Cheaters: Is there something you need to tell me?

Waiting / Photo: Bob Hennis

Milestone! This is the 50th article on our fledgling little Animal Issues Reporter.org! It’s fitting that Anneloes Wagenaar Hummelinck should be its author, because she’s been wonderfully supportive of this website from the beginning. Many thanks to her and to all of AIR’s other reporters for their fine work and can-do spirit. And of course giant thanks to all our readers! Please keep tuning in and/or click the ‘Follow’ button to receive email notifications of new articles so you won’t miss any of our writers’ upcoming great work.

By Anneloes Wagenaar Hummelinck

In the beginning, two years ago, we were so happy together. I always had his full attention, and he wanted my opinion on everything. We talked a lot back then. After a long day at work, I couldn’t wait to see him, and he was always overjoyed that I was home again. He loved everything I served him, just because it was served by me.

But as time went by, our relationship changed. Continue reading →

A ‘principled stand’ against compassion: Green Mountain College and the slaughter of working oxen (Opinion)

Visitor greeting Bill and Lou / Photo: Christine Celella

In her first opinion piece for Animal Issues Reporter, Antonia Fraser Fujinaga wades into the controversy swirling around two oxen at a small college in Vermont. 

Please note: As a native of Scotland, Mrs. Fujinaga uses British spelling and punctuation.

By Antonia Fraser Fujinaga

The most recent developments in the saga of Bill and Lou, two retired working oxen whom many of us have been trying to save from slaughter, include the following: Continue reading →

Butterball’s poor training and pay for turkey farm workers is a ‘recipe for disaster,’ says Mercy for Animals

Butterball is “incapable of preventing egregious animal abuse at its factory farm facilities,” says animal protection group. / Photo: Mercy for Animals

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

“Butterball expects a few untrained workers to move thousands of crippled turkeys into transport trucks, and pays workers by the load, not the hour,” Mercy for Animals (MFA) Director of Investigations Matt Rice told Animal Policy Examiner in an email interview this week. [Please see full interview below.] “It is a recipe for disaster, and as our investigation proves, it results in horrific suffering for thousands of animals at the hands of Butterball workers.” Continue reading →

Butterball workers suspended for allegedly abusing turkeys

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 →

Undercover video again catches Butterball workers severely abusing turkeys, says Mercy for Animals

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 →