(Note: Learn about new reality show featuring vegans at the bottom of this email.)
I haven't sent out Vick news coverage updates because you can't turn on the television tonight without seeing that story. Vick's the new Britney. (Brit's cruelty to animals, however, supporting the hideous puppy mill industry, was further removed).
Equally sickening, but not so widely covered, is an undercover investigation done by Mercy for Animals at the House of Raeford Farms poultry plant. Cleveland Ohio's Fox affiliate did cover it last night, Wednesday July 25, airing shocking footage. Their I-team shared video of employees forcefully shoving their hands into the cloacae (vaginal cavities) of live chickens, and we saw turkeys and chickens being thrown across the facility and up into the air. One worker did his boxing punching bag practice on the turkeys moving past him on their way to slaughter.
I was concerned by the opening of the piece when the anchor asked "Is this abuse real or has it been staged by animal rights activists?" But we learn during the piece that the set-up is because "In a statement released to the I-team, the House of Raeford called the hidden camera DVD a staged video in which some of the footage is looped to make the abuse look more offensive."
Raeburn complained about two particularly horrifying segments. Fox tells us,
"But an I-team review of the raw footage found neither section of the video looped as the company complains. The edits simply eliminated gaps in time. In fact more turkeys were punched and more hens were penetrated on the raw tape than on the edited DVD."
And while Raeburn suggested the amateur boxer had been encouraged by activists, the I-team says, "But the raw footage shows the worker standing alone throwing punches at passing turkeys."
Warning -- its hard to watch.
But as delightful PETA activist Nicole Matthews says on the new reality series, The Two Coreys, which premieres this Sunday night, "The animals go through so much, the least we can do is bear witness to what they have to endure." (More on that below.)
Thanks to the Internet, activists all over the country and world can see Fox Cleveland I-teams animal abuse coverage. Please let the station know its appreciated! Watch the story at http://tinyurl.com/yw33al and take just a moment to send notes of thanks to http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/ContactUs?pageId=5.11.
Positive feedback will encourage follow-ups.
You can learn more about the investigation at www.MercyForAnimals.org/HOR
Which brings us to the undercover poultry slaughter video airing on The Two Coreys, which premieres this Sunday night, July 29 at 10pm on A&E. Learn more about that new reality show at
http://www.aetv.com/the-two-coreys/
If you click on "Exclusive Video" you can watch a fun preview in which you see Corey Feldman's wife, Susie, wearing a "Fur is Dead" t-shirt.
On the video page, "Cold Turkey" brings up the little clip of Nicole Matthews, mentioned above. Nicole has warned me that five hours of dialogue has been edited down to nine minutes of air-time, so I fear it is possible that the editors could have cut this warm and fun young woman to fit the media's mold of the strident animal rights activist. But it looks, instead, like the show is going to give animal rights activism a fair shake. Fingers crossed.
Check it out, and please light up those community message boards to show lots of interest, and send your comments to http://www.aetv.com/global/feedback/contact.jsp?site=AETV.com&NetwCode=AEN (Choose "program comments" from the pull-down menu.") It looks like a big thank-you is in order at least for the airing of the poultry slaughterhouse footage.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
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Date: Thu Jul 26 22:20:37 2007
