DawnWatch Canada

DawnWatch Canada: Globe and Mail covers "247-pound football giant goes vegan" 1/28/07

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Hey Canadians,
I wanted to make sure you knew this was in your Globe and Mail today so you could respond with letters singing the praises of plant based diets. The Globe and Mail takes letters at letters@globeandmail.com
Include your full name, address and phone number.

The Globe and Mail (Canada)
January 28, 2008 Monday

247-pound football giant goes vegan

REED ALBERGOTTI, WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF

GLOBE LIFE; EATING GREEN: TONY GONZALEZ; Pg. L4

The protein-rich bounty of the football training table is supposed to grow the biggest and strongest athletes in professional sports. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez was afraid it was going to kill him. "It's the Catch-22," says Mr. Gonzalez, 31. "Am I going to be unhealthy and play football? Or be healthy and get out of the league?"

So last year, on the eve of the biggest season of his career, Mr. Gonzalez embarked on a diet resolution that smacked head-on with gridiron gospel as old as the leather helmet. He decided to try going vegan.

Living solely on plant food, a combination of nuts, fruits, vegetables, grains and the like, has long been the fringe diet of young rebels and aging nonconformists. Even the government recommends regular helpings of meat, fish and dairy. Vegans of late have become more hip with such bestsellers as the brash Skinny Bitch, and its more scholarly cousin, The China Study. Both books argue vegans can live longer.

But could an all-star National Football League player, all 6 foot 5 inches and 247 pounds of him, live on a vegan diet and still excel in one of the most punishing jobs in sports?

For Mr. Gonzalez, the stakes were high. He'd just signed a five-year contract, making him the game's highest-paid tight end. Entering the 2007 season, his 11th in the NFL, he had a shot at breaking all-time NFL records for career receptions and touchdowns at his position. To do that, he needed top performances in every game. Mr. Gonzalez knew he was out on a limb. "I was like, 'I'm going to look like a fool if this doesn't work out,' " he says.

Mr. Gonzalez joined a handful of elite athletes who have put the vegan diet to the test, either for their health or because they oppose using animals as food. But he was the first pro-football superstar to try.

There's no evidence a vegan diet can improve an athlete's performance, says David Nieman, a professor of health and exercise at Appalachian State University. His 1988 study of vegetarian runners found they ran as well as their meat-eating rivals, but no better. Although the vegetarian athletes in his study also ate eggs and dairy foods, he says, "there is scientific evidence that veganism, when done right, won't hurt performance." But, he adds, there is only anecdotal evidence that it can help.

Professional athletes, especially NFL players, need thousands of calories a day. Many enjoy a high-protein, high-fat smorgasbord of steaks, burgers, pizza, ice cream and beer. "My biggest thing is strength," he says. "If you lose that strength you get your butt kicked."

Experts say athletes in training need twice the protein of an average person to rebuild muscle. Their bodies also require a big dose of minerals, vitamins, amino acids, iron and creatine packed into fish, meat and dairy foods. Mr. Gonzalez had never heard of the vegan diet when he boarded a flight from New York to Los Angeles last spring, about a month before preseason training. His seatmate turned down most of the food offered in first class, and Mr. Gonzalez finally asked why. The man told Mr. Gonzalez about The China Study, a 2006 book by Cornell professor and nutrition researcher T. Colin Campbell that claims people who eat mostly plants have fewer deadly diseases than those who eat mostly animals. The evidence was drawn from diet surveys and blood samples of 6,500 men and women from across China.

Mr. Gonzalez was intrigued. He bought the book, and after reading the first 40 pages, he says, was convinced animal foods led to chronic illness. Three weeks later, he walked into the weight room at the Chiefs' training facility and got a shock. The 100-pound dumbbells he used to easily throw around felt like lead weights. "I was scared out of my mind," he says. He had lost 10 pounds.

Mr. Gonzalez considered scrapping the diet altogether. First, though, he called Mr. Campbell, who put him in touch with Jon Hinds, himself a vegan and the former strength coach for the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. Mr. Hinds suggested plant foods with more protein.

The team's nutritionist, Mitzi Dulan, a former vegetarian athlete, persuaded him to incorporate small amounts of meat into his plant diet. Just no beef, pork or shellfish, he said; only a few servings of fish and chicken a week.

He accompanied Mr. Hinds to shop for groceries. Mr. Hinds showed him nutritious fish oils and how to pick out breads dense with whole grains, nuts and seeds. He stocked his pantry with tubs of soy protein powder and boxes of organic oatmeal; soy milk and Brazilian acai juice crowded the fridge. As the season progressed, the team lost more games than it won. But Mr. Gonzalez managed to stick to his diet and hold onto the football. He broke the touchdown record before midseason and was within reach of the career reception record. Mr. Gonzalez entered the final game against the New York Jets needing four catches to surpass the record held by former tight end Shannon Sharpe. The Chiefs trailed the Jets 7-3. Still, Mr. Gonzalez made three receptions. With 2 minutes and 29 seconds left in the third quarter, Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle threw a nine-yard pass to Mr. Gonzalez, who scampered for a first down and a spot in the NFL record book.

(End of Globe and Mail article)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read advance reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals” and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.

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Date: Mon Jan 28 17:50:40 2008

DawnWatch Canada: CBC's Fifth Estate on entertainment abuse of animals -- Wednesday 1/16/08

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:22:00 GMT

The following comes from the CBC "Fifth Estate" web page, http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/
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The following comes from the CBC "Fifth Estate" web page, http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/
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COMING UP:
Wednesday January 16, 2008 -- CBC-TV 9pm (eastern)
CRUEL Camera

Twenty-five years ago, Bob Mckeown and a fifth estate crew stunned the country with an investigative report that showed that many of the wildlife documentaries we'd grown up watching on television (remember the famous footage of the lemmings going off the cliff or some of the memorable moments from shows like Wild Kingdom?) were staged for the television cameras. As well, they revealed that animals often died during the making of movies; all for the sake of the entertainment value.

Now, Bob McKeown and an investigative team have returned to the subject to find out what has changed since the fifth estate's first Cruel Camera documentary. What they found may astonish you.

