Animal Person

JUNE 16, 2009

It never ceases to amaze me that people will get upset about the death of an animal whose killing was their job. That carnage wasn't observed after the animals were slaughtered, but before he could get to slaughter them. Perhaps he can no longer profit from the animals. The evildoer responsible for the carnage.

Slaughter 100

Slaughter Slaughtered Killing Ethics 100

Animal Person

JANUARY 23, 2010

A couple of years ago I catalogued the dozens of excuses/rationalizations from well-meaning, compassionate people about why they eat animals, and all fell into one of six categories: It's what god wanted (and other versions, such as: That's why they were put on the earth. Cain=farmer=evil murderer; Abel=slaughtered animals=victim/good son.

Animal 100

Animal Killing Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Person

MARCH 9, 2010

A handful Animal Person readers since May of 2006, when I started this then-daily blog, have asked me if I've read Joan Dunayer. And now that I've read Animal Equality and begun Speciesism , I think I know why. Dunayer devotes a chapter each to the language used in hunting, zoos, "marine parks," vivisection and "animal agriculture."

Animal 100

Animal Vivisection Suffering Emotional 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 12, 2010

The marketing of an operation of breeding and slaughtering sentient nonhumans as a family farm (here, Bell straddles the line) is supposed to trigger some kind of compassion for the humans. It's the one that matters most to beings who simply want to live their lives without betrayal, disrespect, enslavement and slaughter.

Gestation Crates 100

Gestation Crates Farming Factory Farm Factory Farming 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

Critter News

AUGUST 6, 2009

Clearly, it is disturbing enough to provoke some real discussions about the ethics of dolphins in amusement parks. Whenever I read about dolphins in places like Sea World, I think of an ex-co-worker named Gretchen who admitted she had "issues" with animals. The captivity industry keeps the slaughter going,” O’Barry charges in movie.

Dolphins 100

Dolphins Marine Life Cruelty Broker 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

The storytellers are (with two exceptions) people whose livelihoods came from using animals. And more important is that those storytellers include people who ran small, family operations that animal welfare advocates would not have a problem with. Tags: Activism Ethics Film. For all of us.

Farm Sanctuary 100

Farm Sanctuary Slaughter Slaughtered Speciesism 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

MAY 9, 2009

Yesterday I received an e-mail alert from the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) regarding " a coin operated game that uses live lobsters at the Royal Palm Ale House in Royal Palm Beach. Tags: Activism Current Affairs Ethics Gray Matters. What do you think of this campaign?

Advocacy 100

Advocacy Game Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Person

MAY 30, 2009

Bea directed me to an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Parker , the "chair man " (my emphasis) of the Animal Agriculture Alliance at CattleNetwork, which apparently is "The Source for Cattle News." If any "drastic measures" are employed, they are to remove animals from suffering, not to impose our dietary choices on others.

Veal Crate 100

Veal Crate HSUS Vegan Gestation Crates 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. Feathers: animal. Not the day, the film, where Bill Murray experiences the same day over and over again. And acting.

Chickens 100

Chickens Slaughter Slaughtered Animal Rights 100

Animal Person

JANUARY 27, 2010

I've been blogging here less partly because I've been blogging at Animal Rights & AntiOppression (check out my latest post " On Corporate Personhood and Animal Rights " and the better-than-the-post comments) but also because I've been feeling like a broken record and I don't want to bore anyone. Where do people get that idea?

China 100

China Cats Speciesism Dogs 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2009

Here's today's question: When a group of omnivores begins the inevitable round of jokes about veganism and even about slaughter ("I love turkeys--with sweet potatoes," or my cousin this week on Facebook, "I love the cow, therefore I eat her cheese," or something equally insensitive and ignorant), what do you do? Not humans, not animals."

Vegan 100

Vegan Turkey Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Person

JUNE 22, 2009

It's impersonal and hideously ugly and the animals suffer greatly. However, the solution they have created, which harkens back to before industrialized agriculture, is simply to still raise animals for their flesh and secretions, and for profit, but to do it the old-fashioned way. Tags: Ethics Food and Drink Language.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Person

JUNE 26, 2009

People in South Florida are still in an uproar over the mutilation and slaughter of 19 house cats (allegedly) by 18-year old Tyler Weinman, who was declared mentally competent and not a danger to himself or others (!). The four counts of burglary he is being charged with carry a heftier sentence than the animal killing.

