Ontario election

Health care, crime, the environment, electoral reform: the major issues in this year's provincial election. Who's talking about animals? No one as far as I can tell. Because parties and politicians don't consider animal protection one of those 'big issues' it's not always easy (or even possible) to figure out where and how animals fit into their platforms. Of course, you could always ask the candidates where they stand. WSPA has a website feature designed to make this a little easier.

This summer the McGuinty government expressed a commitment to updating and improving the Ontario SPCA Act. Of course, I'd rather see action than promises...

World Animal Week & getting the UN to address the welfare of animals

Apparently World Animal Week is coming up, Oct 4 to 11. What are you going to do for animals? Me, I'm not going to eat them, but that's kind of like a celibate giving up sex for lent... gotta step up to the plate.

On a related note (the relation being the need to raise awareness about animal welfare issues), WSPA is supporting a petition urging the UN to adopt a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW). As WSPA explains it, this declaration would serve as "an agreement among people and between nations that animals can feel pain and can suffer, therefore we need to respect their wefare needs and end animals cruelty — for good."

Wanna know more? Check out WSPA's Really Wild Events page.

the personhood of a chimp

Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories campaigns to get Pan, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, declared a person

briefly stepping out of seclusion

A few notes this month before I crawl back under my rock for a while:

If you've read some of my previous posts you'll know how little I appreciate circuses with animals. Circuses with just people, on the other hand are cool, and there's just such a festive event happening in Toronto this weekend - the 5th Annual Toronto International Circus Festival.

Other cool happenings in the immediate future include a charity fashion show for Haven of the Hart no kill animal shelter. It takes place Sunday at 9pm at Savage Garden.

(thanks to Toronto Goth for the above info)

I missed out on seeing The Birthday Massacre last week but managed to catch Swallow the Sun opening for Katatonia along with Insomnium and Scar Symmetry. I knew they (StS) were good, but their 35-ish minute set was a revelation.

Against my better judgment I'm addicted to the first single ("Amaranth") off the new Nightwish. With much less [i.e., no] embarrassment, I also confess my addiction to the debut by The Bombs of Enduring Freedom, especially "Guatanamo Bay International (Suspect Package Holiday)."

Now to bury my head in books for the next four years...