Animal Justice
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A California law approved by voters that promises to get breeding pigs out of narrow cages that prevent them from standing or turning will finally take effect Saturday, after years of delays and warnings that the rules could lead to price spikes and pork shortages. But it will be six months before California grocery shoppers can be sure that pork chops they buy under the new law will be from a pig whose mother wasn't confined in a so-called gestation crate. That's because while the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law, the state recently agreed to allow pork slaughtered before July 1 to be sold in California markets and restaurants for the rest of the year. That decision gives farmers and grocery stores time to adjust. But it's exasperating to supporters of the new rules that the effective implementation of the law would again be delayed — **four years** after voters approved it.
Ending the live export trade was high on our list of priorities when the Australian Federation of Animal Societies was founded. The trade was then relatively new and the number of sheep exported, especially to the Middle East, was growing rapidly. On every ship, some sheep succumbed to the heat, confinement, and stress of the long voyage. They were the lucky ones because they avoided even greater agony after reaching their destination. Almost 40 years, and many broken commitments later, the ALP promised that it would phase out the live export of sheep by sea. In line with that promise, the Albanese government has appointed an independent panel to consider how and when to phase out the export of live sheep by sea. For the sheep, and for Australia’s reputation, that day cannot come too soon.
When the bill was first introduced, it lacked concrete measures to phase out animal toxicity testing. Animal Justice and partner organizations collaborated with lawmakers to amend the bill by including a roadmap for transitioning away from using animals in toxicity testing. The legislation now requires the government to support and implement cruelty-free alternatives to toxicity testing on animals, empowers the government to make regulations about how non-animal testing should be done, and mandates that the Ministers of the Environment and Health publish a plan within the next two years to promote animal-free toxicity testing methods. “This is truly a momentous day for animals in Canada,” Animal Justice director of legal advocacy Kaitlyn Mitchell said. “Toxicity testing is the most harmful and painful use of animals in scientific research and involves experiments that often fall under the most severe category of harm that animals can experience. We are seeing a global shift away from toxicity testing on animals, and with this new law, Canada can finally catch up to jurisdictions like the US and EU, which already have strong legal tools to phase out these horrific experiments.”
The USDA must approve all animal welfare claims on meat and poultry labels before products can be sold. But unlike “organic” claims, which are verified in person by government regulators, animal welfare claims are substantiated with paperwork submitted to the USDA. The USDA doesn’t have the regulatory authority to check animal welfare claims on farms, said Sandra Eskin, the USDA’s deputy undersecretary for food safety. “There are plenty of companies out there that are following the law and many that are not, and that’s just not fair,” Eskin said. Eskin said the USDA plans to update its guidelines to require more documentation from companies making animal welfare claims. It will also strongly encourage companies to hire third-party verification groups, such as Human Farm Animal Care, a non-profit organization in Virginia that certifies animal welfare claims.
A total of 152 koalas were put down after contracting a disease from a nearby American-owned aluminum smelter. The company recently admitted to killing the marsupials after learning the creatures were deteriorating from exposure to fluoride - a waste product of smelting. The industry giant found the large group of marsupials living in the 17 hectares closest to the smelter were suffering from the effects of fluorosis. The 152 worst-affected koalas - about 60 per cent of those assessed were euthanised and the forest was closed off from the public in March. 
Commercial kangaroo shooters are required to adhere to standards of humane killing, set out by a national code of practice that was revised in 2020. The code requires them to be correctly licenced and they are required to kill each kangaroo with a single shot to the head. They need to ensure the animal is dead, before targeting another one. But hunting takes place after dusk, which makes it hard for even the most experienced shooter to get a clean single shot to the head. The most contentious issue is the killing of female kangaroos with joeys and what happens to their offspring when the mothers are killed.