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Fatal fashion accessories: Feather hair extensions

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Steven Tyler with feather hair extensions

Steven Tyler with the butt feathers of a few different roosters on his head.

Are you thinking about wearing feather hair extensions? Consider learning the facts first.

I actually put up a post about feathers and down about two months ago, but I only mentioned at the end the burgeoning trend of wearing long rooster feathers as hair extensions. Though the feathers were originally used as bait for fly fishers, their newly fashionable status developed because of celebrities like Steven Tyler, Miley Cyrus, and Kesha, all of whom have been seen wearing them at various events. Since I wrote my original blog post, however, the popularity of these extensions has grown even more–they are advertised in several different hair salons, and at least a handful of young women are wearing them. And so I thought we could use an update.

Many people are under the false impression that the feathers are molted naturally from living roosters, that they are fake, or that they are cruelty-free. If only this were the case.

Some info about feather hair extensions, from our page on Down and Feathers:

The roosters are killed at about one year old for their feathers, and their bodies are thrown into the compost. (Chickens can live 10 or 15 years.) These birds are bred solely for their feathers; according to Tom Whiting of Whiting Farms, the largest fly feather producer in the world, they “aren’t good for anything else.”

The birds are raised in enormous, windowless sheds with thousands of other roosters. At six months old, they are put into the individual cages in which they will live the last half of their lives.

“[We're] sentencing [each rooster] to a solitary cage for the last 6 months, with nothing to look at or listen to other than lots of other confined roosters … [y]our sentiments can quickly shift from wanting to evaluate their necks to wringing [t]hem. Some of my most sheepish moments in life have been after hurling an especially bad rooster across the barn in utter frustration…”

Now that the feathers have become fashionable, Whiting Farms slaughters 1,500 roosters every single week.

Some might be tempted to seek out animal-friendly feathers, but remember, the only feathers that are absolutely guaranteed to be animal-friendly are those that don’t come from birds at all. For example, a company called Fine Featherheads originally described their hair extensions as “cruelty-free” and sourced from “ethically treated” roosters. A few months ago, however, it was revealed that like many so other companies selling feather extensions, Fine Featherhead’s extensions come from Whiting Farms. (Fine Featherheads ended up dropping the cruelty-free claims from their website.) I think it’s safe to say that relatively few people would consider a product that results in the confinement and death of an animal to be cruelty-free.

Still can’t get over the appearance of feathery hair extensions? MegsFauxFeathers on Etsy sells a variety of absolutely beautiful synthetic versions of these otherwise fatal fashion accessories that look like the real thing. Just remember to tell people that they aren’t made of real roosters!

Fur Tails, Feather Extensions…What’s So Hip About Cruelty? (Vancouver’s Animal Voices Radio)
High fashion or bait? Fly ties now hair extensions (Seattle Times)
Feather Hair Extensions: More Cruelty for the Sake of Fashion (blogs.timesunion.com)

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Tags: chickens, fashion, feathers

Down with down (and all feathers!)

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Geese suffer terribly as they are plucked.

Down and feathers sometimes get left out of debates about animal cruelty, but that’s partly because many people just aren’t aware of the considerable suffering that goes into down-filled coats, pillows, or comforters, as well as all those pretty decorative feathers you see being worn with jewelry or as hair extensions.

The biggest issue is live-plucking. While some feathers come from the carcasses of chickens and turkeys raised for food–these birds are dunked in boiling water, often while still alive, to remove their feathers–about 50% come from live-plucking.

A description of live-plucking, from an undercover investigation in Hungary, one of the three biggest down-producers in the world:

…birds on their backs screaming and struggling to free themselves…as their down is ripped from their bodies at rapid speed. Afterwards, several birds are left paralyzed on the ground with large flesh wounds. The birds with big gaping wounds are then sewn back together with needle and thread on site by the workers themselves and without any anesthetic.

Vancouver’s Animal Voices radio show also had a feature recently in which they discussed the recent trend of decorative feathers being used as hair extensions. These feathers come from roosters who are bred specifically for their beautiful plumage, and then killed.

Learn more about down and other feathers at our page.

