At a recent event for the Loveland​ ​Sanctuary, Asher Brown, founder of the LA-based Pollution Studios, gave a heartfelt speech about why we need animal sanctuaries. Get the tissues ready!

Hi.​ ​Thank​ ​you​ ​for​ ​inviting​ ​me​ ​here​ ​tonight.​ ​My​ ​name​ ​is​ ​Asher​ ​Brown,​ ​and while​ ​you​ ​might​ ​not​ ​know​ ​my​ ​name,​ ​you’ve​ ​probably​ ​seen​ ​my​ ​work.​ ​Over the​ ​past​ ​few​ ​years​ ​I’ve​ ​directed​ ​and​ ​produced​ ​hundreds​ ​of​ ​commercials and​ ​videos​ ​for​ ​almost​ ​50​ ​plant​ ​based​ ​brands​ ​and​ ​animal​ ​rights​ ​non-profits, including​ ​content​ ​for​ ​three​ ​very​ ​wonderful​ ​Animal​ ​Rescue​ ​Sanctuaries.​ ​My job​ ​is​ ​to​ ​figure​ ​out​ ​how​ ​to​ ​use​ ​stories​ ​to​ ​bring​ ​about​ ​real​ ​and​ ​radical change.

I’m​ ​here​ ​tonight​ ​to​ ​talk​ ​about​ ​why​ ​animal​ ​​ ​sanctuaries​ ​matter,​ ​and​ ​why​ ​they are​ ​so​ ​absolutely​ ​vital​ ​to​ ​our​ ​cause.​ ​For​ ​me,​ ​that​ ​story​ ​starts​ ​with​ ​turkeys.

The​ ​first​ ​sanctuary​ ​I​ ​ever​ ​visited​ ​was​ ​Farm​ ​Sanctuary,​ ​up​ ​in​ ​Acton.​ ​I​ ​was there​ ​to​ ​direct​ ​a​ ​Thanksgiving​ ​video​ ​starring​ ​Moby,​ ​Kat​ ​Von​ ​D​ ​and​ ​a​ ​small flock​ ​of​ ​rescue​ ​turkeys.​ ​And​ ​to​ ​be​ ​honest,​ ​I​ ​was​ ​focused​ ​far​ ​more​ ​on​ ​the video​ ​than​ ​on​ ​my​ ​surroundings.

At​ ​first​ ​glance,​ ​​ ​the​ ​sanctuary​ ​seemed​ ​like​ ​such​ ​an​ ​ordinary​ ​place.​ ​It​ ​looked like​ ​how,​ ​as​ ​a​ ​kid​ ​I​ ​imagined​ ​farms​ ​should​ ​look.​ ​Happy​ ​animals​ ​running around,​ ​and​ ​a​ ​team​ ​of​ ​people​ ​looking​ ​after​ ​them.​ ​A​ ​lot​ ​of​ ​dirt,​ ​some​ ​exciting smells​ ​but​ ​nothing​ ​that​ ​would​ ​jump​ ​out​ ​as​ ​revolutionary.

The post Why​ Animal ​Sanctuaries​ ​Matter appeared first on EcoSalon.

Whether you come to the vegetarian or vegan diet by way of health, environmental, or ethical concerns, it’s not uncommon to find yourself tempted by animal foods. The recently launched Carnivores Anonymous support group, with meetings currently occurring in southern California, aims to keep people meeting their plant-based goals.

Carnivores Anonymous was founded by Marilyn Kroplick M.D., president of the thirty-year-old In Defense of Animals, an international nonprofit animal protection organization with more than 250,000 supporters worldwide. IDA has worked on numerous animal rights issues including laboratory animal rescue missions, shutting down exploitive puppy mills, and the group also runs extensive rehabilitation efforts through its sanctuaries.

The group calls on the same 12-step program used in other addiction recovery programs, working through accepting the addiction, making amends, and supporting others on the same path.

I caught up with Kroplick via email to discuss the group’s recent foray into taking the 12-step approach to meat-eating.

[This article is edited for length and clarity.]

