Week 4 - Wyoming Becomes the 50th State to Make Dog-Fighting a Felony

A good day for dogs everywhere...

This is a monumental occasion for all animal rights activist. Finally all 50 states have declared dog fighting, a criminal activity which involves more than 250,00 dogs each year and over 140,000 participants, a felony. Wyoming is the last state to make this activity a felony. Especially with Michael Vicks highly publicized arrest for his involvement for dog fighting Wyomings new law couldn't have come at a better time. This sends the message that dog fighting is not OK -- not OK in the country, not OK in big cities, and now finally it is NOT OK throughout the entire nation.

With over 140,000 human participants dog fighting is no small problem. This issue needs to be taken seriously and I feel that having a felony charge associated with this crime sends that message. The Humane Society of America declares this a new era for man's best friend... which makes me and my dog Calvin very happy :)!

Week 3 - Oprah's Show on Puppy Mills

So I have a dog and this is probably one of the most heart wrenching and emotional things I have seen in regards to animal cruelty. I have been subject to watching some really messed up stuff in regards to animal cruelty but because I saw this happening to a dog I couldn't believe it. It's just like when you told us the story of abuse to a dog and then later told us it was a pig. Just because I have a person connection with the animal makes the horrible treatment towards the animal 10xs worse.

Lisa Ling was the investigative journalist for Oprah and she went into a number of puppy mills with a hidden camera. According to the Humane Society of the United States there are as many of 10,000 puppy mills all across the United States. These puppy mills breed thorough breds by the dozens -- sometimes even hundred. They treat them like they were some sort of produce. Some of these dogs don't even get to see the outsides of their cages. Some are kept in their cages for up to 8 years and then shot and killed because the breeder no longer has any use for it.

One of the men that Lisa Ling was with said that he picked up a dog that did not know how to walk to his car. The dog was picked up from a puppy mill whose owner was going to shoot him unless the man came to pick the dog up within 45 minutes. The man says these breeders most often want to get rid of older females and younger males. Breeders only need one or two male dogs to breed with every 20 fertile females, so young female dogs are valuable in puppy mills.

For these breeders the dogs don't mean anything. They aren't their friends, they aren't considered family, as most dog owners consider their dogs, they are merely a piece of merchandise for the breeder. Many of these dogs don't even have a name -- it's really heartbreaking.

Week 2 - Being a meat eater without the guilt...

OK so since learning about animal cruelty I've had a moral dilemma when it came to eating meat. I hate the way that animals are treated in the factory/mass production style farming. You'd really have to be heartless not to at least think twice about eating meat after you see a few video clips and/or read about the cruelty to the mass majority of those animals.

Either way, while feeling very bad about the treatment of animals and thinking that I should do something about it, I continued to eat meat.

Hypocritical?

Yes - very much so.

What if, however, you could still eat meat and not feel bad about it? I mean what if the animals that you ate were treated humanely?

What if they lived the life an animal should live before you ate them?

At that point I would eat the animal.

Why?

Because the animal lived a good life and without the farmer raising the animal to eventually become killed for food the animal would have never existed at all.

Week 1 - Paul McCartney Goes Vegetarian

“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty.”

-- Paul McCartney

On Earth Day this year, Sir Paul McCartney urged people to not only go green, but to eat greener as well. McCartney highlighted the fact that going vegetarian is not only an ethical choice that sends a message against animal cruelty, but going vegetarian can also curb the effects of global warming and world wide hunger. He went on to mention the health benefits of a vegetarian diet as well. Looking more closely into his quotes it becomes clear that McCartney is right about the incredible effects vegetarians can have on hunger and the environment. To see the differences that McCartney is talking about everyone would have to go veg. Problem with that is people feel like their individual actions do not effect the greater good -- I hope that the ending hunger and saving the environment shpeal will be enough for everyone to quit thinking that their actions don't make a difference. We've seen this happen with recycling campaigns, reducing water and energy usage campaigns, and other similar public service announcements.

To read the article on McCartney click here.