Pnut & Fred killed by NY govt, Starbucks dairy-free equity, and elephant captivity 11/3/24

This weekend we have incredibly good news likely to affect millions of animals, and shockingly bad news for two animals, which has taken the news media and internet by storm. Starting with the great news — Starbucks is removing its surcharge for nondairy milk. The shocking news involves an internet star named Pnut the squirrel, and his brother Fred the Raccoon, who were taken from their home, a nonprofit horse sanctuary, and put down by New York’s government.

I will also share, below, a particularly strong piece from the Los Angeles Times about elephant captivity.

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First the great Starbucks news, which didn’t make a whole lot of mainstream media, but which, unsurprisingly, Vox did a particularly good job of covering. The Vox article opens with:

“Starbucks announced this week that starting November 7, its US and Canada stores will drop extra charges for plant-based milks — including oat, soy, almond, and coconut — that add 70 to 80 cents to a drink’s cost.

“It’s a change that plant-based food advocates have long campaigned for, citing the dairy industry’s grave animal welfare and climate impacts. In 2022, Succession actor James Cromwell — in partnership with PETA — superglued himself to a Starbucks counter in New York City in protest of the upcharge.

“The news comes as the coffee giant tries to win customers back after a marked drop in sales over the last year.”

It tells us:

“The dairy business model depends on artificially inseminating cows and separating them from their calves at birth so humans can take their milk. The calves are typically forced to live alone in small enclosures while dairy cows are kept in large, industrial sheds, spending little to no time in pasture.

After multiple cycles of pregnancy and birth, when a dairy cow’s milk productivity wanes, she’s typically sent to slaughter.”

And it discusses the environmental impact of the dairy industry at length.

With nondairy milk already being so popular even with the hefty surcharge, it will be fascinating to see the difference that removing the extra cost might make.

The article is well worth sharing. And, even though the news didn’t make the kind of news splash we might hope for, this is a perfect example of news that we can spread through our local papers, many of which, especially the smaller ones, publish close to a hundred percent of the letters they receive. Why not let your neighbors know about the change in Starbucks policy, while sharing a fact or two they might not know about the dairy industry — like the most basic one, which is that mammals do not produce milk without being pregnant, so the dairy industry rapes mama cows and steals their babies so that we can drink cow milk.

If you have any questions about sending a letter to your local paper, please reach out to me.

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Now to the sad story of Pnut the squirrel, whose humans rescued him after his mother was hit by a car, and kept him after he was attacked by other animals when they attempted to release him in their back yard. The NBC coverage includes lots of cute Instagram video and an interview with PNut’s adoptive dad. The Daily Mail, in the UK, shined a spotlight on NY’s local NBC anchors, who made their disgust obvious. That coverage is also worth checking out.

The Pnut story is on the New York Times website, having been updated now that Pnut and his raccoon brother Fred have been killed, but hasn’t yet appeared in the paper. It probably will be in the Monday paper, despite the election focus, because it has become such a huge internet story and also because it has some political overtones given the government overreach involved, causing Elon Musk to share multiple tweets about it. Here’s a gift link to the New York Times story, in case you wish to weigh in.

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Somewhat relevant to the animal world is an interview in this week’s New York Times Magazine with Peter Singer, even though it barely mentions animals.

Perhaps letters to editor, sent to magazine@nytimes.com could focus on them.

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Angelenos were sent an alert on Friday about a beautiful piece by the Los Angeles Times’ Carla Hall titled, “Oakland Zoo is right to rethink keeping elephants.” It is a touching piece, in which Carla discusses her own meetings with elephants in zoos, the resulting heartbreaks, and calls for their release to sanctuaries. The Los Angeles Times is likely to print letters in response after the election, so I hope those who feel strongly about that issue will weigh in.

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch