Author: cinnabar50

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Animal Sentience in Photo and Video

From time to time I try to include stories about animal sentience in the hope that the realization that animals are sentient beings may help to bring an end to the cruelty and the exploitation that they suffer with increasing frequency.

“When animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals’ emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating. Their passions bring us to our knees in delight and sorrow.” 
Marc Bekoff, The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy – and Why They Matter

The videos photos below show that animals are sentient beings with a wide range of emotion and behaviours similar to humans and maybe many unique to their own species

Sheep often show affection for one another as they are doing in the above photograph.

Doesn’t this baby elephant’s behaviour remind you of a human child?

Unfortunately unlike mammals such as dogs, cats and elephants crustaceans such as this tiny creature struggling to survive are less likely to be considered as sentient or in other words aware and conscious of the world around them. Clearly from the video below this is not the case as this poor little animal fights for his life.

The following link has more information about sentience in crustaceans
http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Sentience%20in%20farm%20animals%20aquatic%20animals%20lobsters%20and%20crabs.htm

The pig in the video below is clearly aware of his brother’s plight and is obviously taking hay to him.

Watch this incredible video of an elephant rescuing people from a fast flowing river. Sentient, emphatic and compassionate surely!

 

The following link has more information about sentience in crustaceans
http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Sentience%20in%20farm%20animals%20aquatic%20animals%20lobsters%20and%20crabs.htm

These animals are clearly enjoying themselves, what better proof can you have that animals are sentient beings

This video will show you just how intelligent animals are

Please always keep in mind that animal intelligence should really not be compared to our own and all animals are uniquely intelligent in order to function in their natural habitat.

Respect the animals with whom we share this world, respect their right to life, to live it as nature intended. Animals are not an adjunct to humans, they are not here to satisfy our desires but they like us exist for their own reasons. As far as possible harm no living being.

 

Related Links

https://www.voiceless.org.au/hot-topics/animal-sentience

Animal Sentience Stories:
http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Sentience_Stories.htm

Twitter

Let Fish Live

https://twitter.com/letfishlive?lang=en

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Sheep abuse UK: PETA Investigation, Take the Pledge to Not Wear Wool

A disturbing PETA Asia eyewitness investigation of the wool industry in the UK shows workers beating, stamping on, kicking, mutilating, and throwing around sheep.

Please read the following information from PETA ,watch the video and share widely. Warning video contains graphic content showing animal cruelty which some people will find upsetting. Frankly if you don’t, you don’t have a heart.

“Wool is cruelly derived, no matter where it comes from.

Abuse on Australian wool farms is well documented. Now, a disturbing PETA Asia eyewitness investigation of the UK wool industry shows workers beating, stamping on, kicking, mutilating, and throwing around sheep there, too.

In PETA Asia’s investigation, an eyewitness saw cruelty in every one of the 25 English shearing sheds visited. Workers stood on the necks of panicked sheep and violently punched these gentle animals in the face and beat and jabbed them in the head with clippers.

Gaping wounds were sewed up without pain relief.

A farmer dragged two sheep who were unable to walk into a shed and left them without veterinary care. They eventually died. Several more died of a condition that a farmer called a “heart attack” during shearing.

PETA has already exposed rampant cruelty in shearing sheds in Australia, the US, and South America. PETA Asia’s investigation shows that the cruelty is global.”

Sheep in the UK Beaten, Stamped on, Cut, and Killed for Wool

Warning this video is extremely disturbing.  I could not watch it more than a few seconds. If you view on You Tube you will need to sign in the prove your age.

Please share PETA Asia’s investigation with your friends and family and let everyone know how sheep suffer for wool.

https://www.peta.org.au/action/breaking-investigation-sheep-in-the-uk-beaten-stamped-on-cut-and-killed-for-wool/

Take Action

If you wear wool please sign the pledge at the end of the web page above to stop doing so. By wearing wool you are complicit, as of course this perpetuates this awful cruelty to these gentle animals. Sheep are highly intelligent creatures, they are sentient beings and they suffer from abuse and cruelty as you would yourself.

