new vegan

I hope the following list will be of some help for existing vegans or those considering making the transition. It is an ongoing work and will be updated regularly, if you spot a link which doesn’t work or you have suggestions for additional resources to include here then please feel free to get in touch.

Videos and Documentaries

Earthlings (Animal rights, graphic)

Land of Hope and Glory (UK animal agriculture, graphic)

Cowspiracy (Environment, one short slaughter scene)

What The Health (Health, nutrition)

Meat the Truth (Meat production, graphic)

Farm to Fridge (Meat production, graphic)

Food Inc. (meat production, graphic)

Blackfish (Animals in captivity, some upsetting scenes)

Vegucated (animal agriculture, some upsetting scenes)

Simon Amstell’s Carnage (fiction, satire, graphic scenes)

Okja (fiction, some upsetting scenes)

Live and Let Live (Vegan testimonials)

Licenced to Kill (animal research, graphic)

Benjamin Zephaniah on Veganism (advocacy, some distressing scenes)

Melanie Joy: The Psychology of Meat (lecture, advocacy)

Melanie Joy: Effective Vegan Advocacy (lecture, advocacy)

Modern Warrior (TED talk, animal rights)

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death (lecture, health)

Vegan 2015,  Vegan 2016, Vegan 2017 (positive, short documentaries)

Reports

Livestock’s Long Shadow UN Report

World Watch Institute Report on livestock and climate change

World Bank causes of amazon deforestation report

Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets

CDC Report: Effect of animal agriculture on communities

Animal agriculture water usage report

The Role of Animal Agriculture in World Hunger report

Slaughterhouse workers human rights report

American Dietetic Association report

NHS on vegan diets

U.S National Library of medicine on vegan/vegetarian diets

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on vegan diets

Key findings of The China Study

UN report on impact of meat on health

WWF report on biodiversity loss caused by meat based diets

Bioscience report on animal agriculture water resource use

Water Footprint Network comparison of crop and animal products

Global assessment of water footprint of animal products

Science direct report on water footprint of poultry, pork and beef

National Academy of sciences biomass and gas emissions report

Articles

Study suggests processed meat a real health risk

Animal agriculture “a leading cause of everything”

Vegan prison reducing agression in inmates

Livestock methane pushes climate change

Meat and cheese linked to earlier death

UN urges move to global meat and dairy-free diet.

What is a vegan- beginner’s guide

Why I become vegan and why you should too

Why vegans always tell you they’re vegan

It’s time to stop apologising for your veganism

Black vegans step out, for their health and other causes

Abolishing meat: An idea whose time has come

Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy meat needs destroying planet

