tagged w/ animal brutality
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This is for all of you who never believed this or didn't WANT to believe this -- please share with parents everywhere.
Never-before-seen photos reveal how Ringling Bros. circus trainers cruelly force baby elephants to learn tricks, and it's not through a reward system, as they claim. Explore the photos that will make parents think twice about taking their child to the circus.
You may have wondered how Ringling Bros. gets 8,000-pound elephants to perform tricks like sitting up and even standing on their heads, but now you know. Ringling breaks the spirit of elephants when they're vulnerable babies who should still be with their mothers. Unsuspecting parents planning a family trip to the circus don't know about the violent training sessions with ropes, bullhooks, and electric shock prods that elephants endure, so we need you to tell them.This is for all of you who never believed this or didn't WANT to believe this --... more
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Pageant hopefuls decapitate, skin snakes at Rattlesnake Roundup
By Jim Spellman, CNN
March 12, 2011 7:24 p.m. EST
Sweetwater, Texas (CNN) -- To win the Miss Snake Charmer beauty pageant requires beauty, grace, talent and a strong stomach. It's probably the only pageant in the country that requires the winner to decapitate and skin a snake.
"Tomorrow I get to skin snakes and chop their heads off, and I am super-excited about it," said Laney Wallace, Miss Snake Charmer 2011.
The pageant kicks off the annual Rattlesnake Roundup festival in this West Texas town. Hunters from as far away as Japan catch as many snakes as possible in the countryside then bring them to the county coliseum for the festival.
"This event is a way for us to help control the population of the western diamondback rattlesnake in our area," says Donnie Willman, a volunteer with the Sweetwater Jaycees who run the event.
The roundup began more than 50 years ago as a way to combat the rattlesnake population that was killing livestock and threatening pets and even people.
"The rattlesnakes were literally coming into Sweetwater, down the streets looking for water," says Willman.
"They bite livestock, they bite the animals, your pets. They'll bite kids, people. They're a very serious problem around here."
The roundup has become a huge part of the town's identity. The Jaycees say 30,000 to 50,000 people attend the roundup each year. It's become as much party as public service event.
"We have a lot of fun doing it. We enjoy it. We're all Jaycees back here in the snake pits," Willman says.
After skinning their snake, guests leave hand prints in snake blood.
Jeff Hulstein and Nathan Sheets left their wives at home in Dallas, Texas, and brought their sons to the roundup. They hired a guide to take them snake hunting and then brought their box full of snakes to the event.
"We saw this as a rite of passage to be able to bring your boys out here and let them see how you have good clean fun and learn something and appreciate nature," says Jeff Hulstein. "It's one of the ways we are going to raise these boys into men."
The guide uses gasoline fumes to drive the rattlers out of their dens. The dads then use long handled tongs and hooks to corral the snakes.
Nathan Sheets says he has dreamed of coming to the Rattlesnake Roundup since he was a boy.
"For me it's been a bucket list thing my entire life."
The roundup is clearly more fun for the humans than the snakes. The rattlesnakes are dumped into a large pen with hundreds of other snakes. They are weighed and measured and their venom is milked into glass beakers where it will be used for research and to make anti-venom.
It goes down hill from here. Next comes the chopping block where their heads are cut off. They are then skinned and gutted. The meat is fried up and the skins are used for boots and wallets.
For $10, visitors can take a turn at snake skinning. To record their feat they rub their hands in snake blood and leave handprints on the wall.
It's a little gory, but no one seems bothered, including Miss Snake Charmer 2011 Laney Wallace, who showed up to take her turn in the skinning pit.
Tiara and sash in place and machete in hand, she steps up to the block and takes a swing -- and another, and another -- before the head finally comes off.
Undeterred, she picks up the snakes body with one hand and gives a beauty queen wave with the other as cameras click away.
"Only in Sweetwater," she says.
"I would of never imagined in a million years that I would be Miss Snake Charmer. I'm so lucky."Pageant hopefuls decapitate, skin snakes at Rattlesnake Roundup
By Jim Spellman,... more
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Undercover Investigation Released Today Reveals Barbaric Animal Trapping Practices Born Free USA announces horrific details of investigation, including unprecedented video and photographs showing brutality and illegal practices by U.S. trappers
Published: Wednesday, 9 Mar 2011 | 5:00 AM ET
WASHINGTON, March 9, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Born Free USA, a leader in animal welfare and wildlife conservation, announced today the results of a groundbreaking undercover investigation inside the world of recreational and professional wildlife trapping. This is the first known undercover investigation of trapping in the U.S. (www.bornfreeusa.org/victimsofvanity).
