Anyone who devotes a lot of time to animals also can a lot learn
Regards, Venus
Month: July 2021
30.07.2021-A very nice comment on dressage riding from the German newspaper taz:
Dressage riding can no longer be Olympic. The horses are forced into figures that have nothing in common with their natural movements.
The German dressage team wins gold in Tokyo for the fourteenth time in Olympic history – and everyone is cheering.
“German dressage stars are unbeatable in the Olympic final”, it says in the “Sport broadcast ” and if the media has its way, “the triumvirate” deserves a “roaring applause”.
Applause for what?
For the most terrible cruelty to animals?
For the most perfect submission of the horses?
As a reminder: the dressage horses are not robot horses.
They are living animals that have feelings and a will of their own. Horses do not voluntarily bend their necks down so much that their nostrils almost touch their rib cage and all they can see is the ground.
Because that is not only painful, but also psychologically stressful for escape animals.
In the wild, horses neither trot-like on the spot nor do they gallop sideways across the meadow with crossed legs.
As the name suggests, these tricks have absolutely nothing to do with a horse’s natural movements.
2.19 million people watched the appearance of the German dressage team on the state German television program on Tuesday – no other competition achieved such a high audience rate that day.
Did you, dear viewers and colleagues, have all the tomatoes on your eyes?
Winner in repression
Or did the television commentator’s lyrical descriptions mesmerize you?
Or, and that would be the saddest of all explanations, are you so excited about gold medals that you simply suppress the suffering of animals?
According to the commentator, dressage riding is “not the pressing of a horse into a template, but the careful development of its talents into a noble silhouette”.
To formulate such a sentence, you have to be an Olympic champion in repressing (we say…or a complete idiot)
When the Olympic Committee takes on new sports such as surfing or skateboarding to get young people excited about the Games, it should also say goodbye to disciplines such as dressage, show jumping and eventing.
Equestrian sport has been part of the Olympic Games since 1912 – when the “Titanic” went under.
Instead of dropping the disciplines, we can of course simply leave out the horses.
The riders could dress up as horses and perform traversals, piaffes and gallop pirouettes themselves.
If they touch their collarbone with their chin throughout the entire freestyle, they will get an extra point.
https://taz.de/Pferdedressur-ist-Tierquaelerei/!5787803/
And I mean…Wonderful taz, you really made a great review!
Who actually watches such cruelty to animals, which is also cheekily referred to as “sport”?
In the 21st century such “sports” should finally be banned. Incidentally, obstacle riding is an even greater cruelty to animals, because horses only jump when they absolutely have to – for example when there is danger.
Horses are very susceptible to suffering.
Horses have few facial expressions and no painful sound, that is their misery, they are dependent on special sensitivity and unfortunately only a few horse lovers have that … those who are loved by their riders like dressage horses no longer need enemies …
It is a shame that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is being manipulated by a powerful equestrian minority aristocratic minority and continues to allow animal cruelty as a sporting discipline.
My best regards to all, Venus
A report by the animal welfare organization “VETO”
Many dogs and cats still live on the streets in Europe.
Even in Germany, the number of street cats is estimated at over two million.
Stray animals in Europe urgently need our help!
Their everyday life is determined by hunger, fear and disease.
Often their lives are characterized by fear, because not all people treat stray animals with respect. They are scared away, sometimes beaten and mistreated.
The hard life on the street is not the greatest danger for four-legged friends – in many countries the animals are caught and brought to killing stations.
In order to curb the population of street animals, many countries rely on killing stations. There they are cruelly killed.
Killing stations are a business: in many countries people earn their living by killing healthy animals.
Hungary, Romania, France and Spain are just a few of the countries in which street animals are deliberately killed – mostly very brutally, always undignified and senseless.
Killing Shelter-Romania
Killing the animals does not reduce the number of street animals, because for each dead animal another takes its place in the territory. An effective solution: castration programs.
Without the use of animal welfare associations on site, the countless baby dogs and cats would have no chance.
This is why we launched our six-week Stark fundraiser for street animals!
Animal rights activists in Europe tirelessly take care of defenseless street animals.
They take them into their care or take care of them safely at feeding stations. Medical treatment, educational work, castration projects and the placement of the animals are also part of their tasks.
Animal welfare organizations want to change people’s attitudes towards animals through education. With information stands in public places, they inform passers-by about the importance of castration.
