May 20, 1997: Pet Food - Ann N. Martin
The Art Bell Archive · Arthur William Bell III
September 25, 20232h 45m
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Show Notes
Canadian author Ann N. Martin delivers a deeply disturbing investigation into the commercial pet food industry, revealing that euthanized dogs and cats from veterinary clinics and animal shelters are routinely sent to rendering plants where they are ground up, fur, tags, plastic bags, and lethal injection drugs included, and processed into pet food and livestock feed. Her seven years of research for the forthcoming book Food Pets Die For traces the journey of dead companion animals from London, Ontario, to rendering facilities in Quebec.
Martin explains that veterinarians themselves were unaware their euthanized patients were being recycled rather than cremated. A former rendering plant worker calls in to confirm that cats and dogs went through with their fur intact, contradicting industry claims. The conversation turns to the terrifying parallel with Britain's mad cow disease crisis, where feeding cattle to cattle spawned a brain-wasting illness that jumped to humans. Martin notes that over 100 cats in England have already died from the feline variant.
The broadcast provokes an overwhelming emotional response from listeners, many of whom are pet owners confronting the possibility that their beloved animals were unknowingly fed back into the very system that consumed their predecessors. Art urges the press to investigate the billion-dollar industry.
Martin explains that veterinarians themselves were unaware their euthanized patients were being recycled rather than cremated. A former rendering plant worker calls in to confirm that cats and dogs went through with their fur intact, contradicting industry claims. The conversation turns to the terrifying parallel with Britain's mad cow disease crisis, where feeding cattle to cattle spawned a brain-wasting illness that jumped to humans. Martin notes that over 100 cats in England have already died from the feline variant.
The broadcast provokes an overwhelming emotional response from listeners, many of whom are pet owners confronting the possibility that their beloved animals were unknowingly fed back into the very system that consumed their predecessors. Art urges the press to investigate the billion-dollar industry.