-The faces of The Facebook mounted a campaign to save a ‘Gay Dog‘ from being put down by a Tennessee kill shelter. Gawker covered the story and the dog was rescued! Yay!

-Want to know your state’s animal-related laws and their penalties? The ASPCA has made it easy!

-The European Union is set to ban animal testing for cosmetics forever!

-Will 2013 be the year of ag-gag bills? Our old compatriot Susie Cagle thinks so.

-Arizona lawmaker seeks ban on awarding live animals as carnival prizes. And he’s a Republican!

-”Going Vegan in the NFL” has zero mention of ethics. Do any of these guys care about the leather they’re fumbling?

-Gross. Professional athletes are spraying deer antler velvet into their mouths to stimulate muscle growth. Ew, also.

-Dust off those passports and book your tickets: the biggest vegan festival in the world is coming to London this October! 

-Or, if you’re not up for international travels, here’s the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival lineup for 2013, and there’s more to come! How soon is March again?

For more than two decades, Avon, Mary Kay, and Estée Lauder have been among the largest mainstream international companies on PETA’s cruelty-free lists. Avon banned all tests on animals following PETA’s massive “Avon Killing” campaign, and Mary Kay pledged to go cruelty-free after cartoonist Berkeley Breathed mocked the company in his popular Bloom County comic strip. Since then, all three companies have enjoyed the support of PETA and millions of consumers who choose to buy cosmetics from companies that don’t harm animals. But now we have learned that all three companies have been paying for tests on animals at the requirement of the Chinese government—and they did not inform PETA or consumers that their policies had changed. We have no choice but to downgrade them by placing them on our list of companies that test on animals.

You can read the full story here. If this pisses you off, write to these makeup companies to let them know you won’t support testing on animals, no matter where it’s happening.

Not only do we get to ogle James Franco, we get to watch lab apes smash their vivisectionist captors. Good times. (I hope they get the computer animated apes looking a little more plausible, though … I find the CGI in this preview pretty unimpressive.)

On Monday, July 26th, a low budget animal lib film screening at Anthology Film Archives became a fascinatingly larger phenomenon. Animal welfare personalities like Moby and Russell Simmons appeared, tons of disparate vegan groups showed up to table across the entire theater (the star being a rescued beagle from Azopharma’s animal testing laboratory who tabled for W.A.R.), and AR legend Andy Stepanian gave a speech in full ski mask gear about compassion in the face of animal testing horrors that made people weep openly. Needless to say, this type of thing doesn’t usually happen when a low budget, non-distributed, independent film about animal rights screens in the East Village. So why did it happen this time? In a nutshell, people flocked to the sold-out show because they heard it was excellent enough to warrant such a turnout, and they realized it was way past due for a film like it to be made and seen.

Interestingly, there was never before a professionally-made narrative feature film about the growing world of animal liberation groups. Despite the sheer amount of political attention and defense budget that the Bush administration devoted to animal welfare groups, and despite the impressively unconstitutional nature of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act passed during the Bush era, scifi/horror movies like 12 Monkeys or 28 Days Later were the closest anyone’s come to an ALF movie. Enter Bold Native.

Camille Hankins of W.A.R., left, Freedom the rescue beagle, middle, and Russell Simmons, right, at the Bold Native screening. Photo by Lauren Krohn.

Bold Native is the independent child of Denis Henry Hennelly, and his film follows the experiences of a charismatic animal liberator in the US. The film aims, simply, to finally show the intense and gritty world of everyday citizens that you live and work next to (and are often related to), who have made the simple decision to stop tolerating the torture of fellow sentient beings. What is presented to the viewer is an exciting and realistic story that most ordinary people can relate to. It is at times very painful and difficult to watch, yet anyone who still thinks that large organic dairy or egg farms are nice to animals needs to watch this.

Although the script and performances are quite daring, in many ways they don’t need to be. It’s an inherently powerful and moving film whose characters deal with the very imposing threat of encouraging animal welfare in the US, despite the recent laws that brand that type of speech as terrorism.

However, the most powerful aspect of the film is an interesting cinematic device with an intention to drive the realism of the film home. The movie intermixes real, undercover footage of animal liberation actions with the narrative story footage. It’s a fascinating approach that constantly reminds you that what you’re watching is still happening today. Many people at the screening were uncontrollably overwhelmed, as weeping and gasping during rescue scenes were audible.

Director Denis Henry Hennelly, left, and Russell Simmons, right, at the Bold Native screening. Photo by Lauren Krohn.

However, if the film was just a gloom and doom fest, it would be a predictable nightmare of suffering akin to a regular snuff film. Surprisingly, though, in the new tradition of movies like The Cove, the film is entertaining, which you frankly wouldn’t expect from a narrative film showing animal torture footage. The film is actually funny and thrilling at unexpected moments.

While the plot is straightforward enough – a young man, whose father is a food enterprise executive, decides to follow an ALF path – the choices the characters make and their adventures are often refreshingly surprising. Their circumstances are easy to picture happening to people who face such choices in real life, and you wouldn’t know how you’d react in those circumstances yourself. Yet even in those moments, characters are often wisecracking, and true to life in that they use humor to stay sane during harsh times.

