World Vegan Day

Thursday, 1 November 2007 =



Admittedly, vegans like to celebrate from Saturday, 27th October through Sunday, 4th November. A whole week of vegan festivities!

For more information:
www.worldveganday.org
www.myspace.com/vegansupport
www.vegansociety.com
wikipedia entry

Year of the Dog

So, I finally rented "Year of the Dog".




I've been wanting to see it since it came out last April. It struck a nerve with me as the main character, Peggy, lived with her beloved dog. One night, the dog, Pencil, gets out of the yard and is poisoned. He dies the next morning. Through her grief, Peggy begins to volunteer at the local animal shelter and finds veganism by the example of a fellow volunteer. Her veganism leads her to the plight of exploited animals and she becomes über-hardcore about her beliefs. To the point of alienating those around her, imo.

I've heard mixed reviews about this movie, especially from fellow AR vegans, in that the film portrays vegans in a negative light and highlighted the stereotypes rather than the wonderful mix of people we are. So, I tried to be objective about the film and really wanted to like it. I mean, Peggy loves her dog, lost him to an untimely death, became vegan, and interested in animal rights. Something I've had experience with.

Well.....within the first ten minutes of the movie, I hated the film. It was so off the mark as to be laughable. Not to mention the alliance with PeTA. Ugh. Though I wanted to turn off the dvd, I felt compelled to watch the movie all the way through, hoping she'd redeem herself by the end. Nope. And not a single likable character. After finishing the film I had a massive headache and the urge to punch walls. Anything to purge it from my brain. Mark, Linda, and I are all in agreement it was wretched movie. I will never watch this movie again. Not to mention anything directed by Mike White. Gah. I was going to find a clip on youtube, to feature in my blog, but I don't even want to taint my page (any more than I have) with the film. Just horrible and terribly disappointing.

The official website is: www.yearofthedogmovie.com.

GAH! Worst movie ever.

On the flip side, we watched "Stranger Than Fiction before Year of the Dog", and it was superb. Glad we bought that dvd and not the latter.

felix




May you rest in peace.

The article is here.

and the case goes on.........

The Animals Film

The notice was posted, in the Vegan Freak forums, that The Animals Film was being re-released. I have never seen the film but think it is a highly interesting documentary.. Especially as this film was made 25 years ago and is considered the precursor to Earthlings.



Article in The Guardian.

Official website: www.theanimalsfilm.com.

My blurb in today's newspaper


A couple of weeks ago, the food columnist in our local paper had written a column about vegetarians. At the end of the article, she asked for emails from readers and I sent one in that day. Prior to this column, there had been some small mention of vegetarianism but usually in the light of "happy meat", "free-range", "no hormones/antibiotics" crap. I was disappointed and didn't want to go Vegan Freak all over her so I bided my time.

It is definitely worth it to praise the articles that do get printed, thus encouraging more coverage. I sent Joan quite a few links and named several of my favorite cookbooks. She was quite receptive and asked me if I'd consent to an interview. Which we did, via cell, last Friday. And, below, is the result of said correspondence. Yay for more veg*n coverage in Fresno :)

I've pasted the entire article, with my quotes italicized, for convenience:

Favorite places to go meatless
By Joan Obra / The Fresno Bee
07/11/07 04:38:59

My goodness, you veg*ns are a passionate and articulate bunch.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked veg*n (vegetarian and vegan) readers to tell me what -- and where -- they like to eat in Fresno. Well, you overdelivered.

Not only did you tell me your fave dishes, you lamented some wonderful ones that were taken off menus. You also noted Web sites and cookbooks. And generally confirmed that veg*nism is thriving in Fresno.

First, a quick primer for those who don't know the difference between vegetarian and vegan. Here's the textbook definition: Vegetarians don't eat meat, but they do eat animal products. (That means they'll shun salmon but embrace eggs.) Vegans won't eat either.

Vegans and vegetarians abound in Fresno and Clovis.

"There is a surprisingly large group of veg*ns out there, but I think we're all thinking, 'Where are they?' " Melissa Sesma-Smith writes in an e-mail.

She's found others through the Valley Vegan & Vegetarian Friends, a Meetup.com group that gathers for monthly meals. The group has about 30 members; 10 or 11 are regulars, she says.

Find out more at meetup.com. In the "Enter an Interest" box, type in "vegetarian" or "vegan." Then add a Fresno-area ZIP code. Click on "Go," and you should see the group.

Sesma-Smith raves about the group's dinner at Joy Luck Chinese Cuisine in the Villaggio shopping center at Blackstone and Nees avenues.

"I ... recall the sesame tofu as a standout dish," she writes. "Plus, the giant lazy Susan on the table made it ideal for sharing food."

You'll find more recommendations at fresnovegan.com. The Web site touts vegan cupcakes at Charlotte's Bakery in the Tower District, customized veggie meals at Senses World Cuisine (also in the Tower District) and tofu-veggie kebabs at Fugazzi's California Bistro in Clovis.

Charlotte's is popular among many veg*ns for various reasons. The bakery carries vegan cupcakes daily, says Josh Rocha, whose parents own the bakery. The selection -- made with margarine and soy milk -- varies; flavors include Mexican hot chocolate, lemon macadamia nut and triple chocolate.

Other vegan offerings are pastry horns filled with custard, pasta salads and sandwiches. The bakery also makes vegan cakes by special order.

Other readers praised vegetarian dishes at The Thai House (Shaw Avenue and First Street), vegan baked goods at Whole Foods Market (Fig Garden Village) and frozen vegetarian dishes at Trader Joe's (Blackstone and Barstow avenues in Fresno; Willow and Nees avenues in Clovis).

Now for the bad news. Some of you lament the loss of the pear-and-gorgonzola pizza at California Pizza Kitchen.

"The waiter told me the decision to take the pear-and-gorgonzola pizza off the menu was a corporate decision," Bee reporter Tracy Correa writes in an e-mail. "That's lame!"

She also misses the vegetable calzonetto at Romano's Macaroni Grill in River Park. Correa remembers it as a wood-fired bread stuffed with grilled vegetables, served with a balsamic vinaigrette and marinara dip.

"Its awesomeness was short-lived," she writes.

With limited veg*n items on Valley menus, losses like these hurt. Our area won't become a veggie haven anytime soon, so it pays to do your own cooking.

Sesma-Smith recommends cookbook authors Sarah Kramer, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Dreena Burton. They have too many vegan cookbooks to list here, so you'll have to do an Internet search.

Remember to e-mail me once you're done cooking. Now that I know so many veg*ns are readers, I'll be happy to pass on good recipes.

The columnist can be reached at jobra@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6365.


You can read the online version here.

