Alert: FL sport of penning fox/coyotes & letting dogs murder them

I attended the meeting today of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission on fox and coyote penning. At the meeting, Commissioners would
decide on the vote to whether regulate or prohibit fox and coyote penning-a
cruel activity in which trapped foxes and coyotes reside inside fenced
enclosures to be chased by packs of dogs, who kill the captive animals.
It's hard to believe that for more than 20 years this "sport" has been going
on in FL

In his column ("Let's put an end to pens for coyotes and foxes", 6.18.10)
Eric Ernst of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune writes,

"They may call it hunting, but that's an insult to real hunters. In this
case, wild coyotes or foxes are trapped, packed and shipped to fenced areas
where they are turned loose to run for their lives, day after day, from a
pack of dogs. If the dogs don't maul them to death, the wild animals die of
disease. Incredibly, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, an agency
entrusted with managing the state's natural resources, has sanctioned the
practice for more than 20 years

Over a hundred people signed up to speak and testify.

The FFWCC voted to BAN the penning of foxes and coyotes in the state of Florida !!!

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-fox-coyote-enclosures-20100623,0,55\45373.story

Dogs Used as Shark Bait on French Island

Dogs Used as Shark Bait on French Island
By Maryann Mott

As Far back as Oct. 19 2005 it was reported by Maryann Mott that live and dead dogs and cats were being used as shark bait by amateur fishers on the French-controlled island of Réunion, according toanimal-welfare organizations and local authorities.

At The time the small volcanic island off Africa's east coast was bursting with stray dogs—upward of 150,000, says Reha Hutin, president of the Paris-based Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis (the Thirty Million Friends Foundation).
Hutin sent a film crew to Réunion this summer to obtain proof that live animals were being used as shark bait. The goal was to expose the practice on the animal rights group's weekly television show.

It didn't take long for the film crew to find three separate cases, she said.

A videotape and photographs show the dogs with multiple hooks sunk deep into their paws and snouts.

"From then on everyone started to take the whole story seriously and realized it was true," Hutin said.

Photographic Evidence

PLEASE READ:
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-20100526-10.html

Vegan Fact

27 million American animals die in a single day to give their muscles, hair, skin, bones, milk, and eggs, to human beings. -- vegan facts

The Crying of Pakistani Animals

The Crying of Pakistani Animals
by KHALID MAHMOOD QURASHI
PRESIDENT, ANIMAL SAVE MOVEMENT PAKISTAN

Even human beings are not rewarded with fundamental rights In Pakistan .
But the condition of animals are worst and miserable. They are treated
ruthlessly, cruelly, mercilessly killed and hunted and so they are
disappearing from the surface of earth.

Birds and animals are so frequently hunted as enemy army is killed. In
this heinous crime not only the hunters are indulged but also the persons and organizations whose sole aim and duty is to prevent protect and save the animals and their lives. Wild life saving department, forest department
and the rulers are also indulging in such a destruction and abolition.

Moreover Bankers, Industrialists, Politicians have also no exception and
they like brokers, call Arabian princes to come, hunt and abolish the rare
species of birds and animals of different regions. So the animal life is
coming to an end in Pakistan. How can an animal be protected and saved in
country, where a former Prime Minister (Mian Nawaz Sharif) was fond of
taking his breakfast with animals "SIRI PAIS" feat and heads of cows and
goats, testicles and kidneys also and lunch with hens, partridges and
quails, in evening he fills his belly and stomach with SPARROWS broasted
in flour of pulse while in dinner he eats dishes of meat etc. and whose
country’s former president (Farooq Khan Leghari) is in a craze of hunting hundreds of birds, partridges and quails etc.

Simultaneously on calling Governors, Ministers, Politicians, Industrialists, Chief Ministers, Provincial Ministers, Governmental officials, and on calling likewise cruel, merciless, statesmen, leaders and landlords of various regions to ruin, abolish, curtail and kill the creeds of animals, camels, bulls, dogs, bears and arrange the fighting competition between cock, quails which after being wounded are being killed or on being defeated eaten. Then how will be the future of animals in that country is bright and how can they survive such terrible slaughter. How the future of the animals will be safe in a country, where a politician who considers himself the future Prime Minister, hunts the water-fowls, quails etc. and rare species of birds, holding a gun like a cowboy and gets infracted and remains hunting and killing them, where the members of "WILD LIFE SAVING DEPARTMENT" who just prevents him from this preparation such a merciless crime, he becomes
rash and rendered him to beat and punish him.

