The Bluefin tuna - an amazing species on the brink of extinction

Many people decide to worry about animals that are cute and cuddly, and do not give enough time to the plight of certain fish species that are currently being fished to the brink of extinction.

Just like if you take the time to research a shark, you'll find it is not so scary, and that the chicken is not so much a 'bird-brain' but actually very intelligent, you can also find out how amazing the Bluefin tuna is.

Weighing around 250 kilos, and reaching over 4 metres in length, the Bluefin is an awesome specimen - when chasing prey they can travel up to 70 kph, and accelerate faster than a Porsche. Unlike most fish, the Bluefin are actually warm-blooded, with a specialised circulation system that allows the fish to retain up to 95% of the heat generated by their muscles.

They are also one of the top predators in the ocean, with the sharpest vision of all bony fish and with the ability to swim up to 1,000m depth to find food.

But these massive and majestic creatures are now in critical danger of collapse due to horrific overfishing. In all cases, this has been driven by the Japanese demand for sushi and sashimi. And although Bluefin is classified as overfished, the overfishing continues, and the obvious reason is money, with a single 220 kilo fish fetching more than $160,000 at auction in Japan.

In March 2010, the Japanese managed to quash any bans on trade that may have been put in place at the United Nations meeting in Qatar by lobbying aggressively. Australia also voted against the ban, which is not so suprising since they are second next to Japan in the having the biggest catches of Bluefin tuna.

The problems continue for the Bluefin, now in danger of its spawning ground being poisoned by the BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention the over-sized EU industrial fishing fleet that managed to catch its quota in record time.

Are we waiting for the total annhilation of the Bluefin tuna to care?!

YOU can help by encouraging restaurants, chefs, retailers, consumers and friends to stop serving, buying, selling & eating Bluefin. WWF recently warned that if we don't stop the overfishing the Bluefin will be wiped out by 2012! So, help by not eating tuna for a while, abstain especially from bluefin, double check all tins and at restaurants to make sure they don't use Bluefin, and make a stand if they do. Becuase our eating habits are not a justifiable reason for the end of a species.

The Cruelty of Animal-Testing: Don't Let It Continue

Animal testing is one of the most cruel acts that is taking place all over the world. Although the majority of the public are against animal testing, it continues to take place - Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and L'Oreal to name a few. Animals, such as rats, mice, hamsters, rabbits, dogs, cats, non-human primates, frogs, sheep and cattle, are all subjugated to being routinely poisoned, burnt, and killed to test chemicals. Animals can develop painful skin and eye irritations, developmental abnormalities, cancer and death - all the while no pain relief is given, leaving animals to languish in pain.

It is a horrible form of torture imposed on animals who can feel and understand pain, and it is not unknown to the general public, so how is it still allowed to continue? The National Institutes of Health in the US are the world's largest funder of animal experiments; the military uses it to test warfare; private companies use it to test household products and cosmetics; agricultural companies do it to test how animals can produce more eggs, wool, milk, or meat; and it is used during education and training like biology classes.

Many people actually approve of animal testing because they justify it as serving a greater purpose for humans - now, beside the fact that this arrogantly view is that humans may do untold torture on other animals because we feel we are superior is wrong in itself, animal testing isn't even reliable! Since there are enormous physiological differences between say a rabbit and a human. For example, more than half of the prescription drugs approved of by the Food and Drug Administration between 1976 and 1985 were withdrawn from the market or relabeled because of the serious side effects they had on humans. These drugs had all been tested on animals with no side effects recorded. Drugs like thalidomide, Zomax, and DES all proved dangerous for humans, but not animals.

And it's not like there aren't alternatives either. This cruel and archaic practice could be thrown out, and other practices that are more accurate, less expensive, and less time-consuming could replace it, such as computer simulators and imaging techniques, studies of human populations, clinical research, in vitro research, and replacing animals with human cells in safety tests.

It is unconscionable that animal testing still continues, when it is plainly a cruel and unnecessary practice that puts thousands of animals in constant pain and suffering, and the outcomes aren't even reliable.

