FYI. For Your Interest. - Animal Rights Zone2024-03-28T21:22:59Zhttp://arzone.ning.com/forum/categories/fyi-for-your-interest/listForCategory?feed=yes&xn_auth=noSPECIAL ALERT--BUFFALO DOG FOODtag:arzone.ning.com,2017-08-05:4715978:Topic:1642182017-08-05T19:22:32.643ZRichard W. Firthhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/RichardWFirth
<p>Please IMMEDIATELY stop feeding your dog certain brands of Buffalo Dog Food and take it to your vet as these brands are now being pulled from the market.</p>
<p>To learn all the details please click on this link:</p>
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<p>Certain Brands of Buffalo Toxic</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0tVffbagto"><font size="3"><span lang="" xml:lang="">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0tVffbagto</span></font></a> <font size="3"><span lang="" xml:lang=""><br/></span></font></p>
<p>Please IMMEDIATELY stop feeding your dog certain brands of Buffalo Dog Food and take it to your vet as these brands are now being pulled from the market.</p>
<p>To learn all the details please click on this link:</p>
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<p>Certain Brands of Buffalo Toxic</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0tVffbagto"><font size="3"><span lang="" xml:lang="">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0tVffbagto</span></font></a> <font size="3"><span lang="" xml:lang=""><br/></span></font></p> Boldly Going Beyond Mainstream Advocacytag:arzone.ning.com,2017-02-09:4715978:Topic:1621082017-02-09T22:37:35.587ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Boldly Going Beyond Mainstream Advocacy</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-6" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by Kevin Watkinson…</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Boldly Going Beyond Mainstream Advocacy</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-6">Written by Kevin Watkinson</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038396705?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038396705?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>I think it can be useful to be open minded and consider different approaches, I also think it is worthwhile reflecting on some of the approaches people subscribe to in the movement. Though every now and again I become a little concerned there doesn’t seem to be a more rigorous system of evaluation in the movement, and I think this issue can restrict how effective we can be as advocates for animals. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br/> So just looking at the following <a href="https://donotlink.it/jJjN" target="_blank">article</a> from Tobias Leenaert, The Vegan Strategist and trainer at CEVA, a few issues came to mind. Firstly of course it is important to acknowledge this contribution, and how consideration can help us improve our own advocacy and the effectiveness of the animal movement as a whole. <br/>
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<a href="https://donotlink.it/jJjN">https://donotlink.it/jJjN</a> <br/>
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This piece has a number of issues I would like to draw attention to, so I will address each point with various ideas which I believe merit further consideration. <br/>
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1 I think we can agree that almost everyone believes suffering is an important consideration, however there is an issue here regarding ‘welfare that deceives’ and ‘authentic welfare’, these are issues Lee Hall discusses in her book ‘On Their Own Terms’ (which I recommend). Though it is worth noting these ideas aren't anything particularly new in terms of the movement, so this point really needs to be contextualised with the work that has taken place around the ‘humane myth’. A further issue is that it isn’t really clear what is meant as animal rights becoming an ‘abstraction’, if by this rights have been marginalised then I would agree, as this would be a consequence of the ‘pragmatic pork’ approach outlined in the recent Quartz article by Chase Purdy. <br/>
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2 Chickens and fishes are living beings that deserve consideration, and a rights based / vegan approach considers them equally. So that approach looks at animal exploitation as a whole rather than dividing animals up into different sub groups and marginalising the overarching issue, which is cultural speciesism. <br/>
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3 Consideration for wild animals exists in veganism, it is just that narrowing veganism to a diet, or less than a diet has removed them from consideration. For one example see: <a href="https://goo.gl/DmQF9D">https://goo.gl/DmQF9D</a> <br/>
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4 It’s not particularly clear how human suffering is being considered in the present day, and how discrimination, oppression and exploitation have been factored into consideration up until now within the approach of The Vegan Strategist. So I would be concerned the far future could distract from those issues which are yet to be addressed. <br/>
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5 Here i would point out that veganism isn’t a diet, it is an ethic and can be considered part of a justice movement. I don’t think anyone would really talk about fetishising justice if we take it seriously. Otherwise maybe we are talking about reducetarianism or flexitarianism which I don’t think is a fetishisation, it’s just more casual. <br/>
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6 Growing a movement does not require a great deal of money, nor should it, we can be inclusive here, and consider the benefits of creating a social movement in terms of harm reduction, rather than focussing on the corporate movement to solve issues. <br/>
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7 The vegan movement is broadly responsible for generating more demand and interest around veganism, the corporate movement has sometimes supported this growth in various ways, yet I would argue it has principally been concerned in organisational growth rather than movement growth, I would also suggest it is social media and so forth that has been the biggest driver of change in this area. This has happened despite few financial resources being allocated outside of the main groups (for example people have been campaigning on instagram / facebook, and including updates and information around veganism). It’s also worth noting businesses cannot be vegan, though they can be informed by vegan ethics, most of them are not, yet this ought not be an issue as it is just standard business practice. <br/>
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8 Technology is no substitute for a movement, it would be unlikely the vegan movement would interrupt useful technological advances, though it may not necessarily get involved with them. <br/>
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9 Research should also interrogate bias, and there isn’t a great deal of evidence that ‘mainstream’ bias has been factored into most considerations within the mainstream movement. It is also important to point out the ‘pragmatic’ ideology is also an ideology. So it is possible to be a ‘hardline’ pragmatist (as strange as that sounds), it means that only pragmatic ideas are considered and others dismissed reflexively as ineffective, or unworthwhile. <br/>
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10 It is important to recognise bias and dogma in the mainstream approach too. I haven’t seen a great deal of consideration toward understanding how different approaches can be effective (if evaluations exist please link them below). For instance, an evaluation of pro-intersectionality and a rights based approach, and where they fit into the movement. I wonder whether it is conceivable they could be more impactful and effective than a ‘pragmatic’ approach? Even if we are opposed to them theoretically, we ought to recognise them and be concerned about issues such as movement cohesion, whilst understanding they could hold value that could improve our own approach. <br/>
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I think one last point: ‘Being vegan means to stop eating animal products; it doesn’t mean to stop thinking.’ <br/>
