It's been such a long week! I managed to write about some of the things that bother me when it comes to animals and their welfare, but nowhere near all. I don't want to continue in this vein though. [Yes. Phew.]
I could list them here but! You know, just to stir the pot a little?
So here are a few more grumbles -
+ Animals used in lab tests. How can it be okay to do tests on live animals, for whatever reason, when so many of us aren't even willing to give up our organs when we're dead?
+ Animals in "entertainment". I'm not even talking about evil blood sports like bull, dog and cock fights here. How about more insidious ones, like greyhound races and circuses? I see on telly that an animal circus has come to Sydney town, complete with performing lions and elephants. Are we kidding?!
+ SeaWorld. Does anyone really believe that leviathans could be happy in abiggiant however gigantic a concrete pool?
Hmmm.
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I don't want this to become another thought-provokinglong drawn out post that descends into arguments healthy discussions at the dinner table. No. I wouldn't want that to happen, especially at the Websters. BWAH haha! So I'm going to stop here.
That means it's time for me to thank all the intrepid souls who kept me company this week. I really appreciate that you took the time to read and to share your thoughts and experiences on this difficult subject.
These cartoons are especially for you! I hope they give you a giggle as much as the earlier posts gave you headaches :)
I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Over here in sunny suburbia, SOMEONE forgot to set the alarm for the Olympics opening ceremony this morning. Bah!
Oops! P.S. The next time I get a knee op and feel introspective, please be so kind as to remind me that I should just make myself a giant caipirinha and go directly to bed.
Tchau! :) X
Bugger! P.P.S. If you'd like to share your pet animal [welfare] peeves, please feel free to do so. I'd be keen to know I'm not the only joyless person around.
This post is inspired by Peggy who introduced me to Temple Grandin
and the [somewhat oxymoronic] phrase
"humane slaughter"
and by something Pamela brought up in her comment on the whales and sharks post -
"...And I also recognize that it's human (and very Western) to be horrified that Asians slaughter sharks for their fins while ignoring the chickens, turkeys, and cattle we raise and kill in huge feedlots ..."
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I've eaten some things in my life that I'm not proud of. Foie gras, shark fin soup, caviar, turtle eggs and drunken prawns are the ones I most regret.
I've also had the opportunity to try meats that are perhaps not so commonly found on the home dinner plate [at least here in suburban Sydney] including wild boar, buffalo, goat, kangaroo, frog, crocodile, snake, reindeer and bat. I've had bunny stifado in Greece, balut in the Philippines, piranha soup in the Amazon and escargo in San Fran. Of all of these, the snails were the hardest for me to swallow.
I personally wouldn't be able to eat horse, dog, cat, whale, insects, turtles or witchetty grubs [to name a few] but those are just my sensibilities. I don't ever want to be judgemental about people who do eat them and cultural preferences in diet. One man's hákarlis another man's meat pie.
What I am concerned about is how we manage, kill, cook or eat animals and in some cases, these can be pretty horrific.
I believe cruelty in preparing animals for our table has been going on a long time, knows no geographical boundaries, and will likely continue till the end of days.
"In another example, the French would pluck a live chicken, brush the skin with saffron, wheat germ and drippings, then put the head under the belly, and rock the chicken to sleep. The live chicken was then placed on a platter with two cooked chickens, carried to the table and the cooked chickens carved as the live one ran wildly around – theater on the table.
The most disturbing recipe I've ever seen is for "how to roast a goose alive" from The Cook's Oracle from the late 1800s. It's written almost in biblical style, and it's really disturbing. The idea is that you've cooked the goose’s skin but the vital organs are still working, and you carve the goose while it can still scream."
Here's the full recipe and it's not for the faint-hearted.
“How To Roast A Goose Alive.”
Take a goose, or a duck, or some such lively creature (but a goose is best of all for such purpose), pull off all her feathers, only the head and neck must be spared, then make a fire round about her, not too close to her, that the smoke do not choke her, and that the fire may not burn her too soon; nor too far off, that she may not escape fire: within the circle of the fire let there be set small cups and pots full of water wherein salt and honey are mingled, and let there be set also chargers full of sodden apples, cut into small pieces in the dish. The goose must be all larded and basted over with butter, to make her the more fit to be eaten, and may roast the better: put then fire about her, but do not make too much haste, when you see her beginning to roast; for by walking about, and flying here and there, being cooped in by the fire that stops her way out, the unwearied goose is kept in;[1] she will fall to drink the water to quench her thirst, and cool her heart, and all her body, and the apple-sauce will make her dung, and cleanse and empty her. And when she roasteth, and consumes inwardly, always wet her head and heart with a wet sponge; and when you see her giddy with running, and begin to stumble, her heart wants moisture, and she is roasted enough. Take her up, set her before your guests, and she will cry as you cut off any part from her, and will be almost eaten up before she be dead. It is mighty pleasant to behold!!!
