Author: Sandra Kyle

Fetal bovine serum – another ethical problem within the dairy and slaughter industries

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

What could be more barbaric than taking an unborn fetus, draining its blood, and then throwing it on a pile to be discarded?   End Animal Slaughter’s Sandra Kyle writes about yet another horror at the slaughterhouse, a direct product of the dairy industry: the collection of fetal bovine serum.

 

In meatworks all over the world a small percentage of cows arriving for slaughter are pregnant.  Their foetuses can be at any stage of development, from first to third trimesters, and some are already full term.   In 2017 in New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary Industries recorded 22 births on slaughter trucks or on arrival at the slaughterhouse.

In the UK, the British Cattle Veterinary Association estimates that 150,000 pregnant cows are sent to slaughter each year, at least 40,000 of them in the last stages of their pregnancy. The calves they bear,  they speculate, could possibly be capable of independent life.

Gabriele Meurer MRCVS, a former official veterinary surgeon in UK abattoirs, left his job, and the country, in disgust at what happened to pregnant cows and their foetuses.  He wrote in 2017:

“What is happening right now in British slaughterhouses is quite simply a scandal. Sometimes when these creatures are hanging on the line bleeding to death, you can see the unborn calves kicking inside their mothers’ wombs. I, as a vet, am not supposed to do anything about this. Unborn calves do not exist according to the regulations. I just had to watch, do nothing and keep quiet. It broke my heart. I felt like a criminal”.

In many parts of the world, including in New Zealand, the unborn foetus has a use before it is discarded.  Its blood is collected to sell to pharmaceuticals and laboratories as a medium to grow cells in in vitro cultures, to be used in a variety of procedures such as fertilisation, and the formation of vaccines.

When human cells and tissue are grown in a culture form, a source of nutrients, namely hormones and growth factors, must be added. The usual supplement comes from cows’ aborted fetuses.  The fetal blood, called fetal bovine serum, is considered to be a rich source of nutrients.

The harvest of foetal bovine serum has been operating in New Zealand for at least 25 years. It is a lucrative industry.  Each calf produces on average about 300ml, and while farmers receive around $50.00 extra per harvest – more if the fetus has gone full term – it can fetch up to $2,500 a litre.  Worldwide, it is estimated that more than one million aborted bovine fetuses undergo this procedure every year.

After slaughter and bleeding out of the cow at the abattoir, the mother’s uterus containing the calf fetus is removed when she is being disembowelled, and her feet and head are being severed.   The fetus, still alive, is then transferred to the blood collection room.  A needle is inserted directly into its beating heart (the heart needs to be beating to collect sufficient serum) and the blood is vacuumed into a sterile collection bag in order to minimize the risk of contamination with micro-organisms from the slaughterhouse environment.

It is variable as to what level of awareness the calves have. However, no anesthesia is given to them, despite their possible ability to experience pain and discomfort.

The harvesting of aborted calf’s blood is beyond barbaric, and is another direct consequence of the cruel dairy industry.  There is no need to be using calf blood to add nutrients to in vitro cultures, as there are other substances that can be used as replacements.

Such atrocities exist because we choose to eat meat and dairy products.  We can make the decision today to eliminate cruelty from our plate by  beginning the transition to a vegan diet.

 

 

Isn’t It Time We Extended Our ‘Bubble’ To Include Sentient Pigs?

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 5 Comments on Isn’t It Time We Extended Our ‘Bubble’ To Include Sentient Pigs?

End Animal Slaughter contributor Sarah Oliver asks us to use our experience in lockdown to empathise with the plight of mother pigs.

I am so grateful to live in New Zealand. Strong and compassionate leadership that values science and puts people lives first feels likes a rare thing in this world, and has been a hallmark of this time. As a nation, New Zealanders have been willing to listen to the science, and we have stayed the course, even though the financial implications of the Covid-19 lockdown will be huge.   We have remained inside our flats, our houses, our boarding houses, our caravans. Sometimes with people who perhaps we would rather not share such close quarters with, in busy, stressed households, juggling children, study, work, tight budgets and difficult relationships.

Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, told us to ‘stay in our bubbles’ to save lives, so we have.  The results are promising.  To date, the number of confirmed cases in New Zealand is 1,112, with  sixteen deaths.   The vast majority of those who contracted the virus have now recovered.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has won respect all over the world for her wise, firm and compassionate leadership

Our experience in lockdown, as with people all over the world, has been a roller coaster of emotions.  For many, the first week in particular was filled with dread, fear of the unknown, and stress as we tried to figure out what was happening. We wondered how it would impact on us, and how long it would be for. But ultimately the decision was made for us. We had a virus to contend with, and so we stayed home to protect each other.   Can we not now use this unprecedented experience to extend our compassion and empathy circle a little wider?

Learning empathy is learning to see and experience the world through another’s eyes, learning to appreciate that another’s experience can be different from our own.  It is what we try to teach our children when we ask them to share, and not hurt one another.  The skill is valuable for humans as it allows us to function as a cohesive, caring society.

I would like to suggest we take a moment to strengthen our empathy muscle.  Let’s imagine the experience of a mother pig in a factory farm, something we can relate to a little more now we are experiencing confinement ourselves.

In New Zealand, as with a number of other countries, we have banned sow crates, tiny enclosures, barely larger than the sow’s body, used to confine the sow during most of her pregnancy.

However we do still allow the use of farrowing crates. A farrowing crate is a small cage a mother pig is placed in during the last week of her pregnancy, and four weeks post pregnancy. She can only stand up and sit down.  She cannot move around, and has little or no bedding. Here she is kept, feeding her piglets until they are removed for fattening to become the bacon and ham on our plates. Once she finally gets to leave, she will be impregnated again. She will do this repeatedly during her brutalised life, until it ends when her body is exhausted, and she is on the slaughterhouse floor.

If we can empathise with the life a mother pig lives in factory farms all over the world,  then we can understand the extent of the horror we subject her to.  She has a level of intelligence greater than our pooches we live with,  and  is very much aware of her suffering.  Sure, we have had to stay inside for a few weeks, and it hasn’t always been easy.      But it is nothing compared to the lifetime of suffering we inflict on mother pigs.

Is the taste of bacon really worth subjecting billions of pigs to suffer in factory farms?  

Please can we take a moment to reflect on this suffering, and also address the question:  ‘Isn’t it time to remove pork from our plate?’  Just as we listened to the science about how to control the spread of Covid-19, can we not also respect the science that tells us that pigs are sentient?   That, like us, pigs experiences fear, trauma and suffering?   Recognising this, how can we continue to force them into a life of unadulterated misery, merely because we like the taste of bacon.

One last word for the pig farmer. Many years ago I had a long conversation with a pig farmer when I was running an information stall protesting sow crates. He came to chat to me and was animated and upset. However, he ended the conversation admitting he did not like to do this to animals, but he needed to make a living. So, let’s lend our pig farmers a lifeline as they transition out of factory farming into something better suited to our modern world.  Is it finally time that our wise and compassionate leadership acknowledged that by forgiving debt, and providing transition finance into new food growing, we can create a better New Zealand, and in so doing inspire the rest of the world?

Is it finally time that our wise and compassionate leadership acknowledged that by forgiving debt, and providing transition finance into new food growing, we can create a better New Zealand, and inspire the rest of the world?   

Innovation and compassion are our hallmarks, and we are a fortunate people. So, how about we extend our compassion bubbles to include not only other humans, but also pigs and all other sentient beings.

 

Sarah writes, teaches and mentors in the development of veganic garden systems. She is a vegan and has a strong interest in the rights of non human animals. 

Coronavirus adds to the woes of already disadvantaged slaughterhouse workers

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Key Points:

–  Infections have spread in at least 48 US meatpacking plants, sickening more than 2,200 people and killing 17.
– Coronavirus has already closed some Smithfield and JBS meatpacking plants, but many more are at risk.
–  Rates of infection in the nation’s biggest beef, pork and poultry processing plants are higher than those of 75% of other U.S. counties. 
–  Meat and poultry employees have been notorious for decades for putting production ahead of worker health.  They have among the highest illness rates of all manufacturing employees and are less likely to report injuries and illness than any other type of worker. 
–  There is little risk of a dwindling meat supply during the pandemic, because, given the choice between worker safety and keeping meat on grocery shelves, slaughterhouses will choose to produce food.
Read the USA Today article

 

Let the Pangolin’s Scales Fall From Your Eyes

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

End Animal Slaughter contributor Lynley Tulloch writes that our best defence against Covid-19 is to stop abusing animals.  

 

Distinguished American immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci has made a call to ban wildlife markets calling them an unusual human animal interface.

