Author: Sandra Kyle

All Hands On Deck For the Animals!

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Animal Activist Carl D Scott offers his thoughts on activism, and states that veganism is the least, not the most, we can do.

Carl D Scott is an animal rights activist and blogger based in the city of Ōtepoti/Dunedin, in Aotearoa/New Zealand. He attracted national media attention some years ago when he locked himself in a small cage on the side of the road for a month, to highlight the plight of caged hens.

 

There are many, many, MANY different ways to do activism.

 

It can be as simple as talking to friends and family about veganism. It can be other things like posting on social media, blogging, and running websites; vegan outreach; movie screenings; public talks, seminars, or workshops; vegan cooking classes; hosting vegan potlucks; posters, billboards, stickering; vegan festivals and expos; vegan barbecues, cupcake stalls, or other forms of food outreach; art, music, performance; writing and publishing magazines and books; photography, videos, podcasts; lobbying businesses, politicians, and other influencers; media commentary; AV Cubes; SAVE vigils; DxE disruptions; protests like The Official Animal Rights March or Rodeo protests; and all the other types of activism right through the spectrum, to disruptions, investigations, open rescues, and direct action lock ons.

Additionally, donating money to individuals (sometimes through a Patreon account) or groups doing activism, can even be thought of as a form of activism in itself.

Not everyone can or wants to do disruptions, protests, or direct actions, for a whole range of legitimate reasons. Some have physical or mental health problems. Others experience significant anxiety in social situations, especially when it involves tension or confrontation. Others have family commitments. Some people have to be mindful how activism will impact on their careers. Others are already very busy involved with other activist causes and movements.

And that’s all ok. All of us have different strengths, talents, and abilities. Each of us has something unique to bring to the table. We each have our niche within the movement. We all have something important and valuable to contribute.

But each of us must contribute in whatever ways we can, if we can. It is simply not fair to let a small handful of activists do all the work.

The problem of animal exploitation is gargantuan in scale. It is estimated that nearly 3 trillion animals are killed by our species every year. The problem is also extreme in severity. Most of the 75 billion land animals we kill annually live their short miserable existences in the hell-on-earth nightmares, we call factory farms. This means severe levels of suffering, often over long periods of weeks, months, or even years. And they all – land animals and marine animals alike – die violent, horrible deaths, usually at a very young age, and always against their will to live.

 

Then there is the massive and serious environmental destruction being caused by industrial animal agriculture and the commercial fishing industry. There are also the millions of people in the West dying needlessly from diseases of excess caused at least in part from consumption of animal products, while other millions in poor nations starve to death because we are giving food they could be eating to farmed animals. Animals also suffer and die in entertainment, for clothing, for scientific research, teaching, and testing, and in other ways too. There are other associated human rights issues as well.

Let’s be frank about this. Let’s say it out loud. We are trying to end the most horrific injustice in history. The suffering and death involved in the animal exploitation industries is not a ‘problem’ or an ‘issue’. It is a crisis. An emergency. Every year we drag our heels, another 2.8 trillion (approximately) animals suffer and die.   I truly believe we can win this. With climate change being a major issue, and with animal agriculture being a major culprit, people are finally listening.

If we’re going to get anywhere, we need all hands on deck. We need as many vegans as possible to be activists. And we need every activist to do as much activism as they can, as often as they can, in whatever ways they can.

However…. This has got to be said. History has proven again and again and again, that the more confronting methods of activism, such as disruptions and direct actions are actually the most effective methods for creating rapid and meaningful change. King, Gandhi, and countless others have demonstrated that. It simply cannot be disputed.

So the bottom line is this: The more people we have doing the more confronting forms of activism, the faster we will make progress.

Photo credit: Diego Casanova

Yes, they do have to be well managed to achieve maximum impact. All forms of activism should strive to reach the highest levels of professionalism possible to achieve credibility for our cause, and to effectively win hearts and minds.  As well as being well organised, hopefully it goes without saying that such actions need to be non-violent.

We shouldn’t let the desire for high standards stop us from getting out there and giving it a go. Everyone has to start somewhere. And while I would always encourage people to do some homework before they do something, I would also say that we shouldn’t let our lack of experience stop us from getting out there and giving it our best shot. Almost all of the experienced, veteran activists made mistakes when they were starting out. I think they forget that sometimes.

We are human. We all make mistakes. It’s inevitable and unavoidable. And it’s ok. As long as we learn from them, and keep trying to get better as we go. I’ve made many mistakes in my activism. I will probably make more. But I keep trying to do better, and ultimately that’s all anyone can ask of anyone. That we do our best, and keep trying to do better.

And while some vegans genuinely can’t do activism, many of us who are active feel extremely frustrated by what we perceive as apathy or laziness by people who really, actually could be doing more. Those of us who are out there busting our guts to make progress, while others seem content to sit on the sidelines and let us do all the work have a right to feel frustrated by that, and to express that frustration. Don’t we? Why should it only be a tiny handful doing everything? Is that fair?

