Abortion rights advocates geared up to mobilize in the nation’s capital and across the United States on Tuesday following the leak of a draft decision signaling that the Supreme Court’s…
As President Biden seeks $33 billion more for Ukraine, we look at the dangers of U.S. military escalation with Medea Benjamin of CodePink and George Beebe of the Quincy Institute. He is the former head of Russia analysis at theCIAand a former adviser to Vice…
The long-time animal advocate is supporting Farm Sanctuary‘s Mother’s Day adoption campaign. Farm Sanctuary is a farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization based in Watkins Glen, New York, dedicated to helping farmed animals find a life outside agriculture.
The nonprofit is in the midst of its annual Adopt a Farm Animal Mother’s Day campaign, where animal lovers can symbolically “adopt” one of Farm Sanctuary’s rescue residents with a donation to the animal’s care.
In support of Farm Sanctuary’s efforts to get more farm animals out of agriculture and into caring rescues, Silverstone, 45, wrote a letter about how animal advocacy fits into her parenting of her son, Bear, who turns 11 in May. PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Silverstone’s Mother’s Day note for Farm Sanctuary.
“One of the greatest and most rewarding things in my life has been being a mom to Bear. Many of you have seen him grow up over the last decade because one of our very favorite things to do together is visit the rescued animals at Farm Sanctuary!” Silverstone opens the letter.
She adds that “For animal lovers, Mother’s Day can be bittersweet when we think of the other species who just want to love their babies and are robbed of the opportunity to exercise their maternal instinct because of human greed and exploitation in factory farming.”
The actress writes that she combats these difficult feelings by teaching Bear to love all animals.
CREDIT: COURTESY FARM SANCTUARY
“That’s why raising Bear with an awareness of animal sentience and compassion — not just for the animals we share our home with, but for the entire animal kingdom — has been my bedrock of being a Kind Mama,” Silverstone shares in the letter.
“Farm Sanctuary is a place where survivors of animal agriculture come to rest, to heal, discover friendships, and live as nature intended. Finally free from harm, these incredible animals learn to forgive humans and be incredible ambassadors of compassion,” she continues.
Silverstone closes her letter with a request to join her in adopting a Farm Sanctuary animal for Mother’s Day.
“This Mother’s Day, will you join me in adopting Olive and Maggie goats, Hayes cow, or Amari, Laura, and Bailey sheep? Your gift allows Farm Sanctuary to continue the lifesaving work it does in animal rescue, and helps to nurture a new generation of young people who are inspired to create change,” she ends the letter.
To learn about the animals Silverstone listed and donate to their care, visit Adopt a Farm Animal Mother’s Day campaign. With a donation of $35, animal lovers can adopt a Farm Sanctuary resident and help support their fresh start at a long, happy life.
Russian President Vladimir Putin put the West on notice on Tuesday that he could terminate exports and deals, the Kremlin’s toughest response yet to the sanctions burden imposed by the United States and allies over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, signed a broad decree on Tuesday which forbade the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on a sanctions list that he instructed the government to draw up within 10 days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned NATO about interfering in the Ukraine war, even going so far as to bring up retaliation if Ukraine becomes a threat to Russia because of Western help. According to some experts, NATO has already crossed the line that Putin has said would justify an attack from Russian forces.
Last week, the Russian leader said during an address to lawmakers that any countries that “create a strategic threat to Russia” in Ukraine can expect “retaliatory strikes”…
Belarus on Wednesday began sudden large-scale drills of its military forces, the country’s defense ministry said, as fears grow that Russian President Vladimir Putin will officially declare war on Ukraine as soon as May 9.
The Belarusian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the drills are to test their combat readiness, and pose no threat to its neighbors or the European community.
“It is planned that the (combat readiness) test will involve the movement of significant numbers of military vehicles, which can slow down traffic on public roads,” the ministry said.
The drills are to “assess the readiness and ability of personnel to respond promptly to possible crisis situations,” the statement said, adding that Belarus would study the ability of their forces to “counter military threats both on…
The outbreak of avian flu has prompted parents in New York City to call on the mayor and governor to suspend the operation live animal markets, particularly those near their children’s schools and playgrounds. In a letter shared with the media, the parents argue that the markets, which sell and slaughter multiple species of birds, potentially expose their children to a host of infectious diseases, including e. Coli, campylobacter and the current strain of avian flu, which has infected people in several countries, including the United States.