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Tags: chickens, ducks, fashion, feathers

International Day of Respect for Chickens 2011

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Some chicken-related news in honour of International Day of Respect for Chickens 2011. (You can read about the history of this holiday, which was started by United Poultry Concerns, in last year’s blog post.)

The University of Bristol’s Animal Welfare and Behaviour research group performed a study in which chicks were exposed to “a puff of air” in front of their mothers:

…the hens’ heart rate increased and eye temperature decreased. The hens also changed their behaviour, and reacted with increased alertness, decreased preening and increased vocalisations directed to their chicks. (The foundations of empathy are found in the chicken)

Now, anyone who has spent any time around chickens is well-aware that they’re just as capable of empathy as other animals. Hens in particular are famously good moms, so much so that we still use old terms like “mother hen” to describe a protective–or even overprotective!–person.

“They would rather die for their chicks than seek safety in flight . . .”

Aldrovandi – 16^th century

from United Poultry Concerns

The last paragraph in the article, and the most important in relation to what the scientists have proven:

The researchers used chickens as a model species because, under commercial conditions, chickens will regularly encounter other chickens showing signs of pain or distress due to routine husbandry practices or because of the high levels of conditions such as bone fractures or leg disorders.

If you’d like to do something to commemorate International Respect for Chickens Day, United Poultry Concerns has a list of very fine suggestions here.

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Tags: chickens, International Respect for Chickens Day

“Organic and Free-Range” Fails Animals Once Again

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

From United Poultry Concerns, another article which reminds us that organic, free range, and “all natural” animal products aren’t nearly as good as we’d expect them to be: Virginia farm supplies eateries in D.C. despite animal-care violations

(You can also read a complete account of the situation at United Poultry Concerns’ page.)

After months of citizen complaints, Black Eagle Farm, a respected organic and free-range farm in Virginia, was inspected. From the farm’s website:

“Our organic pullets and layers are kept under stringent USDA organic standards and according to our own organic, and animal and environmentally friendly criteria.”

At Black Eagle Farm, inspectors found a dead goat tied to a fence, 6 dogs locked in a filthy trailer without water, and 25,000 egg-laying chickens who had been without food for two weeks in an attempt to force-molt the birds.

What is force-molting? In nature, hens generally experience a natural molt near the beginning of winter. They stop laying eggs and their energies are spent growing new feathers and staying warm. Force-molting is the egg industry’s way of exploiting this process. A common and legal practice, it’s a cost-efficient way to squeeze the last few pennies out of layer hens that, at a fifth of their natural lifespan, are physically exhausted and no longer laying eggs at a profitable rate. Before they go to slaughter, these “spent hens” are denied food for anywhere from 5 days to up to 2 weeks. They are then eased back onto food, and their egg production rises briefly. An account of force-molting from Cal-Maine Egg Producers:

“Our chicken houses hold 126,000 give or take a few hundred. Our molts usually last about 12 days and during the molt we lose right around 50 birds a day. The last couple of days of the molt before we feed them we lose 100 to 150. The day we feed them we lose about 200-250 hens within a few hours after we feed them. The hens tend to gorge themselves and choke on the feed as they try to eat too much too soon, or at least that’s what we believe.”

After a short while, the surviving birds are then slaughtered.

When the starving hens at Black Eagle Farm were discovered, Quality Assurance Internatioal revoked the farm’s organic certification. Black Eagle Farm immediately applied at another organic certifier, A Bee Organic, under the name “Piney River Farms”.

State veterinarian Rachel Touroo, who inspected the farm initially, identified 4 violations of animal care laws and recommended that the hens be fed and that veterinary care be provided to all the animals on the farm. Two days later, a state supervisor visited the farm. The hens had begun to be fed and were about to be sold and sent to slaughter, so no legal action was taken. From the article:

Under state animal care laws, in general, “when we say a crime has not occurred that does not mean we feel the situation is ideal. It might be barely skating by,” said Daniel Kovich, a staff veterinarian at the Virginia Department of Agriculture who oversaw the investigation. “They can’t starve them to death, that’s the threshold.”

That’s encouraging: the situation wasn’t “ideal”, but the chickens hadn’t starved to death, so no crime was committed. The birds went to slaughter, and Dr. Ralph Glatt, owner of Black Eagle Farm, received the profits. No further legal action has been taken.

