Category: General News

USA: America’s Largest Vegan Chain Expanding to New York City.

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Known for its mouthwatering plant-based sandwiches, salads, and more,

@VeggieGrill

boasts over 30 locations across the country (USA).

 

 

America’s Largest Vegan Chain Expanding to New York City

 

Veggie Grill—one of the most successful all-vegan fast-food chains—is opening a brand-new restaurant in New York City on Friday, December 13!

Known for its mouthwatering plant-based sandwiches, salads, and more, Veggie Grill boasts over 30 locations across the country, in California, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, and Massachusetts.

The new restaurant will be in New York’s Flatiron District and offer all the delicious options customers have come to love. With yummy favorites like the Buffalo Bomber sandwich, Beyond Burger, and Savory Kale Caesar salad, the menu has something for everyone.

And the chain shows no signs of slowing down. Earlier this year, Veggie Grill opened its first East Coast location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and partnered with foodservice giant Sodexo to bring its delicious plant-based menu items to select colleges and universities around the United States.

As people become aware of the negative impact factory farming has on animals, the environment, and human health, the demand for plant-based food is growing. Restaurants like Veggie Grill are taking advantage of this changing market by providing delicious vegan options.

Plus, the Big Apple has more vegan restaurants than any other U.S. city—about 600—so Veggie Grill will be in good company.

https://chooseveg.com/blog/americas-largest-vegan-chain-expanding-new-york-city/

 

veganfaces2

Australia: Kind Man Provides Life Saving Water to a Koala.

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This thirsty koala was caught having a drink out of a garden hose in Victoria over the weekend.

Right across the country, native animals are constantly on the search for water, among extreme heat and fires.

Please look out for them and provide life saving water whenever you can, thank you.

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1209262411271688198

 

Netherlands: A Christmas Message From Lesley Re Progress In Turkey.

Netherlands

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Lesley is a personal friend and we have worked together on live export issues in the past.

Here is her Christmas message about the great work she has been doing (at Eyes on Animals – Netherlands) for animal welfare in Turkey;

Regards Mark (WAV)

 

 

Dear donors and friends,

I am writing from the airport in Istanbul, about to fly back home. I hope you don’t mind that I will only write in English.

Five years ago we started our project in Turkey to change the way animals were being treated inside slaughterhouses. Since then we have visited many slaughterhouses and witnessed unspeakable horrors. I am often asked how we do this work, facing such animal suffering. The answer is that we care too much to be able to now look away. Focusing on achieving results keeps us driven.

In 2019 we achieved a major breakthrough in Turkey. Who could have thought that two cattle slaughterhouses would now be stunning animals before slaughter? Who could have thought that we could now import captive bolt stunning pistols into Turkey? Putting stunning into practice in Turkey was a major step, and the most challenging one.

It took dozens of meetings with religious authorities, giving numerous talks at Turkish universities and to officials of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture, editing hours of film material, visiting and inspecting Turkish slaughterhouses and educating their employees as well as organizing conferences for Turkish veterinarians and butchers. Now that the first major step has been taken, we just have to keep the ball rolling. In 2020, this will be one of our top priorities.

 

 

When I think back to the horrors of my first visit of a cattle slaughterhouse in Turkey in 2014, where French cattle were being chained by one leg, hoisted fully off the floor and left hanging like that for up to 2 minutes before having their throats cut open, I am so relieved to now know that change is possible.

 

 

 

Looking back at 2019

This year was a busy and intense year. Aside from Turkey, we were active in many other places to improve animal welfare and decrease suffering.

In Ghana, together with WACPAW, we improved conditions inside 5 slaughterhouses by teaching the butchers how to use a captive bolt pistol and giving them one. In Poland we trained over 80 Official Road Inspectors and stopped and fined dozens of animals trucks together.

In the Netherlands several major pig slaughterhouses invested in new equipment (industrial fans and roofed parking areas with shade) to help tackle heat stress in the summer. Two major egg companies in The Netherlands have fully abandoned the brutal commercial way of catching “spent” laying hens and switched over to the EonA upright method and now a UK company is also interested in it (we will be meeting with them in January).