Cats 100

Cats Dissection Cougars Pigs 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Then there are the myriad entry points to thinking about how we use animals and the impact that has on the animals, the planet, our bodies and our consciences. Who needs to eat animals when you can have delicious, low fat, high fiber, nutritious meals that are light on carbon footprint and don't involve killing anybody?

Vegan 100

Vegan Factory Farm Factory Farming Slaughter 100

Animal Person

MAY 24, 2009

But though the pigs weren't originally destined for a mass grave, weren't they destined for slaughter nonetheless? CIWF wants to "halt the brutal killing of these animals, and to ensure that they can be assured of a humane future." Tags: Activism Current Affairs Ethics Language. Yes, I sent the protest.

Egypt 100

Egypt Culling Pigs Compassion In World Farming 100

Animal Person

JUNE 6, 2009

You may know Jose Valle of the International Organization for the Abolition of Animal Slavery, AnimalEquality. Tags: Activism Current Affairs Ethics Abolition Animal Rights Pig slaughter Spain Veganism. He recently wrote me: We are an abolitionist group and our approach is "Educate, Investigate & Liberate".

Investigation 100

Investigation Vegan Pigs Free Range 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 19, 2009

For me, the focus on culture and tradition is basically an excuse for "anything goes" when it comes to animals. I wonder how much they learn about the animals other cultures eat. (In The site says food production factories are included , but I doubt that means those involving the slaughter of animals.). One is male.

Cooking 100

Cooking Chickens Factory Monkeys 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 23, 2009

His passion and compassion for humans is immense, but he appears to have some kind of mental block with nonhuman animals. He romanticizes his childhood usage of animals as if that was the right way to do it , and he longs for those days. Kristof writes of the "decent and varied lives" that small farms provide animals with.

Animal Sanctuary 100

Animal Sanctuary Factory Farm Factory Farming Sanctuary 100

Animal Person

MARCH 29, 2010

I finally read SPECIESISM , by Joan Dunayer, which was published a couple of years after ANIMAL EQUALITY , which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Whenever the media report that someone has killed "an endangered animal" or "an endangered species," they too confuse an individual with a species. To be consistent (and nonspeciesist).

Speciesism 100

Speciesism Endangered Species Vivisection Killing 100

Animal Person

APRIL 14, 2009

There is a profound difference between what Sea Shepherd does and what the Animal Liberation Front does, but there are also similarities, and those similarities increase in number if a direct action by the ALF (or anyone else) is an open rescue and therefore a direct defense of sentient nonhumans being attacked by humans.

Animal Liberation Front 100

Animal Liberation Front UCLA Animal Liberation Primates 100

Animal Person

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Basically the animal was five feet in front of him, and the boy shot him in the head, killing him. Going to an area where an animal has lived for decades, and hasn't bothered anyone, and killing him is okay. Killing animals might land you on national television, which is fun. Where's the hunting? Just like his daddy taught him.

Alligators 100

Alligators Pit Bulls Killing Slaughter 100

Animal Person

JUNE 10, 2009

It might be a gift because those pescetarian holdouts we all know who are convinced that for some strange reason eating animals from the sea is not as bad as eating those who live on land, might be convinced that their decision is a bit misguided. I guess war is defined by death count. Oh, and this is a war we've declared and we're winning.

Vegan 100

Vegan Fish Industry Slaughter 100

Animal Person

MARCH 30, 2009

Responsible Policies for Animals Members & Friends! Today, March 30th, at 3:00 East Coast time, Susan Soltero of Puerto Rico will interview me live on the air at WALO Radio about Responsible Policies for Animals' 10,000 Years Is Enough campaign to get our universities out of the meat industry! Let me know if you hear the show!

