December 22, 2008

Donna Karan

Donna Karan has announced that all her fall 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has "no plans" to use fur in the future. Well done, everyone!

I'm sure that Donna Karan has never thought about any of this or soiled her yoga slippers wading in the muck on a rabbit farm: Rabbits are full of personality and fun, unless they don't know you and what you have in mind, in which case, they tend to be timid and wary. They certainly live on their nerves, every minute, on a fur farm, stuck in their filthy, smelly, grassless, cramped cages - denied any ability to dig or hop over the hills or play tag (which they do, with friends).

I've been to a rabbit farm, and I've watched them being butchered for fur and meat: As on many farms, the man in charge took the scared rabbits by the legs with one hand and cupped his other hand under their jaws and yanked. There was a popping noise. Rabbits don't die when their spines are separated; they are merely paralyzed and start to suffocate, gasping and in pain.

Well, Donna Karan will no longer be responsible for such horrors, and for that, I truly am thankful. I'm sure that you are, too, my friends. So happy holidays!

Posted by Ingrid E. Newkirk

December 12, 2008

Let's Not Get Taken for a Ride

fund4horses / CC

Every visit to New York causes me to reflect upon the misery that befalls those poor old cast-off racetrack, Amish cart pullers and other worn-down horses who end up between the shafts of a heavy carriage, pulling loads of tourists, and invariably some uncaring driver - through the dirty, noisy streets of New York City, in all weather. Seeing them out there in the winter is particularly upsetting: A few weeks back, I watched one horse still lumbering along in traffic, head down, at 9:30 at night.

Even when they aren't working, horses need lots of water, yet the "carriage" horses' water troughs are often bone dry and people report seeing the horses standing there, unbending in their traces and unseeing in their blinders, unable to take a drop of water. And, when, late at night, they finally end up at their 'stables" (I've seen a driver , obviously anxious to go home to his comfortable house, whip his horse and race him, chariot-style, pounding along the road, which must have added to his pain) - which are actually decrepit fire-trap walk-ups, they cannot even take their weight off their aching feet: the "stalls" are boxes or bars that fit just around their bodies, like factory farm sow stalls.

Oh, there's so much more that stinks for these poor horses, including the traffic accidents that spook, hurt and kill them. PETA and local concerned citizens are working hard to make this business go away, see it switch to something humane, perhaps to a new environmentally friendly tourist vehicle that doesn't bleed, ache and die. It may take another year of hard work, but in the meantime, what, other than tell people never to ride in the carriages?

Perhaps you'd like to contact the ASPCA - which is charged with enforcing the anti-cruelty code and carriage horse regulations - with your thoughts and questions and share the answers you get with us. The horses can't ask why someone doesn't order the horse owners to allow them to lie down at night, for example, but we can. And, in my opinion, local law enforcement can compel the owners to let them.

OCMAD Tour Continues in Canada

With the exception of the falling snow, which makes me think way too much about dogs I can't reach and don't know tied out in the stuff, Canada was lovely. Everyone was kind (with the exception of the really odd, hostile reporter from The Globe and Mail, who even interpreted my "Please, drink your tea, it's getting cold" as some sort of attack!), the book store was packed, and I couldn't have asked for a nicer escort, who even took me out to a steakhouse (yes!) for dinner afterwards. The chef must be bored out of his mind cooking those ribs every night, as he happily conjured up two pasta dishes that were delectable. We ate down to the china-dish bottom. Even the waitress seemed glad for the diversion. A great vegucational meal, all around!

Earlier in the day, I failed to recognize a top Canadian comedian in the Green Room at CBC and got cheered by wonderful supporters in the audience who yelled, "We love you," and wore all the right PETA T-shirts. I also had a good-natured conversation on air with George Stroumboulopoulos, who is clearly a pre-vegetarian I must look up again in a year's time. Unlike most U.S. shows, he actually converses rather than shouts, and the guy's way too smart to stay a meat-eater much longer. My only regret: being late for the great Animal Voices radio show because of botched directions and no obvious street numbers in the dark. But, again, the host was gracious and intelligent, and she allowed me to speak freely about animal liberation, milk, sexy ad, the works. What a smart lot!

Click here to watch my interview with George.