[une_fleur]

Although this was intended to be more geared towards animal products, it's become more of a general cruelty/rights thread. I'm not here to convince or force anyone to a certain lifestyle, just to raise public awareness of what's actually going on, how it effects you, and the environment.

~If you're opposed to certain things, sure, you have every right.
In fact I'd like to hear those insights, because in order for me (as well as other activists) to become more comfortable and fluent with our cause, we have to be able to address and understand the counter arguments as well.


The fact of the matter is, most of the public is so unaware(or knowingly in denial) of what's actually going on in the world around them. Life is life, whether it be a dog, sheep, rat, or person, we're all living creatures with feelings, and we all experience pain and joy. And we all deserve freedom.

There are so many misconceptions throughout the basic knowledge of people, concerning all areas of Animal Cruelty. And that's why this was created, to help clear those misconceptions and bring along the truth.
The truth isn't always pretty, in fact in these issues it's downright disgusting. But if we ignore what's really happening, even right at this very moment, then we're allowing all their screams and lives lost to go unnoticed.



Let's all make a difference! Will you? (Content to be edited)

*******

Helpful Resources
General
Human Society of the US
PETA
PETA TV(good source of uncover media)
Animal Intelligence
Caring Consumer (see which products test on animals/which don't)

Animals In Factory Farms
Compassion in World Farming
Ban Cruel Farming

Skinning/Fur Farms (includes all types of animals used for clothing--leather, wool, down,..etc.)
Fur is Dead
Fur Farms
Chinese Fur Farms

Vivisection Experimentation
Stop Animal Tests
Give the Animals 5 (alternatives to animal testing)
Uncaged Campaigns

Vegan/Vegetarianism
Go Veg
Veg Cooking
Why Go Veg?

Pets
IAMS Cruelty
Stop Puppy Mills
PetSmart Cruelty

(Contribute links you find helpful)

[lol^_^]

i always buy fux fur
i saw what these animals go through
they get electrocuted the skinned alive in some cases
it's awfull
the ppl who do this are not nice ppl
every animal that u see on one of those video reminds me of family pets
i just cant bear to support such products

[une_fleur]

It is awful!
Does it haunt the people who slaughter these animals? The sad thing is in a lot of these developing countries where a lot of barbaric treatment goes on, they're all so jaded to it.

Like in Japan for example, the big problem with their dolphin slaughter. These horrible, disgusting events are taken place right in towns, where children going on their way to school pass by it. They're all jaded to it.

People all over the world are being brainwashed at young ages to be insensitive towards animals =T That's why youth taking action is so important.

Some images that will just break your heart




Yes, them too.

[dancingbymyself]

1. I just think of it this way.
If it had the opportunity, the animal would eat me,
so what's wrong with eating/wearing it?

2. The image your painting isn't really right. 99% of factories
kill the animals humanely. They have laws about it, and it's only a few bad
seeds, who treat the animals like that.

3. Finally if you're going to try to support animal right, STAY FAR AWAY FROM PETA!!!
They support to the ALF, which is one of the largest ecoterrorism groups in the US. They do things
like blow up peoples houses and factories and such, without worring if anyone is inside.

4. As for animal testing... should they test on people? There's no way to be 100% of if the product
is safe or not without testing on living things. Should they just put the products out there and cross their fingers?


So in conclusion... I'm gonna keep wearing my leather shoes, and eating hamburgers.

[hippiehop]

To me leather is okay because cows are already being killed for meat... might as well use the other parts of it, too. (I'm not really sure if there are cows who are being killed JUST for their skin, if this is the case then it's definitely wrong, too). However, wearing fur is horrible. I used to have a chinchilla as a pet and it really kills me to think that they kill them for clothing... especially since they are so small, imagine how many it takes for just one jacket.

I always think of the scene in Ace Ventura when he punches that monopoly guy looking man and wears him as a wrap around his neck

Why do people actually think wearing fur looks good?

[une_fleur]

1. I just think of it this way.
If it had the opportunity, the animal would eat me,
so what's wrong with eating/wearing it?

2. The image your painting isn't really right. 99% of factories
kill the animals humanely. They have laws about it, and it's only a few bad
seeds, who treat the animals like that.

3. Finally if you're going to try to support animal right, STAY FAR AWAY FROM PETA!!!
They support to the ALF, which is one of the largest ecoterrorism groups in the US. They do things
like blow up peoples houses and factories and such, without worring if anyone is inside.


So in conclusion... I'm gonna keep wearing my leather shoes, and eating hamburgers.

Eating, is another topic that would require another thread because it's far too vast. Animals eat animals, but the methods that most companies (McDonalds, KFC, ..etc) get their supplies are most certainly not in humane ways.

- And actually no, there are very few laws regulating how animals on fur farms should be kept and killed. While countries like the U.S. and Canada might produce minimal regulations(are violated majority of the time), most of their suppliers come from overseas, where there are little to no laws protecting animals what so ever.

