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Amazon Stops Selling Whale Meat

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:45:07 +0000

Antarctic Minke whale, stock photo

Following a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (a private, non-profit organization), Amazon.com's Japanese language site is no longer selling whale products. The report, "Amazon.com's Unpalatable Profits," details how investigators found 147 whale products for sale on Amazon.co.jp in December of 2011. Amazon.co.jp is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seattle-based Amazon.com, and accounts for up to 15% of the company's annual income. EIA purchased eight whale meat products from Amazon and found that only three were properly labeled with the species, in accordance with Japanese law. Also, six of the eight samples exceeded Japanese limits for mercury contamination. Some of the advertised products included endangered species, listed on CITES Appendix I, which prohibits international trade in those species.

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Factory Farming and Mixed Messages

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:53:47 +0000

Both Chipotle and McDonald's got it wrong.

I know a lot of animal advocates got excited by the Chipotle commercial that aired during the Grammys. On the surface, it seems like a great message: factory farming has messed our environment, tortures the animals and dehumanizes farmers. Who can disagree? But the purported solution is to go back to the way things were - allow the animals to roam free, on green pastures. The tagline is "Cultivate a better world."

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Save Wolves from Aerial Gunning

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:59:34 +0000

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game wants to reduce the number of wolves in their Lolo zone from an estimated 70-120 wolves to just 20-30. Why? To boost the elk population for hunters. Again. Because the area is so remote, they plan to do it with aerial gunning.

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Protest Against Sexist Comments from Bear Hunter Mark T. Hall

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:29:53 +0000

I've been in the news quite a few times because of my work against the New Jersey bear hunt with the BEAR Group, but this was the first time the I've personally been in the crosshairs. On December 1, 2011, Mark T. Hall, a bear hunter and attorney with New Jersey law firm Morgan, Melhuish and Abrutyn, posted on a hunting forum, "I Promise to Shoot one of the following bears in Your Honor Doris Lin Be sure to check back for pics of the bruin in the back of my truck! Thanks for the Hunt Babe-and by the way you need a new wingman-the girls your hangining, man they just don't ...... well you know," with photos of several bears at a bait pile. The thread had the subject line, "Hey DORIS THIS ONE's For You (pix)." Hall also posted taunting, sexist comments on the Facebook page of animal rights group SHowing Animals Respect And Kindness (SHARK). Hall later posted photos of himself and his teenage daughter with the two bears they had killed. All of this was done without using his full name, but Hall's identity was discovered by Stu Chaifetz of SHARK.

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Greece Bans Animals in Circuses

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:59:11 +0000

Athens, Greece

Greece has become the first European country to ban all animals in circuses. Animal Defenders International reports that the measure was backed by fifty local animal protection groups, as well as
ADI and the Greek Animal Welfare Fund. Several European countries including Austria, Portugal, Denmark and Croatia have either banned or are phasing out the use of wild animals in circuses, but the Greek ban applies to all animals.

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Undercover Video Exposes Gestation Crate Cruelty

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:44:26 +0000

Pig in gestation crate at Seaboard Farms, courtesy of HSUS.

An undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States reveals the cruelty of gestation crates at farms owned by Seaboard Foods and Prestage Farms, both in Oklahoma and two of the nation's biggest pork producers. Seaboard is a supplier of Walmart, the nation's largest grocer.

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Animal History Museum Announced

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:57:13 +0000

Plans have been announced for the first animal history museum, to open later this year in Los Angeles, California. Executive Director Amy Breyer states, "It will be the first brick-and-mortar museum to focus on the always complex, but historically marginalized, relationship between humans, (non-human) animals and society in general."

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State Ag Employee Tipped Off Butterball Before Police Raid

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:46:19 +0000

February, 2012 update: Dr. Sarah Mason, director of animal health programs in the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Poultry Division, has pled guilty to obstruction of justice and resisting, delaying or obstructing officers. She was suspended without pay for two weeks and will be required to take ethics courses, but will continue to be employed by the Department. Mason also received a 45-day jail sentence, which was suspended to a year on probation.

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Poll: Romney and the Dog

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:31:13 +0000

Romney supporter with dog

What kind of person straps a dog to the roof of the car, keeps the dog there after he gets sick, and keeps driving?

In 1983, Mitt Romney put the family dog, Seamus the Irish Setter, into a carrier that he tied to the roof of his car for a twelve-hour drive to Canada. Despite a homemade windshield that Romney attached to the carrier, the dog became predictably traumatized. At some point, Romney's eldest son noticed a brown liquid running down the rear windshield. Romney pulled over at a gas station, hosed down the car and the dog, and then put the sick dog back on top of the car and kept driving.

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Butterball Turkey Farm Raided by Authorities After Undercover Investigation

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:58:59 +0000

Butterball turkey

February, 2012 update: A North Carolina Department of Agriculture employee who tipped off Butterball before the raid has pled guilty to obstruction of justice and resisting, delaying or obstructing officers. More details here.

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