NEWSANIMAL RESCUE

My friend and animal advocate Larry Sullivan snapped this disturbing photo earlier today and captioned it "BBQ sauce? Looks more like blood splatter to me...which makes more sense." How right he is. This looks exactly like a disgusting pool of blood. Way to go, McDonald's marketing team.

And in case anyone has forgotten or missed these posts, the following is where the McRib, like all other "pork" products, comes from: "Undercover at the Pig Farm," from the Mercy for Animals investigation, and "Pig Farm Investigation: A Video You Must See," from the earlier Igualdad Animal/Animal Equality investigation.

If you're really craving the flavor of a "rib" sandwich, you can have that without funding a literally bloody industry or walking into a McDonald's. There are some truly authentic-tasting vegan versions on the market now, including the Hickory BBQ Riblets from Morningstar Farms, which seem to have replaced the Gardenburger riblets (indeed, if you're someone who doesn't like vegan foods that too closely resemble the texture of meat, you probably won't like these). An online search for vegan ribs and riblets will take you to a variety of recipes for homemade versions as well.

Yesterday, Mercy for Animals gave Fox News the exclusive on its latest undercover investigation -- at a standard pig farm. And Fox News put it right in its Web site's top story spot, hopefully catching the attention of many people. The video is certainly disturbing, heartbreaking, horrifying; Fox wouldn't even air portions of it. Indeed, knowing what I was going to see (and hear), I couldn't make myself watch it until today, which I felt I had to do before asking readers to watch.

If you haven't seen footage from previous investigations (or, for that matter, even if you have), and you're still eating animals, you owe it to the animals and yourself to watch the video, included at the end of this post. There's no excuse for not educating yourself on what exactly it is you're involved in and paying for.

I won't repeat all that you can read about the investigation at MFA's site for it, but I will comment on one objection to how animal advocates often present these investigations and touch on something the Discerning Brute has just discussed as well in this context: people's (or at the very least, Americans') bizarre obsession with bacon in recent years.

Perhaps you've read Angelo's story by now? Angelo is a lamb. He was born last month -- while his mother was crammed in a truck of sheep bound for slaughter in New York. His mother and the other hundred sheep met their horrible fate, but a passerby rescued Angelo upon seeing his newborn figure during the unloading. Like nearly all the nonhuman animals we exploit for their flesh, milk, eggs, skin, wool, and more, Angelo did not get to know his mother. And she did not get to know him. She didn't experience just the usual trauma of transport, abuse, intense fear, and violent death -- she simultaneously had to experience the loss of her baby, the distress of not being able to comfort him, care for him, or even know what became of him after his birth. And a newborn lamb was left without a mother in a frightening new world.

But Angelo is still one of the rarest of the rare; he was rescued instead of slaughtered and taken to Farm Sanctuary. And though it's impossible not to mourn for him and mourn for his mother -- and for the billions of others like them -- there is still joy to be found in witnessing Angelo's now-protected life. Following are 75 seconds of a baby's bliss (and other sanctuary residents' curious interest in the energetic young fellow):
---

By now, you may have heard about the undercover video and investigation details released earlier this week by PETA. If not, here's the rundown: Someone from PETA spent five months at a dairy in Pennsylvania as an undercover investigator. The dairy is a Land O'Lakes supplier. And the extreme suffering, horrid conditions, and excruciating, debilitating injuries and illnesses the cows are forced to endure are indisputable. It is all documented clearly. The post continues after the below video, so don't forget to click the "Read More" link:

For the last year, Mexican and American animal advocacy organizations have been working together in an increasingly critical effort to save seven tigers from horrid captive conditions in Cancun, amid the debris of a former restaurant (where they've been held for several years). And although it looked like the groups and the government had come to agreement on a plan to rescue the animals, officials failed to follow through.

A recent news release explains,

Last Chance for Animals (LCA), The Wild Animal Sanctuary (TWAS) and Gente Por La Defensa Animal (GEPDA) have been negotiating with the Mexican government since August 2008 to rescue and relocate 7 tigers held in abhorrent conditions at Pepe's restaurant, in Cancun, Mexico.

