Elon Musk company alleged to cause needless suffering and death in animal experiments

Neuralink, a company owned by Elon Musk, is under US federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations.  Whistleblowers state that the company’s policies are causing needless animal suffering and deaths.  

There is no need to torture and kill sentient beings in the name of science in this day and age.   You would think the world’s richest man would invest in other ways to develop medical science products.   

 

Key points from article:

  • Neuralink is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments
  • Reuters reviewed dozens of Neuralink documents and interviewed more than 20 current and former employees.  They claim that pressure from CEO Musk to accelerate development is resulting in botched experiments 
  • In all, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, following experiments since 2018

Read the Reuters article here

M C Ronen – A Vegan Author On The Rise

“I have the pleasure of knowing Maya Cohen-Ronen (author M C Ronen), and consider her a good friend.  I have read all three of her books so far – The Shed, Liberation, and It Was In Our Hands, collectively known as the Liberation Trilogy.  A little bird has told me she is currently working on an exciting new title, due to be published in 2023.  Maya is a writer whose star is rising, and she uses her considerable skills to advocate for animals and for a better world”.   

-Sandra Kyle, Editor, May Safely Graze

 

This article, by Jackie Norman, was first published in New Zealand Vegan and Plant-Based Living magazine. 

When self-confessed ‘book junkie’ Maya Cohen-Ronen went vegan, she encountered an unexpected problem.  Coming up with the solution has turned her into one of the most globally acclaimed and loved vegan authors in the movement. 

Author and activist_ MC Ronen

Author and activist Maya Cohen-Ronen went vegan overnight in 2012, after realising the horror inflicted on animals by the dairy industry. ‘At the time I was the mother of a young baby and after losing a baby mid-pregnancy myself five years earlier, I couldn’t fathom causing so much pain to another being, a grieving mother, regardless of whether she was a human or cow. Changing our entire household into a vegan one was the best decision I ever made and brought about other positive changes in my life.  I made new friends in the local vegan community, I turned to activism and felt more determined and empowered to speak up’.

A gaping void in ‘safe’ fiction

There was however one downside she had never considered.  ‘I had always been a book junkie.  Fast-paced, suspenseful thrillers, full of plot-twists and cliff-hangers that made my heart race were my preference.  Suddenly, now I was vegan, I could no longer find any reading material – at least, not anything that was ‘safe’.  Every bacon sandwich casually eaten by an otherwise likeable protagonist, every glass of milk they drank, every sausage they fed to their beloved family dog, screamed at me from the pages.

There was blatant animal cruelty, stretched beyond the simple, casual, banal depiction of everyday speciesism.  A protagonist who hunted defenceless animals. A would-be human murderer who built up their courage by torturing cats. Or, as more novelists came to know more vegans, they incorporated them into their fiction as characters used as mockery.  Slowly I found myself reading less and less. The wonderful door to a plethora of imaginary worlds was closing.

Until it hit me. If it didn’t exist, I would write it myself!  Ever since childhood I had written stories. I’d even completed a manuscript once; it’s still gathering dust in the drawer. I knew I had the writing skills, I had just never had a strong enough incentive to use them.  Until now.’  Maya’s mission? To write an incredible fiction book that was safe for vegans to read. A dystopian thriller with plenty of suspense, plot-twists and cliffhangers, just like the genres she enjoyed most.

The Shed

Not just a book – but an outreach tool

That book was ‘The Shed’, which was written under the pen-name M.C Ronen. I confess, I was a little wary of reading it at first, in case it was too horrific or graphic.  That was not Maya’s intention, however. ‘I wrote ‘The Shed’ in a way in which it could also be an outreach tool powerful enough to help pre-vegan readers make the connection, as well as an exciting read for vegans. The vegan message is there, the animal rights message is there, but it’s subtle, she explains.

Was it also part of her plan, to write a trilogy?  ‘In the beginning, I wasn’t confident I could even complete a single book!  While writing The Shed, I sensed the story could potentially develop into sequels, but I wasn’t sure how the book might be received by readers, so was in no hurry to start writing the next one. When they started to respond enthusiastically, however, and demand to have the story continued, I felt obligated not only to my readers but also to Sunny, my protagonist, and to the animals she represented, to give it more.’

