Help Animals This Summer

I’ve gathered 10 items from various sources with suggestions on how you can help the animal causes this month. They are all easy to do and some will feel really rewarding. Small steps – big leap for animals!

1. Write to corporations and governments that practice or support puppy mills (including your local pet shop selling puppies), factory farming, and other abuse you feel passionate about.

2. Learn to cook a fabulous vegan or vegetarian meal, and share the recipes with your friends! Get recipes here

3. Meet people like you anywhere like online communities, who advocate for animals – share ideas and debate. Go to Causecast.org and learn more, or social sites like Humane Society Network.

4. Volunteer at your local animal shelter or the ASCPA, in New York City/Brooklyn, a great one that needs a lot of help is BARC Shelter in the Dumbo district. You will help walk dogs around the park, bring a friend.

5. Scout out 3 animal welfare organizations that fit your cause, and donate $25, $50 or whatever you feel comfortable with to each organization. You would be surprised how much good a little money can do. My favorites are Defenders of Wildlife, Humane Society of the United States, International Fund For Animals. Local shelthers like the Northshore Animal League is no-kill, and Bide-a-Wee in NYC as well as BARC in Brooklyn.

6. Start a blog about animals, whether it’s just about the pure love of your favorite animal, breed. Or get even more active with a welfare blog. Make taking pictures this summer fun by starting a photo blog of the dogs and cats you see in your neighborhood.

7. Go to a local dog park, and enjoy a nice summer day. Appreciate the simplicities of life.

8. Attend a show at Cirque Du Soleil, a non-animal circus. They are amazing and far more entertaining than watching elephants get whipped into a standing position. See their show listings and schedule here.

9. Adopt a cat or dog at your local shelter. If you can, adopt one from a kill-shelter, as you can save lives, especially an adult who has a lesser chance of getting a loving home, or a cat with one eye who suffered abuse. They deserve your love. Go to Petfinder.com and browse the thousands of animals.

10. Decide on an animal welfare topic most close to your heart, and make a simple flyer (don’t forget to include instructions on what they can do to make a difference) and pass it out at a farmer’s market, dog park, supermarkets, etc. This one takes a little bit of guts – I’ve done it once on the subject of Veal Cows – you will get positive encouragement from people, or some people just don’t care, but that’s how you start something important!

And finally, have fun!

Causecast.org

I want to introduce you to Causecast.org – “a one stop philanthropy shop” by TechCrunch, is a platform where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.”

Whatever your cause, including animal welfare, you can get the most up-to-date information and facts from this site. Learn how you can participate, express your point of views, take action, raise money and network for the greater good of the world.

China’s Dog Slaughter Aftermath Prompts Changes

From Reuters

After more than 36,000 dogs were slaughtered for fear of the rabies epidemic in China, a positive change may emerge. Now even the Chinese civilians are beginning to protest to such barbaric cruelty. The Chinese government and officials begin to debate and try to put in new laws to protect animals – a first, believe it or not, as China remains one of very few industrialized nations without such laws.  Unfortunately, they may not reach this goal until 2010, which means many more animals, including cats, will continue to be killed for unnecessary fear and reasons. However, this is a step in the right direction. See full article here and watch the video (not too graphic) from Reuters.

If you can, write to the Chinese government to express your outrage and urge them to adopt changes. Thank you!

Dog Slaughter in Hanzhong, China

A death squad pursues a terrified dog in Hanzhong, China

Dogs beaten to death in Hanzhong, China’s street

Right now as I write this post, China’s government for fear of a few random cases of rabies death, has ordered a massive killing of more than 30,000 dogs.  Dog Death Squads and civilizians alike take to the streets with bats, iron bars, sticks and rocks, chasing poor dogs, mercilessly beating them to death. Many of these dogs were claimed to also be health family pets. One by one, the dogs are “pulled out with a pair of long metal tongs, and brutally beaten with a stick – then even some may still seem to be alive, they’re tossed into a pit to be burned” – via International Fund For Animals.

China’s massive animal killing spree is nothing new. During the Olympics, they rounded up over half a million cats off the streets and brought them to be gassed, boiled, killed in mass. Each instance an epidemic of disease occur, the Chinese blame the animals first and out of fear, instead of learning about what can be done, resort to immediate killing of these poor animals.

Friends, right now, dead dogs lie and fill the streets of this village, and many more at one point or another in China’s history. Please spread the word. Don’t just read this post — Donate to this critical cause or WRITE TO THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT and express your outrage. Thank you.

Fur Farms

This is an insightful post from a fellow blogger about the Chinese fur farm industry. Please read about it at Animalblawg.wordpress.com

Animal Testing Debate

I’ve always wanted to write about this subject, but it’s hard to sum it all up in one post. So I guess I have to start somewhere and start this debate on this blog.

Animal testing began as early as the dawn of modern civilization, when some might argue was necessary. That I do understand – how else would we have known the level of toxicity of ingredients in household and cosmetic goods? We had to start somewhere, and we couldn’t experiment on humans. How else could we explore the intricacies of the mammal body and come up with cures and treatments? It is completely understandable to me that at one point, animal testing was necessary.

