Protecting dolphins’ and all animals’ freedom

Following a recent accident at a US marine entertainment park that resulted in the sad loss of a human life, public awareness has risen regarding the cruelty involved in confining wild whales and dolphins.

In a new study, researchers from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom found that dolphins in their native habitats experience extreme stress if forced to have too much close contact with people.

The study, which was conducted off the coast of Zanzibar Island, Tanzania revealed that when large groups of tourists came and tried to swim with and touch a group of bottlenose dolphins, the marine mammals spent much more time moving through the water and significantly reduced time spent in activities such as seeking food, nurturing their young and resting. As a result, not only individual dolphins, but whole populations could be harmed.

Respected Canadian conservationist Michael Bailey, co-founder of the international environmental group Greenpeace, has in recent months been calling for renewed respect toward dolphins, along with a halt of their massacre for meat and capture for entertainment.

In an interview with Supreme Master Television, Mr. Bailey spoke of them as one of all animals we must protect to sustain our environment.

Michael Bailey – Co-founder of Greenpeace, Canadian conservationist, documentary producer (M): For me the dolphin is a very special creature. They have a cheerful nature and a gentle nature and they have a tribal nature that’s really rare.

Perhaps the way that, in my view, ancient humans were tribal thousands of years ago, working together. And these gentle creatures warm our hearts, make us feel alive, make us understand that the Earth is a very special place. We’ve got beautiful creatures on this planet that we share with and we need to respect them
and make the planet a better place for all. Be veg! Go green! Save the planet!

VOICE: We thank Mr. Bailey, Greenpeace and the Newcastle University researchers for your work in raising public awareness about the gentle dolphin. May such understanding help humans and all co-inhabitants of the Earth to live in peaceful co-existence. In an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the need for human kindness toward all animals, especially in our wish to save the planet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: If we want to call ourselves a civilized human race, we must protect the animals’ lives, which are linked to ours. If we want to receive the mercy of Heaven for our life here on Earth, we must first be merciful in granting the same dignity and freedom of life to the animals.

Only then can we have a return of the environmental balance that I know you also seek to protect. So please everyone, be veg and we can save the planet.

http://vegansociety.jp/tag/the-cove/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7456102/Swimming-with-dolphins...
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/dolphins-dont-like-to-swim-with...

Pamela Anderson speaks for seals and the environment

The Canadian-born actress, a vegetarian spokesperson for the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), recently organized a media event in Vancouver, Canada calling for the cancellation of the Canadian seal hunt this year.

Prior to the event, the actress had written a letter of appeal to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to spare the seal pups, whose survival is already threatened by habitat loss due to global warming.

Pamela Anderson - Vegetarian (F): This is another reason to stop the seal hunt - the environmental information that the Canadian government has now found is that the ice caps are the lowest in the last 30 years.

We are even asking this year to stop it, so we could actually have a bigger population, because their population is going to be nonexistent pretty soon.

VOICE: With petition signatures that have reached the prime minister numbering half a million thus far, members of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association also showed support, and had a chance to present Pamela Anderson with an SOS bag on the vegan solution to climate change.

Accepting the gift, Ms. Anderson shared her encouragement for the actions people can engage in to stop animal cruelty as well as protect the environment.

Pamela Anderson (F): I have loved animals since I was little, so I was an animal activist since I was little. There’s just so much difference we could make. I think it’s just really important to do whatever you can.

Supreme Master TV (M): Is our diet part of that solution?

Pamela Anderson (F): Yes! Being vegetarian is a great way to a healthy environment. It is better than driving a hybrid car. Factory farming is one of the leading causes of global warming as well.

So, there are lots of conscious things we can do. The more I find out, the more I change my life. I just think that’s what we all need to do.

VOICE: A grateful salute, Pamela Anderson for your valiant and compassionate shining star to protect the seals and the planet. Indeed, may all of humanity foster the conscientious and life-saving vegan lifestyle for the wholesome future of our fellow co-inhabitants and the Earth.

As often mentioned in her wish to safeguard all beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted the connection between our treatment of animals and the planet’s climate crisis during a November 2009 videoconference in Washington, DC, USA.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The whales and the seals are some of the many animals who literally radiate love to balance our planet. They were born here to help us to fill in the void of love that we lost through our inconsiderate actions.

