tagged w/ Compassion
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This is a little dog game I play with my elder statesman of canine frisbee, the Good Boy Blue, age 13. I think he likes the attention, treats and love!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMwmdG4w2dMThis is a little dog game I play with my elder statesman of canine frisbee, the Good... more
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Los Angeles Times...
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Tucson zoo fight involves elephants, Bob Barker
January 18, 2012 | 3:52 pm
PHOTO:
Elephant herd at San Diego Zoo's Safari Park
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Connie is an Asian elephant, Shaba an African one. Nonetheless, they formed a bond, paling around together for three decades at Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo.
So when zoo officials announced plans last year to move Connie to the San Diego Zoo –- without her buddy Shaba -– animal activists were enraged.
The Tucson zoo was planning to bring in a herd of African elephants from San Diego, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Because zoo accreditation standards demand that new herds not mix African and Asian elephants, "due to multiple species differences and possible disease transmission issues," Connie would join other Asian elephants in San Diego.
But local activists Tracy Toland and Jessica Shuman considered the separation cruel. It “defies everything we know about elephants: their intelligence, profoundly deep social bonds (females remain with their mothers for life) and the capacity for deep emotion,” they wrote in the Daily Star.
The women launched a campaign to keep Connie, 44, and Shaba, 31, together and added some celebrity sizzle to the debate. At their behest, former “Price Is Right” host and well-known animal advocate Bob Barker recently offered to contribute $500,000 to send the elephants to a California sanctuary if others could raise matching funds.
This week, Tucson zoo officials reversed course, announcing that Connie and Shaba could both move to San Diego, the Daily Star said. Turns out, San Diego’s Asian elephant herd already has an African member, so Connie and Shaba’s cross-species kinship will fit right in.
.Los Angeles Times...
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Tucson zoo fight involves elephants, Bob Barker
January... more
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http://current.com/groups/animal-rights-veganism
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This is an extension of the group "Veganism" (which I'm hoping to be able to delete fairly soon), because I'm finding it's really necessary to make the distinction that, if you think you truly love ALL animals, and support their rights, veganism (as a lifestyle) is a huge part of the solution for sentient beings.
And not to worry -- if you're not a vegan, come in and learn a bit. It won't hurt. Just be open-minded... we all are learning. I wasn't always a vegan. I wasn't always a vegetarian. I used to eat animals and, much of the time, didn't even really think about it. The food on our plates doesn't even LOOK like the animals who once lived.
The main feel of this is always going to be about animals, animals, animals... along with their rights.
Please switch over to this group. Feel free to submit anything and everything that relates to our animal friends... or anything else that can help other humans become aware of the equality our voiceless friends deserve to share with us humble human animals.
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http://current.com/groups/animal-rights-veganism
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http://veryveryfun.com/pics/Baby-animal-love-story/Baby-animal-love-story-2.jpg
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http://current.com/groups/animal-rights-veganism
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This is an extension... more
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ButterballAbuse.com...
Mercy For Animals....
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Butterball has become synonymous with turkey. But how do the millions of turkeys who end up in the grocery store, or served at restaurants, under the Butterball brand, really live and die?
A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation reveals the truth: extreme cruelty and violence is the harsh reality for birds on Butterball's factory farms.
Between November and December of 2011, an MFA undercover investigator documented a pattern of shocking abuse and neglect at a Butterball turkey semen collection facility in Shannon, North Carolina.
Hidden-camera footage taken at Butterball reveals:
Workers violently kicking and stomping on birds, dragging them by their fragile wings and necks, and maliciously throwing turkeys onto the ground or into transport trucks in full view of company management;
Employees bashing in the heads of live birds with metal bars, leaving many to slowly suffer and die from their injuries;
Turkeys covered in flies, living in their own waste, with some unable to access food or water and suffering from severe feather loss
Birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, rotting eyes, and broken bones; and
Severely injured turkeys, unable to stand up or walk, left to die without any veterinary care, because treating sick or injured birds was too costly and time consuming, as the farm manager explained to MFA's investigator.
After viewing the undercover footage, Dr. Sara Shields, research scientist, poultry specialist and consultant in animal welfare, said, "Turkeys are fully capable of feeling pain, fear, stress and of suffering, and the way they are treated in the video is clearly abusive."
Dr. Debra Teachout, a practicing veterinarian with experience in farmed-animal welfare, agrees, stating, "The birds are not living a life remotely worth living. Their world is full of fear, distress, pain, injury and illness as witnessed by this video. A culture of blatant and severe animal mistreatment has been allowed to flourish unchecked, and for that reason, this facility should be shut down immediately."
Following the investigation, MFA immediately went to law enforcement with extensive video footage and a detailed legal complaint outlining the routine violence and cruelty documented by the investigator at this Butterball facility. On Thursday, December 29, state law enforcement officials obtained a warrant and raided the facility on grounds of cruelty to animals.
Unfortunately, the lives of turkeys in Butterball's factory farms are short, brutal and filled with fear, violence and prolonged suffering. While wild turkeys are sleek, agile and able to fly, Butterball's turkeys have been selectively bred to grow so large, so quickly, that many of them suffer from painful bone defects, hip joint lesions, crippling foot and leg deformities, and fatal heart attacks.
This genetic manipulation creates birds that are so large they cannot even reproduce naturally, meaning that artificial semen collection and insemination have become the sole means of turkey reproduction at Butterball facilities.
