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If you are
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Introduction
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Vegan Rambles 2011
Vegan Rambles 2010
Vegan Rambles 2013
Entries for
the year 2012
February
Welfare Reforms Petition
This is
a New Petition February 16th
Please do not confuse it with a similar petition
which has been removed
Please sign
the on-line petition
"Stop
and review the cuts to benefits and services which
are falling disproportionately on disabled people,
their carers and families."
This is a government petition which if
the number of signatures reaches a
100,000 the government will debate the
e-petition in the house of commons and
review the matter, right now the
signatures stand at only 30,000.
So Please Please sign if
you have not done so
More In formation
Mostly this website concerns animal rights, however
more often than not human beings find that their
rights are being violated. Here in the UK the
government have by devious means pushed through a
welfare reform bill that is of serious detriment to
people who are chronically sick and disabled,
including children, and the unemployed. On Wednesday
1st of February despite campaigning, pleading,
petitioning by sick and disabled people the
government have passed this detrimental bill through
the House of Commons.
The unjust and ill thought out welfare
reform bill will plunge thousands of sick and disabled
people into poverty and isolation. For people who are
disabled, who are chronically sick or unemployed this
bill is a serious detriment. Without exception, and this
includes children, all will face a significant reduction
in their income. Sick and disabled people will be found
fit for work under the new Work Capability Assessment.
Five hundred thousand will loose Disability Living
Allowance DLA when it is replaced by Personal
independence Payment PIP. Young people born with a
disability or chronic illness who will never work will
have no dependent income and will have to reply on
parents or a partner. People who are suffering with
cancer will be required to go for a gruelling assessment
to claim benefit and be paced on a One Year time
limiting Employment and Support Allowance. These are
just a few of the devastating reforms that will
seriously effect the lives of people who are suffering
profoundly.
This bill will leave many homeless and destitute
struggling on a pittance. The bill is a disaster in the
making as without exception all disabled and chronically
sick people and the unemployed will loose income at a
time of rising prices, particularly of food, housing and
heating costs. Many will loose their homes, face a
deterioration of health and suffer the nightmare of fear
and insecurity.
Most sick and disabled people would love nothing more
than to be well and making a contribution but who by no
fault of their own are dependent on society for help.
For all who are dependent on the state for an income
through no fault of their own the future is bleak.
Please sign the petition and pass it on.
Twitter, Facebook, My Space, blogs forums, any where you
can place a link to this petition.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968
If we do not act now the lives of many people
will be a nightmare of poverty and deprivation with many
forced to find jobs they are not well enough to do and
which are not available.
More information
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/
http://www.dpac.uk.net/
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/
February
Can We Really Judge a Man's Heart by his Treatment of
Animals
We
can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of
animals.
Immanuel Kant,
Lectures on Ethics
Consider the above words in
reference to the person whose rampant tirade appears
below
"I have spent
all week in a state of complete fury.
Like a man possessed with an advanced case of Tourette
syndrome, I have been shouting at traffic and assailing
my fellow men (and women).
What has brought on this demented state? The hunting
debate
It is
difficult to explain why this one issue makes me so
furious.
Sitting in parliament involves hours of listening to
opinions with which you profoundly disagree. I am
usually able to do this without shouting, but as soon as
I hear Labour members calling for hunting to be banned,
I completely lose it.
When John McFall (Dumbarton) gets to his feet I shout
"go back to Scotland, you've already banned it."
Interrupting
Gerald Kaufman during one of his lengthy and
over-precise questions to the minister, I heard myself
baying "shut up, you pompous prat."
During the
hunting debate I sat patiently for five hours without
catching the Speaker's eye. My carefully prepared speech
was steadily crumpled and shredded in frustration.
These remarks were made by then MP, now
unfortunately Prime Minister, David
Cameron in the Guardian Newspaper.
What does
David Cameron's treatment of animals and his remarks
above say about his heart? What do these comments
say about his state of mind?
But if we
stop loving animals, aren’t we bound to stop loving
humans too?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Cancer Ward
Yes indeed
we are. I firmly believe that if we cannot love or
feel compassion for an animal we are less likely to
feel compassion for a human being, or put in reverse
we cannot experience the full meaning of what it is
to be compassionate if we harm another animal
without remorse or even worse for pleasure.
Besides
the unacceptable remarks regarding Tourett's
syndrome, which seems to be a popular but offensive
comparison Cameron has made before and continues to
make, his sickening enthusiasm for hunting a
defenceless animal after pursuing him with a pack of
hounds is nothing short of disturbing, not only
because of the barbaric cruelty involved but because
of his zealous even obsessive determination to
pursue the matter of preventing a ban on hunting
with hounds. Also the devious manipulative tactical
ideas which he has to stop the ban are also
disquieting, particularly in light of his dogged
determination and manipulations to push through
draconian welfare reforms by any means possible.
Reforms that will leave many sick and disabled
people on the brink of poverty, force many into
homelessness and compel others to an American like
workforce scheme of forced slave labour as
unemployed young people and eventually the sick and
disabled, including the terminally ill, are coerced
into a work experience programme for no pay. His
obsessive drive to implement these reforms has
indeed many similarities to his determination to
stop the hunting with hounds ban.
You really
have to read the entire tirade from the person who now
governs the UK
Tory MP David
Cameron sees red during this week's hunting debate and
looks forward to a fierce battle against the
introduction of a ban.
David Cameron guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 March 2002
guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/mar/22/davidcameron.politicalcolumnists
Besides the
unease that his rhetoric above has in light of the
vicious and callous welfare reforms and controversial
plans to privatise the National Health Service, the
whole thing is a sickening insight into the mind of a
person who gets pleasure from hurting an animal. His
enthusiasm for doing so is scary and boarders on
psychotic. Many dangerous Sociopaths have an history of
animal cruelty. No - I am not suggesting that Cameron is
a dangerous sociopath of the 'serial killer' variety,
this is a popular misconception as the vast majority of
sociopaths are not.
"Many
Psychopaths "make their living" by using charm, deceit,
and manipulation to gain the confidence of their
victims. Many of them can be found in white collar
professions where they are aided in their evil by the
fact that most people expect certain classes of people
to be trustworthy because of their social or
professional credentials. Lawyers, doctors, teachers,
politicians, psychiatrists and psychologists, generally
do not have to earn our trust because they have it by
virtue of their positions. But the fact is: psychopaths
are found in such lofty spheres also!"
"A psychopath
who grows up in a stable family and has access to
positive social and educational resources might become a
white-collar criminal, or perhaps a somewhat shady
entrepreneur, politician, lawyer, judge, or other
professional. Another individual with the same traits,
and a deprived background might become a common
con-artist, a drifter, mercenary, or violent criminal."
