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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Bill S-241 An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (great apes, elephants and certain other animals), short titled the Jane Goodall Act, will be moving to Senate of Canada hearings in the near future. There […]
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 […]
Attention Aspiring & Established Writers Writing about Animals Workshop with Nadja Lubiw-Hazard Author / veterinarian / Zoocheck board member October 4, 2023, Toronto, Ontario Writing Animals is a facilitated creative writing workshop designed for people (youth and adults) who are curious, passionate, or excited about animals and want to discover […]
By Rob Laidlaw Imagine being in a tiny tank, drawer or container where you can’t even stretch out. While understanding of the basic biological, behavioural and social needs of wild animals in captivity has grown substantially in recent decades, some animals are still subjected to longstanding, outdated, inhumane husbandry conditions […]
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 […]
Opinion commentary by Rob Laidlaw (May 31, 2023) (scroll to bottom to see text of December 11, 2022 Facebook post about proposed aquarium) As a young child I developed a fascination with wildlife of all kinds. At some point that I can’t remember I became particularly interested in fish and […]