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Instead I would say; being vegan means to commit to stop exploiting animals, it means to consider a wide range of issues that can have a positive impact for animal liberation.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038391505?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="170" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038391505?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="170" class="align-left"/></a>Kevin Watkinson is a vegan animal rights advocate in the UK, who maintains a successful blog titled <a href="https://network23.org/orcasandanimals/" target="_blank">Orcas and Animals</a>. Kevin is also a moderator and administrator of ARZone </span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p> Christopher Sebastian ~ Queering Animal Liberation: Why Animal Rights is a Queer Issuetag:arzone.ning.com,2016-11-03:4715978:Topic:1599492016-11-03T21:25:18.645ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Queering Animal Liberation: Why Animal Rights is a Queer Issue</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Christopher Sebastian</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In this talk, from Vegfest UK London 2016, as part of the first Pro-Intersectionality Vegan…</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">Queering Animal Liberation: Why Animal Rights is a Queer Issue</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Christopher Sebastian</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">In this talk, from Vegfest UK London 2016, as part of the first Pro-Intersectionality Vegan Conference ever held, Christopher Sebastian - ARZone podcast presenter, staff writer at Vegan Publishers, part-time lecturer on speciesism at Columbia University, and social media manager of Peace Advocacy Network, covers a broad overview of the multiple connections between animal liberation and queer liberation from an American queer black perspective.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">For more from Vegfest UK London 2016, see their Youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM50WjJjvG4OSFyY0aO4WZw" target="_blank">HERE</a>, and for more from Sebastian, see his ARZone intersectionality Interviews <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/page/arzone-intersectionality-interviews" target="_self">HERE.</a></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"> </span></p> Not All Animal Welfare Groups really Care about Animal Welfaretag:arzone.ning.com,2016-01-04:4715978:Topic:1524802016-01-04T21:23:44.776ZRichard W. Firthhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/RichardWFirth
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<div><p>A friend of mine received a letter from the National Wildlife Federation asking for support and a financial contribution. She was considering giving a large financial contribution but wanted to be sure they did not support the use of killing, i.e. hunting and fishing in dealing with the wildlife about which they are concerned. She even sent me the letter with the glossy ad bragging about how much they were concerned about saving our…</p>
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<div><p>A friend of mine received a letter from the National Wildlife Federation asking for support and a financial contribution. She was considering giving a large financial contribution but wanted to be sure they did not support the use of killing, i.e. hunting and fishing in dealing with the wildlife about which they are concerned. She even sent me the letter with the glossy ad bragging about how much they were concerned about saving our wildlife. I was glad she questioned me about this organization as I know from past experience they sanction hunting and fishing as a means of conserving our wildlife. What matters here is whether or not the organization is preservationist or conservationist. A preservationist organization is dedicated toward preserving our wildlife through non-lethal means as a conservationist organization wants to conserve our wildlife through methods like hunting, fishing and trapping, rather than just using non-lethal ones. Any organization that uses the terms, “conservationist”, “conserve” or “conserving” you can pretty well be sure they use lethal methods in their approach to dealing with wildlife.</p>
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<p>In fact on their website they brag about being members of the <b><u>SPORTSMEN FOR RESPONSIBLE ENERGY Development, </u></b>which according to them “is a coalition of more than 500 businesses, organizations and individuals dedicated to <b>‘</b><b><i>conserving’</i></b> irreplaceable habitats so future generations can hunt and fish on America's public lands. SFRED is represented by everyday hunters and anglers who recognize the system is broken and have shouldered the responsibility of fixing it. SFRED works to reform the laws, regulations, and policies to ensure balance and respect for the traditions of the West, and fights to protect the rights of sportsmen to hunt and fish on public lands, now and for generations to come”. If you want to see proof of this fact just click on this link:</p>
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<p>It makes me mad to see any so called animal welfare group deliberately trying to entice our elderly who care more about animals than most of our middle aged population as well as attempt to corrupt the minds of our innocent youth who at an early age tend to care more about preserving than conserving our wildlife. which to me is simply inexcusable and unconscionable. Really how low can a group stoop to obtain their goals AND ON TOP OF THAT BILK MONEY OUT OF UNSUSPECTING, AND UNFORTUNATE GULLIBLE AND INNOCENT INDIVIDUALS THROUGH SUCH DECEPTIVE PRACTICES? This to me displays the lowest form of humanity possible.</p>
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<p>If you receive such an advertisement from them, write them back telling that you now know the truth about them and you will not send them one red cent nor desire to support them in anyway. Also tell others. They must be stopped from such deceptive practices. You can find their contact information on their website.</p>
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<p>In fact they should be prosecuted for deceptive and false advertising. We must enforce existing laws on this matter or see that such laws are passed and passed with real teeth in them. All animal organizations are not for the animals and you need to check them out before you send money or any other form of support.</p>
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<p></p> Something for Christmastag:arzone.ning.com,2015-12-14:4715978:Topic:1524332015-12-14T15:28:37.687Zanimalwelfareeduchttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/animalwelfareeduc
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<p></p> Herd Rescues Fallen Baby Elephant on Busy Roadwaytag:arzone.ning.com,2015-07-01:4715978:Topic:1507212015-07-01T02:26:01.560ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Herd Rescues Fallen Baby Elephant <span class="font-size-3"> <br></br></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Originally posted on Marc Bekoff's <a href="https://goo.gl/3xLTCa" target="_blank">Animal Emotions Blog…</a></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">Herd Rescues Fallen Baby Elephant <span class="font-size-3"> <br/></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Originally posted on Marc Bekoff's <a href="https://goo.gl/3xLTCa" target="_blank">Animal Emotions Blog</a></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038391654?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038391654?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Every now and again I see a video that makes me smile and realize, once again, that <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201506/empathic-and-fun-loving-rats-also-dream-better-future" target="_blank">numerous nonhuman animals</a></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (animals) are deeply caring, compassionate and empathic beings </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">All too often media represent animals as mean and aggressive individuals. And, while animals do indeed on occasion fight with one another, it's still very clear that dismissively and pejoratively calling a human being an "animal" because they engage in violent activities </span><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201212/humanlike-violence-is-not-seen-in-other-animals" target="_blank">is a misrepresentation of whom nonhumans really are</a></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="font-size-3">.</span> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and <a href="http://www.grindtv.com/wildlife/herd-rescues-fallen-baby-elephant-on-busy-roadway/#f2OqzE1AGK08T1hA.97" target="_blank">this video of a herd of elephants rescuing a baby elephant</a> who decides for some reason to lie down on a busy highway in Kruger National Park in South Africa is well worth numerous words and the two plus minutes it'll take to watch it. You'll see the baby lie down seemingly without a care in the world, and then a group of elephants come in and clearly try to coax the youngster to stand up and move off the highway.