Actress Emily Deschanel is best known for playing a forensic scientist on the popular american crime show ‘Bones’. However she is also an animal advocate and has been vegan for 16 years. At a recent fundraiser for farm sanctuary she spoke about her reasons for becoming vegan and why she supports farm sanctuary.
‘Ethical Eating’ Category
Emily Deschanel ”Bones” Talks about Veganism
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010Palm oil killing orangutans
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Contributed by, Nicola Gothard
This week Green Peace launched a campaign to force Nestle to stop sourcing their palm oil from Sinar Mas – an unethical palm oil supplier which cuts down areas of prime rainforest without government permits for palm oil plantations.
Palm oil is the single biggest threat to the rainforests and the animals which live in them (including the orangutan). The United Nations Environment Programme says palm oil production is the main cause of deforestation, which is occurring at a rate of about 2% per year. The industry could drive the orangutan to extinction within 12 years.Vast tracts of forest are been cleared every year to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations. This kills many animals and displaces others from their homes. In Indonesia, the area of land occupied by palm oil plantations has doubled in the last 10 years. Over the past 60 years Indonesia has lost an area of rainforest three times the size of the UK. Indonesia is also the world’s third largest carbon emitter, largely as a result of deforestation and the burning of peatlands.
Most UK supermarkets, importers and manufacturers have refused to take action to get their palm oil from less destructive sources.A Friends of the Earth survey showed that 84% of UK companies don’t even know where their palm oil comes from.
In late 2009, Greenpeace released a report alleging that Sinar Mas was clearing rainforest and peatland without permits from the government. Unilever and Kraft both suspended contracts with Sinar Mas subsidiaries as a result. At the time, Nestlé said it would make its own investigations into the matter. This prompted Greenpeace to target their campaign action on Nestle this week. Nestle have responded by saying that they do not source their palm oil from sinar mas but they did admit to purchasing it from Cargil who source their oil from Sinar Mas. They said they will take corrective action if Sinar Mas don’t answer Greenpeace’s allegations by the end of April. It seems to me like they are just stalling for more time. If you would like to take action and force Nestle’s hand please visit greenpeace’s website and send their letter to Nesle’s CEO and share on Facebook.
Although other companies have made more of an effort than Nestle; none appear to be blame free. A lot of top brands have made a commitment to source sustainable palm oil by 2015 – this is not really good enough! If deforestation continues at current rate and doesn’t increase – another 10% of rainforest will have been destroyed by then! Panarama recently conducted an investigation aptly named ‘dying for a biscuit’ – if you are interested in what they found out, including the results of surveys anwered by top companies click here.
My advice would be to boycott all products containing palm oil until you can be sure that the supply chain is ethical and sustainable!
What is an ‘enriched’ cage?
Monday, March 15th, 2010Contributed by, Nicola Gothard MSc
From 1st January 2012 the conventional battery cage will be replaced by the ‘enriched’ cage in Europe. This article will take you through what is included in an enriched cage and what that means for laying hen welfare.
Enriched cages include:
- • 600cm2 of usable space – roughly the size of an A4 sheet of paper. This is only 50cm2 more usable space than conventional battery cages!
• ‘Nesting’ box
• Scratching mat
• Perches
• Claw shortening devices
Enriched Cage
Scratch mat
In a natural environment hens will forage for food over most of the day but in the enriched cage food only has to be dropped on to small astro-turf mats once a day. It is doubtful that all hens will be able to gain access to the mat or that it will be enough to satisfy the hens need to forage which will lead to frustration. Frustrated foraging behaviour is widely believed to be the cause of feather pecking (an abnormal behaviour only seen in captive laying hens).
Perches
Hens like to rest on high perches because it makes them feel safe but the perches in enriched cages are only slightly raised off the floor due to the low height of the cage. It is also unlikely that the hens will be able to roost/rest undisturbed on the perches because of the stocking density (the number of birds in a given area).
- Nesting box
The astro-turf flooring in the nest box does not look or feel like nesting material and is only slightly more comfortable than a bare-wire floor.
Dustbathing
Hens become frustrated when they are unable to dust-bathe every day and yet there is still nothing in the enriched cage which allows them to do it at all.
In my opinion, a cage is still a cage and hens should not be living in cages. They should be able to live more natural lives in free-range or organic systems. The ‘enrichments’ in enriched cages only look good on paper and in reality do very little to meet the hens behavioural needs and improve their welfare. Please buy cage-free eggs!
