Controversial asphyxiation method used in 73% of culls this year despite vets urging its use to be limited

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/06/us-bird-flu-outbreak-millions-of-birds-culled-in-most-inhumane-way-available

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Marina BolotnikovaMon 6 Jun 2022 02.00 EDT

The US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.

Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.

But how these birds are killed has generated controversy, with veterinarians and animal welfare campaigners urging an end to the use of the ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels.

Workers have described the method as like “roasting animals alive”. European officials have said it should not be used in the European Union.

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In the US, however, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) lists ventilation shutdown with supplemental heat as “permitted in constrained circumstances” for “depopulation”.

A new analysis has found that it has now become the main method for killing birds, used in nearly three-quarters of culls.

The analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data by the Animal Welfare Institute found 73% of culls in the US in February and March (the most recent period for which data is available) involved the use of ventilation shutdown.

This represents a dramatic shift from the last bird flu epidemic, in 2015, which resulted in the killing of 50 million farmed birds in the US. During that outbreak, the animals were predominantly killed by carbon dioxide poisoning or smothered in a blanket of firefighting foam.

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“The default method of killing seems to have changed from foam to ventilation shutdown,” said Dena Jones, director of the AWI farm animal programme, who said the design of poultry housing “ensures they won’t be able to humanely kill them”.

A USDA spokesperson said “some housing designs do not allow for effective depopulation using foam” and that the carbon dioxide method was “hindered by supply shortages”. The department financially compensates farmers for culling animals.

Activists have protested against the widespread use of ventilation shutdown, most notably by disrupting basketball games to draw attention to Glen Taylor, the billionaire owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves team who also owns an Iowa egg farm where 5.3 million hens were killed using ventilation shutdown.

A coalition of vets and animal rights advocates have urged the AVMA to reclassify the method as “not recommended”. The lack of response so far from the AVMA “harms animals and the veterinary profession’s reputation as caring advocates for animals”, according to Crystal Heath, a vet and co-founder of the ethical veterinary group Our Honor.

In the EU and the UK, birds are culled with carbon dioxide gas or nitrogen-infused foam, which are considered to be more humane methods than using firefighting foam when carried out correctly because they render the animals unconscious before killing them, Jones said.

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The European Food Safety Authority says ventilation shutdown should not be used, but there have been reports of producers in France being given emergency permission to use it.

The EU also considers the use of firefighting foam to kill birds as inhumane because it entails “drowning in fluids or suffocation by occlusion of the airways”.

The USDA did not respond to a question about whether any steps were being taken to require less painful cull methods or prevent ventilation shutdown from becoming the default in future outbreaks.

The county sheriff said this was one of the worst cases of animal cruelty he has ever seen

By Landon Mion | Fox News

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• https://www.foxnews.com/us/30-dead-animals-home-south-carolina-animal-rescue-ceo

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A South Carolina animal rescue CEO was arrested after police found 30 dead animals inside her home while responding to a complaint about a “smell of death” coming from the residence.

GROWL CEO and director Caroline Dawn Pennington, 47, was arrested Friday and charged with 30 counts of ill-treatment of animals after police discovered 28 dogs and two cats decomposing in crates and cages inside her home.

Caroline Dawn Pennington, 47, was charged with 30 counts of ill-treatment of animals. (Richland County Sheriff’s Office)

According to deputies, the animals had been dead for a significant period of time based on the level of decomposition, and appear to have died from starvation and dehydration. The animals were laying in their own waste when the situation was uncovered.

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s department said investigators believe the animals were neglected and had been left alone in their cages for seven to nine months before their deaths.

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Richland County police found the deceased animals on May 22, when they arrived to perform a wellness check after a neighbor called to report a “smell of death” coming from the home.

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30 dead animals were found inside the home of a South Carolina animal rescue CEO. (Richland County Sheriff’s Department)

Sheriff Leon Lott said this was one of the worst cases of animal cruelty he has ever seen.

“It’s appalling, and it’s heartbreaking,” he said, according to WYFF. “This is someone who was entrusted by the community to care for these animals and find them homes. She betrayed that trust, and she betrayed the trust of these innocent animals who relied on her.”

Pennington was also employed by the Kershaw County Humane Society, but the organization revealed that she would no longer be working for them.

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FILE- Police lights features on the top of a cruiser. (Fox News)

“We were unaware of the former employee’s actions and are truly shocked and heartbroken,” Kershaw County Humane Society said in a statement. “Our dedicated staff will continue with our mission to serve the lost and homeless pets of Kershaw County.”

