Voiceless: The Fund for Animals
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| Voiceless, the fund for animals | |
| Website: | www.voiceless.org.au |
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| Founders: | Brian Sherman AM and Ondine Sherman |
| Ambassadors: | Hugo Weaving, Abbie Cornish |
| Patrons: | JM Coetzee, Brian Sherman AM |
| Initiatives: | Animal Club, Voiceless Animal Advocates, Voiceless Law Talk and the Voiceless Grants Program |
Founded in 2004 Voiceless is a non-profit animal protection organisation based in Sydney, Australia that aims to promote respect, caring and compassion for animals. Primarily sponsored by the Sherman family, Voiceless also receives support and sponsorship from organisations such as Hunter Hall, Morinda Australia, Lush Cosmetics and Bio-Distributors.
Voiceless promotes a world in which animals are treated with respect and compassion by increasing awareness of the conditions in which they live and taking action to protect them from suffering.
Voiceless:
a) awards grants to organisations that share its vision;
b) educates Australians and in particular young Australians; and
c) works to improve legal protection for animals.
Voiceless's work focuses on raising awareness about animals in factory farming industries due to the magnitude of suffering and number of lives involved.
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[edit] Voiceless Grants Program
Since its inception in 2004, the Voiceless Grants Program has awarded more than $570,000 to non-profit organisations, universities, schools and local councils to support animal protection projects. Grants have been awarded to a wide range of organisations, including Humane Society International, Compassion in World Farming, Redfern Legal Centre, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, and Vegetarian Network Victoria, as well as a number of leading Australian universities such as Griffith University.
[edit] Voiceless's Legal Arm
Voiceless’s legal arm works to:
a) improve legal protection for animals;
b) monitor and enforce laws by increasing the accountability of government departments and other agencies responsible for enforcing animal protection laws; and
c) facilitate the development of animal law by educating the community and the legal profession about legal issues that relate to animals and supporting cases that seek to establish important legal protections for animals
[edit] Voiceless's Education Arm
Voiceless has two educational initiatives to harness the compassion and empathy of young people.
Animal Club is a national network of clubs in schools across Australia intended to inspire and encourage school students to get active for animal protection.
Animal Club’s underlying objectives are:
• To foster respect and compassion for animals.
• To raise awareness of animal protection issues.
• To encourage children to be advocates against animal cruelty.
• To introduce animal protection education into the school system.
• To help animals through the actions of students.
Animal Club offers an annual ‘Humane School' prize of $5,000.
Animal Club has received criticism from the National Farmers Federation. The NFF claimed that Voiceless were "infringing the rights of children to an education free of hidden agendas and ideological dogma."[1]
Elaine Morris responded that “Animal Club is about encouraging children to have compassion and respect for animals, is highly age specific and very well researched. It’s just about building on the natural empathy children have for animals.”[2]
Voiceless Animal Advocates (VAA) is a national network of university student societies which aims to:
1. Increase awareness of the conditions in which animals live; and
2. Empower students to take action to protect animals from suffering.
• VAA will be driven by the students on each university campus with Voiceless providing support and guidance. VAA members will organise activities at their university, or in the community, to raise awareness of animal protection issues.
• Currently, VAA is focusing on law students and Animal Law reform. Voiceless soon hopes to expand VAA to encompass other university disciplines including veterinary science, politics and economics.
[edit] Criticism
Voiceless are also profiled on anti-Activist website Wilkinson Media. Wilkinson Media claim that "Voiceless, provides a new threat to industry. Voiceless has media appeal with good penetration in Australia – but low on facts, heavy on spin and celebrity."[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "National Farmer's Federation of Australia Media Release", nff.org.au, May 2006, Retrieved May 18 2007
- ^ “Animal group slams Sussan” by Riccarda Burley, The Border Mail, page 1, June 15, 2006
- ^ "Wilkinson Media, Voiceless Profile", Wilkinson Media, Retrieved May 18 2007
