Don't Let Cultural Respect Stop China Criticism

This is an excellent opinion piece by Ian O'Doherty from the Irish Independent. He points out that we should continue pointing out animal and human rights abuses by China, regardless of the issue of "cultural respect." There is a sad story about a collie befriended by a Salon reporter while in China, PLUS a graphic description of a dog being slaughtered, so be warned.

The only point of disagreement I have with the writer is that he says farm animals and companion animals are not the same and we are idiots for saying otherwise. I disagree completely (tell me the difference between a pig and a dog in terms of intelligence and emotion.)

Photo by boazlimages.

Animal Rights Book Without Being Heavy Handed

Here is a review of a new book out about animal rights that takes a different tack.

The book is colorful, illustrated with cartoons and photos, easy to read, and insightful. If you have ever wondered what exactly are the animal rights issues that get people so emotionally involved, this book gives an overview and lets you decide for yourself what to think and believe.

Dawn writes in the book that her intention is "not to fight with my readers and win the battle for animals rights, and not to force my values on others. The idea, rather, is to tell you everything you wanted to know about animal rights but were afraid to get into a fight about, and to let you weigh that information against your own values. You can decide what practices you find acceptable or not, and how you might avoid supporting what you cannot condone."

Two Sea Shepherd Officers Appear in Court

Two officers from the Sea Shepherd Faley Mowat face charges for being too close to Canadian seal pup killers.

Captain Alexander Cornelissen and First Officer Peter Hammarstedt are alleged to have broken rules that prohibit anyone from coming within 900 metres of the hunt unless they have an observer's permit.

Cornelissen has also been charged under the Fisheries Act with obstruction or hindrance of a Fishery Officer or inspector.

If convicted, the two men could be jailed for up to one year, fined up to $100,000 -- or both.

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Funny. Happy Saturday.

Watch Out for Pet Food Prices

Food prices are rising fast. Just google "rising food prices" and you'll get a ton of articles re: how prices are rising, food security is at risk, the sky is falling, we're doomed, etc.

Here's an article about how pet food prices are rising too....in Hong Kong.

Panic over food supply shortages and rising prices have spread to pet owners who are facing 20 percent hikes to feed their pets.

Pet food prices have soared 10 to 20 percent since February.

But many people will bite the bullet for their animals.

What we find amazing time and time again is that pet owners would rather sacrifice buying food for themselves than food for their pets," said Peter de Krassel, director of Pets Central, which has four outlets in the city.

If only this love of animals could spread throughout the rest of China....

Photo by lisacat.

Japan May Leave Whaling Commission

Japan is threatening to leave the International Whaling Commission if it doesn't straighten itself out. Meaning if it doesn't ultimately let Japan do what it wants.

The Commission sounds screwed up anyway.

Now the Washington-based Pew Charitable Trusts is leading an effort to fix the IWC for the first time since its founding in 1946. "The member nations need to think seriously about modernizing the IWC," says J. Charles Fox, a whaling expert with the Pew Charitable Trusts' environment group. In the past year, Pew officials have brought the opposing camps together to discuss ways to overhaul the IWC. They have done so in two special, closed-door meetings—in New York last April and in Tokyo at the end of January.

Most agree that the IWC is dysfunctional. Its worst failing: It lacks the power to resolve disputes. And countries can simply opt out of the ban, as Norway did in 1993, to resume commercial whaling. The hard part is figuring out what a new commission should look like.

I still don't understand why Japan is so hell-bent on whaling. Read this....

Japanese consumers' demand for whale meat peaked after World War II, when protein was in short supply; it has declined steadily since, although whale meat is still considered a traditional food. The country's research whaling program only began in the 1990s. It spends $60 million a year on the hunts and defrays the costs by selling 5,000 to 6,000 tons of whale meat annually to wholesalers. The stated aim: To use data collected from the hunts to show that whales are plentiful.

So, they are researching just to show that whales are plentiful. Sixty million is a lot of money just to prove a point. There are so many better uses of this money. It's simply a matter of stubborn pride and economic support of the flagging whaling industry.