More information:

Violent attacks on sheep have been condemned by the wool industry but they’re part of a pattern of abuse

On 22 August, Channel 4 News aired undercover footage recorded by animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia. The undercover investigation captured violent assaults on sheep bred for the British wool industry.

Read More includes suggested actions:
https://www.thecanary.co/discovery/analysis-discovery/2018/08/28/violent-attacks-on-sheep-have-been-condemned-by-the-wool-industry-but-theyre-part-of-a-pattern-of-abuse/

Read about the intelligence of sheep

It’s not very often that sheep are recognised for the intelligent creatures they are.

The following article from care two sets out ten fascinating facts about sheep which most people do not know and shows you just how intelligent they are.

https://www.care2.com/causes/10-things-most-people-dont-know-about-sheep.html

Read more about sentience in sheep:

Sentient Sheep:

http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Sentient%20sheep.htm

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Take Action For Angora Rabbits

Below is a guest post by the animal and human rights activist and supporter of free software Luis Leonel.

THEY SCREAM IN PAIN

Every three months, angora rabbits are dragged out of tiny, filthy cages and their fur is violently ripped out as they scream in pain.

Please tell international retailer TJX—the parent company of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and others—to stop selling angora immediately.

https://support.peta.org/page/6485/action/1?utm_source=PETA::E-Mail&utm_medium=E-News&utm_campaign=0818::skn::PETA::E-Mail::Rabbits%20Scream%20As%20Fur%20Is%20Torn%20Out%20for%20TJ%20Maxx::::peta%20e-news&ea.url.id=114550

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Grouse Shooting 2018

It is rapidly approaching that time of year again when the moors of Britain turn into a shooting alley, where the targets are living beings, namely red grouse. Yes on the so called Glorious 12th (12th August) once again these tiny helpless birds will be shot from the sky simply for the pleasure of people who can only be described as mentally unbalanced at best, psychotic at worst. I mean who the hell in their right mind gets a buzz from killing this tiny creature???????

Photo of a Red grouse

Red Grouse

By the end of the four months massacre about 500,000 birds will have been shot despite the fact that the majority of decent people would like to see an end to this barbarity. Last year Thousands marched in London protesting at the badger cull, calling for foxhunting to remain banned and calling for an end to grouse shooting. 

The majority of us would like to see an end to hunting shooting and all blood sport, yet it continues. Lets see if we can make a difference this year and every year until finally this hideous anachronism of a bygone age is gone for good.

Important:

This year the 12th falls on a Sunday, On Sundays it is illegal to hunt or shoot. The law about Sunday shooting is laid out in the Game Act of 1831.

Therefore if you are in the moors or anywhere in the countryside and see anyone or any group of people shooting report them to the police as they are breaking the law.

Reasons to ban grouse shooting

Its unethical

Basically, ethically speaking the wanton killing of defenseless birds for no reason other than the pleasure of a tiny minority, usually the very well off, is wrong – evil in my opinion. As is the killing of other animals to facilitate more grouse for live targets, animals such as raptors, foxes, stoats crows, badgers (because they eat grouse) and hares (because they carry ticks that affect grouse) –  even pets are killed caught in traps. Shooting and any blood sport is nothing more than animal cruelty pure and simple. IT HAS NO PLACE IN ANY MODERN SOCIETY.

Damage to the environment

Grouse moor burning causes widespread environmental changes

Grouse shooting requires intensive moorland management  that causes increased flood risk, higher water-treatment costs, greater carbon emissions, damage to moorland habitats and reduced insect life in the streams running off grouse moors.

Action you can take to end this barbarity

Firstly something everyone can do right now, sign petitions

Please add your name to the following petitions:

We can at least bring an end to shooting in some areas by petitioning landowners to ban it on their land

End grouse shooting on Yorkshire Water moors

Yorkshire Water is one of the largest landowners in the region, leasing out moorlands for grouse shooting at the cost of wildlife, habitat, leisure and the regional economy.

Read more, sign and please share:
https://www.change.org/p/richard-flint-ceo-end-grouse-shooting-on-yorkshire-water-moors

Ban the shooting of Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse for sport.

