The Victoria Vegan
Author

Dave Shishkoff, Editor

Browsing
Events

Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale Wrap-Up

By

Friends of Animals, Sarah Kramer and the Victoria Vegan Fest volunteers would like to thank all who came out to our April 28th Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale Day event, the third time we’ve done this! (In the previous two, we raised nearly $2500,  which has printed 4,000 of our Vegan Starter Guides for distribution in the city!) Thanks to a small army of generous and imaginative bakers, we had three tables full of goodies, and while we fell short of our ambitious goal, by my count we raised $1039.98, which will go towards the Vegan Fest. (Total raised is now $1160, with the previous Purple Rain movie night!) This included a raffle, with a ton of amazing prizes donated to us, organized as usual by the Victoria OrganicAthlete chapter. A big thank you goes out to super-star volunteers Paulina, Paradox and Ashley, and a special mention of Jon K who…

Keep Reading
By
Wildlife

Newfoundland Continues Its War On Seals

By

(Note: also posted on the main Friends of Animals blog.)   Once again, theseal slaughter has begun on the East Coast of Canada, this year furtherspurred with a $3.6million dollar investment from the Newfoundland government, promising moremoney to those who opt to risk their lives on the diminishing ice floes. Thisyear, seal skins are estimated to be valued around $27, from an all-time low of$15 from 2010. Some in NL are leery, and even they’re admitting the numbersdon’t add up and that this is just aboondoggle.   Thanks to this cash infusion,there’s a very good chance we’ll see more seals killed than in the last coupleyears, so we cannot just sit back and hope this thing fades into oblivion – wecan expect tens of thousands of baby seals (they’re killed at about 3 weeks ofage) to be killed this year.   What can we do in Victoria? Letters, ofcourse, can…

Keep Reading
By
Deer

Deer Advocates: Letter-Writing to CRD

By

Speaking Up For Greater Victoria DeerAdvocating for Human Management, not Deer ManagementGreater Victoria Deer Advocates, Victoria, British Columbia(On Facebook: http://facebook.com/groups/133471023429190/) Dear deer advocates, Friends of Animals is calling on all deer advocates to write the Capital Regional District (CRD) to encourage the adoption of a human management strategy, rather than a deer management strategy. It needs to be recognized that we humans have encroached on their territory, and continue to reduce green spaces (and predators), leaving few alternatives for already declining deer communities. (Vancouver Island populations have dropped from estimates of 200,000 to 50,000 deer in the last 30 years.) We do not need to attempt to control deer populations, as we’ve demonstrated ad naseum: we as a species are fantastically inept at predicting all outcomes when meddling with nature, with undesired and unexpected consequences often being the outcome. In this light, we really ought to be managing our own…

Keep Reading
By
Deer

Deer In Victoria: CRD Forms a Management Committee

By

CRD Meeting: To Form a ‘Deer Management Committee’? On Wednesday, February 22nd, I attended the CRD (Capital Regional District) meeting with discussion to start a program to deal with the ‘deer issue’ in Greater Victoria. Most of the time spent was from 17 presenters, who each had 5 minutes to speak, and this was followed by discussion from the CRD board. Given the spin on the issue from the local media, I was expecting the four speakers representing Saanich farmers to be in favor of killing deer. Surprisingly, most did not give this impression, and some expressed similar sentiments to the advocates in marveling at their visitors. I cannot say that killing is off the table, but the impression is that they would prefer other solutions to the matter, which was refreshing and encouraging. Our position (as Friends of Animals, and the Greater Victoria Deer Advocates) is that we need…

Keep Reading
By
Activism

Single-Issue Campaigns: What They Are and How They Work

By

The following piece is from Movement Watch by Lee Hall, in the Winter 2011-12 issue of ActionLine, the Friends of Animals magazine. Unfortunately, some activists have declared what they call ‘single-issue’ campaigns a stain on animal rights activism, and these efforts are never to be supported or followed. We believe this is a mistaken way to look at this, and so long as the effort is grounded in vegan and animal rights ideologies, and results in the end of a form of oppression, we support these efforts and refuse to allow their ideas to stagnate or paralyze activism. Read on, and we welcome discussion below. Single-Issue Campaigns: What They Are and How They Work Increasingly, activists use the buzzword single-issueto describe interventions for specific animals or communities of animalsin particular locales. I’ve given this some thought recently. And it’sdawned on me that single-issue is a misleading term. Eachindividual, and each…

