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Animal Writes

  • 27
  • Jan

Unveiled: The Best Vegan Breakfasts in the Country

Everyone agrees on the importance of starting the day with a nutritious and satisfying breakfast. Fortunately, more and more Britons are moving away from the traditional artery-clogging fry-ups of cholesterol-packed eggs, fatty sausages and greasy rashers and demanding lighter and more nourishing fare – which often means delicious vegan options. To mark Farmhouse Breakfast Week (22 to 28 January), we’ve scoured the country to find the top 10 vegan breakfasts in the country. Winners were chosen based on a number of criteria, including reputation and the selection and quality of vegan menu items. With choices like piping-hot tofu scrambles, “meaty” faux sausages and vegan fruit pancakes, you’ll never want to order a Full English again!

The consumption of meat, eggs and dairy products has been linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer and other health problems. Also, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water pollution, land degradation and greenhouse-gas emissions. And, of course, the meat industry causes animal suffering on a massive scale. Chickens, fish, cows and pigs feel pain and fear – just as we and the animals with whom we share our homes do – yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims.

“We give all the winners five stars for respecting their patrons enough to serve them some of the finest vegan breakfast dishes available anywhere”, says PETA’s Yvonne Taylor. “More and more people are recognising that the best way to avoid health problems and help animals and the environment is to go vegan.”

Check out our top 10, in no particular order:

Is there a restaurant or café in your area that you don’t see on this list but would like to? Leave a comment below letting us know who they are and why you think they deserve to be on this list, or head on down to one of those listed above and enjoy a healthy, animal-friendly breakfast!


  • 26
  • Jan

Beagles Are Barking With Joy Today!

This is a great day for animals, the government and common sense. We’re thrilled that following months of campaigning by PETA and other groups, including our appeals to East Riding Council and the Secretary of State, an organised protest outside the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol and almost 10,000 objections from PETA supporters, the government has recognised what the public already knew – that breeding dogs for deadly experiments is a shameful trade. Dogs aren’t commodities, and they aren’t test tubes with tails. These dogs have been spared the worst of all possible lives: bred for profit on a factory farm and then sent to laboratories to be poisoned with pesticides and drugs or cut up in experiments. No animal deserves this kind of fate, and the sooner the whole B&K Universal operation shuts down, the better.

What we now need from the government is positive action to cut the numbers of dogs and all other animals used in experiments. At this moment, the Home Office is considering weakening even further the legal protection for animals in laboratories in response to a new EU directive. We need to see the same kind of enlightened common sense on this issue as we’ve seen today from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Please take action to stop this from happening.


  • 26
  • Jan

Sexiest European Vegetarian Sophie Shows All Animals Have the Same Parts

Defying chilly January temperatures by stripping down to nothing but panties and paint markings that mimic a butcher’s diagram of body parts, our Sexiest Vegetarian winner, Sophie Barrett, marked World Week for the Abolition of Meat by standing behind a poster that read, “All Animals Have the Same Parts: Abolish Meat”.

Sexiest European Vegetarian Sophie Barrett Body Parts

Animals are more than walking entrées. They are made of flesh, blood and bone, just as humans are. They have the same bodily organs, the same five senses and the same emotions, ranging from joy and contentment to depression and fear.

Sexiest European Vegetarian Sophie Barrett Body Parts

“Animals aren’t ‘breasts’ or ‘thighs’ or ‘flanks’”, says Sophie. “Animals think, feel and want to live, just as you and I do. By exposing my body, I hope to expose others to the benefits of a meat-free, cruelty-free diet. World Week for the Abolition of Meat is the perfect time to make the switch!”

Join Sophie in ditching meat by going vegan today!


  • 25
  • Jan

Jallikattu Is Bull****, Say PETA Activists

Led by a costumed “bull” in a wheelchair, PETA activists took to the Embassy of India today with signs that read, “Save India’s Reputation: End Jallikattu”, in English, Tamil and Hindi. They were urging the Indian government not to exempt the state of Tamil Nadu from the national ban against using bulls as performing animals. Tamil Nadu currently has permission to continue jallikattu, a cruel and dangerous “sport” in which terrified bulls are kicked, punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground – and in which human participants are often injured and even killed.