The Psychopath
- The Mask of Sanity:
cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath.htm
Social factors
including parenting determines if a sociopath becomes
the stereotypical serial killer or other criminal, or a
politician, a lawyer, a doctor, even a psychiatrist.
However upbringing and social considerations determine
only the expression the condition will take and will
have no effect on the person's lack of empathy or
conscience.
Maybe not the
Hollywood serial killer of popular culture or the
despotic genocide ethnic cleanser however, many of his
policies since election have resulted in widespread
suffering amongst the sick and disabled community due to
callous and vicious welfare reforms. His shocking
manipulative tactics in gaining the confidence of
disabled and sick people prior to the election by using
his disabled son is reflected in
the
following statements that Cameron made before the
election, which in light of recent events seem now so
utterly shocking in their insincerity. Such manipulative
tactics are indicative of sociopathy
Referring to his disabled son he said
“I
help care for a severely disabled child – my son.
It’s what I do at the start of each day. It’s
sharpened my focus on the world of care assessments,
eligibility criteria, disability living allowance,
respite breaks,”
Later, in another interview, yet again he
explains how his own personal experiences had shaped
his views:
The very painful thing about disability – whether
your own or your loved one’s – is the feeling that
the situation is out of your control. When the
system that surrounds you is very top-down,
bureaucratic, inhuman, that can only increase your
feelings of helplessness … but I do believe there
are moments of despair, helplessness and frustration
that could be directly alleviated by the work of
government.
If you are not familiar
with what is happening here in the UK with regards
to the welfare reforms which the government are
determined against all odds to make law and the
disastrous effect this is having on people who are
too ill to work, please visit the websites listed at
the end of this entry.
Our humanity isn’t measured
by how we treat other people…Our humanity is
measured by how we treat animals.
Chuck Palahniuk
Why is Cameron's enthusiasm
for fox hunting so disturbing, how does this make
him a sadist or a sociopath? After all until
recently this was a respectable "sport"
Think about
it, what is the difference between hunting a fox with a
pack of hounds and hunting your neighbour's cat in a
similar manner. Too shocking to even contemplate. If
this happened to some ones cat or dog there would be a
public outrage, the RSPCA would prosecute and the
perpetrator would be labelled a sadistic monster, a
sociopath and be publically vilified, heavily fined,
even spend some time in jail, he would not be elected to
parliament and most certainly would not be elected as
Prime Minister. His sick and sadistic behaviour would
automatically exempt him from such a position. Yet because
Cameron's enthusiasm for fox hunting is not seen in
quite the same way, at least not according to the law,
no such vilification is forthcoming at least not
officially nor by the general population who either do
not know of his fondness for the so called sport or have
forgotten. Yet are not the two scenarios the same, a fox
or a cat what is the difference the hunting of any
animal for pleasure is sadistic, disturbing.
Though of
course concerning fox hunting this time he did not get
his own way and fox hunting has rightly been outlawed.
Though as soon as Cameron was elected he did try to
reinstate hunting with hounds, however this practice
continues to be banned.
This
tendency [to cruelty] should be watched in them
[children], and if they incline to any such cruelty,
they should be taught the contrary usage. For the custom
of tormenting and killing other animals will, by
degrees, harden their hearts even towards men... And
they, who delight in the suffering and destruction of
inferior creatures, will not be apt to be very
compassionate or benign to those of their own kind.
John Locke
The point is
if you can kill an animal not only without any qualms
but with pleasure and relish you are one step closer to
killing another person and you are further removed from
the ability to empathise and to feel compassion
A little
satirical humour shows the connection
Despite dozens of suicides, hundreds of
hospitalisations and surging unrest - according
to Iain Duncan Smith - the Secretary of State
for the Department of Work and Pensions - the
disabled are "not suffering", from the Tory
governments reforms which he is overseeing with
a passion approaching (actually passing) sadism.
Clearly he is either a sociopath and a liar, or
completely out of touch with what is going on.
There are no other explanations.
Poster and
commentary below by Bizantine_K
Flicker user
flickr.com/photos/november5/6745321315/in/photostream
I vehemently
oppose both the evils of hunting and the equal evils of
most of Cameron's and the Tory government's policies,
most particularly the barbaric welfare reforms and the
privatisation of the NHS and in general his support of
the tiny minority in our society who exploit the earth,
animals and other humans - the rich.
Is Cameron a
sociopath? Who knows. He destroys people's lives without
remorse, with a relentless determination and with
manipulation. One thing for sure he has an obsessive and
sadistic pleasure for hunting defenceless and
harmless animals, this in itself speaks volumes.
In
examining, either historically or philosophically,
the subject of humanity and cruelty, it is
impossible to separate the question of humanity and
cruelty to man from that of humanity and cruelty to
the lower animals. Between cruelty to man and
cruelty to beasts there is doubtless a wide
difference, but it is purely a difference of degree.
Humanity in either case, cruelty in either case, is
essentially the same feeling, arising from the same
tendencies in the mind. –
Edward A. Freeman, The Mortality of Field Sports
More
Anti hunting views
Gerry
Steinberg MP (Labour) points out that the cruel
extends to the hounds.
It
sickens me to say that puppies that do not show
aptitude for hunting, or whose colouring or body
shape does not meet the requirements, are usually
shot by the kennelman. Foxhounds fortunate enough to
make the grade as puppies are trained to chase and
kill foxes during the cub-hunting season. It is a
particularly unpleasant aspect of hunting that
involves the chasing and killing of fox cubs for the
purpose of teaching young hounds to kill.
There is no gentle retirement home for these poor
animals. When hounds reach the age of six or seven,
about half their normal life expectancy, most are
simply shot by the very people whom they have served
loyally since their birth. That makes a mockery of
the hunts� claim that in the event of a ban on
hunting with dogs they will have no alternative to
shooting them: they shoot them anyway. It is
estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 hounds are
killed in that way by hunts each year.
Lord Harrison
Killing
for pleasure is wrong and should be banned. Fox
hunting, stag hunting and hare coursing are moral
issues. It is time that we stood up for morality.
The commandment Thou shall not kill may be hedged
with exceptions. Thou shall not kill for pleasure is
not; it is a commandment for the 21st century and it
is time that we respected it unambiguously, without
prevarication and without procrastination.
The middle way is still driving on the wrong side of
the road; it still permits the killing of the fox
for pleasure. One cannot kill half a fox. Like Monty
Python's parrot, a fox torn apart by hounds remains
dead, deceased and off its perch for ever. Before
the fox has been dispatched - sometimes quickly,
sometimes slowly - it will have suffered the agonies
of the pursuit by animals four times its size and
four times its strength. The middle way is a
compromise that still seriously compromises the
welfare of the fox.
