Now that I am living in Columbus, I have been active with the First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Columbus. The first week I visited them, I was recruited to teach kindergarten Sunday school and have been doing that ever since.

Another First UU member contacted me to ask if I would work with him to start a Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (UFETA) chapter. Recently we held two open meetings at the church where we talked about the issues and developed a plan of action so that our chapter can become a positive presence within the church.

One of our outreach efforts will be staffing an informational booth at the church. To engage the congregation I created a survey on animals and faith which we will ask people to complete. I created it so that people who take the survey are both learning and thinking about animals and their faith, values, and behaviors.

The survey seems like both a good tool for engaging the public and educating them on the issues, so I wanted to share it here so that other UFETA chapters and church congregations can adapt it and use it in their own places of worship. Please feel free to download it and change it to best suit your needs.

Animals and Faith Survey (Word document)

Best wishes to all of your in your endeavors!

In February, 143 million pounds of beef was recalled because stockyard workers at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, California dragged, kicked, and prodded sick and dying animals to the slaughterhouse kill floor – only so their flesh could be ground up and served to unsuspecting consumers.

This recall resulted from legitimate concerns that the meat from this “USDA Supplier of the Year” slaughter plant with five federal inspectors and a veterinarian on staff may have been tainted with E. coli, salmonella, and mad cow disease. However, meat’s dangerous levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein can be an even bigger threat to human health than mad cow, E. coli, and salmonella. Meat and other animal products have been linked to America’s top killers: heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.

Given the health threats posed by meat, Mercy For Animals’ “Biohazard Team” distributed Emergency Vegetarian Starter Kits to the attendees of the Ohio Beef Expo today in Columbus. Request your free Emergency Vegetarian Starter Kit online at ChooseVeg.com.

Follow the link for additional photos of the event. (more…)

Workers at the Hallmark slaughter plant kicked, shocked, jabbed at the eyes, dragged with chains, and rammed dairy cows too sick or injured to walk with a fork lift in an effort to get them to stand to pass USDA inspections. “Downed” animals are by law not supposed to be added to the food supply. This is because in random USDA testing, 12 of the 15 cows who tested positive for mad cow disease, were downer animals, meaning downed animals far more likely to carry this tragic brain-wasting diesase.

The undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States shows that this Chino, California plant — which supplies meat to schools, and has twice won a USDA “Supplier of the Year” award — was slaughtering downed animals, and jeopardizing the health of children and others, for a few extra bucks.

As a result, 143 million pounds of beef have been recalled, making this the largest beef recall in U.S. history. Much of the potentially-contaminated meat has already been consumed. Skeptics point out that we have not suffered any major food poisoning scares lately, and wonder why all the fuss? What they don’t realize is that the incubation period for mad cow disease in humans can be 10 or more years. That’s how long it can take before this disease, which cannot be killed by cooking, starts to riddle your brain with holes.

If contamination of the food supply and animal abuse happens at this award-winning Hallmark plant — a facility with five federal inspectors and a veterinarian on staff who are there to prevent these things — it is hard to believe that it is not happening elsewhere as well.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the best thing anyone can do to prevent animal abuse and protect their health is to go vegan.

Another video featuring the investigator explaining the abuses he witnessed can be found by clicking the second picture near the bottom of this page. showing more of the abuses at this facility. If you want a humorous video with information on the problem with farming, check out Doreen the Downer.

On February 5th, members of Mercy For Animals protested the Annual Ohio Pork Congress in Columbus. We were protesting the Pork Industry’s use of gestation crates–barren 2-foot wide metal stalls where breeding sows are forced to spend most of their adult lives before being slaughtered.

Sows in gestation crates are unable to walk or turn around and are forced to stand and lie on concrete slated floors covered in their own excrement for the duration of their four-month pregnancies. Barely able to move, the pigs develop crippling joint disorders, bruises, open soars, and lameness.

Pigs in Gestation Crates.

This protest is part of an increasingly successful movement to ban gestation crates in the United States. Florida, Arizona and Oregon have recently passed legislation outlawing the abusive confinement system. Major restaurant chains including Chipotle and Panera Bread won’t use pork from producers who confine pregnant pigs, and producers have been listening. Both the world’s largest and Canada’s largest pig producers — Smithfield Foods and Maple Leaf Foods respectively — are phasing out their use of the cruel crates.

Follow the jump for more pictures. (more…)

Many people eat pork, bacon, ham or Spam without much thought. But who are these animals whose flesh we eat, and what are their conditions like on the farm? This essay tries to answer these questions.

Pigs are Amazing Animals

Like dogs, pigs are friendly, intelligent, and loyal. Researchers have found that pigs are as intelligent as a three-year-old human child. They are good at video games, have exceptional memories, and complex social relations.

Pigs are actually very clean animals. If given sufficient space, pigs will be careful not to excrete near where they sleep or eat.

Pigs are also very social animal. Researchers have identified the meaning of approximately 20 different grunts, oinks and squeaks that are used in different situations, from wooing their mates to expressing, “I’m hungry!”

Pigs have saved human and nonhuman animals’ lives. Priscilla the pig rescued a boy from drowning. Snort the pig saved her human family from dying of carbon monoxide poisoning in their trailer. Spammy led firefighters to a burning shed to save her calf friend Spot. And Lulu found help for her human companion who had collapsed from a heart attack.

Just like dogs and cats, pig are feeling beings with intelligence, emotional lives, friends and family, and an interests in enjoying life and not being harmed.

(more…)

-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt

Q: What do you call a bunch of bunnies bouncing backwards single file?

Follow the link for the answer. (more…)

-Robert Kennedy

Mercy For Animals’ Year in Review for 2007

Mercy For Animals had a banner year in 2007. We held over 220 outreach events, distributed over 200,000 pieces of literature, and had 450,000 visitors check out ChooseVeg.com. Our television and subway car ads reached millions of people with a message of compassion.

(BTW, Mercy For Animals was so hopping during 2007 that I’m still working on getting my Holiday Card together and sent. Hopefully I will get it out before Earth Day. Wish me luck! )

Help Mercy For Animals do more in 2008. Become a member and get active!

Thanks!

-Dr. Albert Schweitzer