Artist Depicts a Cow’s Face Using Rice, Making a Powerful Statement

Curious how rice art can raise awareness of and increase compassion for cows? Influencer and artist Rachel of Visions of Play made a video showing one way to do just that on her Instagram page:

How Rice Art Warms the Heart and Encourages Kindness to Cows

As the video shows, Rachel skillfully arranges small bits of white, pink, gray, and black rice to form patterns that eventually depict a cow’s complete face. Using a large wooden bowl as the frame and container, she embellishes the base of the finished image with purple, yellow, white, and pink flowers. The final effect leaves the observer looking into the gentle visage of a fellow sentient being with sensitive eyes. This mooving experience can help onlookers understand that humans should never use cows’ flesh as food, their bovine mammary secretions as dairy, or their skin as clothing or accessories.

Rachel’s impressive Instagram page hosts a vast array of natural and innovative art made from rice and other organic materials. Her love of and passion for sensory art and play shimmer through each new post, and this specific portrait of the calmly gazing grazer is PETA’s current favorite.

Why Now, Sweet Cow? The Compassionate and Environmental Relevance of This Rice Art

Cows are gentle giants, eager to play and gregarious in the way they prefer to graze and socialize with others of their species. Diverse in how they express themselves, cows develop lasting friendships and sometimes hold grudges against other cows who treat them badly. Curious and clever, they can also remember things for a long time and mourn the deaths of and division from those they love.

Yet more than 25 million cows are forcibly bred, stuffed with huge amounts of food, exploited, and killed each year in the U.S. alone. Many young cows endure searing burns from branding irons and violent dehorning procedures, during which their horns are cut, gouged out, or burned off, and males are subjected to agonizing castration—all without painkillers.

It’s very rare for a cow to escape the cruel cycle of speciesist abuse and exploitation and live out their days in peace at a loving, reputable sanctuary.

happy brown cow in open green field under blue sky with scattered white clouds

The horrific rate at which cows are used for food and leather is destroying the environment. The most kind, effective, and immediate way to take action against the climate catastrophe is to go vegan and choose only animal-free food and clothing.

Help Cows Right Now: Eat Rice, Not Animals

Share Rachel’s rice-art video with everyone you can to encourage more compassion for cows and the planet.

And remember that benevolence toward bovines begins on your plate. Check out our free vegan starter kit and share it with a few friends—or four or five, or 15 or 50! Give cows a chance:

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PETA Statement: Lolita’s Long-Overdue Return to Home Waters

The Miami Seaquarium has announced a news conference for Thursday that will apparently address plans to move Lolita the orca back to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest. Please see the following statement from PETA Foundation Vice President and General Counsel for Animal Law Jared Goodman:

If Lolita is finally returned to her home waters, there will be cheers from around the world, including from PETA, which has pursued several lawsuits on Lolita’s behalf and battered the Seaquarium with protests demanding her freedom for years. If the Seaquarium agrees to move her, it’ll offer her long-awaited relief after five miserable decades in a cramped tank and send a clear signal to other parks that the days of confining highly intelligent, far-ranging marine mammals to dismal prisons are done and dusted.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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What Happens to Your Body When You Go Vegan?

Folks are realizing that it’s not healthy to exploit and kill animals for food. According to data from Google Trends for 2022, vegan-related searches outranked those for keto. In addition, according to research by Chef’s Pencil, a vegan diet is now the most popular way to eat in the U.S. But what happens to your body after you kick meat, eggs, and dairy to the curb?

The First 24 Hours After Going Vegan

You may feel a difference after just a few healthy plant-based meals. Vegan foods such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes are rich in fiber, which promotes good digestion by reducing the amount of sugar your blood absorbs. And researchers have found that eating plant-based foods helps healthy gut bacteria flourish and decreases inflammation.

You may well feel refreshed after just the first 24 hours of vegan living. Perhaps you’ve experienced “meat sweats”—a phenomenon that can occur after consuming a meat-heavy meal. Well-balanced vegan meals provide all the energy you need to remain active throughout the day, without the heavy, gross feeling you can get after consuming animal-derived food.