Finally a
very apt comment from St. Francis of Assisi the
revered Medieval Christian saint known for his
compassion toward animals:
If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures from the shelter of compassion and
pity, you will have men who will deal likewise
with their fellow men.
Most
certainly Cameron has excluded the most
disadvantaged in society from the shelter of
compassion; the sick and disabled including
children, the unemployed and the low paid. His
poisonous ideology will rob us of our NHS if we
do not act now
Links
Anti
Hunting :
League
Against Cruel Sports
league.org.uk/content.aspx
Welfare
Reforms:
Black
Triangle Campaign
blacktrianglecampaign.org/
Disabled People Against the Cuts
dpac.uk.net/
The
broken of Britain
thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/
March 24th
This Year Consign the Canadian Seal Hunt to History
Sadly it is time once again for campaigners
world-wide to bring an end to the annual seal hunt.
I am late posting this as it seemed that this annual act
of barbarism had finally stopped, at least I could find
little mention of it on the internet. Sadly Canada's
barbaric and cruel commercial seal hunt continues, although now with
a vastly reduced market due to the bans by both the
Russian Federation and the EU on the importation of Seal
products. The
Canadian government's dogged
determination to get their own way in
this matter is astounding, despite pressure from
concerned and compassionate people from around the world
this obscene action of savagery continues year in
and year out. This year I thought that as a result of
the ban by the Russian Federation that finally once and
for all the Canadian Government would do the right
thing, if only as a result of a much reduced market for
seal products.
"Commercial seal hunting is no longer economically viable. With a landed value of under a million dollars (CAD) last year, Canada puts far more money into trying to keep the seal hunt alive than it actually brings in."
Read more about the history of the Canadian Commercial Seal Hunt
http://www.ifaw.org/ca/news/spotlight-canada-let%E2%80%99s-make-seal-hunt-history
When are governments going to listen to the will of
the people and stop pursuing their own unpopular and unwanted
agendas. It seems bizarre does it not that the Canadian
government are going to continue with this dreadful and
shocking massacre of baby seals despite a diminishing
market. In their obsessive drive to continue this cruel
practice their persistence drives them to fight the 2009
EU ban at the World Trade Organisation and attempt to
overturn the ban in Russia. These bans must continue.
We must continue to oppose such cruelty,
an anachronism of less enlightening thinking.
Here is the sickening reality of the kind of thinking
behind this atrocity
"I
would like to see the six million
seals, or whatever number is out
there, killed and sold, or destroyed
or burned. I do not care what
happens to them. If there was a
market for more seals, the
commercial sealers would be hunting
and killing seals. The ‘personal
use' sealers...cannot sell them
because the markets are not there.
What they want is the right to go
out and kill the seals....and the
more they kill, the better I will
love it."
Mr. John Efford, former Canadian
Federal Minister for Natural
Resources and the
former Minister of Fisheries for the
province of Newfoundland.
Source of quotation and more
information from Sea Shepherd's
Website:
http://www.seashepherd.org/
Despite the optimistic tone conveyed
by the writer in the above website
the 2012 seal hunt has gone ahead
What will it take to top their sickening
determination to continue with this atrocity against
defenceless animals I wonder
For forty years the International Fund for animal
welfare IFAW has fought long and hard to bring a
cessation to this annual blood bath to provide fickle
people with a fashion accessory and other products they
do not need.
Please help the IFAW 2012 campaign read more and send
the letter:
ifaw.org/in/get-involved/end-canadas-commercial-seal-hunt?
You can send it as it is or use your own words.
You can access more information here about the
Commercial Seal Hunt and the IFAW attempts to bring it
too an end.
http://www.ifaw.org/ca/our-work/saving-seals
There is much cruelty in this world to both human and
non human animals and at times it can become just so
overwhelming. The barbarity of any kind of cruelty to a
defenceless creature, any creature is shocking in any
circumstance as in the twenty first century we have no
need of such cruelty in order to feed and cloth
ourselves. The cruelty however of killing an animal
simply for his fur to satisfy the pathetic dictates of
fashion for those who have nothing better to focus their
lives upon with callous disregard for the pain and
suffering of another living, feeling sentient beings is
utterly despicable. Throughout the world millions of
animals are inhumanely killed for their fur. Despite the
production of faux fur that is practically indistinct
from the real thing, still the evil trade and slaughter
continues.
Each year the snow turns red with the blood of the
massacres of these tiny baby seals . The are bludgeoned
to death though Sometimes they 're skinned while still
alive. The inhumanity of this shocks me as does the
mindset of the men who go out each year and commit this
crime against these animals against nature and indeed against
themselves as such behaviour diminishes their humanity,
taints them with cruelty, numbs their compassion towards
both human and non human animals.
Harp seals are already threatened by
climate-change
the added threat of human action
could mean their extinction.
This annual barbarity has to stop.
This year take as much action as you can, let us once
and for all time consign the Canadian seal hunt to
history where all barbaric acts of cruelty and
exploitation belong
Here is a list of actions you can take:
Letters writing
While e-mail is a communications revolution in terms
of speed and indeed cost of sending written
communications a letter still tends to have more impact.
But as time is getting on for this year it may be
quicker to send an e-mail.
Please write too
Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 Fax:
613-941-6900
E-mail:
pm@pm.gc.ca
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp
Though it says Canadian's do not be put off write
anyway.
This morning I received and e-mail from People
For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) which I
include here. Please try and take some of the
suggested actions
As you read this e-mail, baby seals may be having
their heads smashed in with clubs and hooks rammed
into their eyes or mouths. Yes, Canada has started
its annual massacre of seals.
We are nearing the final nail in the coffin,
so your help is extremely important now so that we
can keep pushing hard and end the cruel slaughter of
baby seals.
Now that Russia—which had been importing 95 percent
of Canadian seal pelts—has joined the U.S. and the
E.U. in banning seal fur imports, the seal slaughter
is dwindling like never before. Here at PETA, we are
working hard to reach the tipping point—in the last
year alone, we've teamed up with Iggy Pop and Ke$ha
to launch "Canada's Club Scene Sucks" ads, Canadian
actor Emmanuelle Vaugier narrated our new seal video
highlighting the enormous tax waste of the
slaughter, Pamela Anderson led PETA's international
plea calling on Russia to ban seal fur from her
native Canada, and we protested at Canadian
embassies around the world.
Canadian officials are starting to recognize that it
may be time to end the slaughter, and national
Canadian media outlets are finally editorializing
against the massacre. We are closer to
victory now than we've ever been before, but we need
your voice to help end the slaughter once and for
all.