In a nutshell, Bold Native is a film that most people need to see, even if the subject matter is something they would never consider watching a film about. Like people who don’t want to ruin their enjoyment of their sweatshop-made sneakers, a gentle education may help increase their compassion for others who give up their lives unwillingly to serve us. And as evidenced by the impressive reception it got at an independent screening, it seems that the entertaining and humorous Bold Native may be just the right tool to educate on the topic.

This weekend’s going to rock your veggie world, if you’re into that sorta thing! Veggie Prom is tonight, followed by a post-prom potluck picnic at Central Park. Finally, the Veggie Pride Parade rounds out the weekend Sunday starting at 11 a.m. in the Meatpacking district.

Hungry after all the parading, yes? Z Pizza‘s got vegan slices this weekend, starting today! That means no more staring in their window wishing you had friends to go in on a pie with you, and no aging pizza in your fridge. (But leftover pizza is the best, no joke!)

Jonathan Horowitz’s art exhibit at a former meat locker in the Village called “Go Vegan!” looks brilliant. Have you been? What’d ya think?

At least two carriage horses have crashed in the last two weeks, Gothamist reports. It’s been just a month since the City Council approved changes to the carriage horse industry that support more humane treatment of the horses, but the new legislation does nothing to protect horses from injury due to crashes. Hey, it looks like you can’t make carriage-hauling safe or humane for horses unless you eliminate it entirely. News. Flash.

The LA Times blog’s “L.A. Unleashed” column has a snappy animal round-up of its own: Labradoodle breeder’s regrets, gray whale in Israel, and researchers hurt mice to see the looks on their faces. Guh.

The Humane Society of the United States gives us a peek into Richard Berman’s absurdly shady lobbying tactics and how they threaten animals. You wanna read this!

Remember when Compassion Over Killing encouraged us to enter Dunkin’ Donuts’s “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut Contest,” and asked us to share our vegan creations with them? They’ve picked their favorite 12 contestants’ dreamed-up sweets and will make one of those dreams come true! Vote for your favorite by next Friday, May 21 (and you’ll be entered to win one of 10 prizes, too). Vegan Treats will produce the winning doughnut, which will be announced in June. I will take a box of each!

When Andy Stepanian and Dara Lovitz gave a talk on SHAC7 and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) at NYU Law School on Tuesday, most of the audience came half-expecting to hear a legal seminar (Lovitz is the author of Muzzling a Movement). Almost no one expected to laugh or cry with inspiration before the talk ended, although almost everyone did. (We interviewed Andy before this event.)

This was not a speech or a classroom teaching. Dara spoke so candidly about the absurdities of animal enterprise terrorism laws that even the law students had to start laughing with her. Andy spoke so painfully earnestly to everyone that few had dry eyes by the end of the talk. No one walked away depressed, though, as the duo were determined to show everyone exactly how much potential we all have to effect positive change, despite how much money and effort the animal enterprises dump into making us feel powerless and small.

Dara, the lawyer, spoke first. And the takeaway of her talk wasn’t “the history and overview of AETA,” but rather just how impressively unconstitutional the AETA is, and how it managed to be drafted anyway. She explained very frankly how a series of unconscionably illegal laws culminating in AETA were pulled over everyone’s eyes through passionately written passages. Passages about how animal activists victimize dying people who can only get a cure through animal testing. Passages that literally say that we owe so much of our lives to the selfless people in charge of the factory farm industry. And she put us face to face with how so many of our senators and policymakers are CEO’s and beneficiaries of devastating animal enterprises.

Dara Lovitz, left, and Andy Stepanion, right. Photo by Robyn Lazara.

When Andy spoke, most anticipated hearing intense stories about how he boldly protested the animal testing giant Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), and how those bold actions got him jailed as a terrorist. He nipped that in the bud right away by saying it wouldn’t do anyone any good to recall stories that make him seem so “badass” as he put it. After pointing out how much he was dressed as Mr. Rogers and that he’s remarkably un-badass, Andy spoke disarmingly openly, in an attempt to answer everyone’s questions as well as he could despite being so muzzled by legal restraints. During the talk, he was constantly torn between telling us what we needed to know, and not wanting us to be scared into silence by the information he has.

He constantly pointed out how animal enterprises want us to fall into the trap of, “Wow, did you hear what happened to Andy? It’s crazy how much the federal government, huge industries, and millions of dollars went into crushing him and his rights because of his stand against animal testing!” Andy explained how falling into that trap leads to spreading fear, and making people hesitant to take a stand because they don’t want to end up a victim like Andy. So, instead of regurgitating what happened to him, he consciously chose to cut off such stories and instead focus on exactly why huge industries and powerful policymakers are so willing to spend so many resources on fighting animal activists. The ultimate reason is that these powerful giants truly care about what people have to say, and are truly scared of what we do say, because they know we all have the power to take them down. HLS eventually admitted that Andy and the other six SHAC defendants, through their penniless protests, caused HLS to lose over $360 million and the ability to be publicly traded in the stock market. After driving this point home, Andy pointed to us all and asked us to think about how much a classroom full of determined individuals can do. Or two classrooms full of such people. Or even just you.