This call is echoed by the United Nations (UN) biodiversity chief who also says we need to ban wildlife markets in China and other countries in order to prevent future pandemics like the SARS Covid-19.

A Chinese Wet Market

These wildlife markets are ideal sites for the emergence of new microbial pathogens like the SARS-coronaviruses that rely on hosts to mutate and spread. The route of transmission of SARS-coronaviruses is from wildlife to humans.

The three zoonotic corona viruses capable of causing severe respiratory infections in humans are SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and COVID-19. SARS-CoV has what scientists call high host plasticity – this means it can be found in a high host range and can mutate to become capable of human to human transmission. This is what we have seen with COVID-19.

The ecology of SARS-coronaviruses is an interesting, convoluted and deadly field. Wading through it left me with two impressions – one was a headache and the other was that it all began with bats. There is a vast amount of academic literature saying that coronaviruses (of which Covid-19 is but one) have naturally evolved and been hosted by bats and birds.

But before you get all hung up on bats don’t blame them. And don’t get your feathers ruffled over birds. A recent research article has suggested that during the mutation of SARS Covid-19, pangolins provided a partial spike gene. The spike gene binds to a receptor on a human cell and thus gains entry – with often deadly consequences.

Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in China, and its scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine

But don’t blame pangolins either. Let the scales fall from your eyes as to the real driver of virus spill over from animals to humans. A study conducted by the University of California and the University of Melbourne found that the drivers of transmission of zoonotic diseases are humans through the creation of animal-human interfaces.

These occur where animals and humans interact – in animal agriculture, human dwellings, hunting, laboratory research, zoos, and wildlife management and exploitation scenarios. We have used and abused animals to such an extent that we have fostered and enabled the transmission of zoonotic viruses.

       Wet markets are prime sites for the emergence and transmission of zoonotic viruses to humans

These kind of interactions between humans and animals are mostly based on the ideology of human supremacy. Many of us are brought up with the unshakeable belief that there is a hierarchy in nature and that humans sit God-like at the pinnacle. It sure is getting very spiky up there on that mountain top.

Time to climb down.

We need to reframe our thinking, attitude and behaviour toward animals and non-human nature. It is not that animals pose a risk to humans because they are the source of new viruses. It is humans who pose a risk to themselves through the misguided belief that humans are a superior species who can (and should) use animals for their own benefit. That came back to bite us.

And when you think about it, what a convenient narrative it is to blame the animals. We literally invade their world, destroy their habitat, put them in filthy cages, eat them, wear them, use their bodies as living research objects and otherwise exploit them. And somehow it is their fault. That is just batty.

And when you think about it, what a convenient narrative it is to blame the animals. We literally invade their world, destroy their habitat, put them in filthy cages, eat them, wear them, use their bodies as living research objects and otherwise exploit them. And somehow it is their fault. That is just batty.

I want to challenge that narrative and I think we all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet on this. It is not the animals who pose a danger to humans – it is humans themselves. If we left animals and their habitat alone none of this would be happening. It really is quite simple.

Wildlife markets are destructive not only in terms of their potential as places where viruses may jump species. They are also destroyers of biodiversity and places of great cruelty.

China is one of the largest consumers of wild animals for food and medicine in the world. A study by Alex Chow, Szeman Cheung and Peter Yip in the Human – Wildlife Interactions Journal in 2014 found some disturbing facts. This study of wildlife markets from 7 cities in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces found that 97 animal species were sold of which 51% were reptiles (turtles and lizards), 21% were birds and 10% were mammals. Alarmingly, 23% of the reported species were threatened, 12 species endangered and one species critically endangered.

This study also showed that many of the species originated not only in South China but also Indochina (such as the Indochinese box turtle) and Southeast Asia (such as the Burmese Python). Most of the animals were believed to be wild caught because tooth-like wounds (caused by traps) could be seen on their feet.

A significant number of these animals in China have been poached and there is evidence of extensive and expanding networks of illegal international wildlife trading.

Another academic study from 2004 linked the SARS corona virus to the wildlife trade and population growth. It clearly stated that “the underlying roots of newly emergent zoonotic diseases may lie in the parallel biodiversity crisis of massive species loss as a result of overexploitation of wild animal populations and the destruction of their natural habitats by increasing human populations”. They called for a less human-centred approach to our relationship with animals.  Apparently we did not listen and I am rapidly losing faith that we ever will.

