Animal cause: great progress in 2021.

Like the previous one, the year which is drawing to a close has not been the easiest. Our world has changed, but one thing has remained constant: the strong interest in the animal cause in France and elsewhere, and the awareness that every animal is someone and not something has continued to spread.

This has enabled many great advances for animals to emerge over the past twelve months, from the law against animal abuse to the abandonment by many brands of fur and angora, including the launch of '' an unprecedented citizens' initiative against animal experimentation by cosmetics giants and the strong position taken by several mayors of France against the cruelty of foie gras. Here are some of the best animal victories of 2021:

1. The law on animal abuse is finally born

Essential advances for animals in France have finally materialized with the passage of the law against animal abuse. It signs the programmed end of wild animals in circuses and dolphinariums (with unfortunately exceptions to be fought), prohibits the sale of puppies and kittens in animal shops by 2024 and acts the definitive closure of farms producing fur in wild animals.

2. Fur continues its inevitable decline

Fur is definitely out of date! After lengthy campaigns from PETA, the Canada Goose brand has finally announced that it will no longer use fur for its parkas - sparing the coyotes who were cruelly trapped and killed for their fur to line its hoods. Large French luxury group Kering has also responded to PETA's (and actress Gillian Anderson's) call by banning fur group-wide. Valentino has done the same, and the more than 40 international editions of Elle magazine will no longer promote the cruel material, neither in its editorial content nor in the advertisements it contains.

This year, Estonia has finally banned fur-producing farms, Italy is preparing to do the same, and Israel has gone even further by becoming the first country to ban the sale of fur.

3. The mayors of France take a stand against foie gras

A controversy over foie gras resounded in France at the end of the year: after being contacted by PETA, the town halls of Strasbourg, Grenoble, Lyon and Besançon confirmed having banned foie gras - a barbaric product resulting from the ignoble force-feeding of overdue geese and ducks - from their official receptions and events. The practice of force-feeding is also the subject of growing opposition from the French, with 71% in favor of its ban and 40% refusing to buy it for ethical reasons and very recently, four celebrities have joined. to the debate by appearing in a video encouraging people to say "no thanks" to foie gras.

4. Dove and The Body Shop call for an end to cosmetic testing on animals

The Dove and The Body Shop brands have joined forces with PETA, Cruelty Free Europe, Humane Society International Europe and other groups to mobilize European citizens in a joint initiative . Faced with the threats hanging over the long-standing ban on animal testing for cosmetics, it is urgent to collect a million signatures so that the European Commission maintains and strengthens the ban on animal testing and promotes the transition towards a product safety assessment without animal testing. Fortunately, the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted for a plan to end animal testing .

5. The L'Oréal group stops using animal hair brushes

Badgers live in homes with their families and have a strong sense of community with their immediate family. These intelligent and sensitive animals comfort their young during thunderstorms, and some of their dwellings (underground burrows made up of several meters of tunnels and up to 40 entrances) are over 100 years old and passed down from generation to generation. Despite this, these animals are often confined, butchered and even beaten with chair legs so that their hair is used to make makeup brushes and shaving brushes. Fortunately, after learning about this cruelty, the Wilkinson Sword brand pledged to abandon badger hair brushes (joining over 90 other brands) and the L'Oréal group went even further by banning hair from all the animals in the making of his brushes.

6. The world is a better place for Samson

A gentle beagle born to a sordid breeding farm, Samson has known only the concrete, steel, and noise of 5,000 other dogs destined for research labs around the world for most of his life. But after spending eight long years in an austere cage at Envigo , a major international distributor of dogs used for experiments, Samson was rescued by a PETA US investigator. Today, he is learning to play, discovering new smells, observing squirrels and birds, and receiving daily hugs and love from his new family.

7. H&M signs an original vegan collection with PETA

The future of fashion is vegan! Leather made from grapes and flower down can be found in the 100% vegan and PETA-approved collection from fashion giant H&M. “Co-Exist Story” is a sustainable clothing collection that illustrates the fact that there is no need to exploit animals for fashion.

8. Modern Pentathlon Gives Up Riding

After hearing from PETA USA and following a complaint from PETA Germany over the violence suffered by the horse Saint Boy at the Tokyo Olympics, the UIPM - the international governing body of modern pentathlon - voted in in favor of the withdrawal of riding from the modern pentathlon. This cruel ordeal will be replaced by a sport involving only human competitors who choose to participate voluntarily.

9. Armani, Farfetch and American Vintage abandon angora

Following sustained campaigns from PETA and its international entities, the brands Armani, Farfetch and American Vintage have pledged to no longer use angora - the soft fur of rabbits that are pulled out with large handles. while they scream in terror and agony - joining the more than 400 brands that have turned their backs on this obsolete material.

10. Le Cordon Bleu is launching its first vegan pastry class.

Le Cordon Bleu, one of the most illustrious cooking schools, has launched a 10-week plant-based baking skills training program, which has earned it the PETA “Vegan Culinary Education Award”.

11. Portugal spares children from attending horrific bullfights

After a statement released by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child highlighted the harmful effects of witnessing the violent abuse of any sentient being - including bulls - on one child, Portugal raised from 12 to 16 the minimum age required to attend cruel bullfights. And for the second year in a row, Pamplona's fiestas have been canceled, sparing bulls the horror of bullfighting torture and bloody death

12. Cobra Gold 2021: no animals were killed during the military exercise

Earlier this year, PETA urged Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly to demand that the organizers of an international military exercise in Thailand permanently replace the use of live animals in food supply survival exercises with more efficient and ethical animal-free training methods. This year, not a single animal was killed during Cobra Gold 2021 survival exercises.

13. Club Med is committed to killer whales, elephants and other animals with a new policy

This summer, the famous travel agency Club Med published a new guide on animal welfare , in which it details its commitments to no longer promote elephant rides, whale and dolphin shows. in captivity, bullfights and photo ops with wild animals.

14. New Zealand announces total ban on export of live animals

The country, which currently sends nearly 3 million live animals each year on arduous and long journeys around the world to serve as "breeding stock", will phase out the practice over the next two years. Countless surveys have shown the appalling conditions in which animals spend weeks traveling at sea.

15. Jean Paul Gaultier, Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci and others abandon exotic skin

Luxury fashion company Puig - which owns the brands Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier, Nina Ricci and Dries Van Noten - has confirmed that it will stop selling items made from the skins of snakes, crocodiles and other exotic animals. The Spanish family business said "it wants to leave a better world to the next generation". When will Hermès and LVMH turn ?