the vegan shepherd!!?

[Guest guest]

You're probably all going to hate me for this, but I have to tell you that I

became a 'shepherd' for the day. Partly because the guy who usually does it

wasn't available that day so it left only yours truly! And partly because I

wanted to find out for myself how the animals are treated. My tasks were to

round up the sheep with the help of Maggie[ a very smelly dog] and push the

sheep through a narrow opening where the farmer separated the sheep to be

sheared and lambs to be 'painted', sprayed, ears clipped and castrated.

I was then in a pen with frantic young sheep. I then had to lift them onto a

wall and hold them down while the farmer treated them. As I held them I

could hear their hearts thumping like mad. I got a bit battered and bruised,

but not as much as the poor sheep. In their panic some injured themselves.

Horns were broken off as they butted walls and each other in their struggle

to escape from the pen. So there was quite a bit of blood. Not nice. Very

distressing for them.

 

After that I went to the shed where they are sheared. Again they are all

cramped in a pen, then forced down a narrow corridor, dragged through a gate

and sheared. One sheep is tied at the end of the corridor, so that the other

sheep will follow.It was there for hours, getting a battering from the other

sheep behind it. The poor thing looked exhausted by the end.

Almost every sheep was cut in the shearing process. Often I could see the

bones. My job was then to put tar on the wounds. This keeps flies off, but I

doubt it does much else. And yet another horn came off in the shearers hand.

After their ordeal, some sheep were so dazed, they ran in circles for a bit

before noticing the exit. It was as if they couldn't quite beleive they were

free to go.

Well at least they can enjoy what's left of their lives on the mountains.

This experience was one thing and I thought I handled it quite well [didn't

want to come accross as an over-sensitive vegan girlie anyway, thats just

playing right into their hands] but I know I could never help round them up

if they were on their way to their deaths.

 

In the past I recall a few meat-eaters denying certain facts about

farming,claiming- 'Oh I know, I've worked on a farm. That doesn't happen'

Well I can now say-'I've worked on a farm. It DOES happen!'

 

Out of interest has anyone else done anything similar or visited an abbotoir

or anything like that? Has seeing this sort of thing made anyone go vegan?

Dee

 

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[Guest guest]

I think this was quite a courageuos thing to do - I'm not sure I

could have done it. But as you say its good first hand experience. I

guess that overall, you helping/not helping doesn't make any

difference to the sheep's fate - we need a fairly major change in

society for that, so I don't think its something to hate you for. I'm

wondering whether any group would be interested in publishing your

account, to show that even shearing, which I guess most people

believe is harmless to the animal, can be traumatic and cause injury.

 

One of my early memories is of a slaughter house that was not far

from where I grew up, next to a canal in Gloucester (its long since

closed). As a kid I used to play by the canal, and I can remember the

echoy mooing of cows and mechanical noises coming from the building

and being carried over the canal. It was a very haunting sound,

although it wasn't until later that I actually realised what it was.

I've never actually seen slaughter first hand, but I've seen a few AR

videos. Probably the thing that moved me most though was a written

account I read years ago about slaughter of pigs. It was very vivid,

and I remember the noises from the Gloucester slaughter house coming

back to me as I read it.

 

---

Rob

 

vegan-network, " Dee Matheson " <dmatheson72@h...> wrote:

> You're probably all going to hate me for this, but I have to tell

you that I

> became a 'shepherd' for the day.

 

> Out of interest has anyone else done anything similar or visited an

abbotoir

> or anything like that? Has seeing this sort of thing made anyone go

vegan?

> Dee