I’m so impressed by the passion and bravery of the Italian activists who freed 30 beagles from Green Hill, a massive, hellish breeding farm that supplies dogs to vivisection labs.

Because of their loving and forgiving nature, beagles are commonly tested on all across the world (notoriously by cigarette companies, with the exception of American Spirits). Unfortunately, a few of the beagles were confiscated and returned to their prison, but they will not be forgotten. My hope is that their story and their sacrifice will be shared and publicized so that people will open their hearts and eyes and stand up against unreliable, unjustified animal testing. 

Please sign the petition demanding the closure of Green Hill and the release of their 2500 lonely, suffering dogs.

Keep being awesome, Italians.

In case you missed it, this past week an incredibly brave activist, Jacqueline Traide, endured painful and humiliating tests in the storefront of LUSH Cosmetics (one of my absolute favorite companies, which I now love even more!), to call attention to the millions of animals poked, prodded, caged, abused, tortured, and killed all day every day across the world, in the name of “science,” or worse, vanity.

LUSH (partnered with Humane Society International) continues to be a leader in the global campaign against unnecessary animal testing for cosmetics.

Please join them by supporting their work (shop with them!), boycotting companies that DO test on animals, and especially signing their online petition!!!

As a lifelong lover of pigs (the film ‘Gordy’ turned me veg at 8 yrs old), gestation crates are, for me, one of the most heartbreaking elements of the factory farming system.

More than 6 million pigs in the U.S. are kept as breeding sows on factory farms…For a 400-pound sow, it’s such a tight fit that she can’t turn around, lie down comfortably or take more than a step forward and back for most of her life.

- Farm Sanctuary

Because most humans prioritize a momentary experience of gustatory pleasure above not only animal welfare but also their own health, mama pigs are subjected to a lifetime of loneliness, discomfort, and confusion. 

We can fight this by choosing and promoting a cruelty-free lifestyle (it’s fun, I promise!).

I may be about 2000 years late, but I’m kind of in love with Plutarch.

“Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh?

For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds?… It is certainly not lions and wolves that we eat out of self-defense; on the contrary, we ignore these and slaughter harmless, tame creatures without stings or teeth to harm us, creatures that, I swear, Nature appears to have produced for the sake of their beautyand grace. But nothing abashed us, not the flower-like tinting of the flesh, not the persuasiveness of the harmonious voice, not the cleanliness of their habits or the unusual intelligence that may be found in the poor wretches.

No, for the sake of a little flesh we deprive them of sun, of light, of the duration of life to which they are entitled by birth and being.”

- Plutarch, 46-120 AD

Do Plutarch a favor and check out Mercy For Animals.

“This is a male baby chick, in his last moment on earth. Below him is a giant grinder into which he will fall alive because he hatched male, and is therefore useless to the egg industry. His fate is shared by 200 million baby male chicks every year. He lived only for a moment, but he wasn’t trash. He was someone.”

- Mikko Alanne

Foxes spend their entire lives in filthy, cramped conditions, in which many lives are lost to infection or cannibalism, until they are slaughtered to become vests or fur trim for INTERMIX.

We’re close to hitting 50,000 signatures on our INTERMIX: Please Stop Selling Fur petition- help us get there! Do it for them.

Dr. Seuss knew EVERYTHING.

“And the turtles, of course…all the turtles are free. As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.”

(via Linnyluvzya)

If you missed our recent post, here’s the short version: True Religion, a brand that once promised the Humane Society of the United States it was completely fur-free, and a company that prides itself in American-made materials, is selling raccoon dog fur from China! (which, as you know, is home of the world’s worst animal cruelty!)

We’ve heard their CEO, Jeff Lubell, is a beloved and well-respected guy. I have to believe this news will affect him. So please, leave a polite comment for Jeff about how YOU feel about True Religion’s decision to sell dog fur.

(and also, sign the petition!)

xo,

Tree Kisser

Fight for them. Please sign & share:

http://www.change.org/petitions/intermix-please-go-fur-free