Unleashed Activism

The ordinance to ban public contact with wild animals in Austin is moving forward!

Councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly () of Austin’s District 6 () has announced today that she has drafted a resolution, incorporating language from the Austin Animal Advisory Commission’s recently submitted ordinance, to end the harm incurred at the Austin Aquarium!

This ordinance would drastically reduce the suffering of both the animals who are forced to reside at the Austin Aquarium, and the visitors who are regularly scratched and bitten at the aquarium.

This is what the meat and dairy industries don’t want us to see.

Every one of us has grown up in a society that has normalized the idea of eating meat, eggs, and dairy. It’s not just easy but actively encouraged for us to continue eating these animals.

So, the least we can do is pay attention.

The Austin Aquarium (and its many issues) is in the news!

This past Monday, the Austin Animal Advisory Commission decided to clarify the language of an ordinance to ban public contact with wild animals in Austin (for for-profit organizations not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums), before recommending it to Austin City Council.

The Austin Aquarium is unique in that they not only allow, but encourage, anyone to touch, pet, and feed animals with little to no supervision.

Naturally, the repercussions of this practice are dire. Hundreds of children have been bitten and scratched by their animals thus far, with some requiring medical attention. As long as this policy exists, unknowing families will continue to send their children to a facility that doesn’t care about them, or the animals that unwittingly attack them.

The Austin Aquarium doesn’t just mistreat their animals; they mistreat their visitors.

Going plant-based can reduce the risk of prostate cancer, heart disease, all-cause mortality (or, just, death for any reason) and type-2 diabetes. Numerous studies have substantiated the claims that the more fruits and vegetables we eat, the healthier we are and that for the most part, the less meat we eat, the fewer health risks we take on.

Foie gras, or the “fatty liver” of ducks and geese is, a dish that necessitates the abuse and exploitation of millions of animals every single year. It requires ducks and geese to be force-fed 8 times the amount of feed they would ever ordinarily eat, by shoving metal tubes down their throat. Their livers expand to 10 times their normal size, and they go on to die 20 times more often than those who are not force fed.

Foie gras itself requires nothing less than torture, and it has no place in today’s day and age, and certainly no place on our dining tables or restaurants.

Unfortunately, while 16 other countries have banned foie gras, the US has not. Accordingly, restaurants in Austin like Uchi and Uchiko continue to buy into this abusive practice, despite regular public dissent and protest.

Foie Gras Is a “Dish” of the Past Foie gras, or “fatty liver,” is a delicacy tracing all the way back to 2500 BCE, and while most popular in France, is served regularly throughout the United States. It can be served alongside steak…

Horse-drawn carriages have been a staple of San Antonio downtown culture since their conception. But, throughout those years, we’ve simultaneously witnessed proof of the progressive deterioration of the practice, not only in San Antonio but around the nation.

Now, after San Antonio City Council members Jalen McKee-Rodriguez of City Council District 2 and Phyllis Viagran City Councilwoman District 3 have proposed legislation to ban horse-carriage rides altogether, San Antonio is faced with the opportunity to join the ranks of dozens of major cities that have already suspended this inhumane practice.

San Antonio City Leaders Propose Ban on Horse-Drawn Carriages San Antonio City Council members Jalen McKee-Rodriguez of District 2 and Phyllis Viagran of District 3 have proposed ending the usage of horse-drawn carriages in San Antonio by the end of 2023. Adr…

When I first stepped into the Austin Aquarium, I was struck by the dirty floors, stale air, yellowed water, and overcrowded enclosures that, as it turns out, were mere surface-level indicators of the horrors this facility truly engenders.

This past year, the Austin Aquarium was cited by the USDA for violating the Animal Welfare Act, yet the facility is still up-and-running. I wrote an article detailing how this aquarium has affected the lives of the animals to whom the aquarium promises to provide their care, their often-young visitors, and their employees whose health is often put second to protecting the name of the Austin Aquarium.

The Austin Aquarium Needs to be Shut Down The Austin Aquarium is truly like no other.   If you’ve ever been to the New York Aquarium, or maybe the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or perhaps the Georgia Aquarium, you’re probably accustomed to t…

For many of us, the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade might be inspiring a removed sense of horror, rather than the urgency and action it should demand. This privilege – to experience this decision as one disconnected from our own lives – comes from the inherent inequity of our country.

Many of us possess the resources and opportunities to simply skirt the intended bounds of the law, and so, this decision does not feel as urgent as it really is. Many of us would never choose to have an abortion ourselves, and so, it may feel like this decision doesn’t apply to us. Many of us have never experienced what it’s like to be thrust into an unwanted nine-month pregnancy, a child that we never sought out or wanted in the first place, and the litany of physical and emotional ramifications, and so – this decision doesn’t feel quite so pressing at all.

But, whether or not you feel that this decision applies to you alone, does not change the fact that thousands of women’s lives will undoubtedly be destroyed by this decision – your friends, family, neighbors. It will affect those we’re often least likely to hear from, those who do not have the resources we do, but those who will inevitably bear the brunt of a decision made by six unelected individuals imposing their ideological will on the rest of the nation.

This decision should be inspiring urgency in everyone – not just for what’s happening now, and not just for what could happen to you, but what will continue to happen to the rest of our country.