Meat and Livestock Australia (MaLA) have a long history of releasing a pro-meat consumption advertisement leading up to Australia day. These advertisements have proclaimed anything non-mainstream to be "un-australian".
Some common threads include, anti vegetarian, anti-health, claims of un-australianism, anti-vegan, pro-nuclear, anti-environment, anti-fruit producers, anti-animal ethics, pro-racist, pro-sexist, anti-freedom to protest, pro-excessive force, anti-refugee, pro-assault, anti-democracy, anti-trans, anti-constitution, anti-freedom of religion, anti-science, anti-LGBT, pro-climate change, the list goes on.
Some of the worst instances being:
* Sam Kekovich secretly feeding an obviously vegan child meat.
* Sam Kekovich directing the military to break into a home, and when the victim identify as vegan they proceed to burn him and his home with flamethrowers.
* Calling the military action in the advertisement "operation boomerang" as a slap in the fact to Aboriginal Australians.
However after years divisiveness MaLA have released an advert that is inclusive, it tries to unite Australians in a celebration of being Australian.
Yes, not all Australians have equal rights, we know Australians treatment of refugees is a disgrace, and Australia was invaded, but there are some things to celebrate.
I feel we need to encourage the Australian traits of a fair go for everyone, and sticking up for the underdog. This advertisements inclusiveness is a step in the right direction, or should that be a step from the right into the middle ground.
Of course some like One Nation*s Pauline Hanson have spoken out against the advertisement as it undermines their reliance on the politics of derision and fear of the other. She rambled on about how allowing other Australians to feel good somehow damaged what it was to be Australian or something...
Personally i still think its a good day to try vegetarianism, and it would be a great day for the government to grant LGBT Australians their constitutional rights, to free the refugees and bring them home, and to recognize the traditional inhabitants of Australia.
Please take the time on Australia day to help make Australia a better place for all Australians.
At the very least why not pick up a Vegan cook book, or search the internet for some vegan recipes. Your health, your conscience, the planet and most of all the animals will be better off you did.
Buckwheat & Blueberry Pancakes - Easy Vegan - Sue Quinn
Why not have a vegan night at your house? If Veganism for one night a week is a bit too scary, I would recommend simply going Vegetarian and progressing from there.
The intention of World Animal week (and World Animal Day, 4th October) is to draw attention to how every person can make the lives of animals better.
So lets celebtate by having a look at how you can make the lives of animals better with some current animal welfare issues.
1. Greyhound Racing.
I discussed the issue of greyhound racing earlier.Yes, its actually still a thing that people do. The cruelty is continuing and the industry is still heavily government subsidised. In fact even more cruelty has been exposed and the industry is in even more disgrace.
If you want to do something about this issue check out the bottom of my greyhound racing post for links to petitions, adoptions and more information.
2. Wool Industry
Our wool industry has been shown to be rife with outrageous animal cruelty performed upon sheep, by Australia shearers. For more information or to take action on this issue please follow the link to those who exposed this cruelty.
3. Lion Killer
Remember when that poor excuse for a man, Walter Palmer killed Cecil the lion? Did you know you can "adopt" a lion and help protect it from gun wielding tourists? Do something for Cecil.
4. And Beyond
There are many issues that negatively effect animals. Do some research and find something you can be passionate about, do some good for out animal kin. Here are some examples; Factory farms, live export, puppy farms, hunting in national forests, circus animals, animal testing, pet adoption, the list goes on and on, but every one of these items needs a champion. Even if you are the champion for that one cat that you adopt, your still doing good.
By far the easiest thing you can do for animals is not eat them. Its simple and cruelty free. It will save you money and improve your health. At least go vegetarian for World Animal Day.
PETA launched a campaign showing hidden camera footage of the outrageous animal cruelty performed upon sheep, by Australia shearers.
The reaction on social media was universally moral, most people were shocked and disgusted by the treatment of the animals.
Then there was accusations that PETA had abused the sheep in the photo, to which PETA responded that they had not mutilated a sheep to match the abuse seen in the video but instead used a prop that mimicked the abuse without endangering any animal.
