#THAT IS ANIMAL CRUELTY

[agueforts]

ayda aguefort

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Okay, I know people as a general rule tend to not care about invertebrates as much as cute, fuzzy mammals, but this is a must-read if you care about animal welfare. The short version is that horseshoe crab blood has been used for decades in medicine as a way to test whether something is truly sterile; the blood clots in the presence of bacteria. Since then millions of horseshoe crabs have been captured and drained of blood, even though a synthetic alternative was developed a few years ago.

They go through a pretty brutal experience in the process. They're caught by fishermen who often throw them by their tails into a pile in the open air, and they're then trucked to a bleeding facility where they're strapped down and their blood is removed with needles jabbed directly into their hearts. Over half their blood may be taken, after which they're supposed to be returned to the ocean. However, it's likely many of them never make it back, instead turned into fish bait and sold by the same fishermen who caught them in the first place.

Apart from the fact that this is a horrific thing to put any animal through, the attrition due to fatalities has put a serious dent in horseshoe crab numbers. This is compounded by massive habitat loss, pollution, and the capture of horseshoe crabs as food, particularly as the females of one species are considered a delicacy. And other animals that rely on horseshoe crabs are suffering, too. The American rufa subspecies of the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird, is critically endangered as the horseshoe crab eggs it must have in order to successfully complete migration have become increasingly scarce, and it is likely the bird will become extinct if trends continue.

While there are guidelines for medical horseshoe crab harvest, they're considered optional. The few laws that exist are poorly enforced. Short of a complete ban on horseshoe crab blood in favor of the synthetic alternative, these animals are in very real danger of going extinct after a history spanning over 400 million years on this planet.

Thankfully, this article is not the first to bring forth the issues surrounding horseshoe crab harvest. Here are a few resources for further information and action (US based, though horseshoe crabs are threatened throughout their entire range):

Horseshoe Crab Conservation Network - https://horseshoecrab.org/conservation/

Wetlands Institute - https://wetlandsinstitute.org/conservation/horseshoe-crab-conservation/

Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition - https://hscrabrecovery.org/

#animal welfare #animal cruelty #cw animal cruelty #animal suffering #horseshoe crabs #invertebrates #wildlife #animals #environment #conservation #endangered species #extinction #nature #medicine #science #scicomm #science communication

[todaysbird]

if you support stuff like this knowingly for the sake of personal enjoyment you’re valuing an animal’s life less than your party

#animal death #animal cruelty

[incorrectbatfam]

Damian: My grandfather is in the backyard stabbing the ground with his sword trying to render the soil barren by killing the worms but luckily my sister has trained them all in classical ballet and they keep pirouetting away from the blade.

#source: tumblr #damian wayne #robin #cassandra cain #orphan #ra's al ghul #league of assassins #batman #batfamily #batfam #batboys #batbros #batgirls #batkids #batsiblings #batman family #incorrect batfamily quotes #incorrect quotes #incorrect dc quotes #dc comics #tw animal cruelty

[mademoiselle-crabaletta]

I feel like we need to start really pushing for hate crimes against women to actually be treated as such. It's fucking insane that a man can beat/rape/murder a woman, call her sexist slurs during the attack, and then tell the police and press that he did it because he hates women, but somehow this isn't considered a hate crime. The only reason places don't want to do it is because there's so many that it would mean like 90% of hate crime victims would be women (literally the reason the uk gave for not doing it a few years back)

It's extra crazy because wasn't it something like 80% of mass murderers have a history of harrasment and violence against women and girls? You would think it would be a no brainer to treat these crimes seriously to prevent these men from getting out and committing even more violent and horrific crimes, but that would mean treating women as people and not shock absorbers for society I guess.

#everyone knows cruelty towards animals is a huge red flag but cruelty towards women/girls is just nbd #male violence #feminism #radical feminist safe

[b-0-ngripper]

The IDF used tank to kill two horses just strolling about in gaza

#gaza #palestine #free gaza #free palestine #fuck the idf #gaza genocide #palestine genocide #isreal #jerusalem #animal cruelty #Instagram

[radicalfemimist]

I don’t think we as a society talk nearly enough about how intricately connected cats and women are. cats are associated with women so heavily, not just in English but in other languages as well. the stereotype of the ‘crazy cat lady’, the fact words to refer to cats are often also used to refer to female genitalia, ‘cat fight’, ‘catty’, etc.

Cats have suffered alongside women, too, which is not something I have seen brought up. Cats were targeted during the Witch Hunts as well, and suffered similar fates as the women they hunted. During this time, cats were nearly driven to extinction, and the mice and rat population go out of control— which is believed to have heavily contributed if not outright caused one of the most famous plagues.

To this day, I think we need to analyze if it’s truly a coincidence that cats are often portrayed as mean or uncaring because they do not behave the same way as dogs— “man’s best friend”— that their boundaries are violated for fun and then people criticize the cat for reacting, for self-defense. They will mutilate a cat so it cannot defend itself, and then abandon it when it is understandably upset, when it can no longer feel safe.

