When doom and gloom drive headlines, it’s easy to think that 2023 was a year of nothing but conflict and chaos. But for animals, who endure so much suffering at the hands of humans, the year just past brought many positive changes.
Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, removing the mandate for animal tests for new drugs and giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to consider superior, non-animal methods instead of relying on deadly, scientifically flawed tests on animals. And gruesome decompression sickness experiments on sheep funded by the U.S. Navy—which had been awarded more than $389,000 in taxpayer money—at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ended up to two years ahead of schedule. The sheep formerly slated for these tests will be spared the agony of cardiovascular collapse, spinal cord injury and paralysis.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act was signed into law in December 2022, and the full effect of this historic victory for animals used in entertainment was felt this past year. The new law bans private ownership of big cats and prohibits the public from having contact with them. This represents the final blow to the abusive big-cat cub-petting industry in the U.S., in which countless vulnerable cubs suffered and died. One of the industry’s major players, “Tiger King” villain and Myrtle Beach Safari operator Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, was convicted of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking by a jury in Virginia.
Anheuser-Busch InBev—the parent company of iconic American beer brand Budweiser—agreed to stop cutting the tailbones off its Clydesdale horses. Budweiser had used scalpels or a tight band to stop the blood supply to the tail, causing it to die and fall off. The horses were left to flick the stump of their tail in a futile attempt to brush away biting flies.
Ford Motor Company slammed the brakes on its animal testing. Despite the automaker’s assurance in 2009 that it didn’t conduct or fund such tests, it was determined that the company had been financially involved in a gruesome experiment that killed 27 pigs for barbaric crash tests. Ford updated its public policy to close all loopholes that had previously allowed it to fund tests on animals. General Motors also upgraded the formal policy that now prohibits it from conducting or paying for animal testing. The automaker had stopped using animals in crash tests in 1993 after an 18-month PETA campaign but hadn’t expressly prohibited paying others to conduct tests on animals.
The National Institutes of Health rescinded the eligibility of Colombia’s Caucaseco Scientific Research Center and Malaria Vaccine and Development Center to receive U.S. taxpayer funding. Monkeys there had been confined to rusted, feces-encrusted cages, and many of them were suffering due to infections, missing eyes and other injuries. More than 100 tiny owl monkeys and 180 mice were seized.
After a PETA Asia investigation documented that handlers violently beat camels and horses at the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, one tour operator after another stopped selling tickets to ride them.
Circuses are dropping animal acts, fur salons are going out of business, supermarket shelves are filled with fabulous vegan options and countless animals will be relieved of suffering in the new year and beyond. Kind people will continue to do their part by buying cruelty-free products, eating vegan, refusing to wear anything stolen from animals and shunning animal acts. Here’s to a safe and healthy 2024 for all.
