The LittleChickenVegan etsy shop has loads of fantastic children’s books and toys. Storybooks, comicbooks, graphic novels, nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Rag mice, knitted cats, teddy bears in vegan T-shirts, comics action figures and vegan activist dolls! What more could you want for Christmas?! Shop now at LittleChickenVegan 😀
The following is copied and pasted from an email we received from Crustacean Compassion today. PLEASE take a couple of minutes to read it and take action to finally end this barbarity:
Last week we went to Westminster to take a stand against boiling alive – and wow, what a fantastic turnout of support we had.
On Tuesday 21 October, our team gathered outside Parliament to call on Defra to finally ban the horrific practice of boiling animals alive. We were joined by some of you, our amazing supporters, alongside MPs, our friends from other animal protection organisations, and our fabulous ambassador Wendy Turner-Webster, who brought along her wonderful 96-year-old father Brian. Together we formed a powerful collective voice for decapod crustaceans.
*
With our banners raised and voices united, we delivered a clear message to newly appointed Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds: BAN BOILING ALIVE.
And here’s the crux of it: Defra has already promised to publish guidelines on the humane slaughter of decapod crustaceans – guidelines that should end live boiling. We welcomed that commitment. But with fewer than 10 weeks left in 2025, those guidelines still haven’t appeared.
The delay is unacceptable, and we’ve reached boiling point with the government’s inertia.
That’s why we showed up, and why we’ll keep showing up. Because crustaceans may not have voices, but we do. And we’ll keep speaking up until the law reflects compassion. You can too, by taking action today.
Let’s keep the momentum going – join our pincer movement and together, we can make boiling alive a thing of the past.
Follow us on social media for live updates, behind-the-scenes action, and ways you can help push this campaign forward. Every like, share, and comment helps amplify our message and bring us closer to a ban.
Will Renee have enough courage to go inside? Come back tomorrow, when the story continues, to find out. Or, if you don’t want to wait, you can read it now 😀
Violet’s Vegan Comics – making funny, exciting and always entertaining vegan children’s books since 2012
Can you find all of these beautiful birds in the wordsearch? 😀
You could save the puzzle pic, open it in Paint and solve it on your pc. Or you could print it and solve it with a pencil. Or maybe you’d like to download the puzzle pdf. The choice is yours 😀
Megan & Flos: Beginnings contains the first five episodes of Megan & Flos – it’s no longer in print but we’d love you to have your own copy in case there’s an end-of-the-world type internet-crashing emergency 😮 So here it is – our Christmas gift to you 😀
Well, Miranda tells me that her new story – Sria’s Science Project – is in the style of Hey Arnold. Maybe because all the characters have very different hairstyles and that’s how you know who’s who 😀
I’ve already read some of it and, let me tell you, it’s well worth a look.
Sria’s Science Project starts tomorrow – I suggest you don’t miss it, but if you do, you’ll be able to find it on the Funny Comics for ages 7 and up page 😀
Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er – a vegan Just William for the 21st century!
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Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er (the story so far) is funny, exciting and very entertaining. Twenty-four unputdownable chapters about the rebellious schoolboy who won’t be deterred from sticking up for animals no matter how much trouble he gets into.
“A great read – so, so hard to put down once started ! Thoroughly recommended for animal lovers and great literature lovers.” – Dave Smailes
A funny, intriguing and sometimes badly-spelled journey of discovery, The Rebel Gang and the Number Ciphers contains the documents pertaining to a secret investigation by The Corporation into a group of individuals suspected of trying to undermine the authorities. The group communicates with coded messages and it is up to the investigating team to intercept and decipher their messages before they destroy civilization.
Vegan Rascals Collection: A Violet’s Vegan Comics compilation edition containing all the stories so far from Megan & Flos, The English Family Anderson, and Venus Aqueous.
The only thing these intriguing, exciting and often humorous stories have in common is that their protagonists do not pretend it’s okay to imprison, enslave or kill animals, and they’re not afraid to break the rules.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating happy, funny and exciting vegan-friendly comics and stories for all ages since 2012
Check out this new sab-tastic caper on our stories for Teens and up page! 😀
Have you ever wished people wouldn’t keep birds in cages? Have you ever wished they wouldn’t shoot them for fun? Have you ever wanted to do something about it? If so, you’ll love this story.
We have been supporters of Safer Medicines for many years so as soon as we saw this book by their Research Director, Dr Pandora Pound, we snapped it up.
It is a very well-written, easy to read book, full of all the information we need to know in our fight against vivisection. It is clearly and eloquently laid out and comes complete with many many citations.
I love the excitement and optimism the book has inspired:
“Rat Trap ends the debate about animal research once and for all. She shows that, far from being a necessary evil, it is one of the most important and urgent scientific issues of our time.
“Animal research harms patients and holds back medical progress. Superior technologies based on human biology could transform medicine if not for the iron grip of animal research.
“Rat Trap is dynamite! It blows the lid off decades of dogma.”
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While we’re on the subject, the following video from 2019 is well worth half an hour of your time 🙂 (it is just a calm conversation, there are no disturbing images or descriptions).
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NB The pro-vivisection website Understanding Animal Research, criticised this video in an attempt to discredit Dr Greek (a board-certified anesthesiologist) by calling him a ‘conspiracy theorist’ and ‘science denialist’. So it’s very interesting that what Dr Pound tells us in Rat Trap about her personal experience as a scientist, and her research into this topic, corresponds with Dr Greek’s research and experience, and that of his wife and co-author, Jean Swingle Greek, who is a veterinary surgeon. Their findings were published over twenty years ago in their book Sacred Cows and Golden Geese: The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals.
