Millions of Chickens, Turkeys & Ducks were Suffocated to Death (Source: Free From Harm)

Time to Spread the Joy

By Karen Davis PhD | September 17, 2015 |

Between December 2014 and June 2015, more than 33 million chickens, turkeys and ducks were suffocated to death with firefighting foam and carbon dioxide in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Minnesota and elsewhere in the United States in response to the avian influenza outbreaks that began on poultry farms in 2014.[1] Since June, the number of birds exterminated has grown by many millions more in the U.S. and globally. The concentration of billions of highly stressed, immuno-compromised birds living in filth, misery and fear across the Earth guarantees that avian influenza outbreaks and epidemics will continue to occur.[2]

In addition to using firefighting foam and carbon dioxide to exterminate poultry flocks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture supports exterminating them by shutting off the ventilation in the houses and letting the birds bake to death – a process that can take anywhere from half an hour to 3 or more hours for every bird to die. Shutting off the ventilation in the computer-controlled houses is the cheapest method of extermination. Neither gas nor foam is needed.[3]

Shooting hoses filled with carbon dioxide into the confinement houses, metal boxes and “kill carts” causes the birds to burn, freeze, and suffocate to death simultaneously – and slowly. This is the egg industry’s main method of exterminating “spent” hens, whether from battery cages or cage-free confinement operations, with or without bird flu.[4]

As for fire-fighting foam, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved in 2006, contrary to the lie that the birds are dead within a minute of being blanketed under the foam, Bruce Webster of The University of Georgia told a USDA meeting in June 2006, “You saw a lot of escape behavior for 4-6 minutes. You saw the birds’ heads sticking out of the foam.” Eventually, their movements ceased, as the birds were “worn out” with their “volitional struggle,” Webster told attendees including UPC president Karen Davis at the meeting.[5]

In a firefighting foam trial with turkeys, birds were reported flapping under the foam for up to 6 minutes. This does not mean that the turkeys were unconscious or dead when the flapping stopped or appeared to stop. And foam-covered birds cannot vocalize their suffering. They cannot be seen or heard. Necropsies showed hemorrhages in the tracheas of birds who died under the foam, and “occlusion of the trachea by the foam” was cited by Ruth Newberry of Washington State University as “a serious welfare concern.”[6]

– See more at: http://freefromharm.org/farm-animal-welfare/birds/#sthash.gBHhq7Vn.dpuf

Reblog from Free From Harm: “They Are All Cecil”

By Lorelei Plotczyk | August 31, 2015 |

Cecil reveals our glaring moral inconsistencies

Few issues cause more discomfort and hostility than openly questioning the practice of breeding, feeding, watering, and slaughtering tens of billions of sentient animals annually, which we do today in the total absence of necessity.

I want to be liked as much as the next gal, so when posting on my personal social media accounts, I try not to alienate myself from friends and family, the majority of whom love animals — or at least wouldn’t intentionally hurt one — but who have not (yet!) peeled back the layers that normalize the pervasive atrocities of animal agriculture affecting animals, people, and planet. For better or worse, I mostly compartmentalize these issues for discussions with like-minded folks. I’m working on that.

But the public’s justifiably outraged reaction to a lion named Cecil being killed by a hunter who paid $50,000 to do so makes it difficult to remain silent about the glaring moral inconsistencies that recently plastered many Facebook feeds.

Animal Rights BC (Before Cecil)

Here’s the deal. A man paid someone to allow him to kill an animal for pleasure.

Most people, on the other hand, pay people to kill animals for them, also for their pleasure.

Yes, in our society today, we eat animals for pleasure, not necessity. More on that in a minute.

It’s a wonderful thing when people speak up for human rights concerning specific races, genders, or sexualities. Most likely, someone who does so is not then proceeding to intentionally exploit humans outside of the group they’re defending at that particular moment. That would just be ridiculous and incredibly hypocritical. Can you imagine, for example, someone with a rainbow profile picture enthusiastically posting a racist photo?

Yet when most people speak up for the rights of certain animals — often dogs, particularly those left in hot cars — they then turn around and proceed to intentionally exploit animals outside of the group they’re defending at that moment, particularly those species they’ve been hypnotized by society to assign little to no moral consideration. This is equally ridiculous and hypocritical as the above example.

