Public Trusts HSUS & PETA More than Farmers

The Center for Food Integrity is an agribusiness-sponsored non-profit corporation, and their list of supporters include Foster Farms and Monsanto, corporations not well-known for their animal welfare or environmental stewardship.

According to their website, the Center for Food Integrity was formed to "serve as a resource where consumers and other stakeholders can find accurate, balanced information about the food system and engage in constructive dialogue" and yet I cannot seem to find any information on results from one of their most recent surveys. 

CFI conducted an opinion survey posing a variety of attitudinal statements, requesting respondents to rank them according to importance. You can see a summary of their presentation at their Food Safety Summit here, minus some important information.

I am guessing presenting this information to your stakeholders might...ruffle some feathers. Oh yeah, bad pun intended.

The survey showed that when it comes to who the public trusts about farmed animal welfare, it isn't Foster Farms - it's the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). And People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.) It wasn't even close - HSUS was the most trusted source twice as much for information on farmed animal welfare. Farmers, like Foster Farms, ended up pretty much dead last.

I'm biased. I'm vegan, so I am probably more receptive to what an animal welfare or animal rights organization has to say over a multi-billion dollar corporation that kills animals. 

I guess I don't know why people wouldn't trust the companies they buy their meat, dairy and eggs from...after all, they're endorsing what they do by purchasing their products. But humans are interesting, sometimes contradictory creatures. I know I am, so that isn't me being judgy.

Around the Intarwebz

Mothers Against Drunk Driving and The Humane Society of the United States are filing an ethics complaint against one of Rick Berman's organizations. Berman is the founder of the Center for Consumer Freedom, an organization that believes the obesity problem is a myth.

Broadway actress, Bernadette Peters, writes a children's book about a Pit Bull who wants to be loved by all, so she disguises herself as a Pig Princess. The dog is modeled after Stella, Peters own Pit Bull.

A German Shepherd who savagely mauled an employee at the kennel where the dog is being housed has not been killed or taken off duty as a police dog.

Oakland police are launching in inquiry into the shooting death of a healthy, juvenile deer by one of its police officers.

A stray mixed breed dog attacks a 3-yr-old, inflicting multiple bite wounds. It is unclear why the 3-yr-old had access to the loose dog.

A loose Akita bites a girl, causing minor injuries.

Creating fear in the media and politics.

Police dog, Ash, bites an employee, inflicting wounds that required stitches to mend.

A Rottweiler who bit a girl severely enough that 100 stitches were required to close the wound will not be killed. The dog apparently "bit" the girl when she fell on him. Officials are not classifying it as an "attack".

People don't bother with the internets anymore

The Center for Consumer Freedom (i.e. the Group That Loves Drunk Drivers, Agribusiness, Alcohol Companies, and Big Tobacco) funded an opinion survey that showed 71% of those interviewed think the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an umbrella group for all other humane societies and spcas.

I'm not going to link to the press release because I think CCF is a disgusting and misleading (irony!) organization (and much of my opinion has little to do with their irrational behavior concerning HSUS).

Anyways, here's the deal peoples - visit HSUS's website. Go to About Us. Check out their FAQ.


How is The HSUS affiliated with my local humane society?
Local humane societies and SPCAs are independent entities and are not run by The HSUS or any other national entity. The HSUS works with local humane societies and supports their work through training, evaluations, publications, and other professional services.  Additionally, The HSUS operates its own network of animal sanctuaries and rescue operations, providing emergency care and homes to more animals than any other organization in the United States. Find out how The HSUS serves local animal shelters and provides direct animal care coast to coast.

This took me less than one minute to find. Amazing feat, I know.

Now, my fellow bloggers have called HSUS out when they have fund-raised off of animals they did not directly rescue or care for. Heck, they've fundraised off of dogs they wanted to kill (e.g. all those dogs rescued from fight busts). I am all for calling any org out for questionable fund-raising practices (it's not illegal, folks, and pretty much every organization stretches the truth when it comes to raising the dough).


But! I'm really tired of people not doing the most basic of due diligence. This is perhaps unfair of me. I'm like one of those crazy anal-retentive people who wants to see the last three years of financial statements and grill the director about the organization itself. For reals, I'm annoying. It's why I mainly donate to local groups - I can see the advocacy in action and stalk their director (just kidding!). I like that shit. Maybe most people just don't give a darn. Maybe it's too much work to google-fu their way to the HSUS's website and spend about five minutes there to see if the HSUS fulfills their charitable giving requirements. Maybe HSUS does play off of that name (and they should, it brings in money, which you may not like but is sorta a big requirement for a non profit). Maybe CCF can go suck it. Maybe I am just too darn harsh here.


Yeah, probably the latter. I know some of you reading this may be all WHAT? HSUS IS NOT MY HS? DAMN YOU, BLOGGER PERSON, DAMN YOU. And then maybe you'll be insulted because I basically just said you should have known better. I have done my fair share of "should have known better" stuff. Like I once donated to the Sierra Club and then found out they support sustainable hunting. And I was all, what? I'm vegan and think you should only hunt carrots. Then I felt real stupid because I just thought Sierra Club = NATURE LOVE MINUS HUNTING. That was silly of me. Of course, the Sierra Club doesn't have a nice FAQ that says We Support Hunting. HSUS does. I mean, not about hunting, but they do have a FAQ that says they're not affiliated with your local shelter. A smidgen more transparent. Practically see through when compared to CCF.


MAIN IMMATURE POINT: CCF SUCKS!

MAIN SLIGHTLY MORE MATURE POINT: Visit websites, google-fu, check out financial statements, do your part to make sure YOUR money is going to an organization and cause you can get 100% behind. This is your monies!