With the release of the second book, ‘Liberation’ to an eagerly awaiting audience, readers were again transported into Sunny’s world, where reality and exploitation is turned on its head.  We see Sunny evolve from an innocent girl to a fully-fledged activist and strategist; a leader.  We also get to indulge in some vicarious badass activism.  ‘The gloves come off and the messages are blunter’, Maya tells me.  The author’s love of a fast-paced, suspenseful plot spills gloriously into her writing and many times while ferociously turning the pages I thought to myself, ‘How did she even think of that?’  Still, there was more to come.

‘I felt I had left Sunny in a good place at the end of ‘Liberation’ and was going to take a break’, tells Maya. ‘However, again readers demanded the final instalment of the story and were unrelenting.  I knew I needed to provide them with catharsis, which I hadn’t given them yet with the second book. This set the scene for ‘It Was In Our Hands’; the third and final instalment, in which Sunny’s story is brought to a close in a powerful crescendo of events.’

The Liberation Trilogy

‘It Was In Our Hands’ was released in 2021.  The opening chapters was quite literally jaw dropping.  I couldn’t believe what I had just read!  Even more unnerving, was the small flicker of awareness that it could actually happen.  It’s not impossible and all too harrowingly easy to picture.  As for the ending?  You’ll have to read it yourself but it will keep you guessing right until the end and again, it really could happen.  One day.

The highs and lows of vegan publishing

Maya’s story is an inspiring example of how we vegans can triumph in overcoming obstacles in our movement.  Having taken the seed of an idea and brought it to fruition in the form of three powerful activist novels, I was interested to know more about the publishing process.  ‘It was challenging’, recalls Maya.  ‘The Shed was ready to publish at the end of 2016, however literary agents were afraid of the messages embedded in the story. One enthusiastic agent who loved the book confessed she wouldn’t know how to represent me to the established publishing houses, as they would see it as a ‘vegan book’ and therefore one that applied to only a small ‘niche’ market.

I found the fear of my book hard to comprehend. For one, ‘The Shed’ is not a ‘vegan book’ and isn’t intended only for vegan readers – but even if it was a ‘vegan book’, the vegan community worldwide is growing exponentially at incredible speed.  It is not niche but a market share of phenomenal potential! It was incredibly frustrating, and I had almost given up on publishing it, until I found out about Amazon KDP, a platform for self-publishing authors, that was easy to use, free and very supportive. When ‘Liberation’ was complete, I didn’t think twice and used KDP again. I’m well aware Amazon is considered the big bad wolf, but without it, it’s safe to assume my books would not have seen the light of day. I feel that using this platform, warts and all, for publishing change-inspiring literature, is still a positive outcome.

Using KDP also meant I had no oiled and experienced public relations and marketing machine behind me and had to do it all myself. It was not an overnight success, but I feel extremely proud of myself.  For a previously unknown first-time author from New Zealand, to make it into top-notch magazines and podcasts, receive five-star reviews and be awarded with a gold-star Literary Titan book award – that’s something I could only dream of before. To would-be vegan authors I say – don’t be afraid, unleash your creativity! There are avenues open to you for publishing your books out there. Maybe the established publishing houses have changed since I started, and if not, there are other platforms. Audio books are doing very well too, another channel to explore. If you invest your inner fire and your drive into it, you will reach your readers.

Maya-with-her-latest-award_-Vegan-Choice-2022

Having received many accolades for her work, I asked Maya to share her favourite highlight.  ‘The most notable and profound highlight I still experience from this journey is the connection I have with my readers. Giving the vegan community books they can read and feel proud of, celebrate, and cherish, was my key motivator from the beginning, so receiving the recognition and gratitude from vegans is in itself a huge highlight. I am also continuously surprised at the number of pre-vegans who read my books and were deeply moved by them. I receive messages from readers thanking me for making them understand. Pre-vegans who told me they were sharing the books with their friends and family members to spread the message. I feel so humbled by it. This was the reason I started writing, it is also the biggest reward. It proves that we can successfully use vegan fiction as a form of outreach, without hiding’.

The Liberation Trilogy is available worldwide on Amazon.  You can also visit Maya’s website: https://mcronenauthor.com

A Turkey In My Garden, by Christine Rose

 

 

Our guest writer, Christine Rose, is Lead Agricultural Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa

 

Turkey-girl was born in the long grass next to our house and after she fledged, visited every year. Eventually she came to stay and made our garden her home. She was smaller and less aggressive, with smaller head wattles, and the iridescent sheen on her back was less vibrant than her brothers. She had a gentle trill and followed us around the garden. By day, she watched me work at my desk through the window. At night, she perched on the fence built to keep the chooks out of my flower beds and left a big pile of guano to feed my plants. The fence didn’t keep her out, and it is hard to grow a garden with a resident turkey, but I didn’t mind. She delighted us, and any visitors.

