Big Names promote Animal Rights
March 2012
Supermodels Katie Cleary and Joanna Krupa are on a mission to get the Kardashians to remove fur products from their clothing line.
“We have been animal lovers, activists and rescuers from the time we were little. Animals have always been such an important part of our lives that we feel obligated to do something about the mistreatment and abuse they go through by humans every day and be their voice!”
Here’s the video from their photo shoot to promote their worthy cause:
McDonald’s Say No to Sow Crates
According to the New York Times, McDonald’s has announced that it will seek to have its pork suppliers phase out the use of gestational crates by May. Animal rights advocates have long opposed the use of “sow stalls,” which are barely over 2 feet by 7 feet in size.
There are more than 5 million breeding sows in the US, and 60 to 70 percent are kept in these confining crates, which can cause a number of health problems including urinary tract infections, weakened bone structures, overgrown hooves and mental health issues.
The New York Times’ Mark Bittman praises McDonalds for doing the right thing.
“A gestation crate is an individual metal stall so small that the sow cannot turn around; most sows spend not only their pregnancies in crates, but most of their lives. For humans, this would qualify as “cruel and unusual punishment”, and even if you believe that pigs are somehow “inferior,” it’s hard to rationalize gestation crates once you see what they look like”.
McDonalds (the fourth-largest employer in the world according to the Economist) only buys one percent of the pork supply.
But the fast food giant’s decision to buy crate-free pork will have significant repercussions in how pigs are raised.
Dr. Jodi Sterle, an expert on swine reproductive management at Iowa State University, is quoted by the New York Times as noting that there is “no easy alternative to sow stalls … because feeding pigs is complicated by their hierarchical nature.”
(She is referring to the fact that there is often one or more ‘runts’ in each litter which need to be hand reared or they won’t get enough food from their mother). The industry will have to find ethical ways to raise the animals.
The world’s largest producer of pork, Smithfield Foods, said that it would end the use of the crates by 2017, only to postpone such a change during the recession. It has now again said that it will cease to use gestational crates by 2017, following an undercover investigation.
Several states including California and Florida already have laws banning the use of crates in the meat and dairy industries. The Humane Society had recently increased its pressure on McDonalds.
If we are what we eat, do you really want to eat a meal that was raised in a crate?
If everyone knew (or saw) how meat was processed, it would turn their stomach. I now eat only free range chicken. The rest is cruel and expensive to the planet. But we all (celebrities, McDonalds) do our part, whatever it is, big or small, however we feel led, to make the world a better place. And if what we do makes us individually healthier THAT is the big payoff!!!
Sonya Lenzo
I am an animal lover as well. I had never heard of sow crates – how awful! I’m glad to hear Mcdonalds has taken a stand against them. I guess I am behind the times with the news as well because I don’t know anything about the Kardashian’s clothing line. I thought they were famous for being on reality tv!
Lisa McLellan
I only buy meat that’s humanely raised and fed well. It does cost more, but we vote with our dollars!
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