NEWSFARM ANIMALS

No, really. This is what some dairy farmers want you to believe -- and seem to sincerely believe themselves. Recently, a calf on a Connecticut dairy farm was born with a marking on his forehead resembling a cross, so instead of sending him to the slaughterhouse to become veal, which is what happens on all dairy farms to all other male calves and some female calves (i.e., when the latter aren't needed to be new baby/milk-producing machines, replacements for their worn out, destined-to-be-hamburger mothers), the dairy farm owners are sparing this one, at least temporarily.

From L.A. Unleashed:

If you were paying attention last Thursday, you saw a post about, in part, vegan winter wear, including non-wool pea coats, and that topic leads to another.

When it comes to wool, leather, and down, one question tends to come up over and over again among vegans and aspiring vegans: Can I keep wearing my old wool coat (or leather shoes or down jacket) until they wear out, or until I can afford new? Different people give different answers to this, but here's mine: Yes. There are some things that I personally wouldn't be at all comfortable wearing or having anymore -- for example, a leather jacket (or a leather couch) -- both because of the emotions I would experience while feeling them against my own skin and because of the obvious animal nature of them and the statement I would feel like I was making with them. But it's absolutely true that although some people may be able to quickly and easily replace their animal-based clothing, not everyone has that luxury. And that's OK.

My friend and animal advocate Larry Sullivan snapped this disturbing photo earlier today and captioned it "BBQ sauce? Looks more like blood splatter to me...which makes more sense." How right he is. This looks exactly like a disgusting pool of blood. Way to go, McDonald's marketing team.

And in case anyone has forgotten or missed these posts, the following is where the McRib, like all other "pork" products, comes from: "Undercover at the Pig Farm," from the Mercy for Animals investigation, and "Pig Farm Investigation: A Video You Must See," from the earlier Igualdad Animal/Animal Equality investigation.

If you're really craving the flavor of a "rib" sandwich, you can have that without funding a literally bloody industry or walking into a McDonald's. There are some truly authentic-tasting vegan versions on the market now, including the Hickory BBQ Riblets from Morningstar Farms, which seem to have replaced the Gardenburger riblets (indeed, if you're someone who doesn't like vegan foods that too closely resemble the texture of meat, you probably won't like these). An online search for vegan ribs and riblets will take you to a variety of recipes for homemade versions as well.

So. It's winter. Or at least it's quickly starting to feel like winter in St. Louis. And this means many things, including warmer clothes and more use of the oven. Vegansaurus has these things on the brain too and is featured heavily in this post because she's been cracking me up today while providing conscious consumers with great tips for animal-friendly winter wear, as well as an apparently delicious but easy winter-treat recipe (complete with hilarious commentary and illustrations; preview to the left).

First, the serious stuff: I've pleaded with readers in the past to avoid wool (and down) because sheep (and geese and ducks) shouldn't have to suffer and die just for humans' winter coats, scarves, and so on when we have plenty of non-animal alternatives. And it's now the time of year when people are out buying new winter coats and looking for those humane alternatives. So where do you go?

Alternate title: Government Gives Finger to Prairie Dogs, High-Fives Animal Ag

Winter holidays are upon us, so what gift is the government willing to give the dwindling population of prairie dogs? Plenty of poisons that ravage their bodies and cause them horrible deaths, but no endangered species protections, officials ruled yesterday. And why the barbaric killing and the refusal of protections? People's demand for flesh, dairy, leather, and wool. If your initial reaction to this is confusion, don't worry -- it gets worse.

When I first went vegan, I experienced the same revelations that a number of people experience once they begin investigating animal rights issues in depth. I was blown away to learn just how much everything is tied together -- and just how much the vast majority of us simply don't know about the far-reaching effects (and influence) of animal agriculture, all animal agriculture, not just so-called factory farming. And one of the many areas where animal agriculture -- for meat, dairy, wool, leather, and so on -- is the bully asserting its power and causing destruction is the habitat and very lives of wildlife, or free-living animals.

Remember the large anti-fur protest that was scheduled in Utah this past weekend? Go here. Click on the second photo to enlarge it.

Yes, that is a child. Her family took her to a protest in support of fur farming, to counter an anti-fur protest. Some adult in her life, most likely her mother or father, handed her a "People First!" sign to hold, with the pelt of a dead animal draped over the sign.

