Animal Liberation: "compassion begets compassion"

Undercover Video Of Torture on A Turkey Farm

2014-03-14T08:46:00.000-04:00

Mercy For Animals: http://www.turkeytorture.ca/

For a period of eight weeks from December, 2013 to February, 2014, a Mercy For Animals Canada investigator worked in Bright, Ontario, at Hybrid Turkeys—a turkey factory farm owned by the second-largest turkey producer in the world. The investigator documented horrific cruelty to turkeys

The Wickedness of The Spiked Nose Ring

2014-02-22T10:06:00.001-05:00

Please read the full article here: http://freefromharm.org/videos/farm-animal-investigations/the-spiked-nose-ring-a-symbol-for-all-dairy-cruelty/

Breaking the Mother-Calf Bond: The Untold Story of Milk

2014-02-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

Please read the article at: http://freefromharm.org/animal-cruelty-investigation/breaking-the-mother-calf-bond-the-untold-story-of-milk/

Criminalizing Compassion: How Ag-Gag Legislation Lets Corporations Set the Laws of The Land

2013-09-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

Best non-animal protein sources

2012-09-17T09:52:00.002-04:00

View this newsletter online: http://www.savingdinner.com/news/BestNonAnmialProtein.html

Best non-animal protein sources

by Leanne Ely

Protein is found in each and every muscle, cell and tissue of our bodies. We need protein to repair, grow and maintain all of our cells. Almost every process in our bodies requires protein. It's a major component of all of our tissues, organs and muscles. We also need protein to produce the antibodies that fight infection and illness. It makes our nails strong, our bones strong and our hair shiny.

Protein is very important, folks.

So what do you do if you want to eat more protein without adding more meat to your diet? Luckily for those of us with children who aren't fans of meat and for vegetarians, there are many foods rich in protein that never once mooed, quacked or oinked. Note: Not all of these forms of protein are paleo-friendly, but hey, not everyone has hopped aboard the paleo train just yet!

Avocado. Not only is avocado high in protein but it's also a great source of fiber. It also provides omega 6 essential fats and omega 3s as well. 15 avocados equal the amount of protein you'd get from one chicken breast.

Quinoa. Quinoa has been around forever. It's often eaten as a starch, in place of rice or couscous, but quinoa is actually more of a seed than it is a grain. It's also extremely high in protein and unlike other grains it's a complete protein.

Peas. Peas are high in Vitamins K and C, fiber and other minerals in addition to being a good source of protein. Peas aren't a complete protein, though, so eat them with quinoa or cheese to get lots of amino acids into you.

Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is a great source of protein and it's a good way to sneak in some calcium, too. Just make sure you buy the plain variety and read your labels to make sure you choose a brand that's not too high in sugar. <---Not Veagan

Chick peas. Chick peas are 23% protein and they aren't expensive. Buy organic chick peas and eat them as an alternative to meat.

Peanut butter. Peanut butter is 28% protein. Peanuts also contain a heart-healthy antioxidant called resveratrol which is the same component that makes red wine good for us.

Coconut. Coconut is another complete protein and it's also high in fiber. It's a tad high in fat, but it is a medium chain triglyceride and your body uses it as energy immediately rather than storing it. So don't be afraid of it! That doesn't mean you should drink it by the cupful, but don't be afraid to incorporate this and other healthy fats into your diet.

Brown rice. Brown rice is low on the glycemic index, it's rich in minerals and high in fiber. It's also a good source of protein.

Building a bee waterer

2012-07-29T13:50:00.001-04:00

credit to: http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Building_a_bee_waterer/

We're still feeding our honeybees, helping them sock away some extra honey to make it through the winter. I've been giving them really strong sugar water (half sugar, half water) to make it easier for them to dehydrate the liquid into honey in the cool weather, but that seems to make the bees exceptionally thirsty. At the same time, I poured out our kiddie pool of water since it's too late in the year to be soaking mushrooms. The combination of factors sent the bees searching for other water sources, and we started finding drowned bees in every standing body of water around the farm.

