St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Outside observers say PETA videos extreme at best, at worst, staged
Ag industry, animal activists at war over videos showing abuse
By Tom Webb
10/19/2009
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_13596629?nclick_check=1

The animal images are grainy and graphic.

Dairy cows that appear filthy, ailing and abused. Hogs kicked by angry
workers. Hens that die in their cages, their rotting carcasses left
for days.

Animal-rights activists have filmed these images with hidden-camera
videos and made them public. In each case, the activists have gone a
step further, condemning the Minnesota corporations that buy the milk,
hogs or eggs.

Yet, the full picture of these disturbing videos can be grainy and
fuzzy, too. Some industry officials say such videos at best
misrepresent extreme cases as being the norm — and at worst, some
parts are staged.

After a hidden-camera video targeted a LeSueur egg-laying facility
last month, owner Michael Foods investigated. The Minnetonka-based
company's conclusion: "Some or all of the scenes showing dead birds
being removed from cages were staged."

After Land O'Lakes was targeted for buying milk from what appeared to
be a filthy dairy farm in Pennsylvania, with numerous cows that looked
to be in terrible shape, the Arden Hills-based dairy cooperative sent
in a team of four veterinarians. The vets' on-site assessment: "The
cows on the farm are in good health and that no evidence of animal
mistreatment was found."

An official with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),
disputes that.

"We have no reason to stage it. It's right there," said Daphna
Nachminovitch, PETA's vice president for cruelty investigations.
"That's a tactic on the part of the industry to distract from what the
video shows. The video is authentic, and it speaks for itself, and
these cows all had stories."

In the Pennsylvania dairy-cow case, animal-cruelty charges have been
filed against the owners; those cases are pending. In the Iowa hog
case, six workers have pleaded guilty to animal-cruelty charges.

And Austin-based Hormel Foods, which bought hogs from the private Iowa
farm, began requiring that all its hog suppliers and their employees
earn special animal-welfare certification.

Hormel received nearly 30,000 complaints after the Iowa hog-farm video
went public.

Nobody defends abusing animals. Yet, much of agriculture loathes
animal-rights groups for what they see as outrageous tactics and a
portrayal of the industry as a chamber of horrors.

"PETA in particular has a long history of bending the truth and hiding
its own complicity in some really shady stuff," said David Martosko of
the Center for Consumer Freedom, an industry-funded group that battles
animal-rights and other food activists.

"They don't want people to believe that farmers are capable of
treating their animals humanely. They're not interested in improving
animal agriculture. They just want to eliminate it."

That is the flashpoint between the two warring camps. Agricultural
interests embrace the childhood image of farmers caring for their
animals, even in cases where giant operations don't resemble anything
in picture books.

With the goal of advancing an all-vegan diet, PETA and like groups
promote the idea that all "factory farms" torture animals. The general
public, however, doesn't show many signs of giving up its
cheeseburgers, ice cream, omelets, bacon, smoked salmon, fried chicken
and Thanksgiving turkeys.

There's little doubt, however, that the animal-rights videos are
having some impact.

In 2008, hidden-camera videos helped persuade California voters to
pass overwhelmingly a ban on gestational crates in hog farming and
small battery cages for egg-laying hens. Florida, Arizona and Colorado
have taken similar steps. Ohio and Michigan are debating them.

Technology is helping activists gain momentum. Small cameras have
become omnipresent, and now virtually any video can be circulated
widely online.

"With YouTube and the Internet and the ease of streaming videos, the
capability of distributing it has gone up, and I think it's creating
its own demand," said Brian Buhr, chairman of the University of
Minnesota's department of applied economics.

Nor is it just animal-rights groups. Hidden-camera videos have been
much in the news lately, whether targeting the voter-registration
group ACORN, the absence of background checks at gun shows or illegal
crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Animal-rights activists are adept at spanning the food chain, linking
abuse on the farm to consumer brands. When the group Compassion Over
Killing released the Michael Foods poultry video, its real goal was
advocating the use of vegan products at Dunkin' Donuts — or "Dunkin
Cruelty," as the activists scorned it.

"Because the company (Dunkin' Donuts) didn't seem to be taking the
issue seriously, we decided to take a look at where their eggs are
coming from," said Erica Meier, the group's executive director.
"That's what brought us to Minnesota."

Meier isn't surprised that Michael Foods claims part of the video is
staged. Targeted companies are defensive about "what's happening in
their facilities on a day-to-day basis," she said.

Michael Foods notes the LeSueur facility was audited before the
hidden-camera video and received excellent scores — and was checked
again by the U.S. Agriculture Department after the video was released
"and again received the highest score possible."

With such intense mistrust between the camps, common ground can be
scarce. But it exists. Marcia Endres, an assistant professor in the
U's animal science department, works in the field of cow comfort.

"The beauty of it is, a cow that is very comfortable and treated well
is going to produce more milk," Endres said. "Cow comfort is good for
the cow, it's good for the producer and I think the public wants the
cow to be treated well, too."

Endres was shocked by the Pennsylvania dairy video. She's visited
hundreds of dairy farms and had never witnessed such poor conditions.
But it also puzzled her.

"A cow that's not healthy, she wouldn't be producing, she'd just be
dying — what's the point of that?" she asked. "That's why I don't
understand when people say these producers are mistreating their
animals. That's bad for business."

Tom Webb can be reached at 651-228-5428.

These people hate corporations and industry! They think we should all be living in communes eating organic carrots and soy beans and wearing hemp sandals and drawing welfare.

To show how stunned they can be I offer this nugget from an Anti Hunter who wrote this piece of stupidity for a Michigan Newspaper.

Apparently the newspaper in Kankakee County, Illinois, has a “Speakout” anonymous 24-hour phone line where people can call in with their opinions about whatever. There’s a disclaimer that “The Daily Journal edits remarks before publication. Comments are not verified for accuracy; therefore, readers are advised not to rely on assertions of fact.”

Someone called in this month, and amongst other things, said:
“To all you hunters who kill animals for food, shame on you; you ought to go to the store and buy the meat that was made there, where no animals were harmed.”



Wonder if that person supported Cal Sustien as Regulatory Czar???. Seems to have the required qualifications.

LOL! That reminds me of a Grizzly Adams show I saw years ago. A guy started to shoot a deer:

Adams; "Hold on, don't shoot that deer it never did nothing to you."

hunter: "But we're hungry, we haven't had anything to eat for days!"

Adams: "Well, then here, have a piece of jerky."

Yep, from the mouths of educated idiots...

Thats funny right there!