Re: [AnimalACTionNetwork] A letter of inspiration for 2013
| From: | user 1. |
| Sent on: | Wednesday, January 2, 2013, 12:09 PM |
Editor’s note: This is a guest blog post by Ocean Robbins.
In one of history’s most
stunning victories for humane farming, Australia’s largest supermarket
chain, Coles, will as of January 1 stop
selling company branded pork and eggs from animals kept in factory
farms. As an immediate result, 34,000 mother pigs will no longer be kept
in stalls for long periods of their lives, and 350,000 hens will be
freed from cages.
Not to be outdone, the nation’s other dominant supermarket chain, Woolworths, has already begun
phasing out factory farmed animal products. In fact all of Woolworth’s
house brand eggs are now cage-free, and by mid-2013 all of their pork
will come from farmers who operate stall-free farms.
Coles and Woolworths together account for a dominant 80 percent of all supermarket sales in Australia.
The move to open up the cages was fueled by “consumer sentiment,” and it has been synchronous with a major campaign against factory farming of animals led by Animals Australia.
The campaign features a TV ad, titled “When Pigs Fly,” in which an
adorable piglet tells the story of animals sentenced to life in cramped
cages, and then flies to freedom.
Meanwhile, in the United States, egg factory farms
cram more than 90 percent of the country’s 280 million egg-laying hens
into barren cages so small the birds can’t even spread their wings. Each
bird spends her entire life given less space than a sheet of paper. And
in a reality that does not please fans of Wilber or Babe, between 60 to 70 percent
of the more than five million breeding pigs in the United States are
kept in crates too small for them to so much as turn around.
There are laws against cruelty to animals in the United States, but most states specifically exempt
animals destined for human consumption. The result is that the animal
agriculture industry routinely does things to animals that, if you did
them to a dog or a cat, would get you put in jail.
Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary, explains: “Most of the
anti-cruelty laws exempt farm animals as long as the practices are
considered to be normal by the agriculture industry. What has happened
is that bad has become normal, and no matter how cruel it is, normal is
legal.”
But here, too, change is coming. Undercover investigations have led to a $497 million judgment against the now defunct Hallmark Meat Packing company, and to the recent temporary shutdown
of Central Valley Meat Company over what federal investigators termed
“egregious, inhumane handling and treatment of livestock.” California
and Michigan have passed laws that will phase in a ban on battery cages for hens, and nine U.S. states have joined the entire European Union in heading towards a ban on confining pigs in gestation crates.
Worried that consumers are starting to find out the truth about
treatment of modern farm animals and will demand further changes,
industry leaders are pushing for “ag gag” laws that would hide factory farming and slaughterhouse abuses from public scrutiny. Recently passed laws in Iowa and Utah threaten jail time for anyone working undercover and taking pictures or video of animals in factory farms without permission.
What don’t they want us to know? What are they trying to hide? What
would happen if the veil was lifted and we saw the level of cruelty
that has become the norm in U.S. industrial meat production?
A poll
conducted by Lake Research partners found that 94 percent of Americans
agree that animals raised for food on farms deserve to be free from
abuse and cruelty, and that 71 percent of Americans support undercover
investigative efforts by animal welfare organizations to expose animal
abuse on industrial farms.
Most farmers don’t try to be
cruel to animals, but they do worry about how to cut costs. And so long
as consumers are kept in the dark about the real source of their food,
farm owners have no economic incentive to do more than the minimum
necessary to appease regulatory authorities.
Want to take action? Join the Food Revolution Network, an online community dedicated to healthy, sustainable, humane and delicious food for all.
Or join the Humane Society’s campaign for farm animal protection, or Farm Sanctuary’s work for animal welfare legislation. Or if you want to save 100 animals per year, you can sign up for PETA’s free veg starter kit.
Ocean
Robbins serves as adjunct professor at Chapman University and as
founder and co-host (with best-selling author John Robbins) of the
75,000 member Food Revolution Network. Find out more and sign up for free here.