More information can be found at any of these websites:

Johns Hopkins Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing - http://caat.jhsph.edu/

PETA - http://www.stopanimaltests.com/.stopanimaltests.com/

Research Without Animals - http://www.humaneseal.org/

Animals Australia - http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/pledge/animal-testing/

Alternatives to Animal Testing - http://www.pcrm.org/resch/anexp/index.html

Cruelty Free Products -http://www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/list.html

These pictures are all forms of experiments on animals. For more go to www.veganpeace.com

Archaic and Unethical - Gill Nets

In Australia, Queensland and New South Wales have failed to catch up with the other states and territories. They have failed to remove shark nets. While in other parts of Australia aerial and beach monitoring are used, as well as safe beach swimming habits, QLD and NSW are still using the most archaic and unethical form of shark control possible.

24 hours a day these nets are up, thereby killing any marine animal that comes across it. So this does not limit the killing of innocents to just sharks, but turtles, dugongs, dolphins, whales, rays and fish.

This is a completely ridiculous system, these state governments must stop being lazy and adopt more humane shark control. In QLD, between 1985 - 2008, 28,830 sharks were caught and subsequently died in nets. And if live sharks are found caught in the nets they are euthanised to further protect swimmers....

This practice is beyond abominable, along with killing these innocent and mostly harmless sharks, the QLD government has allowed 2,140 turtles, 552 dugongs, and 216 dolphins to become caught in these nets. Only 7-10% are released back into the ocean alive. Are these animals a risk to swimmers?

And it's happening in every beach along the NSW and QLD coast line: a dugong became caught and then died in a net off Coogee beach. Sea grass eating dugongs are completely harmless, but when caught they can't reach the surface to breathe and so they drown.

Since September 09, 6 Humpback whales have been caught in Gold Coast nets, the juvenile whales are especially vulnerable to nets while on their migratory pattern. In October, a dolphin was caught and died in the nets at Freshwater beach in Sydney. It was found floating dead and entangled in the netting.

Why is marine life suffering due to human fears? There is an inexplicable superiority complex that humans have over all other living species, but to the detriment of the planet's eco system. While you swim at the beach this summer, look at towards the shark nets and consider what animals are caught and slowly drowning, as you dive in the waves.

Visit http://www.removesharknets.com/ and Sign the petition to get rid of these nets.

Farm Animals Abandoned by Australian Laws

Some 500 million production animals are excluded from any kind of protective legislation by the Australian government. Instead, they have been left abandoned, resulting in constant suffering through horrible housing conditions, acts of cruelty, malnutrition and more.

The only ones who are protected are the industries profiting from animal suffering.

For those of you who eat pork consider where you buy it from. 350,000 mother pigs and 5.7 million piglets every year must endure unnecessary pain and suffering through the failure to provide any form of exercise, docking of piglets' tails, clipping of their teeth, castration of male piglets without any anaesthetic; severe individual confinement, constant standing or lying causing lameness, foot injuries, lesions and weakened bones.

11 million laying hens in this country deal with severe confinement in wire cages, unable to spread their wings, exercise or perform any natural behaviours, resulting in mental and physical suffering, The debeaking of chicks is extremely painful as it cuts through nerves and can remain painful indefinitely.

420 million chickens a year are shoved into confining sheds, causing suffering and pain through selective breeding and high growth feed resulting in bone deformities, fractures, hip dislocations and diseases. These chickens are the only livestock that are in chronic pain for the last 20% of their lives.

And 20 million lambs a year endure painful mutilations without any anaesthetic, their tails cut off and the males castrated, but the worst offense is when the lambs are 'mulesed' which involves cutting slices of skin from the buttocks to produce a wool-less scar area that is less likely to attract flies... while they are still alive.

Are you comfortable that hundreds of millions of production animals are suffering every year so that you can get your produce quicker and cheaper?

If not then follow the link and write to your state Minister and ask them to remove any exemptions provided to animals industry operators and to provide these animals with the protection they need. You can also email supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles, and tell them you do not agree with factory farming and will not buy your produce there until they stop supporting it.

http://www.savebabe.com/codesofcruelty/index.html

3 sharks killed every second by humans

Shark finning is a global issue, one that is depleting our oceans of the highly misunderstood shark species. Ever since the novel and movie 'Jaws' was released the public was hit with the image of a senseless, taste for human blood, evil, monster.

