Hillside is now home to over 4000 rescued animals but their work doesn’t end there. They also conduct investigations into the way animals are treated on farms and have repeatedly exposed and published the horrors found there. They say they have always known that one of the main reasons animals are left to suffer in factory farms is because people have little or no idea about the immense cruelty involved in their ‘food’ production.
We have supported Hillside’s amazing work for many years now so we’re thrilled to be able to donate 100% of the royalties from our Luke Walker series of books 😀 For every book sold, Hillside will receive £1, so if someone you know has a birthday coming up, why not get them a present full of funny stories they’ll love that will also help the animals they love? ❤
UPDATE: The result of Defra’s independent review of decapod sentience is due imminently, and the outcome will be crucial for moving towards legislation. Crustacean Compassion are working hard to prepare. The best thing you can do right now is make sure you’re following their social media channels, like and share their posts (Crustacean Compassion Facebook and @crab_welfare Twitter) and are subscribed to their emails (sign up via their website) so that as soon as they release their action you are ready to take part! Keep an eye out as once Defra release their outcome, they’ll need you immediately!
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Download and colour these lovely pictures of crustaceans and then scroll down to see how you can protect them in real life 😀
UPDATE: The result of Defra’s independent review of decapod sentience is due imminently, and the outcome will be crucial for moving towards legislation. Crustacean Compassion are working hard to prepare. The best thing you can do right now is make sure you’re following their social media channels, like and share their posts (Crustacean Compassion Facebook and @crab_welfare Twitter) and are subscribed to their emails (sign up via their website) so that as soon as they release their action you are ready to take part! Keep an eye out as once Defra release their outcome, they’ll need you immediately!
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Download and colour these lovely pictures of crustaceans and then scroll down to see how you can protect them in real life 😀
Crustacean Compassion is an award-winning animal welfare organisation dedicated to the humane treatment of decapod crustaceans. They are a group of animal welfare professionals who are shocked by the inhumane treatment of crabs, lobsters, prawns and crayfish, particularly in the food industry, given what is now known about their sentience. They founded the organisation when they heard that crabs were being sold alive fully immobilised in shrinkwrap in UK supermarkets, and that the RSPCA were powerless to act as the animals are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It is also legal, and commonplace, in the UK for crustaceans to be boiled or dismembered/cut while still alive.
Inhumane Slaughter Methods
All of the following methods have been described as inhumane by the EU’s Animal Health and Welfare Scientific Panel:
Live boiling. During this process lobsters and crabs thrash, try to escape, and shed their limbs, known to be a sign of stress. Crustaceans, unlike us and other animals, are not able to go into shock and lose consciousness to protect themselves from extreme pain. A crab can take 3 minutes to die in boiling water.
Chilling in the freezer/ice slurry before live boiling. There is no evidence to suggest that this induces anaesthesia rather than just paralysis. Roth and Øines find that chilling is often slow and ineffective. Keeping live lobsters on ice has been banned in Switzerland and Italy. (Roth, B. and Øines, S., 2010. Stunning and killing of edible crabs (Cancer pagurus), Animal Welfare, Volume 19, Number 3, August 2010 , pp. 287-294(8). Universities Federation for Animal Welfare)
Live carving / dismemberment. Whilst some uses of the knife may be more humane than others (see the RSPCA’s guide), it is vital that the correct nerve chains are severed quickly. In particular, lobsters must be severed lengthways all the way down the body. All too often this is not the case, with chefs claiming splitting the head of a chilled lobster kills him instantly. This method is highly likely to cause pain – even if the animals have been previously chilled to a torpor.
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Crustacean Compassion engage with legislators and policy makers to strengthen and enforce animal welfare law and policy. They work to persuade and enable companies to sell higher welfare products across their shellfish product ranges. And they seek to educate both the public and policy makers on the science of decapod crustacean sentience and on their humane treatment and care.
Sign Crustacean Compassion’s petition to get crustaceans included in the Animal Welfare Act 2006! This would mean that anyone farming them, storing them or slaughtering them must abide by basic animal welfare rules – providing enough food, decent water quality, protection from pain and suffering, and humane slaughter methods.
Other countries including New Zealand, Austria, Norway and Switzerland include decapod crustaceans in their animal welfare legislation in the food preparation and restaurant trade. Their decisions are based on scientific evidence of the animals’ ability to feel pain and suffer, dating as far back as the 1990s; and they have largely taken a common sense approach to prevent unnecessary suffering where doubt still exists. For example:
the sale of live creatures to the general public is prohibited
chefs or other slaughterers must have a certificate of competence and prevent unnecessary suffering
decapods must be appropriately housed, in good quality water
they must be cared for in a way which prevents injuries and disease
their conditions must allow for ‘species-specific behaviour’
Until decapod crustaceans are included under the definition of ‘animal’ in welfare legislation, the UK government is not obliged to draw up guidelines for their humane slaughter. This means that even where restaurants and supermarkets want to do the right thing*, it’s not easy to find guidance.
The RSPCA has made it easy for us to contribute to the UK Government’s consultation about their proposed end to live transport. They’re asking for the opinion of a lot of farmers who will argue for its continuation so we’ve got to make sure they know how many people are desperate for it to end.
Or you can fill in the complete consultation questionnaire here on DEFRA’s website. There’s quite a few questions but many of us non-farmers will just answer N/A (not applicable) to many of them.
When I began it, I tried to follow the RSPCA suggestions but I soon found I could no longer pretend to agree that it was okay to transport animals to their deaths at all. I know this is a consultation to end live transport and not to end animal farming altogether, but I felt that surely it must be worth making the point that there is no justification for any animal farming in the first place. It might make an impression if enough of us say it. Anyway, if you want to speed up the process of answering the full DEFRA questionnaire, you’re welcome to copy my answers:
Until we, the human collective, fully awaken–from within our hearts–to acknowledge the Absolute Truth that we are One with ALL Life, ONLY then can we ensure the survival of Mother Earth and her Universal Family.
