Heart 4 Animals

Foie gras

Paté de foie gras, translated from French, means “fatty liver.” This so-called gourmet delicacy is anything but delicate. Indeed, it is undeniably the product of extreme animal cruelty.

Force-fed cruelty

Factory foie gras farms intensively raise ducks and geese in large, enclosed barns. For the last few weeks of their lives the birds are forced into tiny wire cages, barely larger than their bodies, where they cannot even turn around or spread their wings. As social animals, they suffer greatly when confined to individual cages. Their suffering is further compounded by the fact that they are denied access to enough water to swim and preen, which they do naturally in the wild. This confinement can also lead to lesions of the sternum and bone fractures, as well as foot injuries from the cage floors. Two to three times a day, farm workers grab the immobilized birds and cram metal pipes down their throats, forcing huge amounts of food into them in seconds. The birds suffer tremendously during and after the force-feeding process. The excessive overfeeding (equaling one third the bird’s body weight - each day) causes their livers to become diseased and to quickly swell up to ten times their normal size. Soon they can barely stand, walk, or even breathe. This force-feeding can also cause painful bruising, lacerations and sores. They often die when the metal feeding tubes puncture their necks, when their stomachs literally “burst”, or when force-feeding overfills them to the point of suffocation.

In Canada, half a million birds are killed for foie gras each year.

International response

Due to animal welfare concerns, more than a dozen countries—including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel (formerly the world’s fourth-largest foie gras producing nation), Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland—have prohibited the production of foie gras. In 2004, California became the first U.S. state to ban the cruel force-feeding of birds and the sale of foie gras produced from force-fed birds, effective 2012.

Take action

• Contact your Minister of Agriculture and demand a national ban on foie gras production.
• Next time you go into a store or restaurant or supermarket that sells foie gras, please let the manager know that a product that comes from force-feeding ducks and geese is more than you can stomach and that you will not shop or dine there as long as they sell it. Then, let us know about it by emailing info@hsi.org.

Video Credit : People For Ethical Treatment of Animals . Source: Humane Society International. Video Credit : People For Ethical Treatment of Animals .

Whether it came from an animal on a fur farm or one who was trapped in the wild, every fur coat, trinket, and bit of trim caused an animal tremendous suffering—and took away a life.

Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages. Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available, including suffocation, electrocution, gas, and poison.

More than half the fur in the U.S. comes from China, where millions of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and often skinned alive for their fur. Chinese fur is often deliberately mislabeled, so if you wear any fur, there’s no way of knowing for sure whose skin you’re in.

Animals who are trapped in the wild can suffer for days from blood loss, shock, dehydration, frostbite, gangrene, and attacks by predators. They may be caught in steel-jaw traps that slam down on their legs, often cutting to the bone; Conibear traps, which crush their necks with 90 pounds of pressure per square inch; or water-set traps, which leave beavers, muskrats, and other animals struggling for more than nine agonizing minutes before drowning.

> How You Can Help

Source: People For The Ethical treatment of Animals .

Dear Readers,

Max was sold by NUVAS on April 15, 2010, in order to be used for experimentation.

You probably think of an animal shelter as a safe haven for homeless animals looking for a second chance at a loving home. Tragically, many animals at North Utah Valley Animal Shelter (NUVAS) never get that opportunity.

PETA recently received 50 photos of dogs NUVAS sold to the University of Utah for use in cruel and deadly experiments. Some of the animals sold to the university have holes drilled into their skulls, their chests cut open and medical devices implanted onto their hearts, and hard plastic tubes repeatedly forced down their throats.

NUVAS is the only animal shelter in the state of Utah that continues to betray animals in its care by selling them for experimentation, and it’s time for the shelter to stop this disgraceful practice of profiting at the expense of these dogs.

See photos and read about Max and other dogs who were denied a second chance at a loving home and learn about what you can do to help end this practice.

Thank you for helping dogs!