To this amazingly enough some individuals actually found fault with that, saying that PETA should have used a real mutilated sheep!
The disturbing video is here:
For those who do not wish to watch the abuse, know that the video shows Australian shearers beat, punched, stamped on, kicked, mutilated and threw sheep around as they sheared them. At no point does anyone step in and tell the perpetrators to stop, showing it is common practise.
Wool Producers CEO Jo Hall when talking to the ABC said the industry was always improving, than went on about how the industry should use social media to try to 'out media' the negative image caused by the expose. She seems to imply that because PETA used a prop in the media photo, that somehow PETAs refusal to abuse an animal for the photo, negated the footage they had filmed. She claims the industry is really serious about animal welfare. No where in the interview does she speak about stopping abuse like shown in the video.
WoolProducers President Geoff Fisken said in contrast to the CEO that, the behavior shown
in the video was “unacceptable and unsupportable.” “We are shocked and
appalled by the footage,”.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce a Nationals party member, came out accusing PETA of lying about and besmirching the industry. He does not address how he come to the conclusion that the video is somehow false, and does not present any evidence to back up his claims. He notes that the sheep used in the photo media campaign was a prop, i am not sure where people are coming from with that, its silly, PETA are hardly going to mutilate an animal for a photo, and there hardly going to steal one from Australia that has been mutilated and keep in suffering until it can get to the photographer for the photo.
He goes on to attack Vegans, Americans, he praises genetically modified plants, seems to say he doesn't want to stop global warming, he goes on to talk about naked press conferences for some unknown reason.
He says:
"These are our animals. If someone plays up in a shed and brutalises an
animal, you just sack them on the spot, it's just not accepted" Now i don't see that in the video, i don't see that in the PETA report, i am sure if that had happened the landowners would have said, the industry would have said. He goes on to again accuse PETA of lying but still does not address the video or offer any evidence.
After many government ministers expressed their disgust at the video and dismay at Joyce s blame shifting, in a remarkable turn around, Barnaby Joyce did come out and say that his government "did not condone the mistreatment of animals" and he "had no doubt the images were disturbing."
Those that are actually appalled by the cruelty and wish it to stop include, The Shearing Contractors’ Association of Australia, Australian Farm Institute, Victorian Farmers Federation, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia (RSPCA), Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Australian Capital Territory Primary Industries Minister.
In conclusion we can see from the response that, certen members of the industry think the problem is that the abuse was reported and not that the abuse occurred. We can also see the political party line of blaming the messenger.It is similar to what happened when the UN asked Australia to stop torturing refuges, and our PMs response was to say Australia was sick of the UN telling Australia what to do...Its blame shifting, its shooting the messenger, its arresting the whistle-blower, it has to stop, as it serves no real good.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
PETA are an organisation that fights for animal rights, through education, investigations, research, rescue,
legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest
campaigns.
The Nationals; I am informed that once upon a time the National party stood for people in rural and bush Australia. Now however they have allied and formed a 'coalition'with the 'Liberal' party, and since then it is believed that they only act as vote revenue and toady's to the 'Liberal' party. The Nationals members have said ridiculous things such as, sodomy causes budget woes for government, legalizing marriage equality would prevent straight women from marrying, women should not be in the workforce, etc, etc. They seem to be a hotbed of homophobic, and racist sentiment. The Liberals; Its hard to know what to say about them, firstly they are not actually liberal and are in fact a far right wing political party. While formerly in government they did implement laws to make gun ownership a little more sensible. However nowadays, it has been said they are for bigots rights, against anti-discrimination, racist, treat refuges appallingly, want nurses out of nursing homes, have broken almost every election promise they made, are incredibly homophobic, have removed the right to marry from some Australians, record every Australians internet history, close down women shelters, are anti-environment, stop funding to feeding the homeless campaigns, are against the internet, are misogynistic, etc, and it would be near impossible to argue against such comments.
