#my grandpa was like that even though he had a scientific background - big numbers are just hard to fathom

[mexicangrizzlyappreciation]

Making this easier to communicate is one of the reasons why the term climate change has overtaken global warming as the way to refer to this slow disaster in the last decade or so.

So many people do not understand the relationship between climate change and cold weather.

[pessimisticlatte]

Hey guys, this is a little off topic for me but here goes:

So, hi Timblr. My name is Imogen but I go by Rosie or Midge, I’m 17 and I live in Australia. A bit of background on me, I live with my parents, my little sister and my two animals, Tabby who is a ginger tabby cat (creative, I know) and MeiMei who is an apricot (fancy word for ginger) toy poodle puppy. At age 6, I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing disorder and anxiety, then at age 14 I got diagnosed with depression and panic attacks, and only this year have I finally gotten my diagnosis for Attention Defecit Disorder (ADD). In May last year, my parents decided to invest in my puppy, MeiMei, as a therapy animal for me because I don’t cope with being alone very well. MeiMei is 9 months old and still has a lot to learn but she is my most favourite thing in the world.

Now, I’m going to get to the real point of this. The organization known as PETA likes animals...or so they think. For a company with an 80% kill rate and a singular braincell between all of them, they claim to love animals. Redundant, I know. Now, I’ve been thinking about PETA’s little kill vans, that they drive around neighborhoods like mine (not mine specifically) looking for animals like Tabby and MeiMei. Tabby likes to spend her days outside, I live in one of the areas in my city where we don’t have a cat curfew or mandatory rules for keeping a cat indoors to protect the wildlife. Now, Tabs has bells on her collar, and she’s not as graceful as she likes to think she is, so she generally doesn’t catch anything. The occasional mouse, but she gets those things from the storm water drain that she frequents. MeiMei can’t come to school with me, even though she’s a therapy animal, she’s a little too young and not well enough trained (she’s only 9 months old and we’re training her ourselves), so she spends her days in our pretty large backyard doing whatever 9 month old puppies do for 7 hours a day while I’m getting my education. Picture of MeiMei below:

Being a puppy, little Mei is by no means quiet and we are taking precautions to train her not to bark at everything, I still love her to death though. I know that in some places in the United States, PETA likes to go looking for animals like my puppy and my cat. They drive their little kill van into the street and pull out their comically oversized binoculars to look out for animals. Now, animals with collars are generally pets? Correct? Not in PETA’s mind. A few years ago there was a lawsuit filed against PETA after they wrongfully euthanised a young girls chihuahua, now I don’t know a lot about this story but I did some reading. This little dog, Maya, who was minding her own business out the front of her home was taken and put down without a single attempt to be returned to her family and her owner, who was a 9 year old girl. Generally, there’s a grace period between when you catch an animal registered as a pet and when you can legally put it down, now PETA didn’t wait for this grace period to end. They didn’t even go looking to see if Maya’s family might be missing her before they ‘mercy killed’ this poor little dog. Yes, a lawsuit was filed and, yes, the family won, but all this proves to me is that PETA, as an organization who say that they love animals, thinks that they are replaceable.

I have had Tabby for 7 years. We got her when both she and my little sister were about a year old. Tabby has a place in our family, she comes to the door and meows at us asking for pats and little bits of meat. At night, she sleeps on the bed next to my mum and doesn’t stop purring the entire time. This cat lives a happy existence knowing that she has a home to return to with food and water set out for her and somewhere warm to sleep with someone who loves her. In her own way, Tabby is my mums therapy animal because my mum has a hard time coping with stress and sometimes needs a little comfort from our animals. Tabby is not replaceable. If she was killed, there would not be another cat in the world, no matter how identical or how cute, that would fill the hole in my family’s heart. My big sister was the one to convince my mum to get us get Tabby. And, 7 years later, Tabby is family. The memories with her are irreplaceable. The sound of her purring and the softness of her fur after a shitty day is irreplaceable. You could give me all the money in the world to compensate for her being taken from my family but it wouldn’t fix the hole that would be left by her absence.