To evolve to the inner consciousness of ONENESS means living with the full understanding that ALL Life is sacred and must be treated that way.
ONLY then can we bring our normalized violence–which separates and targets any being, human or nonhuman, deemed “NOT LIKE US” and therefore, “LESS THAN US” – to an end.
ONLY then can sustainable social change take place – in our outer world – to ensure that institutionally oppressed INDIVIDUAL lives matter. To transform systematic racism, sexism, heterosexism, speciesism, transphobia, etc., we, the human collective, must now awaken within us a new COMPASSION for ALL that will reflect an inclusive culture, honouring the interconnectedness of life.
“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” Paul Farmer
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
ONLY Compassion for ALL Beings can create a culture of Peace on Earth.
Compassion means, literally, “to suffer with.” The State of Being Compassionate involves allowing oneself to be moved by suffering, so that we experience the motivation to help alleviate and prevent it.
Compassion can ONLY be manifested by daily NON-VIOLENT choices and actions. And that includes standing up against ALL Injustice.
In Dr. Will Tuttle’s book, The World Peace Diet, he reveals the invisible attitudes we ingest at every meal by the relentless and routine killing of animals for food. Our inherent wisdom and compassion, he says, is brutally suppressed as our culture’s mentality of violence and disconnectedness is injected into our meal rituals of animal-derived food.
If we, the human collective, continue to live much of our daily lives by rote behaviour passed down through the ages, from parent to child, disconnected from our True Nature as we separate ourselves from the diversity of Life – which includes other human and nonhuman animals alike – and abandoning Mother Earth herself, our compartmentalized existence will NEVER sustain a world worth living in for ALL.
Until we choose to awaken our hearts to the INTENTION of Compassion for ALL who share our Home [Planet], with daily NON-VIOLENT actions aligned to that conviction, ONLY then will our chaotic, violent culture slowly begin to change our current reality.
Therefore, Veganism must be the necessary FIRST step to deprogram ourselves from centuries of archaic human conditioning that has indoctrinated us to believe in, and fully accept, the Paradigm of OPPRESSION in our culture.
“A revolution of the heart,” says Gary L. Francione, is required. “What I mean by that is that we must reject all ideologies of domination and power, whether religious or secular, that allow us to transform sentient beings—human or nonhuman—into the ‘other,’ thereby allowing us to ignore their moral value and to treat them as things. We must embrace nonviolence as a basic normative principle—a principle that we see as reflecting a moral truth.”
Compassion for ALL understands that “Thou Shall Not Kill” means ALL sentient beings, for we are all valued members of Mother Earth’s Universal Family. “FARM” ANIMALS ARE SENTIENT BEINGS. FISH ARE SENTIENT BEINGS. RATS AND MICE ARE SENTIENT BEINGS. PITBULLS and “RACE” HORSES ARE SENTIENT BEINGS. WILDLIFE ARE SENTIENT BEINGS. THE HOMELESS, HUMAN AND NONHUMAN, ARE SENTIENT BEINGS.
And YOU and YOU and YOU across the globe, no matter the body you live in, no matter the skin color, the age, the race, the nation, the culture, the economic class, no matter the sexual orientation, the gender, the physical or mental disability, the spiritual or religious belief. And no matter the species. For here is the diverse beauty of our interconnectedness.
Last week, or the week before, I got an email from a lovely lady called Alison who works at REDFIN (an Estate Agent) in Seattle. She said she wanted to do a blog post filled with beginner tips for how to make your home vegan, and wanted us to join in. We were delighted to help and if you read her post you’ll see that the best tip (number 7) comes from Violet’s Vegan Comics! 😉 I also suggested another tip about wearing an extra jumper so you can turn your thermostat down, but I guess she didn’t have room for that 😀
NB: Not all vegans live in a house like this. Some of us live in a caravan!
By Alison Bentley of REDFIN:
“The beginning of every year is filled with New Year’s resolutions- whether that’s planning to clean your home more, make your home more sustainable, or deciding to go vegan. Every year more and more people take steps to live a more vegan lifestyle. But for many, becoming vegan can be tough to follow through with, and people often give up a couple weeks in. To help make living a vegan lifestyle easier, we’ve reached out to experts from Atlanta, GA to those living in Phoenix, AZ [and the UK (us!)] to share their best beginner tips on how to create a vegan house. From pantry essentials to fabrics and cleaning products to avoid, these 21 tips will help you transition your home to one that’s more vegan-friendly in 2021.” Read on …
Bright and early on April 28, 2019, Amy Soranno and around 200 other activists stormed Excelsior Hog Farm in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. They occupied the farm, sitting with the caged pregnant pigs, for approximately 7 hours. Eventually they successfully negotiated with the farm to allow the media inside and documented the realities farmed pigs are forced to endure. This was Canada’s first Meat The Victims action.
What the activists saw will haunt them forever. The distress, the sounds, the stench, and the suffering was unlike anything they had witnessed before. The pigs, who had never experienced fresh air, grass, or sunlight, were confined in a dark, dirty, concrete dungeon, unable to move or do anything that comes naturally to them. There were dead bodies scattered throughout the farm, and dumpsters full of dead pigs and piglets outside of the barns. The psychological distress the pigs exhibited was obvious, and the physical pain was overwhelmingly apparent. Blood, cuts and open wounds were seen everywhere.
