Shared Sentience

renouncing speciesism & recognising all sentient beings as members of the moral community

Archive for category Main Stream Media Madness

Buckleys Chance for our “Food” (No reprieve for hacked pigs,cows or chickens)

Jul 28

Posted by Tim in Main Stream Media Madness, What Human Animals Do .. | No Comments

Tim etherspin

** Disclaimer – I have complete sympathy for Buckley the dog and the terrible ordeal that he went through – what the following piece will articulate is my lack of sympathy for the general,meat eating,animal product consuming publics apparent outrage and horror at the result of the attack. **

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This week in cognitive dissonance – standard farming practices get performed on a non-farmed animal (at least in the western countries that are so precious about dogs and dismissive of “livestock”) to the publics weeping outrage. A puppy was abandoned in a Victorian school playground having been severely mauled. Nicknamed “Buckley” after a former Collingwood football player, the lonely pup was found with his ears and tail mostly cut off (see photos via story link) http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Puppy-Attack-Buckleys-Ears-And-Tail-Cut-Off-With-Scissors-in-Animal-Cruelty-Attack-In-Australia/Article/200907315339079 The story is extremely sad to be sure but has been milked for every bit of cooing and outrage over the past week, sharing the top stories in Victorian newspapers and abroad to rival masterchefs prominance. A facebook group titled “Justice for Buckley! Increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty” has been established and is currently gaining members at a rate of twenty thousand a day. I joined the group and agree that law should protect animals but 99% of the members appear not to support its tagline – they want cruelty ended to cats and dogs, not the animals they want caged, milked , and shredded for their plates.Buckley facebook groupBuckley facebook group Outraged comment include “Let’s hack his tail and ears off, scum bag! 32 years old he needs to be put out of his misery!” and “anyone one who can torture/hurt/kill a animal should be locked up for life! as it is one of the sure signs of a serial killer etc, and none of this rehabilition s*** once a killer always a killer i say!” These are two of the most palatable comments in the group,it has actually turned into a competition to outdo each other posters supposed altruism by referring to the perpetrator with more C and F words and promising more painful dismemberments to him. The filler in between is mostly links to studies connecting animal cruelty and future serial killers.

This outrage would be justified if the average Australian citizen didnt inflict (in most cases not able to stomach whats done they pay a farmer or butcher to do it for them)equal and worse treatment on a variety of different animals each and every week of their lives. For arguments sake lets just focus on pigs because they receive the most similar treatment to Buckley as part of the horrible life they are given before ending up on our plates. The general assumption of the public is that Pigs must be of low intelligence among animals to be used as “livestock.” In fact,students of biology and other disciplines concerned with animal nature and behaviour class the species as higher cognitively than cats and dogs. Pigs have less concern for what humans are doing and what their voice and facial expression indicate than dogs but in terms of intelligence this is a red herring. A dog’s focus and apparent knowledge of human gesture has been bred into them over a couple of thousand years, wolves that have not been custom bred by humans have no interest in and do not eye-track human hand movements once they begin a task or respond accordingly to different emotive tones of human voice whereas a domesticated dog continually glances at its human trainer / “owner” for further cues even after it has commenced an instructed task or game. Evidence of this is available in this document http://www.uwsp.edu/PSYCH/s/275/Science/CleverCanines05.pdf Lacking this kind of intertwined and custom bred domestic relationship with humans, pigs do not seem overly interested in us in comparison to Canines but are quite ingenious when necessary and have been observed performing group tasks such as opening gates with mechanisms that would be impossible for one pig alone to press / unlatch. In addition to this pigs have been trained to conquer much more abstract tasks as quoted from the article linked below “Using their snouts, pigs can even be taught to maneuver a modified joystick to move a cursor on a video monitor.” http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/pigs.html (an article on pig intelligence) The study referenced in the article concluded that a comparison to dogs and cats was inadequate and that pigs actually learn and understand new tasks “As quickly as chimpanzees.”

