Right now, anger is more important than love. Feel the rage of the holocaust and dying planet! Let it burn in your heart and soul and galvanize you to take radical action against capitalism, hierarchy, speciesism, militarism, and nihilism. “Civilization” is waging total war that will not stop unless we match their force with a greater counter-force! Justice! Vengence! Liberation! The stakes cannot be higher! The time for delay is over! The day of reckoning is here! The unqualified defense of the Earth begins now!
Archive for February, 2012
CONGRATULATIONS TO MY GREAT FRIEND MARCOS BLEND AND THE BLENDESKIL BAND (who made the amazing video – “Time to Change” — in collaboration with me [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WHunPLdIY&feature=youtu.be].
From Marcos: “I finally released my debut album “The Radical Revolution.” an album against all oppressions. Thanks for all the support, more than 230,000 visits on myspace … and by the spread and success of the video deltema “Time to Change,” which is being shared across the network heavily. Thank you & Liberation! (TOTAL LIBERATION).
Here is another fantastico pro-vegan and AL video from their debut album, “The Radical Revolution”:
This is exactly the (a) type of militancy the animal rights movement is lacking, and why is it is so pathetically weak and cowardly in the face of an ever-growing animal holocaust. We have betrayed the noble, defiant, and risk-taking PACIFISM tradition of Gandhi and King to acquiesce to the weak, enfeebled, domesticated, agoraphobic, Stockholm-Syndrome suffering, consumerist PASSIVISM of today’s inactivist lifestyle “vegan abolitionists.” This is a betrayal to history and to the animals of the highest order, and we must revivify this corpse of collaborationism and pseudo-resistance! Here’s one way they break the spell in Spain, as Chinese activists are stopping trucks in the streets and liberating thousands of cats and dogs.
At present scores of activists encounter cases pending for peacefully defending animal rights. So far the sum of fines for some of the trials now number approximately 30,000 euros. The state repression against animal rights movement is and will increasing. In Equanimal we are convinced that this will not stop our efforts to achieve a better world for animals where respect and equality are the basis of our relationship with them. continue sabotaging the game, continue entering the animal holding facilities documenting what happens there and freeing the animals we can, we will continue breaking into those events which celebrate and encourage the exploitation of animals and will continue doing what we deem necessary. If so we must disobey the law will. So we need YOUR HELP. Support us in Equanimal.org
3 Traders caught with a leopard and a tiger skin in Dindigul ,India in 2009.
Yemeni Men in traditional outfits and ceremonial daggers called jambiyas(ornately carved handles made from rhino’s horns)
Did you know that we humans are responsible for wildlife species that are on the brink of extinction ? Yes, there is an increasing awareness about global warming and the negative effects on our planet. This definitely is the number one cause. But, I wish to bring your attention to the mass extinction being faced by some of the most exotic species just because of our apathy and greed. Yes, greed ! What is it that these poor beasts in the wild have to offer us that brutally hunting them means everything to us. Human beings were created to co-exist with animals, birds and fish. All living creatures giving each other space. That’s how God intended us to be. To enjoy all nature and moving creatures.
But what is the reality ? Wild creatures are being caught or maimed or just killed by poachers. Selling body parts of these animals fetches them money. Yes, though Governments across the world have laws in place to stop hunting of wild animals, and trading of animal body parts, it still goes on, and forest officials are not able to curb this. Several organizations have taken it upon themselves to fight this on their own or in collaboration with Governments, but much still needs to be done.
Who are these poachers ?
- Either they are simply barbaric or they are very poor and impoverished, looking to make some money.
- The illegal traders make a killing once they lay their hands on the loot.
Read on to find some facts that will shock you-how animals are being butchered so as to satisfy the human greed.
Who buys animal body parts and why ?
- People with bizarre cultural or religious beliefs. Wealthy people who wish to display such exotic and rare items as showpieces.
- Eating the flesh of rare species is considered an aphrodisiac and serving the same to guests at a dinner one hosts is considered a status symbol.
