Earthlings – The Feature Length Documentary About The Suffering Of Animals For Human Gain

“I posted this, way back in February, but have just noticed the video’s were removed??…so here it is again!” 

“I’m certainly not trying to convert everyone to become vegetarian…but I do think people should watch this video… as difficult as it is to watch in parts…it is very informative. After viewing it, people are entitled to their own opinions regards the subject matter! I am not telling people what they should or should not eat, it’s a personal preference…I’m merely pointing out the journey, animals take, from field to plate! I will just point out that some things have changed regards animal welfare, since this video was made!”

” I chose to become vegetarian, several years ago, after watching something similar to this…I can’t call myself vegan because I just love egg butties from my friend’s pet chucks! Like I said, were all entitled to eat what we want…my daughter lives with me as my carer, she eats meat (particularly McDonald’s) I may not like it, but I don’t take offence at it & make her eat it in another room! When she does cook, she just substitutes the meat for Quorn, it makes a lovely spaghetti bolognese, which even she a meat eater, enjoy’s!

EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed the Vegan maker for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs. The film is narrated by Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix and features music by platinum-selling recording artist Moby.

Initially ignored by distributors, today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world. “Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most,” said Phoenix. “For every one person who sees EARTHLINGS, they will tell three.”

In 1999, writer/producer/director Shaun Monson began work on a series of PSAs about spaying and neutering pets. The footage he shot at animal shelters around Los Angeles affected him so profoundly that the project soon evolved into EARTHLINGS. The film would take another six years to complete because of the difficulty in obtaining footage within these profitable industries. Though the film was initially ignored by distributors, who told Monson that the film would “never see the light of day and should be swept under the rug,” today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world.

Nation Earth was established to produce documentary films on socially urgent issues. EARTHLINGS, released in 2005, was the company’s first feature film and is the first of a documentary trilogy. The company is currently at work on the second installment, UNITY, which will explore the unifying force of consciousness found in nature, animals and humankind. UNITY is scheduled to be completed in 2010. For more information please see http://www.unitythemovement.com.

EARTHLINGS DIRECTOR’S FEATURETTE2

Uploaded by earthlingsthemovie on 2 Oct 2008

Filmmaker Shaun Monson talks about submitting his animal rights documentary EARTHLINGS to film festivals, networks, the Academy, and the new Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act law. 

Earthlings is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research). Earthlings illustrates human’s disrespect for “non-human providers”, it is narrated by Joaquin Phoenix and features music by Moby.

You can download the full version of Earthlings at http://www.earthlings.com. The film is available with subtitles in 10 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Hindi, Arabic and Portuguese

There are many farm animals, who endure their whole lives in stinking , horrific conditions, from birth to slaughter!  Don’t get me wrong, some owners treat their animals as if they were pets, but this is mainly on the smaller family run farms, where the owner probably has names for each pig or cow!!”

“However, it seems that small holdings are being driven out, as the big guns come in, wanting to build bigger factory farms, that can handle thousands of  animals a day!  They don’t care much about the well-being of the animals or the environment…just the profits they can make from them!

 As if that is not bad enough… there will always be farm workers who see fit to direct their anger at these sentient beings…there going to die anyway; so who cares if one is targeted & beaten? Well actually we all should, just because they are raised for human consumption, does not give anyone the right to abuse or harm them, in any way! I think all animal factories & slaughter houses, should have CCTV…where inspectors can call unannounced to view the tapes…If all areas are covered properly by cameras, hopefully it might stop a lot of abuse towards the animals, from the bullies…there is always one who thinks it’s funny to stub a cigarette out on a pigs face & roughly handle the babies…anyone who harms a defenceless animal is just a pathetic coward!!

 

The ‘cruel’ goat farm where activists claim animals have the tips of their horns burned off with a metal tool to save money as demand for milk and cheese grows

With a healthy, organic image, cheese and milk from British goat farms have become popular items on our shopping lists.

Now scenes we might imagine of free-range herds grazing on lush fields have been rocked by claims of animal cruelty.

