Winograd's No Kill - More Harm than Good?

26/04/2013

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Nathan Winograd is a US lawyer and devout vegan who parted ways with PETA when he found out they killed homeless animals.  He is considered to be the leader of the No Kill movement which has charged through US animal shelters.

Reforming shelters is part of his overall goal of granting animals the same legal rights as humans, such as the 'right to life', including making euthanasia illegal.  This means making it illegal to kill animals for food.  Shelters may be sued for disputed euthanasia decisions.  Winograd has initiated lawsuits over individual animals euthanised.

Winograd's views seem to have much in common with animal rights philosopher Gary Francione - he has a no-compromise view about veganism and dissection in schools.   Winograd was proud of his daughter for 'rescuing' a maggot from being dissected at school.  He also feeds feral cats and has over 20 cats of his own.  Francione believes pets are inconsistent with animal rights, whereas Winograd believes that keeping 'companion animals' are do not contradict animal rights.

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Cult Gurus of Animal Rights

24/04/2013

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In my research of the animal rights movement, I've read hundreds of pages of blog posts by animal rights activists/advocates and attempted dialogue on Facebook with them.  Even though I loathe politics, I've been researching and writing because most people don't seem to be aware of what animal rights is really about or how the movement affects them.  They seem on the surface to be all about animals and gain supporters from pet businesses and the pet loving public.

The 'gurus' of animal rights activism/advocacy polarise people - they are either seen as heroes or dangerous or deranged radicals.  Ironically, they accuse each other of being in a cult.  They are very much 'my way or the highway' - anyone that does not share their exact philosophy is attacked or discarded.  I've been mocked, attacked, accused of trolling or banned on Facebook by questioning or disagreeing with them.  Even by writing about the animal rights movement, I risk getting death threats and other forms of intimidation from zealots.

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Animal Welfare

24/04/2013

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The animal welfare philosophy is that is is acceptable and natural to use animals for companionship, food, fibre and other lawful purposes, so long as animals are always treated with respect and not subjected to cruelty.  Doing so strengthens the natural bonds between humans and non-human animals.

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PETA Hates Pets

30/03/2013

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PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is the largest international animal rights activism organisation.  

PETA was founded in 1980 by co-founder and president, Ingrid Newkirk.  Newkirk's death wish is to be turned into Newkirk nuggets. 

The public seem to believe that PETA is doing good for animals, because revenue for PETA last year was over $30 million, comprised mostly of donations.  
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PETA targets children - this vegan campaign tells children their parents are murderers
Practically none of this went to animal welfare.  Nearly all goes to their propaganda machine - they frequently use nude women and violence in their advertising campaigns.  They don't hide that children are their main target to convert.   Animal rights activists will typically evoke an emotion of outrage to gather support, such as sharing upsetting images of animal abuse on Facebook to gain supporters. 

PETA operates within the law, but has been linked to extremist groups including Animal Liberation Front, considered to be domestic terrorists who commit crimes such as arson, theft, intimidation and releasing animals into the environment.

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Can Animal Lovers Eat Meat?

10/08/2012

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Me a while back with pet rat, Vegemite
I am an individual that cares deeply about animals, yet I eat meat.  Is that hypocritical?  I've always loved pets and my business is about caring for the pets loved by their humans.  Is a vegan an animal lover?  Can a vegan keep a pet?  


The first time I heard about vegetarians was from a childhood friend that had a pet sheep.  She would scream 'murderer' at a passing stock truck.  


I went on a school field trip to the freezing works when I was at primary school.  Not exactly a fun experience.  I still can recall feeling repulsed by blood flowing down gutters and the stench and sight of huge bins full of slimy guts.  The workers zapped the sheep going to slaughter before slitting their throats then hanging them upside down by one foot.  The electric shock was to stun them to minimise their suffering.  I expect all the sheep lined up would have been distressed at their fate.  

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Animal Cruelty

17/01/2012

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Yesterday, two very emotive images were shared to my Facebook.  One was a touching image of a homeless man cuddling a dog.  Someone had added a caption about companionship and making the most of a bad situation.  I'd bet that man would feed the dog before himself.  

The second image was one of the most horrific and disturbing images of animal cruelty I have ever seen.  I cried when I saw it.  I won't post it here, as I ruined people's day by sharing it, but will link to images.  Warning:  Extremely graphic images.  

A German Shepherd dog referred to as Vucko was reportedly attacked by drunken teenagers, who put a large firecracker in his mouth and duct-taped it shut.  The entire top half of his snout was exploded away.  The poor dog, no doubt in agony wandered around for 5 days, before it was captured and euthanised.   
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