In addition to the animal shelter animals as well as dogs and cats from private individuals who can register for the castration campaigns of the associations, as many street animals as possible are also captured, castrated and – if the situation on site allows it – released again after the castration and in theirs Territories supplied.
In order to be able to realize castration projects, medical accessories such as anesthetics, scalpels, bandages and hygienic rooms, such as a veterinary practice or a castration mobile, are necessary, as well as a veterinary team and veterinary specialists.
To make it easier for animal welfare associations, the experts often support the castration campaigns on a voluntary basis in their free time, so that personnel costs are eliminated and only the material costs have to be borne – every saving protects the association’s coffers.
The cost of neutering in Europe varies from country to country as well as within a country in different regions.
The examples of Romania, Greece and Germany illustrate the differences:
Dogs: While it costs animal welfare associations in Romania up to 70 euros to neuter a dog, the costs for the intervention can amount to 160 euros in Greece and up to 450 euros in Germany.
Cats: The veterinary bill in Germany for neutering cats can be up to 110 euros. In Greece it is up to 80 euros, in Romania up to 50 euros.
Castrations are effective, ethically justifiable, animal welfare compliant and responsible. The high number of homeless animals is falling without four-legged friends having to die for it.
Financial support for castration on the part of the federal states is rare.
In some countries, including Romania and Spain, instead, predominantly killing stations are generously subsidized in order to regulate the excessive number of stray animals in the country.
There they are cruelly killed.
But their torment does not begin on the day of the killing, but long before that.
Each animal is locked in a small cage, surrounded by loud barking and screaming from 25 other animals.
No attention is paid, apart from a plate of food which is pushed under the door of the kennel and a shower with water to rinse the excrement out.
The animals remain cooped up until they die and are usually not euthanized because it is too expensive.
They are often beaten to death or suffocated with a cheaper syringe.
However, this is not only contrary to animal welfare, it also demonstrably does not lead to a reduction in the number of four-legged friends.
In other countries, such as Italy, it is even more difficult for animal welfare organizations to castrate by law. Castrations on street animals may only be carried out there with the express permission of the municipality.
Animal welfare is a backbreaking job that pushes the mostly voluntary helpers to their limits.
But the effects of regular castration campaigns show that the work is worthwhile. They give courage and hope to carry on – which is urgently needed despite the first successes that exist all over Europe and for which the ones mentioned here are representative.
The association “Stray Dogs in Danger” e. V. in Romania proud of its ten-day castration campaign, during which around 400 dogs and cats were neutered in the animal shelter in May of this year, but notes at the same time that it is essential to continue now.
We, the VETO Animal Welfare association, specifically support animal welfare organizations that stand up for street animals, do educational work and start castration projects. 💪
https://www.veto-tierschutz.de/magazin/tierschutz-aktiv/toetungsstationen-in-europa/
https://www.veto-tierschutz.de/veto-futterhilfe/*
And I mean…In Romania the killing stations are called “Killing Shelter” or “Public Shelter”.
Because the dogs in the public animal shelters are usually killed after a period.
Dog owners drop their dogs in the killing station when they no longer want them and dog catchers catch street dogs and bring them there. Food, water, animal keepers and euthanasia are paid for by the state.
But in order to maximize profit, there are killing stations that sell the food and medicines on the black market.
Because it’s cheaper, the dogs are burned alive. On average, a dog stays in the public animal shelter for 14 days until it is killed.
Old, sick or behavioral dogs are much more likely to be killed … If they don’t starve, die of thirst or are bitten to death beforehand.
Romania-Killing Shelter (Public Shelter)
In Spain, many dog owners simply bring their animals to the killing stations (called perreras) if they no longer feel like looking after them or they no longer fulfill their “purpose” (hunting, alarm system, children’s toys).
Perreras are run either by the state or privately and are part of the hunting sport for many people: the former hunting dogs are thrown away like defective toys.
In addition to the Spanish galgos and podencos, other dogs – and many cats – also end up in the perreras.
For all of them this terrible place is the end of their lives.
Killing Station (Perrera) in Spain-Puerto Real
In Hungary every municipality has the task of catching strays from the streets in order to control the disease.
The dealers take care of that.
They are then quarantined there for two weeks. If there is also an animal shelter parallel to the killing station, the dogs will be handed over to the animal shelter in whole or in part, depending on capacity.
