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/

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/

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

Would violent psychopaths stand out more in a culture where animal cruelty wasn’t tolerated? From this list of violent criminals who tested on animals provided by PETA, it appears that animal testing can provide a convenient veil for violent psychopaths to hide behind. If these criminals didn’t get to wreak cruelty on animals in a legitimized setting, perhaps their latent cruelty and violence would be spotted earlier and checked.

Of course, most animal testers are not psychopaths. But society’s cognitive dissonance on morality – we preach kindness to humans and practice cruelty to each other and animals – is the reason why the violent can continue to blend in easily. Aggression, violence and cold disregard for life is the secret gospel that a mechanistic, capitalist society is preaching. And if psychopaths can get their start in animal testing with no questions asked, those without violent tendencies may be broken down by these norms, suffering a huge psychological cost. The psychological health of people working in industries that harm animals should be a huge concern as it breeds both trauma and violence. Neither of these effects – whether they lead to further violence or not – stop at the boundary of the individual. They go on to affect everyone close to the individual and the world around them. Animal testing and animal cruelty is a harm done to everyone – animals and human.

I am in line for the Killbox. I am standing with the Others who love me, and whom I love. We are living beings. We have lives. Goals. Culture. We like shelter and good food. We like the sun on our brow. We like the clean crisp air of the morning. But today we are being driven toward the place. We know what is coming. We are terrified. We are sad. We tremble and our bodies start to shake. Tears come. Our legs nearly give out to escape this vile place. This Nazi place. This black evil place. We are pushed there harder – quickly. I can smell death. I don’t want to die in this place. Yet they make me go there, closer. Then it is my turn. This is wrong. It is illogical. It is the place of abject poverty. It is the place of shame. This is the place of the humans.

The comment period is coming to an end on a series of changes to the Endangered Species Act today. These changes have been portrayed as a way of giving industry “incentives” to protect wildlife. This is a roundabout way of saying that important regulations to protect wildlife will be removed to make way for industry. The argument for the changes revolve around the idea that since species are still endangered, the act isn’t working. This is like saying that we should remove social welfare because people are still poor.

The Endangered Species Act doesn’t protect all animals, but it has protected 99 percent of the animals it covers from extinction. It’s imperative for animals that we see through the deceitful arguments of the “regulation-shy.” These are nothing more than a veil for shifting the focus of conservation towards human interests and away from animal interests. The changes will:

– Remove protection from threatened species, if they are not officially endangered, allowing them to be hunted and trapped
– Exclude scientists from federal findings
– Change language to make it less clear-cut that species’ interests should trump economic ones

What is most outrageous is that these actions have been portrayed as reasonable. Handing power to business owners and vested economic interests is a recipe for disaster. What will it take for human beings to learn that a superior force will always harm the vulnerable if left unchecked? This is not an abstract philosophy, it’s the basic physics of how beings interact. It’s time to refuse this cowardice and shift the weight of our choices towards protecting the vulnerable. Please make your comment today and join the fight to protect endangered species.

Read more:

https://billingsgazette.com/opinion/columnists/guest-opinion-speak-up-by-sept-to-save-endangered-species/article_ad64ea21-2c1a-5c4e-9fe1-e0f6bdcdc072.html

https://www.missoulacurrent.com/outdoors/2018/09/endangered-species-act-3/

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/407847-proposed-changes-will-help-recover-endangered-species

At the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge, there are 285 bird species, as well as a wide variety of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, mussels, snails and plants. These species are already vulnerable to pesticides dumped on the 3000 acres of land given over to private commercial agriculture. Since the Fish and Wildlife Service recently decided to allow bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides and genetically engineered crops requiring more pesticide use, the refuge and the creatures who inhabit the refuge have become more vulnerable to harm. Conservation groups filed a petition asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to end toxic pesticide use on the refuge. This is to take advantage of federal law’s requirement for the service to evaluate every 10 years whether previously approved economic, rather than conservation uses of the land is appropriate. Uses that aren’t compatible with the purpose of the refuge must be ended.

Is there any way that the use of chemicals known to be disastrous for the environment and the life it supports can be approved? Perhaps, if the service decides to abandon its conscience and its responsibility to these animals, and to people. This is why raising your voice to protect the refuge will draw attention to the issue. Agency decisions have huge consequences, but lately they have been slipped under the public’s radar in a cowardly way. It’s time to hold the Fish and Wildlife Service accountable to the animals it claims to protect.

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/wheeler-national-wildlife-refuge-09-06-2018.php