Surprising NYTimes Editorial about National Egg Production

Surprising to me at least. The editorial advocates a national standard that establishes humane standards in all parts of the country.

Cambodian Blood Sport: Crocodiles Tearing Live Animals Apart

Disgusting.

It's happening at the Siem Reap Crocodile Farm in Cambodia.

Royal Decree Issued in Spain Over Animal Welfare

Interesting! Effective? Who knows?

Here's an excerpt from Farmers Weekly Interactive....

The Spanish government has taken the unusual step of issuing a royal decree to compel farmers to report on what action they are taking to comply with the 2012 conventional cage-ban and if they require any government assistance.

In the decree the Spanish Government outlines a training and publicity initiatives to promote new methods of production to farmers and the public as well as a timeline to receive and investigate plans for conversion as well as committing €300m in loans for farmers to convert to enriched facilities.

But some industry experts doubt Spain, a nation which has an unemployment rate above 20% and a stagnant economy, can afford to pay out €300m to farmers. Others have suggested that the amount of money allocated would only be enough to assist half the Spanish egg industry to convert.

Do Chickens Feel Empathy?

Here's an article from the Telegraph regarding chickens feeling empathy. The research is from the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol.

I used to hate chickens as a child and thought they were irritating. Now, I think they're wonderful and we sponsor Camilla the Chicken through Farm Sanctuary's animal sponsorship program.

More Humane Method of Killing Chickens?

I realize that the most humane method of treating chickens is to not kill them for food...BUT, as long as there is still a demand for their meat, PETA is advocating "Controlled-Atmosphere Killing" as an improvement over current methods of electric immobilization.

Per PETA...

Controlled-atmosphere killing is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-approved slaughter method that is currently used to kill 75 percent of turkeys and 25 percent of chickens in the United Kingdom and 10 percent of all birds in the European Union. CAK removes oxygen from the birds' atmosphere while they are still in their transport crates. The birds are not "gassed" (i.e., asphyxiated); they die from lack of oxygen, or anoxia, which is a painless process. CAK eliminates the numerous animal welfare, economic, and worker-safety issues associated with electric immobilization:

* With CAK, birds are dead before they are removed from their crates, shackled, bled, and scalded in defeathering tanks. Accordingly, these stages do not hurt the birds, damage or contaminate their carcasses, or pose a risk of injury to workers.
* With CAK, workers never handle live birds, so there are no chances for abuse. Worker ergonomics and safety are vastly improved. Lights can be kept bright, the air stays clean, and workers do not need to struggle with flapping, scratching, defecating, and vomiting birds.

Chicken Wars in the Pacific Northwest

Silly piece in a way about the battle between people who want urban chickens and those who don't.

More Alleged Abuse At Iowa Egg Farms

Another undercover video from the Humane Society.

The Other Side of the Egg Debate

I am a firm supporter of reforming factory egg farming. I believe that chickens should have room to stretch and walk around. And I'm willing to pay for more expensive eggs if it allows for that.

However, I'm also aware that I'm fortunate to have a job that allows me to pay for that. Not everyone has that luxury. Organic eggs are more expensive than the standard egg carton. It's unfortunate and, hopefully, short-term, but it's the current reality. I'm not willing to compromise my beliefs, but I can sympathize with concerns of those who fear the possible rising cost of anything. Especially in these economic times.

This short article reports that Vancouver, BC is considering a measure similar to Prop 2 in California, but there are concerns amongst advocates of the poor.

Hetty Alcuitas, a volunteer with Grassroots Women, said she sympathizes with the environmental and animal-rights arguments against caged chickens. But with battery eggs costing about $2 a dozen and organic free-range eggs costing between $5 and $6 a dozen, the impact of the proposed change goes beyond poultry.

“For some families who are struggling, eggs are a common staple that you can feed a lot of mouths without a lot of money,” she told the Straight. “This is not the best time to be putting these kinds of restrictions on affordable food.”

The motion, which comes to the Metro Vancouver board on Friday (February 27), encourages stores and restaurants to promote organic free-range eggs; makes Metro Vancouver caterers and operators use organic free-range eggs; and will result in letters to Victoria, Ottawa, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency opposing current practices “based on the inherent cruelty of confining egg-laying hens in battery cages”.

