Crystal Heath
(She/Her)
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animal stories, factory farming, environmental, horse racing, social justice, law, legislation, civil disobedience, racial justice, workers rights, dogs, cats, pigs, birds, pandemics, avian influenza
💕Spay Neuter Rescue Adopt🐕🌎 One Health 🌍 Prevent the next pandemic 🐮 All Beings Considered🐣🐷 Executive Director @Ourhonorvets 🐮 cheath@ourhonor.org
Articles by Crystal Heath
Veterinarians and Veterinary Students for Animals, Public Health, and Professional Integrity: Scholarship Contest
Veterinary medicine requires courage. It takes courage to learn difficult skills. It takes courage to be responsible for life-and-death decisions. It takes courage to tell the truth when our patients’ lives are at risk, and our careers are on the line. It takes courage to speak up when a system is failing and when powerful institutions ask us to accept practices we know are wrong. Medicine has a long history of placing professionals in morally vulnerable positions.
Veterinarians For An Egg Free Future
Why veterinarians are calling for corporate egg-free commitments Download free flyers for your clinic here Download the social media graphic Veterinarians are trained to evaluate how disease spreads, how food is produced, how environmental contamination accumulates, and how these factors ultimately affect human health.
Keep the “Save Our Bacon” Act Out of the Farm Bill
Dear [Senator] [Last Name], The Senate Agriculture Committee held a closed-door, bipartisan, members-only meeting on the Farm Bill. Chairman John Boozman, Republican of Arkansas, reportedly told committee members that he does not plan to include the Save Our Bacon Act in the Senate’s starting draft. We need to keep it that way. Senators on the Agriculture Committee may still try to add it back in through an amendment. Please don’t let this happen.
Join Our Animal Relocation Veterinary Corps
Calling all veterinarians, RVTs, and CVTs. As animal laboratories and animal production facilities downsize or close, animals need somewhere to go — and they need qualified professionals helping make those transitions safe, organized, and successful. We are building a Veterinary Corps of veterinarians, RVTs, and CVTs who may be willing to assist with animal relocation efforts, including transport coordination, veterinary exams, and health certificates. Would you add your name to our list?
Submit your comments on the USDA Dog Welfare Regulations By April 20, 2026
I strongly support updating the federal standards governing breeding female dogs and the exercise and socialization of dogs covered by the Animal Welfare Act. This rulemaking presents an important opportunity to replace outdated minimum standards with modern, evidence-based protections that reflect current veterinary medicine, animal welfare science, and shelter medicine.
WSU Veterinary School Defends Horse & Goat Killing Labs Amid Student Concerns
Horses graze in a green pasture. Boer goats at a sanctuary. Sanctuaries have offered to take the horses as veterinarians and students urge WSU to pause the lab and reconsider the animals’ fate. Veterinary medicine should prepare students to serve animals and society.
Veterinarians, Alumi and Students Call on WSU College of Veterinary Medicine to Spare the Lives of 8 Horses and 60 Goats
To: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (iacuc@wsu.edu) Dean Dr. Dori Borjesson (dori.borjesson@wsu.edu) Dr. Kelly Farnsworth, Professor of Equine Surgery (farns005@wsu.edu) Dr. Nina Woodford, DVM, MPH, DACLAM, Campus Veterinarian (nwoodford@wsu.edu) Dr. Elizabeth R.
Request to Suspend Catalina Island Deer Eradication and Evaluate Science-Based Non-Lethal Alternatives — Our Honor
Dear Directors Hertel & Termini, Congratulations, Director Hertel, on your appointment as Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. I am writing to respectfully urge you to suspend implementation of the recently approved permit authorizing the killing of Catalina Island’s entire mule deer population over the next five years and to direct CDFW to formally evaluate science-based, non-lethal alternatives.
