thoughts and passions

Christmas x

2009-12-25T10:38:00.000+10:00

Merry Christmas all.

I have 4 days off over Christmas in which I will be working on some posts as there unfortunatly is a flood of animal rights issues I wish to share.

Here's to 2010 being a safe, happy and positive new year!

Here is my fave Christmas song from one of my fave people. Love you John

x

Australia's Dirty Secret

2009-12-08T15:54:00.000+10:00

This post is going to be brief and straight to the point - I've written about the Australian Pork Industry before.
I'm still discusted to see no change. 60 Minutes on channel 9 finally told Australians about this disturbing truth.

Factory Farmed Animals. Discusting and cruel. Watch the videos - they speak for themselves. Unfortunetly, most Australians are not aware of the cruelty they are supporting by buying factory farmed products.

People need to know and see exactly what is being done to these animals. I am not saying don't eat them, but please do not support animal cruelty. These pigs have no need to spend their lives in such appalling conditions.

200,00 mother pigs are subject to this awful cruelty each year. It doesn't have to happen. By free range.

Help End Factory Farming at AnimalsAustralai.org

Help End Factory-Farming at AnimalsAustralia.org

Save & Free Dolphins!!

2009-11-04T13:40:00.000+10:00

As some of you may or may not know, the slaughter of thousands of dolphins each year has just been exposed to the public in a movie called "The Cove"

I am also here to educate you about this issue I am terribly passionate about. Here is some facts from the coves website.

In Japan, fishermen round up and slaughter hundreds and even thousands of dolphins and other small whales each year.
In the small fishing village of Taiji, entire schools of dolphins are driven into a hidden cove after a prolonged chase. Once trapped inside the cove, the fishermen kill the dolphins, slashing their throats with knives or stabbing them with spears. The water turns red with their blood, and the air fills with their screams.

This brutal massacre — the largest scale dolphin kill in the world — goes on for six months of every year. Even more scandalous, members of the international dolphin display industry take advantage of the dolphin slaughter to obtain some few, show-quality dolphins for use in captive dolphin shows and dolphin swim programs.

It is commonly assumed that Japanese fishermen hunt dolphins to supply a small minority of Japanese people with dolphin meat. But unlike the expensive whale meat, dolphin meat is not considered a delicacy in Japan, and the real reason the Japanese government issues permits to kill dolphins by the thousands every year has nothing to do with food culture. It has to do with pest control. As shocking as it sounds, some Japanese government officials view dolphins as pests to be eradicated in huge numbers. During a meeting at Taiji City Hall, the fishermen of Taiji admitted this to us. "We don’t kill the dolphins primarily for their meat. We kill them as a form of pest control," they told us. In other words, killing the competition is their way of preserving the ocean’s fish for themselves.

The fact is this is unesccesary and the dolphins are slaughtered INHUMANELY!

The majority of people in Japan have no knowledge about the annual dolphin blood bath.

ALSO

Concealing this information from the public is a violation of Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution!

"The Japanese dolphin hunt will continue for as long as members of the international dolphinarium industry continue to reward the hunters for show quality dolphins, thereby making the hunt tremendously profitable."

http://www.takepart.com/thecove/ Is an EXCELLENT site to visit! It shows several ways you can help by signing petitions, spreading the word on facebook, learn more about dolphins in captivity and chosing the best fish to eat.

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/ Is also a great site to visit on how you can help AND educate yourself further.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP

POST COMING SOON!

2009-10-18T13:02:00.000+10:00

I know I have been extreamly slack lately in not posting much on my blog. I have still been quite active promoting animal rights via my facebook. I went through a bit of a rough time when I was not working - but im in Brisbane now and im back and i'm as passionate as ever.

I saw a story on 60 mins the other night that moved me to tears and made me realise I HAVE to continue with this blog and spreading the word of animal cruelty, if only to raise awareness.

So I don't have the internet at home but before and after work I have been working on my next post for the blog and expect it to be up within days!

I will catch up on my reading of other blogs too.

Thanks everyone for your support!
Vic

Bear Baiting In Pakistan

2009-07-06T19:20:00.002+10:00

Please note this is not anything negative about anyone in Pakistan. The main reason I post this is to share awareness and show how we are trying to use money and education to help Pakistan people find OTHER ways to make money other than animal cruelty blood sports...
Bear baiting in Pakistan is possibly the world’s most savage blood sport. With their teeth removed, bears are tied to a post and set-upon by fighting dogs.