Even though domestic turkeys have been genetically manipulated for enormous growth, these birds still retain their gentle, inquisitive and social natures. Oregon State University poultry scientist Dr. Tom Savage says that turkeys are "smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings." In fact, animal behaviorists, veterinarians, and scientists now agree that turkeys are sensitive and intelligent animals with their own unique personalities, much like the dogs and cats we all know and love.
While MFA works to expose and end animal abuse at Butterball and other giants of the meat, dairy and egg industry, consumers can help prevent the needless suffering of turkeys and other animals by adopting a compassionate vegan diet.
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http://a.abcnews.com/images/Blotter/ht_butterball_abuse_tk_111228_wg.jpg
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Click here to view undercover video:
http://www.butterballabuse.com
.ButterballAbuse.com...
Mercy For Animals....
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Butterball has become... more
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CNN...
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Texas doctors to operate on girl burned in U.S. drone strike
By Moni Basu, CNN
updated 11:42 PM EST, Wed December 21, 2011
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PHOTO: Shakira, 4, is believed to have been burned in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2009.
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(CNN) -- She has eyelashes but no eyebrows. She has all her fingers but is missing four nails. Her skin is so taut now that she can no longer frown.
But she can still smile.
Her face tells a story of suffering. Her name, Shakira, tells a story of a new journey.
Shakira means thankful.
Last week, 4-year-old Shakira arrived in the United States for what her caretaker, Hashmat Effendi, hopes will be the start of the rest of her life.
Shakira, believed burned in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan, will undergo reconstructive surgery in January.
She will never look fully normal, but Effendi hopes the surgery will make it easier for Shakira to grow older and help others see what Effendi has seen all along: an effervescent bundle of love.
In 2009, Effendi was on a medical mission with Texas-based House of Charity in Pakistan's Swat Valley. The region's natural beauty was once compared to Switzerland's, but by then it was a Taliban-infested area rife with violence.
One of the doctors found three little girls left in a trash bin. They'd suffered horrific injuries.
"Who are they?" the doctor asked.
Nobody knew.
Where were their parents? Where were they from?
All anyone could say is that there had been a U.S. drone attack. The girls were likely hurt in the strike.
Drone strike victim treated in Texas
The doctor, who was traveling with House of Charity, took them back with him. They were in grave condition. Two of the girls died, but the littlest one had a chance of making it if she were treated right away.
She was only a year old, Effendi guessed, but small for her age. She was skinny. Dirty. Very bloody. She had fresh burns all over her face, her scalp and on her arms.
Effendi began searching for the little girl's family. She needed their consent before doctors operated on her. But when no one stepped forward, doctors proceeded anyway to treat the burns. Otherwise, they would have to amputate her arm. Otherwise, she might not survive.
Effendi named her Shakira.
"Life," she said, "was a gift for her."
Effendi continued to look for relatives, even scattered posters of Shakira everywhere and solicited the help of the Pakistani army and a government official. But still, no one claimed her.
Shakira was finally taken to Shalimar Hospital in Lahore, where she spent the next three years in a charity ward. Until last week.
Effendi was finally able to bring Shakira back to Houston, where Effendi lives.
When the Qatar Airways flight landed, Shakira turned to Effendi, whom she calls Mummy.
"Are we in America?" she asked.
"Yes," Effendi replied.
Shakira put her hands together and clapped.
On the plane, Shakira had learned to count from 1 to 27 in English. It was a good start, Effendi thought.
House of Charity has helped thousands of children with congenital birth defects or those who have been disfigured in war, but Shakira was special.
Effendi raised three sons, who are grown. Her house once again filled with the mirth of a youngster.
"She's like my tail," Effendi said. "She follows me around all day."
She took Shakira to McDonald's. Shakira gobbled up chicken nuggets. She learned that in America, chips were called French fries and tomato sauce was ketchup.
Effendi was ironing her clothes Tuesday when Shakira ran up to her.
"Mummy, do you love me?" she asked. "How much?"
"This much," Effendi said, gesturing.
Shakira ran into the bathroom, stood in front of the mirror and started screaming.
It was then that Effendi realized Shakira was overwhelmed.
She had gone that day to meet her doctor, Robert McCauley, at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston. He volunteered to do the reconstructive surgery.
Shakira arrived in a turquoise striped dress, black leggings and white lacy socks. She wore beads around her neck and a big pink ring that House of Charity volunteer Larry Maxwell gave her. She called him "Nana," the Urdu word for grandfather.
At the hospital, Shakira touched McCauley's coat buttons; the nurse's stethoscope. She referred to McCauley as her doctor and understood as best a child could that he was trying to make her well.
"It's not easy and it's not a single-day procedure," McCauley said about the surgery. He will start January 16 with her right hand.
He will never be able to give her eyebrows or restore the missing nails on four of her fingers. Sometimes, when Shakira eats spicy food, her flesh feels raw and irritated. She will have to always be careful about that.
He will never be able to fix the severe discoloration on her forehead. But he hopes to reconstruct her nose, fix her eyes.
Shakira took it all in stride at the hospital. But it was that sense of belonging and being loved that was alien for her, Effendi realized. It was overwhelming.
"She needs security," Effendi said. "Yesterday was a very emotional day for her."
Effendi had been working with children for 25 years. But Shakira was teaching her new things.
Effendi hopes Shakira will be adopted by a family in the United States. It would be unfair, she said, to send Shakira back to Pakistan. She has no one there.
For now, Shakira will adjust to life in America in Effendi's home.
Effendi may never know where Shakira came from or who claimed her as a daughter.
But she knows she was able to give Shakira new life -- and a name that could not have been more fitting.
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.CNN...