Urge Washington State to prioritize teaching practices to align with those recommended by the AAVMC — Our Honor
Dori Borjesson, DVM, MPVM, PhD Dean, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology College Administration WSU College of Veterinary Medicine 110K Bustad Hall Pullman, WA 99164 509-335-9515 509-335-3064 dori.borjesson@wsu.edu Dear Dr. Dori Borjesson, We know effective veterinary student education is important to the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Op-ed | Amid Avian Flu Outbreak, Veterinarians Call for End to Controversial Poultry Kill Method
By cheath December 22, 2025 0 comments by Crystal Heath, DVM, Executive Director, Our Honor As avian influenza continues to devastate poultry flocks across the United States, veterinarians are advocating for the adoption of less cruel extermination methods. Under the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) “stamping out” policy, infected poultry flocks should be killed en masse, or “depopulated” within 24-48 hours after being presumed positive.
Amid Avian Flu Outbreak, Veterinarians Call for End to Controversial Poultry Kill Method
Amid Avian Flu Outbreak, Veterinarians Call for End to Controversial Poultry Kill Method Chickens caged on a truck parked outside a slaughterhouse in Stockton, California Image obtained by Animal Outlook via public records request of VSD experiments performed at the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University Veterinarians challenge AVMA and USDA rules that permit heatstroke killings and reward producers with taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Animal-welfare & public-health concerns at upcoming Reptile Super Show in Pomona — Our Honor
Please copy and paste the letter below and send to the Pomona City Council Executive Assistant, Maria Montellano. You can also sign on to this letter below. But sending it personally is more effective. Do both! City of Pomona 200 E. Mission Blvd.
While Trump mocks the idea of climate change, the USDA bails out livestock producers for losses due to climate chaos — Our Honor
Are you a member of the media interested in covering this story? Contact Crystal Heath at cheath@ourhonor.org for more information. New documents obtained by Our Honor via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal that US taxpayers are forced to spend millions bailing out livestock producers for the deaths of their animals due to the effects of climate chaos and predation.
As a Veterinarian, I Urge You to Oppose Section 12007 of the Farm Bill
Dear [Representative/Senator] [Last Name], As a licensed veterinarian and constituent, I am writing to urge you to oppose Section 12007 of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024. This provision would override voter-approved state laws like California’s Proposition 12, which was enacted to reduce the sale of meat from animals subjected to extreme confinement. Proposition 12 and similar laws are rooted in both science and ethics—and they are essential to public health.
Letter to the AVMA re: Sow Housing — Our Honor
Subject: Concerns Regarding AVMA Policy on Sow Housing and Public Health Implications Dear [Delegate’s Name], I appreciate that the AVMA has updated its recommendations on sow housing. However, I am concerned that the current language is too vague and may lead to the misinterpretation that confining pregnant sows in gestation crates satisfies AVMA policy.
Comment on Massachusetts House Bill 127, An Act prohibiting the aquaculture of any species of octopus for the purpose of human consumption — Our Honor
The Honorable Members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture Massachusetts State Legislature 24 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02133 Re: Testimony in Support of H.127 - An Act Prohibiting the Aquaculture of Any Species of Octopus for the Purpose of Human Consumption Dear Honorable Members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, On behalf of Our Honor, a nonprofit organization representing a growing network of veterinarians, veterinary students, and animal professionals committed to ethical practices and...
Veterinarians Support AB-867 to Prohibit Cat Declawing in California — Our Honor
To Whom It May Concern, Our Honor, a non-profit veterinary advocacy organization, strongly supports AB 867, prohibiting the unnecessary and harmful practice of declawing in California. An American Association of Feline Practitioners survey found that most of the 1,200 veterinarians surveyed support legislative bans on declawing.
Down the Rabbit Hole — Our Honor
FOIA 2023 AMS 00119-F February 2022 Pennsylvania State Vet Email FOIA Received 9.26.2023 “All communications from June 1, 2015 to present referencing “Joe Regenstein,” "Sharon Gwaltney-Brant," and “Sharon Kuca,” made by any individual associated with, employed by, related to or working for in any capacity of the following checkoff programs: a. American Egg Board; b. American Lamb Board; c. Cattleman’s Beef Promotion and Research Board; d. National Dairy Promotion and Research Board; and e.
