Community: Forum: Animal Rights & Animal Welfare
Page 1: Animal Rights Forum - Community
Speak up for animals if you believe that they, like human animals, have the right to live out their natural lives on this earth. Post events, share information, & connect.
| Topic | Post Date | Replies |
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| Your Hero eats Dogs Hello Folks, I am creating this thread in order to see who can be put off one of their heroes due to their stance on animal rights and by what it is they will eat. Now, I am by no means a veggetarian or anything to do with that, A big wet slab of rare steak slapped in front of me is about as close to heaven as I will come, but it has recently come to my knowledge that my hero, MMA superstar Fedor Emilanenko has admitted to eating and enjoying dog meat. This has put me off supporting him quite a bit, as I really feel that eating dog is wrong. For those who are not familiar with Fedor or mixed martial arts, he is a russian fighter who belongs at the top of the pound for pound fighter list in the world along with others stars such as Anderson 'The Spider' Silva and Georges 'Rush' St Pierre, who is actually fighting this saturday in the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Bell Center in Montreal in a rematch against highly towted Matt'The Terror' Serra who beat him the first time around. My main question here is, Can you be put off one of your sporting heroes, based soley on the fact that he has eaten something you believe should not be eaten. Post Date: 09/13/08, Replies: 88 | ||
| Atheist, Agnostic and Animal Rights. Atheist, Agnostic and Animal Rights. I have got to address a dilemma that seems to be presenting itself to me here on the HappyCow. And I am not quite certain how to bring it up because it is sure to cause a stink no matter how tactfully I introduce it. It may be something that has been chatted about before and I am just not aware of it. None the less I am vaulting into the fray waiting to be pummeled and bludgeoned, hoping otherwise, but in need of some enlightenment on the subject. How can anyone clam to be Atheist or even Agnostic and be worried about animal rights? If there is no "God", by what ever name one calls Him or Her, then what is the premiss for animal rights? It seems to me that if there is not higher power, no afterlife, nothing to look forward to after the grave then animal rights is meaningless. Right and wrong do not exist if there is no religion. Yes we may make cultural laws and statues, but the are of no moral value, just social value. And if there is not a higher goal involved then integrity and honesty and loyalty and the like are only empty values made up by one class to keep the other class in line. Honesty only exists "if you don't get caught". I see no reason to worry about animal or human rights if there is no God or higher power or purpose to life. If there is no goal to attain, no purpose to my being here other than a freak accident of nature, then as long as I get what I want. As long as I am satisfied. Why the bloody hell would I give a ruddy red twopence about what happens to anyone or anything else? Love would become just another four letter word. Any kind of love. Emotions would be an attribute of the weak. Lack of emotion and duplicitousness would attributes of the strong. Please tell me what I am missing here. Please do not get defencive. I am not trying to disrespect or berate anyone here. I am just looking for some reasoning. Some explanation for the perplexity that seems to be peering fixatedly in my direction. Thank you for your thoughtful replies. Quasi Post Date: 04/12/09, Replies: 37 | ||
| Dog rights; boycott Home Depot?? Recently I have been fuming about an issue and thinking of a possible solution. My solution is to try to concoct a grassroots boycott of Home Depot. I have no idea how to manifest this, other than by throwing it out here to see if there'd be any momentum for the idea. The problem is Home Depot is owned by Arthur Blank, who also owns the Atlanta Falcons (NFL football). The face of his franchise is Michael Vick, whose house in VA was just raided by cops for a drug bust but they found a huge dog-fighting training center there. This is one of the ugliest things any human being can do, of course. The NFL, even with its new supposed crackdown on off-field incidents is not scrutinizing Vick and seem to be content to allow him to skate with this behavior. The pressure therefore as a consumer could be to boycott Blank's Home Depots. Even though often these types of activities are less than fruitful, often raising more bark than bite, awareness is never a bad thing. Anyhow, if nothing else, this bothers me and I figured I'd throw it out there. Peace Post Date: 08/09/08, Replies: 32 | ||
| "Vegetarians" and animal rights I wondering if Vegetarians actually decided to go vegetarian for animal rights, because dairy and eggs still contribute to the enslavement and exploitation of animals. Before I went Vegan I was vegetarian more for the environments reasons than any other, but I have recently come across some REALLY obnoxious vegetarians at my high school who feel exceptionally morally superior because THEY have discovered meat is murder. I want to tell them that dairy is rape but whenever I do that it's never ended well..... So have any vegetarians made the switch for animal rights and felt that it was enough? Post Date: 11/24/09, Replies: 30 | ||
| Should we trust PETA? Well hi, I've tried to found another thread about this, but didn't. I'm sorry if this was already posted before but i wanted to know your opinions. I've heard stories about PETA and Greenpeace. How they don't do what they say they do and how they focus more on money then other things. Should we trust them, in your opinions? www.petakillsanimals.com/ (if you look at the board on your right, it's kind of scary.) www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-061220-1.html "Greenpeace makes more money from anti-whaling than Norway and Iceland combined make from whaling. In both cases, the whales die and someone profits. " thank you! Post Date: 02/22/11, Replies: 21 | ||