Undercover filming at two of the largest goat farms by animal campaigners Viva, shows images of kid goats having the tips or buds of their horns burned off with a metal tool. The painful procedure stops horns growing, so avoiding injury during clashes in adulthood.

But animal welfare rules state this should be done by vets under anaesthetic.

One of the farms, Upper Enson Farm at Sandon, Staffordshire, which has around 2,000 goats, does not take these safeguards. The farmer said he did not have the cash to use vets because the goat industry was ‘on its knees’.

The farm supplies a dairy which sells products in major supermarkets including Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Co-op.

Footage from the farm also showed the carcasses of dead nanny and kid goats. The farmer later admitted the farm had suffered an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, which can kill younger goats.

Viva warns that cramped conditions can encourage diseases to spread.

Filming at another business, Bromes Farm, near Taunton in Somerset, which supplies Tesco among other retailers, revealed some conditions in which the animals are not free to go out into the fields.

Ranks of goats were also shown connected to milking machines at the farm. Viva condemns industrial-style milking parlours, which can cause the goats to suffer from sore udders because of the high quantities of milk produced.

Bromes Farm did not respond to requests for comment.

Viva said the raising of goats increasingly involved factory farming techniques. Director Juliet Gellatley said: ‘Ethically minded consumers who have been shocked by increasingly intensive methods of production in the dairy cow industry have been switching to goats’ milk under the mistaken belief that it is more humane.’

Nick Brandon, owner of Upper Enson Farm, admitted he was operating outside the rules on removing or disbudding horns. He said: ‘The disbudding is not quite as it should be and we are consulting with our vet to decide how to move forward.’

Asked why he has not used a vet, he said: ‘It is not economical for the number of goats we have got.

‘The industry is on its knees. Goats’ milk and cheese is becoming more popular, but the price people pay in the shops is not filtering back to farmers.’

He added: ‘Our milking goats and older youngstock graze outside for eight to nine months of the year and have access to their shed in rain.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160065/The-cruel-goat-farms-Activists-claim-animals-mistreated-demand-milk-cheese-grows.html#ixzz1xyG206QG

 

Published on 15 Jun 2012 by vivaorg

Think today’s dairy goat farming is benign and mostly small-scale? Think again. Watch our film to find out more.

Through a series of ground-breaking undercover investigations Viva! has shone a light on the rapidly expanding goat’s dairy industry in the UK — including farms that supply the UK’s biggest supermarkets.

Behind the pastoral image often portrayed our exposé has found potentially illegal and other routine mutilation of baby animals, disease outbreaks, piles of dead carcasses, intensified zero-grazing farming practices and Billy goats increasingly sold for the ethnic food market. It is this intensification that has allowed the industry to surpass the production of 2 million litres a year in Britain for the first time.

In May 2012, we filmed undercover at Upper Enson Farm (Britain’s largest grazing goat herd) in Staffordshire, who milk around 1,800 goats for Delamere Dairies — who supply M&S, Waitrose, The Co-op, Sainsbury’s and a number of other major UK retailers. In September/October 2011, we also filmed at Bromes Farm in Somerset, which farms around 1,200 zero-grazed goats and supplies Tesco.

For more information and free advice on how to go dairy-free, visithttp://www.milkmyths.org.uk/goats

Worse case of animal cruelty judge had seen

Dundalk man (26) convicted of multiple charges of animal cruelty

A DUNDALK man has been told that he can never again look after an animal after he was convicted of several charges of animal cruelty which were described by the presiding judge as the worst he had seen in 13 years as a District Court judge.

Marc Finnegan (27), Readypenny, Dundalk was convicted of five counts of cruelly mistreating an animal to the extent that the animal had to be euthanized. 

He was also convicted of another charge of letting a carcass remain unburied and accessible to a dog contrary to the Control of Dogs Act.

When shown picture of the animals involved in the case, Judge Sean MacBride said “My God” and told the court that he had never seen such cruelty in all his years as a District Court Judge.

The court heard how over a number of weeks a vet from the Department of Agricultire, Ms Eileen O’Neill visited the farm of Finnegan at Drumaleave, Inniskeen.

