Another Powerful Must-See Video

Actor James Cromwell (The Queen, L.A. Confidential) narrates this powerful Mercy for Animals video on the deplorable treatment of animals in the Factory Farm Gulag. It's so effectively made, and so heartbreaking, that I'm posting it here.

These videos are essential viewing. I've always been of the belief that films - short films, feature films, documentary films - are one of the most effective ways of winning over omnivores and vegetarians to a cruetly-free vegan lifestyle.

Many folks, whatever their political persuasion, are innately kind and hate to see animals treated poorly. Sadly, there are some very kind people who are torn. They hate seeing animals treated harshly, but they want their meat, they want their eggs and milk, they want their fish and all of their animal products. The thought of not ever eating meat or eggs or fish or dairy products seems too stark to them. They hate seeing animals go through pain, but their love of animal products outweighs their desire to see an end to animal suffering.

The key with omnivores is to figure how to tip the scale so that it weighs more in the direction of wanting to see the elimination, once and for all, of the exploitation and mass murder of animals.

How to accomplish this??? Well, as I said in my Blog the other day, the Animal Rights Movement is a Big Tent struggle with lots of people trying their damnedest to end this kind of suffering and bloodletting. Who has the right approach? That is up to you to decide.

But I'll tell you who does not have the right approach: Those who believe that it is OK to consume animals, whether it is done as food or clothing (or for any other purposes). They need to understand the suffering their choices are causing. The best way to get through to them, I think, is to beam the message through audio-visual means, or to write about it or lecture about it in such a powerful way as to hit the message home clearly, and without second guessing.

And that message, as we all know, is that causing suffering - any kind of suffering, whether human or non-human animal suffering - is not acceptable and will not be tolerated by those who want to create a truly civilized society.

Call me a Pollyanna, but I'm optimistic that we're moving in the right direction. More and more people are going vegan. The Internet has been a godsend, helping to beam the message to the remote corners of the world. And it has enabled us to see that good people - in Asia, in Latin America, in the Middle East, in Europe - are mobilizing on behalf of the animals.

The recent events in Egypt have shown us the nobility of the fight for human rights and democracy. That fight must begin to spread so that all sentient beings are included in the equation. It isn't easy. The trick is for the waves to keep battering the cliffs, eroding the earth, changing the landscape. So that when future generations are writing the history of these times, they will note the barbarism of widespread animal consumption, but they will also see videos like this one and realize that good people fought the good fight and made a difference.

Don't Forget the Fish

The wonderful folks at Mercy For Animals (MFA) performed a detailed, undercover investigation of a fish-slaughtering facility in Mesquite, Texas, called "Catfish Corner." The results of the investigation were disturbing, to say the least.

MFA investigators went into the place with hidden cameras that picked up some of the worst of the abuses. The fish are alive and conscious when they're being skinned and dismembered. And if there is a soul out there who still thinks that fish don't feel pain - excruciating pain - think again.

MFA's undercover video captured the following:

Workers using pliers to pull the skin off of live fish

Dozens of fish crammed into buckets and baskets, gasping for oxygen

Skinned fish still moving and gasping on the cutting table

Fish flailing and struggling to escape the workers’ knives

Live fish sliced and split in half

Workers tearing the heads off of live fish

"Treating [fish] like inanimate things is cruel and ethically abhorrent," said Dr. Jonathan Balcombe, author of the extraordinary book Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals. "Handling such as that shown in the footage is extremely cruel and heartless and should be outlawed immediately." (Source)

Added veterinarian Lee Schrader: "To subject fish to an obviously painful procedure such as the removal of their skin, while they are alive and responsive, is cruel, inhumane and without excuse." (Source)

Please watch the video if you get a chance. Even if you're one of the converted. We need to know what we're up against. The scenes are heartbreaking. The fish are convulsing and flopping and jumping wildly as they're being cut open and beheaded and handled in the most violent fashion imaginable.

Watching these fish, imagining the intense pain they're feeling in the final moments of their life, one cannot possibly adhere to the callous belief that fish have no feelings.

