Proposed law may be more about Catholic nationalist politics, anti-Semitism, and COVID-19 than about concern for animals WARSAW, Poland––Is a new omnibus animal protection law recently proposed in Poland really all about animals, driven in part by concern that mink farming may be a reservoir for the pandemic COVID-19 coronavirus? Or is the proposed […]
Shimon Shuchat, 22, & Dick Goddard, 89, had animal advocacy in common
New York City activist & Cleveland weather forecaster were each legends in their spheres NEW YORK CITY, CLEVELAND––One of the youngest prominent animal advocates in the Northeastern U.S., Shimon Shuchat, 22, and one of the oldest, Dick Goddard, 89, died a week apart, on July 28 and August 2, 2020, in New York City […]
Geoffrey Deckers & Marion Bienes brought animal rights to the Netherlands
Holocaust survivor Bienes inspired organization builder Deckers Geoffrey Deckers, 51, co-founder of the Dutch animal advocacy organization Een Dier Een Vriend [An Animal, A Friend], died suddenly on June 29, 2020. Deckers suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on November 20, 2017, but appeared to have made a full recovery. As well as leading Een Dier Een Vriend […]
Vegan Man hopes Florida jury will have it his way in case against Burger King
Can expect to be grilled in cross-examination MIAMI, Florida––Vegan Man on November 18, 2019 served notice on the Miami-based Burger King fast food chain in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that he hopes to meet twelve Florida men––and Florida women––in a jury box soon, with a judge presiding. Seeking class […]
Will feral pigs eat Hong Kong before Hong Kong eats the pigs?
Feral pigs may be poached as African swine fever & trade war cut off pig imports HONG KONG––A three-way collision among African swine fever, feral pigs, and the global pork industry, U.S. interests included, may be only days away in Hong Kong. Whatever the outcome, pigs––both factory-farmed and living free––are already the big net […]
Are kosher & halal slaughter bans anti-Semitic & Islamophobic?
Animal advocacy, religious teaching, & cultural insecurity collide in Belgium BRUSSELS, Belgium––Is Belgium moving rapidly to ban slaughter without pre-stunning out of concern for animals? Or are prohibitions of the traditional kosher and halal slaughter methods rooted in latent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia? Slaughter without pre-stunning becomes illegal Whatever the political truth is, legal reality […]
The Thanksgiving Turkey as Ritual Scapegoat
in the Carnivalesque Tradition by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns Human radical abuse of “food” animals cannot be explained by economic efficiency alone. It is also an outgrowth of attitudes humans have had toward nonhuman animals through the ages, rooted in our resentment at being animals, which we project onto them. In his […]
Live animal markets in New York City: a cut-throat business at best
Customs change with waves of immigration NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Escaping the Iranian Revolution with her parents at age 6, artist Sara Rahbar as an adult has produced an internationally recognized portfolio on themes often involving human and animal suffering. Yet Rahbar found herself wholly unprepared for the misery she met close to hand on […]
The many faces of Nasim Aghdam, vegan turned YouTube shooter
Social media performer more engaged in self-promotion than in message-focused statement SAN DIEGO, California––Claiming more than 300,000 people had viewed her 60-odd (and sometimes very odd) YouTube videos on vegan and animal rights themes, Nasim Aghdam on April 3, 2018, two days before what would have been her 38th birthday, abruptly multiplied her audience and […]
Kaporos: chicken soup for the soulless?
UPDATE: Opponents of Kaporos will on September 28, 2017 hold a candlelight vigil in Borough Park, Brooklyn, co-hosted by the Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund, Their Turn, NYCLASS, Long Island Orchestrating for Nature, New York Farm Animal Save, New York Animal Defenders, and the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, a project of United Poultry Concerns. […]