But is it necessary today? We have gotten so advanced in the scientific research on so many things. We know what shouldn’t go into cosmetics, and we know that bleach is toxic. We know that cleaning products contain poisonous ingredients, and we know that there are pesticides in our foods. We know that asbestos can be fatal, and we know that certain things shouldn’t go into our eyes. So why do we continue to subject animals like dogs, cats, primates, rats, rabbits to horrific testing when we know it will hurt and kill them? Why do they have to continue to suffer when so we already know so much?

Then there is medical research. I’ve seen some pretty horrific images of primates being dissected alive while researchers poke at their organs, cats’s skulls exposed while being tested for sleep deprivation, beagles’ skin burned, animals forced to ingest poison, mice given cancerous tumors, and so on. I’m so saddened by this but there is the bigger question of whether this is necessary.

I’m conflicted. I believe that humans are superior beings and we do come first in this world, despite my compassion and love for animals and that I do not in any way wish them harm and suffering. As we advance in medical research every day, there seem to be a need to experiment on animals so that we can live longer, healthier. Without the animals, we would have to test on human subjects even more than now. This conflict lies in the very nature of human significance over the lesser mammal, and I know that this may never end. Thanks to animals, we live, and our animal companions live as well. I know that if my veternarian didn’t attend Cornell Feline Veterinarian School, where I presumed he dissected all sorts of animals, he wouldn’t be as good a doctor to my cat today. Some things are just necessary.

Of course, if there was another way, I will be all for it. I love animals and wish that one day there will be NO animal testing AT ALL. That doesn’t excuse the horrible ways in which animals are experimented. I KNOW that there are more humane ways to treat them and test on them. What are your thoughts?

P.S. buy non-animal tested consumer products please!

A Small Victory For Seals

On May 8, 2009, we won a small victory for seals – The European Parliament voted to outlaw buying or selling products of cruel commercial seal slaughter in all 27 nations of the EU. This was made possible because of all of your support. The EU was one of the world’s top market for seal product, and with this now banned, we can only hope that the seal hunt’s end is imminently possible in the near future. Watch the video at the bottom of the Humane Society homepage where Director of Canadian Wildlife Issues, Rebecca Aldworth, takes us on a brief journey into the seal hunt story and tells how we can all do something about it.

Rebecca Aldworth, Direction of Canadian Wildlife Issues, HSUS.

21 Polo Horses Died

via AP

At first I was really sad to hear about he 21 polo ponies that died in Florida. Reports were mixed but apparently they died from some sort of botched meds or toxins in their feed that caused their heart failures within hours. Read more here.

Then I saw the slideshow of prized ponies’ owners and polo fans in tears, in mourning and holding vigils, and I became sick to my stomach. Although I’m sad by this event, this made the news around the world. Why? Because they were revered animals and each horse was estimated about $200,000 value. Each day, there are innocent animals being slaughtered, abused, and mistreated everywhere, and yet we almost never hear about it. Horse abuse and mistreatment is a serious issue and people don’t know about the atrocities this beautiful species face today. This just saddens me.

DO SOMETHING GOOD on Earth Day

It’s earth day – and more than ever before, it’s a day of reflection. With the increasingly changing climate, diminishing of natural resources, endangered wildlife, and other critical environmental issues, Earth Day marks the beginning of a new era of people doing something to better this planet for the next generations.

Please do something good for yourself and others (if you haven’t lately) — turn off the lights, recycle, stop and smell the trees or flowers, smoke less,  take a walk instead of driving if you can, pet an animal, donate to meaningful causes, and spread the word.

xo

Canada’s Seal Hunt – Bloody Business

If you happen to come upon this blog, you already know the seal hunt is WRONG. Here are some pictures from Rebecca Aldworth (HSI/Canada) who has been writing and documenting the atrocity on the ice. It is simply heartbreaking. Read her full entries here.

An excerpt:

“So often the suffering of the seals during this slaughter is viewed at a distance.

	“It takes a special kind of person to club and shoot helpless baby seals.” © HSI/Sanchez, 04-03-09

From the air, from thousands of feet, somehow the pain of the animals does not transmit properly.

You see them wriggling across the ice, blood trailing behind them. You see their mouths open in a silent scream through the camera lens.

But from the ice it is different. You hear their cries, you see them try to escape, you smell the blood and you feel their terror.

Yesterday, the ProtectSeals team travelled to the seal killing area by our boat (a small, rigid, inflatable vessel), documenting the slaughter from 30 meters away. We witnessed so many seals dying a horrible death, as sealers shot at the terrified babies, and then descended on the wounded, struggling animals with wooden bats.

I will never be able to forget the agonizing assault on one seal. The pup was in front of our boat, and a nearby sealing vessel approached. The pup sniffed the air as if sensing danger.

He looked around, and then the first bullet slammed into him. His scream could be heard all across the water. He tried to crawl away but another bullet ripped through his flesh.

His outraged cries echoed as a third and fourth and fifth bullet hit him. Finally, he dove into the water. He did not come back up. The sealers shrugged nonchalantly and moved on.

We looked around frantically for him but he did not surface. Likely, this baby seal would have bled to death slowly and painfully under the water, like tens of thousands of other seals that are “struck and lost” each year in this cruel slaughter.

I want the world to remember this brave seal. His cries of protest are echoing in my mind and I want them to sound across the world. I want everyone to hear as I did the mortal cries of a wounded baby seal who doesn’t understand why he is being hurt.

And hearing those cries, know as I do that this slaughter simply has to stop.”

Images of the bloody business (via Humane Society of the United States):