Welcome...
… to Animal Aid’s brand new, no holds barred blog!
This is where you will find all the inside news from our campaigns, education, merchandise and fundraising teams. So, if you want to know how we feel about current issues, how our school speakers cope with the rigours of the classroom, which vegan chocolates are the most popular around the AA office, or how our fundraisers keep on making the cash that the campaigns team keeps on spending, then please visit us often.
Sick animal farming makes sick people
By Richard Mountford
One issue with animal farming that I always think is worth pursuing is the use of antibiotics. Instead of just being given to individual sick animals, they are often given to all the animals in an intensive farm shed in an attempt to stop infections taking hold and spreading rapidly in unhealthy, overcrowded factory farm conditions, and because (bizarrely) the drugs can promote rapid growth, which of course boosts profits. Read more
Should society bear some responsibility when slaughtermen kill people?
By Kate Fowler
Mark Bridger was today convicted of killing five-year-old April Jones. Bridger was a slaughterman. His job demanded that he extinguish life quickly, dispassionately and daily. He was required to cut throats, drain blood and not give those creatures a second thought. It would be a poor slaughterman who allowed the spilled blood and screaming of frightened animals to keep him awake at night, but those were the very images and sounds that haunted me as I embarked on Animal Aid’s three-year investigation into cruelty inside UK slaughterhouses. Read more
The Dogs of Animal Aid
By Kate Fowler
There aren’t many offices where dogs are welcome but Animal Aid, unsurprisingly, is a dog-friendly zone. On any day, there could be as many as six canines blocking corridors, shedding fur on carpets and throwing up their breakfast at your feet. It’s pure bliss. Read more
Wild Veganism
By Ben Martin
As an avid forager, for me spring means a return of fresh greens and the start of the wild-food year. For vegans, nature’s larder presents a multitude of new flavours, new textures and, above all, free plant-based food. Read more
It's all about badgers
By Kate Fowler
The campaign to stop the badger cull will soon hit the headlines once again. Every group associated with Team Badger has been working hard to try to derail this unethical and unscientific cull, holding political, legal and scientific discussions, building public support and gathering evidence. Sometimes people think that because a campaign is not reported in the media that nothing is being done. Headlines are, of course, the culmination of a campaign but the groundwork must first be laid. And, as with cake-baking and joke-telling, timing is key. Read more
Spreading the word
By Richard Mountford
When I say that Animal Aid produces high-quality, well researched reports, I’m not showing off, as I don’t write them – although I do proofread them before they are printed, so feel free to blame me for any mistakes! Read more
Having a blast at Brighton VegFest
By Fiona Pereira
So we’ve just finished unpacking after another excellent weekend of VegFest in Brighton. It’s fair to say we’re all knackered but brimming over with enthusiasm and optimism after meeting so many wonderful people there. Read more
Slaughterhouse Secrets
By Kate Fowler
After weeks of media revelations, there remains palpable shock that the slaughterhouse industry could be so dodgy as to be passing off horse meat as cow meat. To me, this is one of the industry’s more minor crimes. ‘But we have the right to know what we are eating,’ comes the cry. ‘We should have been given the facts.’ Read more
Thank you!
By Sophie Clements
The arrival of goods orders in the merchandise department sometimes seems to have only two modes – all systems go, or a little bit slow. Online shoppers, in particular, are somehow psychically connected, they know when others are placing orders and they want to get in on the action! The orders cascade in one huge flood or trickle in a few at a time, there is seldom any middle ground. Read more
Who needs love when you can have a heart-shaped chocolate?
By James Macauley
You know that mid-afternoon dip in energy we have all experienced, usually around 3/4pm? Yeah? Well I was definitely in that zone last Friday. Read more
Meat – A Hot Topic
By Ben Martin
Eating animals seems to be a hot topic at the moment. Over the past 2 weeks barely a day has gone by without meat or seafood appearing in the news for one reason or another. There was the horsemeat in burgers scandal, further evidence that crustaceans feel pain, abuse of horses at a British slaughterhouse, the rise of ‘flexitarianism’ and now we hear that meat from horses slaughtered in the UK for human consumption abroad may have been contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals. Even satirical news outlet The Onion has been getting in on the action. Read more
It's all about Yorkshire puddings...