The eating of animals that aren't dead is something that happens every day in the wild and in our backyard. It's the food chain at work. Unlike The Other Half, I don't bleat and switch channels when I see lions on Discovery, tearing into a wildebeest whose legs are still twitching.
The eating of live animals was a staple "attraction" on Fear Factor, [and if I remember correctly] early seasons of Survivor and some episodes of that show with the man who teaches us how to survive alone in the wild while being trailed by a production crew.
My 2 cents on this is that eating live animals for entertainment is not cool, even if they're at the bottom of the food chain, are slimy and disgusting, and have [apparently] been scientifically proven to feel no pain.
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I had an exhausting day yesterday, googling ways in which we humans eat and prepare food for our table. Some of these methods were entirely new to me. I was going to include links, pictures and videos here, but I don't think I want to any more.
Maybe I am a bleeding heart after all.
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Years ago, when The Other Half was regularly diving, I saw a video on a dive club night about some villagers in Flores, Indonesia who still use traditional methods of harvesting whales for food. They are exempted from the international ban on whaling.
I found a video of a hunt on youtube to share here. It's in Indonesian so you might not understand it, but the footage is worth seeing. CLICK HERE if you want to read about it first [might be helpful to get some background]. Disturbingly, it seems to have become an item on the tourist itinerary.
Watch with an open mind. Don't watch if you're squeamish.
No questions today, but I'd love to know what you're thinking.
I went whale watching on a friend's boat recently. It was a beautiful morning. The humpbacks were feeling friendly and it took less than an hour to sight a pod. One of them breached quite close to our boat.
Sighting of a blow. Can you see Sydney in the background?
I only managed to catch the whale on its way back down.
And as it waved goodbye.
I wish I could say I took this picture of a humpback. Alas, it's from HERE.
We're very serious about whale conservation in Australia and rightly so.
How on earth did a top predator of the ocean become an endangered species requiring protection? If you have some time, a strong stomach, and are interested in finding out, CLICK HERE for the Pew Report.
This scary pic from HERE.Quite a few species are listed as threatened including everyone's favourite set of jaws.
There was sadly another fatal shark attack in WA, just 11 days ago [which is probably why I've been thinking about today's topic]. In these situations, a hunt is usually called to find the rogue animal. In this case, almost immediately, the protected species status of the great white came into question. There was some concern that tourists might be too afraid to go to the beach.
Informal polls and comments on news reports, facebook and blogs however, seem to indicate that most people would like to see the great white's protected status maintained.
While the number of attacks appear to have increased of late, the average fatality in Australia over the last 50 years, has been less than 1 human per year.
I think I may have more chance of being killed stepping out onto a pedestrian crossing on Darling Street.
By comparison, guess how many sharks get killed in a year? According to the Pew Report above, about 73 million. I don't even know how you can count a number like that.
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I get disturbed when I read this sort of stuff. There's a lot of noise in my head and I find it difficult to organize it into coherent sentences. It took me the better part of an hour to word the 3 questions below and I expect my thoughts on the subject will be contentious and unpopular. But here goes anyway.
Should maintaining our comfort, safety and way of life always take precedent over that of animals, even endangered ones? [I don't think so.]
Do you think we discriminate when it comes to [protecting] animals and are partial to saving cute ones? [I do.]
Do you think it does any good to hunt down and kill an animal that has killed a human? [I don't, unless it can be proven that the animal's action was pre-meditated.]
What are YOUR thoughts? And do you have other questions yourself?
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"Yeah I do! Anyone want to know if I'm still farting?"
Sharks’ curiosity attracts them to any unusual creature in their environment. A small animal like a dog is more likely to be considered prey than a big animal.
+13 tips for avoiding a shark attack. 11.Avoid swimming or surfing at dawn, dusk or night. These are typically the feeding times for a lot of sharks.
And look what I found when I googled "are cute animals better protected than ugly dangerous ones"
He set out to describe what attributes make animals attractive to humans. The successful candidate will exhibit:
Usefulness (providing humans with food, clothing or medicine);
Human-like traits, such as having a high forehead and expressive eyes and being a mammal, or at least a vertebrate;
Be large and fierce. For some reason we like dangerous animals, and are fascinated with their weapons, from teeth to horns. (Watch any kid in the dinosaur gallery.) Small thinks this may explain the fact that tigers are the kings of global conservation efforts;
It must live above ground, preferably in a family setting showing off the mother with adorable cubs or kittens (one Toronto conservationist calls such animals “the cuddlies”);
It should not smell bad;
It helps to be warm-blooded;
Bright colours also help while being covered with scales, or a slimy skin, is bad;
Attractive animals eat “clean” food. We don’t like scavengers and carrion-pickers;
Traits that are unhealthy in humans should be avoided. We have little urge to conserve animals with warts, bow legs, wrinkles (except for elephants), irregular teeth or a habit of drooling.
