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Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals
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Episode 17"Get Some Kiwi In Ya!"Hello and welcome to Episode 17 of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals.I'd like to say hello to one of my friends, Gordon, who has listened to many of my episodes and sometimes leaves comments on my blog. I'd love to hear from you by email Gordon. Also, just as I were planning this episode, a new email showed up from Randi from Ohio in the United States of America. Its great to think that people all around the world listen to what I say on my cheap mic, sitting in my bedroom. I've seen downloads from Ireland, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, although most of my listeners are in America. I love hearing from anyone who listens to me ramble on, my email is j a y w o n t d a r t @gmail.com . Following on from Australia day, and its Lamb meat promotion, I've named this episode after a recent New Zealand slogan for bacon. The brand is called "kiwi", and the ads ask us to make videos that represents New Zealand culture, no doubt the meat company is trying to link bacon with being a "New Zealand" activity, like the Australia Day Lamb ads do for "australian-ism"I'd like to mention a recent story about a farmer who would like to, in his words,"commercialize" a New Zealand endangered species, the Weka. Weka are flightless birds that are endemic to New Zealand, they look somewhat like a thin kiwi. Weka are known for being very curious, they like to grab any shiny items they find. As usual for many of our native flightless birds, they are killed by predators such as cats.I'd think most New Zealanders would have vaguely heard of Weka, but they are not one of our most well known native animals such as Kea, Kokako, or Kiwi. I'd liked to have added the Maori word for the "New Zealand Wood Pigeon", but I always screw it up, Kereru.Its currently illegal to kill Weka, on the mainlands of New Zealand. And now, a Farmer would like to, well, farm Weka for their meat, to save them of course.Now this next bit is nuts, I've heard similar claims before from slaughterhouse workers who claim "peta members" turn up wanting to try killing animals. I find it all very unlikely.I've also noticed more people who eat animal products explain how meat can be "organic" and "free range" and all kinds of other crazy Happy Meat labels. I really think those terms do more to make people feel better about hurting animals, than they do for the actual animals who suffer. Hell, the SPCA members here sometimes wear clothing that says "SPCA guaranteed cruelty free", but the SPCA has its own brand for meat that I've seen, "Freedom farms" or "SPCA approved"....it seems that cruel acts only matter when they are done to cats and dogs, who cares about the millions of pigs each year, when theres shocking cruelty performed to a cat or two each week on the news...The Farmer is about interviewed, and is quite cranky about the New Zealand Department of Conservation, calling them "communists" and wanting a "monopoly" and all kinds of other crazy rambling. Honestly, I didnt know rural New Zealanders could be so worked up about "communists", although I guess we do have a tendency to label things "politically correct" and whine on about all the damn "bureaucrats", and also about all the "dole bludgers", people who are on welfare, even though New Zealand only has a 6 percent unemployment rate, you'd think that every single nonfarmer were a communist who lived off the farmers taxes the way some talk.I've got a good quote from Federated Farmers, they are a farming group that lobbies the government I guess. They come out in support of farmers on basically every issue thats contentious, such as "cow cubicles" or keeping pigs in sow ...
Episode 17 Get Some Kiwi In Ya
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Just waiting for my replacement Apple Keyboard to arrive... I'm using a $25 store brand USB keyboard....and its driving me nuts....it flexes as I type...*AND* it has a WINDOWS key, not a Command key! Nooooo! I cant let it taint my pure podcast script! :)Hope to have another episode out soon!
New Episode soon!