Bears sustain more injuries than dogs and usually suffer ripped noses and mouths. Most bears are permanently scarred, but the killing of either animal is avoided, as they are too valuable. Fights are mainly held at local fairs and attract a crowd of up to 2000 spectators.

Life away from the fighting ring is also miserable for these bears. Between events, the bears are commonly tethered on a short chain through the nose and many bears are chronically ill due to poor diet.

Pakistan is the only country where bear baiting takes place, despite the ‘blood sport’ being illegal under the country’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1890 and under the Pakistan Wildlife Act. It is also illegal under Islamic Law to bait animals.

Success so far

We have been working with our member society ‘The Bioresource Research Centre‘ to reduce the number of bear baiting events held. Each year we manage to identify more events and pass information to the authorities to get them stopped. In 2007, we identified over 150 events with 75% of the events being stopped.

Up to 300 bears, and around 1000 dogs were involved when WSPA first undertook investigations in 1993. Today the number of fighting bears has been estimated as around 80.

While opposition to the fights is increasing, there is still much work to be done to save bears caught up in this brutal pastime.

Education and awareness building are key to stopping the demand for this barbaric form of entertainment. Within local communities we can work to change attitudes and make people aware that bears are sentient beings that experience fear and pain. Mobile ‘infotainment’ unit at rural fairs, television advertising and relationship building with religious leaders are some of the ways we are able to reach local communities that engage in this practice. As these events become unacceptable, the demand for bears to be forced into fighting will decrease and the cycle of cruelty will be broken.

The Kund Park Bear Sanctuary

In June 2001, the first bear to be confiscated from a bear baiting event arrived at the sanctuary built by WSPA in Pakistan‘s North West Frontier Province. Rustam, a male Himalayan black bear, believed to be about 15 years old, was confiscated after he was used in a savage bear-dog fight at Khan Bela, in the south of Pakistan, the year before.

At the time of the event in Khan Bela, WSPA alerted authorities to the fight and photographed it from the air. Some time later two of the organisers were arrested and imprisoned. Due to a legal appeal, Rustam was kept in a barren enclosure in a nearby zoo at Rahim Yar Khan. After seven months WSPA finally secured permission to move the bear to the newly built sanctuary, Kund Park.

The sanctuary ensures that on arrival all bears are:

• Quarantined for several weeks
• Vaccinated against infections such as hepatitis and distemper
• Checked for worms and external parasites

Sanctuary Surroundings

Following a period in quarantine, the bears are introduced to one of the large wooded enclosures that form the main part of the sanctuary.

For Rustam, Kund Park will be his permanent retirement home, since as a tame bear without most of his teeth, he could never adapt to life in the wild.

WSPA continues to liaise with the Pakistan government urging it to clamp down on illegal bear baiting activities and re-house confiscated bears in the sanctuary. WSPA is also available to provide technical advice whenever necessary.

Thanks to WSPA Australia & NZ for this information.
If you want to help, please sign a peition or donate 5 dollars to help a bear be rescued!!! here
more info here: BEAR BAITING

michael my hero

2009-06-26T12:32:00.004+10:00

I know I havent posted in a while. Facebook seems to be my outlet for getting my message across about animal rights. I have also been ao busy trying to find work and so on but I had to post about MJ.

I am so sad of his passing and just had to express how amazing he was. Many of you may not like him because you believe he was messed up or the court cases about the things he did. He was found innocent and I believe him. It's not about that.

He inspired so many people. He changed the music world! He made people love music, and dance and want to go and express their feelings through song and dance. He inspired so many artists we love today. I think it is so terribly sad that he became a "freak" but REGARDLESS of how odd he was he STILL gave 100% of what he had to the public and his fans.

He sung, danced, performed and faught for a better world. He faught for animal rights and human rights and often sung about them. He donated MILLIONS to charities around the world and NEVER wanted to see a human or child suffer.

Im deeply saddened when I listen to his song...childhood.

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for the world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart...
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities...
'Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me...

People say I'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things...
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood
I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams,
Of conquest and kings on the throne...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my Childhood?

People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love such elementary things,
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood (Childhood) I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
But the dreams I would dare, watch me fly...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I've had

Have you seen my Childhood....