Guilt-stricken, I set up a water feeder by filling a pie pan with marbles and then water. The marbles give the bees a spot to land so that they don't drown when they come to drink, and the bees were suitably impressed. No more drowned bees!

Problem Solving Crows

2012-07-28T14:52:00.001-04:00

Gas chambers to kill pets

2012-07-24T12:16:00.001-04:00

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION:
http://www.change.org/petitions/sign-share-federal-petition-prohibit-killing-companion-animals-with-gas-hr-736?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=505335

Animal Emotion~ Psychology Today

2012-06-17T10:17:00.000-04:00

Original Article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/200910/grief-in-animals-its-arrogant-think-were-the-only-animals-who-mourn

Grief in animals: It's arrogant to think we're the only animals who mourn

We're not the only animals who mourn

Published on October 29, 2009 by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. in Animal Emotions

There is no doubt that many animals experience rich and deep emotions. It's not a matter of if emotions have evolved in animals but why they have evolved as they have. We must never forget that our emotions are the gifts of our ancestors, our animal kin. We have feelings and so do other animals.
Among the different emotions that animals display clearly and unambiguously is grief. Many animals display profound grief at the loss or absence of a close friend or loved one. Nobel laureate ethologist Konrad Lorenz writes: "A greylag goose that has lost its partner shows all the symptoms that [developmental psychologist] John Bowlby has described in young human children in his famous book Infant Grief . . . the eyes sink deep into their sockets, and the individual has an overall drooping experience, literally letting the head hang . . ." Sea lion mothers, watching their babies being eaten by killer whales, wail pitifully, anguishing their loss. Dolphins have been seen struggling to save a dead infant and mourn afterward. Stories about grief stricken companion animals abound; see also).

Wild animals also grieve. Among the best examples are grieving rituals of elephants in the wild observed by such renowned researchers as Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole. Captive elephants also grieve; see also. To quote Joyce Poole: "As I watched Tonie´s vigil over her dead newborn, I got my first very strong feeling that elephants grieve. I will never forget the expression on her face, her eyes, her mouth, the way she carried her ears, her head, and her body. Every part of her spelled grief". Young elephants who saw their mothers being killed often wake up screaming.
Cynthia Moss describes the actions of the members of an elephant family above after a group member had been shot: "Teresia and Trista became frantic and knelt down and tried to lift her up. They worked their tusks under her back and under her head. At one point they succeeded in lifting her into a sitting position but her body flopped back down. Her family tried everything to rouse her, kicking and tusking her, and Tullulah even went off and collected a trunkful of grass and tried to stuff it in her mouth."
Iain Douglas-Hamilton and his colleagues have shown that elephants extend this compassion to nonrelatives, to those who aren't genetically related, and at least one anecdote shows them extending it to humans. A news report told of an elephant in northern Kenya that trampled a human mother and her child and then stopped to bury them before disappearing in the bush. Elephants don't show concern just for their own kin, or their own kind, but rather elephants show a general concern for the plight of others.

Nonhuman primates also grieve the loss of others. Gana, a captive gorilla, clearly grieved the loss of her infant and the image of her carrying her dead baby was shown around the world. Jane Goodall observed Flint, a young chimpanzee, withdraw from his group, stop eating, and die of a broken heart after the death of his mother, Flo. Here is Goodall's description from her book Through a Window:
"Never shall I forget watching as, three days after Flo's death, Flint climbed slowly into a tall tree near the stream. He walked along one of the branches, then stopped and stood motionless, staring down at an empty nest. After about two minutes he turned away and, with the movements of an old man, climbed down, walked a few steps, then lay, wide eyes staring ahead. The nest was one which he and Flo had shared a short while before Flo died. . . . in the presence of his big brother [Figan], [Flint] had seemed to shake off a little of his depression. But then he suddenly left the group and raced back to the place where Flo had died and there sank into ever deeper depression. . . . Flint became increasingly lethargic, refused food and, with his immune system thus weakened, fell sick. The last time I saw him alive, he was hollow-eyed, gaunt and utterly depressed, huddled in the vegetation close to where Flo had died. . . . the last short journey he made, pausing to rest every few feet, was to the very place where Flo's body had lain. There he stayed for several hours, sometimes staring and staring into the water. He struggled on a little further, then curled up— and never moved again."
Another story of grieving chimpanzees recently was reported in the Daily Mail.

