Dear John,

Update: Farm Sanctuary, Mercy for Animals, and the Humane Society of the United States have successfully settled a lawsuit challenging the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) irresponsible plan for responding to avian influenza (bird flu) through “depopulation.” As described in a recent Farm Sanctuary op-ed, depopulation is a form of mass animal slaughter that results in “an excruciatingly cruel death, suffocating [the animals] over the course of hours.”

The agency’s plan to incentivize the depopulation of millions of farm animals was reckless, cruel to animals, and a potentially severe threat to our local environments. This settlement will force the USDA to account for environmental harms in its planning process. Despite this important victory, the USDA continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in depopulation.

Now, we need your help: Please sign this letter asking USDA to stop depopulation payments and shift these resources to support food-system-wide sustainability and justice.

This legal victory couldn’t come at a more critical time. Avian influenza now has spread to 40 states. The perils of factory farming—to people, animals, our local environments, and the planet’s climate—are clear. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 3-in-4 new infectious diseases, like COVID-19, jump from animals to humans. Even the USDA admitted that overcrowding animals can amplify influenza and cited herd reduction as a “best management practice.”

Unfortunately, this is just another example of the USDA “talking the talk” without “walking the walk.” The US government still incentivizes dangerous and cruel overcrowding. We are still paying for a higher risk of new pandemics and environmental injustices that deepen systemic harms. At a minimum, USDA should adopt the anti-confinement incentives proposed in our lawsuit. Ultimately, today’s harms call for system-wide transformation.

Please sign this letter urging USDA to stop depopulation payments and shift these resources to support food-system-wide sustainability and justice.

For the animals,

Farm Sanctuary