The condition of water creatures is also not good. Fish, tortoises and
other sea creatures, and lives are also running and perishing, and abolishing positions, which not only fells a victim of net but also with bombardment.
Then it is the heights points of cruelty that people do not stop killing
them and like way Pakistan’s water creatures are also going to be finished. In spite of the law, the animals that lay eggs or born children in particular season will not be hunted during that particular season. Such hunters and killers even remain Scot Free if they are imprisoned or captured by chance are escaped by greasing the palm of executives, either by force, recommendation or bribe. So the people are hunting the animals at each and every movement. What can be done for the survival and safety and protection of animals in a country where there is no check on citizens who kill and hunt the animals with legal or illegal weapons and law is also not strict in this matter. It is very astonishing that it has been legislated in the P.P.C. "PAKISTAN PENAL CODE" under section 377 that the punishment for un-natural offence of sexual intercourse with animals is only two years, it is just because that it is immoral act of offence, not because the person raped
the animals and in section 429 P.P.C., the punishment to kill or to paralyze or disable the animal is not due to perplexing the animals but loss occur to the owner of the animals. But it has been stated under the minor acts for "PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ACT 1890" that to harm, to make them lose, to keep them in circus for jugglery and beats the animals, to overloading, to keep the excessive and many animals in narrow and small places, riding on weak and ailing animals, not providing to cure to wounded animals etc. for all these crime there is a punishment of merely one or two hundred fine and imprisonment of one or two years.

But the problem is that this act is even not acted is not implemented upon
or being operated. No one protests or shows any reaction over it even
Government Authorities remain in different and the criminal wanders Scot
Free, so this act of cruelty is going on without fear and care, and
animals killing mongers ending the animals shamelessly and unsympathetically and no body asks them for this act of cruelty. So the animals of Pakistan are carrying.
THESE CAUSES ABOLISHMENT OF ANIMALS IN PAKISTAN

1. The first and foremost cause is that no one pays any attention to this
hot issue, considering it a trivial matter from common man to Government
that wild life, sea life, air life (birds) are in danger here in Pakistan.

2. The organization that are responsible to save and protect animals, do
not protect animals, do not look after them properly instead of it they,
themselves hunt and after capturing sell them. So, the survival of animals
is in danger. The animals like elephants, lions, tigers, kangroo, deer,
zebras, pigs can only be found and seen in zoo. The animals like camel,
buffalo, cows, goats, deer, rabbits, peacocks, cocks, quails, pigeons,
sparrows, water fowls, pelicans, butterflies, partridge, red legged
partridge, goose, doves, their numbers are being reduce day by day after
eating and hunting.

3. In the same way, rare animals and other small animals are also going to
abolishing as they are like hot cake to other countries, especially to
Arabic princes who hunt these animals like eagles, hawks, falcons etc.

4. Such hunters are so much cruel and greedy and they hunt these animals
not only with the help of nets and guns but also make them senseless by
putting them poisonous feed.

5. They are hunting fishes through bomb blasts. So, the sea life is also
abolishing and finishing.
Moreover, another cause is that the spray of agricultural drugs on crops
and gardens and agricultural production. So, most of the bird, honey bees and animals meet their fate after eating dead warms, leaves and grass.
There are so many regions of Pakistan, like Sindh, Baluchistan, Cholistan.
There used to be numerous animals and birds but every year thousands and
millions of animals and birds fall victim of water logging.
Another reason is that trees and plants are cutting new plantation schemes
are fictitious. Another reason is that the human population is increasing
and animal population is decreasing.

There are no real hospitals in Pakistan for animals to look after and
care, neither life saving drugs are made nor imported.
There are so many organizations in Pakistan who claim to be the torch
bearer of human rights but there is not even a single organization who claim to be the champion of animal rights. But the planning are made for dual fights of animals in which higher authorities, "Chaudhry’s, Sardars, Numberdars and Zamindars" all indulged in planning of fights among dogs, bears, camels, bulls and birds also.

