12. Final Thoughts

Semester is Over

The semester has now come to an end and I can say that I truly enjoyed this class. While I did know a lot of the information presented to me already, it was nice to get to see the connections that could be made through animals. The one assignment I truly enjoyed was the paper we had to write, where we had to find a connection between animals and another industry.

(Animal Rights Action)

I chose to write about animals in factory farms and farm workers. It truly opened my eyes to the cruelty that is going on in my own grocery store. The fact that this class allowed me to connect animal exploitation with so many other areas of exploitation was a concept I truly appreciated, as most classes are not designed to make you think of the intersectionality between things. 

I would recommend anyone to take this class. This class is not about teaching you how to become vegan but to ask yourself "what am I eating?", this class will not teach you where to buy cruelty free clothing, but why you should consider buying it, this class will not teach you about woman's rights but why as humans we should be concerned about the welfare of all, this class will not stop you from going to the circus but inform you of what truly happens behind the camera, this class will not stop you from buying a dog at a pet store but allow you to have the knowledge of why adopting is the best option!

(Teacher Angel Ask)

Finally, this class will not tell you how to live your life but show you why living cruelty free is just a little bit sweeter at the end of the day. 

11. Hunting and Wildlife Management

IT IS MY RIGHT!

You are right! By law we are all allowed to hunt for a living but we must due it responsibly. This week we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about hunting and wildlife management. This is where I get to blog about my experience in my Conservation class and well as my experience in this class. 

(First People)

Again, the HSUS shows how they are working with hunters to try and educate them on better ways to hunt. My conservation class is all about finding ways to help preserve the species of animals by finding effective tools to do so. There has been a lot of controversy with those who do not believe in the work of conservationist, as they believe animals should be free. Most people do not realize that this is the ultimate goal of conservationists. To reintroduce all species into the wild and find ways for humans and animals to co-exist. 

(PBS)

This semester I did a behavior project on the Gray Wolf. Every week, I went to the D.C. National Zoo and do my study. I learned a lot about the wolf and the problems it faces out in the wilderness. In 1995, the Gray Wolf was reintroduced back into Yellowstone National Park after being taken into captivity for many years. Right away there was conflict between the humans and wolfs. 

Attached is a small part of my essay on the Gray Wolf and its conflicts....

Depredation of livestock was the primary justification for eradicating the wolf from virtually all

of the United States. Other serious threats to the wolves are human encroachment into wolf habitat. This leads to habitat fragmentation, where wolves might have to travel across lands with varying degrees of protection, cross highways, through developed areas and across large portions of private land, potentially containing livestock . This makes it hard for the gray wolf to adequately expand into all areas of suitable habitat, which is vital to sustainable recovery of wolves.

In the late 20^th century, greater tolerance, legal protection, and other factors allowed their range to expand in areas of the United States. Today, listed on the endangered list, they only inhabit around 36% of their suitable habitat. In 2011, wolves across the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes region were stripped of their protection under the ESA. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to remove all the ESA protection for nearly all gray wolves across America 

Many biologist and conservationist oppose this measure as they feel it would derail wolf recovery efforts made through out many years. One of the main reasons is that they are concerned for the long-term genetic health of subpopulations. The gray wolf is truly a magnificent animal with much to offer to the world. Besides its interesting pack structure, the gray wolf has shown to be vital for the sustainability of other species. While there are those feel they have the right to control the wolves population with their own measures, without special conservation efforts to help keep this species thriving and alive, there would not only be a huge impact on the wolf itself, but the effects would trickle down to other species in the food chain, even to vegetation.

Colby (grey) and Crystal (White)

After the talk we had in class about hunting and wildlife management, I realized that there needs to be more innovating ways too protect species. For example, recently a study was done to stop wolves from entering into farmers land. Since farmers feel that the only way to protect their crops and animals is to kill the wolf, biologist found a way to use chemical to keep wolves out of their territory. Wolves by nature as very territorial animals and will not enter into the space of another pack. Biologist used feces, urine and a dead wolf's paw to create a border to keep the wolves away....and it actually worked! WIN-WIN!!!!

(Minnesota Public Radio)

The HSUS, like many other organizations are finding other creative ways to help conserve these species while still allowing farmers to make a living. This is why I do support conservation. There are aspects of conservation that I do not necessarily care for but at the end of the day, I feel that they do more good than harm. 

10. Puppy Mills

PUPPIES!

Who does not like a cute, little, cuddly puppy (if you don't we can't be friends!)? any dogWhen I was a little girl, I always wanted to parents to buy me a puppy from the puppy shop near my house. I begged and begged but never got a puppy. In a way, I am glad my parents never bought me a puppy even if the reason was because of the huge responsibility. 

