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.)
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.)
Do you want to know what the first moments of freedom look like? Check out this amazing video of 8 lucky turkeys, who were rescued from a factory farm, seeing their new home at Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary for the first time.
Isn't that just gorgeous! And to think these birds started their lives in factory farms. I hate to say it, but these sorts of happy endings don't happen for most birds. Just check out how most turkeys in Australia have to live.. (these photos from Animal Liberation ACT were from a recent investigation at a turkey factory farm):
Like chickens, turkeys in factory farms are crammed into sheds by the thousands and have to live in their own waste for all of their short and miserable lives. Can you believe that the birds served up on Christmas tables across the country this weekend were likely to be less than 17 weeks old when they were killed?! (to put that in perspective, turkeys would naturally live for about 10 years)
I read this amazing story a little while ago about, Lydia, a turkey at Farm Sanctuary in the US, who was nicknamed the 'hugging turkey'. If she saw you sit down, she'd race over and before your bum had even hit the ground she'd be in your lap with her neck stretched over your shoulder for a cuddle.
Surely there's something a little wrong about eating someone who just wants a hug?!
Gosh, what a year it's been! Animal rights hit the mainstream in a big way in 2011. Check out this inspiring vid by Unleashed's big sister, Animals Australia for some of the highlights:
We just want to say a big 'thank you' to you for everything you've done to support our campaigns this year. If you attended a rally, wrote emails or letters, took action on our website, or did anythign else to support our work, then thank you for helping us have such a big impact for animals in 2011.
Paul McCartney said "If slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian." Check out this recent footage from a Victorian slaugtherhouse and let me know if you agree:
I cringed every time one of those pigs was stabbed in the eye with the stunner... and when that desperate pig was beaten to death with a sledgehammer -- shocking! So shocking in fact that when Animals Australia gave this footage to the authorities, the slaughterhouse was shut down within 24hrs.
But what really haunted me was seeing the fear in the pigs' eyes, huddled together in the corner of their pen; and seeing them squeal in terror as their companions were killed in front of them. Because while that stabbing with the stunner may be illegal (and was part of the reason the slaugtherhouse was shut down), there are no laws that can protect animals from the fear those pigs suffered in their final moments.
The investigator who took this footage, 'Kate', also described something she couldn't capture on video: another pig who escaped and ran into the scalding tank (a pit of boiling hot water, used to remove hair from the dead pigs). What a terrible way to go :(
This is just one slaughterhouse -- one that also killed free-range animals and was regularly inspected by authorities. It certainly makes you wonder what might be going on behind closed doors in other slaughterhouses!
So what do you think? Is Paul McCartney right when he says "If slaugtherhouses had glass walls everyone would be vegetarian"?
Disclaimer:
We’re supposed to let you know that the ideas expressed here are the views of the individual authors, and may not necessarily reflect the views of Animals Australia or Animals Australia Unleashed. So now you know.
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