A Grand Day Out

Posted on 02/06/2013 by PiellaGibson

The weather has progressed beautifully in recent weeks. The sun has begun to burn the backs of the British people, convertibles are out, bikes are everywhere and the ice cream van’s distinctive tune fills up the background. You can hear the birds chirping, children screaming as they enjoy scuffing their knees with grass stains and the hum of someone cutting the grass with their lawn mower. It’s lovely and rare in this country, or at least that is how it feels. I’ve just got back from my holiday to Anglesey in Wales and apart from the odd day, it has been absolutely joyous.

Though I can’t help but think about one thing in particular, mainly because it’s the season when it happens most often.

Dogs being left behind in hot cars.

Last year when the weather was briefly this nice, my family and I needed a few bits from Morrisons, so we drove together and parked up on the car park, as you do. We noticed the car parked ahead of us had a white, small, fluffy dog sat panting on the parcel shelf at the back. The dog didn’t look overly distressed, though you could tell the car was warming up because the windows were slightly steamed up from the breathing of the animal.

We finished our shopping and got back to the car. The poor dog was still there, sat on the parcel shelf waiting for its owner. So we ourselves waited ten minutes or so, my Dad not wanting to leave until he knew the dog was okay. So we waited and waited, but the owner didn’t come. There were no windows open on this car, no shade and as most people already know, a car is like an oven in hot weather. When the outdoor world is 22°C, the indoor of a car is 47°C. An animal in this environment, unable to cool down and deprived of water, could die within 20 minutes.

In annoyance, my Dad got out the car and checked for any windows open, any water inside the car for the dog, but there was nothing, so he phoned the RSPCA Cruelty Line and reported the owner. But just as he was about to give details, the uncaring man who owned the dog, came strolling back to the car with his shopping. My Dad got out and went straight up to him, telling him that it’s illegal to leave a dog in a hot car without water, without the windows down, etc. The man just grumbled and proceeded to load his shopping into the car and because there was nothing else we could do, we got ready to leave. As we were leaving, another man driving past, wound down his window and said a similar thing to him, he too clearly not happy with the dog being left in the car.

Some people think that winding the window down slightly, is a sufficient enough precaution before leaving a dog in a car. But to be perfectly honest, it isn’t. The car still heats up and the dog will still suffer, possibly from heatstroke.

If you intend to go out on a hot day, please prepare what you’re going to do before taking your dog with you. Make sure the locations you’re going to allow pets, so that you don’t resort to leaving the dog in the car and thinking, “She’ll be alright, we won’t be long.”

They’re part of the family, so treat them as such and don’t let them suffer, at all.

If you want more details about this, you can visit the RSPCA website.

Thank You

Iona Gibson (PiellaGibson)

Mali the Elephant

Posted on 17/05/2013 by PiellaGibson

Mali

I recently heard about an elephant called Mali, who has spent the majority of her life in captivity and without the company of another elephant. She’s lonely, in pain and watched day in day out at the Manila Zoo. I wanted to personally write a long blog about her to explain her life, but the website Free Mali does it best. So here is her life:

“Mali was still a nursing baby when she was taken from her home and family in Sri Lanka, where she was just learning how to swim, roughhouse with her cousins, and find her own food. For more than 36 years, Mali has been confined to a barren, concrete enclosure at the Manila Zoo.

Wild elephants engage in activities for up to 20 hours every day, moving about and socializing with other elephants. The entire Manila Zoo measures only 0.055 square kilometers, and Mali’s enclosure is one small piece of that. For her physical well-being, Mali needs grass to cushion her aching joints and room to move, not a cramped cage. For her emotional health, Mali needs the company of other elephants. She hasn’t seen another elephant in more than 30 years.

Mali has been denied proper veterinary care. In the entire time she has been at the zoo, she has never received proper preventative foot care—something every reputable zoo in the world provides—or even basic blood work. Joint and foot problems are the leading cause of death in captive elephants, and elephant expert Dr. Henry Richardson, who flew to Manila to examine Mali at PETA’s expense, determined that Mali already suffers from potentially fatal cracked nails and foot pads, which are open to infection, and overgrown cuticles. Since PETA alerted the zoo to Mali’s problems, the zoo hasn’t brought in a single elephant expert to help her.

