Tag: Podcast

Animals dying in transport, bred without oversight, and sold in deli containers. What is happening in Canada’s exotic pet trade?

In this month’s episode of the Informed Animal Ally, the Vancouver Humane Society’s Chantelle Archambault and Amy Morris discuss Canada’s exotic pet trade, from breeding or capture to selling and keeping, as well as the laws and loopholes failing to protect animals.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

Impacts of the wildlife trade

Chantelle: Today we’re going to continue looking at Canada’s place on the world stage of animal protection by delving into a topic that impacts animals, both at home in Canada and around the world: the wildlife trade.

While this term “wildlife trade” can be used to discuss the buying and selling of both live animals and products made from their body parts like elephant ivory, rhino horn, and animal skins, in this episode, we’ll specifically look at the transport, keeping, and breeding of live non-domestic animals for uses like the exotic pet trade and display in events like mobile petting Zeus.

Captive non-domestic animals have complex needs like wild animals

Amy: Before we get into what the wildlife trade looks like in Canada, I’d like to give some brief context about why this is such an important topic.

The wildlife trade or exotic pet trade involves animals that are not native to Canada. They’ve not been domesticated, which means they have their wild instincts, including a fear of humans.

They have really big behavioural needs. Those include:

• exploring large spaces,
• climbing,
• accessing the right temperature environments,
• being able to stretch their bodies out in such a way that feels good for them.

That happens even if they’ve been bred in captivity.

Exotic pets are not “beginner pets”

Amy: A lot of exotic animals like turtles and lizards and snakes are often marketed as beginner pets; and so people aren’t really being told how difficult it is to provide care for these animals.

More than two in five people with exotic pets say that they bought them on impulse, and almost half are saying that they did less than a few hours of research on how to care for the animal that they’re buying (Stratcom, 2018, Exotic Pet Ownership Qualitative Research).

So what that means is they’re essentially being sold to families with young children and people with limited time and resources who don’t really know that these animals have complex needs and typically need much more space than people are providing them.

In reality, animal care ranking systems that actually look at what an animal needs to thrive (we use something called the Emode Pet Score), rate the most commonly kept reptiles like crested geckos, corn snakes, ball pythons, and bearded dragons as difficult or extreme to care for. That means it’s unrealistic or almost impossible to provide appropriate care that meets their needs in captivity. And yet these animals are being kept as pets.

Animals suffer when their complex needs aren’t met

Amy: So because so many animals are being sold to people who can’t adequately care for them, we now have hundreds of thousands of wild animals who are suffering as pets.

According to World Animal Protection, there were about 1.4 million exotic pets being kept in Canada in 2019.

75% of pet snakes, lizards, and tortoises die within their first year in a new home. We know they experience a lot of suffering before they actually die.

Releasing unwanted exotic animals is a welfare and conservation issue

Amy: Some people who can’t care for their exotic pets even release them into the wild, which is harmful for that individual animal’s wellbeing.

And also, released animals become invasive species that are dangerous for our local wildlife populations and for our environment, such as red eared slider turtles.

So it’s really important that people learn about what exotic animals really need so that we can stop the flow of wildlife into homes where their needs can’t be met; move away from breeding exotic animals; and make sure we’re keeping wild animals in the wild.

Breeding vs. capturing wild animals

Chantelle: Now that we have an idea of why this issue is so important, I’d like to share an overview of what this industry actually looks like in Canada.

When we’re looking at exotic pets, there are two ways that animals are being brought into the market to be sold:

1. The first is they are captured from the wild and imported.
2. The second is that they’re bred in captivity.

About half of reptiles in the wildlife trade are wild caught according to World Animal Protection. Those figures may be higher for certain species of other types of animals that are difficult to breed in captivity

There are welfare issues for both of these methods.

Problems with capturing animals for the exotic pet trade

Chantelle: More than half of captured wild animals don’t survive transport. They’re being kept in these very small cages to be brought over and it’s really difficult to check on them during transport. Two thirds of African grey parrots that have been poached from the wild die in transit

Taking animals from their homes also threatens wild populations of those species. As many as 21% of endangered wild African grey parrots are taken from the wild each year for the pet trade. Those are already an endangered species in the wild.

Problems with breeding exotic pets in captivity

Chantelle: Meanwhile, animals that are bred in captivity are often housed in small, basic enclosures because people who are really engaging in captive breeding to make a profit are breeding a lot of animals at once. That simple kind of housing makes it a lot easier to feed the animals, clean their cages, and monitor how they are doing.

Breeders will often keep animals in their home without a storefront, so the public has no way of really seeing what’s happening with those animals.

In B.C., as long as a species of animal isn’t prohibited under the Controlled Alien Species list and is under a certain size (snakes under three metres or lizards under two metres), basically anyone can breed those animals without a permit.

Two major problems with that model are:

1. A lack of transparency. The public has very little way of knowing what’s going on and what the conditions are for the animals.
2. A lack of regulation. Breeders aren’t being monitored, and there’s not really enforcement happening because someone would need to make a complaint; and who is there to see what’s going on to make a complaint?

Some breeders will also selectively breed for certain traits, like more unique colours and patterns, and that selective breeding can lead to neurological disorders that can have an impact on the animal’s wellbeing.

One example is ball pythons. Ball pythons with the spider gene, which is a genetic mutation that causes a spider web or a splatter pattern on the back of the snake, which some people consider a desirable trait, have the same mutation that causes a condition called wobble head syndrome.

That can make it hard for the snakes to move or feed properly. So depending on the severity of the condition, a snake might have a slight head tilt or they might flip their head upside down and not really realize and just kind of leave it there. They might not be able to move in a straight line. They might not be able to do things that they need to do to hunt and feed on their own, like strike and constrict.

Amy: And you know, this is a very specific thing that happens, but when we think of it on a broad scale, we’re also just facing breeders who breed animals just for volume and they’re not keeping animals in the space that they deserve.

So while we may have some of these cases that are problematic of these kind of genetic abnormalities, when exotic animals are being bred, they generally do not have housing that meets their needs.

How exotic animals are sold

Chantelle: After animals are either bred or imported, they’re sold through a variety of methods.

Selling exotic animals in pet stores

Chantelle: First there are pet stores. If you’ve been into a pet store that sells exotic pets, you’ve likely seen them stacked in a section in quite small cages. They may have spaces to hide, but they’re generally in full view of humans and other animals, which can be very stressful for them, especially for solitary species.

The stores are typically fairly bright during the day when they’re open, and a lot of these animals are nocturnal so their sleeping patterns can be disrupted.

There might be someone on staff who has knowledge about the needs of different exotic animals, but when a store sells such a wide variety of species, it’s unlikely that they have someone on shift who’s knowledgeable about every species all of the time.

Exotic pet fairs and expos

Chantelle: There are also exotic pet expos. These are generally people selling animals with more specialized knowledge, but there are still pets that are difficult to care for being sold as beginner pets with misleading information.

For instance, one of our colleagues was told by a seller at a pet show that a snake could be kept in an opaque container, when we know that they need specialized terrariums with temperature control, they need space to fully stretch out. They need enrichment items and substrate.

Also at these shows, pets are transported around during the day. They’re sold in very small containers, even takeout containers.

Even though there are rules that are supposed to limit how many people can handle the animals, it doesn’t appear those rules are strictly enforced. There have been children handling reptiles in these crowded rooms.

Imagine if a child were to drop, say, a small lizard at an expo when there’s a bunch of people walking around; that could very quickly become a dangerous situation for the animal.

Selling exotic animals online

Chantelle: There’s also animals that are sold online. That involves shipping the animals from a seller’s location, usually also in small containers with temperature packs.

It’s more difficult to tell how an animal is being kept and transported this way. Not all sellers have the same level of care in keeping animals safe during transport. Even though even the best ways of transporting them are not ideal conditions for the animal, there are ones that are significantly worse.

Amy: We think about transport and the animals who die in transport, and these are animals that have been purchased that have kind of like a value assigned to them; they’re still not being transported in ways that are good for the animal.

And we think about the animals that are at a breeder’s house that have not been purchased yet and don’t have the same kind of value attributed to them, you kind of wonder like how many animals are dying in care. We just don’t have any data or numbers on that.

There’s no requirements on registering. For the majority of these animals, there’s no reason for a breeder to disclose anything that’s happening in their home.

We’ve heard from breeders about some of their housing situations and they do not sound like a situation I would want to be in as an animal, that’s for sure.

Chantelle: And regardless of the level of care that the breeder takes, the animals are still typically shipped in a way that it would be either difficult or impossible to monitor how they’re doing while they’re in transit.

They’re put in a box and they’re shipped, and you see how they’re doing when they’re at their original locationand you see how they’re doing at the end destination, but you can’t see how they’re doing in transit.

Animals surviving doesn’t mean they are thriving

There are about 1.4 million exotic pets being kept in Canada as of the most recent count we could find, and again, it’s very difficult to meet the needs of these animals in captivity. Most of them do sadly die far before the end of their natural lifespan.

Even if their basic needs to survive are being met, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re getting what they need to thrive.

Rescues struggling to keep up

Amy: We have rescues in Canada and one rescue shares on their website that they have 350 animals in their care. You think about cat or dog rescues, and if you heard the number 350, you would not think that someone could adequately care for all of those cats and dogs.

And when we’re thinking about exotic species, each individual species needs different care and different food and different housing and warmth. And so even thinking about any kind of operation that’s housing this volume of animals is likely going to be challenged to be able to do that.

I personally just feel really frustrated when I’m hearing about these things because it’s hard to imagine a rescue is trying to do their best because these are unwanted animals. They’re sort of like the disposal of an exotic pet industry.

But meanwhile, some organizations are bringing them into classrooms and having people handle them and inviting kids in to handle them as well. And in a way that’s sort of instilling an interest in keeping these animals as pets, even if unintentionally.

And realistically, a rescue does not want to house so many animals. They do want individuals caring for them. And so you end up in this really weird place where just by the exotic pet industry existing, there’s a whole series of ethical dilemmas that come out of it, and in every case, the animals lose.

Laws around exotic pets

Amy: The next thing I’m hoping to cover is the laws around keeping, breeding, and importing exotic animals.

We’ve spoken in depth about captivity laws in Canada. You can find a longer discussion about this topic if you go back to our episode called Animal captivity laws with Rob Laidlaw, the founder of the organization Zoocheck.

To give a brief overview, the laws in this area are a lot like the other laws we’ve talked about on our show. There’s a patchwork of federal and province-specific laws that differ across the country, and then municipal bylaws that branch out even further.

Federal laws around the wildlife trade

Amy: The main thing we look at when we’re talking about federal laws around exotic animals is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

That’s an international agreement that Canada is a signatory to.

CITES is designed to protect endangered species by banning or limiting the international trade of plants and animals and their parts that are endangered. There’s different levels of protection depending on how at risk the species is. That’s fairly limited.

Canada delivers on our commitments to the CITES agreement through something called the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA).

That act controls the import of CITES listed species, plus other species whose trade is banned under other laws like the country of origin or provincial laws.

And really there’s so many exemptions to that, that it’s not a super helpful law when it comes to people keeping wild animals as pets. It really is more around protecting animals in other countries and their parts.

Provincial laws around exotic animals in captivity

Amy: Most of the responsibility for captive wildlife is dedicated to the provinces, and the laws really vary from province to province.

Here in B.C., the keeping breeding transport and release of exotic animals are regulated under the Controlled Alien Species regulation (CAS), and that’s part of the Wildlife Act.

More broadly, under this regulation, we have a list of specific animals that are considered not native to the province, and that pose a risk to the health or safety of people, property, wildlife, or wildlife habitat.

However, once again, this is a short list. And it’s mostly focused on risk to the public and native ecosystems, and it’s not really thinking about the exotic animals and the risks they face.

The CAS tries to list all of the animals that are not allowed. We have so many species in the world, and new species that are being discovered all the time, so this kind of list leaves many gaps.

For instance, kangaroos aren’t listed even though they’re not native to B.C. and they’re considered an invasive species in other places such as New Zealand.

What we know is more effective and what VHS and other organizations have been advocating for is a positive list approach, where only the animals that are allowed to be kept are listed based on knowledge about what species are suitable and can actually thrive under human care in B.C.

Unfortunately, while we know that this would be really effective in improving animal welfare, it’s been very difficult to get the ear of the government to have any kind of weight put towards this policy option.

It’s one of those situations where best practice and good policy is kind of put aside because it involves bureaucracy and it impacts people. And if something impacts people, they have to do an assessment. And so sometimes it’s easier to just leave things as they are.

Municipal laws around exotic animals

Amy: There’s so many gaps and inconsistencies at the federal and provincial level, so municipal or regional bylaws try to fill the gaps with their own rules.

While this is nice on a small scale and we really support and encourage those municipalities, there are also some big challenges because it’s such a small scale.

Some of those challenges is that city or town councils don’t have as many resources to find and hire people with expertise to develop these laws.

There’s 161 municipalities in B.C. That’s 161 local governments trying to find experts who understand what reptiles need and putting their limited time and budget toward developing bylaws that meet those needs.

Whereas at the provincial or federal government level, they have much more resources and experts who could develop a comprehensive legislation that would just cover a large land area.

Also, when the bylaws cover a small area, individuals will just move a couple towns over and continue what they’re doing. We’ve seen that happen with breeders quite often, where they’ll just move to an unincorporated area.

So as much as we can appreciate bylaws, things really do need to be done at the provincial and federal level.

How are exotic animal laws enforced?

Chantelle: Because the legislation around transporting exotic animals is so complicated, there are a lot of problems with enforcement, even when there are laws.

You have these laws with long lists of species that aren’t allowed into the country or into the province, and they’re coming through border checkpoints where the staff at these checkpoints are not animal experts. It’s almost an impossible ask to have these enforcement agents be able to identify each species that’s coming in and whether or not they’re allowed.

Gaps in documents around animals imported to Canada

Chantelle: World Animal Protection looked at 1.8 million wild animals that were imported into Canada from 2014 to 2020. About half of those animals were imported for the pet trade.

They found that the records around the animals that were coming in had huge data gaps. 84% of animals didn’t have their species named. Rhere was no information available about the animal’s background if they were caught in the wild or bred in captivity.

It’s very difficult to even know if these laws were being followed at the time.

Their organization also noted that since there’s such a convoluted list of which department is responsible for which animals, that almost all species imported for the pet trade aren’t really being looked at.

How you can help

Amy: The first step to solving a problem is to know what the problem is and to have all the information on it, and then we can start to take action.

Make exotic animals a part of your conversations

Amy: The most important thing that you can do as an individual is really encourage the people around you not to buy exotic animals from sellers or breeders.

That’s easy to say, but hard to do because you don’t even know someone’s considering buying an exotic animal until they get one, and then you’re surprised by it.

So it’s also just finding opportunities in conversation to highlight some of these challenges and have it be a whole mindset where animals are not being brought or traded in private operations.

Encourage adopting, not shopping

Amy: Also, if you know someone who has the time, resources, capacity, and desire to take in an exotic animal, encourage them to adopt a rescue animal.

As I was mentioning earlier, one impact of so many animals being sold to people who don’t have the resources is that when people go to surrender their animals, there’s just so little capacity at legitimate rescue organizations to take those animals in.

And when we’re saying legitimate rescues, we mean organizations that are making decisions based on what’s in the best interest of the animals in their care.

Share information about the exotic pet trade

Amy: You can also share information about this on social media and in local community groups. The VHS has been working on an educational campaign on social media the past few months that you can share the realities of keeping exotic pets, what their needs are, the welfare concerns, and what the impacts are on conservation, the animals’ health, and public health risks.

You can find a carousel of posts to share on Instagram and Facebook, and a link to our Blue Sky account.

Speak with pet store managers

Amy: One other way that you can kind of think about taking action is talking to pet stores.

One thing I did when I moved to a new town: I was checking out different pets stores where I would trying to find a place to buy food for my dog.

One of the pet stores was selling betta fishes. And I shared some concerns around that and they shared with me that there’s demand in the town for it. They felt that it was an appropriate animal to keep in captivity.

We kind of went back and forth on it and I said, I would love to buy pet food from here, but I am not comfortable doing so with you selling betta fishes.

I gave them my info and said like, get in touch if you ever decide to stop selling exotic animals and I’d be happy to make your store my primary pet store.

So this is something you can definitely do with smaller scale stores. It is harder with stores that are chains because they may not have as much decision making power.

But you can always ask to speak to a manager and understand what their discretion is and what their choices are.

Approach with curiosity and compassion

Amy: Most of all, you can have some grace when you do encounter people who have exotic animals as pets. Shame and guilt are never the way to change someone’s mind or change someone’s behaviour. They just don’t work and they kind of do the opposite. People dig in their heels and say, no, I’m not changing, I’m not doing anything different. I’m right.

When having conversations about exotic pets or with people who have different thoughts than you on it, it’s so important to genuinely be curious, to be kind, to ask questions, to share your own gaps in knowledge and to really share from a place of care and love and concern.

And I think you can go a long way in the long term of shifting someone’s mindset if you come from that perspective. And also gently say, you know, “I’d love to research this more together. I don’t know a lot about this animal. You seem to know a lot, but I’m really keen to get a sense of what they need and what their environment is like.”

And if you do the research together, maybe there’s a chance that they’ll appreciate your interest and curiosity. And if they find out information about like, oh, they should have a much bigger tank or something like that, then they’ll be more likely to adopt that practice.

Certainly, I would say you can always have a bigger tank than what you have and always have more spaces to hide. Always have, more ability to stretch out, move around.

Work toward a common goal

Chantelle: Especially for something like this, the people who are interested in taking animals into their home are generally people who have like an interest and a love for animals. So we all are coming at this from the same place where we want what’s best for animals. And some people just don’t have the knowledge and the resources to know what is best.

We had a quote on our social media recently, which is from an exotic animal vet named Dr. Alix Wilson, who had said, “Every day I see birds whose owners love them dearly, but aren’t taking proper care of them. They simply don’t know what they’re taking on.” And that was regarding treating grey parrots.

There’s so many people who are taking these animals into their homes and they don’t know what they’re getting into. The length of the life that the animal has naturally, it’s a enormous commitment of time, of resources, of money to be able to take these animals.

Especially buying them from a breeder or a seller. These animals don’t need to be taken out of the wild or bred in captivity.

Next episode

Please join us again next month as World Animal Protection joins us to discuss their Animal Protection Index and how Canada’s federal animal laws and regulations stack up against other countries on the world stage..

Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media

Who is holding the Canadian food industry accountable for the welfare of farmed animals?

This month’s episode of the Informed Animal Ally welcomes Maha Bazzi to discuss the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard from Mercy for Animals. The Scorecard is the leading annual report ranking major food companies operating in Canada on their animal welfare progress, aiming to improve transparency and accountability for Canada’s food system.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

Featured Guest: Maha Bazzi

Director of Animal Welfare Initiatives, Mercy For Animals

Maha Bazzi is the Director of Animal Welfare Initiatives at Mercy For Animals, where she leads the organization’s corporate engagement and campaign efforts across Canada and the United States. With a deep passion for animal welfare, throughout her career, she has worked on international policy initiatives for animals and launched several impactful public awareness campaigns aimed at driving meaningful change in the food industry, particularly for farmed animals, across North America.

Introduction

Chantelle: In this season of the show, we’ve been looking at a wider view of animal advocacy and where Canada stands on the world stage when it comes to animal protection.

This month, I am excited to continue this discussion with a look at Mercy for Animals’ Animal Welfare Scorecard.

So before we jump into that, Maha, I would love to hear about your role at Mercy for Animals and how you got involved in animal advocacy work.

Path to animal advocacy

Maha: Absolutely. So as you mentioned, I’m the Director of Animal Welfare Initiatives here at Mercy for Animals and I’m based in New York City.

Mercy for Animals is one of the world’s largest international farmed animal advocacy organizations. Our mission is to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system.

In my role, I oversee our animal welfare efforts across corporate engagement and campaigns in the US and Canada in order to move companies across the food industry to adopt and implement policies that reduce the suffering of farmed animals in their operations.

How I got into the field; I actually went to school for graphic design and I worked in the marketing and design fields for a few years here in New York.

Four years into my career, I wanted to pursue a role that had a more tangible impact on people’s lives. So I became a teacher of English as a second language.

I loved the education field. I loved connecting with people from all over the world.

But as an animal lover and someone who’s followed a plant-based diet for a very long time, I realized my career shift needed to be dedicated to helping animals. So I went back to school and pursued a degree in animals and public policy, and after working on international policy initiatives, I found my way to Mercy for Animals’ campaigns team in 2025.

Years later, that was the best decision I ever made. My role allows me to merge my passion for helping animals, crafting compelling public narratives, and educating people to make a meaningful difference for farmed animals.

What is the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard?

Amy: That’s so awesome.

I love the work that Mercy for Animals does, and I’m super grateful for it. The scorecard, I think, has always been really interesting and my understanding is this scorecard focuses on industry practices and corporate responsibility to incentivize businesses to do better. Can you tell us more about the scorecard?

Scorecard measures three key areas of welfare

Maha: Absolutely. So for the past four years, Mercy for Animals has published the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard, the only report of its kind focused on ranking major food companies operating in Canada on their animal welfare performance as it relates to three key issue areas.

The first is laying hens confined in cages and companies moving toward cage-free systems that do not use any type of cage, allowing birds space, mobility, and the ability to express their natural behaviors.

The second issue is pigs confined in crates and companies moving toward crate free systems, which are referred to as group housing systems for mother pigs during their gestation periods that do not involve individually confining these mother pigs to any tight enclosures that would prevent them from turning around or lying down with their limbs fully extended.

The third issue is the breeding environment and slaughter method of chickens raised for meat and companies’ adoption and move toward a leading set of global standards called the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC).

That includes improved management practices such as lowering stocking densities, providing better litter, lighting, and enrichments for the birds, and very importantly, eliminating fast growing breeds of birds, as well as replacing live shackle slaughter (which is the predominant slaughter method for chickens raised for meat) with controlled atmosphere stunning (which is a less cruel slaughter method).

So these three policy areas for farmed animal welfare are key to reducing animal suffering and company supply chains.

Mercy for Animals’ benchmarking tool through the scorecard ranks companies based on:

• whether they’ve adopted these meaningful animal welfare commitments,
• if they’re being transparent about the progress they’ve made toward their policies, and
• if they’ve published clear plans for fully implementing their commitments.

The initiative provides transparency on welfare commitments

Maha: To give you some background, from 2012 to 2018, Mercy for Animals released 12 animal cruelty investigations in Canada, after which many major food companies in Canada started adopting commitments to sourcing only cage-free eggs, crate-free pork, and chicken aligned with the Better Chicken Commitment.

So when the companies announced these public pledges, they signaled to the industry that they were ready to reform their supply chain practices and meet consumer demand for higher welfare products.

Mercy for Animals’ Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard is an important public accountability mechanism that tracks company and industry progress and transparency on these issues and helps keep the public informed about various brands’ performance. Our report provides transparency and accountability in an environment where some companies and industries simply refuse to do so.

The food industry’s role in animal welfare

Chantelle: It’s such an important project and I’m really glad it’s available.

As you mentioned, there’s so little transparency in the animal agriculture industry. I would love to know more about what role different parts of the food industry have in protecting animal welfare.

Canadian animal agriculture industry is self-regulated

Maha: So in Canada there are no federal laws to protect farmed animals; industrial animal agriculture is actually self-regulated.

The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) is a body composed of industry stakeholders and associations. And NFACC develops codes of practice for each farmed animal industry by species.

But 49 out of 56 members, or 88% of NFACC members actually represent industry. They include trade groups like the Canadian Pork Council and big food companies like egg producers and grocery stores.

So most industries in Canada rely on the voluntary recommendations laid out in NFACC codes. These codes are unlegislated. They’re unenforceable in most provinces, and compliance with the codes is not evaluated.

Very importantly, standards on all critical animal welfare issues do not go nearly far enough to establish meaningful standards to protect farmed animals. These are bare minimum recommended standards and they fall short of leading global animal welfare standards.

Agriculture industry guidelines recommend keeping hens in cages

Maha: I’ll give you an example on cage-free. NFACC standards have failed to ban caged confinement for laying hens, and they allow conventional battery cage systems until 2036. Instead of recommending a ban on cages, the council encourages farmers to invest in a move toward “enriched cages”, which are cages that are only slightly larger, despite scientific evidence that all cages harm animal welfare.

In enriched cages, hens still spend their entire lives on wire flooring. They have space per bird that’s no larger than a standard sheet of printer paper. This move toward enriched cages has unfortunately become more entrenched in the Canadian industry year after year.

So basically, NFACC is mostly the industry creating its own guidelines.

Consumer demand and corporate commitments drive change

Maha: This is very different from corporate commitments, which are mostly driven by consumer and investor concern.

With no federal legislation protecting animals in Canadian farms, and these inadequate industry guidelines acting as a benchmark, the private sector is really instrumental in advancing animal welfare.

In Canada, restaurants, grocers, food service providers and other food companies play a critical role in moving the food industry toward more responsible sourcing standards.

Mercy for Animal emphasizes the importance of follow through and transparency from companies on their animal welfare commitments. Because without accountability, consumers will be left in the dark about company’s supply chain practices, and animals will continue to suffer from the worst factory farming conditions.

Progress in welfare reporting

Amy: Oh, there was so much good in everything you said there in terms of just like how lacking the system is in Canada and how lacking the standards are. It’s certainly something that needs a lot more attention and time and something that pushes the industry to make better commitments because it’s not happening through legislation. So having some other incentives is necessary.

Given that, what are some of the areas that you’ve seen progress on in this latest scorecard?

Increase in companies reporting progress

Maha: Since 2021, the first year of Mercy for Animals launched the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard, the number of companies that have begun reporting progress each year has remained steady. So in 2024, for example, 10 companies reported for the first time on their policies.

This year’s report reported 15 policies as fulfilled, including cage-free policies from McDonald’s and Boston Pizza. 15% of companies featured in the report reported regional progress on all three animal welfare issues that I mentioned that we evaluate, which is a 5% increase from 2023.

We’ve also seen multiple companies this year report progress on their move toward controlled atmosphere stunning, which is the Better Chicken Commitment’s approved slaughter method for chickens raised for meat.

We saw more companies reporting progress as well toward transitioning to group housing for mother pigs.

So Mercy for Animals’ annual benchmarking shows a trend toward regional reporting on animal welfare in Canada, which is promising.

We’re seeing an increase in both the number of companies reporting progress and the number of policies companies are reporting on each year, which is a good indication that animal welfare is being integrated into food companies’ corporate responsibility programs.

For example, the number of companies reporting regionally has increased from 11 to 28 over the past four years. And the number of policies evaluated with reported progress has increased more dramatically from 13 to 48.

So we’re seeing that companies that integrate animal welfare into their sustainability work are developing more comprehensive policies and transparency practices over time, which is really encouraging.

Many companies not meeting commitments

Chantelle: That’s really good to see that progress. I think it’s really a testament to how this advocacy and how consumer pressure can push companies to do better over time.

But as we all know, there’s a long way to go still. So could you speak to any ways that companies are not meeting their commitments?

Are Canadian eggs cage-free?

Maha: I think when it comes to companies not meeting their commitments, it’s really important to highlight the lack of cage-free progress in the retail sector in Canada.

This sector is the largest purchaser of eggs and could carry the greatest impact on laying hens if retailers were to transition to fully cage-free sourcing.

But retailers are failing to publish plans toward transitioning to fully cage-free systems. And most retailers, including Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys, Longos, have even walked back their commitments by removing or postponing their commitment deadlines, which were meant to be 2025 this year.

To make things worse, the country’s major egg producers, Burnbrae Farms and Gray Ridge Eggs, are not being transparent about their use of cages or their plans to eliminate them.

Retailers’ lack of firm deadlines and measurable goals makes it harder to track progress, and it also undermines consumer trust. Without these specific deadlines in place, retailers are showing no urgency in addressing this key animal welfare concern. They’re weakening accountability and they’re slowing industry-wide change.

It’s really important for these companies to set clear goals with annual targets to drive real progress. Because this continued delay is keeping hens in cages, which is completely unacceptable.

How industry practices compare to public trust

Amy: Absolutely. We’ve heard a lot about public trust from the government, from industry.

There’s sort of this idea that if the public is trusting then everything’s fine. And I’m curious if you can speak more to that, how industry practices stack up against their public messaging and consumer expectations.

Canadians want more transparency in animal farming

Maha: Yeah, absolutely. This is a very important topic because studies consistently show that actually Canadians want farmed animals to have higher welfare conditions, and they want companies to share information about how animals are treated in their operations.

In fact:

• More than 8 out of 10 Canadians say that stores and restaurants should be transparent about the types of eggs they source.
• More than 7 out of 10 Canadians support a national ban on caged confinement.

Humane washing organizations invest in marketing over living conditions

Maha: But industry marketing associations are growing in size, and they’re receiving millions of taxpayer dollars to support advertising under the appearance of building “public trust”.

In Canada’s food system, these organizations are humane washing outdated and harmful practices. Groups like Chicken Farmers of Canada, the Egg Farmers of Canada are investing millions to influence public opinion about animal welfare rather than improving how animals are actually treated.

Does Canada have factory farms?

Maha: For example, one common myth is that Canada does not have factory farms, which is only bolstered by industry advertising. Chicken Farmers of of Canada runs paid advertisements that claim that the country does not have factory farms because Canadian chicken farms are family farms.

Meanwhile, an average chicken farm in Canada houses a staggering 36,000 chickens, which rivals any other industrialized farming production model. A family farm designation has no connection whatsoever to farm size or production method. It simply means a farm that is not corporate owned.

Another association, the Egg Farmers of Canada conveniently omits the term cages in most of their public messaging. Instead, they refer to enriched cages as “enriched colony housing” or “alternative housing”, which helps create this public framing that these types of systems are acceptable when in reality they’re still systems where birds are caged.

Another example is Canada’s largest egg producer Burnbrae farms. Their labeling on cartons of eggs misleads the public into believing that they’re purchasing cage-free eggs when they’re actually purchasing eggs from hens who spend their lives in cages. One survey showed that nearly half of Loblaws customers said they believed that Burnbrae’s “Nestlaid” label means that hens live in open barns with no cages.

This isn’t surprising given Burnbrae’s Naturegg Nestlaid labels have images of green open pastures and happy cartoon eggs. But in reality, eggs in those cartons come from caged birds kept “enriched cages”.

In reality, Canada is falling behind on welfare

So the industry self-regulates and in its communications positions itself as a leader. While in reality, Canada is falling behind other countries and is failing to deliver on consumer expectations for higher welfare products.

Polls show that Canadians care about animal welfare and they want companies to do the right thing and the industry should deliver. But the lack of legislation and this rise in humane washing shows the importance of bringing greater transparency to animal agriculture in Canada, which is what Mercy for Animals is trying to do through our public reporting and campaigning.

How can consumers push for better practices?

Chantelle: A lot of what we have talked about as well on the show is how these terms like family farms and free run are not regulated terms, so they can be really misleading for the public. And of course there’s the imagery of happy cows on packaging and smiling eggs and smiling chickens and green pastures.

And it’s really disappointing to hear that companies are often misleading consumers and not providing the conditions that people in the general public expect and want. So given that, what are ways that consumers could help push for better animal welfare practices?

Show companies you care

Maha: That’s a great question. You know, one impactful way consumers can push for better animal welfare is to demand better from companies and industry and really show them that they actually care about animal welfare.

The more people we have putting pressure on companies, the better it will be. The louder our message will be.

The Canadian industry is increasingly resistant to change and it justifies its lack of progress by touting a lack of consumer demand for higher welfare products. The truth is Canadians want animals to be treated better, and companies and industry are just failing to make the necessary investment and plans to reduce animal suffering.

Consumers have the power to change that by raising their voices against companies’ inaction.

One tangible step is consumers can visit CanadaScorecard.ca to sign up to learn more about how to take action and make a difference for animals in Canada, which includes joining a community of change makers, organizing local on the ground efforts, taking impactful online action and driving this vital mission forward.

How different companies are performing

Amy: It’s so important to have things that we can do at a grassroots level because it’s easy to feel hopeless. Making change is a process and it takes time. One of those things that we can do is kind of choose what companies to support or not support.

And I think even as a person who, myself, I eat plant-based, there are some parent companies that own plant-based and meat or plant-based and egg, and so it’s helpful to kind of have a sense of what are the companies that are doing their best and what are the ones that are just not putting effort in.

What have you learned in terms of welfare practices and transparency?

Companies performing well on cage-free egg commitments

Maha: It’s important to note that while some companies may be doing well on certain issue areas, they’re not always performing as well across all animal welfare issues, but I can give you some examples.

When it comes to cage-free policies. In our most recent report, we celebrated McDonald’s Canada, Boston Pizza and Eggsmart for fulfilling their cage-free egg policies one year ahead of their deadlines.

And then Aramark, which is a major food service provider, more than doubled their cage-free egg progress in Canada, which is amazing.

Companies performing poorly on cage-free egg commitments

Maha: Meanwhile, Walmart is now the only top five retailer in Canada not publishing progress toward fulfilling their cage-free policy, which originally had a 2025 deadline before they retracted it. Walmart’s low ranking hasn’t changed in the scorecard for four consecutive years.

Sobeys is another retailer and they’re owned by Empire, which is the second largest retail conglomerate in Canada. And Sobeys is reporting cage-free broad progress, but has failed to publish any targets outlining how they intend to fulfill their cage-free commitment. And the company has stagnated at about 17% progress for the third year in a row.

Another one is MTY group. They own brands like Mr. Sub, Thai Express, Papa Murphy’s. And they reported in 2023 that only 2% of the eggs they sourced were cage-free, despite having adopted their cage-free policy seven years before and being just two years away from their fulfillment deadline of 2025. MTY Group also diminished their commitments and misrepresented the welfare implication of cage systems in their recent sustainability report.

Which companies are adopting the Better Chicken Commitment?

Maha: When it comes to the welfare of chickens raised for meat, food service providers were some of the first adopters of the Better Chicken Commitment, which as I mentioned, are a set of standards stressing of the treatment of chickens raised for meat.

However, two of the largest food service providers, Compass Group and Sodexo have time bound plans for implementing their policies in the United States, but they haven’t extended these roadmaps to their Canadian operations.

Which companies are falling behind for chickens raised for meat?

