She innovates. When you first encountered her, she was so shy she hid herself beneath an improvised shield. Discreet, she scrutinised you with one of her keen eyes. Always eager to learn, perhaps she wondered: are you a threat?

Plunging in clear water to clear your mind from the chaos of the world, and here you are – meeting her. Entering her world of mesmerizing colours and diverse communities. Slowly, you build trust with her. Day by day, you both become closer. You let her hold your hand… 

She becomes your teacher.

As she is an octopus and you are a human, she teaches you how to relate to other creatures. You slow down to notice the traces of each and every animal1, the diversity of the environment. In the three dimensions of the South African ocean, you learn to reconnect with your own inner animal as the rift between the animal and you narrows. You discover that you too belong to the natural world.

She was striking, a tiny creature full of wonderful arms, and you became enthralled. Because she was the only one of her species, she stood out and you saw her as one of a kind. You saw schools of fish since you conceptualised them as a group, not individuals. You perceived the individuality of this octopus.

You spent time with her, got to know her and her temperament. Through your daily encounters you created a cross-species bond like you had never encountered before. She was living in such a different world, she had neurons in her arms, no bones, and still she was witty. How strange is it that you had to dive so far away from your comfort zone to connect with another animal to such a deep extent?

A surprising relationship.

From over 20 years of filming documentaries, and living in a divide between most humans and other animals, between our civilisation and what we distantly call « nature », Craig Foster became depressed. The documentary maker was scuba diving into the eerie forests of kelp to heal his soul. Deep under the sea, the octopus taught him he was part of the natural world. For she has purpose, can fear and love, she is an actress in her environment. My octopus teacher, a 2021 Oscar winner documentary, tells their story.

« A lot of people say an octopus is like an alien. But the strange thing is, as you get closer to them, you realize that we’re very similar in a lot of ways. » Craig Foster

Octopuses have an exquisite ability to camouflage and communicate through their skin coloration and changes in texture and shape. After she disappeared for several days, Foster acted like a detective and investigated where she could live, looking for traces of her movements. When finally he spotted her, it is as if he had metaphorically rejoined « nature » and the animal kingdom; he was embedded in the environment. He was not a visitor anymore when she chose to develop a bond with him.

We are a social species where trust is deeply important. Cephalopods live very different lives from ours, swimming, alone, dying at one year old, before their babies hatch. Yet we share with them this curiosity for another being, a capacity to learn and be playful. What is more beautiful than the trust and curiosity of another being that experiences the world through a strikingly different nervous system?

His deepest joy is feeling the trust of the octopus, this tiny wild mollusc, towards him.

Sentient animals are individuals.

This film shows that if humans can relate to a mollusc, then surely we could relate to pigs, chickens and fishes who have far more similar nervous systems to us and who, like us, can feel emotions.

From a distance, we only see a school of fish, a flock of sheep or a factory farm full of chickens. Yet far from being a mass of indistinguishable creatures, animals are individuals. This intuition has often become lost by the human domination of other animal species, the disconnect from the natural world and consistent exploitation of animals for money. Yet, we can rekindle it. We all share emotions, the possibility to move and make decisions, and the desire to live. Each animal wants to be free of suffering. Should we kill animals who want to live when we can thrive on plant-based food ? Absolutely not.

Let’s switch the narrative from resources to conscious beings.

Increasingly, movies portray animals as relatable characters with goals and aspirations, while keeping them different from humans. “Babe” pioneered the representation of farm animals with a piglet making decisions and, crucially, making friends. In “Finding Nemo”, we root for a father clown fish as he embarks on a quest to rescue his son. In “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”, a horse refuses to let go of his hope to find back his freedom and loved ones. These movies depict animals as creatures who differ from one another, who forge relationships and memories through painful and happy moments.

We need more trust, compassion and empathy. We can learn so much by simply slowing down and observing closely. The octopus taught us friendship extends across the frontiers of species. If we can relate to a mollusk, surely we can relate to animals who have a spinal cord, such as pigs or salmon. We need to reconnect with other animals and see them as individuals rather than concepts. Let’s learn from individuals from other species.

Anti-speciesism challenges the prevailing status of non-human animals, where speciesism is the belief that humans are superior to non-human animals and therefore can be exploited. You can watch our talk about anti-speciesism and the fight for global climate justice. Together, let’s build a world fair for all animals.

What’s coming next?

On the 31st of October, the COP26 started, the UN Climate Change Conference which aims to speed up changes we must implement to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Despite causing at least 18% of global greenhouse gas emission, animal agriculture and fishing are rarely challenged,  or even mentioned in the COP26 goals. The governments can choose to transition away from a system that kills billions of animals and destroys the planet and build a just and sustainable plant-based system. You can join on the ground or remotely. We need everyone to rise as massive waves to create a kinder, more sustainable world!

