Farmed
Animal Watch
A Project of Animal Place
March 12, 2002
(To Search This Page Press Ctrl F)
Issue #58
CONTENTS
1. Update on Hen Horror
2. Animal Welfare Teaching Guides
3. Chicken Changes
4. Foreign Animal Welfare Accomplishments
5. Foreign Animal Welfare Failures
6. Vegetarianism in The News
7. Defending Farm Animals Profiled
1. UPDATE ON HEN HORROR
Some 30,000 hens starved to death at the bankrupt egg operation in Florida
(see last issue). Activists rescued 180 hens but sheriff's deputies
stopped
them as they attempted to save another 40 hens. "We've signed a
contract to
euthanize, and no one wants to deal with the liability of people taking
these birds, though I know of no diseases. This is best for the chickens,"
assured Florida state vet Leroy Coffman. Permanent and temporary homes for
the birds had been offered by 500 individuals and sanctuaries as far away as
Seattle. Previously, Coffman had said that if any of the birds were in good
enough condition they would be placed. The 15-month-old birds had been near
the end of their egg-laying prime, and he had doubted any other farmer would
want them. At their peak production, they sell for $1.50 or less. About
300,000-350,000 hens in a similar situation in Georgia were sold to other
poultry companies. Coffman said the Florida case is so tangled it is
unlikely that anyone will be charged with animal cruelty. He blamed it on
the economic slump the egg industry has experienced in the last year. Prices
have plummeted as Midwestern farms with 5- to 10-million hens outproduced
demand. Noted one article, "Over and over on Wednesday, a yellow front-end
loader dug into a pile of white feathers, scooped up countless [bodies] and
charged off to a burial pit....The scene could go on for days." Over 1
million starving hens in Florida and Georgia were killed as a result of the
bankruptcy.
"Activists take 180 hens from central Florida egg farm," The
Associated
Press, March 9, 2002.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/030902/D7I55VSO1.html
"1M Chickens May Die Amid Money Woes," The Associated Press, Kyle
Wingfield,
3/7/02.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/020307/dead_chickens_1.html
"Company's bankruptcy starves chickens at abandoned egg farm," ST.
Petersburg Times, Chase Squires, March 7, 2002.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/07/news_pf/Pasco/Company_s_bankruptcy_.shtml
2. ANIMAL WELFARE TEACHING GUIDES
Ohio State University educators and researchers are collaborating on guides
for teaching animal welfare. Nine teaching modules, including animal ethics,
stress impact, and proper animal welfare techniques, will be tested this
autumn. The modules are being developed with the help of Paul Hemsworth, an
Australian animal welfare specialist. The guides are said to be among the
first to incorporate scientifically based animal welfare topics into
existing animal science curriculum. Science is being heavily emphasized "to
help students differentiate animal welfare from animal rights." According
to
one of the researchers, "Animal welfare says that animals will be given the
opportunity to minimize their suffering, not because it's their right, but
because it's good husbandry." He elaborated that "the gap between
genuine
concern for an animal's well-being and the production line of which it has
become a part" must be bridged.
"OSU develops animal welfare teaching guides," Ag Answers, March 12,
2002.
http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/aganswers/2002/3-12_Animal_Welfare.html
3. CHICKEN CHANGES
Industrial chicken production is examined in an extensive Observer (U.K.)
article. Production and slaughter are detailed, and alternative production
is considered. The dramatic effects of selective breeding and management
changes over the past half decade are noted throughout. Continued selection
and genetic engineering present a grim future for the birds. A recent report
by the European Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare
blamed accelerated growth rates for widespread lameness and heart disease in
very young chickens. Sir Colin Spedding, who chairs the industry's first
attempt to set basic standards declared, "There is nothing wrong with fast
growth so long as it doesn't result in harm to the animals. Poultry are
totally unnatural, as are all our livestock." Joyce D'Silva of Compassion
in
World Farming counters, "We've made an animal that can hardly live to
puberty even though it has a natural life span of seven years. They have
unsustainable bodies, and that's been done in the name of cheap meat."
"Ten weeks to live," The Observer, Chloe Diski, March 10, 2002.
http://www.observer.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,9950,662799,00.html
4. FOREIGN ANIMAL WELFARE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Pig castration will be completely banned in Norway beginning in 2009.
Starting this year, only veterinarians will be allowed to conduct the
procedure, and only with appropriate pain relief. The swine industry had
lobbied against the ban, citing high costs. Animal advocates prevailed by
pointing to a similar ban in Denmark which they say has not caused
significant problems. About 95% of male piglets in Norway (some 650,000) are
castrated each year, most by farmers.
