The UK recently launched the second Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill to protect pets, farmed and kept wild animals. There are five key areas raised in the Bill to improve animal welfare standards:

• Puppy smuggling - The number of pets that can travel under pet travel rules will be reduced in order to tackle the unethical trade of puppy smuggling.

• Live exports - The export of live animals for slaughter and fattening may be banned, since excessively long journeys during export may cause distress and injury.

• Banning keeping primates as pets - Since primates are highly intelligent animals with complex needs and require specialist care, there will be a ban implemented on keeping them as pets.

• Livestock worrying - Police will be given new powers to provide greater protection to livestock, llamas, ostriches and game birds from dangerous and out of control dogs.

• Zoos - In order to improve zoo regulations and ensure zoos are working hard to contribute to conservation, the Zoo Licensing Act will be amended.

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The Road Traffic (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 came into effect on November 7, requiring drivers to stop the vehicle if they hit any cat or dog. The definition of animal currently covers any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig or goat, but will now include cats and dogs after the amended ordinance came into effect.

The Food & Health Bureau said the number of cats and dogs kept by the public was on the rise in recent years, adding that traffic accidents involving injuries or deaths of these animals have occurred from time to time.

Courtesy of HKALPO

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Australia’s iconic koala could be one of the 75 per cent of Australia’s animals, birds and other species that fall victim to a coming “extinction event that’s equivalent to the loss of the dinosaurs,” a scientist has warned. And it’s an extinction event blamed on humans.

Koalas, whose numbers have dropped dramatically, are just one of the most obvious potential Australian victims of climate change in the animal kingdom.

Already one mammal has been declared extinct, felled by the changing climate. Plenty others are at risk of going the same way.

Courtesy of Arial Ng.

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China will incorporate biodiversity protection in development plans in all regions and sectors, Vice Premier Han Zheng said at the opening of U.N. talks aimed at making progress on a global deal to halt mass extinction.

China has vowed to make protecting nature a priority after decades of rapid development and urbanisation devastated ecosystems, put dozens of species on the brink of extinction and raised the risk of lethal zoonotic diseases like COVID-19.

Courtesy of Tony Chen

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The descendants of cocaine baron Pablo Escobar’s hippos in Colombia should have the same legal rights as people, a federal court in the US ruled this week.

The ruling, by a judge at a federal court in Ohio, came in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the hippos by a charity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), to make the hippos “interested persons,” in the ongoing case of whether to cull or sterilise the herd over concerns of environmental damage and public safety.

The decision is thought to be the first time such legal status has been granted to animals.

Courtesy of Kat Mak

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A Hong Kong woman has been sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment for 2 counts of burglary and one count of animal cruelty. Having been dissatisfied that her partner did not want to commit to a relationship, the woman broke into his house and damaged his personal property.

However and most unfortunately, she also took her anger out on two tortoises, killing them both in a horrendous manner. The damage inflicted on one of the tortoises was so bad that it left the tortoise with exposed internal organs and severe autolysis. She was sentenced to 4 months’ imprisonment on the animal cruelty count, with 2 months’ to be served consecutively to her 14 month sentence for burglary.

Animals are not things. They are neither a bargaining chip nor props to be aimlessly deployed in the midst on an argument. Animals are sentient beings and as such are able to feel and experience emotions - be they positive or negative. It is natural for human beings to feel anger or frustration from time to time, but these emotions do not need to be taken out on innocent animals.

Courtesy of Angus Chiu

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One of Britain’s leading huntsmen has been found guilty of encouraging or assisting others to commit an offence under the Hunting Act. Mark Hankinson was a director of the Hunting Office that runs the sport. He was caught in a leaked online training webinar in 2020 telling hunts how to hunt illegally.

Fox hunting was made illegal in the Hunting Act 2004. Many organisations instead turned to trail hunting which involves laying a scent for hounds to chase instead of a live animal. Between 2010 and 2020 there were 384 successful prosecutions under the Hunting Act in the UK.

Courtesy of HKALPO

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Household fruit growers across Victoria have less than a week to update their netting or risk "significant" penalties.

From September domestic fruit growers will be required to use netting with an aperture of five millimetres by five millimetres at full stretch.

Wildlife animals are often trapped in the existing netting of fruit trees, and because they would keep on struggling to escape from it, they often suffer horrific injury or even death. Even though they were not dead when found, they might have to be euthanized because of serious injuries.

The law covering backyard fruit growers is the final piece of Victoria's Protection of Cruelty to Animals (POCTA) Act 2019, designed to help safeguard animal welfare while enabling food and fibre industries to function responsibly and productively.

Courtesy of Kelly Ma.

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The South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, has raised banning the eating of dogs in the country, his office has said - a traditional practice that is becoming an international embarrassment.

Dog meat has been a long part of South Korean cuisine with about 1 million dogs believed to be eaten annually - but the consumption has declined as more people being to embrace dogs as companions rather than livestock. Indeed, younger generations of South Koreans view the practice as something of a taboo, with growing support from animal rights activists in the country.

Courtesy of Kat Mak.

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South Korea plans to amend its civil code to grant animals legal status.

The amendment, which must still be approved by parliament, likely during its next regular session in September, would make South Korea one of a handful of countries to recognise animals as beings, with a right to protection, enhanced welfare and respect for life.

Courtesy of Amelia Wang

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The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department have conducted a series of operations to counter incidents of wild animal feeding and dirtying public spaces.

Within this past year, blitz operations have led to about 80 prosecutions against people who have contravened cleanliness regulations in the Southern district, out of which 20 offenders received a fixed penalty notices of HK$1500, with an additional 60 having a summons issued against them.

Courtesy of Arial Ng.

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Pet abduction is to be made a criminal offence in England after a rise in reported thefts during Covid lockdowns. Theft of a pet is currently treated as a loss of an owner's property, but ministers want a new law to acknowledge the emotional distress it can cause.

Courtesy of Michelle Cheung

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