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The Mobile Slaughterhouse: The Locavore’s Answer to Decentralizing Death
The mobile slaughterhouse is promoted by advocates of small-scale animal agriculture as a solution to the very serious problem of access to commercial processing facilities. Large producers benefit from consolidated, federally-inspected slaughterhouses. Scale economies and all that. The small guys don’t benefit, however, and have thus pushed aggressively for more flexible and locally-available, federally-inspected sources of slaughter.
Can India Really Afford To Kill Cattle Anymore?
Where Social Justice for Animals and Animal Studies Intersect
Every now and again professional journals publish special issues devoted to “hot” topics about nonhuman animals (aka animals). In June two peer-reviewed journals published the first of two issues devoted to very important topics that are receiving more and more attention by researchers, non-researchers, and mass media.
What Is The Nonhuman Rights Project?
The NhRP was founded in 2007 by attorney Steven M. Wise, and is made up of dozens of smart, committed, and hard-working people from many backgrounds who have come together for one clear purpose: to break through the legal wall that separates humans from nonhumans, thereby gaining legal “personhood” for nonhuman animals, beginning with some of the most intelligent animals on earth, like chimpanzees, elephants and dolphins.
Santa Cruz Hatchery Shutdown after Unprecedented Settlement Reached in Cruelty Case
Yesterday, Compassion Over Killing (COK), represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), finalized a settlement and court order resolving a lawsuit alleging widespread egregious animal abuse and neglect at Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, Inc., a Santa Cruz hatchery that processed millions of birds each year destined for the chicken and duck meat industries.
Proposed Legislation for Egg-Laying Hens: An Update
If it’s all right for an animal protection organization to lobby to ensure that an animal-abusing industry has “a secure future” and that consumers have “a dependable economic egg supply,” then no one will be fazed by the advertisement that is currently being run by The Humane Society of the United States and United Egg Producers promising these outcomes if the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012
A New US Map of Ag Gag Laws and Farm Cruelty Investigations
Mark Middleton of Animal Visuals has launched an exciting new “action map” that features the most comprehensive collection of major farm animal cruelty investigations we’ve seen as well as the ongoing status of Ag Gag laws in the various states where those laws have been passed or are pending consideration.
Video: RT Network Exposes Corruption Behind US Ag Gag Laws
Speciesism the Movie: Questioning Our Power Over the Powerless
Speciesism is a term coined by Richard Ryder in 1970. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines specieism as “prejudice or discrimination based on species; especially discrimination against animals.” Ryder pointed out that all such prejudices are based upon physical differences that are morally irrelevant. He held that the moral principle of Darwinism is that all sentient animals, including humans, should have a similar moral status. If all organisms are on one physical continuum, then we should also be on the same moral continuum. In other words, speciesism defies evolution. So how did our judgment become so clouded?
Animal Organizations Intensify Opposition to Egg Bill (H.R. 3798) in Anticipation of Senate Version
United Egg Producer’s President Backs New Battery Cage Law, Sees Higher Profits for the Industry
Gregory describes a long history of failed negotiations with HSUS which he describes as a vegan organization intent on putting the egg industry out of business. Gregory sells the idea of the new legislation that would phase out battery cages over nearly two decades time and replace them with negligibly larger “enriched colony cages” as a way to finally take control of the debate over eggs and animal welfare and once and for all put an end to their biggest threat: the animal advocacy movement.
Examining Temple Grandin and the Humane Slaughter Paradox
Browsing Temple Grandin’s official website is a puzzle of ideas and positions on animals in agriculture that could leave you more confused about her conclusions than when you started. For instance, her position on what she calls “humane slaughter” and appropriate methods of slaughter begins, not with an explanation of the benefits to the animal, but to its economic / legal compliance advantages:
Shoot Undercover Video on a Farm in Utah, Go to Jail
Utah follows Iowa’s lead in criminalizing animal advocacy and animal watch dog groups by signing into law its state’s new ag-gag law. Similar big ag protection laws have been proposed in other states, like Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York and Tennessee. They have been defeated in Florida and Illinois.
Sign Petition to Prosecute Owner of A&L Poultry for Willful Neglect and Starvation of 50,000 Hens
Iowa’s New Ag Gag Law Makes It Criminal to Lie to Record Animal Abuse
Iowa’s new law makes lying on a job application to get access to a farm facility a serious misdemeanor, punishable with up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $1,500. A second conviction carries harsher penalties. It won overwhelming approval in the Iowa Legislature on Tuesday. This makes criminals out of undercover investigators who expose cruelty to animals, corporate corruption, dangerous working conditions, environmental violations, or food safety concerns on farms.
50,000 Egg Laying Hens Found Emaciated and Starving on California Farm
The Stansilaus County, Calfiornia Animal Control officer who spoke to FOX News called this the worst animal abuse case she’s ever seen. 50,000 hens found trapped in a huge warehouse with only about 2,000 birds in stable enough condition to be rescued. The other several thousand were too far gone and were “euthanized” in portable gas chambers that were brought in to the site of the farm.
Vegan Leafleter Wins Philadelphia Court Settlement for Illegal Arrest Case
The city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay $15,000 to Edward Coffin, an animal rights activist who was illegally arrested and held for two hours for handing out fliers on a public sidewalk outside a Whole Foods store. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on Coffin’s behalf in December 2011.
You Have Constitutional Rights Until You Threaten Meat Industry Profits
The legal battle over free speech, animal activism and the erroneous connection with terrorism is heating up once again. After the defeat of a bill in four different states that would have criminalized even peaceful, non violent forms of animal activism such as taking photos of farm animals, a number of recent events has rekindled the debate.
Including Animals in Our Circle of Concern
There is no benefit to neglecting the suffering and exploitation of animals in our efforts to end the suffering and exploitation of humans. The systems that perpetuate oppression are the same whether they are perpetrated on human or nonhuman animals. And we should not fail to note the irony that the systems that abuse animals often lead to our own suffering and death. Eating animals is perhaps the most powerful example.