EMILIA VEXLER: Argentina is best known for its beef. But, unbeknownst to many, it also has a long tradition of killing horses for meat. The fact is especially surprising given that within the South American country, consumption of 'carne de caballo' is an absolute no-no. There are some eager markets abroad, however, and Argentine producers are more than willing to meet that demand. In fact, Argentina is the world's leading horse meat exporter. The networks in this bloody, hidden trade supply approximately 60% of the horse meat consumed in Europe. That amounts to about 200,000 horses per…

BEAU YARBROUGH: An animal rights organization has sued a San Jacinto dairy, alleging cows are beaten and abused, in violation of industry standards and state law... The lawsuit follows an undercover investigation late last year by Animal Outlook activists who allegedly found violations of state animal cruelty laws at the dairy... The dairy supplies Dairy Farmers of America, which in turn produces Alta Dena Dairy and other brands, including Target’s DairyPure and TruMoo... Photos and videos released by the Washington, D.C.-based animal rights group show the corpses of newborn calves rotting…

JAYSON DERRICK: The competitive environment for plant-based food maker Beyond Meat intensified after rival Livekindly said it raised an additional $135 million in a funding round. The company, Officially known as The LIVEKINDLY Collective, is the only of its kind to own and operate the entire value chain. Livekindly brands include The Fry Family Food Co., LikeMeat and Oumph! The Business Plan: Livekindly said it will use the proceeds from its latest financing round to "transform the current unsustainable meat-centric food system" by making its products more readily available to consumers…

REUTERS: China’s disease control authority said that contact with frozen food packaging contaminated by living new coronavirus could cause infection... The finding, a world first, suggests it is possible for the virus to be conveyed over long distances via frozen goods, it said... The conclusion came as the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected and isolated living coronavirus on the outer packaging of frozen cod during efforts to trace the virus in an outbreak reported last week in the city of Qingdao, the agency said on its website... Two dock workers in Qingdao…

CHRIS PLEASANCE: Undercover footage has revealed the distressing conditions suffered by hundreds of dogs inside what is thought to be South Korea's largest dog meat auction house. Investigators from US charity Lady Freethinker captured images from the Nakwon auction house, in the city of Namyangju, over the summer... Their footage shows keepers pulling the yelping animals around their cages using metal snares so buyers could get a better look at them. It then shows an auctioneer calling out bids from a crowd of buyers... The footage was recorded ahead of Bok Nal, the hottest period of…

TOM BEGGS: Farm sanctuaries exist to save animals from harmful environments and to give them their “forever home,” where they are kept safe for the remainder of their lives. Farm sanctuaries were created specifically in response to the violence that farmed animals experience in factory farms... There are hundreds of farm sanctuaries in the United States... Although sanctuaries have a primary function of rescuing farmed animals, many farm sanctuaries advocate for animal rights and Veganism, engage in public outreach and fundraising, and are open to the public for visitations in order to help…

BETTINA MAKALINTAL: As shoppers have cut back on animal products — whether due to environmental concerns, health issues, or an ethical stance against animal cruelty—and look for appealing replacements, there's no shortage of companies offering up choices. While dairy alternatives have seen the most stratospheric growth in recent years, meatless options have also seen a surge in popularity as beef and chicken substitutes become more enticing to the mainstream, with a 37.8 percent growth in sales from 2017 to 2019, according to research from the Good Food Institute... It's clear from…

ANIMAL OUTLOOK: After a two-year career working undercover inside several factory farms, Animal Outlook investigator Erin Wing now reveals her identity, stepping out of the shadows to shine a light on the stomach-churning horrors she witnessed at her most recent — and last — investigation at Dick Van Dam Dairy, a factory farm in Southern California. The hard-hitting new video illuminates the all-too-common cruelty found on this facility that supplies brands owned by Dean Foods, which recently filed for bankruptcy. Investigators followed a truck from the facility to a stockyard, and then…

GLENN GREENWALD: Animal agriculture industry groups defending factory farms engage in campaigns of surveillance, reputation destruction, and other forms of retaliation against industry critics and animal rights activists, documents obtained through a FOIA request from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveal. That the USDA possesses these emails and other documents demonstrates the federal government’s knowledge of, if not participation in, these industry campaigns. These documents detail ongoing monitoring of the social media of news outlets, including The Intercept, which report…

DHARMA NOOR: The mission of U.S. Wildlife Services, an office in the Department of Agriculture (USDA), is “to provide federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist.” In practice, that means slaughtering animals in droves. New data the USDA released shows that in 2019, the program killed approximately 1.2 million animals native to North America. That includes hundreds of gray wolves, black bears, and bobcats, thousands of red foxes, tens of thousands of beavers, and hundreds of thousands of birds. Fewer than 3,000 of those animals were…