I was just remembering how after Katrina there were a lot of homeless and hurt animals.  I hadn’t even thought about how an earthquake would affect animals while I was watching the latest people-centric news on the Haiti earthquake, but apparently there are hundreds of homeless and injured animals who have lost their homes and owners due to the quake.  The animals are now wandering the streets, homeless, injured, and at risk for disease, dehydration, and starvation.  If you’d like to donate money to help the animals, there are a variety of wonderful organizations out there trying to round up, medically treat, hydrate, feed, and probably eventually find homes for numerous animals wandering the streets of Port-au-Prince.  Here are a few wonderful organizations.  Please donate!  (I’m sure someone else has a better list of this somewhere else, or there are organizations that should be listed — please put them in the comments, and I’ll add them to this list.)

The Humane Society International:

The Humane Society International Disaster Fund is working to help animals in Haiti — they have an international disaster fund you can donate to, and they also have a webpage with regular updates on what the situation is like in Haiti right now, as they rescue animals there. I’m really impressed with the Humane Society here — they seem to be the first veterinarian-led team to make it in to Port-au-Prince as of today.

From the Humane Society International Disaster Fund webpage:

January 22, 2010.  6:50pm EST

. . . as they drove into the country, they saw cattle grazing in fields, stray dogs and rubble everywhere. People are still fearful of getting too close to buildings in case of further collapse.

Today, the team traveled to a site where tent cities had been set up and found many more dogs wandering around the area. Aside from being hungry, the animals encountered there seemed to be in okay condition, but starvation, dehydration and disease remain threats, especially to the injured.

Our vet Rebecca, paramedic Lloyd and the rest of our group attempted to get to the U.S. Embassy, but the lines were so long they gave up temporarily. They did attend a meeting of Interaction, a coalition of non-governmental organizations of which HSI is a member, where security issues were discussed . . .

. . . tomorrow, they plan to visit the outskirts of the city to review the situation for farm animals and companion animals further removed from crowds of people and food.

The American Veterinary Medical Association:

The American Veterinary Medical Association currently has Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams standing ready in the Dominican Republic to tend to animals in Haiti as part of the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH).  If you’d like to donate money to support the teams, you can do so by donating to the AVMA’s general fund (unfortunately they don’t allow direct donations to the veterinary medical assistance teams in Haiti right now).  There has been no call for the teams to go into Haiti as of yet, according to Dr. Heather Case, the AVMA director for emergency preparedness and response, but you can follow the Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams on Twitter and see when they actually do go into Haiti — @AVMAVMAT.

The AVMA VMAT Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/AVMAVMAT

Latest (1/22) ARCH situation report on #Haiti #animal relief now available on AVMA.org website: http://bit.ly/8bB7oI

The United Animal Nations:

Also the United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Services has a great blog about rescuing animals in Haiti — they seem to be doing what they can.

From the United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Services blog:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010

http://unitedanimalnations.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti Earthquake 2010

Help is on the way

Good news - the Haitian government has formally requested assistance from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH). The ARCH field team is expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince on Saturday to begin assessing the earthquake’s impact on animals.

. . . UAN has already contributed more than $30,000 to ARCH, thanks to the generosity of our donors. One hundred percent of all the donations we’ve received for Haiti to date are going directly to the ARCH relief effort . . .

The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH):

However, you can also donate money to the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti — the coalition the AVMA and UAN mentioned above are part of — and that money, as I understand it, goes indirectly to the Veterinary Medical Assistance Team and the United Animal Nations team mentioned above.  The Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti was cofounded by the World Society for the Protection of Animals and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).  I can’t find a way to donate to to the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti directly, but you can donate to its member coalitions.  Its members include the American Humane Association, Best Friends, RSPCA (UK), United Animal Nations, American Veterinary Medical Association, and the Kinship Circle.

To donate to the World Society for the Protection of Animals Haiti Disaster Relief, click here.

To donate to the International Fund for Animal Welfare Haiti Emergency Relief Response, click here.

To donate to the American Humane Association Red Star Animal Emergency Services Haiti Earthquake response — click here.