Watch an excerpt: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/popup.html?/mrl3/8752/fifth/media/cruelcamera_promo.wmv
(If that link is too long to work, go to http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/ and find it there.)

-------------------------------------------
From DawnWatch:
Watch the show if you can, and most importantly, please thank The Fifth Estate for the coverage. Positive feedback for animal friendly coverage encourages more of it.

The Fifth Estate take comments at
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/contact.html

I send thanks to Catherine King for making sure we knew about this.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Date: Tue Jan 15 16:22:13 2008

DawnWatch Canada: Globe and Mail on Skinny Bitch -- January 9, 2008

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:21:00 GMT

Canadians,
This fun write-up on "Skinny Bitch" and "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch" is in today's, Wednesday January 9, Globe and Mail. It offers a wonderful opportunity for supportive veg-friendly letters. The Globe and Mail takes letters at letters@globeandmail.com
---------------------------

The Globe and Mail (Canada)
January 9, 2008 Wednesday

Rewriting the book on vegan junk food

SIRI AGRELL

GLOBE LIFE; Q&A: SKINNY BITCH; Pg. L1

It may come as a shock to most foodies that a book promoting hard-core veganism has sold more than 850,000 copies. But Skinny Bitch, by authors Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman, became a publishing phenomenon after its 2005 release and has now spawned a cookbook, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, which hit shelves in December. The Globe and Mail spoke with Ms. Freedman about meat substitutes, vegan junk food and Skinny Bastards.

Your first book was quite explicit in telling readers what they shouldn't eat, namely anything that comes from animals. Why do a cookbook?

The first book didn't have any recipes, just eating plans and menus. But we've been getting literally thousands of e-mails from people asking us for a cookbook, who want to know how to stick to this kind of lifestyle, and we felt like we wanted to give readers the tools to make this transition.But there are already a lot of vegan cookbooks out there.

I think people just want to hear it in our voice and in our style. There are amazing vegan cookbooks out there like Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World ... but unfortunately, veganism does have this terrible rap, and everybody assumes you're either a militant crazy radical spray-painting people's fur coats or that you have hairy armpits and dreadlocks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

You and Ms. Barnouin didn't actually write these recipes, right?

We're not professional cooks, we're professional eaters. So our publisher hired a consultant. Half of the recipes are things that we make all the time, but we don't have anal-retentive scientific measurements for all these things. And the other half are things that we hadn't had in a long time because we didn't know how to make it without certain ingredients, and the chef working with us figured it out.

A lot of the recipes - Shepherd's Pie, Sloppy Joes - are traditionally meat-heavy dishes. Do you feel conflicted eating something that looks and tastes like meat?

No. People always ask, why do vegetarians eat all these fake meats?

Because we like meat - it tastes great. We're not a bunch of weirdos, the only thing that separates vegetarians from meat eaters is that we don't want animals to be tortured and slaughtered so that we can eat them.

But do you worry about encouraging people to rely so heavily on processed meat substitutes?

I think this cookbook is more for people who are just transitioning or who are curious and want to try vegetarian cooking than for die-hard vegans. I don't eat as many fake meat products as I did when I first transitioned 14 years ago. But I would not have survived, I would still be eating meat right now if not for all the fake meats.

Some of the recipes are introduced with phrases like, "Just like Mom used to make - minus the pieces of decomposing, rotting chicken carcass." Isn't it dangerous to promote nausea in a cookbook?

It's certainly not something that comes up in every recipe: There may be two or three things about dead animals, the rest are just silly or funny.

By the time the food is made and they're sitting down to eat I don't think they're going to be thinking about dead, rotting, decomposing chicken flesh. Especially since they're not going to be eating it.

Some people have called the recipes vegan junk food.

I definitely think there are some yummy, fun, vegan junk food recipes in there, but that's certainly not all there is. We have an entire chapter dedicated to healthy staple meals. There's a salad section. I think it's a balance.

There is also a lot of salt.

Salt is not a big deal. Salt becomes a problem when you're buying a lot of packaged, processed, canned foods that are high in sodium. When you're cooking and you put salt on something, that's not the salt you need to be freaked out about.

So what's the next book we can expect?

The next one we thought would be for men. We feel like a lot of men are not going to read a book called Skinny Bitch. It might be Skinny Bastard. We're toying with a bunch of different titles.

*****

'Chicken' Noodle Soup

What you need

1 tablespoon refined coconut oil

1 carrot, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 celery stalk, cut into 1/4-inch

slices

1/2 onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon curry powder

1 bay leaf

8 cups vegan "chicken" stock (hot water mixed with vegan bouillon according to package directions)

2 teaspoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or 1 1/4 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce)

8 ounces vegan "chicken" strips or chunks (if frozen, no need to thaw)

4 ounces whole wheat or brown rice pasta

What you do

Heat the coconut oil in a four- to six-quart stock pot over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp tender, about two minutes. Add the mushrooms, salt, pepper and curry powder and cook until the mushrooms

release their juices, about two minutes.

Stir in the stock, Bragg's Liquid Aminos and bay leaf. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and pasta. When the soup returns to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Cook until the pasta is tender (time will depend on type of pasta). Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Makes about 9 cups

From Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, published by Running Press.
(End of Globe and Mail piece)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Date: Wed Jan 9 17:21:45 2008

DawnWatch Canada: National Post Gretchen obit, and Toronto Star on vegan shoes -- 31 May, 2007

Thu, 31 May 2007 16:39:00 GMT

Hi Canada:
The National Post has run a lovely obituary. And today's Toronto Star has a fun article on animal and earth friendly shoes. I will paste both below. They both offer great opportunities for animal friendly letters.
The National Post takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/85bvu
The Toronto Star takes letters at lettertoed@thestar.ca

Here is the National Post obituary of Gretchen Wyler:

National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post) (Canada)
May 31, 2007 Thursday
National Edition

Actress marshalled stars to defend animal rights

Byline: Los Angeles Daily News

ARTS & LIFE; Pg. AL11

Gretchen Wyler, the actressturned- animal-rights activist who drew national attention to the plight of captive animals using big-name celebrities, died of breast cancer on Sunday at her home in Camarillo, Calif. She was 75.