The biggest message of all, though, was that all the money-grubbing companies, the big industries, and the power players were immensely fearful in their paper palaces. Fearful of losing money, of losing power, of being exposed for what they are. And that love and compassion are their biggest enemies. Because an act of love and compassion towards a helpless lab animal can set you free and make you feel more love and freedom than almost anything you can imagine. And that’s simply a feeling that companies like HLS cannot afford to let anyone feel.

Andy and buddy on the beach.

Andy Stepanian is one of six activists known as the SHAC 7 who were convicted under the federal Animal Enterprise Protection Act for their involvement in the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaign in the U.S. SHAC’s target was the notorious animal testing lab Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), which uses roughly 70,000 animals per year for product-testing. The strategic campaign effectively threatened the financial stability of one of the world’s most profitable research laboratories, which brought it to the attention of the federal government. The FBI launched an intense investigation that landed six activists in federal court, accused of charges of conspiracy. As a result, more aggressive legislation specifically targeting animal activism, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, was passed in 2006 to safeguard animal enterprises in the future.

While no living creature was harmed by their actions, the U.S. SHAC activists were sentenced to one to six years in federal prison. To date, all but one defendant have been released. Lauren Gazzola was released to a halfway house last Wednesday. Kevin Kjonaas remains incarcerated. Their case is currently under appeal.

Andy was released a year ago and now works as a publicist. He will be giving a rare public talk about his personal experience this coming Tuesday at NYU, “Muzzling A Movement: Free Speech, Animal Protection and Terrorism Prosecutions,” with the author Dara Lovitz. Cat Clyne caught up with Andy at Atlas Cafe to check in on how he’s been doing and what he’s been up to.

In a nutshell, what is next Tuesday’s talk about?
Muzzling a Movement is a new book by Dara Lovitz coming out by Lantern Books in September. It covers the breadth of how laws have failed animals. On the prosecutorial end, laws are failing animals in the sense that animal welfare groups that are trying to prosecute animal abusers are facing increased opposition. Laws are also failing animals in the sense that new “designer” legislation is being passed to directly combat animal activism.

Is there One Big Thing you learned about activism from your involvement in the SHAC campaign?
The SHAC campaign opened my eyes to an understanding that capitalism is at the root of so many oppressive systems. Whether it is the way we treat animals, the earth, or women’s bodies, each are impacted, often negatively, by capitalism. One of the main reasons why I stayed involved with SHAC is that I felt it was a multi-issue campaign that challenged the public to connect those dots between excused animal abuse and profitable margins. People began to understand that behind every system of oppression there are financial pillars of support. SHAC’s main objective was to eliminate the financial support for abusers and watch their system fall in on itself. Because I care about animal rights and veganism that was reason enough to stay involved, but simultaneously I was compelled because of the inspiration it was giving to other movements to challenge capitalism and reinvent their tactics. There was a lot that was not to my benefit by staying involved. But I had equations in my head–it translated into more than just these animals here. I was tired of playing the typical protest game and I wanted to change the board–to recreate and change the rules.

HLS had everything to lose. This campaign was not about concessions, it was about abolition, so of course they were going to put up a fight. In many senses it was analogous to sucker-punching the biggest kid on the playground. But, if our tactics were applied to a campaign that was about concessions, let’s make an example of a campaign against child labor or sweatshops: if you apply these tactics with a list of demands for reform, the cost-benefit analysis to dealing with a campaign like this would result in the company capitulating and would show victories across the board. In the case of sweatshops, it’s the perfect model.

What is the status of your appeal?
It is approaching the En Banc stage, which is a preliminary round before going to the Supreme Court. In January 2009 we went in front of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and saw three judges. Now ALL the judges in the region have to review the ruling and give an opinion as to whether or not it should be re-tried. If they do not grant a new trial/hearing, then the alternative is going to the Supreme Court.

Wow. What do you think about that? Is that what you were hoping for?
I was hoping we’d win before reaching the Supreme Court. Some activists are hoping it will go to the Supreme Court and that this will become case law and will be applicable thereafter–that our fight will help other people being prosecuted under the new law (the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act). But we’re excited to go the Supreme Court.

Do you think the pursuit and conviction of the SHAC activists has had an effect on animal advocacy in this country?
It fractured the movement and scattered the flock. The government made an example out of people whom their fellow activists could relate to. Every SHAC activist was an individual from a different area of the country and each indictment had a radiating effect on the communities the defendants came from. Trepidation that spread from the prosecution traversed the country and trickled down into activist communities. People were given a choice: to drop out entirely, stay involved and potentially get in trouble, stay involved and scale back their effectiveness, or get even more radical. The government didn’t get everything they wanted because the campaign still continues today, however, they did get a large section of the moderate activists to bow out. It chilled speech in many activist campaigns and only radicalized the tenor of irrelevant outlets like the self-described Animal Liberation “Press Office”.