Jill Ettinger: Where did the idea come from to treat meat-eating like an addiction? Is meat addictive? I mean, alcohol wrecks lives—it literally kills people. Is it fair to put meat in the same light?

Marilyn Kroplick: A study published in Psychology Today found that 84% of people who try to ditch animal products go back to them. Clearly, we need more support for people who want to live full, healthy lives.

Animal products have addictive effects and pose a serious risk to our health. People who eat animal products are at increased risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Scientists, dietitians and health professionals are only now beginning to discover the extent of the harm that meat, dairy and other animal products cause to humans. Carnivores Anonymous was formed in the model of Overeaters Anonymous to support people to overcome addiction to animal products and gain a healthful way of living.

The World Health Organization has classified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen, giving it the same cancer-causing potential as tobacco smoking and asbestos. Most processed foods containing animal products are hyper-palatables, meaning they are high in sugar, fat or salt (usually all three) that stimulate endorphins in the brain, making them chemically addictive.

A recent study published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine highlighted the shared characteristics between consumption of highly processed foods and drug abuse.

JE: Can you walk me through what a Carnivores Anonymous meeting looks like? I know AA meetings can get pretty emotional for people. Is there an emotional aspect to giving up animal products? For example, does the guilt of eating animals factor into the equation? If so, for how many people?

MK: Carnivores Anonymous meetings follow along the same format of all 12-step programs. Participants introduce themselves by first name and admit that we are all recovering carnivores. We then recite the Serenity prayer and read through the 12 steps together. From there we discuss our recent struggles and invite a featured speaker to tell their story. In our first Carnivores Anonymous meeting held on July 24, our speaker [television journalist, author, and vegan Jane Velez Mitchell] kindly agreed to be recorded for our first meeting, you can view her story here.

There is indeed an emotional aspect to overcoming addiction to animal products as well as food addiction in general. Some people may experience withdrawal symptoms, others struggle with the empathy they feel for the animals they eat, and many struggle with uncooperative or belligerent family members or spouses.

Our main goal of Carnivores Anonymous is to help these people to provide specialized support in the healthy lifestyle they are trying to lead and to bridge the gap between vegans and non-vegans teaching to reach out to each other with compassion in a non-judgmental way.

JE:  What is the biggest challenge for meat-eaters looking to go more plant-based?

MK: Members work through and overcome their own personal challenges with the support of the Carnivores Anonymous group, the 12 Steps, and their sponsor. On a societal level, the biggest challenge to overcome is the social conditioning. Years of government-funded advertisements have convinced us of the false claim that animal products are necessary for a healthy diet. Doctors, most who have little or no nutritional training, instruct their patients to consume animal products not knowing they are harmful for health and completely unnecessary when nutritional requirements can be easily met through a plant-based whole-foods diet. This is compounded by powerful addiction to processed hyper-palatable food, and very low awareness of food addiction, making it very challenging to break out of the social norm.

JE:  What’s the biggest result people see once they shift to a plant-based diet?

MK: Within the first two weeks, people who eat a plant-based diet start seeing improvements in their health. High blood pressure begins to decrease and stabilize, cholesterol in arteries starts to break down, blood sugar evens out. Members report having more energy, clearer skin, and regular bowel movements. These are just some of the benefits to removing harmful animal products from one’s diet. In the longer-term, those on a plant-based diet enjoy lessened symptoms and even reversal of health complaints, reduced risk of further disease, and a longer, healthier life.

JE: I know you just had a meeting last month. How did that go? What’s the response been like?

MK: The first Carnivores Anonymous meeting was a big success. The group was a blend of members interested in going plant-based, others that had just started eating plant-based, and plant-based veterans. All participants brought something to the table, whether it be our current struggles with people around us, the health improvements they were starting to see, or sharing strategies to help us succeed.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

Beyond the Filter: Instagram Star @VeganFatKid Gets Candid IRL
Animal Rights Activism Meets Street Art in the ‘Vegan Club’
Here’s the Huge Problem With All That ‘Humane’ Meat

The post Is Meat-Eating Addictive? This 12-Step Program Says Yes appeared first on EcoSalon.

