There is a comment on the above video by Mike indicating, “This is a truly disgusting video and i appreciate the efforts in exposing the atrocities. There is a way to humanely raise livestock for consumption. I’m not a vegan, but I also don’t condone abuse or torture of animals.”

It’s odd that Mikes never define what they mean by “way”.

And it’s disturbing how comfortable nonvegans can be with atrocities inflicted on animals, by NOT defending the animals AT ALL, instead referring to some intangible, utopian realm where animals transparently “condone” the “abuse and torture” of their bodies so humans don’t have to “expose the atrocities” relentlessly inflicted on them as … the “way”.

When you acknowledge and admit animals endure torture, abuse, and atrocities, but still trivialize animal suffering as secondary to you (I appreciate, I’m not, I also … and zero explanation of way), you hypocritically demonstrate that you are unopposed to violence and the subsequent suffering required of animals.

(And remember: the animals sentenced to violence and death – and all animal exploitation is rooted in violence and death – fuels other animal exploitation: it’s all related. Both killing a “grass-fed” cow and eating a CO2-killed pig anywhere supports the abuse of “worthy” horses and cats and dogs and whales and elephants and koala bears elsewhere as exploited not only for food, but also for fashion, entertainment, research, testing, religion, education, etc., it’s one globally violent foundation created and maintained by nonveganism.)

Decent people make the connection between torture, abuse, and atrocities inflicted on animals AND necessity of veganism to minimize it, but if you continue causing suffering while waiting for someone else to illegalize it, and/or selfishly suggest veganism is unnecessary or irrelevant but unable to clarify or define the nonvegan “way” to not violently harm animals – even though, in and of itself, SLAUGHTER is always HARMFUL – your concern is inward, for yourself, and not for the victims of your 100%-meaningless moralistic platitudes written online, because, really, what is more humane than actively minimizing harm?

Because …

To the animal victims, nothing is MORE humane or ethical than a human NOT being an animal exploiter.

And on the topic of “harm”, how ignorantly blissful it must be to continually deflect from “killing”, diminishing “killing” by implying that, because you VERBALLY “care”, killing is insignificant, a minor event, while also casually dismissing animal existences of:

loss of bodily autonomy

rape

mutilation

the stealing of infants

and confinement

as “ok” because, for example and as implied, animals “don’t have to be factory-farmed” (even though globally, the vast majority of animals exploited for food ARE – animals forced to exist in a CAFO/intensively farmed/factory farmed environment). To be fair, though, loss of bodily autonomy, rape, mutilation, the stealing of infants, and confinement of animals, not to mention violent slaughter, is inherent in all size “models” of “animal farming”.

We’re ALL animals, killing is “abuse”, if you need to defend animal consumption by saying animals don’t need to be factory-farmed, well guess what? Animals don’t need to be slaughtered for you, EITHER, you just prefer to label animals’ abused existences and harmful slaughter as “humane” and vaguely refer to somewheresomehowsomeway as “evidence”. Your fairy tale, willful ignorance, and blind faith aren’t, though; animal suffering is fact, and the only animal that benefits from animal exploitation is the human animal.

Or if you desperately claim that you kill animals to ensure they don’t become extinct, you’re lying

1. given the amount of animals who are extinct due to 

2. nonvegans destroying their habitats to grow crops to feed the animals nonvegans eat,

AND you cannot convince me that you care about an entire species when you can’t be bothered to NOT violently harm even ONE animal of that species.

People don’t kill animals to prevent animals from being killed. You’d support sanctuaries that rescue animals, animals who are then safe from exploitative NONVEGAN harm including violent slaughter.

Ever notice, too, how Mikes never provide their video evidence of “humane” violation and “humane” family separation and “humane” slaughter?

I wonder, do you cowardly choose, as a nonvegan, to NOT look at images or watch videos and documentaries that demonstrate globally pervasive atrocities inflicted on animals because the footage is too violently traumatizing, but never admit that, if it’s too violent to watch, imagine how it is for animals forced to suffer it.

(By the way, do you derogatorily refer to vegans as weakoverlysensitivesoyboycrybabyblahblahblah, vegans who DO watch, who DO investigate, who DO protest, who ARE activists in a predominantly normally-violent and apathetic society, a society that willfully maintains and participates in an ongoing animal holocaust? Or, in attempting to justify how you ignore animal suffering because a vegan is sharing evidence of it, I also wonder if you do NOT use any information about animal consumption, then, if it’s from people who also consume animals?)

Disturbing, too, is how many Mikes have the audacity to claim, for example, that cows and pigs are bad mothers.

Always vomitous how the death industry validates extreme confinement – necessary only for maximizing profit – such as in gestation crates and farrowing stalls, of individual mother pigs as necessary to “protect” baby pigs from their mother pigs violently squashing them…………………………….. Ever wonder why mother pigs don’t violently squash their babies when NOT being exploited for your bacon? And what about elephants? Where are all the death industry cheerleading activists demanding that elephants be extremely confined to “protect” their infants?

Imagine living – existing – in your bathtub. The only time that pigs exploited for food are able to walk and turn around is on their way to be viciously and terrifyingly and squashably killed in the slaughterhouse with CO2, the globally-standard form of stunning pigs, also known for causing extreme pain and suffering.

Ever notice, too, how Mikes love to claim that separation of mom and baby is beneficial?

