HighestWelfare.Humane.Assured.GoodPractices.Vegetarian. Regenerative.Flexitarian.Lies...
What is the difference between No Welfare, High Welfare, and Highest Welfare when they all require animals to die? Only human comfort, NONE protect the actual animals. The most humane, ethical, and honest Webster-defined "welfare" is NOT exploiting animals - not using, not wearing, not eating, not killing - animals. The only meaningful position is vegan, everything else is just how humans euphemize animals' required suffering and violent deaths: no human exploits animals because they honestly believe that NOT exploiting animals is UNethical or INhumane.
Millions of Songbirds Killed for Cypriot Delicacy
Related, please sign:
Tell the Cyprus government to stop ignoring animal cruelty
From Care2
By Mac McDaniel
Up to ten million songbirds are killed every year on the island of Cyprus and in other Mediterranean countries in order to supply upscale restaurants with a traditional Cypriot “delicacy”.
The delicacy, called ambelopoulia, is boiled or pickled songbirds which are swallowed whole (because it’s not cost-effective to remove their entrails). Restaurants serve this dish for high prices, offering economic incentive to poachers. The poachers catch the birds using means such as covering branches with sticky sap that are then hidden in trees where the birds nest. The birds get stuck to the branches and flap and thrash upside down until a poacher comes back to kill and bag them.
Trapping wild birds in Cyprus is illegal, but economic hardship lures poachers to the profession because it not only offers a large profit, but is also low risk due to lax enforcement of Cyprus’ conservation laws.
Lax enforcement also means restaurants aren’t shy about serving an illegal delicacy. Restaurants in Cyprus serve up a dish of ambelopoulia to anyone rich enough to afford it with little chance of legal repercussions. Tourists looking to experience “culture” and “tradition” swallow whole birds alongside wealthy locals.
The fact the dish is illegal may just add to the appeal for tourists, who romanticize what they consider to be forbidden pleasures.
Our Collective Destiny?
Anthony Marr predicts the Mother of All Droughts to start as early as 2012
From Anthony Marr Blogspot
By Anthony Marr
I am not a professional climatologist, but I do have a degree in physics, and as per the average physicist, I prefer to do my own analysis and draw my own conclusions when it comes to anything involving the basic physical laws. Climatology is nothing more than a special branch of physics anyway.
Having done my own analysis, I have drawn my own conclusion which I am now presenting for your perusal. I don’t feel too much trepidation in case I’m wrong, because all the predictions from the most advanced computer modeling have all proven wrong, almost always as gross underestimations, so much so that worst-case-scenarios have repeatedly been exceeded, and “experts are stunned” and “worse than scientists have expected” have become the media catch-phrase. In fact, so far, I have yet to encounter a computer projection that has not grossly undershot the mark, or at least promised to do so some time in the future, mostly commonly the year 2100. So, the worst I can do is to be wrong like everybody else. Right now, I fear I’m right, but hope I’m wrong. (If I prove to be wrong some time in the future, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation consistent to a T with the basic physical laws.
In 2008/2009, Vancouver experienced one of the coolest winters ever, which led skeptics to again say, “Global warming? What global warming?” My conclusion, on the other hand, is that this is explainable, and even predictable by the basic physical laws. It is supposed to cool off, stupid. But considering that it will last only 3-4 years, Vancouverites should enjoy the Arctic air-conditioning while it is still working, because as of the end of 2012 or thereabouts, it will konk out.
After Long Chase, Florida Bans Cruel Fox and Coyote Pens
From Huffington Post
By Wayne Pacelle
On Wednesday, culminating a more than yearlong effort, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) outlawed fox and coyote pens, the gruesome practice of releasing a fox or coyote inside a pen to be chased and often torn apart by dogs. The Humane Society of the United States has long been campaigning to end this abusive practice, and we have made a major advance with the new policy in Florida that will save countless foxes and coyotes from this form of staged animal combat.
The process of “penning” begins with the trapping of wild foxes and coyotes. The animals are then packed into cramped cages and sometimes trucked long distances without food or water. When they reach their destination they are released one by one, bewildered, into an enclosure and forced to run for their lives. Dogs may chase the fenced-in wildlife for hours, to the point of exhaustion, but no matter the size of the enclosure there is no escape.
Judges score dogs on how relentlessly they pursue the captive animals. The “winner” is the dog who can stick to the prey the most often. The loser? The fox or coyote who is ripped to shreds or mauled to death.
