Animal Rights
Vegansaurus and Vegan Wintry Comforts, for Your Body and Belly Both
Published December 03, 2009 @ 02:07PM PT
So. It's winter. Or at least it's quickly starting to feel like winter in St. Louis. And this means many things, including warmer clothes and more use of the oven. Vegansaurus has these things on the brain too and is featured heavily in this post because she's been cracking me up today while providing conscious consumers with great tips for animal-friendly winter wear, as well as an apparently delicious but easy winter-treat recipe (complete with hilarious commentary and illustrations; preview to the left).
First, the serious stuff: I've pleaded with readers in the past to avoid wool (and down) because sheep (and geese and ducks) shouldn't have to suffer and die just for humans' winter coats, scarves, and so on when we have plenty of non-animal alternatives. And it's now the time of year when people are out buying new winter coats and looking for those humane alternatives. So where do you go?
The Mass Killing of Wildlife for Your Burger, Cheese, and Leather
Published December 03, 2009 @ 07:14AM PT
Alternate title: Government Gives Finger to Prairie Dogs, High-Fives Animal Ag
Winter holidays are upon us, so what gift is the government willing to give the dwindling population of prairie dogs? Plenty of poisons that ravage their bodies and cause them horrible deaths, but no endangered species protections, officials ruled yesterday. And why the barbaric killing and the refusal of protections? People's demand for flesh, dairy, leather, and wool. If your initial reaction to this is confusion, don't worry -- it gets worse.
When I first went vegan, I experienced the same revelations that a number of people experience once they begin investigating animal rights issues in depth. I was blown away to learn just how much everything is tied together -- and just how much the vast majority of us simply don't know about the far-reaching effects (and influence) of animal agriculture, all animal agriculture, not just so-called factory farming. And one of the many areas where animal agriculture -- for meat, dairy, wool, leather, and so on -- is the bully asserting its power and causing destruction is the habitat and very lives of wildlife, or free-living animals.
Researchers Fear Animal Rights Programs, Shrug at Animal Welfare
Published December 02, 2009 @ 02:56PM PT
P. Michael Conn is very worried. P. Michael Conn should be worried. P. Michael Conn makes his money from the torment and killing of nonhuman animals -- and from lying about animal research -- as the director of research advocacy at the Oregon Health and Sciences University and Oregon National Primate Research Center, institutions known for their cruel, unnecessary experiments on and abuse of animals (see end of post for links to previous OHSU-related posts).
And he's worked up because 55 percent of law schools now offer at least one animal law course. And worse, students are taking these courses -- and (gasp!) thinking about the morality of performing research on animals.
Holiday Gifts and Donations with Animals in Mind
Published December 02, 2009 @ 07:09AM PT
Note: The store list has been updated.
Yesterday brought with it December, that month when so very many people spend so very much. I'm not a grand fan of our culture's consumerist tendencies, a sentiment I'm sure many of you share, but if you are in a moderate gift-giving spirit or looking to engage in some charitable holiday giving, I'm here to point you in some animal-friendly directions and, in perhaps one case, send you in a direction different from what you're accustomed to doing.
First, the plea: If you care about animals, please don't give gifts made from animals. Leather gloves, wool coats and sweaters, boxes of chocolates -- you can buy vegan versions of all these things, versions for which animals weren't required to suffer and die.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what gifts are animal-compassionate! You can respect animals, help animals, support vegan businesses, and spread compassion and the message of true peace for all just with how and on what you spend your money.
Yes, Honey, If You Don't Skin Animals, You Don't Care About People
Published December 01, 2009 @ 06:47AM PT
Remember the large anti-fur protest that was scheduled in Utah this past weekend? Go here. Click on the second photo to enlarge it.
Yes, that is a child. Her family took her to a protest in support of fur farming, to counter an anti-fur protest. Some adult in her life, most likely her mother or father, handed her a "People First!" sign to hold, with the pelt of a dead animal draped over the sign.
And that image of a mere child holding out that sign -- and proudly displaying the remains of a dead animal -- is such a sad sight. Even if you do arrogantly, narrow-mindedly hold to a "people first" philosophy, you aren't inherently required to support the exploitation and killing of animals, but that's not what this little girl is being taught.
Pit Bulls and Animal Rights, Mischaracterized and Demonized
Published November 30, 2009 @ 02:27PM PT
I'm sending you elsewhere this afternoon. First, to my friend over at For the Pit Bulls. She has written a post that is in part a response to the TIME article that I recently read as well, which asks, "Can Attack Dogs Be Rehabilitated?" Regardless of whether you read that article, do at least read my pal's response. It choked me up. But I am glad I read it. And it deserves to be read. (One point I'd add relates to the flaws in the TIME article, one of which was the writer's insistence on referring to individual dogs as "it" rather than "he" or "she." That's a topic that's long deserved a post all of its own.)
Then, mosey on over to Green Is the New Red. Will has a post up about yet another laughable-if-it-weren't-so-scary development in the government's and industries' infuriating characterization of (and efforts to intimidate and criminalize) the animal rights movement. Are you ready? PETA has now been listed by the USDA as a "terrorist" threat. Whatever you think of PETA, its tactics, and its positions, the idea of it as "terrorist" group is off-the-charts ridiculous. Read more from Will here. Seems we just can't get enough Green Scare- and AETA-related news these days.
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Photo (mine) shows Mabel the pit bull looking back at me with her break-my-heart "I want to plaaaay" expression as she watches the dogs next door play with each other -- and with the toy she wants.
Movie Advocates Warmly for Dogs but Fails Other Animals
Published November 30, 2009 @ 07:33AM PT
Last night, CBS aired the Hallmark holiday special A Dog Named Christmas. I wasn't holding out naive hope for a vegan message, but I was crossing my fingers that the movie would be more consistently pro-animal than most and at least wouldn't include some of what it did. It was a dog-friendly film, absolutely. A film with wildlife-friendly moments, sure. But the movie's dialogue pushed inaccurate notions of farmed animals and a view of them as lesser animals. The film doesn't just advocate for dogs; it advocates for dogs by elevating them above other animals, by categorizing other animals as less special than dogs.
The movie is just one more example of the frustrating way animal issues tend to play out in mainstream conversations. Too often, when a venue or vehicle has the potential to be positive for all animals, it falls far short and often reinforces the very perspectives that hurt our society's most exploited animals. Advocacy for the animals with whom we already feel kinship is easy and sometimes even profitable; real advocacy for -- or even honesty about -- animals most would rather eat than advocate for is still something that consistent animal advocates have a difficult time getting mainstream media, traditional and new, to support or even pay significant attention to.
But let's move back to this movie specifically:
