Thursday, July 26, 2012

1,000 Dairy Calves Die due to Heat in Wisconsin

Will the responsible farmers be charged with cruelty to animals for the death of these calves?  I don't think so.

It's ironic that farmers have so been so negligent about calf deaths while they are at the same time arguing that Wisconsin's wolf population be culled due to (very rare) wolf attacks.

Link:  http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/heat-wave-kills-more-than-1000-dairy-calves-9h66soj-163251676.html

Beef Industry Forces Retraction in USDA Employee Newsletter

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was only trying to encourage employees to take part in Meatless Mondays, a project of the Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Monday Campaigns, Inc.

Not so fast, said the cattle industry.  Complaints were received and employees will no longer receive encouragement to eat less meat, even though it has been linked to higher death rates (even in small amounts) as well as causing environmental harms.

The newsletter can be read in its entirety here.

Link:  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/07/26/meat-industry-has-beef-with-meatless-monday-forces-usda-to-retract-newsletter-plug/