In this post I shall explain to you more about taxidermy.
What is taxidermy?
Taxidermy is the process of utilizing the skins of dead animals for artwork by stuffing them. This action creates a realistic representation of the animal. Therefore, even though the animal is actually dead, it will appear as if it is still alive. People will hunt the animals and then taking the dead animals to the taxidermist with the intention of mounting them and will the put it as a trophy or above a fireplace as a memory for them. While this may be interpreted as the display of a deep respect towards the animal, it is actually an action that represents human dominance over animals.
Different methods that taxidermist used.
Taxidermist retains the original skull and leg bones of a specimen and using these as the basis to create a mannequin made primarily from wool and galvanized wire. Another popular method among taxidermists is to freeze dry the dead animal. This can be done with reptiles, birds and small mammals such as cats. Freeze drying is expensive and time consuming. Large specimens can be required to spend as long as 6 months in the freeze dryer.
Although some people value taxidermy, such action certainly does not portray respect for an animal. Animals are beautiful creatures. One can obtain so much happiness from observing and analyzing interactions of animals while some people take up hunting as their hobby. Hunting is a sport that people engage in. When the hunter has succeeded in killing the animal, they feel as if they had accomplished their mission, and mounting the head of the dead animal is a representation of their pride.
Animals are not meant to be tormented once they are dead. People should respect animals as they too have feelings like us, humans.
Just another beauty and cosmetics shop? Think again. The Body Shop has supported many causes such as anti-human trafficking, environmentally friendly products and more important to our blog, against animal testing.
An introduction. What do you think of when we say animal testing? This?
Or this?
Not a pretty sight isn't it. In the second picture, that is testing for effect of irritants on a mascara. Usually the animals' eye will swell up and redden. Usually, the effect of the irritants on the eye will be recorded and the animal will then be killed. To sum it up, their purpose in animal testing is to just be in pain and than die. A more common animalused in animal testing laboratories for cosmetics is, the rabbit. The reason for animal testing is to ensure or see if the product is safe and won't cause any adverse reaction to the human being. Animals hold an almost similar bodily structure and bodily functions as human beings, thus they are used.
Now about The Body Shop. One of The Body Shops many values is to not test their products on animals and also to not engage suppliers whose products have been tested on animals in the name of cosmetics. The Body Shop is certified by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection to have complied with its Humane Cosmetics Standard.
So how do they ensure their products are safe without testing it on animals? Easy. We live in a world of technology where a simple wire can turn into millions and billions of wonderful things such as, lights, printer, microscopes and other important technological inventions. The Body shop funds research that go into animal testing alternatives. One of their partners L'Oreal who has contributed significantly to this research project have managed to come up with synthetic skin called, EpiSkin. EpiSkin is an artificially grown human skin that is used for skin irritancy test.
Here's a featurette on one of their products, The White Musk.
Musk is an ingredient used to scent soaps, perfumes and many other cosmetics. Its scent is often described as very earthy and woody or something akin to the odor of baby's skin. Musk is one of the most prized cosmetic item in ancient times due to its fragrance. But, little do you know that musk comes from the testicles of a male deer. As such, people hunt down deers just for a vile of musk. To save those deers, synthetic musk is formulated. This synthetic musk is called White Musk and the name has been trademarked by The Body Shop.
The Body Shop also won an RSPCA Good Business Award in 2008 for their dedication against animal testing and animal derive products. On top of that, their ever growing campaigning against animal testing for cosmetics has brought about some success as The European Union (EU) has banned animal testing for finished cosmetic products in 2004, and for ingredients in 2009.
Until the next post, do support The Body Shop's against animal testing products!
In today's blog post, I shall exploit into detail animal testing. Did you know, most medicine, vaccines, make up and etc. are tested out on animals before they are marketed out into the public? There is no good in animal testing. There is no such thing as ethical animal testing. Animal testing is equivalent to death for the animals. Once they're in the animal testing facilities, the route that follows is death. Please watch the videos posted below and exercise viewer discretion. The images you are about to see is downright ugly. If you do not have the ehart to watch them, then scroll down to see the video summary.
These two videos were done by an undercover Animal Rights Officer in an animal testing facility. In the first video, we saw that the monkeys show aggressive behavior and circling around the cage. This is not a normal phenomenon but, it is a result of isolation from habitat and stress. Earlier on, we saw monkeys who have yet to be used for experimentation in the labs, dying from diarrhea. Diarrhea in monkeys is caused by stress. And for the monkey to die from diarrhea shows you viewers how stressed the monkey is. It's almost like he knew his fate before they even tested him. Animals who are brought into testing facilities usually die there. You saw the video, where they die is filthy, bounded and all things ugly. Imagine yourself dying, caged, abused, bounded and definitely in a lot of pain. The second part of the first video, it shows a monkey who has gone fully mad that he has lost all hope of socializing. Here, they show this male chimpanzee rocking back and forth while mumbling to himself. When given a simulation, he doesn't respond. These are really cruel acts on animals that you see.
The second video was a continuation of the second part of the first video. The young of the chimpanzees are separated away from their mothers from birth. This has psychological effects on both the mothers and their young. For the mothers, they go crazy and speed up their mental retardation process. For the young, since it is out of habitat to be living without their mothers since birth, they will have trouble adapting. With this trouble and the inability to cope combined, they die within 2 or 3 days. The worst part about this video is that, when the animals die, they are just left there. When they, vomit or poop or urinate, their waste is left there and uncleaned. The second half of this video shows how some animals cope with their isolation. This is done by ripping themselves up as a form of simulation.
Most of the animals you see here thatt are used for testing are endangered. The Golden Lion Tamarin monkey is more commonly used in testing pharmaceutical products.
I can't see anyone who would watch this video and still buy products where animal testing was done before they marketed it out. Here is a list of companies and brands that do and do not test. Courtesy of PeTA.
It's your choice, let them suffer so you can be beautiful and healthy? Or, End their pain and let their beauty shine in the diverse environment. You can be beautiful and healthy too with a lot of products that are against animal testing.
