Welcome to another edition of Hisses and Purrs. In this segment, we run down the good, and the not-so-good, news of the plight of animals around the world. We’ve been off-track for a couple of weeks, but we’re back now.
Ready Hissy?
Hisses to the mine in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Dartsedo (Kangding) county that was recently found to have dumped toxic water into the local river, killing fish and livestock and contaminating drinking water for humans. When the population complained, the Chinese government sent troops into the area to insure there were no formal protests by the people.
Hisses to the Zimbabwean government, who only last month stepped in to address the July poisoning and slaughter of over 300 elephants at the Hwange wildlife park. The latest figures show 325 elephants have died, as have lions, vultures, and hyenas. The illegal ivory business rakes in 10 billion dollars annually.
Hisses to the United States Department of Agriculture, who, we recently learned, is in the bird-killing business. If local governments want to be rid of Canada geese living in their parks or public places, they can call the USDA, who, for a fee, will gas the federally protected birds using carbon monoxide. Last year the USDA killed over 24,000 Canada Geese. I think that’s one program that should be permanently furloughed!
Oh My Dog! That makes me want to puke! Hissy, PLEASE tell us some good news!
Purrs to Canada’s medical schools, who have now completely ended the use of live animals in its’ trauma medical training courses. Students will now use computerized simulators, which are more like humans. Now to convince medical schools in the US to follow suit.
Purrs to street artist extraordinaire Banksy, who is visiting New York to put his artistic mark on the city. One such artistic endeavor? To put a face on the meat you buy. Here, watch it for yourself:
Purrs to Animals Asia and the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, who forced closure of an “animal carnival” scheduled to be held in the city of Jinan starting September 19th. The animals would have been forced to perform up to 3 times per day. Among the show’s attractions were a goat on a tightrope with a monkey doing a handstand on its’ horns, and a tiger riding on the back of a horse.
That is MUCH better. Thanks, Buggie!
Your turn now. Do you have any hisses or purrs to share with the rest of us?
Dogpaddling Through Life 
Reblogged this on UNBELIEVABLE OFFERS & DISCOUNTS.
Glad whee have those purrs to balance out the nasty hisses!
Nacho, Noah, Buddy & Basil
xxx
What? No hisses or purrs of your own? But you always have such great ones!
Big hisses to those in charge of the badger cull here in the UK who are in discussions to extend it, despite the fact it failed and the huge protests and public outrage.
More hisses to the unidentified individual who deliberately ran over and murdered a juvenile swan when it didn’t immediately move out of it’s way. To make matters worse, the individual did so in front of children. http://news.rspca.org.uk/2013/10/07/swan-killed-in-front-of-horrified-children/
Even more hisses to the university of Kent. Hundreds of animals have been killed as a result of laboratory testing there. The university has used animals including rabbits, toads, goldfish, mice and rats – all of which have been “humanely killed” when the experiments are finished. In the past three years alone, staff at the Faculty of Sciences on the Canterbury campus have experimented on and killed 258 mice. It’s just cruel and outdated.
Unfortunately no purrs this week from us which is why we weren’t sure about only sharing hisses!
~ Amy
Once we learn more about the realities of how we treat animals, and teach others, we can make changes. That is always positive!
Hisses indeed..but great purrs….please all send thoughts to our NSW friends here in Australia battling bushfires ..the work being done to help wildlife and pets and stock is being done with greater awareness since we had such tragedies in Victoria with Black Saturday..better protocols have been put in place to enable wildlife rescue and others get help where it is needed much quicker.Tomorrow is going to be a very very bad weather day on the fire front so all prayers and positive thoughts can be well used.
sending all the positive energy I can muster that way!
Thankyou Rumpy..these fires are bringing back some awful memories here…I have a beautiful story and pic on my bloggie that I found today..truly a purr!
I’m glad that they will change something in China and Asia, I hope they are sucessful.
They are seeing some successes! But it is from their own grassroots efforts and not from outsiders meddling in their business!
I love Banksy! What a genius. I think Banksy is a woman though.
*whispers* I do too!
WHY do people everywhere think that they are better and in charge of everything. Killing, maiming, and forcing un-natural things on the very innocent beings WE humans are SUPPOSED to be stewards of?
I saw the banksy art. He’s in new York right now. Thanks for letting me know about the USDA Canadian geese killings. Those birds serve a purpose to and should not be killed like that.
All creatures need to be concerned about the toxic dumping from emerging economies…do you know where your old batteries, discarded computers/cell phones, and electric vehicle batteries go? And what happens next?…And the health hazards to those who dismantle them before the toxic mess is dumped? Perhaps we could consider using things longer and not having to have the latest? Perhaps take a hard look at what happens during “recycling”.
Please check with your local airports and see how they control the geese and birds ( and bunnies) It may be shocking. Speak up for alternative methods!
Rumpy thanks for you and Buggie raising awareness – it’s hard to look, but the more that know, the sooner changes may happen.
The street artist, Banksy is very talented! It has a strong message without any words. Very impressed. 🙂
And glad to hear about canada’s medical schools because we’ve felt so sad to see animals used for medical progress…
The cruelty people dole out is never-ending. Thank you for fighting to protect the helpless and to educate us.
My hiss goes to the UK government for going ahead with the badger cull, despite lots of protest and lots of reasoned advice to the contrary. It is the fiasco that many predicted it would be.
I’m astonished and appalled at the hisses. They make me mad, so to make up for it I have some local purrs, good news stories from the bushfire ravaged Blue Mountains near Sydney. Even though fighting horrendous fires, the firies still take time to save pets, eg http://www.news.com.au/national/heartwarming-stories-from-nsw-bushfire-victims/story-fncynjr2-1226743948421, and also vets and the RSPCA are taking care of dislocated and injured animals. While many residents made saving livestock and pets a priority, some weren’t able to access their properties to do so, it’s reassuring that they and the wildlife are getting help too, even though the scale of the disaster is huge.
I don’t know why am I still not trusting China’s progress in treating animals, especially dogs and cats?
It’s true that they still have a long way to go, but then again, so do we.
Thank you for pointing out that the ivory business is $10 billion. Maybe people will realize that when they buy ivory, they kill elephants.
Love that video! I have a hiss and a purr. The hiss is for the 12 year old girl who threw a kitten into traffic in NYC. Yeah, the kitten was killed. The purr is for NJ’s new Senator Elect Cory Booker, a vegatarian who fights for animal rights. While mayor of Newark, he went out in the pouring rain to save a dog that someone had tied in their yard.
I love that video! I wonder how many understood what the message was? A lot of people were smiling.
Does China still require animal testing on its makeup products? I read something about Mary Kay products. I have no idea if it is current information or if things have changed. I heard Mary Kay has to allow their products to be tested on animals in order to sell in China. So, I know they want to make money. But if the price is testing on animals then wouldn’t it be better to not sell Mary Kay in China until China does away with animal testing requirements?
China is a booming economy, even when ours is not. It makes good business sense to be in China. So our task is to make it hurt more to do business in China than it helps. We can also support those in China and Asia that are doing the work to change public perceptions regarding animal welfare.