As you might expect, the Abbotsford Police Department took action. But not against Excelsior Hog Farm. Despite documented criminal animal cruelty taking place there, including footage of workers kicking pigs, using electric prods on the faces of pigs, and tail-docking & castrating distressed piglets without anaesthetic, the Abbotsford PD were only interested in going after the activists who exposed the hidden cruelty.
On November 2, 2020 – The Excelsior 4 attended their second court hearing. Amy Soranno, Nick Schafer, Roy Sasano, and Geoff Regier are facing an outrageous 21 indictable offences of Break and Enter and Mischief. They pled not guilty to all charges. If convicted, they could face years in prison, with each Break and Enter carrying the potential of 10 years in jail.
“No legal repercussions could ever compare to what farmed animals endure – including the pigs who were repeatedly hit, kicked, brutally mutilated, and so much more at Excelsior,” said Amy Soranno.
The Excelsior 4 want to use their prosecution to raise awareness. They are taking every opportunity to challenge public perception, and the legal system, surrounding farmed animals. These activists are challenging the lack of transparency and accountability within the animal agriculture industry, and hope to generate much-needed positive change for exploited animals. This is a huge opportunity to bring these issues to the forefront and they urgently need our support.
Share their story far and wide, and click here to support the four activists’ legal defence.
I’m thrilled to tell you that issue 3 of the LUV4All (Love Unity Voice) magazine is out now and free to read here. It’s full of wonderful articles by wonderful people and I’ve been given permission to share it with you. First up is something by Dr Will Tuttle that’s right on the money!
“Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
The spinning fury at the core of our culture, animal agriculture, not only exploits and destroys the lives and purposes of animals, it does the same to humans as well, and we see this playing out now with this draconian lockdown of healthy people, eroding mental health, human rights, and economic independence, and destroying countless small and medium businesses (including vegan ones).
In my lectures over the years, I’ve described animal agriculture as a Trojan horse: on the surface it appears to be a helpful gift, but on closer examination, and with deeper understanding, we see clearly that it is an utterly harmful force in our individual and collective lives, incessantly damaging the health of our ecosystems and society, as well as our physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being.
Animal agriculture is also the hidden cause of the COVID pandemic, and of the dominant narrative that is imprisoning billions of people in fear and confusion in their homes, and eroding our capacity to speak up and defend our basic freedoms. We are reaping the harvest that we have been sowing for decades and centuries. This is our banquet of consequences. Our culture has created a vast system of animal enslavement that heartlessly condemns billions of sentient beings — whose interests are as significant to them as ours are to us — to lives of misery, terror, and pain. Their purposes are stolen and they are reduced to mere material units of production in a rapacious economic system that sells them by the pound. They are impregnated on rape racks, their offspring immediately stolen, exploited, and killed, and all are forcibly vaccinated and drugged, tracked, microchipped, mercilessly mutilated and oppressed, and brutally killed in an unnecessary, ugly, surreal prison-world devoid of meaning and respect. Animal agriculture defines our society.
Those of us who purchase the flesh and secretions of these unfortunate beings, which is most of humanity worldwide, are the causal forces propelling this system ever onward with the flood of money we spend — votes we cast — driving its ongoing and reckless devastation. Thus, as we persist in engineering and imposing a dystopian future on billions of beings, we now see the gaping maw of a dystopian future looming before our eyes. Mandatory confinement, separation of family members, loss of basic freedoms, forced vaccinations, routine microchipping, mass tracking and surveillance: all these standard factory-farm practices are now being openly discussed and planned by health officials, pharmaceutical representatives, and government agencies. What we relentlessly inflict on farmed animals we see manifesting in our human world, and, ironically, we seem powerless and strangely uninspired to stop it.
Why is this? Why are we so unable to see the obvious and respond with clarity, vitality, and solidarity to these insidious existential dangers to us and to our children? Why are we immobilized by fear and mesmerized by the voices of authority, unable to connect with either our intuitive wisdom or to think critically about our situation? Why the nearly-blind allegiance to mainstream media narratives and medical-pharmaceutical forces that we should by now have learned to question? Why do we find those relative few who dare to speak up and question the dominant COVID narrative to be so threatening?
It is because animal agriculture not only exploits animals, it exploits us. As we exploit and abuse, we will be exploited and abused. Each one of us, as we purchase meat, dairy, or egg products, becomes an invisible killer to the cows, pigs, hens, and fishes we are exploiting. We directly but invisibly cause terror, pain, and death, and we compound it further by eating it and feeding it to our vulnerable and innocent children, ritually indoctrinating them as we were. We are the invisible killers, but we repress this awareness, and project it outward, impulsively terrified of invisible killers, which seem to be everywhere.
We spend billions on military defense to protect ourselves from lurking terrorists, and now are even more frightened by microscopic enemies, the hordes of viruses, pathogens, and other unseen agents of death arising and projected from our unfaced violence.
This is our shadow: our repressed awareness, guilt, and shame, propelling us to give our power away to authorities in the vain hope they will protect us. At war with animals, nature, and each other, we make war on invisible viruses as well, completely failing to understand them in our fear-based materialist delusion. We see and suspect enemies and threats everywhere because we are the enemies and threats, and our fear sends us into the waiting arms of the merciless global conglomerates, who provide both the narrative and the toxic “solution.” They will profit from us more in power even than in dollars. They have purchased both media and government, and we find ourselves, the wounded and programmed dominators of animals, increasingly dominated by impersonal forces beyond our control.
There is but one way to human freedom, and to a world of health and harmony, and that is the way of ahimsa — non-harmfulness to other beings — a vegan world of respect for all. We will be worthy of understanding and appreciating ourselves and everyone on this beautiful and abundant planet when we dismantle the entrenched narrative of human superiority and entitlement. A new story is yearning to be born in our human culture. It has ancient roots, and this current emergency (emerge-and-see), if we respond appropriately, can put us on a higher path of liberation and healing.