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Texas doctors to operate on girl burned in U.S. drone strike
By Moni... more
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Ryan Keith, President of Forgotten Voices, wins a prestigious award for his efforts to help children orphaned by AIDS in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Check out this great video highlight from the award ceremony:
http://youtu.be/okviJQSvZeERyan Keith, President of Forgotten Voices, wins a prestigious award for his efforts to... more
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Los Angeles Times...
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L.A. fires animal shelter worker over his euthanization practices
Civil Service Commission says the technician failed to sedate the dogs he was trying to euthanize, brought dogs into a room with other dead animals and inserted euthanizing needles into jugular veins.
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PHOTO: Volunteers exercise two shelter dogs Tuesday at the West Valley Animal Shelter. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times / December 13, 2011)
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By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times
December 14, 2011
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A veterinary technician at a Los Angeles city animal shelter was fired last week after officials found that he had subjected dogs to inhumane treatment while euthanizing them.
Manuel Boado, 64, was discharged by the city's Civil Service Commission, which concluded that he failed to sedate the dogs he was trying to euthanize, brought dogs into a room with other dead animals and inserted euthanizing needles into jugular veins — a practice officials say was not permitted.
With allegations reminiscent of a Stephen King novel, case records open a rare window into the most unpleasant task carried out by the Animal Services Department — killing animals that have no owner when its shelters run out of room.
One shelter worker testified during the termination proceedings that she heard Boado tell a dog to "just die already," according to a report submitted to the commission. A second worker said he walked into Boado's work area and found two dead dogs on the floor and a third half-covered in blood.
A third employee, animal care technician Carolina Martinez, said she became sick to her stomach working alongside Boado, where animals were "struggling, shaking and urinating." She said she had to temporarily leave the room at the West Valley shelter in Chatsworth.
"By trying to jab them with the needle, he was causing them to bleed a lot," said the report prepared for the commission. "Martinez said she had never seen so much blood before or witnessed anyone do what [Boado] did to the animals."
By failing to provide sedation, putting live animals next to dead ones and yelling, Boado needlessly created a "fear factor" among animals being euthanized, said Brenda Barnette, the department's general manager who recommended his firing.
"It is totally unconscionable to add an element of fear if you're about to take an animal's life away," she said.
Terry Porvin, Boado's lawyer, denied that his client treated animals cruelly and said he had, in fact, taken several ailing dogs from hospitals into his home. Porvin also contended that his client, who earned about $58,000 annually, never received proper training from the department in how to euthanize the animals.
Boado, who was hired in 2007, brought dogs into a room with other dead animals because the refrigerator used to store animal carcasses had been broken "for some time," Porvin said. Had Boado opened it, it would have emitted a foul stench — a situation that would have made his work more difficult, the lawyer said.
"Out of sheer frustration from the totality of the circumstances, he probably blurted out something he shouldn't have," Porvin said.
The firing comes at a time of turmoil for the department. Barnette's agency is investigating whether employees stole dogs at a Lincoln Heights animal shelter and sold them for a profit. In recent months, the department also placed five employees on leave during a probe into allegations of time card fraud.
Barnette said she did not consider referring Boado's case to the district attorney's office for prosecution, focusing exclusively on removing him from her department. Nevertheless, the department added a line in its protocol manual barring veterinarians from inserting needles with sodium pentobarbital, the chemical used for euthanization, in the jugular vein of dogs and cats. Barnette said that she believed the manual already made the prohibition clear but that the new language makes the ban explicit.
Officials with the Pasadena Humane Society said needles they use during euthanasia are injected into a dog or cat's front leg — a practice they described as more humane than jugular injections. Shelters run by Los Angeles County rarely use the jugular, officials said.
To euthanize animals in an L.A. facility, Boado had to show he had a certification from the state of California showing he is a registered veterinary technician, personnel officials said Tuesday. Boado told a hearing officer that he had used the jugular vein as much as half the time and had learned the practice during a non-city training session.
But Doug Fakkema, the veterinarian Boado said provided the training, told city officials he never would have advised Boado or anyone else to use the jugular vein on healthy dogs and cats. Such a procedure should be used only in "extreme circumstances," he said. In an email to The Times, Fakkema said an injection into the jugular vein can be used for livestock but is "more likely to cause pain" for a dog or cat than injection into a vein in the leg.
Barnette sought Boado's termination, but last month a city hearing officer found that penalty to be "too extreme."
Hearing officer Stephen Biersmith recommended that Boado be reinstated and only have his pay docked, saying the department had not consistently enforced policies for its employees. He also argued that Boado had not intentionally violated the rules.
The Civil Service Commission reviewed the case and voted unanimously for termination.
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.Los Angeles Times...
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L.A. fires animal shelter worker over his euthanization... more
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Justice for Dog Whose Face Was Blown Off By Fireworks!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/441/petition-for-the-dog-whose-face-was-torn-off-after-people-put-a-lit-firework-in-his-mouth-and-later/
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Please sign the petition -- these two ugly humans need to be punished.
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care2 petitionsite
Justice for Dog Whose Face Was Blown Off By Fireworks!
Justice for Dog Whose Face Was Blown Off By Fireworks!
signatures: 90,724
deadline: ongoing
signature goal: 100,000
Target: Federal Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sponsored by: International workers for animal rights
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Please share Vucko's story on Facebook.
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SARAJEVO -- Two intoxicated youths duct-taped a firework in a German shepherd's mouth and blew off his face. But the torture didn't stop there. The poor dog, known as Vucko, wandered for five days, unable to eat and with maggots infecting the meaty pulp of his ruined face. Vucko was finally picked up by authorities and euthanized after vets were unable to perform reconstructive surgery.
