talkpolitics | Entries tagged with animal rights

What living things do you feel comfortable about sacrificing for the sake of science?

Clearly hardly anyone has a problem with bacteria. But what about insects? Above this is where I draw the line because above that there is a level of sentience that makes me uneasy.

What about rats? Larger mammals that are closer to us? Things could get tricky here. For instance, if I would have troubles sacrificing monkeys for testing new shampoos or hair conditioner, I would have less for testing for instance potential treatment for Alzheimer.

How about you?

( Read more... )

nairiporter.livejournal.com

Turns out, in the Russian city of Novosibirsk there's a monument dedicated to all the millions of mice who've perished in DNA tests throughout the history of science. Something like a Mice Holocaust Memorial.

It's a lovely statue, commemorating a good cause, but at a great cost (for the mice). Some would argue the mice who live in captivity are actually provided with much better conditions than those living in the wild - others would argue that this is animal cruelty. Ultimately, it is certain that science has benefited a lot from these little creatures, and potentially, humankind as well.

airiefairie.livejournal.com

We have probably all heard by now about the controversial decisions at the Copenhagen zoo to put down a giraffe and feed it to the lions in front of the visiting children, and to subsequently put down a few lion cubs because they were planning to introduce a new adult male lion to the zoo, and they were concerned that he would have killed the cubs anyway. People were naturally appalled. There were lots of discussions about animal rights, the treatment of animals in the zoos, etc. Even some satire.

Now there is a new story that I am sure is about to cause all hell breaking loose once more,

Bern zoo faces flak over second bear cub death

...And there is of course a pre-story to that:

Bern zoo under fire after bear eats baby cub

Another act of inhumane treatment of animals, I am sure many would argue. And they would be right, to a point. However, if we are to look at the problem a bit closer, we may begin to realise that there is more to those two stories than just that. Indeed, it seems the problem runs much deeper than most of the audience is probably suspecting. Because one or two cases like these could be possibly interpreted as incidental acts of cruelty and poor judgment/management - but when there is a wide-spread tendency, there must be a systematic flaw in the, well, system. And as it turns out, there really is:

( Read more... )

luzribeiro.livejournal.com

The infamous zoo in Copenhagen which first killed a giraffe in front of the eyes of visiting children and gave it to the lions to teach the kids a lesson about life's realities, and then killed a bunch of young lions to make room for a new adult lion, is now taking further steps for optimizing its activities. The zoo authorities are now planning to euthanize several of its employees in order to create four new jobs, the zoo's PR department has announced.

The zoo management specifies that the four employees will be executed in a humane way (with a lethal injection), after which their bodily remains will be given to the predators, to complete the natural cycle, and teach yet another precious lesson to the visiting youngsters.

( More details on the story )

airiefairie.livejournal.com

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/06/lion-numbers-plunge-as-african-wilderness-succumbs-to-human-pressure/
"The most comprehensive assessment of lion (Panthera leo) numbers to date determined that Africa’s once-thriving savannahs are undergoing massive land-use conversion and burgeoning human population growth. The decline has had a significant impact on the lions that make their home in these savannahs; their numbers have dropped to as low as 32,000, down from hundreds of thousands estimated just 50 years ago."

Those are the results of an extensive research by the Duke University. At this stage of population decline, once the mighty symbol of power in the animal kingdom could well get into the list of endangered species within the next decade, or sooner. The reason for the catastrophic situation is the rapid decline of lion populaces in the wild, on one side... and the systematic destruction of their natural habitat, on the other. And also the hunting for trophies, which is an illustrious business, along with the trade of lion organs throughout the continent.

( Read more... )

meus-ovatio.livejournal.com

Perhaps some of you have seen the independent documentary film The Elephant in the Living Room. It is a documentary-type film about exotic animal ownership in the United States. I won't go into the details of the movie, since I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has Netflix and wants to stream it. I will warn you, however, that for certain mileages of people out there, the movie will ruin your day. My personal reactions to elements in the film included: light-headedness, horror, disgust, anger, profound sadness and an indescribable feeling that I don't know what to do with.

About exotic animal ownership: What I find ridiculous about a lot of the lax laws in this country about exotic animals, is that is is harder to bring in fruits, vegetables or grains across the national borders, than it is to find say, a lion. This strikes me as terribly off. Why is it that we have very little issues with protecting our agricultural bio-integrity, but when it comes to freaking lions, it's all "controversial".

Florida is currently the new home of thousands of exotic snakes, destroying, altering and generally screwing up the eco-system. Why? Because evidently we care more about the sanctity of our amber waves of grain than we do our own wildlife, or our own children.

Me, personally, feel that if people insist on keeping exotic animal ownership legal, we should not respond in any way to loose exotic animals. If we want to allow them (whether or not we own them), the next time a lion gets loose, you're on your own. They will get out, they will eat your babies, and we wouldn't spend a dime of public money protecting anyone from logic.