Animals like horses, donkeys, bulls; camels are also pass through another
painful process when sometimes they are unable to bear the undeserved pain
of excessive burden and die. Sometimes in the month of June and July they
are loaded with iron or stone bricks whereas in the past such burdens were
not loaded and there used to be water and they need to take rest under
shady trees but such facilities are not provided nowadays. So animals are die, due to intolerable pain.. No one pays any attention to it even so called wild life saving department to prevent mercilessness on animals. The basic reason to why people turn a deaf ear to this cruelty upon animals is that the fault lies in society. Government and other welfare organizations do not give birth to the emotions of mercy and sympathy in hearts of human beings.

But they are slaughtered on different occasions and are eaten as they are
not living thing but are as vegetable or fruits etc.
Another important reason of not saving, protecting, perishing the animals
and no security to the lives of the animals is that all the Government
Organizations, forest departments, animals life saving and other people
organizations never give adds in newspapers, radio, TV for the protection
of animals. No essays are written, no seminars are being held in which the
sympathetic and passionate feelings of the people being arisen, for the
betterment of wildlife’s survival which is must and burning issue of the
day in Pakistan.

Attacking the Messenger: Big Ag’s Attempt to Misdirect Attention from Its Own Problems

Attacking the Messenger: Big Ag’s Attempt to Misdirect Attention from Its Own Problems
By Paul Shapiro
November 24th, 2009
Link to full article below


Reading agribusiness officials’ responses to undercover exposés documenting egregious acts of cruelty to farm animals can be truly mind-boggling. I’ve written about this before, and feel compelled to follow up with a couple more recent sordid examples.

When faced with gruesome images of mistreatment of farm animals, rather than simply condemning the cruelty, some in agribusiness just can’t leave it at that. They feel the need also to attack the compassionate investigators who put themselves at great risk to go undercover and blow the whistle on such abuse.

For example, a new Mercy for Animals investigation involved videotaping workers at one of the nation’s largest pork companies throwing piglets by their ears and legs across the room, cramming pigs into cages barely larger than their own bodies for months on end, and even leaving pigs with untreated prolapses, sores and other health problems.

And what’s the response of the president of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, Dr. Butch Baker? Quite simply: These types of investigations “really are an attack on the rural lifestyle of America.”

To read the full article: http://civileats.com/2009/11/24/attacking-the-messenger-big-ag%E2%80%99s-attempt-to-misdirect-attention-from-its-own-problems/

EUROPE: New EU funds for non-animal testing

EUROPE: New EU funds for non-animal testing
Leah Germain
University World News
Issue: 0094
27 September 2009 Link to full article below

A substantial fund of EUR50 million (US$74 million) is being offered to European research teams to develop alternatives to animal testing for cosmetics and related industries.

The joint partnership between the European Commission and the European Cosmetics Association (Colipa) is calling on scientists to develop proposals for studies into new non-animal testing methods before a February 2010 deadline.

Colipa has matched the EUR25 million funding offered by the European Commission to create the EUR50 million incentive for non-animal research.

To read the full article: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090925023713493

PETA: Undercover Investigation Reveals Cows Suffer for Land O'Lakes

Undercover Investigation Reveals Cows Suffer for Land O'Lakes

See video (and read 5 comments):
http://current.com/items/91310702_undercover-investigation-reveals-cows-suffer-for-land-olakes.htm?xid=RSSfeed

A new undercover investigation inside a Land O'Lakes supplier facility in Pennsylvania has revealed routine neglect and cruelty to cows who are milked for the Fortune 250 company's products. Over the course of several months, the investigation documented deplorable, filthy conditions for cows on the farm, such as pens that were filled with deep excrement (see video and photos), and cows who suffered from ailments and conditions so severe that they collapsed and became "downers" but were not put out of their misery or given veterinary care in a timely manner, if at all.

Land O'Lakes "inspected" the farm as recently as June 2009 and even noted that there were areas in need of cleaning (including the milking parlor walls!) but approved the facility nonetheless.

Cows on dairy factory farms are not given much more than the numbered tag that is punched through their ears to identify them. Read more about what happened to a few of the cows who lived and died miserably at one such farm.

The farm's owner and one of his sons were caught on video electro-shocking cows who were in too much pain to stand up. One of the farmer's sons kicked a cow and jabbed her with the blade of a pocket knife. Both the father and son have now been charged with cruelty to animals.