Michael I hope you are free and happy where you are and you finally have your childhood.

Thanks for sharing your talent with the world and I will love you forever.

Australian Piggery Charged for Animal Cruelty

2009-05-21T12:06:00.002+10:00

More videos from Animals Australia

This is one of the worst cases of cruelty at a major Australian piggery. This piggery supplies meat to Woolworths. This cruelty is bad enough that the piggery are being charged with serious cases of neglect and abuse, including a sow who was slowly dying as hundreds of maggots ate at her infected shoulder. Another sows legs were so badly infected she couldn't stand or feed herself. Most of the pigs were so bad they had to be put down. However, laws in Australia still say its acceptable for pigs to be kept in cages like this. We can see what happens to them!

If you buy something that doesn't have a free range label, your supporting these piggeries. Please only buy free range products

Rarest of all sharks found, then eaten

2009-04-08T17:10:00.002+10:00

This is an interesting story from nationalgeographic.com
Its a shame the shark was eaten as it is so rare, however this is just cultural difference.

In just a short time, one of the rarest sharks in the world went from swimming in Philippine waters to simmering in coconut milk.

The 13-foot-long (4-meter-long) megamouth shark (pictured), caught on March 30 by mackerel fishers off the city of Donsol, was only the 41st megamouth shark ever found, according to WWF-Philippines.

Fishers brought the odd creature—which died during its capture—to local project manager Elson Aca of WWF, an international conservation nonprofit.

Aca immediately identified it as a megamouth shark and encouraged the fishers not to eat it.

But the draw of the delicacy was too great: The 1,102-pound (500-kilogram) shark was butchered for a shark-meat dish called kinuout.

"While it is sad that this rare megamouth shark was ultimately lost, the discovery highlights the incredible biodiversity found in the Donsol area and the relatively good health of the ecosystem," Yokelee Lee, WWF-US program officer for the Coral Triangle, said in an email.

The Coral Triangle, which spans Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste (East Timor), is home to the richest concentration of marine life—including iridescent corals—in the world, according to WWF.

"It is essential that we continue working with the government and local community on the sustainable management of Donsol's fisheries resources for the benefit of whale sharks, megamouth sharks, and the local community," Lee said.

The megamouth shark species, discovered in 1976 off Oahu, Hawaii, was so bizarre that scientists had to create a new family and genus to classify it. With its giant mouth but tiny teeth, megamouth, like the whale shark, is a filter feeder that preys on tiny animals and appears to be no danger to humans.

Only 40 megamouth sharks, including 7 in the Philippines, have been found since the initial discovery. The shark is so rare that the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the megamouth species as "data deficient."

(Related shark pictures: "Rare "Prehistoric" Shark Photographed Alive".)

Scientists who examined Megamouth 41—the Philippine specimen's official name, bestowed by the Florida Museum of Natural History—before it was eaten found facial scars from past run-ins with gill nets. The shark's last meal was shrimp larvae.

Other shark species in Donsol are valued for conservation rather than consumption: The region hosts a successful ecotourism project that allows people to swim with whale sharks, according to WWF.

—Christine Dell'Amore

hotograph by Elson Q. Aca/WWF-Philippines

beauty

2009-03-29T22:50:00.002+10:00

Thought I would post an amazing picture since my last couple of posts have been pretty bleak.

I am getting around to reading everyone's blogs and catching up so sorry I haven't left many comments

x

Canadas Commercial Seal Slaughter

2009-03-27T09:42:00.003+10:00

These seals are slaughtered every year. There is a team that have been documenting the slaughter for 11 years and will keep doing so until the slaughter stops. They must show the world this disgusting, sickening brutality.

These seals are 3 weeks old when they are clubbed to death and skinned for their fur.

The Sealers are becoming smart. They know people don't like the images of their dirty work. They now make sure as soon as cameras come they disappear. They leave a couple of survivors behind to shut people up. Still, 19,200 were killed!

From Rebecca Aldworth's blog entry:

" Today was very hard.

Sealers from the Magdalen Islands had already killed most of the seals allotted to them in their quota by the end of yesterday. So it was likely they would kill the rest today very quickly.

We would only have a few hours to film the cruel reality of this slaughter.