But Mali has an opportunity for a second chance at life. A sanctuary would be able to provide Mali with vast spaces to roam, ponds to bathe in, fresh vegetation, foraging opportunities, and the company of many other elephants. Please urge authorities to take immediate action to transfer Mali to a sanctuary. Her health and her sanity depend on it.“

If you wish to help Mali, I’ll insert a link below. She needs all the help she can get.

http://www.freemali.com/take-action.aspx

You can also send your photo into the cause to help get Mali Freed.

Maya and I

Thanks

Iona Gibson (PiellaGibson)

Mali

I Despise This World and All its Cruelties.

Posted on 18/04/2013 by PiellaGibson

Daisy

Before I start, I have to state that this is utterly and completely a rant. I haven’t had a rant in a while, and to be perfectly honest with anyone who reads this, I am so revved up with annoyance, so utterly ashamed of the things that go on in this world behind closed doors, that it feels the right time to get this built up anger off my chest.

So here goes…

I get a lot of post through the letterbox from various charities about animal cruelty and I know I talk about it a lot on here. But today, I got two letters through, both as horrific as each other and I honestly cannot believe people, human living beings, men and women, people who will have families, who are supposed to care, don’t give two craps about animals, JUST because they can’t speak the English language, just because they can’t tell us they’re in immense pain or are terrified of what will happen to them next.

One of the letters was to do with animal testing. I’ve had countless amounts of letters through the door about the varying cruelty and even though the information is drummed, stamped, tattooed on my memory, it still makes me want to cry every single time I read what is on the paper. Today however, this letter focused solely on mice. Now, I currently have two pet mice, Jasper and Tilly, and over the years I’ve kept many mice as pets. First I had Patches and Squeak, when they passed on I had Betty, Annie and Daisy. I then had Jasper, Belle and Tilly, Belle having recently passed away. I understand fully that these animals are intelligent. They are, no matter what people say because I’ve witnessed their clever ways. They may fit in your hand, but that doesn’t make them any less important than a pet cat or dog. In fact, just because animals are animals, doesn’t make them any less important than humans. And yet every single day of every single year, cruelty is inflicted on mice, cats, dogs, rats, birds. Some of the things I saw in this letter, some of the images, God! I cannot express to you how angry it makes me that I can do so very little to stop it.

Most people’s days aren’t affected by these issues. Most people go to the supermarket, pick up the

Belle

things they need, some chicken for tea, some bacon for their dinner, shampoo for their hair because they’ve run out that morning, moisturising cream for their hands because they’re dry, some paracetamol for their headache. And the price of things tends to be people’s main concern, which I can completely understand given the fact that I myself and my family aren’t the richest people in the world.

Though when I go out shopping (as well as the minority of people who are truly concerned for the welfare of animals), all I see is those images that made me shout at the computer screen, those sentences that brought me to tears, that video that made me slam my fists on the desk in anger. I can’t buy meat without checking it’s high welfare, I can’t buy some shampoo unless I know it’s not harmed a poor innocent animal in a cold, heartless lab. I can’t buy anything without wondering if an animal suffered for my own vanity.

But if I can’t do those things, how on earth can these people actually conduct these tests on mice? How can people abuse animals on factory farms without feeling guilt? How can people eat Foie Gras? How how how? It completely baffles me.

How can anyone be so cruel?

And what can I do? Sure I can buy cruelty-free shampoo and washing powder. I can check where my meat has come from, refuse to wear fur and buy leather, donate an almost none-existent earnings to charities. But I can’t physically stop this cruelty. I want to go into those labs, storms those “farms”, yank open the cages housings animals meant for a fur coat and let the animals understand love and caring and human compassion. But I can’t and it infuriates me that I sit here on a daily basis thinking about myself rather than being out there HELPING them. I want to help them so badly.

I keep thinking recently, that I actually love animals more than humans and to be honest, I’m starting to believe that whole-heartedly. Animals are incredible creatures. Humans can be incredible, but we can also be so so selfish, and cruel and utterly heartless.

Sorry for the rant

Iona Gibson (PiellaGibson)