World largest meat company profits drop 80%

We are entering the post-milk era

Rise of the mega farm in Britain

ASA clears advert branding milk inhumane

Thousands of seals shot to keep salmon industry going

If we really love animals we should close all zoos now

Free range is a con: no such thing as ethical eggs

It’s official: Fish feel pain

Processed meat ranks alongside cigarettes for causing cancer

Meatonomics: Bizarre economics of meat and dairy industry

Rethinking the meat guzzler

Budgeting Tips

Guide to going vegan on a budget

Cheap vegan groceries list

Tips for eating vegan on a budget

Plant based on a budget challenge

Vegan on a food stamp budget

Cheap vegan college meals

Vegan in college

Vegan college dorm food

The collegiate vegan

Cheap vegan meal ideas

Eating vegan on the cheap

Vegan on a budget

Cheap vegan blog

Vegan spoons and pennies

Low-cost vegan meal plans

$25 a week vegan meal challenge

Plant based on a budget

Health and Nutrition

How to be healthy on a vegan diet

Getting all of your nutrients on a vegan diet

How to lose weight as a vegan

Nutrition Facts

How to gain weight as a vegan

High calorie vegan foods

Vegan sources of iron

Iron in the vegan diet

Vegan sources of protein

Vegan sources of calcium

Vegan sources of fiber

Vegan sources of amino acids

Vegan sources of omega 3

B12 in the vegan diet

What you should know about B12

Vegan sources of fats

Training on a vegan diet

Recipes

Cheap vegan recipes

Vegan Recipe Club

Plant based on a budget

Vegan Sandra

Vegan Richa

Oh she glows

Vegan yack attack

BBC good food

I Love Vegan

100 easy vegan foods

Vegangela recipes

Vegan recipes for beginners

Jamie Oliver’s vegan recipes

Vegan recipes club

Vegan cooking

Vegan baking

Easy tofu recipes

Tofu dishes

Tempeh dishes

Beans and rice recipes

Raw vegan recipes

Vegan Society Recipes

Vegan starters

Vegan main dishes

Vegan desserts

Books

Eating Animals

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows

The Case for Animal Rights

Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction

Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach

A Plea For The Animals

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory

We Animals

Uncaged

Project Animal Farm

Striking at The Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism

Bleating Hearts: The Hidden World of Animal Suffering

Dominion

Slaughterhouse

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals

Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel

Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions

Keep it Vegan: Over 100 Simple, Healthy & Delicious Dishes

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World

Vegan Pie in The Sky

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Oh She Glows Cookbook

The Rawsome Vegan Cookbook

The Happy Vegan

The Vegan Cheatsheet

Change of Heart

How Not to Die

V is For Vegan: The ABC’s of Being Kind

Websites

Vegankit

Vegan.com

Vegan health

Veganacious

Vegan Sidekick

Go Vegan

Live vegan

Busy Vegan

Minimalist Vegan

How Do I Go Vegan

21 Day Vegan Kickstart

The Abolitionist Approach

Veganuary

Live Kindly

Movement For Compassionate Living

Cruelty Free Kitty

Barnivore

Meat.org

Animal Rights About

Veganeasy

My vegan finder

Plant Based News

Great Vegan Athletes

Vegan Life Magazine

The vegan calculator

Happy Cow

Vegan Parenting Network

Vegan Feminist Network

Veganic Agriculture Network

Organisations

The Vegan Society

International Vegan Association

Mercy For Animals

Vegan Outreach

Evolve! Campaigns

Surge

Centre For Animals and Social Justice

Cruelty Free International

Choose Cruelty Free

Animal Aid

Compassion Over Killing

Toronto Pig Save

Friends of Animals

Farm Sanctuary

Animal Place

Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary

Gentle Barn

Animal Free Research

Animal Liberation Front

Sea Shepherd

12 egg facts the egg industry doesn’t want you to know

By Ashley Capps: Free From Harm.

1. The global egg industry destroys over 6 billion new-born male chicks every year.

2. Male chicks born to egg-laying hens cannot lay eggs, and are not the breed used for meat. Hatcheries separate males from females through a process known as “sexing.”

Since males are worthless to the egg industry, they are disposed of like trash, either suffocated to death or ground up alive in large industrial macerators.

3. Eggs sold under organic, free-range, and humane labels, and even chicks sold to backyard chicken keepers, also have their origins in these killing hatcheries.

4. New-born chicks are more intelligent, alert, and aware of their environment than human toddlers, according to recent scientific studies.

In fact, many traits that were previously thought to be exclusive to human / primate communication, cognition and social behaviour have now been discovered in chickens.

5. Female chicks are sent to egg farms, where, due to decades of genetic manipulation and selective breeding, they produce 250 to 300 eggs per year. In nature, wild hens lay only 10 to 15 eggs annually.

Like all birds, they lay eggs only during breeding season and only for the purpose of reproducing.

6. This unnaturally high rate of egg-laying results in frequent disease and mortality.

7. 95% of all egg-laying hens in the U.S. – nearly 300 million birds – spend their lives in battery cages so small they cannot even stretch their wings.

Packed in at 5–10 birds per cage, they can only stand or crouch on the cages’ hard wires, which cut their feet painfully.

In these maddening conditions, hens will peck one another due to stress, causing injury and even death.

8. Rather than give them more room, farmers cut off a portion of their sensitive beaks without painkiller. A chicken’s beak is loaded with nerve endings, more sensitive than a human fingertip. Many birds die of shock on the spot.

9. Most hens on “cage-free” or “free range” operations are also debeaked, as these labels allow producers to confine thousands of birds inside crowded sheds.

10. In a natural environment, chickens can live 10 to 15 years, but chickens bred for egg-laying are slaughtered, gassed or even thrown live onto “dead piles” at just 12 to 18 months of age when their egg production declines.

