Pierce Farm Watch

Don't Cancel Your Cable Yet

2009-03-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

We know times are hard unless you were skeevy enough to have Madoff with a shit-ton of loot last year. Pay thru March, Tor(rent) up, or just boot off the neighbors for a few days. You must. not. miss. the HBO premiere of Death on a Factory Farm on March 16.

It Takes Two

2008-11-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Done. Next!

Send us some of that leftover schwag, and not the dusty crap y'all were selling over at the Cafe shop. We want that prime shit: three pink gestation crate iPhone covers, a veal crate playground set, and some battery cage keychains.

November Ballot

2008-02-28T12:24:00.000-08:00

CHF: like white on rice, baby.

The Day Before Slaughter

2007-12-13T00:51:00.001-08:00

'Twas the day before slaughter,
And throughout the dark shed
All of us shrieking,
All soon to be dead.

The snare on my snout,
And the one on my ear,
First sun on my face,
Now I'm screaming in fear.

My piglets! My babies!
So small and so frail.
They’ll be lost if I leave them,
Please don’t drag me from here.

I’ll walk if you let me,
Don’t hit me, please stop!
My body and spirit, now broken,
I drop.

They speak but in curses;
No kind words for me.
More beatings, then kicking;
In death, I’ll be free.

Day in and day out,
Just straight to their work,
More pain, then the blood,
Tails and testicles in one jerk.

If you still believe in Santa,
Or walls you can walk through,
PETA’s undercover elves have holiday video,
Shot especially for you!

Wrapped and ribboned
And tied up with a bow,
From Murphy Family Ventures, and Smithfield,
Now you know.

Their lives are this torture,
Kept far from your sight.
Happy Hogidays to all,
And to all a good-night.

California is 40% Worse Than Iowa

2007-11-17T12:21:00.001-08:00

Highest combined concentration of burger, bacon rack, and milk jug production units in the country. Yeah, the whole country. We beat friggin’ Iowa for shit’s sake. 120 pounds of ~~waste~~ crap and pee per cow every day, flushed out of the “barns,” into multi-million-gallon ~~surge ponds~~ lagoons of crap and pee, then sprayed on the ground surrounding them. And that’s just the milk-makers. Go play around with the Food and Water Watch Map. Diaper yourself beforehand.

On the drought side of the equation, 1,780,000 CA cows used for dairy are slurping up 4 gallons of water a day to squeeze out just one gallon of milk so you can suck it down your throat like you’re still an infant nursing from someone else’s mother.

Four gallons of water to get 1 gallon of cow milk.
Times 7.5 gallons of milk a day of “high production efficiency.”
Times 365 days a year.
Times 1,780,000 cows used for dairy.

Your ten-minute showers are already down to seven, you can’t afford to flush the toilet, and your house is burning to the ground beside the lake that’s gone dry. Don’t worry, it’s not too late to put off thinking about it.

Ballot Initiative Events in SoCal

2007-10-31T16:44:00.001-07:00

Five upcoming info sessions for the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act ballot initiative:

Santa Monica
Mon., November 5
Westside Pavilion Mall, Community Room B
10800 West Pico Blvd. #312
Los Angeles, CA 90064
6:00-9:00 p.m.

Ventura
Wed., November 7
Century Downtown Theatre
555 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
6:00-9:00 p.m.

Marina Del Rey
Fri., November 9
6:30-9:30 p.m.
RSVP to director@humanecalifornia.org for the address and directions to this event.

Pomona/Claremont
Sat., November 10
Western University
309 E. Second Street
Pomona, CA 91766
11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Mission Viejo
Sun., November 11
9:30 and 11:30 a.m. services
Tapestry Unitarian Universalist Congregation
25801 Obrero Drive
Mission Viejo, CA 92691

In other news, the fire that burned 38,300 acres and 15 homes in the Santa Clarita area, damaged the home of the Gentle Barn founders, and forced the evacuation of 60+ animals, some of whom are disabled and blind, was set by a kid playing with matches.

Every Monday-Friday after school and Saturday/Sunday activity spent caring for these animals, starting yesterday and until you turn 21, seems an appropriate mandatory minimum.