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Click here for the conclusion of this article and links to more of Dr Tuttle’s writing.
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Despite the fact that animal farming is the cause of COVID-19 and a myriad of other preventable infectious diseases; despite the fact that animal products weaken the body’s immune system; and that deficiency in the intake of whole grains, fruits, nuts, legumes, seeds and vegetables leads to degenerative diseases, we see daily, evidence that the general public have not been told how to protect themselves against the pandemic. My jaw drops as I pass the long lines of cars – people exercising their right to shop for basic necessities during lockdown – queuing to order ‘food’ at the McDonald’s drive-thru. It’s so long it goes all the way across McDonald’s car park and that of the neighbouring superstore, out onto the road and right up to the roundabout where it causes a traffic jam. It’s like most people are in The Matrix and they don’t want to take the red pill.
As you can imagine, Miranda went back and forth to their stall to buy vital sustenance for us …
and gifts for he who was not there 😉
If you live in London you might already know the joy of biting into a soft Marsha P Johnson chocolate & orange cookie, or a Melitta Bentz coffee and walnut cookie, but if you don’t you really should.
The Vegan Feminist Bakers, Alessia & Francesca, say TheFemale Glaze is not only a business that is kind to animals, but it also promotes women empowerment by sourcing from women-run and ethical suppliers. They further add –
“Remember, women belong in the kitchen, men belong in the kitchen, non-binary folks belong in the kitchen… Everybody get to the kitchen: there’s cake in there!”
Francesca and Alessia will personally deliver your cookies if you live in London (zones 1 to 6), or you can opt for tracked delivery if you live outside London. Don’t be put off if everything in the shop is marked ‘out of stock’, they had to put a cap on their weekly deliveries as everything is handmade by Francesca and she’s only one human! So if the shop page says all items are out of stock, it means they have reached capacity and their delivery slots are full, but they’ll re-stock on Tuesdays at 10am. Cut-off for orders is 5pm on Mondays for Wednesdays delivery and 5pm on Thursdays for Saturdays delivery.
Liberia faces many challenges after the terrible civil war that ended in 2003. It is considered one of the poorest countries in the world. The country recovering process is faced with high unemployment rate, poor infrastructure, low literacy rate, and the Ebola crisis in 2014/2015 that killed over 4,000 people nationwide and further affected every sector of the country. Amidst all of these enormous challenges to national stability, animal protection is not considered as a priority issue. The animal protection issue is seen as a new concept and as a result many animals suffer needlessly.
It’s that time of year again, although it might not feel like it, so we’ve decided to get Christmassy at the Be The Future vegan market in Stoke Newington this weekend 😀
If you’re mourning the loss of the usual big Vegan Christmas events this year [eg VegFest and the Animal Aid Cruelty-Free Fair] then this might make up for it in a small way. It’s nice to be among vegans. It’s nice to be in a friendly, welcoming, vibrant but cosy shopping environment where you don’t have to ask – “what’s in that?” or “is that tested on animals?”
At the Be The Future Market you’ll find all sorts of vegan gift ideas from small local businesses who produce high-quality products with loads of love. Sorry, I can’t tell you exactly who’s going to be there this weekend because their website doesn’t specify (I think they give more info on instagram but I haven’t been able to make instagram work 😀 ) but I can tell you that we’ll be there on Saturday and that’s reason enough to pop in! ❤
We’re going to be there, on Saturday 12th December, with loads of our colourful vegan children’s books, already wrapped and ready for Christmas morning 😀
So don’t miss out – be there between 11am and 5pm and get Christmassy – vegan style! 😉
We can’t wait to see you! 😀
Abney Public Hall, 73A Church Street, Stoke Newington, London, N16 0AS
11am to 5pm on Saturday 12th December and Sunday 13th December 2020
Go to bethefuturemkt.com and scroll to the bottom of the page for directions including buses and trains info.
The UK government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December 2020), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice. “Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
This is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC NEWSbut we must remember that nothing is definite yet. This is just a consultation and the government is also consulting on alternative proposals to further improve welfare for all…
The UK government has unveiled plans to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and fattening.
The proposals form part of an eight-week consultation, launched by Defra secretary George Eustice in England and Wales on Thursday (3 December 2020), seeking views on how to better protect animal welfare during transport.
“We are committed to improving the welfare of animals at all stages of life. Today marks a major step forward in delivering on our manifesto commitment to end live exports for slaughter,” said Mr Eustice. “Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to end this unnecessary practice. We want to ensure that animals are spared stress prior to slaughter.”
This is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC NEWSbut we must remember that nothing is definite yet. This is just a consultation and the government is also consulting on alternative proposals to further improve welfare for all animals in transport. These include:
Reduced maximum journey times
Animals being given more space and headroom during transport
Stricter rules on transporting animals in extreme temperatures
Tighter rules for transporting live animals by sea.
That’s why it’s vital we act now!
We have to let the government know just how much support there is for an outright ban of live exports.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) are saying that live exports are an “important trade option for farmers” and wants Defra to consider its alternative plan for an assurance scheme to “ensure all animals travel in the best possible conditions and that they arrive at the approved and final destination in the best possible health”.
If we don’t shout louder and harder than those farmers, we could miss out on this amazing and unprecedented opportunity.
TELL THE GOVERNMENT THAT NOTHING SHORT OF AN OUTRIGHT BAN IS GOOD ENOUGH!
Last chance! 30% off ends today! Plus – if you’re Christmas shopping – bear in mind that these books can take two weeks to reach you because they’ve got to be printed and bound. So order today and make sure they get to you in time! 😀
For the next three day you can get 30% off all our books at lulu.com
and there’s so many to choose from!