However this is far from a doomsday scenario. Activists have recently come back to the movement with renewed zeal and many have internalized the thought that what happened to the SHAC7 isn’t going to happen to them–there’s a greater chance of being in a car accident than being indicted under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

Can you talk about the kinds of activism you’re involved with now?
I had a lot of time to plan for the future while away. I still have a lot of questions but I was certain I did not want to be known for the time I spent in prison. If given recognition I wanted it to be for my work–not for some creepy infatuation our movement has with martyrdom. I also repeatedly rolled over a quote in my head (one I heard several times before): “I bet you they’d take us seriously if we had a publicist.” This led me to start The Sparrow Project, a grassroots creative publicity agency that braids activism with the arts and popular culture. There are a handful of us working on projects and developing campaigns to publicize and incubate grassroots activism efforts, forward-thinking musicians, writers and artists. This week, with Merch Direct, we launched our line of benefit shirts. The proceeds of each shirt are split between the Sparrow Project and the nonprofit cause it triumphs. We collaborate with upcoming artists and designers to produce the shirts and shoot a video with them. Recently, we were stoked to find that Randy J. Hunt of the design studio Citizen Scholar would partner with Sparrow to shoot a video about designing for social change and would re-work Robert Indiana’s Love Park typographic art to say the word “VEGAN”. The shirt is already a hit in our online store and benefits Farm Sanctuary.

Sparrow has partnered with the Surfrider Foundation and Clean Ocean Action and local music heros Envy On The Coast to raise awareness and opposition to a proposal to build an artificial island off the coast of New York that would import Liquid Natural Gas. We also teamed up with Special Sauce and the Uganda Skateboard Union to help build and expand a skateboard park in Kampala Uganda to include an adjacent school. We also organized a benefit concert and supplies-drive for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. We have new projects and videos on the way this spring from the amazing Leanne Mai-Ly Hilgart of Vaute Couture and the all-too-eloquent Joshua Katcher … to name a few. I am also making time to do speaking events like the one this Tuesday and work towards finally finishing the book I wrote while in prison.

Whoa, you are one busy bee! Let’s switch gears: Tell me about surfing.
It’s my favorite thing to do. I love being in the ocean and at the beach. I like being in the water around sunrise and sunset the most. I like seeing the sun through the curtain of the barrel. Being enveloped in the ocean is like a surreal watercolor painting and I am pretty sure every surfer has a deep connection to those brief moments in the barrel. No matter how many times it is articulated in surf magazines and videos, words always fall short of describing the experience of getting “barreled.”

What music are you listening to these days?
Kidz in the Hall, Drake, Sufjan Stevens, and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”

What is your ideal meal?
Road’s End’s Macaroni & Chreese with broccoli in it.

Catch Andy Stepanian and Dara Lovitz at NYU’s Law School on Tuesday, March 23. More info: http://sparrowmedia.net. Kevin Kjonaas remains incarcerated. You can support him by writing a letter or donating to his support fund.

Donkeys don’t have stripes. Via The New York Times.

• The Catalan parliament passed a vote to ban bullfighting by including bulls in an animal cruelty law that protects certain animals from any kind of torture. Yahoooo!
• In other animals-are-not-for-entertainment wins, a charity claims to have freed the last dancing bear in India on Friday, December 18.
• The Brooklyn Paper says Red Bamboo Brooklyn‘s eminent closing is a sign of dying cultural interest in vegetarianism, and notes that RB owner, Jason Wong, is no longer a vegetarian. (Did everyone know that? I didn’t know that.) Wong told The Brooklyn Paper, “The concern now is more about locally grown and less of a carbon footprint. Being a carnivore doesn’t mean you don’t care.” This is true. It could also mean you are ignorant. What’s your excuse, Jason Wong? And where is the hard, non-incidental evidence that vegetarianism is on the decline?
• Pups can thrive on a vegetarian diet, a report published in the British Journal of Nutrition says. But you already knew that.
• This is NOT a zebra. Prepare to be depressed.
• New restaurant reviews on Peacefood Cafe, Cocoa V, Sacred Chow, and HanGawi. Leave your thoughts for posterity, people.

And on the topic of vegan TV exposure, anyone else see Dr. Oz turn a cowboy vegan? Now THAT guy knows how to scare folks into a healthy diet.

Avimorphism? (Photo via National Pigeon Day)

**Edit: Two late additions for Tuesday, June 16**

Be alerted of these and other events we think you’ll care about by subscribing to our calendar.

Events are free unless otherwise noted.

Now until June 14

Watch new documentary HOME free on YouTube. More info in our recent blog post.

Saturday, June 13

National Pigeon Day: Praise the pigeon at Central Park and all over the country. Our very own Patrick Kwan will be speaking.
12-4pm
Central Park, Pilgrim Hill

Get friendly with a neeeeighbor at A Horse of Course!, a walk and discussion with Kathy Stevens at Catskill Animal Sanctuary.
1-4pm
$15, or $5 for members. Register in advance by calling Julie at (845) 336-8447.

