From ‘The Guardian’ – London.

An animal rights activist was in court on criminal charges. Why was the case suddenly dismissed?

Matt Johnson conducted an undercover exposé of cruel practices used to mass exterminate pigs at Iowa Select Farms facilities

When animal rights activist Matt Johnson last made national news, he was in disguise. He appeared on Fox Business in December 2020, sporting a buzz cut and button-down (much different from his usual casual attire) and posed as the CEO of Smithfield Foods. The pork giant he claimed to be representing had factory farms that were “petri dishes for new diseases”, he told the news anchor. After the segment went viral online, Fox realized their mistake: “It appears we have been punked,” host Maria Bartiromo announced, apologizing to Smithfield, which called the interview “a complete hoax”.

Johnson’s antics, and his seeming lack of fear of the consequences, have made him a formidable opponent of the meat industry. But while the Fox incident offered a moment of levity, today, Johnson makes the news for something far more serious. He has just been let off for criminal charges that could have sent him to prison for up to eight years. After conducting an undercover exposé of conditions at the pork company Iowa Select Farms in May 2020, his actions put him on the line for burglary and planting recording devices. Another charge, for trespassing at a food operation (an offense created by an Iowa ag-gag law), was added in 2021.

While these specific charges against Johnson can’t be brought again, they may not be his last. His work as an organizer with the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) involves high-profile, high-risk actions like secretly recording factory farms and rescuing animals. Since farm animals are legally property and have no rights and almost no protection from suffering, removing them is usually treated as burglary, no different from stealing jewellery or someone’s wallet. In the last decade, many state “ag-gag” laws have sought to further criminalize such activism.The conditions that brought Johnson, an Iowa native now based in California, to Iowa Select Farms facilities were particularly cruel, according to DxE – and the outrage that followed his exposé suggests the public were similarly alarmed. As Covid was tearing through US slaughterhouses, Johnson had been tipped off by an Iowa Select truck driver about conditions at the company’s facilities.

Across the meat industry, workers were falling ill, meatpacking capacity was significantly reduced, and farms were overloaded with animals and looking for ways to dispose of them. Johnson was made aware of a practice called “ventilation shutdown”, being used by Iowa Select to mass exterminate pigs: the animals were packed into sealed barns and essentially cooked to death by heaters and steam generators.

Continued on next page

WAV Comment – Italy seems to have big problems when it comes to enforcing animal welfare !

New investigation documents culling of thousands of chickens due to avian flu

1 February 2022

Essere Animali

A new investigation by Essere Animali documents culling operations on a farm where cases of avian flu were detected. The film shows chickens being collected with the blade of a bulldozer and then herded by the thousands into containers which, once sealed, are filled with gas.

Since October last year, over 300 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian flu (subtypes H5 and H5N1) have been recorded in domestic poultry, and several other cases have been found among wild animals in Italy. So far it is estimated that the number of animals slaughtered due to avian flu in Italy exceeds 15 million.

Essere Animali conducted an investigation in the most affected region, Veneto, which has the largest number of poultry farms and animals. Using a drone, they were able to capture footage from a farm in the province of Vicenza with a capacity of 300,000 animals where an outbreak of the flu was recorded.

As the video shows, the chickens are unloaded into containers at least two metres high, which are densely packed with animals. Inevitably, the chickens in the bottom layer are crushed by the weight of the chickens above. It takes about 30 minutes for the loading, covering, and gassing to be completed. The death of these animals is surely preceded by long minutes of fear and stress.

During this procedure, some chickens fall from the blade, risking physical injuries following the impact and further prolonging the agony of the animals.

AVIAN FLU: 300,000 chickens stacked and killed with gas

We are disseminating these images because we believe it is necessary to reflect on our food system, which is based on excessive consumption and production of meat, made possible only by raising animals intensively. These farms are hotbeds for viruses, and as long as animals are raised by the thousands in confined spaces, avian flu outbreaks will continue to recur regularly with devastating effects. We are ignoring the cruelties inflicted on these animals and underestimating the potential risk to public health. Several experts have talked about the possibility that the virus could mutate and develop the ability to transmit among the human population.

Simone Montuschi, President of Essere Animali

Previous avian flu epidemics that have hit European farms demonstrate that it is not possible to limit an outbreak inside factory farms. It is precisely the conditions in which the animals live that cause viruses to spread rapidly and, if highly lethal like avian, kill most of these animals.

In addition to crowding — the average capacity of an intensive poultry farm in Italy is over 21,000 animals per complex — genetic factors also play a significant role: in farms, animals are selected to grow very quickly and produce enormous muscle mass, which in itself can cause physical problems. Moreover, they usually are genetically very similar to each other, so a virus can act undisturbed without encountering genetic variants that prevent its spread. To prevent epidemics from spreading, we need to review our food system based on the consumption of animal products.

Regards Mark

31 January 2022

Dyrenes Beskyttelse

The Danish retail chain REMA 1000 will significantly increase sales of pork and poultry raised at the highest level of animal welfare. This is happening through a new partnership with Animal Protection Denmark, in which REMA 1000 is the first retail chain in Denmark to enter a total phasing out of fast-growing poultry.

REMA 1000 customers will soon be able to buy significantly more food products from animals that have lived out in the open and with more space. Animal Protection Denmark and REMA 1000, a leading discount chain in Denmark, have recently signed an agreement to raise animal welfare to the highest level for far more products produced from pigs, chickens, and cows.

Among other things, the agreement means that, within the next two to three years, 25 percent of the sale of all fresh pork and poultry must come from free range productions.

At the same time, the sale of the fast-growing chicken breed Ross 308 is being phased out completely.

This is very good news for all of the many farmed animals for whom the agreement will mean a life with access to the outdoors, more space, and the opportunity to live out their natural behaviours. The agreement with REMA 1000 is the result of a long and thorough dialogue, in which ambitious goals have been set for both the short and long term. These are goals that will very quickly impact our range of products as well as the marketing of goods with high animal welfare so that the Danish consumer can easily choose good animal welfare when making their daily purchases. This is an agreement that in many ways shows the path forward in the Danish retail market.

Britta Riis, CEO of Animal Protection Denmark

We’re finding that more and more customers want to buy products with high animal welfare, which are approved by Animal Protection Denmark, because there is enormous trust in their brand. Trust that we share, and we want to give the customers the opportunity to make even broader choices.

Anders René Jensen, Purchasing and Marketing director at REMA 1000

The ‘Approved by Animal Protection Denmark’ label is a registered guarantee and certification label, which may only be used on products where the production has been approved by Animal Protection Denmark in accordance with established requirements. The label has existed for 30 years on the Danish market and has only one level of animal welfare, meaning, among other things, that it is only given to agricultural operations where the animals have access to the outdoors.

Regards Mark