Don’t miss out on this great Christmas shopping opportunity – offer ends November 30th at 11.59pm UTC!
Just enter the code BFCM30 at the checkout to claim your discount.
For easy browsing go to our little bookshop at little-chicken.net where you’ll find comics, storybooks, rhyming stories, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, funny short stories, colouring books and a couple of graphic novels!
Have a great weekend! 😀
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vegan children, vegan Christmas shopping, vegan books for children, vegan storybooks, Black Friday Sale, book sale, vegan Christmas gifts,
For the next three day you can get 30% off all our books at lulu.com
and there’s so many to choose from!
Don’t miss out on this great Christmas shopping opportunity – offer ends 1st of December at 11.59pm UTC!
Just enter the code BFCM30 at the checkout to claim your discount.
For easy browsing go to our little bookshop at little-chicken.net where you’ll find comics, storybooks, rhyming stories, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, funny short stories, colouring books and a couple of graphic novels!
Have a great weekend! 😀
************************
vegan children, vegan Christmas shopping, vegan books for children, vegan storybooks, Black Friday Sale, book sale, vegan Christmas gifts,
Trawling for prey at more than a thousand feet under the surface, scalloped hammerhead sharks rely on a special oil in their livers to survive the crushing pressures of the deep.
Shark liver oil, or squalene, is a fatty substance that provides vital buoyancy for this critically endangered species and many others. But it’s also used by humans as a boosting agent in vaccines, called an adjuvant, that improves the immune system and makes vaccines more effective.
As the world’s pharmaceutical companies scramble to create a vaccine for COVID-19, at least five of the 202 vaccine candidates rely on squalene sourced from wild-caught sharks.
One candidate is a vaccine developed in Australia by University of Queensland, in partnership with the Australian biopharmaceutical company CSL and its subsidiary Seqirus. The as yet unnamed vaccine contains the squalene adjuvant MF59, which is sourced from a variety of shark species. It entered human clinical trials earlier this year and, if successful, will result in an initial production of 51 million doses.
Tens of millions of sharks are caught and traded internationally each year—both legally and illegally—the majority for their meat and fins but roughly three million or more for their squalene. It takes the livers of between 2,500 and 3,000 sharks to extract about a ton of squalene.
Conservationists fear that increased demand for squalene for vaccines, among other uses, could further imperil shark species, a third of which are vulnerable to extinction.
“This is an unsustainable demand to place on a finite natural resource like sharks,” says Stefanie Brendl, founder and executive director of Shark Allies, a California-based conservation non-profit.
Only about one percent of squalene ends up in vaccines, and most goes into cosmetics such as sunscreen, skin creams, and moisturisers. Even so, as the global population booms, the need for vaccines will only increase in coming years, Brendl notes, adding that some medical experts suggest that people will require multiple doses of vaccines against COVID-19.
“We’re not saying that vaccine trials should stop, but if we keep viewing sharks as an easy solution and don’t consider the alternatives that exist, then we’ll just continue to use [squalene] as a template for vaccines,” Brendl says.
In light of declining shark populations, some biotech companies are looking for other sources of squalene. Plants such as sugarcane, olives, amaranth seeds, and rice bran, for instance, all contain the substance. While plant-based alternatives are being tested in studies and clinical trials, regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have yet to approve them as part of a final vaccine product.
Brendl says the onus is on pharmaceutical companies to begin developing viable alternatives to shark squalene to present to regulators. She points out that Novavax, an American vaccine-development company, is already using an alternative squalene adjuvant, Matrix-M, in clinical trials for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine. Matrix-M is made from the bark of the soapbark tree, which is abundant in Chile.
Though the company has deemed the soapbark adjuvant as safe, it has not yet been evaluated as part of a final product submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
However, the Infectious Disease Research Institute found that pharmaceutical-grade squalene produced by the American biotechnology company Amyris met, and in some cases exceeded, the safety and purity profiles of shark-based squalene, according to Chris Paddon, Amyris’s lead scientist.
Amyris is banking on sugarcane as a solution to shark-based squalene, he says. In southeastern Brazil, the company is growing thousands of acres of the bamboo-like sugarcane to be processed into squalene. Just 24 acres of sugarcane could, in theory, produce enough squalene to support one billion COVID-19 vaccines.
Because growers can control the way sugarcane is grown and harvested, it’s possible to ensure the quality of the squalene, Paddon says. “When you use animal products, there are impurities that come with them because of the environment they’re raised in and the places where they’re processed.” Furthermore, Paddon says, growing sugarcane is also cheaper than catching sharks and removing their livers.
Sign this Shark Allies petition demanding that the US/FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the United States of America), the UK/MHRA (The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom), the EU/EMA (The European Medicines Agency), the National Medical Products Administration of China, and all vaccine producing companies use non-animal squalene in all vaccines.
COVID-19 brought tourism to a halt in Thailand and put tourist elephants in danger of a fate worse than death! Many elephants and their handlers (mahouts) were forced to walk back to their villages but, at the camps on the route home, there was no food or work. It was heartbreaking to see and even harder to imagine that these gentle elephants would probably be forced back to work in the illegal logging industry once they reached the villages. While elephant rides involve tremendous cruelty, being forced into the logging trade is a ring even lower in the hellish inferno of animal abuse.
The Pandemic Is a Once in a Lifetime Chance to Save Pachyderms! CLICK HERE NOW!
Facing such urgency, Thailand’s elephant lovers put on their thinking caps, scrambling to come up with a way to keep these innocent elephants from being sold into the unimaginably harsh logging trade. The new non-profit Gentle Giants was born, in partnership with Save Elephant Foundation whose founder, Lek Saengduean Chailert, is a world-renowned conservationist and elephant expert.
