Animal Rights Blog

Fail: Vegan diet leads to lower bone density

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:49:03 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Oh noes! Vegans have lower bone densities than omnivores! (which, ignoring the title, is one of the better news articles on this issue). Or do they? Well, if you’ve read the 70+ news articles covering this story, you would think vegans were going to fall apart at the seams, their bones snapping like [...]

California Governor mocks animal cruelty

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:47:48 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary California is once-again facing a budget crisis of epic proportions. Well, certainly epic to those of us who have never owed 23,000,000,000 to anyone. *raises hand* Is our Governor concerned about finding ways to mitigate this serious problem? Well, of course he is. But he is also interested in using diversionary tactics [...]

On “The Botany of Desire”

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:45:46 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person This is coming very, very late, but part of why “Food Inc.” wasn’t impressive for me is because I’m not the target audience. I’d already read Pollan and Schlosser and seen “The Future of Food” and “King Corn.” And though The Omnivore’s Dilemma definitely promotes the eating of animals if those [...]

On “Wild Justice”

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:44:47 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person ”Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals,” By Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, is the most recent (for me) book that debunks myths about the differences between human and nonhuman animals. And those mythical differences, of course, have historically been used to legitimize our use and treatment of our nonhuman cousins. [...]

Online Survey on Ethics and Animals

admin — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:43:38 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person A new survey is getting the attention of many within the global animal protection community. Covering both moral and strategic issues, the “Ethics and Animals” survey will provide a snapshot of our movement as of the present moment. Everyone is invited to participate and share their views on what’s best for animals. The [...]

What Matters to Animals…

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:31:18 +0000

Submitted by Creature Talk The weekend of June 13th and 14th I went to an animal rights conference in the Twin Cities called Their Lives, Our Voices. Much like last year, it was awesome. I took notes and hope to write a few entries on what I learned there. For now, I’m going to start with [...]

July Birthdays!!

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:27:00 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Yo! It’s me Copper, your favorite Birthday Celebrating hen. Okay, so I’ve been a little loosie-goosie (bird reference, people) since my last entry which was, well, it was awhile ago. There was a near riot by fellow sanctuary denizens who felt slighted by the fact that I was busy. Yes, it’s true. [...]

Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale - SUCCESS!

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:25:41 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary We’ve heard lots of awesome, wonderful things about this past weekend’s Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, but none could make us more happy than hearing that the San Francisco vegan bake sale made a whopping $3,000!!! Three thousand!! And some of that gets to go to the animals at the sanctuary - [...]

Calgary Stampede v. Vancouver Humane Society

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:24:31 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary The Vancouver Humane Society attempted to submit an ad that offered an alternative view to the popular Calgary Stampede and Rodeo. The Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun both refused to publish the ad. You can see the Vancouver Humane Society’s ad here. In it, a “cowboy” takes down a 3-mos old [...]

On Humane Societies and Calf-Roping

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:22:47 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person Angus directed me to a story about the Calgary Stampede (rodeo) and the Calgary and Vancouver Humane Societies which had me asking: Whose side are they on? Here’s the backstory: Calgary has what they call a “western culture,” which essentially is their two word justification for abusing animals in the cruel and not-even-close-to [...]

Chipping Away at Greyhound Racing

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:41:22 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person In March of 2007 I wrote, “in a horribly-depressing vote of 198-138, New Hampshire’s House voted AGAINST a bill that would shut down live racing at its three greyhound race tracks.” E-mails were exchanged between yours truly and NH legislators, and though I knew the hounds would someday be free of racing, [...]

The Best in Vegan Education

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:39:34 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person Other than being a vegan, the most important actions you can take to help animals who are used for food are: Give generously to organizations that help those sentient nonhumans directly, such as Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary, Maple Farm Sanctuary, Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary and Eastern Shore Sanctuary. Encourage others to go vegan by [...]

On “Food Inc.”

