Action for Animals

Why veganism?

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:01:07 -0700

Why not dairy?     [video] [video]

Why not eggs?     [video]

Why not honey?

Why not wool?

Why not feathers and down?

Why not meat?    [video]

Why not free-range, humane animal products?

What about my health?

(Inspired by Soycrates’s FAQ, she originally posted up these resources and I thought that I should share them in a neat little rebloggable post.)

animalsandtrees: The Nightmare World of GM Mice “This film is...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:01:29 -0700

animalsandtrees:

The Nightmare World of GM Mice

“This film is released along with our report Science Corrupted: The nightmare world of GM mice (animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/booklets/ScienceCorrupted.pdf).

For the first time, they reveal the true scale and nature of the GM mouse revolution. The appalling animal suffering and immense squandering of scientific resources are at last laid bare.”

Marineland Animal Defense (M.A.D): MARINELAND JUST GOT THUNDERCLAPPED!

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:00:39 -0700

Marineland Animal Defense (M.A.D): MARINELAND JUST GOT THUNDERCLAPPED! :

marinelandanimaldefense:

If you are here there is a good chance you just thunderclapped Marineland - or saw someone who did. Thank you!

For folks who don’t know about this campaign, it is a pressure campaign that is anti-captivity and that wants to see the closure of the captive animal park Marineland (Niagara…

xhope666x: Plaza monumental de playas 12 de mayo del...

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:25:38 -0700

xhope666x:

Plaza monumental de playas 12 de mayo del 2013, manifestación antitaurina no nos rendiremos hasta acabar con el sufrimiento de quien no tiene voz.

Nunca tengas miedo de lo que la gente pueda decir de ti,has lo que creas que esta bien para ti mismo sin miedo a lo que piensen los demas

Photo

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:43:37 -0700

Corporate Win: Supreme Court Says Monsanto Has 'Control Over Product of Life'

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:40:55 -0700

Corporate Win: Supreme Court Says Monsanto Has 'Control Over Product of Life':

the-lone-pamphleteer:

by Jacob Chamberlain for commondreams.org

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of biotech giant Monsanto, ordering Indiana farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman, 75, to pay Monsanto more than $84,000 for patent infringement for using second generation Monsanto seeds purchased second hand—a ruling which will have broad implications for the ownership of ‘life’ and farmers’ rights in the future.

In the case, Bowman had purchased soybean seeds from a grain elevator—where seeds are cheaper than freshly engineered Monsanto GE (genetically engineered) seeds and typically used for animal feed rather than for crops. The sources of the seeds Bowman purchased were mixed and were not labeled. However, some were “Roundup Ready” patented Monsanto seeds.

The Supreme Court Justices, who gave Monsanto a warm reception from the start, ruled that Bowman had broken the law because he planted seeds which naturally yielded from the original patented seed products—Monsanto’s policies prohibit farmers from saving or reusing seeds from Monsanto born crops.

Farmers who use Monsanto’s seeds are forced to buy the high priced new seeds every year.

Ahead of the expected ruling, Debbie Barker, Program Director for Save Our Seeds (SOS), and George Kimbrell, staff attorney for Center for Food Safety (CFS), asked in an op-ed earlier this year, “Should anyone, or any corporation, control a product of life?”:

Bowman vs. Monsanto Co. will be decided based on the court’s interpretation of a complex web of seed and plant patent law, but the case also reflects something much more basic: Should anyone, or any corporation, control a product of life?

[Monsanto’s] logic is troubling to many who point out that it is the nature of seeds and all living things, whether patented or not, to replicate. Monsanto’s claim that it has rights over a self-replicating natural product should raise concern. Seeds, unlike computer chips, for example, are essential to life. If people are denied a computer chip, they don’t go hungry. If people are denied seeds, the potential consequences are much more threatening.

Bowman had argued that he was respecting his contract with Monsanto, purchasing directly from them each year, but couldn’t afford Monsanto’s high prices for his riskier late season crops. Bowman’s defense argued that Monsanto’s patent was “exhausted” through the process of natural seed reproduction and no longer applied to Bowman’s second generation seeds.

“If they don’t want me to go to the elevator and buy that grain,” Bowman had stated, “then Congress should pass a law saying you can’t do it.”

The Center for Food Safety released a report in February which shows three corporations control more than half of the global commercial seed market.

As a result, from 1995-2011 the average cost to plant 1 acre of soybeans rose 325%.

As AP reports, more than 90 percent of American soybean farms use Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” seeds, which first came on the market in 1996.

