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From The Ugly Truth
website
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I could give a big long update
on the horror of exporting animals to their certain death in countries where
there are no welfare laws, like the ex racing greyhounds and how the government plans
to prop up that failing and cruel industry with 63 million euro (with none of
that going to retired dog rescues and in the face of all the other desperate
areas of society that need that money).
We could talk about the fate of stray dogs,
cats and horses that end up in our pounds. Or the suffering on Puppy Farms (dogs kept in boxes with
hamster water systems and no light or movement. I quote from our very own puppy
farmer in Carlow: ‘Dogs don’t need eyes to pump out puppies’. But I really want to talk about the vegan and
rescue groups and the epic work that is already being done to protect animals.
This is the same system as the one exposed in Cavan last week, where bitches are kept in these boxes permanently. It was inspected 8 times this year by Dept vets who each time said it was perfectly satisfactory.
There is a UK-organized protest
outside our Department of Agriculture on the 9th November that we
should all get to as they have been the ones rescuing Irish Greyhounds
literally off the runways in Manchester and other places they have been able to
intercept on their way.
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Even with
the huge increase in animal abuse and reporting of it, ARAN have discovered that there have only been 2
convictions of animal cruelty this year, 14 less than last year and twenty two
less than the year before. On the successes front, Seaworld will
no longer keep orcas and circuses are now advertising that their shows
will no longer use animals!
Thankfully nearly everyone I know now is
already rescuing animals, vegetarian or fully vegan and dedicating additional
time to improving the bigger picture. However, the energy is hard. Everyone is
upset and that is not the best way to effect social change. It is the way to
despondency, an element of powerlessness and financial problems. This is
because, with increased awareness, it becomes so obvious how the very opposite
of what should be happening is happening. It comes to your attention that positive, compassionate or
sustainable enterprises are thwarted on purpose and that large scale exploitation and violence are protected and
facilitated.
So I looked in my little book, Magic by
Ronda Byrne and the first word that jumped out was ‘gratitude'!
How on earth can we think of anything to be
grateful for when 200 elephants have their faces cut off every day, for their
tusks, dolphins are rounded up and slaughtered by the hundreds and on our own
shores people nail dogs’ paws to the ground and kick the crap out of them until
they’re dead (and a multitude of other versions of that story) and our government
is so corrupt it invests public money in the carcass collection, for food or
removal.
But we have to come up with
something!
It is important to represent farm animals
as well as all the others in trouble.
God knows, there were more than three and a
half million chickens killed last year in Ireland. That is an awful lot of
violent death, right there. Plus over a million pigs killed and more than 99%
of pigs in Ireland are kept in crates, where they can move neither forwards nor
back, for their whole lives and are mainly still tethered, even though it is illegal.
This is stuff that many of us already know so I won't go on about it!
Suffice to say, I hardly think in terms of animal rights any more. I
think in terms of human responsibility because we, as people, hold all the
cards, the animals hold none. There is nothing the animals can do.
There are these truisms like ‘what you
resist, persists’ and ‘ what you think about, comes about’ so it is really important
to keep one’s focus on what is positive, so it is that that can be multiplied,
by our attention to it! I know, deep down, that it is only through ‘gratitude’
that real change can be made, that is where the real magic happens, so I dug really
deep and have thought of 5 things to be grateful for!
1. I am grateful for Ireland’s climate that
is not too harsh and slightly protects the animals who are neglected in terms
of housing and nutrition.
2. I am grateful for ARAN, the other animal
rights, liberation, advocacy and awareness organizations and individuals.
3. I am grateful for all the shelters and
charities and staff who respond to and care for the animals in crisis and who
intervene on their behalf, in Ireland and abroad.
4. I am grateful for all the food producers
who make vegan food and harmless products, that focus on making sure that there
is no exploitation, no use of animal products or testing in their supply chain.
5. I am grateful for all the farmers that
bother to grow organic crops and those people who make plant-based, but also
totally balanced pet food.
This is my vision for Ireland, that it will
be the first completely vegan, organic country. Everyone has a cow or two, a
pig or two, a hen or two, a dog or two, a cat or two, a sheep or two and no one
has to rescue five or ten or sixty and carry the burden of all the vet bills
and the rehabilitation. A lot of people
are stuck under a mountain of vet debt and too many animals in their care. The
Carlow/Kilkenny Dog Pound are constantly full and have approximately 11
newcomers every day, one of the staff told me. PAWS have 75 kennels and provide care for more than 100.
The Donegal Pound have handled 500 dogs and only 6 have been rehomed. The
system is certainly not working.
At
the moment, all the animals are in the wrong hands. They are merely inventory
for farmers, a production line in abbatoirs, or caged and bred or tested on,
all for profit.
A lot of people have been trying to help
animals in many different ways. For me, I was involved in a situation last year
for the dog shelters. I put in a public tender to run the council dog pound and
exposed by chance that, nation-wide, these massive amounts of public money to
run shelters are going to animal collection services (as in they dispose of fallen animals, carcasses and were formally known as knackers lorries). Literally, I received a letter from the
Kilkenny County Council saying that the Animal Care Society from Cork had won
the tender and we hadn’t. I wrote to the care society and said well done, that
is brilliant and I can see you do Trojan work in rehoming and raising awareness
of animal cruelty and neglect. Nonetheless, I live on the same road as the dog
pound and I have a list of volunteers who would love to help too, if we can be
of any help…Their response? We never even heard of the contract! The council
had lied in writing and were going to give the 240,000 public contract to the
carcass collection firm. Then it came to light that the Animal Collection Services
were being given the contracts for shelters all around the country. They have
had the horse pounds for several years and they get paid to collect the horses
– 980 per horse, paid again to dispose of the carcasses.