In contrast, Aramark has published clear milestones and plans that include Canada making them the first multinational company to do so in Canada.

This year we also saw progress on the transition to controlled atmosphere stunning from the industry, which is the slaughter method aligned with the Better Chicken Commitment.

So we saw Maple Leaf Foods and restaurant chain A&W announced having completed their transition to controlled atmosphere stunning.

More companies reported progress toward transitioning their chicken supply to controlled atmosphere stunning for the first time: big retailers like Loblaws, Save On Foods, the pizza chain Boston Pizza, and fast food giant Restaurant Brands International. If you’re not familiar, they own Tim Horton’s, Burger King and Popeye’s.

Which companies are making progress for pigs?

Maha: When it comes to crate free policies, we’ve seen a lot of progress where companies have fulfilled their crate free policies likeA&W, Campbell’s, Chipotle, Costco, Wendy’s.

Starbucks Canada tripled their progress in North America toward transitioning to group housing for mother pigs; and Costco Wholesale Canada reported transitioning to group housing for most of their private label pork retailers. Save On Foods reported progress on their transition to group housing for the first time.

Which companies have not made progress for pigs?

Maha: There are also companies that still either have no crate-free policies or have reported no progress toward them. And these include Aramark—which as I mentioned before, had made progress for chickens raised for meat—and also Calgary Co-op; Chairman’s Brands, which owns 241 Pizza, Coffee Time, and Eggsmart; Compass Group; Foodtastic; Sodexo Canada; and Subway.

So as you can see, some companies may be progressing on one issue, not on the other. There are some promising developments that we’ve seen over the years.

How Canada stacks up against other countries

Chantelle: It’s really good to see those developments, and I really appreciate how in-depth the scorecard is when it comes to looking at those companies.

Looking at a Canadian context, I know a lot of people right now are shopping Canadian companies specifically, so it’s really important that Canadian companies are living up to those animal welfare commitments so that people can shop in a way that’s aligned with all their values.

So looking at that, how do Canadian companies stack up compared to other countries?

Canadian egg-laying hens stuck in cages

Maha: Canada is making almost no progress on eliminating cages and has fallen far behind the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union on cage-free egg production.

Many European countries and US states have enacted laws banning cages for laying hens.

And to put this into perspective, 82% of hens in Canada’s egg farms still spend nearly their entire lives in confinement. Meanwhile, the numbers in the UK are 23%, 39% in the European Union, and 61% in the United States.

The Canadian egg industry has no public plan to end the confinement of laying hens, and is simply replacing conventional cages with enriched cages.

Since 2019, cage-free egg production in Canada has increased by a mere two percentage points, while production in enriched cage systems has nearly doubled, accounting for about 34% of all egg production in Canada.

The Canadian egg industry continues to fall further behind each year, which puts companies at risk of defaulting on their public commitments.

And this is reflected in seeing multinational companies like Costco and Kraft Heinz that have fulfilled or almost fulfilled their cage-free policies in other countries and regions. But they’ve progressed very little on cage cage-free sourcing in Canada, which really shows that companies are underperforming in Canada and failing to use their resources and power to help catalyze a cage-free transition in the country.

Canadian companies lack comprehensive policies on the Better Chicken Commitment

Maha: I could also speak about broiler welfare. The industry refers chickens raised for meat as broilers.

Many large retailers in the US and Europe have policies aligned with the Better Chicken Commitment and are even reporting progress toward fulfilling these commitments. But not one major retailer in Canada has a comprehensive public policy aligned with the BCC.

NFACC codes, which are used as industry guidelines in Canada, as I previously mentioned, are pretty weak when it comes to chickens raised for meat.

When we’re evaluating companies on chicken welfare, we’re looking at how well they’re advancing towards these leading standards. NFACC guidelines fall way short of aligning with these more stringent standards. They have no provisions for transitioning from fast-growing breeds or the typical slaughter method.

It’s encouraging to see that in Canada, some producers are, however, helping move the industry forward on chicken welfare. Canada’s largest chicken producers, Maple Leaf and Cargill, have reported progress on reduced stocking density and the use of enrichments, and they have fully transitioned to controlled atmosphere stunning, the BCC-aligned processing method.

But these producers are still failing to address the serious welfare concerns of ultra fast-growing breeds, which remain the norm in the Canadian chicken industry. And these breeds are one of the root causes of suffering for chickens raised for meat.

Vision for the future

Amy: I really appreciate you highlighting some of these.

For a while I was working on farms, both in New Zealand and in Canada. Sort of not just working, but also doing tours, checking them out for different reasons.

And one of the farms that I was on was an egg-laying hens farm. It was interesting talking to the farmer, because he sort of felt that the enriched cages were better for the welfare of the hens, and he couldn’t himself figure out how to do the free range in a way that he felt good about.

And so it was sort of this like, well, from my observations, this one system works better than this other one. So rather than working towards making the free range system better, there is this sense of like, there’s more control with the enriched cages, so it’s “easier” to go to that.

I found that really disappointing that rather than innovating in ways that would give hens the chance to scratch in the dirt and dust bathe, there was this sense that, enriched cages are “good enough”.

I’m curious to hear what you think are changes that you’re hoping to see in the food and animal agriculture industry.

Maha: Absolutely, and that’s such a good point. At the end of the day, enriched cages may give a farmer more control or a sense of control, but it doesn’t give a bird more control over their freedom to move, their freedom to flap their wings, their freedom to forage, their freedom to roam within a larger space.

A future without industrial animal agriculture, a present with less suffering

Maha: Ultimately, Mercy for Animals wants to see a massive transformation within the food system—one where industrialized animal agriculture no longer exists.

We recognize that this type of systemic change will take time, but in the meantime, we want to see a significant reduction in animal suffering within the current system.

We need animal protection legislation that’s enforceable, and also to turn what are current voluntary codes of practice for industry into mandated, enforcable regulations. This would mean raising animal welfare standards to ensure better living conditions and more ethical practices, which could stand to impact millions, if not billions of animals every year.

In the immediate future, we want to see corporations, which have immense power to influence their supply chains, take responsibility by adopting and implementing policies that genuinely improve animal welfare.

By doing so, these companies can lead the way in driving more humane and sustainable practices in the industry, making a tangible difference for animals and meeting consumer expectations for better animal welfare.

Save lives by eating more plants

Chantelle: Thank you so much for sharing that. As you said, there’s billions of lives being affected by this, so it’s going to be really important for companies to be shifting from the thing that is easier to the thing that is right for these animals.

Before you go, is there anything else you would like to share with our listeners?

Maha: I’d like to share that while Mercy for Animals’ Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard advocates for better animal welfare standards within the industry, one of the most powerful choices compassionate consumers can make to protect animals from horrific cruelty is to incorporate more plant-based foods into their diet and support companies that are prioritizing animal welfare.

Consumers hold tremendous power, and with that power, they can urge decision-makers, corporations, and producers to end their reliance on some of these horrific practices, such as extreme confinement and breeding for rapid growth, and help reduce the suffering of millions of animals in the process.

I encourage listeners to visit our website, mercyforanimals.org to learn more about our work and ways to get involved to drive meaningful change for animals in Canada.

Next episode

Please join us again next month as we discuss the wildlife trade and exotic pets in Canada!

What happened in the world of animal protection last year?

Welcome to a new season of The Informed Animal Ally! Previous seasons have delved into the state of animal protection laws in Canada and B.C.; what a good life looks like for animals; specific areas that the Vancouver Humane Society works in; and foundational knowledge for animal advocates. This season will look at a macro view of the state of animal protection nationally and globally:

• What are trends across the animal protection sector?
• What is working?
• Where are we seeing challenges?
• Where does Canada stand on the international stage when it comes to animal well-being?

In this episode, the VHS’s Chantelle Archambault and Amy Morris discuss trends in the animal advocacy movement, as well as successes, opportunities, and challenges in Canada and around the world in 2024.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

How public discourse is changing

Chantelle: When it comes to public responses and policy change, we’re increasingly seeing a polarization of opinions. On one hand, people are more aware of animal sentience and care deeply about improving animal well-being, leading to progress and policies that protect animals.

But at the same time, this progress and shifting public opinion is leading to really strong pushback from people who benefit from the status quo. There are some areas where we’re seeing a step backwards. You can see that in things like strong marketing by the dairy industry against plant-based milk.

It seems the more progress we see, the more pushback there is. People feel very strongly about their convictions on both sides of any issue.

Everything from public discourse in the comment section of social media posts to the tailored search results people see when they look up an issue on Google tends to push people further toward confirming their own biases and existing beliefs.

Amy: It’s very frustrating and we see it across the board in all areas of ways people think about the world. At the same time, we can celebrate some wins.

Animal protection progress in Canada in 2024

B.C. family law recognizes pets as more than property in divorce and separation

Amy: We have wins in Canada worth talking about. The first is B.C. family law recognizing that companion animals are more than property when they’re doing divorce proceedings.

What’s really great about this is decisions are being made that take into account the nuances of what a family structure is and the relationships that happen between an animal and their caregivers.

Chantelle: It’s great that the courts are recognizing that animals are beings who have thoughts and preferences and bonds and not equivalent to divvying up something like family jewelry.

Canada bans import and export of elephant ivory, rhino horn, and hunting trophies

Amy: Absolutely. Another really great one is that it is now illegal to import or export elephant ivory, rhino horn, and hunting trophies.

We have an episode, Lessons from grassroots animal advocacy in May 2024, that talks about this.

This change demonstrates the impact of a large scale sustained campaign, and it is what keeps us campaigning on different animal topics knowing these changes are possible.

Companion animals included in coercive control legislation

Amy: The next one is having companion animals included in coercive control legislation in Canada. Coercive control often involves abusers threatening, manipulating, or harming companion animals to control their human victims.

The new bill would criminalize these behaviours, including:

• Attempted and threatened violence towards an intimate partner’s animal
• Controlling or attempting to control the manner in which an intimate partner cares for their companion animal

This is important because there are times where an animal is in distress and a person’s ability to get help for that animal is limited by transport or by financial means and when it is an abusive situation, it’s not that person’s fault that they don’t have the financial means or the transport.

It’s something that’s being impacted by another individual and they’re the ones that really need to be held responsible.

Chantelle: We’ve spoken before about the violence link, about how violence toward animals is linked very closely with violence towards humans. And people who are violent toward animals tend to also be violent towards humans.

It’s really important that Canadian legislation is recognizing this.

PUPS Act in Ontario prohibits puppy mills and introduces stronger protections for dogs

Amy: Ontario introduced the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act to prohibit puppy mills and introduce stronger protections for dogs. A number of provinces have put something like this into place and Ontario is the most recent.

It shows that the provinces do have authority to make rules and laws that better protect animals, and that they have the responsibility to as well.

Opportunities for better animal protection in Canada

Farmed animal Codes of Practice came under review

Amy: We also have some opportunities in Canada. First, we have the Codes of Practices for farmed animals.

The Codes of Practices provide written recommendations and requirements for the care and handling of farmed animals in Canada. They’re adopted as generally accepted practices of animal management under most legislation, which means they can be used as a defense for farmers, rather than farmers having a proactive duty to comply with these codes of practice.

Even though that’s the case, they’re also used by veterinarians and by practitioners to really show what’s acceptable and what’s not. It’s a standardized document.

They have discussions about pain control, what kind of housing and bedding is appropriate, what’s important to know when moving and restraining animals, providing care, preparing animals for transport, and their euthanasia.

Written into these codes is a number of standards that tell you what’s truly not acceptable in the treatment of farmed animals.

