Author Archives: There's an Elephant in the Room

Lies, damn lies, and statistics*

Posted on March 27, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Summary (for clear image) February is the month that FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations) publishes the annual global statistics of the number of land-based individuals slaughtered in the latest statistical year, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Global disasters, Statistics | Tagged antibiotic resistance, avian flu, chickens, climate, climate catastrophe, data, diet, health, increase, media hype, motive, not a diet, pandemic, plant-based, plant-based eating, plant-based options, slaughterhouse, species extinction, Statistics, veganism, wishful thinking, zoonotic, zoonotic disease | 3 Comments

Looking at language: Pests

Posted on January 18, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I recently posted about fireworks and the devastation they cause, illustrating the post with a tragic picture of countless dead birds on a city street following new year fireworks. It is well documented that fireworks terrify all the living individuals … Continue reading →

Posted in Global disasters, Terminology | Tagged animal rights, badgers, balloons, bears, consumer demand, death, decency, fireworks, foxes, harm, insects, litter, littering, pest, pests, pigeons, poison, pollution, rabbits, rodents, slaughter, speciesism, strays, toxins, trap, vandalism, vermin, wedding doves | 3 Comments

On taking things at face value

Posted on December 16, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I’ve written short posts in the past about my extreme discomfort at seeing animal videos on social media being presented as ‘cute’ and ‘adorable’ or ‘funny’ and ‘hilarious’. They are clearly very popular, very widely shared, and the comments range … Continue reading →

Posted in Addressing resistance to change, Advocacy | Tagged adorable, advertising, baby goats, baby monkey, circus, cute, cute monkey, cynical, exploitation, fainting goats, funny, mother, performance, performer, speciesism, video, videos, viral, viral video, where is the mother | 4 Comments

Eggs – careless talk costs lives

Posted on November 23, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

‘Time to quit eating eggs unless you’ve toured your local farm and actually see how the chickens live and lay eggs and are they ever abused in any way.’ This was a comment on a post that was shared on … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, eggs, Terminology | Tagged abuse, abused, backyard, egg laying, environment, factory farming, language, local, locally raised, selective breeding, Terminology, treatment, words | 1 Comment

Splitting hairs about speciesism

Posted on October 5, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

A post that I shared earlier described how a young deer named Pala, cared for on a sanctuary, had been shot and killed by a neighbour who was hunting. In the same way that I am not empowered to excuse … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer demand, Harm reduction, Speciesism | Tagged antispeciesism, bacon, beef, betting, burger, deer, entertainment, flesh, hunter, hunting, own, owning, property, property status, silk, skins, speciesism, steak, steer, venison, wool | 7 Comments

About a goose

Posted on September 28, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Having recently come across the concept of ‘International Rabbit Day’ which is apparently on 26 September, I was idly investigating which other species of humanity’s victims had ‘days’ and came across ‘Happy Goose Day’ on 29 September. This puzzled me. … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, consumer demand, eggs, Victims in the shadows | Tagged commodification, consumer demand, eggs, feathers, foie gras, geese, goose, goose eggs, goose hunting, Happy Goose Day, slaughter, Torture, vegan, veganism, victims | Leave a comment

Learning lessons

Posted on September 19, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Recently, someone died; someone who was everything to me. ‘How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand… there is no going back? There … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, dairy, Health and plant based eating, Speciesism | Tagged advocacy, animal rights, breast milk, commodification, consumer demand, dairy, Grief, harm, health, heartbreak, human superiority, loss, misery, moral choices, motherhood, veganism | 23 Comments

Taking a break

Posted on June 9, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Owing to private family circumstances I have taken the decision to deactivate my Facebook account meantime. I’m unable to say when, or indeed if, I shall return to blogging but in the meantime I wish well to all followers of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

‘To finish’; looking at language

Posted on April 10, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

‘Finishing’ is yet another of the words with which the animal use industry glosses over the monstrous activities of our species. ‘Finishing’ is part of the practice of making victims out of gentle and defenceless individuals for nonvegan consumers to … Continue reading →

Posted in Terminology | Tagged consumer, consumer demand, euphemism, feel-good, finish, finished, finishing, glossy, sentient, slaughter, slaughterhouse, welfare, welfare standards | 3 Comments

Dress rehearsal for the apocalypse

Posted on March 29, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

As we look out on silent, empty, streets, watching while statistics of the sick and the dead skyrocket out of control, and the sickening chill of fear clutches at our hearts for our loved ones whom we are powerless to … Continue reading →

Posted in Global disasters | Tagged animal rights, breast milk, consumer demand, coronavirus, dairy, eggs, factory farming, farming, intensive, links, milk, respect, vegan, veganism, virus, zoonoses, zoonotic | 9 Comments