It's a positive step though I did have an issue with the description of "vegan". I wrote her an otherwise praiseworthy email but pointed out that most vegans are vegan for ethical reasons not health. Veganism is a lifestyle not a diet choice. But, I also realized this was printed in the food section and I wrote that, too. Just clarifying ;)

Think happy cows come from California?
New video from Farm Sanctuary: Behind the Mustache
Farm Sanctuary's investigation of Californian dairy farms.



This summer, when you're eating your ice cream or drinking milk, remembers who truly suffers to provide their bodily fluid for your treats. The suffering of a mother, whose nourishment for her offspring is diverted for human consumption. And, as further insult, the offspring she has carried in her body, is then ripped from her hours to a few days after their birth. Then, the young calf is doomed to veal, clothing, and/or low-grade meat.

The callousness with which the workers in this video treat the cows and their calves is nothing short of reprehensible. All life is precious and to throw it away so easily is disappointing, indeed.

It never ceases to amaze me to see the suffering of non-human animals just so we (as a species) can consume them and their by-products. Milk is especially foul. And the lacto vegetarians who think they're being kind to animals becuase they only consume milk are sorely delusional. Milk isn't cruelty-free. It is, in fact, hand-in-hand with veal and hamburgers. So, the only way to end the cruelty is to simply Go Vegan!

There are countless of non-dairy alternatives, even frozen. To continue the consumption of a cow's milk, in this day of choices, is inexcusable. Cow's milk is for their babies-not humans!

Dark Water Rising

With the latest scandal coming out of St Bernard's Parish, I found this video on youtube.com. It's a trailer for the documentary Dark Water Rising. I should order this dvd soon.



The related story, from abcnews.com, concerns the executions of many companion animals at the hands of the police officers in St Bernard Parish. Many of whom forced the guardians of these animals to abandon them, sometimes at gunpoint.

It's a bleak picture, to say the least.

Two disheartening accounts from ida-india

Story 1:
Police file criminal case against Municipal workers for killing dogs
By K. S. Satagopan

When some employees of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) allegedly strewed poisoned food on the roadside in the Viman Nagar area with an intention to kill dogs, clearly violating relevant laws once again in January last, they may have not thought they would be arrested and were landing themselves in courts, this time. A resident of the area Diana Ratnagar who had the shock and agony of seeing her 5 dogs dropping dead one after another in quick succession as result of swallowing those bites, could suspect criminal mischief (allegedly repeated as a matter of course) and on examination, a registered veterinarian certified that the death had been “caused by poisoning.” Determined this time to get justice done for those innocent victims, she lodged a complaint with the Pune police and her unflinching determination took her nearly 6 months to get the police to act and eventually two workers of the PMC were arrested (and later released on bail) in July last on charges under Sections 34, 284 and 428 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sec. (Z4)X(1) of The Bombay Police Act (BPA).

While Sec. (Z4)X(1) of BPA states that “No stray dogs shall be killed as a rule…” IPC Sec. 428 covers mischief committed by killing, maiming etc. of animals, and Sec. 284 is concerned with negligent conduct with respect of poisonous substances. Perhaps Sec. 34 should be of special concern to the higher-ups in a local body. It provides for implicating also those who support, encourage and protect the person(s) actually committing a criminal act. That explains why the police have implicated the PMC itself in the criminal case.

It is also learnt that in March last, another Pune resident Meenal Jogdev who was on a walk with her two Labrador dogs on a leash has had the same shock of seeing her companions dropping dead after swallowing ‘something’ on the roadside. Identical has been the fate of Khurshid Chaudhuri’s 7 dogs, which fell dead on 22nd August last year. So is the story of several other dogs including those of Asha Doshi, Rakesh Jagtap, Deepti Dalvi, Pradeep Joshi and others of Pune.

Speaking to this scribe, Ratnagar, who seems equally concerned with the safety of humans, asks, what if a poor child swallows a piece of the strewed lot or what about those untargeted animals like cows and calves, and birds which might fall victims, and wonders whether the law of the land provides for killing healthy dogs. Describing the modus operandi, she says, “Some dogs do react in a threatening manner when teased or provoked. But, on this, when someone lodges a complaint with the PMC, the latter knowing very well that it is illegal to kill dogs, makes a pact with the former to strew poisoned food on the roadside and the result is that every time this is done, some 25 unsuspecting dogs fall dead. What’s more, the carcasses are almost immediately collected by the garbage collection squad, leaving no trace of evidence, with the PMC pleading complete innocence.”

As for other areas in the country, this scribe learns from the former film actress Amala Akkineni who runs the Blue Cross society at Hyderabad that the local municipality has stopped poisoning dogs, though other sources maintain that the local body still does it but denies doing so. But Amala adds that it happened 6 months ago in Vijayawada and Malkajgiri (also of Andhra Pradhesh). As for Karnataka, sources from Bangalore in anonymity contend that dogs have been poisoned in Kolar. According to sources including this scribe himself, stray dogs have been beaten to death or killed by injecting poison in Tamilnadu.

It seems likely that the practice is also in vogue in some other states like Kerala. But undoubtedly the latest instance from Pune has squarely caught the attention of law and that could perhaps be an eye-opener for administrators and authorities at various levels in the country.

Perhaps the local bodies in the country must take note; perhaps the state governments should instruct them to mind propriety, stipulated rules and procedures that have a bearing on such issues. As for an instance, Khurshid Chaudhuri points out that the Mumbai High Court in its “Comprehensive Guidelines for Dog Control and Management” has laid down that even stray dogs shall not be killed as a rule, making an exception only in the case of fatally injured, incurably ill, and rabid dogs (Sec. (Z4)X(1) of The BPA). Even the exception is made “with the sole object of relieving [the dog] of the pain of such sickness, injuries or rabies…” The honourable court has also laid down “Rules for capturing, sterilization [birth control], immunization [against rabies] and release of dogs.” (Note release, the court has insisted on the release of the dogs in the same area from where they were captured). After all, our constitution itself, by its Article 51A(g), enjoins upon us as a fundamental duty “…to have compassion for all living creatures,” she adds.

source

Story 2 (rather gruesome):

IDA-India Seeks Justice for 17 Dogs Burned to Death
Complaint triggers official inquiry by Animal Welfare Board of India

In response to a complaint filed by IDA-India, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has launched an inquiry into the mass-burning of 17 homeless dogs at Shwan Nasbandi Kendra, a municipal sterilization center. The dogs were killed in this brutal manner by shelter personnel "in the interest of public health." Officials who ordered the flaming execution claimed the animals were "rabid, diseased and violent," and could create "unhygienic conditions" that might compromise the health of other canine residents.

