Guest guest Posted March 17, 2001 Report Share Posted March 17, 2001 EGG NUMBERS: 6: chickens to a cage at Buckeye (cages 3 ft by 1 l/2) 275: mg of cholesterol in each egg 32: hours of confinement per each egg factory farm hens stay in a tiny cage in which they cannot flap their wings.. 140: degrees in factory farms' metal buildings when electricity goes out and chickens suffocate in heat (opposite in winter) 90,000: sometimes 90,000 birds per buildings sometimes 2 football fields long 120: gallons of water in the production of each egg 1 million: chickens died of freezing in Arkansas while 900,000 died at Buckeye Egg Farm in Croton, Oh. WHAT HAPPENED? A tornado ignored the high grain elevators in Licking County, at Buckeye (Agrigeneral) on Croton Rd in Croton Ohio, and destroyed 3 of the 40 to 50 factory farms there, each of which houses perhaps 90,000 chickens. Some chickens were smashed or asphyxiated immediately. Animal rights activists began to rescue the chickens while at the other end of the football field barns Buckeye workers gassed chickens. However the mangled cages welded together made individual cage rescue very difficult. Over the next 9 days those not rescued slowly died of no water and no food, or from exposure to the cold in their somewhat defeathered bodies. The company then declared the area unsafe and asked animal rights activists to leave. Two bulldozers and a crane were seen on the property as well as newly dug partially water filled depressions. We do not know if the remaining birds, tens of thousands, were buried alive. This county is one of four in which Buckeye keeps tens of millions of birds. HEALTH ASPECTS If a chicken has leukemia it is called leukosis, but cancer can be transmitted from chicken flesh to humans. In the stressful environment with constant 24 hour light, no room to spread their arms (wings), the chickens contract leukosis (leukemia) which is transmitted to consumers. From 1980 to 92, the speed of the inspection line was doubled.. many birds with cancerous tumors were passed down the line. Chicken flesh along with meat, fish and dairy accounts for 97% of all food poisoning fatalities. Ecoli is a euphemism for intestinal colon bacteria which spreads everywhere throughout the flesh. Ecoli contamination comes not only from the degutting of the slaughtered birds but from the factory farm waste which cakes the feathers and skin of the birds. Uric acid or trioxypurine is pre-urine in the chicken flesh and is correlated to heart disease, arthritis, and stroke. (Caffein is dioxypurine, not as strong as trioxypurine) Antibiotics, carcinogenic female hormones or growth hormones, preservatives, contaminants in the feed* (human chauvinism for food given to animals) multiply the risk of chicken flesh and egg consumption. Ohio Wesleyan biology students have found high levels of salmonella in the streams near Buckeye, which has operations now in several parts of the state. Some neighbors of the giant agribusiness have termed the many flies " Voinovich Flies " because of the history of Republican senators and governors in welcoming Buckeye to the state. Buckeye used to be called Agrigeneral, but the name was changed to obscure its German origin. German courts forbade the Agrigeneral owner from having factory farms there. Fertilized eggs sometimes occur, and if one does not discover them before cracking an egg into the skillet, he finds a skillet full of beaks and claws. At Perdue in Salisbury Maryland, chickens' crates dropped from cranes smashed onto Rt 50. The birds were running in traffic. Broken necks and wings flapped through the crate openings. Coccidosis from chicken waste is a constant problem. Coccidosis is one of many diseases which can be transmitted to humans from consumption of chickens or proximity to their concentrated waste. http://www.pcrm.org http://www.upc-online.org http://www.hsus.org http://www.peta.com http://www2.acorn.net/doc/avsafety.doc http://www.ivu.org /messages/ohiovegans/202 ENVIRONMENT: 1. Salmonella bacteria is high in factory farm area streams ponds and lakes. 2. Factory farms are one of the least efficient ways to use acreage. Vegetables yield many times the food with 80,000 lbs and acre, while reforestation fruit and nut trees yield 450,000 lbs. an acre 3. The flies in the area have been named after the governor who brought Agrigeneral to Ohio. They are Mother Earth's answer to the omnipresent chicken waste. They process it. They like the chickens are victims. 