2007_04_01_archive

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Please wear comfortable clothes and plan on getting dirty. Snacks

willbe provided for good workers!

See you at the farm :)

Posted by East Bay Animal Advocates at 9:33 AM

Friday, April 6, 2007

Foster Fluff!!!!

Foster Farms, with a solid record of animal neglect complaints, now

"wants to be America's most trusted food company"! Read the full

story: http://www.fosterfarms.com/docs/249979.pdf

Click here to ask Foster Farms to improve conditions for birds and

stop misleading consumers.

Posted by East Bay Animal Advocates at 9:28 AM

Interesting Editorial about Olivera's Egg Farm Proposal

This plan lays a big egg

April 04, 2007

We're less concerned about protecting chickens than questioning the

scale of a proposed egg-producing operation near the 11,000-home River

Islands development in Lathrop.

A 900,000-hen farm simply doesn't seem appropriate in a rapidly

growing suburban area.

Agriculture remains San Joaquin County's No. 1 industry, and much of

it needs to be protected from encroaching development.

However, a new operation of such magnitude should be located a lot

farther from residential neighborhoods.

The Olivera Family Limited Partnership, which already owns a similar

operation in nearby French Camp, has made significant adjustments

since first proposing the egg ranch a year ago. Initial plans were

larger and even closer to River Islands.

The 242,000-square-foot operation is still too big and too close.

The plan again has drawn strong and justifiable opposition from

residents, developers and city officials in Lathrop.

Animal-rights activists also have protested. Their opposition is

naive, predictable and overheated.

When county planners review this latest proposal, they must consider:

� Environmental impacts, including potential air-quality decline and

the dangers should a flood occur.

� Foul odors from chicken waste.

� The agriculture-urban interface. Is this a compatible land use so

close to Lathrop?

� The San Jose-based Olivera company's spotty record with codes and

regulations in both San Joaquin and Santa Clara counties.

This isn't exactly a "Which came first? The chicken or the egg"

proposition. It is, however, a reflection of San Joaquin County in

transition.

Agriculture is healthy, but contracting. New housing is healthier, and

expanding.

Online at

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/A_OPINION

01/704040318/-1/A_OPINION06

Write a letter: Letters must be 250 words or less. Include your full

name, address and phone number. Email your letter to

editor@recordnet.com.

Posted by East Bay Animal Advocates at 9:24 AM

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Welcome to EBAA's Blog

For news, campaign reports, upcoming events and action alerts from

East Bay Animal Advocates, this is the place to get the information.

Check this new story about the Olivera Egg campaign and Lunardi's

campaign:

Tri-Valley Herald: "Critics hope egg ranch does not hatch"

By Cheryl Winkelman, Staff Writer

04/02/2007

Though it hasn't yet been given the final go-ahead, a proposed egg

ranchnear Lathrop already has ruffled quite a few feathers. Neighbors

and animal rights groups have flooded San Joaquin County's Community

Development Department with letters of vociferous opposition.

Michael and Roberta Larkin wrote, "Our property lies parallel on

theeast side of the proposed site of the egg facility. Therefore,

thesmell will be intolerable." The 240,000-square-foot egg ranch is

planned for 4000 W. Undine Rd.,which is west of Lathrop and the San

Joaquin River. If built, it willbe near Lathrop's River Islands, an

11,000-unit housing development that is under construction. Up to 1

million chickens could inhabit the premises.

Another potential neighbor, William H. Reynolds, worried about

themanure disposal. He mentioned four children who are home-schooled

nearthe proposed site. "The potential health issues for these

youngsters is obvious," he wrote.So far, the project has cleared one

environmental hurdle.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District determined last

week thecancer risk produced by the farm would be less than

significant,according to county documents. Other county departments

still need to analyze the egg farm, including the Public Health

Department for vector control and Asian flu concerns,before it again

reaches the county's Planning Commission for a vote, said County

Planner Ray Hoo.

Meanwhile, animal rights activists are working with Lunardi's

grocerystores, a family-owned chain with stores in Danville and Walnut

Creek, to get the company to stop selling eggs from Olivera Family

Limited Partnership, the company behind the egg ranch. They run a

smaller eggranch in French Camp and previously operated an egg ranch

in Gilroy. Company officials did not return telephone calls.

Fifteen animal advocacy groups also have banded together and created

http://www.nomoreolivera.com. Christine Morrissey, a spokeswoman for

East Bay Animal Advocates said, "our organization visited one of the

previously owned facilities.... The conditions were completely

unacceptable. The animals were living in filth."

Morrissey said the hens were confined to small wire enclosures. Often,

their beaks are removed so they didn't peck each other to death. At

the French Camp site, 250 to 300 birds die daily, she said. Though

90percent of egg-laying hens are raised in cages, Olivera Farms'

sanitation practices are below par, Morrissey said. The operational

practices of the Gilroy facility were deemed a publicnuisance by the

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2002. Weekly inspections

from the county's Department of Environmental Health tomonitor flies

and manure clean-ups followed, according to county documents.

In late 2005, the poultry operation was shut down. Complaints have

also been filed with San Joaquin County's Department ofEnvironmental

Health about Olivera Farms' French Camp egg ranch about the bad smell.

Online at