Dolphin Drive 2012

Taiji, Dolphin Drive 2012;

I could honestly talk about this topic for hours and hours, its probably a topic i feel most strongly about. I'll give you a quick over view of whats going on, and where you can get more information on it, and also how you can get involved. So, Taiji is a small coastal town in Japan, however on the 1st September, every year  2,000 dolphins are killed over a period of a few months, at least. This has been going on for many years, however in 2009, a movie was made featuring Ric O'Barry, the man who trained Flipper (a dolphin from an old TV series). This movie followed the events of the dolphin drive, and also showed never seen before footage of what actually goes on in the cove, if you ever have a spare hour or so, and have a strong stomach,  i urge you to watch it. This movie, is shocking. Dolphins are guided into the cove as they swim past Taiji on their migration, however the fisherman guide them into a cove, and slaughter them, in the most brutal way possible. The water turns actually turns red, it is easily one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch. The dolphins are killed for their meat, but it is sold and labelled as 'Whale meat'. The reason its not sold as dolphin meat is due to the large amounts of Mercury the meat contains, which is harmful to humans and can cause deformation of offspring. Also one or two dolphins are kept, and are transported to dolphins parks around Japan. This is why Ric O'Barry got involved, he felt it was his doing after the commercialization of dolphins as entertainment in water parks etc. which of course its not. These dolphin drives go on all around the world, however it was due the film 'The Cove' the happenings were brought to peoples attention. However, dolphins are still being captured in the Cove, which means something needs to be done. As i live in the UK, I cant donate money or buy the merchandise, as its all in dollars, however this may be different for you. This really needs to change, dolphins are highly intelligent creatures, and I hope that by watching 'The Cove' you will build an opinion similar to mine. Its literally an hour or so long movie, I mean you can also see this on Amazon or Netflix, it really is that easy, just be telling your friends of family about it will spread the word and help change things. Below is a quick video explaining Mercury and its issues. Have you seen The Cove? Or have any opinions you want to express?
You can also quickly sign the petition by clicking the link below, it literally takes 20 seconds;
http://www.takepart.com/actions/cove-help-save-japans-dolphins
Or you can tweet about it; #coveWATCH
or go to the website below to see what else you can do;
http://www.takepart.com/cove
Thanks for reading :)

Source; http://thecovemovie.com/

Quick Update;

After a long break off blogging, i'm finally back, everything has  been so busy and stressful lately, but i've finally got a new laptop, which means blogging has become a lot easier. So just a few updates on what i've been doing.

1) I got a place at Northumbria University, to study Geography and Environmental Management, i've already  met some of the people on my course, and i'm so excited to start! Its a bit of a change from the course i originally wanted to do, zoology, but i'm really looking forward to starting,and i think i'm better suited to this course.

2) During the summer i had a lovely 10 days away in Marmaris, I really needed time to unwind after 2 years at college and generally just a break out of routine.

3) I have soso much to blog on, and it also needs a good update, so you're going to have to bare with me on this but I will get up and running again.

Thanks for hanging in there, byeeeeeeeeeeee. (for now)

exams, stress and hibernation

i'm back again, its been a while, but i've been swamped with college work, finished my protest wall for my photography, and without being too egotistic, it looks quite good, i'll post a picture up as soon as i can. just got my biology and geography left to do, and them i'm free for the summer, and back to blogging. 
-on a quick side note, EURO 2012 started last night, it'll be interesting how much is said about the stray animals and how the Ukraine is resolving the issue.
-also, i wasn't too impressed with PETA2's campaign on cigarette testing on animals, i didn't think it was a very strong campaign at all, i don't know if this is because its on PETA2, rather then PETA. but i think they could of created a really strong media campaign, nevertheless, they are making people aware :}
i'll link it below so you can have a look :} 
-there was a protest in Newcastle on the 26th of last month, against the university's use of vivisection. i was really looking forward to going, however work called and i was unable to attend, however i was disappointed with the results, after watching a few of the news documents and videos, it seemed as though a few people, who happened too be interviewed had no idea on what vivisection was and what their opinions of what it was, this could of been a really good protest, shame people got on board without the opinion to back it up. 
-and my final note, the non-meat diet is going strong, and the new quorn range looks yummy, ill give you a quick review once i've got my paws on it :}




links;
http://features.peta2.com/Animals-Dont-Smoke/Default.aspx - Smoking Campaign 
http://www.quorn.co.uk/products/82/chefs-selection-smoked-chilli-lime-burgers/ - Yummy burgers :}




and on that note, i shall see you after exams, wish me luck :}
hope you all have a good few weeks :} 
xoxo

the 18th birthday;

so, on the 21st of april, i turned 18. i didnt really want to do anything big or special, so i just spent the day shopping with my family and boyfriend, it was nice, went for a quiet meal on the night, and bowling with the night before, as the parents had never experienced this sport (?!?) all in all it was a pretty good few days. got lots of lovely gifts, inducing a new camera from the boyfriend as my old one got stolen :{

heres a few photos from the day :)

the birthday cake, merry and pippin icing 

me and ryan cutting my cake

been a while;

so, i haven't blogged in a while, lacking motivation etcetc. however, i am back, just a quick little post to let you know what i've been up to.
-finished my 'issues of concern' project, quite impressed with my final pieces, i'll post them up here once they have been moderated etc 
-pippin, one of my two rats has been ill, he developed a large lump under his mouth, this lasted for two weeks, and a few days ago, it just went, happy times. (note to self- never google health issues) 
-i joined up to PETA2's street team, this turned out to be pretty pointless, all of the information is US related 
-found a few animal testing conferences local to me i wanted to go too, all costing over £150.00 just to be there, since when was public information not free?! 
-its been my 18th birthday (: i'll do a separate blog post of this shortly so, quick little catch up there, and i shall be back for good shortly ciao for now xoxox

