News! Be Informed.

            Being informed about the food products we consume is important because we need to know what we are eating and how that foods get to our tables. Protecting the environment from pollution so that the air we breathe is safe should be everyone’s concern. What goes into the food we consume is also important to prevent unnecessary illnesses and sicknesses. You can do this by being informed by reading and spreading the news to friends, family, and those you come in contact with every day. Here are a few stories from VegNews at http://Vegnews.com. I hope you enjoy your reading.

            Michael Fields, a fifth grade science teacher in Au Gres, MI was suspended for showing a Mercy For Animals (MFA) video to his class. The video showed workers at a Tyson factory farm kicking, punching, and slamming piglets headfirst onto concrete, which is a standard and legal practice on today’s farms. Despite being an excellent teacher, and because he was trying to show the lack of focus on the factory farming/meat industry, he was reprimanded for showing the video.

Large scale chicken farms harm the air and worsen water pollution. The residents of Surry County in North Carolina have had to live with foul stenches, harmful gas emissions, and irritating airborne dust particles from the hundreds of tons of poultry waste produced each year by this $34 billion industry. This makes me wonder what they put in the chicken.

An employee at a Perdue contract farm has been charged with four felony animal-cruelty charges. The cruelty was uncovered by a Mercy For Animals (MFA) undercover investigation.  They found employees stomping the chickens to death, throwing them across against the wall, or slowing crushing them with their feet. MFA president Nathan Runkle said the chickens are “bred to grow so fast they suffer from painful leg deformities and heart attacks.” I wonder what kind of hormones they put in their food.

The abuse of animals is finally being looked at by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, thanks to animal rights advocate Mary Lou Randour. The offense is a Group A felony, which compares to the same as homicide or arson. The four categories of animal cruelty are now simple or gross neglect, intentional abuse and torture, organized abuse and animal sexual abuse.  If you do not have the compassion or patience with an animal, do not get one. They feel and are conscious like ourselves.

When reporter Barbara J. King went inside a pig slaughterhouse with a virtual reality headset, the world saw the cruelty being inflicted to these pigs. Pigs are partially stunned and left for dead. They are not killed instantly, instead they are tortured and suffer in the last moments of their lives. This is just plain cruel. Hopefully, after this report the FBI will take a closer look at these facilities.

Gary Branson from Colorado received $262,000 for Chloe, his three-year old Labrador/pit bull mixed dog, after cops unnecessarily killed him. Gary was not home at the time of the incident but neighbor’s videotaped the incident. The video shows how the officers used excessive force by stunning the dog and then they shot her five times.

Some good news for pet owners: Delta Airlines finally realized that pets are members of the family for the passengers they transport and should be treated better. They are not cargo and will not be treated as baggage. Delta Airlines accounts for 25 percent of all airline animal deaths. It is spiritually refreshing to see policy changes for the better treatment of animals.

Cecil the lion was a 13-year-old lion that was illegally killed by Minnesotan dentist Walter Palmer. The killing of Cecil was identified by Google as the 2015 top search trend. His death raised question on hypocrisy of why people cared so much about the killing of one lion but continue to consume the meat of other animals. Cecil the lion was killed as a part of a trophy hunt in Zimbabwe. He was killed just to be displayed on someone’s wall.