gaia’s reaction:

“The response is largely insufficient and the abattoir continues operating as if nothing has happened, while the enquiry is in train. So GAIA expects stronger measures to be taken.”

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM BELGIUM: August 3:

Flemish Animal Welfare Minister Ben Weyts has announced that the government has approved a plan to shut the last remaining dolphinarium in Belgium, bringing an end to dolphin captivity in Flanders by 2037 at the latest.

Boudewijn Seapark in Bruges, home to Belgium’s only remaining dolphin show, will have until 2037 to rehome its remaining dolphins and transition to other activities.

Under the plan, the dolphinarium must continue with the construction of a new outdoor pool, due to become operational by 2027.

Until 2037, the dolphinarium will be subject to a strict ban on breeding and importing dolphins, ensuring that no new animals are added to the facility.

The ban will not apply to specialised rescue centres, which will still be allowed to provide temporary care for injured, sick or stranded dolphins and whales before releasing them back into the wild.

Commercial exhibitions and dolphin shows will, however, be prohibited.

And: Member of Parliament Kris Verduyckt stated:

“Our country is finally banning the import of hunting trophies of endangered animals. The protection of these species is incompatible with trophy hunting imports. I am delighted that my legislative proposal is now enshrined in our legislation…”

Humane Society International/Europe helped secure the unanimously supported 2022 parliamentary resolution, which later became a legislative proposal approved by the Federal government’s Council of Ministers in July 2023.

ICELAND

We welcomed the pledge of the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hanna Katrín Friðriksson to introduce a legislative bill to ban commercial whaling later this year.

However, whale hunter Kristjan Loftsson was granted a whale killing quota of up to 318 whales just months before a bill to ban whaling hopefully comes before policy makers – and this is now happening.

Apart from the terrible cruelty of the slaughter, the fin whales targeted by Iceland’s hunts are classified by the IUCN as globally vulnerable to extinction.

FAROES

We wrote to the Danish Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen about the continuation of the drive hunts in the Faroe Islands. On May 27th alone, three massive hunts are reported to have killed nearly 700 dolphins in a single day: 402 pilot whales were driven ashore at Sandagerði in Tórshavn, around 150 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed in Skálafirði, and a further 132 at Streymnesi.

The Faroese Parliament voted unanimously to amend their Animal Welfare Act so that it explicitly does not apply to whale and dolphin hunting. A legal challenge had previously been mounted on the basis that the existing law did apply. Rather than engaging with these concerns, the Parliament removed the legal basis for them entirely.

This is one of the most prosperous societies in the North Atlantic, where there is no dependence on the hunt for food or sustenance.

While the Faroe Islands are not part of the European Union and have autonomous administration, Denmark remains both legally and morally responsible in international matters, including species conservation, which should know no borders.

PORTUGAL

A bullfight in Mêda was to take place in June, integrated into a Rural Festival, supported by public funds. This appears to be the first in the town, so cannot be defended as part of their cultural identity.

I have not yet discovered whether this happened or not.

EUROPEAN UNION

Another AGRIFISH meeting took place in Luxembourg, still without animal welfare on the agenda.

We asked them to push animal welfare onto the agenda and deliver a Livestock Strategy with a binding cage phase-out and end to chick culling.

REPLY July 28: from Office of Commissioner Várhelyi who is responsible for animal welfare. “… As you may have seen, the EU Livestock Strategy (1), adopted on 7 July 2026, contains indeed several actions to this end: By the end of 2026, the Commission intends to propose a targeted revision of animal welfare rules for laying hens and broilers, including on the phasing-out of cages and on ending the systematic killing of male chicks. By Q2 2027, a similar proposal will address pig welfare, including the transition from crates to pen systems.

I look forward to further exchanges with your organisation on these important matters.”

So far, we are relieved by this response. We shall see!

Re live animal transport – we also signed an Open Letter to Representatives of EU citizens, as decisions that are made now regarding the update to the Transport Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 will make or break their welfare in this sector.

Transported animals suffer greatly under the EU’s current laws. From being transported in temperatures as high as 50°C to being stranded at sea, the volume and frequency of incidents reported prove these kinds of welfare issues are not anomalies in the trade, but evidence of clear systemic suffering.