It's not only a "few bad seeds", we get 80% of our fur from China, where there are no laws protecting animals, and the barbaric behavior towards them.

PETA might go to far with some of the things that they do, but at least they can still raise awareness about what's going on. I don't fully support them, I support their old image for what they used to stand for, animal rights, before all the issues with them supporting arson (which I still don't understand why-- a topic in of itself). But they still do produce effective media.

Why go on and on when the bottom line is this:
Animals do not belong to us. Who are we to dictate that they should die for us? This treatment is unimaginable and absolutely unacceptable for humans, so why is it alright for animals? Sure, slavery is wrong, genocide of human races is wrong, then why is insensitivity and genocide towards other species of life acceptable?

Why are animals put on a lower pedestal? Life is life.

I hope you reconsider what you're putting your money into, one day.

Chinese Fur Farms
Food Suppliers Slaughter

[lol^_^]

i dont believe in killing dogs for fur!
thats just wrong same with other small animals
cows are different becuz they are used fr meat
but we dont eat dog....
why r we killing them

those peta ppl are crazy tho...

and i have been to slaughter houses i didnt eat meat for weeks....
they hang the cows upside down by there legs and shock them
the slit the stomach while still alive
its awfull and the smell ugh~

[une_fleur]

To me leather is okay because cows are already being killed for meat... might as well use the other parts of it, too. (I'm not really sure if there are cows who are being killed JUST for their skin, if this is the case then it's definitely wrong, too). However, wearing fur is horrible. I used to have a chinchilla as a pet and it really kills me to think that they kill them for clothing... especially since they are so small, imagine how many it takes for just one jacket.

I always think of the scene in Ace Ventura when he punches that monopoly guy looking man and wears him as a wrap around his neck

Why do people actually think wearing fur looks good?

It doesn't exactly work that way with cows, I'm afraid to say =/
Most leather comes from India, where the cows take horrific trips full of disease, starvation, pain, and suffering, only to to be killed in front of one another.
While a lot of them die on the journey, those struggling to hold on have their tails broken, have tobacco and chilli peppers rubbed into their eyes, in order to keep them awake.
Not to mention how much waste preparing leather puts into the environment.
A reading reference for more information on this
Here too

Chinchilla farms are absolutely horrible. I think it takes around 40(not sure?) of those little critters to make one jacket. I watched a man pull their tail, and snap their necks to kill them, then throw them into a pile of dead bodies as they die.
That's not right at all.

I don't think it's that people support fur just because of it's posh appearance, I think it's more because they don't know what goes into making that product. They shy away from the gruesome truth, because I think it's pretty impossible for any sane person to see what these animals go through, and still support it.

For more information I really recommend the film Eathlings(http://www.earthlings.com/)
It will change your outlook on everything.

[une_fleur]

4. As for animal testing... should they test on people? There's no way to be 100% of if the product
is safe or not without testing on living things. Should they just put the products out there and cross their fingers?


So in conclusion... I'm gonna keep wearing my leather shoes, and eating hamburgers.

I noticed you edited your response~
And you brought up something that I am VERY against (surprise, surprise)

Animal's structures and bodies are far too different from humans, so results found in these tests wouldn't hold much ground anyway.
In laboratories, rats are the most common animal used for experiments. Particularly interesting for you, they induce cancer in rats (as well as other animals) While they have found the cure for cancer for rats, it did not hold the same value for human cancer.

Also, there are much better alternatives to using animals to test products, such as:
- Epidermology cultures (EPI skin and EPIderm multi-layered skin models made up of cultures
- Creating computerized and mathematics models (have helped develop new treaments for AIDS, breast cancer, high blood pressure..etc)
- Genetic research (working along side epidermology~skin cultures to find which genes can link to what ailments)
-Clinical research, observing current human patients, and learning what you can from them (drug testing on animals does not produce the same results as the same drugs used in humans)

These alternatives actually hold more precises results regarding human bodies, and are easy to produce. These products are not for animals, so it makes no sense that they be tested on them?

"Our bodies contain many systems such as those that coordinate immune reactions and hormones. These systems interact and work in incredibly complicated ways. Each small difference affects the way the whole body works. That's why each animal reacts differently to substances and suffers distinct diseases. For example, despite chimpanzees being our closest relatives, they do not develop human-type AIDS when injected with HIV. "

You can even put aside ethical aspects; What's best for the human race?
It certainly is not vivisection experimenting, because results on animals and humans are so varying, these are completely different species we're talking about. Results from such experiments are constantly proven inconclusive.

Vivisection animal experimentation is an embarrassment to modern day science.

Vivisection Alternatives
Vivisection Overview
Additional References
Vivisection Media Introduction

[Honey.bee]

I don't own any clothing piece that contains fur, not even a bit. Firstly, just by looking at it makes me crinch. Those poor animals are getting killed for the sake of "fashion", but hey, there are better alternatives out there. Go find a different way for you're own pleasure if you want to look good, won't you? Second of all, I can't afford money to buy them. Well, even if I did, I wouldn't go close to fur. Plus, i'm alergic to fur (but I still love animals). Thridly, i'm not into oh-so-rich clothing style, I like it casual. 8)

And meat? Yes, we eat them. But that's how we, humans live. C'mon, it's not like we eat all animals out there.