In Soviet Russia

2007-10-20T15:15:00.001-07:00

Tiny screech owl misses you. But ban on U.S. chicken imports no problem, my friends.

How to tag this?! We don’t really do wildlife issues, or environmental, outside the broad range of available animal agribusiness ~~effects~~ debacles. Oh WTF, chickens and bingo.

The More You Know

2007-10-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Be careful out there!

Yes, there are confusing and competing initiatives being circulated in opposition to the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. Yes, and yet again, one is parked over at the AG’s Office in a pending space and being touted as the “Farm Animal Protection Act.”

Hmmm … both that initiative and the “Pet Animal Protection Act” have the same proponent listed and the same contact information. Whoa, those animal advocates are really stepping up the game a little. Maybe. Not so much.

The “Pet Animal Protection Act” has all sorts of meaningful and wonderful provisions, including protecting animals as a “legitimate and compelling public interest,” making publicly-funded, government-operated shelters “obligated to taxpayers and community members to spend tax monies on programs and services whose purpose is to save and enhance the lives of animals,” mandating that they be open seven days a week for adoptions, humane euthanasia, a prohibition on convenience euthanasia, and the provision that “killing of savable animals in city and county shelters is a needless tragedy that must be brought to an end.” All fine and admirable provisions. Perhaps you’d like to sign the “Pet Animal Protection Act” initiative after you’ve carefully read it. Fine by us, we’re not implying that your shouldn’t or suggesting that you don’t.

But over and above our standard, complimentary Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid warning, we're strongly suggesting that if you’re asked at the same time, or by the same signature gatherer(s), to “Oh, by the way, would you like to help farm animals, just sign this one, too …” please look very carefully at the materials those gatherers have for their farm animal initiative, including signage or banners, FAQs or summary sheets of the initiative, and particularly the sponsoring organizations listed by name on those materials.

Meditate on this famous quote: “If we put our [initiatives] together, we can think better!" Here's another one: "I see dumb people." Make sure you ain't one of 'em, because we're pretty damn sure you wouldn't want anything to do with helping United Egg Producers Certified 67 sq. in. of battery-cage space become the lawful basis for confinement of CA egg-laying hens.

Bottom line: if you don’t see Californians for Humane Farms, The Humane Society of the United States, and/or Farm Sanctuary listed as sponsors of the ballot initiative you’re being asked to sign, don’t get it twisted and Do. Not. Sign.

Our Button, Let Us Show You It

2007-10-02T19:04:00.001-07:00

A little something to tide you over until you pick up yours. And The Tower Princess would like the world to know that she saw teh Wayne and, from what we could gather, had some sick dream last night, the details of which are pretty much unprintable except for the point at which he was wearing just the button, and everything after that was really just OMGWTFVEGANBBQ obscene.

Get Thee To A Ballot Initiative Rally

2007-09-28T14:04:00.001-07:00

Monday, Oct. 1 is Day 1 of 4 in a multi-city kick-off for CA’s Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty ballot initiative (full text). 650,000 signatures in five months is totally doable. That’s basically foot traffic and parking lot circlers at any WFM and Chipotle, any day of the week. Get the lowdown on initiatives, how they work, and how you’re gonna work for this one at a rally of your choice:

Sacramento
Monday, October 1st
Sacramento SPCA
6201 Florin Perkins Rd
Sacramento, CA 95828
7:00pm - 10:00pm

San Francisco
Tuesday, October 2nd
San Francisco SPCA
2500 16th St
San Francisco, CA 94103
7:00pm - 10:00pm

Los Angeles
Thursday, October 4th
LA Animal Services East Valley Shelter
14409 Vanowen Street
Van Nuys, CA 91405
7:00pm - 10:00pm

San Diego
Friday, October 5th
Health Services Complex - Rosencrans
3851 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA 92110
7:00pm - 10:00pm

Contact Director@humanecalifornia.org for more info.

Is LAPC Filtering PFW?

2007-09-18T22:33:00.001-07:00

Content filtering is popular with the ruling powers in places like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other geographies where the current regime has a reason to fear and subdue its adult citizens. Content filtering in the workplace is popular with employers who have actual, economic concerns about their workers' abilities to simultaneously idle on MySpace, bid on Ebay, chat on AIM, play Warcraft, and still work at a productive pace. Content filtering in K-12 schools is popular with parents and administrators because it protects minors from sexually explicit material of a pornographic or obscene nature.

