Yesterday I finally took the plunge and saw Blackfish. I've been wanting to see it for a while, but it has only just come out in cinemas here, and I had been feeling a little trepiditious about watching it because I knew it would be sad. And it was. I got very emotional at the end thinking about all the whales that are still imprisoned there. Like Tilly, floating alone and depressed in his isolation pool.
But I'm also glad because I feel this film has the potential to change things - I think it already is! - and it's getting a lot of publicity. Joan Jett recently filed a cease and desist order against SeaWorld when she discovered they were playing her song during there shows - go Joan! I just really hope this film will bring an end to SeaWorld, I really do. When I watch the footage of those shows it makes me sick to my stomach. Having read Death At Seaworld recently I already knew everything that was covered in the film - in fact the book covers it all in much greater detail. Keeping whales in captivity is so wrong on so many levels and they are such amazing, smart, beautiful animals. If you haven't seen this movie you totally should, it is devastatingly eye opening.
Then today, I traveled down to Williamstown to meet one of the Sea Shepherd crew - and I got to go onto the Steve Irwin ship - I had never been on any of their ships before, so I was super excited to be able to. It was amazing. Everyone there was getting ready and making preparations for when they set sail next week to do the amazing work they do protecting whales.
I took some photos of the ships and also some of the stunning view of the city across the bay - but they were on film so I will have to wait to get them developed.
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Thursday, 28 November 2013
7 Links
I wanted to share some links I've come across this week relating to animal issues, the environment and veganism...
1. A couple of days a go this article came up on my dash:
Animals Were Harmed: Hollywood's Nightmare of Death, Injury and Secretary Exposed, a detailed article in the Hollywood Reporter that reveals how many animals have been negligibly injured and killed during the filming of Hollywood films such as Life of Pi, The Hobbit, HOB's Luck and many more.
I naively thought that nowadays there would be strict regulations in place to protect the well being of animals used in movies and that filmmakers would be forbidden from deliberately killing or harming animals for live action shots - but instead we have another corrupt system to add to our long list. Since reading Thanking the Monkey years ago I have opposed the use of wild animals for entertainment and films because wild animals have to be 'trained' to perform and do as they are told and this usually involves negative reinforcement such as hitting, prodding and beating.
And of course wild animals are just that, wild animals and cannot really ever be controlled. If they want to lash out at someone, they will.
This brings me to my second link...
2. Trainer Mauled by Tiger at Australia Zoo
The stupidity of the human race and the media never fails to amaze me. I think the outcome speaks for itself here. But I will say this - training tigers to interact with people and to perform tricks is not conservation.
3. Al Gore Goes Vegan
While I am a little skeptical about this one particularly since it also talks about Bill Clinton as being vegan when apparently he is not really vegan - though I believe he may have been vegan initially while he was trying to improve his health and now consumes much less meat and animal products than he used too. The article also says Gore reportedly switched to veganism for health reasons. While it would be great if this were true, even going mostly vegan or cutting down your meat/dairy intake is a good start so good on him. I do hope that environmentalists will take note of this too because there are a lot of environmental benefits to eating a plant based diet - mainly because livestock produce so much methane, factory farms and fish farms produce toxic run off and meat production uses huge amounts of water.
4. Two guardian articles about waste:
Marine plastic pollution: the threat pervading Australia's waters
Ever since I watched Midway I have been deeply concerned about the amount of plastic waste ending up in our oceans. We really need to do something now. We need to stop over consuming and start cleaning up after ourselves - stop dropping cigarette butts all over the ground and being litter bugs - because sea animals and birds pay the price for our pollution - and we will to eventually if our ocean ecosystems die.
5. And the second article is more about priorities - What do we really need this Christmas?
And now for a happier story...
6. Cyrus the Roo rescued from Melbourne Airport has returned to the wild by Wildlife Victoria.
Last month an injured kangaroo was found confused and distressed trapped inside a pharmacy at Melbourne Airport. Goodness knows how he got in there? (it's hard enough to find your way around Airports as a human!). It was a very dangerous situation for him because kangaroos can die of stress, and it is really quite miraculous he survived it!
7. And lastly, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia but I do like these photos of lucky turkeys taken by Jo-Anne McArthur, who have been spared the dinner table and now live out their lives at Farm Sanctuary.
 |
| Tiger nearly killed in making of Life of Pi |
1. A couple of days a go this article came up on my dash:
Animals Were Harmed: Hollywood's Nightmare of Death, Injury and Secretary Exposed, a detailed article in the Hollywood Reporter that reveals how many animals have been negligibly injured and killed during the filming of Hollywood films such as Life of Pi, The Hobbit, HOB's Luck and many more.
I naively thought that nowadays there would be strict regulations in place to protect the well being of animals used in movies and that filmmakers would be forbidden from deliberately killing or harming animals for live action shots - but instead we have another corrupt system to add to our long list. Since reading Thanking the Monkey years ago I have opposed the use of wild animals for entertainment and films because wild animals have to be 'trained' to perform and do as they are told and this usually involves negative reinforcement such as hitting, prodding and beating.
