Milestones in Animal Rights and Animal Welfare

Various achievements in animal rights and welfare.

Background for this Article

Inspiring achievements in animal rights and welfare. The items are categorized both in general as well as chronological lists.

General list

10% of Britons used to be vegetarian, which is impressive enough, but now about 25% of them are vegetarian - the timing of this social change suggests that it has something to do with the "mad cow disease" scare there
the Eurobarometer Program sponsored a study administered by International Research Associates in the fall of 1992, out of a total European sample size of 13,024, with approximately 1,000 in-person interviews conducted in each nation. In France, 68% of the population either strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement that animals should be used in scientific research; over 50% of the population was similarly opposed in West Germany, East Germany, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, and Spain. In North America less than half the population disagrees with animals in research, but the example of Europe shows that could very well change1
Sweden banned the use of great apes and gibbons in scientific research
Great Britain outlawed using great apes in experiments
The Baelearic Parliament for the Spanish Balearic Islands supports the Great Ape Project, or humanlike rights to life, liberty and freedom from torture for chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans
Vancouver's City Council in British Columbia, Canada is the first in North America to ban rodeos
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada is the first city in North America to ban all use of eggs from battery hens in all city facilities; the city encourages residents to buy only organic, free-range eggs
the Cloverdale Rodeo Association in British Columbia, Canada bans roping at rodeos due to animal advocacy
Catalonia, Spain raised fines for cruelty to animals up to $24,000 and bans the killing of abandoned dogs and cats in shelters
a USA-wide survey of 100,000 college/university students finds that nearly 25% of students said that finding vegan meals on campus is important to them
Sweden banned the leg-hold trap and signaled its intent to prohibit "fur farms"
Tom Regan (his information is published in his 2003 book, Animal Rights and Human Wrongs) notes that in the mid-1980s, 17 million animals were trapped for fur in the United States, by the early 1990s it was 10 million, and at the time of his writing it was noted to be 4.5 million; caged mink declined from 1,000 farms to over 400 farms in the same period
Regan in the same work reports that in 1988 there were 330,000 trappers, and by 1994 there were fewer than half that number; in his 2003 writing he noted there were then about 100,000.
Regan notes also that 7 US States and 89 nations worldwide have banned the leghold trap
Regan notes that Austria, England, Scotland, and Wales have banned raising animals primarily for their fur
Regan notes that 14 million veal calves were slaughtered in the US in 1945, compared to 800,000 at the time of his writing in 2003
Regan notes that per capita meat consumption in the US is declining