Earlier this week, the animal welfare organization Mercy For Animals (MFA) filed a false advertising complaint against a Vermont slaughterhouse that promotes itself as producing “humane” meat. The company, Vermont Packinghouse, has been suspended from operating four times in six months because of allegations of animal cruelty.

In addition to the four suspensions, the USDA has “repeatedly cited this facility for botched stunning and other inhumane treatment of animals,” notes MFA. Over the past two years, Vermont Packinghouse was written up more than a dozen times for violating the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. “In one such instance, a sow was shot in the head but remained conscious—bleeding from her snout and screaming—until she was shot again. The USDA also cited the slaughterhouse several times for failing to provide something as basic as food or water to animals—sometimes for longer than 24 hours.”

Cruelty and “humane” make for strange bedfellows, but as far as raising animals for food goes, it’s much more common than you’d think. Whether it’s labels like “humane”, “cage-free”, “free-range,” or “grass-fed,” the messaging is consistent: these are animal products you can feel good about eating. Except, they’re not.

“How can I make sure the meat I eat is humane? People ask us this all the time,” writes Joe Loria for MFA. “The answer is really quite simple: If the meat you eat comes from animals, it isn’t humane. If it comes from plants, it is.”

“Cows, pigs, chickens, and other farmed animals are just as sensitive and intelligent as the dogs and cats we love at home,” writes Loria. “Sadly, the meat industry is allowed to legally abuse billions of them in ways that would warrant felony animal cruelty charges if the victim were just one dog or cat.”

While claims that animal products are “humanely” raised and produced are rampant in our food supply these days, neither the USDA nor any government agency currently regulates use of that term. Any humane or welfare certification you see on an animal product is done solely by third-party organizations the USDA doesn’t regulate. “Humane” is the “natural” label of the animal products world. Companies can and do define what they consider to be humane treatment, leaving the burden of proof on consumers.

The USDA’s certified organic label does come with some stipulations to animal welfare, but even those guidelines have been abused by the nation’s largest dairy producer to a shocking degree, as the Cornucopia Institute discovered in a months-long investigation.

“Because the requirements for the ‘organic’ label prohibit the use of many medicines, producers frequently allow cows to languish with ailments that otherwise could easily be treated,” explains the nonprofit rescue and education organization, Farm Sanctuary.

And as demand for organic and clean products continues to rise, there are likely more offenders making humane claims that don’t live up to reality. To call the imprisonment and eventual slaughter of an animal who doesn’t need to die so you can enjoy a burger or a nugget “humane” is a bit like applauding a thief who says “please” and “thank you” while robbing you at gunpoint.

While some farmers do let the animals graze on grasses, insects, and other natural diets, they can keep those same animals confined as often as they’re given outdoor access (or longer). And “humane-certified” farms often employ many of the same egregious standard industry practices as conventional farms: tail docking, castration, and beak searing are routine procedures done without aestheticizing the animals, many of whom are babies recently torn away from their mothers.

And then, there’s the inevitable slaughter, which even dairy cows and egg-laying hens experience when they’re no longer viable. Numerous investigations have shown the undeniably inhumane practices standard in the slaughter process. Animals can be trucked for hours without food or water. Animals that may have been free to roam as they please are now crammed into hot transport trucks. In a victory for the animal rights community, a Canadian activist was recently acquitted of criminal mischief charges for attempting to offer water to pigs stuck in a hot transport truck. Pigs have been compared to dogs in terms of intelligence, personality, and ability to show affection.

Animals waiting for their turn on the slaughter line can become visibly disturbed by the sounds and sights of their friends being murdered (and no surprise that cases of animals escaping slaughterhouses make the news with some frequency). Any number of issues can and often do happen in the slaughtering process. Whether it’s botched stunning, which is to render the animals unconscious before slitting their throats, or animals being dragged and beaten in the terrifying moments before their death.

“Regardless of the welfare standards followed at any farm, all animals raised for food are slaughtered at young ages – broiler chickens at around 42 days when they could live four years or more, pigs at 6 months when they could live 9 years or more, beef cattle at less than two years when they could live 20 years or more, dairy cows at 4 to 6 years when they could live 25 years, and veal calves at only five months,” notes Farm Sanctuary. “No matter how well they are treated, these animals’ lives are cut drastically short.”