For example, over the past few week, I have seen people expressing their outrage over the intentional killing of a defenseless lion hours later posting a photo of themselves chowing down on the body of an intentionally killed, defenseless cow.

What we call a cheeseburger is actually totally vulnerable, sentient, heartbreakingly docile bovines (usually hundreds of them per patty!) whose ground-up remains are so casually consumed, covered in the congealed mammary secretions of their own species, whose formula-fed offspring likely lived out their unimaginable weeks on this Earth alone and imprisoned in a veal crate.

Amongst my many online vegan acquaintances brave enough to point out this glaring cognitive disconnect on social media, I’m seeing two common, knee-jerk reactions from their typically infuriated and offended non-veg friends:

1. It’s perfectly okay to kill (certain) animals that are plentiful, but not those that are endangered.

This would mean that animals have the right to exist, but not to live.

2. It’s okay to kill (certain) animals as long as their bodies are used in some way, especially for (unnecessary) food.

This is saying it’s not okay to kill or use just any animal for food, just certain species as dictated by society. After all, most Westerners would be horrified if someone slaughtered a local unwanted shelter dog to barbecue, defending it by saying

– See more at: http://freefromharm.org/animal-products-and-culture/they-are-all-cecil/#sthash.eBMVCwIX.dpuf

Re-Blog: Some “Animal Advocates” Never Miss An Opportunity to Exploit Animal Exploitation

Just when I think it can’t get worse, it does.

Humane Society International is an arm of The Humane Society of the United States. Andrew Rowan is the Chief International Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of The HSUS, and President and CEO of Humane Society International.

HSI has a new campaign: rescuing dogs from South Korean farms:

(click to enlarge)

Here is a story about this campaign:

Alexandria (United States) (AFP) – A dozen dogs originally destined for dinner tables in South Korea arrived in the Washington area to be adopted as pets.

They were the first of a total of 23 dogs being imported into the United States this week as part of a campaign to combat the eating of dog meat in East Asia.

Washington-based Humane Society International (HSI) located the dogs at a farm in Ilsan, northwest of Seoul, where they were being bred specifically for human consumption.

The farmer — who acknowledged a personal fondness for dogs — agreed to give up the animals and accept an offer of compensation and grow blueberries instead, HSI director of companion animals Kelly O’Meara told AFP, as the mongrels settled into kennels Monday at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, Virginia after a long flight from Seoul.

HSI has been working with local groups in China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to raise public awareness of the dog meat trade.

“But South Korea is unusual because it actually farms dogs to supply demand,” O’Meara said, while other countries target feral dogs as food.

Every year, between 1.2 million and two million dogs are consumed in South Korea, she said, supplied by farms that number “at least in the hundreds.”

O’Meara said it was the first time that dogs from South Korea intended for human consumption had been rescued and brought into the United States, where a brisk demand for adopted dogs and cats is met by a thriving network of animal rescue groups and shelters.

All 23 South Korean dogs — the second batch is due to arrive Tuesday — will undergo veterinarian checks in Alexandria, before being distributed among five other shelters in the Mid-Atlantic states for adoption.

“By helping these 23 dogs, we’ll be helping a lot of other dogs in South Korea” by raising public awareness of the dog meat trade, said Megan Webb, executive director of the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, which finds homes for about 1,000 dogs a year.

Okay. So let’s see if I have this right:

HSUS/HSI objects to the eating of dogs. Okay. I understand that. I don’t think anyone should eat dogs either. Surely, it makes no sense to object to eating dogs if you eat other animals.

But HSUS CEO/President Wayne Pacelle sits on the Board of Directors of

Continue Reading: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/animal-advocates-never-miss-opportunity-exploit-animal-exploitation/#.VLEl8Kbqn-Z

SOURCE:  Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach

 

12 Egg Facts the Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know ~ Free From Harm

By Free From Harm Staff Writers | July 29, 2014

Consider the following 12 egg facts, most of which are common to all forms of egg farming:

1. The global egg industry destroys 6,000,000,000 healthy newborn male chicks every year. (1)

2. Male chicks born to egg-laying hens can not lay eggs, and are not the breed used for meat. Therefore, they are worthless to the egg industry.

3. Eggs sold under organic, free-range, and humane labels, and even chicks sold to backyard chicken keepers, also have their origins in these killing hatcheries. (2)

4. Newborn chicks are more intelligent, alert, and aware of their environment than human toddlers, according to recent scientific studies. (3) In fact, many traits that were previously thought to be exclusive to human / primate communication, cognition and social behavior have now been discovered in chickens.

