Vegetarian Star

The UK show Jamie Saves Our Bacon featuring celebrity chef Jamie Oliver may have a man behind the wheel, but there’s a female giving some directions as well.

Actress Joanna Lumley (The New Avengers, Sapphire and Steel), both vegetarian and animal lover, will be demonstrating what pigs who are crated endure by joining students who will live in the farrowing crates for 24 hours.

Farrowing crates are the narrow cages pigs are kept in while giving birth and feeding their litters.

“The conditions they face are both physically and psychologically harrowing,” the actress told the Times Online.

The program is meant to educate on how pigs are treated on farms and to let consumers know where their food is coming from. While some have argued that it doesn’t solve the problem of animal abuse because it’s not advocating vegetarianism, it’s at least trying to incite the creation of more humane standards for the animals, which is a step forward.

“Jamie Saves Our Bacon” will be showing on UK Channel 4.

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British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver made waves in the UK recently for criticizing the quality of foods in his native land from school lunches to the dinner table. Now he wants everyone to understand the conditions pigs endure before they arrive on their plate.

Oliver and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) are calling upon the European Union to set minimum welfare standards for pig farmers and demand more honest labeling of foods that indicate how the pigs were reared. Unlike free-range chicken, there is currently no definition of free range pork.

Throughout the month of January, Oliver will be uncovering investigations revealing how pigs are treated on some farms in the UK, which includes undesirable practices such as castrating pigs without anaesthetic and preventing pregnant animals from moving.

The RSPCA hopes the program, titled “Jamie Saves Our Bacon,” will incite people to start buying pork reared in more ethical environments, such as a similar program by chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall did to increase the sales of chickens reared with higher welfare standards.

Hopefully, Oliver’s attention to the matter will produce a U.S. Prop 2-like overhaul in the UK.

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Jane Velez-Mitchell is a television news journalist who has who covered dozens of high profile cases on television networks such as CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, Fox News, and E!

When she’s doing work for CNN, she she’s sharing some of the veg anchor spotlight with vegan journalist Nicole Lapin. That’s right! Good ol’ Jane is a vegan as well as an animal rights activist and her report on animal cruelty on Celebrity Justice, earned the show two Genesis Awards from the Humane Society of the United States.

Tonight she’ll be on CNN Headline News at 7PM EST talking until her mouth’s dry on tons of animal rights issues, including puppy mills, adoption, spaying and neutering animals, and Prop 2 to name a few. Wow! This woman knows how to cover her beat.

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“I’m a great subscriber to Chrissie Hynde’s perspective that when you’re working for a social cause, the danger isn’t in going far enough or feeling embarrassed or that it’s in bad taste. You’ve got to really push the envelope. Animals are in desperate trouble in the fur farms, in the laboratories.”

—-Ingrid Newkirk, President of People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), when asked if there were any animal rights campaigns she regretted during an interview with Willamette Week.

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The Animal Planet television series, “Whale Wars,” premiered on November 7, 2008. If you’re looking to watch a vegan, eco-pirate show, this may for you.

The heavily Hayden Panettiere promoted show stars Captain Paul Watson, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He and his crew on the boat named “Steve Irwin” after the late crocodile hunter, attempt to non-violently stop Japanese ships from hunting whales that are to be later used in research purposes.

The crew is fed three vegan meals every day, as was revealed in the introductory episode. No word on if every one on board is completely vegan or if the Captain just has some strict rules about what happens on his boat.

Some of the tactics the crew uses to deter the whale hunters are throwing stink bombs filled with rancid butter on the ships.

And this is not your typical peaceful protest. In one episode, Watson was allegedly shot, but was protected by his bulletproof vest.

Is this Whale Wars or Cops?

It will be interesting to see if veganism comes up in future episodes between shoot ’em up moments with the hunters.

via Animal Person

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Lilo’s main squeeze, Samantha Ronson, like many other gay and lesbians in California, was not too pleased to hear that Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman was passed.

However, another measure, Proposition 2, which allows some farm animals to move around more freely, was passed as well. And that just pisses Ronson off. On her Myspace blog, an entry titled, “2 steps forward…2 steps back,”she wrote:

“i guess people care more about farm animals than they do their fellow man, that’s really sad to me.”

“yes, i am glad that the chickens will have more room and better conditions as they wait to die, but i just think it’s frightening that people show more compassion for tomorrow’s dinner than for the chef.”

“yup, miss piggy and chicken little may rest easy, but gay people in florida and california can no longer get married…”

In response, Peta has sent Ronson a letter asking her to understand the importance of Prop 2, and asking for her support as they continue to support the fight of discrimination against gays:

“Abusing animals is always wrong, and discriminating against gays is always wrong. We’ll continue to fight against the ban on gay marriage, and we hope that we can have your support in our efforts to eliminate cruelty to animals.”

Granted, you could understand Ronson’s anger. But is it necessary to take things out on Miss Piggy? Treating animals kindly says a lot about a society’s values and voting for Prop 2 doesn’t mean voting against gays and lesbians.

Hopefully, Sam will cool down in a few days and realize that progress in any matter takes time. It was time for Miss Piggy this year. And hopefully, it will come time for every oppressed and discriminated group to receive fair, equal, and compassionate treatment.

via The Peta Files

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Prop 2 was passed in California! This was a vote to change the way certain animals (breeding pigs, veal calves, and hens laying eggs) were kept in farms-allowing them more movement and freedom.

Farmers have to get it together by the year 2015 (it will take time to make all necessary changes).

Dozens of celebrities voiced their opinions in favor of Prop 2 including Moby,  Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi and Tobey Maguire to name a few.

And the countdown begins!

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Well, maybe she regrets buying a boa constrictor because it has to stay in a cage. Letting an animal like that roam around the house might bring surprises during your 2am snack time.

Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, wife of Will Smith, bought a red-tailed boa constrictor named Beauty. Having to keep Beauty in a cage for most of the time has made Jada sympathetic to the conditions caged animals live in and she vows to never buy an animal that has to be confined like that again.

She told Contact Music, “I think I’ll never get an animal like a snake again where I have to keep her in an aquarium.”

“We have this whole thing for Beauty outside for her, to be in a natural habitat. But at the end of the day, she knows she’s caged into her aquarium.”

In addition, she told her daughter, Willow, “we won’t do this again and won’t have any animals that need to stay like that.”

The experience has made her think about becoming an animal activist in the years to come.

We wonder if the Mrs. Fresh Prince knows that an easy way to become an activist, of course, is to reduce or cut the consumption of animals from your diet.

Not to worry. Once Pamela Anderson gets word, we’re sure she’ll jump on the chance to help fellow mom Jada make any transitions she needs to become a full-fledged activist.

via New Kerala

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