When humans hunt animals, animals learn to fear them. They hide, they move their dwelling places, change their feeding patterns. In our limited view of animals, this might seem obvious – that animals change their behavior outwardly, as if they are automatic, soulless creatures. But the real wake-up call is that animals change internally in response to us (see this recent blog on whales’ stress response). Whole populations of animals change – they breed differently, they lay down different patterns, sometimes within a generation. The classic example that is often cited is of the moths that changed their color due to industrialization. Now it seems, elephants in Mozambique are evolving to lose their tusks. According to this article, a third of female elephants in Mozambique have no tusks, and in Gorongosa, by the 2000s, 98% of the female population had no tusks.

The threat of humans from poachers can’t be underestimated. Human poachers often target elephants from small planes or helicopters. They literally pick off elephants with tusks from above, annihilating them in front of groups of their family and friends. Elephants, like humans, are animals with strong family structures. Like a war torn human population, elephants become refugees from their own territory. They are forced to adapt, survive and live a fugitive life. There is no way to fully express the damage done to the elephant population by poachers, but it’s instructive to think of it in terms that humans would understand – war. The damage is experienced on many levels, emotional, physical and physiological. The loss of something essential to an elephant like tusks is a sign of how deep the damage can reach. Please help support African Elephants by donating to the AWF, among others.

Read More:

https://www.businessinsider.com/african-elephants-are-evolving-to-not-grow-tusks-because-of-poachers-2018-11?fbclid=IwAR2mxf0FgehljjqSAtnmoNIfhCTqRzsqKW1SIYD7UNiPvRYVY35c_EOxauA

“Those who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity will deal likewise with their fellow man.”

St. Francis of Assisi – Quote from The Animal Clock homepage

By the time I’d left the animal clock website, after just a few minutes browsing the page for the first time, 891,990 animals in the US had been killed. It’s an important lesson about how animals are condemned to death and violence in the idle moments we take for granted. The “animal clock” was launched to highlight the awful and tragic reality of animal deaths. When you visit the animal clock website you cannot escape the reality that animals are being violently killed now — in realtime and space.

At time of writing, around 6 million animals have already been killed this year in the US. Not only are animals killed but they experience confinement and suffering before death. 8 by 10 inches (20 × 25 cm) is the amount of space in which battery caged egg-laying hens spend their entire lives, not even able to spread their wings. And chickens are the most killed of animals. The website has other numbers: the deaths of animals by type of animal, and the horrifying figure of 825,000, which is the number of chickens accidentally boiled and drowned alive during slaughter every year in the U.S. The animal clock has only been launched in a few countries.

A number is perhaps one of the most dehumanizing ways to refer to a being, and yet with the animal clock, it is the only thing commemorating these animal deaths. Hopefully the animal clock can do more than shock – it can be used to educate about the loss of animal lives, the suffering animals experience and the environmental damage industrialized farming causes.

Please visit the animal clock and share its message: https://animalclock.org/

Last summer, PETA’s videos of Australian sheep-shearing revealed the true colors of the wool industry. The rustic image of sheep shearing couldn’t be further from the terrible truth. The videos show sheep being flayed of their skin as they’re sheared – and not only accidentally hurt – sheep are also shown being kicked, beaten and stomped on. It’s a no brainer that the industry would encourage abuse: the wool industry, driven by profit, pays sheep shearers by the number of sheep that are sheared. Sheep are roughly handled, treated as objects by these workers. Their bodies are lined up for the abuse, hurried through a production line. Sheep aren’t anesthetized or treated with any kind of care and as well as excessive pain and abuse, the whole experience is traumatic by its rough nature.

Forever 21 have been targeted as supporters of this industry, though they claim they don’t source wool from Australia. In the past Forever 21 have been pioneers of cruelty-free campaigns, like their no-fur campaign, but since they have made no effort to respond to the cruelty of wool, perhaps this is just marketing. The good news is that a couple of fashion retailers, like Alternative Apparel and Boohoo, have banned wool. Every time one of these retailers caves to pressure, public awareness is raised and a choice is made not to harm animals.

What you can do: You can support Vegan fashion brands, and keep boycotting brands like Forever 21 and asking retailers to do better.

