INDUSTRY BEAT: ANIMAL WELFARE WILL NOT GO AWAY
By John Todd, Editorial Consultant
We all know now about the Maryland egg complex [ISE-America] that was
hit by the latest animal welfare terrorists. This is the latest in a
string of activities by these groups of so-called do-gooders. It is
alarming to think that people actually broke into the premises of a
large egg complex, took pictures and wrote a story that was extremely
damaging to the whole industry. The story was given to the Washington
Post and published on June 6. Written by Lori Montgomery, a Post
staff writer, the article goes through the entire episode from the
admission of a clandestine entry by the activist group to interviews
with the complex manager and even a quote from Don Bell [retired
poultry researcher, University of California, Riverside] that was
taken out of context ["If you crowd your chickens too much, they will
lay fewer eggs and have higher mortality"]. The article can be found
on the web at: www.washingtonpost.com:--Activists Accuse Egg Farm of
Cruelty.
To add fuel to the fire, the involved activist group called
"Compassion Over Killing" actually put up a web site explaining the
problems they feel are paramount at the Maryland complex. Miyun Park
is the President of Compassion Over Killing (COK) which is a
Washington-based animal rights organization. They are just one of
about 400 different groups in the United States that are addressing
the animal welfare question. These groups are protected from taxation
in this country under the Internal Revenue Service rule 501©(3).
Among the largest and most familiar with our industry are PETA,
Humane Society [The Humane Society of the United States], Association
of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, United Poultry Concerns, and on
and on. Park of COK was quoted in the Washington Post saying, "If
consumers knew how animals are abused by the egg industry, they would
never eat eggs."
It is common knowledge about the activists' efforts to change
McDonald's policy on buying eggs. Producers must now have a different
size cage and other additions to satisfy their rules. Others are
working on no cages at all, as in the European industry. There seems
to be an endless parade of issues confronting egg producers and it is
very political. Maryland, where the illegal entry was made, is
elevating cruelty to animals from a misdemeanor to a felony.
Maryland's Governor Glendening has signed the law that takes effect
October 1.
Several new terms have surfaced during this recent series of
activities. Have you heard the word "sentient"? This means, "with
feeling." Also the term "Vegan" is being used frequently. This is the
way the people in these organizations want to be called. They are
advocating the vegetarian way of life and have chosen animal
agriculture, or the elimination of it, as their way to save the
world. This means no meat, no milk and especially no eggs.
There is a web site called, Veg-source.com. In fact, there seems to
be hundreds of sites to look at the efforts being made to change the
way we eat. Another interesting web site to visit is
animalrights2001. A conference will be held in the near future on the
subject [WATT POULTRY SUMMIT IV Focusing on Bird Welfare in the
Commercial Layer Industry, October 16, 2001, Hyatt Regency, Lake Las
Vegas Resort, Las Vegas, NV].
The top 22 animal welfare activist groups in this country generate an
astounding $168 million for their activities. The Humane Society [of
the US] has 7.3 million members and collects $36.6 million. PETA is
right up there with donations of $14 million. Not all of this is
going against the egg industry, but when you read about some of the
antics being done against us, it creates some serious questions that
need to be addressed.
The egg industry has some very productive programs ongoing to address
these issues through the offices of AEB [American Egg Board] and UEP
[United Egg Producers]. Included is the UEP Washington staff that is
tireless in their efforts to set the record straight. Many volunteer
groups such as the Scientific Committees assigned to animal welfare
have contributed countless hours to working on the problem. Is it
enough? Considering the overwhelming numbers being thrown at the
industry in money and people, would it be beneficial to increase the
numbers from the egg industry side also? Could more resources be
assigned to fighting the adverse activities and publicity of the
"Vegan" groups? We would hope so.
Be sure to attend the Watt Publishing Summit on this very topic in
October. The Summit will be held October 16th the day prior to the
UEP annual meeting.
*United Poultry Concerns Editor's Note: All bracketed material within
this article was provided by UPC for clarification.
United Poultry Concerns. August 9, 2001
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org
(Egg Industry Magazine: Animal Welfare Will Not Go Away )
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