Three codes of practice for care and handling recently came under revision and had their initial public feedback periods for 2024. Those are for horses on farms, cattle used for meat, and chickens and turkeys used for meat.

The organization that manages these processes is a non profit, but they’re funded fully by the government, and these serve as national standards.

Chantelle: The National Farm Animal Care Council, which manages these codes of practice, takes into consideration feedback from a variety of people, including animal advocates and the animal agriculture industry.

The VHS shared ways that people can provide feedback to advocate for better welfare in the codes last year. We’ve seen positive results from this in the past. It’s so important that people are advocating for the welfare of animals to be strongly considered when these codes are under review.

Official parliamentary petition asks that Canada legally recognize animal sentience

Amy: Absolutely. The final opportunity is a petition to recognize animal sentience on a national level.

Right now, the Canadian constitution doesn’t say anything about animals. It’s this general understanding that animals are under our care because we’ve domesticated them, without protection that really acknowledges their individual value and worth.

And so having animal sentience recognized at a national level would be a massive, massive impact.

It might take a while, but it’s on the discussion docket and a step forward.

Chantelle: I would be very excited to see this passed into legislation. There are lots of countries that already recognize animal sentience and it is a crucial part of having better policies passed for protecting animals.

Challenges around animal protection in Canada in 2024

Ban on horse exports for slaughter delayed, in limbo

Amy: Passing any federal legislation takes time and requires cooperation from multiple levels of government across parties. Bills need to be passed through three readings at both the House of Commons and the Senate, and then receive Royal Assent to become law.

One of the challenges that we’ve seen is with Bill C-355, which aimed to ban the export of live horses for slaughter.

This bill has been in discussion for quite a long time, and there was even a letter to the Minister of Agriculture from the Prime Minister to direct them to take action on this item. It was part of a campaign promise.

The bill to ban the export of horses for slaughter passed the House of Commons, but then it stalled for months at the Senate. It’s now in this sort of legislative limbo while Parliament is paused.

There were so many reasons to move forward with passing this bill. One is that it was a campaign promise and there was a mandate letter more than three years ago to put this into place.

Within the past year, new exposes showed horses suffer more than previously reported. Shipments are regularly exceeding the legal limit of 28 hours without food, water, and rest. More horses are dying in transit than reported by the government.

The majority of Canadians support banning horse exports for slaughter.

What it came down to was certain senators were dragging their feet and bringing up unrelated issues, rather than working together to prioritize the lives of horses and the values held by many Canadians.

If an election is called, which appears imminent, the bill will die and be forced to start the process again.

Right now, the best thing you can do is contact the Minister of Agriculture to stop the export of horses for slaughter and keep this moving through the next season of legislation.

Rolled back laws on inhumane hunting practices

Amy: Last year, Alberta lifted a ban on hunting grizzly bears that had been in place for almost two decades.

Similarly, Ontario had a ban on penned dog hunting, and that was also lifted the year prior.

Some of these laws have been in place for a long time for good reason, and those changes have to do with special interest groups having their voices heard, even when it isn’t necessarily in the public interest.

It’s unfortunate that special interest groups are being heard in a way that’s against animal welfare. We’re not seeing special interest groups that are pro animal welfare being heard in the same way.

Animal protection wins around the world in 2024

Olympics remove show jumping from modern pentathlon event

Chantelle: Now that we’ve talked about some challenges in Canada, I would like to talk about some more wins that we’ve seen further out around the world.

We had the Summer Olympics in 2024. Following the Olympics, the modern pentathlon removed show jumping.

Horses are still used elsewhere in the Olympics, but the modern pentathlon has been a major area for concern. That sport involves the use of aversive tools like whips, bits, and spurs to control horses movements.

In this event, horses are randomly paired with riders who are participating. There have been concerns about riders not having a chance to develop a bond with the horse that they’re riding and to understand them on an individual level, which can lead to a lack of focus on the horse’s well-being and can lead to the horse experiencing stress, fear, and pain.

Advocates have also noted that riders and handlers have been seen directing their frustrations at horses during the competitions.

You may have heard the story of a coach punching a horse named Saint Boy in 2021 with her fist and encouraging the rider to use greater force on him.

The move away from show jumping for this sport and instead of replacing it with an obstacle course is a great example of how we can enjoy these showcases of human athlete skills and have our entertainment, but we don’t need to use animals to do that.

Amy: It’s great to see this, and this is so hard to overcome. Certainly there’s lots of sports using animals still. Big kudos to the Olympics for removing this use of horses.

UK bans farmed animal export for slaughter and fattening

Chantelle: In the UK in 2023, animal sentience was legally recognized at a federal level.

Last year it was decided that farmed animals would no longer be exported for slaughter or fattening abroad. That eliminates a really significant welfare concern for farmed animals. It’s similar to what we’re trying to achieve with the ban of horses for slaughter.

Transporting animals on long journeys is a big concern.

Farmed animals who are being transported go through a lot of suffering. They often endure extreme weather conditions like extreme heat and cold. They can go a very long time without food, water, and rest. They are shipped in overcrowded conditions to maximize how many animals can be sent to be killed at one time.

All of those conditions together can lead to animals becoming injured, sick, or even dying in transport. Depending on how they’re being shipped, it can be a really long time until there’s someone who even can reach them to attend to them.

The Animal Welfare Livestock Exports Act in the UK was met with cross party support, which shows that animal wellbeing is not a partisan issue and that reducing the suffering of our fellow beings that we share the planet with is something we really should all care about.

Amy: This is pretty amazing. I’m surprised they’re willing to make these kinds of changes, certainly, I think there’s a number of things at play. Them being an island helps as well as having that sentience law passed.

Pet Abduction Act protect pets and guardians in the UK

Chantelle: Another thing that came out of sentience law is the UK introduced the Pet Abduction Act in 2024. That made the abduction of companion animals like cats and dogs a specific criminal offense. Convictions can result in a fine or up to five years in prison, or both.

The theft of animals was previously covered by the Theft Act of 1968; these laws were put in place a very long time ago and they were due for an update. The former law considered pets to be property, like if someone stole a car.

This is another one of the great strides in protections for animals and their guardians since animal sentience was recognized.

We have consistently seen better protections for animals and the people who care for them when animal sentience legislation is introduced. But still, when we were sharing the federal petition to recognize animal sentience in Canada, there was a lot of misunderstanding around this.

We had people commenting with concerns that there wouldn’t be any protections for pet guardians if pets were no longer considered property, which we know based on the many countries that have passed this legislation is not true. I think there’s some anxiety around animal advocacy that people want to take your pets away.

But progress like this means pets are more part of the family. Greater care goes into keeping them safe because the law recognizes that they have an inherent value and an emotional value, not just a monetary value.

Amy: The challenge is convincing lawmakers that’s the case and that there’s public value in that.

New laws on wildlife killing contests, animal testing, and pet sales in the United States

Chantelle: New York’s ban on wildlife killing contests came into effect last year. New York is the 10th state to outlaw events like this, where the goal is to kill wild animals for cash and prizes.

There are also new laws around animal testing testing in Oregon, where there can no longer be the sale of cosmetics tested on animals; in California, where non animal alternatives are required for testing on certain products; and in Maryland, where animal research facilities are now required to pay into a fund that goes toward developing non animal methods and hopefully lead to less animal testing in the future.

New York pet stores can no longer sell cats, dogs, or rabbits, while pet stores in Pennsylvania must post health and breeder information for puppies as part of the state’s puppy mill law. The goal of these changes is to make people more aware of where animals are coming from and to encourage people to adopt animals who are in need of homes rather than buying from places like puppy mills, where the animal’s health and well being aren’t adequately considered.

Amy: Certainly this area, while these are some specific wins, there’s been states that have had laws around this for a long time. Some even have mandatory spay/neuter rules and things like that. It is a state by state reality, just like in Canada. That can be really frustrating, but it also helps us to model policies when the U.S. has similar requirements that laws be passed on a sort of state by state, province by province basis.

Chantelle: It’s very impactful when we see that there’s a precedent for things like this, where this is working to help animals elsewhere. It is slow going when it’s state by state and province by province, but we are seeing progress slowly, but surely.

South Korea outlaws the use of dogs for meat

Chantelle: I have so many more wins, but a couple more to highlight. South Korea passed a law banning the use of dogs for meat, and that will be in effect as of 2027. A lot of countries have already banned the slaughter or sale of dogs for meat. Surprisingly, Canada is not one of them, although meat that’s sold in Canada has to be inspected, and there’s no licensed slaughterhouses that kill dogs in Canada.

Mexico’s constitution includes animal protection as a fundamental value

Chantelle: Mexico’s constitution now includes animal protection as a fundamental value. Nine other countries include animals in their constitution, but this new inclusion in Mexico appears to be the most specific.

For instance, humane education is a mandatory guideline in all educational institutions nationwide.

Amy: Wow, that’s huge. Imagine if we had that around the world.

New Zealand bans greyhound racing

Chantelle: In New Zealand, the government announced that it will ban greyhound racing as of 2026.

That ban comes as a result of very high rates of injuries for dogs used in racing. In 2021, there were more than 200 greyhounds who died and 900 suffered injuries due to racing, according to local media reports.

The law recognizes this level of suffering for entertainment is not acceptable.

Opportunities for animal protection around the world

Research reinforces benefits of plant-based food

Chantelle: There are also some more opportunities around the world. There’s a lot of new research coming out around plant-based foods and the availability of nutrients in plant-based foods.

One example is a study funded by the beef industry, which found plant-based protein as effective as meat for building muscle.

That study didn’t receive a lot of media attention, presumably because the funders wanted it to prove meat is better than plant-based foods. But it didn’t, despite using less protein-dense sources like black beans and whole wheat.

Despite the study seeming to skew towards a bias for the result they wanted, it still found that if you’re getting enough protein throughout the day, plants are just as effective.

Amy: I love that. Eating lots of nuts, seeds, lentils and beans has given me so much protein. The nice thing is, there are diverse forms of protein to choose from if people struggle with some types that their bodies don’t accept.

I’m grateful there’s so many different types that we have access to, so if we need to cut one out, we can.

Chantelle: And you can get protein from plant-based foods in some ways that I wasn’t even considering. I just switched to a bread that has 10 grams of protein in two slices. You could be getting more protein than you’re even counting.

South African collaboration releases manifesto on animal protection framework

Chantelle: And in South Africa, the Animal Law Project (ALP), which is a collaboration of animal protection organizations, consulted with the sector and with experts to develop and release a manifesto that recommends an overhaul of the legal framework for animals.

In 2016, South African courts recognized animal sentience and decided animal welfare was included in the constitution, which was great.

But very few changes have been made to effectively protect animals since then. This is a great example of collaboration within and between sectors to develop recommendations for animal protection.

Amy: We need to develop useful and clear paths forward that can be applied around the globe.

Trends in animal advocacy: What’s next?

Intersectionality with other advocacy movements

Amy: This concept of One Health, One Welfare is sort of a modern name for connecting the environment, animals, and people. This has existed for so long within Indigenous cultures, where there’s this recognition that we’re all interrelated.

You can relate this to intersectionality, recognizing that we have environmental protections that interact with animal protections. Animal farming impacts the environment and habitat destruction harms wild animals.

There is also overlap with the labour sector, where vulnerable workers who are often marginalized are working in industries that exploit animals. because industries that exploit animals are the lowest paying.

There is overlap with income inequality. Having a lack of resources for low income pet guardians can lead to animals being surrendered to shelters or suffering and people being separated from their animals.

The more we recognize that interplay, we can work with different movements to advocate for people and animals, or advocate for the environment and animals, or all three, in a way that has more power than acting in silos.