Highly recommended.
Another brilliant book on the subject which we have read several times and can highly recommend.
“Michael Carter. That’s right.” Fran waited while the office manager at The Trade Clearance Company talked to a colleague. “Right. I see. We’re trying to get – great. Thank you.” She scribbled onto her jotter and put the phone down. “The TCC says he only helps them out occasionally. Last time was January.”
“And?”
“He did work the carpet warehouse clearance two years ago!” She keyed a number into her desk phone, “and he’s got more than one phone!” It rang five times.
“The person you are trying to call is not available at the moment. Please leave -”
“Not answering.”
“Maybe he’s got no signal. Or his battery’s dead,” Bonner suggested. “What were you going to say to him anyway? Please come to the police station, we’d like to talk to you about a few murders?”
Fran flashed a sarcastic smile. “I was going to ask him if he was available to do a factory clearance.”
“If either of those numbers made or received a call or a text on the day of the murders, we’ll be able to find out where they were.” Toby pointed out.
Fran could hardly believe she’d forgotten that. She left to update Ann.
Toby smiled. Bonner threw a packet of crisps at him. “Don’t get smug.”
Fran returned a moment later. “I want to know who this guy is. What’s he like? Where does he go? Who does he hang out with?”
“Back to the neighbours?” Toby asked.
“I don’t want to spook him. Let’s just see what we can find out from here. He doesn’t have a criminal record, but does he belong to a group, a political party, a gym? Get his vehicle registration and see if it’s been caught on any ANPR cameras. Put a marker on it.”
“Right.”
Bonner retrieved his packet of crisps from the floor and went to put the kettle on.
****
Wednesday 22rd April
*
“Looks like he wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Toby commented.
“If murderers looked like murderers we could all work half days,” Bonner chuckled as he wandered lazily to the gents.
“I wish you’d work half a day.” Fran grumbled. She looked at the face in the photos. “You knew the camera behind Marvin’s wasn’t working; and that the carpet warehouse was empty. May well have had a key to it. Now we find out you’re a medical courier.”
“Used to be.”
“So you know how to transport organs without damaging them. Are you selling them?”
“This is too sick!”
“Sicker than cutting them out for no reason?” Fran followed her train of thought. “Medical couriers keep organs fresh for transport. For transplants.”
“Murder to harvest organs? For money?”
“What else?” Fran tapped a few words into the search engine. “Look at this – a heart is worth over a million dollars for transplants and research. And livers can fetch $157,000.”
Toby shook his head. “I guess people have murdered for a lot less. But what about the feet?”
“There’s no mention of feet on this list, erm, oh, they’ll pay for bones and ligaments though. $5,000 per bone! We need to get an arrest warrant.”
“On what grounds? This is all circumstantial.”
“I don’t know. Failure to update address on driving license!” She marched into the chief’s office.
***
“We need an arrest warrant.”
“What have you got?”
“We’ve got a self-employed electrician who knew about the empty warehouse and the camera not working behind the superstore.”
“That warehouse has been empty for two years. Plenty of people knew about it.”
“Do plenty of people have a key for it?”
“Does he?”
“He might have. He worked for the company that cleared it out. They say he would have had one when he did the job.”
“And he didn’t return it?”
“The point is, he had it that day. He could have copied it.”
Wicket frowned. “That was two years ago. Did he plan the murders a year in advance?”
“No one else knew that camera wasn’t working at the back of the superstore. Except the night manager and he was on camera inside the building the whole night.”
“So, maybe the night manager blabbed to someone else and forgot. Or maybe the electrician did.”
“No, I know it was him. I know it! Oh – and he used to be a medical courier! They know how to transport organs.”
This new information gave him pause. “Hmm, that does make him a person of interest. Okay, we’ll issue a BOLO for him and I’ll get Collins and Shaw to watch his house.”
“Discreetly.”
Wicket nodded.
***
When she returned to her desk, Fran was handed a sheet of paper by Bonner.
“From Ann,” he told her.
She took it from him. “DNA results?”
He nodded gravely. “From the autopsies.”
It only took a moment to read the first line. “The warehouse victims were twins.”
“Read on.”
She read on. “And they were siblings of the first victim, from last May.” Her jaw dropped and she stared at Toby. “Three victims from the same family. What does that mean?”
“The mother must be in on it.” Bonner spoke almost inaudibly.
Fran shook her head slowly. “Have you ever been pregnant Jim?”
Bonner tutted. “Oh yeah, couple o’ times.”
“Didn’t think so,” she stared at him, her mouth drawn tight around her words. “I could tell because someone who had been pregnant wouldn’t have said something like that. Someone who had endured months of discomfort followed by hours of agony for the purpose of bringing a tiny, precious, helpless baby into the world,” the words caught in her throat, “wouldn’t give them up to be butchered. Not for anything!” Tears pricked her eyes as she suppressed her simmering fury.
“Not all mothers are good mothers.”
“True. But she’d have to be a hell of a lot worse than ‘not a good mother’ wouldn’t she? She’d have to be pure evil.” Fran looked at him in silence for a moment. “Were any of the other victims related?”
“No.”
“So that means there are at least six different mothers. How likely is it that Carter found six evil mothers who were willing to help him?”
