shyandmighty | roxanneritchi | allcreatures
An animal rescue centre is struggling to rehome this cat, because it looks like evil Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter films. Workers at The Blue Cross in Southampton say visitors have been scared off by the white cat’s resemblance to Ralph Fiennes’ character in the movies. The abandoned cat, named Charlie, had to have its ears and nose removed after suffering from skin cancer. Vets say Charlie’s pale skin left him at risk of developing the potentially fatal disease. They are now desperately trying to rehome him and say a family of Harry Potter fans could offer their best hope. Charlie was living as a stray before a woman adopted him, fed him and took him to the vets for surgery.
Allcreatures: Shout-out to shewashereaminuteago for this link, http://www.bluecross.org.uk/2574-83377/Charlie.html
BUT LOOK AT THIS CUTIE. AWWWW, HIS FACE. He needs lots of snuggles, that’s all.
I want to snuggle him so bad.
Also, I’m pretty sure Kitty Voldemort would make sure you never see another mouse ever, ever again.
For @bookcameraknife and her entirely Harry Potter-named animal menagerie.
I went to the 2010 Animal Activists Forum and I gave a talk! The text of it is up at the Scavenger, and it’s a basic 101 on racism and classism (and very casual, because I wanted it to be super accessible):
Addressing racism and classism in animal rights activism
Historically, in Western animal rights activism, it’s been considered a very white, middle-class movement. There’s an assumption of a certain level of education, and of physical ability.
People who don’t fall in to this image have felt unwelcome or alienated from animal rights because of this. A failure to take into account intersections can also be very disempowering for the marginalised group/s.
Traditionally it has been ‘How do we get X minority group to come to us?’ which ignores the reality that often these groups are already part of animal rights activsm, or doing their own thing, and the mainstream just hasn’t noticed them.
Or the approaches taken have ignored the reality of what’s going on, and so have squandered an opportunity to get a certain group on board.
A lot of intersectionality issues have been ignored or dismissed by western animal rights activists because “We don’t have time for that” or “It’s not about the animals.” The term I use for that is ‘single issue vegan,’ and it’s not a nice term.
Thanks to Katrina for hosting me!
Also, at my own blog I talked about the food we ate.
oh hey it’s cup day
one of my least favourite holidays.
instead of making a bet on the cup, maybe you could make some sort of appropriate donation
or sign the pledge to never bet on cruelty
at the punch, you can read the brutal truth about the horse racing industry
and up at vegaroo, there’s a list of other alternatives you can do today.
![[ image: dead fish floating so tightly packed that it could be mistaken for a road or other hard surface ]
via treehugger](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8rnbmKGTG1qacje7o1_500.jpg)
[ image: dead fish floating so tightly packed that it could be mistaken for a road or other hard surface ]
via treehugger
The amount of waste and pollution generated by the leather manufacturing industry is phenomenal. The stench from a tannery is overwhelming. Not only do they pollute the air, they also pollute the rest of the environment with the use of a multitude of harsh toxic chemicals.
The World Bank’s Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook states that, “the potential environmental impacts of tanning are significant.” It goes on to highlight wastewater as one of the main problems, describing the 20-80 cubic metres of polluted water emitted for each ton of hide or skin produced as “turbid, colored, and foul smelling.” This waste is made up of acidic and alkaline liquids, including chromium, sulfide, nitrogen and chloride. It can also contain pesticide residues and “significant levels” of pathogens, which can cause disease. High levels of fat are also present.
The handbook continues:
“Significant volumes of solid wastes are produced, including trimmings, degraded hide, and hair…The solid wastes can represent up to 70% of the wet weight of the original hides. In addition, large quantities of sludges are generated. Decaying organic material produces strong odors. Hydrogen sulfide is released during dehairing, and ammonia is released in deliming. Air quality may be further degraded by release of solvent vapors from spray application, degreasing, and finishing…”
Tanneries are often sited near rivers, where there is a plentiful water supply and an instant means of wastewater disposal.
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A fossilized mind.: The Leather Myth - Why Vegans don’t wear leather so — I generally am not freegan because I think creating a culture that doesn’t depend on animal abuse is more important than the direct impact of my consumer choices. but I do wear some second-hand leather shoes that I did not have to pay for — I live in a wettish coldish area, can’t afford to get a new pair of good quality, comfortable, waterproof, sweatshop-free vegan boots, and haven’t found any in op shops. this has not really caused problems with the vegan police for me, most of my friends understand that it’s a privilege to be able to make the most ethically pure choice. (Plus I question whether discarding a perfectly serviceable pair of shoes is actually ethical.) disclaimer about individual choices aside — I think it’s really important to look at the environmental impact of animal products that are really normalised and seen as “more natural” than potentially less exploitative alternatives, like leather compared to vegan leather alternatives. actually there’s a lot of stuff that gets a pass as “natural” but in fact has a really fucked-up environmental impact — cotton comes to mind. (via ourcatastrophe) |