We’ve only had MeiMei for 7 months and I don’t know what I would do if I came home and she wasn’t there. I already get anxious when I can’t find her in our backyard, can you imagine how I would respond if I came home and she wasn’t there at all? Now, PETA and their little kill vans think they’re doing the right thing because they see animals being pets as another form of ‘involuntary bondage’ (The Guardian, 2017, though the statement was made in 2014). Do you think that my dog, my sweet, energetic little puppy would survive out in the wild? The answer is no, and the only thing that PETA could do to change that fact is go back thousands of years and stop dogs from evolving to protect and love the humans who feed them. We love our pets, they are as much a part of us as we are a part of them. Your animal may be a part of your life but to them, you are their life.

I wonder how many people PETA has deprived of their therapy animals because they think they’re justified in their murder. I wonder how many people will go home, even after reading this, to find that PETA has swept through their neighbourhood, combing for animals and has deprived them of their pet. As I keep saying, pets are not replaceable. Just like children are not replaceable. Just like any goddamn member of your family is not replaceable. ‘Oh look, grandpa’s dead, his life insurance means that we get $20,000, so I guess this means that we can go and get a new grandpa and make new memories’, it doesn’t work like that? Does it?

I’m not even going to begin my rant about PETA attacking wholesome Australian legend, Steve Irwin, because that’s a fight I’ll probably take to Twitter, but if you’re looking for someone to support who actually loves animals, look no further than the Irwin’s. Terri, Bindi and Robert have made it their mission to continue Steve’s legacy and, frankly, they know what conservation is. Animals are important to our way of life. Not just as sustenance for those who eat meat but also as pets and valuable sources of scientific advancement. The insulin that people with diabetes could be using in the future comes from pigs and cows and will be refined for human use. It’s not just the clothes you wear or the meat you choose to eat, it’s the animals you let into your home and love like a child. It’s the animals that you learn about on documentaries, it’s the animals that you fight for when their homes are being torn apart. PETA may think that their killing is justified but maybe, just maybe, they should sit down and watch a Steve Irwin video and see what someone who loves animals actually looks like. They could even watch any number of interviews with him or about him from his wife or children. My personal favourite is Terri’s interview with Aussie Comedian, Ahn Do, on ‘Ahn Do’s Brush With Fame’, you can find it on YouTube, I think (if you’re interested). Instead of supporting organizations like PETA who badmouth people who have actually done good things, support people like the Irwin Family and Australia Zoo, Nathalie Boltt (Penelope Blossom from Riverdale) who fights to stop the production of palm oil, Aidan Gallagher (Number 5 on the Umbrella Academy) who is a UN goodwill ambassador who fights for cleaner oceans (you want someone driven, he is so driven! He’s a vegan at 15!) or maybe even any number of the activists out there who are making a difference, some of them are as young as my little sister, nowadays.

You can make a difference too. This isn’t just about your pets, though you should hold them close and love them with all your heart, it’s about all animals. This is our earth. Our home. And we only get one. Organizations like PETA who claim that they love animals and claim that they’re helping, aren’t. The smallest difference you can make is in your own home. Adopt, don’t shop. Donate money to people who will actually help the environment and help protect animals. Don’t stand for PETA’s preachy bullshit because it’s their name in the media and not someone else’s. Fight back, rise up, this is our world and the animals have to live with the consequences of what we do to it.

Think about how many animals PETA has killed (mainly illegally) with their 80% kill rate. Think about how many children they have scarred by turning up to their birthday parties covered in fake blood and mostly naked screaming about how the children were muderers. Think about the people that they scarred in the Sydney CBD a few years ago by holding a barbecue and making it look like they were cooking a real dog. Are these the people you want to support? Shock tactics can work to get people motivated, but you’ve got to know if their reasoning is worth your time or not.

Fuck PETA.