Twitter and #Egypt529

I'm still coming to grips with Twitter and the "trending" thing they have going on, but what amazed me was that I had to search the trending part for what people are saying about what has recently happened in Egypt i.e. the sentencing of 529 Morsi supporters to death.  A further mass trial of 683 could also face the death penalty.
DJ Rubiconski tweeted  "If 529 white Europeans were sentenced to death there would be an invasion of ‪#Egypt‬ tomorrow by a coalition of Western countries." …  and it would be with all guns blazing!

Here is another example of the outrageous, stupid, inhumane, cruel, senseless, power hungry,  … what other adjectives can I add … way humans treat other humans, this time on a massive scale.  The sad part is that we see this on a daily basis in small and, sometimes, unseen ways in our own backyards.

• Violence to women
• Violence to children
• Neighbours at war
• Bullying in schools, home, workplace
• Drunken brawls

You can keep adding to the list, I'm sure you get my flow here.

So it's no wonder humans can be so violent towards animals without flinching.

Do you think it's a lost cause - animal welfare?  I don't.  I look around and see growing evidence (albeit growing slowly) that humans are gradually pulling themselves out of the caveman mentality and are starting to "care" about other humans - evidence being the flip side of #egypt529 which is #MH370 - the Malaysian plane that has gone missing with 239 people on board.  Here we see Governments falling over themselves trying to find this plane and I believe it is not so much that it makes these "helping" countries look good, but that they are actually able to do something without having their hands tied in red tape and without fear of causing diplomatic incidents (which reminds me …. Ukraine's gone quiet).

No, as per the list above, it's in our backyards that the real cavemen lurk

It's these cavemen we need to convince that they have to start respecting other humans then we might have a chance of them respecting animals.

Artist - Banksy

Have Happy Animal Friends

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com

Let's Just Boil 'Em Alive

Let me ask you a question.  Do you know how chickens are slaughtered?  Ooops, sorry, if you are currently biting into a chicken wing or chowing down on a drumstick …. Put it down for just a minute and read this.

The live chicken is flipped upside down by holding onto the legs.
It is then tied up.  At this point there is quite a high possibility that the chicken’s leg is broken or it’s not tied up correctly.
To stun the chicken prior to killing, it is slid through some water which has an electric current running through it.
The next process in this automated chain of events is the actual killing, which, in N.Z. is done by slitting the throat so the chicken will bleed to death.
The dead chicken is then put into scalding water for plucking.

If the chicken is not correctly trussed at the beginning (remember I said that there was a high possibility that this might happen?), this will mean that the killing blade will actually miss the chicken resulting in the chicken being put into the boiling water still alive.
Wait a minute …. Don’t we already do that with crayfish and lobster??????

I know you’re asking yourself, where is she going with this.  Well there is a proposal being finalized by the USDA to increase the maximum number of birds going over the line from 140 birds a minute to 175 birds for chickens and from 45 to 55 for turkeys.

My point is, that there already is a problem of birds missing the killing part and being boiled alive, this is only going to really increase those numbers.

I wrote to SAFE here in N.Z. to find out if we have the same speed and problems. They were unable to tell me the figures and directed me to the Ministry of Primary Industries.
In response to my email to MPI told me that the year to December 2013 there were 98,464,493 poultry birds slaughtered.  Divide that number by 365 days and by my calculations that makes it 269,765.73 birds per day .... WOW - so how many minutes in a day? 1440 - that's approximately 187 birds a minute.

Wait a minute, that can't be right - Where's the calculator, I've got to do this again.

The ministry said: "For the year to December 2013 98,464,493 poultry birds were slaughtered in New Zealand." - yup calculations are right - Holy Moly!!! I know that N.Z. is behind the rest of the world in a lot of things, but we're killing more chickens/turkeys per minute across our factory line than the USA.

