Animal Rights or Human Responsibility (AR-HR) » Evolution

Swine Flu & How Viruses Develop (Virus Info for the Lay-Person)

ESaunders AR-HR.com — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:17:03 +0000

In light of some significant misinformation being spread about the source of the current swine flu outbreak, I thought I’d put together some basic information on virus development for the everyday person.

The keeping of groups of animals in close proximity does not create a breeding ground for viruses that affect humans. Keeping groups of animals in close proximity does potentially create a breeding ground for mutations of a virus that affect the group species. This is simply a matter of evolution and opportunity, the virus that spreads is the virus that survives immune system defence to reproduce the most.

For a virus to make the leap to become infectious to humans, close proximity human-animal contact is required. The virus succeeds in crossing the animal-human barrier is the one that survives both the animal and human immune system defences to reproduce. This means a virus and its reproduced variants (mutations) must have ample opportunity to confront and survive the human immune system, not just the animal immune system. This is similar to the idea of a computer hacker, a hacker isn’t going to be very capable at defeating a system that s/he’s never faced let alone defeated.

So, counter-intuitive as it might sound, a large scale animal farm with automation implemented is actually presents a reduced risk of acting as a breeding ground for viruses that can cross the species barrier. Populations where humans and animals reside cheek to jowl, communities where most people keep a few pigs/goats/chickens are much better candidates as breeding grounds for human-animal transmissible viruses. This kind of environment is the suspected source of the last avian flu out break and many other outbreaks through history, and the reason historically why large-scale agriculture has NOT been the source of previous virus outbreaks.

Virus outbreaks (like the flu, the common cold and measles) are an entirely different condition than bacterial outbreaks (like salmonella & E.coli) Though we have an arsenal of antibiotics to fight against bacterial conditions both preventatively and post-infection, virus outbreaks are a typically a very different scenario. Virus outbreaks are typically treated preventatively by vaccines (to prepare the immune system for defence against a virus) or by targeted anti-viral treatments after the fact for the relatively small number of viruses that have a direct post-infection treatment. This is why virus outbreaks involve quarantine procedures while bacterial outbreaks typically do not.

It is simply too early to begin serious predictions as to the source of the current swine flu outbreak, though history predicts it will be not have stemmed from a large-scale agricultural site, HSUS press releases to the contrary. Fear-mongering and misinformation in this scenario is simply opportunistic and irresponsible.

Tags: agriculture, animal, defence, Evolution, farm, Fear-mongering, HSUS, Humane Society, misinformation, PETA, pig, quarantine, salmonella, swine, swine flu, virology, virus

“The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape”

ESaunders AR-HR.com — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:25:34 +0000

The devil walks among us and he is Legion.

He wraps himself in gentle language.

He whispers the words we want to hear.

He promises green pastures and still waters.

He speaks of a land where animals walk in peace and safety; free from human interference

He promises life in one hand and holds death in the other.

There are only two ways to acheive the dream of a world where animals are free from human interference: the end of animals or the end of humans.

We lost Eden a long time ago, it isn’t coming back. We’ve never since been promised Heaven on Earth, not by anyone to be trusted. The promise of Heaven has always been on another plane entirely. Its human to wish for it back, the thought is so beautiful, but it is foolish to believe. History is full of groups and individuals who have promised their vision of Heaven on Earth, tried to remake the world in their own image. They have been responsible for pain beyond measure.

The Animal Rights vision is a dream of death, a sad and deluded dream, like the parent that ’saves’ their child from the sorrows of life in a murder-suicide. It is a dream of turning away from life: a sickness, a fevered dream, a mass delusion and it is contagious.

The medicine is bitter and oh so hard to swallow. Nothing can sweeten it, nothing can disguise it. We must give up the dream of Eden. We must wake up, stand and face the day. Every animal fights for survival every day of its life. So must we, or the collective madness will continue and the contagion will spread.

Tags: Animal Rights, Challenges, Evolution, History, HSUS, Humane Society, Legislation, PETA, Property Rights

In the Beginning…

ESaunders AR-HR.com — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:08:51 +0000

In the beginning, there was Dog. Dog ran wild across the land in packs, observed Man and found him good. Dog found Man to be a source of food, warmth and a partner against competing predators.

In the beginning, there was Man. Man lived in family groups and envied Dog running fleetly across the land. Man found Dog to be a skilled hunter and a partner against competing predators.

Man and Dog chose each other Millennia ago, to the lasting benefit of both. By assisting with hunting, protection & companionship; dogs and the myriad varieties of dog bred in this time are a significant part of what has made us human. Simply put, without dogs humans might not have evolved as they did. Without humans, the diversity of dog types would not exist.

A movement exists that seeks to shatter this bond that has endured for thousands of years under the misnomer of Animal Rights. In its current form, Animal Rights claims to protect the ‘rights of animals’, co-opting the language of the anti-slavery movement to shame us into providing rights without responsibility to animals. Animal Rights strives to tug at our heartstrings so that we hand them the power to act for the well-being of animals who cannot speak to their own wants, wishes or needs; in an effort to break this lasting bond that has served us both so well.

We, in modern society, have the dubious luxury of lacking any direct contact or real understanding of the animals that have allowed us to develop to this level. Divorced of any true connection with the natural world, it becomes easy to believe in the illusion of an Eden for animals in the absence of human involvement.

We forget the hawk kills the rabbit to eat
We forget Bambi risks a harsh, slow death by starvation every winter
We forget that Nature is red in tooth and claw

We forget that to ‘companion animals’ basic food, water and company are all they need or want for a full life.

We forget that we need them, we are bred for it and that they need us, as they were bred for it. Not by tens or hundreds of years, but for thousands.

We forget that rights are meaningless to those who have no concept of rights, pawns to an unnatural agenda

Tags: Animal Rights, Evolution, History, HSUS, Humane Society, Legislation, PETA, Property Rights