It’s embarrassing how so many people believe this lie, but they desperately cling to it so they can feel comfortable harming animals, but really, in what galaxy is separation of mother and infant necessary for species’ health and longevity?

Maybe perpetual adult breastfeeders need to ask themselves why they believe such while farmers reproductively exploit cows and then deny the maternal bond they facilitated as financially and verbally supported by the feigned ignorance of the masses.

I should also add that farmers have manipulative “tips” on how to separate mom and baby immediately to minimize grief: why would you need to minimize grief if grief was nonexistent? And too, I have asked separation supporters how they respond to “ahimsa dairy” (where calf and cow are not separated): are the ahimsa dairy supporters wrong? Are they cruelly harming calves by “allowing” them to stay with moms? Nobody ever answers me, it’s just so much easier for both dairy supporters to rage on vegans, vegans who don’t cause harm …

And if you’re struggling with “should they be separated, should they not be separated”, just remember, calves don’t benefit from being forcibly removed from their mothers and killed if male or sent to a calf ranch if female, and they don’t benefit from their mothers being reproductively exploited in the first place to force their existence: even ahimsa dairy is based on a human-centric model requiring animal exploitation, pain, and death.

(FYI: the baby animals are taken so that mom’s milk can be stolen for a DIFFERENT SPECIES, BEYOND INFANCY and WITH TEETH and calves are also isolated/separated so that they won’t engage in “cross sucking” – trying to nurse/root because they’re not with their mothers or being behaviourally stimulated – on other calves or objects causing profit losses for “their” animal enslavers/abusers.)

Ever notice, too, how Mikes claim that cows loveLoveLOVE to be “milked” but experience zero emotion when being violently slaughtered?

Or that the “28-hour rule” is based on “animal welfare“? Or, in other words, “human welfare” – to feel comfortable with the horrific conditions forcibly inflicted on animals in the transport “stage” of violent animal exploitation: would you be fine with 28 continuous hours of transport with no water, food, or rest?

And if your response is that AnIMalS aRe DIfFeRenT to try to rationalize their suffering, don’t compare yourself to animals then: bUt OtHeR ANiMaLs EAt aNiMaLS.

(Did you know that mother cats suck out and consume the feces and urine of their infants? Or that they ignore and/or consume their dead or dying infants to prevent them from attracting predators? Do you, as a human, do that? Are you in prison?)

Or that CO2 is like falling asleep?

Or that chicken slaughter is based on “good practices”?

Or that animals are killed “humanely”? It’s important to understand that even “humane” isn’t humane: in the USA, AVMA defines the goal of “humane slaughter” as being, “without unnecessary pain or distress” establishing that pain and distress in slaughter is necessary and therefore that humane is not. Do be aware, too, that actual veterinarians are not the people employed to kill animals in a slaughterhouse, and that 9 billion of 10 billion just-land animals killed each year in the US are exempt from the Meaningless and Oxymoronic Methods of Humane Slaughter Act.

Or that farmers care? (USDA, page 33)

Or that ranchers care? (USDA, nonpredator and predator deaths, all preventable)

Or that killing animals prevents animals from being killed? This is a common non/antivegan “rationale” which neglects to account for: “dairy” consumption’s “worthless” babies ; the animals who are condemned due to preventable disease and suffering ; killed for AI ; killed by predation HERE and HERE; killed via transport ; killed for other animals who will be also killed; killed by crop harvesting by nonvegans for crops eaten by animals; killed by crop harvesting by nonvegans for crops eaten by human animals; killed as animal “pests” in slaughterhouses, CAFOs, crops, and barns and other places in the “anag chain” ; killed for nonconsumption reasons such as testing, research, entertainment, religion, education, etcetcetc.

Or that humans care?

Or that there is no federal law “protecting” animals exploited for food (I mean, in what universe can animals be “protected” while being intentionally bred, diseased, raped, and murdered???), that all animals exploited for food are exempt from the Meaningless and Oxymoronic Animal Welfare Act, and that, again, 90% of animals slaughtered are exempt from the Meaningless and Oxymoronic Methods of Humane Slaughter Act?

And when people “accuse” vegans of being angry, what I want to know is why nonvegans are not angry at such injustice, except when a cat or dog is abused, neglected, and/or violently killed. Imagine feeling that way about all animals to a largely indifferent and willfully ignorant global population, included in which are people paid to actively lie, deceive, and trivialize veganism, people who have made it their mission to do nothing but attempt to shame vegans, based on their “hatred” of vegans, using the most vile and inhuman narratives (mocking the death of children if their parents are vegan is one example of the perversion antivegans engage in).

Bottom line and anitivegan behaviour be damned, if you’re not vegan – and I know you can be, that humans have the capacity to be empathetic and decent, and the ability to value nonviolence vs normalize it, and to practice justice rather than selectively apply it – you’re an animal abuser, as was I prevegan, and before anyone has an absolute meltdown, ask why you’re triggered by my words and not by what inspired my words. Because you are not the victim. SL

See more:

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

If your god demands unrelenting suffering and death, maybe you should invent another god NOT offended by nonviolence and least harm…

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humane slaughter is an oxymoron

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

People willingly disclose information if it demonstrates consistency between their WORDS and their ACTIONS, between the CONSEQUENCES of their PROMISES.

