A Guy Who Exists Purely to Troll the Humane Society Was Just Hired by Donald Trump

[demmiblue]

Source: Mother Jones

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Indeed, a day before the Politico piece hailing Heitkamp as the likely pick, Trump had veered in a quite different direction, announcing a new member of the team overseeing the transition of the USDA: Brian Klippenstein, executive director of a group called Protect the Harvest. The brainchild of Forest Lucas—a right-wing oil magnate and cattle rancher who has himself emerged as a contender to serve as Trump's secretary of the interior—Protect the Harvest seems to exist mainly to troll the Humane Society of the United States.

On its website, Protect the Harvest warns that HSUS seeks to "put an end to animal ownership." This is nonsense—the Humane Society is by no means coming for your furry friend. Its website features "tools you need to help the pets in your home and beyond." I asked Paul Shapiro, vice president for farm-animal protection at HSUS, whether his group opposes the keeping of pets. "That would certainly be news to the vast numbers of our staff who bring their dogs to work here," he replied.

Protect the Harvest's real beef with HSUS appears to be that the group promotes legislation that curtails some of the harsher aspects of factory-scale animal farming. The two groups recently clashed over a Massachusetts ballot measure this fall to ban tight cages in egg and pork production. Lucas personally donated nearly $200,0000 to defeat the measure, and Klippenstein actively campaigned against it. The measure passed with overwhelming support on Nov. 8.

Protect the Harvest's zeal to fight regulation of animal farming extends even to "puppy mills"—large facilities that churn out dogs like factory farms churn out pigs. Back in 2010, the year Protect the Harvest was founded, it vigorously opposed a Missouri ballot measure to "require large-scale dog breeding operations to provide each dog under their care with sufficient food, clean water, housing and space; necessary veterinary care; regular exercise and adequate rest between breeding cycles"; and "prohibit any breeder from having more than 50 breeding dogs for the purpose of selling their puppies as pets."

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So basically, we've got a two-time industry lobbyist and an anti-animal-welfare zealot teaming up to choose the next USDA chief.

Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/12/trump-usda-klippenstein-heitkamp

[WhiteTara]

1. Know your food sources

Good luck with medicine.