“Exempting jallikattu from India’s laws is a black mark on India’s reputation”, says PETA India’s Poorva Joshipura. “These events are illegal – they violate the ban on using bulls in ‘entertainment’ and are completely against the spirit of India’s animal-protection laws, which prohibit beating, kicking and torturing animals.”

Jallikattu Demonstration outside the Indian High Commission, London

Similar protests will take place around the world this week before the Madras High Court reconsiders the exemption for jallikatu on 30 January.

In jallikattu, bundles of money or other prizes are tied to the horns of a bull, who tries to escape as villagers chase him. PETA India’s investigation into five jallikattu events in 2011 revealed that the terrified bulls are painfully dragged by nose ropes, surrounded by mobs of taunting people who send the animals into a frenzy, goaded with sticks and pushed and wrestled to the ground. Last year, hundreds of human participants were injured, and many were killed. In one four-day period last January, 215 people sustained injuries during jallikattu events, 154 of whom were spectators. Two people died.

While you may not have been able to attend the demonstration, you can still have your say by e-mailing the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests and asking them to put an end to this cruelty.


  • 23
  • Jan

Man Gored to Death in Spanish Fire-Bull Festival

A man who attended a festival in Navajas, Spain, has been gored to death.

During these flaming-bull festivals, bulls are restrained while contraptions that look to be straight out of a medieval torture chamber are fixed to their heads. These sadistic devices have two balls of pitch (a flammable tar-like substance) that are lit on fire before the bulls are released, ablaze, onto the streets, where they desperately try to escape the fire while crowds jeer and torment them. The bulls often smash into walls in their attempts to free themselves from the flames. The fiery balls can last for hours, burning their horns, bodies and eyes.

Picturing the scene, it should hardly come as a surprise to hear that these festivals often result in human casualties. The question is, how many more lives must be ruined before this barbaric custom is banned?


  • 20
  • Jan

PETA Supports Eating Meat – Find Out Why

A subject that has generated some interesting discussions in the office and that we’d love to hear your views on is PETA-approved meat – in vitro meat, that is! Although in vitro meat isn’t on supermarket shelves yet, it will be in our lifetime. The technology involves painlessly taking a few cells from a live animal and putting them into a nutritious medium in which they will divide. Scientists have already concluded that a few cells can feed an entire nation – in fact, the world.

Every year, billions of animals are raised and killed in hellish conditions for their flesh. Animals raised for food are kicked and prodded when ill or injured and crammed into cages and trucks before making the journey to a blood-soaked killing floor. Chickens are hung upside down by their legs and “stunned” in a putrid, electrified bath. They are often still conscious when their throats are slit and they are plunged into scalding-hot defeathering tanks. If lab-grown meat becomes readily available, it could effectively bring an end to the cruel system by which animals are killed for food.

Shifting large-scale dependence on animal agriculture to lab-grown meat would also help improve human health because lab-grown meat would eliminate the use of hormones, steroids and antibiotics. Outbreaks of mad cow disease, avian flu, salmonella and E. coli caused by the meat industry would become a thing of the past.

If consumers knew the scope and scale of how much of what they eat is processed, making the psychological adjustment to “fake” meat wouldn’t be much of a leap at all. Animal flesh is already sliced, diced, radiated, decontaminated, frozen, preserved and injected with additives. Meat is not “unadulterated” much less pure.

There are now a staggering 7 billion humans to feed on this planet. We’re using far too much land and water to raise animals for food and to grow grain to feed and fatten them – and we’re generating massive amounts of pollution in the process.

Fortunately, no one has to wait until in vitro meat is available to help animals and improve their own health. Meatless burgers, vegan chicken nuggets and even “fish” fingers are delicious and much kinder to your body – and to animals. We have so many choices right now that there’s no reason to continue raising and slaughtering animals for food.

So, would you eat in vitro meat?


  • 16
  • Jan

Spanish City Says ‘Adiós’ to Circuses

The town of Molins de Rei has joined more than 60 other Spanish cities that have enacted bans against circuses that use animals.

Our colleagues at Asociación Animalista Libera received overwhelming support from city officials after pointing out that animals in circuses live in cramped cages and are beaten with bullhooks and whips in order to force them to obey. The ban includes all exhibitors that use wild animals.