Click on the link in the story if you can bear viewing EXTREMELY GRAPHIC footage of Vucko being examined by vets. Notice the firework's shell casing still embedded in the dog's head.
We must bring the animal abusers to justice and ensure that this inhumanity is never repeated; sadly, animal welfare laws are practically nonexistent in much of Eastern Europe. Sign this petition urging Bosnian authorities to hunt down the guilty parties, expose the severity of animal abuse, and create proper legislation that will protect animals. Don't let Vucko die in vain!
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Pas Vucko je uzasno stradao kad neki su zalepili vatromet za usta od psa I zapalili to. Od explozije je pas tesko bijo ranjen u lici. 5 dana se vrtio u ulice od Sarajevo dok su ga nasli. Na zalost nista nije se moglo ucinit da se ga spasi i Vucka se trebalo eutanizirat. Te ljude koji su ucinili tu uzast bi trebalo da se osudi.
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.Justice for Dog Whose Face Was Blown Off By Fireworks!... more
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CBS News US...
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December 6, 2011 4:38 PM
Kittens discarded in cat food bag rescued by dog
By
Michelle Castillo
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PHOTO: Reagan, the dog who saved the day by rescuing two kittens from a discarded cat food bag (WHOTV)
(CBS News)
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Two kittens who were thrown mercilessly into a a bag and then dumped in the middle of the road are now available for adoption from and Iowa rescue group But if it weren't for the heroic actions of dog named Regan, they probably would not have survived.
WHOTV reports that the two kittens, named Tipper and Skipper, were sealed in a Meow Mix bag with the rest of the litter, and then left in the street. The bag had been run over by a vehicle, killing some of the kittens and making it difficult to tell exactly how many cats were inside. Somehow, Tipper and Skipper survived. "It was not a pretty sight," Linda Blakely from Iowa's Raccoon Valley Animal Sanctuary said.
That's when Reagan stepped in. He grabbed the bag, and carried it home. He didn't stop whining until his owner opened the bag. Covered in the blood and remains of the kittens who were killed, she found two seriously injured survivors.
"The instinct of the dog was to nurture and not kill the kittens. With all the blood some dogs would have responded to the scent. Reagan the dog is a hero," Blakely said.
Tipper and Skipper were traumatized and weak from the experience, and had to be fed with a bottle every two hours. They have recovered, and are now available for adoption. Blakely believed their their survival is proof that there is always a way to make things right, and wanted to remind pet owners that there's always a safe method to finding a new home for pets if you are unable to take care of them.
.CBS News US...
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December 6, 2011 4:38 PM
Kittens discarded in cat food... more
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The system isn't working for the 1% either. You know if you were a CEO, you would be making the same choices they do. The institutions have their own logic. Life is pretty bleak at the top too - and all the baubles of the rich are this phoney compensation for the loss of what's really important. The loss of community, the loss of connection, the loss of intimacy. The loss of meaning.
http://veracitystew.com/2011/11/23/occupy-wall-street-the-revolution-is-love-video/The system isn't working for the 1% either. You know if you were a CEO, you would... more
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Los Angeles Times...
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In plea deal, youth gets 21 years for killing gay teen
Brandon McInerney avoids a retrial by pleading guilty to shooting Larry King. The jury deadlocked in the first trial, with some saying prosecutors were being too harsh in trying him as an adult.
Photo: Brandon McInerney, who was 14 when he shot Larry King, was sentenced to 21 years in prison. (Lawrence K. Ho, Los Angeles Times / February 13, 2008)
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By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times
November 21, 2011, 8:59 p.m.
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A teenager who fatally shot a gay classmate in the back of the head during an Oxnard middle school computer lab will spend 21 years in prison under a plea deal reached Monday, closing the books on a case that drew international headlines and ignited debate on how schools should handle sexual identity issues.
Brandon McInerney, who was 14 when he pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot Larry King two times at point-blank range, will be kept behind bars until he is 38 under the terms of the deal struck by Ventura County prosecutors.
In an unusual arrangement, the 17-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree and voluntary manslaughter. In return, prosecutors agreed not to go forward with a second trial, which could have resulted in a life sentence.
The family of the victim, Larry King, broke their silence on the case outside court Monday, saying that they supported the sentence but believed school officials hold deep responsibility for what happened.
"Larry had a complicated life, but he did not deserve to be murdered," said the youth's father, Greg King.
McInerney's first trial ended in a hung jury in early September, with jurors torn between murder and manslaughter. Some jurors said they believed the district attorney's office was being overly harsh in trying McInerney as an adult and several showed up Monday wearing "Save Brandon" bracelets.
Greg King said he was satisfied by the deal reached with his son's killer, given the "unpredictability of juries."
"Twenty-one years is a long time" King said. "At the end of the day, this is something we can live with."
McInerney shot King in a school computer lab at E.O Green Junior High in Oxnard in February 2008, after days of conflict between the boys. Students and teachers at the trial testified that King had been dressing in women's accessories and wearing makeup, and was flirting aggressively with male students on campus who did not want the attention.
School administrators sent a memo advising teachers to give King his space, but to report safety problems. Teachers at the trial testified that when they tried to report growing tensions between King and several boys, school leaders shunned them.
The victim's mother, Dawn King, revealed for the first time Monday that she had contacted school officials four days before the shooting in an effort to solicit their cooperation in toning down her son's behavior. The boy had been taken from the Kings' home two months earlier by authorities because of problems at home.
She said she was told that her son had a civil right to explore his sexual identity.
"I knew, gut instinct, that something serious was going to happen," she said. "They should have contained him, contained his behavior."
