One Lone Voice Against Animal Welfare
I've been encouraged, even heartened, by the swift and broad reaction to The Humane Society of the United States' recent undercover investigations of wanton animal abuse at a heinous facility in Vermont that specializes in slaughtering infant calves discarded by the dairy industry and processes them to make "bob veal."
That is, with one inexcusable exception. So bear with me, because this single wrong-way group of corporate mercenaries deserves to be called out as the champions of cruelty that they really are.
On the positive side, government agencies took action when we showed our latest undercover video evidence of horrible animal abuse at Bushway Packing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Vermont Agency of Agriculture shut the facility down. They launched an investigation. Agency leaders used the strongest possible language to condemn the conduct our investigator documented on videotape.
Just as important, leading agriculture trade associations and commentators also provided no apologies for the abuse. The American Veal Association distributed a statement to the press declaring, "The treatment of calves depicted in the videos taken at Bushways Packing Plant in Vermont are unacceptable."
The agribusiness trade journal Feedstuffs could have been reading my mind when it published a recent editorial saying, "This has got to stop."
The editors were referring to yet another, earlier video investigation of needless suffering inflicted on farm animals. To continue the quotation, "It has to stop because it leaves the consuming public with a bad taste in its mouth for dairy, meat and poultry products. It's important to understand that companies and producers can't just say 'bad apple' and move on because -- to consumers who have seen these videos again and again -- there are no bad apples anymore. The bad apple, to consumers now, is the industry."
And industry commentator Chuck Jolley noted on Monday, "It has happened again and our industry has sustained another we-can't-afford-it black eye. These bad actors must be found and removed from our industry immediately through the combined efforts of governmental and trade association pressure. Corrective action must be swift and indisputable."
Finally, industry leaders are saying exactly what we are: cruelty against farm animals is too common, inexcusable, and the public won't tolerate it.
So how do we explain the misnamed Center for Consumer Freedom? The last word I've seen from this corporate front group on the subject of farm animal abuse came from its glib mouthpiece, David Martosko.
Let's consider the kind of misery that intrepid HSUS investigators have brought to light. Our videotape showed a calf kicking as his hoof was cut off. Our videotape showed infant animals too weak to stand subjected to powerful jolts of electricity to get them to move, with water splashed on one of the animals to amplify the power of the electric shock. Our videotape showed living animals piled on top of dead ones. An earlier investigation at the Westland/Hallmark slaughter plant in Chino, Calif. showed cows rammed with forklifts. And water from a high-power hose injected into a cow's nose to simulate drowning. Still another recent investigation showed a cow, too weak to stand, abandoned in the dirt of an auction lot overnight without food or water. Not one of these acts has anything to do with producing food. Added together, they show a corruption of the human soul.
So what does David Martosko offer on the subject?
On Twitter awhile back, he remarked: "Cheap solution to #PETA & #HSUS? Stop animal-rights infiltrators in farms & slaughterhouses ... " He then provided a link to a website that sells a supposed gadget to detect the presence of hidden cameras.
Yes, Martosko and his misnamed CCF are virtually alone in arguing that the torture of animals can be addressed by trying to prevent anyone from seeing it. He's a cover-up artist, with a corrupt purpose.
It won't succeed, of course -- and we've got our countermeasures in the works for CCF. But if you follow the saga, CCF makes a fat bundle going around to corporations, like tobacco companies and restaurant chains, by promising them anonymity as it attacks the individuals and organizations trying to build the component parts of a civil and humane society. Because CCF is a nonprofit charity -- an utter laugh if I've ever heard one -- the corporations don't have to reveal themselves and can hide their money. Then, Martosko, who was a music major in college, and his unctuous mentor Rick Berman take their baseless potshots at groups working diligently to stop drunk driving, alert pregnant women about the dangers of consuming mercury, fight obesity, safeguard the environment, and halt animal cruelty.
