Why do we test everything on animals?
Good question.  First off, animals are here for our own gain.  They give us sustenance and entertainment, and they have been put here to keep us safe from toxins that can blind us and melt our skin off. I mean, it's not like these animals yelp in pain, of course not, that's ridiculous.

My dad actually worked at a place that tested on Capuchin monkeys.  When he would go into clean during "business hours," he said he could tell when they were performing experiments because the monkeys would sound different; they had a higher-pitched, more desperate, more painful cry that still haunts him 30 years later.

You know what animal testing reminds me of? Joseph Mengele {read the part on Human Experimentation.}  And we gasp at the atrocities of that?  But it's totally fine to test on stupid animals.  It's fucking bogus.

I could write so much more about animal testing, but what does that do?  Instead, here are some pictures to serve as proof of the atrocities:

You hear trumpeting elephants from the other side of the tent practicing, you would assume,  for the upcoming show.  It starts in 15 minutes.  The crowd gathers in the stadium and you follow your parents to the concession stand to grab a hot dog and some cotton candy.  You smother the cylindrical garbage meat in ketchup and make your way to a seat with a good view of where the lions were last year.  Lions are your favorite animal because they are the kings of the jungle, of course.
The lights dim, a microphone turns on somewhere and you hear a voice ask, "Is everyone ready for the show?"  The crowd roars louder than a lion, you think, and you join in the cheering.  One beam of light shines down center-stage.  A man comes out and tells the audience about the show.  "Be sure to stick around till the end," the man says, "for the grand finale."  You clap till your hands are red with anticipation.  A drum rolls.
Those clowns are funny, you think as a male clown and a female clown throw pies in each others faces.  The clowns leave the stage with everyone laughing.  "I bet the elephants are next!" you tell your dad, "We'll see" he responds, smiling back at you.  Sure enough, a line of five elephants appears, all connected trunk to talk.  They circle the stage then each one stands by one of five podiums.  "What are those people doing?" You ask your mother who is sitting on the other side of you.  She tells you that they are there to make sure the elephants follow directions.  You notice black rope in each person's hands so you ask your mom about it.  She tells you that those black ropes are whips and are there just in case.  "Just in case of what?" You questions.  She says, "Just in case the animals don't follow directions."
After the elephants leave, there is a lady who could do crazy things like the splits and then another lady and two guys who did the trapeze, which, Dad said, is when they swing on really tall swings.  "And finally," a voice says, "we are going to need the audience to be extra quiet for the grand finale.  Let me introduce Theodor and his three most spectacular, most stupendous, most amazing lions!"  Your eyes grow wide as three crates are wheeled out.  You can't look away from the male lion with his big flowing mane.  He roars and, because you can't help yourself, you roar back.  The lady behind hushes you, but you barely notice.
The show ends and you jump to your feet clapping and cheering for those brave lions that jumped through those fiery hoops.  You leave the tend after the show ends, "And then when the male lion roared really loud and when they ran around the big cage and then-"
"Look!" your dad says, he points at a few people gathered around some cages.  You run up and stare face-to-face with the male lion.  The lion stares back.  He looks sad, you think and you ask your father if that is where he lives.  Your dad tells you that he's sure the lion does not live in a cage all the time.  Walking away, you turn your head back to look at the lion just one more time.  He has not stopped looking at you with sad eyes.  You tell your parents, "I wish he could live with us."


Okay so that was a little bit longer of a story than I thought it was gonna be...But any who, this post is on the animals of the entertainment industry.  The topic above was, which I hope was understood, the circus.  Now, I loved going to the circus when I was a kid.  My favorite thing at the circus was always the contortionists, actually, second being the elephants.  I was so enamored with how large the elephants were and how people could get them to do all those tricks.