Also, transport to countries outside of the EU, including to active conflict zones, makes it near impossible to safeguard their welfare.

Recommendations include legislating on species and category- specific maximum journey times, a ban on the transport of certain vulnerable animals (including animals younger than 12 weeks of age), and a ban on animal transport in extreme temperatures, adhering to temperature limits that are in-line with the European Food Safety Authority’s recommendations.

Moreover, we asked them to promote shorter and more resilient supply chains within the EU by supporting a transition towards increased trade in meat and carcasses.

In August we wrote to President von der Leyen as follows:

Dear President von der Leyen,

I write on behalf of The Animal Interfaith Alliance, an international alliance of faith groups founded in Britain concerned about the welfare of animals. Our member organisations and individual members include Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs. We are all united by our common concern for animals, based on our various faiths.

We send our compliments and refer to the EC’s priorities for the year ahead.

On 16th September, you will present the European Commission’s priorities to the European Parliament.

Our members are appealing to you to include animals in that speech, and to confirm the Commission will deliver the revision of animal welfare legislation and end the use of cages.

You will be aware that over a million people formally asked your Commission to end the cage age. Your Commission promised to act.

However, years later, animals are still in cages, and that promise remains unfulfilled.

Please speak up for these vulnerable sentient beings. Surely they have suffered enough, confined in their billions to what can only be described as cruel and disrespectful conditions.

Surely the European Union can do better than this?

We trust you to fulfil your promise and act with some urgency in this important matter of ethics.

BAHRAIN

There has been shooting of stray dogs there- we objected to His Highness Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Ministers, and Ambassadors:

We appealed for well-established, effective ways to humanely deal with stray animals, such as establishing and supporting more animal adoption centres – promoting the spaying and neutering of dogs and cats- discouraging the breeding and the sale of pets and establishment of a dog sanctuary for stray dogs to comfortably live out their lives.

INDIA

We wrote to the Chief Minister and Forest Minister of Maharashtra about elephant Madhuri—also known as Mahadevi—who was rescued nearly a year ago after three decades of suffering. She has severe arthritis, foot rot, multiple fractures, and psychological trauma. She has finally found peace—and a friend.

However, the Nandini Math has applied to return her to the same shed at the temple that drove her to kill the chief priest in frustration. This would return her to the very conditions that caused her suffering, effectively undoing the very intervention that Indian courts and experts had deemed necessary for her physical and psychological wellbeing.

PETA India has offered a mechanical elephant to the temple for rituals, just as the Jain Thousand Pillars Temple in Karnataka uses. Mechanical elephants have been recommended by the governments of Karnataka and Telangana for use in temples or processions.

UNITED STATES

We contributed to a Submission to the Los Angeles authorities in support of Angeleno friends who are very concerned about the welfare of animals in the city.

We asked them to restore and increase funding for Los Angeles Animal Services. Increase spay/neuter funding by at least $1 million, restore animal food funding, restore medical supplies funding, restore Dogs Playing for Life funding, and immediately reinstate the LAPD Animal Cruelty Task Force.

We asked the authorities to abandon plans to strip North Atlantic right whales of the protection of the 2008 vessel speed rule. These critically endangered whales desperately need the safeguards the rule provides from vessel strikes — a primary threat to the survival of the species.

The rule establishes a seasonal 10-knot limit for most vessels 65 and longer in seasonal management areas along the East Coast where right whales’ feeding, calving, and migratory patterns overlap with heavy vessel traffic.

NOAA Fisheries established the rule because the science overwhelmingly shows that slowing down ships saves whales’ lives.

With a population of roughly 380 individuals, including only about 70 breeding females, North Atlantic right whales are on the brink of extinction.

Via PETA – we read that Niagara Falls Tourism plans to launch fireworks through October 12, for a total of 151 consecutive nights.

Not only is this terrible for the environment, it also fails to take into consideration noise-sensitive residents—including people with PTSD, companion animals, and wildlife—who are being repeatedly traumatised by the nightly blasts.

