What's Fur Got To Do With Love?

The clip below was posted by vegan advocate Jordan Wyatt who is a member of the Invercargill Vegan Society and who hosts the podcast Co-existing With Nonhumans Animals.

The debate on Prime Time Irish TV show asks whether it makes any difference whether we kill animals for the skin or for their meat?

And as Jordon observes this woman who grew up on a "fur farm", actually makes a case for Veganism.

She also makes it clear that the way these farmers "love" their animals is no different than the way others who "use" nonhumans "love" their animals too!



You'll be convinced at her "love" ten seconds in, when she giggles before acknowledging that she has skinned the minks as well.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it! Upton Sinclair

At thirty seconds she says that this can't be cruel because there's 1400 fur farmers in Denmark. She rhetorically asks "How can they justify it if they thought it was cruel?" 
If one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people. -Ruth Harrison

"They LOVE their animals!"

According to her because they do this job everyday, they can't possibly not "love" those animals. 
Whenever people say, ‘We mustn’t be sentimental,’ you can take it they are about to do something cruel. And if they add, ‘We must be realistic,’ they mean they are going to make money out of it." - Brigid Brophy

She states the "love" these farmers have throughout the breeding and skinning seasons... 
People who claim to "love" animals while paying workers to harm and kill animals for their enjoyment are frankly delusional. I sure hope none of these people ever "love" me. - Jo Tyler

She concludes that there is no difference between "loving" these fur animals or "loving" the animals used for meat, milk and eggs. She's certainly right there... 
There is no moral distinction between fur and other materials made from animals, such as leather, which also is the result of the suffering and death of sentient beings. - Gary L. Francione 

In her mind it's all okay because we've always done it. "It's in our nature."
In the course of his development towards culture man acquired a dominating position over his fellow-creatures in the animal kingdom. Not content with this supremacy, however, he began to place a gulf between his nature and theirs. He denied the possession of reason to them, and to himself he attributed an immortal soul, and made claims to a divine descent which permitted him to annihilate the bond of community between him and the animal kingdom. - Sigmund Freud 

Their "love" it appears, is all about the devotion of confining these animals in tiny cages, denying them of their freedom, their babies and eventually - their hides and their lives. 

But of course this MUST be "love"... Of money.
Our economic order is tightly woven around the exploitation of animals, and while it may seem easy to dismiss concern about animals as the soft-headed mental masturbation of people who really don't understand oppression and the depths of actual human misery, I hope to get you to think differently about suffering and pain, to convince you that animals matter, and to argue that anyone serious about ending domination and hierarchy needs to think critically about bringing animals into consideration.” - Bob Torres

Whether it's fur, food or "fun". Please think critically. Please think kindly. Please think. Go Vegan.

What's Love Got To Do With Meat?

In the recent winter storm named Atlas up to 70,000 cows, sheep and horses were left stranded, soaked with rain, and then were smothered or frozen in snow. Many of these cows were found in piles around the barbed wire meant to keep them "safe". Often buried in the drifts were young calves huddled by their mothers. 

On any site that reported this event, or in other instances where the "care" of "livestock" is scrutinized, animal users will defend their practices and habits with endless comments meant to illustrate how much they "love" their stock:

"We tenderly nurture and care for these production animals."

"Farm families love and care for each one."

"We do our best to keep our livestock comfortable; warm in the winter, cool in the summer, well fed, because we care."

"Although they may have death in the end, you can try to give them good care until then." 

"We love the animals we raise to feed the world."

At the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance you can see they "care" seventeen times on one page. Maybe they figure the more you say it... The more you mean it right? 

And Bonnie, a member of the National Turkey Federation, enters a grow-out barn singing Kumbia to the thousands of birds she claims to "love".

The pig pork people are just the same. They want you to know how much they "care" in one convincing logo. 

Dairymen are animal lovers too! You can read it seven times on one page, amid the photos of barren plastic hutches where the infant calves are "cared for" in isolation.

Or you could see the same line in a Dairy Farmers Care video where they "care" nine times in three minutes.

You can see the pattern over and over. Ranchers and "producers" "care" and "love" these animals so very much --- All the way to the kill floor.

But getting back to Atlas... The industry posted a series of photos that illustrate the impact this storm had. In one, the caption reads "Identifying and cutting ear tags from the animals we found deceased helped in keeping an accurate count of the lost." And other missing cows are being identified by their "brands" on left or right hip or rib, or elsewhere I guess...