Then, there’s the cruelty bestowed on you, the customer. If you’re buying a product because you think it comes from an animal who enjoyed a natural and stress-free bucolic lifestyle, you’re not only being misled, but often being asked to pay considerably more for the product than its conventional counterpart. And while encouraging animal producers to become more humane and ethical is important, the reality, says Loria, “is that the meat industry slaps on labels like ‘humane’ to give consumers peace of mind,” writes Loria. It has less to do with the animals, and more to do with earning your loyalty. “Don’t buy their lies,” says Loria, or their products.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

These Danish Politicians ‘Walk the Talk’ by Going Vegan
Amazon’s Whole Foods Market Acquisition Means Big Business for Plant-Based Foods
The Plant-Based Diet Heads to Primetime

The post Here’s the Huge Problem With All That ‘Humane’ Meat appeared first on EcoSalon.

The term “animal welfare” has watered down animal rights.

In the book, “The Animals’ Agenda,” co-writers Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce discuss the not-so-radical idea that humans are lazy when it comes to real-deal animal rights. Humans often think that some animals must die for human good. However, that doesn’t have to be the case.

We recently interviewed Bekoff and Pierce and asked the writers to tell us about their book and true animal well-being.

EcoSalon: What inspired you both write “The Animals’ Agenda?”

Marc Bekoff: We’ve always been concerned with the plight of nonhuman animals (animals) in a human-dominated world. And, likewise, for many people working in animal advocacy, the failure of science to produce better ethical results has been a bitter disappointment.

We’re living in the Anthropocene. It’s an epoch many call “the age of humanity.” But in reality, the Anthropocene should be called “the age of inhumanity.” And we’re not listening to “the science.” For us (a scientist and an ethicist), an early feeling of optimism has given way to frustration, even alarm, about what is happening to animals globally. Numerous animals are, by many measures, objectively worse off than ever before.

Despite the extensive database on the cognitive and emotional capacities of cows and pigs, burgers and bacon continue to be popular foods. And millions of sentient animals are used in invasive research every year. Animals of numerous different species also are kept in cages in zoos. Animals do not like this kind of treatment. And, we’re devastating numerous natural populations of a wide variety of animals and decimating their homes as if the Earth is ours to devour and to ruin. We clearly are the direct cause of incredible and unprecedented losses of biodiversity. The pain, suffering, and death for which we are responsible is regrettable and reprehensible. We are not the only show in town.

Jessica Pierce: I was motivated by frustration. The growing awareness of animal intelligence and emotion hasn’t influenced the way we treat animals. We have this amazing body of scientific knowledge about who animals are. Why haven’t ethics caught up with science?

A motivating question behind the research is “what do animals really want and need?” There is a whole science built around understanding “animal preferences” and it is interesting research. What we found, though, is that many of the questions that are asked about animals are narrow and serve human interests more than animal interests. For example, rather than asking chickens what they think of battery cages (the answer to which is pretty obvious), the preference studies ask “would you (if you are a chicken) prefer 62 square inches of space or 70 square inches?” Or, “would you prefer wire or plastic mesh under your feet?” Not much of a choice, really, if you are a chicken.

EcoSalon: Tell us about the new book.

Marc Bekoff: The book argues that even “good animal welfare” isn’t “good enough.” Animal welfare science is used to service human interests and doesn’t enhance animal freedom.

In “The Animals’ Agenda,” we offer a new paradigm called the science of animal well-being. This paradigm suggests that the life of every individual matters and commits to radically improved freedoms for animals, especially freedom from human captivity and exploitation. This means phasing animals and animal products out of meal plans. It means putting an end to captive breeding in land and water zoos. And it means halting the practice of shipping animals as breeding machines. It means phasing out the use of animals in biomedical and other invasive research. And it also means, on the part of potential consumers of “pets,” a broad-minded consideration of what captivity means for these animals.

Jessica Pierce: The point of the book is to suggest that what animals really want and need from us is the freedom to live their own lives, on their own terms. In addition to the above topics, we also included a chapter on some of the surprising ways humans restrict the freedoms of wild animals. We can work to increase the range of freedoms available to animals and phase out practices that cause suffering.

