Despite protests, mass animal sacrifice to go on as planned in Nepal

 

Katmandu, Nepal -- A Hindu festival in which thousands of animals are expected to be sacrificed will go ahead as scheduled in southern Nepal despite protests, organizers said Friday.

The Gadhimai festival, celebrated every five years, is attended by many Hindus from India as well as from Nepal. More than 200,000 buffaloes, pigs, goats, chickens and pigeons are expected to be slaughtered this year on Nov. 24 and 25.

Organizers said they will not bow to "interference" from animal rights and religious groups that have held protests in Katmandu and in the festival area in Bara district, about 100 miles south of the capital.

"We will not stop this centuries-old tradition now. This is our religion, belief and tradition and we will continue with it no matter what," said Motilal Kushwa of the organizing committee.

Kushwa said thousands of people have already arrived at the site with animals meant for sacrifice next week.

Tammy the Turnpike Turkey, we hardly knew ye: Wayward wild turkey caught on New Jersey Turnpike

A wild turkey that's taken up residence at a New Jersey tollbooth and spends its days scooting around 18-wheelers won't have to dodge Thanksgiving traffic. State Fish and Wildlife officials netted the bird Wednesday after failed attempts during the weekend.

The turkey had been trotting around the busy toll booth since the spring, weaving around traffic at the 14B interchange in Jersey City.

"Apparently, this turkey decided to make Jersey City her home, alongside of one of the top five busiest toll roads in America," said turnpike spokesman Joe Orlando. "She didn't want to leave, she was a regular, and to be honest with you, she probably had better attendance than a lot of the employees."

Wildlife officials believe the 11-pound female turkey may have taken a wrong turn out of Staten Island and become disoriented. She spent her days causing stunned truck drivers to slam on their brakes and prompting some spectators to run across several lanes of traffic to pose for pictures with her.

'Eating Animals' author Jonathan Safran Foer: Visiting factory farms, slaughterhouses part of writing process

Author Jonathan Safran Foer's latest, "Eating Animals," represents a departure from his previous work (he's published several novels; "Eating Animals" is nonfiction), and it's getting tongues wagging about its subject matter -- factory farming and its effects on animals, human health and the environment.  Our colleague Carolyn Kellogg had an interesting question-and-answer session with Foer recently on The Times' books blog, Jacket Copy; here's an excerpt:

Jacket Copy: In your research, did you ever find yourself in a place you didn't want to be, or observing something you didn't want to look at?

Jonathan Safran Foer: All the time. I would say that was the better part of my research. I didn't especially want to go inside factory farms, certainly not in the middle of the night. And I didn't like being in slaughterhouses. But -- that's OK. It was more important to me to see with my own eyes, rather than trust somebody else's version, or watch a video. Who knows how representative videos are.

JC: Did you take notes when you were in the slaughterhouses? When you were in the moment, how did you document what you would be writing about later?

JSF: Often I would go back to the car and write everything down. I had a camera, but usually what would happen was I would get back in the car, and then spend however long was necessary to write everything down.

JC: As a writer, you set yourself a difficult task -- in order for me as a reader to understand how horrible those scenes are, you have to evoke them.

JSF: Well, they're naturally horrible. Sometimes just a simple description is enough. I think often, in the book, I am detailing some of the most horrible things in the most plain unadorned way.

THERE'S MORE; READ THE REST. 

Photo: Foer in a 2002 photo. Credit: Robert Spencer / For the Times

Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer tackles nonfiction with his latest effort, 'Eating Animals'

Animal advocates everywhere are talking about author Jonathan Safran Foer's latest book, "Eating Animals."  Foer, known primarily as a novelist whose prior works include "Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," went the nonfiction route with "Eating Animals," which tackles the issue of factory farming and the toll it takes both on animals and the environment.  Here's an excerpt from our colleague Susan Salter Reynolds' review:

