Informative articles for animal activists and advocates€¦ · Informative articles for animal activists and advocates... MAGAZINE MAY 2017 RRP $4.00 A look into the world of often

Informative articles for animal activists and advocates...

MAGAZINE MAY 2017 RRP $4.00

A look into the world of often misunderstood rats

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Exposing the Dairy & Slaughterhouse industry

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Duck Season through the eyes of a Rescuer

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Editor: Lynda Stoner

Contributors: Susanne Briggs, Bede Carmody, Corinna Conforti, Anna Hall, Emma Hurst, Bronwen Irons, Nadia Kiternas, Leigh-Chantelle, Katrina Love, Brendan Mays, Tracie O’Keefe, Lawrence Pope, Dr. Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, Veronica Rios, Reeni Rubio-Martinez , Nadine Saacks, Lynda Stoner, Alex Vince, Paula Wallace, Sharron Woodward

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Letter from...

The EditorDear Supporter,

Animal Liberation has already achieved wonderful things this year including raising awareness and lobbying companies about the cruelty of green wide mesh monofilament that kills and injures bats and other animals. Our campaign against the Grill’d franchise for using rabbit meat resulted in them dropping this from their menu and making a pledge they will never use rabbit meat again. We have exposed the cruelty of the dairy industry after receiving footage and going to the authorities and media with it and we have launched a new dairy campaign.

Our Youth Engagement Officer speaks regularly to schools and universities. Our Digital Social Media Strategist’s Facebook posts continue to reach ever increasingly higher numbers, one post reached 500,000 people! Our 1800 Cruelty Hotline Agent works around the clock taking calls throughout Australia to help people reporting neglect and cruelty to animals.Thanks to you 2017 will be a progressive year for the rights of all animals

Thank you

RELEASE Magazine May 2017 | 3

ContentsLetter from the Editor ....................................................................2Animal Liberation Meetings ..........................................................2Snowball The Real World of Rats ................................................4Young bats face urban web of dangers… ....................................6Dairy Farm & Slaughterhouse Expose .........................................8Bringing the ‘Liberty’ movement to Australia ..............................10Experiences of a Duck Rescuer .................................................13Membership callout ...................................................................14Duck Rescue - a first time rescuer shares her thoughts ............16Five Propositions on Ferals .......................................................18A Magical Evening ......................................................................2220 years a Vegan........................................................................24Golden Lotus .............................................................................27Review of Ondine Sherman’s book Sky ....................................27A Poultry Place turns Sweet 16 .................................................28Grill’d Took Rabbit Meat Off the Menu! .......................................29Review of Amanda the Teen Activist ..........................................30Taiwan bans euthanasia of stray animals ..................................31

Whiteface, the Covergirl, looking at herself in the last issue of Release... Pur-fect!

4 | RELEASE Magazine May 2017

The Real World of Rats by Alex Vince

Rats nearly universally get a bad rep. They are the most common mammal in the world, yet they are also one of the most commonly misunderstood and maligned. When we think of rats, the images that erupt before our minds are

often overwhelmingly negative. If we cast our minds across popular culture, we can see this play out in films, television,

literature, art, and even advertising. These negative portraits have a rich history in the ways humans have come to see an entire community of species as dirty, undesirable, or often as little more than unwelcome hosts of disease. The legend of the Pied Piper, a famous rat-catcher employed by a German town to lure rats away with a magic pipe to a watery grave in the nearby Weser River, illustrates the popular opinion of rats as well today as it did centuries ago. To this day, the city of Hamelin celebrates a “holiday for Exterminators” known as Rat Catcher’s Day. Today, we speak of them in common conversations with a disregard or malice reserved only for those we see as expendable or erasable. When we feel hard done by, we might say we feel we were treated like a lab rat. And we collectively seem to instinctively know what this means. But what do our interactions and ideas about these clever little creatures say about us?

There are at least 400 different kinds of rodents, and their names are as numerous as their origins. There’s the earth rat, the roving rat, the barn rat, the field rat, the house rat, the water rat, the wharf rat, the brown, black, gray, and common rat. They are distinguished from mice primarily by their size, with rats generally being larger than their mousey counterparts. Infants of both rats and mice are called kittens or pups. When they are in groups, the term becomes a mischief.

In the 18th century, wild rats ran amok, leading to the advent of a dedicated ‘rat-catching’ industry. Rat-catchers became entrepreneurs, earning a living by not only trapping the rats, but by then selling them as food, or far more frequently, as prey to the related phenomena of ‘rat-baiting’. This popular ‘sport’ often involved the breeding of rats specifically for baiting. This was popular pastime in Victorian England, where pits were constructed to place bets on how long it would take a dog (frequently a terrier) to kill as many rats as was possible within a minute. If any had the fortune, or misfortune as it may be, to survive this onslaught, they were then brought before the referee, who struck them on the tail three times with a stick. Should they manage to crawl or show any sign of life, they were returned to the pit and put through the passage of death once more (this, it must be said, strongly echoes the live-baiting scandals of contemporary Australia, wherein animals were trapped, immobilised, chased and terrorised around a track by blooded greyhounds, and subjected to repeated maulings should they survive).


When the UK Parliament enacted the Cruelty to Animals Act in 1835, this placed a legal prohibition on the baiting of bulls, bears, and other large mammals. Rats, however, were not included. The blood of rats, it seems, was somehow seen as less odious than if it were the lifeblood of a bear or a bull. The last public rat-baiting was held in 1912, and ended with a prosecution, a fine, and a promise that this blood sport would never again occur. ‘Ratting’ continues, however, only under a guise that gives the slaughter and suffering an air of humility or necessity. Throughout the world, dogs are still used to euphemistically ‘control’ wild rat populations. A short stroll around any urban city centre will illustrate this, with an array of portable devices set up euphemistically “control” these “pests”.

Despite this, rats and mice have routinely been subjected to a range of other institutional (ab)uses. Throughout the world, rats and mice are bred to become objectified tools of the pharmaceutical and medical industry. Of the scarce statistics available on experiments on animals in Australia, over 100,000 rats are used in invasive and often fatal trials every year. The first of these individuals ever interred in a laboratory in 1828, and eventually these species became the first animal domesticated for purely ‘scientific’ purposes. Since then, rats and mice have been subjected to procedures and experiments attempting to understand intelligence, nutrition, genetics, reproduction, and cancer.

Elsewhere, however, rats have been trained by police to sniff out gunshot residue. They are also employed as therapy animals for children with developmental disabilities, and have even been trained to identify muscle spasms in peoples whose capacity to sense these have been limited by their disability. In Belgium, Gambian pouched rats, so-called ‘HeroRATS,’ are trained to sniff out land mines in Mozambique, Cambodia, Angola, and Zimbabwe. Due to their size and weight, these rats can detect mines without setting them off. In Tanzania and Mozambique, they are trained to detect tuberculosis, one of the deadliest and most contagious diseases in the modern world.

Despite these unique abilities, throughout history rats have been denigrated and subject to campaigns of eradication. During war and as a prelude to genocide, classifying human beings as rats or vermin (an epithet that often or invariably leads to death) sets the stage for mass slaughter. This much is clear: when the use-value of an animal decreases, so too does the level of protection or consideration they are afforded. This partly explains why rats in popular culture are demonised and drafted for destruction. Don’t have the time...

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It’s common knowledge that these creatures co-exist with people in cities, living off our refuse and surviving in spite of us. It’s less common knowledge that these little creatures rescue one another when in distress.

It’s true. Rats rescue other rats in distress. Studies of dubious ethical value have proven that they will choose to help a friend in distress rather than receive food. For all of the propagandised problems rats are supposed to present to us, isn’t it time we chose to learn a thing or two from our friends with four-legs and selfless hearts?


Young bats face urban web of dangers…by Lawrence Pope Victorian Advocates for Animals Fobb – Friends of Bats and Bushcare

When young flying foxes leave mum’s protection for the first time they contend with many dangers as they fly into the night in search of food.

