-
-
related tags:
- Animal Welfare News & Animal Welfare Videos
- Animal Shelters
- Animal Adoption
- Animal Rights
- Animal Cruelty News & Animal Cruelty Videos
- Companion Animals
- Animal Abuse
- Animal Protection
- animal rehabilitation
- Orphaned Animals
- spay/neuter
- Adopt - Don't Buy
- Pounds
- animal sanctuaries
- puppy mills
- TNR
- dog rescue
- Animal Videos and News
- Animal Advocates
- Abandoned Animals
- captive animals
- Endangered Species Videos & Endangered Species News
- animal torture
- animal companions
- Pet Adoption
- FARM SANCTUARY
- animal cruelty
- Wildlife Refuge
- spay and neuter
- Dancing Bears
- Dog Adoption
- Euthanization
- animal advocacy
- Wildlife
- veganism
- breeders
- Farmed Animal Sanctuaries
- feral cats
- veterinarians
- Animal Acres
- Sentient Beings
- Panther
- Shelter Dogs
- Cats and Dogs
- animal suffering
- Exotic Pets
- Ethics
- Threatened Species
- wildlife-trade
- Extinction
tagged w/ Animal Rescue
-
Are Kids Too Young to Understand Veganism?
CNN...
.
April 24th, 2012
08:00 PM ET
.
Are kids too young to understand veganism?
.
Parents have many talks with their kids as they grow up. There's the "birds and the bees" talk and the "sharing is caring" talk, or even the "don't be a bully" talk. Now, author Ruby Roth wants parents to have the "If it's too scary to talk about while we're eating, it's too scary to eat" discussion with their children.
Roth is talking about veganism. Like vegetarians, vegans don't eat meat, but they take that philosophy a few steps further. Vegans won't consume or use any products that contain any part of an animal. For example, they don't eat eggs or dairy and won't wear leather.
Her new children's book, "Vegan is Love," is causing quite a stir, with some critics saying she's scaring children into a lifestyle choice that young kids aren't equipped to make.
The 40 page book, officially geared towards 7-year-olds, features bright illustrations by Roth herself. Some of the illustrations are graphic. One depicts mice and bunnies and dogs and cats in a lab. They have oozing sores on their bodies and appear to be in a great deal of pain and suffering. Another is of a family of polar bears huddled on a tiny ice sheet.
In the book, Roth also advocates that children not go to zoos, aquariums or the circus: a potentially difficult concept for a young child to understand.
Roth herself is stepmother to a 7-year-old vegan and knew there would be some backlash. "These are all things every vegan hears on a daily basis. Of course there are going to be questions about misinformation," she says.
Roth became a vegan after being challenged to do so, and the lifestyle stuck. "I lost weight, had more energy, and never went back." Asked what she missed the most about her non-vegan lifestyle, "Shoes!" she says. "I cannot wait for more mainstream shoe lines to get a clue."
She has written two children's books on the subject, the first one is called "That's Why We Don't Eat Animals".
On the seemingly graphic nature of some of the illustrations she says, "I don't think that there's anything in my book that a kid wouldn't see walking in a supermarket or watching TV. I didn't exaggerate anything. I wanted kids to recognize what they see in the book."
One of the book's themes is to "teach kids we don't have to fear anything that we have the power to change." Roth also wants the public to look into what she calls the truth behind the animal and agricultural industries in America. She claims, "If the American public knew about the abuse, the outrage would be directed at the industry and not this children's book."
Asked how she'd react if her daughter decided to leave veganism, Roth says "I will never try to control what she eats, in the end it's up to her. The best we can do is make sure our kids have the information [they need] to make choices. My hope was to reach people who raise kids to love deeply."
.
Click on link above to view video, take survey, and see poll results.
.CNN... . April 24th, 2012 08:00 PM ET . Are kids too young to understand... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 1 comment
-
-
Animal Acres
. Animal Acres is a lovely, inspiring farmed animal sanctuary. .-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Rescued and Restored: Blind Dog’s Story Will Touch Your Heart (VIDEO)
Truly inspiring! -- if this doesn’t cause you to shed a tear or two, and then put a smile on your face, then you have no heart...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=32718Truly inspiring! -- if this doesn’t cause you to shed a tear or two, and then... more-
- StewSteve
- added this
- 2 months ago
- |
- 3 comments
-
-
Animals Found Clinging to Life After Being Used as Bait in Dogfighting Circuit | Video
KCBS News | Los Angeles...
.
Animals Found Clinging To Life After Being Used As Bait In Dog Fighting Circuit
February 28, 2012 11:51 PM
.
VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA (CBS) —
There is a brutal trend in the illegal dog fighting circuit that sacrifices smaller animals as bait to excite the dogs before they go in the ring.
CBS2’s Mike Dinow reports on “bait animals” and how more of them are being abandoned, clinging to life, and are in need of a good home.
“The bait allows the fighting dog to taste blood and allows that dog to think it’s OK,” said Kyle Schwab, who’s been rescuing dogs for the past 20 years and bringing them to his facility, “Smash Face Rescue”, in Van Nuys.
Schwab said 1-year-old “Zeke”, who is a bait animal survivor, was recently found on the verge of death. Zeke had dozens of puncture wounds and lacerations throughout his body. His swelling was so severe it led to an infection that restricted his breathing.
“His wounds, they’re all defensive – he has no offensive wounds,” Schwab said.
Zeke is one of many animals found abandoned and badly injured after they’ve been used as bait.
Lori Brooks of Hand, Paws and Hearts Rescue said she opened her dog rescue facility in Lancaster because hundreds of bait and other animals are being abandoned in the desert every year.
“They just drive out open the door and drop them off,” Brooks said.
Experts at the Humane Society said mostly very docile dogs and cats are used as bait animals because they won’t put up a fight. Usually, the only animals to survive are other pitbulls because of their high tolerance for pain and their ability to withstand unbelievable damage.
“Sometimes, they’ll cut their face up to draw blood on their face,” said Sasha Abelson, an independent dog rescuer, of how handlers treat the bait animals.
“People will steal family pets, cats, puppies and throw them into the rings to excite the fighting dogs,” according to Abelson.
Dog experts said fighting rings are in concentrated areas throughout Los Angeles, mainly in Pacoima, Panorama City, Sylmar and Van Nuys.
