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1.
OREGON BANS GESTATION STALLS
On June 28th, Governor Ted Kulongoski
signed into law a ban on the use of gestation stalls
for pigs in Oregon (see: http://tinyurl.com/32sj4z
). The law takes effect in 2013.
OREGON GOVERNOR SIGNS FARM ANIMAL CRUELTY
BILL
Meat & Poultry, June 29, 2007
http://www.meatpoultry.com/news/daily_enews.asp?ArticleID=86435
2.
LOUISIANA SET TO BAN COCKFIGHTING; ACTIVITY MIGRATES
Pending Governor Kathleen Blanco’s
signature, cockfighting will be banned in Louisiana
as of August 2008. It is the last state in which the
activity is legal. On June 27th the Senate voted 37-0
for the ban, which makes it a crime to organize a
cockfight or enter a bird in one. It will also close
a loophole in Louisiana’s animal cruelty laws,
which currently exclude chickens. Sen. Art Lentini,
the Legislature's chief opponent of cockfighting,
had proposed an immediate ban but the compromise measure
was instead approved (see: http://tinyurl.com/2rtony
). House members had agreed that cockfighters should
have until August 2008 to sell the birds or kill them
off in fights. Lentini said he believes the popularity
of cockfighting will end this summer since an immediate
ban on gambling at cockfights was also approved. The
governor is expected to sign the bill.
A nationwide push for harsher animal-fighting
penalties over the past decade has resulted in cockfighting
increasing in states with weak laws and lax enforcement.
An extensive article in the July 4th Cleveland Scene
discusses how Ohio has becomes an underground center
for cockfighting. It is a fourth-degree misdemeanor
there, the same as a speeding ticket. "There's
no incentive for law enforcement to go after [chicken
fighters]," says Deputy Sheriff David Hunt, who
heads a Franklin County task force on animal cruelty,
"Prosecuting cockfighting is labor-intensive
and costly. It's not productive to tie up your resources
on it." As a result, large rings essentially
operate with impunity around the state. A similar
situation exists in rural California, explains two
recent Sacramento Bee articles. Some counties there
have tried to discourage cockfighting operations by
passing ordinances limiting the number of roosters
that property owners can have.
LA. LEGISLATURE APPROVES 2008 BAN ON
COCKFIGHTING
KATC/The Associated Press, June 27, 2007
http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=6719172
CHICKEN WARS
Cleveland Scene, Rebecca Meiser, July 4, 2007
http://www.clevescene.com/2007-07-04/news/chicken-wars
SUSPECTS FACE FELONY CHARGES OF ANIMAL CRUELTY
Sacramento Bee, Kim Minugh, July 5, 2007
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/24979
COCKFIGHTING PROBE EXPANDS
Sacramento Bee, Crystal Carreon, July 6, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/259344.html
3.
JUDGE AGREES WITH ILLINOIS HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN
On July 6th, a federal judge ruled in
favor of an Illinois state law banning the production
or possession of horse meat for human consumption,
effectively putting out of business the Cavel horse
slaughterplant in DeKalb (see: http://tinyurl.com/2kmzbj
). Cavel International Inc. had filed suit last month
against the new law (see: http://tinyurl.com/35ub2n
) arguing that it is an unconstitutional infringement
on federal authority over foreign and interstate commerce,
an infringement on federal authority in food production
matters, and an unconstitutional exercise of the state's
police powers. Judge Frederick Kapala disagreed, noting
that the law would only be discriminatory if it treated
local and foreign interests differently. He furthermore
said that while federal laws pertain to humane and
sanitary conditions, they do not preclude the state
from prohibiting the slaughter of a particular species.
Cavel is considering an appeal of the judge’s
order.
RULING KEEPS HORSE-SLAUGHTER PLANT CLOSED
Chicago Tribune, Joseph Sjostrom, July 6, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/27kqul
4.