5. Female chicks are sent to egg farms, where, due to decades of genetic manipulation and selective breeding, they produce 250 to 300 eggs per year. In nature, wild hens lay only 10 to 15 eggs annually. (4,5) Like all birds, they lay eggs only during breeding season and only for the purpose of reproducing.

6. This unnaturally high rate of egg-laying results in frequent disease and mortality.

7. 95% of all egg-laying hens in the U.S. – nearly 300 million birds – spend their lives in battery cages so small they cannot even stretch their wings. (6) Packed in at 5–10 birds per cage, they can only stand or crouch on the cages’ hard wires, which cut their feet painfully. In these maddening conditions, hens will peck one another from stress, causing injury and even death.

8. Rather than give them more room, farmers cut off a portion of their sensitive beaks without painkiller. A chicken’s beak is loaded with nerve endings, more sensitive than a human fingertip. Many birds die of shock on the spot.

9. Most hens on “cage-free” or “free range” operations are also debeaked, as these labels allow producers to confine thousands of birds inside crowded sheds. (7)

10. In a natural environment, chickens can live 10 to 15 years, but chickens bred for egg-laying are slaughtered, gassed or even thrown live onto “dead piles” at just 12 to 18 months when their egg production declines. (8)

11. During transport, chickens are roughly stuffed into crates and suffer broken legs and wings, lacerations, hemorrhage, dehydration, heat stroke, hypothermia, and heart failure; millions die before reaching the slaughterhouse. (9)

– See more at: http://freefromharm.org/eggfacts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreeFromHarm+%28Free+from+Harm%29#sthash.J0WjN9KA.dpuf

Patrik Baboumian, World Record Strongman AND Vegan! [Free From Harm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFpip6rxcYY

Two years after going vegan, Germany’s Strongest Man, Patrik Baboumian, demonstrated that a plant-based diet had not diminished his phenomenal strength or physical performance. In fall of 2013, Baboumian set a world record for heaviest weight carried a distance of 10 meters, shouldering a yoke weighing more than 1200 pounds (550 kg). Baboumian said, “It’s a bit stupid to do things like that, it really hurts,” but added that he wants to disprove the myth that anyone, including athletes and strength performers, needs animal products to excel.

While there’s lots of impressive footage of Baboumian’s feats of physical fortitude, we were most inspired by this video in which he meditates on a far more important kind of strength. “Strength must build up, not destroy. It should outdo itself, not others who are weaker. Used without responsibility, it causes nothing but harm and death. I can lift the heaviest weights, but I can not take the responsibility off my shoulders. Because the way we use our strength defines our fate. What traces will I leave on my path into the future? Do we really have to kill in order to live? My true strength lies in not seeing weakness as weakness. My strength needs no victims. My strength is my compassion.”

Patrik Baboumian

Patrik Baboumian became a vegetarian in 2005 after realizing that eating animals was inconsistent with his values. “One day, I just thought, if you see a bird with a broken leg, you really have the urge to do something about it and help the bird. Then, at the same time, you go to a restaurant and eat a chicken or something. It doesn’t make any sense.”

A few years later, after learning about the cruelty inherent in all egg and dairy production, Baboumian went vegan, stating: “I just realized that if it’s really compassion that drives you, maybe it’s not enough just to stop eating animals, but you maybe should boycott the whole animal industry, because … it’s not what you as a compassionate being would want. So actually you should go one step further and become vegan.”

– See more at: http://freefromharm.org/health-nutrition/patrik-baboumian-strength-is-compassion/#sthash.4MIufAQp.dpuf

 

An Autistic Activist Responds To Temple Grandin

Our Compass

OC Comment: Temple Grandin is a welfarist who designs slaughterhouses meant to lessen the stress on animals.  Rather than maintaining that killing animals is altogether wrong, as an abolitionist does, Ms. Grandin instead attempts to diminish the stress of the killing “experience” on animals.  This is an essay written in opposition of such.

The following essay was written by autistic author, activist and co-founder of Autism Network International, Jim Sinclair. Sinclair noted that he wrote this in “response to Temple Grandin’s writing about her work in the slaughter industry, especially as described in Thinking In Pictures.”

If you love something, you don’t kill it. I didn’t need to spend time in a squeeze box to learn that. Love is not killing.

