WHINNEY!

Telegraph

Horses are able to recognise each other's individual neighs and match them to faces, a new study has shown.

IT'S NOT A DOG'S LIFE

She said "only the little people pay taxes," as a hotelier she treated her employes with disdain, and apparently Trouble got cheated, too. Leona Helmsley left instructions that a trust valued at $5 billion to $8 billion be used for the welfare of dogs. What Mrs Helmsley has done has been done before by Geraldine Dodge: the St Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ was initially established back in 1939.

DUTCH ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES FORCE OUT PROPERTY DEVELOPER

By Louise Dunne Animal rights activists force out property developer Radio Netherlands 8 January 2008 --

Dutch animal rights activists are claiming a major victory after a property developer decided to pull out of the construction of a new industrial park near the town of Venray in the south of the Netherlands.

The park - called Sciencelink - will house biotech research companies, many of whom carry out testing on animals. Animal rights groups in the Netherlands are vehemently opposed to the project.
---
It's the first time a Dutch company has so openly given in to threats by the animal rights movement and activists who say it won't be the last. A statement posted on the website stopdierenproeven.org (stopanimaltesting) says:

"We are following the development of Sciencelink closely and will take every possible step to stop it. If other developers show any interest in taking Van de Looy's place, then we can tell them now that we will be on their doorsteps not just once, but time and again."

The radicalisation of animal rights activists in the Netherlands is of increasing concern to the Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, which released a report on the movement's activities last year. "Home visits" were named in the report as one of the most common tactics. Activists with balaclavas or scarves covering their faces descend on the homes of employees of companies involved directly or indirectly with animal testing. They damage cars, daub slogans on the houses and threaten family members.

Read all of the report here.

LAIKA OF BLESSED MEMORY

From It's a Dog's Life - Laika was a Russian space dog which became the first recorded living creature from Earth to enter orbit. At one time a stray wandering the streets of Moscow, she was selected from an animal shelter.



OCIBW/MadPriest

I must thank you for your responses to Saint Laika Day [link], not only at OCICBW... but on your own blogs and on other threads. I was worried that you would consider me flippant and soppy, but you all seemed to instinctively get where I was coming from. You knew I was being very serious, in deed.

Laika is one of the icons through through which I peer to contemplate Jesus on the cross. It's a gut thing rather than a worked out theology and all the more real because of that. I had thought that the story of the little dog was just a nightmare from my own childhood, but on researching this matter I found that she has become part of contemporary folklore throughout the world. I doubt if another dog has ever had so many songs and pieces of music written for and about them, both classical and popular. The number of poems concerning her is countless. And we are not just talking about people of my age and older. She is part of the culture of people born well after her iconic journey.

Of course, every day, millions of animals suffer because of human greed, viciousness and callousness. But that is the point. Through the Laika Icon we see the suffering of all God's creatures and we see Jesus dying for the sins we have committed against these innocent ones.

VERMONT VETERINARIAN WINS WILDLIFE AWARD

Burlington Free Press

Shelburne resident Steven Metz, doctor of veterinary medicine and owner of the Shelburne Veterinary Hospital, received Wild in Vermont's Champion of Wildlife award Saturday.
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Q: Why did you receive this award?

A: I take care of wildlife whenever it's brought in to me by either good Samaritans or rehabilitators. I've been working with wild animals my entire career. I take care of them, and I don't charge anybody anything for them -- I consider it my obligation to the animal world. I'm fortunate enough to have a veterinary education, and I can sometimes help these creatures we coexist with on this earth and if I can do anything to help, I want to help.

Q: Why are you so passionate about helping animals?

A: We are sharing this earth with them, and we have an obligation to help them survive in spite of us, in spite of the damage we do to the environment. I think that they relate to us in a very elemental way that reminds us of our roots and our values and brings us to a level that we shouldn't forget. I feel that we can learn things from animals, and we should learn things from animals.

BUT IS HE HOUSEBROKEN?

Makes the heart glad, but we'll see what happens -- ASSOCIATED PRESS - Patty Cooper sits in her wheelchair with her miniature pony, Earl, in Warren, Vt., Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. The Central Vermont Community Land Trust usually has no objection to seeing-eye dogs or other service animals moving into its apartments. But Cooper's service animal is a horse of a different color: a black and white miniature pony. Now the housing organization is trying to figure out whether it can accommodate a disabled woman's new companion...


(AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

IT WAS ONLY A DUMB ANIMAL

Last Sunday, MadPriest featured a comment I made (referring to the moose murder in Burlington at the end of September) on his earlier post about the shooting of a grizzly bear in Idaho. (Numerous comments were made about both posts.)

Here's MP on Vermont's huntin' culture -

COMMENT: I did some back reading on this in the BURLINGTON PRESS archives. The blood lust of the inhabitants of this place makes Vlad The Impaler seem squeamish. Evidently, the authorities issue just over 1000 permits for moose murdering every year. So sought after are these licences to kill that 90% of those who apply are not drawn out of the hat. The only reason why these people apply for the permits is because they like killing stuff. That is not a good reason for killing stuff.

A suggestion. Why don't the Americans send all these psychopaths over to Iraq where they can kill stuff to their hearts content. Then all those young people in Iraq who either don't like killing stuff or who are bored with killing stuff could go home to their loving parents. Unless, that is, their loving parents have gone off to Iraq to kill some stuff.

Francis of Assisi, Friar, 4 October 1226

Today is the Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar and patron saint of animals. Here are the appointed readings for use on this day.

Psalm 148:7-14 Page 806, BCP
Laudate Dominum

7 Praise the LORD from the earth, *
you sea-monsters and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and fog, *
tempestuous wind, doing his will;

9 Mountains and all hills, *
fruit trees and all cedars;

10 Wild beasts and all cattle, *
creeping things and winged birds;

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, *
princes and all rulers of the world;

12 Young men and maidens, *
old and young together.

13 Let them praise the Name of the LORD, *
for his Name only is exalted,
his splendor is over earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up strength for his people
and praise for all his loyal servants, *
the children of Israel, a people who are near him.
Hallelujah!

Animal Welfare Sunday (Sunday 7 October 2007)

From Ekklesia

Clergy and congregations are being asked to celebrate the life and animal welfare work of William Wilberforce this Animal Welfare Sunday (Sunday 7 October 2007).

A keen supporter of animal welfare, Wilberforce helped set up the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on 16 June 1824. It was the first national animal protection organisation and helped enforce a new law to prevent cruelty to cattle, sheep and horses. Queen Victoria later allowed the Society to use the word ‘Royal’ in its title because she was so impressed with its work. The RSPCA has since become the biggest animal welfare charity in the world.

Oxford theologian the Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey said: “William Wilberforce is rightly celebrated for his pioneering work that led to the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago, but it’s not always remembered that he was also a leading light in the campaign against animal cruelty.”

The RSPCA came into existence as the result of Christian vision. A London vicar, the Reverend Arthur Broome, called the meeting that led to the foundation of the Society. Its first minute book records the declaration that: “the proceedings of this Society are entirely based on the Christian Faith and on Christian Principles”.

Professor Linzey added: “We tend to forget that the movement for a cruelty-free world owes much to luminaries like Wilberforce and Broome. They faced public ridicule and strong opposition in their work for animals, but they soldiered on. We best honour Wilberforce and his colleagues by following their example.”

In the first week of October each year, hundreds of churches of all denominations hold animal services or animal blessing services. Animals are brought into church to be blessed and clergy are encouraged to preach about responsibility for the care of creation. Thursday 4 October is the World Day for Animals and also St Francis’ Day.

The RSPCA has published a Service for Animal Welfare, written by Professor Linzey, for use by clergy and congregations.

RSPCS Service for Animal Welfare (.pdf file)

If you want to do more than just pray for the animals, check out Green Mountain Animal Defenders, PETA, and/or Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.
1,000 wags to MadPriest. Awwww Bless!

The Last Resort

I adore animals, but his story from RADIO NETHERLANDS shows to what ridiculously extreme lengths dog owners will go to pamper their pets -

De Telegraaf also has good news, at least for dogs. The newspaper has discovered that a luxury villa park for dogs will soon be built in the town of Gilze-Rijen. The five-star hotel called Dog Resort will accommodate dogs whose owners are on holiday. The resort will feature an Olympic-size swimming pool, a dog playground and super-deluxe villas with television and air-conditioning. Overweight dogs can participate in special classes to help rid them of their extra kilos.

