Tag Archives: animal abuse

Pacific Plastic Threatening Wildlife

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http://action.storyofstuff.org/sign/pacific-plastic-epa-superfund

The massive amounts of plastic in the ocean are threatening to kill off Hawaii’s endangered seals and sea turtles on remote Pacific islands.The Great Pacific Plastic Patch is becoming an enormous threat to sea life, and the EPA is considering declaring the remote island of Tern Island an environment disaster area.
This crisis gives us an incredible opportunity — if the EPA designates the island a Superfund site, it could mean taking the first real steps to schedule clean-up of oceanic plastic. Not only would this protect the thousands of species — a fourth of which are found in no other place on Earth — it would also put significant resources into tackling one of the greatest threats to our oceans and could become a model for tackling plastic polluting our oceans worldwide.
A high concentration of plastics from global sources has accumulated in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, threatening many endangered species. Designated Papahanaumokuakea National Monument in 2006, this 1,200-mile chain of scattered islands and atolls is home to more than 7,000 incredible marine species, and is one of the first ecosystems being serious threatened by the Pacific Plastic Patch.
 
Tern Island and its surrounding atoll, French Frigate Shoals, are designated as critical habitat for Hawaiian monk seals, whose total population of 1,200 has been steadily declining in the northwestern islands. It’s also nesting habitat for 95 percent of threatened Hawaiian green sea turtles. Unless the problem with plastic pollution is addressed, these fragile seal and sea turtle populations may be destroyed altogether.
Resources:
The Center for Biological Diversity: Historic Step Toward Superfund Designation Could Save Ocean Wildlife From Plastic Pollution in Hawaii, Septermber 9, 2014

Coast Guard Cutter Alert rescues sea turtles

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February 26, 2015

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20150226/coast-guard-cutter-alert-rescues-sea-turtles?utm_source=Daily+Astorian+Updates&utm_campaign=db4b48ca58-TEMPLATE_Daily_Astorian_Newsletter_Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e787c9ed3c-db4b48ca58-109860249

Submitted
Alert’s rescue diver, Seaman Brandon Groshens, cuts away the netting to free the sea turtles.

The second sea turtle swims away unharmed after being freed from the netting by SN Brandon Groshens.

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The Alert, a Coast Guard cutter homeported in Astoria, encountered the struggling turtles while on patrol Feb. 10 in the eastern Pacific

Two sea turtles caught in fishing net were freed earlier this month by a Coast Guard rescue swimmer.

The Alert, a Coast Guard cutter homeported in Astoria, encountered the struggling turtles while on patrol Feb. 10 in the eastern Pacific, according to a statement from the guard.

The cutter’s bridge watch team flagged plastic containers used as buoys floating in the water and then saw the two entangled turtles.

“Jumping into the ocean to free a couple of sea turtles is not something you wake up in the morning expecting to do” Seaman Brandon Groshens, Pendleton, said in a statement. “It was a really great feeling as they swam away, knowing that we just saved their lives.”

Commander Brian Anderson, the Alert’s commanding officer, said he was “especially proud of my diligent watch standers, and how the crew quickly came together in performing their good deed for the day.”

the Dangerous “Noble Savage” Myth

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Dave Foreman, formerly of Earth First! and now The Rewilding Institute, wrote in the glossary of his timely over-population book, Man Swarm and the Killing of Wildlife, of the “Noble Savage Myth: Jean Jaques Rousseau is the best-known flag-waver for the myth of the noble savage, which holds that man in a natural state was noble, peaceful, and ecologically sweet before being besmirched by civilization. Anthropology, archaeology, paleontology, history, field biology, conservation, and so on have shown this belief to have no ground on which to stand.” Foreman recommends the book, Constant Battles, by archeologist Stephen A. LeBlanc as the current must read on the subject. Having been keenly interested in the subject since reading Jarred Diamond’s The Third Chimpanzee, Richard Wrangham’s Demonic Males, and even before, I of course ordered Constant Battles to fill in the blanks.

