Cell phone videocams open factory farms to public view Ignoring 30 years of warnings by leading U.S. agribusiness educators and pundits has at last visibly begun to cost the livestock industry consumer confidence, as evidenced by the explosive growth in sales of plant-based protein foods and steeply declining dairy, meat, and poultry consumption among younger […]
More Than A Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality
by Karen Davis, Ph.D. Lantern Books (One Union Square West, Suite 201, New York, NY 10003), 2001. 192 pages, paperback. $14.95 c/o https://www.upc-online.org/merchandise/book.html Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Looking back nearly 30 years to 1990, the two most significant animal advocacy events of the year were––as expected––the first March […]
No apology from Olbermann for selling turkey sandwiches
Apologized for asking Twitter followers to make turkey hunter’s life “a living hell,” but made point of pitching pit bulls KILN, Mississippi––Sports announcer, broadcast journalist, and political commentator Keith Olbermann, 60, on March 27, 2019 apologized “unreservedly” for calling upon his Twitter followers two days earlier to make the rest of Hunter Waltman’s life […]
The Thanksgiving Turkey as Ritual Scapegoat
in the Carnivalesque Tradition by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns Human radical abuse of “food” animals cannot be explained by economic efficiency alone. It is also an outgrowth of attitudes humans have had toward nonhuman animals through the ages, rooted in our resentment at being animals, which we project onto them. In his […]
Disease linked to cockfighting menaces California poultry industry
Gamecocks carrying Newcastle disease to domestic flocks killed millions in 1971 and 2003 LOS ANGELES––The billion-dollar-a-year California poultry industry is betting the farm that state and federal authorities can get a two-year series of outbreaks of Newcastle disease under control before it becomes the biggest threat to profits in decades. An outbreak discovered in […]
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 […]
Hampton Creek founder Tetrick pledges his “clean meat” will be vegan
Cloned product will not be grown in serum culture, Tetrick says SAN FRANCISCO––Hampton Creek Foods founder Josh Tetrick, amid a mysterious destocking of all 20 Hampton Creek products by Target Corporation, the largest Hampton Creek customer, took a meme of unknown origin attacking cell-cultured meat seriously enough to call at 5:02 p.m. on Friday, […]
Farmed animals & money talks
U.K. farmed animal welfare laws older & weaker than many voters believe Part III of a five-part series. See also Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?, Farmed animals & the Brexit “diet plan.”, What Brexit means for “pet passports” & lab animals and Back to the Jungle Book: U.K. wildlife law post-Brexit.) While residents of the […]
What Do Backyard Chickens and Factory Farm Chickens Have in Common?
by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns “Dear Animal Shelter, I see you have a rooster right now. I have a placement lined up for him and would like to pick him up Saturday.” Animal Shelter: “Thanks for inquiring about the rooster. It’s great to know there is a potential placement for him. […]
Horsewoman & horseman of the food Apocalypse
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, […]