If there was no alternative like this, the animals would be more or less brutally murdered, usually without anesthesia because it would cost extra, with T61 (a medicine used to put animals to sleep), which leads to respiratory paralysis and terrible convulsions and death . Some of the animals would also be shot.
Hungary-killing station
If a dog is found in France, it must be “kept” for 10 days. If the owner does not bring his animal back during this time, the dog can either be killed or given to an animal shelter free of charge. Often the animal shelters are so full that they can no longer take in animals, or they can only choose the animals that can be easily transferred.
France-Killing Shelter
The “big blacks”, the “gray snouts”, the “incompatible”, the “hunting dogs”, the “list dogs”, all those who cannot tolerate the kennel, are the first on the killing list. (Source: Mediathek ARD / WDR: “Animals are looking for a home – France – law allows euthanasia after ten days”)
Every year between 9-11 million animals die in killing stations. That’s around 30,000 animals every day!
We live in a world where governments are banning plastic straws but funding the gruesome deaths of thousands of animals in killing stations.
If we called it crazy, it would be harmless.
It is legalized mass murder financed with our tax money, supported by corrupt governments and an unusable EU, which does not want to provide a responsible solution and justifies that … “Animal welfare is a matter of the state “.
We show solidarity and support for the animal welfare organizations that have committed themselves to this difficult but excellent mission … namely to save as many strays as possible from hunger, misery and the brutal end on a killing station.
My best regards to all, Venus
*If someone wants to donate and has problems with the link, please contact me
Phil is someone that we have known and worked with for over 30 years on farm animal welfare issues – especially live transport (exports).
In the following link he provides a round up on some important animal welfare issues that have been taking place recently.
Philip is the CEO of Compassion In World Farming (CIWF), which is based in London, England.
Philip Lymbery | Big Table Round Up – July 2021
CIWF – Compassion in World Farming | Compassion in World Farming (ciwf.org.uk)
CIWF USA – Compassion in World Farming USA | Compassion USA (ciwf.com)
Greenland: enough ice melted on single day to cover Florida in two inches of water
- Data shows ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on Tuesday
- All-time record temperature of 19.8C in region on Wednesday
- Greenland’s vast ice sheet is undergoing a surge in melting, with the amount of ice vanishing in a single day this week enough to cover the whole of Florida in two inches of water, researchers have found.
- The deluge of melting has reached deep into Greenland’s enormous icy interior, with data from the Danish government showing that the ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on Tuesday alone. A further 8.4bn tons was lost on Thursday, the Polar Portal monitoring website reported.
The scale of disappearing ice is so large that the losses on Tuesday alone created enough meltwater to drown the entire US state of Florida in two inches, or 5cm, of water. Ice that melts away in Greenland flows as water into the ocean, where it adds to the ongoing increase in global sea level caused by human-induced climate change.
“It’s a very high level of melting and it will probably change the face of Greenland, because it will be a very strong driver for an acceleration of future melting, and therefore sea-level rise,” said Marco Tedesco, a glacier expert at Columbia University and adjunct scientist at Nasa.
Tedesco said a patch of high pressure is sucking and holding warmer air from further south “like a vacuum cleaner” and holding it over eastern Greenland, causing an all-time record temperature of 19.8C in the region on Wednesday. As seasonal snow melts away, darker core ice is exposed, which then melts and adds to sea level rise.
“We had these sort of atmospheric events in the past but they are now getting longer and more frequent,” Tedesco said.
“The snow is like a protective blanket so once that’s gone you get locked into faster and faster melting, so who knows what will happen with the melting now. It’s amazing to see how vulnerable these huge, giant areas of ice are. I’m astonished at how powerful the forces acting on them are.”
Greenland’s melting season usually lasts from June to August. The Danish government data shows that the island has lost more than 100bn tons of ice since the start of June this year and while the severity of melting is less than in 2019 – when 11bn tons of ice was lost in a single day – the area affected is much larger in 2021.
“It’s hard to say if it will be a record year for melting this year but there is a ton of warm and moist air over the ice sheet that’s causing an amazing amount of melt,” said Brad Lipovsky, a glaciologist at the University of Washington.
“The alarming thing to me is the political response, or lack of it. Sea-level rise is like a slow-moving train, but once it gets rolling you can’t stop it. It’s not great news.”
