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Wildlife is not only Sophie Green’s creative muse, but a beautiful way for her to help raise awareness of wildlife conservation.

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Wildlife is not only Sophie Green’s creative muse, but a beautiful way for her to help raise awareness of wildlife conservation.

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https://trendyartideas.com/wildlife-and-conservation-artist-sophie-green

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Using art to raise awareness for wildlife and nature conservation

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Feb 6, 2021 - Sophie Green is an award-winning wildlife and conservation artist from the UK. Her photorealistic pieces depict the beauty and vulnerability of the natural world

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Alice Newstead - Protest against shark fins

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Alice Newstead - Protest against shark fins

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https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/shark-protester-sus

pended-from-ceiling-by-hooks-20080904-gdstln.html

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A British woman was suspended from the ceiling of a London shop by hooks put through her skin, in a protest today against the practice of slicing fins from sharks and throwing them back into the ocean alive.

Spectators gasped as blood trickled down the back of 26-year-old performance artist Alice Newstead, but she insisted it did not hurt.

"I am doing this because the demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out the shark population," said Newstead, who used to work in the Lush cosmetics store in the capital's upmarket Regent Street.

"I have had my torso, legs, arms, stomach and knees pierced before so that I could hang from them, so this is no big deal.

"Being hung from the chest is more painful than the back because it restricts your breathing, but as long as the piercer knows what they are doing then it is completely safe."

The stunt, which lasted for 15 minutes and attracted a crowd of shoppers, was organised by Lush and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in protest at the practice of finning, in which sharks are impaled on hooks before their fins are hacked off.

Also today, environmental campaigners gathered outside the Japanese embassy in London to demonstrate against that country's hunting of dolphins.

AFP

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Shark protester suspended from ceiling by hooks

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A British woman was suspended from the ceiling of a London shop by hooks put through her skin, in a protest today against the practice of slicing fins from sharks and throwing them back into the ocean alive. Spectators gasped as blood trickled down the back of 26-year-old performance artist Alice Newstead, but she insisted it did not hurt.

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Alice Newstead in protest at the practice of cutting fins off sharks and throwing them back into the sea alive. She did the activist art because she think demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out shark 

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Alice Newstead in protest at the practice of cutting fins off sharks and throwing them back into the sea alive. She did the activist art because she think demand for shark fin soup and other shark products is wiping out shark 

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7595410.stm

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BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Artist to be hung on shark hooks

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A cosmetics firm uses shock tactics to call for an end to shark finning.

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https://www.worldwildlife.org/

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https://www.worldwildlife.org/

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https://www.worldwildlife.org/

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https://www.worldwildlife.org/

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Cherish wild animals - Protect the endangered animals

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Cherish wild animals - Protect the endangered animals

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http://www.lifewithdylan.com/2014/10/

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Today our world changed.
Not just the world for Dylan and myself, but “our world” in a sense of all mankind.

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 decoration made in animals - elephant's tusk

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 decoration made in animals - elephant's tusk

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https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/29/521935285/good-news-for-elephants-chinas-price-of-ivory-has-plummeted

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As China prepares to impose a domestic ban on the ivory trade, a new report has found that the price of raw ivory there is plummeting.

It's good news for Africa's elephants, which have been poached by the thousands for their tusks. Many of those tusks are then smuggled to China, which has been one of the world's largest markets for the banned material.

The Save the Elephants researchers found that the wholesale price in early 2014 was $2,100 per kilogram; by last month, it had dropped to $730 per kilogram.

There are a few reasons behind the price drop, the conservation organization wrote in a press release.

"An economic slowdown has resulted in fewer people able to afford luxury goods; a crack-down on corruption is dissuading business people from buying expensive ivory items as 'favours' for government officials, and the Chinese government has made a strong commitment to close down the nation's legal ivory trade," Save the Elephants said.

