Farmed Animal Watch-Worth Reading & Thanks to Skip Trimble

[Guest guest]

I meant to also congratulate Skip Trimble of the Texas Humane

Legislation Network (www.thln.org) for helping to get the word out on

this particularly cruel and frightening form of animal abuse committed

by budding sadistic sociopaths. See his quote in " Gratuitous Farmed

Animal Assaults on the Rise. " God help us all when these creeps grow

up.

 

Good of reason as any to join THLN and help pass laws against such

heinous behavior to protect all our future safety from these currently

unprosecutable, but still criminal miscreants. Margaret

 

, Margaret Morin

<dogs_good wrote:

 

 

> Subscribe to Farmed Animal Watch August 24,

2007 -- Number 24, Volume 7

> 1. GRATUITOUS FARMED ANIMAL

ASSAULTS ON THE RISE

> " They just wanted to see what shooting cattle was like, " Hickman

County Sheriff Randal Ward said about two Tennessee teens who last

year shot and killed 24 cows, many of them pregnant. In California,

police are currently investigating the May killing of 15 goats, each

shot in the face as they huddled in a portable pen. Residents had

called in reports of the sound of " babies crying. " On August 17th, an

Arkansas teen was arrested for allegedly attempting to run down

cattle. When a bull became stuck under the Ford Ranger, the teen,

accompanied by two men, reportedly fatally stabbed him. Several cows

were wounded and a pregnant one was euthanized. The previous week,

nine cows were shot at a nearby farm, five fatally:

http://tinyurl.com/2svr3r

>

> These are just a few examples of an increasing number of animal

cruelty cases being reported nationwide outside city limits (see also:

http://tinyurl.com/2oolkr ). Authorities say cows, goats, horses and

other farmed animals are being killed, often by angry, reckless

youths. " Rural kids grow up with guns. They shoot squirrels and

coyotes as predator control, so the idea of shooting a rifle from a

vehicle is not abnormal, " said a lawyer for one teen convicted of

shooting horses. A former Fresno County assistant district attorney

who prosecuted teen animal killers asserts they had too little adult

supervision and too much access to guns. " You see something, you shoot

it -- and then you drive down the road for a few more laughs, " he

said, " It's someone else's problem. " Researchers are developing a

personality profile of those who kill large animals (other than in the

context of legal hunting). Studies suggest that youths who engage in

such cruelty often commit violent

> criminal behavior as adults.

>

> The gratuitous killing of farmed animals gets little attention in

the U.S. Although 43 states have passed felony animal cruelty laws,

they rarely apply to farmed animals " thanks in part to a strong

cattleman's lobby -- as long as ranchers follow 'accepted husbandry

practices,' " notes this Los Angeles Times article. " It speaks to a

prejudice against certain animals, not based on a rational assessment

of their ability to feel pain but on our intended use for them, "

states Farm Sanctuary President Gene Baur. Although some states do

provide some legal protection for these animals, enforcement can vary

and prosecutors often settle for convictions on " vandalism " charges.

 

" Most places, you've got to go a long way to be considered cruel to

livestock, " said Robert Trimble, an attorney for the Texas Humane

Legislation Network, " The industry is paranoid that somehow what they

do in their routine animal husbandry could be called cruelty. "

 

According to investigators, society is beginning to take a tougher

stance on such cruelty. Last autumn, Texas improved protections for

farmed animals, creating a legal definition of what constitutes

torture that includes inflicting " unjustifiable pain or suffering. "

>

>

> A BEASTLY KIND OF CRUELTY

> The Los Angeles Times John M. Glionna, August 17, 2007

> http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cruelty17aug17,0,564550.story

> CATTLE KILLING DRAWS NATIONAL IRE

> Batesville Daily Guard, Tony McGuffey, August 23, 2007

> http://tinyurl.com/25swul

>

>

> 2. FOIE GRAS PRODUCER NOT CHARGED DESPITE DOCUMENTATION

> Crown Prosecutors in Quebec, Canada declined charging foie gras

producer Elevages Perigord with animal cruelty despite video and other

documentation brought to court's attention last month (see:

http://tinyurl.com/32mcwf ) by Farm Sanctuary and Global Action

Network. " The failure to prosecute represents a break down in the

enforcement system and does not speak to the legality or the morality

of practices at Elevages Perigord, " said Gene Baur, President of Farm

Sanctuary.

>

>

>

> PROSECUTORS FAIL TO CHARGE FOIE GRAS PRODUCER ELEVAGES PERIGORD

DESPITE DOCUMENTATION OF SICKENING ABUSES

> Canada NewsWire, August 23, 2007

> http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2007/23/c9874.html

>

> 3. CHINA'S MYSTERY PIG DISEASE

> The pig, little more than a skeleton, shivered in a corner,

struggling for life. China's pigs are falling victim to a mysterious

disease that " [eats] away at their insides in a matter of weeks. " The

government says some 165,000 pigs have contracted the virus this year.