Looking forward to your turkey dinner? Think twice. It's time, argues Jonathan Safran Foer, to stop lying to ourselves. With all the studies on animal agriculture, pollution, toxic chemicals in factory-farmed animals and exposés of the appalling cruelty to animals in that industry, he writes in "Eating Animals," "We can't plead ignorance, only indifference. Those alive today are the generations that came to know better. We have the burden and the opportunity of living in the moment when the critique of factory farming broke into the popular consciousness. We are the ones of whom it will be fairly asked, 'What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?' "

Some of our finest journalists (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) and animal rights activists (Peter Singer, Temple Grandin) -- not to mention Gandhi, Jesus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Immanuel Kant (and so many others) -- have hurled themselves against the question of eating meat and the moral issues inherent in killing animals for food. Foer, 32, in this, his first work of nonfiction, intrepidly joins their ranks, inspired by fatherhood, the memory of his grandmother (who survived the Holocaust by scavenging her way to freedom) and something else.

This something else is what made critics of Foer's fiction, the novels "Everything Is Illuminated" (2002) and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (2005), fall over themselves to praise him. It is a kind of fearless modernity: one part "whatever," one part descendant of Holocaust survivor (we've only got this one life, if that, to get things right) and one part soaringly beautiful, annoyingly entitled liberalism. What did you do when you learned the truth about eating animals?

THERE'S MORE; READ THE REST.

Photo: Jonathan Safran Foer in 2007.  Credit: Granta

Pearls before swine: Animal cognition study says pigs may be smarter than we think

These animals love food, know where all the best eateries are, and selfishly try to keep the best treats for themselves -- and no, we're not talking about humans. Or apes. We're talking about domestic pigs.

Thank goodness for something redeeming about these porky little swine. According to the New York Times, a recent study in the science journal Animal Behaviour presents evidence that domestic pigs can learn how mirrors work and use the reflected images to scope out surroundings and find food.

Pig cognition is a relatively new area of study; other researchers have found that pigs can deftly remember where food stores are cached and how big each stash is relative to others. The New York Times summarized another one of the findings:

[Studies have] shown that Pig A can almost instantly learn to follow Pig B when the second pig shows signs of knowing where good food is stored, and that Pig B will try to deceive the pursuing pig and throw it off the trail so that Pig B can hog its food in peace.

In the study presented by Animal Behaviour, seven out of eight pigs primed with a mirror found food reflected in the image. Naive pigs shown the same reflection looked behind the mirror for the food. The study abstract predicts, "The results may have some effects on the design of housing conditions for pigs and may lead to better pig welfare."

Vermont slaughterhouse closed amid animal cruelty allegations

A Vermont slaughterhouse ordered closed Friday after video showed calves kicked, shocked and cut while conscious had its operating license suspended three times earlier this year for similar conduct.

U.S. Department of Agriculture records show Bushway Packing Inc. of Grand Isle was shut down for a day in May, again in June and again in July after an inspector cited it for inhumane treatment of animals.

The revelation came Monday as the Humane Society of the United States released more video footage taken with a hidden camera this summer. The video shows days-old male calves culled from dairy herds being dragged, kicked, repeatedly shocked with electric prods and apparently cut while still conscious.

"We found even two calves who appeared to be skinned alive while they were still conscious," said Michael Markarian, the Humane Society's chief operating officer.

The video also appeared to back up a Friday statement in which U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack described the conduct of a USDA inspector at the slaughterhouse as "inexcusable."

Painted donkeys stand in for zebras at Gaza Strip zoo

Are they zebras, or are they donkeys?  Well, if you ask the staff and visitors at Gaza's Marah Land zoo, the (bizarre) answer is: They're both.

Because of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, obtaining a real zebra would be a tricky business involving smuggling and a hefty expense -- $40,000 for a single zebra was zoo owner Mohammed Bargouthi's estimate.  So zoo staff took matters into their own hands and went DIY, using just a roll of masking tape, a paintbrush and some women's hair dye to turn two white donkeys into imitation zebras.  ("The first time we used paint but it didn't look good," Bargouthi's son Nidal told Reuters of the process.)

