Footprints

by Budd Glassberg

Reprinted with permission from the Zionsville Times Sentinel on September 12, 2007

Earthlings

“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.
--Dr. Albert Schweitzer”

When he is sentenced in November, former Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick will likely serve prison time for his role in the promoting and hosting of pit bull training and fighting on his property. Several graves were found of dogs that had lost their lives in the dogfights. He has also pleaded guilty to being complicit in the killing of six to eight dogs that underperformed. The public was justifiably outraged at this cruelty toward mans best friend. Most of us have little tolerance for people who treat animals, who are dependent on us, in a cruel and malicious way. Many of us own pets and understand that they are not just “dumb animals”, but experience attachments to people and are able to feel pain. Michael Vick and his cohorts apparently have little concern for an animal’s welfare. Their abhorrent behavior is not tolerated in our society.

Fido owners around the country may find Michael Vick an easy target, but hidden behind closed doors in this country, there is another form of animal torture that is taking place on a much larger scale. What’s more, most pet owners and non-owners, while not aware of the mistreatment, are complicit in the most inhumane treatment of animals that can be imagined.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, agriculture in the United States consisted mostly of family owned farms. Those smaller farms were often a mixture of farm animals and crops. Labor came from family members and sometimes hired hands. Animals grazed in pastures and received feed supplemented by crops grown on the farm and purchased feed. As the population of our country more than tripled in the 20^th century, there was a major movement of people from rural America to urban areas. In order to feed the growing numbers of people, farming changed from smaller family farms to much larger corporate farms.

Lost in this transition was the human concern for the animals’ welfare. Factory farms, the common name for them now, in order to provide low cost food to the consumer, have used scientific techniques to produce the most meat with the least amount of resources used, often with little or no regard for the animals themselves. Hidden from public view, these animals are raised in conditions so deplorable, that most of these farms will not allow the public any access to their facilities. Many facilities keep chickens in cages each with less than one half square foot their entire lives without room to spread their wings. Shortly after hatching, most factory farms cut or sear off the chicken’s beaks to keep them from pecking each other, which they will do if kept in such close quarters. The cutting and searing is done without anesthetic. Pigs are kept in containers so small that they can barely turn around or lie down in them. They have no straw or other bedding and are often riddled with sores on their shoulders and knees. Cows are kept inside, never grazing in a field or even seeing the light of day. The slaughter of these animals is likewise done with the main concern for keeping prices down. It becomes the most efficient way to bring the meat to market, without regard to animal suffering. Though there are federal laws requiring the slaughterhouse to stun the animals before slaughter, stunning at slaughterhouses is not always precise. Sometimes conscious animals are hung upside down, kicking and struggling, while a slaughterhouse worker tries to cut them in the neck with a knife. When unsuccessful, the animal will be carried to the next station on the slaughterhouse assembly line. It will then be boiled alive and conscious in the scalding tank.

If the previous paragraph appears too graphic and you are feeling anger toward the factory farming, do not be too quick to cast the first stone at the industry. Most of the reasons for this grievous treatment of these animals stem from the demand for low cost meat and dairy products. Those of us who buy these products are indirectly the cause for this suffering. We have a choice when it comes to the demand for these products. We can continue to purchase the cheaper factory farmed meat and dairy, or we can vote with our dollars for the smaller farmers, with free range chickens and grazing cows. The cost is higher. It is a price we may choose to allow our fellow sentient beings on our planet to experience life that is not made up of constant suffering.

Instead of burying our heads in the sand, not wanting to know how our food comes to us, I think it is important for each of us to take responsibility for what we are causing. I urge each of you to watch a powerful and disturbing documentary which will sear into your mind images from which you will want to turn away. If you are able to resist the urge to look away, you will find that the 95 minute documentary “Earthlings”, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, makes a very strong connection between what we do and the price that must be paid. “Earthlings” may be viewed for free on youtube.com or you may purchase the DVD at www.isawearthlings.com.

Michael Vick may torture animals with his own hands. The rest of us pay others to do it for us, but we require them to please keep it from our view and awareness.

Budd Glassberg is a 23 year resident of Zionsville who works and volunteers in the community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.