11. During transport, chickens are roughly stuffed into crates and suffer broken legs and wings, lacerations, haemorrhage, dehydration, heat stroke, hypothermia, and heart failure. Millions die before reaching the slaughterhouse.

12. At the slaughterhouse, most chickens bred for egg-laying are still conscious when their throats are slit, and their hearts are still beating as the blood drains out of their mouths.

Millions of chickens worldwide are still conscious when plunged into the scalding tank for feather removal. They drown while being boiled alive.

In the “kill cone” method, considered the most “humane” form of slaughter, fully conscious birds are stuffed down cones and have their necks slit while they thrash and cry out. This is most commonly carried out by farmers.

Source: Free from Harm.

https://freefromharm.org/

Here you may find ways to replace eggs in baking and cooking:

https://onedrive.live.com/Edit.aspx?resid=2B6FDBEC13C9711D!249947&wdPid=26ed5eed&authkey=!ABs4NFogzHS4n1Q

 Here you may find an article on aquafaba:

Aquafaba possesses emulsifying, foaming, binding, gelatinizing and thickening properties. It can be used in meringues, nougat, mayonnaise, butter, cheeses, macarons, baked goods and more.

 https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ah1xyRPs228rj-tRrXUerm_OkskAgQ?e=7v79ZG

Images: 

1.  Found on Flickr (Simo la Vegana)

2.  Katrina Anna Auza.

Images 4 - 6 with kind permission from Jo - Anne McArthur.

10 dairy facts the industry doesn’t want you to know

By Ashley Capps

Free from Harm

Source: Free from Harm.

https://freefromharm.org/

1. 21,000,000 dairy calves are slaughtered globally for veal or cheap beef every year.

2. Like all mammals, cows must give birth in order to produce milk. Like human mothers, they carry their babies for nine months, then begin to lactate for the sole purpose of nourishing their young.

3. Due to extensive biological manipulation, today’s dairy cows produce up to 12 times more milk than they would naturally produce to feed a calf.

4. Even so, virtually all dairy calves are stolen from their mothers within hours of birth in order to maximize profit. 97% of newborn dairy calves are forcibly removed from their mothers within the first 24 hours. The rest are removed in a matter of days. 

On so-called humane dairy farms, cows are often taken within the first hour of birth as separation of mother and calf is considered less stressful when they have not been allowed to bond. 5. To keep them lactating at maximum yields, cows are artificially and repeatedly and forcibly impregnated year after year. The constant cycle of forced pregnancy and birth creates a huge surplus of calves.

Dairy cows are forcibly impgnated once a year to keep them at peak lactation. Artificial insemination involves invasive, non - consensual rectal and vaginal penetration.

6. Some female calves will join the milking herd. They typically spend the first 2 to 3 months of life confined in lonely hutches, fed a diet of milk replacer while humans drink the milk intended for them. 

7. Whether on factory farms, “family” farms, or small, humane-certified farms, male calves and surplus females are sold to be slaughtered for veal or cheap beef. The veal industry would not exist without the dairy industry. The following “high welfare” slaughter of “humanely-raised, pastured” dairy calves was openly filmed for public television.

8. Over 90% of U.S. dairy cows are confined in primarily indoor operations, with more than 60% tethered by the neck inside barren stalls, unable to perform the most basic behaviors essential to their well-being. 9. Trapped in a cycle of forced impregnation, perpetual lactation and near constant confinement, most dairy cows’ overworked bodies begin producing less milk at around 4 to 5 years of age, at which point they are slaughtered. In natural conditions, cows can live 20 to 25 years.

10. Of the 9 million dairy cows in the U.S., 3 million are slaughtered each year at only a fraction of their natural lifespan. Their worn - out bodies become ground beef and restaurant hamburgers.

