In recent weeks, several Members of the Italian Parliament have presented proposals aimed at limiting or fully prohibiting the slaughter of horses for meat consumption. The initiatives seek to recognize equines as companion animals rather than livestock, introducing stricter safeguards and potentially prohibiting breeding for slaughter.

The renewed attention to this issue follows years of advocacy by animal protection organizations and growing public concern over the treatment of horses within the food production system. Legislative proposals under discussion include measures such as mandatory registration in veterinary databases, strengthened traceability requirements, and enhanced penalties related to illegal slaughter or improper transport.

Importantly, the parliamentary debate reflects a broader social shift. In Italy, consumption of horse meat has steadily declined over recent years, mirroring changing consumer habits and increasing awareness of animal welfare. More citizens are reducing overall meat consumption, and horse meat in particular is becoming less central in dietary patterns. Horses are increasingly perceived as companion, sport, and therapy animals, rather than as livestock intended for slaughter.

Supporters of reform argue that this transformation in public perception should be reflected in law. Recognizing horses as animals deserving enhanced legal protection would represent a significant step forward in aligning legislation with contemporary ethical standards and scientific recognition of animals as sentient beings.

The discussion remains ongoing, and its outcome will depend on parliamentary negotiations in the coming months. However, the fact that the issue has reached formal legislative debate marks a significant development in the long-standing effort to strengthen equine protection in Italy.

OIPA will continue to monitor the legislative process closely and reiterates its commitment to promoting higher welfare standards, clearer legal definitions, and stronger enforcement mechanisms to prevent exploitation and suffering.

L'articolo Italy: Parliamentary Debate on Horse Slaughter Marks a Turning Point for Equine Protection proviene da OIPA.

Dairy cows

As we can imagine, what makes females the main victims of the livestock industry is their reproductive capacity for which they will be exploited for as long as possible. Think of dairy cows, for example. Like all mammals, the cow produces milk after calving to feed her calf. To have sufficient production to feed the dairy industries, the animal is, therefore, artificially inseminated and will be forced to undergo pregnancy for nine months each year. Continuous milking of the cow forces it to produce 10 times the amount of milk that would be needed in the wild to feed the calf, which in this case is fed artificial milk and then, often, killed for its meat. The life prospects of farmed cows are inevitably shorter than they would be in the wild: at the age of 5 or 6, when their milk production declines, they are destined for slaughter.

Sows

A similar role is assigned to sows. On intensive farms, from which almost all the meat found in supermarkets comes, the lives of female pigs are punctuated by artificial inseminations and pregnancies spent in so-called “gestation cages,” cramped spaces that do not allow them any movement. A few days before farrowing, sows are transferred to “lactation cages,” nooks and crannies in which the animal is not even able to stand because it is surrounded by metal bars. Once this stage is completed, the piglets will move on to the fattening stage and the mother will be inseminated again.

Laying hens

Finally, laying hens. From the Italian National Livestock Registry 2022 data, laying hens confined in cage systems account for 36 percent of all hens raised for egg production in the country, about, then, 16 million animals. Although European legislation has banned conventional cages, so-called ‘enriched’ cages still do not give the hen a chance to behave according to nature. Among the damage caused to the animal are weakening of the musculoskeletal system, the assumption of stereotyped behavior, and the appearance of serious diseases that depend on the absence of movement.

Regardless of species, the female gender is, more often than not, the one in the worst condition. When we carry out a campaign against male violence against women, let us also remember all those living beings of the female gender who suffer every day in total indifference.

L'articolo International Women’s Day 2025, all the commonalities between feminism and veganism proviene da OIPA.

L'articolo OIPA ENDORSES THE PLANT BASED TREATY TAKING A STAND AGAINST CLIMATE CRISIS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION CAUSED BY ANIMAL AGRICULTURE proviene da OIPA.

What happens to lambs?