To donate to Best Friends Haiti Animal Rescue, click here.

To donate to RSPCA International, click here.

To donate to United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Services, click here.  You can also read their blog about rescuing animals in Haiti.

To donate to the American Veterinary Medical Association general fund, click here.

To donate to Kinship Circle’s Haiti Earthquake Relief, click here.

PS: does anyone know if there are any organizations that rescue abandoned pets in Haiti and then adopt them out to other countries?  Something like Tigger House but for Haiti instead of Afghanistan?  I’m sure there must be — but I just can’t find any online.  I’m sure they need donations too to pay for airfare of those rescued dogs/cats!

These are really, really amazing organic vegan caramel-flavored chocolates!  (They don’t actually have caramel inside them, unfortunately, but they are still very, very good.)  You can find them at any Whole Foods.  There are two other flavors as well, I think — anyway, there’s three different colored boxes of truffles — the yellow one is the caramel flavored truffles, I think one of the flavors is just plain chocolate truffles, and I am not sure what the remaining flavor is.  Walnut maybe?  I should have looked more carefully.

Anyway, if you like truffles, these are excellent!  They’re very rich and very, very chocolatey.  I can’t remember exactly what they cost me, but I think something like $6 for 8.8oz of truffles.  A pretty good deal, really!  I recommend them highly.

Ingredients: Organic cocoa mass, organic expeller pressed coconut oil, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic cocoa powder (processed with alkali), soy lecithin (emulsifier), natural caramel flavor.

Allergen information: Contains tree nut (coconut) and soy ingredients.  May contain milk, other tree nuts and peanuts.  Produced in a facility that also processes wheat.

I’ve had pretty good luck so far cooking vegan meals — my recipe for success is that first of all, I rarely cook!  Amy’s Kitchen frozen dinners, Trader Joe’s frozen products, soup tetrapacks, bags of prewashed salad greens, and fake ice cream are what I “cook” at home.  If any of these involve sauteeing/roasting/etc., I substitute olive oil where I might have once used butter, and sometimes it changes the flavor of the dish, but the dish still works.  (Have I mentioned how great Divina olive oil is?)

But recently I made a foray into vegan baking.  I made my favorite sugar cookie recipe, and I substituted Earth Balance for the butter, almond milk for the milk, and Ener-G egg replacer for the eggs.  The cookies were pretty good right out of the oven, though they lacked the richness of egg-based sugarcookies, but really terribly, an hour after they’d cooled they became very tough.  Rocklike.

So, I’m a little bummed.  Am I missing something about vegan baking?  Should I not try to veganize nonvegan cooking recipes?  Is there something else I should do when veganizing cookie recipes besides just making substitutions?  Because this is my alltime favorite sugar cookie recipe I’m talking about here . . .

Also, I’m really not wild about Earth Balance.  It seems to have a strange aftertaste.  Are there any other good-for-baking margarines out there that don’t have a weird aftertaste?  Should I just use oil instead?

I can’t figure out how to embed this video, but AAVS alerted me to the fact that there’s this GREAT clip of Professor Zee Upton talking about her in vitro skin equivalent that’s being used for wound research, and which has great potential for cosmetic testing.  It’s an animal-free testing model, which was created with human skin cells, so it provides more relevant results for humans, in addition to being more ethical.  It’s really fantastic!

Click here to watch the video of Professor Zee Upton describing her in vitro skin equivlent.

Oh my gosh, it’s been forever! I’m absolutely amazed by all the lovely comments I received on my last post — thank you everyone who left some kind words of understanding and encouragement after my dog died, and to those people who left their own stories of loss — they really helped. They are also in and of themselves really beautiful monuments to the pets that have brightened many peoples’ lives

I was so depressed for a while I couldn’t bear to blog or email, but at last I’ve recovered and am feeling happy again and thought I’d start posting once more. (And I’ll start going through my huge backlog of email! I promise!) Other than being absolutely miserable for a few months, I had a pretty uneventful autumn. I did manage to become almost completely vegan, which I’ve really been enjoying, oddly enough. :) Of course, it wasn’t too difficult a transition because I’d already spent much of my time being vegan due to being unwilling to eat any non-humanely-sourced eggs/dairy while out at most restaurants/parties. But I’ve been enjoying it nonetheless, though I have been surprised by how difficult it is to be vegan in the San Francisco bay area. I mean, I’m sure it’s easier than some other places, but honestly, I thought it wouldn’t be quite so difficult.

