Last updated 3/17/10 @ 2:00 PM CDT

While the recent earthquake (and resulting tsunami) in Chile has received less coverage – at least in regards to subsequent relief efforts – than that in Haiti, I was able to find some information on animal-friendly organizations that are providing help with disaster relief. Please feel free to share any additional information in the comments!

Food for Life Global is on the ground in Chile, providing vegan and/or vegetarian meals to quake survivors:

BBC, Feb 28 — The death toll from Chile’s earthquake has more than doubled to 708 and is expected to rise further, President Michelle Bachelet has said. Previously about 300 people were estimated to have been killed in Saturday’s 8.8 magnitude quake – one of the most powerful recorded. Massive damage is hampering rescue teams as they struggle to reach those still buried in the rubble.

Food for Life emergency relief teams in the area are mobilizing to provide help. Donate now!

Vegan Bake Sales for Chile: As of this writing, I can’t find a post dedicated specifically to vegan bake sales to benefit Chilean quake survivors on the PPK blog, however, a search of the forums does bring up a few relevant threads. Head on over to the PPK to organize and announce your own bake sale for Chile!

Finally, Kinship Circle reports on the animal rescue efforts of international and local animal welfare groups. I’ve added additional links where necessary; the most recent alerts appear first, followed by earlier ones.

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Below you will find the second of two action alerts from Kinship Circle, detailing disaster relief needs in the Southeastern U.S., which is currently drying out from recent flooding (and preparing for another bout of heavy rains, to boot). This particular alert focuses on Cobb County Animal Control in Marietta, Georgia, which is inundated with animals. Even if you cannot foster or adopt a dog – or make a monetary donation to help with rescue expenses – please spread the word.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Subject: Soaked SE – Cobb County Dogs Need Rescue

KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER AID NETWORK

www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/

9/25/09: Soaked Southeast – Cobb County Dogs Need Rescue
Below is more information regarding COBB COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL in flood-hit Marietta, Georgia. Did you get yesterday’s (9/24/09) overview of animal needs in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi?

ASK FOR 9/24/09 FLOOD ALERT: info [at] kinshipcircle.org
9/24/09: Animal Flood Recovery In Soaked Southeast

[Kelly's note: The alert is also available on easyVegan.info, here.]

======================

GEORGIA: Cobb County Animal Control
1060 Al Bishop Drive / Marietta, Georgia 30008
ph: 770-499-4136; fax: 770-590-5620
Cpt. Jeff Patellis, Dept of Public Safety: 770-590-5602

animalcontrol.cobbcountyga.gov/

SUMMARY 9/24/09: From Janice Riccio, Quietzsch [at] aol.com –
Due to the massive flooding in the Atlanta area, and specifically Cobb County, many people displaced by floodwaters left their pets with Cobb County Animal Control. The shelter was slammed before the floods, so they had no room to house newcomers. They were desperate to find rescue for dogs already housed there or face euthanasia…

I’ve taken in 9 dogs and have no place to house them, other then boarding at two vet offices. This is very temporary, and although the vets have generously boarded the dogs at a discount, this will add up quickly — not to mention the other costs for rabies vaccines, altering, etc.

SEND MONETARY DONATIONS TO:
Call vet offices directly to make donations for flood-affected dogs (shown below).
* Averill Animal Hospital / 415 Villa Rica Way / Marietta, GA 30064 / 770-422-2402
* Etowah Veterinary Hospital / 4953 Canton Road / Marietta, GA 30066 / 770-926-8888

IF YOU CAN FOSTER – ADOPT – RESCUE, CONTACT:
Janice Riccio, Quietzsch [at] aol.com

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This is the first of two Kinship Circle alerts outlining animal-related rescue needs in the recently-flooded Southeastern U.S. In addition to the organizations listed below, CNN has a list of resources on its Impact Your World page; naturally, all of these focus on human needs, and many are religious in nature. If you’d like to suggest any animal rescue and/or secular groups, please do so in the comments!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Thu, Sep 24, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Subject: Animal Flood Recovery In Soaked Southeast

KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER AID NETWORK

www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/

9/24/09: Animal Flood Recovery In Soaked Southeast

1. TENNESSEE: East Ridge Animal Services – DOGS NEED HELP NOW
2. GEORGIA: Georgia SPCA, GEMA, Barrow, Cobb County AC
3. ALABAMA: Various shelters in affected areas
4. MISSISSIPPI: Various shelters in affected areas

As of Monday, 9/21/09, Kinship Circle has monitored floods across the Southeast U.S., in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky and Mississippi. Our small volunteer staff has contacted various agencies on the ground to offer support from our network of independently trained responders. There has been no direct call (as of 9/24/09) for out-of-state volunteers, but rescuers are needed to pull from flood-overcrowded shelters.