Schwab said as long as the people involved in these fighting rings continue to make huge profits they will continue to conduct dog fights and use defenseless bait animals to train them.
Authorities said you can qualify for a $5,000 reward by anonymously reporting a dog fighting ring by calling (877) NO2-FITE (662-3483).
Many of these bait animals are rescued and need good homes.
To find out how you can adopt Zeke or another rescue dog e-mail smashfacerescue911@yahoo.com or handpawshearts.rescuegroups.org.
.
If you’d like to help donate towards Zeke’s surgeries go to http://leonardossurgery.chipin.com/zeke-white-bait-dog.
.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6793276
.
.KCBS News | Los Angeles... . Animals Found Clinging To Life After Being Used As... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 2 months ago
- |
- 13 comments
-
-
Where NOT To "Buy" A Dog: The Pet Store Connection to the Business of Puppy Mills
Forbes...
.
PART ONE...
.
[ EthicalVegan's comment: "BUY" a dog?!??!?! "PET"????!?!?!? ]
.
2/22/2012 @ 12:10PM
Where *Not* to Buy a Dog: The Pet Store Connection to the Business of Puppy Mills
.
So where should you buy a dog? The absolute worst place, it turns out, is a pet store.
An HBO documentary, Madonna of the Mills, exposes the fact that virtually all pet store puppies are raised in puppy mills in horrible conditions, in wire pens no bigger than a dishwasher, and the puppies are sickly with parasites and other serious issues.
In my previous posts, I talked about my experiences with Alison my shelter dog, and Tessie, my Golden Retriever that came from a high-quality breeder and about the economics of buying and owning a puppy. Today, as part of a continuing series, I present an interview with Andrew Nibley, a CEO who took off a year and a half to make this documentary about the dirty secret of the pet industry.
If you want to make sure you don’t miss future installments of this series, including an interview with training guru Ian Dunbar, please consider following me on Twitter or Facebook.
Here’s the trailer for Madonna of the Mills.
The documentary, which can be found on HBOGo.com, takes a rigorously journalistic view of this complex problem. (Nibley used to be an editor at Reuters.) It also balances an unflinching depiction of the problem with moments of hope provided by the dogs that have been rescued from the mills and the woman who rescued them. It’s an uplifting, deeply personal story that’s well worth the $15 and an hour of your time. Here’s my interview with director Andrew Nibley.
.
Allen St. John: What’s the solution to the puppy mill problem?
Andrew Nibley: Puppy mills will continue to exist as long as people buy puppy mill puppies. 99 percent of all puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills. So if people stop buying from pet stores, if people stop buying over the internet, puppy mills will dry up. It’s a question of supply and demand. If there’s no demand for these dogs, farmers will go back to growing crops or doing something else for a living.
And pet stores will go back to doing what they should be doing—selling leashes, bowls, toys, and puppy chow—and not actually selling the animals themselves. It’s pretty straightforward.
ASJ: Some states like Missouri have tried to legislate the conditions in puppy mills.
AN: I think it’s very, very hard to regulate. There have been a lot of legislative attempts, but they make small improvements and they’re almost glacial in the way they’re taking hold. You have states that say that every animal has to have an exercise plan. But there isn’t any enforcement on the back end. Or there’ll be something that says they can’t have wire flooring—that’s an improvement, but if they don’t clean the cages anyway, you’re not getting at the problem.
And frankly, I think animals should have more room to move around in than something the size of a dishwasher. USDA regulations say that the animal has to have seven inches in front of its nose and seven inches over its head and that’s not a lot of room. The farmers think of these puppies as a cash crop the same way they’d look at soybeans or corn or spinach.
ASJ: But I guess there’s another side of this, too, that the puppies from the mills are often dangerously sick when you take them home and prone to all kinds of life-threatening problems early in life.
AN: Let’s leave aside the question of whether or not you want to support puppy mills which are, in my opinion, concentration camps for the parents of pet store puppies, and just look at what you’re buying as a consumer when you buy a dog from a pet store or over the internet.
You’re getting a dog that cost $1,000 to $2,000 that cost the farmer $50 to $75 to raise. There’s 100 percent chance that puppy is going to have parasites or some kind of disease. There’s almost a 50 percent chance that dog is going to die or have a serious illness within the first year.
So you’re buying a defective product at over-inflated prices, even if you don’t care about what happens to that puppy’s parents, it’s a bad, bad deal for the consumer.
ASJ: How can you tell when an Internet breeder is really a puppy mill?
AN: When you talk to a breeder, you should say “Can I see this puppy’s parents?” If it’s a puppy mill they won’t be able to produce the parents.
If they say they’re going to fly the dog to you, there’s a pretty good chance it’s a puppy mill. Most breeders love the animals so much they will actually fly with the animal to make sure that the owners are legit. In some places it’s as hard to adopt a dog [from a quality breeder] as it is a kid. “Do you have a big enough back yard? Do you have other animals? Did you have animals in the past?” These breeders love these dogs.
ASJ: And puppy mills are really preying on our attachment to our dogs.
AN: It’s an emotional purchase. As the vet says in the movie, it’s not a washing machine or a car or a refrigerator that you can take back. You bought the puppy because you had an emotional attachment when you first met it. When you find out its sick, the last thing you want to do is take it back, you want to help it.
And that’s how people get trapped. In a pet store, you walk by and see cute, adorable puppies but you have no idea where they came from and what’s happening to their parents. That’s really why we made the movie, is to wake people up.
ASJ: Is the problem that people don’t see the connection between the pet store puppy and the horrible conditions in which it was raised?
AN: I think if you ask, 90 percent of people would say they’re against puppy mills, and then you ask them where they got their pet, they say “Oh, we got him at the pet store.” We tried to make that connection between puppy mills and pet stores and how it’s part of a multi-billion dollar business in the U.S.
.
CONTINUED...
.Forbes... . PART ONE... . [ EthicalVegan's comment: "BUY"... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 3 months ago
- |
- 5 comments
-
-
Mother Orang-utan Protects Her Baby From Gang of Bounty Hunters
NineMSN At A Glance...
.
Orang-utan protects baby from gang
AEST 11:40, Sat Jan 28 2012
3 images in this story
THIS PHOTO:
The petrified orang-utan hugs her daughter.
