Special COK update: Judge Finds that Animal Abuse on Egg Farm Is Legal

June 6, 2007

June 5, 2007 Pennsylvania Court Finds that Animal Abuse on Egg Factory Farm Is Legal On June 1, 2007, a Lancaster County judge acquitted a Pennsylvania egg factory farm owner and manager of criminal animal cruelty charges, essentially re-writing state cruelty law to find that abuse is perfectly legal as long as it is committed against farmed animals. The verdict was handed down after a lengthy trial in which the court was presented with undercover video evidence revealing appalling conditions for hens in the facility. Scenes from the

video include: hens impaled on loose wires of their cages, some left hanging by their beaks; hens with their wings, toes or legs entangled in the wires of the cage floor, or otherwise left dying, unable to access food or water; and decomposing birds left rotting for weeks in cages with live hens. The footage was gathered by a COK investigator who was employed at Esbenshade Farms, one of the state’s largest egg factory farms, in late 2005, then presented to a Pennsylvania-certified humane officer who subsequently filed 70 counts of criminal animal cruelty against the owner and manager of the farm. Learn more about this investigation and watch the video. Read COK’s press release on the court’s ruling. How You Can Help While the court may have found the defendants “not guilty,” please view our investigative video and decide for yourself. Encourage your friends and family to watch the footage as well. The most effective way we can make a difference for laying hens is to simply leave their eggs out of our shopping carts. Get free eggless recipes and/or order your free Vegetarian Starter Guide today! Each one of us can help create a more compassionate world—one meal at a time. In this issue… 1. Pennsylvania Court Finds that Animal Abuse on Egg Factory Farm is Legal 2. How You Can Help About COK Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Working to end animal abuse since 1995, COK focuses on cruelty to animals in agriculture and promotes vegetarian eating as a way to build a kinder world for all of us, both human and nonhuman. Visit COK.net to learn more. Thank you! We truly value the generosity of our supporters who allow us to work as hard as we can for the animals. Please help us help animals. COKP.O. Box 9773Washington, DC 20016T: 301-891-2458F: 301-891-6815info www.cok.net You are d to this newsletter as kerrimilam. Subscribe or fromCOK’s Compassionate Action eNewsletter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05zhL1YUd8Q* Ralph Waldo Emerson sums it up nicely, "You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity." For those that don't get it, here's a simple test: If you wouldn't do it to your cat or dog, then don't do it to another animal. Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight. -Albert Schweitzer " - Show Compassion, Go Vegan!

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