- Fur and skin from these animals is used to make coats, jackets, purses, etc. Some are displayed on walls or used as carpets. Rich Chinese and Europeans make such purchases. The Tibetans, and people of Qinghai and Xinjiang use tiger skins as trim for their traditional costumes.
- Some like to stuff the head or the whole carcass and display it in their living room.
- Traditional medicine such as the Chinese medicine calls for body parts of some exotic species of animals.
Today, animal trade over the internet is reaching alarming proportions pushing several animals to extinction. Illegal animal trade goes on at such a rapid rate that many of the animals will remain on celluloid or books when we want to show our grandchildren. Much like the dinosaurs.
Top 5 Animals That Are Always In Demand For Their Body Parts
Tigers : Although trade in tiger pelts and body parts was banned in 1990 under the Convention in Trade in Endangered Species,illegal trade in tiger skins and bones continues unabated and fuels the poaching of tigers. Tiger pelts sell for $ 12,500 in China. And can go up to $ 15,000. Bones and body parts cost twice that amount. A 1993 ban on trading of tiger bones in China has not deterred the setting up of tiger farms servicing the need for tiger bones in oriental medicine. A soup made of tiger penis is a popular aphrodisiac. Skins are used in designing fashion garments and the bones are popularly used in oriental medicine. In India alone, which is home to 40% of the world tiger population, with 23 tiger reserves, there were 40,000 tigers a century ago. And today, the numbers have dwindled drastically to a mere 1411. The world’s wild tiger count was 100,000 a century ago and now only 3,200.
Gory pictures of a tiger being skinned – See it only if you have the stomach for it.
Black Rhinoceros : The horns of the black rhinoceros is used in traditional Chinese medicine, and used ornamentally too (rhino horns are ornately carved handles for ceremonial daggers worn by men in the Middle East), and this is the primary reason for rhinos falling prey to poachers. The rhinos have 2 horns, the longer one being in the front. In the 60’s there were atleast 70,000 rhinos in the wild and in 1999, only 2,410. The rhino poachers are known to be backed by organized crime syndicates who rely upon sophisticated equipment to use in poaching. Helicopters, night vision binoculars and body armor are a few must-haves while poaching. Their inhuman method consists of simply chopping off a rhino’s horn and leave it bleeding to death. 90 % of the 23,000 black rhinos of the world are in the African wild and as many as 20 rhinos fall prey to poachers every single month. Rather alarming, isn’t it ? A rhino’s horn fetches more than gold to a poacher, hence poaching of rhinos is rampant in Africa, thus endangering the species.
Whales : Several whale species are fighting extinction. Whales are being hunted for their meat. Despite a moratorium being adopted by the International Whaling Commission, on commercial whaling in 1986, endangered species such as Humpbacks, Blue and Minke whales are being hunted illegally by Japan citing scientific reasons although a sizable portion finds its way into the commercial market as was found out by a Greenpeace investigation in 2009.
African Elephant : The African elephant was earlier valued alive for its hauling capabilities but today, it is only valued only for the ivory from its long tusks which are used in intricate carvings by Chinese merchants.Elephants are killed by poachers to saw off the tusks and leaving the bodies behind to rot.Although hunting of wild elephants has been banned in many African countries, poachers are too poor and impoverished and want to make a quick profit. Today, there are only about 500,00 African elephants left compared to the 5-10 million in 1930’s.
Wolf : Hunted for skin and for sport by humans, wolves are dwindling in numbers. The wolf is killed just because it is considered a pest and a threat. Wolf pelts are used increasingly as fashion clothing. The gray wolf faces extinction and the red wolf was declared extinct in the US in 1980. Because of a captive breeding program undertaken, about 200 wolves were reintroduced into the wild over the last 10 years, but they are still an endangered species.
Have you ever wondered what you can do to prevent this mass extinction ? Blog about it, write about it so more people become aware of the dangers of harming our environment and the animals within. Do not encourage trade of animal body parts and report to the nearest authorities if you come across such illegal trade. Donate liberally to wild life organizations that fight poaching and corruption. Volunteer with such organizations.
