It’s a fair question.

And yet it’s one the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) can’t answer.

With the AVMA’s blessing, the meat and egg industries are cooking millions of birds alive­ as part of a brutal mass-extermination operation that is unfolding in response to the US bird flu outbreak. Entire flocks are being trapped inside super-heated sheds—without ventilation—leaving birds to slowly suffocate and die of heat stroke. Originally intended only as a last resort, “Ventilation Shutdown Plus” (or VSD+) is fast becoming a disease control method of convenience for factory farms across the country.

Another great question. And that brings me back to the AVMA.

It started a few years ago, when AVMA leaders made a fateful decision. Despite the availability of less-cruel methods, the AVMA chose to endorse VSD+ in response to a single, flawed, industry-funded study.

Since then, the industry has subjected animals to this horrific practice in increasingly large numbers, under the justification that VSD+ is “veterinary approved.” Today, the floodgates have well and truly opened on VSD+, turning it into a national animal welfare crisis. The AVMA knows how much suffering animals experience with this method and yet they went ahead and permitted it anyway.

As a vet myself, I’ve personally appealed to the AVMA on behalf of animals, as have my veterinary colleagues. But the AVMA is refusing to listen.

That’s why I’m reaching out to you. Because, as powerful corporations insist on cramming billions of animals into factory farms—where pathogens readily spread and mutate—they’ve all but guaranteed the threat of zoonotic diseases will rise. That means shocking mass-extermination events like the one we’re seeing now will only increase in frequency. And—unless we can convince the AVMA to reverse its stance on VSD+—millions more chickens, turkeys, and pigs will be trapped inside overheated sheds and slowly suffocate to death under the guise of “veterinary approval.”

I can’t accept that.

The industry has given itself a convenient “out” for a problem of its own making. And predictably, animals are paying the price.

Please add your voice today—this one-minute action could help spare more animals from being suffocated and cooked alive. Let’s show the AVMA that we expect the country’s top veterinary authority to act in the interests of animals—not animal abusers.

Thank you for adding your voice to mine.

For the animals,

P.S. If you take action today, you’ll be joining a growing chorus of caring people around the world—spanning concerned vets, individuals, and animal groups large and small. Thank you for uniting with us, on behalf of animals.

P.P.S. Pressure is mounting on the AVMA to stop endorsing the brutal extermination method that has left millions of animals to suffocate and die of heat stroke. As you read this, our team is putting the finishing touches on a hard-hitting newspaper ad that the AVMA won’t be able to ignore. Stay tuned—I’ll share more details with you in the coming days.