Source: http://chicken.firstcultural.com/

With what seems to be an increasing amount of urban dwellers – who are non-animal rescuers – wanting backyard chickens, Have A Heart Farm notes the downfalls associated with such an endeavor and in addition to the issue of routine exploitation, how it too often ends in problems for both the chickens and those who do farm animal rescue. There are issues of what becomes of these chickens when they are ill and/or not wanted any longer for whatever reasons. Too often, these requests come not from the bird owners, but from others who have found these birds – often ill and/or injured – dumped and abandoned in various locales.

Rooster rescued from a backyard farm in Oakland

There is only a limited segment of the population of those who keep backyard coops who are willing or able to spend money on veterinary care when chickens become ill, which is often the case in extreme weather climates, finding it cheaper to just replace the ailing birds with new ones which often results in inhumane outcomes for the ailing birds. Those who wish to act responsibly often find it difficult in urban areas to even find veterinary care for chickens. Also, just the word “coop” often attests to the cramped and inadequate conditions of many backyard impromptu chicken housing units that are thrown together when some people are suddenly inspired but ill-prepared to have their own chickens. An additional issue is when gender-typing goes awry and the expected egg laying hen turns out to be a crowing rooster, again resulting in an unwanted bird. And, while the issue of the number of dogs and cats being dumped at shelters is a major issue in animal welfare, there are at least shelters in urban areas that will take dogs and cats.

This is not the case for chickens, who often at best end up in animal control facilities that are unable to keep even healthy birds more than a day or two before euthanizing them. Those of us in farm animal welfare are often expected to have some kind of “magic” sanctuary to send these birds to, which is often not the case due to the limited number of farm animal rescue sanctuaries in existence and the number of rescued chickens they already have. Additionally, many sanctuaries are not even equipped for chicken rescue and are unable to take any in at all. Also, people often become desensitized and therefore dismissive to chickens in ways that they would not be so to dogs and cats, often viewing chickens in terms of eggs and/or meat.

Like the plight of so many animal species, chickens are often emotionally unappreciated and not recognized as the highly sociable and intelligent sentient beings that they are. Those who rescue chickens and/or care for them on a daily basis can attest to the challenges involved in caring for them responsibly, especially in climates that have hot and cold temperature extremes. As with any living beings, great thought and planning has to go into caring for them with the main thought and intention being what the reasons are for having chickens to begin with, and whether these reasons primarily benefit the chickens or the people involved.

The planned Have A Heart Farm sanctuary will be including rescued chickens in its animal family roster. For more information about Have A Heart Farm and how the public can help and participate, please see our website:

http://www.haveaheartfarm.org/

Originally posted on Have A Heart Farm’s blog by Debby Rubenstein. Reposted with permission.

Read the full text of the proclamation below

RESOLUTION DECLARING THE WEEK OF APRIL 15-21, 2012, AS “OAKLAND VEG WEEK” IN THE CITY OF OAKLAND

WHEREAS, the City of Oakland is dedicated to the preservation of the environment and natural resources; and

WHEREAS, the City of Oakland is dedicated to green initiatives and green management; and

WHEREAS, the City of Oakland is dedicated to the health of its citizens; and

WHEREAS, a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization documents that livestock production is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems,” degrades land, pollutes water, and is a significant contributor to global warming; and

WHEREAS, Oakland passed a landmark Energy and Climate Action Plan in 2011 with the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and

WHEREAS, raising animals for food, including growing and processing the crops to feed them, is far more water-intensive than eating plant-based products directly; and

WHEREAS, the head of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended that individuals reduce their carbon footprint by decreasing their meat consumption and noted, “In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it [reduced meat consumption] clearly is the most attractive opportunity. Give up meat for one day each week initially, and decrease it from there”; and

WHEREAS, leading public figures advocate for reduced meat consumption, such as Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeOeneres—who both have websites dedicated to this issue—and President Bill Clinton—whose meat-free diet has been the subject of numerous major news stories; and

