House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson has put an ugly thumbprint on an inhumane farm bill There have always been hardened opponents of the most important social causes in American history – whether the “fire-eaters” who defended slavery in the antebellum South, the men who mocked women’s suffrage just more than a century ago, or … Read more
Voter-approved ballot measure to restrict sales of pork from sows kept in gestation crates remains in effect at all food sales outlets in Massachusetts Boston—Today, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts rejected claims from a Missouri-based factory farming corporation that Question 3, a 2016 voter-approved law that prohibited statewide the sale … Read more
Justices Determine that Key State Anti-Confinement LawsDo Not Violate U.S. Constitution In what can only be considered a monumental victory for the right of Americans to establish more humane standards for farm animals, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision upholding California’s Proposition 12, a 2018 voter-approved ballot measure that restricts the sale of pork, … Read more
Justices determine states can halt sale of animal products derived from extreme animal confinement Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy expressed unbridled enthusiasm for a U.S. Supreme Court decision specifically upholding California’s Proposition 12, but which has much broader implications for the rights of states to promote humane … Read more
Press Release Reps. Nancy Mace, Dina Titus, and Sens. Mike Lee, Cory Booker, Rand Paul, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand Introduce Bicameral, Bipartisan Legislation Tuesday WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Animal Wellness Action (AWA), the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), the Center for a Humane Economy (CHE), and the National Dairy Producers Organization (NDPO) applauded U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., … Read more
Needless and cruel animal testing and extreme hog confinement
can no longer withstand scrutiny
Four years ago, 12,051,139 Californians cast ballots on Proposition 12, a measure formulated to improve the living conditions of some species of farm animals.
Center for a Humane Economy, Animal Wellness Action, and agriculture veterinarians submit briefs eviscerating pork industry
claims
Justices provided with compelling testimony about mistruths and exaggerations Washington, D.C. — The pork industry today can meet California’s humane treatment standards with existing sow housing systems, according to pleadings filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by two leading agricultural veterinarians and a set of organizations led by the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness … Read more
Final Rule Should Be Implemented With One-Year Phase-In; Option for a 15-Year Phase-In for Laying-Hen Welfare Is Absurd and Unacceptable Washington, D.C. – The Center for a Humane Economy, Animal Wellness Action, and the Animal Wellness Foundation welcomed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s release last week of the proposed Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards rule, … Read more
The United States Supreme Court, in a case captioned National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, is poised to weigh in on the constitutionality of Proposition 12, a voter-backed California state law that bans the in-state sale of pork from cruelly confined pigs, regardless of where the animals are raised. The measure, which also provides more … Read more
AWA, Center for a Humane Economy, and Key Lawmakers Say All Animals Deserve Humane Treatment, Including Animals Raised for Food As the pig industry rails against state and corporate policies aimed at banning the housing of sows in two-foot by seven-foot gestation crates, Congresswomen Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., have proposed a nifty … Read more
Anti-gestation crate policies set to take effect in key states and among dozens of major food retailers in 2022 Washington, D.C – Leading animal welfare groups and farmers applauded the introduction of the Pigs in Gestation Stalls (PIGS) Act, H.R. 7004, by U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., to ban the extreme confinement … Read more
Prop 12 Takes Effect in January, Food Retailers Duty Bound to Follow Law (Los Angeles) – Today, the Center for a Humane Economy (Center) and its sister organizations called on all California-based food retailers, especially the biggest names in the American grocery, fast food, and food service industries, to abide by the housing standards prescribed … Read more
Sacramento, CA. — In an effort to ensure the proper implementation of California’s Proposition 12 – with key provisions taking effect in California in January that restrict the sale of pork and eggs that come from severely confined breeding sows and laying hens – key backers of the measure sued the California Department of Food … Read more
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution that supports a moratorium on the construction and expansion of animal feeding operations, factory farms, and slaughterhouses in the state of California. The resolution also encourages the federal government to support the Farm System Reform Act, reintroduced earlier this year in the … Read more
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Animal Wellness Action (AWA), the Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF), the Center for a Humane Economy (CHE), and Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) applauded U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Cory Booker, D-N.J., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., for reintroducing the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act. … Read more
