Tag Archive for 'animal rights'

Help Save Saigon the Elephant

april published on February 17, 2010 in zeitgeist. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

saigon

Hey SuperForest,

How about starting your day (or night) with a good deed? The beautiful creature pictured above goes by the name Saigon – and she’s Australia’s last circus elephant. She’s 55-years-old now and is still making the rounds, doing shows and spending long periods in cramped enclosures surrounded by an electric fence. As you can imagine, this is no way for this fabulous gal to be living.

Animals Australia is calling upon Perry Bros Circus to retire Saigon from circus life and to a facility where her behavioural needs can be met, and where she can enjoy quality of life for the first time in her life.

Click on the button below to sign the petition and help save Saigon.

petition-button

Thank you!
April

Science Win: Gene Therapy Helps Monkeys (and Possibly One Day Humans) See in Full Color!

carla published on September 17, 2009 in technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Dalton, a squirrel monkey, had gene therapy to correct his colorblindness. The image on the left is digitally altered to simulate what the scene would look like to a person (or monkey) with red-green color blindness.

(images via npr)

Good Morning, Friends!

After reading some of the incredible responses to the animal testing discussion SuperForester Jackson initiated, I had animals on the brain and spent the rest of my day reflecting upon the huge issue that is animal testing. Based upon the responses given by SuperForesters, there seemed to be a general consensus that animal testing is neither entirely “right” nor is it entirely “wrong”. Relatively speaking, if the human win (for example, saving a human life) outweighed a loss for (or of) an animal, animal testing seemed to be considered to be okay. I understand I’m generalizing a very complicated issue but bear with me for a second. When we think of animal testing, we usually think that something good for people equal something bad for animals. So last night I was thinking, surely there are examples where we can find a win for both humans and animals. A happy ending for a human can’t always be an unhappy one for an animal…right?

Later on, I found this article. Thanks to gene therapy, two male squirrel monkeys (all of which are naturally colorblind) are now able to see in full color.

To recap, all male squirrel monkeys are born with a type of color blindness in which they lack a receptor in their eyes that would let them see red and green. Female squirrel monkeys, on the other hand do have the receptor and can see the whole spectrum.

So researchers at the University of Washington developed a gene therapy technique to reprogram some of the color receptors in the male monkeys’ eyes. They did this despite many other scientists telling them that even if the adult male monkey had the receptor, its brain wouldn’t be able to read the signal. Five months later, those other scientists were proved wrong. In fact, the adult brains of the colorblind monkeys appeared ready to receive the new input and overall, this may prove to be a promising technique to cure colorblindness and a whole range of vision problems for humans.

This might not be the perfect example of both an animal and human win (of course the possible human win here is much greater than the ability for a couple of male squirrel monkeys to see in color) and some might even argue that the results for the monkeys go against nature, but if I were a male squirrel monkey and after a treatment was able to see the whole spectrum of colors, I’d think that was pretty awesome. And from what I could tell, I don’t think the monkeys were harmed in the process.

So I’ll take this one as an overall win.

Love to all,

Carla

Certified Humane

jackson published on August 18, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Hello All,

Just got an email from SuperForester Jon who wanted to let us know about Certified Humane, a company that ensures that farmed animals are treated humanely.

Take it away, Jon!


(photo via flickr user Mark Griffith)

“Last week, my family and I visited Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, VT, which is an amazing 1,400 acre working farm, National Historic Landmark, and nonprofit environmental education center.

It’s a truly beautiful place where we got to get really hands-on with the animals. Being there revived a conversation we’d been having for some time. Animals are truly spectacular and thoroughly worthy of our respect. It’s always such a pleasure to spend time watching them and interacting with them. But no matter how much I enjoy their company, I tend to…. eat them from time to time.

There are plenty of arguments for vegetarianism, but I’m one of the millions of people who choose to eat meat. At the same time, it’s supremely important to me to know that the meat I consume doesn’t cause the suffering of any sentient beings. Clearly, in typical factory farming, the well-being of the animals isn’t always the highest priority. Like many others, I don’t want to be a party to the mistreatment of animals just so I can enjoy a meal.

So the question becomes, how do I continue to consume meat in a way that doesn’t cause suffering? Wouldn’t it be great if there were an organization that monitored the well-being of farm animals to ensure that they are treated well?

Lo and Behold! Shelburne Farms is a member of Certified Humane, which is an extraordinary “consumer certification and labeling program.” Certified Humane requires farmers to produce their products––meat, eggs, dairy––with the welfare of the animals in mind. Check this out from their website:

“When you see the Certified Humane Raised & Handled label it means that an egg, dairy, meat or poultry product has been produced with the welfare of the farm animal in mind. Food products that carry the label are certified to have come from facilities that meet precise, objective standards for farm animal treatment.

QUALITY STANDARDS

A team of veterinarians and animal scientists developed the Animal Care Standards to ensure that producers and processors keep animals in conditions that have met high standards of animal care:
• Allow animals to engage in their natural behaviors
• Raising animals with sufficient space, shelter and gentle handling to limit stress
• Making sure they have ample fresh water and a healthy diet without added antibiotics or hormones”

Dozens of farms are Certified Humane, and according to the organization, “three out of four American consumers (75%) will choose food products certified as protecting animal care over those that are not.”

As programs like this grow, more animals will be able to live their lives in natural settings and will be allowed to engage in their natural behaviors, free from stress and pain. As long as people (including myself) do continue to eat meat, it makes me very happy to know there’s an organization out there whose efforts will help us to move forward sustainably and ethically. Go Shelburne Farms, and Go Certified Humane!!!