Posts
Entering the monthly Etsy for Animals Challenge is a fun way to participate in the EFA street team ! Every month there is an opportunity for EFA members to submit one of their product listings to be featured on the blog. Each month has a specific theme which the listing must reflect in some way. (see the Themes-at-a-glance list here) EFA has a blog that is solely dedicated to our Monthly Challenges. The Monthly Challenge blog provides a lovely display of goods presented by our artists & suppliers. Its a wonderful marketing opportunity for our sellers and also shows us how they contribute to aiding our animal friends. If you are an EFA member & would like to submit an entry, please convo our Challenge Volunteer, Jess of jessicalynneart, with the following information: 1. PROViDE the link to an item in your shop that fits the theme or has been created for the theme. 2. EXPLAiN how you think the item fits the monthly Challenge theme 3. TELL US a bit about your work/donations/volunteer work with animals or animal charities 4. TiTLE your convo with the name of the MONTH and the word CHALLENGE, for example: JANUARY CHALLENGE. One more important step: 5. TAG your Etsy listing with the monthly Challenge theme tag (see the Themes-at-a-glance list here) and be sure to ALSO keep your regular team tag in place, either 'team efa' or 'team efa cotm'. Entries that are accepted into the Monthly Challenge will be displayed at the beginning of the month- approximately one a day - until all the challenges have been posted. The first 16 challenge entries received will be used to create an Etsy Treasury... and for every 16 received after that, a new treasury will be created. These are made on a first come basis. Members are encouraged to come visit and leave a comment... our participants love to hear the good things members have to say about their work !!! A big Thank you to our Challenge team of Volunteers: Heather of thebluewindmill for promoting the entries on Yahoo Groups & on Etsy and to Jess of jessicalynneart for promoting them on Blogger for us. Comments ? Suggestions ? Please feel free to contact Nicole of brizel4TheAnimals who serves as EFA's Secretary & Blog Mistress !
Monday, December 27, 2010
HOW TO enter EFA's Monthly Challenges
Sunday, December 26, 2010
More festive EFA animals !
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas from EFA Animals !
Friday, December 24, 2010
EFA member highlights team on care2.com
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Support FARM SANCTUARY thru petition signing II
Truth Behind the Labels:
Help Make “Organic” Mean Something
An organic label means that the product is free of chemicals but when it comes to animals it does not mean much. It does not necessarily mean that these farm animals are well-cared-for creatures happily roaming through picturesque green open pastures and that they are properly fed and watered, living a life that is free of the disease and suffering.
“Organically-raised farm animals must be given ‘outdoor access’, but ‘outdoor access’ is not adequately defined, and organic farmers can cram tens of thousands of egg-laying hens into dark, dirty warehouses, with only a single door leading out to a tiny concrete slab.”
In regards to animal welfare, the “failures” of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) are getting more attention and now is the time to “promote transparency and lessen suffering” by taking a moment to “e-mail Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and encourage him to prevent factory farmers from misleading consumers by calling themselves ‘organic’.”
https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=351
That’s NOT Natural !
“Cows and pigs need fresh air, sunlight and open space to engage in natural behaviors such as grazing and rooting for food, taking mud baths, and raising their young.”
“Cramped crates aren’t natural living conditions for calves and sows!”
“The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently allowed companies to slap a “naturally raised” label on meat” where the animals were raised in “unnatural”, intensely “confined” conditions of factory farms. Such inappropriate untrue labeling “misleads the public and exploits consumer trust in advertising and packaging claims and in government regulation of agriculture”.
“Let the USDA know you won’t stand for such deceptive claims. Tell them their “naturally raised” label is not natural!”
https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=296
Remind Officials that Ohioans Demand
an End to Cruel Factory Farming Practices
More than 500 citizens, including members of Farm Sanctuary and other concerned volunteers in Ohio, signed a petition to place an initiative on the statewide ballot to “ban cruel farming practices in Ohio”. “In light of this enormous support, and shortly before the signatures were submitted, agribusiness came to the table and an agreement was brokered by Ohio’s Governor Strickland to ban and phase out several needless and cruel practices in Ohio.”