Gorillas are known to hold wakes for dead friends, something that some zoos have formalized in a ceremony when one of their gorillas passes away. Donna Fernandes, now president of the Buffalo Zoo, tells the story of being at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo ten years ago during the wake for a female gorilla, Babs, who had died of cancer. She describes seeing the gorilla's longtime mate say good-bye: "He was howling and banging his chest,... and he picked up a piece of her favorite food — celery — and put it in her hand and tried to get her to wake up. I was weeping, it was so emotional." Later, the scene at Babs's December funeral was similarly moving. As reported by local news, gorilla family members "one by one ... filed into" the room where "Babs's body lay," approaching their "beloved leader" and "gently sniffing the body."

When Sylvia, a baboon, lost Sierra, her closest grooming partner and daughter to a lion, she responded in a way that would be considered very human-like: she looked to friends for support. Said Anne Engh, a researcher in he University of Pennsylvania's Department of Biology. "With Sierra gone, Sylvia experienced what could only really be described as depression, corresponding with an increase in her glucocorticoid levels."

Jim and Jamie Dutcher describe the grief and mourning in a wolf pack after the loss of the low-ranking omega female wolf, Motaki, to a mountain lion. The pack lost their spirit and their playfulness. They no longer howled as a group, but rather they "sang alone in a slow mournful cry." They were depressed — tails and heads held low and walking softly and slowly — when they came upon the place where Motaki was killed. They inspected the area and pinned their ears back and dropped their tails, a gesture that usually means submission. It took about six weeks for the pack to return to normal. The Dutchers also tell of a wolf pack in Canada in which one pack member died and the others wandered about in a figure eight as if searching for her. They also howled long and mournfully. Foxes also have been observed performing funeral rituals.
My friend Betsy Webb who lives in Homer, Alaska, told me a moving story about grief in llamas. She wrote:

"Llamas are gregarious by nature, extremely perceptive, and forge deep bonds with one another. In the pasture, our llamas often feed in the same area, sleep next to each other, and stay close together when they face off an unfamiliar animal or predator. On the trail, they become extremely agitated if they lose sight of each other when one stops to rest and falls behind. They vocalize quite a bit. My favorite is their delicate greeting call, which sounds like a miniature bagpipe exhaling. When my family moved from Colorado to Alaska, we brought our two Colorado llamas with us. As fate would have it, we inherited two Alaska llamas with our new house and grounds. Each twosome had spent their lives together. At first, the twosomes were a bit standoffish, but in time, they became fast friends and a foursome. Several years later, the oldest llama, Boone, died quite suddenly at twenty-seven years old. One day, he laid down on his side, too weak to get up. The next day, his life partner, Bridger, died in the same fashion, next to him. It was early spring and the ground was still frozen, so we hired a friend with a backhoe to prepare their grave just across the fence. We carefully hoisted Boone and Bridger over the fence and into the ground, then covered them. The other pair, Taffy and Pumpernickel, stood by and watched the entire process quietly. For the next two days, stoic Taffy stood across the fence from the grave and stared at the hole in the ground. She barely moved from the spot. Excitable Pumpernickel stayed in his little barn and wailed for two days. On the third day, they emerged from their grieving and resumed their normal activities. Did Bridger surrender himself to death following the loss of his lifelong buddy Boone? And Taffy and Pumpernickel, both very distinct personalities, grieved in their own personal ways. For me, the most moving memory of losing two llamas so close together was experiencing the caring and harmonious llama death and grieving process."

Magpies also grieve the loss of other magpies; see also. I recently received this story via email in response to the essays about my observations of magpie grief. "I have a farm in Bolton, UK and we were overrun with Magpies. The reaction from the magpies [to the corpse of another magpie] in the vicinity was akin to a scene from the film 'The Birds', as they surrounded the lifeless bird and tried to reawaken it with their beaks. When they reached the conclusion that it was indeed dead, there was an outpouring of loud cackling noises which reached quite a crescendo (there were around 20 of them); this was echoed by a similar sympathetic chorus from a nearby wood and within a minute, from all surrounding areas giving the impression that hundreds of magpies were being told of the death and simultaneously expressing their grief. It was quite unnerving and I remained within the safe confines of a barn until all was over."