Piglet Undergoing "Farming Standard" Tooth removal

Piglet Having Teeth Ripped out without Anaesthetic

Farming animals will always be about putting human profit before the needs and welfare of the animals in question. For this reason the horrendous treatment of pigs is seen as necessary. In order to make pork products profitable pigs are kept in cramped,hellish conditions. The same conditions would drive humans who knew nothing else to abnormal behaviour as it does in pigs. Being penned in and jammed against other pigs leads to cannibalistic behaviours like tail biting and attacking wounds or other exposed flesh on fellow pigs. Acknowledging the value of individual pigs, the capacity for feeling,knowledge of self and if it is to be our benchmark (we claim it is) – their impressive intelligence we should have abolished pig farming/slavery but instead we have created further brutal techniques of mutilation. To prevent pig biting other pigs we take them as infants and rip out their teeth without anaesthetic . To prevent open wounds that could spoil hindquarters to be used as meat we cut their tails without anaesthetic. The male piglets have the added torture of having their scrotums cut open to remove their testicles (without anaesthetic of course – to spend money on pain relief for our food hardly seems logical ?). In addition to this piglets can look forward to ear notching – “Large hunks of each piglet’s ears are sliced off with scissors to make identification patterns,” – http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming_pigs_mutilation.asp. Quotes from a sky news article (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Puppy-Attack-Buckleys-Ears-And-Tail-Cut-Off-With-Scissors-in-Animal-Cruelty-Attack-In-Australia/Article/200907315339079) on the pup are perfect in juxtaposition to the recommended method for teeth pulling , “The puppy would have received no anaesthetic and would have made a lot of noise.” Doesn’t this sound familiar when compared to the recommended way to pull teeth (quoted from A.L.V. website) “An industry website advises holding a finger across the animal’s trachea to suppress screaming” – not only does this institutionalised practice make piglets scream in agony but its so widespread,commonplace and expected that there are recognised methods to avoid the minor annoyance of coping with the unsettling noise from the restrained pig. After this treatment as a piglet,the cramped and disgusting conditions for their lifetime, an adult pig can look forward to having its throat slit before being dumped into a vat of boiling water (often conscious and screaming after a botched throat slitting) to remove hair and soften skin for our consumption. I expect some readers of this article to be shocked, some dismissive and some to laugh it off and make jokes about how delicious bacon is. For those of you who are shocked, there is the easy option of not consuming these animals which reduces the demand for these animals and by filling your plate with something else many pigs won’t endure enslavement and ordeals before the fear and pain of slaughter but as a society larger change needs to come through our laws A certain savvy lawyer friend of mine told me this week that we do actually have legislation in Victoria that recognises animals have a right not to be treated with “unnecessary cruelty” whatever “unnecessary cruelty” may be. The problem with the legislation is a huge exception for “livestock” animals, in their particular case common farming practices are automatically deemed to be reasonable and these practices are defined by the farming industry themselves! If we are concerned we will change our diets and seek to change our laws. I see the horror of what happened to Buckley but its happening thousands of times a minute to animals just as capable of suffering and sentience. Pigs are not ours to own any more than we are theirs.

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People in glass houses

Jun 21

Posted by Adam in Main Stream Media Madness | 1 Comment

Adam

Merlin

Human beings are great at blaming others, but do a very bad job of taking responsibility for their own actions. I see it all the time as a teacher: “But he did it too…” Unfortunately, as people age they tend to become more hypocritical, not less. The issues they deal with are bigger and so are the ramifications of their hypocrisy.

The Victorian State government has announced its latest scapegoat program. This one involves murdering foxes. I read about this in the June 19 edition of ‘The Age’ newspaper. Just like all articles involving animals written by ‘Age’ journalists, the tone is flippant and shows complete disregard for the animals interests. So much for objective and fair journalism! The State government scheme involves encouraging hunters to kill foxes by way of a lotto reward system. Every kill a hunter makes increases their chances to win prizes in monthly draws. The major prize, drawn at the end of the year, is – you guessed it – a gas guzzling, environment destroying four-wheel-drive!