The investigation, which took place in and around wooded areas and farms in Pennsylvania, reveals shocking cruelty and brutality including: the prolonged drowning of a raccoon by a trapper with a stick; the chest-crushing suffocating of foxes; the capture and killing of non-target animals such as a domestic cat; and the use of illegal snare traps.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/undercover-investigation-released-today-reveals-barbaric-animal-trapping-practices-117548923.html
According to Adam Roberts, Executive Vice President, Born Free USA, "Born Free USA launched this investigation to shed light on a horrific, highly unregulated, inhumane and dangerous industry. Commercial fur trapping dates back to the early 1600's and has hardly changed. It remains barbaric and many people are not even aware that this is going on in most of the U.S." "More than 80 countries have banned the leghold trap, which is still legal here.
Our aim is to educate the public, policy makers, and the fashion industry, and put pressure on state agencies for more regulations. In most states wild animals are allowed to be trapped for commercialized fur use and recreation. People value wildlife and the humane treatment of animals and will be sickened to see them suffering mercilessly in body crushing traps or strangulation snares, or under the weight of a trapper's boot," Roberts explains.
The trapping industry and U.S. fish and game departments maintain that this is a humane and regulated industry. Born Free USA's new footage reveals the inhumane treatment of wild furbearers by American trappers and the lack of regulation of the industry.
"Methods used to kill trapped animals would violate anti-cruelty laws in most states if inflicted intentionally upon domestic cats or dogs," says wildlife biologist Monica Engebretson, Senior Program Associate, Born Free USA. "This investigation demonstrates that despite years of research, there are no significant advances in reducing collateral damage -- the non-target animals captured in traps set for other species." Most states do not require trappers to report non-target animals who are trapped or killed. Born Free USA estimates that one in three victims trapped are non-target animals -- often family cats and dogs. The organization receives numerous calls from families who have seen their pet suffer in the jaws of a trap in their neighborhood. The organization has an online database of non-target incidents at. www.bornfreeusa.org/database.
The investigation also reveals conversations among trappers caught on camera discussing illegal trapping methods and selling their pelts including talk of the link from catch to commercial fur auctions. Video was shot in "Fur Sheds" where animals are fleshed; and fur auctions where trappers sell their "goods." Born Free USA works to expose the truth and eliminate cruel traps by encouraging policymakers to enact stronger laws; ensuring state agencies are enforcing existing protections; and championing humane alternatives of mitigating conflicts with wildlife.
Highlights of undercover video footage and photographs: Legal and illegal snares being used to trap animals.
Live raccoon in a leghold water trap and brutal drowning by a trapper.
Live red foxes in illegal cable snares -- then brutally killed.
Dead mink in leghold water trap -- out of trapping season.
Non-target animals caught in traps: a domestic cat, a rabbit.
Live bobcats in leghold traps -- then strangled to death.
Live coyote in a leghold trap.
Inside a trapper's Fur Shed, including skinning a fox, hanging pelts, and traps.
A PA fur auction.
Born Free USA is a nationally recognized leader in animal welfare and wildlife conservation. Through litigation, legislation, and public education, Born Free USA leads vital campaigns against animals in entertainment, exotic "pets," trapping and fur, and the destructive international wildlife trade. Born Free's Primate Sanctuary in Texas is home to more than 500 primates rescued from laboratories, roadside zoos, and private possession.
Born Free USA undertook this investigation in partnership with the organization Respect for Animals.Undercover Investigation Released Today Reveals Barbaric Animal Trapping Practices... more
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Please click on the above link, so you can see for yourselves their bullshit ratings charts for what they think of as animal welfare. These poor animals are still killed, and that makes this an issue for animal RIGHTS.
Don't buy into Whole Foods Market's approach. Killing is killing. Exaggeration is exaggeration. Selling is selling. Slaughterhouses are slaughterhouses.
WARNING! There are four graphic photos following WFM's grandiose 5+ steps.
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From their website........
"The more you know about our meat, the better"
At Whole Foods Market, we're dedicated to helping you make informed choices about the food you eat. It's often easy to forget that the burger, steak or drumstick on your plate was once an animal. How was that animal raised? How was it treated? Where did it come from? What about added hormones and antibiotics? Was its growth artificially accelerated to get to market sooner and reduce feed cost? We are committed to answering these questions.
The 5-Step™ Animal Welfare Rating Standards
Global Animal Partnership
We've chosen to partner with Global Animal Partnership to certify our producers' animal welfare practices. We're rolling out their 5-Step™ Animal Welfare Rating Standards in every Whole Foods Market store in the United States.
