Guest column by Gail A. Eisnitz In December 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will implement its “modernization” plan for the slaughter of pigs by turning over key inspection duties to the very industry it regulates. While current regulations allow slaughterhouses to kill a staggering 1,106 pigs per hour – or one pig every three […]
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 […]
Ahmed el Sherbiny, 66, brought “humane spring” to Egypt
Headed three leading organizations CAIRO, Egypt––Ahmed el Sherbiny, 66, who with his British-born wife Jackie led the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends, the Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare, and the Middle East Network for Animal Welfare, on March 7, 2019 died at home in Shabramont, Giza, a Cairo suburb, after several years of fighting multiple […]
Are kosher & halal slaughter bans anti-Semitic & Islamophobic?
Animal advocacy, religious teaching, & cultural insecurity collide in Belgium BRUSSELS, Belgium––Is Belgium moving rapidly to ban slaughter without pre-stunning out of concern for animals, or are prohibitions of the traditional kosher and halal slaughter methods rooted in latent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia? Slaughter without pre-stunning becomes illegal Whatever the political truth is, legal reality […]
Timothy J. Walker, 73, exposed slaughterhouse cruelty
by Gail Eisnitz, chief investigator, Humane Farming Association Timothy J. Walker, 73, died on September 10, 2018 in Naples, Florida, a little known hero for animals sent to slaughter. After graduating from St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis, Walker at age 17 joined his two first cousins in the U.S. Navy. Disaster relief Initially stationed […]
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 […]
“Rigor mortis is our biggest problem,” meat scientist tells cell culturing conference
Animal agribiz is about dead meat; cellular ag isn’t CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts––Rigor mortis is the biggest technical problem the meat industry has, John R. White Company meat scientist Benjy Mikel, Ph.D., of Birmingham, Alabama, emphasized on July 20, 2018 to the New Harvest 2018 conference on cellular agriculture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media […]
#DontGetMilked makes a splash in the heart of hypocritical cow worship
Animal advocates wean themselves from the “gaushala” dairy tradition NEW DELHI, India––The billboard message “#DontGetMilked. Ditch Dairy! Go Vegan!” posted recently in Nehru Place, New Delhi by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO), is a crowd-stopper. It might not rate a blink, let alone a shocked doubletake from visiting American and European […]
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 […]
Thumbing nose at lawsuits, USDA-APHIS hides more info
Deletes documents posted in response to Freedom of Information Act requests WASHINGTON D.C.––Hit with a second lawsuit, draft legislation, and letters from 119 members of Congress demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture restore web sites including Animal Welfare Act enforcement information, the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service has instead thumbed its collective […]