I just heard that a high school in Pennsylvania has banned students from wearing UGG boots to class. Apparently the kids have been hiding all sorts of things in them, from mobile phones to chocolate bars!

But not many people realise that the boots themselves hide an even UGGlier truth. They are made from the skin of Australian sheep -- not just the wool -- the skin.

And it's not just the fact that animals can't actually live without their skin, but sheep raised in Australia for their wool have a tough time from the moment their life begins.

At least 20% of lambs born each year die shortly after birth, from exposure during freezing cold spring nights, infections or fox attacks. That's millions of babies referred to as 'wastage' annually. And those that survive could hardly be called lucky. Lambs are often castrated and have their tails cut off without any pain relief -- wait, that isn't even the worst of it.

Over many generations Aussie farmers have bred Merino sheep to have so much skin (more skin=more wool!) that the wrinkles around the sheep's bum can lead to deadly flystrike. The farmers' solution? Cut off the wrinkles. That's right – no miracle cream here, just cut them off!

And that's exactly what happens. The lambs are restrained on their backs with their little legs tied together while slices of skin are cut away from around their bottoms. This is often done with NO pain relief and always leaves gaping bloody wounds … these are baby animals!

This horror procedure is called mulesing. It's so painfully gruesome that when Pamela Anderson learned of it, she stopped wearing her trademark UGGS straight away and began campaigning against the cruelty and the company.

How is this even legal? I mean if that happened to a kitten or a puppy, the abuser would be charged with animal cruelty. But here in Australia, farm animals just don't get the same legal protection as our pets do, even though they too feel fear and pain. Sheep have even been shown to remember individual faces of their flock mates and people they see regularly – can you imagine the terror they feel as adults when the person that mutilated their backside upends them again at shearing time?

Please don't support the cruelty of the wool industry. Take the pledge to only wear your own skin and snuggle up with cotton or synthetics. After all, you wouldn't want to look UGGly, would you?

I should probably start this blog with a rant alert...

I don't know about you, but I always thought Finding Nemo was a pretty awesome movie. So I was really disappointed to hear that sales of clown fish as pets increased after the movie came out. I mean that just goes against the whole story of Nemo trying to escape captivity to get home to his family and friends

But I was even more disappointed recently to read that 1/6 of the species that featured in Finding Nemo are threatened with extinction.

I suppose it's not surprising. Aside from Nemo's clown fish buddies being sold as pets, overfishing is a big problem for all sorts of ocean animals ... and not just for the animals they're trying to catch: trawling nets often bring in huge amounts of bycatch (unwanted animals who are accidentally caught). Whales, dolphins, birds, turtles, fish and seals, can all get caught, injured and killed by nets never intended to catch them.

And then there's shark finning... Even celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay (not known for his animal-friendly attitude) doesn't seem to be able to understand the obsession with killing sharks for their fins:

(At least on the up side, one of Asia's fanciest hotel chains recently pledged to take shark fin soup off their menus.)

I just wish that we'd cut sea creatures some slack. I'm sure they'd much prefer to live in the ocean than wind up on people's plates, in tanks, or having their fins taken from them to make soup :(

One of my favourite ways to spend holidays (along with speaking up for animals -- of course) is to catch up on some movies. When it's too hot even to hit the beach, there's nothing like kicking back and watching a great movie.
So to help you through the rest of your summer holidays (I know, it's tough work isn't it :P), I've put together a list of movies with animal themes for you to check out:

