in the news
T
he “biggest vegan shop in the
world” opened its doors last
month with more than 3,500
different vegan products on offer
including 50+ vegan cheeses, as well
as fashion, cosmetics, coffee, cake,
hot pies, fruit and veggies, and more.
From humble beginnings, the
Cruelty Free Shop started as an online
store based out of Jessica Bailey’s
spare room in Sydney. They now have
five stores across Australia and the
widest range of vegan products in the
country.
Their old Melbourne store had
grown over the years and was bursting
at the seams at the old location so
it moved around the corner to 124
Johnston Street, Fitzroy (just a five
minute walk or two minute drive from
the old location).
Be sure to visit the new store to
check out the 1000+ amazing new
items they have in stock, grab a
coffee, view the Edgar’s Mission photo
gallery and stock up on all the very
best vegan products from local,
Australian and international businesses.
Every Saturday, they also have free
food tastings of delicious new
products and old favourites.Melbourne’s
“biggest vegan
shop in the world”
Dolphin park sued over
animal cruelty allegations
©Australia for DolphinsA
marine theme park is being sued
by an animal welfare group which
claims dolphins at the park are
confined in small, shallow concrete
pools and overworked.
The Animal Law Institute, which is
acting for Australia For Dolphins, filed a
statement of claim in the Federal Circuit
Court on Tuesday claiming Coffs Harbour-
based Dolphin Marine Magic has engaged
in misleading or deceptive conduct by
keeping dolphins in enclosures smaller
than legally allowed, while claiming to
meet government welfare standards.
“The dolphins... are not all happy and
are not all healthy,” the writ says.
“Dolphins in captivity suffer stress,
behavioural abnormalities, high mortality
rates, decreased longevity, breeding problems
and welfare is generally compromised in
artificial, captive environments."
The park’s pod of five bottlenose
dolphins perform in a pool before a public
grandstand twice a day. The park also has
11 seals, penguins, peacocks and turtles
among its exhibits.
Melbourne-based Australia For Dolphins
has been campaigning against the park
since 2014, claiming the pools where it
keeps dolphins are too small and that
the animals are forced to perform in
“demeaning” shows, and kiss members
of the public.
The group alleges the park has engaged
in misleading or deceptive conduct by
claiming animal enclosures are large
enough, and that “rehabilitation is at the
heart” of the park’s mission.
The writ alleges the secondary dolphin
pool - the show pool - at the marine park
is smaller than NSW government standards
allow.
They allege the pool is shallower than
the 1.8-metres required by government
standards, and has less than the 600cubic metres of water capacity required.
The group says this is the first time
Australian Consumer Law, rather than
animal-welfare laws, has been used in a
dolphin-welfare case.
Conservation groups have successfully
used consumer law to sue egg farms that
were claiming their product was “free-
range” when their hens were unable to
access outdoor areas.
“Just as it’s illegal to sell someone ‘free-
range’ eggs from hens in battery cages,
the case alleges it’s against the law to tell
people captive dolphins are ‘happy and
healthy’, when scientific evidence shows
they cannot thrive in concrete pools,”
advocacy director at Australia For Dolphins
Jordan Sosnowski says.
The government investigated the pool in
2015 and found it was large enough, but
the writ claims it does not meet minimum
legal standards. In 2016, the government
gave the park an exemption on its licence
allowing it to continue to use the pool.
It is also alleged the park keeps 11
seals at its Seal Shores exhibit, breaching
government standards which limit it to a
maximum of six.
The facility has only rehabilitated one
dolphin on-site between 2010 and 2015,
the writ claims. Only two dolphins at the
park are rescue dolphins, while the rest
have been bred in captivity, it is alleged.
Australia for Dolphins plans to call on
experts to testify that captive dolphins
suffer stress, anxiety and early death.
The group also alleges a young dolphin
who died in 2015, named Ji-Ling, was not
given a high-standard of medical care.
A spokeswoman for Dolphin Marine
Magic says it would issue a statement
addressing the allegations on its website at
a later date.
Liam Mannix, Lucy Battersby,
The Sydney Morning Herald