China made the announcement last year after years of pressure from environmental groups. As NPR's Chris Joyce has reported, U.S. and Chinese officials have been negotiating an end to China's domestic ivory trade since 2015. At the time of the announcement, environmentalists hailed it as a crucial move that could prevent elephants from becoming extinct.

But even before the 2016 announcement, the ivory market was in decline in China, the researchers found.

For example, the researchers said in their report that legal retailers in Beijing and Shanghai had dwindling stocks and were trying to diversify the materials used in their products. Those involved in the legal ivory trade were "gloomy" about the future of the market.

Illegal traders of ivory that the researchers spoke with were comparatively less concerned about the new regulations. However, some were now keeping ivory at more discreet locations in their shops, or had started selling ivory online instead.

Some carvers have turned to the tusks of prehistoric mammoths as an alternative, the report said, but the ivory is of comparatively lower quality and therefore less appealing to the traders.

A major census of African elephants recently reported that between 2007 and 2014, the African elephant population decreased by nearly a third, as The Two-Way has reported.

The report concludes with a major question that remains - what will happen to China's illegal ivory market, once the legal market is officially closed?

"Will demand for illicit ivory items go up or down?" the report asks. "Will prices rise or fall? Will carvers continue to produce ivory items in larger or smaller quantities illegally?"

However, it says it's clear that China has experienced a "major turning point to close down China's ivory industry."

That's worth applauding, says Save the Elephants President Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

"With the end of the legal ivory trade in China, the survival chances for elephants have distinctly improved," he said. "We must give credit to China for having done the right thing by closing the ivory trade. There is still a long way to go to end the excessive killing of elephants for ivory, but there is not greater hope for the species."

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Good News For Elephants: China's Price Of Ivory Has Plummeted

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As China prepares to impose a domestic ban on the ivory trade, a new report has found that the price of raw ivory there is plummeting. It's good news for Africa's elephants, which have been poached by the thousands for their tusks.

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https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/blogs/fashion/would-you-wear-real-fur

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British fashion designer Stella McCartney refuses to use any animal products (e.g. fur or leather) in her collections. Many high-street stores, including Topshop and Zara, have also banned the sale of products featuring real fur. Instead, they use fake fur; this is a synthetic material which is made to look and feel like real fur.

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https://www.whatsonweibo.com/chinese-netizens-voice-concerns-over-molly-the-elephant-call-for-animal-performance-boycott/

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The fate of Molly, an elephant born in the Kunming Zoo and separated from its mother at the age of 2, has become a topic of public debate in China. As viral photos show the elephant being forced to perform tricks, calls for an animal performance ban in China are growing louder.

A little elephant named Molly is a big topic of discussion on Chinese social media this week. There are various hashtags about Molly on Weibo, where the elephant also has several fan forums ('supertopics') dedicated to her.

There are Molly artworks, Molly videos, Molly gifs, Molly cartoons, but most of all, there are the calls from netizens to 'rescue Molly the little elephant' (#救救小象莫莉#).

Molly's Chinese name is Mòlì (莫莉), an Asian elephant born on March 20 in 2016 in the Kunming Zoo in Yunnan. The baby elephant was initially nicknamed "Little Princess" (小公主). When she turned one year old, the Kunming Zoo invited the public to help come up with a name for her.

On her first birthday, the popular 'Little Princess' received her official name and a special big elephant birthday cake. The celebration was covered by local media at the time.

Although Kunming Zoo initially seemed to take pride in their baby Molly, they separated her from her mother at the age of two in April of 2018. Molly was then transferred from Kunming Zoo to Qinyang, Jiaozuo, in Henan in exchange for another elephant.

Over the past few years, Molly the elephant has allegedly been trained to do tricks and performances and to carry around tourists on her back at the Qinyang Swan Lake Ecological Garden (沁阳天鹅湖生态园), the Qinyang Hesheng Forest Zoo (沁阳和生森林动物园), the Jiaozuo Forestry Zoo (焦作森林动物园), and the Zhoukou Safari Park (周口野生动物世界).

