When Animal Agriculture Sweats: Oregon, Bird Flu & Joyful Chickens | Rising Anxieties

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann runs through a lineup of stories that have the animal agriculture industry sweating — from a ballot initiative that could make killing animals for food illegal in Oregon, to the egg board spending a cool million to get scrambled eggs into school cafeterias, to bird flu quietly turning dairy cows into a mammalian petri dish. Plus: a study proving chickens can feel joy (don’t ask what the industry plans to do about it), and a USDA “Product of USA” promo that accidentally starred Calgary.

In this episode:

• Oregon’s PEACE Act — Animal rights advocates are collecting signatures to put a ballot measure before Oregon voters that would remove cruelty exemptions — and the Animal Agricultural Alliance is very, very nervous
• Egg industry buys its way into schools — The American Egg Board drops $1 million to push eggs into school breakfast programs, with a big assist from USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, who assures us eggs are “as real as food gets”
• Colorado fur ban and the slippery slope everyone agrees is real — Wildlife commissioners advance a commercial fur sales ban, and both animal advocates and their opponents agree this is just the beginning
• Bird flu update: dairy cows as a training ground — Researchers warn that H5N1 may be using North American dairy cattle as a launching pad to better infect humans, and vaccination remains controversial
• Chickens can experience joy — A University of Bristol study finds gentle human handling triggers positive emotions in chicks; the poultry industry’s proposed response remains mysteriously unexplained

We are thrilled to expand the accessibility of our podcast by offering written transcripts of the interviews! Click here to read this episode’s interview.

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