Initially, people would make inappropriate jokes that she was ready to roast. But many who met her recognised her lovely nature and physical beauty. When the rest of the wild flock were passing in nearby paddocks, we thought she might join them. We were part-hopeful and part-sad at the thought. And we were worried she might have chicks in the garden where she was born. One turkey in the garden is manageable, but five, as we found when she was there with her tribe, are quite hard to handle. She was a welcome and honorary resident on her own. It’s surprising how attached you can get to a turkey-girl over months of company.

Turkeys were released into New Zealand in the 1860s. They are now ‘feral’ across an expanded range, throughout the lowlands of the North Island, the Marlborough Sounds and eastern South Island. Flocks are usually around 10 birds, but in breeding season a male will form and defend a harem of four to five females. They form larger flocks when they are young, though older males are often solitary. The chicks are particularly vulnerable to dogs, cats, ferrets and kahu/harrier hawks. As adults, they are mainly vegetarians/herbivores eating seeds and fruits but also ground invertebrates. The chicks mainly eat insects. The number of turkeys across the country are unknown, though they are a common sight and sound in my part of the world.

Sometimes people ask on local social media pages, ‘who owns the turkeys’, and ‘could they keep them contained’. No one owns a wild turkey, but Turkey-girl seemed to own us.

One morning, as I went to work she was her usual confident self, trying to get into the house as I was leaving. By 10am she was dead. She had that odd, distracted look a chook gets when she’s on her last legs. My kind and loving husband recognised the ominous signs, and sat with her, comforting her gently while she died. He gave her a respectful burial at the back of the garden, which was her home. We miss her still.

(Article first published in Local Matters/Environment)

Jane Goodall signatory to letter calling for end of factory farming

 

by Sandra Kyle, Editor, May Safely Graze

 

I am not vegan because it is a more sustainable solution to the world’s problems.   I am vegan because for me it is a moral baseline.  It is wrong to inflict pain and suffering on other sentient beings.  End of Story.

To be vegan for the animals is also to be vegan for justice.  Veganism recognises that non-human animals have rights, their lives are valuable, and that it is wrong to bring suffering upon their innocent heads and exploit them for our benefit.  Speciesism,  that states it’s fine to ‘love some and eat others’ is clearly unjust, as animals are equally sentient.

Food is the primary reason why we use animals, and it causes the most suffering and destruction of life.  This is especially true in factory farming.  Personally, I campaign for the end of all farming,  not just factory farming.  Every individual matters, not just two-thirds or four-fifths of individuals, and not just those we like, such as our pets and elephants.

However, I am reasonably realistic about the way social change comes about.  This is why I’m heartened to see that high-profile leaders and visionaries put their names to an open letter calling on world leaders at the COP27 climate conference to end factory farming.  In the letter there is no mention of animal rights or wrongs.  The rationale is that intensive animal agriculture threatens our survival because the livestock sector produces more greenhouse gases than transport.   Encouragingly, they are calling for a ‘food transformation,’ that has implications for a vegan future.

As an animal activist who has been inside a broiler farm, and a piggery, and seen the suffering with my own eyes, I am committed to ending the abomination that is factory farming.

We will continue to work towards a world where no animal is made to suffer at our hands, and meanwhile, abolishing the extreme cruelty of factory farming is a huge leap in the right direction.

Read more here

 

 

 

 

 

SAVING BOBBY CALVES IN NEW ZEALAND

Every year in New Zealand, millions of days-old ‘bobby’ calves – mostly males, but also females superfluous to requirements – are slaughtered.   It is the most tragic practice in an Industry that severely exploits dairy cows.

Fortunately there are individuals who rescue them.  They pay the farmer for them, look after them until they find a forever home paying for food and veterinary expenses, and sometimes they even continue to monitor them for the rest of their lives.

One of these individuals is Lynley Tulloch of the Starfish Bobby Calf Project.

Read Lynley’s article about New Zealand bobby calves here, first published by Vegan FTA.

