Many people don’t worry about the suffering that mice experience when they’re used in research, even people who oppose experiments on other species, such as dogs or primates. Mice are intelligent, social animals who feel pain. There is no reason their suffering matters less than that of other species. Mice matter and they need your help.
On October 29th, the Government of China revealed that it allows commercial trade in tiger bone and rhino horn from farmed animals for use in traditional Chinese medicine research and clinical treatments. This is a brazen and regressive position which drastically undermines international efforts for tiger and rhino conservation.
The lab monkey, fur mink, and racing horse will not be liberated through compromise. They need so-called extremism. As Dr. King suggested, an extremist for justice is a label that carries no shame; indeed, it should be embraced.
While the global number of vegans rises each year, so does the number of animals killed for meat. Without a larger commitment to antispeciesism, what purpose does the vegan label serve, and how much change can it ultimately create?
The European Parliament has called for a global ban on animal testing for cosmetics by 2023. Animal testing for cosmetics has been banned in the EU since 2013, but remains legal in 80% of countries worldwide. A November 16th Geneva conference will bring experts together to strategize for a global ban.
In what has been called ‘the pet effect,’ companion animals can relieve suffering and enrich people’s lives in measurable ways. The company of animals helps improve chronic pain, PTSD symptoms, depression and grief, and more.
In the wake of two recent untimely orca deaths among the already-endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales, Lifeforce offers six ways to help protect the remaining orcas from the many anthropogenic threats they face today.
This is a particularly critical election for animals, so it’s important that we turn out to the polls to support those who have expressed a willingness to join in the fight. Remember, you hold the power to make sure humane candidates get into Congress and stay there. Animals only win when humane candidates and issues do.
Eight bird species, including two species of macaw, look set to have their extinctions confirmed following a robust new assessment of Critically Endangered species. The findings reveal a worrying new trend: for the first time, mainland extinctions are outpacing island extinctions.
California lawmakers have approved Senate Bill 1249, the California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, sending the bill to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk for his signature. SB 1249 would make it unlawful for cosmetic manufacturers to sell any cosmetic in California if the final product or any component of the product was knowingly tested on animals.
Duke University researchers have developed a new way to estimate lemur populations, providing valuable information for conservation efforts. So far, their population estimates are good news for some species and bad news for others.
After spending more than three decades slaughtering whales in defiance of an international moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan is proposing a package of measures at an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting next month that would effectively lift the global ban on for-profit whaling.