Together with the French organization L214 we exposed the horrible cruelty in the trade of unweaned calves from Ireland via French control posts to veal farms in the Netherlands. One of the employees in France was prosecuted and the story got in major international press. Our inspections were reported in Le Monde, Le Parisien, Het Parool, de Volkskrant, BBC World, The Guardian, the Irish Times, NPO Radio 1 and more.

 

 

 

THANK YOU!

Dear donor, your generous support have made the improvements for all these animals possible. Thank you for believing in our efforts and for being patient with us. Your support gives me and my team the opportunity to spend our time and energy into what we all hold as being so important – to make this world a gentler place for animals.

We still do hope for a day when society peacefully switches over to an agricultural system not dependent on killing animals, but as long as there are animals inside barren barns, overcrowded trucks or frightening slaughterhouses, we will do our very best to make sure animal-suffering is noticed and decreased.

On behalf of everyone at Eyes on Animals, I wish you a joyous and peaceful winter holiday season.

On behalf of myself, I wish all of the hard-working volunteers and freelancers of Eyes on Animals a time to rest and look back on the achievements.

With warm wishes from us all at the Eyes on Animals office in Amsterdam,

 

 

Thank you for your support!

EoA Xmas

Lesley Moffat
director of Eyes on Animals

England: One Will Not Wear Fur – Her Majesty The Queen of England Goes Fur Free In Future Clothing Lines.

England

 

Well better late than never – the UK Royal Family are watched and followed across the world; especially in the USA; so any progress to stop the wearing of fur is good news as far as we are concerned.  Hopefully will influence many others around the globe that Fur Is Out !

 

For all the great news from Respect for Animals, please visit their web site by clicking on:

http://www.respectforanimals.org/category/news/

One will not wear fur

The Queen of England Goes Fur Free In Future Clothing Lines.

One will not wear fur

–Queen’s new outfits will now be fur free Respect for Animals has welcomed the news that the Queen will no longer be wearing fur in her new outfits. Her personal adviser and senior dresser Angela Kelly wrote in her new memoir that Her Majesty will only wear fur-free new items for engagements due to changing attitudes in the country. Any outfits designed for the Queen now will use fake fur

 

–Queen’s new outfits will now be fur free

Respect for Animals has welcomed the news that the Queen will no longer be wearing fur in her new outfits.

Her personal adviser and senior dresser Angela Kelly wrote in her new memoir that Her Majesty will only wear fur-free new items for engagements due to changing attitudes in the country.

Any outfits designed for the Queen now will use fake fur instead.

In her book, titled The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, The Dresser And The Wardrobe, Ms Kelly says a coat worn by the Queen in Slovakia in 2008 has since been altered.

The coat’s trim, which originally used mink fur, has been replaced with fake fur.

However, this is likely to be an exception, as reports now suggest that fur on current clothing will not be replaced, and the Queen will continue to re-wear existing outfits in her wardrobe.

LISTEN: Respect for Animals Campaigns Director, Mark Glover, discusses the Queen’s shift away from real fur on Talk Radio’s Breakfast Show with Julia Hartley-Brewer: https://talkradio.co.uk/radio/listen-again/1573021800# (from around 20:00 in the 09:30-10:00

 

 

For all the great news from Respect for Animals, please visit their web site by clicking on:

http://www.respectforanimals.org/category/news/

 

USA: Protect turkeys in trucks from frigid temps.

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Thanks Stacey (WAV) – https://our-compass.org/2019/12/23/i-feel-so-badly-for-those-turkeys-hauled-on-freezing-nights/

 

… has so many churches and so many Christmas decorations and so many people that claim to be Christians, and yet so much unnecessary horrific animal cruelty and no complaint of it, or effort to do anything to stop it …

 

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Photo – Animals Angels

 

Source United Poultry Concerns (UPC)

The Letter to the Editor that follows this Introduction was written by Shane Zoglman and published Nov. 20, 2019 by The Dubois County Herald in Indiana, a mid-Western state with a large poultry and egg industry. In granting permission to UPC to share his letter with our readers, Shane added some information about his own evolution:

Howdy, sure, post away. For some history, back when I was a teenager, and didn’t have any good examples or guidance in the form of grownups, I worked for about 4 years on a chicken farm, that is, an egg farm, gathering eggs from the mega-sized houses, taking out the dead and crippled chickens and also taking out the old ones, loading them on semis and putting the new young birds in the cages.

