+
upworthy
More

Ships known for keeping slaves have been linked to pet food companies. Big ones.

The good news is knowing about it is half the battle.

True
Waitt Foundation

Not all pet food is evil. But some of it might be.

The pet food supply chain is like a game of telephone, only the first player in that game is a sea full of migrants in shackles, often being forced to labor on ships in international waters for years.


"Modern slavery, pass it on? NO thanks!"

Companies known for keeping slaves have been linked to Iams, Meow Mix, and Fancy Feast.

Most of the little fish that go into some pet food are being caught by sea slaves. In Thailand and the surrounding area. On fishing boats that essentially exist outside any known law.

And there are even several pretty intense lawsuits happening. Here's a peek at one.

Oof. Screenshot of Donna de Rosa v. Tri-Union Seafoods, LLC.

The solution seems easy: verify that the supply chains aren't stocked from bad guys who enslave people and break all the laws. But because the ocean has no ruler, someone's gotta step in. However, first we gotta know about it.

Here are four things to get you started.

1. Know the story behind the people who are being enslaved.

Let's put the human back into human trafficking.

This is the story of Lang Long, a pet food sea slave.

Lang Long left his family's rice patch in Cambodia in search of a better life in construction in Thailand. He had to cut a weird deal with a trafficker to get across the border, but it was his chance!

Nope. Soon after arriving, he was imprisoned by armed men and sold at least twice to different fishing boats. Selling a man! Sounds like ... slavery.

Even Secretary of State John Kerry is hip to this:

I set it to skip ahead to the part where he starts talking about Lang Long!

Yes. I know it's not fun to say that word, but we have to call it what it is. This is the selling of people. This is slavery.

Sad fish is sad. Image via Benson Kua/Flickr.

And your cat's delicious goodies go right back to Lang Long, sea slave. Worst game of telephone ever.

"OMG nooo!"

2. Know where your pet food comes from.

Ask not what your pet food can do for you. Ask "Where is my pet food even from, and WTF is up with its supply chain?"

You'll find out what the pet food companies found out. You don't really know what's up with the supply chain! See below.

3. Know how much your favorite pet food company cares about this slavery stuff.

Many have good intentions, but they should add "no modern slavery in our ingredients" to the top of the list, dontcha think?

Unfortunately, your cat's pet food supplier might not yet have a system that keeps it from using sea slaves to feed Fifi the cat.

Why? Traceability. It's just not possible right now. The ocean system that enslaved Lang Long is essentially the Wild West in 2015.

"Most fishing vessels are exempt from international rules requiring the onboard tracking systems used by law enforcement."

Thanks for not poisoning me or the environment, pet food companies. P.S. Can you check on that slavery thing?

However, things are getting a little bit better:

"By 2020, [Mars, Inc., producer of Iams pet food] plans to use only non-threatened fish caught legally or raised on farms and certified by third-party auditors as not being linked to forced labor."

4. Know just how much your pet really needs to eat fish (at least right now).

Maybe your pet could lay off the pescatarianism for a bit until these pet food companies get it together?

Fishy pet food might not be all that great for Fifi anyway.

According to a 2013 paper by Kelly Scott Swanson, a professor of animal science at the University of Illinois:

"Often based on consumer demand rather than nutritional requirements, many commercial petfoods are formulated to provide nutrients in excess of current minimum recommendations, use ingredients that compete directly with the human food system, or are overconsumed by pets, resulting in food wastage and obesity."

Some pet food companies are actually choosing the same no-fish route. According to the New York Times report:

"Mars Inc., for example, which sold more than $16 billion worth of pet food globally in 2012, roughly a quarter of the world's market, has already replaced fishmeal in some of its pet food and will continue in that direction."

Fifi doesn't HAVE to give up fish. But at least now you know why she might wanna.

This is a lot to take in, I know! Especially since we've been living in the dark about this for so long.

But shackle-free pet food isn't far away if we all step into the light.

With a simple bit of knowledge, every pet owner can be a part of ending human trafficking.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Representative Image from Canva

Let's not curse any more children with bad names, shall we?

Some parents have no trouble giving their children perfectly unique, very meaningful names that won’t go on to ruin their adulthood. But others…well…they get an A for effort, but might want to consider hiring a baby name professional.

Things of course get even more complicated when one parent becomes attached to a name that they’re partner finds completely off-putting. It almost always leads to a squabble, because the more one parent is against the name, the more the other parent will go to bat for it.

This seemed to be the case for one soon-to-be mom on the Reddit AITA forum recently. Apparently, she was second-guessing her vehement reaction to her husband’s, ahem, avant garde baby name for their daughter, which she called “the worst name ever.”

But honestly, when you hear this name, I think you’ll agree she was totally in the right.

Keep ReadingShow less

A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

Keep ReadingShow less

A beautiful cruise ship crossing the seas.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

Just minutes before 1:30am on March 26, shortly after leaving port in Baltimore Harbor, a cargo ship named Dali lost power and control of its steering, sending it careening into a structural pillar on Key Bridge. The crew of the Dali issued a mayday call at 1:26am to alert authorities of the power failure, giving responders crucial moments to prepare for a potential collision. Just 90 seconds later, the ship hit a pylon, triggering a total collapse of the 1.6-mile bridge into the Patapsco River.

Dispatch audio of those moments shows the calm professionalism and quick actions that limited the loss of life in an unexpected situation where every second counted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less