captivity


Support Bill S-15 for elephants & great apes!   Recently updated !

SUPPORT BILL S-15! A BIG STEP FORWARD FOR CAPTIVE WILD ANIMALS IN CANADA     Bill S-15 is now in the midst of 2nd reading hearings. They should be completed by the end of May 2024. Elephants and great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans) are highly sentient animals who have […]


Eco-Literature: Creative Writing as Advocacy

Eco-literature: Creative Writing as Advocacy Wednesday May 29, 2024, 7 – 8 pm EST Join author, advocate and veterinarian Nadja Lubiw-Hazard for a reading, discussion, and Q&A. Nadja will read from her recently published short story, “Captive”, based on Yupi, a polar bear held captive in a tropical zoo in […]


Second kangaroo escape sympton of Ontario’s inaction on exotic animals

Escapes, human injuries and deaths, animal suffering and perpetual problems for municipalities the result of lack of exotic animal regulation in Ontario While some reporting of the escaped kangaroos treat the incidents very lightly, they are actually a sign of a very problematic, broken system in Ontario. Unlike most other […]


Whitby says NO to prohibited exotic animals at Nova’s Ark

Congratulations & Thank You to Whitby Town Council and Staff for Protecting Children and Animals On Monday January 8th, the Town of Whitby’s Committee of the Whole said NO to prohibited wild and exotic animals staying at the Nova’s Ark children’s camp. The facility houses 350 animals representing a wide […]


10th Anniversary of Moving Toronto Elephants to California

This month marks the 10th anniversary of Zoocheck’s campaign to secure the release of the Toronto Zoo’s last three surviving elephants (Toka, Thika and Iringa) and their subsequent 4,300 km transport to the PAWS sanctuary in California. Our campaign attracted a great deal of attention in Canada and around the […]

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NO PLACE FOR A SLOTH!

Guest commentary by Kira Pedersen  (July 2023) I recently visited a mobile zoo exhibit where, among other animals, I met a sloth for the first time and it wasn’t fun. While it was a miserable experience for me, it was undoubtedly worse for the sloth. The traveling animal show was […]


Dispensable lives, zoos and culling (Guest Opinion Editorial)

Guest Opinion Commentary – March 2023 by Shubhobroto Ghosh, Wildlife Research Manager of World Animal Protection (India), author of Dreaming in Calcutta And Channel Islands Following news of zoos and animals in captivity as I do regularly, some recent news of animals being intentionally killed in zoos caught my eye. […]


London votes against bylaw amendments for Reptilia

We’re pleased to report that on February 14 2023 London City Council voted 9 – 6 against moving forward with a Reptilia exemption to London’s animal control bylaw and the creation of a business licensing category for exotic animal establishments. This is a very positive development for reptiles and other […]


St. Catharines City Council says NO to Reptilia on Dec 12th

We’re pleased to report that St. Catharines City Council voted unanimously to reject Reptilia’s request for an exemption to its animal control bylaw at its December 12th meeting.This is a significant step forward in the protection of reptiles and amphibians in Ontario. Reptilia is a commercial reptile zoo business that […]