FARMED ANIMAL WELFARE IN AMERICA
“Americans are increasingly picky
about what they eat — especially when it comes
to the ways that farm animals are killed, processed,
sold and served as food. And U.S. businesses are catching
on,” states a July 2nd Los Angeles Times article
entitled: Animal Welfare Issue Boiling. It explains
ways in which businesses are responding, such as MBA
Poultry’s use of an oxygen/carbon dioxide mixture
rather than electricity to render chickens unconscious
prior to slaughter (see: http://tinyurl.com/kumcu
) and a multi-tiered meat rating system that Whole
Foods Market Inc. is testing in London and plans to
introduce in the U.S. this year which will focus on
specific measures of animal treatment. Kay Johnson
of the Animal Agriculture Alliance says the companies
are reacting to animal-welfare activists rather than
to consumer concerns. “There is a real tidal
wave of progress," contends Paul Shapiro of the
Humane Society of the U.S. "Animal welfare is
reaching a tipping point."
ANIMAL WELFARE ISSUE BOILING
Los Angeles Times, Jerry Hirsch, July 2, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2bvtna
5.
FARMED ANIMAL WELFARE IN AUSTRALIA
“Animal welfare, or the debate
about what is the most humane treatment of animals,
is set to become a big issue in Australia, with serious
implications for livestock production,” states
Sean Murphy of the Australian program Landline in
an episode entitled: Livestock Producers Face Animal
Welfare Challenges. “For a very long time, the
law has been used as a tool to oppress animals…”
explains Katrina Sharman, corporate counsel for Voiceless
(http://www.voiceless.org.au
) and said to be Australia's first animal rights lawyer.
Farmers are largely exempt from animal protection
laws when engaging in what is considered normal commercial
practices. David Weisbrot, President of the Australian
Law Reform Commission, believes change is inevitable.
He compares the national awakening to animal welfare
and rights to that of the recognition of Aboriginal
human rights some forty years ago.
Viewers were warned of the potentially
“disturbing” scenes broadcast in the episode,
such as those of mulesing (removing flesh from the
hind end of sheep) and images of sheep involved in
the MV Al Kuwait shipping disaster (see: http://tinyurl.com/35ew8c
). In reaction to activist investigations, the New
South Wale Farmers Association wants new laws modeled
on U.S. ones (see: http://tinyurl.com/3yr2ds
). However, overall it prefers to negotiate with animal
advocates in order to avoid legal hassles. Voiceless
is campaigning for a government regulated labeling
system identifying the types of animal production
systems used in Australia.
LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS FACE ANIMAL WELFARE
CHALLENGES
Landline, Sean Murphy, July 1, 2007
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2006/s1965877.htm
6.
LIVE EARTH
“Whenever possible, replace meat
with soy or other vegetable protein in your diet.
It takes eight times as much energy to produce a pound
of meat as it does a pound of tofu.” This is
the first of eight suggestions listed in a brief New
York Times article that drew from the 77 suggestions
offered in the official companion book to the Live
Earth concerts: The Live Earth Global Warming Survival
Handbook. The concerts, conceived by former U.S. Vice
President Al Gore and concert producer Kevin Wall
to raise awareness about global warming, will take
place on July 7th at sites around the globe. People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent a
letter to the vendor management of one of the events
to point out that selling meat there would be cruel
and wasteful. "Selling meat at a concert to benefit
the environment would be like selling cigarettes at
an anticancer fundraiser," wrote Matt Prescott
, PETA’s vegan campaign manager. John Picard,
sustainability team leader of the event, to be held
at the New Jersey Giants Stadium, said he would discuss
the issue with PETA. The organization has listed on
its website vegan artists who will perform at the
event, which it is supportive of overall.
TREAD LIGHTLY, FLY DIRECTLY
The New York Times, July 1, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/fashion/01gside.html
CAN LIVE EARTH ORGANIZERS KEEP GREEN METHODS IN THEIR
PLANNING?
