Archives

From above, the red and purple shapes look like gaping wounds on the planet’s surface. And, as it happens, that is exactly what they are. Agribusiness calls them “lagoons,” which conjure up images of pristine bodies of water, but they’re actually cesspools filled with the toxic waste of tens of thousands of animals.

Agribusiness describes their cesspools as “lagoons.” Pictured on the left: an actual lagoon

On factory farms, owners pump the animal waste from their sheds and feedlots into these man-made cesspools. Some of the sludge, which is filled with nitrates, antibiotics, bacteria and other toxins, seeps into the groundwater consumed by area residents who pump their water from wells. Most of it, however, is sprayed into the air, wreaking havoc on the communities that surround them. People who live near factory farms say that airborne liquid waste makes them sick; contaminates their drinking water; and prevents them from being able to go outside and open their windows.

Agribusinesses spray animal sludge into the air to make space in the cesspools for more waste

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), “lagoons routinely burst, sending millions of gallons of manure into waterways and spreading microbes that can cause gastroenteritis, fevers, kidney failure, and death.” A study published in January concluded that surface water near North Carolina factory farms is, in fact, contaminated. According to University of North Carolina professor Steve Wing, researchers “have evidence of pig-specific bacteria in surface waters, next to industrial swine operations.”

Waste lagoon at “Judy’s Family Farm” in Sonoma Valley, California (photo: Factory Farming Awareness Coalition)

Like the factory farms themselves, the cesspools are hidden from public view. But, in 2014, Mark Devries, the director of the documentary film Speciesism, flew a drone over pork producer Smithfield Foods, exposing millions of people to a behemoth cesspool and its impact on the people who live in the community and the environment.

Ag gag laws, which criminalize the taking of photos and video on factory farms, have and will continue to compromise the ability to document these cesspools. In 2013, a National Geographic photographer was arrested for trespassing while taking photos of a feedlot in Kansas from a paraglider.

U.S. animal rights groups are fighting “ag-gag” bills

Our insatiable appetite for meat is killing America’s remaining wild horses, but passionate advocacy groups from around the country are moving mountains to protect those who remain.

For decades, the U.S. government’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been rounding up America’s horses because they graze on public land coveted by powerful cattle ranchers. The BLM uses “rangeland health” to justify the roundups, but the 30,000 some odd horses who remain pose no threat to the land compared to the millions of cows and sheep who graze on it.

photo: Catoor Livestock image

From freedom to captivity (photo: Elyse Gardner)

America was built on the backs of horses. They are a national treasure, and we must do everything in our power to protect the few who remain. Please take action today.