A Meat and Dairy Article from All-Creatures.org

'Humane Hoax' Editor Hope Bohanec on the Fallacy of 'Happy' Farmed Animals

From Lex Talamo, LadyFreethinker.org
May 2023

As an anthology, each essay inm can be read in a single sitting — giving you a lot to ponder without needing to carve out huge chunks of time, and written in a way that keeps omnivores and vegans alike reading.

“The essays in this book aren’t an ‘in your face’ assault but rather a collection of well-written and thoughtful pieces that call for deep reflection that might move some people out of their comfort zones,” wrote acclaimed author and ecologist Marc Bekoff. “If that happens, in my opinion, the book has achieved one of its major goals.”

When labels like “organic,” “humane certified,” “cage-free,” and “family farm” started inundating animal agriculture advertising in the early 2000s, author Hope Bohanec decided to do some investigating.

Bohanec — whose care for the environment emboldened her as a young adult to tree sit to save California redwoods, and whose love of animals inspired her to go vegetarian at age 16 and vegan at age 20 — toured farms whose animal-derived products were sporting the new labels.

She was shocked by what she saw.

“I thought I was going to see what you’d see going to a farm sanctuary,” she told Lady Freethinker (LFT) via Zoom. “But instead I saw pretty much the same conditions as conventional farms. Birds were still debeaked and overcrowded. Dairy cows still had swollen udders and were injured and limping.”

Her revelations catalyzed her to write a book, The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat?, exposing what advocates now refer to as “humanewashing” – strategic marketing that causes customers to perceive that animals used for food are being treated well, when in reality they are not.

When the animal farming industry continued to push labels to an increasingly receptive but arguably misled audience, Bohanec rallied more than a dozen engaging and eloquent voices — from animal rescuers, activists, and climate experts to professors and poets — to counter the myths.

At almost 400 pages, The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs is a big book tackling big and often unseen issues — from the cruelties inherent in the do-it-yourself backyard egg business to a newly applauded movement in which women “find themselves” by killing sentient animals.

But as an anthology, each essay can be read in a single sitting — giving you a lot to ponder without needing to carve out huge chunks of time, and written in a way that keeps omnivores and vegans alike reading.

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Read the ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE.

 

Where to buy The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs and read many reviews.

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