Whaling - The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is a international environmental agreement that aimed to properly regulate whaling and the amount of whales that are bred, so that whales could still be hunted without endangering the animal. It was signed by fifteen nations in December 1946 and came into effect two years later.

However, much illegal whale-hunting is carried out in the world. The main country in which illegal whaling takes place is Japan. It is estimated that over one thousand whales are deliberately killed every year by a Japanese whaling fleet. This fleet is sent to Antartica with the intention of killing these whales for 'scientific research'. In reality though, they are murdered for their meat. However, they get away with it because it is technically allowed, owing to a loophole in the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, set up by the  International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The picture is the IWC's logo which can be seen on their website.

Bullfighting

Bullfighting is an horrendously cruel sport. A traditional bullfight involves the matador (bullfighter) taunting the bull with a cape so it becomes angry and frustrated when it cannot get the cape. The bull is then stabbed by other men with metal rods, in its back and shoulder which means it can't lift its head to defend itself. The bull is in a considerable amount of pain at this stage and becomes more and more exhausted as it tries to escape the torture. It also has lost a lot of blood from the wounds. Then it is attacked with colourful darts, called banderillas. The matador makes a reapperance for the "finale", in which he stabs the animal with a vicious death blow. If he fails to kill the animal, a trained executionor comes in to finish the job. This prolongs the bull's suffering.

This blood sport is popular in Spain, Portugal, France and some Latin-American countries. In these countries it is seen as part of the culture and tradition, but that in no way justifies the cruelty. Sacrificing humans was a big part of South American countries in history, and has been stopped. Why should murdering animals for entertainment be any different?

On average, a quarter of a million bulls are slaughtered in bullfights each year. This must be stopped.



In September 2011 it was announced that a ban on bullfighting in Catalonia, Spain, would be put into effect on the first of January 2012. This sparked anger in Barcelona, where bullfighting is part of the culture, and fans of this barbaric sport held up signs saying "RIP" at the final fight in Barcelona's Monumental arena, which resulted in the murder of six bulls by Spain's top three matadors. This video talks about this recent news and I got it here.

It is hoped that this ban will spread throughout the world in the near future.

Animal Rights Conferences

In July 2011, the Animal Rights National Conference was held in Los Angeles. It was set up by FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movements) and was sponsored by seventeen other organisations including Mercy for Animals, Compassion Circle and United Poultry Concerns.

The aim of this conference was to target problems such as worldwide animal abuse, supression of animal activism and helping animals that are the among the victims of natural disasters. "Exposing and challenging the daily terror against animals."

Thousands of animal rights activists from forty US states and thirteen different countries were part of the conference and all were welcome to the one hundred sessions that took place, addressing the issues I mentioned above. The sessions were divided into four categories: main issues, organisation, animal abuse, and tactics used to tackle these problems.

There were many different representatives from organisations such as FARM, SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation Now) and COK (Compassion Over Killing). Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons, also made an appearance.

The picture is of various representatives who were at the conference and I got it from the conference's website.

Welcome

Hello there, humans. This is my blog on animal rights, where I plan to make people aware of the ill-treatment of animals, and what is going on at the moment to help stop this, around the world.

I got a lot of my information from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals website.