Summer 2017 Volume 27, Number 1 Poultry Press Promoting the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl Celebrating 27 years of dedicated activism for domestic fowl UPC# 11656 United Poultry Concerns P.O. Box 150 Machipongo, VA 23405-0150 (757) 678-7875 FAX: (757) 678-5070 [email protected] UPC sanctuary photo by Visit Our Web Site: Diane Harris, April 11, 2017 www.upc-online.org “Hans deBoer gathered up this baby rooster flung from a truck on a highway in Delaware. Cathy deBoer shampooed him and together they lovingly cared for him until April 7th when they drove him to our sanctuary in Virginia. They called him Chic, so I decided to call him Chicklett II after another baby rooster named Chicklett, who in 2010 was saved by Whitney Hillman, a 16-year-old student who refused to slaughter her chicken for a school project. Instead, she hid him in her purse and snuck him to safety and wrote a letter to her teacher explaining her decision.” – Karen Davis United Poultry Concerns www.upc-online.org Volume 27, Number 1 Our 6th Annual Conscious Eating Conference Was a Fabulous Success! uperbly organized by our projects manager Hope Bohanec, United Poultry Concerns hosted our 6th Annual Conscious Eating ConferenceS at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, California on Saturday, March 11, 2017. The speakers were phenomenal and engaging, the food was delicious, and the energy was positive and inspired! We had lots of new people this year, as well as folks telling us that past Conscious Eating Conferences were their inspiration for going vegan. The morning session featured Lisa Kemmerer, philosopher-activist professor at Montana State University and the author of nine books. Sandra Carol Adams Higgins came all the way from Ireland to talk about her two passions, Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary, focused on how the dominant religions of the world, which she founded as the first vegan sanctuary in as well as atheism, foster or frustrate our relationship Ireland, and her powerful Go Vegan World campaign with animals and nature and the advancement of ethical featuring billboard advertising with poignant images veganism. of farmed animals and Go Vegan messages. The morning concluded with UPC president Karen Davis’s Ready to watch! All Conference presentations can be exhortations about the power of language and the daily viewed on video here: challenges animal rights advocates face “in the real www.upc-online.org/forums/2017/videos.html world.” After a raved-over lunch of polenta & Italian herb We thank everyone who helped make our 6th annual tomato sauce, garlic bread and homemade cake, the Conscious Eating Conference a wonderful success and afternoon session – featuring five riveting speakers – we look forward to having you with us in 2018! Lisa Kemmerer Sandra Higgins United Poultry Concerns • (757) 678-7875 2 P.O. Box 150 • Machipongo, VA 23405-0150 Volume 27, Number 1 United Poultry Concerns www.upc-online.org Kim Socha Cogen Bohanec “Having the atheist among the religious “Attendees were super-positive speakers was great. Very balanced and and struck up conversations. I shows that we are all on the same page feel like I have new friends.” when it comes to animals!” Photos by Liqin Cao Karen Davis Rabbi Jonathan Klein Will Tuttle United Poultry Concerns • (757) 678-7875 3 P.O. Box 150 • Machipongo, VA 23405-0150 United Poultry Concerns www.upc-online.org Volume 27, Number 1 “Coming for the 3rd year! Loved Poultry Press the speakers, very inspirational. is published quarterly by Liked meeting like-minded United Poultry Concerns, Inc., a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) people. Loved the food. Very much organization incorporated enjoyed the displays and talking to in the State of Maryland. Federal ID: 52-1705678 people. Bought a book from UPC. Looking forward to next year!” Editor: Karen Davis Graphic Design: Franklin Wade UNITED POULTRY CONCERNS, INC. Officers: KAREN DAVIS, PhD President-Director LIQIN CAO Vice President-Director FRANKLIN WADE Vice President-Director “Loved it! Got more than I VEDA STRAM expected! Thanks for a wonderful Vice President-Director conference and a fantastic lunch!” DEBBIE DONOVAN Secretary Treasurer-Director Website Administrator/ Graphic Designer: FRANKLIN WADE Office Assistant: RONNIE STEINAU Sanctuary Assistants: HOLLY WILLS & DIANE HARRIS Web Assistant: BILL FERGUSON Projects Manager: HOPE BOHANEC Advisors: Carol J. Adams, Author Holly Cheever, DVM Mary Britton Clouse, Would you like to do more to help the birds? Chicken Run Rescue Just go to www.upc-online.org/email and sign up to Sean Day, Attorney Clare Druce, Chickens’ Lib Sheila Schwartz, PhD, BECOME A UPC E-SUBSCRIBER! Humane Education Committee of NYC News updates, action alerts, upcoming events and more! Kim Sturla, Animal Place United Poultry Concerns • (757) 678-7875 4 P.O. Box 150 • Machipongo, VA 23405-0150 Volume 27, Number 1 United Poultry Concerns www.upc-online.org Chandler Festival Ostrich Races Should Be Retired By Karen Davis and Robert Franklin witnessed by the demise of Ringling Bros. circus. Rather than cling to relics of the past, the chamber should take Published in the East Valley editions of The Arizona stock and get out of the animal entertainment business. Republic, March 1, 2017 Ostriches – the oldest living birds on earth – are Once upon a time, the ostrich races were hot designed by nature to roam vast desert spaces and entertainment maybe, but are they still? survey the land with their brilliant eyes in all directions Last year, it didn’t seem so. The ostriches were raced at once. In their natural habitat, ostriches are dignified in a remote area of the festival grounds, and the races birds devoted to their families. were poorly attended compared to many other festival By contrast, the ostrich races strip ostriches of their events. dignity, make them look silly, and put them in danger. This year, the Ostrich Festival will be held on March Ostriches are not suited by temperament or anatomy 10-12. to pull chariots and carry riders. Their large fragile We believe the Chandler Chamber of Commerce eyes, long legs and necks can be easily injured – and should eliminate the ostrich races this year – both the whatever injuries they sustain are hidden from view as chariot style and the rodeo style – and focus instead on the ostriches are whisked away immediately as soon as attractions that reflect Chandler’s evolving high-tech the show is over. industry and the public’s ever-growing interest in digital For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Chandler attractions and technical feats. Chamber of Commerce to retire the ostrich races Last year’s festival featured many new, nonanimal permanently from the festival and use that space for attractions including a racing game of motorized, innovative, 21st-century entertainment that is likely to remote-controlled cars that drew big audiences. The attract whole new generations of festivalgoers. festival needs more of these kinds of activities. Once said to draw 250,000 visitors, the festival Karen Davis, President, United Poultry Concerns. now attracts about 100,000 visitors, according to the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. Robert Franklin, Coordinator, Arizona Vegan Animal Public interest is dwindling in staged performances Liberation Activists. featuring animals who are forced to act unnaturally, as United Poultry Concerns • (757) 678-7875 5 P.O. Box 150 • Machipongo, VA 23405-0150 United Poultry Concerns www.upc-online.org Volume 27, Number 1 Ostrich Festival Protest Report, March 2017 “The fact that they attempted to silence us and marginalize us only served to fire us up and make us even more determined.” - Robert Franklin, Festival Protest Organizer his year, United Poultry Concerns campaigned with Arizona Vegan Animal Liberation Activists to protest the Chandler OstrichT Festival ostrich races March 10-12, sponsored by the Chandler Chamber of Commerce. Links posted on www.upc-online.org/ostriches document our 2017 campaign, and we thank Robert Franklin and his group for their fantastic festival protest! Here’s how it went. From “Rough Start” to “Fired Up and Determined!” By Robert Franklin a better situation for us on Saturday and Sunday. Protest Friday March 10, 2017. We agreed to protest in the same area Friday night, 6:00-8:00pm reluctantly, but I felt it better not to create a lot of trouble on day 1. Once we got started, it went really well. Many activists got to meet each other and discuss activism and inspire others to become more involved. The fact that they attempted to silence us and marginalize us only served to fire us up and make us even more determined. A highlight of the evening was when a reporter from the East Valley Tribune came by and took pictures and interviewed us to get our opinions. Friday’s Protest got off to a rough start. Despite The activists felt long talks with the Chandler Police Department days empowered to have before the festival, Friday night I was told we could their voices heard only protest on a specific corner where I assumed lots in defense of the of people would see us. Wrong. They placed us in a animals exploited “freedom of speech area.” Their words, not ours. by the Chandler The area was behind the VIP tent. Even though we Ostrich Festival. were right next to the fair, no one came by and the large “Protesters claim VIP tent blocked our view of the only entrance in sight. victory in picketing We found this very unsatisfactory. We were not only Ostrich Festival” pushed off and hidden in a corner, but with the ropes was published in Kimberly Carrillo/ they had put up to “corral” us into, we felt like part of the East Valley East Valley Tribune an exhibit set up by the organizers.