First hit the pets, then the people

Andrew Lindzey writes about the relationship between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence -

First hit the pets, then the people

“If any passages in holy scripture seem to forbid us to be cruel to brute animals,” wrote St Thomas Aquinas, “this is . . . to remove man’s thoughts from being cruel to other men, lest through being cruel to animals one becomes cruel to human beings.”

Leaving aside Aquinas’s questionable interpretation of scripture, the assumed link between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence has found wide resonance in Western society. Thinkers as diverse as Pythagoras, St Augustine, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and many others have all advanced similar views.

The evidence?

There are two principal kinds of evidence...

In a control-group study by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) and Northeastern University, 153 individuals prosecuted by the MSPCA between 1975 and 1986 were tracked for 20 years — ten years before the abuse, and ten after. Seventy per cent who had committed violent crimes against animals also had — or went on to have — criminal records for violent, drug, or disorder crimes.

Compared with their next-door neighbours, those who abused animals were five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people. The FBI now places animal cruelty on its list of risk indicators and warning signs for future violence.

The second piece of evidence comes from research on domestic violence. In situations where women or children were abused, so, invariably, were their animals. In 1981, a study by the RSPCA reported that 83 per cent of families with a history of animal abuse had also been identified by social services as at risk from child abuse or neglect.

In 1983, a study of those receiving services for child abuse from the New Jersey child-protection agency found that animals had also been abused in 88 per cent of pet-owning families. Extensive “triangling” took place within families, whereby pets were mistreated as a means of hurting another member of the family. Further US research in 1995 suggested that 71 per cent of battered women in a shelter asserted that their violent partner had harmed, or threatened to harm, the family pet.

Two pioneers in the field, Frank Ascione and Phil Arkow, argue that “Violence directed against animals is often a coercion device and an early indicator of violence that may escalate in range and severity against other victims.”

What to do?

None of this shows that people who are cruel to animals will always be violent to humans. There is no simple cause and effect. Rather, cruelty to animals is one of a cluster of potential or actual characteristics held in common by those who commit violence or seriously anti-social acts. The American Psychiatric Association, for example, identifies animal cruelty as one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorders.

In the light of this accumulating evidence, what should be done? The first course of action should be humane education by parents and teachers. Macho acts of violence to other creatures are not a normal phase of development, and, unless checked, can form pathological traits. Teaching young children respect for living creatures is a large civilising task, but, lamentably, it has no place in the National Curriculum, and is seldom undertaken by schools. By their example, or lack of it, parents crucially influence children’s propensity to violence.

The second point is the need to address and report incidents of abuse. Clergy are now well aware of this obligation in relation to children, but are reluctant to act in relation to animals. Yet, since clergy are one of the few professional groups whose work involves home visits, they are often (like it or not) in key front-line positions. Cross-reporting among professionals is now increasingly common, and it is a mistake to leave any case of abuse, child or animal, unreported. Under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act, all who keep animals have a “duty of care”.

The third course of action concerns our theological vision of our place in creation. The idea of the interdependence of creation is now commonplace, but when it comes to articulating its practical significance, theologians and preachers are often mute. It is as if we can speak of creation only in generalities, always emphasising the differences between “them” and “us”. One result of this split thinking is that we fail to see the common patterns of violence in which we are caught — both as abusers and the abused.

A beleaguered animal protectionist was once confronted by an angry person wanting to know how she dared work for animals while there was still cruelty to children. “I’m working at the roots,” she replied.

First hit the pets, then the people by the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, in Church Times (Church of England newspaper), 17 August 2007

See my previous post on the Centre.

National Homeless Animals Day

Every pet has its day -- even the homeless ones. That day is today, National Homeless Animals Day.

Green Mountain Animal Defenders will be tabling on Church Street today from 11:30-3:30 P.M. and will hold a Candlelight Vigil tonight at 7:30 P.M. on the lawn of Burlington's Unitarian Church, Pearl Street (across from the top of Church Street).

More nformation about today's GMAD events.

These events publicize dog and cat overpopulation's overwhelming magnitude, and increase public awareness of the millions of dogs and cats killed in shelters annually for lack of homes and to emphasize the importance of spaying and neutering companion animals.

Acting Out

Sometimes you have to respond to outrageous behaviour with sarcasm. MadPriest reports here and here on displaced aggression of some "religious leaders."

Oh, Look at that POLICE TRAINED K-9 in the Window!