In Florida, the Maines family spent more than a year painfully witnessing what went on in the fox pen next door to their house. They took photographs of dogs attacking a cornered coyote on Christmas Eve, and listened to the eerie sound of dogs killing animals in the murky depths of the pen. They then took their story to the Fish and Wildlife commissioners, sometimes driving 10 hours to testify about their heartbreak. They made a website, spoke to their legislators, purchased billboards, and quickly built a grassroots movement 3,000 people strong.
You told Talbots to stay fur-free & guess what? They are …
UPDATE, FROM HSUS
The HSUS received this statement from Talbots on Friday, Sept 3:
“Thank you for your concern. Talbots always seeks to operate under the highest ethical standards. We have heard our customers’ concerns regarding the items offered that contained real fur. These items have been pulled from stores and are no longer available for sale. Talbots remains committed to its policy against the use of real fur in our collection.”
Thank you to everyone who asked Talbots to stay fur-free.
Please click HERE to send automatic message.
BACKGROUND
After years of being fur-free, clothing retailer Talbots has heartlessly started selling clothing made with animal fur.
The pitiless fur industry kills millions of animals—including rabbits, foxes, mink, and raccoon dogs—every year in the cruelest ways imaginable. Many are even skinned alive.
With so many warm, fashionable alternatives available, there is simply no reason to wear animal fur, and there’s certainly no reason for Talbots to sell it! Talbots has hundreds of stores across the country, and its decision to sell this cruel product sets a terrible example for other retailers.
TAKE ACTION
Please call Talbots toll-free at 1-800-992-9010 and politely ask the company to say no to the cruel, unnecessary fur trade. Be sure to mention if you are a Talbots customer, and how its decision will affect your shopping choices. After you have made your call, please send a follow-up email.
Please also leave a message with them via the Talbot’s online webform (120 characters maximum). Find it HERE. (Thank you, Jennifer.)
North Utah Valley Animal Shelter sells animals for vivisection
From PETA
Please take action and send automatic message HERE or click on a picture.
To visitors, North Utah Valley Animal Shelter (NUVAS) may seem like a typical safe haven for animals. The facility’s intake documents describe dogs as “very cute” and “cuddly” and state that they “love to play fetch” and “enjoy belly rubs”—perhaps reminding you of a loving canine companion you share your home with and consider a member of the family. Tragically, however, these words describe many dogs the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter has sold to the University of Utah for invasive and deadly experiments. Dogs recently purchased from the animal shelter had holes cut into their chests and necks and pacemakers implanted onto their hearts in order to induce irregular heartbeats; the dogs were then killed and dissected.
North Utah Valley Animal Shelter is the only animal shelter in the state of Utah that continues to betray animals in its care and profit from the abuse of these animals in cruel and deadly experiments. Learn about Max, Gracie Lou, and other dogs who were denied a second chance at a loving home, and tell North Utah Valley Animal Shelter to stop its despicable practice of selling dogs and cats for experimentation.
MESSAGE TEXT
I was dismayed to learn that–although every other animal shelter in the state has ended the shameful practice–the North Utah Valley Animal Shelter continues to betray the animals it is charged with protecting by selling them to the University of Utah for cruel and deadly experiments.
Taxpayers support animal shelters in the hope that the facilities will help alleviate animal suffering in this world, not contribute to it by treating homeless dogs and cats as cheap laboratory equipment for animal experimenters. I urge you to immediately stop violating the trust of Utah taxpayers and animals and to make the shelter stop releasing dogs and cats to the University of Utah.
More Afghan Girls Poisoned For Going To School
From Care2
Posted by Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
The Afghan Ministry of Public Health confirmed what has until now been just a disturbing supposition: the cases of mass sickness at girls’ schools across Afghanistan over the past two years were indeed caused by poison gas. There have been no fatalities, and no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the MPH’s spokesman, Dr. Kargar Norughli, said that his ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) had been testing the blood from victims of the mass attacks, and discovered toxic compounds.
Because the origin of the attacks is unclear, one reaction has been to dismiss the attacks as random, rather than targeted assaults on girls who are actively seeking an education. But the fact that all of the attacks have been on girls’ schools or mixed schools during hours set aside for girls makes it clear that these are gendered attacks.
The poisonings have happened mostly in areas with large Pashtun populations, where opposition to girls’ education is strong. This opposition manifests itself in various and often violent ways; girls’ schools are burned down, teachers are attacked and beheaded, and acid is sprayed in girls’ faces as they walk to school. These poison gas attacks seem simply to be the latest in a systematic campaign to intimidate girls from attending school.
Please Ask Yohji Yamamoto to Stop Using Fur!
