Adopt The Pace Of Nature

Animals cannot help themselves.
They can only hope that some day man will soften his heart and have pity on their suffering.
( Rev. G. B. Vivian-Evans )

Are Badgers Being Made A Scapegoat?
An independent report by researchers at the University of Edinburgh revealed that 97 dogs were euthanised following an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) at Kimblewink hunting kennels.
This confirms that hunts are a major biosecurity risk.
The report also contains information which suggests both the hunt and Defra kept quiet about key aspects of the outbreak – such as claiming only 25 dogs were affected, rather than the actual total of 97.
Government statements about the outbreak gave the impression that there was no real threat of disease spread by hunting hounds – while at the same time they amended regulations to restrict the feeding of offal to hunting hounds.
If there was no threat – why change the regulations?
The condition of the Kimblewick kennels – a typical hunt – is described as ‘suboptimal’, with dogs being kept in dirty, unhygienic conditions which are a breeding ground for disease.
Some biosecurity measures were introduced at the kennels once the infection had been confirmed.
However this backs up evidence that basic biosecurity measures at hunting kennels are generally low or non-existent.

The people that set one animal against another haven’t the guts to be bullies themselves.
They’re just secondhand cowards.
( Cleveland Amory )

Wars will never cease while men still kill other animals for food, for to turn any living creature into a roast, a steak, a chop, or any other type of ‘meat’ takes the same kind of violence, the same kind of bloodshed, and the same kind of mental processes required to change a living man into a dead soldier.
( Agnes Ryan )

Ruthless man.
You begin by slaying the animal and then you devour it, as if to slay it twice.
It is not enough.
You turn against the dead flesh, it revolts you.
It must be transformed by fire, boiled and roasted, seasoned and disguised with drugs.
You must have butchers, cooks, turnspits, men who will rid the murder of its horrors, who will dress the dead bodies so that the taste deceived by these disguises will not reject what is strange to it, and will feast on corpses, the very sight of which would sicken you.
( Jean-Jacques Rousseau )

First it was necessary to civilise man in relation to man.
Now it is necessary to civilise man in relation to nature and the animals.
( Victor Hugo )

We cannot have two hearts, one for the animals and one for men.
In cruelty towards the former and cruelty to the latter, there is no difference but in the victim.
( Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine )

Is The UK Government Turning A Blind Eye To Protect Fox Hunters?
The 97 dogs which were destroyed because of bTB are just the tip of a diseased iceberg.
This story isn’t about one kennel infected with bTB, it’s about the way hunts routinely avoid even basic biosecurity and animal welfare measures, meaning their poor dogs are often living disease carriers.
There’s a simple truth here.
When livestock dies, potentially of disease, it is given to hunts to feed raw to their hounds.
These hounds are often in poor health due to kennelling conditions and lack of care, and pick up the disease.
They then spread the disease back into the countryside – and the cycle continues.
The government knows this is a huge risk but is either turning a blind eye or not giving people the full picture, both of which are unacceptable.
If farmers are concerned about disease on their farms, be it bTB or anything else, then they need to take a close look at any hunts in their area.
There is stacks of evidence showing that disease can spread between livestock and hunting hounds, but the government seem intent on playing this down with misleading or disingenuous statements which deflect from the truth.
They brought in new regulations last year while pretending there was no problem when clearly there was.
And those regulations won’t make any significant difference – it’s a clear case of shutting the kennel door after the hounds have bolted.
If this country wants to take disease control seriously and protect livestock, then proper biosecurity is vital – and that means stopping hunts from galloping all over farm land.
( Chris Pitt, Deputy Director of Campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports )

Adopt the pace of Nature.
Her secret is patience.
( Ralph Waldo Emerson )

There is great peace in knowing you are causing the least amount of harm possible.
( Rose Winfold )

Give your dog or cat respect, patience, understanding and love.
And if you just change to one vegetarian day a week, that’s a wonderful step that will save animal lives.
It means you have chosen something kind instead of something cruel.
( Ingrid Newkirk )

I urge you to ask yourself just how honourable it is to preside over the abuse and suffering of animals.
( Richard Pryor )

Eating Dogs In China Has Nothing To Do With Culture.
Few people know that the dog-eating trade in China has absolutely nothing to do with culture.
While Ancient China condoned the consumption of dogs, the spread of Buddhism in the 10th Century saw a massive decline in dog meat, and from 1644 to 1912 when the Qing Dynasty reigned, dog meat was banned.
The Qing (Manchus) considered killing and consuming a dog to be barbaric.
This stemmed from the legend of the first Manchu leader, Nurhachi, whose life was saved by a dog.
He told his followers: “In the mountains, there are so many kinds of animals which you can hunt for food, but from now on, no one is allowed to eat dogs, nor wear dog skin.
When dogs die, they should be buried because dogs can read man’s emotion and can rescue their masters.
Dogs are loyal.”
For almost three hundred years, dogs were revered and beloved by rulers of China who considered the slaughter and consumption of them to be so heinous that they outlawed it.
Only in the south did they continue to defy this rule.
It all changed drastically in 1912 when the Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist Party got to power.
As a symbol of their hatred towards the Manchu, they would boil dogs alive simply to spite them.
This was only the beginning of the dogs’ descent into hell, for when the communists subsequently took power a few decades later, Chairman Mao ordered the mass execution of dogs, declaring them filthy, unclean and representative of the elite.
This led to the annihilation of millions of dogs, perpetuating a widespread hatred of them which continues to this day.
So, let’s acknowledge China’s dog meat trade for what it truly is.
Not culture, but a political perversion that manifested in the last century and was the result of one political government hating the previous rulers.
( Sarah Brownlee )

