Feature Archives

At the two-day SF Pride Celebration in San Francisco on June 24th and 25th, plant-powered volunteers from Bay Area Vegetarians staffed a Veg Education & Outreach booth. People seemed hungry for veg info and crowded the booth to learn about vegetarianism, vegan cooking, and factory farming. Through the use of a unique battery cage display and other materials, tens of thousands of people learned that chickens are debeaked and intensively confined in cages to produce eggs. Leafleting by volunteers throughout the area was also successful. Thousands of booklets and pamphlets were distributed to receptive passers-by.

Local grassroots group, Citizens For Cruelty-Free Entertainment, organized educational leafletings at all of the Circus Vazquez shows in San Jose in June. The group had leafleters at all the entrances each day to educate patrons about what they call the cruelty of using animals in circuses. Tigers are kept in cages just big enough to turn around and horses and camels are kept in small stalls on concrete parking lots. The activists report that violence and intimidation are standard training and handling practices. They urged the public to not support circuses that use animals — and to tell the circus they will not come back until the circus is animal-free.

On June 4th, East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) and the Direct Action Anti-Authoritarians (DAAA) Collective demonstrated outside of Costco Clubs in Modesto and Merced. The activists “fostered compassion” by distributing literature to raise awareness about what the activists call Foster Farms’ inhumane treatment of chickens. As one of the top sellers of Foster Farms products, Costco is being urged to conduct animal welfare audits of their main poultry supplier. A recent investigation by EBAA revealed that the company violates animal cruelty laws and misleads the public through its marketing.

On Saturday, May 23, In Defense of Animals and Citizens for Cruelty-Free Entertainment protested in front of the ticketbooths at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo after winning a Federal Court ruling that stopped Six Flags from banning protestors on Six Flags' grounds. Six Flags and local police previously had denied animal rights activists the right to demonstrate despite the fact that the theme park is located on publicly-owned property.

In the month of May, a severe backlash by authorities against animal rights activists has arisen in response to on-going campaigns against Huntingdon Life Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Oxford University and other animal exploiters. One security analyst was widely reported to say he thought the UK was like "the Afghanistan of animal rights extremism." The government has branded more extreme activists "thugs and terrorists." Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a move many interpret as an attempt to bolster his low public ratings, got in on the action and has focused lately on law and order issues, declared that it is time to act against animal rights protesters, and touted his signing of a pro-vivisection petition.

Wegmans Food Market has 70 stores in five East Coast states. The grocery chain produces its own eggs under the Wegmans name at a massive complex with 750,000 egg-laying hens in upstate New York. The activist group Compassionate Consumers contacted Wegmans to try to discuss the conditions at Wegmans Egg Farm. After the company dismissed the activists's concerns, members of Compassionate Consumers set out on their own to capture actual footage from inside the farm and create a film based on their experience.

MJG Entertainment, Inc's Circus Gatti, based in Hemet, California, operates approximately 450 circuses in 150 towns each year. The performances include acrobats, jugglers, a high-wire act and captive wildlife such as horses, tigers and elephants which are trained to entertain young children and their adults. On May 20th and 21st, Circus Gatti brought their show to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds for a Watsonville Police benefit.

Animal rights activists were at the County Fairgrounds in Watsonville holding signs, passing out flyers in english and spanish and speaking with circus-goers about the sad life of circus animals. On May 21st, activists were able to outreach to almost everyone in attendance. Most people were very receptive to learning about the lifestyles and living conditions of circus animals. Many people said they were sorry they decided to go to the circus, they would not have gone if they had known about the animals and they would not return next year. Read more and view photos