Action Alerts

Center for Biological Diversity: Tell the Fisheries Service to Ban Swordfish Imports and Protect Marine Mammals
“Consumers in the United States buy vast amounts of illegally imported swordfish each year, unintentionally harming both marine mammals around the world and domestic economic interests. Help end U.S. support of destructive fisheries by telling the National Marine Fisheries Service to enforce the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a longstanding law that bans such imports until the country providing them proves that their fisheries meet U.S. standards for protecting marine mammals.”

Liberation BC: Article on Straight . com – your comments needed!
“Check it out: an article about LBC’s foie gras campaign, written by our very own Becci, in the Straight.com politics blog! Please take a few minutes to visit the page and leave a comment. The more people who view the page and leave comments, the more likely it will be that they’ll ask us to write more articles. So, don’t delay, read it now!”

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Save Bird Habitat
“Every year, billions of migratory songbirds stop over in Canada’s vast boreal forest to build their nests and raise their young. In fact, more than half of America’s migratory birds use the boreal forest for breeding and nesting. But, the rapidly growing tar sands industry poses a huge threat to these migratory bird populations. A new report just released by NRDC and our environmental partners finds that, over the next 30 to 50 years, as many as 166 million birds could be lost if tar sands development continues. In Alberta, tar sands mining and drilling has already caused significant loss of habitat, not to mention Canada’s fastest growing source of global warming pollution. These destructive operations have also created hundreds of toxic lakes and ponds throughout Alberta, killing 8,000 to 100,000 birds annually. Tell Canadian government officials to slow the expansion of tar sands development and protect bird habitat in the boreal forest.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): Urge Phoenix Apartment Complex to Stop Cruel Trapping of Pigeons!
“Several residents of Arcadia Cove apartment complex in Phoenix, Arizona, have informed PETA that the complex’s management is live-trapping birds on the premises and leaving the birds to languish in the traps for days at a time. We are told that the traps are only checked twice a week and that several trapped pigeons have been attacked and “eaten alive” through the bars of the traps by birds of prey who have found them to be easy targets. As long as live traps continue to be used in this fashion, pigeons and other animals—including protected and endangered species—are at risk.”

PETA India: Stop the Illegal Treatment of Indian Cows
“Gulshan Grover, Raveen Tandon, Shamita Singha and Luke Kenny along with top designers such as Hemant Trevedi, Anita Dongre and Stella McCartney have stopped using leather. They join the growing list of international celebs who opt to use humane materials instead of leather. These cattle are counting on your help! Please write to the Prime Minister of India urging him to immediately enact humane practices and conditions for cattle transportation in India.”

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This story has already made the rounds, but I think it merits another mention anyway: A California man stands accused of selling his 14-year-old daughter for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of “meat”.

CNN has a fairly detailed report on the case:

A California man sold his 14-year-old daughter to an 18-year-old man for cash, beer and meat — then called police when the prospective bridegroom didn’t live up to his end of the deal, authorities said Tuesday.

Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, of Greenfield, California, was arrested Monday and booked into the Monterey County Jail, Greenfield police said in a statement. He faces felony charges of receiving money for causing a person to cohabitate, police said.

Martinez had arranged through a third party to have his daughter marry the older teenager, identified by authorities as Margarito de Jesus Galindo, of Gonzales, California. In exchange, Galindo was to pay Martinez $16,000 and provide him with 160 cases of beer, 100 cases of soda, 50 cases of Gatorade, two cases of wine, and six cases of meat, Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier told CNN.

All those involved in the case are from the western Mexican state of Oaxaca, the police chief said. In the Oaxacan community, such an agreement is “normal and honorable,” he said. “In California, it’s against the law.”

In Oaxacan culture, the food and beverages are provided by a prospective bridegroom for the wedding, Grebmeier said.

Authorities believe the young girl went with Galindo willingly, and no coercion was involved, he said. However, the girl is four years younger than California’s age of consent, although the law does allow 16-year-olds to marry with parental consent. [...]

He said he wanted to send a message to immigrant communities that such behavior is unacceptable. He said his department has long heard rumors of children as young as 12 being sold or offered for sale. The Greenfield police statement said arranged marriages between young girls and older men “have become a local problem.”

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pattrice jones, writing at the Eastern Shore Sanctuary Blog, alerts us of an alarming stunt that a team of San Francisco radio hosts have planned for Barack Obama’s Inauguration Day.

MON: The Woody Show is off for MLK Day . . . or as Woody & Ravey call it…the day after the Steelers beat the Ravens to go to the Superbowl.

TUES: Tony (in a chicken suit) will try to catch chickens in the studio! Plus The Woody Show wants to find out if chickens will eat….chicken.