Giving testimony Mrs O’Neill said that she had visited him nines times in the space of 8 weeks, informing him on the eighth occasion that legal preceeding would be brought against the man.

Mrs O’Neill said on her final visit to the farm she witnessed neglect of a most apalling nature.

She told the court how on 5 May 2010, she came to the farm near Inniskeen. To a shed to her left she saw a door open where she found three bovine carcasses which she said would have been left there for a period of approximately a week. The carcasses were left to rot in approximately a foot of slurry.

In another shed she found 60 live animals and one dead animal which had been trampled into the slurry by the other cattle.

She also found another animal which was still alive which was being trampled into the slurry by the other animals. This animal, along with another two others, later had to euthanized.

Mrs O’Neill said that a body conditioning score was carried out on the remaining 60 animals. This test sees the animals given a score from 1 to 5 depending on their condition. The average rating of the animals were just 1.3.

After the discovery of the conditions, family members took over the running of the farm and the husbandry of the cattle.

Mrs O’Neill told the court that she believed the case to be one of “wilful neglect”, and told the court the every opportunity had been given to Finnegan to stop what he was doing and to tend to the animals properly.

Photographs were given to Judge Sean MacBride who was clearly shocked by what he saw, saying “My God” when he saw them. “These are the worst I’ve ever seen. The dreadful pains these animals must have been in, they would surely be mentally and physically scarred.”

Finnegan’s defence solicitor, Conan Fegan BL said that his client had a history of “severe psychiatric illness”, and that he was suffering with depression and suicidal thoughts.

Finnegan took to the stand, where Judge MacBride asked him what medication he was on, to which he replied that he did not know but that he took two pills a day.

Finnegan had once been a student of geography at NUI Maynooth and had a steady girlfriend. That relationship had ended and he had gone downhill since then.

The court heard that he had taken to drinking cider and had become completely isolated and was a self professed loner.

His defence told the court that the cruelty to the animals was a result of simple neglect and that his client wasn’t even able to look after himself.

At one point there was confusion as to if under Irish Law a man could be stopped from looking after animals for a lifetime, though Judge MacBride said that he would give an appropriate sentence to suit the crime.

Judge MacBride went back to his chamber to deliberate on the psychiatric report on Finnegan. When he returned to the court he said that he thought that the report said that Finnegan was genuinely unwell.

When he returned he said that Finnegan has suffered a horririfc incident as a child but that was no excuse for the cruelty inflicted on the cattle.

It also emeraged that Finnegan had a previous conviction for animal cruelty dating back to just 6 months before in a court in Mullingar.

He had also changed his name by deed poll to Michael Kearney.

Judge MacBride gave Finnegan a six months suspended sentence on the condition he never be involved in animal husbandry or farming again, that he receive all therapeutic medicines and pyscho therapy, psychological counselling and behavioural therapy. He also set the conditions that he abstain from alcohol, engage with alcohol counselling and be involved in no crime whatsoever. He fined Finnegan a total of €3,000 and gave him 6 months to pay with one month in default.

Judge Sean MacBride told the Finengan that is was not too late to turn his life around and that he should face his demons or he would never have peace.

News Link:-Dundalkdemocrat.news

Farmer Faces 71 Animal Cruelty Charges

“I agree with the neighbours,  it’s not just jail time this guy needs, he needs to know why his animals died & then never be allowed to own any animals or cattle again. You don’t have to be a genius to work out why they were dying, a 10 yr old could tell you, its because they were not fed or had access to enough water!!   

LOMA, Colo. — The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has charged John Lawton, 45, with 71 counts of animal cruelty after deputies seized 61 animals and found 10 others dead on his property last week.

Each charge is a class 1 misdemeanor because this is his first alleged case of animal cruelty. The charges stem from a citizen complaint on March 30th that led deputies to discover numerous cattle at his property in various stages of neglect.

Inside a police report, deputies describe noticing several animals so malnourished their bones were showing. Many cattle had their ribs, spines, or pelvic bones clearly visible through their skin.

Deputies also noted several instances of cattle tied to farming equipment or vehicles with limited access to food. In almost every case, the animals had no access to water and were often lying in their own faeces because they had not moved for a very long time.

Lawton apparently told deputies he did this so he could feed the animals individually. He also said he only fed them corn stalks because he couldn’t afford anything else, according to the report.

But, investigators had their suspicions after noticing a bull so weak he could not raise his head to eat. According to the report, Lawton would wedge a tire underneath the bull’s head to help it feed. That animal had to be euthanized on site because of its health.

According to the police report, even though almost ten animals had died on the property over the course of a few months, Lawton never understood why it was happening. He also apparently never called a veterinarian to help him figure it out because it would have been too expensive.

Still, looking out for the health of the animals that were still alive, deputies worked to move them to a feed yard in Mesa County. The seizure took place last Monday; more than a week later, the man now faces charges.

But despite the conditions described by deputies, some neighbors who know Lawton are not sure jail time is appropriate in this case. Many wouldn’t talk to our cameras, but advocated for a sentence that would bar him from ever owning livestock again.

Deputies are now waiting on test results to determine just how malnourished these animals were. “I don’t expect those results to do anything but add to the case against Mr. Lawton,” Sgt. Matt Lewis with the sheriff’s office said.

Lawton is expected to appear for advisement of the charges later this month. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 1.5 years in jail and $5,000 in fines for each of the 71 counts.

This case continues to be a collaborative effort between the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Protection, the Mesa County Attorney’s Office, and the Colorado State University Western Slope Diagnostic Laboratory.

Click this link to read my other post related to this:- catttle

News item from:-  KJCT8.com

First Look: Allegedly Neglected Loma Livestock

LOMA, Colo. — More than 60 cattle allegedly left to starve in Loma have been given a second chance at life. KJCT News 8 was the only media invited to see how these animals are recovering a day after sheriff’s deputies raided a local farm.

“There were a lot of different issues going on,” Sergeant Matt Lewis with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said of the farm in question. “Malnourishment, absolutely, was the center of everything.”

Lewis described a lack of food, space and mobility as just three of the reasons the sheriff’s office decided to step in. He characterized the seizure as the largest the department has ever seen.

Everything from calfs to full grown cows were taken away. And, this isn’t the first time deputies have been called to this ranch.

“A couple years ago, at least one other time, we responded to the address to check on welfare of the animals,” Lewis said. “At that time, the animals seemed to have been in good health. They had food, water, and were being taken care of.”

But, something changed from then until now. Deputies say the situation got much, much worse.

“This is something we had to intervene in now or more animals would die.”

Last week, when deputies were called to the ranch, they say the conditions were so bad that there were already between seven and ten cattle lying dead in the field. When they returned to take the animals away on Tuesday, three more had to be put down by state veterinarians.

“I want to make this clear that this is not the sheriff’s department stepping in and taking someone’s livelihood, this is us stepping in to do something to take care of these animals,” Lewis said.

A total of 61 cattle were taken to a Mesa County feed yard and are expected to make full recoveries. But, officials say it could be two months before that progress is realized.

What may be more disturbing is the fact that the owner could theoretically walk down today and get them back. “The owner has the ability to post bond for the animals right now,” Lewis noted.

Until that happens, if it does, the sheriff’s office will continue paying for the care in hopes of building a case against the owner and re-covering the costs.

“A lot of things have to fall into place, but the eventuality would be that these animals would be auctioned off and that money would go back to offset the costs of care.”

Sgt. Lewis says tests are being done on the dead animals, as well as the ones that survived, to determine the extent of the malnourishment in this case. Those results are expected to help deputies decide what charges are appropriate.

No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed in this case just yet.

Sgt. Lewis says if you find yourself in a situation where you can no longer care for you animals, there are plenty of solutions to the problem. He cautions people in this situation to ever let it get out of hand.

“One of the solutions to never consider would be to let the animals go to this point that we’re seeing here.”

Link to post & Video:-KJCT8.com