Adopt-A-Street-Dog Thai Style Project.

Riding the bicycle or sitting in the park I occasionally do see a dog that needs just a little bit extra attention.

Before I continue I have to stress that underfed dogs are very rare. As blogged before, most street dogs in Thailand are well fed dogs that are taken care of by the locals.

Thai Street Dogs And What We Can Learn

I blogged about dogs in Thailand before, and it is still one of my favorite topics, and a topic that still teaches me very much about how to view and really respect animals, and how to “adopt” animals, without trying to controlling them.

Be A Real Animal Rights Activist And Support Animal Welfare

Let us imagine something absurd.

Imagine, animal agriculture would discover that cows produce more milk if they are blind. The ability to see only distract them and lowers milk productivity.

They lobbied for a new law and finally starting next month it will be perfectly legal for the dairy industry to blind all cows. In line with the admirable animal agriculture's tradition, they will keep costs low, so no pain killers are used and just a simple cost efficient procedure; a quick stab in the eyes with a long needle will do the job.

WILL YOU, AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, AN ABOLITIONIST, A PERSON THAT PROUDLY AND OPENLY CLAIMS TO BE A COMPASSIONATE PERSON, JOIN EFFORTS TO STOP THIS NEW HIDEOUS LAW?

Thai Ruralish Wildlife

Currently I live in the Northeast of Thailand, in a ruralish place at the edge of a local village, squeezed between a local road and some wildly exciting rice fields. Sigh.

If I would go on a nightly stroll in America or good old Europe, I might expect to have some interesting encounters with medium sized mammals like maybe a fox, a skunk, a foraging raccoon, or a hedgehog who, thanks to his protective needles, isn’t too shy and can be easily approached.

Not here in ruralish Thailand. I never did spot any exciting medium sized wild life on a nocturnal walk.

The Hidden Agenda of the Meatless Monday Movement.

According to a certain official from animal agriculture, the Meatless Monday is nothing but a sly plot to remove the meat from the plate not only on Mondays but for the whole week!

read the full article here on Green Is The New Red

Seems like the bad guys are afraid from Meatless Monday. That says something about the success and potential of the Meatless Monday campaign, and should encourage anyone, flexitarian or uncompromising vegan, to start his or her local MM meetup. I will.

MM is an excellent campaign to introduce and promote vegetarian and vegan food to people who otherwise find it too difficult to even start trying veg food.

SHOCKING: Restaurant Serves Meat!

A restaurant of a wild life park in Zurich serves meat of deer and boar that is raised in its wild life park.

Besides that, it also feeds it’s predators with meat from horses and bison raised in its wild life park. (The animals are not tossed in alive with the predators but butchered by humans.)

Do The Twist With Gary!

Introduction.

Until a few years ago when I had a pleasant meeting with Gary Francione admirers, who amusingly tried to convince me that “Peta doesn’t promote veganism”, which was refuted within ten seconds thanks to Google and left them gasping with their mouth wide open, I, a three decades long vegan and animal rights activist, never did hear of Gary Francione, but, as it turns out, he is quite the fellow.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all…

Heart breaking.

Quote from the Jain website JainSamaj discussing that “milk” is far from “ahimsa” (non violent) but indeed a very cruel product. For emphasis I added cursive script.

click here for the full article RECOMMENDED! 

“Female calves may join the ranks of the milk producers, but the males, the "byproducts" of the dairy industry, are generally taken from their mothers anywhere within a day of birth to a week, so milk is far from cruelty free or ahinsak! Quite the contrary. Some of these calves endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment in veal crates so small that they can't even turn around. Others are tied up and left to starve which usually takes a week of intense suffering, after which their bodies are collected and sold to the Kora Kendra as ahinsak leather since the animal has died a 'natural' death."

Anyone in India, maybe somebody from the Jain community, actively addressing this extreme cruel animal issue?

Anyone feels this issue, starving baby animals in order to produce "natural leather"  is worthy of  international attention?

The Odd Couple; Peta And Peter

Just after my blog post with regards to three influential animal rights philosophers, Peta also had a little animal rights piece on their website.

"Why Animal Rights" by an unknown Peta staffer

Animal rights philosophy, it must be in the air.

As usual, the world’s largest animal rights organization had an intern write the article. Okay, I am just guessing, it also could be a Peta staffer. Or Elmo from Sesame Street.

Ahimsa in Action.

Loosely translated Ahimsa means non violence or the absence of the desire to harm other life forms. Ahimsa is such an essential philosophy that if you are not familiar with the concept, I really recommend you to learn more about it.

I will write some articles about Ahimsa, for now I start with an event which happened 4 years ago and involved Ahimsa in action, just there, on the streets of Bangkok.

I was strolling with my son one night on Silom Road, a big broad busy street in busy Bangkok, relaxing with a cold beer after my work at the vegan café had finished.

There it was. In front of a big office building, between the plants, was a big scruffy rat, he seemed lost and a bit confused where to go, and in no hurry. The rat was plain visible and had attracted the attention of the night guard, who was equally scruffy and confused about what to do. A few people had stopped on the sidewalk and curiously watched the rat, so this made the guard feel like he HAD to do something, and he started to make a not very convincing body move to kick the rat.

Peter, Gary, and Tom.

