This article originally appeared on Forbes. Somehow or other, it has become the mark of twenty-first century urban hipness to keep a bunch of birds out back. We’re mostly talking hens. Exact numbers are unavailable, but the trend has become popular enough for dozens of major cities to revise their animal ordinances, thereby opening the legal floodgates for the emergence of urban animal agriculture, an endeavor that most American cities […]
Following an undercover investigation revealing gruesome acts of animal cruelty, Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in Florida’s 13th District Court against Hillsborough County’s Cuesta Farm and Planchart Farm. The video speaks for itself. Take action, and share ALDF‘s video on Facebook and Twitter.
“I’ve spent the WHOLE day processing these f***ers. First I hung them in the bathroom, cut off their heads, and bled them (they were freshly killed).” ~Novella Carpenter, Ghost Town Farm Blog “I feel like I’m orchestrating a murder. It’s very complicated. So many details. Like who’s going to kill them? How will I transport the pigs to the assassin? Does my friend’s truck have a trailer hitch with a […]
This comic by Alfred Twu addresses many issues. Are cities prepared to deal with people and additional animals in the dense urban environment? Can people who get hens on a whim really take good care of them? And what about the males killed at birth? What happens to the spent hens? Are chickens just “disposable pets?” Are cities prepared to deal with yet another animal routinely harmed by humans? And […]
Backyard Butcher In April 2012, Roberto Celedon was arrested for butchering animals on his property in Southern California. The news called him a “backyard butcher,” one who slaughters animals illegally to sell, or for personal consumption. The below video depicts his actions, and how the animal suffered. Roberto Celedon was arrested and charged with a felony under California Penal Code 597(b) which states that every person who “tortures, torments,” “cruelly […]
As one of the great Have A Heart Farm supporters noted, another consequence of zoning allowing for backyard chickens would be the issue of people who might extend the parameters of zoning on their own and begin slaughtering chickens on-site in their backyards, which would negatively impact not only the chickens but neighboring homes as well. And, as many of these municipalities involved are near forest preserves and there are […]
El Cerrito City Council decided on February 6, 2012 to take no further action on banning animal slaughter or crafting meaningful animal welfare regulations. Three out of five council members were present, two of which seemed to support the idea of animal slaughter in El Cerrito, California. Previous iterations of the “Animals Ordinance” in El Cerrito did not address slaughter at all, and most attendees of city council meetings saw the ordinance […]
114 rabbits were confiscated from a bunny mill in November of 2011. Many of the rabbits were living outside in the cold and rain, with no food and water, living in their own filth. Domesticated rabbits that live outdoors commonly fall victim to extremes in temperature, predator attack and a number of other life-threatening ailments. Though these rabbits were intended to be sold as pets, breeding rabbits in mills is […]
When a neighbor heard the screams, she panicked thinking a child had been injured. She raced to her backyard and looked frantically for the source of the blood-curdling cry. Peering over the fence, she was horrified to find a man restraining a piglet, blade raised to cut her neck. For months, she had snuck the piglet treats, fascinated by the idea of having a farm animal in her urban neighborhood. […]
Maxwell the rooster, had been living for a month or two on the median at the Oakland I-580 offramp at MacArthur/Mills. Someone likely was living with Maxwell in their backyard, but dumped this young rooster when he started crowing and it became obvious that he was not a hen. At the freeway offramp, Maxwell made a roost in the lower branches of a small tree, and would come down the […]