Netizens started raising the alarm about Molly's welfare when they spotted her chained up and seemingly unhappy, forced to do handstands or play harmonica, with Molly's handlers using iron hooks to coerce her into performing.

Posts about Molly being abused started to gain more online attention in the summer of 2021, and photos showing the stark difference between Molly at the age of one and at the age of five years old circulated online.

After so many netizens expressed concerns about the elephant's mistreatment, the local zoo and authorities issued a statement in September of 2021 saying Molly was not being maltreated. But because no further clarification was given, netizens kept pushing for the elephant to be rescued and reunited with its mother in Kunming.

One of the reasons why Molly became a big topic on social media again this week is because her case was pushed forward on the social media platform Xiaohongshu, after which it also gained renewed attention on Weibo due to various big accounts posting about 'Save Molly' and calling for an elephant performance ban in China.

One of these influentiual people expressing concerns over the elephant is Taiwanese actress Chen Qiao'en (陈乔恩), who posted about Molly on Weibo on April 24, using the #SaveMollytheElephant hashtag:

" It's heartbreaking to see Molly covered in wounds. She shouldn't be treated like this. Please reject animal performances, please don't abuse animals, please save Molly the elephant."

Chen's post received over 90,000 likes and a lot of attention, leading to more netizens voicing their concerns about the elephant and joining online groups about Molly's case.

As voices speaking up for Molly grew louder, some of the groups and hashtags related to the 'Save Molly' movement were taken offline by Weibo censors.

"There are many 'Molly's' in this world, the more you try to silence us, the louder we will get," one Weibo commenter wrote.

Beyond Molly's situation, there is a somewhat confusing web of laws, regulations, and standards about wildlife protection and animal performances in China.

China's Wildlife Protection Law (WPL), the national legislation for animal protection, was enacted in 1989. Throughout the decades, the law was widely criticized for not doing enough to actually protect animals and promoting the use of wildlife for human benefit. Although the law was revised in 2015, it still facilitated the commercial use of wildlife and there is no anti-cruelty legislation that might penalize cruelty to animals in zoos, wildlife parks, or other venues where wild animals are kept in captivity (Li 2021, p. 227).

When it comes to China's zoos and safari parks, there are two regulatory bodies that play an important role: China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (住房城乡建设部, MHURD), and the Chinese State Forestry and Grassland Administration (国家林业和草原局, SFGA).

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD) is the relevant organ overseeing Chinese zoos, which are usually owned and managed by municipal or regional governments. The MHURD also hosts the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (中国动物园协会, CAZG), which is an organization that most of China's larger zoos are members of.
A Maze of Conflicting Regulations
China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development banned animal performances in China over a decade ago in 2011, although the rule excluded performances at aquariums and did not specify penalties (China Daily 2012). In 2013, the MHURD also issued the "National Zoo Development Outline" (" 全国动物园发展纲要 ") which strictly prohibited all animal performances in zoos.

Nevertheless, many zoos and wildlife parks have still continued shows featuring cycling bears, jumping tigers, and dancing elephants since then - and not necessarily illegally.

One of the reasons why there are conflicting regulatory regimes is because "zoos" and "wild animal parks" fall under different jurisdictions in China.

The MHURD 2011 administrative national ban on animal performance was unable to stop animal performances at China's privately-owned wild animal parks, safari parks, or circuses, since they are administered by the Chinese State Forestry and Grassland Administration (SFGA), which also regulates the holding of all exotic species, including those in city zoos. The SFGA, however, does not consider the welfare of these animals its responsibility (see Arcus Foundation 2021, p. 99; Li 2021, p. 227).

City zoos can theoretically still subcontract animal performances to private companies within special areas of the zoo as long as their contract was signed before 2011, and can also still sell or trade animals with these parks. Dozens of zoos with performance programs have therefore continued animal performances, sometimes also in violation of policies in place (Arcus Foundation 2021, p. 99; Li 2021, p. 19).

