Mexico unanimously voted to amend the General Wildlife Law to include a ban on captive marine animals for entertainment. This ban will see captive dolphins, whales, and other marine animals released to sanctuaries or pens and will prohibit the capture of wild aquatic species for entertainment purposed. The law will only allow captive marine life if it is for species rehabilitation or conservation efforts. This is yet another example of Mexico's continued commitment to improving animal welfare.

We've seen enough horror stories coming from places like Sea World where captive orcas are displaying behaviours associated with boredom and emotional stress. We've seen the stories where orcas are attacking or killing handlers in captivity. We've also seen enough stories about marine animals dying in captivity, proving that the only place they belong is in the wild. When you consider the amount of space they utilize in the ocean, to be kept captive in what is comparable to a bathtub for their whole lives is inherently cruel, and we've known this for ages.

Animals were not put on this planet for us to do with as we please. When it comes to entertainment, to think that we would subject these intelligent creatures to years of performing stupid tricks for crowds of people who have paid money to fuel the cycle of cruelty is embarrassing. With a world of entertainment at our fingertips, we cannot allow cruelty to animals to be something that is overlooked or considered "fun". It's not to the animals who are held captive. It's not fun to the ones plucked from the wild who knew freedom, only to spend the remainder of their lives in captivity.

​Congratulations to Mexico for taking this much needed step in the right direction for animal welfare. Learn more through the link at the top of this post to the original story from World Animal News.

Over 1.5 million people have signed a petition urging the U.K. government to ban the import of fur products entirely. This movement has the support of many advocacy groups including Four Paws UK, PETA UK, and Humane World For Animals UK and awaits a future decision surrounding a bill already aimed at closing loopholes that have seen the U.K. import fur products valued at millions of pounds every year.

Interestingly, the United Kingdom was the first in Europe to ban the production of fur, but despite this, continues to import furs from countries like Finland, China, and Greece.  This sends a rather distorted message surrounding animal welfare in suggesting that simply because one has stopped producing, they hold no blame when selling these products. The fact is, if you've banned the production of fur, you've likely done so as a result of disagreeing with the cruelty towards animals. In fact, an overwhelming amount of Britons support a complete ban on fur from production to importing and selling so continuing to import is a confusing stance to take against the industry.

Fur is cruelty, plain and simple. The animals in these facilities are bred in to squalor living in cramped, often filthy wire cages with minimal access to food and water. They often exhibit several signs of distress, and many undercover investigations have proven the lack of care these animals receive documenting sores, lesions, cuts, and other abrasions that are left untreated. After a short, miserable life spent in fear and distress, they're then electrocuted or gassed in order to preserve their skins. The entirety of their existence is one of suffering and sadness. We cannot in this day in age, still be trying to justify the needless cruelty these animals experience for fashion. It's incredibly compassionless when we have a world of synthetics available to us. It's embarrassing and gross.

The United Kingdom has the distinction of being the first country in Europe to ban fur farming, so I would like to think that they would take the necessary steps to truly demonstrate an anti-cruelty stance in banning the import of furs as well. Remember, you're entirely complicit in the cruelty if you're simply allowing someone else to do it for you.

Fur is gross. We know better. End the madness and ban the import of fur. In fact, may I go a touch further and suggest that we just do away with it entirely. Especially in the case of China, c'mon now, China has the WORST animal cruelty issues in their nation and buying fur from them is so incredibly despicable when we know how animals are treated there. It's shameful and it's time to stop the slaughter, stop the cruelty, and ditch fur.

Learn more through the link at the top of this post. Our planet MUST go fur-free. It's long overdue.