Animal Aid
From Freepedia
Animal Aid is the United Kingdom's second largest animal rights group and one of the longest established in the world, having been founded in 1977.
Animal Aid campaigns peacefully against all forms of animal abuse and promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle. The emphasis on peace in campaigning has always been important to Animal Aid. The group investigates and exposes animal cruelty, and their undercover investigations and other evidence are often used by the media, bringing these issues to public attention.
The Animal Aid Education Department provides a range of resources and services for teachers and students and a free termly education newsletter and there is a national network of school speakers who offer free talks on a wide range of topics including animal rights, animal experiments, hunting and vegetarianism.
Animal Aid produces campaign reports, leaflets and factfiles, plus educational and undercover videos, many of which are available online and there is a quarterly magazine, a regular campaigners bulletin, and a sales catalogue with cruelty-free products.
Since 1997, Animal Aid has produced an annual "Mad Science Awards" ceremony, where it highlights "pointless and grotesque scientific research", awarding the "winners" with a statue of a beagle being stabbed with a scalpel. The pro-animal research group Seriously Ill for Medical Research describes Animal Aid as "renowned by the scientific community for its lack of relevant knowledge, information, experience or expertise," and labels the Mad Science Awards as "[an] ill-informed critique of medical research".
Living without cruelty
Animal Aid promotes activities for what it terms "cruelty-free living" – including everyday steps to reduce animal suffering and organises the popular Christmas Without Cruelty Fayre.
Following Animal Aid campaigns, the John Lewis department store closed its shooting club and Focus DIY store pledged to cease all animal sales. Animal Aid have blocked plans for reptile zoos around the UK and for horse-drawn omnibuses in Oxford.
See also:
- The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing
- The University of California Center for Animal Alternatives
- Dr Hadwen Trust
- Fox Hunting
- Animal rights, Animal testing
- Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Steven Best, Richard D. Ryder
