Pigs for the Dump horrid industrial farming and wicked waste in Germany

Deutsche Welle TV’s “In Focus” programme “Pigs for the Dump” was broadcast on 17 April 2013. The 42 minute video: “Eat or be eaten – a cycle that modern agriculture has put an end to. Millions of pigs are never eaten; their carcasses are just thrown away. Why? Who profits from it? Is there a different way of doing things? Industrial pig farming is booming in Germany, new vast animal factories are being built. The government evidently wants them. Both the EU and Germany support intensive animal farming on an industrial scale, which leads to over-production even if the market is saturated. For the big breeders, it’s still a very profitable business.”

Over 115% more pork than can actually be eaten in Germany. Over-supply has been a trend since 2005. This represents a wicked form of abuse toward the pigs, and an indictment on human greed and the obsession with money (people sell their souls to acquire pieces of paper with numerals on them).

Now the video segment can be viewed on youtube.

Also on the Australian scene see the Voiceless publication Science and Sense: The Case for Abolishing Sow Stalls (http://www.voiceless.org.au/sites/default/files/Science_and_Sense.pdf) and From Paddocks to Prisons: Pigs in NSW Australia, Current Practices, Future Directions

A Faith Embracing All Creatures

A FAITH EMBRACING ALL CREATURES, edited by Tripp York and Andy Alexis-Baker (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books 2012). This book, which was released just at the end of 2012, represents a handsome attempt by a variety of authors to address some biblical and theological questions concerning the role and status of non-human creatures. I am pleased to extend an endorsement to the editors, authors and publisher for bringing this book into print.

While I do not agree with every viewpoint expressed in the book, I believe that this text has an important place in the growing corpus of theological works addressing “animal theology”.  The book comprises fourteen chapters with contributions from some theologians and other scholars of repute in the field of animal theology including Carol J. Adams, Laura Hobgood-Oster, Stephen H. Webb, David Clough, John Berkman, Stephen R. L. Clark, and emerging voices such as the book’s co-editors. I will conduct a chapter-by-chapter review of this book in subsequent and sequential blog-posts.

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