We are absolutely ecstatic that Save Ralph was awarded the Grand Prix for Good. This prestigious recognition by the Cannes Lions jury is an honor and a testament to Ralph’s powerful message that testing cosmetics on animals is cruel and needs to stop. It was truly a privilege to accept this award on behalf of the extraordinary Save Ralph filmmakers and the brilliant HSI team working tirelessly around the world to end cosmetics animal testing for good. We are very grateful to Cannes Lions for this high-profile opportunity to keep the issue in the global spotlight and we hope that it adds momentum to our efforts to end this unnecessary cruelty.

A few small stop motion frames in camera and one giant leap forward for animal testing kind.

With many European travel companies refusing to let Ukrainian refugees travel with their animals, we’re seeing a worrying number of cats and dogs being left behind at local shelters, charities and with relatives, or even released near airports or bus stations. This agonising dilemma unnecessarily adds to the stress that refugees are already enduring, because their companion animals are beloved members of their extended family. It also puts additional pressure on local charities and authorities, who have to find a solution for the animals coming from Ukraine. HSI/Europe has reached out to transport companies across Europe asking them to do everything within their power and resources to help Ukrainian refugees with pets gain access to planes and buses. Several leading companies have responded and are doing great work to make travel pet friendly. However, more transport companies must step in to ensure that no one fleeing Ukraine is needlessly separated from their companion animal.

In Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since WWII, millions of Ukrainians have had to take the decision to leave their country and flee the war. Along with a few possessions, many are also taking their pet animals, who they cherish as family members. The trauma of war as well as the stress of the evacuation journey, can make animals vulnerable to a variety of illnesses and so HSI’s Vets for Ukrainian Pets program aims to eliminate barriers to accessing veterinary care for the pets of refugees. It will provide a much-needed safety net for those families fleeing with their beloved pets so that at no point they feel compelled to leave their pets behind due to concerns about being able to care for them.

We are grateful to start this joint project together with our sister organisation FECAVA and with the much-appreciated support of Humane Society International. Through this joint project, we will offer a strong, free pet healthcare response to ensure that those arriving with their beloved pets, many that are vulnerable, receive the care and treatment they need. This is about emergency care, long-term treatment for chronic conditions as well as routine health checks.

We are delighted to partner with Humane Society International and FVE to offer support to refugees’ pets in Europe fleeing the war in Ukraine. It is a testament to the dedication of the veterinary and animal welfare organisations to create such a far-reaching scheme in such a short time.

In times like these, we, at the Red Cross know that our most valuable resource is kindness and compassion. Our humanitarian convoys will deliver not only supplies to people in desperate need, but also hope that help in on the way. In times like these we know that not only people, but also animals need help. We are happy and honoured to have Humane Society International on our side, making sure that much needed pet food will also reach Ukraine with our convoys. First tonne of dry pet food has reached our loading point in Sibiu, and will be delivered to Ukraine within the next days.

As this conflict continues, people and animals in Ukraine are suffering alongside each other, particularly in those animal shelters and homes where leaving animals behind has simply been an impossible decision to make. We are grateful that the Romanian Red Cross has recognised that the plight of animals in war is inextricably bound up with the plight of the people who live with them and care so deeply about their welfare. We have donated one tonne of emergency pet supplies, the first of many to come, that the Red Cross will distribute within Ukraine to help avert a worsening animal welfare crisis. There are large numbers of pet dogs and cats roaming the streets who have become separated from their families; they are bewildered, traumatised and in need of help. The tragedy of war doesn’t differentiate between two legs or four, and together with the Red Cross we will get aid to those people in Ukraine desperately asking for help to keep their animal friends alive in this crisis.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is of course a devastating humanitarian crisis, but the beloved dogs, cats and other animals of those fleeing Ukraine are very much part of that refugee story. We have heard from refugees we’re helping in Berlin that the loyal companionship of their pets has kept them and their families going on the arduous journey to safety. For children especially, their pets are an enormous source of comfort to help them cope with the trauma of war. These refugees are frightened and exhausted, so being able to help them care for their pets means they have one less thing to worry about at a time when they need help the most.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is of course a devastating humanitarian crisis, but the beloved dogs, cats and other animals of those fleeing Ukraine are very much part of that refugee story. Leaving pets behind to starve or be injured in the conflict is understandably for many an impossible decision, and we have heard from refugees we’re helping in Berlin that the loyal companionship of their pets has kept them and their families going on the arduous journey to safety. For children especially, their pets are an enormous source of comfort to help them cope with the trauma of war. These refugees are frightened and exhausted, so being able to help them care for their pets means they have one less thing to worry about at a time when they need help the most.

We are deeply concerned for the people and animals in Ukraine for whom the threat of injury or death from the fighting is compounded by the increasing challenge of safely finding food and supplies. Our first shipment of emergency funds and goods will reach many shelters, rescues and families struggling to cope. But the longer this conflict continues, the more challenging it may become. Significant numbers of dogs are now roaming the streets and seeking shelter in abandoned or bombed buildings because shelters have been damaged. There will also be animals on farms and in zoos for whom evacuation is just not possible. So alongside the human tragedy of this invasion we face the possibility of a worsening animal welfare crisis.