Content filtering at public, CA community colleges ain't so popular, much less defensible, when the filtered content turns out to be neither obscene, pornographic, inflammatory with an intent to incite unlawful action, or libelous, but merely critical of a filtering institution's policies, programs, curriculum, and publicly-employed personnel.

If you are unable to reach any Pierce Farm Watch content (all over there in the sidebar) from computers located on the Los Angeles Pierce College campus, or your browser is redirected to a page you did not request, let us know. And we'll let EFF know.

We'd like you to test from libraries, computer labs, Wi-Fi spots if they exist, and any other networked computer on the Los Angeles Pierce College campus from which you have access to the Internet. Other LACCD campus locations and CSUers can test, too, because the wider you cast the net and the narrower the set of results … well, that says a whole lot about a little.

What you are looking for:
Instances of domain/subdomain failure or redirection:
Examples: You get redirected from www.piercefarmwatch.org to a page you did not request.
You can read other Blogspot or Wordpress blogs, but not ours.
You can reach Eurekster, but our swicki is not available.
You can reach Flickr, but our photo sets are unavailable.
You can watch YouTube videos, but our playlists are unavailable.
Social networking sites (del.icio.us, ma.gnolia, and shadows) are available, but our bookmarks are not.

Search Engine cache filtering:
Example: You found us via a search engine, clicked on the Cached link for page results, but were redirected.

Legitimate URL redirection services fail:
Example: tinyurl

Mobile content translation fails:
Example: You are redirected to somewhere other than results you request through Google Mobile Search.

RSS-formatted requests fail:
Example: You can reach Feedburner, but clicking on our feed URL from Feedburner fails.

Language Translation fails:
Example: You know how to do the en-to-en thing to get Google Translate to serve as a proxy, but that fails.

That’s about it for the testbeds, other than the many mega-lists of anon proxies out there which you can find and play with for yourselves. Happy animal-safe-and-sane hunting!

Update on AB 594

2007-08-30T10:38:00.001-07:00

The latest activity on AB 594 -- formerly titled "Pigs: tethering and confinement"-- gives pigs the heave-ho in favor of Medi-Cal coverage of programs to help people quit smoking. We'd rather have seen Medi-Cal cover meat/dairy/egg-quit programs, but alas, such is politics. Perhaps the sponsor came to realize that this issue is really one of enforcement of existing CA law, or that a proposed HSUS co-sponsored 2008 ballot initiative to ban gestation crates, veal crates, and battery cages has a far better chance of passage. Get your nominations in on which big-name ballot supporter will be the CA hole card.

Why we need a ballot initiative to further define what is already a punishable offense begs the same question as why we needed an amendment to the Health and Safety Code to do the same thing. But once you actually get in a courtroom on a farm animal cruelty-related matter, you wise-up pretty fast and start initiating even faster. Break in your new non-leather walking shoes and no smoking on the job.

New AVMA Fark Tag Debuts

2007-08-26T20:07:00.001-07:00

Florida has one. Why not the AVMA? It’s not like they’re undeserving of the honor. Did you know, for example, according to the delegate from Vermont, taking a cat’s temperature is more distressing than producing foie gras?

If we may be so bold as to make a suggestion to the delegate, as well as a perfectly valid and science-based request for a self-funded research study using himself, TPP’s cat, and a duck as subjects:

You’re welcome. And don’t forget to tag!

Dewey Defeats Truman

2007-08-15T11:57:00.001-07:00

Did you see it too?!? We fell out. For about 2 seconds. MySpace code leak—real. Recession coming—real. AVMA animal “welfare” policy-setters pull off a near perfect J-turn—not so much. Nice moment, though. Looked real good in the rear view mirror.

Clips from AR2007

2007-08-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

Harold Brown on the coming "agricultural apartheid," from the Effective Tactics for Agriculture panel.

The Mad Cowboy himself, Howard Lyman. Nobody works a room like Howard or scares the manure out of a table full of feedlot operators' lawyers faster.

More clips from the conference are over at DoggyTV's YouTube spot.

