Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

D-Day 2010

Published
by
Jennie
on May 1, 2010
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

This year, I’m highlighting my ongoing battle with horse racing’s crown jewel the Kentucky Derby with a satire video from The Onion because I thought tongue-in-cheek humor might be a nice change from a three page long rant. And easier to read.

I think the most interesting part about this video is that it highlights how we tend to concentrate on the human’s performance and ignore the horse. In the winners circle we see people shaking hands and hugging, congratulating the human jockey and the owners, trainer and breeder. Like their efforts alone are what won the race, not the dangerous physical activity on the part of the horse. The horse is just an object, a vehicle. You only rarely see them interact with the horse, let alone congratulate him or her (not that I think the horse would know what that meant, but still).

Here’s to hoping no one is hurt this year.


Jockey Liam Hollins The Favorite To Brutally Whip Horse To Kentucky Derby Win

Are dogs pigs? And why does it matter?

Published
by
Jennie
on April 25, 2010
in Uncategorized
. 16 Comments

So where have we been? Well, Alex is up to his eyeballs in school (apparently they do not just hand out doctoral degrees like candy. who knew?) and I’ve been up to my eyeballs with work, dogs, and riding my new bike - and I’m having an affair with my new blog, City Pittie. However, we’re making a concerted effort to start publishing content here again, so without further ado, here’s a quickly written crosspost from CP.

A couple days ago, I saw this posted by someone on Facebook. I’ve recreated it here in full, in case you can’t see it via the link.

Greetings!
Are dogs pigs?

That would seem to be a pretty straight forward question with a pretty obvious answer.

But there appears to be some confusion about this on the part of Pennsylvania’s large commercial dog breeders. Maybe it’s because the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement is contained within the PA Department of Agriculture, which oversees farming and food production animals. Or, maybe it’s because large commercial breeders don’t recognize the unique position dogs have in our modern culture and that dogs are not “stock” to be used and abused to make a profit.

This is an important question because very soon the advisory panel with the power to determine how large commercial breeders can do business in Pennsylvania will decide if breeders will be allowed to use swine production flooring in their breeding kennels.

So, I will answer the question, just in case anyone isn’t clear on it: Dogs ARE NOT pigs!

When the Humane Society of Berks County and people like you worked so hard to get the Puppy Mill Bill passed, we didn’t do it to merely elevate the condition of dogs in kennels to that of pigs in pork production farms.

That could happen when Canine Health Board meets on April 27th to hear proposals from the dog breeding lobby to be allowed to use commercial swine flooring in kennels.

I’ve seen some of this flooring. The best of it is unsuitable for dogs. The worst of it is little better than the wire flooring the Puppy Mill Bill was supposed to make a thing of the past. It is made for animals with hooves, not the soft feet of breeding dogs and the softer feet of their puppies. The sharp edges and plastic coated wire and cast iron of this swine flooring will simply be a continuation of the crippling old wire floors- but in bright industrial colors and with a governmental stamp of approval.

Right now, you need to tell the Canine Health Board and your elected representatives that they must say, “No!”, to pig flooring for commercial kennels and must hold breeders to the standard that was supposed to be imposed when HB 2525 was passed: solid or safe slatted kennel flooring.

Please use the links to the left to email the Canine Health Board, your Representative, Senator, and the Governor and express your view that it is utterly unacceptable for this flooring to be considered.

We know why the breeders want to use this flooring. It’s because they want to maintain their profit margins on breeding dogs in Pennsylvania. Cleaning up after hundreds of dogs is expensive. Just ask any animal shelter which deals with the aftermath of the “for-profit” sector’s money grab on the backs of dogs.

There is a reason we are charities and that reputable breeders don’t make a profit. It’s because when you treat dogs like dogs, and not like pigs or chickens being fattened for slaughter, there’s no profit to be made. What’s their next suggestion to drive up profits? Eat the old breeding dogs?

Our modern culture has decided dogs are different from livestock. They deserve special consideration. They deserve protection. They deserve better than swine flooring.

Please, take a few minutes right now to share this email with a friend and to tell the Canine Health Board that dogs are not pigs!

Your Partner in Animal Welfare,

Karel I. Minor
Executive Director

My first response was: WHAT? My second: no really, WHAT?

Internet, I know people are ignorant of the emotional lives and inner world of farmed animals. I just didn’t know how ignorant people who are my “Partner in Animal Welfare” are. Or maybe I wrongly assumed that by animals, they meant ALL animals. I guess saying “Partner in Canine and Feline and Equine maybe even Lagomorphine and Avian as long as the Avian belongs to a certain group arbitrarily determined mainly by feather color welfare” is a bit of a mouthful, but this is confusing! Do you support animal welfare, or just the welfare of certain animals who you have randomly determined (oh no wait, society has randomly determined) shouldn’t be eaten.

