Anonymous for Animal Rights

Anonymous for Animal Rights is an animal rights group based in Israel^[1]. It focuses on several animal rights issues: the consumption of meat and animal source foods, using animals for clothing and entertainment, and animal testing. The group started organizing protests in the 1990s and became formally organized in 1994. The name Anonymous was chosen as a form of identification with the anonymity of animals in industrial farms, labs, and other industries.

Contents 1 Principles 2 Activities 2.1 Documentation 2.2 Information dissemination 2.3 Legislation and regulation 3 Main achievements 4 Other animal rights organizations in Israel 5 See also 6 References

Principles

Anonymous oppose animal-based food industries (such as meat, fish, milk and eggs) due to the suffering caused to animals in these industries; it calls for a vegan lifestyle^[2].

Activities

Anonymous activities are focused in three areas: documentation, information dissemination, and legal areas (legislation and regulation).

Documentation

Anonymous documents cases of violation of animal rights. It regularly visits industrial farms, and compares their practices to those allowed by law, assisted by theoretical agricultural research and by animal rights groups in Europe and the United States.

Information dissemination

Anonymous distributes printed material regarding animal rights. Leaflets and booklets are distributed in public events and in lectures in schools. The organization’s weekly publication is titled "This week in Animals Rights" and is distributed by e-mail since 2001.

The organization also maintains a web site that describes cruelties in animal industries, including photographs and films that were taken in chicken coops and cowsheds. The web site also contains practical information about vegan lifestyle, including nutritional advice and recipes.

Anonymous are also responsible for maintenance and updates to the Israeli Vegetarian Society web site^[3].

Legislation and regulation

Anonymous works with governmental units, trying to advance legislation and regulation regarding animal welfare, and the enforcement of existing regulations.

Main achievements

• The most well-known achievement of Anonymous was the protest against the production of foie gras. In August 2003, the Supreme Court of Israel ordered the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture to ban the force feeding of geese^[4]. Anonymous tracks the enforcement of the ban, and fills complaints against farms that conduct illegal force feeding.

• Anonymous conducted a campaign against the use of animals in circuses. Following the campaign, new regulations were enacted that prohibit the use of wildlife animals in circuses in Israel. Additional regulations exist in Tel-Aviv and some other cities that prohibit the use of any animal in circuses.

• Activists in the organization documented cattle dehorning without anesthesia in Gat. Following exposure of these findings on a television show, new regulations were enacted that prohibit it.

• Similarly, regulations were introduced regarding the protection of calves. The new regulations make isolation of calves and the denial of drinking water illegal, and specify required levels of hemoglobin in the blood, intake of fiber in the calves' nutrition, and ventilation and footing material requirements. This achievement is a result of a campaign initiated by Anonymous in 2001.

• Letters sent by Anonymous activists led to stopping dissections of animals in elementary and secondary schools.

Other animal rights organizations in Israel

Anonymous for Animal Rights is the largest animal liberation movement in Israel. Some smaller groups splintered from it during the years, including "Ma'avak Ehad" ("One Struggle", an anarchist-motivated political group) and "Shevi" ("Animal Liberation Israel").

See also

• Israel and animal welfare

References

Animal rights Main articles Animal rights Abolitionism Animal protectionism Nonhuman Speciesism Writers Carol Adams Jeremy Bentham Steven Best Stephen R. L. Clark Gary Francione Robert Garner Gill Langley Andrew Linzey Mary Midgley Tom Regan Bernard Rollin Richard D. Ryder Henry Salt Peter Singer Steven M. Wise Syed Ziaur Rahman Roger Yates Activists Greg Avery David Barbarash Mel Broughton Rod Coronado Jordan Halliday Barry Horne Shannon Keith Ronnie Lee Keith Mann Daniel G. McGowan Ingrid Newkirk Heather Nicholson Alex Pacheco Jill Phipps Craig Rosebraugh Alicia Silverstone Henry Spira Darren Thurston Andrew Tyler Jerry Vlasak Paul Watson Robin Webb Peter Daniel Young Groups List of animal rights groups Animal Aid Animal Legal Defense Fund Animal Liberation Front Animal Liberation Press Office Animal Rights Militia BUAV Chinese Animal Protection Network Great Ape Project Hunt Saboteurs Association Justice Department NAVA PETA Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Sea Shepherd SPEAK SHAC Political parties List of animal advocacy parties Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada Animals Count British Animal Protection Party Party Against Bullfighting, Cruelty and Mistreatment of Animals Party for the Animals Tierschutzpartei Issues Abolitionism Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act Animal model Animals in sport Animal testing Animal testing on non-human primates Anti-hunting Bile bear Blood sport Covance Ethics of eating meat Factory farming Fur trade Great ape research ban Green Scare Huntingdon Life Sciences International trade in primates Meat industry Nafovanny Open rescue Operation Backfire Pain and suffering in laboratory animals Recreational fishing Seal hunting Veganarchism Veganism Vegetarianism zoo Cases Brown Dog affair Britches Cambridge University primates McLibel case Pit of despair Silver Spring monkeys Unnecessary Fuss Publications The Cove (2009) Behind the Mask (2006) Earthlings (2006) Peaceable Kingdom (2004) The Animals Film (1981) Animal Liberation (1975) Arkangel Bite Back No Compromise Categories Animal law Animal Liberation Front Animal rights movement Animal rights Animal testing Blood sports Livestock Poultry