Ricky Gervais, Bryan Adams and Jane Goodall and 97 other celebrities and organisations have signed an open letter urging the public to go vegan.
Author: Sandra Kyle
Xmas Not A Merry Time For Farmed Animals
As I stand at my two local slaughterhouses here in Whanganui New Zealand I witness the ‘Xmas Rush’, as many more trucks arrive with animals to be slaughtered.
It is heartbreaking to see the gentle animals peering out of the narrow openings of their vehicles, looking out at the world for the last time before their deaths.
However, I remind myself that our cruelty and indifference towards animals is nothing new, and, thankfully, our acknowledgement of animal sentience is much more widespread than it was. The extract below is from Ian Hay, from his Guardian article a few years ago:
“This has never been a good season for animals, but two or three centuries ago it was rather worse. Christmas dinner was preceded by artisanal cruelty in all its terrible variety. Poultry, for instance: the less they ran or fluttered about, the fatter they got, so geese would be nailed by their webbed feet to the floor, while chickens and game birds were confined to windowless cells, sometimes after their keeper had taken the extra precaution of blinding them or cutting off their legs.
Mammals were, literally, a tougher proposition. Popular belief said that meat was best tenderised while it was still alive, so calves and pigs were whipped to death with knotted ropes, and bulls killed only after dogs had baited them. Succulent Dorset lambs, according to the historian Keith Thomas, arrived at the Christmas tables of the Georgian gentry only after a lengthy imprisonment in “dark little cabins”.
A desire for paler meat led to longer deaths. A calf’s executioner, having cut the animal at the neck, would let it bleed for a while and then staunch the wound for a day to let death come slowly. As for turkeys, the custom was to snip a vein inside their mouths and hang them upside down, so that their blood dripped out little by little. The upside-down position remains a constant of turkey slaughter, though the process today is industrial, possibly less painful and necessarily quicker.
Somewhere around 10 million of the birds will be eaten this Christmas in Britain, ending their brief lives suspended by their legs from a production line that plunges them head-first into the electrified stunning baths, and then to the slaughterhouse workers who slash open their carotid arteries. One stroke usually does it.”
We still have a long way to go, but our awareness is expanding, and the momentum to stop killing animals and the closure of slaughterhouses is also growing.
We must continue our work until every slaughterhouse is closed forever. Once the institutionalised carnage of our fellow beings is over, we can truly begin to build a violence-free world.
I would like to wish all our subscribers and readers and your human and animal family members a joyous holiday season. Thankyou for your support for my little website’s goals. Here in New Zealand we have not been impacted by Covid-19 nearly as much as other parts of the world, and I send love to all of you in countries that have experienced extensive lockdowns and other difficulties. I hope 2021 will be a much better year for you, for us, and for the animals.
Arohanui
Sandra Kyle
LISTENING TO ANIMALS’ VOICES
Humans have used, abused and slaughtered other animals since we have been walking upright. The power imbalance between us and other animals means that it is at best difficult, at worst futile, for them to resist us.
But there have always been ‘rebel’ animals who have fought back against their fate, as documented in a new book by Sarat Colling, Animal Resistance in the Global Capitalist Era. Sadly the resistence has usually been in vain. One famous example of animal resistance is the case of the ‘Temple Pig’ in 2015.
The pig was trying to escape slaughter in Zhejiang province China, where she ran to a Buddhist Monastery and was photographed ‘bowing down’ amongst the worshippers (feature photo). The footage went viral on the Internet, but in reality the animal was probably just exhausted, and she was slaughtered soon afterwards.
We don’t even try to listen to animals’ voices. If we did, we would understand how much they are like us.
Colling has written a scholarly and readable book. Read her interview with Professor Marc Bekoff in ‘Psychology Today’ here
New Zealand The Only Country To March For Animals In The Year of Covid-19
The Wellington Animal Rights March (WARM) 2020 organised by Wellington Vegan Actions attracted more than 500 marchers on 28 November, an impressive result for New Zealand’s capital with a population of only a little over 400,000.
Marchers included small children, people in their seventies, and companion dogs. Several people wore cattle ear-tag-inspired earrings reminding spectators that ‘animals are not just a number’.
Mother and daughter reading the Chant sheets
Creativity and fun – with a serious, heartfelt message – was the Order of the Day
The March was not without controversy. While most of the signs reflected the vegan message of compassion, kindness and respect to all sentient beings and a transition away from using animals for food, testing, fashion and entertainment, coverage by mainstream media focussed negatively on one or two that used ‘colourful’ language. One sign in particular (not shown here) was highlighted as ‘lewd’ by journalists reporting the March.
