You May Be Wearing Dog Fur

Humans took wolves and, over centuries, bred the wilderness from them. Within their canine selves, we instilled a sense of loyalty and service to mankind. So, after all the work we have put into making dogs the perfect people companion, it’s only natural we view them differently from other animals, such as livestock.
But thinking of dogs as pets is a very Western view, and in many countries dogs are considered just another source of food and fur.
In poorer places in the world, people do not have the luxury of caring for animals that are of no concrete value to them. Dogs are not human; therefore, they are fair game for dinner—meat is meat.
But even if someone were to argue the merits of eating a creature we worked so hard to tame, the treatment dogs are receiving overseas—and here in North America—attests to total disregard for their existence and total disrespect to their loyalty.
The recent high-profile case of football star turned dog-fighter Michael Vick woke many Americans up to the reality of dog abuse, and broke many hearts with its truth. But what many Westerners don’t know, or don’t want to know, is the foul treatment of man’s best friend goes far beyond the fighting ring, and the end result of abuse may end up on their parkas.
Dog fur is an exportable commodity in Asia. In 2000, the United States passed the Dog and Cat Protection Act, which prohibits the import of products made with dog and cat fur. Other countries have also banned dog fur, including Italy, France, Denmark and Australia. But Canada has not. Not only that, but Canada also does not have labelling requirements for fur coats and items, so consumers, thinking they have made a more humane choice by buying an item with faux fur trim, may actually be wearing German Shepherd around their necks; sometimes it’s easier to skin a dog than to make faux fur.
But it isn’t just the fact that humans are killing man’s best friend; it is the way the slaughter is being carried out. America’s Dog and Cat Protection Act states, “The methods of housing, transporting and slaughtering dogs and cats for production are generally unregulated and inhumane.” Many could argue the same for North American livestock, but because Fido has a place at the foot of the bed he gets this special exclusion from being processed in such ways. But it’s more than that: Dogs work for us, they depend on us and many humans depend on dogs as their sole source of companionship. To turn around and stab them in the back (literally) is the ultimate betrayal.
A number of the dogs used for fur and meat in Asia are strays or even pets, and their human-induced friendly nature makes them easy targets for thieves. According to Humane Society International, “Investigators witnessed firsthand the brutal slaughter of domestic dogs and cats in China and other Asian nations. What we found shocked people. Many of these animals are raised in cold, unsanitary breeding compounds. Some are strays. Others are obviously pets who were most likely stolen.”
The Internet is littered with images and articles on the abuse of dogs overseas. The photos can cause tears and anger, but there is one especially abhorring video that should cause action, and it stars the unfortunate raccoon dog.
Raccoon dogs are not pets, but a wild species of canine living in Asia, and have luxurious coats and large litters of pups that make them perfect breeding stock for the fur trade. Sometimes sold under the false name of “Asian Raccoon,” this species was recently uncovered to be present in a number of prominent fashion lines, like P. Diddy’s Sean John and Jay-Z’s Rocawear.
According to animal welfare advocates, countries like China have little or no legislation prohibiting inhumane treatment, confinement or live skinning of animals. This is apparent in the videos easily accessible, but rarely viewed, on sites like YouTube. One such video shows just how brutal the last minutes of a raccoon dog’s life can be: It starts out bad, and ends so much worse.
The raccoon dog is flung to the ground in an attempt to render it unconscious. But it is still moving, so the butcher strikes it over the head. Gasping for breath and continuing to struggle, the creature is strung up and skinned. It still moves as its flesh is peeled from its being, and its eyelids are torn off in the process. Now, completely skinned alive with muscle and sinew exposed to the world, the raccoon dog is tossed into a pile of dead dogs. In a last ditch effort to live, the animal lifts its head, a bloody and grotesque version of the creature it was before, and looks at the camera.
The lengths the fur industry has gone to deceive the public about this cruel reality indicates their guilt.
From Britain’s extermination of wolves, to packs of dingoes eating babies, human and canine histories are gorily intertwined. Humans have betrayed dogs just as dogs have attacked people. But humans have conquered the world, and there is no need for these primitive, disgusting crimes of fashion.
According to reports, such as Fur Report 2005 by Care for the Wild International, fur farmers in China hold 1.5 million raccoon dogs captive at any one time. Canadians, consumers and government alike, should be taking steps to ensure they are not contributing to the demand of this brutal practice by writing to politicians, spreading the word and, of course, not buying fur.

