• Famed breed of Spanish horses may be destined for butcher's block

    Laura Leon / AP

    A mare, a ''Pura Raza Espanola," or Pure Spanish Breed, runs next to the stable at "La Yeguada de Cuatro Vientos" ranch in Almonte, in southern Spain's Andalusia region on April 8. Barring an unlikely reprieve, the purebreds at this ranch will be turned into horse meat for export in the coming months.

    Laura Leon / AP

    A Pure Spanish Breed horse rears up inside a stable at La Yeguada de la Nobleza ranch in Almonte, Andalusia, Spain.

    By Alan Clendenning, The Associated Press

    The southern Spanish region of Andalusia, famed for flamenco and Moorish castles, is also home to a legendary breed of horses that carried conquistadors into battle in the Americas, featured in Hollywood epics and more recently became trophy acquisitions for Spaniards during a giddy economic boom.

    On his grassy ranch in the territory's heartland, 73-year-old Francisco Mesa breeds these ''Pura Raza Espanola" - Pure Spanish Breed - horses with a passion that comes from years of pampering the elegant beasts known for their intelligence and affection for humans. He enters a muddy pen and is immediately surrounded by mares and foals who nuzzle him with tenderness, oblivious of their almost certain fate: the slaughterhouse. 

    Barring an unlikely reprieve, Mesa' purebreds will be turned into horse meat for export come July. They are victims of a wrenching economic downturn that has wiped out fortunes, turned housing developments into ghost towns and left more than a quarter of the population out of work. Read more here 

    Laura Leon / AP

    Butcher Manuel Delgado prepares a piece of a ''Pura Raza Espanola,'' Pure Spanish Breed horse meat, at a horse meat butcher in Camas, Spain.

    Laura Leon / AP

    Breeder Francisco Mesa places his hand on the back of one of his Pure Spanish Breed horses at "La Yeguada de la Nobleza" ranch on April 8.

    Laura Leon / AP

    Sculptures of horse heads decorate the main entrance of "La Yeguada de Cuatro Vientos" ranch, belonging to breeder Francisco Jose Rodriguez, in Almonte, Andalusia, Spain, on April 8.

    Laura Leon / AP

    Pure Spanish Breed mares, belonging to breeder Francisco Jose Rodriguez, walk in a field at "La Yeguada de Cuatro Vientos" ranch in Almonte, Andalusia, Spain, on April 2.

    Laura Leon / AP

    A Pure Spanish Breed horse belonging to breeder Francisco Mesa at "La Yeguada de la Nobleza" in Almonte, Andalusia, Spain, on April 8.

    Previously on PhotoBlog:

     

     

  • Mandy Cheng / AFP - Getty Images

    Workers carry US beef laden with ractopamine, a controversial additive used to promote lean meat, at a furnace in downtown Taipei on Monday. More than six tonnes of such beef imported by a local company that contained the drug allowed in the US but banned in Taiwan was destroyed. The move came as Taiwanese government is mulling a plan to lift a ban on ractopamine-treated US beef to facilitate stalled trade talks with the US, a key trading partner and arms supplier of the politically isolated island.

    Taiwan destroys US meat laden with growth-boosting drug

    According to this story on msnbc.com about a trade dispute betwen the US and countries which ban the use of ractopamine:

    Although few Americans outside of the livestock industry have ever heard of ractopamine, the feed additive is controversial. Fed to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of pigs in the United States, it has resulted in more reports of sickened or dead pigs than any other livestock drug on the market, an investigation of Food and Drug Administration records shows.

    Growing concern over sick animals in the nation's food supply sparked a California law banning the sale and slaughter of livestock unable to walk, but that law was struck down by the Supreme Court Monday. Meat producers had sued to overturn California’s ban, arguing that the state could not supercede federal rules on meat production. The court agreed.

    Since the drug was introduced, more than 218,000 pigs taking ractopamine were reported to have suffered adverse effects, as of March 2011, according to a review of FDA records. The drug has triggered more adverse reports in pigs than any other animal drug on the market. Pigs suffered from hyperactivity, trembling, broken limbs, inability to walk and death, according to FDA reports released under a Freedom of Information Act request. The FDA, however, says such data do not establish that the drug caused these effects.

  • AFP - Getty Images

    A Chinese animal lover rescues a newborn puppy after a convoy of trucks carrying some 500 dogs to be sold as meat, were stopped along a highway in Beijing early April 17, and the dogs were later rescued by the China Animal Protection Association. There were about 58 million pet dogs in 20 major Chinese cities at the end of 2009 and the figure is rising about 30 percent each year, according to a survey, as pet owners in China spend an estimated two billion USD a year on their animals.

    Newborn puppy and nearly 500 other dogs saved from slaughterhouse in China as debate on incident follows

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    Apparently in order to save the dogs, the truck driver had to be paid 100,000 yuan, or about $15,300. The rescue has since triggered a debate among some Chinese that pouring so much money and effort into saving dogs is questionable when there are so many poor and needy people who are lacking in China. You can read more about the incident in which volunteers armed with food and water for the dogs swarmed the truck in order to get it to stop and the debate that followed here.

    While dog has been served since before 500 B.C. in China, it is now only socially acceptable in the southern part of the country. However, there is a growing movement against the consumption of cat and dog meat in China, and in 2008 it was taken off menus during the Olympics to avoid offending visitors from foreign countries. You can read more on the history of dog meat around the world from Wikipedia.

  • Search for meat replacements leads students to experiment with cooking worms

    JERRY LAMPEN / Reuters

    A student prepares mealworm quiches at the Rijn IJssel school for Chefs in Wageningen January 12, 2011. To try and get wider support for their attempts to introduce insects on the menu of the top restaurants, scientists at the Wageningen University teamed up with the local cook academy. Quiche with mealworms, springrolls with roasted grasshoppers and chocolate pralines with buffalo worms do not make ideal menu for housewarming parties, but in a few decades could be on dinner tables in many European countries as scientists seek ways to replace expensive meat.

    JERRY LAMPEN / Reuters

    Duygu Tatar overcomes her fear of insects by eating a mealworm quiche during a lecture break given by Professor Arnold van Huis at the University of Wageningen, January 12, 2011.

  • Kevin Winter / Getty Images

    Lady Gaga accepts the Video of the Year award onstage during the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards at the NOKIA Theatre in L.A. on Sept. 12, 2010.

    Cher turns back time

    By Robert Hood

    Did Cher embarrass herself at The MTV Awards, or did she show Lady Gaga how the game is played?

    msnbc.com story: Stars forgive, Lady Gaga wins big at MTV awards

    Cher -- an over-the-top diva from a different era -- gave Gaga her award and noted she had been raising eyebrows while Lady Gaga "was still Baby Gaga."

    Cher originally wore her outfit in a 1989 music video that was shot on board the USS Missouri. Many networks refused to show the video, and MTV banned it because of Cher's clothing. However, the music network later decided to show it only after 9 p.m.