EcoSalon: Please explain the importance of the science of animal well-being and how science, people, and animals can win.

Marc Bekoff: By focusing on the life of every animal, each individual will benefit. All animals want a life absent of human caused pain, suffering, and death. By focusing on a wide range of species, people will realize who—not what—other animals are. This education will benefit them and the animals themselves as they learn about what other animals know, think, and feel. In this way, it’s a win-win for all.

Jessica Pierce: There are no downsides to increasing the amount of compassion and kindness in the world and decreasing the amount of suffering (not just in thought, but in action, too). In nearly every case, it will be win-win. Cruelty toward animals typically goes hand in hand with cruelty toward people. And if humans become more mindful of how we treat animals, we will become more mindful of each other, too.

And it will be enormously beneficial for science to get out from under the thumb of industry. Humans must ask questions and listen for answers. Humans must listen to what animals are “saying” through their behavior and not be influenced by what’s profitable or expedient. Science is never free from values. Our better nature should guide science. Not an old paradigm rooted in the belief that animals are for us to use and abuse.

Purchase the book here.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Related on EcoSalon
A Safari Zoo? What If All Zoo Animals Were Cage-Free?
Animals See Humans as Super Predators (and We Don’t Blame Them)
Here’s How Your Clothes Can Help Animals in Need

The post Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce on ‘Radical’ Animal Well-Being [Q&A] appeared first on EcoSalon.

A Canadian judge ruled that an animal rights activist was not breaking the law when she offered water to pigs outside an Ontario slaughterhouse en route to their death.

Anita Krajnc, 49, founder of animal rights group Toronto Pig Save, was charged with criminal mischief in June 2015 as she offered water into to a trailer full of pigs awaiting slaughter.

Krajnc approached the driver of the vehicle, asking to give the pigs water. The exchange was captured on video. The drive told Krajnc not to give them any water, to which she replied, “Jesus said if they are thirsty, give them water.”

The driver responded, “No, you know what, these are not humans, you dumb frickin’ broad!” As Krajnc ignores the man and put the water bottle into the trailer, the driver threatened to slap the bottle out of her hands and call the police.

The prosecution alleged that the “unknown liquid” provided by Krajnc put the animals at risk of being rejected by the slaughterhouse, since Krajnc was not employed by the farm or authorized to feed the animals. But the animals were processed on schedule, despite her efforts to offer hydration and compassion in their final moments.

“The judge recognized compassion as a virtue in this case, and common sense prevailed in the finding that Anita Krajnc was not guilty for showing mercy to terrified, thirsty pigs on their way to slaughter,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.

While the decision is a victory for Krajnc and animal activists everywhere, the judge was quick to dismiss the defense’s position that pigs are nonhuman persons, a status now widely accepted about other animals including dolphins. Pigs are highly intelligent animals – some research points to them as smarter than dogs. But they’re not afforded the same liberties as house pets. More than one billion pigs around the world — 100 million in the U.S. — are killed every year for food.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

Pigs are Happiest When They Aren’t on Plates [Video]
Fish Have Friends, Study Finds (So Maybe Go Vegan and Stop Eating Them?)
Hey Girl, Let Me Get You a Bigger Cage: Ryan Gosling Speaks Up for Female Pigs

The post Court Rules in Favor of Compassion for Animal Rights Activist appeared first on EcoSalon.

If fish is the only part of your diet keeping you from going vegan, you may change your mind after reading about the latest research that says fish are social creatures capable of forming emotional bonds.

The groundbreaking new study, published in the journal Nature, says fish, specifically the zebrafish, form social bonds and friendships similar to behaviors exhibited by humans and other mammals.

Dr Penny Hawkins, head of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) research animals department, told The Independent that as a result of the findings, fish should not be viewed as lesser animals.

“[If] you are going to think it’s okay to eat any animal, then you have to realize what you are doing,” she said.

The researchers observed zebrafish who were exposed to a substance they secrete naturally when danger lurks. When alone (in laboratory tanks), the fish were more fearful than when with other fish.

