Future Food: 'Over 50 billion animals are slaughtered every year throughout the world for food alone

Factory farming is the only way to produce this huge amount of meat, this is a method which does not even allow for animals’ most basic needs. Life long restriction of movement, darkness, mutilation without anaesthesia and problems resulting from selective breeding are the price that creatures capable of feeling pain and fear have to pay in order to provide this amount of meat. Unspeakable brutality towards animals has been documented countless times during their transportation and, of course, in the slaughterhouse. The recognition that animals are sentient beings has brought about a change in attitude towards the way in which animals are kept over recent years. It is highly likely that the next generation will simply not accept practices such as battery cages, sow stalls or live animal transport. Maybe the next generation will even turn their back on the slaughtering of animals altogether. Studies in ethology (animal behaviour research) show us that, in respect of consciousness, intelligence and the ability to feel pain, many animals are more developed than new born human babies...

Farmyard friends get recognition

THEY say every dog has its day -- and, as it turns out, so do pigs, goats, sheep and other farm animals.In Hobart that day was yesterday as Parliament Lawns were transformed into a farmyard to commemorate World Farm Animals Day.
Observed each October 2 since 1983, World Farm Animals Day marks the birthday of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, a champion of humane, sustainable farming methods.
The public yesterday had the chance to interact with a range of animals rescued from factory farms, slaughterhouses and saleyards, including hens saved from a battery farm, Lochie the three-legged sheep dog and Willie the porky star of Charlotte's Web.
The formerly unwanted animals now live at Brightside Farm Sanctuary near Cygnet, and Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania spokeswoman Emma Haswell said they were "ambassadors for their kind".
"Fifty billion animals are slaughtered for meat every year, and I figure these ones are the lucky ones," she said.
"Most people's interaction with farm animals happens three times a day when they sit down to eat them.
"If people hung out with animals like these for a while, they'd realise that they're no different to their family pets."
Ms Haswell said that in Australia 10 million hens and five million pigs were slaughtered each year.
"As Gandhi said, `The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals'. When it comes to Australia and the way we treat our farm animals, we have a long way to go," Ms Haswell said.

We are what we eat - and now so are our pets

More people are feeding their animals in their own image, writesWilliam Birnbauer.

IT SOUNDS silly, Sandy Anderson admits, but she believes her unique brand of vegan cat food — yes, meat-free food for carnivorous animals — creates softer and nicer pets.
"It makes them more gentle in their personality and their outlook," she says with a Cheshire cat grin. This is good news for mice because Mrs Anderson's customers have told her that their vegan-food-eating cats have stopped killing rodents, preferring simply to play with them.
Mrs Anderson, founder of Veganpet dog and cat food, hopes to capitalise on an increasing trend in which pet owners are shaping their animals' diets according to what they themselves eat or believe. In the US, for instance, Jewish pet owners can buy Evanger's Super Premium Gold Dinners, certified kosher by the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Then there's socially responsible Righteous Dog Food.
"Gourmet pet foods are increasingly being bought by households where the pet is treated more as a child than animal," says the Australian Companion Animal Council.
Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world, even though dog and cat populations have declined recently. About 38 million dogs, cats, fish, birds and other pets live domesticated lives. Birds and fish make up 29 million of these, and there are 3.7 million dogs and 2.4 million cats.
The pet food industry, worth more than $2 billion a year, is dominated by multinational companies. The key pet food makers include giants such as Mars Petcare and Nestle Purina.
Mrs Anderson's efforts are minuscule in comparison. Her company sells a limited number of products by word of mouth but she hopes vegetarian and vegan pet owners will take to her "cruelty-free" extruded soy and corn dishes which she says are human-quality, comply with high American nutritional standards and have passed scientific testing. However, Fat Cat, her rescued moggy, refused despite desperate exhortations during a lengthy photo session to eat the stuff. He didn't look all that hungry, anyway.
Mrs Anderson, a vegetarian whose business venture was motivated by a love of animals, does not dispute the obvious: cats are meat-eating animals. But she asks: "What is the harm if I can provide absolutely every other nutritional requirement from a vegan source and the cat grows and thrives and is very happy." Her customers' cats have eaten vegan food for five years, landing on their feet in recent blood tests.
Dogs, she says, can adapt to a vegan diet more easily than cats. Ned, a rescued stray dog owned by Mrs Anderson, similarly did not eat vegan food put before him. Oh well.

