ASEN CAMPAIGN UPDATE: ANIMAL RIGHTS
New Political Party Focusing on Animal Rights. A new political party devoted to animal rights, vegetarian diet, natural therapies and environmentalism has been established. If you would like to know more or receive a newsletter contact Brandon Raynor, Secretary, EarthSave (NSW).
Police Back Down on Charges against Animal Rights Activists!! Police have backed down in the case against two Australian animal rights activists charged with theft of a hen and burglary. Ryder Manson and Coral Hull, (Director) of Animal Watch Australia (AWA) pleaded not guilty at Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Monday 15th June, 1998 to theft of a hen and burglary after an AWA raid on Happy Hens Egg Farm in Meredith, Victoria involving 19 activists on August 26th 1997. On 9th July, 1998 police withdrew the mentioned charges but intended to charge the two activists with the summary offence of criminal trespass. Since it was the farmers who refused to let the activists leave the premises with hens in need or urgent medical treatment, as witnessed by the national television program Today Tonight, the offence of trespass (refusing to leave the property) cannot be substantiated. It is purely a face-saving act by the police Department. The new case of trespass will be battled out on 15th September, 1998.
Elephant Shits on ZooKeeper!!
PADERBORN, GERMANY – Overzealous zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt fed his constipated elephant Stefan 22 doses of animal laxative and more than bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally let fly — and suffocated the keeper under 200 pounds of poop! Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing elephant an olive-oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded on him like a dump truck full of mud. “The sheer force of the elephant’s unexpected defecation knocked Mr. Riesfeldt to the ground, where he struck his head on a rock and lay unconscious as the elephant continued to evacuate his bowels on top of him,” said flabbergasted Paderborn police detective Erik Dern.”With no one there to help him, he lay under all that dung for at least an hour before a watchman came along, and during that time he suffocated. It seems to be just one of those freak accidents that happen sometimes — a billion-to-one shot, at least. “The heartbreaking tale of constipation and tragedy began April 23 when the conscientious zookeeper noticed that his prize, 8,000-pound African elephant didn’t seem to be producing his usual poop aplenty. “Friedrich had actually been concerned for several days because he knew that severe constipation can kill an elephant,” assistant zookeeper Kurt Herrman recalled. “He told me he was going to stay late that Thursday night to treat Stefan with laxatives and possibly give him an enema. I offered to help, but he sent me on home, saying he had everything under control.” But two hours later, horrified night watchman Walter Pleuger found Friedrich lying lifeless under a mound of muck, his body visible only from the knees down. “I had never really thought about it before,” Det. Dern said. “But obviously, giving an elephant an enema can be a very dangerous activity and not something that should be attempted alone.
RSPCA in Bed with Animal Abusers
The RSPCA have approved a brand of “Barn Laid” eggs that are on sale in supermarkets. They are called Liberty Eggs. Even though the hens are not kept in crowded cages, they are still kept under inhumane conditions and face the same torture as Battery Hens. The hens are kept in a crowded shed, still debeaked, and are still killed prematurely, but as they are not in cages, the RSPCA approves of eggs sold from these farms. Happy Hens Egg World is the largest battery farm in Victoria, and has 200,000 hens. The RSPCA has continually refused to prosecute them for cruelty even though activists have gathered comprehensive evidence of cruelty in 18 separate raids on the farm. Liberty Eggs are marketed by PACE Eggs, one of the largest battery egg companies in Australia, and is run by Steve Colla, who was previously the manager of Happy Hens Egg World, and son of Happy Hens owner Guido Colla. The RSPCA gets a royalty from every dozen liberty eggs sold, which explains why they are reluctant to prosecute Happy Hens!!
Can you be ‘GREEN’ and eat meat?
This article is intended to provide u with information regarding how the simple choices that we make everyday can have severe environmental consequences for the entire planet. This article is not intended to personally attack anyone’s views/beliefs but merely to stimulate thought and help people achieve a different perspective on things. This article may also stimulate debate, to which I am more than happy to respond. You may find it hard to accept some of the ideas expressed in this article as they will probably disagree with things that you have been taught. But, ideas and long held beliefs are constantly being updated and even discredited day after day. Just consider an idea or scientific hypothesis, possibly believed true at the time of publication, that gets repeated and republished in numerous papers and books over time without it being re-evaluated. This hypothesis may eventually be accepted as truth. Refute of this hypothesis then may become very hard. People find it very hard to accept that their beliefs are incorrect especially when a change may have a impact upon their lifestyle or something they have grown accustomed to. This can be compounded especially when something they have been doing throughout there life turns out to be something that has the potential to be so environmentally destructive and inhumane as some of the things that will be introduced in this article. This is not to say that u or anyone else are at fault for this. A lot of information is often passed on incorrectly, either through misinterpretation or deceitfully for the benefit of those who will benefit. But nobody can claim ignorance all the time. Everyone has the ability to question their ideals. Change may be difficult, but is often necessary.
This piece will mainly focus on the effect ones food choice has on the well being of our planet and every living being, either directly or indirectly. In the future I would like to expand/discuss some of the other issues raised within this article so as to answer any questions or fill in any gaps that may arise. Some people may choose to pass this off as the rantings of a “loony hippie vego” or whatever they may wish to call me. But I wasn’t always a “vego”. I was, and I still am, able to accept the flaws in my life style and can change for the better. I still find things that I do that are not always beneficial to myself, others or the environment and I try to change these as well. Everyone has to constantly re-evaluate their beliefs in order to ensure that they are doing their bit.