See More Info:

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/boohoo-wool-ban-peta-animal-cruelty-fashion-a8780801.html

https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/vegan-forever-21gruesome-wool-exposehttps://www.peta.org/blog/alternative-apparel-wool/

https://investigations.peta.org/lambs-wool-australia-mulesing/#action?utm_source=PETA::E-Mail&utm_medium=Alert&utm_campaign=0219::skn::PETA::E-Mail::PE%20We%20are%20SO%20done%20with%20Forever%2021::::aa%20em

Finally, a step in the right direction. Iowa’s infamous “Ag Gag” law has been struck down as unconstitutional. This is a law that could fine and send animal activists to prison. It prevented free speech about animal mistreatment — even worker mistreatment on industrial farms. So many atrocities went unnoticed, so much cruelty was hidden behind a wall of silence.

Ag Gag laws are a way of protecting big agriculture at the expense of animals. Industrial farming is one of the most open atrocities of our times. Terrible conditions are allowed to persist, to protect profits. Many other states have ag gag laws, so this battle is not over. Now is a good time to get educated about ag gag laws and donate to further the efforts of organizations who fight these laws and support activists who are struggling with unfair charges.

A story of stress and upheaval from the violent twentieth century recorded in stress hormones and tracked by scientists… This isn’t the tale of a war-torn human population, it’s the story of whales harassed and hunted by humans over a period of 150 years. Scientists have gathered earwax plugs from between 1870 and 2016 to study the stress hormones in whales. Stress hormones dramatically increased during times of intensive whaling and decreased when moratoriums were put on whaling in the 70s. However, now factors like pollution, climate change and noise pollution seem to have been causing a slow rise in stress for whales over the last 40 years. The oceans have become a boiling soup of pollution, human activity and higher temperatures, and whales, like many creatures are being turned into refugees of violent industrial human activity. Not only this but whales were shown to have survivor stress because of whaling, meaning that whales who were exposed to the indirect effects of whaling and its constant harassment experienced stress spanning vast distances. This research spells out another chapter in the saga of humans waking up all too slowly to the reality that we share our planet with other beings, who experience a rich range of emotions and can suffer terribly at our hands. Read more about this research here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ear-wax-tells-story-humans-and-whales-over-last-century-180970840/

A new Sheriff’s Association report confirms the truth that violence is universal, and when animals suffer at the hands of violent people, humans are likely to suffer too. Just in case it wasn’t clear that violence against animals isn’t just a minor indiscretion, the report has indicated that when people commit animal cruelty, they are often on the road to committing other serious violent crimes against humans. Even more upsetting, animals are often victims in domestic abuse situations. In these situations, they are often used as a tool of control to get abused spouses or vulnerable older people to comply. Because animals can’t speak up, crimes are difficult to prosecute, and those humans who love the animals may also be silenced. As always, animals have much to teach us – this time that the silent ones are those who often suffer most. Saving animals and saving people who cannot speak for themselves must go hand in hand.

Read More:

https://www.earth.com/news/animal-cruelty-violent-crimes/

In some good news, it looks like more people are choosing to have a cruelty-free Thanksgiving, as turkey sales drop at two major poultry companies. Sales of tofurkey and vegan options are on the rise. This Thanksgiving, the LA Dodgers gave away 100 vegan turkeys to raise awareness.

The tragic thing is that losses at both companies won’t restore the lives of turkeys who have died. Both the companies mentioned in this Live Kindly article have put their vegan lines in competition with their poultry products. An oversupply of turkeys means a loss for the company, but also meaningless loss of life and/or miserable lives for turkeys on farms. Even a turkey farm owner whose company is fighting Direct Action Everywhere activists in court has taken it upon himself to release birds to the activists. The truce came about through an unlikely friendship between the farm owner and the head of DxE. DxE activists are facing 60 years for releasing turkeys (the owner of the farm isn’t in favor of the charges).

Until recently, turkeys were not treated like living beings. They were symbolic to humans at best and fuel at worst. Turkeys were even thrown out of planes at the infamous Yellville Turkey Trot – a sport, and a joke because they couldn’t fly. The trend for a cruelty-free Thanksgiving shows that we are moving away from these terrible times, but casual cultural traditions like the White House turkey pardon make it apparent that we still have far to go. Consider encouraging your family and friends to start a cruelty-free Thanksgiving tradition next year and beyond!

