Animal Rights Blog

What’s Happened To Us

James S. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:12:12 +0000

Some of you have read my blog about my little dog, and the cost of just trying to keep her alive, which was beyond what I could afford. But as I find myself trying to figure out why I’m so lost, really what’s happened to us as people who just care about ourselves. I am [...]

Slaughterhouse owner pleads no contest

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:06:50 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Last year, Santa Cruz County Animal Services director, Todd Stosuy noticed a cow with a broken horn spraying blood a foot in the air. The shocking sight led him to an even more tragic situation - a custom slaughterhouse. Goats, rabbits, pigs, chickens and other animals subsisted off of bread and [...]

Bovine Introductions

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:05:12 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Elsa cried all night. Since she was so stressed, we decided to let her out today rather than wait a few more weeks. When the gate opened, Elsa immediately left her pasture and started exploring. Nicholas saw her and made a beeline in her direction. Love at first sight! According to [...]

On Not Eating Animals

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:52:24 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person Chris from Beijing wasn’t able to comment (Animal Person is blocked in China) but he did write me to say he looks forward to Jonathan Safran Foer’s sequel to Eating Animals . . . Not Eating Animals. Though I haven’t been able to surf the Internet that much recently, I have found it [...]

Allegations of dogs starved to death at a Memphis Animal Shelter

TeresaKerr75 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:55:56 +0000

More than two weeks ago, sheriffs deputies executed a search warrant at a Memphis area animal shelter. Reportedly, photographs taken by a whistle blower let in part to the raid. Photographs of one dog in particular sparked public outrage. The photographs show a seemly healthy young female mixed breed puppy when it first arrived at [...]

Meet Elsa, the newest bovine resident!

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:40:36 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Several months ago, we received a call from a local school that planned on sending their 15-yr-old Jersey cow to slaughter. The cow had been used as a teaching tool for her entire life, giving birth to nine calves and spending her life at this one farm. We couldn’t let her [...]

Am I Wrong Or Can We Really Do Something

James S. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:48:06 +0000

Hi, my name is Jim and I lost a pet this past week and have not been able to stop crying yet. So much to say but can’t, I’m an older male (57) who always thought animals came & went with no thought about them. But as I got older & came to appreciate how [...]

The Giant Pumpkin

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:06:47 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Every day, we receive hundreds of pounds of day-old produce donated by two grocery stores. Yesterday, an employee at one notified us that a 60lb pumpkin had failed to sell and did we want it? Um, do pigs love food? Yes! Abby, sanctuary supervisor and Louie, animal caregiver, took a picture with [...]

Photo prints: Who should be immortalized?

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:05:07 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary The animals are tired of only receiving online attention, now they want to be permanently etched in photo paper! We want to select 3-4 of our photos to print and sell to you fine folks. We think they’d make perfect holidays gifts for the animal lover in your life. But it’s [...]

Divine Turkey Talk

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:27:04 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Talking with turkeys is enchanting and divine. They do not use consonants and vowels but trills and whistles, clicks and melodic tweets. When they have an especially poignant point to make, their vocalization is like a goose, a honking screech reverbrating throughout the bird enclosure. At Animal Place, there are seven turkeys, [...]

Gadhimai Mela: Nepalese religious slaughter

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:37:45 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Every five years, a religious festival takes place in the Bara district of south-west Nepal in which hundreds of thousands of fully-conscious animals are hacked to pieces by drunken men. It is partially funded by the government of Nepal - the fair brings in tourists and money. The festival is done [...]

Controversy over new global warming report

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:36:25 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary A new Worldwatch report claims 50% of all global emissions of greenhouse gases can be attributed to livestock production. This article attempts to refute the 2006 report Livestock’s Long Shadow which blamed livestock production for 18% of all anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases. What is surprising about Worldwatch’s report is its suggestion: Stop [...]

