Compassion Over Killing
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| Founded | 1995 |
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| Focus | Cruelty to animals in agriculture |
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Key people
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Erica Meier |
| Website | http://www.cok.net/ |
Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a non-profit animal protection organization based in Washington, D.C., currently led by Executive Director Erica Meier. Formed in 1995 as a high school club, COK's primary campaigns are to advocate against factory farming and promote vegetarian eating. While the group welcomes those who are interested in animal welfare who eat meat, it encourages a transition to a plant-based diet, even if gradual or part-time.
COK's activities and campaigns include:
As of 2016, COK has completed its eighth annual VegWeek. VegWeek is an international campaign in which people make a pledge to eat a plant-based diet for one week. In 2016, more than 5,400 people took the 7-Day VegPledge. Participants of VegWeek campaigns have included federal, state, and local representatives, athletes and celebrities, and community members.
Compassion Over Killing has conducted multiple undercover investigations into conditions facing animals raised for food in the U.S.
The group conducted an investigation into the living conditions at Maryland henhouses, documenting corpses found in group cages and rescuing some of the hens found in the worst conditions. One of the farms documented, owned by ISE America, housed more than 800,000 hens. Following a tip about substandard conditions at the farm, COK requested permission to visit the farm before proceeding with an undercover investigation.
The spokesperson for the owner of the farm in question said that the conditions found at the farm were "normal industry practices." While one of the farms asserted that the video footage was not taken at its farm, Compassion Over Killing had filmed its GPS location as well as mail addressed to the farm in question.
In early 2006, a Compassion Over Killing investigation inside a Pennsylvania egg farm led to criminal charges of 35 counts of animal cruelty against the owner and manager of the farm, the first case of its kind. Although, charges were pressed by a local animal control officer after viewing a video provided by COK, the owner and manager of the farm were eventually acquitted in 2007.
COK's undercover video exposing animal abuse at Central Valley Meat Co. (CVM) prompted the USDA to shut down the California slaughterhouse in 2012 and suspend federal purchases from the facility, a major supplier to the USDA's National School Lunch Program. California-based fast food chain, In-N-Out Burger immediately severed ties with its former supplier CVM upon the release of COK's investigation findings, followed by national chains McDonald's and Costco. In February 2014, the facility was again shut down by the USDA for unsanitary conditions.
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