1,000 cats saved from Chinese dining table after being discovered in cramped cages when truck crashed
The cats were destined for the restaurants of Guangdong until the road accident in Changsha, Hunan province delayed the journey by 24 hours and enabled the 50 locals to rescue them.  They were nursed with food, water and milk before being packed off to Changsha Small Animal Protection Association for treatment.

Animal rights organization files suit against Santa Cruz Biotech
An animal rights group is suing Santa Cruz Biotechnology over alleged violations of animal welfare laws occurring throughout the past several years.  The suit was filed in Santa Cruz County Court on Thursday by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, on behalf of Ohio-based Stop Animal Exploitation Now. It seeks a permanent injunction to prevent Santa Cruz Biotech, an antibody production facility, from continuing to violate animal welfare regulations. The nonprofit and its executive director, Michael Budkie, allege that Santa Cruz Biotech has provided inadequate and improper medical care to unhealthy animals, primarily goats.

Lobsters and crabs can feel pain and take action to avoid it happening again
Chefs may have to think twice before plunging live lobsters into a simmering pot.  Scientists have proven that crabs and other crustaceans do feel pain, and are able to recall an unpleasant experience and take action to avoid it happening again.  Research has shown that when shore crabs are given small electric shocks while hiding in dark shelters, they try to escape being zapped again by opting to migrate to another hideout.

Farm show highlights controversial side of animal housing
A new exhibit at this year’s week-long Pennsylvania Farm Show introduced visitors – some 400,000 this year – to life inside of a typical working barn in the state.  Housed in the metal barn erected in the farm show’s food hall were dairy cows, calves, turkeys, ducks, chickens and pigs. Some visitors may have been alarmed to see how some animals, particularly chickens and pigs live.

Are the animal rights groups on to something?
I’d love to know the real story of the Canadian seal hunt. How far back does the federal government’s discomfort with it go? When did Ottawa start treating the hunt like Canada’s dirty little secret they didn’t want to talk about? As you know, Taiwan is the latest country to ban seal products. They’ve lined up with the EU, with Russia and Belarus and Kazakhstan, and with the U.S.  It’s too bad, really, that all Ottawa has offered up are a few empty phrases about its support for Canadian sealers.

Malaysia animal rights activists want more action after leopard found dead
Malaysia’s growing animal rights community has called on the government to do more to ensure the safety of animals in the country. They are speaking out after a leopard’s body was found on the side of the highway in the country.

College officials say support needed for animal rights threats
Officials with the Vermont college that was targeted by animal rights activists over its decision to slaughter two oxen says resources are needed to help farms and other businesses deal with online threats from activists.

Energy Industry Awaits U.S. Ruling on Prairie Chicken
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, acting under the Endangered Species Act, will decide by the end of September whether to put the birds on its list of threatened species. Such a move could have serious repercussions for wind farms, as well as oil and gas drilling, conceivably halting activity in some areas. Those industries are fighting to keep it off the list.

Your Twitter Tips for Going Vegan
In this week’s Well column, “How to Go Vegan,”, we asked you to send in your favorite tips and tricks for adopting a solely plant-based diet on Twitter. We received a range of responses, from quirky ingredient combinations that replicate a nonvegan dish to simple mantras to get you in a vegan frame of mind. Here are some of our favorites. To see the entire list of submissions, visit the hashtag, #vegantips.

2013: Year of the vegan?
Move over, bacon-flavored chocolate. If trend trackers — who are predicting an increased interest in mock meats, vegan foods for infants and other animal-free options — are correct, 2013 just might be the year of the vegan. Even the Cooking Channel is getting in on the act. The popular cable channel recently aired the first mainstream vegan cooking show, “How to Live to 100.”

How to Go Vegan
When I first heard former President Bill Clinton talk about his vegan diet, I was inspired to make the switch myself. After all, if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.