If you know about the problems, and you understand the solutions, you have a moral duty to do something about it. That can take different forms, but we must all contribute. Being vegan is not the most we can do. It is the very least.

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Slaughterhouse Vigil, Land Meats, Whanganui, 22 September, 2019

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 4 Comments on Slaughterhouse Vigil, Land Meats, Whanganui, 22 September, 2019

End Animal Slaughter’s Sandra Kyle does vigils under the banner of the Animal Save Movement, a worldwide organisation bearing witness to animals going to slaughter.

 

SLAUGHTERHOUSE VIGIL, Whanganui, 22 September 2019

I have been doing weekly vigils for so long now that it’s likely many people don’t bother reading about them any more. Four years of blogging about standing outside a slaughterhouse with my signs, once – now twice – a week. It must all get tiresomely repetitive. I have always tried to make my reports interesting, to keep drawing attention to the existence of these infernal places. Like a flea that won’t go away, I persist. But I’m also getting a bit tired of it all. So today I’ll be briefer, spare my efforts for once. I just want to say a few words about Cow No. 174.

I was able to get close to her because she arrived behind another truck being unloaded, and it was parked just outside the slaughterhouse boundary. I ached to put my hand inside the truck and stroke her and her sisters, but the groundsman was there, his phone at the ready to ring the Plant Manager, who has threatened to call the police. I had forgotten to charge my Bluetooth speaker so I had no music to play. Instead, I spoke to her and her sisters to try to comfort them. ‘Hey baby, how you doing? What a beautiful girl you are. How do you feel my lovely? Don’t be frightened. It’s alright. Everything is going to be alright. Don’t worry about anything my sweet girl!’

I nearly choked with despair at the inanity of my words. Of course it wasn’t alright! How could it be alright? She was going to spend a cold, hungry and frightened night in a pen and then someone was going to beat her with a stick, or electrocute her with a rod, to get her to walk up a ramp where someone was waiting to shatter her brains, and someone else was waiting to open her neck.

I nearly choked with despair at the inanity of my words. Of course it wasn’t alright! How could it be alright? She was going to spend a cold, hungry and frightened night in a pen and then someone was going to beat her with a stick, or electrocute her with a rod, to get her to walk up a ramp where someone was waiting to shatter her brains, and someone else was waiting to open her neck.

Tomorrow morning the blood of Number 174 will be splattered on the apron of her slaughterer and pooled on the concrete floor where he stands. Her heart will be thumping and throat will be tight up to the moment she loses consciousness, her last moments filled with fear and loneliness. And there’s not one single thing I can do to save her.

I know by common yardsticks some would call me a fool for doing these vigils and my other efforts to help animals. But I think that’s because such people are using the wrong criteria to judge me. I’m no longer a Christian, but I remember that somewhere in Corinthians it says: ‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.’ I have my own criteria. I know where to seek, and how to listen. I’m just not listening to the same things they are.

Meteor, the fugitive from slaughter, will probably have his life spared

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

It is not only Meteor the fugitive yak who should be spared from slaughter.   All animals should be, writes End Animal Slaughter contributor LYNLEY TULLOCH 

 

When animals escape from the slaughter house truck, there is often media interest. I often wonder what it is about this scenario that captures the public imagination so much?

A recent story reported by BBC news, concerns an “aloof yak” who has gone on the run following his escape from a farm truck on the way to the butcher. This yak has a name – Meteor – and he has been raised for meat on a small family farm in Buckingham, in Rural Virginia.

After his escape, it is reported that Meteor crashed through a stop sign. He also visited several locations, including the grounds of Orchard House Bed and Breakfast. He looked “happy to be there” according to the B&B owner Deb Verplank. However, when an animal control officer and four policemen showed, Meteor didn’t hang around.   “I really think Meteor knew what was going on and where he was headed, and decided it wasn’t for him” said Verplank.

It strikes me as strange that one of the very reasons people feel comfortable with eating animals (their diminished rationality) now stands out as the reason that he should be saved. Verplank called him ‘smart’, and wants him to live. Is Meteor a stand-alone intelligent bull who deserves to live, whereas the rest must die?  I don’t think Meteor is smarter than other bulls, and even if he is, this should not be a reason to save his life.

I don’t think Meteor is smarter than other bulls, and even if he is, this should not be a reason to save his life. 

Having raised bovines myself I know that they will attempt to sav themselves when in perceived danger. Being on a moving truck is terrifying for them, and given the opportunity, a single animal will do anything possible to find his way back to the safety of the herd.  The movement, the noise of the engine and other loud, unusual sounds and smells will spook any bovine. Meteor managed to escape, but he is no different from any other bull.  He is not a hero, but a desperate animal who knows his life is in danger, and is trying to get back to safety.

Right now Meteor will be terrified, alone, without a herd, and let down in the worst possible way by the people who claimed to care for him – the farmers themselves, who were sending him to slaughter.