For instance, what restaurant or grocery chain would dare to say the government is "overly cautious" in warning pregnant women and young children about the dangers of mercury in seafood? Not many. But CCF is happy to spread this kind of absurd propaganda--for what is surely a juicy fee.
In a recent letter criticizing us, Martosko asked people to believe that The HSUS is pursuing "fringe" goals. Oh yeah? The kind of farm animal abuse that has become public in recent years, fringe? The kind of farm animal abuse that leading agricultural trade associations and commentators condemn? Dogfighting, fringe? Puppy mills, fringe? I wonder what Martosko and CCF would charge to defend the breeder who kept a dog in an undersized cage for so long that her fur grew into the wire of the cage and had to be cut free when our rescue team arrived? Fringe?
The one agreement I have with CCF is a belief that there are two sides to every story. In this instance, it's simple. We're against abusing animals for any reason. And Martosko and Berman support it. The only question left unresolved is, who is paying you Dave and Rick? That's the tune we want you to name.
This post originally appeared on Pacelle's blog, A Humane Nation.
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dear g0d.
there are no words.
Martosko recently was a featured speaker at the New York Farm Bureau's mis-named legal seminar where he was positioned to help New York agribusiness defend against effort to ban hen battery cages, veal crates and pig gestation crates. He was basically there to preach to a choir of profiteers drinking the KoolAid of big agriculture. He has no impact on real people -- he is basically there to motivate the crowd.
Residents of New York State can do more than just poke fun at Martosko. In New York, a bill is pending in the New York Assembly (A.08163) that would ban hen battery cages, veal crates and pig gestation crates in 2015. Read more about it at http://www
The New York Farm Bureau and the powers that be in the New York State Assembly (especially Chair of the Agriculture Committee William Magee) oppose the bill and prefer the status quo and all of its horrors. Magee is a beard for the Farm Bureau and big industrial agriculture. They work to preserve the profits of factory farmers, and agains the interest of small family farms. That is why Martosko and his ilk were invited.
New Yorkers need to take affirmative steps and reach out to their legislators and demand action on the bill. If Magee and the Farm Bureau had their way, the bill would die in committee.
New Yorkers -- stand up and be counted. Spread the word.
Rick Tannenbaum
The Hilltop Initiative
www.ab8163
CCF is a despicable organization funded by the meat, dairy, pharmaceutical, alcohol and fast food industries. Their spokesman Martosko used to work in the office of looney right-wing Senator Inofe the biggest opponent to fighting global warming in the US Senate.
However, Wayne Pacelle spends all his time promoting "cage free" eggs and "humane meat" options rather than explaining to humans that if they really care about animals they should go vegan. To HSUS veganism is a dirty word. He recently called vegans "nuts" in an interview with Ag Radio.
As hopeless as it all is and as futile as it all might seem...The
When you attempt to treat animals in slaughterhouses nicer...al
If you are against violence and care about animals you should just Go Vegan and ignore both the lies of CCF and the sidestepping of reality and the perpetuating weakness and incompetence of HSUS.
The CCF is a truly abhorrent group whose entire raison d'etre seems to be to take a stand against basic decency, whether that involves the treatment of animals or humans. I just don't understand how anyone can take it seriously.
"The kind of farm animal abuse that has become public in recent years, fringe? The kind of farm animal abuse that leading agricultural trade associations and commentators condemn? Dogfighting, fringe? Puppy mills, fringe?"
It probably won't be long before someone like Martosko posts an "I don't care about animals" comment. They come out of the woodwork for blogs like this.
Keep up the good work. There are a lot of cruel people in the world and money is the only thing that really matters to them.
Sounds like these Consumer Freedom people have really been successful in making the Humane Society of the U.S. mad about something. What is Pacelle running -- a Swift Boat operation or an animal shelter? I think I'm going to contribute $25 to Consumer Freedom just for having to read this.
Do you send a lot of checks to your employer?
No. I work for a rural dairy cooperative in Wisconsin. What the heck is a Censornati? Do you enjoy censoring people who disagree with you?
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