Could You Go Vegan For Two Weeks?
You can’t understand a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, the old saying goes. It’s an adage that can be applied to our conversations with our vegetarian and vegan counterparts, who have foregone animal products in their diet for a multitude of reasons. Braver than I are two meat lovers, Danielle Beard and David Hayden, who tossed their beloved burgers, bacon, leather boots and cosmetics in order to complete a two-week vegan challenge they started on Jan. 14.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel Endorses Rip Esselstyn’s Vegan Plan
“Essentially, what I’m trying to do is to get America to eat healthier. Right now we’re just drowning ourselves in dairy products; too many animal products; red meat; processed refined foods; [and] so we need to become a nation of plant-strong responsible eaters,” Esselstyn said about his diet.

Animal rights activists plan direct action against beagle imports
Animal rights activists are planning direct action against any airline that agrees to bring a consignment of beagles into the UK, where they will be used to test new medicines, the Guardian has learned.  A facility in Sweden that houses the animals and is owned by the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is closing and the firm is moving around 300 beagles to the UK.

How Much Is a Pet Worth? Texas Supreme Court to Rule on Dog’s Sentimental Value
A case that may reflect a pet owner’s worst nightmare has made its way to the Texas Supreme Court, which must decide if a family can place sentimental value on a pet that was accidentally euthanized.

What’s More Important: Fried Chicken or Animal Rights?
It seems, even in this Pamela Anderson-approved PETA age of battery cage awareness, fast food chains still have their fans. Their weirdly aggressive, over-eager fans. That got us thinking: what’s more important: fried chicken or animal rights?

No Longer a Target, Whales Are Collateral Damage
The whaling industry has changed beyond recognition since 1970, when 39,000 whales a year were being killed. In 2012, the worldwide total was 1,000. But far more whales are dying every year because of human activities, and the problems that caused whale populations to plummet worldwide are now affecting fish.

State senator cited for violating Horse Protection Act
Tennessee Walking Horse enthusiast and Kentucky state Sen. Robin Webb has been cited for allegedly violating the Horse Protection Act after two of her horses were found to have scars that may have been caused by soring. Webb denied having any involvement with soring. She has opposed a bill that calls for banning pads, chains and other “action devices” that can be used in soring horses. The AVMA has supported such a ban.

For Feral Cats, a Few New Places to Call Home
Eight New York City architects and designers proudly displayed their new low-cost houses at a show in Manhattan on Thursday, and not a single client was present. Feral cats are like that.  No matter, like all good designers, the ones whose work was on display at “Architects for Animals: Giving Shelter,” a daylong event at the Steelcase showroom in Midtown Manhattan, had taken pains to address the needs of the users.

300 Cats, Yes. Craziness, No.
If you are picturing a crazy lady living among mountains of newspapers, with a pack of yowling cats stinking up the place, forget it.  Even on a winter day, there is a pine-scented breeze. The wood-burning stove keeps everything so cozy that the windows and doors are open, so the cats (42 at last count) and dogs (seven) can come and go as they please.  Roger Manley, the curator of the Gregg Museum at North Carolina State University, where Ms. Scarpa’s ceramic art will be exhibited next fall, calls her “the Mother Teresa of animals” and compares her to Albert Schweitzer, “taking care of everybody, out in the woods.”

ETHS adds vegetarian lunch options as part of Meatless Monday campaign
For the first lunch of the new year, Evanston Township High School students had additional vegetarian options as part of the school’s participation in a national meat-free meal campaign. The school’s Meatless Mondays campaign was started by the Humane Society of the United States, a national non-profit that advocates for animal rights.

Sea otters victorious in decades-long struggle with U.S. government
The long war between otters and the U.S. federal government is finally over, and the otters have won.  The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has abandoned its plan to relocate otters from coastal waters reserved for commercial fisherman.  For the past 25 years, the government agency had been working to relocate the otters, but was finally forced to admit the program had been a failure.