On May 3rd, 2020, after walking for 3 days, a herd of 11 elephants reached their village. The tribe welcomed their elephants with open arms and so much love. For many of the elephants, like 7-month-old Lanna, it was their first time in the village. For others, like Mae Jaa who is the eldest elephant of the group, it was returning to a home she had left long ago.
The rescue group started with 11 elephants. In three short months, it was 38. They are trying to bring another 20 elephants in so they won’t be sold to the logging industry. There are hundreds of elephants in need. Many are being sold into the illegal logging business and to Chinese businesses. We must make sure that, when the tourism borders open, none of these elephants are sent to the circus or to beg on the streets. Gentle Giants is creating a beautiful ripple effect; a chain of love. They are not only helping the elephants, but their caretakers, the villages, local farmers, farm pickers, truck drivers, contractors, supply stores, etc.
For just $4 dollars a month, or 50.00 dollars a year, you can sponsor Baby Lanna or any other of the gentle giants. By sponsoring these gentle giants, you are supporting them to remain home and out of the tourist and/or logging industry. Your sponsorship will give these gentle giants the opportunity to stay within the forest roaming free among their own. Each elephant has their own story and personality. Your sponsorship will go towards food, care, medical treatment and their mahout’s wages.
Your sponsorship will include a Sponsorship Certificate, a photo of your sponsored elephant and a Gentle Giants personalized sponsorship badge, which you may use as your social media profile picture. Your sponsorship will keep these Gentle Giants in the forest and their natural habitat. They will be able to enjoy their lives as elephants; roaming free with their herd, their family. Their days of long hours walking under the scorching heat with tourists on their backs will have been left behind. Now, no chains will clank around their feet. You are saving these beautiful Gentle Giants and helping the community coexist and thrive with them. It also makes a great gift!
“What’s a vegan storybook? you may ask. Well, basically, it’s like any other storybook except the central characters – the heroes – are vegan. How many times have you had your enjoyment of a good story spoilt when the heroes – the people you liked, the people you were rooting for – ate meat or went fishing or bought a leather jacket? When these things happen in children’s stories they send a message – they tell the child that it’s okay to do these things. The good guys do it so it must be okay. It’s normal.” Violet & Miranda, Violet’s Vegan Comics, United Kingdom
CATEGORY: ANIMAL RIGHTS/WELFARE
Violet’s Vegan Comics awarded 3rd place prize in the Share Your Veganism: 2020 Photo Essay Contest.
The Violet’s Vegan Comics website is full of fun, colourful, exciting and funny stories about vegan children and superheroes like Reflecto Girl, who have battles to…
As soon as Megan returns home from her adventures in space in episode 5, she receives a plea for help from a friend who is a volunteer at the local animal sanctuary. Something very strange is happening that doesn’t make any sense.
Megan agrees to help with the investigation into the sanctuary’s new management which reveals something highly unexpected.
Something dodgy is going on and, if Megan and friends don’t put a stop to it, the consequences will be dire.
Megan & Flos is an old-fashioned adventure comic for kids. Recommended for children aged 8 and up. There’s also a wordsearch puzzle at the end.
Format: Paperback 33 pages, colour interior, dimensions: 8.5 x 11 in / 216 x 279 mm, vegan children’s book suitable for ages 8 and up.
£3.00 in UK. Prices may vary depending on where it’s printed.
Ships worldwide from international printer lulu.com
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Comments from the web:
“OMG!!!!!! this is one of the best stories ever!! If you have read the others, every single second of this story will keep you tied on your seat and hats off to the illustrators who really did great illustrations. if you love conspiracy packed mysteries then you will really fall in love with this story…get on and read it, it’s really excellent.!!” – cwdoesmylaundry
“I believe that we can change the world with just a meal: It’s our daily routines where we create sense, and it’s our everyday life’s where all the magic happens. If we smell a mushroom’s earthy flavor or carefully watch our rice pudding simmering slowly on the stove, we might feel inspired to take care of ourselves and of nature, and maybe even to make better choices.” Claudia Hirschberger, Food With A View, Berlin Germany
CATEGORY: FOOD
Mindful Cooking with Claudia Hirschberger, 2nd place prize winner in the Share Your Veganism: 2020 Photo Essay Contest.
Apart from philosophy and psychology, mindful cooking, as explained by Claudia Hirschberger, has much to do with the cycle of nature and seasons that we are a part of. From wild herbs and edible blossoms in spring to late berries and nuts in autumn, the treasures of urban greens are Claudia’s way to connect…
“I am also a passionate vegan and animal rights advocate so my photography reflects on that a lot. I just love animals and my hopes is that by bringing some of their moments we can regain a love for animals and connect with them once again. The only way to shoot an animal is with your camera.” Nikki Anniehs, Pals Illuminated Photography, Burlington, Ontario
“A sad and fearful pig looks with plea for help. All while bearing witness to trucks on route to the slaughterhouse. Located in Burlington Ontario.”
A 2014 article published in the BBC’s Ethics Guide, mentions that there is much disagreement as to whether non-human animals have rights, and what is meant by animal rights. The article also mentions that there is much less disagreement about the consequences of accepting that animals have rights.
Accepting the doctrine of animal rights means that human beings must not do…
Megan & Flos: Beginnings – the first five episodes, plus puzzle page and solar system facts – all for only £4! (even less if you take advantage of the 15% off which expires tomorrow!) 😀
Megan went to the library to borrow a book she’d been waiting for, and thought it was going to be just an ordinary Saturday. Little did she know that on her way home she would meet someone who would change her life forever.