Can't you feel the love?

And of course they have to keep track of the loss in order to be reimbursed via the Livestock Indemnity Program. Heck of a way to count the tears, through tags, brands, carcass disposal and cash. 

Any reasonable person can see right through this "love" and loss. It's not about the heartbreak of losing a friend and family member... It's about finances and lost profits. We should feel sorry for these ranchers we're told, for they'll never get to capitalize on flesh that's buried. Instead I and many others, weep for the cows, horses and sheep. I never knew a single one of them... But I know I love them more than those who "owned" them ever could.

I know what it means to genuinely care. It's someone who rearranges their whole day to rescue orphaned possums. It's someone who sets the alarm every 2 hours to insure that baby mice or rabbits are kept hydrated. It's someone who takes in a rejected calf from the dairy industry and loves him his entire life without a "lost milk tally". It's folks who pool their resources to rescue hundreds of "spent hens" . And they do it over, and over, and over and over again without the reward of one single egg as a "payment". 

It's finding a way to rescue one pig who then gives birth to sixteen others. It's rejoicing that all are healthy, without the calculated plan as to when they reach a market weight. Their value is priceless.

I could go on with how much authentic concern is given to these beings who have been rescued from the industries that profess to "care" while benefiting financially. And it's true, for some it is about the money... But not the making of it - But the sharing of it... Down to their last penny. That's a real love beyond counting ear tags and making meat.

Whether you are a consumer or a rancher - Words are hollow if they're not followed through with sincere action. Using others for your profit or personal benefit has nothing to do with love. Please if you don't do so already, live and Eat Like You Care.

Taking Lives - And Stealing Milk From Children

"And the calves weren't crying "just like children", calves are children." 

This is the profound statement made on the veganelder post: There are none so blind as...

For those who think that it's anthropomorphism to say, consider that even the industry calls the off spring of cows "sons" and "daughters".  And anyone with just a bit of knowledge who understands the maternal imperative knows that indeed... Calves are children.

With the truth in mind we can empathize with the horror of having your baby stolen and the terror of being a stolen child:


But what do the robbers say when their (swiped) "goods" are snitched? Listen to what a dairy/veal operator says after the discovery of some missing 1 month-young calves. 

A minute in he says "Right now they're living a pretty good life. From here who knows where they're going." The reporter notes how difficult it must be to get into the "cages". The operator goes on to say that they do their best to keep "these things" fed and well maintained... Then Mike Steward of Hilmar Farmwatch states "They don't care it's a calf. They don't view it as a life. They view it as income. And that's sad." He continues that each calf "is worth" about $600.00. The story concludes that these calves are their future... But it's no secret what the fate is for the calves or their mothers.

In a follow up piece a reporter informs us that the calves are in the cages hutches so as to be "protected from predators and bacteria".  And Hilmar reaffirms the "watch" is on for those baby rustlers! 

The crime is obvious because behind him are the mommas searching for their missing babies! 

And here are the children plucked and torn from their mothers!

Hilmar was the one that mutilated this youngster's ear... And "tagged" the pirated life as theirs.

Hilmar is the bandit who usurped this baby from his mother and prevented her from nourishing him. The sour products made from her milk may be labeled "Hilmar" but the milk was pillaged nonetheless. 

The final truth is that if you support the industries that steal milk, you support the industries that steal children too.

You can do better than that. We all can. We can wean ourselves and let babies stay with their mothers. We can opt for an ethical vegan life. Thanks to all good children on the planet who do. 

And we can all also hope that these calves were rescued to live in sanctuary. They would then surely be one of the Lucky Ones.

Holocaust on a Conveyor Belt - Assembly Line of Death

Holocaust on a Conveyor Belt - Assembly Line of Death



Scenes taken from the film Samsara

The Holocaust to nonhumans as explained by Gary Yourofsky.