Prosecutors said the first trial showed that the case was too emotional to take to trial a second time.
"The first jury was unable to keep their emotions out of it," Ventura County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Frawley said. "This really tugged powerfully at people's hearts,"
During the first trial, prosecutors portrayed McInerney as a budding white supremacist who hated homosexuals and was enraged by King's sexuality and aggressive flirtations. Jurors rejected that contention and the hate crime allegation was dropped when prosecutors announced last month that they would retry McInerney.
Defense lawyers argued that McInerney was the product of a violent and dysfunctional home and had reached an emotional breaking point in response to King's advances. At Monday's hearing, McInenery's family left the courtroom without comment after the plea agreement was announced.
McInerney's mother, Kendra, sobbed loudly as her son, clad in a dark blue jail jumpsuit, answered "guilty" to the two charges — one of the few times he has spoken in the courtroom.
Scott Wippert and Robyn Bramson said their client is mentally preparing himself for state prison. He will be transferred to a state facility in January, when he turns 18. Though he will spend many years behind bars, Brandon McInerney is grateful that he will one day be free, his attorney said.
"Now he has a date he can circle on his calendar," Wippert said.
After the first trial, gay-rights advocates were largely silent. After Monday's announcement, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which offers on-campus support for gay and lesbian students, said the plea bargain shows McInerney is being held accountable for his actions.
Bramson said she hopes the case has raised awareness that parents and school administrators need to be involved and aware of what is happening with their children at school. In this case, all of the adults failed, she said.
"This was so preventable and it shouldn't ever happen again," she said.
.Los Angeles Times...
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In plea deal, youth gets 21 years for killing gay teen... more
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The 20th day of October 2011 was one of the darkest days in Chinese society. The whole country witnessed, with our heart full of tears, the death of a little 2 years old girl, named Yue Yue. She was the victim of the most horrible incident anyone could ever experience. This innocent little girl was run over by a truck twice, then ignored by 18 bystanders while laying on the floor, and run over again by another passing truck.
People are afraid to help a fellow citizen in trouble because by getting involved, they take the risk of it costing them money. It is also not uncommon for some people in China to rob a good samaritan trying to help.
It is terrifying to see how all aspects of life and society, in China, revolve around money. Making money, getting money from others, and saving money.
In a society with no religious values, poor social training, and an even poorer sense of community or civic values, how irresponsible pursuit of wealth is turning people's compassion, humanity, morals and values into materialism, selfishness, and lack of values to the point of criminality. Which matters most? Is one the result of the other?
I must warn you, the video is very disturbing.
http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/videos/2-year-old-chinese-girl-ran-over-by-van-ignored-by-18-bystanders.htmlThe 20th day of October 2011 was one of the darkest days in Chinese society. The whole... more
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We are Spiritual Beings, partaking on a journey through Earth. The Ego is a creation of the mind in the Physical sense that it can help you create your reality on Earth. However it has no spiritual knowledge to what the Creator has in store for you. The ego is apart of your physical body, not your Spirit.The Spirit is your direct connection to the Source Energy and all that is, and yet to be, that is God. The Spirit has the divine knowledge through the Source Energy of God and possesses the Understanding to empower you with the wisdom to reflect the Creator in his creation you! The Spirit is permanent therefore it is real on more planes then one.We are Spiritual Beings, partaking on a journey through Earth. The Ego is a creation... more
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mab001
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5 months ago
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CNN...
I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian
By Penn Jillette, Special to CNN
August 16, 2011 4:24 p.m. EDT
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Penn Jillette: I'm an atheist and libertarian because there are many things I don't know
Jillette says it's a sign of compassion to help those who are suffering
He says relying on the government to make others give is immoral and lazy
"You get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right," Jillette says
Penn Jillette on atheism and religion
I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone.
--Penn Jillette
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Editor's note: Penn Jillette, a writer, television host and frequent guest on a wide range of shows, is half of the Emmy Award-winning magic duo Penn & Teller. He's the author of a new book,"God, No! Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales," He will appear Tuesday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" at 9 p.m. ET.
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(CNN) -- I try to claim that I was friends with the genius Richard Feynman. He came to our show a few times and was very complimentary, and I had dinner with him a couple times, and we chatted on the phone several times. I'd call him to get quick tutoring on physics so I could pretend to read his books.
No matter how much I want to brag, it's overstating it to call him a friend. I would never have called him to help me move a couch. I did, however, call him once to ask how we could score some liquid nitrogen for a Letterman spot we wanted to do. He was the only physicist I knew at the time. He explained patiently that he didn't know. He was a theoretical physicist and I needed a hands-on guy, but he'd try to find one for me.
About a half-hour later a physics teacher from a community college in Brooklyn called me and said, "I don't know what kind of practical joke this is, but a Nobel Prize-winning scientist just called me here at the community college, gave me this number, and told me to call Penn of Penn & Teller to help with a Letterman appearance."
I guess that's close to a friend.
My friend Richard Feynman said, "I don't know." I heard him say it several times. He said it just like Harold, the mentally handicapped dishwasher I worked with when I was a young man making minimum wage at Famous Bill's Restaurant in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
"I don't know" is not an apology. There's no shame. It's a simple statement of fact. When Richard Feynman didn't know, he often worked harder than anyone else to find out, but while he didn't know, he said, "I don't know."
I like to think I fit in somewhere between my friends Harold and Richard. I don't know. I try to remember to say "I don't know" just the way they both did, as a simple statement of fact. It doesn't always work, but I try.