It goes without saying, that any time a hunter kills an animal the animal is robbed of their life and we can assume they suffer before they die. Hunters do not care about the suffering of animals. If they did they wouldn’t be hunters. But what is worse here is that a reward system encourages a free for all bloodbath. In the rush to improve their chances of winning prizes, any sense of mercy that may linger somewhere deep inside them – any remnants of pity and compassion that they have had to repress since childhood (maybe hiding in their little toe) is obliterated and the suffering and agony of these animals is guaranteed. And of course more foxes will die than if there was no reward system – that’s the whole point of the reward system.

Foxes have the same faculties as domestic dogs and more importantly, have the same capacity for experiencing pleasure and pain. A responsible and caring dog guardian would recoil at the thought of their dog being treated the same way these foxes are being treated. Rationally, it is wrong to abuse a dog whether it is my dog, someone else’s or if it is unfortunate enough to not have a guardian. And a Fox is the same as a dog in the only way that matters: sentience, so a fox deserves as much ethical consideration as my dog.

Perhaps the most vomit inducing features of the article are the two quotes from Victorian Agricultural minister Joe Helper and hunter Bill Emmett. If there were a prize to be given for hypocrisy these two men would win equal first place. Mr Helper says that the program has already saved wildlife and ‘livestock’. In reference to what foxes do to lambs and sheep, Mr Helper said, “No farmer likes to go out and see what foxes do to lambs and sheep. It’s a pretty ugly sight and a pretty soul destroying sight.” At the end of the article Mr Emmett says, “You get a calf with no nose or ears, because the fox has torn them off…It’s not a pretty sight.”

There is no doubt that what carnivores do to survive is ugly and involves exploitation and suffering.  I’d love a world free from suffering and exploitation. A world where the lion can lay down with the lamb. I say this as a vegan. A person who intentionally tries to live an ethical life; making decisions that avoid exploiting humans and non-human animals and trying to promote happiness rather than suffering. I see myself as someone who is pro-happiness and anti-suffering. Mr Emmett and Mr Helper purport to care about the welfare of the animals attacked by foxes, but this is just an act. A guise to build public support for this scheme and the actions of hunters. Don’t for a second fall for their ploy.

Carnivores of all species inflict suffering on their victims and forcibly take away their lives. Mainstream media frequently depicts carnivores ripping apart their victims. These are popular TV programs and most people watch this destruction with awe, rather than revulsion. Why should we believe that Mr Emmett and Mr Helper are concerned about the welfare of a fox’s victim when the actions of other carnivores on wildlife programmes don’t concern them in the least? The reality is they don’t care about the welfare of the lamb. To them, the lamb is their property and they care that their property is being damaged.

People like Mr Helper and Mr Emmett are not in a position to judge foxes. These men, who pretend to care about the welfare of lambs and sheep, have the blood of countless animals on their hands. If we were to compare individuals, the suffering, loss of life, environmental destruction, carbon output and resource depletion caused by Mr Emmett or Mr Helper, vastly outweighs that caused by a single fox. As Victorian Agricultural minister, Mr Helper supports and promotes the animal agriculture industry, an industry that systematically exploits animals and inflicts extreme suffering on them. He is complicit in the suffering of every farm animal in Victoria.  And the suffering is horrific. They are branded, debeaked, castrated, have their backside cut off if they are a sheep, stuck in crates without room to move about, exposed to extremes of heat and cold and are often deprived of sunlight, food, water and exercise. To top it all off they are sent to the slaughterhouse to have their lives forcibly taken from them by way of a knife to the throat or a bolt to the brain. Many are fully conscious when they are dropped into vats of boiling water. Mr Emmett may or may not be an animal farmer, but one thing is for certain: as a hunter he is experienced at abusing, exploiting and inflicting suffering on animals. He has been responsible for taking the lives of many animals. Mr Emmett and Mr Helper say that this scheme is saving the lives of ‘livestock’ and wildlife, yet they regularly sit down to a meal of a dead animal – an animal they killed or was killed for them. And on Sundays the animal is probably a lamb…

People in glass houses shouldn’t shoot bullets. While I reject violence (even violence perpetrated against animal abusers), moral consistency requires that Mr Emmett and Mr Helper turn the gun on themselves, but clearly abandoning their animal abusing ways would be a better decision.