Big news this week:
Ringling Bros announced it’s retiring its elephants from the circus this May, two years earlier than planned.

More big news: Massive egg buyers announced this week they’re saying no to cage confinement of chickens, including

Denny’s (which uses roughly half a billion eggs each year) and global snack giant

Mondelez International.

Wondering what it’s like for food retailers to work
with HSUS and other organizations on these kinds of commitments? A
former fast food exec

offered insights in a new commentary. (Hint: Many people often call me an a-word, though it’s usually not “affable!”)

Finally, I know you’re still following all your New Year’s resolutions, but for your
friends who might not be, this week I shared my own story about struggling with weight problems as a kid and how I overcame them. (Hint: it has to do with plants.)

P.S.
Video of the week: Sparkles the chicken loves to swing!

Welcome to 2016, the year Massachusetts voters are likely to
go to the polls and decide the fate of vast numbers of farm animals.

Why do I call 2015 the Year of the Chicken? The San Diego Union-Tribune’s got that story this week, and

Alternet’s got a new interview with my coworker Josh Balk on the topic, too. But the fact that

Costco and
Subway just announced that they’re converting to 100 percent
cage-free eggs gives you an indication of how the past year went for
these long-suffering birds. And

FOX,
NPR  and The Guardian all published features this week on the cage-free revolution that rocked the
egg industry in 2015.

Still wondering what your resolution ought to be
for the New Year? I offer five reasons for enjoying more plant-based
meals in this home page

Huffington Post feature. And good news,
the Associated Press reports that it’s getting easier than ever to do just that because of innovative new start-ups.

May 2016 bring even more progress for animals!

P.S.
Video of the week: Piglets opening their holiday gifts!

The reaction to McDonald’s historic
announcement this week that it’s directing its egg suppliers to
ditch cages was simply overwhelming. While the story dominated
mainstream headlines all week, perhaps the most promising was a
commentary from the editor of

Egg Industry magazine entitled, “McDonald’s cage-free
decision is tipping point for U.S.” The opening line sums it up: “It is
difficult to overemphasize the significance of McDonald’s recent
decision.”

Illustrating the cascading impact that the
announcement is already having, just two days later, one of the nation’s
biggest egg producers—and not a McDonald’s supplier—proclaimed that in
response, it’s transitioning to cage-free, which it says is “is the future of our industry and our business.”

And in Canada, reaction was swift as well, with the Globe and Mail

editorializing positively on the topic.

In short, while the battle over battery cages is
far from over, it’s clearer than ever that our opponents simply cannot
win. May animal advocates use this momentum to place the battery cage
where it belongs once and for all: in the dustbin
of history.

P.S.
Video of the week: Shouldn’t every pig have a cat petting her while she sleeps?

Another week, another major celeb asking Costco to
stop selling eggs from caged hens: read about Sia’s letter to Costco’s
CEO in this

CBS article.

A notorious battery egg complex is under new management in New England. I offer some thoughts on what to do in a

Bangor Daily News op-ed.

Speaking of New England, if you want to learn more
about the pending ballot measure in Massachusetts to help prevent the
worst farm animal cruelty, this

Boston Herald Radio interview will be helpful. (And sign up to volunteer
for the effort
here!)

But of course, chickens are in need of help nationwide, as
TIME reports in this major piece out today.

Finally, if you’re trying to eat fewer chickens and
other animals, and aren’t sure what to eat instead, let HSUS’s Eddie
Garza guide you in this new
Dallas Voice interview.

P.S.
Video of the week: BuzzFeed’s hysterical 90-second take on vegans.

History was made this week outside the Massachusetts Statehouse, with a press conference

announcing a new ballot measure to end the cruelest confinement of factory farm animals, and the sales
of products emanating from those systems. Want to volunteer for the effort?
Sign up now!

Speaking of factory farms, should the egg industry
and USDA be baking chickens alive? Yes, that’s a real proposal from
USDA—on which I offer some thoughts in

today’s Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Big Pork suffered a Big Loss recently, when a court
allowed an HSUS lawsuit over misuse of federal pork check-off dollars
to proceed. Check out this good description of the case by

Farm and Food File, concluding: “Little wonder, then, why Big
Meat hates the Humane Society. It is shining lights into corners that
most in U.S. agriculture, often even USDA, want kept dark.”

Finally, as a Point of Inquiry listener, I was honored to discuss factory farming as

this week’s guest.

P.S.
Video of the week: If your bucket list includes seeing an elephant playing with a ribbon, today you can cross it off.