The dairy industry's standard forms of cruelty also led to suffering for these cows. In order to make milking easier, cows' tails were amputated by tightly binding them with elastic bands, causing the skin and tissue to slowly die and slough off and leaving the animals unable to swat away flies, which, in addition to tormenting the cows, also led to the spread of disease. Tail-docking is unnecessary and cruel, which is why it has been condemned by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Dairy farmers don’t allow cows―whose pregnancies last for nine months, just like human pregnancies―to spend any significant time with their calves, who are taken from their mothers shortly after birth. Cows are intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time, and they have the capacity to worry about the future.

PETA's investigation also reveals cows and calves who were kept in pens and barns whose floors were covered with deep excrement, which caused foot and hoof problems and fostered the spread of disease. Calves rescued from the farm had pneumonia, "manure scald," ringworm, pinkeye, and parasites. Some cows suffered respiratory distress and had pus-filled nasal discharge streaming down their faces. Abscesses were common on the farm—some of them burst and oozed pus, even as cows were being milked, as can be seen in our video.

World-renowned meat and dairy industry expert Dr. Temple Grandin, after reviewing the footage, said, "The conditions are absolutely atrocious. ... It was obvious that the place was seldom cleaned and ... that many sick animals were not receiving veterinary treatment. ... The dairy manager totally NEGLECTED his animals. ... Many animals suffer greatly."

Please watch the video and read the full article: http://current.com/items/91310702_undercover-investigation-reveals-cows-suffer-for-land-olakes.htm?xid=RSSfeed

Milk glut has dairy farmers killing hundreds of thousands of cows in hope prices will rise

Milk glut has dairy farmers killing hundreds of thousands of cows in hope prices will rise
by MICHAEL J. CRUMB
Associated Press Writer
October 27, 2009 Link to full article below

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After burning through $1 million in savings and seeing no end to their losses, dairy farmers Jake and Lori Slegers figured they didn't have much choice — they had to kill the cows.

So one day last summer their sons tagged all 1,571 cows, loaded them onto trailers at their farm south of Fresno, Calif., and watched them rumble away to a slaughterhouse.

Lori Slegers said her husband came into the house and broke down.

"He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do," she said. "Luckily, my boys could do it."

Growing demand in developing nations drove up milk prices when times were good, and dairy farmers expanded their herds. But the global recession hurt exports and left farmers with too much milk on their hands. Milk processors cut the price they were willing to pay farmers, in many cases below what it cost to produce milk.

In the past year, hundreds of farmers have come to the same conclusion as the Slegers: The only way to raise prices is to reduce the supply, and that means killing cows. In some cases, whole herds have been turned into hamburger. In others, farmers have kept their best producers and sent the rest to slaughter.

Please read the full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-farm-scene-killing-cows,0,6920863.story

Wake-Up Call: Factory Farms Could Be Breeding Swine Flu

Wake-Up Call: Factory Farms Could Be Breeding Swine Flu
It’s too soon to be sure, but some observers think CAFOs are perfect settings for swine flu evolution.
By Leah Zerbe

http://www.rodale.com/swine-flu-and-pig-farms?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2009_04_29-_-Top5-_-NA

Tell your elected officials you want agricultural programs to subsidize safer, smaller, more diversified farming operations.

Swine flu source? Raising pigs in factory farms may have led to the current flu outbreak.

04-29-09 RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The swine flu is spreading in the United States, with hundreds of students in New York City alone likely sickened from the new virus. In California, the Los Angeles Times reports that a coroner is looking into the deaths of two men, ages 33 and 45, who may have succumbed to the flu strain. On Tuesday, several people across the country were hospitalized for possible swine flu, though most cases so far have been mild. So where did this all start? It’s too early in the outbreak to be sure, but one possibility is that the filthy conditions, tight confinement, and huge number of animals housed inside buildings in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) present a perfect breeding ground for this type of viral manifestation. “It’s the likely scenario,” says Bob Martin, senior officer at the Pew Environment Group and executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which released a
2-year independent study in 2008. Long before this outbreak, his group’s research pointed to serious concerns about commercial swine operations because of the role pigs play as conduits for swine and avian flu.

To read the full article: http://www.rodale.com/swine-flu-and-pig-farms?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2009_04_29-_-Top5-_-NA

Wendell Berry, from "The Unsettling of America"

“By now the [commercial] revolution has deprived the mass of consumers of any independent access to the staples of life: clothing, shelter, food, even water,” Wendell Berry wrote in “The Unsettling of America.” “Air remains the only necessity that the average user can still get for himself, and the revolution had imposed a heavy tax on that by way of pollution. Commercial conquest is far more thorough and final than military defeat.”

~Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture

7 New Years Resolutions that Factory Farm Animals Wish We'd Make: How to Be a Kinder Carnivore In the Coming Year

7 New Year's Resolutions That Factory Farm Animals Wish We'd Make
How to be a kinder carnivore in the coming year

http://www.thedailygreen.com/print-this/environmental-news/blogs/american/7-New-Years-Resolutions-That-Factory-Farm-Animals-Wish-We'd-Make-491217

Factory farm animals are raised under extremely difficult conditions that you really don't want many details about. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware of their plight. Here are some ways you can make a difference with your dollars...in support of compassionately raised animals in the new year. factory farm cow

1. Shop for meats labeled “raised without antibiotics.” Shooting us up with antibiotics allows them to raise us in inhumanely close, hideously dirty conditions where we'd otherwise get sick and die if we weren't preemptively administered this stuff. If more people demand drug-free meat, they'd have to improve our living conditions. Which would be nice for us, and probably healthier for you, too.

2. Shop for meats raised on local family farms. Traditional farmers are more likely to practice compassionate farming techniques, raising us in more traditional fields and barns. The more that people buy their meats, the more local farmers there will be, and the less expensive their products will become. Then there will be enough suffering-free foods for everyone.

3. Shop for milk labeled “no artficial growth hormones.” The reason they use this stuff is to get more milk per cow, which seems like a great idea except that it often causes infected udders and then they have to treat us with those antibiotics again. Not to mention these hormones are banned in Japan, Europe and Canada. Hello???.

4. Try to eat at least one vegetarian meal a week. Not only will it be healthy and delicious, and you know, it won't kill you.

5. Try explaining to your beloved family dog or cat why you have to eat meat every single day. Look ʻem right in the eyes to gauge their reaction to this.

6. Remember that if God did mean for people to eat us, he certainly didn't mean for us to have to suffer for it. You might mention this to a factory farm CEO.

7. Don't just look for the cheapest meat you can find. There's usually a reason this meat is cheap (antibiotics, harsh living conditions, E. coli recalls, etc.). Believe us. We factory animals pay a big price for cheaply produced meats.

Stop Vilsack's Confirmation as Sec of Agriculture

the Organic Consumers Association:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1783

*Stop Vilsack's Confirmation as Secretary of Agriculture*

Despite a massive public outcry, including over 20,000 emails from the
Organic Consumers Association, President-Elect Obama has chosen former Iowa
Governor Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture.

While Vilsack has promoted respectable policies with respect to restraining
livestock monopolies, his overall record is one of aiding and abetting
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms and
promoting genetically engineered crops and animal cloning. Equally troubling
is Vilsack's support for unsustainable industrial ethanol production, which
has already caused global corn and grain prices to skyrocket, literally
taking food off the table for a billion people in the developing world.

The Organic Consumers Association is calling on organic consumers and all
concerned citizens to join our call to action and block Vilsack's
confirmation as the next Secretary of Agriculture. Please help us reach our
goal of 100,000 petition signatures against Vilsack' nomination. Sign today!
Your email will be sent to your Senators and the President-Elect's office.

EPA Exempts Farms from Reporting Toxic Fumes

EPA exempts farms from reporting toxic fumes
By DINA CAPPIELLO

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPME8RVRkRiY-cXB_fj60paa5pEQD951FRA00

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's farms no longer have to report to authorities the toxic, smelly fumes released from manure.

The Bush administration issued a regulation Friday exempting farms from reporting releases of hazardous air pollution from animal waste to federal, state and local authorities. The rule applies specifically to the gases from manure that are often responsible for odor problems.

Environmental Protection Agency officials said that the changes will allow responders to focus on spills and releases from factories, natural disasters and other emergencies that require urgent attention. They said it would also reduce reporting burdens on America's farmers, saying it is difficult to estimate the pollution coming from "a herd of cows."

"When there is a train wreck, we need to know about it because we need to go out and look at chemical spills," said Barry Breen, director of the agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "When there is a lagoon full of manure there is nothing our folks can do when they show up."

The farm reporting rule is one of several eleventh-hour environmental regulations unveiled by the Bush administration this week that were lobbied for by industry. The Interior Department on Thursday issued revised rules loosening protections for endangered species. And the EPA, also on Friday, issued regulations exempting industrial solvents and other chemicals that can be burned for fuel from the strict regulations governing hazardous waste.

