Marley and Me- Book Vs. Movie
A brief review of the book Marley and Me versus the movie.
The book is a great investment in time and money, the movie a must-see. But you should not only see the movie without reading the book too, as the movie leaves out many details from the book that complete Marley and make you understand and appreciate him more. Both are definite tear-jerkers, and if you’ve ever lost a pet you’ll be able to relate completely to author John Grogan’s telling of Marley’s story and its sad ending. The movie, however, fails to live up to the book’s greatness, a #1 New York Times best seller. For instance, in the book there are far more laughs than in the movie. In the movie, you will most likely leave the theater (or turn off the TV) with only feelings of sadness, whereas in the book there is a much different effect. You can close the book feeling sad but also have a happy remembrance toward Marley because of Grogan’s last tribute in which he restates some of Marley’s funnier antics and troublemaker days. The movie is okay at portraying Marley’s life but when compared to the book, it lacks a lot of the important details and if you see it without reading the book, you will definitely be missing out.
The movie trailer:
Odd Animal Pair
A wonderful, touching story of an elephant who befriends a dog. Enjoy.
Chinese Fur Farms
The reality of fur is that it most likely came from an animal on a fur far who was brutally killed by either electrocution, beating, gassed, or poison, or by drowning, trapping, or beating in the wild. Millions of fur-bearing animals including foxes, raccoons, minks, coyotes, bobcats, lynxes, opossums, nutria, beavers, muskrats, otters, and others are killed each year.
The fur ads you see in magazines and commercials portray fur coats as fashionable, and a symbol of elegance. But these ads fail to show how the original owners of these coats met their gruesome deaths.
Chinese fur farms are among the most cruelly run of the fur industry- the video below is an undercover investigation and shows animals being skinned while still alive and fully conscious. CAUTION: VERY GRAPHIC.
Pledge to go fur-free at PETA.org.
Don’t wear fur. Let animals keep their skin.
Iams Cruelty
Iams truly is a “recipe for cruelty.” During a nearly ten month undercover PETA investigation at a laboratory hired by Iams, countless acts of cruelty were witnessed as well as inhumane conditions. Dogs had gone crazy because they were confined to barren steel cages and cement cells. Dogs were left piled on a filthy floor after chunks of muscle had been cut from their thighs, dogs were surgically debarked, and horribly sick dogs and cats were neglected and left in cages to suffer without veterinary care.
Below is a video of some undercover footage at an Iams lab, shot by a PETA investigator.
Please don’t support Iams- whether it’s just spreading the word about the cruelty they are contributing to, or refusing to buy any products made by them. For more information click here.
Animal Transportation- Dead Before Reaching the Slaughterhouse
We’ve all seen the horrific sight of a transport truck flying by with little regard for the safety of the animals inside who are usually jostled about, having to struggle just to stay on their feet. It’s saddening enough that these animals are headed for the slaughterhouse; what many people don’t realize is that millions of animals die each year when they are trampled or succumb to untreated illnesses, before they even reach the slaughterhouse.
According to an article of the Vancouver Sun about animal transport fatalities, “up to three million farm animals are found dead each year” inside transport trucks when they arrive at Canadian slaughterhouses. And “more than 11 million farm animals are declared unfit for human consumption after arriving diseased or injured.” And that’s just in Canada- it is a major problem in the U.S. as well. The sad fact of the matter is to the industry these deaths are simply another cost of doing business.
The numbers are very upsetting, but it should be no surprise when you factor in all the other abuse these animals face. Workers routinely poke pigs with electric prods and beat them, sometimes hitting them on the snout with baseball bats, breaking their noses. Birds are often thrown, resulting in broken bones and wings. Animals are literally piled on top of each other with no room to turn around, and no food or water is given to them during transport. The massive number of animals crammed into the cargo containers can cause some to suffocate, especially in intense heat. During the summer months, temperatures inside the metal fixtures are sweltering, and during the winter months, the animals have almost no protection from the wind, ice, and snow. Many pigs actually freeze to the sides of the trucks in winter.
Truck drivers can be reckless, putting both the animals and humans in danger and transport accidents are common. If an animal is lucky, he or she might escape injury and be able to flee and avoid the slaughterhouse forever, but the chances of this happening are slim. Surviving, injured animals are usually just reloaded onto another truck to continue the journey to the slaughterhouse.
Below are some numbers for an example of just how many animals die in the senseless agricultural industry.
Number of animals declared unfit for human consumption after arriving diseased or injured at Canadian slaughterhouses:
8 million broiler chickens
3 million egg-layers and breeders
200,000 turkeys
80,000 pigs
8,000 cattle
-More than 11 million total
Number of animals found dead each year when trucks are unloaded at Canadian slaughterhouses:
2 million broiler chickens
400,000 egg-layers and breeders
20,000 turkeys
17,000 pigs
500 cattle
-Up to 3 million total
