Spain has made great strides in recognising the rights of animals, firstly by changing the legal status of cats and dogs from objects to sentient, living beings, and now, a proposed ‘animal rights’ bill that will outlaw zoos and pet shops and bring in tougher prison sentences for animal abusers. Despite all this, bullfighting, inexplicably, remains unchecked.

NEWS: On Tuesday, the Scrap Factory Farming campaign (SFF) went to court to ask a judge to grant a judicial review into the government’s failure to consider evidence that keeping animals in intensive farming conditions is a serious risk for the emergence of new zoonotic diseases and antibiotic resistance. Today, the judge refused to grant the review. SFF plans to appeal the decision.

GUEST ARTICLE: Did you know that the UK’s Ministry of Defence was offered replacement faux fur bear caps at no cost to them until 2030? Instead, they chose to use taxpayer money to fund the massacre of Canadian black bears by hunters. PETA Director Elisa Allen explains how you can take action.

A new animation narrated by Chris Packham and released by the campaign group Keep the Ban aims to raise awareness of so-called ‘trail hunting’, exposed last year by hunt saboteurs as a subterfuge for illegal fox hunting in the UK.

NEWS: Gamekeepers and people who like to gun down animals have been told that certain species such as carrion crows and jackdaws can now be shot as the government updates its definition of ‘livestock’ to include game birds.

OPINION: Veganuary is upon us and as is now the tradition, farming organisations like the AHDB are rallying the troops to ‘fight back’. Their weapons: the environment and B12. Does that mean we should shift our focus back to ethics?

BLOG: In case you missed it, the RSPB - one of Britain’s foremost animal protection charities - advised its members to lure badgers to electric fences using sweet treats. The reaction from other groups was rightly damning, but once again it demonstrates the insidious nature of speciesism amongst our most hallowed animal-loving organisations.

NEWS: The Italian Senate today voted to approve changes to a budget law that will see the country’s 10 remaining mink farms closed within six months and a permanent ban on fur farming throughout Italy.

A group of restaurants and grocery stores in California has filed a lawsuit to block the implementation of ‘Proposition 12’ for fear it will cause shortages of pig products, proving that, in the end, profit matters more than the wellbeing of animals.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has voted against a bill that would have made hunting with dogs illegal in line with the rest of the UK, leaving animal protection campaigners “staggered”.

Spain is the latest European country to pass new legislation recognising the sentience of ‘pets’ and wild animals, paving the way for welfare reforms, but with no mention of bullfighting or changes to its status as a protected cultural asset.

GUEST ARTICLE: Gabriela Kubíková, EU farmed animal policy consultant and contributor to Živávlna, discusses a bold plan to end the support for shark finning within the European Union.