Why do animals grieve and why do we see grief in different species of animals? It's been suggested that grief reactions may allow for the reshuffling of status relationships or the filling the reproductive vacancy left by the deceased, or for fostering continuity of the group. Some theorize that perhaps mourning strengthens social bonds among the survivors who band together to pay their last respects. This may enhance group cohesion at a time when it's likely to be weakened.
Grief itself is something of a mystery, for there doesn't seem to be any obvious adaptive value to it in an evolutionary sense. It does not appear to increase an individual's reproductive success. Whatever its value is, grief is the price of commitment, that wellspring of both happiness and sorrow.

Environment, Animal Rights ~Speciesism. The Superior Human? - Full movie - 2012 documentary

2012-06-01T16:46:00.001-04:00

Please share this movie with others. "The Superior human?" is the first documentary to systematically challenge the common human belief that humans are superior to other life forms. The documentary reveals the absurdity of this belief while exploding human bias. Featuring Dr Bernard Rollin, Gary Yourofsky Dr Richard Ryder, Dr Steven Best. Narrated by Dr Nick Gylaw. "The Superior human?" is dedicated to 2012 Earth April (EA) which includes Earth Day and World Lab Animal Day. EA official website : http://EarthApril.GoodEasy.info Running time: 73 minutes Trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=azsSGdFiR5M Official website: http://TheSuperiorHuman.Ultraventus.info/ Just wondering what others might think about this...

Nature, for Mind, Body & Spirit

2012-05-22T13:58:00.002-04:00

It's sad that we need Scientist to tell us that we need 'nature' when Ancient Wisdom has been telling all along that we are all connected.

Credit to:

http://www.almanac.com/blog/natural-health-home-tips/get-outside-it’s-good-body-and-mind

by Margaret Boyles

May 11, 2012

Maybe you took to heart my recent post about the health dangers of sitting too much.

Now it’s time to think about getting outside.

A substantial body of research affirms the numerous health benefits of spending time in natural settings: walking in woods or urban parks, canoeing down a river, tending a vegetable garden, meandering along a coastline or a lake shore.

Researchers have found that spending time in nature strengthens a person's immune system, reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure, and improves social interactions. Furthermore, it may improve learning and increase empathy.

Even a dose of five minutes improves our sense of wellbeing.

What’s more, creating green spaces such as parks and community gardens in urban residential environments reduces crime (especially gun violence), decreases domestic violence, stimulates positive social interactions, strengthens family connections.

Even hospital patients exposed to green spaces through their windows (rather than parking lots) have better clinical outcomes. They experience less fear, anxiety and anger. They have lower blood pressure and need fewer medications.

Biophilia: Human health may depend on connecting with nature

Biologist Edward O. Wilson and others have hypothesized that a deep affinity they call biophilia exists between humans and other living systems. Proponents of the hypothesis suggest that a connection with the the plants and animals around us, including those species too small to see, is essential to our physical and mental health and productivity.

Public health advocates around the world have begun advocating immersion in nature for health. For example:

The Japanese have studied the specific effects of shinrin-yoku, “forest bathing,” for health.
Scandinavians have begun promoting their 150 year-old tradition of friluftsliv—which roughly translates into “outdoor living and recreation”—for health purposes.
Green Gym, a movement movement started by a medical doctor in Great Britain in 1997, combines outdoor physical fitness with conservation work.

Play in the Dirt!

Another line of provocative research suggests that inhaling or ingesting a common, non-harmful soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, in natural settings may activate brain chemicals whose effects are similar to antidepressants.

Further resedarch suggests that contact with the bacteria may even improve learning. As adults, perhaps we need to mimic our children’s instinctive behavior by getting out to play or walk in the dirt and make mud pies.

