Animal Rights

Better LCDs Trump an Animal's Right to Live and Be Left Alone?

categories: Animal Testing and Vivisection, Marine Life

Published October 28, 2009 @ 07:16AM PT

Researchers from the University of Queensland, University of Bristol, and University of Maryland have determined that "the Mantis shrimp possesses the most complicated visual system of any known animal." What and how they can see is amazing. One of the professors explains in more detail:

They have more receptors for seeing colour than any animal on the planet - their visual system is really most like a satellite. . . . The animal has to scan space to build up an image sequentially much like a radar. They have this scanning system which contains a lot of information such as polarised light, circular polarised light, colour in 12 channels and ultraviolet in six channels.

One of the arguments that animal rights advocates put forth consistently is that other animals aren't inferior to human animals but different from us. In many cases, they have skills and abilities that we don't have, that we can only dream of, abilities that should (and sometimes do) awe us and earn our respect for who they are. But typically, though we may be impressed by what they can do, respect is something we still refuse to give because we're too busy trying to figure out how we can benefit from what they do -- in other words, how we can benefit from experimenting on them, killing them, and dissecting them.*

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Couldn't Attend Let Live 2009? Catch Up Online

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Videos

Published October 27, 2009 @ 05:59PM PT

Here's something I've been meaning to tell you about: The 2009 conference put on by the Let Live Foundation in Portland, Oregon, can now be experienced online. Head on over to Vimeo, where you'll find a library of 30-plus videos from not only the various and varied 2009 conference sessions, but also the 2008 conference and Let Live's Activism Series. I have a lot of video-watching to do myself.

Just a quick sampling of titles:

Creative Fundraising and Publicity for Your Group

Humane Education: An Essential Element of Animal Activism

Protest Conduct and First Amendment Issues

Exposing Institutionalized Cruelty

Culinary Activism

Sanctuary Stories: The Ups, Downs, and Effectiveness of Sanctuary Life

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Caring for Feral and Stray Cats in the Winter

by Stephanie Ernst

category: Companion Animals

Published October 27, 2009 @ 06:51AM PT

Winter is on its way in the Northern Hemisphere -- in some places, it has already descended. And the frigid season creates dangerous circumstances for feral and homeless cats and dogs (and other domesticated animals) just as it creates dangerous circumstances for homeless humans. We'll chat about dogs soon too, but first, let's talk feral cats:

Alley Cat Allies has just put out a press release offering "Winter Safety Tips for Feral And Stray Cats" that's well worth checking out if you have feral cats living near your home or workplace because although "most feral cats are skilled at finding their own food and place to sleep, providing specially-built shelters and dedicated feeding sites guarantee the cats a warm spot to escape the harsh winter weather and deter them from places they aren’t wanted."

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Jay Leno and Chris Rock Think Dog Fighting Is Funny

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Animals in Entertainment, Companion Animals

Published October 26, 2009 @ 10:27AM PT

There are actually two other pit bull-related posts coming up on this blog this week, but I feel like this needs to be acknowledged on its own.

Doris of About.com just wrote about Chris Rock losing his chance to play the late Richard Pryor (who was an animal advocate) in an upcoming movie -- and simultaneously losing Pryor's wife's respect -- because of flippant remarks he made on The Jay Leno Show late last month about Vick and the dogs he tortured and killed. I didn't know about the incident until Doris's post today, but BAD RAP covered it on October 3, just days after the show aired. And Jay Leno was just as flippant and dismissive of the animals' suffering. The men were discussing how outrageous it is that so many people think Roman Polanski deserves a free pass on rape (and absolutely ridiculous it is) when Leno brought up Vick, to imply that his crime was minor in comparison and resulted in too much punishment:

Jay Leno: It's amazing to me -- you mistreat a dog, and you lose your career, and you go to jail for two years.

Chris Rock: Yeah, look at Michael Vick! What the hell did Michael Vick do, man? A dog? A pit bull ain't even a real dog.

So Leno thinks that the torture, maiming, traumatizing, and killing -- in often the most horrendous of ways -- of hundreds of innocent beings is mere "mistreatment" and that Vick's so-called punishment was over-the-top. And Rock thinks that what Vick did really wasn't that bad because pit bulls apparently aren't worthy of compassion. I was indifferent to Chris Rock already. I disliked Jay Leno already. Now I have good reason to dislike them both.

That "Hog" Over the Fire Is a Baby Piglet

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Farm Animals, Slaughter

Published October 26, 2009 @ 06:29AM PT

Many people assume, without ever really thinking about it, that the animals they're eating were killed as adults. But just like most of our assumptions about nonhuman animals -- from their capacities for thought and emotion and the bonds they build to how they live, suffer, and die on farms, in slaughterhouses, in labs, and elsewhere -- this assumption too is wrong. Not long ago, I shared a video with you, of Glenn Gaetz from Liberation BC pointing out that "We Eat Babies." And he was telling the truth.

But we don't use language that reflects this. And one example that always gets to me is the word "hog." It's the word we often use when we talk about "hog farms" and "hog farmers," and even as I used the word in a post recently, I was uncomfortable with doing it.

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Important Films to See, at Home and at Festivals

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Farm Animals, Videos

Published October 24, 2009 @ 02:20PM PT

Last December, I wrote a post about the new documentary Fowl Play, which takes viewers inside the egg industry. And now you can order DVDs of the documentary -- for yourself, for family and friends, or for activist events. Visit the film's site for the trailer and clips and to place your order. And if you are interested in hosting a screening in your area, you can find tips and suggestion for that here. Between this documentary and the Mercy for Animals undercover hatchery investigation last month and all the numerous investigations before it, a lot of people have to be questioning how important it really is to them to keep eating eggs.

Meanwhile, Peaceable Kingdom is still making the festival rounds -- and successfully! It won the "Spirit of Moondance" Best Feature Documentary when it premiered at the Moondance International Film Festival last month, and since then, festival screenings have been continuing elsewhere. The premiere weekend is recapped here, complete with slideshow and a lovely video. Become a fan on Facebook and join the e-mail list to keep up-to-date on screenings as they're added. I'm counting down the days 'til the film and its remarkable filmmakers arrive in St. Louis next month.

And finally, another documentary whose release I've been anxious for since hearing about it last year is Got the facts on Milk? The Milk Documentary, and a recent check in at the official Web site indicates a Spring 2010 release now. Check it out and sign up for updates.