Free study guide and film for educators

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:08:26 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Study guide and film FREE to teachers! Animal Place is proud to announce the creation of a curriculum unit on farmed animals for secondary teachers! The 50-page study guide accompanies our film, The Emotional World of Farm Animals, which has been aired nationally on PBS. Geared for all ages, this study [...]

On Going Vegan

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:07:18 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person First I have to say that my husband and I were in our courtyard last night, with wine, vegan pizza with shiitakes, portobellos and chanterelles (still working through that five-pound bag of Daiya cheese), and Diana Krall playing. It was about 8:30 and we had seen 100+ kids in search of treats. Though [...]

Cooperatives Working Together to Kill Cows

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:05:27 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary I know I’ve been blogging a lot about the dairy industry these past few days. I promise I’ll be blogging about other farmed animal and Animal Place related issues soon, but this article was brought to my attention. I had to post about it, it’s just so creepy and Halloween is [...]

Milking it

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:17:06 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Sadie is special, at least to me. She is the face of the dairy industry, those beautiful cows who are bred and milked, bred and milked in a cycle of loss and separation. In her life, she gave birth to four calves, their fates intertwined with her own. Each calf [...]

Kinder side of veal?

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:15:43 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Humanely raised veal? Veal cast in a kinder light? Today’s Washington Post offers its readers a look into a kinder, gentler, more humane veal. Wait a second, back up. Look at that language, how it muddies up the discussion right off the bat. Veal is not raised. There is no field of veal [...]

Windy days, unimpressed animals, learn to save

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:17:13 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary In a move only described as Epic Fail, I managed to delete the incredibly amazing, provocative, insightful, WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE post I was writing. I cried a little. Now you will have to settle for the following. Here is Willy. He is a goat, as evidenced by his horns, beard and caprine-like [...]

On “EATING ANIMALS” by Jonathan Safran Foer

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:51:25 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person I immensely enjoyed “EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED” (even on the big screen) and eagerly anticipated “EATING ANIMALS” (Little, Brown 2009) by Jonathan Safran Foer. His writing is beautiful, though I do have to admit that I haven’t seen “shit” and its variations so frequently in one printed piece in quite a while. Ever, [...]

Taylor the chicken, mourning her friends

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:35:35 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Meet Taylor, the hen, my friend and confidante (on all things chicken, mainly). She is a singer, a crooner, a speaker on all subjects large and small. Who stole her nest box. Who is hanging out with Diablo the rooster when they were last seen with Newman. Who likes Ferdinand, even [...]

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home Coming to Orlando

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:34:01 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person From the makers of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home is finally here! After a successful world premiere screening at the Moondance Film Festival in Boulder CO, where our film won the “Spirit of Moondance” Best Feature Documentary award, we are going to the Orlando Film Festival in Orlando, [...]

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:49:15 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Try to imagine any end other than taste for which it would be justifiable to do what we do to farmed animals. - Jonathan Safran Foer, New York Times I ended up at Foer’s New York Times article by way of this editorial which painted Foer’s piece as an intensely anti-agricultural essay. Foer’s [...]

On Michigan’s animal welfare reforms

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:46:58 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law a bill that provides more room to protected species. In Michigan’s case, defined species include pregnant sows, calves used for veal, hens producing eggs, turkeys, ducks, geese or guinea fowl. Producers have three years to provide enough room for calves in the veal industry [...]

On Changes in What Americans Are Attending To

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:45:51 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary I’ve been out of every loop I used to be in because my work outside of veganism and animal rights came a-calling in a most critical way. As a result, for the first time in my life I’ve been living like many working people do: I get up early and rush around [...]

NFL Power Brokers Say No to Rush Limbaugh

swivl — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:39:20 +0000

Rush Limbaugh wants to purchase the St. Louis Rams Football team and the National Football League Players Union, the NFL Commissioner, and several NFL power brokers have turned thumbs down. This is the same NFL Commissioner, NFL owners, and powerbrokers who had no problem with Michael Vick, a convicted dog killer and torturer, playing for [...]