To start out the new year we’re taking a look at some serious news – Canada’s failing grade for animal welfare and protections.

Late last year, World Animal Protection unveiled their first ever API – or Animal Protection Index – an ingenious way of measuring individual nation’s efforts at protecting animals. Canada received a failing grade – lower than some third world countries – causing a media firestorm. Also late in 2014, the International Fund for Animal Welfare announced that Canada was failing to meet its international obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This was incidentally timed with a study from Canadian scientists showing that our country's efforts to protect already at-risk or endangered species are critically failing.