a question answered;

a lot of people have asked my why i'm a vegetarian lately, and i've been getting a lot of comments about it, 'oh you'll get fat' and 'you'll starve' being the main two. so, gonna do a blog post on these three things (: 
starting with,
so, why am i a vegetarian?
I've been a vegetarian for almost 3months now, it may not seem like a long time, but i suppose i had to start somewhere. I've tried being a vegetarian before, and it was always too hard, my parents refused too cook separate meals for me, and i didn't have the money to buy my own foods. So, on february 1st, i started my non-meat diet. I've always followed blogs such as Greenpeace and PETA, and have always been sickened by the way animals are treated and cared for before being consumed. this was the main reason why i stopped eating meat, the animals pain and suffering wasn't worth its pain in my eyes. i mean, we feel pain just as much as animals do, and i don't know about you, but i wouldn't like to spend my life in a cage, never seeing sunlight, and then killed in inhumane ways. another reason for my change in diet was due to the heath factors, ive always been slim, at a size 6-8 (UKsizes) but my diet was out of control, always snacking on sweets, which i cant eat now, due to the gelatin. My fat content in meals has been significantly reduced due to my change and substitutes to meat, and i feel healthier too. when talking to my parents about it they always stood by the fact 'animal cruelty only happens in Americas meat industry' so when i got my vegetarian starter pack in the post (2  months late...order early) they were shocked to find out that in the UK, 14 stone pigs only have 0.65squared metres f living space, and this to me, isn't right. i work ina local supermarket when im not at college, and its unbelievable the amount of meat that go's to waste, because it 'doesn't look right' or its been out the fridges longer then 10 minutes, waste. i'm a big believer in the environment, and greenpeace, following it closely, i like to be aware on what impact im having so i was shocked to find out how me eating meat effects the earth, up to 100,000 litres of water is used to produce 1 kilo of beef, think of where that water could be going?! some of the many third would country this planet has. I could literally go on abou this for pages and pages. but for now, heres why i became a vegetarian (:




so, some food for thought ( cheesy, i know)

• more than 2,000,000 animals are slaughtered, every day, in the UK alone.
• beef cattle have a natural lifespan of 25 years old, they are slaughtered between 1 and 2, for meat.
• 29 million hens are given a space of a sheet of A4 paper, to live in, each.

and, ciaoooo for now 

xoxox

The Grand National.

This year, as ever, the Grand National sparked chaos and voices from activists all over the world, and i was one of them. I never have and never will, gamble for the lives of animals. Because, that's what the Grand National is about, placing money, on which animal you think will come out alive. TWO horses died yesterday, they spent hours being groomed by their owners, just to go home on the back of a lorry. However these two horses weren't the first to die a premature death due to the 'sport', there's a list of fatalities within the horses over many years. But what do they expect? The legs of the horses are too long for them to have any control over, the horses are still young and growing when they are forced to run. In my opinion, its neither fun, nor a sport watching these animals crash, face first into the ground. And really you've got to think, if two jockey's had died yesterday, would this 'sport' continue each year? no. So, what gives us the right to put our welfare below theirs?

bad rep for dogs;

y'know what annoys me, people who pre-judge dogs on their breed, in my opinion, its down to the owners to train a dog to be sociable with people and also other dogs. however, its obvious some people don't bother,because of these lazy people, who don't do this, dogs can get bad names down to their breed. i recently watched a program on pitbull terriers, one of four breeds that's banned from the UK, and it was shocking how many dogs were destroyed down to the fact they looked like these dogs, but weren't necessarily the same breed. officials went into peoples homes and withdrew their dogs because they 'may' be this breed. also, on a side note, a recent test was done to measure the temperament of dogs, each breed was tested, and on average the score was 82.8, however pitbull terriers scored a higher pass rate at 86.8%, i don't debate the fact that these dogs are not dangerous, but these results state otherwise, maybe its down to their upbringing?now we'll take greyhounds, dogs that don't have bad names, this morning, i witnessed one of these dogs pick up a toy jackrussel, as if it was a chewtoy, and destroy it, the owner was mortified. these are the owners that i mean, the owner MUST of known that this dog was dangerous and didn't get along with other dogs, so no muzzel, was warn, and a extendable lead was used, no control over this dog, and it resulted in someones pet being killed. we stereotype breeds of dogs to be dangerous, or playful and loyal, when really in my own personal opinion its down to the owners and how they are treated.

ok so,

have no idea how to set this blog in motion, therefore no motivation to post exists,so, here is a list of what i'll be posting on this blog :)

• issues that concern me, from animal testing, to animal cruelty
• vegetarian meals and quick snacks, and also ratings and reviews on vegetarian products 
• general bits and bobs from my life
• ootd's etcetc
• annnnnd whatever else i feel like blogging about :)

a bit about myself;

so, thats me above, in Edinburgh, where i would live if i could. i'm 17 years of age, and in 35 days, i will be 18. i'm a newbie vegetarian of 2 months, gotta start somewhere. i live in a small town called bishop auckland, near durham. i'm currently studying my a2-levels, biology, geography, photography and ict. i really hate the look of capital letters. and, i drink too much tea. that is all. for now.

aurevouirrrrrrrr.

aloha blogger;

as an avid tumblr user for so long, i've decided to venture into proper traditional blogging. i felt like what i wanted to post didn't really have a place on tumblr anymore. so here i am! 

as a biology and geography student, i thought it would be a rather good idea to set up a blog on this website so i could share my journey of applying for university, my A levels and of course going to uni, as well as sharing my views and opinions on different topics.

even if i only share this with a handful of people, i'll feel like i've done what i made this to do.

 so yeah, speak soon!