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For what it's worth, my instructions to the Other Half, if I should get attacked or killed by a wild animal, is to let it be. He's left the same instructions with me. [We like being prepared for 1-in-a-squillion chance events.]
The person that runs me over at a pedestrian crossing however, won't get away with it that easily.
By the way, I. am. not. anthropomorphic. or. a. bleeding. heart. [Though I do like sniffing trees.] And it's okay if you're now thinking I'm simplistic, unrealistic and delusional. I already know that.
The endorphins are gone and I'm not just bored, I'm getting introspective. That's a worry as my rabbit hole can be rather cavernous.
First, let me apologise if I've been leaving snarky snarkier than usual comments at your blog or even [gulp] sermonising. I tried to stay away from my google reader for a few days but finally got tired of talking to myself and to Georgia.
I've kept away from posting too because frankly, I have
I knew this sign, taken outside one of our local hardware stores, would come in handy one day. The old man has a message for us every day. These ones are from a long time ago since I haven't been out walking lately.
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Here's a report for all the lovely people who've been checking up on me. [Even the ones who called me lazy. Really, some people can be so rude.] :)
I met up with my surgeon last Tuesday. He's happy with my progress, as am I!
I was left to remove the plasters myself, a simple enough task. But these last bits were super sticky and I was too cowardly to peel them off. They finally fell off this morning.
Looking very good, if I say so myself.
The Person In Charge Of Stinky Knees has been incredibly kind to me. Thanks to a cancellation, I was able to meet up with the physiotherapist last Wednesday and am now doing more rehab exercises. The best news! I can now walk normally [though with caution] down the stairs!
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It's Be [or is it Blog?] The Change for Animals week in the dogblog park. I was going to give it a pass. I'm not good awful at bloghops and doing group stuff. But for some reason, I can't get this one out of my head. Probably because I'm bored, feeling introspective, and have a lot of questions when it comes to animals and their welfare, and not too many answers.
So here's what I've decided to do. I'm going to pose a few questions over the week that have always bugged me. They won't be about any animal causes. They'll be more like a chart of my personal journey.
I'm going to include some interesting reading I've done. It won't be deep, well thought out research, just some googling. Of course, I hope you'll give me your wisdom on the subject.
Here's my 1st question.
Can we really call ourselves animal lovers if we eat meat?
[I'm giving you some space here to think about it.]
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The tulip magnolia tree outside the study window is looking lovely today.
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Here's where I'm at.
I love animals but I'm not vegetarian. I don't think I ever could be. I crave my crispy double-smoked bacon and slow barbecued ribs too much. Meat constitutes about 1/4 to 1/3 of our current diet [mostly white and seafood], yet I feel guilty [and I know The Other Half does too. The Dog pshaws at such absurdity.]
What's my excuse for this double standard? I believe in the food chain.
Can I at least lessen my karmic burden? I hope so.
Here are some simple things I believe I can and should do.
When shopping for food or eating out -
+ Choose free range. For the longest time, this was hard for me to do, as the cost of anything free range here can be prohibitive. But I've since learnt to buy and eat less, which is not a bad thing.
+ Don't just go for the canned tuna on offer. Jordan and Rufus ate tuna regularly and that's exactly what I used to do. Just as well it doesn't agree with Georgia's tummy. Here's a ranking for brands commonly found on Australian shelves.
+ Stop eating pate foie gras and other food that is produced in dubious ways.
+Do not eat caviar, yellow fin tuna, swordfish, orange roughy and other overfished or endangered fish. Want to know if your favourite eating fish falls in this category? Check out this helpful guide.
+ Always read labels and try to make informed choices. Here are 2 useful guides for anyone reading this in Australia. I've learnt that my eggs are OK! Animal Welfare Labels Ethical Consumer Guide
I'm sure there are heaps more ideas you could add to that list. I'm learning as I go.
I'll never be a Jain, but I can do better than what I'm doing today.
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Interesting titbit.
Ahimsa The most fundamental value of Jainism is nonviolence, or ahimsa. This word is usually found on the Jain symbol of the open palm (which means "stop"). Ahimsa is the first of the vows taken by both Jain householders and monks. Ahimsa means harming no living being as well as protecting all living beings from harm.
While several religions practice nonviolence and peace as a fundamental principle, Jainism is unique in extending this principle to all jivas (living beings). For Jains, living beings include not only humans and animals, but everything one finds on earth. Ahimsa must therefore be extended not only to humans and animals, but also soil, sand, oceans, fires, insects, microbes and plants.
