- Four
Paws organised a protest outside the National Assembly on World Animal
Day, advocating for stronger animal welfare laws. - The
protest included calls to end commercial lion breeding, improve veterinary
services, and address factory farming issues. - Four
Paws handed over a Memorandum to Parliament, outlining their demands for
animal sentience and welfare to be part of political manifestos.
Bringing animals to parliament and giving them a voice where decisions are made.
This was the key focus of the protest held outside the gates of the National Assembly on Friday morning 4 October.
The protest was organised by the global animal welfare organisation, Four Paws.
Friday marked World Animal Day, a Global Day of Action for animal rights and welfare.
The event came on the back of the Four Paws’ first State of the Animal Welfare Address held in May this year.
Top on the agenda at the welfare address was a call on political parties to include animal welfare and sentience in their political manifestos.
Memorandum
On Friday, the group handed over a Memorandum endorsed by several organisations outlining their demands.
These include ending the keeping of lions for commercial purposes and closing existing facilities with a call to expand this to all big cat species.
Additional points are:
- Improving companion animal welfare through establishing national and local programmes for veterinary services, sterilisation, vaccination, and education.
- Ending live animal transport for export by sea, calling for more humane alternatives; promoting food system change to prioritise sustainable and animal-friendly practices in agriculture.
- Preventing the next pandemic by adopting a One Health approach that includes the welfare of animals in national health strategies and adopting higher animal welfare standards with stricter regulations and enforcement to address the overpopulation crisis and factory farming.
Fiona Miles, director for Four Paws SA, said the purpose of the protest was to ensure animal welfare was at the heart of Parliament’s laws and policies.
ALSO WATCH World Animal Day protest urges Parliament to prioritise animal welfare
“We want to bring to the attention of parliament that companion, farm and wild animals need better protection for the planet’s future and the future of animals. We are all interconnected.”
The day also saw the launch of an animal welfare guide that would help ordinary South Africans advocate for animal welfare.
Celiwe Shivambu, campaign officer for climate change and pandemics for Four Paws, said: “Our hope is for people in South Africa to call for a caring society.
“We believe that a country’s greatness can be judged by how its leaders treat its most vulnerable. Today, we are speaking for those who don’t have voices.
“We are asking people to lend us their voices to speak on behalf of animal welfare.”
She appealed to people to join the #LiveKinder movement.
“We are calling on the Department of Justice to pass the animal welfare bill. The Department of Agriculture and Health all have the responsibility to carry the mandate of animal well-being.”
Family
Rosanne Howartz, said she joined the protest because she believes animals need more support.
“Pets are part of the family – makes me sad when pets suffer. It would be nice if government supported animal welfare organisations.
“We need more awareness of animal welfare, especially for kids. We must be kinder towards animals.”
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Chad Cupido, executive officer of an animal rights organisation, Beauty Without Cruelty, said: “We believe in teaching kids about the cruelty that animals have to face. We teach kids about animal rights and peaceful protests and then bring them to protests so they can experience it.”
He explained that the children who joined the protest on Friday were from Hanover Park.
“When there are protests then they don’t know how to stand up for themselves. When they do stand up for themselves it’s usually violent. It is good for the community to come together and protest behind an important cause.”
