What's the best way to raise awareness about factory farming? Sugar and cuteness of course! Check out the compassionate peeps from University of Sydney Animal Welfare Society (AWS) doing their thing to help Make it Possible:

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Cruelty-free cupcakes, flyers and smiles all round at the AWS campus bake sale.

The team helped raise awareness about the cruelty of factory farms and the Make it Possible campaign.

As if these AMAZING cupcakes weren't enough to draw people in ...

... Togepo and Oddish arrived to lend a paw.

It was tiring work handing out kisses and cuddles all day but they were determined to help make a better world for the animals in factory farms.

Thanks AWS for helping to create a brighter future for animals.

Want to do your bit for a kinder world? Click here to make the pledge to help end factory farming. And if you're at USYD, why not get in touch with the Animal Welfare Society and lend a hand at their next event? Or you can start taking action for animals right now by clicking here and joining the Action Team.

P.S. If you're in love with Togepi and Oddish just as much as I am, then you can enquire to adopt the little cuties at FetchingDogs.com.au.

Age is no obstacle for Unleashed member Anastasia. At 12 years old, she's recognised that animals need a voice and she's going to do everything in her power to speak up for them. Here's her story: 

I have always loved animals. At the age of two I held a tiny dead fly in my hand and refused to put it down because it was ‘pretty’. This love of animals stuck all the way through preschool where I made friends with various bugs in the school grounds, and all the way through primary school, where I bred stick insects and drove my friends nuts with random facts about animals they had never heard of.

Then at the beginning of 2012 I learnt about palm oil and the impact it had on various animals. Did you know that in the last decade 80% of orangutan habitat has been altered or lost? A lot of the rainforest destruction is due to palm oil plantations. Orangutans have been abused and killed due to being in the way of palm oil plantations.

That’s where my passion for animal protection started. I began to research all things about animal rights, from poaching to fur farms. I am most passionate about ending fur farms. I have no idea why I am most passionate about it but to me the thought of animals getting skinned alive all in the name of fashion is disgusting. I wish for a world where all fashion will be ethical.

After watching countless videos, such as Earthlings and Meat the Truth, I was toying with the idea of becoming vegetarian. I finally decided to participate in Meat Free Week. After Meat Free Week, I went back to eating meat but I felt uncomfortable about eating it. I finally decided that I didn’t want to eat animals so I sat down with my mum and told her I would like to be vegetarian. She agreed and all this landed me here -- a 12 year old vegetarian who wants to make a difference.

(Me and my bearded dragon, Rico.)

The hardest part about being vegetarian is that not everyone around you agrees with you. This is where good education can come in handy. If you know your facts, you can answer any question confidently. “Where do you get your protein and iron?, How can you live without meat?, What on earth is a broiler chicken and a bobby calf?”-- these are the types of questions I get on a daily basis, but I love answering them because I know that the information will stay in their head.

I started to blog because I had heard of adults writing blogs about animal protection but never had I heard of a teen writing about animal issues. I wanted to give young people a view from someone their own age. I also started an instagram page just for animal rights. I began to realise that there were so many young people out there who believed that they couldn’t do anything for animals. So many people can’t believe that I am only 12 and a vegetarian. Anyone can be vegetarian/vegan and anyone, no matter how old or young you are, can make a difference for animals. Maybe you are just putting a sticker on your laptop or notebook -- it gets people talking. Maybe you wear a top that has an animal rights quote on it -- anyone could read it and it might just change their thoughts. Maybe it is just one person but that person could tell another, or maybe 5 more people. I might only receive 10 veiws of my blog a day, but that still means 10 people have seen a post about animals that day. :)

Young people can help end animal abuse and if you are thinking of speaking up for animals, I encourage you to help get the message out. Being young doesn’t make you any less important. You can still save animals and change minds. Start making a difference today by taking animals off your plate, finding out more about campaigns for animals, and talking with your friends.

Everybody needs good neighbours. And Josef Brown (who plays Sergeant Matt Turner on Neighbours) is a real good’n. In between fighting crime in Erinsborough, he managed to produce an awesome web series about the impact our food choices make. Check it out:

Who knew Josef Brown was secretly a talented writer and producer as well as an actor?! (He can also dance, but I’ll leave that for another time so as not to explode your brain.) You can watch the full ‘At the Fork’ series here.

Josef has been meat-free for 22 years now. In that time, his choice has not only saved thousands of animals' lives, he’s significantly reduced his environmental impact. So he’s looking out for his neighbours, and his children’s neighbours and his grandchildren’s neighbours ... Ok, I might’ve taken that ‘Neighbours’ metaphor too far but the point is that he’s a top bloke.

