Below is an August, 2011, message from Eric Mills, coordinator for Action for Animals, P.O. Box 20184, Oakland, CA 94620. Email: afa@mcn.org
Please take appropriate action. Thanks!
THE CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR
Crimes Against Nature
by Eric Mills August 1, 2011
You know the old cowboy expression, "Rode hard and put up wet"? Try six days at the California State Fair, leafletting and collecting signatures in support of farm animal welfare, and you'll know what I'm talking about. But it was a worthwhile effort.
A small group of Sacramento and Bay Area activists handed out some 5,000 flyers and collected 1,500+ signatures on petitions, all in support of a ban on the State Fair's out-dated and cruel "birthing" exhibits. And if the Fair Board won't take the high moral ground, we'll take the matter to the state legislature, seeking a ban on these exhibits at both the State and all County Fairs. Reportedly, only about a dozen state fairs still feature the outdated exhibits, due to animal welfare concerns. Texas, Oregon, Colorado and others have dropped them. California should follow suit.
CONCERNS
1. The animal nursery and live birth exhibits: Every veterinary study I've seen, from UC Davis and elsewhere, advises against the transporting of pregnant farm animals about to give birth. They also cite the animals' need for solitude, quiet, away from crowds and bright lights. These stressful exhibits are the antithesis of what the experts preach. This year the State Fair featured three cows and three sows, all in the last term of their pregnancy, and ready to give birth any day, all on public display before noisy crowds, under bright lights. Adding to the stress, there were nightly fireworks at 10:00pm, frightening pets miles away. One can only imagine how it affected the animals at the Fair. Did any abort as a result, one wonders?
2. Farrowing crates - Three very pregnant sows were imprisoned in steel-barred cages, barely able to move a couple of inches in any direction, for THREE WEEKS, and forced to give birth on a metal or hard-rubber grid before crowds of people, under bright lights, without a piece of straw or other bedding in sight. DO THIS TO A DOG, AND THEY'D PUT YOU IN JAIL. What's the difference, pray?
3. Birthing exhibits - cows - Three pregnant cows, with hugely swollen udders. Unlike the sows, these animals were at least able to move around a little. Inexcusably, the new-born calves were immediately taken away from their mothers, and put in a near-by area where they were bottle-fed. Any five-year-old child knows that a new baby needs his/her mother, and that she needs the baby. To separate them in this brutal manner is stressful to both mother and calf. And here's the kicker: It's clear that the public questioned this. There were several signs posted, claiming that the calves were separated from their mothers "to protect the cow's udders, and for the health and well-being of the calf."
Outrageous! A little honesty seems in order here. It's all done in the name of PROFIT and GREED, the welfare of the animals be damned. Most new-born male dairy calves are slaughtered immediately, or sent off to a veal operation or crated, so-called "milk-fed veal" operation. (Male dairy calves obviously won't give milk, and they are not good beef cattle, hence they are considered expendable by the industry.) The female calves are put into dairy heifer replacement operations, and housed in tiny pens hardly larger than the milk-fed veal crates, until they can be rotated into the dairy herd.
The distraught pregnant cow and her unborn calf who were gunned down at the 2010 State Fair could be considered lucky, in light of what their lives in a dairy herd would be. The average life of a modern dairy cow is five-to-six years. On your grandparents' farm, she could be expected to live 18-20 years. Dairy cows are kept pregnant nearly their entire lives (otherwise they would not produce milk), only to have their babies ripped from them at birth, stressing all concerned. Most dairy cows are milked two-to-three times a day, and suffer from hugely over-blown udders (thanks to intensive breeding), and commonly suffer from mastitis and foot problems. Many, like most farmed animals, never see the light of day or set foot to earth. A true
"Crime Against Nature," as it were.
To rub salt in the wounds, the Fair featured a few third-year UC Davis veterinary students striving to convince the public that these abuses were normal and acceptable practices. Hardly. These students have been brain-washed by their professors at UCD, and are now misinforming and misleading the public. There are no ethics in any of this, and the vet students, UC Davis and the State Fair Board and management, indeed the entire industry, have much to atone for. Consider this statement from renowned author and fifth-generation Kentucky farmer, Wendell Berry (from the 2010 book "CAFO - The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories" (EARTH AWARE, San Rafael, CA):
The principle of confinement in so-called animal science is derived from the industrial version of efficiency. The designers of animal factories appear to have had in mind the example of concentration camps or prisons, the aim of which is to house and feed the greatest numbers in the smallest space at the least expense of money, labor, and attention. To subject innocent creatures to such treatment has long been recognized as heartless. Animal factories make an economic virtue of heartlessness toward domestic animals, to which we humans owe instead a large debt of respect and gratitude."
According to a cover story in the July 13, 2011 SACRAMENTO BEE, only about a dozen state fairs persist in presenting these abusive and dishonest displays. Others, such as Texas (!), Oregon and Colorado do not. Instead, they give the welfare of the animals top priority. California should follow suit, and immediately.
I remain convinced that what most people (children included) want to see, are mothers and their 8-to-10-week-old babies, not the actual birthing process itself, which can be quite traumatic for all concerned. A woman recently told me that she saw a calf born at the Fair last year, whereupon the mother stood up and swung around, spraying the audience with placenta and afterbirth. Lovely. And what if a cow (or other animal) died in childbirth, or produced stillborn young? Imagine how traumatic that could be for a five-year-old. Many state fairs use off-site live webcams to educate the public. Why not California?