If all the ice in Greenland melted, the global sea level would jump by about 6 meters (20ft), and although this is unlikely to happen on any sort of foreseeable timescale, scientists have warned that the world’s largest island is reaching a tipping point due to the pressures exerted upon it by global heating.
Greenland’s ice is melting faster than any time in the past 12,000 years, scientists have calculated, with the ice loss running at a rate of around one million tons a minute in 2019. Greenland and the earth’s other polar region of Antarctica have together lost 6.3tn tons of ice since 1994.
This rate of ice loss, which is accelerating as temperatures continue to increase, is changing ocean currents, altering marine ecosystems and posing a direct threat to the world’s low-lying coastal cities, which risk being inundated by flooding. A 2019 research paper found the Greenland ice sheet could add anything between 5cm and 33cm to global sea levels by the end of the century. The world is on track for “the mid to upper end of that”, Lipovsky said.
“It’s very worrisome,” said Tedesco. “The action is clear – we need to get to net zero emissions but also we need to protect exposed populations along the coast. This is going to be a huge problem for our coastal cities.”
Regards Mark
World’s First ‘Festival For Pigs’ Arrives In UK, And It’s Vegan
The Orchard Pig Gig aims to raise more than £50,000 to help give rescue pigs a better quality of life
World’s First ‘Festival For Pigs’ Arrives In UK, And It’s Vegan | Plant Based News
There’s a party for pigs, and you’re invited. A unique vegan music festival, called the Orchard Pig Gig, is coming to the UK this weekend. The event is being advertised as the first of its kind worldwide.
Farm animal sanctuary Pigs in the Woods teamed up with vegan cider brand Orchard Pig to bring the concept to life.
The event will take place at the 10-acre sanctuary, located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Around 20 pigs live on the property, and they will be free to roam the festival grounds and interact with attendees.
Many of the animals were saved from slaughter. For instance, Angel the pig, mother of two pigs who are also at the sanctuary, was rescued from a petting farm. Since the pig family were no longer being used, they were due to be killed.
Another resident, Harry the pig, has been saved from slaughter twice within his first three months of life. Since he was the runt of the litter, he was due to be discarded as waste. And Florence was set to be euthanized by a city farm before she found a home at the sanctuary.
‘Pigs deserve a home’
Orchard Pig Gig will feature local plant-based food, as well as jazz, rap, and classical music performances.
“Our pigs are one of a kind and love to socialize and dance to music,” said Russell Haggata, Operations Director and Chairman at Pigs in The Wood.
“They can’t wait for this year’s Orchard Pig Gig. Our sanctuary wouldn’t exist without the generosity of donations, and we’re aiming to raise over £50,000 to improve the facilities for our pigs so that everyone can experience the joy these animals can bring,” he continued.
Emily Gray, Brand Manager at Orchard Pig, added: “Just like people, pigs deserve a home, and we believe they also deserve to party.”
Regards Mark
Animal exploitation sites are some of the most hideous in the world and their doors are always tightly locked, but there are facilities that are even more impenetrable than others: slaughterhouses.
The undercover agents’ cameras document insights that television cannot get and in which atrocities are the order of the day to show what is really going on behind the walls of these places.
Slaughterhouses around the world hide a cruel and painful reality: billions of animals such as pigs, cows, calves, chickens, rabbits, sheep and fish are brutally killed every day, regardless of their suffering.
The stunning methods are mostly ineffective and cause terrible agony for the animals, who first witness the killing of those in front of them and are then killed themselves fully conscious.
Inadequately equipped facilities, disregarded quality standards, violations of animal welfare laws and hygiene regulations, as well as abuse and mistreatment of animals are the rule.
Animal Equality’s international team has been documenting the cruel practices that the meat industry hides from its consumers for several years in slaughterhouses around the world: in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, the UK, and especially in Italy, where 10 out of 17 are undercover Research has been carried out worldwide.
Recently, the living conditions of animals condemned to be slaughtered are finally gaining more and more public attention, as the latest news from Mexico shows, for example: The Congress of the State of Puebla has almost unanimously passed the bill to ban illegal slaughterhouses and the slaughter of animals without stunning assumed.