We asked Tourism to cancel fireworks displays permanently and use alternatives such as lasers instead, which are quiet and produce virtually no air pollution.

UPDATE on Baboons.

In a previous report, we mentioned some horrifying experiments in the US on baboon mothers and babies.

We supported the organisation CAARE which exposed this suffering. Federal funding for this project has now ended and official communications with NIH and UMB reveal that these experiments are over, with no plans to resume.

Also, their investigation also exposed a second UMB project using pregnant baboons and babies to study circulatory defects during pregnancy. NIH records show that this project remains active for one more year. However, because the other related baboon study has now ended, CAARE are hopeful that the remaining year will only be used to analyse existing data and complete final reports.

www.caareusa.org

City and County of Honolulu’s public spay and neuter programme for cats and dogs. Once again, we submitted our support.

The Neuter Now and Feline Fix programs have prevented thousands of unintentional litters of puppies and kittens in the community. While there are more animals in need of homes than families able to adopt them, the city’s investment in spay/neuter has made a huge positive impact.

Unfortunately, it has become harder for guardians to access subsidized spay/neuter services because the low reimbursement rates no longer come close to covering clinic costs.

Updating the veterinary reimbursement rates to better reflect current costs will encourage private clinics to step up and help the community prevent the suffering caused by companion animal overpopulation.

UPDATE: Some problems also arose because there are conservationists who do not think any cats should be allowed out.

Once again, we had to contact US authorities, in this case the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, on the subject of sloths.

According to the organisation Species Unite, 57 wild-caught sloths connected to the infamous company Sloth World have died in great numbers.

13 were rescued, suffering from serious health issues including dehydration, malnutrition, and digestive problems, and despite the best efforts of their care teams, none of the surviving sloths are considered fully out of the woods.

Florida lawmakers, led by the animal-friendly Congresswoman Dr. Anna Eskamani and the Sloth Protection Alliance, have submitted a five-point reform package to FFWCC:

The proposed reforms would prohibit the import of wild-caught sloths, with limited exceptions for accredited zoos participating in conservation programs. They would also either move sloths into a higher regulatory classification that better reflects their complex care needs or create a new category specifically for sloths. Additional proposals include requiring the reporting of all sloth births, deaths, transfers, and sales; prohibiting hands-on “sloth encounter” experiences; and closing a loophole that currently allows the offspring of wild-caught sloths to be marketed as captive-bred.

They have already announced a temporary pause on sloth imports and will establish a task force to evaluate the proposed reforms and develop recommendations before the end of the year.

NB: Congresswoman Dr. Anna Eskamani is a doughty defender of Florida’s black bears, who were made even more vulnerable to being killed by new state legislation. We made many representations to the Florida legislators and Anna kindly kept in touch with us. She has thanked us for our support for the sloths.

We lodged a request on President Trump ‘s web site about elephants and the trade in ivory.

As the excellent campaigners Save Our Elephants say, nobody needs ivory except an elephant and in the misguided human desire for acquiring this product, elephants are dying out in great numbers in Africa.

We admire the State of New Jersey for being the first – we hope, of many – to enact a full and total ivory sales ban. We thanked senior Senator Raymond Lesniak for all the excellent work he has done – and continues to do – for elephants and other animals.

But antique ivory is of great concern. We asked the President to use his executive authority to treat the antique ivory loophole as a national security crisis and mandate a total commercial ban on decorative ivory.

We also thanked First Lady Melania Trump for her 2018 visit to the orphaned elephants at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya and urged her to support this vital conservation directive.

POSITIVE NEWS from Florida: In May, the governor signed HB 599, which creates new felony offenses for adults who cause or encourage minors to take part in anything defined as aggravated cruelty, animal fighting or sexual abuse involving animals, while also requiring minors convicted of animal cruelty to undergo a psychological evaluation and treatment.

He also signed SB 1004, which will require businesses that sell animals to be more transparent about medical history and financing terms, which will crack down on predatory financing deals and allow consumers to end agreements if they get sick animals. It will also require dealers to provide veterinary records, educate consumers about their rights to return sick animals and seek reimbursement for veterinary costs, and make violations enforceable under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

CANADA

The Furbearers informed us of the killing of the mother black bear in Golden Ears Provincial Park, British Columbia.