Global Animal Partnership is a non-profit organization dedicated to continually improving the lives of farm animals. They have developed the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards that rate how pigs, chickens and cattle are raised for meat. Standards for other species (turkeys, lambs and others) are in development, so stay tuned and be sure to look for Global Animal Partnership 5-Step ratings the next time you stop by our meat department.
It's important to note that getting to Step 1 is a great accomplishment! Step 1 requires more from our farmers and ranchers than we have ever asked before. The Step ratings are assigned by independent third-party certifiers using auditors trained by Global Animal Partnership.
Look for this rating system when you choose our beef, pork or chicken. It's your way of knowing how the animals were raised for the meat you are buying.__________________________________________
Please click on the above link, so you... more
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You should all try this. It's not cruel at all, I had it set on stun.
On the serious side of things, for their short lives. these kittens suffered from something called myotonia congenita (Fainting Goat Syndrome). There's info about the condition on the web if you want to look it up. When the animals are startled in some way, either by a sound or something they have seen, their legs just lock up and they have no choice but to fall over. You may have heard of the condition in goats, where it is a lot more common.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsqfutlAzJs&feature=player_embedded#!You should all try this. It's not cruel at all, I had it set on stun.
On the... more
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October 21, 2010
New Way to Help Chickens Cross to Other Side
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Shoppers in the supermarket today can buy chicken free of nearly everything but adjectives. It comes free-range, cage-free, antibiotic-free, raised on vegetarian feed, organic, even air-chilled.
Coming soon: stress-free?
Two premium chicken producers, Bell & Evans in Pennsylvania and Mary’s Chickens in California, are preparing to switch to a system of killing their birds that they consider more humane. The new system uses carbon dioxide gas to gently render the birds unconscious before they are hung by their feet to have their throats slit, sparing them the potential suffering associated with conventional slaughter methods.
“When you grab a chicken, turn it upside down and put it on the line, it’s stress, stress, stress,” said Scott Sechler, the owner of Bell & Evans. “Our system is designed so that we put them to sleep without stress and we kill them without stress.”
That is sure to appeal to a segment of the chicken-buying public. But telling them about it presents a marketing challenge.
“Most of the time, people don’t want to think about how the animal was killed,” said David Pitman, whose family owns Mary’s Chickens.
Anglia Autoflow, the company that is building the knock-out systems for the two processors, calls the process “controlled atmosphere stunning,” but Mr. Pitman said his company was considering the phrase “sedation stunning” for use on its packages. Also on the short-list: “humanely slaughtered,” “humanely processed” or “humanely handled.”
The trick, he said, is to communicate the goal of the new system, which is to ensure that the birds “not have any extra pain or discomfort in the last few minutes of their lives.”
In a typical processing plant, birds are unloaded in what is known as the “live hang area.” Workers hang the chickens upside down from metal shackles connected to a mechanical rail that conveys them into the plant. They go first into a unit that uses a mild electric shock to make them unconscious, and then they are brought to the “kill machine,” where a blade cuts their throat and they bleed to death.
In the new system, birds will arrive at the processing plant in special containers that will go directly into a chamber to which carbon dioxide is slowly added, displacing some of the oxygen and making the birds unconscious. Only then will workers handle the birds and hang them on the shackles.
Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and a prominent livestock expert, consulted with Bell & Evans as the company worked with Anglia to design its system. She said it was better because the chickens were not aware of what was happening to them. “Birds don’t like being hung upside down,” Dr. Grandin said. “They get really stressed out by that.”
Mr. Sechler said the system was designed to put birds to sleep gently, in the same way that a person undergoes anesthesia before surgery.
To evoke that image, he wants to put the words “slow induction anesthesia” on his packages and advertising, which already tell customers that the birds are raised in roomy conditions with natural light and given feed free of antibiotics or animal byproducts. Customers who want to know more will be able to go to the company’s Web site.
Mr. Sechler said the system he chose, after years of research, was better than similar gas-stunning systems used in Europe. Those systems, he says, often deprive birds of oxygen too quickly, which may cause them to suffer. They are also designed to kill the birds rather than simply knock them out, something that Mr. Sechler is not comfortable with.
“I don’t want the public to say we gas our chickens,” he said.
Mr. Sechler and others promoting the new system said that they expected the meat to be of higher quality because the birds faced less stress and also there would be less bruising and broken wings when they died.