Seizures of Illegal Ivory Are Rising in Hong Kong
Customs officials in Hong Kong announced on Friday their third large seizure of smuggled ivory in less than three months, saying they had intercepted 779 elephant tusks weighing 2,900 pounds in a container originating from Kenya. Demand from an increasingly affluent Asia and improved international trade and transport links have caused the trade in ivory and other wildlife products to soar in recent years, pushing many species to the brink. At the same time, enforcement and penalties remain weak in many countries, constituting little deterrent to smugglers and poachers, conservationists say.

Alarming sight: thousands of shark fins drying on Hong Kong rooftop
The number of shark fins set out to dry like the morning laundry on a Hong Kong factory building rooftop is staggering. To look at the accompanying images and video, revealing perhaps 10,000 fins, and to grasp that sharks are being slaughtered at a furious pace so their fins can be used to make soup, one cannot help but wonder how many years will pass before at least some shark species are banished to extinction.

136 pets left unclaimed after Sandy face uncertain future.
The New York City shelter housing 280 pets displaced by Superstorm Sandy must shut down and, with nearly half the animals still unclaimed, cannot rule out euthanizing any left behind. An uncertain future lies ahead for 52 cats and 84 dogs who remain in the Brooklyn emergency boarding facility run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, spokeswoman Kelly Krause said on Thursday.

 
Animal cruelty a key in later violent behavior
Can we predict who will abuse animals and who might commit heinous crimes, including mass murder? Quite possibly. Researchers feel confident that animal abuse is an early indicator of future violence toward other humans. For example, in a study of 314 inmates published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect (1997), University of Iowa professors Karla Miller and John Knutson found that a high percentage of the subjects charged with violent crimes, including murder, initially engaged in various types of animal cruelty.

Vegan’s religious accommodation case can proceed
A federal district court in Cincinnati has refused to dismiss a case in which a hospital customer service representative who was fired for refusing to get a flu shot contended she was entitled to religious accommodation because of her veganism.

Smithfield progresses toward transition away from gestation crates
Pork producer Smithfield Foods announced its progress in 2012 toward ending the practice of keeping pregnant sows in small metal crates on Thursday.  Company owned hog-raising facilities in the U.S. are 38 percent converted from the gestation stalls to group housing, according to a news release, which puts Smithfield on pace for being fully switched over by 2017. The company also said its international operations in Mexico and Europe would be fully converted by 2022.

Steve-O goes vegan
You know him as one of the stars of “Jackass” and the host of “Killer Karaoke” but now, Steve-O is speaking out on a much more serious topic. Steve-O teamed up with Farm Sanctuary in a new documentary called “What Came Before”.  The documentary, narrated by Steve-O, profiles three animals who either escaped or were rescueD from factory farms.

A Vegan Resolution
If one of your goals for 2013 is more healthful eating, the Recipes for Health columnist Martha Rose Shulman can get you started. She has proposed five delicious vegan meals for the New Year that may also save you some money.

 
The 30-Day Vegan Challenge
Did you consume more than your fair share of turkey, roast beef and spiral ham this holiday season? Perhaps it’s time to consider The Thirty-Day Vegan Challenge, a multimedia online program, created by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, featuring written, audio and video content to give you everything you need to jumpstart your body back into action.

Animal rights advocate claims horses mistreated on cancelled HBO series ‘Luck’
Barbara Casey’s lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles claims underweight, sick and drugged horses were used to film the series focused on the horse racing industry.  The series starring Dustin Hoffman was cancelled in March after four horses died while in production.  Casey was working for the American Humane Association overseeing the well-being of the horses and says she was wrongfully fired after complaining about inhumane conditions on the show.

Editorial: Protecting Seattle’s aging elephants
 Many zoos have closed, are ending or discussing closure of their elephant exhibits.  Let Chai, Watoto and Bamboo spend the rest of their lives in open space with three new Canadian friends, Thika, Toka and Iringa.

To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms
Many jobs in the safari industry can pay as much as poaching. Though the ivory trade may seem lucrative, it is often like the Somali pirate business model, with the entry-level hijacker getting just a minuscule cut of the million-dollar ransoms. While a pound of ivory can fetch $1,000 on the streets of Beijing, Mr. Lokinyi, despite his lengthy poaching résumé, was broke, making it easier to lure him out of the business.  Villagers are also turning against poachers because the illegal wildlife trade fuels crime, corruption, instability and intercommunal fighting.

