International sandwich megabrand, Subway, have threatened vegan 'tuna' company Good Catch with legal action unless they stop embarrassing the fast food giant.
The move comes after Subway's own 'tuna' subs were found to contain zero tuna DNA. After the New York Times ordered DNA tests on several samples from Subway's sandwiches, the results came back negative for any tuna DNA but did contain an 'unidentified' meat. I have to admit there is a small optimistic side of me which did get slightly excited upon hearing that the sandwiches apparently contained no tuna, just in case Subway themselves were secretly using vegan tuna, but sadly it seems this is not the case. Subway still insist that their tuna subs contain 100% wild-caught tuna... and besides, the DNA does seem to have proven that the ingredients were animal flesh of some kind, even if it wasn't actually tuna. As an abolitionist vegan, arguing over what kind of animal was butchered to create this product is kind of besides the point - all animals suffer, all animals feel pain, no animal wants to die and whether they are using tuna, dolphins, cows or chickens it is still abhorrent. But I was pleased to read that vegan tuna producer Good Catch had jumped right in and capitalised on the story, not only for their own profits but also to draw attention to Subway's potential trickery and to the vegan cause in general. Good Catch have been parking buses featuring the logo 'Our Way' outside subway branches and offering 100% vegan tuna subs as a cruelty-free alternative to Subway's unethical products. However, because the 'Our Way' logo is cheekily similar to the Subway logo, the sandwich chain have complained and demanded that Good Catch stop showing them up and refrain from competing with them for customers. In response, the vegan tuna company has demanded that Subway introduce some vegan fish options onto their menu. In 2021 it is no longer sustainable, ethical or excusable to be fuelling the global marine life apocalypse and it's time that Subway sat up and took heed, rather than simply thinking about their profits. 2-days ago around 15 activists from Meat The Victims in Northern Ireland entered a huge shed containing close to 30,000 broiler chickens. What they found there was shocking.
The premises belonged to the Moy Park chain, one of the largest suppliers of poultry, not only in the UK and Ireland but in the whole of Western Europe. The company's website brags about their "dedication to providing the highest standards of animal husbandry, welfare and bio-security" but footage taken by the activists revealed just how misleading this statement really is. In fact, if this is the 'highest standards of animal welfare and husbandry' as the company's website claims, then we can only imagine how bad the rest of the farms are. The shed was one of four on the farm, indicating the total number of chickens was well over 100,000. The activists entered quietly under cover of darkness and for the first 30 minutes or so simply sat quietly to allow to avoid stressing the birds. As the chickens grew accustomed to their presence, the activists slowly started moving around the shed and examining the birds. Dead chickens lay around the floor of the shed, some looking as though they had been lying there for days, decomposing. Many of the chickens were sick and dying. Some were severely dehydrated, some had gaping wounds, some had respiratory ailments or swellings which indicated internal organ damage or tumours and some were too weak to even raise their heads. I've seen some of the footage and one thing which struck me was how inactive the majority of the birds were. I've cared for rescued chickens and they are very inquisitive, constantly exploring their surroundings. These ones were pitifully reluctant to move. For one thing, they have nothing to stimulate or interest them - there is only the barren floor and the uniform rows of food and water dispensers. If they do try to move through the tightly-packed crowd they are likely to be pecked and bullied. They are also selectively bred to grow faster than their bodies can cope with in a bid to make meat production as quick and efficient as possible. Although only three weeks old, these were already quite large - their organs become too big for their bodies and their legs find it hard to support their own weight. Even when the activists slowly moved through the flock, the birds would merely get up and walk a few feet before slumping down again on the shit-covered floor. Some were too weak to stand or even to raise their heads. These individuals were gently lifted to a makeshift 'sick bay' area where the activists could give them water and let them rest. Nevertheless, some died even while the activists were tending to them, leaving their carers feeling helpless and bereft. Because the chickens spend so much time slumped on the thick layer of faeces which formed their floor, the ammonia had burned their feathers and they were mostly bare-skinned and sore-looking underneath. It's common for feet and legs also to become burnt and deformed by the ammonia in the substratum, which they are sitting, standing or lying on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for their entire lives and from which there is no escape. You can see