Groups Say Vague Ballot Measure Won’t Ease Hunger or Help Family Farms, But Will Sow Confusion and Litigation Portland, Ore. – A broad coalition opposing Question 3 – the so-called “Right to Food” constitutional amendment – came out swinging against the measure today, urging sensible Mainers to vote “No on 3” and declaring that “the measure … Read more
Press Release WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), Animal Wellness Action (AWA), Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF), and National Dairy Producers Organization (NDPO) applauded U.S. Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C. for introducing the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, designed to reform and bring accountability and transparency to … Read more
Even though mink are more susceptible to COVID-19 than any other non-human mammal, and hundreds of thousands of mink have been infected by the virus at these factory farms from Lithuania to Spain to Michigan to Utah, American political leaders and scientists are treating mink farming with the same sort of inattention that they gave … Read more
Animals are at the center of agriculture, yet their welfare is typically given lip service by this massive bureaucracy In selecting Tom Vilsack as Agriculture Secretary, Biden has turned to an experienced hand to run the $135 billion agency. The former Iowa Governor served for all eight years in that role for the Obama-Biden team … Read more
More so even than live wildlife markets — which incubated and then launched COVID-19 across the globe — mink farms around the world are turning out to be present-day gathering places for the highly contagious virus. From British Columbia to Denmark to Lithuania, COVID-19 is methodically infiltrating mink farms throughout North America and Eurasia, being … Read more
Many of my fondest childhood memories are of time spent with my grandfather, a mink farmer in a tiny Idaho town, just a few miles north of the Utah border. A soft-spoken, kind and generous man, my grandfather doted on his children, including my mother, and on me and his other grandkids. Even with his … Read more
The globally unmanageable hopscotching of COVID-19 between living beings is today putting a spotlight on one of the most obscure, ruthless, and frivolous of animal use industries: the production of wild animals on fur farms, particularly mink raised for their pelts. Seemingly more susceptible to getting COVID-19 than dogs or cats or most other mammals, … Read more
San Francisco, CA — In a unanimous vote, the City and County of San Francisco has introduced standards and goals for food purchasing by the Department of Public Health and Sheriff’s Department in hospitals and jails that promote more sustainable, healthful, and animal-friendly standards. Specifically, the ordinance means that hospitals will be altering their purchasing practices … Read more
At a time when the nation’s network of factory farming and mechanized slaughter plants is breaking down — disassembling overweight and crippled animals at an indescribably fast pace, killing and throwing away millions more on the farm because of a mass production system on auto-pilot, and the slaughterhouse workers heading for the respirators — can … Read more
Sir Winston Churchill may have missed the mark by more than a few decades, but his vision for the future of food was characteristically bold and accurate. “We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium,” he … Read more
Nature — by that, I mean the Earth’s crust and atmosphere, its five kingdoms of living organisms, water and fire and rock, the effects of the sun and moon, and all other interrelated parts and processes — is more than a mere backdrop for the human experience. It is, and has always been, central to … Read more
Impossible to Achieve ‘Social Distancing’ at Animal Factories and Slaughterhouses In its own dispassionate way, the Johns Hopkins’ coronavirus dashboard plots the global hopscotching of COVID-19. More than 550,000 afflicted and 23,000 dead in the United States, with global infections eclipsing 2 million. Politicians and epidemiologists direct our attention to graphs to remind us of … Read more
We are in disaster mode as a nation — sheltering in place, deploying FEMA and the National Guard, filling hospital beds with those showing the worst symptoms, and delivering food and other services to those in need. There are more than 60,000 Americans infected with the coronavirus, and 800 dead. Those numbers are sure to … Read more
“The Trump administration should consider a travel ban on China until China has verifiably shut down its exotic animal markets, at the very least,” wrote author and pundit Ben Shapiro this week. “The current crisis will cost millions of American jobs, millions more of Americans’ savings and thousands of American lives.” He’s right. And it’s … Read more
A deconstruction of the false accounting of animal exploitation industries Some historians have long repeated that the trigger for World War I — which, by the armistice, claimed 40 million military and civilian casualties and substantially reconfigured the world map — was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. That single event set off a … Read more
Consumer choice. What is more apple pie than that? We don’t even think about it. Whether clothes, cars, or cosmetics, we pick the brand and shop for the deal. It’s called the free market, and in elementary school we learn that the strength of our economic system is based on the interplay between competition and … Read more
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act to create a system of financial controls and transparency to reform USDA’s agricultural checkoff programs. Earlier this year U.S. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced identical companion legislation … Read more