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Heres the picture Francis Glass sent me for Episode 16 Australia Day Lamb Ads
Australia Day Lamb Ad, Picture Francis Mentioned
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Episode 16Australia Day Lamb AdsHello and welcome to episode sweet sixteen of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals. I'd like to talk about an Australian holiday, aptly named Australia Day. Just to be clear, I'm a New Zealander, we are not part of Australia no matter how much Australia wishes it could steal our best actors and pavlova, a meringue type dessert made by beating egg whites. Australia and New Zealand have grappled since the dawn of time who came up with the crusty white blob, its known as a national food of BOTH countries. Wikipedia is currently saying New Zealand seems to be the origin, although Wikipedia is easy to "correct". Frankly, I never liked pavlova, or "pav" as its often called, and I dont miss it now that I'm vegan. I have two good friends to include later on, Sam Tucker, a fellow New Zealand vegan and Francis Glass, an Australian Vegan who was interviewed by Elizabeth Collins on NZ Vegan Podcast episodes 34 and 35. I've mentioned before "world famous in New Zealand", a feeling that what New Zealand has to be proud of is often not known outside the country, we have a related issue where we feel our best things get stolen by larger countries, ESPECIALLY BY AUSTRALIA! On both sides of the tasman, Australia and New Zealand mention this in advertising. It seems that Australian and New Zealand ads are more laid back than many other countries. I'm only mentioning our supposed rivalry, as its mentioned in many of our ads, I've been to Australia and love the country and its people. I wish New Zealand and Australia could be closer, we have similar cultures, and the land itself compliments each country. New Zealand is beautiful, with more rain, and greenery, and Australia is beautiful because of how hot it is, with the arid outback, and sandy beaches. We jest, but its only playful, as in these ads.Pharr Lap was a famous race horse, who was born in New Zealand but raced in Australia, both countries claimed him. When he died, parts of his body were kept in Australia, I believe they have his hide and his abnormally large heart, and I've seen his skeleton, in what looks like a large fish tank, at Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. Pharr Lap is mentioned in the Australia Day ads.One of our famous ads, about being "100% pure" and "100% green" was parodied in Australia, that sure, New Zealand is beautiful, lush and green with mountains and lakes and streams and green forests, but we have 0 airforce, 0 navy, 0 army to protect it, and that Australia could just waltz on down and claim the lot!Time to get to the point of this episode.I'm mentioning Australia Day because of a series of ads by Meat and Livestock Australia, MLA, who promote eating lamb on Australia Day as a thing REAL Australians do. To not eat lamb is said, in the ads, very bluntly, to be "unaustralian". I'm not making that up. I've found these ads to be annoying, as they fuel a culture, both here and in Australia, about being a "bloke",meat, barbecues, beaches, shorts, sports, beer, and being "un politically correct" and blaming "greenies" for everything thats wrong with the world. The ads do have some somewhat funny lines, and I'm not demanding they be pulled. That would only make us look "annoying", as if the stereotype of the bossy vegetarian, or vegan, were true. Perhaps the best way to combat these sorts of ads is to show the world that vegans are not "tree hugging greenies", and that we are all shapes and sizes, that athletes, and "real men" can, and are vegan. Australia Day itself has been protested in recent times, with some groups calling it "Invasion Day", meaning when the europeans arrived in the country. I'll let my Australian friend Francis explain this better soon, as he knows more about it than I do.Apparently these ads are...
Episode 16 Australia Day Lamb Ads
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Contains swearing.I'd mentioned to some of my farming friends that I talked about them on Episode 49 of NZ Vegan Podcast, and I got this response, telling me that one of the posters didnt want to be my friend anymore! :( boo hoo!"must be bl dy thick, doesnt get the hint he's not wanted i'll put it more planer, stick yer head up yer boyfreinds arse and stay in queer school,not with the inelligent part of nz"Look at all the mistakes! The more rural parts of NZ, Southland included, often have a "hate" for homosexual people.Well, if thats how "inelligent" people act, I'm glad to be a "thick" vegan :)
The best comeback against vegans ever!