Right now Meteor will be terrified, alone, without a herd, and let down in the worst possible way by the people who claimed to care for him – the farmers themselves, who were sending him to slaughter.

There is also another theme that emerges during these kind of escapes. The animals are often referred to using language suited for an escaped prisoner. The BBC reported that Meteor was ‘on the loose’ and ‘missing’ and ‘currently on the run’. So on the one hand, Meteor has become a minor celebrity and on the other, he is a felon.   He is the felon that everyone is rooting for, even while they tuck into a beef burger.

I know a lot of people find his story amusing. I just find it desperately sad. Meteor is said to have headed for the mountains.   He has his freedom, but he will be suffering. He has lost the only home he ever knew, and the herd he belonged to as well. He will be feeling very vulnerable and traumatized.

The layers of meaning attached to Meteor’s story is typical of such stories.   The animal is smart, knew his fate, attempted a daring escape and therefore deserves to live.  It looks like Meteor’s life may be spared, as ‘owner’ Robert Cissell was reported as saying that he would ‘live out his life, now he is a celebrity’.

I really hope Meteor is allowed to live out his natural life.  All animals deserve to, Meteor included.

See also:

Cow swam for over 5 hours in a desperate attempt to escape certain death, but was slaughtered that night.  

 

REFLECTIONS FROM A TRAVELLING VEGAN

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on REFLECTIONS FROM A TRAVELLING VEGAN

End Animal Slaughter contributor MAYA COHEN-ROHEN’S family getaway triggered reflections on the ugly reality behind New Zealand’s picturesque fields and peaceful herds.  

 

A ski-ing holiday was just the ticket for vegan mother and author, Maya Cohen-Ronen

 

My family has Just returned from a fantastic three-day stay at and around the Whakapapa ski field, Ruapehu, one of New Zealand’s premiere alpine locations.   From our home in Wellington, the capital, we travelled by car all the way north to Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island, and back again.   There are no complaints about the weather – Mother Nature turned on both some beautiful dry spells, as well as a snow blizzard!  It was a lovely experience up on the ski field to look out and see a layer of fresh powdery snow brighten the slopes.

It was a family escape, a welcomed break, and also a memorable experience. We had no trouble finding vegan food and we were served a sumptuous vegan high tea in our hotel.  Everything was fantastic about our holiday, except for two things.

The first, which most New Zealand animal guardians would recognise, is the painful inability to travel with companion animals in our country. It is near-impossible to find a hotel with a policy of accepting animals, and even leaving them in the car while walking out and about is strictly prohibited in places like the Tongariro National Park.  We had no choice but to book our dog Phoebe into a kennel on the way. It was a good facility, but we were saddened to leave her behind. She, of course, did not understand that it was just a temporary arrangement, so the sense of betrayal was excruciating.   Compared with how easy it was to travel almost everywhere with our beloved Luther (Rip) when we lived in Scotland, New Zealand is lagging way behind.

 

The family’s beloved dog Phoebe goes with them everywhere.

 

The second, is… we saw so many cows.

SO. MANY. COWS.

FIELDS AND FIELDS of cows.

Some were males, some dairy cows, some bulls, some heifers. Slaves one and all to the profiteers of the meat and dairy industries. Short-lived victims of oblivious addicts to their flesh and secretions. I wonder how people who cannot live without their steak and cheese see them as they stand, innocent and peaceful,  in the fields.   Sometimes I think they don’t even see them at all.

But we did. And it was horrid. It is now spring, calving season.  As we were arriving we gushed at fields full of beautiful, precious young babies. On our way home, these babies were already separated from their mothers so the lactating, grieving cows could “give us” their milk. So young and helpless, some of the calves were not even ready to stand yet!  We also saw a lot of sheep and adorable lambs everywhere. The lambs were all so playful. I saw one running to her mother, who was calling her, just like my daughter would run to me. Somewhere else, two curious babies were exploring a little pond together. They were all so cute and childlike, oblivious to the fate of cruel, bloody slaughter awaiting them in just a few months.  Seeing all this I was angry.  I felt like screaming.  This is all because of us. Flesh eating zombies move amongst us! The cafeteria at Whakapapa stank with the stench of rotting corpses covered in sauce. Can meat-eaters even smell the stink of their choices, I wonder?

If you consume meat and dairy, please wake up!  Open your eyes and see what vegans see!  Stop being the cause of innocent animals suffering.

Release yourselves from the matrix and exit gracefully.  You will never regret it.

Maya is the author of a dystopian thriller ‘The Shed’, and is currently working on her second book.

Horrific slaughter of whales in the name of culture and tradition

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Although the International Whaling Commission was set up in 1942 to help whales recover from over-hunting, whale slaughter is still carried out by nations who defend it as their cultural heritage.   

