Digital Commons Network^™

Hsus Exposes Livestock Transportation Cruelty

Close Up Reports

After a massive investigation covering nine months, twenty states, and more than 20,000 miles, The HSUS has documented that every day and every night, thousands of cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and other animals are being crowded, beaten, electrically shocked, trampled--or even killed--during miserable journeys that ultimately end at the slaughterhouses of this country.

Animals are injured during loading, then forced to negotiate dark truck interiors, steep ramps, narrow doorways, sharp turns, and slippery flooring. They are loaded so hurriedly that they knock down or climb onto those animals ahead of them and are crowded so tightly that they injure or …

The Hsus Petitions U.S. Government To Protect Fur Seals

Close Up Reports

Since the 1960s, The Humane Society of the United States has vigorously protested this brutal clubbing of the North Pacific fur seals. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, HSUS investigator Frank McMahon repeatedly documented this slaughter and worked with government officials and others to stop it. In 1980, HSUS chief investigator Frantz Dantzler returned to continue the work. Unhappily, these constant efforts, though successful in calling this brutal activity to the attention of the American public, failed to achieve our goal of bringing the Pribilof "harvest" to an end.

Now, we have undertaken a different strategy: on Thursday, January …

Evils Of Modern Stables, James Irvine Lupton

Equines Collection

Portions of veterinarian James Irvine Lupton's book on horse management that deal with the problems of confinement husbandry practices have been selected as a significant historical record of humane concerns that were documented one hundred years ago. While the author's descriptive prose may lack scientific "objectivity," it does express a common sense morality and the subjective and intuitive observations and conclusions of an experienced veterinarian who clearly respects and understands the horse. His words bespeak of a bygone era where the care or husbandry of animals was both an art and a science, a discipline based upon empathy, compassion and …

Stereotype Behaviour In Sows And Gilts Housed In Stalls, Tethers, And Groups, Judith K. Blackshaw, J. F. Mcveigh

Agribusiness Collection

Observations of sows and gilts in tethers, stalls, and groups showed two distinct types of behaviour: pre-feed behaviour when pigs were anticipating food, and after-feed behaviour. Sows and gilts tethered for the first time do not show pre-feed excitement, but this develops in 42 days which suggests that pre-feed behaviour is not stereotype, as suggested by the literature, but is a conditioned reflex.

The question of the importance of after-feeding behaviours which are often called stereotypies is examined. The total time occupied by these behaviours over 24 hours by tethered sows is 14.5 to 29.0%, by tethered gilts 1.4 to …