What say you?

underlankers.livejournal.com

This is very squicky and sounds like a Friday Fun Day article but it's actually serious. You have been warned beforehand that the whole thing's NSFW, and I am merely providing a link to it:

http://www.vice.com/read/yo1-v14n10

To make a long story short, people started using an orangutan for a prostitute and the orangutan has been rescued. It's horrid and disgusting enough that the human sex trade exists today at all, let alone on the size and scale that it does. But a goddamn ape? No. Just....no. HELL NO.

^I mean that very literally, to boot. Why would anyone do that?

telemann.livejournal.com

Paul Watson, animal rights activist and Captain of the Sea Shepherd, has been detained in Frankfurt Germany,¹ and Costa Rica has asked German authorities for extradition to their country based on a capias warrant issue, over Paul's interference with poachers in Costa Rican territorial waters (no one was injured and there was no damage to the poachers' boats).² INTERPOL, has examined those charges, and found that they were politically motivated. The general Public Prosecutor to the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt has requested the extradition papers, but noted that the German federal government can stop this process if they feel it is politically motivated.

Paul Watson is the captain of the "Sea Shepherd" and other vessels that have successfully hampered illegal Japanese whale hunting in Antarctica, but also have raised public awareness of the Canadian baby seal hunts, and recently had focused on the Faroe Islands annual whale hunts (called "grinds"), and world wide overfishing of tuna, with some tuna species face complete extinction within five years (particularly in the Mediterranean), according to fishery experts.

The Discovery Channel recently featured Watson's Faroe Island campaign in a three part special called "Whale Wars - Viking Invasion," you can see highlights and a brief summary of what is going there in the following video clip. Please be warned, some of the footage is extremely graphic.

I'm generally supportive of Watson's actions, but the Faroe Islands campaign was a bit of a tougher moral dilemma for me, but ultimately it's a moot one. The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands have been warned by their chief medical officer to stop eating whale meat and blubber, because it contains too much mercury. In fact, the Faroese have some of the highest incidents of mercury poisoning in the world. Research there has "revealed damage to fetal neural development, high blood pressure, and impaired immunity in children, as well as increased rates of Parkinson's disease, circulatory problems and possibly infertility in adults." ³

That's the irony here for me, the thing that may end up saving a lot of fish and whales is the fact we've so polluted our environment could be the only thing that will save some of them. The real question is, who will play the clock out first?

1. Sea Shepherd organization's press release.

2. Summary of the charges and trial, etc. Prosecutors filed charges in 2002 against the Canadian captain for allegedly endangering the lives of eight fishermen and for attempting to cause a shipwreck. Watson did not attend a trial on June 26, 2006, and the Costa Rican courts considered him a fugitive."

3. New Scientist article: "Faroe Islanders told to stop eating toxic whales." by Debora MacKenzie, 28 November 2008

Many thanks to

mzflux who posted about this and alerted me about the story.

telemann.livejournal.com

I guess we can be assured Donald Trump's children have inherited their father's colossal "any publicity is good publicity" gene.

( More behind the cut with at least one graphic image )

futurebird.livejournal.com

I don't recall talking about animal intelligence/rights with you. So let's have at it!

What questions in the area of animal rights do you think are most urgent that we resolve?
Do you see hypocrisy in the way we protect some animals more than others?

First a poll:
( Read more... )

dv8nation.livejournal.com

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14132320

Despite continued international pressure and the acts of radical environmental groups Japan's whaling fleet will be shipping out again.

Frankly I wish Japan would just knock off the whaling. For one, if you've seen Star Trek IV you know why we want to keep whales around. Whales are cool and enjoy swimming with Vulcans. But mostly because the whole whaling thing in Japan is nothing but political theater to garner support for the LDP but looking as if they're "protecting traditional Japanese culture" from asshole Westerners who want to impose their values on Japan. Of course, the fact that only like seven villages in the whole of Japan ever did whaling and it was never more than a small scale thing has no bearing on the matter. "Anti-foreigners" is a song that never fails to pack the house in Japan so why would they stop just because good sense says so?

Not that a lack of sense is exclusive to the Japanese side of this.

Sea Shepherd activists have staged demonstrations outside the IWC meeting here - the organisation is barred from attending - and it is clear that it will send its fleet to the Southern Ocean again if Japan does return.

"Sea Shepherd will also return and will once again intercept and block their operations," the organisation's head Paul Watson wrote on his blog earlier this week.

"If they return, we will launch Operation Divine Wind, and our vessels the Bob Barker, the Steve Irwin, and the Brigitte Bardot will soon return to the remote and stormy seas of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to do what we do best - defend the whales!"

Bwhahaha! That guy couldn't have sounded more absurd if he'd posted "Kneel before Zod, whalers of Japan!" And I can't help but imagine they people on the Bob Barker shouting "The price is wrong, bitch!" as they try and ram a whaling boat or throw acid on its nets.

Honestly, on both sides there's so much absurdity it's amazing anyone is able to take either side seriously.