“The sidewalk in front of the live animal market next to my son’s school is often contaminated with chicken feces and blood,” said Irma Labiosa, one of the public school parents who signed the letter to Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul. “He could be tracking this waste into his classroom, onto the subway and into our home.”
Brooklyn’s leading newspaper, The Brooklyn Eagle, published the letter in full.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a letter sent by parents of NYC schoolchildren calling on Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to suspend the operation of live animal markets near schools until an avian flu risk assessment is conducted.
New York City’s 70+ live animal markets, also known as storefront slaughterhouses, are retail businesses that are open to the public. Many operate in densely populated neighborhoods and are located in close proximity to homes, health care facilities, businesses, public transportation, schools and playgrounds. Despite the biohazards, customers are not required to wear PPE to protect themselves and the animals from disease. Among the 10 or more bird species slaughtered in these markets are chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigeons, quails and pheasants.
“For years, I have been documenting and reporting dead chickens left in open dumpsters and puddles of blood and feces contaminating the sidewalks and streets in front of live animal markets in Queens,” said Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director of the animal advocacy group NYCLASS. “The filthy sidewalks and putrid odors compromise the quality of life of everyone who lives and works in their vicinity and pose health risks, along with serious animal welfare violations that go ignored. That is why NYCLASS supports passage of state legislation that would prohibit the operation of these neighborhood slaughter markets and create a task force to investigate the public health risks and animal welfare concerns.”
The sidewalks in front of NYC’s live animal slaughter markets, many of which are located near schools and playgrounds, are often contaminated with feces and body parts
In response to the recent avian flu outbreak in New York in March 2022, the NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets banned the operation of fowl shows, auctions and exhibitions. In his announcement about the ban, Richard Ball, the Commissioner, stated, “By banning fowl shows and exhibitions in New York until further notice, we are taking a commonsense step to limit the co-mingling of birds to slow the spread of this disease.” Labiosa, the school parent, believes this ban should apply to New York’s live markets too. “Given how tightly confined the animals are, avian flu could spread like wildfire if an outbreak occurs in a live animal market,” said Labiosa. “They should not be exempt.”
Irma Labiosa and her son Max walk by a live animal market located one block away from Max’s public school in New York City
Across the street from the live animal market near her son’s school, Labiosa told TheirTurn that she believes that the presence of live animal markets in lower-income areas is a form of environmental racism. “Wealthy New Yorkers would never allow slaughterhouses to operate in their neighborhoods, but lower income communities don’t have the resources to fight back,” said Labiosa.
Labiosa’s son, Max, is also disturbed by the live animal market near his school, though, while speaking to TheirTurn, he expressed more concern about the mistreatment of animals than getting sick: “I’ve seen trucks stuffed with chickens, ducks and other birds. It makes me sad to see them treated that way.” Neither Labiosa nor Max eat meat anymore.
When COVID-19 reached New York, mainstream media outlets reported on the ongoing efforts of the advocacy Slaughter Free NYC to shut down the City’s 70+ live animal markets (click photo to view ABC News story)
Since 2019, Slaughter Free NYC, an advocacy group comprised of public health and animal rights advocates, has been calling on city and state officials to shut down the city’s 70+ live markets until a public health risk assessment is conducted. The group believed that the outbreak of COVID, which is believed to have been transmitted to humans in a live animal market, would trigger them to take its concerns more seriously, but they did not react. In fact, instead of shutting down the live markets, the state designated them as “essential businesses” during the lock down in March 2020.
Despite the government’s decision to ignore the calls of Slaughter Free NYC, the COVID outbreak did generate widespread mainstream media coverage about the risks of live animal markets and the advocacy group’s efforts to shut them down. In July 2020, Now This released a 10 minute documentary film (Here’s What Goes on Inside America’s Wet Markets) that went viral on social media.
You may have noticed animal rights activists protesting at recent Minnesota Timberwolves games. One was caught trying to glue themselves to the court. Another dressed as an NBA official tried to storm the hardwood.