Last week the waters of a peaceful bay in the Danish Faroe Islands turned red as their annual whale hunt took place.  End Animal Slaughter contributor LYNLEY TULLOCH describes the gruesome killing of whales in the second of her ‘Slaughterhouses of the Sea’ series.

 

Recent reports of a whale hunt (called a grindadráp, or grind) in the Faroe islands, 400 miles of the coast of the UK, gave me the chills. This was the tenth grind this year, where 536 pilot whales have been killed in total,  butchered after fishermen drove the whales into shore. They were slaughtered without mercy as the sea turned red (feature photo). Images of children and adults dismembering the whales amid laughter and chatter, while tourists snap photos, is horrifying.  One photo showed a fully formed pup lying perfectly formed, nestled among her dead mother’s organs.

A perfectly formed pup inside their butchered mother

The Faroe islanders  call their whale grind, practiced since the time Norsemen first settled there,  a humane and sustainable custom. They say that respect is shown to the whales. And yet reports suggest that it is a depraved blood fest with many whales dying prolonged and agonizing deaths. Attempts to paralyze some whales with a lance before killing them has multiple failure attempts. After paralyzing them, men tie ropes with metal hooks around the whales and drag them to shore to be killed.  They slice through the whale’s spinal cord and main artery, keeping one hand behind the blow hole. The blood flows into the water staining it a bright red. And they carry this out amid children.

Reports suggest that it is a depraved blood fest with many whales dying prolonged and agonising deaths.

Pilot whales are not actually whales. They are part of the dolphin family, but get very large. They are generally friendly and sociable, and do not usually harm humans.  It makes their horrifying deaths excruciatingly sad.

New Zealand has its own horror stories when it comes to whales. Despite currently having some of the best whale protection laws in the world, we once killed whales with the same abandon shown by the Faroe islanders. Research by Anne M Creason has shown that “Visitors to New Zealand in the mid-1800s commented on the indiscriminate practices of whalers in killing female whales and calves. Creason argues that Maori people traditionally consider whales as taonga (treasure), a sacred gift from Tangaroa (God of the sea) and that this has heavily influenced the strong whale protection stance we currently have.

Maori people traditionally consider whales as taonga (treasure), a sacred gift from Tangaroa, God of the Sea.

Culture most definitely influences our views and treatment of nonhuman animals, and whales are no exception. Commercial whaling has been banned in most countries owing to concerns of extinction from over hunting during the 18th and 19th centuries. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was set up in 1942  to help whales recover. On 23 July 1982, members of the IWC voted to implement a pause on commercial whaling and signed a moratorium.

But not all nations are on board with this. There are still three main whaling nations – Japan , Norway and Iceland. These nations practice commercial whaling.  Norway filed an objection to the moratorium, and now kills more than 400 minke whales a year. Japan has recently withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission and so is no longer subject to its laws. In Japan whale meat is highly prized. After 30 years of no commercial whaling, it has begun the killing again, in earnest. Even before this, Japan killed whales for what it claimed were ‘research purposes’. For example, last year, under the banner of research Japan went into Ross Sea – an area of the Antarctica set aside for special protection – and killed 50 minke whales.

‘Bombed’ whale is hauled into a Japanese whaler

The worst part is that commercial killing of whales is a destructive and violent act, causing immense pain and prolonged agony in many cases. Commercial whaling fleets kill whales with an explosive 30-gram penthrite grenade-armed harpoon. They often finish the job with a second grenade and high powered rifles.  The explosives go off once the harpoon is embedded a foot into the whale’s flesh. While this is supposed to cause sufficient brain damage to knock the whale out in seconds, it is definitely not an exact science.

Q&A: Tara Jackson, Executive Director, New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on Q&A: Tara Jackson, Executive Director, New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society

1 Tara, what are the statistics around laboratory testing on animals in New Zealand?   Is it different from comparable countries, say Australia and the US?

In NZ animals manipulated for claimed scientific purposes are categorised by the government into three groups — research, testing and teaching (RTT).

Approximately 300,000 animals are used for research, testing and teaching (RTT) in NZ every year.

New Zealand’s latest animal usage statistics (compiled and released by the NZ government) can be found on this page

The most commonly used animals for RTT in 2016 were cows, sheep, fish, mice and birds with cows ranking at #1. In other countries the most commonly used animals for claimed scientific purposes are normally mice or rats. In NZ we are unique in that a lot of research goes into trying to enhance the animal agriculture industry, which explains why cows and sheep ranked the #1 and #2 most used animal in RTT in 2016. You can read more about this here https://nzavs.org.nz/articles/vivisection-and-agriculture/

2 Where are they tested on, and who by?

At least 139 different facilities across NZ use animals for RTT.

We don’t have a complete list of all the facilities who use animals for RTT in NZ. We only have access to the list of facilities which had an approved code of ethical conduct or had a notified arrangements to use an approved code in 2016 here.

In short, places that use animals for research, testing or teaching purposes can be found all over NZ. Universities, Commercial organisations, Crown Research Institutes, Government departments, Polytechnics and Schools all use animals for RTT purposes in NZ.