Bonner shook his head. “If they’re not evil they’re still negligent,” He blew his nose on a ketchup-daubed hot dog napkin, “letting their tots get snatched.”
“You can’t watch them every second!” Fran snapped defensively.
Bonner didn’t usually bother to get caught up in serious arguments but he was irritated. “Three? Three taken from the same mother? Don’t you think most not-evil mothers would keep a closer eye on her other children after she’d lost the first one?”
For once Fran heard him and she sat down to go over her notes again. Jim was right. If they didn’t know anything else the mothers must know their children are missing. They must be desperate to find them. Yes, there are terrible mothers in the world but not these. She was sure of it. These mothers weren’t perpetrators. They were victims.
“They’re being held captive,” she said quietly to herself.
“What?” Bonner pulled the semi-colon and comma keys off his keyboard and removed the half peanut that was hindering their movement. “Who’s a captive?”
“The mothers. They’re being confined, raped, impregnated, and then robbed of their children. They are his baby factory. His organ factory.”
“Oh my God,” Toby felt sick.
“As soon as one pregnancy ends, he impregnates them again.”
Toby pushed his fingers through his hair. “There must be another explanation. This can’t be -”
“It is.” Fran clenched a black marker in her fist and hammered it onto her pad until it and her hand were covered in ink.
****
Thursday 23 April
“Run this down will you?” The inspector handed Fran a page from the Action Book. “Might be nothing.”
Fran scanned the notes, “or it might be something.” She nodded eagerly, returned to her computer and logged in.
*
“It’s 11:05 on Thursday 23rd of April. Present in the room are DS Trent,”
“DC Melton.”
“And -”
“Caroline Smith, solicitor.”
“And -”
“Alistair Kerdy, 5.4.84.”
“Your occupation?”
“Bit of this, bit of that.”
“Meaning?”
Kerdy raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Meaning, I am what you might call: Self. Employed.”
“Doing what exactly?” asked Toby.
Kerdy grinned. “If I told ya I’d have to kill ya.” His solicitor frowned and shook her head at him. “I was joking!” he said with exasperation.
Fran pushed a sheet of paper towards him. “Your fingerprints Alistair.”
“Yeah. What about ’em?”
“We found them at a crime scene. Burglary on Fisher Street.” Kerdy said nothing. “The occupant has been on holiday. Came back yesterday afternoon to discover a broken window, an open back door and a missing laptop.”
Kerdy remained silent.
“She called us as soon as she got in, explaining that her burglar alarm was linked to her old phone, the one she’d left at home, so she didn’t see the text alert until she got back.” Fran took a sip of her tea. “The alert was sent at 4.11am, on Wednesday the 15th of April.”
Kerdy stared at mark on the floor. “No. Comment.”
“The thing is Alistair, we believe that alarm spooked another offender nearby, and we’d rather have him than you. So, if you help us now, we might be able to forget about what you were doing.” She tore up the photocopy of his prints. “Tell us what happened Alistair, after you left the house on Fisher Street. Did you go straight home?”
Alistair looked at his solicitor and then back at Fran. “I don’t trust you lot, or your fake promises.”
“Look at it this way,” said Toby. “We already have you for the burglary. We know it was you. So why not take a chance? What have you got to lose?”
Kerdy was tempted but knew he did have more to lose.
Fran glanced at his rap sheet. “Looks like it’ll be a custodial sentence this time Alistair.”
Kerdy knew she was right. “Will you let me off everything that happened that night?”
Toby and Fran looked at each other. “If it’s nothing serious,” Fran told him.
“You don’t have to say anything,” his solicitor reminded him.
“It was an accident! Wasn’t even my fault!” Kerdy was determined to make sure he was safe before he told them anything. “So if someone told you it was my fault, he was lying!”
“Well, we did wonder.”
“Should have had his lights on!”
“Alright Alistair, go on. Where was this? What happened exactly?”
Kerdy took a deep breath and started at the beginning. “When the burglar alarm went off – it was really loud – I got out! I grabbed the laptop off the kitchen table, ran out the back door, down the garden and over the fence at the bottom. Fisher Street backs onto the industrial estate and that’s where I leave – left – my car, in the empty PlayDome car park.” Without realising it, Fran was holding her breath. PlayDome was two doors down from the old carpet warehouse. “There’s no one around and I get in the car and drive off. Turn out of the car park into Billings Road, then – bang! He was on the wrong side of the road and didn’t have any lights on!” Relieved that both detectives made a note of that, Kerdy continued with more confidence. “I got out, like you’re supposed to, to see what damage. My bloody radiator grille was all mangled, and his right headlight was smashed. But he didn’t get out. Just kept trying to start his engine – he must have stalled when we hit. He tried a few times before it started, and all the time I’m shouting – telling him he’s gotta pay for the damage – then he took off. ”
“Which way did he go?”
“Down the old road to Little Rollingham.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah! I wasn’t gonna let him get away with that! I followed him.”
Fran took a deep breath and tried not to show her excitement. “What kind of car was it?”
“Medium-sized hatchback. Dark colour.”
“Make?”
Kerdy shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Where did it go?” Kerdy didn’t respond. Toby asked again. “So you followed it down the old road, – did it go through Little Rollingham or turn off before that?”
“There is no turn off before that! You new around here?” Toby didn’t respond and Kerdy hesitated before continuing. “You said, if I told you what happened, you’d let me off the Fisher Street thing. So you can’t take that back if I don’t tell you what you want to hear – they can’t take that back can they?” he asked his solicitor.
