To reply to the OP: I believe PETA's videos are NOT faked at all. I'm sure they're edited for impact, but the acts are not fake whatsoever. I'm a big supporter of Mercy For Animals who specialize in undercover investigations of this sort as well; they're solid folks. It's unfortunate but true that factory farming produces this behavior on a regular basis. In Jewish law, the kosher butchers are chosen very carefully and regulated specifically, for fear that butchering will do their souls harm. People get callous. (Especially since meat-packers and slaughterhouse workers are among the poorest and most-abused workers in America.)

I budget carefully in order to buy all-humane animal products. I do my due diligence with sites like cornucopia.org and Certified Humane, third party investigators who really keep producers accountable. I'm more than happy to reward those producers with my business.

I find it's really not that much more expensive- I just bought some 10 pounds of meat from Whole Foods, and because I picked tougher cuts with the bones in, it averaged $2-4 dollars a pound. Slow cookers and long roasting allow me to make the most of these cuts. Even if I'd gone to a more tender cut, I could have gotten it for less than $5 a pound. I'll freely admit to paying $6 a dozen for eggs, but I know exactly where they're coming from and it's worth the peace of mind to me.

I live in the Ozarks (half a continent away from NY :-)). Actually most of my problems stem not just from living in the boonies but from at the moment not having a car. A good car could drive me far enough out to get stuff.

I'm hoping by next Fall to have moved, maybe up to NW WA state. I think there'd be a whole lot more stuff I'm interested in -- farmer's markets and such -- in that region.

PJ

http://resourceclearinghouse.blogsp...nned-alive.html

"Testimony under oath proved that the hunter in the film was hired by Artek to skin a live seal without first rendering it unconscious. "

HSUS has done so as well:
"Part of an interview from Phoque le Film was posted. He went with seal hunters and animal rights activists to learn more about seal hunting, AR style. Terrified, a seal, wounded by a gun shot, tried to escape. The frightened animal was yanked out of the water and allowed to suffer for 40 minutes just so HSUS could film it. Finally a sealer came along and put it out of its misery."

"The German High Court found PeTA guilty of paying people to skin animals alive. The witness who committed this act for PeTA, a videographer, told the court that he didn't understand why they wanted it done that way, but he needed the money. This video was made in a third world country and the prosecutor found the man in the video who skinned of the animal."

Both PeTA and HSUS are well known for sending agents in to an organization as employees, then staging videos to make the place look bad.

http://www.feedstuffsfoodlink.com/M...06A35D16FDF2CFD

http://firebombpeta.blogspot.com/20...lies.html#links

"You want the truth? The woman who got that "undercover" video footage was hired in order to develop and implement programs to make sure that these animals' welfare was being taken into account. She had the responsibility for socialization and enrichment of dogs at that facility. If they were not being given exercise, socialization, or enrichment, could it be because PETA didn't want them given any? This wouldn't be the first time PETA has tried to engage in cruelty to animals in order to further their radical cause...

Here's another gem from PETA's IamsCruelty.com site:

Many Iams dogs suffered cruel and painful muscle biopsies, and Iams even allowed its dogs to be surgically debarked to silence the their tormented cries.

And now here is the truth that PETA doesn't want you to know:

Yes,some dogs were debarked. However, it wasn't because Iams wanted it done. In fact, according to an article on Iams' webpage, debarking has been against Iams company policy since 1960. The PETA operative authorized these animals to be debarked without Iams' consent. What does that tell you about PETA? "

PETA has made a big deal about foie gras. Here is a more objective view of it: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/12/...s-is-not-u.html

PETA likes to use human empathy against ourselves. Seeing horrible conditions, and treatment of animals causes empathetic beings to feel like they were in that situation themselves. The entire notion of animals sharing the same feelings as humans is an amazing thing.

Most people within developed countries have become so detached from their food sources that most would have a hard time killing a live cow/chicken/etc. Many would probably become vegetarians if they were told to go kill Dolly the Cow for dinner.