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:31:06 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person (Sigh.) Here’s the idea you have to get used to when it comes to Food Inc.: One message is that there’s nothing wrong with eating animals, and in fact it’s fantastic and thrilling and a win-win-win (people-planet-profits) when you eat animals that were “produced” by Polyface Farms. There’s no remotely vegan or even [...]

On Cat Killers and Mental Competency

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:29:24 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person People in South Florida are still in an uproar over the mutilation and slaughter of 19 house cats (allegedly) by 18-year old Tyler Weinman, who was declared mentally competent and not a danger to himself or others (!). There have been inquiries as to the possible relationship between his dissection of cats [...]

California: Stop the selling of animals in parking lots

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:03:04 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary In California, animals can legally be sold in parking lots and alongside the road. Animals are often exposed to the elements, left without proper shelter, food and water, and sold in unsanitary conditions. Animals are rarely vet-checked and may pose a health risk to both humans and other animals. There is a [...]

Daring calf photo….

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:41:33 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary That’s right, Summer and Freedom, have decided to bare it all in this shocking new photo! We warn you, there are a couple of cute little calf tooshes in this photo - it may not be work or child safe! All kidding aside, this photo shows the primary reasons Summer and Freedom [...]

Food, Inc.

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:39:23 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary n Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that [...]

On Compassionate Carnivores and Betrayal

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:51:42 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person Stephanie’s post about “The Compassionate Hypocrite” on Saturday reminded me of what Catherine Friend and other “compassionate carnivores” are doing in addition to twisting the definition of compassionate beyond recognition. Their claim is that what has become the customary way to take sentient nonhumans from babyhood to untimely death is not humane. [...]

Chickens and turkeys

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:41:41 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary This is Tulip. Now, I usually associate spring and vibrancy with tulip. Tulip the hen begs to differ. In her opinion, Tulip is angry and full of haughty glares of disdain. We are okay with this Tulip. Spices things up a bit. Chickens aren’t the only residents here, there are turkeys too. [...]

On The International and Father’s Day

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:40:32 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person Someone on Twitter said The International was the best film he’d seen in years. I think it was in theaters here for all of a week, which is a good sign, as the better a film is, the shorter its tenure at the local multiplex in South Florida. But you only find [...]

On a New Level of Absurdity in the Slaughter Business

admin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:39:41 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person Bea sent me a link to an article in Gourmet called “Humane Slaughterhouses,” by Rebecca Marx, that is absurd. And the absurdity is in the reality that the author and the featured person who kills sentient nonhumans for a living, think they’re onto something. And they were, before they stopped their train [...]

Farmacology: Antibiotic resistance

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:55:30 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary A very provocative article in the most recent edition of Johns Hopkins Magazine entitled “Farmacology”. For decades, the livestock industry has perpetrated a grave injustice by providing subtherapeutic levels of antimicrobials in animal feed. The use of antimicrobials, some the same or in the same family as antibiotics used in humans, increases [...]

Note to Those Wanting Promotion: Pay Attention

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:07:19 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person We bloggers often get e-mails from individuals and organizations in search of promotion. And that’s fine, as we all want to spread the news of fantastic work that needs support. Case in point: AnimalEquality. But there are two types of requests that are irksome to me: 1. People I hear from only when they [...]

Summer and Freedom, two new calves

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:43:05 +0000

Submitted by Animal Place Sanctuary Our youngest and most recent residents are two adorable Jersey calves - Summer and Freedom. Both were rescued from an auction where calves were being sold for between $3-20. The calves were all male, all Jerseys or Holsteins - all byproducts of the dairy industry. We’ll be reporting on the experience at auction [...]

On Being Upset by Carnage That Comes Too Soon

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:41:53 +0000

Submitted by Animal Person It never ceases to amaze me that people will get upset about the death of an animal whose killing was their job. This time, and thanks to a tweet from CaptainGraviton, it’s “beef farmer” Jim McDougal in Scotland. In “Cows Killed by Lightning Strike,” by Angie Brown of the BBC Scotland, which today [...]