“Alistair,” Fran spoke in an unusually gentle tone, “unless we discover that you have been dishonest in this matter, we will not be pressing any charges for the burglary on Fisher Street.” Kerdy nodded. “We believe that the vehicle you followed belongs to a very dangerous man.”
“Er,” Toby’s eyes widened and he tried to stop Fran from saying too much. “Did you see the car stop anywhere?”
“We need your help to catch him, Alistair.”
Kerdy wished he could help. “I don’t know where he went,” he admitted, “but he did stop, for a second, when a car that was coming the other way stopped next to him. Then he drove off again but, when I tried to follow, the other car,” he paused to look at Toby who was taking notes, “it was a van – did a three point turn in the middle of the road so I couldn’t get past. Then it didn’t even turn round. Went the same way as it was facing before, back up the old road towards town. By the time the van got out the way, the other car was gone.”
“Where was that? Where did he stop?” Fran asked eagerly.
“I don’t know! It was dark. In the middle of nowhere!”
“Before you got to Little Rollingham?”
“Yeah.”
“Before you passed the quarry?”
“No. I think it was after the quarry.”
“Do you remember passing anything else?”
“No. I don’t think so. It all looks the same down there at night.”
“What about the station?”
Kerdy thought carefully. “I could see the level crossing sign.” His face lit up slightly. “It was just before the station. Just this side of it!”
“What kind of van was it?” Toby asked.
“A smallish one.”
“Colour?”
“Black, or dark blue maybe, and yellow. It had a phone number on the side.”
“I don’t suppose you can remember it?”
“Of course I can, just call me Rain Man.” Kerdy shook his head. “But it wasn’t a landline, I remember that. It was a mobile number. And there was a picture under it.” He suddenly resembled a child eager to please his teacher. “Looked like a rounded square with short fat oblongs sticking out on one side. And a curved line on the other side.”
Fran gave him a pencil and a piece of paper. “Can you draw it?”
Kerdy nodded and did his best. “Something like that. The middle line was longer. I remember that. The top and bottom ones were shorter.”
*
Toby turned the paper around to look at it. “Looks like a plug.”
“Does it?” Kerdy tilted his head to one side, “yeah, maybe. Is that good?”
Room 4 of the Atlantis Hotel was occupied by Ms Finnian, who could not remember what she was about to do. It was raining, and she had on two pairs of trousers but her legs were still cold. She said:
“I’m wearing two pairs of trousers, why are my legs still cold?”
“Perhaps you have a circulatory problem,” came a voice from behind her.
Ms Finnian gave a little shriek, which was not unusual for her, when startled. She turned around to look at the voice, and saw a woman in a green jumper, stirring a cup of tea.
“I thought I was the only one in here,” she said apologetically, embarrassed by her shriek. “But this is my room, isn’t it? How did you get in here?” she asked. She only paused briefly, before continuing: “It is my room, isn’t it?” She looked around. “Who are you?”
The other woman calmly considered the string of questions posed to her, answering: “This is your room, and I don’t know how I got here, I’m Myrtle Fielding.” They shook hands. “And you are?”
“I’m, um, I’m…”
“Don’t you remember your name?” asked Myrtle, smiling.
“No, I do, it’s Celia Finnian,” said Ms Finnian, smiling. “I was distracted by your name, you see, I’m reading this book,” she held up a paperback, “which has a character called Myrtle Fielding in it.”
“Oh,” said Myrtle Fielding. “That’s probably where I came from then.” She sipped her tea, and sat down in a comfortable chair. “If your legs are cold, you should get under the duvet.”
“I, well, thank you,” said Celia, “You say you probably came out of my book?”
“Yes, and I must say it’s refreshing to get out and do something else for a change!” Myrtle exclaimed, beaming, and wiggling from side to side in her chair. She sipped her tea.
“I’m sure it is,” said Celia Finnian, wondering if she was asleep, or just insane.
“Do you have any plans for today?” asked Myrtle, smiling.
Celia considered the situation. If she was dreaming, then she could do what ever she liked, and if she was insane, it was probably a good idea to go out in public, where someone would notice and call an ambulance. If that’s what you do when someone is noticeably talking to a character from a book.
“I don’t have any plans,” said Celia.
“Excellent! Let’s go for a walk when we’ve finished our tea. That will be good for your circulation.”
Celia put on her hat, scarf and coat, and Myrtle borrowed Celia’s spare hat, scarf and coat, and they went out in the snow.
They walked past the florist, and the chemist, and the shoe shop. When they went past the craft shop, Myrtle was delighted by all the ornaments in the window, created by the artisans.
“Wow! Look at that tea cosy!” she exclaimed.
Celia thought it was rather nice, it was knitted to look like a fox in a waistcoat, arms spread out, as if he was excited to see you. She said,
“Yes, that’s beautiful. I’d buy it but it’s thirty pounds. That’s expensive, especially since I don’t have a teapot.”
Myrtle nodded.
“I see. Well I suppose if you -” she said, vanishing into thin air.
“Huh,” said Celia. “That was weird. I suppose that means I am insane.” she said to herself.
She decided to go back to the hotel and see if her spare hat and coat and scarf were still there. And then she remembered: “I haven’t got a spare hat, coat and scarf.”