Richland County Animal Control and the sheriff’s department worked to remove the animals from the home.

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Pennington is also being investigated for potential fraud, given that GROWL is a registered non-profit organization. Anyone who has made documented donations to the organization in the last year is asked to contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

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• https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1103271374/muslim-countries-angry-india-insults-islam-prophet-muhammad

June 6, 20228:03 AM ET

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Indian Muslims shout slogans as they react to the derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad made by top officials in the governing Hindu nationalist party during a protest in Mumbai, India, on Monday.

Rafiq Maqbool/AP

NEW DELHI — India is facing major diplomatic outrage from Muslim-majority countries after top officials in the governing Hindu nationalist party made derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, drawing accusations of blasphemy across some Arab nations that have left New Delhi struggling to contain the damaging fallout.

At least five Arab nations have lodged official protests against India, and Pakistan and Afghanistan also reacted strongly Monday to the comments made by two prominent spokespeople from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Anger has poured out on social media, and calls for a boycott of Indian goods have surfaced in some Arab nations. At home, it has led to protests against Modi’s party in some parts of the country.

The controversial remarks follow increasing violence targeting India’s Muslim minority carried out by Hindu nationalists who have been emboldened by Modi’s regular silence about such attacks since he was first elected in 2014.

Over the years, Indian Muslims have often been targeted for everything from their food and clothing style to inter-religious marriages. Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have warned that attacks could escalate. They have also accused Modi’s governing party of looking the other way and sometimes enabling hate speech against Muslims, who comprise 14% of India’s 1.4 billion people but are still numerous enough to be the second-largest Muslim population of any nation.

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Modi’s party denies the accusations, but India’s Muslims say attacks against them and their faith have increased sharply.

The anger has been growing since last week after the two spokespeople, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, made speculative remarks that were seen as insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha.

Modi’s party took no action against them until Sunday, when a sudden chorus of diplomatic outrage began with Qatar and Kuwait summoning their Indian ambassadors to protest. The BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal and issued a rare statement saying it “strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities,” a move that was welcomed by Qatar and Kuwait.

Later, Saudi Arabia and Iran also lodged complaints with India, and the Jeddha-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation said the remarks came in a “context of intensifying hatred and abuse toward Islam in India and systematic practices against Muslims.”

India’s Foreign Ministry on Monday rejected the comments by the OIC as “unwarranted” and “narrow-minded.” On Sunday, India’s embassies in Qatar and Kuwait released a statement saying the views expressed about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam were not those of the Indian government and were made by “fringe elements.” The statement said that strong action had already been taken against those who made the derogatory remarks.

The criticism from Muslim countries, however, was severe, indicating that insulting Prophet Muhammad was a red line.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it expected a public apology from the Indian government, and Kuwait warned that if the comments go unpunished, India would see “an increase of extremism and hatred.” The Grand Mufti of Oman described the “obscene rudeness” of Modi’s party toward Islam as a form of “war.” Riyadh said the comments were insulting and called for “respect for beliefs and religions.” And Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni world’s foremost institution of religious learning, described the remarks as “real terrorism (that) can plunge the entire world into severe crises and deadly wars.”

The remarks made by Sharma during a TV program in India and Jindal in a tweet risk damaging India’s ties with Arab nations.

India maintains strong relations with Gulf countries, which rely on millions of migrant workers from India and elsewhere in South Asia to serve their tiny local populations and drive the machinery of daily life. India also depends on oil-rich Gulf Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, to power its energy-thirsty economy.

The remarks also led to anger in India’s archrival and neighbor, Pakistan, and in Afghanistan.

On Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned an Indian diplomat and conveyed Islamabad’s “strong condemnation,” a day after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the comments were “hurtful” and “India under Modi is trampling religious freedoms & persecuting Muslims.” India’s Foreign Ministry responded by calling Pakistan “a serial violator of minority rights” and said it should not engage “in alarmist propaganda and attempting to foment communal disharmony in India.”

“India accords the highest respect to all religions,” ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Criticism also came from Kabul. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said the Indian government should not allow “such fanatics to insult … Islam and provoke the feelings of Muslims.”

Modi’s party also faced anger from some of its own supporters, but it was for a different reason. Many Hindu nationalists posted comments on social media saying the government was buckling under international pressure.

