Posted on March 23, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
The petition seems to be working up again now with lots more signatures.
Thanks to Venus for her inspiration and not giving up.
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Posted on March 23, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Do Vegans and Vegetarians Have More Empathy?
- By: Katie Medlock
- March 22, 2016
Scientific research suggests the answer is ‘yes’.
When compared to omnivores, or those who eat both plant and animal products, functional MRI brain scans reveal a more powerful empathic response to both human and animal suffering in the minds of vegetarians and vegans. But, these findings may only be telling us part of the story.
The recent research using fMRI technology did, in fact, show that certain areas of the brain associated with empathy light up more in identified vegetarians and vegans and that the response to images of animal suffering is especially strong. What it does not reveal, however, is where this empathy comes from and if vegetarians and vegans are born with more of it, compared to their omnivorous counterparts.
When considering this chicken-or-the-egg (er, apple-or-the-seed?) scenario, we must remember that most vegans begin as omnivores. While there are some families who raise their children with vegan ethics, many of us came around to the philosophy years into adolescence or adulthood. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, author and animal rights advocate, calls the phenomenon “waking up” after a period of being asleep.
She and others would argue that important components of our compassion are lying dormant as we grow up in a world which hides away the suffering of animals and tells us it’s normal to eat them. These parts of ourselves are revitalized when we are able and ready to “wake up” from what is, quite literally, being fed to us.
The mechanism of ignoring empathy-provoking experiences is a protective one. On a small scale, how many times have you purposefully scrolled past an article about some horrendous happening in the world? Our minds can only handle so much at a time. Our empathy has its limits largely because there is so much out there asking for a piece of it. When we are presented with information that requires us to tap into our empathy—and to even consider changing a part of our daily lives—we either rise to the occasion and process it or retreat from the uneasiness of cognitive dissonance, back into our comfort zones.
More research into empathic responses could be helpful in further understanding the mechanics of empathy, not just who appears to have more of it.
So, do vegetarians and vegans actually have more empathy? Perhaps they are more plugged into the empathy reserve we all have inside of us. As John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, told Men’s Journal about his decision to follow a vegan philosophy after being presented with the horrors of the animal agriculture industry, “Remember The Matrix? Take the blue pill or the red pill? I didn’t want to go back to sleep.”
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Posted on March 23, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Posted on March 23, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
by Joe Loria – March 9, 2016
A recent VICE News article spotlights the connection between animal agriculture and climate change.
Raising cattle for dairy and beef is one of the leading producers of methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas that has 25 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide on a 100-year scale. As developing countries become wealthier and increasingly switch to a Western-style diet, global emissions are expected to rise.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that intestinal gas from livestock, mainly cattle, is the second-largest source of U.S. methane emissions. According to a report released by the EPA last week, these emissions added up to the equivalent of 648 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2014, with manure adding another 60 million.
“Americans eat a huge amount of meat. We eat 60 percent more than Europeans and somewhere between 150 or 200 percent of our needs,” remarks Dawn Undurraga, a nutritionist with Environmental Working Group.
While many think eating chicken, a less carbon-intensive meat, is better for the environment, consuming just a four-ounce serving is still comparable to driving a typical car nearly two miles. The same size serving of pork adds another mile.
British think-tank Chatham House reports that worldwide, livestock accounts for about 15 percent of global emissions and reducing consumption of animal products “will be critical” to hitting the climate change targets leaders set in Paris in December.
Governments of developing countries are trying to avoid the mistakes of the Western world. In Brazil, one of the largest beef producers, the government has established a set of dietary guidelines that encourages consumption of less carbon-intensive protein sources.
“I find it hard to believe we couldn’t waste less and eat better and not pollute the planet as much,” Undurraga says.
Be part of the solution and pledge to go veg. Click here to order your FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide today.
Please also check out the following from good friend Philip – CEO at England based ‘Compassion In World Farming’.
Farmageddon – The true cost of cheap meat.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, VIDEOS | Leave a comment »
Posted on March 23, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
by Joe Loria – March 15, 2016
According to farm labor union United Farm Workers, a dairy worker drowned in manure last month. On February 16, 2016, Ruperto Vazquez Carrera, 37, died shortly after showing up for work at Sunrise Organic Dairy in Paul, Idaho. His body was found approximately 10 hours later submerged in a 20-acre manure lagoon.
Similarly, Randy Vasquez, 27, drowned in a manure lagoon on February 24, 2015, while strapped into a front loader at Riverview Ranch, a dairy in rural Mabton, Washington.
These deaths are not isolated cases; Idaho alone reported three dairy fatalities in 2013.
Manure lagoons are enormous stores of animal feces and urine that can span several football fields.
See for yourself:
They are terribly toxic and otherwise dangerous for those working near them.
In July 2015, an Iowan father and son were working on their hog farm when they were overcome by fumes and died.
