HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell provides the advocacy community with a rare opportunity to explain why horse-drawn carriages cannot be operated humanely or safely in urban areas.

Animals exist for their own purposes. Using them to entertain us is inherently inhumane and invariably abusive, as documented in films like The Cove, Blackfish, An Apology to Elephants and Blinders, which is my documentary about the plight of NYC’s carriage horses. Please visit the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages to see how you can help bring an end to urban horse-drawn carriages.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released footage taken by an undercover investigator that shows baby pigs being fed to their mothers at a Kentucky pig factory. According to HSUS, “sows confined in cramped cages known as gestation crates were fed ground up intestines from piglets who had recently succumbed to a highly contagious diarrheal disease at the Iron Maiden Hog Farm in Owensboro, Kentucky. More than 900 piglets died from the diarrheal disease in a two-day period.” While prohibited by state law, the practice of feeding piglets to their mothers is fairly widespread, according to HSUS.

Undercover investigators who work in factory farms say they are haunted by the sounds of mother pigs wailing in gestation crates, but it is because of their heroic work that change occurs. As a follow up to their hog farm investigation, HSUS is asking people to join their worldwide effort to ban gestation crates. Nine states have already done so.

In a NY Times op-ed column about HSUS’ undercover video exposing cannibalism at a Kentucky pig operation, Nicholas Kristof says that “modern factory farms have so much wrong with them,” using gestation crates as an example: “Nine out of 10 sows in America are kept in gestation crates, according to the National Pork Producers Council. 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. No wonder the animals’ muscles atrophy and they show signs of aggression and stress.”

Gestation crates

Given the sheer number of animals “raised” in factory farms and slaughtered for food, the best way we can help the largest number of animals is to convince consumers to eliminate or phase out their consumption of animal protein – for their health, for the environment and for the animals. “Starter Guides” from the organization Vegan Outreach are one of many tools available to us.

Denmark has banned kosher and halal slaughter. According to British newspaper The Independent, “European regulations require animals to be stunned before they are slaughtered, but grants exemptions on religious grounds. For meat to be considered kosher under Jewish law or halal under Islamic law, the animal must be conscious when killed.” Muslim and Jewish leaders are claiming discrimination, but the Danish government is defending the law, stating “animal rights come before religion.”

Photo from The Independent

In spite of worldwide outrage, the Danish government didn’t intervene in February when the Copenhagen Zoo killed a healthy young giraffe to prevent inbreeding and fed him to the lions. In addition, the Danish government continues to allow the brutal slaughter of hundreds of pilot whales each year in the Faroe Islands. Like every other country that claims to care for its animals while condoning and defending violence toward them, Denmark is being hypocritical. And the government should be held accountable until all forms of animal abuse are abolished. But that shouldn’t stop us from celebrating and promoting their historic declaration that “animal rights come before religion.”

Worldwide outrage didn’t stop the Copenhagen Zoo from killing a healthy baby giraffe named Marius “to prevent inbreeding.” Citing animal welfare and inbreeding concerns, the zoo also refused to send Marius to one of the other zoos that volunteered to take him. According to CNN, the giraffe was killed with a rifle and “dismembered in front of an audience that included children and fed to the zoo’s lions, tigers and leopards.” The Copehagen Zoo described Marius’ death as “euthanasia,” which is defined as “the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma.” But Marius was healthy. He should never have been shot in the head with a rifle.

Wild animals belong in the wild, not in zoos behind bars or in enclosures. The “conservation” and “education” claims used by zoos are inaccurate, but, even if true, they wouldn’t justify the lifetime imprisonment of animals. Please encourage people in your network to boycott the zoo and learn about how wild animals really live by observing them in the wild or by watching wildlife documentaries on TV.