World and International Animal Protection

Canada does not live in a vacuum.  Everything we do, every experience we have, everything we believe, is influenced by events, experiences and beliefs of people in other countries.

There are many ways in which we use animals for our own purposes: food, sport, recreation, entertainment, increased knowledge, companionship, or simply for profit.  All these forms of animal exploitation are influenced, directly or indirectly, by the way other people in other countries pursue the same, or similar forms of exploitation.

Almost all forms of intensive rearing of animals for food which are commonly used in Canada were developed abroad and imported to Canada in order to allow Canadian meat producers to be competitive in world markets.

The trapping of wild fur-bearing animals for fur was imported from Europe.

Hunting (shooting) of both birds and wildlife was brought to Canada by early immigrants.  European shooting habits (song-birds, small mammals) continue to create enforcement problems.

Domestic animals are reared and then transported alive between countries, and continents, by a variety of forms of transportation.  Many suffer and die en route.

Wild animals are caught, held often in appalling conditions and then transported around the world for the exotic pet trade or to be kept in zoos, often in inadequate or even cruel conditions.

Throughout the world, animals are abused, neglected, tortured, treated without mercy.  The story is one of incredible human depravity.  Man's inhumanity to man is only exceeded by man's inhumanity to other animals.

The An imal Welfare Foundation of Canada believes that all Canadians have a responsibility to do everything in their power to encourage a more humane and compassionate attitude towards all animals, regardless of the country in which they live, suffer and die.  Obviously and unfortunately, individual Canadians rarely, if ever, have an opportunity to personally intervene in cases of animal abuse in other countries.  Fortunately, there are both national and international animal protection organizations which can, and do, protect animals in those countries.  If nothing else we can, and must, support these groups.

For this reason, the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada has supported the following national and international groups:
  • World Society for the Protection of Animals (London, England)
    • (Formerly the International Society for the Protection of Animals)
      1. NOAH 2 -- rescue of animals in hydroelectric project in South America.
      2. International conferences in Luxembourg and Boston.
      3. The International Emergency Fund.
      4. A survey of the slaughter of kangaroos in Australia.
      5. The development of humane legislation to protect animals in the Dominican Republic.
  • Japanese Animal Welfare Society
    • To assist in improving the conditions under which laboratory animals are housed in Japan and to support the training of Japanese scientists and technicians to use more humane research methods.
  • Animal Welfare Institute of the United States
    • To assist in the production of informative and educational pamphlets intended to encourage the rejection of cruel methods of trapping wild fur-bearing animals.
    • To assist with the publication of an "Endangered Species Handbook".
    • Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Enquiry (FRAME) (UK)
      • To assist in the publication of educational literature designed to encourage the use of alternative techniques of scientific enquiry which do not use animals.
    • Massachusetts S.P.C.A. (US) (for American Fondouk, Morocco)
      • To support the Shelter and Hospital for neglected horses and donkeys in Morocco.  This was a special bequest which was accepted and honoured by the Foundation. 
    • Institute for the Study of Animal Problems (U.S.)
      • To support the publication and distribution of a new publication devoted to analysing animal welfare problems.
    • Farm Animal Care Trust (UK)
      • To support research into developing new alternative and more ethical systems of rearing farm animals for human consumption.
    • Women's College Hospital, Philadelphia (US)
      • To support the development of an alternative to the Draize Test, a technique which exposes the eyes of rabbits to chemical compounds such as shampoo.
    • Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) (UK)
      • To support the publication of educational literature and the organization of technical symposiums intended to encourage more humane ways of treating animals.

       

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