Wiley owls and raptors are always on the lookout for an inexperienced snack-sized bat. But avoiding predators is just the beginning of a life of urban risk. There are also powerlines and barbed wire fences that are invisible in the dark and another, innocent looking, web-of-death – backyard fruit tree netting.

Flying is energy expensive and they must eat a lot to stay alive – nectar, pollen, and fruit will form the great bulk of their nightly food. Flying foxes pollinate over 100 species of native trees as they move up and down the east and south east coasts of Australia. They can spread 60,000 seeds per night and are an `umbrella` species keeping alive many others by creating trees and regenerating forests that provide us with clean air and water.

But what happens if you’re in Brunswick or Blacktown and you can’t find any native flowering trees? The backyard fruit tree might just be your saviour or, if it’s netted, your doom. Backyard fruit tree nets kill more flying fox bubs than just about any other obstacle in urban Australia. Often they’re found dead in netting laden with unwanted fruit adding, for bat rescuers and conservationists, anger to sadness.

Victorian bat rescuer Bev Brown finished her 300th bat netting rescue last week and never gets used to seeing young animals suffer,

“It’s very stressful, they’re wounded and in pain. Their eyes plead with you to help and we have to take many and have them euthanized, it’s heart breaking…I’d just ask people not to use nets they can push fingers through, please, just don’t”.

Our stewardship of this vital species hasn’t been that great. Grey-headed flying fox population has declined by around 99% since 1900 and continues to fall. We need them and they deserve a better deal in the 21st century. So, for young bat’s sake we ask: please check your backyard fruit tree net. If you can put fingers through the holes it’s UNSAFE and only a matter of time before our bonny bats come to grief in it. The best netting for wildlife is none at all but a close second are fruit bags or socks. These have flywire sized netting and are now widely available. They fit over individual branches and are easily removed after fruiting. People are increasingly avoiding tricky ladder climbing by using fruit bags on lower branches and leaving the high fruit for wildlife.

Top: Lawrence Pope with Bat Girl | Below: 11 week old net rescued (Photos by Jacki Burns)

Since 2005 the Victorian Advocates for Animals has been campaigning for safer netting options and progress has been made with several major retail chains selling safer nets and others having committed to doing the same. However Australia’s Free Trade agreements mean that wildlife unsafe netting will continue to be imported and sold and so the answer, given that banning products is virtually impossible, seems to be regulation combined with public education.

This means state-by-state regulations stipulating the kinds of netting that can be installed on backyard fruit trees with only wildlife safe types permitted. So, knitted nets with holes / apertures of 5mm x 5mm (or less) or, fruit socks/bags with `flywire` 2mm x 2mm apertures or if single strand netting apertures of 5mm x 5mm (or less) with each strand 500 microns thick. Five hundred microns (half a millimetre) gives the net a residual stiffness that makes it safer for wildlife to climb across without becoming entangled.

Regulations we are lobbying for in Victoria would sit under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 or the Wildlife Act 1975.

People would still be able to purchase wide-aperture netting for other purposes for example: over fish ponds, chicken coops, cat enclosures, climbing plants, tomatoes and the like – but not for use on fruit trees.

Regulations will do several things. They will discourage retailers from purchasing netting that is harder to sell, thereby decreasing the uptake and installation of unsafe netting across time. Regulation will also

enable rescuers to ask Mr Brown to remove the unsafe nets if it has trapped an animal and be able to point to a law which currently they cannot. Regulation will not impose an unrealistic enforcement burden on council or wildlife officers who can wait until they are alerted to an actual problem by rescuers. They may then inform the householders of their duty under law and give them a chance to remove the net without penalty.

Netting rescues are stressful that involve injured animals and dangerous ladder climbing. Reducing this risk, stress and impost on rescuers should be a priority for governments that say they care about the welfare of wildlife volunteers. Entangled wildlife may also bite or scratch adults, children and pets and so represents a preventable public health and safety risk. In fact every entanglement is a spin of the zoonotic disease roulette wheel. Reducing all these risks is not hard to do and just makes common sense for responsible authorities.

Unsafe fruit tree nets kill several thousand native animals across Australia each year. Dehydration, strangulation and shock kill most. These are almost entirely preventable painful and sad ends to often young lives.

I note that while Australian sport seems to dance around a maypole of infinite funding goodwill and political bonhomie those who have the interests of animals at heart too often grapple with the numbing indifference of bureaucracies and government departments. But progress is possible and together we will achieve it – for young bats sake!


ANIMAL LIBERATION’S INVESTIGATION EXPOSES VIOLENT ABUSE AND SUFFERING ON AN AUSTRALIAN DAIRY FARM AND SLAUGHTERHOUSE

by Emma Hurst

Investigators have documented scenes of mother cows chasing after their young as they are torn from them, and shocking

footage of calves at the slaughterhouse being beaten and thrown.

This investigation comes moments after the dairy industry representatives asked the public for financial help. The truth is, there is a very dark and hidden side of the dairy industry, and our footage has just brought it to light.

Calves are the victims of one of the most cruel, exploitative and unnatural productions. Cows will only produce milk after giving birth. Calves compete with the dairy industry for cow’s milk and are removed from their mothers as quickly as possible, within 12 to 24 hours of being born.

Mothers bellow their grief at the loss of their babies, sometimes for days and weeks. For calves it is traumatic and frightening. Our footage follows this journey with Tommy, who was only one day old when he was taken from his mother.

Picked up and thrown into the back of a truck he watched and called for his mother as she chased after him. As the truck made its way onto the road he could still hear her desperate cries. At the slaughterhouse he was repeatedly hit over the head with a paddle before being picked up and tossed like a rag doll onto a conveyor. The last thing he saw was blood pouring from the throats of the calves sliced open before him. Then it was his turn.

There is only one way to stop this cycle of abuse. By adopting a dairy-free lifestyle we reduce the demand for dairy and stop more calves being born into this industry.

The release of this undercover footage has already seen hundreds of Australians taking the pledge to go dairy-free. The truth is, behind nearly every glass of milk and slice of cheese there is a story of extreme animal cruelty and exploitation.

DAIRY FARM AND SLAUGHTERHOUSE EXPOSE

The best way to help Tommy and other cows in the dairy industry is to simply choose vegan alternatives to milk, cheese, and ice cream. We have the power to create change.

Take the PLEDGE at www.dropdairy.com to get your FREE dairy-free starter pack full of recipes, news, and tips. Order a copy for friends or family to give them the tools needed to move away from dairy for good.

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By Paula Wallace

In Sydney recently, an exciting new project was debuted that aims to create rehoming centres for ex-research animals, following the international trend to build capacity in the extended care of animals used for scientific purposes as a more sustainable and ethical approach than current practices.

In the past ten years we have seen a number of sanctuaries, involving public, private and charitable organisations, set up to care for

animals from research institutions. For instance, Gut Aiderbichl in Austria; Chimp Haven in the US; Fauna Foundation in Canada; Beagle Freedom Project in the US and Australia; and New Life Animal Sanctuary in California – to name a few.

These sanctuaries are not just for primates such as chimpanzees. New Life Animal Sanctuary is a successful example of a rehoming option for companion animals, rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs and farm animals.

The Liberty movement is simply a term coined to describe this growing phenomenon, which the Liberty project is hoping to bring to Australia in the form of specialist independent centres with the support of research institutions.

The Liberty project made its first public presentation in Sydney on 24 September [1], as part of the Animal Justice Party’s annual conference, coinciding with International Rabbit Day. It presented the case for an independent ‘Liberty’ movement in Australia supported by research institutions that would allow animals to safely live their natural life spans following their use in research. While a small number are currently rehomed, the majority of animals are either used for further research or euthanised.

The presentation was based on a white paper [2] produced by the Liberty project that can be downloaded at: www.paula.wallace.com.au/Liberty.

The white paper shows that we still need to find out much more about the kinds and numbers of animals that could be rehomed, the majority of whom are used for exploratory and experimental activities in basic/fundamental science, human and animal health research, product and toxicity testing, biomedical and agricultural research.

