Thanks to The Cove and Blackfish, documentary films that expose the atrocities committed against wild and captive dolphins and whales, the public is rising up and fighting back against the worst offenders — Japan and Denmark. One protest at the Japanese embassy in England is six weeks away (Nov 7th at noon), and 277 people have already signed up to participate.  If you have any friends in or near London, please share this information.

In Taiji, Japan, thousands of dolphins are herded into the infamous “cove” each year and are either slaughtered for food or kidnapped for aquariums or swim with dolphin concessions. During each roundup, families are torn apart, and the besieged dolphins are tormented and held in nets with no food as their captors determine their fate.

In The Faroe Islands in Denmark, 1,000 gentle and intelligent pilot whales are driven into the shore each year and mercilessly butchered for meat in an annual ritual called “The Grind.”

In both Japan and Denmark, the government not only sanctions the brutality but also justifies these for-profit atrocities under the guise of tradition.

The Cove and Blackfish demonstrate the tremendous impact of documentation in general and undercover video in particular. These films, coupled with the direct action of Sea Shepherd and grass roots protests around the world, will assuredly lead to the demise of Japan and Denmark’s slaughter in the water. Following are the trailers:

THE COVE

BLACKFISH

Animal rights activists are accustomed to being harassed and threatened during protests, but the worst abuses are rarely caught on camera because they are usually random acts – a punch thrown; a shove; someone spitting, etc.

From left to right: Vigil participant, UCLA researcher

On January 18th, however, activists with Progress for Science recorded several harrowing minutes of bullying and physical intimidation — by academic researchers, no less. On that day, 11 activists holding a peaceful vigil to honor 11 monkeys being abused for redundant and needless government-funded research in UCLA labs were met with viscous attacks by counter-protesters.

This video, which has been seen by only 11,100 people, should have gone viral when it was first posted – not only because of the shocking behavior of the UCLA researchers, but also because of the bravery of the activists. They courageously put themselves in harm’s way – on behalf of the animals who were being harmed.

The video also inadvertently teaches an important lesson: As activists, we must keep our rage in check because outbursts and aggression, shown by the experimenters in this case, shift attention away from the animals, which is where the spotlight should shine.

Please visit Progress for Science to help bring an end to the archaic animal experiments being conducted at UCLA.

The white tiger who, on Tuesday, killed a 20-year old man who jumped into his enclosure at the New Delhi Zoo should have not been there in the first place. That’s because he, like the others being held against their will, is a wild animal.

In their natural habitat, tigers hunt for prey, raise their cubs, swim long distances, establish territories and forge relationships. In a zoo, they pace back and forth, unable to perform any of the activities that make their lives worth living.

Wild tiger on the hunt

Wild animals are innocent; so why do we put them in jail?  They are also living beings, so why do we display them like exhibits?

Zoos are cruel; exploitive; and unnecessary. They teach children that kidnapping and holding others captive are acceptable behaviors. Future generations will assuredly look at the images of wild animals in captivity with the same disgust that we reserve for images of humans who were held against their will.

Learn more about why holding animals captive in zoos is cruel. And then speak out.

In September, Chop’t, a chain of upscale salad restaurants in NYC, is donating a portion of its profits to Every Mother Counts, a global maternal health charity. And that’s great.

Chop’t

But, before printing “EVERY MOTHER COUNTS” onto their take-out bags, Chop’t should have considered the fact its servers would be filling those bags with thousands of mothers who were chopped up and tossed into their salads. And that all of those mothers had their babies torn away from them at birth. Let’s be honest, Chop’t! Those mothers do not count.

Eating a salad for lunch should be benign activity, but when you toss animals in with your lettuce, it becomes an act of violence. That might sound extreme, but what is in actuality extreme are the factory farms that produce the animals — factory farms that harm our health, the planet and, of course, the animals.

When making decisions about what to put in your salad, please keep this in mind: pigs, chickens and cows are not ingredients; they are mothers, fathers and children who wanted to live and did not want to be tossed into your salad.

Graveyard

Please keep this in mind too: plant-based ingredients are healthier, less expensive, cruelty-free and delicious. And some of them, like seitan, soy products and mushrooms, have a similar consistency to meat, if that’s important to you.

Chop’t veggies

You can live without meat and cheese. In fact, you can live better without meat and cheese. But the animals cannot. They need their own bodies to survive, and they need their milk secretions for their babies.

Like the “Every Mother Counts” campaign at Chop’t, eating animals is a great disconnect in modern society. Almost everyone says they love them, but only a few abstain from eating them, in spite of the well-documented cruelty.

An “ag gag” bill that was introduced in Southern Australia after undercover investigations exposed animal abuse on pork and wool farms has been voted down. The Surveillance Devices Bill would have penalized activists with up to $15,000 in fines or with imprisonment for releasing footage taken of factory farms.

What agribusiness doesn’t want consumers to see

The Sydney Morning Herald, which declared the vote “a win for consumer advocacy, workers’ rights, freedom of the press and animal protection,” cautioned that supporters of “ag gag” will push for legislation at the federal level.

Following is a two minute non-graphic video taken inside of a pig factory farm in Australia. As the Communications Director of Animals Australia describes the conditions, the intelligent pigs in the background attempt to escape from the intensive confinement of their cages:

As reported on TheirTurn in August, supporters of ag-gag in Australia attempted to disguise the bill as a measure to protect farm animals when its true intent is to keep the public in the dark. Most consumers continue to be unaware of the existence of factory farms and probably believe that the animals who they eat are raised on the green pastures shown on the packaging.

As activists, we must ensure that the work being done by undercover investigators is protected by law and distributed widely to the public. To that end, please share Mercy For Animals’ video  – Farm to Fridge – that takes viewers behind the scenes on modern-day factory Farms.