We are in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis. Urgent and concerted action is needed to clamp down on the trafficking of wildlife. The EU-Vietnam trade deal explicitly commits both Parties to adopting and implement appropriate effective measures to bring about a reduction of illegal trade in wildlife, such as awareness raising campaigns, monitoring and enforcement measures. I urge the European Commission to reach out to the Vietnamese government to offer both financial and technical assistance to help them combat the scourge of wildlife trafficking, which is pushing so many species towards the brink of extinction.

Vietnam has made sterling efforts, such as revising its Penal Code to significantly penalise wildlife crime, to tackle the illegal wildlife trade in-country. However, Vietnam’s reputation is tarnished by the fact that it is the primary destination for illegal wildlife products sourced from across Africa and shipped by criminal networks directly or indirectly to meet the demand in Vietnam and beyond. These networks are accelerating the decline of Africa’s biodiversity and are exacerbating corruption and weak rule of law in many source and transit countries in the continent. It is unfortunate that the actions of a minority of Vietnamese citizens – and not to mention the complicity of EU citizens in this wildlife trafficking too – are sullying the country’s reputation and undermining their efforts to stamp out the illegal trade.

The EU also needs to step up to help the African nations whose wildlife populations are being blighted by poachers and organised criminal networks seeking to profit from the illegal trade in endangered species, and most certainly needs to better penalise EU citizens who are involved in this heinous trade. For example, we have recently seen a case involving both Polish and Vietnamese nationals who have attempted to launder rhino hunting trophies imported legally into the EU into the Southeast Asian rhino horn trade. In addition to increasing European collaboration with and providing more support to the Vietnamese authorities, we also need to make sure that here in Europe wildlife crime does not pay. At present, this kind of crime is often viewed as being relatively low-risk and high income generating due primarily to the lack of severe penalties and low chances of being apprehended or prosecuted. We hope that the revision of the Environmental Crime Directive will help rectify this situation in the EU, as well as the updated EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking providing greater resources and impetus for combating illegal wildlife trade.

We are deeply concerned for the people and animals impacted by Russia’s military action in Ukraine, and so we welcome the European Commission’s recognition that people fleeing the conflict care deeply about their companion animals as beloved members of their family and will want to keep them safe. Those seeking refuge will be greatly relieved to know that they can make evacuation plans to EU countries with their pets without unnecessary delay. This is a precedent setting compassionate stance from the EU that we very much hope will be replicated around the world during similar conflict situations. People should not have to jeopardise their own safety in efforts to prevent their animals from being left behind to fend for themselves.

It is lamentable that a majority of MEPs followed the position taken by their AGRI committee colleagues, many of whom have vested economic interests in farming. The foxes are effectively in charge of the henhouse. From the outset, allowing producers to carry on with business as usual took precedence over improving the welfare conditions under which billions of sentient animals are intensively kept for food production. Worse still, the report’s claims that there are no reliable solutions to tail-biting in pigs - and that all is well with the welfare of force-fed ducks and geese - fly in the face of animal welfare science.

Once upon a time, ENVI was assigned as the lead committee to prepare the Parliament’s reports on animal welfare legislative initiatives, but during the sixth legislative term, and perhaps not by coincidence, AGRI’s powers and responsibilities were amended to include “animal husbandry and welfare.” This has proved particularly problematic, not only since it meant that issues such as animal testing and even commercial seal slaughter, also ended up on their docket, but because there are so many documented conflicts of interest in AGRI due to many MEPs receiving income derived from farming.

This is an historic victory for animal protection in Italy, and HSI/Europe is immensely proud that our fur farm conversion strategy has played a central role in dismantling this cruel and dangerous industry in our country. There are very clear economic, environmental, public health and of course animal welfare reasons to close and ban fur farms. Today’s vote recognizes that allowing the mass breeding of wild animals for frivolous fur fashion represents a risk to both animals and people that can’t be justified by the limited economic benefits it offers to a small minority of people involved in this cruel industry. With so many designers, retailers and consumers going fur-free, conversion of fur farms offers people a sustainable future that the fur trade simply cannot provide.

In thirty years of animal rights battle this is the best victory. Finally, a parliamentary vote sanctions the end of unspeakable suffering inflicted on animals only in the name of profit and vanity. Italy is the twentieth European country to introduce a ban or severe restriction on fur farming: better late than never. Now we await the final approval of the budget law, but the political will has been clearly expressed. A dream comes true that animal protection associations have cultivated for decades in our country. I want to thank all the colleagues of the Intergroup, in particular Vice-President De Petris, who presented the amendment and reported it to the committee, the parliamentarians who shared this choice and the Italian office of Humane Society International which has promoted the economic study whose results formed the ‘basis’ for formulating the proposal. It is a great achievement, which finally all those who love and respect animals rejoice!

