Animals rescued from slaughterhouse arrive

Six goats and two sheep are safe and sound at Animal Place after being rescued by Santa Cruz County animal control services from
a slaughterhouse. The goats and sheep are in poor shape, suffering from malnourishment, respiratory infections and hoof problems. Here, they will find kindness, good food, medical care and a bright future.

Twenty goats, two sheep, one cow and two rabbits are lucky survivors of a cruelty investigation Watsonville, California. Nearly a hundred pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, rabbits and chickens remain at the site. The animals were part of a live market and slaughterhouse, where buyers pick an animal to be killed and butchered on site.

Even though the animals had no food, no water, no shelter, even though they were skinny, diseased, with some unable to walk, state agricultural officials deemed the facility in compliance with state laws. That will only change when people stop seeing farmed animals as commodities and start seeing them as sentient beings, as capable of pain as dogs and cats.

We need your help!
The lucky eight at Animal Place need intensive care. They all have respiratory infections, overgrown hooves, and need special feed to get healthy. You can help with their recovery and rehabilitation by donating today. We rely exclusively on the kindness of people like you to help us help the animals.

Homes needed - after they get healthy, we'd love to find compassionate homes for these rescued goats and sheep. If you are interested in adoption, please contact us at info@animalplace.org or 707-449-4814. The animals won't be ready for placement for at least a month.

Poultry not considered livestock

I looked up the definition of livestock just for giggles. By definition, any animal raised for profit on a farm or ranch is "livestock". Seems simple enough.

Imagine my surprise (and sadness) when I read about a judge ruling that the nine billion birds killed each year for consumption aren’t actually livestock and don’t need to be rendered insensible to pain prior to their throats being slit.

Let’s back up a second - stunned insensible? According to the federal Methods of Humane Slaughter Act, livestock must be knocked unconscious before the final killing blow. This usually translates to a physical blow to the head for cattle, sheep and goats and an electrical stunning for pigs. But what about the most killed species, the birds? They have consistently been excluded from this basic protection since the law’s inception. Birds do not need to be stunned into an unconscious state - that is nine billion animals who can legally have their throats cuts open while conscious.

Poultry processors generally submerge birds in an electrified water bath, which just doesn’t sound like much fun. Studies show that, if improperly electrified (and they often are), an electric water bath only renders the bird immobile but not unconscious. She can feel every thing done to her, but she cannot physically move away from the pain - what a sad, scary way to die.

I know it’s oft-repeated here, but you have the power to implement change. You can certainly choose to contact federal and state officials, imploring them to implement basic standards of welfare when killing farmed animals. Better yet, you can choose to step out of the system and refrain from eating any product that resulted in the suffering of another feeling, sentient being.

-Marji Beach, Program Coordinator

Swim back, Flipper!

Photo courtesy of freephotosbank

Swim aside, Flipper, there's a new aquatic-genius in town --- the goldfish!

Apparently, people think fish only have a 3-second memory span. Please ignore the silliness of arbitrarily assigning memory abilities.

A 15-year-old student discovered goldfish have pretty decent memory, spanning an entire week (which is saying something, considering I can barely remember this morning's breakfast).

Now his study is probably not going to be published in the Annals of Fish Geniusness (sadly, not a real word), but it does bring up a good question: If fish do have good memory, are those tiny bowls people dump them in really fulfilling their "fishiness"?

We hope this intelligent student's experiment convinces some people that fish can only hold onto a thought for a fleeting 3-seconds...because, as of yet, there are no studies on how long a fish holds a grudge!

In all seriousness, we encourage people not to buy fish and to seriously analyze their current aquariums, making sure the welfare of the animals take precedence over space concerns.

-Marji Beach, Program Coordinator

Helping animals is easy

By now, you've probably read or seen one of the over 2,000 media accounts involving the cruel treatment of cows sent to slaughter and the subsequent recall of 143-million pounds of beef. Cruelty charges are being laid, schools are making sure their beef isn't from the Chino, CA slaughterhouse and legislation is being proposed to close a loophole that permits downed animals from entering the human food chain.

