Tag Archives: dogs

animal activism, animal rights, DXE, news

NEWS OF THE WEEK: Vegan Skater Wins The Gold, Activists Protest At Westminster Dog Show, Feb. 13 – Feb. 19, 2018

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Ice skater Meagan Duhamel has been vegan since 2008.

VEGAN SUPERSTAR

Vegan ice skater Meagan Duhamel of Canada did us proud last week, winning the Gold Medal in pairs skating at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. Vegan since 2008, her coach initially was unenthusiastic about her switch from eating animals to eating plants, believing she would become malnourished. “I felt my body changing,” she told Veg News. “I lost weight, my skin was glowing, my energy levels were on the rise, and I woke up every morning feeling rested and ready to tackle the new day ahead.” Her coach saw her performance and strength improve and eventually came around to asking Duhamel to work with other athletes who were struggling with their diets. (Veg News, Feb. 13, 2018)

PROTEST AT WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW

The Westminster Dog show, inspiration for the hilarious film, “Best In Show,” was met with animal rights protesters last week in Manhattan where the event is held. The activists, including members of PETA, said the extravaganza promotes dog breeding when many dogs living in shelters need homes. Some protesters brought along their mixed-breed dogs. Ashley Byrne of PETA told the AP, “Events like these just promote the buying of dogs as objects instead of adopting.” (Associated Press, Feb 12, 2018)

SLAUGHTERHOUSE SURVIVED APPEAL IN SAN FRANCISCO

Despite the best efforts of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) to stop the establishment of a slaughterhouse in San Francisco’s Bayview District, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 11 – 0 to allow the project to go forward. The ALDF argued that the board should commission an environmental impact report before approving the enterprise but the supervisors countered that the slaughterhouse, which is going to be just over 2000 square feet, didn’t represent serious enough environmental harm. The slaughterhouse will be owned by Saba Live Poultry which is a small national chain of slaughterhouses. Saba owns a facility in Oakland which was the subject of a DxE protest last year. (San Francisco Examiner, Feb. 13, 2018)

THE RACE TO BECOME THE ‘ANIMAL PARTY’

In the UK, the Labour party is trying hard to appeal to animal rights advocates, promising everything from allowing renters to keep pets, to a ban on exporting animals for slaughter, to labeling on meat indicating the farm where it came from, and to providing low-cost vet care for low-income people. Meanwhile the Conservative party says it will institute around the clock CCTV in farms and slaughterhouses, ban puppy farms and increase the penalties for animal abusers 10 times. We think nonhuman animals would approve of ALL that. (The Telegraph, Feb. 14, 2018)

PROPOSING A MORATORIUM ON NEW PIG FARMS IN IOWA

Two retired University of Iowa professors along with several animal rights groups including HSUS and environmental groups are calling for a moratorium on building new pig farms in Iowa. Iowa, the largest pig meat producer in the country, has been building or expanding 500 new pig farms a year for the last 10 years. “For several decades the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state governments have failed to regulate the environmental impacts of factory farms,” the groups wrote in a letter to the Iowa General Assembly. “A moratorium will give legislators an overdue opportunity to evaluate the public health, economic and societal impacts of factory farms while providing Iowa’s communities with important statutory protections from further expansion of this industry.” A pork industry spokesman said such an action would be “devastating” to Iowa’s economy and livestock production. (Farm Journal PORK, Feb. 14, 2018)

DIESTEL TURKEY RANCH SCORES A VICTORY IN COURT

An Alameda Superior Court judge, Ioana Petrou, ruled against DxE, in its claim of false advertising against Diestel Turkey Ranch. The ranch, which had been subject of a months long investigation by the animal rights network was found by that group to be raising turkeys in dark, filthy, crowded sheds, despite labels claiming the birds had been “thoughtfully raised” and “range grown.” Unfortunately, since this labeling had been approved by the USDA, the judge concluded that the state had no jurisdiction in the matter. “Once the USDA has reviewed and approved product labels, any claim that labels as approved are false or misleading is preempted by the PPIA [Poultry Products Inspection Acts],” Petrou wrote in her final ruling, citing a 2017 lawsuit against Campbell Soup Co. Despite this setback, DxE vows to fight on with its lawsuit, challenging claims made by Diestel in materials not approved by the USDA. (Union Democrat, Feb. 16, 2018)

 

 

animal activism, animal rights, drawings, DXE, vegan

Ending Yulin

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yulin dog5

It’s already started. The notorious Yulin Dog Meat Festival, which takes place in southern China, is underway. The “festival” is not a celebration of dogs; it is a celebration of dog meat.

Beagles, golden retrievers, cocker spaniels, collies, chows, muts, you name it, are often stolen from people’s yards and the streets and violently beaten to death for human consumption.

The anti-Chinese racism is underway as well – much of it from passionate dog lovers. Horrified by the practices in Yulin, activists have lashed out at China, perhaps without realizing that only 8 percent of Chinese consume dog meat. Do we forget that 98 percent of Americans consume cows, chicken, fishes, goats and pigs?

Pigs, dogs — are they really so different?

People who live with pigs understand they are not. All animals feel pain, all animals love their young, all animals desire freedom of movement. If animals didn’t feel these emotions and desires, how would they survive?

Animals regarded as mere things or as cogs in a machine in this country suffer – the same as the dogs of China. Yet do you see Americans taking to the streets to protest this violence? Not often. But recently in China over one hundred thousand people came out to protest the dog trade and some animal rights groups based in the United States have joined them asking the government of China to stop this horror. So far, Chinese officials haven’t budged.

It’s not so hard to understand the reluctance. What if millions of Chinese sent petitions calling on the American government to stop the production and consumption of animal products? Would Americans suddenly shut down butcher counters, restaurants and animal farms? Absolutely not.

I would suggest that the American reaction to some Chinese eating dogs smacks of colonialism. Americans and Europeans arrive to save the day and stop the barbarism of the “developing nations.”

How easy it is to point a finger at others and fail to see our own complicity.

The United States kills some 9 billion land animals a year. Each American eats, on average, 270 lbs. of meat per year. Each Chinese person eats about 130 pounds a year. Yet we sit on our couches watching ABC’s recent episode of “Nightline” recoiling in horror at the cruel exploitation of dogs in China.

How helpful it would have been if the producers of the show had also, at the very least, noted the violence, suffering and anguish inherent in our own system of animal agriculture? While the horrors of the dog meat trade are indisputable, true change must start with an unsparing assessment of our own behavior.

True understanding must start with the realization that all nonhuman animals are deeply connected to human animals. Scientists have even shown that rats have empathy and will forgo food to help another rat.When will us humans achieve that same level of compassion?

As the noted animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) proclaims, “It’s not food, it’s violence.”

— A Vicious Vegan blog post —

animal rights, vegan

THE POWER OF DOGS

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Have you ever looked into your dog’s eyes and realized, that he was not the fool you thought he was? It’s true, dogs think things, feel things (such as love), plan for the future and do things, such as rescuing humans from the different kinds of jams we get ourselves into.

Well, the same can be said for pigs, who, animal behaviorists say, are even smarter than dogs. Cows are smart too, as anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes with them, knows. Even chickens who are commonly believed to be less intelligent than amoebas can recognize specific human faces. And turkeys who are also supposed to be dumb, like to have their heads petted. So be careful if you get a dog, you might start to realize…