| I love all animals I love all animals Post Date: 06/28/14, Replies: 21 | ||
| Halal and Kosher slaughter Should it be banned or in the same of the segregationist mantra of 'muilticulturalism' should it be permitted? Why is the that the RSPCA and all the fraudulent 'liberal lefties' in Guardianland choose to ignore it? Post Date: 06/16/11, Replies: 18 | ||
| Cruelty Free / Organic Milk and Eggs I am a vegetarian who drinks cow's milk and eats eggs (but no flesh at all). It is easy to buy milk labeled "organic", but I would like other people's opinions on the best milk to buy that is organic AND cruelty free. In otherwords, I want to buy milk that comes from cows who just wander around a pasture all day grazing and smiling. I have been buying Horizon and while it says it's organic and has happy cows, it really doesn't go into specifics on the carton about their treatment of their cows. Same with eggs. I buy organic eggs from Egglands Best. Some of the cartons have "cage-free" some don't. I just want to make an informed choice. I don't want to pay double for milk and eggs that really aren't cruelty-free. But, I don't mind paying double if I am assurred they ARE cruelty-free. Everyone's opinions are welcome. I live in the south Florida area so anyone from Florida who knows the stores here, please feel free to reply. p.s. For those of you who are going to suggest I drink soy milk and cut out the eggs - I do drink soy sometimes, but I am a cows-milk girl and I don't eat eggs a lot, but I do enjoy them sometimes. I wish I could cut them out of my diet, but I can't. :) Post Date: 06/28/14, Replies: 18 | ||
| renet is murder. Don't support it. Renet is originaly derived from the lining of calve's stomachs. Yes that means its an indgredient of all cheeses. the way it is done now is chemically grown except in parmeosan and some of the others. Recotta is an alternative for one of them but i can't remember which one. lactating cows die after 4 years producing milk that's one fifth of thier formally expected life span. Try vegan cheese or the raw foods alternatives on this web site. Renet is murder don't support it. Post Date: 03/07/08, Replies: 17 | ||
| Keep her in your thoughts My dog has been sick pretty much all month. She was already in the hospital for a week then they sent he home thinking she'd get better but she hasn't been. I had to take her back today and she had to get a blood transfusion. She has really bad anemia, probably IMHA (immune mediated hemolytic anemia) meaning that her body is attacking itself and killing her red blood cells. This is costing me an arm and a leg but she is my baby and I don't care what I have to pay to make her better. They plan to increase her immunosuppressants (they think maybe she wasn't on enough). I just really hope she gets better. I see her as my 7 1/2 year old daughter! I just ask everyone at happycow to please keep my baby in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks Here is my Harley Quinn: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b97/aspen_matthews/sean002.jpg Post Date: 06/20/08, Replies: 16 | ||
| Americans eating sh*t - chicken sh*t Sirloin with a Touch of Cr*p Exactly what do chickens and cows eat before we eat them? By Lee Klein Published: November 22, 2007 It takes a lot of salt to make sh*t edible. Chicken sh*t, that is. Turns out that while chickens and cows aren't the fussiest of diners, neither of them will eat feces without a solid dose of sodium — plus a mess of molasses. It still can't be pleasurable, but at some point (on average three to five days), with no better options on the horizon, both animals will succumb to hunger, swallow their pride, and lap up the poop. Animal rights activists have been crowing for years about the stupefying abuses that livestock must endure, so this one indignity may mount only a modicum of concern; it almost sounds funny in an absurdist way. But as you learn more about the consequences of dining on chicken and burgers culled from these cr*p-fed creatures, the news just might wipe that sh*t-eating grin right off your face. Dr. Robert Ben Mitchell, dressed in a denim shirt, blue cargo pants, and sensible shoes, is standing at the intersection of NE 146th Street and Biscayne Boulevard. A bandanna over his head makes him appear as if he's affecting a bohemian look, but the ever-cautious doctor is merely protecting his mostly bald head from the sunlight; conversely, expressive blue eyes that dominate the Everyman face below are left unshaded. "I'm never going to be on the cover of GQ," he says as a self-deprecating description, "but people don't throw up when they see me." Mitchell generally speaks seriously and articulately, in a measured tone, but occasionally he'll blurt out a goofy, mischievous laugh that startles by way of contrast. These outbursts expose a gap in his front teeth, causing his countenance to resemble a school kid who has just pulled off a prank. The message on a half-sandwich board hanging from his neck, though, is no joke: BAN CHICKEN FECES IN COW FEED. SEE SOYLENT BROWN ON WWW.YOUTUBE.COM. The URL references a video he has made on the subject. Its title is a take-off on the 1973 futuristic thriller Soylent Green — in which Charlton Heston alerts an unsuspecting populace that the eponymous food they've been mindlessly feasting upon is ... (spoiler alert) ... "People!" Like its progenitor, Soylent Brown also delves into a deranged diet, but of a different sort: Chickens and cows that end up on our dinner plates are being fed manure, and this might be as bad for us as it is for them. While disquieting information struts across the screen, Mitchell sings reworked lyrics to the tune of Bob Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man: Now the greed and perversion Have gotten so sick That they're feeding the cows on Salted chicken [censored]. Something is