“That’s the end of the story,” thought Edna, putting the lid back on her pen, and blinking. “I like writing short stories, because they don’t need to go anywhere, and they can end whenever I like.”
Edna brushed her teeth and put on her shoes and left the house. She said “hello” to her neighbours who were walking their dogs on the common, and they said “hello” to her too.
She arrived at work a few minutes early, which she always did on days she wasn’t a few minutes late. She was greeted by her supervisor, who told her to restock the homewares department.
Edna carefully placed the candles on the shelf, two at a time. It was a tense operation, she would be glad to finally get through them all, and move on to restocking the cushions and blankets, unbreakable items.
“It does smell nice though, doesn’t it?” a voice behind Edna said, as though reading her mind.
“Yes it does, I love the smell of the … candles,” Edna replied, as she turned around to look at the woman who was speaking. Just before she said “candles,” she recognised the woman: it was Celia!
“Celia! What are you doing here?”
“Smelling the candles,” she replied, amused by the question.
“Yes but you shouldn’t be, you’re imaginary. Now go back to -” she stopped in mid sentence. She had been planning to say “my room,” since that was where she had left her, but really, she needed to go back into Edna’s imagination. And how would you go about something like that?
“Ooo, this one smells gorgeous, how do they get them to smell so nice?” cried Celia.
“Sh, someone might hear you,” whispered Edna.
“Are you ashamed of me?” asked Celia, raising her eyebrows. “Do you suppose that you really are insane, since I’m here after all?” she asked, sniffing a candy-floss scented candle.
“No, I don’t. I’m not. You are an anomoly, and I don’t know, but I’m not insane.”
“Neither am I. I don’t like being written off like that, just “the end.””
“It’s just the end of the story, it’s not the end of you.”
“Well, obviously,” said Celia, pointing to herself.
“And you’re not insane in the story either, that’s just a verbal way of saying that you’re shrugging that whole incident off.”
“When we get home, can we watch Columbo?” asked Celia.
“You’re staying with me?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you stay at your hotel?” said Edna.
“The Atlantis? I assumed you made it up.”
“No,” said Edna, “It’s a real hotel, I could take you to it.”
Celia picked up a pumpkin spice candle and breathed in the fragrance with her eyes closed.
“No,” she replied dreamily. “I want to say with you.”
Edna wondered if the real Atlantis hotel would have a reservation for Celia. Was her imagination coming true? That was the only explanation. Unless of course, she was some sort of psychic. Though that wouldn’t explain Celia’s visiting her like this. Unless Celia was psychic too, and they were connected through a spiritual realm, connected yet discombobulated.
She watched Celia, dreamily enjoying the candles. She supposed it wouldn’t do any harm if she came to stay, really. Something crashed behind Edna, and she jumped and turned around to see Myrtle cringing apologetically, next to smashed ceramics.
“Sorry,” she said, “I just like breaking things.”
“You mean that wasn’t an accident?” asked Edna.
Myrtle took a deep breath in through her nose, before saying:
“No, … I did it on purpose,” she gazed calmly at the shards of vases on the floor.
Edna went to get a dustpan and brush. While she walked she considered what was happening. Celia was smelling the candles, which was something Edna loved to do, and Myrtle had broken all the pottery, which was something Edna daydreamed about doing, sometimes, as she walked down the aisles, it seemed like such a satisfying prospect, to just lean down and sweep everything off the shelf onto the floor.
“So you think we’re manifestations of your impulses,” concluded Celia thoughtfully.
“Oh my gosh!” shrieked Edna, who had no idea Celia was right beside her. It was unsettling to discover that Celia could really read her thoughts.
“Unless,” said Celia, “it is just a coincidence.”
“Exactly,” said Edna, who was preoccupied with the confusion of her imagination, at the same time as worrying that she would get the blame for the smashed items. She didn’t break anything, but she was nearby when it happened, and the real assailant was a figment of her imagination. She closed her eyes and rubbed her face with her hands. She wondered if anyone else could see Celia and Myrtle. If they could, then it was just a customer, and the customer was always right. So that was fine. If not, then it would have to be put down to a faulty shelf, just tipping its contents away.
Luckily Edna did not get blamed for anything, nobody else seemed to notice anything Celia and Myrtle did. Nobody talked to them, and they talked to no one but each other and Edna. They squabbled and giggled and played in the shop, and only broke a few more things, while Edna got on with her work. She began to relax and enjoy their company after a while.
On the way home from work they walked up the street single file, following Edna like ducklings. Edna silently pondered the reason for Celia and Myrtle’s arrival, eventually she developed a theory that perhaps they were here simply because they were unhappy with the way she finished their story, and if she wrote them another ending, they would go away in peace.
When they arrived at the flat, Celia and Myrtle made some tea, put the television on and watched Columbo, which made it easy for Edna to quietly get on with rewriting the story. She wrote that Celia visited all the shops in town, bought tangerines, grapes and bananas, and began to miss Myrtle very much. She wrote that when Celia arrived back at her hotel room, she found Myrtle there, in the comfortable chair, watching Columbo. “There you are,” they said to one another cheerfully. Celia sat down in the chair next to Myrtle’s. “Would you like a banana?” she asked.
“Perfect,” whispered Edna. “The end.”
She looked around and saw that Celia and Myrtle were gone from the living room, the television playing for empty seats.
“It worked!” she exclaimed. “They’re gone!”
