The ethics of eating
Local non-profit promotes
compassion at the dining table

by Kara Berger

Erica Meir, director of Compassion Over Killing Photo: JulieWiatt

Erica Meir, whose father inherited a meat-packing plant, learned to hate the butchering of animals. At age 15, she became a vegan, and today she is the director of Compassion Over Killing, a Takoma Park-based non-profit focused on preventing the abuse of agricultural animals.

“I think most kids grow up loving animals, but that was a little bit unique in my family, “ says Meir, now 33 years old, who works in a cramped office overlooking tree tops in the Takoma Park office building “I finally made this connection that I loved animals so much, and yet and I was eating animals. So I decided I couldn’t eat animals anymore.”

COK focuses on the treatment of farm animals because they are generally excluded from any legal protection. COK has run multiple advertising campaigns on the subject, including one on MTV last April. The MTV campaign, titled “What If We Were Served a Side Of Truth,” highlighted what Meir calls “atrocities” in the raising and slaughtering of chickens, cows and pigs whose meat is used by fast food chains.
Meir—who majored in sociology with a minor in environmental politics at Clarke University in Worcester, Massachusetts—is passionate about persuading meat-lovers to change their ways.

Compassion Over Killing investigates cruel practises in the poultry industry, such as these cramped cages. Photo Courtesy COK

“Our goal is to make a difference for animals in this world, and every time someone chooses a vegetarian meal, they’re making a difference.”
Meir’s father continues to be a meat-lover who still operates the family business in Syracuse, N.Y., but she says he has been “so supportive” of her campaign.
With offices across the country, from Portland, Oregon. to Austin, Texas to Takoma Park, COK is currently focusing on major food corporations in the hope of pressuring them to be more animal-friendly.

One target is food manufacturer Morningstar Farms, which Meir is hoping will take eggs out of their products entirely because of the cruel treatment of chickens at poultry factories.

In addition to campaigns, COK has undertaken its own investigations with the cooperation of workers at meat-processing factories. Workers using COK video cameras have documented the conditions and practices in their workplaces.
COK has completed investigations on the egg industries, in which the inhumanity against hens is revealed, and on turkey hatcheries, in which the neglect of newborn turkeys is brought to viewers’ attention.

Included in the turkey hatchery investigation is footage of newborn turkeys being shamelessly thrown into boxes and cages, occasionally being caught in machinery, and left to die a miserable death.

COK now employs a full-time lawyer who is preparing lawsuits against major companies for the exploitation of animals. The group has also recently launched another national campaign on MTV.

In the 12 years since COK was founded, the group has expanded to six full-time staff members, along with volunteers across the United States. COK’s IT manager, Frank Gomez, started as a volunteer. “The work that I had seen at COK, I just thought it was the most effective work being done for animals, and I wanted to be a part of that,” he says.

Hoping to encourage others to consider vegetarianism, COK maintains five web sites on the topic of vegetarian options, including TryVeg.com and VegRecipes.com. The sites contain vegetarian recipes, as well as a listing of restaurants that offer worthwhile vegan options.

On dealing with a non-vegan world, COK simply urges people to be “conscious” of what they eat and how it is produced. “A lot of the work we do is promoting vegetarian eating in a very positive and pragmatic way,” Meier says.

COK got their message out at GreenFest 2007. Photo Courtesy COK