But the more you read, the more you understand that sharks are not the monsters they are made out to be. And it is only until more people understand this, that more people will be horrified at the slow torturous deaths sharks go through via shark finning, commercial by-catch, and sport/game fishing. Commerical fishing, whether by trawl, net or longline, brings up something in the order of 100 million tonnes of sharks per year, much of which is discarded as unwanted bycatch.

Waste and cruelty apart, these exploitation practices are unsustainable due to the slow reproductive cycle and biology of sharks. Sharks are not only targeted for their meat, but their oil, cartilage, fins and for the aquarium trade as well. The most wasteful of the above is finning, the valuable fins are carved from the animal which is then thrown back into the sea, still alive, to sink and drown. It can take up to several weeks for a shark to eventually die.

The demand, and therefore problem, is China. Due to their demand, mostly poorer countries take on the fishing responsibilities in order to export and get paid, these countries include: Indonesia, Taiwan, India, Spain, the United States (not many know this), Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, France, the UK, NZ, Portugal, Iran, Nigeria, Brazil and Korea.

If you are from any of these countries I strongly suggest that you write to your governments to show that you oppose it. But the real problem is China, because as long as there is demand, there will be fishing. Shark fins used to be eaten by royalty in China, it showed high status as well as the completely wrong belief that you could gain the sharks strength and vitality and an immunity to cancer (even though sharks are susceptible to types of cancer.)

This centuries old belief is still permeated in society, even though it is available in even the cheapest Chinese restaurant these days. This perception needs to be changed before all of the shark species become endangered and then extinct. I suggest checking out your local Chinese restaurant to see if they sell it (can sometimes be translated as 'fish wing soup') and explain to them the eco-problems that arise from shark finning, because some simply do not know the damage being done to the environment.

There are many anti shark finning websites, save the shark websites and shark research websites out there that would appreciate your support and donations. From your chair you can send emails to necessary governments, and you can take action by organising legal protests outside restaurants selling shark products.

Sharks are being driven to the brink of extinction. Please help them.

So, which eggs are good eggs?

Unfortunately, the majority of eggs you can buy from your supermarket will be factory farmed in some way (whether they say free range, cage free, natural, fresh, barn-laid), but some will adhere to more humane standards than others. For example, they may choose to give the chickens more space, not lock them in individual cages, not feed them drugs or hormones, or allow them to spend more time outdoors and exhibit natural behaviours.


After much research it was very hard to find eggs that were 100% humane, so if anything it would be best to not eat eggs at all, deciding to cut them out of your diet would mean you were not supporting any kind of chicken mistreatment.


BUT if eggs must be eaten I would suggest not eating Pace farm eggs, Eco Eggs (these companies sell a range of eggs including caged, so if you buy even the free range you are still giving money to a company who cages its chickens). Try going to your local health food store or farmers markets and buying from there, because supermarket tend to supply eggs from mass produced farms.

Try eggs that are accredited by the Free Range Farmers Association, who inspect the farms to ensure they comply with all standards. If you can find the brand Freeranger Eggs they are great, with the hens never locked up and fed natural diets. Also, Ovaston Organics do not have cages, chemicals or de-beaking, they are available at Organic Food Network in Brookvale (also do home delivery), Martelli's Fruit Market in Epping, and Abundant Organics in Emi Plains which deliver to Sydney Metro area and surrounds.

Will continue to update this issue.

The 'Free Range' Myth and Evil KFC

Free Range is applied to meat, eggs, dairy and sometimes fish, but it does not mean what you think it does. By choosing to buy 'Free Range' eggs or meat you think your getting it from plump chickens from a nice farm, where they can roam as they please. But, to be considered free range, chickens must have "access to the outdoors" which, taken literally, means nothing. You can have a shed containing 30,000 chickens with a small door at one end that opens to a 5-by-5 dirt patch, and the door is only open occasionally.... This is considered free range.