I also did a few part-time jobs of working for a farm where I helped load turkeys into the semis. I have to say I didn’t think about the animals’ suffering, it just didn’t enter my mind. So I am someone who has seen both sides and has changed a lot over the years. The thing I do not understand is people that never wake up. I think a big help in my waking up to animal cruelty was stumbling onto the Shark Online YouTube channel years ago. I had been to a couple rodeos as a kid, but again, never was aware of the cruelty as I see it now after seeing their videos of rodeo cruelty.

These days I do not buy guns and ammo to kill animals with. I buy binoculars to enjoy watching them with, and instead of putting effort into killing, I put effort and money into taking in animals (who) need a home as well as trying to spread some of the message in my own way that things need to change.
– Shane Zoglman

 

The following is Shane’s letter in The Dubois County Herald, Nov. 20, 2019:

Protect turkeys in trucks from frigid temps

Dubois County Herald

November 20, 2019

To the editor:

Well, it is wintertime in Dubois County again, and once again the turkey manufacturing industry has done nothing to alleviate the suffering of turkeys being trucked down the highways at night in open cages, going 60-mph with no protection from the horrific freezing cold.

The profiteers of the turkey manufacturing industry cannot be bothered to spend a few bucks to lessen the cruelty they inflict on their product. After all, a healthy profit margin is what life is all about, right?

After their freezing cold, 18-wheeled torture trip, many of the turkeys are thrown still alive into boiling hot water. Then they are sold and shipped to China, where most turkeys “manufactured” in America end up. It’s so great that China gets the food and people in Dubois County get the pollution, the stink and the humanity-degrading, low-paying jobs of inflicting cruelty on animals while a few rich people at the top get the money.

What does it say that Dubois County has so many churches and so many Christmas decorations and so many people that claim to be Christians and yet so much unnecessary horrific animal cruelty and no complaint of it, or effort to do anything to stop it?

You cannot look at humans in middle America and convince me that monsters do not exist. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Shane Zoglman, Jasper

 

Order a FREE vegan kit: http://www.peta.org/living/food/free-vegan-starter-kit/

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.

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: https://www.petaliterature.com/

Vegan Outreach: https://veganoutreach.org/order-form/

Get your FREE Activist Kit from PETA, including stickers, leaflets, and guide HERE

Have questions? Click HERE

 

the other message for the “festival of love”

 

Fleischfressende und ein Veganer

Dear readers of our blog,

Christmas is just around the corner, for most it means an orgy of eating meat.

The number of victims in the name of love and religion is increasing dramatically these days.

This prevents us from celebrating these days – which have a decorative charm for non-believers anyway – in the same way as the majority of society, and exchanging hypocritical congratulations for “happy holidays” with everyone from the schnitzel fraction.

schöne Karikatur über tote iere in weihnachtennDon`t speak of the ” festival of love” when there is a dead animal on your plate

 

We will therefore do it differently.

Our message is a memory of all beings that are being transported and slaughtered all over the world these days.

We think of the, more than other days.

verpackter Schweinekopf aus Puerto Ricopg

These animals call the others “Martin’s goose” or “Andalusian piglet” and see them on their plates for the first time.

We call them Christmas Victim and we call it Murder.

We speak of corpses instead of roasts, of murder instead of consumption.

This also distinguishes us from ”the others” and over the years we have tried to use the language as a grenade thrown in the right place at the right time.

You have been loyal to us in our daily endeavors to expose state and private crimes against animals, to provide objective information about animal exploitation and animal suffering around the world.

We have always tried to be politically correct and to remain unaffected by media propaganda.

We have you on our side, we want to believe it, and only together can we continue this fight and keep the necessary motivation for it.

In this sense … we wish all animal rights activists, vegans and co-campaigners of our blog peaceful and healthy days.

Karikatur-Schlachter wird abgeführt

Venus and Mark

England: Everything we’ve achieved in 2019 – SPANA (London). Free Medical Treatment To Help Working Animals and Their Owners; Paid for By Members and Supporters.

England

 

WAV Comment – I have been more than pleased to be a member / supporter / donator to SPANA over many years, because they really are the FREE TO PEOPLE THAT NEED A lifeline to helping sick, badly treated and ill working animals in places where ‘normal’ vets would not go.  Free service to people with the working animals paid for by members and supporters. Combined with their education programme to teach young kids about animal welfare; they really are making strides in some of the most remote and underprivileged places on the planet.  Please watch the uplifting videos of their work and become a member / supporter if you can.