When Californians vote for Prop 12, they will be doing so with a sense of satisfaction that they’re helping animals. After all, Prop 12 updates Prop 2 by being more strict about how much space is given to house animals, and leaves room to ban the sale of any products involving animal confinement. Activists exposed the fact that the farming industry was still confining animals in awful conditions, due to loopholes in Prop 2. Prop 12 tries to fix these, but does it do enough?

Because it is an update on Prop 2, Prop 12 does not have to reveal its own issues. It only needs to step in as the “solution.” Who and what are its inconsistencies protecting? The answer is the incredibly lucrative California dairy industry. Prop 2 restricts the confinement of veal calves, but the dairy industry does not have to protect calves when they are not intended for veal. Prop 12 still doesn’t hold the dairy industry accountable, and it still confines animals rather than allowing them to roam free on grass or have social contact. The dairy industry can’t function without constantly lactating calves. “Leftover” animals may be literally thrown on the scrapheap (activists share horrific videos of mass graves at these farms). Unsuitable female calves or male “non-veal” calves may be confined and treated inhumanely without any prohibition. A large proportion of calves die of diarrhea from living in filthy conditions, and they are kept isolated from social and maternal contact. Whether you choose to vote for Prop 12 or not, please write to your local representative about this huge gap in the legislation that protects industry and sentences calves to a cruel fate. The inconvenient truth behind these two pieces of legislation isn’t that they aren’t perfect – it’s that the dairy industry is cruel.

Read more on this issue: https://theintercept.com/2018/10/08/california-prop-12-animal-welfare-dairy-calves/

The calf had been tossed into a pile of dead animals. Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) activists found her in this mass grave-site, plucked her out and carried her away. Before they could get her to a safe place, they were arrested and charged with felony “grand theft” for stealing “property” from the dairy farm.

Direct Action Everywhere activists have been instrumental in showing the world that cruelty is the inevitable byproduct of dairy farming with their photo and video recordings of awful conditions. Male calves are taken from their mothers, denied vital nutrients and kept in tiny excrement-filled pens, because they have no other use to the dairy industry besides meat. A great number of them die of diarrhea due to living in filthy conditions without adequate nourishment. Direct Action Everywhere activists showed that dairy farms were still flouting laws passed to protect male veal cows. The activists pointed out that these laws are not effective and they don’t protect all calves, like the female baby calf the activists named Angel. Industry profits override care, and what is called care is just the minimum standard the dairy industry can get away with. The activists have been arrested for their so-called “crimes.” In the meantime, the baby cow called Angel was left to her fate, to grow sicker and die. Please sign the petition to highlight this terrible injustice: https://www.facebook.com/directactioneverywhere/videos/506030299913168?source=global-email&campaign=dff-angel

An in-depth report from The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/2018/10/08/california-prop-12-animal-welfare-dairy-calves/

Despite its extraordinary cruelty, the practice of eating live meat continues to be accepted in many cultures. Once again, as with many of our cruel practices, it hides out under the umbrella of “tradition” – something apparently “natural” and “ordinary” that can never be changed. These practices may be based on tradition, but they are also based on a relationship with animals and the natural world that is flawed.

Not only is it flawed morally to eat live animals, it is wrong and unnecessary. Unbelievably, the enjoyment and so-called benefits of live meat are connected with the animals’ vitality and their suffering when they die. These ingredients though, are nothing more than fantasies imposed on animals. They are a substitute for a proper relationship with animals and the natural world. People fantasize that they can somehow “extract” human vitality from meat by torturing the animal in a cruel and childish manner. The vital relationship that is sought with animals through their suffering is the wrong kind. Being in harmony with nature and our own instincts means understanding ourselves as part of the natural world and not in dominion over it. It’s time to harness our relationship with nature to create new traditions, rather than tolerate the horrible suffering of animals who are tortured in front of us.

Please sign the petition and share: https://www.change.org/p/11789461/u/21698275?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=161384&sfmc_tk=Dowxu8LO90xJJIwA1v0PdGZUiKat%2FO6YYXKZEl6blAOrdZv4s0s9wvx7AzN6NkCU&j=161384&sfmc_sub=141196959&l=32_HTML&u=30269140&mid=7259882&jb=13