Farm Animals
Breaking News: Landmark Agreement to Help Millions of Hens
I announced an agreement today to mark the beginning of the end of barren battery cages for hens in America, at a press conference with The HSUS and the egg industry’s primary trade association.
Attempt to Hide Factory Farm Cruelty Fails in Iowa
Yesterday, the Iowa Senate adjourned without passing a proprosed bill to make it a crime for an unauthorized individual to take pictures or video of animals on farms.
Talk Back: Smithfield’s Record Profits and Our Animal Rescues
Last night’s Animal Planet Investigates piece on our captive hunting undercover work exposed an ugly subculture of the hunting industry. It’s bad enough that exotic animals are placed in fenced areas to be shot for a trophy. Add to this that the operators then drug . . .
Victories for Creatures Great and Small
We’ve achieved victories for creatures great and small these last few days. The HSUS successfully blocked plans to kill up to 85 sea lions each year in Washington and Oregon and scored a big win for chickens and the residents of a rural community in California. Texas lawmakers passed a bill to make it a crime to possess fighting birds or to be a spectator at a cockfight.
McDonald’s Takes Initial Positive Step by Starting to Use Cage-Free Eggs in the U.S.
McDonald’s announced this week that it would begin buying 12 million cage-free eggs a year, meaning about 50,000 fewer hens will know the confines of a battery cage. In the last few years, California and Michigan have enacted important cage-free reforms; Washington and Oregon have pending ballot measures on the topic; and many major food purveyors have adopted policies to start switching to cage-free eggs.
Missouri Governor Signs Bill to Undo Prop B, amid Big Ag’s Efforts to Deter Animal Protection
The battle over puppy mills and factory farms rages today. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon just signed SB 113 to repeal Prop B, and lawmakers in Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota are trying to make it illegal to document cruelty at farms and puppy mills.
‘Ag Gag’ Laws Would Punish Whistleblowers, Protect Animal Abusers
Today, A.G. Sulzberger of The New York Times reports on the latest efforts by agribusiness interests and their legislative allies to keep the public in the dark about the realities of factory farming. I wrote last week about the series of bills, introduced in Florida, Iowa, . . .
Comprehensive Anti-Cruelty Law Awaits Governor’s Signature in Mississippi
Mississippi is one of only four states in the nation that does not allow felony penalties for the worst abuses of dogs and cats. Yesterday, the Mississippi Senate passed a bill that would make egregious animal cruelty a felony on the second offense.
Lights, Camera, Cover-Up?
Lawmakers have introduced bills in Florida and Iowa to make it a crime to photograph or videotape farm animals. Instead of criminalizing animal cruelty, they want to make criminals of people trying to document abuse and to put an end to the cruelty.
News from India: A Better Day for Millions of Hens
Forced molting through starvation is one of the most unacceptable practices in modern animal agriculture. It involves depriving birds of food for up to two weeks — and water for up to three days — to manipulate the laying cycle to stimulate egg-laying in hens . . .
Thinking Outside the Cage in Washington
Within days, Washingtonians for Humane Farms will be launching the signature-gathering phase of a new statewide initiative petition to phase out the confinement of laying hens in battery cages. More and more consumers are recognizing that battery-cage eggs are a product of cruelty.
Pressing Forward to Protect Calves from Abuse
The USDA tentatively granted our request to require that downed veal calves be humanely and promptly euthanized, rather than dragged, tormented and otherwise abused to get them to the slaughter area.
