Dairy and Eggs
When Sweet Is Sad and Adorable Is Ironic
Published September 06, 2009 @ 07:44AM PT
At the Sustainable Food blog last week, substitute blogger Mike posted a photo that instantly made me sad. I assume, of course, that it was intended to be--and that most see it as--adorable. And there are photos out there of cute, chubby-cheeked kids and sweet-faced, beautiful cows that would bring out my "aww" reflex. But this isn't one of them.
The Undercover Hatchery Investigation--Not Just for "Factory Farms"
Published September 02, 2009 @ 02:25PM PT
Mercy for Animals' undercover investigation into what happens at hatcheries for the egg industry, about which I told you yesterday, has been getting lots of attention, via mainstream news and blogs and animal rights blogs alike. But one terribly frustrating aspect of reading some of the mainstream blog coverage and comments has been these repeated themes: "Well, this is another reason not to buy industrial eggs"; "I buy free-range, so I'm proud to say I'm not a part of this"; "If you buy local, this doesn't happen."
Not true. Many seem to be missing the point that hatcheries supply free-range operations, "local" egg producers, feed stores, and backyard hobbyists with their hens too; hens exploited for eggs, no matter where you're buying the eggs, come almost entirely from hatcheries that do exactly what the video shows.
This is not a factory farming problem. This is an animal agriculture, eating-of-eggs problem, even if you're buying "free-range."
Undercover Egg Industry Investigation Shows Chicks Ground Up Alive
Published September 01, 2009 @ 07:18AM PT
Edit: See also this follow-up post: "The Undercover Hatchery Investigation--Not Just for Factory Farms."
Numerous posts have appeared on this blog in the last year describing and showing the standard cruelties inherent to all egg production (whether battery or free-range), from the gruesome killing of 250 million malechicks each year at U.S. hatcheries to the ultimate slaughter of all egg-laying hens.
Today, you can see clearly for yourself what happens at the hatcheries, how and where large egg farms and backyard operations alike get the female chicks they will use as egg-laying hens -- and what happens to the other half of the hatched chicks, who are unfortunate enough to be male and of no economic value to the industry (because they have not been bred to grow fast enough for the flesh industry). Mercy for Animals has just released the following video obtained during an undercover investigation at the world's largest hatchery for egg-laying operations: "Thrown, dropped, mutilated, and ground-up alive. This is the shocking reality faced by hundreds of thousands of chicks each day at the world's largest egg-laying breed hatchery."
Please watch. And please remember -- this is not an investigation revealing unusual cruelties. These are the standard, accepted, long-known-about, and defended practices across the egg industry. Read and see more from the undercover investigation on MFA's site dedicated to it. Now is the time to kick the egg habit.
Image and video courtesy of Mercy for Animals
Pregnancy at Slaughter: What Happens to the Calves? Part 3 (Graphic)
Published August 22, 2009 @ 07:47AM PT
I didn't intend for there to be a third part to the posts I wrote a couple months ago about what happens to pregnant dairy cows--and the calves they're carrying--when the industry is done with them (see also part 1 and part 2). But then in recent days, this video surfaced. And of all the horrible, horrifying videos I have seen over the years, this has to be one of the absolute worst.
Notice in the background that the mother cow is still periodically kicking while bleeding out, as the calf who was brutally cut from her womb and laid out on the floor just feet away struggles and cries out for his mother. Notice how their blood--so much blood--pools together after his throat is slit too, as they die horrific deaths together, both mother and baby helpless witness to the other's suffering and violent death. For dairy.
It doesn't matter if this particular video wasn't shot in your own country of residence. The unspeakable cruelties such as these do not know borders. They happen everywhere.
This (and this and this) is dairy milk. And milk chocolate. And dairy cheese. And dairy ice cream. This horror, my friends, is dairy:
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Photo of pregnant cow on front page by Flickr user Jed Sheehan.
Photo of calves on conveyor belt courtesy Viva!
Inside the Humane Slaughterhouse
Published August 17, 2009 @ 07:22AM PT
I saw the link being circulated sometime in the last couple months. I couldn't get past the first few seconds at that time. But last night, a fellow animal advocate used the link to the video in our #oink efforts on Twitter, and I finally made myself watch. Be warned: it's brief (under 2 minutes long), but it's graphic. It's also standard. These actually aren't the worst of the horrors that animal-using industries insist are rare, and this certainly isn't a long, comprehensive video showing everything from transport to dismemberment, or even showing what happens to all the different categories of animals (e.g., the hellish slaughterhouse experience of chickens is not shown here). Rather, this is barely a snippet of what's legal and "humane." And it's what ultimately happens to all farmed animals, whether they're raised for their flesh, their milk, their eggs, or their wool. Video, photo, and investigation courtesy of the always active, always dedicated Igualdad Animal/Animal Equality. (And the post continues after the video.)
Explore helpful, compassionate websites such as this one if you're ready to not be a part of this anymore. And keep an eye on the Friday Food roundups on this blog for all sorts of ideas for compassionate, animal-friendly meals and snacks.
Julia Child's Bad Side, Veal Calves, and the Movie I Won't Be Seeing
Published August 13, 2009 @ 06:50AM PT
There's much talk about Julia Child these days, given the release of a movie in which Meryl Streep plays Child (and plays her quite well, apparently). But I catch myself gritting my teeth every time I hear adoring mention of her lately. Julia Child may be a cooking icon, but she was no friend to animals. And I don't mean simply because she cooked and ate them and advocated cooking and eating them. Julia Child regularly mocked vegetarianism and animal rights (going on record at least once, and I imagine more than once, with the actual words "I hate vegetarians"), and that was indeed offensive and annoying. But worse, even when confronted directly, in person, with the cruelties required for such so-called foods as veal, she simply didn't give a damn, and she didn't hesitate to make that clear.
About a year ago, I stumbled upon the video embedded at the end of this post. It paints a less-than-flattering portrait of the much-loved chef, at least from the perspective of those who don't consider animals to be inanimate objects and who wouldn't happily visit a clearly cruel veal farm and declare it "great." In this video titled "Julia Child Battles PETA, Animal Rights," food columnist Molly O'Neill recalls for a New School group an experience she and her friend Julia Child shared and gives insight on Child's position against animal rights--or apparently even animal welfare, for that matter. A partial transcript follows. Keep in mind that this was a talk in which O'Neill was singing the praises of Julia Child and of her legacy, not criticizing her.
Banning Shipment of Cruel Images, While Still Shipping Cruelty Itself
Published August 07, 2009 @ 03:08PM PT
So apparently, the U.S. Postal Service is considering a ban on publications that include advertisements for cockfighting. That's a good thing, right? Of course. But--well, before we get to the "but," let's take a look at the news itself. From the Associated Press:
The U.S. Postal Service has proposed banning cockfighting advertising from being sent through the mail.
Legal cockfighting ended in the U.S. last year when Louisiana outlawed it. But two magazines dedicated to the practice -- The Gamecock and Grit and Steel -- still are published.
The Postal Service has proposed labeling publications with ads for fighting birds or accessories as ''unmailable.'' The agency says it will take comment on the proposal through the first week of September.