In line with the WPL, the SFGA is able to provide permits that allow animal parks to hold animal "exhibition and performances." The Qinyang Swan Lake Ecological Garden, where Molly is, also has a permit to "showcase wildlife" (展演野生动物), basically giving them a green light to put on performances.

On April 27, the Kunming Zoo responded to the online storm over Molly, claiming that the elephant is in good condition and that the zoo in question has since long stopped animal performances.

Chinese media outlet Phoenix News also published an article about Molly on April 30, aimed to uncover the truth about the conditions in which Molly is currently being kept at the Qinyang Hesheng Forest Zoo.

The report concluded that Molly was kept in good living conditions, and that the elephants at the park were not participating in any (circus) performances. The person in charge of the Qinyang Hesheng Forest Zoo, Shi Baodong (史保东) reportedly claims the park has stopped all animal performance activities as of April 2019, with Shi denying all claims of animal abuse taking place.

Staff members also said that some of the footage and images circulating online in relation to the Molly incident are not of Molly at all, instead showing elephant training in Thailand, India and other countries.
Beyond Molly
But many Chinese netizens believe the zoo is not speaking the truth, since social media users said they still saw Molly performing and carrying zoo visitors on her back in 2021. Even if Molly is not performing at this moment, many still think that media reports and statements cover up the truth of how the elephant is really doing.

For others, the 'Save Molly' hashtag is not just about Molly anymore, as the elephant has come to represent hundreds of other elephants who are living in captivity in China and are forced to perform. They hope the government can prohibit elephant performances entirely and introduce better laws and regulations to prohibit animal performances and mistreatment.

"One person doesn't have a lot of power, but as a group we have more power," the description for one Molly supertopic on Weibo says ( 小吉象莫莉).

Underneath one of the Weibo threads about Molly's current situation, a top commenter replies: "This is not just about Molly anymore, we want to protect all of the 'Molly's' out there."

This is not the first time netizens come into action to get justice for zoo animals that are suffering. In 2017, visitor photos of a mouth-foaming, lethargic-looking panda at Lanzhou Zoo also caused outrage on Weibo. In 2016, netizens also jumped to the aid of a polar bear by the name of Pizza after he was found living in deplorable conditions at an aquarium in the Grandview Mall in Guangzhou. He was later removed from the mall.

References (other sources linked to within text)
UPDATE MAY 17 2022: MOLLY RETURNS TO KUNMING ZOO
Arcus Foundation (Ed.). 2021. State of the Apes: Killing, Capture, Trade and Ape Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
To follow more updates regarding Molly, check out Twitter user 'Diving Paddler' here. We thank them for their contributions to this article.
China Daily. 2012. "Animal Rights Groups Seek Performance Ban." China Daily, April 16 http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2012-04/16/content_25152066.htm [Accessed May 1 2022].
To read more about zoos and wildlife parks causing online commotion in China, check our articles here.
Li, Peter J. 2021. Animal Welfare in China: Culture, Politics and Crisis. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
By Manya Koetse
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Chinese Netizens Voice Concerns over Molly the Elephant, Call for Animal Performance Boycott

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The fate of Molly, an elephant born in the Kunming Zoo and separated from its mother at the age of 2, has become a topic of public debate in China. As viral photos show the elephant being forced to perform tricks, calls for an animal performance ban in China are growing louder.

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Sophie Green - Concern for endangered wildlife and protection of wildlife habitats

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Sophie Green - Concern for endangered wildlife and protection of wildlife habitats

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https://mymodernmet.com/sophie-green-animal-paintings/

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For artist Sophie Green, animals are more than creative muses. The UK-based painter captures giraffes, bison, elephants, and other creatures in photorealistic portraits which celebrate each subject's unique beauty and raise awareness of their vulnerability. Moreover, the award-winning fine artist donates 10% of her profits to wildlife and conservation charities.