</span><br/> <br/></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">It's also a good and much needed "up" in a world in which many other animals, including these magnificent beings, are unrelentingly harmed and killed by humans. Elephants and other animals can teach us numerous valuable lessons about caring, compassion, and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/empathy" class="inline-links topic-link" title="Psychology Today looks at empathy">empathy</a>, as this video clearly demonstrates. I hope people who watch it will also share it with youngsters so they, too, can see the "nice" side of the fascinating animals with whom we share our magnificent planet.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marc Bekoff's latest books are J</span><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">asper's story: Saving moon bears</em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (with Jill Robinson), </span><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ignoring <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/environment" class="inline-links topic-link" title="Psychology Today looks at nature">nature</a> no more: The case for compassionate conservation</em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, </span><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why dogs hump and bees get depressed</em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, and </span><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rewilding our hearts: Building pathways of compassion and coexistence</em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. </span><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Jane effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall</em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (edited with Dale Peterson) has recently been published. (marcbekoff.com; @MarcBekoff)</span></p>
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<p></p> Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rightstag:arzone.ning.com,2015-06-02:4715978:Topic:1500572015-06-02T22:18:02.499ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<h1 class="headline" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="color: #000000; font-family: impact, chicago;"><strong>Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rights</strong></span></h1>
<div class="subhead-items"><div id="byline" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">By GEORGE YANCY and PETER SINGER<br></br> <br></br> <br></br></span> <em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is…</em></div>
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<h1 class="headline" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7"><strong>Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rights</strong></span></h1>
<div class="subhead-items"><div id="byline" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">By GEORGE YANCY and PETER SINGER<br/> <br/> <br/></span> <em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is the 12th in a series of interviews with philosophers on race that George Yancy is conducting for The Stone. This week’s conversation is with Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, “<a href="http://www.mostgoodyoucando.com/" target="_blank">The Most Good You Can Do</a>.” <br/> <br/></em></div>
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<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>George Yancy:</strong> You have popularized the concept of speciesism, which, I believe was first used by the animal activist Richard Ryder. Briefly, define that term and how do you see it as similar to or different from racism?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Peter Singer: </strong>Speciesism is an attitude of bias against a being because of the species to which it belongs. Typically, humans show speciesism when they give less weight to the interests of nonhuman animals than they give to the similar interests of human beings. Note the requirement that the interests in question be “similar.” It’s not speciesism to say that normal humans have an interest in continuing to live that is different from the interests that nonhuman animals have. One might, for instance, argue that a being with the ability to think of itself as existing over time, and therefore to plan its life, and to work for future achievements, has a greater interest in continuing to live than a being who lacks such capacities.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">On that basis, one might argue that to kill a normal human being who wants to go on living is more seriously wrong than killing a nonhuman animal. Whether this claim is or is not sound, it is not speciesist. But given that some human beings – most obviously, those with profound intellectual impairment – lack this capacity, or have it to a lower degree than some nonhuman animals, it would be speciesist to claim that it is <em>always</em> more seriously wrong to kill a member of the species <em>Homo sapiens </em>than it is to kill a nonhuman animal.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.:</strong> While I think that it is ethically important to discuss the issue of failing to extend to other (nonhuman) animals the principle of equality, we continue to fail miserably in the ways in which we extend that principle to black people, the disabled, women and others, here in the United States and around the world. What is it that motivates the failure or the refusal to extend this principle to other human beings in ethically robust ways? I’m especially thinking here in terms of the reality of racism.</span></p>
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<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Although it is true, of course, that we have not overcome racism, sexism or discrimination against people with disabilities, there is at least widespread acceptance that such discrimination is wrong, and there are laws that seek to prevent it. With speciesism, we are very far from reaching that point. If we were to compare attitudes about speciesism today with past racist attitudes, we would have to say that we are back in the days in which the slave trade was still legal, although under challenge by some enlightened voices.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Why do racism, sexism and discrimination against people with disabilities still exist, despite the widespread acceptance that they are wrong? There are several reasons, but surely one is that many people act unthinkingly on the basis of their emotional impulses, without reflecting on the ethics of what they are doing. That, of course, invites us to discuss why some people have these negative emotional impulses toward people of other races, and that in turn leads to the old debate whether such prejudices are innate or are learned from one’s culture and environment. There is evidence that even babies are attracted to faces that look more like those of the people they see around them all the time, so there could be an evolved innate element, but culture certainly plays a very significant role.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Having referenced the slave trade, I think that it is important to keep in mind that it was partly constituted by a white racist ideology that held that Africans were sub-persons. There was also the European notion that nonwhites were incapable of planning their own lives and had to be paternalistically ruled over. As a white Australian, are there parallels in terms of how the indigenous people of Australia have been treated, especially in terms of sub-personhood, and paternalism?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Yes, unfortunately there are parallels. The early European settlers regarded the indigenous people as an inferior race, living a miserable existence. Because the indigenous people were nomadic, they were regarded as having no ownership of their land, which in British colonial law therefore belonged to nobody – the legal term was <em>terra nullius</em> – and so, very conveniently, could be occupied by Europeans. In some cases, when indigenous people killed cattle that were grazing on their traditional lands, Europeans went out in “shooting parties,” killing them indiscriminately, as they would animals. Some of the Europeans justified this on the grounds that the indigenous people, like animals, had no souls. Although such killings were never permitted in law, enforcement was another matter.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">When the Commonwealth of Australia was formed from the separate colonies in 1901, indigenous people were not able to vote, nor were they included in the census. Voting rights were achieved in stages over the next 60 years. The <em>terra nullius </em>doctrine was only overturned by the High Court of Australia in 1992 and indigenous communities then became able to claim rights over traditional land still in the possession of the government.