From PETA
Leading Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto received a heart-felt letter from Academy Award-winning actor Kim Basinger asking him to take cruelty out of his designs. She wrote, “By making the kind choice to shun fur (and fur trim, which helps to keep the cruel fur trade alive), you can be a leader in fashion and compassion, setting a wonderful example for the rest of the industry to follow .”
Terrified and kept in cramped, unsanitary cages for their entire lives, animals on fur farms are often stomped, bludgeoned, and beaten before they are skinned alive. Although everyone who buys fur contributes to this cruelty, she reminds Yohji Yamamoto that “as Japan’s leading fashion designer, you in particular are able to set an example for others and establish a more compassionate trend away from fur .”
Many top designers—including Stella McCartney, Betsey Johnson, Anne Klein, Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Bouwer, Chloé, Perry Ellis, and Todd Oldham—already refuse to work with fur.
Please join Kim Basinger in giving a voice to animals. Use the Take Action Button to urge Yohji Yamamoto to pledge not to use fur—including fur trim—in his collections. Let him know that there are many fashionable alternatives that don’t involve the slaughter of innocent animals.
Personalized letters always work best, so feel free to add your own thoughts and opinions!
Another oil disaster? Not if we can help it.
***Please note that letters must be original in order to be considered for publishing.
The death toll from the Gulf oil disaster is staggering: more than 5,300 birds, 550 threatened and endangered sea turtles, 80 dolphins and other marine mammals.
1 Hundreds of miles of coastline fouled with oil, including several National Wildlife Refuges — havens for our most precious wildlife.
But the long-term effects — on our wildlife, our fisheries and our coastal economies — won’t be known for years.
As they prepare to return to Washington, DC this month, our wildlife needs the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to help wildlife affected by the Gulf oil disaster — and prevent the next devastating catastrophe.
Wildlife Supporter, as key votes in the Senate, your senators could make the difference for real action to prevent future oil disasters and protecting our wildlife and wild places.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed a strong bill responding to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. But the Senate is dragging its collective feet — and may not even pass their version of the bill at all this year. This is unacceptable.
Christmas feeding and gift giving for the children of Mindanao
Walk Thy Talk Ministries is dedicated to the children of Mindanao. Our objective is to clothe and feed the children and provide spiritual nurturing. Our ministry is two years old and operates on the volunteer help of a handful of individuals. The short term goals of the ministry is to provide clothing which we buy used in bulk form from the local market and also to provide food, in some cases this entails only snacks when the number of children is very large. Our long term goals are to provide hot, nourishing meals to the children and provide slippers to the children who, in many cases, are barefoot. Our longer term goal is to build an orphanage on a working farm which will provide food to sustain the orphanage.
Vanderbilt University fined $8,156 for lab animals dying unnecessarily, what you can do
From Examiner
By Cheryl Hanna
It has been the third consecutive year Vanderbilt University has been cited for protocol violations concerning the humane treatment of laboratory animals. In 2006, the school was cited for administering expired medication and for the lack of “environmental enrichment” which included exercise wheels for hamsters in order to combat animal boredom. In 2007, the university was fined $7,219 for more protocol violations.
The 2008 violations incurred when a baby monkey was thrown into a washing machine according to a report by the Tennessean. Galago monkeys are nocturnal primates and are often called “bush babies” because of their cries. When full grown the monkeys rarely weigh more than five to ten ounces. The mother monkey had been removed before the cage was cleaned, but the baby was missed and tossed into the wash with the cage bedding.
Further violations in 2008 concerned five hamsters that were injected with an improperly mixed experimental compound.
The United States Department of Agriculture determined the animals died unnecessarily in 2008 because protocols were not followed. Vanderbilt officials stated they noted the mistakes and corrected the protocols immediately. They cite animals in medical research for cancer, AIDS, and diabetes are treated humanely, and support the need for animals in research as life saving medications and surgical procedures need to be tested on animals first.
Sick Pics Leaked From Miami Animal Research Facility
PROTEST INFORMATION:
Rally Outside of Primate Products
Tuesday, September 7
11:00am – 1:00pm
Primate Products – Live Animal Division
7780 NW 53rd Street
Miami, FL
Facebook Group Event can be found HERE
Please sign Tell Primate Products to End Their Vivisection Primate Trade
From NBC Miami
By Jeff Burnside
The public is getting a rare, if unsettling, glimpse inside an animal research facility right here in South Florida after ten internal photos of severely injured primates fell into the hands of animal activists.