So if the USDA and the USDA cheerleaders are not transparent, then there is a reason: because contrary to claims of “humane”, the reality is violent suffering and painful death required of animals exploited for food (USDA releases years of slaughterhouse records following lawsuit) and the public pays for it.

It’s important to understand that in the USA, the AVMA acknowledges that “humane” actually isn’t HUMANE, it’s the minimization of UNnecessary pain and distress, meaning that pain and distress is both “necessary” and inherent. Additionally, do note that the AVMA only provides guidelines on slaughter and the people performing slaughter are NOT actual veterinarians, and furthermore, the oxymoronic HSA (humane slaughter act) EXCLUDES >90% of animals exploitatively killed for food, including poultry and fish.

I mean, this isn’t rocket science: if it’s humane and ethical, it wouldn’t be hidden/concealed/lied about, just like those commercials of, oh, I don’t know, a sentient antique table promoting “dairy” that doesn’t refer to animals AT ALL much less the violent practices required of animals violated, mutilated, separated from infants, and killed for the “dairy” industry. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Kerrygold, like, what in the AF is that about? Sure, “furniture has feelings” is perfectly legit but violent animal suffering is completely ignored in favor of profit, greed, trivial taste preference, pathetically nonsensical ads, and ZERO transparency.

Vegans aren’t the brainwashed bunch here: rather than cower behind normalized violence, people need to acknowledge the FACTS required of the most innocent of beings: animals, and accept that the ONLY humane is VEGAN because what’s actually more humane: violently killing animals or NOT violently killing animals? Take a moment to think about that if talking about nonviolence makes you enraged.

And do note that killing animals (for food, fashion, fun, religion, testing, education, etcetcetc) always requires violence, even if you desperately need to deceptively define said killing as “quick/humane/one-bad-day/blahblahblah”.

SL

Lawsuit Filed Demanding USDA Produce Documents Related to the Environmental Review of Publicly Funded Factory Farms

Source Animal Legal Defense Fund

Despite repeated FOIAs, the USDA has failed to post the documents in violation of the law.

Washington, D.C. — Today (May 22, 2024), the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Food & Water Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for failing to proactively post documents in an online reading room after rural community and advocacy groups have filed repeated requests for the documents, many of which are still outstanding. In particular, groups are seeking to compel access to environmental review records required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as part of the USDA’s provision of loans and loan guarantees for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also known as factory farms.

Nonprofit groups, advocacy organizations, reporters, and members of the public rely on these records to receive information about federally funded CAFOs intruding into their communities and to participate in the NEPA process to advocate for a safer environment. By failing to affirmatively create an online reading room for these records, USDA is violating FOIA disclosure requirements, which mandate that frequently requested records be made available for public inspection in an electronic format.

“The USDA’s unwillingness to make publicly available its agency environmental review documents related to its subsidies to factory farms continues to exclude people most affected from learning about, let alone participating in, decisions to build and expand animal factories in their communities,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Managing Attorney Daniel Waltz. “The Animal Legal Defense Fund seeks to bring the USDA’s secretive practices to light.”

A recent Food & Water Watch FOIA request found that from 2008-2021, USDA disbursed over $3.2 billion in financial assistance for factory farms in just five states: Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota and Oregon. The environmental reviews required for those loans were not made easily accessible online, limiting transparency into how the agency makes funding decisions, and limiting public participation in the NEPA process.

“It’s no secret that USDA funnels billions of taxpayer dollars toward factory farms. The big secret is how they make those decisions despite these facilities’ well-known environmental harms,” says Food & Water Watch Legal Director Tarah Heinzen. “USDA’s decision to dole out high-dollar agency loans and guarantees to factory farms and shield the process from public scrutiny is illegal. We seek to compel USDA to provide timely public access to NEPA documentation for factory farm financing, as required by law.”

Without real-time public access to factory farm NEPA records, the public must repeatedly submit FOIA requests for the records. But making these requests is resource intensive, and putting the burden on citizens to make FOIA requests is impractical and unjust. In addition, because USDA routinely fails to respond to FOIA requests in a timely manner, by the time the plaintiffs receive NEPA records associated with a specific subsidy to a factory farm, the time period to review and comment on a draft NEPA document — for example, a draft Environmental Impact Statement or Environmental Assessment — will typically have long passed. The lapse of time makes the information less valuable to the organizations’ advocacy efforts and obstructs public participation.

The USDA requires NEPA review for loan financing for the construction or major expansion of large-sized CAFOs. Although the agency promulgated a rule categorically exempting Farm Service Agency loans to medium-sized CAFOs from NEPA review, a federal district court vacated the CAFO provisions of the rule, and agency loans and guarantees to medium-sized CAFOs are now also subject to NEPA review.

The plaintiffs are represented by Public Citizen and in-house attorneys for the organizations bringing the lawsuit.

Contact: media@aldf.org

See also:

USDA releases years of slaughterhouse records following lawsuit

99% of “livestock” in the USA are factory-farmed

CAFO info USA:

Source EPA

Source EPA

Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) are agricultural operations where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs generally congregate animals, feed, manure, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures. Animal waste and wastewater can enter water bodies from spills or breaks of waste storage structures (due to accidents or excessive rain), and non-agricultural application of manure to crop land.

Source EPA

There are more than 21,000 LARGE CAFOs in the USA:

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humane slaughter is an oxymoron.

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

See more: Pignorant

Donate HERE

Free help to Be Vegan

Why are so many non/antivegans so angry and focus their rage on vegans?

