Hatcheries Ship Male Chicks as Packing Material
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Animal Organizations Intensify Opposition to Egg Bill (H.R. 3798) in Anticipation of Senate Version
How Do You Respond to ‘Veganism is Extreme’?
How many times have you heard the dismissive phrase veganism is extreme? What is extreme is not veganism but its polar opposite, carnism, which remains largely invisible and unexamined. What is extreme is the fact that a species of 7 billion kills 120 billion land and aquatic animals every year for a food source that is not necessary for survival or health.
Author Ruby Roth Reflects on Reactions to Vegan Education of Children and Her Books
I’d never have guessed my children’s book would provoke such claims. That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals, though well received, also caused some controversy, garnering attacks from the likes of animal agriculture trade magazines and even Farm Bureau CEOs. Though veganism is swiftly gaining momentum, it still provokes knee-jerk reactions—for me, each case of opposition a study of the invisible forces that shape our thinking about food, health, and animals.
Animal Science, Public Universities and the Business of Animal Exploitation
In Melody Petersen’s new piece in The Chronicle Review entitled, As Beef Cattle Become Behemoths, Who Are Animal Scientists Serving?, Petersen questions the influence of Big Pharma working against the interests of Big Ag. I thought these two worked pretty well together to destroy our environment, limit our food choices and monopolize taxpayer subsidies, but apparently Petersen makes a pretty good case for how animal scientists working for major public universities are unduly influenced by Big Pharma, thereby compromising their allegiance to Big Ag? Hmmm. Okay. I can’t seem to find the empathy for this argument.
Inside a Live Poultry Market: The Alternative to Factory Farming?
Facing Animals: A Dutch Documentary about Our Wildly Conflicting Perceptions of Animals
Why do we look away from millions of animals in industrial farms while pampering and humanizing others? Such is the fundamental question posed by a fascinating new documentary film by Dutch photographer and filmmaker, Jan Van Ijken. “The film takes the perspective of the animal, but actually is about man who in his inscrutable wisdom labels one animal as a cheap piece of meat, and the other as an interesting research object, beauty ideal, pest, pathetic creature or partner/mate/child. In Facing Animals, I give the hidden animals in the industrial farms a face. I invite the viewer to think about the value of an animal,” writes Van Ijken.
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.
HSUS New Egg Exposé: The Reality Behind Modern Egg Production
If you want to help hens, don’t purchase eggs and don’t support campaigns like the proposed battery cage ban (H.R. 3798, the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012), that will doom birds to cages for decades to come with no opportunities to change the laws. Birds do not belong in cages… period.
Cow Escapes Slaughterhouse, Swims Across River, Flees Police
A young steer who broke out of a slaughterhouse in northern New Jersey, swam across a river, ran through city streets and was even struck by an animal control pick up truck. Fortunately he is now being taken Wednesday to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in New York. Stories like this one prove how deeply these animals’ lives matter to them, just as much as our lives matter to us.
The Backyard Chicken Reality Check: Problems and Recommendations
The backyard chicken movement is in full swing, and shelters are filling up with unwanted and abandoned chickens all over the country. While the media continues to romanticize backyard chicken keeping, would-be chicken keepers are learning only half truths about keeping and caring for chickens. We thought it was time for a reality check. This live recording from Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns, provides a very authoritative and comprehensive review of the most common problems and recommendations for the urban chicken 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:
Meet Your Meat Industry: The AMI Fact Sheet for 2010
Creating a Generation of Solutionaries
Whether or not we would have wished this on them, our children must grow up understanding how to solve pressing challenges. Yet, they are still memorizing names and dates of battles. They’re told to “do their best” at school, but what would be best is if we engaged their loving hearts and brilliant minds so that they yearned to play their important roles in the great tasks ahead. Core competencies in core subjects are simply tools. We must make sure that we’re providing our children with the knowledge, skills, and commitment to participate in the creation of a peaceful, sustainable, and humane world for all. And if we embrace such a vision for the purpose of schooling, we will watch our graduates quickly and inexorably solve the pressing, persistent, and systemic problems we face.
Freedom’s New Frontier: A Guide to Animal Rights
The movement for animal rights is perhaps one of the most misunderstood social phenomena of the 21st century. Despite the sincere efforts of an increasing number of individuals willing to speak up on behalf of the animals who suffer at the hands of humans, our cause continues to be misconstrued, misrepresented, and maligned.
Enviropig Project, 1st GMO and ‘Trademarked’ Animal, Falling Flat from Ethical, Political and Economic Factors
According to a report in Reuters today, the key backers in Canada’s Enviropig project, Toronto Pig, has withdrawn their financial support, and the financial and political outlook is looking pretty grim for the University of Guelph which is conducting the research. According to the University’s website, “The Enviropig™ is a genetically enhanced line of Yorkshire pigs with the capability of digesting plant phosphorus more efficiently than conventional Yorkshire pigs.” This apparently results in a significant reduction in phosphorus in the animal’s feces and a lower level of phosphorus contamination in fresh water supplies.
Consumption of Animal Products Declining in US Yet Surging Globally
PBS’s Food Forward Series Clings to Backward, Speciesist Worldview of Animals
Food Forward unfortunately falls into the same predictable speciesist trap as most all of the locavore, sustainable types do. They would have us believe that it’s still okay to use animals in barbaric ways as mankind has done for 10,000 years now as long as we do it on a localized, kindler and gentler scale—as long as we take the power away from the corporate giants who currently do it. It quickly becomes clear that this supposedly more evolved perspective on agriculture leaves the moral question of our relationship with animals mostly unexamined and left to the tyranny of history.
Teaching the Mentality of Meat: When Beaver Tail Becomes Haute Cuisine
In a recent Huffington Post story celebrating the preparation of beaver’s tail, we discovered just how far a major culinary training institution is willing to go to get attention through marketing and promoting wildlife animals as haute cuisine. As the anonymous HuffPost author says: “That’s right: the furry creatures are good for things beside being cute, building dams and providing pelts for retro hats. They also make for some interesting eating.”
What All Animal Advocates Need to Understand about Denial
All social justice advocates, including animal advocates, can expect to face a huge challenge when talking to people about why their cause is important. In the animal advocacy world, food choice is the elephant in the closet. Denial is the norm and it takes many forms. We must not be deterred by it. Accept the reality of denial and seek ways to move beyond it. That is the given that all serious advocates must embrace, rather than become paralyzed by, if we are to become more effective at getting people to warm up to our position.