While the center did have legal permission to dispatch of the dogs, IDA-India and AWBI both maintain that burning the dogs to death, even for suspected rabies, was illegal as well as unconscionable. IDA-India informed AWBI of the violation after getting a tip from a local resident and animal lover on April 4. IDA-India president Fizzah Shah and two colleagues soon made a personal visit to the center to determine whether the report was true.

To their great horror, it was. Among piles of singed hair and blackened collars, they found the charred bodies of 17 dogs dumped on the ground in back of the locked sterilization facility. According to Shah's testimony, "It was clear that dog burning was a regular practice over there." The kennels and operating room were also disgustingly filthy and lacked proper drainage systems.

The center's mission is to collect stray dogs from the streets, sterilize them, and release them after monitoring their health for five days. However, IDA-India found out from local residents that the killing has been going on for at least two years, and that the dogs barely get any food and water. Even after this scandal, police have so far refused to investigate, claiming that no offense has been proven and indifferently rejecting any evidence to the contrary.

In the face of police inaction, IDA-India used the local cable TV station to break the story. News cameras captured the sight, if not the horrible smell, of burned and rotting dog carcasses scattered like trash behind the center. They also filmed the 12 remaining dogs, who police had locked inside without food or water. The footage was broadcast throughout the Bhiwandi area. The AWBI inquiry is still pending.

source

I'm bewildered by the actions of the officials. That they have strayed so far from their original mission is apparent. And this was their solution to the overpopulation? This "Let's just kill everything" mentality is tiring. And to condemn the dogs to a fiery death? It is inhumane and vile. No living being deserves that fate.

I stand by what I've said before: if we can't end our exploitation and violence towards non-human animals, we have no hope of ending it amongst our own species.

It's so disheartening to hear, watch, or read of the endless acts of violence. You'd think that we could get our act together, as we all share space on this precious planet, but I don't think that will ever happen. What a silly, stupid, selfish species we are. I'm rambling here but there are just moments when the whole deal becomes overwhelming.

MFA releases new undercover footage

I received this video as a bulletin from myspace. To say I was upset is an understatement. I am appalled and outraged.

I don't understand why these animals, already doomed to slaughter for "food", have to undergo such horrible abuse before they are murdered.

And, sure, these people may need the job at the slaughterhouse but do they really need to torture an already doomed animal?

It seems barbaric and evil to me. If there is a hell, I hope there's a special section for these assholes.



Though the video says "go vegetarian" at the end of the video, I say fuck that! GO VEGAN!!

buddhist prayer for animal liberation






if only.....

Music by Choyling Drolma and Steve Tibbetts. - Songs "Chenrezig" "Padmesambava"

Prayer for Liberation for Our Brother & Sister Animals.

May all sentient beings in the animal realm
subject to unbearable pain in labs throughout the world
be free from suffering.
May alternatives to animal experimentation and testing
be used immediately.
May Bodhicitta fill the hearts of those who imprison them.

May all sentient beings from the animal realm
who suffer endless days, months, years
locked in tiny cages unable to move, be filled with peace and calm.
May the many billions waiting in slaughterhouse lines be free of fear.
May the hearts of those who work in abattoirs
be filled with Bodhicitta so the very thought of harm is purified.
May they never kill again and may the slaughterhouse lines become immediately empty.

May no animal be afraid or depressed.
May their bodies be free of injuries, disease and illness.
May those who need homes, or who have been driven from them
find shelter, plentiful food & water.
May there be liberation for those
tortured for fur, entertainment or who are hunted.

May those who believe they are superior to our brother & sister animals
develop perfect equanimity.
And may they realise in their hearts
that all sentient beings possess Buddha nature
And they are not ours to kill or exploit.

May the many billions of land and sea dwelling sentient beings
who are abused, exploited and killed due to greed, hatred and ignorance
be free of suffering
May they experience complete and perfect enlightenment,
through the virtue of my efforts and prayers.
May I be a voice for the voiceless.
In short, may all human and non-human sentient beings
live together in harmony, peace and equanimity
and achieve perfect Enlightenment quickly.


Composed Feb 14, 2007 by Liberation for Our Brother & Sister Animals. http://www.lobsa.org

To help our brother & sister animals -: Go Vegan/Join your local animal rights group & become active/Don't buy animal products, find alternatives/Don't buy products tested on animals.

Sign US Animal Bill of Rights (international signatures welcome)
http://www.aldf.org/billofrights/index.php

Hidden from view



Because no one wants to see what happens to their "food" before it lands in the supermarket; packaged nicely and unrecognizable from the living animal it once was.

The myth: Old MacDonald's Farm



He may have had it decades ago but the big conglomerates have replaced the "idyllic" farm with massive factory farms.

chinchilla-o-rama


I had to go to PetCo yesterday because the dogs were running out of their dry food. Thankfully, the kibble we feed them is not on the huge list of recalled foods. Besides, all those foods that were recalled were derivative of animal by-products and my dogs are vegan. They had been vegetarian but I've been baking their treats for them, as opposed to purchasing over-priced "vegetarian" treats. Now, I can control what goes into those cookies and they're definitely vegan :)

Anyway, as part of their daily diet, we feed them Avo-Derm Vegetarian kibble and wet-food and you can only buy that at PetCo. While there, I decided to find some squeaky toys for Otto but found none that I thought he would enjoy.

I found myself drawn to the rodent area, after talking to the birds, and found two chinchillas!



I have never seen them up close and, to be honest, don't recall seeing them in photos either. I've only seen their pelts once they've been made into coats :(

They were adorable! If I didn't have four dogs, I'd definitely buy one for a pet. I couldn't tear myself away from their cage. I was marvelling at what sweet little creatures they were, with such long whiskers. It made me sad to realize that they are killed to make ugly coats. Apallingly, it takes 200 chinchillas to make one coat. Fucking Madonna and J-Lo.





I took a few pics with the camera on my cell phone but I haven't uploaded them yet. However, I did google chinchilla images and found out quite a bit about them. For instance, they can live up to 15 years and have an agreeable nature.



These two sites, one French and the other Croatian were very interesting, regarding chinchillas raised on fur farms in Croatia. Who knew?


a chinchilla killed (by electrocution) for her fur




I really hate fur coats (except on the animals they belong to) and the people who wear them.

Why can't this fashion choice be abolished forever? No one really needs to wear fur these days yet they continually choose to perpetuate this barbaric practice. And, right now, I'm thinking of the remaining baby harp seals who are being hunted down, at this very moment, in Canada's St Lawrence region. Apparently, there was an ecological disaster in that the ice floes melted quickly and thousands of newborn seals drowned in the icy waters. Yet, shockingly, the Canadian government still okayed the hunt! WTF? Every seal the hunters/murderers see, they are killing! It's absolutely mind-boggling. Who the fuck is requesting seal fur and why the fuck do they need to have it? IT.IS.NOT.A.NECESSITY!!

