Suzann member for 34 weeks 9 hours Send a message

The only reason I know what an emu is, is because we have this animal rescue ranch nearby, and there are lots of emus on it.

I fell in love with these creatures the first time I visited the ranch. You get a bucket of (emu food?) and drive slowly through the grounds. They let all their rescue animals run loose, so you need to stay in your car, but you roll the windows down and the cutest, funniest, sweetest creatures just come right up to your car and eat out of your hand.

(Last time I was there Louis the Lips, their resident rescue camel, stuck his entire [huge] head into the car and I'll tell you what - I gave Louis my entire bucket of (whatever that stuff is). Why? Because Louis really really wanted it, and besides he was drooling all over my shoulder and my grandchildren were screaming in the back seat.)

Long story short. Went back to the main check-in place, got a BUNCH more buckets of (all I can say is, the animals love it), and drove back out to the trail. Louis had set up a road block on someone else's car, so we got to continue on through the trail. And then we met the emus.

Oh my gosh, these creatures are cute. They look like ostriches, but for some reason they're not. They have hysterical little expressions on their earnest little faces, and they seemed quite smart. Yes, they stuck their heads into all four windows of my car, but the kids and I were able to dole out the food in a reasonably orderly manner.

Where was I going with this blog? Oh yes. Here's the downer. Lots of cosmetics companies use emu oil in their products. Some companies even sell emu oil as a stand-alone skin softener. And of course these companies can call themselves "organic" or even "natural" because an emu is both of those things. The only problem is, an emu is a living, breathing, feeling, loving, needing, emotional, warm-blooded creation of God. And to get emu oil, the emu has to be slaughtered. That's how you get emu oil.

Because emus are not as widely known-about as, say, dogs and cats, "emu oil" listed in a cosmetic ingredients list can easily be overlooked. I mean, if I were reading the ingredients to my mascara and it said "kitten oil," it would be a recoil/horror situation followed by a flurry of blogs, emails to senators, and perhaps a week in bed crying into the pillow and watching Law and Order re-runs.

Emus are as smart and cute as dogs, cats, and kittens. We need to remember that "natural" and "organic," great as these terms may be, are not equivalent to "vegan."

Emu oil is used mainly as a skin softener, so look for it on the label before buying hand or body creams and lotions. It's also in some vitamins, and in some liquid foundations and even setting powders.

The good news is, companies that use it seem to be proud of themselves, so they're not yet at the stage where they try to hide it or change its name. So if it's not listed as an ingredient, you can be fairly certain you're not putting dead emu on your skin.

As I raise my glass of soy milk (spiked, if it's after 5) (only kidding) in a toast, I thank you, dear readers, for caring about emus. And for the kindness in your hearts for all animals.