NEWS OF THE WEEK: FBI Hunts Piglets, McDonald’s Intros Vegan Burger & More – October 2-9, 2017
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
FBI Hunts Piglets, McDonald’s Intros Vegan Burger & More – October 2-9, 2017
By Leslie Goldberg
1) The big news of the past week in the world of animal rights was a piece in The Intercept about Direct Action Everywhere’s open rescue of two piglets from Smithfield Foods’ Circle Four Farm, which detailed the FBI’s ridiculous efforts to scour animal sanctuaries in Utah and Colorado in hopes of retrieving the animals and sending them back to the mega factory farm in Utah. The article discussed the tight bond between coporations like Smithfield and the US government and how law enforcement is being used to do the companies’ bidding. Glenn Greenwald’s piece detailed the horrific conditions on the farm and explained not only speciesism, but DxE’s work. Greenwald is a Pulitzer Prize winner and highly acclaimed. https://theintercept.com/2017/10/05/factory-farms-fbi-missing-piglets-animal-rights-glenn-greenwald/
On the heels of that story, which we think reached as many as 7 million people, Utah senator, Jim Dabakis posted his dismay at the use of the FBI to hunt down two piglets who had been rescued by DxE from the horrible conditions at the farm.
https://www.facebook.com/directactioneverywhere/posts/1704901822873493
2) Tapping in on a national trend to send prison convicts into corporations to work, judges in Oklahoma are offering work in a chicken processing plant as an alternative to prison. The Center for Investigative Reporting detailed in the article the horrible working conditions at the plant and discussed the fact that so many of the workers are getting injured and, as a result, are getting addicted to pain killers. https://www.revealnews.org/article/they-thought-they-were-going-to-rehab-they-ended-up-in-chicken-plants/
3) McDonald’s made news this week, announcing the trial of a new product, “The McVegan Burger.” The story got big traction, with many people posting that they wished the trial was happening in the U.S., not Finland.
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/mcdonalds-testing-new-vegan-burger/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mcdonalds-vegan-burger-mcvegan_us_59d92818e4b046f5ad98a0ed
4) The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to require large grocery stores to notify customers as to whether the meat they sell comes from animals dosed with antibiotics. http://www.sfexaminer.com/?p=180506
5) The environment. Found numerous articles and opinion columns all over the world calling for a reduction in meat consumption to mitigate pollution, the overuse of resources and climate change. Great story in The Guardian about climate change and methane produced by cows.
6) Article in the San Jose Mercury News about DxE protestors hanging huge banners at a San Francisco Giants game including one that read BAN MEAT IN BERKELEY.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/29/group-calls-for-berkeley-meat-ban-at-giants-game/