THURS: Comic Doug Benson will stop by during SF Sketchfest!

pattrice notes,

Without doubt, being carted to and then chased around a radio station will be extremely distressing to the birds in question. Moreover, mockery is a means by which people distance themselves from animals, in order to make their abuse less ethically troubling. Thus, this event, if allowed to go forward, will not only harm the two birds but also contribute to the callous disregard for animals that facilitates both everyday and extreme abuses of animals. [...]

There is, of course, one more cause for concern about this particular event. Why, on the day that our nation’s first African American president will be inaugurated, will radio hosts be making jokes about eating chicken?

The answer is obvious, but allow me to state it anyway. Clearly, by introducing chickens into their Inauguration Day “joke,” the hosts of “The Woody Show” are invoking an age-old stereotype involving African Americans and chicken:

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I had planned on blogging an animal rights advertisement tonight, but…meh. I got all distracted by this shiny little counter from CREDO Action, which I’ll soon be able to remove from my sidebar:

we can has new prez now? o plz says yes!

So, in honor of dubya’s last day in office, here’s a retrospective of some of my favorite print ads featuring the decider himself. As it turns out, Bush II is “good” for selling everything from blenders to climate change awareness. (And, after eight very long years, a few hearty teehees, too.) I’ve blogged a few of the animal-friendly ads here in the past, but most are “new,” as in, new to the blog.

And if the ads don’t make you cry-laugh tears of joy, the music video sure will.

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Life is not about being right;
it’s about doing the right thing.

I meant to review Bart Potenza’s Look Two Ways on a One-Way Street: Food for Thought from the Founder of Candle Cafe and Candle 79 as part of my annual easyVegan Guide to Easy, Veg*n Holiday Gifts, but – alas! – I was so preoccupied with FSMas decorations this year, that I plum forgot to even write a guide! Better late than never though, yeah?

Look Two Ways on a One-Way Street is a collection of optimistic and inspiring quotes from Bart Potenza of Candle Cafe and Candle 79 fame. “The Candles” are two vegan/vegetarian restaurants in New York City. Though I’ve never been, they look delish – and Candle 79 was voted the Best Vegetarian Restaurant by VegNews in 2007. These “daily aphorisms,” as Bart refers to them, have even made cameos on the Candles’ “on hold” phone systems. Hey, it sure beats musak, am I right?

Look Two Ways would make a cute little stocking stuffer V-Day gift – especially if presented over dinner at the Candle Cafe or Candle 79! If you’re not lucky enough to live in NYC, though, you can always pick up a copy of The Candle Cafe Cookbook and prepare your sweetie an original dish from the restaurant.

The adage above is definitely my favorite of the bunch; I’ll leave y’all with a few more quotes that I’m totally diggin’ on.

Oh, and I’m still working through How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One by Carol J. Adams and Patti Breitman…cookbook reviews are slow going, doubly so when you’re not really the gourmet cook type.

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…for making the consumption of “land fish” socially acceptable!
 

 
Mmmmm!

In all seriousness, there has got to be, at the very least, a veg*n sympathizer on The Colbert Report writing staff. Stephen is just too well-versed on animal issues. The Sea Kittens campaign, for example, hasn’t received extensive coverage from the mainstream media (not enough T&A), and yet TCR is aware of the campaign – and even understands it. (Good-natured mocking aside.)

To sweeten the deal, Stephen signed off Thursday’s show with a spin on Bob Barker’s “don’t forget to spay and neuter your pets” signature line:
 

 
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Action Alerts

Color of Change: Demand justice in the killing of Oscar Grant
“The police officer who killed Oscar Grant on New Year’s Eve has finally been arrested and charged with murder. Even the District Attorney admitted it was only because of massive public pressure that he moved when he did, pressure that included more than 20,000 of you speaking up. Now, more than ever, we need to keep the pressure on.”

DawnWatch: Superb Audubon article on meat and global warming 1/15/09
“The current issue of Audubon magazine includes a terrific and accidentally animal friendly column about the impact of diet on the environment. Why do I write accidentally animal friendly? While there is a common assumption that environmentalists are concerned with animal suffering, the assumption is too often false. The Audubon Society is the perfect case in point.”

Farm Sanctuary: Do you want your Army to maim goats and pigs?
“Farm Sanctuary has recently learned that the US Army plans to stab, shoot, and break the legs of pigs and goats this week as part of a training program at Fort Dix. The idea is to create combat injuries so that medics-in-training can fix them. Instead, it is an exercise in cruelty. [...] The training starts today and runs through Friday, so there is no time to waste. Please send a letter to Colonel Thaxton, the Installation Commander at Fort Dix immediately. You can send a letter right from the Farm Sanctuary website.”