And that image of a mere child holding out that sign -- and proudly displaying the remains of a dead animal -- is such a sad sight. Even if you do arrogantly, narrow-mindedly hold to a "people first" philosophy, you aren't inherently required to support the exploitation and killing of animals, but that's not what this little girl is being taught.

Last night, CBS aired the Hallmark holiday special A Dog Named Christmas. I wasn't holding out naive hope for a vegan message, but I was crossing my fingers that the movie would be more consistently pro-animal than most and at least wouldn't include some of what it did. It was a dog-friendly film, absolutely. A film with wildlife-friendly moments, sure. But the movie's dialogue pushed inaccurate notions of farmed animals and a view of them as lesser animals. The film doesn't just advocate for dogs; it advocates for dogs by elevating them above other animals, by categorizing other animals as less special than dogs.

The movie is just one more example of the frustrating way animal issues tend to play out in mainstream conversations. Too often, when a venue or vehicle has the potential to be positive for all animals, it falls far short and often reinforces the very perspectives that hurt our society's most exploited animals. Advocacy for the animals with whom we already feel kinship is easy and sometimes even profitable; real advocacy for -- or even honesty about -- animals most would rather eat than advocate for is still something that consistent animal advocates have a difficult time getting mainstream media, traditional and new, to support or even pay significant attention to.

But let's move back to this movie specifically:

You'll get just one more post from me on Thanksgiving later, plus a brief commentary at the end of this post, but in the meantime, there have been a few Thanksgiving-related posts published since last evening that I'd like to direct you to this morning.

Kelly at easyVegan.info commented on Obama's sham pardoning of a turkey yesterday, his attitude during the for-show ceremony, and some of the language he used, including his remark on our "endless compassion" as a people. Cue Kelly:

Endless compassion? Bah. Try that line on tomorrow’s corpse. Tell it to Courage, for whom there’s no escape. (We inflicted our cruelty - excuse me, our “compassion” - onto him at a genetic level, so that his body will be crippled under its own weight in just a few short months. President Obama, your quip about “performance enhancing drugs”? Not funny.)

Doris at About.com wasn't terribly impressed with the president's handling of the situation either. She also referred to his remarks in a mass e-mail about "our commitment to building a more peaceful and prosperous future":

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. If I were able to create sidebars, this likely would have appeared as one on the previous post ("Heritage Turkeys, 'Respectful' Killing, and Teaching Violence").

The Atlantic slideshow mentioned there starts out by noting a Slow Food USA campaign, begun in 2004, "whose purpose was to save endangered food species by getting farmers to grow them--and consumers to eat them."

Don't let this preposterous language fool you. When it comes to animals, saving "endangered species" and saving "endangered food species" are two very different matters, with two very different sets of intentions and goals. The first is an attempt to save actual animals (or species) to let them live and to let ecosystems thrive; the second is to keep a certain category of domesticated animals -- "food" -- around so that they can be killed and eaten by their so-called advocates.

The use of words such as "save" and "endangered" is intentional, to paint the practices with a false sense of altruism. It's all selfishness. It has nothing to do with concern for actual animals. It's all about concern for self-involved humans' "food." In this view, the animals are no more than products, walking slabs of specialty meats. We might as well be talking about Mr. Pibb enthusiasts calling on everyone to keep buying Mr. Pibb -- because they'd be so disappointed if the product were discontinued and no longer available to them.

When you're "saving" someone in order to kill her and eat her, you're not saving her at all.

Related: Hurry--Kill & Eat Animals Before They Go Extinct!

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Photo by Flickr user ExperienceLA

TreeHugger published a piece titled "Heritage Turkeys and Their Journey from Farm to Table" today that refers over to a similarly named slideshow at the Atlantic. I'm impressed with neither. Both perpetuate the idea that you can "respectfully" kill someone for the purposes of pleasure and that there's some nobility in helping kids learn to kill -- and to work past their discomfort and sadness at the betrayal and death.

And apparently, it's important to read articles such as these primarily because, the TreeHugger writer argues, "anyone who consumes any kind of meat ... should be familiar with all the particulars; knowing all that helps us as consumers properly honor the animal and value the experience."

I can barely stop rolling my eyes long enough to continue.