- FREE - Go ahead, take it. Living Compassionate CTHE MAG OF MFA. FALL-WINTERL 12 ISSUE 11 Wicked Walmart The Hidden Cost of the Mega Retailer's Cheap Pork Butterball Gets Busted Historic Cruelty Conviction + Auction Against Turkey Tyrant Atrocities Go Vegan, Lose Weight MFA Undercover Investigation Exposes Heartbreaking Abuse Tips from an Expert The Artivists Creativity Meets Compassion MercyForAnimals.org dear friends newswatch Living Meaty Environmental Issues The Scientific Veterinary Committee of the European Commission studied the matter extensively. What they Compassionate According to NPR, meat consumption in the reports that the 10 million automobiles in the region found wasn’t all too surprising: “When sows are put United States is on a downward spiral, and not only produce far less smog than the area's 300,000 into a very small pen, they indicate by their behavioral out of animal cruelty concerns. The media magnate dairy cows. responses that they find the confinement aversive. If given CL states that 29 percent of its Truven Health Analytics Water depletion is another major concern. Researchers the opportunity, they leave the confined space and they Health Poll’s 3,000 participants cited concern for the at the Stockholm International Water Institute find that usually resist attempts to make them return to that place.” Contributors environment as their motivation for forgoing animal "there will not be enough water available on current products. It’s no wonder why, considering the Amy Bradley croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion frightening facts. In other words, pigs want freedom. Just like you and Becca Frye population in 2050 if we follow current trends and me. It’s no surprise that gestation crates have since been Brooke Mays A recent article in the Washington Post reveals that changes towards diets common in Western nations." banned by the European Union. a major source of smog in Los Angeles is ammonia Translation: we can’t feed the world’s growing population Eddie Garza emissions caused by dairy operations. The article on an animal-based diet. The truth is, if factory farmers really cared about what Vandhana Bala science had to say concerning our fellow earthlings, they Matt Rice would quickly start looking for a new career. The more we Nathan Runkle Taking a Bite out of Big Ag learn about other animals, the more we see how strikingly Anya Todd similar to us they are and how industrial farming practices A new study compiling data by the USDA, National Center for Health Sara Van Alt are inherently flawed. Statistics, United Nations, and the U.S. Census Bureau suggests that the demand for meat is slowly sinking, in part because Americans are Just this year, an international group of prominent becoming more aware of farmed animal cruelty. In addition, new polls indicate that meat consumption in the United States continues to drop scientists signed the Cambridge Declaration on Dear Friends, as more Americans are choosing a vegetarian diet. In 2011, compared Consciousness, jointly declaring what common sense to 2010, the number of land animals that died for American In this issue of CL we take you behind the closed doors of has told us all along: animals are just as "conscious and Meat: Hazardous to Our Health consumption fell from 8.4 to 8.2 billion, or 242 million fewer animals. one of the nation’s largest pig factory farms, exposing the aware" as humans, and "it's no longer something that grim reality animals face before ending up as pork on the we can ignore." Current scientific research concludes thatthe consumption of animal products is linked to a laundry list of health risks. According to new This decline in meat consumption is putting a serious dent in animal shelves of Walmart stores. research from the journal Atherosclerosis, egg consumption increases agribusiness. According to the New York Times, Tyson Foods, the Among such conscious and sentient beings are the billions the risk for coronary heart disease nearly as much as smoking nation's largest meat company, reported a huge drop in profits due to What might be more outrageous than the cruelty and of farmed animals who are just as intelligent as the dogs tobacco. lower consumer demand for chicken and beef. The company has reduced deprivation these animals face is the outlandish and and cats our nation cherishes. For example, cows are its expectation of full-year profits by $1 billion due to the lower demand false rhetoric used by pork producers to defend it. These extremely gentle and kind animals who form strong bonds for meat, demonstrating that the choices we make as consumers truly Mercy For Animals (MFA) is a Meat consumption also spreads infectious diseases from animals factory farmers, driven by increased profits, say their with one another. Chickens show sophisticated social have the power to create change. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to humans. For example, NPR reported that antibiotic-resistant E. moneymaking practices are based on “science,” rather behavior and can recognize more than a hundred other dedicated to preventing cruelty coli strains are transferred to humans through the consumption of than “emotions.” chickens. In the words of Dr. Donald Broom, Cambridge to farmed animals and promoting infected birds. What’s more, the use of antibiotics on factory farms University professor and former scientific advisor to the compassionate food choices and is in great part responsible for creating such antibiotic-resistant policies. They openly argue that cramming pigs into narrow metal Council of Europe, "[P]igs have the cognitive ability to be superbugs, making these same antibiotics less effective at treating gestation crates—barbaric devices barely larger than the quite sophisticated. Even more so than dogs and certainly Given that over 95% of animal human illnesses. animals’ own bodies—for their entire lives is perfectly [more so than] three-year-olds." cruelty occurs in the production acceptable. They’d prefer we all just gloss over and of meat, dairy, and eggs, MFA's According to a global study highlighted by Reuters, zoonotic ignore the fact that these incredibly sensitive and We are now faced with a moral test, not a scientific main function is promoting a diseases—diseases that originate in animals—have also been intelligent animals can’t so much as walk, turn around, one. And while science can’t solve moral dilemmas, it vegetarian diet. MFA works to responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and result in an be a voice for animals through average of 2.2 million deaths a year. Reuters also recently reported lie down comfortably, or experience even the smallest can give us the information and tools needed to address proactive consumer education sliver of freedom. them. Thankfully, today we have the tools—both the initiatives, cruelty investigations, a widespread outbreak of salmonella in the Northeast and Virginia knowledge and means—to start creating a kinder future corporate outreach, and legal that prompted Cargill Beef Inc. to recall nearly 15 tons of ground beef. Dave Warner, communications director for the National for all animals. advocacy. Pork Producers Council, recently told the National Journal, MFA relies on the generous “So our animals can’t turn around for the 2.5 years that support of compassionate The Good, the Bad and the Ugly they are in the stalls producing piglets. I don’t know who Sincerely, individuals to carry on our asked the sow if she wanted to turn around.” Warner goes life-saving work. To become Recently, the National Milk Producers Federation In other not-so-good news, a new study cited by the on to assert that “the only real measure of their well- a member, simply send a contribution of $15 to: (NMPF)—a trade organization that represents most Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations being we have is the number of piglets per birth,” which of the dairy marketing cooperatives in the United (FAO) reported that the “increasing global number of he brags is “at an all-time high.” Mercy For Animals States—voted to officially oppose tail docking, the farmed fish slaughtered for food each year may already 8033 Sunset Blvd, Ste 864 cruel practice of slicing off the ends of calves' tails exceed the number of farmed mammals and birds Not only is the claim outrageous on its face, it’s Los Angeles, CA 90046 Nathan Runkle 1-866-632-6446 without the use of painkillers. Rhode Island governor reported by the FAO (63 billion in 2010).” Just like cows, also patently untrue. Scientists have, to the best of Executive Director [email protected] Lincoln D. Chafee also signed two important animal chickens, pigs, and other farmed animals, fish feel pain, their ability, “asked” pigs if they like gestation crates. protection measures into law that prohibit the tail can suffer, and are subjected to horrific conditions on The response—a resounding “no.” docking of cows and the use of cruel confinement factory fish farms. systems for baby calves and mother pigs. 2 ComPASSIONate LIVING MERCYFORANIMALS.ORG CHOOSEVEG.COM FAll- WINter 12 3 meetmfa actionreport Record-Breaking Summer MFA served as a powerful force for farmed animals this summer, exhibiting at over 40 festivals, holding over 60 Paid-Per-View events, and participating in numerous marches Defending and parades nationwide. the Marking MFA’s seventh year marching in gay pride parades, over 300 volunteers across the country marched in their local parades behind banners boldly declaring, "No one is free when others are oppressed.” Animal activists also proudly proclaimed their dedication to a Defenseless cruelty-free vegetarian lifestyle by marching in the New York City and Chicago inaugural veggie pride parades.