Mama Hens And Their Babies

Its about boycotting cruel practices and environmentally damaging practices

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of environmental destruction with land cleared for grazing livestock and for soy and corn crops to feed to livestock (then theres ocean deadzones due to waste run off, theres the spraying of animal waste over land near poor communities-which makes these people sick! Theres bycatch in fishing and fishing itself killing our oceans and theres wildlife killed to protect livestock)

These companies wont listen to consumers but they will listen to the money and where it goes

Buying vegan products over animal ones is in itself environmental activism because your choosing not to fund these business that exploit animals and the environment

If you still think meat based companies and dairy companies are lil dinky farms you are really unaware these industries are extremley big and powerful

On top of that, many zoos & aquariums do so much more than just house animals. Their research has immeasurably helped wild populations, & even when they don’t have extensive educational programs (which many do), the staff, volunteers, & interpretive signs help the general public understand the animals they’re looking at, from their habitat to their behavior to how smog or ocean acidification is hurting the species as a whole. This kind of awareness is what makes people care, & caring is the only way change can happen.

Zoos & aquariums do so much for wild animals. Many of the bad things you’ve heard came from either the horrendous conditions of Victorian zoos (did they have aquariums?) or “documentaries” made by people who had a gut feeling & ran with it without consulting anyone actually in the industry.

“ On top of that, many zoos & aquariums do so much more than just house animals. Their research has immeasurably helped wild populations,”  So as I’m sure you know, few Zoos actually support meaningful scientific research (with fewer employing scientists with full-time research jobs) and of those that do employ scientists its common for these scientists to study free-living animals rather than those within the zoo. Due to the nature of any research that does take place in zoos, the results of this research also generates little information about how to best conserve species in the wild as studies of captive animals have limited benefits to animals in the wild and animals brought up in captivity are less likely to survive in the wild if reintroduced as they often don’t have the natural behaviors needed for survival in the wild. This research has not immensely helped wild populations due to such limitations. 

“The staff, volunteers, & interpretive signs help the general public understand the animals they’re looking at, from their habitat to their behavior to how smog or ocean acidification is hurting the species as a whole.”  The claim that zoos teach people how to protect animals and their habitats and are great places of education, is not, in fact, true fact. In reality viewing, captive animals in zoos only teach people how animals react to boredom, depression, and stress in captive situations. The most effective methods of education in zoos come via presenting videos, documentaries, interactive modules, graphic displays, and computer simulations. which all show animals in their natural environments and do not require any animals to be kept in zoos.

“ Zoos & aquariums do so much for wild animals.” When it comes to wild animals and conservation more broadly, most animals in captivity actually are not classified as endangered. Zoos are commercial enterprises, and their priority lies in getting hold of animals popular with visitors, rather than those who face extinction. Even when there are claims of important conservation work being done, such animals are almost never released back into the wild and most zoo animals released in the wild don’t survive because zoos don’t provide the right environment for a successful captive breeding project. Yes, when it comes to breeding programs zoo do spent a lot of money on these programs (even though breeding animals in captivity isn’t the best way to help in conservation) but it’s actually astronomically more expensive to maintain animals in zoos than to protect equivalent numbers in the wild. A quote from Zoo director David Hancocks; “There is a commonly held misconception that zoos are not only saving wild animals from extinction but also reintroducing them to their wild habitats. The confusion stems from many sources, all of them zoo-based… In reality, most zoos have had no contact of any kind with any reintroduction program.”  More effective methods of species conservation and helping wild animals would be a multipronged approach tackling habitat loss and climate change, investing in conservation programs in the wild, education, working with local communities, seriously addressing poaching etc. 

“ Those of us who know what goes on behind the scenes are out here, ready to explain how these places really work. Ask us. The more myths we debunk, the more we can focus on the care, research, & education that makes them so important.” 

Some from “behind the scenes” examples: 

~ A government-funded study of elephants in UK zoos has found “there was a welfare concern for every elephant in the UK.” 75% of elephants were overweight and only 16% could walk normally, the remainder having various degrees of lameness. Less than 20% were totally free of foot problem.

~  Tigers and lions have around 18,000 times less space in zoos than they would in the wild. Polar bears have one million times less space

~ While conditions have improved from the years of bars and cages, people like David Hancocks, a zoo consultant, and former zoo director, describe them as mere illusions, arguing that they’re not much of an improvement in terms of space.

~ From Benjamin Beck, former associate director of biological programs at the National Zoo in Washington D.C, via National Geographic in the last century “only 16 of 145 reintroduction programs worldwide ever actually restored any animal populations to the wild. Of those most were carried out by government agencies, not zoos.”

