When you think back on 2024, what stands out? The total solar eclipse? The Olympics? The presidential election? For animals, 2024 was full of milestones that stopped suffering and saved lives.
Small animals scored several massive wins this year. The National Institutes of Health stopped funding the most common type of sepsis experiments on mice. This will spare countless animals from being injected with toxins, force-fed bacteria or made to inhale a bacterial "slurry" and suffering shock, multiple organ failure and agonizing deaths.
It's a victory for science as well: Sepsis doesn't affect humans as it does mice, which is why some 150 drugs have treated sepsis in mice, but every single one has failed in human trials. Now NIH will invest in superior approaches that use human cells, specimens and data sets.
There was great news for animals used to test foods too: Candy maker Ferrero International and North American dairy giant Agropur Cooperative signed PETA's Eat Without Experiments pledge against animal tests.
Ojai, Calif., banned glue traps--torture devices that snare small animals and cause them to struggle desperately to escape, sometimes chewing off their limbs before succumbing to shock, dehydration, asphyxiation or blood loss.
"Chimp Crazy," the most-watched documentary in years on HBO Max, exposed the seedy underworld of misguided humans who force chimpanzees to live in their homes and exploit them for entertainment. And Hallmark stopped producing and selling cards featuring harmful and degrading images of chimpanzee infants who were torn away from their mothers.
Massachusetts residents prompted the state to ban traveling acts from exploiting primates, elephants and other animals, and the Maryland General Assembly also banned traveling shows with exotic animals. Indiana's Hadi Shrine Circus pledged to stop using elephants.
Starbucks stopped charging extra for vegan milks, giving consumers another great reason to sip kindly instead of supporting the dirty dairy industry, which forcibly impregnates cows, kidnaps their babies and treats mother cows like milk machines instead of the deeply emotional individuals they are. American Airlines added vegan creamer, becoming the fifth major U.S. airline to do so in less than two years.
The list goes on and on. As more people realize that every animal is someone with a right to be treated with kindness and respect, there's no doubt that there will be even more victories to celebrate in 2025.
Heather Moore is a senior writer for the PETA Foundation.