Learn more about organic and free-range animal agriculture at our page, “Humane” Farming.

Or download our leaflet, Humane, Organic, Sustainable: What Does it Mean for Animals?

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Tags: chickens, eggs, free-range, humane meat, organic

International Respect for Chickens Day

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Today is International Respect for Chickens Day, an event “to celebrate chickens throughout the world and protest the bleakness of their lives in farming operations.”

Begun in 2005 by United Poultry Concerns, International Respect for Chickens Day is quickly becoming an annual tradition for animal rights activists. Chickens are by far the most abused animals on the planet–in the US alone, 287 are killed every single second.

In Canada, 19 million chickens languish in battery cages. Some chickens are described as “free range”, “organic”, or “humane”–but some never even go outside, and when they don’t lay enough eggs to make a profit, they are slaughtered. And in every egg farm, male chicks are killed soon after hatching. That means that every hen born to lay an egg, a male chick was suffocated in a plastic bag with his brothers or ground up alive, as is industry standard.

Try to imagine life in a battery cage:

Now imagine a world in which chickens are treated as friends, not food:

From United Poultry Concerns:

Please take time today to speak out for the chickens and hold a thought for them as you go about your daily activities. Show people you care about these wonderful birds. Help others to see chickens as you do – as friends, not food.

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Tags: chickens, eggs, International Respect for Chickens Day

Egg Industry in Trouble

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Good news.

A lawsuit alleging the U.S. egg industry conspired to increase consumer prices got a boost recently when a defendant turned over documents and internal memos that show an industry group called for egg producers to slow production.

The lawsuit alleges that as egg prices climbed between 2004 and 2008, industry officials who blamed rising feed costs were covering up an orchestrated hen kill-off to reduce supplies. (abcnews.go.com)

Apparently, the U.S. egg industry isn’t doing so well, and is having to resort to illegal tactics in an attempt to make more money. That means that Canada’s egg producers are probably in trouble too, as well they deserve to be–yes, things are just as bad here as they are in the U.S. Here’s some footage of Canadian battery cage operations.:

“I’m confident that, years from now, when battery cages have been banned nationwide, today’s news will be cited as a key moment signaling the industry’s doom.” (Happy Day: Egg Industry Fucks Itself)

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Tags: chickens, eggs

Chickens used as “props” in a media stunt

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Chickens at Victoria Animal Control

Showing a clear lack of respect for the well-being of animals, several University of Victoria students released (some accounts say “tossed”) 6 hens into MLA Ida Chong’s office in Victoria during a Dogwood Initiative rally on Tuesday.

Dogwood Initiative is a BC-based environmental organization that has dealt with issues like urban sprawl and tankers on BC’s coast. They famously created decals to be placed on loonies depicting a loon caught in an oil slick.

They have since issued an apology on their website and have distributed it to the media.

Dogwood Initiative apologizes for the release chickens in Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong’s office on Tuesday, March 23 during a rally to protect forest lands and stop reckless development on Southern Vancouver Island.

….

Concerns have been raised about the welfare of the chicken released. We have investigated and determined that the chickens were not harmed during the event. We regret any distress that the chickens may have experienced during the event. The chickens are now Victoria’s Animal Control and we are taking steps to ensure that the birds are adopted by a humane home.

If you are able to provide a home for these chickens, or know someone who might be able to, contact Victoria Animal Control.

Apparently the students who released the chickens claimed that they were rescued from “a very crowded egg farm where they were they were living on a two foot pile of their own filth.” (Source) However, the chickens as pictured are clean, have all of their feathers, and nice, healthy combs. So I don’t know what to believe.

Valerie at GreenMuze wrote a really great post about the whole thing:

The apparent disconnect between environmental activism and animal rights was again highlighted by a recent protest organized by Victoria-based Dogwood Initiative. During the protest, student activists threw six live chickens into an office area to protest MLA Ida Chong’s inactivity on protecting the Western Forest Products land, located on Vancouver Island.

The fate of these lands has long been a contentious subject in the community, and, like most environmentalists, I think the lands must be protected. But I strongly disagree with the tactics of throwing and abandoning live animals to make a publicity point about saving forests.