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Australian government policy toward indigenous people became more benevolent, but it remained paternalistic until well into the 20th century, and some argue, to the present day. Restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Australia’s Northern Territory, where many indigenous people live, can be seen as evidence that paternalism still prevails, even though the restrictions do not, on their face, take into account the race of the person purchasing alcohol. Against that, it has to be said, many self-governing indigenous communities, acutely aware of the devastation that alcohol has caused to their people, restrict its use in the areas under their control. Indeed, some indigenous leaders have themselves promoted a swing back to more paternalistic policies.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Yet, it seems to me that the issue of alcohol abuse would perhaps not exist had indigenous people in Australia not been subjected to forms of oppression and marginalization in the first place. This is not to deny choice, but to acknowledge that structural forms of oppression, poverty and marginalization should be taken into account. Native Americans and First Nations people in Alaska also have huge problems with alcoholism. Some indigenous people in Australia are even sniffing petrol, which has it own specific devastating consequences. In what ways do you think that the alcoholism and the substance abuse described above are linked to these larger structural issues that disproportionately impact indigenous people?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>You are correct that the situation of Australia’s indigenous people is in some respects similar to that of Native Americans and First Nations in Alaska, or for that matter in Canada too. The destruction of indigenous culture, and of the way of life that for thousands of years gave meaning and a social structure to the lives of indigenous people obviously play a role in leading some of them to drink or try to get high on petrol fumes. Indigenous Australians receive housing, health care and sufficient income to meet their needs, but what has been taken away can never be restored. The problem goes so deep – and is now often compounded, as we have been saying, with alcohol and petrol abuse, which in turn lead to domestic violence and serious health damage – that it is hard to know how the situation can be turned around.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.:</strong> Above, you mentioned “emotional impulses,” but don’t you think that white racism is also based upon institutional structures? Racist practices are expressed systemically through banks, education, the prison industrial complex, health care, etc that just need to keep functioning to continue privileging and empowering some (white people) and oppressing and degrading others (black people). Historically, the concept of institutional racism was systematically deployed during the Black Power Movement in the 1960s and was popularized by Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Touré) and Charles V. Hamilton.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>What you are here referring to as “the institutional system” includes distinct sectors of society, and each of these sectors has its own divisions and subdivisions. The extent to which they are racist will vary, and it would take detailed evidence and analysis to demonstrate that each of these sectors, and each of its divisions and subdivisions, involves or expresses racist practices. So all I can say, without getting into all the detailed evidence that would be needed to consider each sector and then build back to an overall picture, is that where there is institutional racism, it can take the place of racist emotional impulses. Often, however, there will be racist emotional attitudes as well, and they will then support the institutional structures, making them more difficult to change.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>And, in turn, can we say that institutional structures can instill and support certain racist emotional impulses?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Yes. Where racist institutional structures continue to exist, they will provide a specific channel for racist feelings and attitudes, and in some situations, will serve to legitimate and reinforce them. But we cannot say how important this is without first determining which institutional structures are still racist, and to what extent and in what ways they are racist.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>There is, however, data that shows that black people suffer disproportionately with respect to bank lending practices, quality of education, quality of health care, arrest rates for nonviolent drug offenses. However, returning to what you said earlier, do you think that racism is innate or cultural? Even if there appears to be a proclivity toward a kind of xenophobic tribalism expressed within the human species, racism seems to be of a different order, yes?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Racism is certainly different from xenophobia, or tribalism. Racism develops its own ideology and, as you pointed out, institutional structures. But if by “a different order” you mean that racism and xenophobic tribalism have distinct origins, I am not sure about that. It’s possible that xenophobia is the underlying impulse that, in different cultures, expresses itself in varying forms, and racism is one of those forms.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Yes. I think that racism may very well have its roots in a kind of xenophobic tribalism, but white racism expresses itself in all sorts of perverse ways and is perhaps motivated from psychic needs/places that transcend xenophobic tribalism.</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong><br/> P.S.: </strong>Maybe. We have strong hierarchical tendencies. We like to think that there is always someone below us, and for many people, having power over others seems, regrettably, to reaffirm their sense of self-importance and thus to make them feel good. That may be a psychic need that finds an outlet in racism. For some people, it also finds an outlet in the abuse of animals. In particular, jobs in factory farms and poultry processing plants are poorly paid, high pressure and low status. That may be why, year after year, undercover investigators in factory farms and slaughterhouses continue to find evidence of <a href="https://www.mercyforanimals.org/investigations.aspx" target="_blank">the most atrocious abuse</a>, like workers bashing pigs with steel pipes, or <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/business/kfc-supplier-accused-of-animal-cruelty.html" target="_blank">using live chickens as footballs</a>.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>To what extent do you think that biases against nonhuman animals are grounded within a certain unethical stewardship toward nature itself? Do you think that this is a specifically Western approach to nature where nature is conceived as an “object” over which we ought to have absolute control? Certainly, Francis Bacon seems to have had this idea. Of course, then there was René Descartes, who argued that nonhuman animals are mere machines.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>It is true that Western thinking emphasizes the gulf between humans and nature, and also between humans and animals, to a far greater extent than Eastern thinking, or the thinking that is characteristic of indigenous peoples. Yet it is also true that the treatment of both animals and nature is, today, generally worse in the East than in the West. Every visitor to Beijing has breathed in evidence of what China has allowed its industries to do to the air. Laws protecting the welfare of animals in Europe are far in advance of those in Eastern countries, including those with strong Buddhist traditions like Japan and Thailand. China still doesn’t even have a national animal welfare law. So if the domination of nature and of animals was originally a Western idea, the sad fact is that it is being taken up avidly in the East, precisely at the time when it is being vigorously challenged in the West.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Today black people are still fighting to be recognized as fully human, to assert that our lives matter. Historically, we have often been compared to nonhuman animals. On various occasions, President Obama has been depicted as a monkey. Obviously, this image is meant to degrade, and can only be understood against the backdrop of black people in the United State fighting against a reduction of our humanity. How can black people, on the one hand, reject the reduction of, say, Obama to a monkey, and yet be against speciesism?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>I don’t see any problem in opposing both racism and speciesism, indeed, to me the greater intellectual difficulty lies in trying to reject one form of prejudice and oppression while accepting and even practicing the other. And here we should again mention another of these deeply rooted, widespread forms of prejudice and oppression, sexism. If we think that simply being a member of the species <em>Homo sapiens </em>justifies us in giving more weight to the interests of members of our own species than we give to members of other species, what are we to say to the racists or sexists who make the same claim on behalf of their race or sex?</span></p>