35 Million “game birds” are placed into the countryside annually for shooting, disrupting the environmental balance. Native wildlife is killed to increase the number of game birds available for shooting. Damage to the environment and suffering to native species and to the game birds is unacceptable.

Read more and sign and share this petition widely need lots more people to sign
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/225105

More information
https://www.facebook.com/events/185104235652390/

Information and action you can take from the League Against Cruel Sports:
https://www.league.org.uk/grouse-shooting

Write to your MP urging a change in the law to ban shooting and all blood sports.
https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

Shooting is an anachronism of a bygone age. Grouse are sentient creatures, their lives are important to them as are the lives of all animals caught up in this barbarity, including raptors, foxes, stoats crows, badgers and hares and even pets killed in traps by game keepers so that there are more grouse to shoot. Thousands of Mountain hare (between 25,961 and as many as 37,681 in 2014) are systematically culled/ killed each year. Please sign the petition to end moutain hare killing included in the previous link. The fact that in the modern world we allow people to use birds as live targets shames us as a country. The fact that people can roam our countryside armed to the teeth and take the lives of some of the other inhabitants of our planet is frankly shocking as it is barbaric. The arguments raised above such as ethics and the environment are the main reasons why this should be stopped. Other considerations I might add are for walkers who trek British moorland: who is not disturbed by suddenly coming upon armed men and sadly women with dead birds and dozens of dogs! Also there is little said about sheep who graze in moorland such as the Yorkshire dales. I have seen sheep harassed and herded by hunting parties and even a hunting dog worrying sheep.

How can we ever have a peaceful world it we allow anyone to kill for pleasure the other species with whom we share this planet. I cannot understand the mentality of anyone who enjoys killing a helpless animal.

Here is another reason to ban grouse shooting

The Saddleworth fire could prove another reason to ban this disgusting ‘sport’, which turns the land into a monoculture

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/27/moors-grouse-shooting-saddleworth-fire-sport-land

Grouse shooting: half a million reasons why time’s up for this appalling ‘sport’

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/12/grouse-shooting-glorious-twelfth-times-up-for-inglorious-victorian-sport

Comment on the last paragraph of the above article: Shooting, hunting, deer stalking and fishing or whatever you want to call the killing of defenseless animals for sport is all barbaric and all need to be abolished in its entirety. IT IS TIME ALL BLOOD SPORTS WERE BANNED HERE IN THE UK AND WORLDWIDE.

Photo Credit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phasianus_colchicus_2_tom_(Lukasz_Lukasik).jpg

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UK Wild Life in Crisis

“It’s up to all of us to protect our wildlife and ensure we live in a world where all life can flourish.”
Chris Packham

Here in the UK we are facing an ecological crisis, the UK’s biodiversity is under threat. Ninety million birds have gone from our countryside since 1970 including 95 percent of turtle doves which are also at risk of becoming extinct globally.  Also corn buntings, grey partridge, tree sparrows, capercaillie and willow tit are among the species who have suffered “severe” declines since 1970. The UK has lost significantly more nature over the long term than the global average, we are among the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

If you care about our wildlife please watch the following video and take the suggested actions

Take action

Join Chris Packham On the Peoples Walk For Wildlife

More details here:
…

Make a note in your diary and join the walk for wildlife in central London on 22nd September 2018.

Whether or not you are able to join the walk you can help by promoting the walk and campaign. 

You can download posters here on Chris Packham’s website:

Spread the Word

YOUR WILDLIFE NEEDS YOU!

http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/peoples-walk-for-wildlife-posters

“Pin it where as many people will see it as possible – your local school, nature reserve, post office, library, museum, community centre, lamp post, in your car window.”

Full instructions for downloading and printing included in the above link.

There are also posters for you to upload on social media.

So its easy for anyone and everyone to help promote this campaign

Also from the same website you can write to your environment minister:

“Let your Environment Minister know how important wildlife conservation is to you. Whether you live in England, Scotland or Wales you can download one of these postcards, print it out and post it.”

