Animal Rights Lover Goes for the Throat

Humane Society video sparks new battle with farmers

(NEWSER) - A video showing chickens being slammed into metal crates has reignited a battle between the Humane Society and farmers. The footage, shot by an undercover Humane Society volunteer, shows chickens held in battery cages over enormous manure pits and chickens being violently shoved into a euthanizing chamber. "We're asking they not be crammed into cages and crates barely larger than their bodies," says a society rep. More»

New farms in Ohio won't use extreme caging

(NEWSER) - Ohio’s biggest farms have agreed to a series of new restrictions on how they confine their animals, hoping to prevent a potentially losing ballot standoff with the Humane Society and other animal rights groups. Under the deal, no new egg farms will be built using extreme caging methods, and all farms will agree to slowly phase out the tight caging of pregnant sows and veal calves, the New York Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - McDonald's will soon be faced with an epic decision: Which comes first, the cage-free chicken or the profit margin? The Humane Society plans to press the fast-food behemoth at a shareholder meeting in May to use cage-free eggs, but the fast food giant’s response is anything but certain, Gourmet reports. Caged hens are “arguably the most abused animals in all agribusiness,” the group said. More»

Free range producer says hens hurt when they lay large eggs

(NEWSER) - Free range, cage free, organic. Add one more to think about when you’re grocery-shopping: Medium eggs cause hens less pain when laid, a British farmer tells the Times. “It takes more out of hens to lay large eggs,” he said. “It would be kinder to eat smaller eggs.” Animal-rights groups say laying large eggs can cause osteoporosis and bone breakage in hens. More»

Animal-rights org files criminal complaint; W.Va. company vows to punish workers

(NEWSER) - Just ahead of Thanksgiving, workers at a West Virginia farm are shown stomping turkeys and twisting their necks to kill them in an undercover video released by PETA, AP reports. The employee who filmed the stomach-turning scenes says the birds are kept in overcrowded barns and that employees brag about their abuses. More»