Wyler had been battling cancer for four years, said Catherine Doyle, campaign director for In Defense Of Animals, a California non-profit group.

A Broadway and television actress whose career spanned more than five decades, Wyler became a superstar in the world of animal activism when she created the Genesis Award in 1986.

Using such celebrities as Judd Nelson, Brooke Shields and Betty White, Wyler pulled together a Hollywood-styleawards ceremony to honour activists. The ceremony is broadcast annually on the Animal Planet TV channel. "She was one of a kind. She brought animal issues to the public and educated them on it," Doyle said.

As an actress,Wyler understood the power of celebrity and founded the Ark Trust in 1991. The group -- which later merged with the U.S. Humane Society's Hollywood office--promotes media coverage of animal topics.

Wyler first became an activist after visiting what she described as a dank and filthy shelter in Warwick, N.Y., in 1966. Moved by the experience, she split her time between activism and theatre. Wyler managed the shelter for 10 years, later becoming the first woman to sit on the board of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

But she was ousted early on, after filing a lawsuit against the board accusing it of squandering funds, Wyler's Web site says. The lawsuit, settled out of court, prompted reforms within the organization.

In 1978, after completing a run in the theatrical production of Sly Fox, she moved to Los Angeles, where she gained a reputation as a tireless animal rights advocate.

During the early 1980s, she led the fight to repeal "pound seizures" -- the selling of shelter cats and dogs for medical research. Later, she became a leading voice against exhibiting Ruby, a 4�-ton elephant, at the Los Angeles Zoo, where activists say the pachyderm was isolated, unable to roam and more likely to develop chronic health problems.

Pressuring officials to arrange this month's transfer of Ruby to a 2,300-acre preserve in central California was among Wyler's proudest achievements, friends say.

An actress with a wide-ranging career, Wyler appeared in dozens of television shows, including Dallas, Judging Amy, Private Benjamin and Charlie's Angels. She also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Guys and Dolls, Silk Stockings, Damn Yankees and Bye Bye Birdie.

(End of obituary)
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And here is the Toronto Star on green shoes:

The Toronto Star
May 31, 2007 Thursday

Shoes will make you green and envied

Erin Kobayashi, Toronto Star

LIFE; Pg. L02

El Naturalista's logo may be a frog but, unlike Kermit who sang, "It's not easy being green," this shoe brand is finding it easy to be greener.

Founded in 2002, El Naturalista shows its sensitivity toward environmental and social issues by using natural and recycled materials, and methods, in making its footwear.

Though the shoes are manufactured far away, in La Rioja, Spain, and petroleum is used in their transportation to Canada, rest easy.

Most highly polluting shoemaking production systems are nearly obsolete in Europe. El Naturalista uses more modern shoemaking practices.

The good thing about being from Spain is that the shoes offer North Americans European flair in the styling. The saturated colours and distinctive shapes of the shoes have made them widely popular in France, Germany, Israel and Japan.

Additionally, the bright colours - the pinks, reds, greens and yellows, to name a few - are obtained through tanning and vegetable dying processes that try to use as little trivalent chromium as possible, if any.

Shoppers can avoid the chemical altogether with the company's all-natural Dakyu series.

The shoes have environmentally conscious natural and recycled outsoles. El Naturalista offers canvas shoes for vegans and the company is looking into alternative materials such as hemp and corn-based fabrics.

El Naturalista is also involved in a corporate responsibility program, whereby money from the Nasca line goes toward the education of children in Peru. That means shoppers can feel a little less guilty when paying $140 to $300 for their shoes.
(End of Toronto Star article)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Date: Thu May 31 10:39:55 2007

DawnWatch Canada: Beagle export for vivisection - front page Montreal Gazette, Tuesday 29 May 2007

Wed, 30 May 2007 19:11:00 GMT

Canadians,
The following article from the front page of the Tuesday, May 29, Montreal Gazette, calls out for letters against this practice specifically, and any or all aspects of the vivisection industry. The Montreal Gazette takes letters at letters@thegazette.canwest.com
Include your full name, address and phone number.

Beagles flown to labs for testing
Air Canada confirms shipments to Europe
MAX HARROLD, The Gazette
Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Speeding down the runway in Dorval May 21, Air Canada passengers bound for Paris heard a lot more than just the jet's engines wailing.

Dogs were yelping in the cargo hold beneath them.

The estimated 70 to 100 healthy beagles were among many regular - and perfectly legal - trans-Atlantic shipments by Air Canada of dogs destined for medical experiments.

Passengers on the flight found the sound of the dogs very distressing.

"All we could hear during the boarding and before the takeoff was barking, crying and whimpering," said one passenger in business class on Flight 870 who did not want to be identified.

After landing in Paris, passengers saw three pallets with cages of two dogs each being unloaded from the Airbus 330 aircraft.

"Their tails were wagging through the cages," said one passenger, who also asked not to be identified.

"We were shocked to hear some flight attendants say this goes on regularly - dogs get shipped to Paris for experiments." Because Quebec's animal protection law is vague and weakly enforced, the province provides a steady source of dogs for laboratories both here and abroad, animal rights activists said.

"Fifty per cent of all dogs used for medical research in Canada are used in Quebec," said Liz White, a director of the Animal Alliance of Canada, a national animal rights group.

Figures found on the website the Canadian Council on Animal Care, a government-funded organization that monitors animal research, show 5,610 dogs were "used" in Quebec in 2005.

That same year, 5,127 dogs were used in all the other provinces combined.

Despite a tough new provincial animal-welfare law enacted 2004, "Quebec is a frontier province for animal abusers," White said.

"There are very few bylaws, there is a high euthanasia rate by pet owners), and the claim rate for lost pets is very low." The Quebec atmosphere helps medical researchers trade in animals, she said.

Only four inspectors enforce Quebec's animal-welfare law, which allows for fines of $200 to $15,000 for repeat offenders. In Ontario, more than 200 inspectors enforce animal-welfare regulations.

Suzanne Lecomte, chief inspector with Anima-Quebec, a not-for-profit agency that applies the new law, said the "law is vague. It says simply you cannot compromise the safety and welfare of the animal." Linda Robertson, director of the Monteregie SPCA, said beagles are often used in research because they are particularly docile.

