New Home !

Hello All!

I felt it was time for a fresh start if I really wanted to commit to my blog and really put some effort into it. So I have a new home

please follow me at
http://www.vicnohiding.tumblr.com/

still all the passion but a fresh start ! Thank you to everyone who has followed and commented over the past 2 years, I hope you will do the same over at my new blog
xx
vic

Australian Pork Update!

This morning Coles announced that their own-brand pork will be 'sow stall free' by the end of 2014. This is the most significant victory yet in the campaign for pigs and will force the rest of the industry to catch up!

I wrote a story previously about the disgusting state of the Australian Pork Industry, also showing videos of the gruesome truth. Pigs are among the most intelligent species on the planet, and yet have been subjected to one of the cruellest practices ever inflicted on animals in Australia. 'Sow stalls' are typically used in factory farming operations across the country to confine and isolate mother pigs during pregnancy. The national Code of Practice permits these animals to be confined in tiny crates, unable even to turn around for months on end, denying them exercise and any quality of life. As a result, pigs suffer painful physical ailments and even depression.

Since then, Tasmania's Industries Leader, Bryan Green, announced he will be banning cruel sow stalls, having them all wiped out in the state by 2017. This was a great step for pigs...no longer will they have to live a life of terrible suffering just to be slaughtered at the end of it.

According to Coles' press release "Our customers are becoming increasingly interested in welfare issues surrounding pig farming, with the use of sow stalls their greatest concern".

This is excellent news for consumers, as it makes buying cruelty free more accessible and a lot more affordable. Having cruelty free options readily available in supermarkets makes it a lot easier for the public to make the compassionate switch. It also puts the pressure on other leading supermarkets to make the same change.

It also makes me feel great to know that people out there are putting the pressure on big companies and voicing their outrage at the cruelty behind a lot of animal products. Its excellent that people are becoming more passionate and caring and want the cruelty free options to be the ONLY option.

I am delighted to share this news on my blog...its only a small step but it's a very positive one. You can help by taking two seconds to click a button and send emails off to Woolworths, IGA, Aldi etc and urge them to make the same change! Help here : http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/sow-stall-free/

Remember, always buy cruelty free. More updates soon xx

info and photos courtsey of animalsaustralia.org

Australia's Poultry Shame!!

"An investigation into one of Australia's largest chicken meat producers that supplies major retail outlets has revealed routine and shocking animal abuse. Every year in Australia 488 million chickens endure brutally short and undeniably cruel lives inside factory farms. Animals Australia's investigation video shows baby birds suffering from heart disease, lameness, thirst, starvation and trampling inside a shed packed with over 40,000 birds.


Threatened by rising concern for the welfare of animals, Australia’s major chicken producers are attempting to mislead consumers with confusing terms such as ‘cage free’ and ‘free to roam’ — despite the fact that cages are never used in broiler facilities. The reality is that chicken meat from all major brands — including Steggles and Inghams — is factory farmed." - Animals Australia.

Watch the video of the investigation here to see just how shocking it is.

Chickens are intelligent animals that do not need to be treated this way. The crave stimulation and are slowly, slowly being tortured and dying painfully. Please...if you buy chicken ONLY by organic FREE RANGE! Cage free and free to roam are NOT free range...they are a play on words. Please take extra care when chosing animal products. Please, do not buy Steggles or Inghams. Open your heart and make small changes to make a difference in thousands of animals lives.

Warning. Disturbing images in this video. I cannot watch it anymore without losing it...

More videos from Animals Australia

please help here: Animals Australia

My inspiration

/Mary Hutton is an inspiration to me. You may have heard of savethebears.org.au - you may not. Well to tell you a bit about how it came about I will tell you a bit about Mary.

She became passionate about saving bears after watching an ACA programme (rare for a current affairs programme to show something like this) about Asiatic Black bears held in coffin sized cages unable to move or turn with dirty catheters inserted directly into their gall bladder. These bears are kept this way as traditional Asian medicine uses bear bile so from the 80's, bears were kept in horrible conditions and milked for their bile.

First Mary set up a petition outside a shopping centre asking people to help free the bears. She received thousands of signatures and supports and in 1995 began free the bears as a non for profit charity.

