Dutch & Danish seizures of illegally trafficked German horse meat do not mean revived demand WASHINGTON D.C., BRUSSELS––Yes, the Bureau of Land Management under Donald Trump appointee William Perry Pendley is desperately eager to dispose of as many as 45,000 wild horses in holding pens, plus about 68,000 of the estimated 95,000 wild horses […]
COVID-19: Trump order reopening slaughterhouses was not about food
But preserving profits, “red state” votes, and keeping workers on the job despite risk were of paramount concern SIOUX CITY, Iowa––Risk of a U.S. food shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic had nothing to do with the April 28, 2020 decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to keep slaughterhouses running. […]
COVID-19: far more U.S. meat workers hit than Wuhan “wet market” staff
Infectious as “wet markets” are, U.S. slaughterhouse conditions appear to be much worse WATERLOO & SIOUX CITY, Iowa; SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota––COVID-19 has infected hundreds of U.S. slaughterhouse workers, who may have spread the pandemic disease to whole cities, USA Today reported late on April 22, 2020. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, […]
People who buy meat from glass cases have little room to throw stones
“Wet markets” in China & U.S. slaughterhouses both kill people as well as animals SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota––Underscoring that people who buy meat from glass cases have little room to throw stones at the “wet markets” of China and the developing world, which sell live animals, the Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods pig slaughterhouse in Sioux Falls, […]
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 […]
Why ASPCA pitch “Take a Bite Out of Farm Animal Cruelty” makes us puke
Ads at your local supermarket probably go farther on behalf of farmed animals by Irene Muschel I just opened my computer and found myself looking at a startling American SPCA fund-raising email that encourages people to support the breeding, raising, and slaughter of animals destined for human consumption. The email, captioned “Take a Bite Out […]
USDA Slaughterhouse Deregulation: Pigs in Peril
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 […]