Proposition 2 Poll

I've been trying to find polling data on Proposition 2, but this is all I could find. It's from September 30, from the Humane Society.

As the quarterly campaign finance period closed today, the YES! on Prop 2 campaign reports a tidal wave of voter and donor support from Californians backing the effort to stop the cruel and inhumane treatment of animals on industrial factory farms. In contrast, the donations raised by the No on Prop 2 campaign have come from a handful of corporate factory farming interests—most from out of state and many which are embroiled in a national price-fixing scandal.

The results of a new statewide poll by KSFN-Fresno/SurveyUSA shows overwhelming support from voters, with Prop 2 commanding a 62-point lead: 72-10 (18 undecided).

The writer is Jennifer Fearing, the CHIEF ECONOMIST for the Humane Society.

Chief economist? That's so cool!

Consolidation of Egg Industry

Don't think banks are the only ones gobbling each other up nowadays. So are egg corporations.

Thanks to an email from Farmed Animal Net for this information. These are not farming families, folks, but corporations as powerful and ruthless as anything on Wall Street.

The U.S. egg industry continues to consolidate. Some 200 companies have an average flock size of one million hens in a single location, with the top 60 companies producing 85% of all eggs. At the International Egg Commission’s annual meeting, held last month in China, it was noted that animal welfare activists in the U.S. and Canada are actively opposing battery cages. Proposed amendments to Canada’s Criminal Code have egg companies there worried. The U.S. egg industry is planning a strategic conference after the presidential election to plan for the future. In Mexico, many farms are being run as they were 3 or 4 decades ago, although there are some more modern large facilities. The country, which has the world’s highest per capita egg consumption (at nearly one a day), imports 50% of its grain from the U.S. and is not a major egg exporter. The Mexican egg industry is challenged by sanitary problems, and while it recognizes animal welfare issues they are said to not currently be a concern of Mexican consumers.

Tesco Shareholders Don't Back Improved Welfare Standards

It's too bad the vote failed, but I'm really excited about this article. I hadn't really thought about shareholder activism on animal welfare issues. I don't know why not...shareholders do things on other issues like human rights, corporate ethics, and environmental protection.

We are not big stock owners because most of our investments are in mutual funds. But I'm embarrassed to say that I don't really even know WHAT I own in those funds. Who or what exactly am I supporting?

Anyway, here's the article. TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was leading the charge. He wanted investors to adopt new standards for rearing birds, but the plan got fewer than 10% of votes at its annual general meeting.

It's a start though.

Chickens Gaining Popularity in Seattle Area

Here's a great article about city families raising chickens in the Seattle area. It's written by our next door neighbor.

Interest in chicken-raising has boomed in the last three years, says Angelina Shell, city chickens coordinator for Seattle Tilth, a group that promotes organic gardening. “A big part nowadays is people wanting to be more self-sufficient and wanting to know where their food comes from,” Shell says.

....Each city has its own rules on how many pets people are allowed to have. Some allow chickens. Others don’t. Seattle allows three on a standard 3,000 square-foot lot, but no roosters because their cock-a-doodle-doos would violate noise ordinances. Bellevue permits up to six, and just this year, Renton started allowing residents to keep up to three chickens.

Fresh eggs are the obvious benefit of having your own chickens. As they roam their yards, they also often eat slugs and bugs that might otherwise munch away at any flowers, herbs or veggies growing in a garden. They also like worms, which some gardeners wish the birds would leave alone. Chicken droppings are rich in nutrients and can be added to gardens to enrich the soil.

Keeping chickens is relatively easy. Aside from chicken feed – a 50-pound bag costs about $20 – all the birds need is clean water and shelter where they can nest, hunker down in bad weather and hide from raccoons, hawks, stray dogs and other predators. Coops can be made on the cheap by hand or cost thousands of dollars for elaborate designs.