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<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The more perceptive social critics recognize that these are all aspects of the same phenomenon. The African-American comedian Dick Gregory, who worked with Martin Luther King as a civil rights activist, has written that when he looks at circus animals, <a href="http://www.peta.org/living/entertainment/dick-gregory-circuses" target="_blank">he thinks of slavery</a>: “Animals in circuses represent the domination and oppression we have fought against for so long. They wear the same chains and shackles.” (Alice Walker, the African-American author of “The Color Purple<em>,” </em>also has a memorable quote: “The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women were created for men.”<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Given that we have not even figured out how to treat those of our own species with dignity and respect, as someone who continues to fight against speciesism, do you have thoughts on how we might effectively dismantle racism?</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong><br/> P.S.: </strong>With all of these “isms” – racism, sexism and speciesism – I’m an optimist about making progress, but a pessimist about achieving complete success any time soon. I’m encouraged by the facts compiled by Steven Pinker in “The Better Angels of Our Nature.” Pinker draws on and completes the argument of my own work, “The Expanding Circle.”</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I do believe that we are slowly expanding the circle of our moral concern. Pinker provides evidence for the claim that, notwithstanding the media headlines, we are living in less violent and more enlightened times than any previous century. This will surely help marginalized, disempowered and oppressed groups. We can hope to isolate and reduce the impact of racism and sexism, but eliminating them altogether is going to be a long struggle. With speciesism, unfortunately, we still have much further to go, because it remains the mainstream view.</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok" style="text-align: center;"><strong> </strong><em>This interview was conducted by email and edited. Previous interviews in this series (with Linda Martin Alcoff, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, Charles Mills, Falguni A. Sheth and others) can be found <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/philosophers-on-race/" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em>George Yancy is a professor of philosophy at Duquesne University. He has written, edited and co-edited numerous books, including “Black Bodies, White Gazes,” “Look, a White!” and “Pursuing Trayvon Martin,” co-edited with Janine Jones.</em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em>Follow The New York Times Opinion section on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nytopinion" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/nytpolitics" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and sign up for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/opiniontoday/" target="_blank">Opinion Today newsletter</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="font-size-3">This interview was originally published at the <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=" target="_blank">NY Times blog</a></span><br/> <br/> <span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=">http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=</a></span><br/></em></p>
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</div> Dogs Just Wanna Have Fun: Birds, Fish and Reptiles Tootag:arzone.ning.com,2015-02-27:4715978:Topic:1497112015-02-27T06:05:35.314ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>A recent issue of the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/issue?pii=S0960-9822%2814%29X0025-4" target="_blank">Current Biology</a> is devoted to the biology of fun. In a post on his <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201501/dogs-just-wanna-have-fun-birds-fish-and-reptiles-too" target="_blank">Psychology Today</a> blog, former Professor of…</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>A recent issue of the journal <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/issue?pii=S0960-9822%2814%29X0025-4" target="_blank">Current Biology</a> is devoted to the biology of fun. In a post on his <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201501/dogs-just-wanna-have-fun-birds-fish-and-reptiles-too" target="_blank">Psychology Today</a> blog, former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Marc Bekoff Ph.D discusses what we know about the emotional lives of many other animals and why having fun has evolved in many diverse species. </em></span></p>
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<div class="blog__header page-header"><h2 class="page__title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';" class="font-size-6">Dogs Just Wanna Have Fun: Birds, Fish, and Reptiles Too</span></h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/marc-bekoff-phd" target="_blank">Marc Bekoff Ph.D</a></span> </p>
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<div class="node node-blog-entry node-promoted node-168274 comment-2 clearfix"><div class="node__content mode__full"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field__item"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038392887?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038392887?profile=original" width="288" class="align-right"/></a>It's a no-brainer—dogs and many other nonhuman animals love to play with their buddies in all sorts of ways, and they have fun doing it. In a recent essay called "<a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(14)01122-1.pdf" target="_blank">Playful fun in dogs</a>" published in <em>Current</em><em> Biology</em> in an issue devoted to the <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/current" target="_blank" class="ext">biology of fun(link is external)</a> (where you can see the fascinating table of contents; see <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/09/the-biology-of-why-play_n_6424248.html" target="_blank">also</a>, I cover much of what we know about social play in dogs, and other essays discuss fun in other mammals and also birds, fish, reptiles, and invertebrates. The online essays are free, and I highly recommend reading them to learn what we know about the emotional lives of many other animals and why having fun has evolved in many diverse species. <br/> <br/></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>The "F" word: What is fun?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Fun is one of the two "F" words that have received growing attention by ethologists, the other being "friends." (Some researchers ask, for example, "Do animals make friends?" Hint: of course they do). Ample data show that many diverse animals both have fun and make friends. Like play, fun is hard to define, but you know when you’re having it and when you're not. Having fun means doing something that is amusing, enjoyable, and pleasurable and feeling good about it. It is an evolved adaptation and important for keeping an action or activity in an individual’s behavioral repertoire. In my studies, I take a strongly evolutionary and ecological approach using Niko Tinbergen’s integrative ideas about the questions with which ethological studies should be concerned: namely, evolution, adaptation, causation, and ontogeny (the development and emergence of individual differences). University of Tennessee psychologist Gordon Burghardt, author of<em>The Genesis of Play</em>, later suggested adding "subjective experience" to Tinbergen’s scheme. Dr. Burghardt also has a very interesting essay in this issue of <em>Current Biology </em>called "<a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(14)01333-5.pdf" target="_blank">Play in fishes, frogs and reptiles</a>" </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3189922468?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3189922468?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>So, concerning play and fun, we can ask: why did they evolve? How do they promote survival value and reproductive fitness and allow individuals to come to terms with the social situation in which they find themselves? What causes play and fun? How do play and fun develop? What is the emotional side of play and fun, or what is the personal experience of animals while they are playing? Play is serious business, but it is also fun. Animals seek it out. It is a voluntary activity, and play is highly contagious. Playing dogs are magnets for others, and I am always amazed at how fast dogs invite strangers into a playgroup and how they are absorbed into the fun. I think it’s clear that dogs know when others are having fun and when they’re not. And, as an aside, studying play is a lot of fun in and of itself. Research should be fun, and I’m sure I’ve continued to study play for more than four decades because it is fun to do.