Rivers crested above flood levels in stricken areas, but most waters are receding. Below is a brief report. We’ll update you if circumstances change.

Fran Alexay of West Creek Stables in Austell moves a Welsh Pony to a trailer. She helped move 15 horses to Conyers Horse Park. Photo: John Spink.

projects.ajc.com.coxnewsweb.com/gallery/view/metro/ajc-photo-stories092209/

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Update, 9/1/09: Guest posting at Sociological Images, Anglofille offers an excellent discussion of George Sodoni’s misogyny – and of the media’s negligence in its coverage of the crime, which more often than not includes a hefty dose of victim-blaming.

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I had planned on including this in my next intersectionality link roundup, but I’d rather this post be timely than in context. Besides, if you need additional context – here ya go.

New York Post: Full Text of “Gym Killer’s” Blog

Yes, I actually suffered through this misogynist’s entire blog. Blame CNN; one of their journalists piqued my curiosity by quoting from the following excerpt:

Why do this?? To young girls? Just read below. I kept a running log that includes my thoughts and actions, after I saw this project was going to drag on.

December 22, 2008:

Time is moving along. Planned to have this done already. I will just keep a running log here as time passes. Many of the young girls here look so beautiful as to not be human, very edible.

George Sodini, consumer of women.* Note how the women go from being not human (read: nonhuman animal) to not alive (read: “meat” -> or an non-sentient object). He reads much like any “good” fast food commercial!

Elsewhere – in the context of an extremely racist rant, which begins with him postponing his “project” in order to “see the election outcome” – Sodini says, and I’m paraphrasing, that every “brother” ought to “get” his own “white hoe” as a sort of “reverse indentured servitude thing”: “Long ago, many a older white male landowner had a young Negro wench girl for his desires. Bout’ time tables are turned on that shit.”

Actually, a truly “reverse indentured servitude thing” – the very term “indentured servant” is misleading when it’s clear that what he’s really referring to is slavery – would see white men relegated to property status, and distributed among women of color (and, more generally, men of color and all women).

As a commenter at the Reclusive Leftist notes,

The murderer suggested offering black men white women as sex slaves as a way of compensating for the fact that white men used to rape black women slaves.

Who was wronged by white men raping black women slaves? The black women slaves? No! Black men of course!

Who should be compensated today for black women slaves having been abused in the past? Black women? No! Black men of course!

To Sodoni, women were nothing but objects to be consumed – or bought, sold, traded or borrowed, for example, to repay a “debt” incurred by one’s past “wrongdoings.” We are but chattel, livestock, property – servants and slaves. Our violation does not harm us – for how can an object experience suffering? – but rather, our owners: men.

Replace “women” with “animals,” and you’ve summarized the popular view re: nonhuman animals. Hopefully, you’re just as appalled.

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Dear WABC Reporter,

Do you honestly not see the irony in using a speciesist phrase like “dog eat dog” to introduce a heartwarming story that, in fact, demonstrates the exact opposite: that canines are complex animals who display a range of emotions and behaviors, including altruism, selflessness, bravery, friendship and love? “Dog is eat” is a prejudiced and hateful term that should be abolished from the human lexicon. Should you find yourself in need of an appropriate substitute, “human eat human,” “human eat dog,” or “human eats everything” may all suffice.

And also, re: your censorship of the injured dog – really? Methinks that the “food” on 99.9% of your viewers’ dinner plates was more gruesome, offensive and disturbing than the remote sight of a broken and bloodied* – but ultimately rescued – dog. There is no such redemption for the eight (give or take; no one knows for sure) murdered, dismembered, ground and processed cows in a “beef patty,” for example.

Otherwise, a beautiful piece.