We understand that non-lethal methods can be taken in cases of potential conflict with human visitors and wrote to BC Parks to desist from killing bears. As more and more people visit the parks in summer, difficult encounters could obviously happen.

Which means that there must be an investment in combined education and enforcement in all BC Parks, to protect wildlife, biodiversity, and park visitors.

We received a comprehensive REPLY from BC Parks, expressing regret that this happened and giving assurances that future procedures will be in place to try to avoid the deadly response.

We wrote to urge Animal Welfare Services to immediately investigate the welfare of the animals remaining at Marineland and take all necessary steps to relieve their distress and protect their health and wellbeing.

It is suggested that the facility, which has listed its property for sale, has already moved over 100 deer and elk from the facility and intends to move all remaining animals by the end of July 2026. Some of the deer and elk are allegedly being sent to slaughterhouses, with many who may be unfit for travel.

20 whales and one dolphin have died at Marineland since 2019 and the facility has made headlines on multiple occasions when it threatened to kill its remaining 30 belugas if the federal government did not adhere to its demands. Whistleblowers suggest the remaining whales and dolphins are being kept in deteriorating tanks and that their health may be seriously compromised.

There is an urgent need for AWS to intervene to improve the care these animals are receiving and send Marineland the bill for those costs.

A horse was seriously injured at the 2026 Calgary Stampede. Two chuckwagons collided during the notoriously deadly Rangeland Derby, tangling up teams of horses and leaving at least one horse injured.

This comes just days after a rodeo worker was caught on camera repeatedly striking a downed horse named Ice Cube and pulling his mane during a bronc riding event. Following Animal Justice’s legal complaint, the Calgary Humane Society launched an investigation, but ultimately decided not to pursue charges.

In the past 40 years, at least 110 animals have been killed at the Calgary Stampede, including 79 horses in chuckwagon races alone.

Some positive news from Humane Canada:

Bill C-16 (an Act to amend other Acts in relation to criminal and correctional matters, including child protection, gender-based violence and other measures) has passed both the House of Commons and the Senate. It received Royal Assent on June 18th and is now law.

The bill incorporates language Humane Canada proposed, the result of six years of advocacy on behalf of our members. It criminalizes animal sexual abuse images and recognizes that harming or threatening an animal can be used as a tactic of criminal harassment or coercive control, a new offence covering patterns of behaviour used to instil fear and control in a relationship. This is a meaningful step forward in embedding the violence link, the connection between animal abuse and human violence, within federal legislation.

We addressed British Columbia Premier, Canadian ministers, MPs et al on plans to dismantle the Species at Risk Act to fast-track the construction of mega industrial projects. This is quite clearly a death sentence to many endangered species and wildlife, with the 73 Southern Resident Orcas yet again being first in line – our kin in creation, as the First Nations describe them.

We expressed strong opposition to the proposal to override section 73(3)(c) of Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) as part of building their One Canadian Economy.

We wrote to owners of aquaria in US and Spain – to publicly commit not to breed any whales or dolphins transferred from Marineland in Niagara Falls.

We urged them to make a clear, public commitment that:

No whales or dolphins received from Marineland will be bred — their reproductive material will not be collected or used for breeding — they will not be transferred to another facility for breeding purposes.— any future transfer agreements involving these animals will include the same protections.

We thanked Ontario Solicitor General Kerzner for the upcoming restrictions on medically unnecessary veterinary procedures in Ontario.

However, while the bans on cat declawing, dog ear cropping, and devocalization represent a long-overdue victory for companion animals, the decision to exclude tail docking from this framework is troubling.

We strongly urged the office to amend the regulations to explicitly include tail docking in the ban before it comes into force.

UPDATE ON CANADA:

Animal Justice, who provide the vast majority of the information we receive about Canada, has received a Lush Prize, an international award recognizing outstanding efforts to end animal testing and advance cruelty-free science.

