$2.5 Million “Donated” to Mercy For Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Humane League for Public Deception to Sell “Cage-Free” Eggs
An Open Letter and Plea to the Open Philanthropy Project, Good Ventures, and GiveWell:
https://www.facebook.com/GoVeganRadiowithBobLinden/posts/1093390394036793
The tragic news that the Open Philanthropy Project has decided to “donate” $1,000,000 to Mercy For Animals, $1,000,000 to the Humane League, and $500,000 to the Humane Society of the United States for the sole purpose of the promotion of “cage-free” egg operations, begs the question – WHY? The only sane reaction to to your action is to beg you, beseech you, plea for you to abandon this horrific folly immediately.
The people associated with your organization are very fortunate to be in a position to make millions of dollars in donations, apparently thanks to their Facebook and Instagram and hedge fund fortunes, and it is admirable that you have created a charitable organization with the stated goal of doing “the most good”. To meet that goal, you list numerous strategists among your personnel, including Holden Karnofsky, Elie Hassenfeld, Alexander Berger,and Lewis Bollard, your “Farm Animal Welfare” Program Officer whom you hired despite his background with the Humane Society of the United States. He would be a prime suspect in your catastrophic strategic blunder.
Have your strategists devised a strategy to terminate a strategy if it were found to be doing the most bad, the most wrong, the most harm? That is where you are right now. Do you have a strategy for pulling the plug, or for stopping payment on checks?
Through its actions, the Open Philanthropy Project not only supports the grinding or suffocation of every single one of millions of male baby chicks just after birth, but the Open Philanthropy Project uses its money “for the most good” to put a very misleading happy face on this slaughter of newborn babies.
Through its actions, the Open Philanthropy Project not only supports the mutilation and harsh confinement of every single one of millions of hens, but it uses its money “for the most good” to put a very misleading happy face on this heart-wrenching torture.
Through its actions, the Open Philanthropy Project not only supports the brutal killing of every single one of millions of hens after they are no longer “productive”, but it uses its money “for the most good” to put a very misleading happy face on this mass murder.
In summation, the open Philanthropy Project has decided that it can do the “most good” with its millions of dollars by making the public, and corporations, feel good about conditions where not one single life is spared torture, and not one single life is spared. Everyone is miserable or dead. Is that a “most good” return on your investment? Why would you invest a fortune in deception?
And lest you feel that because I am a vegan activist who hosts “Go Vegan Radio with Bob Linden” and organizes events like the World Vegan Summit & Expo, I might exaggerate the sheer terrorism that is “cage-free” egg production, you need look no further than the beneficiary of your $1,000,000 “donation” to promote “cage-free” eggs, Mercy For Animals.
I realize that much of the money behind the Open Philanthropy Project is from Facebook and Instagram, so perhaps you aren’t aware that you can Google to learn about the hell on Earth you have chosen to support, but for now, let’s just visit the website of Mercy For Animals – where we find “5 Reasons Cage-Free Isn’t What You Think”…
Look at that! Before your $1,000,000 “donation”, MFA protested “overcrowding” at “cage-free” egg facilities, saying:
“Instead of being confined to wire cages, hens at cage-free facilities are often crowded by the thousands into dark sheds for nearly their entire lives.”
Before your $1,000,000, MFA protested chickens’ indoor confinement, saying:
“Chickens raised in cage-free facilities are often denied access to the outdoors like their battery-caged counterparts.”
Before your $1,000,000 “donation”, MFA protested against cruel “de-beaking”:
“Many cage-free hens still undergo painful mutilations, such as having the tips of their sensitive beaks seared off with a hot blade, without any anesthesia.”
Prior to the $1,000,000, MFA was horrified by the plight of the baby boys:
“Male chicks are all considered worthless by the egg industry, and are still killed, often by being ground up alive in giant macerators.”
Before the $1,000,000, Mercy For Animals mourned for the hens:
“When their egg production slows after a couple years, hens from cage-free facilities will still be cruelly slaughtered for meat or gassed and dumped in a landfill.”
Now look at this! On the Mercy For Animals website, it warns us about “cage-free” egg production, exclaiming: “DON’T BELIEVE THE EGG INDUSTRY’S HYPE”!!!
So, Open Philanthropy Project, please answer a question prompted by Mercy For Animals. Why DO YOU believe the egg industry’s hype? (Are you, in fact, the egg industry?)
As MFA has characterized “cage-free” as egg-industry hype, why would you “donate” $1,000,000 to this organization to hype hype? If Mercy For Animals was so unconvincing to you on its principled position, why would you have confidence in the efficiency of its compromised stance? Wouldn’t such a policy reversal on the part of Mercy For Animals represent an obvious, very public, moral betrayal? Would the $1,000,000 appear to be less of a “donation” and more of some kind of “bribe”, or crony “pay-off”, or “pay-back”? I’m not saying that it is these, I’m just observing “appearance”.