The book arrived in the mail yesterday and I couldn’t wait to get started. From that book’s prologue: “War today and in the last century seems unprecedented in intensity, ferocity, and number of lives claimed. With this ominous could hanging over our heads, it’s easy to believe that humans have somehow abandoned the benign behavior that characterized our earliest history. What happened to those ‘noble savages’ of old who were content to live in peace and harmony and were not out to colonize and exploit the undeveloped world? The ecological catastrophes occurring all around us present another modern maelstrom—and no ecosystem is immune, from the tropical rainforest, from the pristine arctic to the ozone layer. Humankind today seems to have abandoned a reverence for nature and lost long-held abilities to live in ecological balance. Has ‘progress’—that escalating desire to be bigger, better, faster, stronger—totally extinguished our ancestral instincts to grow everything we consume and hunt only what we need to sustain us? Many view the march of civilization not as a blessing but a curse, bringing with it escalating warfare and spiraling environmental destruction unlike anything in our human past.

“Contrary to exceedingly popular opinion, and as bad as our problems may be today, none of this is true. The common notion of humankind’s blissful past, populated with noble savages living in a pristine and peaceful world, is held by those who do not understand our past and who have failed to see the course of human history for what it is.

“…I have spent my entire career attempting to make sense of the past, and I find the world completely at odds with popular misconceptions. Not only is the past I observed not peaceful and pristine, but, cruel and ugly as it may be, it provides great insight into the present. The warfare and ecological destruction we find today fit into patterns of human behavior that have gone on for millions of years. Humans have been destroying their environment for a long time and continue to do so for the same reasons they did in the past… [P]roper grasp of the past has invaluable benefits for humankind today. We are far better off understanding the past than ignoring it, or believing a mythical version of history that bears little to resemblance to what actually took place.

“A myth, due to its very nature, is not grounded in any reality, so it is susceptible to total manipulation. Though we can manipulate reality, it is subject to objective questioning, because we presume there is an objective basis to it. Once we accept a myth as truth without any consideration of its reality, how do we question its implications or manipulations on objective grounds? Myths are dangerous, and we are better off without them…”

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Go Vegan or Die

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On the tip of one my K2 Apache Outlaw skis is a sticker of a skull and crossbones with the shocking statement, “Go Vegan or Die.” That sentiment might seem mean-spirited unless taken as fair warning about the very real health risks associated with eating meat—such as the greatly increased risk of cancer.

Like the anti-smoking campaign slogan, “Quit Smoking or Die,” “Go Vegan or Die” is simply good advice for people seeking longevity. (Stone-age meat-eaters seldom lived past 30, after all.)

There’s also a less-charitable motive for the slogan on the sticker. Anybody who has been the victim of thoughtless mockery from a meat-eater for the selfless act of eschewing animal flesh would be tempted to use the slogan, “Go Vegan or Die,” as would anyone frustrated by the results of their futile attempts to help others see that animal slaughter is cruelty and humans can live quite happily on a plant-based diet—sans the complicity in causing animal suffering.

Indeed, “Go Vegan or Die” could be a message to Homo sapiens that if they don’t want to exceed their carrying capacity, and ultimately join the list of species headed for extinction, they must change their murderous ways.

Displayed on the left-hand column of the home page of my wildlife photography site, “Animals in the Wild,” is a kill counter that continually adds to the ever-growing list of animals slaughtered for the sake of human hedonism.

If you ever need a starkly chilling reminder of why someone might utter the shocking slogan, “Go Vegan or Die,” stop in for a visit and watch how fast the numbers fly…

………………………………

Animals Slaughtered:

Number of animals killed in the world by the fishing, meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage.

1,516,838 marine animals
773,503 chickens
38,123 ducks
20,966 pigs
14,444 rabbits
11,646 turkeys
8,983 geese
8,680 sheep
5,815 goats
4,921 cows / calves
1,095 rodents
1,062 pigeons / other birds
388 buffaloes
270 dogs
67 cats
67 horses
51 donkeys and mules
34 camels / camelids

View in real-time here.

How much your meat addiction is hurting the planet

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/06/30/how-much-your-meat-addiction-is-hurting-the-planet/

By Roberto A. Ferdman June 30, 2014


Less is more. (Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg News)

The environment doesn’t appreciate our meat obsession.

The average meat-eater in the U.S. is responsible for almost twice as much global warming as the average vegetarian, and close to three times that of the average vegan, according to a study (pdf) published this month in the journal Climatic Change.

The study, which was carried out at Oxford University, surveyed the diets of some 60,000 individuals (more than 2,000 vegans, 15,000 vegetarians, 8,000 fish-eaters, and nearly 30,000 meat-eaters). Heavy meat-eaters were defined as those who consume more than 3.5 ounces of meat per day—making the average American meat-eater (who consumes roughly four ounces per day) a heavy meat-eater. Low meat-eaters were those who eat fewer than 1.76 ounces. And medium meat-eaters were those whose consumption fell somewhere in between.