Chronological list

1981 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) does an undercover investigation of a Maryland laboratory, resulting in the first-ever conviction of an animal experimenter on charges of animal abuse and the first-ever suspension of federal funds on the grounds of cruelty
1983 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is the first city in the world to declare an official Animal Rights Day
1983 PETA achieves a ban on using dogs and cats in military "wound labs"
1984 a PETA expose at the University of Pennsylvania puts a stop to funding 14 years of experiments using baboons to study head injuries
1985 PETA uncovers gross mistreatment of dogs and other animals in the City of Hope laboratory in California, and the government fines the lab $11,000 and suspends more than $1,000,000 in federal funding to the lab
1986 PETA stops total-isolation confinement of chimps at SEMA laboratories
1987 PETA's Don't Kill the Animals album tops the dance charts in the US and Europe
1988 Sweden passes an agricultural law providing that farmed animals have the right to live their lives with plenty of room, bedding, less stress, and toys, with a ban on confinement of sows, foie gras, and battery cages for hens
1988 PETA's distribution of a video of an operation on an improperly anesthetized dog at East Carolina State University prompted the university to issue a moratorium on the use of live animals
1989 PETA's Compassion Campaign persuades Avon, Benneton, Mary Kay, Amway, Kenner, Mattel, and Hasbro to stop testing on animals
1990 the city of Saanich, British Columbia is the first jurisdiction in Canada to pass a bylaw banning exotic animals from being used in circuses; now there are more than 30 such bylaws throughout the province
1990 Estee Lauder is persuaded by PETA to stop animal testing
1992 the police conduct the first-ever raid on a factory farm to investigate cruelty related to foie gras
1993 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is the first city in Canada to close down its zoo
1993 Farm Sanctuary achieves first ever conviction of a U.S. stockyard (where animals are kept before slaughter) for mistreating a downed animal, after the prosecution of Lancaster Stockyards in Pennsylvania
1993 after a PETA campaign, GM, then the largest corporation in the world, agrees to stop "crash-testing" animals; today, no car companies do such tests anymore
1993 PETA uncovers cruel experiments at Wright State University; the university is charged with violating the Animal Welfare Act, and the experiments are ended
1994 due to pressure from PETA, the US Department of Agriculture bans facebranding of cattle, and spaying cattle without anesthetics
1994 for the first time in the US, a chinchilla farmer is charged with cruelty to animals after an undercover PETA investigation revealed photographs of electrocuting animals by the genitals
1994 PETA opens branches in the UK, Netherlands, and Germany
1995 Farm Sanctuary helps pass a law in California which prevents dragging, pushing, holding, or selling downed animals at stockyards and slaughterhouses. Other states follow California, passing similar laws
1995 Mobil, Shell, Texaco, and other oil companies agree to cap their stacks after PETA found that many birds needlessly die in these smokestacks
1995 the US government files 41 charges against a breeding company for pharmaceutical testing, Hazelton Research Products in Michigan, after an undercover PETA investigation revealed that the researchers beat the animals, sometimes to death
1996 due to PETA's campaign against using pregnant mares' urine for women in menopause, Wyerth-Ayerst lost more than $73 million in sales
1996 PETA blows the whistle on Bion, a US/Russia/France program sending monkeys into space with implanted electrodes, in strait jackets; the US government closes down the program
1996 PETA finds that $3 million in US tax money was granted to experimenters at Omaha's Boy's Town National Research Hospital to cut into kittens' heads and starve cats for deafness and vocal tract experiments; the government investigates and as a result the firm closes down the experiments
1997 PETA investigates a lab about to break dogs' legs in an experiment; actress Kim Basinger speaks out about it; instead the dogs are released to be adopted
1997 an Illinois fur farmer pleads guilty to cruelty to animals for the anal electrocution of foxes
1998 PETA President Ingrid Newkirk visits Taiwan and documents how filthy pounds kill animals by starvation, electrocution, drowning, and beating; as a result, Taiwan passes its first law against cruelty to animals
1999 New Zealand bans vivisection of great apes
1999 PETA sees that Belcross Farm in North Carolina is indicted with felony charges of cruelty to animals, namely pigs, due to undercover footage
2000 PETA gets McDonald's to ban de-beaking and force-molting (starving hens) and to institute unannounced slaughterhouse inspections
2000 PETA gets a Michigan puppy mill shut down and the owner is banned from owning or breeding animals
2001 Burger King agrees, due to pressure from PETA, to give hens 75 square inches in cages
2002 The Dutch ban biomedical research on chimpanzees
2002 In response to Matthew Scully's book, Dominion, the cruel confining of pregnant pigs is banned in Florida
2002 Germany votes animal rights into its Constitution; the state added "and animals" to a statement obliging Germany to respect and protect the dignity of human beings
2002 PETA helps activists ban animal circus acts in Costa Rica; Windsor, Canada; Greenburgh, New York; Bogata, Colombia; Sao Leopoldo, Brazil; Orange City, North Carolina; and Pasadena and Rohnert Park, California
2002 PETA persuades 40 companies, including Nike and Reebok, not to purchase leather from India, where animals are skinned alive among other atrocities, and this results in $40 million loss of revenue for those animal abusers
2002 Thanks to PETA, Safeway is the first-ever supermarket to improve factory farming conditions, with unannounced slaughterhouse inspections and more space for laying hens; this is followed suit by Albertson's and Kroger
2003 The European Union bans cosmetics testing on animals
2003 a poll by Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times found that 72% of respondents said it is sometimes wrong to use animals in research, and 29% said it is always wrong; 2/3 of adult Americans agree that "an animal's right to live free from suffering should be just as important as a person's."
2003 PETA exposes stroke tests at Columbia University as cruel and pointless; the tests are canceled
2004 The Detroit Zoo is the first US zoo to give away the elephants there to a refuge solely on ethical grounds; these animals had been previously confined in the zoo for 22 years
2004 Farm Sanctuary is invited to speak about animal rights at the United States Department of Agriculture, the first event of its kind
2004 Austria passes laws banning battery cages for hens, exotic animal circus acts, ear-cropping and tail-docking of dogs, and showcasing puppies and kittens in often sweltering shop windows; Austria institutes fines of over $18,000 plus seizure of animals in cases of extreme cruelty; an Animal Rights Ombudsperson is established to oversee the treatment of animals in farms, zoos, circuses, and petshops; bans cockfighting; makes animal torture punishable with 2 years in jail - these pionerring measures were unanimously approved by Austria's parliament
2004 city of Santa Ana, California bans animal circus acts
2004 Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger of California bans foie gras
2004 PETA persuades the Environmental Protection Agency and certain chemical companies not to do chemical tests, sparing the lives of tens of thousands of animals
2005 Israel bans foie gras although they were the fourth largest producer in the world
2005 Mercedes-Benz bows to PETA pressure to provide a leather-free option for cars; it takes 4 cows to make on leather interior for Mercedes
2005 PETA causes officials in Durham, North Carolina to halt plans to kill a family of beavers who dammed a road culvert; the city agrees to develop a humane solution
2005 a Virginia hoarder of animals is banned for life from owning animals thanks to PETA
2006 Arizona becomes the first place in North America to ban the veal crate, and the second place in North America to ban confining pregnant pigs
2007 the European Parliament commits itself to ending experiments on primates throughout the European Union
2008 a Dutch Party for the Animals becomes the fastest-growing political party in the Netherlands, having earned 2 seats in the House of Representatives, 1 seat in the Senate, and 9 seats in the Provincial States parliament
2008 Los Angeles passes mandatory spay-and-neuter legislation
2011 Israel bans manufacturing and importing of fur except for religious purposes
2011 West Hollywood becomes the first city in the U.S. to ban fur being sold as part of any garment whatsoever.
2012 Dolphin captivity banned in Switzerland.
2013 Great Britain bans wild animal circus acts.
2013 Flushing P.S. in New York City has the first public school cafeteria to go all-vegetarian in the United States, citing health benefits.
2013 India has pre-emptively banned captive dolphin facilities naming cetaceans "nonhuman person"