~  Undercover investigation which took place in the UK (a supposed pinnacle country for zoos)  “No Place Like Home,” which was filmed over a period of two years, has proved otherwise. Some of the exposed conditions in the documentary were horrible living conditions, untreated as well as dead animals at the Tweddle Farm Zoo and lions in small locked enclosures at Woburn Safari Park and white lion cubs being provided to a circus animal trainer from Midland Safari Park.

~ In 2014,  a healthy two-year-old giraffe named Marius was killed and cut up in front of spectators at Copenhagen Zoo. His body was then fed to the lions.In response to widespread criticism, Copenhagen Zoo’s Scientific Director Bengt Holst defended the decision, saying that the zoo had a surplus of giraffes and that this is something that’s “done every day,” just not in the public eye. Just a short time later, the Copenhagen Zoo was in the news again for killing four healthy lions to make room for a new male lion they wanted to breed. The issue of surplus animals is not often talked about but When zoo animals grow older and are less attractive to patrons, they will often be sold or killed. Animals who breed frequently, such as deer, tigers, and lions, are sometimes sold to game farms and ranches where hunters pay to kill them. Other surplus animals are sometimes sold to roadside zoos (which are typically very poorly run), private individuals, animal dealers, or to laboratories for experimentation purposes. The animals not sold often end up being fed to other zoo animals, like in the aforementioned case.

~ From Laurel Braitman, American science historian, writer, TED Fellow, and Writer-in-Residence at the Stanford School of Medicine on the practice of putting animals on anti-depressants is surprisingly common. “At every zoo where I spoke to someone, a psychopharmaceutical had been tried.”

~ Many zoos (and of course marine parks) train animals to perform tricks as if they were in a circus. Performing sea lions, birds and elephants can be seen at many UK zoos. In 2010 it was revealed that an elephant at Woburn Safari Park had previously been trained using an electric god and Blackpool Zoo proudly publicized its training of a baby sea lion for shows in 2013. This is in spite of the fact that the UK Government has agreed to ban similar shows in circuses on the basis that: “we should feel duty-bound to recognize that wild animals have intrinsic value, and respect their inherent wildness and its implications for their treatment”.

~  Its been found that 79% of all animals in UK aquariums were caught in the wild and Sea Life aquariums have admitted to taking animals from the wild as recently as 2013, but refused to provide information on how many of the animals held by them were wild-caught.

In fact pretty much any feed crop is actually processed for human use too, like literally the same plant can go to feed animals AND people

The vast majority of what farm animals eat is inedible to humans

We produce SO MUCH FOOD, MORE than enough to feed the world no problem

“ Avocados don’t really grow where I live, and that’d be my only source for fat soluble vitamins without drinking motor oil.” So you absolutely don’t need to eat avocados to get your recommended amounts of fat-soluble vitamins, Many many vegans don’t eat avocados at all! Vegans are generally on the lowest incomes (take the US for example) and avocadoes, not a fab food when you’re on a very tight budget! I will talk a little bit about the specific vitamins in bellow.

 “So yea, it’s good for staying alive, not good for peak performance in your life. Sure it prevents you from starving to death, but at what cost?” So this claim just threw me for a spin! Especially because so many athletes are turning to plant-based diets specifically because it can help promote peak performance in their athletic careers!  And i will also link to some info below! 

So basically the cost of a plant-based diet?  Improved health compared to non vegans in many areas including reduced mortality, reduced risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes, a more protective gut microbiome, reduced risk of hypothyroidism, reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers etc

Some more info and links: 

.~  Plant-Based Diets for Cardiovascular Safety and Performance in Endurance Sports

~ Nutritionfacts: athletes

~ An article here on some of the athletes going plant-based

~ And another here

Fat-soluble vitamins: 

Vitamin A:  Vitamin A in its complete form, retinol, is only found in animal products; however, the precursors which are converted to vitamin A by our body, such as beta-carotene, are abundant in plants. In fact the USDA measures vitamin A content of foods as “retinol activity equivalents (RAE),” which includes both preformed vitamin A and the compounds that the body turns into vitamin A. There is no separate RDA or recommendation for animal-derived pre-formed vitamin A. Also important to note that Vitamin A deficiency is super rare in modernized countries except in the elderly and malnourished!

