vegansaurus!

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

I’m psyched to let you know that HSUS worked with L.A.’s school system to implement a Meatless Monday program for all L.A. public schools (K-12). Every Monday, all 650,000 meals they serve are now all-vegetarian. It’s my honor to be on CNN HLN tonight discussing this news with the always-wonderful Jane Velez-Mitchell. You can watch the segment here—please share it!

Colorado’s legislature held a hearing this week on a bill to ban the cruel tail-docking of dairy cows. Despite the practice being opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, dairy farmers still shamefully defended the practice at the hearing.

NPR’s “On the Media” had a very worthwhile interview about the meat industry’s efforts to silence whistleblowers by passing laws to ban undercover investigations by HSUS and fellow great animal protection groups. Check it out.

Finally, you may be interested in this op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the horsemeat scandal.

Video of the week: Birds just wanna have fun…

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

The ag industry’s efforts to keep consumers in the dark by suppressing whistleblowers is getting a cold reception by many in the news media.

Indiana’s largest paper (the Indianapolis Star) editorialized this week against the pending state bill intended to criminalize photo-taking a factory farms and slaughter plants, saying it “does a disservice to the public as a whole by blocking the flow of information that may be vital to health and safety.” Indiana’s Herald Times editorialized against it too, calling it a “wrong-headed bill that could step on the First Amendment and make it more difficult to expose wrongdoing.”

The International Business Times had a great piece yesterday on the topic, too. Very important reading.

A new study finds that vegans and vegetarians cause 42% and 28% (respectively) fewer greenhouse gas emissions than non-vegetarians. Also, check out this Seattle Times column on in vitro meat (aka in meatro!), which reports on an Oxford study finding that cultured meat requires “99 percent less land, 96 percent less water, 96 percent less carbon emissions and 45 percent less energy demand,” than raising animals for meat.

Finally, live in Florida? Let’s hang out together tomorrow!

Video of the week: When dove meets cat.

Editorial cartoon of the week: Toles on horsemeat…

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

Happy Friday!

Yesterday, New Jersey’s Times of Trenton editorialized in favor of criminalizing the use of gestation crates for pigs, concluding: “Imagine the outcry if dogs or cats were subjected to such treatment.” And check out this great op-ed in yesterday’s New Haven Register in favor of a similar bill in Connecticut.

Want to read about a mind-blowing company that offers immense promise for farm animals? Check out yesterday’s Business Week feature on Hampton Creek Foods, and this cool new videoabout them.

Wondering how British consumers may be changing their diets in the wake of the horse meat scandal? Both Reuters and The Economist have fascinating pieces this week about it.

Finally, if you have a burning desire to know my thoughts on the Animal Ag Alliance’s view of the Super Bowl “God Made a Farmer” ad, here’s my latest piece!

Video of the week: Pig eats cat. Yep.

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

Well, some good news: The Wyoming anti-whistleblower bill (seeking to criminalize investigations at factory farms) has now been tabled in the state senate. The Casper Star-Tribune editorialized just yesterday about how HSUS uncovered a “culture of cruelty” at a Wyoming pig factory and that introducing the bill showed “an egregious lapse in judgment” on the part of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sue Wallis.

More good news: HSUS prevailed in a dispute over misleading animal care marketing used by major pork producer Seaboard Foods. Following an FTC complaint filed by HSUS, the agribusiness giant ceased making certain claims about its animal care practices. Alas, while it’s changed its words, it’s still not changed its practices.

And even more good news: Farmers in California were just charged with felony animal cruelty after starving 50,000 chickens.

Video of the week: Did you have a single Valentine’s Day? So did these cats…

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!   »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

Hear about the meat industry’s effort to silence whistleblowers on factory farms? I’m honored to be on CNN Headline News tonight with the always-fantastic Jane Velez-Mitchell discussing how badly the industry wants to keep Americans in the dark. Watch the short segment, and please share the link!

Fortunately, the word is still getting out about how abusive practices are the norm, not the exception, in animal agribusiness.

For example, in just the past week: The president of the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association has a good op-ed on why gestation crate confinement of pigs should be ended. Similarly, there’s a compelling op-ed in New Jersey’s largest paper advocating for the state’s pending bill to ban gestation crates, and a great op-ed in another NJ paper supporting the same bill. And there’s a very good blog about all the food retail companies making moves to get gestation crates out of their supply chains.

