Why Animals Shouldn’t be at Conventions

The Protego Foundation’s Defend the Dire Wolves campaign was developed to spread awareness about an issue that has influenced the fan community. After learning that multiple convention organizers associated with fandoms such as Game of Thrones and Harry Potter were allowing vendors to use live animals as photo props, it became apparent that this was an issue within fandom at large that needed to be addressed.

A 2023 study found that this industry is virtually unregulated when it comes to animal cruelty laws. Forcing animals to travel across the country is stressful to them, especially for non-domesticated animals, and it’s nearly impossible to provide them with adequate space, exercise, and shelter while on the road or in their temporary accommodations. Animal welfare enforcement varies between states, counties, and cities, with some being controlled by the government, such as Animal Services, and some by other organizations, such as The Humane Society of the United States.

While addressing specific cases of animal abuse is important, our campaign seeks to show that when we view conventions from their perspective, we can see that any species used in this industry – and every individual member of those species – can suffer.

Join us in demanding that convention organizers ban the use of live animals as photo props by signing the Defend the Dire Wolves petition, and read on to learn more about some of the species being affected by this abusive practice.

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A WOLF IN DOG’S CLOTHING…

Wolfdogs are often touted as the best of both worlds, as they often possess both the fierce majesty of wolves and loving domesticity of dogs. But genetics isn’t that simplistic.

Though dog food commercials may try to convince us otherwise, dogs are not descendants of wolves; rather, they share a common ancestor, and they have traveled through thousands of years of evolution down markedly different paths. Dogs have been bred countless times to develop stronger characteristics that benefit interspecies cohabitation, while wolves remained wild. However, artificial selection isn’t an exact science, and it’s impossible to always remove the undesirable traits while retaining the desirable ones.

Sharing a mix of wild and domesticated DNA, wolfdogs can be good companions, but they still exhibit many wolfish traits. Even sterilized wolfdogs may experience Winter Wolf Syndrome, in which levels of reproductive hormones skyrocket as the wolves prepare to mate; this is especially common in “high content” individuals – those with mostly wolf DNA – and this trait cannot simply be eradicated with rigorous training. Wolfdogs require ample open space and frequent physical and mental stimulation, which are needs difficult to satisfy while at a convention or during transit.
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While wolfdogs raised and living with humans can be sociable, each animal has their own tolerance level. This can vary dramatically between individuals and on a day-to-day basis. When they are used for business, their ability to leave a stressful or uncomfortable situation is stripped away, and they are forced to “work” even when they’d rather not.

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DID YOU CROW THAT?

Crow researcher John Marzluff once spotted a group of crows playing an avian variation of Quidditch with a paper ball. While some of us still struggle to understand the seemingly simple rules of soccer, crows can develop and share complex games all on their own. As some of the most playful, social, and intelligent birds in the world, they are constantly devising new ways to entertain themselves.

While research has shown that crows, other corvids, and parrots have more neurons in the cortex-like part of their brain than other bird species – indicating a more generalized intelligence – that doesn’t mean other species are unintelligent. Those “bird brains” have evolved over hundreds of millions of years to be highly specialized to their ecosystems. They are the animals most at risk of extinction, as they are unable to adapt quickly enough to the rapidly changing climate.
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The pied crow species is indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa. Removing native species, shipping them across the globe, and breeding them – just to be used as props for photos – contributes to the decimation of natural ecosystems, threatening all life on the planet.
Luckily, fans are an enthusiastic bunch, and we can choose to end the trade of animals for photo ops if we put our minds to it.

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GIVE A HOOT ABOUT OWLS!

If you saw an owl out basking in the midsummer sun, you’d probably think something was seriously wrong with them, due to their nocturnal nature. Yet at conventions, owls are tethered in place under bright fluorescent lights, unable to retreat to a dark roost far away from the hustle and bustle of the convention floor.

Crowded places are prime breeding grounds for viruses, especially when animals are thrown into the mix, and the global wildlife trade is often ground zero for zoonotic diseases. Eurasian eagle owls are bred stateside, but they aren’t a native species. Interactions between wild animals and humans will inevitably spread illnesses, allowing viruses to hop back and forth between species as they mutate and learn how to defend themselves against our immune systems.
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The ongoing bird flu epidemic has already resulted in millions of domesticated birds used in the poultry industry being killed, and the bird flu outbreak in humans in 1997, though small and contained, had a mortality rate of over 50 percent. It’s still out there, building up resistance against us. The least we can do is not offer up a prime opportunity for contagion to spread in crowded convention centers.

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TAKING ACTION

There are many small companies traveling to conventions around the country each week with “exotic” animal species in tow. Species such as sloths, raccoons, camels, snakes, alligators and kangaroos have frequently been seen in these situations in recent years. Many of the animals are babies, too young to be separated from their mothers. The Protego Foundation is committed to taking action against this practice until all convention organizers pledge against allowing live animals at their events.

Visit the Defend the Dire Wolves campaign page to learn more and to sign and share the petition.







Written by Elise Myslinski

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