If you know what another being feels–not just how you feel when you touch it–then you know that living things want to remain alive. It doesn’t…

View original post 663 more words

CONSCIOUS OR CONSCIENCE?

You are what you EAT! 5 Surprising things humans feed cows

Our Compass

Source Mother Jones
By Alex Park

In addition to the old standbys of corn, soy, hay (and, uh, drugs), “there’s a lot of stuff which the general public might not think of as feeds which are actually quite common,” says Cory Parsons, a livestock nutrition expert at Oregon State University. For example:

Sawdust: Decades ago, when Bob Batey, an eastern Iowa entrepreneur, observed cows gobbling up sawdust hosed down from his paper mill, he had an idea: Why not make the stuff into a commercial cattle feed? Sawdust is made largely of cellulose, a carbohydrate, but it’s bound together with a compound called lignin, which makes it hard to digest. To strip the lignin, Batey soaked some of the stuff in nitric acid, and voilà! The cows were ready to chow down. “They like it,” he says. “It’s good for them. It’s economical. And it’s green.”

But it was only after a…

View original post 512 more words

2013: The Year of the Big Backslide?

Exposing the Big Game

The year of our lord, 2013, could be known as the year of the big backslide, at least in terms of attitudes toward animals and the environment, as well as the general acceptance of scientific fact.

For example, CBS News reports that the number of Republicans who believe in evolution today has plummeted compared to what it was in 2009, according to new analysis from the Pew Research Center. A poll out Monday shows that less than half – 43 percent – of those who identify with the Republican Party say they believe humans have evolved over time, plunging from 54 percent four years ago. Forty-eight percent say they believe “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time,” up from 39 percent in 2009.

I can’t help but think this is because many people still aren’t comfortable admitting they’re animals. And this…

View original post 915 more words

What Would Happen to All the Animals if Everyone Went Vegan?

Exposing the Big Game

Dr. Will Tuttle: Educator & Author
November 20, 2013

OneGreenPlanet

Those of us eating a plant-based diet often find our food choices causing more questions and consternation during the upcoming weeks than during the rest of the year. One of the perennial concerns I’ve found people have is that if everyone went vegan, what would happen to all the animals—chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows? If we stopped eating them, wouldn’t they just take over the Earth, threatening our survival?

For years this question irked me because it seemed patently ridiculous, and worse, would be used to justify the cruelty of eating animal foods. Now, though, whenever I hear this question, I see it as an opportunity to deliver a brief meditation on how our world can be healed.

Imagining the world gradually going vegan is imagining the most positive possible future for our species, for the Earth, and for all…

View original post 692 more words

Some Thoughts on Melissa Bachman and the Lion

Exposing the Big Game

http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/thoughts-melissa-bachman/#.Uo–277Tly0

by Gary  Francione

Melissa Bachman, who is the host of a hunting show called Deadly Passion, announced on her Facebook page on November 1 that she had killed a lion in South Africa and she posted this picture:

The response was remarkable. According to one story, “Bachman found herself the target of vicious death wishes and obscenity-laced insults on Monday as critics on Twitter, YouTube and other social networks blasted the Minnesotan for her boastful hunting escapades.” According to another story, “More than 250,000 people have signed an online petition demanding that South Africa deny future entry to Melissa Bachman, a big game hunter whose smiling photo with a dead lion has sparked considerable outrage.”

And, to no one’s surprise, the large animal welfare charities are rushing to create a fundraising campaign with a petition to have lions listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act…

View original post 385 more words

My Conversation with A Hunter (via Email)

[NOTE: The email starts off with my co-worker. He in turn forwarded it to his brother-in-law who is a hunter.]  

From: GirlforAnimalLiberation
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 9:50 AM
To: Co-worker

Subject: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/another-photo-of-the-poor-deer-with-an-arrow-though-the-face/

From: Co-worker

Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 9:54 AM
To: GirlforAnimalLiberation

Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

Horrible, I just forwarded the link to my best friend and brother in law who bowhunts for deer.  

 

From: GirlforAnimalLiberation
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 10:28 AM
To: Co-worker

Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

Tell him that bow/arrow hunting should be outlawed.  If hunters are going to kill animals, they should make sure it the kill is as swift and as painless as possible.  Hunters should ask themselves, if I had a choice how would I want to die, a long slow painful death or a quick death?  They should keep this in mind when they are out murdering animals for “sport”.