I have tried a few new cruelty-free products, and I’ll definitely be posting review of those in days to come.

Thank you again everyone who left wonderful comments on my last post — I’m so very, very comforted. It’s nice to know there are other people out there who similarly find losing a pet to be a horrifically painful event. It’s so hard when they’re such a positive part of your life, you know?

Glad to be back!

My dog died a week ago today.  It’s so horrible to think she’ll never snuggle up to me again, she’ll never dance with joy when I walk in the door, never follow me from room to room because she hates it when I’m out of her sight.  I’m so lucky to have had her so long — five extra years really than the average lifespan for her breed, and these past 10 months after she nearly died last October were stolen months — I know that.  I know I was lucky to get those extra 10 months.

But it’s so hard to come home to an empty house that’s full of memories.  It’s so hard to do the right thing and have your baby euthanized before she dies trying to breathe through an airway she can’t keep clear on her own.  It’s so hard after you spend a month putting her on different strong antibiotics and her breathing just gets worse and worse.  It’s hard when your baby’s immune system stops fighting infections.  It’s hard when your veterinarian tells you the kindest thing you can do is euthanize your baby and that if you don’t, nature will not treat her kindly from here on out. It’s hard to watch the light go out so quickly in the eyes that are so cheerful and friendly even as she struggles for breath.

I had no idea euthanasias were so quick.  It took all of ten seconds.

It’s hard to let go when you’ve lived with a dog for more than half your life. She was such a tiny puppy whose head fit in the palm of my hand almost sixteen years ago when I wasn’t much more than a baby myself — I can’t believe she’s really dead.  Even worse — stored in a freezer, waiting to be cremated.

It was so hard to walk away after after she was euthanized.  I just couldn’t leave my baby there.  I just couldn’t walk away.  I felt like a bad pet owner.  I couldn’t stand the thought of the freezer they were going to put her in.  She who always hated the cold, and who was still so warm.  I couldn’t bear it.  And I had to walk away.  I felt terrible.

I feel bereft.  I have no responsibilities.  There’s no reason to go home — no friendly little face that needs a walk or dinner.  Instead there’s a little ghost that prances around the house — I keep expected to see her come running around a corner to find me.  I’ve lost my identity in a way — I always was a dog-owner, and it defined me.  I’ve been a teenager and an adult as a dog-owner.  As a little kid I had family dogs before, but they were never my dog.  My baby was my very own dog — not my mom’s, not my dad’s, not my brother’s.  She always loved me better than anyone else, and it hurts to think she’ll never look up at me again with her big eyes and a lolling tongue.  I just can’t bear it.

I’m sorry I’m so busy right now I haven’t been blogging.  But I’ll be back soon!  I promise.  I’m considering finally joining Twitter just for this sort of situation.

This isn’t a real “Dear Emily” question.  It’s a comment I received from a post I wrote a while ago on veterinary experimentation — Veterinary Students: Merchants of Death? I feel like it summarizes my thoughts on veterinary experimentation very well.

I should also state for the record — various people have accused me of bashing the veterinary profession.  I don’t think I am — I think I’m looking at it from a rational perspective, but if you think I’m bashing it, you’re quite welcome to feel that way. :)  My mom is a veterinarian (Hi Mom!), and I almost went to veterinary school, so I think I have more of a critical understanding of veterinary medicine than many people do, and I do tend to attack its weak spots more stridently than other people do (and I’m just argumentative by nature!).  I debate this sort of stuff with my mom at the dinner table all the time.  Also I’ve met a lot of very conservative veterinarians who really don’t care about animal rights (not that they’re not nice people who aren’t deeply devoted to the animals in their care — they just vigorously oppose animal activism of any kind and think animals are here to feed us and provide us with research subjects) — and they’ve made me really question the common belief that veterinarians have animal welfare at heart.  You know large animal veterinary medicine?  The job description of large animal medicine is literally fattening up animals for slaughter.  (I don’t think large animal veterinarians are bad people — I can’t tell you how many nice large animal veterinarians I’ve met who really enjoy visiting the sheep and cows in their care — they’ll tell me about their favorite cow, I kid you not.  They just don’t see the problem with slaughtering animals eventually.  It’s an interesting mindset full of contradictions.)