You can learn more about the Canadian seal hunt here and here



As a footnote, I've been on a Sex and the City binge lately and am surprsied at how much fur they wear on that show. It results in me not liking the show so much. Is fur that much of an East Coast phenomenon? As someone who lives on the West Coast, that's how it seems to me. And if that's the case, I'd never want to live there. I'd be too angry everytime I saw someone walk by in the carcass of a dead animal. It's bad enough here....


an image I always see when I think of people who wear fur

I remember when they briefly disabled this video from being downloaded as it was up for a Golden Globe award or similar. Anyway, now it's back for free viewing.

Please watch and learn.

Earthlings


Earthlings

Bangalore's War against Street Dogs

Joellen Secondo is a U.S-based animal activist focusing on animal issues in India. She has frequently tipped me off to quality stories, and this marks her first guest post for An Animal-Friendly Life.

Bangalore's War against Street Dogs
By Joellen Secondo

Following two fatal dog attacks on children in January and February, there has been an intense and violent backlash against the street dogs of Bangalore in India.

While the death of a child is tragic under any circumstances, given the number of dogs in Bangalore approximately 56,000 and the number of people over 6 million of these incidents are exceedingly rare.

This past week, city officials ordered dogs to be rounded up and brought to shelters. Many were kept in vans for 24 hours without food or water. Some 800 stray dogs have been dumped at local animal shelters. Over 200 dogs caught by the city were deemed diseased or vicious and were killed by injecting chemicals directly into their hearts or clubbing (as reported in a interview with a city employee published by Mid-Day newspaper, which also published a photo of piled-up dead dogs). Other dogs have been killed by angry mobs in their neighborhoods.

Due to a dearth of professional dog catchers, city garbage cleaners had been given the task of bringing in 1,000 dogs a day, but their lack of experience resulted in abusive handling of dogs as well as an inability to meet their quota.



Local newspapers report that the catching and culling will resume in ten days, after the city builds pounds where the dogs can be permanently housed (it is unclear how many or which dogs will be kept there).

The number of dogs killed is tiny compared to the numbers killed in China recently. But what is particularly upsetting is that, up until now, India's progress in stray dog and rabies control has been a model for other countries. The current culling mandate is a foolish step backward and may set a precedent for other municipalities.

Most dogs in India are free roaming. They are community dogs, who live outdoors and belong to neighborhoods or persons who live or work on the streets.

The management of street dog populations in India is critical, not because of the possibility of fatal attacks by street dogs, but because of rabies. India has more human fatalities from rabies than any country in the world, and virtually all are the result of dog bites.

As stated by the World Health Organization, an animal birth control/anti-rabies program (ABC/AR) is the most effective (and most humane) way to: keep dog populations down; prevent dogs from biting (since mating and protection of litters can lead to aggression); and, subsequently, prevent rabies in humans. For 100 years, street dogs were routinely killed in India. Following the passage in 1960 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, this has been outlawed; ABC/AR has now become national policy for street dog and rabies control. Now there are calls for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to be set aside so that all the dogs in Bangalore may be killed.

In many Indian cities, as in Bangalore, animal organizations catch street dogs, spay/neuter and vaccinate them against rabies (putting a notch in one ear to signify that the dog has been sterilized) and then release the dogs back to their original neighborhoods. Since dogs are territorial, they prevent new, unsterilized dogs from moving in.

As proof of the efforts of animal welfare organizations, most of the dogs caught in the recent round-up had been sterilized.

According to Savitha Nagabhushan of Compassion Unlimited Plus Action, one of Bangalore's most active animal welfare organizations,

Stray dogs are a consequence and not a cause of civic problems. The cause is really:
a) The exposed meat shops and their wastes.

b) General garbage piles uncleared.

c) Migrant construction workers who keep dogs and then abandon them when they move on.

d) Uncaring pet owners abandoning their dogs.

e) Unscrupulous breeders abandoning weak and unsold dogs.


It is quite clear that dogs are not the problem, but are victims of humans, of the general population and civic authorities. One incident, however tragic, cannot justify the slaughter of thousands of dogs.

Even though the directive is to capture feral/ferocious/diseased dogs, at the ground level, the catchers will catch only the docile, sterilized, harmless dogs to meet their quota. This will only increase the influx of untreated dogs. This kill the dogs mania is only making the problem worse.

Read her full statement here.

The suburban area in which the two children were killed was cited in 2002 by an animal welfare NGO as high-risk due to numerous illegal butcher shops, which dumped meat waste onto the streets. Dogs gravitated to this highly prized food source. When the butcher shops were closed or penalized for littering, bribes to officials had them quickly back in business.

The government provides some funds for ABC/AR programs to five NGO's responsible for five areas of Bangalore. The area of the dog attacks does not have an ABC/AR program.

The Hindu, one of India's leading newspapers, reported on March 9 that T.N. Chaturvedi, the Governor of Karnataka, castigated city officials in Bangalore and in nearby Mysore for ordering a dog culls, calling it a knee-jerk reaction and requesting a more scientific approach to the problem.

Having spent time in India with animal welfare organizations, I can attest to the dedication and hard work of their staff (who, in many cases, are not even paid). Now, however, all of their efforts and a great deal of the expense that has gone into the sterilization and vaccination of dogs is being undone by voices calling for the killing of street dogs.

Please write to ask authorities to conduct proper waste management and expand the ABC/AR programs. Emails can be sent to the Chief Minister of Karnataka (Karnataka is the state where the city Bangalore is located) and the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, K. Jairaj (this is the city commissioner)

Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka at cm@kar.nic.in

BMP Commissioner: K Jairaj at commissioner@bmponline.org

Letters to the editor can be sent to:

The Hindu at letters@thehindu.co.in

Deccan Herald at editor@deccanmail.com



Photo courtesy of Savitha Nagabhushan, CUPA

I noticed that Satya has a new issue out (I'm still not a subscriber, d'oh). So, I read through the free articles and decided to check out the back issues. They have back issues all the way to their premier issue, in 1994! I've been perusing the available articles and am stunned at what I'm reading. Very informational. Here are some of the things I've learned today.

For example, there was an article about punk rock music and animal rights (Oct 95) and this quote caught my attention: "To end the enslavement and the slaughter the antidote is veganism. Don't let your outrage for injustice end where your selfishness begins. I have conquered through self control... A peaceful world can evolve after animal liberation." It's from Earth Crisis who, at the time, was a popular and militant straightedge band (apparently they were described as "New York Vegans", whatever that means).
The song is "Eden's Demise".

