September 2011
32 posts
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Veg Dating Site Mostly Meat Eaters.
Yet another controversy is set to hit the vegan community, this time in the UK. Online dating site VeggieDates.co.uk, which links vegans and vegetarians with like-minded companions, has been exposed as a fraud.
A complaint filed to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) caused the dating site to reveal that the majority of Veggiedates users are not actually vegan or vegetarian. The reason is...
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Cargill Recalls Tainted Turkey...Again.
After being subject to a 36 million pound tainted turkey recall in August, Cargill is at it again.
Earlier this year, Cargill meat processing was forced to recall 36 million pounds of salmonella tainted turkey. Controversy erupted when it came out that both Cargill and the USDA knew about the contamination a full year before the products were pulled from shelves. The diseased product killed 1...
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Indian Cows Bite Back.
The loss of open spaces might be to blame for a recent spike in reports of abused and neglected Indian cows lashing out.
Reports of injuries from cows biting people on the streets of Delhi have spiked dramatically. A total of 17 cow bite cases have already been reported for the first half of 2011. This is more that the total number of reported bites in the last six years combined. Bites can...
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Bob's Red Mill Responds.
Last week we ran a post about the proposed $25 million donation to Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) from Bob’s Red Mill founders, Bob and Charlee Moore. Fans of the Red Mill were crushed to learn that OHSU is a major center for animal testing. Saddened customers sent tweets, wrote letters, and even started facebook groups to try and convince Bob and Charlee to change their minds...
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Guinea Pig Rentals Are Booming.
A Swiss woman has hit on an usually successful business idea, rental guinea pigs.
In Switzerland, it is illegal to own guinea pig without also owning a guinea pig companion. Guinea pigs are extremely sociable and become very distressed without someone of their same species to spend time with. When a person is caring for two guinea pigs and one dies, they run the risk of being in violation of...
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Meat Sales Drop After Abuse Exposed.
A meat processor in Victoria, Australia, is telling ABC that recently released undercover video of meat industry practices have caused their sales to severely drop.
The processor reports a drop of 15-20% in sales since undercover videos of Australia’s live cattle export industry surfaced. The videos show widespread abuse of Australian cattle exported to Indonesia for slaughter. Workers in...
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First Lady: Kids Need Free Milk Refills.
Michelle Obama has helped secure a legally binding agreement with the owners of Olive Garden and Red Lobster that would require the restaurants to reduce calories and serve free milk refills to kids.
The agreement between parent company, Darden Restaraunts, and “Let’s Move” is an obvious PR campaign for Olive Garden and Red Lobster, paid for by the American taxpayer. The...
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West Hollywood Bans Fur Sales.
West Hollywood is officially the first city in the country to ban the sale of fur.
The West Hollywood City Council has voted unanimously to ban the sale of fur within city limits. Any store caught selling fur products after the ban is in place will be hit with a serious fine. The City Council will meet in two weeks to work out enforcement procedures and a ban start date.
The West Hollywood...
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Butterball Plant Will Shut Down.
Butterball has announced that high production costs are forcing them to close their massive turkey processing plant in Colorado by the end of 2011.
The America’s largest turkey producer says business just isn’t what it used to be. The cost of producing turkey is significantly reducing Butterball’s profits and rising grain prices are partly to blame. The increasing price of...
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Bob's Red Mill Funds Animal Testing.
UPDATE: Bob’s Red Mill founders, Bob and Charlee Moore, decided to move forward with the donation to OHSU. Read about it here.
Bob’s Red Mill’s standing as a conscious and compassionate company is about to take a serious hit. The grain seller is donating $25 million to the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), an institution responsible for extensive animal testing.
...
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Win Beef on Wheel of Fortune.
Screw the free Cancun vacation, spin the wheel, I want that BEEF!
South Dakota based non-profit, and Applebee’s/Beef Council front group, Beef Bucks Inc., worked out a deal with the producers of Wheel of Fortune to add an unconventional to prize the wheel. Along with prizes like cash, tropical vacations, and dream houses, contestants will now compete for $1,000 worth of Beef Bucks.
Beef...
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Harvard Food Plate Disses Milk.
Harvard University nutritionists have decided to tweak the USDA’s new “My Plate” chart in a move that is sure to piss off the dairy industry.
In June, the USDA updated the old food pyramid and put out a healthy eating pie chart called “My Plate.” The chart depicted a relatively positive diet but almost as an afterthought, tossed a glass of milk on the side urging...
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Foie Gras With A Warning Label.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) is asking the USDA to require foie gras to have a cigarette-like warning on all product packaging.
The group is asking that the USDA mandate that all foie gras packages be marked with the statement “NOTICE: Foie gras products are derived from diseased birds.” The ALDF argues that, foie gras consumers have the right to know the risks that come...
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Thai Elephant Steps on Landmine.
A 22-year old Thai elephant was injured when he wandered into Myanmar and stepped on a landmine.
