Monday, May 12, 2008

Defending Agriculture

Livestock producers defend practices animal-rights groups criticize

Depending on whom you ask, livestock farms house healthy, contented animals or dirty, little secrets.

Producers of beef, eggs and other products are defending their industries against accusations from animal-rights groups, some armed with undercover video cameras.

Tuesday, a group called Mercy for Animals alleged that laying hens at Gemperle Farms of Turlock have been pushed roughly into cages and otherwise abused by workers.

Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States charged that sick and injured cattle were mistreated at auction sites and stockyards in four states.

In January, the same group alleged that cattle at a Chino slaughterhouse were shoved with forklifts, shocked with electric prods and sprayed in the face with water.

The industries have a two-part response: Any worker doing such things should be punished, and these abuses are very rare. Read More

One of the most important take home messages from this article is that we shouldn’t be giving our opponents anything to videotape. I can guarantee you that HSUS will never release a video of people handling animals properly. It is up to every one of us in the livestock industry to prevent these video tapes from ending up on the evening news.

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