I need to start listening to more animal rights-based music...even if I did grow out of hardcore music years ago. It's gotta be better than the shit out there right now.

This article was very informative as well. It aligns itself with my belief that animal testing is outmoded, unsafe, unreliable, and dangerous to humans.

This quote, by Carol Adams, is insightful, People who eat animals are benefiting from a dominant/subordinate relationship, but our culture encourages invisibility of the structures enabling this, and invisibility of the animals hurt by this. Indeed, the animals are seen as unified masses. There is a complete denial of their individuality, so that it is not seen as subordination. We see meat as the ontological reason for animals' existence, that they are there to be eaten. But when you talk about intervening with an ecofeminist care-ethic, one of the things we need to say is, "What are you going through?"

Or finding this out, though I knew that it is standard practice to feed factory-farmed animals other dead animals..mixed in with their feed (and, wtf?, these are herbivorous animals! Why they're being fed flesh is a sickening travesty brought on by the huge demand humans have for animal consumption. Eew): Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease." For a number of years, until the late 1980s, British farmers fed their cattle a concoction of animal remains including dead sheep's brains infected, it so happened, with a degenerative disease called "scrapie." Soon, tens of thousands of cows were exhibiting behavior such as disorientation, muscle spasm and collapse, and finally death. Autopsies revealed their brains to be full of holes, like sponges. You are what you eat....

Or this, There is, of course, one final irony. When we have imported the baboon's liver, the pig's heart, the cow's spleen, and whatever else into our body — maybe we'll start recognizing that there's not such a moral difference between human and non-human animals, now that the physiological difference is diminished to almost zero. I doubt it somehow. I agree. I mean, why is it ok to implant animal body parts into our own bodies but still refuse them status as fellow beings? Yes, we're different species but we all live on the same planet, sharing its resources, though we humans have done a bang-up job on gobbling up most of them. Literally.

This article, by Matt Ball, about being vegan is just as true today as it was when this was published, in 1996.

Just like these tips for effective letter writing:
Ideas are powerful. Most of us have opinions and when we feel strongly will spend much time talking about them. But talking is not enough. Doing is what makes activists effective.

Writing letters to the editor is a simple and effective way of taking action. Letters to the editor are powerful tools. The letters section is one of the most widely read parts of a newspaper or magazine. Your letter can reach thousands and even millions of readers. And beyond the cost of a stamp, it won't cost you a penny for typesetting, paper or distribution.

It you need to write 20 letters until one gets printed, it's well worth the effort. And even when your letters are not printed, they alert the editors to readers' interest in an issue. Occasionally a letter can touch a nerve or spark a dialogue which continues for days, weeks and sometimes even months.

It has been our experience that certain steps can maximize your chances of getting that letter printed.


• Before putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard, know exactly what you want to say.

• Whenever possible, bring new information or a fresh perspective to the subject.

• Ideally, you'll address an item which just appeared in a publication. Respond immediately. Don't spend undue time trying to craft the perfect masterpiece. By the time you succeed, editorial interest in the issue may be long gone.

• Let your words ring reasonable, rational, and well thought-out.

• It's okay to be critical, but don't come across as nasty or hysterical. A reasonable tone is usually persuasive, insults are usually not.

• If at all possible, stick to just one issue. It keeps things uncomplicated.

• A well chosen headline can help keep you and your readers sharply focused.

• Familiarity with the letters page will suggest what kind of letters the editors tend to select for publication. Write with this in mind.

• Write as if you're talking to another person and want to hold their interest.

• Keep your language simple. Try to make it flow naturally with short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

• Avoid trite phrases and clich..s.

If your writing skills are a work-in-progress, consider starting small. It may be a lot easier to get your feet wet with a community paper rather than starting at the top with major national publications.

Once your letter gets published, make copies and circulate them for additional impact. Take advantage of the ripple effect. Encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same. And if your letter doesn't get published, don't give up. Keep trying. A well written letter with something to say will inevitably wind up where it deserves to be. In print!

Or, how to be an activist:
Civil Disobedience (CD) - breaking the law of the day to argue for a greater goal - has been used as a form of activism for many years. Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. used it. Ben White lays down some philosophical ground rules for those who feel they wish to undertake CD. The following is not intended as a recommendation to undertake CD; that is entirely a personal decision.

1. Challenging the infliction of suffering is the right thing to do. Feel proud. If you act like a criminal, you will be treated as one.

2. Treat everyone - police, your opponents, the press - as potential converts. Be persuasive, not angry.

3. Be peaceful. Completely. If verbally attacked, smile. If physically attacked, protect yourself without responding in kind. Look the person in the eye.

4. Remember why you are doing it - to keep from personally acquiescing to suffering. The more oppressive the treatment of you, the more obvious the institutional protection of systemic violence.

5. There is power in numbers.

6. Come across as a normal person. Otherwise your opinion is considered by many to be worthless.

7. Know your subject. Don't answer any question from the media that you're not sure of.

8. Appeal to the inherent sense of fairness in your opponent or the police who are encountered.

Tips for preventing burnout:

• Don't mourn, organize! The last words of the great labor organizer Joe Hill before his execution early last century still ring true. Let your sorrow for the victims of oppression fuel your activism. Nothing will change if you are paralyzed by guilt, unending grief and despair. Dwell on solutions, not suffering.

• Campaign to win. Translate your ultimate goal into something you can accomplish today or tomorrow. You can't end all animal abuse today, but you have a good shot at convincing your cafeteria to offer more vegan options. Get involved in an existing campaign—or start one of your own. Choose something you enjoy. Winning even small battles can give you momentum, energy and inspiration to go on.

• Pace yourself. Think long-run. You can't operate in crisis mode all the time. Whatever the issue, you can be sure that it's not the whole world or the last campaign. Take time to pause, listen to your heart, and then act.

• Embrace friends, food and fun. Share your worries and feelings. Celebrate victories. Run your ideas by others. You are not alone! Even people who are not connected with your particular issue can be valuable "reality checks" and sources of ideas and inspiration. Don't neglect yourself, your partner or your companion animals. When adrenaline is high, eat like a fruitarian. When calm returns, feast on luscious vegan food prepared with love and gusto. Sing in the shower, make love, play with your cats, giggle with your kids.

• Move. These days activists spend way too much time behind the computer. Get out of the house and move your body! Hike, bike, walk on the beach, skinny dip, do yoga, stretch. Connect with nature, breathe fresh air, notice the seasons. You will gain perspective and renew yourself for the long journey ahead.