If you look at the statistics, more cats enter animal shelters than dogs, and tend to stay for longer. Personally, my local humane societies seem to have almost exclusively cats. In part, this is because cats are more effective at reproducing than dogs, and there are very little if any resources dedicated to to TNR. This is also because people will not spay/neuter their cats, and then will abandon the cat and/or just the kittens.

I do not think it is entirely coincidental that cats are so heavily associated with women, and they are villainized for not being dogs. That dogs are called “man’s best friend”, but somehow that does not mean cats are called “women’s best friend”— instead diamonds are, for whatever reason, despite women’s shared history with cats, and shared experience of being villainized for having boundaries. They are made the villain for being cats instead of dogs, they are called uncaring and “assholes” because the way they show love is not identical to the way a dog does.

I feel like there is no way it is entirely coincidental, the way cats are hated and the way they are so heavily associated with women, with females.

#mim’s ramblings #this is a topic I feel more confident speaking on as cats are something I ‘study’ #granted there’s not exactly a college course dedicated to cats so not //professionally// #tw animal cruelty #I do try and speak vaguely about the animal cruelty as it is an upsetting topic

[normal-newt]

Wildlife rescue organisations here have very intense politics. Like, if you criticize any organisations’ practices you can end up being “locked out” of even unpaid positions in all of them. Which is why this is going safely under a username and not anywhere near my actual one. But it’s so frustrating watching everyone making the same mistakes over and over again.

So some baby animal can’t be released, and it’s decided that they will be used as an education/ ambassador animal. Because of this, they don’t need to be raised to avoid humans. But some people think that this means they should be treated like human children. One organisation literally started splitting up captive-born joeys from wild but un-release-able kangaroos specifically to raise so that when they grew up they would “think they were human”. And for the first year or two it goes great. They want to snuggle with everyone who will look at them, they play with people, and they are just unbearably cute. And people aww about it and say that they really do think they’re human. 

When they start to reach sexual maturity, they start “acting up”. People get kicked and scratched and they start to realise that their “child” isn’t acting so snuggly anymore, and they get angry. And the kangaroos have no fucking idea why, because they can’t know that they’re play wrestling is strong enough to hurt us. Because it turns out they don’t think they’re human, but they certainly seem to think we’re kangaroos.

And by the time they’re old enough to start fighting for real, it’s already too late to do anything about it. You can’t let visitors anywhere near them for safety reasons. 90% of the staff and volunteers won’t go in to clean the enclosures, and a lot of them still blame the animals. Some animals are so risky to work with that feeding them takes two people in the enclosure and one person acting as a “spotter”. There is no PPE for this, so people end up using plastic buckets as shields.

Anyway I’m mostly just yelling at the void, but if anyone reading this was wondering why a lot of zoos and wildlife rescues don’t cuddle the baby animals. it’s because of this sort of thing. There are a lot of really good ways to make sure baby animals feel comfortable and safe, but handling them too much usually either scares them, or means that they could seriously injure someone down the track.

It’s also why so many people who’ve worked with animals are so strongly against people owning certain types of exotic pets. If someone is telling you not to get a pet serval or kangaroo or whatever else people are keeping in their living rooms, there’s a good chance they’re trying to stop you getting mauled.

#What does being kicked by a kangaroo feel like? #Slightly less enjoyable than being hit by a cyclist #just to be clear the kangaroos aren't bad #they're just trying to play half the time #but they're so strong that even playing can become dangerous #animal welfare #animal cruelty #exotic pets #wildlife rehab

[askzloyxp]

Wardens, who enjoy silence, trapped at the level 3 of Decked Out2: PRERECORDED TANGOTEK VOICE NOT TEN BLOCKS ABOVE THEM: SNEAK! STUMBLE! TREASURE HUNTER! STUMBLE! STUMBLE! SNEAK! *sneaky jingle* TRANQUILITY!!

#decked out 2 #tangotek #this gotta be animal cruelty

[llutik]

promised land sugar mountain

#jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #steel ball run #sbr #my art #johnny joestar #gyro zeppeli #sugar mountain #one of my favourite arcs #a bit of animal cruelty #i have those thoughts on how one of the best things about johnny is his kindness to animals #and then he has to hunt to survive #no one is safe actually #the other guys are also there #erasing parts of sugar mountains bonnet only to make room for gyro was painful

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the commentary I'm seeing about this has been of the "But--but--I would do the same thing because I don't want anything bad to happen to the deer!"

Look. I love wildlife, and I love getting to see deer, coyotes, and even the occasional black bear in my neighborhood. But they are here because there is good habitat nearby with lots of natural food sources, not because I deliberately put out food for them to eat. I respect them as wild animals with whom my relationship is very different compared to the domesticated animals I take care of every day. A deer is not a sheep or a horse; a coyote is not a dog.

People who do things like try to tame deer or, worse yet, try to raise a fawn or other young wildlife like pets are robbing those wild animals of their natural existences. We've already wrought our own preferences on the landscape to a severe degree, tearing the wildness out of it to create lawns and farms and subdivisions and strip malls. When we then dismiss the wildness of these animals and impress our own desire for connection on our terms on them, we are harming them.

