#firephox

[kaijutegu]

firephox replied to your post “There's an enormous difference between animal rights and conservation.”

If you have genuine concerns with them, contact customer support in a calm and professional way. Don't go posting about it on tumblr trying to look for likes and reblogs while doing nothing about it. Lush doesn't know the difference, and they think they are doing a great cause. They aren't a vegan company. Lush is one of the only companies that sources all it's products ethically and treats it's employees right. Everything is fair trade.

dude. buddy.

why do you assume i haven’t done this? why do you assume that this was done for likes and reblogs? Why do you and so many other complete rutabagas in the tags and responses think that I’m doing this for my personal benefit, when really I just want to say “hey, Lush is doing this thing, if it doesn’t jive with you, then maybe you should know about it”? 

I am so goddamn tired of people projecting their insecurities onto my motivations. 

Also: Lush doesn’t know the difference? 

Yes, actually, they do.

A while back, Lush was donating to the Little Fireface Project. The Little Fireface project is an incredibly important slow loris conservation project. The slow loris is a type of primate that’s endangered and lives in a habitat that supports a lot of other endangered species. Protection for the loris, a cute, cuddly, charismatic species, means protection for the other species that live in their forest. In addition, the project works out of Indonesia, a country that is not known for its strong protection of wildlife and wild spaces. It’s a hotbed of animal smuggling, and much of its threatened wildlife is a result of either the pet trade or cutting down the forest for palm oil- AND protection of the loris’s forest means that the native groups that live there are protected as well and are able to earn a fair living in sustainable ways. SO you would think that Lush would find this a fine charity to support, right? And they did for a while!

And then they revoked their support specifically because LFP partners with zoos.

Please read through that link and then reconsider if Lush corporate doesn’t know what they’re supporting. 

There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. No company is truly 100% good, none of them. Every single one has something wrong. Lush does good things for people, yes, but it does bad things for conservation and promotes bad science (see: people who think elephants can talk and/or psychically transmit information to humans). People don’t shop at different places for whatever reason, and this just happens to be one of mine. I figured other people would be interested in the issue, and they can do what they want. 

[petcareawareness]

Ok so you've sent the army after me once or twice, but I've since become a better pet owner. I need advice. My Akita/lab has super itchy skin. She's 9 and I've tried her on several foods in the past, but she's currently on Performatrin Ultra Senior. She's really overweight. I tried her on BoldRaw food, but she gained even more weight and bloated from it. The vet said she could have hypothyroidism. She makes herself bleed from scratching. What should I do? Do you have a food recommendation?

Elderly dogs are often more susceptible to skin issues due to weakened immune systems, increased sensitivity to weather, etc. In the case of one of my previous dogs, it was exacerbated because of kidney issues. In your case, it seems that thyroid issues are likely. Consult with your vet about topical creams, the use of a cone to keep her from scratching, and move her into a warm, dry away safe from the damp.

Foods can only do so much in terms of hormonal and organ problems. You might want to ask your vet about taking blood tests ans the like.

—Nick

[iantojonesthebetta]

firephox

replied to your

photoset

:

Some of the jarred 11-week old Betta smaragdina...

How do you manage to find homes for all of them? Like statistically won’t half of them end up in bowls again? Asking because I may be getting a pair of Smaragdina hybrids.

Hi, there. :)

Fortunately, I’m part of various fish communities that are truly dedicated to the hobby. There’s a lot of interest for these guys, even locally, already. I have a lot of connections, including fish clubs.

These aren’t hybrids so they’ll have an easier job of finding homes. A lot of people that are super serious about wild bettas won’t buy hybrids.

Yes, some of them may very well end up in bowls, but it’d be a lot lower of a chance than, say, a spawn of your regular ol’ pet store domestics. People get domestics on an impulse -- wilds aren’t treated the same way since they’re a lot harder to obtain.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

firephox replied to your photo

“Just going to leave this here. The two strongest economies in Canada...”

are you kidding me I live in Alberta, the one with 4.9% and we have a shit economy. houses sit on the market for years and there aren't any jobs anywhere. funny thing though, is here a 4 bedroom 1 bath house is like fucking 800,000 to buy

Here’s your shit economy Alberta. And I quote:

-Employment (up 3.5 per cent from its bottom in the recession).

-Earnings (up 6.9 per cent).

-Wholesale trade (up 16.3 per cent).

-Manufacturing (up 25.5 per cent).

-Exports (up 46.5 per cent).

-Retail sales (up 0.7 per cent).

-EI recipients (down 42.2 per cent).

[...]

A comprehensive index of economic activity compiled by the government has recovered three-quarters of its recessionary loss. And, per person, no other economy in Canada produces more.

Aren’t any jobs anywhere?

Alberta’s unemployment dips to a three-year low, pointing to recovery (April 2018)

[achoirofcritters]

firephox replied to your post “This blog supports responsible owners keeping their dogs intact, and...”