If you know of more ways to help use the Comments section to let us know.
Indian Ofiicials display confiscated tiger and leopard skins and poachers’ guns at Khaga, India in the year 2000.
Davis Beckham sporting a tiger skin
Helicopters used to chase and kill black rhinos in the wild
Poor Indian Rhino lost its horn to greedy poachers
Commercial Whaling in Japan
Elephant tusks for illegal trade
Wolf Hunting for fun?
Dolphin and Whale Massacre in Denmark- To Prove they are MEN ! Can you believe that ?
Japanese whaling ship
Predators have roamed the planet for 500 million years. The earliest is thought to be some type of simple marine organism, a flatworm maybe or type of crustacean, perhaps a giant shrimp that feasted on ancient trilobites. Much later came the famous predatory dinosaurs such as T. rex, and later still large toothed mammals such as sabre toothed cats or modern wolves.
But one or two hundred thousand years ago, the world’s most powerful predator arrived.
We lacked big teeth or sharp claws, huge tentacles or venomous bites. But we had intelligence, and the guile to produce tools and artificial weapons. And as we became ever better hunters we started harvesting animals on a great scale.
We wiped out the passenger pigeon, the dodo, the great herds of North American bison. Last century we decimated great whale populations. Today the world’s fishing fleets routinely take more fish than scientists say is sustainable, leading to crashes in cod numbers for example, while people kill more large mammals in North America than all other causes put together.
But out of our mass consumption of the world’s fauna appears a curious conundrum.
Predators and prey are normally locked in an evolutionary arms race. As predators evolve to run faster, their prey too is selected to become fleeter of foot. As predators evolve sharp teeth, herbivores evolve horns for protection. Some carnivores hunt in packs, so their prey form defensive herds.
But animals don’t appear to have evolved defences against us. Which raises the question why?
Is it that these animals simply haven’t had time to evolve defences, or lack the variation in their genes to produce them? Or is it to do with the way we hunt them?
These questions are raised by Professor Geerat Vermeij of the University of California at Davies, US, in a scientific paper just published in the journal Evolution. He has been studying the effects of predators on evolution for more than thirty years.
“Usually, when new, more powerful predators evolve or come in from elsewhere, the local species can often adapt by themselves becoming better defended through a variety of means; but this option seems to be closed when it comes to the evolution of humans as super-predators,” he tells me.
In his paper he investigates why this is so.
First he examines how animals adapt to other non-human predators. He shows how prey animals consistently, and successfully, evolve certain types of defence.
The first is growing big. If you can grow big enough, it becomes very difficult, even for predators hunting in packs, to tackle you without injury and bring you down.
Scientific studies have shown that large terrestrial herbivores are by weight up to ten times bigger than their largest predators, which can’t grow mouths large enough to cope with their outsized prey. It explains why lions, wolves and orca tend to avoid fit adult buffalo, moose and whales respectively, targeting more often the weak and young (which are smaller).
If species can’t grow big, then they evolve other defences, such as the passive armour afforded by shells. As predators evolved to drill through shells, many prey species evolved to become toxic. The evolutionary arms race once more. A good example here, says Prof Vermeij, is the cephalopods, animals including squid and octopi. Early versions of these animals had armour, but as they were eaten by fish and toothed whales, they were replaced by lineages that were faster, more aggressive, venomous or toxic.
But then humans came along.
“The spread of modern humans represents one of the great ecological and evolutionary transformations in the history of life,” Prof Vermeij writes in Evolution.
We hunted and gathered on land, but soon began exploiting intertidal zones, taking shellfish and fish. Such intertidal zones were important food sources for prehistoric human populations living in places as far and wide as South America, South Africa, California and Oceania.
Other defensive ornaments became disadvantageous as humans evolved into super-predators. Elephants were killed for ivory, crabs and lobsters fished for their large meaty claws. These once advantageous traits became liabilities in the modern, human-dominated world.
