|
1.
COCKFIGHTING BANNED IN NEW MEXICO; LOUISIANA LAST HOLDOUT
On Monday, March 12th, New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson signed into law a ban on cockfighting
as of June 15th (see: http://tinyurl.com/2dky8c
). ''Today, New Mexico joins 48 other states in affirming
that the deliberate killing of animals for entertainment
and profit is no longer acceptable,'' said State Sen.
Mary Jane Garcia, who for nearly two decades had introduced
legislation to ban cockfighting. Opponents argue that
cockfighting is part of the state's culture and tradition,
and that it might now be moved to tribal lands, which
are not affected by the ban. The head of the New Mexico
Game Fowl Association said a legal challenge is planned.
Louisiana is now the only state where
cockfighting is legal. Gov. Kathleen Blanco wants
it banned. Last year, a proposed cockfighting ban
passed the state Senate but was blocked by a House
committee (see last item: http://tinyurl.com/2xgcz8
). The Governor’s support will greatly increase
its chance of passage this year. The Humane Society
of the U.S. intends to make a Louisiana ban one of
its top priorities. An editorial in the (Shreveport,
La.) Times opines: “…Congress should pass
federal legislation, now under consideration, that
would make it a felony to transport any animal over
state lines for an animal fighting venture. But wouldn't
it all be much better, not to mention the right thing
to do, if Louisiana lawmakers would finally put this
archaic bit of brutality out of its misery and enact
a statewide ban? The answer, of course, is yes.”
COCKFIGHTING
BAN APPROVED IN NEW MEXICO
The New York Times/The Associated Press, March 12,
2007
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Cockfighting-Ban.html
BATTLE LOOMS OVER COCKFIGHTING IN LOUISIANA
The Associated Press, Doug Simpson, March 12, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/338pqn
LEGISLATORS: COCK-A-DOODLE-DON'T
Las Cruces Sun-News, Walter Rubel, March 9, 2007
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_5391363
TIME TO DEAL COCKFIGHTING A KNOCKOUT BLOW
The [Shreveport] Times, Editorial, March 14, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/28huq5
2.
VEAL COMPANIES CANNING CRATES
In the U.S., the majority of calves
raised for veal are tethered in individual stalls
measuring 28 inches wide by 7 feet deep. A 1989 USDA-funded
study found that close confinement of calves caused
chronic stress. The lead scientist summarized: "...our
studies found that maintaining calves in crates is
physically detrimental to the calf, something that
is common knowledge in the industry." Marcho
Farms, one of the nation’s largest veal companies,
has announced it will no longer tether calves and
will employ group housing. The company said the change
will help dispel myths about veal production.
Strauss Veal & Lamb, which claims
to process between 18% to 25% of the calves used for
veal in the U.S., has set a goal of completely converting
from stalls to group pens in the next 2-3 years. Randy
Strauss, the company’s CEO, has written that
veal crates are “inhumane and archaic”
and "do nothing more than subject a calf to stress,
fear, physical harm and pain." Stating that “Animal
rights are important,” he said: “We want
to be the company to revolutionize the veal industry.
There are a growing number of people who, if they
feel good about what they’re eating, will eat
veal. If we can capture that market, we’re going
to increase the 0.6-pound per capita consumption market
resulting in a healthier veal industry.” Strauss
asserts that veal consumption rose in Europe, where
individual veal stalls are now illegal, during the
5-10 year conversion process there. The company has
also expressed interest in free-range and organic
production.
STRAUSS VEAL AND MARCHO FARMS ELIMINATING
CONFINEMENT BY CRATE
The Humane Society of the U.S., February 22, 2007
http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/strauss_and_marcho_veal_crates.html
CHANGES UNDERWAY IN LIVESTOCK HOUSING
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, March 6, 2007
http://www.ofbf.org/page/REVN-6Z2HXP/?OpenDocument
REVOLUTIONIZING THE VEAL INDUSTRY
Meat Processing, Bryan Salvage, December 2006
http://www.meatprocessing-digital.com/meatprocessing/200612/
3.