PETA is junk. Though, I'll agree that more efforts should be made towards offering more free range/grass fed/organic/sustainable farming.

Seeing a PETA-style scare mongering film about factory farming when I was a teenager is what prompted me to become a vegetarian. My vegetarianism only lasted a few years, but I became very ill and fat because of it.

There are ways to eat meat responsibly, and I try where possible to do this. I donate to Compassion in World Farming and I buy at least free range and organic produce, and I am aiming to buy from Laverstoke Park Farm. I think that we must also be as responsible for the vegetables that we buy and aim to buy locally grown produce.

Where are these facilities? Do you have a link?

Many thanks.

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I had their bison burgers and they were yum. Got them at Waitrose.

I'm no PETA sympathizer but it's pretty obvious animals do have emotions, they do experience fear and pain. That's why they built those humane slaughterhouses, to reduce their fear. Why? Well, you release all kinds of hormones when you're scared and that makes the meat not-so-tasty.

To me, it's ridiculous to think that humans somehow don't share traits with other animals. We are animals too and very, very closely related to some of them.

I don't care whether you're an animal or a person, death is often ugly. I say this as someone who watched both her parents die of old age. They labored to breathe on their final days. It is rarely a pretty or peaceful process. At least for the animals, it's over relatively quickly. Which death would I choose? Ugh... don't ask.

However, if conditions on factory farms are such that the animals are unhealthy and stressed, that should be addressed. If for no other reason than it probably makes the resulting meat not healthy. Although I certainly think compassion should weigh into it too.

My rancher takes the cattle to the facility the night before so that they can relax there over night before slaughter. I wonder if the stress hormones affect things other than taste?

Temple Grandin points out that in the wild, animals usually die in the horrific process of being eaten while still alive. Stunning then slaughtering is infinitely more humane.

Absolutely. Anyone who has ever owned a cat or a dog has certainly seen instances of fear, pain, etc. As Nancy says, we are animals as well. We just happen to be able to put a *name* to the emotions we are feeling, but that doesn't make them any more real than they are to other animals.

I'm a meat-eater. Sure, it would be hard for me to have to kill my own meat, never having done such a thing. But if I had to I would want a way to be able to do it quickly and cleanly, with a minimum of suffering. I have a summer home up in Canada, which backs up unto some fairly wild woodland, where there are lots of coyotes these days. I happened to be at the store one morning there this summer, but when I returned later my next-door neighbor was telling me that apparently the coyotes had tracked down and killed a large animal in the woods - there are both deer and moose in the woods - and she had heard it shrieking in agony.

Clearly it was experiencing both pain and fear, and clearly it's death was far messier than that of an animal in a slaughterhouse.

But I do believe very much in humane slaughter as best as we can manage it, and decent living conditions for the animals while they live.

This is not a credible reference. It is more editorial than journalism. There are no links to source material. The author offers "proof" in the form of a Canadian court case which she does not cite. She suggests "further reading" below her editorial, in support of her position. There are no quotes from these "sources" and from their titles they appear to be nothing more than right-wing rants.

I have not seen the documentary, "Survivial in the High North", which the author offers up as evidence for her position. It is not listed on IMDB. However, it is available via interlibrary loan if anyone is interested.



According to your first link, this was not HSUS at all, but a company called Artek Film Company. Which is it?

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Honestly Peta's overall lack of knowledge about the way farmers and agriculturalist do things, humors me and irritates the crap out of me. How are they to know how the right way to do things on the farm. Their suggested methods actually hurt the animal more than it does the traditional method and by the way those videos that peta claims are 100% true about the slaughter houses, well they aren't true one bit. The USDA is under so much pressure right now to perform and meet the specifications of todays world that each animal is inspected before death and after, so let me ask you this, why would these so called "inhumane" people do something that could get them fined by the USDA and potentially get there operation shut down. I personally know these things because I live on a farm and deal with these types of things on a daily basis.

People This is what Peta should stand for
Eating
Tasty
Animals