"It is my view that everybody should be making a concerted effort to improve the dire situation that our planet is currently in; whether it be through donating time, money, making lifestyle changes, or educating others," Green tells My Modern Met. "For me, I use my art to depict both the beauty and the vulnerability of the natural world, raise awareness for conservation issues, and encourage others to consider how they too can make a difference."

Each work features an animal or a few of its kind against an empty backdrop. This brings all of the focus onto the cause of the species that is depicted. By rendering each animal in spectacular detail, Green encourages viewers to reflect on the subject's beauty, as well as consider their future on this planet. "To me, there is nothing so fascinating, so precious and so gracious as the natural world. I have been sketching, drawing, painting, and obsessing over animals and their surroundings since childhood and will continue to do so for many years to come," she adds.

You can purchase original paintings and limited edition prints via Green's online store and know that a portion of the profits go to wildlife conservation. Follow the artist on Instagram to keep up to date with her latest projects.

UK-based artist Sophie Green creates realistic animal paintings to promote wildlife conservation.
Sophie Green: Website | Facebook | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Sophie Green.

Related Articles:
Surreal Animal Paintings Reimagine Wildlife and Their Connection to Nature Interview: Street Artist Creates Endangered Animal Paintings to Help Raise Awareness Surreal Oil Paintings Reimagines Animals Merged With Plant Life

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Artist Raises Awareness for Wildlife Conservation With Her Awe-Inspiring Animal Paintings

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For artist Sophie Green, animals are more than creative muses. The UK-based painter captures giraffes, bison, elephants, and other creatures in photorealistic portraits which celebrate each subject's unique beauty and raise awareness of their vulnerability. Moreover, the award-winning fine artist donates 10% of her profits to wildlife and conservation charities.

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https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/china-ivory-prices-fall-on-ban-but-illeg-idUSKBN171101

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China ivory prices fall on ban, but illegal markets abroad thrive: researchers | Pictures | Reuters

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FILE PHOTO: A Kenya Wildlife Service ranger stands guard in the rain near stacks of elephant tusks, part of an estimated 105 tonnes of ivory and a tonne of rhino horn confiscated from smugglers and po

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https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/reclaim-the-year-of-the-monkey/

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The Year of the Monkey may be dawning in Asia but so long as animal performance continues to be accepted - it could be a torrid year for captive primates.

International reports are already outlining that to mark the occasion, more monkeys than ever are being bred and trained for animal performance. It's far cry from the hope of 2012 when performances by exotic animals were banned by the Chinese government.

Beyond this, monkeys also continue to be used throughout Asia to sell products - from expensive advertisements to tourist shops at seaside resorts. Now, as we approach the Lunar New Year - experience tells us we're likely to see monkeys being used to lure customers with promises of timely "selfies" to celebrate the occasion.

Dave Neale, Animals Asia Animal Welfare Director, said, "Many of these animals are young macaques taken from their family groups only to be held in isolation. These young animals require time with their mothers and extended family members to allow them to develop the necessary social skills they will require throughout their lives. Animals separated from their mothers at an early age, or raised in inappropriately unstimulating environments are much more likely to develop behavioural problems and stereotypy as they age."

He continues, "After the training and performances, macaques are often housed in small, barren enclosures. This can have significant negative consequences on their behaviour and subsequently on their welfare. Normal behaviour gives way to a higher percentage of inactivity and/or increased abnormal behavior."

"We must get beyond the idea that using animals for performance is acceptable. It goes far beyond Asia - even Hollywood movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Hangover have featured monkey performances."

Animals Asia continues to work with zoos across China to push for an end to the use of all animals in performance. Through the facilitation of training workshops Animals Asia also encourages improvement in animal management, and veterinary care.

Dave Neale added:

"We have an ongoing nationwide public awareness campaign aimed at highlighting the cruelty of using animals in circus performances in China, and this is gathering more and more support each year. We also continue to lobby TV companies such as CCTV, and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television, appealing to them not to encourage these activities by showing them to national audiences on the television."

