Over 100 animal rights advocates gathered outside a Toronto courthouse Monday to voice support for a lawsuit filed by Animal Justice against the so-called “Ag-Gag Law.”
The law prohibits animal rights activists and journalists from conducting undercover investigations and filming animal cruelty at farms and slaughterhouses. Animal rights advocates argue the Security From Trespass and Animal Safety Act, as it is formally called, violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Arguments in the case began Monday in Ontario Superior Court.
“Undercover exposés inside farms and slaughterhouses are one of the only sources of information that the public has regarding how animals are treated on farms,” said Camille Labchuk, a lawyer and the executive director of Animal Justice, explaining why the group went to court. “There is no transparency about what happens behind closed doors.”
Camille Labchuk, a lawyer and the executive director of Animal Justice, outside the Ontario Superior Court on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. Photo by: Abdul Matin Sarfraz
Luna, featured in this video, was born with a condition called cerebullar hypolasia, caused by problems in the part of the brain that control motor function.
Other cases of incoordination are caused by the Canine Distemper Virus, and some are from accidents that involved head trauma.
These survivors need extra help with eating, staying clean, and living in a protected area where they won’t get hurt if they suddenly fall down.
These movers and shakers have an abundance of love to give and are feisty to boot, overcoming all obstacles to get the cuddles they want or their favourite spot on their doggie bed.
Thank you for giving us the means to give permanent homes to these bright sparkling dogs who have flopped and bobbed their ways into many hearts here–and we hope yours will be among them soon. Plan your visit to meet Luna and the other sweethearts!
Gentle Floppy, saved from a horrible wound made worse by thousands of flies.
An inner ear infection had drawn thousands of flies. Seeing him on the side of the road, shaking his head in so much agitation, was heart-breaking. Blood soaked his jaw and upper shoulder and the flies seemed to worsen his trauma. We hurried him to our hospital and began his treatment.
Floppy has been an amazing patient, quietly bearing the treatments which must have both hurt and frightened him. But he held completely still and made dressing his wound as easy for his care-givers as he possibly could. The wound took two months of daily dressings to heal, but Floppy felt much better almost immediately. Watch til the end, because now, Floppy sometimes seems to smile.
Burned boy, Shiva, has his own temple! (Well, he thinks so!)
We don’t know how this young street dog, Shiva, became burned–possibly someone accidentally spilled hot water. He seems too accustomed to being loved to have been a victim of a deliberate cruelty. He has a special friend in his neighborhood who insisted on carrying him to the ambulance. Without intensive treatment, this large burned area could have easily become infected and taken his life. He needed daily wound cleanings, dressings, antibiotics and careful monitoring to ensure his rapid healing, so being hospitalized was essential.
Each day he became more and more adored by our staff and volunteers. His healing was beautiful, we neutered him, and because he’s such a popular guy at the temple area where he lives, we knew that Shiva would be in good hands there. When we released him, Shiva expressed a tremendous tail-wagging joy to be home. He still needed twice daily application of fly repellent cream which his caring friend faithfully applied, and our Street Treatment Team made regular visits to ensure the wound closed completely. This is what a great partnership for street animals can look like: community carer takers, a hospital for when they need more, and loving support from donors.
Lovely Susie felt so much relief as soon as her eye surgery was complete!
Golden beauty Susie was spotted by a passer-by with her eye protruding from its socket and her horn broken off. At first we suspected she had suffered a blow to the head by a passing vehicle, but once we examined her, we discovered that she actually had a tumor growing behind her eye. We waited a few days to stabilize her, treat her horn wounds (both horns were affected by the tumor) and get ready her for eye removal surgery.
When her surgery was complete, we couldn’t believe how rapidly she stood and walked. Relief may have been almost instantaneous. She started eating again as soon as the anesthesia wore off, and her road to complete recovery was straight ahead. Like you, we find it unfathomable that her owner simply abandoned her in such dire condition. When this girl desperately needed help, it was provided by strangers. Thank you for being among the kind strangers who saved Susie’s life.