The wind is turning, and that’s also thanks to our investigative work, which we carry out with full determination.
https://animalequality.de/unsere-undercover-recherchen-in-schlachthoefen/
Additional information: in the last few years the scandals in slaughterhouses in Germany have increased, one scandal follows another.
The SOKO animal welfare association has delivered several undercover investigations to the authorities and to the public.
Consequences: Sometimes a slaughterhouse closes and opens the next year next door again.
SOKO Tierschutz-Mecke-Germany
The association SOKO carried out an undercover investigation in a butcher’s company Mecke in North Rhine-Westphalia from May to July 2021.
This last undercover is a fatal reminder of the scandals surrounding slaughterhouses that specialize in the illegal slaughter of sick and injured dairy cows.
In the past few months, animals have been systematically mistreated in an animal facility belonging to the Mecke company network.
SOKO-Tierschutz-Mecke-Germany
Workers beat emaciated animals in the most brutal way and to the point of unconsciousness, a sick calf is kicked and dragged by the ears, electric shocks are illegally distributed, cows are dragged around with the winch while fully conscious, and animal experiments are even suspected , because the company apparently trades in the blood of the weakened animals.
The blood is drawn from the animals by the liter while they are still alive, while the animals are still tortured.
SOKO-Tierschutz-Mecke-Germany
A process that counts as a reportable animal experiment.
The Mecke employees comment on this as “emptying” and know that animals are finished after this ordeal and often can no longer get up.
In addition, pictures are shown of small children who beat the cattle with poles
It is now evident that the ridiculous penalties in animal welfare processes are zero deterrent.
The cruelest perpetrators simply moved a few kilometers further, and the veterinary office once again doesn’t know anything – that’s how animal welfare works in Germany.
“A major failure of politics and the judiciary,” said SOKO spokesman Friedrich Mülln.
The video is hard, as hard as the reality in slaughterhouses made possible by criminal butchers and corrupt authorities.
For decades this has happened thousands of times and every day in Germany under political fraud, series lobbyism and a powerful meat mafia that has nothing to fear.
My best regards to all, Venus
Or ‘processing’, as the Australian farmers have now voted to call it.
They don’t like the word ‘slaughter’ being used, so they ‘process’ animals rather than slaughter them.
We call it MURDER, MURDER, MURDER.
Don’t dress it up with crap, Aussie farmers; IT IS SLAUGHTER, and you are responsible for it.
Above – The wonderful AAU Crew.
From Erika and all our crew friends at Animal Aid Unlimited, India.
Dear Mark,
Massage, brushing, and giving cuddles can play a major role in an animals’ recovery.
There is a proven correlation between contact with animals and human health benefits and the same healing benefits are shared by animals who experience kindness and love.
The fact that human-animal companionship affects heart rate and blood pressure are impressive. But seeing the simple happiness sparkling in their eyes is enough for us.
Giving love isn’t extra here, it’s essential, and your help makes it all possible.
Bessie howled in pain and fear. But suddenly, she wagged her tail!
Hiding in pain and wailing when touched, this precious girl had been hit by a car,her hind leg was fractured and she had deep lacerations.
But as soon as she understood she was safe in the arms of her rescuer,she stopped howling and to our surprise, started to wag her tail instead. And when we eased her pain with medication, wound dressing, splint and surgery, she gave us the most beautiful reward: non-stop smiles filled with love throughout the coming weeks of her healing.
Bessie is one of the tender souls who lives life so full of love and appreciation. Thank you for helping her heal. Please donate today.
It took Shabi weeks to recover from a head injury, but his sweetness never missed a beat!
Stumbling and circling, this beautiful little one had a brain injury after he was hit by a passing car.
Shabi’s tender-hearted neighbors saw his disorientation and called us to the rescue. His breathing was distressed and rapid and we worried that he might be bleeding internally. The first job was to stabilize his breathing; we gave him oxygen and medicine to help him breathe. Regaining his balance and orientation would take weeks.
We are so grateful that his brain damage isn’t permanent but his adorable charm sure is. Meet Shabi now, one of the world’s sweetest souls.
Help young angels wag their tails for many years to come. Please donate today.
Your animals deserve treats and so do YOU!
Your purchase helps save the lives of ill and injured street animals.
Shop Now – Animal Aid Unlimited Shop
We thank you deeply for all you do, are, and inspire for animals.
Founding family Erika, Claire and Jim, and the Animal Aid Unlimited team.