Moving on to the questions at hand: are dogs pigs? Seems pretty straightforward, right? Dogs are not, in fact, pigs. This is a fact that I believe has been pretty well tested in empirical studies and science has more or less definitively concluded that pigs and dogs are two different species.

So we’ve established that dogs are not pigs. But what on earth does that have to do with it being okay to keep pigs on harsh, unforgiving metal flooring and not dogs? What on earth did pigs do to deserve being kept on this flooring? What did dogs do to NOT deserve being kept on it? I’m confused again.

Oh wait, pigs have hooves! Not paws! Silly me, of course that’s why. Except baby pigs are born with soft feet, and both babies and adults have soft skin. Somehow being forced to live on flooring with sharp edges made of cast iron or coated wire seems like it would be painful to that skin. Pigs, like dogs, do have to lie down. In fact, female pigs with litters are routinely locked in cages where they are forced to lay on their sides, lest they try to move in the tiny space and crush their piglets. So that whole business about hooves? I guess that’s not really why it’s okay for pigs to live on this kind of flooring and not dogs.

Oh wait, it’s because our society has decided that dogs are BETTER than pigs. Obviously! I mean, it’s not like pigs feel, think and emote in a way that is actually eerily similar to dogs. It’s not like they have complex emotional lives and social bonds, feel pain in a way that is so similar to the way humans do that we study their bodies and nervous systems to learn about our own. It’s not like society has ever been wrong about designating one group as arbitrarily better than another before, right?

Here’s the truth: pigs and dogs both deserve better. Neither deserve to be just another commodity to be traded. Our preference for eating pigs and loving dogs is stupid and arbitrary. Pigs are intelligent (generally considered to be more intelligent than dogs). They are emotional (generally considered to have emotions as complex as humans). They are comfort loving creatures with delicate skin who are extremely sensitive to the elements. They thrive on complex social interactions with members of many species. They form bonds with their families, their children, their friends. They love to root and nest. They should not be forced to be born, live, and die on hard wire, plastic or iron mesh floors. And neither should dogs.

There is a reason we are charities and that reputable breeders don’t make a profit. It’s because when you treat dogs like dogs, and not like pigs or chickens being fattened for slaughter, there’s no profit to be made. What’s their next suggestion to drive up profits? Eat the old breeding dogs?

Or, maybe it’s because large commercial breeders don’t recognize the unique position dogs have in our modern culture and that dogs are not “stock” to be used and abused to make a profit.

But you see, they are stock. They are our property. As long as it is okay to breed and sell dogs in any capacity, it will be okay for dogs to be used to make a profit. Don’t kid yourself into believing that so-called “responsible breeders” aren’t making a profit when they breed and sell dogs. Perhaps they don’t turn a huge profit, but they do make money from the dogs they breed and sell. They also build social capital and prestige, all off the backs of the dogs that they supposedly are breeding just for fun, for shits and giggles, or to perfect some arbitrary standard set by a bunch of old people who get their panties in a twist about dogs without a correct shoulder setting. Don’t believe that these people are somehow absolved of perpetrating the idea that dogs equal property equal profit, the same way the “pork industry” perpetrates the idea that pigs somehow deserve to live their lives on cold, hard floors just so we can enjoy their severed flesh for dinner.

So Karel I. Minor, does that answer your question? Can you answer mine now? Why is eating the old breeding dogs worse than simply killing them? It seems like ethically, there is no distinct difference. The ethical problem is in the way we treat these dogs when they are alive, not how we handle their corpses. And this is what you need to realize about pigs as well as dogs; just because you can eat someone doesn’t mean you should.

For shame.

Published
by
Jennie
on November 13, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

More thoughts on this later, after the weekend, but this could have been my dog. Either of my dogs, both rescued from Utah shelters. One had been there for almost two months, well over his legal “limit”. This was my friend’s cat before he was rescued by a liberator - and if you click this link, you’ll see a cat who bears him an erie resemblance.

I went to this school. So did Alex. My father graduated from their undergraduate and medical programs. Countless of my friends have gone there and graduated. One of my favorite cousin is involved in animal research there. I am ashamed, both that this is occurring in the first place and that I didn’t do more to stop it.

University of Utah Investigation

Tattoo you!

Published
by
Jennie
on September 29, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 6 Comments

Our apologies for the lack of posting. The past six weeks have been hectic: The Big Move combined with The Great Apartment Hunt and The Depressing Job Hunt have culminated in various degrees of success. We’re moved in, Alex has started in his program and is busy with school, while I am working 40 hours a week for the first time in four years and loathing every minute of it. Granted, those 40 hours are spent on my feet serving people coffee (and, likely as not, various animal products with that coffee), so I feel like I have some right to be exhausted at the end of every day. But I digress.