OP-EDS AND BILLS AGAINST CONFINEMENT
Nicolette Hahn Niman is haunted by the
pigs she saw while touring pig confinement operations
as an environmental attorney. In a March 14th New
York Times op-ed, she notes that 95% of the 60 million
pigs in the U.S. are continuously confined inside
metal buildings. Studies have shown that sows confined
in gestation stalls exhibit “behavior characteristic
of humans with severe depression and mental illness,”
Niman states. Stress, crowding and contamination inside
confinement buildings promote disease. In an attempt
to counter it, the pig industry uses an estimated
10 million pounds plus of antibiotics – “three
times more than all antibiotics used to treat human
illnesses.” Boredom is considered the primary
reason that pigs engage in tail-biting and other aggressive
behavior in confinement systems, as pigs in natural
conditions typically spend ten hours a day foraging
and roaming. Niman’s husband founded [Niman
Ranch: http://www.nimanranch.com
] “a network of farms that raise pigs using
traditional, non-confinement methods.” Herself
a cattle rancher, Niman contends that “Congress
should ban gestation crates altogether and mandate
that animal anti-cruelty laws be applied to farm animals.”
She is writing a book about the meat industry.
Members of the pig industry are promoting
the "PQA Plus" (Pork Quality Assurance Plus)
to address pig welfare. The on-farm program is said
to be "a last piece of the puzzle: farm, truck,
plant." See: http://tinyurl.com/25xgv2
A public hearing of Oregon Senate Bill
694 is scheduled for Friday (3/16). The bill seeks
to ban “restrictive confinement of pregnant
pigs and calves raised for veal. Similar bills are
pending in 15 other states, and similar ballot measures
have already passed in Florida and Arizona (see: http://tinyurl.com/2gxxak
). An Oregon bill to ban the sale and production of
foie gras was killed in 2005 by chefs and restaurateurs,
but they’ve yet to act on S. 694. There is no
veal industry in Oregon, which has about 4,000 pigs
used for breeding purposes.
Also on the 16th, Connecticut’s
Environment Committee will hold a public hearing on
House Bill 7304, which would essentially prohibit
the use of battery cages and require that egg purchases
by the state be from cage-free producers (see: http://tinyurl.com/34vv7c
) The Hartford Courant published an op-ed by Michael
Markarian, executive vice president of The Humane
Society of the U.S., in support of the bill. He quotes
poultry scientist Ian Duncan and Pope Benedict XVI,
both of whom have spoken of how the cages are detrimental
to the birds. Markarian notes schools (including Yale
University and the U. of Connecticut) that are eliminating
or greatly reducing their use of eggs from caged hens,
grocery chains that have stopped selling them, and
food companies that are phasing out their use of them.
He asserts: “While socially responsible institutions
are helping to improve the welfare of hens, corporate
policies need to be complemented by public policies.”
A detailed article about the progress made against
battery cages can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/38dfe3
PIG OUT
The New York Times, Op-Ed, Nicolette Hahn Niman, March
14, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14niman.html
OREGON BILL WOULD GIVE PIGS MORE ROOM
The Oregonian, Michelle Cole, March 15, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ywktnf
CHICKENS NEED ROOM TO STRETCH
Hartford Courant, Michael Markarian, March 7, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/3cgnt5
4.
ABUSE, NEGLECT AT FREEDOM FOOD FARMS
Ducks being punched, kicked, lifted
by the throat, and thrown around by staff were some
of the scenes of animal abuse and neglect covertly
filmed at four farms in Britain, three of which participate
in the Freedom Food program (see: http://www.hillside.org.uk
). The 13-year-old welfare-standards labeling program
is run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Britain’s largest
animal protection organization. Hillside Sanctuary
also filmed injured and dead ducks, a turkey house
“littered with injured birds,” and wet
and filthy conditions at a farm with no bedding or
dry rest area for the pigs there, two of whom appeared
lame.
"There were some examples of very poor animal
welfare on those farms and of animals that were very
clearly suffering and that's not good enough,”
the RSPCA director general Jackie Ballard admitted
of the film footage. She assured that the farms have
been suspended. "We have the most monitoring
of any of the labelling schemes that there are in
this country. But we don't sit on a farm 24 hours
a day monitoring, so inevitably sometime things will
go wrong," Ballard said. While one in twenty
farmed animals in Britain are reportedly covered by
the Freedom Food program, only ten full-time officials
monitor it, with farms going uninspected for up to
15 months. Animal advocates have claimed on BBC Watchdog
and elsewhere that the program effectively constitutes
large-scale industrial agriculture.
