Imagining Their Pain

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Hunting, Videos, Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals

Published November 22, 2009 @ 03:23PM PT

For all those who were killed this weekend, not respectfully as their killers like to claim, but brutally, with the standard whoops and hollers exchanged as they lay there dying. For all those whose bloody bodies were thrown into the back of trucks, their failed attempts to escape death bragged about. For all the many, many who ran off with arrows and bullets in their bellies, backs, chests, legs, and face but were not found, who fled in terror and suffered slow, excruciating deaths. For that one particular terrified animal, who died one of those slow, suffering deaths, whose brutal end was gleefully recounted and celebrated by some members of my family last night but cried over by others.

Shared last year and shared again this year:

What Kind of a Person Eats Katie the Lamb?

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: CageFree and FreeRange, Dairy and Eggs, Farm Animals, Slaughter

Published November 21, 2009 @ 06:35AM PT

When Chad Miller of Food Fight! Vegan Grocery in Portland, OR, shared this image last month, I immediately wanted to share it with you, but it wasn't yet available in its intended form -- as a t-shirt -- so I waited. Now that the shirt is here in all its glory, I'm glad to share. It's funny, sad, adorable, and somewhat coarse all at the same time. I love it.

And it's interesting how much difference one tiny word -- one article, "a" -- can make, isn't it? People don't talk about eating "a lamb." They don't envision that. They distance themselves and talk about eating "lamb." And "chicken" and "fish" and "turkey" -- as if these are all just substances, not the bodies of individual thinking and feeling beings. But what if each body in each grocery store, farmer's market, butcher's shop, or restaurant came with a name and a story -- maybe even a photo? How much do people really want to know whom -- not just where -- their so-called food comes from?

"What does the chef recommend -- Katie the lamb or Sandy the chicken? They both look delicious."

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Friday Food: Pot Pies, Stuffing, Cakes, Scones, and Tarts

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Food and Recipes, Friday Food

Published November 20, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

The first section of this week's Friday Food fest includes several autumny, holiday-ish vegan recipes if you're still looking for ideas for compassionate contributions to gatherings with family and friends next week. There will be more related to the upcoming holiday(s) later, of course, but for now, the weekly roundup:

Celebration Pot Pie with Pumpkin Biscuit Crust from FatFree Vegan Kitchen (photo at left courtesy of Susan at FFVK)

Apple Cake With Caramel-Pecan Glaze from Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes

Grandpa Earl's Stuffing from Rhymes With Vegan

5 Step Pumpkin Platter: Thanksgiving Vegan Protein from Healthy. Happy. Life.

Apple Ginger Scones from BitterSweet

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Inflatable, Creative Pro-Turkey Activism

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Farm Animals

Published November 19, 2009 @ 06:34AM PT

Trying to come up with creative new ways to advocate for animals can be exhausting, especially when the prevailing view of animals -- as lesser beings or even objects here for us to do with what we want -- is so ingrained in our society and traditions that we are faced with it everywhere, particularly around the holidays.

So this morning, I want to point out the awesomeness of -- and hope maybe you'll take inspiration from? -- my Chicago area-based pal Marla, aka the Vegan Feminist Agitator. I've been inspired and amused ever since I saw Marla mention her family's three-year-running Thanksgiving tradition last week: If you were to drive by Marla's house today, you would see a giant inflatable turkey hanging out in the front yard, next to a sign pleading with passersby, "Please don't eat me!" And accompanying the giant turkey is, of course, a supply of vegetarian (titled vegetarian, but actually vegan, I'm sure, as is often the case with starter kits) starter kits for anyone who wants to pick one up.

I love, love, love this. I have to endure giant inflatable pumpkins, snowmen, Santa Clauses, snow globes, and more in my St. Louis neighborhood every fall and winter, and if I could get my hands on a cheap giant plastic turkey (or maybe a pig as Christmas approaches? and an egg as Easter approaches?), I'd consider copying my friend's creative idea.

You can see a picture of Marla's setup here.

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Photo above by Flickr user RadioFish

Why Is the Nature Conservancy Killing Animals?

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Hunting, Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals

Published November 18, 2009 @ 07:51PM PT

The nonprofit Friends of Animals has just started a petition here at Change.org that I recommend interested animal advocates customize (i.e., personalize with their own language, perspectives, and concerns) and sign their names to. "Once again," the group explains, "the Nature Conservancy is using lethal wildlife management in one of its 'sanctuaries.' This time it's in the Devil's Den Preserve in Weston, CT."

And you know how I feel about the preposterous nature of encouraging killing in what is supposed to be a "refuge" or "sanctuary."

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Beheading Chickens Is OK, but Beheading Cats Is "Over the Top"

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Slaughter

Published November 18, 2009 @ 06:31AM PT

One dog, one cat, three chickens -- all were found beheaded in Philadelphia late last week. The AP's brief account of the discovery mentioned only the dog and cat in its intro, the chickens coming up only a few sentences later as having been found "along with" the more important victims. But it's not just the media establishing who the important victims were. The director of investigations for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals noted that animal sacrifices often increase around this time of year because of religious holidays, but he didn't stop there.

Most sacrifices involve goats or chickens, he noted, and here's the kicker, courtesy of the Philadelphia Daily News:

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Activists Jailed for Refusing to Testify Before Grand Jury

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Animal Testing and Vivisection, Green Scare, Politics and Law

Published November 17, 2009 @ 04:24PM PT

Two Twin Cities activists have been jailed on contempt charges in Davenport, Iowa, for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury investigation into, it is believed, an action taken at a University of Iowa laboratory in 2004. The two were offered limited immunity but still refused to testify about (again, presumably) a break-in that involved  vandalism and the rescue of numerous rats and mice. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Star-Tribune and the Quad-City Times have picked up the story.

A "Support Carrie and Scott" blog has been set up where you can read more, including statements from the recently jailed activists themselves. I'll post more on what fellow activists can do to offer support as the situation unfolds.

Seems like a good time to direct activists again to the Center for Constitutional Rights' If An Agent Knocks booklet.

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Photo by Flickr user bloomsberries