http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/katrina-fox/ Katrina Fox is a freelance writer specialising in gender politics; sex, gender and sexuality diversity; and animal rights. She is the editor-in-chief of The Scavenger, a not-for-profit online magazine. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-treat-animal-rights-activists-like-humans/ Animal rights activists get a bad rap. Reactions to those who dare to speak out against animal abuse reveal a level of vitriol rarely aimed at any other group of social justice campaigners. They are assumed to be a bunch of unwashed, dope-smoking, dole-bludging criminals. ‘Extremist’, ‘terrorist’ and ‘militant’ are the stock standard descriptors churned out whenever animal advocates engage in various forms of activism that challenge us to shake up our thinking. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Katrina Fox) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-treat-animal-rights-activists-like-humans/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-treat-animal-rights-activists-like-humans/#item6412 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:50:19 +0000 Katrina Fox | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Weve-got-to-stop-treating-animals-like-animals/ After a maelstrom of mainstream media coverage and social media activism, the federal government has temporarily suspended the export of live cattle to Indonesia. The move follows the ABC’s documentary program Four Corners’ recent exposé of the live export trade in which shocking video footage obtained by Lyn White, director of Animals Australia, revealed cows being tortured to death in a slow and agonising manner. The distressing images, which depicted barbaric practices that included whipping the cattle, gouging their eyes and slashing their tendons, raised the ire of so many people across the country that Animals Australia’s website collapsed from the sheer volume of traffic on the night the program screened. Social media networks Facebook and Twitter quickly became campaign tools utilised by meat-eaters and vegans alike who united in protesting the horrendous cruelty inflicted on Australian cattle: within a week, more than 200,000 people had signed lobby group GetUp’s petition calling on the Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig to ban the export of live cattle to Indonesia and phase out the live export trade all together within three years, and independent MPs and the Greens introduced private members bills to ban all live exports to the country. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Katrina Fox) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Weve-got-to-stop-treating-animals-like-animals/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Weve-got-to-stop-treating-animals-like-animals/#item6032 Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:54:32 +0000 Katrina Fox | Author bios | The Punch