Regards Mark

 

 

https://spana.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsLXkiYfK5gIVA7TtCh1LuQfjEAAYASAAEgJeV_D_BwE

 

This year we’ve been able to treat over 300,000 animals, train more than 50,000 animal owners and teach over 92,000 children about animal welfare. None of this would have been possible without your incredible and generous support. Thank you!

We’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved this year and we’d love for you to click the button below to watch our latest video highlighting our work.

Thanks to you, we’ve had a fantastic 2019 helping working animals all over the world, and we’re determined to make a huge difference in 2020. From everyone at SPANA, we hope you have a lovely Christmas, and a happy New Year!

Harvard: How to fight for animal rights!

 

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Harvard Law School has introduced a program which will teach law students how to fight for animal rights.

The course named Animal Law & Policy Clinic follows a national trend of schools offering animal rights legal training.

The course provides students with direct hands-on experience in litigation, legislation, administrative practice, and policymaking.

The clinic will work on a broad range of issues affecting farmed animals, wildlife, animals in captivity, and the overarching threat to all forms of life from climate change.

Harvard hopes the course will see ‘a new generation of leaders for the animal protection movement’.

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Harvard University Motto

 

The clinic will be part of the Animal Law & Policy Program, led by Faculty Director Professor Kristen Stilt.

Announcing the clinic, Stilt said: “The Animal Law & Policy Clinic at HLS will train and prepare our graduates to embark on careers in the animal protection field, produce impactful litigation and policy analysis to benefit the animal protection movement, and provide an internationally renowned platform for educating the broader public about the many pressing issues involving animal law and policy.”

Growing field

Harvard said in a statement that animal protection is one of the fastest developing areas of public interest law.

The number of institutions in the US offering Animal Law courses has dramatically risen from just nine in 2000 to 167 in 2019.

“Animal law is a vitally important and rapidly growing field,” said Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning ’85.

“Our new Animal Law & Policy Clinic will give students real-world experience in this burgeoning field, build on Harvard Law School’s long tradition of innovative pedagogy, and prepare future graduates to address significant societal challenges.

“I am delighted to welcome Katherine Meyer to the Harvard Law School community and congratulate her, Kristen Stilt, and Nicole Negowetti on the launch of this terrific initiative.”

The Animal Law & Policy Clinic was supported by major gifts from the Brooks McCormick Jr. Trust, the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, the Animal Welfare Trust and other generous supporters.

 

https://www.totallyveganbuzz.com/news/harvard-introduces-course-to-train-students-to-battle-for-animal-rights

 

My comment: I have never heard of such an offer anywhere.
What I knew was the offer of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, which provides students with the theoretical and practical tools needed to become familiar with legal protection for animals, so that at the end of the course students have a total comprehension of how the law works in this new subject area; It’s called Master’s Degree in Animal Law and Society and it is done as a distance learning course.

The fact that now the highly valued Harvard University offers a special course in training “Animal Rights” gives us hope that in the future there will be better legal expertise on this subject, which will consequently lead to more active and effective actions in the animal rights movement.

I believe that the historical moment has come to overcome the barrier of “speciesism” after nationalism, racism and sexism, which justifies discrimination against living beings only on the basis of their species.

Rassism speziesim Karikaturn

Evolutionary biologists do not distinguish between humans and animals, but between humans and other animals.
Nevertheless! until now we have animals without rights.

And even if these “other animals” do not need the same rights as we humans (right to vote, freedom of religion, etc.) this does not deny their rights for freedom, life and autonomy.

We welcome very much the decision of the Harvard Law School!

Best regards to all, Venus

England: Petition – Tell Sainsbury To Immediately Cut Ties With Gravel Farms Who Kill Turkeys By Neck Crushing With Pliers !

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Stop Crushing Turkeys’ Necks With Pliers

Petition Link: https://forcechange.com/548958/stop-selling-animal-cruelty-to-the-public/

Target: Mike Coupe, CEO of Sainsbury’s

Goal: Drop farm with alleged history of animal cruelty from turkey supply chain.