Most animal labs will be well hidden, and you may walk or drive past one on a daily basis without even knowing. For example, the University of Otago’s animal lab is on the top story of the Hercus Building which is right in the heart of Dunedin.

3 Can you give us some examples of the type of tests animals endure and the reasons for them?

Animal testing and experimentation is often detrimental to the individual animals involved. Examples happening in NZ include:

  • Forcing animals to inhale toxic substances
  • Force-feeding or injecting animals with potentially lethal substances
  • Subjecting animals to situations whereby they are deprived of their basic needs (food, water, shelter, sunlight, air, companionship)
  • Putting animals in terrifying situations to create depression and anxiety
  • Creating illness, disease or injury deliberately by subjecting healthy animals to invasive medical procedures such as removing organs or tissues.
  • Killing animals to use their bodies in dissections.
  • Purposefully breeding animals to create offspring that are more susceptible to disease, pain or distress during their life.

One example of an awful animal test happening in NZ is the Forced Swim Test. The Forced Swim Test is a cruel and invalid animal test that is used as a misguided attempt to mimic depression or hopelessness in humans. A small animal, usually a mouse or rat, is given an experimental treatment and then placed into a beaker partially filled with water.

Unable to escape, the animal will paddle desperately until they give up and float. Many animals are terrified. The amount of time that the animal spends struggling versus floating is measured. The claim is that when animals spend more time floating, they are deemed to be more “depressed.” See a short video demonstrating this here. You can find out more about this test here https://nzavs.org.nz/forced-swim-test/

4 Animals are not being tested on all the time. Describe their life in a laboratory.

There is no one mould that fits all animals for this, some animals will spend their entire life without seeing sunlight or breathing in fresh air in an overcrowded cage with nothing but a paper towel to play with, while others will spend their lives in spacious paddocks with other animals.

There are also breeding units in NZ where animals are used for RTT and then returned back to the breeding unit until the next time they are “needed.”

5 Many animals are sacrificed for classroom biology experiments.   What do you say about vivisection in our schools? 

There are so many teaching methods available that don’t involve the use of animals (dead or alive), it is utterly pointless to dissect animal bodies.

From amazing virtual learning, books and sophisticated models to computer models, the animal-free options are endless!  Animals don’t need to be sacrificed for their anatomy to be learnt by high school students, humane education is the way forward for animals and students.

There are many reasons why humane education is better than harmfully using animals including:

Animals are saved

Some animals are bred and killed for the sole purpose of being used in animal dissections. If a humane alternative is used instead, these animals can be rehomed, or they may never have been bred for this purpose in the first place! Animals are sentient and should be treated with love and respect, they should not be treated as if they are mere lab tools.

Dissecting animals may also teach students that the right, and perhaps only way to study biology is to kill animals and take them apart which we know isn’t true. It’s important that children learn to have compassion for animals and to recognise each animal’s inherent worth.

The impact on student well-being is minimised 

No student is going to be negatively emotionally impacted by using a humane teaching method. However, the same cannot be said for teaching exercises that harm animals. For the students who don’t disconnect with what is happening, they could be left with psychological trauma. Stressful situations like this may also put students off wanting to pursue a career in science.

Learning outcomes are achieved  

Students often perform just as well, if not better when using non-animal alternatives. These alternatives can be repeated to consolidate learning and they remove the emotional trauma that animal dissections can cause some students. Learning can be impacted by a negative emotional state, students that are uncomfortable when participating in an animal-based teaching exercise, may not learn or retain information as well.

Humane Education fulfills already existing guidelines

The principle of Replacement is promoted in NZ law. This principle states that institutes and individuals should replace the use of animals in teaching by substituting for animals, where appropriate, non-sentient or non-living alternatives, or by imparting the information in another way.
Many non-animal alternatives for dissection exist and students can meet their learning goals without using animals, so it is our ethical responsibility to use non-animal alternatives instead of animals.

When schools and tertiary institutes choose to use Humane Education to teach their students, they fulfill already existing guidelines such as the Principle of Replacement. 

6 What are the alternatives to animal testing?

The short answer: There are so many viable methods of research, testing and teaching that don’t involve the harmful use of animals!

The long answer: There are many different types of research, testing and teaching and there are viable non-animal-based methods for many of these.

There is also a strong need for more non-animal-based methods to be developed — Where there are gaps there are also opportunities to create viable and humane methods.

Animals are not appropriate models for predicting the human response so when it comes to finding viable research methods for medical advancement, we need to make sure our start point is accurate — this is where human-relevant research is important

Non-animal based and human relevant methods include using scanning technologies, micro-dosing, microfluidic devices, isolated organs, sophisticated computer programs, human tissues or organ systems, Epidemiology and more! Read about these humane and viable methods here https://nzavs.org.nz/the-solutions

7 Do you think our Government needs to legislate against animal testing?   

Absolutely. Instead of sticking to what has always been done, we should strive for what is best, both ethically and scientifically, and that is ending all animal experimentation.

