Factory Farming Isn’t Just Bad for Animals and the Environment, It’s Bad for Us

BY ANDREW KROSOFSKY

SEP. 30 2021, PUBLISHED 2:51 P.M. ET

When you walk into a grocery store and buy a product made from an animal, chances are good that it was produced through factory farming. Even if you don’t know what factory farming is, you’ve likely heard tales about the horrific conditions that animals on industrial farms are made to endure. Nevertheless, you might not be aware of all the destructive ways that factory farming affects the environment, the public health, and the rural communities that rely on it for their livelihoods.Article continues below advertisement

What is factory farming?

According to The Humane League, factory farming is an industrial method of raising livestock, whether it’s for food, leather, wool, or any other use. In a given year, about 10 billion animals in the U.S. are raised and killed for meat, dairy, and eggs. The idea behind factory farms is simple; use the least amount of resources that you can, in order to maximize your profits. Most of the time, this involves cutting corners.

Animals are confined to smaller living spaces, fed food that is less nutritious and more fattening, and kept in close proximity to maximize production. It is not a good life for the animals, some of whom are never allowed to see the light of day nor tread upon actual earth. But neither is it a good vocation for the individuals who work on the farms.Article continues below advertisementhttps://f2661f139900f3dbedf8e4af2f7b5224.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The people who run these facilities are forced to witness or deliver cruelty unto their charges, or else risk losing their livelihood in a sea of demanding investors and hungry Americans. In the clip below, comedian John Oliver discusses the inherent cruelty of the factory farming industry, as well as the emotional and economic plight of those whose jobs and families depend on it.https://www.youtube.com/embed/X9wHzt6gBgISOURCE: LASTWEEK TONIGHT/YOUTUBEArticle continues below advertisementhttps://f2661f139900f3dbedf8e4af2f7b5224.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

How does factory farming affect the environment?

Factory farming is terrible for a great many reasons, but as far as the environment is concerned, the most egregious sin has to do with pollution.

Factory farming greatly contributes to global warming.

Factory farming is one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. According to Do Something, it accounts for 37 percent of all global methane emissions, and methane warms the planet about 20 times faster than CO2. Hydrogen sulfide and ammonia are also emitted by factory farms and contribute to the greenhouse effect.Article continues below advertisementhttps://f2661f139900f3dbedf8e4af2f7b5224.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

That doesn’t even count the amount of fossil fuels that are burned to feed, house, and transport the animals and subsequent animal products themselves. Fertilizer, which is used to grow feed crops for livestock, is also produced by burning fossil fuels. A whopping 41 million tons of CO2 are emitted each year in order to create this fertilizer.

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Factory farming pollutes local habitats, water sources, and surrounding areas.

Water and soil pollution is also fairly prevalent in industrial farming areas. 10 billion animals produce an awful lot of manure — approximately 1 million tons or more, according to Pace University. That waste doesn’t just contain traces of salt and heavy metals which can accumulate in water and affect the food chain. It also contains dangerous amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen, the latter of which can cause water to become anoxic and unable to support life.

In addition, animal waste from factory farms contains trace amounts of undigested antibiotics, which are given to the animals to prevent bacteria and disease from spreading in such confined, filthy, overcrowded spaces. When that waste makes it into the water table, whole ecosystems are affected from the bacterial level up, eventually breeding new and dangerous zoonotic bacteria that go on to affect humans as severely as the swine flu, bird flu, or the Nipah virus.Article continues below advertisementhttps://f2661f139900f3dbedf8e4af2f7b5224.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Factory farming leads to deforestation.

In order to make room for the animals, feed crops, and the farm locations themselves whole swaths of land need to be clear cut out of the way. According to Mala Forest, factory farming in the U.S. has resulted in more than 260 million acres of forested land being cleared away to make room for feed crops alone. In the same way, whole rivers and reservoirs need to be repurposed for use by these massive farms.Article continues below advertisementhttps://f2661f139900f3dbedf8e4af2f7b5224.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Factory farming needs to change.

Until the world starts adopting a more sustainable, plant-based lifestyle, the mass production of animal-based food sources is going to continue to be a necessary evil. That said, the only thing stopping the industrial farm industry from being safer, more eco-friendly, and more humane, is ultimately money — something which the majority of factory farm owners have more than enough of, in large part thanks to government agricultural subsidies.

If that mindset does not change, nothing else will either. In the meantime, the best we, as individuals can do is to make dietary changes in our own lives and continue to fight for the rights of animals and our own rights as fellow citizens of the planet that these monstrous industrial farm owners are currently polluting.

Animal rights protesters should look at human issues

Re: The last protest? Activists gather at Marineland amidst talk park is for sale, Sept. 7

Phil Demers was an employee of Marineland collecting a paycheck for a time, until he had a fallout with owner John Holer. For the past 10 years, Demers has been hoping Marineland will eventually close. He maintains there was animal abuse and poor maintenance at the park.