We didn’t just take large species, we also preferentially harvested out the largest individuals of smaller species, a problem that persists today.
Prof Vermeij has examined the degree to which this happens.
He looked at one group of animals, marine molluscs and echinoderms such as starfish, and surveyed all the scientific research into how they have been exploited by humans. We select the largest individuals among 35 of 40 species studied, he discovered.
That means that size is no longer a refuge. Whereas growing big may have been one defence against natural predators, it offers no defence against human super-predators.
Sticking to rocks, as limpets do, is no good either as humans have invented picks and knives to prise them off.
Prey animals may do better to become toxic instead, and there is evidence that some marine species have become poisonous to people, either producing their own toxins, or by harnessing toxins produced by microbes. Reef fish and crabs are often toxic to people because they contain unpalatable, and sometimes lethal, dinoflagellates, for example.
But humans have found ways to get around this too. Many toxins need to be concentrated into organs such as the liver. And humans have learnt to remove these, to avoid their ill effects.
In short the way humans hunt appears to be the main factor preventing animals evolving adaptations to defend themselves from us.
Animals do respond to selective pressures, even over short time scales, and many species have responded to humans being super-predators, says Prof Vermeij.
By eliminating large apex predators, secondary predators have boomed. As cod numbers crashed in the 20th Century, their place was taken by an abundance of shrimp, lobster and crabs, which in turn feed on marine snails. As a result, these snails may have evolved thicker shells to protect themselves against these marauding shell-crunching crustaceans.
But we hunt on too grand a scale, with too much ingenuity, targeting the biggest animals.
“Our arrival and technological history has engendered an enormous change in the evolution of most species on Earth,” says Prof Vermeij.
In evolutionary terms, we leave our prey with nowhere to go. They have no way to defend themselves and simply cannot respond.
And that, says Prof Vermeij, represents a cataclysmic shift for species on this planet, the implications of which, he adds, we have barely begun to understand.
The human species is driving itself full speed into an evolutionary dead-end. We are destroying the planet and everything we do kills animals. We have lost our moral compass. We think in terms of profit and power rather than ethics and compassion. We no longer have any reverence for life or any sense of connection with the natural world. We think we are made in the image of God and that God made everything for us. We see ourselves as conquerors of nature rather than citizens of a vast biocommunity. We are technologically sophisticated and morally retarded. We have no conception of the importance of nonhuman life forms in sustaining ecosystems. We fail to realize that what we do to the animals we do to ourselves. I believe that animal liberation is the next great liberation movement on this planet, and that by promoting respect for nonhuman animals, we are advancing human moral evolution.” Dr. Steven Best
1. The Full Situp
To achieve the full situp, you must begin with the genuine intention of exercising your abs and promptly fall asleep midway through the task. This position is extremely advanced and not recommended for amateur sleepers.
2. The Awkward Spoon
The goal here is not so much intimacy as it is the socially uncomfortable sharing of a physical space with someone. Bonus points if your arm falls asleep but you’re too embarrassed to move it.
3. The Semicircle
Tuck your tail between your legs and imagine that you are an omelet.
4. The Sunbather
The trick is to look like someone who is acting comfortable whilst also appearing extremely uncomfortable. Let’s take this excellent opportunity to coin the term “meta-comfortable.”
5. The Double Bed
You will need a partner for this one. The goal is not so much comfort as an expression of sheer, unadulterated greed.
6. The Half-Box
Any old box will do, but two of your feet – preferably on opposite sides of your body – must remain outside the container at all times.
7. The Backstroker
Do not even attempt unless you have tiny, tiny, precious little legs.
8. The Sleeping Baby
Find a baby. Imitate the baby.
9. The Fur Pile
For this, you will need at least three friends who are not averse to your sleeping on them.
10. The Full-Box
Just get your whole damn body in there no matter what it takes. Be the box.
