Bird flu cruelty, burgers & water waste, whales owls, 60 Minutes Indian Rodeo +.. 4/5/24

Yesterday was such an extraordinary day for animals in the media, I was frustrated when my email went down preventing me from sending out an alert, but as serendipity would have it, today is just as packed with stories that need attention, and it sure isn't too late to respond to yesterday's articles, so it seems that things work out.

Yesterday we had a stunningly good New York Times front-page story titled, "A Cruel Way to Control Bird Flu? Poultry Giants Cull and Cash In." We also had three, yes three, Los Angeles Times stories deserving of attention: a front-page story on salmon depletion, an editorial on a planned government slaughter of owls, and a sports story on the Kentucky Derby. And the front page of Canada's Globe and Mail announced an animal rights win in court against ag-gag laws! Earlier this week The Los Angeles Times had a front-page story on the widespread starvation of grey whales. And today the Los Angeles Times bring us an op-ed titled, "A Way to Save the Colorado River: Eat Fewer Burgers." Far less delightful is a Wall Street Journal front-page photo of a cute panda trapped behind bars, with the interesting caption, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Adorable." I also share my discussion with Mark Thompson about Sunday's CBS "60 Minutes" special on "Indian Relay"; we discuss the abuse of animals for entertainment.

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The front-page New York Times story, "A Cruel Way to Control Bird Flu?" was written by Andrew Jacobs, who has often done a great job of covering animal issues, and it features Our Honor's campaign against the hideous practice of "Ventilation Shutdown Plus."

It tells us:

"The highly lethal form of avian influenza circulating the globe since 2021 has killed tens of millions of birds, forced poultry farmers in the United States to slaughter entire flocks and prompted a brief but alarming spike in the price of eggs.

"Most recently, it has infected dairy cows in several states and at least one person in Texas who had close contact with the animals, officials said this week.

"The outbreak, it turns out, is proving to be especially costly for American taxpayers.

"Last year, the Department of Agriculture paid poultry producers more than half a billion dollars for the turkeys, chickens and egg-laying hens they were forced to kill after the flu strain, H5N1, was detected on their farms.

"The cullings are often done by turning up the heat in barns that house thousands of birds, a method that causes heat stroke and that many veterinarians and animal welfare organizations say results in unnecessary suffering."

We learn:

"Among the biggest recipients of the agency’s bird flu indemnification funds from 2022 to this year were Jennie-O Turkey Store, which received more than $88 million, and Tyson Foods, which was paid nearly $30 million. Despite their losses, the two companies reported billions of dollars in profits last year...

"To critics of large-scale commercial farming, the payments highlight a deeply flawed system of corporate subsidies, which last year included more than $30 billion in taxpayer money directed to the agriculture sector, much of it for crop insurance, commodity price support and disaster aid.

"But they say the payments related to bird flu are troubling for another reason: By compensating commercial farmers for their losses with no strings attached, the federal government is encouraging poultry growers to continue the very practices that heighten the risk of contagion, increasing the need for future cullings and compensation."

We also read:

"The giant sheds that produce nearly 99 percent of the nation’s eggs and meat spin off enormous quantities of animal waste that can degrade the environment, according to researchers.

"And infectious pathogens spread more readily inside the crowded structures....

"Many scientists, fearing that the next pandemic could emerge from a human-adapted version of bird flu, have been urging the White House to embrace a vaccination campaign."

And we read about fascination results at a sanctuary dealing with bird flu:

"Some animal welfare advocates, pointing to recent outbreaks that were allowed to run their course, question whether killing every bird on an affected farm is even the right approach. When H5N1 hit Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary in California in February 2023, killing three birds, the farm’s operators steeled themselves for a state-mandated culling. Instead, California agriculture officials, citing a recently created exemption for farms that do not produce food, said they would spare the birds as long as strict quarantine measures were put in place for 120 days.

"Over the next few weeks, the virus claimed 26 of the farm’s 160 chickens, ducks and turkeys, but the others survived, even those that had appeared visibly ill, according to Christine Morrissey, the sanctuary’s executive director.
She said the experience suggested that mass cullings might be unnecessary. 'There needs to be more research and effort put into finding other ways of responding to this virus,' Ms. Morrissey said, 'because depopulation is horrifying and it’s not solving the problem at hand.'"

I am pleased to be able to provide this gift link from DawnWatch for those of you who may wish to respond to the paper.

Folks in Kansas should know that the same article is in the Wichita Eagle today on page 6 under the headline, "Paying farmers to kill flocks hasn’t stopped bird flu yet" and the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran it yesterday on page 33 under "Is giving farmers millions to kill millions of chickens the way to curb bird flu?" We always have by far the best chance of getting published when we write to our hometown papers.

