UNITED POULTRY CONCERNS COCKFIGHTING RAID CHICKEN RESCUE

Thank you Karen Davis at United Poultry Concerns for recently adopting 60 chickens who were rescued during a rooster-fighting raid in Mississippi. Since 1990 United Poultry Concerns has been Dedicated to the Compassionate and Respectful Treatment Of Domestic Fowl. United Poultry Concerns addresses the treatment of domestic fowl in food production, science, education, entertainment and human companionship situations. Certainly if our feathered friends have a champion - it is found in the tireless advocacy and dedication of Karen Davis.

VEGAN FIREFIGHTERS ENGINE 2 DIET BOOK - HEALTHY PLANT BASED MEALS

Isn't this is a great book to get fired up about... It's the Engine 2 Diet book written by firefighter Rip Esselstyn. Whose father Caldwell Esselstyn, incidentally wrote the highly regarded book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure. The crew at Texas based firehouse #2 all report having more energy, and lost unwanted pounds. Most significant however, is that after only 28 days on the vegan diet, all the firefighters showed improved cholesterol levels... And if all this yummy food and health benefits weren't enough... Esselstyn says:

"For compassion reasons and for environmental reasons, it's the best way to go." He said he finds factory farming practices inhumane and environmentally destructive. "To think that a pig or a cow or a chicken has no more feelings than your dog or cat is ludicrous," Esselstyn said. Of the environmental arguments against factory farming, he said that because of the vast amount of resources the farms require, "eating less meat is the second most important positive environmental decision that we as people can make, only behind our choice of transportation."

Texas Firehouse Goes Vegan Austin Fit Magazine Engine #2 Diet Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure

Cattle Drug Bust - Meat Industry Transport Corruption

There was a $6 Million drug bust at the Canada/U.S. border which seized 1,746 pounds of high grade marijuana concealed within the floors of a cattle trailer. "Customs officers found hidden under the floor, bundles of "BC Bud", a highly potent form of marijuana cultivated in British Columbia that can sell for $3,500 to $6,000 per pound in the United States." And it's not too surprising that there is this element of corruption within the Animal Ag/Meat Industry... Especially when we know of the human rights and labor law violations. But I think there was yet another wrong committed, slipping silently under the guise of law and justice - that of apathy and (blind) social acceptance. And this is concerns the poor beings within these "livestock" cars and "food animal" transport systems. All who, by the way - get their "humane handling" training from Beef USA. (oh that's comforting isn't it?) As far as the pitiful "welfare" issues these truckers are advised of... according to the USDA's Cattle and Swine Trucking Guide there are all sorts of considerations to make these animals "comfortable" on their journey. Including the amount of time they should be expected to travel without rest/food/water:

" Mature cattle have been delivered in good condition after being carried for as long as 48 hours. However, experienced transporters feel that cattle should not be carried for more than 30 to 40 hours without rest. Generally, feeder calves should not be in transit for more than 34 hours without rest. Swine have been carried for as long as 36 hours without rest."

But what gives here? How does it "depend" on many factors? What happened to the mandates of the generous(1877) 28 Hour Law, which states that the maximum amount of time animals can be hauled without rest is 28 hours?

So, animal ag... meat industry... usda... beef people... livestock vets... pig haulers and cow movers... which is it? Is there a "law" or isn't there? Or could it be that these are the same laws that get flexed, bent and ignored like the other "humane" laws? After all, do we really ever expect to hear a breaking news story reporting that a truck load of pigs or cows was being diverted because they haven't been sufficiently "rested"? Yet... I guarantee you - it happens all the time. Other things that concern me about the blatant lies in livestock transport: There are windchill charts - and warnings that when it's freezing - animals will huddle together... causing the ones at the bottom and middle to be crushed... It also suggests to limit water consumption, so urine does not exacerbate the windchill... All this is meant to be so much more "humane" as they are 18-wheeled to the slaughterhouse...