She felt very pleased with the success of her plan, if a little bit sad not to have had time to say goodbye. They really were good company, she was going to miss them. She brushed her teeth, and went into her room to find Celia and Myrtle asleep in her bed.
“Would you like a banana?” Celia murmured in her sleep.
The choice is yours, it's up to you To be and feel your best. To be sharp of brain and agile of knee, Be regular of bowel and pale of wee, Just CHOOSE to drink enough water Each day, And live your life with zest.
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bee by Schanin of Pixabay.com
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And of course don’t eat any animal products – but that’s a given, right? 😀
Violet’s Vegan Comics – making vegan-friendly stories, poems and things-to-make-and-do since 2012
It just happens to be National Teddy Bear day so here’s one of ours 😀
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And here are the answers to Friday’s crossword:
This is actually not an exhaustive list of scientifically valid (ie animal-free) methodologies, it’s just that if I’d included anymore it would have made the puzzle really small. I mean, the puzzle would have been bigger in that there would have been more questions and answers, but it would have been on a page the same size so the writing would have been too small. For me anyway 😉
But if you want to find out more about this stuff, click on the teddy bear. That highly-rated book, by the way, is already in our local library. Maybe it’s in yours too 🙂
When Crustacean Compassion began back in 2016, it was with an aim to protect these fragile animals from pain and suffering. They began their campaign to get them included in the animal welfare legislation, and since then over 65,000 AMAZING supporters have joined them and signed their petition calling on the UK government to include decapod crustaceans in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (England and Wales).
Will a new government mean new protections?
The last UK government legally recognised that decapods could feel pain, and historically included them in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 but… that is where they stopped. So Crustacean Compassion are calling on you again, to tell the new Labour government to act now and protect decapods. With this new government we have an excellent chance of getting decapods the protection they deserve, but we need your help.
See – this is why Reflecto Girl isn’t included in the Vegan Rascals Collection – she’s got a 150-page book of her own! 😀
For the uninitiated, Reflecto Girl has an ancient mystical mirror (the Dounto) that reflects people’s misdeeds back onto them. When reflected, whatever a person is trying to do to someone else, happens to them instead. Together with her sidekick – Distracto Boy – Reflecto Girl is an equalizer for the animals.
This bumper comic-book contains the first nine exciting episodes of Reflecto Girl, together with a few puzzles and fact files, and is published by Little Chicken. Available in paperback from all good bookshops, these stories can be read for free right here!
Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating fun and exciting vegan children’s stories since 2012
We haven’t properly published Grandpa Wollemi’s Birthday as it’s actually just a simple vegan cake recipe made into a picture book, but it is available in print from our little shop. Or you can read it here for free 😀
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – making fun, happy, colourful vegan children’s stories since 2012
Remember Deidra, the wandering dairy cow? She’s been with us practically since we began, but now she is sharing a beautiful hardback book with some much newer friends – The Two Little Pigs. Check it out! 😀
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The Two Little Pigs, and a cow, is available from all good bookshops ❤
Violet’s Vegan Comics – making funny, exciting and always entertaining vegan children’s stories since 2012
Let the dogs out is a graphic novel that tells the story of a laboratory beagle’s escape, in his own words. The images are all hand-painted and, while the story is at times distressing, it is suitable for readers aged 12 and up.
It is based on insider accounts of conditions inside a laboratory breeding facility and comes complete with detailed sources and information on how to help laboratory animals.
Let the dogs out is available from all good bookshops and can be read for free here.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, exciting and often enlightening vegan children’s stories since 2012
Earthing: ” the practice of connecting the body with earth by touching skin to a conductive material such as grass (preferably wet), wet sand, a river, lake or sea. …… When the body loses contact with the earth it can carry a positive voltage relative to the Earth. Some people believe this is not good for health and wellbeing. Earthing the body returns the voltage to zero “
“Climate change has led to altered rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, resulting in periods of drought and reduced water availability for many donkeys, and cattle in communities where LAWCS works in Guinea. The animals are now suffering from heat stress, food insecurity including fresh water and healthcare issues. LAWCS continues to respond to the needs of working animals in Guinea by educating the population and providing free veterinary care along with foods and fresh water for animals in need.”
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“Promoting animal protection through education and providing plant-based foods for school kids is a holistic approach to instilling values of compassion, kindness, sustainability, and health. By integrating animal welfare education into school curriculums, students can learn about the ethical considerations surrounding animal treatment and the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Additionally, offering plant-based food options in schools not only supports these values but also encourages healthier eating habits and reduces the demand for animal products, thereby contributing to the welfare of animals. This is a dual strategy that educates children about the importance of treating animals with kindness while providing practical choices that align with these values. Every week, LAWCS serves over 300 school children with delicious plant-based foods.”
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You can go to their website to find out more about LAWCS’ vital work and/or you can download their latest newsletter here:
Enjoy learning about dolphins and then find the red words in the wordsearch!
You can click on the picture above to save it and then open it in Paint to complete it on your pc or print it and do it the old-fashioned way with a pencil 🙂
Alternatively, you can download and/or print the pdf file here:
Brand new vegan comic: Sherman and Geynes #6: The ghost in the wall that didn’t have a door in it anymore starts on Monday! In this delightful new episode our pretend detectives go looking for ghosts, along the way they meet lots of interesting people.
If you fancy making a vegan comic hero doll, it might help you to know that Miranda adapted a Jean Greenhowe pattern for the Venus doll and a Sue Stratford knitted cat pattern for Marvellous Mildred.
