Australia is set to resume the export of sheep and cattle to Iran after a 30-year ban. Hundreds of thousands of animals are already exported by boat to the Middle East each year, but the industry experienced a financial set back when exports to Indonesia were temporarily banned in 2011 after Australian TV aired graphic footage “showing brutal treatment of cattle in Indonesian abattoirs.” Regarding the resumption of exports to Iran, Australian lawmaker Andrew Wilkie said, “That is just appalling news. The fact is that the live-animal export trade is systemically cruel.” In 2011, thousands of people around the country marched against live animal exports.

According to the animal rights group Animals Australia, “Most animals who are exported live for slaughter have their throats cut while fully conscious. Millions have died at sea. Some 30 investigations have revealed that in destination countries, many animals endure routine abuse and brutal slaughter in places where laws do not protect them from cruelty.” For more information and to find out how you can help, please visit Ban Live Export.

Undercover investigations by animal rights activists in Australia have triggered the Australian pig industry to lobby for protections similar to “ag gag” laws in the U.S. that criminalize the taking of footage which has led to reform. In an interview on Australian TV, the head of Australia’s pork trade group, Andrew Spencer, answers pointed questions about what the industry has to hide. During the interview, Mr. Spencer acknowledges that the industry is phasing out gestation crates but will not attribute that change to the work of activists.

TV Interview with Head of Australian Pork Trade Association

Factory farms are concentration camps for animals. To protect the bottom line, the animal agriculture industry is taking more aggressive steps to keep the public in the dark about how the animals are treated — confinement, mutilation, deprivation, physical abuse. To learn more about “ag gag” laws in the United States, please visit Farm Sanctuary. And, if you haven’t already, adopt a plant-based diet.

In a town hall meeting, a NJ resident asked Governor Chris Christie to reconsider his veto of a bill that would have banned gestation crates, the small cages in which female pigs are confined on factory farms. In response, he said that the pig farmers made a more persuasive argument than “animal cruelty activists.” In response to the veto, lifestyle maven Martha Stewart sent a letter to NJ lawmakers asking them to override it and added, “These animals have committed no crime, yet they’re treated worse than even the most violent criminals would be treated.”

NJ Governor Chris Christie

Chris Christie, who is accused of creating traffic jams in Fort Lee NJ to punish the local Mayor, was once considered the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race. His decision to veto the gestation crate bill, which was passed by the NJ state legislature, was clearly political — he didn’t want to alienate Iowa, a pork producing state. Several states have already banned gestation crates and other forms of cruel confinement due in part to undercover footage taken by Mercy For Animals and other animal rights groups. To find out how you can help, please visit F.A.R.M. (Farm Animal Rights Movement).

Activists in 26 cities in 8 countries from an organization called Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) are conducting monthly protests against the vegan-friendly fast food chain Chipotle because they believe that their marketing campaign, which exposes factory farm cruelty and suggests that their animals are humanely raised and slaughtered, is fraudulent. As one of the campaign organizers states, “The company is trying to market killing as humane, but there is no escaping the reality that slitting an animal’s throat is violent.” According to an article in Salon.com, “DxE’s protests raise the question of whether, in the frenzy to market and consume more humane animal products, we are completely ignoring the fundamental moral issue. Why, for example, is cutting off chickens’ beaks unacceptable cruelty, but cutting their throats is perfectly fine?”

Millions of the animals slaughtered by Chipotle come from the same factory farms that Chipotle claims to oppose. When Chipotle encourages consumers to pick them over other their competitors on the grounds that their animals are “humanely raised,” they are not only being dishonest, but they are also giving people a free pass to eat animals when they might have otherwise abstained. Even if Chipotle’s animals were raised humanely, which is impossible given the sheer numbers, they all meet the same grisly death. Slaughter is inherently inhumane, which is one of many reasons to advocate for a plant-based diet using free materials like those offered by Vegan Outreach. I would feel a whole lot better about eating Chipotle’s delicious vegan sofritas if they stopped saying that the millions of animals who they raise and slaughter had humane lives and deaths.

In a Rolling Stone interview, Bill Gates said, “Eating meat is hard on the environment – it demands a lot of land and water. And yet we can’t go around telling everyone they have to be vegetarians. So coming up with affordable plant-based proteins, basically meat substitutes, that really taste like meat is another area that can make a big difference. I’ve tasted a few of them, and I really couldn’t tell the difference between them and the real thing.”

Bill Gates

Over time, I hope that the tone of Bill Gates’ remarks about the impact of animal consumption on the planet reflects the magnitude of the crisis. In the meantime, I am grateful that public figures like Mr. Gates, Bill Clinton and Al Gore and talking about the impact of animal consumption on the environment, the animals and our health. While many of my friends on social media undoubtedly roll their eyes when I post stories about animal consumption, I suspect that some of them pay attention when a public figure speaks out. I therefore recommend sharing his remarks with your friends.