What do your analysts and strategists think of the “integrity” of Mercy For Animals? How does it reflect on the integrity of the Open Philanthropy Project to be associated with those whose morality has a price tag?
The Open Philanthropy Project did post about initial concerns that Mercy For Animals would not be a dedicated soldier for the “cage-free” cause. It should not have worried. MFA has a history of selling out the animals, as it has in the past partnered with United Egg Producers to campaign for “furnished” battery cages, etc. Mercy For Animals has even morphed into an outright “meat” producer, creating its new Good Food Institute” where biotech “meat” from animal cell cultures somehow is “good food”. So your sell-out opportunity is a no-brainer for cutting-edge cutting-knife MFA. A million dollars? Let the egg-industry hype be the voice of “animal advocacy” and the campaign of highest priority.
The Open Philanthropy Project posted:
“We are now less concerned about this. Nathan Runkle, MFA’s president, told us that MFA’s position on cage-free conditions for egg-laying hens is that they are significantly better than battery cage conditions (though they are not perfect), and that they are an important step in improving hen welfare.
“MFA intends to continue working on broiler chicken welfare, but plans to make cage-free egg campaigns a priority, both because of our support and because MFA is impressed by the traction that advocates have gained on this issue. We think MFA’s actions reflect this stance; in the last few months it has secured cage-free egg commitments from Wendy’s, Tim Horton’s, and Cara Foods, and has launched a major campaign against Safeway.”
Oh the naivety of the Open Philanthropy Project! Securing commitments and promises is the backbone of this morally bankrupt “animal advocacy” movement, led in great part by the beneficiaries of its “donations”. Historically, the promises don’t come true, and it would be just as bad for the animals if they did. Some promises can’t possibly come true, like the fictional “Five Freedoms” MFA promises to animals whose bodies are to be sold at Walmart or in Nestle’s Hot Pockets, that they will be free from discomfort, pain, injury, fear, stress… (lol, MFA!). The Open Philanthropy Project is also woefully naive in overstating the comforts of “cage-free” life to be provided by a greedy industry under no pressure of inspection, no enforcement of any standards. Yet the Open Philanthropy Project is willing to justify its strategy by quantifying the suffering, stating:
“The best systematic evaluation of egg-production systems that we know of places battery cages at 0 on a 0-to-10 scale of relative hen welfare while all cage-free systems were rated at least a 5.8…” Only human-supremacist speciesism could devise a 0 to 10 scale of suffering, and award “cage-free” egg production a 5.8. Guantanamo must be a 9.5!
Obviously, the Open Philanthropy Project gleefully cheers its $500,000 beneficiary, the butcher and rancher advocacy organization – the Humane Society of the United States, when it celebrates McDonald’s “promise” of “cage-free” Egg McMuffins in 10 years. With all your millions of dollars going to secure “promises” from so many food and restaurant chains, with your creating demand for millions and billions of these “wonderful” “cage-free” eggs, what happens when industry says supply can’t meet demand, or that it’s just too expensive, or whatever excuse it chooses to make? It will do what it wants, perhaps assuaging the public by opting for something like “furnished” battery cages, which already have the seal of approval from Mercy For Animals and the Humane Society of the US. At that point, MFA and HSUS will be happy to take your money to promote those “most good” battery cages, and maybe your research strategists can justify them with a 4.2 on your nonsensical 0 to 10 chicken suffering measurement scale.
How fortunate this is for the fortunate.- the wealthy who can be philanthropic and have their souffle too, and the opportunists who can pocket $1,000,000 for mumbling something about “significantly better”. How unfortunate for the unfortunate – who will now enjoy “significantly better” maceration, mutilation, and annihilation, the kind that comes with an “animal protection” organization seal of approval (along with a 5.8).
Every single bird in “cage-free” production has a 100% miserable life, and horrendous death – and not one of them will ever think to thank the Open Philanthropy Project, MFA, or HSUS for saving them from a different 100% miserable life from the one they experienced. But you can feel good about your expensive accomplishment, Open Philanthropy Project, because at least they are being tortured and killed in a way that feels better to us, the right way, the acceptable way, the “animal advocacy” way.
One must wonder what motivated the Open Philanthropy Project to engage in actions related to animals at all. It appears connected to the “meat”, dairy, and egg industries by virtue of the person holding its “animal welfare” position, Lewis Bollard, having come to it from HSUS. Is it a coincidence, then, that HSUS received $500,000? Charity must begin with the cronies, and HSUS’ cronies are certainly, the butchers, ranchers, and the egg industry, and maybe that includes you, Open Philanthropy Project?
