Everyone who looks at my page needs to watch the Vegan Athiest + an update.

...His videos answer a lot of questions and criticisms that vegans get!



It's my 21st birthday tomorrow, so I might not be blogging as much... I'm getting quite a lot of new games and dvds! As well as other surprises:) I'll try to keep updating my petitions post though and I might post photos of what I get tomorrow at my birthday meal (I've booked a vegan pasta dish) Oh and I might post a birthday haul ;).
I really can't believe I'll be 21 tomorrow! I hope my year can be spent well trying to help animals and prevent cruelty and I hope that I can keep on top of this blog... it's nice having somewhere to write stuff down!

Rachel X

Cruel Britannia: Life and Death on UK Factory Farms

Hi!
Here in the UK, we normally hear a lot of good stuff about the reputation of our factory farms and how we treat our animals to eat their produce/flesh. Unfortunatly, what happens behind closed doors and the walls of slaughterhouses is just as cruel as anywhere else, we still have extremely cruel caged hens and pigs, animals are still mutilated and treated like dirt in some places.

I think it's important for people who claim to love animals to watch this video, also read the article on Viva!'s website: http://www.viva.org.uk/what-we-do/cruel-britannia-life-and-death-uk-factory-farms


Rachel X

Quick post: Hand Sanitizer!

Hi!
I woke up this morning and I couldn't breathe out of my nose, I have caught a cold. :(
I work in a school so it's not really a surprise... anyway that got me thinking about doing a post on what hand sanitizer I use at work since I'm always touching things that are covered in bacteria.
I use Enliven hand sanitizer as my go to...

100ml bottle, tends to last me a couple of months using it a few times a day :) It smells really fresh and like cucumber. Only costs £1 at most shops!

Another great hand sanitizer that I use occasionally is Body Shops, which is a little more expensive than Enlivens but comes in a larger range of smells including strawberry, mango and my personal favorite satsuma.

These smell amazing and I found these 60ml bottles do run out a lot faster than Enliven's. I still prefer to use Enliven at work as the smell is not strong for in my office and I find that it lasts a lot longer! I'm sure there are more cruelty free hand sanitizers on the UK market but these two I have found to be the most available especially nearby to me. Let me know what works best for you, happy shopping!

Rachel X

Important Petitions this week

1. Help abolish the use of Beagles for animal testing: Beagles
2. Make sexual use of animals in Denmark illegal: Denmark
3. Stop live bulls being set on fire in spain: Bulls
4. Tell congress that animal testing is not needed for testing beauty cosmetics: Congress
5.Save the Axolotyl: Axolotyl
6.End the Faroe Islands whale/dolphins killing festival: Faroe Islands Faroe Islands 2
7. Stop dog meat being sold in Nigeria Dog meat
8. Help goats at Santa Cruiz Biotech: Goats
9. Justice for Bryan, who was shot in front of his owners: Bryan
10. Tell South Carolina to stop using live animals in their pep rallys: Pep Rally Games
11. Ban cruel steel jaw leghold traps: traps
12. Keep wild animals out of the Circus in the UK: Circus 

Rachel X

An important video about Taiji, Japan

I could go on forever about how I feel about this killing cove, in the meantime I hope this short video helps educate someone...

Also, please watch the documentary 'The Cove', I'll address this subject better eventually.

Rachel X

Blackfish and why it is important

Hello,

as somebody that watches documentaries on animal rights and vegetarianism pretty frequently, I was introduced to the documentary Blackfish late last year. The documentary focuses on Seaworld and how they treat their killer whales, and how their killer whales treat them. 

Animals in captivity is always a tricky subject, but I have myself been to Seaworld in 2011 and did not think anything of the Orcas that were performing there. The instructors at the shows that I went to see where very clear that the animals 'love' to perform and that they are very happy doing the tricks that we see. I believe that this is an outright lie, and Blackfish also looks into this further. 

The documentary tells us how Seaworld begun as a smaller park, named Sealand of the Pacific and held Orcas there to do tricks for the public (back then, seeing a killer whale would have been a very new experience). To get Orcas, they have to be hunted down and stolen away from their families (they are very sociable animals) this is how one of the present Seaworld Orcas, Tilikum was obtained. Tilikum has so far been held accountable for 3 deaths at Seaworld, however there are no records of humans being killed by Orcas in the wild... The reason behind these deaths is pretty plain to see. He went crazy. And who can blame him? Every single day of his miserable life he needs to perform tricks for dead fish, in a tiny concrete tank, none of which is natural behavior for these animals. Seaworld can try as much as they like but they will never be able to give him a suitable home, like the ocean where he would swim hundreds of miles everyday.

Photo from SeaworldOfHurt

The tanks are shallow and the animals can get sunburn, the music and crowds are noisy and this is made worse for the animals under the water. Food can be given to them in rations if they do not perform to a proper standard, before the first attack at Seaworld trainers would stand on the Orcas heads and show them no respect at all.

