Last Sunday.
Looking out on Galway Bay towards the Aran Islands from Carraroe.
(Thanks Gerry Quinn)
Tag Archives: ARAN
Ahead of tomorrow’s Puck Fair in Kilorglin, Co Kerry where a goat will spends the duration of the fair atop this scaffold erected in the centre of town (above).
John Carmody, of Animal Rights Network (ARAN), writes:
“We are delighted the Puck Fair is still taking place but saddened that a real animal must remain as part of this tradition.
People’s opinions on using animals for entertainment is changing fast in this day and age, and to that end, we urge the organisers to commit to taking the live animal out and replacing him with something more artistic and humane that reflects the spirit and beauty of the animal, that way everyone can have fun in what is otherwise a brilliant event.
What is wrong with the Puck Fair? ARAN has stated our concerns about the welfare of the wild-caught goat to authorities in the past.
The animal will be paraded through the packed streets of Killorglin and then hoisted roughly 60ft into the air for a couple of days in varying weather conditions, where he is then confined to a tiny cage, terrified and confused among thousands of party-goers and drunken revellers.
ARAN points out that no veterinary inspections will ease the psychological problems this animal will endure and we feel that part of the Five Freedoms in the Animal Health and Welfare Act may be violated.
‘sup?
Yesterday.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Aoife O’Malley with ‘Jil’l (above) and members *top( of the Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) protesting outside the Dept of Agriculture. calling on the Agriculture Minister Michael Creed to end any further exports of Irish greyhounds to China.
Rollingnews
Fully Woolly
at
‘sup?
Further to the rescue of Benjy the gay bull by animal rights group ARAN.
Cork farmer Harold Kingston (via The Irish Farmer’s Journal) writes:
Celebrity endorsements are big business. Some professional sports people can make more from having their name associated with products than from wages or winnings. Likewise having a celebrity’s name or image associated with your product is very effective advertising.
It’s no different when it comes to campaigns and fundraisers. Having a famous name backing your cause assures you of media coverage, especially if you can create a link.
Probably the strangest new celebrity is Benjy the so called “gay bull”. The animal rights group ARAN spotted an opportunity and stepped in to rescue Benjy from being fattened for beef.
So what do the multitude of animal rights groups including PETA and HSUS basically believe? Most will be familiar with animal welfare groups like the ISPCA but these are fundamentally different. The rights groups treat animals almost as humans, believing that using animals for any work or commercial purpose is the same as slavery.
The more extreme treat meat as murder and milking as stealing. Even AI and disbudding calves are opposed as being contrary to nature, and animals should be free to roam if not in a sanctuary for their protection. I say “rescue”, but in reality he was purchased from the farmer.
… All this despite the ARAN website recommending that no animal should be bought as it only encourages breeding for money.
Where this policy of not exploiting animals falls down in this case is the plan to use Benjy to highlight their cause and “bring national attention to all animals farmed” according to John Carmody of ARAN. I fail to see how this is different to any animal acting in films, or horses pulling carriages, or guide dogs for the blind, all of which are being opposed.
Calling the bull by a name is normal as all pedigree stock are named. What is not normal is the attempt to make this a gay rights issue. It is just another way to humanise Benjy. If it was an issue then some deserted wives organisation should be shouting for the cows left behind, and a children’s group representing the weanling bulls Benjy apparently took a shine to. In fact I similarly believe the calling of working animals as slaves trivialises the phenomenal work of human rights groups.
Meanwhile, ARAN must be delighted there are ships approved to carry livestock so that their new working bovine can travel to England, despite their opposition in conjunction with CIWF to live exports. Strange world!
FIGHT!
Farmer writes: Animal rights groups and Benjy the gay bull (IrishFarmersJournal)
Thanks Maura Fay
Members and supporters of the Animal Rights Action Network protest outside Dublin Castle where Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is holding an animal welfare conference to discuss the new ‘Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013’.
Pics via Conor K. P. Lynch
Darragh Byrne writes:
“Yesterday, on Dublin’s O’Connell Bridge, Senator David Norris gave his support to this campaign for Animal Rights Action Network to encourage people to scratch animals off their shopping list this Christmas. Instead people could adopt a rescue animal and give them a second chance in life. This is a video I made of this really positive event which will move people to think before they buy a pet this Christmas.”
More here
It’s a thing.
ARAN supporter Laura Jane Dalton,with Hannah Unger, locked herself into a parked car in Dublin [This afternoon] to get your attention and illustrate what animals left in hot cars must endure.
(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)
From left Aisling Fitzgibbon, Sarah Moore and Magda Tatar of The Girl Against Fluoride [an advocacy group taking the government to court for “adding untested chemicals ” in the Irish water supply] indulge in a ‘stripping event’ to raise public awareness of their action in St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, this afternoon. The boys are the fluoride.
The Girl Against Fluroide (Facebook)
(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)
No Lady
at
Protestors from Aran (Animal Rights Fighting Network) including Aoibhinn Gilroy (top with red hand) and Bria Ni Laoithe (above) outside the Avia Stadium in Dublin Saturday night ahead of the Lady Gaga concert.
Meanwhile, yesterday in London:
Nice fur tails.
Behind You
at
Protestors from animal rights group ARAN outside the Department of Agriculture this afternoon demanding the minister, Simon Coveney, to ensure that Ireland honours its commitment to ban fur farming in the upcoming Animal Health and Welfare Bill.
(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)