But sadly, we kill them. If we kill these beings, we’re really killing ourselves. We take out the balance that is greatly needed at this time, in our dire situation.

Please inform yourself of the unimaginable, utterly cruel and utmost inhumane treatment involved in the meat and dairy production, or fishing even, as well as lab experiments or the animal fur industry.

How can we degrade ourselves into such a heartless state of being, by supporting these cruel, heart-wrenching practices? I hope it is clear that the best, and really the only way, is to be vegan.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Pamela+Anderson+calls+cancellation+seal+hunt... +Vancouver+media+event/2622875/story.html

Captive dolphins suffer mistreatment and death in confinement

A recent report by the US-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society tracking 43 dolphins exported from Russia, Georgia and the Ukraine found that half had perished in captivity and 9 had to be returned to Russia.

Indeed, other research has shown that this 50% fatality rate of dolphins in captivity is typical. In February 2010, Ukrainian officials announced that two dolphinariums would be shut down owing to massive violations.

The marine mammals were being kept in 16-meter pools where they became highly susceptible to bacterial pneumonia and septicemia, the most frequent cause of death for confined dolphins.

In Turkey, four dolphinarium deaths within just one week of in the Mediterranean resort town of Alanya caused an international tour operator to cancel visits to the site.

While there is no exact count of total dolphins in captivity, they number in the thousands, with return to the wild rarely possible. Supreme Master Television spoke with Dr. Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for The Humane Society of the United States, who explained the horrendous methods used to capture dolphins and other cetaceans.

Dr. Rose (f): There is another method of collecting dolphins from the wild, it is to hunt, and the dolphins that are not selected to be sold alive are killed.

VOICE: Moreover, being held in captivity inflicts many psychological harms upon the marine animals.

Dr. Rose (f): It’s the same four walls, and there is nothing new in, inside them, day after day after day so it must be terribly, terribly boring for them, and boredom is stressful; it can in fact kill you, it’s so stressful. It can lead to depression, it can lead to high blood pressure, it can lead to all sorts of physiological changes.

Dr. Rose (f): Proponents of captivity try to portray that they feed their whales, you know, great food 3 times a day, whatever it is, as a benefit of captivity.

But they become unhealthy, they become lethargic, some of them become depressed. They have their groceries delivered at the door, and they get ill, and they die young.

Yes, all of these things are provided for them, but it takes away their reason for living. It takes away their purpose.

VOICE: Dr. Rose, we thank you for your valuable insights and send our gratitude to the Humane Society of the United States as well as all organizations, individuals and governments working to safeguard the dolphins and other marine mammals. Let us cherish these divine creations in their natural state of freedom so that we can continue to receive their gifts of love, grace and beauty.

As part of her frequent efforts to safeguard the welfare of all beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the need to respect our animal co-inhabitants during an October 2008 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We should not allow any more of this cruel practice. Buddha would never allow this. Jesus would never allow this. None of the Master of the Buddhas would allow this. So, they belong to nature, the elephants or the wild animals. They should stay there.

We should not continue forcing more free beings into cramped and suffocated environment. That is not correct. That is not natural to them. That is not intended from Heaven.

We have to act like a human. We must be noble and kind and we take care of the wild as much as we can

Supreme Master Ching Hai: No meat, no animals product, then you can see. Everything will return to a more peaceful, abundance because Heaven is merciful. And we have to start to be merciful like Heaven, then we can experience Heaven.

http://library.thinkquest.org/17963/captivity.html
http://www.inkokomo.com/dolphin/captivity.html
http://www.oceansentry.org/lang-en/menu-news/menu-marine-mammals/2603-dolphin-deaths-in-turkey.html
http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/captivitybnd.pdf
http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/11/prop/14.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022203637.html?hpid=sec-health
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=international-tour-operator-cancels-dolphinarium-trips-to-turkey-2010-02-25
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=-2010-02-18
http://bsanna-news.ukrinform.ua/newsitem.php?id=12378&lang=en

Human impact of animal-borne disease more severe with global warming

According to scientists at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ecological imbalance triggered by global warming is accelerating the spread of zoonotic diseases.