Employees at all factory farms work in hazardous conditions. On average in Washington, one dairy farm worker dies every 16 months and one is injured per day.
BuzzFeed News reported earlier this year that at processing plants owned by Tyson, the world’s largest meat producer, an average of one employee per month is injured by equipment and loses a finger or limb.
In order to make a profit, factory farmers blatantly disregard the environment, their workers, and the animals they confine, mutilate, and kill.
The best thing we can do to protect people and animals is to boycott the industry that abuses them.
For information on adopting a compassionate plant-based diet, including delicious vegan recipes, click here.
Please also check out the following from good friend Philip – CEO at England based ‘Compassion In World Farming’.
Farmageddon – The true cost of cheap meat.
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Posted on March 22, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear friend
We’re delighted to confirm that the world-renowned luxury brand Armani will leave out all real fur, including rabbit fur, from its collection starting from the fall/winter season 2016. Armani committed to this policy after working with the Fur Free Alliance, an international coalition of animal protection organisations focussed on ending the fur trade. Mark Glover, Director of Respect for Animals says:
“No ifs, no buts: real fur is cruel and unnecessary. A huge majority of consumers don’t want it and fashion doesn’t need it. The UK banned fur farming on ethical grounds, recognising the inherent cruelty of the fur factory farm industry, so its clearly hypocritical for outlets to continue to sell real fur on British high streets. We are delighted that such an influential brand in the fashion business as Armani will be going fur free and they join many other compassionate retailers in the UK.”
For the animals,
Respect for Animals
Further links:
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Posted on March 22, 2016 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Dear Mark,
Unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) drastically changes direction, the critically endangered red wolf will go extinct in the wild in a matter of years.
After more than two decades of work restoring a population of approximately 110 red wolves to the wild, FWS has recently undermined this success through mismanagement. Today only about 50 red wolves survive in the wild, all within five counties northeastern North Carolina.
Recently, Defenders announced our withdrawal from the FWS-sponsored Red Wolf Recovery Team. The team was supposed to be the catalyst to spur red wolf recovery. But in reality, the team was not organized in a way that would allow it to succeed.
Here’s just one illustration of the problem. Recently, a member of the recovery team trapped a red wolf on their land and held it hostage for at least a day, while demanding a permit allowing him to kill wolves on his property. Ultimately, FWS retrieved the wolf, and it’s now being held in captivity. This is in the middle of breeding season – a time when every wolf is needed in the wild.
How can this team succeed when it has team members who are actively opposed to red wolf conservation? This hostility undermines red wolf recovery efforts at every turn!
Since red wolves were reintroduced to the wild in 1987, Defenders has gone to court multiple times to protect them and ensure their recovery in the wild. What has changed recently is that it’s now FWS that is undermining red wolf recovery.
Thanks for all your help.
Sincerely,
Ben Prater Director,
Southeast Program
Defenders of Wildlife
—————————————–
Dear Mark,
Government snipers gunned down 20 wolves from a helicopter in Idaho last month — and now they want to start mowing down wolves in Oregon.
The Center for Biological Diversity is going to court to stop the killing. Our intervention comes just as the situation for wolves in the Northwest turns dire. Last week Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a law ending state-level protections for wolves, stripping away one more layer of protection from these social, intelligent animals. And it’s not just Oregon’s 81 remaining wolves that are at stake, not by a long shot. Wildlife Services is the shadowy federal program that serves as the government’s contract killers of wildlife.
They show up when governors, powerful corporations and Big Ag call, slaughtering millions of animals a year, including wolves, bears, mountain lions, hawks and otters. They operate without accountability, behind a veil of secrecy — and we’re going to put a stop to it. To win this critical lawsuit we need your help with a donation to our Stop Wildlife Services Fund. Wildlife Services’ aerial snipers, neck traps and cyanide land mines are always ready to do the bidding of Oregon’s beef industry — despite new research that found killing wolves actually increases wolf-livestock conflicts. This indiscriminate killing makes no sense, and it has to end. It’s going to cost us dearly, but we’re committed. That’s why we need your contribution to our Stop Wildlife Services Fund. Our scientists, lawyers and activists will put your support straight to work.
I’m sickened by the tally from 2014 alone: Wildlife Services killed 322 gray wolves, 61,702 coyotes, 580 black bears, 305 mountain lions, 796 bobcats, 454 river otters, 2,930 foxes, 1,330 hawks and 22,496 beavers. Since 2001 they’ve spent more than $1 billion in taxpayers’ money to kill animals.
Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio says: “Wildlife Services is one of the most opaque and least accountable agencies that I know of in the federal government. They are a world unto themselves. And that’s a world we are not allowed to see into.”
Kierán Suckling
Executive Director
Center for Biological Diversity @KieranSuckling
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, HUNTING - Primarily UK and Germany | Leave a comment »