When it comes to experimentation on live animals, emotions and opinions run the gamut. Are animals still used unnecessarily? Isn’t it worth saving human lives?
The ten photos don’t answer these questions. But they are certainly sparking a very public debate.
Primate Products, located in a non-descript warehouse in Doral, imports primates from around the world and sells them to animal research labs. They’re also licensed for research, according to the USDA.
The photos depict bloodied, lifeless primates in a surgical setting, deep gashes on skulls, an open wound on an arm, and you can see reddish or inflamed areas on the hindquarters in one photo.
The photos got into the hands of animal activist groups, initially The Animal Liberation Investigative Unit, Stop Animal Exploitation Now, and SMASH HLS, who reposted them on various websites, view the images HERE, be forewarned, however, that they are graphic.
“Yeah, it’s horrendous,” says Don Anthony, spokesperson for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. ARFF and one other group filed formal complaints with federal inspectors over the animal welfare act.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
“We are demanding that the USDA, the Department of Agriculture, do an immediate and thorough investigation,” said Anthony.
Top USDA officials, including Eastern Regional Director Betty Goldentyer, confirmed that its inspectors will, based on the photos and complaints, go visit the facility and investigate.
Immediate, please sign:
Stop Cardiff University from experimenting on animals!!
From BUAV
The BUAV has uncovered the use of kittens in experiments at Cardiff University. The experiment is reported in the Wales on Sunday newspaper as part of an investigation by the paper on the rise in the number of animal experiments in universities in Wales, especially at Cardiff University. The paper has revealed that almost 200,000 animals – including cats, mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, birds, frogs and fish – have been used in experiments in the past four years. Cardiff University alone used 191,549 animals (96% of all animal tests at Welsh universities). The number of experiments carried out at the institution has risen 13% since 2006.
In the experiment, nineteen kittens, just two-six months old, were subjected to invasive surgery under anaesthesia in which their windpipes were sliced, catheters were inserted into blood vessels and parts of their brains exposed in order to implant electrodes. The fate of these kittens was not stated. In 2009, Cardiff University was responsible for using 46 cats, which accounted for 26% (over a quarter) of all those cats used in research facilities in the whole of the UK during that time period.
In four years Cardiff University experimented on 157,839 mice, 17,324 rats, 11,096 fish, 1,941 birds,1,253 guinea pigs, 933 pigeons, 884 frogs, 207 cats, 54 rabbits and 18 tree shrews from the tropics of south east Asia. By comparison, Bangor University used 1,464 mice and 664 fish, Aberystwyth used 289 cattle, 153 mice and 102 sheep and Swansea used 1,208 fish.
Much of the animal research carried out at universities is funded by taxpayers. The Medical Research Council supported the kitten experiment.
Justice for Epic and Samson
Immediate, please sign:
Please also sign:
From
Facebook group can be found
Two Great Danes, Samson and Epic were shot in Ocala by a neighbor with a 9mm Glock. They got out accidentally and the owners were out looking for them at the time they were killed. One died on scene, the other died hours later at the vet. The Sheriff’s department was called to “assist” animal control in the investigation. Animal control’s report indicates that the are “standing behind” the sheriff’s investigation since animal control is not equipped to deal with cases involving the discharge of a firearm.
Except the only investigation done by the Sheriff’s department was to obtain a self serving statement from the shooter. The Sheriff’s department took no photos, did not document the scene, did not protect the crime scene, did not take any shell casings, locate the bullets or even photograph the blood evidence. They did manage to talk to (but not take a statement from) two witnesses who stated that the dogs were “not a threat.” The dogs had been in front of the witness’s house, and appeared dehydrated and thirsty from being out in the Florida heat for several hours. According to the witnesses, the dogs did lope down towards the shooter, but “before they ever got to him, he began firing.”
Both agencies have decided that they will “let the state attorney decide whether to file charges.” The only problem is, what have the agencies done to give the state attorney any information to make a decision?
This sounds like the Bear Bear case all over again. Even the same gun.
Girl throws puppies in the river, do you recognize her?
Editor’s Note: There is no justification for this act, the depraved destruction of sentience. However, you should know that this is not an isolated case; in fact, this occurs by the hundreds of millions daily, globally. These puppies are cows, mink, sheep, pigs, fish, chickens, elephants, monkeys, mice, cats, horses. These puppies are your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner. These puppies are your products, your drugs, your fun, your fashion. You may not see it, but it is there, every day, every minute, every second. Please watch Earthlings: Make the Connection
***If you have information regarding this or any cruelty to animals case, please contact PETA’s Cruelty Investigations Department at CIDinfo@peta.org
Update, 10/6 (October 6):Bosnian girl who threw litter of puppies into fast-flowing river will not face animal cruelty charges
Update, 9/3 (September 3): Bosnian police find woman who threw puppies into river
Update, 9/2 (September 2): Police Closing In On Girl Who Threw Puppies In River
The video has been removed by all major video hosting sites, including VodPod, YouTube, and Vimeo, you will need to visit the original hosting site.
