Critter News

APRIL 4, 2009

They're not necessarily questioning the ethics, but the efficacy. The feud between animal rights activists and researchers is among the bitterest in science. Indeed, it often isn't even the best science: New drugs that show great promise in mice, for example, often confer zero benefit to humans, or even prove harmful.

Animal Research 100

Animal Research Research Medical Research Animal 100

Animal Person

JULY 26, 2009

There has to be something I can do to reduce all of the suffering of the animals we use as food, I thought. Now, I don't want to do anything extreme, like go vegan. Veganism is too fringe for me, and I'm pretty sure you have to be a Communist, or at least a Socialist, to be a vegan. I call it VBM: Vegan Between Meals.

Vegan 100

Vegan Animal Suffering Rabbits 100

Animal Person

MAY 23, 2009

I've used the term "animal activism" lately as an experiment. I notice that if I use "animal rights activist" or anything with the word "rights" in it, because it's loaded and misunderstood, my listener often has an immediate bias of some kind. People have a relationship, whether or not they are aware, to the term "animal rights."

Animal Advocacy 100

Animal Advocacy PETA Animal Advocacy 100

Animal Person

MAY 10, 2009

In " 'Animal Rights:' Pernicious Nonsense for Both Law & Public Policy ," Massachusetts attorney and "sportsman" Richard Latimer is on the mark with some concepts, and way off with others. It has absolutely nothing to do with any genuine environmentalist ethic. Now, I know you're saying: That's not what animal rights is.

Animal Rights 100

Animal Rights Rights Broiler Chicken Animal 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 16, 2011

Hal Herzog’s “ Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat ” (Harper 2011), though fascinating, is ultimately depressing for vegans and animal rights activists. Over at Animal Rights and AntiOppression , we’ve been discussing tactics and sharing our thoughts and experiences about what works and doesn’t work when it comes to advocacy.

Vegan 100

Vegan Morals Animal Rights Advocacy 100

Animal Person

APRIL 24, 2009

Yesterday, regarding being a minority within a minority , mikey commented (among other things): While I am fairly new subscriber to this blog, therefore not knowing your particular stance, I've often felt like a minority within a minority for my stance on animal birth control. Tags: Activism Current Affairs Ethics Gray Matters.

Project Treadstone 100

Project Treadstone Feral Cats Spay Spaying 100

Animal Person

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Today's New York Times gives us Adam Shriver's Op-Ed " Not Grass-Fed, But at Least Pain-Free ," which presents its dilemma at the end: If we cannot avoid factory farms altogether, the least we can do is eliminate the unpleasantness of pain in the animals that must live and die on them. It would be far better than doing nothing at all.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Factory 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 14, 2009

My inbox this month has informed me that November is Vegan Awareness Month! Here's my attempt to bring it all together in an Animal Person post. I am a vegan who has adopted a diabetic greyhound who eats vegan food ( Natural Balance ), and who is adopting a boy from Russia. At least she eats vegan food, I tell myself.

Vegan 100

Vegan Adoptable Russia Greyhounds 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I do not believe that our war can be won by vegan education alone and that some day, the oppressors of humans, nonhuman animals and the planet are going to see the error of their ways and transition to a nonviolent, non-exploiting way of life. Tags: Activism Economics Ethics. Are there parts of it that resonate for you?

Vegan 100

Vegan Ethics Psychology Slaughter 100

Animal Person

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I have a column on my Tweetdeck (an application for ease of Twitter use on my desktop) called "vegan," where all tweets from all tweeple who mention "vegan" are listed in somewhat real time. Finally, I'm pretty sure I'm not in his demographic, but I've seen a lot of tweeting about people going vegan after watching Onision.

Vegan 100

Vegan Vegetarian Ethics Family 100

Animal Person

JUNE 5, 2009

Sometimes I get comments that make me realize I wasn't clear about a fundamental point, or I assume everyone remembers other posts or has even been to Animal Person before. Why are Leftists to shoulder the blame for the exploitation of animals simply because of their tardiness in arriving on the animal rights scene?

Vegan 100

Vegan Animal Rights Humane Ethics 100

Animal Person

MARCH 18, 2010

As someone who's about to have a one-year old in her life, I was particularly aware of the part animals play in the lives of the children and how animals are talked about. Also, the have families (as if other animals don't). All animals except the dog are called "it" (I did a little experiment to see what would happen).