"You can do with a beagle whatever you want," she said.

"It's not going to bite you." The breed can be tailor-made to develop certain cancers, she added.

Pierre Barnoti, executive director of the SPCA in Montreal, said his group has been aware of the air shipments for years.

"Our investigators have checked out the dogs' health and they're fine," Barnoti said.

"These are not puppy mill dogs," he said.

Claude Morin, president of Air Canada Cargo, confirmed the existence of animal shipments for medical research.

"It's completely legal," Morin said. "The animals are treated perfectly (en route).We don't really ask too many questions about where they're going.

Clients don't have to tell us anything." Air Canada spokesperson Isabelle Arthur said a 1998 ruling by the Canadian Transportation Agency forbids the airline from refusing to ship animals simply because of their purpose. The ruling was made after Air Canada refused to carry monkeys intended for vivisection.

But Jadrino Huot, a spokesperson for the CTA, said the ruling was made to force Air Canada to apply its own policies and that the airline was entirely within its rights to change its policies.

"Air travel is a deregulated industry," he said. "They set their own policies." One Air Canada flight attendant, who asked not to be identi- fied, said the dog shipments have been kept "hush, hush." "It's a business," she said.

"They shouldn't be doing this."

mharrold@ thegazette.canwest.com

(End of Montreal Gazette story)
------------
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Date: Wed May 30 13:11:07 2007

DawnWatch Canada: Front page on Cloverdale rodeo ban on calf-roping -- Wednesday 23 May, 2007

Thu, 24 May 2007 03:18:00 GMT

The front page of the Vancouver Sun lets us know that sad news for a calf has turned into good news for many more, as the Cloverdale rodeo has banned calf-roping. The story below presents a perfect opportunity for letters against the abuse of animals for human entertainment. The Vancouver Sun takes letters at http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html

The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
May 23, 2007 Wednesday

Rodeo bans all roping events; Cloverdale board makes decision after calf breaks leg and is destroyed

Nicholas Read, With files from Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun

NEWS; Pg. A1

The Cloverdale rodeo is the first in Canada to ban calf-roping contests, a controversial event that's attracted animal rights protesters to the fairgrounds for years.

The move means the 61-year-old rodeo will no longer be sanctioned by the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association, which insists all sanctioned rodeos include roping events.

The ban came after a calf was euthanized when its leg was broken in Saturday's tie-down roping competition, the Cloverdale Rodeo Association said Tuesday.

The calf was injured when it was lassoed by a cowboy. It was then carried out of the ring and was put down by a veterinarian.

"We felt as a board of agricultural people -- as an association of agricultural people -- that we didn't want this to ever happen again," association spokeswoman Laura Ballance said of the death.

So, starting next year, the rodeo, one of the five largest in Canada and a mainstay of the Victoria Day weekend in the Lower Mainland, will no longer include calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, or wild cow milking.

What the decision means to rodeo participants, Ballance said, is that when they win contests at Cloverdale in future, they will no longer be able to accrue points towards an overall Canadian title.

She likened it to "a team jumping out of the NHL and going its own way."

Instead, future Cloverdale rodeos will include only saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, barrel racing, and bull riding.

But CPRA president Dale Leschiutta said that may not be the case. He said the CPRA board would consider the Cloverdale decision at a meeting on June 4, and depending on what the board decides, Cloverdale may continue to be sanctioned even without the roping events.

"We have special events in our association that allows for us to look at these situations and decide whether it's a good thing to go with the sanctioning or not," Leschiutta said.

Ballance said the association, in conjunction with Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, approached the CPRA with a view to changing some of the rules around roping events -- including introduction of a breakaway rope -- following the death of an animal in 2004 in the steer-wrestling event.

But when the CPRA refused, the association felt it had no choice but to discontinue them.

"Now, that we've had a second accident, we've decided in Cloverdale 2007, we're never going to have this again," Ballance said.

Leschiutta said he hopes some arrangement can be made to keep Cloverdale within the CPRA fold.

Watts, who as a member of the rodeo board for eight years, had been involved in negotiations with the CPRA since the death of the steer in 2004, said she "absolutely" endorsed the rodeo's decision, saying: "I think it's time things were brought into the 21st century.

"When the calf had to be put down this past weekend, it was strongly felt that we could no longer wait for [the CPRA] to make a decision -- that we needed to take a progressive stand and take things into our own hands."

Watts, who also is a member of the B.C. SPCA and has met many times with the Vancouver Humane Society to discuss rodeo cruelty, also said she was confident the revised rodeo would include the events spectators most want to see.

"I think the rodeo that will be built from today forward will be very exciting," she said.

However, she played down any suggestions she was the driving force behind the decision.

"This was the association's decision," Watts said. "They should get the credit for it."

Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt, a longtime supporter of the rodeo, also said it was the right thing to do, and that despite appearances to the contrary, it was not an overnight decision.

Since the 2004 death of the steer "we've been trying to work on it behind the scenes and within the organization," Hunt said.

"There's certainly times you have to sit there and look at the realities of things and say 'hey, maybe it's time for us to be moving into the 21st century' and some of these events have a challenge to them."

However, he said a number of council members, including Watts and himself were present when the calf was hurt on Saturday, and that was the tipping point.

This was in sharp contrast to 2004, after the last animal died, when Hunt dismissed animal welfare advocates as being unfamiliar "with the care and the effort that goes into raising rodeo animals."

On the death of the steer in 2004, Hunt said: "Airplanes do crash and people get killed in crosswalks. At the rodeo, guys get beat up by the bulls; they get stomped on. Those are the realities of life."

A request made to the Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Association to speak to another board member was refused. Instead all questions were referred to Ballance, an employee of Curve Communications, a Vancouver-based communications agency.

Attendance was down for this year's rodeo because of bad weather, Ballance said, but she insisted the event is popular and not losing money. This year about 17,000 people attended over three days compared to previous highs of up to 22,000.

She also couldn't say how many animals have been killed in total at the rodeo.

"I don't think there's anybody who knows going back," she said. "It's not like today when detailed records are kept."

