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.
By Loredana Versaci
1. Please send message using sample below or in your own words expressing your horror at the statement that strays should be burned alive!
2. Please also visit HERE to send Mayor Alberico Villani a message in your own words (or modify the sample message below) protesting his decision to SHOOT stray animals. Click E-mail Scrivi al Comune to send a message directly via the site. Also visit his site HERE. Thank you.
BACKGROUND:
From Alte temperatura in Sardegna ma per i cani da bruciare secondo il consigliere cacciatore Bardanzellu
There is a hunter and a Regional Rep (in Italy they are equated to MPs, but get much more money) in Sardinia. One of the WORST Italian Regions for animals, one of the most beautiful in the world for heartless (or blind) humans: you see dead, abandoned, or abused animals everywhere, especially if you leave the coast and travel in the countryside.
Now, this monster proposes to BURN STRAYS because it’s the “only way” to solve the trouble. They are troglodytes, they don’t consider spay/neuter, they don’t respect our ONLY protection law (L 281/91) that imposes to chip animals and speuter strays.
It’s a CRIME to burn animals, it’s a crime to call to violence (istigazione al reato in Italian), for persons like this, it’s a crime for the government to promote by NOT condemning this type of language.
Puppy skinned alive in rescue shelter
Immediate, please sign:
Justice for 3 Month old puppy in Bogrov
And if you have not yet already, please sign:
Justice for Mima! Make Animal Cruelty a Crime in Bulgaria
From CNN iReport
Posted by AnimalRescue
The night before she was due to fly to her new home in Holland, 3 month old puppy Jessy who was being cared for at one of the country’s few humane shelters in Upper Bogrov near Sofia, Bulgaria, was killed in a senseless act of revenge brutality against animal rescue efforts which are seen as a waste of resources in Bulgaria. Sick psychopaths broke into the Animal Rescue Sofia shelter last night and skinned her alive, leaving her remains to be found by the volunteers in the morning when they were met with the terrifying sight of her leather skinned head.
Spokesman Svetoslav Petrov from ARS said that there were no traces of blood on the premises so they believe Puppy Jessy was taken off premises and her skin and head brought back. He added that a man nicknamed “Chin Lee” has sent a note to ARS describing to them how it was done to “keep the meat tasty and tender”.
Genetic modification: glow-in-the-dark lifesavers or mutant freaks? Or, How Mankind Arrogantly Meddles & Non Humans Suffer and Lose (BB)
From The Guardian
By Robin McKie
As Home Office statistics reveal a 10% rise in the use of genetically modified animals for research, scientists appear to be divided about their usefulness
At first glance, the creation of a chicken that glows in the dark seems a disturbing and unnecessary one. With a jellyfish gene inserted into its DNA, a hen modified this way acquires the power to fluoresce in a bright green hue when illuminated with blue light – an unsettling ability, to say the least. After all, who needs poultry that can shine a light on itself? More important, why go to the trouble of mixing the DNA of two such dissimilar creatures in the first place?
It is an important question that has recently been reflected in headlines that followed the release of Home Office figures which show there was a dramatic rise in the creation of genetically modified animals in laboratories in 2009. In total, 1.5m experiments on GM animals were carried out, a rise of 143,000 from the previous year. At the same time, there was a corresponding decrease in experiments on “natural” animals.
In other words, more and more scientists are now relying on the use of GM animals, as opposed to unmodified ones, for their research. But what gives the insertion of a piece of DNA from one living being into another such an advantage for scientists? After all, inserting invertebrate genes into mammals, and vice versa, is not easy. It also makes the public uncomfortable and raises the hackles of animal rights organisations. Yet it has become the standard route for researchers. Why?
Consider that glowing poultry. Fluorescent chickens were developed by scientists at Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute, the zoological research organisation responsible for the creation of Dolly the sheep. As we have noted, the technique involves putting jellyfish genes into the DNA of a chick so that it makes a green, fluorescent protein. “The protein itself does not affect the chicken in any way but it is a very useful tool for looking at the very early embryos,” says Roslin researcher Professor Helen Sang.