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Episode 15 ViolenceHello and welcome to episode 15 of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals, Violence. Before I start, I'd love to mention one of my new friends who listens to my podcast,Sasha James, Thank you for emailing me Sasha. She mentions:"Recently at World Animal Day in Melbourne I was talking to some repsfrom Sea Shepherd and spoke to them about their activisim, and how it could beless confrontational...and whether confrontation that puts peopleslives in danger is the best method..."I love hearing from listeners, so please think about emailing me, withpositive or negative feedback, at jaywontdart@gmail.com"I was lucky enough to have been on episode 49 of NZ Vegan Podcast, the second time Elizabeth had let me appear on her show. I think you should check out all episodes of NZ Vegan, EXCEPT 11 and 49, where I appear! I never listen to my own voice, so they are the only two episodes I havnt heard, normally I listen to every episode of NZ Vegan a few times. For this episode, I've been allowed permission to use part of an Abolitionist Approach Commentary episode, Professor Gary Francione speaking about nonviolence. I've never met Professor Francione, we have never spoken except when he replied to a Tweet of mine, which was pretty cool, I took a screenshot of his reply. Professor Francione in no way lends support to my podcast, whatever I say on here is my own little opinion, and any clips of him I use are left in context, Im making it clear that what he says is not directed at anything I've asked him. I'm linking to the full Abolitionist Approach Commentary episode, and I urge you to listen to the full article. I've linked to the full episode in my shownotes that you can find on my blog or in the lyrics section of this podcast episode.I doubt that using physical violence against corporations, property, or individuals will help veganism become respected in society. I doubt it helps animals, I'd argue that with even a small number of violent extremists, Animal Rights gets slandered in the media, as if we are all this way. I've read stories from overseas, where a mother fed her children on weeds and water, and when the children were found by authorities and taken away, it was blamed on " a vegan diet ". There are so few vegans, at least where I live, that the actions of those covered in the mainstream media can be taken as the positions of the majority of vegans.I'd like to mention that I know people who kill animals. Some of my friends like to hunt, these large young men enjoy driving a big vehicle around remote areas at night, stunning rabbits with a spotlight, and shooting them. These friends, who I've grown up with, will laugh as they talk to each other about blowing the animals heads off, that they apparently saw one rabbit hop away frightened with its brain showing. I have another friend who told me about catching fish, and that one of the animals they caught wouldnt die. It was flopping around on the pavement, until they cut it with a knife. I saw the photos, of this fish being cut to finally kill it, it was awful, my friends holding a knife, the fish bleeding.Every day, I walk past a butcher, I hold my breath as I walk past, and only breath in next to a rubbish bin. This butcher, on the same block as I live, often has whats termed "home kill" happening, a small truck drives out to a farm, kills an animal, and brings it back to be processed at the butcher shop. I'll be walking past, and I'll be able to hear the circular saws, or even see the carcass hanging outside as they carve it up, next to the many rubbish bins. Blood flows across the pavement, and drains into the gutter. Theres a lot of mould on the path, sprouting from where the blood usually flows down onto the road.I also walk past a da...
Episode 15 Violence
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I took a screenshot of a WSPA adHow can there be a "humane" way to kill a cat, a dog, a cow, a sheep, a pig, a duck, a deer, a person...but not a "humane" way to kill a Whale?Whales are no more special than a cow or chicken. Please WSPA, promote Veganism!
WSPA: "there is no human way to kill a whale"
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Small StickersLarge StickersThe World Is Vegan, Yes I Want It!
The World Is Vegan, If You Want It Stickers Arrived!
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Amazing what can be found online, these are both free audiobooks. Absolutely two of my favourite books of all time, I CANNOT wait to listen to these as I work.1984Animal Farm
Free Audiobooks, 1984, Animal Farm by George Orwell
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Amazing group, I wish I could help out.Food Not Bombs Wikipedia PageFacebook grouphttp://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108288606746&ref=search&sid=691903819.1831106835..1
Found a "Food Not Bombs" Group in Dunedin!