Did you see the cat that was shot with an arrow?  WTF?!?!

 

From: Co-worker

Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 10:21 AM
To: GirlforAnimalLibereation

Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

The Hunter’s Response :

That website is blocked, for whatever reason, but I read about this.  What a shame.  If I was responsible for something like that, I think I would give up hunting.  Shot placement is so critical, and in my opinion an ethics issue.  I can imagine a scenario in which a shot like this is understandable, the arrow hits a twig and deflects into the head, or something like that, but that’s why it is so critical to practice, know your limits, and air on the side of caution when taking a shot.

From: GirlforAnimalLiberation
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 9:57 AM
To: Co-worker

Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

Please tell him that when they shoot an animal with an arrow, to make sure the animal dies and doesn’t wander around WOUNDED for days/weeks possibly even MONTHS before succumbing to infection, starvation or both!

Did you see this from the same blog: http://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/environmental-cops-bust-connecticut-man-for-drunken-archery-hunting/

And this from another blogger: http://our-compass.org/2013/11/06/norwich-ct-information-sought-cat-shot/

To: GirlforAnimalLiberation

From: Co-worker
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 11:21 AMTo: Asnes, Susan
Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

The Hunter’s response: 

I think the notion that suffering should be minimized is one that almost all hunters agree with, the rest are whackos.  The first and last sentences I disagree with or don’t understand, the last one being a logical fallacy.  In terms of pain, and assuming a “clean” shot, I am curious why this person thinks dying from a arrow wound (through blood loss after a razor sharp incision from an arrow flying 200ft/sec.) vs. dying from a bullet would (shock, blood loss, frequently including such things as having the bones blown out of the backside of the animal) is any more painful?  I dont know, it’s at least plausible to me that dying from a arrow wound is the least painful way to die.  Some other questions: should eating meat be outlawed all together?  What are the appropriate punishments that should be levied on people who have eaten meat in the past, the same, more severe, or less severe than murdering people?  Is dying from an arrow wound in the wild less or more painful than being raised in a crate and injected with growth hormones, then being electrocuted until you’re near dead, hung from your feet, and your neck cut open?  Is there a perfect correlation between the personal choices this person makes and his view on what should be legal?  Has this person ever seen or touched a bow or arrow?

From: GirlforAnimalLiberation

Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 11:49 AM
To: Co-worker

Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

Hi,

I’ll start with the easy question: Yes I have handled a bow & arrow and practiced on non-living target not living, breathing, sentient beings.

I am not a veterinarian, doctor or a scientist so I cannot say for certain if being shot with a bow/arrow is less or more painful than a bullet but it seems to me, the margin for error with bow/arrow is greater than a bullet. I realize the wind can affect the shot of a bullet, just as easily as an arrow but it seems to me, the chances of your shot going off course via an arrow is greater than a bullet. Here again, I am no expert.

As a vegan, I do not believe animals should be exploited – period, whether it be for food, clothing, entertainment, research etc.

Should eating meat be outlawed? If I had that power, then yes, it would be.

Punishment should be “levied” on those who commit egregious acts towards animals, not necessarily those who are blithely unaware of what happens to that cow, before it lands on their plate.  I’m willing to give people the benefit of the doubt that they are clueless as to how their food was raised and murdered before landing in the super market. That being said, however, once a person becomes educated on the exploitation of animals, IMHO it is his/her moral responsibility to stop contributing to the exploitation.

Just sayin’.

People who murder other people are heroes in my book. LOL!  As a general rule, I hate the human race to which I am a part of, sorry to say.

Is dying from an arrow wound in the wild less or more painful than being raised in a crate and injected with growth hormones, then being electrocuted until you’re near dead, hung from your feet, and your neck cut open?  Tell your friend, NO – BOTH ACTS ARE EGREGIOUS.  ANIMALS DESERVE COMPASSION AND KINDESS AND SHOULD NEVER BE EXPLOITED BY LOWLIFE HUMANS!