I think I'll buy this book soon. It's called "Dead Meat" by Susan Coe. The link will take you to a review Satya published in June '96. I found this site of her other work, as well.


dream, a painting from Susan Coe's series (Graphic Witness)

Another gem from Carol Adams, this article on fur and the homeless. Particularly, her use of this quote from an Indian text:
The Laws of Manu really captures this dynamic: "He who permits the slaughter of an animal, she who kills it, he who cuts it up, she who buys or sells meat, he who cooks it, she who serves it up, and he who eats it, are all slayers." (I have tried to equalize the pronouns.)
So too with fur: the slaughterer, the manufacturer, the retailer, the buyer, the group that donates fur to the homeless, the wearer--are all implicated in the slaughter.

Cow Myths by Angela Starks.

Interesting article on Heifer International. I had stopped buying Seventh Generation because they support them. This article reaffirmed my dislike towards HI. Interesting that it mentions Mary Steenburgen. She is on the latest issue of Delicious Living, available (free) at Whole Foods. And she was pimping Heifer International like it was going out of style. I recall her saying that she suggests people give donations to HI at Bar Mitzvahs, birthday parties, holidays, etc. I threw the magazine in the recyle bin with absolute disgust.

Something I am also aware of, as I do like to sip a glass of wine: not wines are vegan. Here's an introduction to vegan wine, by Catherine Clyne.

Why I feed my dogs a veg*n diet can be explained, partly, by this article. And, it's vet-approved. On the flip-side, there's "natural" pet foods. Not all of them are good.

Some other articles:

What is animal cruelty?

About the actual size......

An interview with Ian MacKaye.

Animal rights and wrongs, by Lee Hall.

Restoring the small farm ethic, with Diane Halverson.

I know I've highlighted mostly animal rights/vegan related topics but Satya focuses on environmental and social justice issues, as well. There was just so much to sift through.

If I wasn't an optimistic person, I'd say our world (or, rather, its humans) are rotten.

from a bulletin posted on Myspace



Exposing the beast: factory farming must be called to the slaughterhouse
J.M. Coetzee
February 22, 2007

To any thinking person, it must be obvious there is something terribly wrong with relations between human beings and the animals they rely on for food. It must also be obvious that in the past 100 or 150 years, whatever is wrong has become wrong on a huge scale, as traditional animal husbandry has been turned into an industry using industrial methods of production.

There are many other ways in which our relationship with animals is wrong (to name two: the fur trade and experimentation on animals in laboratories), but the food industry, which turns living animals into what it euphemistically calls animal products and by-products, dwarfs all others in the number of individual animal lives it affects.



The vast majority of the public has an equivocal attitude to the industrial use of animals: they make use of the products of that industry, but are nevertheless a little sickened, a little queasy, when they think of what happens on factory farms and abattoirs. Therefore they arrange their lives in such a way that they need be reminded of farms and abattoirs as little as possible, and they do their best to ensure their children are kept in the dark too, because children have tender hearts and are easily moved.

The transformation of animals into production units dates back to the late 19th century, and since that time we have already had one warning on the grandest scale that there is something deeply, cosmically wrong with regarding and treating fellow beings as mere units of any kind.

This warning came so loud and clear that one would have thought it impossible to ignore. It came when, in the 20th century, a group of powerful and bloody-minded men in Germany hit on the idea of adapting the methods of the industrial stockyard, as pioneered and perfected in Chicago, to the slaughter - or what they preferred to call the processing - of human beings.

Of course we cried out in horror when we found out what they had been up to. What a terrible crime to treat human beings like cattle - if we had only known beforehand. But our cry should more accurately have been: what a terrible crime to treat human beings like units in an industrial process. And that cry should have had a postscript: what a terrible crime - come to think of it, a crime against nature - to treat any living being like a unit in an industrial process.

It would be a mistake to idealise traditional animal husbandry as the standard by which the animal products industry falls short. Traditional animal husbandry is brutal enough, just on a smaller scale. A better standard by which to judge both practices would be the simple standard of humanity: is this truly the best that humans are capable of?

The efforts of the animal rights movement - the broad movement that situates itself on the spectrum somewhere between the meliorism of the animal welfare bodies and the radicalism of animal liberation - are rightly directed at decent people who both know and don't know that there is something going on that stinks to high heaven.



These are people who will say: "Yes, it's terrible what lives brood sows live; it's terrible what lives veal calves live," but who will add, with a helpless shrug of the shoulders - "what can I do about it?"

The task of the movement is to offer such people imaginative but practical options for what to do next after they have been revolted by a glimpse of the lives factory animals live and the deaths they die. People need to see that there are alternatives to supporting the animal products industry.

These alternatives need not involve any sacrifice in health or nutrition, and there is no reason why these alternatives need be costly. Furthermore, what are commonly called sacrifices are not sacrifices at all. The only sacrifices in the whole picture, in fact, are being made by non-human animals.

In this respect, children provide the brightest hope. Children have tender hearts - that is to say children have hearts that have not yet been hardened by years of cruel and unnatural battering. Given half a chance, children see through the lies with which advertisers bombard them (the happy chooks that are transformed painlessly into succulent nuggets, the smiling moo-cow that donates to us the bounty of her milk). It takes but one glance into a slaughterhouse to turn a child into a lifelong vegetarian.



Factory farming is a new phenomenon - very new indeed in the history of animal husbandry. The good news is that after a couple of decades of what the businessmen behind it must have regarded as free and unlimited expansion, the industry has been forced onto the defensive.

The activities of animals-rights organisations have shifted the onus onto the industry to justify its practices, and because they are indefensible and unjustifiable except on the most narrow economic grounds ("Do you want to pay $1.50 more for a dozen eggs?"), the industry is battening down hatches and hoping the storm will blow itself out. Insofar as there was a public relations war, the industry has already lost that war.



A final note. The campaign of human beings for animal rights is curious in one respect: the creatures on whose behalf human beings are acting are unaware of what their benefactors are up to and, if they succeed, are unlikely to thank them. There is even a sense in which animals do not know what is wrong - they do certainly not know what is wrong in the same way that humans do.

Thus, however close the well-meaning benefactor may feel to animals, the animal rights campaign remains a human project from beginning to end.

J.M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2003. This is an edited version of a speech to be given this evening to open the exhibition Voiceless: I feel therefore I am. It will be at the Sherman Galleries until March 10.




To learn more about the horrors and reality of factory farming, click here

italics, bold, and images I have added

It's true.....

I have always been suspicious of certain types of so-called faux fur and now this: the Humane Society of the United States has been conducting an investigation of several big stores and determined that the faux fur used on coats is actually dog/raccon dog fur from fucking China.

An excerpt follows below:

------------snip---------------------
Dog Fur on Sale

An ongoing investigation by The HSUS has found some of the biggest names in fashion selling raccoon dog fur trim on jackets that were mislabeled, advertised as another species or not labeled at all. The investigation also turned up dog fur on sale.

