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Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters
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“Hoofin It” With HSUS August 16, 2014 James McWilliams Beginning tomorrow, and lasting through August 20, the city of Denver will promote the gratuitous slaughter of animals who were raised with love. On Sunday you can get bison; Monday "sheep is the star"; Tuesday is pig night; Wednesday it's cow. Every meal will be served at a restaurant that prides itself on morally commmodfying sentient animals who farmers respected while they lived, before selling their bodies for cash. The event is called "Hoofin It" and "farm to table" is the mantra. As The Denver Post reports, "a different hooved animal will be showcased every evening." Cost of the showcase: $60. Now, critics of animal agriculture, as well as animal advocates, have become all too familiar with these sort of Orwellian stunts. Essentially, what these events do is obscure systematic suffering under the false guise of humanity in order to serve a range of financial interests and a selfish interest in animal flesh. It's insulting, really. We're especially accustomed to the oxymoronic--not to mention moronic---sponsorships of these moral carnivals: ethical butchers, humane animal farmers, compassionate carnivores, and the like. It thus may come as a surprise that the sponsor of "Hoofin It" is . . . . The Humane Society of the United States. As you might imagine, there's been outrage over this. One letter I received from a Colorado critic of the event explained, "Needless to say, the vegan community in Colorado is quite upset with HSUS' sponsorship of this event and has notified HSUS of their concern." Here is what HSUS wrote by way of an explanation: Our farm animal efforts are two-pronged: reduce the number of animals being raised and killed, and reduce the suffering of animals who are being raised and killed. While the meat industry’s leadership reviles The HSUS, there are also farmers and ranchers who agree with us on gestation crates and other aspects of industrialized agriculture. They’re a powerful voice in our campaign to end unacceptable and particularly inhumane practices. We need the public’s support to pass these laws, and it’s a potent statement to have farmers assert that they oppose gestation crates (and other factory farming practices). We’ve always believe that politics is about addition and not subtraction, and some of the most powerful allies are people that some may think are unlikely allies. That’s why we do outreach to small farmers on factory farming issues. This event, sponsored in connection with our Colorado Agriculture Council, is part of our growing work with farmers and ranchers to fight inhumane practices such as gestation crates and tail docking. We support farmers and ranchers who give proper care to their animals, and act in accordance with the basic ethic of compassion to sentient creatures under their control, and practice and promote humane and environmentally sustainable agriculture. We also sponsor VegFests along with other vegan and vegetarian events around the country. The HSUS takes a big tent approach to combat factory farming and both our employees and our supporters consist of those who choose to eat meat and those who choose to be vegan or vegetarian. You can read our full statement on farm animals and eating with a conscience here. My thoughts on this response too are many to articulate, and none of them are in sympathy. But in a nutshell it's safe to say that there's a fundamental difference between encouraging more humane methods of animal agriculture and throwing a party to celebrate animal slaughter. There's simply no hoofin it around HSUS's craven capitulation to compromise on this event. Shame. Comment: Being vegan is the only choice that aligns one’s values — the opposition to cruelty and killing — with one’s actions. Those who eat meat and other animal products are undeniably mass killers, guilty of causing unnecessary death to innocent beings to please one’s palate. Find out more about Whole Foods: http://michaelbluejay.com/misc/wholefoods.html |