Environmentalists lashed out again, saying that the new reporting rule would make it difficult to keep track of farms polluting the environment and putting neighbors at risk.

The gases released when animal waste decomposes include hydrogen sulfide, with its characteristic rotten egg smell, and ammonia. Exposure to these chemicals can cause respiratory problems and irritate the eyes, nose and throat.

"The effect of this is to create a loophole for all operations for not report their toxic emissions to the federal government," said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club. "If you don't know there is a problem you aren't going to get a solution."

Representatives of the poultry and beef industries said Friday the rule was long overdue. In 2005, associations representing chicken, turkey and egg farmers asked the Bush administration to exempt all ammonia emissions from reporting requirements.

The rule finalized Friday covers gases just from animal waste. Large farms with hundreds of dairy cows or thousands of pigs would still be required to report air releases to local and state authorities.

"We have always felt that reporting requirements ... were never meant to address the release of naturally occurring substances," said the National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association in a statement. "We believe the EPA heard our concerns and has come to a reasonable compromise."

Congress also wanted clarification. In appropriations bills passed in 2005 and 2006, it directed the EPA to revisit the regulations.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the Agriculture Committee, said that the EPA "needed to formulate a common-sense answer which recognizes that animal production is not the same as a chemical factory."

But he criticized the Bush administration for pushing out the rule before a two-year, $14 million study launched last year on toxic air pollution from farms was finished.

The timing of the rule "almost guarantees that the issue will be revisited by the new administration and Congress," Harkin said.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

On the Net:

Environmental Protection Agency:
http://www.tinyurl.com/62ukba

Sarah Palin Turkey Interview - VERY DISTURBING

Thousands of Sea Turtles Dead in Baja

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/thousands_of_se.php

3,000 sea turtles have washed up dead on the shores of Baja, California in the last five years according to a report published by UC Santa Cruz last week. More below the fold.

The UC Santa Cruz report concluded that the North Pacific loggerhead turtles washing up in Baja are dying due to fishing activity. Turtles are accidentally caught in nets, hooks and other fishing gear. The Baja turtles are experiencing the highest stranding rates related to fishery activity in the world.

The North Pacific loggerhead travels 7,000 miles from Japan to Baja's Big Sur to feed for as many as thirty years before returning to Japan. In the past 10 years, the number of female turtles nesting in Japan has dropped by fifty to eighty percent.

Local fishermen are working with the Mexican government to protect the turtles. Together they plan to create a refuge for them in a designated "hot spot" area where most are harmed.

Undercover Investigation Reveals Hormel Suppliers' Abuse of Pigs

source: http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/iowa_pigfarm_abuse2

PLEASE CLICK ABOVE LINK AND SIGN THE PETITION, WATCH THE VIDEO.

For more than three months, PETA went undercover at an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets who are raised and killed for Hormel products. PETA found rampant cruelty to animals committed by workers and supervisors. The farm changed ownership and management during PETA's investigation, but that made no difference to the animals who were born and confined there: Abuse and neglect were widespread during PETA's entire investigation.

The following are just some of the abuses that were documented:

* A supervisor shoved a cane into a sow's vagina, struck her on the back about 17 times, and then struck another sow.
* Multiple pigs were beaten with metal gate rods, and lacerations were found on more than 30 sows, which is probably evidence of more abuse.
* A worker hit a young pig in the face four times with the edge of a herding board, and investigators witnessed dozens of similar incidents involving this worker and 11 other workers.
* Two men, including a supervisor, were witnessed jabbing clothespins into pigs' eyes and faces. A supervisor also poked two animals in the eyes with his fingers.
* A supervisor kicked a young pig in the face, abdomen, and genitals to make her move and told PETA's investigator, "You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry."

To learn more about the investigation, please watch the video above, view our photo gallery, read the investigators' log notes, and visit our blog.

The findings on this Iowa pig farm, however, were not limited to cruelty to animals. PETA also documented an apparent violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Animals who were to be killed for human consumption were sprayed with a substance that contains gentian violet (a chemical that is linked to certain cancers) thereby making their flesh "adulterated" under federal law.

By purchasing pigs bred and born on this farm and then grown elsewhere before being slaughtered for Hormel products, Hormel is financially supporting an operation whose employees abuse animals.