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1. Undercover Investigations: Kosher Slaughterhouse; Perdue Farms
The national animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has released the findings of a new undercover investigation allegedly showing abuses at a kosher slaughter facility. Kosher laws dictate certain slaughter practices, such as the position of a cow when slaughtered and the disallowance of any stunning methods prior to the animal being killed. A Rabbi associated with the company, Agriprocessors, claims that the video is a "testimony that this (kosher slaughter) is being done right." The Rabbi defended his claim by saying that the struggling of cows in the video after having their throats cut was an involuntary reaction and does not represent cruelty or a violation of kosher law. Industry advisor Temple Grandin felt differently, however, calling the video an "atrocious abomination, nothing like I've seen in 30 kosher plants I've visited here and in England, France, Ireland and Canada." According to PETA, the undercover investigation was carried out after two years of attempting to work directly with Agriprocessors to improve its kosher slaughter conditions for animals.
The most recent PETA investigation comes just two
months after activist group Compassion Over Killing
(COK) conducted an undercover investigation of a Perdue
Farms chicken slaughterhouse (see http://www.cok.net/camp/inv/perdue/home.php).
COK's undercover video depicts what the activists
call horrific abuses of chickens, including employees
"spiking" the birds like footballs and clear cases
were conscious chickens had their throats cut. Despite
the evidence and the resulting media attention to
the case, local law enforcement is saying they will
not pursue animal cruelty charges because the slaughterhouse
was closed in early November as previously scheduled.
According to the country Sheriff, "The plant is closed
and as far as our prosecution is concerned, there's
really not much we can do." The Sheriff said that
the matter is now back in COK's hands to produce the
names of actual witnesses to the abuses.
"Videotapes Show Grisly Scenes at Kosher Slaughterhouse," New York Times, 11/30/04
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/national/30cnd-kosh.html
"PETA Claims Cruelty to Animals in Slaughtering Process at Agriprocessors," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 11/1/04
http://www.gazetteonline.com/article.aspx?art_id=93551&cat_id=1
PETA Undercover Investigation, November 2004 (INCLUDES VIDEO)
http://www.goveg.com/feat/agriprocessors
"Sheriff: Abuse Case Probe 'Curtailed' By Perdue Plant Closure," Marylad Coast Dispatch, 11/26/04
http://www.mdcoastdispatch.com/perdueprobe_112604.htm
2.
Industrial Agriculture Threatens Air and Water Quality in the US and Poland
Globally, the growing dependence on industrialized animal agriculture, or "factory farming," has potentially significant implications for both the environment and farmed animal welfare. In Poland, US-based pork producer Smithfield Foods is paying local farmers to grow their operations to supply the European market, but they are also creating resistance among environmental advocates. Smithfield slaughters more than a million pigs in Poland and about 20 million pigs worldwide each year. Local activists are resisting Smithfield's expansion based on concerns about the smell from pig farms as well as human health consequences from increased used of antibiotics. According to one anti-Smithfield activist, "The local authorities commissioned some research and found that the permitted levels of antibiotics were 15 to 30 times more than allowed."
Evidence of industrial farms' impacts on the environment are also evident in the US, with two recent examples from California and Ohio. In California, the state senate has released a new study requested by outgoing Senator John Burton, sponsor of the recently passed state law banning the production and sale of foie gras. The senate's report says that large dairy operations pose a public health threat by polluting the state's air and water, as well as increasing risk of exposure to hormones and antibiotics. According to Senator Burton, "The people need to be aware of, and the Legislature and the governor should pursue, the public health and animal cruelty impacts of factory farming." Such "mega-farms" are also having an impact on people in Ohio, where a growing number of rural residents are being forced from their homes due to the effects of large-scale dairy and pig farms. In the single county of Paulding, eight new factory pig farms have been built since 1994. However, in Ohio and elsewhere the benefits of large-scale farming appear to be outweighed by the costs. In Paulding, where farm animals outnumber people, only a small percent of the taxes from farms is used for the general public, while most is used for roads and other measures to improve operational conditions for the farmers themselves. Meanwhile, residents are moving away from the farms out of fear for their personal health.
In the US, farmed animal operations will still be required to report air emissions from their facilities, as a proposal to exempt them from reporting was omitted from the federal omnibus spending bill.
"Polish Factory Farms Cause a Stink," BBC News, 11/25/04
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4035081.stm
"Report Looks at 'Factory Farming,'" Sacramento Bee, 11/27/04
http://www.modbee.com/business/story/9511686p-10404750c.html
"Megafarms' Toxic Fumes Forcing Paulding Neighbors off Their Land," The Plain Dealer, 11/27/04
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/110155157262571.xml
"Livestock-Emissions Exemption Fails," Pork Magazine, 11/24/04
No link available
3.
Pig Welfare: Research on Painkillers in Mother's Milk; Australian Activism
PAINKILLERS: Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) are studying the efficacy of administering anesthetics to baby pigs through their mothers' milk. The technique is being developed in part to increase the ease of anesthetizing pigs and other animals before subjecting them to common farming practices such as castration, tail clipping, and dehorning. The research will continue to determine the amount of anesthetic that makes its way to the piglets, as well as to identify which painkillers work best with the proposed process.
