What a wild week it was last week in the ongoing ‘war’ between Meat Lovers and Vegetarians. We humbly present a couple of stories that the reader may find either ridiculous or incredible – depending on where you stand on animal rights and the dietary benefits of vegetable-sourced protein…
The new B&B’s Animal Crackers box. The Circus itself closed down last year,
so why not give a symbolic nod to freeing the animals?
Threat of violence cancels vegan festival in France
We posted previously about the insane war between vegans and Meat purveyors in France. The ongoing, back-and-forth campaign of vandalism and ‘terrorist’ attacks by one group on the other has already claimed the life of a butcher. The most recent victim of the conflict is an annual Vegan Festival in Calais, France.
The mayor of the historic English Channel city said he and his officials decided to cancel the popular event after it came to their attention that, “[a] series of operations aimed at stirring up trouble and disrupting public order” were in the works by supporters of the Hunters’ and Butchers’ communities. However, the mayor added that the decision to cancel was not connected to the event’s theme.
Oh, yah?
Festival organizers claimed that the city cancelled the event, “because the hunters and farmers have joined forces to make very clear threats about what would happen if the event went ahead”.
That claim certainly didn’t do anything to quell tensions between the two groups.
On the other hand, the French national association of butchers wrote the country’s Interior Ministry this past April complaining that vegans and vegetarians, “want to impose their lifestyle on the immense majority of people”. That, of course, would imperil the butchers’ and Hunters’ livelihoods. But they didn’t come right out and say so. That would have seemed petty, I guess.
Nevertheless, it’s undeniable that the whole mess, in France at least, entered a new, dangerous phase when a supermarket butcher was killed in a vegan ‘terrorist’ attack on the store by animal rights activists earlier this year.
How militant are the activists? French police laid criminal charges against a vegan cheese maker earlier this year who posted on their Facebook page that the murdered butcher deserved what he got: “You are shocked that a murderer is killed by a terrorist[?] Not me. I’ve got zero compassion for him, there’s justice in it.”
Absolutely crazy! Even after you factor-in the legendary French love of food and the traditions that go along with it.
PETA hounds iconic cookie brand into packaging changer
We’ve all seen – probably even had – one of those wonderful old-school boxes of Animal Crackers, the ones named for the famous Barnum and Bailey’s Circus.
Well, animal rights groups PETA recently pointed out to the makers, Nabisco, that the pictures on the package (apparently) show animals languishing in cages. How cruel.
“Given the egregious cruelty inherent in circuses that use animals and the public’s swelling opposition to the exploitation of animals used for entertainment,” PETA demanded, “we urge Nabisco to update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats,”
So, Nabisco caved and redesigned their packaging to show the animals roaming free. But not without some resistance. PETA originally wrote to the company in 2016 demanding the change but were stone-walled until now.
In the meantime, the B&B Circus struck it’s tents for the last time in 2017 after 146 years of bringing the world ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. Maybe Nabisco felt it was time to free the animals on their packages, too…
~ Maggie J.