(All photos Four Paws/RHOI)
.
A pregnant orang-utan protectively hugs her baby as a gang of bounty hunters surround the pair, hoping to cash in on a palm plantation's reward to get rid of the animals.
Luckily for the orang-utans, an international animal rescue group arrived in time to stop the slaughter in Borneo.
The mother and daughter were captured by members of the Four Paws group and taken to a remote and safe area of the rainforest, away from people trying to kill them for cash.
"Our arrival could not have been more timely," said Dr Signe Preuschoft, a Four Paws primate expert.
.NineMSN At A Glance... . Orang-utan protects baby from gang AEST 11:40, Sat Jan... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 4 months ago
- |
- 11 comments
-
-
Fukushima's Animals Have Been Abandoned and Left to Die
CNN...
.
Fukushima's animals abandoned and left to die
.
By Kyung Lah, CNN
updated 5:48 AM EST, Thu January 26, 2012
Click link to play video
.
Animals left to die in Fukushima zone
.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Nearly a year after the quake and tsunami, animal carcasses litter the region
Animal activists call the dead animals an outrage
Environmental agency says government has tried to rescue as many as possible
It points out the risk posed to people entering the contaminated area
.
.
.
Inside Fukushima Exclusion Zone, Japan (CNN) --
When you stand in the center of Japan's exclusion zone, there is absolute silence. The exclusion zone is the 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, an area of high radiation contamination.
On March 12, the day after the quake and tsunami hit, 78,000 people were evacuated out of this area, believing they would return within a few days. As such, thousands of people left with their dogs tied up in the backyard, cats in their houses and livestock penned in barns.
Nearly a year later, animal carcasses litter the region.
Cows and pigs starved to death, their bones still in pens. Dogs dropped dead with disease. A cat skull sits on a neighborhood road.
This is perhaps an inevitable outcome to a nuclear emergency, but animal rights activists call it an outrage.
"It's shameful," says Yasunori Hoso with United Kennel Club Japan. "We kept asking the government to rescue these animals from the beginning of the disaster. There must have been a way to rescue the people and the animals at the same time following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima."
Japan's environmental agency tells CNN the government's position has been to rescue as many livestock and animals possible. But it points out that because of the risk posed to people entering the contaminated area, the government has chosen to take a prudent attitude toward animal rescue.
Last December, the government allowed animal rights groups like UKC Japan to enter the exclusion zone and rescue any surviving animals. Hoso entered with his members, carrying cages and food.
On one of those days, Hoso's group approached a house. A six-week-old female puppy lay dead in the living room in a pool of blood. It appeared to have died from disease. From the back of the house, the UKC volunteers heard weak barking. The puppy's two brothers were still alive, hiding in another part of the house. They were traumatized and afraid of the rescuers, having never been around people before. The volunteers soon rounded up their mother.
Those dogs now reside at the UKC Japan shelter near Tokyo. 250 dogs and 100 cats, all from the exclusion zone, live in cramped cages at the shelter. UKC Japan, which survives on donations, says it has tracked down 80% of the owners.
But that hasn't meant the animals can reunite with owners. Shelters and temporary apartment housing have not allowed the owners to live with their pets, Hoso said.
Unfortunately, he added, the owners can't live with their animals because they are homeless themselves.
.
.
.CNN... . Fukushima's animals abandoned and left to die . By Kyung... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 4 months ago
- |
- 5 comments
-
-
Short [Beautiful] Video on the Rescue of Edie, Who Was Almost Euthanized
.
Beautiful video story of the rescue of Edie, a dog about to be euthanized but who, instead, was given her second chance at life... a REAL life.
.
Link above doesn't work. So please take the two additional seconds to click on THIS link (below) -- it'll be worth your time!
http://www.wimp.com/neededhug/
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LqSHfkLvHk
.. Beautiful video story of the rescue of Edie, a dog about to be euthanized but... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 4 months ago
- |
- 6 comments
-
-
Our Dog Daisy: How I Saved an Abused Dog - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
This is a story about our dog. She was abused thrown out of a car that was moving. Someone saw it happen they took her to a vet. The vet helped her then sent her to the animal shelter where we adopted her. She is a great part of the family and we share a love for each other.This is a story about our dog. She was abused thrown out of a car that was moving.... more-
- thevoiceoftoday
- added this
- 5 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
29 Wolf Dogs Chained to Posts for Years Are Now in a Sanctuary
Los Angeles Times...
.
Los Padres sanctuary goes to the rescue of wolf dogs
29 animals are seized from an Anchorage attraction accused of possessing them illegally. 'It was heartbreaking to see,' one of the rescuers said.
.
PHOTO:
Matthew Simmons is greeted by one of the 29 wolf dogs rescued from a roadside attraction near Anchorage and brought to the Lockwood Valley Animal Rescue Center in the Los Padres National Forest. "Overall, they honestly seem to understand that this is a better environment than where they came from," said Simmons.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times / December 22, 2011)
.
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
December 27, 2011
.
Chained to posts on a half-acre lot, the 29 wolf dogs languished for years behind stockade fencing at a roadside attraction near Anchorage.
The wolf hybrids were unable to touch one another except when they were bred through chain-link fences. Several had sore backs and legs because they had never been able to move more than a few yards at a time.
The animals were seized by Alaskan authorities as evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation and scheduled for destruction before the Lockwood Valley Animal Rescue Center intervened. The center had the wolf dogs spayed and neutered, then transported by plane and truck to its sanctuary in the Los Padres National Forest, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles.
They arrived at the 20-acre sanctuary Dec. 12 and will live the rest of their lives unchained, in sprawling enclosures and networks of wire holding pens.
Striding toward a pen shaded by scrub oaks and pine trees, Lori Lindner, co-founder and president of the nonprofit sanctuary, introduced visitors on Thursday to members of her new "packs": a black female with dark honey-colored eyes featured in Sean Penn's 2007 film, "Into the Wild," and a large male that fathered seven of the rescued wolf dogs.
Lindner, 46, recalled with a sigh arriving at the Wolf Country USA attraction in Anchorage earlier in the month to begin preparing the animals for the long trip to California.
"It was heartbreaking to see so many of these animals on chains," she said. "Wolf dogs are products of human vanity and machismo."
