Pets on the street.

It is becoming increasingly commonplace to see homeless people begging for small change in dark alleyways and rank street corners, where they often defecate and sleep. Often a dog is by their side, and more frequently these animals are appearing to be malnourished due to being underfed and miserable.

Although this pet may be the only connection that this person has, and may help the homeless person from becoming lonely and stressed, as everyone deserves the unconditional love only a pet can bring, often these people have made the wrong choices in life, which has led them into this situation. If they cannot get a home or look after themselves, do they deserve to own a pet which will be in the same situation as them?

If they truly love their animal, shouldn’t they give them away to caring homes that can satisfy their needs?

"Life is life's greatest gift. Guard the life of another creature as you would your own because it is your own. On life's scale of values, the smallest is no less precious to the creature who owns it than the largest." - Lloyd Biggle Jr.

Many say that the dogs are happy as they get to be with their owner, whom they will see as a pack leader, constantly, and will get lots of exercise. Also, as dogs didn’t live in houses originally, they would get well socialized with members of the public walking past. However, one must think more about the dangers with living outside constantly:

*It is almost entirely positive that the pet will not have proper care as the owner cannot afford it, such as regular feeding, heart work prevention, vaccines and shelter from the bad weather. Disease like Parvo and Rabies can be fatal to dogs that aren’t protected against them. However, there are several organizations that will help with vet services for a homeless person so their pets can be sprayed and neutered, and sometimes volunteers will feed the pets when the homeless eat at soup kitchens.

*It is much more difficult for a homeless person to gain a home, be it temporary or permanent, with a pet.

*There is the constant threat of public abuse to the animal, not everybody on the streets can be trusted to treat it with respect.

*A young or untrained animal may rush into the street into oncoming traffic and be injured; if it lives the homeless person would not be able to afford veterinary care.


Pets are becoming subjected to these cruel conditions to be used as props so that we feel increasingly sorry for them, and give money to the owner to feed his pet. Unfortunately, they count on this and actually use the money you generously and unwittingly donate to fuel their drug addiction and own selfish ends. It is rare the money is spent on the pet itself even though that was your intention it would be. There is no way of stopping this unless the RSPCA notices the animal is being neglected and would be in better care when removed of its owner, but homeless people are very clever at hiding and preventing this. One way to ensure the pet of the homeless person is looked after is rather than give the homeless person money, go and directly buy a blanket, toy or pet food for the pet instead of digging into your pocket.

Factory Farming.

Personally, I love a nice boiled egg and soldiers, or bacon butty in the morning. I like fried eggs and chips, or a nice juicy steak, for my tea. I can tell the difference between an animal or animal product which has been free to roam outside and been fed healthily, as opposed to one that hasn’t seen light in weeks. Not only the price of free-range is different, the quality is much better, too.

Behind the scenes of bright, lush fields and sun dappled skies that we are told are the environments out animals graze in, animals are forced into dark, squalid conditions that we would not give to the worst of our own species, humans. Words which describe this filth are intensive farming, industrialised farming, and factory farming. Living quarters that if given to prisoners and captives would spark indignation if the prisoner was human and yet if it does not seem to directly affect us, nobody minds.



Battery hens: Battery hens are chickens crammed into small wire cages in groups of five, in a honeycomb pattern of cages sat atop each other. Through lighting and heat to mimic the season in which chickens lay, and selective breeding of chickens which notoriously lay more eggs, and feed that promotes fattened chickens and the nourishment for more promoting egg-laying, chickens can now produce eggs daily.



The eggs that are laid are often weak-shelled and a sure sign of a battery hen’s egg is the weak yellow colouring of the yolk. Many people try to disguise this by injecting the egg painstakingly with a needle and then inserting a food dye, which then stains the yolk a bright, vibrant yellow. However few know a healthy chicken egg should be with a pale pink shell which may be speckled with brown flecks, and the yolk should be more orange than yellow. Any chicks that hatch which are scrawny or male-and therefore incapable of egg laying, are gassed or crushed to death.

Ducks, turkeys and geese also share the same fate as chickens. The young are reared for up to six weeks in dark sheds force-fed on high-fat-ratio food which makes them grow unnaturally fast. Many cannot cope and their hearts give way, and those that live suffer broken legs, as although the body develops the legs do not and remain stunted, able only to support the weight of which a young fowl would be naturally.



Dairy cows: Kept outside in all weather conditions be it blistering heat or frigid cold, with little grass in the over-grazed field often available due to the amount of cows grazing, cows must endure pregnancy and milking at the same time. Many have distended udders from having to product up to double the amount they need to produce to suckle a calf, as well as contracting leg and hoof problems from almost continuously standing. The calves are removed a day or so after birth, females kept to replenish the herd while males are shot in the head if too malnourished to use for meat. Those remaining males will be sent to veal farms, and then killed before they reach nine to ten weeks old, depending on the length of the journey. Many die from stress, thirst and heat-stroke. As are sheep, cows are tricked into ovulating around every season, often giving birth in the wrong months. Many are fed the remains of their own kind to save money.




