1. Book Review: "Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs:
An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry"
2. Famous Quote – Gary Yourofsky
3. The Truth Behind Cattle Trade
4. Bible verse – Genesis 2:18-19
5. Breaking News! UEP and HSUS Agreement
6. This Week’s Video – Mercy For Animals’ Undercover
Investigation
1. Book Review: "Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs:
An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry"
Very thorough review of Karen Davis' book "Prisoned Chickens,
Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry".
The book reveals in detail the miserable lives of chickens in industrial
farms and the atrocious cruelty inflicted on them in the hands of the
poultry industry. It also details the complex and interesting lives of
wild and free chickens so the reader is able to contrast the vast
differences between the two. A must read for animal advocates and anyone
who wants to extend their circle of compassion! To read the full review
please search online for
Journal of Animal Ethics 2011 Review of Prisoned Chickens Poisoned Eggs
2. This Week’s Famous Quote
"I want you to think about how you would feel if the moment you were
born, somebody else had already planned the day of your execution"
~ Gary Yourofsky, animal advocate and public speaker
3. The Truth Behind Cattle Trade
A recent exposé showed unimaginable cruelty inflicted on cattle who
is exported from Australia to Indonesia. Every year, Australia exports
500,000 cattle end up in Indonesian slaughterhouses and this senseless
torture has been ignored by Australian officials who assured the public
that the welfare of these animals is “generally good”. However,
extensive footage taken at different Indonesian slaughterhouses, showed
a range of horrifying acts of brutality such as kicking, hitting,
eye-gouging and tail-breaking - as workers try to force the cattle to go
into the slaughter boxes. To read the article please search online for
A Bloody Business
and to watch the video search online for
A Bloody Business - video
It seems inexplicable to me that we can call ourselves “humans” and
act with such barbarism! God’s animals are at our mercy and therefore
depend solely on our ability to show compassion. Jesus’ ministry was
heavily centered on compassion, mercy and love; and Christians, as
followers of Christ, should not support industries that cause pain and
misery to any creature. Transitioning to a plant-based diet helps us
show compassion and mercy to farmed animals.
4. This Week’s Bible Verse
(RSV) Genesis 2:18-19
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." So out of the ground the
LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the
man called every living creature, that was its name.
I think these verses indicate that God made animals as Adam’s helpers
and companions and not as mere commodities to be exploited. In fact,
Adam named the animals, which we might interpret as concern and
friendship. Simply put, we don’t name the animals we eat.
5. Breaking News! UEP and HSUS Agreement
The United Egg Producers (UEP) and The Humane Society of the United
States (HSUS) have agreed to support the first federal legislation in
U.S. history that would protect farmed birds. UEP, the trade group in
charge of defending the worst of the worst abuses of farmed animals, has
agreed to work with HSUS in a proposed legislation that would include
the following:
- A moratorium at the end of 2011 on new construction of unenrichable
battery cages—small, cramped, cages that nearly immobilize more than 90
percent of laying hens today—and the nationwide elimination of barren
battery cages through a phase-out period;
- A phased-in construction of new hen housing systems that provide
each hen nearly double the amount of space they’re currently provided;
require environmental enrichments so birds can engage in important
natural behaviors currently denied to them in barren cages, such as
perches, nesting boxes, and scratching areas;
- A mandate labeling on all egg cartons nationwide to inform
consumers of the method used to produce the eggs, such as “eggs from
caged hens” or “eggs from cage-free hens”;
- A prohibition on forced molting through starvation, an inhumane
practice that is inflicted on tens of millions of hens each year and
which involves withholding all food from birds for up to two weeks in
order to manipulate the laying cycle;
- A prohibition on excessive ammonia levels in henhouses, a common
problem in the industry that is harmful to both hens and egg industry
workers; and
- A prohibition on the sale of all eggs and egg products nationwide
that don’t meet these requirements.
To read more about this fantastic news, please search online for
Breaking News: Landmark
Agreement to Help Millions of Hens
This is good news for God’s Creation! Alleviating the pain and
suffering of God’s farmed animals will indeed help bring healing and
reconciliation, and also hopefully more awareness to the fact that
billions of God’s creatures are legally imprisoned and exploited every
year for profit and taste, a fact that should appall every Christian.
6. This Week’s Video – Mercy For Animals’ Undercover
Investigation
A new
Mercy For Animals
(MFA) undercover investigation sheds more light on the hidden appalling
reality of one of the nation's largest pork producers – Iowa Select
Farms in Kamrar, Iowa. Between April and June of 2011, an MFA
investigator documented unimaginable cruelty such as: mother sows
confined to barren metal crates barely larger than their own bodies,
workers ripping out the testicles of conscious piglets without the use
of painkillers, piglets suffering with herniated intestines, conscious
piglets having their tails painfully sliced into and yanked off with
dull clippers, sick and injured pigs left to languish and slowly die
without proper veterinary care, mother pigs suffering from painful
uterine prolapses, and management training workers throwing piglets
across the room – comparing it to a "roller coaster ride." To watch the
video and learn more please search online for
Concealed Cruelty: Pork Industry Animal
Abuse Exposed
It's simply almost impossible to understand that such cruelty is so
widespread and legal. How are we, stewards of God's Creation, capable of
causing so much pain and suffering in spite of claiming to be Christ's
followers? I think it's imperative to understand that when we cause
misery to God's animals we are causing misery to ourselves as well as to
the generations to come. The spiritual repercussions of the atrocities
we commit against God's animals I believe are reflected in the hardness
of hearts; and therefore, in the state of the world
.
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