At NZAVS our mission is to end animal experimentation and the harmful use of animals for research, testing and teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand – for animals, people and science.

Find out more and join our cause here https://nzavs.org.nz

Thankyou for your time, Tara!

Voices For Animals Across The Years: Donald Watson, Father of the Vegan Movement

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Vegetarianism has been around for a very long time. Some ancient Greek philosophers, such as Epicurus, advocated abstaining from animal flesh, and the religious sects of Buddhism and Hinduism have encouraged vegetarianism for hundreds of years. Although it is not clear who invented the word ‘vegetarian’ it came into common usage in the 1830s when it was mainly associated with religious conservatives.  Even today the Church of the Seventh-Day Adventists encourages a vegetarian diet.

We do know who popularised the term ‘vegan’ though.  It was Donald Watson, whose wife Dorothy came up with the name as depicting ‘the beginning and the end of ‘vegetarian’.   

Born into a mining community in Mexborough, Yorkshire, UK, Watson  grew up in an environment where the concept of vegetarianism, let alone veganism, was something unheard of. As a child, he used to visit his Uncle George’s farm, where he saw a pig being slaughtered.  This incident traumatised him, leading him to take a New Year’s Resolution never to eat meat again when he was only 14.

He later wrote of his farm experience:

I was surrounded by interesting animals. They all “gave” something: the farm horse pulled the plough, the lighter horse pulled the trap, the cows “gave” milk, the hens “gave” eggs and the cockerel was a useful “alarm clock” – I didn’t realise at that time that he had another function, too. The sheep “gave” wool. I could never understand what the pigs “gave”, but they seemed such friendly creatures – always glad to see me.[4]

Watson was a committed pacifist throughout his long life and, together with his siblings, was a conscientious objector during the Second World War.  When she learned about this their conservative mother famously said that she ‘ felt like a hen that had hatched a clutch of duck eggs!’.

Watson spent most of his adult life in Cumbria; where he pursued his outdoor interests, such as walking and cycling, and also gardening (he was always very careful to try not to kill worms and other insects when he was digging).

He truly believed in the benefits of following a vegan lifestyle, free of all harmful toxins and animal products.  Because of the association of medication with vivisection and animal testing, he never took medication of any sort throughout his life.

He once said his biggest achievement would be to die peacefully in his sleep when his body would be worn out, and this is what happened in 2005 when he was 95.

Donald Watson would be mighty proud to see what the non-violent, harmless diet he advocated is beginning to transform the world.

 

Donald Watson lived to the age of 95 abstaining from dairy products, eggs and honey.  He never took any kind of medication during  his long, healthy and productive life.

 

 

Read more here:

https://www.vegansociety.com/about-us/history

Slaughterhouse Vigil, Whanganui, New Zealand 1 September 2019

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle | 2 Comments on Slaughterhouse Vigil, Whanganui, New Zealand 1 September 2019

End Animal Slaughter website owner Sandra Kyle has been attending and documenting slaughterhouse vigils for years, the last several under The Save Movement banner.

This is her latest vigil, at the AFFCO Imlay slaughterhouse in Whanganui, New Zealand.

 

SLAUGHTERHOUSE VIGIL: FIRST DAY OF SPRING 2019

My Vigil partner Monica is still away so I did the Vigil alone today, at the slaughterhouse that specialises in killing sheep and bobby calfs, main male babies, slaughtered at just days old because they are a ‘waste product’ in the dairy industry. I was hopeful I would bear witness to a truckful of bobbies, as many are being born and transported around now  (two million average are killed every year in New Zealand).   However, none came while I was there.

Instead, a load of sheep arrived. The road between Whanganui and  Palmerston North an hour’s drive away are filled at the moment with mother sheep sitting in paddocks with their little lambs, who trot after them wherever they go. I wonder how many babies are missing their mothers today, and if any of the girls in my photos are pining for their offspring? At Christmas it will be the lambs’ turn to board the truck for the slaughterhouse, and then the horror cycle will start all over again.

In Christianity and other schools of thought lambs are a symbol of purity and cleanliness. For reason of his stainless nature (and also because he was ‘sacrificed’) Jesus Christ was called the ‘Lamb of God’. But not only lambs, all animals are free from sin. They are completely innocent. And instead of loving and protecting them we slaughter them on an industrial scale, the most relentless, heartless and destructive behaviour ever inflicted on sentient beings.

Look into the faces of these sheep, and recall RALPH WALDO EMERSON:-

“You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.”

RIP dear sentient beings.  We will continue fighting for you.

 

 

 

Courageous Compassion – Humanity’s Ethical Evolution

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Distinguished Musician Dr. Joanne Kong is one of the most compelling advocates for compassionate change on the planet at the present time.  Her powerful talks and videos are raising ethical awareness that greater compassion for animals and our planet are vitally necessary for our spiritual growth and a transformed world.