Addressing an issue through a variety of methods

Amy: When it comes to farmed animals, advocates across the sector are taking a three pronged approach.

Advocacy to reduce harm to farmed animals through welfare regulations and government policy change that can be really slow and incremental, but it does have an impact. And at the very least, you have to stop it from going backwards, because what we’ll see is that things go backwards if you don’t stay with them.

And then there’s also plant-based advocacy to decrease the demand for animals being raised and killed for food. The more plant-based demand there is, the better likelihood that fewer animals are suffering.

Finally, there’s a push for corporations to adopt higher welfare standards. In the next we’re going to discuss the Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard from Mercy for Animals, tracking which companies are following through with welfare commitments, like sourcing cage-free eggs.

Making the movement more accessible and welcoming

Amy: Another trend that is so important around the globe is making the movement for animals more accessible and welcoming. Moving away from judgment and supporting people to make gradual changes, from talking about a meal you enjoyed to changes like people working within their institutions or their places of work to make change.

There’s also new ways all the time to share information through digital platforms, through one on one conversations, changing media landscapes.

Staying on top of that and reflecting on how we can continue effective advocacy despite a changing environment of how information gets disseminated.

Chantelle: Yeah, that’s so important to consider when we’re talking about how to make animal advocacy more accessible to more people and share these really important messages with as many people as possible.

Taking a community-centered approach

Amy: One final trend is taking a community centered approach. An example is supporting people in caring for their animals rather than pushing for strict regulations, such as bans on pet ownership in low income housing.

As well, working with farmers and workers to create more ethical food systems.

The more we collaborate, the more we can see that everybody does want to work towards some of the same goals, and we can feel connected to those we’re collaborating with and come up with better solutions.

How you can help

Amy: Sharing about the legal changes with friends and family can make a big impact. The more people think about sentience and the constitution, these are abstract concepts, but they mean so much.

It does take this sort of flow from early adopters (people who care deeply about issues and take initiative to make changes) to the mushy middle (people who don’t have strong opinions about an issue but may be swayed to action). And then you get those forced with legislation to change as the final step.

All of you listening are early adopters. Take the time to think about what does it take to get those mushy middle folk a little bit closer to being early adopters, or considering changes in their lives that can influence legislation.

The more public opinion changes, the better odds we have at changing laws.

Next episode

Please join us again next month as we’ll be speaking with Mercy for Animals about Canada’s Animal Welfare Scorecard.

What does a good life look like for animals?

In this month’s episode of The Informed Animal Ally, we look back through the show’s second season, which delved into what good welfare looks like for animals and how we can all help improve animal well-being.

Is my pet happy?

The first episode of this series, Is my pet happy?, was released in March 2023. This episode looked at companion animal behaviour, emotional “tells”, and the many facets that make up a good life for domestic cats and dogs.

How to train your dog or cat

The second episode in this series, How to train your dog or cat, was released in April 2023. The episode looks at the concept of training: How it is important to improve the well-being of animals cared for by humans, the science behind different training techniques, and how to create positive experiences for animals during training.

Do pigs really like mud? And other farmed animal behaviours

The third episode in this series is entitled Do pigs really like mud? And other farmed animal behaviours. The episode, released in May 2023, looks at how different species of farmed animals express their natural behaviours and how they build a good life for themselves when they are free to do so. It also touches on how the modern animal agriculture system prevents animals from expressing these behaviours.

How can you help wildlife?

The final episode in this series, How can you help wildlife?, came out in June 2023. This discussion looks at the many ways wild animals are impacted by human activities, both in their natural habitats and in captivity, and how we can each make a difference in wild animals’ lives by focussing on compassionate conservation and minimizing the harmful impacts of human behaviour and infrastructure on wildlife.

Next episode

Please join us next month as we discuss the last year of animal advocacy.

Research plays a crucial role in animal advocacy, helping to make decisions, measure impacts, and infludence policy-makers.

This month’s episode of The Informed Animal Ally discusses how research is used in animal advocacy, particularly polling, surveys, and reports. The episode expoles why collecting this kind of data is important, the ways we can use it in our advocacy work, and examples from the Vancouver Humane Society’s recent research.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

How survey data is helpful

Chantelle: First, Amy, I was wondering if you could share a little bit about what we’re talking about when we discuss surveys. What kinds of questions are asked and how are those answers useful when we’re talking about animal advocacy?

Amy: Yeah, there’s a lot of different data that can be gathered from surveys.

• You can learn about what people think. We kind of frame that as public opinion, but that can also take into account, for example, how people feel about the their pets.
• You can also measure public behaviour. So you can get a sense of what people are actually doing with their time and their money.
• And then you can gather demographic data. Demographic data gives more context to the polling data.

Public opinion questions

Amy: When you think about what people think, that helps you have a sense of how people are falling on a scale. And when you’re trying to shift attitude, when your goal is to change the way people think about things, then you can use that public opinion polling to get a gauge whether you’ve been successful.

You can do that on a micro scale with a small community if you’re targeting ads and trying to get a sense of what’s happening in Vancouver, or you can compare that to a national audience, you can see growth based on a campaign and measure that against an area that hasn’t had that campaign.

One example of this is a Research Co. survey that asked, would you say you’re in favor or opposed to each of the following: eating animals, using animals in rodeo, killing animals for their fur.

You can take that data to decision makers, politicians and business owners when advocating for change. And that shows what the public opinion is when it comes to a practice that harms animals.

It is the most useful data for the government because they care about what the people who vote for them think.

Public behaviour questions

Amy: Other polling data, such as public behaviours, can be useful for decision makers as well. However, it has a different effect.

An example is a survey about people’s eating habits and dietary choices, or a question about if you’ve been to the zoo in the past year.

If people are eating less meat on their own, we can bring that to a city to say, as they’re creating their food budget, they could make more accessible plant-based options available in their parks, because we have evidence that people are eating less meat and wanting more plant-based food available.

Demographic questions

Amy: When it comes to the demographic data, it really helps give context.

Particularly when you’re trying to decide what’s the most valuable audience to target, you can identify that with demographic data. You can say, okay, this is the audience that’s moving in this direction already. So there’s already some peer support.

Maybe let’s concentrate our efforts on this audience to create an overall societal shift.

Chantelle: Thank you so much for that great overview of the kinds of surveys that are helpful for animal advocacy work and how.

VHS survey: Plant-based eating beliefs and behaviours around

Chantelle: We at the Vancouver Humane Society have commissioned quite a few surveys over the past three years, and we’d like to share how they’ve been helpful for our work.

One example is the VHS commissioned a poll on plant-based eating habits and opinions in the Lower Mainland of B.C. in December, 2022.

You can hear more about this poll in depth in our episode from July, 2023, which is called Will plant-based become the norm?

A lot of things came out of this survey. First of all, it informed our advocacy work by telling us people’s biggest motivations for reducing their consumption of animal products.

The top motivator for eating less meat and animal products was personal health, and then the cost of foods and the environment were tied, and then animal well-being.

We also collected data about people’s eating habits. That told us how many servings of various animal products people are actually eating each month. For instance, most people are eating 7 to 17 servings of eggs, but they’re eating less than 4 servings of fish.

From that, we created an impact report that specifically looked at the impact an average person could make in the Lower Mainland.

We found that by switching 100 percent of their diet to plant-based foods for one year, one person could save the amount of emissions it takes to power a home for six months, and they could also save about $600 a year.

By switching just 25 percent of their diet, they could save the carbon that’s sequestered by a quarter acre of forested land, and they could also save about $156 a year.

So we were able to share the findings from that survey and the report in a plant-based advocacy campaign, which included billboards across Vancouver, a series of videos on social media, and a press release that was covered in 23 media outlets.

We also continue to use the results from that survey to inform our plant-based advocacy work and reach more people with accessible plant-based foods.

As we’ve mentioned, this area of advocacy has the potential to make a huge impact for animals.

In 2023, 859 million land animals were killed for food in Canada. If we can convince people who are eating animal products to switch even just one day a week to plant-based foods, we can save almost 123 million land animals every year, plus an estimate of more than 1.4 billion aquatic animals.

It would also make a huge difference in decreasing the demand for industrial animal agriculture, which forces more animals into a smaller space for greater output. It’s what many know as factory farming, where many of the greatest harms to animals happen on an almost unimaginable scale.

Amy: The nice thing about survey data is it takes big concepts and you can condense them to a simple phrase and assess where people are at. you can make that available to the public and they will likely have an opinion on it.

When you present that information, it gets people thinking about themselves and their habits.

VHS surveys: Calgary Stampede

Amy: The VHS commissioned three surveys on the Calgary Stampede in the past three years.

Removing rodeo and chuckwagons from the Calgary Stampede would have virtually no impact on attendance

Amy: The first survey in 2022 found that removing the rodeo and chuckwagons from the Calgary Stampede would have virtually no impact on attendance and would actually bring in some new crowds.

64 percent of Calgarians had attended or planned to attend that year, and 63 percent said they would attend without the rodeo.

24 percent of non-attendees from that year said said that they would attend if the animal events were dropped.

Bringing that forward to council helps them to see that there is a wider audience that could be reached by the Stampede.

That has effects on marketing. The Stampede is essentially a public event, and it’s a profit driven entity in that they are looking to bring in money into the city. People stay at hotels and go to the music shows.

If they can bring more people in and join the Stampede, they have incentive to do that for tourism purposes.

2024 polls show support for animal events dropped this year

Amy: In 2024, we conducted a poll gauging support in Calgary, Alberta, and across Canada.

We then monitored the Stampede and shared information with the media about animal deaths and incidents this year, which turned out to be the deadliest year of animal events since 2019 with four deaths.

That was really impactful, and we made sure to share that impact with the media.

We also ran a campaign to raise awareness about the harms caused by rodeo and chuckwagon races online.

The polling that we did after the Stampede showed a drop in support for all events amongst Canadians. A majority of the Calgarians opposed one of the five events listed in the survey in February, but that jumped to four out of five in July.

In both groups, opposition to government funding of rodeo events increased. And the increase was really sharp in Calgary, where opposition to funding rose from 51 percent to 67 percent.

So we got from half the population to two thirds opposed to government funding these rodeo events. That speaks to people making decisions based on what voters think.

These results were shared on social media in an op-ed published in the Daily Hive, as well as with city council in Calgary.

Without this data, we would not know if our campaigns were effective. The outcome has value, and not just an internal value; there’s that external value of sharing the information as well.

VHS survey: Animals in captivity

Amy: I’ll move on to talking about a captivity poll. In 2022, we did a poll on public opinion about animals in captivity in B.C.

The outcome was pretty remarkable. We found that 89 percent of British Columbians are opposed to the international trade of wild and exotic animals to be kept in permanent captivity in zoos and aquariums.

This was shared in media stories and a letter to the province of British Columbia calling for changes to the Controlled Alien Species Act, which allows exotic animals to be imported.

It’s amazing to think about all the animals kept in captivity solely for human entertainment, and the general population is not on board with that.

People were split fairly evenly on actually keeping animals and zoos and aquariums for entertainment and education: 49 percent in favour and 44 percent were opposed. And that really helped us inform our outreach campaign, realizing there is some thought to the education and entertainment value of animals in zoos.

While we understand the suffering animals experience doesn’t balance with the entertainment and education value, we need to shift public opinion.

We can do another poll to see if we’ve changed that once we’ve done another campaign. So it’s really nice to benchmark those things over time to see if we can shift public opinion and influence policy decisions to match the knowledge and science we have.

Chantelle: I’m really interested to see the future of public opinion on this because I think there’s a lot of messaging around zoos that they have a lot of educational value, but the evidence shows people don’t learn more from going to see animals at a zoo than they would just learning about animals from home or going for a walk through the forest.