(Featured image by Emere McDonald)

 

 

 

THE COMPANY THAT KILLS 13 MILLION ANIMALS A DAY

 

by Sandra Kyle, Editor, May Safely Graze

 

The world’s largest meatpacker has been in the news again.   JBS Foods, previously involved in widespread corruption and ‘slave labour’ charges, are now embroiled in child labour allegations.  Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD, JBS’ cleaning contractors, have been caught employing children as young as 13 to clean JBS US plants.  The children are employed late at night, and their job includes handling toxic chemicals and cleaning dangerous equipment such as – wait for it – a heavy duty head splitter.

 

José Batista Sobrinho

Slaughter megacorp JBS was founded by José Batista Sobrinho,  a cattle rancher in the central western city Brazilian city of Anápolis, who opened a butcher’s shop with his older brother in 1953.  The brother would buy ‘best quality’ cattle, and José would kill them. Profiting from the establishment of nearby Brasilia as Brazil’s capital in the 1960s, their business expanded to acquire other slaughterhouses in Brazil and South America, and in 2007 they became a public company.

 

Joesley (l) and Wesley Sobrinho

From 2007 to 2015 with Jose’s driven sons Joesley and Wesley at the helm, JBS swallowed up some of the largest meat companies in the United States, Canada. and South America. The now 88-year-old Sobrinho has said” ‘It’s a joy to watch’  how his single butcher’s shop has become the largest slaughterhouse chain in the world, killing a staggering 13 million animals every day.

Whether gigantic or small, the barbaric and desolate factories of pain, despair and destruction that are slaughterhouses are embedded in every society, demanded by the consumer and propped up by the taxpayer’s dollar.  We consider it a normal part of society that just one organisation can be responsible for snuffing out the lives of 13 million sentient beings every single day.  Nothing will change until people cry ‘Enough’, and begin to transition to a healthy, sustainable and humane vegan diet.

Read ‘The Brazilian Butchers Who Took Over The World’ 

Invertebrates Have Mental Muscle

Ninety seven percent of all life on earth are invertebrates, a category that includes life forms from sponges to insects, to octopi.   Some mollusks (soft bodied invertebrates)  are amazingly intelligent. Recently, one species of octopi was seen digging up and using discarded halved coconut shells and using them as a shelter.   Well I guess you need to do something with all those arms.

Seriously, we have until recently thought of  invertebrates as completely instinctual lacking the ability to think or have emotions.   As we look more closely into their world we are beginning to understand that there is much more to a squishy body than we previously thought.

Read the article about football playing bees.

 

‘Dominion’ Is Not ‘Domination’

 

by Sandra Kyle, Editor, May Safely Graze

Art:  Barbara Daniels Art

 

Once I was explaining to a class of English language students the meaning of the Golden Rule .   I was surprised when most of them said: “We also have that golden rule in our language too.”

‘Do Unto Others’ is a universal law.  I have often wondered what kind of world we would have if we actually practised it.  And if we applied it not only to humans,  but to all sentient life.

 

 

Non-human animals suffer at our hands to a scale that is absolutely staggering.   I was reading the other day that JBS Foods, one of the largest American meat companies, slaughters 13 million animals a day.  Yes, you read correctly. Just one company. Just one day.

 

 

 

 

Every year trillions of sentient beings on land, sea and air are deliberately destroyed by humans.   Inumberable others are dying because of the results of our activity, for example global warming and habitat and food chain disruption. How did we get in such a pathological state that we see this as normal?

 

 

 

 

Christians point to Genesis 1:26 that states humans have ‘dominion’ over the animals.   But Dominion doesn’t mean ‘Carnage’ and it doesn’t mean ‘Domination’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his book “Dominion”  Matthew Scully says we should find it in our hearts to have mercy for all animals, not just a few: “Go to the largest livestock operation, search out the darkest and tiniest stall or pen, single out the filthiest, most forlorn little lamb or pig or calf, and that is one of God’s creatures you’re looking at, morally indistinguishable from your beloved Fluffy or Frisky.”

“Go to the largest livestock operation, search out the darkest and tiniest stall or pen, single out the filthiest, most forlorn little lamb or pig or calf, and that is one of God’s creatures you’re looking at, morally indistinguishable from your beloved Fluffy or Frisky.”

 

 

Dominion calls us to be wise and compassionate stewards of our planet and all the life it supports.   It doesn’t mean to destroy, pillage, enslave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After all, what if the roles were reversed? What if we were the exploited species? How would we feel then?