The HSUS investigation has found:

Dog fur sold online as "faux" by Nordstrom's, Tommy Hilfiger and Bluefly.com. The brands involved are Tommy Hilfiger, Joie and Andrew Marc.

Raccoon dog fur on coats sold online as "raccoon" by Neiman Marcus, Dillard's and Loehmann's (via Smartbargains.com), and as "rabbit" by Bergdorf Goodman and Footlocker. The brands involved were Andrew Marc, Michael Kors, Oscar de la Renta, Bogner and Rocawear.

Misidentified or unlabeled raccoon dog fur sold on jackets by retailers and brands including DKNY, Lord and Taylor, Ross, D.E.M.O, Rocawear, Macy's, Baby Phat, J.C. Penney and Burlington Coat Factory.
----------------snip--------------------------------------

For further details, click here.


The victims

Each year over 50 million animals—including millions of dogs and cats—are killed for their fur worldwide. Although the fur industry does its best to keep the cruelty out of sight, suffering is a common ingredient in all methods of procuring fur, from fur factory farming to trapping. Many, perhaps more than half, of these animals are killed specifically for fur trim—it is not a by-product.



The following are some of the animals murdered for their fur:

Dogs and Cats: Over two million dogs and cats are victims of the fur trade—primarily killed intentionally for their fur, but also injured and killed in traps set for other animals.

Seal Pups: Canada's annual seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. Hundreds of thousands of seals are killed for their pelts each year, with many skinned alive.

Various wild animals: including lynx, bobcats and wolves, suffer and die in traps each year. Countless dogs and cats, deer, birds and other animals—including threatened and endangered animals—are also injured and killed each year by the indiscriminate traps.

Newborn and Fetal Karakul Lambs: Newborn and fetal karakul lambs are killed to make fur labeled "karakul," "astrakhan," "Persian," "broadtail" and other names.

For more details about the vitims and/or to view video, click here

I believe that, one day, fur production will be abolished as it should be. There is absolutely no reason anyone needs to wear it today, except for vanity. Which makes it a heinous fashion choice, in my opinion.

This video shows what happens to the animal whose fur is stripped off just to make a fucking coat or piece of trim. It's barbaric.





Get free stickers at peta2.com

This photo, which I saw on another blog las night, is absolutely heart-breaking. And people still go about in their polluting bubbles...........



Click here to take your ecological footprint quiz. Ideally, the planet can only support 4.5 acres per person. I scored at 15 acres and it would take 3.4 planets if everyone lived like me. Sadly, the average in the US is 24 acres per person. Mine would be a lot less if I didn't use my car as much or, at least, had a car with better gas mileage. I currently drive a Honda Element.

And, I should ride my bike more often but this city I live in is not conducive to foot power or bike riding. And the public transport is a joke. If I lived in SF, this would all be a moot point as Mark and I would walk everywhere or take the bus and BART. We have agreed we'd rarely drive our car. Also, he's going to be getting a motorcycle again and I think I'll be getting a Vespa. That should reduce usage of my car.

Here is a list of ways to reduce your ecological footprint:

Transportation

Vehicles that use fossil fuels harm the environment and people's health by creating air pollution.
*Ride or walk to nearby places instead of driving.
*Organize a carpool to get to work or use public transit.

Air Travel
*Airplanes use lots of fossil fuel and contribute significantly to pollution.
*Refrain from vacations in faraway destinations. Take vacations in places nearer to home.

Waste

Throwing things away harms the environment because we use up space to store garbage and also have to produce new materials to replace the ones we threw out.

*Take your lunch to work in reusable containers.
*Separate your garbage for recycling and recycle as much as you can.
*Start composting or worm farming food scraps.
*Think about whether things can be used again for the same or another purpose before you throw them away.
*Give things you do not need to other people or to second-hand stores.
*Buy rechargeable batteries so you do not have to buy new ones.
*Use plastic grocery bags in your garbage cans.

Food

As well as tasting great and being healthy, fruits and vegetables take less space and energy to produce than junk foods, instant foods and meat.

*Try eating more fruit and vegetables instead of junk food.
*Start a vegetable garden so you can grow some of your own food.
*Go to the farmer's markets to buy fruit and vegetables.
*Try to eat meat less often.

Energy

*Turn lights off when you leave an empty room.
*Turn the computer, TV, stereo and other appliances off when you have finished using them.
*Get what you want from the fridge quickly and close the door properly.
*Dry your clothes on a clothesline instead of using the dryer.
*Consider buying electricity from a renewable energy supplier.

Water

Only about 1% of the water on earth is drinkable so it is important to conserve it and keep it clean.

*Turn off the tap when you clean your teeth.
*Take short showers instead of baths.
*Sweep the path or driveway instead of hosing it down.
*Turn taps off properly and if they keep dripping, fix them.

Paper

Paper is made from trees or by recycling old paper, so if we use less we save trees and energy.

*Borrow books from libraries or friends instead of buying them.
*Use both sides of paper for writing or drawing.
*Put a notice on your mailbox saying you do not want any junk mail.
*Reduce the amount of printing at work and save files electronically instead.

Click here to view a series of video tips to reduce your ecological impact.

Most of the sources from this blog entry came from here.

I am absolutely digusted by this article I read, in our local paper. It's actually more of a blurb as animal related items hardly sell. Here it is but you can read more about it here

USDA to inspect hospital after dog's testing, death
Cleveland- The U.S. Department of Agriculture will send an inspector to a hospital where a neurosurgeon demonstrating a medical device to salespeople deliberately induced a brain aneurysm in a dog, which was later destroyed.

The Cleveland Clinic, known for its heart center and for treating high-profile patients such as royalty, said that it had not authorized the procedure. The hospital reported itself to the USDA, which regulates animal testing.

A neurosurgeon caused the brain aneurysm in the anesthetized animal Wednesday at the clinic's Lerner Research Institute in Cleveland to demonstrate a medical device to a group of 20 to 25 salespeople. The large mixed-breed dog was destroyed afterward because of the damage caused by the aneurysm, the clinic said.

The audacity of humans is astounding, to say the least. What do you want to bet that the poor dog was a stray or picked up from a shelter? No one living being deserves to have tests of this kind performed the be "destroyed. Animal testing is bad enough, as results are highly suspect. When I think of mankind's cruelty towards animals, I'm reminded of the tests performed on humans during WWII.

I remember visiting the Dachau concentration camp, in Germany. In the "museum", I came across photos of prisoners being tested on and one series of images were forever engraved into my mind.
This is one of the photos from that series.

I believe the Nazis were researching high-altitude changes (click here or here for more info) and this particular prisoner is seen in various stages if the experiment until the last photo shown is the one of his death. Heartbreaking....


