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Dear John,
Factory farms create perfect breeding grounds for zoonoses, infectious diseases caused by pathogens that jump from animals to people. Filthy, crowded conditions enable viruses and other pathogens to easily mutate and multiply. Picked up and carried by workers, insects, and rodents, such pathogens can spread to nearby communities and trigger pandemics. A lawsuit we recently joined alleges that the United States Department of Agriculture has an inadequate response plan for one such zoonotic disease.
Originally filed by the Humane Society of the United States, the lawsuit challenges the USDA's current response plan for avian influenza ("bird flu") as shortsighted and dangerous, lacking proactive measures to stop the next inevitable outbreak before it starts. Mercy For Animals joined the lawsuit along with Farm Sanctuary to urge the USDA to prepare a full environmental impact statement. And we need your support.
When you donate today, you will be supporting our litigation work and all our other programs to build a more compassionate world for all.
The federal government should prevent the development and spread of dangerous zoonotic viruses. Simple measures like limiting the confinement of animals in factory farms, banning cages for egg-laying hens, and lowering the number of animals allowed to be kept in the same facility could help prevent the next pandemic.
The USDA plan also permits "depopulation," or mass on-farm killing, at taxpayer expense in the event of an outbreak. Approved killing methods include suffocating birds with foam, which can take up to four and a half terrifying minutes. The plan also allows potentially hazardous disposal, such as open-air burning of dead animals and mass burials in unlined pits, which can release harmful chemicals into the soil, air, and water supply, putting nearby communities and the environment at risk.
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