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Will Pig Gestation Crates Be Banned in NJ?

October 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

NJ Governor Chris Christie has until early December to sign a bill banning gestation crates, the small cages that house sows (female breeding pigs) for most of their adult lives. According to the National Pork Producers Council, nine out of 10 sows in America are held in gestation crates.

gestation crates factory farm

Governor Christie vetoed a similar bill in 2013, claiming that pig farmers made a more persuasive argument than the activists. HSUS’ Matt Dominguez said his decision could have been based on political expedience: “The governor’s veto last year had more to do with presidential politics given that Iowa, the nation’s biggest pork production state, hosts the Republican caucuses come 2016.” The landscape, however, has changed. According to Dominguez, polls in Iowa show that voters “would think more highly, not less, of Christie if he signs this bill.”

Mercy For Animals Protest at Walmart

Mercy For Animals Protest at Walmart

Jane Velez-Mitchell reports on the status of the gestation crate bill in NJ:

Several public figures have spoken out in support of a ban. In 2013, lifestyle maven Martha Stewart sent a letter to NJ lawmakers asking them to override Christie’s veto: “These animals have committed no crime, yet they’re treated worse than even the most violent criminals would be treated.” In a recent NY Times op-ed, political commentator Bill Maher makes a public appeal to Christie to pass the new bill: “Would you cram a dog into a crate for her entire life, never letting her out, until you took her to the pound to kill her?”

gestation crates

What agribusiness doesn’t want consumers to see

In a NY Times op-ed in February, writer Nicholas Kristof said, “These are tiny stalls that are barely bigger than the pigs, who don’t even have enough room to turn around. They live out their adult lives without exercise or meaningful social interaction; it’s like a life sentence of solitary confinement in a coffin, punctuated by artificial insemination and birth.”

In August, a bill to ban the crates failed to pass in Massachusetts. In an industry journal, local hog farmer Lisa Colby declared a victory for “the rights of local farmers” and for “farmers’ choices in taking care of their animals.” Agribusiness justifies the use of crates by claiming that they “allow for individualized care and eliminate aggression from other sows.”

Your Turn

Gestation crates are being phased out in several states, and major pork customers like McDonalds are requiring their suppliers to phase them out. However, far more work needs to be done to eliminate these crates in the U.S. and worldwide. To help ensure a victory in New Jersey, please take the following steps:
1. Sign the Change.org petition
2. Tweet  Governor Christie (@GovChristie) in support of the bill and use the hashtag #signS998
3. Call the Governor’s office 609-292-6000

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Australian News Airs Damning Undercover Footage of Live Exports

October 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

In a ground-breaking story, a major TV news program in Australia aired undercover footage of the country’s cows and sheep being tortured in the Middle East. The footage, taken by Animals Australia, shows the animals, who were shipped to Gaza, Kuwait and Jordan, being stabbed to death in the streets, in spite of Australian regulations requiring animals to be killed in approved slaughterhouses.

In the following clip, TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell talks to TheirTurn’s Donny Moss in the first of many reports about Australia’s live exports.

Animal welfare groups in Australia have, for years, advocated for an outright ban on the export of live animals given the treacherous journey and virtual absence of anti-cruelty laws in the destination countries. While their practical solution – shipping frozen meat instead of live bodies – is appalling to animal rights activists, it would at least eliminate the most violent abuses committed at sea and in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

At least one country that receives live animals from Australia is fighting back. In Israel, activists are using provocative street theater to expose the horrors of live transports in an attempt to shut them down. Last year, an Israeli TV station aired damning footage taken by activists of sheep being violently unloaded from a transport ship and of of the abuses they endured prior to slaughter.

Photo: Against Live Transports

Photo: Against Live Transports

News & Opinion

After reading the story above, Simon Whitehouse, an animal protection advocate from Australia, sent us the following additional information about Australia’s live export trade:

“Due to the help of a sympathetic right wing government, the trade is experiencing rapid growth. The Australian Labor Party, which is the opposition to our current government, has a policy which also is pro live export. In the Australian parliament, the only existing party with a policy to end the trade is the Australian Greens, and their representation level is small. Politically, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“The trade is not just with the Middle East, it includes many South East Asian countries, most notably Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It also extends to such places as Russia and Mauritius. Almost all of these countries have a very poor animal welfare background. The industry is now pushing very hard to start sending animals for slaughter to Cambodia and China.”

