NATURAL BRIDGE, Va. - Abuse, neglect and unsanitary conditions are just a few of the terms used to describe the scene at a roadside zoo in Natural Bridge.
The Humane Society of the United States says it conducted an undercover investigation at Natural Bridge Zoo, which displays exotic animals - primates, bears and tigers. Wayne Pacelle, the society's president and chief executive, said the investigation revealed what he calls an "alarming number" of animal-welfare violations.
"Animals living in filth, animals denied adequate nutrition, animals who were manhandled, animals who were abused and harmed," Pacelle said. "This is all at odds with the normal standards of the professional zoological community."
Pacelle said the investigation included videotaping and took place from May through October, and some animals died during that time as a result of alleged neglect and lack of veterinary care. The zoo breeds tiger cubs and takes them away from their mothers when they are far too young for public interaction, he said. The zoo charges for "photo ops" with the cubs, and Pacelle said investigators even saw toddlers being allowed to interact with them.
"We believe it's inherently dangerous for the public to interact with these animals," he said. "It undermines the welfare of the animals and public safety, and does nothing to advance principles of conservation of endangered species."
The society filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prohibit public contact with big cats, primates and bears. Pacelle said this roadside zoo is one of 84 around the nation and is not to be confused with zoos that are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The Humane Society of the United States has filed complaints with local, state and federal authorities, Pacelle said, and would like to see the zoo's exhibitor license revoked. Calls for comments from Natural Bridge Zoo have gone unanswered for this story.
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June is National Foster a Pet Month, and animal rescues and shelters in Michigan are sending a clarion call for dog lovers to step up and save an innocent animal.
In Michigan, about 45,000 dogs are estimated to be housed in shelters annually. The pandemic made matters more challenging. It is estimated in 2021, more than 3 million spay/neuter procedures were not performed due to clinic shutdowns, adding to the number of dog and cat births.
Laurie Viviano, board president for Haven of Love Dog Rescue in Westland, said the need for dog foster parents is beyond critical.
"There are more animals than homes," Viviano pointed out. "Dogs are being euthanized at an enormous rate right now; totally healthy, young, no behavior issues."
Viviano is hoping more people will step up and simply house a dog, all expenses paid. She acknowledged many people are unaware the shelters and rescues cover the costs to care for an animal being fostered.
The Michigan State Police are dealing with a surge in animal cruelty incidents, which increased from 123 in 2016 to 607 in 2021. Proposed legislation would impose tougher penalties on those who abuse or neglect a companion animal. Viviano has highlighted the necessity for a system to prevent such incidents.
"I think that there should be some kind of connection with all the rescues and shelters, a list of people that should not own animals," Viviano suggested.
Viviano added there is a notable rise in the number of animals being surrendered to shelters by owners in Michigan. The increase is largely attributed to the economic challenges faced by pet owners.
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Animal lovers and activists in Michigan are celebrating proposed legislation to protect animals and save taxpayers money.
Senate Bill 657 and Senate Bill 658 aim to provide resources for animal control and shelters to care for abused animals more effectively. The proposed legislation would separate civil cases from criminal cases, allowing abused animals to leave the shelter sooner, reducing the financial burden on taxpayers.
Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, a co-sponsor of the bills, said they would change the bond-forfeiture system.
"A defendant in an animal cruelty or neglect case would be required to either post a cost-of-care bond or forfeit the animal so that the animal can be adopted out to a loving home," Polehanki explained.
While the bills have been referred to a Committee on Criminal Justice, other animal welfare bills including House Bill 5587 and more have been voted out of the state House, ensuring tougher penalties for abusers.
Michigan lawmakers want to close a loophole in its felony sentencing guidelines with House Bill 5587. Currently, crimes against companion animals are not factored into the points-based system used to determine minimum sentences, often allowing offenders to avoid jail time.
Rep. Stephanie Young, D-Detroit, a sponsor of the bill, said it aims to include crimes against companion animals in the guidelines.
"It just simply gives the judge another tool in their toolkit that will allow them to rank what happened higher," Young pointed out. "Instead of getting 24 months probation, the judge can say, oh yeah, you're actually going to jail this time."
Dianne Reeves, co-founder of I Heart Dogs Rescue and Animal Haven in Warren, knows firsthand the effect companion animals have on their humans.
"What we're seeing in the rescue community with adoptions is more people view animals as family members than they do just pets," Reeves noted.
The Michigan Humane Society's cruelty investigation team in the Detroit area investigates more than 5,000 animal cruelty complaints each year.
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By Grace Hussain for Sentient.
Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for California News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration
In California, a tech startup is looking to blend AI with an ancient Japanese slaughter method in hopes of improving fish welfare and sustainability. Called Ike Jime, which means "brain spike" or "closing of the fish," the practice kills fish more quickly and with less pain, when performed correctly. Better welfare also stands to benefit the company's bottom line: fish slaughtered this way stay fresh longer, which could help cut back on waste and spoilage.
Sometime between the early 1600s and the mid 19th century, fishers in Japan started using the method, which involves driving a spike through the fish's brain, quickly ending their life. A popular slaughter method in Japan, Ike Jime has since spread across the globe, growing in popularity amongst sportsmen in the United States and garnering the praise of the Michelin guide.