Each year, the City of Surrey pays the rodeo association $180,000 to run and operate the grounds and buildings on the fairgrounds, land which the city owns.

Vancouver Humane Society executive director Debra Probert, who's been campaigning against rodeo cruelty since 1989, was "ecstatic" about the announcement.

"I think this decision shows that the Cloverdale Rodeo is admitting what the Vancouver Humane Society and the humane community have been saying for over 20 years -- that these events are explicitly cruel and that there's no place for them in a progressive society."

However, she couldn't promise the announcement would put an end to future VHS protests.

"That's an issue for our board to decide," Probert said. "The other events -- although not as explicitly cruel -- are still based on the exploitation of animals' reactions to pain, fear and stress, so there's no way we could condone the rodeo even after these changes."

"Wow, that's wonderful," said Marcie Moriarty, B.C. SPCA general manager of cruelty, when told of the news.

"I can say that we're definitely pleased with the steps the rodeo is taking. We feel these events have the most potential for animal injuries and animals being in distress, so it's a step in the right direction."

nread@png.canwest.com

EVENTS DROPPED

Events that will be discontinued from the Cloverdale Rodeo:

Tie-down roping: A mounted cowboy lassoes a calf, throws it on its back and ties it up in the least amount of time.

Team roping: Two mounted cowboys attempt to rope and immobilize a full-grown steer in the least amount of time.

Wild cow milking: A cow is cut from the herd and roped. Two riders dismount and grab the cow around the neck/head and attempt to hold her while the last rider attempts to extract a small amount of milk from the cow's udder into a bottle.

Steer wrestling: A steer is released from a chute while a mounted cowboy chases it. The cowboy wrestles the animal to the ground by twisting its horns.
(End of Vancouver Sun article.)
------------
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Date: Wed May 23 21:18:42 2007

DawnWatch Canada: Join Globe and Mail discussion, "Who are the real dumb animals?" Tuesday, 22 May 2007

Mon, 21 May 2007 15:07:00 GMT

Canada,
The following is on the Globe and Mail website at http://tinyurl.com/yoagql
Please go to that page and hit the link where you can "submit a question or comment in advance." Listeners have the opportunity to help shape the conversation. Please remember that the media is incomparably powerful, and the animals need powerful friends, so it is important to make sure that the tone of our notes is friendly.

My thanks to Elizabeth Abbott for making sure we saw this.

This is from the Globe and Mail site, URL above:
------------------------

Live, Tuesday

Margaret Wente takes your questions
Globe and Mail Update

May 20, 2007 at 10:31 AM EDT

"Which one would you rather lynch?" Margaret Wente asked in her recent column Who are the real dumb animals?

"The guy whose fianc�e bled to death after she was clawed by his captive tiger?

"Or the guy who cut his puppy's ears off because he wanted a cool-looking dog?

"The two offences are quite different. One was a tragic accident and one was outright cruelty. But it's pretty clear that neither of these idiots is fit to own an animal.

"Okay, so the death penalty might be a bit much. Maybe we could just cut off their ears and keep them in a chain-link cage."

Ms. Wente noted: "Unfortunately, in many parts of Canada, the laws governing animal cruelty and exotic species are so weak that we can't do much about these sorry cases . . .

"You don't have to be an animal-rights wing nut to see that something's wrong here. Nor is it all that hard to fix . . . Reasonable animal-welfare laws are a political no-brainer. They're also an important thing to do."

Do you agree? Do you have a different solution?

Ms. Wente will be online Tuesday to discuss animal rights and her other recent columns.

Join the Conversation at that time or submit a question or comment in advance.

Ms. Wente is one of Canada's leading columnists. As a writer for The Globe and Mail, she provokes heated debate with her views on health care, education, and social issues. She is a past winner of the National Newspaper Award for column-writing.

Ms. Wente has had a diverse career in Canadian journalism as both a writer and an editor. She has edited two leading business magazines, Canadian Business and ROB Magazine. She has also been editor of the Globe's business section, the ROB, and managing editor of the paper. Her columns have appeared in the Globe since 1992. For the past two years she has been writing full-time for the paper, and she is a frequent commentator on television and radio.

Ms. Wente was born in Chicago and moved to Toronto with her family when she was in her teens. She has won numerous journalism awards. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan, and an MA in English from the University of Toronto. She is married to Ian McLeod, a television producer.

Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length, clarity or relevance. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on Globe journalists, other participants in these discussions, questions/comments that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
(End of Globe and Mail page)
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Date: Mon May 21 09:07:35 2007

DawnWatch Canada: National Post on live reptile art exhibit -- 13 April, 2007

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 01:10:00 GMT

The Friday, 13 April, National Post included an a front page article headed "Reptiles safe from the angry crowd." It opens the door for letters against the use of captive animals for art and entertainment. I will paste the piece below. The National Post takes letters at: http://tinyurl.com/85bvu

National Post
April 13, 2007 Friday
National Edition

Reptiles safe from the angry crowd
Brian Hutchinson, National Post

NEWS; in Vancouver; Pg. A1

On the second floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery, beyond a pair of animal cages -- empty but for a few bones and some bits of lion feces -- is a tortoise- shaped, illuminated cage.

Rustling about inside is a menagerie of insects and reptiles. Blue-tongued skinks, hissing cockroaches, pink-toed tarantulas, flat rock scorpions, some toads and the like. Plus hundreds of chirpy, tasty crickets: Lunch.

The exhibit is called Theatre of the World, one piece in a large career retrospective of renowned Chinese installation artist Huang Yong Ping. The show opened at the VAG last week, to mixed reviews. While not the biggest or most complex of Mr. Huang's work, or even the smelliest -- the lion cages have that distinction-- Theatre of the World is certainly the most macabre. And discussed. And disgusting, say some critics.

Conceived by Mr. Huang in 1993, it resembles a chaotic battlefield, in miniature. A gallery summary describes the piece as "a representation of power dynamics."

The crickets are the most obvious casualties. They hop about the cage's interior, attempting to avoid death. But their numbers are dwindling.

A spotted gecko hogs centre stage, basking under the warmth of a UV lamp, the display's sole source of heat. No other creature dares approach. The gecko seems to rule this roost.