And in hot weather truckers might sprinkle water on swine during transit, as it "considerably improves performance and slaughter yields." There's more issues concerning ventilation, grouping like animals, grouping pregnant animals, truck sizes, chutes and other technical matters, all revolving around the bottomline of course. And there's the "humane euthanasia" that these truckers are expected to employ. If there is a sick or injured animal - (amongst the 300 or so) the driver is supposed to contact a vet (in the middle of a thousand mile trip) to aid the suffering animal. Or, he's supposed to tend to this animal himself.

R-I-G-H-T... I can just see it now... Joe Truckdriver, delaying the trip by hours to call a vet in an unknown nowhere... OR- stopping his route... risking life/limb to tend to the suffering of number 389-5x cow, or #84q5 pig... That's such crappy-dung! But of course they won't do that - it's not safe and it's not profitable... Just like the bleed rail... nothing shuts it down - Nothing. And here's more about the ins and outs of loading a dying animal on to a truck if it must be transported with the other animals - Fork lifts that could be used... wenches, and so forth - (trying to avoid further injury of course). But doesn't that contradict not proceeding if there's an injured animal? We're not supposed to roll, unless every one's healthy... Right??? Or which is it? Or is it anything that gets your "product" to the market, good enough to be killed. And "alive" enought to be processed into your little greasy sausages and bloody burgers that will do? Animal ag- meat industry... Your driver smuggling in the pot - is rather harmless in comparison to you who openly disregard pitiful "regulations", who offend and openly murder - all under the protection of archaic "law" and public ignorance. Go Vegan

BAN CRUEL HORSE DRAWN HANSON CARRAIGES

In December I posted a video urging the boycott of horse-pulled carraiges. Here is the full length movie illustrating the many reasons why we should:

HEART ATTACKS, CHEAP MEAT & GLUTTONOUS PEOPLE

Cyber friend Klem, artful photographer, witty writer and flourishing vegetarian (hooray!) posted this video on his sight. As he said, it is disturbing as you can see for yourself.

My own reaction is equally critical. Such a crude display, should be easily dismissed by a pitiful chuckle... But I think it's important sometimes to react justly regardless of unpopularity.

The Heart Attack Grill by its very name, mocks the value of health. And the "doctor" on call has a prescription that advocates "you only live once" - But I have to ask... you call this living? Going to this extreme of harm and excess? Such self-damaging indulgences as the "quadruple bypass" is telltale for the fitness of our values as well.

I really have no problem with a fun time and invite a good laugh whenever I can. But when the clowns are wielding real knives... it's hard to get the joke.

The clowns I'm taking about are the grill's patrons... and those others who would quest for the hot dog eating titles, and other lard slurpping events. If it were only you to suffer, I'd say you deserve your foolishness... But I know of the innocent who've paid dearly for your vulgarities.

And it's not alright that your frivolities, deprive others from having what they need. I speak first of the others that starve at the expense of "cheap meat". Just one of those "bypass burgers" took the resources that could have fed dozens.

But you will say, that money is your privilege to do the evils that you will. And you are right, that your wealth buys you "commodities", but it still does not make good from the wrong that it is....

The wrong of not only in the injury to your body, the callousness to your fellow man - but also the absolute disrespect for the beings whose lives were taken; not for necessity or subsistence. On the contrary... They were lives taken for whim only. Lives who trembled before the sites and sounds at the knock box.

They suffered too for the absurd pleasures had at the Heart Attack Grill. And some may call me extreme for seeing it this way... To value the sanctity of life, to understand the virtues of generosity and even the foolishness of compassion. I can offer a no more valid defense than this:

Live simply so that others may simply live -

Go Vegan

Animal Ag Jolley Meat DEBATE request #5

Animal Agriculture wishes to tell their story... (so I hear yet again). -

Animal ag activist Dr. Dave tells Jolley at Cattlenetwork: "If the meat and poultry industries don’t grab the bull by the horns and tell the whole story, those special interest groups will own the stage and continue to frame a one-sided debate in their own well-known terms."

Well I don't know about the horns... has anyone ever seen what they do to those poor cows when they remove the horns? OUCH! And he continues: "With most people several generations removed from any relationship with farming, there comes a disconnect that anti-ag groups have skillfully exploited."