Is there a perfect correlation between the personal choices this person makes and his view on what should be legal? Nothing in life is perfect. As much as I would love to see hunting abolished because I do not believe it to be a sport or necessary. I will never see eye-to-eye with a hunter on this argument.  And please spare me the “culling for the greater good of the animal” speech because I’ve heard it all before.   IMHO, nature can take care of itself and has for long before humans came along and effed it up.  I long for the day when Mother Earth rids her immune system of the one species that has put this planet and all its inhabitants in a state of crisis.   Humans do not trump animals – we all live in symbiosis. Those humans who believe we rule over everything are the reason this planet is in a state that it is in and why species of animals have gone extinct or are near extinction.  I mean, correct me if I’m wrong but you don’t see non-human animals hunting other animals for “sport” and then mounting the heads of their kill on a f*cking wall.

Animals should be taken out of the equation completely.  If hunters want to hunt something, they should hunt one another.          🙂

From: Co-worker

Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 2:31 PM
To: GirlforAnimalLiberaetion

Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

The Hunter’s response: 

It’s a little hard for me to take this seriously.  I mean, if she’s right then I should disregard her because who would take advice from a “human” like her — a lowlife species for which the only solution is eradication from the planet so that non-human animals can thrive.  If she’s wrong, then she’s wrong.  Either way, I should ignore her.  Plus, most of this is total nonsense.  We should not necessarily punish meat eaters as long as they are ignorant?  I hate the human race?  Come on…

But if I wade through the nonsense and try to get to the underlying theme (apart from the human guilt), I think there is probably a lot we can agree on.  That we should respect living, breathing, sentient beings; be mindful of their suffering and minimize it to the extent we can.  To preserve and take joy in the natural world around us.

I also really do respect people who are vegetarians/vegans, in particular those who do it for ethical reasons (admittedly, I don’t like it when they label me as a murderer and say I should be punished for disagreeing with them).  It’s not the choice I make, but my observation has been that many of these people are upset by factory farming, destructive fishing practices, the needless suffering imposed on animals, and follow their conscience.  I applaud them for that.

Now, there is some stuff that I really object to here.  It seems to be she distinguishes between humans and the nature that surrounds them — that we should wipe out humans for the benefit of “nature.”  I don’t view humans as being distinct from nature, I view us (albeit a unique species) as a part of nature, and with a “rightful” place in it.   For me, part of that experience is hunting animals and eating their meat, just as we evolved to do and have been doing for a million years.  Even if the “natural” role of meat in a human’s diet is debatable, if I am going to eat meat, I think the best way for me to do it is to hunt my own.  I have to live face to face with the consequences of letting that arrow or bullet fly, which brings to the forefront of my consciousness the seriousness of taking an animal’s life — especially big game.  I learn to only kill what I will eat, the elements of fair chase, the ethics of killing quickly and minimizing suffering, the necessity of wild places and the critical role that conservation plays.  All of that is not only a “natural” experience, but one that benefits the animals I am hunting (on the whole) and the ecosystem they live in.

In conclusion I would remind her that I am an animal, a homo sapien and therefore DESERVE COMPASSION AND KINDNESS AND SHOULD NEVER BE EXPLOITED, and further (as an animal) would ask to be, taken out of the equation completely, and allowed to live naturally and unimpeded by evil humans like her.

From: GirlforAnimalLiberation

Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 4:35 PM
To: Co-worker
Subject: RE: Why I hate hunters. Let me count the ways!

Oh brother, here we go, the big bad vegan is taking a whiplashing from a highly educated white male hunter.

As I read through you brother-in-law,  the Hunter’s comments, and I found it interesting that he thinks I am trying to be “right”.  This isn’t about my being right. This is about what is right for the animals and the planet.  I do not believe I am out in left field with my thinking that a good percentage of humans are f*cking plague on this planet — not all humans are deserving of life. They’re just not. Sorry. This is my opinion and my opinion alone.  I don’t think your friend should lump all vegans/vegetarians together. I’m sure there are plenty of vegans who do not share my views.

Does your friend honestly think I want to punish people for eating meat?  What I want is for those who choose to eat animals to educate themselves on how the food they are eating landed on their plate.  I believe, although cannot prove, that a vast majority of people have absolutely no idea; either that or they are willfully ignorant.

Also, I love how your friend insults me by saying, “as I wade through the nonsense”.  Nonsense to him, but then again, his justification is nonsense to me.  So I guess we are even.