The Fair Board's arguments in favor of these exhibits are two-fold: (1) "That's what the public wants," and (2) "It's educational." Wrong on both counts. (Have any surveys been done? None to my knowledge.) And you don't have to give the public "what it wants." I'm sure many would pay good money to see a public lynching. And the "education" these exhibits provide is a misleading and dishonest one, telling little about the miserable lives that most farm animals lead.
If the Fair management TRULY wants to educate the public, then they should install an insemination exhibit (either actual or artificial) on one side of the birthing exhibit, and a slaughter exhibit on the other. Now THAT would be "educational"! I'm not holding my breath. We consume an astounding 10 BILLION farm animals every year in this country (not including fish), most of whom never see the light of day, or touch foot to earth. And a reported 80% of the pharmaceuticals produced in the U.S. are fed to farm animals, causing serious health problems for the animals, and also for the people who eat them.
4. I note that a number of the displays in the animal nursery DID feature mothers and their babies, in beds of straw, including goats and sheep. This was as it should be. How about equal consideration for the sows, cows and their young? And if you can't provide that, then don't bring these animals to the Fair.
OTHER CONCERNS
5.
Race horses should not be forced to race in 90+ degree heat. They could suffer heatstroke.
6. The giving of
live goldfish in a plastic bag as prizes should be banned. Most of these animals will be dead within the week, or flushed down the toilet.
7. Selling of
hermit crabs as pets ($20, including 5" x 10" plastic case). These are WILD animals, stolen off beaches in the southeastern U.S. A ban is needed.
8. The
US Fish & Wildlife Service featured a display with about 10 adult
red-eared slider turtles, an invasive and harmful species not native to California. And another with American bullfrogs, also a harmful and invasive non-native. And all with no signage. A missed opportunity to educate the public.
9.
FIREWORKS EVERY NIGHT OF THE 18-DAY RUN OF THE FAIR - The noise frightens and upsets pet dogs and cats a mile away. This has to be stressful on the farm animals at the Fair. How many aborted, I wonder? Where's the common sense?
10.
FUR AND FEATHER EXHIBITS - Four distressed monkeys on display, several picking at themselves constantly, with noticeable hair loss.
THIS IS AN AGRICULTURAL FAIR. NO WILD ANIMALS SHOULD BE ON EXHIBIT.
11.
JUNGLE GEORGE - And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, check out the Fair's midway. This exotic food concessionaire (based in Fremont, CA) was serving "Raccoon on a Stick" and "Beaver on a Stick," amongst other delicacies. No one in California raises either raccoon or beaver for meat. Roadkill, perhaps? I checked with the Sacramento and Alameda County Health Departments, only to be told that the meat came from out-of-state fur farms.
Worse yet: Do you know how these miserable animals are housed and raised? It's the stuff of nightmares. They are kept in tiny wire cages, and are both psychotic and neurotic. They are killed a number of ways: anally-electrocuted, broken necks, or clubbed to death. And for what? An unnecessary fur coat. And now the meat from these terribly abused creatures is sold as a "novelty" item at the California State Fair. The mind boggles.
What next, "Puppy on a Stick"? "Kitten on a Stick"? Where do you draw the line? (Should also note that Jungle George was also serving antelope, python, chocolate-covered cockroaches and maggot-melt sandwiches. Indeed, Norbert Bartosik, the Fair's CEO & General Manager, appeared in a promo for this depravity on Channel 3 TV.)
HERE'S A CRAZY IDEA: Why couldn't the Fair feature nothing but locally-grown, humanely raised foods which are actually GOOD for you, and ditch the deep-fried Twinkies and raccoon on a stick? This is supposedly an AGRICULTURAL fair, promoting the wonders of California productivity, no?
SUMMARY - Ultimately, the responsibility for all the noted abuses lies with the CalEXPO management and Board of Directors. All board members are appointed by the Governor, plus two ex-officio members, Senator Darrell Steinberg and Assemblymember Roger Dickinson. Changes are obviously needed, and these people must be held accountable. The animals and the citizens of California deserve better, and our legislators need to hear from us.
LETTERS NEEDED
The State Fair Board may be written at 1600 Exposition Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95815. Or email the Board at: calexpoboard@calexpo.com (Cornelius Gallagher is the President of the Board; Norbert Bartosik is the CEO and General Manager).
GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN AND ALL STATE LEGISLATORS MAY BE WRITTEN C/O THE STATE CAPITOL, SACRAMENTO, CA 95814.
ACTION FOR ANIMALS would appreciate copies of any letters you send: AFA, P.O. Box 20184, Oakland, CA 94620.
ON A BRIGHTER NOTE - CalEXPO's Assistant General Manager, Brian May, confirmed for me that there were NO rodeo-related events at this year's State Fair, as a cost-cutting move. (I only wish it were due to animal welfare concerns.) Nevertheless, that's certainly good news, as we've been protesting these events for years. May the trend continue. At the 2007 Fair, two rodeo bulls escaped, trampled a horse and a Security Guard, causing her a concussion and broken ribs, and endangering a number of children. At the 2004 Fair, a bull had his back broken in the "Cowboy Teeter-totter" event, and was later shot to death. (Both these events were produced by Cotton Rosser's Flying U Rodeo Co. out of Marysville.) Nor should we forget the rodeo bull who jumped an 8-foot fence at the 2008 Red Bluff rodeo, putting six people in the hospital, including three children--lawsuits were filed. CalEXPO, take note.
Blog Note: Deep apologies for any awkward formatting...HTML is not our forte!