[royalpirate.]

I agree, this is cruel to animals. But, it's true that most of us eat animals. Cows and chickens are slaughtered for meat. So what's wrong with wearing leather shoes and fur? We eat the animal anyway. It's not that I want animals to die out o___o , this is just what I think.

[Painterlyy]

I don't like products that are made out of animal products but..I have to admit, when I buy somethin, I don't necessarily ask if it's made out of animals. but...for fur, i try to buy faux only. I don't think I own any fur the is authentic. I'm proud of that.

[dorky_Soojee]

Hm I'm an animal lover too.
I don't know wear any fur.
I don't believe in killing animals for human LUXURIES.
(Eating meat is different)
But just so that a human can look a bit more elegant, innocent animals are killed.
It's horrible to see all those gruesome images where animals are squished into a little cage where they can't even breathe basically.

Hm I don't support PETA though.
Yes they are good at informing about animal rights
but it's not right to go crazy like they do.

[Dreamss]

if i buy fur, i would buy faux fur.
I think its inhuman to do this to animals, but i don't its 100% accurate about electocuting the animals and stuff like that, but i'm against any harmful things human does to animal such as animal testing.
It does seem kind of hypocrital of me though cause i'm not a veggitarian...

[Dolce_love]

wool is okay, they dnt actually kill the sheep. and leather...im not sure, i guess its a waste to throw away the skin after they kill the cows, but im not buying anything leather.

but FUR from animals is GROSS. The picture with all the cats locked up in the cages is so horrible >_____< i read a news article that either 500 or 5000 cats were shipped to guangzhou or canton to be killed and eaten in restaurants. i mean wtf who eats CATS.

wearing animals is disgusting full stop. theres nothing fashionable about wearing a dead animal

[une_fleur]

I notice a lot of you guys will refer back to how eating animals as food is acceptable.

I'm not saying it's not okay to eat meat, look; animals eat animals, it's just how nature runs. But if you do some research, and watch some of the undercover investigations of slaughter factories, it's completely inhumane how they treat/kill the animals.

Animals raised for food aren't being raised on friendly family farms anymore, they're being industrialized for maximum profit. They're abused their whole lives, live in disgusting living conditions, and are pumped full of anti-biotics+hormones to maximize their growth. Not to mention what all that waste does to our environment.

So we have to be honest with ourselves.. Sure, eat meat; it's your life, your choice how to live it. But are you really okay with how the animals are being beaten and abused before they get to your plates? =T

Just think about, even if they're destined to become food.. should they suffer their whole lives beforehand?
I encourage you guys to watch this. or this.
Please and thank you :]

[jawa]

Once I bought these shoes I thought was pretty, and like months later it suddenly hit me that it was made of leather. So I started freaking out and I felt really stupid. Well I definetly learned my lesson becauase I make sure to check the tag or whatever to see if it has any animal products like wool, leather, and ect.
Here is a vegan store with pretty cute stuff for you guys who are interested in cruelty free products.
http://www.alternativeoutfitters.com/

wool is okay, they dnt actually kill the sheep. and leather...im not sure, i guess its a waste to throw away the skin after they kill the cows, but im not buying anything leather.

but FUR from animals is GROSS. The picture with all the cats locked up in the cages is so horrible >_____< i read a news article that either 500 or 5000 cats were shipped to guangzhou or canton to be killed and eaten in restaurants. i mean wtf who eats CATS.

wearing animals is disgusting full stop. theres nothing fashionable about wearing a dead animal

I beg to differ about the wool is okay thing, because you would think they just simply shave it off the sheeps. But most wool come from australia and they use a cruel method to get their wool. For some reason they like to "harvest" the wool around the rear area of the sheep and when they take the wool off they practically rip it off with skin attached. so this leaves an area very vulnerable to germs and infection.
Oh here is some more info quoted from http://www.savethesheep.com/
lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called mulesing, in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals’ backsides, without any painkillers.

[MyLovelyBlondie]

I hate people who do it. Can`t they just use fake things?

Why is it so important to have REAL animals on your body?

Some people can be so cruel.

And now im getting sad because of this and the song My Immortal.

[jawa]

THis is what I have to say to people who support vivisection a.k.a. animal experimentation:

Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us. - Professor Charles R. Magel (on cruel lab tests on animals)



Kudos to "une_fleur" for raising awareness of animal cruelty among the soompi community. I am gonna send you a friend request

[Wuchu]

um isn't it kind of 'normal' for animals to eat other animals? and since humans are animals...

and besides if we all became vegetarians, the animals we would've eaten would probably just get eaten by their natural predators, so they'd die either way