Up until now, Ike Jime has been primarily a hand-slaughter method. "People have been trying to automate this technique basically since the 1970s," Saif Khawaja, CEO of Shinkei, tells Sentient. But earlier machinery could not accommodate the variation in fish size and shape, which meant one type of machine couldn't be used to slaughter different types of fish. Now, Khawaja and his team say they have found a solution in AI, and so far it's working - albeit on a small scale. Shinkei has dozens of customers, and hopes to expand as it improves the model.
Here's how it works: the system uses artificial intelligence to detect the size and shape of each fish, and then use that information to identify the location of the brain. The mechanical component - the technical details of which the company does not want to reveal - then penetrates the brain, taking just a second of time.
Michael Fabbro, CEO of LocalCoho - a salmon farm in New York State that has been using the Shinkei system - has been impressed with the system's precision. According to Khawaja, the system kills with its first strike 98 percent of the time. "The computer vision is really [what] gives us that surgical accuracy," he says.
Less Painful for Fish, Firmer Filets for Consumers
When performed correctly, the Ike Jime method kills fish in about a second once spiked - significantly less than most other methods of slaughter for farmed and wild caught fish. "In some species, it can take up to 15 minutes for fish to die in air or ice water, and that's a really long time to suffer," says Lynne Sneddon, PhD, a lecturer at University of Gothenburg who has researched fish pain for more than two decades.
Most fish experience very painful deaths, Sneddon tells Sentient, and this "very rapid" method of killing is an improvement over alternative methods that leave fish to suffer for minutes on end.
A combination of factors - improved animal welfare and better filet quality - attracted Fabbro to adopt the system at LocalCoho. The two factors are intrinsically connected, as when fish are stressed and thrashing - as is the case with most slaughter methods - their collagen breaks down more quickly, which softens their flesh and leads to a shorter shelf life. Restaurants and grocery stores have to toss spoiled fish, missing out on profits and adding to food waste.
For most foods, how they are transported doesn't make much of a difference for climate pollution - as transportation in the food sector only makes up six percent of emissions, and most foods are not flown to their destination. But it can make a difference for the few foods that are air-freighted, which includes fresh fish, as these air-freighted foods can have a 50 times greater emissions footprint. With the Shinkei system, producers may be able to ship rather than fly the fish, which would offer some greenhouse gas emissions savings.
"When you package [the fish] and put it in a fridge, you have a longer time to sell that piece of fish because it doesn't deteriorate too quickly," says Sneddon. Though the specific shelf life varies based on fish species, filets slaughtered using Ike Jime can stay firm for four or five days - often long enough to be shipped via boat depending on origin and destination.
Partnerships, Not Sales
Shinkei doesn't sell the systems but operates in partnership with fish producers. The mode is this: as fish producers grow and generate more income, so does Shinkei. "Our partners get most of the upside, and we scale with them," says Khawaja of the arrangement, though the exact cost share depends on a variety of factors, such as the type of fish and how many are being processed.
LocalCoho is one of those partners, now using the 3.0 version of the automated Ike Jime system. When Michael Fabbro joined the farm in 2022 as CEO, the company slaughtered its salmon using standard industry methods, which he says caused the fish "a lot of thrashing about and a lot of stress."
Fabbro initially looked into traditional techniques like Ike Jime, but worried about staff injuries. One of his customers introduced him to Shinkei. And at first, Fabbro's workers were skeptical, but a month of training helped them feel more confident in using the technology. Since then, Fabbro says the system has improved "our quality, our consistency and our market."
His staff is no longer handling thrashing fish and knives, he says, which means lower risk of physical injury and a better end-of-life for the fish. There might be other types of health benefits too, for his staff. Fabbro points to the huge toll that slaughtering animals has on worker mental health, and hopes that the more humane method will be better.
Tackling The Scale Issue
Since the company's founding in 2021, the systems have been used to slaughter 25,000 pounds of fish - which for now, is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of thousands of fish killed daily. The system isn't made to handle larger, industrial fishing vessels or fish factory farms, but the company has been working on improvements to the model.
A new 4.0 version of the system is slated for release later this summer, which Shinkei's CEO, Khawaja, says will increase the speed and thus capacity of the machine. One way to do that is to eliminate the need to handle the fish at all. Right now Fabbro estimates that the entire slaughter process takes 10 to 15 seconds per fish. Most of that time is spent catching the fish with a net and placing them into the machine. That's one step of the process that Khawaja and his team are trying to cut.
Handling the fish at all stresses out the fish. It's a problem Khawaja is trying to solve with the system's next iteration. We're working on "having a deal with the fish [go] straight from the finishing tank directly to the robot so that it really gets hands free," says Khawaja.
Once those updates have been implemented, the startup hopes to get the technology into the hands of more fishers and fish farmers. "We're really trying to just get this ready for manufacturing," says Khawja. If successful, the company's machine could one day be used on industrial operations, including eventually for salmon and trout, who are widely raised on industrial farms and enjoy few welfare considerations. If implemented across the industry, the system would represent a significant step for animal welfare.
Grace Hussain wrote this article for Sentient.
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