The DxE and Condition One investigation into Whole Foods "Cage Free" Eggs is one of the best directed VR Horror films yet.
I recently ran into a Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) member who was on the streets of Berkeley showing people a recently released investigation in partnership with 360-degree virtual reality company Condition One into an American Humane Association certified Whole Foods egg supplier.
The 360 video takes place during visits to Sunrise Farms in Petaluma, CA, activists documented rotting bodies, bloody eggs, and hens struggling to walk on wire floors in both cage-free and battery cage barns at the facility - with the cages being illegal under California law. The activists say that the virtual reality footage, viewable and downloadable online, lets the public experience for themselves the “lie” of humane animal products.
I 100% say to watch the 360 film Operation Aspen in a headset. As a VR film I actually felt I was part of the DxE team and made VR eye contact with them when they walked me through the cage. The film truly captured the sense of isolation and panic of the chickens. The scene in which you virtually walk through the center with CAGES surrounding you on both sides and the lights start to disappear is fucking Kubrik-esq in its direction and delivery.
Look Im not going to tell you to not go out and eat meat but I am saying the marketing done by the Food industry is full of lies and do not believe the buzz words and gloss they feed you to believe the hype of helping through consumerism.
“Members of the public can now virtually join us in going inside a farm that markets itself as humane and seeing the violent charade that animal agriculture is trying to hide,” said DxE investigator Priya Sawhney.
Sunrise Farms produces a million eggs daily and boasts of offering a way to mass produce eggs while keeping animal welfare in mind. The farm supplies Whole Foods Market, which claims not to sell eggs from hens raised in battery cages, cages so small that chickens cannot turn around and open their wings. While visiting Sunrise Farms, however, activists found that while many barns were cage-free, other barns still had battery cages. At all barns, cage-free or caged, activists found rotting bodies, birds struggling to walk, and birds injured from excessive egg production. Activists rescued one bird, named Ava, whose feet were flattened and distorted by the wire cage, and nursed her back to being able to walk.
This is the fifth investigation into a Whole Foods farm in recent years and the fourth by DxE. Both 2016 and 2015 saw investigations finding horrific violence at top-rated turkey farms, including the farm supplying the White House on Thanksgiving. 2015 investigations into Whole Foods pork andegg suppliers exposed violence against animals as well. Investigators say repeated misconduct at Whole Foods’ farms shows that “humane” animal products are marketing rather than reality.
“Nothing can change you as much as going into a modern ‘farm’ - a modern open-air death camp for animals,” said DxE investigator Sara Muñiz. “This investigation will let people come closer to that experience.”
DxE activists have held demonstrations in over 30 countries and over 160 cities worldwide.
