Their Turn - The Social Justice Movement of Our Time Their Turn - The Social Justice Movement of Our Time

France To Reclassify Animals as “Sentient”

June 14, 2014 by Comments are off for this post


The News

Lawmakers in a French National Assembly committee voted to officially change the legal status of animals from “personal property” to “sentient living being.”  The law still must pass the full Assembly and Senate.  The current law states that animals have no more rights than objects.  The 30 Million Friends Foundation collected 700,000 signatures to petition for the change. A recent poll found that 89 percent of the country approves of the change.  Since 2009, the European Union governing body has officially considered animals sentient beings under the Lisbon Treaty, but many national governments have not yet updated their laws.

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Foie Gras: Product of Terroir (the land) or Product of Terror?

News & Opinion

If animals are reclassified as “sentient living beings,” will their circumstances improve?  Foie gras (fatty liver of ducks or geese), a staple in the French diet, is so cruelly produced that it is described by activists as a “delicacy of despair.”   Is this change merely symbolic (which is better than nothing, I suppose) or will regulations be changed in animal enterprises that will actually require the businesses to treat them as living beings instead of inanimate objects?


Poachers Kill Kenya’s Largest Elephant

June 13, 2014 by Comments are off for this post


The News

Poachers in Kenya have killed Satao, “one of the last surviving great tuskers, bearers of genes that produce bull elephants with huge tusks reaching down to the ground.”  Satao’s murder comes on the heels the slaughter of another “legendary tusker, Mountain Bull, deep inside the forests of Mt. Kenya.”  Apparently, Satao was “so intelligent that he knew he needed to protect his enormous tusks by intentionally hiding in bushes so they couldn’t be seen.”  And, while he did survive one brutal attack with poisoned arrows, he ultimately fell victim to the ivory trade.

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News & Opinion

Elephants are among the most intelligent land animals.  They communicate with language; they visit the gravesides of their deceased family members; and, as mentioned in the article, they hide from their biggest enemy, humans. They know they’re under attack, but their ability to defend themselves against armed poachers is limited.  Find out how you can help protect them by visiting The Tsavo Trust.


Mexico City Bans Animals in Circuses

June 9, 2014 by Comments are off for this post


The News

The Associated Press reports that “more than 1,000 acrobats, clowns and other circus employees marched through downtown Mexico City on Tuesday to protest a new ban on animals in circuses,” claiming that banning  this “250 year old” tradition will leave many people out of work and will reduce the number of customers who attend the circus.  About 3,000 to 3,500 animals will be affected, including elephants, tigers, camels and hippos.  Domesticated animals are also banned.

Sign reads, “Mexicans want circus with animals” Source: AP

News & Opinion

Animals used in circuses, like elephants and big cats, are deprived of the chance to do anything that comes naturally to them and are often beaten into submission in order to perform.  In addition, they are confined to small boxcars on trains for days at a time when traveling between cities. Please join your local animal rights group(s) to protest the circus when it comes to your town.  To learn more about animal cruelty in circuses, please visit PETA’s circus webite, Ringling Beats Animals.  Let’s hope that the ban on wild animals in circuses will open peoples’ eyes to the cruelty of bullfighting, which is prevalent in Mexico.


Animal Rights Group Pressures USDA to Fine MIT after Death of Lab Rabbit

June 7, 2014 by Comments are off for this post


The News

Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) is calling for the USDA to fine MIT after a lab worker cleaned a cage without removing a rabbit inside of it. In December, the USDA fined Harvard Medical School $24,000 after finding repeated animal welfare violations that resulted in the deaths of four monkeys since 2011.

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News & Opinion

What right do we have imprisoning, experimenting on and killing animals in laboratories? These animals didn’t choose to sacrifice their freedom, and they didn’t voluntarily donate their bodies. They don’t belong to us. To make matters worse, we treat them like inanimate objects in labs — storing them in small cages, depriving them of socialization and the outdoors and cutting them open with no painkillers. The irony is that using animals in research is unreliable and outdated. It continues because it’s a money-making enterprise. For more information and to see how you can help, please visit Stop Animal Experimentation Now.


Activists Pressure Singapore Resort to Free Dolphins After Four Deaths

June 4, 2014 by Comments are off for this post


The News

After the deaths of four captive dolphins used in a “swim with dolphin” concession at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in Singapore, local animal rights groups are demanding that the casino free the remaining 23 dolphins who kidnapped from the South Pacific. In response to the demands, RWS, which had revenues of $2.3 billion in 2013, defends the use of dolphins, saying “Well-run zoological facilities provide strong and inspiring messages to visitors and can make a tangible difference to animal conservation.”

Photo credit: Animal Concerns Research and Education Society

News & Opinion

Holding wild animals captive for entertainment is unspeakably cruel. The Cove, a film that documents the barbaric round up of wild dolphins in Japan, exposed the world to the world to an annual atrocity that had been hidden from public view.  As more people learn about the dolphin round up and their life of deprivation in tanks, pressure to close these concessions will mount.  Dolphins, who are among the most intelligent animals on the planet, have committed suicide in captivity.  We must continue to fight until every imprisoned dolphin is free.  To find out how you can help, please visit The Cove.