They kind of look like zebras, if you squint.  But to schoolchildren in Gaza who have never seen a zebra, they're just as good as the real thing, according to Nidal.  "The children don't know so they call them zebras and they are happy to see something new," he said.  So far, according to Slate, none of the children have caught on that their beloved zebras are actually imposters.  But, zoo director Mahmud Berghat acknowledged, two university students did spot the bit of trickery.  No matter; no one seems inclined to let on to the zoo's youngest visitors.

Check out The Times' photo gallery for more shots of these faux zebras (and some real zebras as well, for comparison).

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Marco Longari / AFP/Getty Images

PETA wants to turn Elvis Presley's former ranch into a Don't Be Cruel center

When we think of Elvis Presley, we think of one thing: animal rights. Right? 

Not really. But if PETA gets its way, the two could soon become synonymous.  That's because the controversial group is trying to lease one of Elvis' former properties -- Circle G Ranch in Horn Lake, Miss. -- for the purpose of turning it into an animal-rights museum called, naturally, the Don't Be Cruel learning center for children. (That's right, conspiracy theorists: The vegans really are trying to indoctrinate your kids.)

Apparently, PETA caught wind of the fact that the Circle J's current owner, Dennis McLemore (who currently keeps Angus cattle there), has put it up for sale.  But in the current economic climate, and with an asking price of $6.5 million, there's a good chance it will be on the market a long while.

In the meantime, the group wants to turn the place into an educational facility "to educate students about how smart and sensitive the animals we eat really are and why a vegan diet ... is kindest for animals, the Earth, and even our own arteries," PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman explained in a recent letter to McLemore.  ("Elvis would have benefited from going vegan, that's for sure," Reiman adds.  Snap.)

Darren the waving goat: Your new YouTube sensation

A U.K. goat named, rather inexplicably, Darren (really? a goat named Darren?) is becoming a worldwide superstar for his ability to perform an impressive trick: waving to his fans while standing on his hind legs. 

Darren, an Anglo-Nubian goat, makes his home at White Post Farm near Nottingham, England, where he lives alongside not only other goats but also sheep, pigs, cows, llamas, donkeys, ponies, chickens and even wallabies and deer.  According to Metro U.K., Darren spent months perfecting his signature trick after seeing a visiting group of children wave when they left his pen.

Now the goat performs his trick with gusto, much to the delight of visitors to White Post Farm, a popular destination for school groups.  Farm staff caught Darren waving on video, uploaded it to YouTube -- and voila, a star was born. 

According to Anthony Moore, the farm's marketing manager, Darren enjoys the adulation his strange talent brings him, but his fellow farm-dwellers are more jealous than impressed.  "All the other goats have worked out it gets him extra attention and food, so now they've started trying to copy him," Moore told Metro U.K. "He loves it."

RELATED:
Strange marketing campaign of the week: Buy a truck, get a goat
Goats do the yardwork at Google headquarters
Your morning adorable: Fainting goats

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: deepsympathy via YouTube

Rescue success story: Angelo, lamb born en route to slaughter, thrives at New York's Farm Sanctuary

We hear so many heartbreaking stories about animals that it's always a real pleasure to hear a heartwarming one instead. We got one of the best yet recently from the great folks at Farm Sanctuary, a wonderful organization that rescues -- you guessed it -- farm animals from often-abominable circumstances and allows them to live at one of two large sanctuary facilities (one in upstate New York and one in Northern California).

The little fellow above is Angelo, a lamb who was born while his mother was in transit to a slaughterhouse in Yonkers, N.Y. Fortunately for Angelo, a kind woman, Cindy Rexhaj, happened to be shopping at a market nearby and approached to see the sheep being taken off the truck. What Rexhaj saw horrified her: A tiny, newborn lamb in danger of being trampled by the flock of more than 100 adult sheep being herded to slaughter. (By the time Rexhaj arrived on the scene, another lamb, believed to be Angelo's sibling, had been trampled to death.)

Rexhaj stepped in, pleading with the driver of the livestock truck to save the lamb and reunite him with his mother. But, the driver said, there was no way to determine which of the adult ewes had given birth to Angelo.  Instead, he handed the lamb to Rexhaj, who persuaded the owner of the slaughterhouse to let her take him home with her.