Your Turn

While the footage from the Middle East could put increased pressure on Australia’s Ministry of Agriculture to curb the worst abuses, the Australian activists need our help. Please send an instant message to the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

 


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California’s Foie Gras Ban Has Far Reaching Implications

October 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

In a major victory for ducks, geese and their advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the California law banning the sale and production of foie gras. The Court’s decision sends a strong message to other states that they can, as  California Attorney General stated, pass laws that “prohibit the sale of products based on concerns about animal welfare.”

Force feeding

Force feeding

Described by activists as a “delicacy of despair,” foie gras is produced by force feeding ducks and geese through metal pipes until their livers become diseased, swelling up to ten times their normal size. The pipes are inserted 12″ down their esophaguses three times daily in the weeks leading up to slaughter.

In 2013, Mercy For Animals used hidden cameras at the nation’s largest producer to document the abuse inherent in foie gras production:

The fight to ban foie gras has taken many turns. In Chicago, a 2006 ban on the sale of foie gras was reversed in 2008, representing a major setback for activists who lobbied tirelessly in support of the law. In England, on the other hand, the group Hertfordshire Animal Rights has stopped the sale of foie gras at least six restaurants since August.

PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk in London

PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk in London

The Artisan Farmers Alliance, a trade association for America’s three foie gras producers, is working to curb bans on foie gras by “educating the public about our centuries-old farming practices” and by “defending the rights of consumers to make their own decisions about food.” Of course, it is the job of activists to defend the ducks and geese from animal exploiters who spin cruelty into freedom of choice.

Your Turn

Please sign the current petition to ban the production and importation of foie gras in Europe.


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Where Are All the Egg Laying Hens?

August 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

In the United States alone, how many eggs do you think are consumed each day — in omelets, baked goods, packaged foods, restaurant kitchens, etc? About 220 million. It’s a staggering number and begs the questions: Where do these eggs come from? And where are the hundreds of millions of hens who are laying them?

Animals Australia has just released 2 minutes of high definition footage from the inside of the biggest egg supplier in the Australia, but this video could have been taken at any factory farm with hens. You won’t see any people in this video. Just hens. Watch and listen:

Your Turn

The farm featured in this video is “Egg Corp Assured (ECA)” in Australia, which means it has the “mark of a quality product produced under strict guidelines.” These certifications are almost always meaningless because they are created by the trade associations who represent their industry, not the public. Please share this video. People who eat eggs deserve to know the truth about what (or who) they are consuming.


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Senator Attempts to Disguise Ag Gag Bill as “Animal Protection”

August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment


The News

After recent undercover investigations cast a negative light on Australia’s wool and pork industries, a Senator is introducing a bill that would criminalize the taking of photos and video of “a legally operating animal enterprise.” But instead of calling it what it is – “ag gag” – the Senator is attempting to disguise the proposed law as one that would “strengthen genuine animal welfare protections.” Of course, eliminating transparency by keeping out the cameras will make conditions worse for the animals, as agribusiness will have no incentive to minimize abuse. The law would also require animal rights activists to turn over their video evidence of animal abuse to the proper authorities within 24 or 48 hours. In other words, if you do manage to get footage of animal abuse, you have to both incriminate yourself for trespassing AND turn over the footage to people who are not going to publicize it, as the activists would.

Photo: Animals Australia

Photo: Animals Australia

Your Turn

In light of public support for transparency and whistle-blowing, ag-gag proponents are attempting to hide their true intent — keeping the public in the dark — behind not only “animal protections” but also “biosecurity,” as if the mere presence of an activist with a camera is going to spread disease in a shed with thousands of animals living in their own excrement. The cameras don’t pose a risk to anyone but the abusers. Please see how you can support the effort to block ag gag bills.


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