Justice
The cow is considered sacred in Hinduism, but India’s growing cow protection movement has less to do with animal welfare than with vigilante violence towards the lowest-caste members of society.
Eco-conscious grocery stores like Whole Foods claim their meat is “humane.” The certification is supposed to signify that the animal was slaughtered humanely, but there’s no such thing as humane slaughter.
The bill, AB 44, would ban the sale of all fur goods across the state, carrying momentum from city-wide bans in California’s two largest metropolitan areas.
The movement away from real fur is gaining momentum. As consumers opt for animal-free alternatives, the fashion industry will be forced to respond. Gucci and Versace already took the first step.
This year, deforestation in the Amazon reached a decade-long high, in large part because of an increased demand for soy to feed factory-farmed cattle. Rainforests in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela are suffering similar habitat destruction.
Animal cruelty is real and pervasive. It happens to all different types of animals and in every corner of the world. It’s also preventable and unnecessary.
The illegal animal trade has lots of moving parts, and every animal victim has a different purpose and value. But ultimately, animal trafficking only happens because there’s a market for it.
Fur farming is an industry that combines animal abuse, neglect, and torture for no decent reason whatsoever. These animals suffer at the hands of human beings only to die in the end.
Animal advocates, time to celebrate. The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill signals the resilience of animal protection laws on a national level, something advocates have not seen the likes of on a farm bill since 2002 when Congress reassured the enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
When animals are considered property under the law, there is no limit to the ways in which humans can exploit them. We need to change how we view animal rights and how those rights are handed over to our animal friends.