Join PETA’s Action Team and start a campaign to ban animal acts underway in your own town.

 


  • 13
  • Jan

The Perfect Gift for the Person Who Has Everything

What do you get the man or woman who has everything? Joanna Collins, the owner of A Touch of Beauty Spa, gave the gift of a lifetime of happiness to one lucky donkey filly in India – and at the same time, she found a great way to honour her friend Jock Zonfrillo, an executive head chef at an award-winning restaurant in Australia.

Late last year, veterinary staff with the Animal Rahat sanctuary for working animals in Maharashtra, India, spotted a donkey who was in severe distress and limping through busy traffic. The Animal Rahat team immediately moved her out of the street and called for the group’s animal ambulance. Now safe and recuperating at the organisation’s sanctuary, the donkey quickly became pals with another resident donkey named Bondy. The two play like puppies, tease the resident dogs and roll around in their sandpit.

Little Jock

Little Jock

Collins adopted the donkey by agreeing to sponsor the animal’s care for a lifetime. In return, she was given the honour of naming the sweet filly. She named the donkey Little Jock after her friend, the equine-loving chef. Collins’ support will enable the Animal Rahat staff to provide Little Jock with food, shelter, and veterinary care for the rest of her life. Unlike other “give an animal as a gift” programmes, donkeys, bullocks, sheep and any other animals in Animal Rahat’s care never end up slaughtered for meat.

In India, working animals (horses, bullocks, donkeys and camels) and animals on the streets suffer enormously. Animal Rahat attacks this problem with a three-pronged approach: free veterinary services for working animals, education in local communities on the humane care and treatment of animals and a permanent sanctuary for animals who have been retired from their labours.

Joanna with Jock Zonfrillo

Joanna with Jock Zonfrillo

“It’s an honour to have such a sweet little donkey named after me”, Jock says. “I’m glad to know that there are thoughtful people like Joanna Collins who make a world of difference in animals’ lives by providing for their lifetime care.”

Having trouble finding the perfect gift for the friend or family member who has everything? Consider making a donation to Animal Rahat, which is currently trying to raise enough funds for two new animal-emergency ambulances.


  • 11
  • Jan

Benjamin Zephaniah Blasts Antony Worrall Thompson

It’s fair to say that Antony Worrall Thompson is having a pretty bad week! Following the deluge of bad press he’s been getting for reportedly stealing from a supermarket in his hometown, The Daily Mail has just reported that prior to filming an episode of Ready Steady Cook (or Ready Steady Crook?), Worrall Thompson was forced to eat some humble pie after criticising PETA friend and Rastafarian vegan poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

According to The Daily Mail, Zephaniah said, “I told [Worrall Thompson] I was a vegan, and he looked at me and said: ‘Why would you want to do that to yourself?’ I looked at him, and he’s struggling to breathe with his weight, and I thought: ‘You’re telling me why would I do this to myself? Look at what you are doing to yourself!’”


4WardEver UK | CC by 2.0
Montage Communications | CC by 2.0

Zephaniah continued, “I just said to him: ‘Look at me and look at you. We’re around the same age, but you look ten times older than me.’”

AWT, it’s never too late to make some positive changes. Why not do your body a big favour by taking our 30-day veg pledge? The animals you save might just help lighten your conscience as well!


  • 06
  • Jan

Irish Eyes Are Smiling Over Puppy Mill Ban

If your dogs’ tails are wagging a little more today, maybe they’ve heard the news that Ireland has banned puppy mills!

The new Irish laws took effect on New Year’s Day, outlawing the horrific conditions – including cramped enclosures, filth, malnutrition, exposure, disease, and a lack of socialisation and veterinary care – common to those nasty intensive dog-breeding operations. All puppies must be microchipped so that the breeder can be identified, and authorities can inspect and shut down any facility that fails to meet the standards set by the new regulations.

So if you see people sporting a “Kiss Me – I’m Irish” badge on St. Patrick’s Day, feel free to take them up on it. But a much better way to pay tribute to the kind folks of the Emerald Isle is by speaking out against cruel and irresponsible breeding.


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