Sudden Death of Show Pony Clouds Image of Elite Pursuit
Since 2010, random drug tests at various equestrian events, including the Olympic trials, have uncovered dozens of violations for substances like cocaine, antipsychotics, tranquilizers and pain medication — even ginger placed in a horse’s anus to make its tail stick out.  While show-horse trainers have abused some of the same drugs that have caused problems in racing, the Equestrian Federation has lagged behind in regulating how they are administered. Now, the circumstances surrounding Humble’s death have become a rallying point for those who believe that the federation should more aggressively investigate drug use.

Israel Supports Animal Rights With Ban Against Cosmetics, Cleaning Materials Testing
Perhaps it was the dark, Jewish experience of the Holocaust where Nazis would use Jewish children for medical tests. Or simply the humanitarian heart that Israel is respected for with its medical and rescue aid teams which assist disaster victims from Haiti to Japan. As of today, the sale and import of cosmetics and cleaning materials tested on animals will be illegal in Israel. The Israel Health Ministry said it would investigate and prosecute importers who violate the new law.

Pennsylvania’s Dog Law Enforcement Office Cracking Down On Illegal Dog-Breeding Kennels
The Pennsylvania Agriculture Department says it has taken action against 37 illegal dog-breeding kennels, this year, including several in the Philadelphia area.  The department says it has stepped up efforts to enforce the 2009 anti-puppy-mill law.

The Year In Vegan!
Happy last Meatless Monday of the Year! Since it’s the last day of the year, I thought it’d be nice to do a little round-up of animal victories from the year. Additionally, I know many people use the New Year as a time to try new things–say veganism, perhaps? Come on, Ne-Yo is doing it! So we can also take a look at some tips for kicking off a vegan lifestyle. Shall we? Oh let’s do!

Pet chicken saves family from fire
Cluck Cluck’s noisy calls from two floors below woke a Wisconsin couple in time for them to escape their burning house. The chicken became the Murawska family pet after wandering over from a neighboring farm; instead of killing the bird, who wasn’t producing eggs, the couple built her a coop and brought her inside when the weather got too cold. “I spent way more money than I ever should’ve. I guess it paid off,” Dennis Murawska said. Along with the couple, the chicken and a cat survived the blaze.

Going Vegan Doesn’t Mean Missing Out On Favorites
In the first of a two-part series on veganism, Renee Montagne talks to health and wellness expert Kathy Freston about the benefits and challenges of being vegan. Vegans enjoy a plant-based diet and don’t eat meat, fish or dairy. Freston says as a vegan you can still have comfort food, it’s just a healthier version of what you used to eat.

 Task force to take closer look at Woodland Park’s elephants
Woodland Park Zoo’s elephant exhibit will be scrutinized by a panel of experts as part of a task force requested by Seattle City Council members who said they are concerned about the welfare and future of the zoo’s three aging elephants.

Doug Spink, Accused of Operating Sumas Bestiality Farm, Faces Animal Cruelty Charges At Long Last
By the sound of it, Douglas Spink, a man who once made a fortune selling fitness catalogues to gyms, didn’t think he’d have to worry about animal cruelty charges in Whatcom County.  This, despite the fact law enforcement there had collected piles of evidence to suggest he operated a bizarre bestiality farm out of Sumas, Wash, and has already convicted and deported one man because of it.

Constitutionality of Ohio’s new dangerous animal law challenged in court
The law bans ownership of certain dangerous animals as of January 2014. The deadline for owners to register their animals, with microchips, was Nov. 5, 2012. Further steps are required to maintain possession of the animals in 2014 and beyond.  The animal owners say the law is unconstitutional because it violates their property ownership rights. Under the new law, the state can seize an animal if it is not properly registered with a microchip.