The buzzword connectivity describes the technological innovations that connect us 24/7 to our electronic communication devices. Yet with all the research associating improved health with spending time in the natural world, we all might want to consider unplugging and re-establishing a deeper connection with that world outisde our windows.

A final point worth pondering: What we don’t know and experience directly and intimately, we have little motivation to care for. How can we expect future generations to understand and protect our common natural environments if young people rarely go out and experience them?

Learn more

Green Gym

Forest Bathing

Can immersion in nature make us more empathic and caring of others?

Health Benefits of Gardens in Hospitals

Hot off the presses: Lack of contact with nature increasing allergies

Husband's tribute garden keeps love, roses growing

Graphic Undercover video~ "Wyoming Premium Farms" revealing egregious cruelty at a Wyoming pig breeding facility owned by a supplier for Tyson Foods.

2012-05-09T06:34:00.000-04:00

No one and no-thing will ever be safe as long as humans plague the Earth. If there is a God, I hate him. The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He is in front of it. - Axel Munthe

Graphic Video Public Festival Pig Slaughter

2012-03-22T14:52:00.001-04:00

I won't watch this, I can't watch this, From the description I'm sure it would push me over the edge for years. I've no doubt that at minimum 75% of earths population are sociopaths...incapable of empathy and compassion, willing to involve themselves in all levels of violence, torture, killings for profit and pleasure. Every single week I run into at least one or two a new forms of animal torture that I've never seen before...It. Never. Ends.

Factory Farms, Just another of Man's long lists of crimes against Nature & 'Life'

2012-03-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

http://www.factoryfarmmap.org/

It's no accident that factory farms have spread across the country. Weak environmental rules and bad farm policy have allowed factory farms to take over livestock production. Even if you don't live near one, there are things you can do to help get rid of factory farms.

Take action to tell the EPA to finally regulate air and water pollution from factory farms

Meat Dementia: The Animal Protein and Mental Health Connection

2012-01-05T12:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/meat-dementia-the-animal-protein-and-mental-health-connection/

Leading British psychotherapist, Peter Field has advised people to abstain from eating meat and animal protein if they value their mental health. According to Field, there is a direct link between the consumption of animal protein and cognitive dysfunction, which may result in Alzheimer’s and senile dementia.
Quoting Cornell University Professor T. Collin Campbell, author of The China Study, Field says that “Cognitive dysfunction tends to be much higher among people who are consuming an animal based diet. People with cognitive dysfunction have now been shown to have about a 6 fold increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

According to Field, the best way to avoid such problems is to adopt a whole food plant-based diet, which provides all of the elements necessary for good health — mental and physical.

ORPHANED BAT IS RAISED BY HUMANS ~VIDEO

2011-12-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

All animals are precious and deserving of love, respect and when needed....a helping hand.

A Farm Grows in Brooklyn - Video

2011-12-08T09:54:00.002-05:00

'Greed' Capture on Film

2011-11-13T14:41:00.001-05:00

What can possibly be said to add to this picture?

Ecuador & Bolivia Grant Mother Earth Strong Constitutional & Legal Rights

2011-11-09T06:41:00.000-05:00

Enlightenment...but not in America, in America Nature & Animal remain 'resources' to exploit.

What is “Right’s of Nature”?

“Rights of Nature is the recognition and honouring that Nature has rights. It is the recognition that trees, oceans, animals, mountains have rights just as human beings have rights. Rights of Nature is about balancing what is good for human beings against what is good for other species, what is good for the planet as a world. It is the holistic recognition that all life, all ecosystems on our planet are deeply intertwined. “ Source

Ecuador Adopts “Rights of Nature” in Their Constitution

“Ecuador is the first country to recognize Rights of Nature in its Constitution. A great first step for humanity towards a change of paradigm! Ecuador is home to the Galapagos Islands, Andean Mountains and Amazon rainforest as it is a geologically, ecologically and ethnically diverse country

Ecuador rewrote its Constitution in 2007-2008 and it was ratified by referendum by the people of Ecuador in September 2008.