We need a less human approach to our relationship with other species

Wherever humans settle they exploit non-human animals for their own gain. And it has now come back to haunt us in the shape of Covid-19. We need to critically look at our relationship with animals and re-imagine it if humans and animals are to have a future on this planet.

So please don’t blame the animals. It’s our fault and we need to do something about it.

Dr Lynley Tulloch is an animal advocate, and a Lecturer in Education

COVID-19 – It’s Time To Leave Behind Inhumane Practices For Good

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on COVID-19 – It’s Time To Leave Behind Inhumane Practices For Good

The Chinese government is promoting a bear bile derivative as a cure for Covid 19, without any evidence that it would work.  As a result there could be an upsurge in the demand for bears for this cruel and inhumane treatment.  

The US is proposing The Bear Protection Act, designed to prevent poaching of American bears for bear bile.  The passage of this Act would help stop this extreme form of animal cruelty globally. 

It is time to stop superstitious, archaic practices, and leave them behind for good. 

Read the Animal Wellness article here:

April 14 – the day we remember dolphins

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on April 14 – the day we remember dolphins

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE DOLPHIN.

This is the day we remember these wonderful mammals, and also the particular ways we continue to harm them.

Here are a few facts about dolphins:

Wild dolphins travel in extended family groupings called pods.
A pod of wild dolphins can travel up to 100 kilometers a day in the open ocean.
Each member of the pod has their own role, that focuses on the well being of the group.
Families frequently remain together for life.
The elder pod members protect the young and teach them crucial survival skills.
Dolphins have advanced communication and are thought by scientists to have names (unique whistles) for each other.
Many divers etc have documented their intelligent and playful behaviour when dealing with humans.
Dolphins’ prey is tracked by the projection of high-frequency sound waves (echolocation) that they are masters at interpreting, after 50 million years of adapting to their ocean homes.

In 2020, dolphins in the wild are threatened by humans in many ways. These include massacres (for example, Taiji),  overfishing and by-kill in commercial fishing, and also by an increasingly ‘noisy’ ocean that harms their sensitive hearing and threatens their well being in the wild.

Dolphins (and other cetaceans) living in Seaworld and similar aquariums suffer endlessly, in multiple ways. They are placed in unfamiliar groupings with dolphins that have come from different families, making communication between them difficult. The confined, bare and sterile conditions causes them extreme aggression and frustration. Often they bear scars of clashing with tankmates, and also of self harm. Cetaceans in captivity have been observed regularly bashing their heads against the sides of their tank, and their teeth and mouth can bleed and swell from gnawing at the bars of their gates. At the other extreme of stress, some become very listless, and float around the tank all day, a phenomenon known as ‘logging.’

Dolphins in captivity have to be regularly treated with ulcer medication or antidepressant medication to alleviate the suffering they are forced to endure.

Food deprivation is one of the ways the entertainment industry uses to train them for the tricks dolphins have to perform. This is known as operant conditioning.

Because the tanks they are kept in are shallow, dolphins can experience sunburn, and zinc cream has to be applied to their skin. Heavily chlorinated tanks can burn and irritate their eyes. If the water is not properly cleaned and filtered, it can cause bacterial infections and open sores in the mammals.

Please,  today and every day, let us think about these wonderful, intelligent and playful mammals who we are harming in so many grievous ways.

Please don’t support SeaWorld or any other aquariums, anywhere in the world.

For indepth information about Cetaceans, see this article: 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12052-009-0135-2

Sandra Kyle

Sandra Kyle is the admin/editor of End Animal Slaughter, and a full-time Animal Rights activist.

Hunters in Lockdown show ‘sickening lack of empathy’

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on Hunters in Lockdown show ‘sickening lack of empathy’

A new facebook page reveals the real reason hunters love to hunt, writes End Animal Slaughter contributor Lynley Tulloch. 

 

Hunting in New Zealand has been banned since we went into lockdown at 11.59pm Wednesday March 25, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This triggered the start-up of a Facebook page and group called ‘the great NZ lock up mouse hunt’ on the same day. The Facebook group currently has over twenty-five and a half thousand members.  It was started by a New Zealand hunter. In the ‘about section’ on the page it simply says, “we need to hunt something”.