Woodstock FAS hosts its family-friendly Jamboree. Games, face-painting, animals, and food by Isa Moskowitz. That’s right–another chance to dose on Isa before she heads back to Oregon.
11am-5pm
$10. Register in advance at the website.

Tuesday, June 15

Protest against the netting and gassing to death of at least 2,000 NYC geese
12-2pm
Port Authority Headquarters, 225 Park Ave. South

Ingrid Newkirk’s book-signing for The PETA Practical Guide to Animals Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble
7pm
Borders, Columbus Circle

Thursday, June 18

Mercy for Animals celebrates the opening of its New York office with vegan appetizers and drinks at MooShoes. And wait, it gets better than vegan food and booze: MooShoes will be donating 10% of that day’s in-store and online sales to MFA, so you finally have a scale-tipping reason to get that pair of Simples.
6:30-9:30pm
MooShoes, 78 Orchard St.

Friday, June 19

Join Mary and Peter Max for the kick-off party for the production of Standardized Testing. The film “follows PATH founder Kelly Overton…as he attempts to return his diplomas and get his tuition refunded in an effort to bring attention to the dangerous and wasteful biomedical research being done at the universities.” Food will be provided by 4 Course Vegan, BabyCakes NYC, Blackwell’s Organic Gelato, Candle Cafe, Frey Vineyards, The Power of Food, Tuthilltown Spirits, Vegan Treats Bakery, and others.
6:30-8:30pm
The Max Studio
37 W. 65th St., 7th floor
$100 and up. Purchase tickets here.

Oh Ellen, you went vegan, and I was so proud. So how can you shill for a company that tests on animals?

While the same atrocities go on day after day in animal testing labs, this year World Week for Animals in Laboratories, April 18-26, seems just a little less bleak. Why?

• The Environmental Protection Agency, the National Toxicology Program and the National Institutes of Health have agreed to implement new technologies that will allow for the phasing out of animal testing.
• President Obama’s reversal of the Bush administration’s stance on embryonic stem cell use is another step on the path toward the end of animal testing.
• In response to Obama’s pledge to scrutinize federal spending on a line-by-line basis, In Defense of Animals is calling the government’s attention to “wasteful and inhumane experiments.”
• IDA is also asking Obama to award stimulus funding to the NIH for nonanimal testing only.
• The Great Ape Protection Act, which is currently in the House, seeks to “prohibit the conducting of invasive research on great apes.”
• And as of March, “the EU has banned all animal tests for cosmetic ingredients, formulations and final products. In addition, the sale of cosmetics and ingredients that have been tested on animals, regardless of where the testing occurred, is also prohibited, with the exception of three test areas… The final three test areas will be banned in March 2013.”

Of course, implementing any of these changes will take time, so they don’t mean much to the animals suffering in labs right now. If risking a prison sentence isn’t your bag, you can attend demonstrations through groups like Win Animal Rights, during WWAIL as well as the rest of the year.

If you’d rather use your wallet to take a stand, buy only cruelty-free products from companies that don’t test on animals. (If you’re not sure about a company or a product, you can find out here.) You can also donate only to charities that conduct nonanimal research. In addition to advocating for the creation and use of alternatives to animal testing, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine awards the Humane Charity Seal of Approval to organizations that don’t test on animals.

And never underestimate the power of knowledge. As with factory farming, a lot of people just don’t know what goes on in laboratories, so educate yourself and those around you. Organizations like the National Anti-Vivisection Society, the American Anti-Vivisection Society, PETA and others provide plenty of information as well as letter-writing campaigns and other ways to get involved.

Burger-Server-in-Chief

Today is the final day of voting in the Ideas for Change in America competition, one of those massive online voting thingies. The top ten ideas will be “presented to the Obama administration.” This may not actually mean much (if I mail a letter to the White House, I’m presenting an idea), but the site is generating a lot of attention and discussion. Whether we can directly influence Obama’s agenda or not, wouldn’t it be nice to get some pro-animal items to win this contest?

You can vote for all four of these (not just one):

• Pass the Puppy Uniform Protection Statute to Help Stop Puppy Mills
• Stop Animal Torture
• Ban Breed Specific Legislation
• Vegan School Lunch Options

Update: Voting is now closed.

We blogged it a few weeks ago, but this is worth another mention. If you are anywhere near New York City, and you care at all about animal issues, you are a fool and a loser if you don’t visit Banksy’s “Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill” at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street.

The shop touches on humans’ exploitation of animals for food, chemical and behavioral testing, fur, and entertainment. I’ve never been a big fan of Banksy’s drawing/stencil work, but this show is just great, conceptually technologically, and aesthetically. It’s subversive and clever, sure, but also quite touching and unnerving.

It’s great how it’s just a store-front. I suspect most visitors stumbled upon the place, rather than seeking it out. Even if you don’t think you like or understand fine art, you’ll be OK here. It’s just a mock store, with animatronics, just like at Disneyland.