Animal-Use Industries Rolodex

2007-07-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

The Final Nail. Fifty states-worth. Get it while it’s red hot. Laboratory animal dealers, fur “farmers,” trappers, slaughterhouses, and animal carcass processors. Federally-inspected joints only. Maybe it’ll help clear up some of the local incredulity every time a bloody lamb or baby goat is found staggering around the old, urban (213). Hat tip: GITNR.

We Got Meme'd

2007-07-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

8 True Things is going around and we got tagged by Jennifer over at the AnimalBlawg, so here are our collective eight (PFW gets 3, Manny gets 2, TowerPrincess gets 2, and c0demonkey gets 1). First, a little ruleskeeping:

We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

* PFW *
1. I detest olives but treat olive oil as a one of the major food groups.

2. I am terrified of lizards. Not snakes, which I think are amazing but would never keep a companion snake, but lizards freak me out. I equate iguanas with Jurassic Park.

3. I love Los Angeles, most anything and everything about it, and don’t even find the massive freeway jams very unpleasant. To me LA says “people are going somewhere; follow them.”

* Manny *
1. Manny is a really good cook. If we post a recipe for something it probably came from him, via his Mom, which he veganized for us. The whole arroz con gandules thing—100% Manny.

2. Manny still isn’t convinced that dairy results in dead calves yet. He’s having a hard time with the cheese and the reality that the commercials for it are actually cartoons. He’ll come around.

* The TowerPrincess *
1. Actually understands most everything Gary Francione says from start to finish without the aid of a cheat sheet.

2. Yes, they’re fake.

* c0demonkey *
1 and only 1. “On vacation” is a euphemism in some cultures. monkey is spending his at Twin Towers. Handle ur bidness next time, b0y.

Who we’re tagging:

Animal Place
Peaceful Prairie
Animal Ethics
Animal Law Blog
Hackosphere
phydeaux3
VegBlogs
Wayne Pacelle (TTP says it is so not stalking and he actually has bodyguards for that sort of thing anyways.)

Countdown to AR2007

2007-07-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

The Big Daddy of conferences is back in our backyard again!! Five full days and evenings of all animal, all the time advocacy, plus a ginormous exhibit hall full of more veg*n vending than your VegNews tote bag can safely lug around.

And we’re missing it … f^$iN%! ARRRGGGHHH s0n$*@bi+(|-|!! TowerPrincess stuck in Albuquerque till the 22nd, Manny in FL for two weeks, and c0demonkey “on vacation” till whenever, so guess who that leaves to hold it down here? What can they possibly do to make up for this?! Haven’t decided yet, but it’s gonna be expensive and last for the same number of days as this monster mega-con we’re missing.

Traffic Accident Leaves 243 Goats Dead

2007-07-08T19:45:00.001-07:00

Our hearts and prayers go out to the Goats R Us family in Orinda after a horrific accident in San Rafael left hundreds of their working herd dead.

Goats R Us provides low-impact brush control and vegetation management to public and private landholders throughout CA and was instrumental in the safe relocation of feral goats from Santa Catalina Island in 1999 through a cooperative effort with In Defense of Animals.

Goats R Us does not sell or dispose of their retiring herd members for profit or loss; they remain at the Orinda ranch for light-duty, local assignments and community outreach, doing what goats do best: browsing, walking, browsing some more with a bit of grazing, taking a sip of cool water, resting and ruminating, and starting all over again.

It’s still unclear if the actions of San Rafael PD officers at the crash site resulted in more deaths from suffocation than would have occurred if they had allowed those who could escape the overturned trailer to do so, then be contained by their on-scene herders and guardian dogs away from the wreckage. We believe a further and comprehensive investigation is in order very soon.

Worst. Job. Ever.

2007-06-27T16:42:00.001-07:00

What’s the worst assignment the guy with the worst job in science has ever had? "A guy had driven his truck into the waste lagoon and drowned. Not only was it full of urine and liquid pig feces, ..."

Fine bunch, these folks. Stellar in every way.

The Jury Is Out

2007-06-16T11:50:00.001-07:00

Literally, for Wiles Farm defendants. All three charged individuals, owner Ken Wiles, his son Joe Wiles, and employee Dusty Stroud, waived their right to a jury trial and instead will appear before Judge Stuart Miller only in Wayne County Municipal Court on Tuesday, June 19, 9:00 AM.

