Kategorie: Animals

Following a whistleblower tip that animals were suffering at Fitch Ranch Artisan Meat Co. in Craig, PETA has obtained a “Letter of Concern” that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent to the slaughterhouse following six recent botched attempts to stun animals—including a steer, who remained standing and crying out after a worker shot him in the head. In response, PETA fired off a letter today to owner Deborah Fitch calling on her to report the employees involved in the incidents to local law-enforcement officials for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute and to reassign them to positions that don’t involve contact with live animals. The group is also asking Fitch to butcher only wild animals killed by hunters or at least to livestream video footage from the slaughterhouse in order to help prevent additional violations of the law.

On June 14, 2023, a worker electrocuted a pig near the shoulder blades instead of the head. The pig cried out, ran around, and tried to climb out of the “stun box” before another employee finally rendered the animal unconscious. Similar incidents at the facility this year include the following:

• On June 28, a pig was electrocuted, remained conscious, and cried out after the electrical tongs slipped off her ears.
• On June 26, a steer continued standing, looking around, crying out, and bleeding after he was shot in the head.
• On June 21, a worker shot a lamb twice after the first shot failed to stun the animal.
• On June 20, a cow continued to stand and look around after being shot in the head.
• On March 1, a steer remained conscious after he was shot in the head.

“Animals have endured prolonged, agonizing deaths after being shot and electrocuted repeatedly in a disturbing pattern at Fitch Ranch,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on this facility to make immediate changes to stop this horrific cruelty and reminds everyone that the only humane meal is a vegan one.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Fitch follows.

September 21, 2023

Deborah Fitch

Owner

Fitch Ranch Artisan Meat Co.

Dear Ms. Fitch:

Given the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent “Letter of Concern” and noncompliance records detailing the cases of at least six animals who remained conscious after your workers shot or electrocuted them during a recent four-month period at Fitch Ranch Artisan Meat Co., we ask that you immediately change operations there in the hope of reducing—if not ending—animal suffering in your slaughterhouse.

In light of the egregious pain and terror that your staff have caused cows, pigs, and sheep, in violation of federal law, won’t you please stop slaughtering them? Rather than risking further, similar violations, you could focus on solely processing the bodies of wild animals brought to you by hunters.

If you feel you must continue to slaughter farmed animals, will you please publicly livestream video from all areas of your facility where live animals are handled? Workers would take their duty to handle animals lawfully more seriously if they knew that caring people were watching. As the world’s foremost expert on livestock welfare, Dr. Temple Grandin, writes, “Plants [t]hat are doing a good job should show what they are doing.” Your industry often complains that today’s consumers don’t understand how animals are raised and killed for food. You could help by enabling us to observe your workers moving countless individual animals—who value their lives as we value ours—off crowded trucks in all weather, attempting to stun them, slashing or sticking their throats, and bleeding them to death.

At the very least, will you reassign your staff referenced in the federal reports to jobs that don’t involve having contact with any live animals—such as evisceration, butchering, and packaging—and report the involved personnel to your local law-enforcement agency for investigation for possible violations of the state’s anti-cruelty statute?

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Colin Henstock

Investigations Project Manager

The post Animals Cry Out After Slaughterhouse Workers Botch Six Stun Attempts; PETA Calls For Changes appeared first on PETA.

Ahead of Canadian Thanksgiving (October 9), an unmissable appeal from an endearing young tom turkey—who cocks his head as if to ask, “Why would you eat me?!”—is all set to roost next to the Crossroads Market as part of a Canadian campaign urging everyone to celebrate a humane, healthy, and environmentally positive vegan holiday this year.

“When it comes to having feelings like love and joy, protecting their families, and valuing their freedom, turkeys are individuals to emulate, not eat,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA encourages everyone to save rather than serve them.”

Turkeys are doting and resourceful parents and spirited explorers who typically live up to five years in nature, but those raised for food are slaughtered within their first six months of life—and millions are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone. The young birds are hung by their feet from metal shackles and dragged through an electrified bath, and they’re often still conscious when their throats are slit and they’re dumped into scalding-hot defeathering tanks.

PETA’s billboard is located at 1010 26 Ave. S.E. (near the intersection with 11^th Street S.E.), Calgary.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide, which can be accessed here. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

The post First ‘Veganuary,’ Now ‘ThanksVegan’: PETA Launches ‘Think Before You Eat’ Ad Blitz Across Canada appeared first on PETA.

A stark new message from PETA has popped up on local bus shelters and in newspapers, calling out Canadian officials for enabling the deadly Cambodian monkey-importation industry—even after the U.S. halted such imports and indicted Cambodian government officials for passing off wild-caught monkeys as “captive-bred.”

According to reports, Canadian officials have allowed the importation of monkeys worth more than CA$45 million from Cambodia, likely by Charles River Laboratories, for use in animal experimentation after the U.S. indictments were announced and despite the fact that Charles River is under federal, civil, and criminal investigation for possible violations of U.S. monkey-importation laws.

“Canada is ignoring the U.S. federal investigations, which alleged violations of international law in the monkey-trafficking trade,” says PETA primate scientist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. “PETA is calling on Canadian officials to stop enabling this gruesome and corrupt industry and shut down monkey imports now.”

Long-tailed macaques have been driven to the brink of extinction in large part due to the voracious experimentation industry’s incessant demand. Importing monkeys also poses a grave and potentially fatal public health risk. Monkeys infected with tuberculosis, a highly infectious disease that’s readily transmitted to humans, have already been imported to North American labs, and monkeys from Cambodia have arrived infected with a bacterium so deadly that the U.S. classifies it as a bioterrorism agent.