What Caused So Much Fuss? Here’s The “Pigs Fly” Ad From Animals Australia
This article originally appeared on Huffington Post.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/is-animal-cruelty-doomed.html#ixzz2Dp5qxcHJ
From: Dawn Marie Groth <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Tuesday, January 1,[masked]:59 PM
Subject: Re: [AnimalACTionNetwork] A letter of inspiration for 2013
This is an excellent article.... and as
someone who was there in the 70’s to see that native american man with a tear in
his eye.... and help clean up the streets... I know there was a national
campaign. widely publicized. Commercials, signs posted everywhere,
and it even got into the schools, which was how I got involved. Our class
went on an outing for clean up earth day. With that much publicity,
it is not surprising that we actually accomplished this.
To have such a campaign for animals.... we would need that much
involvement. That much publicity. That many people saying, “Hey,
this really isn’t right, lets help fix it” If a campaign
were to be created with a short title. And we could get enough groups to
back it nationally... we might be able to actually kick off a widely publicized
campaign. That is what the animals need.
Dawn Groth
President/Founder
From: Julie
Sent: Tuesday, January 01,[masked]:08 AM
To: [address removed]
Subject: [AnimalACTionNetwork] A letter of inspiration for
2013
The Sanctuary
I volunteer for published a letter today I thought was very inspirational for
all of us in the trenches, working so hard to do everything we can to assure all
animals are treated humanely. I wanted to share it with you as we head
into the new year:
CAN WE RESCUE OUR WAY
OUT OF THE CAPTIVE WILDLIFE CRISIS?
Now,
six months later and countless desperate phone calls from people wanting to
surrender cats or report abuse, I know the truth. We cannot rescue our way out
of the captive wildlife crisis. For every cat we rescue, a breeder somewhere is
making six more. For every exotic pet we have surrendered to us, there are
hundreds more left in tiny cages, chained to the ground or ignored in
backyards.
While
this information came as a huge disappointment to me, and a stunning reality
check that has kept me awake on more than one night, it has also inspired me to
learn more about how we CAN make a difference.
I
often think back to the 1970′s impactful public service announcement showcasing
a Native
American man in a canoe
shedding
a tear for the environment. Back in the 70′s, it was commonplace for
people to throw trash out their car windows. Fast food bags, pop cans, empty
cigarette packs and even diapers were tossed with no regard for what it may be
doing to the environment.
shedding
a tear for the environment. Back in the 70′s, it was commonplace for
people to throw trash out their car windows. Fast food bags, pop cans, empty
cigarette packs and even diapers were tossed with no regard for what it may be
doing to the environment.Through
the years, we realized the error of our ways. We woke up to our ignorance of the
truth. If everyone uses the earth as their garbage can, there will no future for
our children. I don’t think the people of the 70′s and before were any meaner,
or less intelligent than we are today. They were just ignorant, uninformed and
not educated on the environment.
Likewise,
I think this is the very root of the captive wildlife crisis. People do not
realize that when they attend circuses or pet a tiger at a roadside zoo they are
greasing the palms of the people whose greed has led to the problem of homeless
and abandoned exotic pets in the first place.
If
people continue to buy these “pets” from breeders instead of adopting one of the
millions of appropriate pets from a shelter, they will continue to perpetuate
the problem. I don’t believe the general public would condone or celebrate the
captive, exploited existence of so many of these animals – they just don’t
realize how they contribute.If,
every day, those of us who speak for the animals touch one person and ask them
to touch another and so on, be it in conversation or through Facebook or in
other creative ways, we can make a difference.
Just
as our children now know that they can’t throw their garbage out the window, I
trust that one day their children would not think of not spaying or neutering
their pets or going to a circus or petting a baby tiger at the mall or getting a
serval as a pet.
Together,
we can change the future!
Holly
Henry – The Wildcat Sanctuary, Communications Manager
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Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Dawn Marie Groth ([address removed]) from "Animal ACTion Network" Colorado.
To learn more about Dawn Marie Groth, visit his/her member profile
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