Frankly, aside from the ignorance of the chicken throwers, what has surprised me the most is that the Dogwood Initiative would in anyway associate themselves with such a stupid stunt. Most thinking environmental organizations would run a million miles from assholes throwing lives animals at a protest. (Source)

She goes into a lot more detail and writes a lot better than I do, so I’d encourage you to check out the rest of that post for the whole story.

The apology was prompted by a much bigger backlash than Dogwood had anticipated. Not only did the Vancouver Humane Society and the BC SPCA speak out about in the media, a small but fierce firestorm raged on Twitter, Facebook, and in the comments sections of some of the articles (Victoria Times-Colonist, National Post, Province). Dogwood Initiative also received several phone calls about it. US-based poultry protection group United Poultry Concerns also put out a press release.

Chickens are one of the most abused animals on the planet. There was no need to subject them to such stress and danger for a media stunt. In the future, I hope that Dogwood Initiative and other activists will plan their events to show respect for all life, whether that be human or animal or the environment.

The apology

Dogwood is to be commended for issuing an apology, even though it was two days late and was not their first choice.

Some of my fellow activists have expressed concerns about the apology, wondering what steps Dogwood Initiative will be taking to ensure that these chickens find a safe and caring home. Also, some are bothered that the apology does not really address anything about the issues associated with the use of animals.

But, I do think it’s likely to be the best apology that we will get, and I do hope that going forward this makes it that much less likely that someone will think that it’s ok to exploit an animal for our own gain.

When animals are abused we need to be ready to stand up for them. If we don’t do it, no one else is going to. Especially if they are chickens.

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Tags: activism, animal cruelty, chickens, Dogwood Initiative

Spent Chickens in School Lunches

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Remember how when you were in school, everyone made fun of how horrible the cafeteria food was? At my school, at least, there was a rumour that our food was grade F, and that prisoners received grade D.

Regardless of how true that is, there’s a reason that school food sucks.

It’s this:

This is what we're feeding to schoolchildren.

“USA Today just reported that over the past eight years, the government has handed the egg industry $145 million taxpayer dollars for flesh that would probably otherwise be turned into pet food or compost.” (Vegan.com)

That’s right, after the chickens have basically laid eggs to the point of death–usually at around 1 1/2 to 2 years of age (they can live between 10 and 15 years normally)–they are considered “spent” and basically thrown away. (It’s the same in the organic and free range industry, incidentally.) There was a fairly famous case in which a farm in California killed 15,000 spent hens by tossing them live into a wood chipper; though cruelty charges were raised against the farm, they were dropped because it was proven to be “common industry practice.” (You can read more about this case at our page here.)

The bodies of spent hens are so weak, bruised, and depleted that their meat is almost useless; in the true spirit of the industry, of course, there’s always something to do with it. Usually it goes into soup, pot pies, baby food, and any other product that easily hides bruising–low quality meat products, basically. And school lunches.

Eat up, kids.

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Tags: chickens, children, eggs, health

Uninspected slaughterhouse in NY operates for years

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Chicken photo by flickr user mark lorch

Ok, this is just plain crazy. There’s a kosher poultry slaughterhouse in New York State that has been operating without state or federal inspection since 2002.

According to a story in the NY Daily News:

A filthy Kosher slaughterhouse was able to sell more than 1.7 million uninspected birds to consumers in the past five years, a federal suit aimed at shutting the dirty Rockland County plants charges.

New Square Meats and Adir Poultry of Spring Valley stonewalled the federal Department of Agriculture, the suit says.

The plants owners managed to keep inspectors from checking their books or their facilities with any regularity since 2004, when the slaughterhouse applied for federal oversight rather than state inspections. (Source)

What I don’t understand is how it has taken more than 5 years for any legal action to be taken on this? Apparently no one from the USDA is really concerned with public safety, and quite obviously the slaughterhouse isn’t either. According to the story, “Agents found pools of stagnant water, mold growing on walls and ‘excessive fat and protein buildup on walls and window surfaces.’…”

I can’t even imagine what kind of hell it is for the chickens slaughtered there.

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Tags: chickens, factory farming, slaughter, USDA