Oh. So you can pretend to remain willfully ignorant at the horrors you acceptably perpetuate on defenseless, vulnerable beings.

Listen up, folks: you’re more than happy to wish violence on animal harmers who kill cats and dogs and horses but then rage on vegans when we expose the violent harm EFFORTLESSLY inflicted on pigs, cows, lambs, etc., and I know this because I, a vegan, sign the same petitions and send the same DAs/officials/businesses/reps the same letters and the same appeals and get the same communications that nonvegans support.

I see your hatred and intolerance and rage towards people who victimize kittens and dogs. And I absolutely 100% get it. But your cognitive dissonance is a fickle murderer and condemns trillions of OTHER animals – who ALSO experience pain, fear, and the desire to NOT want to die – to similar, yet quietly hidden and acceptable, “fates”.

Where’s your outrage for them?

Instead of accepting responsibility, you obsess about and instead prefer to shoot the vegan messengers.

This isn’t propaganda: trillions of animals being killed yearly and globally is FACT. What’s criminally funny is that the same people accept ridiculously insensitive and trivial anag industry PROPAGANDA of dancing cows going to school, horses singing to get farmers dates, cows on streetcorners begging people to “eat more chikin”, etcetcetc. But vegans showing the FACTS of animal suffering is “harassment/propaganda/lies/blahblahblah”.

Yup. Sure. Makes so much sense…………………………..

And before you pettily whine about yourself being a victim of TRUTH, do answer: exactly why DOES the death industry never show their OWN actual footage? Why aren’t slaughterhouses visited on school field trips? Why aren’t cats and dogs “euthanized” in slaughterhouses? Why do anag suits aggressively pursue ag-gag? Why are BILLIONS of animals “condemned” due to preventable diseases if they’re so loved and cared for? Why do you pretend that “humane” requires violation and death?

What’s more humane than NOT exploiting animals?

Why do you stalk and harass vegans if you’re truly comfortable with your animal-killing actions?

I don’t think you hate vegans, I think you hate yourself.

SL

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ignorance at times is voluntary stupidity

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

See More: Animal Justice Project Investigation

Since the goal of the “animal agriculture death industry” is DEATH, it baffles me that people think anyone, including themselves, actually cares about the animals’ LIVES. Considering that violence and death is REQUIRED of animals in all “anag stages”, in a myriad of horrific and violently disturbing manners, what actually do you think is NOT legal?

If anag was humane, footage would be easily available, industry ads wouldn’t target willfully indoctrinated consumers using dancing cows in school, the industry wouldn’t desperately and relentlessly campaign for ag-gag concealment – ag-gag that is consistently condemned as unconstitutional, by the way – and is why “humane, welfare, assured, regenerative, etc.” are all labels designed by humans to benefit humans, to make humans comfortable with the violence and death required of animals.

Violence and death don’t actually benefit animals, though, and all animal exploitation requires violent animal suffering and death.

All.

No exceptions.

You know what is actually humane? What animal welfare actually requires? What assured safety is?

NOT EXPLOITING ANIMALS

There is nothing more humane, based on animal welfare, and safe for animals than not exploiting them: not using, testing on, wearing, eating, or killing animals. Not hunting, using for entertainment, or “farming” animal bodies. Not confining, caging, enslaving, imprisoning, separating from family, or harming animals.

By the way, you don’t get points for providing food and water. Why do so many nonvegans praise themselves for providing animals basic necessities and then neglect to acknowledge that NOT harming animals is actually the ONLY humane, ethical, caring approach to animals?

If YOU have to characterize animal exploitation in a manner that benefits YOU but that requires animal suffering and death, you’re not at all concerned with animals, you just pretend you are as you eat their unwillingly mutilated, violated, cut, confined, and killed bodies, their infants, their secretions.

Such desperate liars and killers you are.

And if my words offend you, I ask why you’re not instead offended by what inspired my words.

SL

Source Independent

By Jane Dalton

Chicks were crushed under trolley wheels, trodden on and injured as they were thrown into crates, an undercover investigator claims.

Secret filming in a hatchery that rears birds for the chicken meat industry also appears to show chicks left injured and sometimes bloodied by accidents.

The first investigation of its kind in a broiler chick hatchery claims to reveal how young birds are treated on production lines.

Those deemed not fit for sale to chicken farms were sent down a chute into a macerator to be ground up alive, it is alleged.

The company, Annyalla, says it produces three million, day-old chicks a week for the broiler – meat – industry. Eggs are incubated for three weeks before chicks hatch, and are then sold to chicken farms.

Annyalla says it is also “accredited” by Tesco and Marks & Spencer, although M&S does not use this individual hatchery.

And the site, in Boston, Lincolnshire, won a “hatchery of the year” award in 2022.

Its website claims it is “fully accredited the British Assured Chicken standard agency” – but there is no such agency. The company said it meant an old government scheme called Assured Chicken Production. There are no records of the scheme’s activities.

