Mothers Day…VIVA Style

On Saturday veggie and vegan campaigning group VIVA asked local activists in the UK to hold awareness raising stalls to highlight ‘Britains hardest working mother’ the cow in readiness for mothering Sunday.Cows in the milk industry are artificially inseminated on a regular basis. This is because to keep milk flowing the cow must have a calf. The calves are snatched away from their mother at only a young age and she will cry out in an attempt to find them. The female calves’ face the same fate as their mothers. The males are either shot (sometimes in front of each other) or are taken on long journeys overseas often for veal production. The veal crate is now banned however a system called ‘group housing’ is now used.

When milk production levels go down cows in the dairy industry themselves are killed.

On the Roof of Parliament: Global Warming

In a attention grabbing peace of theatre and civil disobedience campaigners from the group ‘Plane Stupid’ have today gained access to the roof of parliament dropping a banner against a third run way an Heathrow.

According to the Cambridge Evening News John McDonnell a Labour MP described direct action as inevitable because of the government’s refusal to listen to the communities under threat and the threat to the planet.

With this news hot off the press it seemed worth reminding everyone about the links between climate change and animal agriculture.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations animal agriculture creates more Greenhouse gases than all the Greenhouse gases from all the cars and trucks in the world put together! It creates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide that has a massive 296 times the Global warming potential of CO2!

Beyond climate change, the livestock sector is one of the most dangerous when it comes to the world’s water supply creating water pollution and damaging coral reefs. The livestock industry is also responsible for destruction of the rainforest as well as Eco system problems.

We truly do have a chance to make an impact on our Carbon Footprint by cutting out animal products from our diets. According to a an article in the New Scientist the simple act of cutting animal products from ones diet is better than switching to a Eco-friendly car, based on a typical US diet.

Read more at:
New Scientist Magazine 

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

Sequani Protesters Face Repression under SOCPA

Protesters against animal testing lab Sequani who held signs and chanted outside the Ledbury based contract-testing establishment are now on trial for breaching a section of SOCPA that exclusively protects animal research organisations.

The campaigners have been targeted by police in raids to their homes and at one stage were even subject to the use of a Section 42 (banning home demos) on the grounds the lab is situated near ‘dwellings’! This extreme interpretation of the law was found subsequently to be illegal and activists had to be compensated.

Now the campaigners are on trial for expressing their feelings about the lab. Crackdowns on protest should be of concern to everyone who wants the right to express themselves on issues they feel strongly about. This Section of SOCPA may only apply to animal research now, but who will be next climate change campaigners, arms trade activists?

Targeting normal campaigners who hold banners may simply drive more activists underground acting as a recruiting Sargent for the ALF (Animal Liberation Front). People will begin to take actions that avoid contact with the police and are damaging to the businesses targeted. This week on the 24^th an action was reported anonymously via the Western Animal Rights Network against Biffa who they say is a supplier to Sequani. The action was simple they glued the locks.

Sea Shepherd – Protecting the Whales

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a group of activists that intervenes to prevent illegal whaling. While Greenpeace have long gone home from following the whalers the Sea Shepherd is still out there fighting the pirate Japanese whaling operation and enforcing international conservation law.

Sea Shepherd are to radical for Greenpeace who take pictures of whales dyeing whereas Sea Shepherd will take action to disable whaling ships. Greenpeace go as far as not providing Sea Shepherd with the whalers co-ordinates, Sea Shepherd on the other hand freely share co-ordinates with Greenpeace.

Sea Shepherd currently has the illegal whalers on the run so they can’t engage in whaling activities and has this season generated mainstream media coverage when two of their crew members boarded the Japanese whaling ship and were subsequently held prisoner before being released.

Meanwhile the unpaid Sea Shepherd UK co-ordinator is working non-stop promoting the launch of the new film Sharkwater that includes footage from a Sea Shepherd campaign against shark poachers. The film is only out at a small number of Cinemas but if you can get to one please do! Learn more about this must see at the Official Sharkwater Website

Today is PETA’s Spay Day!

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) the world’s biggest animal rights group have announced that it is spay day!Spay/neutering animal companions is important as it prevents the creation of even more animals that are dependent on human beings. We have many, many animals in shelters across the world and allowing more into the world leaves fewer homes open to them.The animals born of non-spay/neutered companions themselves may also become at risk because of circumstance changes (arrival of a baby, change of country, etc) of the otherwise suitable guardians that maybe found for them.If you haven’t already done so get your cat/dog spay or neutered to help save animals from suffering. Contact PETA or another animal rights/welfare group for help if you can’t otherwise afford this vital procedure.

Now watch this video (funny and educational):

Learn more about peta2’s ABC campaign at peta2.com.

Restaurant drops Foie Gras after ALF action

Midsummer House is a two Michelin star establishment in Cambridge that has been the target of peaceful protests for the sale of Foie Gras for sometime.Foie Gras production commonly involves force-feeding ducks or geese until their livers swell painfully becoming diseased. It is illegal in the UK to produce Foie Gras but its sale is still allowed. All the major supermarkets and many other businesses now do not sell the product.Local campaigners regularly turned up at the restaurant handing out leaflets and chanting. They called on the business to take Foie Gras off the menu, but to no avail. On one occasion staff pulled their trousers down at campaigners and on another a staff member broke a peaceful protester’s megaphone and aimed a kick at him on a lively demo. A staff member also called an elderly campaigner a ‘silly old bat’.Anyway, it was reported in the press that on the 19^th February the radical animal rights direct action movement, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) took action against the business. They sprayed slogans, glued locks, applied paint stripper to the window and doorframes as well as glass-etching fluid to the windows.

Midsummer House quickly announced it had dropped Foie Gras from its menu sparking articles in the national press.

The actions have been criticised and the label of ‘terrorism’ has even been applied to this property damage. Of course it is the animals that know what it is to be the victim of real violence. No one was harm by the ALF but the birds know the pain and suffering all to well. Do we really value property over the prevention of conspiracy to torture in this so-called nation of animal lovers?