going on, But you don't want to know what it is, Do you, Mister Jones? "Things work in a natural cycle," explains Mitchell. "There's a reason animals poop on the ground — so it can break down in the earth and provide nutrition to plants, which in turn provide nutrition to animals. When you start recycling the sh*t directly into the animal, it causes all sorts of problems." His hands mimic the cycles he speaks of, the level voice becoming more animated. "There are so many different diseases transmitted by the fecal-oral route, and we're only putting one animal between us and the feces. What if bird flu breaks out? It will have a very quick route to get back into human beings, which could lead to a huge disaster down the road." Mitchell stumbled upon the issue serendipitously. "I was watching a movie called Kill Me Later," he recalls, "and at the end they scrolled these words on the screen about what happened to the characters.... It said that one of them went to Mexico and became a millionaire by figuring out how to feed chicken feces to cows by adding salt. I thought that was such a bizarre thing to put in — it had nothing to do with the story. So just for a fluke I Googled it, and all this real stuff popped up." Real stuff like a 1984 "manual" put out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called Feed from Animal Wastes, which details precisely how to process manure into dinner for farm animals. "This is the actual recipe book," beams Mitchell, holding aloft the 214-page publication as if it were the Holy Grail. "Martha Stewart gone mad." It is indeed Martha-esque, the way just a few simple ingredients can be turned into 171 nifty serving ideas. Surprise your bovines with a scrumptious tropical blend of chicken feces and pineapple cannery run-off! Gastronomic flourishes notwithstanding, the cookbook concedes,"Animal wastes may not be equal in all ways to the feeds they replace." There is likewise a glut of current evidence to suggest Mitchell is not full of you know what. A 1998 Food and Drug Administration report titled The Use of Recycled Animal Waste in Animal Feed states, "Animal wastes have been deliberately incorporated into animal diets for their nutrient properties" for 40 years as a "viable alternative to ... landfill." The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10 million metric tons of slaughterhouse sewerage are fed to livestock every year. (Europe followed WHO's recommendations and in 2001 outlawed the feeding of all slaughterhouse and animal waste to livestock.) In this country alone there are 14,000-plus companies that produce more than 308 billion pounds of animal chow annually. FDA-approved ingredients include "dried poultry waste, a processed animal waste product composed primarily of feces from commercial poultry" (also offered with part or all of the urine removed), and "dried poultry litter, a processed combination of feces from commercial poultry together with litter that was present in the floor production." Excrement accounts for about 60 percent of "litter"; the rest comprises bedding, dirt, feathers, and other debris scooped from the floors of broiler sheds. A Virginia Tech professor of animal and poultry sciences has estimated that up to four billion pounds of poultry litter are fed to beef cattle each year. Mitchell found an FDA registration form listing 26 categories of feeds — including one for "Recycled Animal Waste Products" — and sought information about the companies producing it, "assuming it would be public information — or obtainable by a Freedom of Information Act request." He was astonished when Shannon Jordre, a liaison between the FDA and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), told him the agency would not release this data because "it had been classified as a homeland security issue." New Times tried to contact Mr. Jordre for confirmation and to ask whether the classification is because of concern that what a terrorist puts into animal feed might make its way into humans — and if so, why would animal feed be allowed to contain sh*t? Jordre did not return our calls. Two months ago, a 15-year-old girl from Pembroke Pines contracted E. coli O157:H7 after eating a hamburger made from ground beef purchased at a local Wal-Mart. E. coli is a fecal-based bacterial pathogen that colonizes the intestinal tract and can trigger severe and bloody diarrhea and painful abdominal cramps; in up to five percent of cases it can lead to temporary anemia, profuse bleeding, kidney failure, and even death. The girl's parents are suing the chain, claiming their daughter suffered nearly the worst of those consequences. Topps Meat Company, provider of the tainted meat, was one of the United States' largest producers of ground beef — until the subsequent recall of 21.7 million pounds of product caused it to shut down. Also close to home: Last month Hialeah's Blue Ribbon Meats pulled 8,200 pounds of frozen ground beef because of potential E. coli contamination. The government classified this recall as Class 1, meaning "reasonable probability" that consuming the product would cause "serious, adverse health consequences or death." (The meat processor, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef of Kansas, is an affiliate of the Boca Raton private investment firm Sun Capital Partners.) "There is substantial evidence that U.S. animal feeds are often contaminated with important human foodborne bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli, including E. coli O157:H7," says a report released this year by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and the University of Maryland. Dr. Amy Sapkota, who coauthored the review, says "one of the large take-home messages is the lack of national surveillance systems that are set up and well funded by the federal government." Weighing her words, she emphasizes that only one study uncovered a connection between litter-laden feed and a strain of salmonella, but adds that the information for making such determinations