As the boy’s Dad asks in the video, if it would help solve the world’s problems, would you go meat-free? If the answer is yes, click here now and join Josef in helping to improve the future of our planet, for both humans and animals.

Something amazing happened in the ACT last week. Legislation was tabled that would make three of the cruellest factory farming practices ILLEGAL throughout the territory -- debeaking (cutting bits of a chick's beak off without pain relief), battery cages and pig crates.

And the best news? This bill is expected to pass!

This groundbreaking bill shows that an informed community won't tolerate cruel and inhumane practices, and sets an important precedent for all states to follow.

Help speed along the day when ALL animals are freed from factory farms, by making kind choices today. Join the movement at www.MakeitPossible.com.

Proof that eating vegetables makes you happy, in 76 seconds:

Doesn’t that just make you want to dance? And eat spinach? I love being vegan for so many reasons. I love knowing that I’m helping save the planet by eating food. I love that I’m probably going to live forever. (Or for a long time at least.) I love discovering awesome new foods like quinoa. But most of all, I love that I can enjoy life without harming others.

Animals want to enjoy life just as much as we do. Check out Hope, living it up at her home at Edgar’s Mission. Here she spends her days playing in the mud, catching up with friends and napping in the sun. Hope’s life started in a much darker place. A place with no grass -- only concrete and metal. A place that doesn’t need to exist. Hope was born into a factory farm.

You can help make sure that animals like Hope are not condemned to a life of darkness and boredom. AND be as HAPPY and HEALTHY as all the veggie-fuelled peeps in the video above! It’s simple. Click here to join the veg crusaders today. (Why not get your friends on board too by hosting a vegan dinner party? Click here for tips.)

Already doing the cruelty-free thang? Tell me what you love about it. :)

(Bud and I posing with my 'Why vegan?' sign. Check out more exclusive pics from Unleashed HQ on our Instagram page - @aaunleashed.)

By now you might have heard that the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan has started up again for another season. It’s hard to believe that this cruelty still goes on but Emma -- Unleashed member and volunteer for Sea Shepherd -- reminds us that we can all make a big difference for dolphins in Taiji. Here’s her story:

I have always felt a natural pull towards the ocean. Growing up as a kid, I used to watch Steve Irwin’s documentaries all the time, and he introduced me to Sea Shepherd -- a non-profit conservation organisation whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of ocean wildlife. Volunteering for this organisation in Adelaide, I was introduced to the Cove Guardians.

What is a Cove Guardian? What are they protecting? These were the questions I asked. I was recommended a documentary called The Cove.

Watching The Cove I grew more and more horrified. I discovered that dolphins are not happy in captivity. For a creature who is used to travelling up to, and sometimes over, 100 kilometres a day, living in a tank is the equivalent of a human living in a bathtub.

“The dolphin’s smile is nature’s greatest deception,” says Ric O’Barry, former trainer of the Flipper dolphins and the star of The Cove. His whole world changed when he watched a dolphin die in his arms. She blocked off her blow hole and stopped breathing, suffocating herself to death whilst living in captivity. Ric now dedicates his life to fighting for dolphin rights.

According to Save Japan Dolphins 1,200 to 1,800 dolphins are killed in Taiji each year, with up to 23,000 killed nationally in Japan.. Fishermen in boats hold large poles underwater and bang them with hammers to create a wall of sound, which disorientates the dolphins' sonar systems, so they can be herded into the cove. Trainers then pick the dolphins who will be sold to marine parks. These dolphins are often sold for $150,000 or more. Countless dolphins in captivity have come from Taiji.

(Photo thanks to Cove Guardians.)

Then the slaughter begins. Whole family units are speared, and hacked at, with knives. One dolphin, in this year’s slaughter, put herself between the slaughtermen and her baby, in a desperate attempt to protect her calf.

The slaughtered dolphins are sold for their flesh. But thankfully this cruelty is being exposed, and together we can turn the tide...

Ric O’Barry and his colleagues used surveillance techniques to gain footage of these horrors and expose them to the world. You can check out their incredible efforts in The Cove. Since then, Save Japan Dolphins and the Cove Guardians have carried on this work, returning to Taiji each year to document and expose the slaughter. Thanks to their efforts awareness is growing.

This year, Japanese activists are standing side by side with people from around the world, at the Cove, in their plea to end this cruelty. And you can stand with them too...

What can we do to help? Simple. Give these souls a voice.

• Don’t visit marine parks: There are plenty of great dolphin-friendly tours that let you see these incredible animals in the wild.
• Speak out: Send a message to the Ambassador of Japan in Australia urging Japan to end the slaughter. (Click here to send your message now.)
• Show suppport: Leave a message of support for the Cove Guardians on their facebook page, or find out how you can get involved here.
• Spread the word: Most importantly, spread the word. Purchase, watch and share The Cove with all your friends and family. This secret needs to be exposed for the world to see.

