tagged w/ humane education
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Getting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any white-knuckled cocaine experience hands down. And that's exactly what happened to some lucky sheep in a new study that tested the effects of Tasers on meth-addled targets.
Funded in part by Taser International, the study aimed to test whether Taser devices have caused heart-related problems or death in meth-addled suspects. So there's at least some scientific reasoning behind all the apparent madness. Growing abuse of methamphetamines has led to arrest-related deaths in situations where law enforcement officers used their Tasers on drug-intoxicated suspects. The latest study was designed to test whether electronic control devices (e.g. Tasers) can lead to dangerous cardiac responses in meth-intoxicated humans, with sheep standing in for people.
The less-lethal device of choice was the Taser X26, a standard law enforcement tool which can fire at suspects from a distance of 35 feet. Researchers shocked sixteen anesthetized sheep after dosing the animals with an IV drip of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Some of the smaller sheep weighing less than 70.5 pounds suffered exacerbated heart symptoms related to meth use. But neither the smaller nor larger sheep showed signs of the ventricular fibrillation condition, a highly abnormal heart rhythm that can become fatal.
The study that appears in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine openly lists a few caveats. Aside from being partially funded by Taser International, the study authors include two physicians who represent medical consultants and stockholders of the company. One of the two is also the medical director of Taser International.
Still, Taser has an understandable interest in assessing the safety of its less-lethal devices in these types of extreme conditions. Taser devices have evolved into a wide-ranging family that includes Taser shotgun cartridges that fire from a 12-gauge shotgun at up to 100 feet. The company has also teamed up with the Pentagon to develop shock cartridges for a grenade launcher.
Taser has even had its employees put themselves on the firing line to vouch for the safety of its products.
Certainly police would rather have less-lethal options for tricky situations involving meth. We can all probably agree that less Taser use is better, but that they are certainly preferable to more lethal methods of subduing criminals in certain situations. Outraged animal rights activists, however, can begin writing their letters of protest now.
http://io9.com/5516248/in-safety-study-sheep-on-meth-are-shocked-with-tasersGetting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any... more
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Adopting a vegetarian diet based around meat substitutes such as tofu can cause more damage to the environment, according to a new study
It has often been claimed that avoiding red meat is beneficial to the environment, because it lowers emissions and less land is used to produce alternatives.
But a study by Cranfield University, commissioned by WWF, the environmental group, found a substantial number of meat substitutes – such as soy, chickpeas and lentils – were more harmful to the environment because they were imported into Britain from overseas.
The study concluded: "A switch from beef and milk to highly refined livestock product analogues such as tofu could actually increase the quantity of arable land needed to supply the UK."
The results showed that the amount of foreign land required to produce the substitute products – and the potential destruction of forests to make way for farmland – outweighed the negatives of rearing beef and lamb in the UK.
An increase in vegetarianism could result in the collapse of British farming, the study warned, causing meat production to move overseas where there may be less legal protection of forests and uncultivated land.
Meat substitutes were also found to be highly processed, often requiring large amounts of energy to produce. The study recognised that the environmental merits of vegetarianism depended largely on which types of foods were consumed as an alternative to meat.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7219223/Becoming-vegetarian-can-harm-the-environment.htmlAdopting a vegetarian diet based around meat substitutes such as tofu can cause more... more
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A zoo in China is facing criticism for allowing visitors to participate in an unlikely form of entertainment: They can pay to see tigers feed on a live animal.
The incredible moment at Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, China was captured by a tourist who said visitors can choose from a menu what they’d like to see the ferocious beasts eat. He witnessed chickens served as appetizers to the tigers (at a cost of $5.50), followed by a live cow (at a cost of $205)–dumped from a truck–and pounced on immediately. “It was dragged to the ground within seconds,” he told The Sun. And tourists relished in the attraction–taking photos and watching with binoculars from a bus nearby.
http://www.tabloidprodigy.com/?p=10233A zoo in China is facing criticism for allowing visitors to participate in an unlikely... more
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Too bad the cartoon itself is so lame, but the message is very, VERY strong.
This girl, "Braceface," visits a meat-packing plant!
Part OneToo bad the cartoon itself is so lame, but the message is very, VERY strong.
This... more
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New Yorker writer Michael Specter, on his first visit to a chicken farm:
"I was almost knocked to the ground by the overpowering smell of feces and ammonia. My eyes burned and so did my lungs, and I could neither see nor breathe….There must have been thirty thousand chickens sitting silently on the floor in front of me. They didn’t move, didn’t cluck. They were almost like statues of chickens, living in nearly total darkness, and they would spend every minute of their six-week lives that way."New Yorker writer Michael Specter, on his first visit to a chicken farm:
"I... more
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Read on by clicking on the link, please.
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One of the things that I hear frequently is that educating people, particularly strangers, about veganism, is difficult.
On the contrary, our everyday interactions with people provide us with many opportunities to discuss veganism. This essay will discuss a couple of examples. I will discuss more examples in future essays.
