FREE Living passionate Com CThe Mag of MFA. LSUMMER 2014 Ag-Gag Wars DEFENDING FREE SPEECH AND ANIMALS ESTHER THE WONDER PIG MOVE OVER MISS PIGGY… THERE’S A NEW GIRL IN TOWN TYSON + TAKEDOWN MAYIM BIALIK HOW MFA’S INVESTIGATOR CAUSED TV’S VEGAN SUPERSTAR THIS CORPORATE GIANT TO CHANGE SPARKS A BIG BANG One student, who also worked part time on This year, MFA celebrates its 15th anniversary the teacher’s pig farm, stepped forward and of working to prevent cruelty to farmed NEWSWATCH proceeded to grab the baby piglet by her animals and promote compassionate food hind legs and violently slam her headfirst into choices and policies. the ground. A room full of stunned students looked on in horror and disgust. This issue of CL features a special timeline that runs across the bottom of each page, Even after this second assault, this brave highlighting MFA’s growth, successes, and Please Don’t Pass the TCBY AND piglet didn’t die. Determined to survive, she achievements over these past 15 years. THE KING MEAT, DAIRY, or SEAFOOD held on, now bleeding from the mouth, her CHIPOTLE skull severely fractured. And we’ve accomplished so much — together. We’ve brought animal abusers Holding back tears, a student grabbed the to justice, securing dozens of criminal EMBRACE piglet, left the classroom, frantically ran down convictions against those who beat, kick, IS DEAD! the hall, and found another teacher, one and torture farmed animals. We’ve helped VEGANISM known for her sympathy and compassion pass precedent-setting state laws that ban Beef is actually not what’s toward animals. some of the most inhumane factory farming practices. We’ve taken on multibillion-dollar for dinner in more and Californians were super excited last summer She left the school, rushing to the nearby corporations and won, pressuring them In a huge victory for more American homes. when Chipotle launched its delicious veterinarian’s office. Moments later, the to make meaningful animal welfare policy In fact, beef consumption suffering was over. The piglet was euthanized. changes. We’ve directly rescued hundreds of farmed animals across animals from lives of misery on factory farms. has been on the downturn new Sofritas — braised tofu with spices — Days later, animal cruelty charges were leveled And we’ve inspired millions upon millions of throughout the state. Now the mega chain against the student and teacher involved in people to move toward a vegan diet, sparing the nation, the dangerous for years in the U.S. and the incident. A firestorm followed, pitting the lives of countless animals. “King Amendment” to the is expected to drop has plans to take Sofritas nationwide. national pig farmer associations against local Nathan Runkle animal protection advocates. And it’s all been possible because of you. another 5 percent Another vegan debut, TCBY’s almond- Executive Director Farm Bill was stopped dead in 2014. Americans In a standing-room-only courtroom, on We couldn’t have grown and accomplished aren’t swapping cows based chocolate frozen yogurt, was so the first day of the trial, the judge did the so much without you, our valued members, in its tracks. Sponsored by unthinkable: he dismissed the case. But not volunteers, donors, and supporters. Our for fish either. Seafood hugely successful that the company has without reason. He had little choice, given our lifeblood. Our heart. Our team. the notoriously anti-animal consumption is in the introduced an incredibly tasty vanilla country’s broken legal system, which fails to midst of a DEAR FRIENDS, fully protect farmed animals from abuse. As we look back, we also look ahead to the seven-year flavor, now available throughout the U.S. next 15 years with great excitement. I’ve Steve King of Iowa, the nosedive. Got milk? Not Ohio, like the majority of U.S. states, exempts never been more hopeful or optimistic about so much anymore. Milk It all started with a piglet, a schoolteacher, and an act of cruelty to a farmed animal from the future of the animal protection movement. King Amendment would a broken legal system 15 short years ago. legal prosecution if it is considered “standard I know, in my heart, that we will prevail in has seen a whopping agricultural practice.” This case died, because bringing about a society in which all animals have wiped out virtually 40 percent decrease in It was a warm spring morning at Graham the act of slamming baby piglets headfirst into are treated with the respect and compassion High School, a quaint school nested between the ground is, in fact, considered a “standard” they so rightly deserve. consumption since 1970. farmhouses and cornfields off a small country and acceptable practice by the pork industry. every state law protecting road in Saint Paris, Ohio. As the bell rang, It’s a barbaric practice that is nonetheless The future is ours for the shaping. Let’s create students of the agricultural studies class carried out countless times a day at pig farms