Category Archives: Advocacy

Veganuary – is it a game changer?

Posted on January 6, 2023 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Note: For the purpose of this blog, the term plant-based is used to describe items composed entirely of plants. This is to differentiate from those unscrupulous suppliers that disingenuously use the term to describe products which contain animal derivatives but … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy | Tagged big brand, campaign, consumer demand, diet, ethics, fad, festival, food festival, health, human, lifestyle, plant based diet, plant-based, plant-based eating, profit, respect, rights, supermarket, veganism, Veganuary, victims | 8 Comments

Thoughts on avoidable harm and being veganish

Posted on September 13, 2022 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I can’t count how often I’ve seen declarations from people who claim to be vegan despite indulging in some form of avoidable use of members of other animal species. However before I go any further I must stress the word … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Celebrity culture | Tagged avoidable, celebrities, celebrity, Cruelty, dog, ethics, fur, harm, non-vegan, nonveganism, veganish | 6 Comments

Professor Tom Regan: A Case for Animal Rights Speech

Posted on December 12, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Here, with what is still seen as one of the greatest animal rights speeches of all time, is Professor Tom Regan (1938 – 2017) who opened the debate “Does the Animal Kingdom Need a Bill of Rights” at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Transcript | Tagged bill of rights, case for animal rights, does the animal kingdom need a bill of rights, justice, peace, Professor Tom Regan, respect, scientific, Tom Regan, utilitarian, utilitarianism, video | 1 Comment

Let’s talk about mutilation

Posted on November 19, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

A recent post on Facebook was illustrated by the image below which is the work of the highly acclaimed animal rights artist and advocate, Jo Frederiks. The text read; ‘The distinctions we make between the species that we love as … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Imagery, Mutilation, Nonhuman family members, Terminology | Tagged animal testing, artificial insemination, beak trimming, branding, castration, de-beaking, de-horning, de-snooding, de-spurring, de-toeing, disbudding, dubbing, ear notching, ear tagging, it doesn't hurt, it's for their own good, mulesing, nose ringing, pinioning, tail docking, teat removal, tongue reshaping, tooth clipping, udder flaming, vivisection | 4 Comments

Egg use by humans – a look at whether it’s humane.

Posted on September 28, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Today the first post I saw was about hens who had been used for eggs and it tore my heart out. I should have known better and not looked at the comments, but I did and guess what? There they … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Chickens and eggs, Exceptions | Tagged agreement, backyard, communication, compassion, consensual, consent, consumer demand, contract, egg laying, egg-laying hens, eggs, exception, exceptional circumstances, exploitation, family, free range, freedom, hormone implants, humane exploitation, hyper-ovulation, market demand, pro-use, selective breeding, slaughter | 5 Comments

Veganism and conscience

Posted on June 6, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I recently did a post on social media where I mentioned a number of subjects which I have observed over the years to be less popular with page followers than others. I can’t remember having posted that type of observation … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy | Tagged cats, conscience, fleas, food, harm, horse riding, judgement, lice, medication, ownership, parasites, pets, service animals, ticks, worms | 4 Comments

Words of concern – how to mean them

Posted on May 29, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

When confronted with an article or post about a poorly individual who has been rescued from being used as a human resource, it is not unusual to read furious criticisms: 1) about the farmer / breeder,2) about the absence of … Continue reading →

Posted in Addressing resistance to change, Advocacy, consumer demand, property status, welfare | Tagged consumer demand, profit, regulations, supply and demand, veterinary care, welfare, welfare organisations, welfare standards | 3 Comments

On taking things at face value – when ‘cute’ is a lie

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, Imagery | Tagged adorable, advertising, baby goats, baby monkey, circus, Cruelty, cute, cute monkey, cynical, exploitation, fainting goats, funny, mother, performance, performer, speciesism, staged, video, videos, viral, viral video, where is the mother | 5 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, Chickens and eggs, Terminology | Tagged abuse, abused, backyard, egg laying, environment, factory farming, language, local, locally raised, selective breeding, Terminology, treatment, words | 1 Comment

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