The difference found in diet-driven carbon footprints was significant. Halve your meat intake, and you could cut your carbon footprint by more than 35 percent; stick to fish, and you could cut it by nearer to 50 percent; go vegan, and the difference could be 60%.

The variations were so drastic that the study’s authors suggested that countries should consider revising their definition of a sustainable diet. “National governments that are considering an update of dietary recommendations in order to define a ‘healthy, sustainable diet’ must incorporate the recommendation to lower the consumption of animal-based products,” the study says.

The livestock industry is responsible for roughly 15 percent of global carbon emissions. And the resources necessary to produce even the smallest amounts of market ready meat—like, say, a quarter pound hamburger—are staggering.

The good news is that while Americans might still eat more meat than mother nature would prefer, they are scaling back, and especially so with the most environmentally unfriendly kind—per capita beef consumption has fallen by 36 percent since its peak in 1976, according to data from the USDA. The bad news is that the rest of the world appears to be headed in the opposite direction. Global demand for meat is expected to grow by more than 70 percent by 2050, largely driven by burgeoning middle classes in the developing world.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/06/30/how-much-your-meat-addiction-is-hurting-the-planet/

“Don’t eat any animals under any circumstances;…

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…it is always wrong and misguided and thoughtless and cruel.”  –  Susie Duncan

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7898756-where-is-jay-leno-when-we-need-him-three-stories

Three Stories and a Great Quote from Susie Duncan

1) descriptionUnlikely friendship of a dog and an owl … Okay! So, why can’t humans simmer down and be nice and stop eating other species? AND stop warring with one another? AND stop worrying and start being happy and looking out for each other? These photographs at the above link are exceptional – enjoy! LIFE as it was meant to be lived…by all!

Don’t eat any animals under any circumstances; it is always wrong and misguided and thoughtless and cruel.

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2) Urgent: Ask Indiana Legislators to Oppose ‘Canned Hunting’ Bill! This state has gone so damned low that it is not to be believe; they may have already voted as they are running crazy, mean-spirited legislation through like crazy!

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3) ODD HEADLINE? “American gored by bull in Spain out of intensive care“: not just a double preposition, but also sounds like the bull gave a bit of a gore to a rotten person just to teach a lesson in humane-ness, doing so from that spirit of concerned “intensive care” for the brat’s soul?????? Like a parental swat? Where is Jay Leno when we need him?

2 hunters lose licenses for killing horse, wounding another

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 http://news10.com/ap/2-hunters-lose-licenses-for-killing-horse-wounding-another/

By The Associated Press Published: February 19, 2015

SPARTA, N.Y. (AP) — State officials have revoked the hunting licenses of two men who shot two horses while hunting coyotes in western New York last month.

The Department of Environmental Conservation says 48-year-old Christian Smith of Phelps and 47-year-old Glenn Gosson of Fairport killed one horse and wounded another while hunting on the evening Jan. 24 in the rural Livingston County town of West Sparta, 45 miles south of Rochester.

DEC officials say both men were licensed and had permission to hunt on the land where the shooting occurred.

Both will lose their hunting privileges in New York state for three years and have been ordered to pay restitution for the horses, including the burial fee and veterinarian bills. Each man also will have to pay a $200 penalty.

Wild Horse Photo Jim Robertson

Wild Horse Photo Jim Robertson

Factory Farm 360

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http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/mdi-factory-farm-360.html

FROM

Last Chance for Animals (LCA)
February 2015

The first interactive, 360-degree video of animal life on factory farms. Brought to you by LCA’s Sam Simon Special Investigations Unit.