From Live Leak
Whilst we appreciate publicising this video could lead to information that could be passed to authorities we would like to ask members that no personal information is posted here nor should any threats be aimed, or “action” taken, against this person other than to pass information to any relevant authority.
Comments may be turned off over night for the skeleton shift.
We can determine from the picture so few things.
She looks to be 5ft 6in-5ft 8in, blond, eye color unknown, Caucasian
She has something written upside-down on her red sweater, barely legible, might be of assistance if it’s the product of a local store.
Original post HERE.
Facebook group HERE.
WARNING: video is graphic. Original video removed by all video hosting sites, but the following is from an updated news source:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
FAIL: Temple Grandin Wins 7 Emmy Awards
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Such a lovely place to die “humanely” … I’m certain she is very happy, joyous even, to be there.
Such a lovely place to die “humanely” … I’m certain she is very happy, joyous even, to be there.
Editor’s Note: American Humane Association is congratulating Temple Grandin‘s “win” at the Emmy’s. Wow.
What is also interesting is that “TIME Magazine honors her as one of the ‘100 People Who Most Affect Our World'”.
Allow me to repeat: “OUR world …”
This is not a victory, this is a perversion. With such accolades as “hero”, “triumph”, and now some dippy statue-times-seven, Temple Grandin endorses animal torture and murder, as long as it is defined as “humane”, and now people will look to her and this biopic as a guidepost for exemplified empathy and contemporary compassion.
What absurdity.
I understand that many honestly believe this is a promotion of consideration; due to being ill-informed from duplicitous banalities and solicitous-sounding lies, as well as being indoctrinated into the global cult of animal commodification, many people do not understand the very foundation of animal abuse and the ethical response to such, especially considering the gross discord between companions and those butchered immorally for food/fashion/fun/pharma.
But ask yourself this: who are the ones defining and who are the ones dying?
The fact that animal organizations and societies honestly endorse this utter nonsense emphasizes the other fact that people are concerned with human animals rather than non-human animals; it is a human orchestration to extend judicious parameters to that which, fundamentally, cannot be considered fair. It is an impossibility – logically, emotionally, philosophically – to imprison and murder in a just manner. Yet those crafty, self-indulgent, speciesist humans can now magnanimously claim “compassion”. They can now champion themselves on such gracious nods to those weak, subservient, and used commodities – animals – because that is what they are considered. Commodities. And commodities are, by their very definition, products, and NO person, sane and logical, can empathize with commercial intangibles. But Temple thinks she can, and now billions will cheer their ability as well. And they will do so hugging themselves with “self-effacing” righteousness and in a socially-rewarding manner: people enjoy living in a culturally progressive society, one that can pride itself on its civilized and empathetic mores and manners.
It is an industry hyperbole to nobody but those who care, and those who are cheering, those raising their glasses in a metamorphic devolution from indifference to murder do not understand compassion beyond what their knives can cut. The obscenity is that they attempt such via glossy images of happy products winding to happy heavens. Only the most wretched and perverse who knowingly commodify life rather than appreciate it can understand the viciousness with which they work, for they see their products and they plan their demise with critical coldness and damning denial because upon admission that they are not products comes the discomfort of ethical itching: life so similar to ours, sentient and exploited and stolen, cannot be extinguished or conformed.
That they are not products, or profits, or items demands reconciliation with the diet at least and the ethic at most. Indeed, they are sentient beings, who love, fear, suffer, feel pain, and are intrinsically special, incapable of being owned and used. Yet humans define them and thus humans define what is considered humane for them. Yet only humans can attempt to humanize products with corrupt emotions and terms while refusing, rejecting even, that which is blinding: how do you define suffering, blood, and murder as humane?
You cannot. You can just make movies about people who pretend to so that you can pretend you believe it.
Congratulations. It is most definitely 2010.
sr
- I heard a rumor that in countries with populations exceeding 200 million humans, governments will begin implementing mass culls/euthanasia/kills to curb resource shortages. Temple Grandin is designing the manner in which people will die in the People Slaughterhouses. But don’t worry: it will be humane.
Our Compass 