I've already written elsewhere about the difference between "tame" and "domesticated". No matter how docile that deer seems, it is never going to be as (relatively) safe and tractable as a domesticated sheep or goat. It will always be more unpredictable, and more likely to lash out suddenly at a person due to fear, or hormones, or protection of young.

These animals need their wild instincts to be intact if they are going to survive without being dependent on us. They need those instincts in order to find mates and keep the gene pool stirred up. Their instincts keep them safe from danger, including humans. And their instincts never totally go away, no matter how much we may try to tame them otherwise.

This is why a good wildlife rehab is going to minimize handling of the wild animals they care for, especially those that are going to be able to be released back into the wild. The less comfortable these animals are with humans, the better their chances of surviving in the wild and having fulfilling, natural lives. Wildlife that retain their wariness of humans are less likely to end up falling prey to hunting, or being killed as nuisance animals when they get too aggressive in seeking food or otherwise coming into conflict with people.

The person who painted "pet" on a fully grown white-tailed buck and put a collar around his neck may have felt like they were doing that deer a kindness, but they have likely robbed him of the chance to just live a natural life as his own, independent being out in the woods and fields. He might be out there, sure, but perhaps he won't mate because he imprinted on humans. Or maybe he will end up shot by a hunter in spite of the precautions because he's just too friendly and those antlers are worth taking the shot.

There will always be something missing from this deer's life because of the arrogance of someone who thought they could own and keep and control a wild-born animal for their own enjoyment, instead of allowing him to come and go as he pleased. Honestly, it reminds me of King Haggard from Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn, whose response to seeing something beautiful was to capture it and keep it rather than simply enjoying and remembering that magical moment:

"I like to watch them. They fill me with joy. The first I felt it I thought I was going to die. I said to the Red Bull I must have them, all of them, all there are. For nothing makes me happy but their shining and their grace. So the Red Bull caught them. Each time I see the unicorns, my unicorns, it is like that morning in the woods and I am truly young, in spite of myself."

That's how I feel about people who are willing to drastically alter a wild animal's behavior for their own selfish benefit, even if they think they're being kind. I know I'm fighting a bit of an uphill battle in this, but I'm rather stubborn that way.

#deer #wildlife #wild animals #nature #animal welfare #animal cruelty #hunting #white tailed deer #zoology #animal behavior #ecology #environment #conservation #wildlife conservation #feeding wildlife #pets #animals #The Last Unicorn

[canis-lupus-caspi]

I dont understand how some humans can be so cruel. This is an article which the Wolf Conservation Center shared. Content warning for torture of and violence against animals

#wolves #tw animal death #tw animal cruelty #it just makes me so angry #these are living creatures #and only 250 dollars for a fine #disgusting #howls

[incorrectbatfam]

Damian: Has anyone else heard of leaving an "example lobster" when cooking lobsters?

Damian: My father claims that plenty of people do it and he learned it from his butler but it’s a ridiculous and horrifying process.

Damian: For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s when you buy lobsters to cook by boiling them and you leave only one alive. My father would always set the lobster down in front of all the cooked lobsters and make it watch while my family ate all the other lobsters. After that, they put the lobster in a cooler and drive it to the beach and send it back out into the ocean. The "joke" is that the lobster is supposed to tell the other lobsters of the horrors it saw. Has anyone else heard of this or was I born into a family of sociopaths?

[later]

Damian: I have concluded from people’s reactions that this is not standard procedure by any means and my family is a little bit insane.

#source: reddit #damian wayne #robin #bruce wayne #batman #alfred pennyworth #batfamily #batfam #batboys #batbros #batkids #batsiblings #batman family #incorrect batfamily quotes #incorrect quotes #incorrect dc quotes #dc comics #tw animal cruelty #tw food mention

[darubyprincx]

hey uh @hermitcrimes so i know it's only the first episode of hermitcraft s10 but we already have a SEVERE ethics code violation on our hands, perpetrated by none other than DocM77

(i'm putting this under a cut because tumblr autoplays videos and well. if you are even mildly distressed by Extremely Questionable Ethics relating to non-player creatures in video games then this will definitely upset you)

clip source: Hermitcraft Season 10 Episode 1 by docm77, uploaded on Feb. 3rd 2024, timestamp 2:33:00

what, and i cannot possibly overstate this enough, THE FUCK.

#amys' tag #hermitcraft #mcyt #hermitcraft 10 #undescribed #animal cruelty #cw animal cruelty #<- jic because. well. I mean.

[justaboot]

⚠️ Hey ⚠️

If you’re planning on going to the new Guardians of the Galaxy, please be aware that a MASSIVE portion of the film, easily half, is a depiction of pretty brutal animal testing, body horror, and animal mutilation. It’s a huge theme of the film, and it’s not pulling punches.

The first two films were fairly kid friendly, but this one is very out of genre of any Marvel film, and I would recommend double checking before bringing young children.

#I’m not faint of stomach but I was squirming #guardians of the galaxy #cw animal abuse #cw body horror #cw animal cruelty

[sayruq]

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza #fuck the idf #animal cruelty