NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Pussy Riot Digs DxE, Mary’s Chickens Expands & More, Oct. 31 - Nov. 8, 2017

By Leslie Goldberg

PUSSY RIOT DIGS DXE

On Twitter, the infamous Russian punk/art/protest band Pussy Riot gave DxE a shout-out for our recent daylight open rescue and sit-in at Saba Live Poultry in Oakland, CA, writing: “these incredible animal liberation actions!” (Facebook) ("Police State" Music Video)

MARY’S CHICKENS EXPANDS

Pittman Family Farms, the company that produces Mary’s Chickens, is expanding – like a cancer. The poultry company that sells “humanely raised” Mary’s Chickens has applied to Kings County in California for conditional- use permits for 70 new barns at four existing county ranches - increasing the production of its “meat chickens” overall by four-fold. One of those ranches, will go from raising 120,000 birds at one time to raising over a million birds, the Hanford Sentinel reports. DxE’s recent investigation into Mary’s Chickens found thousands of sick and dying birds crammed into filthy, foul-smelling sheds with no access to the outside, despite the company’s claims of “humanely raised” chickens happily roaming under the sun. (Hanford Sentinel)

VIOLENCE 101

Colorado State University is planning to build a “meat-processing plant” on its campus. Animal rights activists are opposing this $20 million JBS Global Food Innovation Center to house the school’s “meat science” program as well as a slaughterhouse. JBS, a huge corporation which kills chickens and cows, is donating $7.5 million toward construction and $5 million toward educational programs at the “center.” The school is countering the characterization of a slaughterhouse on campus. “This is not a production facility,” said Ajay Menon, dean of the school’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “No one walking or working near the center will be able to see, hear or smell anything coming from inside the processing area.” She noted that “only” five to eight cows would be killed there a month. The center has been designed by Temple Grandin, who also teaches there. (Denver Post)

PROPOSITION 2.0

Humane Society of the United States, in an effort to “update” farmed animal welfare standards, is pushing to get a proposition on the 2018 California state ballot which will ban the sales of eggs from hens in cages. This proposition follows HSUS’s previous Proposition 2, passed in 2008, which aimed to give chickens more space (in cages), but failed to include any means to enforce the measure. After Prop 2 passed, most California chicken farmers continued to stuff chickens into file drawer-sized battery cages. This new proposition aims to ban cages completely and require that chickens be raised “cage-free” and mandates that the birds get at least 12 inches by 12 inches of space. HSUS is calling their campaign Cruelty Free California. It is also supported by Mercy for Animals, Compassion Over Killing and the Humane League. (HSUS)

A WORD FOR SPARROWS!

 A PETA activist disrupted a Yale University president’s speech in Seattle, demanding that he end experiments on sparrows conducted by researcher Christine Lattin, a postdoctoral associate at the school. PETA says the researcher has killed hundreds of birds in cruel and scientifically unnecessary, useless experiments. The group said she has fed the birds oil, cut their legs and imprisoned them in cloth bags. According to Speaking of Research,  an advocacy group for animal experimentation, “The birds were only fed small amounts of oil in their food.” The group also told the Yale student newspaper that the sparrows were “subjected to a brief period of restraint in a breathable cloth bag” and “the birds were given anesthesia...when their legs were wounded.” (Yale Daily News)