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There’s Hope When We Work Together
We have two words for you: THANK YOU. Because of you, we’ve accomplished so much change for animals this year. It is only with your compassionate support that we’ve been able to achieve tremendous victories for dogs, cats, monkeys, and many other animals.
As we reflect on our work from this past year, we’re excited to share how Lady Freethinker (LFT) has made great strides to speak out against cruelty and stop animal abuse around the world.
Thank you for never turning away – and for believing in the animals – always.
2022 Highlights
Here’s a closer look at our campaigns and investigations in action.
Dog Meat Trade Investigation & Rescue Flight
LFT released an investigation, covered by Newsweek, that exposed rampant cruelty in the dog meat trade and at live animal markets in Sumatra.
We’re working with activists in Sumatra to help save lives and are urging officials to shut down all live markets and ban the dog meat trade statewide.
In China, we helped save dogs from the meat trade by sponsoring a flight to bring 21 dogs from Beijing to their new families in Canada. Our rescue received national attention, including PEOPLE magazine.
Leading the Fight Against Animal Cruelty on Social Media
We continued to expose abusive videos on social media and call for change by tracking and logging over 2,500 cruelty videos, taking YouTube to court, and exposing abuse through on-the-ground investigations.
We also worked on a report published by SMACC that describes the dangers of online videos depicting wild animals as “pets,” which was covered by Forbes. We’re continuing to urge YouTube to remove animal cruelty from their platform, with over 148,000 signatures on our petition.
Victories!
These wins for animals couldn’t have happened without your support.
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Aiding Grassroots Animal Rescuers
We gave $4,000 to ChainFree Knoxville to purchase supplies – including straw, flaps, tarps, and toys – for cold and lonely outdoor dogs this winter, and are continuing to urge policymakers to ban cruel tethering.
We donated almost $55,000 through our Urgent Need Fund grants, to organizations working to provide care for rescued farmed animals and to groups working to sterilize dogs and cats and provide them with the veterinary care that they need.
And, LFT gave a $20,000 grant to the Romanian League in Defense of Animals (ROLDA) to help build a life-saving cat sanctuary, which will house 30 homeless, disabled and senior cats from Ukraine and Romania.
Taking Action
Together, we are speaking out against cruelty and ending animal abuse around the world.
We uncovered horrific, useless experiments on baboons at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and attended their board of visitors meeting to drop off our petition signatures and push to end the cruelty. Our action captured the attention of local media outlets.
Our investigation into elephant tourist “attractions” in Thailand exposed horrible abuse and received national press coverage from The Daily Mail. Our petition urging authorities in Thailand to crack down on these facilities garnered over 40,000 signatures.
LFT published a report that found puppies and dogs in Pennsylvania are suffering in filthy, illegal kennels. We’re urging everyone to never buy dogs from breeders or pet stores and we’re calling on officials to take immediate action. We received local media to help spread the word.
Our investigation into live markets showed chickens, cows, and goats suffering in filthy, cramped conditions. We’ll be continuing our work in 2023 to expose and shut down cruel live markets.