Not impressed with our 6 hour car ride

At the age of 10, my parents decided to finally allow my sister and me to get a dog. So we went to the shelter. This is were we got our dog, Oliver. 13 years later and Oliver is still right beside me (even as write this blog entry) like the first day we got him. I truly love my dog unconditionally, borderline unhealthy but hey, he's family. I see the love I have for my "mutt" and wonder, why are people not content with any dog (or cat)? Why do some people want the best breed out there and are willing to even pay thousands of dollars to do so?

Sleeping in til noon...how rude!

My dog is now 13 and we have never had any major health problem thankfully. Yet, my friend who bought her pure breed dog is going through cancer at the age of 6. This is a common thing for her dogs breed, and it is likely due to the amount of breeding this type of dog goes through.

(River Head Loca)

All the dogs we see in pet store windows more than likely came from a breeder, a puppy mill. What most people do not know is what goes on behind the scenes of these puppy mills. Since we talked about it in class, I will attach a short video to recap. 

The pain and suffering that dogs go through so that someone can go buy a cute little puppy is truly horrifying. In a lot of cases little is done to control what goes on behind the scenes of this business and most of the times no one is held responsible. This is why there is a huge move to stop these dog (and cat) breeding facilities and push for adoption. 

Every year millions of animals are euthanized due to lack of space and resources to care for all the animals people toss aside. Many of the animals in shelters are those being used to breed in puppy mills after they no longer serve a purpose. If all animals are capable of showing the same amount of love and affection, why not adopt. Why are adopt rate not going up? 

Below is a campaign on why we should adopt. 

I pledge to never buy any pet and always resort to adoption!

9. Organizing and Attending a Protest

BOO RINGLINGS!

As a class, we decided that instead of doing smaller project, we would work as a whole to protest the circus. I have never attended a protest before so I was very excited but did not have a clue where to begin. We were very lucky to have guest speakers throughout the semester that let us in on what to expect and how to prepare for the circus.

We formed small groups in the class to help coordinate our cause.

The following were the some of the groups

• Pace Painters
• Protesters
• Media
• Reaching out to PETA for supplies
• Creating Banners

The class before the first week of protesting I learned how to face paint and made signs to bring to the protest. We wanted to face paint as a way to draw families in. This way we could talk to parents about the important issues while there kids got some cool FREE face paint!

Signs in Spanish

Unfortunately due to weather and to the police we were not able to face paint. The first Friday I went, the police were very serious about us staying on grasses areas. This is because they claimed we were fire hazards. Yes, a fire hazard outside but we had to respect their rules if we wanted to continue protesting.

We had a lot of reactions from people both Fridays I attended. The first Friday was very busy with families and a great day to spread the message. Most people who walked by us looked at our banners and you can see were in some way affected by what they saw. Like we discussed in class, once the image is engraved in your head, it is there forever.

We did have once family tell us to find a cure for cancer instead of protesting. I argue that they are both causes worth fighting for. There was one event that really marked me the first Friday. While I am not a mother, I do not like to see children upset. One family walked by our protest and could immediately tell that the children got very upset by our pictures. Next thing I hear is a little girl crying and telling her mom "NO I DONT WANT TO GO, THEY HURT THE ANIMALS! I DONT WANT TO GO". 

To see this little girl so upset broke my heart but what the mother did broke my heart even more. The mother proceeded to give us the death stare (we all know what is is) and yell at her daughter to calm down because "WE ALREADY PAID FOR THE TICKETS AND YOU ARE GOING". Her daughter continued to say she did not want to go in but the mom did not care. I don't know about you but if my child is that visibly upset I would not subject her to the show. Forget about my ticket money, my daughters happiness and wellbeing is more important that money.

NCLC 475 class plus guests!

The following Friday was very slow...the crowd was very small. This was amazing because maybe just maybe people are realizing how awful the zoo really is. I can say that hopefully next year I am able to attend more protests since it is a very peaceful way of getting our intended message across. 

8. Animals as Entertainment

Your Entertainment is Their Pain

This week we had Lindsey come in and talk to the class about animals used in entertainment. We also read a interesting article on greyhounds. I thought I would blog about it since we did not discuss the readings in class. 

Since I was already pretty informed on animals in the entertainment industry, I was really shocked to see the birthing video that was shown to us of the elephant mother being restrained as she was giving birth and immediately her baby is removed from her. I already talked about in another journal about how I feel about this subject but to see the video, hit home...again.