A recent independent report commissioned
by Freedom Food suggests that, while more than half
of the public is buying at least one or two “higher
welfare” products a week, most shoppers are
not confident in the living conditions for farmed
animals. The 76-page report, “Consumer Attitudes
to Animal Welfare,” can be accessed at (PDF
File): http://tinyurl.com/2o6uus
FILM SHOWS NEGLECT OF PIGS, TURKEYS AND
DUCKS SOLD UNDER ETHICAL LABEL
Guardian, Rebecca Smithers, March 13, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,2032547,00.html
UNDERCOVER FILM SHOWS A FARMER PUNCHING
A DUCK
This is London, March 13, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2shkps
5.
"ORGANIC" EGG PRACTICES CRITICIZED
Practices employed in the United Kingdom’s
organic egg industry are being criticized. The Sunday
Times (London) reports: “Faced with growing
demand from supermarkets, producers are using nonorganic
methods. These include buying nonorganic chicks, extensive
use of vaccinations, using up to 15% nonorganic feed
and rearing hens in closed sheds until they are ready
to lay. Some of the hens are being ‘beak-trimmed’,
which some welfare experts consider mutilation. The
nonorganic practices are possible because of exemptions
to the rules allowed by the organic certifying bodies…”
Some of the country’s largest poultry companies
are investing in organic facilities there now. The
Campaign for Real Organic has been launched to alert
consumers about non-organic practices: http://www.crop-uk.com.
The article sorts out systems under which hens are
raised there.
FACTORY LIFE OF “ORGANIC”
CHICKENS
The Sunday Times, Jon Ungoed-Thomas with Nic North,
Feb. 18, 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1400794.ece
6.
DECEPTIVE EGG LABELS
The free-range egg market in Israel
is also growing, with 0.4% of all egg sold now marketed
as such. However, the definition of “free range”
has not been established by law. The country has two
major free-range egg producers. Inspection is voluntary
and conducted by a nonofficial agency. One of the
two companies refuses to participate, explaining that
the agency “demand[s] a great deal of money
to do so.” Instead, a senior source stated “Anyone
is invited to come and see the chickens themselves.”
The agency counters that "marketers have an economic
incentive to sell regular eggs as free-range, because
they are free from price regulation, and can be sold
at a far higher price.” The Agriculture Ministry
hasn’t intervened, claiming that it is only
responsible for egg monitoring in so far as public
health is involved. The labeling of other eggs is
also in dispute. A company which controls 11% of the
national market describes its eggs as “pampered”
and “happy.” An anonymous association
which claims to have visited the company reports:
"Every 50x60 cm, 25 cm high cage houses eight
or nine hens, who cannot move, and are squashed against
each other."
In Britain last autumn, the government
began investigating allegations of eggs from caged
hens being falsely labeled as free-range. Producers
claimed they could not keep up with demand, and some
supermarket chains said they would instead begin selling
free-range eggs from France. Planning permission delays
and high capitol costs were blamed for preventing
British free-range operations from opening or expanding.
Similar allegations were made last year in Australia,
with the media reporting that up to 20% of eggs marketed
as free range were from caged hens. (See: http://tinyurl.com/338smo
)
In the Netherlands, eggs from caged
hens disappeared from supermarket shelves several
years ago. The food processing sector is now following
suit. While “enriched cages” will be allowed
after conventional cages are to be banned in the European
Union in 2012, a Dutch animal protection group said
that supermarkets there are giving egg producers a
strong signal to abandon enriched cages, too.
EGG MARKET PLAGUED BY DECEPTIVE LABELS
Haaretz, Ronny Linder-Ganz & Eti Aflalo, March
8, 2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/834564.html
FALSE FREE-RANGE LABELLING BASED ON EGG SHORTAGE
World Poultry, Nov. 17, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/388nrj
NO MORE CAGE EGGS IN BELGIUM
World Poultry, March 2, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/dbngqh
|
![[missing header image]](images/faw_chicks.jpg)
![[missing header image]](images/newsletter_ico.jpg)