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Tag(s): Animals; Beijing Olympics; Compassion; Olympics; Rights; Suffering
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August 16, 2008 at 11:16:56

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No Beijing Olympics for Me

by Suzana Megles Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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I am truly disappointed in an American nation which supposedly has
a love affair with their cats and dogs, but who are either blissfully unawares
of what is happening to millions of innocent cats and dogs in China - or
whose love of cats and dogs are limited to only their own.

If we are ignorant re the horrific skinning alive of both cats and dogs in China, then I am disappointed in ALL the animal rights organizations who did nothing or little to educate their members re this horrible carnage that goes on continuously in some parts of China. Every year we make it a point to show pictures of the terrible seal carnage in Canada - why not this Chinese cruelty?

Anyone interested in seeing a video re this horror, please go to the internet
and type in "CHINESE FUR FARMS." This video shows the terrible treatment
involved in the skinning of dogs which I believe are called raccoon dogs. Other farms also skin alive cats as well. Their reasoning for skinning them alive defies common sense and certainly compassion. The numbers are estimated in the millions, but for those who are incredulous - how about hundreds of thousands? Does that make it less of a tragedy?

Can't the animal organizations ever take on one common concern -even though each has his own? This would have been the best time to make China realize that we don't want to watch their Olympics if they are so cruel to their animals --let alone their having a poor record re human rights as well. No fear that the Olympics would not go on. There will always be plenty of people who aren't terribly concerned about animal suffering.

To Congress' credit they have tried to stop the importation of fur-trimmed trinkets made from cat and dog fur, but as always -unintentionally, they missed some loop holes which I believe they are trying to address. I wish they could have gone further and said - We don't want your cruel products-period. But "thanx" to NAFTA, I wonder just how much say we have in this regard if at all.

But as for the rest of people like myself who have at least watched a portion of the horrific video, no way are we going to watch the Olympics. If you want to consider me unpatriotic, be my guest. I will always choose compassion before patriotism. Are you "brave" enough to watch at least a portion of the video? Do it for the cats and dogs you say you love.

I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 responded. I feel that the very least they can do is to instruct that the priests give one sermon a year on compassion to animals. I am still waiting for that sermon. I also belong to Catholic Concern for Animals - founded in England in 1929. (They are on the internet) I recently sent a sample copy of their bi-monthly publication called the ARK to the 8 Catholic bishops of Ohio. Only ONE kindly responded. Somehow we have to reach the Christian teaching magisterium. There is next to nothing re animal concerns and compassion for them. They basically believe that animals are the lesser of God's creation and that gives us the right to do anything we want to them. Way wrong. We need to change their mindsets. The animals are God's first and He expects us to treat them compassionately.

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10 comments

New England native-moved to Florida and thence to Virginia and finally Minnesota. Former Constitutional analyst and radio talk show host. Former Founder and Director of People For Sovereignty and Restoration-legislative analyst. I am non party and was on the periphery of politics for over forty years-was drawn back into things after this primary season because , well, who wouldn't be. Worked with Jim and Ken Collier on voting issues in Florida-worked for paper ballots. Worked with Marlon Brando ...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Raffie AzarielNew England native-moved to Florida and thence to Virginia and finally Minnesota. Former Constitutional analyst and radio talk show host. Former Founder and Director of People For Sovereignty and Restoration-legislative analyst. I am non party and was on the periphery of politics for over forty years-was drawn back into things after this primary season because , well, who wouldn't be. Worked with Jim and Ken Collier on voting issues in Florida-worked for paper ballots. Worked with Marlon Brando ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

FOR THE LITTLE CATS AND THE BIG CATS

Friends of mine at Big Cat Rescue and Snow Leopard Trust and many Tiger and lion rescues and sanctuaries won't watch the Olympics-as for me I don't even acknowledge them.

I have no interest -knowing too much about how they cleaned up the streets of strays and what their record for endangered species trafficking is. In addition, Tibet is another criminal in this affair-so I never shed a tear over that situation either. They deserve each other-Tibet and China.

The standard costume in Tibet is animal skins and the same goes for Nepal.

This was a shameful travesty-these Olympics-a tacky, hideous carnival of greed and ignorance. I was stunned that there was not more outcry-as you say from the animal organizations.

I saw that they took dog off their menus in Beijing and I would assume they cleaned up their gutter markets where animals were cooked and seared right on the street. The loevly Asian Leopard Cats-(I have one) and the innocent slow loris, and Pangolins (ant-eaters.)