A tarantula scuttles past. It is missing a limb, the result, perhaps, of some dire inter-species combat. Peering out from behind rocks and bits of wood are some of the more timid beasts.

Animal rights activists have already condemned the installation, calling it exploitative and mean. After receiving a complaint from one horrified VAG patron, the local SPCA chapter launched an investigation, and dispatched a veterinarian to the VAG. On Wednesday, the vet reported back.

Some of the insects and reptiles used in the exhibit may be completely incompatible, and should not be confined together, he noted. Certain creatures show "signs of distress."

Water dishes inside the cage are not deep enough for the snakes and lizards to "properly soak." Heating may be insufficient, as well.

"Quite frankly, we want to see the exhibit removed," declares Eileen Drever, the SPCA's senior animal protection officer.

Daina Augaitis, the VAG's chief curator, swears she didn't anticipate any trouble. Before arriving in Vancouver, the Huang retrospective showed at two prestigious American institutions -- the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art -- and no concerns were raised there, she says.

Mr. Huang has displayed animal art in Vancouver before, she points out. In 1998, a local gallery presented another piece, called Terminal. It also featured live creepy crawlers, including snakes and bugs. No one raised a peep.

But mixing up animals and art does not always go over well in Vancouver. People vividly recall the infamous Sniffy the Rat incident of 1990, when out-there artist Rick Gibson proposed to crush a rented rodent with a 25-kilogram building brick.

Mr. Gibson had second thoughts, and arrived at the execution site sans Sniffy. "I have returned him to the pet shop," he announced. Regardless, an angry mob chased him on foot through the streets of downtown Vancouver. "Now you know how Sniffy feels," one of the vigilantes reportedly shouted, as Mr. Gibson fled.

No wonder the VAG decided to post a security guard next to the Theatre of the World installation. Just in case.

He seemed as curious as the children standing around the exhibit when I dropped by this week. "It's pretty cool," said the guard. "I've been staring at the cage for hours."

"Have you named any of the animals?"

"No," said the guard. "That might be bad luck." "You mean they might die?" "Uh, yeah."

Just then, a cricket keeled over. Its legs twitched spasmodically. A lizard darted over, snatched up the insect, and then scurried underneath a rock. A young girl witnessed it all and wrinkled her nose.

Ms. Augaitis met me on the exhibition floor. Defending the installation has become a full-time task for the VAG's chief curator. "It's been non-stop since we opened last week," she said. "We've lost track of time."

According to Ms. Augaitis, the gallery worked with a local reptile specialist to determine which species could peacefully coexist inside the cage. The Walker Art Center and the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art had hired their own specialists, she explained.

Contrary to some reports, the show's two European green toads have not gone AWOL; they were buried under some covering material for a spell.

There is ample food for the animals, added Ms. Augaitis, at times sounding more like a zoologist than an art expert. "Crickets are a natural food for the other insects and reptiles," she said.

The gallery also ensures the creatures are supplied with plenty of fresh vegetables. Ms. Augaitis pointed to a few small heaps of cabbage and lettuce lying inside the cage.

The exhibition's two snakes are removed and fed separately. All of the creatures -- even the crickets, at least those that survive -- will find good homes after the show is dismantled in September.

We walked from Theatre of the World and toward a statue of a dog that urinates against a gallery wall. "We don't take our responsibilities lightly," said Ms. Augaitis.

The SPCA's Ms. Drever is unconvinced. She has arranged to meet with gallery staff this evening, and is bringing along her veterinarian. "This isn't the end of the matter," she declares. "It isn't over yet."
(End of National Post story)
----------
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Date: Sat Apr 14 19:10:26 2007

DawnWatch Canada: Articles on cage free eggs and a vegan triathlete -- April 3 and April 4, 2007

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 03:14:00 GMT

With the sad news this week of the beginning of the seal hunt in Canada, I thought I would share two articles bringing better news from papers in Canada. Yesterday's Star included a piece on the push to create demand for eggs that do not come from battery caged hens, and Quebec's Sherbrooke Record today has an article on a vegan Ironman triathelete. I hope Canadians are writing to their papers about the seal hunt (though international outcry is useful it cuts both ways -- the US has plenty of its own awful practices to protest). The articles below, however, present opportunities for happier supportive letters.
The Star takes letters at lettertoed@thestar.ca
The Sherbrooke Record takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/3y99wu

Here are the articles:

PUSH FOR HUMANE CONDITIONS
TheStar.com - Life - Ethical omelettes
Ethical omelettes
Apr 03, 2007 04:30 AM
stuart laidlaw
faith and ethics
http://www.thestar.com/article/198660

Undercover film footage taken by the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals shows laying hens with feathers rubbed off from constant rubbing against their cages.

A coalition that wants to get laying hens out of cages is directing its free-range campaign at universities and colleges

Munching on salad and sipping coffee at a caf� in the basement of the University of Toronto's Hart House, second year history student Wokie Fraser confesses she's never really thought much about eggs, where they come from or why they seem so affordable.

There is always a carton of eggs in her refrigerator, she says. She buys them pretty much every week, almost without thought.

That changes, however, as she grimaces at images released a few minutes earlier, two floors up, as a campaign was launched to change the kind of eggs bought and sold on university campuses across Canada.

"I never really thought much about this," Fraser says, looking at stills from a video snuck out of an egg barn in south-western Ontario and released yesterday.

The pictures have an impact.

"What else is there?" she asks.

At the earlier media conference, members of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals attempted to answer that question. In fact, it's just the kind of question they hope more people will ask as a result of their new campaign, launched yesterday.

"This is the reality of how 98 per cent of our eggs are produced," Stephanie Brown, spokeswoman for the coalition, tells the media conference.

Behind her plays a video of laying hens crammed into 16-by 18-inch battery cages, three to a cage. The hens' feathers are worn off by constant rubbing against the bars of the cages. Exposed skin, she says, is burned by ammonia levels in the barn.

"The science is clear on battery cages. Hens suffer," she says. "A hen has a space smaller than a piece of paper for her entire life."

Brown said the tight space makes it impossible for the hens to act like
hens, giving themselves dust baths, perching on things, stretching their
wings.

