Injured Butterball turkey allegedly enduring neglect. / Photo: Mercy for Animals
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
After an undercover video filmed by an animal protection group last month allegedly showed workers kicking, dragging, stomping on, and violently throwing turkeys at several North Carolina large-scale farms operated by Butterball, the company said it has “suspended the associates in question” and “initiated an internal investigation.” Continue reading
Butterball turkey, one of many allegedly abused by the company’s workers / Photo: Mercy for Animals
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
With Thanksgiving coming up next week, animal protection group Mercy for Animals said it conducted its second undercover video investigation of Butterball and found much the same that it did earlier this year—severe and extremely unappetizing abuse and neglect of the birds.
Scene after scene of the secretly-taped and disturbing video shot in October shows workers at various North Carolina farms operated by the world’s largest producer of turkey meat kicking, stomping on, and violently throwing the animals whose meat will soon sit on millions of Americans’ plates.
Many turkeys are filmed as they bleed and suffer from various injuries and wounds including broken bones and punctured eyes, with no veterinary attention, simply “left to die,” according to the narration. Continue reading
Lou (left) and Bill (right) quietly consuming resources at home, Green Mountain College / Photo: Christine Celella
By Kalypso Arhilohou
You weigh a ton, wield horns as hard as hammers and as sharp as spears, and you could puree a man’s foot with one slightly misplaced step of your mighty hoof. But it’s perfectly safe to kiss you, hug you, and parade you through crowds at college commencements.
This good humor of yours, Bill and Lou, comes about partly because your kind have been bred that way for millennia, and partly because you’re just nice guys.
Apparently you like people. At least you don’t seem to mind hanging out with us, following our lead, and doing our bidding. Maybe you feel that in return we like you too.
The fact is that lots of people like you, and many say they love you. The curious thing, though, is that some of the people who say they love you also say they want to eat you. Continue reading
Student cuddles with Bill (Photo: with permission of Nina Keck/Vermont Public Radio)
By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris
With Halloween just a day or so away, and a “monster” storm bearing down on the northeastern United States, a small school in Vermont is reportedly about to commit an act that, for many animal advocates, will add yet another macabre note to the week.
Green Mountain College, which specializes in what it calls “environmental liberal arts,” plans to slaughter Bill and Lou, two amiable oxen who have worked at the college’s farm for a decade. Then they will serve students the animals’ flesh.
Animal Issues Reporter interviewed the college’s Director of Communications Kevin Coburn via email, as follows. Continue reading
Ten-foot-tall bloody mock pig stars in the Mercy for Animals’ ‘Walmart Cruelty Tour.’
Photo: Krissy Guzman
It’s hard to keep up with Mercy for Animals (MFA) national campaign coordinator Phil Letten. On his epic “Walmart Cruelty Tour,” he’s been making serious tracks, with a stop in a different U.S. city almost every weekday since July.
Thanks to Animal Issues Reporter’s Krissy Guzman, who we’re proud to have on board at AIR as our very first intern, we managed to catch up with Letten in Texas a few weeks back.
In the towering company of a bloody, wounded, ten-foot-tall mock pig that Letten had parked outside a Houston Walmart store, Krissy spoke with the intrepid MFA campaigner and two of the demonstrators to find out why they were out there in Houston’s blistering summer heat. Continue reading