It’s worth noting that the term research institution is a general term used in the context of this article, but it refers specifically to universities, government agencies, companies such as pharmaceutical, and biomedical research foundations.

It’s not just about ‘rescuing animals’The Liberty project aims to create a shared language, where research institutions can talk about their work with animals and consider the values and opinions of the broader societies which they operate within.

It’s impossible for research institutions to be part of creating a shared language if they don’t have a voice, which is why the Liberty project also provides a means for research institutions to address issues around openness and transparency.

There is an acceptance from the scientific community internationally that confidence in its research rests on it embracing an “open approach and taking part in an ongoing conversation about why and how animals are used in research” [3].

The life science sector in the UK believes that as a world leader in research it has an obligation to demonstrate continuing and high standards of animal welfare. Furthermore, to gain the public’s trust it must be “open, transparent, and accountable” for the research it conducts, funds or supports. [4]

Above: New Life Animal Sanctuary in California is a successful example of a rehoming option for companion animals, rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs and farm animals. Image: New Life Animal Sanctuary, US.

Above: The experience of Beagle Freedom Project in Australia and the US demonstrates that ex-research animals can achieve high quality of life. Image: Beagle Freedom Project, US.

Bringing the ‘Liberty’ movement to Australia

The Liberty project hopes that Australian researchers will take advantage of the benefits of joining this conversation. But it’s certainly not the first to be doing this. There has been great work already done by scientists, ethicists and animal advocates over the past 50 years or so, to bring the work of animal-based science into broader discussion.

This can only lead to better outcomes for animals and for research institutions and has been gaining momentum in recent years on several fronts, mostly in Europe and the US. Namely, greater openness and engagement on behalf of the scientific community and life sciences sector as mentioned earlier; greater commitment to the reduction and replacement of animals in science; and the pursuit of legal avenues to have the personhood of animals recognised.

Most interestingly, there have been moves by government and industry overseas to provide more ethical and sustainable options for animals at the conclusion of research.

In May 2014, Minnesota became the first state in the US and first political body in the world to mandate that laboratory dogs and cats be adopted when the research is completed. If a dog or cat is used in a taxpayer funded research experiment and is healthy at its end, the organisation must offer them up for public adoption through an organisation like Beagle Freedom Project.

In November last year, it was reported that the chimpanzees still used by the United States’ National Institutes of Health for animal testing would soon be sent to sanctuaries for their “retirement” as the US governmental medical research agency ceases its chimp program altogether.


In Australia, the National code of practice for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes states:

3.4.2 Opportunities to rehome animals should be considered wherever possible, especially when the impact of the project or activity on the wellbeing of the animal has been minimal and their physiological condition and behavioural attributes indicate that they can be introduced to a new environment with minimal, transient impact on their wellbeing. [5]

Unfortunately, many research institutions and their Animal Ethics Committees do not generally consider that there are suitable options for rehoming. This is where Liberty Centres can play a vital role in enabling research institutions to better align with government requirements and public values when it comes to animal welfare.

While this provides some indication of the share of animal-based research conducted in different sectors, it does not allow insight into individual animals and their involvement. It is also complicated by the fact that information from Victoria is missing and the state is home to about 150 biotechnology companies, as well as 13 major medical research institutes, 10 teaching hospitals conducting significant research, and nine universities.

Much of the basic science conducted in Australia is supported by taxpayer-funded grants through the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council, some of which involves animals. Universities were the primary recipients of current funding (more than 65% from the NHMRC and 100% from ARC), with the remainder going to research institutes and government agencies.

So, why would these research institutions support the Liberty movement? The answer is simple: they can only benefit from the development of rehoming options for animals in which they can take a proactive and partnership approach. The Liberty Project in Australia ticks all those boxes and the white paper outlines the primary benefits to research institutions that range from competitive advantage to better risk management.

Although rehoming sanctuaries or centres will only be able to care for a fraction of the animals used for scientific purposes in Australia, they will play an important role in placing greater awareness and value on the lives of animals; and in assisting research institutions to create internal culture change and increase their capacity to better align with public and stakeholder values, international trends and government requirements. u

The rehoming opportunityAnyone with an interest in this area will know that it’s difficult to characterise an animal-based research sector as such; the companies and organisations that work with animals for scientific purposes are diverse.

The publicly available data gives some insight into the numbers of animals used for different kinds of procedures but often does not classify them by species or by indicators that would allow assessment of their suitability for rehoming.

Of the estimated 6.99 million [6] non-human animals used for scientific purposes in Australia (2014) annually, around 1.62 million would theoretically be available, but not necessarily suitable, for rehoming.

Figures from NSW provide some idea of the kinds of animals that may be able to achieve good quality of life post-research. For example, the government-supplied data [7] indicated there were 179 cats, 1,760 dogs, 749 guinea pigs and 1,633 rabbits – just some of approximately 570,000 individual animals that did not die during the course of research.

Based on information provided this year by governments in NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, the breakdown of facilities licenced to use animals for scientific purposes is shown in the pie chart.

The Liberty project is most interested in the research conducted at university/government level (30%); agricultural (6%); animal health (5%); and industrial/pharmaceutical research and medical equipment (5%). These groups together make up around 46% of all the licenced facilities.

Above: Licenced users of animals for scientific purposes, by sector (NSW, QLD, WA,TAS) Based on information sourced from Humane Research Australia.


HUMAN GRADEINGREDIENTS

t How you can helpThe Liberty project is in the early stages of engaging with Animal Ethics Committees, research institutions and government agencies, as their support is vital to the success of the project in Australia. Right now, it is establishing these networks, with the view of securing funding and also identifying new or existing sites where it could establish rehoming centres in NSW and Victoria.

While the project is focused on the research institutions, it is also interested in speaking with other potential patrons, benefactors and sources of funding.

Perhaps there is someone you know at a university or an Animal Ethics Committee who you think might be interested in learning more about the Liberty project.

Maybe you have ideas about how we can engage pharmaceutical companies or biomedical research in the idea of rehoming centres.

You might have a spare day once a month to help the Liberty project make contact with research institutions? Whatever ideas or time you have, we would love to hear from you.

We all need to work together to bring the Liberty movement to Australia and with your help we can create a better future for ex-research animals.

About the author: Paula Wallace is a writer and media professional who has been reporting on business-related environmental and sustainability issues since 2004. She is spearheading the establishment of the Liberty movement in Australia.

Contact Paula at: www.paulawallace.com.au/Liberty or [email protected]

References:

[1] http://www.inbetweenmedia.com.au/?p=4257

[2] http://www.inbetweenmedia.com.au/?p=4217

[3] www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/policy/concordat-on-open-ness-on-animal-research/

[4] www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/policy/concordat-on-open-ness-on-animal-research/

[5] National Health and Medical Research Council (2013) Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes, 8th edition. Can-berra: National Health and Medical Research Council

[6] This national figure is extrapolated from actual data available from four states of Australia. Source: http://www.humaneresearch.org.au/statistics/

[7] Animal Research Review Panel Annual Report 2013-2014, NSW De-partment of Primary Industries


Experiences of a Duck Rescuerby Brendan Mays

For the last four years, I have travelled with a team from Animal Liberation NSW to the opening weekend of duck shooting season in Victoria. The aim is to support The Coalition Against Duck Shooting (CADS) with direct action to save and protect waterbirds.

There are several ways that the team assists, including patrolling the shore and lakes for injured birds, warding away birds where possible and documenting animal cruelty at the event. However,

while the goals remain the same, the circumstances and the experience has been different each time.

On my first trip, I remember the nervous journey to the lake’s edge in a convoy of at least 50 vehicles. Rescuers arrive in the dark to get ready for the dawn, which is when the shooting begins. The training you receive beforehand is comprehensive, but even so, it’s difficult to prepare for the sound of shotgun blasts and the sight of birds falling from the sky.