  Vitamin D:  In terms of vitamin D, It’s about 70 percent of the population that is estimated to be deficient and the government recommends that everyone take a vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D coming in two basic forms, D2 and D3. We need about 20 minutes of sunlight exposure per day to get our daily amount of vitamin D but Most people don’t get this, which is why the recommendations are in place, and also because only limited amounts of the vitamin are found in foods, both naturally occurring, and fortified food, and the amounts are not enough to meet daily recommendations alone. It is a good idea though to also consume fortified foods as well as taking supplements! Most cow’s milk is fortified with vitamin D so it’s a commonly recommended source by governments (also the dairy industry have massive lobby power when it comes to government guidelines) but most plant milks are fortified with it in the exact same way and in equal or greater quantities, with the added benefit of not only not coming with everything else that makes up dairy which is harmful to health, but not being a product of incredible animal cruelty! There are also plenty of other vegan sources of vitamin D too, like mushrooms, fermented soy products, fortified cereals, and of course going out in the sun more!

“ Do you think it’s good for the environment to fly melons and other exotic fruit to parts where they don’t locally grow?” So if you are concerned about the environmental cost of shipping foods like melons to other places, you can very simply choose not to eat this food, instead choosing to buy more locally grown fruit and veg. However we do know that from an environmental point of view, even taking into account all aspects of the production and supply chain, a vegan diet is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth, this according to the scientists behind the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet (and the scientists found that even the very lowest impact animal flesh products and dairy products still cause much more environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and cereal growing). This means that even the most resource-intensive (land, electricity, water, emission from transport, etc.) plant crops still have less of an environmental impact than the least resource intensive animal flesh/secretions/byproducts and. Its also worth noting that if your concerned about food traveling around the world, 82% of starving children live in countries where animal feed is grown and is shipped overseas across the globe, just like melons and other such foods, but in massively larger numbers to feed animals that are needlessly abused and slaughtered for human pleasure. So a diet including animal flesh and secretions will always be more environmentally damaging than one that doesn’t.  And of course, a vegan diet used much fewer crops than a non-vegan diet so if the transport of food is of massive concern then a vegan diet is the best option to reduce your impact.  

“ Also, plant nutrients barely get absorbed into the human body, unlike animal sourced nutrients, they get absorbed really easily.” So it’s important to recognize that as mentioned previously.,In terms of nutrients vegans actually, have lower levels of deficiencies than those who consume animal flesh and secretions in their diet. Vegan = less deficient in nutrients, Non-Vegans = More deficient in nutrients + all the harmful added ingredients which so greatly impact health. Take iron for example, vegans don’t have increased iron deficiency rates than non vegans and Iron is found in many everyday animal-free foods like whole grains, beans, green vegetables, dried fruits, fortified cereals etc.and when it comes to iron absorption, Cow’s milk, for instance, not only contains no iron, but combining it can actually halve the amount of iron the body does absorb. Vitamin C is a key player in nutrient absorption and this is found only in plant foods like fruits and veg. Which is why vegan also almost always have higher intakes of vitamin C than meat-eaters. So nutrient deficiencies, waay more of an issue for nonvegans. 

Firstly, in the case of sheep, it is correct to say that tail docking is performed to prevent fly-strike. However, this is not us correcting some evolutionary flaw.  Naturally, the tail protects the ewe’s vulva and udder from weather extremes, and is used to scatter faeces.The over-production of wool is the reason why the tail is now an obstruction, this is only a problem because of how much we have intensively bred sheep to over-produce wool to the point where their natural bodily functions don’t work without human intervention. But is anyone breeding that out? No, they’re breeding them to produce even more wool while cutting their tails off (often without anasthetic) “for their own good.”

Pigs don’t get their tusks and tails removed so they don’t “accidentally nip each other,” they have them removed because they are kept in such crowded and stressful conditions that they frequently cannibalize one another, or themselves. Strangely enough, this is not a problem in animal sanctuaries, where animals are allowed space and an environment in which they can satisfy their natural behaviours. Is our solution to give them more space and better socialisation? No, it’s to cut their tails off, again, usually without anasthetic.