SURGE | The euphemisms of animal exploitation (surgeactivism.org)
Thanks Stacey for sending this over to us – sorry its late in publishing !
Regards Mark
| New post on Our Compass The euphemisms of animal exploitation by Stacey Surge People love defining another’s suffering in manners that provides them personal comfort and not the actual victims; animal exploitation is bloody, abusive, violent, and the cause of unimaginable fear and suffering regardless of how aesthetically appealing humans disguise it. If you get angsty by grammar that legitimately describes the horrors animals experience, just remember that nobody takes their beloved cat or dog to be “humanely euthanized” in a slaughterhouse, nor are companies/animal farmers/execs happily transparent regarding this “process” by sharing footage of the gruesome, bloody, agonizing “end” of animals: in fact, the exposure of slaughterhouses is typically only from undercover exposes, former employees, or unnamed current employees. (Although there are some slaughterhouses that film the graphic, fearful, and agonizing killing of unwilling, terrified, innocent animals, the problem is, nobody watches the footage. Who wants to, though, when you can remain willfully ignorant of the violence you inflict on innocents? And, too, why is footage even needed when the reality of slaughterhouse existences …. well …. exists? It’s a slaughterhouse, its purpose is to kill as fast, as many, as cheaply and efficiently as possible, why people believe that good things happen is one is bizarre.) Stop pretending that just because you’re afforded the privilege of associating violence and pain endured by docile, gentle animals, with pastoral, peaceful, and caring descriptions to provide you comfort means it’s comfortable for the victims: it’s NOT. YOU don’t have to physically suffer the consequences of your delusional grammatical validations, the animals DO regardless of your willful ignorance. Source Surge Right now, all around the world, the animal farming industries are working with politicians to try and get certain terms banned from being able to be used by plant-based companies. With the EU considering a piece of legislation that could make it illegal to use phrases that “imitate or evoke dairy products”, even if the composition or true nature of the product or service is indicated or accompanied by an expression such as “style”, “type”, “method”, “as produced in”, “imitation”, “flavour”, “substitute”, “like” or similar. This could make it illegal to even say ‘does not contain milk’. Yes, that’s right, we’re not even joking. We wish we were. But this got us thinking about the words the meat, dairy and egg industries use and how they themselves hide behind euphemisms to disguise the reality of their industries. So here’s our round-up of the words the EU and other politicians should be looking to ban, if that is, they do actually care about consumer confusion. Slaughter or processing? If we said to you, what word would you use to describe hanging an animal on a kill line and pulling a knife across their throat, what would you say? Well, if you were a farmer you would call that processing. The animal exploitation industries have a real problem saying that water is wet. In fact, in 2019, at their annual conference, New South Wales farmers voted for the complete exclusion of the word slaughter and for it to be replaced with the word processing. Why? Because in their view the word slaughter is used to create emotions that discredit animal farming industries and undermine trust in animal farming. One farmer stated: “The word slaughter is not appropriate for our industry… it’s not mass murder.” Whatever helps them sleep at night. But this is a common term used by animal farmers, with slaughterhouses often referred to as meat processing plants. Avoiding the word slaughter seeks to detach the consumer from the reality of what happens to animals by instead using words that allow us to psychologically distance ourselves from what we are paying for. After all, would you rather pay for an animal to be processed or slaughtered? Mass slaughter or depopulation? At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many slaughterhouses were forced to close due to outbreaks among the workers. One of the most notable was the Smithfields slaughterhouse that supplies around five per cent of all pig flesh in the US. This caused huge problems in the supply chain. So the next question is, what do you call killing hundreds, even thousands of lives in quick succession because you can’t sell them to have their throats cut? Depopulation. But in reality, depopulation is just a friendlier way of saying mass extermination on farms, which is exactly what it is. One way in which animals are slaughtered en masse by farmers is called ventilation shutdown, where the air supply is cut off to the barns filled with animals. This in turn causes the heat to increase to intense levels causing the animals to slowly suffocate and roast to death at the same time. This method of mass killing is even endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, whilst at the same time they call it unacceptable to leave dogs in cars. Why? Because the temperature will increase which will cause the dog to suffer and die. After this process was exposed by hidden camera footage, the National Pork Producers Council said in an email: “We definitely need to come up with a new name to describe