At the end of the summer before I left Salt Lake for Philadelphia (see: The Big Move), I decided to take the plunge on my first vegan themed tattoo. It was actually my first time getting tattooed since going vegan, and thus doubly important because I had a lot more to think about in terms of who should do it, where to get it done, and how to care for it. Many people are unaware that tattoos can be “un-vegan”, but like pretty much everything else in the world (hello, condoms?!) vegans need to put a little extra thought into the experience.

This piece was designed around a quote from Tom Regan. I’ve always loved script, and I’ve always loved swallow tattoos, so the choice to combine them gave me two things I loved in one. It was a great experience and I’ll certainly be getting some more script at some point because this turned out fabulously beautiful. I love the colors dearly, I love the theme more, and most of all I love that I can add to it! (Eventually I’ll be adding sky and clouds behind the bird and script, and hopefully getting another bird and sky on the other foot).

I debated long and hard about whether or not to get this piece on my foot as opposed to somewhere else. Unlike everything else I have, it isn’t so easy to cover up. The stereotype of vegans as tattoo-havin’ hooligans isn’t my favorite, because a) not all vegans have tattoos by a long shot and b) who says tattoo = hooligan? I find being stereotyped as anything frustrating, and this particular stereotype seems to cause people to categorize one as unintelligent and thus not worth listening to. In the long run I decided that it was still coverable enough.

tattoo1 tattoo2

Some (vegan) things to consider before you get your tattoo:

What do I want?

Making the commitment to my first vegan-themed tattoo was extremely exciting, but I do have two other non-vegan (themed) tattoos that I had first. What you want will really depend on WHO you are and what you love. Tattoo styles run the gamut from flash (traditional) tattoos to extremely realistic portraits, depending on who your artist is and what you’re looking for. One thing any good tattoo aficionado will tell you is make absolutely, positively, 100%, never-gonna-look-back, certain that you get exactly what you want. You have to be ready to commit for life, so make sure you love it. Most of the time it helps to take your artists a reference picture or two and a couple ideas, then talk about what you want. Your artist should be able to draw you a custom piece that incorporates the themes, ideas and styles you specify - within reason. A good artist will do her/his best to accommodate all your wishes, while still being able to tell you what ideas are realistic and what aren’t. For example, my original plan for my tattoo was much, much smaller. CJ and I talked about it and I realized there was no way that I could get everything I wanted in detail and go smaller, so I had to make a choice. Giving your artist some creative leeway usually turns out better results, but if you really want EXACTLY what you’ve shown them, don’t be afraid to say so.

Two things I’ve always loved for vegan-themed tattoos are portraits and script. Portraits allow us to immortalize our non-human friends in all their wonder, and script lets us tell people that we’re vegan and DAMMIT, we’re proud. If you’re interested in getting a portrait of a specific animal, make sure you bring a picture if possible - if you can, bring one taken especially for the occasion with good lighting and any specific pose you want, but if you can’t, pick a picture you love. If you’re interested in a more non-specific portrait, bring in several samples. If you’re getting script, first, find someone who specialized in it if possible. Second, don’t tell them exactly what kind of script to use - it’ll turn out better if you let them take care of it. DO tell them if you want lots of filigree, specific capitalization, or if you want to change anything.

If you don’t know what you want that well, it’s usually best to wait. Inspiration will come - someday - and you’ll be happy you did.

Who is going to do it?

Picking your tattoo artist should be something like picking your life partner. After all, the art they put on your skin is going to be with you for, well, ever. (For those of you thinking you can just get your art removed in 10 years, you should reconsider getting one at all). Each artist has a unique style, and different strengths and weaknesses. The best way to get what you want is to do your research and view as many examples as you can lay your hands on. Do you want a vegan artist? While they do exist, it can be difficult to find one, and it may be better to get something you love by a non-vegan (using vegan ink and products, of course) than something you’re not sure about from a vegan. If you’re lucky enough to live in Portland or NYC, then you have access to all-vegan shops, but otherwise you may have to compromise or be willing to do a lot of asking around. I’ve found vegan artists by simply asking people with statement-making ink where they got theirs done.

Vegan Ink?

Tattoo ink is made of pigment particles suspended in a medium. That means there are two parts that can be non-vegan: the particles and the medium. Ingredients in non-vegan inks can include yummy things like charred bone shards and animal fat, which is one of the reasons I think it’s so important to make sure you do get vegan ink. After all, you don’t want to walk around with little pieces of someone in your skin for the rest of your life.

