https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/oct/23/vietnams-first-ethical-elephant-tours-launch-in-yok-don?CMP=twt_gu&fbclid=IwAR3QQSJ95dYqXIx3pbv2apFZseaYIishaUP-sk3Q3kKJKfyeP5IVgOoNtDs

Vietnam’s first ethical elephant tours launch

Yok Don national park has stopped offering elephant rides and now encourages travellers to see elephants in their natural habitat.

Amid growing global condemnation of elephant riding as a tourist activity, Yok Don national park in southern Vietnam has ended the practice and replaced it with the first ethical elephant experience of its kind in the country.

The formally captive group of four elephants were released from their chains earlier this month and no longer carry tourists on rides through the park. Visitors can instead observe the animals roaming freely in their natural habitat.

Previously, the Yok Don elephants, like many around the country, were chained up for extended periods of time, often without access to water. They were harnessed with heavy riding baskets, sometimes carrying tourists around the park for nine hours a day.

Click on the above link to read much more.

Senate passes bill that would ban whale, dolphin captivity in Canada

After a multi-year legislative battle, a bill to outlaw keeping cetaceans like whales and dolphins in captivity has cleared the Senate — all but ensuring the end of a once-popular theme park attraction in Canada.

S-203 — first introduced by now-retired Liberal senator Wilfred Moore in December 2015, with the backing of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May — would ban keeping and breeding these marine mammals in captivity through amendments to the Criminal Code.

Fines of up to $200,000 could be imposed on parks flouting the law — a sum set deliberately high as a deterrent. 

The bill finally cleared the Red Chamber Tuesday night after nearly three years of debate and study. It now will be shuttled through the House of Commons by May.

The bill has the support of MPs from across the political spectrum, including Liberal Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Conservative Michelle Rempel and New Democrat Fin Donnelly.

The bill’s passage in the upper house comes after years of advocacy work by animal welfare advocates, who have long argued that holding these highly intelligent creatures in concrete tanks is a cruel and perverse form of entertainment.

The fight for cetacean rights picked up considerable public support after the release of the 2013 documentary film Blackfish, which documented some of the perils involved in holding whales, dolphins and porpoises in parks like Sea World.

The Senate bill really has two targets in mind: the Vancouver Aquarium and Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ont.

The Vancouver Aquarium once defended holding these mammals in captivity on both scientific and educational grounds, but recently said it would no longer display whales or dolphins at its facility as protests over captivity have become a “distraction” for the business.

Marineland has been a vocal opponent of the Senate bill, saying it would devastate attendance — and threaten conservation efforts — at theme parks where these animals are on display. It has also said the bill threatens the seasonal employment of hundreds of local residents during the summer months.

Marineland’s owner, John Holer, testified at a Senate committee before his death last summer, asking senators to halt the bill. Today, Marineland issued a statement calling S-203 anti-science.

“Bill S-203 was not supported by the relevant ministries or the credible scientific community,” says the statement. “Sadly, it impairs legitimate scientific and research programs and is explicitly targeted to close Marineland.

“The bill and the debate around it (have) been highly emotional, lacking in fact-based or science-based analysis and mired in unnecessary conflict incited by radical animal rights groups from the United States.”

·         Ottawa to ban capture of dolphins, whales

·         All-party group calls for an end to ‘Senate games’ on three animal rights bills

The Senate bill would, through the breeding ban, phase out captivity over time. That means Marineland would still be able to keep its current stock of some 55 cetaceans even if the legislation is passed by the Commons.

The hope of many activists is that some or all of the marine mammals currently in captivity in Canada eventually would be moved to an open water seaside sanctuary in either B.C. or Nova Scotia.

The bill would also prohibit the importing of cetaceans, or their sperm, tissue cultures or embryos.

Holler had an ally in Conservative Manitoba Sen. Don Plett, who has steadfastly opposed the Senate bill. Plett continually sought to put off a vote through the creative use of some parliamentary procedure.

The Senate fisheries committee, of which Plett was a member, studied the bill for some eight months over 17 committee meetings with more than 30 witnesses — considerably more time than a Senate public bill typically spends under scrutiny at committee.

Senate passes shark fin ban

The Senate passed another animal welfare bill Tuesday: S-238, which will ban the import and export of shark fin products.

Conservative Nova Scotia Sen. Michael MacDonald, who tabled the bill, has said the practice has done vast damage to the world’s shark population — which has declined nearly 80 per cent over the last 50 years.

Canada is the world’s third largest importer of shark fins, surpassed only by mainland China and Hong Kong, where shark fin soup is a popular delicacy among the wealthy. In 2015 alone, Canada imported over 144,000 kilograms of shark fins.

“Tens of millions of sharks are left to die every year for nothing but the prestige associated with a bowl of shark fin soup,” MacDonald said.

That bill will now be sent to the Commons for further debate among MPs.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-whale-dolphin-captivity-canada-senate-bill-1.4876136

The PAWS 2018 International Captive Wildlife Conference is taking place November 9-11 in Burbank, California. A very important theme of the conference is “Confronting Captivity”, which reflects a growing resistance to the exploitation of captive wild animals around the world. The problems of captivity abound with tourist elephant rides, orca whales in marine parks, and big cats in circuses.