WHEREAS, childhood obesity rates are at an all-time high with thirty-one percent of adolescents ages 12- to 17-years-old, and one-in-three California children ages 9-11 years old, at risk of or are already overweight; and WHEREAS, the American Dietetic Association recognizes that reduced meat consumption decreases the risk of various health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and various cancers; and

WHEREAS, nearly 10 billion birds, pigs and cows, most of whom live on massive factory farms that cause animal suffering and environmental destruction, are slaughtered for food each year in the United States, and The Humane Society of the United States finds that “if each one of us cuts back on our animal consumption by only 10%, approximately one billion animals would be spared a lifetime of suffering each year”; and

WHEREAS, the City of Cincinnati’s Food Task Force recommended that residents replace some of the meat in their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables; and

WHEREAS, the former Chicago health commissioner encouraged residents to join him in going meatless for a month to reduce obesity and lower blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol; and

WHEREAS, Oakland Unified School District is practicing Meatless Monday each week to introduce students to healthy vegetarian options and to benefit the environment; and

WHEREAS, California municipalities like Marin County and San Diego have recognized Veg Week out of concern for the humane treatment of animals, environmental sustainability, and public health; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED: the City of Oakland proclaims the week of April 15-21, 2012, as “Oakland Veg Week,” and encourages Oakland residents, restaurants, schools, grocery stores, organizations and other institutions to join public officials in choosing and offering a greater variety of vegetarian foods.

• Download the official Oakland Veg Week resolution

Maure pit below battery cages (Marji Beach)

When rescuers first showed up at a Turlock, California egg-farm, men in hazmat suits were gassing hens and dumping their lifeless bodies onto front-loaders. More than 20,000 hens had already starved to death after their owner decided that he didn’t want to feed them anymore and walked away. Stanislaus County Animal Services finally relented to mounting public pressure, a gathering crowd, and hundreds of phone calls, granting rescuers permission to intervene. Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary and Animal Place were the first on the scene and the last to leave, despite initially being told they could not go in.

Animal Place played a leading role in the rescue. Animal Place showed up in force with a full regiment — almost the entire staff — and devoted its entire facility to helping the hens. Animal Place Executive Director Kim Sturla was on the phone during tense negotiations with the director of animal control, ultimately tipping the scales to allow people to go inside. The sheer number of hens that were able to be rescued would not have been possible without the hard work, dedication, and resources that Animal Place contributed.

Volunteers worked around the clock to save the lives of over four thousand hens. After a rescue window of only two days, the remainder of the hens were killed by state authorities using carbon dioxide gas chambers. The birds were abandoned two weeks earlier because owner A&L Poultry left them starving to death inside the farm. Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary was first alerted to the unfolding crisis on the afternoon of February 22, and dispatched two rescuers immediately.

“When we arrived on the scene outside the abandoned egg farm, I was horrified at the suffering of the chickens happening in front of me, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the cruelty,” said Anne Martin, Harvest Home Board Member. “By the next morning, we had partnered with sanctuaries, volunteers from across Northern California, and thousands of supporters following the rescue of these chickens. Together, we were able to save over 4,460 hens who will never again suffer the severe confinement of an egg farm, and from this time forward, will know only human kindness.”

Hen rescued from the manure pit (Christine Morrisey)

Onsite veterinarians checked individual birds before rescuers were allowed to load them onto trucks, but amidst the chaos many birds were overlooked. An Animal Place volunteer noticed several live hens languishing in a manure pit underneath the battery cages, and waded into the cesspool to save them. Sixteen hens were saved from the cesspools, and are in the process of recovery at Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary in Stockton. They were thoroughly cleaned, given medical care and syringe-fed nutritional supplements to revive them to full health, and will stay at the sanctuary where they will enjoy open space, sunshine, the companionship of other chickens, and be allowed to live out their lives.