Climate Change – A Titanic Problem For All Earthlings

 

 

by Sandra Kyle, Editor, May Safely Graze

 

Our response to climate disaster has been compared to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  It’s an apt analogy.   For far too long the world, convinced our Mothership is ‘unsinkable’, has refused to take climate change seriously.   Instead of clear, decisive, early action we are inclined to small, futile gestures.  If we continue along these lines it could, in the words of leading NZ Climate Scientist Professor James Renwick, “upend our communities and our societies at almost incalculable cost”.

Warnings that burning so many fossil fuels would change the Earth’s climate were first sounded by scientists as far back as the 1960s, based on science understood since the turn of the 20th century.   In the intervening decades, especially in the last thirty years, we have seen predictions of more extreme weather events realised at an increasing rate.  Yet wealthy nations are still behaving like entitled first-class passengers on the Titanic.  Unwilling to make changes to our privileged lives, we have given no thought at all to the plight of third world nations – the ‘steerage classes’ – whose contribution to global warming is significantly less than our own, but who inevitably end up paying the heaviest price.

Unwilling to make changes to our privileged lives, we have given no thought at all to the plight of third world nations – the ‘steerage classes’ – whose contribution to global warming is significantly less than our own, but who inevitably end up paying the heaviest price.

For the last quarter of a century that yearly COPs, or ‘Conference of Parties’ have taken place, the world has seen record heatwaves, sea ice and glacier melts, sea level rise, severe droughts, out-of-control wildfires, devastating floods, intense storms and other catastrophes.  These events have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people, with millions of the most vulnerable in developing countries losing homes, livelihood and food security.   They have also condemned thousands of domestic animals and millions of wild animals to cruel deaths by fire, drowning, starvation and habitat loss.

Ahead of COP27, currently being held in Egypt, the June Bonn Climate Change Conference shared data showing that addressing animal agriculture is key to combating climate change and meeting the targets set out in the Paris Agreement.    At this summit the Humane Society International hosted a side event focussing on how plant-based protein can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Agricultural emissions are very significant globally, and especially here in New Zealand.  It follows that the agricultural sector is a major lever to combat the worst effects of climate change, but while a lot of attention has been given to the transport and energy sectors, in previous COPs food has only been addressed tangentially.  I was pleased to note that in COP27, food system transformation, along with help for poorer nations most affected by climate change, has finally made it to the Agenda.

Last month our government released the farmgate emissions pricing scheme. Greenpeace lead climate campaigner Christine Rose calls it ‘greenwash’, as it  fails to address the problem of our enormous agricultural emissions, favours intensive dairy, and doesn’t  properly regulate, price and cut methane emissions.

Last month our government released the farmgate emissions pricing scheme. Greenpeace lead climate campaigner Christine Rose calls it ‘greenwash’, as it fails to address the problem of our enormous agricultural emissions, favours intensive dairy, and doesn’t  properly regulate, price, and cut methane emissions.

As part of their measures to address the problem caused by animal agriculture, the Government has recently established the Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions.  This is bound to be another waste of money and precious time – time we may not have.  For example, for more than two decades there has been ongoing research on alternative feeds that lower the amount of methane released from livestock farts and burps, and a breakthrough still hasn’t been achieved.  Instead of remedial measures, what is needed is for our government to go to the heart of the problem – – animal agriculture is inefficient and unsustainable – and begin to transition our farmers to climate-friendly crop growing and horticulture.

Our Earth is in deep trouble, and who is to say when we reach the point of no return?  It is time for our government to think food transformation, not tax levies.  Climate change doesn’t only affect humans, it affects all life on earth.  It’s not just our Mothership we’re destroying.  It’s theirs too.

‘We Should Stop Using Euphemisms For Animal Exploitation And Abuse’

 

by Sandra Kyle, Editor, May Safely Graze

 

When non vegans say things like ‘But plants have feelings too’ they are generally being disingenuous.  If someone says it to me I usually answer along the lines of:

‘Would you prefer to take your child strawberry picking or to a slaughterhouse?’

or

“If a dog runs out in front of your car, would you swerve into a bed of roses, or save the roses and run over the dog?’

Disingenuousness aside, it is entirely possible that in the future we may learn that plants do experience pain using different mechanisms.   But at our present level of understanding, and as they have no nervous system or pain detectors,  we are justified in stating that plants do not feel pain, and our common sense tells us that equating animal and plant sentience is not a credible position.