We are asking everyone to
take to Twitter
and stand up against the seal slaughter by tweeting
one of these messages:
Even some of Canada's own members of Parliament are
publicly questioning
whether the annual massacre should continue. Please
politely tweet
to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (@pmharper)
that he should listen and call off the slaughter
immediately.
Thank you for speaking up for seals.
Sincerely,
Dan Mathews
Senior Vice President
http://www.canadasshame.com/Stop.aspx
An absolute wealth of Ideas from the People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA
http://www.canadasshame.com/
Our adopted rabbits
Meet Sooty
and Joey our adopted rabbits.
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Joey and Sooty side by side in their Bunker
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Sooty and Joey soon bonded |
You may
have already met Sooty, whom we adopted last year,
in the entry entitled
Domesticated rabbits and neglect.
During the year that Sooty has been with us we have
tried to find her a companion as rabbits are very
social creatures and do not like to live alone.
Finally a couple of weeks ago a volunteer from the
RSPCA brought us Joey, a rabbit of about four years
of age who came to them with a companion who was
sadly euthanized as he was too ill to recover.
I do not know much about either of these unfortunate
rabbits except that I have the strong feeling that
at the least they were neglected when it comes to
affection and human contact.
Joey arrived early in
the afternoon shaking all over clearly exceptionally
nervous after his trip in the car in an animal
carrier. Far more nervous than sooty has ever been.
Soon within twenty four hours, though it was touch
and go, he and Sooty bonded and are now inseperable
grooming each other, sitting side by side, it is a
joy to see, more so considering the difficult lives that
both rabbits have led. Joey enjoys racing round our
small garden jumping in the air, enjoying his
freedom after a long confinement; I suspect Joey rather like
Sooty viewed the world from the grid of his tiny
hutch.
It is
unusual for rabbits to bond so quickly, within hours
Joey was licking Sooty though both were a little
jumpy. Joey continues to be nervous of us and runs
into one of the cardboard boxes that we call their
bunkers or their panic rooms, a retreat from noise
and any disturbance which scares them. Now Joey is
less timid but still does not like being stroked but
it is early days yet and I think he has had little
other than the minimum of contact with humans, most
likely only when food or water was brought to him and his
companion. Sadly this is often the case with rabbits
who begin their lives as a companion animal to
please a child and at first are much cuddled and
fussed only to finish up at the bottom of the garden
when the children have got bored. Rabbits really are
not suitable companions for children, they need quite
a bit of care and attention, the right food and
environment and more often than not they do not like
to be picked up.
Sadly
rabbits are less well cared for than either a cat or
a dog and it appears to me that their lives are regarded
as less important. All too soon they are abandoned,
ignored and neglected.
It is
unfortunate that many people do not see the amazing
creatures that rabbits are. They are far more
intelligent than people think, crafty and
devious at times. Sooty really is not keen on coming
indoors during the winter from playing outside and
has worked out that if she sits in the middle of the
stairs in the two level hutch no one can reach her.
She soon learnt when she was about to be taken
indoors and as soon as she saw her carrying box she
fled for cover. She knows when we are to go to bed
as she has learnt that at this time she gets a
treat.
Both
rabbits are an absolute joy and it is a privilege to
care for them. For the first time in her unhappy
life Sooty has a companion and Joey has found a new
friend after loosing his mate. Sooty sadly has
cataracts as she is an older bunny about seven or
eight. She can still see well enough as this is only
in the early stages. Due to previous neglect both
rabbits may need their teeth filing down but neither
know of this ordeal and for now are content with
running round the garden exploring and being
together.
Many humans think they are better than
animals, more advanced intellectually, morally and so
on. Yet animals unlike human beings
except one another without judgement or
discrimination, age does not matter to a rabbit.
Joey who is about four years old excepts an ageing
Sooty who is a different breed than he, animals simply do not
notice such things unlike the discrimination and
segregation of human beings that results in
loneliness and isolation for many people.
Contact
the RSPCA If you would like to offer a good home to
a rabbit or rather rabbits as no rabbit should live
alone, remember that rabbits need more than a
tiny hutch for a full life and need the
companionship of another rabbit.
Here is
the link for the RSPCA s pet rehoming for any animal
not just rabbits
rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/rehoming
I am sure than
in many other countries similar re-homing schemes
are available. Many animal sanctuaries are looking
for suitable homes for rabbits.
May
Help bring an end to the Canadian Seal Hunt
Cruelty is one fashion statement we can all do
without.
Rue McClanahan
Animal cruelty has no place in the modern world and
any country that condones such treatment of animals
as the Canadian annual slaughter of helpless seals
cannot consider itself civilised or ethical. Each
year these defenceless animals are bludgeoned to
death in a massacre of pure barbarism to satisfy the
fickle fashion of the fickle minded and it has to
stop. The EU, the Russian Federation, Mexico and the
USA have banned the importation of seal products,
yet the slaughter continues as the Canadian
government persists in its dogged determination to
carry out this barbarous reprehensible act of
cruelty despite the protest of millions worldwide.
Gandhi once said "The
greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be
judged by the way its animals are treated."
President Vladimir Putin called seal hunting a
"bloody business that should have been banned long
ago"
What does Canada's treatment of baby harp seals say
about this nation? Surely the treatment of these
creatures is a stain on the country's international
reputation.
Frankly Canada's determination to continue against
all odds is nothing short of sickening. Besides the
lack of compassion towards these helpless animals,
the opposition to this atrocity by the majority of
Canadians and the pleas over many years of people
worldwide the seal slaughter does not make economic
sense. Surely after the Russian Federation, which
accounted for ninety five percent of the sales of
seal pelts, banned seal imports last December one
would expect the Canadian government to have come to
its senses.
Many people thought that this year the seal hunt
would not happen. Sadly they were mistaken.
This is my second blog posting this year urging
action to end this atrocity. I have included this
second request for action because we may finally
have a chance of stopping this atrocity.
Recently I received an e-mail from People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) concerning the
seal hunt. Please read the e-mail, which I have
included below, and take the action required which
is to write an e-mail letter to Canadian senators
and ask them to support Sen. Harb's bill, which, if
passed, would put an end to the massacre once and
for all.
Links to the e-mail letter to Canadian senators to
urge them to support Sen. Harb's bill are included
with the information below or by
clicking here .
To Tweet Stephen Harper Canada's Prime minister
and ask him to give sealers an exit strategy that
they—and seals—can live with
Click Here and scroll down.
The above links are also included in the letter
below
This is a real
chance to see the end to this awful cruelty, please
help if you can. You can edit the letter in
your own words, add a few emotive terms concerning
how cruel this slaughter is, how people worldwide
have protested for many years and any other personal
but polite comments reflecting your feelings on the
matter. However if you can't cope with editing,
writing such letters is not easy for everyone, send
the letter as it is.