“The scale of this week’s effort is truly ground-breaking. A coalition of committed animal protection groups joined forces with Animal Place and Harvest Home to complete the largest ever farmed animal rescue in the United States,” said Christine Morrisey, Harvest Home Sanctuary Manager. “In light of the immense animal suffering within the walls of this egg facility, we were grateful to make the best out of a horrible situation. We applaud local and state authorities for allowing rescuers the opportunity to provide life-saving relief for thousands of animals on the brink of death.”

Harvest Home served as a temporary shelter for approximately one thousand hens, providing emergency supportive care before workers from Animal Place and other rescue groups were able to pick them up. The vast majority of the hens — over 4,100 — are now learning to be chickens again at Animal Place, practicing dust bathing, scratching for food, and basking in the sun. If you live in a place where hens are allowed and want to adopt a chicken as a companion, many of the hens will soon available through Animal Place’s Rescue Ranch in Vacaville.

If you live in the region, you can also visit the sixteen hens rescued from the manure pit, once they have fully recuperated, by scheduling a tour of Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary. Harvest Home relies on donations to support the sanctuary residents and continued rescue efforts, so sponsor a chicken today. Volunteers and donations are crucial to support the lifelong care of these animals.

While the rescued chickens begin their new lives, public pressure continues to mount on the former owner. Activists have started a petition to urge the District Attorney to press charges against A&L Poultry owner Andy Keung Cheung for willfully abandoning the 50 thousand hens.

Hen enjoying sun for the first time

The hatcheries that supply chicks to this factory farm and countless others are the same hatcheries that many backyard poultry farmers mail-order chicks from. Sadly, even chicken farming on a very small scale directly supports factory farming.

If you love chickens, please consider adopting a vegan diet.

Members of Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter joined the rescue effort to save thousands of hens from this factory farm.

Short film by Animal Place, showing the conditions inside the farm, and the hens who escaped a horrible fate.

Despite what appeared to be an attempt at investigative journalism in a clearly biased opinion piece (though Mother Jones didn’t position it as an Op Ed), the author got several things wrong. Megan Webb, the director of the city shelter (Oakland Animal Services), has formally expressed concerns on the shelter’s website about the “influx” of “farm” animals appearing at the city shelter. The shelter also just closed the night drop to reduce animal intakes. If our city’s shelter director’s concerns are not enough of a warning of what’s to come, all we need to do is look at what other cities are experiencing. The Minneapolis-based animal rescue group, Chicken Run Rescue, says the number of hens surrendered and abandoned since the city passed a law allowing chickens has tripled. We can’t even take care of dogs and cats in our underfunded shelter in Oakland, despite there being laws and regulations about how pets should be treated. The last thing we need to do is add more animals and more potential problems. The Precautionary Principle alone begs for such prudence.

Also, the home occupation permit that the author mentioned in her post (and that I mentioned above) allows people to sell PLANT-based crops only. It absolutely does not include eggs and honey. Having one slaughter hobbyist get (mis)information from another does not “good journalism” make, though that’s exactly what Mother Jones says is one of their values. Did no editor check this contributor’s “facts”?

As for the author’s dismissal of our perception that this is elitist foodie-ism and her guess that eggs from backyard hens “would likely be cheaper,” that’s also not what the facts show. When you factor in the costs of building/buying a coop and building fencing and protection from predators, we’re talking about $4,000. And that doesn’t even include the care and feeding of the birds – if they stay healthy – which amounts to between $250 and $300/year. People will inevitably cut costs so that they’re not paying over $2.00 per egg, and the animals will suffer for it. We stand by our perception that allowing animals in backyards increases bragging rights and locavore cred but does nothing to alleviate the issues that people living in food deserts in Oakland currently face.