The hundreds of signs represented key concepts in Animal Rights…
… and the March had representatives from most Animal Rights organisations in New Zealand.
Loud chants and drumming were part of the procession, which weaved its way through Wellington’s main thoroughfares to Parliament Building, where a member of the NZ Green Party, Julie Anne Genter, graciously received the crowd. There were eight speakers, including representatives of Save Animals From Exploitation, Mothers Against Dairy, NZ Anti-Vivisection Society, Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, and The Animal Save Movement.
Ex slaughterhouse worker, now animal activist, Cortnee Butler spoke of traumatic experiences when working in a small NZ slaughterhouse for a few months as a teenager.
End Animal Slaughter’s Sandra Kyle was in the Parade, and one of the guest speakers.
Relaxing while listening to the lineup of Speakers.
Although not obliged to, march organisers informed the Wellington City Council months ahead of time. However a couple of days before the march the Council realised that they had scheduled A ‘Very Welly Christmas’ at the same time. When vegans were blamed in the media for ‘gatecrashing a children’s party,’ march co-organiser, well-known animal activist Chris Huriwai, went on Radio New Zealand to put the record straight. The marchers were peaceful, although members of the public were not always, with several hurling abuse and one man taking a swing at one of the Organisers.
This sign is a reminder that so long as there is systematic violence towards animals there will be violence in Society.
In 2019, there were a record number of Animal Rights marches in 44 cities across the world, (mainly organised by ‘Surge’, co-founded by Ed Winters, aka ‘Earthling Ed’) but such gatherings have not been possible this year.
New Zealand’s management of Covid have made crowd restrictions unnecessary, consequently New Zealand may have been the only nation in 2020 to march for justice for animals. In the year of the pandemic it was a clarion call to fully examine our broken relationship with animals and chart a new course forward.
In the words of the WARM Kaupapa (mission statement):
‘To empower and grow the movement in the fight against the systemic oppression of nonhuman animals, creating a more ethical Aotearoa (indigenous name for NZ) where all sentient beings are free from exploitation and injustice’.
Animal Liberation Now!
All photos by Sambit Bhaduri
‘WE WILL NOT STOP!’
Guest speaker Ilan Goldberg impressed listeners at the Wellington (NZ) Animal Rights March on 28th November with his original poem, an abridged version we reprint here.
Ilan talks about the hypocrisies of a small and beautiful land that punches above its weight in many ways, and cares about some animals, yet turns a blind eye to the sufferings of animals raised for food.
‘For Megan the Brave, and her
fellow teen-aged heroes’.
Blessed, this fair land of ours
Kissed by cloud, wind and sea
100 per cent pure beauty
God’s own for you and me
We count our stars now daily
So lucky here to be
Here we prance so gayly
From foreign lands we flee
We’re pioneers, this side of Earth
Care and fairness we admire
To nuclear physics we gave birth
Then fixed it with eight wire
We care for sick and wounded
Thank you ACC
‘Woke’ to slang we added
We’re slightly less racey
We also care for our dumb beasts
For in victory we’re gracious
But rights for them will ruin feasts
Please vegans, don’t be precious
Eating them is natural
As natural as Ebola
Circle of life means all is fine
Geometry is moral
Killing is normal just right now
Majorities are never wrong
To add to death we must avow
Kill, and you’ll belong
And don’t forget, they want to die
To feed us is their purpose
We breed them so; it’s not a lie
For us, their life is surplus
And anyway, their life is joy
So good we’ve put up fences
Humane death does not annoy
We’ve taken all their senses
Or so at least I’ve heard it said
Meat experts never lie
I’ve never looked at how they’re bled
I couldn’t bear to cry
Don’t get me wrong, I’m tough as nails
As manly as my meat
I’m so strong I could eat whales
Cows cower at my feet
Without my bacon I will squeal
But otherwise I’m daring
Even Achilles had his heal
And mine it seems is caring
But I do care about you folks
I’m killing them to save you all
If I don’t, that’s not a hoax
They’ll rise up and we will fall
Our mother’s milk, cows will drink
Pigs will smoke us tender
Chicks will then their role rethink
And mash us in a blender
Now if you think I’m slightly mad
Consider this hard proof
Without a living we’d be had
Economy is truth
It is good for purchase price
To cut parts off with a device
To keep a mum from baby
To kill a world for gravy
Our law is also not untrue
Best welfare law; that’s lucky
The best among a choice of poo
Will still end up quite funky
Our welfare law is not for them
They wouldn’t write such evil phlegm
It was written by rich white men
Between their fangs were parts of hen
So full of holes, so unenforced
Its toothless gums from good divorced
What it allows should make us see
Its purpose is to set harm free
Welfare experts, aren’t they great
If they approve, why hesitate
They say the harm’s our fantasy
Or else the best we’ll ever see
To cheat the science for money’s sake
Tobacco taught to any snake
Their welfare expert is pure bull
Welfare committees are a stool
Ignore as well our heart disease
Our colon cancer’s high
Diabetes is a breeze
The superbugs, Just fry
And plants will suffer if you feed
Prick a plant; does it not bleed?