I was running along the sandy shore of a lake that same afternoon carrying an injured duck who was found nestled amongst the reeds. A massive storm was just landing, and as I ran, a hunter standing in the water tracked my path with his gun. I made it to a nearby vehicle just as the hail was starting to hit, and myself and another rescuer sped off to get the duck to the wildlife triage.

In the muddy conditions, we were frequently sliding on the road, plus the hail made it almost impossible to see. When we made it back to camp, the weather had ripped our tents from the ground and tossed them around the campground into the nearby pond. The duck went in for treatment, but the injuries were too severe. He had to be euthanised.

The following year I witnessed four people from the ALNSW team charged for entering the water early (only those with a shooter’s license can go in before 10am) while attempting to save injured birds. They proved they were willing to break the rules and receive expensive fines for the sake of helping animals.

On that same day, I saw hunters drinking alcohol while shooting, hunting dogs roaming the campsites, children on the wetland and threatened species blown from the sky. Only the latter is illegal for shooters, and even when pointing out a bird who has not been collected or some other breach, I am personally yet to see the authorities take any action against shooters.

Occasionally, our team would hand over a dead bird to a hunter in the hope that they will honour their bag limit (a pre-determined number of birds that shooters can legally collect). Based on the mass graves that are often discovered, it’s hard to know if this difficult task makes a difference, but if it saves a duck then it’s worth a try.

In 2016, Animals Australia together with CADS helped shut down shooting on some of the wetlands with legal action. For the ALNSW team, this meant we kept travelling south to join the newly appointed operational headquarters at Lake Burrumbeet (near Ballarat). It was near freezing cold temperatures and the lake was mostly mud.

In other cases, I have seen lakes that have been artificially filled with water piped from other areas, but thankfully that was not the case this time and the result was less birds in the area. Our team used the low water levels to position ourselves in the middle of the lake in front of some ‘hides’, which is where duck shooters use camouflage to avoid being seen. From there, we waved off as many birds as we could with bright flags and whistles.

This year was the most hunters that I’ve seen in one location (reports indicated around 2000 shooters on this particular lake). If the sign on the way in with a gaping shotgun hole was anything to go by, I knew it was going to be a challenging time.

Cracks, pops and booms echoed throughout the wetland around 30 minutes earlier than the mandated 7:20am start time. Rescue teams across the lake could be heard yelling reports of injured ducks across crackling walkie talkies, and still more and more birds were taking to the air as the sun slowly went up.

The conditions saw deep water hiding lots of downed trees and logs, so even with a team of dedicated rescuers, it was frustratingly hard to reach injured ducks in time. Despite this, we managed to bring in many birds as we worked with other groups to cover the massive lake throughout the course of the day.

As we do every year, we hope it is the last time we’ll have to witness this ruthless display of animal cruelty. We know it’s only a matter of time before duck shooting is banned, and duck rescuers will be taking to the lakes until that day comes.


There has never been a more important time to become a

member of Animal LiberationMembership callout by Anna Hall and Susanne Briggs

Animal Liberation, the first animal rights group in the world, continues to grow and grow invites you to become a member today and be part of a growing movement to be a strong voice for animals.

To become a member or to arrange membership as a gift please go to:

http://www.animal-lib.org.au/join-us

If you would like more information on Animal Liberation and its work please call Lisa Mutton on 02 9262 3221

Farm animals are one of the most abused in the world today. There are no laws whatsoever to protect them. Farm animals are also more at risk than ever as they come under increasing attack from Governments with Ag gag and anti-environmental protest legislation. Additionally, industries, which exploit animals like the greyhound industry, the live export and the factory farming industry spend millions of dollars lobbying to ensure their industry and practices survives. Animal Liberation wants to ensure these industries and practices don’t survive. With your support through membership we know that is possible.

Membership is just $45 per year.

Your membership will help with our undercover work to expose animal cruelty and suffering, help us lobby Members of Parliament and industry leaders and help us be heard loudly in the corridors of power. Animals are suffering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The task is enormous and we can only do it with caring people like you. You can help to improve the lives of millions of animals by becoming part of Animal Liberation and part of the greatest social movement of the 21st century. We are being heard and some industries are responding but until we change the system we must continue.


Duck Rescue - a first time rescuer shares her thoughts by Bronwen Irons

You know that inner turmoil that you feel when your head tells you that something is true and you know it to be true but your heart screams that it’s just so very wrong that it can’t possibly be true ??? That’s the feeling I had travelling to the Kerang Wetlands the day before the opening of the 2017 Duck Shooting Season in Victoria.

I didn’t know what to feel, in fact, I probably didn’t feel much at all ... I knew what we were there for, I was aware of the rules and I had been briefed on our limitations, I was physically prepared, but still,

some part of me fully expected this all to be a hoax. I really was waiting for someone to jump out from behind a tree and shout “Ha Ha ... tricked you all, you didn’t honestly believe that we do this kind of thing here in Victoria did you? You can all go home, thanks for coming” ... but that ‘trickster’ didn’t come.

In the serene darkness on the morning of Saturday 18th March 2017 around 140 Rescuers travelled in a convoy to the Kerang Wetlands. It was a bittersweet moment of camaraderie, on one hand proud to be among good people that are doing wonderful things but yet saddened and ashamed that we have to ... and yes, I was still waiting for this ruse to be exposed.

At approximately 0715 15 minutes before the ‘official’ start time, a single shot rang true, ... immediately followed in startling succession by many many more ... my head snapped up to the sky, my stomach felt as if it had been struck by the cause of that sound, tears pricked at my eyes as I witnessed fleeing birds fall from the burnt orange sunrise and my heart broke as it sadly realised that my head was right all along.

No one came, No one stopped it, it just kept going ...

I wrote this on the return journey from that day in hell from behind my dark sunglasses holding back the tears of outrage, disgust and pain for the sweet souls whose peaceful lives had been turned upside down and inside out from this indiscriminate, pointless massacre.

Photos by Corinna Conforti


Look closely into the eye of this gentle soul ...

Do you see her bravely masking her pain ? Her fear and confusion of this unknown situation she has found herself in ? Or is it just because I can feel the quickening pace of her heart ease as I stroked her head, asking her to stay strong and hang in there...

Do you think she believed me when I told her she was beautiful and that all people aren’t mean ... as her body, peppered with wounds from one shot seemed to relax in my caring embrace ???

I hope she did because she was gone in less than 30 minutes later, her injuries too severe for her to recover from.

Fly free now Sweet Spirit ... you won’t be forgotten ...

I will always wonder if it was your nest of 3 eggs that I saw unattended or if you had suffered but survived a similar fate last year.

She was just one casualty in over 250 on the first day of the opening of the Victorian Duck Shooting Season.

..... she broke my already broken heart .....

That day will always be imprinted in my heart, mind and soul with my heart carrying the added burden of the betrayal that is felt by the immorality of ‘some’ of the human race I walk among.

I will be there again in 2018 for the sweet innocent souls, but let’s hope I don’t have to be.


Five Propositions on Ferals by Dr. Fiona Probyn-Rapsey

First published in Feral Feminisms, Issue 6, 2016, http://www.feralfeminisms.com

In September 2015 I gave a talk at Siteworks, an Arts festival that takes place at Bundanon (see Bundanon Trust https://bundanon.com.au/) on the South Coast of New South Wales about 2 hours south of Sydney, Australia. The theme for the festival was “The Feral Amongst Us”. In my talk, I started off by asking the audience about their relationships with companion animals and the response indicated that most had companion animals in their lives and cared about the quality of their relationships with animals. Asking an audience about their own relationships with animals is a common and still useful strategy in Animal studies talks (especially those for a general public) because it can help resituate (re-home?) the abstract ‘animal’ into more relate-able terms. It also makes the effects of categorical thinking palpable: relate-ability wears thin and often falls apart across categorical divisions and between them, like those named ‘feral’. The text of my talk (below) follows on from this first engagement with the audience about their own companions, and goes on to describe five propositions on ferals.

1 I say ‘feral violence’ rather than violence against ferals to indicate that the violence is itself beyond the ‘usual’ categories of industrialized violence against animals.

