Animal Protection Group in Portugal

Since we´ve been in the Azores, we´ve been wondering what groups work on animal issues here (or in Portugal proper).

Here is one group called ANIMAL that works on bullfighting and other welfare issues.

ANIMAL was founded in December 1994 in Porto, the capital city of the North of Portugal, having started as a local animal protection campaigning, educational and lobbying organisation. Quickly evolving for a regional organisation and maintaining its developing tendency, ANIMAL became a nationwide organisation in 2002, having become the main animal protection organisation in Portugal, covering all fields of animal protection work, namely:

- developing special investigations to organise exposés to provide a strong basis for the campaigning, lobbying and education work;
- campaigning to expose the different forms of cruelty to animals in the food, clothing, vivisection and entertainment industries;
- educating the public about the characteristics and needs of animals and how they are dramatically affected by these industries;
- educating the public about the alternatives and sollutions for the problems exposed;
- lobbying local, parliamentary and governmental officials to advance animal protection in Portugal;
- building strong court cases to prevent different acts of cruelty to animals.

Since the beginning of its activity, ANIMAL has had as its core-campaign the struggle for the end of bullfights. From a society which accepted bullfights as a respectful tradition to a society which is now strongly opposing bullfights, ANIMAL has changed the public´s view about the cruelty against bulls and horses that goes on in Portuguese bullfights, causing severe economic damage to the industry and making it highly unpopular.