For this reason, most Jains are not just vegetarians but "fruitarians" - they eat only fruit, nuts and milk. These foods are acceptable because they are only the by-products of the living beings and not the living beings themselves. To pull up a carrot or chop a potato would be to do violence to a living being (actually several living beings, as root vegetables are seen as multi-organic and therefore multi-souled).
This unique concept of nonviolence also explains why some Jain monks and nuns wear masks over their mouths and noses or carry whisks with which they brush chairs before sitting. To inhale or squash even a microbe would constitute violence to a living thing, resulting in unwanted karma.
Thank you for asking me the question "What does spit the dummy mean?" I know I can sometimes be unintelligible, even when I'm not on the iPad and I appreciate brave souls who ask questions.
For example, I use BWAH haha! quite a bit in this blog. But what does it really mean? It 1st made an appearance in this strangely popular post, strangely also published on a Friday the 13th. I use it quite often in my comments as well. For me, it sits somewhere between a polite cackle like LOL or BOL and *!>!**#f*!!! hysteria and definitely has a sinister tone to it.
But I digress! To get back to your question, it might be clearer if I gave you a few real life examples, all of which happened this morning.
Example 1.
This is the 1st time in a week that I'm sitting down at the real computer in the study. Wouldn't you know it? When I turned on the computer, there was no internet connection. It took 2 hours before the connection came back, it's still a little patchy and I'm hoping it doesn't drop out while I'm typing because that would really make me spit the dummy.
Example 2.
Twice a week, I wash bits and pieces from The Other Half's CPAP machine. I'm very unsure how to dismantle one bit despite having been shown how to do it 2 times before. I asked The Other Half when he came home from walking Georgia and he spat the dummy. Then he spat it again when I hogged the bathroom to do the wash up. Little did I know I forgot he was running late for an appointment with the mechanic. [I think he may also be over being sympathetic to my sore knee BWAH haha!]
And lastly.
Georgia ran off in the park this morning to eat something in the bushes. No one knows what it could be. Her tummy looks like she might have swallowed 1/2 a possum [hopefully dead] and she looks like she might chuck up any minute. What's more worrying, she didn't want to eat her fresh turkey leg for brekkie. Struth! I will spit the dummy if she gets crook again, just one week after her tummy got well and I will really get the shits if I have to hobble around cleaning up her chunder.
There you are, Olivia and Petey from NYC! I hope that cleared things up! Please let me know if there are other words I can help you with. As you may have gathered, I'm quite bored here.
I might be Very Opinionated, but I'm NOT a little dog.
Luckily for little dogs, I'm kept on a Somewhat Short Leash.
Some truly fascinating facts about me are in my very first post "Hello, will you be my friend?"
Jordan Puff Piglet ??.??.????-09.02.2009 Adopted 29.10.2000
I never met Mr Piglet. He was Mr Thumper's housemate and best friend. He was clever, handsome, funny, strong and gentle. Also [apparently] perfect and a saint. I only came to live here because Mr Thumper got really sad after Mr Piglet went away. I always get compared to Mr Piglet.
Rufus B Thumper 30.04.2000-29.04.2011 Adopted 13.01.2001
My benefactor. He chose me to bring home out of all the dogs he met at the pound. He was already old and grumpy when I met him. Maybe if he'd been younger, he might have been my best friend. Mr Thumper was as big as a bear and had a very long tongue. He was very popular with the ladies and most other humans too. He's with Mr Piglet now.
My Cushion.
My out-at-work human works hard to buy me nutritious food like lamb bones and lentils. He uses his Very Loud Voice only on my stay-at-home human which is why he's my favourite person in the world. He has a nice round soft tummy and is My Cushion of choice. *BREAKING NEWS* August 2012! My Cushion has left his job to be my full time Cushion! How lucky am I!
My Typist.
My stay-at-home human gets paid a lot of money to look after me. 100 dollars a week. She spends most of it on cream cakes and passionfruit tarts then wonders why she's getting fat. Strangely enough, she's also My Nutritionist.
A guide to my blog. Or, when did life get so complicated you need a guide to a dogblog?
My stay-at-home human sometimes hijacks my blog. She has no life of her own.
Her rants are in black.
My stories are in grey.
She didn't use to be here so much, but she's decided she can be just as opinionated as me. Plus she's old and frumpy, I mean grumpy. Don't say I didn't warn you.
xox*Georgia : )
Helpful Hints: If you're new here and a bit lost, SCROLL DOWN TO THE LABELS and click on a topic you'd like to check out. I'm a pig dog and quite good at hunting things down!
More Clues! If you have the attention span of a gnat and can't be bothered with 2 years worth of posting, click on SOME FAVOURITES because they're some of our favourites.
If you're a *hrummph!* fan of Mr Thumper's, click on MR THUMPER.
If you're MY friend and would like to see or read about yourself, click on MY FRIENDS.
"What a load 'o croc."
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