OneKind has been campaigning to end cruelty to Scotland’s animals, and to give them a voice for over 100 years. 2022 has been a jam-packed year for the charity, with important progress achieved for animals across several core campaigns.

In February, they headed to Downing Street to hand in their Target Zero petition with Cruelty Free International and Animal Research UK. This joint petition gathered a whopping 100,000 signatures and called on the UK Government to phase out animal testing.

This joint petition gathered over 101,000 signatures

It has also been a busy year for their campaign for a real foxhunting ban. Earlier this year, OneKind director Bob Elliot was invited to debate the issue live on STV’s Scotland Tonight. Later in the month, the charity welcomed the introduction of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill, which has the potential to really ban fox hunting in Scotland. They previously responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation alongside supporters, urging them to close loopholes in the current legislation that allows fox hunting to continue.

In April, the Scottish Government opened up a call for views on the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill. OneKind put together a simple guide to aid supporters in responding to the call. In total, 2,692 people had their say on the Bill.

In total, 2,692 people had their say on the Bill.

This year, they also escalated their long-running campaign to ban the cruel use of snares on animals in Scotland. These barbaric and indiscriminate traps are sadly still legal, but with the Scottish Government reviewing snaring legislation, this is a rare chance to consign snares to history.

Earlier this year, OneKind released their SnareWatch Annual Report 2021: Case studies of snare use in the UK, which highlights some of the worst snaring, or suspected snaring, incidents in the UK during 2021. They also submitted the report to the Scottish Government.

They further amplified their snaring campaign by launching a letter-writing action to Minister for Environment and Land Reform, Màiri McAllan. Over 1,500 supporters have contacted the Minister so far, urging for a full ban on snares in Scotland.

In October, OneKind combined their campaigns for a real ban on foxhunting and snares into one powerful day of action. Together with the League Against Cruel Sports and Scottish Badgers, they marched down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh to the Scottish Parliament where speakers from different organisations and MSPs voiced their support for an end to these cruel practices.

OneKind relies on the generosity of supporters to raise £300,000 each year, to maintain the current level of campaigns; raise awareness, and expose cruelty. Support from Big Hearted Scotland really makes a difference and helps ensure we can work on multiple campaigns simultaneously, sometimes over long periods of time. Funding provides the resources we need to produce strong and powerful campaigns that lead to better protection for animals.