Better off with 3–on-1 rather than 3–on-12? Couldn’t seat an acceptable jury? Pressed for time, or just going with the flow? Sometime after 9:00 AM on June 19—exactly how much time after we cannot speculate—we will see how precisely balanced those iconic scales really are and whether or not the origin of Lady Justice’s blindfold is indeed founded on the impartial treatment of parties or just the cartoonish cynicism of a 400–year-old pissed-off German artist.

Update 06-20: The verdict(s) are in. Ken Wiles, charged with two counts of animal cruelty: not guilty on both counts. Joe Wiles, charged with six counts of animal cruelty: guilty on one count, not guilty on four counts, one count dismissed. Dusty Stroud, charged with two counts of animal cruelty: not guilty on one count, one count dismissed. More as we get it.

Judge Stuart Miller may be in, but we're still out on the origins of dear Lady Justice's blindfold. One point, though, of which we are most assuredly and unwaveringly certain: there were fine legal minds in the courtroom -- yes, at least one, plus three-quarters of another. Mammalian anatomy and physiology -- specifically and particularly, swine anatomy and physiology, or even basic, undergraduate general physics -- not so much.

Taking Action for Animals

2007-06-08T20:23:00.001-07:00

Conference happening July 28–30 in DC. Want to go but short on funds? AVAR is offering two scholarships this year to cover your transport, conference reg fee, and a comfy stall so you can bed down at night. To apply, visit the scholarship application page of the conference site. Need more info? Drop abodai@humanesociety.org an email. This year’s hot topic area is farmed animals. So near, so dear.

We love us some animal conferencing, but they all seem to lack one thing that another esteemed con is notorious for, that being this. Let’s try to remedy the situation for AR2007. STF is more fun than a curbside seat for celebrity jailarity—trust us!—and quite apropos.

Are We There Yet?

2007-05-25T21:24:00.001-07:00

Traveling with kids is not for the weak-willed. They wake you up at the butt-crack of dawn, the want stuff every time you pull over for gas, they won’t go to sleep, then they pee on you when you finally get to go to sleep.

God bless Annette Fisher and her Happy Trails Farm Sanctuary crew for hauling 10 hogs from OH to CA, through a tornado, blowing rain, lightening, hail, wildfires, and snow, all the way to their new home. You have to read this whole Pigs Across America travelogue, it’s amazing!

Here’s Annette beside another trailer, parked at the truck plaza on I-80 near Reno, where the Happy Trails gang had stopped to rest their own precious cargo. If you don’t look at any other postcards from the road or read any other updates from the adventure, just read this one and remember it because it’s Memorial Day weekend.

Dear Montel, Rusty, Chloe, Pearl, baby Anastasia, Milton, Mario, Sergai, Morris, and Kinko,

Weekend Film Festival

2007-05-14T18:06:00.001-07:00

The Fourth Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival starts Thursday, May 17th.

Beyond Closed Doors is screening at 2:00 PM, Saturday, May 19th, as part of the social justice film program. Location: Pacific Palisades Elementary School Auditorium, 800 Via de la Paz, Pacific Palisades. Writer/producer Hugh Dorigo, panelists Karen Dawn (moderator), Dr. Marc Bekoff, Gene Baur, and Dr. Armaiti May head up the post-screening Q&A session. Individual tickets are $5, $10 for a 2–or-more film pass.

Congratulations to Western University’s first graduating Class of 2007 DVMs. Somewhere among these faces is

your new associate
your practice owner
your mentor
your confidante
your state’s delegate

One person, one practice, one state, one nation, one world, all in good time. In your lifetime.

The Fifth Law of Robotics

2007-05-08T16:20:00.001-07:00

Might come around to haunt you.

It’s a sweet story about some soldiers, their little bots that blow stuff up, and how emotionally attached the fellas are to their fallen friends. “Near the Tigris River, operators even have been known to take their bot fishing. They put a fishing rod in its claw and retire back to the shade, leaving the robot in the sun.”

It’s Be Kind to Animals Week. Bot has no need or desire to kill for food, fun, or “progress.” At what point does bot’s inevitable, logical conclusion escape you? Before or after it drops the rod?