The China Daily is reporting that vegan prisoners are being "encouraged to phone an emergency hotline if their gaol (jail) jobs threaten their beliefs."  Apparently the inmates can consult "an ethical expert" who advises them about their legal rights. According to the article, vegan convicts can often be excused from cleaning, farm labor, and kitchen duties because many of the products used are tested on animals.  In addition, convicts also have the right to ethically-sourced food, toiletries and even cosmetics. Wow. via chinadaily.com

Trying to explain to people that there is no difference between killing this animal or that, for food or for "sport," can sometimes be excruciatingly frustrating. Who deserves the priority of living - cows, dogs, coyotes?  Well, we have to kill the cows because steak tastes good, and we have to kill the coyotes so they don't kill the cows; but we certainly can't kill dogs!  If they have their own department store for food, fun, and fashion, we certainly can't kill them. Lee Won-bok understands the challenges of changing peoples minds.  We meet Lee Won-bok in a LA Times article.  He is a 45-year old animal rights activist who stages graphic photo displays to protest the use of dogs for food.  The images show dogs kept in cages, hanged and butchered, and the meat that is prepared for market.  Won-bok knows the images are hard to look at, and [...]

In an interesting new article, Sherry F. Colb discusses the animal rights movements as compared to the gay rights movement.  It’s a fascinating look at the similarities of each and what we can learn from both. Here’s a snippet: “The first thing to note is that there is a risk in analogizing the struggle for gay rights with the struggle for animal rights. The danger that concerns me is not, as some might think, that of offending people. People were (and some continue to be) offended by comparisons between struggles against racial oppression and struggles against homophobia, but it is precisely the resistance to an unfamiliar claim (especially a claim that implicates one’s own behavior) that makes it seem “offensive.” If inflicting terrible suffering and death on nonhuman animals who can feel pleasure, pain, and a wide range of emotions represents a real harm – and most people acknowledge, at [...]