The coalition wants to end such conditions. Its new campaign to convince universities and colleges to switch to free-range or organic eggs, is its way to build up a critical mass of demand for such eggs.

That, in turn, will make it easier to build supply chains for the mainstream market.

"We are asking all consumers to opt for cage-free eggs," says Lynn Kavanagh, also with the coalition. "There are alternatives."

She suggests consumers buy free-range or free run (from hens allowed to wander around a barn) or organic eggs (from hens allowed outside, weather permitting), and to avoid eggs from caged birds. Ultimately, she would like to see eggs from hens in cages labelled as such.

But for now, the emphasis is on getting universities to switch. She hopes to build on the momentum of a similar campaign in the U.S., where more than 100 colleges and universities have signed on to be cage-free.

In Canada, the University of Guelph announced last week that it begin selling cage-free alongside regular eggs, after students voted for the move.

The University of Toronto, meanwhile, is involved in a similar program, committing to bring local, sustainable and ethical food to its cafeterias.

Kavanagh says she recognizes that farmers have money tied up in their battery cages, so advocates a phasing in of free-range egg systems. As cages wear out, she wants farmers to be encouraged to shift to free-range rather than buy new cages.

The university campaign is meant to provide that encouragement by helping to establish a wider market for the niche product. And the wider the market is, she says, the cheaper the eggs will be and the more inroads they will be able to make to the wider consumer sector.

Harry Pelissero of the Egg Farmers of Ontario, which represents both cage and cage-free farms, says he has no problem with universities offering students cage-free eggs, as long as they have a choice to buy conventional
eggs, as well.

"That's certainly something we could support," he says. "Our farmers will grow whatever consumers demand."

Brown says a study for the University of Guelph found that free-range eggs would cost about 20 cents more an egg, or 40 cents for an omelette. "People will pay for ethically raised foods," she said.

Sitting with Fraser in the caf�, and also having salad and a coffee, first year arts student Karim Blair agrees. He already buys free-range eggs.

"You feel better about yourself when you buy free-range."

Fraser nods. She can see his point. She likes fair trade coffee, which costs more so that more money can get to farmers in developing countries.

So can see the argument for using her consumer dollars to change the way eggs are produced.

"Forty cents isn't that much," she says. "I really should switch."
(End of Star article on Humane Conditions.)
--------------------------------

Sherbrooke Record (Quebec)
April 4, 2007 Wednesday

Ironman triathlete is a vegan; Sees no need for meat
Julia Elliott, CanWest News Service

SPORTS; Pg. 10
OTTAWA

OTTAWA - With its missive to switch from eating meat to plant-based foods, it'd be easy to dismiss The Thrive Diet as just another book singing the praises of fruit, veggies and blender drinks.

But Brendan Brazier of North Vancouver is a vegan with a difference -- he's a celebrated Ironman triathlete, belying the widely held belief that you have to eat animal protein to build muscle. His new book tells his own story about dealing with physical stress as an athlete and the foods that helped improve his performance. He says his plant-based diet worked so well to reduce training stress that he won the Canadian 50K Ultra Marathon championships in 2003 and 2006.

Brazier is promoting his book on a five-city tour. He'll visit various book and food stores where he'll talk about whole foods. (As a vegan, Brazier not only shuns meat and fish, but all animal products, including dairy and eggs.)

Speaking recently in Ottawa at a Real Canadian Superstore location, a lean Brazier spoke plainly, without notes, to some two dozen people about his vegan journey and its sometimes short-lived appeal for others.

"More people are trying a vegetarian diet now than ever before because there are so many vegetarian options," he said after the event. "There's lots of tofu hot dogs and hamburgers. That's one of the problems, though, that there's so many foods like that that aren't really that healthy; they're vegan junk food, really. So people aren't feeling good on the vegan diet. They assume that it's the vegan diet that's not working when really it's the junk food."

Brazier used to travel with a blender to concoct his own healthy meals, but now he brings along some of his own plant-based products which hit stores in 2004. (The line is called Vega and last year Brazier was shortlisted for a Manning Innovation award for Vega's meal replacement packets.)

Brazier, 27, was a teenager when he began experimenting with various diets that might support his high-energy lifestyle.

"I knew that there was a very tight connection between diet and performance," says Brazier. "What I realized was that when I was eating refined pastas and breads and peanut butter and lots of things that are really processed and hard to digest, that that was creating a stress response within the body which raised cortisol levels and stress hormones and that made recovery (after training) a lot slower.

"The quicker you can recover from exercise, the closer you can schedule workouts together. Then, of course, you can train more and then improve at a faster rate.

"I realized that I was lacking a whole bunch of nutrients: protein, essential fats, fibre, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids. I was getting tired and people were saying you really should go back to eating meat. But I was curious if I could find all these things from plants. I did and blended them together and that became the first incarnation of what is now Vega."

The Thrive Diet found its origins three years ago after Brazier was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. After injuring his leg, he couldn't race so he wrote a book -- Thrive -- that outlined his nutrition program. This year's expanded version contains meal plans, recipes and more information about foods.
(End of Sherbrooke Record article on Brendan Brazier.)
-------------------
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Date: Wed Apr 4 21:14:55 2007

DawnWatch Canada: Speciesism classes proposed -- Vancouver Sun front page -- Monday, Sept 25

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:41:00 GMT

The following article from the front page of the Vancouver Sun deserves some supportive letters to the editor. The Vancouver Sun takes letters at http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
----------

The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
September 25, 2006 Monday

Activist wants animal rights taught in B.C. schools: 'Speciesism' is a prejudice too, says humane society
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
NEWS; Pg. A1

A new Grade 12 course on social justice must include animal rights because oppression and exploitation affect more than just humans, an animal activist told an exclusive meeting of educators and social-justice experts recently.

Lesley Fox of the Vancouver Humane Society told the group that "speciesism" is a prejudice like racism and sexism and deserves inclusion in the ground-breaking Social Justice 12 course.

The course is being developed as part of a deal the provincial government signed last spring with gay activists Murray and Peter Corren to settle a human-rights complaint.