Humans and non-human animals share a long, common evolution, and anyone who keeps animal companions know that they are more similar to us than dissimilar.     Dogs even have prostates I was told yesterday by a vet.  When I look into my dogs’ eyes I can recognise myself.  When I look at a cauliflower –  not so much!

 

“Dogs even have prostates I was told yesterday by a vet.  When I look into my dogs’ eyes I can recognise myself.  When I look at a cauliflower –  not so much!”

 

Animals are our kin,  our planetary comrades. Despite being different species, they share our ability to feel, and they value their lives just as much as we value ours.

If your child were to visit a slaughterhouse it is unlikely that they would escape without trauma by witnessing the gruesome violence that goes on there.  Most adults too would be wounded to witness innocent, terrified animals being stunned, gassed, knifed, decapitated and dismembered.  It is a horrible business, and little wonder that the terms used in these places sugarcoat the reality. Even the word ‘slaughterhouse’ is not used by the Industry.   In some parts of the world they are called ‘factories’.  Here in New Zealand they are called ‘meatworks’.

We use euphemisms in our relationship with other humans to substitute for the stark reality that most of us find disturbing to think about.  Going after wild animals with a shotgun or spear is known as ‘harvesting’.  Destroying farmed animals’ lives when it is deemed the most ‘effective’ response, is known as ‘depopulation’.     The act of slaughtering billions of farmed animals every year, often when they are still little more than babies, needs to be sanitised to mitigate the horror, and to make us feel better about eating them.  For example ‘C02 stunning’ may sound as if the animal goes gently to sleep, but it is a cruel method that causes pigs to gasp for breath and hyperventilate, causing both pain and panic for up to sixty seconds.  Similarly, ‘thumping’ is the term used to kill piglets (and also baby goats) by swinging them around and pounding their heads against concrete.

 

“The act of ending the lives of innocent animals, often when they are still little more than babies, needs to be sanitised to mitigate the horror, and to make us feel better about eating them.”

 

We should stop using euphemisms to describe the horror of animal slaughter, and tell it as it is.

That way we may wake up to the suffering we cause every time we eat dairy products, or eat a meal of meat.

 

 

SOME SLAUGHTERHOUSE TERMS

Antemortem inspection:  The examination of live animals prior to slaughter to check for disease.

Blood Pit:  The area of a slaughterhouse where animals are bled out.

Bloodsplash: The rupture of capillaries in muscle tissue during electrical stunning which causes unsightly blood spots in the meat.  Bloodsplash hemorrhages are problematic from an aesthetic viewpoint, and cause a reduction in meat value.

Bung:  A slaughtered animal’s anus.

Captive bolt gun:  A gun, powered by compressed air or gunpowder, that drives a bolt into an animal’s forehead to render the animal unconscious.

Carcass: The skeleton and musculature of an animal, minus after decapitation and removal of the legs.

Chain: The overhead conveyor that carries shackled animals from worker to worker through the slaughter and dressing processes.

Chain speed: How fast the chain is moving, measured in number of animals per unit of time. (Aka Line speed)

Chitlins: The intenstines of hogs (pigs) used in prepared foods.

Chutes: Enclosed passageways that lead animals from their pens to the stun area.

CO2 stunning (carbon dioxide anaesthesia):  A method used to render an animal unconscious for slaughter.

Downer:  A sick, spent, or disabled animal who cannot stand or walk.

Dressing:  Removal of the hide, appendages and viscera.

Gutter:  A worker who takes the guts out of slaughtered animals.

Hot shot: An electric cattle prod.

Kill floor: Where animals have their necks or chests sliced.

Legger: The worker who cuts off and skins an animal’s legs.

PACing  (also called ‘thumping’):  Method of killing piglets whereby the piglet is picked up by the hind legs and slammed against the floor.  This causes massive head trauma, resulting in death (not always instantaneous).

Render: The process whereby animal parts are cooked down, to separate fat from protein, and then sold for use in animal feed, fertilizer, oils, plastics, cosmetics and a host of other household and industrial products.

Ritual slaughter:   Religious slaughter done according to the requirements of either the Muslim or Jewish religious faith. The animal is slaughtered, often without being stunned, with a razor sharp knife.

Scalding tank:  A long narrow tank containing 140 degree water through which pigs are dragged to loosen hair for dehairing.

Shackler: A worker who places a chain around an animal’s hind leg so that it can be hoisted and hung on the overhead rail.

Stunner: The worker who stuns the animals before they are shackled and hoisted.