National Women’s Law Center (NWLC): Protect Women’s Health: Reject the Harmful HHS Rule
“The Bush Administration has done the unconscionable. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recklessly and callously finalized a regulation that undermines patients’ access to vital health care services and information — putting women’s health and lives at serious risk. Please tell President-Elect Obama to reject this harmful rule immediately upon assuming office.”

Oceana: Protect the Arctic from Industrial Fishing
“As you know, Arctic habitats are gravely threatened by climate change. And due to sea ice loss, new waters are opening for potential passage by ships. But we mustn’t allow further degradation of the Arctic by industrial fishing. Now is our moment:The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is currently accepting public comments on a plan to close the U.S. Arctic to industrial fishing. Please write in today to prevent the industrialization of one of the world’s most vital regions.”

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Update, 1/22/09:

Now that this post is making the rounds (which is to say, a few bloggers have mentioned it – lolz on me!), I want to make the following clarifications:

1) As I said at Change.org, I don’t think Obama is a misogynist. In calling his “girly dog” remark sexist, I’m not grouping him with hardcore misogynists like Ann Coulter, Joe Francis, Rick Warren and the like. Rather, I think that Obama occasionally engages in the sort of casual, softcore sexism that’s all too common among men (and women!) who have been raised in a culture steeped in misogyny. An occasional slip is understandable and excusable – after all, we’re all socialized with certain prejudices, which we have to unlearn – but only if you’re willing to recognize, apologize and learn from it.

Here, Mrs. Obama offered her husband several opportunities to reconsider his comments – and he didn’t. To me, his failure to recognize how this gendered stereotype might offend his wife and daughters is worse than the comments themselves.

2) Upon re-reading the post, I see that I conflated “small dogs” with “girly dogs” – my bad! While I think there’s a strong correlation between a dog’s size and his/her perceived “girly”-ness, there are exceptions. The standard poodle, for example, is a larger breed, but might be considered “girly,” inasmuch as it’s “high maintenance” (i.e., is rather well groomed). “Girly doesn’t necessarily equal “small,” but the two are somewhat related.

Nor do I have a problem with Obama preferring a large dog; indeed, as some have pointed out, large dogs are overrepresented in shelters, at least in some areas of the country, and thus it might do more good for Obama to adopt a large breed. That’s fine by me – but he can do so without denigrating “girly” dogs (and, by extension, actual girls and women).

3) Enumerating the consequences of gender-based stereotypes and insults on human men and women is well beyond the scope of this blog.

However, if you:

a) Don’t understand why the term “girly” might be perceived as an insult, and a gender-based one at that;

b) Don’t see the links between misogyny and homophobia; and/or

c) Don’t recognize the practical, real-world effects of gender stereotypes and gendered slurs on men and women (and girls and boys), or understand how men and women (and girls and boys) receive different, gendered socialization, then

I highly recommend adding some feminist blogs to your reading list. For a primer, start with Finally, a feminism 101 blog. As far as non-AR feminist blogs go, I also like Shakespeare’s Sister and Feministe, both of which are relatively light on speciesism.

If you think I need to “lighten up” or “get over myself,” you really need to do some feminist homework!

4) Finally, I’d like to add that the term “girly dog” also invokes class and race stereotypes. When you think of the quintessential “girly dog” and her “owner,” probably you think of a small, white, yappy, puffy little dog with bows in her perfectly groomed hair. The dog – being a lap dog, as Obama also said – is most likely pictured lounging on the lap of an equally perfectly groomed woman, who is either prissy and “diva”-ish, like Paris Hilton (another blogger’s term and example), or older and regally respectable, like Ms. Walters. Either way, she’s white and upper-class. At least, that’s my take on the term.

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Oy. After months of equivocating on the dog issue, the Obama family has announced that they’ve narrowed their choice down to two breeds: the Labradoodle and the Portuguese Water Dog. Unfortunately, as Adopt-a-Pet.com reports, while these are not the only two “hypoallergenic” breeds available, they are harder to find on animal adoption websites:

You recently signed Adopt-a-Pet.com‘s petition on www.Presidential-Pooch-Pardon.com asking Barack Obama to adopt a shelter dog. He is interested in adopting, but has narrowed his search to uncommon breeds that are difficult to find in a shelter. Now, on the President-Elect’s website, there’s a section where people can vote for their favorite ideas, and the top vote-getting ideas will be directly seen by Obama. One of the animal shelter workers who posts pets for adoption on Adopt-a-Pet.com has posted an idea urging the president to consider finding a mixed breed dog with the right individual traits that meets his family’s needs.