I remember there was a moment in time as I was transitioning from omnivore to vegan (I didn't go through the vegetarian phase - not more than about a week, anyway) when I was considering keeping fish in my diet. "They're different than animals," I told myself. "They don't feel any pain."

What nonsense. I'm glad I woke up. I watched films like this one and realized they feel just as much pain as mammals. And scientific test after scientific test backs me up on this one. Fish experience agonizing deaths when they are turned to food. It is impossible to rationalize the mass murder of these aquatic beings without jettisoning a big chunk of your humanity first.

I'm just thankful there are groups out there like Mercy for Animals that remind us of this profound truth. Fish feel as much pain as pigs, chickens, cows, and they feel as much pain as human beings. I remember one of the first Hollywood films I ever saw about fish, Jaws (1975), featured a massive, razor-toothed protagonist that devoured human beings. To these fish, humans are the brutal predators. And until human beings change their ways and stop eating fish once and for all, cycles of pain and suffering - like the ones captured in this video, and like the millions and millions of other instances not recorded on film - will continue.

So Far, 2011 is Not Getting Off to a Promising Start...

For those of us who support animals and animal rights, 2011 has not gotten off to a very promising start.

First, there have been the numerous mystery animal deaths, which have defied any explanation. "Dead Birds Fall From the Sky in Italy," said a headline in the Huffington Post. The Discovery News website (affiliated with the Discovery Channel) echoed the Huffington Post: "'Aflockalypse' Hits California." Animals have been falling over dead or washing up on shores in huge numbers in Chicago and Arkansas, in Louisiana and Sweden, in England and Brazil.

Nobody really knows why it's happening. Some scientists have talked about changing magnetic fields. Others emphasize global warming. Toxins have been blamed in certain circles. And the born-again Christian actor Kirk Cameron insists that these mass deaths are the fault of "pagan mythology." (Source)

To make matters worse, the treatment of factory farm animals around the world continues to be deplorable. Just before Christmas, 1,000 pigs were burned alive in a fire in Rostock, Ontario. (Source) In Quebec this past weekend, 20,000 rabbits and 4,000 piglets perished in two separate factory farm fires. (Source) In Germany, large numbers of pigs and chickens were recently given contaminated feed that contained, among other things, dioxin. (Source) Across Europe, countless pigs and chickens have been slaughtered.

But the worst slaughter is going on in South Korea, where an astonishing one million pigs have been buried alive due to an epidemic of Foot-and-Mouth Disease that broke out in November. To quote one report from South Korea (Source):

The South Korean government has so far refused to vaccinate pigs against the disease and is now slaughtering them in record numbers despite appeals to stop. On January 4 in one area of Gangwon-Do, 33,900 pigs alone were destroyed, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

It turns out that Foot-and-Mouth Disease does not infect human beings, even if they eat the meat of animals infected by the disease. The situation in South Korea has been nothing short of catastrophic, as the Straits Times reports:

Nationwide, more than 1.3 million pigs, cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals have been slaughtered or will soon be culled, the agriculture ministry said, as the outbreak showed no sign of abating.

The situation has been so horrific in South Korea that the government is providing therapy for workers who have been traumatized from having to slaughter so many poor, innocent animals. "We've heard reports of people suffering from insomnia, fearfulness, hallucinating sounds and a lack of appetite." (Source)

The horrors occurring in South Korea are unquestionably the most insane example of what happens when we turn animals - sentient beings with thoughts, feelings and emotions - into commodities, whose value is to be measured in profit and loss columns.

Those of us who love animals have a mission in 2011. Our goal is to fight for them. And I don't mean fight for "reforms" and "tinkering" - such as cameras in slaughterhouses or regulations that reduce animal pain in factory farms, or stricter laws that govern fur production. I mean we need to advocate for the total and immediate liberation of all animals, based on the fact that they are not ours to exploit, bury alive, place inside of highly flammable and unsafe factory farms, or murder for their meat or other parts.

