Oprah and 378 Staffers Go Vegan: The One-Week Challenge - Oprah.com

Oprah and 378 Staffers Go Vegan: The One-Week Challenge - Oprah.com

12,000 Chicks Perish in Georgia (U.S.) Agricultural Industry Disaster

A farm run by International Poultry Breeders had 12,000 chicks die in a fire caused by malfunctioning heaters in a single chicken house earlier this month.

Five years ago, on the same day, 20,000 chickens died at the farm during a tornado that destroyed two chicken houses.

The 12,000 chick deaths represent only 0.000024% of the 50 billion chickens that are being raised for meat and eggs worldwide.

Source:  http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/12000-baby-chicks-die-factory-farm-fire.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+treehuggersite+(Treehugger)

Portage County 'Movable Property' Die-off

200 cattle died recently from pneumonia on a Portage County ranch, in the town of Stockton.  The official from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture claimed the cause was related to a "production problem," but did not elaborate, and determined that there was no evidence of abuse or neglect.  Still, that's a lot of large animals who just up and died.

By the way, in case you ever wondered where the word 'cattle' comes from, it is from the Old French word for 'movable property' (as opposed to real estate).  It is similar to the word, chattel.  You may have heard this word used to describe the most extreme form of slavery (chattel slavery).

To find out how much 200 dead cattle are worth, you can find out here:  http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/article/20110122/SPJ0101/101220578/Official-Cattle-died-of-pneumonia

Pennsylvania Hog Farmer Fined $2,500 for 10 Counts of Animal Cruelty

832 pigs died by drowning in their own manure in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, last fall. The farmer fought the charges against him, claiming that it was an accident. The result is that 822 counts of animal cruelty against him were dropped in a plea agreement, leaving him to agree to accept 10 counts and pay a $2,500 fine. That amounts to a $3.00 fine per dead pig.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/animal-rights-in-national/man-responsible-for-nearly-1000-pig-deaths-sentenced-his-fine-laughable

China Violates Human Rights by Protecting Animals

Don't people have the right to view animals engage in dangerous and humiliating circus acts? Of course they do. Which is why China has banned all animals engaging in circuses, and is clamping down on animal abuse in zoos too. China once again proves it cares nothing about human happiness.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8266563/China-bans-animal-circuses.html

Cockfighting Rooster Kills Owner

Lesson to kids: cockfighting is not as safe as everyone says it is.

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3360068/Fowl-play-as-fight-cock-kills-owner.html

Mass Bird Die-Off in South Dakota Caused by USDA

300 starlings were recently poisoned by the USDA because they were eating cattle feed and pooping on farm equipment. So when they started falling out of the sky recently onto streets and in parks in Yankton, South Dakota, it was completely understandable.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41178569/ns/us_news-environment/

2010 ties 2005 as warmest year on record, according to meteorologist

Global climate change (including temperature extremes) is a fact, as evidenced by measurements that 2010 and 2005 are the warmest overall years on record.  Conservatives (political and religious) don't believe in climate change because they do not accept the premise that warming or cooling is human caused, are concerned that laws to combat climate change will result in limitations of business practices or personal freedoms (driving, energy use, etc.), or that nature is controlled by a higher being and that whatever is going to happen is going to happen anyway.

But what conservatives and environmentalists can agree on, perhaps, is that something is going on.  And not doing anything is going to have continued repercussions for the environment (see this article on extinction of species that can't adapt to intense temperature change from the New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/science/earth/22kenya.html?_r=1&ref=global-home)

I believe that climate change doubters have effectively won the argument for now by blocking most major steps towards mitigation of climate change (Kyoto Protocol, etc.).  It is really up to those of us who do believe that climate change is real to do something about it.  And guess what I think are the two main things we can do?  Cut down on driving and eating meat. The United Nations and others seem to agree with me (sources:  http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2011/01/eating-meat and http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet).  Do you?

Is there any way not to read bad news related to animal welfare?

I seriously would like to know if anyone has a way to help me ignore bad things that happen to animals.  Like 17,000 chickens dying in a single blaze at a poultry  'house' in Virginia this past Wednesday?  (Link: Nytimes)

It's bumming me out to read stuff like this, and I'm tired of linking to it on my blog.  I would stop linking to these stories, but I feel it would be wrong not to post them.

Seriously!

South Korea Buries Alive 1.4 Million Pigs

This is one of the most disturbing things I've read since that story I blogged about where 400,000 baby chicks in Russia were drowned or left to die in the cold because the business that owned them went into bankrupcy.

1.4 million pigs are being apparently buried alive in South Korea's attempt to combat a foot and mouth disease outbreak among swine there. Here's the link to the story on the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/south-korea-buries-pigs-alive_n_808119.html).

My grandfather told me once when he was boy growing up that he always felt guilty butchering pigs (or as he said, being the one to lead them to their slaughter). I wonder how or what people think when they're dumping screaming, relatively intelligent animals out of a dump truck and then burying them.

And for the record, foot and mouth disease is not a public health concern for humans like swine flu. It is usually nonfatal to animals too. The main reason for the culling of so many animals is to protect economic interests, just as killing them in such an inhumane way is probably cheaper than euthanizing them.

Just1.4 million reasons not to eat industrially produced animals or animal products.

(photo © 경인일보 kyeongin.com)

Photo source: http://www.vegan.com/blog/2011/01/12/millions-of-animals-buried-alive-in-south-korea

Veganism Becoming More Mainstream

Living here in the city of the world's largest bratfest and the so-called 'Dairy State' you would not think this is the case, but according to the Washington Post, it's a new trend that's taking over the country by storm: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010503153.html

Major Recall of Organic Beef in Wisconsin and other States

According to the Cap Times and Associated Press, "Federal food safety officials have recalled more than 34,000 pounds of organic ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli and were shipped to states across the country, including Wisconsin." (Source: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/article_e2e57b1e-b075-5e1e-980c-04aba853098e.html)

Food borne illness is a major problem in the United States, and animal agriculture is the main culprit.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that, "foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year." Check out Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals or watch the video below for more information about this important issue.