March has been a great month, not only weather wise but with the news of a planned ban on the use of animals in circuses and the announcement that Wales have decided to scrap their badger cull in place of TB vaccinations, could this lead to the proposed cull in the UK following suit?
Here's what you may have missed in March...
Sometimes when campaigning for animal welfare, it feels like one step forward for can equal one step back and in the case of the elephants that were cruelly killed by poachers in a Cameroon National Park, it is definitely a big step back.
Throughout March we followed the tragic Gracia Del Mar vessel transporting livestock from Brazil to Egypt that was caught in a vicious snow storm resulting in the death of thousands of animals. We still do not know what happened to the animals that eventually survived or in which nation they ended up.
Western Gray Whales in Eastern Russia are critically endangered with less than 130 left, their feeding grounds in Sakhalin Island are under threat from a proposed drilling platform. WWF need our help to convince the banks funding the new platform to reconsider.
Not only are Harp Seals in Canada being cruelly killed as I type, sea lions in Chilean waters are at risk of needless slaughter, despite being a protected species in Chile they are being blamed for the scarcity of fish in Chilean waters even though it is the decades of overfishing really to blame.
There was some good news for harp seals, as the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belarus passed a historic ban on the trade of harp seal fur cancelling an order for 100,000 baby seal skins. The drop in demand takes us a step closer to ending the annual slaughter, however, there is still more to be done.
Jon Hickton has appealed for permission to expand an intensive broiler chicken farm in Worcestershire. If permission is granted the farm will double in size resulting in misery for thousands more chickens. We had a chance to put a stop to this, the deadline was 15th March but you can still read the article here.
I moved to London around 6 months ago and had no idea I was heading to the wildlife crime capital. The future Mayor of London needs to seriously commit and take action against illegal wildlife trade.
Would you like to know how your food is farmed? CIWF, RSPCA, WSPA and the Soil Association have come together and are campaigning for consumers to be able to choose higher animal welfare foods and for honestly labelled food.
WDCS have reported that the Scottish government is creating a network of protected areas for marine life, however, there is a risk that whales, dolphins and porpoises will not be included.
A polar bear named Yupi is still living in a small, barren holding pen in a Mexican Zoo after 20 years. The terrain and climate is completely unsuitable as well as the lack of space, Yupi must be re-homed as a matter of urgency.
