Have You Ever Fallen for these Vegan Myths?

If you have fallen for any of the myths below, I highly recommend you check out this article that breaks each item down for you. To be honest, I haven't really thought about #4 or #5 and I am still apprehensive about #1 (for multiple reasons that I will discuss someday). #2 is the one that I was already certain of, because I recently explained to a friend why I would eat plants and not meat since plants are also living things. I definitely draw the line based on a being's physiological and biological traits which would allow it to have perception, awareness, feelings, and a capacity for pain.


1. Myth: You need to eat meat to be healthy.


2. Myth: Plants feel pain too.


3. Myth: Vegan foods are expensive.


4. Myth: They're destroying the rain forests to make tofu.


5. Myth: Cows have to be milked.


Again, the article link is here.

Picture Story: Animals in Fukushima

This is a follow-up post to Urgent: Animals in Fukushima

JEARS May 4th Animal Rescue at Namie Fukushima


All photos and captions below are from JEAR's (Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support) facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AnimalRescueJapan These photos remind us why we need to support animal rescue groups and continue to send our thoughts to the Japanese government regarding the evacuation of animals left behind.

"After reading a leaflet left by volunteers near their evacuated home in Fukushima, Moko's family hoped against hope that their dog was one of the lucky rescues. “I never thought we'd see her again,” said the mother of the family through her tears. As joyful a reunion as one could hope, Moko, a fluffy and cheerful brown and white mixed breed, greeted her family enthusiastically when they arrived at Animal Garden, Niigata, on May 2nd to take her home with them. /Joan"

This woman shared her concerns with us about evacuating from her home in the 30km zone. She said she would stay as long as possible, and imagined that she could take her cat with her when the time came to leave. She worried that her large-sized dog, however, might be a different story. She agreed to contact us for help when evacuation is imminent, and before we said goodbye we left her with some food for both pets.

These cats were left behind when someone evacuated. All three are at the Animal Friends Niigata shelter now. It is difficult to see from the photo, but the kitty closest to Susan was the most severely emaciated, and is the one we are most concerned about. After this photo was taken, she gobbled up several packets of wet food, so I have hope that she is a fighter and can recover. A vet was on hand for her arrival at the shelter, and she received immediate medical attention.

"Dennis, a Kinship Circle colleague, at a small dairy farm near the border of the 20km zone; this was the team's second visit to offer what help we could. This family-owned farm is doing the best they can with limited resources, and someone has stayed behind to care for the cows. We spoke with one of the sons, who wanted people to know that each of the cows is deeply cared about, and he does not want them to suffer. /jh"

"As we were driving through an abandoned area around Fukushima we saw a dog wandering down the street. Unsure of where he was headed we slowed down and stopped. He glanced over at us and continued on his way. We were close enough to notice a cut over his swollen eye and the scratches on his nose. His fur was also scuffed and the skin looked raw underneath. As we stopped and got out of the van he turned around and approached us, not in the least wary. After giving him some food and noticing that the vicinity was completely empty we leashed him and he jumped excitedly in the van. We named him Benji. Now we are all on our way to the shelter."

"One of our volunteers feeding a very hungry kitty that the team rescued in Fukushima."

Please No More Animal Death Traps

Last November I wrote a post about glue traps that was based on my personal views and experience. You can see my story about the little mouse I set free here: Humane Mouse Traps & My Personal Story.

What I left out is how extremely inhumane these devices are, for they literally fuse an animal's body on to the thick, sticky substance and upon immobilizing the animal, they leave the animal to die a slow, painful death either as their body deteriorates and weakens.

PETA, on their facebook page, posted this photo: "Glue traps are (obviously) indiscriminate and ensnare any animals who are unfortunate enough to wander across their path. If you know of any local businesses, schools, or property management companies that are using glue traps, urge them remove the traps immediately and contact PETA if they won't. http://bit.ly/iy20lp"

The bird that you see here hopefully immediately lights the notion of how cruel glue traps really are, whether or not they adhere non-targeted animals birds, kittens, squirrels, and hamsters or "targeted" animals like mice. The story behind the photo is that there were two songbirds stuck to a glue trap in a Walmart store in Indiana, and customers took action to take the birds to a wildlife rehabilitator as well as contact PETA. Walmart in reply stated that it had only meant to set the traps for rodents, but glue traps obviously have no mercy for anything that gets in its way. According to PETA, a variety of many animals die in glue traps every year-- a kitten in Boston almost starved to death in this fashion. You can see the kitten story here.

If you see any businesses or property that uses glue traps, please raise your concern and if necessary, contact PETA via their Report Cruelty to Animals page: http://www.peta.org/about/contact-peta/report-cruelty.aspx

Last but not least, I recommend using humane methods for rodent problems, such as this one:

 source: http://www.humanemousetrap.info/

Bet You Didn't Know These Facts

Here are some facts that blew me away today (although I did know a few). Tell me- how many of these do YOU know?

Btw, these facts were playing on a slideshow that I could not pause, so I typed furiously away and repeated them until I could catch every word! All credits to PETA2: http://ht.ly/4K5JO. Photo credit: http://www.animalrescuesoc.org/

1. Each time an animal is bought from a breeder or pet store, an animal in a shelter loses a home.
2. Pet shops acquire most of the puppies they sell from puppy mills.
3. About 25% of dogs dropped off at shelters are purebred. 
4. Many "no kill" shelters  are, in reality, "slow kill" shelters.
5. Kittens and puppies can be spayed or  neutered as young as 8 weeks old. 
6. Neutering makes male animals less likely to roam or fight, prevents testicular caner, and reduces the risk of prostate cancer.
7. Areas with mandatory spay-and-neuter laws have reported a significant reduction in the number of animals who are taken to their facilities and subsequently euthanized.
8. Every year, 6 to 8 million unwanted dogs and cats enter U.S. animal shelters
9. 8 million unwanted dogs and cats = the population of New York City or Switzerland
10. Nearly half of all dogs and cats entering U.S. shelters ever year (3-4 million) are euthanized because there are not enough homes for them.
11. In U.S. shelters, more than 900 animals are euthanized every hour-- that's more than 10,000 animals a day.
12. Approximately 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in the U.S. each day.
13. In only six years, one unaltered female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies.
14. In only seven years, one unaltered female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens. 
15. It is estimated that between 30 and 40 million homeless (feral) cats live in the U.S.