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.
Beginning this morning at 7 a.m. EST and continuing through Friday, IDA is transporting 55 monkeys 1,700 miles from the confines and cruelty of a research lab to new lives in sanctuaries! The monkeys will be going to new homes in four different primate sanctuaries.
IDA President Scotlund Haisley is on the scene with the monkeys, and he will be sending us updates, photos and video to post as the situation develops. Check this page over the next few hours for more info. And, if you want the updates e-mailed straight to your inbox, click here to sign up – we’ll make sure you get all the exciting updates and photos just as soon as we do!
Argentine Senate backs bill legalising gay marriage
Argentina has become the first country in Latin America to legalise gay marriage after the Senate voted in favour.
The country’s Chamber of Deputies had already approved the legislation.
The vote in the Senate, which backed the bill by just six votes, came after 14 hours of at times heated debate.
The law, which also allows same-sex couples to adopt, had met with fierce opposition from the Catholic Church and other religious groups.
The legislation, backed by President Cristina Fernandez’s centre-left government, passed by 33 votes to 27 with three abstentions.
By Brett Michael Dykes
Yahoo News
A U.S. lawmaker is calling on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate whether BP influenced the release of Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.
Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey wants to know whether a quid pro quo led to the 2009 decision by U.K. and Scottish lawmakers to set the Libyan terrorist free. Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001, but released last year when doctors said he had only three months to live before dying of cancer. A doctor now says he could live a decade, according to the Associated Press. The senator wants to know whether the bomber’s release was connected to a BP plan to drill for oil off Libya, which the senator says could earn the company up to $20 billion.
A bomb aboard Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 270 people, 189 of them American. The plane was headed from London’s Heathrow Airport to New York’s JFK International Airport.
In a letter written to Sens. John Kerry and Dick Lugar, the committee chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, Lautenberg called for a full investigation. He wrote:
“Reports have surfaced indicating that a 2007 oil agreement may have influenced the U.K. and Scottish governments’ positions concerning Mr. Megrahi’s release in 2009. BP admits that in 2007 it ‘told the U.K. government … it was concerned that a delay in concluding a prisoner transfer agreement with the Libyan government might hurt’ the oil deal. Furthermore, letters have been released showing that Jack Straw, the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Justice, initially intended to exclude Mr. Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement but later switched his position, citing the ‘wider negotiations with the Libyans’ and ‘overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom.’ BP has just announced it will begin deepwater drilling next month off Libya’s coast, and it is estimated BP could earn as much as $20 billion from the deal. It is shocking to even contemplate that this company is profiting from the release of a terrorist with the blood of 189 Americans on his hands.”
By Dairy Herd news staff & AgriTalk
Click the arrow to listed to the 30-minute interview with Gary Conklin, Dairy gets harsh lesson:
Gary Conklin’s reaction to the undercover video of alleged animal abuse shot at his family’s dairy near Plain City, Ohio, over several weeks and released May 26 was visceral and immediate: “We absolutely couldn’t believe it, we were devastated. I did not, nor did any family members, have any knowledge of what was going on.”
Conklin shared his cautionary, behind-the-headlines experiences with AgriTalk listeners Monday morning. “It has been extremely difficult,” he says, which is most certainly an understatement.
The video and actions seen on it, obtained by a Mercy for Animals operative who gained employment at the farm, were roundly condemned by animal agriculture, animal activists and Conklin himself. But, as is often the case in these situations, there’s more to the story.
Both former employee Billy Joe Gregg (who faces 12 counts of animal cruelty) and Jason Smith (the videographer and Mercy for Animals affiliate who has stated that he had daily contact with the group) claimed dairy work experience on their resumes and lived nearby. By outward appearances, each seemed qualified to work on the dairy. Gregg was hired last November, Smith in late April of this year.
While officials investigate whether the two men knew each other before their employment at the dairy, it is clear that they at the very least became friends after working there. In fact, it wasn’t unusual for the pair to do activities together during non-working hours.
In addition, due to the dairy’s work scheduling, Gregg and Smith were often the only employees remaining at the dairy in the late afternoon to finish up daily chores after everyone else was done for the day and Conklin was often traveling on business.
I’m a 59 year old man – a Vietnam veteran, law enforcement, NYC guy. Not your stereotypical animal rights guy. But, animals are who taught me my humanity. I guess that was God’s way of doing it. Animals are such innocent creatures, defenseless in some ways. I can feel sorry for a person in need, but that’s a world away from feeling almost parental in your wanting to take care of another of God’s creations.