Regards,

- A grumpy vegan and adopted mom to six furkids

* I first spotted this story on AC 360, where the sight of the injured dog was not blurred from sight. It was upsetting, but again, much less so than, say, the sight of a butcher carving up an animal corpse, which any man, woman or child can take in at more than a few grocery stores.

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Sigh. Almost two years after “vegan” parents Lamont Thomas and Jade Sanders were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for starving their son, Crown Shakur, to death (hence Nina Planck’s oh-so-clever – and, not to mention, compassionate – “Death by Veganism” column title), non-vegans *still* refer to this case as proof that vegan diets are inherently unhealthy and unsuitable for infants and children. (And, in more extreme cases, that vegan diets constitute child abuse and warrant state intervention.) Even though, as I explain at over at Bitch, these “death by veganism” cases could be more accurately described as “death by starvation.” With proper knowledge and planning, vegan diets are actually healthier than diets which involve animals and animal by-products. For infants, breast milk and soy formula – rather than the soy milk and apple juice Crown Shakur received – are part of a healthy vegan diet.

Anyhow, cue the latest bit of anti-vegan scare-mongering: “Vegan diet tied to birth defects,” which PCRM and Liberation BC critique below. Please consider contacting the newspapers that ran the story, and politely correct their shoddy science “reporting.”

Mary Martin at Animal Person also offers an interesting deconstruction of PCRM’s press release from a radical vegan perspective. I’m embarassed to say that I didn’t pick up on PCRM’s odd choice of wording at first!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Liberation BC
Date: Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Subject: Vegan Diet Doesn’t Cause Birth Defects

Liberation BC has had a few people write to us asking about an article in several newspapers, “Vegan diet tied to birth defects”, so we thought we’d send out an Action Alert with a little more information.

The article claims that a study shows that “…vegans and women who eat little or no meat, fish, eggs, milk or cheese are at the highest risk, as well as women with stomach or intestinal problems…that keep them from absorbing enough B12.”

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has issued a press release in response, stating that what the article doesn’t mention is that “…the study is based on analysis of stored blood samples originally collected during pregnancy from three groups of Irish women between 1983 and 1990. It’s not clear if any of the women were vegan, but the study clearly states that this population was deliberately chosen because vitamin supplementation and food fortification were rare at that time. The women lived in a region of traditionally high neural tube defects prevalence, suggesting a moderately high genetic predisposition.” (Doctors endorse vegan and vegetarian diets for healthy pregnancies, 2 Mar 2009)

Of course, it is absolutely true that everyone needs to get B12. It is the only vitamin or mineral that one cannot get on a totally vegan diet. An incredibly small amount of it is necessary–less than 10 micrograms a day–and yet it is so important that without it, we can become very ill indeed. Fortunately, however, it is also a very easy vitamin to get.

It is also worth noting that the experts wholly endorse a vegan diet. The Dieticians of Canada and the American Dietetic Association have stated that:

“Well-planned vegan diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy and lactation. Appropriately planned vegan diets satisfy nutrient needs of infants, children, and adolescents and promote normal growth.”

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Via the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) / Project R&R:

BREAKING STORY: Tune in to ABC-TV Nightline tonight

Please tune in to Nightline tonight (Wed. 03/04 11:30pm EST). This evening’s broadcast* features an expose of the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC). The 9 month undercover investigation of NIRC brings the sad realities of a chimpanzee’s life in a lab to millions of viewers. We ask you to not miss this rare opportunity to see the truth. Please invite your friends and family to watch.

Go to the ABC News website to see a preview and to post a comment.

Please watch your email for a follow up eAlert with timely campaign news.

Thank you for your support and attention.

*News segment schedules are subject to change. Visit Nightline for more information and local listings.

As of this writing, Nightline has several clips of the show available on its website; unfortunately, embedding is disabled, so you’ll have to go to Nightline’s website in order to view the videos.

Even if you don’t tune in, be sure to drop them a quick note of appreciation for covering the story!

UPDATE, 3/4/09: Stephanie, who clearly did more research than I (sorry, I usually can’t bring myself to watch these undercover investigations, *sigh*), has a lengthier writeup here.

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Dear members of the mainstream news media,

Many of you are reporting that the death toll in the recent Australian wildfires now hovers around 200, with numbers likely to rise.

