Category Archives: Speciesism

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

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, Eulogies, 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

About the words we use: ‘waste’

Posted on November 19, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

The concept of ownership of members of nonhuman species and every single one of the uses we make of them, stems from the ugly prejudice known as speciesism, a prejudice with which almost every one of us is indoctrinated from … Continue reading →

Posted in Speciesism, Terminology | Tagged breast milk, Chickens and eggs, consumer demand, corpse, dog, food, leather, nonvegan items, ownership, respect, respectful, speciesism, waste, wasteful, wool | 6 Comments

Victims in the shadows: Horses

Posted on October 19, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Every so often, outrage rocks social media about the slaughtering of horses, often those whose lives have been used, broken and discarded by the horse racing industry. Like all other nonvegan institutions grounded in our abuse of our fellow earthlings, … Continue reading →

Posted in Speciesism, Victims in the shadows | Tagged betting, blood farm, entertainment, having a flutter, hormone replacement therapy, horse, horse racing, horses, HRT, Pig fertility, pregnant mares, premarin, racing, speciesism, urine | 2 Comments

Looking at language: Cull

Posted on September 13, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Cull. We see the word applied increasingly to the mass killing of numerous species; to deer and to foxes and to seals, to pigeons, crows and even swans. The word is in the news at the moment, being applied to … Continue reading →

Posted in Speciesism, Terminology | Tagged animal agriculture, badgers, cull, environmental destruction, habitat destruction, nonveganism, profit, slaughter | 6 Comments

Thoughts about diluting the animal rights message

Posted on September 11, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

For a moment, please imagine if you will, that this page were to highlight something horrific being done to humans, something such as torture, sexual violation, or forced labour. Imagine an article describing men, women and children, families and friends … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Speciesism | Tagged animal rights, forced labour, Human rights, sexual violation, social media, speciesism, Torture, truth, victimisation, violation | 3 Comments

Victims in the shadows: emus

Posted on August 16, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

This series of short blogs hopes to shine a spotlight onto ways that humans exploit other creatures for financial gain, ways about which the majority of consumers are unaware. This is not intended to shock; it’s intended to illustrate and … Continue reading →

Posted in Speciesism, Victims in the shadows | Tagged butcher, consumer demand, consumers, emu, emu oil, emus, feathers, flay, flesh, leather, oil, oppression, plucking, prejudice, shoppers, slaughter, slaughterhouse, speciesism | 8 Comments

Petitions and single issues – where’s the harm? – FAQ

Posted on March 10, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I was recently asked the following very well articulated question by a friend who is a committed activist and vegan advocate; I understand why we don’t want to put effort into single-issue causes, especially those that are so blatantly speciesist … Continue reading →

Posted in FAQ, Single Issue Campaigns, Speciesism | Tagged advocacy, animal rights, antispeciesism, betrayal, campaigner, campaigns, counter productive, death penalty, euthanasia, execution, harm, Harm reduction, innocent, otherisation, petitions, promoting harm, regulation, regulatory reform, rights, Single Issue Campaigns, speciesism, speciesist, veganism, welfare, xenophobia, xenophobic | 9 Comments

Feet of Clay – no need for heroes

Posted on September 17, 2018 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Feet of clay: a weakness or hidden flaw in the character of a greatly admired or respected person Without any effort at all, I can think of a number of high-profile persons who are hero worshipped for their claims to … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Celebrity culture, Speciesism | Tagged animal rights, apologist, breast milk, campaigner, can't all be perfect, celebrities, celebrity, harm, heroes, high-profile, Human rights, individual, non-vegan, pedestal, speciesism, vegan, veganism, zealot | 5 Comments

Making up labels to hide behind

Posted on April 26, 2018 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Here’s someone with a lovely face. His name was Rannoch. In this photo he was watching the track to the house, waiting to catch sight of me. He would wait there all day, if that’s what it took. Some might … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Nonhuman family members, Speciesism | Tagged bred for eating, bred for fur, Chickens and eggs, commodification, consumer demand, dairy, harm, milk, moral choices, respect, rights, slaughter, vegan, veganism, victims, violence, welfare | 6 Comments