This year’s Christmas dinners in Britain are allegedly coming at the expense of countless turkeys suffering inhumane, barbaric deaths. A three-month-long investigation by an animal advocacy group yielded some horrific accusations against one of the country’s most expansive turkey producers, Gravel Farms.

In deeply disturbing footage, a worker can reportedly be seen snapping two distressed turkeys’ necks with a pair of pliers. This outrageous action could represent just a small sampling of the cruelty these vulnerable birds may endure at the farm.

The use of such “neck crushing devices” is strongly discouraged by the RSPCA and the Humane Slaughter Association. Even turkeys that did not suffer this indignity still seemingly received horrid treatment, according to the investigation.

Many birds apparently died from untreated injuries and wounds. While the country’s most prominent food standards agency has dropped Gravel Farms from its supply chain, the large supermarket chain that sustains much of this farm’s business has not taken similar steps.

Sign this petition to demand the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain stop enabling and paying for allegedly widespread animal cruelty.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Mr. Coupe,

The recent footage unearthed from Gravel Farms depicting seemingly grotesque animal cruelty should be a moment of awakening. Have you witnessed the horrific conditions and treatment the turkeys that this farm supplies to you reportedly endure? If you by some chance have not, let’s elaborate.

At least two distressed, innocent living beings allegedly had their necks brutally broken by a worker with crushing pliers. Several more birds reportedly lived for days and weeks with open, increasingly severe wounds to which many eventually succumbed. Is this inhumanity the welfare and hygiene standard that your respected organization desires to present to the public?

If not, make the right decision and act against this alleged cruelty. Don’t support such barbaric atrocities with your money or your silence.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here.]

Photo Credit: SWNS

India: Latest December Videos From ‘Animal Aid Unlimited’.

Grunge India flag. India flag with grunge texture. Brush stroke.

 

animal aid unlimited india

Dear Mark,

 

Our brand new Puppytown is officially open!

 

With a capacity to hold 80 delightful squigglers, 

puppies with fractures, wounds and illnesses now have a bright, warm-in-winter, cool-in-summer area where they are treated and comfortably housed in double-decker kennels suitable for three to five puppies together, on easy-to-clean tiles.

We are so proud of this important facilities upgrade: the previous puppy area was built in 2012 and was in need of a re-model.

We thank you deeply for giving us the means to serve all the lives we can–including our tiniest rescues who, being especially vulnerable, need extra care.

We continue to need your help with medicine and on-going care while the pups recover.

Please donate! 

AAU Indian founders

Trusting Vishwas nearly lost his hoof when his owner tied his legs together

 

This courageous donkey gave human beings the chance to help him after nearly losing his hoof and his life. His owner, perhaps to keep him from running away, had tied his front and hind legs together to ensure that the pain kept him from trotting and getting away. We don’t know who the owner is or how this sweetheart escaped, but the plastic packing tape that bound him hock to hock almost killed him.

In the course of our rescues, we see painfully often that animal abuse is the norm whenever animals are owned for a financial purpose, whether it’s for their meat, eggs or milk or in this case, for Vishwas’s labour.

 

Please donate to show animals like Vishwas the compassionate side of humanity.

Gorgeous Zarin’s happy new start…

 

 

Beautiful Zarin must have been a puppy when someone tied a rope around her neck, but no one removed it as she grew. Slowly it became tighter, then so tight that it cut right through the skin. But the constricted neck and massive flesh wound was partially hidden by her fur, until it had become so deep and the abraded tissue so bright that, finally, someone noticed her huge problem.

We hurried her back to our hospital, removed the rope, thoroughly flushed the wound, treated her for infection and began the beautiful process of her healing.
You’ll definitely see why we say Zarin is one of the sweetest girls we’ve ever met.  Please donate.

Celebrate the Caregivers: Kamlesh!

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It’s easy to under-estimate the complexity of what it means to drive one of Animal Aid’s ambulances. The driver, who also serves as a rescuer, helps safely rescue injured animals, provides first aid, navigates down narrow and busy lanes, and is the face of Animal Aid to the community. We’re proud to have Kamlesh Sharma as one of our stalwart ambulance drivers and rescuers. He has served with us for 2 years so far, but despite that relatively short time, his wonderful work reflects our deepest philosophy: help the vulnerable and treat them gently