11. The Drunken Radiator
Just because you are obviously some kind of gin-addled hobo doesn’t mean you can’t be nice and warm.
12. The Sleeping Dog
Find a dog. Imitate the dog.
13. The Librarian
Bury your furry little head in your paws and try to look as contemplative and bookish as possible before drifting off.
14. The Ruler
Measure the floor with every inch of your tiny body.
15. The Windowsill
The whole world is your hammock.
16. The Clothes Dryer
Imagine that you are a wet T-shirt, fresh from the washing machine. Drape yourself accordingly.
17. The Pot Luck
Think of yourself as a last-minute fruit salad that everyone will be very polite about but probably not enjoy all that much.
18. The Head-Rush
Head to the ground, paws in the air – let gravity do the rest.
19. The Odd One Out
For this one you will need first to find two willing conformists.
20. The Mid-Sentence
Only recommended for individuals with extreme forms of narcolepsy.
21. The Bag Of Limbs (Box Edition)
Have a friend or loved one take you apart and put you back together haphazardly inside a box.
22. The Bag Of Limbs (Couch Edition)
Same as above, except (obviously) without the box.
23. The Dog Bed
Not a bed for dogs, but a bed that is made of dogs. I.e., the most comfortable bed you will ever sleep on that also smells kind of funky.
24. The Office Worker
Fall asleep on the job. LOL.
25. The Married Couple
Don’t be afraid to snore.
Frank died first, from sheer neglect. Soon after, Norman died, his sick body riddled with infection. I begged for Frank to be saved, but failed to persuade thousands of readers. I made a place for Norman in my home in New Mexico, but he never made it out of New York alive. I write this even more wounded than before, still more contemptuous of the human species, but also determined to fight harder, once the well of tears runs dry.
Many of my Facebook acquaintances will remember the evening of Sunday January 29th, when I again sounded a distress signal over the plight of cats at the NYC Animal Care (!) and Control.
As listed on the Facebook page, Pets on Death Row, that night, I had seen an inordinate amount of cats listed at 6 pm, who were to be killed by the next morning — such a generous window of time provided by heartless murderers and soulless bureaucrats. I singled out Frank, a stunning calico, and Norman, another beauty, because he looked like my feline soulmate, Willis.
Sunday night, I pleaded far and wide for people to save Frank, while I worked with PJ McKosky, an amazing activist who volunteers for Empty Cages Collective, to save Norman, before NYC ACC could murder him and countless other cats by Monday morning. As they do day after day, like clockwork, and with as much emotion.
I was elated that PJ was able to pull Norman, as I agreed to have him shipped to my home in New Mexico, and thought for sure that someone would save the incomparable Frank. But no one did, and on Monday morning, I learned the awful news that Frank was murdered — right on schedule.
Consumed with grief and guilt over Frank, I awaited news about Norman’s condition. Norman’s medical chart revealed he had infections (which virtually every cat picks up within hours once they land the filthy NYC ACC) and other problems. Later Monday morning, PJ got Norman off death row and to a veterinary clinic to treat his inner and outer infections.
I waited anxiously for two more days about Norman’s status, and on Wednesday, February 1, PJ called me with more horrifying news. Norman was so sick, so labored in breathing, so filled with tumors, that he was not expected to live for another hour and PJ made the only logical choice, to euthanize Norman.
Never would we meet eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart; never would I wake in the morning to his warm body and loud purr; never would Norman play in the alfalfa fields and the warm sun of New Mexico; never would he meet his feline and human family anxiously awaiting him.
NYC ACC is not the worst “shelter” in the country, but it is not far behind. Between the filthy and disease-ridden environmental conditions, an uncaring staff, and bureaucratic procedures that place countless obstacles in the path of a successful adoption, it is a hell for cats and dogs and a disgrace on the entire city of New York. The surly and vengeful staff seem positively duty-bound to kill perfectly healthy and adoptable cats, as they will just to spite someone who doesnt show proper deference to the executioners.