The new Ecuadorian Constitution includes a Chapter: Rights for Nature. Rather than treating nature as property under the law, Rights for Nature articles acknowledge that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles. And we – the people – have the legal authority to enforce these rights on behalf of ecosystems. The ecosystem itself can be named as the defendant.” Source

To download a PDF file of the constitutional changed declared by Ecuador, click here
See the entire “Universal Declaration Of Rights Of Mother Earth” here

The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia’s historic bill

** Please note that this bill was passed on the 22nd April 2011 which was Earth Day**

“Indigenous and campesino (small-scale farmer) movements in the Andean nation of Bolivia are on the verge of pushing through one of the most radical environmental bills in global history. The “Mother Earth” law under debate in Bolivia’s legislature will almost certainly be approved, as it has already been agreed to by the majority governing party, Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS).

The law draws deeply on indigenous concepts that view nature as a sacred home, the Pachamama (Mother Earth) on which we intimately depend. As the law states, “Mother Earth is a living dynamic system made up of the undivided community of all living beings, who are all interconnected, interdependent and complementary, sharing a common destiny.”

The law would give nature legal rights, specifically the rights to life, regeneration, biodiversity, water, clean air, balance, and restoration.

The law would give nature legal rights, specifically the rights to life and regeneration, biodiversity, water, clean air, balance, and restoration. Bolivia’s law mandates a fundamental ecological reorientation of Bolivia’s economy and society, requiring all existing and future laws to adapt to the Mother Earth law and accept the ecological limits set by nature. It calls for public policy to be guided by Sumaj Kawsay or Vivir Bien (an indigenous concept meaning “living well,” or living in harmony with nature and people), rather than the current focus on producing more goods and stimulating consumption” Source

The Law of Mother Earth includes the following;

the right to maintain the integrity of life and natural processes
the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered
the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration
the right to pure water
the right to clean air
the right to balance, to be at equilibrium
the right to be free of toxic and radioactive pollution
the right to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities

Turkey Is Now Debating An Ecological Change To Their Constitution.

22nd May 2011 - “We are just starting a campaign calling for an ecological constitution,” said Turkey’s Green Party spokesperson Ümit Sahin, who is among 40 people including politicians, academics, and lawyers involved in the Initiative for an Ecological Constitution (IEC). “As Turkey has been talking about making a new constitution, which is supposed to value the individual, then we should be talking about an ecological approach to it,” Sahin said, adding that their role models are Bolivia and Ecuador, which understand the value and rights of Mother Earth. The IEC believes in this approach of the Latin American states, he said, because neither the European states nor the United States have been able to fully address the issue even though there are some examples like France, which has a Green Charter, and some states in the US, which have been adopting ecologically sensitive laws. Source

A Sweet Story of A Mouse's Rescue.

2011-10-30T10:57:00.001-04:00

By Marguerite White of England
One evening, our kitten was playing and as I walked past, I saw something very little. I bent down and saw that it was a very still mouse, so I gently pushed it into my empty teacup. I didn’t want to go get anything else to catch it, just in case another cat pounced on it. The kitten was just staring at it and I think he was waiting for it to move. The mouse seemed all right and it was late evening, so I found a container to put it in until morning. I never saw an injury but could see that it was frozen with fear.
The mouse was all right in the morning, so I got a cage out of the shed, which had plenty of room. I added grass and shredded paper and a small container of water. I also sprinkled gerbil food. I didn’t know much about what mice ate, so I improvised. It seemed to thrive and we had the little one for more than three weeks. I knew it was time to let it go when it had become bigger and stronger, so I reluctantly took the cage into the garden and went to a shady covered area with loads of shrubbery. After I released the mouse, I put the cage contents near it so it felt safe and said, “Goodbye little mouse. I hope you find your family.”

Some Harm. Others Rescue.

What’s most remarkable about Marguerite’s story is that she showed compassion for a small creature that many others treat with contempt. Because mice are so often the victims of intensely cruel traps and poisons, it is truly refreshing to look to Marguerite’s example of compassion.

White Bean Gravy

2011-10-08T14:27:00.000-04:00

THIS SOUNDS DELICIOUS!!!

White Bean Gravy

GA Man Starts Pet Food Bank

2011-10-06T07:24:00.003-04:00

It's so encouraging and heart-warming to run into articles like this. Altruism is still with us....