I also think that once more members of the veterinary community adopt a more animal welfare centric lifestyle, there will be a revolution in animal welfare in this country.  Who better to drive improvements in animal welfare, after all?  If you are a veterinarian, and you’re interested in animal welfare, there’s a conference in November on it– Swimming With the Tide—Animal Welfare in Veterinary Medical Education and Research.  You should also join the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association.

Anyway, here is the comment and my response:

I just wanted to comment on/clarify something about this issue. Although I am sure some individuals actually hurt the animals in order to do surgeries, this is not always the case. For example, after speaking to faculty and students at Iowa State Vet school, I learned that they only use animals that have been injured or are sick already. They absolutely do not injure the animals just for the sake of learning/research. In order to learn surgeries with bone issues, they use PVC pipes and things like that.
Also, Emily referred to torture situations and compared these surgeries with those and I think that that comparison is inaccurate. These animals (at least at Iowa State) are not tortured. They are taken in by the school and cared for when the humane society is going to euthanize them. Then, they are put under like they are going into real surgery (which means they can’t feel anything, since when I have been put under for surgery it is painless, and you wake up and just feel like you forgot the last couple of hours). The surgery is done exactly as it would be done in a real vet clinic as if they animal would be woken up again. Then the anesthetic is increased. So the animal feels no more pain then they would have if they would have just been put to sleep. And they have the chance of living a bit longer and being cared for and played with by the students. They also have the chance of being adopted by the students.

I agree with the fact that this is a very controversial subject. And my heart has some problems with it as well. But I think it is important to at least understand what is happening, and not try to make it sound like these vet schools are torturing these dogs. I am by no means saying these surgeries are “okay” but people should be properly informed before they decide on their own opinion.

My response:

I’m glad you agree that this is a controversial subject, and I’m so GLAD to hear your heart has some problems with it as well. I also agree with you that it is important to at least understand what is happening. However, I disagree with you that these vet schools aren’t torturing these dogs.

Um, interesting choice of examples — PCRM just declared a victory in forcing Iowa State to stop using healthy live animals to practice emergency procedures on. So, I don’t think they made that jump to using pipes willingly — we have PCRM to thank for stopping Iowa State from torturing live dogs.
Second point, so you’re okay with using healthy dogs as subjects for unnecessary surgeries, but you oppose my using the word “torture” for these since according to you, none of these dogs are ever allowed to wake up once they’ve started being attacked with a scalpel? I guess I can honor your opinion there — if that’s the way you feel, that’s the way you feel, and it is your right, and I don’t dispute that. Again though, I’m a little unsure of the whole they’re under anesthesia, therefore it’s painless, argument. I had a pet that died while I was on vacation, and the veterinarian told me they couldn’t keep her alive till I returned — there were no pain medications that would dull her state of pain, and that they could keep her under anesthesia at different levels of consciousness — just a little would basically keep her not moving for the MRI, a lot would almost kill her, etc.

So, I’m wondering — I always find it funny when people claim things aren’t torture or “bad” in any way if they’re done to animals — just substitute the word “human” there and suddenly they turn around. Do you feel the same way? If I took a human being, anesthetized them, performed all kinds of unnecessary procedures on them, and then killed them, would you NOT consider that torture? Or sick? Or do you think that would be good medicine? You wouldn’t worry about the anesthesia levels being high enough? (No jokes about human medicine here, please! I know there are lots of unnecessary procedures that occur there )

That is a really good point about the animals having a chance of being cared for and played with by the students — I really like to think that happens.