1. Earthlings (doco)
   Many people call Earthlings THE animal rights movie. And if you haven't seen this hard hitting doco yet, then it's a must watch. You can watch the full film online for free, here.
2. The Cove (doco)
   An awesome doco that is like a real life "Mission Impossible". This is the story of a film-making team attempting to document and expose the annual bloody dolphin slaughter in the Japanese town of Taiji. It's equal parts thrilling, saddening and inspiring, as you watch this team using high tech surveillance gear and evading local police to expose this shocking slaughter.
3. Gorillas in the Mist (drama)
   Movies don't get much more incredible than this true story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who traveled to Africa to study endangered mountain gorillas in the wild, and ended up campaigning to protect them. They actually shot this film in Rwanda, where Dian had done her research, amongst wild gorillas. They were only allowed 6 crew members near the gorillas for one hour each day. The experience inspired star, Sigourney Weaver, to join the campaign to protect these amazing animals.
4. Chicken Run (animation)
   The fact this was made by the same people who made Wallace and Gromit should be reason enough to check it out. Locked up on a gloomy farm, where hens have their heads chopped off if they don't produce enough eggs, Rocky the rooster and Ginger the hen lead the other chickens on a great escape.
5. Princess Monoke (anime)
   This movie may be a few years old, but it's still one of the most beautifully animated movies ever. The mysterious Princess Mononoke fights to protect the forests from a local mining village. I have a feeling Avatar was inspired by this movie.
6. Marley & Me (comedy)
   A newspaper columnist gets more than he bargained for when he brings home an over-enthusiastic puppy, Marley, for his wife. Anyone who's lived with dogs will have plenty of "Oh that happened to me." moments in this funny and adorable film.
7. Babe (comedy)
   Who could go past the story of Babe, the piglet who doesn't want to be sent to the slaughterhouse and so hatches a plan to save himself from becoming dinner.
8. Year of the Dog (comedy)
   Peggy's life is unexpectedly transformed after her dog dies. This quirky film is funny and uplifting. Peggy's relationship with her sister-in-law is particularly hilarious.
9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (sci-fi)
   When an experimental drug gives Caesar the lab chimp super-intelligence, he starts to question the way humans treat other animals. Seeing the world through his eyes: from animal experiments, to a dodgy ape park, you start to get the picture that animals can often get a raw deal when they're used by humans. What makes this movie particularly awesome is the fact they didn't use any real apes in the film. Instead human actors played the apes, and the CGI they used to transform these actors into apes is just incredible!
10. Planet Earth
    We live on a pretty amazing planet, full of incredible creatures. No one does a better job of telling their stories than David Attenborough, and this has got to be one of his best docos. Exploring everything from deserts to jungles to ice worlds to the ocean deep and everything in between, this series is full of some of the most curious and unusual animals on the planet. Check it out, it's awesome stuff!

That should keep you busy for a while! Once you've checked these out, let me know what you think. And if you've got any great animal films to recommend leave a comment.

I love happy endings! Don't you? I can't think of a better way to finish the year than with a happy ending.

We've shared a few rescued animal videos with you recently. First there were apes, then turkeys (those videos are a must watch btw) and now ... check out the amazing first moments of freedom for 9 beagles who were rescued from an animal lab in the USA earlier this year:

Quite the tear-jerker, isn't it!

2011 has been a pretty amazing year all round. If you don't know what I'm talking about then check out our year in review video and you'll soon get the picture: animal rights has never been such a hot topic in Australia as it is right now. What a way to start the new year!

Here's to making an even bigger impact for animals in 2012, and giving even more animals a happy ending, like these beagles! (Needing a few ideas for new year's resolutions to help animals: click here.)

So what have you got planned for 2012?

I always love hearing about how people got into animal rights. For me, it was discovering how animals are raised for food. Lots of people just always loved animals. But how can someone go from being scared of animals to rescuing them and campaigning for them?

That's exactly what happened to New York activist, Eddie Lama. To find out how someone can make such an incredible transformation, check out this great doco (called "The Witness") about his inspiring story.

(Btw, you can watch the full doco online here. So once you've checked out the trailer below, grab some popcorn and a friend to watch the full film! And just be warned that while most of the doco is inspiring and positive, there are a few graphic scenes.)

Click here to watch the full film online now.

So what did you think? Feeling inspired? Now tell me... How did you get into animal rights?

I hope you and your four-legged friends have a very Merry Christmas!