Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Armed Militia Occupiers Should Pay for Damaging Wildlife Refuge, Not the Taxpayers

https://forcechange.com/154971/hold-occupiers-responsible-for-damaging-wildlife-refuge/?utm_source=ForceChange+Newsletter&utm_campaign=708a6b36a3-631FC3_30_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_600a6911b9-708a6b36a3-278817597

Stop Poaching Endangered Bird for “Red Ivory”

https://animalpetitions.org/129618/stop-poaching-endangered-bird-for-red-ivory/?utm_source=Animal+Petitions&utm_campaign=1ecc86a08e-333AP3_29_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5c8ef52732-1ecc86a08e-79739337

After a Decade in the Red, American Beef Consumption Is in the Black

More than anything, price determines what kind of meat is consumed in the U.S.

Mar 29, 2016

Tove Danovich is a journalist based in New York City.

Bio

After nearly a decade of cutting back on steaks, burgers, and pot roast, Americans’ red meat consumption will rise for the first time since 2006, the USDA estimates. The spike seems to contradict the rising popularity of vegan grain bowls and cult veggie burgers. Some activists have even attributed years of declining meat consumption to the popularity of Meatless Monday. Does that really mean Americans have decided red meat is good for us again?

Over the years, nutritionists have driven home the idea that there are “good fats,” such as those from nuts and avocadoes, and “bad fats”—the saturated or trans fats that raise cholesterol and can be found in red meat. In 2015, the World Health Organization released a report stating that processed meats could cause cancer. An advisory committee for the new Dietary Guidelines initially recommended telling consumers to cut down on their intake of processed and red meats—a note that was deleted from the final version.

It is cost, however, not public health concerns, that appears to hold sway over whether or not Americans eat red meat today.

Overall, the dietary advice around red meat hasn’t changed significantly. What has shifted is the price of beef. As the years-long droughts in the West, and in Texas in particular, begin to ease (though California isn’t out of the woods yet), water-intensive beef production has been on the rise. The most recent data from the USDA show the highest number of cattle since 2011, and with that increase comes low prices. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ground beef hasn’t been this cheap since July 2014, though at almost $4 per pound, it’s still more expensive than it was pre-drought, when prices were less than $3 per pound.

RELATED:  The Veggie Burger Boom Is Finally Making Vegetarian Food Cool

A year after fast-food chains were pushing less-water-intensive chicken, restaurants are now taking advantage of the low beef cost, with promotions and new menu items, Bloomberg reported. Wendy’s and Burger King are both offering full meals of a drink, fries, and a burger (as well as chicken nuggets at Wendy’s and nuggets and a cookie at Burger King) for $4. Chili’s is offering a cheaper steak as an option for its two-for-$20 dinners.

Even outside the world of fast food, restaurants are seeing their food costs fall. Beef or steak dishes can cost a restaurant up to half the menu price for ingredients versus a pasta dish, which may have a food cost of only 18 percent, Forbes reported. Even a decline of $1 per pound makes a big difference to a restaurant’s tight margins.

But for many farmers, that Americans are eating red meat again doesn’t matter as much as what kind of meat they’re eating. As hog farmers are fond of saying, if a pig were made of pork chops, they’d all be rich. The same goes for cows and rib eyes. When beef prices went up, retailers focused on ground beef—mostly in the form of hamburgers—to keep customers coming in, financial services group Rabobank found.

Especially during a recession, diners gravitate to the $10 burger over the $30 steak. But steak, with its high margins, is where the money is made in the beef industry. Owing to the increased demand for hamburgers, “ground beef prices were up 87.5 percent, compared to 45 percent for steak,” between March 2010 and March 2015, Quartz found. “You don’t raise animals for ground beef,” Jamie Schweid, executive vice president at burger chain Schweid & Sons, told Quartz. “We want middle meats to be in demand.”

Though it might initially make sense to cut down on the steaks and grind more of each cow into ground beef, the numbers are precarious. In the food-service industry, ground beef accounts for 63 percent of beef sales by volume but only 37 percent of total revenue. In retail sales, it’s 49 percent of volume and 39 percent of sales. An increase in ground beef would cause an even bigger hit to the cattle industry than it’s already taken.

Poultry and lean meats are still a much higher percentage of American meat consumption than red meat. Like any increase in consumption based on lower prices, it’s likely that people will stop eating meat again once prices rise. It’s not a trend so much as a temporary phenomenon.

Meanwhile, total meat consumption is still in free fall. Red meat may temporarily have a larger slice of the pie, but the pie itself continues to shrink.

————————————————–

Further reading for meat eaters –lets hope they don’t get sick ! –

https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2016/03/31/the-animal-welfare-movement-have-been-saying-it-for-many-years-but-does-anyone-listen-or-act-maybe-now-when-they-get-sick-they-will/

Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »

Well as you can see, we have now had a play around with the site layout a bit – we hope you like. We have now upgraded the system which will allow us to download and use about 5 times as many images as we have so far; plus the extra ability to give unlimited video link access.

We consider that it is money well spent to improve the site – it was very much a necessity as we were getting near to using all our space available. We may play around with colour and font changes over the next few weeks in order to try out different styles – but whatever we will now have the ability to put masses more onto the site for the future.

It has been a difficult few weeks and at one point the future of the site / continuing was in question. But hopefully now with a new style and presentation we can get down to publishing a lot more. Please get all your connections to visit us when they have time. And remember, you can select and browse through all our previous posts from years gone by by simply selecting any month of any year from the list on the left side of the site.

Best regards – Mark.

Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »

Dear Mark,

You and I are facing a crisis that could literally doom hundreds of wildlife species.

Extremists in Congress have declared outright war on the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the very foundation of our nation’s commitment to rescuing threatened and endangered wildlife.

As of this writing, anti-wildlife extremists have introduced nearly 100 legislative measures in Congress aimed at wiping out wildlife protections. And many of these measures are advancing!

If the extremists win, wildlife will die. Many species will decline. Some may even go extinct.

Your urgent gift to Defenders of Wildlife provides the resources we need to protect the wildlife you and I love.

Nearly 100 anti-wildlife legislative measures that could doom hundreds of wildlife species have been proposed this Congress. Some of these measures, like wolf delisting, have passed the full House and gone on to the Senate for consideration!

If these proposals become law:

• Critically imperiled animals like the northern long-eared bat will never be listed as endangered;

• Gray wolves will be vulnerable to the whims of wolf-hating states like Wyoming [Passed by full House 2/26/16];

• Loopholes will allow sea otters and other listed animals to be killed with impunity;

• And illegal ivory will continue to flow into this country, while elephant poaching will continue to decimate herds [Passed by full House 2/26/16].

Make no mistake, they’re not just targeting specific animals anymore – they’re trying to take down the entire foundation of wildlife protection in America.

Mark, I ask myself this every day – what will we tell our children if they inherit a world without the diversity of life we ourselves inherited?

Without the Endangered Species Act, many of these species may be lost forever.

We’re fighting back. And with you at our side, I am confident that we, and the wildlife we all love, will win.

Please help with a generous donation today.

Thanks for all your help.

Sincerely,

Jamie Rappaport Clark President, Defenders of Wildlife

WHY ME ??

Filed under: GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional | Leave a comment »