Exposing the Big Game

Forget Hunters' Feeble Rationalizations and Trust Your Gut Feelings: Making Sport of Killing Is Not Healthy Human Behavior

Exposing the Big Game

3 factors are driving the plant-based ‘meat’ revolution

 as analysts predict companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods could explode into a $140 billion industry

impossible whopper
Plant-based “meat” is going mainstream.
 Burger King
  • Plant-based “meat” sales are set to explode, with Barclays estimating that the market for alternative meat could grow by 1,000% over the next 10 years, reaching $140 billion.
  • Barclays says that climate change, animal welfare concerns, and greater interest in wellness are driving the meat-substitute revolution.
  • “Sustainability is increasingly more relevant as consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, have become more aware of the damage that food production has caused to the planet,” Barclays states in a recent report.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Plant-based “meat” is going mainstream, as grocery stores and fast-food chains jump on the alternative meat bandwagon.

The market for alternative meat could reach roughly $140 billion over the next 10 years, according to a report released this week from Barclays. Currently, the market for plant-based “meat” is just $14 billion.

Read more: Evidence is mounting that fast-food chains from Chick-fil-A to McDonald’s will be forced to add vegan menu items — or face the consequences

Barclays posits that alternative meat could take over 10% of the $1.4 trillion meat industry. This is a goal that has been central to the rise of plant-based “meat” makers Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat as the companies target meat eaters over vegetarians.

Here are the three factors that Barclays says are driving the meat-substitute revolution.

Climate change and environmental worries

climate change
A protester attends a demonstration under the banner “Protect the climate — stop coal.”
REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

“Sustainability is increasingly more relevant as consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, have become more aware of the damage that food production has caused to the planet,” Barclays states.

Plant-based products aren’t necessarily a perfect solution, with Barclays highlighting palm oil production’s links to deforestation. However, with climate change becoming “a more relevant topic,” Barclays says that companies have the “opportunity to highlight how their products address this concern.”

Animal welfare concerns

New Zealand cow farmRetuers/David Gray

With more than 95% of farm animals raised on factory farms, Barclays says that concerns regarding animal cruelty are making plant-based “meat” more popular. People are becoming more aware of farming industry practices and pressuring companies to change, as well as exploring plant-based options.

“In extreme cases, the birds may also face sleep deprivation as some factory farms keep lights on all day and night to encourage more eating rather than sleeping.”

However, most people aren’t giving up meat entirely in response to the mistreatment of animals. Barclays sees the biggest opportunity for growth coming from people who still eat meat, not vegetarians and vegans.

Health and wellness concerns

White Castle Impossible burger
Fast-food chains are adding plant-based burgers to the menu.
Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider

People around the world are more health-conscious than ever before, with Barclays saying that wellness is now a lifestyle as opposed to a trend.

However, many people remain confused on how to actually become healthier. And, many meat alternatives have just as many calories as — and even more sodium than — traditional meat products.

“Besides people thinking that they are healthier than what they really are, they tend to address their issues with protein by focusing on taste and price, which could deter adoption of alternative meats if they don’t satisfy consumers on these counts,” the report reads.

SEE ALSO: Chick-fil-A is exploring vegan menu items as chains like Burger King and Chipotle double down on meat substitutes

Botswana’s lifting of elephant hunting ban raises concerns about illegal poaching

Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog


Devdiscourse News Desk Johannesburg Botswana
 Updated: 23-05-2019 09:58 IST Created: 23-05-2019 08:44 IST
Botswana's lifting of elephant hunting ban raises concerns about illegal poaching

Image Credit: Wikimedia commons

Botswana has lifted its ban on elephant hunting in a country with the world’s highest number of the animals, a decision that has brought anger from some wildlife protection groups. The southern African nation is home to an estimated 130,000 elephants. The lifting of the ban raised concerns about a possible increase in illegal poaching of elephants for their tusks to supply the ivory trade.

“Expect mass culling next,” the CEO of WildlifeDirectPaula Kahumbu, said in a post on Twitter, adding that the impact of Botswana’s decision will be felt across Africa. Botswana has long been a refuge for elephants on a continent where tens of thousands have been killed over the years for their ivory. The decision to lift the hunting ban comes amid growing conflicts between humans

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Hundreds of dogs dead in Alabama fire

(WVTM/NBC News) Hundreds of dogs and other animals were killed when fire swept through a building in Cullman County, Alabama Tuesday morning.

Officials say the fire quickly spread through a chicken house near West Point around 7:30 a.m., killing dogs, ducks and show chickens.

Animal Control officials say the chicken house was being used as a dog breeding facility.

Neighbor Stan Barbee witnessed the fire.

“There were like seven or eight explosions, and the first two just went up in flames and went fast,” Barbee says.

Some of the dogs killed were Pomeranians, Dachshunds, Cocker Spaniels and English bulldogs.

The owner of the property was reportedly able to save at least 50 dogs from the blaze. Several of them suffered burns and are being treated by a veterinarian.

