Cheers

Cheers to the Connecticut Post for the editorial, GeeseSolutions, (August 27, 2012), encouraging peaceful solutions to the conflict with geese, highlighting simple steps like allowing vegetation to grow a little higher (which geese do not like) and discouraging feeding that go a long way to getting them to avoid certain areas. As usual, there are easy solutions that don’t involve a rifle.

Ginny Messina, aka the Vegan RD, has set up a page on Facebook, and deserves Cheers for sharing helpful, reliable vegan nutrition tips and findings which will benefit new and experienced vegans alike. If not on Facebook, you can also follow Ginny’s blog which posts much of the same info, and also allows you to interact with Ginny and other readers. Links to both are here:http: //www.theveganrd.com

We’re giving NASA a “space cheer” for making Mars Mission food vegan. The trip to Mars would take upwards of six months each way, and so astronauts must grow their own food. Plant foods obviously offer all the nutrition they need. We’re thankful there is no discussion of bringing other animals along for the trip.

Cheers to Neil Corbould SFX Special Effects for designing animatronic horses , sparing real horses from being used in films. Read more about it here with an amazing video showing how three puppeteers become a horse in recent popular films:http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/01/animatronic-war-horse/

 

Jeers

Brooklyn Bridge Park is getting a Jeer for inviting people to an event where they used a 20-foot net to capture sea animals for participants to look at. They would drift the nets through the East River, collecting sea life, and then drag the marine life from the river to display to attendees. They ‘released’ what they caught afterwards, but no doubt many would perish from this traumatic experience.

A counter-Cheer goes out to Destiny River Adventures in British Columbia, which set a much better example by offering a chance to snorkel with salmon; a peaceful way to check out sea life. Be sure to view the entertaining Rick Mercer Report video link:http://www.destinyriver.com

‘Animal Practice’ is a new NBC sitcom that deserves a Jeer. It’s about an animal hospital, featuring dozens of live animals, including Crystal the Monkey - a capuchin monkey who’s been exploited in television and movies for years. Please write to NBC to cancel this show, and request they stop exploiting animals in their programming:

Attn: ‘Animal Practice’
30 Rockefeller Plaza

New York , NY 10112

Online, select ‘Other’ from the pull-down menu:http://www.nbc.com/contact/general/

Or post your thoughts on their Facebook page (you don't have to join it; you can just post comments on their wall):https://www.facebook.com/AnimalPractice

Editors' Note: As we went to press, "Animal Practice" was canceled, so a Jeer has become a Cheer that the show ended!

A Jeer to reality show celebrity Kim Kardashian for, as Wendy Diamondof AnimalFair.com observed, purchasing a Persian Teacup kitten, and ironically calling her Mercy. Real mercy would be adopting a shelter animal rather than financing an animal breeder, and setting a terrible example for her fans.

A Jeer to the Sidney ( British Columbia, Canada) City Council for reviving carriage horses. There was a contract to a company that had shut down years ago, but Black Beauty Carriage Tours (also operating in Victoria, where we’ve been protesting and working towards a ban) asked to take over the contract, and return horse-drawn carriages to this city. Write to the Municipal Hall to tell them you won’t be visiting Sidney, and that they ought to step into the 21st century and let horses be.

Town of Sidney Municipal Hall

2440 Sidney Avenue

Sidney , BC Canada V8L 1Y7

Tel: (250) 656-1184 Fax: (250) 655-4508

Online:http://www.sidney.ca/Municipal_Hall.htm