Puppy and kitten farms, or 'battery farms', are set up so that greedy traders can exploit animals in order to profit from their young. The cats and dogs used for breeding often go without proper socialisation or veterinary care and are often left in solitary confinement or in overcrowded conditions.
Now more than ever, as animal testing is being scrutinised and debated in the public forum, animal advocates must continue to speak for those whose voices have been ignored for too long. We can win the fight against animal testing and eliminate the need to mark World Day for Animals in Laboratories ever again.
I love animals. I really do. I'm a sucker for every cute kitten video and baby hedgehog GIF on the internet. Although I myself am not vegetarian, I barely eat meat and come from a family of vegetarians. I am staunchly against cosmetic animal testing, battery farming, and cruelty to animals in general. And yet despite this, I am also vehemently against PETA.
Animals have feelings and emotions, and they suffer from pain, disabilities and diseases just as humans do. But unlike my father, who could clearly communicate his wishes through a system of blinking his eyes, animals can't tell us (at least not in human language) that they don't feel well, are in terrible pain or even want to die. They depend on us to notice when something is wrong and to be brave enough to make the heartbreaking-but-humane decision to end their suffering when the time comes.
Femen are back in the media once again. This time they are running about Ikea with their breasts bared to protest Ikea's decision to edit out all the images of women in their catalogue for the market in Saudi Arabia.