The trouble is that crossing wolves, which have been bred by nature for millions of years to be wild, with dogs, which have been genetically manipulated for thousands of years to serve humans, creates a conflict of innate behaviors. As a result, they are often chained up or given away, turned loose or killed, or they escape and are shot or poisoned.
In a 2½-acre enclosure dubbed "wolf mansion," Lindner's husband, Matthew Simmons, called out to six juvenile wolf dogs that were adjusting to a measure of freedom.
"No more pain," said Simmons, 38. "They're getting along amazing well, although there have been a few tussles in which one girl pushed another girl around. But overall, they honestly seem to understand that this is a better environment than where they came from."
The Humane Society of the United States has taken a hard stand against wolf dogs as unpredictable, destructive and rarely trainable. At least 16 states ban them, and California and 20 other states have restrictions on ownership. Alaska prohibits ownership of wolves or wolf dogs unless they are spayed or neutered, fitted with microchips and registered with state authorities.
Lindner and Simmons were alerted by sanctuary accreditation officials that Wolf Country USA was under investigation, accused of illegal possession of wolf dogs. The zoo-like attraction boasted "the largest wolf pack in Alaska" and charged $5 to walk along a path close enough to the animals to take snapshots and, in certain cases, pet one.
"We flew to Alaska and met with the assistant attorney general," Simmons said. "He told us that the state had no place to keep them, and if we didn't take them he was going to dispatch state troopers to shoot them and toss them into a freezer until the court battle with Wolf Country USA was resolved."
In a telephone interview, Werner Shuster, owner of Wolf Country USA, denied that the wolf dogs had been mistreated or that he had broken the law.
"We raised them since they were pups, each one had 12 to 15 feet of space and they were the healthiest animals on the planet," said Shuster, 82. "They do better on chains. That way they don't fight, and people can pet them."
Money to take the wolf dogs to the sanctuary came from a $5,000 donation from the Humane Society and a "very, very large donation" from Bob Barker, who hosted the TV game show "The Price is Right" for 35 years, Simmons said.
Because of their histories, size, strength and often unstable temperaments, the wolf dogs need lots of care. The nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare donated $43,000 to construct nine new enclosures with 10-foot-high fencing.
The sanctuary needs $3,000 a month for maintenance and about $350 a day for raw meat, day-old products bought from local grocery stores at a discount. It is also negotiating the purchase of a nearby 180-acre property that would be devoted to dozens more rescued wolf dogs and wolves. "We need $250,000 for a down payment on the property," Simmons said.
To help reduce the costs of the operation, which already housed 20 rescued wolf dogs, the sanctuary launched Warriors and Wolves, a program designed to pair wolf dogs with combat veterans volunteering there to try to overcome physical injuries and lingering anxieties.
Stanley McDonald, 48, who was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder after he returned from the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm, is among veterans who have become full-time volunteer ranch hands at the sanctuary.
Stepping through the gate of an enclosure where three wolf dogs paced warily, McDonald said, "I see a lot of myself in these animals. Like them, I was lost and troubled until I came here. Now, there's a lot of healing going on."
.Los Angeles Times... . Los Padres sanctuary goes to the rescue of wolf dogs... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 5 months ago
- |
- 22 comments
-
-
More Than 100 Beluga Whales Trapped in Icy Arctic Waters At Risk of Death
CNN...
.
Belugas trapped in icy Arctic waters at risk of death
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 2:45 PM EST, Wed December 14, 2011
.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
More than 100 Belugas are trapped in ice flows off the Bering Sea
Unless the whales are rescued soon, they could die from suffocation or starvation
Local authorities have sought help from Moscow
.
.
Moscow (CNN) -- Prisoners in ice, more than 100 Beluga whales in far eastern Russia risk death unless rescued soon.
The flock of gentle ghost-white whales was trapped in ice floes in the Sinyavinsky Strait off the Bering Sea near the village of Yanrakynnot, said a statement from the Chukotka Autonomous Region.
Fishermen reported that the whales were concentrated in two relatively small ice holes, where, for now, they can breathe freely. But the Belugas' chance of swimming back to water is slim due to the vast fields of ice over the strait.
The whales have little food, and the ice flow is increasing, the statement said. They are at risk of rapid exhaustion and, ultimately, death by starvation or suffocation. Trapped whales are also susceptible to predators like polar bears and killer whales.
The Chukotka Autonomous Region government has sought help from federal authorities and asked for an icebreaker to help rescue the Belugas. A rescue tug, Ruby, was in the area helping a Korean cargo ship that ran aground on the southern coast of Chukotka but it would take one and a half days for it to reach the whales, the statement said.
Trapped belugas are a frequent phenomenon in the Arctic waters but are not often detected by people. In Chukotka, the last relatively successful case was recorded in 1986, when an ice-breaker helped free trapped beluga whales.
.CNN... . Belugas trapped in icy Arctic waters at risk of death By the CNN... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 6 months ago
- |
- 8 comments
-
-
Getting Gentle Control of and Help for Feral Cats
Los Angeles Times...
.
Getting a handle on feral cats
A nonprofit group in South L.A. employs a trap-and-neuter service to bring down the feline population over time.
PHOTO: Stray Cat Alliance founder Christi Metropole is shown with some feline friends.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
By Ricardo Lopez, Los Angeles Times
.
November 19, 2011
.
The 90037 ZIP Code in South Los Angeles has about 60,000 residents.
And by some estimates, almost 12,000 feral cats.
Colonies of the strays roam the alleys and backyards of these low-income neighborhoods.
L.A.'s mild weather means the cats come into season frequently, breeding like wild. Add to that residents' inability to seek veterinary care when most are struggling to make ends meet, rescue groups say.
"I can hear them right outside my window when they're fighting and mating," said Cydney Fellows, a retired high-rise window washer who lives near Vermont Avenue and 22nd Street.
Sometimes she is awakened in the middle of the night by the dozen or so cats that frequent her apartment building. "I've been living here for almost 10 years. I've never seen so many stray animals in my life."
Officials say that the city's Animal Services Department is stretched too thin to trap any cats and that when residents take them into city shelters, many are euthanized.
But one nonprofit group is hoping to decrease the number that are killed. And even more ambitiously, the Stray Cat Alliance hopes to trap and neuter at least 7,000 cats within this roughly two-square-mile area, using a grant from a private company.