Mood: productive
Location: Icheon, South Korea

enders-shadow.livejournal.com

So, I first saw this as just an amusing macro.
Then I got the book in the pic as a xmas gift. ( Read more... )

foolsguinea.livejournal.com

I was kind of meh on Missouri Proposition B, http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2010petitions/2010-085.asp --what little I knew of it I didn't disagree with, but I wasn't that sure about it. Tonight I went to a presentation on it.

Presently in Missouri, puppy mills are overseen by the Department of Agriculture, & local law enforcement can't seize animals. Proposition B would allow law enforcement--sheriffs & city police--to step in & remove animals. It also mandates at least yearly veterinary visits & mandates exercise areas, whereas present law does not require these things. But it's the fact that violations would become misdemeanors, & that puppy mill operators could no longer automatically keep out police or the ASPCA, that really persuades me.

Understand that right now there is no limit on number of breeding bitches kept, no requirement for veterinary care, & no authority granted to local law enforcement to stop reported abuses. Prop B changes all that.

http://YesonPropB.com
573-263-9226

dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com

The 10:10 Campaign, part of a global movement to reduce ~~greenhouse gas~~ carbon emissions by 10%, released/leaked a video to highlight their campaign.
( Cut for violence and gore - not for faint of heart )

allhatnocattle.livejournal.com

Yes, it's that time of year again when PETA loving Sea Sheppards are heading to Canada, flying in some concerned celebrities for photo-ops on the ice flow.

Now most polls show Canadian support for the seal hunt quite high... but falling. 60% support in 2005, 40% in 2008.

The hunt usually lasts Mid-March until April in the Gulf StLawrence when it moves to the Atlantic where in ends in May. Out of a population of approximately 8million, the 2009 harp seal total allowable catch was set at 280,000, about average. Not an extreme cull by any means.

For reasons both economic and environmental the hunt looks like it will be cancelled. Ice levels in the region havn't been this low in 40years. And pelts used to sell for $100 each only a few years ago sold for average of only $14 last year. The EU is planning to ban imports of seal products.

But the show must go on! Not only are scheduled protests proceeding this weekend as promised, most Canadian MPs offered support for the industry Wednesday by tasting seal products in the parliamentary restaurant.

As PETA, IFAW, etc. are working their way out of a job, and it looks like this year they got their wish, if only for this one year. Still they will be there protesting something that isn't happening. Which is a very strange situation, to hate an industry which can't operate (no ice), can't profit (costs outweigh sales) and has a very limited market (with an EU ban)

So I gotta ask what the point of having a protest (or even a show of support) for what is essentially a big nothing? They should have been out there throwing hunks of Styrofoam on the water as an artificial ice pack so the baby seals can be born.

enders-shadow.livejournal.com

Some say the world will end with Palin
Some say with Beck
From what I know of sin
I hold with those who favor Palin

But if it had to perish again
I think I know enough of Glenn
To say that for destruction Beck
Is also great
And would cause a wreck!

(I hope such irreverent posts are acceptable here, as there's nothing serious bout this, tho the literary crowd may appreciate the take on a classic Frost poem)

malasadas.livejournal.com

Mostly, I just want an excuse to post a brutally cool video:

Watch on YouTube

However, it does raise a few interesting questions -- the octopus under study doesn't merely make use of the coconut shell as a hermit crab uses another shell for shelter. The octopus actually selects shells, cleans them out and then carries them with them in anticipation of an abstract need for protection from a not yet present threat.

Pretty damned sophisticated behavior and likely learned recently rather than programmed into instinct.

So a few questions:

1) Is this definite indication of sentience and intelligence?
2) What IS intelligence in the sense that we use it to describe ourselves as unique animals?
3) Does the existence of an invertebrate that demonstrates problem solving intelligence complicate our general relationship with animals?

Amendment: Question 3A: Does the recognition of problem-solving intelligence that thinks abstractly about time and space in another species give additional creedence to the arguments of the animal rights movement?

And for the science fiction fans in the audience:

What are the chances that human beings may some day be "out evolved" by another species of animal?

Bonus question: Am I in big karmic trouble for my love of takoyaki?

Credits & Style Info

Talk Politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods

MONTHLY TOPIC:
Failed States

DAILY QUOTE:

"Someone's selling Greenland now?" (asthfghl)

"Yes get your bids in quick!" (oportet)

"Let me get my Bid Coins and I'll be there in a minute." (asthfghl)

June 2025

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Talk politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods.

Entries tagged with animal rights

Experimental life forms

Offtopic. The mice holocaust memorial

Lessons from America: the proper zoo policy

This just in! Evil giraffes strike back!

The besieged king

Laws and freedom.

From the Department of You Can't Make This Shit Up:

Paul Watson detained in Germany and faces extradition to Costa Rica

Donald Trump's sons African trip ignite War Over Animal Butchery

ANIMAL RIGHTS! ANIMAL RIGHTS?

(no subject)

It's personal and Political.

Missouri Proposition B - the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act

10:10 Promotes Eco-Terrorism

Seal Hunt

Shrek and a Donkey were walking hand in hoof

I, For One, Welcome Our New Cephalopod Masters....

Credits & Style Info

Links

June 2025

Summary