from one of the pictures above just how densely packed these sheds are, yet at three weeks old, these birds are only half grown. By the time they are deemed ready for slaughter in another three weeks they will literally be crammed shoulder-to shoulder. The activists found it incredibly hard to be in this environment for any length of time because it was stiflingly hot, suffocatingly dusty and even with masks it was hard to breathe. It is little wonder so many of the birds are dehydrated and suffering from respiratory problems. After separating over 30 of the worst casualties - the ones most urgently in need of veterinary attention - and tending to them as best they could - the activists were discovered by the farmer, who promptly called the police. Ordered to leave, the activists tried to negotiate for the lives of these dying birds. They offered to leave immediately as long as they were allowed to take these 30-odd birds with them to receive the urgent veterinary care they so desperately needed but despite the fact that the birds were going to die anyway and would never be worth any money to the farmer, he flatly refused, stubbornly attempting not to lose face. Undaunted, the activists offered to call their own vet, a trusted avian specialist, out to the farm in an effort to save these tiny lives but the police even refused to allow this. Instead, they allowed the farmer to call in his vet, a rude, uncaring woman from St, David's Poultry, an industry-appointed company set up to support and promote this kind of systemic abuse. She appeared to be less interested in examining the sick chickens than in defending the farmer, the company and the industry as a whole. She even openly admitted that none of the 30 or so sick birds would receive veterinary treatment. The only treatment they offer is 'population medicine' where, for example, the entire flock is given routine antibiotics but no care is provided to individual birds. Instead, they will be gassed to death. This is standard industry practice. The vets are only there to 'rubber stamp' the whole process and give the appearance of some kind of respectable, compassionate front to a heartless and abusive industry. Is this not the ultimate betrayal? After being so neglected by the farmer that they can no longer stand or get to food and water by themselves, the veterinary surgeon whose responsibility is supposed to be (at least in the eyes of the public) the care and welfare of the birds, refuses them any treatment other than the gas chamber. Even when caring individuals like those from Meat The Victims are offering to provide specialist medical care at their own expense, these monsters would rather see their victims murdered and thrown into the trash than allow that to happen. This is the real face of the chicken industry. Meat The Victims do an amazing job of getting into these places, helping sick and injured animals when possible and educating the public about what goes on behind closed doors. You can watch the videos of the full inspection on their Instagram account or lend your support at the website here. The National Park Service in California are being sued for causing the agonising deaths of hundreds of Tule elk.
Over 150 elk have so far died from starvation and dehydration at Point Reyes National Seashore after they were prevented from travelling out of the drought-stricken area to find food and water. More are expected to succumb unless action is taken quickly. The park service leases public land which is in their care to cattle ranchers and in a bid to protect the financial interests of these wealthy tenants have erected a huge fence to prevent the elk 'competing' with cattle for food and water. Clearly, these cattle barons have no care for animals at all and are driven solely by profit. They breed cattle by the hundreds in order to slaughter them for a quick buck and in order to protect those profits they have no compunction about causing the suffering of other animals along the way. The National Park Service, on the other hand, aught to know better. They are tasked with protecting the land and the wildlife that lives there and are clearly failing to fulfil that responsibility. Although they have brought in a handful of water troughs, these have only been made available to one of the four herds of elk in the park at Tomales Point. The rest have been left to die after their usual water sources dried up in the drought. Elk typically live within half a mile or so of water as they need to drink around 4 gallons a day, as well as using it to cool off in. They will naturally travel 25 miles or more if water sources dry up. These elk were reintroduced here in 1978 after previously being hunted almost to extinction and the park service owe them a duty of care. Yet, as we see so often all over the world, the financial interests of the animal agriculture industry continue to be put before all else. So three California residents, along with the Animal Legal Defence Fund, are suing the park service for negligence in the San Francisco federal court. They fear that unless the service is forced to provide food and water for these fenced-in animals, many more will suffer and die. Chinese activists have rescued 68 dogs that were destined for Yulin dog meat festival.
