Sometimes you really want to ask people in supermarkets not to buy cows milk, hens eggs and animal flesh. Leaving pamphlets is not quite as direct as showing someone photos of your Hen Friends and beggign them not to buy eggs or flesh, but sneaking in Animal Rights pamphlets is *slightly* less likely to get you thrown in jail :-) I use the Boston Vegan Associations pamphlet.
Pak n Save
The plain clothes security guard walked past me just as I came to the "Meat magazine" promotional pamphlet rack empty in the animal flesh section!
Countdown
Males who would be killed for being "useless" in the "dairy" industry, ten dollars is more money than the slaughterhouses would pay to buy them.
"A Southland shearer cost New Zealand a test series victory and sliced off the side of his finger, but then he went to "war" to win his final battle.
Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford said he blamed himself for New Zealand losing the fourth and final test against Wales at the Corwen Shears in North Wales on Sunday morning (New Zealand time).
His nightmare shear resulted in the test series being squared 2-2, but he bounced back to give his bloody best and won the final event of the New Zealand team's six-week British tour.
During the final test, Stratford hooked a flank, cutting a lamb and incurring a penalty big enough to allow the Welsh to square the series, he said.
The New Zealand team were ahead until the lamb got cut, he said.
Stratford also sliced the side of his finger off during the test, but carried on to compete in the 20-lamb Corwen Shears open final after a pep talk from New Zealand teammate John Kirkpatrick about the penalty.
"Johnny said it happens to everyone, and he said when you go to war, you are always going to get some casualties."
The New Zealand team had won all the open finals on tour, with Kirkpatrick winning five and David Fagan three, going into the final competition.
Kirkpatrick said three words to Stratford before the team went up to shear: "Lets attack it".
Stratford shore the 20 lambs in about 12 minutes and won the £750 (NZ$1450) first prize. "Everything sort of clicked. It was great."
Shearing Sports New Zealand spokesperson Julianne Buick said she had never seen Stratford shear so fast and the atmosphere was electric."
Filthy looking sheep covered in dirt and their own waste, being thrown about on a wooden floor by people paid to work as quickly as possible. We wouldnt throw a labrador sized dog against a hard wooden floor, why would we do the same to these terrified sheep? Why would we want to wear their wool?
Just another one of the awful things we do to Other Animals, see my blog post listing various ways we harm other animals here. Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals : "From The Bodies of Babes"
One of the most brutal examples of Non Veganism I can think of, "tailing" sheep, cutting their tails. I lost a friend who lives in the area, Ohai, where my Great Grand mother Rose Young was born due to describing the scenes as "brutal". While I wish I still had my friend, and I apologised for upsetting her, how else can you describe the scenes shown here, typical everyday animal harm, with a reporter there to show "rural Southland life". Wikipedia article briefly explaining "tailing", cutting their tails, often their testicles off to "prevent possible infection/masculine hormones which make ITS flesh taste bad"
"Southland Times photographerNicole Gourleyspent a cold October day with a tailing gang on Mt Linton Station, near Ohai in Western Southland.
With a little under 60,000 lambs to get through in three weeks, the gangs work hard and fast in less-than-pleasant conditions, no stopping for morning tea!
"IT's" lamb, *her* baby! This is a tragic photo
What a terrified expression of utter fear, thrashing across the ground, among the other cut off tails after suffering his or her tail being burnt off
They work tirelessly, earning their wage. Nicole realised it took a tough man to work non-stop in the mud and rain, cutting pieces out of lambs' ears and soldiering on when the smell of cooked lambs tail filled the air.
No matter how hard they tried to convince her, she could not be encouraged to have a turn. She'd worked out tailing was not for her."
My uncle Michael Young (unique name!) was a part time writer who had works included in school journals. It was always rather neat reading aloud a story you knew your very own uncle had written :-)
My uncle was a rather unusual man, with quite a few run ins with the law over the years, but he was always very nice to me when I visited him in Christchurch, or when staying with my Grandmother, who lived in Nelson, then Ashburton. He died a few years ago of cancer.
Uncle Michael 2004 at my Grandmothers house in Ashburton
Listen to the audiobook version of "A Good Use For Cobwebs", a violent tale of a man killing bird, who uses human bones to build a fence of skeletons. This story is mostly English, telling a story about native New Zealand Maori legend, with Maori words included throughout. As published in School Journal Part 2 Number 2 1993
A few days later we hear of "Alliance Group" (slaughterhouses) promoting "lamb and beef", at the rate of 200g of animal flesh per athlete per day, 1.4KG per week, far more than the "less than 500g" recommended by the New Zealand Cancer Society
"Southland rowers Storm Uru and Nathan Cohen will represent New Zealand at the London Olympics fuelled on a diet of New Zealand beef and lamb.