So, one Saturday afternoon, we were playing Star Trek Top Trumps, like you do, and we thought – it would be great to have a Violet’s Vegan Comics Top Trumps game. I’m sure you can guess the rest but I’m going to tell you anyway 😀 We looked online and, lo and behold, found a wonderful website called Personalised Playing Cards dot com. We were so excited!
For the next two or three weekends we eagerly drew head a shoulder portraits of our story characters – heroes and villains – and then ummed and ahhed about what the categories should be and what score each one should get. We changed them repeatedly, and I’m still not sure we got it right, but then I don’t think the makers of the Star Trek cards did either. I mean – I love Neelix but how can he have a higher ‘To Boldly Go’ score than Spock?!
We had to draw 40 characters from our stories, many of them regulars, some of them only occasional or one-offs, and added their series title to the side.
It was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t be surprised if we make some more cards to add to our pack 😀
Wait – there’s more! 😀
And that’s the lot for now 😀 Why not make some yourself? So much fun! You can either make them yourself on card – cut up an old cereal box or something – or upload your drawings to the Personalised Playing Cards website like we did 😀
If you’d like the pictures of VVC characters we used, just contact us and we’ll email them to you.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating vegan children’s books and vegan things to make and do since 2012.
Welcome to all the new members of Violet’s Vegan Comics club. We absolutely love your home-made membership cards and have added you to the Members’ Page 😀 If anyone else wants to enter our Last of the Month Club Members’ Prize Draw for a chance to win a new comic book, it’s easy to join – all you need to do is make yourself a membership card and show it to us. Go to the club page to find out how! But don’t wait too long – the last of the month is only four days away and the prize is a copy of the brand new Vegan Rascals comic!
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, exciting, and always entertaining vegan children’s books since 2012.
The first issue of Vegan Rascals is finally here and we love it! A proper old-fashioned comic with multiple stories, a fact file, a puzzle page and a yummy chip butty recipe. And as if that wasn’t enough – there’s a board game on the back! Not bad for under a fiver eh?! 😀
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Of course all the stories are free to read here, but if you’d rather read a proper paper book, this is it! 😀
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Vegan Rascals #1
Pages: 57 Binding: Paperback Interior: Colour Dimensions: US Letter (8.5 x 11 in / 216 x 279 mm)
And the most popular story for 12 and up – Maddicts
Have you read them yet?
What will you read next? There are tonnes of vegan children’s stories, with lovely vegan characters, to choose from on our stories and comics page. Read them for free, any time you like. 😀
Remember Sindy Snowdrop? She’s the adorable lamb who was kidnapped by the evil Flat-Capped Menace – you can read the story so far here – and this is what happened next! 😀
Here’s how to make an adorable rag mouse like this one:
Cut out the main head and body piece for your cloth mouse. I used a rectangle, folded in half. With right sides together, stitch around the edges, leaving one end open for stuffing.
Choose a different fabric for your arms and legs. Cut strips about the same length as your main piece, as wide as you want them, with room to spare for turning back the right way around after sewing.
Fold it in half (right sides together) and sew, leaving an open end to add stuffing.
Make another one, then turn them right side out. 😀
Then make legs. You can make long legs, the same as the arms, or little legs. Either way is fine, so do whichever you fancy. I’ve done little legs this time.
Stuff them all with kapok. If you don’t have kapok you could use old socks to stuff them, or fabric cuttings. I have done this with some of my mice, it just makes them a little bit heavier, and somewhat lumpy. When they are stuffed, sew them together! Remember that your main piece is head and body, so the arms go a little higher than half way down, depending on how big a head you want your mouse to have. 😀
Next cut out some fabric squares to make the ears. Sometimes I make very tiny ears, this time I made big ears, then I sewed them right sides together, trimmed the edges, and turned them right side out. Make two. (You probably noticed that I have used pinking shears to cut my material. You don’t have to do that but it’s good for preventing the fabric from fraying).
Then tuck the ears over the top corners of the mouse’s head and sew them on, like so:
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Next you need to make a nose for your mouse. Cut three triangular pieces and then, putting their right side edges together, sew them together lengthways, to their points – I’m not explaining this very well – look at the diagram below 😀 Leave the base ends open, turn right side out and fill with stuffing.
Then tuck in the edges, and sew the nose onto the mouse’s face.
Next your mouse will need some eyes. I sewed over and over in one place to make these eyes, but you could sew circles of fabric on, or use buttons.
Now your mouse needs a tail 😀 This time I folded a length of fabric up so that the edges were tucked in, and sewed it over, but I have also used ribbons and oddments in the past. Attach the tail to the back of the mouse’s body.
Now your mouse is finished! I bet he’s cute 😀 Send me a photo, I’d love to see him or her ❤ Here’s some I made earlier:
You can make lots of friends for your mouse, in all shapes and sizes. Here are some I made earlier:
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So there you have it 😀 A word of warning – once you start making rag mice, you may find it difficult to stop 😉
I was so moved by a post I read this week that I wanted to share it with you. Since there was no reblog button I am copying and pasting, so please go over to Marie’s site to LIKE and comment on the original post, it’s such a … what word am I looking for? I am lost for words. All I will say is that I’m so grateful to Marie for sharing her experience and lighting a fire under me. The following are all Marie’s words (and photos):
On Tuesday last week, in the pouring rain, I headed to Manchester for a peaceful vigil outside a slaughterhouse. I have never been to one before, and honestly, I never believed it would be something I could manage. But recently I’ve felt ready to step forwards much more with my animal activism.