this.” Yet again showing how deliberately these industries attempt to hide the things they do. Other methods of on-farm mass slaughter include pumping foam throughout the barns blocking the airways of the animals causing them to suffocate to death, or using carbon dioxide, where the farmers turn the barns into large gas chambers or create smaller gas chambers in which the animals are gassed to death. By using the word ‘livestock’ we are viewing these animals as mere products, commodities who can be traded and profited from. In essence, it seeks to deny the animals their individuality. “Euthanasia” Next word. What do you call the act of picking up a piglet by their back legs and slamming them against a wall or the floor to kill them because they’re not growing fast enough or aren’t worth spending money on for veterinary care? Farmers call this euthanasia. But when we think of animals being euthanised, we think of our companion animals being peacefully ‘put to sleep’ because they are severely ill. Well, farmers will describe killing an animal on their farm as euthanising the animal as if it is a merciful act, but instead of it being done in the animal’s best interest, it is done in the farmer’s financial interest. The most common methods of killing birds on a farm include blunt force trauma, which involves hitting an animal over the head until they are dead, neck dislocation, carbon dioxide gassing either head only or in gas chambers, or a captive bolt. For mammals, the most common methods include captive bolts, blunt force trauma, gassing, electrocution or a bullet. But the issue of euphemisms is even more normalised than this, to the point where some of the most common words used to describe animal exploitation actually contribute to the objectification of animals. For example, the term livestock. Sentient individuals or livestock? By referring to animals as livestock, animal farmers are attempting to create a distinction between the animals they farm and the animals that exist in the world. It essentially ‘otherises’ the animals we exploit and attempts to put them into a different classification, which further perpetuates the idea that it is acceptable to exploit and kill these animals. For example, if you ask someone, “is it acceptable to kill livestock?”, most people will say yes. But if you ask “is it acceptable to kill animals?”, people’s responses would often be very different, even though the question is the same question. However, morally there is no difference between killing a pig or killing any other animal we don’t classify as livestock. This is how ‘othering’ works. We view the animals we kill as being different and refer to them differently so as to make what we do to them more palatable and less likely to expose our cognitive dissonance. By using the word ‘livestock’ we are viewing these animals as mere products, commodities who can be traded and profited from. In essence, it seeks to deny the animals their individuality. What about the names of animal products themselves, many of which are also named and referred to in a way that disconnects us from the reality of who we are eating? Even though the origins of many of these words can be traced back hundreds of years, referring to animal flesh as meat, pig flesh as pork, cow flesh as beef and baby cow flesh as veal, among others, further detaches us from having to think about the animals whose bodies we are purchasing. Imagine if supermarkets had flesh aisles, rather then meat aisles. Or if instead of bacon, we bought sliced pig flesh with extra fat layers. By turning animals into objects, classifying them differently and using different words to describe them when they are living and when they are dead, it allows us to avoid the discomfort caused by thinking of them in gas chambers or hung up on the kill line about to have their throats cut. Whether we realise it or not, the animal agriculture industries have been purposefully trying to trick consumers for years, and their on-going attempts to try and censor plant-based companies further proves how worried they are about the prospect of informed consumers making their own decisions. In the end, consumers aren’t being misguided by clearly labelled plant-based alternatives, they are being lied to and deceived by industries that are desperate to keep the objective reality of what happens to animals out of sight and out of mind. Download Your FREE Vegan PDF HERE Order a FREE vegan kit HERE Dairy-Free Info HERE Take the Dairy-Free Challenge HERE Click HERE for more Dairy-Free Fish alternatives can be found HERE Learn about eggs HERE Find bacon alternatives HERE and HERE Take PETA’s Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide along with you next time you head to the store! The handy guide will help you find humane products at a glance. Order a FREE copy HERE Searching for Cruelty-Free Cosmetics, Personal-Care Products, Vegan Products, or more? Click HERE to search. Free PDF of Vegan & Cruelty-Free Products/Companies HERE Click HERE to find out How to Wear Vegan! Want to do more than go vegan? Help others to do so! Click below for nominal, or no, fees to vegan literature that you can use to convince others that veganism is the only compassionate route to being an animal friend: PETA HERE Vegan Outreach HERE Get your FREE Activist Kit from PETA, including stickers, leaflets, and guide HERE Have questions? Click HERE |
World Animals Voice 