Animal rights inroads
The top lobbyist for the National Turkey Federation thinks national standards for egg-laying cages won’t make it into a multi-year farm bill, and similar efforts may be “running out of steam.”  Damon Wells spoke at the North Dakota Poultry Industries convention in Fargo, N.D., on Dec. 13 and said he doesn’t see production mandates making it into the federal farm bill, currently stuck in Congress.  Wells said the “precedent-setting” of the farm bill cage restriction proposals is not likely to re-emerge. The proposals didn’t make it into either Senate or House versions of the bill.

America’s Milk Business in a ‘Crisis’
In an age of vitamin waters and energy drinks, the decadeslong decline in U.S. milk consumption has accelerated, worrying dairy farmers, milk processors and grocery chains.  The industry “is coming to recognize this as a crisis,” says Tom Gallagher, CEO of Dairy Management Inc., a farmer-funded trade group that promotes milk products. “We cannot simply assume that we will always have a market.” Per-capita U.S. milk consumption, which peaked around World War II, has fallen almost 30% since 1975

Poaching is a national security issue, WWF study finds
Poaching of wild animals for ivory, horns, skins and other parts has been a dangerous business for animals for decades, but it’s evolved into a security threat as well, according to a WWF report. Elaborate criminal syndicates that protect and augment the trade have developed, the report found. “It is one thing to be worried about the traditional poachers who come in and kill and take a few animals, a few tusks, a few horns or other animal parts,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “It’s something else when you’ve got helicopters, night vision goggles, automatic weapons, which pose a threat to human life as well as wildlife.”

W5 report sparks investigations into Manitoba pig farm
Disturbing footage captured at a Manitoba pork farm has prompted the launch of several investigations looking into the treatment of animals at the facility, including an internal investigation by the company at the centre of the abuse allegations…Manitoba’s Pork Council told CTV News on Monday that while there were issues with some of the footage, much of what was captured by the animal welfare group was standard practice — including the “thumping” of piglets.  The group behind the footage, Mercy for Animals Canada, held news conferences in Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal on Monday where they called on major grocery chains to stop carrying meat from producers who use gestation cages.

Senate endorses stricter consequences for watching animal fights
The Senate has voted to strengthen penalties associated with attending events that involve animal fights. “This bill is about ending animal fighting, which plainly and simply is a blood sport,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who introduced the measure. The legislation now moves to the House.

 
Vegan Diet Hugely Helpful Against Cancer, Especially For Women
For cancer-free living, meat and dairy-free dining are the way to go, it seems. A new study funded by the National Cancer Institute found vegans have even lower cancer rates than vegetarian counterparts, who in turn see less cancer than omnivores.  “Most people think they are a victim of their genes, helpless to stave off some of the most dreaded diseases,” , writes Kathy Freston at HuffPost Healthy Living. “We aren’t helpless at all; in fact, the power is largely in our hands. It’s on our forks, actually.”

Ikea monkey transferred to primate sanctuary
A five-month-old monkey that became an internet sensation after it was photographed running around the parking lot of a Toronto Ikea store is now in the care of a southern Ontario primate sanctuary.

Yellowstone wolf shootings draw scrutiny as Montana trapping season set to begin
The shooting of collared gray wolves from Yellowstone National Park is prompting Montana wildlife commissioners to consider new restrictions against killing the predators in areas near the park.  Wolf trapping in Montana kicks off Dec. 15. It’s the state’s first such trapping season since the animals lost their federal protections last year after almost four decades on the endangered species list.  But hunting already is under way for the predators in Montana and neighboring Idaho and Wyoming, and at least seven of Yellowstone’s roughly 88 wolves have been shot in recent weeks while travelling outside the park.

Racetrack Drugs Put Europe Off U.S. Horse Meat
For decades, American horses, many of them retired or damaged racehorses, have been shipped to Canada and Mexico, where it is legal to slaughter horses, and then processed and sold for consumption in Europe and beyond. Lately, however, European food safety officials have notified Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses of a growing concern: The meat of American racehorses may be too toxic to eat safely because the horses have been injected repeatedly with drugs.