There are still hundreds of thousands of lambs to whom the life is denied and that are prematurely taken away from their mothers, already painfully marked by their stay in intensive farms, when they still need their warmth and protection. Babies, just a few weeks old, about 30/40 days, are taken away to be brutally and cruelly killed in slaughterhouses and only for a practise nowadays completely unjustified. Slaughterhouses are places of pain, torture, fear and dismay where these little ones face a certain death amidst heartwrenching bleating and suffering, and no one here will have the slightest pity and respect for their dignity and above all for their life.

Lambs close to death are gathered and locked up for hours in confined and limited spaces, in poor sanitary conditions and in a state of hypothermia. Their eyes are full of terror, they urinate continuously for fear, they paw scared until they get hurt, and no one will ever listen to their heartbreaking cry for help.

The truth inside a slaughterhouse is made up of barbarism practiced most of the time in an irregular manner: abuse, violence, mistreatment, unjustified and unnecessary suffering; but the reality is that there are no acceptable practices, because unacceptable is to take away the life of any living being.

Lambs are violently loaded and unloaded, beaten and dragged, thrown and kicked, jerked, grabbed by the neck and piled on top of each other. They then undergo the illegal practice of weighing: they are tied, hoisted and weighed in groups, and then killed without even being stunned and, if they are, they do not always reach death unconscious but the pain felt is alive and throbbing. Lambs hear the others gasping, moaning and dying, slaughtered one in front of the other. Slaughtered lambs are thrown on those still alive, as proof that their short existence has the same value of their death. Their legs are even cut to allow the entry of a compression gun which, by blowing air, separates the skin from the muscles.

Is this horrible and unacceptable, right?

Now that you have faced the reality instead of pretending not to know, you should consider a radical change in our way of life also through our diet and your way of eating. OIPA International supports and promotes a plant-based/vegan lifestyle aimed to safeguard, defend and protect our animals, all of them with no exception, in order to give them back the dignity and the right to life that have been denied too many times.

❤️ Let’s start with him, DON’T EAT HIM AT EASTER! ❤️

L'articolo EVERYONE SHOULD GROW UP HAPPY WITH A MUM, EVEN A LAMB. DON’T EAT HIM AT EASTER proviene da OIPA.

In December, she spoke at the UN Climate Conference blaming world leaders for behaving like “irresponsible children, not mature enough to say things the way they are”, and from that point she invited all the kids to mobilize for this cause.

She also spoke in Brussels in front of the European Economic and Social Committee, to say that “there is not enough time to allow us to grow and take control of the situation”.

On March 15, students in 128 countries and more than 2,200 cities around the world walked out of school to strike for climate action. More than 1.4 million young people around the world took part in what turned out to be the biggest day of global climate action ever.

In Greta’s opinion, the fact that the mighty operate and talk keeping a lid on the appalling climate situation that we are already experiencing is one of the main reasons why people do not panic and react. And yet how easy it would be to find out about the real situation?

There is no malice in all of us. But maybe, there is something worse: “selective disinterest”. People concern themselves with recycling or not using the car, but cannot pass a succulent and savoury piece of meat.

The single biggest thing a person can do right now to reduce their impact on the planet is stop consuming animal products and change to a vegan diet.

Indeed, the overall impact of intensive livestock breeding on the environment is enormous. This sector contributes 14.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Responsible gases are Methane, Nitrous Oxides, Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide.

An example: Methane gas (CH4); 25% is released into the atmosphere during the digestive processes from goats, cattle and sheep, 30% instead evaporates from manure, up to 10 % comes from fertilizers and over 30% due to deforestation.

According to a report from FAO the production of meat is set to double from now to 2050. Livestock intensive production currently occupies 70% of agricultural land and is responsible of 18% greenhouse gases emissions measured in carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as 37% of methane.

Billion tons of carbon dioxide CO2 and methane are released every year due to livestock induced biomass emissions or anaerobic decomposition of organic material in manure.

Moreover, to make things worse about 97% of nitrogen fertilizers are derived from synthetically produced ammonia. Nitrogen enters livestock through food given to animals that contains 10 to 40 grams of nitrogen/per kg of dry matter (FAO, Livestock’s long shadow – environmental issues and options, 2006).

A kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days (New Scientist magazine, 18 July 2007).

Moreover, a cow releases on overage between 70 and 120 kg of Methane per year. Methane is a greenhouse gas like CO2. However, the negative effect on the climate of Methane is 23 times larger than the effect of CO2. Therefore, the release of about 100 kg Methane per year for each cow is equivalent to about 2’300 kg CO2 per year (www.timeforchange.org).

A more recent document confirms the data set out above: “The livestock sector is often associated with negative environmental impacts such as land degradation, air and water pollution, and biodiversity destruction…

…Emissions from livestock production contribute more GHG to the atmosphere than the entire global transportation sector. The livestock sector contributes directly and indirectly to GHG emissions, including through animal physiology, animal housing, manure storage, manure treatments, land application, and chemical fertilizers. Direct emissions from animal sources include enteric fermentation, respiration, and excretions. Indirect emissions refers to emissions derived from feed crops, manure application, farm operations, livestock products processing, transportation, and land use allocation for livestock production (e.g. deforestation, desertification, carbon released from cultivated soils)”( M. Melissa Rojas-Downing, A. Pouyan Nejadhashemi, Timothy Harrigan, Sean A. Woznicki, “Climate change and livestock: Impacts, adaptation, and mitigation” on Climate Risk Management 16, 2017)

Stop consuming animal products is one of the most effective ways to reduce our personal carbon footprint and to generally reduce our personal negative impact on the environment.

Taking to the streets is right and proper, but it is not enough. We have a moral duty to combat climate change in everyday life. And we can this beginning at adinner table.

SAVE THE PLANET, COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE, GO VEGAN!

L'articolo COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE, GO VEGAN proviene da OIPA.

• Dominion, the documentary sequel to 2014’s Lucent. Chris Delforce’s new documentary Dominion shows the absolute horror of animal agriculture industry in Australia. Dominion makes large use of new technologies, such as aerial drones, that give a never before seen perspective on the industries the film covers. It focuses on six main areas of exploitation: food, fashion, entertainment, wildlife, pets and experimentation. The film emphasizes the ingrained agony of global practices that are legal and deemed “humane.” There is still people who prefer to remain unaware of animal suffering and it goes to great lengths to maintain the status quo. This documentary can be inspiring to already vegan people to become activists and to omnivores to change their diet.

• The first-ever vegan festival has taken place in China. The Pop Plant-based Festival in Beijing reflects the growing popularity of veganism in China. In fact, the country is experiencing a clearly positive trend in the number of vegan people, especially among the younger generation. Around 10.000 people took part in the 2-day long veg festival, organized for the promotion of eco-friendly and plant-based lifestyles. The festival hosted a market with vegan food and clothing vendors, outdoor fitness activities given by world-class vegan athletes and live music. Many studies predict a global trend towards higher plant-based food consumption in the coming years and we all hope that China will be no exception.
  

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• A new study by Future Market Insights reveals an increasing consumer inclination towards non-dairy plant-based beverages. The global plant-based beverages market is estimated to be US$ 247,848.8 million in 2018, and expected to reach US$ 474,666.1 million by 2028. More and more people are shifting to non-dairy substitutes for milk and the reasons behind the growing popularity of plant-based alternative beverages are multiple, ranging from increased awareness of health and wellbeing to the growing vegan and vegetarian trend. Other important reason for the boost in the dairy alternatives market is the growing lactose intolerance and milk allergy among the population. On the other hand, the main limitation that affects this market is the price of alternative milk, higher in comparison with mammal milk. This fact represents a big hurdle especially in the developing countries.
  

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• Generation Z-ers (people born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s) find cool to eat more plant-based dishes and choose an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Almost 25% of 18-24 year olds have turned vegan last year, and 35% are on the hunt for a vegan partner – who they assume will be better looking and more interesting. These are the results collected in a new study carried out by the food brand BOL Foods. We place our hope in the new generations!!