Our helicopters left at dawn, battling gale force winds to reach the killing zone. On the horizon, I could see sealing vessels working their way through the ice floes, slaughtering as many seals as they could before the quota was filled. We came closer, and the blood began to appear. Giant pools of it, spread all across the ice. Every few hundred feet, dozens of carcasses were abandoned in macabre piles. "

Please, if you care at all SHARE this story. Do not accept this. It is unthinkable that something so brutal still happens today. You don't have to donate. Just read the updates and see what you can do to help spread the word.

http://www.hsus.org/protectseals.html

Pictures tell the story

2009-02-24T19:39:00.016+10:00

So much has happened...One of the biggest things has been the Australian bush fires in Victoria. We all know about the tragic loss of lives and it deeply saddens me. I'm happy to see the strength in people pulling through and helping each other.

Our wildlife has taken a huge blow during this time as well. It is estimated that the wildlife death toll could top one million or more. Owners have been parted from their pets during the panic and rush to leave their homes.

Volunteers have worked around the clock to save the surviving wildlife and companion animals. They have treated burns and infections, respiratory conditions and worse. I shed many, many tears over the loss of people and animals in these fires. I only wish there was more I could do to help. I have no income I cannot donate. I wish I could donate my time and effort to help.

Bless you, all of you hero's and angels donating your time, money, effort, energy to helping fight the fires, save lives of all kinds.

Good luck to all. Here are some photos of the lucky ones to make it through...I think they tell the story better than I can.

If your touched you can help here:
http://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/
http://www.rspcavic.org/
http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp

Back to blogging world

2009-02-24T19:28:00.003+10:00

Just wanted to say thank you all for your support in comments and reading my blog.
I am sorry I have been away for about a month. I have been going through a tough time of late, I'm no longer at my job, I haven't been well. I am back however and feeling strong.

I have been reading your blogs but have not been commenting as much as I would like to, so my apologies.

Here's to many more stories to share

x

12,000 reasons to desex your cat!

2009-01-31T12:37:00.002+10:00

This story tells it how it is. straight out. Please be a responsible pet owner... desex, microchip AND register your cat/dog!

story from brisbanetimes.com.au

This woman has killed 100 cats this week.

She had to.

Euthanasing cats and kittens is her business.

Melanie "Minnie" Layton is an animal attendant at the RSPCA's centre at Fairfeld.

Recent moves by the State Government to force councils to make it compulsory for people to register their cats by July 1 may be one small way of making her job easier.

However, if councils don't strongly encourage ratepayers to desex their cats - with hefty discounts for desexed cats in the new cat registrations - her job will continue to be as hard as it really is.

On the day we spoke it had been a hard day.

"The other day we had to euthanase 32 cats, primarily because there are just too many cats," Minnie said.

"And these were beautiful cats. There was nothing wrong with them - they were healthy, really beautiful cats," she said.

"And that is really hard to deal with because they don't deserve that.

"They deserve to live and be happy and healthy."

The irony for the Queensland's peak animal welfare organisation, the RSPCA, is that too many Queenslanders and certainly Brisbanites think cats and kittens are cute, but easily disposable.

When they become an inconvenience, they are dumped.

The RSPCA receives 18,000 cats and kittens each year and kills 12,000 of them by legal injection.

Minnie Layton's job is to clean up that mess.

For five days straight in a month-long roster, Minnie Layton puts cats and kittens to death.

Stray cats have a three-day shelf life, but if someone surrenders their own cat, they have just 24 hours.

And it is not pretty.

Unfortunately, it is pretty necessary.

The RSPCA would choke if she didn't do her job.

Minnie Layton might spend three days looking after cats and kittens and then, on the fourth day come and collect the cats that the vet marks with a big "C" on the chart above their stall.

They all go off to "Central", the centre at the RSPCA's Fairfield home where they are killed.

After that, the cats get an injection in the stomach with a legal mix of barbiturates.

And then there is the disposal.

"After the euthanasing we have to check to make sure that they have passed away," Minnie explains.

"And after that we have to look after each body and dispose of each correctly."

That part gets serious.

Every animal attendant has a soft side.

Later, Minnie says the euthanasing is a hard, but necessary part of her job - something that effects all her colleagues.

"They have images of cats they have euthanased going through their heads at night," Minnie said.

"And they always question themselves. Why? Why that cat?

"You just question the owners of the cats. Why didn't you get your cat de-sexed."

Perhaps surprisingly, Minnie does have pets.