isn't there. "It could be possible that there is an increased risk associated with these [fecal] feeding practices," she continues, "but we just don't have enough data to fully understand and calculate the threats." But would Dr. Sapkota knowingly eat food derived from a manure-munching animal? "That's a good question." After a long pause, she advises that, regardless of whether she would or wouldn't, "people can personally reduce their risk of foodborne illness by properly cooking meats and trying to prevent cross-contamination in the kitchen." Not all professionals are as well informed as Dr. Sapkota. When we asked Tania Rivera, assistant clinical professor in FIU's Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, what she thought about feeding waste-based feed to food-chain livestock, she bristled. "I have never heard of this and doubt that this is the likely case across the board. This is not the type of message I would like to comment on." Rivera's department is part of the Robert Stempel School of Public Health. What we don't know can hurt us. The USDA calculates that during summer months, up to 50 percent of feedlot cattle carry E. coli, which translates to an average plant processing 150 to 200 infected cows every hour (though not all are strains of O157:H7, which is the killer). Because meat gets shipped from stockyards all over the country and ground together in a single blending facility, one hamburger might contain bits and pieces of dozens, or even hundreds, of different cows — and a single infected animal can contaminate up to 32,000 pounds of ground beef, roughly four times the amount recalled by Blue Ribbon Meats in Hialeah. Unlike most foodborne pathogens, which require the consumption of up to a million organisms to cause considerable illness, ingesting just five E. coli O157:H7 organisms in a bit of uncooked hamburger meat can prove lethal. Then there is the elephant in the room, or in this case, the big mad cow: From August 1997 through March 2004, 52 companies recalled feed products for violating federal rules that guard against infectious prions, the proteins believed to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The USDA admits it can't rule out a connection between waste-based rations and mad cow disease, but in 1997 the FDA wrote it was "unaware of any research on this issue that would indicate that the agency should take regulatory action on poultry litter at this time." Ironically it is because of the BSE scare that fecal matter is being used more to feed animals. Public fears about the disease the same year prodded the FDA to ban many of the meat industry's previous bargain breakfasts — like brain tissue, spinal cords, and euthanized cats and dogs, millions of which were annually purchased from shelters to be ground into feed. Agribusiness needed a cheap alternative fodder, and manure became even more alluring. The early 20th Century was, in retrospect, a golden era for food-production animals. Cows grazed on grass, traipsing the bucolic pastures of family-owned farms. Chickens strutted about the barnyard, pecking contentedly at their mostly corn-based meals (the lucky clucker might occasionally happen upon a worm). The arrival of factory farming in the Twenties increased production, widened availability, and reduced the price of fowl. It also represented the beginning of the end for family ranching. When fast foods arrived in the early Sixties, the clamor for beef and poultry spiked, and so did demand. Industrial facilities with highly automated production methods were required to meet these new needs. Ranches, farms, and meat-processing industries became consolidated by a few multinational corporations, which began confining animals in 30,000-cow feedlots and 60,000-chicken warehouses, and slaughtering them in assembly-line fashion. The golden days had transmogrified into golden arches. Enormous feedlots needed massive quantities of high-protein rations that could fatten and speed growth at the lowest possible cost. Expansive slaughterhouses had to find an inexpensive way to dispose of waste. A partnership was formed, and the newly defined feed formulas included all parts of all species of rendered animals, as well as the feces of chickens, cows, and pigs. But 40 years on, there is simply too much chicken sh*t being shat. Sources cited in the Johns Hopkins' review estimate that in 2003, "one million pounds of chicken feces were produced in Florida, with at least 350,000 pounds of it used for animal rations." Some nine billion chickens are slaughtered annually in the States, resulting in roughly 50 billion pounds of product. Nobody knows quite what to do with the resultant, seemingly infinite mounds of manure, but all acknowledge that disposing of it creates environmentally disastrous consequences, including wide-spread fecal pollution of waterways and ground water. A single cow can munch as much as three tons of chicken muck per year — a lot, but not nearly enough to flush away the problem. Farm animals are injected with heavy doses of hormones, antibiotics, and countless other biological, chemical, and etiologic agents — even more so when dieting on dung. High concentrations of these toxins end up in their own feces, which might also contain pesticides, pathogens, parasites, and toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic. These then pollute either the ground and water, or the animals and us. Things work in a cycle: The use of antibiotics in food-production animals speeds up development of drug-resistant bacteria in humans. So antibiotics used on people, aimed at curing illnesses caused by eating contaminated meat, become ineffective because of antibiotics used on animals to prevent them from becoming contaminated. In the confines of his cluttered office, bandanna-less and wearing a green scrub shirt, Bob Mitchell looks like a medical professional. He is, specifically, a licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.), and is at the moment eating some gooey brown