SAFE did tell me that the killing method is the same and we do also have the issue of the chicken legs broken and some ending up still alive at the scalding pot.  I also got the letter below from Laura at SAFE …. Thought it worth adding

"Good luck on writing the chicken article! I wonder if people think about
that revolting process when they tuck into their KFC?

This very subject sparked a conversation in the office about end of lay
battery hens. Many of them don't even receive the "special" treatment of
the slaughterhouse process and are yanked out of their cages
(prisons/torture cells) by their feet or wings only to have their necks
broken, sometimes unsuccessfully by the farmer.

What a lovely way to say thank you to these animals who have given so much
for so little in return?

This makes me so sick to the stomach and angry that I said loads of bad
swear words in the office and had VISIBLE STEAM coming out of my ears."

I’ll let you get back to what you were doing …. Wasn’t it eating the chicken wing?  No?  What’s stopped you?

Thank you from the chickens.

Have Happy Animal Friends

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com

Should There Be a Law To Make Growers Use Sprays?

I came across this today which really saddened me: French Organic Farmer Refuses to Spray

Basically it said that an organic and biodynamic winemaker, Emmanuel Giboulot, had appeared before a judge for not treating his vineyard with a chemical spray as a preventive measure against a bacterial vine disease.  He could face up to 6 months in jail for this.  He has already been fined 1,000EU for putting his neighbors' vineyards at risk.
He argues that the pesticide is harmful to beneficial insects and animals, and may not even be effective at preventing the vine disease  He says “I don’t want to undo decades of work applying a treatment where the effects on the health of the vines, and the public, are as yet unproved."

Now I'm not disputing the fact that this disease is devastating to the vineyards in France (or anywhere else for that matter), but, as of date, this grower has not had the disease, in fact his vines are perfectly healthy and, as he does his own preventative measures, I doubt if he'll ever have the disease ..... (his grapes, not him) .

My brain doesn't get the logic of France's law to use pesticides to control this disease when it's obvious that it doesn't work anyway.  

Which leads me to believe that, once again, big business has used (abused), its power to get more people to buy its product in order to gain more profit.

The court will be making its final verdict on April 7th - that's when we'll see what happens to Emmanuel Giboulot.

I'll, hopefully, get the result and update this post.  Let's hope Emmanuel is strong enough to withstand the pressure.

Have Great Food

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com

UPDATE 8 April 2014:  The final verdict has now been announced.  Emmanuel Giboulot has been ordered to pay pay a €500 (a fine of €1,000, with €500 suspended.) - he is going to appeal.  More Info

GUEST BLOG: Being a Vegan is like being.....

Thanks to Ashleigh for writing this wonderful insight:

Being a Vegan is like being the only single person
in a world of couples

I'm what I consider to be a baby vegan.

In the past six months I have inducted myself into the wonderful and meaningful world of veganism, volunteer work and animal advocacy.

In this brave new world of mine, I've been thinking a lot about how in six months my life has changed so dramatically. 

It all started with a music video set in a slaughter house. 
It was like tunnel vision. In that one moment I felt this gut wrenching, guilt ridden lightening course through my veins.

I thought about the fear and the trauma those cows were experiencing before enduring a violent death.

I thought about exactly how terrified these animals were and how trivial the cause. These animals are petrified and meet such violent ends all so a human can sit around eating steak sandwiches.

All of the pain, all of the suffering and all of the violence for a sandwich. 

Not to trivialise this violence, but I can't help but compare that epiphanic moment to the same moment one gets when they decide to get out of a relationship.

In more ways than I initially realised, becoming a vegan is just like breaking up with your childhood sweetheart and all of a sudden being the only single person you know.

Instead of “oh, I'm so sorry to hear about you and Bob”, you get “oh, I'm sorry, I guess you can't eat this cheesecake can you?”

And instead of “why don't you get a man?”, you get “why don't you have a burger?”

You get looks laden with pity and sympathy when you turn down the potato salad because of the mayonnaise.