Vandana Shiva, an expert on seed patents and their effects on farmers around the world, wrote recently:

Monsanto’s concentrated control over the seed sector in India as well as across the world is very worrying. This is what connects farmers’ suicides in India to Monsanto vs Percy Schmeiser in Canada, to Monsanto vs Bowman in the US, and to farmers in Brazil suing Monsanto for $2.2 billion for unfair collection of royalty.

Through patents on seed, Monsanto has become the “Life Lord” of our planet, collecting rents for life’s renewal from farmers, the original breeders.

[See other Lone Pamphleteer posts about Monsanto and watch a trailer for the documentary David vs. Monsanto.]

'Ag-Gagging': Are We Kept in the Dark, or Willfully Blind When It Comes to Animal Cruelty?

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:50:00 -0700

'Ag-Gagging': Are We Kept in the Dark, or Willfully Blind When It Comes to Animal Cruelty?:

Excerpt:

A lot can happen in 48 hours—including the slaughter of approximately 50 million animals (not including fish and other sea animals) for food in the United States alone. While ag-gag laws are indeed bad for all the reasons that people have pointed out, including that it often takes much longer than 48 hours to document a pattern of law-breaking, it is simply not true that without these videos we will be completely blind to the violence in animal agriculture, much of which is perfectly legal—unless we’re talking about willful blindness to the fact that, even if those pigs had not been punched, those turkeys not been beaten, and those cows been able to walk to slaughter, all of these animals would still have had their throats slit. Whistleblower attorney Gordon Schnell put this point well, if unintentionally: “Afterall [sic],” hewrote, “we cannot rely on the animals to tell us when farmers behave badly. …Until we can talk to the animals, the furtive photo or videotape is the best we can do…”

But what about when farmers aren’t misbehaving? What about when they are just doing their job of killing animals for us to eat? If we could talk to the animals, would they ask only that we not beat them or keep them intensively confined, that we not let them enter our food supply if they have gotten too sick awaiting their slaughter to walk to it? Or would they beg us not to slaughter them at all, plead with us to eat plants and leave them alone to live out their lives? Undercover videos are extremely important to trigger the emotions that might allow these very rational concerns to resonate. When we watch those videos, however, we should not let revulsion at particular acts of cruelty blind us to an entire system that is violent at its core, one in which we can’t help but participate when we eat animals. If we have no better explanation for why we eat some animals but not others—“[F]ine we eat cows and everything, but horse meat? No.”—perhaps we shouldn’t be eating animals at all.

losers-count-sheep: Tigers may be extinct within 12 years Amur...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:56:55 -0700

losers-count-sheep:

Tigers may be extinct within 12 years

Amur leopards - of which only about 35 are thought to exist in the wild - may be extinct within 3 or 4 years.

In the 70s and 80s, 18,000 jaguars were killed each year for their fur. The numbers are still rapidly declining.

Half of Africa’s lion populations face extinction within the next 40 years.

Credits are noted in the image.

vega-lou: <3

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:30:36 -0700

vega-lou:

<3

angry-hippo: headandstomachached: In 1959, psychologist...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:29:05 -0700

angry-hippo:

headandstomachached:

In 1959, psychologist Russell Church conducted a study on the empathy of rats. In the study, he trained the rats to push a lever to receive their food. Then, in a twisted change, he fixed the lever to a floor in the neighboring cage. Every time the rat would push the lever, the rat in the other cage would get an electric shock. Rats that had previously experienced shocks were very empathetic to the rat in the other cage.

Instead of selfishly pushing the lever and receiving its food at the expense of the other rat, the rat would quit pushing the lever and eventually starve to death rather than eat off of another rat’s suffering.

I sometimes suspect that the real experiment is finding out how long polite society will ignore the worst tortures conducted by murderers in white lab coats. What is your breaking point, and what will you do when you reach it?

marinelandanimaldefense: Our last “Social Media Tuesday” before...

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:41:18 -0700

marinelandanimaldefense:

Our last “Social Media Tuesday” before May 18th and it is a simple reminder - we are now only 4 days away!

We need everyone to help out over these last 4 days to give us a final push. RSVP/SHARE/INVITE friends to the event page. Spread by word of mouth. Pack your cars. Get people on buses. Do everything in your power to help make this day a powerful and historic stand against Marineland and against animal captivity.

https://www.facebook.com/events/155401654604350/

Photo

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:59:10 -0700

noochveganmarket: A suspected poacher has reportedly been...

