where science and ethics intersect with politics
The European Parliament voted on January 16, 2018 for a ban on the controversial fishing practice of electric pulse fishing, in which electrically charged lines are dragged just above the sea floor, stunning marine life up into trawling nets. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the only directly elected body to represent the European Union (EU), voted 402 to 232 in favor of the ban.
The newly formed coalition government of Norway, led by Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, announced on January 14, 2018 a pledge to end all fur farming in Norway, with the phase-out complete by 2024/2025. Norway is the 14th European nation to phase out fur farming. Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg are also considering legislation to ban fur farming. The United Kingdom was the first to institute a ban in 2000, followed by Austria in 2004.
Could the soybean be the best possible food for us? It may very well be. A pound of boiled soybeans delivers 82.67g of protein, 463 mg of calcium and over 23 mg of iron, along with many other essential vitamins and minerals. It may also be the most efficient source of protein that can be produced for us to consume anywhere in the world.
According to the socially conscious Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (FAIRR) investor initiative, global meat consumption increased five-fold between 1992 and 2016. This rise has worldwide implications for human health as well as the environment. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the average American consumer will eat a record-breaking 222.2 pounds of red meat and poultry in 2018.
Fashion industry icon Michael Kors has joined the list of designers who will no longer use fur in their fashion lines. Kors follows on the recent announcement by the Italian industry giant Gucci that they will begin phasing out fur starting in the spring of 2018. Unfortunately, fur products are sometimes mislabeled as fur-free.
The Humane Party’s Economic Transition Team has completed its report analyzing the manure generated from animals. The purpose of the document is to understand the daily generation of animal manure due to animal agriculture and its implications. Recommended rates of manure application to farmlands are taken into account along with each state’s total land and farming-allocated land to evaluate whether the amount of manure generated per state is insufficient, sufficient, or excessive to meet the fertilization needs of each state.
The over 30 million people living in Venezuela face shortages of many basics, and what many call a hunger crisis faces the country. President Nicholas Maduro announced a plan on September 12, 2017 to alleviate the hunger crisis through Plan Conejo, a plan to convince Venezuelans to eat rabbit. A better plan in promoting food security is being implemented with the government’s much more efficient proposal to have residents plant rooftop gardens.
There are 21 countries in which it is illegal to have your cat declawed: England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Slovenia, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. Conspicuously missing from this list is the United States.
Knowing the devastation that factory farming causes to water, land or human health hasn’t convinced industry captains of the error of their ways. The myth of efficiency boosted factory farming for these many decades. Now the devastation it causes is coming back to haunt us. A conference in London, taking place October 5-6, will bring it all together.
This tiny beast, this guinea pig, had become golden to the researchers! He saved them a lot of time and money. He was very patient. He caused no one any grief. Ever. He required very little anesthetic and so they hardly ever gave him any. They didn’t need to! Because he only purred. And they used him, and used him, and abused him. He was their bread and butter. They didn’t put the guinea pig on a fork and poke it into their mouths, but that’s only a technicality. The suffering of the guinea pig was food to them. His flesh and body sustained them. So they ate him.
Playa Lucia on Puerto Rico has long been where unwanted and abused dogs, called satos, have been abandoned. Hundreds of dogs live, or try to survive, there at any given time. Residents of the area have taken to calling it Dead Dog Beach. When Hurricane Maria hit the island on September 20, a volunteer with the Sato Project was able to take in 53 of the dogs, who rode out the storm in crates atop concrete blocks. Then Wings of Rescue came into the picture.
A personal story.
What started off as any other morning, was about to prove the opposite. I was awake, had my morning coffee, and was navigating through my morning routine. I couldn’t tell you the exact day of the week it was, though I know it was two weeks ago on an overcast day in September.
The Joan Jett Station was playing on Pandora, when a friend of mine appeared quickly before me and seemingly frazzled. He told me that it was screaming and that he didn’t know what to do.
Classified as Young Adult Fiction, Christopher Locke’s book Persimmon Takes on Humanity centers on raccoon Persimmon, a spunky and scrappy heroine, and her forest friends as they try to rescue other animals suffering at the hands of humans.
The Humane Herald 