A small victory in the fight for the prohibition of the Canadian annual seal massacre. Judge Jean-Paul Décoste declared on 17 October the defendants in the case against five seal-hunt observers innocent. This verdict had been anticipated by The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International since the case first began in October 2007.
“The evidence showed without a doubt that my clients were innocent and I thank Judge Décoste for seeing through the Crown’s illogical arguments to the contrary and finding them innocent,” said Clayton Ruby, lawyer for the accused.
The defendants - Canadians Rebecca Aldworth and Andrew Plumbly, Americans Chad Sisneros and Pierre Grzybowski, and British citizen Mark Glover - are all representatives of The HSUS and HS I .
In March of 2006, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Department of Fisheries and Oceans Officer Jean-Francois Sylvestre charged the five defendants with violating a condition of their observation licenses which requires they remain at least 10-metres from sealing activity. The defendants were in the Gulf of St. Lawrence documenting the commercial seal hunt to bring to the world the shocking images of baby seals being clubbed, shot and even being skinned alive.
The defense case rested heavily on the video records of four separate parties: a Canadian government ship, an independent reporter and two of the accused. These videos scientifically showed that the defendants were at least 19.6 meters from sealing activity at the time of the incident. Judge Décoste refused to hear the experts who were called by the defense, but nonetheless found, after viewing the tapes himself, that the Crown case had not been proved.
Canada’s commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth. The victims are baby seals. Ninety-seven percent of the seals killed in the past five years have been less than three months old, and the majority under one month old. At the time of slaughter, many of these defenseless pups had not yet eaten their first solid meal or taken their first swim, leaving them utterly defenseless against the ‘hunters’.
Animal protection spokesperson and author, Karen Dawn, will be making a lecture tomorrow at 8pm at the University of Georgia. The event is promoted by Speak Out for Species.
Brazil is currently going through local election fever and the country’s second biggest electorate, Rio de Janeiro, may well be on its way to vote in a vegetarian candidate tomorrow. Fernando Gabeira, a veteran veggie environmentalist, is fighting for the top municipal seat against Eduardo Paes; polls indicate he has about 40% of voter’s intentions, roughly the same as Paes. Gabeira is also a friend of animals and promised during a debate on Thursday to boost Rio’s spay and neuter campaign and free horses used to draw carriages to ‘employ’ them as companions to mentally impaired kids. He’s also a fine, educated gentleman. He sounds like the right ticket for the Wonderful City, I say.
The founder of the Found Animals Foundation, Gary Michelson, announced at the National Spay/Neuter Conference in Chicago that his organization will give $25 million to the person or group that finds a safe, one-time non-surgical method to sterilize male and female cats and dogs. On top of that, he will make another $50 available to those who can come up with plausible approaches.
Like most sensible people concerned with the plight of the millions of cats and dogs killed in shelters every year - not to mention the rough lives they live on the streets - Mr Michelson knows that the only way to solve the problem is avoiding birth. No birth, no kill, it’s as simple as that. We must come to a point when only wanted pets will come into this world.
Michelson is a billionaire retired inventor who now dedicates his time to animal welfare. A non-surgical spay/neuter approach would definitely help boost sterilization rates in the country and probably in other parts of the world as well. So, yes, great idea.
October 25 - 31 has been chosen as period to boost vegan awareness. In fact, the whole of October and November is a special time for plant-based dieters, the period when we all go an extra mile to tell the world about the pressing need to become a vegan.
World GO VEGAN Days” is also about celebrating what it means to be vegan. Veganism enables people to live in balance with all of Earth’s creatures and promote freedom from exploitation for animals as part of their everyday lives. Modern animal agriculture is cruel and violent toward the chickens, cows, pigs and other creatures used to make meat, milk and eggs. During World GO VEGAN Days, we encourage people to become conscious of what - and who - they are eating, the effect it has on the world, and that a non-violent alternative exists.
We urge people to recognize the effects their actions have on the world, and our ability to actually avert some impending disasters such as global warming.
For the health of people, the environment, and farmed animals, veganism is the best choice. World GO VEGAN Days embodies this idea. As an international campaign, it encourages people around the world to experience the benefits and joys of a more compassionate way of life.
Now, you may be asking, where does the word vegan come from? Well, it was coined by a most loving and considerate Englishman called Donald Watson, who realised that the complete elimination of animal products was the only way to be truly compassionate towards the other animals. And so he founded The Vegan Society in 1944 and the rest is history - and it’s a story that will only get bigger.
As some of you may know, November is vegan month, you know, that time of the year to celebrate veganism or to take the plunge. Vegans, like vegetarians, do not eat animal or fish flesh. However, vegans also avoid eating products that contain eggs, milk and honey. The vegan diet is 100% plant-based. Vegans also try to avoid products such as leather, wool and pharmaceuticals that may have been tested on animals.
