Sentience

14/09/2025

How to protect your pets from unfair, blanket HOA rules and disputes. By understanding your rights!

Read our latest blog 👉🏻 www.sentiencemag.co.za/blog/pet-rights-in-sa-complexes

14/09/2025

12/09/2025

Visit the Sentience Website
👉www.sentiencemag.co.za

07/09/2025

Interesting - challenging the way we understood the genetics of African wild cats.

Thank you FreeMe Wildlife
https://www.facebook.com/share/1BgJDd5bWW/

And here's the surprise that made us re-think what we thought we knew, namely that pure African Wildcats would only ever have pure black paw pads. Something to think about...🤔

The colouring of the kitten was quite different when we first admitted them, so much so, that we asked South African National Biodiversity Institute, to rerun the genetics tests to be sure. They did, and the kitten is a pure African Wildcat... which may change the way we look at these cats... 😲🤔❤

04/09/2025

COMPASSION OVER CARGO - THE CONSTITUTIONAL CASE AGAINST LIVE ANIMAL EXPORT: NEW OP-ED

Check out the op-ed written by Animal Law Reform South Africa’s Attorney and Corporate Accountability Programme Lead, Michaela Tafani-du Preez, and Senior Legal Researcher, Cheslyn Ceaser, titled “Compassion Over Cargo – The Constitutional Case Against Live Animal Export”, accessible here: https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2025-09-02-michaela-tafani-du-preez-and-cheslyn-ceaser-compassion-over-cargo-the-constitutional-case-against-live-animal-export/.

The piece argues that South Africa’s live animal export industry is incompatible with the South African Constitution and highlights the severe harms this practice causes to animals, people, and the environment. It also critiques the recently released Draft Live Export Regulations, pointing out their failure to meet even the most basic standards for live transport.

Tafani-du Preez and Ceaser stress that although the public comment period on the draft regulations has closed, the duty to protect animals and uphold constitutional values remains. They call on legislators, regulators, and society to take decisive action to ban live exports by sea.

ALRSA has also provided a detailed submission on the Draft Regulations as part of the public participation process. Read our submission here:http://www.animallawreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ALRSA-Submission-Draft-Live-Export-Regulations-25-August-2025.pdf

04/09/2025

04/09/2025

The stare of a lion is something you never forget.

Up close, every scar tells a story. Every line on his face speaks of battles fought, dominance earned, and a kingdom defended. His golden eyes lock onto you with an intensity that reminds you exactly why he’s called the King of the Jungle.

In moments like this, behind the lens, you don’t just see an animal you feel the raw power of Africa itself staring right back at you.

03/09/2025

SHOULD ANIMALS HAVE RIGHTS?

Have you considered which of the Animal Protection Act 71 of 1962 provisions would be directly overturned or rewritten if animals had rights?

If animals in South Africa were legally recognized as rights holders rather than property, several key provisions of the Animals Protection Act (APA) 71 of 1962 would need to be directly overturned or substantially rewritten.

This is because many of these provisions are based on the premise that animals are "property" with protections limited to preventing cruelty, rather than them being recognised as sentient beings with intrinsic value and rights, deserving of legal "personhood" - even if in diminished capacity only.

If animal rights were to be recognised in South Africa, the APA 71 of 1962 provisions likely to be overturned or rewritten would be everything relating to:

• Property Status of Animals: The Act’s implicit and explicit classification of animals as property would be overturned to recognize animals as "legal persons" or rights holders, granting them legal standing beyond ownership notions.

• Definition and Scope of Cruelty: (e.g., Sections mentioning “unnecessary suffering”)
The narrow and subjective definition of cruelty in terms of “unnecessary suffering” would have to be expanded or replaced to include the recognition of animals' intrinsic interests, their sentience, autonomy, and rights, going beyond preventing physical pain to protecting psychological well-being and natural behaviours.

• Enforcement and Penalty Provisions: Sections prescribing penalties based on property damage or owner responsibility would be rewritten to accommodate direct legal claims by animals (or their representatives) and introduce stronger, rights-based protections and remedies.

