Vegan News 5.23.13

Russian Space Ark Returns Animal Astronauts to Earth, Some Mice & Gerbils Die. “A Russian space capsule carrying lizards, mice, gerbils, fish and other creatures has safely returned to Earth, but not all of its animal passengers survived the month-long spaceflight, according to news reports. According to Russian scientists, some losses were to be expected during the flight, and the mission still promises to yield valuable data from experiments on how space travel affects living things. The capsule spent 30 days orbiting 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth. Scientists planned to humanely euthanize the animals after their return to Earth in order to complete the experiments.”

Animal welfare activists in China rise up against cruelty. “In February, China Daily reported that the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) said at a press conference that, ‘The process of extracting bear bile was as easy, natural and painless as turning on a tap. After the operation was done, bears went out to play happily.’ After TCM’s comments, however, a video went viral in China showing a much less sunny version of the bile extraction process. Animals Asia says the practice is cruel and invasive.”

Nutrition Group Says Chocolate Milk Is OK, No Need For Aspartame. “A by the dairy industry to allow milk sweetened with aspartame or other alternative sweeteners to be labeled on the front of the carton simply as MILK is drawing criticism from the nation’s leading group of nutritionists.”

Photo credit: x1klima via Flickr