Gorillas 100

Gorillas Pets Vegan Speciesism 100

Animal Person

MAY 6, 2009

The book, which I have not read, that saved Derrick Jensen 's life is called The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith, who was a vegan for 20 years, suffered serious medical problems, and started feeling better when she recommenced eating animals. Throughout the book, Keith mocks vegetarians and vegans.

Vegan 100

Vegan Vegetarian Factory Farm Factory Farming 100

Critter News

MARCH 31, 2009

"Earthlings" is a film about animal abuse narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. I've never watched it, but heard it talked about on a vegan podcast. It's supposed to be so intense, it turns people into vegans (Ellen DeGeneres for one.) Tags: animal abuse animal cruelty. The Earthlings trailer can be viewed at [link].

Humane Society Of The United States 100

Humane Society Of The United States Animal Abuse Phoenix Ethical Treatment 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 25, 2010

An Animal Person reader wrote me with the following question: There are many species of cichlids in Lake Victoria that are on the verge of extinction, and most are hardy and small enough to be kept in an aquarium. Is keeping animals because they're endangered any different from keeping them because they are homeless? .

Fish 100

Fish Rabbits Rescue Vegan 100

Animal Person

JULY 15, 2009

The idea that each person has their own timeline for converting to veganism met with the following comment from All Means Justifiable : "I have to say that writing "everyone has their own timeline" is a sentence I personally don't like to hear. Tags: Activism Ethics Language. when they're ready. What are your thoughts?

Vegan 100

Vegan Emotional Ethics Science 100

Animal Person

JUNE 16, 2010

From the Introduction : "Humans are fascinated by animals. For all our devotion, though, we sometimes seem not to recognize the needs and wants of animals. Do animals have rights? Do human beings have duties toward them regardless of whether they have rights? What kind of souls do animals have?

Advocacy 100

Advocacy Vegan Ethics Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Human slavery, of course. The central message of the program was not about enslaving animals, of course. But each time Oprah or a guest mentioned a statistic, and the audience was appropriately surprised and disgusted by that statistic, a statistic about animals quickly popped into my mind. But the cow part? Sex slavery.

Cows 100

Cows Vegan Trafficking Transported 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 18, 2009

While spending hours in the car I've been thinking about various issues related to sentient nonhumans, animal rights and veganism. But I read two types of articles about 4-H: either about how the kids are proud of what they've done, or about how upset they are that the animal they have come to love is going to his or her death.

Vegan 100

Vegan Ethics Humane Killing 100

Animal Person

JULY 6, 2009

Spencer R writes: Vegans sound exactly like religious fundamentalists. You can't pull the god card to claim superiority over the rest of us so you demonize the consumption of animal products. Trying to convince people to go vegan is like trying to convince people to only reproduce once. It simply cannot be justified.

Vegan 100

Vegan Lifestyle Fast Food Farming 100

Animal Person

MARCH 29, 2009

There is a general consensus that vegetarianism and veganism are different philosophically. Hence the psychological continuum described (below) by Austria's Association Against Animal Factories from about a year ago. And human psychology says that humans are far more social than rational creatures. How about this?

Psychology 100

Psychology Campaign Animal Rights Movement Suffering 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 18, 2009

Because I've been thinking about the evolution of my own thinking--and languaging--regarding animal rights. Both animal rights groups and animal welfare groups use "compassion" frequently. Then again, so do people who kill animals for a living. After all, they "love" the animals they kill. Or vegan pumpkin pie.

Compassion 100

Compassion Psychology Tnr Vegan 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

Also, an update on Emily's 50% vegan (Ami) diet. Next, to today's New York Times and Gary Steiner 's fantastic Op-ed called " Animal, Vegetable, Miserable ,"which begins with: "LATELY more people have begun to express an interest in where the meat they eat comes from and how it was raised." (Try And the "strict ethical vegan" to come.)

Greyhounds 100

Greyhounds Vegan Ethics Meat 100

Animal Person

OCTOBER 30, 2010

What begins as a personal quest becomes a mission as the brave little acorn-cracker realizes that animals are enslaved everywhere. I understand this is a children's book, but particularly if you're trying to be a voice for animals, it would behoove you to make connections that might be missed otherwise. Or any vegan message.