However, in a country with one of the world's most densely populated

pig breeding areas, that loses 25 million of its 500 million pigs to

disease each year, few believe the government figure. The affliction

is thought to be an extremely lethal form of porcine reproductive and

respiratory syndrome (PRRS, a.k.a., " blue-ear pig disease, " see #9 of

http://tinyurl.com/snhb ).

>

> Animal virus experts accuse Chinese authorities of downplaying the

gravity and spread of the quickly mutating disease, causing fear that

a global pandemic could hit domestic pigs. China, said to be the 4th

largest exporter of live and slaughtered pigs, is feared to already be

exporting the virus. A similar one has been detected in neighboring

Vietnam and Myanmar. The Chinese government and media are reporting

that diseased or infected pigs are being sold to underground

slaughterplants. Chinese officials insists that the disease is under

control and that a vaccine has been developed and distributed. The

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is pressing

China to share its research and tissue samples. China's refusal to do

so is causing suspicions that the disease may be a type that could

harm China's export status.

>

> A letter by Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the U.S.,

published in The New York Times, blames intensive confinement. " With

this industrialization often comes overcrowding, inadequate

ventilation and related physiological stress — factors implicated as

heightening the risk of disease outbreaks, " he writes. Pacelle urges

that diseased animals be euthanized rather than left to suffer. He

cites a 2005 survey showing " that the Chinese are similar to Americans

in their concern for animals " as a source of hope that " we can only

expect future improvements in the welfare of farm animals " both here

and there.

>

>

>

> VIRUS SPREADING ALARM AND PIG DISEASE IN CHINA

> The New York Times, David Barboza, August 16, 2007

> http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/16/business/16pigs.php

> VARIABILITY SPURS WILD RIDE

> National Hog Farmer's North American Preview, Steve R. Meyer, August

23, 2007

> http://tinyurl.com/2oooue

> CHINA'S DISEASED PIGS

> The New York Times, Wayne Pacelle, August 22, 2007

> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/opinion/lweb22pigs.html

>

>

> 4. ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT GENES MIGRATE TO GROUNDWATER

> Tetracycline is a drug widely used in pig production to prevent or

treat disease and to stimulate growth. Its near-continuous use

promotes tetracycline-resistant bacteria in the animals' digestive

tracts and manure. Researchers at the University of Illinois report

that some bacterial genes present in lagoons used to store most pig

waste are transferred between bacterial species. The research team

found that tetracycline-resistant genes migrate from lagoons into

groundwater wells. This has broad environmental and health

implications. " What we are seeing is that the genes can travel a lot

further than the bacteria, " said principal investigator R.I. Mackie.

" If the genes are there, potentially they can get into the right

organism at the right time and confer resistance to an antibiotic

that's being used to treat disease, " he explains, noting: " It's a

relay race. "

> Since the late 1990's, new lagoons must be built with liners to

prevent seepage. However, facilities operating prior to the law are

allowed to continue using unlined lagoons, some of which leak. The

roughly 238,000 animal feeding operations in the U.S. collectively

generate about 500 million tons of manure per year. Groundwater makes

up about 40% of the public water supply, and more than 97% of rural

drinking water.

>

>

>

> TEAM TRACKS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE FROM SWINE FARMS TO GROUNDWATER

> Science Daily, August 22, 2007

> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070821153926.htm

>

>

> 5. FOOD & FAITH

> Protecting the environment has become a religious issue during the

past few years. Now food production is becoming one, including the

treatment of farmed animals. Younger people in particular seem to be

interested in these matters. " Food and the environment is the civil

rights movement for people under the age of 40, " states a Presbyterian

pastor. The concepts behind faith-based farming relate to the

principles of a number of popular diet books that draw from the Bible.

All of the authors profess a return to what they believe are biblical

healthy eating habits and humane farmed animal treatment. The subject

is also discussed in an article called " Farming Based on the Word of

the God " on the Bible study website: http://tinyurl.com/2qeqyh. A

Jewish perspective of ideas in the faith-based agriculture movement

can be found on blogs such as the Jew & the Carrot:

http://jcarrot.org. " The religious movement is a huge force, " said

Arlin S. Wasserman, the founder of Changing

> Tastes, a consulting firm in St. Paul that advises food companies

and philanthropic organizations on trends in food and agriculture.

" Already, religious institutions oversee the production of $250

billion per year in food if you bundle together halal, kosher, and

institutional buying, " he notes.

