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farm sanctuary
This Thanksgiving, Skip the Turkey
Why take part in animal abuse when you don't have to?
Nov 22, 2017
When I was growing up, eating turkey on Thanksgiving was just... "normal." I didn't give it a second thought, except maybe when my Grandma took the insides of the turkey out so she could put the stuffing in.
That all changed on my 30th birthday, which happened to fall on Thanksgiving. I had read Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet, and I had learned so much about how animals suffer: chickens locked in tiny cages, pigs mutilated without pain relief, and fish suffocated on commercial fishing vessels. So I went vegan.
This Thanksgiving, 45 million turkeys will be killed across the country. Now that I've taken the time to actually meet turkeys and learn about them, that statistic breaks my heart.
I remember one rescued turkey in particular. I met him at Farm Sanctuary, a shelter for abused and neglected farm animals. His name was Turpentine, and he loved to be held and petted--just like a dog. As turkeys like Turpentine ate from my hand, I saw how these social, loving animals truly do have personalities all of their own.
"This Thanksgiving, 45 million turkeys will be killed across the country. Now that I've taken the time to actually meet turkeys and learn about them, that statistic breaks my heart."
In nature, turkeys happily spend their days tending to their young, dustbathing, and hanging out in the same trees they sleep in at night. Every morning before descending from their branches, wild turkeys utter a sequence of soft yelps just to make sure their flock mates are OK. Mother turkeys are so protective that they will readily die defending their young from predators. This is partly why baby turkeys stay with their mothers for the first five months of their lives.
But virtually all turkeys raised for food are factory farmed and slaughtered at around five months old. In fact, the turkeys we eat are bred to grow so unnaturally large in such a short time that many suffer hip joint lesions and heart problems. And the nightmare doesn't stop there. Deeply empathic animals who often mourn the deaths of flock mates, turkeys sometimes have heart attacks when they witness the violent deaths of fellow birds. Those who live long enough to be slaughtered are often scalded alive; production lines move so fast that workers frequently can't kill the birds before they're dropped, completely conscious, into feather-removal tanks.
Unfortunately, this horrific suffering is considered standard and acceptable by the animal agriculture industry. But the cruelty goes even further. I know this because my employer is Mercy For Animals, an animal protection charity working to expose and stop animal abuse at factory farms and slaughterhouses.
MFA's undercover investigations into Butterball resulted in the first-ever felony conviction for cruelty to factory-farmed birds after we documented workers punching, kicking, and throwing turkeys. These tragic investigations revealed toes and beaks cut or burned off of unsedated turkeys, baby birds ground up alive in giant macerators, and wounded animals left to die slow, painful deaths. But when it comes to factory farming in America, Butterball is the rule, not the exception.
So this holiday, I must ask: Why take part in animal abuse when you don't have to, especially when eating meat increases risk of high cholesterol, antibiotic resistance, heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, hormonal imbalance, and premature death?
Thankfully, Thanksgiving might be the perfect day to start eating cruelty-free; your traditional sides, like mashed potatoes, string bean casserole, and stuffing are just as delicious and easy to prepare vegan. Replace turkey with whichever cruelty-free centerpiece you prefer--stuffed squash, vegan wellington, and a plant-based roast are all great options. (My top recommendations are Field Roast's Celebration Roast and Gardein's Holiday Roast.) Options abound at your local Safeway or Whole Foods and at my favorite Denver vegan shop, NOOCH.
I'm proud to say that about 80 percent of the family I join for Thanksgiving is now also vegan. We learned the truth about factory farming as a family, and once we did, choosing compassion brought us closer together. Now we celebrate life on Thanksgiving.
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NC Ag-Gag Law Criminalizes Whistleblowing 'Across All Sectors,' Charges Suit
Rights advocates say the new law 'is one of the most appalling overt attempts to silence whistleblowers' to date
Jan 13, 2016
North Carolina's controversial ag-gag law is facing a court challenge by a coalition of watchdog groups who charge that it violates a citizen's First Amendment rights and places the safety of animals, families, and food supply at great risk.
Anna Myers, executive director and CEO of whistleblower protection and advocacy organization Government Accountability Project (GAP), who announced the legal action on Wednesday, said the law "is one of the most appalling overt attempts to silence whistleblowers" in the organization's 38-year history.