An investigator for animal-rights organisation Animal Justice Project, who worked undercover at Annyalla, claimed they saw repeated suffering and filmed violations of animal welfare law including:

• Staff flung chicks between crates quickly, and some picked up so many chicks at once that they were accidentally dropped
• Chicks often fell out of egg trays and hatching crates, leaving them injured and without water
• Some were then run over by trolleys or trodden on
• Chicks had to poke their heads through gaps for drinking water but were injured or killed when trolleys crashed into other trolleys, the wall or metal barriers
• They often got their heads stuck in crate gaps
• Wings, legs and feet also became stuck in crate gaps. In one case chicks started eating the leg of a bird from above
• Staff who spotted sick or injured chicks left them despite rules that they should be removed immediately
• Chicks had no access to water for up to eight hours after trolleys were removed from incubators

One chick was filmed with blood coming from a wound in its head, which was hanging down.

Animal Justice Project said that on very busy days, the staff – who handle up to 370,000 baby birds a day – were too hurried to show chicks “reasonable care”.

Any deemed too sick to be sold were sent to be macerated – shredded alive – but some crates were delayed by up to four hours before the chicks were put out of their misery.

By law, sick and injured birds should be removed quickly.

Male chicks born to egg-laying hens are usually killed with gas, but maceration – with a high-speed blade grinder – is used legally for the millions of broiler chicks born into the meat industry every year that fail to “make the grade”.

France has banned the shredding of male chicks.

A vet visits the site every six weeks on a day when a deep clean is carried out and no chicks are handled, the activists said.

The filming also showed some chicks are hatched with deformities. “I’ve just seen a three-legged chick for the first time,” the investigator told one worker, who replies: “Yeah, we had one not so long ago that had four legs, no beak and just one eye.”

Staff said the company planned to more than double production to around 2.5 million chicks a week, although Animal Justice Project claimed numbers were already too high for proper animal care.

In 2019, the hatchery was given an RSPCA Assured certificate to provide chicks for farms endorsed by the animal-welfare charity’s scheme, but never went on to hatch for it. However, the RSPCA suspended its certificate when The Independent showed it the footage.

It’s understood that after seeing the footage, Tesco contacted the hatchery and launched an urgent investigation into it.

A spokesperson for Annyalla said the company was regularly audited to ensure high standards, and parts of the footage fell below those expected of employees, adding: “Staff undergo critical training on the handling and welfare of chicks prior to commencing work, and are given continuous regular refresher courses, so it is disappointing to see a minority of our people fall short on this occasion. We have addressed this with the staff involved and have taken further action to ensure this does not happen again.

“Our chicks are our most valuable asset, so we prioritise their welfare at every stage. Chicks must be handled appropriately, are given fresh water and nutrition, and all processes are monitored by senior team members.

“We acknowledge that people can make poor decisions, but we are committed to putting the right measures in place to rectify any issues. Our focus remains on maintaining impeccable standards of bird welfare at all times.”

Marks & Spencer said some suppliers sourced chicks from Annyalla, but have never sourced from this particular hatchery.

An M&S spokesperson said: “We do not source from or have links with this hatchery. We set rigorous animal welfare for all suppliers and expect these to be upheld at all times.”

An RSPCA Assured spokesperson said it was totally unacceptable for chicks to be treated in this way.

They added: “This site has never hatched chicks for RSPCA Assured certified farms. Chicks hatched for RSPCA Assured farms can only be slower-growing breeds and are not the faster-growing breeds shown in this footage.

“Animal welfare is our sole priority, as such we have reported the farm to the Animal and Plant Health Agency, who are fully equipped to carry out independent investigations into animal welfare concerns.”

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Source Pignorant Film

Available on Amazon Prime UK and Amazon Prime US

An ex-gang member’s love for pigs spurs him on a life-risking mission to uncover the truth behind “bacon” – exposing widespread deception in a country that claims to have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world.

Director and Activist Joey Carbstrong goes undercover with fellow activists to infiltrate and expose the deeply ingrained corruption and heartbreaking abuse that lies at the heart of the UK’s ‘pork industry’.

Facts

Around 2 million pigs die in farms before even reaching slaughter age

Pre-weaning mortality*:

Indoor (which makes up over 60% of piglets produced): Average 13.24%: ahdb

Outdoor (less than 40%): Average 11.45%: ahdb

Post-weaning mortality (weaning to slaughter): Average 7.66%: ahdb

*With the contributions to overall piglets entering the rearing herd, there’s an average of 12.5%

Gas chambers are used across the world on pigs

UK – 88%: DEFRA

USA – 86%: NAMI

Australia – 85%: Australian Pork

Europe: Germany – 85% / Spain – 85% / Denmark – 95% / Sweden – Nearly 100%: Eurogroup for animals

Effects of co2 on pigs

“High concentrations of CO2 have been known for decades to cause pain, fear and distress in pigs before loss of consciousness, and the stunning method is clearly associated with animal welfare concerns”: science direct

“The use of carbon dioxide (CO2) for stunning and killing animals is considered to compromise welfare due to air hunger, anxiety, fear, and pain”: MDPI

“Inhalation of CO2 causes acute respiratory distress through irritation of the mucus membranes.”: cambridge university press

“CO2 itself causes irritation of the nasal mucosa and exposure is therefore inducing a painful sensation”: EFSA

CO2 has the potential to cause welfare consequences via 3 different mechanisms:

(1) pain due to formation of carbonic acid on respiratory and ocular membranes,

(2) production of so-called air hunger and a feeling of breathlessness and

(3) direct stimulation of ion channels within the amygdala associated with the fear response

EFSA

“The fact that these behaviours occur when the animal is conscious is evidence that induction to CO2 anaesthesia is not immediate and pigs suffer from fear, pain and/or stress during immersion into gas”: research gate