>

> Scott Lively, founder of Dakota Beef, believed to be the largest

vertically-integrated certified organic cattle slaughterer in the

country ( http://tinyurl.com/2mkcr3 ), follows " the Maker's diet. " He

explains: " We take time to be sure the animal has been processed

humanely. This is not only important for our humane handling

standards, but it is also very much biblical in our minds. " The

slaughterplant was designed with the help of Temple Grandin

(http://www.grandin.com ), who suggested such changes as " nestling

[animals] in a comfortable head-holder as Tal Ginter, the shohet, or

kosher slaughterer, wields the knife that slices their jugular vein,

rather than first stunning the animals, as is a common commercial

practice. " Mr. Ginter explains: " It looks bloody, but according to the

Bible and the Torah, you have to be mindful of the animal and let it

die as fast as you can, to cause less pain. " He asserts: " It is not a

horrible thing. "

>

>

>

> OF CHURCH AND STEAK: FARMING FOR THE SOUL

> The New York Times, Joan Nathan, August 22, 2007

> http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/22/travel/22eco.php

>

>

> 6. THE SOFT-SELL APPROACH

> " When it comes to weaning people off meat, animal-rights activists

are finding that the soft touch yields better results than clubbing

people upside the head like seals, " states a Tucson (Arizona) Weekly

article entitled The Vegan Crusade: Animal-Rights Activists Attempt to

Get People to Abandon Meat with Smaller Steps and Subtlety. It notes

that activists have welcomed incremental progress by working through

all levels of government while engaging in fewer sensational tactics

intended to cause immediate change. " The broad spectrum of advocacy is

necessary, given that animals are so widely abused for food in this

country, and that we have so much work to do until we reach a time

when animals are no longer used for food, " asserts Matt Ball,

executive director of Tucson-based Vegan Outreach. He contends: " The

main point is to try to have as much impact in the world as possible,

instead of promoting one specific diet or one specific philosophy. "

Peggy Raisglid, owner of

> Lovin' Spoonfuls, a vegan restaurant, comments: " I've always

thought that the soft sell--presenting people with the facts and

letting them speak for themselves--was the way to go. "

>

>

>

> On a somewhat related note, see:

> IN PRAISE OF MILD REFORMS

> The Boston Globe, Opinion, Robert Mann, August 21, 2007

> http://tinyurl.com/38hwh9

> THE VEGAN CRUSADE

> Tucson Weekly, Saxon Burns, August 16, 2007

> http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:99284

>

>

> 7. ANIMAL WELFARE & INDUSTRY VIABILITY

> " One of reasons the debate has become so heated between industry

and animal welfare advocates is because our livestock systems and

decisions have relied too much on performance and not enough on other

indicators, " states Joseph Stookey, professor of Applied Ethology at

the University of Saskatchewan, as quoted by industry columnist Dan

Murphy in the August 17th edition of his weekly Meat & Poultry piece.

" You wouldn't find a successful business . . . that dismisses consumer

sentiments as easily as our livestock industries have ignored

attitudes towards animal welfare, " Stookey asserts, " It's no wonder

why we have voter initiatives to demand changes to our livestock

rearing systems. That's the obvious outcome when concerns fall on deaf

ears. " He advises: " When industry fixes the `sore spots' that trigger

consumer concerns (and ballot measures), the result is greater

support, improved sales and increased approval for the farmers,

producers and processors involved. "

>

> " Positive changes that impact animals' well being should

objectives unto themselves, " Murphy notes. He explains that

" …industry's search for systems that can deliver it all – high

standards of care, optimal animal welfare economic efficiency – tends

to obscure [that] bottom line. " Murphy discusses two " dilemmas

plaguing producers in any discussion over how much and how far they

ought to go toward changing production parameters, " including when

pressured by outside interest groups. He concurs with John McGlone

that: " Often, there are simply no economically viable alternatives to

unwanted production practices' " (see: http://tinyurl.com/324hdf ).

Murphy also contends: " The popular definition of `welfare' may not be

relevant to livestock production systems. That's because consumers

define " humane handling " almost exclusively in terms of freedom of

movement and outdoor access… " He explains: " When you depend on the

purchase, care and eventual sale of food animals to earn a

> living, `performance' cannot be substituted for `welfare.' " Murphy

concludes: " Animal welfare is…a steppingstone, not to eliminating the

meat and poultry industry, but to ensuring its ultimate viability. "

>

>

>

> THE REAL DEAL ON VEAL

> Meat & Poultry, Dan Murphy, August 17, 2007

> http://www.meatprocessingmedia.com/news/newsarchive.asp

>

>

>

>

In This Issue

>

> GRATUITOUS FARMED ANIMAL ASSAULTS ON THE RISE

>

>

> FOIE GRAS PRODUCER NOT CHARGED DESPITE DOCUMENTATION

>

>

> CHINA'S MYSTERY PIG DISEASE

>

>

> ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT GENES MIGRATE TO GROUNDWATER

>

>

> FOOD & FAITH

>

>

> THE SOFT-SELL APPROACH

>

>

> ANIMAL WELFARE & INDUSTRY VIABILITY

>

>

>

Our Sponsors

> Animal Place

>

> Animal Welfare Institute

>

> Animal Welfare Trust

>

> Farm Sanctuary

>

> Glaser Progress Foundation

>

> Humane Society of the United States

>

> People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

> The information in this news digest does not necessarily reflect

the views of the sponsors nor is anything in it meant as an

endorsement by them.

>

> Masthead

> Compiled and edited by Mary Finelli, Farmed Animal Watch is a free

weekly electronic news digest of information concerning farmed animal

issues gleaned from an array of academic, industry, advocacy and

mainstream media sources.

>

>

>

>

>

>

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