Before I learned about animal rights, I was not a fan of chickens. In fact, to my shame, I remember telling a vegan that I didn't really care whether chickens suffered or not because I thought they were stupid, annoying birds. To her credit, the vegan lady didn't yell at me. Instead, she just noted that chickens were actually very gregarious personalities once they were out of their cages and in their own natural habitat. Over time, I have learned that is true.

I would love to get a chicken or two now for our backyard, but that idea has been nixed by EVIL MR. BARKY!

Hong Kong Poultry Slaughtered Due to Bird Flu

Health officials ordered the slaughter of all live poultry in Hong Kong's street markets on Wednesday after detecting one of the largest outbreaks of the bird flu virus in years.

The action comes after tests showed four markets had poultry infected with the H5N1 virus. It was unclear how many birds would be killed or how many were infected, but around 3,500 chickens were for sale by nearly 470 retail vendors citywide as of Tuesday night.

I understand why they are doing it and, really, the chickens were on their way to a dinner plate anyway.

But still...poor chickens.

PETA's Anti-KFC Ad Under Investigation

Britain's Advertising Standards Authority is investigating an anti-KFC ad being run by PETA.

The advertising watchdog is investigating an ad by animal rights group Peta that shows KFC's Colonel Sanders spattered in blood and about to knife a chicken, after a complaint that it was offensive and could distress children.

The ad, on the front cover of a leaflet that Peta distributes across the UK, is part of a campaign the animal rights group is running against the fast food chain under the title "KFC Cruelty".

Personally, I have no problem with this. How is it offensive? It's the truth. And as for distressing children, of course it's distressing. I find it distressing and I'm an adult. Pictures of the Holocaust and other horrible events in human history are upsetting too...but certain truths should be known. I think children need to know where their food comes from. If they still want to eat it, then they are making an informed decision. And how many children are actually being handed PETA flyers anyway?

KFC is the worst of the whole bunch in my opinion.

Photo by meganpru.

160,000 Chickens to be Killed in Bangladesh due to Bird Flu

All of this is from a single farm.

Livestock authorities in Bangladesh began culling around 1.6 lakh chickens at a major poultry farm in the capital after the detection of bird flu, which has spread to 42 of the country's 64 administrative districts since its detection in March last year, officials said on Sunday.

Officials said they would need at least two days to cull the entire flock in the farm.

"This would be the highest number of poultry birds to be culled at a single farm since the outbreak of the avian influenza," chief livestock officer Dr Salahuddin Khan told PTI.

So far, more than six lakh chickens have been culled in various affected areas of the country, he said.

A lakh is equal to 100,000 in the Indian numbering system.

Canadian Demand for Free-Range Eggs Lags

There's a whole lot of talk about buying eggs laid by cage-free or free-range chickens. It's the humane thing to do. But surprisingly, in Canada at least, it's the corporations and the governments that are leading the demand for these eggs, not the consumers.

Sparked by concern over the living conditions of commercial egg-laying hens, the B.C. cities of Richmond, Vancouver and Whistler recently vowed that their municipal cafeterias would only serve eggs laid by chickens raised in large open barns instead of stacks of small wire cages.

Those commitments, made earlier this year, were followed by similar moves by employers such as Google and postsecondary institutions such as the University of Guelph in Ontario, the University of British Columbia and Langara College in Vancouver. In the United States, Burger King and ice-cream giant Ben & Jerry's are phasing regular eggs out of their products.

But the recent spate of corporate promises hasn't had the trickle-down effect that animal rights activists have hoped for. Consumers still aren't rushing to buy cage-free eggs - and until that happens, egg producers say there's no reason to tear out their cages.

While cage-free egg sales have grown slightly in recent years, they're nowhere near the skyrocketing sales of other specialty brands, such as omega-3 enhanced eggs, which promise health benefits for people, not chickens. Without market demand, producers aren't rushing to pour millions of dollars into cage-free housing systems.

"You're asking me to produce without a market," says Harold Froese, a second-generation egg producer whose Manitoba facility houses 100,000 hens. "That's pretty tough."

Currently, 98 per cent of the six billion eggs produced each year in Canada come from farms that use caged chickens, the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency says.

Photo by Boot Boot.