Last week I was interviewed for Piers Morgan's show (which used to be Larry King's show). Piers beat me up a bit for being an atheist (that's his job) and then beat me up a bit for being a libertarian (also his job). He did this by asking me impossible questions, questions that none of us, Harold, Richard, me, (or Piers), could ever answer.
He started with "How did you get here?" and I started talking about my road to showbiz and atheism and he interrupted and said he meant how the universe was created. I said, "I don't know."
He said, "God," an answer that meant Piers didn't know either, but he had a word for it that was supposed to make me feel left out of his enlightened club.
Then he asked me what we could do to help poor people. I said I donated money, food, medical care, and services and he said, "No," he meant, what could society do to solve the problem of poor people. Again, I was stumped.
He said the government had to do it, which I interpreted as another way of saying he didn't know, but he thought that made me look mean ... even though I do care and do try to help.
What makes me libertarian is what makes me an atheist -- I don't know. If I don't know, I don't believe. I don't know exactly how we got here, and I don't think anyone else does, either. We have some of the pieces of the puzzle and we'll get more, but I'm not going to use faith to fill in the gaps. I'm not going to believe things that TV hosts state without proof. I'll wait for real evidence and then I'll believe.
And I don't think anyone really knows how to help everyone. I don't even know what's best for me. Take my uncertainty about what's best for me and multiply that by every combination of the over 300 million people in the United States and I have no idea what the government should do.
President Obama sure looks and acts way smarter than me, but no one is 2 to the 300 millionth power times smarter than me. No one is even 2 to the 300 millionth times smarter than a squirrel. I sure don't know what to do about an AA+ rating and if we should live beyond our means and about compromise and sacrifice. I have no idea. I'm scared to death of being in debt. I was a street juggler and carny trash -- I couldn't get my debt limit raised, I couldn't even get a debt limit -- my only choice was to live within my means. That's all I understand from my experience, and that's not much.
It's amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.
People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we're compassionate we'll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.
People try to argue that government isn't really force. You believe that? Try not paying your taxes. (This is only a thought experiment -- suggesting on CNN.com that someone not pay his or her taxes is probably a federal offense, and I'm a nut, but I'm not crazy.). When they come to get you for not paying your taxes, try not going to court. Guns will be drawn. Government is force -- literally, not figuratively.
I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone. The fact that the majority thinks they have a way to get something good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that don't want to pay for it. If you have to use a gun, I don't believe you really know jack. Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid.
How did we get here and how do we save everyone? I don't know, but I'm doing the best I can. Sorry Piers, that's all I got.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Penn Jillette.CNN...
I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian
By Penn Jillette,... more
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August 9th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
Should bullfighting be banned?
By Stephanie Garlow, GlobalPost
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First Catalonia outlawed bullfighting, which the Economist likened it to a German state banning wurst or a French region condemning berets.
Now Peru's minister of culture has said the sport is "terrible" and that it causes excessive suffering for the animals.
So is bullfighting on the way out? Is it a "tradition of tragedy," as PETA claims, that kills 250,000 bulls annually?
Activists who gathered in Lima last week to protest the mistreatment of bulls would seem to agree. "Bullfighting promotes violence, torture and cruelty to animals for no reason," William Soberon, of the Anti-Bullfighting Front of Peru, told La Republica. "We're not in the colonial era."
Peru's newly appointed minister of culture, Susana Baca, said she felt sorry for the animals and that she cried when she once attended a cockfight. "I've never been to a bullfight but from the little I've seen in the media, I know it's terrible and I had to close my eyes," she said on the program "Buenos Dias, Peru."
But protests against bullfighting are nothing new in Peru. And comments by Baca that she would analyze the practice during her tenure quickly sparked controversy.
Bullfighter Fernando Roca Rey told La Republica that bullfighting should be seen as a cultural event and that "the minister can give her opinion, but that cannot be applied to the whole country." Bullfighting celebrations have been held in Peru since 1766 and the Plaza de Toros de Acho bullring is the oldest in the Americas and second-oldest in the world, reports AFP.
And the Spanish government recently dealt a blow to efforts to outlaw the sport when it ruled that bullfighting is an "artistic discipline and cultural product." The country's Ministry of Culture will now be responsible for the "development and protection" of bullfighting, a move that supporters hope is a step toward protecting the tradition from further regional bans.
Bullfighting is also practiced in Portugal and the south of France and is widespread in Latin America. Mexico City's Plaza Mexico arena is the biggest in the world with seats for up to 55,000.
And while public opinion might be swinging away from bullfighting — a poll last year for El Pais found 60 percent of Spaniards did not enjoy bullfighting — the sport still has big-name supporters. Peruvian novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa campaigned to convince UNESCO to classify bullfighting as part of Spain's national heritage.
And in novelist Ernest Hemingway, the sport found one of its most enduring voices of support. The art of the bullfighting, Hemingway wrote in "Death in the Afternoon," "is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honor."
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August 9th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
Should bullfighting be banned?... more
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VEGANISM: A TRUTH WHOSE TIME HAS COME
............Our Next Evolutionary Step.....
July 23, 2011
A True Story: Co-Existing with Free-Living Animals
Photo: Golden Rees with a rather sane reaction to our deer friend!