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Episode 12 Benjamin Zephaniah, Dennis Kucinich, AvatarHello and welcome to episode 12 of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals, Benjamin Zephaniah, Dennis Kucinich and Avatar.My first story is about Benjamin Zephaniah, I love his name. His surname is spelt " z or "zee" for the uncultured, e p h a n i a h ". Zephaniah is one of the most interesting Vegans that I know of. I like mentioning him, as he breaks all kinds of stereotypes of what vegans look like. Hes an African Englishman, a rastafarian poet, AND hes vegan! I love it. I've known about Zephaniah, for a few years, but I've only recently started watching videos of him online. On the Animal Rights and Wrongs podcast I listen to, linked to in my notes, a Zephaniah poem was played recently. Here it is.I thought it was clever.I have some other audio of Benjamin Zephaniah, theres a great video about Veganism called Truth Or Dairy. Its somewhat outdated now, its from sometime in the early 90s I assume, its hilarious to see the clothing worn, and the music is odd, the information itself is still relevant. I've linked to Truth Or Dairy in my notes, I'll play a few parts of it now. In this part, Zephaniah mentions how much he likes fake leather products, I've always hated them, why would I want to look like Im wearing leather? I've always thought leather was ugly, a sort of cross between rubber and vinyl, I dont find it attractive. Ok, from here on it mentions a bunch of people I havnt heard of before. The best one, about the only one from the list I knew, was right at the end, Yuri Geller, the guy who claims to bend spoons using his mindSo I hope you see the full video, I've linked to it in my notes that you can see in the lyrics section of this podcast, or on my blog, coexisting with nonhuman animals . blogspot.com.Another interesting story I've found was Dennis Kucinich, an American vegan who ran for presidential election, who spoke briefly about veganism in a recent review. Heres an extract of that part.Its great to see him mentioning veganism, although I've heard him other times mentioning in a speech "all americans deserve to know the meat we eat came from animals that were healthy and lived happy lives". The last thing I'd like to mention is the movie Avatar. I thought it was a great movie, although I could only see it in 2D, not 3D, which is sort of like watching The Wizard Of Oz on a black and white television.However, there were a few things that really bothered me. The native alien people in Avatar live "at one" with nature. They believe in literal spirits in everything, and everything is literally connected together, no doubt through some kind of USB and WIFI. But, they do hunt animals, and they have a ritual that they say after killing an animal. They shoot animals with bows and arrows, and then actually say something like "oh brother, i respect your life, i honour your being, you will become one with The People". Unreal. The People of course being the hunters, what a strange way to say "we are going to eat you", as if its some spiritual ceremony with the animal as the special invited guest, as well as the main course.I was disappointed that the big pure aliens are not vegan, I sort of assumed they would be since they are meant to be "better than dirty humans" in every way environmentally. A lot of Avatar can come across as climate change propaganda, but still, the aliens are not vegan. I like Lord of the Rings, I've always imagined that the Elves were vegan. Even before I were vegan, I just couldnt imag...
Episode 12 Benjamin Zephaniah, Dennis Kucinich, Avatar
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" Running a sausage sizzle is tough when you are a vegetarian, but that is the sort of sacrifice a scout will make to get to a jamboree.It's a sacrifice 14-year-old Pip Prouting was willing to make.Pip is one of 11 Southland scouts who have packed their bags for the 22nd Australian Jamboree at Cataract Lake, just south of Sydney, which will be held from this Saturday to January 15.The group of nine boys and two girls, along with Pip's scout-leader father Mike, flew out last night.After 18 months of fundraising – during which Pip and her father estimated they sold about 3500 sausages outside The Warehouse – the time had finally come to head across the ditch."http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/3198447/Vegetarian-scouts-trip-aided-by-sausages
"Vegetarian Scouts Trip Aided By Sausages" Newspaper
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Dennis Kucinich, the vegan who ran for US President! Kucinich was interviewed for reddit, unfortunately, the super hot Elizabeth Kucinich wasnt with him :( Straight to the Vegan part!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfIkay4PMhwFull Interviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whcKWF4QZoI
Dennis Kucinich interviewed by Reddit
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywontdart/sets/72157622971036034/EDIT: MORE PHOTOS HERE, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywontdart/sets/72157622983995776/ , FINAL TALLY, 6 LIGHT, 1 DARK CHICKS!I dont know how many we have for sure, there were 10 eggs, at leasttwo, one "blonde", one "dark". There could be more, Ms Hen hasntmoved yet and I dont want to force her aside.Also, the first "Wandering Ringtail" Damselflies of the year :)http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywontdart/4173583810/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywontdart/4172826227/I use a photo of one on my hand for this podcast's logoHope you've had a great day :)
Photos of day old baby chickens :)
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What a nice thing eh? Under that headline, Id suspect maybe a bunch of children brought their animals for a "show and tell", with a school etc charging admission? Nope, "Cardrona Valley rabbits were caught on the hop as they were rounded up as the signature ingredient for "Conie Casserole" at the Cardrona Village Fair yesterday.""We reckon there is a market for bunnie burgers, she said."http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/3131212/Rabbits-do-their-bit-for-playgroundI covered a "dead rabbit throwing contest" on my podcast,( http://coexistingwithnonhumananimals.blogspot.com/2009/10/episode-2-strife-after-death-using-dead.html ), might have to cover this too.