You get told to stop being so silly when you refuse a green salad with feta, much in the same way you'd be scolded for turning down a blind date with your best friend's cousin's friend who's a dentist and a really nice guy.

And then you get the grilling.

Only instead of “why don't you let me set you up with...?”, or “why don't you try online dating?”, you get "what do you mean you don't eat meat?”, “what about the food chain?”, “how do you get any protein/calcium/iron?” and, my personal favourite; how do you live without BACON?”

(My favourite answer to that by the way, is something I read on tumblr: Relax, it's a strip of pig flesh, not a tank of oxygen.)

When you go out to eat, or eat anything you haven't made yourself, it's like finding out from friends of friends that the new guy you just started seeing is shagging someone else.

You can't help but ask a million questions and have the ingredients whirling around in your head like a tid bit of hot gossip.

Instead of having a rule about not dating the same man that your friend has, you have a new rule about not using the same spoon your friend just used to dish the chicken to dish the vegan salad.

You sit there, on the outer, and think about the lovely things that they get that you don't – the physical stuff mostly.

The sweet, the comforting and the tasty.

The cheesecake, mayonnaise, egg pasta, chocolate. All these indulgences, all these comforts that these couples take for granted you don't get anymore.

But just like being a single person in a world full of committed couples stuck in an ingrained rut, there's a bright, shiny world full of freedom and amazing foods and amazing flavours.

A place where there are 1001 uses for chickpeas and zucchinis and hummus comes in 101 different flavours.

It's an awakening when you discover that Whittaker's dark chocolate is vegan friendly and instant coffee is amazing with vanilla flavoured soy milk.

You get to date vegetables - all kinds of vegetables in all kinds of ways!

It's like a series of amazing dates with a series of attractive men.  Not to mention the benefits couples don't get - your mood improves, your skin looks great and goodbye relationship weight (you don't even have to try with this one - it just happens).

You spend less on food and thus have more money to go into your non-leather shoe fund!  You have this empowering new sense of independence and price in what you're doing.

Finding out just how the meat goes from farm to plate is like finding out your boyfriend slept with one of your friends - there's no coming back from it.

Once the initial shock wears off, and you have time to adjust and process and discover what else is out there, there's this moment where everything feels right; it's serendipitous, it's magic, and it's love.  That special kind of love that comes from living a kind and beautiful and ethical life that no one else can give you, not even your childhood sweetheart.

Ashleigh Hoare

P.S. For those of you who are brave enough, below is the music video that started it all (yes, music video - how sensitive am I)

What's The Difference Between Dolphins and Bobby Calves?

Recently there was a post going round FaceBook about the killing of the dolphins in the Taiji cove.  This is a barbaric practice and certainly one that the world should be outraged about and help bring an end to it.

However, I can't help thinking of the animals who every day are treated barbarically for a much longer period of time and are then slaughtered just like the dolphins.
I'm talking about animals raised for food for humans.

Pigs, Chickens, Beef, Dairy.  These farmed animals have no chance what-so-ever.  Now I'm not saying that the Dolphins in Taiji cove have any chance either, they don't - what I am trying to say is that there are an awful lot of people who are totally disgusted, outraged and saddened by what happens to beautiful dolphins, yet these same people will sit down to a steak or bacon and eggs or cheese on toast and think nothing of the animal that has suffered and died for that piece of food.

Just recently the N.Z. Dairy industry came under fire for a video that surfaced of calves being bashed to death on one of their farms in Chile .... what else came out was that, in N.Z., it is acceptable to kill calves, as young as 4 days old, with blunt instruments.  According to the N.Z. Federated Farmers, this practice should only be done in extreme emergency to put a calf out of misery e.g. broken leg or in pain ..... which begs the question - how does the calf get the broken leg or is in pain in the first place if not being mis-treated?  To make matters worse for the dairy industry, other farmers acknowledged that this practice was really not so uncommon as a way of getting rid of unwanted male calves who have no value at all to the dairy farmer.  source

Don't get me started on the sick, abusive treatment these bobby calves endure in their extremely short lives.  For more information on the perils of being a bobby calf: source

Wake up people, you can make a difference, you can help stop the suffering …. maybe not for the dolphins, but certainly for the animals in your own back yard.  Make a start by cutting out meat and reducing your dairy a couple of days a week, it's actually a lot easier than you think.

