Animal Cruelty: Who is to Blame?

 

For many of us who are aware of the multitude of ways that animals suffer at the hands of humans around the world, this ubiquitous cruelty is the most pressing social justice issue of them all. From declawing to debeaking, ear clipping to tail docking, the suffering that human beings inflict on animals being used for food, clothing, research, ‘pets’ and entertainment appears to know no bounds, and the many brutal ways in which we force animals to succumb to our desires appear to be limited only by the scope of our imaginations.

But why does all this cruelty take place? And what can we do about this horrifying brutality as individuals? It’s easy to point the finger at the direct perpetrators of animal cruelty as being villains who need to be brought to justice. It’s much harder – and yet much more significant – to turn that critical eye inward and ask oneself, ‘What am I doing to contribute to this?’ But it is only by asking that question that the path toward emancipation from barbaric injustice becomes clear.

Barbaric Chinese cat market closed

The barbaric cat market exposed by The Mail on Sunday has been shut down by police in China after pressure from thousands of horrified readers.
The report - followed up by newspapers and magazines throughout the world - detailed the appalling conditions the animals are forced to endure before being killed and eaten in restaurants.
Animal welfare organisations said the closure of the Xin Yuan market in the city of Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong, represented a 'significant victory' for The Mail on Sunday and its readers because it is not illegal to sell cats for food in China.

DOG EATING FESTIVAL BANNED AFTER ANIMAL RIGHTS FURY

ABOVE: The images were condemned by millions of animal lovers around the world / Europics

ABOVE: The tradition is more than 600-years-old

ABOVE: 15,000 dogs were due to be butchered and eaten

ABOVE: The habit of dog eating is traced to a Ming Dynasty legend

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES MAY CAUSE DISTRESS TO SOME READERS.

CHINA has banned a sickening 600-year-old dog meat festival were helpless hounds were boiled alive after furious protests by hundreds of thousands of animal rights activists.

These gruesome scenes of appalling cruelty at the festival - which has been around since the Ming Dynasty - were condemned by millions of animal lovers around the world.

Officials in Hutou, Zhejiang province, eastern China, have called off the mass slaughter next month where up to 15,000 dogs were due to be butchered and eaten over three days.

Shocked visitors to previous festivals reported live dogs to densely crowded into wire cages that they gouged each others' eyes out just trying to stand up.

Shocking animal cruelty Indonesia

Some facts regarding meat consumption & global effect

For those who believe vegans, vegetarians and activists only care about animals, here are a few statistics to alter your perception of us.

The Life of One Battery Hen

By Karen Davis, PhD Photo by: Mercy for Animals, Weaver Brothers Egg Farm in Versailles, Ohio Prologue Sound of a Battery Hen You can tell me: if you come by the North door, I am in the twelfth cage On the left-hand side of the third row From the floor; and in that cage I am usually the middle one of eight or six or three. But even without directions, you’d Discover me. We have the same pale Comb, clipped yellow beak and white or auburn Feathers, but as the door opens and you Hear above the electric fan a kind of One-word wail, I am the one Who sounds loudest in my head.

Running for her life: one cow's fight for freedom

In late May, Yvonne, a six-year-old slaughter-bound cow, escaped from a German farm and ran for her life.

In her quest for freedom, she spent nearly 100 days hiding in the forests of Bavaria. Garnering international attention, she eluded capture by police, farmers, countless good samaritans and animal advocates, and hunters (until authorities called off the "hunt"). Some joined the search in hopes of taking home a $14,500 reward offered by Bild, a German tabloid. A radio station rented a helicopter equipped with thermal imaging cameras, animal advocates tried to lure her with a bull ox, her sister, and her son while animal psychics attempted to talk with her -- all to no avail. 

Is Your Diet Destroying The Environment?

5 Reasons Why the Food on Your Plate is More Important Than the Car You Drive:

Many people who “go green” consider buying something major like a hybrid car.  A larger contribution to the environment is not in your driveway though, but in your fridge right now.

The climate change cost of animal meat production is greater than the cost of cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

This is not just vegetarians or health advocates saying this either. The World Health Organization, Scientific American, New Scientist and Readers Digest have all come out with clear information on this fact.

The Mother Cage

UK - WE NEED TO WAKE UP to the suffering of these animals.

This is worse than PRISON !

A Viva! undercover investigation, filmed throughout the UK.

U.S Meat consumption fall

Due to an oversupply brought on by low demand, chicken (or broiler) meat slaughter is expected to slow dramatically in the second half of 2011. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s latest report, third quarter production is estimated to be 1.3% lower than the third quarter of 2010.

Lower production is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of 2011, with production expected to decrease 2% from the same period in 2010.

Fish Can't Feel Pain? Don't Be So Sure

“But why not at least eat fish? They can’t feel pain anyway”.
Growing up vegetarian, this was an argument I encountered on a regular basis. I always balked at it, for a couple of different reasons. First, was the implication that the inability to feel pain somehow caused a life to be of lesser value. The other was, perhaps, a bit more complicated. How, I would ask, can we be sure that fish really don’t feel pain?

Who do you eat?

 

 

I am scared and don't want to die.

Fish: The forgotten victims on our plate

"Fish are not only capable of feeling pain, but also are a lot smarter than most people believe..."

When I was a child, my father used to take me for walks, often along a river or by the sea. We would pass people fishing, perhaps reeling in their lines with struggling fish hooked at the end of them. Once I saw a man take a small fish out of a bucket and impale it, still wriggling, on an empty hook to use as bait.

'A Calf and a Half' -- Cadbury Milk Investigation -- Reality Behind the Ads

Our undercover investigators have been inside numerous dairy farms that supply Cadbury with milk we expose the bloody secrets of one of the nation’s favourite confectionary brands.

 

Meet Your Milk

Undercover Investigation at Hy-line Hatchery