Stupid.

Photo by Greenpeace_Flor.

Happy Friday!

Slaughterhouse Gets Billed for Recall

The slaughterhouse recently involved in a meat recall has been billed $67 million by the federal government.

The USDA billed the plant $67.2 million on April 4 for more than 50 million pounds of beef the government purchased for the National School Lunch Program, said Craig Morris, deputy administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

Further bills for the cost of destroying the beef and resupplying affected schools could cost up to $50 million more, Morris said.

Kill the Toads!

Australia being urged to plan for a massive cane toad killin'.

Queensland MP Shane Knuth called for a cane toad equivalent of Clean Up Australia Day, an annual event in which Australians scour the countryside for litter.

The fast-spreading cane toads are the country's most disliked introduced pest, their poisonous skin accounting for the deaths of millions of birds, crocodiles and other predators each year.

Volunteers taking part in the 'Toad Day Out' would be encouraged to kill the creatures by placing them in plastic bags and dropping them in the freezer.

So freezing them to death is the most humane way of managing this species? I'm not a biologist, but is this because they are amphibians? I don't get it.

It is not the first time {Knuth} has demanded a war on cane toads. Last year he suggested that children should be encouraged to hunt them down and paid a bounty of 40 cents (20p) per animal, dead or alive.

Photo by williewonker.

Tennessee Looks at Making Cockfighting a Felony

Right now, cockfighting is just a misdemeanor. Hopefully that will change with a new bill before the legislature.

The cockfighters want the legislature to maintain the existing misdemeanor penalties for cockfighting. It seems they have no problem paying a small fine when they get caught; to them, it's simply the cost of doing business. On the other hand, a strong felony law would actively deter people from cockfighting and put them out of business.

Lets hope they do the right thing.

Quote of the Week

Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote.

Paul Harvey

Global Fight Against Animal Cruelty

Short, interesting article about Les Ward with the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust and the international work he's done to fight animal cruelty. He's seen some really heartbreaking instances of animal cruelty and, like my no-good cousin Antonio, the perpetrators don't realize that anything they are doing is wrong.

The article spotlights two other groups doing international work - Vets Beyond Borders and Worldwide Veterinary Service.

Photo by J&DP.

One of the Worst Animal Abuse Cases in New Zealand

Sad story out of New Zealand.

Drought and a negligent owner led to the confiscation of 30 sick and starving horses in South Auckland. Many were euthanized because they were too sick or wild for rehabilitation.

The elderly owner, responsible for the carnage, is ill and failed to have a drought plan in place for when the grazing dried up.

"Help could have been called for, should have been called for - wasn't," says Bob Kerridge of the SPCA.

The 73-year-old breeder is severely ill with cancer and as a consequence the SPCA has decided not to pursue a prosecution against him despite being acutely aware that they could come under public criticism.

But the SPCA says the animals are its top priority and they have been able to get the breeder to sign the animals over to them, which is what the SPCA wanted.

More on Canada's Weak Animal Welfare Laws

Here is an editorial on the lack of strong animal welfare laws.

A few years ago in Edmonton, two young men tied a dog to a tree and beat it to death with a baseball bat. Because the vet testified that the dog died instantly on the first blow, the men could not be convicted of causing unecessary pain and suffering. They walked. Are you appalled? You should be. Now do something about it!

The Other Economic Value of Whales and Dolphins

Whales and dolphins have economic value as living things, not simply when dead and on a plate.

Whale and dolphin watching is one of the fastest growing industries in the Pacific region, injecting millions of dollars into the small island nations’ economies, Radio New Zealand reported Thursday. The radio quoted a report released Wednesday by the NGO International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) that whale watching is worth 26.7 million New Zealand dollars ($21 million) a year to Pacific nations.

The number of people in the region watching the marine mammals has jumped an average 45 percent each year. The figures exclude data on New Zealand and Australia.

The report said there were just 10,309 whale and dolphin watchers in Pacific island nations in 1998 but that figure had risen to 110,716 in 2005.
Xinhua

Photo by raphie.