Undercover videos push Tyson into requiring farm animal welfare audits

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

 

ALTOONA––Goaded by repeated undercover video exposés of
rough handling and alleged neglect of livestock, Tyson Foods beef
supply chain manager Lora Wright on December 9, 2013 warned the Iowa
Cattlemen Association’s annual convention in Altoona that Tyson will
soon require beef and chicken suppliers to pass animal welfare audits.

“A third-party auditor will visit farms to ensure compliance,
assessing how workers handle animals, whether animals have access to
adequate food and water, and whether treatment is humane,”
summarized Donnelle Eller of the Des Moines Register. “The
requirements are driven by customers including McDonald’s and Whole
Foods.” These are among the biggest buyers from the Tyson Foods
group, which grossed $33.3 billion in sales in 2012.

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Videotaped Eid al Adha slaughter cruelty in Gaza shocks Australia

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

 

GAZA, CANBERRA––Amateur videos posted to social media by
witnesses to Eid al Adha slaughters in Gaza on October 15, 2013 appear
to have provided some of the most damning evidence yet of the failure of
the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System to protect Australian
livestock from abuse after arrival in foreign nations.
Collected by Animals Australia from social media, the Gaza
videos show tethered cattle being chased off a truck to fall heavily
upside down in the street, cattle being stabbed in the eyes, a bull
being “knee-capped” with an assault rifle, and being killed so
ineptly that one bull with a distinctive Australian ear-tag reportedly
suffered 102 separate cuts to his throat before bleeding to death,
remaining conscious all the while.

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Bands bail on SeaWorld

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2013:

ORLANDO,  SAN FRANCISCO,  TAIJI––Shortlisted for Oscar consideration as “Best Documentary of 2013,”  the Gabriela Cowperthwaite exposé of SeaWorld Blackfish between November 28 and December 14,  2013 persuaded all six original headline bands and one of the replacements to withdraw from scheduled performances at the SeaWorld “Bands, Brew & BBQ Fest,”  due to begin on February 1,  2014. Read more

Bullfighting fails to draw crowds in Mississippi––and Spain & France

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

 

JACKSON, Mississippi––“A small crowd” attended a
heavily promoted December 7, 2013 attempt to introduce Portuguese-style
bullfighting to the U.S., understated Roslyn Anderson of Mississippi
News Now.
` “Based on the amount of cars at the event, we think there
were probably only 100 attendees,” said Shelby Parsons, one of 10
protesters who stood vigil outside the 2,500-seat Kirk Fordice Equine
Center. More than 8,000 people signed an online petition posted by
Kimberly Spiegel of Oxford, Mississippi in opposition to the so-called
“bloodless bullfight.”

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Pigeon shoots done at Wing Pointe?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.) 

HAMBURG,  Pennsylvania––Cancelling three pigeon shoots in six weeks,    the Wing Pointe Hunt Club appears to have quit hosting pigeon shoots,  Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi announced on October 24,  2013. Protesting against pigeon shoots at Wing Pointe since 2010,  SHARK arrived for a scheduled shoot on September 20,  2013,   Hindi said,  “to document and expose it,  and to rescue and treat as many victims as possible.  A few hours into our wait for any activity,  a Wing Pointe worker told us that there was no shoot,  and that there would be no more pigeon shoots.  He said the shoots are moving to the northern part of the state.  Wing Pointe pigeon shoot attendees used to number over 100,”  Hindi added,  “but in recent times it has fallen to about a dozen hardcores.”   Read more

FoA sues again to stop hunting of ranched oryx

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.) 

NORWALK––Friends of Animals on October 16,  2013 sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell for continuing to issue permits that allow hunters to kill ranch-raised scimitar-horned oryx,  dama gazelle,  and addax. All three are endangered species,  but have been raised on hunting ranches in Texas and New Mexico for more than 50 years,  beginning decades before passage of the Endangered Species Act.   Read more

Jakarta and other Indonesian cities move against monkey acts

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

JAKARTA––It’s curtains for street corner monkey acts in northwestern Java,  hopes Jakarta Animal Aid Network founder Femke Den Haas.  Locally called topang monyet,  meaning “masked monkeys,”  the acts have proliferated over the past decade,  becoming a JAAN campaign target in 2009. Read more

Blackfish bites, but SeaWorld isn’t tanking

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

ORLANDO––SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc on November 13,  2013 reported partial recovery from a year-long attendance slide,  plus record third quarter revenue of $538.4 million. The financial data cooled speculation that the July 2013 theater release of the award-winning documentary Blackfish might have marked the beginning of the end of profitable marine mammal exhibition.  Blackfish had won increasing critical acclaim since debuting at the Sundance film festival in January 2013. Read more

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