I was not surprised nor shocked with the secrets of circuses that Earthlings brought to light.  More so just saddened.  The trained animals do not learn those cool tricks by rewards, they are not offered treats for performing something like how a dog would after it sits.  Nope, they are punished.  They are whipped and kicked and sometimes cut.  They go without food and water for days sometimes.  They are shackled and chained for 95% of their lives, only "free" from the confines when they are training and performing, so they are never really free.  "Pain is an integral part of the process" a trainer said to someone posed as a person interested in becoming a trainer.  This person was wearing a mic and camera.  The video showed a trainer explaining just how they train the elephants.  He says that you really have to "give it to them" and that in order for them to listen, you want to hit them as hard as you possibly can.  And we are shocked when they retailiate.

One story of retaliation depicted an elephant that broke out of the gates and in its desperate attempt to escape, it injured a few people.  The elephant was cornered and shot dozens of times at point-blank range.  The elephant kept fighting for its life, it wasn't going to give up until it had no other choice than to give up.

Rodeos
What's so wrong with rodeos?  They are only riding the bulls for like 8 seconds max, whats the big deal?  Well, for starters, the bull is not just bucking because it's pissed off, it's bucking because they are making him.  Before the stall gates are open, a tight band is clasped around the bulls testicles, causing them to buck in pain {also because a strange man is on top of them, hel-lo stranger-danger!}

Bullfighting
This one is just pure fucking insanity.  They are murdering an innocent living, breathing, feeling creature in front of thousands so slowly and agonizingly and exhaustively.  For sport.

Fishing
Does fishing not make sense to anyone else?  I just cant wrap my head around luring a fish, stabbing it in the mouth, rubbing it a few times, then throwing it back into the water.  But it's okay because you're throwing it back?  Yeah, with a stab wound in its mouth.  How would you like getting stabbed in the mouth?

Other
Horse racing, dog racing, , ostrich racing, and pigeon bowling.  Who comes up with this shit?

If anyone has any questions or want me to expand on any of my points, please feel free to ask or watch Earthlings for more information.

This third section is on clothing.  Do you know where your shirt comes from? {The Mall isn't the correct answer.}  What about those cute boots, do you know what those are made out of?

Throughout this section of Earthlings, I found myself apologizing over and over to the animals screaming as they endured the agonizing torture.  I kept telling them, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.  I'm so sorry."  But what good does that do besides annoy my poor friend trying to watch the movie with me? 

At one point, Joachim Phoenix {who is narrating} explains that, when the cattle are herded across deserts, they collapse from exhaustion, dehydration, and starvation and in order to get the cattle moving again, they are hit and kicked, their tails are broken, and chilli powder is rubbed onto their eyes.  When the video showed the cattle dropping like flies from exhaustion, the herders {murderers...hurderers-I'm pretty proud of that one} dipped their fingers into chilli powder and stuck them, knuckle deep, into the poor animal's eyes.  Too tired to fight back, the cows barely budged.  What have we become?

I will remind you that leather is flesh, of course, and flesh decomposes.  So how do the leather companies prevent nature from taking its course?  They saturate the flesh in chemicals.  And, because skin is the largest organ of the human body, these chemicals come in contact with our skin.  I don't know about any of you, but I wouldn't douse myself in household cleaners, so why wear something that was soaked in an array of chemicals?

The only part of the entire video where I actually covered my eyes and gasped was when there was a beautiful fox on screen whose head was crushed under the rubber boot of a full-grown man.  Its eyeballs bulged out and it's jaw snapped.  I peeked just long enough to see blood ooze from its mouth.  I am reliving this scene now, I feel a bubbling disgust deep inside me that is making me hate humankind.  Are all people this cruel?  Of course not.  But, the fact that someone is able to do something so vile to a living creature, one that can feel the full weight of the boot press down on its skull, is something that is beyond me. 

So, where do vegans get their clothing, anyway?  Well, you can find all sorts of "faux-leather" and "faux-fur" products usually labeled "synthetic" or "man-made" materials.  Here is a link to a list of stores that carry vegan clothing. 