Sticker: The slaughterhouse worker who cuts the animal’s throat open to bleed it.

 

 

An Animal Justice Party for Aotearoa New Zealand? Interview with Michael Morris, PhD

 

Michael Morris has a PhD in Zoology from Auckland University, and has taught ecology and global environment in Japan, where he also carried out post doctoral work on insects.  He has been a policy adviser for the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture, and currently works part time as a scientist and policy adviser in the field of smoking cessation. A long time animal advocate and vegan, Michael stood for Mayor of Auckland in 2022 on an animal justice platform and is currently instrumental in starting up the Animal Justice Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.

 

 

You have been an articulate advocate for animals for decades. When did it all begin?

I became vegetarian in the 80s after realizing that we treated our cats like members of the family yet ate other animals.  I wondered where the consistency was in that.  When I read about how we didn’t need to eat animals to be healthy, I became vegetarian.  There were very few vegans at that time, and being a vegetarian in 1985 was considered more weird and attracted more negativity than being vegan in 2022.

What made you decide to stand for the Auckland Mayoralty?

It seemed like an efficient way to get the message out there that our treatment of animals is a serious ethical issue that required consideration by politicians.  I paid a $200 deposit to stand.  For that deposit I got my message out to every household in Auckland.  I also got to talk at mayoral candidate meetings and got several mentions in the media.  Where else would I get that level of advertising for $200.

In addition, having someone articulate with a professional background, a PhD and a sensible hair cut taking animal issues seriously may force others to understand that it is a serious issue.

What were your main platforms?

I wanted to have a platform of justice for animals first.  This is related to justice for the environment, which was my second platform.  Eating animals is the main cause of environmental degradation, and animals are also the main victims.  Over half a billion animals were burned to death in the Australian bush fires, which were brought about by climate change.

Something else that is related to animal and planetary abuse is inequality.  So I made economic justice the third plank.  More equal societies treat everyone better, including animals.

Specifically for Auckland, and more especially for the Papatoetoe local board that I also stood for, I campaigned for an immediate end to greyhound racing at the Manukau Sports Bowl.  Other policies were an end to lethal animal control, free public transport, extending the bicycle network, repurposing golf courses to support more biodiversity, greenery and use for all Aucklanders, and a living wage for all council staff, including contractors.

Do you think the time is right to have an animal rights party in New Zealand?

There is an Animal Justice Party in Australia with 2 seats at state level in Victoria, 2 in New South Wales, and 3 at local authority level.  In the Netherlands, the Party for the Animals has 6 seats in the House of Representatives, 3 in the senate, and one European Commission MP.  This shows that people are starting to see animal liberation as a political issue, and it is time animals had representation in New Zealand.

 Do you see a vegan future for New Zealand?

It is often said that new ideas come in 4 stages.  To paraphrase; first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.  When I first became vegetarian in 1984, New Zealand society was at the second stage.  They are now fighting us, with draconian measures such as the AgGag laws, and with farmer backlash over any erosion of their hegemony.  I am confident this is the final step before we get to a vegan world.

What has to happen for it to come about?

For changes in ideas to occur, it usually requires the generation in power to retire or die.  This is starting to happen.  Younger and middle-aged people are starting to become vegetarian or vegan.  For many of these it may be for environmental and health reasons.  I wouldn’t disparage these people.  Once they no longer have any emotional investment in defending the animal industries, they are likely to be open to the animal liberation reasons to become vegan.

I have seen one fairly far-reaching social change since I was a kid.  People have been hitting children for thousands of years.  Augustine spoke out against the practice in the 6th century.  Yet this practice has gone from totally acceptable to illegal, to totally unthinkable, in my lifetime

A 9-year old I was teaching asked me how things were different when I was a child.  I told him teachers used to hit children.  He looked at me as though I was from another planet.

“Why?” he asked.

I didn’t really know.  “Er … they thought we could learn better if they hit us?” I guessed.

“That’s so dumb!’ he said.

I wonder what he will say when his grandkids ask the same question.

“We used to eat animals”

“Why?”

“Er … we thought it would make us big and strong?”

“That’s so dumb!”

 

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Rodeo Violence Could Damage New Zealand’s Overseas Trade – Lynn Charlton, Anti-Rodeo Action NZ

Thousands of rodeos take place in the world every year, around 35 in New Zealand. Originally arising out of cattle herding practices in Mexico and Spain, today they are held as mass entertainment, and to test the skill and speed of ‘cowboys and cowgirls’.   