So I think that there’s a lot of potential to help people learn about ways that they can become educated about animals and animal well-being without causing animals to suffer because they’re sitting in a cage in captivity.

VHS survey: Animal knowledge and interests

Chantelle: I wanted to talk about a survey from this year, which was a poll of BC residents gauging people’s general knowledge and interests around animal topics.

This survey is really interesting because it’s going to be used to inform our work on a wider scale in the coming years to raise awareness on the care and well being of animals and also to advocate for changes that will prevent animal suffering in public policy.

Some key findings:

56.4 percent of British Columbians live with at least one companion animal.

Most British Columbians are interested in five of the topics that we asked about in our survey:

• Interacting with and protecting wildlife.
• Welfare concerns around farmed animals.
• How to care for pets, like grooming and food.
• Welfare concerns around animals in captivity in zoos and aquariums.
• How to train pets – that’s not necessarily just trick training, it’s really things that influence the well-being of companion animals on a day to day basis, like how can we desensitize an animal to the sound of fireworks that really stresses them out, or how can we make it easier for them to go through care items like grooming or to have a positive experience of a walk outside.

We found that 12 percent of people were flexitarian, 9 percent were vegetarian, and 2 percent were vegan.

We asked about what actions folks have taken for animals in the past six months, and we found that almost half of people who were surveyed had taken at least one of the actions that we listed.

The top ones were things like reading or watching news information about animals, donating to animal organizations, or signing petitions.

And we also asked about which resources people consider useful when they’re learning about a new topic. The top answers were websites, YouTube, and TV news stories.

That survey is going to help us understand current public behaviours around animal welfare and attitudes around animal well-being. It’ll determine the most popular topics surrounding animal well-being and advocacy so that we can share information about those. And it will also determine the most effective platforms where we can reach people regarding animal topics.

Qualitative research

Amy: I wanted to share qualitative studies and non-public polling.

We’ve partnered with research institutions to do interviews with people who accessed care for their pets in a time of an emergency, post-COVID. We looked at financial impacts on low income individuals.

Another survey or study that we did was looking at people who work in the trauma-informed sector and getting a sense of how they operate in that sector and what their attitudes are towards burnout.

We interviewed people in the shelter sector, animal enforcement and leadership in those and looked at what the differences were and then put together a report.

Out of that research we created a training program on trauma-informed care in the animal service sector. The training program is free for anyone to take online to look at how to make the work that they do more trauma-informed.

We’re advocating for more trauma informed care of people, which we know will have a positive impact on the animals that people care for. So even though it’s not a quick study, it takes longer, the sort of depth of that allows for a much more thorough understanding of the sector and what was needed to create some pretty significant shifts in our own sector and community.

We also did a cost-benefit analysis using financial data and municipal purchasing to assess how we could improve the systems where municipalities are purchasing food.

So are there cheaper products that they could replace one for another, that could be as simple as replacing dairy milk with oat milk; replacing beef products with beans and lentils.

The financial benefit of that is huge. And so if we’re looking at a public body accountable to citizens for being financially responsible, we can demonstrate that plant-based products do make a significant impact when it comes to the waste stream, the impact on the environment and the financial choices.

So those types of studies, maybe it’s qualitative research, maybe it’s an economic analysis can also have a huge impact when it comes to changing policies.

Chantelle: Yeah, absolutely. One of the major themes I’m noticing as you’re speaking is there’s lots of different avenues to advocate for a better world for animals.

People are not always going to listen to concerns about animal well-being and their experiences. That doesn’t always make an impact with policy-makers. But talking about the financial impacts, the environmental impacts, can reach decision-makers.

We’ve also talked briefly on this show about the concept of One Health, One Welfare. That’s the interconnectedness of all these pieces; the well-being of humans, animals, the environment impact each other.

For instance, more trauma-informed services for people with companion animals has a really positive impact on the actual lives of those companion animals as well.

The importance of reliable data

Amy: It’s so important to make sure with surveys we’re getting accurate data that’s as unbiased as possible in terms of how we’re asking the questions.

Obviously, we know people themselves are biased and that’s the whole point, but when we use this information to speak with decision-makers, we want those to be well-informed recommendations and make sure we’re also sharing accurate information with the public.

When we’re conducting surveys about public opinion or behaviour, we use reputable companies like Research Co. and Angus Reid Institute to help with that. And when we’re working with public institutions like universities, we’re making sure that the process is going through an entire evaluation within the university that meets their standards.

Farm sanctuaries offer a safe forever home where animals are free to enjoy their lives.

Farm sanctuaries are vital havens for rescued animals, providing them with safety, care, and a chance to live free from harm. They also serve as powerful spaces for education and advocacy, inspiring compassion and helping people connect with the stories of individual animals.

In this month’s episode of The Informed Animal Ally, Janeanne from The Alice Sanctuary, Diane from the Happy Herd Farm Sanctuary, and Yvonne and Lianna from Kitchensink Rescue Farm & Sanctuary share the ups and downs of running a farm sanctuary.

Note: This written discussion has been edited for length.

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Janeanne: Hi, my name is Janeanne and I am the founder and guardian of the Alice Sanctuary. We’ve been an active farm animal sanctuary here in Alberta for just under 11 years now.

Successes

Throughout the period of time that we’ve been here, there have been multiple successes and highlights. But the one that I really would like to acknowledge here would be the idea that two thirds of our rescues or surrenders have come directly from farming families reaching out to find resources or alternatives for one or more of their animals living on their farms.

Now, this can be for a number of reasons. It could be aging of the individuals who are caring or tending the animals. It could be medical needs of the animals themselves and they cannot afford them, but they still want to see these individuals come to a safe landing or a loving place. For that, I would perceive sanctuary becoming more legitimized in a province that’s really engrossed in animal agriculture.

I like the idea that when we have companion animal rescues, many people know that they can have friends or relationships or conversations if something happens to one of their companion animals, they know that they can take them to another place and hopefully find a new home for those companion animals.

What we don’t have are resources for farm animals. And I would love to see sanctuary become a place where it is non-judgemental and a safe environment for families who are in farming to find a soft landing for one or more of the individuals that they have connected with. And so that’s really important for me to discuss and to recognize.

Challenges

Challenges in sanctuary are abundant. If they’re not day to day, then they’re, you know, accumulating to month to month to year to year. Seasonal challenges are always things that we need to face too, especially now that we’re seeing climate change really impact our environment and our weather systems, which then impact our ability to find feed and source out hay and source out bedding like straw.

All of these things are interconnected with one another because it’s not like going to a grocery store and knowing that a tomato is going to be on the shelf, right?

So when we are feeding round bales and for the Alice Sanctuary, we do need to order at least 300 round bales a year now because we are feeding hay year round due to poor pasture and grazing environments because of the shorter grass that we’re experiencing because there’s not a lot of rain. So, it’s incredibly harder to source out hay that isn’t also exponentially priced.

For instance, last year, we did get all of our hay from Montana because they had a better season than what our province had here. And when you did try to find hay here, it wasn’t existent because there just wasn’t a good hay crop, hay field this year.

So, these are all challenges that we have to navigate and thankfully we have a few people on our team that help us out with finding the hay. We have a great hay broker that we’ve been working with for years. Things like this are really beneficial.

Other challenges that I think all of us are facing would be the fundraising aspect of rescue and sanctuary.

Economy is becoming more and more unpredictable. Household incomes are becoming lower and tougher to manage on a week to week basis. So extra dollars usually are kept so there’s a form of safety and security in the home. Whereas before, if you had an extra $5 or $10, donating it to your favourite charity or not for profit wouldn’t be as scary, right? So now incomes and economy has become a little bit more insecure.

So fundraising has become tougher. It’s been something that we’ve had to adjust to. Thankfully as a charity, we also have access to grants when you can find them. And hopefully people who operate foundations can also help you out in that and encourage you in that area too.

Opportunities

I think as years go on, I have accumulated many, many conversations and I really like to talk to people about personal responsibility and accountability for the choices that we make on a day to day basis and how this really impacts not just the world for animals and sentient beings, but also impacts our communities and the health of our communities and it impacts our neighbours and it impacts, you know, newcomers and temporary foreign workers and it impacts our environment and it impacts our planet on a large scale.

It even impacts our economy because again, billions of dollars are being spent to prop up multiple failing industries that are also very misleading, misguiding and damaging most of the structures that we are in and that in turn affects our pocketbooks because that would be our tax dollars.

So these are the kind of conversations that I am really looking forward to having with people going forward into the world of sanctuary as well as immersing myself in the love and the joy that we have with our residents here and the people who want to come in and volunteer with us and enjoy the time that they have with us when we do tours.

Those are things that are really quite motivational because you know that there’s an impact to it all. And it’s bringing happiness to people. It’s bringing love and healing to animals that have been immersed in trauma. And also being able to open up to aspects and perspectives that are around you that typically in the past, many people would be not willing to have.

And it’s been really kind of a good move for us to move into our future idea about sanctuary

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Diane: This is Diane from the Happy Herd. For those of you who don’t know us, we’ve been in operation for about 12 years.

Successes

Lots has happened. There’s so many ups and downs in this field. And we’re going through one of our up days.

We have a little Icelandic sheep named Noodles, who came to us last spring at two weeks of age. His mother had abandoned him because he has a neurological issue. The vet looked at him, said there was nothing they could do, and gave us probably one to two months of life. He’s going on 19 months.

And he still falls down. His back left leg doesn’t work all the time. He makes a lot of circles. But he’s the happiest little boy you’ve ever met, and he loves children. When children come, he comes running as fast as he can. Sometimes he doesn’t stop, but he’s just happy to be around.

Challenges

So those are your highs when you have an animal like him come into your life, and the hard times are when you have them leave, like this spring we lost both Lucy, one of our first pigs, she was about 800 pounds, and Baby the donkey, who had been with us for 26 years. So losing two animals like that and close together just rips you apart and it takes a long, long time to heal. And I don’t know if you ever do heal. But you look at Noodles and you still smile.

Opportunities

So, what are we looking forward to in the next year? We’ve got a big project that we want to undertake. We want to pave most of the driveway and some paths and make the farm more accessible. We get busloads of seniors drive through and they all have mobility issues so they stay on the bus.

And then we have kids who are in Canuck Place come out and get to hug an animal. We have health care workers who bring their clients with them to meet farm animals. And we’re transitioning more to that because it means so much to everybody and seeing a kid smile.

So that’s where we’re going and that’s where we’re so happy to have you joining us and being part of our Happy Herd family.

So looking forward to doing the Giving Tuesday with you again and just looking forward to being around. Thanks very much.

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Diane: Yvonne: Hi, my name is Yvonne Lewis, and I’m a board member from the Kitchen Sink Rescue Farm and Sanctuary in Roberts Creek.

Lianna: And my name is Lianna Corsini, and we want to acknowledge that we are currently recording from the unceded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh and shíshálh Nations.

Yvonne: We’re here to talk a little bit today about some of the challenges and highlights of running a vegan sanctuary in the Lower Mainland area.

Successes

Yvonne: One thing that we would say is that this year, and it’s almost complete, we’re really excited. It’s a big dream come true, is that we have been able to successfully build a barn. Thanks to some grants that we wrote, and we’re funded by Vancouver Foundation, and also the Sunshine Coast Credit Union, and also some of our successful fundraising events that we’ve had over the last couple years.

We’ve had some significant challenges, through the heat dome and needing to allocate some resources to some different things with COVID and cost of living, prices of lumber, all those kinds of things. So it’s been quite the challenge to get this barn complete and we are so close. Animals are living in it and some of the rest of them will be moving into it very shortly and it is an absolute dynamite dream come true.

