Here's Why It Should Not Be Illegal To Film Meat Processing Plants Or Farms

This is difficult to watch.



There is no shortage of these kinds of examples, but since I posted about this twice in the last week (here and here), I thought I would share another tidbit that's made it to the public eye. This is precisely why my strong independent and pro business streak yields to greater scrutiny of farm and processing plant practices. There are just too many of these examples. It's no wonder they want to prevent the public from seeing what they do. People react viscerally to abuse and that's normal.

Mercy For Animals has the story.

During the undercover investigation at E6 Cattle Co. in Hart, Texas - a factory farm which rears nearly 10,000 calves for use on dairy farms - MFA's investigator documented:

•Workers bludgeoning calves in their skulls with pickaxes and hammers

•Beaten calves, still alive and conscious, thrown onto piles to slowly suffer and die

•Workers kicking sick or injured calves in the head, and standing on their necks and ribs

•Calves confined to squalid hutches, thick with manure and urine buildup, and barely large enough for the calves to turn around or fully extend their legs

•Gruesome injuries, including open sores, swollen joints and severed hooves

•Sick, injured and dying calves denied any medical care

Many have differing viewpoints on a vegan diet (absolutely no animal products) versus meat eating, occasional meat eating, or any animal product consumption. That's okay. You do not have to conform to the two book-ended examples out there (ie: no oversight of processing plants or totally vegan). I ate at a wonderful restaurant last night and they specialize in cured meats. Yes when I order my food from Freshdirect.com, like many NY'ers, I usually buy all vegetarian entrees -- because they are good and I like them (and they stay fresher longer in my fridge). I do not believe one has to conform to an all-vegetable diet in order to be against cruelty. Animals can be slaughtered humanely. Yes, they are being killed, but for consumption, and I personally do not have a problem with that. I want it done with the least amount of stress, fear, and pain, so I applaud the efforts of groups with whom I may not completely agree ideologically, but who work on behalf of those who have no voice.

Note that there was some felony abuse that was charged, and some misdemeanors, which of course carry less jail. The pretties in this case may not receive a lot of time in the slammer, but this case will be one more link in the chain towards better protection of animals, on or off of farms.
 
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Legislation Aimed At Stopping Videos of Farm Animals Fails

The Washington Post has the goods.

I'm glad. I have seen enough videos to stop eating pork and start eating more vegetarian meals, but I am in no way a militant vegetarian. I'm not even a vegetarian! Suffering must be stopped, however.

“A well-managed farm has nothing to hide,” said Emily Vaughn, a program manager at New York-based Slow Food USA. “It’s something that people have the right to know.”

I'm not advocating for Slow Food USA, because I don't know enough about them, but I agree with the sentiment Ms. Vaughn shared.

Here's another quote, from a pig farmer, who rightly feels under seige and calls into question those who lie to get a job in slaughterhouses, just so they can get video tape.

In some instances, operators admitted the videos showed problems, but they said activists should have reported any mistreatment directly to farm managers rather than publicize the images.


“I don’t believe in people being hired under false pretenses to get access to these facilities to portray their side of the story,” said Cody McKinley, a public policy director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

The thing is, I don't believe that bringing the images to the attention of the owner of the farm would really improve anything.

There are many times when I feel government oversteps. I feel we are too regulated a country. But where the suffering of animals is concerned, even if those animals are destined to be dinner, I do want regulation and oversight. And accountability.

Another quote:

Bruce Berven, a lobbyist for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, claimed activists had broader goals than ensuring farm animals were treated humanely.


“Their agenda is clear and basically anti-livestock,” Berven said. “They are basically just using this issue to promote their vegan-slash-vegetarian agenda. There’s a bigger war going on than this issue.”

I don't see that it matters that Slow Food's agenda is to be anti-livestock, as Mr. Berven suggests. He's probably right. Slow food is probably made up of people who eat no animal products, nor wear leather and certainly not fur. The whole country and the legislative process if made up of "bigger wars," as he says. The public gets to decide to take a little of this, leave a little of that, and bar some practices entirely. If you are neither farmer nor vegetarian, would it make sense to have to belong on one side of the fence or another?  I think people look at this proposed legislation to ban any video taping of farm animals and their treatment in slaughterhouses and say, "yeah, it stinks they lied to get jobs just to get in and video tape you, but your practices are inflicting pain and I don't like it."

A well-managed farm has nothing to worry about.

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The Other White Meat

For about a month or so, I've lost my taste for pork products. I've long enjoyed meat and probably will continue to on some level. I have never liked militant vegetarians, though I'm happy to eat things with no meat or even animal products if they are available and actually taste good. But something has been happening lately to make me lose my taste for pork. Partly my new feelings have developed over a period of time - with periodic bits of information making it through the cranium; partly it's because of social media's ability to share information on a wider than-once-before level.

Here's a video that's a real eye opener. It's not as bad as some, but it does show the squalid conditions of pigs at a bred-for-consumption farm, and their distress.

I recently posted something about Florida wanting to make it illegal to photograph farms like this. While I respect property rights (and quite like capitalism, thank you), I also demand that animals not suffer unnecessarily. Without scrutiny and public awareness, there is no way to pressure farms to act better or to punish abusers, and that is just unacceptable.






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Should it be illegal to photograph a farm?

I'm willing to consider both sides, but considering, too, that most improvements made to animals' lives are done through exposing the horrors they deal with regularly, I feel this issue is worth looking at.

The agriculture industry wants to ban photographing farms in Florida. This group has the goods.

Go here to hear their case.




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