WAV Comment – with thanks to Stacy at ‘Our Compass’ for sending over.

We fully support what Gene says in the article; for far too long the animals have suffered in silence. Now humankind is affected in its financial pocket; the stock exchanges of the world, its travel restrictions; let alone the massive costs (ie our taxes) by governments attempting to enforce, maybe just for once, governments will listen and more importantly; realise where they are going wrong, and if they continue with current practices; will continue to go wrong for all mankind in the future.

Governments and their advisors think they know best; but usually it is the folk in ‘the trench’ who know reality. Seems like Gene has been in the trench for a while.

Well done Gene.

https://our-compass.org/2020/03/16/coronavirus-and-the-karmic-interconnectedness-of-humans-animals/

Source The Hill
By Gene Baur

The COVID-19 coronavirus has killed thousands of people around the world, including 14 in the U.S., and its origin in animals and global spread should remind us how inextricably linked we are with other life on Earth. We share the same planet and breathe the same air, and we also exchange microbes including germs. Now, with our burgeoning human population and global economy, we face new threats from a wider distribution of diseases like this new strain of coronavirus.

For some background, the World Health Organization (WHO) explains: “Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV)… Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.” COVID-19 was thought to have come from a live animal market where animals are often sold as food in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and so far it has been confirmed in nearly 80 countries and declared a “public health emergency of international concern” by the World Health Organization.

No one yet knows how many people will be infected or die from COVID-19, but it has characteristics similar to the bird flu, known as the “Spanish Flu,” which killed millions during World War One.

SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 are contagious diseases that jump from animals to humans, and more needs to be done to curtail these, including banning live animal markets. But, other potentially fatal zoonoses also warrant attention.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns: “…3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.” These include viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, and they infect millions of U.S. citizens every year.

In the U.S., almost ten billion animals are exploited and slaughtered every year. Most live short miserable lives in overcrowded factory farms, which are a breeding ground for disease, including emerging pathogens and virulent strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In addition to foodborne illness and environmental pollution, animal agriculture can also incite global pandemics like H1N1, which was initially called “swine flu” because it was linked to a similar disease in pigs, but its connection to animal agriculture has since been largely obscured.

The H1N1 pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of people around the globe, including over ten thousand in the U.S., according to CDC: “From April 12, 2009, to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (range: 195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (range: 8868-18,306) in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus… Additionally, CDC estimated that 151,700-575,400 people worldwide died from (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first year the virus circulated.”

While animal-borne illnesses continue to threaten human health, agribusiness has a vested interest in preventing consumers from thinking about it — under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Since the 1980s, Farm Sanctuary has investigated farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses and worked to prevent irresponsible agricultural practices, such as the transport and slaughter of downed animals, animals too sick even to stand. T

he USDA defended the practice for decades, dismissing our concerns about diseased animals entering the food supply. Finally, after confirming mad cow disease in the U.S., the agency agreed that downed cows should not be slaughtered for human consumption. Unfortunately, however, other diseased and debilitated animals are still entering the U.S. food supply, including half a million downed pigs every year.

We continue challenging this inhumane and risky practice, and we are also challenging a new USDA policy to remove limits on slaughterhouse line speeds, and give the industry more authority to police itself. The USDA and other government officials need to protect the public, instead of serving the short-sighted financial interests of agribusiness.

Government programs should encourage diverse organic farms that build soil and create ecological sustainability and resilience, instead of chemically dependent mono-crops and factory farm confinement, which denude and despoil the earth.

We should invest in plant-based agriculture and grow crops to feed people instead of farm animals, which would feed more people with less land and fewer resources, allowing rainforests and other vital ecosystems to be preserved, along with biodiversity and the earth’s natural capacity for regulating greenhouse gasses and other environmental threats. We all benefit when our common home, the earth, is healthier.

Transitioning agriculture and government policies will take time, but each of us can make daily choices to help the planet and ourselves. Eating nutritious, plant-based foods can help fortify our immune systems, thereby enhancing our ability to withstand various threats, including from contagious viruses like COVID-19.

Our disrespectful treatment of other animals and the earth has consequences, and when they are harmed, ultimately, so are we. All life on Earth is connected, and it’s in our interest to act accordingly.

Gene Baur is the president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, a national farm animal rescue and advocacy organization.

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WAV comment – with global governments not having the guts to tell the Chinese to clean up their act when it comes to livestock wet markets and the terrible abuses which we see all the time in China; and for which the whole planet is now suffering; we actually have doubts that the debate in UK Parliament scheduled for 16/3 to end caged animal farming will actually take place – after all, is it not more important to debate how to control the virus than go back to the Chinese and inform them that their lack of legislation regarding animal welfare legislation is the whole reason for the planet now being up to its neck in virus controls and regulations ?

Gutless governments who do not really want to raise the underlying issue for all these problems with the Chinese – lets see what happens in UK Parliament on 16 March, and if the issue is debated. Or will Coronavirus; take precedent over everything else once again as it has done for weeks.