Speciesism is a relatively new term that Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, says involves assigning values or rights to beings on the basis of their species. An example, according to Fox, is the special status given to dogs and cats in North America but not to cows, pigs and chickens.

"We aren't trying to make [Social Justice 12] into an animal-rights course," Fox explained Sunday. "[But] it is my opinion that if we are going to discuss social justice concepts such as oppression and exploitation, animals should be included."

Fox was a surprise guest at the invitation-only three-day meeting last week organized by the B.C. Education Ministry to brainstorm about the new course.

Other invited parties included the B.C. Teachers' Federation, the B.C. School Trustees' Association, the B.C. Principals' and Vice-Principals' Association, the Aboriginal Education Association, the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C., Educators Against Racism, the RCMP and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

In keeping with the deal, the Correns were also invited, as were representatives of the Gay and Lesbian Educators of B.C. The deal calls for development of the optional Social Justice 12 course and a curriculum review intended to make schools more inclusive and gay-friendly.

Fox, who was in the news last year after persuading the Vancouver school board to become the first major school district in Canada to develop a policy allowing students to opt out of animal dissections in science class, said she was thrilled to be invited to such a high-level education meeting and to speak for animals in curriculum development.

She said she was also anxious that her presentation to the group not be perceived as an attempt to dilute the experiences of people who have suffered discrimination.

"It isn't that humans are better than animals, or animals are better than humans," she said in an interview. "When we talk about oppression, we need to look at it as a whole and how it is interlinked. How we treat animals says a lot about how we treat one another."

Brian Roodnick, spokesman for Concerned Citizens of B.C., the group that has been most critical of the Corren deal, said he was surprised but pleased to hear the Education Ministry is considering animal rights as part of the new course.

But he questioned why no one was invited to the meeting to talk about religious discrimination, such as anti-Semitism or prejudices against Muslims, or discrimination based on mental or physical disabilities.

He said lessons about social justice should be based on the equality guarantees in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prohibit discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. Discrimination of sexual orientation is also prohibited.

jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com

This story can be heard online after 10:30 a.m. today at www.vancouversun.com/readaloud.
(END OF VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE)
--------
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Date: Mon Sep 25 15:41:04 2006

DawnWatch Canada: Western Standard on foie gras 8/28/06

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:44:00 GMT

Alberta's fortnightly publication, The Western Standard, has published another article (below) against bans on foie gras. Please send a letter to the editor. A good source of information is http://www.nofoiegras.org/
The Western Standard takes letters at
http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm?page=magazine.editorletter OR
http://tinyurl.com/pfcbz

Western Standard (Alberta)
August 28, 2006 Monday

What's good for the goose . . .: They may not be big on foie gras, but a push to ban the stuff should leave a bad taste in the mouths of Canadian farmers

Will Verboven, Western Standard
NEWS; Will Verboven; Pg. 46

If you're not a connoisseur of that exotic food delicacy known as foie gras--better identified as fattened goose or duck liver--you likely aren't too concerned with the hard times that have befallen this product.

Foie gras has been a part of French cuisine for hundreds of years, and is alleged by food sophisticates to be on a par with caviar and white truffles. It is costly and difficult to produce, since it entails the force-feeding of ducks and geese by putting a tube down their throats. Heavy daily feedings cause the liver of the animals to overexpand with fatty-like tissue. The organ is subsequently harvested and made into pate de foie gras. As one who has tasted this somewhat greasy product, I am not sure why it is considered such a delicacy.

There is nothing pretty about the production process, and a cadre of animal rights groups, along with their Hollywood celebrity captives, have determined that it's inhumane, and that the production and sale of this product must stop. Remarkably, they've been fairly successful in their anti-foie gras crusade. Legislation has been enacted in California (of course) to stop commercial production (which wasn't that significant, since there are only three duck farms in the U.S. making foie gras: two in New York State and just one in California).

Most foie gras in the world is produced in France, where the dish has been declared a national treasure. However, a number of states in the U.S., and cities, including Chicago, are moving to ban even the sale of foie gras at retail stores and restaurants. Not surprisingly, there's not been much by way of opposition from average citizens, given that foie gras is perceived to be a delicacy only the very rich can afford.

As expected, horrific pictures are used by extremist animal rights groups, such as PETA, to shock consumers. And celebrities, including Sir Paul McCartney and Kim Basinger, have been tearfully pleading sympathy for the poor ducks and geese. Since these are food animals with probably limited expectations of life, it's difficult to ascertain what the creatures themselves make of all the concern over their fate.

Patient readers may rightly ask what banning foie gras has to do with anything that relates to them. The answer: not much, unless you happen to eat the stuff. And the anti-foie gras campaign doesn't mean much to crazed animal rights groups, either. What is significant, as far as activists are concerned, is that they were able to campaign successfully for specific legislation to have the production of this food product stopped. The question everyone in food animal production should be asking is: which animal-based food product will be the next target?It's not that far-fetched a question. Most consumers have no clue how their food is produced and many are happy naively convincing themselves that it magically appears every day at their local food stores. Foie gras is being banned because of horrific pictures and bogus information from self-appointed celebrity experts. It also helps to have gullible politicians who know a good vote-getting scheme when they see one. After all, how
many foie gras-eating voters are there?

But there are similar pictures out and campaigns against so-called factory farming. Animal rights groups propagandize that hens are forced to lay eggs in crowded, inhumane cages. They want consumers to believe that cattle are force-fed unnatural products in factory farm feedlots. To gullible city consumers, it's all the same--whether it's force-fed ducks, chickens or cattle, it all looks bad. The campaign managers of these global animal rights organizations are well aware of that. And they're also well aware that a campaign against food animal production will be won one step at a time.

Those involved in more common animal agriculture may be amused by the fate of foie gras production; after all, it's a food reserved for the privilege of the rich. Yet, I would suggest that those involved in intensive agriculture--be it poultry, hogs or feedlots--would be wise to learn a lesson from the fate of foie gras production and sale. Fanatical animal rights groups have combined budgets of over US$100 million and now they've been emboldened with this success. Who will be next?
(END OF WESTERN STANDARD PIECE)
-----------------------
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Date: Sun Aug 27 16:44:15 2006