This photo absolutely blindsided me. The soldier looked as if he was sleeping but was murdered in an inhumane 'high-altitude' experiment at Dachau.

So, school started again yesterday. I had a 5pm class and had gone to the store once class was over. Usually, I'm ambivalent about checking the snail mail but I am expecting a package from amazon.com so I was highly motivated to see if it had arrived. It didn't :(

On my way to the mailbox, which is 3 houses away from mine, I spotted the friendly pitbull that is tethered in the front yard of the house near the mail box. I said hi to him and petted him and proceeded to check the mail. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted another dog. She, a cream-colored mixed breed, came to the pitbull and they sniffed each other and seemed to recognize one another. I was curious and wondered if she was a stray so I observed her for a few minutes while trying to make up my mind about what to do.

I noticed immediately that she wore a collar without tags. I swear to God that is something that really baffles me. Why bother to put a collar on your pet if you can't be bothered to put an identification tag on it? I mean, seriously, what's the fucking point???? GAHHH!! That completely pissed me off. It was déjà vu again, what with that evening we spent with Honey a month ago. Same thing with her, a collar yet no tags.

Anyway, I tried coaxing her over to me and she came easily enough but then ran across the street and began lapping up water that was in in the gutter. I followed her and managed to get a hold of her collar and gently led her into my garage. Unfortunately, I had left my garage door open and had locked my car (with the door remote within). The way I parked left barely enough room for both of us to maneuver over to the manual switch. When I got there, I let go of her collar but the noise of the garage door closing spooked her and she ran out. During all this, I was on the phone with Mark and voicing my frustration at the whole situation. When she left the garage, I contemplated, for a brief moment, just letting go of everything and settling in for a relaxing evening. My conscience wouldn't let me and I made up my mind to find her.

The dogs were outside but Otto was still in the house. I grabbed some cookies and a spare leash and proceeded out through the garage. I found her, easily enough. She was back with the pitbull yet, once she saw me, she came over. She stopped in the neighbor's yard and I offered her a cookie, which she took gracefully enough. I hooked the leash to her collar and led her back to my house, closing the gargage door once again.

Otto was a bit scared but the dogs outside were going crazy. I decided not to let them back in for the time being because I didn't want them to overwhelm her nor have her attack them. I let her roam around the house as Otto and I followed her. She seemed friendly enough but too skinny, in my book. Otto seemed very interested in her backside and I think she was in heat. I called Mark to let him know we had another guest and he suggested I take her for a walk, that evening, to see if she would lead me back to her house. I said that I would, if he went with me. Thankfully, he was already on his way home so I did what I could to make our new friend comfortable. I gave her some more cookies, fresh water, and took a few photos of her. She was really striking, in my opinion. I loved her two different colored eyes (one was an icy blue, the other a dark toffee).


a striking beauty, to say the least ^_^

The weather was a bit chilly and I was feeling bad that my three other doggies were still outside and I didn't want to make them wait there til Mark got home so I let them in. It was mayhem until I calmed them down and they were actually decent to the poor stray dog. When Mark arrived, he called me and I led her, through the huddle of four curious doggies, out the front door. We walked down half the block when she stopped in the middle of the road. A SUV pulled up to a house and we thought that maybe they were her humans. We waited until they got out and Mark asked if they were missing a dog. The mother replied that no, she wasn't theirs but she'd been over the day checking out their dog. I thought to myself, she's been running around for two days? And without identification? I could feel myself getting angrier at the stupid people who let her get loose. So irresponsible.

Anyway, one house down, several more to go. I suggested we call it a night and Mark remarked that there was always the no-kill shelter to drop her off at. I was incredulous, to say the least. It was nearly 7:30 pm as it was. No shelter would be open. So, Mark conceded and said she could stay but I had to take her first thing the next morning. I wasn't looking forward to having another stray dog stay the night but I knew it wasn't her fault she was lost and it would be cruel to let her back out. So, we began to head back to our house when the pitbull spotted us and got excited at seeing her. His guardian came out, after the pitbull kept barking, and we asked if he had seen the dog before. He said he had and that the people across the street brought her over to play with his dog. I looked across the street and had noted that some young guy had been hanging out in the front as we walked by earlier. He must've seen us with her but didn't recognize his own dog? I don't know.

We thanked our neighbor and went across the street and asked the kid if this was his dog. He acknowledged that, yes, she was. I felt relief but this wave of anger began to take over. It started bubbling out when he said that "it is always getting out of the yard." I looked at him and replied, "It? It is a she, ok. She is not an it." He looked sheepish but I was on a roll. I remarked on how I found her wandering and that I noted she had a collar but that there were no tags on it. I pointed out that, if he could put a collar on her, perhaps he should pick some tags, as well. He came up with some excuses such as "I know I need to do that but....." Dude, no excuses. If you have an outdoor dog, two things are non-negotiables (in my book) and they are to spay/neuter your pet and put some fucking identification on them. End of story. Jeez.

I realized that I was being a tad bitchy but I can't stand irresponsible people. The kid remarked, at one point, that he didn't know why she kept getting out and I said that it was because she was, more than likely, in heat. And, before I got on my soapbox about spaying and neutering, I decided to end the whole situation. I admitted to the kid that I had no interest in lecturing him but I have four dogs and I can't stand idly by when I see stray dogs wander around without tags. I feel compelled to say something. I mean, really, she could have fallen in to any number of dangerous situations (hit by car, attacked by another animal, taken to the pound, sold to a lab, tortured by another person etc). I think about those things when it comes to my four, all the time. I do not trust anyone as some people are extremely cruel.

As we went back to our house, I felt less relieved and more worried after returning her to her "guardian". I was very agitated once we got home. Mark said he was proud that I didn't lose my temper and that you "have to pick your battles and this one wasn't going to get us anywhere". Also, he said that not everyone treats their pets the way we do and that I just have to accept that. I asked him what's the point then? Why have a pet if you can't fucking take care of it? I hate people who do that to pets. If you're going to have a pet, do the right thing. At the very least, give them lots of love, proper nutrition, exercise, regular veterinary care, adequate shelter, and a collar with identification tags. That's it. If you can't do any of those, don't get a pet. It's that simple.

Pets don't ask for you to bring them home but, if you do, it's your obligation to care for them for the rest of their lives. None of this "I had to take them to the pound because they were too aggressive/too meek/we had to move/insert any other paltry excuse here" or "Dogs are meant to stay outside and cats should be allowed to wander at night". Hell no. Totally unacceptable, imo.

Okay, this rant over. I'm tired but I can't sleep. I am so thankful that I can take care of my dogs the way they deserve. They don't ask for much but I would do anything in the world for them.