“It has been demonstrated that pigs find CO2 in high concentrations aversive and, given a free choice, they avoid such atmospheres”: EFSA

Behavioural studies have shown that the majority of pigs avoid or quickly withdraw from high atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and that almost 90% of pigs preferred to go without water for 72 hours rather than experience exposure to CO2: cambridge university press / EFSA

“There are longstanding concerns about the negative welfare impacts of high concentration carbon dioxide (CO2) stunning systems for pigs.”: DEFRA

‘Farm Animal Welfare Council’ called for a ban of gas chambers in 2003

“We conclude that the use of high concentrations of CO2 to stun and kill pigs is not acceptable and we wish to see it phased out in five years.”: FAWC

Co2 effects on humans

“The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidance document on humane endpoints follows the principle that if something is known to cause pain, distress and suffering in humans, it should be assumed to cause the same in animals.

There is evidence from human studies that inhalation of CO2 at various concentrations can cause pain and/or distress. For example, Danneman et al. (1997) asked 20 adult humans to take a full breath of CO2 at different concentrations ranging from 50% to 100% and to score each concentration according to the level of discomfort. Results indicated that higher concentrations of CO2 were perceived to be increasingly noxious. Danneman’s subjects used the following terms in reference to every concentration of CO2 tested: burning, tingling or prickling, and unpleasant (taste or odour); these terms were used more frequently at higher concentrations. Many described 100% CO2 as piercing, stabbing, painful or causing the eyes to burn or water, and 18 out of 20 subjects indicated that they were unable to take a full breath of this concentration.”: Sage journals

Why do they use co2?

The meat industry claim to use co2 for welfare reasons but the real reasons for using co2 are as follows:

Co2 is used because it is, quote, more ‘cost-effective’: IGC

“The carbon dioxide used by the meat industry is a by-product of fertiliser production”: BBC

Co2 systems are ‘efficient’ – In 2022, 88% of pigs were killed using co2 in 10 premises VS 12% killed using electronarcosis at 70 premises: DEFRA

Co2 has a positive effect on ‘meat quality’: Sciendo / Linde Gas / HSA 2015

Are there alternatives to co2?

A common claim from the industry and suppliers is that they are ‘searching for more humane alternatives to Co2’ but this is what we found:

“FAWC previously recommended a ban on CO2 stunning of pigs. There has been no willingness on the part of abattoirs to explore inert gas mixture stunning commercially because of extended dwell time and therefore reduced throughput”: DEFRA

It is important to note that FAWC claims: “It’s not possible to simply replace the CO2 gas mixtures used in the current systems with other gas mixtures.”: FAWC

Marel Meat – creators of the Backloader Co2 stunning system – said: “The Backloader CO2 stunning system is equipped with CO2 meters and they truly measure CO2, which means that they cannot be used for inert gases where the level of the inert gas is usually measured by measuring the oxygen level.”: Marel

LAPS – DEFRA and HSA co-sponsored a project evaluating ‘low atmospheric pressure stunning’ but concluded that LAPS “does not offer a humane alternative to high concentrations of CO2 in pigs”: DEFRA

ARGON – “Exposure to argon for 5 minutes or less can result in rapid recovery. Unless pigs can be immersed in the gas mixture for periods of 7 minutes or longer, additional steps need to be taken to ensure death by cardiac arrest or bleeding”: FAWC

Other animals killed in gas chambers in uk Include:

81% of ‘Meat’ chickens

88% of Spent egg layer hens

98% of Turkeys

DEFRA

Male chicks in the egg industry

“The industrial-scale culling of unwanted chicks is common practice around the world, with 330 million males slaughtered by crushing or gassing each year in Europe, according to campaigners, 29 million of those in the UK.”: The Guardian

Sometimes used on Salmon & other Fish

“A number of slaughter methods are used in fish farming. Methods such as the use of carbon dioxide, suffocation in the air or on ice, or bleeding the fish without stunning can cause significant suffering”: RSPCA

Factory farms

93% of pigs killed for meat in UK are indoor factory farmed: Soil association / CPRE

95% of pigs in the U.S live on the factory farms/CAFOs: World Animal Protection / Farm Sanctuary

90% of pigs in Australia are indoor factory-farmed: ALQ / Australian Pork

Around 85% of the UK’s farmed land animals live in factory farms: Viva

60% of UK sows (mother pigs) are kept in farrowing crates

Sows are kept in crates for 5 weeks each litter, and they farrow 2.3 times each year. So, sows are kept confined in this way for 80 days each year, or nearly a quarter of their adult breeding lives: University of Winchester

“One of the leading causes of early piglet mortality is the crushing or overlay of piglets by the sow” – Sows have extremely restricted movement in farrowing crates and are unable to turn around: NIH

Approximately 92% of pigs are kept on 1,400 pig farms and the rest on some 10,000 small-holdings and smaller and mixed farms.

the largest existing pig farm in the UK has around 1,100 sows, with the average large-scale intensive pig farm in the UK containing around 500-900 sows

About 1/3 of pigs reared for meat in the UK are kept in barren systems without any straw bedding.