"Before they reach their end, the pigs get a shower, a real one. Water sprays from all angles to wash the farm off of them. Then they begin to feel crowded. The pen narrows like a funnel; the drivers behind urge the pigs forward, until one at a time they climb onto a moving ramp. The ramp's sides move as well as it's floor. The floor is cleated to give the pigs footing. The sides are made of blocks of wood so that they will not bruise, and they slant inward to wedge the pigs along. Now they scream, never having been on such a ramp, smelling the smells they smell ahead. I do not want to over dramatize, because you have read all this before. But it was a frightening experience, seeing their fear, seeing so many of them go by. It had to remind me of things no one wants to be reminded of any more, all mobs, all death marches, all mass murders and extinctions, the slaughter of the buffalo, the slaughter of the Indian, the Inferno, Judgment Day, complicity, expensive races, races living at the expense of the race."
~ Richard Rhodes from Watching the Animals 

There is a more civilized way to live... Live Vegan.

Carnist Trade Deals with Korea is NOT for the Dogs!

I was disgusted when Bush Jr. attended the 2008 Olympics in China.  For all the human rights violations China inflicts, the most ethical thing to have done would have been to boycott the whole of it... As a symbol of how much we Americans value freedom.  But GWB said he wanted to keep politics out of the event.  S-u-r-e.

Fast forward to this past Oct. 13 when the U.S. ratified trade deals with Columbia, Panama and Korea.  Despite ongoing protests in Korea - All the big money interests here in the U.S. totally approve... They say it will create jobs.  

"A study by the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute estimated the agreement will cost about 159,000 jobs over seven years. The White House says it will help create or maintain more than 70,000, while congressional Republicans see as many as 250,000 new jobs."

Obviously these three guesstimates aren't using the same fuzzy math...

Anyway, even if it does create (some) jobs - The major big win is for the flesh peddlers: "U.S. farmers and big agricultural exporters are excited about new sales opportunities for beef, pork, poultry, corn, wheat, soybeans and other food products in the three markets, but they lament the long delay as a lost opportunity."


Now what does all this have to do with the Olympics in China?  Everything!  It is just one more time that the U.S. is selling out ethical principles for blood-greed.  


In this case, I'm referring to the hideous practice sanctioned in Korea by not enforcing laws against "fragrant dog meat".  It's abominable!  Any civilized people ought to vehemently abstain from any "deals" with a nation that endorses these vicious acts.  But commerce trumps all morality - doesn't it?  I mean, we need jobs right?


Meanwhile take a look at the labors in the White House kitchen as staff prepares the "Fall Harvest" menu for Korean President and other dignitaries. No... No fragrant dog meat here! Just Texas Wagyu beef rib eye steaks, apparently the Western version of Kobe beef.  


Is it just me or can anyone else see the ludicrous absurdity of it all? This meal is dedicated to a pact that profits through murder.  The meal is meant to indulge those who permit the beating of dogs - till their delicious,  by serving up pampered cows on gold-rimmed plates.  I mean - WTF? It truly does boggle the mind!


If by any chance you're offended at the idea of munching on Spot... But buy jackets made of hide - You might be interested in discovering why this is just as problematic. 

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism

All beings love their lives... Please live compassionately.

Animals That Count & Animals That Don't

There's no mistaking it that other animals have been instrumental in teaching us language and counting skills:  The Ark was filled two by two, Three Blind Mice, This Little Piggy and so on...

But it seems that animals in the hands of those who grow/use/kill them hardly count at all unless it's to further profits.


And so animal ag is very interested in establishing National Animal Identification System (NAIS), so that these beings (inventory) can be traced from the AI moment  till they are stamped as the dead meat they've become.

Nope... It's no longer good enough to have the ear-tags traced along with the tonsils, skull, spinal cord, etc.  According to animal ag the global market will demand better tracking... And by their accounts it will "save" taxpayers money in the long run. :/

Yet,  with all the concern for micro-managed accountability, let's take a look at how these lives just disappear when they aren't of economic benefit: 


The Deadstock

Read about the massive deaths in the tens of thousands that are seen as trash - undocumented and unrecorded.  Worthless.


And the very inconvenient issues surrounding the volume of flesh waste that must be disposed of.

And the lives that are counted as "junk" when they outlive their economic "purpose". 


Yes indeed... Other animals did teach us to calculate very well.  And so we multiply their numbers -  And add their worth.  We subtract their meaning and divide ourselves from the essence that is them.  Such good mathematicians in our callousness and greed.

But there's another kind of equation to be done...  And it's in recognizing that they are counting on us to speak in their behalf.  Counting on us to know that each single-one of their lives have meaning.  Counting on us to never, ever sell them out...

We Are All Friends by Madeleine Tuttle

The first, best way is to go vegan.  They are counting on YOU!