The slaughterhouse is in Ashton-under-Lyne and activists there have been peacefully protesting for years. Animal Saves are done in cities and towns all over the world. After some time the activists here have developed a good relationship with the security guard who allows the trucks to stop for a few minutes before going in.
I pulled up right in front of the group to ask for directions of where best to park and saw a slaughter truck at the gate. I had been feeling strong but immediately felt myself break. After I parked up I walked to meet the small group. The last slaughter truck had gone in. Annoyed at myself I didn’t even manage a hello before becoming upset. Thankfully this didn’t seem unusual behaviour and everyone welcomed me with open arms.
Another slaughter truck pulled in. The driver stopped at the gate. The activists moved forwards to the truck. Many had bought stools to stand on as the open section is quite high. Someone kindly offered me theirs. I stood on it and looked into the truck. It was crammed with young pigs. The heat and the smell was intense – I know they could have been in that truck for hours without food or water. They were very quiet and barely moved. I didn’t want to look in their eyes but I made myself. I could only see fear and it was beyond intolerable to see an animal that frightened. The driver beeped his horn. We all stepped back. The truck drove into the slaughterhouse. Just before we did I managed to stroke one of their ears with one finger peeking through the bars and tell them it would all be over soon.
This process repeated itself I think 7 more times in the 2 hours I was there. I can’t say it got any easier. The other activists told me about themselves, everyone introduced themselves to me, someone bought a bunch of vegan snacks. I politely nibbled mine, I couldn’t stomach it. I was struck by their friendliness though. Occasionally while you were chatting you could hear screaming in the background. I declined to go closer to the area where the animals are killed to be a witness to the screaming. But maybe I will be ready for that another time.
It may seem like quite a pointless thing to be doing for some of you reading. As of course you can’t stop what is happening to those animals you lock eyes with. You just have to step back when the driver beeps his horn and let the animals go in. The answer to why is to simply bear witness to an injustice, to document it and to share it. With the hope that this may help more and more people connect with farmed animals and consider to not be a part of their exploitation. This blog post explains what you are trying to achieve way better than I am as well as providing self care to activists and is well worth a read – https://www.dominionmovement.com/self-care
For myself – although I know what happens to animals in animal agriculture and am horrified by that – seeing part of the process was another level of knowledge. It was obviously extremely tragic and upsetting. But I know now that I can be extremely upset and act at the same time. I feel like the least I can do is look into their eyes and acknowledge and witness what is being done to them, even if I can’t stop it.
I am still processing that day, thinking about the pigs I met, the ears I stroked and the backs I rubbed. I hope they’re at peace now. I’m grateful for the kindness of the other activists, how gladly they welcomed me. Many cars beeped their horns and waved as they drove by seeing the signs – it feels like all hope is not lost.
For those who’ve never met Megan & Flos, Megan is an ordinary vegan girl and Flos is an ordinary Summum Esse (from the planet Summum). They’re telepathic, have telekinetic powers, and wear gravity-adjusting belts which enable them to get around on dry land. Pop over to their page to catch up on the history of these extraordinary eco-warriors before Monday gets here. You don’t want to miss this – there’s trouble ahead!
Megan & Flos is a vegan adventure comic for kids by Violet’s Vegan Comics.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages since 2012.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has been working for years to end the use of animals in “terminal” training exercises at veterinary schools—in which students perform procedures on otherwise healthy animals, who are then killed. Today they are happy to report that one of the nation’s highest-ranked vet schools, Colorado State University, has officially ended the use of terminal labs!
The PCRM first became involved in this issue in February 2020, when a CSU vet student contacted them. The student was shocked to learn that the curriculum included courses in which students would perform invasive surgical procedures on sheep, pigs, and horses. At the end of the training exercises, the animals were killed.
After receiving documents from CSU through the state’s open records law, the PCRM reached out to the dean of the veterinary school and were happy to hear that they were “also committed to the goal of eliminating terminal procedures.”
Over the last two years, the PCRM have worked closely with CSU leaders, alumni, students, and faculty at other veterinary schools to provide useful information and support as the university has made this transition. CSU leaders deserve immense credit for this change: To replace terminal labs, they have increased student exposure to surgical skills that are foundational to veterinary medicine, provided greater opportunities for repetition and practice, and expanded student access to real-world surgical experiences involving animals in need of procedures. This will make CSU graduates not only more compassionate but also more skilled.
CSU’s decision follows the elimination of terminal dog labs by Tuskegee University and Auburn University in 2021, which came about following work by the Physicians Committee. We hope this trend will send a clear message to vet schools elsewhere that terminal training labs can and should be replaced.
The Physicians’ Committee give special thanks to their Remembering Rodney Society members for this victory. Like the countless dogs, cats, pigs, and other animals used in terminal labs, Rodney was a sweet and loving dog who suffered through multiple painful veterinary training procedures before being killed. Members of the Remembering Rodney Society keep his spirit alive by providing the monthly support that allows the Physicians Committee to save animals day after day. You can help them save the “Rodneys” who still suffer in research, testing, and training programs by joining the society today.
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Want to know more? Read about Hugo’s lucky escape from a laboratory breeding facility in Let the dogs out, a graphic novel (with a happy ending) on our stories for teens and up page.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages, since 2012.
Violet's Vegan Comics 