"Rabbits do their bit for playground"
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I'd like to start a meme, for Vegan Podcasters to post new episode's on twitter using the " #veganpodcast " hash tag. This way, people interested in Vegan Podcasts can just click the hashtag and see all other vegan podcasts! It should be a good way to find new podcasts, and will always be "alive and growing", as old podcasts that are no longer updated will not be mentioned.Thank you to anyone who takes it up :)
Twitter #veganpodcast meme
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I've been known to write into The Southland Times newspaper from time to time,and got a response back from someone (presumably joking) that they tried a"no-meat diet of beans, greens and onions", and have had nothing but troublefrom it!heres the full letter,"We'll meat againSince Mr Wyatt's suggestion (November 4) I have tried a no-meat diet of beans,greens and onions but sad to say after the increased emissions I now have nofriends, am sleeping in the garage, the cat clawed the sofa to pieces, the dogbit my leg and the pigs thought I was talking to them.It's now back to a healthy balanced diet of meat and vegetables.(Did you know that pigs, like most other animals and birds, also eat meat intheir natural environment?)Neville Stronach, Te Anau"Newspaper WebsiteI've sent this reply in, let me know what you think :)"(In reply to Neville Stronach, Te Anau's letter)Hi Neville,If you did indeed try living on a diet of three things, "beans,greens and onions", no wonder you ran into difficulty :) Variety isthe spice of life!If you're ever in Invercargill, I'd love to prepare a Vegan CulinaryTour de Force for you, err, thank you for warning me in advance ofyour digestive difficulties :) I've never ran into any of the problemsyou mentioned and its been years since I've eaten meat. Perhaps youjust hit a bad batch of "beans, greens and onions"?Humans can thrive on a Vegan diet, I'm trying to arrange an interviewtime with Auckland vegan Dusan Dudas, a very successful bodybuilder,he runs http://www.healthybody-building.com/ , it would be great tohave him on my podcast "Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals".(while we are playing "Animal Trivia", there are actually moreherbivorous animals than carnivores, and many are spectacular! Fromthe cutest Rabbits and Lambs, the tall Giraffe, the strong Elephant,or our second closest relative, the Gorilla. Three of the "Big Five"most dangerous African animals are herbivores.)Best wishes,Jordan WyattInvercargill"
Letter in newspaper
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Episode 18 Mad Butcher Has Cancer, Catcha Cray ReturnsHello and Welcome to the eighteenth episode of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals. This episode I have two stories, The Mad Butcher Has Cancer, and the Catcha Cray Machines Return.Most New Zealanders, especially those further north from where I live, have heard of Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch. Leitch has made his fortune from his chain of meat shops, although he has now since retired, hes currently 66. "The Mad Butcher" is one of the most well known and respected New Zealanders, he was granted "The Queens Service Medal", for his donations to charity throughout his life. Its interesting that he now campaigns for Allergy New Zealand, as his stores sell Meat and Milk.As a well known New Zealander, The Mad Butcher has been portrayed in Comedy shows, normally focusing on his weight and clothing, and his gruff voice. Here are three examples. In the first, the actual Mad Butcher appears as a "Meat Pimp", driving about in an old 70's car, dressed in a fur coat with a large floppy hat, a pimp's cane and jewellery.The Mad MAD Butcher was a character on the not very funny Pulp Sport show, where an actor portraying the Mad Butcher would run about crazy, as if he were truly Mad. In this skit he makes a "meat shake" to prove how crazy he is, blending meat with a few litres of cows milk and drinking it from a yard glass. At the end, he throws up on camera, such is the state of New Zealand television, no doubt partially funded through my taxes. I was wondering what the heck that butchered, get the pun?, midi soundtrack was, and it hit me, "oh, I get it, hes Mad, so they play a crappy version of Bad, get it?"I love this bit!, it makes me want to prance about in fake leather and spandex with my gang of professional dancersA main hobby of The Mad Butchers has been watching sport, hes very closed linked with the Warriors Rugby League team, he often wears their jerseys. This parody song is a rip off from an Eminem Song, The Mad Butcher is probably one of the most "kiwi" male celebrities, he promotes eating meat and watching sport, and now the Mad Butcher has cancer. I've commented on news stories about The Mad Butcher, mentioning the well known links between eating meat and other animal byproducts and cancer, although I was always respectful that he is still a normal person with a potentially fatal illness. Many in my family have died from Cancer, and I wouldnt wish it on anyone. I do think its more