I know when I was broken, in just about every way a man could be broken, it was my pets, my substitute children who were the physical manifestation of God’s love to me. They and no one else were there comforting me, showing me that someone did care that I was still alive. That I had to stay strong because they needed me to be there for them, as I needed to have them there with me – their warmth and their love showing in their eyes.
They lay beside me while I recovered. Remember, it was the animals in the manger who helped Baby Jesus stay warm that first night. Their love helps gives us strength. They are a gift showing us what compassion and gentleness means in this life, even as other people can make you question those very things in this life.
There’s no shame in caring for an innocent life. It’s an imperative. And, if nothing else in life shows it as clearly, those eyes looking at you with love that will never betray you, are the example and lesson God give you.
~Mike Malfi
When Will President Obama And Other World Leaders Stop Eating Animal Flesh? By Arthur Poletti
ANIMAL FLESH EATERS, VEGETARIANS, VEGANS, AND GOVERNMENT LEADERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD: “UNITE” AND TAKE ACTION “BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE”
To President Barack Obama, all United States Senators and Representatives and All World Leaders:
When you finally make “the inevitable decision” to support kindness and life for all animals you will collectively have the power and influence to create a worldwide society that will undergo a remarkable positive transformation resulting from the removal of all animal flesh and dairy products from the food chain.
Together you have the power and worldwide influence to save the lives of billions of animals, subsequently creating a multitude of everlasting monumental benefits for humans, the earth, and the earth’s atmosphere.
Together your revolutionary profound efforts could be responsible for shutting down most or all animal factory farms and slaughterhouses in the world. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide together cause the vast majority of global warming. Raising animals for food is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Removing animal flesh and dairy products from the food chain may be the only realistic, viable, manageable, enforceable, and effective government solution needed to slow global warming, and to ultimately play the largest role in stopping it.
If government leaders do not begin to write emergency legislation designed to remove animal flesh and dairy products from the food chain soon, humans, animals, and the Earth will be confronted with the continuous escalation of widespread nonstop mega catastrophes!
A constant escalation of heat waves, violent torrential storms, hurricanes, catastrophic flooding, cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, uncontrolled wild fires, droughts, famines, diseases, and starvation, causing massive destruction to the Earth and countless deaths to humans and non-human animals.
10 to 20 years from now or sooner much of “the quintessence, and grandeur of the once majestic life supporting earth” could very possibly look like a dilapidated, barren, polluted wasteland occupied by millions of vulnerable homeless defenseless humans and non-human animals trying to escape the deadly consequences of global warming.
Hordes of tired, helpless, weak, listless, and lethargic adults and children crammed together in dark, dreary, windowless structures located throughout the world. People and animals uncontrollably and pathetically defecating or urinating while sitting or standing in long food lines.
Unimaginable suffering with the frightening prospect of no way out, no one to rescue them, and no where to go. Desperation spawned by the strong likelihood of an agonizing and painful premature death caused by starvation, disease, fire, or drowning.
This is the ultimate price that a large portion of the human race may end up paying soon as retribution for unnecessarily and mercilessly supporting, promoting, and participating in the destruction of God’s precious irreplaceable creatures, as well as recklessly polluting the Earth and its atmosphere.
Sincerely,
Arthur Poletti
Author of the short story God Does Not Eat Meat
Read for free online at: http://www.all-creatures.org/book/gdnem.html
Related, please sign: Stop Methane Emissions
Also by Arthur Poletti:
French MPs vote to ban Islamic full veil in public
France’s lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public.
There were 335 votes for the bill and only one against in the 557-seat National Assembly.
It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law.
The ban has strong public support but critics point out that only a tiny minority of French Muslims wear the full veil.
Many of the opposition Socialists, who originally wanted the ban limited only to public buildings, abstained from voting after coming under pressure from feminist supporters of the bill.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has backed the ban as part of a wider debate on French identity but critics say the government is pandering to far-right voters.
After the vote, Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said it was a victory for democracy and for French values.
“Values of freedom against all the oppressions which try to humiliate individuals; values of equality between men and women, against those who push for inequality and injustice.”
The vote is being closely watched in other countries, the BBC’s Christian Fraser reports from the French capital Paris.