substance from a jar. He calls it a chocolate-corn muffin. "Pure cocoa powder, cornmeal, bananas, apple sauce, natural peanut butter, and baking soda — not baking powder, which has aluminum sulfate in it." He mixes the ingredients and bakes under low heat in the microwave until "it puffs up and fills the jar." It looks like sh*t. Mitchell has lost 30 pounds in the past year, and one can only assume food such as this played a role. He's been noncarnivorous "off and on" since he was 16 years old. "I always had a difficult time digesting meat." He admits to being a "parasitic vegetarian" — if invited to a house for a dinner that includes meat, he will partake of it. Or at least he used to. "I usually eat before I go out now. Not to the point where I'm full, but I have enough that if the main course is something I'm not comfortable with, I can make it on just the sides." He was born in Massachusetts 49 years ago. His father worked as an electrical engineer; his mom performed community service work. Both live in Lantana. After landing in Miami in 1986, Mitchell earned his degree at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, just a kidney stone's throw from his practice in North Miami Beach. Besides giving osteopathic treatments, he offers a $30 "Mini-Med" deal "where minor medical problems don't cost an arm or a leg." He sits in a swivel chair, the space around him cramped with books, papers, and generic dishevelment. Mitchell's protest sign hangs in a prominent place, but apparently his patients don't notice it. "Only one person said anything. I know if I walked into a doctor's office and saw a sign saying 'Ban chicken feces in cow feed,' I'd sure ask about it." Asking about it has taken up a lot of the doctor's time lately. He guesses he spends "about 10 or 20 hours per week" researching, e-mailing, and calling folks about the topic. Luckily he takes rejection well, an advantageous trait for a prophet of doom. He even seems to relish telling stories concerning the media's disinterest, gleefully recalling that after he carefully explained the matter to Herald food editor Kathy Martin, "she connected me with Georgia Tasker, the gardening editor!" A laugh explodes. This isn't Mitchell's first foray into controversial subject matter. He previously wrote The Dragon Option, a "factual fiction" in which global warming causes subglacial Antarctic bacteria to be released into the atmosphere after thousands of years under ice. Disaster ensues. His other book, Syphilis as AIDS, theorizes that the organism responsible for a long-ago strain of the former disease is related to that which causes the latter. Mitchell has contacted some 65 media outlets about feces-filled feed, as well as pet food companies, health organizations, and the top four beef conglomerates. His e-mails are exceedingly lengthy and excruciatingly thorough, the gist being a listing of "AAFCO-approved and FDA-nonregulated ingredients" permitted as legitimate animal food, followed by half a dozen questions including whether live cattle on the company's grounds are given feed containing any of the itemized ingredients, whether vendors who supply cattle to the company use such feed, and how the company's certification process operates — if it even has one. Mitchell's most ambitious and ironic correspondence was the one he sent to Mr. Chen, "first secretary of the commercial section, agricultural officer, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China." The 10-page e-mail included 80 related links. "Given the recent concerns over consumer safety and health issues, and the importance of these issues to world trade between nations," he queried, "what is the People's Republic of China's opinion on the United States cattle industry practice of feeding chicken feces to cattle?" Mr. Chen did not reply. Nor has anyone else. "Which," laments Mitchell, "is a statement in itself." He also allows that "maybe people think it's some sort of hoax." The sh*t has hit the fan: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta now estimates that foodborne illnesses affect 80 million Americans annually. Over 300,000 require hospitalization, and roughly 5,000 of them die — more than the number killed since the war in Iraq began. Who's in charge of the hen house? Chickens get packed into vertically stacked cages so that droppings from the top row bespatter the birds underneath, and their feces foul the fowl below, and so forth. The government's bureaucratic chain of command concerning inspection and regulation of our food supply works according to a similar trickle-down theory. At the top of the pecking order are the USDA and FDA. George Hayslip, environmental manager of Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, has been supervising the state's commercial feed and seed programs for the past six years. "The FDA is responsible for overseeing human food and animal feed," Hayslip clarifies. "The USDA has responsibility for inspecting the animals." Neither agency endorses waste in feed, but their policies are to resist regulation unless a shipment crosses state lines. Manure, though, rarely travels that far, because transport costs would undercut the price advantage. Farmers now place chicken coops on one side of the road and cow feedlots on the other, so they can simply shift the [censored] across the street. Florida laws are likewise laissez-faire. "As far as the department goes, we don't condone it," Hayslip says of using processed plop. "But at the same time, we don't prohibit it. It's something that's gone on for a long time, and as much as you can run into problems with parasites and things like that, I guess the science isn't really there to say that if the litter is processed correctly, it's going to cause that many problems." But isn't it incorrect processing that leads to the problems? "Yes, exactly, and that's an issue. We've looked at this over the past several years and considered whether there was anything we could do about it." The department "sent out a fact