and the commonality of being reduced to “lesser beings” by Karen Davis, PhD, president, United Poultry Concerns “Some people seemed unfazed when witnessing cruelty, but I could feel the pain of every living organism through my bones, as if it were my own.” ––Elin Gundersen, “Understanding the Power of Compassion,”. VEGAN VOICES: Essays by Inspiring […]
Good days in court for chickens, gamecocks, Wisconsin wolves, & feral hippos
Decisions may mean better days for animals, but use & exploitation industries will fight back ROCHESTER, N.Y.; WASHINGTON D.C.; MADISON, Wisconsin; CINCINNATI, Ohio––A flurry of mid-October 2021 court decisions brought good news for plaintiffs against the poultry slaughter industry, cockfighting in Puerto Rico, wolf hunting in Wisconsin, and hippopotamus culling in Colombia. Probably the most […]
Plainville Farms turkeys kicked, beaten: Credibility, GAP? redux
Global Animal Partnership-certified farm supplies turkeys to Whole Foods Markets & Publix NEW OXFORD, Pennsylvania––The Pennsylvania State Police have informed media that staff are “currently” reviewing video of alleged extensive abuse of turkeys at Plainville Farms facilities near New Oxford, Pennsylvania. Plainville Farms, advertising that it meets Global Animal Partnership humane standards, supplies turkeys to […]
Making a Thanksgiving place for Tofurky
Eventually live turkeys joined the feast. But not at first. Chloe Sorvino, food and drink editor for the business magazine Forbes, marked Thanksgiving 2020 by looking back 40 years to the invention of Tofurky in 1980, by then-nature educator Seth Tibbott. Described as a “turkey alternative,” blending tofu and wheat with a wild rice and […]
Birds in the mail: U.S. Postal Service changes kill thousands
Trump appointee DeJoy puts animal advocates, factory farmers, cockfighters, & captive bird-shooters all on the same side of the fence WASHINGTON D.C.––Changes to U.S. Postal Service policy and practice implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, appointed in May 2020 by U.S. President Donald Trump, on August 21, 2020 improbably aligned animal advocates, factory-style poultry farmers, […]
Protecting purity from pollution, or protecting pollution from purity?
The Golden Age, Garden of Eden, and Thanksgiving Myth of Origin by Karen Davis Ph.D., president, United Poultry Concerns (See also Turkeys: Sympathy, Sensibility, and Sentience and The “Thanksgiving” turkey: object of sentimentality, sarcasm, & sacrifice.) “The question before us is, which images of the universe, of power, of animals, of ourselves, will we represent […]
The “Thanksgiving” turkey: object of sentimentality, sarcasm, & sacrifice
Each year a litany of sarcasm accompanies the sentimentality of Thanksgiving by Karen Davis, Ph.D., president, United Poultry Concerns “Nothing so unites us as gathering with one mind to murder someone we hate, unless it is coming together to share in a meal.” – Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, p. 33. The […]
Turkeys: Sympathy, Sensibility, and Sentience
Plus Social Dancing and Driving Off Predators by Karen Davis, PhD, president, United Poultry Concerns Turkeys express social sympathy An emotional behavior in turkeys that has been said to “defy logic” is “the great wake” they will hold over a fallen companion. In one episode, cited by A.W. Schorger in The Wild Turkey: Its History […]
Fair Oaks Farms stepped in the same crap as the rest of the herd
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 […]
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 […]