Making a Killing: How the ‘pest’ control industry profits from lack of regulation
Making a Killing: How the ‘pest’ control industry profits from lack of regulation
There’s big money in poisons. It’s a little-known fact that the global ‘pest’ control market is valued at more than $25 billion. As it is, the go-to solution is to reach for the poison, regardless of the pain and suffering that rodenticides cause to target and non-target wildlife alike. The current routine used is a cruel, agonising death for the animal targeted, and potentially for other animals too – including foxes, badgers, otters, owls and other birds of prey – who either consume poisons directly or eat creatures who have eaten the baits. As animal rights advocates, we urgently need to […]
Ethical Veganism as Protected Belief: What the European Court of Human Rights just affirmed
Ethical Veganism as Protected Belief: What the European Court of Human Rights just affirmed
This ECHR judgment matters for vegan advocacy because it provides a legal foundation for veganism as a protected belief. It recognizes opposing the exploitation of animals is an ethical and lifelong commitment, which can be as deep and as identity-forming as any conviction. The judgment also underscores a broader truth: the EU states cannot use procedural barriers to avoid its obligations to those in its care, and that vegan nutritional constraints must be considered. EMILIA A. LEESE: In a first, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) has held ethical veganism meets the required level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and […]
Vegan Parenting: When compassion gets called ‘indoctrination’
Vegan Parenting: When compassion gets called ‘indoctrination’
There is a difference between guilt and conscience, between shame and moral awareness, between indoctrination and age-appropriate truth-telling. We should be careful about using ‘indoctrination’ only for minority beliefs. A child raised to hunt, fish, eat animals, attend rodeos, visit zoos, or see some animals as pets and others as products is being taught values. A child raised vegan is also being taught values. Children are allowed to have moral feelings. They are allowed to feel sad when they learn that animals are hurt, to ask why humans do the things we do, to object to cages, to say no, and […]