The UK-based organization AnimalAid has created a very informative website with everything you need to know about veganism. I found it very compelling and I hope it will be the springboard from which many people will jump away from a diet that exploits animals cruelly from the moment they are born to their gruesome slaughter. So click on the image below and go ahead. It may well be the best decision you’ve ever taken in your life.
The beautiful wild tiger is heading quickly toward extinction, with its diminishing numbers estimated at a meager 3,500.
Extensive poaching has decimated a number of species of rare animals, including tigers and the animals they prey on. Yet China is considering a policy that would open its market to tiger parts, which could entice more poaching of wild tigers. Chinese officials promise to keep the ban on wild tiger products. But that guarantee is a thin, unenforceable and inhumane distinction to draw between wild and farmed tiger parts.
Wild tigers struggle enough from rapidly shrinking habitat and food sources. Humans have hunted the tiger’s primary prey, such as deer and wild pigs, almost to extinction. Lifting China’s successful ban on the tiger part trade would only increase the threat from profit-driven poachers by placing an irresistible bounty on the head of wild tigers.
The New York Times has a favourable review by the often unforgiving writer Frank Bruni of Candle 79, a New York vegan restaurant, which, according to some web comments I read, is absolutely amazing. Here’s a snapshot of the review:
The restaurant gets top-notch produce from top-tier farms, and it’s lavish with a laudable array of mushrooms used in a variety of ways. In one appealing appetizer there were grilled trumpet royale mushrooms, served with crispy onion rings. In another there were fried oyster mushrooms. Candle 79 leaves no part of the garden untouched, no patch of the forest unplumbed.
So, if you live in the New York area and get the chance to eat at Candle 79, leave your comments about the place. Would love to hear what real customers have to say about it.
Another day, another shocking undercover video of the appaling conditions animals have to endure on farms. The industry tries to evade responsibility by saying that the atrocities captured on video are isolated cases. If that really were the case, why is it that everytime someone goes inside a factory farm with a hidden camera they come out with such imagery? Really. Factory farming, and indeed, all animal farming is cruel, and the only way to stop that is going vegan. Steer clear of all that ‘humane meat’ or free-range egg spin. It’s a big fat lie.
Mercy For Animals has released this heart-breaking video of undercover footage shot at Norco Ranch in Menifee, California. Some of the most extreme abuses documented include:
* Birds confined in tiny wire cages so small they couldn’t walk, perch, fully stretch their wings, or engage in other basic behaviors
* Ill birds neglected to die on top of dead piles - denied veterinary care or proper attention
* Workers killing birds by grabbing their necks and swinging them around in circles - an attempt to break their necks which often resulted in prolonged deaths for the animals
* Hens suffering from bloody open wounds and untreated infections
* Dead hens left to decompose in cages with birds still laying eggs for humane consumption
* Birds trapped in the wire of their cages or under the feeding trays without access to food or water
I’m not a big fan of talent contests such as X-Factor, but I have become an instant fan of X-Factor winner, London-born Leona Lewis, when I read she rejected £1m from the iconic department store Harrods on the basis of her vegetarian principles. Lewis turned to vegetarianism at the age of 12 and does not wear, eat or carry anything made out of animals. And Harrods sells all of that. Kudos to her for taking such a honourable moral stance and sending out such a great message.
A small victory in the fight for the prohibition of the Canadian annual seal massacre. Judge Jean-Paul Décoste declared on 17 October the defendants in the case against five seal-hunt observers innocent. This verdict had been anticipated by The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International since the case first began in October 2007.
Animal protection spokesperson and author, Karen Dawn, will be making a .jpg)
Brazil is currently going through local election fever and the country’s second biggest electorate, Rio de Janeiro, may well be on its way to vote in a vegetarian candidate tomorrow. Fernando Gabeira, a veteran veggie environmentalist, is fighting for the top municipal seat against Eduardo Paes; polls indicate he has about 40% of voter’s intentions, roughly the same as Paes. Gabeira is also a friend of animals and promised during a debate on Thursday to boost Rio’s spay and neuter campaign and free horses used to draw carriages to ‘employ’ them as companions to mentally impaired kids. He’s also a fine, educated gentleman. He sounds like the right ticket for the Wonderful City, I say.
The founder of the Found Animals Foundation, Gary Michelson, announced at the National Spay/Neuter Conference in Chicago that his organization will give $25 million to the person or group that finds a safe, one-time non-surgical method to sterilize male and female cats and dogs. On top of that, he will make another $50 available to those who can come up with plausible approaches.
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I’m not a big fan of talent contests such as X-Factor, but I have become an instant fan of X-Factor winner, London-born Leona Lewis, when I read she rejected £1m from the iconic department store Harrods on the basis of her vegetarian principles. Lewis turned to vegetarianism at the age of 12 and does not wear, eat or carry anything made out of animals. And Harrods sells all of that. Kudos to her for taking such a honourable moral stance and sending out such a great message.