In the past two days, horses have spooked and crashed in Savannah, Santa Barbara and Belgium. Surveillance cameras in Savannah captured a spooked horse running wildly through the streets with passengers in the carriage. See video below. In Santa Barbara, the local paper reports that “two men were injured, one seriously, on Tuesday afternoon. . . For unknown reasons, the horses became scared and bolted, resulting in the driver losing control and the carriage overturning.”

https://youtu.be/yM7GqU-EcVg

No amount of reform or regulation can stop a horse from spooking and bolting, which is one of the many reasons why horse-drawn carriages should not operate in urban areas. To see a list of cities with active campaigns to ban horse-drawn carriages, please visit Horses Without Carriages International.

In what is being described as the biggest bear rescue in history, Animals Asia is converting a bear bile farm in Nanning, China, into a sanctuary following an unprecedented request by the farm to rescue and care for its 130 bears. While the majority of the bears will remain on the farm during its two year conversion into a sanctuary, 28 bears who are too sick to stay will travel 746 miles to Animals Asia’s existing bear sanctuary in Chengdu for urgent veterinary care. The cost of veterinary care, the conversion of the farm and three years of bear care are estimated to cost Animals Asia $5 million.

Bear bile farm

Bear bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine. According to Animals Asia, “over 10,000 bears are believed to be in farms in China suffering daily extractions in tiny cages and horrific conditions.”

With 87% of Chinese people being opposed to bear bile farming, the closure of the Nanning Farm could trigger other owners to shut theirs down too. I doubt that those who have exploited the bears are going to contribute money to help pay for their new lives at sanctuaries. Please visit Animals Asia to see how you can help support this rescue.

The NY Times editorial board published an opinion piece called “Keep The Carriage Horses” arguing that carriages have been a “fixture for generations” and that the industry should be reformed, not banned.

Once again, the NY Times editorial board has come out in favor of keeping horse-drawn carriages in midtown, suggesting reforms that they know are impossible to implement, such giving the horses the opportunity “to eat and socialize with one another.” NYC doesn’t have a pasture for one horse, much less over 200 of them. But even if the NY Times’ proposed reforms could be implemented, that wouldn’t change the fact that forcing horses to pull carriages in the streets of midtown is inherently inhumane, unsafe and anachronistic. If the NY Times editorial board members saw BLINDERS, they would have to change their position because the documentation on the cruelty and safety issues is indisputable. But, like so many other industry supporters, they refuse to take off their blinders. These horses will be taken out of harm’s way eventually, and the NY Times and other industry supporters will be on the wrong side of history. In the meantime, please contact Mayor de Blasio and ask him to make good on his promise to take the horses off of the streets.

Ringling Bros. has gone to court requesting that three animal rights groups that unsuccessfully sued them should pay the $25 million in legal fees the company alleges to have spent defending themselves. According to the National Law Journal, “the fee request is one of the largest ever” in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. Lawyers for the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Trust and Born Free USA “accused Feld’s legal team of inflating bills, failing to ‘exercise sound billing judgment,’ and overstaffing.”

Ringling Bros

Through the use of weapons, Ringling Bros. terrifies wild animals into submission; we cannot allow them to use lawsuits and other forms of intimidation to scare us too. If litigation against the circus isn’t successful, then we must continue to push for legislation that would ban the use of wild animals in circuses to and to protest them at every stop, educating customers about why using animals in circuses is inhumane On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.

Lionel Rowe, the chairman of the Shrine Circus who was caught on video (see below) choking a peaceful protester in Ottawa, Canada, has been charged with assault. The victim, Len Goldberg, is a member of the Ottawa Animal Defense League.

Several studies have drawn links between the abuse of animals and violence against people, as shown in the above video. It should therefore come as no surprise that a circus executive who uses weapons to beat wild animals into submission would attack a protester. Mr. Rowe, the man who attacked Mr. Goldberg, might have experienced temporary satisfaction choking an activist, but his criminal record will most likely be permanent. In addition to getting himself in trouble with the law, Mr. Rowe has probably attracted more activists to protest his barbaric circus. On March 21st, One Green Planet published an article on 5 ways you can help end the use of animals in circuses.