She then joined forces with John Stephens who told her about the Sun bear, which are kept in restaurants and butchered for bear paw soup. John and Mary rescued a number of bears from Cambodia and brought these bears back to Australia to start a breeding  programme. With more bears needing help, then came along the Cambodian Bear Sanctuary, which is the world’s largest sanctuary for Sun bears and has educated hundreds of thousands of Cambodians about the threats facing their wild bear populations!

The next challenge was India and the rescuing the poor dancing bears. Very tough. The fund joined with the wildlife SOS and the first 25 bears entered the Agra Bear Sanctuary in 2002. in 2009 - “Raju” the last of India’s dancing bears is handed over, bringing the dancing bear trade to an end!! That's over 500 dancing bears rescued in India, an amazing achievement.

Mary is now at 71 years of age and is still fighting to bring bear bile farming to an end and strives to educate and strengthen law enforcement to help bears in need all over the world. Mary has helped the WSPA with their efforts in saving bears and also involved in bear sanctuaries in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.. Mary message:  "Free the Bears fund is to protect, preserve and enrich the lives of bears throughout the world."

Free the bears have saved  in total an amazing 751 bears!! In India: 525, Cambodia: 140, Vietnam: 33, Laos: 23, Thailand : 25, Indonesia: 5.

Mary inspires me because she followed her passion of wanting to help these amazing animals that cant help themselves. She united other people with the same passion and shows there is hope and you can help. Sometimes with all the brutality I see animals going through, I lose hope. This shows me that I must not give up, that my passion will help and I will be dedicating my life to helping animals that cannot help themselves. My aim is to go over to volunteer in Asia one day, hopefully for a few weeks.

This is one of the many heroes out there and I will be sharing more.

To find out more about free the bears and their work, or to donate or help out, please visit http://www.freethebears.org.au/

Beauty

"A nine-day-old gorilla lays in the hand of its mother Kijivu at the Prague Zoo on May 3, 2010"

A truly beautiful and moving picture.

Here are some amazing pictures of animals in the news lately at this link

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/animals_in_the_news.html

home

Just sharing some pics that I took out the front the other day. Went down after work and watched some surfers and stayed until dark. Only have my iphone but got some cool shots. Nothing could capture the moon though, it was amazing...still working on my next story...enjoy!

xx

Easy choices to make a difference

An interesting article I read through a GREENPEACE newsletter was about canned tuna. Most people know to only buy "dolphin friendly" - and it is very rare to find tuna now a can that does not have this label... in fact...my cat food even has this label!

Many of you may not know, as I did not know myself, that canned tuna is still hurting other precious marine life.

Did you know that canned tuna is Australia’s biggest selling seafood item. Yet none of our canned tuna brands use tuna that’s caught sustainably. Increasing demand for tuna has decimated global tuna stocks. And to make things worse, destructive tuna fishing methods kill other marine life such as turtles and sharks.


Supermarkets rack up over $300 million a year from canned tuna. By selling us tuna that’s not caught sustainably, supermarkets play a key role in the tuna crisis. It’s time they cease trading with companies that use overfished tuna species and destructive fishing methods.

BUT before you freak out and think "geez well what CAN I eat then??" Greenpeace have created an easy to read guide that shows you the brands that use the best/least harmful methods of fishing so you can make an informed decision when purchasing tuna

GREENSEAS and COLES are the top two brands in sourcing their tuna sustainably. You can find out more information here or at http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/overfishing/our-work/cannedtuna and learn more about what brands NOT to buy and more about how these brands received their ratings.

We all care about our marine life and I share this information with you so hopefully we can all just make a better choice at the supermarkets and help preserve our oceans.

information sourced from Greenpeace

Vicky x

Fresh start!

So due to a terrible throat infection and not being able to talk for 2 days while antibiotics take effect, i've been wondering...what shall I do with myself? Wondering around the internet and facebook trying to fill in time. Catching up on old newsletters I haven't read in ages and reading about more and more horrendous animal abuse stories, and the occasional good story. Of course! My blog has been sitting here collecting dust as I have been using my facebook as my main means of sharing information about current animal rights issues.

Facebook is an excellent way to share information with others, however I do miss writing my own feelings about each issue and sharing the whole story and showing ways others can help.

So, with a fresh start in my life - moving from Brisbane to the Gold Coast by the gorgeous beach - new job and new attitude...I have given my blog a bit of a makeover and some TLC and will be packing it with some great stories and lots of information.

So enjoy reading...help out where you can and feel free to comment.

pic taken and edited on my iphone.
Vicky x