It’s an ‘Ag Gag’: Farmers in Canada shift away from transparency, silence whistleblowers, and increase the vulnerability of farm animals

This fall, Alberta and Ontario introduced American style “ag gag” legislation that targets people who would report poor farmed animal conditions, abuse and cruelty. Typically, this type of legislation contains provisions that prohibit people from deceiving their employers and taking or possessing photographs, video or audio recordings without the farm owner’s consent, and levies significant fines to deter this kind of action.

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Nine ways to keep your pet safe on Halloween

Halloween is a fun time of year for humans, but it isn’t always the case for pets. A parade of strangers in even stranger outfits ringing the doorbell can cause anxiety, and there are a number of threats to them – human and otherwise – on Halloween night.

Follow these safety tips below for a safer and happier Halloween for your pets.

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Humane Canada statement on recent incident at Edmonton Humane Society

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Humane Canada statement on recent incident at Edmonton Humane Society

OTTAWA – June 7, 2018 – Humane Canada is saddened by the recent incident at the Edmonton Humane Society involving three cats being accidentally left in one of the organization’s transport vehicles. Edmonton Humane Society has acted swiftly to review and change their transfer policy and procedures in order to prevent this kind of gravely serious error from ever happening again.

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What do human and animal abuse have in common?

Have you heard that Humane Canada is presenting Canada’s first national conference on the violence link in December?

If you aren’t familiar with the violence link, it’s the proven link between violence against animals and violence against people. This can manifest in many ways, including a pet being harmed or killed after a woman leaves an abusive relationship or a serial killer practicing his or her abuse on animals before moving on to human beings. Over the last decade, this pattern has come to be known as the violence link.

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10 ways you can build a humane Canada

What do we mean when we say the word humane? And what does it mean to be a humane community or nation?

In Canada and around the world, the humane movement is about compassion, collaboration, education and action. It was built on the idea that we need to protect the most vulnerable in our society, and it’s focused on minimizing or eliminating the suffering and exploitation of animals.

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Lessons learned from the Fort Mac wildfires

June is Disaster Preparedness Month, and I took the opportunity to have a conversation with Tara Clarke, the outgoing Executive Director of Fort McMurray SPCA, to hear what the organization learned about disaster preparedness after living through the largest animal disaster rescue in Canadian history: the Fort McMurray wildfires. It’s been just over a year since the wildfires hit, and the Fort McMurray community is still in the process of rebuilding and recovering.

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