Flos is a Summum Esse – that is, she’s a visitor from the planet Summum: a supreme aquatic being. Being telepathic she knows right away that she can trust Megan and when she asks for her help it is the beginning of a devoted friendship.
This is the first five episodes of their adventures together.
They are very clever; they are very determined; they are very compassionate. They are eco-warriors like no other.
Megan & Flos: Beginnings is a bright, colourful, imaginative, old-fashioned children’s adventure comic, complete with puzzle page and facts about our solar system and Flos’s. Suitable for readers aged 8 and up.
You might remember that back in August, Plant Based Health Professionals worked on the World Plant Milk Day Campaign and did an interview with the Times newspaper calling for a replacement of free school milk with fruit and vegetables or plant milk. Unbeknown to them, this prompted a letter to RT Hon Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from Dr Hilary Jones (TV doctor) on behalf of The School & Nursery Milk Alliance. Who even knew about this organisation?!
‘We are a coalition of organisations from the early years, education, health and dairy sectors who are committed to promoting the benefits to children’s physical and dental health and wellbeing that arise from drinking milk in learning environments’.
So essentially a dairy funded front organisation. The UK Government are of course complicit in propping up the dairy industry using tax payers’ money even though demand for milk is steadily reducing, excess milk is being thrown away, dairy farming is contributing to environmental destruction and it’s detrimental to human health.
The following is Dr Shireen Kassam’s response to that letter.
Dear Dr Jones, I am disappointed to learn that you continue to promote cow’s milk consumption in children and the free school milk programme. You state that milk has ‘unrivalled nutritional content’. In my view, the nutritional content of milk is only unrivalled if you are a baby cow. There is no requirement for milk consumption beyond weaning, as evidenced by the fact that 70% of the global population have lactose malabsorption, which can manifest as intolerance. Europeans have indeed adapted to digesting dairy beyond weaning but even then, up to 30% are not able to digest the main sugar lactose. For those with lactose intolerance, consuming dairy can be distressing, leading to abdominal pain, diarrhoea and nausea. The school milk programme excludes and discriminates against those with lactose intolerance, often children from ethnic minorities in the UK.
With this is mind, Health Canada has removed dairy from its most recent food guide. The healthiest hydration for children and adults is in fact water. You however state various health benefits of dairy consumption for children, such as boosting energy, aiding concentration and maintaining a healthy weight but there is no such conclusive evidence. In fact, a review paper from earlier this year summarising the current evidence for milk consumption in one of the world’s most highly respected medical journals concluded that milk was not required for optimal health in children or adults. The authors conclude that there is no convincing evidence that milk consumption promotes a healthy weight, improves bone health or reduces the risk of any chronic illness. In fact, they highlight that milk consumption has the potential for harm, including an increased risk of eczema, asthma, acne, prostate and endometrial cancers.
You claim that dairy consumption helps maintain a healthy weight in children, yet a randomised study found no benefit of dairy consumption for reducing body fat or weight. You also state that omitting dairy from the diet could lead to malnutrition, including Kwashiorkor — a form of protein malnutrition — especially when consuming a rice-based vegan diet. Yet, when meeting calorie requirements, scientific studies have shown that a healthy plant-based diet provides more protein than is required for any age group.
Neither I nor Plant-Based Health Professionals UK are recommending a rice-based vegan diet in place of free school milk. The study you cite raising concerns about the use of plant milks leading to malnutrition was conducted in children aged 4 to 14 months, when breast milk is considered the optimal source of calories and nutrients, and these data cannot be extrapolated to school-aged children. Studies have shown that the growth, health and nutritional status of vegetarian and vegan children are within normal range and comparable with non-vegetarian children. It is widely accepted that nutrients found in milk, including calcium, can be obtained from whole plant sources and fortified plant milks if preferred. Fortified soya milk, the most appropriate alternative to cow’s milk, has similar quantities of protein and calcium as cow’s milk, with benefits for heart health and breast cancer reduction. The absorption of calcium from many green vegetables is also greater than that from cow’s dairy. This information is supported and endorsed by major dietetic associations around the world including most recently the BDA in the UK.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that our children need access to high-quality nutrient rich food. The foods most associated with health promotion in children and adults are fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. Yet only 18% of children in the UK eat five portions of fruits and vegetables a day. We should be promoting the consumption of these foods in schools, which are inclusive of all communities and supported by strong scientific evidence. It is time we put children’s health before the vested interests of the dairy industry.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr Shireen Kassam,
Founder and Director of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the mainstream media were not interested in Dr Kassam’s response to Dr Jones’ letter so she has published it online here and on social media and hopes we will all share widely.
Roll up roll up! It’s time for the annual Bridlington Vegan Festival!
Normally it’s held at Bridlington Spa – oh don’t you wish you were there right now? 😀 – but this year, for obvious reasons, it’s going to be online so that means that even if you can’t get to Bridlington on Sunday, you don’t have to miss out 😀
What’s on at the 2020 Bridlington Vegan Online Festival I hear you ask? Well, if you pop over here you’ll find out that there’s going to be posts from and/or links to: * delicious vegan food providers * businesses providing vegan, ethical, eco-friendly products and holistic therapies * Information and advice about following a vegan lifestyle * Local and national groups campaigning to help people, animals and the environment.
But that’s not all 😀
You can also enjoy: Inspirational speakers, Music from Tess Fletcher, Barbara Helen and His Witch
There will be instagram posts to enjoy from 9am onwards. There’s going to be sing-alongs, and yoga [via zoom and in real life on the beach!] There’s a children’s drama workshop and lots of other things for children to join in with. There’s even a juggler!
