Animal Cruelty

For more than half a century, humans have required all new drugs to be tested on animals. Today, ethical alternatives are emerging. But can they replace animal studies? The Down to Earth team takes a closer look.

Each year, a billion poultry birds and tens of millions of other farm animals are transported within and outside of the EU to be bred from, fattened or slaughtered. Regulations on how that transportation happens do exist, but scores of breaches of those regulations have been documented in official audits carried out by the European Commission in recent years.

Twenty years ago, Wen Junhong took home one abandoned dog. Now, she has over 1,300 rescued canines crammed into a single brick house on the outskirts of the southern Chinese metropolis Chongqing.

Our abductors threatened to kill me, fed us with animal food - Kankara Schoolboy

This week we begin by looking at South Korea's strategy against Covid-19. It has been widely praised as effective against the virus but is it corrosive to personal freedoms? Next we see how monks are racing to save a Buddhist temple from rising waters in Thailand. The result of failed economic planning at the cost of the local environment. Finally, we head to India where the pandemic has exacerbated the problem of aggressive monkeys in New Delhi. We will look at how innovative solutions such as facial recognition are being used to deal with the problem.

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Ultra-premium vodka, Cîroc was the toast of the uber-hip party experience as The Lagos Party Animal (LPA) was hosted by superstar DJ Lambo, and packed with the crème de la crème of the entertainment industry, top Nigerian DJs, and hypemen.

Priests in Cyprus bless pets and their owners as they mark World Animal Day, an international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4.

Sofiya, one of thousands of Kyiv residents who spent their sixth night at a metro station seeking shelter from Russian missile and rocket attacks, choked back tears as she spoke about Ukrainian families' ordeal. "It is terrible how many kids are there. We want to live as independent, normal country. And thank you that so many countries can hear us and support us. I hope all this violence and cruelness ends soon, ” she said.

Many Ghanaian farmers lose their animals due to inadequate vaccination. But now, a startup created by two youngers is solving the problem. The Cowtribe mobile app delivers the last-mile vaccines to livestock ranchers.

A mandatory label documenting how animals were reared and other new regulations are supposed to improve animal welfare. Is it a step toward more transparency for consumers — or just greenwashing?