It is in the category of ‘sport’. It calls upon people to hunt mice and rats, taking videos and photos of their catch, measuring their worth by size as you would if you killed a ’trophy stag’. Prizes are awarded in categories of kids (2-10 years) , youth (12-16 years) and adults.

It is all done in the spirit of having a laugh. It’s all very funny, according to the hunter who set up the page.

It’s all very disturbing if you ask me.  This page and associated group is full of hunters eager to boast over killing tiny mice and rats, causing as much misery as possible and then laughing at the victims as they pose their bodies.  It is serial killer type mentality.

It’s all very disturbing if you ask me.  This page and associated group is full of hunters eager to boast over killing tiny mice and rats, causing as much misery as possible and then laughing at the victims as they pose their bodies.  It is serial killer type mentality.

The mice and rats are posed with children’s toys such as lego, barbie cars, ken dolls, and remote-control vehicles. There are videos with tiny dead mice dangling from threads tied to hovering toy helicopters. It is as ridiculous as it is sadistic.

I realize that mice and rats may pose particular health risks to humans, but surely adults and children playing with the dead corpses of these animals is not going to help the situation. What with Covid-19 being of zoonotic origins, I would hate to think of some kind of mutant virus emerging from the dead mouse blood smeared on the toy lego.

It is reminiscent of the many rural possum hunts in schools across the country during the year, where dead possums are dressed up and used for carnival fun by children.

One picture is of a rat tied over a miniature spit roast, his decapitated head lying gruesomely on the ground nearby.  Another shows a cruelly trapped mouse lying dead right next to a row of pizzas.

 

There are numerous instances of animal cruelty on the Mousehunt Facebook page and group. One includes cheese tied onto live electric wires; another an electrified platform.

There is also  a video and pictures of mice who drowned after being lured onto food strapped onto tin cans or bottles over a bucket of water . Drowning animals, including rats and mice, is an illegal and prosecutable offence under New Zealand law.

One harrowing video is of a rat cowering in the corner of a garage. The guy taking the video has a piece of two by four in his hand and bludgeons the rat, not killing it outright, leaving the poor animal writhing and squealing in pain. He is egged on by fellow group members:  “Nice shot bro! Pole axed the bas***d!”.

There are horrific traps, such as this one pictured below, that must cause so much suffering,

This irrational hatred towards these animals, alongside distasteful guffaws at their suffering is disconcerting. You can say they are pests, and that they spread disease, but those rationales go out the door when you see these same people placing their dead bodies alongside food items. One photo has a dead mouse on the kitchen bench with cheese pizzas.

Scroll deep enough into this murky underbelly of grownups and their children amusing themselves abusing animals and playing with their dead corpses and you start to lose faith in humanity.

Scroll deep enough into this murky underbelly of grownups and their children amusing themselves abusing animals and playing with their dead corpses and you start to lose faith in humanity.   The people on this page are also creating a number of torturous looking devices. I quote one member: “I can’t help but feel that rifle cartridge primers, a firing pin, and small sprinkling of gunpowder incorporated into this would be spectacular, Why trap mice when you can set them up to walk into and IED, Allah Akhbar.” This is followed by a bomb emoji.

Another post about traps “Had a crack at making a mascalls trap, you ripper, 0.9 mig wire for the nosse, head was hanging by a thread” (laughing face emojis).

I began to reflect on philosopher Hannah Arendt’s thoughts about the ‘banality of evil’, and how hideous acts of cruelty become normalized and accepted. Smashing a piece of wood down onto the head of a living sentient creature, videoing it and enjoying the suffering is reminiscent of how the mob acts during totality terror regimes.

Surely, the mass murder of animals by hunters reflects this. Despite the claim by hunters that  they are just feeding the family, or getting out to enjoy the great outdoors, there is more going on.

Surely, the mass murder of animals by hunters reflects this. Despite the claim by hunters that  they are just feeding the family, or getting out to enjoy the great outdoors, there is more going on. This page illustrates that extra element so well. The hunters are not simply killing animals out of necessity – they enjoy it. They display a release of sorts, the pent-up anger and an outpouring of hatred and complete lack of empathy for the animals concerned is sickening.

The animals are the objects of a human totalitarian terror regime. They have no rights, no identity, no name. They are nothing but a body with which the hunters can pose alongside, dismember and turn into trophies.