I think the current trend in veterinary medicine of moving away from taking unwanted dogs and performing unnecessary, though anesthetized, surgeries on them, and instead turning to shelter medicine, is the far more humane way to go. Long live shelter medicine! (I’ve been keeping up on the veterinary trends, as you can see . . .   )

Thanks for writing in,
Emily

(Do you have a cruelty-free question for me?  Email emilycrueltyfree@gmail.com)

Compassion in World Farming is holding a Bake with Compassion Week July 6-12th

Compassion in World Farming is holding a Bake with Compassion Week July 6th-12th.  If you’d like to take part, you can send away for their kit — the idea is to bake with cage-free eggs, raise awareness for inhumane animal farming, and educate consumers on their choices.  They suggest baking cakes and selling them at your work, or having a tea party, or a coffee morning, a baking class, or a dinner party.  They have invitations ( 89.57KB).  To take part, fill out this registration form, and be sure to send Compassion in World Farming some photos of your event to supporters@ciwf.org.uk.

AACT is holding a public rally against factory farming in Tasmania:

I wish they’d hold one here!  But anyway, Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania is holding a public rally against factory farming on Saturday 20 June from 1-2pm on the Parliament Lawns. Every day animals are confined, exploited and forced to suffer in intensive farming systems all over the world - if ever there was a time for you to speak for the animals, this is it! Animals in intensive farming facilities spend their entire lives deprived of fresh air, sunshine and freedom. Please give just one hour of your life to help save the lives of these sentient beings. Feel free to bring your own placard or banners with a pro-animal message. For further information go to www.aact.org.au.

Animal Welfare Approved Annouces Grants of Up to $5,000 to Focus on Outdoor Access, Genetics and Improving Slaughter Facilities

Animal Welfare Approved announces grants of up to $5,000 to be awarded for the sole purpose of improving farm animal welfare, with a concentration on three areas: increased outdoor access, improved genetics and improved slaughter facilities.  Current Animal Welfare Approved farmers and those who have applied to join the program are eligible, and farmers may apply for certification and for a grant simultaneously. The deadline for applying is October 1, 2009.  It is hoped that these will be useful to address challenges faced by independent livestock producers.  Farmers may submit a proposal for one project, for a total maximum grant of $5,000. Grants will be awarded based on the projects’ potential to deliver the greatest benefit to farm animals. In order to receive a grant, applicants must meet the eligibility requirements and submit an application and a budget by October 1, 2009. Eligible costs include design fees, contractor costs, materials, and project-appropriate equipment. Grants applications must be postmarked by the deadline date and will not be accepted via e-mail.  Guidelines and an application form are available at www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org. Questions may be directed to Emily Lancaster at (919) 428-1641 or Emily@AnimalWelfareApproved.org.

Humane Farm Animal Care Certifies Capriole Inc. Goat Cheese

Humane Farm Animal Care® (HFAC), a leading non-profit certification organization improving the lives of farm animals in food production, has certified Capriole Inc. (Greenville, IN) farmstead goat cheese. Founded in 1976, Capriole, Inc. is a producer of handmade fresh, ripened, and aged chevres that use only the milk of its own herd. The goats spend their entire lives on the farm and are fed a nutritious diet, largely consisting of home-grown hay and woodland pasture grass.  With over 75 acres, the herd has more than sufficient space to allow them to roam and engage in their natural behaviors.

American Humane Association Partners with Viking Cooking School

American Humane has partnered with Viking Cooking School — now students at Viking Cooking School are not only learning new ways to prepare food, but they are also learning how animals are raised for food, as part of a new partnership with the American Humane Association.  As would-be bakers learn how to separate eggs, for example, they’ll also hear that the egg in their hands comes from a chicken that has not received growth hormones and hasn’t lived its short life squashed into a horrific tiny cage.  There are 15 Viking Schools, and more soon to open, so this is a good thing!  Hopefully it will also promote humanely raised producers.

(Do you have against factory farming news?  Please email me at emilycrueltyfree@gmail.com)