Have Happy Animal Friends

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com

Sustainable Beef .... What???

McDonalds announced  a few days ago that it is going to shift to sustainable beef  source Grist.  Now this rather perplexed me .... sustainable beef?  It's the word "sustainable" that gets me - defined:

"able to be maintained at a certain rate or level" "able to be upheld or defended" - Mmmm, neither of those seem to gel if you put the word beef or McDonalds in the same sentence.

So I googled "sustainable beef" and lo and behold there is a website devoted to ..... www.sustainablebeef.org  "Our focus is on filling information gaps about how beef technologies and sustainable beef-raising practices help produce safe, wholesome, affordable food while using fewer natural resources."   But what gets me is the bit "produce safe, wholesome, affordable food while using fewer natural resources" ....  fewer natural resources?????

McDonald's is pretty clear that it doesn't want to create the standard.  "Sustainable beef is not going to be defined by McDonald's." said Bob Langert (McD's vice president of global sustainability ... yup, they have one of those, whew, makes them look good doesn't it!!!!).  He went on to say "The key here is to get sustainable beef defined by a wide stakeholder group and coalition.  We needed a bigger critical mass." 

Now I wonder why that would be ..... pretty obvious that they don't want their name attached to the definition, I mean, it's got to look like it's a proper, kosher, real thing done by an independent party - a real coup would be WWF or PETA making the definition then McD's would get the kudos for following the beef sustainability guidelines ...... keep up with me here, I have a point. 

And my point is.  I don't care how "sustainable" or how "humane" or how "natural" beef is farmed - they are still farmed in huge quantities, unnaturally, slaughtered and made into foods we do not need for either our health or the environment.

I know I'm picking on McDonalds, unfortunately, they're the company who are really worried about how their profits will decline with the increase of food awareness that is happening, so they are the ones who are coming out with the grandiose ideas, which, if they pay off, other companies will also adopt.

I wonder if there's a chance that McDonalds would go totally vegan ..... nah, I'm just being silly now.

Have Happy Animal Friends

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com

Truly? Selling Pets Online?

OMG I did not know that you can buy yourself a cute little puppy online.  I found out about it through the animal welfare website SAFE nz - I mean, I do online shopping and, yes, it's the way of the future, but …. NO, this is wrong - how can a person buy a puppy off the internet??????? 

I do not want to give a link to this company, but I'm going to put their name and link up and publicly tell the world - THIS IS WRONG!!!!! PetsUnlimited.co.nz - yes, this is a New Zealand company …… N.Z. the country that's supposed to be "clean" "green" and "friendly" etc etc ….. well, I'm here to tell you that I battle with the knowledge that my country supports factory farming, caged chickens, pigs in pens - and now this!!!!!

Who is going to buy a pet over the internet?  Who is going to buy a pet without first meeting the little fellow, giving him/her a cuddle, talking and playing and allowing that pet to also be involved in the choosing process ?????

Screenshot of the website

And, how are PetsUnlimited going to monitor where their pets go?????  My first thought is that they can't if they are doing this online, my 2nd thought is - will these puppies be used for dog fighting??? …. Pets Unlimited will never know.

This company also sells online: a  selection of Birds, Kittens, Reptiles, Tropical Fish and other Small Animals

TradeMe is another source for buying pets online ..... again - what guarantee that the homes will be suitable???

If you are like me and find this online pet shopping scary, then please show your support by sharing this on your Facebook page….or adding a comment below.

 

Have Happy Animal Friends

Fee
website:  www.thevegetariancenter.com