Let 2011 be the year that animal liberation becomes a more mainstream goal. We may not be able to control the mystery animal deaths, but we can guarantee that animals are no longer exploited and slaughtered. Animals are not ours to use in any way. This is the message of a truly civilized society.

Yeah... Even they feel pain...

The hardest meat for me to give up, believe it or not, was shrimp. What a delicacy! I used to buy the big shrimp rings, race home from the store, and dip them in that red cocktail sauce. I loved every succulent bite. Last fall, there was a period where I phased out meat but not fish. I reasoned that a cow or a pig or a chicken has more feelings, and more awareness, than the cod I was eating in my fish & chips, or the shrimps I was bringing home in my shrimp ring and dipping in the cocktail sauce.

But that state of affairs didn't last long. I'm one of those types who reads everything I can when it comes to subjects that interest me. And in that short window of time I became a pescetarian (someone who eats seafood but not other animals), I slowly began to realize that I had not yet made the transition to a compassionate diet. I read about fish. I learned about the pain and agony they suffer. Many die slow deaths. They live in agony in fish farms. And contrary to what some scientists such as James Rose, a fish neurobiology expert at the University of Wyoming say (Rose said, "the fish brain just hasn't got the hardware to experience pain..." source), fish do, in fact, feel pain.

Today, I stumbled across an article about a restaurant in Sacramento that has recently stopped serving "dancing prawns," much to the happiness of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). As the article explains:

After hearing from PETA that scientific studies show that prawns feel pain, Nishiki Sushi restaurant in Sacramento has informed PETA that it will no longer serve a cruel dish that's often called "dancing prawns." The dish's name is a reference to the writhing that the animals engage in when their protective shells are ripped off and acidic lemon juice is squeezed onto their raw flesh before they are eaten alive. PETA contacted the restaurant after receiving complaints from several patrons. "We [were] not aware that prawn[s] can feel pain," wrote Danny Leung, president of Nishiki Sushi Inc. "[W]e will no longer serve … prawn[s] alive. … Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

There have been numerous studies at universities around the world that clearly demonstrate that fish feel pain. Despite this, there are deniers who insist that the very notion that fish feel pain is pure idiocy. Last year, journalist and regular Slate.com contributor Michael Agger wrote an article reached the following verdict on the issue of fish pain:

What does my gut tell me about fish pain? Not happening. When I reel in a trout, I may be stressing the fish—making it expend precious energy—but it's not howling in agony.

Hard to say whether Agger believes this all the way through, because in the next paragraph, he wrote:

That's not to say that I think fish should be treated cavalierly. Back in the day, whenever I caught a sucker fish (i.e., a carp) in my home stream, I'd pick it up and hurl it onto the railroad tracks. (The justification being that carp are taking up space in the stream that could be used by trout.) I wouldn't do that now. I don't have a good reason why. It's just a vague, gut-level notion that fish should be treated with respect, just as you shouldn't speed up in your car to run over rabbits.

Usually, when pressed, people like Agger, who rationalize and justify - both publicly and in their own minds - inflicting pain on non-human animals, will sheepishly admit something along the lines of, "Welllllllllllll, maybe animals might feel something..." (e.g., stress, fear, momentary panic). But it is not pain. Human beings feel pain. Animals don't.

Tell that to the prawns who writhe in agony. Tell that to lobsters, who scream in boiling pots of water. Tell that to the rainbow trout, who flop and struggle and roll around in a desperate search for the water that is their natural habitat. Tell that to harpooned sharks and whales, who flail and twist and contort in bloody water.

That's not pain you're feeling. Just a little momentary anxiety. As my dentist used to say, "This won't hurt a bit."

My friends, don't buy it. The notion that the "seafood" we eat never felt any pain is but one small piece of a giant mosaic that makes up Fortress Denial. Already, more and more people are waking up to the truth. One year ago at this time, I was chowing down on shrimp, knocking off one of those big rings each night, never even giving a millisecond's thought to the pain that creature experienced. Now, I won't go near 'em. People do learn. People do change.

