Animal Welfare - Need to Go's

I've been reporting on animal welfare stories across the globe for over 4 years now and there are some stories that I desperately want to stop reporting on because the appropriate action has been taken. In a perfect world, I'd go so far as to add factory farming to this list but I honestly don't see it going anywhere in the near future. Below are some things that I've had to painfully report on several times and believe we should already be done with;

WILD ANIMALS IN CIRCUS'

Why oh why is this even still a thing? Animals that are bred for performing or stolen from the wild and beaten into submission to perform for adoring crowds of people who pay tons of money to watch them do stupid tricks or jump through hoops, it's ridiculous. The fact is, these animals live in cages in between their hectic travel schedules that transfer them from place to place where they repeatedly perform and are denied any of their instinctual habits. These animals live miserable lives in return for profits for scumbag humans who exploit them for their own fortunes. I find the circus especially frustrating because the animals do not equate to success especially when you look at shows like Cirque Du Soleil that make millions of dollars without the use of animals. In this day and age when we are witnessing these animals slowly going extinct in the wild, it's time to ban wild animals in circus' once and for all.

FUR

When one considers what actual necessities are, fur should be nowhere near that list of crucial must haves for survival. Fur was once seen as a luxury product that managed to completely skirt around the fact that the animals slaughtered and skinned for these products suffered immensely cruel lives. Animals like foxes, coyotes, minks, and rabbits are either trapped and killed in the wild or bred in captivity for the sole purpose of being skinned for novelty items. There have been several stories I've published in regards to undercover exposures that have shown the true horrors of this industry. Animals living in their own feces, suffering from neurological conditions, riddled with untreated infection, or fattened beyond their natural capability to produce more pelt. There are so many synthetics out there that there is simply no excuse for using animals for clothing or novelty items any longer. The good news is that we are seeing more and more companies turning their backs on fur but it isn't enough, we need a global ban on fur trapping / farming altogether.

FIGHTING

This one is a no brainer, there is absolutely no excuse for this horrific blood sport and anyone who participates is the lowest of low. Breeding animals solely for the purpose of training them to be aggressive and fight one another is sickening and exploitative beyond words. What kind of person actually gets enjoyment out of watching animals tear each other apart? The animals bred for these fights are often emotionally and physically traumatized and suffer tremendously throughout their lives. All of this on top of the fact that these aggressive sports have given dogs like the pitbull a reputation for being aggressive when in fact, it's the owners who allow and encourage that behaviour. Animal fighting, despite being banned in many places, continues to be a profitable industry that needs to come to an end.

FACTORY FARM ABUSE

Look, factory farms aren't going anywhere anytime soon unfortunately, but the abuse that's regularly exposed in these facilities should not be happening. Undercover video after video showing workers punching, throwing, kicking, etc., these animals that are already bred to live miserable existences until they are slaughtered at a young age for human consumption is sickening and shouldn't still be happening. The fact is, it is likely happening at nearly all of them but they have yet to be exposed for their cruelty. There needs to be much stricter management of these facilities, regular monitoring for cruelty, and strict penalties for exposed abuse. These animals are already bred into horrible lives, we shouldn't be witnessing them also being abused at every stage of their lives leading up to their deaths. 

TROPHY HUNTING

What is there to say about trophy hunting that I haven't already said? It's a fucking sickness in people, simple as that. Paying tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to visit a country and shoot dead a beautiful animal is about as disgusting an activity as I've ever heard. What's especially sick about it first of all is that the animals these assholes are hunting are facing grave danger in their natural habitats as it is and are on the verge of extinction. Secondly, they do so under the pretense that they are somehow helping with conservation because their money is funneled into conservation efforts. The hypocrisy of this is beyond comprehension. One cannot help a species survive by slaughtering them, plain and simple. These people are sick and trophy hunting needs to be banned on a global scale to focus efforts on illegal poaching entirely. Enough is enough.

Humans utilize animals in every way imaginable and have given ourselves the right to everything on this planet without consequence. As the dominant species on this planet, we have a moral obligation to care for everything that exists on this planet with us and yet we abuse our power every single day when it comes to the environment and the animals that inhabit this earth with us. It's time that we collectively put an end to the nonsense and move forward towards a more compassionate existence. I don't expect the planet to abruptly turn plant based, but the repeated abuse of animals needs to come to an end.

HAPPY VEG