I've spent the week caring for my ailing 13 year old pitbull (something to which many animal advocates will relate) who has vestibular problems, so I have been dealing with neurologists and all that fun stuff. But I didn't want to let the week run out without playing some news catch-up.
Last week's massive egg recall continued to make much news this week. In a heartening trend the media coverage has continued to question current production methods and link the living conditions of the hens to salmonella outbreaks.
Some of the responses from the egg industry are almost comical. I read in one article that an industry expert suggested that cage-free eggs were more likely to carry salmonella as cage-free hens live in the excrement that covers the shed floor. The excrement story is true, and it is a horror for our health and for the animals who suffer burns and who live in the overwhelming fumes of ammonia. But the industry spokesperson seems to have conveniently forgotten about the shower of excrement that rains down all day on hens in all but the top row of stacked battery cages.
The media coverage, focused on health, is mostly missing any real focus on the horrendous cruelty of modern egg farming, where hens live crammed together in cages so small they cannot even spread their wings. The cruelty issue was, however, succinctly addressed in a wonderful cartoon by Matt Davies, which was published in the Allentown paper, the Morning Call. In the paper the cartoon was renamed "Hurt" while on Davies website it has its rightful title, "Clucked."
Check it out at: http://davies.lohudblogs.com/files/2010/08/0826davies.jpg
And please send Davies a thank you at mdavies@lohud.com . Positive feedback for animal friendly work encourages more of it.
I send my thanks to Louzilla Ryan who made sure we saw the cartoon.
Nicholas Kristof, who so often speaks up for the animals in his New York Times column, didn't disappoint on this issue. His column headed, "Cleaning the Henhouse" noted that "jamming chickens into small cages is a nightmare for the animals." You can check it out at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/opinion/02kristof.html and send a response to the Times at letters@nytimes.com
As the egg recall has been covered in every US newspaper, I ask folks to please send a letter to their local paper addressing the cruelty issue. Somebody has to speak up the animals. If you do, I assure you that many readers in your area will be nodding their heads in agreement. Others will be too busy digesting the information and viewpoint you provide to manage that nod, but you will have planted seeds in their minds.
Folks in other countries can use the US recall as a jump-off point for letters on the same issue.
You can cover the horrors of factory farming, but please don't forget that old fashioned farming (which produces a miniscule proportion of eggs in this country) isn't fantastically humane either. The hens don't live long happy lives once they've stopped laying, and hens are exempt from Federal Humane Slaughter laws. They die via some sickeningly cruel methods. Given that millions of folks live healthfully on plant based diets -- more healthfully than most of those on the animal protein based diets most common in America (with its half million heart bypass surgeries per year) the egg recall presents a great opportunity to discuss, in your letters, the many joys and advantages of plant-based diets.
You can almost always find the email address for a letter to your editor either on your paper's editorial page, or on their website under "contact us." Or you can call the paper and ask for the email address for a letter to the editor.
This discussion of the joys of plant-based eating leads me to two more writings I wish to note. I just reread Sharon Gannon's beautiful little book "Yoga and Vegetarianism." (Please check it out at http://tinyurl.com/3yzytx2) Many folks are familiar with the yogic concept of ahimsa, or non harming, and understand how that precludes eating meat. Sharon takes us through the life of a dairy cow on a factory farm and makes it clear that ahimsa must also preclude the drinking of cows milk given the pain and utter sadness of her life. She also discusses, in that context, brahmacharya, the tenet that tells us not to manipulate others sexually; cows are mechanically or manually raped so that they will become pregnant, have babies, and give milk.
Sharon's discussion of Asteya, non stealing, is the one that seems to me to seal the dairy argument from the yoga perspective -- or from the ten commandments perspective for that matter. That brings me to the last piece I am compelled to share, an utterly compelling story from industry veterinarian Dr Holly Cheever, about a cow's ingenious effort to outsmart a farmer and save at least one of her babies from the veal crate. One can only surmise that she thought the issue through and made a bovine Sophie's choice. The piece is a must read, which makes clear that dairy consumption is theft of the cruelest kind. It involves stealing the young of other species from their mothers -- their loving and protective mothers. Please read it. Please share it. Whether or not you are ready to change your diet, please at least be informed so that you can make conscious choices. The article is on the Albany's Times Union website at http://tinyurl.com/2bsucr8
My thanks go to Deb Frieden for making sure we saw that one.
And now, a little pitbull Vote:
This is just for fun. Paula and I are in another people who look like their dogs contest -- yes I do look like my pitbull, you'll see. It's on the front page of the Bella Dog Magazine website at
http://www.belladogmagazine.com/
We were winning hands down for a while but the competition is creeping up. Our main competition has a sweet story about her bichon but has included the information that she "bought Cotton in 2005" and that it was the "best investment" she ever made. So if you feel like putting a vote in for pitties or for rescues, then click on that link and vote for we Dawns. Paula sends you a big thank you kiss. And sorry, she probably stuck her tongue in -- typical pit.
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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line.)
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which was chosen last year by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"
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Date: Fri Sep 3 19:46:12 2010
