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/
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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.
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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/
Animals do not have to suffer so that humans or other animals can live – and in fact, that suffering seldom produces results and wastes research dollars. An article penned by a neuroscientist and PETA research associate details how so-called “breakthroughs” in new treatments using lab animals very rarely translate to results for humans. We also have new science proving other methods to be more effective. Take for example, this news that algorithms crunching databases of large amounts of chemical data are more effective than toxicology tests on animals.
Animal testing increasingly looks more like a cruel sport than a necessary stage in testing. As the above article comments, one researcher hangs mice from their feet, sets mice against each other to measure stress and cuts into their brains. Like so many outdated practices, animal testing reinforces the myth of its own necessity. But isn’t necessity the mother of invention? As animal testing has become less acceptable, new methods have sprung up. In America, animals are still tested on because small animals aren’t covered by the Animal Welfare Act, a legacy of our disregard for creatures other than humans. See what you can do to write to your local lab or university to ask them to stop animal testing. Chances are, they have the science to help them do so.
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.
Two horrific acts of animal cruelty — only one prison sentence. Dunky the Chihuahua was dragged from his owner’s car and thrown from the top of a parking garage. The woman who killed Dunky got 3 years for his death and for auto burglary and vandalism. Meanwhile, a woman who poured accelerant over a dog called Denali and set her on fire is facing charges for arson, but not a single one for animal cruelty. There were 7 other dogs in the house at the time. The attack on Denali was an act of deliberate vengeance against the woman’s ex-husband.
Since animals are mostly considered property by the law, punishment for animal cruelty has been mixed up with these ideas. Perhaps the police involved in Denali’s case see the dogs as merely the property of the ex-husband? Is it easier to charge a woman with a known criminal record (Dunky’s killer), who is also being charged for crimes against property?
Animal cruelty is a charge that doesn’t seem to be taken very seriously by itself, but it should be. When prison sentences are served for animal cruelty, that means people who are a danger to animals can’t hurt them. Denali’s killer should be serving time for the attempted murder of 8 animals. Please sign and share the petition.
Woman Gets 3 Years For Throwing Dog Off Building From 7th Floor
This week, a chance to vote on a bill to ban the live sheep trade fell flat in the Australian House of Representatives. It had passed the Senate and had wide support among Australian politicians across both sides of the aisle. It failed because two politicians refused to “cross the floor” and take a stand to support the bill. Earlier this year, video footage exposed the horror of the live sheep trade, showing sheep packed together, afflicted from the heat and dying on the long voyage north to the Middle East. An Australian Green politician has rightly said the live sheep trade is “simply incompatible with animal welfare.” It just won’t do to slightly improve conditions, as the Liberal party have suggested, by increasing space and ventilation. Travel will still be hard on the animals, and exporters will likely cut corners to save money on power etc.
Australian politicians have made this ban political by choosing to treat it as a partisan issue. The Liberals don’t want to vote with the opposition party because the opposition have made this a policy issue for the next election. If politicians prefer to be political rather than vote for animal welfare, that is their choice. It now represents an opportunity – an opportunity for Australians to put pressure on their politicians to end this trade, or suffer in the next election. It can also be an opportunity to take more comprehensive action to protect animals. No one is even talking about live exports of other animals, such as cattle. Please read more, sign and share, and if you’re an Australian voter, contact your representatives!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/10/live-exports-ban-coalition-pressured-to-allow-lower-house-vote-after-bill-passes-senate
https://secure.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/live-export-shipboard-cruelty/?r=5b9a9f999e7521536860057&ua_s=e-mail#action
The USDA have been silently slaughtering kittens for years. We know this because of Freedom of Information Act requests made by White Coat Waste Project that revealed the slaughter. After White Coat Waste Project noticed a casual reference on the website to kittens at the Beltsville Agricultural Center Research facility, they requested information from the USDA showing that the kittens have been used in experiments for years and then incinerated.
It’s not just that the kittens died – lives casually thrown away year after year – but the ordeal these animals had to go through before they died. During the course of the experiments, the kittens were force-fed raw meat so their feces could be inspected for parasites. It’s not clear how this affected the health of the animals, but they were clearly deemed unfit to be rehabilitated. Did they receive care after these experiments? The USDA has refused to comply with the most recent FOIA request, so White Coat Waste Project is suing them.
The USDA is the body responsible for setting standards and holding agriculture accountable. Their casual hypocrisy on this matter is unconscionable. Please read more about this horrific cover-up, share on social media and sign the petition.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/07/politics/usda-cat-experiments/index.html
The couple who captured footage of closely packed together pigs did so on a casual detour. They had no idea they were exposing Canada’s animal outdated transportation conditions, they just noticed the animals were in discomfort and started filming.
In Canada, pigs can be trucked for up to 36 hours without a break for rest, food or water, compared to 8 hours in the European Union. These outdated laws are due for a change but no one has been paying attention.
Sometimes all it takes is a little push. The video is steadily gaining views. A recent Vancouver Sun story showed that 46 pigs had died being shipped from Alberta to Donald’s Fine Foods in Langley. Phone video footage is a small weapon which can have a huge impact, and thankfully it is easily accessible to most people. Please share the news and remember you can use your phone to pay attention to the conditions around you. You never know, it could save animal lives!
See the original article for details: https://www.kamloopsmatters.com/local-news/video-by-kamloops-animal-rights-group-prompts-investigation-984692
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