She will appear in two upcoming documentaries – “Eating Our Way to Extinction” and “Taking Note” about vegan musicians. Dr. Kong is author of “If You’ve Ever Loved an Animal, Go Vegan,”  and her profile is included in the newly-released book LEGENDS OF CHANGE about vegan women who are changing the world.

Here are some excerpts from the Video:

(We call upon) the world community and global leaders to acknowledge and bring to the forefront the single most destructive industry that our kind engages in – the exploitation of non-human animals’.

 

‘This is the greatest crime of humanity. Suffering, violence and death that defies comprehension, the most atrocious and heartless acts ever inflicted upon a group of living beings. And it is committed with indifference on a massive scale every second of every day’.‘We (vegans) have brought ourselves to full conscious awareness of the horrific injustices brought against animals suffering cruelty and violence that most people refuse to see. (We are experiencing) a deepening sense of spirituality about how we see ourselves in relation to the world around us’.

 

‘The world will awaken to a new level of compassionate awareness…’

Watch the Video:

Commercially produced free-range eggs come at a terrible price

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Many people defend their consumption of eggs by claiming they only buy free-range.   But the premium price they pay includes the maceration of billions of baby roosters every year.  End Animal Slaughter guest contributor JOY ANN SATCHELL explains why.

 

 

So many people defend their consumption of eggs by claiming they only buy free range. Do they have any idea where the free range laying hens come from?

Laying hens, such as Brown Shavers, a favourite in the egg industry, are kept penned up in hatching facilities, laying eggs day every day.  The point of difference between them and their egg-laying sisters in factory farms is that their eggs are fertile. Just like their sisters, their eggs are taken from them, so they keep on laying.

These eggs are destined not for eating by humans, but for incubation.   They are placed in huge incubators clinically kept at the right temperature, providing optimum conditions for the little chicks to grow.   For these babies there is no sitting beneath their sweet mother, listening to her clucking through their fragile shell.

For these babies there is no sitting beneath their sweet mother, listening to her clucking through their fragile shell.

A few days before hatching their doom is upon them.   They are transferred to hatching baskets, and once they emerge, they go through a sorting process carried out by people standing either side of a conveyor belt, trained to identify the sex of the chick, and then the male chicks are separated from female chicks.

Female chicks are placed into plastic crates and are sent immediately to another farm, one which will feed them until they are old enough to start laying. Then they are sent off to their next home, free range or not, as the case may be. They then spend the next year or so as egg-laying slaves. Then exhausted, spent, they are sent to slaughter.

What about the wee day old male chicks though?   They are an unwanted by-product, so their doom is to be suffocated immediately, or as this photo depicts, fed live into a grinder.   This is, by the way, an SPCA-approved method of disposal.

I think one of the saddest things I have ever seen is the little male chick, spreading his day-old wings in a futile attempt to fly.

I think one of the saddest things I have ever seen is the little male chick, spreading his day-old wings in a futile attempt to fly.

If you consume eggs, this is what you support.    Eggs are laid at a tremendous cost of suffering, cruelty and slaughter.

Go Vegan.

The Chinese Fur Industry Is Cruel and Heartless

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Think about your beloved companion dog. He or she pulls at your heart strings, right?   They are really smart, but what you especially treasure is their loving and loyal nature.   They greet you like you’ve been gone a year when you’ve only been gone five minutes!  Their joy is infectious, whether you’re proposing a meal, a ride in the car, or a walk.    They help to relieve your stress by just being at your side, and they love you unconditionally.  They never make you feel guilty, and if anything, blame themselves before blaming you.  Uncannily they know when you’re feeling depressed or sad, and will come and put a paw on your lap or look up at you as if to say ‘Don’t worry, you’ve got me!’.  

Now think of your beloved companion cat.  You know he or she is intelligent, and that cats have personalities as varied as yours or mine.   They are affectionate, and surprisingly loyal. Amusing companions,  they like to perch in high places, and crouch in dark places like cardboard boxes and cupboards, and they get up to other antics they you have probably videoed and put up on Youtube – right?  Comfort loving in the extreme, they will keep your seat warm for you on your favourite chair, which is also the most comfortable in the house, and register their disapproval when asked to vacate it.  When your cat wants something, he or she asks you for it, both loudly and insistently. They are completely adorable, but if they are not happy with you, they will let you know.     A glare, a swish of the tail, a furious and defiant claw scrape of your furniture and you know you’re not in your cat’s good books!   Don’t worry, cats, like dogs, are very forgiving…  

Imagine, then, if your beloved family member were living in a country where ruthless men and women abduct and hunt them for the trade that supplies fur all over the world.

Read PETA’s article about cats, dogs, minks, rabbits, foxes and other animals who are suffering appalling abuses in the lucrative Chinese fur industry.

