Tens of millions of animals were “roasted” alive. Over half a billion taxpayer dollars bankrolled this cruelty.

Hi there,

H5N1 is making headlines with its common name: avian influenza, or bird flu.

But the lesser-known “ventilation shutdown plus” (VSD+)—factory farming’s go-to method of bird flu containment—isn’t quite as memorable a term, or clear. VSD+ is usually a footnote in bird flu news—when it should be the main story.

Factory farms have created a situation ripe for a “perfect storm.” Packing hundreds of thousands of animals into cramped spaces is not only deeply cruel—it’s completely unsustainable. And it’s asking for disaster.

When one animal becomes infected in this environment, the virus can easily jump to the hundreds of thousands of birds in the same crowded shed. The industry’s solution? To shut down their ventilation, causing them to endure a slow, agonizing death.

When Big Meat complains about the “profit losses” involved in killing millions of healthy animals, I have to wonder: What on earth did you expect?

But animal agriculture executives continue to profit off of cruelty. And leaders at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) endorse this gruesome practice—a decision based on a study funded by… the meat and egg industry.

This is where you come in.

For the animals,

P.S. Want to leverage your dollars for compassion, not cruelty? If you’re able, making a gift is one of the most effective ways you can support our work to hold corporations accountable for animal abuse.