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong><br/> It's a no-brainer, many animals simply love to have fun</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> I hope you enjoy these essays as much as I did. It's a real sign of progress that an entire issue of a journal is devoted to the biology of fun. I was thrilled, and frankly surprised, when I was asked to contribute an essay, because I think that even five or 10 years ago such an undertaking would not have occurred. As I wrote above, the online essays are free and I highly recommend reading them to learn what we know about the emotional lives of many other animals—really a very diverse lot—and why having fun has evolved. It's a no-brainer, many animals simply love to have fun. <br/></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038412344?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038412344?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The top image of Molly and Charlotte playing tug-a-war was taken by author, Marc Bekoff, and the bottom picture is Caddy. <br/> <br/></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Marc Bekoff's latest books are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jaspers-Story-Saving-Moon-Bears/dp/1585367982/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358351949&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper%27s+story+bekoff" target="_blank">Jasper's story: Saving moon bears</a> (with Jill Robinson; see <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201303/jaspers-story-saving-moon-bears-offers-lessons-in-hope">also</a>), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ignoring-Nature-More-Compassionate-Conservation/dp/0226925358/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358352046&sr=1-1&keywords=bekoff+ignoring+nature" target="_blank">Ignoring nature no more: The case for compassionate conservation</a> (see <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201304/ignoring-nature-no-more-compassionate-conservation-work">also</a>), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Why-Dogs-Hump-Bees-Depressed/dp/1608682196/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367954294&sr=8-1&keywords=dogs+hump+bekoff" target="_blank">Why dogs hump and bees get depressed</a>(see <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201310/why-dogs-hump-and-bees-get-depressed-the-state-animals">also</a>), and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rewilding-Our-Hearts-Compassion-Coexistence/dp/1577319540/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394314248&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=bekoff+rewilsding" target="_blank">Rewilding our hearts: Building pathways of compassion and coexistence</a>. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Jane-Effect-Celebrating-Goodall/dp/1595342532/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410360322&sr=8-1&keywords=bekoff+jane+effect" target="_blank">The Jane effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall</a> (edited with Dale Peterson) has recently been published. (<a href="http://www.literati.net/authors/marc-bekoff/" target="_blank">marcbekoff.com</a>; <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcBekoff" target="_blank">@MarcBekoff</a></span></p>
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</div> Egg Free Baking with Vegan Staplestag:arzone.ning.com,2014-11-25:4715978:Topic:1485652014-11-25T22:57:14.831ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">How to Make Your Own Egg Replacers…</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">How to Make Your Own Egg Replacers</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">There are many reasons why you might need to replace eggs in a recipe. You could be making a <a href="http://food52.com/recipes/14717-coconut-lemon-macaroons" target="_blank">batch of cookies</a> for a vegan friend or a <a href="http://food52.com/recipes/24196-vegan-chocolate-cake-with-creamy-chocolate-filling" target="_blank">birthday cake</a> for a child with an egg allergy. Perhaps reducing a recipe size has left you needing less than one egg — or maybe you just ran out of eggs altogether. Fortunately, there are several simple substitutes that make it easy to cook without any eggs at all.<br/><br/></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To determine the right egg replacer to use, first you have to know why the egg is in the recipe in the first place. Eggs can have several functions, including: </span><br/><br/><br/>
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Binding:</strong> Eggs hold ingredients together and give food texture. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Leavening</strong>: Eggs give lift to baked goods, which makes for a lighter texture.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Moisture</strong>: When there are few or no other wet ingredients, eggs increase a recipe's water content.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Thickening</strong>: In recipes such as custards and crèmes, eggs lend density and creaminess.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Color and flavor:</strong> Eggs contribute to the final taste and color of certain breads, pastas, and pastries.</span></li>
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<a href="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/10296118123_98eb9f697b_b.jpg?w=660&h=440" target="_blank"><img src="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/10296118123_98eb9f697b_b.jpg?w=660&h=440&width=550" width="550" class="align-center"/></a><a href="http://food52.com/blog/8614-margaret-fox-s-amazon-chocolate-cake" target="_blank">Vegan chocolate cake.</a>James Ransom<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Once you figure out what function the eggs fulfill in your recipe, you can choose an egg replacer that does the same thing. <strong>Here’s a rundown of the most common egg replacers and how to use them:<br/><br/></strong></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ground flaxseed</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Flax has a thick texture that mimics the viscosity of eggs. You’ll get the best result — and a better binding agent — if you purchase whole seeds and grind them as needed.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When to use it:</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Flax makes a great binder in dense and chewy baked goods. It works especially well in </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/13055-simply-raspberry-muffins" target="_blank">muffins</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, breads, and </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/8595-magical-marvelous-memorable-cookies" target="_blank">cookies</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, but may not be suitable for cakes and other lofty desserts. For one egg, use a fork or a blender to vigorously mix one tablespoon of ground flax with three tablespoons of water until thickened.<br/><br/></span></p>
<a href="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/15147106454_197126f9d8_b.jpg?w=660&h=439" target="_blank"><img src="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/15147106454_197126f9d8_b.jpg?w=660&h=439&width=550" width="550" class="align-center"/></a>James Ransom<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Commercial egg replacers</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Ener-G and Bob’s Red Mill brands make powdered egg replacers from a combination of starches and thickeners. These are quick and easy egg substitutes to have on hand.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When to use them:</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Commercial replacers are best in baked goods that require leavening, but the starchy ingredients may leave behind a powdery taste. A great — and similarly effective — alternative is a DIY mix of vinegar and baking soda.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vinegar and baking soda</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">These ingredients react with each other to form bubbles that expand during cooking to provide a light, fluffy texture.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When to use them:</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> If you don’t have a commercial egg replacer on hand, use this mixture for leavening in baked goods, such as </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/30713-chocolate-chip-sour-cream-coffee-cake-with-apples" target="_blank">cakes</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/24981-applesauce-carrot-bread-with-pecan-streusel" target="_blank">quick breads</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. For one egg, combine one teaspoon of baking soda with one tablespoon of white or apple cider vinegar.<br/><br/></span></p>