The protests can actually be traced back to the spread of avian flu right now in the U.S.
The current owner of the Timberwolves, Glen Taylor, also owns a factory egg farm in Iowa. Avian flu is spreading through similar operations and it’s forcing owners to kill entire flocks of chickens. This strain of the bird flu, H5N1, is highly infectious and is deadly to birds.
The majority of the chickens being killed to stop the spread are egg-laying hens, and the move is causing the price of eggs to spike. The animal activists are accusing Taylor’s farm of killing over five million chickens due to an outbreak.
H5N1 has shown up in Texas but so far, no large chicken operations have been affected.
Agriculture experts in the state are warning commercial operators and owners of backyard chickens to be on guard against this virulent strain. Since migratory birds are helping spread the disease, homeowners with chickens are being told to try and keep wild birds away from their yards. That means no bird feeders and to clean thoroughly if you come in contact with wild birds.
While humans can spread the bird flu the risk to the general public’s health is low.
Updated May. 03, 2022 11:36AM ET / Published May. 03, 2022 9:59AM ET
ROME—Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has floated the idea that he wants to take a trip to Kyiv to try to broker a ceasefire. But now he says he would prefer to go to Moscow to try to talk some sense into Vladimir Putin, who he has not outwardly condemned in the now nearly three-month-old war and only did so lightly in a lengthy interview with an Italian newspaper.
“I feel that before going to Kyiv, I must go to Moscow,” he told Corriere Della Sera in an interview that ran Tuesday. But the meeting would not exactly be to condemn Putin, based on what he told the paper. He said that the real “scandal” of Putin’s war is “NATO barking at Russia’s door,” which he said caused the Kremlin to “react badly and unleash the conflict.”
Never mind that the 85-year-old pontiff is unable to walk after tearing a ligament in his knee (for which he says he will soon have surgery), or that Putin won’t even answer his calls. Francis repeated comments he has made in general audiences and in other interviews that the war is nothing more than a giant opportunity for a “trade in arms” and that it is still ongoing because of the constant shuttling of weapons to Ukraine. He has spoken twice by phone to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but mostly to urge him not to fight back. He also went to the Russian embassy to the Holy See days after the invasion began to “register his concerns” about what was happening.
“I don’t know how to answer—I’m too far away—the question of whether it is right to supply the Ukrainians,” he told the paper. “The clear thing is that weapons are being tested there. The Russians now know that tanks are of little use and are thinking of other things. This is why wars are waged: to test the weapons we have produced. Few people are fighting this trade, but more should be done.”
Whether the Italian journalists didn’t ask—or whether he didn’t answer— there was no mention about what would happen if Ukrainians were not fiercely fighting back, whether it would mean a full annexation of the entire country, millions of deaths, or empowering an already insatiably power-hungry Putin.
Francis veered toward conspiracy theory as he blamed the international community for instigating the war. “You cannot think that a free state can make war on another free state,” he said. “In Ukraine, it seems that it was others who created the conflict. I am pessimistic but we must do everything possible to stop the war.” The pope then said that in a state visit to Rome by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he was told “the Russians have a plan, that everything will end on May 9” without giving any further explanation. May 9 is the day Russia celebrates its liberation and the end of World War II.
The one person Francis will not meet is Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church, who the pope fears is becoming “Putin’s altar boy.” Francis said he spoke with him on the phone for 40 minutes on March 15. “And I told him: I completely fail to understand this,” he said. “Brother, we are not state clerics; we cannot use the language of politics, but that of Jesus. We are pastors of the same holy people of God.”
He said that 40 days ago he asked his secretary of state to start the process of organizing a visit to Moscow instead of Ukraine, but that Putin had not responded. “I am not going to Kyiv for now,” he said. “I feel that I must not go. First I must go to Moscow. First I must meet Putin. But I am also a priest, what can I do? I do what I can. If Putin would only open the door.”
News of the potential trip to Moscow put the Vatican press corps who travel with the pontiff on high alert, with many wondering if they would be arrested if they reported on discussions of the war if they were in Russia.
But even the pontiff concedes that a meeting in Moscow is a long shot. “I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have this meeting at this time,” he said. “But how can you not stop so much brutality?”