As for this statement: “the elements of fair chase, the ethics of killing quickly andminimizing suffering, the necessity of wild places and the critical role that conservation plays.  All of that is not only a “natural” experience, but one that benefits the animals I am hunting (on the whole) and the ecosystem they live in.”  Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t!  Tell your friend that this statement is so overused by hunters that he and his fellow hunters should record it and sell it on iTunes.  I am so sick and tired of listening to the Hunter’s diatribe that they are “conserving” wildlife as well as the ecosystem.  Maybe HE believes this, but I guarantee you most of his fellow hunters could give a rat’s ass about conservation and the ecosystem.  Incidentally, what are his feelings on the delisting and hunting of wolves?  Tell me something; those hunters that are assassinating wolves by the hundreds on a daily basis, that’s right daily, are they eating the meat? Are they killing wolves for survival? What benefit is there to the ecosystem by hunting wolves. Wolves were nearly pushed to the brink of extinction, and will again if some hunters have their way.

I don’t care what your friend says, not all hunters hunt for the meat. Some hunt because they like to kill.  It’s that simple. A good percentage of them are nothing more than a pack of camo-clad serial killers thirsting for blood.

In conclusion I would remind her that I am an animal, a homo sapien and therefore DESERVE COMPASSION AND KINDNESS AND SHOULD NEVER BE EXPLOITED, and further (as an animal) would ask to be, taken out of the equation completely, and allowed to live naturally and unimpeded by evil humans like her. My guess is, your friend is probably white and I already know he is a  male so the likelihood of him being “exploited” are slim to none.  As for my being evil. How so? I’m not the one murdering animals for sport or so I can eat. You know, I love it, we vegans speak up for the voiceless and we are labeled as “evil” or “terrorists” and yet your friend murders animals and he’s an upstanding citizen.

Tell your friend to recline back in the comfort of knowing that he has more rights and more latitude as a white male hunter than I could ever hope to have as a white female vegan.

Yours truly,

The vegan misanthrope who is full of nonsense.   

🙂

Who says you need animal protein to be strong?

Who says Vegans are weak?  This guy is in better shape than most meat-eaters!  Take that your carnivores!

Video/Article Source: Free From Harm

Vegan bodybuilder Frank Medrano joins a growing number of athletes and bodybuilders whose phenomenal fitness and peak physical performance are powered exclusively by plants. As the general public is increasingly confronted with the inherent cruelty of all animal farming, and armed with the knowledge that we can live healthy lives without exploiting animals for food, more and more people are making the choice to stop consuming meat, milk and eggs. Accordingly, the list of title-winning, record-holding vegan athletes grows exponentially every year, showing it is possible not only to survive, but to thrive on a plant-based diet.

At the same time, government health experts worldwide are finally catching up with the large body of scientific evidence demonstrating that a vegan diet is not only a viable option for people of any age, but that eating plant foods instead of animal-based foods can confer significant health benefits, including reduction in incidence of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke, and several types of cancer. In 2009, the American Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, the U.S.’s oldest, largest and foremost authority on diet and nutrition, recognized that humans have no biological requirement for animals products, stating: “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”

When we have access to plant-based foods, and understand that humans have no biological need to consume animal products, then the question of eating animals really comes down to this basic question: when able to freely choose, would you rather help an animal, or hurt one? If you believe it is better to help than hurt others, then veganism is the only consistent expression of your values.

Learn more:

Curious about plant-based protein? Check out one of our most popular features, A Vegan Doctor Addresses The Protein Question. See also: Catching Up With Science: Burying the “Humans Need Meat” Argument.

See tons more inspiring vegan fitness and athlete profiles at:

Vegan Bodybuilding
Great Vegan Athletes
Vegan Strength
Meat-Free Athlete
No Meat Athlete

– See more at: http://freefromharm.org/health-nutrition/vegan-bodybuilder-displays-superhuman-strength-destroys-misconceptions/#sthash.tHX7R0vW.dpuf

 

 

Banksy’s ‘Sirens of the Lambs’ highlights animal cruelty, factory farming

Of Course Vegan

Artist Banksy’s newest work in New York, titled ‘Sirens of the Lambs’, shows farm animal puppets in a slaughterhouse truck, driving around the Meatpacking district of the city. The cute puppets cry to the public, peaking their heads out and screaming.

The crowds gathered to watch the truck and the animals before reaching its destination at the slaughterhouse.

The vehicle will be in New York for two weeks, touring the city’s slaughterhouses center.

The new art by Banksy, which is part of a series of work recently released in NY, is giving the public an ‘art shock’, forcing them to make connections and sparking conversations online.