<a href="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/15581641438_ba60be4f60_b.jpg?w=660&h=439" target="_blank"><img src="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/15581641438_ba60be4f60_b.jpg?w=660&h=439&width=550" width="550" class="align-center"/></a>James Ransom<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Silken tofu</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">This soft, smooth tofu adds a lovely texture to vegan baked goods. It also takes on the flavor of whatever it’s added to, so it won’t change the taste of a recipe.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When to use it:</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This egg replacer adds moisture and creates a richness that’s good for fudgy </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/31947-super-fudgy-brownies" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">brownies</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/25316-vegan-chocolate-pie" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">custardy pies</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">, or thick </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/2835-chocolate-bundt-cake" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">cakes</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. However, using too much may impart a “beany” flavor. For one egg, whip one-quarter cup silken tofu in a blender or food processor until creamy.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<a href="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/silk_pie_2.jpg?w=660&h=440" target="_blank"><img src="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/silk_pie_2.jpg?w=660&h=440&width=550" width="550" class="align-center"/></a><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/25316-vegan-chocolate-pie"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Silky chocolate (vegan) pie.</span></a>James Ransom<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Chia seeds</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">When mixed with water, chia seeds create a thick liquid that binds batter the same way eggs do.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When to use it:</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Like flax, chia works well in baked goods like cookies to provide a chewy texture. For one egg, finely grind one tablespoon of chia seeds in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Mix the seeds together with three tablespoons of water and let sit for five to 10 minutes until thickened. Whip with a whisk or fork before adding to your other ingredients.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Starches</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Thickening agents such as xanthan gum, potato starch, arrowroot, cornstarch, kudzu, and agar can all be used in place of eggs.<br/><br/></span><strong style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When to use it:</strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> All of these starches work to bind and add texture to baked goods such as </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/1259-brown-butter-bourbon-banana-bread" target="_blank">breads</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and </span><a href="http://food52.com/recipes/20123-banana-cake-with-penuche-frosting" target="_blank">cakes</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. They’re also just right for thickening custards and fillings. The ratio for one egg depends on the type of starch you use. For arrowroot, cornstarch, and potato starch, use two tablespoons for mixed with three tablespoons water. You can combine one tablespoon agar with one tablespoon water to replace egg white, too — it will even whip.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Mashed fruits or vegetables</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Replacing eggs this way is a little trickier than other methods — getting the ratio right may require some trial and error. Fruits like bananas will impart their own flavor onto a recipe — which can be a lovely, subtle addition to otherwise simple recipes.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>When to use them:</strong> In sweet baked goods such as brownies, <a href="http://food52.com/recipes/2838-what-i-do-for-love-bran-muffins" target="_blank">muffins</a>, and <a href="http://food52.com/recipes/6857-grown-up-birthday-cake" target="_blank">cakes</a>, choose a mashed fruit without a strong flavor. In savory <a href="http://food52.com/recipes/4365-black-pepper-popovers-with-chives-and-parmesan" target="_blank">breads</a> and <a href="http://food52.com/recipes/30505-savory-corn-and-basil-muffins-with-ricotta-and-tomato-jam" target="_blank">muffins</a>, try mashed vegetables (or bananas!). Avoid using this egg replacer in cookies; it will give them a puffy, cakelike texture. For one egg, use half of a banana, mashed; alternatively, use one-quarter cup unsweetened applesauce, one-quarter cup mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin, or canned squash.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Originally posted at <a href="http://food52.com/blog/11724-how-to-make-your-own-egg-replacers-for-vegan-baking#zeChrg:Tjq" target="_blank">Food 52</a></span><br/><br/></p>
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</div> THE BUSHMEAT EBOLA CONNECTION FROM IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS--A FACTOR NOT BEING MADE PUBLICtag:arzone.ning.com,2014-10-17:4715978:Topic:1486132014-10-17T23:00:54.988ZRichard W. Firthhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/RichardWFirth
<p>"The Bushmeat-Ebola Connection" by IDA President Marilyn Kroplick, MD, with contributions from IDA-Africa Executive Founder Sheri Speede, DVM.</p>
<p>Imagine a child ill with a fever. What if it’s Ebola? Crying in pain with outstretched arms, she approaches longingly for an embrace, a soothing motherly hug. What is a mother to do? Does she cast her daughter away and refuse to touch or comfort her? This is a terrible predicament! Naturally, a mother longs to comfort her child, but now she…</p>
<p>"The Bushmeat-Ebola Connection" by IDA President Marilyn Kroplick, MD, with contributions from IDA-Africa Executive Founder Sheri Speede, DVM.</p>
<p>Imagine a child ill with a fever. What if it’s Ebola? Crying in pain with outstretched arms, she approaches longingly for an embrace, a soothing motherly hug. What is a mother to do? Does she cast her daughter away and refuse to touch or comfort her? This is a terrible predicament! Naturally, a mother longs to comfort her child, but now she fears contracting Ebola herself.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">Ebola challenges and threatens West Africa</font><font face="Times New Roman">–</font> <font face="Times New Roman">and NOW all of humanity. It preys on the goodness of humanity, sealing people off in isolation rooms and mandating distant contact through protective gear. Worst of all, Ebola kills the very caregivers whose heroic sacrifice is desperately needed</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">doctors, nurses, and women! West African healthcare workers</font><font face="Times New Roman">–</font> <font face="Times New Roman">dead from Ebola</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">has further diminished impoverished hospitals and healthcare systems. The Center for Disease Control (CDC), currently is developing an Ebola vaccine, not yet ready for release in patients. On September 26, 2014, the CDC sent this alarming Ebola forecast in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report:</font></p>