The elephant is now at a rehab facility while veterinarians try to repair the damage to his badly mangled foot. The hospital treating the elephant says that this is the fourteenth such injury on an elephant they’ve seen since 1993.
Anti-landmine coalitions have said the areas around Myanmar...
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Woman Dies After Injecting Beef Fat.
A Chicago-area woman is dead after she injected beef fat into her face.
The 63-year old had a regular routine of boiling beef until the fat liquefied and could be injected into her face with a syringe as a sort of DIY collagen. After the injections, her face was reported to be “grotesque” and her lips and mouth became severely infected. Surprisingly, the medical examiner thinks a...
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Kittens Who Glow-in-the-Dark.
Researchers tinkering with cat genes at the Mayo Clinic have succeeded is creating glow-in-the-dark kittens whom they hope will help fight HIV/AIDS.
Trying to come up with a genetic defense for the feline and human strains of HIV, researchers have inserted phosphorescent jellyfish proteins into unfertilized cat eggs which makes their offspring glow under UV light. The jellyfish protein is...
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Man Takes Live Deer To Butcher Shop.
A disturbed man is out on parole after putting a young doe in his trunk for 8 hours before trying to convince a butcher to cut her up while she was still alive.
David Charrier, a truck driver from Detroit, Maine, was driving around one evening when he spotted an injured doe. He was able to capture her and get her into his trunk. He drove around for 8 hours showing his friends and his girlfriend...
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Zoo Shoots Bison to 'Spare Them.'
The Hershey Park zoo in Harrisburg, PA is catching some well-deserved flack after zookeepers shot two beloved bison to death to “spare them” from rising flood waters.
Remnants from tropical storm Lee are soaking the East Coast and causing flood waters to rise rapidly. The Hershey Park zoo evacuated many of the animals there but had neglected to plan an escape for two bison. Fearing...
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Jamie Oliver's 'Ethical' Fish Sticks.
For those who hate the planet, there are regular fish sticks. For those who love mother earth but still want to deep fry her children and dunk them in tarter sauce, there are celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s “ethical” fish sticks.
The common fish stick is usually made from cod fish which are currently threatened from overfishing but Jamie’s “ethical” fish sticks...
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Rescued Lab Chimps Taste Freedom.
A group of chimpanzees rescued from a laboratory in Austria just got their first dose of fresh air and sunshine in 30 years.
Shortly after they were born, these chimps were taken from their mothers and used for experimentation at a pharmaceutical laboratory in Austria. They were exposed to deadly illnesses like HIV and Hepatitis in order to test for possible “cures” and treatments....
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Giant Croc Caught For Roadside Zoo.
Villagers in a remote part of the Philippines used steel traps to catch a 2,370 pound saltwater crocodile to use as the centerpiece for a roadside zoo.
A roadside zoo wasn’t the original intention of the capture, villagers who caught the croc were out for revenge. They believed the croc was responsible for several deaths in the area over the years including that of a 12-year old girl...
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This Sausage Contains 104% Meat.
A man in Sweden became alarmed when he noticed that the sausage he was about to purchase contained 104 percent meat. Oddly enough, the company claims the figure is accurate.
The concerned customer told press, “Personally I can’t accept that anything contains over 100 percent. And this sausage couldn’t contain over 100 percent anything as there are other ingredients stated on...
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Denny's New Heart Attack Sandwich.
After the “success” of Denny’s Bacon Maple Sundae, the diner chain is going after some repeat business from the morbidly obese with their new “Mac & Cheese Big Daddy Patty Melt.”
The Big Daddy Patty Melt is a beef patty, mac and cheese, topped with more cheese, all on two slices of buttered bread. The monster sandwich weighs in at 1,690 calories and 99 grams of...
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Texas Sponsors Feral Pig Killing Contest.
For the second year in a row, the Texas Department of Agriculture is sponsoring a statewide feral pig killing contest.
Over 4,000 pigs were killed during the “Get The Hog Outta Texas” contest last year which lasted only one month. State organizers hope to triple those number this year by extending the competition period and expanding the rules to allow “hunters” to shoot...
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Man Arrested For Feeding Pigeons.
A California man has been arrested and released on a $5,000 bond after he couldn’t resist feeding some pigeons.
For the last year, police in California have been trying to get Charles Douglas to stop feeding the pigeons near Bob Hope Airport. In December 2010, Douglas was ordered by the court to not feed ANY birds for a year. He couldn’t resist. Douglas was spotted feeding the...
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August's Top Stories.
Summer’s over kids. Everyone’s going back to school and vacations are just a memory. Good news though, The Informed Vegan is ready to bring you some intriguing, exicting, and inspiring news this September.
Before we can move forward, let’s look back. Here are the top stories for August:
5) Buy McDonalds, Plant a Tree*
McDonalds uses the fine print to get out of having to...