By Carole Backler
Weeks ago, my colleague Fiona recommended the Maple Spice blog’s recipe for Yorkshire puddings as the best she had ever tried since going vegan. I had been meaning to try them myself but I didn’t have any of the egg replacer ingredients that the blog recommends, so I hadn’t got around to it yet. Read more
The Quest for the Vegan Yorkshire Pudding
By Kate Fowler
In the 20 years I’ve been vegan, there are very few foods I have missed. I did spend the very first week daydreaming about cheese but then – having crumbled and eaten about 4 pounds of the stuff – I never ate it again. I felt sick with guilt, and also sick with cheese. Read more
Feeding the meat-eating relatives
By Karin Watts
Occasionally, my meat-eating niece and nephews come over to stay with me at the weekends. I don’t have children myself, so each time they come I have to put my thinking cap on regarding providing nutritious meals that don’t contain meat. Read more
A joy, not a challenge
By Ben Martin
Whilst I’ve been working at Animal Aid for two and a half years now, it’s only been six months since I joined the campaigns team. In those six months I’ve worked on all sorts of projects, including our art and poetry competition for school children, the Meat Wagon tour and our ‘Farmer of the Year’ investigation. But by far the most rewarding project I’ve taken on has to be the Great Vegan Challenge. Read more
Of mice and men
By Adrian Stallwood
As Animal Aid’s Scientific Consultant, as well as an emergency doctor and medical teacher, I am often juggling several balls at once. But for the last few months, one species of small mammal has been almost the unique focus of my animal attention – the humble mouse, Mus Musculus. Read more
Kids and Crafts
By Karin Watts
This year was Animal Aid’s 20th Christmas Fayre at Kensington Town Hall. It was my 10th! This year, to fit in with my new role as School Service Co-ordinator, I helped out at the Children’s Workshop. Read more
Scalped!
By Richard Mountford
Keen readers of this blog spot will recall that I was nervously awaiting Animal Aid’s Christmas Fayre, as I was due to have my head shaved there to raise money for Animal Aid. Read more
The democratic process
By Kate Fowler
There are many varied elements to campaigning for animals. One day I might be at Westminster meeting with an MP to try to further a campaign initiative, and the next I’ll be dressed as a giant pheasant, handing out leaflets to passers-by, and trying not to get rugby tackled by ‘fun’ loving teenagers. Variety is, as they say, the spice of life. Read more
Sticking my nose in
By Richard Mountford
In theory, my job at Animal Aid is to make sure we raise enough money to keep our Campaigns and Educational work going. In practice, lots of people have a role to play in fundraising, including the hundreds of Animal Aid members and supporters who organise stalls and help on street collections – and of course the thousands who make donations! Read more
The Education Department prepares for the Christmas Fayre
By Elaine Maytum
Once again I’m busily sorting out the crafts and materials for the children’s workshop at our Christmas Fayre in Kensington on Sunday 2nd December. Read more
Hold onto your hats, here comes the Christmas Fayre ...
By Kate Fowler
The Animal Aid Christmas Fayre is most certainly a highlight of the animal rights calendar and yet I have to admit that Animal Aid staff face it with some trepidation. It’s not the day itself – which is a wonderfully upbeat affair, and allows us to catch up with old friends, eat delicious foods, and shop for Christmas presents – but all the same, it is not without its stresses. Read more
Maybe it's cold outside ...
By Fiona Pereira
… but please don’t let the chilly temperatures put you off helping out with our campaign to persuade newsagents – like WH Smiths – and supermarkets to keep pro-shooting magazines out of the hands of children. Read more
What a long strange trip it's been!
By Mark Phillips
It feels like I’ve been working at Animal Aid for years but in fact I only started back in June this year; as Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead once said “what a long strange trip it’s been”. Read more
"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness"
By Sophie Clements
Keats was obviously a fan of the autumn months and who can blame him? The trees put on their spectacular show of reds, golds and ambers, you can stay home in the evenings all snuggled up on the sofa, without feeling guilty that you really should be out for that jog, because it’s just too darn cold/wet/windy/insert own unacceptable weather condition here. But best of all, it’s the time of year when delightfully stodgy comfort food is not only appropriate, it’s practically a necessity! Read more
From Collections to Classrooms!
By Karin Watts
For the last nine years I've been on Animal Aid’s fundraising team but since July this year I’ve hung up my collection tins and tabards, and jumped head first in to the education team as School Speaker Coordinator. Read more
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