So come on down (to your settee) and enjoy this happy event 😀
Filled with colourful, hand-painted illustrations, this bright and happy vegan storybook is great for bedtime stories and for reading with and to little ones.
Format: Paperback 96 pages, colour interior, dimensions: 6 x 9 in / 152 x 229 mm, vegan children’s book suitable for pre-school children.
£5.00 in UK. Prices may vary depending on where it’s printed.
Ships worldwide from international printer lulu.com
“This book has a sweet approach to teach kids why our family chose to be vegan and respect animals. Also, we like that it gives a voice to animals and to kids. Our favorite story was “Where…
Wibbolywub is a Bibbolybob from planet Bobbolybib. He’s come to Earth for the day to find out about the different types of Earthlings and to make as many new friends as he can. You could help him count them.
This delightful early learning book introduces the numbers zero to ten and reveals some very interesting facts about Earthlings. It does so in the context of a lovely story of friendship between an alien being and the ten different animals he meets.
Colourfully illustrated with watercolour paintings, this vegan picture book is suitable for reading to pre-schoolers and for older children to read alone.
Format: Paperback 63 pages, colour interior, dimensions: 7.44 x 9.68 in / 189 x 246 mm, vegan children’s book suitable for reading with pre-school children and for older children to read alone.
£4.50in UK. Prices may vary depending on where it’s printed.
Everyone is excited because it’s Grandpa Wollemi’s birthday but Cedro is a little worried. Kauri and Myrtle have spent days making special presents for Grandpa but Cedro isn’t very good at arts and crafts so he doesn’t have anything to give.
Luckily he realises just in time that he can make Grandpa a birthday cake. This story explains how he does it. A happy vegan picture book, colourfully illustrated in naïve style, with simple vegan cake recipe included. Suitable for reading with little ones.
Format: Paperback 53 pages, colour interior, dimensions: Square (8.5 x 8.5 in / 216 x 216 mm), vegan children’s book suitable for reading with children aged four and up.
£4.00 in UK. Prices may vary depending on where it’s printed.
Ships worldwide from international printer lulu.com
Renée Gale is a vegan activist and superhero. Sort of. When she was eleven years old her grandmother gave her the Dounto, a mystical mirror, (pronounced doon-toe). Its name comes from the rule that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If the Dounto is held in front of someone who is doing something horrible to someone else, their misdeeds are reflected back. Whatever they are doing, happens to them.
With the Dounto, Renée is Reflecto Girl. In episode 7, on her way to reflect an unpleasant billionaire, Reflecto Girl accidentally reflects three other people on the same train. This exciting vegan comic, in the style of 1970s children’s comics, tells the very different stories of what happens to each of them.
Plus there’s a delicious vegan cake recipe at the end 😀
Format: Paperback 41 pages, colour interior, dimensions: 8.5 x 11…
Venus Aqueous: Prison Break – her most exciting adventure so far. And there’s a crossword puzzle at the end. Colourful vegan adventure comic, suitable for readers aged 8 and up, for only £3.50 😀
Venus Acton is a champion swimmer who likes nothing more than wild swimming in the ocean. After being hit by sonic vibrations from an underwater explosion, she developed the ability to hear and understand marine animals. She uses that ability to rescue those who call for her help.
In episode 5, Venus and friends suspect that their local public aquarium is not all it pretends to be and decide to investigate. What they discover is worse than they could have imagined and they know they just have to do something. But what? What can they possibly do to help? Well, it’s amazing what four intelligent, compassionate and highly motivated people can achieve when they put their minds to it. Especially when one of them can hear the animals’ desperate cries for help.
Venus Aqueous: Prison Break – her most exciting adventure so far. And there’s a crossword puzzle at the…
Patty Panda is hungry but doesn’t know what to eat. Luckily she meets lots of different animals who are happy to share their food with her, but still she has trouble finding something that suits her.
This delightful rhyming story, written and illustrated completely in collage by Lavender Laine, teaches children that we are all different and what’s good for one is not necessarily good for someone else.
It might also inspire children to make art out of old odds and ends (such as left over yarn and buttons, paper cut from old magazines, fabric off-cuts, and food packaging etc) as Laine has done here, encouraging recycling and resourcefulness.
Format: Paperback 34 pages, colour interior, dimensions: 8.5 x 11 in / 216 x 279 mm, vegan children’s book suitable for reading with pre-school children and for older children to read alone.
Beans on Toast: a new vegan comic for 21st century kids! This comic includes three different stories!
First: Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins – a funny new animal-rescue adventure in the style of Penelope Pitstop.
Second: Sherman & Geynes: Pretend Detectives – another funny story about a couple of imaginative boys who investigate mysteries of their own invention.
AND third: What Me And Jude Did While Everyone Else Was At School – the diary of a nine year old home-schooler.
All this as well as three puzzle pages in this old-fashioned, black and white, funny comic for kids aged 5 and up.
Format: Paperback 43 pages, black and white interior, dimensions: 8.5 x 11 in / 216 x 279 mm, vegan children’s book suitable for ages 5 and up.
£2.50 in UK. Prices may vary depending on where it’s printed.
Ships worldwide from international printer lulu.com
The Little Chicken Book of Fairy Tales contains four new stories in the classic fairy tale style. There’s one about a princess whose need to be popular makes her a little too eager to please and she has to find out the hard way that it’s not always a good idea to give the people what they want, – there’s a wizard in that one!
Then there’s the king whose three sons have to compete to win the throne by solving a crisis. There’s no wizard in that one. Then there’s the one with a world protected by witches, and the last one has a boy who makes a lot of wishes – there’s no wizard in that one either but there is a bit of magic! 😀
Vegan fairy tales! What fun! 😀
Actually these are only subliminally vegan so while this lovely book will definitely be enjoyed by…