The activists intercepted a truck headed for one of the Yulin slaughterhouses and found the 68 terrified animals on board. Having already endured a long road trip without food or water, the dogs were exhausted. Crammed tightly together in rusty wire cages in suffocating heat, panting and traumatised, many were in poor health. Some of the dogs showed signs that they were stolen family pets, such as clean, well cared-for teeth and offering their paws to the activists. Liang Jia is one of a new generation of activists in China who reflect a change in hearts and minds. She says the group had been waiting on authorities to set up checkpoints outside Yulin to stop inbound trucks and confiscate dogs, after a recent ruling by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs that dogs are companion animals and not “livestock” for eating. But after seeing truck after truck full of dogs passing them by, the activists couldn't stand by doing nothing any longer and flagged down the next approaching truck. After finding evidence that the dogs were stolen family pets for which the driver did not have the required paperwork, they persuaded him to hand over the dogs for rehoming. The dogs were taken to a temporary shelter to rest and recover and receive veterinary treatment. Now the pressure continues to eradicate the dog meat trade altogether. In 2010 approximately 15,000 dogs were killed during the core days of Yulin festival but campaigners have now reduced this number to around 3,000. However, many hundreds are also still killed in the weeks leading up to the festival. According to a 2017 survey conducted by Chinese state-registered charities and assisted by Yulin municipal government research staff, most people in China don't eat dog meat (around 70% never have) and more than half think the dog meat trade should be banned entirely. Two major cities in China, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have banned the consumption of dog and cat meat but there are still 30 million dogs killed for their meat every year across Asia. However, as stunning and horrific as this figure is, it is still only a tiny fraction of the total number of animals killed for the meat trade worldwide. Pigs, for example, are every bit as sentient as dogs, feel pain just as dogs do, feel terror just as dogs do. Indeed, pigs are as intelligent as a three year old human toddler and there is no reason at all to believe they want to live any less than dogs do, yet they are killed in their hundreds of millions every year around the world. Cows, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys... the death toll is counted in billions, while fish and other sea animals are killed in such astronomical numbers that they cannot even be counted and are number in tons. So while we need to keep up the pressure against the Yulin festival and against the dog meat trade in general, we must also continue to campaign on behalf of all animals around the world, to fight against all cruelty and oppression and to spread the vegan message. Because, although it's easy for those of us who don't live in China to point the finger at Yulin and express moral outrage for a couple of weeks every June, we must not forget that we can have a much more direct and life-long influence by refusing to be a part of the wider animal agriculture industry. Being vegan makes a powerful impact and as more of us give up the consumption of meat and other animal products, we are creating a tsunami of compassion all around the world. If you are not yet vegan but care about animals enough that you want to make a difference, visit Challenge22.com and take that step. You won't regret it. A pregnant pig named Matilda has captured the hearts of the nation after escaping from a commercial farm and giving birth to a litter of beautiful piglets in a nearby woods near Ollerton, Nottinghamshire.
Matilda was destined to be slaughtered for the meat trade when she made her escape in a desperate bid to save herself and her babies. She managed to get as far as a nearby wood before giving birth to her new family and raising them there for about three weeks in secret. Despite having a cruel ring through her nose which stops her rooting for food, she stayed with her babies as she grew hungrier and hungrier, determined to care for them no matter what. It was there that she was spotted by a walker, Anna Aston and her dog Pugsley. Anna quickly contacted Brinsley Animal Rescue, a local animal sanctuary near the site, who agreed to give the happy family a permanent, safe and loving home where Matilda could bring up her piglets in peace. However, the farmer had other ideas. Before the sanctuary could rescue the pigs from the wood, they were recaptured by the farmer and taken back to Warren Farm, Haughton, Retford DN22 8DY so that Matilda could be slaughtered and her babies mutilated. It seems that for the farmer, who owns Wolds Farm Breeding Ltd and supplies Marks and Spencer with meat from those slaughtered pigs, profits come before principles. But Matilda had allies... Having been moved by her story, people were not about to let this happen. A petition was quickly set up to appeal for Matilda's release to the rescue centre, Marks and Spencer were lobbied to put pressure on the farmer and a demonstration was rapidly mobilised. And it worked! Within a very short space of time, eager to avoid any further adverse publicity, M&S spoke with their supplier, the farmer negotiated with Brinsley Animal Rescue and less than an hour before the demonstration was due to take place, it was confirmed that the whole family had been relocated to their temporary haven at the sanctuary and are soon go to a permanent home at Surge Sanctuary, safe and sound to live out their lives in peace, cared for by people who see them as individuals and not just products. Thank you to everyone involved - we did it! |