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The Itoman Harley, held annually on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month (June 21) in Itoman City, Okinawa, is reported to be resumed this year after being suspended for four years due to a pandemic. The Harley itself is a very peaceful event in which a large number of people row boats and compete, and is also held in Naha and other cities. However, the one held in Itoman is interspersed with an inhumane pastime in which 50 ducks are tossed into the sea and chased around and captured. The Animal Rights Center has been calling for the event to be stopped since 2015, but it was held…
On Dec.10th, 2022, International Animal Rights Day, we conducted street outreach activities on 3 spots, i.e. Shibuya (Tokyo), Iwate and Shiga, to appeal promotion of animal welfare and protection of animal rights. In Shibuya, a seminar on “animal welfare and rights” was also given. Dec.10th falls on “Human Rights Day.” Every person has the right to live one’s own life as a human being. In the same way, animals have the right to live their own lives. We believe the issue of animal rights is also the issue of animal welfare, just as the issue of human rights is also the issue of human being’s welfare. In the seminar, Ms.…
Cockfighting is illegal. As soon as 2 male gamecocks are placed in a pen, it can be illegal. On 2022/4/28, Shizuka Terata questioned the illegality of cockfighting at the House of Councilors Environment Committee. “Regarding Article 44, Paragraph 2, whose penal provisions have been tightened by the recent amendment, I think that making gamecocks fight itself may fall under the item of making a protected animal perform an act that may cause physical injury unreasonably, and is subject to the penalties of the Act on Welfare and Protection of Animals. I would like to ask the opinion of the Ministry of the Environment.” In response to this, Director Okuda of…
In 2021, we, Animal Rights Center Japan, together with the animal protection group Cookhouse in Okinawa, identified the location of the cockfighting ground in Chiba Prefecture. There were approximately 60 gamecocks in wooden cages, and some of them had their entire heads injured, with no eyes, had stitch marks on their heads, and had beaks cut in abnormal ways. Dead bodies were left abandoned, and we also found some bones laying around in the cages. There was a place where 10-20 people could sit, and in the back room there was a circular ring, around which chairs with cushions were lined up, making it a cockfighting ground that could be…
Companies that have contributed to the spread of animal welfare The Animal Welfare Award (AWA) is an annual* award to express our gratitude to companies that have made animal welfare efforts with animals in mind in Japan, a country that lags behind the rest of the world in animal welfare for livestock and aquatic animals. We evaluated initiatives that we believe had the greatest possible impact from the perspective of the Animal Rights Center Japan, which is involved in activities to protect farm animals in Japan. *April 2022 – March 2023