Raced to DEATH?

As a avid dog lover, to read about the life of a racing dog hit home. I would never put my dog through horrible conditions these animals go through. One of my friends has a rescued greyhound, recovered from a racing company. I never thought to have a conversation with her until reading this article and getting to know the story of her dog, Reggie.

Not Reggie, but he to could have suffered the same fate

Reggie was saved from the horrible fate of euthanasia after his time was "done" racing. I did not realize the huge amount of greyhound adopting communities around the world. I never realized how big of a "sport" racing is. 

Reggie lived a horrible life, where he was either being trained or kept in a cage with a muzzle. Now because of all the horrifying this Reggie went through he has arthritis and has a fear of grass. Yes, this poor dog never stepped on grass. What makes it acceptable for humans to keep animals in entertainment in cages? Again we go back to the first weeks of class when we were discussing animal liberation. Don't animals have the right to be free? 

(America Aljazeera)

Unfortunately, if you are the "owner" of a dog, as long as you are providing it shelter and food, it is very hard to say "hey do not race your dog". In the case of Reggie, his former owner could keep him in a cage all day as this is not breaking the law. Can you imagine being stuck in a cage almost your whole life and for it to be perfectly legal. 

REGGIE!!!!

I have grown to love Reggie now since he is so brave (even with his fear of grass).  Reggie was adopted in England from a Greyhound Rescue Center. The biggest racing state in the United States is Florida. 

7. Animal Testing

Animal Testing

Horrific Animal Tests

For this class session we had a visit from Alka Chadna from PETA. She came in to talk to us about animal testing. While I knew much of the information presented about animal testing it was very interesting to hear about the legal aspect of animals testing. The big question that was presented to the class was, if we are different than animals, why do we test products for our use on them?

I worked in a pharmacy for 4 years, where I was exposed to drugs that helped people stay healthy. While I can say that there are drugs that people were on that could have been prevented, there were patients with chronic diseases like cancer or lupus. All of these patients where on many prescription drugs that, I am sure were 99.9% tested on animals. These patients would have never had access to these medications if they were not at one point tried out on animals to see the side effect and validity. 

This is where I come at a crossing point with animal testing. While I am completely against animal testing on household products and beauty products (really, making dogs inhale cigarette fumes to see what would happen to us?...you'll die, thats what!), what if I had cancer...would I refuse a medication?

(The Petition Site)

To put it simply, no. I have meet many vegans who say that they would refuse medications tested on animals for ethical reason and I respect there stance. I just do now know if I could completely refuse a drug if my life depended on it. 

This does not mean that I do not think that we need alternatives to animal testing. I am sure that there are ways (Alka discussed some in class) to genetically modify, for example a cancerous cell and test it in a vile. Yet, with all our technology why do we not do this yet. Is it because of money? Many would say that this is the reason why. That is is is just simply cheaper to test a drug on an animal than start over research of many years on new "test" subjects (not animals). That is would derail the work of years and years of research.

My closing statement is...Well is it not worth it?  Are we that selfish that we would rather save a buck than stop the pain of millions of animals?

6. Garment Production

Where Does My Clothes Come From?

Before being aware of what animal rights were, I never batted my eyes to where my clothes came from. I never questioned if something was leather, if it was wool, if a child produced it, or if it was outsourced. The horrifying truth is that most people around the world continue to either not simply care about where their clothes come from or are unfortunately unaware.

(The Star)

The first time I became aware of where my clothes came from and what is was made of, was when I heard of child labor. I must have been in high school when I heard this term. The more I became aware of child labor I saw a parallel between the unfair conditions children (and adults) work in and the horrendous ways my clothes is produced.

These are horrible working conditions were children and grown adults are denying basic rights like safety. Usually for cents a day, they work extremely long hours to only continue to live in a cycle of poverty. Many who are injured while at work never receive proper care as they are scared to ask for help as they fear job loss or are denied it.

(eccouterre)

Unfortunately, many of these children never finish their education and the cycle continues. While in other parts of the world, multi-billion dollar corporations continue to profit of their "slave" labor.

Now lets look into our actual clothing...what is is made of?

(PETA)

Many of us have this image in our head that leather comes from cows that are dead already, wool from the sheep grazing on farms or your jackets but this is farm from the truth. If your clothing has some type of animal product in it....well it probably caused an animal a lot of pain.

Below are some videos of what are clothes is really made of.....

Many people do not know that their "cow" leather is actually dog or cat skin.

Yea...These sheep are not living on green pasture like you thought they did?!