WATCH THE TRUTH about Pig Farms

CLICK AND DRAG ON THE VIDEO TO LOOK AROUND

  • On a factory farm, a breeding pig spends most of her life in a gestation crate too small for her to turn around in. The confinement is maddening; pigs bite on the bars until their mouths are sore and bloody.
  • After about four months, the mother is moved to a small, filthy maternity crate, where she will give birth and nurse her babies.
  • The piglets’ back teeth are cut with pliers, and their tails are clipped. The males are castrated with no anesthetic, so the meat tastes more pleasing to consumers.
  • Many piglets die of infection, or are crushed to death by their mother because her movement is so restricted. Dead piglets are gutted, and their intestines fed to mother pigs in an effort to immunize them from disease. After just weeks, the surviving piglets will be taken away and the mother re-impregnated.
  • These facilities are breeding grounds for harmful bacteria like salmonella, so pigs are given steady doses of antibiotics, spawning antibiotic-resistant germs.
  • Workers deface the pigs’ bodies with spray paint to mark their status, like whether they’re pregnant or that it’s time for them to die. Some workers have spray-painted “kill” or “die” right on animals’ backs.
  • Nearly all pork at grocery stores and restaurants in the U.S. – including bacon, ham and pork sausage – comes from these farms, where the pigs endure excruciating suffering every day of their lives.
  • You can help end this torture by choosing cruelty-free meatless options instead of pork.

WATCH THE TRUTH about Free-Range Egg Farms

CLICK AND DRAG ON THE VIDEO TO LOOK AROUND

  • This is a “free range” egg farm, but these hens are far from free. They know only concrete and metal, and beneath the grating under their feet sits piles of urine and manure.
  •  Dead hens rot among the living, spreading their disease.
  • All of these hens’ brothers were killed the day they were born, because to the egg industry, they are worthless.
  • In the U.S., no government-regulated standards exist for “free range” farms. Hens may go outside for just minutes a day. Some birds never even get outdoors, because access is blocked by the crowds.
  • The crowding and filth create a breeding ground for bacteria and parasites, making both birds and humans sick.
  • This is cruel, and it’s happening right now to hens all over the world. Help end their suffering by choosing plant-based alternatives to eggs and other animal products. Together, we can stop farm cruelty.

WATCH THE TRUTH about “Broiler” Chicken Farms

CLICK AND DRAG ON THE VIDEO TO LOOK AROUND

  • You are in a room of thousands of other “broiler” chickens, where you will spend your entire life never seeing sunlight.
  • Beneath you is a sludge of litter, urine and manure; it has so much ammonia, it’s burning your feathers off, so your chest is sore and bald.
  • You’ve been bred for constant hunger, and the lights are on all night to keep you awake and eating.
  • You’re so obese, you cannot stand (If you were a 10-year-old child, you’d weigh 500 pounds by now).
  • You probably have salmonella or another sickening bacteria, spawned from the overcrowding and filth.
  • Sound like torture? It is. And it’s reality for chickens found at nearly all stores and restaurants in the U.S.
Rescued Chicken--Pigs' Pease Sanctuary

Rescued Chicken–Pigs’ Pease Sanctuary

Hunting: The Sport of Psychopaths

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From In Defense of Animals USA:

Hunting is a violent and cowardly form of outdoor “entertainment” that kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, many of whom are wounded and die a slow and painful death.

Hunters cause injuries, pain and suffering to defenseless animals, destroy their families and habitat, and leave terrified and dependent baby animals behind to starve to death. Because state wildlife agencies are primarily funded by hunting, trapping and fishing licenses, today’s wildlife management actively promotes the killing of wild animals, and joined by a powerful hunting lobby even sells wildlife trophy hunts to those who enjoy killing them.

Quick kills are rare, and many animals suffer prolonged, painful deaths when hunters severely injure but fail to kill them. Bow hunting exacerbates the problem, evidenced by dozens of scientific studies that have shown that bow hunting yields more than a 50 percent wounding and crippling rate. Some hunting groups promote shooting animals in the face or in the gut, which is a horrifically painful way to die.

Several states (AZ, ID, MT, OR, UT, WY) allow a spring bear hunt during the months when bears emerge from hibernation. These bears are not only still lethargic, which makes them easy targets for hunters, but many of the females are either pregnant or lactating. Mother bears are often shot while out and about foraging, while hiding their cubs in trees or leaving them in their dens. When mother bears are killed, their nursing cubs have little to no chance of survival as they will either starve or be killed by predators.

The stress that hunting inflicts on animals —the noise, the fear, and the constant chase—severely restricts their ability to eat adequately and store the fat and energy they need to survive the winter. Hunting also disrupts migration and hibernation, and the campfires, recreational vehicles and trash adversely affect both wildlife and the environment. For animals like wolves, who mate for life and have close-knit family units, hunting can destroy entire communities.