My Constituent Told Me To Do It!

I love this excuse. It is made by legislators all the time when they propose stupid legislation. Sometimes it is true, but mostly it's an inept excuse.

Illinois Senator Bill Brady used this excuse when he came under fire for proposing a law that would allow animal shelters to stuff as many animals as possible into a gas chamber. Currently, one animal at a time may be placed in a gas chamber and, according to McLean County Health Department spokesperson, Erin Tolle, the animal just falls asleep all happy and cozy as a bug in a rug!

But then the HSUS was all, um, for reals? and Senator Brady was all OMG A CONSTITUENT MADE ME DO IT, U R MEANZ!

I think gassing can be "humane" when it is used to euthanize irremediably unhealthy animals. Just like I think euthanasia solution can be "humane" when it is used to euthanize irremediably unhealthy animals.  Can be, being the operative phrase.

There is nothing humane about killing healthy animals.

As far as welfare is concerned, there are pros and cons to each form of death. Gassing requires a good system. It works best when only one animal is in the chamber. A geriatric animal will react differently than a neonate than a juvenile. A stressed animal will react differently than a calm one. Placing multiple animals into a gas chamber ignores this fact and results in some animals being rendered unconscious, not dead. The machine has to be in good working order and supplying the right concentration of gas to induce unconsciousness, then death, and avoid anxiety and avoidance behaviors.

Euthanasia solution works best when the animal is calm or tranquilized. If the sedation occurs in the kennel, that eliminates the stress of moving the animal. If not, movement of animal can be as stressful as the actual injection. It requires more skill in finding a vein for adult animals, which also requires physical restraint, a stressful process (you can go IM, but it takes longer and isn't really rec'd, IP is rec'd for poultry and neonates). It is more expensive. It can be more or less gentle than gassing.

For an animal who wants to live, neither are very appealing.

HSUS and Olivera Farms

In 2008, I accompanied an HSUS lawyer to Olivera Farms in Lathrop, CA.

Olivera Farms is a California egg producer. They used to run three facilities but now only have one with 750,000 hens. They are considered a "family farm".


I have been to two of Olivera's egg farms. The first was in 2004 where I helped legally pull 2,000 hens from wire cages (the farm had 160,000 hens). That farm is shuttered and dead.

The second is the one you see on your left. I did not go in the farm. We visited those small buildings you see on the right - homes.

That black thing? That's a 16.5 acre cesspool, i.e. a large open pit of chicken shit.

Have you ever smelled open, raw sewage? Maybe an outhouse at some fair or event that has completely filled up. The smell of an open manure pit is 1,000 times worse. Neighbors cannot drink their water. They cannot sit outside because of the flies and smell. On a windy day, you can smell the farm a 1/2-1 mile away.

Birds are fed antibiotic-laced feed. You cannot get away with housing 5-8 birds in a cage, 80-100,000 per building and expect healthy animals. Feeding antibiotics to livestock increase the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistant bacteria can be transmitted via flies, the wind, and of course, through groundwater. Which is why it's smart those neighbors stay inside and don't drink the water.

Asthma is a problem. Lung and ocular irritation is a problem.

And you know what, no one gives a damn. Consumers want cheap eggs. To get cheap eggs, you have to maximize profits. This means sticking a lot of animals into an enclosed space, animal welfare and neighbors be damned.

Now, open manure pits are not common in the egg industry. It requires trucking in a lot of water to flush out the shit into the pit. The manure sits there and is sometimes spread onto crops. Salmonella? That's how it gets onto your vegetables.

Olivera Farms has a pipe from their manure pit that runs into a major waterway. Dumping untreated sewage into this waterway is illegal. I will assume Olivera never used that pipe, until proven otherwise.

Neighbors have tried for years to get help. They have filed complaints with the county - nothing. Environmental groups have come out before and promised litigation - nothing.

You can thank HSUS for Olivera Farms facing six violations and a lawsuit on behalf of 10 neighbors.

I met those neighbors. While I ached the most for the birds, whose lives are day after day of suffering, I ached for those people too. For their asthma and sickness. For their inability to ever sell their homes. For their marginalization. Their suffering is the result of people's desire for a cheap food source.

No matter how you feel about HSUS, they are doing something good for these people - giving them a voice when everyone else demanded their silence. No more.

Animal Planet Investigates: Dogfighting Exposed

Hey, for those of you who have a super-strong desire to see never-before-witnessed footage of dogs tearing each other apart, then please - by all freaking means - watch Animal Planet Investigates show on Dogfighting.

I'm tired of this shit. Dog fighting is awful. Awful. All of us have seen the footage, why on earth do we need to see more? Why must we glamorize in ANY manner, shape or form the disgusting, disturbing, morally bankrupt act of pitting two dogs against each other?

From the website: "Featuring HSUS dogfighting experts John Goodwin, Chris Schindler and other team members, the prime-time special takes viewers on nail-biting busts, exploring what is being done to educate and rehabilitate offenders and touching on our work with the Michael Vick case."

Seriously? Excuse my gag reflex.
Nail-biting busts? I don't want to see them. You don't want to see them. They are useless visual tools in getting people to stop fighting their dogs. They don't teach us anything.

Look, I love seeing more shows involving Pit Bulls. Really, I do. But really, I wouldn't mind seeing a Pit Bull show involving people who aren't former felons. I'd like to see a show where Pit Bull rescuers are just pretty average folks working hard to save lives....perhaps that isn't dramatic enough? I don't want to see any more footage of dogs tearing each other apart. Like ever. And certainly not as the crux of a show.

We can't possibly normalize Pit Bulls if we perpetuate their roles as fighters, that they are aggressive in all situations around other animals, that they are only owned and rescued by drug-using felons.