The crucial point is that chicks are extremely useful for studying embryo development because their growth takes place inside an egg which can be kept in an incubator and studied fairly easily. By contrast, a mammal foetus gestates inside the uterus of its mother, making it far harder for researchers to monitor physiological changes. Thus the chick provides us with a key model for understanding the development of early embryos for all vertebrates, including humans. But the technique had been pushed to its limits by scientists – until the arrival of the GM mutant. This allows scientists to tinker with the way in which an embryo develops and so reveal processes that were previously obscured.
Women – still dirty after all these years?
Then …
By Jude Love
LISTEN LADIES: WE DON’T HAVE MUCH TO COMPLAIN ABOUT, WE ARENT GETTING STONED, OR GANG-RAPED, OR HAVING TO HAVE OUR HYMENS SEWED BACK TOGETHER, OR ANY OF THE OTHER AVALANCHE OF ASSORTED APOCALYPTIC ATROCITIES OVERWHELMING WOMEN ON THE PLANET; BUT – GOD & ALLAH FORBID – WE ARE STILL DIRTY…..
NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN 4000 YEARS…”THEY” ARE STILL TRYING TO MAKE US GROVEL, AND CLEAN UP OUR ACTS – AND OUR BODIES, LIKE WE HAVE SOME KIND OF A PLAGUE OR SOMETHING.
How To Appreciate Murder: holding hands with your family in a fun, loving, safe environment ...
Editor’s Note: This is hideous, an abject display of arrogance and shame. Yeah, pat yourselves on the back for being so progressively thankful and righteous by exposing others to a live murder in a nurturing environment. These “wise” people honestly believe they are setting some respect standard in some contemporary therapeutic exercise in self-indulgence. Yes, this is for PEOPLE not the ANIMALS. Here’s a thought: set those standards higher and REFUSE to support, endorse, and promote the wasteful, unethical, and barbaric murder of sentient animals! You think because you watch it in person you UNDERSTAND it? You think because people witness the deliberate murder of animals for their food in some field-trippy, adventurous atmosphere they can APPRECIATE it? Why not appreciate life? Throughout this site you can see numerous images and videos demonstrating the blood and savagery inherent in animal food, fur, fun, and pharma, for educational purposes. I wholly believe that many people are visual and can understand better by viewing images. But to deliberately engage in murder meant to promote APPRECIATION in a loving atmosphere that establishes a kind and enriching experience rather than OBJECTION is ridiculously speciesist and abusive; I’m pretty certain children don’t need to be in an auto accident to appreciate the dangers of not wearing a seat belt.
This is wrong, I would never raise a child to appreciate animals by engaging in their murder: how does this carnival of death do anything but challenge the fundamentally insidious social nature/acceptance of killing when mommy and daddy are laughing in the splendor of the weather and Timmy and Susie dancing in the wheat? Appreciating animals by rejecting their torture and murder is compassionate. Exposing people to some self-serving theatrical demonstration of “where your food comes from” benefits humans, who now can arrogantly claim “understanding” and “appreciation” and can squelch those twinges of unethical disquiet in an utterly anthropocentric manner that does NOTHING for the animals.
You want children to appreciate food? Here’s a thought: teach them to appreciate life instead or take them to an orange grove. And don’t retort with the ridiculous validation that some may become veg*n as the result, that’s what vids and pics and books and education are for: taking children to Farmer Ted’s to witness murder while playing hopscotch and checkers in the sun is not an activity encouraging epiphany, introspection, or understanding, it’s a ludicrous expression of egocentrism, conforming the world to YOU and YOUR definition of appreciation while animals are murdered in the Sunny Patch of happiness. Why do you think McDonald’s have fun lands and bouncy kingdoms? Murder is more palatable when made to be fluffy and fun, with human animals as king and non-human animals as commodified subjects, congratulations for taking that speciesist route rife with indulgent banalities meant to benefit you. You only succeed in exploiting animals even more, but now with socially-rewarding impunity. Even hell can look beautiful if you make it fun and encouraged by mommy and daddy. But here’s the thing: Murder Is Murder. Regardless of props.