Anti-Muslim sentiments and attacks have risen across India under Modi. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said India was seeing “rising attacks on people and places of worship,” eliciting a response from New Delhi, which called the comments “ill-informed.”

More recently, religious tensions have escalated after some Hindu groups went to a local court in northern Varanasi city to seek permission to pray at a 17th century mosque, claiming that it was built by demolishing a temple. Critics say these tensions have been further exacerbated by Indian television anchors during raucous debates.

By KIM TONG-HYUNGyesterday

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A woman watches a TV screen showing a news program reporting about North Korea’s missile launch with a file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, June 5, 2022. North Korea test-fired a salvo of multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, extending a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations this year that U.S. and South Korean officials say may culminate with a nuclear test explosion. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea test-fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles from multiple locations toward the sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, extending a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations this year that U.S. and South Korean officials say may culminate with a nuclear test explosion.

Possibly setting a single-day record for North Korean ballistic launches, eight missiles were fired in succession over 35 minutes from at least four different locations, including from western and eastern coastal areas and two inland areas north of and near the capital, Pyongyang, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

It said the missiles flew 110 to 670 kilometers (68 to 416 miles) at maximum altitudes of 25 to 80 kilometers (15 to 56 miles).

Hours later, Japan and the United States conducted a joint ballistic missile exercise aimed at showing their “rapid response capability” and “strong determination” to counter threats, Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

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South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-Choul held a video conference with Gen. Paul LaCamera, an American general who heads the South Korea-U.S. combined forces command in Seoul, and they reaffirmed the allies’ joint defense posture, according to the military in Seoul.

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Sung Kim, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for North Korea, also discussed the launches with South Korean officials while on a visit to Seoul. They expressed “deep regret” that North Korea was continuing weapons development despite grappling with a COVID-19 outbreak at home, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said none of the missiles fell inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The launches came a day after the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan concluded a three-day naval drill with South Korea in the Philippine Sea, apparently their first joint drill involving a carrier since November 2017, as the countries move to upgrade their defense exercises in the face of North Korean threats.

North Korea has long condemned the allies’ combined military exercises as invasion rehearsals and often countered with its own missile drills, including short-range launches in 2016 and 2017 that simulated nuclear attacks on South Korean ports and U.S. military facilities in Japan.

Discussing the launches with his national security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol lamented that North Korea was firing missiles at a pace of once every nine days this year. He vowed to strengthen the country’s defense in cooperation with the United States, according to his office.

The launches marked North Korea’s 18th round of missile tests in 2022 alone — a streak that has included the country’s first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years.

Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

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South Korean and U.S. officials say there are signs that North Korea is also pressing ahead with preparations at its nuclear testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri. The North’s next nuclear test would be its seventh since 2006 and the first since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a thermonuclear bomb to fit on its ICBMs.

On Friday, Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy, said Washington is “preparing for all contingencies” in close coordination with its Asian allies. The United States has vowed to push for additional international sanctions if North Korea conducts a new nuclear test, but the prospects for further U.N. Security Council measures appear dim.

Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution that would have imposed additional sanctions on North Korea over its latest ballistic tests on May 25, which South Korea’s military said involved an ICBM on a medium-range trajectory and two short-range weapons. Those tests came as Biden wrapped up his trip to South Korea and Japan, where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend both allies.

North Korea in March launched an ICBM almost straight up at a full-range and saw it fly higher and longer than any weapon it had ever tested, demonstrating the potential to reach the entirety of the U.S. mainland.

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While Kim’s ICBMs have garnered much international attention, he has also spent the past three years expanding his arsenal of shorter range solid-fuel missiles threatening South Korea and Japan. He has punctuated his tests with repeated comments that the North would use its nuclear weapons proactively when threatened or provoked, which experts say portend an escalatory nuclear doctrine that may create greater concerns for neighbors.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions for the North’s disarmament steps.

Despite deepening economic woes, Kim has shown no willingness to fully surrender an arsenal he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival and is clearly trying to convert the dormant denuclearization talks into a mutual arms reduction negotiation with the United States, experts say.

Kim’s pressure campaign comes as the country deals with a deadly COVID-19 outbreak across his largely unvaccinated autocracy that lacks public health tools.

GAVI, the nonprofit that runs the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, said Friday it understands that North Korea has accepted an offer of vaccines from ally China and has started to administer doses. It isn’t immediately clear how many doses of which vaccines the North received or how the country was rolling them out.

___ Asssociated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to the report.