Animal studies scholars tend to argue that the relationships that we form with our ‘pets’ are a foundation for positive relationships and attitudes towards animals in general. Those

who form attachments with pets and appreciate their pets as individuals with personalities (and all that that implies), are also more likely to feel uncomfortable with the thought of animal cruelty. That is why you’ll often see Animal advocacy groups refer to pets as a benchmark for better relations with animals. The comparison with pets is supposed to elevate and enhance our moral perception of the cruelty around us. And yet there is a persistent and profound disconnect between how much we respect and value the animals that are our companions, and those that are treated as mere animal machines, kept in appalling conditions, often in factory farms, for the purpose of making cheap meat. This disconnect between how we love our pets and how we mistreat animals in agriculture (who are just as likely to be persons like our pets) is puzzling and yet it is partly explained by the powerful role that categories play in how we relate to animals. Categorised as a ‘pet’ an animal has legal protections against cruelty. Classified as livestock an animal is subject to the cruelties that comes with being seen as edible. Classified as a feral, an animal is subject to even greater cruelties associated with being exterminable.

This brings to me to my first proposition regarding feral animals which is that: Australian feral animals live and die between categories (neither wild, pet nor livestock), in an ethical vacuum bordered by extraordinary violence AND a romance of the escapee. Feral animals no longer fit into any of the usual categories of wild, pet or livestock; they have exceeded the usual categories and so they exist in a sort of ethical vacuum, which licenses extraordinary violence towards them. They have exceeded and escaped from the domesticated sphere of humans. They have gone from best friend to traitor, enemy; meeting the full brunt of a human sense of rejection. Feral pigs, donkeys, horses, rabbits, camels have also gone beyond the category of livestock, defying human control and use. All ferals show resilience, intelligence, self organization, and a capacity to evade human captivity; all of the things that contradict a belief that livestock exist only to serve us, obey us. Going feral, they remind us that animals are neither machines, nor docile objects, but thinking, escaping, beings, and as such they help us to define the injustice of farming a little better. Perhaps this is why they are so hated; they are an uncomfortable reminder that animals are not ‘happy meat’.


This brings me to my second proposition on ferals; The word feral means ‘killable’ and ‘ungrievable’. Once the dog is outside of the category of pet, or the pig or donkey is outside of the category of livestock, they have lost their place, their purpose, their allegiance to human society and slip into a category of the killable, into ethical nothingness. The violence that is unleashed on feral animals is extraordinary, it is well beyond the ordinary institutionalised violence that we unleash on animals, particularly the 100 million sheep and cattle that currently reside in Australia. Feral violence1 involves poisons such as 1080 most commonly used for wild dogs, feral pigs, foxes, but also cats and rabbits (as is in QLD), and possums in New Zealand. Secondary poisoning effects pet dogs, cattle, sheep, wallabies, deer and any of the animals that may feed on their dead bodies. Death takes hours, animal suffer grotesque, cruel deaths. 1080 is banned in some countries and highly restricted in others. In Australia and New Zealand it is sometimes dropped on wide areas of land by plane or helicopter, with predictable hellish results. Clive Marks, previously head of the Victorian Government’s Vertebrate Pest Research Department has described pest control in Australia as ‘caught in an innovation death spiral, largely because the suffering of pest animals has not been valued or considered a sufficient priority to warrant appropriate investment in better approaches’ (Marks 2014). According to Marks, Animal welfare and conservation biology are locked in conflict over this issue. Animal welfare concerns simply vanish when the word ‘feral’ appears. Standards could not be any lower (Marks 2014, see also Marks 2013).

This brings me to my third proposition which is that ferals do not recognize themselves by that name. Jacques Derrida argues in a now famous essay called ‘the Animal that therefore I am, more to follow’ (2002), that the word ‘animal’ is an example of a human war waged against other species. This war takes 2 forms - mass extinctions on the one hand, and mass overproduction of industrialized livestock animals on the other. He suggests that the word ‘animal’ predicts this calamity because the word does 2 things. Firstly it collapses all their differences into one mass; everyone from the oyster to the elephant is imprisoned by this word ‘animal’, diminishing all their complexity and difference into a catch all, ‘everything’ term (see Derrida, 2002, 392). The word ‘animal’ also allows humans to imagine themselves above, beyond, separate, superior, with all that this implies morally and ethically. The word ‘animal’ makes it possible to say that someone is ‘only an animal’, with all that that implies morally and ethically (see also Kim 2015). If we add the word ‘feral’ to the word ‘animal’, then it’s as if we have added a ‘no-one’, a ‘nothing’ to an ‘everything’; together, the two words manage to double the insult, double their vulnerability, double the violence.

And yet, just as animals do not recognize themselves by the name ‘animal’ (it is ‘our’ name for them after all), ferals also do not recognize their status as ‘nothings’. They do not think of themselves as killable or as ungrievable. We can see this because they are out there busily surviving, conducting complex social lives, weaving in and out of human habitation, interacting with other species, changing themselves and others. In the case of dingoes, for instance, now thought by some to be a domesticated dog that went ‘feral’ some 4,000 years ago, their involvement with feral dogs continues, in a way that frustrates conservationists, and dingo advocates who want pure specimens, who want to see dingos choose only other dingoes to mate with, and not Labradors or cattle dogs. The queer mixing of dingo with dog leads conservation biologists to suggest that dingoes are going extinct through impure breeding. But this idea is false. Take the idea of purity out of the picture and they are not going extinct, they are making do. But in the name of purity, in the name of the ‘pure dingo’, ‘wild dogs’ or feral dogs are being shot, baited and eradicated in unacceptably cruel ways. The dingo does not see herself as a killable, nor her own pups as living embodiments of her species extinction (see Probyn-Rapsey 2015). We should, I think, be wary of the tendency to see animals only as examples of a whole species – this makes them interchangeable, and it also makes them vulnerable to pronouncements on purity. Conservation biologists see a whole species, a category, a dingo sees an opportunity, a mate, a litter, a social life, a persistence. u


t This leads me to my fourth proposition which is that the ‘feral’ should remind us that the language of species is entangled with the language of race. The categories into which animals are made to fit are both cultural and scientific. When the ‘father of taxonomy’ Carl Linneaus separated and sorted the natural world into kingdoms and species, he also included humans divided by race. In the first edition of Systema Naturae, we find ‘white Europeans’ ‘red Americans’ Brown Asians and black Africans and the tenth edition he was ascribing racial temperaments to these groups, with white Europeans displaying the most favoured characteristics. The point here is that species and race and gender for that matter, are related taxonomies (see Kim 2015) – they share the good and bad effects of taxonomic logic. All categories produce ferals, persons who do not fit in to an imagined norm, who are inbetween, mixed. We have ferals because we have a stubborn insistence on categorical thinking. The language of species purity and a fear of mixing, of invasion, of menace and genetic swamping, is mobilized regularly and repeatedly in conservation biology surrounding dingoes. But the rhetoric sticks to bodies, all bodies, it keeps the language of eugenics in circulation, ready to re-attach itself again to human bodies (see Probyn-Rapsey 2015). It is not acceptable to speak of purity in terms of human populations – we know the history of that thinking – so we should know what happens when we speak about animals in those terms too.

This brings me to my final proposition which is that Ferals are a big distraction from the violence of animal agriculture. Feral animals are violently eradicated in the name of 2 dominant principles. The first is that we kill them in the name of protecting biodiversity (this is the ‘cats are eating our natives!’ sort of argument), and secondly, we kill them in the name of the ‘sustainability’ of animal agriculture. Sustainability is often used in a very vague way by animal agriculture because animal agriculture and sustainability are actually incompatible. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on the environmental impact of the livestock sector, indicates that globally, livestock contributes to 18% of global warming, a larger contribution than the whole transportation sector (FAO 2006). Animal Agriculture represents the largest of all anthropogenic land uses and is a key player in increasing water use, water depletion and water pollution.