• Researchers from the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Resources compared the environmental impact of a vegan meat burger to a conventional animal-derived one. The research, released by the company Beyond Meat, concluded that a plant-based burger generates 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions and it uses 46% less energy, 99% less water and 93% less land.

• Nearly 70 percent of U.S. college campuses offer vegan options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. According to a report recently published by PETA, more colleges than ever before are upping their plant-based offerings in response to rising student demand that is driven primarily by omnivores. In fact, most of the student diners are neither vegetarian nor vegan, however, they choose to eat healthy and include plant-based foods in their diet.

Sources:

https://www.dominionmovement.com/about

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-to-organise-first-ever-vegan-fest-over-10-000-people-expected-to-attend-report/story-nt31Gi1HLs1058xNlDLN1O.html

https://vegconomist.com/market-and-trends/plant-based-dairy-market-set-to-continue-growth/

https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/44-of-generation-z-vegan-cooler-smoking

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/health/other/two-thirds-of-colleges-in-the-us-now-offer-vegan-meals-%E2%80%94-here-are-10-of-the-most-vegan-friendly-campuses/ss-BBO7FJN

L'articolo VEGAN NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD proviene da OIPA.

Quinoa is a pseudo-cereal, not technically a grain or a traditional cereal. This means it is a non-grassy plant used in much the same way as cereals and grains with a similar nutritional profile. Whole grains include the entire intact grain seed without removing any of its parts. Whole grains, such as quinoa, provide essential vitamins, minerals, and fibre. These help regulate the digestive system and keep you fuller and more satisfied.

Although there are approximately 120 varieties of quinoa, the three most commercialized of these are the white, red, and black varieties.

A BIT OF HISTORY…

It all started about 4,000 years ago in the Andean region of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile – where humans had domesticated it for consumption. However, archaeological evidence says quinoa originated some 7,000 years ago.

The plant was grown in the high altitudes ranging from 2,000-4,000 meters in the Andes, where every year, the Incan emperor customarily sowed the first seeds. It was a very important agro plant for the Incas.

Quinoa formed the staple diet of the Incas and their descendants and around the time of Spanish arrival, quinoa was well developed technologically and well distributed within the Inca territory (Incas referred to it as “mother of all grains” and “the gold of the Incas”), where it was believed to be sacred and provide stamina to Inca warriors.

In the recent past, the Peruvian government has been giving incentives to farmers to increase the production of quinoa because of its outstanding nutritional qualities.

Only a few years ago quinoa became trendy and reached “superfood status”.

BENEFITS

Excellent Source of Proteins

The quinoa plant has been highly regarded for its high protein value. Protein is made out of amino acids like lysine, methionine, and tryptophan, all of which cannot be synthesized in the body. The problem is that many plant foods are deficient in certain essential amino acids. However, quinoa is an exception to this, because it is a “complete” protein, it contains all the essential amino acids.

Protects Kidney and Liver

Quinoa has antioxidant properties that help in protecting the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, and pancreas against oxidative stress. When compared with other pseudocereals, such as amaranthus, it has higher antioxidant activity.

Regulates Blood Glucose Levels

Quinoa seeds can be beneficial in regulating blood glucose levels and blood cholesterol levels. The consumption of quinoa seeds can help in reducing the adverse effects of fructose on both the glucose level and lipid profile. Using quinoa instead of typical gluten-free breads and pastas significantly reduces blood sugar, insulin and triglyceride levels.

Prevents Cardiovascular Diseases

Quinoa is also considered good for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Eating quinoa means lower levels of bad cholesterol and this means a reduced risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

Improves Digestive Process

Quinoa contains insoluble fiber, which helps to improve the digestive process and facilitates healthier bowel movements. This further helps in reducing the risk of bloating, pain and constipation.

Helps Prevent Osteoporosis

Quinoa is rich in magnesium, a nutrient that plays a role in bone formation and in protein, a nutrient that serves as a building block for the bones.