Please, buy food that may be a pound extra, but. If we stop buying cheaper products from factory farms because it saves us a little loose change, we can stop them all together.

Animal testing: malicious or a necessity?

Stop, before you reach for that nailvarnish! If you look carefully at the label, check to see whether or not it specifies if this product you hold has been used on animals or not to see if it is safe for humans.

If it doesn’t specify against animal testing, or have the company logo of an against animal testing such as The Body Shop, it probably has!

You may think that this is cute; some of you may even find it funny. Though obviously photoshopped, it is dangerously close to the truth. The perfumed lipstick and colourful eye shadow isn’t hurting the dog, so what’s the problem?

This is how we make our makeup safe to use.


For these products to be safe, rabbits have to suffer ulcers in their eyes, small rodents such as mice suffer burnt skin, and very little get away with simple stress-related hair-loss as a result of such cruel testing.

Not in the name of science, but more so of vanity, cosmetic products are poured into the sensitive areas such as eyes and rectums of animals to determine the harmful affects that might be caused, often without anaesthesia.

Although animals possess the same feelings and widely the same emotions as humans, the physiological differentiation between humans and animals is drastic. A product which harms a rodent may not cause the same effect on a human, due to different skin textures, and eyes.

People approve of animal testing as they believe it is necessary for the progress of medicine, but tests are both disgusting and unreliable.

There is no law that requires cosmetics and household products such as bleach be tested on animals to see what affects they would apparently have on us, yet on the skin irritancy test, animals such as rats has a highly concentrated solution of a chemical, such as completely undiluted bleach, applied to their shaven skin.

It is then observed over a number of hours for signs such as redness and blistering caused by the product irritating the skin, and in some cases the skin is completely burnt through.

Another famous test is Draize, known as eye irritancy, performed mostly on albino rabbits. The rabbits are brutally immobilized and a liquid is placed into one eye of the rabbit, these substances can be mascara, after shave, oven cleaner and scented room spray.

The Florida White seems to be the most popular as it is docile, cheap, and the rabbit does not have tear ducts to wash away the product. The rabbits eyes are then clipped open and observed in the same manner as the rodents’ skin in a skin test for inflammation, ulceration, rupture of the eyeball, corrosion and bleeding.

So really, is it worth all of this pain to creatures who can feel hurting as much as us, for a new lash-lengthening mascara?

Animal cruelty at the circus.

Everybody loves the circus, from small children to the older generation reminiscing of earlier days when they too were enthralled by the acts. Circuses where animal tricks and performing animals are proven to be much more popular, with the audience granted a rare glimpse that they otherwise might only get of an exotic animal at a zoo or on a safari holiday.

Many circus animals are kept in conditions that are far removed from their natural habitats. But at what cost? Animals do not stand on their heads or ride bicycles in the wild, nor do they jump through rings of fire normally. For example, many bears have their paws burnt to force them to stand on their hind legs, which gradually leads to weak calf and ankle muscles in the bears. They are forced to perform what are often physically uncomfortable tricks which leave them feeling confused and in pain.



Would you still dig into your pocket for circus tickets after reading the following facts?

*It is a proven fact that trainers use pipes, tight collars, bull hooks driven into the animal body and muzzles to force animals to perform tricks, and whips, baseball bats and electric prods are all considered tools of the trade in dominating the animals. Tim Frisco, a Carson and Barnes elephant trainer, learnt from his father to ‘sick the hook into ‘em, when you hear that screaming, you know you got their attention’.



* Muzzles are also used to subdue them and keep from attacking the trainers when they are threatened with pain. Another subduing technique is keeping them drugged, and teeth removal, often done without adequate dental training.



*Animals accustomed and evolved physically to roam free in the wild are forced to live and travel in far smaller cages in their own filth, eating, sleeping and defecating in the same area. To keep them from moving or attacking, the animals are often chained down for long periods of time, often using ropes which leads to rope burn via friction against delicate skin. With the change of climate many are left out in extreme heat and bitter cold that their bodies are not accustomed to being exposed to.



*In the wild, animals often have social groups, like herds and packs. In the circus, animals are often kept in very limited groups or alone to discourage comradeship, and have no opportunity to bond.



*When travelling, circuses often have limited water between stopping in towns to refill, and because of this drinking water, the cleaning of the animal living conditions and cleaning of the animal itself, is often prohibited. The diet of each animal would not be of primary importance, more so the profit of what the circus makes and because of this they would not have what they eat naturally.



*A training method is also keeping them half-starved so that they perform in the hope of treats. Also, as they are often travelling between locations, unless a qualified veterinarian is paid to journey with them, disease is common in circus animals and it can often be days before they reach a location with adequate care for them.



Once an animal is unable to perform they are permanently caged, used for the fur and ivory trade, sold to a game farm to be hunted for sport, or sold to a lab.