It’s Time to End the Denial About Bird Flu
Credit - Getty Images Since the beginning of the bird flu outbreak nearly three years ago, state and federal departments of agriculture have had one goal in mind: Maintain consumer confidence—as tens of millions of birds are culled and taxpayers bear the cost of industry bailouts.
It’s Time to End the Denial About Bird Flu
Since the beginning of the bird flu outbreak nearly three years ago, state and federal departments of agriculture have had one goal in mind: Maintain consumer confidence—as tens of millions of birds are culled and taxpayers bear the cost of industry bailouts.
Opinion: California’s bird flu poses existential threat in nation’s largest dairy state
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was recently detected in three herds in the Central Valley. California is the nation’s largest dairy state, producing 20% of U.S. milk, so these infections pose a particular threat to both public health and food security in a country that has become heavily dependent on animal-based protein. This June, researchers detected H5 virus in San Francisco Bay Area wastewater.
Fund Veterinary Care, Not Harmful Corporations
Veterinarians want vet care to be free too! As the cost of veterinary care rises, taxpayers are forced to pay corporations billions of dollars to prop up business practices that cause large-scale animal disease and threaten public health and food security. The National Institutes of Health spent $23 billion taxpayer dollars on animal research, while many people can’t afford existing diagnostics and treatments.
Animal rights activists, suffragists, and abolitionists were once allies. What happened?
Many people think of animal rights and veganism, at least in the West, as a relatively contemporary phenomenon — and a niche one at that. Despite all the buzz surrounding plant-based diets, the share of Americans who call themselves vegan or vegetarian is in the single digits and may have even decreased in recent decades.
Ballot measure gives Denver a choice the meat industry seeks to deny Original
by Crystal Heath, Colorado Newsline August 7, 2024 The animal agriculture industry is attempting to frame Denver’s proposed ballot measure to ban slaughterhouses within city limits as “unfair,” as it happens to impact just one business in Denver city limits, an industrial slaughterhouse owned by the national corporation Superior Farms.
Ballot measure gives Denver a choice the meat industry seeks to deny
1 hour ago What if we told you that there is a simple way for humanity to slash climate-warming emissions, help prevent the next pandemic, and simultaneously eradicate one of the most significant moral atrocities of our time — one that nearly all of us bear some responsibility for? We’re talking, of course, …
The American Veterinary Medical Association Strengthens Support for Heatstroke-Based Mass Killing of Farmed Animals — Our Honor
After the COVID-19 slaughterhouse bottleneck, and the use of heatstroke-based killing to end the lives of millions of excess pigs, The National Pork Board created a depopulation task force with a $490,000 budget with the “STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE” to “BUILD TRUST.” Is the veterinary profession’s job to build trust? To provide professional support for an industry that wants to profit from the worst animal welfare practices at taxpayer expense?
Veterinarians Against Fireworks — Our Honor
What are your dietary habits? For informative purposes only. Some people believe vegetarians/vegans do more to take action on these issues than other people; we want to see if that's true. Omnivore Carnivore Vegan Vegetarian Pescitarian Flexitarian
The County wants to close the Seaquarium. It can't be soon enough
Two years ago, it looked so different. My friend and colleague, veterinarian Dr. Nicole Gianni, has been advocating for the past 25 years to save Lolita the orca, who had been confined at Miami Seaquarium since 1970. Dr. Gianni shared with me dozens of photographs and hand drawings that capture her dedication to Lolita, including images from various peaceful demonstrations in her orca-adorned T-shirts and when she had the opportunity to meet Lolita in person.
Sanger poultry producer shows callous disregard for its flocks and workers | Opinion
Every month, in an act of compassion, the owner of a Stockton slaughterhouse willingly releases two chickens who get to live out the rest of their days at a sanctuary. This month, a pair of beautiful red hens we named Hannah and Cia were the lucky two. Archeologist Steven Mithen discovered we gained the ability to empathize with other animals around years ago. This new trait gave us the advantage of cooperative communication, which, ironically, made us better hunters.