sheet a couple of years ago, outlining some of the risks involved with that practice." Hayslip mentions an interim rule the FDA put forth in 2004 that would have prohibited use of poultry litter, among other things, owing to BSE-related fears. "Unfortunately," he continues, "the proposed rule was not adopted." Instead the onus for imposing such restrictions fell to the states. Plop. The FDA and USDA may relieve themselves of responsibility like top-row fowl, but they really have more in common with the foxes guarding those coop dwellers. The USDA increasingly uses "risk-based inspection," in which visits are determined by the safety risk posed by each plant. Now it is pushing to inspect only plants with past violations, permitting the rest to submit records by fax — a drastic deviation from the "continuous government inspection" once required of meat-processing facilities. And in 2007, Congress passed a farm bill that would turn the job of certifying smaller slaughterhouses over to weaker state inspection programs. Plop. Some states don't even have meat inspection laws, while others only regulate production that stays within their borders. By Hayslip's count, Florida employs approximately 40 feed inspectors for its roughly 1.7 million head of cattle. Whether investigations are undertaken by federal or state agencies might not ultimately matter much. The aforementioned Johns Hopkins review found that "guidelines are not adequately enforced at the federal or state level." The FDA advises that state agencies adhere to definitions of feed ingredients promulgated by the AAFCO. Sitting on AAFCO's advisory boards are the National Renderers Association, National Pork Board, National Cattleman's Beef Association, American Feed Association, American Farm Bureau, and many other industry insiders. The government's willingness to work hand in hand with agribusiness is nothing new. In 1976 then-Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Carol Foreman approved a change in food safety procedures that made it permissible for chicken visibly smeared with fecal matter to be rinsed and used. This proved a boon to poultry processors, whose losses from unsafe product were greatly reduced. It likewise proved a boon to germs: Within a year, the incidence of food-related illnesses began to climb — and the figures have ascended each year since. Bob Mitchell is not the first to call attention to this matter. A 1997 US News & World Report article, "The Next Bad Beef Scandal?: Cattle Feed Now Contains Things Like Manure and Dead Cats," sounded a warning, but the story raised more eyebrows than alarm. Not until mad cow emerged, followed by bird flu scares, tainted pet food, beef recalls, and such, did the public's ears perk. Still, the media feeds on food industry advertising, so these stories get dropped faster than crap through a chicken — and the multinationals that control our foods from farm to fork spend billions of dollars to keep it this way. If their spokespeople sound a little defensive, it's because they recognize that seeing feces and feed in the same sentence can have a potentially unhealthy effect on public perceptions. "Feeding manure may not be aesthetically pleasing," says the FDA's head of animal-feed safety, Daniel McChesney, "but it is safe if you process it properly." He adds, "If you don't, it's like playing with matches around gasoline." Proper processing requires that the feces be "dry-stacked" in a silo for four to eight weeks. The idea is that over time, owing to its weight and organic breakdown, the pile of manure will reach temperatures high enough to sterilize it of any harmful disease-causing agents. However, nobody knows how often, or even whether, farmers check their samples. And effective surveillance systems, as Dr. Sapkota pointed out, are simply not in place. Some drivers slow down so they can read Mitchell's sandwich board, and many of their passengers peer at him or his sign out of sheer curiosity. Most cars just zip by without much notice. "At least nobody's thrown a beer can," offers the occasionally optimistic osteopath, who might be described as a doctor who looks at a bladder and sees it being half full and half empty. Black clouds have rumbled in, and now it's raining — hard. Mitchell ducks under the Biscayne Commons clock-kiosk, remaining in sight of commuters. Huddled there with the message board still around his neck, surrounded by six lanes of splashing traffic, a sizable strip mall parking lot, and the big, wet, gray sky, Mitchell and his cause look small and forlorn. Not at all like Heston in Soylent Green. He plans to be out here just once more after this, his final foray falling on Wednesday, December 12. Then he'll let folks worry about their own [censored]. "I feel that I've done what can be reasonably done. I'm just trying to make people aware. I don't want to get so caught up with the issue that I become consumed by it." He then tacks on cryptically: "It's the Semmelweis syndrome." Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, a Viennese obstetrician in the mid-1800s, spent 37 years trying to persuade Austrian physicians to wash their hands when they went from autopsy room to delivery room. His theory on controlling germs was viewed as heretical, and he eventually died in an insane asylum. Mitchell envisions himself ending up in a different kind of institution. "I can see myself 30, 40 years from now in an old-folks home, and NBC Nightly News will come on with: 'Breaking news: Agriculture feeding feces to animals.' And I'll tell anyone who'll listen: 'Hey, I knew that!'" Meanwhile the livestock industry plows ahead in its search for the perfect feed, experimenting with mixes that include newspaper, cement-kiln dust, and human sewer sludge. A spokesperson for the Animal Industry Association recently boasted that "the U.S. farm animal eats better than the average U.S. citizen." Could somebody please pass the salt? Post Date: 06/18/08, Replies: 12 | ||