I don't mind when people refuse to spay and neuter, just there is always the chance that your dog will breed regardless of your actions and the generations of offspring that come from just one litter. Fixing your dog also cuts out hormonal aggression and the risk of cancers in the reproductive organs. Be a responsible owner and fix your dog. There is so other choice in today's society when millions of dogs are being euthanized because there isn't enough shelter space.

Okay but what you basically just said tho: “I don’t mind when people leave their dogs intact but be a responsible owner and fix your dog and if you don’t you directly contribute to the death of shelter dogs and are irresponsible!!!!!” You missed the point and made it sound like not fixing one’s dog is irresponsible. It isn’t. And a responsible owner does not contribute to the shelter epidemic. Because a responsible owner manages their intact dog to prevent litters, and if accidents happen, as sometimes they do for even the best of owners, they handle the litter responsibly and don’t dump them in shelters. THAT’s what responsible owners do. This post was not referencing irresponsible owners, who leave their dogs intact, let them breed like crazy, and toss the puppies at the nearest shelter. :)

There are averse health issues that can effect dogs later in life from spaying and neutering procedures, ESPECIALLY if done too young. Also, there are plenty of ways of 100% preventing a dog from breeding without desexing. Your lack of faith in an owner’s ability to manage their dog is unsettling. There is pretty much a 0% chance of my currently intact 10 month old Aussie breeding because he lives with a spayed female, soooo... And I don’t like the guilt-tripping-based argument here.

[petcareawareness]

@firephox replied to your post “Pet Care Consultants”

Thanks for removing me from the list :/

I am not comfortable directing people to you for advice when I know that you condone harmful pet care practices. 

[petcareawareness]

@firephox replied to your post: “@firephox replied to your post “Pet Care Consultants” ...”:

Eh my care in fish has nothing to do with my care of cats. My cat is treated better than most children out there.

Most children out there are not being fed a diet that isn't biologically appropriate for them but sure.

[currnizzum]

firephox replied to your photo:“agro-carnist: annoying-animal-rights-claims: Regardless of what my...”:

You're right, humans are not herbivores. We were originally intended to be frugivores, as judged by what natural defenses and attack methods we evolved without the use of tools or weapons in Africa, as part of our ecosystem. With modern advancements, and technology, we've been able to adapt for dietary flexibility. Meaning like modifying food scientifically so that we can consume it. 2 thousand years ago if someone ate a box of kraft dinner, they'd probably die.

This again?

"Frugivore” is not a distinct category, for one; it’s an umbrella covering any herbivore or omnivore that will choose strawberries over Brussels sprouts.  On top of that, you’re doing that vegan thing where you say that it’s a distinct category from “herbivore,” but actually define it as a sort of specialist herbivore whose supposed natural diet just so happens to match up to raw veganism.  (No such animal, it should be noted, actually exists—no matter what some self-congratulatory lay-ideologue who grandiosely styles himself “Colin Ahimsa Go-Vegan Wright” and “the Legacy of Pythagoras” may claim.)

We’re apes.  Any species of ape—hell, just about any species of primate—is going to at very least eat insects on a more-than-incidental basis.  And once you look past the over-specialization for tool use (gracile skeleton, hands structured for precision grip, skull that’s mostly braincase), we have more in common anatomically with the more omnivorous species than the more herbivorous ones.  Even if you choose to eat like an herbivore: you remain a dirty, flea-bitten, opportunistic scavenger from a physiological standpoint.

firephox replied to your photo: “anti-veganism: vegan-activist-network: Photo taken from...”:

We've adapted for dietary flexibility thanks to thousands of years of hardening our digestive systems. However, If you cannot hunt the animal with your bare hands and rip into it with your finger nails and teeth, you aren't meant to consume it naturally.                  

In a word: bullshit.  First of all: the appeal to nature is a fallacy for a reason; claiming that we “aren’t meant to consume it naturally” if we require tools is patently ridiculous.  By that logic, we also “aren’t meant to consume” grains (we can’t really eat them raw, after all), sea otters “aren’t meant to consume” hard-shelled bivalves, and crows “aren’t meant to consume” snails.

Secondly: we’ve been overspecialized tool-users since before we were entirely human.  While our being over-specialized tool-users has led to us being a rather physically unimpressive species?  Not only are there people who can catch fish, birds, etc; with their bare hands; and not only are there prey that anyone can catch with their bare hands; but observation of other omnivorous primates—such as chimps and baboons—suggests that our proto-human ancestors would have done just fine hunting with few, if any, tools.  (To say nothing of scavenging.)

ETA:  In certain African nations, baboons raid garbage cans.  They find plenty of processed food there.  It does not kill them.

@fucknovegans, @agro-carnist, @iron-sunrise, @ethicallyomnivorous​.