Very often, the eggs of free range chickens, chickens packed against one another in barns, can still be de-beaked, drugged and cruelly slaughtered once "spent". This photo shows male chicks that are uselss for laying eggs or their meat and are simply discarded alive to slowly starve to death.

KFC is arguably the company that has increased the total amount of suffering in the world, buying nearly a billion chickens a year. KFC insists that they are "committed to the well-being and humane treatment of chickens" but it has been documented that a slaughterhouse in West Virginia that supplies KFC have been tearing the heads off live birds, spitting tobacco into their eyes, spray-painting their faces, and violently stomping on them.

And this slaughterhouse was "Supplier of the Year". And vice-president of this slaughterhouse is now a board member of KFC.

Moral of this story: 1) don't always believe what you read on products and do independent research on companies which say they are 'free range'

2) don't eat at KFC

Stop the dolphin slaughter; watch 'The Cove'

If you have not yet seen the movie 'The Cove', a documentary about the senseless slaughter of dolphins in a small cove in Japan, then please do! If you have seen it, or even heard about it, you will be horrified to know that even after all the public outcry and media sensation, the hunt and slaughter for dolphins continues in the same cove.

It is unfathomable that this inhumane practice is being allowed to continue, especially after all the research results into the intelligence of dolphins, making them the second most intelligent species next to humans.

The dolphins are driven from open sea into shallow coves using motorized boats and lots of noise (dolphins are highly sensitive to noise), and are subsequently killed by the fishermen by either stabbing at them with harpoon-like spears or slashing them with knives. This is not a clean or humane kill, with the dolphins thrashing about, taking several minutes to die an agonizing death. This is a brutal massacre, and one that is wholly unnecessary.

Unfortunately the Western world is supporting this, as many of these dolphins (the ones that are not killed) are sold to aquariums and parks like Sea World, to be put into captivity, paying as much as $100,000 per captured dolphin.

For this alone, please do not participate in any captive swim-with-th-dolphins programs, or visit marine parks that have captive dolphins, as it only supports these processes. The killed dolphins meat is sold in Japan as "whale meat" as well as put in pet food and used as bait on the hooks of long line fishing. Don't support this horrible slaughter!

Stop Commercial Whaling

The situation involving the Sea Shepard boat Ady Gill and the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2, has been displayed over all types over media lately and is an issue of huge contention. Whoever you decide was at fault, it still brings up the issue of whaling.

Japan is not the only country who exploit the seas of one of the most beautiful creatures, whales, although they have the greatest demand. Norway re-entered commercial whaling in 1993, the government claimed that the whale meat was sold in Norway as a traditional part of Norwegian diet. The reality is that they are exporting the whale meat to Japan where prices paid for the meat is several times higher than in Norway, becuase there is actually little market for whale meat in Norway.

Iceland wants to increase their already sizeable quota of whales claiming it will create more jobs. In reality, it is simply becuase the ailing whaling industry in Norway wants to make more money from exporting more whale meat to Japan. This unfortunate decision will not be beneficial to Iceland or its economy, infact, whaling has created a negative dent in Iceland's reputation and identity. Even a small increase in tourists going to Iceland for whale watching will create and secure more jobs than whaling. Tourism and whale watching serve to promote the beauty of Iceland's environment, and will be worth more to the Icelandic economy than whaling ever will be.

If you would like more information on whaling, the myths of "scientifc research", and what you can do to help (Adopt A Whale!), check out http://www.savethewhalesagain.com/

It's easy to be Eco Friendly!

I decided to start this blog to help those who want to be more friendly to the environment and also to create more of an awareness of all the cruel and unnecessary processes occurring in the world.

This is not a blog that demands you turn Vegan, or become a Greenpeace activist (although if you do that's awesome!) it is here to let you know what is going on in your world, your country and sometimes in your own backyard, so that you can make your own informed choices.

I will include updates on situations of animal suffering, deforestation, climate change, commercial fishing and more, as well as helpful tips and recipes to cut your carbon footprint, your everyday costs, and suggest certain brands of food that do not involve factory farming or promote animal suffering. All to make it easy for you to be Eco Friendly!

We live on a stunning planet, and everyday we should appreciate it rather than take it for granted.