NOTE: To learn more about this issue, please visit the following:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HcjS5pNNt5o

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1mhFs-uLyWo&watch_response

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Plenty of Wish Wash

I had heard the hype—women finding their husbands, men discovering their soul mates—about online dating sites. So last summer, fed up with what I was finding in the real world, I registered on a dating website.
An acquaintance of mine swore by cyber love, boasting about the wonderful man she scooped out of the net. But then again, another acquaintance was disgusted by the barrage of freaks that filled her inbox, and sternly warned me against signing up. I tried to go into this with an open mind.
After coming up with a non-sexual-yet-not-too-nerdy screen name, (attempting to put off those who may only contact me for sex or, at the other end of the spectrum, Dungeons and Dragons games), I filled out a form and was presented with the blank square that was my About me section. There was also one that followed where you could describe my perfect date. I skipped that one. No one needs to know of my need to sacrifice a yearling goat on a first date in order to set the mood.
But I did need to write a profile bio. I played it safe, mentioning my studies and hobbies, and avoiding any negative wording or sexual reference—I wasn’t just looking for a quick bang, yet I wasn’t disillusioning myself either—I wasn’t going to find my soul mate.
I completed my profile and it went live. Now, I waited. What wackos awaited me in the depths of this electronic abyss? But it wasn’t wackos that I heard from—it was the illiterate.
“Nice pics so who yer summer goin.” “I like movies an holdin hands you like 2?” “I
I am attracted to you in wayz that r diff cause of yer bootiful eyez.”
I perused the male options on the site and found little in the way of good choices. Anyone majorly gorgeous came off as extremely egotistical, and many others seemed too bland.
Evidently, I learned, there are a lot of single men in Surrey. The site was also full of what many would consider to be chauches (www.urbandictionary.com defines a chauch as “Pretty boys who are beefy, vain, do stripper dances at clubs and think it’s hot, wear tight shirts. Also possibly tan, use hair products, go to the gym to be looked at, have frosted tipped hair.”) Now, beefy doesn’t sound so bad. But many of these guys were the chauch without the beef, which I guess one could call chince.
I decided to take the plunge and allow some of these cyber-suitors to contact me via MSN Messenger. There was no way I was going to just meet dudes straight off the internet. So I got to know them better, and realized I really wasn’t interested in dating anyone at all.
When it comes to dating, whether it is electronic, phone or in-person, a person needs to go into it with not only an open mind, but an open heart. There are a lot of fish in the sea, but if I am not into it, there isn’t one for me.

Bhutto One Giant Leap for Women

Many claimed Benazir Bhutto was the lesser of two evils. And regardless of her stance on issues or her party’s past dealings, Bhutto was well loved in Pakistan, as the world can tell from the fiery backlash occurring from her December assassination.
As news stations show streets full of mourners, it is amazing to see that it is mainly men who are the most distraught over her death. How come a woman politician garnered more respect in an Islamic republic than any woman can achieve in North America?
North America is awash with passive sexism. It is blatant our television programs and in our parliament. If a woman shows strength in the West, she is either a bitch or a lesbian. Or ambitious.
Take the treatment of Belinda Stronach. As a good-looking female in an old and ugly male-dominated role, she was scrutinized by the media and members of parliament on everything from her wardrobe to her personal relationships. When ex-party member and boyfriend Peter MacKay may or may not have called her a dog in Canada’s house of legislature, and former premier of Alberta Ralph Klein made a dirty reference about her in a speech, the instances were laughed off and treated as nothing more than jokes. But when Liberal leader Stephane Dion suggested Stephen Harper get some exercise, the Conservatives were in an uproar.
Helena Guergis, a junior minister for the Tories, said “real leaders ... do not go around making fun of other people's weight.” But what about the litany of personal disrespect the Conservatives threw at Stronach when she left their party?
Politics are not the only areas slated for chauvinism. A quick flip through international and local news reports show gender bias alive and well throughout North America. Most six p.m. broadcasters are men. But not just men, but old men, and usually overweight and unattractive. Besides Barbara Walters, it is rare to see a woman past fifty years old (without ten pounds of injected botox on her face) in the big seat.
Global BC offers a prime example of televised sexism. After faithfully remaining with the station for years, Deborra Hope was passed over for the 6 p.m. anchor position for newcomer Chris Gailus. And you won’t see a single sagging female face in the Global cast—but plenty of overweight, aging men.
Hillary Clinton is a lesbian. Meg Griffin is a loser. Britney Spears is a whore. We are still a long way off from seeing women in positions of real power in the West.
Rest in peace, Bhutto, for showing the world a woman can make a difference.

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