The way it looks to me is that these jaded Americans are so caught up in the so-called spirit of these hideous games that they can't see nor would they care to see the ugliness of it.

I know quite a bit more than I would like to about trafficking of body parts of the great cats and the huge business of animal trade and poaching-whether for pets or for food or medicines...I wish I did not know what I do but the horror of it is all too real.

I can't imagine living there and doing nothing. It's just incomprehensible.

I have always been enthusiastic about the Olympics in the past. This year I am numb to them. It's simply grotesque.

by Raffie Azariel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments) on Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 10:20:39 PM

I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Suzana MeglesI have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name

For the little cats .......

Thank you Raffie for your compassion. Yes, by your response, you too are aware of the cruelty so many people inflict on innocent animals. I too am disappointed in Nepal and Tibet because I believe I read that at one time they showed a lot of compassion to their animals because of their Buddhist tendencies. What happens to people to make them so hard and uncaring? My only hope is that there will be one day the peaceable kingdom which Isaiah wrote about where the lion and the lamb will lie side by side and a child will play with an asp and not be hurt.

by Suzana Megles (41 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 192 comments) on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 6:34:57 AM

Solar powered old hippie, tinkerer, thinker, living small way out in the boonies in the high plains of AZ.
jeremiah chaceSolar powered old hippie, tinkerer, thinker, living small way out in the boonies in the high plains of AZ.

Horrible video. PETA finds the worst, suggests it's the norm

To suggest that after seeing this that this kind of treatment is somehow connected to chinese culture or that this is a normal butchering technique is nieve and similar in it's twisting of the facts.. This is a classic PETA expose of the very worst criminal, torturous animal treatment, examples of which can be found all over the globe (and on PETA films). After seeing a few other PETA films showing similar deviants at work, while suggesting their work is the norm, seeing this one gives me no information on whether this has anything to do with chinese culture in general or for that matter anything about the dog fur trade and it's general treatment of the animals. Just another PETA film, ...true, but similar to those horrible accidents they showed us in drivers ed. class. Isolated incedents more than likely. PETA has lost it's credibility with me.

by jeremiah chace (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 11:42:03 PM

I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Suzana MeglesI have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Horrible video

I have moved away from Peta because I don't like some of their moves, but I am not ready to discredit them because they don't do everything to please me. The very idea that the Chinese use fur from cats and dogs is not far-fetched since Congress has gone so far as to make a law addressing this. Also please go to the internet and click San Francisco Live Chinese Markets - or something like that. I did one time and was horrified to find out how live fish, chicken, frogs, etc. are man-handled. When there was a rabies scare in one part of China, ALL the dogs were confiscated and killed - actually many times snatched from some loving owners' hands. Hardly the moves of compassionate people.

I don't know if you ever saw the 60 Minutes expose on the killing of sharks. Whether it was the Chinese or Japanese or both, the video showed the men pulling up live sharks, cutting off their fins (how painful this must be) and then dumping them over the ship's railing to die on the sea floor. If they had any compassion, they would have killed them first. And for those who hunger for shark fin soup or whatever this "delicacy" is called, I hope you decide that killing a whole shark for its fins only is certainly a "gourmet" dish you may want to forego in the future. If there were no demand for it, there would be no killing of these creatures of the sea. All I ever look for is the truth. You are not so much discrediting the video as you are Peta. Please help me look for the truth. Don't get in the way of it. If you could prove to me that this cruelty is not happening, you would make me the happiest person in the world. But as they say - words are cheap. I am looking for facts.

by Suzana Megles (41 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 192 comments) on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 6:06:29 AM

SOME SOUL

Suzana,

We are kindred spirits. My mother worked with PETA . She didn't always agree with what they did, either but something is better than nothing. She had a huge network of people all over the world that she corresponded with. Even as far away as the Slavic countries.

I can never remember when we were not rescuing some creature-even wild ones-I had a half Florida cougar/tabby named Sabra who was mascot of my beach restaurant and I was devastated at his loss in 2000. I have a bengal now named Sabra Mu-shu. And an Asian Leopard cat, which the bengal cats are bred from.

It's so funny-I feel so close to you. I lost my mother last year due to tragic circumstances. You remind me of her. No one more giving or determined to save every creature she possibly could. We filled our house in Florida to capacity with cats. I did the same when I lived in Iowa-saving cats that would otherwise have frozen to death on the farms there.

The cruelty is not China's alone by any means.

I have spent nearly all of the last year, nearly, researching and studying the brutalities of this world which are directed against animals. There is no answer to your question. The only thing I have arrived at was ,that, with the exception of some very dedicated and loving people in this world, the rest are fairly blind to it all.