The Brutality of Factory Farms: An Inside Look
Editor’s Note: Although the author makes a positive distinction between small- and large-scale farming practices, he bases his assumption on human perception. I, however, am opposed to all animal farming, large and small scale. But let me ask: are the animals on small farms NOT milked; are they NOT used for human benefit; do they NOT get slaughtered but rather live their normal lifespans while NOT being bred? Are small farms actually rescue sanctuaries? Right. Excuses are tenacious propaganda built on slippery slopes, what begins as minor evolves into major: any animal used is abused, exploitation canNOT be defined by those whom perpetrate it. The ONLY humane response is veganism, everything else is a lesson in hypocritical anthropocentrism. SR
By John Robbins
The Huffington Post
This past week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that will essentially prohibit, starting in 2015, any egg from being sold in the state that comes from caged hens. This bill became law 20 months after a majority of California voters approved Proposition 2, making it clear that concern for the living conditions of livestock is no longer the province of animal rights activists alone.
Recognizing how widespread concern about the humane treatment of farm animals has become, the California Milk Advisory Board has recently ramped up its 10-year “Happy Cow” advertising campaign with a new series of ads proclaiming that “Great milk comes from Happy Cows. Happy Cows come from California.” These ads are now being shown across the nation.
Unfortunately, there are a few problems with the ads. For one, they weren’t filmed in California at all. They were filmed in Auckland, New Zealand.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Current Milk Board ads claim that 99 percent of the state’s dairy farms are family owned. But in order to arrive at this figure, they count as “dairy farms” rural households with one or two cows. Meanwhile, there are corporate-owned dairies in the San Joaquin Valley which have 15,000 or 20,000 cows. It is these far larger enterprises that produce the vast majority of California’s milk.
My concern, let me emphasize, is not with small-scale family farms. I have no problem with the many hard-working families who treat their cows well, take care of the land and try to bring a healthy product to market. My problem is with the much larger agribusiness enterprises, the factory farms to whom the animals in their care are nothing but sources of revenue.
Horses killed at Calgary Stampede
Related, please click if you have not already:
Two horses have died at the Calgary Stampede, bringing to three the number of animals that have died since the annual competition began Friday.
A chuckwagon horse, belonging to Doug Irvine’s racing team, died of a suspected heart attack during a training session on Monday morning.
Then a bucking horse named Cinder Mountain broke its back during rodeo competition in the afternoon and had to be euthanized. The horse tossed Steed Cline during the novice saddle bronc event.
“It’s what they refer to as an empty buck when the horse has already thrown its rider, or it’s already off its back anyway, and the horse bucks again and unfortunately it breaks its back,” said Stampede spokesman Doug Fraser.
What would you do to save the world?
An open letter to Dr. James Hansen
What would you do to save the world?
It’s a common theatrical challenge, the gauntlet of fantastical storytelling by writers and artists, with superheros and common folk rescuing the world and saving the day. It’s a shared theme in both the portending scripts of visionaries as well as the historical doomsday prophesies warning of apocalypse. Indeed, given such a similar and yet unique challenge, what would you do to save the world? Would yours be considered frenetic actions defined with chaos and fear, or contemplative analysis, punctuated with introspection and calm deliverance? This is not a hypothetical challenge, borne out of the curious whims of a tedious woman; my question and its implication actually serves a greater interest, one of seemingly biased necessity for certain, but which subsequently provides tangential benefit for all while revealing its fundamental impartiality and need.
When I was quite young, I wanted to be a veterinarian, and determined to foster a child’s noble pursuit, my mother arranged to have me travel with the local vet who gladly accepted the assistance of an eager apprentice. We went to a farm, an idyllic setting to the curious wonder of a child, the heady scent of hay and manure, the ground squishing of mud, and the air heavy with humidity and the drone of cicada, and in a rather James Harriot manner, I witnessed a newborn calf with her mother, mother loving and protecting, child content and trusting, an indestructible bond borne of nature, strengthened by nurture, and cherished by me. It was miraculous, shiny new, an adrenaline moment defined with rapid heartbeat and wide eyes, a spot of hesitancy, and an utterance of magic following the nod of the vet, his smile knowing, his gesture encouraging, both given to a child on a summer Christmas morning.
It was a magnificent experience, this gift of life, before I learned the world was ugly and after I discovered that animals made it beautiful.
West Hollywood bans most pet store puppy and kitty sales
West Hollywood, California
examiner.com
Animal welfare activists call it a major victory in animal rights after The West Hollywood City Council voted unanimously to approve new legislation that makes it illegal for pet stores within its city limits to profit from the sales of most puppies and kittens.
Under the ban, which takes effect later this year, pet stores will be permitted to offer animals from local shelters rather than those purchased from for-profit breeders.
That business model has been implemented in recent years by several L.A.-area pet stores, including Orange Bone, a Melrose Avenue shop.