Because here is where parents – the hunters, the zoo and circus patrons, the revelers of murderous farm carnivals – get it wrong Every Single Time: you do not teach children to respect and appreciate life by participating in its exploitation, suffering, and murder. You teach children to respect and appreciate life by recognizing its sentience and rejecting YOUR selfish definition of such. There can be no respect of exploitation and death, the victims are the animals. Every time. And as long as they are the nonconsenting victims, you are nothing but the murderous perpetrators attempting to validate it as wholesome, respectful, and humane.
Next time take them to an animal shelter to HELP rather than KILL. Next time help them appreciate LIFE by SAVING IT rather than MURDERING IT. Or show them Meet Your Meat or Earthlings. On video. SR
From The Chicago Tribune
By Monica Eng
My 7-year-old loves bacon.
She loves it almost as much she loves pigs who are still alive.
And so our recent farm visit to witness a slaughter was not easy.
For years I’ve been talking to Miranda and her brother, Joe, about appreciating the sources of our food. I’ve introduced them to the farmers who provide our fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and meat. They’ve met many cows, chickens and hogs who even more directly provide us with that food. But what they hadn’t seen was how those happy hogs become the ribs, bacon and sausages on our plates. Miranda agreed to see it; Joe stayed home.
Four Dead Animals in Every New Mercedes CLS
What's the difference? You would sit on your skinned neighbor in your new car, wouldn't you? After all, skin is skin ... Right?
From Care2
By Mac McDaniel
The auto industry is buzzing about the new 2012 Mercedes CLS. Among its many luxurious features is a leather interior that Mercedes boasts requires four animals to create.
I don’t know about you, but to me four dead animals means a quality product! With that kind of marketing you can bet that I will be the first in line at the Mercedes dealership trying to get financed for a new CLS!
In an era when what were once fringe beliefs like veganism and animal rights are becoming more and more mainstream, when even omnivores are speaking out against fur and whaling, it demonstrates how completely out of touch a company can become when they market exclusively to the extremely wealthy.
There is a correlation between wealth and the exploitation of animals, between luxury and one’s inclination toward kindness.
There is of course a long cultural tradition of animals being used as symbols of prestige and wealth; the best example is wearing fur, which is still viewed as a sign of wealth. While factory-farming and subsidies have created an artificially low price for meat making it affordable by almost anyone, there was a time in recent human history when eating meat was exclusively reserved for the rich.
Immediate, please sign:
Uluanovsk, Russia ~ (Wo)men kill a tiny thirsty baby elk
Additional information (thank you, Erasure) regarding the background and “investigation”/English:
Animal Cruelty in Russia: Investigation Stifled by Corrupt Police
From Care2
Target: Russian Government, President Medvedev, Ulyanovsk area administration
Sponsored by: Russian Wildlife Protectors
On July 12 at Volga river, Ulyanovsk area, a mother elk with her two babies came to the river for a drink; this summer was extremely hot in Russia and especially hard on wild animals.
Eyewitnesses allege that some people (suspected locals or tourists) separated a baby elk from his mother, stole him away and started to beat him with bats. The baby cried but it didn’t stop the killers. The baby elk died of wounds.
Mariachi, Forever King of the Wild Stallions
Photo copyright Pam Nickoles Photography
From Rescuing an American Icon
In November 2007, there was a BLM roundup of the White Mountain HMA. Six hundred horses were taken off their range and the magnificent pinto stallion I had photographed, and so admired, was one of them. He was no longer running free. Rounded up in the prime of his life, but too old for the adoption program which left him destined for – what? Long term sanctuary or possibly sold to a kill buyer under the “sale authority” provision? Now I needed to seriously think about the promise I’d made to myself…and to him.
