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Dave Shishkoff, Editor

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We’re asking Victoria residents who care about wildlife to write Saanich Council about the pumpkins that have been left along the Mt. Doug Parkway the last few years. While they may seem quaint and innocent enough, they’re actually attractants, which draw in a number of species to this busy roadway. Small rodents like rats or mice will be attracted to this food source, along with their predators like owls or raptors, who may swoop in and get hit by a passing motor vehicle. This could also attract deer, and roadsides are a dangerous place for these easily spooked animals. And pumpkins are also a known attractant for bears, raccoons, squirrels and other birds. It’s also against the law – Saanich quotes the BC Wildlife Act laws against attractants: And it’s also littering. (A reminder that even ‘compostable’ food products should never be discarded on a roadside, which similarly can attract…

The 2024 Save-A-Turkey Trot was held on October 5th, and was the 9th edition of the event! The Victoria Vegan has bee a co-host of the event for a number of years, and we’ll be back for the 10th edition in 2025! In the meantime, find the full report here at AboutTheRide.ca, the host this year, fundraising for A Home For Hooves. And be sure to check out all our past reports, including the very first edition from 2010!

The site was originally designed in 2006, hand-coded from scratch, and not terribly fun to update, but it served its purpose and hosted all the info we need! But it desperately needed an update, and while it’s been on my radar for a few years, just didn’t have time to get around to it until now. Very happy with the new look, it’s on Wordpress now and can focus on serving up stories and sharing local resources in a much more dynamic way! I’ve started with importing the blog from the old system, and will continue to update the site in the upcoming weeks. I’ll restore all our activism resources (some neat content that goes back quite a way!), add listings to local groups and orgs, and have some plans to display all the local vegan and vegan-friendly venues in a much more modern way. (Tho nothing wrong with a…

Hello Victoria, just a quick update, that the website is now back!   The “.com” domain name was stolen (domain registrar didn’t alert that it was expiring, then was bought by another entity, I suspect in cahoots, who now wants hundreds for it), but I picked up the “.ca” domain name instead, and have finally gotten around to setting up the new domain and revising a bunch of the pages. (Apologies that older posts still have the “.com”, am planning to update as well!)   Head over to TheVictoriaVegan.ca and enjoy all the original content (going back as far as 2006, it’s a bit of a history of veganism and animal rights in Victoria!), and I’m planning to continue to update in the coming weeks, thanks for sticking with us. =)   Dave Shishkoff, Editor www.TheVictoriaVegan.ca   Facebook Page: Facebook.com/TheVictoriaVegan Facebook Discussion Group: /groups/TheVictoriaVegan

It’s been a few years, but the OrganicAthlete Victoria Save-A-Turkey Trot is back for the fifth Trot! It’s a fun 5k run/walk/trot and this year it’s also a fundraiser for A Home for Hooves and RASTA animal sanctuaries. (It’s so nice to have animal sanctuaries on the island now, this wasn’t the case when we started this event several years ago.) Our goal is to get people to consider their Thanksgiving meal and especially the turkeys, and consider all the amazing vegan options we have now – here’s a sample of offerings from VeganSupply.ca! It turned out to be a beautiful day on October 6th, and we were happy to welcome 29 people to the event! About half joined in the walk, the other half ran for a time, and all had a great time! We also held a little trivia game for participants to win an extra prize, but…

I’m very excited to announce a new project to promote veganism: VeganStart.org is accessible and practical, and offers an introduction and stepping stone to veganism. For those who might find it challenging to commit fully to a vegan diet, or a 7 day ‘kickstart’, this could be what’s needed to give veganism a try. The program is focused on the start of the day for many people: breakfast. And with a relatively small range of foods most have for breakfast, it’s a much easier change. It will also influence the rest of the day: if someone uses a non-dairy milk in their coffee in the morning, chances are they’ll reach for something similar later in the day. And what’s more, when ready to commit fully to veganism, good habits will have been established, and the transition will be significantly easier, having already experienced vegan meals regularly. The other side of this…