"I have two cats, a dog and a fish."

help out here: RSPCA

Happy Australia Day

2009-01-23T17:08:00.001+10:00

Change In Koala Habitat

2009-01-14T16:41:00.002+10:00

Firstly is a map of the Koala population in 1788 and 2008.

See it for yourself… the huge impact our urbanised lifestyle has had on our country and the devastating loss the land has felt since Europeans settled in Australia.

These maps depict more than just the trees that we have lost over the last three centuries, they show the mass deterioration of the habitat of over 400 endangered species.

The koala is our nation’s icon and is one of the many species that have been left to survive amongst our toxic urbanised world.

Over $8 million of science simply and powerfully demonstrates the devastation that Australian biodiversity has faced since1788.

This is the hard evidence we can use to awaken the world’s decision makers and ensure they take immediate action to protect the koalas and the rest of Australia’s biodiversity.

Don't take my fur!

2009-01-07T11:05:00.001+10:00

I do think it looks better on you.

mimicking human behaviour

2008-12-23T15:33:00.003+10:00

An interesting story from national geographic.com

Bonnie's whistling isn't so surprising to her caregivers. The 140-pound (63.5-kilometer) orangutan at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., has been whistling for about two decades.

Now a new study suggests that the sounds she makes could hold clues about the origins of human language.

"The assumption is that someone was whistling and she probably picked it up from them," said animal keeper and study co-auther Erin Stromberg.

Lisa Stevens, the zoo's curator for great apes and giant pandas, said the key point is that the orangutan was not trained to whistle.

While orangutans can be taught new sounds with extensive training, Bonnie is the first indication that the animals can independently pick up the sounds from other species.

"It's something she spontaneously developed," Stevens said. "It wasn't a trick."

Mimicking Motions

Orangutans are known to imitate humans. Bonnie, for instance, sometimes sweeps up after herself, just as her caretakers do, even though the zookeepers don't encourage this behavior.

Lead author Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, said orangutans in Indonesia have been seen pretending to wash clothes.

"We know they are capable of imitating these motor skills, but we never had any good indication of sounds for vocalization," said Wich, who presented his research on December 18 during a symposium at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Bonnie the Orangutan Whistling

1,000 Pets Rehomed!!

2008-12-19T14:43:00.003+10:00

Pet Rescue Australia has reached their target to rehome 1,000 pets for Christmas.

Every email sent, every dollar donated has helped 1,000 pets find their way out of a shelter and into a home of their own this xmas. This is an amazing achievement and one worth celebrating.

It's sooo good to see this result that people do care about animals in shelters and they are looking to this option.

My mum

2008-12-16T10:01:00.002+10:00

Mum has been ill of late. She worried me very much!! Mum has always had a few health problems which my family and I are used to now, but this time when mum was admitted to hospital for heart pains and told she may need a triple bypass due to 3 blocked arteries, this was scary.

I don't know what I would do without my mum, she is a wonderful, kind, beautiful person who I look up to and look forward to hearing from everyday.

She is now home from hospital on medication to try to clear those blockages and triple bypass as a last resort if all else fails.

I wanted to write a post to express how much I love her and put my prayers and good wishes out there for her.

Love ya mum and get well soon. Bring on 2009

This confuses my views on conservation...

2008-12-16T08:40:00.004+10:00

This story from national geographic.com speaks about a study done over six years which now proves that protected Elephants in the wild live more than TWICE as long as those captive in Zoo's. This has really confused my views on conservation.

I do believe however that, unfortunetly, we have to have these animals in zoo's to educate people. As sad as it is, some people may not care for the elephants if they don't get the chance to see them in real life in a zoo. Hmm..the story still makes me kinda sad though.

"Wild elephants in protected areas of Africa and Asia live more than twice as long as those in European zoos, a new study has found.

Animal welfare advocates have long clashed with zoo officials over concerns about the physical and mental health of elephants in captivity.

"We're worried that the whole system basically doesn't work and improving it is essential," said lead author Georgia Mason, a zoologist at the University of Guelph in Canada. Until these problems are resolved, the authors are calling for a halt to importing wild elephants and breeding them in facilities unless an institution can guarantee long, healthy lives for its elephants. The study will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

Mason and colleagues looked at data from more than 4,500 wild and captive African and Asian elephants.