Factory 100

Factory Vegan Homelessness Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

JUNE 13, 2009

As I've written previously, I never pushed him to go vegan, and now that he is I don't push him to do any vegan education. It's amazing to observe as someone learns about what we humans have done to this planet in such a short period of time, and how dire the situation really is. But that's me.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Vegan Factory 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 5, 2009

Twice in the past 24 hours (once here and once on Stephanie's blog, in the comments )I have come across the following statement: "[insert animal here] are safe from predators, get fed regularly, and are better off on farms than if they were in 'the wild.'" The animals on farms are created for the sole purpose of human consumption.

Gazelles 100

Gazelles Slaughter Slaughtered Deer 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2009

My husband has two friends (a male/female couple) who are transitioning from vegetarian to vegan and I also have two friends (both women) who are transitioning from omnivore and all are dreading Thanksgiving. Everyone clearly doesn't include the turkey and the other animals on the table. Not humans, not animals."

Vegan 100

Vegan Turkey Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Here's the good news: This is a very readable explanation of how animals in the Hundred Heartbeat Club (there are 100 or fewer individuals in the wild today) got to be in the club. This is irksome, as the premise is that we need to save the animals (and which ones is an interesting discussion) because we will suffer if they are gone.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears California Condor Bald Eagle Lions 100

Animal Person

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

I've been having a difficult time blogging both here and at Animal Rights & AntiOppression lately because I feel like my thoughts are like " Groundhog Day." There are few animal rights stories in the news. Not the day, the film, where Bill Murray experiences the same day over and over again. People are talking. And acting.

Chickens 100

Chickens Slaughter Slaughtered Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

MAY 25, 2010

I've decided that 20 lessons is a good number to stop at, and today I'll discuss what are probably the two most controversial ones, about the animal rights movement. The Appeal of Cliques The first six Lessons Learned from 4 Years of Animal Person and numbers 7-10 hinted about cliques, but only the negative aspects. Lesson #11.

Animal Rights Movement 100

Animal Rights Movement Vegan Lifestyle Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

MARCH 23, 2009

First, check out " The Vegan Solution: An Ideal Whose Time Has Come " over at Care2. And former vegan, Chuck Roomi, who says veganism isn't practical "For people who do not have a desire to eat exotic foods from thousands of miles away, or mechanically-formulated suplements" also warrants a response. " which includes a poll.

Elephants 100

Elephants Vegan Bullhook Laws 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 10, 2010

I'm not one of those people who thinks family is composed of only humans or humans who are biologically related. Families, so the commercials go, don't engage in untoward aspects of animal husbandry that might hurt the cows. Families are just as capable of horrendous policies toward animals as anyone else.

Family 100

Family Factory Farm Factory Farming Cows 100

Animal Person

APRIL 2, 2009

The rabbits were produced, of course, by a rabbit mill that supplies "pet" stores with live creatures whom humans will purchase without having any idea of the conditions they were produced under. Deformities in animals who are mass-produced are not new. Tags: Current Affairs Ethics. Products, meaning rabbits.

Rabbits 100

Rabbits Connecticut Compassion Vegan 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 3, 2009

Bea directed me to the Animal Welfare Special Report at TheHill.com , in which Rep. David Scott (D-Ga), who is the chairman of the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture draws a line in the sand regarding the animals we use and how we use them. Translation? Let the games begin.

Emotional 100

Emotional Farm Animal Farmed Animals Agenda 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 22, 2009

Or printed thousands of copies of vegan leaflets. And you wouldn't fund a program that was very expensive per unit (human or nonhuman animal) yet you often don't think about that when you're dealing with an individual. And then there's the argument against direct actions such as breaking into a lab and liberating animals.

Declawing 100

Declawing Kennels Greyhounds Neglecting 100

Animal Person

APRIL 26, 2009

Vamsee Juluri, Professor of Media Studies at the University of San Francisco, takes me back to graduate school when he writes of the importance of the stories we tell ourselves in " Use Free Speech to Celebrate Animal Life, Not to Enjoy Their Suffering." They certainly depict cruelty to animals, right? What do you think?

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Cruelty Vivisection Open Rescue 100

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2008

Ethical vegetarianism is the thesis that killing and eating animals is morally wrong whenever equally nutritious plant-based alternatives are available. The case for ethical vegetarianism starts with several uncontroversial premises. It is not just a few outspoken animal rights fanatics who hold this view. We all do.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Meat Ethics Lacto-Ovo 40