| KFC protest If anyone is interested in leading a protest against KFC (www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com for more info), I have materials galore. Please contact me at [email protected] with the subject KFC protest. Thanks! :-), Nicki Post Date: 08/11/08, Replies: 12 | ||
| Does logic prevail? Please help me with this discussion. I am trying to learn about how a vegan applies logic to their way of life. I am hoping the community will send me some answers with out bitter vitriol. This question is posed with no agenda other than discovery. If vegans are opposed to animal abuse, it would follow logically that they are also opposed to abortion. Is this true? Are vegans also against abortion. If not, please help me understand your logic. Thanks. Post Date: 06/21/14, Replies: 12 | ||
| Foie Gras Wow! I have never seen such cruelty to geese, ducks as much as last night when I typed in Foie Gras on youtube. DISGUSTING! Who are these people that slaughter these poor helpless animals; do they not have morals? How do these workers go home and live a "normal" life? Comments on this? Post Date: 09/28/15, Replies: 11 | ||
| Please Sign to Stop Whale Slaughter Please help us stop the horrendous slaughter of whales, By signing our petition which will be delivered to the Japanese Government shortly after cut off time. We are looking to get 100,000 signatures in 90 days and can't do it without you. The Japanese have taken to slaughtering mother and baby these days, all under the pretence of 'research'. DNA samples can and are being taken from all species of animals, without harming a hair on them, let alone murdering them. This is money driven and it is time to stop them. Please sign our petition at: www.thepetitionsite.com/2/stop-whale-slaughter-now-mother-baby It only takes a minute. These creatures thank you. Post Date: 07/28/10, Replies: 11 | ||
| Petition to President - ban meat in school I created a petition to stop meat in schools and prisons: wh.gov/wRha Please read it and sign if you believe and pass on the word! Post Date: 02/19/14, Replies: 11 | ||
| peta kills animals? Is this true?? Here is a link: Is this real? www.petakillsanimals.com/proof-peta-kills/ Post Date: 07/17/15, Replies: 11 | ||
| Hard to live like this knowing the truth.. Almost a year ago was when I first started contemplating whether or not I should go vegetarian, and after watching many YouTube videos I knew that I could no longer live with myself, knowing the truth behind our factory farming and even free-range/organic industries. The reason I went veg was for the animals, the poor creatures who suffer constantly for our greed and selfishness. For school, we were given the task to come up with a persuasive speech for a well-known issue that our world faces today. I thought that this was my golden opportunity to educate my class and teachers on what a factory farm is and how we gain the meat, dairy and eggs that we feed on globally. I deliver this speech in a week and I am feeling pretty confident about the effect it will have on nearly everyone in the class. Its goes for roughly 15 minutes, with short clips and pictures of not even the worse that commences in factory farms. And after learning even more about the dairy and egg industry, I would seriously LOVE to go vegan, however my parents hardly support my decision to become a vegetarian, they even make me eat fish sometimes because my mum refuses to buy me veggie alternatives :( I guess the reason I'm writing this is to reach out to those who may feel the same way and who may be going through the same thing- wanting to go vegan but not able to due to the family situation. I would really love a veggie/vegan friend for support :) thanks, elaine383. Post Date: 05/18/16, Replies: 10 | ||
| Experiments on Animals I am extremely bothered by animal experiments and testings. I go on for days and weeks, continue thinking about it. I just recently saw pictures of monkeys used on experiments for head transplants. I can't imagine, the extreme of suffering and death inflicted on these innocent beings. Why are we doing this? Its so senseless, and it doesn't help us humans solve anything. Has anyone had any experience in writing letters and who do you write letters to demand to stop this nightmarish acts? Post Date: 10/21/16, Replies: 9 | ||
| Farmer with questions Hey everyone, I've been in agriculture my whole life, with crops and agriculture, and I will say I love animals. Now I'm asking for mature responses, rather than people telling me I'm a murderer that should die. I will only accept responses from the nature category :P So as I realize not every farmer is like me, most are though I will say. We love our job, we love taking care of the animals, we love growing the crop that feed or animals. And we care for the well being of our animals. It's important that they're happy, and from an economical perspective, animals grow healthier and at a higher quality when they're happy. Moral of this story is, should there still be an issue with animal domestication if the animals are happy at the end of the day? Pork and poultry farmer here I'm not here to judge, just looking for other open minded perspectives. Will respond to questions Post Date: 02/28/17, Replies: 9 | ||