than fair to point out, while being respectful to Leitch, that there are long known links between consuming animal byproducts and cancer. There have been other well known families related to selling Animal Byproducts which have had early deaths and health problems to do with their own products, John Robbins of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream comes to mind. In New Zealand, we dont have Baskin Robbins, so its not very effective telling people about John Robbins and his book "Diet for a new America" if you have to explain his famous family's business.The Mad Butcher has long asked men to look after their health, and he went on the Breakfast morning show to talk about his cancer.I doubt its anything like what chickens suffer before ending up at his stores, to be sold for a "bargain basement" price.I guess now I can point to Peter, "The Mad Butcher" Leitch while mentioning the links to cancer. Being honest though, I never use any health reasons for being vegan, as its the ethics that matter to me. And I'm certainly not making fun of the Mad Butcher for having cancer, I wouldnt wish it on a...
Episode 18 "Mad Butcher" has cancer, Catcha Cray Returns
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Episode 22 Wild Mouse, Veganacious Podcast, Farmers PerceptionHello and welcome to the twenty second episode of Coexisting With Nonhuman AnimalsOn this episode, I'd like to introduce a friends new podcast, talk about teaching people to respect small animals, a perception of farmers, killing deer in national parks and killing sick race horses.I'd decided to dedicate this episode of my show to my friend Barbara DeGrande , of Veganacious.com, who has now started her very own podcast promoting Abolitionist Veganism, but I have a sad story to tell about a small visitor. While respecting my friendship with Barbara, I'd first like to talk about a very small friend, who I found in a bad way.If you check my flickr page,I've included a link in the shownotes, you should be able to see it in the lyrics section, or on my blog coexistingwithnonhumananimals.blogspot.com , that the inside of my glasshouse was covered with Chickweed and clover ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaywontdart/sets/72157622983995776/ ), in the "Few Day Old Chicks" photo album, you will notice its like a little green forest, with clover roughly the same height as the few day old chicks. When the chicks were small, we would keep the chickens safely in the glasshouse during the day, sealed up to protect our little friends from cats. I have friends who have cats, and they laugh off what cats do to other animals, "oh, last night mittens was playing with a bug", well, the bug was fighting for his or her life to escape. Chickens, and baby chicks especially do not like to play with cats, they are terribly afraid of cats. Im not sure if they would behave the same around dogs or other animals, but around cats, they freak out, making special noises I only ever hear them produce around cats. Its a special alert, "theres a cat trying to kill us". So, I made sure to keep them safe from cats, during the day while I worked, they would be safe in the fairly large glasshouse. Well, that little forest of clover and chickweed, that made a lovely carpet to walk over, was soon reduced to a muddy slop if I hosed inside the glasshouse. I've been trying to reseed the chickweed, it grows just fine everywhere else in the garden, but doesn't seem to like inside the glasshouse anymore. I'd been keeping the door closed, so the chickens couldn't enter, so that some chickweed and other weed like plants I'd left inside could have a chance to take off. Its strange I know, but I don't really care what starts growing in there, as long as theres something over the mud! The chickens will manage it once it takes off, now the Chickens are allowed to go anywhere in the back garden on their own, they wont be forced into strip grazing the glasshouse bare.I'd been watering inside the glasshouse, when I noticed a chickenwire screen shaking. There was a hole at the bottom, and a little wild mouse had become stuck. Its body was threaded through a couple of holes at the bottom, much like a shoelace going through the eyelets of a shoe. I have no idea how, or why the mouse had gotten into that state, but it had happened, sometimes things don't need to be further explained. I was horrified when I realized what had happened, the pain the mouse must have been in, it must have been immense. Its little body was twisted every which way,I suppose it had somehow tried to bend to exit through another hole, and just made the situation worse. It had its head out one side, its ears stuck back behind the head hole, its main body was tightly pulled between that head hole, and a second hole where its feet were stuck. It had one back foot bunched up in pain, it could clench and unclench this foot, and swing its tail, but nothing more. I was very upset, and part of me wanted to take a photo to share with you, to show other people how the mouse had positioned itself. But this isn't a time for rotten.com submissions, there was a little friends lif...
