Reports on chicken rescue in Santa Cruz and vegetarian cooking on radio

Two nice items from Northern California:

There is a delightful piece in the dining section of the September 28-October 5 issue of Metro Santa Cruz headed "Pets or Meat? Santa Cruz takes a leading role in the chicken rescue movement."

It opens:
"Have you seen the Carl's Jr. chicken-sandwich ads? You know, the one where they taunt a chicken because it can't 'sit' or 'juggle' and then conclude with the tag line 'There's only one thing a chicken's good for: eating.'

"It may surprise you to know that chickens make fine pets. They come when called. They follow around their humans. They like to be held and petted. They jump on shoulders. In Santa Cruz, there's a Pet Chicken Meet-up group with more than 50 members. Chicken owners say their chickens are as intelligent as their other, more traditional pets, and that they're even friendlier than their cats.

"I spent some time talking to one of those members, Cheryl Potter. Cheryl not only has dozens of pet chickens of her own, but recently pitched in to help with a large-scale battery chicken rescue in Gilroy, organized by the Animal Place (http://www.animalplace.org). Cheryl has taken in more than 100 chickens, cleaned them up and had them tested and treated by vets, and is quite successfully finding homes for them everywhere from Sacramento to Monterey.

"What are battery chickens, and why did they need to be rescued? These are the chickens that lay our eggs. And while you may have visions of hens happily pecking about a farmyard clucking in your head, the harsh truth is that most eggs are laid by debeaked chickens packed in cages that they can't stand or turn around in. They are piled high, with the feces from the chickens in cages above them dripping down on the chickens below. Everything is automated, from food and water to egg collection, so no human ever has to go in and be overpowered by the noise or smell. And then after 1 1/2 to two years, hens kept in this condition are considered "spent" and sent to slaughter.

"By the way, once they leave the battery cage, what few regulations there are about humane treatment (and you have to question what kind of teeth are in such regulations once you see how the hens that are covered by the regulations are treated) no longer apply. Yes, the poultry industry got a specific exemption from 'humane treatment' for 'spent hens."

You can read the whole article on line at
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/09.28.05/dining-0539.html

The Metro Santa Cruz website says, "Please don't forget to write! Metro Santa Cruz welcomes letters. Like any great work of art, they should be originals -- not copies of letters sent elsewhere. Include address and daytime phone (for verification purposes only). Letters may be edited for length and clarity or to correct factual inaccuracies known to us.... Email msc [at] metcruz.com. Metro Santa Cruz emailers, please include name, city of residence and phone number. Letters printed will list email address unless otherwise specified."

AND...

On Tuesday, September 27, "Perspectives" on KQED featured a piece by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of http://www.CompassionateCooks.com (a terrific site, complete with recipes, a DVD, and information on cooking classes, all worth checking out). The piece aired again for those in the San Francisco area this Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2. Others can listen to it on line at http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R509270737

It opens with, "An unwritten social rule says that vegetarians must always be considerate, respectful, and sensitive to meat-eaters."
Patrick-Goudreau wishes that "the respectful attitude expected of vegetarians were a two-way street." She makes some great points, such as: "Vegetarians tend to avoid asking meat-eaters why they eat animals, or where they get their vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants -- nutrients people are genuinely deficient in, unlike the Great Protein Deficiency Myth that vegetarians are forever doomed to debunk."

Listen if you can, and if you like what you hear, please thank the show for including the vegetarian perspective.
The email address provided for Perspectives is that of producer, mtrautwein [at] kqed.org


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)