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:58:49 -0700

noochveganmarket:

A suspected poacher has reportedly been trampled to death by an elephant as he tried to shoot the beast in Zimbabwe. (via Elephant ‘tramples to death suspected poacher’ - Telegraph)

ravens-world: New research has shown that muesli-style foods...

Sun, 12 May 2013 18:12:33 -0700

ravens-world:

New research has shown that muesli-style foods can be dangerous for rabbits’ health and wellbeing and should not be fed. If you currently feed a muesli-type food you should gradually transfer your pets onto a hay and nugget/pellet based feeding plan over a period of between 14-28 days, by gradually reducing the amount of muesli and increasing the proportion of nuggets until they have completely replaced the mix. Remember that good quality hay and/or grass should make up the majority of your rabbit’s diet and should be available at all times. Please talk to your vet for more information.

Why are muesli-style foods potentially so dangerous?

Recent research* conducted by the University of Edinburgh has shown that feeding muesli, with or without hay, is associated with abnormalities that can lead to painful dental and digestive problems that require veterinary treatment, like

Lower Gut motility, which can put rabbits at a high risk of gut stasis, a condition which is often fatal

Eating less hay, which can lead to abnormal growth of teeth that could develop into painful dental disease. Lower hay consumption also results in reduction in water intake, which in turn can lead to urinary tract stones or sludge.

Not eating all their caecotrophs, meaning they may not get all the nutrition they need and uneaten caecotrophs may become matted in rabbits’ fur, putting them at risk of dermatitis and fly strike

Selective feeding (where rabbits pick out their favourite pieces rather than eating the whole portion), which can lead to an imbalanced diet lacking in vital vitamins and minerals.

The research has also shown that eating muesli-style foods without hay causes rabbits to become overweight or obese, which can also lead to health problems.

http://www.rabbitawarenessweek.co.uk/diet

Milk Comes From Grieving Mothers

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:28:00 -0700

Milk Comes From Grieving Mothers

thepeoplesrecord: Facebook: Tar Sands Blockade | Tar Sands...

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:24:38 -0700

thepeoplesrecord:

Facebook: Tar Sands Blockade | Tar Sands Action | Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance

marinelandanimaldefense: Captivity is about separation and...

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:22:52 -0700

marinelandanimaldefense:

Captivity is about separation and exclusion. It is about the destruction of families and communities. For wild caught animals, many watch their parents and family killed in front of them at a young age so that they won’t be able to put up a fight to defend them from capture. For the animals bred in captivity at Marineland, those parents routinely watch as their offspring suffer and die in infancy.

There are no heart warming stories for Mother’s Day at Marineland. There are endless sad stories, but none may be more pressing and sad than that of Kiska. Marineland’s last remaining Orca, Kiska was wild caught from Iceland in the 1980’s. At Marineland, Kiska is the longest serving resident and she has seen dozens of Orcas come and go - and estimated 14 other Orcas die. Of those 14, 5 of them have been her own children. The oldest surviving just 6 years.

Since the removal of Ikaika back to SeaWorld she has spent her days alone. Ex-trainers have spoken publicly about their concern for her and Marineland itself have gone on public legal record establishing their concern for the health of their lone Orca held in solitary.

Kiska’s story is the story of captivity. She has survived, but at what cost? Her life has been painfully sad, she is alone and completely dependent upon humans - humans who are only interested in her as an “asset.”

There is no human need to hold other animals in captivity. There is no human need to gawk at or to turn other animals into mere commodities and spectacles. We will fight to remove Kiska and all of the other animals at Marineland and to ensure no more captives for John Holer!

Photo Credit: Natalie Lucier

"Let’s stop talking about veganism as a matter of compassion, benevolence and other nice-sounding,..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:08:42 -0700

“Let’s stop talking about veganism as a matter of compassion, benevolence and other nice-sounding, but ultimately anthropocentric missives. The idea that we are ‘being kind’, ‘acting compassionately’, or ‘saving lives’ just by being vegan is misguided. It’s also paternalistic. Veganism is a matter of justice, and it reflects the absolute minimum of justice that I owe other persons (human and non). That doesn’t mean we’re not compassionate people. It doesn’t mean we can’t act compassionately toward other animals (human or non). It just means that veganism is what we owe them. It’s not an act of charity.”

- Vincent Guihan (via headandstomachached)

Brilliant.

(via soycrates)

veganmovement2012: Calcium in plant foods

Sat, 11 May 2013 12:14:02 -0700

veganmovement2012:

Calcium in plant foods

jada111: Pinterest

Sat, 11 May 2013 12:12:54 -0700

jada111:

Pinterest