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Once upon a time, I lived a magical reality. I literally lived for months on end, year after year for two decades, in a magical spot located in a national forest; at 8,000 ft. elevation. I lived there with human vegan friends and with nonhuman herbivore friends. This forest did not have bears, wolves, snakes, and rarely were humans seen. Interestingly, there were hardly any carnivores in this magical reality. I did meet a coyote once and introduced him to our little ‘Magic’; our canine friend who ate a vegan diet. I lived with hummingbirds, rabbits, porcupines, wild turkeys, voles, chipmunks, and ground squirrels that ate seeds from our hands. I lived with deer that rested contently nearby in my campsite. They were friends and came when I called them over for some lovin’ or organic produce. After many years, we were able to pet them. I protected them during hunting season. Coping with the hunting season became the hardest part of living in the national forest. It brought me to my knees; broken-hearted and devasted.
I lived with cows and bulls that roamed the forest. The land was leased out to “cattle” ranchers. The first time I heard a bull’s bellow echoing down the meadows, I about keeled over in fear. But I soon realized however fierce they looked or sounded, that they would not hurt me. They’re herbivores. We co-existed on the long alpine and forested meadows. A cow could drink a five gallon bucket of water at a time; when we were generous enough to offer (we had to truck the water in from a spring an hour away.) We both enjoyed finding a spot to spend some time amongst the white barked Aspens and the sweet smelling bark of the Ponderosa Pine. Some of the things we shared in common were that we were both a part of the animal kingdom. We both breath air and have similar body parts and systems. We both liked living in peace away from humanity, above the world, under the big blue sky. We both wanted animal to be free.
The only scary animal I ever came into contact with for over two decades was the human animals. Only the human animals did things that made me feel uncomfortable. In the end, I was literally forced out of the forest by a substantial forest fire. I made it out just in time! It was a fire started by humans. According to a female forest ranger present at the time, it could have easily been put out – it was just one tree. But “forest management” decided to let it go (for the benefit of the forest!) They made the wrong choice. A strong wind came and spread the fire through the woods. I visited once after the fire was put out. The white barked Aspens were now black stumps. My forest friends and I were driven out by the one species of animal that ruined everything. The human animal is the only one that I ever had any problems with while living two decades in a forest filled with many species.
,VEGANISM: A TRUTH WHOSE TIME HAS COME
............Our Next Evolutionary Step........ more
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Watch a whale jump for joy after being freed from a net
by Jess Zimmerman
21 Jul 2011 1:23 PM
It's worth watching a guy scramble around in a Speedo to see this boatload of conservationists save a humpback whale caught in a net. If you don't want to sit through tense ... net-cutting, though, you can skip ahead to about 5:30 and watch the newly freed whale repeatedly leaping into the air in what looks like a show of joy and gratitude.
.Watch a whale jump for joy after being freed from a net
by Jess Zimmerman
21... more
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U.N. declares famine in southern Somalia
By Robyn Dixon | 2:19 p.m.
To declare a famine, child malnutrition must be at 30% or higher, daily deaths at two per 10,000 people and people are not able to access food and other basic necessities.
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U.N. declares famine in southern Somalia
Famine, a highly technical term, means that the rate of child malnutrition and deaths in two areas of southern Somalia, a country riven by fighting and drought, has risen. Agencies appeal for aid.
PHOTO: Eleven-month-old Abdifatah Hassan, suffering from severe malnutrition, is cared for at a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders at a camp housing Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. The United Nations officially declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia, saying child malnutrition rates exceed 30% and as many as six children age 5 or younger are dying daily. The region is suffering its worst drought in 60 years and tens of thousands are feared dead.
(Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images / July 4, 2011)
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times
July 20, 2011, 2:19 p.m.
Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa—
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For months, people have been trudging out of the desert, leaving their dead children behind and carrying those who have managed to survive. On Wednesday, the horror of hunger and death unfolding in the Horn of Africa officially got a name: famine.
It's actually a very technical term — unless you're one of those walking for weeks in a last-ditch hope to save your family.
For the United Nations to declare a famine, as it did at a news conference in Nairobi, child malnutrition must be at 30% or higher, daily deaths at two per 10,000 people and people are not able to access food and other basic necessities.
According to Unicef, the U.N. agency that focuses on children, the rate of child malnutrition rate in southern Somalia has doubled in a single month; in some places it has reached 55% and infant deaths have increased to six per day.
Yet the global response has been dismal. An appeal late last year for $535 million to address the need is still more than $250 million short. Officials hope the famine declaration will help focus global attention on the Horn of Africa.
Across the country, about 3.7 million people, half the population, are facing starvation, with an estimated 2.8 million of them in the south. The agency says another 6.3 million in other countries in the Horn of Africa affected by hunger.
It's the worst African hunger crisis in 20 years, according the Rozanne Chorlton, Unicef's representative on Somalia. The last time things were this dire in Africa was 1991. Then, as now, it was in Somalia.
The U.N. famine declaration Wednesday formally covered two regions of southern Somalia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, where farmers' crops failed and their livestock died. Malnutrition rates exceed 30% and more than six children age 5 or younger are dying daily in some areas. But in coming months, neighboring regions will inevitably fall into famine too, said Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.
U.N. and non-governmental agencies are appealing for $300 million in the next two months to increase their operations in the worst-hit areas.
If it seems extraordinary that millions of Africans can be facing starvation in 2011, despite the focus of a raft of humanitarian agencies and their early-warning networks, it is, Bowden said.
Part of the problem is that many donors had written off Somalia as too hard, he said in a telephone interview. Aid agencies must grapple with a long-running civil conflict and Somalia's extremist Shabab militia, which controls much of the south, where the worst hunger is.
"We have good warning systems, but we don't always listen to them, particularly if we put some countries in the too-difficult-to-deal-with basket," Bowden said.
Two decades with no government and the failure of successive efforts to restore peace have left donors cynical. The country's global reputation for piracy and mayhem have done it no favors.