Last month, I wrote about Compassion Over Killing's "Dunkin' Cruelty" campaign (link best opened in a browser other than IE) aimed at getting the popular chain to remove egg and dairy from its doughnuts, in addition to providing vegan menu options. But despite COK's concerted efforts and the many e-mails, calls, and letters from customers and potential customers of Dunkin' Donuts, the company has all but ignored the campaign and the information provided on the cruelties of dairy and eggs.

They'll have a hard time ignoring this latest aspect of the campaign.

Back in February, I wrote briefly on The Cove, the gripping documentary on an annual dolphin slaughter in the Japanese village of Taiji that's been a hot topic among audiences and animal advocates this year (official site here). It's been out in select theaters for about a month now, and in that time, Taiji's Australian sister city has severed ties with the village, and far more significantly, the outcry from audiences has been so great that so far this year, though the slaughter was set to begin this week, the normally blood-red waters of the cove are still running clear: no slaughter yet (see this post from ecorazzi for a striking image comparison).

You can read more about what's happening in Taiji and keep apprised of updates by checking in with Ric O'Barry's SaveJapanDolphins.org blog.

See two different intense trailers below (after the jump) and check to see if there are screenings anywhere near you here.

Mercy for Animals' undercover investigation into what happens at hatcheries for the egg industry, about which I told you yesterday, has been getting lots of attention, via mainstream news and blogs and animal rights blogs alike. But one terribly frustrating aspect of reading some of the mainstream blog coverage and comments has been these repeated themes: "Well, this is another reason not to buy industrial eggs"; "I buy free-range, so I'm proud to say I'm not a part of this"; "If you buy local, this doesn't happen."

Not true. Many seem to be missing the point that hatcheries supply free-range operations, "local" egg producers, feed stores, and backyard hobbyists with their hens too; hens exploited for eggs, no matter where you're buying the eggs, come almost entirely from hatcheries that do exactly what the video shows.

This is not a factory farming problem. This is an animal agriculture, eating-of-eggs problem, even if you're buying "free-range."

Edit: See also this follow-up post: "The Undercover Hatchery Investigation--Not Just for Factory Farms."

Numerous posts have appeared on this blog in the last year describing and showing the standard cruelties inherent to all egg production (whether battery or free-range), from the gruesome killing of 250 million malechicks each year at U.S. hatcheries to the ultimate slaughter of all egg-laying hens.

Today, you can see clearly for yourself what happens at the hatcheries, how and where large egg farms and backyard operations alike get the female chicks they will use as egg-laying hens -- and what happens to the other half of the hatched chicks, who are unfortunate enough to be male and of no economic value to the industry (because they have not been bred to grow fast enough for the flesh industry). Mercy for Animals has just released the following video obtained during an undercover investigation at the world's largest hatchery for egg-laying operations: "Thrown, dropped, mutilated, and ground-up alive. This is the shocking reality faced by hundreds of thousands of chicks each day at the world's largest egg-laying breed hatchery."

Please watch. And please remember -- this is not an investigation revealing unusual cruelties. These are the standard, accepted, long-known-about, and defended practices across the egg industry.  Read and see more from the undercover investigation on MFA's site dedicated to it. Now is the time to kick the egg habit.

Image and video courtesy of Mercy for Animals

I saw the link being circulated sometime in the last couple months. I couldn't get past the first few seconds at that time. But last night, a fellow animal advocate used the link to the video in our #oink efforts on Twitter, and I finally made myself watch. Be warned: it's brief (under 2 minutes long), but it's graphic. It's also standard. These actually aren't the worst of the horrors that animal-using industries insist are rare, and this certainly isn't a long, comprehensive video showing everything from transport to dismemberment, or even showing what happens to all the different categories of animals (e.g., the hellish slaughterhouse experience of chickens is not shown here). Rather, this is barely a snippet of what's legal and "humane." And it's what ultimately happens to all farmed animals, whether they're raised for their flesh, their milk, their eggs, or their wool. Video, photo, and investigation courtesy of the always active, always dedicated Igualdad Animal/Animal Equality. (And the post continues after the video.)

Explore helpful, compassionate websites such as this one if you're ready to not be a part of this anymore. And keep an eye on the Friday Food roundups on this blog for all sorts of ideas for compassionate, animal-friendly meals and snacks.