Holer came from Yugoslavia (that’s what it was called back then). He had humble beginnings in Canada with mediocre jobs, but he had a dream; it turned out to be Marineland.

Marilu DiSanto, a protester at the park, admonished visitors by saying, “I can’t believe people still come here. Nothing else better to do today?” Obviously, DiSanto has nothing better to do as she and other protesters hassled visitors at the park.

Protesters have concerns about animals at Marineland, but don’t feel the same way towards cows, pigs, lambs, goats and whatever else walks on four legs.

When cows are brought to the abattoir (slaughterhouse), they are stunned by bolt gun to the brain. In most cases, the animal is unconscious, but whoa to the ones that aren’t; they die piece by piece. Hind legs are shackled as the animal is lifted off the floor. Large blood vessels in the neck are cut for bleeding; eventually, the neck is severed for quicker bleeding.

Many pigs not properly stunned, are put alive into scalding-hot water baths, which softens their skin and removes hair.

Chickens are put in electrified water; this is meant to make them unconscious (you hope) before their throats are slit. The bodies are thrown into boiling water so they are de-feathered.

Yes, some animals go through “needless suffering” at slaughterhouses; where are the protesters for these animals?

To all the protesters enjoying their steaks, hamburgers, roasts, pork chops, veal, hotdogs, chicken and turkeys, lamb, goat and fish; remember, what these animals have to go through to satisfy your tummies. It may not be perfect, but animals at Marineland have it a bit better than what is going on at slaughterhouses.

I’m not a bible thumper, but it does say in Genesis 1:26 of man, “Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air and over the beasts of the earth.” Sorry protesters, you had better complain to a higher power.

Protesters should direct their gripe towards another animal called the “human.” Throughout history and even today, humans have committed genocide, racism, bigotry and intolerance towards others because of races (skin colours), religions and different nationalities. Your protesting energies could serve a much better purpose than at some animal park.

Lou Cesar; St. Catharines

Animal rights protesters should look at human issues

Re: The last protest? Activists gather at Marineland amidst talk park is for sale, Sept. 7

Phil Demers was an employee of Marineland collecting a paycheck for a time, until he had a fallout with owner John Holer. For the past 10 years, Demers has been hoping Marineland will eventually close. He maintains there was animal abuse and poor maintenance at the park.

Holer came from Yugoslavia (that’s what it was called back then). He had humble beginnings in Canada with mediocre jobs, but he had a dream; it turned out to be Marineland.

Marilu DiSanto, a protester at the park, admonished visitors by saying, “I can’t believe people still come here. Nothing else better to do today?” Obviously, DiSanto has nothing better to do as she and other protesters hassled visitors at the park.

Protesters have concerns about animals at Marineland, but don’t feel the same way towards cows, pigs, lambs, goats and whatever else walks on four legs.

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When cows are brought to the abattoir (slaughterhouse), they are stunned by bolt gun to the brain. In most cases, the animal is unconscious, but whoa to the ones that aren’t; they die piece by piece. Hind legs are shackled as the animal is lifted off the floor. Large blood vessels in the neck are cut for bleeding; eventually, the neck is severed for quicker bleeding.

Many pigs not properly stunned, are put alive into scalding-hot water baths, which softens their skin and removes hair.

Chickens are put in electrified water; this is meant to make them unconscious (you hope) before their throats are slit. The bodies are thrown into boiling water so they are de-feathered.

Yes, some animals go through “needless suffering” at slaughterhouses; where are the protesters for these animals?

To all the protesters enjoying their steaks, hamburgers, roasts, pork chops, veal, hotdogs, chicken and turkeys, lamb, goat and fish; remember, what these animals have to go through to satisfy your tummies. It may not be perfect, but animals at Marineland have it a bit better than what is going on at slaughterhouses.

I’m not a bible thumper, but it does say in Genesis 1:26 of man, “Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air and over the beasts of the earth.” Sorry protesters, you had better complain to a higher power.

Protesters should direct their gripe towards another animal called the “human.” Throughout history and even today, humans have committed genocide, racism, bigotry and intolerance towards others because of races (skin colours), religions and different nationalities. Your protesting energies could serve a much better purpose than at some animal park.Lou CesarSt. Catharines

The U.S. tried to win World War II with a bat bomb

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-u-s-tried-to-win-world-war-ii-with-a-bat-bomb/ar-AAKKvY8?ocid=msedgdhp

Mike Vago  16 hrs agoLike|19

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How a WWII Japanese sub commander helped exonerate a U.S. Navy…Turkey’s president vows to ‘save’ the country from the largest outbreak of ‘sea…

This week’s entry: Bat bomb© Photo: Mondadori Portfolio (Getty Images)

What it’s about: Holy ordinance, Batman! During World War II, American scientists raced to develop crucial technology that would win the war: The B-29 bomber. Radar. The atomic bomb. And, a somewhat less crucial technology, the bat bomb: a bomb canister that contained live bats, each of which would carry an incendiary device and (in theory) start devastating fires across Japanese cities.https://www.dianomi.com/smartads.epl?id=3533

Biggest controversy: The part where we tried to defeat Imperial Japan with an army of bats. The idea came from a dental surgeon named Lytle S. Adams. An acquaintance of Eleanor Roosevelt, he wrote to the White House a month after Pearl Harbor suggesting the idea, which came to him during a trip to Carlsbad Caverns. Adams was “intrigued by the strength of bats” and believed they could carry an incendiary device, which could do serious damage to Japan’s largely wooden architecture.