Episode 22 Wild Mouse, Veganacious Podcast, Farmers Perception
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Episode 21NZ Pro Whaling, Mcdonalds+Weightwatchers, Temple Grandin Hello and welcome to episode 21 of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals.This episode I'd like to talk about New Zealand becoming a Pro Whaling country, Mcdonalds and Weightwatchers entering an unholy relationship, and the HBO Temple Grandin movie.A recent news story in New Zealand is how we may become a Pro Whaling country. It sickens me to even say that, "New Zealand, my country, a proud, Pro Whaling country". The basic theory behind the proponents seems to be "We cant beat the evil Japanese whalers who want to go out and murder Whales, so lets join them, and maybe we can politely ask them as friends to spare a whale or two". I find it very upsetting, so New Zealand would be supporting what is called "Commercial Whaling", we'd basically be saying that Whales are animals to be used for Meat. I've long said in online comments that Whales are no different, no more special than Cows or Chickens or Pigs, that they are not mythical beings from Saturn, and now it seems like I'll be proven right, although by the Pro Whaling side. A question is, whats to stop the allowed Commercial quota, the number of whales taken, from rising?Theres also been a lot of coverage of Pete Bethune, a New Zealander who owned Earth Race before it was rebranded "Ady Gil", now a member of Sea Shepherd, who has been arrested in Japan. I'm quite sick of all this Sea Shepherd news to be honest, but this current story fits in with the general mood in New Zealand about whaling.I'll play a few clips from the mainstream media.My next clip is about how we dont need to kill whales for science.Im personally not a big fan of "tagging" animals, in the clip we see the researchers shooting guns with the satellite tags as projectiles at the whales. Biopsies also involve using a kind of syringe to pierce away part of the whales body, which is then used for science, presumably. I realise that we look after certain animals, birds for example, but I've never liked see the animals with massive radio transmitter backpacks on. Would we like it if aliens "tagged" us that way? Perhaps thats what they do now, when they allegedly invade a certain cavity of ours? I dont think we'd want to be have some transmitter pierced into us.And the next clip is John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, about why it might be a great thing to be Pro Whaling. Did that sound familiar? "oh yeah, well it cant be morally right ever, but we share the same objective and the animals are beautiful and we love them very much but we have to make steps towards helping them and the first step is obviously to kill the animals but to try and be a bit more gentle, and by doing that perhaps in a million years we wont kill these animals?"I understand its very difficult for anyone to stop the Japanese whalers, AND THE WHALERS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES, too often I hear people talking about "evil Japanese" in regards to the small number of Japanese whalers. I realise that little old New Zealand, population four million, half of New York City, a third the population of Tokyo, we need Japanese exports more than they need New Zealands. I know we export Aluminium to Japan, they basically own at least part of the Aluminium Smelter near Invercargill where I live, but we wont export much else to them, maybe Dairy products would be our other largest export. I guess we could refuse to sell them our precious milk, I mean, how could anyone live without dairy products, right? We can cut off their milk supply, and they'll come crawling back to the bargaining table, weakened from not having milk, and they'll do what we tell them to, right? Then, we have the people who DEMAND that our government do more, that NZ naval ships would be sent out, w...
Episode 21 NZ Pro Whaling, Mcdonalds+Weightwatchers, Temple Grandin
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My next episode might be a week away, I've been having internet problems.I'll be covering NZ potentially being "pro whaling", and a trailer for the HBO Temple Grandin movie.
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