No matter what Seaworld or supporters of Marine Parks can say, there are no good reasons why these amazing, intelligent and beautiful animals have to spend their entire lives entertaining US. They do not belong in captivity and it is time that keeping them for shows is made illegal, it already is illegal to keep them here in the UK which I'm glad about. It's scary how much Seaworld are going out of their way suddenly to call Blackfish propaganda and to call anybody sticking up for Killer Whales as extremists...

I love animals. I love them more than being sources of entertainment, they deserve better lives than circus acts. I am not oblivious, I know that Seaworld does a lot to help conservation and rescuing animals and I believe this is what they need to concentrate on doing, build a sanctuary with larger pools and let the Orcas that can no longer function in the wild live and be looked after there in peace. Watch Blackfish and Whale of a Business and make your own decisions, these are my own opinions.

Rachel X

Cruelty free office snacks

I work in an office, and I also get very peckish throughout the day, it's important not to snack on things like crisps or chocolate everyday and also try to avoid caving and eating your lunch really early. Here are some of my favourite snacks to have at my desk, enjoy!! :)

100% vegan Nakd bars and packets of flavoured raisins, avaliable in most supermarkets and also at: http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/

Small snack sized bags or berries & cherries, nuts and prunes are avaliable and pretty cheap at supermarkets!

Sunflower and Pumpkin seeds are great snacks, pretty filling too considering how small they are.

Of course I also enjoy fruits such as bananas, grapes and apples. :-)

Snacking at work is normally due to boredom for some people, especially a job in an office where you're not moving around a lot it's easy to bring unhealthy snacks to help pass time easier, plus when you're bored you will start to think about food more and how you're feeling hungry (even if you're not starving). By snacking on healthy things you'll definatly feel better about yourself and by snacking on cruelty free food, you don't have any guilt! ;)

Rachel X

Important petitions this week:

Hey!
I'll do this every week, adding to the list as I discover more petitions. :) By signing your name you CAN help make a difference for animals who cannot stand up for themselves.

1. Help free Tania the Elephant from suffering a poor life of solitary confinement: Tania
2. Prince Harry has recently begun speaking up against hunting, yet we demand him to explain this photo of him boasting a dead Buffalo he shot himself: Prince Harry
3. Protect animals from MRSA outbreaks: MRSA
4. Free Angel, the albino dolphin stolen from her pod who were murdered in Taiji. She is now stuck inside a filthy pool at the Taiji whale museum: Angel
5. Help stop circus cruelty: Circus
6. Send a letter to Japanese PM to stop Taiji Dolphin slaughter: Japan
7. No animals should be displayed at Washington DC Travel and Adventure show, tell Seaworld: Seaworld  
8.  Tell Rustlers to stop using live monkeys in their adverts: Rustlers
9. Air China, stop transporting marine wildlife! Air China
10. Stop animal testing at Queens Uni, Belfast: Belfast
11. Help poor Sunder the elephant who is chained and abused in India: Sunder
12. Shut down Seaworld Queensland, Australia Seaworld Queensland
13. Shut down the Surabaya City Zoo and send the animals somewhere better!! Zoo of death 
 

Rachel X

What to look out for regarding Make-up

What to look out for

First, as a rule of thumb I assume that any make-up product does test on animals if their label does not explicitly say so, however it it useful to do online research too :-) Below is a list of brands that I use which are against animal testing and some are vegan:

• Superdrugs B. collection. 
• Lush  
• Manic Panic 
• Montagne Jeunesse 
• Cute Cosmetics 
• Soap and Glory 
• The Body Shop 
• Viva! 

I believe that by buying cruelty free cosmetics, companies will begin to see that by switching to this method they could branch out to new customers and hopefully will release that there are other methods of testing make-up and cosmetics than just on animal subjects.

If you're out and want to check if your favourite brand is cruelty free, there are a few different logos which indicate this. The most common ones in the UK are below:

BUAV

Also, if you check your make-up and it says it was dermatologically tested this means that it was tested on skin, but that does not mean it wasn't tested on animals too!!

Rachel X

First post!

Hello!
I'm Rachel

Me and my Arpacasso!

As a 20 year old (female) living in the UK, I realise that cruelty free shopping is not on very many peoples minds... I believe it is important not only to be aware but to support companies which are committed to being cruelty free, this involves not being tested on animals mainly, but buying vegan cosmetics is important too! About me: I've been a vegetarian for 8 years, I made the transaction myself after I watched numerous videos on how meat is made and read various articles. Right now I've been vegan for a month and I'll explain reasons for my short term veganism in another post. I believe it was this video which really made me want to stop eating animals: (Not for faint hearted people!)

 

Okay so how I'm hoping to set this blog out will be with 3 main categories, beauty products (make-up etc), food and other information such as reasons to buy cruelty free and interesting things to read... :)
I really want to help other people! Please leave comments and share this blog around, I'd appreciate that.


Rachel X