Sincerely,

Justin Goodman
Associate Director
Laboratory Investigations Department

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Global Boycott of Procter & Gamble
When: Saturday, May 8, 2-3 PM
Where: Outside London Drugs (1187 Robson Street, between Bute & Thurlow)

Join Liberation BC and other animal lovers around the world as we protest Procter & Gamble, one of the cruelest companies on the planet.
to stop the company’s blinding, burning, maiming and killing of thousands of animals each year in product tests that are cruel, outdated and not required by law.  All signs and literature will be provided.

Most people in Canada are against animal testing for cosmetics and household products, but not everyone knows that Procter & Gamble kills tens of thousands of animals in tests every year–despite the fact that they are not legally required to do so.  Procter & Gamble manufactures dozens of common products, including Febreze, Swiffer, Duracell Batteries, Herbal Essence, Gillette, Tide, Gain, Ivory, Dawn, Head and Shoulders, Pringles, Oil of Olay, and many more, including Iams and Eukanuba pet food.

What products are cruelty-free, you ask? Too many to list here!  Check out www.caringconsumer.com or our page for more info.

Please join us this Saturday and speak out against unnecessary cruelty!

Source: Liberation BC .

The Humane Society of the United States today released the results of an undercover investigation documenting shocking animal abuse at a Vermont slaughter plant. > more> facts about Factory Farming > Personalise draft & Email Letter to the Department of Agriculture now .

No one would tolerate an industry in which thousands of kittens and puppies were kept almost on top of each other in feces-filled barns, were beaten by workers with sticks and even crowbars, and then had their throats cut and their fur scalded off. So why do some people think it’s OK when this happens to chickens and turkeys? If only these gentle animals had cute noses instead of beaks and had paws instead of clawed feet—maybe then they would be treated as the smart and vulnerable individuals they are rather than as things. > more about Factory Farms . > You can help .

Many of you have asked for ways to contact these restaurants. Here are the websites where you can find their contacts. Moreover, a draft letter has already been prepared for you. Just make some changes and hit the “Send email” button, or call them: (1) McCruelty (2) iHop .  Veal : Get informed about how veal is made > Link 1 > Link 2 . Foie Gras : Learn about what goes into it > Link 1 > Link 2 .

> Have your gift doubled to fight animal cruelty on Factory Farms .

Karina Smirnoff Interview

Denny’s does it. Burger King does, too. Wendy’s got on board earlier this year. All these major restaurant chains buy some of their eggs from cage-free farms that don’t cruelly confine hens in barren battery cages.

But the restaurant chain most known for its breakfasts refuses to take this modest step. When IHOP serves its pancakes and eggs, you can be sure the eggs come from hens crammed into wire cages so small the animals can barely move for their entire lives.

IHOP’s refusal took on new urgency this week with the release of this undercover video that reveals shocking abuses at IHOP’s primary egg supplier. As you can see, the footage reveals filthy conditions, sick and injured hens, and birds forced to live in cages with the decomposing corpses of dead birds.

You can help to move IHOP away from this cruelty. Please urge IHOP to follow its competitors’ lead and start switching away from battery cage eggs. Here’s how:

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to Argonne, a company that owns hundreds of IHOP restaurants, at 404-364-2984 (if voicemail picks up, press ‘1′ for Argonne President Michael Klump). You can say something like this:

“Hello, my name is [your name] and I am calling to ask IHOP to start using eggs that don’t come from hens crammed into cages. I just watched the undercover video of your egg supplier, and the images of animal cruelty are appalling. Please start switching to cage-free eggs. Thank you.”

After you make your call, please follow up with an email to IHOP headquarters to let them know that customers care about animal welfare.

Thanks for all you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. Thanks to you and thousands of others, The Humane Society of the United States has successfully persuaded companies such as Wendy’s, Ben and Jerry’s, and Trader Joe’s to enact cage-free egg policies. Please join us in our latest campaign to help farm animals by making a quick phone call to IHOP today.

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read about how antibiotics in food affects you and your family here .  > Video .