GLAMOUR BEASTS: The dark side of elephant captivity
Zoos’ efforts to preserve and propagate elephants have largely failed, both in Seattle and nationally. The infant-mortality rate for elephants in zoos is almost triple the rate in the wild…American zoos face swift and harsh punishment when their aged elephants are retired to a 2,300-acre sanctuary in the California foothills.

The ‘Times’ exposes the elephant abuse it once abetted
Don’t miss Michael J. Berens’ forceful account, in today’s Seattle Times, of a willful tragedy: American zoos’, and especially our own Woodland Park Zoo’s, merciless efforts to breed crowd-magnet baby elephants. But don’t imagine that this much-touted “exposé” is the first exposure of this sad, sorry business. And don’t let the Times off just yet for being a decade late in getting the story, after breathlessly cheering, ad nauseum, the very practices it now deplores.

Animal rights group sues California restaurant over foie gras ban
PETA sued a California restaurant on Wednesday that it says serves outlawed foie gras to patrons, in what appears to be the first lawsuit to enforce a state ban on the delicacy, PETA officials said.  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said that Hot’s Kitchen claimed to have stopped selling foie gras when a ban on producing or selling it took effect in July, but was offering it as a complimentary side dish to customers who order “THE Burger.”

PETA bosses refuse to back down over The Hobbit animal deaths
PETA media officer Wendy Wegner tells WENN, “Five whistleblowers reported more than two dozen animal deaths during the production of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. They raised concerns not just once but repeatedly to both the head wrangler and the head of production about the unsafe housing conditions for animals and about Shanghai the horse, who was hobbled – his legs reportedly tied together when he proved to be too energetic for his rider. But their concerns were outright ignored.

Research Animals Lost in Wolf Hunts Near Yellowstone
For Yellowstone scientists, the loss of the collared wolves isn’t so much a political or an emotional issue, as an issue of the viability of wildlife science.  They are particularly frustrated at the elimination of five wolves outfitted with tracking collars that had spent the majority of their time inside the park border, as well as two others that roamed had through the park though spent much of their time outside.

Life on the run: After six years in hiding, Canadian eco-radical surrenders to FBI
Ms. Rubin’s involvement with radical causes appears to have begun in the early 1990s, after she fell in with Canadian members of ALF and ELF. Their activities expanded into the United States. In 1997, Ms. Rubin allegedly took part in the release of 2,000 minks from a farm in Idaho.
also see http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/11/radical_environmentalist_rebec.html

Marshfield dog is first in state to win domestic violence protection order
A 6-year-old Labrador mix has become the first animal in the state to win protection from a new state law that allows endangered pets to be included in domestic violence restraining orders.
Orthodox Leader Deepens Progressive Stance on Environment
Other religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, the Dalai Lama and the archbishop of Canterbury, have also called for responsible stewardship of the environment. But Bartholomew has gone further than most; some theologians call his stance revolutionary.  “Traditionally in Christianity, sin was what you did to other humans,” said Kallistos Ware, a prominent Orthodox theologian based in Britain, “but Bartholomew insisted that what you do to the animals, the air, the water, the land can be sinful, not just folly, and that was quite a change.”

Horrific animal cruelty exposed at UCSF
PETA is demanding that the University of California San Francisco return a $2.1 million research grant after chilling reports of gruesome animal cruelty were uncovered.  The animal rights organization’s demand relates to one of countless tales of animals suffering in horrific conditions at UCSF, which has one of the largest medical research programs in the country.

Animal rights organization blasts Santa Cruz company for continued animal welfare violations
Santa Cruz Biotechnology continued to violate animal welfare regulations even after a federal complaint was lodged against the company, records show. An animal rights organization has written a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack prevailing upon him to take immediate action and to remove all of the animals at the Delaware Avenue facility in Santa Cruz.