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Now to the Los Angeles Times:

Tuesday had a front-page article by Susanne Rust titled, "What happened to their food?"

It tells us:

"Now — after more than 700 gray whales have washed ashore in Mexico, Canada, California and other U.S. states since late 2018 — new research published Tuesday in PLOS One suggests the culprit was a critical drop in food availability in the mammals’ Arctic and sub-Arctic seafloor feeding grounds."

And, "Despite the hundreds of whales that washed ashore, researchers could only properly examine 61.... Of the 61 whales they examined, researchers determined the cause of death in just over half. Sixteen were severely emaciated and likely died of starvation; 11 died of blunt force trauma — although two of those whales were also extremely underweight; at least three bore fatal wounds from killer whales and two were tangled in fishing gear."
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Yesterday's front-page story, "Much hinges on the health of state's struggling salmon," by Ian James, told us:

"Along the California coast from May to October, commercial fishing boats and sportfishing charter vessels are typically out on the ocean hauling in salmon. But low population numbers led to the cancellation of last year’s season, and this year fishery regulators will soon consider whether to ban fishing for another year, or allow a minimal season with restricted dates and catch limits."

We read:

"How water is managed in the Sacramento and other rivers can make or break fish populations. And many I spoke with said they largely blame California water managers, who they say send too much water to farms and cities, depriving rivers of the cold flows salmon need to survive."
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How perfectly that leads into today's op-ed, "A Way to Save the Colorado River: Eat Fewer Burgers" by Aaron Mead in which he writes:

"Casting a wary eye over the 'cheese,' I asked my boss about his restaurant choice. He said he’d gone vegan after learning how much Colorado River water irrigates cattle feed — almost a third of all river consumption, according to a recent study. His comment made me reconsider my own beef consumption. I felt deeply uneasy: How could I put the sustainability of the Colorado River at the center of my work while continuing to eat hamburgers?"

And, "Based on a UNESCO study, I estimate that half-pound beef burgers require 900 gallons of water each to make. Since, on average, Americans eat 80 pounds (36.2 kilograms) of beef per year, the equivalent of three burgers a week, I found myself wondering how much of the 17% cut we could make simply by eating one less burger a week. By my calculations, the answer is almost all of it, assuming farmers fallowed the fields that would no longer be growing cattle feed. And most Angelenos would find eating one less burger a week much easier than tearing out their lawns (which I also advocate!)."

How ironic, when reading about the salmon situation and the starving whales, however, to read from Mead, "I’m not a vegan, so I still eat dairy, eggs and fish (strictly, I’m a pescetarian)."

Sigh.

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Yesterday's Los Angeles Times also gave us an editorial, the paper's opinion, titled " U.S. Wildlife officials should put plan to shoot owls on hold." It opens:

"There is something shocking about trying to save one species by killing nearly half a million of another species. That’s what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed in a plan to save the spotted owls of the northwestern United States from extinction by shooting hundreds of thousands of barred owls over three decades.

"There’s no question the number of spotted owls is dwindling precipitously as barred owls have muscled into their territory in Washington, Oregon, and — to a lesser extent— Northern California over the last 50 years.

"This situation has pitted not just owl against owl, but also put animal welfare and conservation groups at odds with each other. In a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland sent on behalf of 75 animal welfare and wildlife advocacy groups, Animal Wellness Action President Wayne Pacelle and Scott Edwards, general counsel for the Center for a Humane Economy, called the plan 'a colossally reckless action' which would doom the government to perpetual killing to keep the number of barred owls down.

"On the other side, Kieran Suckling, the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity — which has long fought to save the spotted owl — supports the plan. Without it, he says, the northern spotted owl in Oregon and Washington will go extinct and the California spotted owl will become endangered. 'Nobody wants to see an owl killed, including ourselves,' he said.

"Shooting any owl seems like a horrible idea, and the Fish and Wildlife Service should put this fraught plan on hold and look for other options."

Let me note here how sorry I was to see that stance from the Center for Biological Diversity, who used to be the good guys, the only environmental group for many years who recommended vegan diets. Yet I heard recently they had supported a massive animal testing plan on environmental grounds, and now this. It seems that like every other environmental group, they disregard the suffering of individual beings.

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And the Kentucky Derby, coming up in May, was discussed in yesterday's Los Angeles Times in a sports article by John Cherwa, titled "Baffert could end up in Kentucky Derby if suit succeeds." It is an attempt to allow trainer John Baffert to race his horses at the Derby this year despite having been banned for the use of "legal medication that was not legal on race day." (The use on race day is pertinent as anti-inflammatory drugs mask injury, which can cause the horse to cause herself greater damage.)

It opens the door for letters calling for the end of the use and abuse of animals for human entertainment.

Each of or all of the Los Angeles Times stories above are begging for letters which can be submitted here.

As always, I thank Elaine Livesey-Fassel for keeping such a close eye on the LA Times for us.

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That horse racing story brings me to last Sunday's CBS segment on Indian Relay, which you may wish to Google but I hope you won't share as wide distribution would reward 60 Minutes for the piece. I hope, however, you will lodge your concerns at their link for feedback or via email sent to 60min@cbsnews.com .

Mark Thompson and I discussed that segment on his show on Monday, and I have shared that segment online with this description:

"Last Sunday, 60 Minutes presented 'Indian Relay' as an 'inspiring' sport. But it is not that for the horses - it is dangerous, painful and at times clearly terrifying. Here, Karen Dawn of DawnWatch - Daily Animal World News Watch - and Mark Thompson discuss the coverage in the light of a Cesar Chavez's quote: 'Racism, economic deprival, dogfighting and cockfighting, bullfighting and rodeos are cut from the same fabric: violence.'
This is posted with appreciation expressed to Action for Animals - Oakland, CA, Horseracing Wrongs, and Farm Sanctuary, whose good work is noted in the discussion."

I have posted the segment to the DawnWatch Facebook page here,
to YouTube here and to X/Twitter here and hope you'll check it out and share it. Something I love about it, ironically, is that my mic went out for a little while, so Mark's very mainstream audience got to hear how their beloved host feels about it all!

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Today's Wall Street Journal brings us more sad animals being used for human entertainment, with a front-page above-the-fold photo of a panda and the headline, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Adorable."
It was shocking how much it reminded me of a meme I posted on my personal Facebook page (as it was not a major media animal story) earlier this week that shows a sorrowful bear behind bars and the text, "As a kid, I loved zoos because I loved animals. As a grown-up, I hate zoos because I love animals." I hope all Wall Street Journal readers will jot off a line or two of feedback to wsj.ltrs@wsj.com .

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We have good news, thank heavens, from Canada, where yesterday's Globe and Mail front page announced a win with "Ontario court voids parts of law targeting animal-rights activists." That article opens:

"An Ontario judge has declared that parts of a law that threatened to steeply fine animal-rights activists and declare them trespassers if they lied about their backgrounds to get hired onto livestock operations are unconstitutional.

"The ruling asserts that activists’ ability to infiltrate animal-processing facilities is integral to their Charter-protected free speech rights, and voids regulations of the statute that would punish them for misleading agricultural companies to exercise those rights."

I loved this line from Justice Koehnen's ruling:

“The simple fact that an undercover activist obtains a job by understating their qualifications does not create economic harm."

Letters to the editor, which should be fewer than 150 words, can go to letters@globeandmail.com

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The same paper let us know that in Canada there is a plan to rescue and return to his pod an orca calf who is stranded in a tidal lagoon. I have shared the CBC version of that story
on the DawnWatch Facebook page with the note, "It's heartening to see humans trying to do the right thing by animals. This orca calf and his mother were stranded. Now his mother has died but efforts are being made to get him back to his extended family. Please realize that while this one act is heartwarming, Orcas are in dire straits as their food sources, mostly salmon, diminish as humans overfish the oceans. The best thing we can do for orcas and all sea mammals is to move away from eating fish."

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I pointed, in my last alert, to a strong story in the Guardian titled, "Why drones are ‘beyond effective’ for animal rights." Please know that story has made it onto page 3 of the Guardian Weekly, out today, April 5th, so it is ripe for responses sent to weekly.letters@theguardian.com !

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On the DawnWatch Facebook page this week I have also shared a UK story from The Independent, sharing hideous video, provided by Joey Carbstrong and Pignorant 2024, documenting the treatment of pigs whose flesh is then sold with the RSPCA (England & Wales) welfare assured label. I urge UK subscriber to respond to letters@independent.co.uk

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Let's end with some joy! Jane Goodall turned 90 this week, and the New York Times celebrated with an interview in which she discusses her love of dogs!

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A beseeching final note: When Jessica Scott-Reid sent me the front-page Globe and Mail story yesterday with the exclamation, "We won!" I immediately thought of the Margaret Mead quote, "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does." I thank you for being part of that small group and ask you, please, to rededicate yourself to our cause by taking a few minutes to send just one very brief letter, two or three lines, in response to one of the many articles above.

Yours and all animals',
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch
https://DawnWatch.com