You can make a huge difference by voting one more time here. If this is your first time on the site, you’ll be asked to create an account, which is super simple. After you create your account, click the link above again to locate the suggestion.

Thank you for being part of this non-partisan effort to promote homeless pet adoption please spread the word to your friends!

Indeed, a search of Petfinder for “Labradoodle” currently turns up zero results, while “Portuguese Water Dog” uncovers seven purebred dogs.

Additionally, in selecting a purebred dog, the Obamas are practically inviting greedy breeders to cash in on their (hopefully) compassionate choice by sexually exploiting and selling the “Obama dog.” (Doubly so if they adopt a breed that’s hard to find through adoption routes.) A mixed breed or mutt – particularly one of unknown heritage, which can’t easily be reproduced – would help minimize this risk.

Also on the Obama dog front, Adopt-a-Pet.com has some crazy cute graphics you can download, encouraging the Obamas to adopt a mutt.

They’re available at muttslikeme.adoptapet.com, which is a riff on Obama’s observation that “A lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.”

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Action Alerts

Animal Person: Targeting This Year’s Iditarod Supporters
“Ah yes, it’s that time again: When I post (–this time link to) a list of Iditarod supporters and then spend the next couple of days fielding e-mails from representatives of a few of them who claim they are not indeed supporters of the brutal “race” after they have seen how angry the public is that they are indeed supporters. (Last year, one insisted zero support, however, but the connection was there nonetheless.)”

Amnesty International: Tell Congress to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel
“20 days into the Gaza crisis and the humanitarian crisis there gets worse each day. 398 women and children are dead, another 4700 injured, 750,000 lack access to water and one million are without electricity. Each day that passes guarantees more innocent civilians will suffer. Tell Congress to act swiftly to help humanitarian workers get into Gaza and to suspend all transfers of weapons to Israel.”

Audubon: Sign the Petition to Repower, Refuel, and Rebuild America
“President-Elect Obama has made it clear that global warming, energy, and green jobs are at the top of his list. In his own words, “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high. The consequences, too serious.” But as he often said during the campaign, the change we all desire cannot be his responsibility alone. We all must help. Let President-Elect Obama know that you stand with him on efforts to address global warming.”

Free Press: No Bailout for AT&T, Comcast and Verizon
“President-elect Barack Obama’s plan to connect more Americans to an open and affordable Internet is under siege by phone and cable lobbyists who seek to turn our economic stimulus into a blank check written with no strings attached. Tell Congress: Don’t bail out phone and cable companies. Build out a better Internet for everyone.”

Greenpeace: Join the Energy [R]evolution!
“The new American revolution begins with YOU. There’s no side to take, and no bystanders – we must all stand together and rise up against the tide of global warming. This is the greatest fight of our lives. The very planet depends on it. Join the Energy [R]evolution now.”

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Hat tip to my lil’ sis, who sent me a link to this video the other day.

CBS News reports on “The Animal Odd Couple”:

The so-called “odd couple” in this story is Tarra (an elephant) and Bella (a dog), both residents of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

I say “so-called” because interspecies friendships aren’t exactly unheard of; heck, according to the AVMA, 43,021,000 American households “own” dogs, 37,460,000 “own” cats, 4,453,000 “own” birds and 2,087,000 “own” horses. While many of these relationships are more akin to that of master/slave, these numbers still allow for quite a few cross-species friendships between human and non-human animals. Personally, I count Ralphie, Peedee, O-Ren, Kaylee and Jayne among my bestest of friends.

Oh, but wait! In common parlance, humans aren’t considered “animals” – so interspecies friendships in which one half of the pair is human doesn’t register as an “odd” “animal” couple. Well, allow me to deconstruct further.

When 37.2% of U.S. households include at least one dog, and 32.4% include one or more cats, there’s bound to be some crossover. Interspecies friendships, in fact, aren’t as uncommon as you might think, human-animal relationships aside. Just Google “interspecies friendships” and you’ll get an idea of how rich and social the lives of non-human animals can be, especially when lived without human interference (such as isolating them from other non-human animals).

Of course, pachyderm/canine relationships are still somewhat odd, inasmuch as domesticated dogs and elephants don’t normally come into contact with one another. But you get my drift, yeah? – Namely, just because we (as in, the collective “we”) don’t take the time or effort to recognize the complexity of a species’ needs, desires and interactions, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

We simply choose not to see the “humanizing” characteristics in non-human animals:

Because Dog forbid we recognize how closely animal sentience mirrors our own.

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