No prison time for man in sled dog slaughter
A man who pleaded guilty in the slaughter of dozens of sled dogs in British Columbia will not spend time in prison, a judge has ruled.  Provincial Court Judge Steve Merrick concluded Thursday that Robert Fawcett had the “best interests” of the dogs at heart when he culled the pack near Whistler after a slump in business following the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Police make arrest in death of monkey at zoo
Police arrested a 22-year-old man Monday after a monkey at the Boise zoo was found dead over the weekend, shortly after a zoo security guard frightened away two intruders.

Vegan-Curious? Here’s an Easy 30-Day Guide From a Noted Vegan Chef and Author
For all who would like to go vegan but who don’t know where to begin, there’s now a comprehensive multimedia guide that breaks it down day by day. The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, created by vegan chef and author Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, is a guide that includes audio, video, and written resources in bite-sized chunks, delivered daily to your email inbox so you can take your vegan experiment one day at a time.

A Place for Healing Broken Wings
Such life-or-death dramas are commonplace at the center, which opened on Columbus Avenue in the spring after the Wild Bird Fund was based for years inside the apartment of a co-founder, Rita McMahon. It is on track to treat 1,500 birds this year, from the three-gram hummingbird to a turkey more than 1,000 times its size.

This Guru Nanak Jayanti, safeguard animal rights
It is a happy coincidence that the 543rd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji falls on the same day, November 28, as World Compassion Day, which will be incepted this year with focus on animal rights.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ runs into animal-rights issues
Wranglers in New Zealand have complained that as many as 27 animals have died as a result of conditions on the set of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” according to the Associated Press.  A spokesman for director Peter Jackson has confirmed an unspecified number of deaths related to conditions on a Wellington farm. Horses, goats and sheep were among the casualties, he told the AP.

Monkey Killed At Zoo Boise During Break-In
A break-in at Zoo Boise early Saturday left a Patas monkey dead from blunt force trauma to the head and neck and police were analyzing blood found at the scene to determine if it came from the monkey or one of two human intruders.

Bill and Lou and Shifting the Paradigm: Now Is the Time to Go Vegan
I never would have guessed that the fate of two old oxen on a Vermont college campus would inspire tens of thousands of people around the world to raise their voices. But it did. Bill and Lou, scheduled for slaughter after a lifetime of service to the college, were featured in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe and many other major media outlets, and inspired action and dialogue around the world. But now that Lou has been euthanized due to an injury and the college has decided to keep Bill, an even more urgent dialogue needs to happen. It is a dialogue about sustainability.
Los Angeles City Council Declares Mondays “Meatless”
For one day a week, citizens in the city of Los Angeles are encouraged to be ‘veg heads.’  On Friday, the LA city council unanimously passed a resolution that declares every Monday a “Meatless Monday,” becoming the largest city to endorse the movement to curb meat consumption.

Beyond animal rights, the search for a sustainable and ethical vegan diet
It seemed so simple at first; I was an empathetic person, so I became vegetarian. Little did I know that my journey to ethical and socially just eating was only beginning – and it was a much more paradoxical road to get there than I thought. – if we all made one or two changes to our diets regularly, we could begin to refine the system.

To Birds, Storm Survival Is Only Natural
Yet biologists studying the hurricane’s aftermath say there is remarkably little evidence that birds, or any other countable, charismatic fauna for that matter, have suffered the sort of mass casualties seen in environmental disasters like the BP oil spill of 2010, when thousands of oil-slicked seabirds washed ashore, unable to fly, feed or stay warm.

Hunters join animal rights’ groups in lawsuit to ban use of dogs in wolf hunt
Over a dozen Wisconsin hunters have joined animal rights’ groups in a lawsuit that seeks to permanently ban the use of dogs by wolf hunters.  Dane County Circuit Judge Peter Anderson has temporarily banned dogs that help hunters track down wolves. And he’ll hold a hearing next month to consider a permanent ban – as well as an opposing effort by the state DNR to drop the lawsuit altogether.
Singapore animal rights activists continue protests over pandas
A number of local media reports in Singapore highlighting the “up close and personal” interactions with two Giant Pandas who arrived in the city-state this fall have angered animal rights activists, who continue to call for the animals to be returned to their natural habitat.

