Early last week the animal activist group Direct Action Everywhere released a harrowing video based on an undercover investigation of Petaluma Farms, a Northern California operation that supplies eggs to Whole Foods and Organic Valley. In it, hundreds of chickens are shown crammed into sheds and suffering several obvious ailments, including respiratory distress and being stuck in feces. Wayne Hsiung, a former Northwestern University law professor and co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere, began breaking into farms while working as a corporate lawyer back in the early 2000s. But this particular investigation was a departure for him because it revealed abuse on a farm that’s cage free, organic, and Humane Certified.  He summarized what he encountered in these terms: “crowding, stress, filth, disease, and, finally, mutilation and death.” This is not what your average Whole Foods shopper has in mind when she picks up a carton of Organic Valley eggs. But it’s exactly what’s happening on the farm, and consumers have a right to know about it. And the New York Times had an opportunity to inform them. Indeed, Direct Action Everywhere’s investigation was evidently significant enough for the Times to cover it (in its business section, oddly enough)—and the paper deserves credit for lending … Continue reading New York Times Chickens Out on Brutal Video