Tag Archives: welfare

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

‘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

Property – what it means to be ‘owned’

Posted on February 25, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I’ve written about ‘property’ before but it’s a topic that bears repeating. Maybe I’ll stumble across new ways of expressing the monstrous abomination that owning other individuals represents. As the crushing impacts of widespread climate-collapse increase in frequency, along with … Continue reading →

Posted in FAQ, property status | Tagged animal rights, climate catastrophe, climate crisis, climate disaster, exotic meat, foie gras, hunting, kangaroos, koala, legal, livestock, macerator, owned, property, property status, shark fin, speciesism, standard practice, trophy hunting, veal, welfare, welfare standards, zoonotic | 7 Comments

Straight talking about ‘welfare regulations’

Posted on July 24, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

It’s common to read on social media that because the writer of a comment claims to support ‘better welfare regulations’, they assert that whether or not they are vegan, they are doing something to help our victims that those of … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer demand, Terminology, welfare | Tagged animal rights, autonomy, better, code of practice, consumer, consumer confidence, consumer demand, experience, experiences, feelings, gassing, guidelines, inanimate objects, maceration, regulation, regulations, regulatory reform, right, rights, thumping, veganism, welfare, welfare organisations, welfare standards, well-being, wellbeing | 27 Comments

Straight talking about ‘factory farming’

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

There seems to be some sort of blind spot in our collective consciousness about the term ‘factory farming’ and all the various types of *CAFO in which our numerous species of victims are incarcerated. For a start, the creating of … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, factory farming, FAQ, Global disasters, Terminology | Tagged animal agriculture, animal rights, CAFO, ecological disaster, environmental destruction, ethical, factory, factory farming, family farm, farming, feed conversion ratio, health, humane, locally raised, organic farm, planetary collapse, planetary destruction, welfare | 9 Comments

Being property – what it means

Posted on May 26, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

There’s a story that’s causing outrage in the media at the moment, about a healthy dog named Emma who was slaughtered and cremated so that her ashes could be buried along with her deceased owner. The comments were predictably scathing, … Continue reading →

Posted in Nonhuman family members, property status | Tagged animal rights, betrayal, burial, consumers, Cruelty, dog, Emma, funeral, healthy, indoctrination, law, laws, legal, legislation, Nonhuman family members, outrage, pets, possession, possessions, property, property status, shih tzu, slaughter, speciesism, vegan, veganism, welfare | 2 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

Speciesism and the welfare of property

Posted on February 15, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Sometimes we are told that someone ‘loves’ ‘their’ animals, or that they ‘treat them well’, but the claim that is always shouted from the rooftops is the one about ‘high welfare standards’. These claims may come from people in a … Continue reading →

Posted in property status, welfare | Tagged autonomy, business asset, commerce, commercial assets, companions, consent, feelings, guidelines, individual, property, regulations, rescue, respect, sanctuary, sentience, sentient, speciesism, welfare, welfare standards, well-being, wellbeing | 16 Comments

On trusting experts

Posted on November 16, 2018 by There's an Elephant in the Room

When we are new to the world, parents and carers feed and clothe us. Most of us have little idea what we are eating, drinking, wearing or using. As children we lack even the ability to grasp the brutality of … Continue reading →

Posted in Awakening to veganism, consumer demand | Tagged breast milk, Chickens and eggs, consumer demand, dairy, egg-laying hens, expert, gore, harm, health, hens, humane, justice, milk, money, slaughter, slaughterhouse, trust, truth, vegan, veganism, violence, welfare | 9 Comments

Heading in the direction of being vegan / Stuck in a loop

Posted on August 13, 2018 by There's an Elephant in the Room

‘…or if we can’t be vegan we can at least head in that direction.’ I’ve seen so many variations on that theme as a comeback to the call to be vegan that appears in almost every piece I write. Today … Continue reading →

Posted in Awakening to veganism | Tagged advocacy, awakening, cheese, Chickens and eggs, commodification, compassion, consumer demand, Cruelty, dairy, ethics, harm, health, justice, slaughter, vegetarianism, violence, welfare | 3 Comments