Greatest Person of the Day: Tom Wargo - Lilburn-Mountain Park, GA Patch

Greatest Person of the Day: Tom Wargo
Tom Wargo runs Daffy's Pet Soup Kitchen, the first nonprofit food bank for pets.

Fourteen years ago, food banks told Tom Wargo his idea to stock pet food for the needy was unnecessary.

“I said, 'I'll build shelves, I'll build a storage unit, I'll build
something at your location and then I'll stock it with pet food, so that
if people come in, you can give them pet food,'" the Lilburn resident
said.

They wouldn’t budge, so Wargo decided in 1997 to start his own
nonprofit, the SOS Club, to meet the need. He bought pet food with his
own money and gave it to people straight from his truck. Wargo says the
dogs and cats he helped feed were often the only good thing in their
owners’ lives.

“The people that I was helping were going to the local co-ops and
local food banks to get people food, and they would bring the people
food home and feed their animals with it,” he said. “They're not going
to let their animals starve, they're not going to kill them at the
pound, so they're going to feed them, just like if you have kids.”

The effort expanded in 2008 when Wargo started Daffy’s Pet Soup
Kitchen in Lawrenceville to give SOS a a physical location. It’s become
one of the largest pet food banks in the nation, providing 600,000
pounds of food last year for dogs, cats and other pets in more than 60
counties in Georgia. Provisions include prescription food for pets with
diseases such as diabetes or cancer.

A number of other Daffy’s locations and similar organizations have
since popped up across the nation, although the Lawrenceville
headquarters -- which will soon move to Lilburn -- remains the largest.

Wargo also cares about preventing unwanted pets. Daffy’s requires
pets to be spayed or neutered in order for their people to get pet food,
and helps by directing people to centers that offer the services at a
discount.

“If you can’t afford one [dog], you definitely can’t afford one plus 10 puppies,” he said.

Adding to his todo list, Wargo also rescues pets during natural disasters.

“When the tornadoes hit in northwest Georgia, I’m up there trapping
cats, two and a half hours away, staying in a dumpy hotel because most
of them got wiped out by the tornado,” he said. He brought in about
15,000 pounds of food for the April crisis.

Wargo says he wants to keep Daffy’s growing and keep spreading the
word about spaying and neutering so that fewer animals wind up being
abandoned and ultimately put down.

“If you come to us for help,” he said, “your dog gets to stay at home
and stay happy, he’s sleeping in his bed with you, and he’s fed. He’s
great.”

For more information, check out Daffy's website.

(Editor's Note: This article is featured on Huffington Post as part of its Greatest Person of the Day series.)

GREED

2011-09-30T14:01:00.000-04:00

The greed of gain has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Its one object is to produce and consume. It has pity neither for beautiful nature nor for living human beings. It is ruthlessly ready without a moment's hesitation to crush beauty and life out of them, molding them into money.

-Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941)

It’s Time to Replace Animals in Harmful, Painful Experiments

2011-09-20T10:13:00.004-04:00

Orignal Article Here: It%26%238217%3Bs+Time+to+Replace+Animals+in+Harmful%2C+Painful+Experiments

From: One Green Planet: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/

In late August I participated in a 4-day conference in Montreal. The 8^th World Congress on Animals and Alternatives in the Life Sciences drew over 800, mostly scientists. The mission of the meeting was to advance “the 3Rs,” which aim to Replace, Reduce, or Refine (i.e., lessen the suffering of) animals used in research, testing, and education.

I mingled with people representing a wide range of viewpoints, from groups like Americans for Medical Progress and the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research, whose mission is to defend the continued use of animals, to organizations dedicated to ending harmful uses of animals as soon as possible, like the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, InterNICHE, PETA, AnimaLearn, and EuroGroup for Animals. My own paper, which used records obtained through the US Freedom of Information Act to chronicle the miserable lives of primates in two American laboratories, was one of several from The Humane Society of the United States.