Vegan Former NBA Star John Salley Explains How Athletes Get Enough Protein Without Meat
The Los Angeles Times just interviewed John Salley, the former NBA player (who played with the Lakers) about his vegan diet. They asked some obvious questions about his transition from vegetarianism to becoming a vegan athlete, but one of their questions was one that’s common for non-meat-eaters, whether you’re a basketball player or a first-grader: “How do you get enough protein?” Salley’s perfect answer blew us away.

Combined Pesticide Exposure Severely Affects Individual- and Colony-Level Traits in Bees
Bee colonies have increasingly been failing. It is suspected it is as a result of exposure to pesticides used in agriculture. To test this link bee colonies were exposed to two common types of pesticides. The study found that exposure negatively effected the performance of individual bees and increased the likelihood of colony failure. Furthermore, these effects were more likely if bees were exposed to both pesticides.

Vt. college’s ox meat will not be used for food
In the end, Lou met his end in neither a slaughterhouse nor a sanctuary. The Green Mountain College-owned ox, which became the cause célèbre of animal rights advocates across the globe, was euthanized yesterday.  Green Mountain College called off plans to butcher the ox and serve the meat in the school’s dining hall after advocates started pressuring local slaughterhouses.

Being Vegan – Make Every Vote On Your Plate Count
We had an election this past week.  As far as the White House goes it seems like about half the country is very pleased right now and another little less than half not so pleased.  It is my hope that we can find some middle ground to work on and start to get some things done.  Goodness knows we have a lot to work on.  I was disappointed with the outcome of Prop 37 in California to require mandatory labeling of GMO’s and bring at least one of our states into modern times with most of the rest of the world.  This was a proposition that was leading in the polls until corporate giants like Monsanto put almost $50 million into a campaign to defeat the proposition.  Money might not be able to buy you love but it can buy you lies.

The Food Movement Takes a Beating
Money, lies and mistakes crushed the forward-thinking votes in California, but these are battles lost in a war that will be won. The notions that we need to know what’s in our food and that food should not be harmful have not been defeated. It’s a question of finding the right strategy.

Mainstream crusade – how the animal rights movement boomed
In “Another Bloody Business”, Four Corners graphically revealed the slaughter and once again exposed the political fault lines.  These reports have reignited the ethical and economic questions around the trade of transporting live animals to be slaughtered in a foreign marketplace. There are renewed calls for a ban to be placed on the industry, with increasing pressure from Labor backbenchers, the Greens, and Independent MP Andrew Wilkie.

Group brings suit over animal testing
Animal rights activists want to take the University of Minnesota to court over its alleged secrecy in animal testing.  The Animal Legal Defense Fund and Minneapolis resident Isaac Peter filed a lawsuit against the University of Minnesota on Thursday, accusing its Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of violating the state’s open records and open meetings laws.

A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Table
Every year, Well goes vegetarian for Thanksgiving to celebrate the fall harvest and the delicious vegetable dishes that take up most of the space on holiday tables.  This year, we have another terrific lineup of vegan and vegetarian recipes from some of your favorite food writers and chefs.

Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash
The shelter, in an underground space abutting a cherished archaeological site, consists of several bright, cage-lined rooms that hold dozens of strays at a time and has gained fame — and donations — as a popular tourist draw.  But after a couple of decades of tolerated, if not quite authorized, occupancy, Italy’s state archaeologists have told the association that it has to go, saying the illegal occupation risks damaging a fragile ancient monument.

The Case Against Big Cat Ownership
More tigers live in private captivity in Texas than in the wild, where conservationists estimate that around 3,000 of the endangered animals remain. No one knows for sure how many big cats — including tigers, lions, panthers, cheetahs, leopards and others — are kept today in backyards and apartments across the United States, but estimates run as high as 20,000. (The Endangered Species Act does not prohibit domestic trade in captive-bred wildlife.)