...they have humps to carry their drinks in, right?

Try telling that to the organisers of the annual Camel Cup held in July in Alice Springs, who bill a day of camel racing as a fun family event.

Update 04/07/11: Sadly, this silly race is on again in 2011, scheduled to run on Saturday 9th of July

I couldn't help but wonder after stumbling across this spectacle online, who would dream up such a camel crazy idea. I wasn't really surprised to learn that it was two blokes who'd had too much to drink at the pub one night! An intoxicated idea is very rarely a good one!

OK, so the thought of a camel race may be funny, but to actually see it, and the boofhead spectators laughing their heads off at the poor animals, is actually pretty sad.

It's bad enough that people race horses and greyhounds, but now they want to subject docile dromedaries to uncomfortable saddles and lashing whips as well?!

The ridiculous racing event, previously sponsored by Coles [Update 04/07/11: Coles now seem to have seen the light and no longer sponsor the race. Woo!] and XXXX Gold among others, also features dull dudes and dopey damsels vying for the titles of Mr and Miss Camel Cup. I'm not kidding! The guys have to walk like a camel and the girls have to display their knowledge of camel fun facts.

There's also Rickshaw Races, Kids Kamel Kapers and the "hilarious" Honeymoon Handicap ... clearly a plain camel race is not entertaining enough, they feel the need to rob the animals of every single ounce of dignity they have!

I bet if you asked a camel what he thought of The Cup, he'd happily spit in your face!

Oh and here's a fun fact. A camel's hump actually holds fat reserves, not water at all. But I'm sure Miss Camel Cup already knew that!

Anyone feel like celebrating?! We have every reason to! For the very first time in history one of Australia's state governments has recognised that mother pigs imprisoned in sow stalls for months on end, don't deserve to suffer. Sow stalls will be banned in Tassie!

Sow stalls are a seriously cruel business! They are literally tiny metal cages that are so small that mother pigs trapped inside can't even turn around or walk more than one step. Thousands of pigs in Australia are forced to stand in these cruel cages, with nothing to do all day, often for months at a time.

Imagine if we were forced to endure this? No wonder most of the pigs are depressed and stressed out! They are after all one of the most intelligent species on the planet!

Tassie will phase out sow stalls and totally ban them by 2017. This sets the rest of Australia a great example as well as applying pressure for them to do the same.

We all know that the quickets and simplest way to help pigs is simply not to eat them ... but whilst we're waiting for the rest of the country to catch up and go vegetarian, today's decision will help alleviate some of the worst animal suffering caused by cruel meat industries.

I don't believe this could have happened without the support of thousands of Unleashed/Animals Australia supporters who care about animals. It's their support that's made it possible for Factory Farming TV and Radio Ads to air and to make a big impact.

So it seems that we do have the power to make a difference when it counts! It feels so good to be involved in directly helping animals, who without us would continue to suffer in silence, day in and day out. Now let's get every other state to follow!

Did you know that June 8th is World Oceans Day? I often wonder why our planet wasn't called Ocean, instead of Earth, since most of the planet is covered by water! Not only that, the ocean creates oxygen, regulates our climate and is home to about 97% of all life on the planet. But there's a crisis happening below the water...

Scientists are warning that we will fish out our oceans by 2048 if we don't change what we are doing. Meanwhile fishing mentality seems to be: plunder what you can while you still can. Since the ocean is literally Earth's life support system, I am frankly terrified by this!

But it's not just people who are gobbling up ocean wildlife. Every year countless billions of marine animals are ground up and fed to livestock - yet another ecological disaster.

"More than 50% of the fish taken from the oceans are fed to livestock making pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens the largest marine predators on the planet" -Captain Paul Watson SSCS.

And if fishing our oceans doesn't make sense, then fish farming makes even less! Every fish raised in a fish farm is fed up to ten times its own weight in ocean-caught fish. That means more fish are caught from the oceans to feed fish in factory farms!

If you're like me, and would rather avoid an ocean apocalypse, then you'll be glad to know that there is something we can all do to stop this. This World Ocean Day, join me and give fishing the finger by pledging not to eat fish (or any other innocent animal).

Our oceans and our Earth will thank you!

I still remember being taken to the circus as a kid. One of the things I remember most about the circus were the elephants. I remember how they were dressed up with cloaks and head-dresses. I remember they even put glitter on them! I also remember how those gentle giants performed the cutest tricks (or at least I thought so at the time) with just a small tap on the side from their trainer.

Something I never realised at the time was that those elephants were performing such unnatural and awkward tricks because they had spent countless hours in 'training', being beaten with a hook if they refused to perform. I also never realised till years later, that the glitter that made the elephants all the more spectacular when I was a child was probably hiding 'training' wounds.

Is there any bigger facade than animal circuses? Children watch in innocent amazement as wild animals are dressed up and tormented for their entertainment. I wish I'd known the truth then. I never would have gone along with it.

So yesterday, I was glad to read the headline "Children of All Ages Delighted by Enslavement of Topsy the Elephant" on the front page of the satirical news site, The Onion. This story is at the same time shocking, hilarious and spot on. It's well worth a read...

Here are a few of the best snippets from the article:

"He's such a funny happy elephant," said 8-year-old Madison Helms, referring to the abused creature that spends the majority of his time chained up in a cramped, feces-covered enclosure. "He loves being in the circus!"

"Look, they're dancing," said 5-year-old Jonah Meeks, mistaking the elephants' constant swaying for something that wasn't a maladaptive behavior caused by serious psychological trauma. "I can dance like an elephant, too. Look at me!"