Mar 9, 2013

Human News

ari Food and Nutrition, Science, Supporting Free-living Animals animal breeding, animal entertainment, animals, big cats, captivity, carnists, climate change, cows, evolution, future, horse meat scandal, horses, humankind, humans, humans are weird, lions, meat, omnivores, speciesism, survival 0 Comments

A volunteer intern was killed by a lion, who was then killed, for being a lion. This happened at Cat Haven, a facility which “breeds and keeps lions, tigers, jaguars, lynx and other exotic cats and takes them out for public appearances.” I feel so bad for Dianna Hanson and her family, and the big cats and human staff at Cat Haven. Maybe one day humans will focus our efforts on preserving natural habitats, rather than keeping big cats in captivity.
Humans continue to consider cow flesh mixed with horse flesh to be “tainted” and are deciding if they should give it to the poor rather than throwing it out. The linked article includes a graph showing what animals people prefer to eat, by species. My conclusion: Please stop all of this and go vegan.
Surviving isn’t always thriving.
Humans may be creating a new geologic age which may or may not be comprised of our fossilized cities. The future will tell, I guess. Now would be a good time to give up beef and air travel, if you care about future generations and such. Via Natured on Twitter.

Mar 5, 2013

Scientists react adorably to the world’s first video footage of a living giant squid

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Go to minute 5, and watch for a whole minute. Thanks to io9 for pointing out the adorably gleeful scientist responses to this momentous occasion: Humanity’s first video footage of a living giant squid.

Mar 2, 2013

One million images of the inhabitants of a threatened ecosystem

ari Community, Education, Science, Supporting Free-living Animals animals, animated GIF, camera trap, climate change, Community, compassion, deforestation, documentation, earth, ecosystems, endangered animals, environment, forests, free-living animals, gorillas, habitat, health, liberation, nature, observation, photography, safety, tropical forest, tropics, wildlife 0 Comments

Huffington Post reports that the wildlife camera trap network from TEAM has captured its one millionth animal photo. TEAM, or Tropical Ecology Assessment & Monitoring Network works to provide comprehensive, real-time data about our world’s remaining forests.

Click here to see more images from daily life in the forest.

If you too care about our world’s forests and their residents, please, help stop deforestation. Go vegan, reduce/reuse/recycle/repair, and try to reduce your negative impact on the environment. You might not save the forest all by yourself, but you’ll know you tried to help. As Albert Einstein said,

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”

Click here for action suggestions from Greenpeace.

Mar 2, 2013

Richard Turere saves lions and cows

ari Activism, Community, Farmed Animals, Science, Supporting Free-living Animals africa, animal husbandry, compassion, cows, dairy, endangered animals, farming, hunting, indigenous peoples, inventors, kenya, kids, lions, maasai people, non-vegan, predators, self-sufficiency, speciesism, sustainability, TED talks, tradition, videos 0 Comments

Richard Turere, a 13-year-old Maasai from Kenya, invented a solar-powered solution to lions killing cows, and humans killing lions: A device that mimics the look of a person walking with a flashlight, to scare lions away from cow sheds, preventing humans from lethal retaliation against the endangered predators.

Vegans may be interested in educating themselves about the Maasai, who present some very interesting questions regarding animal exploitation. They are able to live in desert and scrublands that are otherwise uninhabitable, and are extremely self-sufficient. And yet their way of life could not continue without the exploitation of cows. A debate between a fundamentalist abolitionist vegan and a Maasai person would be very interesting!

Via NPR; photo by James Duncan Davidson

Mar 2, 2013

Where do vitamin supplements come from?

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Melanie Warner: Where Do Vitamins Added To Processed Foods Come From? (Democracy Now)

Sounds like it might be safest to just eat more vegetables!

Feb 23, 2013

“Would you be willing to use a living animal as a respirator or dialysis machine?”

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io9 asks, Would you be willing to use a living animal as a respirator or dialysis machine? Read the comments. People hold some interesting opinions. Such as, “pigs aren’t sentient.” Oooooohkaaaaay. If you disagree, make your voice heard.

Feb 23, 2013

Yu Chan swims again: A sea turtle with prosthetic flippers

ari Rescue & Sanctuary, Science, Supporting Free-living Animals animals, aquariums, captivity, ethics, health, morality, prosthetics, sea animals, sea turtles, sealife, technology 1 Comment

The researchers who made these prosthetic fins for Yu Chan are working on another, even more comfortable version (this is her 27th pair). I feel bad for her that she’s apparently lost her freedom, but it looks like the folks that are working for her are trying to get her to a place where she would be more able to survive on her own outside of captivity – so maybe that’s still in the cards. Anyway, this is an amazing video. Beautiful swimming, Yu!

As an aside, live animal exhibits at aquariums and zoos are usually profit-driven. If you want to go to places like the one shown in this video, please make sure they’re rescue- or sanctuary-based. For instance, at the “aqualife park” where Yu is living, there are dolphin and otter shows. Why are they not allowed to just do whatever they want, instead of performing for crowds of humans? Why are they not free, swimming in the ocean, instead of living in captivity, in tanks? What happens when they get old and are no longer attractive “exhibits”? Is their captivity for their benefit or for human benefit? If it’s primarily for our benefit, how can we morally justify continuing this practice?

Via Jezebel

Photograph from Suma Aqualife Park via Reuters

Feb 23, 2013

Get ready to be mesmerized

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Animated GIFs of animals and nature. Watch carefully:

More at Marinus’ “Head Like an Orange” Tumblr

Feb 19, 2013

Should we ban tests on animals?

ari Alerts, Events, Science, Theory and Philosophy animal experimentation, animal experiments, animal testing, animals, animals used in research, binghamton, debate, debates, lab rats, PETA, sponsorships 0 Comments

“Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: ‘Because the animals are like us.’ Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: ‘Because the animals are not like us.’ Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction.”
– Charles R. Magel

Binghamton Speech and Debate Team is hosting an online debate on April 14, 2013, regarding the idea of the U.S. Government banning all testing that requires the use of animals. The team is now sponsored by PETA and is looking for more sponsors. I’m so happy to see PETA putting their considerable skills and resources into supporting things like this. Click here to get info on the debate.

Why not test on animals? More