The victims of factory farming

Some of the videos in this post may (or should) upset you. For that I do not apologise, as it is time that people woke up to the suffering of farm animals. By "farm animals" I do not mean the cute and cuddly veal calves that everyone chelps on about, I mean the less visually appealing ones (therefore the ones that many people believe do not matter).

Foie gras is a French "delicacy" which is produced by force feeding ducks and geese until their livers swell to bursting point (and their stomachs often rupture). Stores which refuse to sell crate reared veal on the grounds that it is "cruel" will not remove foie gras from their shelves. If you replace a duck or a goose with a calf, and force feed that until its liver swells, there would be an international outcry and the practice would be banned.



Here are some videos taken undercover by Hillside Animal Sanctuary on an RSPCA "monitored" "Freedom" Foods farm. It shows the disgusting conditions poultry are kept in.



Here is an Animal Aid one:


And here is one about veal. Watch the others first and then this, and ask yourself if it's still OK to ill treat something with feathers and wrong to ill treat something with fur!



After watching that I can say that the calves are in better (and more roomy) conditions than those endured by battery hens. Yet all those who moan on about veal will happily go out and buy battery eggs and intensively reared chicken and then have the nerve to say "I like animals, I will never eat veal because it's cruel but I like eating chickens because chickens are nothing, it doesn't matter about them!"

The anti-veal, and the anti-live exports brigade and moaners, are the biggest hypocrites alive.

Gouldian Finch

My male red headed gouldian behind the white zebra finch

Today I lost my male red headed gouldian finch. I had had him for more than four years, so I have no idea how old he was.

He had been getting weak, and very recently had been bullied, so I made the decision to take him to the vet to be put to sleep.

The vet was very good, and the procedure was over quickly. I signed a consent form and then the bird was injected (a very narrow syringe making it look like hell of alot of drug). It took a couple of minutes but he went very peacefully and relaxed.

I have not seen a bird put to sleep since helping at the vets when I was at school. It is also sixteen years to the day that my old Dalmatian was put to sleep, he died at home.