Kangaroo fur slippers – the latest fashion craze
Add another animal to the list of those trapped and killed for their fur because fashion demands it.
fashionistas are hungry for pelts used in unconventional ways.
Bullfighting Continues to Lose Support
Brazilian Bullfighting is Now Illegal
the Brazilian Supreme Court has declared a popular event in the state of Ceará unconstitutional. With the decision, Vaquejada is considered illegal across all of Brazil’s territory.
The court’s decision was close, but the majority agreed that preserving a cultural heritage was not more important than stopping the abuse.
Legislative changes often do very little to help animals after they are negotiated into a form that won’t cut into the profits of animal exploiters too much, but outright bans on a whole activity like this one are a great step toward better animal protection.
MEPS From the Main Parties in European Parliament Defend Catalonia’s Right to Ban Bullfighting
Support for killing animals for fun continues to wane.
MEPs from the main political parties represented in the European Parliament have defended Catalonia’s right to keep the ban on bullfighting, after this week the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) announced that the prohibition could be reversed.
The interesting but unsurprising thing is that it was framed as a victory not for the animals, but for the rights of the Catalonian people.
Blue Energy and the Potential Risk to Animals
Harnessing the power of the ocean is considered the most environmentally friendly way of generating energy, but it poses risks to the wellbeing of ocean dwellers.
the combination of multiple turbines, ships, and other ocean activity could create enough ambient noise to disrupt communication between animals such as whales and dolphins.
Vegan Mom Who Fed 11-Month Old Baby Nuts and Berries Charged With Child Endangerment
This is an example of how the media gives veganism a bad name. A mentally unstable mother fed her infant son only nuts and berries, yet the headline calls her a “vegan mom” as if that were relevant. How often do you see headlines that say “Non-vegan mom malnourishes her child”?
Shouldn’t Bugs Have Rights if Other Animals Do?
This is a legitimate question with an absurd argument. The author states:
Every human being directly kills bugs just by walking - and indirectly kills bugs by renting and buying constructed housing. Yet I've never heard even a strict vegan express a word of moral condemnation for this mass animal killing.
Kudos to the author for bringing attention to insect suffering. His point that vegans should take the suffering of insects seriously (if they are sentient -- not a lot is known about insect sentience yet) is a good one. The reason vegans don’t condemn it is because it’s impossible currently to avoid killing insects. Our only choice would be to kill ourselves.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not taken seriously. There are a lot of discussions of how to reduce insect deaths and as technology becomes more advanced it will be possible to greatly reduce insect deaths due to those and many other factors. This article is worth a read to see just how poorly reasoned the arguments against veganism are, even from academics.
Vegan Cheese Renamed Gary
A woman’s Facebook rant about Sainsbury’s vegan coconut cheese went viral.
“CHEESE IS NOT MADE WITH COCONUTS. Call it Gary or something don’t call it Cheese because IT’S NOT CHEESE!!!!!!”
The vegan community immediately adopted the new name and issued the following PSA all over social media:
“We interrupt this broadcast to inform you that vegan cheese is now called ‘GARY’.”
Sainsbury joined the fun with the following tweet:
“Thanks to customer feedback, we’re excited to introduce our new range of #Gary”
Sci-Fi Music Video Surprises With an Animal Rights Message
Awesome article. The "Gary" vegan cheese thing is hilarious. The discussion on insects is thought-provoking. And, the fad of kangaroo fur slippers shows we still have a long way to go as a society when it comes to respecting animals as fellow sentient beings.
Thanks, Steph! I tried to make it varied, and I did want to have at least one opposing view and I thought the insects issue is an interesting one, though his arguments made no sense! I thought the Gary cheese thing was great, too. Apparently so did the Steemit editor, because it added "Gary" as a tag of its own accord and I haven't been able to remove it.
Haha! That's great! You got your own tag. And for something super cool. Awesome. :)
Thanks for the feature @goose! You're awesome :)
Hey there - I am vegan too - new to steemit and happy to see other vegans here :)
Nice to meet you! There is a vegan chat room, too. https://steemit.chat/channel/vegan
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