Video of the week: Did you see the Super Bowl “God Made a Farmer” commercial? If so, you may enjoy this parody!

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

A lot of new opinion pieces this week!

My friend Bruce Friedrich has a great feature on how much the meat industry has to hide and its desire to pass anti-whistleblower laws. I have a new short piece on chickens, their mental lives, and our treatment of them. The Yale Daily News published a potent op-ed about Connecticut’s new bill to ban gestation crates, and the Syracuse Post-Standard has a great op-ed by a veterinarian on why gestation crates are so terrible for pigs.

Want to protect yourself against the #1 killer in the US? Scientists are finding that a vegetarian diet can reduce heart disease risk by a third.

BTW, did you know that dung beetles use the Milky Way for GPS? Just think how cool you’ll seem at your party this weekend when you bring this up. (And if your friends don’t think that’s cool, you may need some new friends.)

Video of the week: Last week we learned that mice can play fetch. This week, we learn that dogs love to Skype!

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

Want to see the future of food? BusinessWeek had a great feature yesterday on the amazing Hampton Creek Foods.

Mom-to-be Hollywood star Kristen Bell cares about other moms-to-be, including pregnant pigs! That’s why she sent a letter this week to the National Pork Producers Council asking that they stop supporting gestation crate confinement. And just this past week alone, Marriott, General Mills, Au Bon Pain, and IHOP/Appleby’s all announced that they’re shifting their pork supply chains away from gestation crate confinement.

In response to the introduction of an anti-whistleblower bill that was just introduced in Wyoming, the opinion page editor of the Casper Star-Tribune blasted the sponsor, saying the “shameful bill is a new low for Wyoming.”

Video of the week: If you think mice can’t play fetch, basketball, or track and field, this stunning video is for you.

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

How many factory farmers does it take to screw in a light bulb? It doesn’t matter since they want to keep us in the dark anyway! How? Read on.

Rather than trying to prevent animal abuse on factory farms and in slaughter plants, the industry is trying to prevent the public from finding out about that abuse in the first place. So far in 2013, numerous states have introduced anti-whistleblower bills (aka ag-gag bills) aimed at criminalizing investigations at factory farms. You can read coverage of the fight this week in New Hampshire and Nebraska over this.

Did you see the news about fitness fanatic and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel touting the benefits of the Engine 2 (vegan) diet?

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an interesting story about the controversy surrounding battery caged laying hens being displayed at Pennsylvania’s Farm Show.

Finally, in the common sense department, new research provides further evidence that crabs and lobsters feel pain..

P.S. Video the week: Just what you always wanted…feline reactions to printers.

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

Paul’s back with all the animal news and you and your crewz* can use! 

You may be interested in this article about a high school working with HSUS to implement a Meatless Monday program. And here’s a new piece of mine about why anyone concerned about climate change should be concerned about reducing meat consumption.

A meat industry consulting firm just released a short video showing that their polling demonstrates 62% of Americans are concerned about gestation crates (compared to 41% concerned about use of antibiotics in farm animals). Not too bad.

On that note, Williams Sausage Co. is the latest pork user to announce it will end its use of pork from gestation crates, making the writing on the wall to the pork industry clearer than ever: gestation crates will go extinct.

Interested in protecting whales? Turns out that their biggest threat isn’t whaling, but fishing.

Video of the week! Woody Harrelson’s new, entertaining—yes, entertaining—video about fur.

Finally, if you missed this SF Chronicle profile on the farm animal shelter Animal Place, it’s worth checking out!

*sorry

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! Yay, Paul! Yay, Animals!

Hear the one about the chicken in the burning house? No, seriously. This hero chicken saved her family from a burning house. Check it out.

A Purdue University survey reported on this week by National Hog Farmer has some very interesting findings about Americans. Two include: HSUS is the #1 most frequented source of information for Americans about animal welfare; and 14% of consumers say they’ve reduced pork consumption (by an average of 56%) over the past three years due to animal welfare concerns they’ve heard about.

Mark Bittman had an important column in the NYT this week arguing that Americans need to treat farm animals better and eat fewer of them. Here’s a recent DC NPR (WAMU) on-air commentary from me on the topic.

Finally, pig giant Smithfield announced this week that it’s continuing its US conversion away from gestation crates, has already converted all of its European operations, and will begin converting its Mexican operations, too.

P.S. Video of the week! Need some belated new year’s resolutions? These cats have some ideas for you!