One of the most notable speakers at this year’s conference is Sangita Iyer, founder of the non-profit organization Voice for Asian Elephants Society. Sangita is a native of India, and an award-winning journalist and wildlife documentary filmmaker. She is the director and producer of the globally acclaimed documentary Gods In Shackles, which was nominated at the United Nations and has garnered over a dozen international awards. Sangita has gained recognition throughout India for her courage in exposing the plight of captive elephants, who are continuously exploited for profit behind the veil of culture and religion.

Sangita’s groundbreaking documentary Gods In Shackles shines a light on India’s religious parades and festivals, and their continuous exploitation and abuse of the country’s elephants. Through her work with Voice for Asian Elephants Society, Sangita hopes to ignite change in the way that elephants are treated in her native India and throughout the world.

You can view the trailer for Gods In Shackles here:

Voice for Asian Elephants Society are currently collaborating with another speaker at the conference, Steven Wise, who is the President of the Nonhuman Rights Project. They are working together for the rights of personhood for India’s elephants. The PAWS conference features nearly 50 other amazing speakers from 15 countries. You can hear directly from those who are leading the way in confronting the captivity of big cats, elephants, bears, and marine mammals. You will learn about the exploitation of wild animals in circuses, zoos and marine parks; as well as the rescue and care of these animals in sanctuaries.

The speakers at the conference are fighting these issues every day on the front lines. They are working for change through scientific research, ethics, law, conservation, and animal care, policy and welfare. PAWS has been presenting inspiring conferences since 1992, and this is the only U.S.-based conference of its kind. This year’s International Captive Wildlife Conference features speakers who are leaders in their fields. The hope is to promote action to improve the welfare of wild animals living in captivity throughout the world.

The International Captive Wildlife Conference happens just once every four years, and there’s still time to register for this year’s conference but registration closes October 31. You can attend one day, two days, or all three. Student discounts are available, and tasty plant-based lunch and snacks are included each day.

The three-day event is taking place at the Pickwick Conference Center in Burbank, CA, and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. For a full list of speakers and discussions — and to register — visit the conference website here.

Hi Mark,

SeaWorld: Where enslaved animals are confined to tiny tanks and forced to perform pointless tricks to entertain visitors.

Orcas, other dolphins, beluga whales, seals, and many other animals are suffering in captivity at the marine abusement park. These intelligent, social animals often die prematurely from stress and other captivity-related problems.

At least 40 orcas and dozens of other dolphins have died at SeaWorld from causes including severe trauma, intestinal gangrene, and chronic cardiovascular failure.

Major US companies and the UK’s biggest travel provider, the Thomas Cook Group, have already severed ties with the marine park. Now, we need to show TUI UK that we won’t rest until it ends its support of orca abuse, too!

Please take a moment to urge TUI UK to stop selling tickets to SeaWorld:

Thank you for all that you do to help animals.

Sincerely,

Priya S

PETA UK

Bear Cub Stuck in Plastic Jug for Three Days

Posted by Carly Day | October 20, 2018

Image Credit: Maryland Dept of Natural Resources

Just days after reporting on the devastating viral photo of a deer in Spain with its head trapped in a plastic jug, we received heartbreaking reports of a male bear cub in Maryland that suffered from the same fate.

Luckily for the 100-pound black bear, the Maryland Department of Human Resources – Wildlife & Heritage Service were able to locate the animal, tranquilize him and remove the jar — but only after the terrified animal spent three days stumbling around, unable to eat or drink.

The cub — affectionately nicknamed “Buckethead” by rescuers — was reunited with his mother and sibling once he recovered.

Although this case was resolved without any loss of life or injury, it is a sobering reminder of the huge impact that careless human behavior has on precious wildlife.

The tragedy of plastic trash in the world’s oceans is well documented, taking the lives of thousands of marine mammals and fish every year, but our waste problem isn’t limited to the sea; there are increasing cases of land mammals dying from our trash habits every year.

Two Oceans Aquarium report that half of the camels that die on the Arabian Peninsula every year perish due to health issues caused by consuming plastic bags. This year, an Indian elephant died after eating plastic shopping bags and several reindeer in Norway were killed after becoming entangled in discarded fishing nets.

Not only are these kinds of death unnecessary, but they are also often protracted and painful. Some animals — like the black bear in our story — get trapped in plastic and may be unable to eat or breath, or become entangled in waste materials which cause injuries, infection and a slow death. Others ingest trash, causing impaction and starvation.

Plastic is an epic, worldwide problem that must be dealt with before it’s too late. Data tells us that shoppers in the United States use an average of one plastic bag per person every day, as opposed to progressive countries like Denmark, where each person uses an estimated four plastic bags per year.

The cases that we see are only the tip of the iceberg, and it’s up to every individual to act now to start making a difference, starting in our own backyard.