Feature Archives

Animal rights and welfare groups have joined Stockton residents in opposing the development of a massive egg factory farm. "The last thing that the Stockton area needs is another factory farm poisoning our community, polluting our environment and abusing animals," stated resident Karen Courtemanche. Despite numerous past complaints against Olivera, the San Joaquin County Planning Department is planning to grant the approval for the farm without an Environmental Impact Report.

Esbenshade Farms, one of the nation's top egg producers, was prosecuted on charges of animal cruelty. Stemming from an undercover investigation by a worker affiliated with Compassion Over Killing, the manager and owner of Esbenshade Farms in Pennsylvania were charged with 35 counts of animal cruelty. For each count, the two men faced up to 90 days in jail, but on June 1, 2007, a Lancaster County judge acquitted a Pennsylvania egg factory farm owner and manager of animal cruelty charges.

The Sea Shepherd ship, Robert Hunter, has been holed in its starboard bow, and its port stern section above the waterline, during a collision with the whale spotter ship Kaiko Maru , according to Sea Shepherd's president Paul Watson. No injuries have been incurred by crew on both ships, and neither ship is in danger of sinking.

On Thursday, February 1st, Peter Young walked through the doors of the Victorville FCI II facility and into the free world. He was greeted by a small crowd and immediately taken to a celebration dinner in Los Angeles. To quote Peter’s toast (of coffee) that afternoon: “Here’s to being liberated”. Federal officials had accused him of freeing some 8,000 mink from fur farms in Wisconsin, South Dakota and Iowa.

Activists have been after POM to stop needless animal testing since at least early last year. POM used the testing to try to help bolster their marketing claims regarding pomegranate juice. But the heat was turned up in December by underground activists. POM Wonderful has relented, and decided to stop conducting animal vivisection. POM's intentions to not contract the experimentation of animals out to other firms remains unclear.

After their successful effort to stop Andronico's Market from selling battery-caged eggs in 2006, East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) is now campaigning to stop Andronico's lead competitor Lunardi's Supermarket from doing the same. Lunardi's still relies on egg supplier Ranch Pak which utilizes intensive battery cages in massive warehouses. EBAA launched its outreach campaign against Lunardi's Supermarket on Saturday, December 23 with a demo in Danville.

Nadia Winstead was notified on Friday, December 22nd that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston's contempt order. The original order was issued after Winstead refused to testify before a Federal grand jury that many believe is harassing activists. Winstead is awaiting further details about the reason for the reversal.