Animals Asia works with local partners and international celebrities to fight this cruelty at all levels. This includes Beijing friends "Freedom for Animal Actors" who have joined with Animals Asia to oppose this cruelty - via online campaigns and letters to TV companies and government.

Six Ways You Can Help Reclaim the Year of the Monkey for the Monkeys

1. Write a polite letter to your Chinese Ambassador calling for an end to all animal performances in China and send it to the main embassy address in your country. Embassy addresses can be found here.

2. Sign up to our Asia for Animals action team and join us in speaking out for animals. We need your help to improve the lives of all animals worldwide. Writing a letter on a specific welfare issue is a valuable way you can support our campaigns. You'll receive email alerts on the latest action that we need you to participate in. For more details click here and enter your contact details.

3. Pledge never to watch animal performance.

4. Read about Animals Asia's Captive Animal Welfare work and consider donating to our work to end animal performance.

5. Make sure your holidays are cruelty free, see:

Share the above information and ask others to take action too!

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How We Can Reclaim 'Year of The Monkey' For the Monkeys and Put an End to Their Abuse!

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The Year of the Monkey may be dawning in Asia but so long as animal performance continues to be accepted - it could be a torrid year for captive primates. International reports are already outlining that to mark the occasion, more monkeys than ever are being bred and trained for animal performance.

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https://www.cntraveller.in/story/sea-turns-red-hundreds-whales-slaughtered-annual-tradition/

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On 29 May, 145 pilot whales and seven white-sided dolphins were killed in Torshavn bay in the Faroe Islands. But this was no one-off incident. Every summer, the waters that surround the Faroe Islands turn a horrific, deep red as the blood of hundreds of whales and dolphins spills into the sea. This gruesome bloodbath is just an ordinary, annual tradition of the culling of whales, referred to as Grindadráp by the local community.

Every year about 800 whales are killed to provide meat and blubber that is part of the natural diet of the people of the Faroe Islands. Each whale provides communities with several hundred kilos of meat, that would otherwise have to be imported. It is a communal activity, and catches are shared by the locals largely without the exchange of cash.

Páll Nolsøe, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told Metro UK , "Whaling is a natural part of Faroese life. It has long since been internationally recognised that pilot whale catches in the Faroe Islands are fully sustainable."

How are the whales killed?

When pods of whales venture close to the bay, boats enclose the whales and herd them towards land to be beached and killed. When the animals are close enough, a hook is inserted into their blowhole to haul them further up the shore. A spinal lance is then used to stab the neck and sever its spinal cord, cutting the blood supply to its brain. The whale loses consciousness and dies within a few seconds. An entire of pod of whales is killed in less than 10 minutes. Hundreds of whales are butchered in plain sight in shallow bays, with the entire community pitching in to help.

The history of the annual bloodbath

The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands have been whaling for centuries and the tradition goes back as far as 1584. The use of locally available wildlife is a natural part of the way of life in the Faroe Islands and pilot whales have been a staple part of the Faroese diet since the age of the Vikings.

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Sea turns red as hundreds of whales are slaughtered in annual tradition

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On 29 May, 145 pilot whales and seven white-sided dolphins were killed in Torshavn bay in the Faroe Islands. But this was no one-off incident. Every summer, the waters that surround the Faroe Islands turn a horrific, deep red as the blood of hundreds of whales and dolphins spills into the sea.

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https://ru-ru.facebook.com/lush/videos/lush-sea-shepherd-anti-shark-finning-campaign/29741491665/

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Lush & Sea Shepherd-Anti Shark Finning Campaign | Facebook

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0 views, 13 likes, 0 loves, 5 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from LUSH UK: Performance artist Alice Newstead is hung from shark hooks at Lush's Regent St shop. As part of Lush and Sea...