It is so important that we investigate what
is going on within our own counties, under our noses, with our money and agreed
by our public representatives. When I was able to get a national newspaper
involved, they investigated the ACS further and discovered that the business is
registered in Riga, Latvia, home of the biggest animal body parts factory in
Europe.
So yes they get paid one more time when
they sell our stray animals on to become fertilizer and dog meat…at which point
we can then buy them back.
And yet I believe that most people are kind
and most people are not oblivious to the needs of other creatures. Even it is
basic like the five freedoms – food, water, shelter, freedom to display
behaviour normal to their species and freedom from harm. I love, respect and
encourage anyone who is finding a way forwards to look after people, animals
or the environment better. Surely we have established that what is good for one is good for the other.
I was inspired, as always, by ARAN’s John
Carmody on the radio last year, talking about the gay marriage referendum. Nobody
knew that so many people would go out to vote in favour of equality. The seed
was planted in my mind that we need an animal referendum for Ireland. Actually
ask every person where they stand on animal issues.
So I set about formulating an animal
referendum. I feel that if every person in Ireland was asked if they want
Ireland to be the animal laboratory testing capital of Europe, they would say
NO. If asked if they want an intensification of animal farming, they would say
NO. Do we want to be the biggest puppy farmers, tolerate the captivity and cruelty
to animals in entertainment and in sport, we would say NO and get a real
change.
There was an interesting survey done on where candidates stood on animal issues before the election which was very telling too. However, a further difficulty we have in Ireland and even at county level, is that the elected representatives do not have any decision making influence. As you can imagine, this creates difficulty for all public tenders - eg care homes, disability services and all social offerings. The qualified choice will not win a tender over a cheaper offer. This is how public services are ending up in the hands of private firms.
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| ARAN group finished their march on the steps of the courthouse in Cork. Symbolically, it is hoped that our presence might bring more justice around for those that need it. |
Even then, legislation isn’t everything
either. I recently heard that European companies were given 12 years to
implement changes to their Chicken keep systems. They had to increase their
cage size by 50 squ. cm. This is hardly anything and even at the end of the 12
years, 9 of the countries wrote and said sorry they weren’t going to manage it.
Things are not happening fast enough.
I know that everyone is doing as much as
they can, to move the situation forwards for animals. Spreading awareness and
raising compassion is important but what I also have in mind is the occupation
of every slaughterhouse, fur or puppy farm, laboratory, circus, racing stadium,
government building, sea shore. This could be just a few people there every
day, with banners, to bear witness to the suffering and raise awareness of
what’s going on inside. Until they all CLOSE DOWN. If at all possible, think about what you
see on social media and take just one action that reports something to someone
who can change it.
I gather that the current Minister for
Agriculture Michael Creed respects animals even less than Simon Coveney his
predecessor does, although I can't imagine how that is even possible.
Nonetheless, keep writing to him, his office and copying your messages to Clare
Daly TD and Maureen O'Sullivan TD and any others up there who can use the
information to ask for change at that level. There is a next generation of
animal advocates but, as adults, we have the power to sort things out and not
leave such a quagmire for the young.
By 2020, it is suspected that two thirds
of wildlife will have been destroyed.
This has all been done in the last 40
years. The year 2020 has given me the heebiejeebies for a few years now, since I
heard that Ireland plans to double its herd and meat and dairy production and
export by then. They called it the '2020 Harvest' but it is really a 2020
carnage.
You might have thought that farmers would have spotted that dairy
prices would go down, once the quota was lifted… but not from 39 to 18 cent per
litre. I have had several farmers come to me and they have still not been able to pay for
the feed for their animals, from last winter and some not even the year before.
We are talking about every strata of society being exploited by a few; business,
farm, social enterprise, sustainable industries, family, individual and animals
on a gruesome scale.
We can say that it has been like that for years, that we
will never change it. However we can and must stand up to our corrupt, ignorant
and greed driven government by letting them know we fully understand what they
are doing and ask them to represent and implement what society wants and needs,
instead, in their governance and budgets. This has been done many times in
history and I think we are again being asked to step up.
Please everyone come to the Department of
Agriculture, Kildare Street in Dublin from 11.30-16.30 on the 9th
November 2016. Bring posters for whatever concerns you most but the event is to protect Irish Greyhounds from live export to places like China
where they race them again. If they are not successful in every race and
always eventually they enter the dog meat trade. Slim pickings you might say
and you would be right but animals are boiled alive over there and some animals
they wedge, while still alive, between their dining tables and eat the brains
out of their heads. This is what we are dealing with. Raving psychopaths world
wide, lets get kindness taught in schools and humane representation in
government. And don't buy anything that was mean-spiritedly made.
Brilliantly, I was in touch with the Humane
Party in the US this week. In fact,
I friend requested Clifton Roberts the presidential candidate from the Humane
Party just to get ideas of how they might structure a vegan economy. What a
conscious offering for all life forms, the environment and human industry and
endeavour!! Unbelievably he voice messaged me straight back thanking me for my
inspiring message and talking away as if we were long-time friends. He said the
Humane Party are particularly keen to help translate the political components
of governance for other people, companies and parties. They would help in any
way they could if we formed a Humane Party over here in Ireland and make it as
relevant to the specific issues people and animals are facing here.
This is Clifton
Roberts' acceptance speech for the nomination...let it relieve your weary souls
with renewed hope! I also gather that those of you in America can vote for him.
There is a convincing short video that showed that people are being told it is
only worth voting for Clinton or Trump but actually there is good argument for
voting for an independent.
Each penny represents a million people.
This has only just occurred to me now but: Being vegan - ie a lifestyle of intentional harmlessness to others and the environment and holding a vision and reasoning capacity beyond self-interest - should be a pre-requisite of anyone in any public office. Surely!