The last book I did read when it comes to animal rights was EATING ANIMALS, if I wasn't already vegan I would have gone vegan after reading this intense and deeply sad book in which the author personally visits animal factories including small farms with “humanely” raised animals, talks with slaughterhouse workers, learns and shares with us, the readers, that annually thousands and thousands of pigs and cows are skinned and cut in pieces while still alive, oops, they missed the stunner!, and even joins an animal rights activist on her night trip to a local mega chicken farm. The best part? All facts are checked by independent fact checkers. It is not manipulated drivel from an animal nut. It is solid as a brick.

Vegan Meet Ups Vegan Style

Photo left

 A group of 14 vegans having a great vegan time in Tokyo’s vegetarian Buddhist restaurant  SaiShoku Kenbi.

In Japan and Asia, a vegetarian restaurant is usually almost vegan. A restaurant that uses dairy and eggs as ingredients for many of its dishes, would explicitly call itself LACTO OVO Vegetarian. In Tokyo there are dozens of vegetarian restaurants who are in fact totally vegan except for maybe one dish with honey or dairy. In contrast there is maybe only one or two lacto ovo veg restaurants that are very vegan unfriendly.

Photo right.

The Vegan Restaurant Touring participants having a dinner in Tokyo’s charming and famous Vegan Healing Café. Most participants have gone home. The remaining female participants go crazy when they spot at the next table in the vegan café the members of a famous western rock band munching a vegan dish. The rock band members are mostly vegan (and are forcing their non vegan member to eat vegan LOL) and are touring Japan for concerts. T shirts are signed, photos are signed.

Now tell me, how big is the change of having an unexpected and exciting meeting with a vegan rock band when your meet up is in a dull and boring meat restaurant? ZERO!

Organizing vegan meet ups in your city is a great activity to build a vegan community, connect with fellow vegans and simply have a great vegan time together. Both your local fellow vegans as well as vegan travelers can and will join your vegan meet up..

One Of Those WTF Moments; Vegan Meet Ups in Non vegan / Non Vegetarian restaurants.

Ever joined a vegan meet up? You got them everywhere, all the big cities from Hong Kong to New York hold them.

Vegan Meet Ups are a great way to meet with like minded vegans who share the same ethics as you, and together enjoy  a vegan meal in a vegan restaurant.

Isn't that what you would except from a vegan meet up? Meeting other vegans? Eating vegan food? In a vegan restaurant?

Breaking News: Peta Wants You To Eat At McDonald's!

Promoting veganism by spending our vegan pesos in McDonalds! The Peta Way!

Some McDonald's offer veggie burgers on their menu. So I asked Ingrid Newkirk for the upcoming interview in GoVeg  if she occasionally eats at McDonald's. 

Surprisingly she fully supported and advised us, vegans, to eat in McDonald's and even buy a load of veggie burgers for our friends and for all people that you know.

In the process she called vegans who avoid McDonald's “well meaning”, which is a polite substitute for the word “naive”.

Holy shit!!!!! Here is the founder of an animal rights organization who strongly advises us to spend our limited vegan money at McDonald's, munch on a veggie burger and so “promote veganism”.

Wait wait wait!!! Doesn't Peta has a McCruelty campaign advising their followers NOT to eat at the McDonald's? Mixed signals? I am so confused now!

My Interview With Peta 2

The photo that the good People of the Peta office did send to me for the upcoming article.

Left: Pamela is not only a super sexy woman with two great boobs, she is also a dedicated animal rights activist (and vegan!) with her heart on the right place. Besides posing for Peta and so bringing media attention to animal rights issues, her activities include writing to big companies to address animal cruelty issues. In fact, it would be very interesting to know more about the little known AR activities from Pamela Anderson.

Hello my fellow vegans, here is a photo that I want to share with you.

This week the good people of the Peta office did send me a photo for the upcoming article (the interview with Ingrid in GoVeg).

Sweet Holy Mother Of Jesus!!

Look at the photo for ten seconds.

…..

..

.

Now tell me who and what did you look (or might I say “stare”?) at. Did you ever had a look at Ingrid Newkirk for more then a nano second right before your eyes were “magically” drawn back to Pam’s gigantic money makers? Did you share your ten seconds of staring (or if you are a male, perhaps “drooling” is a better description?) equally between Pammy and Ingrid; 5 seconds looking at Pamela and 5 seconds looking at  Ingrid? If you did I congratulate you, you are a decent person, not a dirty minded person like me.

Seriously, this photo is so way out of balance, the attention of the reader of the mag will not go to “Ingrid”, the person who is interviewed, but to “Pammy, the side kick of. To make the photo appropriate for the interview article and it’s readers I had to crop the photo, and "crop" Pamela out of the picture to make it suitable for GoVeg.

Vegan Restaurants VERSUS Non Vegan Restaurants PART 1

A few weeks ago I did receive an email from my friend Mike from San Diego. Mike currently is actively supporting vegan restaurants and with arguments he urges other vegans to eat in, and so support, vegan restaurants, and not to spend your limited restaurant money in non vegan restaurants.

Some well meaning  vegans argue that we should “support” non vegan restaurants which serve vegan dishes. By “support” they mean that we actively have to go and eat there, and this way, so goes the argument, we are promoting veganism and veganizing non vegan restaurants.

I recently had a modest interview with Ingrid Newkirk (it should be published over two months in GoVeg, i will post a link later). Oddly enough she also urges vegans to spread veganism by eating veggie burgers at McDonalds and even buying McDonalds veggie burgers for your friends and colleagues.