Sanger poultry producer shows callous disregard for its flocks and workers | Opinion
Every month, in an act of compassion, the owner of a Stockton slaughterhouse willingly releases two chickens who get to live out the rest of their days at a sanctuary. This month, a pair of beautiful red hens we named Hannah and Cia were the lucky two. Archeologist Steven Mithen discovered we gained the ability to empathize with other animals around years ago. This new trait gave us the advantage of cooperative communication, which, ironically, made us better hunters.
Taxpayers have spent more than $1 billion dollars to support corporate interests during the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak
Many of these large corporations, including Jennie-O, Tyson Foods, Rembrandt Farms owned by billionaire Glenn Taylor, Pitman Family Farms, Sunrise Foods, Cold Spring Egg Farms, Foster Farms, and Opal Foods failed to put plans in place to end the lives of their animals in less cruel ways and resorted to sealing up barns, pumping in heat and waiting for the birds inside to die in agony after many hours in a killing process known as Ventilation Shutdown plus (VSD+).
Avian influenza outbreak exposes the betrayal of our values Original
Growing up in Northern California’s rural agriculture country, like all kids in my neighborhood, I was a member of 4-H. I learned how to raise goats, spin wool, work with horses and show dogs. One of the most important lessons we learned was that good animal stewardship meant providing your animals with food, water, shelter, a life worth living, and a quick and painless death. If your animals became sick, you had a duty to take care of them.
Protect the animals and their caregivers at Miami Seaquarium — Our Honor
Update August 28, 2024 New documents reveal veterinarian was treating Tokitae without a valid Florida veterinary license. See the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Investigative Report, and the dismissal of the case. These findings are shocking given that they found the veterinarian was practicing without a license. Doug Hanks Tweets: “Eviction case of Miami Seaquarium in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on track to go into mediation.
Opinion: The EATS Act Threatens Animal Welfare and Public Health While Protecting Corporate Profits
For too long, the pork industry has been permitted to inflict what amounts to criminal animal cruelty—with the help of billions of dollars in public funding. Approximately two-thirds of mother pigs, weighing 525 to 790 lbs, are trapped within gestation crates for the entirety of their 114-day pregnancy.
Activists show disturbing slaughterhouse gas chamber footage outside American Veterinary Medical Association Convention
News Search | All News Topics > Agriculture News Topics: By Country | By State ; Press Releases by Industry Channel > All Agriculture Press Releases Activists unveil 30-foot banner outside the annual convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association at the Colorado Convention Center Activists hold stop gas chamber banner outside of AVMA Convention. Photo credit: Kimito Sakata, Direct Action Everywhere Denver-based activist Andre Christy talks to two attendees outside the AVMA Convention.
New Hampshire cat anti-declaw bill (HB 231) killed under questionable circumstances
Shelter kitten awaits examination Veterinarians say banning declawing will protect cats, the public and veterinarians, but the New Hampshire anti-declaw bill was killed despite much support.
Cat Declaw Bans Help Both Cats and Veterinarians
Monday, May 8th, 2023 Crystal HeathMay 8th, 2023 Niki Gianni, DVM is the veterinarian at Ravenswood Animal Hospital LLC in Chicago, IL. She is a 2019 graduate of the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine. Crystal Heath, DVM is a shelter veterinarian, the Executive Director of the non-profit veterinary support organization Our Honor and a 2012 graduate of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Smithfield has stranglehold on Utah and Beaver County
A St. George police officer caught my attention and asked, "How have we been treating you?" It was a sunny October day in St. George as several of us gathered outside the courthouse. We were there to show support for Paul Darwin Picklesimer and Wayne Hsiung who faced felony charges and ten years in prison for investigating Smithfield's Circle Four Farms and rescuing two sick piglets, Lily and Lizzie. Their subsequent acquittal represented a victory for freedom of speech over corporate oppression.
The real cost of eggs is greater than you think | Opinion
by Capital-Star Guest Contributor, Pennsylvania Capital-Star April 12, 2023 By Crystal Heath Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was recently detected in yet another Pennsylvania flock, creating many concerns that the spring migration could lead to a surge in new bird flu cases. With avian influenza outbreaks in mink, seals, bears, and other mammals, experts now fear the next human pandemic is one step closer.
Veterinarians Support HB 231 Ban on Declawing Cat
A 13-year-old cat who has never been declawed. After HB231 passed a House vote with 225 supporting and 147 opposed, veterinarians in New Hampshire are thrilled about much-needed regulations to protect cats. Declawing has been outlawed in many places because it’s a painful and debilitating procedure.” — Dr. Karen Campbell CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, UNITED STATES, March 16, 2023 / EINPresswire.com/ -- New legislation seeks to ban the practice of cat declawing statewide.
Dr. Crystal Heath and Dr. Jan Hajek: Dogs can be healthy — and happy — on a plant-based diet
Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Opinion: This idea can be shocking to many, but the research to back up this claim is solid and can provide us with greater freedom when it comes to choosing food for the dogs in our families. Article content We love dogs. They’re valued members of our families and an important part of our lives. We are responsible for them and we care deeply about their health, happiness and longevity.
Discussions of water conservation must include the dairy industry
As a veterinarian, I read with great interest the recent editoria l, "Why it's time for Utah to buy out alfalfa farmers and let the water flow." As the editorial aptly states, alfalfa is one of the most water-intensive crops grown in Utah. But the piece ignores the impact of the dairy industry, even suggesting this abusive and destructive industry is one of the few agricultural sectors with a future in Utah. Any discussion of water usage must consider the major consumer of alfalfa - dairy cows.
Rodeo industry cannot be trusted to practice compassion Original
When I was a kid, every year my family would attend the Rowell Ranch Rodeo in Alameda County and the Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco. I even campaigned for Grand National Rodeo Queen when I was 19 years old. I had a lot of fun watching the animals and imagining what it would be like to be a barrel racer or a bull rider. I could totally last 8 seconds, I thought.
Livestock, poultry operations create pandemic fears. Bill to suspend growth proposed
Cattle fill the pens at the former Harris Ranch farms in Coalinga in this 2008 photo. Harris Ranch sold the feedlot, and its Harris Ranch beef slaughterhouse and processing plant near Selma, to Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. in a deal announced in 2019. Fresno Bee file Anyone who has driven down I-5 through Coalinga has been punched in the nose by the reality of large scale animal agriculture.
Livestock, poultry operations create pandemic fears. Bill to suspend growth proposed
Anyone who has driven down I-5 through Coalinga has been punched in the nose by the reality of large scale animal agriculture. I always remember to roll up my windows, and switch my A/C to recirculate, but there is no escaping the stench of thousands of cows sitting atop piles of manure. A study published last year showed some of the highest levels of pollution come from those industrial farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
Veterinarians respond to the AVMA’s inaction on Ventilation Shutdown+ — Our Honor
October 26, 2021 José Arce, DVM, President Panel on Animal Depopulation American Veterinary Medical Association 1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100 Schaumburg, IL 60173-4360 Dear Dr. Arce and Members of the Panel on Animal Depopulation: On August 15, 2021, the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) published a Special Report (Baysinger et. al) detailing a pig depopulation practice known as ventilation shutdown (VSD).
The Letter About Ventilation Shutdown JAVMA Refuses to Publish — Our Honor
On August 15th 2021, the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association published a Special Report, detailing the implementation of ventilation shutdown to kill pigs, a method in which barns are closed off and steam is pumped in until they die of hyperthermia. Since then they have published articles that continue to defend the practice and many veterinarians, including me, wrote letters to the editor expressing our criticisms of ventilation shutdown.
Local governments must transition away from animal agriculture
Tuesday evening marked the first time ever that a U.S. city set a plan to shift its food purchases to 100% plant-based. After 16 months of pressure from grassroots activists — and an insurgent campaign by an animal rights activist in the 2020 mayoral race — the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution adopting a goal of 100% plant-based food purchases for the city’s jail and government functions, beginning with a 50% shift by 2024.
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