Animal Cruelty- WTF is wrong with people?!

Today's rant is which has affected me in my own back yard... literally.

For those who don't know me, I am an animal lover. I am a crazy cat lady as well (I type this straining my shoulder reaching past the cat on my lap to the keyboard), but that's a story for another day.
I have met an awful lot of fuckwits in my time, and firmly believe that animals are better than humans over all, and deserve to be treated well.

I volunteer with my local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to animals, and am always saddened to see just how many people neglect their pets, pay no attention to obvious medical problems, or are so overwhelmed by their own "need" to have a pet that they disregard the animals' survival and wellbeing needs. "Oh I love my dog, but I can't afford to get it spayed.. now it's had 6 puppies I have to give them all up for adoption." [It always reminds me of the Catholics scene in Monty Python's Meaning of Life "we'll have to sell you all for medical experiments"].

Recently I decided to expand my flock of two backyard chickens again. I saw some advertised on the noticeboard at my work as being "older" hens, which I thought would be good to adopt, as I don't care if they don't lay as regularly as some people would, and I'd give them a good life, not having to meet with the axe if they aren't "productive" enough.


I picked them up, and as soon as I got them home I noticed they had some scaly leg mites. Then I looked closer at all 4, and was horrified- it was the worst case I'd ever seen.















Most chickens are prone to getting the parasites, but its relatively simple and cheap to treat, and shouldn't have long lasting health implications if you do. By the state of these poor chooks it was evident they hadn't had it treated in over a year, if ever- an obvious severe case of neglect- to the point where two of them had already lost toes, and one could barely stand.

I treated it by covering their feets and legs with vaseline, which I applied by hand. As gentle as I tried to be, two of the chickens' feet started bleeding as soon as I touched them, as the skin was so damaged and split. It became obvious that one of them was going to lose another toe, which was barely hanging on by a thread of tissue.

I moved them into a smaller isolation pen so they wouldn't infect my existing hens, and there'd be less room to walk around- forcing them to rest.





I also dusted all the area with mite powder to stop them from breeding any more, and wormed them to ensure no other nasties were living in them.

10 days later- after just the one treatment, this is how their feet looked: 

Some were worse off to begin with, but obvious reductions in the mite infestation can be seen. 

I gave them another coating of vaseline and re-dusted the coops. It took me about 30 minutes and $30 to treat all the hens. As I still have plenty of vaseline and mite powder left, the ongoing treatment will cost me $0, and just a little time and effort to make a big difference to their well being. 

Considering how little time money and effort it took me, it sickens me to think that some people are too lazy and neglectful to take care of their animals properly.

I will post another update soon to show how they turn out.

Gay Hate: When Mental Health Problems are Not an Acceptable Defence

I sympathise and empathise with many people who have had mental health issues in their lives. I understand how hard it can sometimes be to cope with daily life, and that on occasion some reactionary behaviours such as pushing away people who try and help you, unexplainable moods and outbursts of crying or anger may occur.

Unless a person is suffering hallucinations or paranoid delusions, however, I cannot see a situation whereby targeting another person for simply living their life, bullying, harassing and starting a hate page about them, would be justifiable. 

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/army-did-nothing-to-stop-gay-hate/story-fncz7kyc-1226577414391

Given that the perpetrator was a member of the Army, it is likely that his PTSD was a incurred during a battle incident on deployment to a conflict zone, and symptoms should be associated with being attacked with a gun or being bombed. Even in the unlikely circumstances that the perpetrator in this case had been assaulted by another man at some point in his life in what he may have perceived as a "gay" attack, which his PTSD was attributable to- to go so far as to start a facebook hate page against homosexuality is despicable. 

People with mental illnesses are not incapable of applying moral standards to life, conducting business (it would appear he was well enough to still be in the workplace), and determining what is or isn't reasonable behaviour. For the courts to excuse death threats on the tenuously linked basis that the perpetrator was mentally unwell is almost an endorsement that displaying hatred towards someone because of their sexual orientation is an understandable or justifiable behaviour. 

Poor call by those who made this determination. Qui tacet consentit.

One who condones evil is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.

-Martin Luther King

A response to Sarah Beaulieu's "How I stopped being an angry feminist and started loving men"

The other day I was sent a link to a news article about research showing the world's population may be getting more stupiderer (*ahem*- yes that's intentional), which was on a somewhat poor quality "news" website. 

My eyes were drawn to the "other articles" section of the page, with a big title "How I stopped being an angry feminist and started loving men". My eyes rolled instinctively, and I felt myself groan at what I anticipated would be an ill-informed anti-progressive sanctimonious self-enlightenment "my whole life changed" piece, but felt my finger dragging the mouse pointer to the link (http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/how-i-stopped-being-an-angry-feminist-and-started-loving-men/story-fnet09p2-1226580988910), like passing a car crash and feeling your neck involuntarily to the horrors you know you subconsciously want to think.

I'm hearing echoes of Craig Reucassel, ala Shock Horror Aunty, in my head "people want to be outraged!" and nod in woeful agreement that, while not normally easily baited, this one indeed pulled me in.

While tempted to listen to my own advice to not fight stupid, as you'll only be dragged down to their level then beaten with experience, I haven't had a good rant in a while so....

Firstly, I think Sarah Beaulieu is doing as much harm to the cause of feminism as she seems to sanctimoniously claim she is doing for promoting "good men". The use of the terms "angry" and "feminist" in close conjunction perpetuates the harmful misnomer that all feminists are angry. Similarly, to suggest that you cannot be feminist and love men (or anyone perhaps she believes- if we feminists are such angry hateful people in general?). 

Feminism is defined as: "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men." (www.dictionary.reference.com)

Feminism is NOT:
- man-hating
- promoting the rights of women above and beyond or over men
- prioritising women's needs over others'

Unfortunately this is not widely understood, and there are some common cross-overs and confusions that occur by applying false logic which do a lot of harm to genuine equality and feminism, such as:
- women who have been hurt by a man (or men) and feel anger or hatred towards men, and self-associate with feminism as they see a cause which advocates that they should have had a right to exist free of violence.

However, the "I call myself a feminist therefore I am one (although I am hateful towards men)" is an association that spreads, similar to how the "I am a member of the priesthood and therefore am a good Catholic (although I rape children)" association tarnishes the image of the Catholic church. The actions of a few statistical outliers who choose to be more vocal, receive more attention and media, and perpetuate negative false associations. 

I'm not going to get into the equally preachy self-as-an-example-which-proves-my-theory-of-everything "I am a feminist and I love men " blah blah because it won't achieve anything- one person's experience can be a record, but it does not attest to the broader ethical or moral standards of society, or even the average human experience.

Her basic premise is sound- to encourage harmony, but it is done so in the way of the patronising Mormon door-knocker "I want you to go to heaven, which is why I tell you everything about your life is wrong, try to force you into my way of seeing the world, and if all else fails I'll judge, pity and pray for you."

The way Beaulieu words the article could actually promote further hatred of women by promoting old negative stereotypes, and be counter-productive to her stated intentions of reducing violence against women and improving male-female interactions and relationships.

So, Sarah Beaulieu, I encourage you to think about the, likely unintentional consequences, but incredibly poorly thought out approach to how you advocate for causes in the future.