With FDR’s approval, Adams led up an Air Force project to develop a bat bomb. His team for some wonderful reason consisted of a movie star (more on that later), an unnamed former gangster, an also unnamed former hotel manager, and chemist Louis Fieser, who developed the first synthetic vitamin K and cortisone, and more relevant to the war effort, napalm.

Their eventual prototype was a bomb-shaped metal canister with separate compartments for 1,040 Mexican free-tailed bats. The bomb would be dropped and then at 4,000 feet deploy a parachute, then open to release the bats. The bats would naturally roost in the eaves of buildings, but each one had a 15- to 18-gram payload of napalm (slightly heavier than the weight of the bat itself) on a timer. After several unsuccessful attempts at strapping the bombs to the bats, Adams’ team ended up gluing the devices directly to the bats.

Strangest fact: The only target destroyed by bat bombs was an American air base. Adams’ team made several tests of their bat bomb, but at Carlsbad Army Airfield Auxiliary Air Base in New Mexico, napalm-armed bats were accidentally released, roosted under a fuel tank, and set the base on fire. The project was then passed to the Navy and then the Marines and was renamed Project X-Ray.

Thing we were happiest to learn: America didn’t end up incinerating thousands of bats for the war effort. The Marines were surprisingly enthused about the bat bomb, believing the countless small fires the bats would start would be harder to fight and would spread more quickly than a smaller number of large fires caused by conventional bombing. But by mid-1944, with $2 million already spent on the project and at least another year until the bats would be combat-ready, the project was canceled. As for Fieser’s invention, the U.S. dropped napalm on Berlin and Tokyo without any animal intermediaries.

Where’s the “Impossible Burger” of cheese?

https://www.vox.com/22456572/plant-based-vegan-cheese-motif-perfect-day

Plant-based food has come a long way, but we still don’t have a stretchy, melty cow-free cheese.By Kenny Torrella  Jun 5, 2021, 8:00am EDT

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Motif FoodWorks, a food technology startup in Boston, says it’s developing plant-based cheese that stretches and melts like the real thing.

Two years ago, Beyond Meat became the first plant-based food startup to go public. Its shares surged 163 percent on its first day and today it’s valued at $9 billion, with shares now worth about five times their original value.

Since then, analysts have wondered which major plant-based food company would go public next. Late last month, they found out: Oatly, the Swedish maker of oat-based milk, yogurt, and ice cream.

Oatly’s stock didn’t quite skyrocket like Beyond’s, but by the end of the company’s first day of trading, it was valued at about $12 billion. Now, Oatly is valued at $14 billion, over 50 percent more than Beyond’s valuation of $9 billion. Though Beyond and other high-tech vegan meat producers get much more attention than companies that make plant-based milks, Oatly’s valuation says a lot about the state of the plant-based food industry — namely, that plant-based milk has reached a point of maturation in the market that’s even more advanced than plant-based meat.

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According to a report recently published by the Plant-Based Foods Association and the Good Food Institute, two organizations that advocate for plant-based foods, plant-based milk alone accounts for 35 percent of the total plant-based foods market, worth $2.5 billion to plant-based meat’s $1.4 billion. Plant-based milks don’t just dominate the plant-based food sector, they also take up a sizable portion of retail milk sales — 15 percent overall, and 45 percent in natural food stores.

Plant-based milk is the largest segment of the overall plant-based food industry.

Oatly’s sudden rise since it came on the US market in 2016 has helped drive this growth. Almond milk sits at the top of the plant-based milk category, but oat milk recently pushed soy milk out of second place, thanks to Oatly and big brands like Silk (owned by Danone) and Chobani following Oatly’s lead with a range of oat-based dairy products.

In fact, Starbucks, which started using Oatly products last year in select US stores and rolled it out nationwide earlier this year, says its share of orders that use plant-based milk jumped from 17 to 25 percent after it introduced Oatly.

These shifts from traditional to plant-based dairy are important in the fight against climate change, as traditional dairy is an especially resource-intensive sector. According to a 2018 University of Oxford study, any way you slice it, cow’s milk uses much more land and water and emits far more greenhouse gases than any plant-based milk. For example, almond milk gets a bad rap for being water-intensive, but cow’s milk requires about 70 percent more water to produce, emits more than twice as much Co2, and requires more than 15 times as much land. Compared to almond milk, oat milk uses much less water but a little more land.

