Project Animal Farm: An Accidental Journey into the Secret World of Farming & the Truth About Our Food by Sonia Faruqi Pegasus Books (80 Broad Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004; www.pegasusbooks.com); 390 pages, hardcover. $27.95. Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat by Philip Lymbery, CEO, Compassion In World Farming, with Isabel Oakeshott, political editor, […]
Why did the Animal Legal Defense Fund go undercover?
Were Tyson poultry-slaughtering line speeds really the focal issue? COTATI, California––The “who, what, where, when” and “how” of an Animal Legal Defense Fund undercover video exposé of alleged animal and employee abuse at a Tyson Foods chicken slaughterhouse in Carthage, Texas were all identified in the September 14, 2015 ALDF media release announcing it. “Why,” […]
Idaho ag-gag falls, AETA does nothing, & Will Potter’s drone allegedly flew away
Drone expert Steve Hindi asks Potter to account for $90,000 BOISE, CHICAGO, WASHINGTON D.C.––Which is the greater threat to animal advocacy: so-called ag-gag laws that seek to prevent animal advocates from videotaping routine cruelty in agribusiness, the much decried federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2006 (AETA), or lack of transparency and accountability on […]
Will animal industries throw rotten eggs next?
Hampton Creek & Chipotle scare agribiz Not all that long ago bigtime animal agribusiness and the fast food meat industry clamored for laws against so-called “food disparagement,” to try to silence influential critics. Now bigtime agribusiness and allies of the fast food meat industry are doing the disparaging, using the “check-off” funds created by Congress […]
North Carolina “ag-gag” to take effect; legislature overturns veto
RALEIGH, N.C.––The North Carolina legislature on June 3, 2015 overturned governor Pat McCrory’s May 29, 2015 veto of an “ag-gag” bill, HB 405, passed by the state legislature 10 days earlier. Overturned by votes of 79-36 in the state house of representatives and 33-15 in the state senate, HB 405 will now take effect, making North […]
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
Produced by Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn A.U.M. Films & First Spark Media documentary Animals United Movement A.U.M., 2014 85 minutes running time. $9.95 as download; $19.95 DVD; discounts available for orders of five, 10, and 25 copies at a time. Screening licenses available for $108 up. “Organizers in the US can also host a screening […]
Whistleblower exposé of livestock research fuels ag-gag debate
OMAHA, SALT LAKE CITY, KANSAS CITY, OLYMPIA––Publishing a landmark exposé of the little-known U.S. Meat Animal Research Center on January 20, 2015, Michael Moss of The New York Times indirectly racheted up political pressure both for and against “ag-gag” laws. Meant to inhibit undercover investigators and other inside whistleblowers from exposing cruelty to animals within […]
World’s largest mayonnaise maker to seek end to culling male chicks
LONDON, ROTTERDAM, WASHINGTON D.C.––Unilever, the world’s largest maker of egg-based mayonnaise, on September 2, 2014 announced that it will lead a global initiative to end the culling of newly hatched male chicks. “We are aware of the concerns raised about [how] breeders of egg-laying hens eliminate male chicks,” Unilever posted to the corporate animal […]
Dairymen prefer to work in the dark
BOISE, Idaho––Idaho Dairymen’s Association lawyer Daniel Steenson was blunt in an April 2014 petition filed to seek court permission to help defend the newly passed state “ag-gag” statute. Wrote Steenson, “Without the protection the statute provides, Idaho Dairymen’s Association members will again be targeted for clandestine infiltration by individuals masquerading as employees to gather […]