The European Union (EU) was the first major economic and political union to address cosmetics testing on animals. This legislative initiative took decades to come into effect. The path started in 1993 when the first EU Directive addressing the issue was passed. However, the Directive...
On May 2 this year, the South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, released a High Level Panel (HLP) report on the sustainable use of wildlife involving the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhino. In...
“Dancing” bears were a common and popular form of street entertainment in Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. Although there were still dancing bears in Western Europe in the 20th century (the 1911 UK animal protection law forbid the practice) but the dancing bear...
Last year, WBI ran a story about the South African documentary, My Octopus Teacher and recommended it to our readers. Many then watched the documentary (on Netflix) and sang its praises to their friends and contacts. This year, My Octopus Teacher, was nominated for numerous...
Most of the dogs in India are homeless stray dogs who survive mainly on handouts from people. While the keeping of pet dogs is increasing (almost doubled in the past decade), only around 10% of households have pet dogs (compared to 35% in the US...
Every now and again, a publication or report comes along that changes how we think about life. In the animal space, Ruth Harrison’s Animal Machines (1964) was such a publication. In the environmental space, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) and the Club of Rome’s Limits...
The Idaho legislature has just sent a bill to Governor Brad Little’s desk that would authorize the killing of up to 90% of Idaho’s estimated 1,500 wolves. This bill represents a swing of the wolf pendulum back to the early part of the 20th century...
Despite the Covid pandemic (and unlike in Africa where poaching is driving rhinos toward extinction in the wild), 2021 has proved to be a good year for the Greater One-horned Asian Rhinoceros, aka Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), in Nepal. An intensive three-week census (22 March...
The first World Happiness Report, drawing extensively on Gallup’s World Poll data, was published in 2012. The report is now released every year on March 20th and the 2021 World Happiness Report is the ninth in the series. The first eight reports were produced by...
This past month, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) issued a 168-page publication entitled Making Peace with Nature. The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, comments in a Foreword that “Humanity is waging war on nature” and “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the...