Wait a second, if we're talking "exploitation" - the needless slaughter of 10 billion+ animals a year might qualify for that... not to mention the ones that don't even get to become your gastronomicaldelight. And he asks: "Are hogs and cattle routinely poked, prodded and generally abused by cruel and thoughtless people? Does a chicken breast or a pound of ground beef really start out on a shrink-wrapped foam tray in the supermarket meat case?"

Well, he's got that right... no - they start off as beautiful beings with an interest in their own lives. Believe it - animals want to live! They have no desire to become your steak, your chops, wings or pate'. They just want to live their lives - the ones you forced them to be born into.

Dave and Jolley say that certain groups "do not want us to eat meat. Period. They do not care if that meat is produce conventionally, naturally or organically. If it is meat, they don’t want us to eat it. "

And here... I beg to disagree (again). I really have no concern over what you put in your body... rocks, tree bark, asphalt. Anyone of course, may consume whatever they wish...

It is the needless killing that is objectionable.

So, if one wishes to troll the interstates for fresh road yummies - have at it! Although it would be respectful to maintain sanctity of the body - if it's flesh you must have - bon appetite!

Finally, animal ag suggests that they strike one minute "elevator conversation"...

I do that all the time! Yep, when I'm on line at the grocery store and someone behind me is holding a package of chicken body parts - I make sure they know how the birds are raised... When I was buying a cd - I told the clerk about the sad song that was played on a Youtube video showing calves separated from their mothers... When I was at the library, a woman was checking out a child's nursery book "the 3 little pigs" - I made sure I told her about the Hormel incident. We all know about those minute messages - don't we?

So... animal ag folks, please don't shy away from an open debate with an Animal Rights activists! I'm certain you want to "get your story told"... Set the time, pick the elevator - I'll see ya there! I'll even bring my vegan literature!

Debate requests: Request #4 Request #3

Request #2 Request #1

jolley

GRAZING CATTLE SPURS HELICOPTER HORSE ROUND UP

The February issue of National Geographic Magazine has an article, about the government's round up of Mustangs on behalf of cattle ranchers, headed, "Spirit of the Shrinking West: Mustangs." It includes gorgeous photos of the animals, and disturbing photos of them being chased by low flying helicopters across the plains towards pens.

"Wild horses are right in the middle of a culture that wants nothing to do with them. The wild horse has been despised ever since white men came west-blamed for everything that can and does go wrong on these grasslands. So in the mid-1800s, when stockmen released up to 40 million cattle on the plains, where horses had lived for centuries without destroying the grazing, at most two million mustangs were held responsible for the suddenly depleted range." J Kirkpatrick, director of science and conservation biology at ZooMontana

The article explains, "Traditionally ranchers haven't had much time for anything that competes with them for resources. It's not uncommon to find coyote carcasses draped over barbed-wire fences, as if Westerners had gone trolling for whatever offended their souls and, unable to shoot the wind, turned their ire on something more tangible." The article's author, Alexandra Fuller says "The Bureau of Land Management, is required to manage 258 million acres as "multiple use." In theory there should be enough room for everything, but in reality, from the moment pioneers settled here, resources have been extracted with little patience for anything that got in the way of a silver dollar. "The BLM decides what are appropriate management levels for horses. Advocates believe the numbers are fixed arbitrarily low, threatening the genetic viability of the herds; ranchers say they're unrealistically high, threatening vital grazing." The article includes distressing descriptions, as well as the photos, of helicopter chases during mustang round-ups. Chris Heyde of the Animal Welfare Institute says, "Every year they pull more and more horses off the range to keep the ranchers happy. Meantime the scenario for the horses is just awful." Though it is not supposed to happen, we are reminded that most of the mustangs, the symbol of the Great American West, end up in slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Killed for their flesh and their leather hides. There are contraceptive alternatives for these horses, however the BLM is resistant. Spending too little studying fertility control and too much on helicopter roundups. But when approached about using such wildlife contraceptives the response from the BLM was, "This is not how we do it out here. We do it with horses and ropes. And helicopters."