On top of the environmental impact of traditional dairy, most dairy cows, at least in the US, are raised in factory farms.

Yet despite the popularity of plant-based milks, they haven’t quite made a dent in taking the cow out of dairy, their raison d’être. Some farmers do say plant-based milk is affecting their bottom line, and a late 2020 report that was funded by the United States Department of Agriculture found that “increased sales of plant-based alternatives are negatively affecting households’ purchases of cow’s milk” but that it’s “not a primary driver.”

There are a lot of factors that affect dairy production and consumption, and adoption of alternatives is just one of them. But in order for plant-based startups to become a primary driver in displacing conventional dairy, stealing market share from the milk shelves of the supermarket isn’t enough. Oatly and its competitors need to figure out how to make a great alternative for another dairy product: cheese.

Milk sales are plummeting, but there are more cows than ever

Some vegan advocates say that “dairy is dying” (or already dead), in part because of the United States’ decades-long decline in milk consumption coinciding with the rise of plant-based milk.

Many dairy farmers are indeed hurting, but plant-based milks aren’t the biggest culprit — it’s Big Dairy, which has been consolidating and squeezing out small farmers, one of several factors that caused 11,000 dairy farms to shutter between 2014 and 2019. The pandemic only hastened this trend, as major dairy customers — schools and restaurants — closed down, resulting in farmers across the country dumping millions of gallons of milk. Seven percent of US dairies closed in 2020.

But dairy is far from dead: The number of dairy cows in production has increased slightly in the past decade, and they’re producing more milk — more efficiently — than ever.

This can be explained, in part, by Americans’ love for cheese; per capita cheese consumption has risen 25 percent since the early 2000s, which is one factor that has kept milk production high, since it takes nearly 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese. (Butter consumption is rising even faster, and it takes more than 21 pounds of milk to make one pound of butter.)

There are plant-based cheese alternatives on the market, and they generally fall into two categories. The first are the pricey, fermented wheels or tubs of spreadable cheese, often made of nuts, seasonings, and cultures (and sometimes oils, gums, and starches), which have managed to impress the taste buds of omnivorous food critics. Bigger brands like Miyoko’s Creamery, Kite Hill, and Treeline Cheese dominate this first category, but there are dozens of smaller, artisanal outfits like the Herbivorous Butcher in Minneapolis and Rebel Cheese in Austin.

The second category consists of the bags of shredded or sliced mozzarella or cheddar, often made with oil and potato starch or cornstarch, which don’t melt and stretch (or taste) the way cheese from cow’s milk does. The problem is best summed up by the joke about how a vegan’s house burned down and the only thing that didn’t melt was their cheese.

But Americans eat a lot of shredded and sliced cheese, and the vegan versions haven’t improved much since I last heard that joke some years ago (though if you’re curious, I suggest giving Violife, Field Roast, and Follow Your Heart products a try). And even though the plant-based food industry has grown rapidly in the past few years, its startups loaded with billions in investment, no company has come close to making a “breakthrough” shredded or sliced cheese product akin to the Beyond or Impossible burger — or a carton of Oatly — that can bring in curious omnivores.

Not yet, anyway.

The future of animal-free cheese

The absence of great shredded and sliced plant-based cheese could be a problem of demand or innovation, or both.

Meat gets much more attention for its ecological and animal welfare harms than cheese, to the point where nearly a quarter of Americans say they are trying to cut back. But you don’t hear much about people trying to reduce their cheese intake, even though globally, the dairy sector emits more greenhouse gases than all meat sectors (except beef), and most dairy cows, at least in the US, are factory-farmed.

On the innovation side, it’s simply much harder to replicate stretchy, melty cheese made from cow’s milk than the soft, spreadable varieties.

“Achieving the stretchy quality and texture consumers expect from harder cheeses upon melting has proven challenging to date, which is why soft plant-based cheese may be more prominent,” Dr. Priera Panescu, a senior scientist at the Good Food Institute, told me over email.

Ryan Pandya, the CEO and co-founder of Perfect Day — a food technology startup based in Berkeley, California — shared a similar sentiment with Wired, explaining, “The melty, stretchy thing is absolutely the most challenging holy grail thing to do. Because there’s only one protein known to man that does this, and it’s casein.”

Through precision fermentation, which is used to make specific proteins, enzymes, or vitamins, Perfect Day has developed a microflora (fungi) that converts sugar into whey, another protein in milk, for its ice cream products. The company says it’s also working on cheese but doesn’t have plans for the shredded or sliced varieties in the near future.

Real Vegan Cheese, a nonprofit, open-science research project — quite rare in a field of venture capital-backed startups — is going for the “holy grail” of cheese by adding the genes for casein to yeast and other microflora, and then adding plant-based fats and sugars. New Culture, based in San Francisco, is also working to replicate casein, using microbial fermentation, similar to Perfect Day’s approach, to make shredded cheese. The company plans to launch its first product in late 2023.