Finally, the author’s inclusion of El Cerrito also warrants a correction. City attorneys provide guidance; they do not make “rulings.” The Supreme Court case cited by the El Cerrito City Attorney during guidance dealt with a ban on ritual slaughter specifically targeting the Santeria religion.  The case clearly upholds the principle held by the Supreme Court that laws that are neutrally crafted and generally applicable do not violate the religious clauses of the First Amendment.  An outright ban on all slaughter (as opposed to only ritual slaughter) would meet the requirement of being “neutrally crafted” and “generally applicable.”  This information has been provided to the El Cerrito City Council, and they have agreed to revisit a ban on slaughter.

The bottom line is that there is no problem Oakland has that the proliferation of farmed animals in backyards will solve, and I encourage Mother Jones to cover this important issue in a thoughtful, responsible, unbiased article.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

It is hard to imagine how anyone could spend time with sweet Reggie and not develop a deep affection for him. Pigs are highly intelligent animals, capable of complex thinking that rivals that of companion animals like dogs. They also have rich emotional lives, form lifelong friendships, grieve the loss of loved ones, and even argue with herd mates who upset them. All of this is true about our new friend, Reggie.

Once at our shelter, Reggie underwent treatment for a rash and parasites. After a quick recovery and a brief period of shyness, he is now thriving. He seems to understand that when his caregivers come around each night, their only intention is to bid him a restful night’s sleep. One night while a caregiver tucked him in, Reggie began to pile up fluffs of straw next to him — building a nest for his caregiver to sleep in. This is an act of love that few pigs perform for anyone outside their species.

We are so grateful that this loving, gentle boy is now part of our Farm Sanctuary family. His story highlights how frequently our society views farm animals as commodities, even outside the confines of factory farms. Only when people are introduced to farm animals as individuals are they able to see how much these animals, who are used for food, are like the cats and dogs we know a bit better. Reggie and farm animals everywhere have as much joy for life as we all do, and they are every bit as deserving of our compassion and respect.

Originally published by Farm Sanctuary

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 as a law created to allow people to have pet chickens or pygymy goats.

Until slaughter was raised by El Cerrito resident and business owner Judy Hardin at earlier meetings, slaughtering animals was conspicuously absent in the text of the proposed new law.

The Mayor seemed genuinely surprised the first time animal slaughter was mentioned — as if she had never considered that an animals ordinance might have been spearheaded by people with the intention of killing the animals instead of caring for them.

It is unfortunate that El Cerrito chose to go down this path, moving forward we hope that El Cerrito will continue to research the issue, and craft a reasonable animals ordinance that doesn’t encourage residents to kill as a hobby.

Couldn’t Make the Meeting? You can still help:

• Help spread the word about slaughter in El Cerrito, share this post on Facebook and on Twitter.
• Email the El Cerrito City Council and Mayor. Tell them (politely) that you support a ban on slaughter in El Cerrito. Send your message to the following email addresses: acheng@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, jabelson@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, rbenassini@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, bjones@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, glyman@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, contact@noslaughter.org

In the past few years, independent bookstores in cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and Portland have sprouted new urban-farming sections. Sandwiched between celebrity gourmands and sustainable gardeners are newly minted books covering a range of topics relating to hobby-scale urban agriculture. Covered with colorful pastoral graphics overlaid on a gritty urban backdrop a reader can find an artsy watercolor painting of happy farm animals or images of a rooster atop a graffitied brick wall, a metropolitan rendition of American Gothic.

Urban farming is a growing trend and has captured the imaginations of many people. City planning scholars, food writers, environmentalists, activists—basically anyone with a political interest in food is now likely interested in urban farming. Because of its newfound popularity in such a wide variety of intellectual disciplines, urban farming is often written about glowingly and with uncritical praise. It is often portrayed in sweeping terms as a panacea for the problems of the inner-city poor, with urban farms held in the same esteem as community centers, city parks, or public libraries.