Your choice for “Farm Animal Welfare” Program Officer comes from a highly-discredited “animal protection” organization that has been guided by a pig farmer vice president, Joe Maxwell, and has engaged in promotions like “Hoofin’ It”, serving different hoofed animals on four subsequent nights at various restaurants. HSUS has distributed coupons for discounts on “bacon”. HSUS has organized councils for the promotion of animal agriculture in many states, and is itself a member of an international association whose mission is to increase “livestock” products by 70% by 2050. HSUS spearheaded legislation in California to eliminate any waiting time for cats in shelters, and to make dogs and cats in shelters available for sale to private companies for vivisection. The Humane Society of the US initiated the partnership with United Egg Producers that led it – and the groups it influences, including MFA – to reverse long-standing opposition to “furnished” battery cages. HSUS was the driving force behind the harmful Proposition 2 campaign in California, so detrimental to chickens, as it is with this “cage-free” debacle, with which you seem proudly associated. And while HSUS rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars, the $500,000 you sent it will come in handy, considering HSUS had to pay a racketeering settlement to Ringling Brothers of about $25 million in donor money. You can ask Wayne about it when you all go vacation at Sea World, where he is very popular. Sea World promised to use cage-free” eggs, so you should like it there, with your friend Wayne. Your webpage announcing your $500,000 “donation” to HSUS is bothersome. Not only do you show a photo of Paul Shapiro, the HSUS VP of Farm Animal Protection, who will protect no male chicks or hens from their doomed fate, but using a chicken as a prop with no more space than his shoulder, is quite shameful.
Seriously, you are the avant garde of philanthropy, the new money, Facebook and Instagram fortunes – and the best you can do – is THIS? Now, at a time when you could really do good, really do what’s needed, all you will have to show for your efforts are buckets of beaks and bags of bodies. Now, when the world needs vegan education and vegan activism, we get a really sad omelet labeled “happy”, or “significantly” better”.
Maybe the Open Philanthropy Project is just a bunch of people who want to keep eating eggs – or have significant investments in the “cage-free” bubble – or are cousins of Wayne Pacelle, or – who are you again?
If you are at all actually concerned about animals, – and human health and the environment, for that matter – you must certainly shift strategy. It is the demand for animals’ bodies and secretions that is at the root of the problem, and so many problems. Imagine the good that you can do by reaching people with a vegan message, that animals and their secretions are not food, that animals and their secretions are not products, that animals are not things, that animals are not commodities, that animals are not property. What you are doing now is the opposite – creating demand and reinforcing animals as “things” for our use. You are giving people (false) rationalizations to avoid doing what is really necessary – going vegan. You are encouraging people to eat eggs, and therefore you are encouraging them to develop cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc., and therefore your “donations” contribute to a health crisis.
Your “donations” contribute to environmental devastation. The #1 cause of climate change is animal agriculture, responsible for at least 51% of human – caused greenhouse gas emissions. You also cause resource depletion and pollution.
In fact, when we are told by the world’s leading climate specialists, Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang at the World Bank, that a 50%-85% population shift away from “livestock products” to vegan by 2020 is the only solution to climate change, you can – and must – do better than rotten eggs.
What is further ironic in your saga of ironies, is that you have a crisis adviser on staff who should have recognized the crises you were creating for animals, human health, and the environment. Why isn’t Howie Lempel, your “Global Catastrophic Risks” Program Officer sounding alarm bells in response to your policies?
You are wasting a critical opportunity. If you don’t want to utilize your resources for what is the most important area of public education needed, then can you imagine how far $2.5 million could go toward bringing healthy vegan food to the food deserts around the country, where people do not have access to nutrition and health? You could finance a fleet of chili trucks or vegan food kitchens around the country, and do something really meaningful, rather than being mere propagandists, legitimizing suffering and death with outlandish ratings on scales from 0 to 10. Your philanthropic rating where it applies to animals is 0. It would be better for animals if you did nothing. Please consider that as a strategy.
You are in the Bay Area. I suggest you attend the World Vegan Summit & Expo in Berkeley July 29 – 31 before further implementation of any strategies impacting animals. If at that time, you would like to write a check to Go Vegan Radio in support of vegan activism, I will be happy to take it. If you would like to write a $1,000,000 check to Go Vegan Radio to promote “cage-free” eggs, I will be happy to rip it into little pieces at the podium in front of everyone.
The invitation for any or all of your “team” members to be guests on my radio program to explain your strategies remains open.
…Thank You
For Chicks and Hens,
Bob Linden
www.GoVeganRadio.com
www.WorldVeganSummit.com