PETA’s message appears on 33 bus shelters throughout Montréal and was published in Le Devoir on September 18, and in The Suburban and the Montreal Gazette today.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

The post ‘A Flight to Death’: PETA Media Blitz Slams Canadian Officials Over Monkey Imports appeared first on PETA.

Raise a glass to victory! Following a massive campaign in which thousands of PETA supporters took action, Anheuser-Busch InBev—the parent company of iconic American beer brand Budweiser—announced that it has agreed to stop cutting the tailbones off its Clydesdale horses.

PETA’s staff are cracking open some cold ones today to celebrate Budweiser’s decision to cut out the cruelty by agreeing to stop severing horses’ tailbones. This victory comes after dozens of protests, nationwide ad campaigns, and more than 121,000 pleas from concerned consumers. It sends a message to other companies that animal abuse doesn’t sell.

What Used to Happen to Budweiser Clydesdales Before the PETA Campaign?

A PETA video exposé detailed how Budweiser used to painfully amputate the horses’ tailbones, either with a scalpel or with a tight band that stopped the blood supply to the tail, causing it to die and fall off.

PETA video footage also showed agitated Budweiser Clydesdales uselessly flicking the remnants of their amputated tails incessantly as they tried in vain to brush away biting, disease-spreading insects under the hot sun.

Both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners condemn cosmetic tailbone amputation. The practice is prohibited in 10 states and several countries, and equine veterinarians have gone on record calling it “despicable,” “disgraceful,” and “abusive.”

With this kind decision for Clydesdales, the self-proclaimed “King of Beers” is back at the top of the heap. To those who took action for horses to help make this victory possible, PETA says, “Cheers!”

Want to Help Other Horses?

Right now, countless horses across the U.S. are suffering. These majestic animals are pushed to their physical limits and made to run at breakneck speeds in races, they’re forced to pull heavy carriages full of passengers through busy streets in extreme weather conditions, and thousands are shipped to foreign countries to be slaughtered for food every year.

Take Action to Help These Animals Now!

The post PETA Victory! Budweiser Agrees to Stop Amputating Clydesdales’ Tailbones appeared first on PETA.

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He has a miles-long list of movie credits and awards, millions of followers on social media, and the kind of reach that would make a giraffe envious. This PETA pal is always ready to stick his neck out for animals.

John used his influence to help PETA India push the e-commerce website Quikr to stop allowing sales of live animals and the e-ticketing platform BookMyShow to end sales of tickets to animal circuses. He’s spoken up for monkeys who are forced to “dance” through beatings and food deprivation and called on authorities to clamp down on illegal pig slaughter. He even donated half of his winnings from a celebrity game show and an autographed jersey to support PETA India and Animal Rahat (a PETA-supported charity that brings relief to bulls, donkeys, horses, and other animals forced to pull heavy loads in India).

What early memories do you have of animals?

I was always surrounded by animals while growing up. My mother still feeds community cats and dogs, crows, pigs, and other animals who’d otherwise go hungry. We were always taught to be kind to animals as children.

What do you think about animals in circuses?

I choose to perform, but animals do not. They comply out of fear, because they know they’ll be beaten if they refuse. They’re robbed of everything that matters to them – their families, friends, homes, and freedom. To me, performance should be voluntary and have nothing to do with fear and domination.

Why did you ask India’s minister of education to have schools show “A Bull’s Life”?

I love that video. It shows the hard life of bullocks in India, who pull carts so heavy that the animals sometimes collapse. The ropes through their noses are used like brakes on a car, every tug bringing pain. I want children to think of bullocks as feeling beings like themselves, because what we learn as children shapes us into the person we become. Being kind to animals should be a part of the curriculum in every school, for every child.

PETA India pushes hard for stronger cruelty-to-animals laws, as you know.

Yes! Cruelty must never be tolerated. If someone abuses an animal and gets away with it, they’re likely to do it again. That’s why I want the law to fine people more than the current price of a cup of tea. India’s cruelty laws go back to Queen Victoria’s time! We know that people who harm animals as kids often go on to abuse humans, to lack respect for anyone. I have even contacted our Honorable Prime Minister Modi ji requesting to change the cruelty to animals laws in the monsoon session of the parliament, which unfortunately still did not happen.

You have strong feelings about caged birds, too, don’t you?  

I do! In India, it’s illegal to cage native birds, but you can still imprison birds from overseas and treat them as living decorations, and there are still bird markets. Humans can only dream of the wonder of being able to soar through the air. Why someone would take away that gift from birds by locking them up is beyond me. Caged birds’ bodies and spirits waste away. Every time PETA India rescues a caged bird or raids a bird market, my heart soars!

Tell us about your adopted dog, Bailey.

I love Bailey; she’s perfect! And like other Indies (dogs who are indigenous to India), she’s smart, playful, and full of love. If people want to care for a dog, they should consider adopting one from an animal shelter or the streets. Buying a dog of a particular breed (which is a human-made concept anyway) is all about vanity. So many purebreds, which are seen as a status symbol, are not at all suited to the Indian climate. They suffer from the heat, especially French bulldogs and pugs, who are bred to have a flat face and virtually no nose. Dogs think and feel deeply. And they love us no matter what we look like – our species could learn something from them.

You’ve said, “My religion is to be good to all living beings.”

Yes, it’s a religious teaching, and it’s just plain decency. Even if I’m hurrying to a film shoot, if I see an injured animal on the road, of course I’ll stop to help. Our plans don’t matter more than doing something, if we can, to relieve someone else’s pain. My religion and my mother taught me that.

Do you have a favorite saying?

“Be kind to others, definitely including animals!” That’s my family’s motto. Compassion is a beautiful thing and can move mountains.

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