We typically have a majority of women volunteers, but it hasn’t been true for us during the past month, and we’re so delighted by this infusion of the gentlest of gentlemen.
Wouter, (Netherlands) has joined us for more than a month of loving care to the animals–and this is his third time here! He’s vivacious, hard-working, wonderful with the animals and has a great sense of humour to match it all.
Dan (USA) hadn’t taken a vacation from his screen printing company in years. But when he got his chance for a prolonged break, he headed straight to Animal Aid where he lavished love on hundreds of grateful new friends.
Alex (Australia) is a multi-lingual history and world politics teacher who is accustomed to helping kids, immigrants, and marginalized communities. This year he took a sabbatical and decided to share his kindness even further, by sharing his love with animals. And he’s made some new human friends while he’s at it!
Help an animal glow like you!
100% of the proceeds go to our street animal rescues.
Rescue the abandoned dog with duct tape around its mouth wandering around and unable to eat or drink
You can see just by the amount it drinks that it must have been suffering terribly – Mark
Hello all of you! In Vietnam, many people eat dog meat. People keep dogs to protect their homes and eat them Many people raise them and sell them to the slaughterhouse for money. On our way to the patrol residential area, we discovered and rescued them from being sold into the slaughterhouse. But those are the few that have been rescued, what about those who can’t be found? May everyone join hands to protect these pitiful and loyal animals. Spread the message “Don’t sell dogs! Dogs are friend !. They aren’t food!” to everyone! For every views, share, comments and subscribe from you was as a supporters are the most biggest motivation for us to continue this path as helping to save animal lives in this world. From the bottom of our heart, thank you! Warning: Each movie what you are watching will help a lot of poor homeless dogs and cats in Vietnam as well as another Asian countries. These scenes combine real rescue and edited real-life stories. Lack of constructive feedback will destroy human’s love for animals. If these images made you to be unhappy, so sorry. Thank you for supporting us, thanks so much. … Contact mail: Asian Pet Rescue Center ( asianpetrescuecenter@gmail.com ). –
Peter Toland: Man found guilty in animal cruelty case
A man has been found guilty of animal cruelty after a dog he had neglected and beaten had to be put down.
The animal, called Luna, was found buried alive at Ballyarnett country park in Londonderry on 15 March 2023.
The dog, which was called Luna, was put down by a vet after being found in a park
The only options were that Peter Toland or someone else had done this, the judge at Londonderry Magistrates’ Court said.
Toland, 29, of Cornshell Fields in Derry, had denied causing unnecessary suffering to the dog.
Up to 30 animal rights activists protested outside Bishop Street Courthouse, before Toland was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to Luna and four further animal welfare charges relating to other animals.
Animal rights activists protest outside Bishop Street Courthouse where Peter Toland was found guilty
He was released on bail and will be sentenced on 11 December.
The court was told that the American bull terrier was so emaciated when it was found that a vet believed it had been suffering for months as such a degree of emaciation would have taken more than weeks.
A vet told the court she had examined the animal after it was found in March.
The dog was “exceptionally thin” and had bruising on its body, she said.
Its teeth were broken and the vet said it would take “a lot of force to break a canine tooth”.
Luna had to be put down and a post-mortem examination found that it weighed 19kg.
The recent injuries were believed to have been caused by “blunt force trauma caused by a wide object”.
Toland told police he had left his house during the afternoon and last saw the dog around 09:30.
‘Terrible owner’
When he returned, he went looking for the dog.
The court was told that three other dogs in Toland’s care were also neglected.
Defence counsel Eoghan Devlin described Toland as a “terrible owner of animals” and said he would probably be banned from owning animals for life.
He argued that there was no evidence that Toland had been the person who buried the dog.
District Judge Ted Magill said that for someone to bury an animal alive was “incomprehensible” and the only options were that Toland or someone else had done this.