Arendt reflected on the nature of totalitarian human societies. Extending that thought to human treatment of animals can reveal some alarming parallels. The animals are the objects of a human totalitarian terror regime. They have no rights, no identity, no name. They are nothing but a body with which the hunters can pose alongside, dismember and turn into trophies. They are objects of blood lust and anger, of people who feel so dispossessed and alienated in life that they take out their frustration on defenseless animals.

We live in a pathological global society based on a depraved sense of human superiority over animal subjects. We need to change our relationship with animals if we are going to survive not only this pandemic but mitigate against future ones.

Messing with the bodies of dead animals is how we got ourselves into this Covid-19 mess. It is not only cruel, but socially irresponsible to foster and sanction this kind of behavior through Facebook.

I acknowledge that in the New Zealand context mice and rats are considered ‘pests’ as they are not part of the natural ecosystem but were introduced.  As mentioned, they may also spread disease – not that this seems to be bothering the members of this group.

But that does not mean we should glorify and gamify their deaths. And it does not mean we should turn a blind eye to deliberate animal cruelty.

 

Dr Lynley Tulloch is an animal rights advocate and lectures in Education.

Facing Our Global Crisis: A Time For Reflection And Awakening

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

This article by End Animal Slaughter contributor Dr Joanne Kong provides a profound and timely message:  Covid-19 is an opportunity for reflection and change, to “move beyond self-interest, material gain, division and conflict, to an elevated awareness that we are all connected as equals…”   We are called on to create a new world, where our food is not borne of exploitation of, and violence to, other beings, and where we protect and nurture the living planet.   

Joanne is a vegan and animal advocate, speaker, writer, classical concert pianist, and professor at the University of Richmond.  Be sure to check out her links at the bottom of the article.

 

Like so many others, I’ve realized that a new reality has set in, where we’re facing threats to our survivability, unprecedented in our lifetimes.  Yes, these are frightening times, not only because of the dire threats of the COVID-19 virus to our health, but because we’re undergoing, out of necessity, drastic changes in our daily habits and the ways in which we interact with others.

More than ever before, this global pandemic has become a driving force for us to re-examine our place in the world.

This is not to minimize mankind’s extraordinary achievements, the progress we’ve made in so many areas of human endeavor, and the immense advances we’ve made in science and technology.  It’s those very advances that have allowed us to remain, albeit remotely, connected to each other, and maintain awareness of the rapidly-shifting landscape of the crisis we’re in.

Somewhere, along the way, our society has lost a sense of connection to the natural world that surrounds us.

But somewhere along the way, our society has lost a sense of connection to the natural world that surrounds us.  I’m certainly not an expert on global health, life sciences, or the complexities of the earth’s ecosystems.  But it’s just become more and more apparent to me how the collective actions, attitudes, and energies that we put out into the world do indeed reflect back to us, and become manifest.  In these times, we’re seeing the truth of that saying, “All things connect.”

So I share here some of the thoughts, observations and reflections I’ve had over the past couple weeks.  I’m sure that some of you have had these thoughts as well, and others of your own that reflect your own unique lens on the world.  I think that sharing our perceptions with each other can be valuable ways to communicate meaningfully, as we grow and transform our lives through this difficult time.

  • A Clear Warning Shot

If nothing else, the current global pandemic is a direct sign that humans must move away from exploitation of animals.  In not doing so, we will continue to put our own lives in peril.  It’s not as if we haven’t received warnings before – the Spanish flu, SARS, MERS, avian flu, swine flu, salmonella, Ebola – all stem from animal exploitation.

  • Exploitation of Animals and Nature

I hope that the coronavirus pandemic leads us to conscious global awakening and awareness of how our actions are wreaking destruction on the planet.  Industrialized animal agriculture, fossil fuel use, deforestation, pollution, urbanization, mining, decimation of sea life – all have led to a staggering loss of habitat and biodiversity.

I hope that the coronavirus pandemic leads us to conscious global awakening and awareness of how our actions are wreaking destruction on the planet.  Industrialized animal agriculture, fossil fuel use, deforestation, pollution, urbanization, mining, decimation of sea life – all have led to a staggering loss of habitat and biodiversity.  As David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, wrote:  “We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbor so many species of animals and plants – and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses.  We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets.  We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host.  Often, we are it.”  Over 70% of emerging infectious diseases can be traced to animals.  Our species cannot expect to survive if we continue to perpetuate our egocentric view of the world, that the earth’s resources are inexhaustible and its inhabitants expendable.