All ye stoners; replant that weed
All fashionistas; drop that thneed
Animals; their mind’s a joke
Only people are so woke
For there is nothing it is like
To be a cow tied in the rack
Or a layer that’s pecked raw
To be a sow locked in a crack
Or a fish that’s crushed like straw
To be a prawn, eyestalks ablated
Or a broiler, limbs ill-fated
A new-born calf when separated
Or a piglet when castrated
All these harms do not exist
By God I swear to love them
And on this point I must insist
Like my own kids I love them
Like my own kids I lock, I tie
And let them live in faeces
I feed them drugs or else they’ll die
Then chop them into pieces
Inseminate with mutant DNA
To fill my golden pot
They don’t need to walk each day
They’re free to range right on the spot
But I’ve a right to choose to kill
O liberty: you’re such a thrill
Their liberty? No don’t be daft
Use your brain, you vegan shaft
We’re no monsters; too civilised
We delegate; don’t criticize
The killing’s done far far away
Hidden from us who choose to pay
,
Thank heavens then, that we’ve a brain
So big it gives us moral reign
By that I mean to kill in vain
As many killed as drops of rain
Pray tell, could this get any madder
Could our brains just make us badder
We are gods, and they are nothing
Perhaps its sentience we’re lacking
But even God said meat is ours
It’s not just my opinion
In love he gave us special powers
Just don’t look up ‘dominion’
Does God so clearly love his meat
His gift for us to kill and eat?
Without a spleen, God is like Megan
If He can’t eat, He’s just as vegan
Oh yes my friends, our nation’s great
A land of plenty fills our plate
But there is something we forget
We’re not Kiwis; not just yet
We can teach ourselves some morals
We can evolve from flesh to florals
Thou shalt not kill; our books do say
A right to life; to love; to play
Ilan Goldberg reading his poem at the Wellington Animal Rights March
Fellow marchers;
You’ve seen the light
You’ve heard their scream
You’ve felt their fright
You are their dream
Our mission vast; but we will cope
Fight to the last. We’ll never drop
We are heroes. We are hope
Hear us O world: WE WILL NOT STOP!
More than 500 people walked through the streets of Wellington on Saturday November 28th to demand justice for New Zealand animals.
Voices For Animals Over The Years: Philip Wollen
It has been called the greatest animal rights speech ever: Philip’s Wollen’s 10-minute blazing contribution to the debate ‘Should Animals Be Off The Menu?’ held at the St James Ethics Centre, Wheeler Centre in Australia on May 16, 2012. Philip’s speech began:
“King Lear, late at night on the cliffs asks the blind Earl of Gloucester “How do you see the world?” And the blind man Gloucester replies “I see it feelingly”. Shouldn’t we all? Animals must be off the menu because tonight they are screaming in terror in the slaughterhouse, in crates, and cages. Vile ignoble gulags of despair…”
A wealthy ex Vice-President of Citibank, head of the philanthropic charity named for his beloved mother The Winsome Constance KindnessTrust, Philip Wollen never thrusts himself into the limelight yet his outstanding work has been acknowledged internationally, and he has been awarded high honours, including Australian of the Year, in his own country. Now into his 70s, Philip continues to campaign untiringly for the causes dearest to his heart, the majority for the benefit of other animals who are the most abused and neglected beings on the planet and the victims of the most grievous injustices. Just in the past few weeks Philip has donated some $750,000 to organisations in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, Lebanon, India, the Netherlands, Nepal, Israel and others.
Gifted as a powerful orator and writer, yet like everyone else facing personal sorrows in his life, at every opportunity Philip puts the most disadvantaged first. Recently, when reviewing the graphic production of Sydney Theatre Company’s production of ‘1984’ Philip wondered:
‘How many “meat-eaters” in the audience have ever been in a slaughterhouse, where (in comparison) Orwell’s terrifying “Room 101” is an up-market, health spa for the super-rich. One scene reminded me of my friend, Gail Eisnitz’s book “Slaughterhouse”.