Most rodeo activities cause the animals they use pain and distress,  Physical injuries include broken necks, broken bones, bruising, and ruptured skin.  The animals – sometimes just babies as in ‘calf roping’ –  also suffer extreme psychological stress.

In this article, Lynn Charlton of Anti-Rodeo Action argues that the violence we continue to allow against defenceless animals is at odds with our own Animal Welfare Act.  Rodeo contradicts New Zealand’s self-proclaimed high animal welfare, and could damage our overseas trade.

(First published as an Opinion Editorial in stuff.co.nz. 

Feature image: Lynn Charlton of Anti-Rodeo Action NZ.)

 

Photo credit: Bejon Haswell/Stuff 

 

Last week, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor warned that international markets have indicated that New Zealand farming practices are going to come under increasing scrutiny, so “we all have to lift our game”.

“We live in a fishbowl whether we like it or not,” O’Connor said.

In 2017, the minister warned: “Disruption is upon us. If we don’t have better environmental management, if we don’t have more sustainable land use and uphold the highest standards of animal welfare, we won’t be able to sell our products into … high-value markets.”

READ MORE:
Government backs down on promise to ban elements of rodeo
Action group appeals to UN to have children banned from rodeo
Rodeo: Ultimate sport, family fun or blatant animal abuse?

Despite these warnings, resistance to doing the right thing is rife in New Zealand, as the farming community, fearful of change, demonstrates so well.

One area of resistance from farmers is in the violence committed against animals at rodeos.

The New Zealand Animal Law Association concluded, in 2018, that rodeos are illegal and in breach of the Animal Welfare Act.

That same year, the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) convened an expert animal welfare panel which, applying science (though most people could see that it was cruel), found that animals experienced moderate to severe impacts in every rodeo event bar one – and that one isn’t without its problems. With the rodeo travelling-cruelty-circuses resuming this coming weekend, the assault-as-entertainment will be perpetuated by the same farmers that profit from exports based on our supposedly high animal welfare standards.

Retired beef, sheep, dairy farmer and anti-rodeo campaigner Alice Hicks, one of the few farmers willing to speak out publicly against rodeos, was asked to comment for this article. She said, “If farmers treated animals in their day-to-day business the way rodeos treat animals, they would be prosecuted, and have frightened, non-productive animals”.

Soon it will be five years since legal and animal welfare experts produced their findings.

The country has watched animals being brutalised every summer since, slowed only by Covid-19. This year legal action in the High Court to stop rodeos was passed back to NAWAC, when Justice Churchman acknowledged he did not have the expertise to assess each rodeo event. Fair enough.

In a radical change for NAWAC – and one decades overdue – a recent stakeholder document on a proposed new rodeo code of welfare includes banning calf roping, calf riding, steer wrestling, team roping, breakaway roping and spurring.

We await the next phase of public consultation on this, and no doubt the farming lobby, profiting from exports, will be claiming rodeos have great animal welfare, and being thrown around and spurred in the neck doesn’t hurt animals one bit. From their point of view, if animals can walk away after the assault, it didn’t hurt them. Loathe to say it, but that mentality was once commonly used against women who had suffered assault.

“We await the next phase of public consultation on this, and no doubt the farming lobby, profiting from exports, will be claiming rodeos have great animal welfare, and being thrown around and spurred in the neck doesn’t hurt animals one bit.”

The problem is that farmers and their lobby groups have too much say in government, and every government, is and has been, lassoed, washing-lined, and hog-tied into submission by them. Farmers are rodeo. Without them, rodeos would not exist.

Meanwhile, clubs have been recruiting children and young people and practising away from public scrutiny. Following rodeo association guidelines, they’ve avoided posting videos and photographs because of public outcry. This Government and any other government will be failing to uphold the rule of law by allowing rodeos to continue, confirming to farmers that violence towards animals is state-sanctioned.

While it shouldn’t take concerns over profit from export to inspire us to do the right thing by animals, we’ve been warned, and will get what we deserve.

Discerning international markets are watching and will increasingly be watching how we manage the environment and animal welfare.

The Government must do the right thing, and those farmers who are genuinely concerned about animal welfare should speak out and call for a ban on this violence.

“The Government must do the right thing, and those farmers who are genuinely concerned about animal welfare should speak out and call for a ban on this violence.”