Sentient Media

Explainer

What Is Proposition 12 in California?

Proposition 12 in California would establish new cage-free housing requirements for baby veal calves, mother pigs, and egg-laying hens. The ballot initiative looks similar to California’s first “cage-free” initiative from…

Law & Policy•2 min read

Explainer

How to Support Animal Welfare in the Farm Bill

World Farm Animal Day came and went! Celebrate by supporting animal welfare in the 2018 Farm Bill. Here's a sample email addressed to your member of Congress that expresses your…

Law & Policy•1 min read

Explainer

What’s Happening to America’s Sows?

🐷 Sows are dying at alarming rates—rising from 5.8% to 10.2% on farms with more than 125 sows. There’s no clear cause yet, but experts point to vitamin deficiency, mycotoxins…

Food•1 min read

Reported

67 Direct Action Everywhere Protesters Arrested at Petaluma Chicken Plant

Direct Action Everywhere/YouTube Direct Action Everywhere protesters stormed a chicken plant near Petaluma, CA, which led to the arrest of 67 activists. Protesters say they documented chickens in filthy industrial…

Investigations•1 min read

Reported

California Governor To End Use of Driftnets

Mercy For Animals/YouTube Fish feel pain, which makes news that California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to end the use of cruel swordfishing driftnets bittersweet. Footage of these driftnets…

Law & Policy•1 min read

Reported

Beyond Burger Is Officially Better For the Planet

It's official, the Beyond Burger generates 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than U.S. beef. If that wasn't good enough, the plant-based patty also requires 46% less non-renewable energy, 93% less…

Climate•1 min read

Explainer

Which Countries Produce the Most Meat?

For the first time since 2012, meat is on the rise. Exports for the 35.4-billion-dollar beef industry are forecasted to increase 5% in 2018. Broiler meat, which are chickens raised…

Food•2 min read

Reported

When Wildlife Conservation Kills

6,000 wild buffalo, horses, donkeys, and pigs were culled from Kakadu National Park, Australia in 24 days—in the name of wildlife conversation. They're not the only ones trying to protect…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

Judge Defends Yellowstone’s Threatened Grizzly Bears

Gregory Smith/Flickr A U.S. District judge just reinstated the Yellowstone grizzly bear’s threatened-species status. He claimed the administration wasn’t using the best science in its decision to remove the bear’s…

Law & Policy•1 min read

Reported

Is There an End in Sight for Gestation Crates?

Tyson and Blue Apron are still using gestation crates, despite the major food suppliers' efforts to establish better animal welfare standards. Tyson's Open Prairie brand, which supplies Blue Apron with…

Food•1 min read

Reported

Smart Trash Cans, Smarter Raccoons

First, Toronto residents were afraid raccoon-proofing trash cans would starve out the raccoons. True, only 24 raccoon-related complaints came from nearly half a million new, locking trash cans. But that…

Climate•1 min read

Perspective

The Meat Lobby’s Version of Dietary Recommendations

Matt Brown/Flickr A draft of the latest Dietary Recommendations for Americans said that it's healthier to eat less red and processed meat. But when the meat lobby got the word,…

Food•1 min read

Reported

Organic Plant-Based Burgers Coming to Amazon Fresh

After selling over 1 million burgers in less than 60 days, Don Lee Farms' Organic Plant-Based Burger is coming to Amazon Fresh (soon)! For now, you can find the so-called…

Health•1 min read

Reported

Hog Country Is Flooding

Animal Day/Flickr Four thousand clay lagoons full of manure runoff from North Carolina’s hog industry are at risk of overflowing after Hurricane Florence dumped more than 30 inches of rain…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

How Much of the Planet Do Animals Need to Survive

One-third of the oceans and land need to be protected by 2030 to avoid an extinction crisis. Barely 15% of land and less than 4% of the oceans are protected…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

Animal Agriculture Should Be Part of Climate Talks

Animal agriculture isn’t one of the main challenge areas for the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco, which is confusing, to say the least, given the massive impact…

Climate•2 min read

Reported

Smithfield to Shut Down World’s Largest Hog Plant

Smithfield Foods/YouTube Apparently, $400 million dollars is enough to get Smithfield to shut down their hog plant in North Carolina. After a series of lawsuits from nearby residents complaining about…

Food•1 min read

Reported

Wait… Bees Can Count?