• Use and Exploitation of Animals: Provisions implicitly allowing activities like commercial use, transport, farming, and testing (as long as not “cruel”) would be repealed or amended to prohibit exploitation that violates animal rights as sentient beings entitled to freedom from such practices.

• Destruction and Killing of Animals: Clauses allowing destruction or euthanasia at owner or official discretion would be heavily restricted to comply with rights to life and well-being, unless absolutely necessary and humane, shifting the burden of justification toward protecting animal rights.

In conclusion:
Recognizing animal rights would necessitate a transformative overhaul of the APA’s legal framework, replacing its welfare-based, property-focused provisions with laws affirming animals’ inherent rights to life, liberty, bodily integrity, and freedom from exploitation. This would entail the repeal or at least a major revision of fundamental APA sections that currently govern ownership, treatment, cruelty standards, use, and destruction of animals

Is South Africa ready to recognise animal rights?
How do we balance the rights of domestic pets and food production animals?
How can we improve the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962 and simultaneously ensure that animals are protected as sentient beings?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

25/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CUssKGpgS/

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: FINAL DAY TO COMMENT ON DRAFT LIVE ANIMAL EXPORT REGULATIONS

Today, 25 August 2025, is the final day to comment on the Draft Regulations for the Export of Live Animals by Sea (https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202507/52967gon6400.pdf). These Draft Regulations perpetuate a system in which thousands of animals are transported by sea for weeks, or even months, at a time - often under overcrowded, unsafe, unsanitary conditions, causing animals to face disease, injury, and death. No regulation can guarantee an acceptable standard of animal welfare for an industry fundamentally built on exploitation, where animals are treated as mere cargo rather than sentient beings with intrinsic value.

Continuing live export for marginal commercial gain, often benefiting international companies at the expense of South Africa’s animals, people, and environment, sacrifices animal dignity and reduces compassion to a mere commodity. South Africa must take a path consistent with our constitutional principles, societal values, and protected rights, by ending live animal exports by sea altogether.

📣We urge you to speak up: submit your comments and support the call for the withdrawal of these Draft Regulations and an outright ban on live animal exports by sea.

Submit comments via email: [email protected] or via DearSA: https://dears.africa/campaigns/should-live-animal-exports-be-banned-have-your-say and use the hashtag: to amplify the message.

ALRSA strongly opposes the live export of animals by sea, and we call on government to issue a complete ban.

Together, we can speak up for animals, people and the planet.

23/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1QdB2HdJFh/

WHAT YOU USE TO CLEAN🧽 YOUR HOME ENDS UP INSIDE YOUR PET.🐶🐱

A groundbreaking study found that dogs and cats were contaminated with 48 out of 70 tested industrial chemicals — and 43 of those were at higher levels than in humans. We're talking chemicals from cleaning products, air fresheners, flame retardants, lawn treatments, and more—many linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and DNA damage.

🐾 Our pets can’t escape the air they breathe or the floors they walk on. But we can reduce what they're exposed to.

💡 Here’s what you can do:
✅ Switch to non-toxic cleaners (see recipe below!)
✅ Avoid synthetic air fresheners & products that list "fragrance" on the label
✅ Look for pet products free from fire retardants & stain-proofing chemicals
✅ Clean with your pet in mind—because they’re breathing it all in

✨ Try our pet-safe, DIY cleaner:
3 drops castile soap
1 cup filtered water
½ cup rubbing alcohol (70%)
(Optional: 2–3 drops lemon or bergamot essential oil)

Mix in a glass spray bottle and clean on with peace of mind.

🛑 Want more DIY, pet-safe cleaning recipes + natural home fragrance ideas? They’re all inside our NY Times bestselling book, The Forever Dog LIFE...your go-to guide for creating a healthier, toxin-free home for you and your pets. 🐾✨

👉 Comment FOREVERDOG below and we’ll DM you the link to grab your copy! Your dog’s longer, healthier life starts at home. Let’s make it a safe one. 💚💚

23/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/179UKkgyti/

22/08/2025

With all the sad news this week about the ill Casper, the white lion, nature always reminds us that the circle of life continues.
This morning, this beautiful, healthy white lion cub was spotted with its pride near Orpen Gate!
(This is not Casper's cub)
Tinged by yinfanter