New Zealand writer Philip McKibbin argues that this small country that has punched above its weight in so many other ways, can also be a leader in recognizing the rights of other animals.
Author: Sandra Kyle
Veganism Increasingly Advocated To Mitigate Carbon Emissions
In this recent Guardian article author Sarah Marsh reports that more and more scientists and writers are acknowledging that changing to a vegan diet is necessary to mitigate carbon emissions.
CT Scans For International Horses in Melbourne Cup
In the last seven years of the Melbourne Cup, seven horses have died. All have been international racers. Following pressure by Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses and other anti-racing advocates Racing Victoria has now mandated a lengthy list of new regulations, including CT scans, to try to preserve the lives of racehorses – and their own reputation.
Below is a list of the horses killed on the racetrack during the 12 month 19/20 racing year just prior to the death of 2020 Melbourne Cup runner Anthony Van Dyck (cover photo). Anthony Van Dyck’s death saw a storm of publicity, but who knows the names of these horses? And many more who were injured on the track would have been killed behind the scenes and never reported.
Comprehensive website: horseracingkills.com
The Marvellous Mushroom, A Substitute For Eating Fish
Billions of sentient beings die every single year because we want to eat them. Even if we are addicted to the taste of steak, lamb, pork, chicken and seafood, we can find similar tastes and textures within the plant kingdom to satisfy our cravings.
If you have seen Seaspiracy and want to stop eating seafood, this article by vegan food forager Josh Wayne shows how mushrooms can be made to taste and look like fish.
Greyhound Racing Going To The Dogs In New Zealand
The third Enquiry into greyhound racing this decade has just been announced by the New Zealand government. The Industry states that contrary to continuing claims, the welfare of the dogs is now well managed and previous problems have largely been overcome. The Greyhound Protection League of New Zealand and Green MP Chloe Swarbrick state otherwise.
One of only a handful of countries where greyhound racing is still tolerated, and while conceding that things have improved, New Zealand still faces unacceptable levels of injuries and deaths in its greyhound racing industry.
So long as dogs are continued to be put in harm’s way for profit, so long as corruption such as live baiting and coping persists, then this Industry cannot be made right, and needs to be banned now.
Fish Feel! What the documentary ‘Seaspiracy’ Has Taught Us.
The important documentary by filmmaker Ali Tabrizi is swearing people off eating fish. One of the most important reasons for this is that fish are sentient.
‘Each fish is an individual with a unique personality and the desire to live. Fish experience pain in a way similar to humans, communicate in complex ways (herrings, for example, signal each other by farting), and can feel fear.
So, when massive commercial-fishing nets rip the animals from their homes, pack them so tightly that their eyes may burst out of their skulls, drag their sensitive scales along the ocean floor, and force them to undergo decompression—which often ruptures their bladders and pushes their stomachs out of their mouths—fish likely experience an excruciating, terrifying journey to the surface. Then, if they are still alive, fishers often cut their gills and leave them to bleed out or toss them onto ice to freeze or suffocate slowly. You wouldn’t want to be kicked, thrown, suffocated, or hacked to death on a chopping block—and neither do they.’
Read the PETA article here:
Watch Seaspiracy on Netflix
‘Seaspiracy’: A Shocking Indictment of the Commercial Fishing Industry
In this breathtaking new Netflix documentary, film makers Ali and Lucy Tabrizi take us on a journey to Europe and Asia in an investigation that reveals how commercial fishing is implicated in the depopulation and degradation of our oceans, and animal suffering.
Their findings:
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Single-use plastic dumped into the ocean is killing whales and other animals, but much more sealife is endangered because of discarded commercial fishing gear.
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Taiji, the infamous Japanese cove where dolphins are massacred and captured in a bloodbath every year, is not primarily done for meat, but to supply the dolphinarium industry, and because dolphins and whales kill fish that commercial fishermen want.
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The most expensive fish in the world, bluefin tuna, is critically endangered because of overfishing.
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Most dolphins and whales killed globally is because of by-catch.
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Sharks are killed because of their fins, but the market for this is mainly Asia. Populations all over the world are dwindling because they get caught up in fishing nets and trawlers.
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Removing apex predators like whales and sharks from the oceans is contributing to global warming as well as fish decline.
