Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal protection organization based in Washington, D.C., founded by Paul Shapiro and currently led by Erica Meier. Formed in 1995, COK's primary campaigns are to advocate against factory farms and promote vegetarian eating. While it welcomes those who are interested in animal welfare who eat meat, the group encourages a transition to a plant-based diet, even if gradual or part-time.[1]
A small organization, Compassion Over Killing has been likened to David in his battle against Goliath in its successful campaigns against much larger organizations.[1]
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COK's activities and campaigns include:
In 2005, egg producers dropped an "Animal Care Certified" label from their products after Compassion Over Killing filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission for false advertising on the part of the egg companies.[2] Compassion Over Killing said that the egg label implied that the care of the animals had met a certain standard of animal conditions, which the egg producers had not; the National Advertising Review Board agreed that the label was deceptive.[2] The FTC complaint was dropped when the egg industry agreed to exchange the label in favor of one stating, "United Egg Producers Certified".[2]
The organization has since launched successful campaigns urging Morningstar Farms, Boca, and LightLife to use fewer eggs in their products.
At the 2009 Taking Action for Animals conference hosted by the Humane Society of the United States, Erica Meier introduced Compassion Over Killing's new campaign to urge Dunkin' Donuts to remove animal products from its donuts. Compassion Over Killing had already started a campaign for Dunkin' Donuts to stock soy milk in its shops,[3] which the company did in certain regions.
Compassion Over Killing has also conducted multiple undercover investigations on the conditions of 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.[1] One of the farms documented, owned by ISE America, housed more than 800,000 hens.[4] Following a tipoff about substandard conditions at the farm, COK requested permission to visit the farm before proceeding with an undercover investigation.[4]
The egg industry said that conditions found in photos and videos produced by COK did not give an accurate view and it was illegal for Compassion Over Killing to remove the hens.[1] The spokesperson for the owner of the farm in question said that the conditions found at the farm were "normal industry practices."[5] 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.[6]
On November 21, 2006, COK released the results of its investigation inside a turkey hatchery in North Carolina that supplies Butterball. Details on the investigation can be found in the Charlotte Observer.
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.[7] Charges were pressed by a local animal control officer after viewing a video provided by COK which allegedly showed hens impaled by cage wires, among other decomposing hens.[7] The owner and manager of the farm were acquitted in 2007, in a case which COK maintained rewrote animal cruelty laws to say that farm animals were not covered.[8]