Keep Reading
By
Events

Event: Vegan Cash Mob, Plus Gift Ideas

By

Season’s greetings! It’s hard to miss that the holiday season is upon us, and we’ve got some fun activities happening in Victoria to celebrate this, with the 5 Days of Chrismukkah, as envisioned by Sarah Kramer! In addition, we’re encouraging you to check out some books from Friends of Animals if you haven’t already – we have two cookbooks (Dining With Friends and The Best of Vegan Cooking) which are quite highly acclaimed, and also On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal-Rights Philosophy Down to Earth by Lee Hall. Terms is a fantastic book, discussing and investigating vegan and animal rights ideas, and how to manifest these ideas into our world, making a better world for all. All our books can be found at Sarah’s Place, in Market Square off Pandora, and if you’re not in Victoria, On Their Own Terms can also be ordered from Sarah’s online shop to be…

Keep Reading
By
Activism

Nov 26th: Fur-Free Downtown Dash!

By

The Fur Free Downtown Dash is quickly approaching! It’s a fun, activist-oriented scavenger hunt type of event hosted in downtown Victoria, and will have a fur theme, or better said, anti-fur theme! You can find out a bit more about the event on our page: http://TheVictoriaVegan.com/fur RSVP info is there, or if you’re on Facebook, simply join our Event page there: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=276401265736282 We hope you can join us, and if this is a popular event, we’ll come up with more activist ‘sporting’ events! Below are some recently released statistic on fur in Canada, thanks to Lesley Fox from the Fur-Bearer Defenders for all this! 2010 Fur Stats Statistics Canada has recently updated their information for fur stats,2010. The number of ranch-raised furpelts increased from 2,279,810 peltsin 2009 to 2,601,335 pelts in 2010, up14.1%. The value of ranch-raised fur pelts increased 31.0% to $192.5millionin 2010 compared with 2009 The quantity of…

Keep Reading
By
Events

2nd Annual Save-A-Turkey Trot

By

The 2nd Annual Save-A-Turkey Trot was held on Saturday, October 2nd, and despite the threat of rain, it turned out to be a pretty nice day for a trot! (See our report from last year.) We welcomed 22 people – 6 opted to run, 2 were joggers, and the remainder strolled along the scenic and fresh 5km walking path along the waterfront in Victoria in support of an animal-friendly Thanksgiving! Turkeys are symbolic of this holiday, but it’s no excuse for exploiting and harming other animals. OrganicAthlete Victoria and Friends of Animals both recommend a compassionate vegan Thanksgiving dinner. – visit our Action page for more info, and delicious vegan recipes: http://TheVictoriaVegan.com/foa/  Also visit the Friends of Animals VeganMeans website for a great selection of Thanksgiving and Holiday recipes: http://www.veganmeans.com/how_veganism/Thanksgiving_Remember.htm We set the walkers out 10 minutes before the runners, so all would arrive around the same time. The record…

Keep Reading
By
Events

Vibrant Vegan Cooking Classes

By

I’m pleased to introduce Friends of Animals supporters Diana and Paul, who are offering vegan cooking classes, and they are guaranteed to knock off your socks! Proceeds to go animal sanctuaries, including Primarily Primates. Sign-up quick, space is limited: Vibrant Vegan Cooking Classes Master the basics of vegan cooking with Vibrant Vegan Cooking Classes at Fairfield Community Centre. With over 30 combined years of experience in vegan culinary arts, Paul and Diana will share with you their passion of creating simple, delicious vegan meals. In less than two hours, you will learn how to prepare a complete vegan meal, including appetizer, entree, and dessert–and get to taste the scrumptious results! Each class is only $30 to cover supplies, and remaining funds will go to various animal shelters. Space is limited, so please sign up early. * Sep 19 (6:30- 8pm) Our Italian themed class will start with Roasted Pepper Bruschetta,…

Keep Reading
By
Carriages

Carriage Accident In Beacon Hill Park

By

There was a carriage accident earlier this week in Beacon Hill Park, as part of the harness broke causing the carriage to “jackknife”. Thankfully no people or horses were hurt, but it was only dumb luck this was the case, and this could have had a very different outcome. Below is news footage from A-Channel: Accidents involving the carriages occur with alarming frequency in Victoria, endangering both humans and horses. Last summer there were two significant accidents reported (here and here) – at what point is City Council going to say ‘enough is enough, we shouldn’t be risking human lives, and forcing horses to endure the same’? We have a thorough collection of information and materials on our Activism page, and we are asking people to write the City Council and let them know their thoughts on the matter. Please send letters councillors@victoria.ca and tell them that you want to…

Keep Reading
By