There's signs every day that the cruel human-animal hierarchy is weakening. The Wichita, Kansas Fire Department received significant praise and publicity for a rescue of Taz, the dog. This week, the cage-free trend gained momentum when Burger King became the first major U.S. fast-food chain to pledge to that all of its eggs and pork will come from cage-free chickens and pigs by 2017. And now we have a new TV channel, DogTV, to entertain dogs who are home alone during the day. There are constantly pictures of animals in the newspaper, and often mentioned by name as part of families.
From the article below on cage-free practices: " 'This is an issue that just four to five months ago was not on the food industry's radar,' said Paul Shapiro, vice president for farm animal protection at HSUS. 'Now it's firmly cemented into the mainstream in a way that I think few people would have imagined.' Studies have shown that shoppers are willing to pay more for products they believe are produced with higher animal protection standards."
"Wal-Mart and Costco have since transitioned their private-label eggs to 100% cage-free. Unilever, which uses 350 million eggs a year in its Hellmann's mayonnaise brand, is switching to 100% cage-free, and others such as Sonic, Subway, Ruby Tuesday, Kraft Food and ConAgra Foods are incorporating some percentage of cage-free eggs in their products."
Of course we have a long way to go until all animals are treated well and loved, but it's good to see we're making progress.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/kansas-firefighters-rescue-trapped-dog-from-rising-river-waters/
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-04-25/burger-king-pigs-eggs-cage-free/54534572/1
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46409257/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/t/tails-wag-over-new-cable-network-dogs/