So what’s the problem? Providing access to healthful fruits and vegetables for people in low-income communities is crucial to address the inequities in the distribution of nutritious food. But in the haste to create laws to encourage farming in cities, many city governments are making one fatal mistake: deregulating animal farming.

Animal Farm

Of all the community gardens and farms in cities across the country, generally less than 10 percent include animals. Some cities such as Boston, Detroit, and Washington, DC prohibit keeping animals within city limits, and others including Denver, Chicago, and Long Beach, CA prohibit the slaughtering of animals, which precludes raising animals for meat. In the past five years, the majority of cities that have deregulated animal husbandry in some way have done so because people want to have backyard chickens as “pets with benefits”—specifically, using the chickens for (urban) farm-fresh eggs. The practice of breeding, keeping, and killing other animals is an afterthought in many locations, without any real scrutiny of the larger impacts on animal welfare, human health, the environment, or city livability.

If the problem we are trying to solve is food injustice, breeding animals for slaughter misses the mark. Even keeping hens for eggs is of questionable benefit. Given the costs, risks, and dangers involved in animal farming, cities should focus on creating exclusively horticulture-based urban farming systems.

Out Back

What, exactly, are the risks of raising animals within city limits? The vast majority of urban farming’s shortfalls result in unnecessary suffering on the part of backyard poultry and other food animals. In his recent book, editor in chief of Make magazine Mark Frauenfelder recounts how his backyard chickens Rosie and Daisy were eaten by coyotes because the coop they were kept in was not predator proof, and later posted a recording of the neighborhood coyotes to his blog. Botched slaughter is all too common, but even slaughter that is performed “correctly” is still no treat to witness or hear happening next door. Free-roaming animals are often attracted to “livestock” enclosures, which cause conflict with human neighbors. The list of problems goes on. With so much that can go awry in backyard husbandry, communities need to evaluate what, if any, problem the practice actually solves.
Sprouted Solution

Urban farming can be a positive step for people in cities who are trying to feed themselves, but if changes to city policies are not crafted with great caution they could have a large negative impact on animals. So what is the solution we should be advocating for as people who care greatly for all animals and for all people?

Food Empowerment Project is doing great work to help create food systems that are just, humane, and sustainable—goals which are most effectively realized by creating food policy that is based exclusively on horticulture, leaving the controversial business of animal husbandry and slaughter aside. A 2010 study on the inequities of food distribution in California’s Santa Clara County called “Shining a Light on the Valley of Heart’s Delight” details some of the major problems that people in the inner city face with regards to accessing food that is healthful and sustainable.

No one disputes the health benefits of a diet that includes copious amounts of fruits and vegetables, which can be grown on urban farms with some education and a little hard work. If our cities want to solve the very real problems of food justice and food insecurity—and not create a host of additional problems—urban horticulture should be vigorously promoted and incentivized, while animal farming and slaughter in cities should be specifically prohibited.

By Ian Elwood
Originally published in VegNews

While considering allowing new types of animals into the city at a March 2011 City Council study session, El Cerrito City Council members held an informal vote and unanimously agreed that slaughtering animals should not be allowed.

The proposed changes as they currently stand do not address animal slaughter, which will leave ambiguity in what people are allowed to do. This ambiguity will inevitably cause animals to suffer. El Cerrito needs to take a stand and make policy that reflect its convictions. El Cerrito needs to ban animal slaughter.

On November 21, several residents spoke out against backyard slaughter at the El Cerrito City Council meeting.

Now they need to hear from you.  Tell them you support a ban on slaughter in El Cerrito. Killing chickens, goats, rabbits and other animals has no place in the city of El Cerrito.

Take Action

• Help spread the word about slaughter in El Cerrito, share this post on Facebook and on Twitter.
• Email the El Cerrito City Council and Mayor. Tell them (politely) that you support a ban on slaughter in El Cerrito. Send your message to the following email addresses: acheng@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, jabelson@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, rbenassini@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, bjones@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, glyman@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us, contact@noslaughter.org