Articles

That’s No Way To Treat A Lady, But Who Cares About The Boys?

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As someone who believes that other animals shouldn’t be used for any purpose, I find it interesting and more than a little concerning that so many people are getting excited about the latest warm and fuzzy campaign from one of Australia’s ‘animal protection’ groups.

With the average consumer being forgiven for thinking that life will be rosy for chickens outside of cages, it isn’t that simple for the rest of us.

Aside from the fact that by promoting this we are increasing the brand awareness of an organisation that isn’t interested in promoting veganism, are we sending consumers a misleading message?

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Logan Greyhounds. NIMBY Or Genuine Concern?

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12485233_sThe news of the green light being given to the proposed greyhound track at Underwood has seen a flurry of movement from a large number of animal protection groups.

There is a billboard sign on the M1 at Shailer Park protesting the “killing of greyhounds for gambling”, Animal Liberation Queensland has an e-petition registered with the Qld gov, and I am sure there will be a protest or two organised in the coming weeks/months.

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When Industry Representatives Mislead

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Holly
Holly. A wonderful soul whose life was cut drastically short due to the speciesist belief that pigs should be used for food.

It’s been a busy few weeks for Australian Farm Institute Executive Director Mick Keogh.

First, he published his thoughts about speciesism and attempted to refute Katrina Fox’s piece on the subject that appeared on The Drum

Then he directed another opinion piece at the recent decision by the ACT parliament to ban intensive farmed products. If he had have done a little bit more research on it, he could have really hit the mark. Except by trying to look like he knew what he was talking about with a few pretty graphs, he embarrassingly missed the target.

His latest piece is about how advocates of the coming meat free week are preaching a misleading message where he once again misses the mark.

Whilst it is understandable that Mr Keogh needs to be out there fighting the good fight for his members, I personally believe he needs to stop for a minute and think about at whose expense his comments are made.

For example, whilst Mr Keogh is happy to stick it to those uneducated misguided anti-meat people he is doing at the expense of Australian fruit and veg farmers. Remember that once we stop consuming animal products, we usually increase the amount of other produce that we eat.

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110,000 Saved*

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Please read the following update at the bottom of the page

If you believe the latest propaganda that has come out from Animals Australia, its supporters have ‘saved’ over 100,000* battery hens from a life in a cage.

Before I mention anything about the life that these hens have been saved from, I have to say that I think it is thoroughly disgusting that Edgar’s Mission allowed one of the residents to be exploited for the sake of promoting an organisation that is opposed to veganism. The story about the hen herself is just as deplorable.

From the Animals Australia page about the hen called Little Miss Sunshine.

However, Little Miss Sunshine and I did not become personally acquainted until some months later. I was actually training another very clever ex- battery hen by the name of Marilyn Monroe. Each morning Marilyn and I would go into the kitchen to practice her repertoire of tricks in the hope that one day we could share them with the world, in an effort to show people how intelligent chickens really are. But there was one obvious barrier to Marilyn Monroe becoming the new Edgar’s Mission ambassador hen – although she tolerated me when I had food, she did not (and still does not) like me very much at all!

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Gemima: Repost From Farm Animal Rescue

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This article was posted on Farm Animal Rescue’s website http://www.farmanimalrescue.org.au/ and you can find the original version here

imageThis is Gemima. She is 2 years old and weighs 1.4kg. She should weigh between 2 and 2.5kg. She has come from a barn-laid egg production facility wherethousands of birds live in a single barn space where the birds are able to “roam freely”.

Gemima does nothing but hide. She is happiest when she is locked in a coop on her own with some feed which she will eat ravenously. If there are any other birds nearby she runs to hide and doesn’t eat or drink.

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Why bother even protesting anymore?

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Hot on the heels of the announcement that Gold Coast City Council Mayor Tom Tate refused to allow a plan to hold a vote on the use of exotic animals in circuses on council land comes the announcement that Queensland will be the first state in Australia to hold Quarter Horse races.

Premier Newman made the announcement at the Houston Rodeo, which he visited as part of his trade tour of the US.

Whilst Premier Newman is of the belief that animal racing forms part of tourism to Queensland, which he has designated as one of the four pillars for growth, the promise of an investment of $60 Million dollars into the Mary Valley region would have helped seal the deal.

For those who may have forgotten, the Mary Valley region was the area that was resumed by the Beattie/Bligh regime for the failed Traveston Crossing Dam proposal.

The Australian Quarter Horse Racing Development Pty Ltd also appears to have reached an ‘agreement’ to purchase a 1,600 hectare property in the Mary Valley.

I wonder if we will see the usual 1% to make it right protests at these races?

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2013 The Year That Was, 2014 The Year That Will Be.

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As it has been nearly two months since I last wrote something for this site, I thought I would make the first post of 2014 a review of 2013, and sort of mud map for what will be happening in 2104.

2013’s Top 7 Posts

7: What Does It Mean To Be Vegan?
My thoughts on what it means to be vegan in a world that isn’t.

6: Are Animal Activists Making Things Worse For The Animals?
The article where I ask the question of whether ‘animal activists’ are actually making things worse for other animals? I gave the example of a Melbourne Pig Save protest that uses pigs from Edgar’s Mission as some sort of entertainment for passersby.

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