 

The Enlightened Omnivore

Posted on | by Sandra Kyle

Our ability to eat many kinds of foods has led to our success as a species.   But continuing to eat other animals is ethically unacceptable because of the immeasurable suffering it causes, writes End Animal Slaughter Contributor PAUL STEVENSON.

 

 

Man the Omnivore

Like our closest primate relations, the bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan, Homo sapiens is an omnivore – “all-devouring” – an animal that can eat, and survive on, both plant and animal matter. As well as being able to consume both plant and animal matter, man can eat a vast range of plant foods; and, by means of culture, has created from plants a countless number of foods that do not exist in nature.

Omnivorous animals possess a great advantage as they are able to survive in a wide range of environments and through periods of food scarcity. This ability has allowed man to colonise the world from the equator to the arctic.

Biological Evolution

Evolution is the one constant in nature and there is no such thing as a “finished” species. Omnivores have evolved from widely different backgrounds, e.g. dogs have evolved from primarily carnivorous animals, while pigs are descended from primarily herbivorous ancestors. Man belongs to the Hominidae family, which includes all the primates. Most primate species are omnivorous, although they prefer to eat fruit.

Humans have progressively liberated themselves from the constraints of nature by means of culture. In doing so we have taken charge of our own evolution. This applies to everything we do, including diet, transport, medicine, power, and the homes we live in, just to name the primary aspects of our lives.   All our frugivore primate relations have extended their diets by becoming omnivorous, enabling them to survive – both in place and time – when their preferred foods were scarce. However, man alone has taken this process vastly further than any of the others by means of his culture.

Cultural Evolution

The Neolithic Revolution describes the transformation in human diet by means of the cultivation of cereals, and the development of the first settled societies. Human beings are by nature poorly equipped for eating grains as they are both hard and small; we are basically descended from frugivores not granivores. Our culture alone has enabled us to cultivate, harvest and process grains, transforming them into edible foods; and our ability to store them for lengthy periods permitted the development of permanent settlements.

However, a serious unintended consequence of this over-dependence on grain was a deterioration in nutrition in comparison to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who ate a far wider variety of foods. This process has been reversed in recent centuries, firstly with the spread of many varieties of plants from all over the world, and secondly with the development of biotechnology.

Most of the foods man now eats, plant and animal alike, have been greatly modified by breeding over the course of thousands of years. Biotechnology is taking this process to an entirely new level as it will permit us to create all manner of new foods by assembling them from their basic carbohydrate, fat and protein components. This illustrates the ongoing process of liberation from nature’s constraints, which has been the story of human history”.

Ethical Evolution

Alongside the process of technological development is that of ethics. Ethics is the science of morals and our relationships with others, including both human beings and other creatures. Briefly put, technology concerns what we can do, whereas ethics is concerned with what we should do. Ethics has a vital role to play in the field of agriculture and nutrition as it concerns our treatment of other creatures.

Man has exploited other species for countless millennia, firstly as a hunter-gatherer, then as a herder, and latterly in animal agriculture – including fishing. Throughout this time catering for human nutrition was the primary concern, and the animals involved were seen solely as a means to that end. However, we now know that most of the species we exploit, both on land and at sea, experience life much as we do ourselves, especially in their ability to suffer. We cannot ignore this fact. The evolving field of ethics concerns our treatment of them.

Briefly stated, we have no need of animal foods. We can nourish ourselves adequately on plant foods alone without the need to use any animals at all. The entire animal industry is now ethically unacceptable because of the totally needless suffering it causes.

Health

Health is comprised of two components: physical health, consisting of tangible bodily things; and mental, or emotional health, which consists of the meanings our minds make, its intangible mental creations.

Good health requires both good physical and good mental health. Our minds control our decisions. Human beings have an innate moral bias – we have moral minds. When we treat others well, not just humans but members of other species also, we feel good about ourselves. But when we treat others badly we feel bad inside ourselves. Good or bad feelings inevitably exert their effects on us either consciously or subconsciously. Thus we cannot describe ourselves as being in a good state of health when we feel bad about ourselves for harming others, because we are then in an adverse mental state of health.

The Enlightened Omnivore

We are able to eat other animals because we are omnivores by nature. But just because we are able to does not mean that we should. We know that we can enjoy good physical health without consuming any animal products. In view of the immense range of choices available there can be no possible justification for doing so. Our minds determine our decisions and we can choose to consume foods that contain no animal products.

Eating other animals is ethically unacceptable because of the incalculable, and appalling suffering it causes. We cannot possibly subject other creatures to such agonies and retain a good opinion of ourselves, and therefore cannot describe ourselves in a good state of mental health. Only by treating others with respect and eliminating all brutality can we ever enjoy an overall state of good health, both good physical and good emotional health. Only then can we experience life to the highest degree possible.

When we abandon our brutal exploitation of other creatures we become Enlightened Omnivores. Then we elevate ourselves to a higher plane of existence, to noble beings indeed.

Paintings by Vegan Artist, Lynda Bell