Take, for example, the following headlines:

Australia fire deaths rise to 200 (BBC News)

Australia wildfire death toll reaches 200 (the AP)

Talk Vic toll may reach 300 ‘a rumour’ (Sydney Morning Herald)

News flash: the “death toll” has already surpassed 200, at least 5,000 times over.

To wit: “Millions of animals are estimated to have died in the ferocious Black Saturday bushfires that swept across countryside, towns and farmland in Australia’s southeast.”
 

 
Millions of animals – men, women, children, chickens, canaries, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, deer, dogs, cats, horses, ducks, peacocks, lyrebirds, goats and dingoes, to name just a few of the affected species – have died. The death toll is catastrophic; the loss of life, tragic.

Please don’t imply that some of these lives are insignificant by excluding them from your discourse. If you mean that 200 human lives have been lost, say so. Your sloppy/lazy/negligent reporting and/or headline copyrighting does a disservice to the majority of the fire’s victims – and to those who care for their well-being.

Regards,

The veg*n language police

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare wildfires fires natural disaster australia victoria wildlife pet companion animal msm the media language death toll news in the news video video blogging

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Subject: New Day For Animals? Ban On Dog Racing, Prop 2 Passes…

KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER AID NETWORK

ANIMAL PROTECTION LEGISLATION
11/5/08: A New Day For Animals? Dog Racing Ban, Prop 2 Passes…

Massachusetts: Dog Racing Ban Phased In By 2010

November 4, 2008: One vote went to the dogs, literally, as Massachusetts citizens voted yes on Question 3, approving The Greyhound Protection Act.

The majority vote of “yes” on Ballot Question 3 in Massachusetts means that greyhound racing will be banned. The existing dog racing tracks in Massachusetts will be ordered to shut down by January 1, 2010, as commercial dog racing is slowly “phased out” in the Baystate. Massachusetts Ballot Question 3 passed, with 56% voting “yes” on Question 3, and 44% voting “no.” A majority vote was required to pass The Greyhound Protection Act….

California: Prop 2 Passes!

LT PHOTO: www.yesonprop2.com/

RT PHOTO: Sent by KC member Barb Dunsmore

FROM FARM SANCTUARY: In a historic victory, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 2, a landmark measure that bans factory farming confinement systems — battery cages, veal crates and gestation crates — in the state by 2015. By a vote of more than 60%, Californians sent a clear message to big agribusiness that cruelty to animals is unacceptable…

FROM KINSHIP CIRCLE: The California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act passed in the largest agricultural state in the U.S., particularly for egg-laying hens. Some feel this ban on the most egregious cruelty doesn’t go far enough, as animals remain unable to be themselves in a natural setting…and are still drugged, mishandled, slaughtered, and consumed.

But clearly — the issue of how animals become meals has entered mainstream consciousness. Of equal importance: The people have a voice. Despite the millions agribusiness lobbyists spent on overturning this initiative, it passed. The ballot initiative system, fueled by grassroots stamina, worked.

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In The New York Times, “Farm Boy” Nicholas Kristof “Reflects” on time spent murdering innocent, sentient beings:

Then there were the geese, the most admirable creatures I’ve ever met. We raised Chinese white geese, a common breed, and they have distinctive personalities. They mate for life and adhere to family values that would shame most of those who dine on them.

While one of our geese was sitting on her eggs, her gander would go out foraging for food—and if he found some delicacy, he would rush back to give it to his mate. Sometimes I would offer males a dish of corn to fatten them up—but it was impossible, for they would take it all home to their true loves.

Once a month or so, we would slaughter the geese. When I was 10 years old, my job was to lock the geese in the barn and then rush and grab one. Then I would take it out and hold it by its wings on the chopping block while my Dad or someone else swung the ax.

The 150 geese knew that something dreadful was happening and would cower in a far corner of the barn, and run away in terror as I approached. Then I would grab one and carry it away as it screeched and struggled in my arms.

Very often, one goose would bravely step away from the panicked flock and walk tremulously toward me. It would be the mate of the one I had caught, male or female, and it would step right up to me, protesting pitifully. It would be frightened out of its wits, but still determined to stand with and comfort its lover.

He goes on to say,

So, yes, I eat meat (even, hesitantly, goose). But I draw the line at animals being raised in cruel conditions.

How very generous of you, Mr. Kristof.

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