AUSTRALIA: Farmed animal activists in Australia have increased pressure on pig farmers by launching a series of direct protests and challenges to the industry. In Western Australia, activists raided a pig farm for the second time in five weeks, demanding that local police and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) investigate the alleged abuses. Activists are claiming that the farm's housing violates Australia's federal standards for pig welfare. The RSPCA, which investigated the farm in October but found no prosecutable offenses, has said it will inspect all of the other pig farms in Western Australia over the next year. Other activists in Australia are using different tactics as part of a coordinated national campaign. In Queensland, four activists chained themselves to a pig stall on a university campus and were later released without charges. Finally, in South Australia an activist has challenged the pig farming industry to let him spend three weeks in a pig stall to demonstrate the suffering of animals confined to small spaces for extended periods.
"Easing Piggy Pain," The Globe and Mail, 11/27/04
http://tinyurl.com/4zr7u
"Protestors Raid Pig Farm again," National Nine / AAP, 11/30/04
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=20768
"Protesters Chain Themselves to Pig Stall," National Nine News / AAP, 11/29/04
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=23648
"Man Wants to Live Like Pig," Daily Telegraph / AAP, 11/29/04
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C4057%2C11536190%255E1702%2C00.html
4.
Avian Influenza: Potential Pandemic; US Efforts Receive Federal Funding
Warnings about the potential for Avian Influenza to become a global pandemic continue to pile up, including a recent World Health Organization (WHO) claim that the disease could kill up to 50 million people. According to one WHO official, Avian Influenza is "incomparable" to SARS, but more pathogenic and more likely to kill the people that it infects. While SARS has an estimated mortality rate of about 15%, Avian Influenza's mortality rate is more than 65%. According to another WHO official, "We don't know if the next pandemic will happen in the next week or in the next years." A flu pandemic in 1918 caused the deaths of an estimated 20 million people. In the US, federal legislators have passed a bill providing $23 million for the "prevention, control, and eradication" of low-pathogenic Avian Influenza. More than half of the amount, however, is meant for compensation to farmers who must destroy poultry or other animals to help control possible spread of the disease. The rest is earmarked for surveillance and testing at both commercial poultry slaughter operations as well as live bird markets.
"Birdflu Far More Deadly Than SARS, WHO Says," Yahoo News / Reuters, 11/29/04
http://tinyurl.com/6559t
(Yahoo News website)
"Bird Flu Likely Source of Next Pandemic," Planet Ark / Reuters, 11/26/04
http://www.planetark.com/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=28297
"Congress Approves Funding for Bird Flu Program,' Meatingplace.com, 11/30/04
http://www.meatingplace.com/DailyNews/init.asp?iID=13477
5. Other Items of Interest
In part due to demand from Muslim residents, goat meat is one of the fastest growing sectors of the US farmed animal industry. In 2002, nearly 75,000 US farms raised almost 2 million goats for slaughter, a 58% increase in the number of animals killed in the five-year period since 1997.
"Changing America, Changing Tastes," Chicago Tribune, 11/30/04
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0411300189nov30,1,5834707.story
A leading expert on food behaviors says the
low-carbohydrate diet fad has "run its course," and
that a majority of US residents, perhaps for the first
time, do not view themselves as physically fit. He
goes on to say that the most important factors to
consumers when making food choices are "time, money,
and health - probably in that order."
"Expert Shares Insights on American Eating Trends," Meatingplace.com, 11/29/04
http://www.meatingplace.com/DailyNews/init.asp?iID=13465
A prominent Portland, Oregon chef is fighting
back against animal activists who recently convinced
three of the city's restaurants to take foie gras
off of their menus. The angry chef is challenging
his colleagues to carry the product in part as a protest
against the ban on sale and production of foie gras
in California.
"Platter: Food Finds, Restaurant Reviews and Dining Trends," The Oregonian, 11/26/04
http://tinyurl.com/4u4jt
(OregonLive.com website)
A leading Canadian financial company estimates
that the country's cow farming industry has lost CDN$5
billion (US$4.2 billion) as a result of the ban on
exports to the US since the discovery of BSE in Canada
in May 2003.
"BSE Case Costs Cattle Producers CDN$5Billion," Just-food.com, 11/30/04
http://www.just-food.com/news_detail.asp?art=59343
An Iowa State University researcher provides
guidelines for watering herds of cows: Watering devices
should be able to simultaneously handle at least 10%
of the group being given water; the device should
hold at least 25% of the herd's daily intake; and
producers should consider both the positive and negative
effects of making cows walk longer distances to their
drinking water.
"How Far Should Cattle Walk To Water?" Cow Calf Weekly, 11/26/04
http://enews.primediabusiness.com/enews/beef/cowcalf_weekly/current#a041123_2
A summary of events and lectures from the
36th World Vegetarian Congress includes the full text
of speeches covering the use of the UK Vegetarian
Society's seedling label, a summary of successful
vegetarian advocacy campaigns in the UK, and speciesism.
Report from the 36th annual World Vegetarian Congress held in Brazil, 11/8-11/14 2004
http://www.ivu.org/congress/2004/index.html
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