I'm going to end on a happier note today: I just got a smartphone!! Yay! Which means I now have Instagram.  Double yay! Unfortunately, I only have one post so far, but I will be adding soon, so don't you worry!! :)

{Want more info?  Read the previous post introducing Earthlings}

We would all like to think that we are getting our dinner from humane sources.  Animals aren't actually killed that brutally are they?  They aren't actually skinned alive and boiled alive and kicked and castrated and plucked and stuffed into the smallest of spaces for us are they?  I knew a lot about the food-animal industry, and yet I sat in ignorant silence next to my friend Abby for minutes after the movie.  We wiped our tears away and looked at each other.  To break the silence, and because I am the most awkward person, I said, "well, at least we aren't contributing to this.." To that she said, "But, we aren't doing enough to stop it."

Her response got me thinking, what can be done about the billions of animals that die to over stuff our bellies?  Hopefully by the end of this mini series, I will have some answers for you.  Until then, here is Part 2: Food

This section started with a hidden video from a slaughterhouse in which a worker was walking around shooting pigs with a metal bolt to the skull.  He was going around to them all and proclaiming in the creepiest voice imaginable, where each syllable was drawn out, "I got youuu..." For anyone wondering, many many times, because this practice is done so quickly, the bolt does not deliver a killing blow.  Instead the animal is left seizing on the ground, bleeding to death while all the other animals rush to its side.
Cows

• Cows are devotional mothers and are known to walk for miles to find their calves.

• Cattle like to sleep close to their families.

• Cattle get excited when they solve problems. When faced with a challenge of finding out how to open a door to reach food, their heartbeat went up, their brainwaves showed excitement, and some even jumped into the air.

Cows are killed in various ways; a bolt to the head, electric shock, and even hanging them up and slitting their throats to bleed them out.
Pigs

• Pigs are extremely social animals. They form close bonds with other individuals and love close contact and lying down together. 

• Pigs are very peaceful animals, rarely showing aggression. The exception, as with many animals, is when a mother (sow) with her young offspring is provoked or threatened.

• Winston Churchill famously said that “Dogs look up to man. Cats look down to man. Pigs look us straight in the eye and see an equal.”

 Pigs are slaughtered in the same ways as cows are.  Sows are kept in gestation crates for years until they can no longer produce piglets and are slaughtered.  More on gestation crates in my post about the MadCity VegFest.
Chickens

• Scientists have shown that mother hens display signs of empathy for their baby chicks.

• Like other birds and mammals, chickens experience REM sleep, which is associated with dreaming.

• The chicken is the closest living relative to the great Tyrannosaurus-Rex.

Over 8 Billion Birds are slaughtered each fucking WEEK.  Each.Week.  During one hidden video clip where workers clubbed turkeys to death, Abby (through the gaps between her fingers,) stuttered, "It's like they're having fun!!"
 Dolphins

• Dolphins are altruistic animals. They are known to stay and help injured individuals, even helping them to the surface to breath. Their compassion also extends across the species-barrier. There are many accounts of dolphins helping humans and even whales.

• Dolphins have several highly developed forms of communication. They have a “signature whistle” which allows other individuals to recognize them.

 In a clip from Earthlings, dozens of dolphins in a warehouse in Japan stabbed in their throats, convulsing as school children walked feet from them on their way to their homes.

These facts brought to you from One Kind.

Yes, there are so many other animals killed for human consumption; goats, fish, shrimp and other seafood, veal, turkeys....

As Paul McCartney once said, "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."

Like the title says, I finally watched Earthlings. For any of you who don't know, Earthlings is a documentary film narrated by Joaquin Phoenix depicting the largest animal industries in the world from slaughterhouses to circuses to the fur trade.         



in which profit>their well-being.  Because of the overabundance of animals from breeders and puppy mills, people have been finding more and more creative ways to kill these pets {dogs and cats, usually.}  Euthanasia is one in which is pretty well known, but the method that I didn't know about was that of gas chambers.