United Poultry Concerns Annual Report for 2004

Federal ID: 52-1705678

Officers & Directors
Karen Davis, PhD, President-Director
George Allan Cate, PhD, Vice President-Director
Joan Meanor Holtgraver, MA - Secretary Treasurer-Director

United Poultry Concerns holds that the treatment of chickens and other domestic fowl in food production, science, education, entertainment, and human companionship situations has a significant effect upon human, nonhuman, and environmental welfare. We seek to make the public aware of the ways in which poultry are treated and to advance the compassionate and respectful treatment of chickens and other domestic fowl. UPC conducts full-time educational programs and projects, including our quarterly magazine Poultry Press, our website at www.UPC-online.org, and our sanctuary for chickens.

United Poultry Concerns works with individuals and groups around the world on issues pertaining to the treatment of domestic fowl. UPC is a member of The Summit for the Animals, an annual meeting of the heads of national animal protection organizations in the United States, and UPC president Karen Davis is on the steering committee of the California Animal Association, a coalition of advocacy groups representing the interests of animals at the California State Capitol.

United Poultry Concerns maintains a permanent full-time office and sanctuary, education center, and poultry adoption, sponsorship, and placement service at our headquarters at 12325 Seaside Road, Machipongo, Virginia 23405. We are grateful to all of our members and supporters for enabling us to fulfil our mission in 2004. From all of us at United Poultry Concerns, thank you for your strong and continuing support.

Highlights of Our Activities and Accomplishments in 2004

Sanctuary

• Adopted 12 "spent breeder" hens from the Eastern Shore chicken industry
• Adopted 7 chickens from a cockfighting cruelty case in Alabama
• Provided full-time sanctuary and veterinary care for more than 150 rescued chickens, 4 male ducks, and our turkey, Florence
• Helped individuals and humane societies around the country place chickens, turkeys and ducks in caring homes and sanctuaries

Actions * Investigations * Campaigns

• Got Ira Glass of Public Radio’s This American Life To Go Vegetarian
• Successfully Urged the AVMA to Stop Supporting Forced Molting of Hens By Food Deprivation –Our 11-Year Campaign Succeeded in July 2004!
• Successfully Urged United Egg Producers to Eliminate Forced Molting Hens By Food Deprivation – Our 12-Year Campaign Succeeded in Spring 2005!
• Urged United Egg Producers to Stop Caging and Debeaking Hens
• Urged the US Congress, National Chicken Council, Tyson, & KFC to Adopt "Humane" Slaughter Legislation & Welfare Practices for Poultry
• Pursued Our Vigorous Investigation Begun in 2003 into the Student Chicken Slaughter Episode at the University of California, Berkeley & Conducted a Successful Protest-Letter-Writing Campaign to University Officials
• Urged West VA County Prosecutors to Charge Pilgrim’s Pride Workers with Cruelty to Chickens (unfortunately state & local politics prevailed)
• Provided Hundreds of UPC’s Replacing School Hatching Projects Booklets to Teachers
• Succeeded (with PETA) in Getting the "Chicken Roping Contest" in Albany, Texas Cancelled By Providing a Written Analysis of the Taped Event as a Violation of the Texas Cruelty to Animal Statutes
• Succeeded (with PETA) in canceling a 22-Year Chicken Flying Contest in Shawnee County, Kansas (Topeka Capital-Journal, Sept 4)
• Urged Criminal Prosecution of Teenagers Accused of Cruelty to a Duck and a Goose in Lee County, Florida
• Assisted the Humane Society in Marion, Indiana with Documents to Support the Society’s Cockfighting Cruelty Case
• Successfully Supported California Legislation to Ban the Production and Sale of Foie Gras
• Protested the Humane Society of Golden Valley, MN Serving Animal Products at Fundraising Dinners; Urged Adoption of an Animal-Friendly Menu
• Urged Pier 1 Imports to Stop Selling Duck Feathers & Down Products
• Promoted A Vegan Diet in All Venues

Public Education Videos, Literature & Website Documents

• Poultry Press, UPC’s Quarterly Magazine
• How Switzerland Got Rid of Battery Hen Cages by Heinzpeter Studer, Translated from German into English by UPC. www.upc-online.org/battery_hens/SwissHens.pdf
• "Don’t Plants Have Feelings Too" (New Brochure)
• "Chickens" Brochure Revised & Updated
• "Turkeys" Brochure Revised & Updated
• Inside a Live Poultry Market (New Video)
• Behavior or Rescued Factory Farmed Chickens (New Video)
• "Assume No Animal Products are Safe" (New Fact Sheet on Farmed Animal Feed Ingredients & Mad Cow Disease)