From Don’t Take Me Home, pnickoles YouTube channel
100 Cities Around the World Against Stoning
Immediate, please sign:
Free Sakine Ashtiani, No Stoning, No Execution, No more, Nowhere
From:
The International Committee Against Stoning
On August 28, 2010 one hundred cities around the world are rising up to protest the barbaric practice of stoning, as well as to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani in Iran. This day will be recorded in the annals of humanity as a manifestation of the protest, during the prior weeks, by millions of people across the globe against stoning as the most heinous form of medieval cruelty. It is a disgrace to humanity that, at the close of the first decade of the twenty-first century, stoning is still practiced in Iran and similar Islam-stricken countries.
We, the citizens of 100 cities, hereby unequivocally declare that this blot must be removed from the face of humanity immediately and permanently.
On this day we also protest against the regime of stoning in Iran. This regime has, during the 31 years of its existence, committed genocide, established a system of sexual apartheid in Iran, and made imprisonment, execution, torture, rape of political prisoners, and the rule of pre-medieval Islamic Sharia the law of the land. Such a regime is not the representative of the people of Iran. It is their murderer, and its leaders must be brought to trial before international tribunals for their crimes against humanity.
Further, the international protest of August 28 is yet another manifestation of the solidarity of people around the world with the people of Iran, who have heroically risen up to bring down the regime of stoning, the Islamic code of punishment (Qesaas), Hijab, torture, and execution. We, the citizens of 100 cities worldwide, proudly declare that we consider ourselves the standard bearers of the universal front of humanity against barbarity. We support the struggles of the people of Iran against one of the cruelest regimes in the history of humankind. We, therefore, emphatically declare, on behalf of the world’s civilized humanity, that the path to the liberation of the Iranian people will not pass through threats or military action against, the country, but through the removal of the regime of the Islamic Republic by the power of the struggles of people in Iran and across the world.
Immediate, please sign:
Feds to Return Chimps to Research: Urgent Action Needed
Please note that on AAVS alerts, after you input your information and select “Next Step”, you must also select “Send Message” after you verify the appropriate requests (email/print, copy message to you).
From AAVS
Background
After nearly a decade of living in peace, over 200 chimpanzees are slated by the federal government to return to biomedical research, where they may be housed in isolation and used in invasive experiments.
In the late 1990s, AAVS and several other animal groups joined together to rescue hundreds of chimpanzees languishing at the Coulston Foundation, a now defunct New Mexico laboratory. Coulston conducted biomedical experiments on these animals, exposing many to HIV and hepatitis, and repeatedly committed violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), some of which led to the deaths of several chimps.
Many of the chimpanzees were relocated to sanctuaries, while others remained at the facility, which was then contracted by another laboratory that agreed not to use the animals in invasive research. The chimps were moved to large enclosures, so they could live in groups, form relationships, and enjoy the outdoors. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) agreed to cover the cost of their care.
However, this contract ends at the beginning of 2011, and NIH has announced plans to move the chimpanzees, many of whom are elderly, like Flo (52 years), Winny (48 years), and Kate (46 years), to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in Texas, which has been recently cited for failing to provide primates with adequate housing and environmental enrichment. The lab was also cited for failing to safely secure a young rhesus monkey, who gained access to an outdoor area in sub-freezing temperatures, causing hypothermia so severe that he needed to be euthanized. Furthermore, another citation involved a baboon who was observed showing stereoptic circling (a sign of severe stress), possibly caused by the animal being housed alone, despite the fact that documents approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, which oversees lab operation, called for animals to be housed in pairs. These are serious violations of the AWA.
URGENT: Help Stop the Federal Wolf Killing Plan
Pups like this could be killed in their dens with poisonous gas. The deadline for comments is August 31st! Please take action today.
