News Blog How we helped animals in October 10-11-22 How we helped animals in October October was an exciting month of action at OneKind, with hundreds of you joining us for our March For The Foxes down the Royal Mile! This powerful day of action attracted mainstream media attention and sent a strong message to the Scottish Government in support of a real fox hunting ban and a full ban on snares. With the holiday season fast approaching, we also stood up for captive reindeer by sending a joint letter with other animal welfare organisations urging venues in Scotland to end reindeer displays. In other news, we are so excited to begin sharing our new website to help us better campaign for animals! Plus, we are delighted to launch our Christmas merchandise, so you can give a gift to a love one while also supporting our work for animals. Live reindeer displays It is time once again to raise our voices for captive reindeer who are facing another season of exploitation in holiday displays. We have sent joint letters with Born Free, Animal Aid and Freedom for Animals to venues across the UK hosting live reindeer displays, urging them to instead use the many animal-free methods of entertainment. In the letters, we outlined the many animal welfare issues of captive reindeer displays, and called on venues to follow the example of Mercat Shopping Centre and Aberdeen City Council, who pulled funding for live reindeer displays in recent years. This is just the beginning of our campaign for reindeer. We will be calling on your support in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for a campaign action! For The Foxes March A few weeks ago, hundreds of you marched alongside ourselves, League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, Scottish Badgers, MSPs and wildlife TV Presenter Megan McCubbin calling for a real foxhunting and snaring ban in Scotland. It was such a brilliant day of activism for all animals affected by snares and foxhunting. You can read the full story in our recent blog, and watch the highlights video below, filmed and edited by the amazing Stuart Spray - a wildlife filmmaker, journalist and supporter of OneKind. STV coverage We were also delighted to secure mainstream media coverage on the day, with our For the Foxes march being covered by STV news. Our Director, Bob Elliot, was also quoted in the article: "Snares are cruel, archaic and indiscriminate traps that ought to have been consigned to the history books a long time ago. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the impacts of snaring and a ban on the manufacture, sale and use of snares in Scotland is a real possibility. This is an opportune time for us to send a strong message that the public expects a full snaring ban" Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill moves to Stage 2 In late October, a majority of MSPs voted for the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill, the Bill which has the potential to truly ban foxhunting, to move to Stage 2, where amendments can be lodged by MSPs. We attended the MSPs' debate in Parliament and documented some of the highlights in our recent blog. We will be supporting the MSPs who lodge amendments to close loopholes in the Bill, so that we finally secure a real fox hunting ban in Scotland. Aberdeen man and his dog lose life to fireworks We were deeply saddened to see the news that a man and his dog passed away in the waters of Aberdeen beach after his dog leapt into the water out of fear of fireworks. We offer condolences to the family and urge people to please avoid hosting fireworks displays. In Scotland members of the public now need a licence to buy, possess or use certain fireworks and certain fireworks can only be supplied to, and used by, members of the public at certain times, such as Guy Fawkes Day. This follows new legislation passed by the Scottish Government earlier this year to control the sale and use of fireworks. We have long campaigned for tighter regulations on the use and sale of fireworks, and responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on fireworks in Scotland with OneKind supporters’ experiences of their animals suffering at the hands of fireworks. My Giving Circle The current My Giving Circle grants round will end on the 30th December. To help us secure a place in the top 10 and win a share of £7,250, please continue to vote for us weekly! It just takes a minute and it’s completely free. What’s more, it’s double votes weekend from Friday – Sunday! So for every vote, My Giving Circle will add two. You don’t have to donate, but if you would like to, My Giving Circle will award 2 votes for every pound, boosting our chances of winning and directly supporting our work to protect animals. Christmas merchandise We are delighted to share that our Christmas collection is now available to buy! There are lots of gifts to choose from. From cards, to our animal themed advent calendar, gift membership, t-shirts, an organic cotton fox tea towel, an organic tote bag and special Christmas bundles, we have you covered. We also have a selection of Christmas e-cards. Send a thoughtful gift to your animal-loving friends and family this holiday season, while directly supporting our work. Join our lottery By joining our lottery, you'll be directly supporting our campaign and investigation work while getting a chance to win a great prize! It costs just £1 per week to play, and the chances of winning are better than the National Lottery and the Health Lottery! In fact, 1 in 3 of our players’ tickets have won a cash prize. Join today and you could be in with a chance of winning the £25,000 jackpot! What's more, everyone that buys a ticket before December 17th will be entered into a national draw to win a £1,000 John Lewis voucher. New website Making sure that we can be easily found by potential new supporters in an inspirational way is crucial to helping grow our voice for animals. That’s why we are excited to be re-vamping our website! Please bear with us as links may be momentarily broken during the switchover. However, this new website will be easier for you to navigate, find out about our work, take part in actions, and donate. OneKind archive visit In October, we were also delighted to visit Edinburgh University to explore our charity's archives, which are kindly being conserved and digitised by the talented One Health project team. With over a 100 years of work ending cruelty to Scotland's animals, there was plenty of fascinating material to sift through! We can't wait to discover more of our history as the project evolves.