The former James Hargest College students got on board with Alliance Group to promote the Pure South export brand."
...
"“As a Southlander, I appreciate how important lamb and beef exports are to our farmers and to the country.
"On top of that, I enjoy eating New Zealand lamb whenever I'm home, and whenever I can when travelling overseas.”
Uru will row in the men's lightweight double sculls with Peter Taylor at the Olympics.
Alliance Group marketing manager Murray Brown said only Pure South beef and lamb would be fed to the Kiwi rowing team in the buildup and during their Olympic campaign in London.
The rowing team nutritionist had 200 grams of either boneless beef fillet, sirloin steaks or lamb cuts in the athletes' diets each day before and during the Olympics, Brown said."
Friday night is when I come home to find a copy of the Southland Express and The Eye community newspapers in my letterbox. Todays copy of The Eye (27/7/2012) had a cover featuring not one but SEVEN Southlanders attending the 2012 Olympics, well done guys!
Geiger Hen, Whole Hen, Yellow Hen in the garden with The Eye
Fantastically, theres a paid features section about health, including information from the Cancer Society....who had a REALLY interesting health tip!
Tip 4, "Eat plant foods eg fruit and vegetables ( 5+ a day) whole-grains, pasta beans & nuts" is followed by tip 5 ....... "Eat less than 500g of meat a week, limit intake of processed meats"
WOW! The actual freaking Cancer Society of New Zealand are now advising people to reduce eating the flesh of other animals, for health reasons?!?! We've come a long way from the days where it were believed you NEEDED to harm and kill Other Animals to be healthy, now that our leading bodies are officially stating to "Eat less than 500g of meat a week", putting animal flesh in the same list as tobacco smoke, salt, sugar, fat, alcohol and Ultraviolet tanning beds :-) Try as that little "Iron Brion" abomination might to spread corporate propaganda in our primary schools, now the actual Cancer Society is stepping up to the plate, advocating animal flesh consumption be reduced for health reasons!
"My name is Iron Brion and I'm eight years old. You might be wondering how I got to be so big and strong. Well I'll let you in on a little secret...I eat lots of New Zealand beef and lamb.
Beef and lamb are packed full of many important vitamins and minerals and make an important contribution to the healthy, balanced diet of all Kiwi kids. I eat lean beef and lamb at least three to four times a week to make sure I get nature's power pack, which I need to be healthy and strong. By eating beef and lamb, I have enough energy to run around and play sports and to work hard at school"
This is *fantastic* to see, certainly, when I was at school growing up, we were told eating animal flesh was pretty much essential to being happy and healthy, and now the actual Cancer Society, far from an "Animal Rights" organisation are actually asking for us to reduce the amount of animal flesh we consume? This is terrific to have as an example of being a happy and healthy person who cares for Other Animals, for being Vegan :-)
I wont ever again criticise our local branch of the Cancer Society for having no male toilets (I visited recently for my work), there are two "ladies" toilets, and a token wheelchair access/"unisex" toilet just in case that other 50% of the New Zealand population (those in wheelchairs) needs to stop by :-)
Also included in The Eye were an advert for the local group of Hare Krishnas, nice people! On my recent visit to see how they were, I enquired to see if their advertised "Free Veg Food" (with animal secretions) could be Free Vegan Food in future :-) While I remain an Atheist, they were very friendly and welcoming indeed, very kind hearted.
A local "dairy farmer" is also entered in the 2012 Olympic games
We'll have to get Russell and Noelle training so a local VEGAN can attend the next Olympics! :-) ( I was useless!)
Click to see our Invercargill Vegan Society group 2012 Surf to City funrun blogpost
I've sent an email to the main local newspaper The Southland Times thanking the Cancer Society for including reducing animal flesh in their health tips, and providing links to more resources such as the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, who advocate for Veganism as a health decision.
"The latest Invercargill Eye featured health advice on page 12, where the Cancer Society advised us with "10 tips for good health".