Read more: http://bit.ly/2X1wCM2

Sick slaughter of 2,000 hippos as Zambia accused of cashing in on cull

Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

EXCLUSIVE Locals say the hippo population in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley is under threat with claims government ‘cull’ is actually a trophy hunting package deal money-spinner

An unidentified hunter poses with a felled hippo in Zambia
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/river-runs-red-bloodthirsty-trophy-16163202?

But soon, the Luangwa waters may run red with their blood – after the government announced 2,000 of them will be culled.

And trophy hunting operators look set to cash in, charging bloodthirsty tourists to help with the state-sanctioned slaughter.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove is said to be considering a ban on the import of trophies from “canned” lion hunting, where the animals are confined for a greater kill chance.

It is believed he will then look at banning imports of other hunting…

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FWP kills mountain lion found near Helena’s Centennial Park


MTN News File Photo

HELENA – A mountain lion found in Helena city limits has been killed and removed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The Helena Police Department reported the mountain lion was spotted at NorthWestern Energy property on the 1300 block of Last Chance Gulch around 7:30 a.m.

An employee saw the cat in the bushes near a building entrance.

Interim Police Chief Steve Hagen stated in a news release that “immobilizing and relocating mountain lions located in urban areas is not a safe/feasible option so lethal means are used.”

The HPD, animal control officers, and FWP all responded.

-Reported by Jacob Fuhrer/MTN News

It’s Hotter Than You Think: Climate-Change Summary and Update

Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

Updated most recently, likely for the final time, 2 August 2016.

The Great Dying wiped out at least 90% of the species on Earth due to an abrupt rise in global-average temperature about 252 million years ago. The vast majority of complex life became extinct. Based on information from the most conservative sources available, Earth is headed for a similar or higher global-average temperature in the very near future. The recent and near-future rises in temperature are occurring and will occur at least an order of magnitude faster than the worst of all prior Mass Extinctions. Habitat for human animals is disappearing throughout the world, and abrupt climate change has barely begun. In the near future, habitat for Homo sapiens will be gone. Shortly thereafter, all humans will die.

There is no precedence in planetary history for events unfolding today. As a result, relying on prior events to predict the…

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Update: 11 Koi Rescued From Abandoned Pond in Cumming!

With the help of Home Partners of America, which permitted access to a vacant rental property in Cumming, 11 neglected koi were removed from a dangerous situation. Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak out about this urgent issue and to Atlanta Koi Rescue for coordinating the rescue effort and ensuring a happy ending for these animals.

Please be sure to check out our other urgent alerts and help animals who still need your voice!



PETA has been alerted to an evidently abandoned koi pond reportedly located on a vacant rental property in Cumming, Georgia. We’re told that the pond once contained as many as 30 fish but that up to a month has elapsed without anyone feeding them. Water levels are running perilously low, and a nonworking pump has resulted in inadequate oxygenation. One witness claims that dozens of fish have perished since April and that approximately 10 koi remain in the murky water struggling to survive. Local entities stand ready and willing to rescue these survivors but can’t do so unless the property management company that oversees the location gives them access. Despite numerous calls from PETA and local officials to the company, access has still not been given.

Don’t allow bear hunting: Letter

Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

Published 

Once again it’s that time of the year when our legislators will be taking up bills that not only affect Connecticut voters, but also those without a vote, namely, Connecticut’s black bear population. The proposed bill, Bill 586, would allow the hunting of black bear in Litchfield County. The alternative to that is Bill 894, which would require the state to come up with nonlethal methods of keeping bears out of heavily populated areas. Those favoring opening a season on black bear hunting cite the numerous (8,992) reported sightings in Connecticut last year.

In 1975 the legislature passed the Deer Management Act which was Connecticut’s first regulated deer hunting season using the excuse that the deer population was overpopulated and needed to be culled. Today, the excuse for opening a season on black bear hunting is based on little if any factual information, but rather on flimsy and…

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No changes to hunting seasons

Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

Ruling does not allow tribal members to hunt without restriction

Posted 

From county commission meetings to the governor’s office, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Crow tribal member’s alleged poaching in the Bighorn National Forest has officials and hunters discussing — and mostly guessing about — the ramifications of the decision.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision can be considered a victory for Clayvin Herrera, who appealed his conviction for killing an elk out-of-season in the Bighorn Mountains. However, Herrera is not off the hook and there won’t be a free-for-all in the forest, or anywhere else in the region, according to officials and those familiar with the case.

The dispute hinges on the interpretation of a 1868 treaty between the federal government and the Crow Tribe.

The treaty promised that — in exchange for the government acquiring…

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An Attack on Iran Would Violate US and International Law

Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

As President Donald Trump, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rattle their sabers, there is no evidence that Iran poses a threat to the United States. It was Trump who threatened genocide, tweeting, “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.” The Pentagon is now considering sending 10,000 additional troops to the Gulf region for “defensive” purposes and not in response to a new threat by Iran. Threats to use military force — like the use of force itself — violate U.S. and international law.

Last week, Pompeo said U.S. intelligence had determined that Iranian-sponsored attacks on U.S. forces “were imminent.” The…

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