The several hundred thousand hens at Buckeye Egg
Farms in Croton, Ohio (USA) died of smashing, asphyxiation, hunger,
thirst, freezing, and those who survived those methods of death may
have been bulldozed alive into graves by Buckeye. (Friday night the
29th of September, 00, pits, a crane, and 2 bulldozers
were seen on the property after animal rights activists
were ordered out.) Some birds had survived 9 days without food
or water before their death.
Please email these Ohio senators to ask that they ban Buckeye
and all factory farms in the state and that they revoke Buckeye's
corporate license.
The tailer for each email is @mailr.sen.state.oh.us
Ohio House http://www.house.state.oh.us
http://www.state.oh.us Governor.Taft@d...
SD01@m...,SD02@m...,SD03@m...
tate.oh.us,SD04@m...,SD05@m...,SD06@
mailr.sen.state.oh.us,SD07@m...,SD08@m...
oh.us,SD09@m...,SD10@m...,SD11@m...
.sen.state.oh.us,SD12@m...,SD13@m...
,SD14@m...,SD15@m...,SD16@m...
state.oh.us,SD17@m...,SD18@m...,SD19
@mailr.sen.state.oh.us,SD20@m...,SD21@m...
.oh.us,SD22@m...,SD23@m...,SD24@m...
r.sen.state.oh.us,SD25@m...,SD26@m...
s,SD27@m...,SD28@m...,SD29@m...
.state.oh.us,SD30@m...,SD31@m...,SD3
2@m...,SD33@m...
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BIRDS NINE DAYS WITH NO WATER OR FOOD
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.
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
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.
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
http://www.egroups.com/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.
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
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
today)
letters@d... (dispatch.com)
letters@t...(thebeaconjournal.com)
henry@w... (wews.com)
WCKY Cincinnati: talk show
Ralph Nader of the Green Party: Agribusiness has the American farmer
by the throat
and is squeezing farmers into some of the lowest grain prices
ever. (Ohio farmers are desperate about the low corn prices)
http://www.greens.org
Vice President Al Gore: We are stewards of the earth. We have
been given dominion of the earth, says the Bible. Dominion means
'to take care of'. http://www.algore.com
Reform Party's Admiral Stockdale: It's time to clean up the barn.
http://www.buchananreform.org
The red carpet given to factory farmers by government officials
has become a sea of blood. Anton Pohlmann, owner of Buckeye
(Agrigeneral) had been jailed in Lower Saxony in Germany for
use of nicotine based insecticides which nearly killed workers
.. as well as for violation of Germany's prevention of animal
cruelty laws.
