animal rights

How to Go Vegan for Lent

How to Go Vegan for Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian season of Lent. This is a period of fasting and reflection, when believers often start a new discipline or give up something that is distracting them from their spiritual life.  That makes it a perfect time to start a vegan practice, according to In Defense of […]

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Italy Votes to Ban Fur Farming and Shut Down Mink Farms

    Italy Votes to Ban Fur Farming and Shut Down Mink Farms

    The Italian Senate has voted to approve an amendment to the budget law that will close the remaining ten mink farms in Italy within six months and ban fur farming throughout the country. The decision came about after talks with Humane Society International/Europe, which offered practical strategies in its report Mink breeding in Italy: Mapping […]

    Charities Should Stop Animal Gifting, Activists and Experts Argue

    Charities Should Stop Animal Gifting, Activists and Experts Argue

    One popular way to give to charity during the holiday season is to buy a needy family an animal like a goat or a cow. But experts and animal welfare advocates argue that this kind of giving actually is not helpful for the recipients or the planet. “In the lead-up to Christmas, many people are […]

    ‘Whales, Sea Turtles and Other Animals Shouldn’t Have to Suffer and Die From Entanglements’: Conservation Group Seeks Federal Help

    ‘Whales, Sea Turtles and Other Animals Shouldn’t Have to Suffer and Die From Entanglements’: Conservation Group Seeks Federal Help

    Oakland conservation group the Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service to require trap fisheries to convert from traditional crab fishing gear to new ropeless or “pop-up” gear in all United States waters within the next five years. The old gear has led to many entanglements and injuries of endangered whales […]

    Breeders Inject Camels With Botox for Beauty Pageant

    Breeders Inject Camels With Botox for Beauty Pageant

    More than 40 camels have been disqualified from the popular beauty pageant of the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival in Saudi Arabia after judges found that the camels’ appearances were altered with fillers, injections (like Botox) and facelifts, among other artificial enhancements. The camel beauty contest is serious business, with around $66 million in prize money […]

    8 Wolves Poisoned in Oregon, Including an Entire Pack

    8 Wolves Poisoned in Oregon, Including an Entire Pack

    Oregon police are seeking assistance in the poisoning of eight wolves in the state since February. Conservation groups are also offering a $43,000 reward for information about the killings, The Guardian reported. “We are furious and appalled. These poisonings are a significant blow to wolf recovery in Oregon,” Defenders of Wildlife senior northwest representative Sristi […]

    Could Mushroom-Based Leather Be High Fashion’s Next It Material?

    Could Mushroom-Based Leather Be High Fashion’s Next It Material?

    Could mushrooms create a vegan leather that doesn’t harm animals or contribute to the climate crisis? In the past year, high fashion has turned to a material called mycelium, which can be grown from fungi in weeks but has the look and feel of calfskin. Experts think that working with mushrooms could give designers a […]

    UK Animal Welfare Law Would Recognize Lobsters, Crabs, Octopuses as Sentient Beings

    UK Animal Welfare Law Would Recognize Lobsters, Crabs, Octopuses as Sentient Beings

    A new animal welfare law in the UK may soon recognize decapods, like lobsters and crabs, and cephalopods, like octopi, as sentient beings. The classification means that the government would officially recognize that these animals feel pain. This distinction will then need to be considered in future policymaking decisions. The proposal is an extension to […]