When Animal Agriculture Sweats: Oregon, Bird Flu & Joyful Chickens | Rising Anxieties

This week on Rising Anxieties, Mariann runs through a lineup of stories that have the animal agriculture industry sweating — from a ballot initiative that could make killing animals for food illegal in Oregon, to the egg board spending a cool million to get scrambled eggs into school cafeterias, to bird flu quietly turning dairy cows into a mammalian petri dish. Plus: a study proving chickens can feel joy (don’t ask what the industry plans to do about it), and a USDA “Product of USA” promo that accidentally starred Calgary.

In this episode:

• Oregon’s PEACE Act — Animal rights advocates are collecting signatures to put a ballot measure before Oregon voters that would remove cruelty exemptions — and the Animal Agricultural Alliance is very, very nervous
• Egg industry buys its way into schools — The American Egg Board drops $1 million to push eggs into school breakfast programs, with a big assist from USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, who assures us eggs are “as real as food gets”
• Colorado fur ban and the slippery slope everyone agrees is real — Wildlife commissioners advance a commercial fur sales ban, and both animal advocates and their opponents agree this is just the beginning
• Bird flu update: dairy cows as a training ground — Researchers warn that H5N1 may be using North American dairy cattle as a launching pad to better infect humans, and vaccination remains controversial
• Chickens can experience joy — A University of Bristol study finds gentle human handling triggers positive emotions in chicks; the poultry industry’s proposed response remains mysteriously unexplained

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