Read more and download a postcard

http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/tell-your-environment-minister-how-much-you-love-life-all-life

Related Links

Twitter:Chris Packham  ‎@ChrisGPackham

Also 

Turtle doves ‘nearing UK extinction because of farming practices’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/23/turtle-doves-nearing-uk-extinction-farming-practices/

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Trump: Immigration

“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
Barack Obama

“America was founded on immigrants. The immigrant experience is common to all of us.”
Nia Vardalos

I hope you will sign and share the following petitions concerning the appalling treatment of immigrant children in the US and related issues.

If you don’t have time to read the whole blog entry please at least sign the petitions below:

Reunite Families Separated at the Border Now!

“After much public outrage, President Trump signed an executive order today reversing his administration’s cruel and inhumane policy of separating families at the southern border.

Unfortunately, it isn’t enough. The damage is already done.

According to reports, more than 2,300 children have already been separated from their parents since Trump first enacted his cruel “zero tolerance” policy. Even worse, the policy didn’t include a plan to reunite children with their parents.”

Please read more and sign the petition:
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/224/701/950/reunite-the-families-now/?z00m=30609945

Anyone worldwide may sign the above petition

The following I think is meant for US citizens:

Keep the pressure on to impeach Trump

“Donald Trump is placing families in internment camps. His immigration policy has already separated 2,300 children from their parents, housing kids in filthy, crowded cages.

The American people have had enough: 42% say Trump should be impeached and removed from office — on par with Richard Nixon at the height of Watergate.”
Please read more and sign the petition:|
https://www.needtoimpeach.com/impeach-trump/?utm_campaign=sg_email&utm_source=needtoimpeach&utm_medium=email

Consider that all migrants want is a better life for themselves and their children. They are not criminals. It is natural to want for yourself and your children a good quality of life, a life free from poverty, free from fear, free from of violence or the treat of violence, free from oppression. It is natural to want to protect your children from threats such as drug related violence and poverty to which many people in central American countries are exposed.

“The reality is that many of these families came from Central America to seek asylum because they’re “fleeing gang violence and poverty”. And as HuffPost reported, this situation “has its roots in six decades of U.S. policies carried out by members of both parties”. It continued:

Since the 1950s, the U.S. has sown violence and instability in Central America. Decades of Cold War gamesmanship, together with the relentless global war on drugs, have left a legacy of chaos and brutality in these countries.

https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/06/19/children-crying-as-theyre-torn-from-their-parents-heres-the-sound-of-trumps-america/

Clearly the US has a responsibility.

No child should however in any circumstance be separated from their parents, the trauma of which could have life long consequences.  That such treatment of innocent children exists in a country such as the US is as surreal as it is sickeningly shocking. It is inhumane.

“The U.S. immigration laws are bad – really, really bad. I’d say treatment of immigrants is one of the greatest injustices   done in our government’s name.” 
Bill Gates

Consider the following

With the exception of Native Americans the US is itself is a nation of immigrants, Trump’s own wife is an immigrant.

The Americans who support this inhumane treatment of children are complicit in the inhumane treatment of defenseless children – if you voted for Trump and continue to support him you should count yourself among them.

That such behavior exists in a any country is shocking but for the US this seems even more so. It has to be said that US immigration polices are fueled by racism, they always have been.

In this regard consider the following:

Click the above tweet to get to the New York Times article. For some reason I was unable to paste a direct link into this webpage

Below is a real eye opener into the racist mentality of Trump and those who support him

How anyone can condone or justify the separation of children from their parents is beyond my conprehension. If you are one such person listen to the anguished cries of desperate children forcibly removed from their parents.

Information about the video from Youtube

“ProPublica has obtained audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, in which children can be heard wailing as an agent jokes, “We have an orchestra here.” Read the full story here: https://propub.li/2tcYE9M Correction: A version of this lists the wrong number. An overlay corrects it. And we’re correcting it here: To reach us if you have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, are a worker at a detention center or aid families who have been affected, call 347-244-2134.