Here’s three things you might not know...

1. Sheep make excellent teachers:

2. The wool industry can be a pain in the arse for sheep:

3. Helping sheep is easy as. Give wool the flick.

P.S. Have you ever seen anything cuter than that sheep walking backwards?

This is Blobby -- fondly named by one of the staff here at Animals Australia. The poor darlin’ has just been crowned world's ugliest animal. Well, the whole species of blobfish have. And I’m not going to lie, they are a little frightful looking. But comedian Paul Foot says that if you could get inside the blobfish’s head, you would discover that it’s filled with kind thoughts and wise words.*

So there’s nothing frightening about Blobby. The scary thing is that the Australian blobfish is facing the threat of extinction from being caught up in fishing trawler nets. Trawling is one of the most destructive forms of commercial fishing. Sometimes more than half of the animals caught by trawlers are unwanted, including the blobfish. By the time they’re tossed back, they are either already dead or will often die soon after from their injuries and being unable to defend themselves from predators.

The good news is that the blobfish has now been named the mascot for the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, which aims to help out the ‘aesthitically-challenged’ animals who are facing extinction. President of the Society, Simon Watt, says that, “for too long the cute and fluffy animals have taken the limelight but now the blobfish will be a voice for the mingers who always get forgotten.”

The even better news is that you can start helping Blobby’s species right now by withdrawing your support for the fishing industry. How? Simply by not eating animals from the sea. Click here to make the pledge to go veg today and start saving the lives of blobfish and loads of other animals.

*Based on no scientific evidence whatsoever.

This is Satoshi Komiyama, a caring Japanese man who entered the waters of Taiji Cove this week. He is pleading for the lives of wild dolphins who have been captured in underwater nets. Some will be sold to marine parks around the world, where they will live out their lives in captivity.

Later, this idyllic Cove will become the site of one of the world’s most brutal slaughters -- where countless dolphins will be mercilessly killed for their flesh.

Surrounded by police who were there to defend the notorious annual hunt, Satoshi did the only thing he could do -- he held up his sign, and pleaded. But it was only after he submerged his head under water that he could hear it -- families of panicked dolphins crying out in distress. After returning to the surface, Satoshi tried to describe what he heard, and he broke down.

The battle for Taiji dolphins has only just begun, and Japanese advocates like Satoshi are backed by a growing international outcry against the brutal capture and slaughter of these intelligent animals. You can help show Satoshi that Australians stand united with him for the dolphins of Taiji. Click here to send an instant message to the Ambassador of Japan in Australia urging him to end this cruelty.

It’s the International Year of Quinoa! Quin-what? Yea I know, I’ve only just discovered this wonderful grain. And now it’s way up there on my list of favourite grains. (And trust me, that’s a competitive list.)

Quinoa has all of a sudden started popping up in salads and next to stews and even in cakes. It’s arguably the hipster cafe grain of choice. Although I’m sure hipsters were eating it long before it was cool. Which I guess makes Incas the original hipsters, since they were eating it centuries ago.

The most important thing to know about quinoa is how to pronounce it. Too many times I’ve had the guy behind the counter at the veggie place shake his head at me for asking for ‘kwin-noah’. At first I would shy away, back to the grains that are easier to pronounce, such as rice and barley. But then I downloaded the ‘How to Pronounce Quinoa’ YouTube tutorial and listened to it every day on the bus to work. Now I say quinoa like a pro. Kee-nwah. Kee-nwah.

“Morning Amy. How’s it ...”
“Kee-nwah!”

The second most important thing you should know about quinoa is that it is DELICIOUS! And good for you. It’s high in protein and has all of the essential amino acids. (No idea what an amino acid is but my mum’s always raving on about them.) AND, there are so many different things you can do with quinoa. Here’s some of my personal faves:

• Smash it in a salad
• Roll it up and mong it down
• Turn it into chocolate-coated balls

Since it’s the year of quinoa, I’m going to get both feet on this grain train and experiment with even more quinoa recipes. Want to take the challenge with me? Let me know your favourite new recipes in the comments below.

P.S. The picture of the cat had nothing to do with this blog whatsoever, but let’s be honest, cats are cuter than quinoa.

It’s not always easy being the only GWS Giants fan in all of Melbourne, but I feel sorrier for Essendon supporters at the moment. The team’s been fined $2 million, dropped out of the finals and their coach is suspended for 12 months. Why? The team’s former sports scientist, Stephen Dank, was mixing all kinds of stuff in the players’ supplement injections, not all of which was entirely legal.