The judge said it was obvious that the dog had suffered over “a prolonged period of time” and “that had to be laid at the door of the defendant”.
He found Toland guilty of all charges and put the case back until 11 December to allow for a pre-sentence report.
However, he warned Told that he could face a custodial sentence.
Students at Stirling University have called for an end to animal testing at the institution’s aquaculture department.
The pressure has been put on by the ‘Vegan and Animal Rights Society’ based on campus and follows the university coming under fire for killing more than 18,000 fish meant for scientific experiments.
In the bustling city of Zhangjiagang, eastern China, a grim discovery was made. Police rescued around 1,000 cats from a truck, believed to be transporting them to a slaughterhouse. Local animal rights activists alerted the authorities to this horrifying practice, leading to the rescue of these innocent creatures. The rescued cats were transported to a nearby animal shelter, offering them a temporary safe haven. But the question remained: how could this happen?
As negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and Australia enter the final stage, Eurogroup for Animals, Australian Alliance for Animals and Animals Australia urge the two sides to include ambitious provisions on animal welfare in the agreement.
Improving animal welfare is strongly linked with the pursuit of sustainable food systems. However, current trade policies appear to be exacerbating rather than mitigating the adverse consequences of intensive livestock farming. This is the case with Australian beef exports, where 96% of exports to the EU originate from animals held in grain-fed feedlots; yarded areas that adversely impact animal health and welfare by causing respiratory and digestive issues, and contribute to increased water, soil and air pollution in Australia.
According to the EU’s own impact assessment, a trade agreement with Australia that grants expanded market access for Australian beef without attaching any animal welfare conditions would further incentivise beef production predominantly in feedlots. This would undermine the EU’s ongoing sustainable food systems transition. It is crucial for both parties to establish conditions for preferential tariffs on beef that originates from grass-fed systems, explicitly excluding beef produced within commercial feedlots, as the EU did with New Zealand.
Above – Conditions For Exported Australian Sheep.
Australia’s current rules on transporting live animals over long distances are minimal and virtually unenforceable, allowing animals to travel for up to 48 hours without food or water. Introducing a condition related to the protection of animals during transport in trade preferences related to ruminant meat would thus also have a positive impact.
This trade agreement is also an opportunity to set up strong cooperation mechanisms to tackle other topics such as the lack of use of pain relief during procedures like sheep mulesing in Australia.
Above — Mulesing.
It will be important to also use such a platform to share best practices and combine efforts to phase out live animal exports, especially since Australia has committed to phasing out its live sheep export trade and the EU is currently revising its legislation on the protection of animals during transport.
The EU and Australia together represent 473 million citizens, many of whom believe more should be done to improve the life of farm and wild animals. According to a 2018 report, 9 out 10 Australians are concerned about the welfare of farmed animals, and nearly as much want a reform to address this.
In Europe, animal welfare is a great ethical concern. Seven out of the ten successful European Citizens Initiatives (ECI) have been dedicated to animal welfare issues. The recent support for the ECI End the Cage Agepaves the way for both sides to cooperate as Australia has pledged to phase out the production of battery eggs by 2036.
We also urge the EU and Australia to address the large-scale, inhumane killing of kangaroos for commercial use. The EU is the main market for Australian kangaroo meat and leather, an industry which raises concerns about animal welfare, conservation and public health. Both parties must consider prohibiting the trade of kangaroo-based products primarily on ethical grounds. The EU and Australia both have a responsibility to solve this; in a recent survey, 67% of Australians stated that other countries should have a responsibility not to drive the commercial killing of kangaroos.
It is possible to strike a balance between economic interests and our shared commitment to ensuring the welfare of animals. We call upon political leaders of the EU and Australia to stand firm on their commitment to develop and safeguard high animal welfare standards.
“When we try to imagine a world with animal rights, it turns out not to be so difficult after all. The concepts, technologies, and mechanisms needed are already in place, we just need to be brave enough to use them”.
World Animals Voice 