Every letter sent will help to bring an end to this
dreadful and inhuman commercial seal hunt.
Please pass this information on to others via social
media such as Twitter and Facebook, forums websites
and so on.
 "
I'm delighted to share some exciting news. Today,
Canadian senator Mac Harb introduced a
historic bill to end Canada's commercial seal
slaughter. Now that Russia—which had imported 95
percent of Canadian seal pelts—has joined the U.S.,
the E.U., Mexico, and others in banning seal fur,
there are no markets for this fur. If passed, Harb's
bill would transition people in sealing regions into
sustainable economic programs. Senator Harb's bill
comes on the heels of
Sarah McLachlan's recent appeal on PETA's behalf
to Prime Minister Harper urging him to end the
slaughter and consider a government buyout of the
sealing industry.
We are
finally near ending the seal slaughter once and for
all, but we need your help. Please take a few
minutes and
click here to urge Canadian senators to support
Harb's bill.
A victory is within reach, but it is not possible
without your support. Please share this urgent alert
with your friends and family on
Facebook, and ask them to join you in speaking
up for seals today.
Thank you for everything that you do to help
animals.
Sincerely,
Dan Mathews
Senior Vice President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
"
In
Addition to the above you could write an e-letter or
a postal, snail mail, letter to individual senators,
you can find details here:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/SenatorsMembers/Senate/SenatorsBiography/isenator.asp?Language=E
The senators postal address are included on this
page:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/SenatorsMembers.aspx?Language=E
Look under under Senate, scroll down to Sending Mail
to a Senator.
Do not hesitate to write even if you are not
Canadian. Many years ago now I wrote a postal letter
to a member of the Canadian government whose name
now I cannot recall and actually got a personal
reply though am not a Canadian citizen. Sometimes a
snail mail, a real letter on paper gets a better
response. Incidentally the reply was not very
favourable towards the cessation of seal hunting
nevertheless I did get a reply, so letters are read.
Below are actions you can take with Harpseals Org
which has a list of senators who will receive the
e-mail. Again you can edit the e-mail letter.
http://harpseals.org/help/letters_and_emails/canada_senators_email.php
Also other actions included in this website.
Also
https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=5545
You could also write to Canada's Prime Minister:
Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
E-mail:
pm@pm.gc.ca
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp
Thank you for taking part in this action which
hopefully will consign this awful atrocity towards
helpless animals to history for ever.
This entry also appears in my Blog Ranting from a
virtual Soapbox:
http://rantingsfromavirtualsoapbox.blogspot.co.uk/
Help to ban Newcastle University's Cruel Animal
Experiments
Personally I cannot condone experiments on animals
under any circumstances for any reason, not even for
medical purposes. However even more abhorrent are
pointless experiments on animals for the purposes of
testing cosmetics or cleaning products or for
unnamed unspecified reasons which appears to be the
case with Newcastle University. According to the
petition, which you may sign by clicking the link
further down, last year 22, 000 animals suffered the
torture of animal experiments for unknown purposes.
At least I am unable to find the reason why
Newcastle University is conducting their cruel
experiments on animals including rats, mice, fish,
monkeys, rabbits, cattle, even
Xenopus, a type of frog, and others
What can we do
There are a number of actions you can take
The Close Newcastle Animal Lab have an online
petition
No matter were you live in the world you can sign
this petition:
Petition to close
Newcastle University
Animal Labs
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/866/854/445/petition-to-close-newcastle-university-animal-labs/
We need 10,000 signature
so please take the time
to sign. This is a care
2 petition and may be
signed by international
visitors to the website.
Notification of the the
Petition was sent to me
by the RSPCA, the highly
respected animal welfare
charity here in the UK
Other action you can
take both if you live in
the UK or elsewhere:
You could write a letter
or e-mail to
Professor Chris Brink
Vice chancellor of
Newcastle university
Executive Office
Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU, United Kingdom
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/executive/board/members/chris-brink
A postal letter will be
more effective and more
likely to be read
however if that is
inconvenient for any
reason please do e-mail,
I find if you add your
full name and postal
address your e-mail is
more likely to be read
and responded to. I do
understand your anger
concerning such
atrocities towards
living feeling sentient
creatures however
Please be polite,
abusive letters and
e-mail will probably
never be read by Prof
Brink or anyone else for
that matter.
Please do not hesitate
to write even if you do
not live here in the UK,
animal abuse is a global
problem and is the
responsibility of
ethical caring people
the world over to state
their protest.
More details and more
about how you can help
visit Close Newcastle
Animal Lab
http://closenewcastleanimallab.com/
As before please pass
this information to your
friends and family,
on-line contacts via
social media, twitter,
Facebook, forums, blogs
and websites.
Every letter, every
e-mail and every
petition signature
counts, and the more
people who turn up for
the demo the more
influence we will have.
Time to bring an end
to animal cruelty in all
its forms.
Urgent Action:
Urgent Send e-mail to
help animals by Monday
21st May
concerning Animal
Welfare in world trade
The animal welfare group
Compassion in World
Farming urgently need
people to send an email
concerning
"international standards
regarding the safety in
world trade in animals
and animal products".
The e-mail calls for the
OIE to take their
responsibilities
seriously:
Between the 20th and
25th May, Chief
Veterinary Officers
(CVOs) from across the
world will meet in Paris
for the 80th General
Session of the World
Organisation for Animal
Health (OIE)
One of the key points
for discussion is “the
adoption of
international standards
regarding the safety of
world trade in animals
and animal products.”
The OIE is responsible
for providing guidance
on how to protect
animals during transport
and slaughter and to
mediate in emergency
animal welfare
situations. Yet, in
recent months, they have
failed spectacularly in
fulfilling this role, as
was seen with the
Gracia del Mar
and the footage obtained
by Compassion in World
Farming from inside an
Egyptian slaughterhouse,
which was so horrific we
couldn’t publish it on
our website.
TAKE ACTION – we need
1,000s of supporters to
send emails by Monday
21st May
Click the following link
to read more and send an
e-mail
http://action.ciwf.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=119&ea.campaign.id=14975&ea.tracking.id=1174f49c
As before please pass
this information to your
friends and family,
on-line contacts via
social media, twitter,
Facebook, forums, blogs
and websites. The more
e-mails sent the more
influence we will have.
Every e-mail counts
Time to bring an end to
animal cruelty in all
its forms. After sending
the e-mail you will be
taken to a page where
you will have the
opportunity to share on
Twitter Facebook and so
on.
June
Stop the
Exploitation of Farm Animals at the Olympic Opening
Ceremony and Other Comments Concerning the Games
One can
measure the greatness and the moral progress of a
nation by looking at how it treats its animals
Mahatma
Gandhi
What does
the following say about the UK?