"When people are struggling to put food on the table, they don't focus on feral cats," said Christi Metropole, the nonprofit's founder. "We're stepping in to fill a need. Animal Services doesn't have the budget, and residents often don't know what to do."
The group's strategy is simple: trap, neuter and return the cat to the spot where it was captured.
This method, Metropole said, results in zero population growth. Eventually, as cats die, the population will dwindle through natural attrition. The cats that remain lead healthier lives and don't fight as much because they've been neutered, she said.
In recent weeks, Metropole's volunteers have begun canvassing the neighborhood, educating residents and encouraging them to help trap cats. On Saturday, there will be a small rally to officially launch the capture effort, dubbed "I Spayed LA."
Carol Brookshire's home, directly west of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, is the ZIP Code's "trap depot."
"My yard was overrun with cats and kittens, some diseased," Brookshire said. She remembers the band of cats that occupied her avocado tree-lined backyard when she moved here six years ago.
Now they're all neutered, and she has volunteered her home to be the headquarters for nighttime trapping missions.
In her garage, she demonstrates how the steel crate traps work. She admits it takes a bit of finesse to trap. Location and bait are important. Foods with strong scents, like sardines and rotisserie chicken, do the best job of luring cats from their hiding spots.
After a quick surgery at the nearby Animal Rescue Center, a nonprofit animal hospital, the trapped felines are returned to their homes within a couple of days.
Opened in January, the hospital offers low-cost medical services for residents' pets and partnering rescue groups. Some of the cats are put up for adoption if deemed suitable.
During a drive around the area, Metropole pointed out the handful of strays roaming the sidewalks along Exposition Boulevard. She remains undaunted by the sheer number of cats she wants to trap and neuter, instead mulling over future efforts.
"We just want to be able to move on to the next ZIP Code," she said.
.Los Angeles Times... . Getting a handle on feral cats A nonprofit group in... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 6 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Dramatic Rescue of Mother and Baby Elephant | Sinking Elephants Pulled from Mud
CNN...
.
Dramatic rescue of mother and baby elephant
By Dominique van Heerden, CNN
updated 4:20 PM EST, Thu November 10, 2011
.
(CNN) -- Most conservationists would agree that you should not interfere with mother nature. But there are exceptions to every rule.
Staff and tourists at Kapani Safari Lodge in Zambia were caught by surprise when a mother and baby elephant became trapped in mud.
Saying they couldn't just "stand by and watch them slowly die," what ensued was a dramatic rescue.
Together with the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) and the local wildlife authority, the team devised a plan to get the elephants out. The rest of the herd initially tried to help the screaming mother and baby escape, but they were stuck too deep.
Team managers from the conservation society slipped a rope around the baby and after a few attempts managed to pull her out of the muddy pit. The team says it took a lot of coaxing to get her out and on her feet though, adding that she "was terribly frightened and wouldn't leave her mum's side".
Getting the adult elephant out of the mud was a far more challenging task -- by the time the baby had been rescued, its mother was dehydrated and exhausted. But the SLCS team eventually pulled her out too, using a tractor and rope.
Staff at Kapani Lodge say it was "heart-warming to see how many local people joined in the efforts to free the two elephants... it was the happiest possible ending."
.CNN... . Dramatic rescue of mother and baby elephant By Dominique van... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 7 months ago
- |
- 21 comments
-
-
-
San Francisco Considering Banning the Sale of ALL "Pets"
Los Angeles Times...
San Francisco considers banning the sale of all pets
The proposal started with dogs and cats, expanded to birds and hamsters, and now includes any animal that walks, flies, swims, crawls or slithers — unless you plan to eat it.
.
By Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times
June 26, 2011, 6:29 p.m.
Reporting from San Francisco—
The first vision was simple and straightforward: To curtail puppy mills and kitten factories, the sale of cats and dogs should be banned in San Francisco, where the loving guardians of animal companions come to regular blows — politically — with the loving parents of children.
The ban was put on hold last year after animal advocates broadened it to include anything with fur or feathers. Now it's back, with a new name and a new strategy: More is more. The Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal is on its way to the Board of Supervisors, and it hopes to protect everything from Great Danes to goldfish.
Yes, goldfish. And guppies, gobies, gouramies, glowlight tetras, German blue rams. No fish, no fowl, no reptiles, no amphibians, no cats, no dogs, no gerbils, no rats. If it flies, crawls, runs, swims or slithers, you would not be able to buy it in the city named for the patron saint of animals.
Representatives of the $45-billion to $50-billion-a-year pet industry call the San Francisco proposal "by far the most radical ban we've seen" nationwide and argue that it would force small operators to close. Animal activists say it will save small but important lives, along with taxpayer money, and end needless suffering.
"Why fish? Why not fish?" said Philip Gerrie, a member of the city's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare and a coauthor of the proposal. "From Descartes on up, in the Western mindset, fish and other nonhuman animals don't have feelings, they don't have emotions, we can do whatever we want to them. If we considered them living beings, we would deal with them differently.… Our culture sanctions this, treating them as commodities and expendable."
The commission voted earlier this month to send a proposal to the Board of Supervisors recommending a ban on the sale of all pets in the city to shore up the adoption of unwanted creatures from shelters and rescue organizations. Commissioners are now looking for a supervisor or two to sponsor such an ordinance.
Snake food was almost exempt from the proposal. After all, pythons have to eat, and they like their lunch alive. But at a heated meeting, Commissioner Pam Hemphill questioned how it could be humane to sell live animals to be fed to other live animals.
"If a snake is caught with a rodent in a box, the rodent can scratch its eye and cause an infection," said Hemphill, who noted that reptiles on display at the California Academy of Sciences eat dead, frozen prey. "The snake can't escape, and the rodent might be stuck for one or two days in the box with the snake because the snake's not hungry right then.
"So it doesn't seem very humane to me," she continued. "And if the frozen [food] works, then I think the killing of the animals to be food is probably more humane."
It is legal in San Francisco to sell live animals for eventual human consumption, and the proposed ban would not stop markets from selling live fish, poultry, turtles or seafood for that purpose.
Rebecca Katz, director of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, said her agency supports a ban on pet sales — particularly one that includes the so-called smalls, such as hamsters, which are euthanized at her city shelter at a higher percentage than any other domesticated animal. Although she did not advocate for the inclusion of fish, she is not against it.
