Videos
Animal-Based Research: What Happens, and Is It Good Science?
Published January 16, 2009 @ 01:21PM PT
At the end of December, I linked to the first part of the Animal Aid (UK) documentary Wasted Lives. For those who didn't follow that link, here are the first and second parts--"How Are Animals Used?" and "Is It Good Science?"--with the third and fourth to follow:
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Pig Farm Investigation: A Video You Must See
Published January 07, 2009 @ 02:32PM PT
An activist with the nonprofit Igualdad Animal--Animal Equality (this latter link leads to the English-language site)--sent me a message today featuring the organization's investigation into a pig farm. I watched the video. And now I am delaying the post I originally intended for today to ask you to watch the video too. The narration is in Spanish, but English subtitles are included, and the images and sounds require no translation. Whatever state, whatever country, whatever continent you live in--whatever language you speak--this is happening in your home too.
These animals are suffering, needlessly and in ways we can't even comprehend, every second of every day. And they are suffering because of us, with our approval. We don't have to exploit, abuse, torture, and kill them with our own hands to be responsible. With our dollars and our diets, we are saying, "We support this." With every purchase and with every bite, we are saying, "This is OK." Do you support this? Do you really? Watch.
There is also a Flickr set of images from the investigation. But be warned: they are extremely difficult to look at.
Behind the Mask of the ALF, For Rent
Published December 29, 2008 @ 07:15AM PT
Quick note this morning: I received word yesterday that the documentary Behind the Mask is now available on Netflix. Go here for its Netflix page. Or if you search for the film, note that its full name is Behind the Mask: The Story of the People Who Risk Everything to Save Animals. If you've ever wondered what compels people to break the law (and locks) to rescue animals, or why some activists lay their freedom on the line and take the name of the Animal Liberation Front to save animals, here's your chance to find out. Rent it from Netflix, or buy it directly from the filmmaker.
See a preview below and scroll to the bottom of this post for info on the photo above (edit: I meant to mention this and forgot--yes, there is much footage of actual break-ins and property destruction in this preview, but in addition to explaining the reasons for this destruction of lab equipment and such, the film itself shows and discusses far more than what you see in this clip, including details of what happens to the animals and individual activists' stories and motivations):
The photo at the top of this post is of Britches, who was taken from his mother just after birth so that scientists could study maternal deprivation, and whose eyelids were sewn shut so that the researchers could study blindness. He was rescued by the Animal Liberation Front in 1985. Read more of his story here.
Introducing Fowl Play
Published December 22, 2008 @ 07:51AM PT
Over the course of a couple weeks, I received messages about the upcoming documentary Fowl Play from half a dozen people and sources. And now it's my turn to share it with you. If you meander over to the Web site, you can view several scenes from the film in addition to the trailer.
It looks well done, and I was relieved to see that although the film's primary focus appears to be on what happens in factory egg farms, it also makes a point of going inside a "cage-free" facility and clarifying that these operations aren't humane either. And the scene (available on the site) showing what happens to newborn chicks at the hatchery is, of course, representative of what happens throughout the egg industry, not just in the factory farms.
You can view the trailer below before heading over to the film's site to see other scenes, including one documenting the truly impressive language skills of chickens and another telling the story of Hope, a hen who'd been left for dead in a trash can inside an egg farm shed but who was rescued during an investigation and provided with veterinary care. She ended up thriving at a farm sanctuary, and we get the joy of seeing her and other animals enjoying life and the company of each other. Check out the scene on cage-free facilities as well. (Unfortunately, the voice distortion makes it difficult to understand what the undercover investigator is saying sometimes in the cage-free scene, but you can probably figure out most of what he's getting at just from the images.)
Update: I may have to take back that bit about watching the trailer here. I seem to have only two options--set it up to play automatically or have it not play at all. Even if I'm not able to fix this, you can still go directly to the film's site to see the trailer there.
Trailer:
Their Fate Is Up to You: What Will You Do?
Published November 29, 2008 @ 12:05PM PT
Will you "remain in the old world, where animals are treated solely as objects to satisfy humans," or will you choose "to live by a new ethic based on respect and compassion for all those with whom we share the planet"?
Please watch this 13-minute video from Animal Aid (UK). Be sure to watch through to the end.
Their Future in Your Hands
Are We Natural Meat-Eaters?
Published November 14, 2008 @ 10:39AM PT
Egads! I am running very behind today! My apologies for the late posting; I had to finish copyediting a manuscript. Forgive me?
Today, I am asking you to take a few minutes of your day to watch one of the videos from the 10 Recommended [Online] Animal Rights Videos list, and because it's Friday, let's make it a fun one, shall we? Behold the genius of Dan Piraro of Bizarro. A very proper, pipe-smoking cartoon pig asks, “Are human beings natural meat-eaters?” at the start of this highly amusing but smart animated video that the pig narrates and that you must watch.
Powder, Hunting, and Turning Points
Published November 09, 2008 @ 11:08AM PT
There's been much conversation on yesterday's post, in which I briefly vented about the existence of a gallery of hunting photos on a newspaper's Web site, showing smiling, self-congratulatory hunters posing with their victims. You can expect more in-depth discussions on hunting in the future, but for now, indulge me while I share with you one of my turning points.
Several years before I stopped eating animals altogether, I stopped eating the deer meat that sat upon my grandfather's table during and following every hunting season. He and others gave me a hard time about my refusal. My grandpa, my uncle, and my cousins--and indeed, a good number of the men, as well as a segment of the women, in my area--just about lived for hunting season; high school students were even allowed to miss school so that they could head out into the woods with guns. But a movie I'd just seen had completely changed my perspective on hunting--that is to say that it had given me a perspective whereas before I'd just never given the practice much thought. I've no doubt that some will find something to mock in this clip from the 1995 movie Powder, but I sobbed in the theater as I watched it that night 13 years ago, as it occurred to me, for what, incredibly, was perhaps the first time, how much unnecessary pain and suffering resulted from my community members' "fun." Never again could I see or smell the flesh of deer without imagining the pain and fear of those final moments. (Clip after the jump.)