When I looked into it, some of the ingredients in Essendon’s ‘enhancement’ cocktail gave me the heebie-jeebies. And I’m not the only one. Tim Watson, father of Essendon’s Jobe Watson, likened the bizarre supplements to "witch doctor stuff." Here’s just a few of the things that were being used to try and improve player’s performance:

Pig’s brain extract:

Known as cerebrolysin in the medical world, pig’s brain extract has been said to help treat Alzheimer’s, but it is not approved for human use. Dank said he injected players with the extract in order to increase alertness.

Now, I’m no expert, but I did have a Grandpa who suffered from short-term memory loss and just in case any sports scientists stumble across this blog I’d like to share his top tips for keeping his wits about him:

• A swim first thing in the morning. Nothing like freezing cold water to make you more alert.
• An apple second thing in the morning. (An apple a day keeps the witch doctor away.)
• Gingko biloba – native Chinese plant used to enhance memory. Grandad swore by it.
• Crossword puzzles.
• 30 minutes of skipping every day. (This might have been more to do with fitness but he certainly never forgot where he kept the skipping rope.)
• Chess.
• Ginseng – Asian herb used to increase mental capacity.
• Eucalyptus oil. (This was mainly used as a solution to every other ailment but one whiff of that stuff and you’re WIDE awake, trust me.)

All of these tips for staying alert are approved for human use. And none of them involve any animal fluids. Guess I should just sit back and wait for the job offers from AFL teams to come rolling in ...

Bovine Colostrum:

Colostrum is the first milk a mother cow produces after her calf is born. It is very high in antibodies and protein. Why? To make superior AFL players of course! Oh wait ... sorry ... it’s actually to nourish the baby calf and help him grow big and strong. Unfortunately, in order for big burly AFL players to have this milk for babies', the calves have to go without. And sadly, calves lose much more than just their milk in the dairy industry.

Calf’s blood:

There is some “flimsy evidence” that calf’s blood can help speed up recovery time for injured players. However, Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid (who described the club’s supplement practices as “ludicrous”) has said that “the recent opinion is that platelets and one’s own blood, probably does a better job.” This is not surprising since (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again) humans are not cows.

Unfortunately I do not have any suggestions for how to heal more quickly than the average human but this guy might know --> (Or maybe the secret is here.)

***

The worst thing about all of this is that not only have the Bombers been embroiled in a scandal -- and with devastating consequences -- but animals have been caught up in it too. Clearly, humans have recognised that animals have some pretty neat talents. But rather than admire these strengths, we’ve tried to take them for ourselves.

Did they start cutting open pig’s brains when they discovered they are very intelligent animals – smarter than 3 year old children? Did people start experimenting with calf’s blood when they learned that newborn calves have the strength to stand up within minutes of being born, something that takes human babies months to achieve?

The bottom line is that animals are being used to try to enhance the lives of humans but little thought is given to the needs and lives of the animals themselves. :( What ever happened to fair play?

What other contradictions do you see in the relationship between humans and animals?

“Animals shouldn’t suffer in the quest for better mascara or lipstick,” says Health Minister Tanya Plibersek. She’s not talking about bunnies getting blisters from traipsing around the mall trying to find make-up to make their eyelashes pop. She’s talking about the millions of rabbits, rats, dogs and cats that are still used today to test chemicals on for the sake of cosmetics.

However, Plibersek has announced that, if elected, the Labor Party will crack down on the sale of cosmetics which have been tested on animals and phase them out of Australia completely. Yay! Although cosmetic testing has not been done in Australia for many years, big companies such as Unilever, L’Oreal and Colgate-Palmolive still conduct cruel animal tests overseas before shipping their products down here to sell to us.

The Health Minister’s timing couldn’t be better, as just last week L’Oreal decided to expand their business into China meaning that even more bunnies will have chemicals dripped into their sensitive eyes.

But they won’t be selling them here! Uh uh. No way. Tell ‘em Tanya!

I reckon Ms Plibersek deserves a high-five for speaking up for animals in labs. Click here if you’d like to send her a nice message of support or a picture of a cute bunny or something. :)

It’s so great to hear animals being represented by our political leaders. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has plans for marine animals ... but ... well ... see for yourself.

What do you think of Ms Plibersek’s announcement?

P.S. A big shout out to our friends at Choose Cruelty Free who have been lobbying the Government for over 20 years on this issue!

P.P.S. Did you know that at least two other parties already support a ban on the import of products tested on animals? Yup: the Greens and the Animal Justice Party. And you can check out where the parties stand on plenty of other animal issues here.