Weight Loss

Quinoa improves metabolism as well as significantly reduce appetite. This is particularly important for those who want to control their diet. Consuming quinoa reduces the excess intake of food, thereby promoting a healthier weight. The high amount of fiber should also help to increase the feeling of fullness.

Improves Skin Health

Quinoa is rich in B vitamins; nutrients that help treat age spots and other conditions related to skin pigmentation by reducing the deposits of dark melanin in the skin. And the vitamin B3 in quinoa, helps treat acne. It soothes the red and inflamed areas often associated with acne breakouts. Quinoa also contains vitamin A, which reduces fine lines and makes your skin look young.

Aids in Anaemia Treatment

A diet adequate in iron can help prevent anaemia. One cup of cooked quinoa contains about 3 mg of iron, which is 15% of the daily requirement. Another nutrient to look at in this aspect is riboflavin – which quinoa is rich in. Anemia can also be caused due to less riboflavin in one’s diet.

Helps Fight Diabetes and Hypertension

Quinoa is a whole grain, and whole grains are great for diabetes. A part of living with diabetes is all about taking foods that have low glycaemic index, and quinoa is on the lower end. A diet including quinoa could help manage type 2 diabetes and the hypertension associated with it.

Gluten-Free

A gluten-free diet can be healthy, as long as it is based on foods that are “naturally” gluten free. The problems arise when people eat “gluten free” foods made with refined starches instead. These foods are no better than their gluten-containing counterparts, because gluten free junk food is still junk food.

USAGE AND RECIPES

Quinoa uses are many, you can use this grain in just about everything, from breakfast to dinner. Quinoa has a nutty and earthy flavor. After cooking, it becomes quite fluffy and chewy and attains a very pleasant taste. The pearly white quinoas or light yellow quinoas are the fluffiest while the red and black ones are more compact.

These days, you can find quinoa and products made with it all over the world, especially in health food stores and restaurants that emphasize natural foods.

Quinoa pancakes (12 pcs)

2 cups organic quinoa flour

4 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoons sea salt

2 cups + 1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add liquids and whisk to mix.

Preheat pancake griddle. Spoon batter onto hot griddle making pancakes 4-5’’ across. Turn when edges seem dry (they won’t brown much because they don’t contain sugar). Keep warm while cooking remaining cakes. Batter may thicken as it stands, if so, stir in 1-2 tbs water as needed.

Quinoa soup with spinach and tomatoes

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ red onion, minced

2 small cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 springs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped

4 cups water (or vegetable broth)

2 vegetable bouillon cubes (can omit if using broth)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 package of fresh spinach

Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan, add red onion and sauté until onions are transparent. Add garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary, and heat for a minute or so.

Add water and vegetable bouillon and bring to a boil. Add quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add spinach and simmer for another minute or so. Serve immediately.

L'articolo QUINOA, THE MOTHER OF ALL GRAINS proviene da OIPA.

In the process of evolution in plants, flowering plants have appeared on Earth about 5 to 8 crores years ago. Honeybees are presumed to have evolved from their wasp-like ancestors, simultaneously or shortly after the appearance of flowering plants on Earth. This is so, because both flowering plants and honeybees are interdependent for their life cycle. Flowering plants offer nectar and pollen to honeybees. While collecting their food, honeybees transfer pollen, the male sperm, from one flower to the other of the same species and bring about fertilization of the flowers assuring continuation of the plant species.

In forests, trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, weeds etc. flower sequentially and provide food to honeybees for a major part of the year. The forests also provide shelter to honeybees. The honeybees reciprocate their obligations by offering pollination service, assuring the formation of large quantities of seeds or fruits and maintaining genetic diversity in plants. Honeybees are therefore an integral part of forests and their ecology. A healthy forest is an indication of a healthy bee fauna. Thus, honeybees and forests have been associated with each other and have co-evolved as one biological unit over the past millions of years.