This move is seen as a major victory by activists who see it as an early step in the fight to end the biting problem of puppy mills.
“This definitely calls for champagne,” said Carole Raphaelle Davis, West Coast director of the Companion Animal Protection Society. “We’re definitely taking this fight to Los Angeles. We want all of the stores citywide to go humane.”
The famously liberal-minded West Hollywood has been at the forefront of the animal protection movement for more than eight years.
Ashtiani Rescued From Being Stoned To Death – For Now
Related, please sign and send: http://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944〈=en
Please sign here as well: http://freesakineh.org/
Simulposted with Care2
Iran’s judiciary has said the the stoning sentence for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, convicted of adultery, will not be carried out – at least for now. But her fate remains uncertain.
Last week, Ximena Ramirez wrote a wonderful Care2 post, explaining all the details of this case, including the fact that Ashtiani only confessed to her crime after being lashed 99 times. Ramirez also documented in detail all the many groups around the world who have come to Ashtiani’s aid to denounce this horrendous sentence.
Urgent action needed to pass Israel fur ban
Urgent action needed to pass the proposed bill on fur ban in Israel. SAMPLE LETTER below (as provided in intial alert, thank you to whomever wrote it), thank you!
Please also sign this petition if you have not already regarding Denmark’s fur industry (both Denmark and Canada are opposed to Israel’s potential fur ban): http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-fur-industry-in-denmark
VIA: Jane Halevy, International Anti-Fur Coalition
The bill for a total ban on fur trade will be voted on in the Israeli parliament on September 2nd. This influential bill is being put into jeopardy by the extreme lobbying of the fur industry. They are demanding of the Israeli Minister for Trade to fight the bill and without his backing the bill can not be voted in.
St. Francis Animal Rescue Center needs help!
St. Francis Animal Rescue Center
Dear Friends of the St. Francis Animal Rescue Center,
WE ARE BEING EVICTED! Without your help we cannot keep the St. Francis Animal Rescue Center open. If we have to close I don’t know what will happen to our animals. I cannot let them be killed! Please, if you can help at all, send a donation via PayPal by going to PayPal.com and entering our email address: stfrancisanimalrescue@yahoo.com and then following the prompts.
You can also send a donation to our mailing address:
St. Francis Animal Rescue Center, P.O. Box 4044, Rock Hill, SC 29732.
We have almost 150 cats and kittens at the center and each one is special, unique and precious. When I am at the center and I look into those beautiful, trusting eyes I know that I cannot let anything happen to them. As you know, we are an absolutely no-kill shelter. No matter what, I have to keep these cats safe. Please help me to pay the rent we owe and to keep the shelter open. Our rent is $900.00 per month but, because of the economy, we have had very few donations and now we owe almost $13,000.00. Our landlord has really worked with us for the past three years, but now he is at the point where he is saying, pay up or move out! I would like to be able to pay him what we owe so that we could stay in our present location, if possible. Our only other option is to find another location to move to, but that is costly, too, and it has to be a location where the landlord and the zoning will allow an animal shelter, which is not easy to find.
Stop the ‘World’s Cruellest’ Seal Cull
Baby seal pups stabbed in the heart while mother's milk pours out in shock...
Please click here and sign and send: http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/namibian-seal-slaughter
From Animals Australia
BACKGROUND:
The world’s cruellest slaughter of seals takes place every year in Namibia, and is due to start again on July 1st. Australian-based fur and skins company, Hatem Yavuz, is directly implicated in this annual brutal slaughter. Hatem Yavuz is the last remaining buyer of these dead seal pup skins to make them into fur coats.
Cape Fur Seals are directly related to the protected Fur Seals living on the southeast Australian coast and the Namibian Government has allowed 85,000 of these animals to be killed each year. Most pups are so young that they are still being nursed by their mothers. The terrified pups are rounded up, separated from their mothers and brutally clubbed to death.
The market for Namibian Cape Fur Seal skins has collapsed over recent years due to lack of demand and import bans in the European Union, the United States, Mexico and South Africa because of the cruelty involved in the sealing methods. As of 2008, Australian-based Hatem Yavuz is the only one company left buying seal skins from Namibia.
There is international pressure on Hatem Yavuz to stop funding this cull. Please add your voice and express your outrage to Hatem Yavuz for their culpability in animal cruelty, and call on them to commit to never again buying Namibian Cape Fur Seal skins.
Please click here and sign and send: http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/namibian-seal-slaughter
Our Compass 