Does Anyone Go Vegan After Being Yelled At?Considering Why We Need To Be More Mindful With How We Protest Last weekend, Vancouver-based activists from Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and new Victoria group The Critical Cat (formerly The Raging Kucing) allied for a number of actions, including a protest of the downtown restaurant ‘pig’. You can view the ‘viral video’ from the perspective of a ‘pig’ patron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdexwwpBD8Y CTV’s report: http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=498026 Jordan from The Critical Cat also produced a video from his perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjmzg1e27Bg For some, this might be an upsetting or frustrating article. For others (likely more introverted), this could be a more refreshing perspective. Image Source Let’s begin with the title: does anyone go vegan after being yelled at? Has anyone gone vegan after finding themselves in a situation like this? Anyone at all? Alternatively, has anyone gone vegan after seeing footage like this? (Part of the goal of the action…

Please help make it clear to candidates this is an election issue for you, and you’re interested in their position so you can make an informed choice at the polls on November 15th. You can simply ask: “What is your position on the horse-drawn carriages?” or ask for more specifics. Please take a minute to write and ask, so that they’re aware the public are interested in this issue. The horses need your voice. Here is a listing of Mayoral candidates: media@stephenandrew.ca; rmduncan2@outlook.com; idachongvictoria@gmail.com; campaign@deanfortin.ca; rgodron@uvic.ca; lisa@lisahelpsvictoria.ca; jasondeanross@gmail.com; shebibd@yahoo.ca Here is a listing of the City Council candidates: candidate@mariannealto.ca; voteforsaul@gmail.com; jonathan.carroll.jc@gmail.com; thecmcs@telus.net; greens@stevefilipovic.ca; hilarygroos55@gmail.com; citycouncillorjames@gmail.com; info@votehoar.com; ben@isitt.ca; e.kaye@shaw.ca; loveday.jeremy@gmail.com; margaret@margaretlucas.ca; johnluton@shaw.ca; gord@gmackinnon.ca; pmadoff@shaw.ca; ryanmoen@hotmail.com; smurray521@gmail.com; jeffrey.olafson@gmail.com; andrewreeve@gmail.com; pservos@shaw.ca; campaign@justinstephenson.ca; propagander@hotmail.com; thorntonjoe@shaw.ca; geoffyoung@dec.dc.ca Thank you for writing, and please help get word out by sharing this photo and info! (Source for email addresses: http://www.victoria.ca/assets/Departments/Legislative~Services/candidate_profile_guide_2014.pdf ) Dave Shishkoff, Editor www.TheVictoriaVegan.com   Facebook Page:…

On Wednesday, October 15th I attended the Wildlife Co-Existence Event organized by the Vegan Congress at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. I was flattered to be included (with a vastly more knowledgeable panel) featuring Dan Straker,  Urban Wildlife Coordinator of the Stanley Park Ecology Society, Dr. Sara Dubois, Chief Scientific Officer from the BC SPCA and WildARC, and Marcy Potter from the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals. Dan spoke about coyotes in Vancouver (did you know they’re relatively new to the Vancouver area, and there are about 3,000 living in Greater Vancouver? Oh, and none on Vancouver Island!), Sara focused on the problems with feeding wildlife, and offered a great sentiment: feeding wildlife ought to have the same stigma as polluting – it’s harmful, and just not cool or acceptable. Marcy spoke primarily about APFA’s programs on beavers, which I’ve also had the pleasure of helping with. (See post…

Just a quick update for our friends on Facebook, we now have our own page! Be sure to ‘Like’ us, you can already see that news stories, events and more are posted regularly! We’ll still post bigger features here of course, but for smaller updates, join us over there:https://www.facebook.com/TheVictoriaVegan (Our large discussion group is still there as well, see my signature below for the link to join our community!) Dave Shishkoff, Editor www.TheVictoriaVegan.com Facebook: /groups/TheVictoriaVegan