Volunteer to help build the rebellion.

1: Here « animal » to refer to non-human animals that feel emotions (scientific evidence are compelling for birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and cephalopods) to make it more accessible and easy to read.

The post How does one octopus teach us to reconnect with animals? first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Animal farming is both a health risk and climate risk.

In February, SMASH Speciesism locked themselves to concrete and blocked the entrance of Tulip Slaughterhouse, an abattoir in Manchester. The factory was brought to a standstill for 10 hours. SMASH Speciesism urged the factory to transition to a plant-based food production site instead of contributing to the 3000+ pigs they gas and stab each day.

SMASH Speciesism is an anti-speciesist, non-violent, direct action group. Eleven members were to be held on trial today (7th September), but the trial was postponed. Today, Animal Rebellion also blockaded the same slaughterhouse, now under the ownership of Pilgrim’s Pride, to stand in solidarity with SMASH Speciesism. They demanded that all slaughterhouse trucks arriving to the site were cancelled for the day. The action highlighted the criminality of gassing pigs, the health risks posed to slaughterhouse workers and, the climate crisis.

“Speciesism” is the human-held belief that all other animal species are inferior. Speciesist thinking involves considering animals — who have their own desires, needs and complex lives — as a means of human enjoyment, consumption and personal gain.

Outside Parliament, Rebels, with red-dyed hands, held up a 30-metres banner reading “UNFUCK THE WORLD — PLANT-BASED FOOD SYSTEM”. They were also demanding justice for all non-human animals, the slaughterhouse workers, the climate, and the activists who stand up against these unjust systems.

The animals

Over 3000 pigs are gassed alive in chambers and cut from their neck at Tulip Slaughterhouse every day. 72 billion land animals and more than 1.2 trillion aquatic animals are killed for food every year in our agricultural system. Each can feel physical and emotional pain.

As Corona virus impacted worker numbers, millions of animals have been culled in the past few months. Culling can take place in two forms: “the first involves filling the sheds where chickens live with CO2. The second involves putting the birds in specialised containers filled with CO2 and other gasses”. Both suffocate them.

The Climate

75% of global agricultural land is used for animal agriculture. To produce the same amount of energy, animal agriculture requires more land than plant-based foods. Reconsidering our eating habits is a powerful decision. It enables us to move away from polluted air, poisoned waterways, loss of biodiversity and the destruction of wildlife.

Creating a just and sustainable plant-based food system is pivotal for planet health.

Harley McDonald-Eckersall, a spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, said:

“We are shutting this slaughterhouse down because we see no lawful activity being done here. It is contributing to the gassing of pigs, the destruction of our climate and the spread of deadly diseases between workers.”

Slaughterhouse workers

Recent studies have shown that 75% of new and emerging infectious diseases come from animals. In the UK, there have been several outbreaks of coronavirus in meat production sites and slaughterhouses. These are hotspots for the virus to thrive and the cases have been in their hundreds! Vulnerable workers are being put at large risk by the continued operation of these plants.

Factories are cold and damp — the ideal atmosphere for the virus to thrive. Workers are between 30 to 40 cm away from each other as they are working on mass scale. Between lines there is little space to keep their distance too.

Other outbreaks have been seen in:

• Banham Poultry Slaughterhouse (75 workers)

At least 350 individuals are isolating due to these cases.

300,000 chickens will be gassed alive in order to cull them. Without the staff, the slaughterhouse cannot “process” the sheer number of chickens.

• 2 Sisters Poultry processing factory, Anglesey (216 workers)

2 Sisters is one of the largest food producers in the UK, processing about 1.3 of all poultry eaten in Britain each day. It supplies major food outlets and supermarkets: ASDA, Co-op, KFC, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s Tesco, and more.

• Rowan Foods of Oscar Mayer Group, Wrexham (237 cases)

On April 3rd, workers staged a walkout from the factory in protest to unsafe working conditions.

Earlier, a worker told 5 Live Investigations he does not feel safe at work as there are three or four lines of 10 people each in a metre-and-a-half of each other. There is 35–40cm between each person on the line.