Puerto Rico 100

Puerto Rico Responsible Policies Meat Industry Humane Treatment 100

Animal Person

DECEMBER 5, 2009

People whose careers involve creating, fattening, transporting and slaughtering sentient nonhumans whose parts and secretions will then be used as food are having some financial difficulties. First let's deconstruct: The recession has caused a decrease in demand for animal products. Along with the rest of the country. Translation?

Afghanistan 100

Afghanistan DC 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

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 will be Baby Sky's first, and our opportunity to introduce her to the notion that our family doesn't eat animals (not to mention that other historical story we'll be correcting). They would say they love animals. Decide to choose justice over whatever reason you give for using other animals as food.

Greyhounds 100

Greyhounds Forced Molting Debeaking Vegan 100

Animal Person

MAY 11, 2009

Yesterday's " Do Small Victories Affect Big Picture in Animal Rights Debate? Both, of course, were seen as victories, but the article's author, Richard Foot, asks: Do such successes mean the animal rights movement is winning its long, controversial campaigns to gain the same legal protections for animals as those ascribed to humans?

Foie Gras 100

Foie Gras Seals Protest Protesting 100

Animal Person

JUNE 29, 2009

Other than being a vegan, the most important actions you can take to help animals who are used for food are: Give generously to organizations that help those sentient nonhumans directly, such as Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary , Maple Farm Sanctuary , Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary and Eastern Shore Sanctuary.

Vegan 100

Vegan Puppy Mills Sanctuary Farm Sanctuary 100

Animal Person

JANUARY 20, 2010

I've never discussed that Emily the kitty eats one meal of Ami vegan kibble on most days (and one of canned, animal-based food). He fares best (as evidenced by poop, energy, licking, scratching, and severity of limping) on food with no grains whatsoever and very high animal protein--almost carnivore level. She is doing fine with that.

Vegan 100

Vegan Vet Greyhounds Meat 100

Animal Person

MARCH 17, 2009

Responsible Policies for Animals Members & Friends! The meat industry is inherently destructive and inhumane, there is no way to make it otherwise, and much of the harm it does to ecosystems is by inflicting suffering and death on billions of nonhuman animals, farmed and free-living, each year. Another went out last Friday.

Meat Industry 100

Meat Industry Industry Meat Responsible Policies 100

Animal Person

OCTOBER 24, 2009

Slaughter in moderation. Tags: Ethics Language. really, Mary?) peeved upon hearing or reading these words. It smacks of laziness, not to mention exaggeration. . Rape in moderation. Genocide in moderation. Slavery in moderation. Terror in moderation. Injustice in moderation. Heroine in moderation. Child molestation in moderation.

Vegan 100

Vegan Laws Slaughter Slaughtered 100

Animal Person

JULY 6, 2009

You can't pull the god card to claim superiority over the rest of us so you demonize the consumption of animal products. You purposefully choose to ignore facts like that though when citing the "cruelty and injustice" involved in the rearing and slaughter of animals. Tags: Current Affairs Ethics Language.

Vegan 100

Vegan Lifestyle Fast Food Farming 100

Animal Ethics

APRIL 16, 2009

The Argument from Glass-Walled Slaughter Houses Mel Morse, former president of the Humane Society of the United States, once remarked: “If every one of our slaughter houses were constructed of glass this would be a nation of vegetarians.” The general premises about natural reactions do not yield ethical conclusions.

Morals 40

Morals Vegetarian Humane Society Of The United States Slaughter 40

Animal Person

JUNE 8, 2009

There's a vague sense that perhaps he cares about the dogs or thinks that what he does to them might present an ethical dilemma, but the overwhelming feeling is that it's all worth it. You can buy some extra time by presoaking the animal in a basin of ice water.)" How long should one animal be used in the lab before it is euthanized?"

Animal Welfare 100

Animal Welfare Monkeys Animal Welfare Act Vivisection 100

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

The Argument from Human Grain Shortage All of the clearly moral arguments for vegetarianism given so far have been in terms of animal rights and suffering. The eating of non-grain-eating animals, e.g., fish and wild game, is morally permissible on this view. Nobody wants existing animals to be slaughtered.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Morals Meat Cattle 40