For centuries, animals’ capacity for human-like behavior went unnoticed. But animals are smarter than we think. Sharks like jazz and bees understand the number zero. Some of the most abstract…

Research•2 min read

Reported

More Than Half of Chefs Add Vegan Options to Menus

51% of chefs added vegan options to their menus in 2018, and it's paying off! Last year, self-identifying vegans skyrocketed by 300%. Now that the restaurant owners are following the…

Health•1 min read

Explainer

1 in 4 Calories Produced in America Go to Waste

3 billion pounds of produce is thrown away every year—just in California. Another 20 million pounds of food is left in commercial fields across America to rot after the harvest…

Food•2 min read

Analysis

Vegans Are 15% Less Likely to Get Cancer

New research found that being vegetarian or vegan significantly lowers the risk of heart disease (by 25%) and cancer. It does not, however, come with a magically long life. One…

Diet•1 min read

Reported

Puffins Don’t Have Enough Food to Eat

If seawater temperatures in Iceland increase by just one degree, which it has since the last cold cycle between 1965-1995, the ability of each species to survive the winter changes,…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

In North Carolina, Not All Milk Is Created Equal

North Carolina became the first state to pass legislation that would prohibit the use of the term “milk” for non-dairy products with Senate Bill 711, also known as the North…

Law & Policy•2 min read

Reported

What the Most Polluted Places on Earth Look Like

Here's what the most polluted places on Earth look like. About 12,000 years ago, the last ice age ended, and the world saw the birth of human civilization. But now,…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

Insecticides Linked to Developmental Delays

Insecticides are linked to developmental delays in toddlers. Oh, and Parkinson's disease and lowered fertility for both sexes. So why do farmers use them on the food we eat? That's…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

Big Meat Is Pro Clean Meat

The largest meat lobby in America sees a future for clean meat. The North American Meat Institute and clean meat manufacturer Memphis Meats asked for more regulatory input from the…

Food•1 min read

Americans Are Eating More Meat Than Ever

The average American ate more meat in 2017 than ever, and meat-eating Americans are on track to do it again. Companies like the Good Food Institute are rallying to find…

Health•1 min read

Explainer

More Pigs Than People in Spain

There are 3.5 million more pigs than people in Spain, an increase of about 9 million pigs since 2013. Spaniards consume almost 50 pounds of pork per year, which all…

Food•1 min read

Reported

Livestock Farming Takes Up 41% of U.S. Land

Livestock farming takes up 41% of all U.S. land. See for yourself in this Bloomberg article. Plus, Coronado Farms just added 8,000 cows to its herd. The company is already…

Climate•1 min read

Explainer

Animal Transport in the EU

28 different sets of animal welfare rules exist in the EU. But the second the animals are herded into containers and shipped across country lines, those rules become very hard to…

Food•1 min read

Reported

The Impossible Burger Is Possible, Says FDA

The FDA has no questions that the Impossible Burger is safe to eat. The meatless burger company responded to environmentalist groups sceptical of the meat’s genetically engineered additives with a…

Science•1 min read

Reported

Cruelty-Free, Anyone?

China used to require cosmetics to be tested on animals, which effectively banned cruelty-free brands like The Body Shop and Burt's Bees from the stores. Now it's changed the rules and many tests are done…

Animal Testing•1 min read

Reported

U.S. Latinos Embracing Vegan-Mexican Cuisine

Vox: There are 311 threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Trump Administration wants to narrow the definition of “threatened” to a case-by-case basis and bar the sage…

Health•1 min read

Reported

Who Is The World’s Biggest Polluter?

The world's top 20 meat and dairy companies emit more greenhouse gases than Germany.

Climate•2 min read

Reported

WeWork Bans Meat

WeWork’s meat ban could save 15,507,103 animals and 445 million pounds of CO2 emissions and by 2023. The company has removed meat not only from the menus at company events,…

Health•1 min read

Reported

Exposing Beagle Farming in the U.S.

Dogs kept in brutal conditions, right here in the United States? Sadly, it is more common than you'd think. The Intercept covers a major rescue operation exposing one dog farming…

Animal Testing•1 min read

Reported

How to Spot A Happy Horse

How to spot a happy horse: Look for pointed ears and listen for snorts, apparently. Horses living in restricted conditions snorted twice as much in the pasture than when they…

Research•1 min read

Reported

Elon Musk Is Tapping Monkey Brains, and He’s Not Alone

And he isn’t the only one tapping a connection between animals and our keyboards. The digital animal research field is so big that even space agencies are signing onto the…

Animal Testing•1 min read

Analysis

65% of Earth Is Unexplored

The extent of human impact on these underwater ecosystems is impressive. Still, we've only mapped 5 percent of the world's seafloor in any detail. Excluding dry land, that leaves about…

Climate•1 min read

Reported

Sheep Remember Your Face. How Smart Are They?

The process of remembering and forgetting in humans works the same way. It’s face specific.

Science•1 min read