One commentator wrote online: “I’m vegetarian and I guarantee you I feel very good :-)”

So do we my friend, but we will feel much, much better when all animals are no longer exploited on our blue planet.

Check out a video of the exhibit…

View original post 1 more word

When Cats and Dogs Aren’t Enough

Fight for Rhinos

 

This is Little Mo. She was just a few months old when poachers killed her mother and stole her from the wild. These ruthless wildlife traffickers wanted to sell the cheetah cub as a ‘pet’ in Somaliland, East Africa.

Mo is one of millions of countless big cats, and other endangered animals who are part of the exotic pet trade.

US Exotic Pets

The illegal trade is a $15 billion dollar business in the United States alone, with breeders and dealers selling animals over the Internet or in trade magazines. It is estimated that approximately 20,000 exotics live in “backyards” all across the US.

While some exotic pets have been bred in captivity, many are plucked directly from their natural habitats. The stress of being violently removed from their homes causes some animals to die before they ever reach a private residence.

Amazingly, the Endangered Species Act does not prohibit…

View original post 380 more words

In Relation to Animals, All People Are Narcissists

Exposing the Big Game

The protagonist in Nobel Peace Prize laureate and author Isaac Bashevis Singer’s book, The Letter Writer, stated, “In relation to animals, all people are Nazis.”

Ah, the Nazis; who can forget them? They were those goose-stepping narcissists who had the arrogant audacity to think themselves superior to all other races. Hell, “Nazi” even sounds like a derivative of the word “narcissism.” Thank God that kind of grandiosity is a thing of the past.

Or is it…

Not if you, like Isaac Singer, consider the attitudes human beings have toward their fellow animals. When you allow yourself even for a moment to ponder the plight of non-humans at the hands of man and connect the dots, you’re sure to come to the logical conclusion that: in relation to animals, all people are Narcissists.

Although Galileo and Copernicus have long since put to rest the notion of Earth as the center of…

View original post 640 more words

And We Call Ourselves Civilized?

Exposing the Big Game

In agreeing with President Obama’s plan to strike Syria, Representative Nancy Pelosi was quoted as saying we must respond to actions “outside the circle of civilized human behavior.” Nice to hear that the U.S. Government thinks it has the moral authority to respond to such actions. While they’re at it, I can think of a whole lot of other actions which should be considered “outside the circle of civilized human behavior” that are desperately in need of responding to.

I’m referring, of course, to the innumerable abuses of non-human animals by humans—many that go on every day right here in the U.S. of A. I’m afraid if I were to try to list all the instances of human mistreatment of other animals which should fall outside the “circle of civilized human behavior,” the pages would fill the halls of justice, spill out onto the streets and overflow the banks of…

View original post 476 more words

The Roots of My Misanthropy

Exposing the Big Game

I am not a hate-filled person by nature, but I have what I consider a realistic view of Homo sapiens as a technologically over-evolved—yet morally under-evolved—ape that supersedes any blind allegiance to the species I might otherwise ascribe to. My disdain for humanity—hereby referred to as my misanthropy—knows no borders, boundaries, colors or cultures, aside perhaps from the emerging culture of do-no-harm veganism.

I’m not so enamored by the modest achievements and advancements we hear so much about that I don’t clearly see that mankind’s ultimate claim to fame is the “undoing” of the most incredible and diverse epoch in the history of life on earth.

My misanthropy is not aimed at individuals per se, but at an entire misguided species of animal with an arrogance so all-consuming that it views itself as separate—and above—the rest of the animal kingdom.

It’s not like humans can’t afford a little resentment once…

View original post 178 more words

Defensive Omnivore Bingo

Source: Free From Harm 

Huge! Lab-Grown Meat is Here

Michelle Neff

No animal died to make this burger. No calf was separated from his mother, no manure polluted the waterways. For the first time ever, meat has successfully been grown in a lab. Netherlands-based researcher Mark Post has said he spent $325,000 developing the burger, made using engineered muscle stem cells grown in a broth made from a calf blood product.

Most vegan and vegetarian (myself included) aren’t interested in trying this cultured meat but this is a huge step forward to reducing the suffering of millions of animals.

As Ingrid Newkirk puts it, “It is a real burger made of real meat. It’s as real as real can be. The thing that is different about it is that it is not from a filthy slaughterhouse, but from a sterile laboratory.”

Would you try cultured meat?

 

View original post