Our treatment of animals will someday be considered barbarous.
There cannot be perfect civilisation until man realises that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own.
( Dr David Starr Jordan )

We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
( Anna Sewell )

The world is consuming more animal protein than it needs and this is having a devastating effect on wildlife.
A staggering 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to the food we eat.
We know a lot of people are aware that a meat-based diet has an impact on water and land, as well as causing greenhouse gas emissions, but few know the biggest issue of all comes from the crop-based feed the animals eat.
( Duncan Williamson, WWF, October 2017 )

I have always felt that the way we treat animals is a pretty good indicator of the compassion we are capable of for the human race.
( Ali McGraw )

China, A Country With Zero Animal Welfare Laws.
Both international governments and citizens alike do not dare criticise another’s ‘culture’ for fear of being deemed racist.
The result?
A country with zero animal welfare laws, countless dogs being burned, boiled and skinned alive on a daily basis, and millions of grieving, weeping dog-lovers and owners throughout the country who have had their dogs snatched and killed for the trade, and are utterly powerless to act, because they have a government that simply will not listen to them.
For it is true that the majority of these dogs are stolen pets – and why?
Because if the dog is under-nourished, this could cause a potential health hazard for the consumer, and if a dog trader wants to ensure his meat is plump and well-fed, he only needs to look to the beloved pet of a family home where the dog has been cared for and looked after.
This adds a whole new layer of sickening depravity to the trade.
And even if it was in the name of culture, in what world is it morally or remotely acceptable to steal a person’s pet dog before hauling it off to the slaughterhouse?
( Sarah Brownlee )

The people who keep banging on about how much they love their pet dog or their pet cat, and who condemn Asian countries for eating dogs and cats, are very often the same people who sit down at the dinner table and munch on the flesh of baby animals who spent their short life being abused before having their throat cut and their little body butchered.
I wouldn’t want these people to love me.
( Rose Winfold )

Although we have, in theory, abolished human slavery, recognised women’s rights, and stopped child labour, we continue to enslave other species who, if we simply pay attention, show quite clearly that they experience parental love, pain, and the desire for freedom, just as we do.
( Ingrid Newkirk )

We cannot glimpse the essential life of a caged animal, only the shadow of its former beauty.
( Julia Allen Field )

Be the voice the animals wish they had.
Make the choice the animals wish they could.
( Rose Winfold )

Hell On Earth For Chickens.
McDonald’s chickens come from farms described as ‘hell on earth’.
Bred to grow too big, too fast, they can barely walk from the weight of their own oversized bodies.
These birds live in conditions so cramped they only have space the size of an A4 sheet of paper each.
Their legs burn from the toxic fumes of their own waste.

The stress that fish experience when they are pulled from the water into an environment in which they cannot breathe is exactly the same as a person drowning.
( Dr Culum Brown )

The animals you eat are not those who devour others.
You do not eat the carnivorous beasts, you take them as your pattern.
You only hunger after sweet and gentle creatures who harm no one, follow you, serve you, and are devoured by you as the reward of their service.
( Jean-Jacques Rousseau )

I like animals, all animals.
I wouldn’t hurt a cat or a dog, or a chicken or a cow, and I wouldn’t ask someone else to hurt them for me.
That’s why I’m a vegan.
( Peter Dinklage )

In order to produce the same quantity of beef as the present-day system, we find that a nationwide shift to exclusively grass-fed beef would require increasing the national cattle herd from 77 to 100 million cattle, an increase of 30%.
We also find that the current pastureland grass resource can support only 27% of the current beef supply (27 million cattle), an amount 30% smaller than prior estimates.
Future US demand in an entirely grass and forage-raised beef scenario can only be met domestically if beef consumption is reduced.
( From a report by Matthew Hayek of the Harvard Animal Law and Public Policy Program and Rachel Garrett of Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment )

Without reservation I support the Australian groups fighting to save the kangaroo.
The killing is a disgrace, cruel, and entirely profit motivated.
The kangaroo is one of Australia’s original inhabitants, deserving both respect and compassion.
( Sir Paul McCartney )

The Wide-Scale loss Of Land And Species.
A study by The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that the vast scale of growing crops such as soy to rear chickens, pigs and other animals puts an enormous strain on natural resources leading to the wide-scale loss of land and species.
The report warns of the vast amount of land needed to grow the crops used for animal feed and cites some of the world’s most vulnerable areas such as the Amazon, Congo Basin and the Himalayas.
In 2010, the British livestock industry needed an area the size of Yorkshire to produce the soy used in feed.
But if global demand for meat grows as expected, soy production would need to increase by nearly 80% by 2050.

Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character.
( George Bernard Shaw )

There will come a time when civilised people will look back in horror on our generation and the ones that preceded it.
The idea that we should eat other living things running around on four legs, that we should raise them just for the purpose of killing them.
The people of the future will say ‘meat-eaters’ in disgust and regard us in the same way we regard cannibals and cannibalism.
( Dennis Weaver )

If modern civilised man had to keep the animals he eats, the number of vegetarians would rise astronomically.
( Christian Morgenstern )