Dawnwatch - 2004 Year in Review

[Catchawave]

From her newslist:

Today I looked over the major media stories affecting animals in 2004. As with every year, there have been up and downs.

A downer has been the resurgence of fur. But I am inclined to agree with PETA's take, that we are witnessing the last gasp of a dying industry.

Currently, wild horses and burros are in trouble. A provision in the spending bill signed Wednesday took away what little protection they had; they can now legally be sold for slaughter. But the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which would offer ultimate protection, looks promising.

We lost some state-wide legislative battles on November 2 -- the animal exploitation industries and lobbies now take our movement seriously enough to seriously oppose. It hurts in the short-term but is ultimately a good sign.

And the SHAC 7, who have led the American fight against the notorious Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratory, await trial. It is hard to foresee the outcome.


But looking back at the year, overall, in many ways we can be truly encouraged:

California, the fifth largest economy in the world, joined over a dozen nations that have outlawed the production and sale of foie gras. Though the ban does not take effect until 2012, the legislative legitimacy it has granted to foie gras opposition has been reflected in worldwide press. It is a huge step forward -- a sign that the world is finally starting to seriously consider the suffering of animals raised for human food.

In the UK, the militant fringe of the animal rights movement blocked plans for a primate center at Cambridge, indefinitely stalled plans for a lab at Oxford, and brought discussion on the ethics of vivisection to every UK paper.

Almost a year after his death, the heart disease plaguing Dr Atkins (which may have been responsible for his slip on the ice) finally made major news. And the Atkins diet craze, plaguing us for years, is finally starting to wane.

In August, thanks to Compassion Over Killing's efforts, including their footage showing horrifying conditions on "Animal Care Certified" egg farms, the Better Business Bureau referred the egg labeling case against United Egg Producers to the Federal Trade Commission for possible law enforcement action. Official concern for egg-laying hens is a brand new and welcome development.

Years of pressure culminating in an Abercrombie and Fitch boycott of Australian wool led to a commitment from the Australian wool industry to end the hideous practice of mulesing -- cutting hunks of flesh, without pain relief, off the hindquarters of sheep -- as the cheapest way to control fly-strike. PETA is now 'encouraging' other retailers to join the boycott, the aim being to end Australia's cruel live export trade.

Through much of the year we watched the Detroit Zoo battle the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. In December, Detroit zoo director, Ron Kagan, finally got an agreement from the association that will allow the Detroit zoo elephants to go to sanctuary. Also, one of two surviving San Francisco zoo elephants has been moved to sanctuary and the other is going shortly. Many of us grew up in a world where keeping wild animals captive for human entertainment was never questioned. Though such cruelty has yet to be universally banned, we at least know that the current college generation will not, in a few short years, take its young children to see wild animals at the circus or zoo unaware that there is an ethical issue.

And who knows what those college kids will be serving their kids for dinner! In what is perhaps the most encouraging development over the last year, because it effects by far the greatest number of animals, we have seen compassionate vegan living go mainstream. The Aramark food company conducted a study amongst college students across the US; 24 percent said they wanted vegan meals offered on campus so Aramark is adding them nationwide.

We saw vegan car marketing on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, vegan shopping on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, a story on "Vegan Chic" in Newsweek, and even vegan representation in the appalling world of reality TV, with a vegan family on "Trading Spouses" and a vegan candidate on Showtime's "American Candidate." And there are finally appealing vegan sitcom and soap characters, such as Persia White's character on "Girlfriends."

In the most mainstream of genres, we saw the New York Times "Ethicist" come out against dolphin captivity and fur, and Dr Phil introduce his rescue dog to his millions of viewers, telling them to adopt their next companion animal.

With less fanfare, committed activists got wild animal circuses banned from towns across America, and animal labs dropped from many medical schools and classrooms.

A quick scan of the media alerts page of the DawnWatch website pointed to the stories I mention above. I know I have missed many. That's why, though my heart hurts for the billons who suffer, I feel comfortable writing that in many ways it has been a very good year. I send a message of the deepest gratitude and respect to all who helped make it so, knowing we can make 2005 better still.

Yours and the animals',

Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to www.DawnWatch.com/unsubscribe.php. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

[JackieO]

1. Nice review, thanks

I found this part particularly encouraging:

"The Aramark food company conducted a study amongst college students across the US; 24 percent said they wanted vegan meals offered on campus so Aramark is adding them nationwide."