  • Our Response to Crises

How successfully we deal with this challenge and the many more that are sure to come, will depend upon our ability to aggressively pursue preventive courses of action.  This is inherently difficult, as one could argue that it’s a part of human nature to be more reactive than proactive; we can feel powerless and distant from being part of the solution, waiting until circumstances become so dire that we are then forced to address the problem.  Once the challenge of the moment passes, will we only fall back to our usual habits and complacency, until the next crisis arrives?

  • The Greatest Cognitive Dissonance of Our Time

The damage of animal agriculture is a symptom of something much deeper than its physical effects.  For it is a denial, a contradiction and a betrayal in the most violent way, of our most precious and powerful instinct – compassion.

The damage of animal agriculture is a symptom of something much deeper than its physical effects.  For it is a denial, a contradiction and a betrayal in the most violent way, of our most precious and powerful instinct – compassion.  Our ability to feel for others is at the center of our hearts.  Certainly many of us, especially those of us with companion animals, would say, “I love animals!”  Yet in what is the greatest cognitive dissonance of our time, society turns a blind eye to the billions of animals who suffer a brutal death.  It’s an invisible thread in our lives, so deeply embedded that most of society never questions, let alone gives thought to it.  More than ever, it is time to open our eyes, our minds and above all our hearts.

  • Going Vegan is the Most Powerful Action You Can Take!

By refusing to exploit the innocent and the vulnerable,  we can truly live the Golden Rule and spread veganism’s positive message that the world needs now, more than ever.

As an ethical vegan and animal advocate, I can say that becoming vegan was the most positive, powerful and transformative decision I ever made.  As many of you can attest, the plant-based lifestyle is so much more than making nutritious food choices; every time we eat whole plant foods, we’re choosing not only good health, but compassion, non-violence, empathy for other beings, a deeper sense of peace, and respect for all life and the planet.  By refusing to exploit the innocent and the vulnerable,  we can truly live the Golden Rule and spread veganism’s positive message that the world needs now, more than ever. Every individual makes a difference!  As Margaret Mead said:  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

  • A Time of Opportunity

I believe that this crisis is a turning point for us, and that in meeting the challenges we face, it will be the best of our human qualities that move us forward:  our intellect, ingenuity, inventiveness, creativity, compassion and determination.

  • A Time of Courage

I like to imagine that a future society looks back upon our time and sees that we were the ones who courageously envisioned a new world.  One in which we’ve moved beyond self-interest, material gain, division and conflict, to an elevated awareness that we are all connected as equals.  One in which we’ve realized a new (even exciting!) future of food that is healing and not borne of violence to other beings.  And a world where we’ve ended the ravages upon our planet, instead, regenerating and preserving its beauty and many gifts.

Follow the work of Dr Joanne Kong

 

www.vegansmakeadifference.com

www.joannekongmusic.com

TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZWzNfOpbCQ

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1MPyy3PoIISF_2JEsIRWwg/playlists

‘The Root of the Problem is Eating Animals’

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on ‘The Root of the Problem is Eating Animals’

Like much of the rest of the world, New Zealand is in lockdown because of Covid-19.  Only the ‘essential’ services continue.  The New Zealand government has stated that slaughterhouses are an essential service.

In this article End Animal Slaughter contributor Dr Lynley Tulloch, and Editor Sandra Kyle, write that not only are slaughterhouses not essential, it is time to close them down permanently.   If breeding, slaughtering, and eating animals is not called to a halt, the appearance of deadly zoonotic diseases and other pathogens will increase at an unprecedented rate.

 

Read the article here

 

Scalded to death because they cannot lay eggs

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

A worker in a Chinese hatchery uses a net to kill newly born male chicks in hot water.  As their little heads bob up, he pushes them down with a wooden spoon while thousands of other fluffy babies await their turn. After dying in agony, these babies’ feathers are removed in a spinning machine before being sold to snake breeders as snake food, or to street vendors to be barbecued.

Not only in China, but across the entire world, billions of day-old male chicks are killed in hatcheries because they cannot lay eggs.  In the West they kill them by grounding them up alive in whirling blades, or gassing them.  

This abomination has gone on for decades only because few people knew about it.  As the truth about abuse and cruelty in the animal agriculture industry becomes more widespread, we move closer to a vegan world. 

Read the article here (WARNING CONTAINS GRAPHIC VIDEO)