KAREN DAVIS, PhD is the founder and president of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. Founded in 1990, United Poultry Concerns addresses the treatment of domestic fowl in food production, science, education, entertainment, and human companionship situations. Karen has a PhD in English from the University of Maryland-College Park where she taught for twelve years in the English Department.
Karen's articles have appeared in The Faculty Voice (University of Maryland), Journal of English and Germanic Philology, English Language Notes, Teaching English in the Two-Year College, and Between the Species: A Journal of Ethics. Her work, letters-to-the editor and op-eds have been featured in the New York Times, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times, Washingtonian, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Potomac Gazette, Harper's Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Minnesota Monthly, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Nation, Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, "Dear Abby," Egg Industry, Feedstuffs, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Canadian Veterinary Journal, and many other publications. Karen has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows including The Howard Stern Show, The Daily Show, Fact Finders on WB Channel 11 News @ Ten in New York City, and This American Life on National Public Radio.
Karen Davis has essays in Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations (Duke UP, 1995), Terrorists or Freedom Fighters: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals (Lantern Books, 2004), Animal Liberation Philosophy and Policy Studies Journal Vol. 2, No. 2 (Center on Animal Liberation Affairs, 2005), and Encyclopedia of Animals and Humans (Greenwood, 2007). Her essay "Chicken-Human Relationships: From Procrustean Genocide to Empathic Anthropomorphism" is featured in the Spring 2010 issue of Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture. An extended version of this essay, "Procrustean Solutions to Animal Identity and Welfare Problems," forms the opening chapter of Critical Theory and Animal Liberation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011). Karen also has a chapter, "From Hunting Grounds to Chicken Rights: My Story in an Eggshell," in Sister Species: Women, Animals, and Social Justice (forthcoming, University of Illinois Press, 2011). Her contribution, "Freeing Birds From Food Production," is forthcoming in The Global Guide to Animal Protection by Andrew Linzey (University of Illinois Press, 2011).
On November 14, 2000, Karen and United Poultry Concerns were featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Primetime TV show Witness, in "Chickens are People Too," produced by the Emmy-winning filmmaker, John Kastner. In 2002 Karen gave a presentation on "The Beauty, Dignity & Abuse of Chickens" at the Yale University Chicken Conference, May 17-19.
On April 20, 2007, media celebrity Ira Glass, host of the popular Public Radio International program This American Life aired on NPR, appeared on Late Night with David Letterman where he told Letterman and millions of viewers that his visit to United Poultry Concerns' chicken sanctuary in 1998 led him to become a vegetarian. Karen Davis and UPC's sanctuary are currently featured in two major films on DVD: The Emotional World of Farm Animals narrated by Jeffrey Masson & frequently aired on NPR; and Animal People: The Humane Movement in America produced by Gary Kaskel and United Action for Animals in 2007.
In 2010, Karen and a group of New York City activists formed The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos (www.EndChickensAsKaporos.com), a project of United Poultry Concerns comprising people who seek to replace the cruel practice of swinging and slaughtering chickens in Kaporos rituals with money or other non-animal symbols of atonement. On October 9, 2010, Pulitzer Prizewinning photojournalist Carol Guzy published "An ancient tradition draws protests" in the online edition of The Washington Post , prompted by the Alliance's Rally to End Chickens as Kaporos, on September 12, 2010, in Brooklyn, NY (www.endchickensaskaporos.com/101011wpost.html).
Karen is the author of several books including A Home for Henny (a children's book published by UPC); Instead of Chicken, Instead of Turkey: A Poultryless 'Poultry' Potpourri (a cookbook published by the Book Publishing Co.); Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry (Book Publishing Co.); More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality (Lantern Books); and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities (Lantern Books). The 2009 Revised Edition of Karen's landmark book Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs (first published in 1996) is described by the American Library Association's Choice magazine as "Riveting . . . brilliant . . . noteworthy for its breadth and depth." See Book Reviews at www.upc-online.org/bookreviews/.
I'd like to purchase, if possible, the "Turkeys" flyer you put out previously. How much would they be? I don't have a credit card and I don't want to use my debit card on-line.
You'll need to contact the folks at United Poultry Concerns: http://www.upc-online.org/.