• I’m not quite sure how this website works, but you can use it to get news updates from specific areas, like Toowoomba.
• Queensland Flood Pet Options has some resources on donations, hotlines, and how to contact Storage King who have been offering help. People have posted tips and more resources on their Facebook page.
• The Queensland RSPCA are updating their site regularly with news and resources and has a form to report lost and found pets.

Dozens of groups are holding fundraisers, and there are far to many to list here, but again feel free to comment or get in touch with me if you’d like to advertise your group’s event. Rumour has it there’s going to be an emergency Sydney Vegan Bake Sale to raise fund. Stay tuned for details.

Look, I organise a Vegan Drinks night. I love drunken reverie as much as the next person. And as a non-native Australian, I don’t feel quite right coming in and slagging off one of the country’s most celebrated customs. But as vegans, I think we all agree: Melbourne Cup is fucked.

And if you don’t, I’ll simply link you to this (difficult to watch) YouTube Video  and let you come to your own conclusions.

It can be an especially awkward time of year for vegans in the workplace who don’t want to come off as joyless buzzkills, but at the same time, can’t endorse the cruel “sport.” Our vegaroo contributor Tim recently lamented to me,

“I have a choice of either going along with the office and not really enjoying it, or ostracising myself by refusing to participate. While everyone else takes the day off to go party (and the next day to recover) I have to either stay in the office and work or take a day of leave. Either way, I feel like I’ll be judged poorly for not ‘playing with the team.’ “

So what are some alternatives?

For you Melbournians who have the day off, HorseRacingKills.com has a list of demonstrations and events you can attend.

If you’re in Sydney, I recommend this Not the Melbourne Cup Celebration at University of Sydney, which is what I’ll be attending. I also just learned about this Melbourne Cup protest happening that morning in Martin Place.

You can also sign Animal Australia’s pledge to never bet on horse-racing or donate to Charlies Angels Horse Sanctuary in Queensland, which is also the beneficiary of the next Sydney Vegan Bake Sale.

I’m sure there are far more events happening around the country, so I ask you to please share other alternatives in the comments.

Last night I returned home, exhausted, a little bit sunburnt, but mostly inspired by a great weekend in the Gold Coast for the 2010 Animal Activist Forum. I was honoured to be invited to speak about Activist Blogging, and for anyone who attended my talk, (or did not but would like more info) the resources page I put together can be found here.

Nerd talk!

There were heaps of other great presentations as well from groups like Animal Liberation NSW, Sea Shepherd, the Animal Justice Party, and many more organisations, businesses and individuals. One of the highlights was a talk on Intersectionality, specifically looking at feminism, sexual identity, and race within the Animal Rights movement, which was presented by Katrina Fox and our own vegaroo contributor Stephanie Lai. There was a lively discussion following, and I think we’d all agree that this could certainly be expanded into a much longer panel discussion next year. Katrina will be publishing their talks on her online magazine The Scavenger next month, so look out for that.

One thing that jumped out to me from listening to so many talks was the amount of time and money that so many activists spend, presumably out of pocket, for the cause. I’d love to see some discussion next year of how people for don’t have $2,500 to invest into throwing a festival can raise that kind of money, and what fundraising opportunities and resources are available to us as Animal Activists.

Many thanks to Jo and Roy who organised the event, and worked tirelessly all weekend to ensure everything went successfully. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the awesome food that was arranged, both at the dining hall at the Rec Centre where we stayed, and Saturday night’s dinner at Zullaz in Burleigh Heads. What kind of food blogger would I be if I didn’t include some photos?

Pictured above are the Fijian/Indian vegan feast we were lucky to partake in, as well as a specially made dessert: semolina pudding with sultanas and and orange sauce.

It was a wonderful weekend filled with sunshine, great food, and great conversations. Can’t wait till next year!

Woah. Does anyone else feel like there is SO MUCH happening right now? Labour Day weekend means it’s officially summer and I guess everyone’s coming out of hibernation and getting out there.  We also recently had a vegaroo! brainstorming session, out of which some awesome ideas sprang. I’ll have a full report on that here soon.

In the mean time, here are some big upcoming events you should know about:

Sunday Oct. 10 – The VegOut Picnic is a celebration in Sydney’s Centennial Park, wrapping up the 2-week long VegPledge. You can order one of their VegPacks which are all vegan and include yummy foods from Nourishing Quarter, and vegaroo favourite, Addiction Food. We’ll be there chowing down!

Tuesday Oct. 12 – Karen Dawn, author of “Thanking the Monkey” will be speaking at Samadhi Yoga in Newtown at 7:30. It’s a free event! And if you can’t make it then, be sure to check out Earth Cafe at Samadhi Yoga sometime for some rad vegan food.

Friday Oct. 15 – The Next Sydney Vegan Drinks is going down at The Hive in Erskineville and I have a feeling it’s going to be our best event yet! We’re raising money for Pet Rescue. You can RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Saturday – Sunday Oct. 23-24 – Following the Animals Australia AGM will be there Animal Activist Forum in Palm Beach Queensland. There will be heaps of speakers including, yours truly! I’ll be presenting on Activist Blogging on behalf of WSPA. I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s attending or speaking!

Sunday Oct. 31 – Melbourne will be celebrating World Vegan Day! Sounds like there’s going to be heaps of food and community organisation stalls. Anyone going and want to report on it for vegaroo? Let me know!

Saturday Nov. 6 – It’s the last Sydney Vegan Bake Sale of 2010 from 8-1 at the Newtown Markets. This time it’s benefiting Charlie’s Angels Horse Sanctuary in Queensland. Deliciousness guanranteed.

Sunday Nov. 7 – All the cool kids in Sydney will be at the Cruelty Free Festival in Belmore Park. With over 60 Food and Wine stalls, you may have to drag me away kicking and screaming at the end of the day.

Whew!