"1. Be smoke-free 2. Be physically active 3. Be a healthy weight 4. Eat plant foods eg fruit and vegetables (5+ a day), whole-grains, pasta beans and nuts 5. Eat less than 500g of meat a weak, limit intake of processed meats " …
As a Vegan, advocating for the non harm, non killing of Other Animals, I'm thrilled to see avoiding the flesh of other animals moving up the axis of evil charts, as we increasingly find the health issues linked to eating animal flesh and fats.
Our monthly Invercargill Vegan Society potlucks always include sweet desserts (Custard Square, Lemon Cherry cupcakes, Chocolate fudge and Fruit loaf), but the main focus of our meal is on wholesome vegan dishes, such as Pumpkin Kumara patties, Gnocchi with basil pasta sauce, Fettuccine noodles, Chickpea curry, pastry parcels of mushroom, herbs and lentils which were our July banquet.
You can see the fine food at our July potluck and earlier events at http://www.invsoc.org.nz/events
Southland has a very high rate of bowel cancer, you can find more information at www.beatbowelcancer.org.nz and www.pcrm.org who advocate Veganism for health reasons.
Glad to see the Cancer Society are not yet swallowing that tripe from our friends at the "meat" council :-)
Go Vegan! :-)
Jordan Wyatt
INVERCARGILL VEGAN SOCIETY
"all animals are equal"
http://www.invsoc.org.nz"
244 words, the newspaper prefers letters under 250, while I usually prefer to type for an hour or two :-)
I'll let you know if my letter is included in the newspaper :-)
*** UPDATE ****
A few days later we hear of "Alliance Group" (slaughterhouses) promoting "lamb and beef", at the rate of 200g of animal flesh per athlete per day, 1.4KG per week, far more than the "less than 500g" recommended by the New Zealand Cancer Society
"Southland rowers Storm Uru and Nathan Cohen will represent New Zealand at the London Olympics fuelled on a diet of New Zealand beef and lamb.
The former James Hargest College students got on board with Alliance Group to promote the Pure South export brand."
...
"“As a Southlander, I appreciate how important lamb and beef exports are to our farmers and to the country.
"On top of that, I enjoy eating New Zealand lamb whenever I'm home, and whenever I can when travelling overseas.”
Uru will row in the men's lightweight double sculls with Peter Taylor at the Olympics.
Alliance Group marketing manager Murray Brown said only Pure South beef and lamb would be fed to the Kiwi rowing team in the buildup and during their Olympic campaign in London.
The rowing team nutritionist had 200 grams of either boneless beef fillet, sirloin steaks or lamb cuts in the athletes' diets each day before and during the Olympics, Brown said."
Left, a custom shirt made by Sam Tucker in Hamilton NZ, a comedy making dark of the "beef+lamb" New Zealand "meat council" and their rather offensive ads featuring New Zealand sports women dancing to a song written and performed by a Vegetarian, to promote the idea that women need iron, that it only comes from the blood and bodies of Others. Episode 64 of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals had an interview with vegan friend Zimena, about her daughter having to sit through an hour of corporate propaganda in her primary school, a mascot called "Iron Brion" about how eating cows and sheep makes us strong.
To the right, Hellhound Hotdogs, a fantastic Australian street cart selling Vegan hotdogs! Well done Justin, we look forward to meeting you here in Invercargill early next month!
We're already looking forward to next months potluck, which may be not too far away, when Justin of Hellhound Hotdogs visits Invercargill, we'll hold a special potluck in his honour! :-)
Here are the Hen Houses where my Hen Friends live. To the right of this photo, there is a brick building with two rooms, one where the Hens roost up high or sleep in nesting boxes, and a second for dust bathing in the sun, theres always dry dirt inside this room regardless of the outside weather :-)
In front, connected by a chain link fence corridor keeping them safe from cats, the glasshouse.
A wire flap comes down to drop over the gap above the door, keeping it fully cat proof.
Behind me, the room where they sleep, to the left the dry dust bath room, in front, the glasshouse
Glasshouse, which always has plants growing inside, suitable for Hens :-)
A soaker hose (which sprinkles out water every direction through pin prick holes) keeps the plants watered
They live in the backyard during the day, all doors are open, but the enclosed corridor from glasshouse to brick buildings is a safe option in case there is bad weather outside that could prevent them from exploring the garden, ie its snowed a couple times. Cats were a real danger and killed several of the bantam hens, the Rescued Hens being larger are ok. Sometimes if we're going out, I close the Hens in the glasshouse and brick buildings, with the brick building door mostly closed, the wire door secure. This lets them spend time in the glasshouse before it gets dark, and then they can go back to their nesting places safe from cats, before we get home.