<p>Without an increase in effective interventions (an Ebola vaccine), there could be 1.4 million cases of the disease in Africa within four months.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">In the wake of this global tragedy, I asked myself how In Defense of Animals could help. I decided to dig deeper into journals and articles about Ebola to understand its complexity and multiple contributors to the current pandemic. Causative connections between Ebola, bushmeat, and animal abuse seemed obvious</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">albeit, ignored by the media!</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">In 1999, IDA established the Sanaga-Young Chimpanzee Rescue Center, located in the Mbargue forest of the Central Province of Cameroon and named Dr. Sheri Speede director. 72 chimpanzees live at the sanctuary; many are orphans who watched the slaughter of their mothers for meat. Once abandoned, Primate orphans are "now the new currency in a growing international trade," The Bushmeat Crisis Task Force reports. Meanwhile, aging adult chimps also found refuge at our sanctuary</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">from years spent chained in front of tourist hotels. Other less fortunate chimps end up in logging or hunting camps, confined to makeshift cages in preparation for a "final sale," in cities, as commercial bushment, The New arrivals at Sanaga-Young often come from deplorable conditions, showing visible scars</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">like broken limbs, smashed teeth, dehydrated and malnourished bodies, with open cuts from chains. All</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">however, have invisible scars from past traumas! Once at the Sanctuary, their lives unfold and renew</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font> <font face="Times New Roman">in their adopted new families.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">Ebola</font><font face="Times New Roman">–</font> <font face="Times New Roman">its origins</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">People in West and Central Africa consume many species of forest animals. Bats are often used in soups. Whole dead monkeys are sold openly in markets and prepared monkey meat is served in many restaurants. Flesh of endangered and legally protected chimpanzees and gorillas, considered a delicacy by some, is provided "under the table" at open markets and sold illegally to urban elite through special dealers. Collectively called bushmeat, forest dwelling animals are butchered and eaten in small villages by people who would go hungry otherwise. However, huge quantities of bushmeat are also transported to urban areas and sold commercially to wealthier Africans</font> <font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">who consider it a delicacy. A small percentage of bushmeat is exported to immigrant communities in Europe and the United States. Research studies link Ebola and bushmeat</font><font face="Times New Roman">–</font><font face="Times New Roman">killing humans and chimpanzees alike .</font></p>
<p><a href="http://www.idausa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dead-monkeys-at-the-market.jpghttp://www.idausa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dead-monkeys-at-the-market.jpgDead"><font face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">http://www.idausa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dead-monkeys-at-the-market.jpghttp://www.idausa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/dead-monkeys-at-the-market.jpgDead</span></font></a> <font face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">monkeys for sale in a bushmeat market in the town of Bertoua, Cameroon</span></font></p>
<p>Animal to human transmission:</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">Ebola is a zoonotic disease, meaning it’s transferred from an animal to a human (also like HIV, SARS).The exact modes of transmission, scientists have deduced a scenario like this: First, the virus lives inside a "healthy animal," who harbors the virus without manifesting symptoms</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">labeled as the anatural host or reservoir. Most scientists think migrating fruit bats are suspect. One day a fruit bat eats part of a fruit that’s now infested with Ebola and then drops it. A few hours later, a chimpanzee discovers the Ebola-infected fruit and finishes it. One week later, the chimp is dead. A poor villager stumbles upon its carcass soonafter. With glee, he carries home the dead body. Unfortunately, while cutting up the carcass, a small drop of infected with Ebola, splashes onto his skin. Two days, after a delightful meal, the villager feels ill with flu-like symptoms, a headache and muscle pains. Later on that week, he vomits and has bloody diarrhea. On his eighth day ill, he is dead. Neighboring villagers wash his corpse in a traditional West African ceremony before burying it. Two weeks later, the diggers and some attendants who kissed the corpse die also, Ebola that can live in a corpse for several days, so corpses can transmit Ebola. Once inside a symptomatic human, it is quite infectious, and spreads like wildfire from human to human.</font></p>
<p>Decimated Chimpanzee population…the future of humans</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">Chimpanzees, also are stricken by Ebola</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">with recent dwindling populations, they are further decimated at the hands of humans. Besides pummeling chimpanzee and their populations, humans are responsible for destroying habitat. For example, multinational agricultural corporations clear forests to grow crops for export; logging and mining companies cut roads into once pristine forests, providing conduits for commercial hunters; and mining companies exhaust the mineral Coltan (used in cell phones, computers, chips, game consoles, and camcorders). These factors have exponentially increased the size of urban populations, further fueling demand for commercialized bushmeat while promoting lethal mutations in the virus, wider geographic distributions of the disease, and exponential growth of Ebola outbreaks…and seeding future Ebola outbreaks of more lethality. With each replication in an animal or human cell, Ebola mutates, perhaps enhancing its lethality and rate of disease infestation. Is this a matter of cause and effect</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">what’s reaped; now sowed</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">Knowing Ebola links to bushmeat</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">part of the puzzle!</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman">Now it’s time to rise up against bushmeat trading: against Ebola and its cruelty</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">its disregard for life</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">both human and primate! Now’s the time to strategically fight to eradicate this Ebola apocalypse that has been inflicted upon West Africa, America, and Spain</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">and possibly</font> <font face="Times New Roman">–</font><font face="Times New Roman">the world! Western, developed nations and those developing must learn about lethal linkage of Ebola</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">and bushmeat. Then those who remain blind, or desensitized, to animal cruelty can begin to see this a cause and its effect</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">how humans animal killing relates to human death from Ebola. Hopefully, this pandemic will invigorate and stimulate a public outcry</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">one that denounces bushmeat trading, both locally and globally. Hopefully, this catastrophe will energize collaboration between different academic disciplines</font><font face="Times New Roman">–</font><font face="Times New Roman">veterinary medicine, human medicine, and ecology</font><font face="Times New Roman">—</font><font face="Times New Roman">enables discovery of early predictors of new, more dangerous, emerging zoonotic diseases. Suffering brings insight. We realize that as humans and non-humans we are interconnected.</font></p>
<p>As animal activists, we abhor animal cruelty, yet most Americans don’t understand the connection between the bushmeat, animal abuse, and disease transmission. Together, we must speak out against bushmeat trade to sustain human health and save endangered species! Through public opinion, we can pressure our politicians to take action. This deadly Ebola outbreak may provide an opportunity to educate the world about the dangers of bushmeat and to promote affordable protein substitutes available on a plant-based diet. Let’s leverage the fear of Ebola to spread our anti-bushmeat message to South Africans, Americans, and to people all over the world!</p>
<p>As we learn more about the serious consequences of the bushmeat trade, we will expand our Circle of Compassion to include West Africans and Great Apes suffering from Ebola, free ourselves from the nightmare of Ebola, and restore balance. Albert Einstein eloquently said, "Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman"><i>Marilyn Kroplick MD, is president of</i></font> <a href="http://www.idausa.org/"><b><i><u><font color="#0000FF" face="Times New Roman"><font color="#0000FF" face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">In Defense of Animals (IDA)</span></font></font></u></i></b></a><i><font face="Times New Roman"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">. Dr. Katz handed over the torch of IDA to Dr. Kroplick, a trained child, adolescent, and board-certified adult psychiatrist. Throughout her life, she has loved traveling to exotic locales: Africa, Middle East, Asia, Cuba, and South America as a medical doctor and professional photographer. In the sixties, Dr. Kroplick photographed social movements</span></font><font face="Times New Roman">–</font> <font face="Times New Roman">civil rights, anti-war, and women’s rights. Her activism was published in underground (activist) newspapers, books, and in a weekly column of the Village Voice. In 1972, The National Endowment for the Arts awarded her a grant in photography.</font></i></p>