something beautiful. farmed animals from even gathered for the day’s assignment: dissection. across our nation. The teacher, a pig farmer, arrived earlier that the most horrific cruelty. morning with a bucket full of piglets he had This sickening case, which unfolded virtually Sincerely, FOSTER FARMS killed that morning on his farm — or at least in my own backyard, compelled me to act. attempted to kill. Only 15 years old at the time, and armed only with a burning motivation to help stop the FIASCO Moments before the dissection project was to suffering of farmed animals, I took action. begin, students noticed something shocking: Foster Farms chicken is to blame for sickening hundreds with salmonella. one of the piglets was still alive. She was A few short months later, Mercy For Animals The outbreak came during a government shutdown when the USDA and blinking, lifting her head, and vocalizing. was born. Nathan Runkle Executive Director the Food Safety and Inspection Service websites were down, leaving millions in the dark and at risk. Just a couple of months later, Foster Farms was back in the news after a cockroach infestation Cover Photo by Mercy For Animals (MFA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing was discovered at its Livingston poultry plant. Denise Borchert cruelty to farmed animals and promoting compassionate food choices and policies. STOPPED! Mercy For Animals is founded in Ohio following MFA’s first undercover investigation uncovers MFA releases Silent Suffering, a THE a brutal farmed animal abuse case involving a shocking cruelty at Ohio’s two largest egg factory landmark documentary exposing cruelty piglet slammed headfirst into the ground. 2000 farms and leads to the rescue of 34 hens. 2002 in the egg industry. TIMELINE MFA rescues 600 hens from Ohio’s largest egg Following MFA’s investigations, Giant Eagle Nathan Runkle, MFA’s founder, rescues Hope — a 1999 factory farm after a tornado destroys sheds, 2001 announces it will ban the sale of eggs from hens hen found in a trashcan at an egg factory farm. 1999 - 2014 leaving hens mangled in cage wire. who are starved to induce egg-laying cycles. Hope lives the rest of her life at a sanctuary. 2 COMPASSIONATE LIVING SUMMER 2014 3 COMPASSIONATE LIVING SUMMER 2014 MEET MFA Kate Ziegler ACTION REPORT STRENGTH IN MFA Position: Investigations and Research Associate NUM#ERS Hometown: Chicago, Illinois [email protected] Telling It Email: MFA’s anti-factory farming petitions have Words to Live by: been going viral, with nearly a million “It’s a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something Like It Is people demanding major retailers take the best people have always done.” - Harriet Beecher Stowe a stand against cruelty. Our Walmart MFA’s hard-hitting petition calling for an end to gestation nimal abusers better watch out for Kate Ziegler’s videos exposing the eagle eye. As investigations and research associate crates garnered 500,000 signatures alone, A for Mercy For Animals, Kate works closely with routine cruelties of making it one of the most successful ever MFA’s director of investigations and legal team to review animal agriculture have on petition site Change.org. Among the and analyze undercover evidence, determine potential millions tweeting our petitions are A-listers violations of law, and serve criminals a heaping helping of been viewed online like justice. over 5 million times in Tony Kanal, Kate Mara, the past few months. Q: What inspired you to become vegan? and EMILY DESCHANEL. HOME From our undercover A good family friend told me about factory farming and its investigations to impact on animal welfare and the environment. Around the SWEETHOME same time, I saw a video of an undercover investigation compilation films like on the Internet. The footage of abuse and neglect truly Our newly expanded Los Farm to Fridge and horrified me. I transitioned to a plant-based diet to help as Angeles headquarters, located many animals as possible. on Santa Monica Boulevard, Standard Practice, combines a creative, cutting- MFA’s videos are Q: Why are undercover investigations important? edge atmosphere with smart awakening viewers MFA’s undercover investigations reduce farmed animal flexibility. Complete with worldwide to the suffering. They have inspired individuals to choose conference facilities, a retail MEMBERS ON A MISSION a compassionate diet free of meat, dairy, and eggs, power of their food corporations to enact welfare policy changes, and storefront, and event space, choices. lawmakers to ban the cruelest forms of institutionalized MFA’s HQ is home to our Ellen Kennelly animal abuse. ever-expanding staff and team COMPASSION If there is something happening in the Boston area, of interns in our education, chances are Ellen Kennelly is there with her team of Q: How do you cope with viewing undercover videos of corporate outreach, legal WITHOUT BORDERS volunteers sharing MFA’s message of compassion.