The fact that”…greenies smoke in huge numbers” is quite disturbing. I am not denying that it is a persons choice to choose what they do with their life, but when it infringes on the well being of others, it becomes a bigger issue. Ian Cohen describes the fact that some greenies smoke as “galling”. It is not only costing millions of dollars annually to treat smokers illnesses, but the production of tobacco and cigarette smoking have disastrous impacts on the environment. “Tobacco production represented 30% of global deforestation annually” and 3% of particulate matter in the smog that covers Sydney is caused but cigarette smoking. Another thing to contemplate is that tobacco now grows where magnificent forests once stood.
A persons choice of diet can have a distinct impact on the well being of our planet. You might have heard recently that the numbers of southern bluefin tuna is becoming increasingly low with some organisations calling for the species to be listed as endangered. This is not a one off case. The worlds marine environments are being exploited to the stage were they may not be able to recover. You might not be aware of the severe state of degradation that the worlds oceans are in, but is that merely because you cannot see the devastation that current practices are causing? What some people refer to as “over-consumption” of fish has lead to all 17 of the world’s major fishing areas having reached or exceeded their natural limits. Do you need to eat fish to live a healthy life?
The current “western” diet that is essentially based on the consumption of animal products does not only give rise to bad health but it is also cruel, unnecessary and environmentally destructive. By eating a varied plant-based diet, you can no only easily get all the nutrients you need to lead a healthy active life you can minimise the impact you have on the environment and help restore the planet to its former self. The fact that over one half of Earth’s land mass is grazed by livestock may seem scary, but it is the problems that this causes that we need to think about. The ratio of livestock to people on the planet is around 3:1 and the continued overgrazing of land is the most pervasive cause of desertification in the world. The level of desertification increases by 52 million acres annually and has already reached 29% of the planets land mass. The stripping of native vegetation also destabilises the natural soil structure. As a direct result 24 billion tonnes of topsoil is lost worldwide every year.
In Brazil, major portions of the Amazon have been destroyed so that multinational corporations can produce beef. for the wealthy. This act is widespread. Indigenous people are being forced of their land and left with nothing, no means of survival. Not to mention the destruction of the Amazon and other shrinking areas of RainForest/Forest. A total of 5 million acres of RainForest is felled every year in South and Central America alone for cattle pasture. Globally the estimated annual loss of RainForest is around 125,000 square miles. There is simply not enough land to sustain a meat based diet.
Of the total “resources” used in the world, the production of livestock accounts for: 33% of the worlds fish catch; 38% of the worlds grain harvest; 50% of all the water used in the US; 60%, 70% and 80% of the Brazilian grain harvest, the US grain harvest and the US corn harvest respectively. It take between 12 and 16 kg of grain and sot to produce only 1 kg of grain fed beef. Cattle are also fed vast amounts of what you and I would consider disgusting and not in any way beneficial. IN the US approximately 18 million kilos of poultry manure is fed to California’s beef cattle. Not only that but 14% of all cattle are also fed back to other cattle as part of this unnatural, engineered diet they are forced to survive upon. The has been a rapid rise in the use of antibiotics in farming. In the US the use of antibiotics in farming has risen to 50% of the total usage, with 80% used to promote growth not to treat disease. This has also lead to the increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria and viruses in the world.
The animals that are reared on these new pastures are forced to live in climates to which they are not suited. Not to mention the native species that they are misplacing. Between 19 and 22% of all the threatened and endangered species are harmed by livestock activity. This destruction continually amounts to at least a further 100 animal species becoming another name on the endangered species list. Another thing to consider is the vast amount of pollution that results from this unnecessary and inhumane practice. The use of pesticides has increased by 3,500% since petrochemical based agriculture became popular in 1945. Of the total amount of pesticides used 61% can be attributed to corn and soybeans primarily used for livestock feed. Since 1945 the amount of pesticides applied to an acre of corn has increased by 100,000%. You might not have come across the term bio-accumulation before. It refers to the uptake and storage of heavy metals, pesticides and other residues along the “food chain” (meat, dairy and poultry products are the major source of pesticide residues in the western diet and 95% of human exposure to the potent carcinogen dioxin comes from consuming meat , poultry and dairy).
The carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the production of an average steak is equivalent to the amount released by a journey of 45 km in an average family car. There is also the production of methane. The world’s cattle population emits around 100 million tonne every year. In regards to waste, a 10,000 head feedlot will produce enough waste equivalent to a city of around 100,000 people. In the US alone the amount of cattle excrement produced per second is over 100,000 kilograms. A total of over 2 billion tonnes of manure is produced by farm animals annually. This is about 10 times that produced by the human population. This is also compounded as a severe environmental problem resulting from the fact that this waste is laced with toxic substances. If these wastes find their way in natural waterways, the aquatic systems are literally destroyed. The ecosystem’s become incapable of supporting most marine and other animal life. Blue green algae is largely caused by the release of these toxic waste products from factory farms into the planets river systems.
Gross mutations in native animals throughout the industrialised world are also linked to these wastes. These deformities impact severely on animals basic functions and their ability to survive. Missing eyes, dwarfed sex organs and even extra legs have ben documented in animals as a result of contamination of river systems within the animals domain. Not only this but one third of the fish caught is fed to livestock. You may ask if this is a natural process, not to mention the fact that it is also a very inefficient way of producing food. This article may have come across as very negative to some, but there is also a positive side. More farmers are rediscovering the methods that were used by their ancestors and are utilising these as well as combining them with sustainable practices that are constantly being developed. These techniques are achieving the same or greater yields without the use of harmful, soil-depleting and expensive petrochemical based fertilisers and pesticides. A diet based on the flesh of animals and other animal products is unnecessary and detrimental to your health. The Earth as well as the animals will thank you.
Colin Salter: ASEN Animal Rights Coordinator Wollongong University