The 1991 Somalia famine occurred after civil war destroyed agriculture and clan warlords hijacked humanitarian aid, leading to the U.S.-led Operation Restore Hope. That resulted in bloody fighting with militias in Mogadishu portrayed in the book and film "Black Hawk Down."
But Bowden, who recently met Somali refugees walking to Ethiopia, said the problem today was mainly one of successive drought, compounded by global warming.
"They are victims of drought. They are also victims of climate change. They're people who have lost everything after years of successive drought."
The situation is complicated by the Shabab, which in the past has imposed informal taxes on humanitarian agencies, limited their access, and demanded they send female staff home. The World Food Program withdrew early last year from areas controlled by the Shabab because of security threats and unacceptable working conditions. It recently announced it would resume it work there if conditions allowed.
Aid agencies have been negotiating access with local leaders, but security remains uncertain.
"We need predictability," Unicef's Chorlton said in a telephone interview. "The important thing is that those who are there [in Somalia] should be able to act unhindered to deliver the services to children and families that are so desperately needed."
Unicef has doubled its food, health and water programs in Somalia, she said.
"Somalis have always helped each other to cope in times of crisis, and they have been incredibly resilient over the years. I think what has not been quantified is that people's resistance has been so undermined over the last year, it's no longer adequate to the task," she said. "The issue is now we need donors to massively increase their contribution."
.U.N. declares famine in southern Somalia
By Robyn Dixon | 2:19 p.m.
To declare... more
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Orphaned in quake, forgotten in Japan
The Japanese government still doesn't have an accurate count of the number of children orphaned in the March earthquake and tsunami. Adding to their woes, a group helping the children says people have stopped calling to offer
VIDEOOrphaned in quake, forgotten in Japan
The Japanese government still... more
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Europe's first vegan supermarket opens in Dortmund
Photo: Forget beer and bratwurst, Dortmund now houses Europe's only all-vegan supermarket. Offering chocolates, fake tuna and even dog food, the store is hoping to cash in on a small but rapidly growing market.
Renowned for its mining industry and blue-collar attitude, Dortmund is an unlikely choice for Europe's first vegan supermarket.
"If someone opens a supermarket that has no animal products in them, that seems crazy," said animal ethicist and store owner Ralf Kalkowski. "But people are celebrating."
Vegilicious, which opened on February 26, occupies over 100 square meters in the city-centre, technically making it the only vegan supermarket in Europe.
Using soy, spices, and oils to supplement traditional animal-based ingredients, the shelves are stacked with over 1500 products. Vegilicious offers chocolate bars, cereals, and even meat imitations, like fake chicken wings, which use cane sugar sticks to serve as 'bones.'
"People say they can't live without cheese, but we've got 30 different cheese alternatives," said Kalkowski, who co-owns Vegilicious with wife Kim. "You can have anything you think you might be missing, so there's no need to eat animal products anymore."
Starting with a café and online shop, the Kalkowski's and their 16 staff have so far maintained a customer flow of 120-150 people per day. They have even managed to attract non-human clients, selling vegan dog- and cat food.
"It's ridiculous if you rescue one animal, but feed them with another dead animal," he said.
Chickens are often artificially inseminated to produce large quantities of eggsWhat is veganism?
Vegans abstain from foods containing any animal products, including egg, honey and milk. This differs from vegetarians, who only renounce meat.
"Vegans believe animals should be left alone, it's not just about avoiding cruelty", said Amanda Baker, from the Vegan Society UK. "If animals are farmed, you have to take away their freedom."
Baker told Deutsche Welle that many male animals are killed at birth because they cannot reproduce, while females are exploited for artificial breeding, which dramatically decreases their life expectancy.
"For example, the dairy industry and the meat industry are the same industry. You can't separate one from the other," she said.
Aside from animal ethics, some turn to veganism to stem environmental problems. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector is responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, as well as being a major cause of deforestation and water pollution.
Veganism can also reap health benefits, as high meat consumption has been linked to cardio-vascular diseases, which are responsible for 49% of European deaths annually.
Kalkowski explained that many older customers have shopped at Vegilicious for health reasons as his products are cholesterol free.
Veganism has been stigmatized as expensive and excessive and vegans are often regarded as extremists for going beyond vegetarianism, according to Kalkowski, who laments the reactions of some meat-eaters to the opening of Vegilicious.
He said that when his supermarket was first mentioned in the press, the paper was forced to remove online comments inciting a pro-meat flash mob before his store.
He thinks these prejudices are based on myths, of which the biggest is the assumption that a meatless diet deprives the body of vital nutrients.
"You can get all necessary nutrients from a plant based diet, except for vitamin B12," Kalkowski explained, "and that's one thing we supplement with a product from the UK."
Importing products from the UK, US and even Australia is common, but a significant portion of vegan merchandise is produced locally, according to Germany's biggest Vegan Wholesaler, AVE.
AVE owner Tobias Graf believes veganism's popularity is expanding, not least because his business is booming.
"In the last few years a lot of new products were established, produced and discovered," he said. "We've personally grown year by year, 100% for the past three years."
It is not only vegans who are catching onto the craze, "No, I'm not vegan," one Vegilicious shopper explained. "I have never tried real vegan food. I think it's good so I can now try."
Ralf Kalkowski hopes his supermarket will entice more people to buy animal-free food, but the question remains - how do vegan products truly taste?
"It even tastes better," he said, "because you have a good conscience."
Author: Hannah Wandel
Editor: Nathan WitkopEurope's first vegan supermarket opens in Dortmund
Photo: Forget beer and... more
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