There are
many controversies concerning the Olympic games,
here is one of the latest that should be of deep
concern to those of us who care about animals and
how they are treated. It came as a shock to me to
learn that live farm animals including 70 sheep with
three sheep dogs, ten ducks, twelve horses, nine
geese, three cows and ten chickens will be taking
part in this event as part of the opening ceremony.
You
can read more details and sign a petition here:
care2.com/causes/take-action-no-live-animals-at-london-olympic-opening-ceremony.html
This is just about one of the
most outrageous things I have yet heard about
regarding the
Olympic games. I strongly object for the following
reasons.
For a nation that often boasts of its love
of animals this ridiculous demonstration in fact
shows the world the UK’s callous disregard for these
and other farm animals, in fact the widespread and
callous treatment of farm animals is the reality of
the situation regarding farming here in the UK.
Rather than the idyll portrayed in this display the
sad truth is that most farm animals are shut away in
factory farms
in appalling conditions never seeing
the light of day, used as commodities to sate the
appetites of people who live in one of the richest
nations in the world with a food which they do not need and which contributes to
the starvation of other people in less fortunate
parts of the world.
The effect on the poor
animals who will be subjected to this unnecessary
and expensive fiasco will be traumatic.
Justin
Kerswell of Viva! said
“This is wrong
on so many levels. Why would anyone
think it was a good idea to subject
farmed animals to the pandemonium of
an Olympic opening ceremony? It
smacks of the Roman gladiatorial
arena. Many of those animals,
especially the sheep, are likely to
be terrified.”
There will be
approximately 62,000 spectators in
the stadium, it is not hard is it to
imagine the effect on these poor
creatures.
Find out
from Viva how you can complain to
the Olympic committee:
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/olympics/
More
information from VIVA
http://www.viva.org.uk/mediareleases/display.php?articlepid=286
http://www.viva.org.uk/
Animals are not here for
our use and abuse as interactive animate
playthings.
Describing the pathetic and
delusional theme of the opening ceremony director
Danny Boyle says
“The opening scene of the July 27
ceremony represents a traditional and idyllic view
of the British countryside." “It is a green and
pleasant land because it is something we are really
proud of.”
Frankly entire event is a
shocking disregard to the suffering of animals and
should not be allowed to take place. This land may
be "green and pleasant" but not for the
unfortunate animals who are abused in factory farms,
which is certainly nothing to be pound of anymore
than is this idiotic and exploitative opening
ceremony.
This brings me to my next
objection which concerns the human animal.
The cost of the performance
which lasts an hour at the huge expense of £24
million is a serious social injustice at a time when
the disabled and unemployed here in the UK have seen
a cut in their benefits with many disabled people
being forced into looking for work they are unable
to do. In addition five hundred thousand disabled
people will soon be excluded from a vital benefit.
As a result of these vicious impoverishing
reforms many people have committed suicide.
Why? What is the reason for
the UK government's shocking treatment of the sick,
disabled and unemployed?
Apparently the British government cannot afford to
pay benefits any longer at the current rate yet can afford the
outrageous cost of the Olympic games, an estimated
10 billion, and the Queen’s
jubilee and waging war in other countries. Such an
unnecessary and decadent wastefulness as this is an
outrage at a time when many people go cold, even die
here in the UK because of the continuing increase in the cost of
heating their homes, when many have been made
homeless because of cuts in wages and housing
benefits and loss of jobs due to government cuts
backs in this so called time of austerity, austerity
only for the poor and disadvantaged.
This display of farm
animals and indeed the entire Olympic games at a
cost of £10 billion is a social injustice of the
highest degree when in so called developing
countries one child dies every three
minutes from malnourishment, when people have to
walk ten miles to get water, water which is unclean,
when thousands still live in poverty. Even here in
the UK 25 percent of children live below the poverty
line.
The Olympic games benefits
the few at the expense of the many, the British tax
payer will be paying for years to come at the
expense of the disabled, health care and other more
important uses for taxes.
Shame on the British
government who are an absolute disgrace and have
brought suffering to millions by their actions. This
is the latest outrage, there have been others.
Please do not tell me that this brings money into
the country, the Olympic games is nothing but a
platform for greedy corporations to make money. It
is an event that panders to the egos of the
participants, it is pointless, unnecessary and not
in the spirit of the original Olympic games. It
benefits the few at the expensive of the many
including these unfortunate animals.
Consider the good £10
billion would do to improving the lives of
disadvantaged people worldwide along with the other
vast amounts of money spent by the UK and other
governments on similar events.
How many children's lives
in Africa could be saved with £10 billion, how much
clean water could be provided, how many decent homes
could be built.
The entire event is a
shocking disregard to the suffering of animals and
human beings alike. If the event is to generate
pride in being British well than for me they have
failed miserably.
Please
sign the petition if you have not already done so to
stop this abuse and exploitation of defenceless
animals:
care2.com/causes/take-action-no-live-animals-at-london-olympic-opening-ceremony.html
For more
information also see:
http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1581255_animal-rights-group-slams-danny-boyle-over-english-countryside-olympics-opening-ceremony
Also check
out the following links concerning the situation for
millions of people who go without food or clean
water and donate if you can:
UNICEF
UK
Over a
million children in the Sahel region of West Africa
lack proper food, and could die within months.
http://www.unicef.org.uk/
UNICEF
Over 1
million children in Central and West Africa are
facing a nutrition crisis.
http://www.unicef.org/
Save
the Children
Over 18
million people over west Africa face a growing
hunger crisis. More than 1 million children face
starvation. We can save their lives but we need to
act fast. It cost next to nothing to save a child's
life
http://www.savethechildren.net/
Everyday
people including children have to walk miles for
water which is dirty, teeming with bacteria. Each day
4,000 children die of diarrhoea
because of filthy water
Water Aid
Everyday
Jean walks miles to fetch this water, even though
it's so dirty it could kill him
http://www.wateraid.org/other/display/africawater.php
Charity Water
A clean water project nearby
means more than safe drinking water to women and
children in developing nations; it means time,
freedom and incentive to change their communities.
In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every
year just walking for water. Women and children
usually bear the burden of water collection, walking
miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected
and likely to make them sick.
http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/?gclid=CIPQgrmT1bACFcQKfAod2Hg6zA
The
Water Project
Nearly 1
billion people suffer needlessly without access to
safe water.
http://thewaterproject.org/?gclid=CJXv0uuY1bACFW1ItAod2wJZ2w
There are
just so many charities fighting the problems of
hunger, lack of safe water and medicine for millions
of people.