A Few Days After Going Vegan

Within the first few days of plant-based eating, you may feel more energized and alert. The protein in meat is tougher for humans to break down than plant protein is, making it a challenge to digest, which can cause sluggishness. And meat contains a lot of fat, which slows down the rate at which your stomach empties, resulting in bloating and discomfort, not to mention an increased likelihood of unwanted weight gain. Going vegan is a simple way to feel and look better fast.

After just a few days, you might notice a “vegan glow” when you look in the mirror. Antioxidants found in fresh fruits and vegetables, which assist in shielding skin from cellular damage, probably contribute to this effect.

After a Few Weeks of Being Vegan

Soon, you may notice that your cravings are beginning to adjust. Research shows that even after a few weeks without consuming foods high in salt, fat, and sugar, your tastes begin to change in a positive way. Craving foods that make you feel good is a game changer for many who are trying to improve their health.

We all have jeans that are a bit snug. You may be surprised by how quickly they become more comfortable once you go vegan. Meanwhile, your energy level may improve, making it easier to exercise. And your body may release extra water that it was retaining.

After a Few Months of Being Vegan

If you stick with it, you may begin to notice increased mental acuity. Perhaps that’s partly because new vegans often report that they sleep better.

Studies also show that going vegan may lower A1C levels. Some folks have even stopped needing their blood pressure or diabetic medication after making the switch.

Many people report positive changes, inside and out, after just a few months. Some even discover that their hair looks shinier, thicker, and healthier—likely due to the elevated levels of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients in a plant-based diet.

The Long-Term Benefits of Being Vegan

As a vegan, you may feel like a brand-new person. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the benefits of sticking with healthy vegan food choices over the long term include the following:

  • Improved health of the skin, teeth, and eyes
  • Enhanced muscular function and strength
  • Enhanced immunity
  • Stronger bones
  • Reduced risk of developing heart disease, various forms of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and other diseases
  • Improved digestive system performance
  • Greater likelihood of either losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight
  • Excellent support for a healthy pregnancy and breastfeeding

And according to research, eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains lowers your risk of cognitive decline as you age.

When You Go Vegan, Other Animals Benefit, Too!

The shift toward vegan eating helps us all. In 2020, the lives of approximately 1 million animals were spared because more U.S. fast-food restaurants started offering vegan options.

The single best thing we can do to prevent animal suffering is to go vegan. It’s a matter of supply and demand. Fewer animals are raised to suffer on farms and die in slaughterhouses when you refuse to pay for their flesh, eggs, milk, and honey. You can save nearly 200 animals per year just by going vegan!

Order a free copy of PETA’s vegan starter kit to start sparing animals and feeling better today. It will guide you through the transition to a healthier, happier, and longer-lasting life.

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Statement: Following Horse Death on Set, PETA Wants ‘The Rings of Power’ Producers to Stop Lording Over Animals

Below, please find a statement from PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange in response to reports that a horse suffered a fatal cardiac arrest during a 100-strong charge scene for The Lord of the Rings TV series prequel The Rings of Power:

“It seems that living underground with the orcs is par for the course for the producers of The Rings of Power, because they have the option to use CGI, mechanical rigs, and other humane methods that wouldn’t run vulnerable horses to death on set. PETA is calling on the show’s creators—and all other producers—to take on a new quest without using any real horses. If they can’t avoid exploiting animals for their art, they should find a new medium, because no one wants to see a spinoff for TV with torment as the theme.”

During the filming of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, whistleblowers reported multiple incidents of cruelty and neglect, including that horses died after being injured on set, a horse was tied up and left for three hours on the ground, goats and sheep died from worm infestations, animals were trampled, and more. Just before that, HBO canceled the horse racing series Luck, following the deaths of at least three horses. Last year, a horse’s death on the set of The Gilded Age renewed calls for an end to using horses for entertainment.

 

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