"We're the agency that receives the old, filthy fish bowl with the goldfish at risk and have to determine whether we can make them healthy and adopt them out or flush them down the toilet," Katz said. "These are the lucky ones. Most people just flush them themselves."
Jennifer Scarlett, a veterinarian and co-president of the San Francisco SPCA, notes that only a handful of stores in San Francisco sell animals of any kind and that the effect of a ban would be largely symbolic. But she said that symbolism, and the conversation that it raises, is critical in improving the lives of millions of helpless creatures.
"For us as an organization, we've identified the larger problem of online purchasing of dogs, and we hope this is an avenue to get to that," she said. Still, when it comes to birds and fish, "there's a lot of cruelty around where they are sourced from. We see the cruelty."
But Jonathan Ito finds the proposal to be far more than symbolic. To the owner of Animal Connection — who has sold fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, rats, mice and hamsters for a generation — the ban is a threat to his livelihood.
"It would put us out of business and our employees out of work," said Ito, who believes there is "no cause and effect" to the proposal.
Pet stores, he said, do not cause overcrowding at the shelters. They do not promote impulse buys of small, cute creatures that will later be tossed aside by bored children. And they work hard to educate prospective pet owners.
"The animal-rights activists are trying to drive a wedge any way they can in order to get a foothold on changing the ownership of animals," Ito said. "They don't believe they should be bred. They don't believe people are responsible to care for them.… They are about eliminating animals as pets."
.
PHOTO: Jonathan Ito is the owner of Animal Connection in the Sunset District. The city's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare voted earlier this month to send a proposal to the Board of Supervisors recommending a ban on the sale of all pets in the city to shore up the adoption of unwanted creatures from shelters and rescue organizations. (David Butow, For The Times / June 22, 2011)Los Angeles Times... San Francisco considers banning the sale of all pets The... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 11 months ago
- |
- 3 comments
-
-
Vote to Help Your Favorite Shelter Win $15,000
There is, unfortunately, no shortage of homeless pets in the U.S. By now, we know the importance of supporting shelters and rescue groups whose efforts are critical in providing the care, attention and second chances these animals desperately need as they wait to find forever homes.
Thankfully there are also many shelter workers and rescuers who are in the trenches dedicating their time and resources to save animals and educate people about the importance of adoption and spaying and neutering.
Now, you can do more to help animals in your community by voting for your favorite shelter in America’s Favorite Animal Shelter Contest to help them win up to $15,000. The second place charity will receive $7,000 and third place will receive $3,000.
http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/There is, unfortunately, no shortage of homeless pets in the U.S. By now, we know the... more-
- Radical_Centrist
- added this
- 1 year ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
5 Smart[ass] Answers to 5 Dumb[ass] Questions About Veganism
From The Veganomaly...
5 Smart[ass] Answers to 5 Dumb[ass] Questions About Veganism
13 May 2011
PART ONE...
This is the first installment of ’5 Smart[ass] Answers to 5 Dumb[ass] Questions About Veganism’, a Q&A written by me and my partner Joseph (vegan for 22 years!) in the hopes of offering some catharsis to vegans everywhere, as well as practical answers to those often loaded questions that can come out of nowhere and leave you unsure of what to say. And because the people asking them tend to either be genuinely curious or openly antagonistic, we’ve created separate responses for each. The ‘Smart’ answers are designed for the well-intentioned omnivore, while the ‘Smart-Ass‘ answers are reserved for the pseudo-curious interrogator who really only wants to get under your skin.
This will be a regular feature on my blog, and here’s the exciting part– YOU can send in any question/comment you want addressed. Got an uncle who likes hunting and insists on rubbing it in your face? How about a coworker who stares at your quinoa salad like you’re from a different planet? Or what about the 100′s of good-hearted people who seem to ask the same dumb-ass questions over and over again? Send them to us! We’ll do our best to craft a clever response and hopefully make you laugh while we’re at it! Just fill out the form at the bottom of this post, with the question or comment you want answered.
-
Question One: Where do you get your protein?
The Smart Answer: Lots of places! Whole grains, legumes, nuts, tofu, soy milk, hummus, falafels, veggie burgers, bean burritos, pad thai – just to name a few. It shouldn’t be that surprising to learn that plants offer up lots of protein; if they’re good enough for big, strong herbivores like gorillas, elephants and rhinos, why wouldn’t they be good enough for us?
The Smart-Ass Answer: Where do you get your nutritional propaganda? Kwashiorkor, also known as protein deficiency, is all but non-existent in the developed world; it’s unlikely you’ll ever meet anyone who has suffered from it, vegetarians and vegans included. The real issue at hand is where YOU get YOUR protein, as it’s most likely from the body of a sick, suffering animal raised for the sole purpose of selling cheap, unhealthy food.
-
Question Two: But I’ve been to family farms and seen animals that have a pretty good life. What’s wrong with that?
The Smart Answer: I don’t blame you for thinking that the farms you’ve seen are fair to the animals while reflecting an industry norm. After all, the animal foods industry spends tens of millions of dollars a year trying to convince you that modern animal farms are happy-go-lucky places where kind, old farmers attend to their animals’ every need. The sad reality is that 99% of the animals raised for food in this country are raised in factory farms, most confined their entire lives to tiny cages or stalls where the vast majority of their most basic needs (comfort, freedom of movement, foraging, socialization, access to fresh air and sunlight, and so on) are never met.
People want cheap animal products from healthy, happy animals, but few realize that the two are mutually exclusive. Over 10 billion animals are killed and eaten each year in North America; numbers like that simply cannot be sustained without treating animals like machines. That is why at the end of the day, it’s not really the meat or milk or eggs that need to be marketed, but the myth about how they were produced. This is why it is relatively common to be offered a free tour of a ‘friendly’ farm showcasing a handful of ‘happy’ animals, but completely impossible to get a tour of a factory farm. The industry doesn’t want you to know the truth, because the truth would bankrupt them.