It is astonishing that while most EU citizens, animal welfare scientists and even the European Commission have recognised the urgent need to improve farm animal welfare, a majority of the Parliament’s AGRI Committee members are so out of touch with welfare conditions on many EU farms. It beggars belief that AGRI MEPs endorsed the fallacious claim that “no reliable solutions whatsoever have been found thus far for the problem of tail-biting in pigs”, while the truth is that both Finland and Sweden have long implemented a full ban on routine tail-docking and sought to address the challenge of tail-biting through proper environmental enrichments, something that the Pigs Directive already demands. When it comes to animal welfare, the European Parliament really needs to resist the determined efforts of economic interests to undermine and impede the measures sorely needed to advance animal welfare. What we are asking for, and what the public supports is substantiated by hard science

Crucially, MEPs explicitly reiterated their support for an end for caged confinement of farm animals by 2027. When the Commission delivers its legislative proposals in 2023, we’ll certainly be reminding them that backing out on this is not what the 1.4 million EU citizens who signed the End the Cage Age European Citizens Initiative will accept.

Amongst other things, the adopted report acknowledges that our current food system, including animal and crop production, must be brought within planetary boundaries. It calls for an accelerated transformation away from intensive animal agricultural practices and emphasises that a population-wide shift in consumption patterns is needed to increase the consumption of plant-based foods and address the overconsumption of meat and ultra-processed products

While the Farm to Fork report as adopted in committee could have been considerably stronger, we recognise that it is the product of lengthy negotiations between the political groups. It is also a remarkable result given that from the outset the agricultural lobby has done its utmost to undermine the Commission’s ambitious plans to radically overhaul the existing food system in a desperate bid to maintain ‘business as usual’, particularly with regard to the overproduction and consumption of meat and other animal products, and the necessary transition to more sustainable plant-based diets.

In itself such a forward-thinking report is a major achievement, given how many of the colossal 2,295 proposed amendments to it were industry-driven efforts to cling on to the status quo. It is high time that the conflict of interests of MEPs who are responsible for deciding EU farming policy be properly addressed by EU lawmakers. There is sufficient evidence that various AGRI committee members receive additional income from agricultural activities, including CAP funds. Having these foxes in charge of the henhouse provides a partial explanation for the general unwillingness to embrace systemic change in farming practices and to favour economic interests above progressive environmental protection and animal welfare.

Wildlife around the globe is under intense pressure from human activity and over-exploitation. Illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade, poor governance and corruption have significant negative impacts on ecosystems and result in the loss of multiple wild species, affecting the integrity of whole ecosystems, contributing to climate change, and damaging local livelihoods, economic development and security. The coronavirus pandemic should be a wake-up call to humanity. COVID-19 is the latest in a long line of zoonotic diseases that have wreaked havoc with human health and society. The more we continue to exploit animals, destroy animals’ natural habitats and lose biodiversity, the greater the opportunities for emerging infectious diseases to spread to human populations.

The current COVID-19 pandemic and other disease outbreaks of zoonotic origin such as SARS and Ebola have clearly demonstrated the critical need to apply a truly trans-sectoral One Health approach, as a matter of urgency. We believe that efforts must be focused on preventing pandemics of zoonotic origin at their source­—in other words, stopping them at the point of pathogen spillover from animals to humans, well before they can become local outbreaks, epidemics, or global pandemics. We have borne witness to the devastation caused to human communities by the current coronavirus pandemic. Concerted global action is needed to ensure that the next pandemic is stopped in its tracks.

The link between emerging zoonotic diseases, the exploitation of wild animals and the human destruction of their natural habitats is beyond doubt. We must also not forget that the EU is active in the trade in wildlife, being both a destination market and a hub for the trade of wildlife in transit to other regions, particularly from Africa destined for Asia. The EU Biodiversity Strategy makes an explicit connection between wildlife trade and the emergence of zoonotic diseases. To reduce the risks posed to human health—as well as to protect animal welfare—we strongly advocate maintaining wild animals in secure and intact habitats and minimizing wild animal-human interaction by severely limiting wild animal trade and use. The European Commission has a great opportunity to deliver on this through a robust revision of the existing EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking.

“This vote signals the need for systemic change in the EU’s approach to safety science and health research, with Parliament embracing an historic opportunity to take animal suffering out of the equation and shift the focus to modern, human relevant technologies. If our goal isn’t to cure cancer in mice or prevent birth defects in rabbits, we need to let go of the unfounded belief that these animals are miniature people and get serious about understanding and predicting human biology in the real world. Human organ-chips, stem cell models and next-generation computing allow us to do exactly that, and can deliver considerable benefits in the study of uniquely human diseases and the assessment of potential new medicines and chemical safety generally. Today with this historic vote, the EU Parliament is calling for pro-active and coherent policies to phase-out animal experiments, such as preferential funding for non-animal methods, training scientists in new technologies and key regulatory changes to chemicals legislation. We call on the Commission to embrace these proposals and recognise that an Action Plan to hasten our departure from animal-based science is in all our interests.”