vegansaurus!

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It’s the last Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use! of 2012, PLEASE ENJOY! And we’ll see you next year xoxoxoxo!

Remember HSUS’s groundbreaking undercover investigation at a Wyoming pig factory earlier in the year? This past week, a small amount of justice for pigs was delivered when authorities announced they’re charging nine people we caught on tape there, including two managers, with criminal animal cruelty charges based on our investigation.

I have a commentary that aired twice today on the DC NPR affiliate (WAMU) about why listeners should make cutting back on meat consumption their New Year’s resolution. Speaking of NPR, yesterday and today, NPR’s Morning Edition had two (here andhere) major stories on vegan eating.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune—the biggest paper in the third biggest pork production state—editorialized this past week against gestation crates. The paper notes, “The extreme confinement shows such a shocking disregard for animal welfare that they’re banned in nine U.S. states and soon will be in the European Union.” And by soon, they mean really soon. The EU ban takes effect next week!

Video of the week: My friend Adam Frank uploaded this just yesterday—the lion and lamb not really laying together, but more like playing together!

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

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

You may be interested in HSUS’s new fully wrapped bus ads rolling around DC and Des Moines with a message that gestation crate defenders are sure not to like, and while you’re at it, here’s the Des Moines Register’s coverage of it.

National Hog Farmer this week lamented the progress we made in 2012 against gestation crates, noting our early successes getting large food companies on “the anti-stall bandwagon [set] in motion for others to hop on, much to the glee of the pork industry’s nemesis — the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)….Even more disturbing is it has empowered HSUS and their ilk to target other common pig management procedures.” (Note: Einstein Bagels and Arby’s this week became the latest companies to announce plans to phase out gestation crates…)

Meat industry analysts (and owner of the Dow Jones Index) CME Group report this week that demand for meat in the US fell again this year, and conclude: “But it is obvious that there have been no banner years for at least the three largest species since 2004.” Perhaps more people are seeing pieces like this one from this week about the benefits of Meatless Monday.

Happy holidays!

P.S. Video of the week: Want to be inspired by some cool things that happened for animals this past year? Check this one out. (Bonus blog of the week: Some cool things specifically for farm animals that happened.)

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

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

To all my Arizona peeps out there who worked so hard on Prop 204 six years ago (the ballot measure banning veal and gestation crates), the historic law you helped enact takes effect in a couple weeks. The state’s largest paper editorialized this week telling you how awesome you are for ushering in this important law—check it out.

The Wall Street Journal had a large feature this week about the fact that US milk consumption has declined nearly 30% since 1975, and how the industry is responding.

I’ve got a couple new online pieces this week, one for a sustainable ag site about the need to reduce per capita meat consumption and another on the Civil Eats site about the pork industry’s Onion-like defense of indefensible animal abuse.

P.S. Video of the week: If you’ve ever wondered what your party would be like with a cat DJing it, wonder no more. (Related: Yes, it exists, and yes, we sell it.)

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

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

Roll Call, a leading Capitol Hill newspaper, begins an article today chronicling HSUS’ successes for farm animals: “The Humane Society of the United States is almost single-handedly changing the way farmers feed America’s appetite for bacon.” And itscompanion article discusses HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle’s recent trip to India, noting, “But having Pacelle on the other side of the world — about as far away from Capitol Hill as possible — still gives the U.S. farm lobby reason for heartburn.” Both articles are really worth checking out.

You know the agribusiness lobby hates HSUS, but they think highly of their own advisors, like Dr. Temple Grandin. Well, in aspeech this week to the Iowa Farm Bureau, Dr. Grandin called their ag-gag law “dumb” and said they should instead focus on phasing out gestation crates.

Want more writing on the wall? In Australia, the two biggest grocery chains have both agreed to stop selling eggs from caged hens and pork from gestation crate systems. 

Finally, a few new videos from our friends came out this week:

• Farm Sanctuary’s new video about the meat industry narrated by Steve-O
• Compassion in World Farming’s new investigation of EU dairy farms
• Animal Legal Defense Fund’s new video exposing backyard slaughter in Florida

 Video of the week: No, not another abuse video like above. This is a truly incredible story about a man and a goose.

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

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

Food industry consulting firm Techonomic just released its 2013 trends for the restaurant industry, listing vegetarian eating as a top trend in the restaurant industry. Perhaps people are increasingly concerned about farm animals, and maybe their health, too…

Consumers Union (publishers of Consumer Reports) released a new study this week finding that the vast majority of pork samples they tested in supermarkets were contaminated with very harmful (and antibiotic-resistant) bacteria.

On that note, HSUS filed a legal complaint this past week regarding misuse of federal pork checkoff dollars. And one ag industry economist published a story this week about events that shaped the US pork industry this year, noting “the rise of the Humane Society of the United States” as a “major development.”