The show closes on October 31st, Halloween. The price and the hours are friendly–free admission, open 10am-midnight. Go!

Free Range Nuggets

Guerrilla artist Banksy has opened his first official exhibition in New York yesterday. “Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill” is at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street. The fake pet shop he’s created aims to question “our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming.”

The BBC has more photos and full info and video is available from Wooster Collective. Finally, an art exhibit that I care enough to go see. Take that Damien Hirst, you sick bastard.

I’ll post a full report after I pay a visit to the exhibit, which runs until October 31st and is open daily from 10am until midnight.

“Excessory Baggage” by Meryl Smith

Too much news piling up, so I’m just gonna spew it atcha:

• Jessica Simpson is “deeply hurt,” “disgusted,” and “upset” that Pamela Anderson called her “bitch” and “whore” for wearing that “Real Girls Eat Meat” T-shirt. Thankfully, Pam ain’t apologizing (though she does claim she was only “kidding” … we can let a little damage control pass, and still be proud of her, right?).
• A giraffe at a circus in Amsterdam led a jailbreak, helping 15 camels, 2 zebras, and some llamas and pot-bellied pigs escape. (They were later recaptured.) Anyone have links to pictures or video of this?
• The New Scientist tells us that “Rhesus macaques have been shown to possess yet another numerical talent once thought unique to humans – they can simultaneously count audible beeps and dots on a computer screen.” Good to know, but can we stop experimenting on them, please?
• Ryan from VegBlog points us to a list of “The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1” and notes “17 of the top 20 (and 9 of the top 10) are vegan. Show this to the next dummy that says, ‘Being vegan is too expensive.’”
• The Food Fight! Grocery blog continues to be your go-to source for headlines such as “Dog Meat Off the Menu for Olympics”“, “Woman Shoots Herself While Trying to Kill Mice”“, “Woman’s fingertip bitten off at meat market“. Go read. And buy some unhealthy vegan food that costs over $1 while you’re at it.
• Lewis Cicero of Fairfield, Connecticut faced either execution or declawing after scratching some of his human neighbors in 2006. His guardian Ruth demanded a trial on criminal charges. The case was just dismissed, as Lewis has kept out of trouble under house arrest.
• The Discerning Brute checks in with some stylish non-silk ties, non-leather martial arts gloves, non-wool post-consumer recycled suits, and more.
• Boing Boing Gadgets points us to this fake Louis Vuitton Piglet Dog purse by artist Meryl Smith (see picture). I don’t know where she falls on animal issues, but a lot of her work is animal-related, and her sad greyhound piece The Last Race is pretty affecting.

• Farm Sanctuary’s been out rescuing pigs from the floods in the Midwest. Help them out with a donation, or foster a pig in need. (If you’ve got room for Babe in your abode, call 607-583-2225 x223.)
• Get behind LOHV’s efforts to get a dog-tethering ban passed. Call your council peeps about Intro. 545 (visit the League of Humane Voters of NYC for their info), and pony up some dough here.
• Tell those involved with the Rabies Challenge Fund that fewer rabies vaccines is no reason to infect, experiment on and kill poor, innocent pups. Send your e-mails to founder and co-trustee Kris Christine, co-trustee Jean Dodds and researcher Ronald Schultz, D.V.M.
• Oh, and nothing specifically to act on here, just FYI: Tony Blair doesn’t think it’s necessary to give up bangers and mash to save the planet.

Victimless Leather, part of the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit at MoMA.

Some things that raise interesting questions have been collecting in my browser tabs bar. I thought I’d share them with you.

• There’s a thorough post over at U.S. Food Policy about the scope of meat in rising food costs. It takes into account the rising cost of animal feed (and competition from the biofuels industry) and also the dramatic increases in meat consumption, especially in developing nations.
• A turtle named Myrtle, who was well known in the backyards of her block in Williamsburg was painted pink, presumably by some construction workers. It became quite a local “human interest” story. It seems like Myrtle will be OK, which is great, but I’m sure that most of those sympathizing with her story would have no moral qualms eating turtle soup.
• I’ve been noticing a similar disconnect in regards to Eight Belles, the racehorse who was driven to her death last week at the Kentucky Derby. The mainstream seems sort of upset about the abuse and effective murder of Eight Belles, but not really enough to realize that horse racing can be just as evil as their favorite bugaboo, dog fighting.
• And finally, Paola Antonelli, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art has “killed” a piece by artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr called Victimless Leather. The tiny jacket-shaped object/creature was made of mouse stem cells and was kept alive via a nutrient tube. It (I actually feel OK using an inanimate pronoun here) grew faster than expected and clogged its own life-support system. Says Antonelli:
  

  [It] started growing, growing, growing until it became too big. And [the artists] were back in Australia, so I had to make the decision to kill it. And you know what? I felt I could not make that decision. I’ve always been pro-choice and all of a sudden I’m here not sleeping at night about killing a coat…That thing was never alive before it was grown.