The data include elephants in European zoos, which house about half of the world's captive elephants; protected populations in Amboseli National Park in Kenya; and the Myanma Timber Enterprise in Myanmar (Burma), a government-run logging operation where Asian elephants are put to work.

Only the survival rates of females were analyzed because of their importance to future populations.

The findings show that captive elephants live considerably shorter lives."

THE OTHER SIDE:

In 2004 Wiese co-authored a paper in the journal Zoo Biology showing the opposite of Mason's findings: that zoo elephants live as long as those in the wild.

He said that within the last decade accredited facilities have made huge improvements in the care of captive elephants by providing better nutrition to combat obesity, as well as environmental enrichment activities that reduce stress.

"Typically anti-zoo critics throw … in our face the things that the zoo community has already identified as issues that we need to work on," Wiese said.

remember, they won't stay babies forever!

2008-12-04T13:41:00.005+10:00

I remember this add which was on TV when I was young from the RSPCA. I remember it because it featured this gorgeous Dalmatian puppy, and as it slowly grew to an adult and became more destructive and more costly, less loved. The message, they won't stay babies forever really relates to this story here.

A polar bear cub (1st picture) named Knut, was once a gorgeous and famous tourist attraction at the Berlin zoo. He is now getting the boot now he is a grumpy 2.5 metre tall adolescent.

The zoo defends his actions as "they just cannot afford to house/feed the bear anymore due to this current economic crisis." Ha! It's just the same as pet ownership. The Bear's keeper also passed away recently which has been blamed for the bears bad behaviour.

Supporters of the bear in Berlin are rallying to keep the bear there and trying to save money, however a number of animal refuges are expressing interest in housing the bear. The most popular contender is Gelsenkirchen Zoo, who not only have the space and resources, but also a suitable breeding partner, Lara, who is also adolescent.

Let's hope a positive becomes of this situation and they do breed which is another step forward in animal conservation.

So remember, all things cute and cuddly grow up eventually. They stay just as beautiful to me!

lolcats

2008-12-02T17:30:00.002+10:00

Translation "grandpa kitty does not understand technology"

One of my fave sites, just sweet photos.

Pet Rescue.com.au

2008-11-27T11:51:00.002+10:00

Heres a graph that makes me happy. It shows the increase of animals homed in Australia over the years via Pet Rescue.com.au

This means people are listening and rescuing pets that need homes. They have a goal of homing 1000 pets for christmas. Although I cannot adopt as my small townhouse barely holds Jonah my cat inside, I still donate to this not for profit organisiation.

Turkey Absuse in America

2008-11-20T17:05:00.001+10:00

story from my PETA newsletter:
PLEASE DON'T BUY TURKEY!
Greetings,

The holiday season is upon us, but for turkeys on factory farms, there is nothing to be thankful for. We have just released footage from an undercover investigation that reveals a rarely seen side of the turkey industry. I must warn you that the cruelty to turkeys that we found is horrifying and heart-wrenching.

Men shoved feces and feed in turkeys' mouths and held turkeys' heads under water. One worker bragged about jamming a broom stick 2 feet down a turkey's throat because the turkey had pecked at the worker's back. The same man mimicked raping a turkey hen whom he had pinned against a shed floor.

Others told PETA's investigator that they had killed turkeys, including by hitting them with pieces of lumber and pipes. Workers broke turkeys' necks, sometimes leaving them to suffer for several minutes before trying again or stomping on their heads. A supervisor said that he saw workers kill 450 turkeys with 2-by-4s. Many of the workers kicked and violently threw turkeys, and hens' beaks were cut with dull pliers. You can watch video footage from the investigation here.

Now that our undercover investigator has exposed what the turkey industry does not want America to see, we need you to help turkeys on factory farms by writing to the National Turkey Federation (NTF) and asking it to support PETA's seven-point animal welfare plan, which will help reduce the suffering of turkeys.

After writing to the NTF, please consider other ways that you can help birds during this holiday season. You can keep them off your plate this holiday season by choosing mouthwatering vegan options instead, and you can support PETA's work so that we can continue to investigate and stop animal abuse worldwide.

Thank you for your compassion for animals.

-Argh I think i'm going to be sick...

pain

2008-11-12T09:51:00.003+10:00

I am a bit slack on the blogging/reading peoples blogs at the moment as I am miserable. Heartbroken. Lonely. Shattered. Empty.