Demand Disney Take Responsibility for Its Horrific Massacre of Lemmings, and the Myth It Spread to Cover it Up!

Ever heard the phrase “don’t be a lemming?” It generally means to not follow the crowd, and make decisions for yourself. But the phrase has nothing to do with actual lemming behavior, and became widely circulated after a dangerously misleading 1950s nature documentary, White Wilderness, faked the mass suicide of these creatures to draw attention and make a profit. Using its grotesque movie magic, Disney was able to make it look as though hundreds of lemmings were intentionally jumping from a cliff to their deaths. 

In reality, the tiny animals were being forced off the ledge and plunged into icy water where they would slowly drown. 

Mass suicide is not a risk for lemmings. But these adorable, short-tailed voles are threatened by climate change like so many other arctic mammals. Their tundra habitats are at great risk as the planet continues to warm.

Disney has made money off of portrayals of animals for decades “and it is time it takes responsibility for this most dangerous and false one. Disney should not only set the record straight about the fact that lemmings do not commit mass suicide, but the multi-billion dollar corporation must also apologize for its actions in the 1950s documentary and immediately donate funds to create Arctic refuges for lemmings and other cold-habitat mammals.

Sign the petition now if you agree!

Regards Mark

P.S. In the 1950s, Disney massacred lemmings en masse and filmed it as a suicide to draw profit-boosting attention for its documentary.

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Norway: the tragic death of Freya the walrus

22 August 2022

Freya, a five-year-old, 600-kilogram walrus who spent the summer lounging on boats and docks in the Oslo fjord, inadvertently becoming a summer attraction for onlookers, tourists and residents, has been killed by Norwegian authorities, who say she posed a threat to human safety.

Norway’s fisheries directorate said the decision to euthanise the walrus came after the public ignored repeated warnings to keep their distance from Freya. A sad reminder that our actions can have dramatic consequences for wildlife: animals are not here to entertain us and their need for space must be respected.

In recent months, Freya had also been spotted along the coasts of several European countries, including Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands, without ever causing any problems.

Walruses normally live in the ice-covered waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and Alaska.They usually rest on the sea ice between feeding episodes but as the climate warms, melting sea ice is forcing the walruses to rest on land more often, taking them away from their traditional fishing habitats.

Our Norwegian member Dyrevernalliansen is infinitely sad that the decision was made to euthanise Freya because of human behaviour:

Nature is in crisis because of us, but we do not seem to care, the government has decided that there is no room for Freya in Norwegian waters”.

Siri Martinsen, veterinarian and director of the Norwegian animal welfare organisation NOAH, said:

 Freya was an endangered animal, she was on the Norwegian red list of vulnerable (or threatened) animals and the killing could only be justified in an emergency situation or for animal welfare reasons, which was not the case here.”

The walrus is a species protected under the Appendix II of the Bern Convention meaning that it is a strictly protected wildlife species. Norway has ratified the Bern Convention and, according to Article 6 of the Convention, must take all appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the protection of such species. Given the importance of protecting wildlife in the biodiversity crisis we face, Norway should have investigated more to find an appropriate solution to ensure the protection of the walrus and people.

Regards Mark