We lived in rural New South Wales Australia, moved there when I was a tender
five years of age. We moved from Sydney
into a property a good distance from the dirt road with mostly empty fields.
The one saving grace of this property was that it backed onto the Richmond river,
the river paddock had pretty much been left to nature and offered much shade
and tranquility. Now don’t get me wrong it wasn’t some hippy nature love fest,
the trees were only allowed to grow along the riverbank to avoid losing land to
erosion. The river usually flooded once a year leaving us isolated, and when
there wasn’t torrential rain there was often devastating drought with temperatures
in the high 40s.
I
remember one time we all went swimming in the river, I had a inflated tire tube
and was forbidden to remove it, it was put on a rope as the current was too
strong for my young legs to fight against, and I was quickly pushed down
stream.
But other than that, the river was mine to explore, my next oldest brother, Stephany,
five years older than me, would sometimes fish of the old wharf. Sometimes I would
go and sit with him as I had nothing better to do, I remember I liked watching
the crabs playing in the mud. The river was tidal, revealing muddy shallows at
low tide.
So I can’t quite remember what year this occurred, I was young, being picked up and
carried around, I was a small kid. I think I may have been about 7 or 8 but could not swear on it. It was at low tide that Stephany decided
to play the bully, he was often mean and would go out of his way to get me into
trouble with our father. This time we were standing on the wharf and he pushes
me, and then goes to grab me as he says “Tell mum I saved you!”
Now what was supposed to happen is that he pushed me, I flinched,
lurched off the wharf and he would have grabbed me, preventing me from falling in, and thus “saving
me”.
What actually happened was that he pushes me and fails to catch me, so I go flying over the edge into the
mud, I am only light but I still sink into the mud a few inches. My legs are facing
the water, and half in the water, my feet are completely in the river.
So Stephany apologises and asks me not to “dob on him”, and says i "wasn't supposed to fall off", I say something stupid, like “You didn’t save me”, as i am sinking into the mud looking up at him on
the wharf.
So we both start laughing and I start trying to stand, I’m kicking in the
water, and my feet can’t get a grip, I’m just sliding in the mud, I’m making
the water muddy. The wharf was about a meter high above the mud so i had no chance of using it for leverage, even if i had been standing. Stephany says something, along the lines of “move closer to
the wharf and ill pull you up”, I don’t remember exactly. What I do remember, vividly to this very day, is
that my attention was drawn to a grey white shape approaching in the now
muddying water. It took a while for my young mind to register what it was. I
just moved both my feet up out of the water, somehow managing to stand in a
kind of ninja jump move, as the shark lunged left and right at my feet. I
screamed for Stephany to help me up as I sunk deeper into the mud. I know he
looked back at where it was, it splashed as it turned,, I looked back myself and saw its swimming back out
to deeper waters.
Bull Shark
I do not know if he was afraid of getting into trouble or if he hadn’t actually
seen it, but he never admitted that there was a shark, he claimed it must have
just been a big catfish. Now we did have both dogfish and catfish in the river, but it wasn’t one of those,
I had seen my brothers fishing; I knew what those fish looked like. In fact no one
believed me, I was repeatedly told that sharks don’t live in rivers, they live
in the sea. However I knew what I saw, I never went into the river again, but
often enjoyed exploring the riverbank.
Fast-forward a few years and I heard that sometimes sharks do travel up the
river in floods and to “clean out their gills”. Though I was still told that
sharks would not go this far up the river. Today it is common knowledge that bull sharks, actually live happily in salt or
fresh water, though when I say happily I mean hungrily, as they are responsible
for most attacks in shallow water. This is a fact and they are often caught in
the Richmond River where I had my near miss. While at the time I thought it was
a baby great white shark (it looked to be about two foot long) on reflection I would
assume that it was in fact a Bull Shark, i don't even think i knew there were different kinds of sharks at that age..
Writing this I was curious to know what my brother Stephany now says about the
shark I saw, so i asked him, and his reply was typical; “That was probably just a big catfish.”