“One time I took my knife – it’s sharp enough – and I sliced off the end of a hog’s nose, just like a piece of bologna. The hog went crazy for a few seconds. Then it just sat there looking kind of stupid. So I took a handful of salt brine and ground it into his nose. Now that hog really went nuts, pushing its nose all over the place. I still had a bunch of salt in my hand – I was wearing a rubber glove – and I stuck the salt right up the hog’s ass. The poor hog didn’t know whether to shit or go blind.”
Philip ends urging us to buy Gail Eisnitz’s powerful book – and then to go vegan. He is never afraid to tell it as it is, and yet his message is simple. Going vegan is the one thing we can all do to stop the carnage that is taking place all around us. We don’t have to be gifted or wealthy in this world, we just have to care.
Thankyou Philip, I am also proud to call you my friend. You empower us all to use whatever resources we have to create a kinder, gentler, more just and enlightened society. And it really is as simple as choosing something else to eat.
– Sandra Kyle
Sandra Kyle started End Animal Slaughter in 2018 as a vehicle for campaigning for the closure of all slaughterhouses in the western world before 2025.
‘Cherish All Animals’ series: The Amazing Bat
This is ‘Bat Week‘. This short video shows just how amazing and useful these critters are.
Watch the video here
One Woman’s Goal – Closing All Slaughterhouses Before 2025
End Animal Slaughter’s Sandra Kyle has been doing vigils under for the Animal Save Movement for years, mostly by herself.
This short video shows the goal she has dedicated herself to, not only in New Zealand but in the entire western world.
“What You Can Do, or Dream You Can, Begin It; Boldness Has Genius, Power, and Magic in It.” (Goethe)
Watch the Video here
MINK TO HUMAN TRANSMISSION OF CORONAVIRUS COULD HASTEN THE INDUSTRY’S DEMISE
Covid-19 is tearing through the world’s mink farms, leading to millions of animals being culled.
In mink farms animals are kept in close confinement in small cages. They cannot escape each other even though by nature they are solitary. They are also semi-aquatic, and are denied water to swim in. Their small, dirty cages are full of feces and exposed to rain and sun. There is no or little enrichment provided for them. Minks on a fur farm commonly show extreme fearfulness, unresponsiveness, and self-mutilation as a result of the conditions they are forced to live in. The animals, from the weasel family, commonly experience rough handling and in many places are killed without stunning.
Some countries are phasing out mink farming, but the Coronavirus may be responsible for shutting down this cruel industry once and for all.
Watch the CNN video here
MUST-WATCH VIDEO: Dr Joanne Kong: Cherish All Animals
‘Dr Joanne Kong is an amazing person. A concert pianist and a Director of Music at the University of Richmond, she is also a TED speaker and lecturer on animal rights, environmental sustainability and compassion.
This insightful and powerful video, written and produced by Joanne, blew me away. At only twelve minutes it can be seen again and again until the full importance of what she is saying is understood. It is a must-watch’.
-Sandra Kyle
Excerpt:
We have come to a point we have never had to face in our lifetimes…. The challenges are daunting… yet I believe we have been given this moment as a turning point. It’s about fully realising this: that all existence is deeply connected to the nature of our relationships with all other beings, human and non-human. How we regard and treat our fellow earthlings, the attitudes we hold towards them and the places they have in our lives. My purpose is to bring about conscious global awareness of the most destructive act on the planet: the domination and exploitation of non human animals mostly for food but also through the research, entertainment and clothing industries.
It’s time to change our anthropocentric attitude towards other creatures
The idea that other creatures should be ‘useful’ to us is shown experiments on countless animals, their exploitation for work and entertainment, and their slaughter for food.
If we modify our anthropocentric approach and value our fellow creatures for their own sake, together with their right to share the planet, then it will be a win for all.
Read the NYT article here
THE DIS-GRACE BEHIND TURKEY FARMING
After Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863 turkey, (native to the Americas), became the Thanksgiving meal of choice.
All over the Americas families say ‘grace’ over the dead body of a turkey – an estimated 46 million are killed for Thanksgiving in the United States alone.
Hundreds of millions of others are eaten throughout the year and exported to places like China where there is a growing taste for them.
Canadians celebrated thanksgiving this week, and America will celebrate it on 26th November.
In these articles and videos PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) describe the lives of factory farmed turkeys, and suggest that instead of killing birds, grace can be said over faux turkey instead.
