In the Blogs: Lenten Fish, Cruelty-Free Tattoos, Wet Nurses, and More

I've fallen behind in my "Animals in the Blogs" and "Animals in the News" roundups, which I cannot do--there's too much happening out there not to do at least weekly roundups. The following are just from the last week or so, but there are several important and interesting posts here, so maybe plan to read just a few at a time (these would make good weekend reading). That said, some posts are rather short, so don't be too overwhelmed by the list.

• A Streetcar Named Denial - The Conscious Carnivore from Doris at About.com: Here Doris provides some great analysis of an unfortunate article that I first stumbled upon because of a brief remark about it from Ryan at The Veg Blog. Also included in Doris's post is my favorite line of the day:
  "Now going back to the care of the pigs, in what universe does taking good care of someone mean killing them when they are big enough to eat? Probably the same universe where legally blind witches are allowed to operate day care centers in their gingerbread houses." Exactly.
• Lenten Fish Fridays from Suicide Food: Seems the memo about fish being animals (yes, it's true) still needs wider circulation. But Suicide Lenten Fish doesn't seem to mind.
• On the Renewed Debate Over Horse Slaughter from Animal Person: What is a horse's value? And why aren't we talking about fixing the problems leading to abandoned horses instead of addressing only the result?
• Sponsor Vegan Ian and Help the Gorillas! from Grumpy Vegan: Support a marathon participant; help the gorillas of the Virunga National Park.
• Just a Bunch of Normals from L.O.V.E.: What's "normal" in the animal rights movement isn't necessarily something to celebrate.
• Group Photo at the Local Family Farm from Reformed Fast Food Mascot:Love 'em, name 'em, pose 'em--kill & skin 'em?
• On Mares, Wet Nurses, and Shared Exploitations from easyVegan.info (and More Evidence That Horse Racing is Fucked from Jennie at That Vegan Girl): You don't have to be a female of the human species to be especially exploited because you're female. Humans demand "wet nurses" (and terrible associated cruelties) in the nonhuman world too.
• Ethical Animals from SuperWeed: I can't summarize this one in a pithy sentence or two. It's deep, and my brain is fried. So you'll just have to read it.
• Vegan Ink: The Truth Behind Cruelty-Free Tattoos from VegDaily: If you're the cruelty-free type or you plan to get a tattoo celebrating your veganism, you should make sure the tattoo itself really is vegan.
• Creating a Traditional Vegan Passover Seder from Compassionate Cooks: This doesn't really require an additional summary--it includes tips and thoughts on vegan seder, obviously.
• New Wild Orangutan Population Discovered from EcoWorldly: It's exciting that more Borneo orangutans have been located, but the species is still endangered, and with habitat disappearing quickly, they could still be extinct, along with the critically endangered Sumatran orangutans, before we know it.
• Texas Debates New Definition of Vicious Dog from Animal Law: "The state legislature is debating a measure that would greatly broaden the state's definition as to what constitutes 'vicious.'"
• Isle Royale Wolves’ Inbreeding Spells Caution for Northern Rockies Wolves from NRDC: Another example of why delisting the wolves is a damn bad idea.

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Hansel and Gretel witch illustration by Cedric Hohnstadt

Vegan tattoo photo by Flickr user sheila_blige