Lianna: It’s pretty exciting and it couldn’t be more timely today as we’re speaking to you. We’re experiencing very high winds that have caused a lot of debris and damage on the farm today. So, the earlier part of the day has been spent cleaning up and making sure that all the animals have a safe place to be and stay.

And as well, we’re experiencing record high rains. So, having a barn really is a dream come true. And it’s just such a wonderful space for the animals to be able to shortly move into before the actual weather arrives this winter.

Challenges

Lianna: One of the things that is a bit of a challenge in sanctuary work is having consistent volunteers.

We so appreciate everyone that has come out and continues to come out. We have a lot of inquiries and unfortunately a lot of those inquiries don’t always amount to regular and consistent volunteering. I think it’s really important to remember that there are a lot of different jobs that people can do on the farm.

Yvonne: And it’s really about not overtaxing yourself. So if you think you can do one afternoon every two weeks, we would be grateful to have you and any help is great help. And I think people get really keen and maybe sort of burn themselves out or whatever. So just any farm that you go to and any sanctuary that you help out with, just, you know make sure you’re not putting yourself under too much pressure, but also being able to enjoy the work and have a bond with the charity that you’re giving your time to because it’s so important.

One of the other things that we would say is definitely a challenge sort of as a charity and definitely as a farm charity is just ongoing sort of stable financial support, monthly donorships and things. I mean, we understand that that stuff changes for people and it’s not always possible. But even just thinking to yourself, like, you know, five dollars here and there or five dollars a month would just be fantastic or once a year let us be your Christmas thing and I mean to know that some people are thinking of it and kind of constantly being able to do it is just, it’s a huge help to us, it’s a huge stress reliever and it helps us know what we can afford and how many animals we can take in and feed and continue to help with sort of our ongoing funding needs.

Lianna: I think people don’t realize that even, like, one Starbucks really, over a long period of time, can amount to quite a bit of funding for the animals.

Yvonne: Absolutely, yeah, that would mean, average bag of feed is about, you know, between 20 to 25. So, if five people gave up one Starbucks drink a month, that would buy one of my bags of food for the animals and that would totally help.

Lianna: Would you say it’s about $3,000 to feed the animals over a month?

Yvonne: About that. Approximately about $3,000.

Lianna: One of the campaigns that we’re running right now is fill the barn with hay for winter. So, if you are thinking of how you might support, as Yvonne mentioned, some Christmas gifts or holiday gifts.

 You can do that and you can find that info on our website.

Yvonne: And of course we’re a registered charity so there is a tax receipt applicable to any donations that come our way.

Opportunities

Yvonne: One of the big main events that we’ve been able to put on is our gala that we do every year in July. It’s the second week of July.

This year it will be July 12th, which is Saturday afternoon. It has been growing and it is wonderful for community partnerships, for community awareness, for animal awareness. for highlighting, you know, what these animals go through and how you can help and what ends up happening when somebody does rescue them.

What does the rest of their life look like? So it’s, it’s a great sort of education piece as well as being able to have people come to the farm, spend the afternoon, hear the stories meet some of the animals and see what their day to day life is.

It’s also a really fun event. We’ve had Persephone’s Brewing and also Gourmet Girl supporting us for the last two years. They continue to do so, but that’s something that it gives a community members and also community businesses an opportunity to join in and everybody speak up for the animals together. So it’s a wonderful event.

We encourage anybody who wants to come, the tickets will be on our website, you know, probably mid May.

Lianna: It’s a really fun afternoon and the gala itself is also a dream come true. It was put on hold by the pandemic. So when we were finally able to host it felt really great to welcome everybody onto the farm again and to be able to socialize.

And it’s just really fun to dress up and put on your gumboots for an afternoon. And meet with the animals and meet other people who are just simply like minded.

Yvonne: That’s about all. We don’t want to take up too much of your time, but we wanted to say thank you very much for having us.

Thanks for listening. If there’s any inquiries for us, please reach out.

Next episode

Please join us next month as we discuss the importance of polling data, and how it can be used in animal advocacy!

Have you shopped at a vegan business recently?

As consumers, we have the power to make compassionate choices that align with our values. More people are choosing animal-free products and services and helping to reduce the demand for industries that exploit animals. Meanwhile, vegan businesses are on the rise to meet the demand for a kinder, more ethical marketplace.

In this month’s episode of The Informed Animal Ally, Kyla and Audrey from Vegan Supply and Paula from Compassion Ink Studio share perspectives on operating a vegan business.

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Kyla: Hello, this is Kyla and Audrey from Vegan Supply.

Kyla: My name is Kyla and I am the executive assistant to our lovely owner and founder, Jason Antony. And with me is Audrey.

Audrey: Hi. I’m Audrey. I’m the operations manager here at Vegan Supply, overseeing two physical retail stores, our e-commerce business, as well as the distribution side where we sell to other businesses.

Kyla: Audrey is definitely hands on and can speak a lot about successes, challenges, opportunities within the business. And I can more speak to Jason’s side of things. So Audrey, what have you found to be a success?

Audrey: I think definitely a highlight for me is being able to offer vegan solutions to people who might not otherwise have them.

Whether that’s offering products that they don’t have access to where they’re from, on the e-commerce side of things, where we’re able to ship all over, or even just having unique solutions that somebody coming in our store who never heard of soy curls before, and how can they cook with them and how is that a great substitute for their protein and really being a bridge to get people to think differently and help them in their vegan journey if they’re on one, or even just if they’re vegan curious and want to learn a little bit more.

Kyla: And it is something to be said that with this business, we have the means to get anybody vegan products, literally anywhere in the world, which is a really great thing to be able to do.

Audrey: Absolutely. And also working with bringing really exciting and new innovative products to market.

Some of my favorites from this year that we’ve brought in are Juicy Marbles and Yo Egg.

I think when I first went vegan, I didn’t dream of a world where I had a vegan poached egg that actually had a runny yolk. And today is the day that we are able to access that now as vegans. So it’s incredibly exciting.

And Juicy Marbles is another one where it’s a vegan steak. Some of those things that people say like, “Oh, I could never give this up.” There’s a lot of stuff that people don’t have to give up anymore. And it’s because of brands like this doing really cool things in the food science area.

Kyla: That’s right. Yeah. Bridge the gap. We’re here for it.

With all this great stuff though, there are challenges. So what are a few of the challenges that you’ve noticed within the business or being in this space?

Audrey: Yeah, I think so from the start, you know, we’re a vegan business and our name is Vegan Supply.

And there’s a lot of feelings out there in the world to that word vegan. And I think a challenge is overcoming that perception that we are just for vegans because we sell vegan products exclusively. Yes. But our goal is to have more vegan products available, but that could be somebody who is an omnivore looking to reduce meat in their diet or any kind of area like vegan products can be good in and of themselves of their own merit.

Trying to break that barrier while also still holding true to our values is definitely a challenge. I think we start from a little bit of a disadvantage, but it’s just a challenge for us to overcome.

Kyla: Yeah, that’s right. It’s definitely the bias with the word vegan and it is our very name, but we move forth.

So on that note, what is something that you’re looking forward to in the future? Some cool opportunities coming up.

Audrey: Yeah, well, I’m mostly looking forward to being more collaborative with a lot of different organizations. I think in the last few years, we’ve worked a lot with different sanctuaries or different organizations to shed more light on them or collect donations.

And I think we do better as a whole when we lift each other up. So I’m just looking forward to the different partnerships in the community in the coming years.

Kyla: Definitely. I will just do a quick little plug that a few years ago, Audrey and I created a monthly donation program within Vegan Supply, and we feature two sanctuaries, rescues, anywhere that anybody is honestly helping animals.

We will feature you on our website and in-store and raise funds and allow you to keep doing the important work that you do with animals on that note.

If you’re listening and you haven’t been featured, or you know somebody that you would love to see featured, please let us know. Reach out to info at vegansupply.ca.

Any final notes about the world of business and vegan spaces?

Audrey: That we just need to support vegan businesses. I think there are few of us and you know, it’s a cliche, but we vote with our dollars and when we buy a product, we’re telling those businesses that we want to support them. So I think now more than ever, it’s important to support businesses that align with the values that you have.

Kyla: That’s right. Money talks. So let’s use it for good.

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Paula: Hey everyone. My name is Paula and I’m a tattoo artist in Burnaby, B.C.

On Instagram, I am @inkbypaula and my tattoo studio name is Compassion Ink Studio.

A little bit about myself. I’ve always been very sensitive person, always been an animal lover. As a child, I loved art class and I loved our family dog or family hamsters and you know, I was that kid, and I still am, like many of us, that person who will pick a worm off the sidewalk to help it across.

In high school, I took home this baby chick that was going to be fed to a snake and ended up rehoming it.

I’ve always been an animal lover, and honestly, it wasn’t until I was an adult that I really started thinking about the impact of my choices on animals.

My partner and I decided to unlearn a lot of the habits that we grew up with, and we started with our diet. A lot of vegans usually start by switching to a plant-based diet.

But we also, beyond our diet, try to divest from animal exploitation. And we know it’s not possible to live a completely harm free life in this society, but we do our best. And I think that’s all we can do.

So when I launched my tattoo business, making it vegan was a no brainer.

People will ask me, you know, what’s a vegan tattoo? What makes it different than a regular tattoo? And, the main difference is that I ensure that every part of the tattoo process is animal-free.

Most tattoo shops nowadays actually use vegan ink, just by default, which is great. But for me, I take it a step further. So for example, the soap I use in my studio will be vegan. The transfer paper that I use is vegan because not all stencil paper is vegan.

My shop doesn’t have leather furniture. I don’t have like animal skulls hanging on the wall or framed dead insects on the wall.

If you’re an animal lover, going to a vegan tattoo artist will sort of ensure, beyond the ink, that your experience is going to be as animal-free as possible.

Another big part of my business is fundraising. I’ve had the privilege of fundraising for animal sanctuaries and fundraising for animal activists and human rights activists as well. It’s really rewarding too be able to offer a service like tattooing that blends art and community and activism, which was really cool.

When I first started tattooing, it actually was the vegan community that really helped me build on my portfolio because the support was there. So as soon as I started tattooing and put out there that I’m a vegan tattoo artist, I had a lot of vegans come and be like, Hey, this is awesome. I want to support you.

I’ve met a lot of incredible people through tattooing. Some tattoo sessions are hours long and we share stories. Being an animal lover is a big part of who I am, so I’m just grateful to be able to share my passions and the things I care about with my clients.

That leads me into the next thing I wanted to bring up, which is, I’ve had people question whether it’s a good idea to bring in my politics and sort of combine it with my business Instagram accounts, you know, posts, not only about tattooing, but posts about the things I care about.

And I think that sure I may lose some clients or followers who don’t align with whatever my stance is. But I also believe that a big part of my success as a vegan business owner comes from me being transparent and sharing what I care about. I think a lot of people nowadays do want to support businesses that align with their worldview.

Despite whatever challenges may also go along with that, I think it’s worth it in the end.

One thing I love with my tattoo business is collaborating with other businesses. So for example, I’ve collaborated with Mila Plant-Based restaurant or Zimt Chocolates. We do this to bring the community together and then donate a portion of proceeds to a cause.

I recently organized a raffle with several vegan businesses to fundraise for two families in need. Collaborating is something I really enjoy. And even collaborating with Vancouver Humane Society to share a little bit about me is such an honour. So thank you for listening and I hope to tattoo you one day.

Next episode

Please join us next month as we discuss common arguments people use to oppose veganism and ways to respond.