Photo of the week: The Dalai Lama spreading compassion (including promoting vegetarian eating) in India with HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle!

Animal News You Can Use!  »

Paul Shapiro weekly dose of all things animals! Yes!

Especially the week after Thanksgiving, it’s good to remind ourselves of the undeniable fact: demand for meat continues to fall in the US. Check out my friend Harish’s latest post on the topic.

In that vein, here’s a cool piece about the Hunts Point Alliance for Children (in NYC) working with HSUS to implement Meatless Mondays.

In last week’s post, I mentioned an interview in Forbes about our work in China. This week, check out this hopeful article in China Daily about the very nascent farm animal protection movement there.

And in that vein, Temple Grandin has some advice for US pork producers still defending their immobilization of pigs in tiny cages. She argues in this interview: “For example, look at sow-gestation stalls. So many companies have stopped using them, and others are moving away from it, but you have those people out there who are still defending it. It’s going away, it needs to go away, let it go away.”

Video of the week: Caught on tape—breaking undercover video clandestinely shot just yesterday of my felines.

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s weekly dose of all things animals! Yes!

It’s almost Thanksgiving…Wondering how most turkeys are treated? Check out the newly-released Mercy For Animals investigation documenting appalling abuse of turkeys raised for Butterball.

(You may also want to take a look at this week’s NY Times’ major feature on vegetarian Thanksgvings.)

On that note, Los Angeles became the biggest city in the country to official start promoting Meatless Mondays. (Even the Today Show covered it!)

Finally, if you’ve got some time and want a fascinating read, here’s Washington Monthly’s new feature, “Obama’s Game of Chicken.” As they bill the story: “The untold story of how the administration tried to stand up to big agricultural companies on behalf of independent farmers, and lost.”

Video of the week: Not quite the lion and lamb laying down, but at least the dog and the fawn…

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

It’s Paul Shapiro’s weekly dose of all things animals! Yes!

Pork Magazine editorialized this week about what a “tough year” HSUS created in the US with its “laser focus on pork production.” Pork’s editor concludes: “Now, HSUS won’t go away; in fact it has gained strength. It has the formula down and will replicate its strategies within the pork sector as well as across the agriculture sector.”

Related: Metz Culinary Management is the latest major pork buyer to demand that its pork suppliers end their use of gestation crates…

On the other side of the world, Forbes has a sobering yet hopeful look at the challenges the animal movement faces in China and how Humane Society International is working to move the ball forward there. This interview is really worth the read.

Finally, check out this interesting new article on how the rise in demand for vegetarian food is largely coming from meat-eaters who are reducing the number of animals they’re eating.

Six years ago this week, Arizona voters made their state the first in the US to ban veal crates, and second to ban gestation crates. And four years ago this week, Californians banned both of those practices, as well as cramped cages for laying hens. Congratulations and happy anniversary to the thousands of awesome animal advocates who labored so tirelessly on those campaigns!

Video of the week: Ever feel like someone else is freeloading off your hard work? This cat may feel the same!

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

Paul Shapiro is back for his weekly dose of all the animal news that’s fit to print! Take it away, Paul!

Seriously, not a joke: Here’s a pork industry column this week on why they’re opposing HSUS’s effort to make it a felony in North Dakota to set dogs, cats, and horses on fire. (It’s currently a felony in 48 other states.)

You already know that the factory farming industry vigorously attacks HSUS daily. But today there’s an important new exposé by Bloomberg on one of the industry’s top PR hit men, who often leads the attack against HSUS. Check it out.

I doubt he’s pleased with the piece, and I also doubt that he’s pleased with the fact that Carnival Cruises is the latest major pork buyer to announce it will eliminate gestation crate pork from its supply chain.

Finally. I also doubt he was too pleased to read the recent LA Times story on how demand for meat is declining globally. Or the big AP story yesterday on how meat-free Thanksgivings are gaining in popularity…

Video of the week:  I’m usually against animal fighting, but this may be okay…

Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

Paul Shapiro is back for his weekly dose of all the animal news that’s fit to print! Take it away, Paul!

You already know that US meat consumption is declining significantly, but did you know about the positive global trends on this front? See what this meat industry site has to say about it. That’s of course not to suggest that all is well by any means, since some countries, like China, continue to eat more and more meat. But is does offer some optimism.

Speaking of optimism, Target is the latest major pork buyer to announce that it will eliminate its purchase of pork from gestation crate systems.

Some cool new animated videos about factory farming came out this week, including one for adults and one for kids. This one is particularly poignant.

I’m sure the overlap between readers of this weekly post and Wu-Tang fans is vast, so I may as well keep you in the loop on the critical news: You can go to bed tonight resting in the knowledge that GZA (who was a CA Prop 2 backer in 2008!) has now convinced Redman and Method Man to go vegetarian…