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For each year humans slaughter many more sharks than they harm humans, humans still label sharks as monsters and choose to ignore the damage caused by shark finning.

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For each year humans slaughter many more sharks than they harm humans, humans still label sharks as monsters and choose to ignore the damage caused by shark finning.

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https://www.seashepherd.org.uk/news-and-commentary/news/alice-in-lush-land-defending-the-sharks.html

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Artist Alice Newstead and LUSH Cosmetics Express Empathy For the Suffering of the Sharks

Empathy!

It's probably the most virtuous of emotions. It is the understanding of the feelings of another - be it another person or an animal.

Empathy can be expressed in many ways, but how does one communicate the horrific cruelty of the shark finners who cut off the fins of live sharks and toss the helpless mutilated bodies back into the sea to die an agonizing death?

Humans slaughter some ninety million sharks every year. The number of fatal shark attacks on humans every year averages five. Yet we humans proclaim the shark to be the monster and then choose to ignore the viciousness of the shark finning industry.

Two of the vicious hooks that mutilate the bodies of tens of million of sharks each year today in Paris pierced the tender flesh on the back of Alice Newstead, a LUSH employee and performance artist from Great Britain.

For fifteen minutes, Alice was hung suspended in the window of the LUSH store on Avenue General du LeClerc in Paris. There she was interviewed, filmed, and photographed by the media.

Alice explained that what she was doing was bringing attention to the slaughter of the world's sharks and that the two hooks in her back were actual longline hooks used to kill sharks for their fins.

The gastronomic lust for sharkfin soup in China and in Chinese restaurants around the world is destroying worldwide shark populations at an alarming rate.

As thin rivulets of blood trickled down her back, Alice admitted that it was as painful as it looked but she added that the pain she was enduring was minor compared to the pain suffered by the tens of millions of sharks every minute of every day.

Parisians passing by were mixed in their reactions. Some were horrified and shocked, others were curious and others expressed their understanding for the sacrifice that Alice was selflessly making for the sharks. Everyone who saw her wondered why Alice was hanging from shark hooks on land so far from the sea.

This is the second occasion that Alice has been suspended with the shark hooks in her back. Last year, she initiated the LUSH and Sea Shepherd shark campaign by hanging suspended in the LUSH Fleet Street store in London. The campaign aims to raise awareness about shark finning.

I have always said that we need a diversity of approaches in both strategies and tactics to save our oceans. People need to harness their imaginations, their talents, their skills, and their passion in the cause of championing constructive change to save our Oceans and our Earth. Alice has done just that by using her experience as a performance artist to bring attention to the slaughter of the sharks.

Alice said that she was inspired by the Sundance ceremonies of the Lakota and the Cheyenne. The Sundance is a sacred dance for the renewal of life. Women are the bearers of creation and life and all that the Sundance represents.

Alice was expressing her desire for life for the sharks to replace the death that humanity is inflicting upon these great elders of the deep.

LUSH and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have been working together for the last few years to bring attention to ocean conservation issues, specifically sharks and the Canadian harp seal. The profits from the sale of LUSH Sharkfin Soap are used to help finance Sea Shepherd anti-poaching efforts in the Galapagos.

photos credit Deborah Bassett

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Sea Shepherd UK - Alice in LUSH Land Defending the Sharks

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Alice in LUSH Land Defending the Sharks Artist Alice Newstead and LUSH Cosmetics Express Empathy For the Suffering of the Sharks Report from Captain Paul Watson Paris, France- Empathy! It's probably the most virtuous of emotions. It is the u

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Jacqueline Trade‘s activism art video - Call for a boycott of animal cosmetic testing

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Jacqueline Trade‘s activism art video - Call for a boycott of animal cosmetic testing

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4K9iSyj_lk

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Watch What Happens When LUSH Takes a Stand Against Animal Testing!

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https://taylorablairblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/jacqueline-traide-lushs-fighting-animal-testing-campaign-annotation/