While sentience has long been observed in marine mammals including dolphins and whales, according to Hawkins, the findings highlight greater levels of sentience and camaraderie than previously understood about fish.

“But if you think of friendship in terms of being with another individual who you are familiar with and whose company you seek and who makes you feel positive emotions, then these are fish friendships,” she says.

“They are not just ornaments or play things for people, they are individuals, they are sentient.

“There’s quite a lot of research going on into fish personalities. Some fish are bold, some are shy, there’s a whole lot more going on in the fish tank than people than people thought previously.”

“You are causing the death of an animal who is sentient, who has experiences, interests,” Hawkins said.

Fish are frequently lumped  under the vegetarian diet label, often called pescatarian diets, where people say they’re “mostly vegetarian” except for fish.

While fish is often pointed to as a healthy animal protein rich in omega-fatty acids, the RSPCA research says the findings make the argument that we need to view eating fish in the same lens as other animals. Plenty of plant-based foods are rich in essential fatty acids as well as the reduced risk of heavy metals and other contaminants found in seafood.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

Overfishing and Ocean Conservation: President Obama to Tackle Seafood Fraud
Banishing Ghost Nets from the World’s Oceans with the Help of a Trackable, Biodegradable Alternative
Clothing Microfibers are Poising Marine Life, and We’re Next

The post Fish Have Friends, Study Finds (So Maybe Go Vegan and Stop Eating Them?) appeared first on EcoSalon.

I’m obviously not the only person who struggles with this idea because a film team recently took on this very cause in the HBO documentary “Unlocking the Cage.”

The film

The creators of “Unlocking the Cage” made the documentary to examine the legal determination that separates humans from animals.

The film’s plot centers on the 30-year career of Steven Wise, an animal rights lawyer. Although Wise has faced many hardships while fighting for smart animal welfare laws, he and the Nonhuman Rights Project, his legal team, are making history.

Wise and his legal crew have filed groundbreaking lawsuits that could transform animal rights.

The following is a trailer for “Unlocking the Cage.”

The goal

Wise wants courts to recognize that certain animals—think chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, and elephants—have complex cognitive capability. This capacity should allow these living beings certain rights, such as limited personhood, which would afford bodily liberty and protect such animals from physical abuse.

Sure, Wise and his team’s goal is lofty, but it appears that the legal system is beginning to shift and view certain animals as complex thinking beings.

The filmmakers

D. A. Pennebakbr and Chris Hegedus, creators of documentary classics such as “The War Room” and “Kings of Pastry,” are not strangers to complex documentary film-making.

And the pair have made a film that portrays an animal activist—a “character” often seen as camera-hungry-celebrity “activists”—as a caring, thoughtful person who just happens to have a lot of valid data to support his cause.

“Part courtroom drama, part rumination on what separates human beings from other animals…” The New York Times reports.

“The film is above all a sympathetic portrait of an advocate.”

If you want to watch “Unlocking the Cage,” check HBO for air times. It was released on February 20, 2017.

Related on EcoSalon
The Case for Animal Personhood: Will ‘Nonhuman’ Persons Make Us Better Humans?
Animal Rights are Human Rights: When Animals are People
Farewell, Ringling Brothers: I Was Once a (Very Sad) Circus Animal

The post ‘Unlocking the Cage’ Debates Personhood appeared first on EcoSalon.

Over the weekend, Ringling Brothers announced it will be performing its last circus show later this spring after more than 146 years traveling the world with what it called “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

A victory for animal rights activists everywhere, the news was exhilarating, but also bittersweet. Of course it means animals will no longer be forced to live in Ringling Brothers’ cages, beaten with bull hooks and whips, and forced to perform on command, but there is, too, a deep sense of sadness and grief for all those animals who suffered in the last century-and-a-half at the hands of “entertainment.”