When asked about the lack of stretchy plant-based cheese, Panescu said that “academic researchers are working to address these challenges by using biological interventions, optimizing more flexible, well-assembled plant-based proteins, and applying mechanical texturization processes.”

One of those researchers is Alejandro Marangoni at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. According to Marangoni’s research, zein — a protein found in corn — is an overlooked tool in the search to make plant-based alternatives to animal products. Most companies making shredded and sliced plant-based cheese use starches and gums for the melt and stretch effects, but zein could be a better route. When hydrated and heated above a certain temperature, it forms a “flexible, bendable mass which may be pulled, stretched, and sculpted,” sharing “melting characteristics with cheddar cheese.”

Motif FoodWorks, a food tech startup based in Boston that has received investment from the major dairy company Fonterra, recently signed an exclusive licensing deal to use a unique food processing technology Marangoni developed using zein.

Motif’s CEO, Jonathan McIntyre, told me their newly acquired tech will enable them to make a stretchy, gooey vegan cheese that’s better than what’s currently on the market. “This technology doesn’t solve all problems in plant-based cheese,” he said, and that “there are other aspects, like mouthfeel and creaminess” that they’re using other tools to address.

McIntyre isn’t yet sure whether Motif will develop its own products, work with a dairy company to make a plant-based product, or partner with an existing plant-based cheese company to upgrade its own, but he does envision it being used on nachos and, of course, pizza. You can see it in action below or here.

Given all the hype around plant-based food, it may come as no surprise that there are dozens more startups racing to make convincing cheese alternatives — but Impossible Foods isn’t one of them. While it is developing Impossible Milk, a spokesperson told me the company won’t be selling Impossible Cheese anytime soon.

Then there’s Oatly, which recently told Bloomberg it’s making “good progress” on developing oat-based cheese products, though its CEO didn’t specify what kinds. Given the $1.4 billion the company raised from last month’s IPO, it seems like it should have the resources to raise the bar on plant-based cheese, and a devoted customer base who will likely be curious enough to give it a try.

Demand for eggs bounces back amid 2nd Covid wave

https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/demand-for-eggs-bounces-back-amid-2nd-covid-wave-121060200776_1.html

The demand for eggs, which had fallen during January-February due to the bird flu outbreak, has bounced back with rise in consumption of key poultry commodity, according to government officials.

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eggs | Coronavirus

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi Last Updated at June 2, 2021 15:55 ISTFollow us on  Photo: Shutterstock

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The demand for eggs, which had fallen during January-February due to the bird flu outbreak, has bounced back with rise in consumption of key poultry commodity to boost immunity amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to government officials and industry experts.

The revival in demand amid tight supplies after bird flu outbreak and a sharp rise in poultry feed cost have led to an increase in retail prices to Rs 6-7 per egg depending on the areas.

But farm gate rates have not gone up commensurate to rise in input cost, affecting farmers, they said.

Egg is among the protein-rich foods prescribed for COVID-19 patients and is the cheapest source of protein available to people, experts said.

“There is a trend in increase in consumption of eggs in the last few months. Egg has the highest 11 per cent protein content,” O P Chaudhary, Joint Secretary in the Animal Husbandry, Poultry and Dairy Ministry, told PTI.

Another official in the ministry said it is difficult to estimate a monthly rise in egg consumption.

However, he said India’s annual consumption has increased to 86 eggs per person in 2019-20 from 79 eggs per person in the previous year.

Indian Broiler Group Managing Director Gulrej Alam said the poultry industry was impacted badly during April-May 2020 last year due to the lockdown as demand for both eggs and chicken declined.

However, he said demand revived between June and December last year.

Alam said the demand got again impacted in January-February this year due to bird flu outbreak. In June 2020, monthly consumption stood at average 7 eggs per person, which fell to 4 eggs per person due to bird flu scare.

“After March, the demand has bounced back to average 7 eggs per person as demand for eggs as immunity booster caught the minds of people during the second wave of the pandemic,” he said.

The demand for eggs is more in urban areas when compared with rural areas. When the urban demand rises, prices automatically go up, said Praveen Garg, Zonal Chairman at National Egg Coordination Committee.

“Egg is still the cheapest source of protein today. At a retail price of Rs 7 per egg, you are getting 11 per cent protein. In no other source of protein, you will get this much protein at just Rs 7. Therefore, there is good demand for egg,” said Prasanna Pedgaonkar, general manager of poultry-focused Venky’s.

The supply of eggs is tight as poultry farms are not operating at their full capacity in many parts of the country after bird flu early this year, covid-induced restrictions and other reasons like rising feed cost, he added.

As per the government data, India’s egg production rose to 140 billion in 2019-20 from 103 billion in 2018-19. And 98 per cent of the eggs produced is consumed in the country itself.

Gurugram-based startup Eggoz cofounder Abhishek Negi said: “We have seen huge surge in demand for branded and Eggoz eggs in the past few months since the onset of second wave of covid pandemic.”

Eggoz branded business has grown by more than 100 per cent month-on-month over the past few months, he said.

“Customers are becoming increasingly aware of health and immunity boosting benefits of eggs,” Negi said.

He informed that Eggoz has launched an enriched variant called Nutraplus where two eggs can fulfill daily recommended intake of Vitamin D and B12 among other vitamins.

“An egg that used to fetch around Rs 3-3.5/piece for the farmers in the months of April, May in Haryana touched all time high of Rs 5.5 and is now trailing at Rs 4.8/piece,” Negi said.

This has provided much-needed financial boost to layer farmers in the country and will help them meet their higher cost of production due to increased prices of soya, Negi said.

Unpackaged eggs in retail are currently being sold at around 7-8 per piece in untraceable format which has increased from normal Rs 5-6 per piece, he said.

Branded eggs are sold at higher rates, around Rs 10 and above.

Eggoz has its own poultry farm in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. It also has tie ups with other poultry farms for procurement of eggs.

China mystery animal box craze causes outrage

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57013197

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image captionBoxes of mystery animals have been seen for sale on shopping sites such as Taobao

A craze in which pets are sold in mystery parcels has caused outrage in China after a number of animals were found dead in a vehicle on Monday.

The “blind box” craze sees people order a box containing an animal that is then sent to them through the post.

On Monday, 160 distressed cats and dogs were located inside a courier company’s truck in Chengdu.

It has prompted calls for action on the phenomenon as well as on the purchase of animals online in general.

According to Chinese law the transportation of live animals is prohibited, but “blind boxes” are incredibly popular, state media reports.

A range of the boxes containing animals such as tortoises, lizards and rats have been reported for sale on sites such as Taobao.

• China zoo ‘caught passing off dog as wolf’
• Rescuing pets abandoned in China’s virus outbreak

On Monday animal rescue group Chengdu Aizhijia Animal Rescue Centre said it had intercepted a vehicle carrying 160 dogs and cats, all under three months old. It said a number of them had died.

The group posted video footage of the boxes piled up to the ceiling of the truck on social media site Weibo.

“The cargo box is full of screams from cats and puppies,” the group wrote.

image captionImages from the scene show boxes of animals inside the truck

Volunteers stayed with the animals throughout the night, feeding them and giving them water, while they underwent health inspections.

The rescue centre announced on Thursday that it had managed to bring the animals back to their base for resettlement and a further 38 were receiving medical treatment.

The courier company involved, ZTO, said the person in charge of delivery safety in Sichuan province has been suspended and his annual performance bonus had been deducted. It confirmed that it had broken China’s postal regulations and apologised to members of the public, People’s Daily Online reported.

ZTO also said it had launched additional training regarding postal safety and national animal protection.

image captionThe animals were found in a delivery truck in Chengdu on Monday

The incident has caused outrage on social media with people calling for a boycott of such boxes and buying animals online. The phrase “pet blind box” has had millions of views on Weibo.

“Have we made any achievements in the rescue and management of stray animals? Now there is a pet blind box industry?” one user wrote.

Another wrote: “Let’s talk about boycotting pet blind boxes again. What they need is a home, not an uncertain possibility”.

State media Xinhua described pet “blind boxes” as a “desecration of life” and said courier companies and e-commerce platforms must “strengthen self-examination and self-correction”.

It also called on buyers and sellers to have “more goodwill and more respect for life”.

Austin, Texas, Police Say ‘No Criminal Offense’ in Filmed Beating of Elderly Dog!

Austin, Texas, Police Say ‘No Criminal Offense’ in Filmed Beating of Elderly Dog!

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Distressing footage reportedly captured recently at a residence in Austin, Texas, appears to show an evidently elderly and disabled dog being viciously attacked by a woman. In three videos captured on two days, the abuser can be seen violently yanking the leash; lifting the dog by her tail repeatedly while shouting, “Stay up!”; striking her with full-force downward slaps; and punching the animal as she yelps in obvious distress—all in apparent “retaliation” for this poor old dog simply being unable to hold herself up in the backyard.

WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGEhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/bZbDKM2WNYQ?wmode=transparent&rel=0

PETA and our complainant have alerted Austin and Travis County authorities to this situation—providing the sickening visual evidence and the suspect’s address and imploring them to rescue the victim before more abuse transpires.

Unfortunately, authorities have apparently decided that no crime was committed—although Texas’s anti-cruelty statute reads, “A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly … tortures an animal,” and defines “torture” as “any act that causes unjustifiable pain or suffering.”

Most importantly—where is the dog? Despite vague assurances that she isn’t in danger, officials aren’t saying whether she was removed from the home.

Please politely urge the following officials to provide assurances that the victimized dog has been removed from her abuser:

Austin Police Department
police3@austintexas.gov

Travis County District Attorney’s Office
TCDAPublic@traviscountytx.gov

The Honorable Steve Adler
Mayor of Austin
steve.adler@austintexas.gov

Please also ask members of the Austin City Council to secure for their constituents an update about this dog’s status.

After you’ve e-mailed officials, please comment on their Facebook pages as well—then forward this alert far and wide!

AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT

TRAVIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

12 crows shot, killed in suspected animal cruelty cases in Mountlake Terrace

https://komonews.com/news/local/im-just-horrified-dozen-disturbing-animal-cruelty-cases-reported-in-mountlake-terrace

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by Michelle Esteban, KOMO News ReporterMonday, May 3rd 2021AAhttps://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.453.0_en.html#goog_1072611284Volume 90% Police believe one person has shot and killed at least a dozen crows in the city. (KOMO)

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. — A disturbing rash of suspected animal cruelty cases in Mountlake Terrace.

Police believe one person has shot and killed at least a dozen crows in the city. Authorities said they are very close to recommending charges.

That’s a big relief to the community, because the worry is for the bird’s safety and more.

“I’m scared this guy is going to miss some day and hurt somebody,” said Eileen Wood-Lim outside her Mountlake Terrace home today.

Since February, Mountlake Terrace Police said at least 12 crows have been shot and killed in the city limits – all in the middle of the day.

Two home security videos shared by police and captured by worried residents show the same red truck multiple residents have reported seeing in the areas of multiple shootings. Police identified that same truck and its driver as their suspect.

“You can’t see person very well who’s shooting but you see crow fall out of the sky,” said Commander Pat Lowe referring to one of the videos.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.453.0_en.html#goog_1072611282Volume 90% Authorities are searching for a suspected crow killer in Mountlake Terrace. (KOMO)

He said they believe there could be as many as 20 cases of crow shootings in Mountlake Terrace alone. Twelve are active and there are dozens of other unconfirmed reports on social media in the surrounding areas, from Brier to unincorporated Snohomish said Commander Lowe.

“I’m just horrified,” said Wood-Lim, standing in her driveway. She was home Monday during her lunch break from work.

One of those crows fell to its death March 4 in her driveway. She was home working, heard two shots, a thump and then the loud shriek from a cluster of crows.

“I love crows and to have somebody shooting them and have it happen right in my driveway made me upset,” Wood-Lim said.

Her worry is exactly why Mountlake Terrace Police have worked nonstop to track the crow killer

“If you take someone who will be so brazen do out in broad daylight and shoot out in public that’s pretty scary cause those bullets have to go somewhere,” Lowe said.

Lowe said the same red truck seen outside Eileen’s house on her doorbell camera is the same truck captured in multiple videos by others residents and turned over to police as evidence.

You can’t make out the driver in Eileen’s video but you can see what looks like a long gun. Police think it might be a high caliber pellet gun or even a 22. caliber rifle, but that’s still under investigation.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that if someone is doing that with a crow, and then they’re upset with a pet dog, or pet cat or a child,” Lowe said.

Through an anonymous tip, police tracked down the truck’s owner.

Police said the Mountlake Terrace man agreed to let them see his truck to rule him out as a suspect, but kept rescheduling.

Eventually, Lowe said they found the truck at a nearby dealership and that the man sold it and didn’t tell them. Inside police found possible evidence.

We asked police since they made contact with the man who they consider a suspect, what’s happened with the shootings.

“It’s stopped,” Lowe said. “It’s the main thing we wanted to stop the shootings.”

Police said they are confident the truck’s owner is behind all the crowing killings and they will recommend charges be filed very soon.

Possible charges, may include shooting a firearm in the city and animal cruelty-related charges but police are still determining charges and are working with the state Fish and wildlife agency.

Police seize hundreds of roosters in illegal cockfighting investigation

By 9News Staff8:44am Mar 12, 2021https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.446.1_en.html#goog_392972310Play VideoPolice seize hundreds of roosters in illegal cockfighting investigation

https://www.9news.com.au/national/police-seize-hundreds-of-roosters-cockfighting-investigation/34bf69a8-a4a6-4194-adb8-f5d7e49b7f55

Police and RSPCA inspectors have seized 540 roosters in Sydney as part of an investigation into an illegal cockfighting ring.The birds were confiscated after a raid on a property at at Horsley Park in the city’s west yesterday.Authorities found more than 540 fighting cockerels, roosters and chickens, as well as cockfighting paraphernalia.READ MORE:Koala survives attack that left her with horrific injuries

NSW Police and RSPCA inspectors seized hundreds of roosters during the raid. (NSW Police)

A crime scene was set up and will be maintained at the property today while RSPCA inspectors safely remove the animals.A man was detained by police and spoken to at the property before being released.The operation was part of an extensive police investigation into animal cruelty offences in Sydney’s south-west.