International Herald Tribune/Jake Coyle (The Associated
Press), July 5, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/05/america/NA-GEN-US-Live-Earth.php
7.
ECOLOGICAL COSTS OF MEAT
Ninety percent of the grain that Americans
consume, some 2,000 pounds a year, is in the form
of meat, according to sustainable artist Shawn Dell
Joyce. She explains that by cycling grain through
animals for meat, 90% of the protein, carbohydrates,
and fiber is used for bones, fur, and otherwise made
inaccessible to the consumer. “When we eat lower
on the food ladder, we save more resources, as well
as that animal,” Joyce explains. Additionally:
“More than half our farmland and half our water
consumption is currently tied up by the meat industry,”
she writes. The risk of heart disease, high blood
pressure and cancer can be greatly reduced by replacing
meat in two or three main meals a week, she asserts.
“Raising livestock as nature intended is far
more labor-intensive and currently unsubsidized in
our culture. Therefore, when we buy pasture-raised
meat, we are paying the whole cost of the meat, including
the environmental costs. Because the meat is more
expensive, we tend to eat less and waste less,”
she concludes. The article includes a sizable list
of ecological “costs” of meat production.
SUSTAINABLE LIVING: EATING LOWER ON THE
FOOD LADDER
Record Online (The Times Herald-Record), Shawn Dell
Joyce, July 1, 2007
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070701/NEWS/707010382
8.
EPA REGS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE
The Environmental Protection Agency
has launched a new website that lists the federal
environmental regulations that could apply to agriculture:
http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/llaw.html
9.
MEAT & THE ENVIRONMENT - AUSTRALIA
Australia’s meat production is
responsible for 18% of the country's total greenhouse
gas contribution, 86% of which comes from beef production.
The country’s meat industry accounts for 91
megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, versus
80.4 megatonnes for the transportation industry. In
addition to causing 26.7 kiligrams of greenhouse gas
emissions, “every dollar's worth of beef at
the farm gate…also guzzles 731 litres of water,
and contributes to the ongoing disturbance of 187
square metres of land.”
More than 430 million chickens will
be slaughtered in Australia this year, providing each
person nine times the amount eaten in the 1940s. Record
amounts of beef, lamb and pig meat will also be consumed,
and it is forecasted that this trend will continue
over the next half century. (Cholesterol is attributed
with decreasing egg consumption from 250 to 150 per
Australian over the past 60 years.) Export demand
for Australian meat is also predicted to leap in coming
decades, particularly to South-East Asian countries.
Australia’s farmed animal industry has reduced
methane emissions by 6% through feed changes. Research
is underway to further reduce them by genetically
modifying cattle. "There is a genuine widespread
concern about climate change in the community now,
and it's not all going to be fixed by everybody else.
It's going to be fixed in part by our own behaviour,"
states Senator Andrew Bartlett, a vegetarian since
age 19.
INTO THE MEAT OF THE ISSUE
The Sydney Morning Herald, Steve Dow, July 3, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/27e6a3
10.
DISASTER IN PAKISTAN
Millions of birds perished from “sizzling
heat” which recently struck three of Pakistan’s
four provinces over a two-week period, reports Maroof
Siddiqui of the Pakistan Poultry Association. An estimated
1.8 million birds died when rain and heat hit Karachi,
and millions of birds are said to have been injured
or killed in Sindh when winds and rain collapsed the
roofs of poultry houses and sheds there. Some 1.8
million square feet covered by sheds were destroyed.
Land grabbers have begun construction on the open
yards, which are said to have served to provide open
space for birds. Siddiqui is seeking financial relief
from the government.
POULTRY
FARMERS SUFFER HUGE LOSSES DUE TO WINDSTORM
Daily Times, Tanveer Sher, June 26, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/3auvt3
MORE THAN 1,000 POULTRY FARMS ON THE VERGE OF CLOSURE
Daily Times, Razi Syed, July 5, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/3cu5ae
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