Animal Rights

Are American Rodeos More Acceptable Than Spanish Bullfighting?

Published October 19, 2009 @ 07:40AM PT

This post has been (briefly) added to; see end of post.

Helloooo, American arrogance and blindness. In the discussion on the post "It Is Our Job to Fight for All of Them, Not Only Some of Them," reader and Change.org member Lisa R. shared this troubling news report: "From Bullfighting to Rodeos: Culture Shock in Spain." The very premise is that rodeos are somehow a more humane alternative to bullfighting, that those silly Spanish need wise Americans to show them how to exploit and injure animals humanely. Um, no.

The report begins,

For years, animal rights groups in Europe have tried to get Spain to ban bullfighting, an age-old tradition that results in the deaths of thousands of bulls every year.

Now American promoters are offering rodeos as an alternative to the sport. Dozens of America's top rodeo cowboys have taken their show to Europe, and their tour starts at bullfighting rings in Spain.

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Sunday Scrumptiousness: Raviolis, Risotto, Sweets, and Breakfasts

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Food and Recipes, Friday Food

Published October 18, 2009 @ 06:46AM PT

Photo courtesy Madcap Cupcake

As promised Friday, here is more animal-friendly deliciousness for your Sunday and week of cooking:

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto w/ Toasted Squash Seeds from Rhymes with Vegan

Mulled Apple Cider from Mitten Machen

Ravioli with Pumpkin Sauce from Rants & Recipes

Breakfast Scramble from Hello Veggie

Moong Dal Dosa from Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins from Happy Herbivore

Mocha Chia Pudding from Raw Epicurean

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Circuses: "A Lifetime of Misery"

by Stephanie Ernst

category: Animals in Entertainment

Published October 17, 2009 @ 10:07AM PT

Ringling, animal abuser extraordinaire, is in St. Louis this weekend. And as the abusers were setting up shop, Nicole Paquette, senior vice president and general counsel for Born Free USA, was publishing a smart, compelling article at Opposing Views about the problems inherent to exploiting elephants and other animals in circuses.

She describes, in detail, what is involved in circus "training," performing, and breeding and corrects misconceptions and counters circuses' lies about what they do, why, and what the results are. Circuses that use animals do not educate about animals, do not contribute to conservation, and do not prioritize the animals' well-being even remotely. They are cruel, they serve no legitimate purposes, and what they do teach is something we don't want our children to grow up believing.

Please check out the article: "It's Time to End the Use of Elephants in Circuses."

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Photo by Flickr user amynrobc

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Friday Food: Hearty Stews, Spicy Dinners, and Fruity Desserts & Breakfasts

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Food and Recipes, Friday Food

Published October 16, 2009 @ 04:28PM PT

Photo courtesy FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Yum! There are so many mouth-watering recipes being posted these days (thanks in part to VeganMoFo) that I'm going to split this week's edition of Friday Food into two, with one post today and another tomorrow or Sunday. Happy cooking this weekend!

Baker Street Stew from Naked Eats

Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread from Rants & Recipes

Spiced Rice and Lentil Squares from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Autumn Vegetable Fritters from Vegan Planet

Perfect Pumpkin Custard from Vegan Dad (improvement, according to Vegan Dad, of his earlier recipe included in last week's Friday Food)

Walnut Cheese Roll w/ Fresh Chopped Parsley in Olive Oil from Rhymes With Vegan

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Man Charged for Strangling Rat

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Companion Animals, Politics and Law

Published October 16, 2009 @ 06:49AM PT

Well, there's a headline I didn't expect to be writing anytime soon. Nevertheless, it's what a Florida newspaper reported yesterday: "Man Accused in Rat Strangling Charged with Animal Cruelty." In the midst of an oh-so-mature fight with his wife over the last cigarette, the 22-year-old went after the animal: he "grabbed a white rat from their aquarium, smashed its head against the tank and then strangled it to death." (Of course, the article calls the rat "it" and gives us no idea what the gender of the animal actually was.)

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Save the Animals, Save the Planet: Blog Action Day '09, Climate Change

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Environment and Global Warming, Vegan

Published October 15, 2009 @ 08:02AM PT

'Tis Blog Action Day. And we're talking about climate change, an easy topic for an animal rights blog, given the intersection between what we're doing to tens of billions of animals on this planet and what's happening to the planet as a result: Even mainstream scientists agree that our insistence on unnecessarily exploiting and killing animals en masse for food is one of the most significant contributors to climate change. The most impactful change each of us can, and should, personally make to stop climate change is something that we can do immediately and easily (and that we have other excellent reasons to undertake as well). It makes little sense to petition our governments for new policies and technologies and complain that inherently slow processes are indeed moving slowly if we personally are refusing to make the truly important and significant changes we could be making now, without waiting for governments, industries, and nonprofits to get it together on the other fronts. We won't be able to justify our inaction in the decades to come. "But I like meat" and "I can't live without cheese" won't be valid excuses.

All Animal Agriculture: A Greenhouse Gas and Environmental Disaster

As many of you know by now, animal agriculture accounts for nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world's cars, planes, and other transportation combined, and the numbers only get more disturbing when you break them down into specific greenhouse gases: animal agriculture contributes 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions (a gas with a global warming potential [GWP] 296 times that of CO₂) and 37 percent of methane (GWP 23 times that of CO₂).

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Blog Action Day for Climate Change -- Tomorrow!

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Environment and Global Warming

Published October 14, 2009 @ 09:50AM PT

Animal-friendly bloggers, may I have your attention for a moment? I promise it's important. If you haven't heard already, tomorrow is Blog Action Day 2009, and this year's issue is climate change.

I'm guilty of not pointing this out sooner, but better late than never, right? Thousands of bloggers from around the world are going to be writing on this single issue -- a single issue of monumental importance -- tomorrow. And animal rights advocates absolutely need to be among them, not only because of how climate change threatens our fellow animals and their habitats across the planet, but also because of how significantly our exploitation of animals (i.e., raising and killing them en masse for food, clothing, etc.) is contributing to climate change in the first place.

So whatever you normally write about, whether animal rights or yummy vegan food or whatever else, please take the time to quickly register here today, and then tomorrow, write a post related to climate change. And check out the below video for Blog Action Day while you're here (there's also much else to check out at the project's site).

And finally, kudos not only to the folks who originally founded Blog Action Day, but also to the folks who this year took over the task of running it: Change.org itself is now powering Blog Action Day, and the team working on it has been putting in a lot of time, energy, and excitement to make sure it's a success.