The livestock industry in Australia is vast and politically active. Animal agriculture, specifically beef cattle and sheep farming accounts for 52% of Australia’s land mass (Meat and Livestock Australia 2014). We currently have around 29 million cattle and 75 million sheep; that’s 100 million hard hoofed, belching, farting ruminants walking over 52% of the deforested land mass of Australia. Compare this impact to the number of feral animals and they are a miniscule part of the problem of water use, water pollution, air pollution, land degradation, biodiversity and habitat losses. So, when thousands of feral camels are culled by shotgun in the name of climate change action, in reducing methane emissions (see Ritvo, 2012, 411), but at the same time cattle and sheep are forced to produce more and more offspring, surely we have to say that something is drastically out of balance here. Sure, feral camels effect waterways, polluting them with waste, eating native flora and they also contribute to climate change through their methane and waste, but feral camels are vastly outnumbered by sheep and cattle.

Killing feral animals in the name of sustainability has all the appearance of doing something about climate change, but in reality it leaves the main issue of animal agriculture untouched. Ferals are a good distraction; they raise hackles, they transgress our fences, our ways of thinking, and the violence which we unleash upon them is spectacular and unhinged from usual ethical constraints. They are the perfect distraction. Feral animals rarely have advocates, certainly not lobbyists in parliaments; they are easy to demonise and in killing them we can claim to be addressing habitat loss, biodiversity loss, sustainability, while at the same time breeding more and more cattle and sheep. Ferals should not made responsible for this; we should. u


t References

Derrida, Jacques. ‘The Animal that Therefore I am (More to Follow).” Critical Inquiry 28:2 (Winter 2002): 369-418.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issue and options, 2006, Accessed September 2011: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM

Kim, Claire Jean. Dangerous Crossings: Race, Species, and Nature in a Multicultural Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Marks, Clive, “Killing Schrödinger’s Feral Cat”, Animal Studies Journal, 2(2), 2013, 51-66. Available at: http://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol2/iss2/4

--- “How much suffering is OK when it comes to pest control?” ECOS: Science for Sustainability, April 2014, Accessed August 2015: http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?paper=EC14075

Meat and Livestock Australia, “Australia’s Sheepmeat industry”. Factsheet. 2014. www.mla.com.au. Accessed August 2015: www.mla.com.au/files/.../MLA_Sheepmeat-Fast-Facts-2014_EMAIL.pdf

Probyn-Rapsey, Fiona, “Dingoes and dog-whistling: a cultural politics of race and species in Australia”, Animal Studies Journal, 4(2), 2015, 55-77.

Available at:http://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol4/iss2/4

Ritvo, Harriet, “Going Forth and Multiplying: Animal Acclimatization and Invasion.” Environmental History 17, no. 2 (2012): 404-14.


A Magical EveningMusic, rap and a magician wowed the audience at a fundraiser for Animal Liberation’s anti-dairy campaign at the Giant Dwarf in Sydney recently, writes Katrina Fox. While I’m passionate about animal rights in general, I feel

particularly strongly about dairy. As a woman I cherish the right for all females to have autonomy over their own bodies

and reproductive systems. So it breaks my heart to know that cows are forcibly inseminated, kept perpetually pregnant, suffer painful mastitis and bellow with grief as their babies are torn away from them so people can drink the milk meant for their calves.

The work of Animal Liberation is vital in educating the public about the horrific realities of the dairy industry, so I was delighted to emcee a recent fundraiser for this wonderful organisation’s campaign.

Dairy Truths and Music was organised by longtime Animal Liberation member Elizabeth Usher, who pulled together an array of talented performers and speakers on Saturday 22 April at the Giant Dwarf Theatre in Redfern.

Kicking off the evening was accomplished singer-songwriter Renée Jonas, who has been performing for well over a decade, including in such prestigious venues as the Sydney Opera House and the Melbourne Telstra Dome, as well as being a soloist on three national tours with the Ten Sopranos. Renée delighted us all with her beautiful voice and style which is a unique blend of folk rock with a country twist.

Animal Liberation CEO Lynda Stoner, the former TV star who has dedicated decades to changing the world for animals, then took to the stage to deliver one of her always powerful, moving and inspiring talks.

This was followed by the screening of the music video for the new song ‘Mother and Child’ by Elizabeth Usher aka MC Pony. Featuring guest artists James and Naomi and including art by Adrianna Mammino, photographs by Tamara Kenneally and footage from SAFE, Farmwatch, and Edgar’s Mission, the video is a moving and heartwrenching portrayal of how the bonds between mother and child are destroyed in the dairy industry.

Many people in the audience were not involved in animal rights and told me later in the evening how shocked they were, yet grateful to be educated, and declared they would be ditching dairy. Fortunately they were able to taste some delicious plant-based alternatives, courtesy of stallholders Sprout & Kernel, which makes artisanal tree nut cheese, and The Cruelty Free Shop which offered a variety of mouthwatering chocolate treats, including a vegan version of Toblerone (yes, it exists!).

Singer-songwriter duo James and Naomi (James Donnelly and Naomi Crain) delivered a mix of original classic pop and modern country songs, along with some all-time favourite covers. Their song ‘Ripples’ reminded me how, as animal advocates, we cause a ripple effect every time we expose the truth behind cruel industries such as dairy. That one person who opens their mind and heart will then go on to share what they’ve learned from you with their family, friends and networks who then do the same, and so the ripple continues. u

LEFT TO RIGHT: MC Pony, Lynda Stoner and Katrina Fox (Photo by Tracie O’Keefe), Katrina Fox; Singers James & Naomi, Ann, Elizabeth and Geoff Usher (Photos by Nadine Saacks)


t After the interval when audience members bought raffle tickets for the chance to win a selection of prizes that ranged from an acupuncture treatment and restaurant vouchers to books, music and photographs, as well as bid on items in the silent auction, popular vegan rapper MC Pony rocked the stage. As well as debuting her song ‘Mother and Child’, she had us all clapping, foot stomping and swaying to her upbeat ‘mindful rhymes for kinder times’, including the magnificently catchy ‘Vegilante’ and ‘Happy Veganniversary’.

As if this wasn’t enough we were treated to some amazing close-up magic throughout the evening by vegan magician Johnny Burrows who wowed the audience with a mix of card tricks, illusion, spoon bending and even a bit of mind reading!

The event raised more than $1,000 for Animal Liberation’s anti-dairy campaign in the run up to Mother’s Day on 14 May.

Check out the Veganthused.com website and Youtube channel youtube.com/veganthused to watch MC Pony’s ‘Mother and Child’ and other works.

THANKS TO THOSE WHO DONATED RAFFLE AND SILENT AUCTION PRIZES:

Gigi Pizzeria Vegan Card

Adrianna Mammino Tamara Kenneally Pana Chocolate

Vitality Therapies Sydney Renee Jonas Katrina Fox Kathy Divine

James and Naomi Sprout & Kernel

THANK YOU ALSO TO THE PHOTOGRAPHER, NADINE SAACKS

LEFT TO RIGHT: Ann, Elizabeth and Geoff Usher; MC Pony and Renee Jonas; Ben Wallace and Maria Ballesteros – Sprout and Kernel (Photos by Nadine Saacks)

How, and why did you begin living vegan and advocating for animals?

At a young age, I made the realization that my family’s Saturday night dinner, a roast leg of lamb, was actually the leg of another living being. This initial connection between a life that once was and the death I was about to consume is what caused me make the commitment that no other living being would be killed for me to eat. It wasn’t until January 1997 that I became a vegan when the Vegan Society of NSW, Animal Liberation Queensland and the Vegetarian Vegan Society of Queensland informed me of the horrors within the egg and dairy industries. It is important to understand that there are always new things to learn. New facts, studies, interviews, people within the movement, goods, and services. As I keep learning, I keep changing. The journey often begins with food, and continues into cosmetics, clothing, other social justice issues, and even our choice of superannuation fund.