Various development projects in the country, however, affected honeybees adversely due to deforestation, increasing land-use for agriculture, urbanization, tourism development etc. It is necessary to check this deteriorating trend of the industry, if this important income resource to the rural and tribal population depending upon forests for their livelihood has to be maintained. This is possible by taking up extensive afforestation programme in which multipurpose tree species useful to honeybees during their flowering should be included. This is even more necessary in view of the importance of honeybees as cross pollinators of various forest plant species and agricultural and horticultural crops.

Over 70 percent of the several hundred major cultivated crops of the world are dependent on insects for pollination. According to a report of the United Nations, pollinating insects, mainly honeybees, contribute to about 203 billion dollars every year, by way of increased crops production through crop-pollination. Physical and chemical changes in the environment, however, have accelerated the decline in species richness of honeybees and other pollinators. Insecticide poisoning has especially threatened honeybees the most important insect of pollination. The enormous benefits the honeybees silently offer to forestry, horticulture and agriculture goes unnoticed. Prof. Einstein one observed “if the honeybees disappeared off the face of the Earth, then the man would have only four years left to live. No bees…no pollination…no plants…no animals…no man”. Warnings have been coming from environmentalists and scientists from all over the world that excessive use of pesticides, pollution etc. resulting into depletion of useful pollinating insects, particularly the honeybees, is threatening to reduce our total food supply by 1/3. This is a global problem.

In view of the importance of honeybees in conservation and maintenance of natural biodiversity and in human life, it is suggested that the honeybees should be declared as a “National Insect” and all efforts should be made to conserve all species of honeybees in India.

Honey is a product avoided by vegans, because it involves the exploitation of bees. Honeybees fly 55,000 miles and visit 2 million flowers to produce one pound of honey.
Even though pollen is the honey bees primary source of nutrition, honey is their sole food source during cold weather and other times when alternatives are not available.
Products, besides honey, that come from the bee industry are:
Bee pollen: pollen collected by bees their primary source of nutrition.
Royal jelly (bee milk): the pharyngeal gland secretions of the nurse bees. The queen larvae receives more of the royal jelly than the worker larvae, growing her into a queen bee.
Beeswax: secreted by bees to help build their hives.
Propolis: a brownish resinous material of waxy consistency collected by bees from the buds of trees and used as a cement and an antiseptic.
Bee venom: obtained from a bee sting. Honeybees die after stinging someone.
Problems with the Honey Industry, exploiting bees, violated their five freedoms: To prevent the queen bee from leaving the hive, honey producers sometimes cut off her wings. Often, queen bees are artificially inseminated. Large commercial operations sometimes take all the honey instead of leaving enough for the bees to get through the winter. The honey is then replaced with a cheap sugar substitute. Most beekeepers remove all the spring-season honey. In colder areas, some beekeepers will burn the beehives, killing all the bees inside, before the winter starts, to reduce cost. Bees are often killed or harmed by haphazard handling.
Honey Alternatives: Bees are hardworking animals who deserve to keep the labour of their work. Stealing products from them is a form of exploitation, which should and can be easily avoided. Honey can be replaced by rice syrup, agave nectar, barley malt, maple syrup, molasses, sorghum or fruit concentrates.

OIPA representative-India Naresh Kadyan

asks all concerned to regulate the honey bees restoring their five freedoms, keeping in view the Indian Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

The five freedoms of animals are:

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst (food and water):

All animals deserve access to clean water and a well-balanced, nutritious diet. Freedom from hunger and thirst provides for animals most basic needs by allowing that animal to remain in good health and full of vitality.

2. Freedom from discomfort (shelter):

All animals should live in an appropriate environment. The conditions and surroundings given to an animal contribute to its overall well-being. By providing an animal with shelter and a comfortable resting area, you are ensuring that the animal remains healthy and happy.

3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease (medical care):

All animals should be entitled to immediate veterinary attention when sick or injured to avoid unnecessary suffering. In certain cases, unnecessary pain and injury can be prevented through regular visits to a vet.

4. Freedom to express normal behaviour (exercise):

All animals should be allowed to express normal behaviours. A normal behaviour is the way an animal acts in its natural environment. Enough space, proper shelter and housing as well as adequate exercise, opportunity to play and the company of the animal’s own kind encourages the expression of normal behaviours.