We are duly impressed with the coverage this industry-standard cruelty is receiving. It's about time. We don't want it to overshadow the fact that this slaughterhouse is not unique, and the treatment of these animals not aberrant within animal agribusiness.

A big thank-you to the Humane Society of the United States and their dedicated undercover investigator for exposing this cruelty.

Times are changing, and we believe it will be for the better.

How You Can Help:

1) Press Pause: That's right, pause and consider your dietary choices.

If the time isn't right for a vegan diet, reduce your consumption and nominate a day of the week as your Meat-Out day.

If the time is right (and we hope it is!), go vegan!

There are a plethora of mouth-watering and tasty-recipes available on the internet and at your local bookstore!

Try Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Planet, How it all Vegan, and the very important Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Becoming vegan is a fun experience - it is a kindness we extend to the animals, our bodies and the planet. A win-win situation for all, really.

2) Contact the USDA: Contact USDA secretary of agriculture, Edward Schafer.

Ask him to:
- close the loophole permitting such blatant cruelty to animals.
- stop allowing downed animals to enter the food chain.
- require USDA inspectors spend more time present at federally-inspected slaughterhouses.

Email: Edward.W.Schafer@usda.gov

3) Change the Menu: Here's a truth animal agribusiness doesn't like to share: the beef that ends up in government-funded school programs come from sick, diseased, overworked dairy cows.

Why? It's cheap.

And the solution shouldn't be to just buy meat from other slaughterhouses. It should include a serious reflection on what we do and do not want to teach our children. If we want to imbue a sense of compassion, of what is right and what is wrong, then perhaps we should encourage a trend of vegan menu options, instead of replacing one cruel product with another. After all, there is no escaping this fact: in order to produce cheap meat at a fast pace, animals must be mistreated from birth to death.

What you can do: Visit CHOICE, a website that will assist you in getting vegetarian menu options available in your child's school. If you're a teenager, advocate on behalf of the animals and encourage menu changes at your school.

Triple threat - Bovine buddies

It's time for a meet and greet. Let's start with Animal Place's cattle because, hey!, we only have three…

The slideshow shows off our dapper bovines, enjoy!

Nicholas
From backyard "trash" to sanctuary star, Nicholas is the darling of the sanctuary with his mocha eyes, long lashes and playful attitude.
Age: 1.5 months
Breed: Jersey
Color: Brown (or a pale mocha…)
Likes: Chewing on scarves, hair, grass, pot-bellied pigs, hay, neck skritches
Dislikes: Not being fed exactly on time, goats who stare at him
Story: Nicholas was found tied in a yard, auction stickers glued to his body. He was only two-days-old. Animal Control confiscated him, called us and bam! Nicholas was on his way to his new digs. Nicholas is a by-product of the dairy industry; an unwanted male calf destined for the veal crate or a backyard slaughter.

Sadie
From abused dairy cow to Howie-seducer, Sadie is now Queen Cow at the sanctuary.
Age: 9 years
Breed: Holstein
Color: Penguin black-and-white (but don't mention the penguin part to Sadie)
Likes: Alfalfa, handsome steers, full-body massages, apples
Dislikes: Frisky steers, pigs, medicine
Story: Sadie was a dairy cow. Contrary to popular belief, there are no happy pastures for retired dairy cows – they're slaughtered at a young age. When she was about six, Sadie was sent to auction for eventual slaughter. A veterinary university bought her so that students could poke and prod before selling her back at auction…what a great lesson to teach! A vegan vet student coordinated her rescue, and now she spends her days grazing with Howie and talking to Nicholas.

Howie
From a shelter night-drop box to wheelbarrow-crushing steer, Howie is our loveable lug of a bovine.
Age: 12 years
Breed: Charolais
Color: Sandy brown
Likes: Wheelbarrows (the tipping of), hay, pears, apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, sweet potatoes, head-butting the pigs
Dislikes: Head-butting goats, having to move out of anyone's way
Story: Howie's mom died giving birth. The farmer stuffed the one-day-old calf into a drop-off box at a shelter. When FFA (Future Farmers of America) heard about the calf, they wanted to raffle him off to the highest bidder…so they could kill him. And the shelter was okay with that! Animal Place garnered media attention and, smartly, the shelter agreed to place Howie with us. Twelve-years-later, Howie thrives and quite popular with visitors.