| this broke my heart .. i had to share it Charles Q. Choi Special to LiveScience LiveScience.com 2 hours, 13 minutes ago The Yangtze River dolphin is now almost certainly extinct, making it the first dolphin that humans drove to extinction, scientists have now concluded after an intense search for the endangered species. ADVERTISEMENT The loss also represents the first global extinction of megafauna—any creature larger than about 200 pounds (100 kilograms)—for more than 50 years, since the disappearance of the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis). The Yangtze River dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) of China has long been recognized as one of the world's most rare and threatened mammal species. "It's a relic species, more than 20 million years old, that persisted through the most amazing kinds of changes in the planet," said marine biologist Barbara Taylor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service. "It's been here longer than the Andes Mountains have been on Earth." In 1999, the surviving baiji population was estimated to be as low as just 13 dolphins, compared to 400 known baiji in 1981. The last confirmed glimpse of a baiji was documented by a photo taken in 2002, although unverified sightings were reported as recently as 2006. An international team of scientists conducted an intense six-week search for the dolphin in two research vessels during November and December 2006, covering the entire known range of the baiji in the 1,037-mile (1,669-kilometer) main channel of the Yangtze River. The researchers and their instruments failed to see or hear any evidence that the dolphin survives. "It was a surprise to everyone on the expedition that we didn't have any sightings at all, that the extinction just happened so quickly," Taylor recalled. This would make the baiji the first cetacean—that is, dolphin, porpoise or whale—to go extinct because of humans. The species was probably driven to extinction by harmful fishing practices that were not even devised to harm the dolphins, such as the use of gill nets, rolling hooks or electrical stunning. The findings are detailed Aug. 7 in the journal Biology Letters. "In the past, you had this out-of-control whaling that still didn't result in any extinctions, but these accidental deaths, which are much less visible to people, are much more insidious," Taylor said. Even if any baiji exist that scientists did not find, the continued deterioration of the Yangtze region's ecosystem—home to roughly 10 percent of the world's human population—means the species has no hope of even short-term survival as a viable population, the researchers added. "To help save the endangered Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) that also live in the river, we'll likely have to keep them in lake preserves or raise them in captivity, because the situation in that river doesn't look like it can be controlled at this point," Taylor explained. With the loss of the Yangtze River dolphin, the world's most critically endangered cetacean species now is the vaquita or Gulf of California porpoise (Phocoena sinus), of which 250 survive. The vaquita and other coastal dolphins around the world now face the same peril that claimed the baiji—accidental deaths from fishing. "We have to find a way to let small-time fishermen put food on their tables that doesn't involve putting gill nets in the water that decimate these species," Taylor said. "Unless we figure out a way to deal with this problem, the baiji may be the first in quite a long line of animals to face extinction." Post Date: 05/24/16, Replies: 8 | ||
| The best thing... The best thing about being a vegan? Being able to look a cow in the eye and not feel ashamed. - H. Lancre Post Date: 12/19/08, Replies: 8 | ||
| Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows My friend and teacher Dr. Melanie Joy recently released her book, "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows," and it takes a whole new approach to questions of animal treatment, veganism, animal rights, and meat-eating. Perhaps the single most important contribution from Dr. Joy is the description of meat-eating as a system, which she calls "carnism." Being able to name something is the first step in being able to FIGHT it! and Dr. Joy starts us on that path. This book is great for vegans and committed activists, because it adds a whole new layer to the argument for animal rights. It's ALSO great for the meat-eaters in all of our lives, because it gives them a chance to reevaluate their behavior from an entirely new perspective. I recommend that all of you pick up a copy and share it as widely as possible. Dr. Joy is a committed activist, and her goal is not to make money or gain fame, but to spread awareness of the horrible consequences of using animals for human gain. Let's all do our part to enlighten our friends and loved ones about the virtues of a vegan lifestyle :) Post Date: 09/27/10, Replies: 8 | ||
| Is PETA a Terrorist group? A couple days ago I was looking at some websites and I relized a lot of them have stories about what kind of acts of terrorism PETA has done. I've been posting many questions on FaceBook and some people reply: "I find that hard to believe" and "Wow, PETA makes Vegans and Vegetarians look bad!" -I whanted to know what you think- Post Date: 03/12/11, Replies: 8 | ||
| Why be vegetarian? I am not a vegetarian, why should i be one? Post Date: 06/28/14, Replies: 8 | ||
| Overwhelmed with grief I turned vegan just after Christmas and since then have watched so many documentaries and videos, read so many horror stories, seen pictures, read tweets and facebook updates of animals being abused etc...basically I feel like my heart weighs a tonne and not a second goes by without an image flashing in my mind. I literally can't get over how some people treat animals, I feel physically sick all the time now. The final straw came yesterday when I read about Hanako, the poor elephant who has been locked in a concrete cell (zoo) in Japan for over 60 years. I couldn't stop crying. Basically, does anyone else feel the same or I am a freak!? Does it get any easier to deal with as time goes on? I will continue to donate, speak out and volunteer for animals but I feel it might be at the sake of my sanity! Sorry for the long post I really needed to vent!! Post Date: 07/12/16, Replies: 8 | ||
| Companion Animal Diets Does anyone have any info. on veg. diets for companion animals? I am especially interested in research avail. on longevity and animal health as it relates to veg. animal diets. Please cite specific references and dietary sources if you have it. Thanks, Don PS I have three terrific cats ages 17, 10, and 7 Post Date: 05/04/14, Replies: 7 |
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