This award recognizes their work with two whistleblowers from St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario, who came forward to expose a secret dog laboratory where dogs were used in invasive experiments out of public view. The campaign got front page headlines, and ultimately led to the lab being shut down for good.

The impact of this work caught the attention of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has since introduced legislation to ban the use of dogs and cats in invasive medical testing in Ontario—a major step forward for protecting animals in labs.

On May 14th, the bill passed.

www.animaljustice.ca

MEXICO

We urged their agencies to act swiftly to require that all sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached and to prohibit the possession, sale, import, and export of detached shark fins nationwide.

Mexico ranks among the world’s largest shark-fishing nations. In 2023 it reported more than 46,000 metric tons of landings, including vulnerable silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) and critically endangered oceanic whitetips (C. longimanus).

The United States, Brazil, Chile and the European Union now require fins to remain attached, while the U.S. Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2022 bans most fin trade outright.

Given Mexico’s regional leadership in other fisheries reforms, we urge their agencies to amend NOM 029 PESC 2006 and other fishing regulations to mandate fins-attached landings without exception.

We wrote to Green Deputy Gabriela Benavides, who presides over the General Law of Animal Protection in the Environment and Natural Resources Commission:

For over a year, we’ve been waiting for this law to be enacted. Millions of animals are also excluded from it, for no good reason. The following is some of what is required:

Legal protection of all aquatic animals used for food with no exceptions – real, verifiable welfare legislation for animals destined to the abattoir.

BRAZIL

We wrote to President Lula as, since 2020, the Brazilian Congress has been debating a ban on the production, sale, import and export of foie gras. The excellent news is that this Bill went through all the legislative stages and:

UPDATE July 26: President Lula signed the Bill into law!

AUSTRALIA

Update on May 22 from BirdLife Australia about rodenticides: The company Coles has removed second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) from its shelves. Bunnings recently committed to removing the harmful products by 30 June, and now Mitre 10, IGA, and a number of smaller retailers have committed to doing the same. Woolworths has confirmed they will do so by end July 2026.

We made a Submission to the inquiry into dingoes in national parks in New South Wales. In NSW, dingoes are the only native animal not protected under the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

We are concerned by the use of 1080 poison, baiting, trapping, and shooting to manage dingoes in national parks. We urged the committee to recommend that dingoes be given full legislative protection in NSW and that lethal control methods be replaced by humane, non-lethal alternatives.

We contend that, as a native animal, rightly significant to the First Nations, the dingo is a precious species of which all Australians should be proud.

Rodeos. We are extremely concerned that SBS is broadcasting Professional Bull Riders / Pro Bull Riding Australia content, and wonder how that decision fits the SBS Charter, which we are told aims to reflect the changing values of Australian society, not lag behind them. RSPCA WA has publicly described rodeo events as “outdated and inhumane.” And SBS themelves have previously reported on rodeo cruelty.

We had a detailed REPLY from SBS who gave us the link to the PBR, which sets out in some detail how they care for the bulls. For what it’s worth, here it is:

https://www.pbraustralia.com.au/media/5eenwj3i/2021-pbra-animal-welfare.pdf

The SBS is not prepared to stop showing this spectacle – they said:

“Aboriginal people have a long and significant history of participation in bull riding across regional and remote Australia, and Aboriginal competitors have contributed to the sport’s legacy for generations.”

NEW ZEALAND-AOTEAROA

We strongly opposed the Conservation Amendment Bill in its entirety.

Conservation land, which is the home of a myriad species of flora and fauna, should be respected and protected.

Even if the Government does remove the clauses in the Bill that make it easier to sell off land, the Bill would still make it easier for open cast mines, hotels, gondolas, and carparks to degrade the wild and untouched places which should be left intact.

UNITED NATIONS

In August, concerned about the candidature of Spanish Minister Luis Planas for Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Department, we wrote to point out that whoever aspires to lead this department should have a strong commitment to animal protection. It is therefore important that the background of the candidates be evaluated.

As Minister, Luis Planas did not, over 4 years, develop a Royal Decree of Animal Protection for ducks and geese. So more than a million ducks were force fed each year in Spain to make foie gras. We have written to Minister Planas.