And it's true... it does seem like everything gets in the way of the space the cattlemen need... Or rather... the grass to feed the cows. The wolves, coyote, mountain lions, bison, elk, prarie dogs. Even birds are a threat to cattle interests once the bovines reach the feedlots. And anything that gets in the way of cattle interests are hunted, herded, trapped, poisoned and killed. Perhaps if we are running out of sufficient room to grow the cows - we might consider adopting a different, more sustainable plant based diet? This is the way to evolve while continuing to co-exist with other inhabitants on this earth. Unless all we want to have left on it is a bunch of McDonalds & Burger Kings?

As for me, I'd much rather eat my veggies and respectfully let the wildlife be. Go Vegan

Toxic Animal Ag - Illinois River Poisoned by Chicken Manure

13 Arkansas poultry companies, are being accused of treating Oklahoma's rivers like open sewers. Proceedings are underway to establish whether or not Tyson Poultry and Cargill, amongst others, are responsible for 1 million-acres of the Illinois River Watershed being polluted with with bird waste. Take a virtual tour of what the inside of a factory egg warehouse looks like: Here's the story with bird litter. I know from keeping a small flock of rescued egg hens for almost a year... Chickens poop lots... constantly. Every place they stay for any period of time, has resulted in dead soil. Nothing, but nothing will grow inside their coop -All vegetation was killed to the root - within a few short weeks. The dirt will not even support worms -- 3 feet below. Dispersing the litter must be done very carefully or the ammonia will burn/destroy whatever it is applied to. The poultry and egg houses are claiming that the record level of fecal bacteria might be caused by other sources, including cattle manure or human septic systems. Oh let's see... billions and billions of birds... probably. Cows that poop 10 times more than humans... is very likely too- Septic systems however, is a desperate stretch. I'm putting my money on the one million acres of poisoned water shed is due to animal agriculture's filthy, flawed and failed practices. Time to evolve... Go Vegan Meat Poultry News

A Vegan's Voice on Animal Agriculture

There's a piece written in the Agriculture's Voice that delights to tell of favorite "things". Of course these "things" all are dead bodies & parts, made from tortured, murdered, INNOCENT, SENTIENT "BEINGS". The article goes on: "there are people who have different tastes." The well chosen word here is "taste", which is an effort to exclude any ethical consideration or debate. It is an attempt to minimize the "choice" not unlike the preference of a blue car over a red one.... or boxers instead of briefs. It continues that vegans have "good intentions" in their lifestyle choices. I agree that an ethic which attempts to avoid as much "unnecessary" harm as possible, is a good thing. Avoiding violence - is a good thing. And Ag's Voice says that they would "never shove meat, eggs or dairy down someone’s throat..." But certainly the meat industries are shoved down ones culture. It is a culture propped by the myth that one "needs" animals to live. Veganism exposes this myth. The article continues: "most farm animals are treated very well." Until they are needlessly killed that is... Even so, let's examine the "kind" treatment to farmed animals:

• Billions of day old "wrong sex" chicks smothered or ground up.
• Searing the beaks of billions of birds.Tail docking, teeth pulling, castration, teat removal, ear tagging, dehorning, ALL without anesthetic.
• Isolation, confinement, force feeding, drugs, artificial light, artificial food, artificial insemination.
• Living in your own waste.
• Unable to move a limb or stretch your wings.
• Unable to socialize or mate.
• Being raped. Being caged. Being tethered.
• Separated from your young at birth.

Animal ag defends that these practices are "in state-of-the-art, climate-controlled facilities"...

True, the dairy cow who has never seen grass, is probably housed in air conditioning. The pig who cannot turn his body is likely to be misted a few times hourly. And the caged chicken lays her miserable eggs on a fast moving conveyor system.

It is all so "civilized" indeed. Animal ag says this is "necessary to protect animals"... "from predators".... Fess up animal ag - it's about profits and units. And your animal killing, meat-eating culture is the animal's worst "predator".

As suggested in this article - I intend to tell all my friends and neighbors and anyone else who will listen about all the things that are done to "food" animals. I am going to send them to see videos. I am going to be a strong advocate for the Movement "afoot" which tells consumers they have other compassionate and healthier choices. I'm going to invite them to question the ethics and "need" of such cruel "choices" to continue. Animal ag is right about one thing: we are not going away. We are going Vegan.