CPRE

“In the wild, pigs are active during the day and spend 75% of their active time on foraging activities, including rummaging, grazing and exploring with their snout.” – They are unable to express their natural behaviours in factory farms: MDPI

See more

Suffering of gassed pigs laid bare in UNDERCOVER footage from UK abattoir (because the death industry will NEVER release its own footage)…

Factory: The industrial exploitation of pigs

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Source PeTA

The more than 1 billion animals exploited annually around the world for leather endure horrific abuse. In India, cows’ tails are routinely broken and irritants like tobacco and even chillis are rubbed into their eyes to force them to trek up to 60 miles to an abattoir.

Inside abattoirs, cows are thrown onto bloodied floors with their feet bound. Sometimes their legs are hacked off while they’re still conscious. Some endure the agony of being skinned alive while others are shot in the head before their throats are slit.Much of the skin used for misleadingly labelled “luxury” fashion comes from calves who were torn away from their mothers just hours after they were born. A mother’s instinct to protect her babies is intense. Just like us, cows share a strong, loving bond with their young, and no handbag or jacket can justify the trauma of separation or the horror they endure at abattoirs.

It is standard industry practice for workers to punch holes in calves’ ears, castrate them without the use of painkillers. Some are also forced to endure the agony of their faces being branded with hot irons.

In China, dogs and cats are also killed for their skin, which are often mislabeled and sold to unsuspecting buyers. So if you wear leather, there’s no way of knowing whose skin you’re in.

As well as being cruel, leather is terrible for the planet. Each year, the global leather industry produces 600 million metres of effluent. Industry studies have identified that cow leather is fashion’s most environmentally devastating material, and over 90% of the damage occurs before skins even reach the tannery, where 170 unique chemicals are used.

We applaud Victoria Beckham for her label’s policy against fur and exotic skins, and we’ve sent her this video in the hope that it will inspire the mother of four to extend compassion to others. By ending the use of all animal skin across her brand, she’d spare desperate mothers and babies the trauma of being torn away from one another.

Innovative plant-based leathers are already available, including those made from cactus, olive, and grape as well as the plastic-free material Mirum. We’ve put the below handy guides together to make choosing animal- and planet-friendly materials easy and vegan shopping a breeze:

Ultimate Guide to Vegan Leather

Vegan Fashion, Your Guide to the Basics

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Please click HERE to sign petition

Source In Defense of Animals

Asha’s Farm Sanctuary owner Tracy Murphy has a big heart for animals. When two cows wandered into her sanctuary, she provided them with a safe haven. Now she’s being charged for caring for the escaped cattle she named Ismael and Little Willow. Tell the district attorney to drop the charges against Tracy for having compassion for all animals, including those who usually are eaten by humans!

As founder and president of Asha’s Farm Sanctuary in upstate New York, Tracy was merely doing her job by rescuing two cows who wandered onto the sanctuary, which is a refuge for abused cattle, pigs, and chickens. She cared for the cows and immediately reported them to the Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals in July 2022.

Tracy, acting on the advice of her attorney at the time, refused to hand over Ismael and Little Willow without proof of ownership. After another week, the police executed a search warrant and arrested Tracy. Sadly, authorities seized Ismael and Little Willow, and returned them to the purported “owner,” probably for slaughter.

Since her arrest, Tracy has faced significant financial and emotional hardships, along with facing one count of grand larceny and up to seven years in prison. Tracy was publicly humiliated when she was forced to wear shackles in court and suffered ostracization, harassment, and threats throughout this case.

Fortunately, the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the Sturm College of Law is defending Tracy. With its assistance, a superior court lifted the gag order placed on Tracy and two town justices have recused themselves from this case.

This summer, Tracy will go to trial for her compassionate actions. Her next court hearing is scheduled in the Town of Wheatfield for March 5. Help us urge Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman to dismiss the charges against Tracy to free her from the shackles of injustice and ensure the lives of Ismael and Little Willow were not taken in vain.

Other actions:

1. Make a polite call. Please call and leave a courteous message for Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman who has the power to end this legal nightmare and permit Tracy Murphy to continue her noble work for animals.

Dial (716) 439-7085 and leave a message for Brian Seaman.

You can say, “Asha’s Farm Sanctuary Founder and President Tracy Murphy was simply doing her job when she rescued two cows who wandered onto her sanctuary. She should be rewarded for her kindness and compassion, not punished. Please dismiss the charges against Tracy.”

2. Go Vegan. If you love animals and want to save cows like Ismael and Little Willow, try vegan meals today! Download our veg guide for fast and easy recipes.

www.idausa.org/vegguide

3. Post on Social Media. Show your support for Tracy Murphy on the Niagara County Facebook page and Instagram.

You can say, “Don’t convict Tracy Murphy for compassion for cows. She’s just doing her job. Sanctuary owners rescue animals. Please drop the charges against Tracy Murphy!”

I wonder why, when nonvegans and antivegans proclaim they “care” about animals, do they then malign, harass, and prosecute vegans who SAVE ANIMALS?

Why was the NEGLECTFUL FARMER whose harmful actions leading to Ismael and Little Willow just wandering away, NOT prosecuted?

Why do I have to write prosecutors almost EACH DAY to prosecute violent crimes against ANIMALS?

I’ll tell you why: because as long as vegans can be characterized as criminals/stupid/cultish/malnourished/blahblahblah/etcetcetc, non/antivegans can, somehow, comfortably ignore us and continue violently abusing and killing animals (yes, even if you personally don’t slaughter the animals you consume, you are still responsible for the violence and harm perpetrated against them). And prosecuting violent crimes against animals is an uncomfortable slippery slope for many nonvegans: if harming a cat is considered animal cruelty, why doesn’t the law consider harming a chicken animal cruelty? Like human animals, they both experience pain, fear, and suffering.