Mrs Anderson says we are living in the era of the boutique dog. Consider pugs, Pekingese and the basset hound. "These animals are dependent on us. You can't say to a poor old basset hound 'go out and hunt and live on a raw carcass diet'. How cruel is that? We have made boutique dogs to fit in with our lifestyle. I think raw meat is cruel."
Which brings us to Tom Lonsdale, founder of Raw Meaty Bones — a movement dedicated to feeding dogs and cats, you guessed it, raw, meaty bones.
Dr Lonsdale refers to pet dogs as "modified wolves" and to cats as "modified desert predators". He advocates a raw meat and bone diet and says "junk pet food" is the cause of most pet animal ill-health. His book, Raw Meaty Bones begins: "If you own a dog or cat which you feed with processed food from the supermarket or corner store, you will probably find this book deeply disturbing."
Raw bones, he says, act as both food and medicine for domestic pets. Veganpet products are "shockers" and commercial canned and dry pet foods are behind periodontal disease, gastric problems, diarrhoea and allergies.
He came to this view — it resulted in his being forced out of the profession, he says — from his work as a vet. "The stench of stale blood, dung and pus emanating from the mouths of so many of my patients … finally provoked this eruption of dissent."
Dr Lonsdale, who at one stage during the interview wondered if I was a spy for the pet-food industry, believes multinational pet food conglomerates are pulling the strings behind veterinary associations, vet schools and pet advisory services.
He buttresses his views on the beneficial qualities of a bone diet with a Gaia-like theory which takes anyone listening on a journey to the very beginnings of time and the role of anaerobic bacteria in regulating a world dominated by mammals. Carnivores live by the tooth and die by the tooth, he maintains. It's an evangelical rave, he concedes. It is perhaps no wonder that he fell out so badly with mainstream veterinary bodies.
With the right meaty bone diet "there is virtually no need for any vet services", he says. "If it doesn't clean its teeth, it's a sick, sorry carnivore. The way it cleans its teeth is by doing its job eating its food."
Dr Lonsdale, who stopped practising as a vet almost 10 years ago when facing charges before a disciplinary board, feeds Jed, his mixed breed dog, kangaroo tails, chicken carcasses, whole fish and whole rabbits. His website carries photos of dogs ripping into bloodied carcasses and ferrets with blood-speckled snouts: not recommended viewing for vegan food types.
Mrs Anderson, who has read his book, says rather politely: "I don't believe in what he says." She does concede that the downside of a vegan diet is dental problems in cats and dogs. To try to remedy this she is researching an oral spray that removes tartar from teeth.
The Pet Food Industry Association insists that products labelled as complete pet foods are all that animals need to meet their nutritional requirements. Executive manager John Aird quickly dismissed the claims made by his non-mainstream colleagues Dr Lonsdale and Mrs Anderson.
"The guy makes a lot of noise," he says of Dr Lonsdale, and "dogs and cats are carnivores … they're built to eat meat" he says of Mrs Anderson.
Of course, the last word should go the grand poobah of all things pet, Dr Hugh Wirth. The RSPCA president says the "compromise attitude" of veterinary associations in Britain and Australia is that raw meaty bones should be fed to pets a minimum of three times a week for dental health.

Vegetarian is a Life Style

For years vegetarians have promoted the health benefits of their lifestyle over those of persons who eat meat. A strict vegan diet is purportedly cholesterol-free and generally low in saturated fat. However, is it really a better choice than eating meat?

Vegetarian is a lifestyle

Yvonne Hope, owner of Ashanti Oasis Vegetarian Restaurant at Hope Botanic Gardens, has been a vegetarian for over 33 years. For her, being vegetarian is a lifestyle. She notes, "The body is the temple of the father, being vegetarian is a way of living and keeping the body clean."
She, however, explains that not all her clientele are vegetarians. "Some of them just want to eat one healthy meal per day and they do that here."
She notes that when her first child was born, doctors warned her that her child would be malnourished and may develop learning disabilities if she was kept on a strict vegetarian diet.
Her daughter, now in her 30s, has never had dairy or meat and has been very successful academically straight up to university. She has also been extremely healthy.
She said if one decides to be a vegetarian, one needs to do one's own research, as some persons may be allergic to wheat or mushroom or other foods that constitute a vegetarian diet. However, she highlights that there are some persons who are vegetarians but they do not eat properly. She also notes that vegetarians are at very low risk of getting a stroke. "It's best to read and find out where you want to go. Where to get the things you need and you have to prepare yourself mentally. It's a way of life. The key is that your meal is balanced with enough protein and vitamin B," she added.
She outlines that a well balanced meal for a vegetarian is one that contains protein in the form of beans or peas or whatever form, carbohydrates from yam or sweet potatoes and your green leafy vegetables (callaloo, broccoli) and fruits.