The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, which has been discussing new standards proposals over the last several months, have been contacted by concerned citizens at the urging of Farm Sanctuary, and they have made a difference! The Board “acknowledged the volume of comments they’ve received from concerned Ohioans at past meetings.”
“In order to follow through with their end of the deal, the board will need to adopt all the provisions of the agreement before December 31!”
“Keep the pressure on” by signing this petition (anyone can not just Ohians) !
https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=357
Ask University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center
to Stop Using Pigs in
Trauma Training Procedures
95% of medical centers have transitioned to “human-based training methods,” but the University of Pittsburgh is not one of the. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) continues to use live pigs in their Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses!
“ATLS courses teach medical professionals methods for responding to acute trauma injuries.”
Many of the procedures performed are invasive and cause animals pain and suffering!
Farm Sanctuary knows that “pigs are sensitive, social animals who don’t deserve to be subjected to these cruel and unnecessary procedures.”
“The American College of Surgeons has already approved several non-animal training procedures for these courses, including a human-based simulator called TraumaMan. It’s time that UPMC gets on board with these advancements and stops using pigs in ATLS courses!”
“Send a quick message to UPMC Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Marshall Webster, M.D., urging him to extend compassion to animals and end the use of live pigs in ATLS training courses.”
https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=353
All information was obtained from Farm Sanctuary:
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
EFA COTM Treasury
"This treasury highlights some artists who belong to team EFA and give to the charity of the month!"
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Why Horses are Special
My office at work is at present filled with horse paraphernalia as is my home. I still own the same horse I showed as a youth and we celebrated our 25th anniversary together this past May. He is retired and will live out his life peacefully and happily with me while I return all the love he deserves for making my little girl horse dreams come true. I have added four horses to my herd and married a fellow horse lover.
So I feel uniquely qualified after a lifetime spent in their wonderful presence to put forth an opinion on why horses are special. Although I think the myriad of reasons could fill several tomes, I will do my best in this one small article to expand on some of them.
I would argue that no other animal on earth has had as much of an impact on humankind as the horse. The horse has inspired artists and poets since ancient times. He has nobly and courageously gone into battle with us, transported us across continents, carried our mail, plowed our fields, left us in awe of his speed and enamored us with his beauty. How would history be altered had it not been for Brown Beauty gallantly carrying Paul Revere on his midnight ride to warn of the British invasion? Would George Washington have lived to become the first president of the United States had not Nelson and Lexington kept him safe during battle? How would the first settlers have survived if horses had not been there to help them plow the land and grow food, tend to their cattle and pull their wagons? I dare say that we are where we are today because of the horse.
But now that the horse’s usefulness in many ways has been replaced by modern machinery, we are at a rare crossroads in the history of the horse. At this moment we are blessed to be able to cherish the horse for his true gifts - as a beautiful and constant companion and an intelligent teacher. Horses possess wisdom beyond our imagination. They have a keen perception of what people are feeling that goes deeper than we can understand. Horses can sense something in us that we may not even know is there.
I have seen this wisdom at work in my own horses. My Arabian was abused as a young horse and has never been very comfortable around people other than myself. He is often standoffish and skittish around others. One day after finishing a ride, I was grooming him in the aisle of the barn. A friend of mine who was going through a difficult time was sitting across from him on a bench holding her head in her hands. He kept turning to look at her. After glancing her way several times, of his own accord, he walked over to where she was sitting and put his head in her lap as if to comfort her. I was astonished as this was so out of character for him! My friend burst into tears at first, but then he had her smiling at the tenderness and caring he showed.
This incredible insight is why horses seem to know to be gentle with children and the handicapped and is also being used in equine psychotherapy programs across the country. Horses have an almost mystical aptitude to pull out emotions and past traumas that a trained therapist cannot even coax to the surface of a patient’s mind. We are slowly coming to realize that the horse is the mirror to mankind’s soul. He faithfully reflects back to us who we really are without judgment or malice. He simply shows us what is.
I hope the next time a horse crosses your path that you will not only admire his outer beauty – the gallant arch in his neck, mane and tail flying as he gallops across a pasture. But also remember his inner wisdom and think of what he is beyond the physical. A reflection of ourselves and man’s special and true partner in the world.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Animal Totem Treasury x3: Fox, Crow & Dog
