A VINTAGE MORE NEW

Meet “squeaky.” This piglet’s mother was on the way to slaughter when she gave birth. Little squeaky fell out of the truck and was almost run over by a motorist.

What is so striking about this piglet’s story is how particularly inhumane it is to send a pregnant animal to slaughter: A sentient being,  an intelligent creature (pigs are known to be more intelligent than man’s best friend, don’t you know?!) sentenced to a life of suffering…

when she was brought in because her umbilical cord was attached and it was still wet.

Below is the full story from the dailymail.co.uk

Meet Squeaky the luckiest little piglet alive who fell off the back of a lorry on her way to “market”.

Her mum was being driven along a country road on her way to an abattoir when she gave birth and the little Tamworth pig rolled out of the trailer and into the road.
She was just a few minutes old when she was spotted by motorist Anthony Davies as he was driving home with his family in Poolsbrook, Derbyshire.

Animal lover Anthony took her to the RSPCA Animal Centre in Chesterfield where the little Tamworth piglet is now getting round the clock care.

And already the shelter has been flooded with offers of a new home for Squeaky when she is old enough to be “adopted” in about seven weeks time.

Shelter manager Richard Woodwards said: “She is a lucky little pig and she is one of the most unusual arrivals we have had.

“She can’t have been more than half an hour old when she was brought in because her umbilical cord was attached and it was still wet.

“We believe someone had been transporting a pregnant sow which gave birth on the journey and the piglet has just rolled out through a gap in the trailer. She had grazes down her back as if she’s rolled down the road.

“Luckily for her Mr Davies was driving along the road and spotted her.

“He almost hit her but managed to swerve around and stop.

” He has no idea what the animal was until he walked back and realised he had found a piglet. He is an animal lover and he brought her straight to the shelter.”
Scroll down for more …
Sleepy: Time for a rest

Normally newly born animals, which need round the clock feeding, are taken home by staff but because of the restrictions on the movement follwing the outbreak of foot and mouth, Squeaky can not leave the shelter.

Instead receptionist Jane Barden, who lives on site, volunteered to be Squeaky’s carer and she has been getting up twice during the night to make sure she gets the feeds she needs to grow healthy and strong.

Richard added: “She is thriving. When she was brought in she was about the size of a Yorkshire terrier and she is getting bigger every day.

” When she is around eight weeks old we will start the process of finding her a new home and we are confident there won’t be any problems.

“Since word got around the phone has never stopped ringing with offers . Pigs are not just farm animals, they make fantastic pets, they are as intelligent as dogs and can be house-trained.

“But she will probably go to an animal sanctuary or a farm.

We will thoroughly vet anyone who wants her in the same way we would if we were looking for a home for a cat, a dog or any pet, and that includes home visits.

“We need to make sure that she will be given a home where she can spend the rest of her life.

“We don’t want someone taking her so they can fatten her up to go for slaughter.

“She has already had one narrow escape and she deserves a comfortable life.”

Here’s a message from CIWF (Compassion in World Farming) concerning the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease…

FOOT AND MOUTH: A potential animal welfare disaster

In the past five days since the start of the latest Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK, Compassion in World Farming has been tireless in its efforts to prevent a potential animal welfare disaster. Our biggest concern is that the previous outbreak of foot and mouth in 2001 resulted in widespread mass slaughter of animals, resulting in much suffering. For example, Compassion in World Farming received many reports of inhumane slaughter methods being used throughout the UK as people struggled to implement such a huge cull in a very short timescale. Since the latest outbreak began, we have been calling on the UK Government to adopt a policy of vaccination to keep animals alive. This ‘vaccination to live’ strategy would avoid any unnecessary killing of healthy farm animals and would avoid the scenes of wholesale slaughter witnessed in 2001. Compassion in World Farming sincerely hopes that this latest outbreak will prove to be limited to the immediate area - but with an incubation time of up to 10-14 days, we need to be prepared and Government must not rest until we are completely sure the threat has disappeared. Research has shown that the ‘vaccination to live’ policy would help in stopping further transmission of Foot and Mouth. We are in good company in calling for this vaccination strategy, as the Royal Society, in its report following the 2001 outbreak, concluded that “the policy should be vaccinate-to-live”.Please visit our website at http://www.ciwf.org.uk/ for ongoing updates and to find out more. Thank you for all your support, Compassion in World Farming We believe that farm animals should not, and need not, suffer.

From COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING – 

To celebrate our first 40 years of achievement for farm animal welfare, we have prepared a short six-minute film that is available to view free online.

Narrated by Joanna Lumley OBE, Compassion in World Farming – Working for animals, people and the planet, looks at our achievements over the past 40 years and the challenges that lie ahead.

With your support we are proud of the progress we have made so far.  This new film highlights some of our biggest successes to date such as…  

• Veal crates banned across the EU
• Animals are legally recognised as Sentient Beings in the EU
• The EU ban on sow stalls from 2013
• The EU ban on battery cages from 2012

… but also takes a realistic look at the huge amount of work still to do.

This is an ideal film to show to family, friends and colleagues.
 

For more details and to see our film online

Compassion in World Farming receives no government funding and relies entirely on the generosity of our supporters.   We believe that farm animals should not, and need not, suffer.  If you agree, please make a donation today

This is a terrific mock meatloaf. I believe the recipe is published in a PETA Celebrity Cookbook, however I found the recipe in a magazine several years ago and have altered it somewhat. It’s definitely worth the effort! 

• 2 packages Gimme Lean (ground beef style)
• 1-2 slices whole grain bread, crumbled (I usually use just one slice)
• 1/4 cup oatmeal (not the quick-cooking)
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1-3 tablespoons vegetable oil (or olive oil)
• 1 tsp pepper

Coating:

• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preparation:

• Sautee onion & green pepper in olive oil (if you like add in a clove of garlic, minced).
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the Gimme Lean and crumbled bread, ketchup, and oatmeal, and remaining ingredients.
• Add in sauteed onions, peppers.
•  Mix well.
• Place the mixture in a lightly greased loaf pan (glass or tin)
• Cover with aluminum foil
• Cook at 375 degrees for 30 minutes
• After 30 minutes, remove from oven and tip loaf pan onto a greased baking sheet
• Spread coating evenly over loaf
• Cook additional 15 minutes, uncovered

Note: I usually add a tablespoon of oil (either extra virgin olive oil or vegetable) oil to the mixture before I put the mixture in the loaf pan. But this additional oil is not necessary, though I’ve found the loaf is slightly dry and much improved with just a tad of oil.

It’s the Vegetarian Society’s 15th National (UK) Vegetarian Week and they’ve created several scrummy recipes for the occasion, published here for the taking….

http://www.vegsoc.org/nvw/2007/bron/recipes/index.html

They also publish online their archive of recipes from previous National Vegetarian Weeks. This page is definitely worth bookmarking — http://www.vegsoc.org/nvw/nvwrecarchive.html

Veg Out

Mars UK had plans to add animal products (rennet) to its chocolate–that is until The Vegetarian Society (UK) and its members protested. The company has since reversed its decision to add animal products and has apoligized, stating

“It became very clear, very quickly that we had made a mistake, for which I am sorry.

“There are three million vegetarians in the UK and not only did we disappoint them, but we upset a lot of the consumers.”

FYI: Mars bars are similar to Milky Way bars (nougat covered with caramel and chocolate. The UK Mars is different from the Mars bar once sold in the U.S.)

According to the mirror.co.uk, Kate Moss has a ” huge collection of fox, goat, mink and rabbit” …  Maybe she’s still on drugs?

I just read this article http://www.news.com.au:80/entertainment/story/0,23663,21589411-10388,00.html

that states Victoria Beckham refuses to eat meat or wear fur. Posh’s vegetarianism might be old news to those residing outside the US, but here in the States, Victoria & David are not (yet) the superstars that they are in Britain so this is news to a lot of us. (well, not exactly ‘news’, more like celebrity gossip!

Kathy Freston discusses a report published by the United Nations that concludes

 ”The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”

Click here to read the full article -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/vegetarian-is-the-new-pri_b_39014.html

Kathy Freston also publishes a website that is quite interesting. Check it out -

http://www.kathyfreston.com/ 

Read the full story here:

http://http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6180753.stm 

 ”The finding that children with greater intelligence are more likely to report being vegetarian as adults, together with the evidence on the potential benefits of a vegetarian diet on heart health, may help to explain why higher IQ in childhood or adolescence is linked with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease in adult life.”