Every day, almost 16,000 children die from
hunger-related causes. That's one child every
3.5 seconds.
"Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of
starvation. Usually it is a child under the age
of 5"
How many
lives could be saved with this money?
Things
have to change for the sake of animals including
humans and the environment. Resources need to be
allocated where they are needed not to increase the
profits of big corporations at the expense of others
including the animals with whom we share this world.
"It costs
next to nothing to save a child's life"
savethechildren
yet
millions die and continue to die while millions
watch at huge expense sporting events such as the
Olympic games with little or no thought to the cost
to both humans and non humans alike.
While the
62,000 attendees at the opening ceremony among with
millions of TV viewers world wide watch the opening
ceremony thousands of children will have died of
hunger, many others both children and adults from
diseases through lack of water and medical care.
July
Monsanto buys
laboratory researching colony collapse disorder
There is a
strong possibility that genetically modified crops
with pest control modifications are among the causes
of
colony
collapse disorder (CCD).
It is an
absolute outrage that a corporation such as Monsanto
with obvious conflict of interest should be allowed
to buy out a research laboratory such as
Beelogics which is
conducting vital research into the cause of CCD. The
concern is that this major producer of genetically modified (GM)
food could so easily
manipulate results in order to shift the blame from
chemical pesticides and GM foods.
Monsanto
is an American multinational agricultural
biotechnology corporation and is the second largest
producer of genetically engineered/ genetically
modified seed. There is little doubt that there is
a conflict of interest. Corporations work on self
interest only, the acquisition of profit above all
else, even above the health of us all.
Scientists
have been desperately trying to find the reasons why
bee colonies across the world are disappearing. This
disastrous occurrence is of serious concern for both
bees and humans alike. Colony collapse disorder is a worrying phenomenon, with 90 percent of crops dependent on pollination
the impact on food supply will be devastating.
Read more
about CCD here on this website
Animal Rights Bees , also
newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/04/new-studies-colony-collapse-disorder
and
wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
If the cause of CCD is not
identified and eradicated not
only will the bees die but soon the same fate will
befall humanity.
Please
read the following article:
Monsanto, the
genetically modified food giant, has recently purchased
Beeologics, a leading bee research firm. Borrowing a
move from the tobacco companies’ playbook, Monsanto
appears to have decided that if you do not like the
scientific reports coming out about you, then you should
just buy the labs.
Beginning in 2007, Beeologics has researched two
critical bee issues: colony collapse disorder and
Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus. In late September of last
year, Monsanto acquired Beeologics for an undisclosed
amount. In making this purchase, Monsanto now has
control of research that has previously pointed at its
pesticides for contributing to – if not outright causing
– a sharp decline in bee populations. Multiple studies
in recent years have linked pesticides and high fructose
corn syrup with colony collapse disorder.
Potential
outcome manipulations
With Monsanto’s vested interest in bee research’s
conclusions, there is reason to believe that the true
causes of and solutions for these bee epidemics may be
manipulated if not lost entirely
Click the
links below to continue reading this very important
article and to sign a petition:
Please sign
the petition using the link below rather than the link
that appears in the article as you than have an
opportunity to make a comment which will have more
impact than a signature only.
You may sign
even if you are not a citizen of the USA.
thepetitionsite.com/786/975/528/usda-dont-use-monsanto-funded-research/
Research Firm
Blames Monsanto for Bee Deaths So… Monsanto Buys It
by Kevin Mathews
care2.com/causes/research-firm-blames-monsanto-for-bee-deaths-so-monsanto-buys-it.html
Of concern in
this issue is the news that Monsanto have been banned in
Poland:
Recently
banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons
being that the company’s genetically modified corn
may be devastating the dying bee population, it is
evident that Monsanto is under serious fire for
their role in the downfall of the vital insects
activistpost.com/2012/04/blamed-for-bee-collapse-monsanto-buys.html
Also see
Monsanto buys
leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee
colony collapse by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
naturalnews.com/035688_Monsanto_honey_bees_colony_collapse.html
It would be
unwise indeed for the United States Department of
Agriculture to act on any research
funded by Monsanto. In my opinion research of this
nature should be funded and undertaken by
governments only and never by any corporation or
anyone with any bias.
I feel strongly about
global issues and how greedy corporations are
willing to sacrifice the health and wellbeing of
everyone, other animals and the environment all in the
name of profit to satisfying the seemingly insatiable
greed of the few at the expense of the many.
For the sake
of Bees and indeed all creatures who depend on bee
pollinated plants for food including ourselves a
solution must be fond
This
phenomenon is not exclusive to the USA, it has occurred
also here in the UK and throughout the rest of Europe to
include Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy,
Portugal, and Spain, and to a lesser degree it has been
reported in Switzerland and Germany. Also possible cases
of CCD have been reported in Taiwan
Links to more information
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Why are Europe's bees dying?
articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/21/vanishing-bees-film.aspx
September 26th
A memorial to Joey
Sadly our
adopted rabbit Joey died September 17th 2012. You can read more
about Joey and our other adopted rabbit Sooty here:
Our adopted rabbits
After
being Joey's guardians for just a month we learnt during
a routine examination that he had an
aggressive and rare form of skin cancer which was
located in his lip. Unfortunatley after
two surgeries and five four months later the cancer had returned and had gone to
his lungs and there was nothing more they could do. The
very gentle and genuinely compassionate vet who had
performed the operations regretfully put Joey to sleep.
We hope that
at least the surgeries gave him a little longer to live
and during the five months that were left to him we made
every effort to make his life as full and as happy as
possible. You can read more about this and see
photographs of Joey on his memorial Page:
A Memorial to Joey
Everyone
concerned had done his or her best to save Joey's life.
We were told that most people would not have bothered to have tried to
save a rabbit's life in this way. And the sad fact is people do
not value the life of a rabbit as they do a cat or a
dog. In fact a neighbour told me that you do not need to
take rabbits to the vet. Yet a rabbit's life is as
important as that of a cat or dog, to the rabbit his or
her life is as import to him or her as ours is to us.
The vet agreed, not simply because he wished to make
money from the surgery , he incidentally made no charge
to euthanize Joey, but because he also genuinely
believed that all life is of value to the being whose
life it is and all animals wish to be free from pain and
avoid death.
Aftercare
and pain relieving medication was not rabbit specific
and the dose for either cat or dog was adjusted. There
was no medicine for rabbits though there are vaccinations
for Myxomatosis and Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (VHD.
The whole sad
event concerning Joey has made me think once again about
the way rabbits are treated as pets, often in a far more
neglectful way than are either cats or dogs though of
course neglect and abuse is widespread throughout all
the animals humans bring into their lives as pets.