The law, which took effect on January 1, "aim[s] to criminalize food industry whistleblowing" by "punish[ing] those who conduct undercover investigations of any private entity in North Carolina," Myers continued.
Among other things, the law prohibits the recording of video at industrial agriculture facilities without written consent of the owner. However, as Myers points out, the law "is written so broadly that it could target truth-tellers across all corporate sectors," such as those who wish to expose improper activity at nursing homes or daycare centers.
In addition to GAP, the plaintiffs in the suit include People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Center for Food Safety, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm Sanctuary, and Food & Water Watch.
Their joint statement reads: "This law blatantly violates citizens' rights to free speech, a free press, and to petition their government, and violates the Equal Protection Clause. It places the safety of our families, our food supply, and animals at risk, and it attempts to bully and threaten those working for transparency, free speech and the public good. Our lawsuit is being brought for the sake of the health and safety of all citizens of North Carolina. We are confident the law will be found unconstitutional and that a victory in North Carolina will deter other state legislatures from repeating North Carolina's mistake."
Similar bills have already been introduced in more than half of all state legislatures and have become law in numerous states, including Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming--and now North Carolina.
Animal rights groups attribute the success of these measures to an aggressive factory farm lobby.
Last week, a North Carolina Perdue employee was found guilty of criminal animal cruelty after an undercover expose by animals rights group Mercy for Animals revealed him kicking, stomping, and throwing chickens.
As Charlotte Observer columnist Eric Frazier recently pointed out, had the abuse occurred after the new law took effect, the employee may have gotten away with it.
The law, Frazier wrote last week, "would have allowed the supplier to quietly dismiss [the employee] without criminal prosecution, then go to civil court to sue the undercover animal activist who videotaped the crimes. Net effect: no animal rights expose, no messy public relations problem for the poultry industry."
"According to those running our General Assembly, this is progress," Frazier continued. "Whistle blowers can now be sued for secretly taking pictures in the workplace or exposing trade secrets. Be they fed-up longtime employees or social activists who hire on temporarily to sniff out abuses, all are now legally at risk if they try to get wrongdoing on tape."
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Farm Sanctuary Gets Lift from Celebrity Couple Jon and Tracey Stewart
"We're going to build new advocates, new curious learners, and new leaders for this very important movement," says Tracey Stewart
Oct 27, 2015
Offering a boost to the animal rights movement and farm animals everywhere, former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his wife, advocate and former veterinary technician Tracey, announced this weekend that their property in Middletown, New Jersey, will be the fourth outpost of the nation's largest and most effective farm rescue and protection organization.
"We bought a farm in New Jersey to start a farm sanctuary of our own with an educational center," Tracey Stewart told attendees of the Farm Sanctuary's 100%-vegan gala on Saturday evening, "but what I'm announcing tonight is that our farm is actually going to be the New Jersey branch of Farm Sanctuary. We will build new advocates, curious learners, and leaders for this very important movement."
The organization currently operates three shelters--a 175-acre sanctuary in upstate New York, a 300-acre sanctuary in Northern California, and a 26-acre sanctuary in Southern California--where they rescue, rehabilitate, and provide lifelong care for hundreds of animals who have been saved from stockyards, factory farms, and slaughterhouses. In addition, the nonprofit promotes "compassionate vegan living" through rescue, education, and advocacy efforts.
In August, Jon Stewart ended a 16-year run on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. "I'm a little uncomfortable," he announced at Farm Sanctuary's annual gala. "I've spent the last 20 years immersed in the world of Washington politics and the media landscape, so I don't know how to deal necessarily with people who have empathy."
As Farm Sanctuary pointed out in a press statement, "viewers of The Daily Show have undoubtedly noticed Stewart's increasingly frequent rants and barbs aimed at politicians who ignore the suffering of animals to further their agendas, including an 8-minute segment dedicated to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's refusal to sign a bill that would end the lifelong confinement of pigs in crates so small they can't even turn around."
Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur appeared on the show to discuss his new book, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer and Feeling Better Every Day (Rodale Books), earlier this year:
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