Veganism is the best way for me to live a compassionate lifestyle in line with my ethics of anti-exploitation. I became committed because I believe we need to tread lightly on the earth and inflict the least amount of pain and suffering on others while we’re here. I began advocating for animals because I believe in speaking up whenever I see or hear of any injustices, as well as not supporting companies that profit from exploitation.

What were some of the preconceived ideas, concerns, and fears that you had regarding your diet and about living in a non-vegan world?

I really had no concerns – I went with my gut to be vegetarian and found out the facts and reasons afterwards.

I’ve never cared what anyone thought of me, but if you’re someone who needs validation from others or is an introvert, then it can be difficult to deal with the extra attention you receive. It’s hard to stand up for your beliefs ALL the time, it’s hard to answer the exact same questions you’ve been answering for 22 years, and it’s really hard to realize that people you love, respect and admire, will sometimes never fully understand or even respect your believes. This doesn’t mean you should give up.

Do you feel like going vegan has socially isolated you in any way?

No, I have varied interests and am passionate about a variety of things. It was important for me to understand that just because someone is not vegan, doesn’t mean they are a bad person. I focus on things we have in common, rather than things we disagree on.

How did you go about starting vivalavegan.net? What was your motivation?

After the release of my recipe calendar, I received many requests for a website, so I launched vivalavegan.net, to keep others educated on the vegan lifestyle. My focus was on positive education, creating an interactive, multimedia community online space for vegans and the vegan curious, full of videos, articles from other authors, blogs, interviews, eBooks, print books, coaching, advertising, a forum, members section, mentors, and so much more. The positive responses and community that developed around the website motivated me to keep going.

During the past decade with VLV, what are the things you have enjoyed the most?

I love the fact that I’ve met so many wonderful, different people, from all corners of the globe. It’s also pleasing to see vegan business become successful, and a plethora of new vegan places being created all the time. After reflecting on my the past ten years, it is amazing to see how many people have been inspired by mine and the Viva la Vegan! journey.

Australia’s vegan veteran, Leigh-Chantelle celebrates her 20th year vegan in 2017. She has taken some time to share her journey, and all the things she’s experienced and learnt

* Edited by Nadia Kiternas20


What are some of the common myths or misconceptions of a vegan lifestyle that you encounter?

The protein myth is still the worst, but all dietary misconceptions are annoying. It’s obviously been great marketing from the dairy and livestock industries, convincing people they need milk and meat to survive. People don’t do their own research. They look those in the public eye (celebrities) and others who seem credible (doctors), without getting second opinions, doing their own research, and most of all trusting that they know their body the best.

Another thing is that most people think that activists don’t have “real jobs” or even work at all! This is really sad and reminds me that we still have a way to go to promote veganism and activism in a better light. Also the lack of diversity in the loudest and most well-know vegans and vegan groups is not a true indication of the movement and can really prevent people (e.g. people of colour, disabled, larger-sized, and even women) from getting involved, being vocal, and staying involved with the movement. u

Can you tell us about your latest vegan book: Vegan Athletes Book.

This Vegan Athletes Book features 111 interviews with inspiring individuals who share their fitness training, knowledge and advice, favourite foods, and just what to say when someone asks where they get their protein from! They are Olympians, professional sports people, personal trainers, and those who simply live for working out and being fit.

There seems to be a lot of negativity in activism these days, how do you stay so positive?

The secret is: I am positive because I choose to be.

I live by a few rules.

1. Rid of negative thoughts about others, as well as self-limiting thoughts.

2. Be thankful for what you have now, and focus on this.

3. Always search for the positives in any situation. Find the lesson and move on.

4. Do things you love, that make you smile and happy.

5. Look after yourself. Eat well, don’t pollute our bodies with toxins, sleep as long as you like, drink enough water, laugh a lot, and take goals seriously.

6. Have love and compassion towards yourself and others.

There is a lot of passion surrounding animal advocacy, which can often lead to heated and aggressive online discussions and arguments. Do you have any advice for how deal with situations like Facebook aggressiveness and insults amongst advocates, and do you think there is a reason that many people seem to find it easy to be aggressive and mean online?

The best tip I can give online and in general, is for people to act rationally and not react emotionally. Negativity hurts people and harms reputations, don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t write on a postcard and send in the mail. Take responsibility for everything you do online, as everything you share is a permanent reflection of you and can be used against you. Just because you may never meet someone in the flesh, doesn’t mean you should be less than courteous. The Internet makes it easier to attack or ridicule people, rather than accept, embrace, or forgive. Try to understand others as best you can, be courteous in all your dealings, even if you disagree with what they believe in. Realise the Power of Words, the context, and the written tone you are using.

What would you like to say when you hear people in today’s world say, “It’s too hard” or “It’s too difficult”?

We all have choices, but some people have much better choices than others. Everything is as hard or easy as you make it. I believe this, but I’m from a privileged background, and live close to a city, drive my own car, can afford to travel regularly, and buy things online from all over the world. Not everyone can do this. So I am mindful of this.

I really think being vegan is awesome and necessary, but if we’re not mindful of how hard it actually can be for others, then we’re still running around in circles and not being effective with our outreach and communication.

Remember the reason for going vegan, commit to your decision, and do everything in your power to make it happen. The initial steps might be hard, but once you have the goal in mind, you can work out the means to make it happen!

years a Vegan


t With such tangible and ever-growing results all around us, how do you feel about having played a part in bringing about these changes? Was it worth the effort to make these changes?

I’m really privileged to have been in the forefront of change - especially in Australia - and being one of the leaders in our vegan revolution. Before the tenth anniversary of vivalavegan.net, I was seriously considering whether I still wanted to run the website. Years of mostly daily content were beginning to wear me down and I was ready to pass on the baton. A friend of mine mentioned that people needed my website to see how far we’ve come and where we’re going. I’m really excited that the term is now mainstream, but I know how many animals are still being used, abused and killed.

If you could give any advice to the new vegan “you” from the past what would you say?

Focus on education and planting seeds, instead of converting. Focus on encouragement instead of judgement. Always remember kindness and compassion. Be the best vegan you can be at all times.

What do you see as being the biggest obstacles to the future growth of veganism, and the biggest factors behind its current growth?

Firstly, the amount of information against veganism that currently exists, coupled with an inability to decipher who to trust, is definitely an obstacle. There’s a lot more mainstream coverage of the dietary aspects of veganism, but so many people are confused with what it really means. We need to educate people and provide real facts about the diet - from vegan dieticians, and naturopaths - rather than “facts” sponsored by exploitive industries.

Secondly, the term “vegan” has changed dramatically over the years. The term has become meshed with ideas of health and diet fads, diluting the ethical core of vegan and the animal rights movement. These ‘vegans’ are more flexitarian than vegetarian, and go where the wind takes them. It will be difficult to get it back to its original meaning, but diet trends will eventually fade.

Thirdly, just because a company is or creates ‘vegan’ products, does not mean they are ethical, in terms of labor, wages, and power control. Twenty years ago, you knew it would be, but now it is used as a buzz-word and marketing strategy.

Although a lot more people are eating plant-based diets and vegan food is more accessible, vegans remain steady at 1-2% of the population. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and I really want to take this moment to encourage every single person to do something new to promote the ethics of veganism in the most positive and inclusive way they can.

What are your Top Tips for being Vegan?

1. Use your position of influence to promote positivity, inclusiveness and compassion in everything you do.

2. Realise that you can educate more people with a soft tongue more than you will a sharp one. Be careful what you say to others online and in person.

3. Remember that you may be the only vegan the person you are conversing with knows, so make it kind and respectful.

4. Remember to use your time wisely.

5. Remember to have a break from activism.

6. Remember to do the things you love and love the things you do.

7. Remember to be kind. Compassion is always the answer.

Leigh-Chantelle is currently the President of the Vegetarian Vegan Society of Queensland. To find out more about Leigh-Chantelle and what she enjoys cooking, eating and more, visit her website vivalavegan.net

NEW BOOK AVAILABLE


Golden Lotus We as an organisation are grateful to the Golden Lotus for supporting the work being done by Animal Liberation by donating regularly and generously.