Some of the presentations were stark reminders of just how sensitive animals are to the intrusions of humans on their lives. For example, just being transported to a new location was so stressful to caged rats that their body weight, heart rate and blood pressure aren’t back to normal two weeks after being moved, and their levels of activity and blood corticosterone (a hormone associated with stress) never returned to pre-move levels. A Canadian wildlife veterinarian presented data showing that the health of polar bears declines each time they are subjected to the stress of being captured (for study). The more times caught, the worse their physical condition becomes. The presenter asked his audience to imagine how stressed we would feel to be chased and caught by predatory aliens. Wild animals may struggle so hard to escape human capture that they are vulnerable to “capture myopathy,” irreversible muscular damage that can cause permanent lameness, even death.

But the great bulk of animal research is the kind done in laboratories. One of the sessions I attended focused on animal pain, with an emphasis on rodents. Disturbingly, pain research on animals is a thriving enterprise, and the past decade has seen a dramatic increase in research that deliberately subjects mice to unrelieved pain. All mammals process pain along the same neural and biochemical pathways, so it strikes me as a prejudice that rodents are commonly thought of as “lower mammals” whose pain and suffering is somehow less worthy of our concern. New studies further expose this prejudice. We saw video clips of mice being marked by having small holes punctured into their ears with a hand-held hole-puncher. This common laboratory method is routinely done without anesthesia. The mice squinted their eyes, opened their mouths wide and struggled violently in response to the assault. Rabbits having their ears pierced with a tattoo hole-puncher reacted similarly. The presenter told us he had the audio turned off so that we wouldn’t have to hear their screams. A video of a rabbit whose ear had simply been treated 20 minutes earlier with a topical anesthetic showed no pain response, and the presenter implored researchers to use this simple refinement.

Contrary to earlier belief, rodents and rabbits—which like many animals have evolved stoicism to avoid detection by predators—do show detectable pain on their faces and bodies. So reliable are these subtle pain responses that a research team has developed a Mouse Grimace Scale (MGS) that quantifies the severity of pain based on orbital tightening (eye closing), nose and cheek bulging and ear and whisker positions. A similar Rat Grimace Scale has since been developed. Even a complete novice can learn to recognize a rodent’s pain with just ten minutes of training.

I asked if a mouse’s pain might endure after grimacing stops. Yes, it’s fairly certain that it does. For example, we stop grimacing long before the pain of a sprained ankle or broken bone is gone. And yet, while human patients typically request and receive pain medication for 1 – 2 weeks following surgery, animals in laboratories (including the primates whose lab records I examined) typically get 1 – 2 days, and sometimes no pain relief at all.

This is all the more sobering considering that tens of millions of rodents are currently used in experiments, and a single research lab may have over 100,000 mice. I and a growing number of my scientific colleagues share the view expressed recently by the noted British biologist Richard Dawkins that “we have no general reason to think that non-human animals feel pain less acutely than we do.”

Some may conclude that the challenge is to reduce the pain and suffering of animals in labs. But I think this information demands another conclusion: we shouldn’t be using them at all, for the same reasons we don’t use humans.

Defenders of vivisection declare that animal research is “a necessity.” This is like saying that capital punishment is a necessity. Whatever one thinks of it, we are not bound to do it. We do it by choice, so we can choose not to. To me the most compelling reason to desist is that animals feel pain and suffer essentially like us. That being the case, there really is only one morally defensible “R”: Replacement.

J onathan Balcombe was born in England and raised in New Zealand and Canada. He studied biology in Canada before earning a PhD in ethology (animal behavior) from the University of Tennessee. He is the author of three popular books on animals: Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (2006), Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals (2010), and The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure (May 2011). Dr. Balcombe is the Animal Studies Department Chair for Humane Society University. In his spare time he enjoys nature-watching, biking, piano, vegan cooking and trying to understand his two cats. Dr. Balcombe is available as a environmental keynote and event speaker with Macmillan Speakers Bureau

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It’s Time to Replace Animals in Harmful, Painful Experiments

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Graphic Undercover video~ "Wyoming Premium Farms" revealing egregious cruelty at a Wyoming pig breeding facility owned by a supplier for Tyson Foods.

Graphic Video Public Festival Pig Slaughter