LATEST NEWS
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Follow Kinship Circle on Facebook for ongoing animal news, updates, victories and progress. In addition to animal rights reports, we monitor disasters to assess severity of impact on animals. If Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response Team deploys, we post requests for volunteers and support.
VICTORY
Congress Bans Shark Finning
Kinship Circle activists asked legislators to crack down on shark finning: Fishing operations sever dorsal fins and dump mutilated sharks into the sea to bleed to death. Both chambers of Congress passed The Shark Conservation Act and the president signed off…
UPDATE
Truth In Fur Labeling
After years of advocating for fur identity labels, U.S. lawmakers finally enact the Truth in Fur Labeling Act. Prior law didn't require retailers to label fur faux or real, or name species and origin country. This gained attention when dog/cat hides were found… photo: ACTAsia
VICTORY
Crush Videos: Illegal Cruelty
Due to tenacious Kinship Circle members and many animal groups, the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act is law. This snubs a Supreme Court ruling that defended crush fetish videos as free speech. While display of videos is now illegal, the act itself remains unregulated…
VICTORY
NASA Stops Nuking Monkeys
NASA called off irridation tests that blast restrained monkeys with gamma rays comparable to 3 years in space. The brutal experiments cause brain damage, cataracts, malignant tumors, motor control loss. Kinship Circle activists demanded NASA return to animal-free…
UPDATE
Canada Sealers Lose Europe
Canada loses its appeal to dilute a sweeping ban on import-export of seal goods across European Union nations. Yet even amid a shrinking market, Canada's annual bloody hunt continues. Reports show pups shot, bludgeoned, kicked and thrashed with razor-sharp hakapiks…
UPDATE
Escada Stops, Restarts Fur
Kinship Circle pressured Escada to sell cruelty-free couture instead of fur garments built from bloody death. Escada press rep Frank Elsner says fur is out, as of the next collection (in January)… photo: CAFT
PROGRESS
No Whale Kill, For Now
This year's bid to legalize commercial whaling failed. Thanks to Kinship Circle supporters who spoke out against whaling now and many times over the years. Your comments to the International Whaling Commission help…
PROGRESS
Quality Egg: Guilty Of Cruelty
In a rare outcome for farmed animals, Quality Egg pleads guilty to 10 animal cruelty counts, with $130,000 in fines and restitution. USA's largest egg-maker also incurs state inspections… photo: Farm Sanctuary
VICTORY
MA Bans Devocalization
“We couldn't have done it without Kinship Circle. Gov. Deval Patrick signed Logan's Law, making Massachusetts the first state to ban cruel canine/feline devocalization — cutting vocal cords to silence the voice. Luckily for animals, Kinship Circle stepped up…”
VICTORY
Texas Tech Drops Cat Lab
Texas Tech UHSC stopped buying cats from Odessa Animal Control, but would they replace cruel labs with synthetic models? Yep, it's official. TTUHSC won't kill more cats in labs. We're certain thousands of KC protest comments contributed to this success…
JUSTICE
Jailed: Teen Roasts Live Kitten
Cheyenne Cherry, 17, had plea-bargained her way to a 1-year jail term with a 3-year ban on pets. Deal off. She'll spend 2 years in jail for roasting Tiger Lilly in a 500-degree oven. KC members demanded justice for the violent torture and murder of a defenseless animal…
UPDATE
San Diego Seals Can Stay
San Diego now has legal leeway to let seals remain in the Casa Beach Cove. At the Children's Pool in La Holla, some residents tried to water-hose or scarecrow the harbor seal colony away — while others fought for their longtime home. KC urged officials to let seals stay…
VICTORY
Calif Cities Ban Declawing
When a cat is declawed, her last paw bone, along with with tendons and ligaments, is amputated. Now precedent-setting ordinances to ban the controversial procedure have passed in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. Amputation is never humane…
VICTORY
No Nepal Monkey-To-Lab Export
Reports now confirm Nepal will halt breeding of monkeys for biomedical research abroad. Over six years, KC tracked info from Gateway to Hell and Stop Monkey Business to inform and provide protest tools for activists to reach influential decision-makes in Nepal's dark…
UPDATE
Customers Flee HLS Cruelty
As customers, financiers, suppliers abandon Huntingdon Life Sciences, revenue plummets for the contract research lab. HLS, subject of cruelty/fraud investigations, has multiple Animal Welfare Act breaches, staff arrests on animal cruelty, USDA payoffs for misstated records…
VICTORY
MI Shelter Ends Pound Seizure
Montcalm County, MI Commissioners voted to end a 30-year contract with R&R Research. This means impounded animals won't be relinquished to Class B dealers for sale to medical research labs. R&R had seized unadopted animals for lives of toxic overdose, mutilation, pain…
VICTORY
Fur Outta Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters goes fur-free, joining Zappos, Juicy Couture, Polo Ralph Lauren, Gap, Forever 21, and more retailers that no longer profit from another's agony. Kinship Circle members questioned the chain's fur-trim jackets. Even a little fur equals a whole lotta death…
VICTORY
Jamaica: No Greyhound Races
A Friends Of Kinship Circle Alert exposed plans for greyhound races in Jamaica, with a message to stop cruelty before it begins. Spent greyhounds are killed and pups culled, if deemed unfit to race. Jamaica's Prime Minister informed Grey2kUSA…
PROGRESS
Obama Bans Downer Cows
With closure of a long-time loophole, downed cows cannot be rammed with tractors and forklifts or hauled, electro-shocked and water-hosed so meat makers profit from their torture. Though the USDA rule is now firm, there is still no downer ban codified as law…
PROGRESS
Obama Fixes ESA Bush Broke
When Bush altered an Endangered Species act policy, KC members flooded the admin with pleas for FWS or NOAA reviews, before habitat-intrusive projects begin. Obama's admin has restored the mandate for independent assessment on harm to endangered species…
VICTORY
UM Live Dog Labs End
University Of Michigan will use simulators in place of dog mutilation. Your words matter! Six week after PCRM reports old-fashioned dog labs in UM trauma training, protestors help push UM to “use only simulated models for Advanced Trauma and Life Support courses…”
UPDATE
House Passes Primate Bill
U.S. House passes primate pet bill in shadow of Travis tragedy. As the 200-lb chimp outgrew cuteness, he attacked a caregiver. A butcher knife subdued the confused chimp, who staggered off to his toys and blankets. Travis died as he awaited his next command…
UPDATE
Grey Seal Hunt Fizzles
Canada's seal hunt fizzles amid a shrinking market. A grey seal massacre is abandoned when the demand for skins stops. Rebecca Aldworth of HSUS finds thriving life on Hay Island, Nova Scotia — instead of shot, bludgeoned babies with skin torn from their bodies…
PROGRESS
Jailed For Husky Abuse
“Thank you Kinship Circle for mobilizing the wider animal advocate community about this case,” writes Emilie Bottiggi, a KC member who sought justice for Lucas. Christopher Barnett (TN) ran a saw-like tool through Lucas' bloody mouth, exposing root and nerve…
VICTORY
Euro Cat/Dog Fur Ban
When Humane Society Int'l asked Kinship Circle to create a global action alert to European Commissioners, we demanded a ban on import, export, sale and production of cat-dog fur skins in Europe. That ban now takes full effect. Cat/dog fur, mostly imported from China…
