Hope Haven Farm Animal Sanctuary: Meeting Rescued Animals

Today I had the most amazing experience! I was able to spend time at a local farm animal sanctuary called Hope Haven.  I met several pigs, lots of chickens, ducks, a turkey, alpacas, and a pony. This sanctuary is run by a young woman who is a veterinarian. She spends her days practicing at area animal shelters and evenings caring for her rescued bunch at Hope Haven. Looking into the eyes of these creatures, knowing that they were destined for abuse, torture and slaughter, I felt a kinship that can't be put into words. I'm looking forward to helping out as much as I can there.

If you can afford anything at all, please consider sponsoring one of these beautiful creatures. They rely exclusively on donations and can use all the help they can get. 

Vegan Songs - These Will Make You Smile!

Out of the Mouth of Children... and NOT Into Them

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen!

While watching this video I am reminded of how deeply we are, as a culture indoctrinated into meat eating. As a child I was repulsed by any undisguised animal part that showed up on my plate. One of the ways my mother tried to alleviate my misgivings was to make a "game' out of preparing corpses. She used to make chicken and turkey corpses dance and talk while preparing them. Somehow I learned to giggle at these antics that were actually macabre and sick.

The mother in this video should be applauded for taking her child's objections seriously.

The Abolutionist Approach - Gary L. Francione Lecture and Q&A Luxumburg Germany

A must hear forum by Gary L. Francione on the Abolitionist Approach to animal rights. 

The video is too large to upload, so please click here to view.

Gary L. Francione is Board of Governors Professor of Law and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Scholar of Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University School of Law-Newark.

He is the author of numerous books and articles on animal rights theory and animals and the law, including The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation? (with Dr. Robert Garner) (2010), Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation (2008), Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? (2000), Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement (1996), Animals, Property, and the Law (1995), and Vivisection and Dissection in the Classroom: A Guide to Conscientious Objection (with Anna E. Charlton) (1992).

Professor Francione and his partner and colleague, Adjunct Professor Anna E. Charlton, started and operated the Rutgers Animal Rights Law Clinic/Center from 1990-2000, making Rutgers the first university in the United States to have animal rights law as part of the regular academic curriculum, and to award students academic credit not only for classroom work, but also for work on actual cases involving animal issues. Francione and Charlton represented without charge individual animal advocates, grassroots animal groups, and national and international animal organizations. Francione and Charlton currently teach a course on human rights and animal rights, and a seminar on animal rights theory and the law. Professor Francione also teaches courses on criminal law, criminal procedure, jurisprudence, and legal philosophy.

Earthlings: Please Watch the Trailer to This Extremely Important Film

I just watched a trailer for what is one of the most important films made. But I warn you that it is very difficult to watch. I am physically ill from seeing it. But EVERYONE who eats meat or consumes animal products should be mandated to watch this film. The invisibility of this reality must be end. Please watch and share.

www.earthlings.com

The full length film is also available to watch at the same site. If you are an educator please consider using this film in your classes or as a forum for discussion.

I've often wondered if it's necessary to show such graphic images and if people other than those already concerned about animals will actually see it. But as a friend said to me recently, "Sometimes I think that the only thing that could fundamentally change the attitudes and actions of people who eat and wear animals is to see such shocking images/events. Clearly, detached reasoning isn't going to do shit."


From the site:

EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs.

The film is narrated by Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix and features music by platinum-selling recording artist Moby. Initially ignored by distributors, today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world. “Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most,” said Phoenix. “For every one person who sees EARTHLINGS, they will tell three.”

In 1999, writer/producer/director Shaun Monson began work on a series of PSAs about spaying and neutering pets. The footage he shot at animal shelters around Los Angeles affected him so profoundly that the project soon evolved into EARTHLINGS. The film would take another six years to complete because of the difficulty in obtaining footage within these profitable industries. Though the film was initially ignored by distributors, who told Monson that the film would “never see the light of day and should be swept under the rug,” today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world.

On a Lighter Note: There's ALWAYS a GREAT Vegan Alternative!

One of the things I miss most is carrot cake with creamed cheese frosting. This had been my birthday cake of choice forever. But alas, there's always a great vegan alternative!  :-D

 

Though, beware not all beer is vegan. 

Here's a link to Barnavore which lists all the vegan friendly and unfriendly beer. 

Moral Decisions Depend Entirely on the Presence or Absence of Empathy

Amazon Link

I have spent my entire Sunday morning reading detailed descriptions of how most cows, pigs and chickens live and die. I have been crying and found that I had to stop periodically to calm my visceral responses to the horrors described. If I weren't already a vegan, I would most certainly become one now. Though I already knew the facts of slaughterhouses and dairy and egg industries, reading this text provided me with a renewed connection to this almost invisible reality. There is simply no moral, physical, economic or environmental justification for using animals for food or other products.

In thinking about my thesis, it has become clear to me that morality is inextricably connected with empathy.  

Mark Bernstein makes this point beautifully.

Consider a totally reasonable, intelligent individual who is completely devoid of emotions; a futuristic robot would fit the bill. It sees persons starving to death in sub-Saharan Africa but cannot react to them emotionally. The robot has no sympathy or empathy for these people. It cannot feel sorry for what they are going through or put itself in their shoes. The robot does not care about these people at all. Were human beings like this, we would think of them as leading lives far less rich than our own. Regardless of how intelligent they are or how well they can reason, this lack of sentiment excludes them from the realm of moral agents. Our emotional lives are what trigger our thinking about ethical issues. If we could not care about others, morality simply could not be an issue for us. -- Bernstein, Mark H. (2004-05-27). Without a Tear: Our Tragic Relationship with Animals (pp. 92-93). Ingram Distribution. Kindle Edition.

We live in a society that promotes narcissism and selfishness, viewing empathy as weakness that gets in the way of individual goals. This type of thinking is rooted in societies driven by profit and power. One of the tactics used by the powerful to promote their own agendas is to objectify various groups of people and to use propaganda techniques to lower their moral status. Nazi Germany is, of course, the most famous overt example of this, but it was also true for justifying slavery, and misogyny. In order to exploit and dominate someone else, one must first be able to separate herself from them, to lack empathy for them as it were. Eliminating empathy is also a standard training method of military personnel. Without this training, soldiers wouldn't be able to kill their "enemy".

The enormous propaganda campaigns surrounding the torture and murder of non-human animals includes keeping it invisible from us, having us believe that it is "humane" and that those on death row are living "happy", 'free-range" lives. It uses slogans like "Got Milk", "Beef. It's what's for dinner", "the Incredible Edible Egg" and aims at convincing us to consume products that are wholly bad for us and which we don't need at all. Invisibility, misinformation, and lies of necessity are also used in war propaganda. All of this is done in the name of profit. There is absolutely no concern for animal welfare, let alone the welfare of the consumer. It's important to remember that corporations have every reason to lie about their treatment of animals. Vegans have no reason to lie about it. Consuming animal products harms everyone, being vegan harms no one.

Anyone with an ounce of empathy would have extreme difficulty consuming a steak after witnessing a living, conscious, terrified cow struggling for survival hanging from a meat hook (a common occurrence), or eating a hot dog after seeing a pig collapse from heat exhaustion in a cramped transport truck and being trampled to death (also common), or a chicken being boiled alive to loosen her feathers (extremely common) If you don't feel anything by these minimal descriptions of the horror faced by billions of sentient creatures (including members of our own species), perhaps it's time for you to evaluate your own moral sensibilities and ask whether the pleasure of the taste of these creatures is worth what they endure on a daily basis.