I intend to do my part to radically transform this fetid swamp of bureaucratic indifference. Typically, here as in so many other places, animals are worth more dead than alive and driving the use of needles instead of adoption programs is the profit motive and financial benefits for the administrators and underlings of NYC’s Animal Auschwitz.
I urge everyone to donate to the Empty Cages Collective so that they may continue their wonderful adoption work.
Those who would like to complain to the Mayor of New York and other related parties, and promise to never visit such a barbaric city until they move toward a real No Kill Shelter policy and raze NYC ACC to the ground and rebuild it from scratch, you may contact them through this form.
Two or three decades ago, before the problem of factory farming and the scores of billions of slaughtered “farmed animals” moved to the forefront of attention of huge swaths of the animal advocacy movement, the overpopulation and suffering of cats and dogs occupied a more central focus. The situation has improved in some ways, most noticeably with the emergence of a No Kill movement sweeping countries like the US. But in other ways the situation is deteriorating. In my own nearby city of El Paso, Texas alone, for instance, over 20,000 cats and dogs are murdered every year, and El Paso pledged to go “No Kill” in 2007! HSUS, PETA, and the ASPCA, to name just some of the largest and most culpable groups, are absolutely kill-happy and show little more regard for life than hunters, vivisectors, or the hired assasins who enter slaughterhouses like NYC ACC to murder innocents non-stop from early morning to late afternoon.
Of course a huge part of the problem is the power of the cat and dog breeding industry, and for every animal bred by these unconscionably greedy profiteers, another one dies in a “shelter.” The breeding industry must be abolished, completely shut down, ripped up, and shredded, home by home, operation by operation, cage by cage, and by any means necessary. Their criminal names, addresses, and phone numbers must be collected, published, and distributed, and every goddamn inseminator and impregnator must feel the full fury of activist wrath and death row animals’ fear until they wither under the pressure and close down their despicable trafficking in suffering forever.
Lest we forget, the “euthanasia” of millions of homeless yet beautiful and loving cats and dogs every year is a significant part of the ongoing animal holocaust unfolding on this planet and growing at alarming rates every year.
According to one widely cited statistic, 6-8 million cats and dogs enter US animal shelters ever year, and of those, 4-5 million are killed for lack of adoptable homes (or, I should say, for lack of aggressive adoption programs to available homes).
But this story is not about the millions of animals who needlessly die each year in the US alone, nor certainly is it an analysis of the full complexity of the “pet overpopulation” problem, let alone a solution to it.
This story is about two cats, Norman and Frank, two gorgeous, loving, and tragic victims of a dark and demented human species; of its unlimited capacity for detachment, apathy, and violence; and of its innumerable industries of killing, torture, and barbarity.
This story is not about abstract symbols that represent or symbolize larger issues, but rather two irreducibly concrete, flesh and blood beautiful beings, who live in perfect form forever in my memory but in truth are now incinerated ash.
This story is about one man, me, and my deep grief and heartbreak; it concerns my resolve to work even harder to abolish the murderous systems of speciesist oppression and stop the animal holocaust that has soaked the earth in blood for over ten thousand years.
It is about my compassion for two stirring animals whom I never met, but that I deeply loved. It is about a world which is less beautiful without the loving and beatific presence of Norman and Frank. It is about their loss, my loss, and how the death of every animal diminishes all of us in ways we will never fully understand.
It is about amazing rescue activists like PJ, who confront the worst of humanity every day, but live for the smiles and joy of the animals they do save and the loving families to whom they entrust.
I cannot adequately describe my heavy heart; my deep despair; and my blurry, tear-soaked eyes. I cannot say enough, Norman and Frank, about the love I have for you, about how deeply I mourn your passing, and how much I would sacrifice to watch you play in the boundless grassy fields and the shadows of green and purple mountains.
Goodbye, dear friends, goodbye, you have touched me forever and will live always deep in my heart. No human can match the poetry of your soul, the grace of your body, and the beauty of your eyes. You are singular, stellar, inimitable, and unsurpassable.