5. Freedom from fear and distress (love and understanding):

All animals deserve to be happy. Ensuring conditions that avoid unnecessary anxiety and stress will help to provide freedom from mental suffering. While favourable physical conditions are essential, appropriate mental conditions are also important to good animal welfare.

Read more about OIPA India

L'articolo Grievance of OIPA India on Honey Bees proviene da OIPA.

But… Is that enough?! It is generally true that change is a gradual process, and in Asia, differently from the western part of the world, the majority of the population (and so, not every single individual), perceives dogs and cats not as pet, but just as animals, therefore even as food. Consequently, this kind of amendments can be considered as a milestone for that part of the world.

What about the rest of the world? Bunnies, chicks, lambs, olive branches, eggs… all these are the principal symbols of the western Easter: why? In this set of elements, the nature emerges in a preponderant way: the common trait in precisely the rebirth. Vitality, the abandonment of the dark, cold winter can easily be incarnated by the new living beings that surrounds us, especially if they are small and cute.

Let’s see them: LAMBS.
For his poignant innocence, it has always been considered the symbol of the pure and candid creature. The religious basis of eating lambs derives from the Exodus: Jews, slaves in Egypt, stain the doors of their homes with lamb’s blood, so that the angel sent by their God saves their firstborn, killing the Egyptian ones and fulfil the tenth plague of Egypt, which led to the liberation of Jews from slavery. Currently, the sacrifice dynamics has been replaced by a business ritual, and due to the fact that market rules are imposed everywhere, this led to the meaningless slaughter of lambs. These poor creatures are stolen from their mothers shortly after birth and are murdered after only 40 days of life: this is what we call infanticide.

BUNNIES.
Symbol of fertility, almost certainly for the recognized prolificacy associated with this animal, and so symbol of rebirth. Bunnies are actually one of the most exploited animal in the world: they are used as food, for scientific experimentation, for their incredible fur… and obviously, during this period of the year, it is not uncommon to see parents buying little bunnies for their children, unaware of the consequences of their choice. Bunnies are prey, so they are generally scared and annoyed by loud noises; they have particular and expensive needs, and a life expectancy of about 8-10 years; for their natural lifestyle and because of their fragility, they are totally inappropriate pets for children (see more about bunnies: https://www.oipainternational.org/hand-bunny-book-bunny-guide/). In parallel, it is not uncommon to see the same parents abandoning the puppy, brought just few days before, because too “demanding”.

EGGS and CHICKS.
About eggs, we already have discussed here: https://www.oipainternational.org/eggs-and-hens/. But what about chicks? During Easter, it is possible to see an increase of dyed chicks. The process that results in coloured chicks is tremendous: cruel, painful and distressing. Just google it and you will find many different videos about it. And of course, what is more natural than growing up? Nothing. Indeed, the coloured chicks will turn in few weeks in a hen or in a chicken… leading to the same result of the bunny: abandonment.

So, how we relate to this festivity? As always, humans impose themselves as those to whom everything is due, denaturalising and humiliating what is not part of their species. As always, humans believes themselves better than the rest of the creation. How can we celebrate the rebirth, if we are murdering our planet and those who live in it?

Going vegan, not just from a dietary point of view, but as a comprehensive ethic and life philosophy means sharing respect for everybody’s life and this is the only possibility to really celebrate life.

Author

Paola Colombo

READ MORE – VEGAN COLUMN > CLICK HERE

L'articolo EASTER TIME: A REFLECTION proviene da OIPA.

Every year, world wide, milions of animals die into slaughter houses.
Videos and photos are available for anyone who wants to learn about what goes on in those places.

There are lots of things each of us can do to make the world a better place. However, eating vegan is likely the most effortless —and enjoyable— way to have a profoundly positive impact as often as every day. Please visit also http://www.veganoutreach.org 

L'articolo SLAUGHTER HOUSES IN SPAIN proviene da OIPA.