So how does one procure vegan ink? There are several commercially made and widely used inks on the market - you can start by asking for them by name. They are:

  • Eternal
  • Starbright
  • SkinCandy
  • Classic
  • Stable
  • Intenze
  • Waverly
  • Unique (except black, which is bone-black and contains bone shards)

Many artists also use their own, homemade ink (the artists at the shop where I’ve had all my tattoos done do). If your tattoo artist mixes her/his own ink and doesn’t know if the ingredients are vegan, you can always have them give you a list of what they use and check it for them. Luckily for me, Salt Lake has a large (or at least vocal) vegan population and CJ was able to tell me right off the bat that the ink was safe. Phew!

Sometimes non-vegan initiated artists do get a little annoyed when you ask a thousand questions about their ink. On this go-round, I really wanted to go to an amazing artist who does extremely beautiful and detailed work. Alex’s sister and her boyfriend happened to be going in for their appointments, and offered to ask him if his ink was vegan. After a couple calls back and forth, we finally had him give us a list of inks he used to check against the vegan list, but at this point he had pretty much made up his mind not to take me on as a client. If you’re unsure of your selected artist’s feelings, go armed with information and make the process as painless as possible for her/him.

Anything else?

You bet. First of all, there are a myriad of products used during and after the actual tattooing process at the shop that may or may not be vegan. How far you want to take this is your prerogative: if you are uncomfortable using any non-vegan products, you may want to do you best to secure a vegan artist or go to a totally vegan shop. At the very least, you can ask about items like the razors they use to shave the skin in preparation, the solution used to moisten your skin for the transfer, the solution used during the actual tattooing to keep the needle sliding in and out, and any ointment they use on your skin after the tattoo is finished. The bottom line is that much like most things in the world, it can be very difficult to make certain everything that touches you during this process is totally vegan. Where you draw the line depends on you.

After care!

Find vegan aftercare products can be a odyssey. Most of the ointments recommended by tattoo artists (Aquaphor, A&D etc.) contain lanolin or beeswax by virtue of being non-alcoholic. Boo that. While really any vegan lotion will do, you really want a lotion that doesn’t contain alcohol. You also want a very gentle soap for cleaning. This go-round, I used a combination of Black Cat aftercare products (which RAWK and are not that expensive), Jason Vitamin E lotion, and vegetable based soap from a variety of sources. Products meant specifically for tattoo aftercare are easier to use for the early stages of healing because they tend to adhere and stay put, better protecting the tattoo and keeping it moist longer. Once healing is over, you can go back to your normal vegan lotion, although you should always always make sure to apply lotion to your tattoo once daily and to lather on the sunscreen if it’s going to be exposed to the sun (Merry Hempsters makes a nice lotion/sunscreen combo for tattoos that comes in handy stick form).

Ching Farm Animal Rescue & Sanctuary 5K

Published
by
Jennie
on July 30, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

ching

In the Salt Lake area next week? You might want to check out the Ching Farm Animal Rescue & Sanctuary 5k (August 8th @ 8:00 am in Liberty Park), raising money for our local sanctuary. Not in the area, or not into waking up and moving around? You can also “sleep-in”. Alex and I are volunteering to work the rest stops, so you’ll have the added (if dubious) pleasure of seeing us. There are only two days left to register, and they’re still pretty far behind on donations, so if you’ve got extra cash floating around, they could really use it. You can donate through the 8th, by the way (or anytime after by going to their web site). Ching is the only place in the Salt Lake area that takes in farm animals, from pigs to horses to goats to llamas to emus and ostriches. The economic hard times are hitting everywhere hard, but between this year and last the number of horses they care for has doubled - horses have been a big casualty because they’re so big and expensive to care for. I’m sure this is actually true for all farm animals, but I tend to notice the horses first. As their population balloons, Ching needs more and more help, both financial and other, so if you don’t have the cash to donate, consider volunteering to help feed the animals, fix fences, and so on. I promise you won’t regret it.

Like all animals at a sanctuary, most of these animals have sad, sordid pasts. And, surprisingly to me, lot of them have been subjected to medical and/or other forms of “scientific” testing. My current favorites from my last visit are three pigs; Charlotte, Sunday and Wilbur. When they saw us coming, Sunday and Charlotte ran to the fence squealing in joy, and Charlotte promptly flopped down to have her tummy rubbed while Sunday investigated my boots to see if she could untie the laces. Wilbur hung back until someone went over to rub his tummy, at which point he promptly rolled down on his side. Charlotte talks while being rubbed, little grunts and oinks directed at whoever is doing the scratching. Sunday roamed around, sniffing and nudging, asking for her back to be scratched, while Wilbur rooted in the dirt for whatever happened to be tasty. The sun was almost down and it was finally cool enough to be enjoyable outside and everyone was settling down for the night, and I couldn’t think of a single place I’d rather be. I love pigs.

Click here for the main registration page.

Click here for my fundraising page.