Valley News (Lebanon, NH) - 6/6/07:

Chelsea - Max was sitting in a police cruiser one night last summer, ready to leap into action to protect co-workers investigating the report of a brawl at West Fairlee's B&B Cash Market, when suddenly, a woman began creeping along the side of the cruiser and Max did what he had been trained for years to do: Bark. Loudly.

The Boston Globe has further coverage & TalkLeft has a opinion.

Palm oil trade is wiping out one of our closest relatives

The Observer 03.25.07 Five years to save the orang utan

The Orang Utan, one of man's closest and most enigmatic cousins, could be virtually extinct within five years after it was discovered that the animal's rainforest habitat is being destroyed even more rapidly than had been predicted.

A United Nations report has found that illegal logging and fires have been overtaken as the primary cause of deforestation by a huge expansion of oil palm plantations, which are racing to meet soaring demand from Western food manufacturers and the European Union's zeal for biofuels.

Continue reading "Five years to save the orang utan..."

In his zeal for biofuels, Bush's wooing of Brazil's Lula will effect the Amazon rainforests, too.

Monks profit from cruelty to animals

Via Joshua Frank, from the Associated Press: S.C. monks deny cruelty allegations --

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. -- Trappist monks who operate a chicken farm in South Carolina are disputing accusations from a national animal-welfare group that their birds have been mistreated.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals allege the monks at Mepkin Abbey crammed thousands of chickens into small cages and periodically starved them to increase egg production.

I like the Trappists. I eat their jams! The Trappist monk and mystic, Thomas Merton, would undoubtedly have called this treatment an obscenity. This is not what St. Francis would have done. This is no Lenten fast. This is cruelty for profit.

On the PETA video, one monk discussed forced molting, a process that involves starving the chickens to make them lay more eggs. The monk compared the practice with a fast.

It's like running an Abu Ghraib chicken coop.

What you can do NOW.

Foie gras is a disease not a delicacy

MickeyZ/Cool Observer writes about foie gras on his blog, with identical posts on Smirking Chimp (don't miss the "liberal" comments at the end) and more liberal reactions to it on Daily Kos.

New think tank for animal rights opens

The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics will act as an international think tank with its own online course, research initiatives and publications. It's focusing in particular on the relationship between animal abuse and human violence. But, with many conflicting views on such issues as experimentation and organic farming, how effective will the centre be?

Guardian story - The centre's director, the Rev Professor Andrew Linzey, an Anglican priest, writer and University of Oxford theologian, is well known for his opposition to animal testing.

The thinktank, which is to open its own centre in Oxford, opposes violence and illegal acts and distances itself from militant animal rights activists who advocate campaigns of violence and intimidation. One of the first issues of debate on its agenda is "the relationship between animal abuse and violence to human beings".

Prof Linzey said: "We must strive to ensure animal issues are highlighted and rationally discussed throughout society - we cannot change the world for animals without changing our ideas about them.

"The centre will promote ethical attitudes and contribute to informed public debate."

Founder of animal rights philosophy supports primate research

Observer/Peter Singer backs primate research - Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton, is renowned for insisting animals should have equal rights with humans but is quoted, on camera, backing research in which experiments on monkeys are carried out to develop surgery for Parkinson's and other patients.

The Oxford Center for Animal Ethics would not agree.

A victory for the animals

Party for the Animals gains 2 parliamentary seats in the Netherlands


Amsterdam, 11/23/2006 – On Wednesday, November 22, the Dutch political Party of the Animals gained 2 seats in the 150-member legislature in The Netherlands. This makes the Netherlands the first country in the world in which a party for animal welfare is elected into a representative body of the people.

“We are thrilled with such a wonderful result of our campaign”, says party leader Marianne Thieme. “Finally we can start realizing our party’s highest priority, namely ending all animal suffering. We want a constitutional amendment, guaranteeing animals the right to freedom from pain, fear and stress caused by humans. Let’s begin with easing the suffering of the hundreds of millions of cows, pigs and chickens stuck in factory farming”, she said. Thieme feels success in the Netherlands could help the movement elsewhere. One of the party’s purposes is to be an inspiration for other countries and animal rights activists.

A growing number of Dutch people are wondering why it is necessary to have economic interests prevail over ethical considerations when it comes to animal welfare and the interests of nature and the environment. “The Party for the Animals expresses this concern that so many Dutch have”, says Esther Ouwehand, number two on the party list, explaining the party’s victory.