Teachers Conferences

• National Science Teachers Association/Virginia Association of Teachers Association Convention, Richmond, VA, December 2-4

Animal Agribusiness Conference Participation

• Pew Meeting on Transgenic Animals, National Press Club, Washington DC, June 30
• Future Trends in Animal Agriculture, USDA, Washington DC, Sept 22
• Welfare Implications of Gas Stunning of Poultry, USDA, Dec 16

Public Comment Submissions on Poultry Welfare

• Sent 2072 Petition Signatures to United Egg Producers Totaling 9528 Signatures to UEP to Eliminate the Forced Molting of Laying Hens, Jan 20
• Provided Poultry Welfare Recommendations to the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) www.upc-online.org/welfare, Jan 30
• Petitioned USDA to Regulate Care & Use of Birds, Mice, and Rats, Oct 15
• Petitioned FDA to Ban the Forced Molting of Laying Hens, Dec 24

UPC Fifth Annual Forum, "Mad Cows to Mad Chickens: What Insiders Can Tell You About Agribusiness, Animal Liberation, and Your Diet. Norfolk, VA, Aug 21-22

• Introduced Former Chicken Slaughter Plant Worker Virgil Butler as a Speaker to the Animal Rights Movement. All Forum Presentations are Available on VHS Formats.

Keynote Speaking Engagements

• TAOS Conference March 25-28, Stone Mountain, Georgia, March 26
• University of Central Florida, Student Animal Rights Lecture Series, March 31
• Farm Animal Wellness Seminar, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 3
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Coalition for Animal Rights Classroom Lectures, April 21-22
• Animal Liberation Student Association Conference, April 23-25, Syracuse University, NY, April 23
• Animal Rights 2004 National Conference, Washington DC, July 8-12
• North American Vegetarian Society Summerfest, University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, July 24-25
• Vegetarian Society of Washington DC VegFest, Oct 23
• Humanists of Spokane, Washington, Dec 4

Additional Community Outreach

• Cub Scouts Sanctuary & Education Visit to UPC, March 12
• Farm Sanctuary Forum, Chicago, April 3
• Protested at the AVMA Convention re AVMA’s Endorsement of Forced Molting – Leafleted Thousands of Veterinarians, Philadelphia, July 23
• Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival (VA), Sept 25
• World Farm Animals Day Leafleting, University of Maryland-College Park, Sept 30
• Empty Cages Conference (NC), Oct 1-3
• Vegetarian Society of Washington DC VegFest, Oct 23
• Thanksgiving Leafleting, University of Maryland-College Park, Nov 18
• UPC Open House Thanksgiving, Machipongo, VA, Nov 28

UPC in the News: Articles * Letters-to-the-editor * Display Ads

• PRINT MEDIA Seattle Weekly * Veterinary Practice News * DVM Newsmagazine * Canadian Veterinary Journal * Harper’s Magazine * Daily Times (Salisbury, MD) * Amarillo (TX) Globe * New York Times * Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association * Fort Worth Star-Telegram * AV Magazine * Topeka Capital-Journal (KS) * Christian Science Monitor * Virginian-Pilot (front-page) * Time Out New York * U.S. Newswire * News Release Wire * Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services * * Diamondback (MD) * "Open Rescues: Putting a Face on the Rescuers and on the Rescued" by UPC President Karen Davis in Terrorists or Freedom Fighters: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals (NY: Lantern Books).

• BROADCAST MEDIA Latitude LR49 Radio, British Columbia * ACT Radio, Animal Concerns of Texas * Watchdog, KPFK Pacifica, LA * Jeff Katz Show, Liberty Broadcasting (nationally syndicated)* Tom Callan Show, WRVA, Richmond, VA * Live on America at Night, Las Vegas * Suzanne Dragan’s Animal Talk, WCTC Radio, New Brunswick, NJ * Ed Pyle Show, KNX Radio, Los Angeles * Jack Murphy Show, WKZL Radio, Greensboro, NC * Kidd Kraddick Show, KHKS Radio, Dallas, TX * Kidd Chris Radio Show, San Antonio, TX * Ed Hitzel Show, Atlantic City, NJ * NPR Radio, Wyoming * Go Vegan Texas

Thank You!
Karen Davis, PhD
President

United Poultry Concerns takes this opportunity to thank the foundations and trusts for assisting our programs in 2004:

The Marino Foundation
The New York Community Trust
The Polly Strand Trust