How do you explain the people who are in foreclosure now-just leaving their animals in garages without water or food or anything-when they could call the local rescue groups. Laziness, apathy, a lack of soul-stupidity, ignorance...how can they do what they do? I just think there is no soul there. No conscience. Nothing. It defies belief.

And yet, you see the overwhelmingly beautiful story of George Adamson-who killed a lion and then spent his life saving them on his reserve in Africa, even to being murdered while protecting them-how can it ever be explained.

There can only be emptiness where there is supposed to be a heart in these people who do these things. What other explanation is there? I have had far too much experience with the loss and cold-blooded destruction of these innocents.

There has been a great crime committed here---the impact of which can never be measured.

And then there is you.

I embrace you, Suzana. You are a lovely spirit.

by Raffie Azariel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments) on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 4:33:21 PM

I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Suzana MeglesI have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Kindred souls

Raffie - thank you so much for your loving words. Yes, we are kindred souls and happily there are more of us. Never enough by far. Sadly there are more indifferent souls when it comes to animal suffering and exploitation than concerned ones. My sincere prayer is that somehow this will change. But I believe it was the same prayers of those also who came before us. However, we must still pray and hope because otherwise we will despair at the cruelty to animals which surrounds us. I know that we both care about human suffering as well, but the preponderance of suffering is definitely reserved for the animals. I hear no sermons on alleviating animal suffering from any religious pulpits that I'm aware of. God loves all His creatures so - why the lack of instruction from the clergy?

by Suzana Megles (41 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 192 comments) on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 4:51:39 PM

writer, animal advocate
Netanya Nathanwriter, animal advocate

zeezee

Comment from Ratings: Time someone reminded America of the thousands of dogs and cats who were mercilessly murdered in the preening of China's Olympics. The ground runs red with the blood of these lost, tortured animals, who never felt an ounce of compassion from these vile people in China who obviously have no feelings for animals. Disgusting display of human beings at their worst.

by Netanya Nathan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments) on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 6:43:53 AM

writer, animal advocate
Netanya Nathanwriter, animal advocate

Beijing Olympics Stink with Animal Cruelty

Thank you for the compelling article. It is disappointing and frustrating, in my opinion, that the major AR groups did not organize a more effective campaign for Boycotting Olympics because of and the ongoing brutality against animals, especially the dog. China's preening for the BIG SHOW, (Big Lie) involved the brutal murder of thousands of cats and dogs, continuing during the earthquake. The Olympic grounds run with the blood and cries for mercy from all the innocent animals killed. Shame on America's animal rights/protection community. What a failure. The animals will continue to suffer even more after all the glory fades from the ridiculous display of handsome human beings - who have betrayed the animals.

by Netanya Nathan (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments) on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 7:20:56 AM

I have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Suzana MeglesI have been concerned about animal suffering ever since
I received my first puppy Peaches in 1975. She made me take a good look at the animal kingdom and I was shocked to see how badly we treat so many animals. At 77, I've been a vegan for the past 30 years and I thank God every day that I am. I am most disturbed at how little the Catholic Church and Christian churches generally give to concern re animal suffering in their ministry. I wrote to 350 bishops in 2001 and only 10-13 respond...

to see more of bio, click on member name

beijing .....

Thank you Natanya. I am always reminded of Edmund Burke's pithy saying: For evil to triumph good man do nothing. Sorry if I took liberties with the wording. I have always been poor in remembering exact wording, but I'm sure I got the gist correct. I am grateful to those who have made a statement in this regard concerning of the terrible suffering of innocent animals. If only there were many hundreds of thousands more!

People tell me that humans suffer too. Does that make the suffering of animals any the less? Does that make our responsibility for compassion to them any the less?

by Suzana Megles (41 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 192 comments) on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 8:05:43 AM

Founder, God's Creatures Ministry
Chairman, Catholic Concern for Animals-USA
Licensed Counselor
Jan FredericksFounder, God's Creatures Ministry
Chairman, Catholic Concern for Animals-USA
Licensed Counselor

no beijing olympics for me

Comment from Ratings: China also rounded up lots of dogs and cats to suffer and die in 'shelters' stacked in cages to 'clean up' for the Olympics. Pets were also taken because of a rabie scare. They also crowd dogs in cages for food.
The media is largely to blame (my opinion) for sugar coating China's treatment of animals. They took dog meat off their menus for the Western tourists.

by Jan Fredericks (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 9 comments) on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 6:08:17 PM