Key provisions build on our progress and hold the line on past gains, but it has a dangerous provision that may hurt wild horses and burros Some agencies have a particularly big effect on the well-being of animals — particularly the Department of the Interior, which controls our public lands and oversees wildlife policy issues … Read more
It’s Their Capacity to Suffer, and Their Value to Us, That Warrants Proscriptions Against Abuse It was a fitting juxtaposition. At the White House today, President Trump honored Conan, the elite military dog who chased down the world’s most wanted terrorist, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in his fortified Syrian hide-away. Just hours later, The President signed … Read more
For the last two nights, Democrats debated on a national stage in a crowded, competitive primary that will ultimately produce a challenger to President Donald Trump, with the election just 15 months away. Never before has the U.S. Presidency been infused with more power, guiding the work of millions of federal employees (including the most … Read more
Congress slow to act on free-standing bills, but rapid-fire action on animal issues tied to annual spending measures In recent weeks, we’ve seen some significant movement on animal protection issues in the Congress. Overall, there are dozens of bills introduced to drive reform on a broad range of wildlife, anti-cruelty, animal testing, companion animal, and … Read more
At the start of the second quarter, McDonald’s gave a detailed report on its progress toward its 2015 pledge to switch its entire egg supply to cage-free by 2025. “The result, so far,” according to a statement from the fast-food giant, “is more than 726 million cage-free eggs sourced for our McDonald’s U.S. restaurants in … Read more
Congress takes aim at multi-billion-dollar trade in wildlife parts Co-authored by Wayne Pacelle From ivory tusks to bear ball bladders to rhino horn to pangolin scales, wildlife trafficking involves the killing of wild animals for commercial sale of their parts and other products. It occurs on a scale second perhaps only to factory farming. From … Read more
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), joined by Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), re-introduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act to create a system of financial controls and transparency to reform USDA’s agricultural checkoff programs. Checkoff programs generate hundreds of millions a year, … Read more
Subtle and straightforward efforts to thwart protections for wolves, Walking horses, and roostersThere has been unmistakable progress in the field of animal protection, especially in recent years. We’ve outlawed cockfighting and dogfighting and made it a felony at the federal level too. The veal industry no longer immobilizes male calves as a standard husbandry practice. … Read more
Attempts to bar vegan food processors from displaying the words “milk” or “meat” on their products are just the latest examplesSir Isaac Newton’s Third Law says that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” What’s true in physics is certainly true in social reform movements, including animal protection. During my years of … Read more
Burning fossil fuels and raising and feeding billions of factory farmed animals is killing wild and domesticated animalsFor years, animal protection groups have conducted life-saving campaigns to prevent people from leaving pets in cars when the sun is shining and the outside temperatures hover at 65 or above. In no time, a car with shuttered … Read more
U.S. District Court nullifies Iowa’s ag-gag law, while U.S. Supreme Court decides not to hear challenges to the nation’s strongest state animal protection laws Last week, a U.S. District Court declared Iowa’s ag-gag law unconstitutional, making it the fourth measure of its broad type to be struck down in part or in whole in the … Read more
In Florida, a man repeatedly punched a helpless kitten and slammed her against a wall before burying her alive in the dirt. His intention, according to news sources, was to punish his wife for “failing to discipline” the weeks-old animal. He then forced his wife to come outside to watch as he dug up the … Read more
Key leaders in the House and Senate have agreed on a series of compromises to the Farm bill and released a “conference report” today. That action is an antecedent to final up-or-down votes, expected within days, on that measure in the House and Senate. If both chambers pass the Farm bill conference report, it goes … Read more
King amendment rejected while new legislation adopted against animal fighting, the dog meat trade, and domestic violence Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action applauds the inclusion of several broadly supported animal protection bills that informed sources confirmed today, including the Pet and Women Safety (PAWS) Act, Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act, and the Parity … Read more
Overshadowed by the national news about the very consequential national election of November 6th was the take-away that animal advocates decisively won two far-reaching ballot measures against greyhound racing and factory farming. Voters in Florida approved Amendment 13 against greyhound racing with an attention-grabbing 69 percent of the vote, while Californians approved Prop 12 with … Read more
Voters approve two landmark ballot measures, oust several anti-animal lawmakers.Animal Wellness Action celebrated the overwhelming passage of two animal protection ballot measure wins in Florida and California, and the defeat of its top two political targets in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ballot measures Florida voters went all in for a ban on greyhound racing, … Read more