For example, in January of this year, I had to take Robert, one of our dogs, to see a specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School. There was a woman—I will refer to her as “Jane” for purposes of this essay but that was not her real name—sitting with me in the waiting area. Jane had a greyhound with her. And, as always happens when two humans are in such a place with their nonhuman companions, we got to talking about what health problems had brought us to Penn. And that led to how Jane had adopted her dog from a rescue group and how our dog was found living under an abandoned car.
After a minute or two of discussing how horrible the greyhound racing industry is, I told Jane that I used to teach at the University of Pennsylvania many years ago, and that Penn was notorious for the horrible experiments, testing, and “educational” procedures that it performed on dogs and other nonhumans. She said that she had heard about Penn’s animal experiments and I mentioned how strange it was that one part of the building was devoted to the application of veterinary medicine to help the animals who were loved by humans and another part of the building was devoted to torturing nonhumans who were not members of anyone’s family. Jane made the point that it really made no sense that we treat some dogs or cats as family members and we treat some dogs and cats as “research tools.”
“How true,” I said. “But in many ways, we’re all just like these Penn vets. We treat some animals as family members and we harm others.”
She look bewildered. “What do you mean? I would never hurt a dog or cat.” I moved the conversation away from dogs and cats and starting talking about cows, pigs, and chickens, and how they are really no different from dogs and cats. There is something very strange about the fact that we regard some nonhumans as family members, as beings whom we love and whose personhood we recognize, while, at the same time, we stick forks into other animals who are no different—morally or empirically—from those whom we love.
Jane was silent for a moment and then asked, “are you a vegetarian?”
“I’m a vegan,” I replied.
“You mean you don’t even drink milk?” she asked.
“That’s right. I don’t eat eggs, or any dairy products.”
“I can understand not eating meat. But what’s wrong with dairy and eggs?”
“Everything. The animals used in the dairy or egg industry are kept alive longer than most of their ‘meat’ counterparts, are treated worse, and end up in the same horrible slaughterhouse.”
Jane looked troubled.
“But isn’t it really hard to be a vegan?” she asked.
“Absolutely not,” I replied. “It’s unbelievably easy and it’s better for you and for the planet, in addition to being the right thing to do if you regard nonhumans as members of the moral community.” I spent a few minutes talking about the health benefits of a vegan diet and the ecological disaster of an animal-based agriculture.
Our conversation stopped for about 30 seconds and then Jane asked, “could you get me some information about how to go vegan?”
“Sure. Give me your email address.” She did.
Read on by clicking on the link, please.One of the things that I hear frequently is that educating people, particularly... more
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I know that this is very local story but, nonetheless, it was disturbing (understatement) to learn of the abduction of a deer in my own city (Santa Clarita, California) this morning.
I never appreciated that Jane was a CAGED animal, but now I'm sick to my stomach with fear for her life, because I can think of only two reasons why one deer (and no other animals) was cut out of her cage, and that blood was found. Either there's cult activity or a person or persons decided Jane's life was worth a lot more as food on the plate.
I'm disgusted about this, and feeling immensely sad.
Here's the brief article from our local right-wing newspaper:
POSTED Jan. 1, 2010 4:55 a.m.
Authorities on Thursday were searching for a missing deer after someone apparently cut open the animal's chain-link cage at William S. Hart Park, leaving blood on the ground nearby.
About 7 a.m., a park worker checking the animal barnyard noticed the 12-year-old deer, named Jane Doe, was missing. The worker also noticed a hole in the back of the fence, said Regional Park Superintendent Norman Phillips.
"We get bonded to the animals and we are all very, very upset that this happened," said Phillips, who added that he personally bottle-fed the animal when she first arrived at the park in 1997. "We want to see her back here."
The doe, which is part of a county animal education program, was used for teaching children about wildlife.
Children would handfeed her food pellets as they learned about mule deer, Phillips said.
Los Angeles County Police officers were investigating the disappearance.
Park staff members are worried the human-raised deer could be wandering around in the wilderness.
"She doesn't know anything but human contact, so I'm very scared in that respect," Phillips said.
Park officials are asking anyone who sees a friendly brown doe wandering around to contact the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station.
"We've worked with law enforcement, and we're asking for the public's help," said Kaye Michelson, special assistant with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.
"We hope somebody will come forward with any information so we can get her back."I know that this is very local story but, nonetheless, it was disturbing... more
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Humane education is about learning to respect life in our homes, communities and the environment. It encourages kindness and empathy for both human and nonhuman animals, and promotes understanding of our many diverse habitats. Most importantly, humane education strives to establish a sense of responsibility, making the world a better, more humane place.
Humane Education Programs helps humane societies establish educational programs. Assistance can be provided to help determine objectives, develop brochures, provide lessons, and train educators. By working together we can make a difference!Humane education is about learning to respect life in our homes, communities and the... more
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