  I wonder how Antonelli thinks other “things” become alive?

It literally makes me sick when I think about the millions of animals who are tortured and killed in laboratories every year. Most people will decry animal testing when they’re confronted with images of cats with electronic devices sticking out of their brains or bunnies locked in boxes so that chemicals can be poured into their eyes. But after they compose themselves, a lot of people still come out in favor of vivisection, because if we didn’t test on animals, where would we be? And aren’t testers as ethical and responsible as possible?

As far as I’m concerned, there’s no excuse for animal testing, and until it ends, every day should be World Day for Animals in Laboratories. But since it’s not, we have World Week for Animals in Laboratories, which began this past weekend.

I never know where to begin with these things, so I’m just going to mention some of the more notable developments, old and new, as well as ways you can get involved. (I was going to try to work in this ”funny” Onion article, but it reads so close to reality that I found it hard to find much humor in it.)

Unfortunately, there’s never a shortage of depressing news on the animal research front, but in the interest of sanity, I’ll be brief. Most of us were shocked to learn that ”eco”-giant Ecover tests its products on animals—how does that make the company green? More recently, there was the stomach-turning news that a monkey had been boiled alive in its cage in a research facility. And then after all that, we’re presented with even more proof that animals are suffering for naught, since, as with the Vioxx scandal, more safety tests, this time on Botox, were found to be inaccurate.

Even more disturbing, the Washington Post reported that the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods isn’t doing its job, which is to review and approve nonanimal tests. (Ask Congress to intervene here, and urge the FDA to pursue nonanimal testing alternatives here.)

But thankfully, the landscape isn’t all bleak. Last year, POM Wonderful stopped testing its products on animals as a result of protests, Israel outlawed animal testing on cosmetics, and the NIH stopped breeding chimps for research. (Project R&R—Release & Restitution for Chimpanzees in U.S. Laboratories—now seeks to end testing on all great apes in the U.S. and have them released to sanctuaries; show your support for the Great Ape Protection Act here.)

Just this month, Yale canceled a vivisector’s lecture—to kids!—following an outcry. The fact that there’s such a thing as the Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is cause for hope. And in what has to be the biggest positive development in vivisection in recent memory, three major U.S. agencies have agreed to phase out animal testing. Of course, as with the phasing out of gestation crates and the like, it will probably take at least 10 years, but it’s a step in the right direction.

With the tide seemingly starting to turn, now is a great time to do your part, since it’s likely your actions can have a greater impact than ever before. And there are so many ways you can help.

If you can afford to donate, put organizations like the American Anti-Vivisection Society and the National Anti-Vivisection Society on your list. (Also, be sure to enter your artwork in NAVS’ Art for Animals Classic.) The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is one of the most amazing groups around, because not only does it push the FDA to implement nonanimal tests, it has convinced medical schools to stop using live animals in their labs, it advocates for a vegan diet, and it does it all by spotlighting concern for people as well as animals.

Another way to let your wallet speak for you is to find out which companies test on animals and to refuse to buy their products. (And if you can, drop them a line and let them know why.) The Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics’ Leaping Bunny Program, In Defense of Animals’ list of cruelty-free companies and NAVS’ guide to companies that test or don’t test on animals can point you in the right direction.

If you’re an organized, articulate thinker, write letters to the editor in response to relevant news. (If you can’t keep up on your own, subscribe to DawnWatch to receive news digests and info on where to write in; FYI, the site isn’t restricted to vivisection news.) And there are always plenty of petitions to go around—simply sign up to receive e-mail alerts from animal protection organizations. To start, you can tell Mars to stop testing their products on animals (and ask your omni friends not to patronize them).

You can also set up a Memorial Field display commemorating animals used in research, ”adopt an activist,” and more.

If getting out and making noise is more your style, there are plenty of demonstrations going on. You can attend a protest of Mars on Saturday in NYC or any number of other IDA-sponsored demonstrations. Or join one of Win Animal Rights’ protests against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) customers and suppliers. (For activists in the UK, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is holding a Novartis protest on Saturday, its World Day for Laboratory Animals. You’ll also find a list of actions taking place in Europe and elsewhere on the site.)

Speaking of HLS, support the five remaining SHAC 7 prisoners, who were convicted under the Federal Animal Enterprise Protection Act, by donating to their Support Fund, writing letters and sending books to them in prison.

And don’t forget to speak out against the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. It’s nothing more than an attempt to silence activists and to protect big-money interests that profit from the suffering of nonhuman animals.

Most of all, keep talking about animal testing. There’s a reason research facilities have no windows, and it’s up to us to make sure that the animals suffering on the other side of their walls aren’t forgotten.