Immediate, please sign:
Help Stop the Federal Wolf Killing Plan
***Please note that this is open only to US friends.
From:
Defenders of Wildlife
The federal Wildlife Services agency (a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) is the primary wolf-killer in the United States — and now want to expand their wolf-killing operations. They plan to work with Idaho officials to eliminate up to 80 percent of the wolves in north-central Idaho by land and from the air.
Their plan also includes killing entire packs — including gassing helpless wolf pups in their dens — and surgically sterilizing alpha wolf pairs.
This unacceptable killing plan cannot be allowed to go forward — especially since wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies regained protections under the Endangered Species Act.
Please take action now to speak out against the Wildlife Services plan to expand their wolf-killing role in Idaho.
Idaho officials are claiming that wolves are the major cause of elk declines in parts of the state. But in 23 of the 29 elk management zones, populations of these animals are at or above population targets — many of the areas experiencing declines in elk numbers contain no wolves. And the Clearwater National Forest was experiencing steep declines in elk numbers by 1988 — long before wolves returned to the area.
Associated Press: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a crossbow as he sits on a rubber boat at the Olga Harbor of Kamchatka Peninsula during a scientific expedition, to study grey whales on Wednesday, Aug.25, 2010.
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Help protect critically endangered Western Gray Whales from oil drilling companies
From IFAW
A giant oil and gas company called Rosneft is planning to conduct seismic surveys in the shallow waters off the Russian Far East coast. This area near the village of Lebedinskoe is the only known place where Western North Pacific Gray Whales congregate for feeding and socializing their young. The seismic survey uses powerful sound waves which can be painfully deafening for the whales, given their acute sense of hearing.
The critically endangered Western North Pacific Gray Whale includes only 130 or so mammals, of which only two dozen females are able to breed. The whales typically spend summer months in the area, so we need to urge Rosneft to delay its disruptive seismic survey until it has implemented measures to monitor and protect the whales.
We have prepared a template email for you to send. We encourage you to personalize this copy to make it more effective. Please ensure that you are polite at all times.
MESSAGE TEXT:
I am writing you to urge Rosneft to please postpone the proposed Lebedinskoe seismic survey, scheduled to begin shortly off of Sakhalin Island.
This survey work could have a severe impact on the critically endangered Western North Pacific gray whale population. It is estimated that only 130 of the whales remain, including just around 30 breeding females.
The shallow waters in this area are a crucial feeding area for the endangered whales, and the survey is scheduled to occur during a time of year when the most whales will be present.
Furthermore, I request that Rosneft undertake a comprehensive monitoring and mitigation program that will constantly assess the impact the survey work has on whales, and prevent whales from being exposed to harmful noise.
The International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee recently stated that they were very concerned about the potential impact of this survey of western gray whales. They recommended that the survey work be postponed until at least June 2011 so that monitoring and mitigation measures can be implemented.
I therefore request that you postpone this seismic survey work until June, 2011, and that a monitoring and mitigation plan, similar to the one used by Sakhalin Energy, is implemented in advance of any planned seismic surveys.
Dolphin Slaughter Exposed by Eco-Activists, The Cove: Five actions you can take right now
- Please sign Help Save Japan’s Dolphins HERE
- Please sign HERE, available on Facebook for those who have Facebook accounts.
- Please join the Facebook Cause “The Cove” – Save Japan Dolphins HERE
- Please sign the Captivity is cruel – don’t go to a show! petition/pledge HERE
- Please sign Stop the Dolphin Slaughter in Taiji, Japan petition HERE
From Care2
Posted by Nancy Roberts
The heartbreaking 2009 documentary The Cove exposed the horrific annual slaughter of hundreds of dolphins in Taiji, a picturesque Japanese inlet. Activists hoped that worldwide pressure, outrage and protests would end the killings, but a TV series premiering this week shows that the brutality continues. Blood Dolphins was created by former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry and his son Lincoln as part of their crusade to halt the annual massacre of over 20,000 dolphins.