We will watch and report on the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ debate in the next few days.

UK Government to Debate Ending The Cage Age!

This debate presents a historic opportunity to ramp up political pressure to end caged farming once and for all.

End the Cage Age Debate!

In March 2019 Viva! joined forces with animal protection organisations around the country to launch a parliamentary petition calling for an end to the cage age.

Over 16 million farmed animals are confined to cruel cages, in the UK, and unable to express many of their natural behaviours as a result. The response was overwhelmingly positive with more than 65,000 people signing the petition in its first two weeks. By securing over 107,000 signatures the petition triggered a parliamentary debate, which was unfortunately postponed due to the proroguing of Parliament in August 2019!

The government initially responded on 22 March 2019 by emphasising the successes of earlier campaign work to prohibit battery cages, sow stalls and veal crates, yet what they failed to recognise was the wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating how so-called ‘enriched cages’, farrowing crates and calf hutches continue to compromise welfare and are detrimental to the well-being of farmed animals.

Undercover investigators for Viva! Campaigns have filmed the shocking reality of our ‘high standards of husbandry’ time and time again, and urged the British public to Face Off against these industries. We’ve found between 40 to 80 egg-laying chickens crammed into cages that provide less than a postcard size of extra space than the banned battery cage; pigs confined to barren metal barred crates with little room to move forwards or backwards let alone turn around (much like the old sow stalls); and frightened unweaned calves, some well over the recommended eight weeks of age, housed alone in hard plastic hutches – many without ‘visual and tactile contact with other calves’.

The government’s disappointing response however came as no surprise when the current laws to protect farmed animals are few and far between. The regulatory system provides us no level of assurance and plans to increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty from six months to five years leaves a lot to be desired when so many animal abusers walk free from court.

The petition will now finally be debated on 16 March 2020, presenting a historic opportunity to ramp up political pressure to end caged farming once and for all. Please call on your MP to join the debate and vote in favour of the ban!

The most powerful action you can take to end animal suffering, protect the environment and improve your health is to go vegan. For all the help and support you need to make the change see: viva.org.uk/easyvegan.

https://www.viva.org.uk/what-we-do/latest-updates/end-the-cage-age?mc_cid=f4cef6eba5&mc_eid=26c03356b8 

Many meat eaters react irritably to a vegan lifestyle. There is a psychological reason for this: the meat paradox!

This text comes from the “taz.magazin on the weekend”.

To my great joy, the topic of veganism is more topical than ever! More and more people are open to a switch to plant-based nutrition; in Germany alone, almost half a million registered for the veganuary campaign in January, of which one or the other has certainly stayed on. Excellent!

With the popularity, however, the vegan rage of many meat eaters increases, which I also experience in the online comments on this column every now and then. The most hated are vegans who, for ethical reasons, do without animal products – which is strange considering that a large part of our society would like to see less cruelty in the world. Or?

Not at all, says the American psychology professor Hank Rothgerber. Because the reason for this veganophobia is the so-called “meat paradox”. The cognitive dissonance that meat eaters experience when they have to reconcile their diet and their love of animals. Because when we have two incompatible views in our heads and live one of them, it causes stress.

Now our brain knows a few tricks to protect us from this stress. I experienced that myself.

Previously, the first trick, I was a master at completely ignoring the reality of meat and milk production. Finally, there were pictures of grinning pigs on my sausage packaging and happy cows wandered over green mountain pastures on my milk cartons.

And, second trick: Sooo much meat, I said to myself, I don’t eat at all. A liver sausage bread for breakfast, spaghetti Bolognese for lunch and the salad with a little steak in the evening – almost half vegetarian.

Stupidly, this mental trickery no longer works if you are directly confronted with a vegan lifestyle. Then the “meat paradox” hits your head again.
You feel condemned, that stresses and makes you angry.
And who is to blame for the anger?
These stupid, better eaters, on which you dump your bad feelings. This is how you resolve the dilemma in your head instead of changing your behavior and reducing meat consumption. I felt the same way.

Today I know that when in doubt it is better to be for something rather than against it. For the animals. For the environment. For social justice. For delicious vegetable food. Then the spark jumps faster and enables a conversation with each other.

And who knows… maybe there will be a million in Germany in 2021 who will try vegan in January.

https://taz.de/Psychologie-der-Vegan-Wut/!5663922/

And I mean…The favorite excuse of all meat eaters: vitamin b12.

My first thought at the sight of twitching, bleeding pigs with electric tongs or “CO2 anesthetic”, scalding bath, cutting throats etc., is not the lack of vitamin B12 or 6 or 100, but the lack of responsibility and compassion of a society that already knows all of this but a shit cares.

We have ethics and morality. This is the basis of our basic law, from which unfortunately only human animals benefit.
But the nonspeciesist morality command us to avoid suffering, torture and murder of non-human animals, that means the morality command us to stop eating animals.
This morality is the future of a civilized society.

My best regards to all, Venus