• Friday on Oprah: Taking a cue from HSUS, Lisa Ling uses a hidden camera to investigate the cruelty of puppy mills. (When did Ling become the reporter of all things freegan and animal-related?)
• The San Francisco Art Institute has taken down an exhibit that featured videos of six animals being bludgeoned to death. Unfortunately, it did so before the public forum was held because of death threats to its staffers. Go hypocrisy!
• The Canadian seal hunt began earlier this week.
• The Rotterdam Zoo is making all of its animals go veg, for health reasons. Even the carnivores…?
• Meanwhile, in Germany, apparently ”zoo” is synonymous with “factory farm.”
• In another giant step for I don’t know what, scientists are hoping to train fish to “catch” themselves. Because why do the harvesting, too, when you can confine your actions to killing and consuming? (At least then maybe there’d be no call for shows like this.)
• And because I can’t handle any more depressing stuff today: Enter your film, poem, needlepoint, etc., in NAVS’ 19th Annual Art for Animals Classic. If your piece wins, it will grace National Anti-Vivisection Society materials (plus you’ll get some cash). Click here for the PDF entry form and rules, or call 800-888-NAVS (6287). The deadline is May 2.

Don’t test on me!

Ecover, manufacturer of eco-friendly household cleaning products, has lost their seal of approval from the Vegan Society.

It turns out that Ecover tests detergents on water fleas as a way to measure the environmental impact of their products on aquatic life. It’s annoying that Ecover makes the specious and speciesist argument that water fleas aren’t animals, rather than just sticking to the fact that their priority is mitigating the environmental impact of their products.

It also turns out that they test on blood taken from farmed rabbits. As the
Vegan Society says, “We have mutually agreed with Ecover to withdraw our registration because they are not meeting our criteria.”

NOHARM Dark Brown Lace-up Vegan Ankle Boots: only $299!

• Following up on previous reports, vegetarian Mumbai gentry continue to oppress meat eaters, kicking them out of housing and shopping malls, etc. It’s kind of hard to imagine this happening anywhere else!
• There’s a new kid on the vegan shoe block. NOHARM shoes are handmade in Italy, and are aiming for the Stella McCartney end of the market with prices starting at $275 a pair. They make a lot of nice-looking men’s dress shoes, which is great, cause almost no one else does. But for all their talk of ethics and eco-friendly packaging, NOHARMS still seem to be made of evil PVC, just like your kicks from Payless
• A new scientific study reveals that multiple stab wounds may be harmful to monkeys. As with everything tested on animals, the same thing is certainly true for humans, so be careful with the kitchen knife when prepping that Puppy Beef or Kitty Beef for dinner. (Hat tip to The PETA Files.)
• Today’s NY Times “Dining & Wine” section has a big “happy meat” article that gives a nice bit of ink to Gene Baur and the good folks at the Farm Sanctuary but also indulges crap like this:
  

  “From the chef’s perspective it comes down to, ‘Yeah, the steak looks good but why is it not performing?’ ” Mr. Perry Lang said. “It’s because of how the animal was raised and handled. That’s not animal rights, but it is animal welfare.”

Dr. Benjamin Spock, humanitarian.

• Doctor Spock recommended a mostly vegan diet for babies, children and adults. And he sold way more books than Nina Planck ever will.
• At the prodding of one legislator’s 16-year-old daughter, Israel has outlawed animal testing for cosmetics.
• Posh Victoria Beckham carries vegan diet book Skinny Bitch around. Sales explode–hey, it’s selling better than Isa on Amazon!
• An Indian vegetarian won his civil suit for “aggravated damages” against Malaysian Airlines after they served him a meaty on-board meal in 2003. He received 200,000 rupees (about $4,124) in damages, twice as much as this Indian family did for “mental torture.”
• And I’ve always had mixed feelings about raw food, but this Chinese man is giving “live” a whole new (terrible, punny) meaning: he claims eating live frogs and mice for the last forty years has cured his stomach ails.

Retired research victim Lulu now lives at Black Beauty Ranch.

Today we can be marginally less appalled by where our tax dollars are going: The US National Institutes of Health has extended their 1995 moratorium on chimpanzee breeding into a permanent ban, citing financial reasons. This doesn’t mean freedom for the some 500 government-owned chimps currently in labs, but the Humane Society and Project R&R are claiming victory.

Of course, this is the US government we’re talking about, so maybe they’ve just decided to privatize all the chimp breeding, or commission extra atrocities in foreign labs. And as Friends of Animals will insistently remind you, the government’s chimp retirement program is perhaps not all its cracked up to be. But still, it’s a small step in the right direction.

It’s a widely held belief that every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten. As we vegans conscientiously muddle our way through National Masturbation Month, it seems worth investigating if there’s any truth to this maxim.

The most complete study to date uses fairly conservative metrics and measures the deaths of American kittens (any gender, up to one year old) agaist the masturbation habits of American human males. Doing the math, it’s determined that there are well over 5000 acts of masturbation for each kitten death:

“The average American man can masturbate regularly for 22.5 years before he is responsible for the death of a single kitten. Indeed, with a life expectancy of less than 75 years, the average man will be responsible for only two or three kitten deaths in a lifetime of vigorous masturbation.”

So have fun at your Masturbate-a-thons, but do spare a thought for the kittens. (All these links are work-safe, believe it or not.)