And of course wild animals are just that, wild animals and cannot really ever be controlled. If they want to lash out at someone, they will.
This brings me to my second link...
2. Trainer Mauled by Tiger at Australia Zoo
The stupidity of the human race and the media never fails to amaze me. I think the outcome speaks for itself here. But I will say this - training tigers to interact with people and to perform tricks is not conservation.
3. Al Gore Goes Vegan
While I am a little skeptical about this one particularly since it also talks about Bill Clinton as being vegan when apparently he is not really vegan - though I believe he may have been vegan initially while he was trying to improve his health and now consumes much less meat and animal products than he used too. The article also says Gore reportedly switched to veganism for health reasons. While it would be great if this were true, even going mostly vegan or cutting down your meat/dairy intake is a good start so good on him. I do hope that environmentalists will take note of this too because there are a lot of environmental benefits to eating a plant based diet - mainly because livestock produce so much methane, factory farms and fish farms produce toxic run off and meat production uses huge amounts of water.
4. Two guardian articles about waste:
Marine plastic pollution: the threat pervading Australia's waters
Ever since I watched Midway I have been deeply concerned about the amount of plastic waste ending up in our oceans. We really need to do something now. We need to stop over consuming and start cleaning up after ourselves - stop dropping cigarette butts all over the ground and being litter bugs - because sea animals and birds pay the price for our pollution - and we will to eventually if our ocean ecosystems die.
5. And the second article is more about priorities - What do we really need this Christmas?
And now for a happier story...
 |
| Cyrus the rescued roo |
6. Cyrus the Roo rescued from Melbourne Airport has returned to the wild by Wildlife Victoria.
Last month an injured kangaroo was found confused and distressed trapped inside a pharmacy at Melbourne Airport. Goodness knows how he got in there? (it's hard enough to find your way around Airports as a human!). It was a very dangerous situation for him because kangaroos can die of stress, and it is really quite miraculous he survived it!
7. And lastly, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia but I do like these photos of lucky turkeys taken by Jo-Anne McArthur, who have been spared the dinner table and now live out their lives at Farm Sanctuary.
Monday, 25 November 2013
Faces
I thought I'd share some of the faces that inhabit my walls. These are mostly cards I have collected over the past few years.
I like to scatter my walls with magazine cut outs, photos and artwork....
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| Paul |
Paul the turkey on the 2013 Brightside Sanctuary calendar.
"Paul is a favorite resident at Brightside. He loves people and generally
spends his days in the carpark and barn where the action is. Paul loves
pats and cuddles and if you give him a tickle under the wings he will
return the favour by gentley preening your arm."
You can read more about Paul via Brightside's Meet the Animals page.
 |
| Happy bear :) |
WSPA postcard featuring the rescued bear Rohini.
Drawing by Valerie Davide. This one caugt my eye in a gallery shop because of the crazy lines and reminded me of my own messy sketches when I used to draw.
Mitsy a little kitten I looked after for some friends while they were away.
She was a stray who adopted them!
She was a stray who adopted them!
Artwork by Adam Cullen. This picture reminds me of my old family pet who was a German Shepherd.
Artwork by Fiona Hall who had an exhibition recently at the Heide Museum of Modern Art which I sadly did not get to see.
Artwork by Kristina Browning.
Monday, 4 November 2013
Cup Day: Why horse racing sucks
"Every dollar you spend, or don't spend, is a vote you cast for the world you want." - LN Smith
In Australia Melbourne Cup Day is one of the biggest national holidays there is, and yet it is something that I am far from proud of. I guess horse racing is still seen as a national past time. But if you think about it horse racing is actually incredibly old fashioned. As a society our morals have changed quite a bit since the 19th century (though you could say this only really applies to human rights issues given how our society still uses and abuses animals) when horse racing was a hugely popular sport. Yet the workings of the racing industry have really not changed at all - thousands of horses are still bred, raced ruthlessly, and then sent to the knackery without the blink of an eye.
It is estimated that somewhere between 15,000 and 25, 000 ex-racing horses are slaughtered in Australia annually because they are no longer profitable to race and deemed too expensive to keep. This is beyond unacceptable.
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses are currently campaigning for a 1% levy to be placed on all betting turnover and for this to be put towards re-homing and rehabilitating all ex-race horses. This is essentially, a call for the racing industry to clean up after itself and to take responsibility for the horses it breeds. The racing industry, according to CPR, currently funds only three horse re-homing programs which together re-home about 100 horses each year. This is just not enough.
I personally think it is wrong to use animals for entertainment and to make money like this anyway. But, at the very least I just want to see these horses taken care of instead of killed.
CRP have a petition calling on the racing industry to implement this 1% levy.
Please do not attend the races or bet on horses while this cruelty continues.
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