Illegal cockfighting equipment was found during the raid in western Sydney. (NSW Police)

YOU MAY ALSO LIKERecommended by4 Steps to Government Security: Investigate, Monitor, Analyze, Act.SPONSORED | SplunkLimited Time Offer – Bloomberg.com For Just $1.99SPONSORED | Bloomberg.com[Pics] Ancient Infant’s DNA Changes What We Know About North American HistorySPONSORED | EliteHeraldOn December 13 last year a police found a designated cockfighting area and several large sheds used to house 71 fighting cockerels, as well as metal spikes, spurs and other cockfighting paraphernalia at a property in Catherine Field.Police also seized $107,170 cash and several electronic devices from the premises.The animals were taken by RSPCA inspectors, with several requiring veterinary care for serious injuries.

Illegal cockfighting equipment was found during the raid in western Sydney. (NSW Police)

A 56-year-old man was taken into the custody of the Department of Home Affairs over his visa status, while 34 men were detained at the scene.The 34 men are next due to appear in court on April 1 over animal cruelty charges.Anyone with information should contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000 or at CrimeStoppers.com.au

WHAT I WITNESSED INVESTIGATING FACTORY FARMS DURING THE PANDEMIC

WHAT I WITNESSED INVESTIGATING FACTORY FARMS DURING THE PANDEMIC

By: Clément Martz  |   Reading time: 6 minutes

Out of all the countries, why did you choose Sweden? We are one of the countries with the highest animal welfare standards in the world,” the police officer asked while I was being interrogated after photographing the conditions inside a pig farm. “Is keeping pigs indoors, unable to see the daylight, crowded in tight dirty stalls while standing in their own excrement until they are sent to slaughter at 6 months of age considered high welfare standards?” I replied.

In the last year, I have been to countless Swedish farms, documenting these so-called “high welfare standards” during the pandemic. What I have witnessed and documented shows me that the way these animals are being treated is an immediate concern. Their conditions are shocking and seeing them for myself was an urgent wake-up call. COVID-19 has affected farmed animals across the globe. Although the virus has largely been transmitted between humans, animals raised for food have still felt the consequences.  From animals being buried and burnt alive to slowed operations in slaughterhouses and worsening conditions in the West, millions of farmed animals are also victims of this pandemic. In Sweden like most other countries in the world, factory-farmed animals are raised for food in confined and overcrowded conditions. According to the Swedish Board of Agriculture, Sweden has 63,000 farms and over 50 percent of Swedish farms have animal production.  Each year, Sweden produces:2.6 million pigs100 million chickens8 million egg-laying hens290,000 tonnes (over 319,600 US tons) of cow’s milk

INVESTIGATING FARMS AROUND THE WORLD  Animal agriculture keeps hidden the daily treatment of farmed animals. Hearing—and seeing—directly from undercover investigators what they have witnessed inside factory farms is a powerful eye-opener. Here at Sentient Media, we’re making sure their stories are told:The Forgotten Victims of Factory Farming: Lex Rigby, Head of Investigations at UK nonprofit Viva!, writes that fish farming is “the world’s fastest-growing food production sector, generating over half of the fish filling our supermarket shelves.” “As with land-based factory farms, conditions on fish farms cannot easily replicate the complexities of an animal’s natural environment—leading to increasing concerns regarding their welfare,” writes Rigby. Later this month, Rigby will join Pulitzer Prize winner Ian Urbina and undercover investigator Pete Paxton to talk about the impacts of industrial fishing in our next Sentient Session: Reporting Life at Sea. Learn more and register here.  What a Dairy Farm Really Looks Like: “I remember their eyelashes,” writes Natalie Blanton, recalling the calves she met in childhood in Utah, growing up around “idyllic” dairy farms—and the realizations that led her to stop consuming dairy. “As I matured, and after enough games of hide-and-go-seek among these rows of sheds housing tiny young calves,  I started to piece together a more sinister cycle taking place. It was a gradual tugging on threads of understanding, an unraveling of a dark truth behind those happy cows on those happy milk cartons,” she writes.   Stepping Out From Behind the Camera: After many years spent documenting factory farming, Gemunu de Silva now leads Tracks Investigations, an organization with over 250 investigations under its belt.  “For such a staple of the animal advocacy world, Gem and Tracks have flown surprisingly under the radar. But that is by design. Up until this year, Gem avoided doing press, leaving it to the NGOs to draw the media’s attention to the cruelties his investigations exposed. It is only as the pandemic has forced a hiatus on the majority of Tracks’ projects that Gem has begun telling the stories of his decades-long career,” writes Claire Hamlett.   Helping Others Expose Animal Abuse: Now leading the investigations department at Animal Outlook, Erin Wing was once an investigator too, drawn to taking action for farmed animals after experiencing trauma and abuse herself. She shares what she saw inside factory farms, including a dairy farm where, she writes, “I reached the limit of what I could endure.” “There, brutal violence was a daily occurrence. The last effort that I felt I owed to the animals before retiring from the field for good was holding out at Dick Van Dam Dairy for a few more weeks so I could rescue a newborn calf named Samuel. I found comfort in the fact that we escaped the dark world of factory farming together,” writes Wing. Read more from Sentient Media.