Remember, your actions affect their lives. Reduce and eliminate. Then go vegan.

Rethinking the meat guzzler

A New York Times article by Mark Bittman details the effects meat production has on our environment. Health problems and animal cruelty are mentioned in passing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

If you do not have a NY Times account, get a free log-in id from www.bugmenot.com (just enter the URL in the search box).

Highlights:
- The United States comprises 5% of the world's population, yet slaughters 15% of the world's total farmed animals (10 billion).
- A third of all ice-free land is directly/indirectly involved in meat, dairy and egg production.
- Nearly 20% of all greenhouse gases are produced by the livestock industry.
- Two to five times more grain is required to produce the same caloric amount through livestock than direct consumption of grain.
- Americans consume twice the maximum, suggested allowance of animal protein a day! Humans only need about 30 grams of protein a day, yet Americans consume around 110 grams.

The production of animal products is a burden to the environment, our bodies and necessarily cruel to animals.

Reduce and eliminate - it isn't hard to do!

Pigs don't want that honor

In the UK, there's been a lot of open discussion about food choices. We have Jamie Oliver televising the killing of a chicken and smothering of male chicks. Eggs from battery caged hens will be banned by 2012 and gestation crates are already being phased out. News stories detail the journey of families choosing to raise animals, name them, pet them, claim they "love them", and then slit those cherished ones throats.

Here's one of those stories: Compassionate Carnivores

For several months, this family took superb care of two pigs, Gnasher and Rasher and then murdered them. Can you imagine doing that to your companion dog or cat? Look them in the eye and say, "Hey, it's been a great six months - time to shoot you in the head and eat you!" In countries (like the UK) where dogs and cats are viewed as "companion animals", there would be outrage both moral and legal. Yet there is nothing intrinsically different about the emotional capacity, ability to feel pain, ability to relate to people or intellectual capabilities betwen pigs and dogs...why is one "food" and the other a "companion"?

The article goes on to quote philosopher Roger Scruton, who writes, "Duty requires us therefore, to eat our friends".

It might just be me, but that has to be one of the creepier philosophical opines. When I look at my friends, I'm not sizing up their hams or determining how long their meat will last in my freezer. I don't tell my friends that I love them so much, sorry about the whole I have to slit your throat and eat you bit. No one wants to be friends with someone whose going to kill and eat them. The human family raising Gnasher and Rasher were not their friends - they were humans who could not see past their momentary gustatory wants and desires. There is nothing friendly about the end result for Gnasher and Rasher.

"The animal brought to the table will have enjoyed the friendship and protection of the one who nurtured him, and his death will be like the ritual sacrifices described in the Bible and Homeric literature - a singling out of a victim, for an important office to which a kind of honour is attached."

I really wish these so-called "compassionate carnivores" would stop couching the killing of friends in such euphemistic ways. Honor? Important office? Friendship and protection?

I doubt Gnasher and Rasher were particularly honored about the whole throat-slitting business. Farmed animals would probably be okay without the honor, friendship, protection and ascension to an important office that humans want to give them. Knowing farmed animals (and I do), they would like to graze, snooze, meander around looking for food, play, annoy each other, make friends, fight, make babies, and live their life according to their emotions, instincts, and preferences (kinda like people, really). They have little interest in being eaten.

As always, it boils down to this fact: We don't need meat to survive. Being "friends" with your "food" doesn't change this fact, nor does it make the rather brutal violation of trust any more or less cruel than the way animals are treated on factory farms. Killing other living, sentient beings - when we don't need to - is not compassionate, kind, nice, friendly, protective or any other adjective guilt-ridden humans want to think up. It's actually quite petty and mean.

Now, we are all on our own paths. Some of us arrive at the aforementioned conclusion sooner than others. Some of us never arrive. For the animals' sakes, please consider eliminating meat, dairy and eggs from your diet. If you aren't ready for that commitment, at least limit your meat and dairy intake - choose to eat heart and planet healthy.