And seriously? Shackles? Was it so terrifying being in the same room with a NONVIOLENT VEGAN who SAVES and RESCUES? Or was it to humiliate her? The mocking of injustice, and the representation of the judicial system with juvenile and bullying theatrics, is embarrassing and cruel. But people would rather immaturely deflect from the violent suffering of the most defenseless and vulnerable beings by ridiculing the humans who reject such injustice because otherwise the nonvegans would have to acknowledge their participation in the unrelenting, incalculable suffering of animals.

You indifferently dismiss the victims because you personally enjoy stealing from their bodies, and then you mock the humans who oppose animal suffering.

The most dangerous humans include those whose indifference towards animal suffering fuels their indifference towards human suffering.

This injustice is disturbing and disgusting and, quite frankly, criminal. You just enjoy a status quo of normalized violence towards animals and normalized, acceptable hatred and intolerance towards vegans.

And do remember: regardless of how humans define the suffering of animals in terms that provides humans comfort causing the suffering of animals (humane, welfare …) animals are required to suffer, their violent, cruel, unwilling deaths are inherent as are their brief existences of required pain, control, and separation of family.

FYI, again:

I’m going to link a couple previous articles here that establish the suffering animals are required to endure in each “phase” of “animal agriculture” as documented via recent exposes and, predominately, industry data from the USDA; I’m sharing them again here due to the fact that “anag” is responsible for the incalculable suffering of TRILLIONS of animals violently killed each year for “food”, either directly consumed, or during the “process”, such as those killed for AI or those who are killed as infants outside a slaughterhouse.

You don’t kill and consume animals because you honestly believe that NOT killing and NOT consuming animals is INhumane or UNethical, correct?

Why cause animal suffering that you can easily NOT?

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

If your god demands unrelenting suffering and death, maybe you should invent another god NOT offended by nonviolence and least harm…

SL

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Fish alternatives can be found HERE

Learn about eggs HERE

Find bacon alternatives HERE and HERE

Click HERE for Well-Fed World’s Free Climate Food Guide PDF

International polar bear day is February 27th 

 Tomorrow February 27th is international polar bear day. But awareness should be everywhere every day!

🐻‍❄️❤️🐻‍❄️

We were born for a world

Of ice and snow…

Our frozen palace will

Soon be gone.

Where did it go.

The world that once

Sustained us and

Our babies,

Now bare.

Will you help us.

Is anybody listening out there…

#polarbear #internationalpolarbearday

❤️World pangolin day is February 17 but awareness starts every day 🙏🏼

Do you know me
I am a pangolin
I try to survive
My numbers getting thin
People eat my babies
Take my home from me
Can you help stop
This misery?

PangolinConservation #WorldPangolinDay #pangolin

before you are species “selective”

be introspective

why give value to a few

when all creatures are as

worthy as you
❤️🙏❤️

February 15th is world hippo day

But we hippos can be surfy

Ergo

We want to start this party early

We can be quite ornery

We do not suffer fools

We are important to ecosystems

Which makes us very cool

Our babies are quite adorable

As a rule
❤️🦛❤️

If you claim to love animals but still require their violent suffering and deaths, you’re not an animal lover. If you claim you don’t love or care about animals at all, you still have no right to violate, abuse, and kill them.

In an industry that depends on animal suffering and death, it’s ludicrous to believe that anyone actually cares about animal lives.

And for those who exploit deception, euphemism, and fantasy to describe the suffering of animals only in terms that provides humans comfort causing animal suffering, considering that animals are bred to be dead, how delusional to pretend that humans are concerned with animal welfare, kindness, and compassion. 

Being kind, compassionate, and concerned with the welfare of others, requires NOT exploiting them and their bodies. 

There is nothing humane about animal exploitation and the lethal violence inflicted on them. 

SL

Source Viva! Campaigns: Are You An Animal Lover?

Well, are you … an animal lover?

If you are, how are these animals different? Is there a difference? Two eyes, a nose, a mouth, a stomach, two kidneys – oh yes, and a brain. A brain that can feel fear and stress, pain and despair.

Despite that there is a difference – PERCEPTION! Your perception! And that’s the only difference.

Pants on Fire

You are constantly lied to about the conditions in which farmed animals live: “The best animal welfare in the world,” “We love our animals,” “They wouldn’t grow if they weren’t happy.” And you grab hold of these lies and believe them – because it’s convenient and puts your mind at ease. But do you really believe them?

Be Honest

We’re asking you to be honest. Look at the way farmed animals live and die, take it on board, think about it and then ask yourself if you’d like your family pets to be treated that way? The answer is ‘no’.

See more at Viva! Campaigns: Are You An Animal Lover?

Want plant-based inspiration? See more at Vegan Recipe Club

Download Your free Vegan PDF HERE

Order a free vegan kit HERE

Dairy-Free Info HERE

Take the Dairy-Free Challenge HERE

Click HERE for more Dairy-Free

Fish alternatives can be found HERE

Learn about eggs HERE

Find bacon alternatives HERE and HERE

Click HERE for Well-Fed World’s Free Climate Food Guide PDF

before you are species “selective”

be introspective

why give value to a few

when all creatures are as

worthy as you!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson