This footage shows a rhino from an Eastern Cape private game reserve which had its horn hacked off while it was still alive. Vets and wildlife managers tried in vain to save its life but the wounds were too severe and it had to be put down.
Please help the Wilderness Foundation fight this tragedy by signing the petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/foreverwild/
Millions of dogs each year are used as test subjects in order to study the effects of harmful pharmaceuticals, toxic household cleaners, and chemical-laden cosmetic products. A group known as Animal Rescue Media Education is dedicated to not only attempt to rescue science-lab dogs, but they also try and find them a home. In one of their largest rescue missions, the organization successfully rescued 72 beagles. With 32 already adopted by the time the press started picking up the story, the remaining 30 dogs were being nursed back to health.
In this touching video, watch as 9 rescued beagles are released from their cages for the first time. This is not only the first time they’ve seen sunlight, but the first time the animals are walking on solid ground.
“We’ve been told they lived one per cage in rooms of 10 beagles, but they never had any physical interaction with one another,” Smith said. “They’ve been in kennels since they were rescued about a week ago, but aside from that, they’ve spent most of their lives locked up.”
It is very easy to disregard animal testing as a real issue just as it is very simple to ignore international slave labor — it oftentimes simply does not affect you until you see it first hand. When you read product labels stating that the item was not tested on animals, it may mean very little to you.
Videos like these provide a wake-up call to the very cruel reality of animal testing and other forms of animal abuse.
It is important to consider how many other important issues are also disregarded due to the lack of immediate effect — particularly when it comes to your health. Perhaps the high-fructose corn syrup in your diet may not immediately harm you, but it may lead to disease later down the road.
If you are interested in adopting one of the dogs or supporting the organization responsible for rescuing the beagles, you can view their adoption page.
UNITED KINGDOM: PLEASE HELP US FIND THIS SADISTIC KILLER
A hunt has been launched for a sadistic pet owner who filmed himself feeding a kitten to a python. 
The vile video, entitled Python Christmas, shows a man in his 20s carrying the kitten called Jasmine into a bedroom in a Santa hat and then placed on a bed.
Lurking half-hidden under a pillow lay a yellow Burmese python, which can grow up to 19ft long and is one of the largest snakes in the world.
Jasmine is seen slowly walking across the bed until the thug distracts her and she fatally turns her back on the danger.
The snake pounces, wrapping the kitten in its coils as it squeezes the life out of the playful animal.
Once the kitten’s tail stops moving the snake swallows her whole — head first. Its cries of agony are drowned out by the Christmas song Little Drummer Boy playing in the background of the video.
At the end of the seven-minute footage there is a chillingly threat of more ‘feeding videos’. It was posted on a site called Flix from an account registered in Islington, north London. 
If caught, the sicko faces six months’ jail and a £20,000 fine for causing unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Among the few clues to his identity are that he is a fan of the Disney film Aladdin. Images and songs from the movie have been posted on his YouTube site.
An RSPCA spokeswoman said: ‘There is no excuse for feeding a live cat to a python.’
Vet Pete Wedderburn told the Sun: ‘The kitten is probably no older than four months. It has no hiding place and can’t get away. These are the actions of a sadistic human being.’
Weeks after Dutch judge sides with Sea World, Morgan arrives on Canary Islands.
Welcome to hell the Sea World family, Morgan. 
After Dutch conservationists lost a lengthy legal battle to release Morgan, a killer whale, into the free waters of the open ocean, the 3,000-pound mammal has been transferred to a Spanish Zoo, joining SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment’s corporate collection of cetacean cash cows.
Estimated to be around three years old, Morgan was rescued in shallow waters off the Netherlands in 2010.
A female orca that can both breed and introduce new genes into the pool of captive killer whales is an underwater ATM potentially worth millions of dollars.
The original rescue plan called for Morgan to be transferred to the Dutch dolphinarium, where the severely malnourished specimen could be nursed back to health, reports the Associated Press.
But after the dolphinarium assembled a team of experts for advice, it was found she had little chance of survival in the wild unless her natal pod, or family, could be identified. Authorities then decided it should be transferred to Loro Parque, on the Canary Islands, which already has several orcas.
Cetacean conservationists don’t buy this line of thought—at all.
A female orca that can both breed and introduce new genes into the pool of captive killer whales is an underwater ATM potentially worth millions of dollars.
Legally, Morgan cannot be transferred to the U.S., but her offspring can.
She is the twenty-seventh killer whale in SeaWorld’s collection, including eight at SeaWorld San Diego, seven at SeaWorld Orlando, and six each at SeaWorld San Antonio and Loro Parque, reports The Orlando Sentinel.
Conservationists oppose sequestering dolphins—technically, killer whales, or orcas, are classified as oceangoing dolphins—in captivity.
“In fact, putting orcas together in captivity may sometimes even make their lives worse. Many problems arise in captivity when animals are put together as ‘tank mates’…In captivity all choice is removed, and this can result in animals attacking each other or becoming so stressed that they harm themselves or attack their trainers,” reads a statement from Free Morgan, the conservationist group that fought her transfer to Spain.
Last year, Tillkum, a killer whale housed at Shamu Stadium in SeaWorld Orlando, killed a trainer. Jim Borrowman, a whale-watching expert in British Columbia, told CNN that wild orcas regularly travel 100 nautical miles each day, and to put them in a pool where they swim around in circles continually, and kept away from their families, “takes a toll on their brains.”
Supporters have offered $1 million for her release. Annual demonstrations have demanded her return to the Northwest. Over the years, celebrities, schoolchildren and even a Washington state governor have campaigned to free Lolita, a killer whale captured from Puget Sound waters in 1970 and who has been performing at Miami Seaquarium for the past four decades.
Activists are now suing the federal government in federal court in Seattle, saying it should have protected Lolita when it listed other Southern Resident orcas as an endangered species in 2005. 
“The fact that the federal government has declared these pods to be endangered is a good thing, but they neglected to include these captives,” said Karen Munro, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who lives in Olympia, Wash. Plaintiffs include two other individuals, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The lawsuit filed in November alleges that the fisheries service allows the Miami Seaquarium to keep Lolita in conditions that harm and harass her and otherwise wouldn’t be allowed under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit alleges Lolita is confined in an inadequate tank without sufficient space and without companions of her own species.
The agency is still reviewing the lawsuit, said Monica Allen, a spokeswoman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose fisheries service oversees marine mammals.
Lolita, who is estimated to be about 44 or 45, is the last surviving orca captured from the Southern Resident orca population during the 1970s. She is a member of the L pod, or family. Female orcas generally live into their 50s though they can live decades longer.
Wallie Funk / AP
In this Aug. 8, 1970, photo provided by Wallie Funk, members of a pod of orca whales are held captive in Penn Cove, off Whidbey Island, Wash. Seven of the dozens of whales captured, including Lolita, who has been performing stunts for Miami Seaquarium for the past four decades, were sold to marine parks around the world. Five whales drowned during the capture.
The J, K and L pods frequent Western Washington’s inland marine waters and are genetically and behaviorally distinct from other killer whales. They eat salmon rather than marine mammals, show an attachment to the region, and make sounds that are considered a unique dialect. The whales, with striking black coloring and white bellies, spend time in tight, social groups and ply the waters of Puget Sound and British Columbia.
When the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Southern Resident orcas as endangered — in decline because of lack of prey, pollution and contaminants, and effects from vessels and other factors — it didn’t include whales placed in captivity prior to the listing or their captive born offspring.
They’re “not maximizing opportunity to protect the species if you exclude captive members,” said Craig Dillard, litigation director for the Animal Legal Defense. Lolita should have the same protections as other wild orcas, he added.
He noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering whether to give all captive chimpanzees the same protection as wild chimpanzees.
‘She remembers’
The Miami Seaquarium declined to comment on the lawsuit. It issued a statement saying Lolita is active, healthy, well-cared for and plays an important role in educating the public about the need to conserve the species. Lolita has learned to trust humans completely, the statement says, and “this longstanding behavioral trust would be dangerous for her if she were returned to Puget Sound, where commercial boat traffic and human activity are heavy, pollution is a serious issue and the killer whale population has been listed as an endangered species.”
Howard Garrett, co-founder of the nonprofit Orca Network based on Whidbey Island, Wash., said returning her to Northwest waters is the right thing to do. It would be healthier for her, and allow her to rebuild family bonds with the L pod.
“She remembers where she came from. I think she will remember her water and her family,” said Garrett, who has spent years advocating for her release and whose group plans to help Lolita transition back to Northwest waters.
Munro joined the lawsuit because she believes Lolita deserves to retire and return to the Puget Sound, where she can swim naturally and attempt to reunite with her family.
She became an advocate for the majestic creatures, after witnessing a “very violent, distressing scene” of orcas being torn from their pods while out sailing in 1976. The captors used explosives, boats and seaplanes to chase the animals into shallower waters and netted them, she said.
“They were taking these orcas away purely for money and profit, because they make huge amounts of money from whale shows. They (orcas) don’t belong in these aquariums,” she said, adding “Lolita deserves to come back.”
You Can Help Stop The Slaughter
PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION TO HELP END DOG SMUGGLING: https://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/dogmeattrade
Every day over 1,000 dogs are inhumanely transported from Thailand to neighbouring countries where they are butchered by cruel and inhumane methods. However, the Soi Dog Foundation and the Thai government are actively working to end this inhumane practice.
The conditions under which the dogs are transported and slaughtered are inhumane and many die from suffocation long before they reach neighbouring countries. In reality these are the lucky ones.
Those that are still alive are not humanely killed but are tortured often for hours before being skinned alive.
The reason for this is that people believe that the pain inflicted leads to the tenderising of the meat. Most shocking of all, is that some dogs are still alive when their fur is removed. 
Source: https://www.soidog.org/en/you-can-help-stop-the-dog-meat-trade/
Gary Yourofsky’s entire inspirational speech on animal rights and veganism held at Georgia Tech in summer of 2010.
Listen to this amazing speaker who will blow away the myths, fill your mind with interesting facts, and help you make ethical choices for a healthy heart and soul.
His charismatic and straightforward style is one of a kind - a must-see for anyone who cares about nonhuman animals or wishes to make the world a better place.
Our second rescue from beagles who have lived their entire lives inside a research laboratory.
These beagles have known NOTHING except the confines of metal cages. They have known no soft human touch, no warm bed, no companionship, no love.
They have never been outside or sniffed a tree or grass.
Finally, after years of being poked and prodded, these beagles are FREE!
ARME got the call that a facility was willing to release them to us after they had been used in several tests. We picked them up on June 8th and now they are all in loving foster homes, and one has already been adopted.
If you are interested in adopting any of these special beagles, please email us at: [email protected]. If you cannot adopt, but would like to help, ARME is a non-profit organization and we rely on your donations to continue this work.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation. You can donate here: https://www.beaglefreedomproject.org/donate.php
PLEASE DO NOT BUY PRODUCTS TESTED ON ANIMALS!
Seventy-two beagles raised in a Spanish laboratory have been rescued by the Beagle Freedom Project.
The beagles, all between ages 4 and 7, had lived in cages their entire lives, spokesman Gary Smith told the NBC. 
“We’ve been told they lived one per cage in rooms of 10 beagles, but they never had any physical interaction with one another,” said Smith.
“They’ve been in kennels since they were rescued about a week ago, but aside from that, they’ve spent most of their lives locked up.”
Beagles are used in university and other research facilities to test medical and pharmaceutical products, household products and cosmetics.
When the beagles are no longer wanted for research purposes, some labs attempt to find homes for adoptable, healthy beagles.
The Beagle Freedom Project works with the laboratories to remove and transport beagles to their new homes.
All of the Beagle Freedom Project’s rescues are carried out legally with the cooperation of the facility.
Source:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10769704
A GIPPSLAND abattoir has been shut by state authorities following a shocking video of alleged animal cruelty.
PrimeSafe ordered the immediate closure of LE Giles abattoir in Trafalgar after a video of the alleged cruelty to pigs being processed in the facility was provided to them by Animals Australia.
It is understood the video shows abattoir workers sticking electric stun prods used to stun animals before they are slaughtered into the eyes and noses of the animals.
PrimeSafe chief executive Brian Casey told the Herald Sun it was his intention to close the abattoir permanently
“I am appalled by the treatment of animals shown in the video footage,” he said.
The issue will be vigorously pursued by PrimeSafe, ensuring that any inhumane treatment of animals is eradicated.
I have advised the abattoir owners that it is my intention, immediately the investigation is concluded, to take action with a view to cancelling their PrimeSafe licence.
Mr Casey said the order to cease operations was indefinite and would continue for as long as it takes for PrimeSafe to fully investigate all the matters raised in the video.
“Giles Abattoir is currently not permitted to slaughter livestock and so there is no on-going risk posed to the welfare of livestock at the facility, nor to public health,” he said.
Mr Casey said PrimeSafe was responsible for enforcing animal welfare standards in abattoirs and the Department of Primary Industries would be undertaking a separate investigation into whether animal cruelty laws had been breached.
Animals Australia executive director Glenys Oogjes said people would be shocked by the cruelty but refused to release the video to the Herald Sun saying they had already made a deal to give it to another media outlet.
“I think we would expect this sort of thing only to happen in abittors overseas so it’s distressing that it’s happening in Australia,” she said.
Ms Oogies said the video was shot by a person associated with Animal Liberation Victoria who filmed at the facility with the permission and knowledge of the management.
She said the video raised serious concerns about the auditing of abattoirs in Victoria.
All Victorian abattoirs are required to be licensed with PrimeSafe and to have a quality assurance program that complies with the Australian Standard for the Hygienic Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption.
The closure comes a day after the Herald Sun highlighted animal cruelty at sales yards in Victoria.
sending...