A method for evaluating brain function in fish while they are anesthetized
and being killed has been developed. It is based on self-initiated
behaviors, responses to stimulation, and reflexes. The tests can be used to
identify, with reasonable confidence, the state of awareness, and thus the
capacity to experience suffering of several species of freshwater and marine
fish.
"Norway bans routine castration of pigs," Agriculture Online, March
11,
2002.
http://www.agriculture.com
http://www.agriculture.com/default.sph/AgNews.class?FNC=sideBarMore__ANewsindex_html___47490
"Protocol for assessing brain function in fish and the effectiveness of
methods used to stun and kill them," The Veterinary Record, March 9, 2002.
http://www.vetrecord.co.uk/abs569.htm
5. FOREIGN ANIMAL WELFARE FAILURES
"Half-Live Meat," the title of this article, sums up the torturous
journey
horses, cattle and sheep from Central and Eastern Europe suffer en route to
slaughter in the European Union. (See also back issue #51.) The feature
article concludes with proposed solutions.
The Saskatchewan SPCA received twice as many farmed-animal related
complaints in the last 9 months of 2001 as it did in the same period in
2000, jumping from 100 to 198. The complaints are attributed to a lack of
feed in the province, poor economic conditions, and increased public
awareness of animal welfare matters. Cattle moved to a remote pasture may be
neglected. Poor quality hay and straw can block the final stomach chamber
and cause dehydration and starvation. Recently, 78 cattle died of
dehydration when their water supply ran out. More calls are expected with
the onset of the calving season, when cows and calves are most vulnerable.
"Half-Live Meat," Transitions Online, Sarah Rowe, March 7, 2002.
http://www.tol.cz
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOLnew/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=22&NrSection=2&NrArticle=3814&ST_max=0
"Livestock complaints double at SPCA," The Western Producer, Sean
Pratt,
March 9, 2002.
http://www.producer.com/articles/20020307/news/20020307news11.html
6. VEGETARIANISM IN THE NEWS
The March 13th Washington Post food section is largely devoted to
vegetarianism. Six vegans are interviewed and explain the "challenges,
issues and joys" of their dietary lifestyle. In a side story, the
reporter's
relates her week as a vegan. A March 12th article discusses quorn, a meat
alternative newly imported from Europe. Transitioning to a vegetarian diet
is the subject of an extensive article in The Honolulu Advertiser.
Vegetarians living in "beef country" is the topic of an article in the
Greeley (CO) Tribune. The various reasons for their diet in this city, where
a ConAgra slaughterplant is one of the largest employers and "'the smell of
death' hangs in the air," are explained.
The efforts of one vegan to "hone a social network of like-minded
locals"
resulted in the creation of the Black Vegetarian Society of Georgia. How
various members arrived at it and aspirations for the future are told in
this article.
"The World According to Vegetarians," The Washington Post, Candy Sagon,
March 13, 2002.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14015-2002Mar12.html
"My Week As a Vegan," The Washington Post, Candy Sagon, March 13,
2002.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14012-2002Mar12.html
"Sounds Like Corn. Tastes Like Chicken," The Washington Post, Sally
Squires,
March 12, 2002.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9722-2002Mar11.html
"Contemporary veggie lifestyle," The Honolulu Advertiser, Wanda A.
Adams,
March 12, 2002.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Mar/13/il/il11ataste.html
"In the heart of beef country, some still shun meat," Greeley Tribune,
Perry
Swanson, March 10, 2002.
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article.php?sid=7261
"African-American vegan on a mission," Cox News Service, Charlotte
Moore,
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/health_and_fitness/article/0,1426,MCA_522_1024468,00.html
7. DEFENDING FARM ANIMALS PROFILED
Defending Farm Animals (DFA) is a multi-function organization based in
Southwest Minneapolis. The 6-year-old organization, with a core group of 5
individuals, works to inform the public of the plight of farmed animals
through investigations, exposés and public education. This includes a weekly
cable-access television show with a spectrum of footage about farmed
animals. The same footage is employed on a yellow truck outfitted with 5
television screens that members drive around the city several times a week.
DFA also logs hundreds of hours of investigative work each year, documenting
animal abuse first-hand at stockyards, factory farms, slaughterhouses, and
rodeos. The members work closely with the police to stay within the law and
get their message out peacefully.
"What's their beef?" Southwest Journal, Anjula Razdan, February 28,
2002.
http://www.swjournal.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/February/25-2977-news08.txt