The demand for shark fin soup has driven many shark species to the brink of extinction, and threatens to destabilise the entire marine ecosystem. While some progressive conservation steps have recently been made, tough international measures are urgently needed to protect sharks, writes Susannah Waters.

Due to genetic manipulation, humans have bred domestic turkeys into deformed beings who can no longer reproduce naturally, resulting in a cruel system of forced masturbation of male turkeys and rape of female birds, writes Lara Drew.

The recent footage revealing horrendous cruelty to Australian cattle shipped to Indonesia shocked the nation. But our local slaughterhouses are no bed of roses for farmed animals, writes Nick Pendergrast.

In 1998 Peter Young was indicted for Animal Liberation Front raids he carried out on fur farms across the Midwest in the US. For seven years he was a fugitive from the FBI, before being arrested and imprisoned for two years. In 2007, he was released. Since then he's been a strong, above-ground defender of direct action. He spoke with Jon Hoch.

By denying the intelligence in animals, ignoring their extensive abilities to feel and to live as subjects in their own ways in the natural world, we have made our culture and ourselves less intelligent, writes Will Tuttle.

Vegans. Are they faddists? Sentimentalists? Or vitriolic extremists? According to a recent study, the UK media would have us believe all three, writes Tiffany Lowana.