The news comes at a time when the world feels rather chaotic (certainly in the week that Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45^th President of the United States)–and this little glimmer of hope does not mean an end to the circus industry overnight. But it’s helluva start and an important reminder that continued effort does pay off, even if it takes more than one’s lifetime to be realized. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once noted, “the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”

A vegan more than two decades now, I can’t recall the precise moment where it all clicked for me, but there are fragmented childhood memories: realizing what a chicken wing  was and not being able to finish my dinner as a result, the orangutan at the Pittsburgh Zoo screaming at me through her glass enclosure, a butterfly liquefying on my parents’ car windshield as they drove me deeper on toward overnight summer camp. The experiences all added up over the first decade of my life, hurtling me toward veganism.

If I attended the circus as a young child, I have no memory of it, thankfully, but that fact didn’t make me any less passionate about seeing it come to an end. The absurdity. The horror. What is it in us that makes seeing a bear ride a bicycle or an elephant balance on a stool seem harmless or worthwhile? And why do we suppress our sense of morals in the name of entertainment, or food, or clothing for that matter? If there is a dividing line between humans, it is perhaps not our religion, nor our politics, but the deep chasm of separation on the issue of whether or not animals do indeed have any inalienable rights.

About fifteen years ago, driven by disdain for circuses, among the many other common practices that involve animals, I stripped down to pasties and underwear. A makeup artist helped to paint my skin orange and then we applied black stripes. I put on cat ears, whiskers, and held a little sign in front of my nipples as I climbed into a cage on a busy downtown Miami street. I was there to help PETA protest the circus slated to come to town. The group needed a volunteer to get in the cage, and for the animals, there’s not much I wouldn’t do. I was so committed to the cause, I didn’t even stop to think about how I would feel being trapped in the cage, even just for a few hours.

I’d never identified as being claustrophobic, but once I crawled into the cage, I was suddenly overwhelmed with fear. I could not stand up. My knees hurt as the hard sidewalk concrete dug into my naked skin. And as a crowd of people and media gathered (the goal of having mostly naked women at the protest, of course) I began to feel even more discomfort. There was nowhere for me to hide, no way for me to avoid the constant gawking and talking—even when some of it was supportive. People stepped in close, staring at me, and I assume the fact that I was essentially naked, added both to their curiosity and my utter sense of vulnerability. Some treated me like an animal, talking about me as if I wasn’t there, poking at me. My body filled with adrenaline and so much sadness.

And this was the unexpected side-effect of my protest. While I was fully prepared to represent the animals, I had not been prepared to relate to what it actually feels like to be one, trapped inside a cage.

From the physical pain to having people gawking at me, I was overwhelmed. I started to cry. From there, I could easily imagine what it would feel like to be forced to jump through hoops or be beaten with a whip or any other of the many tortures animals in circuses experience on a daily basis. This experience further cemented my commitment to the cause. Not that I ever had any doubts about it.

While Ringling Brothers says its decision to close was not influenced by decades of protest from animal rights activists, there’s no question that the common perception of circuses has shifted over the years, leading to its declining sales. And that is due in large part to the pressure animal rights organizations have put on circuses to end the egregious cruelty involved.

Recently, I reported that endangered species are being impacted by our consumption habits. The report showed that most everything we purchase is, in one way or another, contributing to the accelerated loss of our fellow earthlings.

It’s troubling not just from an ecosystem balance perspective–but it can also make us feel helpless, and wonder why we should even bother making the effort. But it doesn’t mean our lives have to shut down or that we should give up the cause.  In fact, it does serve to remind us that, like naturist John Muir once noted, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

It’s the inescapable truth about life, and certainly about our choices. And while there may be many layers out of our control, coming to that realization on our own, however we must do it—be it religion, drugs, or activism for humans or animals—that is truly “the greatest show” of human kindness and compassion. What’s more entertaining than living a life like that?

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on Organic Authority

Mobile Vegan Soup Kitchens are the Food Truck Answer to the U.S. Hunger Problem
Nondairy Milk Goes Floral: Lavender Rose Almond Milk Recipe
5 Ways Vegan Fashion Changed My Life (Not Just My Wardrobe!)

The post Farewell, Ringling Bros.: I Was Once a (Very Sad) Circus Animal appeared first on EcoSalon.

In a move that will ensure protection from cruel lab experiments and some captive situations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given chimpanzees endangered species status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The rule went into effect earlier this week.

