Their Turn - The Social Justice Movement of Our Time Their Turn - The Social Justice Movement of Our Time

Photos of Activist Being Attacked Generate Worldwide Attention

September 24, 2014 by 2 comments


The News

Photos of a Muslim woman in India who was mobbed while peacefully promoting a vegetarian diet have triggered worldwide outrage and sympathy — the type of response to an animal rights story that is usually reserved for an abused animal.

PETA activist attacked

Activist Tries to Protect Herself (photo: PTI)

The victim, who wore a lettuce costume, asked worshippers to choose vegetarian instead of slaughtering an animal in advance of the Islamic holiday Eid al Adha (Festival of the Sacrifice).

Ironically,  but not surprisingly, the woman – not her attackers – was charged with a crime: “outraging religious feelings.” Also ironic is that the woman who was working to stop violence was made to suffer it, as pointed out PETA, which organized the costumed protest.

photo: PTI

Police officer protects activist (photo: PTI)

Following is video footage posted by PETA. Who would believe that the presence of woman dressed up like romaine lettuce could trigger this kind of chaos?

Opinion

Media outlets around the world are reporting on this story, which will bring this brave and terrified woman – along with her message of peace – into millions of homes. Perhaps those who can’t relate to the suffering on an animal will be moved by the look of despair on her face and connect the dots.

pre-slaughter

Like us, animals experience fear, terror and despair


Ebola is Keeping Kidnappers Out of the Jungle

September 24, 2014 by 1 comment


The News

The deadly Ebola virus is keeping Nigerians away from wild animals, and that’s good news for the baboons and hyenas who are kidnapped from the jungle, beaten into submission and forced to tour the country to entertain the locals.

Photo: Pieter Hugo

Photo: Pieter Hugo

In 2007, Pieter Hugo, a South Africa photographer, traveled around Nigeria twice with a group of animal handlers and their performing hyenas and baboons. He said that locals, who are not socialized to consider the welfare of the animals, “flocked to watch monkeys dance in trousers or baboons mimic farmers” and that “the spectacle of the hyenas, monkeys and snakes being paraded through the streets” actually “caused traffic jams” with “everyone staring in wonder” and “showering them with money.”

Photo: Pieter Hug

Photo: Pieter Hug

But that was before Ebola. Today, people are paying heed to the government’s warning to avoid interacting with captive animals. And that is saving some animals from a life of deprivation and torment in the streets of Nigeria.

The number of monkeys and hyenas who are kidnapped from the wild and held captive for entertainment is low, but, like the elephants in circuses and killer whales at Sea World, to each of these animals, their captivity is life itself.

captive monkey Nigeria

Photo: Pieter Hugo

The government is also advising people to abstain from bush meat. And, while Ebola has, in fact, curbed consumption, hunters expect to return to the forests soon — when the fear of hunger trumps concern about disease.

Bushmeat for sale in Nigerian market

Bushmeat for sale in Nigerian market


Shortest Animal Rights Campaign In History?

September 23, 2014 by 3 comments


The News

Eight hours after an animal rights group asked its supporters to leave comments opposing foie gras on the Facebook wall of The Sopwell House, the well-known hotel and spa in England announced that it will remove foie gras from its restaurant’s menu. It was that easy.

“We have reconsidered our offerings, and this dish will now be removed by our Executive Head Chef. Kindly note that it will take a couple of weeks for our menus to be reprinted. However, please be reassured that we are no longer serving foie gras.”

Sopwell House ends sale of foie gras

Sopwell House to remove foie gras from menu

In response to the news, Hertfordshire Animal Rights spokesperson Tod Bradbury said, “We would like to publicly thank Sopwell House for listening to the concerns of the public. Foie gras does not belong in a civilised society – it is undeniably cruel. We hope Sopwell House can be an inspiration to other purveyors of foie gras in the area.”

Foie gras is produced by force feeding ducks and geese through metal pipes until their livers become diseased, swelling up to ten times their normal size.

foie gras force feeding

Hertfordshire Animal Rights has stopped the sale of foie gras at five restaurants in England since August and intends to continue its campaign until the region is foie gras free. In the United States, the production and sale of foie gras were banned in California in 2012. A similar ban was passed in Chicago in 2006, but it was overturned in 2008.