I have to wonder what would have happened to Joey had he
still been in the situation of neglect that he was once
prior to his adoption and before his rescue by the
RSPCA. Would anyone have noticed the large mole-like
growth on his lip. If some one had would Joey have
received veterinary care or would he have simply been
left to die slowly as the cancer spread to his lungs.
Would his owners simply abandon him as often happens.
Even more horrific though hopefully less likely would he
have been killed by his owners who may not have been
able to afford to take him to the vets even to have him
put to sleep. My mind turns to the countless millions of
these tiny harmless creatures and others such as guinea
pigs, rats and even exotic pets such as snakes or
lizards who often face abandonment in hutches, cages or
tanks when the novelty has worn off suffering
loneliness, cold, even hunger and untreated medical
conditions and a long and painful death. Sadly
many animals live and end their lives this way. No one
knows, no one is any the wiser. The vet said once that
many people do not bother and never know that their
rabbits is ill until one day they open the hutch to
throw in some food and find their neglected pet dead.
Joey had a
short and mostly unhappy life, much of it spent cramped
in an hutch but for the last five months during which he
was in our care we did our
utmost to give him the best life that was in our means
to provide for him.
Animals are
like you and I, they are thinking feeling living beings,
they experience loneliness, bereavement and a whole
range of emotions and they suffer.
Sadly there
are few controls regarding who is allowed to buy a pet.
Entering "are there any legal controls on who buys a
pet" into a search engine bought up nothing, no
information of any kind, not even anyone querying the
need for such controls. Therefore one has to
assume that there aren't any.
Hopefully a
time will come when you can no longer just go into a pet
shop and buy another living being as you can a bag of
sweets. Animals are not here to keep us company, they
are not here to entertain us nor to be held in
captivity. Rather they are here as are we to live out
their lives as nature intended.
I would like
see the phasing out of the pet trade though of course I
am not for one minute suggesting anyone releases a pet
into the wild where he or she would not survive.
A
controversial topic.
For a couple
of balanced views on the subject please click the link
below:
animalrights.about.com/od/companionanimalspets/a/Keeping_Pets.htm
We rescued
Sooty from a situation were she was not getting the care
she needed and we adopted Joey as companion for Sooty
and because he needed a home. I rather think he had been
rejected a few times because of his timidity. It appears
that most people will only give a home to an animal who
responds to them rather than give an home to an animal
because the animal needs a loving and caring home.
Certainly I and most animal rights activists would not
go into a pet shop and buy an animal.
If you really
feel you need an animal in your life you should
preferably offer a good home to an animal who has been
abandoned or abused. A good place to start is the RSPCA
:
rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/rehoming
There are also
a good number of animal sanctuaries which offer animals
for adoption in fact so many that it would be impossible
to list them here. An internet search should find an
organisation in most locations worldwide which will
offer for adoption animals who need rehoming.
Please
consider adopting two of the same species as most
animals need the companionship of a member of their own
species.
Keeping pets
is in my opinion not ideal yet it is a difficult
dilemma which is not easy to resolve. The phasing out of
animals by preventing their reproduction by
Spaying/neutering seems
the only answer while at the same time providing safe
caring homes for the animals that are with us at present,
yet somehow the mass sterilisation
of other species by the dominant species seems
somehow disturbing, unethical.
September 27th
The 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring -
what has changed?
Today is the
anniversary of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring
care2.com/causes/50-years-on-from-silent-spring-what-would-rachel-say.html?z00m=20417082
Though there
are large movements of opposition to the use of
pesticides and other distructive chemicals
and other forms of environmental damage it is sad that
governments have really done so little in fifty years to
stop the spread and increase of these damaging
substances.
Of course as
the above article mentions a lot has changed as a result
of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring with the
implementation of regulations and the banning of DDT.
Nonetheless pesticides and dangerous chemical continue
to be a threat and though laws may have been tightened
regulations are flouted or manipulated.
One of the
most immediate consequences of the use of pesticides is
the probable link to colony collapse disorder CCD (
Animal Rights Bees and
July's entry)
, a
serious threat of course not only to these creatures
themselves but also to our own and indeed other species.
Today I
received a request to sign and pass on the following:
Please sign a petition
banning the pesticide
clothianidin which may
be killing our honey
bees off by the
billions, destroying a
key species and
endangering our food
supply in the process.
Tell EPA: Honey Bees
Can't Wait – Ban
Clothianidin NOW
The EPA wants to wait
until 2018 to review the
safety of this
suspiciously approved
pesticide but our honey
bees can't wait 6 more
years. And every bee
colony that collapses
threatens the future of
our food supply...
France, Italy, Slovenia,
and Germany have already
banned clothianidin over
concerns of its role in
Colony Collapse
Disorder.
Please read more and
sign the petition:
soe.salsalabs.com/o/1/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=276&track=2012_0924_Oceana_Honey_Bee_Alert
The
environment is just as much an animal rights issue as
any other and we must take action for the sake
of all living beings including the tiniest bees to
ourselves .
The struggle continues as a result of Rachel
Carson’s “Silent Spring
Concluding
comments from the above linked article
50 Years After
“Silent Spring,” What Would Rachel Say?
by Judy Molland
September 28th
Please help with a petition to save sheep from
further suffering
Save 22,000 Export Sheep Stuck
in Persian Gulf!
There
is just so much cruelty to animals in this world and
one of the most appalling is the transport of sheep
from Australia to the middle east. I am a vegan and
against the meat trade and in favour of total
abolition of not only the trade in meat but other
animal products also. However until such time
that people realise the cruelty of
raising and killing animals I and many others
at least expect animals to be treated more humanely
.
Regularly thousands of sheep are transported from
Australia to the Middle East in horrific conditions
of cruelty and the whole trade in live animals needs
to be stopped.
However
right now there is an incident of particular and
immediate concern
Please
read the following information from care 2 and sign
the petition below:
"22,000 sheep exported
from Australia have been stuck for two weeks on a
ship sitting in the Persian Gulf after Bahraini
officials rejected the shipment on quarantine
grounds. Some of the sheep have already died
Please sign the petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/625/183/730/save-22000-export-sheep-stuck-in-persian-gulf/
More
information about the transportation of sheep and
other abuse:
http://www.care2.com/causes/hellish-journeys-for-australian-sheep.html
Also see:
http://www.care2.com/causes/ask-australias-new-prime-minister-to-end-sheep-mulesing.html
and please
do not forget to sign
the Care2 petition in the above article asking prime
minister Gillard to stop muelsing once and for all
Thank you to
anyone who signs.
Please
visit my blog:
Rantings From a Virtual Soapbox
A blog in support of animal and human rights and the
environment
http://rantingsfromavirtualsoapbox.wordpress.com/ |
