“Every sperm is sacred,” as are profits, but calf welfare is not DUBLIN, Ireland––Irish dairy farmers, having bred an expected 800,000 more bull calves to be born in spring 2020 than they can profitably sell in a contracting global beef market, may resort to shooting hundreds of thousands at birth, Guardian newspapers reporters Sophie Kevany […]
Sperm-sorting comes to India through cow-loving Modi government
Slippery business may stop the bull calf surplus NEW DELHI, India––Cracking down hard against illegal cattle slaughter and exports to slaughter, while boosting milk production, the Hindi nationalist Nahendra Modi regime ruling India since 2014 caused the perennial Indian bull calf surplus to explode. Now, however, the Modi government has reportedly […]
Livestock shipment to Middle East goes sideways; to Hawaii, goes backward
Drowned sheep & asphixiated cattle result from opposite approaches to maximizing profit MILILANI, Hawaii––Compared to the drowning deaths of more than 14,350 sheep on November 24, 2019 aboard the capsized Queen Hind in the port of Midia, Romania, the deaths of 21 Angus heifers aboard a Young Brothers barge en route from Honolulu to Kauai, […]
Cruelty charges filed against Aussie live sheep shippers––a first!
Shipping company already lost live export license PERTH, Australia––Cruelty charges were on July 31, 2019 filed against two former directors of the live animal shipping company Emanuel Exports over the August 2017 deaths of more than 2,400 sheep from heat stress aboard the Awassi Express. The sheep were in transit to slaughter in […]
Will feral pigs eat Hong Kong before Hong Kong eats the pigs?
Feral pigs may be poached as African swine fever & trade war cut off pig imports HONG KONG––A three-way collision among African swine fever, feral pigs, and the global pork industry, U.S. interests included, may be only days away in Hong Kong. Whatever the outcome, pigs––both factory-farmed and living free––are already the big net […]
Live animal markets in New York City: a cut-throat business at best
Customs change with waves of immigration NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Escaping the Iranian Revolution with her parents at age 6, artist Sara Rahbar as an adult has produced an internationally recognized portfolio on themes often involving human and animal suffering. Yet Rahbar found herself wholly unprepared for the misery she met close to hand on […]
The poop on live transport, whaling, & Ramadan 2018
Old ships, ancient customs FREMANTLE, Australia––Seventy thousand Australian sheep aboard the 38-year-old livestock carrier Al Messilah, or anyhow those who survive the journey, are due to reach Kuwait on May 14, 2018, according to VesselFinder.com. The voyage continues a trade that Animals Australia likens to whaling in terms of cruelty and obsolescence, but which […]
Beyond sentience: will Brexit halt live animal exports from the U.K.?
Minister for Agriculture & Rural Affairs confirms her government is “considering options to control live animal exports” LONDON, U.K.––British cabinet ministers, after the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, called “Brexit” for short, “must have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings in formulating and implementing government policy,” according to draft […]
Are politicians sentient? British animal advocates wonder
Nothing yet on animal sentience in U.K. law LONDON, U.K.–– “Sentient,” a word seldom used by mass media and little recognized by the public before a much decried vote of the British Parliament on November 15, 2017, is overnight at the center of debate raging throughout the United Kingdom. Who is sentient? What is sentience? […]
How phantoms spooked agribusiness into failed Krajnc case against watering pigs
Slaughter industry remains haunted by ghosts of vegan campaigns past BURLINGTON, Ontario––Winning the May 4, 2017 acquittal of Toronto Pig Save cofounder Anita Krajnc on charges of criminal mischief originating from giving bottled water to pigs through the slats on a livestock truck, defense attorney Gary Grill likened her actions and prosecution to those of […]