In his 2011 book The Foie Gras Wars, Chicago Tribune reporter Marc Caro profiled the Humane League of Philadelphia’s multi-year campaign to stop the sale of foie gras in local restaurants. According to activist Nick Cooney, who ran the campaign, between 80% – 85% of the targeted restaurants ultimately removed foie gras from the menu.

foie gras wars

Your Turn

As evidenced by the victories in England, California and Philadelphia, grassroots activism works. If you live near a restaurant that serves foie gras, then you can employ the same tactics used by Hertfordshire Animal Rights and the Humane League to campaign against the sale of foie gras. To learn more, please watch Farm Sanctuary’s undercover investigation of a foie gras farm.


Renewed Efforts to Stop Chicken-Swinging Ritual During Yom Kippur

September 23, 2014 by 5 comments


The News

Before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, hundreds of thousands of observant Jews across the world partake in Kaporos, a religious ritual in which participants swing live chickens around their heads while saying a prayer to transfer their sins to the animals. After the ceremony, a ritual slaughterer cuts their throats and stuffs them into inverted cones, garbage bags or dumpsters where they bleed to death, taking the sins with them.

Kaporos Chicken Swinging Ritual

photo: Carol Guzy, The Washington Post

Each year, dozens of activists protest at Kaporos sites in Brooklyn, which is home to tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews. During the protests, activists plead with participants to perform the ritual with coins intend of live chickens, an option offered in Jewish scripture. The participants argue that live chickens must be used, according to God.

Photo: Carol Guzy, The Washington Post

Activists & Participants, Face-to-Face (Photo: Carol Guzy)

What angers and mobilizes activists is not only the barbaric ritual but also the conditions in which the animals are held for days. Stuffed into milk crates, the chickens are unable to move and are deprived of food, water, protection from the elements and the ability to clean off the urine and feces of the chickens stacked above them. It is in this weakened state that participants grab them by their fragile wings, often breaking them, and perform the ritual.

Chickens immobilized in crates; no food or water

Chickens immobilized for days in crates; no food or water

This 2 minute clip shows the ritual and the protests:

In 2010, Kaporos supporters vandalized the home of Rina Deych, a founding member of the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos. Ms. Deych argues that the ritual “violates Jewish mandates and imperatives” and that, “each year, more and more Orthodox rabbis are speaking out against using chickens.”

Rina Deych home

Rina Deych in front of Her vandalized home

Your Turn

The Alliance to End Chicken as Kaporos has been working since 2010 to eliminate the barbaric ritual through education and protests and by begging for mercy. This year, they have employed a new approach — petitioning the local government to enforce the health codes that would shut down Kaporos and stop the river of blood from flowing in the streets. Please sign the petition.

To learn more about Kaporos, please read this article by Karen Davis, the Founder of United Poultry Concerns, who travels each year from Virginia to New York to help lead the Kaporos protests.


Activists Occupy Govt. Office & Block Entrance to Horse Holding Pen

September 23, 2014 by 3 comments


The News

In an effort to curb the U.S. government’s barbaric roundup of America’s remaining wild horses, 15 protesters occupied the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wyoming office and temporarily blocked the entrance to a nearby holding pen where the horses are held captive.

Activists block entrance to horse holding pen

Activists block entrance to horse holding pen

Over a dozen law enforcement officials followed the activists throughout the day, but they did not intervene in an apparent effort to minimize media coverage which would call additional attention to the government roundups. Police were on hand, however, in case the protesters attempted to liberate the horses from the holding pen.

Freedom to captivity (photo: Elyse Gardner)

Holding Pen (photo: Elyse Gardner)

The protesters – all women – drove up to six hours from neighboring states to participate in the acts of civil disobedience. When the activists entered the BLM offices, staff members in the lobby “scurried away,” according to Edita Birnkrant, Friends of Animals’ Campaigns Director who organized the protest. As expected, BLM representatives refused to meet with the activists, who used a megaphone to chant, “Stop the roundup. Stop the pain. BLM is to blame.”

The protest made front page news in the local paper.

The Rocket Miner newspaper

The Rocket Miner newspaper

Your Turn

Only 1,900 wild horses remain in Wyoming. During the current roundup period, BLM is capturing and removing 800 of them on behalf of powerful cattle ranchers who want the public lands to themselves for grazing. The BLM intends to continue the roundups until the herds reach an “appropriate management level.”

Please ask U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to list North American wild horses on public lands as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This designation represents their best hope for the survival.