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Organisations who advocate for our sea life may be in the pockets of the Commercial Fishing industry.
Watch the trailer here
Are We In Hell Yet, Dorothy?
In this powerful article Karen Estensen Rubio reminds us that pandemics are the consequence of the Hell On Earth the Animal Industrial Complex has created for our fellow animals, and that moving to plant-based is the only solution.
“The movement toward a plant-based world is a juggernaut that won’t be stopped, but if we are to save our planet, we must speed it up. It’s the only food system that makes sense for our health – and indeed the survival of all life on Earth.”
Read the Counterpunch article here
Gentle Insectivores Subject To Unimaginable Cruelty For Traditional Medicine
Gentle Pangolins are beaten then, blood pouring from their wounds, boiled alive for traditional Asian medicine. Over a million pangolins have been illegally poached from the wild just in the last 10 years to feed the demand for their scales and meat. They are the most trafficked animals in the world. The pangolin was implicated in the 2019 Coronavirus outbreak.
A permanent ban on all wildlife trade is the only long-term solution to eliminate unimaginable animal suffering, and prevent major health epidemics. You can take action to help pangolins and other wild animals by signing the petition to ban the global trade of wild animals and urging public officials to pass the Global Wildlife Health and Pandemic Prevention Act.
Read the World Animal Protection article here (contains graphic video)
There is no such thing as an ethical carnivore
In 2016 British author and journalist Louise Gray wrote a book entitled ‘The Ethical Carnivore: My Year Killing To Eat‘. In this Guardian article she describes her visit to a pig slaughterhouse for the first time.
“I follow Phil into the “killing room” and force myself to look. The pigs come in two by two, because they are the most intelligent, “the most pally”, of animals, and because they do not like to be alone. The two slaughtermen stand above the pigs in a small stall – strong men, able to keep the pigs back with their legs”.
“They say it happens quickly and it does. But you know what? It is not the killing that is the most violent thing. It is what happens next: it is the skinning, the burning, the boiling … the evisceration”.
‘The men can kill 20 pigs in an hour,’ says Phil. ‘They work eight-hour shifts from 7am to 4.30pm, with breaks.” It is a hard, physical job: they are as strong and unfeeling as the iron equipment, busy, alert, with ruddy cheeks; one has diamante earrings like David Beckham’.
It is an interesting read, but at End Animal Slaughter we believe that there is nothing ethical about killing animals for food when we don’t have to. Alternative protein ‘meats’ do not involve the suffering and killing of any sentient animal and are more sustainable for the planet. They are the future of food.
Read the Guardian Article Here
Behaviour Of Top Trainer and Jockey Damages Public Perception Of Horseracing
A bizarre (for some heartbreaking) photo and video of two separate incidents surfaced this week, delivering a grievous blow to the horseracing industry. The photo was of top Irish trainer Gordon Elliot sitting down on a newly dead horse while talking on the phone and giving the victory sign. The video showed Irish jockey Rob James climbing on the back of a dead horse and laughing as he pretended to ride it. Both horses had been pushed until their hearts went into cardiac arrest, and would have experienced a painful and distressing death.
Both trainer and jockey have been stood down from competing in Great Britain pending an enquiry, but whatever the outcome this has damaged the public perception of the industry. Horseracing enjoys social licence largely because the public believes the horses are loved by their trainers, owners, riders and grooms, who treat them ‘better than their own children’, as is often said. However the behaviour of this top trainer and jockey seems to tell another story.
Read The Guardian article here
It’s Time For A Sea Change In Our Thinking About Fishes
We slaughter fish in their trillions every year, and force them to lead lives of prolonged suffering in aquaculture operations. The majority of scientists now agree that fish are sentient, but what about their intelligence?
Because they live in an environment that humans could not survive in, we tend to view marine life as ‘alien’, and not as intelligent as land animals. But fishes are much more like us than we think.
In his fascinating book ‘What A Fish Knows: The Inner Lives Of Our Underwater Cousins‘, ethologist and author Johnathan Balcombe challenges our assumptions about fishes, and asks his readers to take a more enlightened view of Earthlings who live in the sea.
Read more information here
Watch the video on humanedecisions.com