“We are a country where people of all backgrounds, all nations of origin, all languages, all religions, all races, can make a    home. America was built by immigrants.”
Hillary Clinton

Related Links

What you need to know about the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jun/06/what-you-need-know-about-trump-administrations-zer/

Facebook doesn’t want you to know that some migrant children have been forcibly drugged.
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/06/21/facebook-doesnt-want-you-to-know-that-some-migrant-children-have-been-forcibly-drugged/

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Orangutan Desperately Trying to Stop a Bulldozer From Destroying His Home : Take Action

“I would make a difference by banning unsustainable palm oil in order to save the rainforest and orangutan habitats along with the rest of the three hundred thousand other species that live in the rainforest.”
Katie Cleary

The photo above shows the desperation of an orangutan, who fortunately has been rescued, as a bulldozer destroys his habitat in West Borneo. A poignant and vivid reminder of the destruction of the habitats of wild animals as their forest home is laid waste to provide land to grow palm oil. If this destruction is not stopped the orangutan will be extinct by 2020.

Please sign as many of the petitions below as you can and also take some of the suggested actions from Say No To palm Oil.

Read the following for more information

“Orangutan Desperately Trying to Stop a Bulldozer From Destroying His Home Is a Wake Up Call For Us All (VIDEO)

“Around 50,000 square miles of tropical forests are cleared each year to produce palm oil, a common ingredient of our snacks and other foods but also household products and cosmetics. As the forests are cleared, many orangutans are forced to scavenge for food on palm plantations – where they are often killed as “pests” or captured and sold into the exotic pet trade.”

Please read the entire article:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/orangutan-trying-stop-bulldozer-destroying-home/?u

Than please share and sign the following petition:

This Orangutan Tried to Stop a Bulldozer From Destroying His Home

“The footage is devastating. An orangutan runs across a felled tree and tries to fight off a bulldozer clearing his natural habitat in West Borneo.

Members of International Animal Rescue are seen coming to the orangutan’s aid. It’s a heartbreaking reminder of the plight critically endangered orangutans face. Over the past 20 years, orangutans have lost 55% of their natural habitat due to deforestation. Their population has decreased 50% over the past 60 years, due in large part to this loss of habitat.”

Please read more and sign the petition:

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/743/579/025/this-orangutan-tried-to-stop-a-bulldozer-from-destroying-his-home/?TAP=1732

More petitions 

This next petitions asks that the UK government Make Sustainably Sourced Palm Oil a Legal Requirement

“Unsustainably sourced palm oil is one of the leading causes of deforestation of the rainforest in places such as Madagascar and Indonesia.”

Read more and sign the petition:

Make Sustainably Sourced Palm Oil a Legal Requirement:
https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-make-sustainably-sourced-palm-oil-a-legal-requirement-in-uk

This petition is to Companies that use unsustainable palm oil in their products

“Palm oil production is killing orangutans and 1500 other rain forest species. The orangutan will be extinct in 2020 if we don’t do something very soon.”

Please read more and sign the petition

Companies: Stop using awful palm oil !

https://www.change.org/p/companies-stop-using-awful-palm-oil

More Action

From Say No To Palm Oil

Take the palm oil challenge

“Are you up for a CHALLENGE?!

As a consumer, you can help to reduce your contribution to deforestation in Borneo and Sumatra through making some simple lifestyle changes. We share these tips and tricks with you in a world-first program called the 28-Day Palm Oil Challenge.

The 28-Day Palm Oil Challenge is a program designed to help you live a more holistically sustainable lifestyle. Step by step, you’ll discover how to reduce your consumption of conflict-palm oil. ”

http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/What_can_i_do.phpl  –   Lots of information and more actions you can take, there is something for everyone, we can all make a difference even if it is only by avoiding products containing palm oil.I say only but avoiding products with palm oil from non sustainable sources is not as easy as it sounds and you will need to read labels very carefully.

Don’t forget to check out Say No to Palm Oil home page for even more information and actions including petitions
http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/index

If we don’t end this devastation soon there will be dire consequences for many of the worlds plant and animal species:
Did you know that the world’s rainforests are home to over half of all plants and anima