The story of white veal
Friday, March 12th, 2010by Ida Webb
Positive veal calf welfare; raised in groups on deep straw bedding
Veal calves are by-products of dairy farming. Calves born from dairy cows, for the continuous production of milk, are either shot at birth or reared by farmers to become dairy cows or to be slaughtered for meat. Of the calves reared in the European Union (mainly in France, Italy, and The Netherlands) 18% are reared for veal, this represents millions of animals each year. Dairy calves are not suitable to be reared for beef as they don’t have much meat.
There are two types of veal, white and rose. The pale colour of white veal requires calves to have low levels of iron in their blood, so traditionally, white veal calves are not fed roughage, as roughage contains iron. They are instead fed very large amounts of milk replacer for the entire 5 months of their short life.
In the EU, however, calves must now, by law, be fed a minimum of 250g of solid feed per day from 8 weeks of age. The European Council established this law to improve the well-being of calves reared for white veal. Calves will naturally wean from milk over time and start feeding on grass in the pastures at a very young age. They have a natural drive to initially nibble at grass and then later graze and ruminate.
Calves fed only milk replacer show many indicators of poor well-being. They appear frustrated from their inability to perform their natural feeding behaviours. Most evident are the abnormal behaviours these calves perform.
For instance they will repeatedly and continuously roll their tongues in the air from side to side outside or inside their mouths. Calves on pastures do not do this. This is abnormal and indicates some sort of deprivation in the environment, to which calves cannot adapt. Here the deprivation is from solid feed. This abnormal tongue movement is related to the natural tongue movement the calves will make while grazing.
Although the EU Council has made some improvement to the provision of roughage to veal calves, these animals still display these abnormal behaviours and therefore still have a poor welfare. These calves need more roughage, especially roughage that is not chopped into tiny particles. Small roughage particles do not enable calves to chew and ruminate enough to satisfy their needs.
Calves reared for rose veal are provided with higher quantities of roughage and are weaned. Veal meat consumers should consider buying rose veal instead of white veal, as the welfare of these calves is higher.
Do calves speak foreign languages?
Friday, March 12th, 2010
French beef calves of the Charolaise breed
by Alina Lilova
Can veal be high-welfare meat? That may be a question of pure semantics. In much of Europe, male dairy calves are fed on milk only and slaughtered at an early age. Their white meat is considered a delicacy by some, but others are rightly horrified by the images of baby calves who never see the sun and can barely stand on their feet, weakened by anaemia and lack of exercise. Many buyers will opt for beef but not veal, on humane grounds – and beef is less expensive, too. But what happens when those buyers travel abroad? Should they rely on their dictionary’s translation of the word “veal”?
In Bulgaria, everybody buys “veal” rather than “beef.” People here know that there is such a thing as a beef steak, but they don’t normally eat it. In addition, “beef” often carries a negative connotation of a very old bovine. However, the veal on the Bulgarian menu is neither milky nor even rosé – it is good ol’ red meat. Fortunately, there is no real market demand for white veal, which is only sold in a handful of luxury restaurants and shops.
Most veal calves in Bulgaria are indeed from dairy breeds but are raised extensively – on pasture – and never slaughtered under the age of 18 months. In other words, nothing but breed distinguishes them from their specialised beef-producing Western cousins, who also enjoy outdoor group living and the taste of real grass. The difference is that beef calves put on more weight faster compared to dual-purpose and dairy calves.
That’s why the industry in Bulgaria was not happy with the European Commission’s strict labelling rules for veal and beef – rules that came about as a result of the widespread disagreement over the terms. The labels eventually did take into account national peculiarities – at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0854:FIN:EN:HTML you can see that meat from calves under 8 months of age has to be labelled “veal” or some version thereof in many countries, but in Spain for instance it’s got to be called “white veal,” and in Bulgaria, “meat from little calves.” Meat from animals between 8 and 12 months old is “beef” in the UK, “young beef” in France or Slovakia, “rosé veal” in Ireland, and “veal” (телешко) in Bulgaria.
So if you are a meat eater but want to make a humane choice in the supermarket, what species you choose may depend on the country you live in. In some places, veal ranks right there with foie gras as a luxury yet unethical product. It is of course easily distinguished by its unnatural colour and high price. In other countries like Bulgaria, “veal” may actually come from animals who live much longer and happier lives than the average factory-farmed pig and broiler chicken in those countries. It is wiser, therefore, to trust your senses before you trust your knowledge of vocabulary!
test 2
Saturday, March 6th, 2010test 2