vegansaurus!
02/10/2012
Top 10 links of the week!: veganism! »
Funny birdie wakes his kitty bff!
First up, our own Sarah M. Smart was interviewed by Grubwithme! I am late in reporting this because she forgot to tell me about it. I forgive her because she calls me a saint in the interview. My favorite part is the last question where she says she doesn’t want to give too much away about what’s to come—like we are a soap opera! We totally are. Stay tuned!
Um, the Canadian government is going to start poisoning wolves with strychnine and shooting them from planes. Read what Grist wrote about it because I could not have said it better. Ok I’ll add one point: WTF.
From Pawnation, the 5 best ways to keep your pets’ teeth clean. I just had to get poor Mitsy’s teeth cleaned, they put them under to do it! And Figaro has to go in soon and they even said he needs extractions! I’m so nervous for him!
If you want to be grossed out, and you know you do, here’s the 10 grossest pictures from a charity oyster slurping competition. Whenever people bring up the oyster thing, for one, I’m like, uh people used to say fish couldn’t feel pain either. So you never know. But even if oysters don’t feel pain, EW THEY ARE GRODY TO THE MAX! WHY would I WANT to eat them? They are like little shells of mucus! If I want to eat garlic butter, I do not have to put it on a loogie first. Put it on an artichoke or drink it straight, but I’ll pass on the loogie.
Rose Pedals, the source for everything vegan and wedding, has a super round-up of vegan Valentine’s Day gift guides, resources, and fun events. Check it out! My favorite part is when they say I’m funny. That part was great.
From SuperVegan, 10 questions with Sarah Peltier of the NYC Vegan Shop-Up! The Shop-Up is this Sunday, the 12th! Don’t forget!
From Vegan Mainstream, Real Men Eat Plants and are Kind to Animals. Do we agree? I mean, I’m sure we agree! But do you think we’ve made cultural strides in this direction? Discussion topic of the week!
Have you been following PETA’s lawsuit Tilikum v. SeaWorld? I guess it just wrapped up with the judge deciding that the 13th Amendment does not apply to non-humans. I thought it was a very interesting case. Should the 13th Amendment apply to non-human animals? I don’t know but it’s definitely an interesting idea. Second discussion topic of the week!
Check out what my pop found in the local Philly Latino news paper!: Ser vegano también puede ser delicioso! Yay! Somos los mejores!
Buzzfeed does it again!: The 15 most adorable bunny bathtime photos! [Update: We just learned from our awesome readers that bunnies shouldn’t be bathed! So don’t do that with your bunny, okay? For lots of reasons why, see our comments. OUR APOLOGIES to our readers and the bunnies!]
∞ posted at 13:43 by youtalkfunny 
01/26/2012
Say hello to the cruelty of the egg industry. Canadians for Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA) documented the lives of 22,500 egg-laying hens at one facility in Canada. You’d think that would take a long time but guess what! It’s only 13 months. After that, the hens’ egg-laying declines and they get sent to slaughter. Yeah, eggs are super vegetarian. Here’s the story:
The hens’ entire lives were carefully recorded from the first moment they were overloaded into the battery cages to their brutal catching 13 months later and their transport to slaughter.
What we learned during this investigation was shocking. Not only was the suffering of the animals much worse than we ever imagined, the absolute filth of the eggs was sickening. In particular, many of the eggs were laid directly in contact with excrement without a protective hard shell because the hens were too calcium-depleted to provide one. Yet, these dirty eggs were collected and sold to the liquid egg carton industry and as bulk liquid eggs to a large cake manufacturing company.
To learn more about what’s really behind the eggs we buy, please visit our new website Get Cracking Cruelty Exposed.
Meanwhile, an estimated 98 percent of Canada’s egg-laying hens are kept in battery cages. Fucking awesome.
∞ posted at 06:58 by youtalkfunny
12/27/2011
Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes from C&C Cakery in Vancouver! Plus, recipe! Yes! Ugh, I wish I had five right now that I could stuff down my maw and be the happier and fatter for it. GOD BLESS HOLIDAY BINGING AND TO ALL A GOOD BINGE!
∞ posted at 05:22 by laurahooperb 
12/02/2011
Mo’ money, mo’ problems, except when it comes to polar bears, Canada says! »
Some researchers asked Canadians how much money they’d be willing to cough up to save the Arctic Circle’s bad-ass polar bears, and all told, it equalled $6.3 billion. Since there are only 15,000 polar bears left in existence, that equals out to about $450,000 per bear! Each Canadian household would pay an average of $508 toward polar bear conservation.
Apparently we have the bears’ intrinsic cuteness as well as Coca-Cola advertising partially to thank, but who cares what gets people motivated to save the planet—especially the bears? Polar bears are rad! Can we appropriate some of that hypothetical money? This bear army needs cash to get moving!