The change starts with you.

They May Not Be Huggable, But They're Still Damn Cool!

If you haven't seen the BBC's 2001 documentary Blue Planet, you should definitely check it out. Some of the most compelling footage comes from the bottom of the ocean. I've included a film clip from the documentary (above), just to give you a small taste of what it's about.

Pictured here to the right is one of the stars of Blue Planet, the famed Blobfish (not to be confused with Rush Limbaugh), a bottom-dweller (again, not to be confused with Rush Limbaugh) who lurks in the darkest depths in the world (yeah, yeah, yeah, not to be confused with Rush Limbaugh). Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass writes of the Blobfish:

Most fish don't really have faces. You've heard people refer to "fish eyes" or "fish lips," or they say, "Oh, shut up, you old fish face." But the blobfish actually has a face. Not a fish face, but a human face, complete with lips and a big, bulbous nose. A blobfish looks like some fat, drunken judge and may be highly intelligent. And therefore quite dangerous. It frowns. It leers. Sometimes, it even drools.

Equally cool is the Fangtooth (left), another deep-sea fish who apparently is equipped with the biggest teeth in the ocean. With choppers like that, you don't want to go messing around with caramel. Fangtooth brings to mind that old Groucho Marx quote, "I never forget a face. But in your case, I'm willing to make an exception." Actually, they look really scary, but Fangtooths are not dangerous to humans. Part of the reason is that they're only about six inches long and humans scare them. The other reason is that you have to swim pretty deep in the ocean - anywhere from 3,000 to 16,000 feet under the surface - to actually encounter one. Like their comrades the Blobfish, the Fangtooths prefer the deep blackness of the ocean's bottom. You'll also be happy to know that this fish possesses a fully functioning gas bladder, giving it the ability to, um, er, uh, cut the cheese. Sadly, Blue Planet neglected to say whether the bubbles from its farts make it to the ocean's surface.

Keep an eye on your TV Guide for Blue Planet to see these and countless other amazing fish.

Jonathan Safran Foer on Fish Farming

Have a look at the always brilliant Jonathan Safran Foer's article on fish farming from the British Guardian newspaper website. It is yet another powerful excerpt from his stunning book Eating Animals, which is available at a bookstore near you. This article serves as a scathing indictment of the horrible treatment of fish by the food industry. What can I say? This is more brilliance from one of America's finest contemporary authors. If only there were half a dozen more Jonathan Safran Foers. The animal rights movement would triumph around the world! Hell, even Sarah Palin would go vegan...

A Must-See Documentary on Sharks

I highly recommend Canadian filmmaker Rob Stewart's amazing documentary Sharkwater. Documentaries don't get much better than this one. In it, Stewart effectively debunks the myth of sharks as terrifying predators that prey on human beings. He brilliantly mixes underwater footage, interviews, old film clips of movies portraying sharks as fiends, and he follows a heroic radical conservationist who uses his ship to fight against illegal shark hunters. Director Stewart also takes his hidden cameras inside of Central American operations that capture endangered sharks to sell their parts, including teeth and fins.

Documentaries like Sharkwater and my personal favourite, Death on a Factory Farm, are so powerful - and so essential - because they help convert human beings to reason and compassion. They do so through effectively using images and interviews to show troubling truths about our world. In Sharkwater, there are a number of harrowing moments. Ironically, the scariest predators in the film are human beings - especially the so-called "Shark Mafia" in Central America that illegally hunts the sharks for huge profits. These are the bloodthirsty hunters of Sharkwater. By sharp contrast, the majestic sharks, who have been around since the age of dinosaurs, kill an average of 5 people a year around the world. More people die in vending machine accidents each year than shark attacks. Yet popular culture continues to portray sharks as underwater devils. Hopefully, Sharkwater will help debunk this terribly destructive myth. But it can only do so if people actually see it. My advice: Do whatever you can to view it. Order it from Netflix or Zip.ca, buy it from Amazon or ask your local video store to order it. It's an incredible film.