The Smart-Ass Answer: People said the same thing about human slavery. That didn’t make it right, and the fact that some farmers are ‘nice’ enough to give their animals food and room to walk around doesn’t make their exploitation right, either. The bottom line is that in 99% of all cases, farmed animals are raised for the sole purpose of marketing their flesh, milk, eggs, skin or hair at a profit, and if anything gets in the way of that (vet bills, high quality food, spacious housing), it will always be the animals who suffer. That is why even on the most ‘humane’ farms, practices like castration, dehorning and tail-docking are performed without anaesthetic; unwanted baby males are discarded or butchered; unproductive (read: not productive enough) animals are sent to slaughter; and so on.
If it was really about the animals’ comfort and wellbeing, the animals we’ve selectively bred to maximize productivity (at the expense of their physical and emotional health) would cease to be bred (read: artificially inseminated), and those that remained would be allowed to live out the rest of their lives in peace at places like Farm Sanctuary. Anything less than this is exploitation and abuse in the name of profit, pure and simple.
CONTINUED...From The Veganomaly... 5 Smart[ass] Answers to 5 Dumb[ass] Questions About... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 1 year ago
- |
- 17 comments
-
-
Japan launches massive search
Japan to launch massive search for quake bodies
By SHINO YUASA, AP
4 hours ago
TOKYO — Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month's earthquake and tsunami, the military said.
Agriculture officials also plan to send a team of veterinarians into the evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant to check on hundreds of thousands of abandoned cows, pigs and chickens, many of which are believed to have died of starvation and neglect. The government is considering euthanizing some of the dying animals, officials said.
About 14,300 people have been confirmed dead so far in the catastrophic March 11 tsunami and earthquake. Another 12,000 remain missing and are presumed killed. Some of their bodies were likely swept out to sea, while others were buried under the mass of rubble.
Cleanup crews have discovered some remains as they gingerly removed rotting debris to clear the area for rebuilding.
But the two-day military search operation will be far more extensive, Defense Ministry spokesman Ippo Maeyama said Sunday.
"We will do our utmost to recover bodies for bereaved families," he said.
A total of 24,800 soldiers will scour the rubble, backed by 90 helicopters and planes, he said. Another 50 boats, along with 100 navy divers, will search the waters up to 20 kilometers off the coast, he said. Police, coast guard and U.S. troops will also take part.
"It's been very difficult and challenging to find bodies because the areas hit by tsunami are so widespread," he said. "Many bodies also have been swept away by the tsunami."
The operation will be the third intensive military search for bodies since the disaster last month. With the waters receding, Maeyama hopes the teams will have more success.
The search was complicated by the decomposition of some of the corpses, he said. Some had already turned into skeletons.
"You have to be very careful in touching the bodies because they quickly disintegrate. We cannot tell the bodies' gender anymore, let alone their age," he said.
The searches will continue, however, "as long as families want us to look for their loved ones," Maeyama said.
Meanwhile, the government in the Fukushima prefecture will send a team of six veterinarians into the 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation zone around the radiation-leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to survey the livestock there.
Farmers in the area were estimated to have left 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens behind when they hurriedly fled the area last month when the nuclear crisis started.
With no time for burials, veterinarians who find dead livestock will spray lime over them to prevent them from spreading disease, agricultural officials said.
The government is also considering euthanizing dying animals, but only after getting permission from their owners, said Yutaka Kashimura, an agricultural official in Fukushima.
"Killing animals is the very last resort," he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewriJapan to launch massive search for quake bodies By SHINO YUASA, AP 4 hours ago... more-
- sue4e3
- added this
- 1 year ago
- |
- 8 comments
-
-
Animal Rescue Groups Racing to Help Japan's Abandoned and Lost or Orphaned Animals
Welfare groups race to rescue Japan's abandoned animals
By Mark Tutton for CNN
March 17, 2011 9:29 a.m. EDTTwo women walk in a tsunami devastated street in Hishonomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 15, 2011.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
World Vets group assisting animal rescue efforts in Japan
Many people leaving the country are leaving their pets behind
Japanese animal welfare groups trying to house abandoned pets
Fears that Japan's animal shelters will be overwhelmed
(CNN) -- While rescue workers continue to search for human survivors in the rubble of buildings destroyed by Japan's earthquake and tsunami, animal welfare groups are leading efforts to rescue Japan's animals.
Isabella Gallaon-Aoki of Animal Garden Niigata is currently in Sendai, a coastal city badly damaged by the tsunami.
"The animals are dying by the day," she said.
"It's cold here, they have no food. Dogs in Japan can be tied up, especially in rural areas, and the dogs who are tied have no chance of foraging for food or anything so I'm sure they're in a pretty desperate condition."
But Gallaon-Aoki says efforts to rescue animals in the region have so far been hindered by a severe fuel shortage and damage to roads, which has made it difficult to access coastal areas.
"So far we've seen the very worst areas where there is basically nothing -- I mean everything has been completely wiped out, there's no sign of life at all, it was total destruction," she said.
"What we're going to do from now on is go out to the areas where we think animals have been left and we're hoping there's a chance we can find some alive."
Animal Garden Niigata is being assisted by a volunteer veterinarian from U.S. organization World Vets.
World Vets CEO Cathy King said: "It's probably going to be a few days before there's going to be a lot of serious animal rescue going on inside the main disaster zone because access is so restricted, and obviously the focus right now is on finding any people that might be there.
There are a lot of people -- especially foreigners -- fleeing the country and leaving their animals behind.
--Cathy King CEO, World Vets
"But one of the really big issues is that there are a lot of people -- especially foreigners -- fleeing the country and leaving their animals behind.
"Shelters are getting calls from people saying 'I'm on my way to the airport, I'm leaving, I have four dogs left in my apartment and my neighbor has the key.'
"The urgent thing right now is taking care of those animals."
David Wybenga, an American living in Japan, is the director of Japan Cat Network, based in Shiga Prefecture, about 550 kilometers south-west of Sendai.
His group has joined forces with Animal Garden Niigata and animal welfare group HEART-Tokushima to form Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support.
Wybenga agreed that the biggest challenge at this stage is helping animals left behind by those escaping the disaster.
He said: "What has emerged is that people in less affected areas are deciding to leave those areas: some embassies have decided to call back their nationals, some international schools have decided to close, some educational programs have said, 'this is enough let's bring you all back.'
"Suddenly they have to leave and depending on the country you have to go to there are procedures for traveling with a cat or dog, and if you're leaving suddenly you're probably not ready -- you don't have the necessary papers.
