AVMA Support of Forced Molting
Help HELP HELP!
UPC activists Karen Davis (left) & Lynn Halpern (right)
UPC President Karen Davis joined activists at the annual July Convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association to protest the AVMA's continued support for the cruel poultry and egg industry practice of starving hens for profit known as forced molting. Wearing a 7-foot tall PETA chicken suit in front of the Adam's Mark Denver Hotel, UPC's president cried "Help, Help, Help! Stop Caging Me! Stop Debeaking Me! Stop Starving Me!" followed by all-day leafleting at the Convention Center.
To view UPC's 2003 Report to the AVMA, "The Animal Welfare and Food Safety Issues Associated with the Forced Molting of Laying Birds": http://www.upc-online.org/molting/52703.htm
The AVMA is under increasing attack among its members for its continued support for the forced molting of hens by food deprivation, which is practiced by 75-80% of the US egg industry. This year Dr. Holly Cheever, a board member of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR), presented AVAR's alternative resolution for the fifth time. The resolution would have required all laying chickens to receive nutritionally adequate food and water every day. According to Dr. Cheever, "The AVMA's Executive Board had recommended that AVMA House of Delegate members vote against the resolution. However, several members raised concerns in a half-hour long debate in which they challenged AVMA members to put animal welfare interests ahead of the interests of the poultry industry." Nebraska delegate Dr. Theodore Evans Jr. said, "We should decide whether the AVMA is for animal welfare or for dollars and cents."
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association has taken a stand against forced molting by food deprivation on animal welfare grounds. Please urge the AVMA to join the CVMA in opposing forced molting and urge your own veterinarian to urge the AVMA to take a stand against forced molting. o
Bruce Little, DVM, Executive Vice President
American Veterinary Medical Association
1931 N. Meacham Road, Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173-4360
Ph: 847-925-8070. Fax: 847-925-1329