I saw this in Tanti, Córdoba. In October, already Spring, most frosts have already passed. But some come late. This can become a problem: because if the Almond Trees think that no more frosts are coming... they blossom! But the early blossom can die if a late Frost falls.
So some people hit the trees with a cane so that they stress and don't blossom early. Is this anti-vegan? Well, they don't have a nervous system. But it still seems Specism. Compare to Wheatopocene and Matrix Crops.
Entertainment
Sure, zoos are interesting, but they are only educational in the sense that they teach a disregard for the natures of other living beings. Besides, what can we learn about wild animals by viewing them in captivity?
The systematic torture of sentient beings, whatever the pretext and in whatever form, cannot achieve anything more than it already has: to show us what is the lowest point of debasement man can reach. If that's what we want to know. "As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields". - Leo Tolstoy
Ignorance is the speciesist's first line of defense. Yet it is easily breached by anyone with the time and determination to find out the truth. Ignorance has prevailed so long only because people do not want to find out the truth. "Don't tell me, you'll spoil my dinner" is the usual reply to any attempt to tell someone just how that dinner was produced. Even people who are aware that the traditional family farm has been taken over by big business interests... ...that their clothes come from slaughtered cows, that their entertainment means the suffering and death of millions of animals... and that some questionable experiments go on in laboratories, still cling to a vague belief that conditions cannot be too bad, or else the government or the animal welfare societies would have done something about it. But it is not the inability to find out what is going on as much as a desire not to know about facts that may lie heavy on one's conscience that is responsible for this lack of awareness - - after all, the victims of whatever it is that goes on in all these awful places are not members of one's own group. It all comes down to pain and suffering. Not intelligence, not strength, not social class or civil right. Pain and suffering are in themselves bad and should be prevented or minimized, irrespective of the race, sex, or species of the being that suffers. We are all creatures. And non-human animals experience sensations just like we do. They too are strong, intelligent, industrious, mobile, and evolutional. They too are capable of growth and adaptation. Like us, first and foremost, they are earthlings. And like us, they are surviving. Like us, they also seek their own comfort rather than discomfort. And like us, they express degrees of emotion.
In short, like us, they are alive; most of them being, in fact, vertebrae, just like us. As we look back on how essential animals are to human survival; our absolute dependence on them (for companionship ... food ... ... clothing ... ... sport and entertainment ... ... as well as medical and scientific research), ironically ... we only see mankind's complete disrespect for these non-human providers. Without a doubt, this must be what it is... ... to "bite the hand that feeds us". In fact, we have actually stomped and spit on it. Now we are faced with the inevitable aftermath. This is evident in health reports due to our over-excessive consumption of animals.
Cancer, heart disease, Osteoporosis, strokes, kidney stones, Anemia, diabetes, and more. Even our food has now been effected ... and at its very source. With antibiotics used to promote weight gain in animals (who can't gain weight under the stressful, overcrowded living conditions in factory farms); with the over-use of pesticides and insecticides; or artificial hormones (designed to increase milk production, litter size and frequency); with artificial colors, herbicides, larvicides, synthetic fertilizers, tranquilizers, growth and appetite stimulants ... ... it's no wonder that Mad Cow Disease ... Foot and Mouth Disease ... Pfiesteria ... and a host of other animal related abnormalities have been (POLLUTION) unleashed on the human public. Nature is not responsible for these actions. (DEFORESTATION) We are. So a change is inevitable. Either we make it ourselves, or we will be forced to make it by Nature Itself. The time has come for each of us to reconsider our eating habits, our traditions, our lifestyles and fashions, and above all, our way of thinking.
So, if there is any truth to the age-old saying, "What goes around, comes around", then what do they get for their pain?
They are earthlings. They have the right to be here just as much as humans do. Perhaps the answer is found in another age-old saying ... ... and one equally true: We reap just what we sow. So of course, animals feel, and of course they experience pain. After all, has nature endowed these wonderful animals with well-springs of sentiment so that they should not feel ... ... or do animals have nerves in order to be insensitive? Reason demands a better answer. But one thing is absolutely certain: animals used for food, used for clothing, used for entertainment, and in scientific experiments and all the oppression that is done to them under the sun they all die from pain. Each and every one.
Isn't it enough that animals the world over live in permanent retreat from human progress and expansion? And for many species ... there is simply nowhere else to go. It seems the fate of many animals is either to be unwanted by man ... ... or wanted too much. We enter as lords of the earth bearing strange powers of terror and mercy alike ... But Human beings should love animals as ... the knowing love the innocent, and the strong love the vulnerable. When we wince at the suffering of animals, that feeling speaks well of us even when we ignore it, and those who dismiss love for our fellow creatures as mere sentimentality overlook a good and important part of our humanity. But it takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal. And it is actually within us to grant them a happy life ... and a long one. On the heath, King Lear asked Gloucester: "How do you see the world?" And Gloucester, who is blind, answered: "I see it feelingly". I see it feelingly.
Three primary life forces exist on this planet: Nature, Animals and Humankind. We are the Earthlings. Make the connection.
Movie producer explains he goes to the Spaniard Festival in San Sebastian because it has the highest ratio of 3 star michelin restaurant in small space, in the world.