The new system is also meant to be better for workers. The live hang area today is usually dimly lighted to keep birds from being startled, and workers have to contend with struggling, flapping chickens. “I never felt comfortable showing people that part of our operation,” Mr. Pitman said. “I was embarrassed by it.”
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been pushing chicken processors for years to switch to gas stunning systems, in part because it does not believe that electrical stunning works.
But the National Chicken Council, which represents chicken processors, contends that electrical stunning systems are effective and humane. Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the council, said that being shackled upside down was not overly stressful for the birds. “They are shackled and they typically stay there quietly,” Mr. Lobb said.
Bell & Evans said it would begin selling chickens slaughtered using the new technology in April. The company, which processes about 840,000 birds a week, distributes its chickens nationwide.
Mary’s, which distributes in several Western states, expects to install the technology in June. The company processes about 200,000 birds a week.
By comparison, a single plant run by a large processor like Tyson Foods may handle more than 1 million birds a week.
The gas technology is expensive. Each company said it would cost about $3 million to convert their operations and more over time to run the systems. That makes it a hard sell in a commodity-oriented industry that relies on huge volumes and low costs to turn narrow margins into profits.
Mr. Sechler predicted that consumers would come to demand birds slaughtered in the new way, which would force the industry to gradually switch over.
But to demand it, consumers have to know about it, which gets back to the language on the label.
A Nebraska company, MBA Poultry, which sells under the Smart Chicken brand, has been using gas stunning technology since 2005. The company does not aggressively market the technology, but a label on the back of its packages contains the phrase “controlled atmosphere stunning.” The company’s Web site mentions the technology but does not explain what it is.
In Britain, although many chicken processors use gas stunning, store packages typically do not mention it.
“People don’t want to know too much,” said Marc Cooper, a senior scientific manager in the farm animals department of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in London. “It’s hard to sell humane killing as a concept.”
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Photo: The chicken producers are planning to use systems like this one to render the birds unconscious before they are hung by their feet to have their throats slit.October 21, 2010
New Way to Help Chickens Cross to Other Side
By WILLIAM NEUMAN... more
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Tom Cruise, Scientology, and Animal Abuse
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Chilling undercover footage recorded during a new Mercy For Animals investigation exposes dairy farm workers sadistically abusing cows and young calves.
Captured on hidden camera, the shocking scenes of abuse reveal a culture of cruelty at Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio.
During a four-week investigation between April and May, MFA's (Mercy for Animals) investigator documented farm workers:
* Violently punching young calves in the face, body slamming them to the ground, and pulling and throwing them by their ears
* Routinely using pitchforks to stab cows in the face, legs and stomach
* Kicking "downed" cows (those too injured to stand) in the face and neck – abuse carried out and encouraged by the farm's owner
* Maliciously beating restrained cows in the face with crowbars – some attacks involving over 40 blows to the head
* Twisting cows' tails until the bones snapped
* Punching cows' udders
* Bragging about stabbing, dragging, shooting, breaking bones, and beating cows and calves to death
After viewing the footage, Dr. Bernard Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, stated: "This is probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen. The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless."
Immediately upon completion of the investigation, Mercy For Animals contacted the City Prosecutor's Office of Marysville regarding the ongoing pattern of abuse at Conklin Dairy Farms. MFA is pushing for employees of the facility to be criminally prosecuted for violating Ohio's animal cruelty laws.
The deplorable conditions uncovered at Conklin Dairy Farms highlight the reality that animal agriculture is incapable of self-regulation and that meaningful federal and state laws must be implemented and strengthened to prevent egregious cruelty to farmed animals.
Although many of the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy Farms are sadistic in nature, numerous MFA undercover investigations at dairy farms, pig farms, egg farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses have revealed that violence and abuse to farmed animals – whether malicious or institutionalized – runs rampant nationwide.
Compassionate consumers can end their direct financial support of farmed animal abuse by rejecting dairy, and other animal products, and adopting a vegan diet.Chilling undercover footage recorded during a new Mercy For Animals investigation... more
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There is a saying amongst Southern Chinese that "anything with four legs, except a chair and anything that flies, except an aeroplane, can be eaten" and nowhere is this more true than in Guangdong Province, where the live animal markets are famed for the astounding variety of animals on sale for human consumption. Dog is a preferred meat, and the cultural belief is that the greater the torture in killing the dog while butchering it, the tastier is its meat.There is a saying amongst Southern Chinese that "anything with four legs, except... more
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This is a video I made to explain why I chose not to buy/consume/wear animal products. No lifestyle is 100% cruelty free, but there's a lot you can do by going Vegan.This is a video I made to explain why I chose not to buy/consume/wear animal products.... more
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