EPA environmental health scientist Dr. Montira Pongsiri stated, “Dramatic changes to the environment are triggering major alterations to human disease patterns ...”

The recent eruption of swine flu that came from a mixing of animal-borne viruses is just one of the emerging diseases that concerns EPA scientists, who also cited malaria, West Nile disease and others that are on the rise due to such factors as warming climate and changes in agricultural practices.

Over 300 new diseases have been identified since 1940, with 60% that have crossed from animals to humans. Scientists at the US Environmental Protection Agency, we appreciate your efforts to inform the public about the spread of zoonotic diseases that pose a threat to all of us. Let us all choose to live more lightly and thus protect our planetary home, especially by selecting the safe and immune-boosting plant-based foods.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has many times mentioned the need for humans to halt the consumption of animals to avoid related illnesses, as in an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The swine flu is by far not the only scary disease - that also comes from or is spread by humans’ cruel treatment of animals. Avian flu, tuberculosis, Listeria, Crohn’s disease, mad cow disease, campylobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, etc., etc. And now, we have its more dangerous form, called MRSA, namely methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; it’s a “superbug” – meaning there is no antibiotic to cure it, no antibiotic for this superbug.

These diseases arose because we over-breed animals and create the conditions for the diseases to form and spread. Other diseases came from hunting.

HIV, the killer of 25 million people since 1981, is from humans’ consumption of primates. So, all these diseases, not just the swine flu, could be prevented if only humans turn away from such unhealthy, cruel, violent habits – the habits of raising, hunting, and eating animal flesh. It has be stopped, the consuming of animal flesh.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/deadly-animal-diseases-poised-to-infect-humans-1856777.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6930130/Scientists-warn-of-rise-in-diseases-spread-from-animals-to-humans.html
http://www.eht-forum.org/#

A call for mercy toward all beings

At a recent event in Orizaba, Mexico, issues of animal cruelty and climate change were the focus as Veracruz state government dignitaries and citizens gathered in the wish to do their part to halt global warming.
Invited by the Veracruz state government, Supreme Master Ching Hai shared her thoughts via videoconference on the effectiveness of showing compassion for other lives by not eating meat in achieving the urgently needed care of all of nature.

To honor the efforts of Supreme Master Ching Hai and the international association that developed around her example of service, Mr Alonso Domínguez Ferráez, Coordinator of Environment of the State of Veracruz, presented our Association with a certificate of appreciation.

It read:(in Spanish)

“The State of Veracruz, through the Office of General Coordination for the Environment, hereby grants this Award to the Supreme Master Ching Hai [International] Association for its valuable contribution in raising awareness to reduce the effects of climate change though the conference “SOS: A Quick Action to Stop Global Warming.”

Lic. Alonso Domínguez Ferráez General Coordinator for the Environment Orizaba, Veracruz,
November 16, 2009

VOICE: During the conference, Supreme Master Ching Hai emphasized that halting the livestock industry would not only reduce greenhouse gases, but would reward humanity through a peaceful co-existence with other animals on Earth.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Cows, pigs, chickens, fish, etc. are no different from our beloved animal companions. Perhaps people would do differently if they could just see their piece of meat for what it is, as real beings who had a strong will to live in dignity but had to die in anguish.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There are many stories in the news about cows who ran away to escape being slaughtered. There was one such case of a cow who was seen in the streets of New York City even, because she escaped.

And one of the animal control staffs was so moved by the cow’s plight, she became vegetarian on the spot. This cow was no different nor special compared to the rest of the thousands of her kind, murdered every day for meat.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Because people are so misinformed, that’s why we do what we did. But from now on, if we are informed and if we want to save the planet, we have to stop killing any animals at all.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have lived so long with them on this planet; it’s about time that we should get to know them, make friends with them for the wonderful, respected and noble beings that they are.

Thank you for being concerned. God bless you.

VOICE: Our appreciation, respected state government officials and dignitaries, as well as conference participants for your open hearts. We are thankful to Supreme Master Ching Hai, who continues to support the restoration of the Earth’s biosphere. May we all choose the compassionate organic vegan diet that
will beget the protection most needed at this crucial time.Please tune in to Supreme Master Television’s Words of Wisdom for the full rebroadcast of this live event at a later date, with multi-language subtitles.