Hunting is not Sport

Hunting is often called a “sport,” to disguise a cruel, needless killing spree as a socially acceptable activity. However, the concept of sport involves competition between two consenting parties, adherence to rules and fairness ensured by an intervening referee, and achieving highest scores but not death as the goal of the sporting events. In hunting, the animal is forced to “participate” in a live-or-die situation that always leads to the death of the animal, whereas the hunter leaves, his/her life never remotely at stake.

Please read more:
http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/wild-free2/habitats-campaign/anti-hunting/

ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ
They like living just like you. They feel horror just like you! They understand the meaning of cruelty! Give a voice to those who can’t speak for themselves. Help us! Join us! Share us! We animal lovers have the power – BE THE VOICE for these animals! If you agree that animals feel, suffer, love and the truth about their abuse should be exposed, please “like” our page. Thank you! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Cruelty-Exposed/363725540304160

HOW AND WHERE TO REPORT ANIMAL CRUELTY: https://www.facebook.com/390065024448379/photos/a.392092904245591.1073741848.390065024448379/392106330910915/?type=3&theater
ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ See More

Photo: BLOODY SPORT Hunting may have played an important role, next to plant gathering and scavenging, for human survival in prehistoric times, but the modern “sportsman” stalks and kills animals for “recreation.” Hunting is a violent and cowardly form of outdoor “entertainment” that kills hundreds of millions of animals every year, many of whom are wounded and die a slow and painful death. Hunters cause injuries, pain and suffering to defenseless animals, destroy their families and habitat, and leave terrified and dependent baby animals behind to starve to death. Because state wildlife agencies are primarily funded by hunting, trapping and fishing licenses, today’s wildlife management actively promotes the killing of wild animals, and joined by a powerful hunting lobby even sells wildlife trophy hunts to those who enjoy killing them. Quick kills are rare, and many animals suffer prolonged, painful deaths when hunters severely injure but fail to kill them. Bow hunting exacerbates the problem, evidenced by dozens of scientific studies that have shown that bow hunting yields more than a 50 percent wounding and crippling rate. Some hunting groups promote shooting animals in the face or in the gut, which is a horrifically painful way to die. Several states (AZ, ID, MT, OR, UT, WY) allow a spring bear hunt during the months when bears emerge from hibernation. These bears are not only still lethargic, which makes them easy targets for hunters, but many of the females are either pregnant or lactating. Mother bears are often shot while out and about foraging, while hiding their cubs in trees or leaving them in their dens. When mother bears are killed, their nursing cubs have little to no chance of survival as they will either starve or be killed by predators. The stress that hunting inflicts on animals —the noise, the fear, and the constant chase—severely restricts their ability to eat adequately and store the fat and energy they need to survive the winter. Hunting also disrupts migration and hibernation, and the campfires, recreational vehicles and trash adversely affect both wildlife and the environment. For animals like wolves, who mate for life and have close-knit family units, hunting can destroy entire communities. Hunting is not Sport Hunting is often called a “sport,” to disguise a cruel, needless killing spree as a socially acceptable activity. However, the concept of sport involves competition between two consenting parties, adherence to rules and fairness ensured by an intervening referee, and achieving highest scores but not death as the goal of the sporting events. In hunting, the animal is forced to “participate” in a live-or-die situation that always leads to the death of the animal, whereas the hunter leaves, his/her life never remotely at stake. Please read more: http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/wild-free2/habitats-campaign/anti-hunting/ ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ They like living just like you. They feel horror just like you! They understand the meaning of cruelty! Give a voice to those who can't speak for themselves. Help us! Join us! Share us! We animal lovers have the power - BE THE VOICE for these animals! If you agree that animals feel, suffer, love and the truth about their abuse should be exposed, please “like” our page. Thank you! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Cruelty-Exposed/363725540304160 HOW AND WHERE TO REPORT ANIMAL CRUELTY: https://www.facebook.com/390065024448379/photos/a.392092904245591.1073741848.390065024448379/392106330910915/?type=3&theater ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ

Four Minutes of “Pigman” Ted, Evil Incarnate

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68439_10151399495155861_1116657731_nAlways known about the infamous Ted Nugent, but by reputation only? Never had the displeasure of seeing him in action? Here’s your chance.

This is a 4 minute compilation of Nugent and his cronies killing 100 animals on different continents, with bullets and arrows, and machine guns from a helicopter, in the blood-orgy that is their way of life.

[Watch as much as of him as you can stomach–I lasted about 4 seconds.]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idvZXsk7v1k