We will do our best to take their pets and hopefully to reunite them with them when they return.
--David Wybenga, director, Japan Cat Network
"We are trying to reach out to those kinds of folks and we will do our best to take their pets and hopefully to reunite them with them when they return, but that's going to be something with a lot of unknowns."
King said World Vets has previous experience helping animals after natural disasters, including working in Haiti after its earthquake last year, and in the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
She said one problem that emerged after Katrina was that because pets were rescued by different groups and taken to different locations, their owners were often unable to trace them, meaning the animals had to be adopted.
It's a scenario King wants to avoid in Japan. She said a priority would be to set up a centralized database of rescued animals, containing information about where and when they were found and where they were taken.
She added that World Vets has four teams of four volunteers -- veterinarians, translators and animal workers with experience of natural disasters -- on standby, ready to fly to Japan once it has identified where their expertise is most needed and will be most effective.
King believes that in the weeks to come their efforts will include helping agricultural animals as well as pets, a situation that will strain the resources of Japanese animal welfare groups.
"Really the biggest issue is that these shelters are all going to be totally overwhelmed with animals," said King.
"The groups have areas for sheltering animals but they're already filling up. They've reached out to us -- they need some kind of warehouse or prefabricated buildings or enclosures where they can start housing animals in individual cages -- so we're trying to help them with finding that."
She added: "Pets are very meaningful to people in Japan. People love their dogs and cats there -- a lot of people have pets that are part of the family."Welfare groups race to rescue Japan's abandoned animals By Mark Tutton for CNN... more-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
- 1 year ago
- |
- 3 comments
-
-
6 Things Oprah Viewers Should Know About Veganism
Catskill Animal Sanctuary Director and Huffington Post Blogger Kathy Stevens shares a few practical tips about veganism with Oprah viewers taking the vegan challenge.
Originally posted at: http://casanctuary.org/2011/02/6-things-oprah-viewers-should-know-about-veganism/
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m excited about the attention that Oprah’s Tuesday show is bringing to veganism, a lifestyle to which I’m passionately committed. And I’m equally excited to do my part to support anyone eager to consider making this life-affirming, health-affirming, planet-saving change! So here, in no particular order, are six things you need to know about veganism.
1. Help is everywhere you turn! There’s a whole web-based world eager to THANK YOU and to hold your hand on this exciting journey! If you’re inclined to begin at the beginning and learn what we’re doing to the animals, I heartily recommend these books: Eating Animals, Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, and The Food Revolution. There are countless others. Do your own google search. Rather watch a film? Try: Death on a Factory Farm, Glass Walls, or Earthlings. Want to bypass the suffering and instead see cows, pigs, and chickens (and a host of other critters) for who they truly are? Check out my books: Where the Blind Horse Sings and the newly-released Animal Camp: Lessons in Love and Hope From Rescued Farm Animals. Don’t think it’s possible to love a pig? You’ve got some surprises coming!
2. You CAN treat your tastebuds! At least once a month for the last dozen years, my dad calls and asks, “Whatcha havin’ for dinner tonight? Sticks and leaves?” Folks: let’s dispel the myth that veggie cuisine is bland!! For general info and advice about nutrition, try the Vegetarian Resource Group, Savvy Vegetarian, VegSource, or The North American Vegetarian Society. To bypass the BS and get right down to cookin’, try these recipe databases: VegWeb, International Vegetarian Union, and VegFamily. Finally, check the Catskill Animal Sanctuary website, for regular updates from Chef Kevin Archer, director of Compassionate Cuisine. Far as we know, Catskill Animal Sanctuary is the only sanctuary in the world to offer a vegan cooking program. Join us, either onsite or via podcast, coming in February!
3. You can date without committing! Not sure you’re ready to strip the fridge bare? There’s nothing wrong with dating before you commit. Try choosing vegetarian restaurants to discover how varied and delicious veggie diets can be! Happy Cow is a database of vegan, vegetarian, and veg-friendly restaurants around the world. Just plug in your city or zip code and the distance radius you wish to search. If you’re a New Yorker, you’ll love SuperVegan’s “The Amazing Instant New York City Vegan Restaurant Finder“.
My advice? Choose the vegetarian and vegan restaurants rather those that have “vegan options.” You’ll find that restaurants truly committed to the lifestyle offer far more inventive, satisfying meals. Go ahead: tantalize your tastebuds!! Check out the menus from my favorite local restaurants: Garden Café in Woodstock, Luna 61 in Tivoli, and Karma Road in New Paltz.
4. A word of caution: Vegan does not equal healthy. There’s a lot of processed vegan CRAP out there filled with ingredients I can’t pronounce (and I ain’t stupid!). If you want to use this opportunity to take charge of your health, focus on simple, whole foods. Want some great advice? Grab a copy of my pal Kris Carr‘s just-released, New York Times-bestselling Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It!
5. A new, better you awaits! I may not know you, but I know this about you: you’re a good person who values kindness, and who likely works hard to ensure that your actions embody this highly-cherished value. Just for a moment, let in the uncomfortable notion that every time you eat an animal, you’re subjecting an innocent sentient being–an animal who, when you get right down to it, is very much like us in ways that count–to a level of suffering you wouldn’t wish upon a child molester or rapist. Acknowledge your role in the suffering, and when you choose to go vegan, celebrate your choice to honor not only the animals, but also, and most importantly, yourself, for in embracing veganism, you’ll be aligning your lifestyle with the values you prize most deeply. And that feels good.
6. It’s okay to stumble. Let’s face it: change is challenging! Even vegan poster girl Alicia Silverstone has stumbled a few times – and that ‘s OK!! As someone who took several years to go vegan, I know what the resistance is about: habit, convenience, concern about family members’ reactions, lack of knowledge about what else to cook. If you decide to take the plunge, or even just to dip your toe in the water, be prepared to encounter resistance, even if it’s just from, well, your own noggin. Be kind to yourself in your heroic effort to be kind to all beings and to the fragile planet we inhabit..
The vegan train’s pullin’ out of the station people! Grab a seat for the ride of your life, and be sure to tell us about your journey.Catskill Animal Sanctuary Director and Huffington Post Blogger Kathy Stevens shares a... more-
- markandphil
- added this
- 1 year ago
- |
- 3 comments
-