“We love your work and what you have done to our vegan community and for the animals.

Our founder, David Nguyen, has been in vegetarian/ vegan business since 2011. From the first day, he had always wanted to support the vegan society by offering % discount for members in ACT, NSW and the whole of Australia.

Together, we can make the difference. We always try our best to run the business in order to promote veganism and good food to everyone especially vegans and potential vegans ;)

We hope you can achieve what you are trying for the love of animals and our vegan community”.

341/343 King St, Newtown NSW 2042

Reservations: 02 8937 2838

Recently he opened the Golden Lotus restaurant in Sydney which is completely 100% vegan.

The main reason is that we want to convince people that going vegan is not only healthy but simply very easy and delicious. Furthermore, for our religious, Buddhists believe that is wrong to hurt or kill animals.

Review of Ondine Sherman’s book Sky by Alex Vince

After the final page of Ondine Sherman’s latest YA novel Sky, I tried to recall the last novel I read before this stunning book. What’s more, I can’t remember the last novel I read

front to back in a matter of mere hours. Sky does that. As the co-founder of Voiceless, Australia’s leading animal law organisation, Ondine introduces us to the life of Sky Lawson, a young Aussie teen transplanted to a rural country town after a devastating loss.

From the outset, I was submerged in Sky’s world. In a lucid and highly engaging style, Sky offers young adults an opportunity to gaze at the world anew, wonder at the possibilities, and begin to become the kind of person the animals we share our lives with believe us to be. Throughout this short and incredibly sweet novel, animals and our interactions with them are positioned as a relationship rather than a transaction.

Sky takes us on a journey that transcends the (currently) dominant perception that other animals are merely commodities or resources, offering anyone with the fortune to pick up this book a chance to re-imagine and re-create a kinder world for all.

Sometimes you have to lose everything to find yourself.

In book stores June 2017

Proceeds will go towards supporting Voiceless

ONDINE SHERMAN


A Poultry Place turns Sweet 16 by Bede Carmody

On January 22 one of Australia’s longest running animal sanctuaries, A Poultry Place, celebrated 16 years of existence.

I decided to establish the sanctuary back in 2001, because I felt living hands-on with rescued farmed animals was the most impactful thing I could do with the compassion and commitment I had for the animal rights cause.

The sanctuary’s main purpose is to provide a safe haven for some of the world’s most abused beings – domesticated poultry – chickens from egg farms, chickens bred for their meat, turkeys, ducks. At A Poultry Place all of the residents live a care-free life without fear of exploitation.

A Poultry Place works to encourage greater awareness and respect for poultry through working with other organisations, like Animal Liberation NSW, campaigning against farming of all poultry, such as banning the battery cages and exposing the hidden secrets of the chicken, turkey and duck meat industries; as well as issues such as school hatching projects.

Since 2001, more than 3000 beings have at some stage called A Poultry Place home. Most of them would have been killed had the sanctuary not existed. Many have arrived from appalling factory farm conditions, where they’ve had no ability to exercise any of their natural abilities but are quick to adapt to their new carefree lifestyle.

To mark the sanctuary’s Sweet 16th many of our human friends joined the feathered, hoofed, woolied and clawed residents for a vegan BBQ. The matriarch of A Poultry Place, Sox the cat, who has been in residence since 2002, was the purrfect party hostess - getting around to greet all the guests, making sure she stayed well hydrated in the heat and taking power naps to ensure she was bright and bubbly throughout the day.

Big thanks to Reeni Rubio-Martinez and Veronica Rios for the fab images captured on the day.

And special thanks to Lynda Stoner and all of you associated with Animal Liberation NSW for the ongoing love and support over the years.

You can learn more about the philosophy which underpins A Poultry Place by viewing my TEDx presentation “A bird they called dinner”, which can be found on You Tube

You can keep up to date with the happenings at A Poultry Place by liking the Facebook page.

Photos from top to bottom: Bede with Happy Girl (photo by Reeni Rubio Martinez), turkeys eating watermelon, angelic white rooster (photos by Veronica Rios), exhausted hostess shot (cat) (photo by Reeni Rubio Martinez)

Grill’d Took Rabbit Meat Off the Menu!by Emma Hurst

Grill’d made one of the worst marketing decisions in history. In celebration of Easter they announced a bunny meat burger with rabbits sourced from an intensive battery-caged facility in NSW

and from “game”/hunted rabbits.

Like battery caged chickens, meat rabbits are kept in small cages above the floor. Last year footage from Australian battery caged rabbit meat farms showed the horrific reality of this industry: sick and injured rabbits living in cramped, filthy cages alongside dead and decomposing animals. Hunting rabbits is not less cruel – shooting small animals almost always leads to a long death because the animal is shot anywhere on their body.

The Grill’d website states: No cages. No nasties. No added hormones. No exceptions.

We knew that with enough public pressure Grill’d would drop their ‘eat the Easter bunny’ campaign – and thanks to you, that’s exactly what happened!

After over 5000 signatures we received a call at the Animal Liberation office from Simon Crowe, owner of Grill’d, who admitted, “We wish we hadn’t done it.”

1800 366 877

Grill’d have committed to never sell rabbit meat again. This outcome couldn’t have happened without your support. We sent Grill’d a message they couldn’t ignore (and other restaurants undoubtedly will take note too).

This is another leap forward in the campaign against rabbit meat farming. Now let’s take this win even further and end this industry for good! Together we have just proven what social pressure can really do.


CRUELTYFREESUPER.COM.AU

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Review of Amanda the Teen Activist by Sharron Woodward

AMANDA, MY KIND OF TEENAGER, January 15, 2017 By SHARRON WOODWARD this review first published for Kindle edition: AMANDA THE TEEN ACTIVIST - FEATHERS & FREEDOM.

Amanda the Teen Activist was an absolute joy to read. From the very first page to the very last, I was hooked. I am not an avid reader ordinarily but this story had me completely rapt.

Amanda’s adventures were believable, they were thrilling, but most importantly they were necessary. Catherine made me believe that this teenager, this young woman, was capable of anything she put her mind to. Amanda is brave, she is determined, she is compassionate & she is spunky.

She is who I would want to be if I could turn back time. Now my teenage years have long since passed but it was so easy to fall into the pages and understand why Amanda did the things she did. I was happy to go with her on her journey of discovery and social change. I understood her teenage language, her heart and her desire to want to make the world a better place for animals. I am thrilled that I read Amanda the Teen Activist but so very sorry that I will never get to read it a first time ever again.


*WARNING – TRIGGER WORDS

Seen in the media:

6 February 2017 09:41

Taiwan has banned euthanizing animals in shelters, which follows the tragic suicide last year of a vet burdened with the task of putting down animals.

The law came into effect Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament — a period meant to prepare shelters for the ban.

But during the wait, animal lover Chien Chih-cheng took her own life with euthanasia drugs, reportedly upset at having to kill animals at the shelter she worked at.

Reports at the time said Chien was called a “butcher” by activists.

Her death sparked calls for authorities to improve conditions for animals and staff at shelters.

An animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999.

“Animal protection in Taiwan has moved towards a new milestone,” the association’s executive director Ho Tsung-hsun said in a statement.

But Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture warned the ban would lead to a deterioration in the quality of shelters through a surging intake or it may discourage the capture of strays.

“It’s impossible for there to be no problems,” said Wang Chung-shu, deputy chief of the animal husbandry department, according to The China Times.

He said Taiwan’s ban was “quite idealised”, adding that manpower was a problem because the vet’s suicide had had a “chilling effect” on the sector, according to the report.

Even before the legislation, the number of animals being put down had been steadily declining.

Last year, 12.38 percent of the 64,276 animals in public shelters were euthanised, according to official statistics.

That compares with 94,741 animals in shelters in 2014, of which 26.45 percent were put down.

Taiwan bans euthanasia of stray animals following tragic suicide of vet

Chien Chih-cheng. Photo: video.udn.com.

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