The U.S. was the only developed nation not to have rules in place to protect chimpanzees, and many were still being used as laboratory test animals “subjected to painful procedures and denied the most basic semblance of a normal life,” reports The Dodo. “Now, many, if not all of these animals will be sent into retirement at sanctuaries.”

The move protects both wild and captive chimpanzees—captive chimpanzees had formerly been listed only as threatened. “The decision responds to growing threats to the species and aligns the chimpanzee’s status with existing legal requirements,” the Fish and Wildlife Service explained on its website. Under the ruling, it is illegal to harm, harass, kill, or cause injury to any animal on the Endangered Species List.

Chimpanzees are found in more than 20 African countries, and according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, “Threats to the chimpanzee, including habitat loss, poaching, and disease, have intensified and expanded since wild populations were listed as endangered in 1990.”

The Service also points to expanding human population and the competition for natural resources that growth places on chimpanzees in the wild.

Under the endangered status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will require permits for a number of activities relating to chimpanzees, including importing and exporting the animals in and out of the U.S. Permits will only be issued for scientific purposes that benefit the animals, such as assistance with breeding, habitat restoration, or research on the animals in the wild.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

The Monarch Butterfly May Soon Be on the Endangered Species List

Breeding Endangered Species: Should We be Giving Pandas Viagra?

Endangered Species in for Big Year at Golden Gate National Park

Chimpanzee image via Shutterstock

The post U.S. Finally Pardons Chimpanzees From Cruel Lab Experiments appeared first on EcoSalon.

In another major victory for animal rights, a 29-year-old Argentinian zoo orangutan named Sandra recently made headlines when a judge granted her non-human personhood status, giving her the freedom to be transferred from the zoo to a sanctuary.

Animal rights activists and their lawyers said Sandra was suffering in the zoo. She is an intelligent being that they argued should not be treated as an object. The campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition on Sandra’s behalf. The document is most commonly filed when a (human) person is believed to be imprisoned or detained unjustly.

“The court agreed Sandra, born into captivity in Germany before being transferred to Argentina two decades ago, deserved the basic rights of a ‘non-human person,’” reports Reuters.

“This opens the way not only for other Great Apes, but also for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and scientific laboratories,” the Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights lawyer Paul Buompadre said in the daily La Nacion.

While U.S. courts have dismissed several recent cases for non-human personhood, there have been victories in countries like India, which recognize dolphins as non-human persons. And in the Bay Area, legislators recently acknowledged that whales and dolphins have the right to free passage and to be free from captivity. The 2012 documentary “Blackfish” helped shed light on the plights of marine mammals in captivity at parks like SeaWorld. The theme park is still battling lost earnings and the loss of major marketing partnerships in the wake of the film.

Moving a 29-year-old orangutan (which means “forest man” in the Malay and Indonesian languages, by the way) out of a zoo might not seem like that big of a deal, but it matters. A lot. And not just to Sandra, or the animal rights activists who fought for her freedom. It matters to us and to our future.

A vegan planet may not be in our immediate future, but a more humane one certainly can be, and needs to be. How can we be expected to take the best care of ourselves and each other if we can’t even grant a little bit of extra leg room to a chicken, or stop hacking the tusks out of elephant faces, or let an aging and aware orangutan spend her golden years in a tranquil sanctuary?

We can’t.

We can’t raise more compassionate children, or take better care of our planet if we aren’t able to muster the simple human decency to recognize that animals aren’t here for our amusement. That’s an antiquated misperception that we need to set free just like the zoo let Sandra go.

We don’t have dominion over our fellow earthlings; we have a responsibility to stand up for them when they cannot do it for themselves. We are beholden to their majesty, their beauty and the awe they inspire in us all. When modern society learns how to appreciate that without trying to control it, we’ll all be a lot more free: orangutans, humans and all.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

The Case for Animal Personhood: Will ‘Nonhuman’ Persons Make Us Better Humans?

In Defense of Non-Human Humanity

Dolphins in India are Recognized as “Non-Human Persons,” Still More Hoops to Jump Through Though

Image: Arian Zwegers

The post Animal Rights are Human Rights: When Animals are People appeared first on EcoSalon.