The post Animal Rebellion Shuts Down a Manchester Slaughterhouse first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Okay, imagine it is year X, when animal products are almost universally seen as unnecessary, unhealthy and a product of a particularly cruel period in our relationship with the planet and its other inhabitants. This is the year when most people shudder in disgust at what only recently was accepted as the norm. The food production system is being completely restructured, with fishers continuing their transition from killing marine animals to planting and harvesting kelp, while farmers are now producing plants for human consumption only. We no longer breed animals in their billions, we no longer subject them to a life of enslavement, and we no longer sentence them to death on the grounds that their flesh tastes good. Any remaining farm animals are either adopted, returned to nature (as feral) or eaten by the last few remaining meat eaters (because treating humanity’s addiction to meat is a gradual process). We no longer hack and slash through the few remaining forests on Earth to feed the enslaved animals, and we don’t need as much land as we used to, because we now avoid the middleman, or rather “middle animal” in the process of energy consumption, making us much more efficient and much less destructive eaters.

In fact, this is the year when we finally have more land than we will ever need and it’s time to do something with it. Now someone asks: how about we restore it as much as possible to the state that we think it was in before we sunk our teeth into the biosphere? Should we now rewild the huge swathes of available (both unsuitable for growing crops and no longer needed fertile) land with locally extinct species, including predators? It sounds logical, doesn’t it? However, it isn’t that straightforward, because it could easily go against our own principles and values.

Animal Rebellion’s first value states: “We are an anti-speciesist movement that has a shared vision of change.” It goes on: “Creating a world that protects beings of all species, for generations to come.” And further on, in relation to our movement’s culture: “We are inspired not only by human action but also animal resistance, and we believe in co-creating a world with individuals from all species for a just and secure future.”

One would be right to apply this to the plight of farmed animals and assume that by anti-speciesism we mean the strongest possible opposition to differential treatment between farmed animals and, for example, pet animals, because their abilities, traits and interests are comparable — both want to live, both are averse to negative experience and both have the same kind of emotions. But stopping at the abolition of animal slavery would be a speciesist thing to do. We must always consider a wider implication of achieving our own goals.

The ambiguity starts when we say that the land currently used for grazing or growing livestock feed will be used not only for growing plants directly for human consumption (both food and non-food) but also for rewilding– to increase biodiversity, to reintroduce locally extinct species and to improve the state of the local ecosystem in general. History shows that when one decides to change or preserve an ecosystem for system’s sake, one generally disregards the interests of those affected by the change (especially if these interests are those of non-human individuals), because the main focus of such environmental change is on completeness, integrity, stability and beauty of a system, which often results not just in unintended harming of inhabitants, but also in killing of undesirable (i.e. “invasive”, overpopulated or even unsightly mixed-species) individuals, standing in the way of achieving a change “for the greater good” of a system.

Luckily, most of the farm land that will be returned to wild nature is in near-barren condition, almost void of any life (including invertebrates), so this doesn’t require relocation, killing or even intrusive management of such abandoned lands, as nature can do all the heavy lifting in rewilding it in the majority of (if not all) cases.

What about eventual reintroduction of predators? Once again this may look like a good change on the surface, which brings a variety of positive results like promotion of ecotourism, improvement of the ecosystem balance or keeping prey species from overpopulating. However, it comes with a number of heavy caveats:

– Ecotourism on its own is an intrinsically anthropocentric activity (which may or may not benefit animals);

– The term “balance of nature” is now considered a fallacy, because ecosystems are always dynamic;

– Control of prey species’ populations by introducing a predator is not efficient long-term, because of the significant difference in numbers of individuals; and furthermore:

– The relocated individuals are bound to be stressed (as, understandably, they are taken from their homes and moved to a completely new location);

– In the absence of a higher predator, small predators like lynx will be prone to suffering due to disease and old age; and:

– Reintroduction projects tend to be quite expensive and the funds could potentially be used to improve the conditions for the already existing animals.

So, does that mean that we oppose rewilding from our anti-speciesist stance? Absolutely not. In fact, we support natural reclamation, we support reforestation, we support initiatives that promote biodiversity and we support the reintroduction of animal species eradicated by humans. But it should be stressed, again and again, that the interests of affected animals during (or as a result of) these activities must be considered in full. This does not only mean the avoidance of immediate suffering or killing of individuals, but also upfront planning to identify how such projects will affect all those animals, as individuals, who already inhabit or will inherit the affected lands. After all, they are the primary “stakeholders” who will live on these lands, and it is only logical to give their interests a fair consideration. And we, Animal Rebellion, have a duty of care for any animals, wild and domesticated (including those going feral), who are directly or indirectly affected by our actions — now and in the future.

If you are interested in the subject of anti-speciesism beyond “treating a cow different to a dog”, then these sites provide a wealth of knowledge:

https://www.animal-ethics.org

https://www.natureethics.org

And if you have any burning questions, feel free to ask them on this subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/StopSpeciesism/

The post What Anti-speciesist Rewilding Looks Like — and How to Get There first appeared on Animal Rebellion.