There has been much national mobilization and protest recently regarding the Whole Foods Animal Compassion claims, which sells the idea that the corporation raises and kills animals in a humane way. Across the country, animal rights activists—including multiple from Connecticut College, some of which are from the CONN C.A.R.E.S. organization, have gathered on several occasions to peacefully protest the campaign that Whole Foods has created.
On the company website, Whole Foods claims the following on the “Animal Welfare Standards” page: “At Whole Foods Market, we’re dedicated to helping you make informed choices about the food you eat. It’s often easy to forget that the burger, steak or drumstick on your plate was once an animal. How was that animal raised? How was it treated? Where did it come from? What about added hormones and antibiotics? Was its growth artificially accelerated to get to market sooner and reduce feed cost? We are committed to answering these questions.” Many activists have taken action to peacefully protest and investigate Whole Foods’ claim to humane animal treatment.
“There have been multiple undercover investigations into Whole Foods suppliers’ farms, and the conditions are just as bad as factory farms—in fact, identical,” explained Selena Sobanski ’16, founder and co-president of CONN C.A.R.E.S. “So the protests and movement have been trying to raise awareness about the ‘humane myth’ that has gained speed in food marketing lately,” she said.
Zach Groff is an animal activist and writer in New Haven, Connecticut who has been working hard to peacefully protest at different Whole Foods establishments in the New England area. “The animals on Whole Foods’ farms live lives that are nasty, brutish and short. Worse, Whole Foods and other corporations like it are selling consumers on the idea that animals on farms are raised humanely, despite the fact that 99 percent of animals are raised on factory farms.”
Many activists have gone so far as to investigate the farms where Whole Foods get their animals. “At the ‘Certified Humane,’ cage-free farm we investigated, hens were crammed so tightly into a shed that they could barely breathe. The hen we rescued, Mei Hua, was left rotting in her own feces with her feathers pecked off of her wings by other birds amid the stressful and densely-packed shed where they were kept,” said Groff.
He explained that the strength of animal activism is rapidly growing, and activists like him have been happy to see the strength in numbers. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say that there are few things more powerful than going into a place where violence against animals is the norm and speaking the simple, and obvious, truth. This is a large part of why our numbers are growing and our activists are becoming increasingly confident and unified. There have not been any Whole Foods advocates or counter-protests because, quite simply, Americans are animal lovers and are starting to realize that animal agriculture is inherently violent.”
Activists across the Untied States like Groff and Sobanski hope that eventually, they will see a positive change in the treatment of animals marketed at companies like Whole Foods. “The most important thing right now is taking nonviolent direct action to take down the humane myth peddled by Whole Foods,” said Groff. •
