I really love Gene Baur’s book Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food. It was so wonderful to read about these people who started by selling veggie dogs at Grateful Dead concerts to running the largest farm animal sanctuary. There are also some wonderful animal stories and I felt like I really got to know some of Farm Sanctuary’s animal residents.
The book urges readers to extend the reach of human compassion and consume a kinder plate, making a better life for animals and for themselves. “Farm Sanctuary” is certain to touch readers through its unique approach and inspiring personal stories of hope.
Check out this adorable video of Lottie the lamb. At first she takes her time checking out the plants, but the fun really starts when she gets to play with the football.
As one of my favorite animal rights t-shirts says, What Kind of Asshole Eats a Lamb?
Jean-Michel Costeau is a French environmentalist, explorer, film producer and son of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He has an impressive resume when it comes to helping the environment and marine mammals. In fact he helped return Keiko the whale back to the wild after 22 years of captivity. He has made some excellent arguments against keeping whales and dolphins in captivity in the following video. It is definitely worth a watch:
I just hope that with people like Jean-Michel Costeau on our side, we can get through to those who stand to make money from marine parks and make a difference to the lives of captive whales and dolphins.
I love to share animal videos with you and this one is a beauty. Little Billy (who as you can see is adorable) is a male calf born in the dairy industry. I am sure most of you know what that means – he was destined for either veal crates or immediate slaughter.
He was going to be killed with a blow to the head, but luckily for Billy someone intervened. His rescuer was not a vegan or even a vegetarian, yet he couldn’t bear to see this calf suffer. I wonder whether Billy’s rescuer is vegan now? Watch below to find out what happened:
This video is another example of the wonderful work that Farm Sanctuary in the US do. To visit themclick here.
As a child I had pet fish. These days I wouldn’t choose to keep fish as pets, as it just doesn’t seem right to keep them in a tank, but I was only young at the time and didn’t know better. I used to love watching the fish swim and play hide and seek in the weeds that we would put in the tank. The large tank was in my room and was a great distraction from homework and chores.
My four goldfish were named Fee, Fi, Fo and Fum and over the years I got to know their different personalities. Fum was the most boisterous, darting to and fro, hiding in the weeds and then jumping out at Fo (who was shy). Fum would like to nibble my fingers and Fum was the one who jumped out of the tank (he survived and we put a sturdy cover on top). These little fish lived to 13 years old!
This week in the Scientist, it was interesting to see that the science world is finally acknowledging that fish have distinct personalities.
Experiments have been conducted at the University of Illinois studying the behavior of 130 sticklebacks. Each fish is filmed investigating their tank (a new environment),
At the 3-minute mark, she [Katie McGhee] drops the fake pike into the water and slides it back and forth along the tank’s back wall. Upon seeing the intruder, the stickleback freezes in the bottom right corner of the tank. But after a few minutes the fish gets positively cheeky, swimming right up to the pike’s head, before seemingly losing interest and meandering off nearby.
The scientists observe each fish for 9 minutes before moving on to the next. During their experiments they have noticed many different fish personalities. Some are shy, some are bolshy, some are very curious. Although some scientists may not approve of the word personality used for fish, McGhee explains that personality is,
nothing more than consistent, individual differences in behavior. And in any species—even surprising ones such as squid, birds, and insects—one can find such variability in spades.
Of course it is a shame they keep these animals in captivity to study them, but if it helps people start to understand that fish are not vegetables then it is a start! Fish are sentient and they feel pain and now, it turns out (as most animal lovers already know) they have personalities. Maybe commercial fishermenand anglers will stop treating them like dirt?
If you want to know a little more about the science of the personalities of fish and other animals you can watch this video from The Scientist:
I think it is time we give fish and other sea animals the respect and compassion they deserve.
Number of animals killed in the world by the meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage. This counter does not include the billions of fish and sea animals killed annually.