[photo by Will Keightley via Flickr]
∞ posted at 11:33 by sarahmsmart 
11/15/2011
It’s your daily Thanksgiving preview! Today we acknowledge our Canadian vegan pals with a guest post!
For Canadian Thanksgiving last month I made a casserole inside a pumpkin. I made everything from scratch:
- layer of stuffing
- layer of mashed sweet potatoes
- layer of smoked tofu marinated in pure Canadian maple syrup and oranges
I stuck it in the oven and baked it all day, and then ate everything but the pumpkin stem.
∞ posted at 11:15 by aheartsotrue 
11/08/2011
Same-sex penguin pair are targeted by heteronormative zoo »
The Toronto Zoo is planning to separate same-sex penguin couple Pedro and Buddy in order to pair them with females for breeding. Needless to say, some people are not happy about this. As tipster Sarah L. said, “as if it doesn’t suck enough already to be imprisoned in a zoo.” Now they are forcing loving couples to separate. Eff that noise! Keep them together!
I had read previously that it’s not uncommon for male penguins to pair off. Animal Planet even states that “the Central Park zoo has turned out to be the Castro of the penguin world,” but I’m not sure if it’s just a zoo thing. According to Wikipedia, there was a similar situation in Germany where they separated three male-on-male penguin couples to try to get them to breed with females, and it just didn’t work.
Sarah has actually taken measures to stop the forced separation and says we can help too:
African penguins are endangered because of commercial fisheries, oil spills, and humans eating their eggs, not because Pedro and Buddy are two males in love. I called the Toronto Zoo this morning at (416) 392.5929. The customer service rep didn’t seem to know anything about it, so I suspect no one else had called—but she seemed sympathetic, and I think if enough people call maybe they will keep Pedro and Buddy together rather than risk a PR scandal.
Let’s call today! Let love rule!
∞ posted at 11:16 by youtalkfunny
10/26/2011
Guest post: Good news from Canada: The Toronto Zoo’s elephants are headed to the PAWS sanctuary! »
Today was an awfully good day for animals in Toronto. On top of the news of the city council vote to ban shark-fin products, councillors also voted to send the Toronto Zoo’s three elephants to the PAWS animal sanctuary in California next summer.
Back in May, I posted at Vegansaurus about the three elephants: Toka, Thika, and Iringa. The Toronto Zoo recommended that month that their elephant program be phased out and the elephants moved to a better location, in part because research has shown that elephants in smaller herds suffer ill effects.
Zoocheck Canada and animal activist/Vegansaurus favorite Bob Barker both recommended that the elephants be transferred to the Performing Animals Welfare Society sanctuary (the beneficiary of Saturday’s SF Vegan Bakesale!) in California, and that is where Toka, Thika, and Iringa will go in a few months.
I’m sure something will piss me off again pretty soon, but for now I’ll enjoy the satisfaction of politicians deciding to do the right thing.
[photo by jacob earl via Flickr]
Toronto passes its shark-fin soup ban! »
Want to know why that shark’s smiling?
In June I wrote a Vegansaurus post about a motion tabled before Toronto’s city council to ban the sale, possession, and consumption of shark fin soup in the city. I’m stoked to report that after a 38-4 city council vote yesterday, shark fin soup is now banned in Toronto. Woo!
The bylaw will take effect in September 2012; fines for the possession and use of shark-fin products will range from $5,000 to $100,000.
For a while it looked like the ban might not happen, when Mayor Rob Ford and a few other councillors argued that it was outside the city’s jurisdiction and instead a matter that lay with provincial authority. I suspect that similar bans in other cities helped make this happen.
It’s important to note, though, that another key factor in getting the ban through was the work of local activists. The Toronto Vegetarian Association did a lot to get the word out, as did groups like WildAid, United Conservationists, and Toronto Loves Sharks. Sharkwater director Rob Stewart also threw his support behind the ban and was on hand for today’s vote.
“Toronto’s action is a huge victory in the global fight against and illegal shark fin trade valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Rob Sinclair, WildAid’s executive director.
Goes to show that groups of local people really can create change! I’m happy to live in Toronto today.
[photo by hunxue-er via Flickr]
10/24/2011
My pal sent me this infograph from Wild Aid—is it old? New? Scary?! It is scary! That’s for sure.
With such a scary infograph, it’s nice that Cali has banned importing and selling shark fins! And a tipster informed me that Mississauga, which is totally somewhere in Canada, banned the possession and sale of shark fins as well. Holler! And wait, is Taiwan banning shark finning now? That would be dope. Save the sharks!
∞ posted at 13:00 by youtalkfunny