4. Ohio Public Interest Group had won a court case involving Buckeye's marketing of 6 month old eggs. 5. The Ohio EPA after pressure for several years has decided to sue Buckeye. 6. Buckeye covered many wells in Licking and other counties. Chicken waste and many other disease organisms leach into the water. BUSINESS: We know that virtually no one at factory farms in management or the work force wanted the birds to suffer in the tornado situation. The sight of the birds' suffering was so intense that one company spokesperson said it was emotional hazard just to look upon it. But suffering is intrinsic to factory farms. ACTION: 1. Ban factory farms on the national state and local level. 2. Revoke the corporate licenses of all factory farms, as President Roosevelt acted in regards to certain corporations. 3. president@w... whitehouse.gov http://www.whitehouse.gov 4. http://www.senate.gov Senate 5. http://www.congress.com House 6. Governor.Taft@d... (das state oh us) http://www.state.oh.us 7. Network with the coalition groups.* 8. Get media to focus on this 9. Expand the coalition http://www.farmaid.org/org/ http://www.greens.org http://www.upc-online.org http://www.notmilk.com Spokepersons for LCCSE Licking Cty Cit for Safe Env: Merrit Frey, Clean Water Network: 202-289-2392 Susan Studer, Ohio Environmental Council: 614-487-7506 Marc Conte, Ohio Sierra Club: 614-461-0734 JUDGE FROST has delayed court action. COALITION: Some of the tens of thousands of groups fighting factory farms: The Green Party, whose candidate Ralph Nader is running for president, Catholic and Anglican bishops, farmers' unions, Willie Nelson's Farm Aid consumer groups, Citizen Action, OPIRG, animal rights groups, environment groups, Ohio Wesleyan biology students, Licking County Citizens for a Safe Environment, United Poultry Concerns, migrant worker protection groups, etc. (see http://www2.acorn.net/doc/avsafety.doc) DIRECTIONS: The Buckeye Agribusiness factory farms directions: North of Columbus on Rt 71 is Sunbury. Rt 37 runs from Sunbury almost to Newark Ohio. Just before Johnstown proceeding E on 37 is Croton Road. Take a sharp left. Within a mile or two one sees green metal factory farms on the left.. Another of the 4 Buckeye counties is Wyandotte near Mansfield. Buckeye also has operations near Toledo. RESCUE EFFORTS The cages were full of chickens with 1, 2, 3 or 4 dead.. while the remainder are still alive, not having had water for nine days. But when they were let go, though they had never had the ability to move, some of them flew 3 or 4 ft. Many are featherless from disease (or possibly forced molting?) The little women (these are all female birds who are imprisoned) were frightened and sometimes sqwawked and held on to the cage with their claws, but the moment they were out, they relaxed in the human arms, and then felt their wings stretch for the first time in their lives.. and the air under their wings. (The little men are not so lucky, having for the most part been thrown into eviscerators as chicks. Eviscerators are tubs full of swirling knives.) Many factory farms keep lights on 24 hours a day, a factor in making the birds crazy and giving them stress cancers. Activists have stepped into mid thigh deep chicken waste which is like a slippery mud. Without the boards scattered everywhere.. it is a struggle to get out of the mud. In addition if one were to go into the area under the timbers, they could cave in. But many chickens can be rescued without risk to humans, while heroes might rescue the rest. Flies are everywhere and have been the subject of several lawsuits against Buckeye. RISKS: 1. destroyed buildings 2. dead birds 3. waste thigh deep 4. one company official said that any who look on the scene could be emotionally affected The company is not providing water to the trapped birds. The entrance road is blocked with a backhoe. CALL TALK SHOWS 1 800 676 2100 Larry King CNN Ask CNN to film factory farms 1 800 989 8255 NPR 2 to 4 pm EST 1 800 433 8850 WAMU national shows from 10 am to 1 pm 1 202 737 6734 C Span 1 202 624 1115 1 800 222 5222 KABC 1 614 292 8513 WOSU noon to 2 and 6:30 to 8 (noon show preempted Get email at your own domain with Mail. http://personal.mail./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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