Dolphins are highly intelligent, self-aware, complex creatures that should swim free without the threat of slaughter or captivity, Ric Barry notes.”The most important thing I can do, that my son can do, is show the world through projects like Blood Dolphins just how threatened dolphins are so we can all do something about it.†A former dolphin trainer who “saw the light”, Richard O’Barry is part of Earth Island Institute’s Marine Mammal Team, which campaigns to protect dolphins, whales and other ocean mammals worldwide.
The dream of the dolphin
The dream of the dolphin is to swim free
Unmolested by humanity
To glide under water
Leap into the sky
Revel in ocean beauty
Each day that goes byKaren Lyons Kalmenson
Revirginization Surgeries on the Rise in China
From Care2
By Kendall McKenzie
In a spectacular mash-up of sexual double standards, chauvinism, and the tired notion that a lady’s worth is inversely proportional to the number of dudes she’s diddled, the Washington Post is reporting that “revirginization” surgeries are on the rise in China. Also known as hymenoplasty or hymenorrhaphy, the procedure either sutures together pieces of the remnant hymen or recreates it entirely using new tissue, almost always for the purpose of “proving” virginity to a new husband via busting it on their wedding night. Lovely.
While there isn’t sufficient numerical data to conclusively determine a jump in revirginization surgeries in China, it does occur and appears to be increasingly common. Previously thought to be confined to Muslim countries, hymen restoration is making the rounds in places like Europe, the United States, and now China, which goes to show that misogyny and f’d up expectations of women know no religion, ethnicity, or culture.
It’s mind-boggling that virginity, which is entirely subjective and indefinable, still remains an appropriate yardstick by which to measure the humanity of women. But the emphasis on the hymen itself is particularly problematic. These thin membranes are an unreliable indicator of one’s sexual experience because they often perforate or disappear with normal childhood physical activity; some believe women can even be born without one. Sexual assault obviously factors in as well. In terms of proving the occurrence of prior voluntary intercourse, hymens are as useless as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.
Please take a moment to read this important letter and Arthur’s birthday wish, watch the video, and sign the associated petition(s). Thank you!
Animals are my friends, and I do not eat my friends.
George Bernard Shaw
Open Letter to Dr. Richard Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), and coordinator of the society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV), from Our Compass’s Arthur Poletti.
Hello, Richard:
I am trying to persuade vegetarians and vegans and people on the fence to donate a SMALL amount of money ($10.00) to my September 1st birthday wish. Richard, I hope you and some or many of your associates will consider a SMALL donation to the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine *SCHOOL LUNCH REVOLUTION* as well. Please help me reach my goal of raising $1000.00 for this extremely important cause.
http://birthdays.causes.com/wishes/13872
Every School Student Who Is A Vegetarian Or A Vegan Or On The Fence Should Be Aware Of And Help Promote The PHYSICIANS COMMITTEE FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE SCHOOL LUNCH REVOLUTION to inform school officials and STUDENTS of all the benefits of complete vegetarian and vegan lunch options. Every school should offer vegetarian and vegan choices as an option to eating animal flesh and dairy products. The time is long overdue to begin removing animal flesh from school lunch menus throughout the United States for the urgently needed benefit of humans, animals, the earth, and the earth’s atmosphere. Every student in the country should eventually view the following short video that reveals the obvious reasons to stop eating animal flesh:
If You Knew The Truth About Where Your Food Comes From
Lastly, animals should not have to die so that school children can eat especially when vegetarian and vegan options are much healthier and taste great.
http://birthdays.causes.com/wishes/13872
Thank you for considering my birthday wish.
Arthur Poletti
Author of the online short story God Does Not Eat Meat
http://www.all-creatures.org/book/gdnem.html
Our Compass 